Check out my separate reading blog for an index of book reviews and ratings.
Finished reading: The Death of Grass by John Christopher 📚
A short 1950s SciFi novel about a virus that kills grasses. Starvation and violence breaks out. Governments fall. Civilization crumbles. Except for the very dated portrayal of women, the story felt current. ★★★★☆
Finished reading: The Reformation by Will Durant 📚
Currently reading: The Death of Grass by John Christopher 📚
Finished reading: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 📚
An absolute masterpiece. Totally gutted by the end. I can’t believe it took me this long to read it. ★★★★★
Finished reading: Sibley’s Birding Basics by David Allen Sibley 📚
Ah, the inevitable slide into birdwatching. Great introductory guide to help me get started. ★★★★☆
Currently reading: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 📚
Finished reading: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 📚
Characters who love books and reading, lots of fun literary references, a bookstore set on an island … this one could have been written just for me. ★★★★☆
Currently reading: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 📚
Finished reading: Desperation by Stephen King 📚
Maybe not one of Mr. King’s best efforts, but it was entertaining, and the ending came together better than I expected. ★★★☆☆
Currently reading: Desperation by Stephen King 📚
Tackling the remaining Stephen King books I haven’t read. I usually read fiction on my Kindle, but I have the hardback of this one. I forgot how heavy and unwieldy some of Stephen King books can be!
Finished reading: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan 📚
I loved this short, spare novella. In 109 pages, Keegan puts you squarely in the mind and body of its protagonist, Furlong. You feel the pangs of long-ago childhood angst, the chill of an Irish cold spell, the ugliness of small town bigotry, the warmth of a coal stove, the despair over the human cruelty. The Irish dialogue felt more like music or birdsong, making me wish my own language wasn’t so ordinary and flat. I felt sad to leave Furlong’s side after so short a visit, but the tale and ending was told in just the right way, with just the right words. ★★★★★
Currently reading: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan 📚
Currently reading: Slow Horses by Mick Herron 📚
Lamb’s laugh wasn’t a genuine surrender to amusement; more of a temporary derangement. Not a laugh you’d want to hear from anyone holding a stick.
I enjoyed the TV series, but the book is even better.
Finished reading: The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry 📚★★★★★
Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.
Currently reading: Sibley’s Birding Basics by David Allen Sibley 📚
Finished reading: Dune by Frank Herbert 📚 ★★★★★
There is no better teacher than history in determining the future. There are answers worth billions of dollars in a $30 history book.📚
Charlie Munger
Currently reading: Dune by Frank Herbert 📚
Rereading ahead of seeing the movie. I had forgotten how much I loved this book.
Finished reading: I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh 📚 ★★★☆☆
Currently reading: I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh 📚
Finished reading: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 📚
This was a good book. I liked the characters and the storyline. The reasons Sam and Sadie found to be mad at the other were a little frustrating, but I think that’s ultimately the lesson they each needed to learn. The portrayal of grief and loss was really well done. ★★★★☆
Thank you @Annie for the recommendation!
Finished reading: The Master & Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 📚
Currently reading: The Reformation by Will Durant 📚
Finished reading: The Renaissance by Will Durant 📚
It’s been a couple years since I finished In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. I read all six volumes with an amazing Twitter book group over the course of a year. I struggled with the serpentine sentences and French society references at the time, but passages like these stuck with me. 📚
Currently reading: The Master & Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 📚
Finished reading: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree 📚
Finished reading: Wednesday’s Child by Yiyun Li 📚
My 75th book of 2023, which is a new personal record for the most books I’ve read in a single year. Many of the stories in this collection touch on the hard to articulate grief of losing a child, which hit home for me. ★★★★☆
Currently reading: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong 📚
Finished reading: Holly by Stephen King 📚