I finished Time of the Child, which was overwritten, but a book you could sink into if you're in the mood for gentle people on the west coast of Ireland.

I'm now in the middle of Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff's Your Name Here. It's a very quirky, postmodern book, and I don't quite know what to make of it yet, but it's very funny in places and I feel I'm along on a wild ride. As we've mentioned here before, Dewitt's The Last Samurai is a brilliant book, so I'm willing to read pretty much anything she writes.

Thank you, Annie, for starting this reading thread as always. And I love the wonderful images that begin each thread!

I finished Flesh, by David Szalay, and I don't see the attraction. It won the Booker? I wouldn't have voted for it.

Thanks, faftris - I've been wary of it after reading descriptions, so now I don't have to bother!

I just read Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig. I really love everything I've read by him, and this was no exception. I guess this was historical fiction but so much more, about Scottish homesteading in Montana, in say 1880's through 1920 or so. There was so much to it and I enjoyed and loved it all. 5 stars for me and I do think it would be a great book for discussion.

I had been in 3 bookclubs and it's dwindled down to only one now...and that one is fading for me. I'm not sure I would recommend it to that one as I suspect it would not go over well - the whole Montana bit as they seem to really prefer current ( another reason I'm bowing out or fading from it). I heartily recommend the book but I guess, know thy audience.

@salonva

Per Goodreads, this is part of a trilogy. Did you read the others, and in the order he wrote them? A reviewer said the events in this book take place before the events in the first book.

I often enjoy the same books you enjoyed, and I know I’ve enjoyed other books by Doig, so I added these to my Want to Read list.

Sadly, I’m in a bit of a can’t seem to focus on reading phase right now. 🫤 I probably just need the right book to get me hooked. I had Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser for two library loan periods (6 weeks?) and maybe read a third of it. I need to avoid the person who recommended it so I don’t have to admit I couldn’t get into it. 😆 It wasn’t the book, or not all the book’s fault, I can’t focus on any book lately.

@hhireno--- I have read several other by Doig, but didn't know of this trilogy. I did not read the first English Creek ... I am pretty impulsive with my books, and it seems the others in the trilogy for whatever reason are not available on kindle through the several libraries I browse.... only Dancing at the Rascal Fair was available.

The others are available as paper books, so I may give it a try but I often have a hard time with the print. I suspect these are not new books either, so there is the yellowing of the pages to deal with as well. I will have to be old fashioned and get to the library and have a look at the actual book. I am so not a techie but I have developed such a preference for ebooks that it surprises me.

I had about a month of not being able or wanting to read anything so I understand that entirely. FWIW I really enjoyed the Heartwood Hotel : A True Home (also a series) and that helped get me back.

Finished Ann Patchett's A Dutch House. Pulitzer prize finalist. Interesting novel about people that lived and worked in a big house over 5 decades. Good character development, but to me very much nostalgic and sad. I don't know what it takes to be a good book club book. I am still thinking about the characters 3 days later, so I guess it is a good sign.

Yes I saw that Doig had a Montana trilogy. I'll probably start with the first as I've not read anything by him: #1 English Creek; #2 Dancing at the Rascal Fair; #3 Ride with Me, Moriah Montana. Then it gets complicated as #3 becomes #1 in another series....

Love Doig. Thanks for the tip on the Montana series. Have added it to my list. I haven’t been reading for the last few days. Still trying to clear my head of the word-web left by Great Black Hope.

I have The Coming Wave on my shelf, a non-fiction overview of the age of AI. Plan to start in the next day or two.

Bookwoman -- Last month you mentioned Jeremy Irons. I wondered if you'd seen him in a 2013 movie we just streamed on Prime, "Night Train to Lisbon".

I haven't, but I'm not a Prime user. Is it good? If so, I'll keep my eye out for it elsewhere.

I've been on a slow mission to read some of the books that escaped me over the years, and or to reread some from high school.

I just read Of Mice and Men, which I was certain I'd read in high school but really had little memory of it. I am certain now that I never did read it before ( just like with Grapes of Wrath) .

It was such a compelling read. I was sure it would be a 5 star, but that ending.... I don't know if it disappointed me re plot, or if it disappointed my sensitivities? So somewhere between a 4 and 5 star. That ending.

(as an aside, it is under 150 pages and I need to recover from my several weeks of not reading for my goodreads challenge)

Bookwoman -- Not great, but maybe 4 stars from us. It's a slow-developing story that only a fine actor like Irons could carry.

I still haven't started Your Name Here. Just finished John Kenney's sweet, sad, funny I See You've Called In Dead. 4+ stars because I almost never cry over a book. I also read his slim Love Poems for Married People. (Now thinking about the song with the lyrics about 'the conversations with the flying plates'.)

I just started Playworld, by Adam Ross. It's Catcher in the Rye without the charm. We shall see...