I read some good books this month-- and some real stinkers (Elizabeth Gilbert I am looking at you. Seriously, I disliked this book so much I stopped following her on IG, even).
My top book this month is, perhaps, my BOOK OF THE YEAR (although there are some excellent reads still to be published this final quarter, and the Booker Prize longlist books are excellent)
Random snap of one week's ambitious TBR (and then I got Katabasis on my kindle and returned the hard copy-- I am getting the hang of my Libby Kindle requests!!)
Here's the list from worst to best:
BAD
All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert: No thank you. **2025
MEH
Tilda Is Visible by Jane Tara: A bit heavy-handed with the metaphor. **2025
The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight: Liked this but did not love it. *Audio **2025
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren: Cute but very very very predictable. **KINDLE
My Friends by Fredrik Backman: I usually love him, but this was too Hallmark movie for me. **2025
The Guncle by Steven Rowley: Liked it so much, I snagged the sequel immediately. But then I listened to one million podcasts instead of it... *Audio
Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin: I liked this, but I would have liked it 100 pages lighter, too. **2025
Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson: YIKES YOU GUYS. *Audio **2025
Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston: This was sweet and sad and cute. I liked it! *2025
You should read these if you haven't already
Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam: This was fascinating and made me want to read everything she's written. *Audio
I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time by Laura Vanderkam: This was terrific-- I loved all of the advice and the reframe. I do have time to do the things that matter to me. If I don't have time, then maybe if was not a real priority. *Audio
I'll Follow You by Charlene Wang: DARK. LOVED IT. **2025 **KINDLE (Amazon First Read-- these are rarely awesome, but this one is).
Life and Art: Essays by Richard Russo: There is a whole essay where he talks about writing Straight Man (my favorite book ever written) and the character of Hank Devereaux (my favorite character in all of literature), and I was RIVETED. **2025
THESE ARE REALLY REALLY GOOD
Maggie; or a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee: THIS IS WONDERFUL. A BOTY contender for sure-- great story, wonderful narrator, funny and sad-- loved it. *KINDLE **2025
Flashlight by Susan Choi: Booker Prize longlist book-- so good. Sad, harrowing funny-- thick. A delight. Not a pool book, though, but that's where I read it. **2025
I'll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman: This is one of the best books I have read this year-- such a simple plot but such wonderful characters. I highly recommend it. (Also the cover was not appealing to me, so I checked it out and didn't read it and then re-requested it and did';t read it and then finally listened to it). *Audio **2025
Stats
BTM 16
Book books: 7
Kindle books: 3
Audio books 6
2025 books: 11
BTY 140
Book books: 79
Kindle books: 9
Audio books: 59
2025 books: 88
Off the Clock is how I was introduced to Laura Vanderkam so, in a way, that book is the reason I have a blog!!!
ReplyDeleteI added a few of these books to my TBR!
Straight Man is such a fantastic book. I am not a writer, but I often think about the scene where he gets the students to play ‘I Know You’ with their characters. So often, if I dislike a book or cannot get on board with something an author has written, it relates to feeling like the author doesn’t truly know the character they have created. It was very illuminating for me in figuring out what I like and don’t like about certain books!
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard anything good about All the Way to the River and it had SO MUCH hype before it came out. Glad I dodged it!
ReplyDeleteI'll Follow You sounds excellent - why don't either of my library systems have it AT ALL?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteI am grudgingly adding Maggie and I'll Come to You to my TBR... they don't sound like my kind of thing At All but your enthusiasm is very persuasive! And I just downloaded Straight Man via Libby -- I have never read it.
Love that you read I'll Follow You and I'll Come to You in the same month.
I really loved Laura's most recent book, Tranquility by Tuesday. I found it very actionable and felt like it brought some "should-be-obvious-but-yet-they-weren't-until-someone-pointed-them-out" things to light for me. Check that one out if you haven't yet!
ReplyDeleteI never comment but MUST direct you to this brilliant thrashing of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book in The New Yorker. Based on your humor and writing I think you’ll love it. https://link.newyorker.com/click/41364123.3129568/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmV3eW9ya2VyLmNvbS9tYWdhemluZS8yMDI1LzA5LzAxL2FsbC10aGUtd2F5LXRvLXRoZS1yaXZlci1sb3ZlLWxvc3MtYW5kLWxpYmVyYXRpb24tZWxpemFiZXRoLWdpbGJlcnQtYm9vay1yZXZpZXc_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
ReplyDeleteThank-you Sara, I loved this.
DeleteOh wow- now I want to know what was so bad about Gilbert's book!!! It's definitely getting a lot of buzz.
ReplyDeleteI'll Come to You does sound really good- my TBR is insane but maybe I'll add that one.
Your BOTY sounds really good. I will look for that one for sure. Someone in my writing group just mentioned Gilbert’s memoir saying that her memoir starts out in a non-memoir way so if Gilbert can do it so can she. (Writing group lady wants to write a memoir and we were explaining that she’s writing more of a family history with a thousand names. She’s an outlier of our group who is not interested in feedback. Good luck with that.) ;)
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