The Quiet Girl by S.F. Kosa is another story about a woman who has disappeared. This one has a bunch of serious twists though and it keeps you guessing until the end. Very enjoyable. 4 stars.

I'm now in the middle of Wecker's The Golem and the Jinni. I like it, but thus far not as much as some here. Maybe I'll feel differently as it goes along. I see the author was born in near-to-me Libertyville but now lives in San Francisco. (A physical 'escape' from the bland Midwest?)

DH has finished Virgil Wander, recommended here, and enjoyed it. He thinks an audio version should be recorded by Tom Bodett (the voice of Motel Six commercials).

I finished reading The World Beyond Your Head. I'd give it 3 stars and wouldn't recommend it for book group unless, like this book group, it's geared toward dense, nonfiction books.

I also, for lighter reading, downloaded from Project Gutenberg Riders of the Purple Sage. I'm about halfway through and am so enjoying it. It absolutely transports me completely to another time and place. I remember from M*A*S*H, Col. Potter raving about Zane Grey so I've always wanted to read it. So glad I am!

Just finished Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows this morning. I enjoyed it; it was different than anything else I've read. It was a little disconcerting to me; not sure why. Maybe my own unsupported ideas about women in the culture made it a little shocking, or??? IDK. I learned a lot about Indian immigrant culture, which I enjoyed a great deal. Not sure I'd suggest it for book club, although there is lots to discuss. Depends on how close you are to the other participants, i guess.

I think I recommended Virgil Wander and that is so funny about the Motel 6 voice. I didn't recognize the name but the description was perfect and I can hear it.

I just finished Empire Falls. Mostly I thought it was great, but I have to say at some parts past the halfway point, I was getting a bit weary that the story just kept going and the flashbacks were a little confusing to me. Much of the confusion might be me, but that's what I thought.

Overall though I do think it is a very worthwhile read. I will absolutely read some more of his. ( Bridge of Sighs and The fools ones were highly recommended). I thought the characters were so well done.. I rate it 4 stars and think it would be wonderful for discussion at a book club.

Next, I am going to try The Girl With the Louding Voice. I just got like 3 books I had on hold via kindle/library and this one is for book club at the end of the month. It does get very good ratings, but I am not sure if I will be taken with it. We are going on a little road trip and it may or may not go well .

salonva -- Now I've started Virgil Wander and am reading slowly...to make it last. What perfect prose. The kite alone! It's wonderful. Glad you appreciated the Tom Bodett idea. (I see he's a native of my state, but he sounds extremely 'downstate' -- which is much more Kentucky than Chicago.)

Finished The Bridge of Sighs by Ruchard Russo, after reading Empire Falls a few weeks ago. Liked it very much, not necessarily as a novel, but as one piece of a larger body of Russo’s work.

I’ve concluded that Russo is one of those authors who explore and expound on some very large and universal themes in a very specific setting. Like faith in humanity vs ve. cynicism. Like loyalty and betrayal. Like differences in how people view and handle families, friendship, and other relationships.

All this in one specific type of setting — small dying towns where relationships have lasting histories.

The effect is that most of his novels — down to the level of characters, relationships and even the dialogues — have the same texture and feel. That could be a deterrent if you want to pick up another one of his books. The redeeiming factors are that his insights into humanity are valuable, the writing is great, and the profundity of the themes warrant continued exploration.

3.5 to 4 stars.

I just finished the most wonderful YA book called The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. It was so touching! Its about a china rabbit and learning to love. Its a quick read and I recommend it highly. Five stars.

You will like Girl With the Louding Voice. I have just started reading Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. So far, it's a good read.

Just finished The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis. An easy read that holds your interest.

Dedtired, I LOVED The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Have you read The Tale of Despereaux by the same author? Loved that one as well.

Bestyears, I plan to read more of her books. I’ll try the one you mention. i came across Edward Tulane through an essay by Ann Patchett in the New York Times. She called it life changing.

Oh, I just love Ann Patchett, and am determined to get to her bookstore in Nashville (Parnassus Books) one day. Despereaux was actually my first, and remains my favorite of the two, but Edward Tulane was very close. Let me know!

Bestyears, this might be behind a paywall but here is Patchett’s essay. She met DiCamillo at an event at Parnassus Books. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/books/review/kate-dicamillo-ann-patchett.html

I actually commented yesterday but you know, houzz, it's gone. I added The Miraculous Journey

to be want to read list. I never heard of it and I was thrilled to see it's not brand new, and that my library has it available on kindle. I will definitely read it soon.

FWIW, I have read maybe 2 or 3 by Patchett and while I think she's good, I don't think I see what everyone else seems to find with her books.

I have started The Girl with the Louding Voice and I am finding it ( at all of 10%) a very good read.

@salonva I read The Girl with the Louding Voice about nine months ago and thought it was a very powerful story.

I recently finished reading Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy which I thought was an intriguing read. Good atmospheric writing style (it is set in the Scottish Highlands) and an interesting plot. I learned quite a bit about wolves, and while that is a backdrop for the plot, there are much deeper issues of physical/mental abuse and toxic relationships. There were some things I found to be implausible, but for the most part that did prevent me from enjoying the book. 4 Stars - I think it would also have plenty of discussion topics to a good Book Club selection.

For my audiobook selection, since I usually read one book and listen to another, I listened to The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi. A poignant story set in Nigeria that opens with a grieving mother struggling to understand how and why her son has died. Beautiful and powerful writing that explores themes of sexuality, gender identity, and cultural intolerance. One of the sexual relationships in the book did not quite seem to make sense and detracted a bit from the story for me, but overall, a very well done, thought provoking story. 4 Stars - would be good for a Book Club discussion (does have a couple of detailed sex scenes).

I just started The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller. It seems to get mixed reviews but friends who typically like the same books as I do recommended it so giving it a try. Several flawed characters introduced in the first few chapters. Not especially liking the main character so far, but I don’t have to like her necessarily to still enjoy the book. I’m not far enough in to have much of an opinion yet.

For audiobook, I’m listening to Hostage by Claire MacKintosh. I’ve read a few of her books and enjoyed them. It’s a thriller, so far it has quickly drawn me in. Good for my long walks.

Thank you, dedtired, it is behind a paywall, but this may be the nudge I need to subscribe!

I finished The Nature of Fragile Things this morning. I was a little apprehensive about how much I might like it, after Nutsaboutplant's scathing review of it, lol, but since I didn't have the same expectations about it as she did, it did not disappoint me like it did her.

I actually quite enjoyed reading it. I thought it was a great story, competently written (but not swoon worthy) with a really interesting plot and twists along the way.

I didn't know much about the San Francisco earthquake and I thought the author did a good job of capturing some of the tragedy and hardships faced by survivors - not just the quake, but the devastating fires that followed. But that was really only part of the story; the rest was very compelling to me.

So, if you're not looking for great historical fiction, but a really good story - I'd recommend it.

I read, and about to re-read, The Peacemaker's Code. It's about a negotiation to save the entire human race and culture against an overwhelmingly superior alien species who see humans as an up and coming threat to their own survival. Simply stunning!

I recently finished the audiobook version of Pied Piper by Nevil Shute. He is the writer of Trustee from the Toolroom that was discussed here a couple of months ago. Pied Piper started a bit slowly but gradually built up in complexity. A 70-ish man vacationing in France on the cusp of WW II is asked by friends to take their two children with him to England when he returns there. He acquires similar custody of more children because of the increasing threat of war and the situation becomes more dangerous with France being occupied by Nazis as he tries to make his way back to England. As an audiobook, I would give it 5 out of 5 stars.

I'm reading "The book of lost names". Good so far, its not my usual type book

Finished Riders of the Purple Sage. What a novel for escaping completely to another time and place. I'm going to have to see if he wrote a sequel as he left some things hanging and I'd love to find out what happened to the people. A classic oater...sage, horses, bad guys, good guys, and incredible scenery...and powerful women to boot!

Annie, thanks to your recommendation upthread, last night I finished Riders of the Purple Sage (downloaded from Project Gutenberg, a very handy resource). I really liked it. 4+ stars. I really had no expectations beyond something set in the Old West. It often surprised me. Sometimes it felt quaint and old fashioned, and at other times very wise and oddly contemporary. I like to do parallel reading about the place and time. There was a lot of narrative about the land--purple sage!--that sometimes slowed the story down a bit, but I got into a rhythm and couldn't put it down from about the mid-point on.

It was 1871 and frontier justice prevailed. If there was anything I didn't like it was the way they could be hard on their horses, but I'm a softie when it comes to animals, esp. horses, dogs, and cats. I've always tended to romanticize the Old West. As a child I wanted very much to make the trek west. My mom reminded me that I lived in California, about 20 miles from the Pacific, and would get wet if I went much further west.

I do wonder about what happened to some of the people afterwards. I've sort of invented my own sequel.

Bunny! Good news. He wrote a sequel...I'm 20% of the way through it, also on Project Gutenberg. It's called The Rainbow Trail. Yes, they were hard on their animals, but I figure no harder than they were on themselves. It was not an easy life chosen and of course they saw so much death among their community, harvesting animals, loss of animals to weather/climate and even their own children to diseases etc.

Annie, thank you! I'll download it now to read after I finish The Rose Code which I got today.

Life was hard, especially if you were a woman who wanted to exercise her free will in southern Utah.

I downloaded Riders of the Purple Sage in Kindle format. It behaved almost exactly as a regular Kindle version would, except I there was no way to get a ragged right edge (can't stand right justified). When I downloaded The Rainbow Trail in Kindle format, it didn't have the chapter listing and considered the entire book one chapter in the countdown. I really need xxx minutes left in chapter when I'm reading.

So I tried a different format ePub which went to my Mac's iBooks app. It's beautiful, chapters, ragged right edge, pages left in chapter, etc. Something to consider.

I'm halfway through The Hidden Palace and it's making me sad (spoiler alert).

Clearly the golem and the jinni are headed for major heartbreak and for him to get involved emotionally with someone else....and I wish they would have a happy ending together!

UPDATE: Finished the book, happy to report (slight spoiler alert) I was not on track with my expectation.

Wonderful read, and whether or not there's another in the series it was a perfect pair of books.

I finished The Girl With the Louding Voice and did find it a very good and actually kind of easy read. I thought it was pretty well done, though the story was pretty troubling.

I think it will make for a good book club discussion. I would rate it between 3 and 4 stars, though fwiw on goodreads it is well over 4.

I am very undecided as to what will be next. I have a bunch on reserve at the library but may just peruse this thread again and see if something is currently ready to borrow on kindle.

I finished The Rainbow Trail. Not as good as the first, but satisfying nonetheless as a sequel...it puts the period at the end of the sentence left hanging in the first. I'll give it 4 stars still.

Annie Deighnaugh... thank you for leading me to Project Gutenberg. Looks like a great resource. I'm reading Riders of the Purple Sage right now.

I just finished The Rose Code. I liked it very much and thank all those in the reading threads that recommended it. 4.5 stars. I'm not in a book group, but I think it would be a good book for one.

I've read LOTS of WWII novels. For the first 30-50 pages of The Rose I thought, here we go again, same old same old. Bletchley Park, three young women, etc. etc. I came *this* close to putting it down. But it grabbed me, it's a lot more than BP code breakers. It's a long book and I could not put it down from about the mid-point on.

There really was an Osla (different last name) who dated Prince Philip when he was still single.

Completed both Golem and Jinni books by Helene Wecker. I did finish both, but was less enthralled than some readers here have posted. Easy, fast reading.

I'm starting Yours Cheerfully, sequel to A. J. Pearce's Dear Mrs. Bird. I feel the same way I do about the Midwife TV series, that these women are ridiculous innocents. It's still a good read, but you'd think the setting was 19th Century, not during WWII. (Must remember: Princess Diana had no formal education!)

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. As with his previous books, here are the things I liked:

*character development

*the patient, unhurried exploration of the inner lives and relationships of ordinary people

* the writing

Things that irked me a little:

* the repetitive nature of characters’ patterns of behavior which, while realistic, got tiresome (could have been more concisely handled without losing texture and depth)

*long and seemingly extraneous discussions of very specific topics (e.g. wildlife conservancy, corporate misconduct, special interests exerting political influence on US invasion of Iraq). It’s not the length and complexity of the discussions per se that felt wrong but how “inserted” the sections felt. To be fair, they do provide context to some key decisions of the characters, but could have been woven more seamlessly.

3.5 to 4 stars

The Chalk Man and The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor. Enjoyable mysteries, light reading. Fresh and interesting plots. 3 stars.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DeCamillo. Really liked it. Reminded me of Oscar Wilde’s short atories, e.g. The Happy Prince, The Young King, The Selfish Giant.

funny! I just got that --The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane as it was available today for me. ( not on kindle, but e book format so will read it on my chromebook).

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi, about a young person’s painful attempts at navigating sexuality and gender identity issues in Nigeria. There are other books that have explored this with equal freshness, like Funny Boy.

Poignant, beautiful writing. Some chapters, consiting of only a few sentences, simply glisten. The book evokes such tenderness. “Tender” in both of its meanings —“with loving care“ and ”painful to the touch”. Loved the book. Left me a little sad, though I’m generally immune to strong emotional responses.

4 stars.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The most laughably silly book I’ve ever picked up. Just as we have mandatory warnings for movies like ”violence, nudity, language”, I wish books like this came with a warning like “stupidity, extreme frivolousness” or “injurious to your brain” etc.

It’s like a 20 year-old nitwit pretending to be enlightended sat down to dress up a Barbie in rainbow colors in solidarity with LGBTQ, or to bemoan the plight of Barbie being valued purely for her looks.

I apologize if I offend anyone, but I just hated it. Had it not been a digital copy, I could have at least cleansed my spirit by ripping the pages of the “book” into pieces.

(Must remember: Princess Diana had no formal education!)

??? That isn't true. She had a governess, then went to boarding schools.

Nutsaboutplants, this made me smile in recognition of the eternal truth that no reader is alike: for the last two books you mention I had exactly the opposite reaction!

Loathed Freedom, it was a book club selection so I made my way through the entire interminable slog of boring plot and intensely unlikeable characters. Actually it was bad enough that it soured me from ever reading anything else by Franzen. If he could create that stinker, I can avoid any further waste of time reading his oeuvre.

And I thought Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was a fun romp. Definitely escapist and light but as always the author manages to keep me entertained. My daughter just gave me Taylor Jenkins Reid's latest and I'm planning on saving it for some time when I need a little well written fluff in my reading life.

I just finished Hell of a Book, which I can describe as extremely funny, extremely satirical, and extremely disturbing. It's been longlisted for the National Book Award., which is how I came to find it. I liked it very much.

Running, isn’t it wonderful hiw different eachof us is? Also, isn’t it wonderful how the two of us can interpret and use each other’s redommendations going forward, lol lol?

Nuts, it is fun that people can read the same book and feel so differently! When I rave about a book I love I always add 'but that was how I felt, you may not like it as much or at all'.

The only people I count on 100% for book recs are my sisters. Some of us like genre books others won't touch (I detest true crime) but if one of my sisters tells me she read something amazing--I've never not been amazed too.

running -- Much was made of the fact that Princess Diana was raised 'the old fashioned way', without a college education, just 'finishing school'. Females from noble families were to be sheltered, not exposed to the big, nasty, *real* world.

Thanks @dedtired for mentioning The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

I thought it was so sweet and so well written. It very much reminds me of the Little Prince.

Simple and appropriate for a young reader, but excellent for the older set as well.

Finished The Girl with the Louding Voice. About a 14 year-old girl in Nigeria, a tiny twig of a girl refusing to curl up and die in the face of unspeakable horrors.

What a dynamite of a book! Heartbreaking at times yet so uplifiting and inspiring. The powerful, piercing, raw language is a fitting voice for the main character — her unbreakable spirit, her searing but unschooled mind, her naive but resourceful ways.

I think the story is a believable one, and unfortunately even a common one. I shared an apartment with a Nigerian roommate in grad school. This was 35 years ago and she was from Lagos. Though we are not close friends, I got to know her well and have kept in touch with her. I believe the values and norms of the society described in the book are — unfortunately — accurate ane prevalent even now.

The treatment of hired help in the book rang true too. I grew up in India though I’ve lived all my adult life in the US. The dynamics of the wealthy and the working class in the book is, I’m ashamed to say, prevalent in India too, though it’s changing.

Finally, the power of education to lift lives out of poverty and oppression can never be as real to others as someone gripped by unspeakable desperation. I come from a relatively privileged background and can’t pretend to understand the life of someone like Odunni in the book, but it was education that allowed me an escape from the vise of patriarchy. Feminism is not a fancy notion, a notion many struggling women around the world don’t even know about. It’s simply a woman’s rejection of her lot in life and her fight to survive. It’s as simple and real as that. The book lays it bare in the most unadorned way.

I teared up occasionally. My heart swelled with thrill and pride for the little girl at other times. I laughed out loud at her cheeky little obervations. She will stay with me for a long, long time.

salon, faftris, 4kids, thanks for the recommendation. This book is an unforgettable experience.

Loved it. 4.5 stars.

While I read this thread often, I rarely post to it. But I just finished a book by a new-to-me author, Boo Walker, and wanted to share with y'all. Has anyone here read any of his books? Since finishing 'The Singing Trees' a couple of days ago, I have delved into 'Red Mountain', and so far I'm enjoying it very much.

To quote Amazon about 'The Singing Trees': "A young artist forges a path of self-discovery in an enriching novel about forgiving the past and embracing second chances, from the bestselling author of An Unfinished Story.

Maine, 1969. After losing her parents in a car accident, aspiring artist Annalisa Mancuso lives with her grandmother and their large Italian family in the stifling factory town of Payton Mills. Inspired by her mother, whose own artistic dreams disappeared in a damaged marriage, Annalisa is dedicated only to painting. Closed off to love, and driven as much by her innate talent as she is the disillusionment of her past, Annalisa just wants to come into her own."

I've never belonged to a book club, and really have no idea how or what they discuss about books read, but I think this book would provide a lot of interesting topics for discussion.

Rusty

Finishing up The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn. I'd give it 3 stars. Some of it is interesting but mostly it's just depressing that so many people could just ignore his many faults and follow him to kill themselves or be killed. I was a teenager when the Jonestown murder/suicide happened and was horrified. I vaguely remember seeing stories about the group afterward, but hadn't known it had gone on for so long or that they were previously in California, which wasn't too far from where I was living. The many details can get boring at times, and have been reading it just before I go to sleep. I'm going to try and finish it up tonight when I'm working.

Also reading Nevil Shute's Pied Piper. Liking it a lot. It was at work and had to bring it home when I came home to work last week. So far only 1/4 the way through but I'd say it is a 4.5 right now. I may have to order more of his books.

First, what I'm not reading. I usually have two books going--one downstairs and one for reading in bed. I started reading Robert B. Parker's Debt to Pay, by Reed Coleman, in bed but put it down because it was obvious there would be too much suspense (will the serial killer get to Jen before her wedding??) for bedtime reading. I might pick it up again, or might not. I'm a big fan of Parker's, but this book wasn't quite the same. Which figures, I guess.

I'm also not reading Kaaterskill Falls, by Allegra Goodman. It appears I've lost my taste for literary fiction. The writer in me appreciates it, and marvels at a beautifully detailed evocative paragraph, etc., but the reader in me wants to eagerly anticipate--at least a little bit--what might happen next. All the wonderful use of language makes me feel as though I'm back at work as an editor.

I just finished Favorite Wife: Escape from Polygamy, by Susan Ray Schmidt. It's the third book I've read about the LeBaron fundamentalist Mormon cult, and I have a fourth I haven't started yet. It's not polygamy that fascinates me (by now I know more than I'll ever need to know about that), but the people. All the books were authored by wives, and it's interesting to read their different versions of the events. They all knew one another. The stories aren't just about being in polygamous relationships; insanity plays a part, and murder. Many murders.

But the next book I plan to read is Hitler's Daughter, a young adult novel by Jackie French. When two of my grandsons (ages 7 and 10) heard about the book, we a good discussion about Hitler. So I bought the book and after I read it I'll pass it along to the 10-year-old so we can talk about it.

Adding a link to August 2021 reading:

What are we reading August 2021