What are you reading the week of July 4, 2020?

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What are you reading the week of July 4, 2020?

1fredbacon
Lug 4, 2020, 2:12 am

I was confused about the day of the week. I almost forgot this! I'm still plugging away at my Immunology textbook. It's probably going to take me until mid August to finish it.

I'm also reading The Two-Penny Bar by Georges Simenon. Inspector Maigret makes a pleasant summer companion.

Have a happy Fourth of July! If you have a dog, I hope he/she isn't too frightened by the celebration. A couple of years ago, my dog stood up and tried to push me back inside through the patio door to save me from the fireworks. Now he is resigned to my daredevil recklessness. He abandons me to my fate and hides under the bed.

2Gurdeesh.Kaur.Sethi
Modificato: Lug 5, 2020, 11:03 am

Questo messaggio è stato cancellato dall'autore.

3rocketjk
Lug 4, 2020, 10:53 am

Greetings!

>1 fredbacon: I've read one Inspector Maigret mystery and very much enjoyed it, although I read the last chapter three times and still didn't fully understand the ending!

I've just begun An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. This novel has been held high in many an LTer's estimation and already about 35 pages in I can see why. It's fun to read a relatively recent novel for a change, and Jones and this book also appear on most of the "Books by current African American authors" lists I've seen. That's to the good, as well. I think I'll be reading this novel pretty quickly. Not that the book is a light, fast read, by any stretch, but that, like most avid readers, I get pulled in by really good prose.

4PaperbackPirate
Lug 4, 2020, 1:49 pm

>1 fredbacon: Yes, for one of my dogs it's the least favorite day of the year! Thundershirt and sedatives are on the agenda for tonight! Happy 4th to you and everyone celebrating!

I'm the last one to read A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. My friends assure me I'll love it, but it's super sad so far. However I did laugh out loud once about halfway through.

6hemlokgang
Lug 4, 2020, 4:35 pm

shameless plug.....all my reviews are on Instagram #hearditfromferd

If this is against rules let me know and I will immediately delete!

7Gurdeesh.Kaur.Sethi
Modificato: Lug 5, 2020, 11:03 am

Questo messaggio è stato cancellato dall'autore.

8hemlokgang
Modificato: Lug 5, 2020, 4:50 am

I JUST finished listening to a very goid suspense novel, Memory Man.

Next up for listening is My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.

9seitherin
Lug 5, 2020, 9:30 am

Finished The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey. Really enjoyed it.

Added Absolution by Murder by Peter Tremayne to my reading rotation.

10LisaMorr
Lug 5, 2020, 2:46 pm

I finished The Invention of the White Race Volume 1: Racial Oppression and Social Control by Theodore W. Allen yesterday. He poses a really interesting question - did racism cause slavery or did slavery cause racism and then spends most of Volume 1 making his case by describing how the English treated the Irish(!). It wasn't that easy to read, with a lot of terms I had to look up, along with details of Irish history, and with lots of footnotes and 14 appendices. Still, I learned a lot and I am interested in how he it brings it all together in Volume 2.

Continuing with The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, which is very good so far, and Deep Rivers, by Peruvian author Jose Maria Arguedas.

11PaperbackPirate
Lug 5, 2020, 4:14 pm

>6 hemlokgang: I'm a Bookstagrammer too! PaperbackPirate on there too, just started following you!

12JulieLill
Lug 5, 2020, 4:21 pm

The Girls
Emma Cline
4/5 stars
Set in the late 60’s in California, we find Evie, whose parents are divorcing, lonely and without friends. Seeing a group of girls in the park, she meets Suzanne who invites her back to the ranch to hang out with the others that live there. She soon meets Russell, the enigmatic leader of the group and she finds herself being drawn in. Loosely based on Charles Manson’s cult, this story really draws you in right away. Well done!

13LyndaInOregon
Lug 6, 2020, 12:37 am

Just finished Elephant Speak by Melissa Crandall, which I won from the June Early Review batch. Very good book -- I whipped through it in a day.

Full review is over here: http://www.librarything.com/work/24698601/reviews/185952976

14Erick_Tubil
Lug 6, 2020, 2:37 am



I have just finished reading the novel These Foolish Things by author Deborah Moggach.

.

15snash
Lug 6, 2020, 11:16 am

I finished Henry IV: The Righteous King, a measured, well researched biography of the often overlooked King Henry IV. Despite the large cast of characters and complicated politics, it was very readable and clear.

16seitherin
Lug 6, 2020, 6:41 pm

Finished R is For Ricochet by Sue Grafton. Really enjoyed it.

Added The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon to my rotation.

17aussieh
Lug 7, 2020, 1:05 am

18LyndaInOregon
Lug 7, 2020, 1:26 am

Just bailed out of a convoluted "thriller", The Da Vinci Legacy, when the hero set fire to a puddle of diesel fuel by throwing a match into it.

Nope. Doesn't work that way. (Nor do most renowned magazine writers cart a pistol around in their purse and calmly use it to dispatch a bad guy.)

The thing just kept getting sillier and sillier, and already had more plot noodles than a bucket of Top Ramen.

Will take another stroll up Mt. TBR in the morning.

21cindydavid4
Modificato: Lug 7, 2020, 3:38 pm

>18 LyndaInOregon: wait is that a sequel to davinci code? Was not a fan of it but read it fir a reading group. I can't imagine going through another and I love the"more noodles than a bucket of Top Ramen." think I'l skip that one!

22LyndaInOregon
Lug 7, 2020, 8:00 pm

>21 cindydavid4:
Noopity, noop noop noop. Not a sequel to The Da Vinci Code. More like a wannabe imitator. (There's a scene where a world-renowned scholar is violently killed and scrawls a clue in his own blood.* Sound familiar?)

Feel free to skip it.

There's apparently a collection of Da Vinci notes that has just been sold to a collector (the hero's boss) but some pages are missing. That's what the hero starts out looking for, but things rapidly spiral into various factions killing each other for whatever reason. (I didn't get that far.) The missing pages are thought to be plans for some kind of super-weapon which, like the helicopter, is now a workable device but couldn't have been built in Da Vinci's time because the underlying technology wasn't in place.

Bought this paperback at the library book sale, so I don't have much invested in it!

Da Vinci remains a fascinating historical character, but he deserves more than to be used as the springboard for poorly-written "thrillers".

*Ya know, when reading The Da Vinci Code, I thought to myself, "Self, if somebody murdered me and I had 30 seconds to leave a clue, I think it would be the killer's name -- not a polyalphabetic cypher that would lead to the killer's favorite song."

23aussieh
Lug 7, 2020, 8:04 pm

I am about to start on No Middle Name by Lee Child a collection of short stories. It will be my first taste of this author.

24LyndaInOregon
Lug 7, 2020, 11:00 pm

Just slipped in a re-read of Things I Learned from Knitting as a "palate cleanser" after bailing out of a "thriller" that was just silly. (See post 18 if you want the gory details.)

I'm a knitter, and love Pearl-McPhee's breezy and lighthearted commentary about the craft.

Housebroken is up next.

25cindydavid4
Lug 7, 2020, 11:42 pm

I love that her name is Pearl :)

Housekeeping is amazing, but I prefer Gilead as there is more story to it. but ymmv

26BookConcierge
Lug 8, 2020, 9:15 am


Virgil Wander – Leif Enger
Audiobook performed by MacLeod Andrews.
4****

The title character, Virgil Wander, is a small-town cinema owner (and town clerk), who survives an accident on a snowy night when his car breaks through a barrier and “flies” off a bridge into frigid Lake Superior. When he awakes in the hospital, he’s told he has some “minor brain injury” and his memory is somewhat affected. Slowly he begins to piece together his personal history, as well as that of the town in which he lives – a former mining town, now struggling along after one hard-luck event after another. He’s helped – or hindered – in his recovery by a cast of interesting people: among them the town beauty Nadine, an old Norwegian who constructs and flies elaborate kites, a young boy after a legendary giant sturgeon, a depressed handyman who never seems to have the tools he needs, and a prodigal son returned to town with big-city connections and plans to revive the town’s economy.

I love character-driven novels and this one perfectly fits the bill. I love Enger’s way with words, the way he paints the landscape and draws his characters who so perfectly fit the scenario he gives us. Enger’s town is small, but the people in it are larger than life. There is a spirituality, or mysticism about Enger’s story-telling that captures my attention as well. In his recovery, Virgil spends a lot of time thinking and reflecting – on life, on the town, on love, on death, on friendship. He feels he is a changed man and refers to his pre-accident self as “the previous tenant.” Virgil seems to be more open now – to possibilities, to enjoying life, to finding love.

There are moments of humor and tenderness, and some evil and tragedy as well. All the elements of any life – the life of a person or of a town. However, the overall feeling is one of hope and resilience and of looking forward to the future, whatever it may bring.

MacLeod Andrews does a marvelous job performing the audio edition. He uses a Minnesota accent that sounds spot on to this Wisconsin resident.

27Molly3028
Lug 8, 2020, 4:03 pm

The Last Flight: A Novel
by Julie Clark
(Audible)

28rocketjk
Lug 8, 2020, 5:50 pm

I finished the wonderful novel, An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones. My review is on my 50-Book Challenge thread. Next up for me will be Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir edited by Alan D. Gaff, a recent birthday present from my darling wife.

29snash
Lug 9, 2020, 1:20 pm

I finished Thousand Cranes, a book by the Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata is about a bachelor who was entangled by his dead father's mistresses. I'm quite sure that the book contained a great deal of symbolism and deeper meanings but it escaped me.

30LyndaInOregon
Lug 9, 2020, 1:49 pm

Just finished Housebroken and loved it. Notaro is kind of the anti-Bombeck -- she still finds humor in the frustrations and challenges of domestic life, but approaches it with a much more "screw-you" attitude.

I really do need to shuffle my TBR stack a bit more, though. The last two reads, and my current read -- Mary Kay Andrews' Save the Date, are all breezy, funny escapes from the gloom & doom that's currently encroaching on us from all directions.

And while I needed that break, I probably should have interspersed some meat & potatoes in between the desserts.

31cindydavid4
Modificato: Lug 10, 2020, 4:30 am

>30 LyndaInOregon: Notaro is kind of the anti-Bombeck -- she still finds humor in the frustrations and challenges of domestic life, but approaches it with a much more "screw-you" attitude.

Oh I love this. Bombeck lived here most of her adult life and at the time I enjoyed reading her books. Sounds like Housebroken is just the thing to enjoy some reality in domestic life humor

32lilisin
Lug 10, 2020, 8:07 am

>29 snash:

Kawabata is a deceptively hard author to read. Despite loving Japanese fiction I never recommend him.

33JulieLill
Lug 10, 2020, 11:21 am

Housebroken sounds fun. Adding to my list!

34nrmay
Lug 10, 2020, 11:35 am

I'm reading We Are Not from Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez

and my audible book right now is
the little French bistro, Nina George

35JulieLill
Lug 10, 2020, 7:21 pm

Allegedly
Tiffany D. Jackson
3.5/5 stars
Mary B. Addison has been sentenced to a group home for allegedly killing a 3 month old baby when she was 9 years old. Her “mother” Dawn Marie Cooper took in Mary as a young child and visits often but her relationship with Dawn is not good. Mary is smart and is ready to move on. She is allowed to work and is assigned to a nursing home where she meets Ted. Unfortunately, she gets pregnant and her dream to work and go to college is hampered by the pregnancy. In the meantime, she has gotten a lawyer to help her in overturning her conviction. Will Mary ever move on with her life and get away from those awful “allegations”? This story is very compelling with a lot of twists and turns.

36BookConcierge
Lug 10, 2020, 8:33 pm


A Rule Against Murder – Louise Penny
Digital audiobook narrated by Ralph Cosham.
3.5***

Book four in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series, set in and around Three Pines, Quebec. Gamache and his wife are celebrating their wedding anniversary at a luxurious inn, in beautiful natural surroundings, not far from Three Pines. The Finney family is also at the inn – for a family reunion. As the heat and humidity rise, so do emotions, and a terrible summer storm leaves behind a dead body.

I love Gamache and the deliberate way he goes about investigating cases. He has his work cut out for him in this one. The method of murder seems impossible. The Finney family may be rich and cultured, but they have their secrets and not everyone is cooperative. I thought the reveal was well done, and I had not guessed the murderer beforehand.

Gamache’s own personal life is always a key subplot, and there is some discord to address here as well.

Ralph Cosham does a find job of narrating the audiobook. His resonant voice is wonderful for Gamache, and he does a respectable job of the women and young child, Bean, as well.

37fredbacon
Lug 11, 2020, 12:25 am

>3 rocketjk: I love the Maigret books. I'm must barely into the series so I haven't yet encountered anything like you describe. I would definitely recommend starting the series. They're a great deal of fun.

38fredbacon
Lug 11, 2020, 12:25 am

The new thread is up over here.