What Are We Currently Reading?

[Spartan Girl]

Just started The Women of Troy by Pat Barker. I honestly didn’t like Silence of the Girls, but I was interested enough to try this sequel. Like the first one it gets pretty graphic.

[Tom Holmberg]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Just started The Women of Troy by Pat Barker. I honestly didn’t like Silence of the Girls, but I was interested enough to try this sequel. Like the first one it gets pretty graphic.

You might also try Stephen Fry's Troy for background.

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

You might also try Stephen Fry's Troy for background.

Already read it.

[lasu]

On 8/24/2021 at 1:11 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Just started The Women of Troy by Pat Barker. I honestly didn’t like Silence of the Girls, but I was interested enough to try this sequel. Like the first one it gets pretty graphic.

Graphic how?  Graphic sex I can handle, but I'm rapidly losing my ability to digest extreme violence.

 

Also, there is a new Barnes and Noble opening a couple of blocks from where I live, which I found surprising enough. But now I see the author of that cursed Crawdads book will be hosting a Q&A?  Do I go and demand answers over this OBX to Asheville nonsense? And the fact that crawdads do not SING nor is there a SAYING about it?  I feel like I'm ready to fistfight over this issue.

[Spartan Girl]

20 hours ago, lasu said:

Graphic how?  Graphic sex I can handle, but I'm rapidly losing my ability to digest extreme violence.

Graphic in terms of violence and sexual abuse. There is a brutal description of King Priam’s murder.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Spartan Girl

[isalicat]

Finished the second of Anne Cleeves' Shetland series (White Nights) - so good! and while waiting on my library to retrieve the third in the series from another branch, decided to read a Patricia Cornwell Scarpetta novel from 2016 called Chaos. I had given up on Cornwell ten years ago after reading all the Scarpetta books up until then (my mom was a big fan), and now I'm wondering if I will even finish this one. Compared to the other authors I have been reading lately (Cleeves, Tana French, Val McDermid, etc.) this book feels so *padded* (i.e. incredibly reiterative) and wooden. And all the characters are so angry (and I'm half way through and we have not even met whomever the baddie is). I can't remember why I previously liked this author :( 😥

Edited August 25, 2021 by isalicat
Edited to correct author name!

[lasu]

14 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Graphic in terms of violence and sexual abuse. There is a brutal description of King Prism’s murder.

Thank you for the heads up.  I used to be able to read/view violence with no problem, but over the years I've found I have trouble shaking the imagery, so I try to avoid it.

[GaT]

23 hours ago, lasu said:

Thank you for the heads up.  I used to be able to read/view violence with no problem, but over the years I've found I have trouble shaking the imagery, so I try to avoid it.

Me too, I can't read about, I can't watch tv (The Man in the High Castle sends me into a rage) or movies with it, I can't even watch the news anymore. There is just so much of it in real life, I can't deal with it in entertainment forms.

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, GaT said:

Me too, I can't read about, I can't watch tv (The Man in the High Castle sends me into a rage) or movies with it, I can't even watch the news anymore. There is just so much of it in real life, I can't deal with it in entertainment forms.

I can handle a certain amount of violence if it's cartoonish enough but I have never been able to handle a rape scene in anything. Ever.

[Mabinogia]

13 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

I can handle a certain amount of violence if it's cartoonish enough but I have never been able to handle a rape scene in anything. Ever.

Same. I can handle zombie hoards coming and tearing mobs of people apart with their teeth but I cannot handle realistic violence. Rape is just a straight up no for me. I appreciate that the stories need to be told, I just can't handle reading them. It isn't even because of personal experience but I still can't.

[peacheslatour]

Just now, Mabinogia said:

Same. I can handle zombie hoards coming and tearing mobs of people apart with their teeth but I cannot handle realistic violence. Rape is just a straight up no for me. I appreciate that the stories need to be told, I just can't handle reading them. It isn't even because of personal experience but I still can't.

It is for me but even before then I couldn't handle it.

[Ohiopirate02]

I also cannot stand reading rape scenes in most novels.  I say most because there is a huge difference between Roxane Gay's An Untamed State or Kate Elizabeth Russell's My Dark Vanessa and lazy writers using rape as shorthand to give a female (and it's always a woman) trauma or to show a bad man is a bad man.

[dubbel zout]

Way, way too many authors use rape as a plot point. UGH.

[Danny Franks]

I just finished The Blade Itself, book one in Joe Abercrombie's The First Law Trilogy. I find it curious that he's held up as one of the foremost Grimdark fantasy writers, because I don't see him as that at all.

To me, Grimdark is a subgenre that focuses on brutal realism and an almost nihilistic morass of grey characters, suffering and death (which is why I don't enjoy it). But Abercrombie writes like David Gemmell - his books are full of larger-than-life characters who do have noble souls but commit great violence, who are paragons on the battlefield, who have reality-defying abilities.

He'll write about how life is short and brutal, then casually mention that Logen Ninefingers is an old warrior and veteran of countless battles, skirmishes and duels.

[JustHereForFood]

Regarding violence and the like, I have now been spoiled by fanfiction and would kind of appreciate if regular books also offered triger warnings. My peeve is especially people dying from medical conditions. I would not read any book with that as a plot point and I was recently upset by a book that ended up describing a character's death from cancer, while it was not clear at all from the summary. (In fact, I expected a feel-good story, since it was about a cat.)

[krankydoodle]

1 hour ago, JustHereForFood said:

(In fact, I expected a feel-good story, since it was about a cat.)

Ooh, I think I know which book you're talking about 

Spoiler

The Travelling Cat Chronicles?

and agree. I was expecting quirky humor and heartwarming adventures and while there was some of that, I wasn't happy about the tragic turn it took. I will say the audiobook narrator was wonderful, though, and I cried at the ending despite myself.

[Sweedish Fish]

Stephen King's Billy Summers.  Good Plot, no horror.  Enjoying it.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Sweedish Fish
typo

[JustHereForFood]

On 8/28/2021 at 1:46 AM, krankydoodle said:

Ooh, I think I know which book you're talking about 

Yes, that's it. Apart from the ending, I also didn't care about any of the human characters because everyone was so one-dimensional. But I liked the parts that were narrated by the cat.

[helenamonster]

Just finished: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, which is a pretty huge departure from what I normally go for. I don't read a lot of fantasy, and usually find high-fantasy doorstoppers like this one way too intimidating (I read it on my Kindle, but I believe the print version is over 1,000 pages). However, I really found myself enjoying it. I loved the worldbuilding, especially the "interludes" that visited random, unrelated characters in other parts of Roshar to give the reader a better idea of all the different cultures that made up this civilization. Again, I say this as somebody who doesn't have a large fantasy reference pool, but it kind of reminded me a little of Pokemon, the way each region is known for something and has its own customs and hierarchies. I would have liked to spend more time in the Purelake--I love the idea of the people there always wanting to be in the water so they let the floors of their homes take in a few inches.

With all the different perspectives and interlocking story arcs, it was also fun to realize what different characters were learning without it having to be spelled out. Despite the lengthy descriptions and some repetition, I never felt like I was being handheld through the "rules" of this world and was given the space to figure it out on my own.

I plan to get to the sequels eventually, but I do need a bit of a break.

Next up: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

[BlackberryJam]

Just finished Dead Dead Girls, a Harlem Renaissance mystery by Nekesa Afia. I wanted to like it more than I did. It needed just another edit and some smoothing out. All the pieces of a solid mystery series are there. I'll read the next one, hoping she hits her stride.

On to an Amazon first read, The Bennett Women by Eden Appiah-Kubi.

[stewedsquash]

On 8/22/2021 at 12:00 AM, GussieK said:

I got roped into buying the audiobook of The Turnout, by Megan Abbott. I thought it would be a fun thriller. It is just terrible. Kind of sick. I wish someone would give me a spoiler since I can’t flip ahead with an audiobook. Maybe I will try listening to the end. Has anyone else read this or her other books?  Would love to hear any opinions. 

It is available on my library Overdrive (18 week waitlist) but after reading reviews at Goodreads, hard pass for me. 

Just started hardcover of  He Started It by Samantha Downing  

 

[sugarbaker design]

On 8/22/2021 at 12:00 AM, GussieK said:

I got roped into buying the audiobook of The Turnout, by Megan Abbott. I thought it would be a fun thriller. It is just terrible. Kind of sick. I wish someone would give me a spoiler since I can’t flip ahead with an audiobook. Maybe I will try listening to the end. Has anyone else read this or her other books?  Would love to hear any opinions. 

I'm a huge fan of all her books, she's one of my favorite contemporary authors.  I'm on the waiting list at my library for The Turnout.  They are definitely not typical thrillers.  Even for noirs, they're dark, and there's always a female antihero.  Dare Me is my favorite.

[grommit2]

Here's a quick, compelling read for Baldacci fans: Long Road to Mercy. 
Always good to delve into a good guys vs not-so-good guys novel.  This one has all the 3-letter agencies (FBI, NSA, etc) going against each other as rogue players try to stir things up in a BIG way.  Our star is an FBI agent stationed near the Grand Canyon (a cool place to visit for sure).  Lots of characters, so I recommend keeping a roster of the players. 
 

[BlackberryJam]

The Bennett Women was a nice retelling of P&P, with Black (Elizabeth), Asian (Darcy) and trans (Jane) characters. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was well done. 

[JustHereForFood]

I finished The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune and I loved it. I am still in that type of a high after finishing a novel, so I shall refrain from saying it was the best book I've ever read, but it will probably find a place in the top 10. It had everything I need in a comfort book -  heartwarming story, fantasy elements, a bit of dark humor.

[stewedsquash]

The above reminded me that I have started and stopped reading twice Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld  which bills itself on the cover as A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice. I think I have started and stopped Prep also, by the same author. 

He Started It, that I mentioned in a previous post kept me interested when I got a very late (after 1am) start reading it last night (technically this morning). I kept at it until 2:15 and remembered that I had to get two kids to school so I put it down. 

@grommit2 I used to devour David Baldacci! Between him, Grisham, and John Lescroat (Dismas Hardy series) and Michael Connelly (Lincoln Lawyer series, I haven't been able to get into Bosch, no matter how much people try to persuade me that it is the be all end all series), I always had my nose in one of their books but alas they have all gone the way of what I previously posted about Grisham, to the wayside. I do have about 8 total of all of them on my kindle list to borrow. 

eta I might try to start Memory Man again, the first in Baldacci's Memory Man series.

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by stewedsquash

[Snow Apple]

2 hours ago, JustHereForFood said:

I finished The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune and I loved it. I am still in that type of a high after finishing a novel, so I shall refrain from saying it was the best book I've ever read, but it will probably find a place in the top 10. It had everything I need in a comfort book -  heartwarming story, fantasy elements, a bit of dark humor.

Everyone seems to love this book but I couldn't get into it. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood and need to try again.

[kathyk24]

3 hours ago, stewedsquash said:

The above reminded me that I have started and stopped reading twice Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld  which bills itself on the cover as A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice. I think I have started and stopped Prep also, by the same author. 

He Started It, that I mentioned in a previous post kept me interested when I got a very late (after 1am) start reading it last night (technically this morning). I kept at it until 2:15 and remembered that I had to get two kids to school so I put it down. 

@grommit2 I used to devour David Baldacci! Between him, Grisham, and John Lescroat (Dismas Hardy series) and Michael Connelly (Lincoln Lawyer series, I haven't been able to get into Bosch, no matter how much people try to persuade me that it is the be all end all series), I always had my nose in one of their books but alas they have all gone the way of what I previously posted about Grisham, to the wayside. I do have about 8 total of all of them on my kindle list to borrow. 

eta I might try to start Memory Man again, the first in Baldacci's Memory Man series.

 

I love Amos Decker books. Memory Man is depressing. I loved The Last Mile I'm interested in stories about about people trying to clear their name.

9 hours ago, grommit2 said:

Here's a quick, compelling read for Baldacci fans: Long Road to Mercy. 
Always good to delve into a good guys vs not-so-good guys novel.  This one has all the 3-letter agencies (FBI, NSA, etc) going against each other as rogue players try to stir things up in a BIG way.  Our star is an FBI agent stationed near the Grand Canyon (a cool place to visit for sure).  Lots of characters, so I recommend keeping a roster of the players. 
 

Who is the main character? Atlee Pine's sister is named Mercy

[Starleigh]

I remember really disliking Eligible so much so that l wrote a review on Amazon which I never do. I've read tons of P&P retellings and spin-offs, most of them are nothing great,  but none of them bugged me the way this book did. Maybe because it was so over hyped? I hated all the characters, they were so disagreeable in this version.

[GaT]

I just started Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor, book 11 in the Chronicles of St. Mary's series.

[Haleth]

13 hours ago, JustHereForFood said:

I finished The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune and I loved it. I am still in that type of a high after finishing a novel, so I shall refrain from saying it was the best book I've ever read, but it will probably find a place in the top 10. It had everything I need in a comfort book -  heartwarming story, fantasy elements, a bit of dark humor.

I loved it.  Such an inspirational tale of acceptance and love.  Those children broke my heart.  He has a new book coming out next month, Under the Whispering Door.  Can't wait!

[dubbel zout]

15 hours ago, stewedsquash said:

Prep

I did not understand the hype around Prep at. all. It was a run-of-the-mill town vs. gown story, IMO.

7 hours ago, GaT said:

I just started Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor, book 11 in the Chronicles of St. Mary's series.

I adore this series. I have to ration it out so I don't run of out books before the author finishes writing them. (I don't have any interested in the Time Police series.)

[stewedsquash]

13 hours ago, kathyk24 said:

I love Amos Decker books. Memory Man is depressing. I loved The Last Mile I'm interested in stories about about people trying to clear their name.

Who is the main character? Atlee Pine's sister is named Mercy

 

11 hours ago, Starleigh said:

I remember really disliking Eligible so much so that l wrote a review on Amazon which I never do. I've read tons of P&P retellings and spin-offs, most of them are nothing great,  but none of them bugged me the way this book did. Maybe because it was so over hyped? I hated all the characters, they were so disagreeable in this version.

You both reminded me why I gave up on those two books I mentioned. Thanks! 

 

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

I did not understand the hype around Prep at. all. It was a run-of-the-mill town vs. gown story, IMO.

I adore this series. I have to ration it out so I don't run of out books before the author finishes writing them. (I don't have any interested in the Time Police series.)

I remember starting Prep and stopping. I think that the author just isn't my story writer, since I am two for two with them so far.

I have made progress in the He Started It book. There are several layers in the writing style that aren't distracting. Hard to explain but this book is everything I thought that the retched Maud Dixon book was going to be. I even read some chapters while waiting in the shade in the car at my mother's doctor appointment earlier this morning. 

[EtheltoTillie]

3 hours ago, stewedsquash said:

 

You both reminded me why I gave up on those two books I mentioned. Thanks! 

 

I remember starting Prep and stopping. I think that the author just isn't my story writer, since I am two for two with them so far.

I have made progress in the He Started It book. There are several layers in the writing style that aren't distracting. Hard to explain but this book is everything I thought that the retched Maud Dixon book was going to be. I even read some chapters while waiting in the shade in the car at my mother's doctor appointment earlier this morning. 

Thanks, I was one of the Maud Dixon detractors too.  I want to try He Started It, however. 

[Mabinogia]

9 hours ago, Haleth said:

He has a new book coming out next month, Under the Whispering Door.  Can't wait!

I just read the description of this one. Now I can't wait either. 

[isalicat]

Well I did finish the Patricia Cornwell book (Chaos) and don't recommend it (not that you were all waiting with bated breath to find out what I thought). The first two thirds were a slog through forensic procedures and people being angry (everyone in this damn book is extremely angry, both at each other and at themselves), and then the last third the actual plot occurs and accelerates very rapidly towards the conclusion. Odd pacing, unlikable characters and a total reiteration of so much stuff from her previous books that ten years away from reading the last one felt like about ten minutes.

Now into the third of Ann Cleeves' Shetland series (Red Bones) and its already so, so good!

[Luckylyn]

I’m reading the romance The Princess Trap by Talia Hibbert.  Cherry is shocked when the paparazzi interrupted her passionate kiss with a man who turns out to be a prince.    A fake engagement is decided to be the solution to the potential scandal.  I really like Hibbert’s romances.  This one is entertaining but I like her Ravenswood and Brown Sister’s books more. 

[Haleth]

I'm finishing up The Maidens by Alex Michaelides.  I'd seen it mentioned many times on a FB book group and thought maybe I'd enjoy it.  It's terrible.  The main character is stupid and annoying and completely over her head in trying to solve the mystery.  Scooby Doo is more perceptive.  She has about 30 more pages to redeem herself.

eta:  Nope, never got any better.  Awful book.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Haleth

[JustHereForFood]

On 8/31/2021 at 1:15 PM, Haleth said:

I loved it.  Such an inspirational tale of acceptance and love.  Those children broke my heart.  He has a new book coming out next month, Under the Whispering Door.  Can't wait!

I haven't read anything else by Klune yet, but I'm considering either this one, or something from his previous work, despite the fact that I already have about 20 unread books at the ready and I keep buying them quicker than reading them. 

[blackwing]

On 8/30/2021 at 6:06 PM, stewedsquash said:

 

@grommit2 I used to devour David Baldacci! Between him, Grisham, and John Lescroat (Dismas Hardy series) and Michael Connelly (Lincoln Lawyer series, I haven't been able to get into Bosch, no matter how much people try to persuade me that it is the be all end all series), I always had my nose in one of their books but alas they have all gone the way of what I previously posted about Grisham, to the wayside. I do have about 8 total of all of them on my kindle list to borrow. 

eta I might try to start Memory Man again, the first in Baldacci's Memory Man series.

 

I've said this before, but I am starting to feel the same way about Baldacci.  I think the Memory Man series is serviceable.  The concept was great in the beginning (guy who has [some scientific condition where he retains perfect memory and cannot forget anything] as well as [some scientific condition where he sees auras of people/events as colours] ) but after so many books in this series, I am tiring of the character.

"Long Road to Mercy" mentioned above features his newest character Atlee Pine, a woman who has been looking for her long-disappeared sister Mercy.  I read the first book in this series and decided that I really didn't like the character at all, so have skipped all of the subsequent books.

Baldacci's newest character is Aloysius Archer, an ex-con, set in the 40s or 50s, who seems to be written as some kind of cross between Sam Spade and Tom Joad.  Again, I find this series merely serviceable.  At some point I'm going to decide that I have too much I want to read and not enough time to read them, so eventually Baldacci is going to go the way of mediocre writers who churn out a book or two a year like Steve Berry and I'll just give up on him.  I'm hoping for new characters, or a return to some of his better characters from past series.

[stewedsquash]

I remember starting Memory Man and getting bogged down with overthinking the whole memory aspect. Reading the jacket cover description of the Atlee Pine books didn't draw me in at all. I vaguely remember glimpsing at the Aloysius Archer books when browsing for Kindle downloads and just passing on it. 

So, He Started It  is finished. It was 384 pages and would have been a very quick read (because it just flowed and I wanted to keep on reading without stopping, it was well written that way) but it took me a week of sporadic reading to finish it since I kept getting caught up in daily life stuff. I can't go into any details, even about the writing style, because any thing I comment on will give away plots/take away from the reading experience of the book. I like books like A Simple Plan, Fargo (book and tv series (haven't been able to watch the last season yet)) and the tv show Imposters and some others that have a kind of snowball effect/off kilter effect. Those are 10's for me, this one is a 6 (again, can't elaborate for spoiler reasons). I loved the writing style, there was a definite ease in the dialogue, I could see everything in every scene, I kept wanting to read more to find out what was going to happen. 

I could write more but I guess I will wait until others read it and maybe want to trade thoughts over it. I don't feel like right now doing the whole hide behind spoiler option unless someone is there (here) to respond. 

I picked up Kwame's memoir of a black chef that I mentioned back a few pages last Thursday that was ordered for me at the library. I am going to start it and I also have a couple other books to finish/start. 

I am not going down the Overdrive rabbit hole until I finish some books I have already downloaded/started not finished, dammit.  

[Luckylyn]

I’m in the middle of reading The Awakening by Nora Roberts which is the first in the Dragon Heart Legacy fantasy series.  Breen discovers a secret her mother kept from her which leads her to an unknown heritage in Ireland and beyond.  I like the way the character is growing more independent and strong as she asserts herself.   I understand somewhat why the Mom did what she did but there were things the Mom said and did  that came off as emotionally abusive.  She had Breen so beaten down.  I am curious what will happen next now that Breen knows her true family history.

[EtheltoTillie]

6 hours ago, stewedsquash said:

I remember starting Memory Man and getting bogged down with overthinking the whole memory aspect. Reading the jacket cover description of the Atlee Pine books didn't draw me in at all. I vaguely remember glimpsing at the Aloysius Archer books when browsing for Kindle downloads and just passing on it. 

So, He Started It  is finished. It was 384 pages and would have been a very quick read (because it just flowed and I wanted to keep on reading without stopping, it was well written that way) but it took me a week of sporadic reading to finish it since I kept getting caught up in daily life stuff. I can't go into any details, even about the writing style, because any thing I comment on will give away plots/take away from the reading experience of the book. I like books like A Simple Plan, Fargo (book and tv series (haven't been able to watch the last season yet)) and the tv show Imposters and some others that have a kind of snowball effect/off kilter effect. Those are 10's for me, this one is a 6 (again, can't elaborate for spoiler reasons). I loved the writing style, there was a definite ease in the dialogue, I could see everything in every scene, I kept wanting to read more to find out what was going to happen. 

I could write more but I guess I will wait until others read it and maybe want to trade thoughts over it. I don't feel like right now doing the whole hide behind spoiler option unless someone is there (here) to respond. 

I picked up Kwame's memoir of a black chef that I mentioned back a few pages last Thursday that was ordered for me at the library. I am going to start it and I also have a couple other books to finish/start. 

I am not going down the Overdrive rabbit hole until I finish some books I have already downloaded/started not finished, dammit.  

I will come back to this when we have finished He Started It. It’s our new car listening book, so it will take us a while.  It’s intriguing so far.  In case you’re wondering, there’s no separate listening, and no listening in the house.  

Edited September 6, 2021 by GussieK

[Browncoat]

I just finished a fun, frothy, rom-com of a book called The Soulmate Equation, but Christina Lauren.  Entirely predictable, as so many rom-coms are, but the journey was so enjoyable.  I think I (mostly) liked all the characters, and there was some great dialogue -- I even laughed out loud a couple of times.  I did hand-wave some of the "science" because the rest of the book was such a fun read.

[helenamonster]

Just finished: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, a retelling of the Iliad from Patroclus's perspective. I've never read the Iliad (and my knowledge of Greek mythology in general is fairly basic), but I enjoyed it well enough. The writing style is evocative and totally fitting of the epic scale of the story. I won't spoil the main conceit (while plenty of reviews do, the official description of the book doesn't), but I find it interesting that this is the second book I have read recently (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo being the other) that

Spoiler

does not remotely hint at its main character(s) being queer/having romantic relationships with people of the same sex. I wonder if part of that is a marketing thing (LGBTQ+ books still appear to occupy a niche space), but both times the reviews have been full of people who felt "tricked" and gave the books bad ratings as a result. On the other side of the coin, I wonder if there are people out there who are intentionally looking for LGBTQ+ books and missing these as a result since they don't advertise themselves as such. I just think it's such a misfire on the part of the publishers to attempt to appeal to an audience who may be actively put off by these kinds of stories/characters while ignoring people for whom this would actually be a plus.

Next up: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

[dubbel zout]

I tried, I really tried, but I'm bailing on Cryptonomicon. I'm about 2/3 through it and I just can't finish it.

Back to The Pale Blue Eye! Now that it's September, I think it will read a bit better to me.

[Ohiopirate02]

On 9/6/2021 at 10:59 AM, helenamonster said:

Just finished: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, a retelling of the Iliad from Patroclus's perspective. I've never read the Iliad (and my knowledge of Greek mythology in general is fairly basic), but I enjoyed it well enough. The writing style is evocative and totally fitting of the epic scale of the story. I won't spoil the main conceit (while plenty of reviews do, the official description of the book doesn't), but I find it interesting that this is the second book I have read recently (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo being the other) that

  Hide contents

does not remotely hint at its main character(s) being queer/having romantic relationships with people of the same sex. I wonder if part of that is a marketing thing (LGBTQ+ books still appear to occupy a niche space), but both times the reviews have been full of people who felt "tricked" and gave the books bad ratings as a result. On the other side of the coin, I wonder if there are people out there who are intentionally looking for LGBTQ+ books and missing these as a result since they don't advertise themselves as such. I just think it's such a misfire on the part of the publishers to attempt to appeal to an audience who may be actively put off by these kinds of stories/characters while ignoring people for whom this would actually be a plus.

Next up: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

I need to check out those review of Song of Achilles because it being a queer book was common knowledge in the book circles I frequent.  I just looked up the pre-publication reviews of it from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and both of them mention it.  I don't see how the publisher tried to hide the content.  If someone was blindsided by it, then they have been living under a rock for close to a decade.

I was pleasantly surprised with the reveal in Evelyn Hugo.  That one was hidden, but it does make sense.

[catlover79]

I am reading Marion Ross' memoir (published in 2018, though I didn't know it existed until a couple of weeks ago). It's been fun not only reading about the Happy Days era but her early starlet days with Paramount. She also shared her experiences in a marriage to an alcoholic man and finding true love at 60. Ms. Ross' co-author also interviewed her Happy Days co-stars. It's a wonderful read. 😊

[GaT]

I'm reading The Bone Scroll by Elizabeth Hunter, book 3 (and I think the final book) of the Elemental Legacy series. She has written a bunch of books & novellas in the "Elemental" world, but I think this is the only trilogy I've read.

[Tom Holmberg]

7 hours ago, catlover79 said:

I am reading Marion Ross' memoir (published in 2018, though I didn't know it existed until a couple of weeks ago). It's been fun not only reading about the Happy Days era but her early starlet days with Paramount. She also shared her experiences in a marriage to an alcoholic man and finding true love at 60. Ms. Ross' co-author also interviewed her Happy Days co-stars. It's a wonderful read. 😊

You might keep a lookout for Ron Howard's soon-to-be-published memoir "The Boys"