Is Big Sky set in Montana, Bunny?

Sheesh, no, it takes place on the Yorkshire coast. I should have mentioned that. All I could think of is the vast sky over the ocean at the edge of the world, but it really didn't play a role in the story.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. A thought provoking exploration of the nature of time and life. Goodreads Link "Full of Ozeki’s signature humour and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home."

Yesterday I finished Salman Rushdie's latest novel, Quichotte. Goodreads Link Another good one which satirically ponders "what is truth?"

My brain was hurting a bit after two books in which Schrodinger's cat, and thus quantum mechanics, plays a role (sort of) so I decided my next read should be more straightforward. On to The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama.

Today I started All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood. I'm 56 pages in and hooked.

I just finished “A Theory of Relativity” by Jacquelyn Mitchard. Parts of the first half or so were a little slow-going, but it gets more interesting farther in.

It’s the story of a young, single science teacher whose only sister is diagnosed with cancer. She and her husband die in a car crash, leaving behind their one year old daughter. This is a powerful and thought provoking story that explores the emotional dynamics and dramas of two families fighting for custody of this child.

It is well written, and brings up some interesting theories. I will be searching out other books by this author.

I've started "One Good Dog" by Susan Wilson, liking it a lot so far.

Rusty

I haven’t read anything to rave about recently. With my kids back in school, I’m driving a lot again so been listening to some audiobooks. Most audiobooks that I really want to read have a long wait at the library so I’ve listened to several mysteries set in Great Britain that were readily available.

A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd, first in a series with Bess Crawford, a WWI nurse, as main character. Nice descriptive writing when it came to the setting, but the plot was slow moving.

Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor. A quick and enjoyable listen, but the story dragged on with a predictable end.

The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor. I gave Gaynor another try since this audiobook was available when I finished the last. Beautiful prose, but the plot just isn’t very interesting. I have a couple of chapters left.

I’m currently reading Still Midnight by Denise Mina, the first in a series about DI Alex Morrow, a female detective in Glasgow. I read #2 in the series first and really liked it so decided to go back and read #1. Not as good but hoping it will come together soon.

Next up on audio is The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai which I finally got after a couple months of waiting.

I bailed on Dandelion Wine. The writing was very good, but I just couldn't engage with the characters and apparent lack of a storyline.

I just finished reading The New Girl by Daniel Silva. It's very good, and is one of the most highly rated of Silva's books on Goodreads. The book is a political thriller and the plot includes events that are occurring in our present day.

I am re-listening to Endurance : Shackeleton's Incredible Voyage on my iPod. It's one of the better audiobooks I have ever listened to, and Simon Prebble is an excellent narrator. As anyone knows who listens to audiobooks, the narrator can make or break a good listening experience.

It took a bit of listening to get used to the narrator in Life, on the Line : A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat. It was an amazing story in many ways, but had some long-winded sections that I fast-forwarded through. It is about Grant Achatz and the opening of his restaurant Alinea. He creates super-innovative food in this very exclusive restaurant and won many awards for food excellence. This was all threatened when the very determined and talented chef was diagnosed with tongue cancer. He wondered - if his tongue is removed, as doctors recommended, how will he be able to taste the food he produces?

Dandelion Wine is not my fave Bradbury work, but it is somewhat biographical, IIRC. I hope you'll try other works, if you haven't yet. His short stories are wonderful.

I just finished Middle England, Jonathan Coe. So timely! Loved it!

One of the characters is a journalist who has the frustrating conversations with an babble-speaking old school tie 'in government'. For instance, 'Nigel' refuses to believe that the crisis he and his Downing Street cronies have fomenting for political gain is not being called "Brixit', as they have pronounced it for two months 'within their inner circle'.

That's just one of the ongoing story lines as the various characters experience *their* national divide. Today's reality of a multicultural England is set against a politically-fanned romantic belief that 'things were better then' -- conveniently scapegoating Persons Not Born Here.

It's all delivered with heart and a lot of comic relief -- and a terrible sense of familiarity.

Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, about Meriwether Lewis and Clark. I am just getting into it. Stopped by our Friends of the Library looking for any Ambrose or David McCullough books for sale, and scored 3. I had read another Ambrose book on the Voyage of Discovery and enjoyed that and hope to enjoy this one too.

Ack! I see I am still unable to EDIT! Sorry for the mistakes above.

Carolb, years ago I read Something Wicked This Way Comes. I remember loving the initial creepiness but I don't think in the end it delivered quite what I expected. It was maybe 25 years ago and my appreciation of good writing and storytelling has matured since then.

We read Educated in book group. I liked it, but a couple of the women picked parts of it apart. They found it very difficult to accept that a person could do as much as the author did with the background she had. They had done research on her and found a bunch of contradictions -- even a photo of the father who looked just like an ordinary man, not someone who had half of his face melted. I felt pretty gullible for just accepting the story as told!

That's interesting about Educated, Norar. I hadn't heard the information about the author at the time that I read the book, which goes to show the advantage of having several people contributing to a discussion. I will need to do a Google search!

I have no information about Educated but I consider all memoirs (and autobiographies) to be "fiction". They may be the truth as the author remembers it but I always assume they are filtered through memory and experiences which may lead to inaccuracies. Or they could be full of outright lies. I may enjoy the story but I don't accept them as factually correct.

I love Tara Westover's story and memoir.
She's done many, many interviews which are as compelling and
believable. If you know anything about growing up with an extremely
dysfunctional family, abusive parents and/or sibling, then you'd also
know about how trauma affects perceptions and memories.

Her memories are hers from when she was a child, written as an adult.
I forgive her for what may be an imperfect (to us) memory, but I have
no doubt that her family was a horrendous place to be a child,
especially a girl; abused by her brother and her father. She has
overcome that and chosen to thrive. I'm not going to accept some
internet detective second guessing the severity of her father's injuries
from a picture they found (remember, she was a traumatized child with
those memories).

What I came away with from the book, more than any
other thing, is how difficult (almost impossible) it is to grow up under
those circumstances and then have to decide if you'll reject your
family so you can survive and live a life worth living. I appreciate how she wrote about that
struggle and spoke of it in her interviews.

Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder and One Man's Fight for Justice by Bill Browder. I'm about 3/4 through it - fascinating story about Russia, especially since it's true.

Just finished True Story by Michael Finkel...I think it was recommended here at one point. Easy to read and a very weird story about a family annihilator told by a former NYT reporter. Not for book group...I'd give it 3 1/2 stars...good enough for a true crime story.

Next up, also I think recommended here: Fall On Your Knees

@3katz4me I read that book last year and found it very intriguing. I don't know much about the finance world, but like you, thought it was a fascinating story.

I finally got around to reading Becoming by Michelle Obama. I'm generally not a big fan of autobiographies, so I am surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It's so well written and compelling.

Next up: The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante. This is the second of her 'Neopolitan Novels'. The first was My Brilliant Friend, which was very good. I'm also watching the HBO series. It's excellent, all in Italian with English subtitles.

I really have not been reading much lately at all- sorry to say. I still browse this thread and pay attention though for when I get back to reading. @3katz4me my daughter recently mentioned that Red Notice to me and I added it to my goodreads list of "want to read". Thanks for mentioning it again.

I was surprised that Becoming was available on the ebook section of my library the other day--I snapped it up. Haven't started it yet but am eager to read this one.

I just finished another book about someone dying. When You Read This is an epistolary novel, and I enjoyed it very much. About a young woman diagnosed with incurable cancer, her surviving sister, boss and how life unfolds in unexpected ways even in the midst of what is sadly familiar (terminal illness). I'd definitely recommend it.

Our October book club pick is the intriguingly titled Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead. If that's not the perfect selection for Halloween month I don't know what is!

For a completely different type of reading experience, I"m in the middle of The Dumb Things Smart People do with their Money. Nothing too esoteric, but the author has a nice breezy way with anecdotes. My only quibble is her language, a bit surprisingly profane for a personal finance book!

I'm also reading Becoming for book club. This isn't something I'd normally choose but I'm liking it just fine. Alsoread March, John Lewis which is the Vermont Reads selection for 2019. It's a trilogy about the civil rights struggle. I've borrowed the other two from the Library (March Book Two and Three) all in graphic novel format. Very good. This is the first Vermont Reads I have participated in. Does your state have this or similar? I attended one lecture this week where another author talks about this (and her own books). Much fun and so interesting. The speaker was Kekla Magoon who writes young adult fiction. She now resides in Vermont. There will be other lectures, movies, writing contests and other programs to celebrate this book during the remainder of the year.

On my own I felt like some psychological thriller books and read The Night Visitors by Carol Goodman and liked it so much that I'm on to Arcadia Hills and The Other Mother by the same author. Liking Arcadia Hills very much so far.

Does your state have this or similar?

We have "One Book, One Philadelphia", which has been going on since 2003. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/programs/onebook/

A book that I read recently and enjoyed is The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell. The bookshop is in a small town in Scotland and the author (sometimes in a curmudgeonly way) describes his often colorful life as a bookseller, including purchasing collections from other people to stock his store, and dealing with staff and customers. The book is mainly amusing and is an entertaining look at a business that is surviving in an age of electronic media and online purchasing.

Bookwoman, Our library does The Big Read and this year the book is Lab Girl.

Are you participating jewel? It's already on my list. The bookseller book sounds good too Stacey - I'm adding that too. Oh, why to I come here? I'm not getting ahead....

My first time ever, reading Robin Cook. Are his books all this thick??? LOL

It's Marvel.

Ooops, Marker, not Marvel

I've given up on the book I was reading, and started Killers of the Flower Moon, which is subtitled: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI which tells the story of the Osage Indians who after being relocated to undesirable, unproductive scrub-land in Oklahoma, discovered oil on that land, and before long became the richest people per capita in the world.

Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an
Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were
shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more
members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.

As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the
case. It was one of the organization’s first major homicide
investigations and the after the bureau initially badly bungled the case, their subsequent efforts, together with the Osage, they began to expose
one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

I'm not very far into the book so most of the above is taken from the author's description of the book.

Bob, I listened to KIllers of the Flower Moon and really enjoyed it. I just bought a copy from our library book sale last weekend to put on our book shelf and hope to read it over the winter.

I recently read Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner,which is a beautifully written book. Also read Button Man by Andrew Gross. It is historical fiction about the mob and their infiltration of the unions in the garment district of NYC.

I just finished Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton. I love her books. Light entertaining reading. Too bad she recently passed away.

I have gotten hooked on The Dressage Chronicles series by Karen McGoldrick. Such great writing that puts one right in the scene. The story line is fictional but the lessons in the book on horsemanship, personalities, barn life and riding dressage are factual. I am not a young rider, nor am I a dressage rider but the series has me captivated.

I finished The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai over the weekend. I listened to the audio version while on a road trip this weekend. The narration was fantastic - i looked up the narrator’s bio and he has an extensive resume. I will actually look for more books that he has narrated. As for the novel, wow, heartbreaking look at how AIDS affected a group of friends in the 1980s. The only downside of the book is that it is yet another novel with dual timelines. I really didn’t care for the present day plot at all - I think it could have been left out though the ending did tie both plots together in a rather beautiful and heartbreaking way. I was just a teen/college student in the 80s but remember quite well the fear of AIDS (my aunt’s former husband came out as gay and eventually died of AIDS). I was surprised to see the author is a decade younger than me which means she was just a kid in the 80s. I thought she did a great job “setting the scene” - her writing really did bring me back in time to that period.

I’ve been reading Denise Mina’s Still Midnight forever but just can’t really get into it. First in a series, but I read #2 first and really liked it. I’ve not had much desire to sit and read lately for some reason. I have several good books waiting for me so need to buckle down. Ive been road tripping every weekend (visiting my son at college 5 hrs away to see him compete in his sport) as well as lots of time driving my younger two to their two different high schools, so listening to a lot of audiobooks. Next audiobook for this weekend’s trip is The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin.

4k4u - I just bought The Orchardist a couple of days ago at a used book shop. Looks good. Let us know how you like it, please.

• Half way into Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone. Great writing and interesting perspectives. Enjoying it so far.

I really enjoyed the Orchardist.

Well, I enjoyed
Welcome to Utopia :Notes from a Small Town, more in the beginning than sticking with it (it's not a big book at all). Next up is Carnegie's Maid.

I really appreciate these threads ; a while ago I added The Orchardist to my goodreads Want to Read list and this mention just jogged my memory.

I am in 3 book clubs (maybe 4) and I do browse others to see what books they are reading. It's really interesting how much overlap there is. Killers of the Flower Moon was read by 2 of my groups this year and now for 2020 the other one is picking it up . That was a really worthwhile read. Another one I am seeing in quite a few is the Immortalists, which was read by 2 of my groups this year. In each group, it seemed half really liked it and half did not. I thought it was ok, but I do not see why it is "catching on " so much.

I don't have a lot of time to read right now but I did start reading Bob Kealing's book, Life of the Party. The remarkable story of how Brownie Wise built, and lost, a Tupperware party Empire.

I am enjoying it so far.

Sue

Earlier this year I read the Lilac Girls and enjoyed it. Today my GFs and I went to tour the house and saw the gardens. It was this house that inspired the book (about WWII). The author has since written another (about WWI) is working on a 3rd (about the Civil War). So nice to see and learn about the family of strong women who accomplished so much. I've put Lost Roses on my 'to read' list.

I just finished another Holocaust book which I thought was a wonderful story - The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It is historical fiction, inspired by true people and stories. I literally couldn't put it down and read it til very late each night. I'm now taking a break from The Holocaust and will read a James Patterson book.

So many great books, so little time...I so appreciate these threads every month. I just read Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. The author is a poet who just won a MacArthur "Genius" grant. I often love novels written by poets because I am always attracted to lyrical language. It wasn't a book I will soon forget.

I just started Save Me the Plums, by Ruth Reichl, who is a food writer -has been a restaurant critic at NYT and an editor-in-chief at Gourmet Magazine. I've read some of her other books and she's a SUPREME storyteller!

Annie, I'm jealous you got to see the Lilac Girls' house. Enjoyed that book. The house is in CT if I remember correctly? Fascinating story.

Ruth Reichl! Oh how I loved the 3 books I read of hers - Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me With Apples and I'm thinking something like Garlic and Sapphires???? Its been a long while since I read them but they're so great. I loved how she would dress up in disguise to visit famous restaurants for review and how her little boy never blinked an eye when she would come home late at night looking like a lady of the night, or whatever. Was just so funny - and something about the doorman not blinking an eye either LOL.

Finished two more books.

The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama: Worthy sequel to Women of the Silk. A touching story. 4 stars

An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma: On this year's Booker Prize shortlist.

Though beautifully written, I could not feel any sympathy towards the main character, Chinonso. The narration by his chi (spirit in the Igbo cosmology) was interesting but too wordy. I found myself just wanting this book to be done with already. 3 stars

Will be finishing out the month with 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman.

Checking in to thank Czarinalex for the recommendation of Becoming by Michelle Obama. I started it yesterday-what a wonderful read. I wasn't sure I'd like it because in general I don't particularly enjoy memoirs by of-the-moment political or entertainment figures.

But her voice is so real, true and honest! I'd stipulate this probably would not be of interest for someone whose political bent is different but I'm tremendously appreciating not only her (seemingly) honest and candid memories of a life that is already extraordinary even though she's certainly still in her prime. I always admired her as first lady and I admire her even more now based on this glimpse of her as a person.

Just got to the section in which she writes about meeting and falling in love with an oddball, charming, highly intelligent summer associate at her law firm. Wonder what's going to happen next? ;)

Bestyears...yes it's in CT in a little town of Bethlehem. (Sorry couldn't resist!)

I'm uncertain how much I like this, but here it is: An unusual 'first person' take on the Holocaust and the effect on later generations, The German Girl by Armando Correa. The story is told in alternating chapters by two pre-adolescent 'German girls' who are members of the same family. One story starts in Berlin in 1938 and the second, in NYC in 2014. Havana is an important link, as the port that allowed a few of the Jews fleeing Germany to debark from the St. Louis -- one of several ships that America so infamously turned away.

I've finished "Scorched" by Jennifer L. Armentrout, a story about a girl with problems and her love/hate relationship with a young man. Her life is rapidly spiraling out of control, he tries to help, she slips away. It is written alternating between 'her' story and 'his' story, both written in the first person. I would have liked it a lot more if he were able to speak without using the f-bomb in every sentence. That is a big turn-off for me, but I didn't have anything else to read handy, so I stuck with it. I think the author was trying to present a message of hope, of sorts, but the language was very off-putting.

Then I read "The Secret Hour", by Luanne Rice. She is among my favorite authors, and I enjoyed this one as I do most of hers. It is a story of love, loss, and second chances. A defense lawyer in a very controversial capital murder trial, raising his two children alone, and a woman searching for her sister. It was hard for me to put it down.

I started "Lost Roses" by Martha Hall Kelly. I'm not very far into it, so don't have a 'feel' for it yet, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be much slower going than the last couple of books have been.

Rusty

Started 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement but then I received a copy of Margaret Atwood's The Testaments which means all other reading must be set aside.