M’s Comments (group member since May 31, 2022)

M’s comments from the 2025 Reading Challenge group.

This popped up on a recommended list after I read (and really enjoyed) another book about death All the Living and the Dead last year.
My copy is due back to the library on the 8th and since I tend to read non-fiction a little slower than normal, I plan to crack into this one this weekend. Although it's quite short so maybe it'll be so good I'll blow right through it! :) Here's hoping.

Thanks for joining SarahKat :)
I've had this book on my list for yeeaars but never got to it simply because I wanted to read this in the month of April and I always ran outta month.
I know there's a podcast that's connected to this novel too but I've never listened to it or read this author before.

I'll start tonight!

Thank you SarahKat!
Not sure if it matters much but in the O Caledonia thread it's just myself and Beth :)

I'm so excited to revisit this and even more so to see so many wanting to join in. I read this in 2023 and I was enraptured from beginning to end.
I hope you all love it as much as I do!

I'm currently reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell from the same author and it's been a very lackluster read so far :(

From the synopsis, this wouldn't be a book I'd normally pick up but everyone's high praise here is telling me I might need to look for this one! Has anyone watched the movie (or is it a show?) on Netflix also?

I'd like to join Wild Dark Shore please.
Suggesting All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall for June

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle

Sorry Lina! Not sure how I missed your comment last week.

I made it just over 600 pages and I'm giving this a hard eye roll and calling it a DNF.
I was on the fence to DNF a few hundred pages ago when they (view spoiler)[blew up the dog (hide spoiler)] but in Book 2, Chapter 14....(view spoiler)[ Tengo and Fuka-Eri "becoming one" gag me - just gross. (hide spoiler)]
I'm just so over every single damn chapter talking about a woman's body, her breasts, erections, sex (abuse, rape) I just cannot.
I'm also frustrated because I genuinely would like to know how the story ends but I'm not going to waste more time hate reading this any longer, haha.

Sorry to leave you reader friend. If you make it to the end, I hope your experience with it is a better one than mine :)

Ya know, I couldn't quite put this down. I started slowly, just a chapter or two, the mood didn't feel quite right so I left it for a few days. But then, some 40-50 pages later and I knew this was going to be a favorite and I wasn't going to move on until it was over.
I really enjoyed this book! For years I've wanted to read this but for one reason or another, I never picked it up.
(view spoiler)[I was wrong about Eve but I also wasn't. While I appreciated that she turned Tinker down, my annoyance wasn't lessened when she up and left to go west. She was messy and in the end I'm glad there was separation between her and Kate. Same with Tinker. I felt for him just a touch when we learn about his true self/situation but he still wasn't the one for our girl. It was no surprise to me that he was in a thing with Anne.
Wallace = sad :( oh what could have been. (hide spoiler)]

I look forward to reading this again one day so I can highlight the crap out of it on my kindle.

“In our twenties, when there is still so much time ahead of us, time that seems ample for a hundred indecisions, for a hundred visions and revisions—we draw a card, and we must decide right then and there whether to keep that card and discard the next, or discard the first card and keep the second. And before we know it, the deck has been played out and the decisions we have just made will shape our lives for decades to come.”

I'm at Chapter 16 (page 200) and I may just stay up tonight to finish this one. I'm enjoying it quite a bit even though I'm not finding it as charming as A Gentleman in Moscow. There's something about Towles writing that I find very relaxing!
(view spoiler)[Eve and Tinker together annoys me. I can't imagine that he had/has genuine feelings for her but is taking care of her only out of guilt because he was driving and or a sense of duty after the accident. I'm equally as annoyed that Eve acts like she won his affection when to me, it feels like she's manipulated him completely.
I'm glad that Kate is finally making moves with her career, meeting people and I'd like her to forget about Tinker and move on wholly with Wallace. (hide spoiler)]

Pairing my reading experience with this little video on repeat to set the mood :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA1W0...

Suggesting for April only (because I'll have to take it back to the library) From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty

No worries at all LinaVer. Hope you had fun with the readathon!
I've been in the slumpiest of slumps so I'm very slowly making my way through this one :)
Happy to have you join along!

I'd like to second The Fifth Season

I'd like to suggest The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult for May or June

This book has been sitting on my shelf for ages so I'm looking forward to finally reading it! Thank you for joining me.
I read A Gentleman in Moscow early last year and really enjoyed it. I thought it was completely charming and even watched the show afterwards.
My local forecast says we're expecting rain this weekend so I'm planning on getting into this one on the 1st while the pups and I are stuck inside.
Gosh, I can't believe it's March already!

Happy reading friends :)

Hi Roop, thanks for joining :)
I'm making my way slowly as well but I find our characters to be intriguing so I'm enjoying the story despite the slow pace so far.
Have you read this author before?

I'd like to nominate The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf & the Game of Life by Steven Pressfield

Connection to the theme is in the title and we're reading about a game of golf :)

This was one of my absolute favorite movies some 25+ years ago and I've always wanted to read the book!

I'd like to suggest Rabbits by Terry Miles for April or May

I've had this massive copy on my bookshelf for a few years now and I'm tired of letting it intimidate me.
I read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle last year and overall liked it. It was strange, dull at times then completely riveting, downright violent but beautifully written....it was a lot, haha.
I'm itching to feel that again and I think this one's going to be an even stranger experience.

Suggesting for March or April O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker