What I Am Reading Now (June 3, 2019)

Hosted by The Book Date

Not here to make excuses, but life, yet again, has disrupted my would be reading time. A short list of those include: a deer, delayed flight, construction projects, puppy, prioritizing, self-motivation (Oops! Now that IS under my control).

So be it.

May I please be excused for is not dolling up this post with linked pictures/descriptions of the books? Some slack here is greatly appreciated.

What I recently finished:

Normal People by Sally Rooney

If you loved Conversations With Friends, which if you haven’t read it yet, drop everything right now and get on it, you will love Rooney’s latest. She is a master of quirky, authentic feeling relationships. The story takes place in Ireland between two teenagers from a small town, one wealthy and the other a housekeeper's son, who know each other though pretend not to…at first. The chemistry between them through the course of their formative and college years then adulthood is palpable. 5-stars all the way!!!

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

I gave it a 3-star rating on Goodreads probably because it was a little draggy for me. It’s about complicated family dynamics, another culture, protecting our children. You know, the stuff that makes you want to read a story. Except, that it felt like a chore. Check out the Goodreads description (Okay, I lied. I added one link)  Maybe “It’s me, not you” kind of thing.

What I am currently reading/rereading:

Ask Again, Yes by Maribeth Keane

This Goodreads description accurately sums up what I know so far:

“A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the friendship between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, and the power of forgiveness.”

Can’t find my Bluetooth earbuds so now the only thing I want to do is sit in my car all day.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

OH YEAH!!!!!!! 

One of my all-time favorite books/authors. I had the great fortune to hear him speak about his more recent A Gentleman in Moscow, which I also loved. He did address writing Rules albeit all too briefly! 

Anyway, he is fascinating!

And I NEVER reread books. Can’t remember the last one I did or where my original copy of Rules of Civility resides although I have a sneaking suspicion. So I picked up a signed paperback at the event and intend to start it tonight. 

Future plans include:

Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

After just receiving it in the mail, I’ll fill you in next week!

That’s it for me! I promise to be fancier next time.

But what about you? What are you reading or planning to read? I am always looking for recommended books from other avid readers.

It's Monday, April 10th! What Are You Reading?: Been a While Edition!

Hosted by The Book Date!

I know time flies, but really? Looking back, I haven’t accounted for my reading since the beginning of March. 

Excuses:

I’ve been on vacation, which you’d think would translate into multiple books finished. Nope. 

I experienced a reading slump. First in a while. 

I wasted precious time I should have spent reading. Can’t get it back so onward…

What have I finished reading?

Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham. I really haven’t enjoyed a Grisham book since his first five and refused to read any since. Until now. This was a fun and carefree listen. I made excuses to wear my earbuds or drive in the car (which I don’t often do…drive, not make excuses). Yay!

The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes. I am a Barnes fan through and through from years back when I read The Sense of an Ending. I LOVED that book (the movie was pretty good and true to the story, by the way)! This was not that. The feeling I got from my first Barnes experience has been elusive. I will not give up on him! I suppose part of the problem was the character names. Russian, and they sounded too similar with just a few consonants or vowels rearranged to form a new name. It caused me to do a lot of unnecessary reviewing. [Did you read Memories of My Melancholy Whores with all the similar Latino names? While I liked that book very much, the character names lead to some confusion here too.] While the subject matter, Russian composers of classical music in the early 1900’s, was somewhat fascinating, these 180 pages just took too long to read. ACK!

What am I currently reading?

I love absolutely everything about what I am currently reading!!! It feels so good and right. I feel at peace and one with myself and my books!

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (of Rules of Civility notoriety and a book I adored). Don’t you just love when a book hooks you from the very first words? [rhetorical question because who doesn’t?] I am one hundred pages in and shirking the days’ responsibilities just to pick it up. It goes everywhere I do.

“When, in 1922, the thirty-year-old Count is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by the Bolshevik tribunal, he is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin.” If he leaves, he will be shot. As his world narrows, he begins forging relationships with others living and working in the hotel while Russian history is being made outside his door. 

Tremendous so far, the writing and storytelling are fabulous!

Edgar and Lucy by Victor Lodato. Loving this book! The author is doing an outstanding job narrating his story. It’s a big book, in theme and size. Check it out on Goodreads for a quick description of it. It's complex. Talk about making excuses to drive! 

I am in the sweet spot right now. If heaven meant books, I’m Cloud Nine.

What will I read next?

A Gentleman in Moscow is for Book Club #2. This time Book Club #1 meets after BC#2, so I have about a week between them to read Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (I loved LaRose). From what I understand, Love Medicine is an experience akin to Olive Kitteridge in that characters thread through separate short stories only in Erdrich style.

But I really need to make some headway on Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett because I have a date with him during the Chicago Humanities Festival on April 30th. 

That’s me! What about you? Tell me what you are reading! I love recommendations!

It's Monday, January 30th (Can You Believe It?)! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Sometimes life gets in the way and severely impacts your discretionary reading time like this past weekend. You, too? No, it’s fine and all good. Important to choose people over books, yes?

What did I finish?

Not a heck of a lot!

Not sure why it took me so long to read its 132 pages. It’s really a one sitting book. Mothering Sunday is the day servants are “allowed” off to visit their families. In this book, Jane, who is a servant for a neighboring estate, has a long-term affair with Paul, the upper-class dude next door who is getting married in two week’s time to a lady in his socio-economic circle and moving to London. It’s about love, lust, loss, class structure, finding oneself, moving on and letting go. I liked it very much and would definitely like to read more from Swift.

What am I currently reading?

This deserves a post of its own, but I have successfully convinced both of my book clubs to read the same book, or one to read a book I’ve already read, four out of the last five times. They usually meet within a week or two of each other. If I had to read separate books, one for each, it would leave me with precious little time to devour something of my very own choosing. Don’t tell them.

I’ve had a copy of this book for months. Both clubs were looking for an “it” pick (a new release everyone is reading, talking about and loving) that contains humor and some crazy. I thought this one would serve multiple (read selfish) purposes.

Within the last year, I’ve been trying to discover a few books from small press publishers. I can’t even remember where or how I came across this book. It’s pretty insane. It is extremely raw, not for the easily offended or faint of heart. The language and subject matter are pretty rough. It’s about addiction and relationships. I am liking it the more time I devote. I’m about halfway and finding myself mentally planning when I can squeeze in a few pages into a busy day. That’s a good sign. I should finish today or tomorrow, so I’ll give my complete assessment next week!

Kan is also the author of The Vegetarian. I chose to take on Human Acts first and I am listening to the audio version. I am about one third of the way through and on the second of what I assume will be many more narrators. It is already so, so dark. It’s going to break my heart, I just know it. Is cruelty part of being human? I think this book with drive us to ask this and many other things.

What am I going to read next?

On February 14th, I am going to be first in line somewhere to buy: 

the long awaited work of fiction by George Saunders!!! You see, I have a date with him on March 2nd, and I would like to discuss it from an intelligent and intimate perspective.

I can’t wait to find out what his favorite word is! (I ask every author if they would include it with their signature. Haven’t yet met one who wouldn’t.)

What are you all reading???

Books: What My Hands Are Touching These Days. Yours?

I have been reading, really, even though I haven’t written a thing about it. Been busy, as I am sure you are, too.

What am I currently reading?

I am reading The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman. I will reserve complete judgement of this book until I am finished (about 75 pages left to go). It’s an often engaging story, actually two separate yet interwined storylines. I am fascinated by lighthouses, and this book is about living on a remote island off the Australian mainland where contact with the rest of the world happens every three months at most. I would love to try living this existence if given the opportunity.

I recently started a book of short stories called The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan. This is what Goodreads has to say about this book:

“An affecting and hope-filled posthumous collection of essays and stories from the talented young Yale graduate whose title essay captured the world's attention in 2012 and turned her into an icon for her generation.

Marina Keegan's star was on the rise when she graduated magna cum laude from Yale in May 2012. She had a play that was to be produced at the New York International Fringe Festival and a job waiting for her at the New Yorker. Tragically, five days after graduation, Marina died in a car crash.”

I am only a few stories in. So far, so very, very good!!!

What did I recently finish?

Yesterday, I finished All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I have quickly become a huge McCarthy fan after reading Children of God (Can you handle creepy? Soon to be a movie!) last year, and, more recently The Road, which I absolutely LOVED! McCarthy’s prose is sparse, yet luscious, and beautiful, yet masculine. You might think that these adjectives used to describe his writing are mutually exclusive, especially “beautiful, yet masculine”, but you’ll understand what I mean if you’ve read anything like these novels. Next McCarthy in line is No Country for Old Men. A book friend somewhat discourged me from reading it saying he recommends it to his “good guy friends”, and, in his experience, women like “romance and sentiment”. I have somewhat masculine tastes in two things, books and my bedding. I will give it a whirl.

What will I read next?

I will probably read An Untamed State by Roxanne Gay, The Vacationers by Emma Straub, or To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris (which I received as a “first read” from Goodreads, and it is already out and I haven’t lived up to my side of the bargain as of yet).

That’s it for my shelves. What are you reading? Enjoying? Hating? Recommending?

WWW.Wednesday: What I Am Doing (Reading) When I Should Be Doing A Million Other Things!

*** Update: The Fall by Albert Camus. Finished, and it was wonderfully written. It's about moral dilemmas, core values, and how someone handles themselves especially when no one is watching, or they aren't held accountable for their behavior. It's about secrets and confessions. I would recommend this book if you like to ponder such topics.

It’s Wednesday again, and I'd like to know how it happened so quickly.

What are you currently reading?

Yikes! It is so unlike me, but I have three books going at once. I need some focus in my life because this is a sign, for me, of a scattered brain.

Halfway through, and the narration is extremely different. We hear only one side of an extended, over the course of many meetings, conversation. I sense a confession coming on.

I have wanted to read this book for a long time, and I can’t wait to find out “the secret”.

Listening to this one. It is one of those novels in which each chapter is told by a different character. It seems, in the audio version, that a different person is reading the chapters, or it is a really good reader disguising his voice extremely well. It is giving each character more definition in my mind, and I like it!

What have you recently finished?

I love Steve Martin. While I really liked this book, I wish it had a little more depth. I did not get to know him as well as I thought/wished I would have. Still a great, and quick, read.

If you liked Quesadillas by Juan Pablo Villalobos, you will also like this. It is just as whacky and fun while hinting at, or flat out describing, the isolated and privileged life of the young child of a Mexican kingpin.

What will you read next?

I am increasingly unsure what will come next (see scattered comment above), but I recently found my old (OLD) copy of this book. 

I should reread it before I send it off to a friend.

Thanks to Should Be Reading for providing book lovers a place to recommend and share the love.

WWW.Wednesday: Books Read In The Sub Zero Midwest

What are you currently reading?

This book came highly recommended from a friend who has a great pulse on what I like to read. I was concerned because it had a slow-ish start and I couldn’t get into a rhythm with Messud’s writing style (probably because I went right from Stoner to it.) I am all in and so hooked. It is extremely intriguing.

What have you recently finished?

This book is beautifully written love story (of people and academia) and sad and tender. So simple yet lovely in every sense of the word. I can’t say enough about it. It’s set at the University of Missouri and spans the course of 50 years of one man’s life.

What will you read next?

This one, if my husband finishes soon. Otherwise, I’ll have to choose something else.

Check out more book lovers’ lists at Should Be Reading.