I want to read all these books! Just finished "Haven" by Emma Donohue - historical fiction which was surprisingly gripping about three monks living on an island in early Christian times (yes, I can't remember which year!). Currently reading "Maps of our Spectacular Bodies" by Maddie Mortimer, beautiful, unique, I'm already worrying about being finished with it. Finally "Mystic & Pilgrim: The Book and World of Margery Kempe" as I'm somewhat obsessed at that moment with women mystics of the medieval ages.
Those all sound really interesting but I have a problem: I buy a lot of books but I'm terrible at actually reading them, so I literally have about 30 I need to start or finish reading. But then sometimes I buy them and read them immediately, and that would be anything by Samantha Irby, David Sedaris, or Allie Brosh. As for books I love besides those, I read the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls twice - it's amazing. And Sarah Silverman's book, The Bedwetter, is also a favorite.
Crossroads was sooo good. My favorite book so far this year has been This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub with an honorable mention to Either/Or and I have the new Kate Atkinson lined up and am working on Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I am a fellow book Cookie Monster and know there were more books I read and loved but that's all my brain is giving me right now
Awhile back I read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine not really expecting much but it turned out to be incredible and I promptly recommended it over and over to everyone even people I wouldn’t normally make recs to. I too use to be a voracious reader but lately Ive been too busy - so sad - Im currently trying to get through The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar and I also picked up an old David Eddings series The Elenium (I have good memories of his series The Belgariad so I thought I’d give it a shot!) I’m going to make note of your list. I feel especially drawn to I Wear Tunics Now.🤩Thanks for this!
Well these are all either books I read and loved or books I want to read, so ok, I will read anything you recommend! I just finished A Heart That Works in one sitting, which is the only way to read that book. Just absolutely wrenching and beautiful while somehow also being funny. Can I add Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel onto the list, but maybe read The Glass Hotel first?
Fellow fast reader here and this post made me feel seen. And accepted. :)
I've always thought I was a freak of nature, by reading books so fast and not retaining every last detail. I try to be someone who highlights, tabs pages...but no. I even read "How to Read Like a Writer," by Francine Prose. (Great book, for many reasons - not the least of which is that I want to read every book she mentions.)
This year, I've read:
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I didn't know what to expect. I feel like it's made me a lot more empathetic to the factors at play in the opioid crisis. Overall, I really enjoyed it.
Loved these two, but I'm from Boston (where both are set) so I might be biased.
Writers and Lovers by Lily King
Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh
Memoirs: Horror Stories by Liz Phair (yes, the musician. she can write - I enjoyed this and it was a bargain table find at my local bookstore, so double-win.) and Letters to a Young Female Physician (I'm not a physician - not in the medical field at all and I loved this, too. Also loved Rebecca Woolf's "All of This." and Gina Frangello's "Blow Your House Down." That people can go through the hardest of things and write about it so beautifully never ceases to amaze me.
Currently reading and liking: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - this is really good, and not what I was expecting. Light, but not flighty.
I have a bunch of books that are half-finished. Barak Obama's A Promised Land, Lorrie Moore's Self Help, and one about city planning history in Boston, Massachusetts. Not sure why I thought I could handle that last one, but at least now you'll know what might be coming to the local Little Lending Library near me. :)
I want to read all these books! Just finished "Haven" by Emma Donohue - historical fiction which was surprisingly gripping about three monks living on an island in early Christian times (yes, I can't remember which year!). Currently reading "Maps of our Spectacular Bodies" by Maddie Mortimer, beautiful, unique, I'm already worrying about being finished with it. Finally "Mystic & Pilgrim: The Book and World of Margery Kempe" as I'm somewhat obsessed at that moment with women mystics of the medieval ages.
Those all sound really interesting but I have a problem: I buy a lot of books but I'm terrible at actually reading them, so I literally have about 30 I need to start or finish reading. But then sometimes I buy them and read them immediately, and that would be anything by Samantha Irby, David Sedaris, or Allie Brosh. As for books I love besides those, I read the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls twice - it's amazing. And Sarah Silverman's book, The Bedwetter, is also a favorite.
Crossroads was sooo good. My favorite book so far this year has been This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub with an honorable mention to Either/Or and I have the new Kate Atkinson lined up and am working on Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I am a fellow book Cookie Monster and know there were more books I read and loved but that's all my brain is giving me right now
Awhile back I read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine not really expecting much but it turned out to be incredible and I promptly recommended it over and over to everyone even people I wouldn’t normally make recs to. I too use to be a voracious reader but lately Ive been too busy - so sad - Im currently trying to get through The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar and I also picked up an old David Eddings series The Elenium (I have good memories of his series The Belgariad so I thought I’d give it a shot!) I’m going to make note of your list. I feel especially drawn to I Wear Tunics Now.🤩Thanks for this!
Well these are all either books I read and loved or books I want to read, so ok, I will read anything you recommend! I just finished A Heart That Works in one sitting, which is the only way to read that book. Just absolutely wrenching and beautiful while somehow also being funny. Can I add Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel onto the list, but maybe read The Glass Hotel first?
Fellow fast reader here and this post made me feel seen. And accepted. :)
I've always thought I was a freak of nature, by reading books so fast and not retaining every last detail. I try to be someone who highlights, tabs pages...but no. I even read "How to Read Like a Writer," by Francine Prose. (Great book, for many reasons - not the least of which is that I want to read every book she mentions.)
This year, I've read:
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I didn't know what to expect. I feel like it's made me a lot more empathetic to the factors at play in the opioid crisis. Overall, I really enjoyed it.
Loved these two, but I'm from Boston (where both are set) so I might be biased.
Writers and Lovers by Lily King
Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh
Memoirs: Horror Stories by Liz Phair (yes, the musician. she can write - I enjoyed this and it was a bargain table find at my local bookstore, so double-win.) and Letters to a Young Female Physician (I'm not a physician - not in the medical field at all and I loved this, too. Also loved Rebecca Woolf's "All of This." and Gina Frangello's "Blow Your House Down." That people can go through the hardest of things and write about it so beautifully never ceases to amaze me.
Currently reading and liking: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - this is really good, and not what I was expecting. Light, but not flighty.
I have a bunch of books that are half-finished. Barak Obama's A Promised Land, Lorrie Moore's Self Help, and one about city planning history in Boston, Massachusetts. Not sure why I thought I could handle that last one, but at least now you'll know what might be coming to the local Little Lending Library near me. :)
Astonish Me, Maggie Shipstead
We Were Liars E Lockhart
Jackie and Me, Louis Bayard
The Violet Hour, Katherine Hill
Whereabouts, Jumpa Lahiri
Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro
Home going, Yaa Gyasi
Anne Cleves’ Shetland series
Catherine Newman, obvi
So excited for the sequel to Less