What are you reading, September - YouLookFab Forum

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What are you reading, September

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

I finished both Oona Out of Order and Mrs. Everything. Both I'd recommend, well-plotted, engaging and emotionally affecting. Oona felt like it trailed off at the end but that might be because I stopped reading for a bit and returned to it after a week or so.

Otherwise I've been reading romances through Kindle Unlimited if I'm reading at all. It's been a busy time for me between work and my new school stuff and the usual pandemic shenanigans, so I haven't had a ton of brainpower for challenging reads. (Plus, there's been hockey playoffs to watch.)

Oh, and I bought the newest C.S. Harris mystery on Audible and have been listening to it in the car.

Our local library branch finally extended their curbside service to five days a week, which is better than the three they were doing. What's everybody else been reading?

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29 replies

Latest reply was from Lieselotte Kander

MsMary

Veteran

I just finished The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and really enjoyed it. Also the latest Inspector Gamache mystery by Louise Penny. Maybe not the best of the series (it's set in Paris rather than Three Pines) but I'll take it. Still working on The City We Became by N.K. Jemison and it's drawing me in.

Anonymous

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Gann. It's the.fascinating true story of the mysterious murders of members of the Osage tribe in Oklahoma. David Gann is a fantastic writer, and really knows how to tell a story.

If you want to wait for the movie, it's coming out next year, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I just finished the Octavia Butler Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Talents series, which I quite liked. Next up, Stephen King's The Institute.

anne

Veteran

Les miserables. That took 3 weeks!

cjh

(website)

Veteran

Frederick Douglass. Prophet of Freedom, by David W. Blight. It’s interesting, wordy and detailed. Very thick book and happy the last 20% or so is just the notes and acknowledgments so I don’t need to read that part.

Next is The Origins of Totalitarianism, by Hannah Arendt.(1950)

Anonymous

Just finished Stephen King's The Institute. It's a big book - more than 500 pages, so it took me a week, but it was a terrific book.

Laurie

Veteran

The Weight of Ink, as highly recommended on the forum. It's a little slower going than I expected, but excellent. First, as an English major, and also having proficiency in Portuguese, the scholarly/academic part is just wonderful. Plus, I loved the part about Israel, having been there last year and gone to some places that figure prominently into the story. I've had to push off a couple of other books that were on my hold list. Everything is Illuminated just showed up.

Killers of the Flower Moon will make an excellent movie!

Bonnie

Veteran

I'm almost through with Early Warning by Jane Smiley, the second novel in her 100 year trliogy. I'm really enjoying it. On my nightstand for September are The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow which I'm rereading after many years. The Night Fire by Michael Connelly, one of my favorite detective series, and Some Tame Gazelles by Barbara Pym. I plan to read one of Pym's 14 novels once a month. She was a favorite author of mine in the 80's/90's when I discovered her on the Sale table in the college bookstore.

MsMaven

Veteran

Looks like this is going to be a mostly political month.

I did read Tara Westover's Educated (at last.) Mr. M took a Writing you Memoir class this summer and a friend recommended this. He read it and loved it. So I dug in. Wow. My problem is, I knew some of these kind of people growing up. In fact, my BIL lived on the other side of the mountain, 10 miles as the crow flies. His family wasn't like Tara's though.

I've started on Michael Cohen's Disloyal. And Bob Woodward's book is scheduled to arrive next Tuesday. I read Mary Trump's book and it looks like more are coming. I was a poly sci major undergrad, back in the days when there were 3 other female students in the whole department, and no female professors. Don't know what that has to do with it, but just so you know.

I just ordered Peter Strzok's book as well.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

I just finished Igniting Darkness, the second in a duology, or fifth in a series by Robin LeFevers. It’s YA fantasy with a strong grounding in French history and poli sci. I have enjoyed and recommend.

I am also reading The Book of Disappearance, by Ibtisam Azem. It’s about what would happen if all the Palestinians in Israel suddenly weren’t there anymore. A bit of an alternate history thing about remembering loss, and then losing memories of what happened.

Also I forgot if I recommended Rebecca Roanhorse last month. Also alt-history, dystopia well realizes from the outsider, Native American perspective.

Anonymous

Bonnie - I’m a big fan of Michael Connelly too

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

I just finished Peace Talks, the new Harry Dresden novel by Jim Butcher.

I'm also slowly working my way through The Art of Simple Living, by Shunmyo Masuno. It's slim and not a difficult read, but so lovely that I'm taking my time and savoring.

DonnaF

Veteran

Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman, a memoir by a young woman who left an ultra Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community in New York. I was led to it by the Netflix series of the same name. It turns out that the two diverged so greatly as to be almost unrecognizable. It goes without saying that the book is more nuanced and universal which is ultimately more satisfying than the sensationalized Netflix series.

Staysfit

Veteran

I’m re-reading Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton.

kkards

Veteran

loved "Do Not Say We Have Nothing" by Madeleine Thien. What i know about modern China is from high school history classes, so that's to say, really not much but dates and events etc....this book really made a lot what has happened in the last 100 years 'real". Well written, compelling story, that really made me thnk.
Also liked "Fleishman Is in Trouble" by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. a modern story about a marriage, career, upward mobility, class and the balance between them.

Laurie

Veteran

@bonnie, @lisap re Michael Connelly - his brother is the chief information security officer for HCA, which was an account I called on for many years. They look alike. Paul always had the latest books scattered around! I've read several while traveling - perfect for a long flight.

Almost through The Weight of Ink. Really good. I would like to go back and read the first several chapters again, as it was pretty dense with information that later becomes important detail, but Libby will be whisking it away tomorrow. I think I'll get back on the hold list.

The Cat

Veteran

"The Watchtower" No. 3 2020, on "Lasting Blessings From a Loving God." Really encouraging. Here is the link: https://www.jw.org/en/library/.....0-sep-oct/

karen13

Veteran

Staysfit - I read Alexander Hamilton earlier this year and loved it! I can definitely see re-reading it. Now I need to read the George Washington and John Adams biographies

Speaking of books that are good to read on a Kindle because you just can click to look up the ten dollar words, I just started Moby Dick and it is soooo good. I some how avoided it for decades - who knew? I was looking for something that is not dystopian, political or current. And it is free! I may finally get to more of the classics.

Helena

Veteran

I am a bit of a reading pinball at the moment; I have about 10 on the go because I can't concentrate on anything *sigh* ... besides my usual mish-mash of spiritual stuff, I'm working on:

- A Good Neighbourhood by Therese Fowler, which I am honestly not too sure about but it was a loan so I feel I owe it to my friend to power though ...
- Educated, as mentioned above - fascinating ...
- Jodi Wilson Raybould's From Where I Stand, a collection of her writing and speeches about Indigenous communities in Canada

On deck:
- The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

Working through them at a painfully slow pace ... thanks for the butt-kick; I'll carve out some reading time later today!

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

Ooh, some interesting items to add to my TBR...

The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs - kind of a romance plus, in that there's a bit more going on plotwise than the relationship, and it's set in San Francisco with a lot of local history stuff. I enjoyed it.

I've got an e-loan again of A Gentleman in Moscow so I'll try to finish it this time before the loan expires.

MsMary

Veteran

Okay I'm giving you all a heads up: There's an HBO miniseries coming out in a few months with Nicole Kidman called The Undoing, and it's based on a book called You Should Have Known, which I just read. Very entertaining page turner, highly recommend.

In a totally different direction, I also just finished a novel called A Man by

Keiichiro Hirano, translated from Japanese. About a man who dies and is found to have adopted somebody else's identify. I really enjoyed it. Very literary but in a good way.

Next up: Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train for book club.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I'm tearing through The Institute and will finish it today. Classic Stephen King -- not gory but a good supernatural thriller.

I had a little too much fun in a local used book store (supporting local business while social distancing, yay!). Came home with a stack to choose from to take with me on our Airstream adventure, if the $%&# dealership ever finishes the repairs.

It's easier to show the stacks -- not all of these were from the other day. Some I had already bought and are ones I'm choosing from to take on the trip.

First pic is fiction. Second pic nonfiction.

This post has 2 photos. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

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MsMary

Veteran

Great picks, Janet!

Laurie

Veteran

Nice piles! 2 great ones that I've read, Janet - West With the Night, and All the Light We Cannot See. Look forward to your reviews on the others.

nuancedream

Veteran

I am reading Isabel Allende's A Long Petal of the Sea, which takes place during the Spanish Civil War 1936-39. Her characters are fully realized and captivating. As always, Allende's prose is extraordinary. Today, refugees are fleeing danger in their own countries and are trying to find safety and a new life. This book is heartbreaking, shocking, and ultimately miraculous.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

I just finished the first in a YA urban fantasy series - The Name of the Blade by Zoe Marriott. An ancient katana, creatures from the underworld, Japanese kitsune, and a London schoolgirl just trying to make it to graduation. Sadly, my library doesn't have the rest of the series so I'll have to wait a bit to read the next one.

JAileen

Veteran

I’m reading Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen. It takes place in Palm Beach, Florida. It’s similar to other books by Hiaasen, in that it’s about low lifes interacting with the law, and in this case, with one percenters, too. If you need to be cheered up, I recommend it.

Neelie

Veteran

I just finished "My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry" by Fredrik Backman (He wrote "A Man Called Ove") - It took about 50 pages to get into and then so so good! Highly recommend.

Lieselotte Kander

(website)

Though I have Can You Keep a Secret? in the collection but just need to read some old novel like novels of Sidney Sheldon If Tomorrow Comes etc.