What non-mystery books are you reading? (2021-2022) Showing 901-950 of 1,030

[Judy]

Oh wow, Abigail, that definitely is a big reading month. Hope you enjoy all the books.

[Abigail]

I started on the July reads about a week early, but even so! And I didn’t mention the discussion of Their Eyes Were Watching God that I’m leading in another group.

Fortunately, I’m within about 300 pages of finishing the 1,500-page monster, so pretty soon I’ll begin moving faster.

[Jackie]

I am about half way through Lake Silence and I love it.

[Jackie]

I just started Pomfret Towers and I can tell I'm really going to enjoy this one.

[Sandy]

Jackie wrote: "I just started Pomfret Towers and I can tell I'm really going to enjoy this one."

I read the first in that series quite a while ago. Always meant to continue but by now I would have to start over.

[Susan in NC]

Jackie wrote: "I just started Pomfret Towers and I can tell I'm really going to enjoy this one."

Same here! I almost always enjoy Thirkell’s books - I admit, some of the last ones drag a bit, but mostly entertaining and delightful - I’m working it In while knitting, in between sessions of John Adams. I always appreciate David McCullough’s writing, especially the excerpts of John and Abigail’s voluminous correspondence. They were a devoted and fascinating couple! I had planned on reading another history about the founders for my August nonfiction choice (my personal reading challenge, a nonfiction book a month), but I may want to find a biography of Abigail Adams…🤔

[Susan in NC]

Abigail wrote: "Yes, I have to get to that soon too! And there’s a Michael Innes novel in Reading the Detectives and Midnight Library for my real-world reading group and Belinda for my Jane Austen book club and . ..."

Don’t tease me, I hadn’t heard it was Jane Austen July! Explanation please - if you can reach your keyboard underneath that pile of books…good luck, my friend! If anyone can plow through, it is you!

[Susan in NC]

Jan C wrote: "Started a true crime this week, The Vanishing Triangle by Claire McGowan. About women in Ireland disappearing.

Started Clark and Division last nigh..."

Thanks for Clark and Division, Jan, sounds like a fascinating look at a period of US and Chicago history I’d like to learn more about. On to the TBR list!

[Abigail]

There’s a group formed on Goodreads every July with a Jane Austen reading challenge. Head over here to find out about it: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/....

[Susan in NC]

Abigail wrote: "There’s a group formed on Goodreads every July with a Jane Austen reading challenge. Head over here to find out about it: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...."

Thanks so much, you’re a peach, and keep me in the know!

[Abigail]

Will do!

[Jackie]

Sandy wrote:
I read the first in that series quite a while ago. Always meant to continue but by now I would have to start over.

I know there are characters that may overlap but don't think it really is a series. I read the first two a few years ago and don't remember any of them.

Pomfret Towers, for sure, is working fine as a stand alone book.

[Carolien]

Jackie wrote: "I just started Pomfret Towers and I can tell I'm really going to enjoy this one."

Starting that today as well, Jackie!

[Rosina]

I am halfway through , and enjoying it very much. It falls between mystery, morality tale, and Aga Saga.

[Jan C]

Susan in NC wrote: "Jan C wrote: "Started a true crime this week, The Vanishing Triangle by Claire McGowan. About women in Ireland disappearing.

Started [book:Clark and Division|56661..."

I have a video from WTTW called Remembering Chicago about Chicago in the '50s. One of the people on there was a member of a family after they were released from the camp and moved to Chicago. They were able to buy a 3-flat where they could all live until some would be ready/ feel comfortable enough to move out. She was probably a child then and I think she said they just didn't want to go back to where they had lived. The West Coast was tainted for them, and they prospered in Chicago.

[Jackie]

I am reading Happy All the Time which I picked up in the section for new books at my library and after I got it realized it had a "romance" sticker. I wouldn't have checked it out if I'd seen that, but I am enjoying it anyway. It's from the 70s and the writing is such that I will search out other books by the author.
Apparently I need to re-think being unwilling to try a book labeled romance. For years I could only tolerate Georgette Heyer.

[Susan in NC]

Jan C wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "Jan C wrote: "Started a true crime this week, The Vanishing Triangle by Claire McGowan. About women in Ireland disappearing.

Started [book:Clar..."

I can’t blame them for not wanting to return to a place of trauma - glad Chicago was good to them.

[Franky]

Decided to read the third book in the Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke, 2061: Odyssey Three. I immensely enjoyed the first two in the series, so I'm hoping its 3 for 3.

[Tania]

Rosina wrote: "I am halfway through , and enjoying it very much. It falls between mystery, morality tale, and Aga Saga."

I'm hoping to get to that this month, hopefully before the next 'Tea or Books?' podcast which is going to be discussing it. I read Where Stands A Wingèd Sentry, based on her wartime diaries, and it was just brilliant.

[Jackie]

halfway through Full House by Janet Evanovich and it's neither as good as I'd hoped nor as bad as I'd feared.

[Sid]

Jackie wrote: "halfway through Full House by Janet Evanovich and it's neither as good as I'd hoped nor as bad as I'd feared."

I love the Stephanie Plum books, but I've never been tempted by her others. I'll be interested to know your verdict when you've finished!

[Jackie]

about what I said above - I will give it 3 stars, I guess. I just read The Grand Finale and enjoyed it a bit more, but not sure if the book is actually better or I just knew what to expect.

they are to reading what a candy bar is to food, you know? you might enjoy it but it won't last long.

[Jill]

I am about to start Tea From A Jam Jar by Alfie Watson
It is about a boy born in Ireland and then moved to a sink estate in England. Written by a man as a sort of diary , so that he grandchildren would have a record.

[Jackie]

I just started Wild Country and really looking forward to it since I thought Lake Silence was so good.

[Tara]

Having just finished Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases by Paul Holes, I felt like something a bit lighter. I've been meaning to read The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation by Izaak Walton ever since it was introduced to me in 84, Charing Cross Road, so I'm really looking forward to it.

[Jackie]

I also started The Ministry of Utmost Happiness for a book club this Sunday and I will likely not finish it in time. The language is almost breath-taking in it's beauty, but not a fast read.

[Jackie]

out of my book club only one of us finished the book (see above) but I will keep reading because the one that finished said it was worth it.

[Judy]

Jackie wrote: "I also started The Ministry of Utmost Happiness for a book club this Sunday and I will likely not finish it in time. The language is almost breath-taking in it's beauty, but not a f..."

I've been meaning to read that one for years as I really liked The God of Small Things, but haven't got to it yet - thank you for mentioning the book, Jackie.

[Jackie]

Judy, I really struggle to read it both because I am unfamiliar with the language, so the names of people, places and things are very hard for me to remember, and because I don't understand the cultures involved, but also because it's heartbreaking!

[Judy]

Jackie, thank you for explaining why you are finding it a struggle to read the book - I love her writing, but the fact that it's heartbreaking does make me a bit nervous about reading it at a time of so much sadness.

[Jan C]

I just finished Michael Lewis' The Premonition: A Pandemic Story. Very interesting book about those who foresaw a medical pandemic and how public health could cope with it. Noting that when all else fails look at 1918 and how things were coped with. Hint: in many cases it wasn't and that's valuable information, too. And whoever expected the US to be so inept about it! Very good.

[Jackie]

Judy wrote: "Jackie, thank you for explaining why you are finding it a struggle to read the book - I love her writing, but the fact that it's heartbreaking does make me a bit nervous about reading it at a time ..."

that's why I asked the book club member who finished it if it was worth it. I am going to try to finish it, but it will be slow because I need something a lot more light-hearted for before bed, etc.

and I already know I won't understand a lot of it on first read! but the writing is incredible; what a talented author.

[Jackie]

I don't think this counts as a mystery, I'm reading Janet Evanovich's Full Tilt

[Sid]

Jackie wrote: "I don't think this counts as a mystery, I'm reading Janet Evanovich's Full Tilt"

I'll be very interested to hear your reaction, Jackie. I love the Stephanie Plum books but I've never tried any of her others. Do let us know how you get on with it.

[Jackie]

I only gave it 2 stars, but I'm now reading the next in the series. I am finding her non-Plum books to be worth reading but uneven. I liked The Grand Finale best so far, but it's not part of the Full series and too much explicit sex for my tastes. But the characters and the plot were fun.
We are having a terrible heat wave here and I really need light, frothy reads so these fit the bill.

[Tania]

Sorry to hear that Jackie, we had a terrible one last week. Most businesses here closed early we didn'have to work in the afternoon when it got too hot at least.

I'm reading The Feast by Margaret Kennedy, one of those books that straddles a line between mystery and non-mystery; there is a mystery element, but it's not a whodunnit. Very good so far.

[Jackie]

I am currently reading The Music of Bees

[Judy]

For some reason, the time seems right to read books about hot summers which have been on my list. I recently finished One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858 by Rosemary Ashton, about the summer of 1858, when it was so hot that Parliament finally decided to do something about the sewage being poured into the Thames - though the Great Stink is really a backdrop to the stories of the three great men beginning with D mentioned in the title over that year.

I actually started that book before the hot weather. (It took me a long time as I started off by listening to it on audio, which rarely works out for me).

More recently I've started The Perfect Summer: Dancing Into Shadow In 1911 by Juliet Nicolson- the title "perfect" seems to be ironic, as the heatwave that year was not perfect for everyone! I remembered enjoying her book The Great Silence 1918-1920: Living in the Shadow of the Great War, and have been meaning to read this one.

So far this has had long sections about Queen Mary and Winston Churchill, and has a very gossipy feel to it, but not very much about the heat as yet - but I have a lot of the book still to go.

[Tara]

I consider myself to be a devotee of Helene Hanff, and have read and re-read her books. However, this is my first read of Underfoot in Show Business, which chronicles her early career as a playwright. I can't say I know anything about the theater, but her self-deprecating humor hooks me every time.

[Jill]

I am about to start Cold Earth by Sarah Moss Anything to get some cold somewhere.

[Carolien]

Tara wrote: "I consider myself to be a devotee of Helene Hanff, and have read and re-read her books. However, this is my first read of Underfoot in Show Business, which chronicles her early career..."

I love all her books!

[Jill]

I have just finished The Borrowers Afield by Mary Norton and loved it. Think I must be a big kid at heart. Now starting Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

[Sandy]

Jill wrote: "I have just finished The Borrowers Afield by Mary Norton and loved it. Think I must be a big kid at heart. Now starting Salt to the Sea by [author:Ruta S..."

I discovered The Borrowers a few years ago and immediately read all of them.

[Sid]

I read The Borrowers when I was very young and found it rather frightening. I should probably try them again.

(This reminds me of another book involving very small people: Mistress Masham's Repose by T.H. White . It's an unsung gem, I think. My review, if anyone is interested: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )

[Jackie]

I had The Borrowers read to me as a child and think it might be time for a re-read.

[Carolien]

Sid wrote: "I read The Borrowers when I was very young and found it rather frightening. I should probably try them again.

(This reminds me of another book involving very small people: [book:Mistress Masham's ..."

Mistress Masham has been on my list for a while. I need to get to it based on your lovely review, Sid!

[Sid]

I'm sure you'll love it, Carolien.

[Sid]

P.S. It's a free dowload on Faded Page if that's any help:
https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.ph...

[Jackie]

I just read Aurora Rising and am starting the second of the trilogy. In fact, I already checked the third book out because reviews warned me the second ends on a cliff hanger.

These are YA SF and very light-weight, fast reads but fun and good world building.

[Karen M]

I've finally gotten to listen to The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Darn this is a long repetitve book just like The Midnight Library. Oh, well, I only have a few more hours to go.