What are you currently reading?

[Natasha]

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Really enjoying it.

[Dafni]

Readings this month - “It’s not okay to feel blue (and other lies)” and “Blonde roots”

[Natasha]

Laidlaw by William McIlvanney, 70s Glaswegian detective novel.

[[deleted user]]

Finished Becoming and now working on A Promised Land - both are wonderful!

[Natasha]

Friend Request by Laura Marshall.

[Breanna]

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

[Anita]

Natasha wrote: "Bit of a challenging start to the new year: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. ..."

This has been on my tbr for... ever. What did you think?

Breanna wrote: "The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett"

Just read that myself recently.

[Natasha]

Anita wrote: "Natasha wrote: "Bit of a challenging start to the new year: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. ..."

This has been on my tbr for... ever. What did you think?"

I really rather enjoyed it, Anita. I didn't think I'd be able to cope with Rand's opinions, but I actually found it fascinating to get into the head of someone so right wing. My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Bruna]

I am currently reading How Beautiful We Were, interesting but not my favorite writing type (not exactly the one that catches my attention for a very long span of time). Got stuck in Naomi Alderman, The Power, it is very good just not my type of book, I dont enjoy this type of fiction a lot.

[Natasha]

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

[Natasha]

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus.

[Lauren]

One Hundred Years of Solitude

[Robin]

Lauren wrote: "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

One of my favorite books of all time!

[Lolo]

I am about to finish: Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage by Rachel Reed.
It combines history, tradition, science, and story to explain the journey of physiological birth.
Its written with the theme of weaving tradition into modern day medical practice to give an understaing of what birth looks like today and why. Its a book about how women can reclaim their birth experience (regardless of if they want a physiological birth or a medical one).
Birth is massively impacted by feminist issues and I loved how this book worked through that history as well as giving inspiration for women to reclaim it (whether they are pregnant women, midwives, doulas or birth professionals).

[Natasha]

The Humans by Matt Haig.

[Stef]

I'm reading The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea and Oh my it is PERFECT!

[Natasha]

Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

[Dafni]

Finishing Midnight Library by Matt Haig and then I have next up in line Thursday Murder Club! ☺️

So far I can say for Midnight Library that it’s based on a very interesting idea of parallel lives/alternative universes; each decision we make in life could lead to a very different future/outcomes. A very light and hopeful read.

[Natasha]

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Crazy stuff. ...

[Natasha]

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman

[Natasha]

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

[Kay]

Natasha wrote: "High Fidelity by Nick Hornby"

Never read Nick Hornby. How is this book?

[Natasha]

Kay wrote: "Never read Nick Hornby. How is this book?"

I really enjoyed About a Boy. I'm enjoying this one too (am a third of the way through). It's lightly humorous and excellent at nailing human foibles and pretenses. But just a tad drawn out.

[CD]

When Women Invented Television: The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today

There's a lot more to this story than Lucy! The history of the TV soaps is wrapped up with women creators. Some emerged from the Radio era of soaps and drove the field. One with her own money, networks wouldn't fund it, created the 30 minute soap opera.

[Natasha]

Playing Nice by J.P. Delaney. After two years, a couple receives the news from a second couple that their babies were accidentally switched at birth.

[Natasha]

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

[CD]

I am about 75 pages into The Dictionary of Lost Words . A good read this far!

[CD]

CD wrote: "I am about 75 pages into The Dictionary of Lost Words . A good read this far!"

I am going to finish this book tonight! This has bee an unexpected surprise! The writing caught my attention and the story has surpassed expectation from jacket blurbs.

[Natasha]

Frank Derrick's Holiday of A Lifetime by J.B. Morrison

[CD]

CD wrote: "CD wrote: "I am about 75 pages into The Dictionary of Lost Words . A good read this far!"

I am going to finish this book tonight! This has bee an unexpected surprise! The writing c..."

I DID finish. Then I read it again. Rarely do I read a book twice in a row without several months or more between readings. I may re-read sections or certain chapters. Front to back is very rare.

This is for me a rare book. It has several themes and elements I usually am not fond of including being written as historical fiction. Scrap all that! This is a great story, well told, and it doesn't have an unbelievable happy ending.

This is a story of a woman coming of age in the era of Victorian/post Victorian England and have an extraordinarily unusual life for that time. From her childhood forward it covers virtually all the potential topics (view spoiler)[including crippling injury, death of her mother, abusive treatment in school, and unexpected pregnancy (hide spoiler)].

Yes there is a sad ending. It is one that is believable and isn't dramatic and is thus honest to the rest of the book.

This story is about women. This story is about suffrage and peripheral knowledge both pro and con among women of the time. It is about the topics in the spoiler alert.

What a debut novel.

[Anita]

CD wrote: "CD wrote: "CD wrote: "I am about 75 pages into The Dictionary of Lost Words . A good read this far!"

I am going to finish this book tonight! This has bee an unexpected surprise! Th..."

Ample praise CD, I added it to my tbr. I also rarely re-read books anymore, and to read one again immediately after finishing it ?!

[Natasha]

Thanks for the rec, CD. I am now reading The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. Good stuff so far (10% in).

[Natasha]

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

[Stef]

reading Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia and really enjoying it even though it's a challenging read

[Alice]

Brag Better! By Meredith Fineman

[Jan]

I often have one fiction and one non-fiction book going simultaneously. I'm currently reading a book of short stories by Ursula LeGuin, _Changing Planes_, and _Our Women On the Greound: Essays by Arab Women Reporting From the Arab World_, edited by Zahra Hankir. The latter is timely and sobering, and the former I need to keep me in mental health as I try to pay attention to world news.

[Jan]

Herman wrote: "Three books Vampire Academy(young reader's book my bad,..just so-so for me but I'll finish it since I started it. Also
People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn Much better book
and jus..."

Herman wrote: "Three books Vampire Academy(young reader's book my bad,..just so-so for me but I'll finish it since I started it. Also
People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn Much better book
and jus..."

El wrote: "Kay, I read The Ministry of Pain a while back, but that was before I wrote reviews and now unfortunately all of that memory is gone. I see I gave it 3 stars, and I do remember not loving it. I can'..."

I read Mann's _1491_ a few years ago and was dazzled. It's a dense, slow read, but absolutely fascinating. Archeology is refuting many misconceptions we have long held about the Americas.

[Jan]

Seth wrote: ""Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center" by bell hooks. I previously read and thoroughly enjoyed her book "Class Matters" and wanted to read more of her work."

I read this wonderful book in grad school a million years ago and it changed my life.

[Jan]

Archie wrote: "Hello all!

I am also excited about Roxane Gay's Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body. I will keep in touch when I pick it up.

Last week I started and devoured Octavia Butler's [book:Para..."

I just bought _Parable of the Sower_! I have heard about it for many years and am eager to read it.

[Jan]

Kay wrote: "I am in the middle of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America which is slow going both for the length and the subject matter. Lots of informati..."

I just ordered a copy of "Stamped." It will probably be a while before I get to it, but I look forward to reading your thoughts about it here.

[Jan]

Barbara wrote: "I am now reading The Complete Works of Jane Austin. I am currently reading Mansfield Park and love this compilation of Jane Austin’s work."

What a wonderful project! I read them all in my late teens/early twenties and absolutely loved them. I know they are worthy of a re-read in a different phase of life.

[Jan]

Natasha wrote: "And now onto my second book of the year after the 1,200 pages of Atlas Shrugged! ... Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson."

I read his book about Australia, In a Sunburned Country, a few months ago. He has a jaunty, enjoyable narrative style.

[Jan]

Lauren wrote: "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

I will never get tired of García Márquez. He is just so wonderful.

[Jan]

Natasha wrote: "Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie"

This book is on my shelf, waiting its turn...Looking forward to it.

[Kay]

Jan wrote: "Kay wrote: "I am in the middle of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America which is slow going both for the length and the subject matter. Lots ..."

It's a very detailed overview of how a few policies entrenched widespread racism over the years - I will suggest it to anyone who is interested in what structural racism arguments are and especially people who don't believe in it (of which we have seen too much lately), although it might be too long of a book for the latter :) I really liked the Angela Davis section.

[Natasha]

The Assistant by S.K. Tremayne

[Tabitha]

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
All Systems Red by Martha Wells

[Honey]

Currently reading (and being inspired by) The War on Women

[Jan]

I just finished an Ursula LeGuin book--part of my yearslong project to read her entire body of work. "Changing Planes" is a collection of interconnected short stories. The "planes" are literal airplanes but also, of course, because it's Ursula LeGuin, metaphysical planes. The narrator visits different "planes" of existence and tells us anecdotes about them. The stories are basically ethnologies of fictitious cultures, which are entertaining in themselves and also usually make a subtle commentary on our own culture.

[Stef]

I'm reading

and still struggling through