What Are We Reading, Page 21

I finished My Year of Meats and really enjoyed it except for the ending which was a little too pat and had some annoying plot holes. I think that the reason I left it to read for so long was because her A Tale for the Time Being was magical realism, which I don't like for some reason. Has anyone read any other Ruth Ozeki that is not magical realism?

Strange that I don't like magical realism because I love fantasy. I'm reading The Everlasting right now.

>1 vwinsloe: happy new thread!
i thoroughly enjoyed My Year of Meats. perfect blend of imperfect human characters and page-turning drama for me. wasn't big on the relationship aspect for Jane, though.

>1 vwinsloe: I've read 4 Ruth Ozeki books and loved them all. I just reread my review of My Year of Meats and find I didn't even mention magical realism, so I could recommend two others that were great- The Book of Form and Emptiness and All Over Creation, but I can't guarantee they're free from the magic.
Speaking of magic, I've started Legendborn, which royallyreading recommended earlier. At first i wasn't sure I'd continue with it since I wasn't feeling particularly interested in YA, but it's grown on me. It's hard to resist a tale of modern secret societies and the Arthurian legend. I find myself reading more and more fantasy, the crazier our real world becomes.

>2 yolklor: Well, I supposed that Jane had to get pregnant somehow if they were going to go with the DES plotline. I really did like it.

>3 Citizenjoyce: Neither of those books seems to be tagged magical realism at least so I'll put them on my wishlist. Thanks.

I'm reading Run Like a Girl: A Memoir of Ambition, Resilience and Fighting for Change by Catherine McKenna

Specific to women authors, I finished Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America by Joy-Ann Reid which I highly recommend. A great and important read. Also finished The Lifted Veil by George Eliot, my first time reading her.

Now I've got the following in progress:

Maru by Bessie Head

There's other non-female authored books finished too but check my profile for those. :)

>6 amdial7: I think that a previous book by Joy-Ann Reid was recommended here a few years back. I'll check this one out.

I'm reading Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

I finished the latest in the Baker Somerset series, a (female) private investigator, based in Ottawa, Ontario. A fun read!

I finished The Everlasting, and am feeling sufficiently uplifted to read We Do Not Part. The Everlasting leaned a little more heavily into romantasy than I like, but the central theme, about myths created to obtain or keep power and empire is very timely.

>10 vwinsloe: Gird your loins for We Do Not Part. It's a killer.

I'm reading The Princess of 72nd Street by Elaine Kraf, part of a series that features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.

>12 LynnB: I read that last month. It gives a good view of her disorder, especially the hypomania. There are times I think it would be great to have so much energy that I wouldn't have to sleep or eat, I was in charge of everything, and I could just go, go, go. But, that's mighty hard on a body.

I finished We Do Not Part which was extraordinary. Now I'm reading a YA book A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking to shake off the persistent echoes.

>14 vwinsloe: I loved A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. It's a great antidote to We Do Not Part.

I'm reading That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones

>16 LynnB: It's inspiring to read about the impact one person can have on the world.
I'm reading A Free Man of Color about New Orleans in the 1820's. I had no idea of the politics and racism at that time in that particular place. There were Whites, Blacks and Colored people, and they were all judgmental of each other. The free Blacks and Colored people knew they were free only as long as they remained in the French areas and knew that if they crossed certain streets they could be captured by the Americans and sold into slavery. The events happen in the lead off to lent so there's lots of parties, dancing, masks, and voodoo.

>17 Citizenjoyce: Such an interesting time and location about which I learned something from Feast of All Saints many years ago.

Finished Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi, my first book by her and truly amazing, and Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, she's always a good read.

Started Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton by Martha Ackmann, who is one of my favorite writers.

>18 vwinsloe: Alas, Libby doesn't have Feast of All Saints on audio. Evidently, it was made into a movie or series, and Libby has that on DVD, but I don't have anything to play it right now. Maybe it will come out on streaming somewhere.
>19 amdial7: I put Ain't Nobody's Fool on hold. There's no audio of Point Zero.
I'm reading Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit which is a bit of a biography of Orwell plus a political history of the times. He loved roses and gardening in general for both their beauty and practicality. I like the ideas expressed by one leftist woman who was derided for liking flowers because they were bourgeois. She stated she wanted a world in which people could fight for and achieve both equality and roses. I guess everything I believe has been thought of before.

>20 Citizenjoyce: Rebecca Solnit's writing is just beautiful. I subscribe to her essay blog, Meditations in an Emergency https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/, and it never fails to hook me.

I'm reading Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

>22 LynnB: I absolutely loved that book, but I may be in the minority.

I've just started By the Fire We Carry, a US indigenous history centered on Oklahoma.

>24 vwinsloe: That looks really good. Please report back.

Finished Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton by Martha Ackmann which was great as all Ackmann books are. She is a wonderful storyteller for the life of an amazing performer/person. I definitely recommend it.

Now onto The Mysterious Death of Katherine Parr: What Really Happened to Henry VIII's Last Queen? by June Woolerton which I'm already three pages into and hooked. Also still working through In A Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu.

>25 amdial7: The Fire We Carry was excellent. In this short readable book, I learned so much about Native American history, how messy it is when a decimated population of people are fighting for their lives, their culture and their land. And, of course, how the colonizers took advantage at every turn. I recommend it to anyone who has an interest.

Now I've moved on to Audition which was on a lot of Best of 2025 critics lists, but not so well loved here on LT, I think.

>23 vwinsloe: I also loved Our Missing Hearts. I've got Audition on the TBR shelves...let me know what you think of it.

I am now reading Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad

>29 LynnB: So glad that you loved Our Missing Hearts. Unfortunately, I didn't think that Audition was entirely successful. It's obvious that Katie Kitamura is very observant and writes about her observations and the feelings of the characters in exquisite detail. I would read her just for that reason. There were several places in the Audition where she made me catch my breath. But in the end, I thought that it was somewhat anticlimactic. I have her previous novel Intimacies on my shelf, and will definitely read it soon.

I've started The Mars House which I hope is good enough to sustain my attention because it is much longer than what I have been reading lately.

I'm reading Mrs. Van Gogh by Caroline Cauchi

I'm reading It's Different This Time by Joss Richard for Canada Reads.

I enjoyed The Gastronomical Me by MFK Fisher which reminds us that in times of strife, we can find happiness in the little things.

I just started A Hymn to Life, and, whew, it's a lot.

35 I agree, A Hymn to Life is an assault on everything we thought we knew about human-woman nature. Despite all her husband had done, Pelicot still clung to the nostalgia of the love they had shared. I tried to appreciate the fact that Gisele Pelicot is one of those women, like Anderson Cooper's mother Gloria Vanderbilt, for whom romantic love is a paramount need. However, finally, when we got to the part where the husband demands that the strangers he had enlisted to rape his wife not wear a condom, that appreciation was strained. She doesn't view him as a monster, but when he admitted that he couldn't watch the videos of the rape in court because he still found them exciting, I couldn't forgo that label. Pelicot is a brave woman who helped rape survivors by allowing the trial to be public so everyone could see just how vicious the rapists were and how callous the judicial system is. She is not the monster, which is the point of the book. But he sure is.
Then, for further monster reading, I undertook Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe by Brooke Nevils, a memoir about her experience with America's Dad, Matt Laur, and what happens when a nobody accuses a big somebody of sexual assault. The memoir part of the book describing her reactions to the assault, which she ascribes to PTSD, is cringeworthy. Like a kicked dog, she kept coming back and placating him. But her research into rape culture is excellent. I always feel bad when a woman who has been traumatized describes her eventual marriage and motherhood in romantic and heavenly terms, as Virginia Giuffre also does in her memoir. That's probably not going to end well, but it does seem to follow the pattern of PTSD. It's another uncomfortable book well worth reading.

>6 amdial7: Thanks for mentioning Medgar and Myrlie - I needed a reminder to pick that one up and read it.
>35 vwinsloe: and >36 Citizenjoyce: Thanks also for the comments on A Hymn to Life - another must read for me.

I recently finished The Happy Foreigner, a Virago Modern Classic by Edith Bagnold (I had no idea she wrote National Velvet). It was quite good - a novel based on the author's own experience as a volunteer driver in France after WW1.

I'm currently reading Shirley by Charlotte Bronte; it's well written and I find the portrayal of Shirley to be really interesting. It's only because she is a single, rich landowner that she gets to act the way she does, which makes the comparison to Caroline, Shirley's friend, all the more compelling (and sad).

Oh, lord, I just read another horrible book. A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar is written in an even more demoralizing style than Octavia Butler's books. It had such a disheartening effect on me that I can't even rate it. I suppose it's well written, and how cheerful can an author be about global warming, political and personal corruption, and rationalization? Mistry Rohinton and Katherine Boo both write devastating books about India, but there is at least an occasional ray of hope. This was a finalist for the National Book Award last year and for the Kirkus prize, so people appreciate the writing, but I don't think I'll be reading another book by her.
On a brighter note, I read Katabasis by R. F. Kuang - science fiction revolving around philosophy and logic, academia, and a journey through hell. I didn't understand it all; philosophy is not my bag, but she does seem to have the same view of logic that I do, that it is frequently silly.
Right now I'm reading The Wandering Queen by Claire Heywood. I don't know any of the mythology around Queen Dido, but so far, there are at least some honorable characters and possibly hopeful situations.

>36 Citizenjoyce: I think that Gisele Pelicot's attitude resonated more with me. She did what she had to in order to move forward, but was not willing to jettison her past. I don't think that her husband was a monster- at least if being a monster is something defined as rare, uncommon or out of the norm. We are seeing more and more the extent to which half the population, steeped in patriarchy, is willing to go to subordinate women. Even in her case, there were 50 men who raped a virtually comatose woman. As we know, Bill Cosby was another famous man who drugged and raped multiple women, and roofies are not uncommon around college campuses. Our society is very, very sick. I have put Unspeakable Things on my wishlist. If women speak up, maybe things will change eventually.

>39 Citizenjoyce: I read Megha Majumdar's first book A Burning and liked it well enough to want to read A Guardian and A Thief on my wishlist. Maybe I will rethink that.

>38 LisaMorr: Shirley sounds interesting. I had not heard of it.

I am right now reading The Blue Castle, another old book that I heard about here.

>40 vwinsloe: You probably won't have the same trouble with A Guardian and A Thief as I did. I seem to have a strong need for the depiction of hope in books.

>42 Citizenjoyce: I'll keep it on my wishlist. Thanks.

I've just finished the excellent Dandelion Daughter by Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay. An intimate portrait of growing up having been assigned the wrong sex at birth. Semi-autobiographical.

>40 vwinsloe: I've been thinking about your statement about Gisele Pelicot's husband, "I don't think that her husband was a monster- at least if being a monster is something defined as rare, uncommon or out of the norm" and the more I think about it, the more upsetting it is. Yes, men seem to have an enormous need for power, but they are still human, they are still mammals. We mammals have an instinct for empathy, stronger in some than in others. In no way can it be considered normal for a person to subject another person, the mother of their children, the person they publicly and privately claim to love, to 10 years of torture with the potential for death. No, no matter our grievance toward men, this action is not normal.
As an antidote to so much exposure to degradation and hopelessness, I've started reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin. There's nothing like stories of natural childbirth to soothe this troubled labor and delivery nurse's soul.

>45 Citizenjoyce: No, not normal but somehow "normalized." It is upsetting to think about the pornography industry which earns billions every year (more than Hollywood, major sports leagues and streaming services combined, according to Google.) And I think that's just legal pornography. I'm not a prude; consenting adults can fly their freak flags as they will, but I keep thinking about what Pelicot's brother, the doctor, said, which was that incest is quite common. It seems that maybe this sex sickness runs in families, and that it has snowballed with each generation until it is just no longer rare.

I'm reading Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion by Gabrielle Blair

>47 LynnB: That's such a great book. I'm always impressed when religious people write realistically.

When I find an author whose writing really works for me, I tend to seek out everything that they have written. Currently, it's Lily Brooks-Dalton's first novel Good Morning, Midnight.

I'm reading Semi Detached by Cynthia Holz

>45 Citizenjoyce: thinking of our discussion today when I saw the CNN report about the "online rape academy" which got 62 million attendees globally.

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2026/03/world/expose-rape-assault-online-vis-int...

I just read The inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir, a novella based on her real-life friendship with Zaza. As well as being a moving account of female friendship, it's also an angry examination of the forces of family, society and religion that seek to constrict women's lives and thoughts. Well worth reading.

I'm now reading The Abbess of Crewe by Muriel Spark, her unique take on Watergate which moves the action to a convent!

I'm reading How It Works Out by Myriam Lacroix

>52 Sakerfalcon: I didn't know that Simone de Beauvoir wrote fiction. I'm adding that to my wishlist. Thanks.

>51 vwinsloe: Absolutely sickening!

>55 Citizenjoyce: there was also this German investigation which did not get as much notice at the time.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/telegram-rape-chat-groups-70-142422399.html

It is shocking and horrifying, but I am glad that this is being made public.

I'm working my way through N.K. Jemison's collection of short stories, How Long Til Black Future Month?. She's just so brilliant.

Currently on The Six Loves of James I by Gareth Russell which is excellent and Dominion by Addie E. Citchens which is also excellent. Some great reads in my hands right now.

I finished Shirley and am now reading Agnes Grey by her sister, Anne Bronte. What I have found quite interesting is that Charlotte's interpretation and representation of her sisters after their death is not what others thought of them (and possibly not what they thought of themselves); it shouldn't be surprising to me - I just didn't expect it.

Since I liked French Braid, I decided to read Three Days in June. Quite a contrast in tone between the two, but I immediately noticed a plot similarity in the form of a cat that needs adopting.

I'm reading The Dressmakers of London by Julia Kelly

In my need to read something that makes me feel better about life, I just finished Lady Like by Mackenzi Lee. It's a saphic regency romance that hit the spot. I have to think good is possible in the world even if it's fantasy. She does have an afterward talking about gay women of the time. Sometimes people make it. Now I'm reading Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden about the dissolution of her "perfect" marriage. Burden's grandmother was Babe Paley, one of Truman Capote's "Swans". That's the level of society she comes from, and the culture of women as subservient on a grand scale. Her mother broke this pattern, but she and her husband decided she should devote herself to being a "good" motherr. She is intelligent, well educated, and rich, and voluntarily gave all her power to her husband who, of course, left her. I'm about 2/3 through, so I don't know how it ends, but she did get the last laugh by writing a book about it. Have you seen that cartoon that came out around the time that Tara Westover's book Educated was becoming so popular? It has two older people talking, and the mom said something like, "If we'd known she'd become a writer, we might have done things differently." Yup.

I'm retreating to high fantasy with Among the Burning Flowers, the newest entry in The Roots of Chaos series. It's a much shorter book than the previous two, and, for a change, I fear that it will not be long enough.

>62 Citizenjoyce: I haven't seen that cartoon, but that's a great quote.

I enjoyed The Dressmakers of London by Julia Kelly. A bit light for my taste, but a good story nonetheless.

I finished Among the Burning Flowers which read like portions that were edited out of The Priory of the Orange Tree. That's okay, I guess, but I expected a prequel.

Then I moved on to This is How You Lose the Time War which is speculative fiction told in an epistolary form, written in a collaboration between male and female authors. I couldn't help but admire it, but it was positively Shakespearean in its romanticism which is not something that I enjoy these days.

Now I'm reading an author who I have enjoyed in the past, and maybe this one will be a hit? It's Once There Were Wolves, and the writing does resonate with me, let's see if the story does.

>65 vwinsloe: I started This is How You Lose the Time War but couldn't get into it. I loved Migrations but thought Once There Were Wolves was just ok.
I just finished a book that contains about 400 different ideas, Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird. It's historical fiction about the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, politics, nursing, friendship, psychopaths, conmen, and sexuality, all wrapped up in a story about marathon dancing. We all know about marathon dancing from watching The Shoot Horses, Don't They?, but this is a different take. People were desperate and starving during the depression. Marathon dancing was very hard on them, but while they were dancing, they did get enough to eat, a place to stay, and hope. There wasn't much to hope for at the time. I got pretty upset with the main character at times for her bad choices and weird reactions, but I think the book as a whole works. At least, it did for me.

I'm reading a bunch of short stories of a gothic or mystery theme by Amelia B. Edwards from the 19th century. Most of them are very good.

>67 amdial7: She looks interesting, and Libby has her on audio.

>68 Citizenjoyce: I recently read her Wikipedia entry and she had a very adventurous life. There is this compilation of some of her short stories The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Amelia B. Edwards by Amelia B. Edwards

I'm reading Hope and Despair: My Struggle to Free My Husband Maher Arar by Monia Mazigh

>69 amdial7: Libby doesn't have that one on audio, but it does have The Phantom Coach, The Four-Fifteen Express, and Was It an Illusion.

>66 Citizenjoyce: Charlotte McConaghy seems to have hopping around genres for sometime now. Looks like she started as a YA fantasy author, then went to adult dystopian with Migrations, Once There Were Wolves seems to be a mystery, and Wild Dark Shore was a thriller. I definitely like her writing style and the recurrent themes that seem to show up in all of her last three books, but I am not a fan of the mystery and thriller genres. I'm not sure why she is doing that, but alas, a girl's gotta eat, I suppose.

Starting today Gloria Don't Speak by Lucy Apps. Two pages in and I'm already hooked.

>72 vwinsloe: I guess writing is like being a musician. You love your art so much that you want to explore it in various forms. Some of Joyce Carol Oats work fascinates me, and other books don't appeal at all. Stephen King is the same. I imagine Linda Rhonstadt wanted to scream every time she was asked to sing "You're No Good" again. She wanted to move on to other things. Animals like variety, from octopuses to genius humans; we love new things.

I just finished Lovely One, Ketanji Brown Jackson's autobiography. Her life is so full it's hard to breathe while reading it. Have you seen the movie Lucy? That's what I thought of as Jackson optimistically plowed through life, using her big brain, solving problems, and working harder than any one normal person could. Her husband is the same way. If you can stand the whiplash, it's a great book about a great woman. Unfortunately, the first part didn't work for me - her account of her ancestry and childhood was a little too pollyanna and religious for my taste, but once she got to high school, I was with her all the way.

>74 Citizenjoyce: I suppose that you are right, but I think that it is somewhat unusual for writers to change genres completely.

>75 Citizenjoyce: I'll put Lovely One on my list. I probably should have done so already based on her incredible work on the Supreme Court.

>76 vwinsloe: I'm not a big fan of memoirs and autobiographies, but this one is amazing. I don't think it's particularly well written, but the idea that a person can push herself so hard is breathtaking. I've always appreciated a good work ethic and thought mine was maybe a little better than average. Boy, have I been slapped down to the ground by hers.

>77 Citizenjoyce: Sold!

>66 Citizenjoyce: And you were right about Once There Were Wolves. Way too many implausible plot points for me.

>66 Citizenjoyce: >78 vwinsloe: Way too many implausabilities in her latest, Wild Dark Shore too.

>79 LynnB: Thanks for that. I've been debating about whether to read it.
I just finished The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women by Nancy Marie Brown. It starts with the shock many anthropologists expressed when it was found that the Viking Warrior buried with honor and revered for years was found to be female. Brown goes on to discuss other Viking women: Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as the Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. The tired trope that women kept the hearth while the robust men went out conquering and exploring is turned on its head. Both men and women wove. Both men and women baked bread. Both men and women wore jewelry, rode horses, used weapons, and governed. Admitedly, this is pretty dry, as anthropology books often are, but there's lots to learn here.

I finished We Want What We Want by Alix Ohlin

>79 LynnB: I agree that Wild Dark Shore also had some ridiculous plot points. I think that I may be done reading her unless something more like Migrations comes along.

>80 Citizenjoyce: and >81 Cecilturtle: Those both look interesting.

I just finished Gloria Don't Speak by Lucy Apps which was amazing. An incredible first novel which I highly recommend but note you won't want to put it down so plan accordingly.

>83 amdial7: On my list! Thanks.

I just read Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, a book (a good book) by a man about a woman, and I couldn't help but wonder about why a man would do such a thing. Why would a woman, Rainbow Rowell, write books about gay men? Not only are these people not writing from experience, they're writing about experiences they can never have. That brings us back to the discussion of writers departing from their usual genre. Creativity must make demands that those of us who are not artists can't understand. Or does it? I was thinking this morning while I was doing my usual maintenance of my backyard bird sanctuary that I've had a fair amount of varying hobbies in my life: guitar, photography, crochet, fashion, politics, nutrition, exercise, and reading. Most don't last but are temporary diversions. I guess artists need the same diversion, but they get recognized for it.

>85 Citizenjoyce: Authors are not always that successful writing about other genders authentically though. I agree that Brooklyn was brilliant, but I recently read Artemis after seeing the Project Hail Mary film, and, yikes.

I think that it takes a lot of empathy to write from other than personal experience and come off authentically.

Speaking of brilliance, I'm finally reading Travel Light. It's been on my wishlist for a long time, but recently I got an email from Virago Modern Classics saying that they were republishing it with a forward by Samantha Shannon whose book Among the Burning Flowers I read recently. Then as I was reading This Is How You Lose The Time War last week one character recommends Travel Light to the other character, and there was a brief exchange about it.

Funny how sometimes books call to us.

>87 vwinsloe: I have Travel Light tagged fantasy, dragons, and VMC. For the life of me, I can't figure out what VMC stands for. Oh well, it's not on audio.

>88 Citizenjoyce: VMC = Virago Modern Classics.

>87 vwinsloe: I read Travel light some years ago (in a previous Virago edition) and adored it. It deserves to be as famous as The Hobbit. It's a fantastic (in all senses of the word) book.

Here's an article about the book and its author - you should be able to access it if I've shared correctly.

>89 Sakerfalcon: Yes. Thank you! It's another bit of coincidence that, now that I have finished it, I was about to look for material about Travel Light this morning. So you did my work for me.

I'm reading my LTER book, Sounds Like Trouble to Me by Jean Trounstine

I'm reading The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight

>92 LynnB: That one looks like the nice light read that we could all use right now.

I'm reading an anthology of Scottish writers, Scottish Girls About Town which was collated as a projects to support women's charities. I've read most of the stories and, so far, there isn't one that I haven't liked, all in different genres and voices.

I'd read a similar one, Irish Girls About Town which I'd read years ago and had similarly enjoyed.

Just finished Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker which is SOOO good. Gory but sooo good. Seriously.

>95 amdial7: I don't usually read horror (because I am too jaded and fail to be horrified). But that looks really good, and I am putting it on my wishlist. Thanks.

>96 vwinsloe: I highly recommend it.

>95 amdial7:, >96 vwinsloe: I'm just the opposite, I am too easily horrified. I don't know if I could take that.

Something that could be equally horrifying: I'm reading A Hymn to Life: Shame has to Change Sides by Gisele Pelicot.

>99 LynnB: Now that is a horrifying book!

As I cast my eye on my TBR shelves looking for my next read, I finally decided on The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley. It has been sitting on my shelf for the longest time of any book by a woman author, and I decided to read it despite the unattractive cover with holes punched in it and the overused title type. I remember nothing about this book; where I acquired it and why.

I took off the dust jacket and underneath was a beautiful hemispheric astrology map on the cover, that apparently was supposed to show through the holes punched in the jacket. When I turned to the title page, I saw that it had been signed by the author, and in the upper right corner there is a stamp in purple ink of a whale blowing with the author's last name incorporated in the design.

Reading a little further, I saw that Hannah Tinti is local to me, and that the novel is set in a fictional town near me. So I guess that is why I acquired it. I'm about 2/3 of the way through reading it now, and I am really happy that I did. The book is structured so that it goes back and forth in time, with the current day story centering a girl/young woman who lives with her widowed father. The narrative in the past unveils how the girl's father got the 12 bullet hole scars on his body, as well as the cause of her mother's death. It is revealed that the father is a criminal who did various courier jobs for a mob boss.

I don't know how it will end, but I would recommend this book just on what I have read so far. It seems to have gotten some critical acclaim when it was published, but I wonder whether people found the cover and the title to be off putting. They certainly did not go with the novel as far as I can see, since the girl was interested in astronomy not astrology, and her father was shot 12 times but did not lead 12 different lives?

>101 vwinsloe: What a nice find on your shelves!

Just got back from vacation and got some reading in - I finished Agnes Grey which was good but wrapped up a little too neatly in the end.

I also read The Brimming Cup by Dorothy Canfield, a Virago Modern Classic sitting on my shelves for way too long. I hadn't heard of Canfield before, but she has 57 works listed on LT! Ostensibly about a rural Vermont homemaker, it turns out to be a really interesting look into the interior monologues of the main characters (and a lot of the lesser characters), with the main storyline about how the main character deals with an aggressive visitor who tries to convince her to run away with him, right under her husband's nose. In many ways, I found it unbelievable that this really happens (I never thought I was sheltered or inexperienced); I was discussing it with my partner, and he said that yeah, he knew guys like the one described in the book. I really liked how the main character worked through the issues.

I also read Lessons in Chemistry; a gift from a friend, I was a bit hesitant to read it after seeing some conflicting reviews. In the end, it's not that far off from a lot of what I experienced as a chemical engineer. I didn't really appreciate the deus ex machina ending, but all in all, I liked the book.

And just started I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and The House on the Strand by Daphne Du Maurier.

I'm reading Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan

>102 LisaMorr: Well, perhaps not as exciting as I thought. I finished it last night, and the last third of the book devolved into a thriller with more violence. The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley did have a lot going for it up until then though.

>103 LisaMorr: Ha! I thought I recognized Dorothy Canfield's name. She wrote Understood Betsy which was one of my absolute favorite childhood books.

>106 vwinsloe: The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley sounds interesting enough to me to give it a try!

Funny that Dorothy Canfield completely passed me by as a kid.

>107 LisaMorr: I'm quite certain that Understood Betsy was a Scholastic books offering. I loaded up on them during school book fairs.

Good luck with The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley. There's a lot to like there.

>108 vwinsloe: I loooooved the school book fairs!

I missed Dorothy Canfield when I was a child, but I read Understood Betsy this year and loved it.
I also missed Are You There, God, It's Me, Margaret and never wanted to read it, thinking it was just Christian pap. I read it this month as part of a challenge and loved it. I see why it's on the right's banned book list, because it indicates that children should have options in what they believe and how they live their lives. It also gives expression to the view that having those options is difficult. I would put it on the required reading list instead.

>110 Citizenjoyce: I have not read Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret, although it does land in my Little Free Library every once in a while. Next time, I'll read it!

>111 vwinsloe: I bet you'll love it.

>112 Citizenjoyce: I read that one back in the day and definitely loved it - it's infuriating that it's banned in some places...

I'm reading Finding Flora by Elinor Florence

>114 LynnB: That looks very good. Unfortunately, Libby doesn't have anything by Elinor Florence.

I'm reading What You are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

>116 LynnB: I really enjoyed reading that book.

I just finished Beautyland. I wish that I had known more about it before reading it, because I was really bewildered at first. I had seen the title mentioned positively several times, and then found the book shelved with science fiction in the used bookstore. Despite the fact that the protagonist (Adina) believes herself to be an alien, I understood her to be a human born in the late 1970s before neurodivergent conditions were diagnosed and treated. Adina's observations of the human condition were entertaining, but in the end, I found the novel to be very sad.

I'm reading Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

The illustrations are really magical
Ornithography by Jessica Roux

In the last month, I've read some books I loved, and one that didn't do much for me - I'll start with that one. Sarah Isgur is a conservative republican, a brilliant Harvard Law School graduate, and a proud and prominent member of the Federalist Society. I heard her on the Ezra Klein show, so thought I would enjoy her latest book, Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today's Supreme Court. Silly me. She worked in the first trump administration but was fired. She's not MAGA, but she is very conservative, which viewpoint is reflected in the book. She gives great information about the formation, structure, and working of the court, but puts the usual conservative spin on it. The court hasn't turned over as many precedents as other courts (mentioning the fact that it hasn't heard as many cases as other courts but not relating that to the number of precedents overturned.) There's lots of Obama and Biden did the same thing as trump. What to me stood out the most was her assessment of the justices. She loves Bret Kavanaugh and portrays him as brilliant, friendly, caring, and community-involved. She says Christine Blasey Ford couldn't get her accusations straight. Probably something bad happened to her, but it had nothing to do with Kavanaugh. Gorssuch, also brilliant, insists that the words of the Constitution mean exactly what they said when they were written, no more. If his decisions lead to terrible consequences, well, that's not his problem. If the country wants laws changed, then get Congress to do it. She mentions this several times, yet Congress has passed laws, such as the Voting Rights Act, that the justices have no trouble demolishing. Justice Alito, friendly guy that he is, loves his wife, who is fond of flags, but he doesn't care about them and doesn't want to tell her what to do. And my favorite, Clarence Thomas was raised poor and Black; he has taken some very nice vacations from his friends, but they all have. He's very perceptive and is the justice she would most like to have as a mentor. And by the way, did she mention that he was raised poor and Black? Isgur is probably the most intelligent person any of us would ever meet. What a pity that she is blinded by her party.
Now for books I liked. The Keeper by Tana French the last in the Cal Hooper trilogy. I was disappointed when I started the first one because I so loved her Dublin Murder Squad series and didn't want her to write a book about a man. Of course, she can do no wrong, and it's perfect.
I would have sworn A Far-flung Life by M.L. Stedman was written by a man, it just feels like it. But no, it's written by a woman who prefers to keep her private life private. This is a family saga about Australia and captures the spirit of the country through great characterization.
Cinder House by Freya Marske is a retelling of Cinderella as a ghost story. Very clever and engaging.
The Astral Library by Kate Quinn is a fantasy by the great historical fiction author of The Rose Code and The Alice Network. It's full of adventure, magic, books, and fashion, and the heroine is a size 22. You don't read that very often.
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 - 3 (there are 2 more I haven't got to yet) by Beth Brower are novels in journal form about Victorian England. Emma Lion is such a strong, resourceful woman, it was hard for me to leave before finishing them all, but so many books, so little time.
Lastly, I re-read Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See for my real-life book club. This is reminiscent of Snowflower and the Secret Fan, an all-time favorite of mine, so has Chinese history, foot binding, the misogyny of Confucianism, and ancient medicine. During the club discussion, one of the women said how much she didn't like the book because she thought we shouldn't be talking about such disturbing things as foot binding in such detail. Oh well, these days I tend to think I don't want to hear one more disturbing piece of political news, so I guess I can sympathize with her.

>120 Cecilturtle: That Hidden Languages series all looks very interesting!

>121 Citizenjoyce: I wouldn't be able to read Last Branch Standing without my hair catching fire.

I haven't had enough coffee yet so I was intrigued that Tana French was writing about Maine. But it looks like you have the wrong touchstone there. I still haven't read anything by her yet.

I will definitely check out the rest of the books that you liked. And, yes, Lady Tan's Circle of Women is that good. I have an Asian friend who loves Chinese costume dramas, and I gave her Lady Tan to read. She called and literally begged me to tell her whether Lady Tan had a son. She just couldn't stand the tension.

>122 vwinsloe: I was definitely tempted to pick up the one on flowers too :)

Just finished The Edwardian Lady: The Story of Edith Holden, Author of the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady
by Ina Taylor by Ina Taylor which has wondering drawings by Holden.

Also reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver which is so good and very hard to put down. And I'm listening to Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi narrated by Adjoa Andoh and it is incredible. Don't read it, listen to it as Andoh has brought Cleopatra back to life!

>120 Cecilturtle: Bird lore and symbolism looks great.
>124 amdial7: Demon Copperhead is such a hit, but I have no interest in reading about addicts, they're so predictable, and it's everyone else's fault. I just finished The Conditions of Will by Jessa Hastings about a horribly dysfunctional family (one of my least favorite tropes). The main character, Georgia, is a body language expert, a modern day psychological Sherlock Holmes and martyr to her brother, Oliver who is an alcoholic. And boy, is he an alcoholic. And boy is she a martyr. It's enough to make you want to throttle one of them, but I still found both more appealing than the characters in Demon Copperhead. The Cleopatra book looks great, though.
>122 vwinsloe: Ha, French does go out of her comfort zone in writing The Keeper, but not all the way to Maine. Here's a great interview with her https://www.google.com/search?q=cal+hooper+trilogy&rlz=1C1HKFL_enUS1210US121...
in which she compares the Cal Hooper series to an American Western, but she sets it in western Ireland. A stranger comes into a small, isolated town and changes things. That's Cal Hooper, no wonder I liked the series so much. If you think you might want to read the series, it's best not to listen to the interview because she gives away a rather large secret from the first book.

>124 amdial7: I liked Demon Copperhead. Barbara Kingsolver's writing is superb as always, but I liked the plot because it gave a vivid illustration of the real villains that I read about in a nonfiction book by a man, Empire of Pain.

>125 Citizenjoyce: I do still have a copy of In the Woods sitting on my TBR. Someday maybe? I don't know what series that's a part of, but I should look it up.

I'm reading Secret Son by Laila Lalami