What are you reading these days? - YouLookFab Forum

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What are you reading these days?

elpgal

Veteran

Would like something fast-paced and entertaining. I read Killers of the Flower Moon, Achtung Baby (German parenting) and Gardening at Dragon’s Gate (zen and gardening philosophy) and can recommend all of them highly. None of them are ‘light’ but all excellent reads.

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37 replies

Latest reply was from elpgal

rachylou

Veteran

...oh man, I’m reading 21 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) 117... yeah, which really means I’m reading a book about an assassin/gum-shoe detective robot because my brain has been fried...

viva

Veteran

February has been a good reading month for me: 3 winners, all fiction.

A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles (amusing, beautifully written story of a Russian dissident sentenced to spending his life in a Moscow hotel - lots of funny moments and intrigue among the staff and other residents)
The Lost Man, Jane Harper (another mystery set in the Outback; great writing and really brings alive the isolated rural life in Australia)
The Dreamers, Karen Thompson Walker (only about 1/3 of the way in, but a compulsively readable book about a college town suddenly hit by a mysterious sleeping illness)

Anonymous

Probably not what you're looking for, but I'm currently enjoying Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel. It's about five women artists in the male-dominated world of abstract painting in NYC in the fifties and sixties. Very absorbing and fascinating!

After that, it's on to Tangerine by Christine Mangan, a thriller set in Morocco. It sounds pretty juicy.

kellygirl

Veteran

I love these threads. I'm still slogging through Song of Fire and Ice but maybe this thread will motivate me to finish so I can read something new!

JAileen

Veteran

Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley series. I think there are twenty or so in the series. A titled British inspector whose partner is a woman born on the wrong side of the tracks.

Flytigress

I'm reading The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper and enjoying it. I also really loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

Jane

Veteran

Fab thread! I have the A Gentleman in Moscow on my next list. I am reading The Children Act, Ian McEwan (not seen the film) which is a page turner. Finished Patrick Gale Take Nothing With You, which is fab. Then Betrayal by Kate Furnival, based in Paris in WW2, very good, almost a page turner.

(bit off topic but seen at the pictures this week Beale Street, loved it and saw yesterday the film on Marie Colvin (and now I want an Agent Provocateur bra). Thinking of seeing Capernaum next.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

The Burglar. A good mystery.

Gretchen

Veteran

I'm on a escapist trip right now, reading Kresley Cole's Fated Mated series. I picked it up after I head author Sarah Maclean - whose romances I love - was starting a podcast on the series. Fair warning it has vampires, valkryes, werewolves, witches... and a whole bunch of adult content. But it's the crazy plot/light reading that I need right now.

Looking for something more serious? The Tournament of Books starts in a couple weeks. The booklist is here: https://themorningnews.org/art.....and-judges
I can recommend The Overstory and Washington Black as great starting points.

kkards

Veteran

i think i started this book 9 months ago....it was highly recommended by my mom....i started it, liked it, but not enough to read it all....put it aside, picked it up again a few months later, did not finish it....finally clicked with me this month.....Still Life by Louise Penny....detective story, this is the 1st book in a series....

Anonymous

Just finished Washington Black (Esi Edugyen, Giller and GG nominee). Not exactly fast-paced and easy, but an interesting read . Also just finished Michael Robotham's latest: The Other Wife. He's a best-selling psych crime/thriller writer, and this was the first one of his I've read. I'd give it a pass. Too many others in this genre that are better written, in my opinion. Another vote for Amor Towles. Read that awhile ago and enjoyed it.

pil

Veteran

kkards, I’m reading the latest book in the Louise Penny series!

Elpgal, Need To Know by Karen Cleveland was a quick read and kept my interest as well. About a female CIA agent who discovers she is married to a Russian asset.
Also The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudors.

Style Fan

Veteran

I am reading The Children's Act by Ian McEwan too. I am also reading An Odyssey by Daniel Mendelsohn. I am really enjoying An Odyssey. Very rich and has many layers. I did read The Odyssey by Homer and this is like a Classics course but there is so much more to the book.
I plan to read Washington Black. I heard about it on the CBC. But I want to finish The Children's Act.

Echo

Veteran

I recently read The Evolution of Desire by David Buss. Excellent book, but nonfiction and not everyone's cup of tea. I read almost exclusively nonfiction.

Runcarla

Veteran

Not exactly fast paced but I re-read an entertaining older biography of Jane Austen by Carole Shields, followed by a very dry biography of the gardener Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. Then I re-read a great book about women gardeners called 'First Ladies of Gardening: Pioneers, Designers and Dreamers.' I'm currently reading 'Planting in a Post-Wild World' by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West. It is weightier than your standard gardening books and gets into a lot of history and philosophy around sustainable development of landscapes.

My yet-to-read pile has the Obama book - 'Becoming', and 'Juliet's Nurse' by Lois Leveen.

Around Christmas I read 'Circe' by Madeline Miller. It is one of the most beautiful books I've read in a long time, and it was hard to put down. I think I stayed up until 3pm the fist day, and finished it on day two. Then I re-read it!

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L'Abeille

Veteran

My latest read was Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. It's about twins in Ethiopia born at a mission hospital who grow up to be surgeons. A fascinating picture of life in Africa and of surgery, a d a thoughtful exploration of what it means to belong (to country, to family). Also made me crave injera.

Kellygirl, you sweet summer child, the last 2 books of A Song of Fire and Ice haven't been written yet. Time for something new!

viva

Veteran

L'abeille, I loved Cutting for Stone! One of my favorites ... and written by a renowned physician and educator at Stanford. I'm not sure what it is that makes some medical men such great writers except a deep interest in humanity (and not just science) must be part of it. I also love Atul Gawande's writing.

Echo, thanks for the recommendation of Evolution of Desire. I need to read more nonfiction. I just heard an interview with the writer of "Say Nothing," an investigation into an IRA murder during "the troubles" and it sounds really good.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

Oh, Circe! Yes. I loved that book too; also read it around the end of last year.

Bonnie

Veteran

I just finished X by Sue Grafton and am now reading Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I rotate between mysteries, classics, and new fiction.

The Cat

Veteran

I try to read (a chapter of) the Bible every day. Not fast-paced. Sometimes entertaining. Always food for thought.

cjh

(website)

Veteran

A few chapters into Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. The writing is lovely and the characters are enchanting me. It’s very engaging and I expect I’ll stick it out, though I didn’t pick up on the fact it’s a mystery before I started, and I don’t usually care for mysteries. Also, it’s written in that flashback style where every other chapter goes back or forward years in time. Not my favorite. At least it’s not written in first person or present tense!

elpgal

Veteran

So many good suggestions! I have several of these on hold. Thank you!

Sara L.

Veteran

Gretchen - I just bought the first book in the Fated Mates series but haven't started it yet. I also bought it because of Sarah MacLean. I don't listen to her podcast but I do follow her on Twitter. I read mostly romance and fantasy with a smattering of more serious stuff. I'm just not in the mood for anything too realistic or angsty right now. There's enough going in the real world that I want to read stuff completely different.

Anonymous

Not fiction, but just started No Meat Athlete. I'm trying to have better eating habits, specifically joining DH in his lower sodium needs, and move away from as much processed food.

Staysfit

Veteran

Like JAileen, I’m reading the Professor Lynley series, mostly because we attend talks by authors sponsored by our Friends of the Central Library program, and Elizabeth George is scheduled to come in the next few months. I am also reading The Lives They Left Behind, Suitcases From a State Hospital Attic by Darby Penney and Peter Stastny, it’s a quick read and very interesting especially if you have any interest in sociology, mental health or history.

I am reading a couple other books but they are professional tomes about my field and education as well. I tend to read several books at the same time, and I read a lot.....

Christina F.

Veteran

I am reading Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett, about 30 years too late. I'm enjoying it, though!

I read a lot of historical romance and mystery novels. I recently read the most recent in the Charles Lenox series by Charles Finch, called The Vanishing Man. Very good, as always. It's a prequel so one could pick it up there with little trouble.

ClaraT

Veteran

I'm reading Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig. Fascinating. Just finished The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lise See and Becoming by Michele Obama. I'd recommend all three!

bella

(website)

Veteran

Thanks for these tips. I just finished the Children Act. I read it super quickly and feel like I've been hit by a bus!
I am now reading The Power by Noami Alderman. And I've placed a hold on Circe at the library. Keep them coming!

DonnaF

Veteran

I listen to a lot of audio books due to a long weekly commute; hope they count as well! I'm currently listening to Ron Chernow's Hamilton, although I also read his 600+ page book as well as saw the musical. Makes me realize I must space out a little as I read, just as I miss stuff when I'm actually (!) concentrating on traffic. The acrimony between the Federalists and Republicans then was no less than what we are seeing now between the Dems and GOP, including the personal (vs. philosophical) attacks. Not sure that makes me feel any better. . .

I am by no means a history buff AT ALL but this really shows how slavery is at the heart of the U.S. and how the South could very well have seceded during Jefferson/Madison/Monroe's time. I can't believe how poorly history was taught in my public schools. . . .

Hamilton is not really light reading, but I also wouldn't say that it's heavy either. I would reserve that for the Federalist Papers and probably anything else Hamilton himself wrote. I am interested in what the Federalist Papers SAY, but I tend to think all I'm up for is a Cliff's Notes version. . .

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