What are you reading the week of May 22, 2021?

This week got away from me. I didn't find any time to read.

I am rereading The Count of Monte Cristo. This book changed me.

Enjoying this audiobook via hoopla ~

Aftermath
by Terri Blackstock

>2 aditis1991: I loved The Count of Monte Cristo! Enjoy your reread! I have wanted to reread it for a long time.

This morning I finished The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and loved it. Now it's back to The Dark Tower by Stephen King until I finish it this time!

I'm also reading a bit here and there of my Early Reviewer, Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll.

>2 aditis1991: "This book changed me."

How so? I'm always interested to hear such stories.

I've read the first 50 pages or so of Tom Wolfe's wildly popular in its day history, The Right Stuff, the story of the men and women who fueled the early U.S. space exploration programs. The book makes very good reading so far, though Wolfe does seem to be in love with his own voice, never using two words when four will do. Well, anyway, I'm glad to be finally reading the book. I knew I'd get to it eventually!

Figure out why I couldn't get "The Summer Girls" by Cassandra King to link. The real title is The Same Sweet Girls. However, I couldn't tolerate more than 60 pages of this book about the "friendship" among six back-biting, snarky, and downright vicious women who, for some incomprehensible reason, are still holding twice-yearly girls' weekends 30 years after college. Phooey.

Just started The Scent of Rain and Lightning, which is shaping up much better.

finished I Thought You Said This Would Work by Ann Garvin. liked it more than i thought i would. next into the mix is Not One of Us by Debbie Herbert. otherwise, still reading The Mists of Avalon and Crooked Kingdom.

I (finally) finished up Between The World and Me, which...wow. It's a good book. It's also a hard book. I would recommend being prepared to be punched in the feelings more than once with this work- it's a testament to Ta-Nehisi Coates's ability that I KNEW what he would be covering with this book in some detail, but it still gutted me when I got there.
I think the next book on deck is something from Discworld...I could use something funny

>8 msemmag: Between the World and Me is the next book on my reading list. I'm glad to hear it reviewed so positively.

I finished The Jigsaw Man, which I recommend if you like detailed, taut crime writing coupled with believable characters. It's a little rough in places, but it's a first novel and to be expected.

Now reading the very disturbing My Dark Vanessa, which looks at the relationship between an English teacher and his fifteen-year old student. It's told from the girl's point of view, and is certainly a different slant on the topic. It's interesting, but I'm feeling quite unsettled by it.

Still working on Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe and American Secret Projects 3. Expect to be starting Fugitive Telemetry this week.

Glad I figured out my weekly plan. Huge variety under the main headings.

Plays:
Finished
Outward Bound - Sutton Vane
Fences - August Wilson
and currently reading
Timon of Athens - Shakespeare
The Piano Lesson - August Wilson

Short fiction, continuing on with:
Lot : stories - Bryan Washington
The Best American Mystery Stories 2020

Weekly mystery
Finished
The A.B.C. Murders - Agatha Christie

Binti: Home – Nnedi Okorafor
Digital audiobook performed by Robin Miles
4****

Book 2 in a marvelous science fiction trilogy. After a year at Oomza University, Binti returns to Earth with her friend Okwu, a Meduse. It has been over a hundred years since a creature of Okwu’s race came to Earth, and it is the first to come in peace. Suspicion and fear, prejudice and gossip make for a less-than-welcoming homecoming for Binti and her friend.

Okorafor is a wonderful storyteller! I love the way she crafts her tale, combining science fiction and traditional mysticism. I also like how she weaves in a message of social justice and against racism. Binti is one strong female lead. Still young, still learning about her powers and what she feels is important, she must face challenges and make choices as few young people are required to do.

I’m looking forward to Book 3, to see how (I’m not even wondering whether) Binti manages to bring peace between warring factions and ensure the future of her people.

FYI … There is a movie titled “Binti” but it has absolutely nothing to do with this series. Not to say anything bad about the existing movie … but I would love to see a film of this trilogy.

Robin Miles does a fantastic job of performing the audio version. I loved the voice she used for Okwu. She really brings this story to life.

NOTE: The title of this book is Home, and it is the second book in the Binti trilogy. But I could not find a touchstone for that title and had to use the series name first in order to get a touchstone.

Quite a Year For Plums – Bailey White
3***

A charming look at the eccentric people who inhabit a small town in Georgia. The novel focuses on this eclectic group: Roger, a plant pathologist specializing in peanuts; Ethel, Roger’s ex-wife; Louise, Ethel’s mother; Eula; Louise’s sister, Ethel’s aunt; Hilma, a retired schoolteacher who taught Ethel; Meade, Hilma’s best friend; Gawain, an old forester; Lewis an ornithologist; Della, a wildlife artists visiting the area to paint local birds; Bruce, a vacationing typographer; Jim Wade, a collector of electric desk fans; and several others.

I’m glad White included a list of characters because I found myself referring to it several times. The story is short on plot and mostly provides various vignettes / scenes that help the reader learn something about these people. Relationships are forged, some are broken, some never quite take off. They like their corner of the world and don’t see a lot of positives about venturing farther afield. They are sometimes not too keen on others coming into their community either. There’s an interesting scene where Meade and Hilma take a welcoming gift to a new family that has moved into a new subdivision. They are appalled that the owner of this “mini-mansion” hasn’t a clue about the natural beauty that surrounds her, and would be happier if she moved to an Atlanta suburb.

I had a hard time getting into the book. That was my problem, I think, rather than the book’s. I usually enjoy these slower, meandering, character-driven works, but it just didn’t quite work for me at this time. It was okay. There was nothing really wrong with it. But I barely remember it just a day after finishing it.

Talking As Fast As I Can – Lauren Graham
Book on CD narrated by the author
3***

SUBTITLE: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls and Everything In Between

Graham is a talented comedic actress with a charming personality. She chronicles her life from birth to her success in television with honesty and occasional self-deprecating humor. As celebrity memoirs goes, this is pretty entertaining.

I watch little TV so have never seen either of her most successful TV series: Gilmore Girls and Parenthood. But listening to her talk about her experiences on these shows, particularly Gilmore Girls, makes me think I may have missed something.

Graham narrates the audio version herself. I can’t imaging anyone else doing a better job. And, YES, she does talk fast!

>5 rocketjk: I loved the movie and have the book on my to read list. Maybe one day I will read it!

>12 BookConcierge: That touchstone issue is super odd- I was rambling about the first book on another thread (it is good!!!) and I was able to find the first book as a singular work (see: Binti)

Finished reading the excellent Garden By The Sea.

Next up for reading is The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford, a longtime fixture in my TBR shelves!

Finished from the library: Katharine Parr, the Sixth Wife by Alison Weir
The 6th and finale in the "Six Tudor Queens" series. The story of Katharine Parr who was twice widowed when she became Henry VIII's 6th wife.
I've enjoyed reading this series!

Finished When All Is Said which tells a life in toasts to the most important people in an old man's life. The reader feels as though they're sitting next to him in the bar. It was engaging and touching.

The Painter
Peter Heller
4/5 stars
Jim Stegner is a famous painter living in Colorado. His life has been marred by the death of his daughter and he can’t keep it together. One night he comes across a man beating a horse which enrages him and he kills the man which sets off an unusual arc for him, one of destruction and one of creative energy. I enjoy Heller’s works- they are never boring!

finished Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. really liked this one. started the next duology: King of Scars.

I finished reading the quite remarkable The Good Soldier.

Next up for reading is the 3rd and final volume of A Dance To The Music Of Time, 3rd Movement by Anthony Powell.

Finished The Scent of Rain and Lightning, which I quite enjoyed. The author loses points for a conclusion which -- while it was a genuine surprise -- really felt forced and unlikely.

Next up is A Secret History of Witches.

Enjoying this YA OverDrive audiobook very much ~

With the Fire on High
Elizabeth Acevedo ~ author/narrator

I listened to over half of Desperation and put it down. First Stephen King novel that I have read that just dragged on and on. Too bad!

Next up for listening is Our Homesick Songs by Emma Hooper.

Finished listening to the disappointing Our Homesick Songs.

Next up for listening is Lullaby Town by Robert Crais.

The Magician's Nephew
C.S. Lewis
Written in 1955, this was not the first book written but one of the last and it is also the first story chronologically. This is a prequel to the series set in 1900 and revolves around 12 year old Digory, Polly Plummer, his friend and his Uncle who has given them magic rings which takes them to the land of Narnia and the beginning of the Narnian world and book series. Never having read the books when I was younger, I enjoyed this and look forward to the rest of the stories.

Finished: To Steal a Heart by Jen Turano
The 1st entry in the Bleeker Street Inquiry Agency series.

Now: The Light at Wyndcliff by Sarah E. Ladd
The #3 and finale in "The Cornwall Novels"

>27 JulieLill: I started with The Magician's Nephew for the "Chronicles of Narnia" series too! I'm glad I did since it set up what was to come in the later books. There are lots of article and debate about the reading order but I didn't let that influence me too much.

The new thread is up over here.

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