After seeing so many people loving The Correspondent, I have tried re=reading it to see what I missed the first time. I still don't care for it. I just don't like the woman writing the letters. She is mean spirited to many of the people she writes to and thinks very highly of herself. I was very disappointed as I fully expected to love the book. I see it compared favorably to 84 Charing Cross Rd. and the only thing I see is that they both are written in letter form. The woman in that book is kind and has a sense of humor.

norar -- ^^^ I think you got the point of the story. We see a self-absorbed, lonely woman slowly discover a better way to live. It *was* difficult to believe her lovely neighbor would wait around for her to get over herself.

Taste, My Life Through Food, by Stanley Tucci. We're reading it because of bookclub, but all of us also deeply love cooking. I feel as though he's having an intimate conversation with me, and I really like the glimpses of his personal life. This book was picked with the intention of making a recipe each week. I'd be delighted if it also offered a chance for discussion. That's just to be seen.

P.S. I'm going to make the Tucci family ragu this week, and chosen pappardelle to pair with it

I'm currently re-reading Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Crichton on my kindle. Sure, they're old, but so so good! You can't get more actioned packed, and I love all the easy and fun to read science. They really are good books, and extremely well written. I think they are under appreciated.

Hope its okay to ask this here, but I figure you are all readers. I want to buy a gift book for my BIL. He reads nonfiction, mostly history but not exclusively. He ’s very smart, has a PhD from Princeton. Just adding that to indicate that he does not read fluff. However, he did enjoy ( at least he said he did) The Art Thief, my gift last year.

Any suggestions? Preferably not some 700 page tome! Thanks

Hobbitmom, good thought! I listened to Harari’s lectures and he is excellent. I dont know if my BIL has read any of his books, but it seems like something he might have read. Excellent recommendation, though.

A more recent book by him is Nexus, where he contemplates the joining of humanity and computers. (Kind of like that first Star Trek movie eons ago.)

Good one to consider. Wish it werent quite so long. Star Trek. I always remember the Trouble With Tribbles episode and when Kirk kissed Uhura.

And to keep this on topic, I agree with Salonva’s estimation of aThe Correspondent. Im reading slower because I dont want it to end.

If he hasn't read it, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert is a scary eye opener about the evidence from around the world that we are on the verge of mass extinction.

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nicole Hannah-Jones et al. was also another eye opener for me. Amazing connections between US history and policy and how racism/slavery impacted it. It's long, just under 600 pgs.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I by Douglas Brun. So interesting on how the world changed as a result of the diesel engine...and then he's gone.

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

You didn't say what his field of study was, but I'm thinking any of the Erik Larson books...Isaac's Storm and Devil in the White City were tops.

Depending on his political bent, I highly recommend Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean. She goes back decades into the roots of our current political environment, and of course there are economists involved!

Another written in the 50s but still so applicable today: The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer.

If science is his thing: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong.

His PhD is in Engineering and his politics lean right. His daughters hound him for his politics but I think he is fed up with the current state of affairs. He is not so closed minded that he would not consider reading about a different point of view

Annie, thank you for so many good suggestions. That took you a while to spell out. Didnt Kidder write House a while back? I enjoyed that.

Ill look into all of these and see if there is a fit I appreciate your effort. The Diesel book looks like it could be a winner.

Dedtired, The Worst Hard Time, mentioned above is a terrific book about the dust bowl. One of my favorite history books. Political right or left won't matter with this book.

Yes, if he's an engineer then he'd enjoy the Diesel book.

Wow that little skimp of a book had very thin pages and it was over 400 pages long! Finally finished. Well, I guess I can say I enjoyed it, though it was very different: A Treasury of Damon Runyon. He was a journalist, short story writer and poet. Probably most famous for Guys and Dolls...broadway musical and film... which was based on several of his short stories that had repeating characters. But also Little Miss Marker which launched Shirley Temple's career. Much of it humorous, but some of it very violent, written about gamblers and thieves and such in the 30s and 40s. He also covered sports and major murder trials of that era and was published in magazines such as Colliers. He was also known for his vernacular called "runyonese" which was liberally sprinkled with slang, where potatoes are money and roscoe is a gun. I read it over the holidays so it was frequently interrupted, which a book of short stories accommodates. I can see enjoying it more if I read it sprinkled in magazines over time rather than getting through it all, one after the other. Most of the stories came with a twist at the end, which I like. If you think something like that would interest you, then enjoy. I'll give it 3+ stars. Not for book group.

Next up, I think was recommended here, An American Beauty by Shana Abé about Arabella Huntington. I'm looking forward to it as I've hiked one of the Huntington properties extensively over the years.

Just finished The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth by Barbara O’Neal. The story has a nice ending but it took too long to get to it. Goodreads rates 4.4. I’d rate a 3. But it would work for a book group with the two different & believable life traumas the two women are struggling to overcome.

@dedtired Two books that I recently bought for my son might fit the bill.

Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global

Amercan Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (This one might be too long at 721 pages!)

@chisue, Ive read and loved We All Want Impossible Things! It is actually older than Sandwich — the newest one is Wreck. Ive chosen not to read the Sandwich or Wreck to date.

i dont know that We all Want Impossible Things is the best written but it really resonated with me. It was one of my favorites of last year … and i gave it to two others.

I think I mentioned American Beauty a few months ago. It wasn't great literature, but it was such a good read and an interesting "story" ( historical fiction). I hope you enjoy.

I've added so many to my want to read list on goodreads, and requested ebooks from these posts.

In another forum , not houzz, someone had highly praised The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. The kindle version is free on A so I figured I'd try it. It really is his autobiography. It's not complete as in every year but much of it was more like a diary. What a brilliant mind , I guess we all know that, but to read his words was really impressive. I particularly liked his thoughts on dealing with people. I was less intrigued in the history ( though he told it well and it kept my interest) though his description of aspects of the daily life were enlightening , at least for me. Way better than I expected. The flowery language and long long long sentences could get to be a bit much, but the amazing outweighed that.

First published 1791.

Link on goodreads

It's difficult to really rate it, as it is so unique but I recommend and I guess I'd give it 4 stars.

Sapiens has been aptly dubbed infotainment.

"... we should not judge Sapiens as a serious contribution to knowledge but as 'infotainment', a publishing event to titillate its readers by a wild intellectual ride across the landscape of history, dotted with sensational displays of speculation, and ending with blood-curdling predictions about human destiny. By these criteria it is a most successful book."

From the article "A Response to Yuval Harari's 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind'" byC. R. Hallpike:

Link to article:

https://web.archive.org/web/20211203050910/https://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?sec_id=189085

Wikipedia entry on Prof. Hallpike:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Robert_Hallpike

I haven't started reading either...but...I live in Colorado so the 1st one resonates with me! I LOVE Colorado!

I am almost 1000 pages into The Count of Monte Cristo and having the best time!

Just checked this out from the library. 550 pages, weighs 5 lbs. yikes!

Just finished The Sequel, the sequel to The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Like the first book it's great fun and a breeze to read. Perfect airplane reading, in the best sense of the term.

Having read his Cutting for Stone and The Covenant of Water, I decided to try Abraham Verghese's The Tennis Partner, his autobiographical work. It is the story of the friendship of two men--doctors--who found themselves alone and newcomers to a hospital setting in a

Texas town. They became friends and bonded over their love of tennis but this story is much

deeper than that. It is at times very informative but also heartwarming and then you get to the ending. 4 stars

Just finished An American Beauty by Shana Abé about Arabella Huntington. I'll give it 4 stars and good for book group. It's historical fiction but based on her life and what an incredible life it was. A real "pretty woman" story from starving hooker to the wealthiest woman in America. She was tough as nails, a smart business woman -- she became wealthy in her own right with her real estate investments -- who had an exquisite eye for design and decor, designing several mansions and their interiors for herself as well as amassing an enormous amount jewelry and art. But the book focuses on her living a 'tainted' life as Collis P. Huntington's mistress in the high society of the era of the robber barons.

I've spent many hours roaming the 1,200 acre park which I knew had a mansion on it that burned down, but found out she never owned this property. Instead it was owned by her son whose wife later donated it to become a park.

Next up Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller for book group.

I just came to the end of The Count of Monte Cristo. What a wonderful book. Anything that can hold my attention for 1300 pages! I have never read The Three Musketeers, but it's on my list now.

Next is Night and Day, an early Virginia Woolf novel.

After the Franklin autobiography, I read George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution . It was coincidental ( or maybe not lol? ) that this book was mentioned to me and I was able to get it right after the Franklin book. It was a very interesting read, with so many characters but seemed to be very well researched. It also gave good background and context for the time. It may have resonated a little bit more for me as I am familiar with the most of the areas it mentioned. I am glad I read it, but did not love it. I gave it 3.5 stars.

Then, thanks to @faftris' mention, I read One Woman Show. It was definitely different; very entertaining and still had good substance. I'd say it was a pretty unique book and a fairly quick read. I guess I'd give that 4 stars.

I have had Forever Amber on my want to read list forever and can't even remember how I heard o f it. The thing is, it's 900 pages, and was not readily available on kindle from the library. Well I just stumbled on it at one of the libraries I use, and decided now is the time. I'm only about 10% into it, though I've been reading it for hours and hours and hours. It's a great read so far. Goodreads link published in 1941, 972 pags, rating of 4.0 with over 19K ratings .

So I might not be updating for a while.

Annie, several of us read Lulu and though many loved it, I thought it was "cute" but a little to predictable. YMMV.

Ah, Forever Amber, famously banned in Boston, among other places. Let us know how racy it actually is!

Just started Conclave by Robert Harris. I'd like to see the movie, too, but I want to read the book first. Anyone have an opinion of movie vs book?

Salonva, glad you liked One Woman Show. Not life-altering, just cleverly done and a quickie.

The Stranger in the Woods is the biographical account of a man who supposedly survived alone in the Maine woods for 27 years. This reads like a news story and I made myself finish it. Just no--no stars.

Finished Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller for book group. Meh. It was simply too contrived for my tastes, to the point of ridiculousness. Story about a free library where banned books are slipped into the covers of very conservative books and the impact it has on the town when different people read the banned ones. Sorry but I just couldn't go for the fact that the book covers simply wouldn't fit the books! Let alone that people would go for so long with reading a book that clearly doesn't match the dustcover and not notice. It only got more unbelievable from there. I'll be interested to see others' take on it at book group.

Next up The Squire Thief: A Forgery Hidden by a Murder Disguised As a Theft by Kirsten Smith Navin. I know her personally. This is her debut novel and I look forward to reading it.

I just finished Giaime Alonge's The Feeling of Iron. It's a very compelling book: he's also a screenwriter, and one could see how the story could easily be turned into a film or series. It's translated from the Italian, and is the story of Holocaust survivors who track down an SS officer in Central America in the early 80s, but most of the action takes place during WWII.

It's blessedly free of what I call 'Holocaust kitsch' (cf. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas or The Tattooist of Auschwitz) the kind of book where something really uplifting happens so you can feel, along with Anne Frank, that "In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." Most of them, alas, were not.

In any event, I really enjoyed the book and think it would be a good book club choice if it's the sort of subject that interests your group.

Finished The Squire Thief: A Forgery Hidden by a Murder Disguised As a Theft by Kirsten Smith Navin. Really good police/murder/mystery. I did not see the ending coming and I enjoyed the characters. Not for book group but a solid 4 star read.

Next up, as I'm out of books, is The Rooster Bar by John Grisham which I picked up at a free library. When the weather clears, I have Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson on hold at the library.

I hope everybody got a container of milk and a library book ahead of the coming storm. Yesterday, during my volunteer shelving session at the library, I came across A Century of Fiction from The New Yorker. It's a huge book of short stories, and they are by every famous 20th century writer you can imagine. So I am set!

Faftris's post triggered memories of my teen years when I sank into and swam in the world of Dumas. So, I went back for another long dive into The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers for three full weeks to rediscover the simpler, child-like joy of being told a great story, being swept into the intricately drawn visions conjured by the words on the page.

Sure, the first few chapters were intellectually jarring, as the well-read, adult me kept resisting the black-and-white characters and the lack of any nuance, until the brain syncs with the magic of high drama. Anyway, great fun. I was surprised by both how much I remembered from my teen years and how much I had forgotten. On to The Man in the Iron Mask, which I also remember vividly in patches, only not to recall the entire plot coherently.

Thanks faftris, for reminding me of Dumas, the great storyteller.

Nutsaboutplants, I am so glad you enjoyed Monte Cristo. It's just a great story, no doubt about it, and, sadly, I don't think people look at it anymore. I read it for the first time in college, when there was a mini-seies of it on TV, with Richard Chamberlain (blast from the past). And I can understand why it made such a great film. I would recommend The Scarlet Pimpernel too.

I too read many Dumas books in my high school years for fun. There were excerpts and abridged versions on the syllabus in high school and the first year of college, but I read the unabridged versions on my own because they were such fun! Have read most of his books but not the Scarlet Pimpernel. Will look for it.

I hated to get to the last page. Lots of laughs from Richard Osman's latest Thursday Murder Club novel, The Impossible Fortune. Right up my alley, so 4 Stars from me. Readers are so familiar with the characters that he can have them take off on anything.

I just finished the first two books in the "Ascendance Series" by Jennifer Nielson. There are five. Very quick reads. They're a fun jaunt around a fantasy world of kings & queens, a GOT feel to it. I'd give it 5 stars. It's a refreshing break from anything too serious.

I was probably eleven when a shirt-tail relative lost her apartment lease and came to live in our guest room 'temporarily'. With her came my first sneaked novel, Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Oh my!

I've never read it...will add it to my list.

I’ve just finished ”Not Quite Home” by Temple Lentz. It‘s the author’s name that caught my eye at my local library. Temple Lentz is a name I recognize as she was a representative on my local Clark County Council. I live in an area of Vancouver that is unincorporated area so the County Council is important to me as the Vancouver City Council is to residents who live within city limits. The story is an upbeat one that’s a quick and easy read about a successful project in the arena of helping the homeless. Homelessness is a common theme many who live in larger metropolitan areas easily recognize as a problem. The book is readily available & I highly recommend it for book clubs. It is full of really great discussion topics. Beyond the topic of how best to use public resources to resolve the national issue of homelessness, the story is full of examples of life relationships between people in the work place and within their families and groups of friends.

What also interested me is the publisher of this book. It’s the Sibylline Press. I’d never heard of it before but it interests me because of its stated purpose. That is ”Sibylline Press is dedicated to publishing the billiant work of women authors ages 50 and older.” It seems many of these are first books written by the authors too & I love to read first books. Here’s a link to the press site

https://sibyllinepress.com/collaborate/

It was definitely the right time for me , snow, bitter cold, etc etc, to read Forever Amber.

Someone had mentioned it as one of their favorites, several years ago. It looked good, but it is 972 pages, so it was never the right time until 2 weeks ago.

I so enjoyed this book. I guess it is historical fiction, but so many layers and so many characters but it was enticing. It was part delicious soap opera, part history book. It takes place in the 1600's ,England, much about the Royal Court and also so much about the times and daily life and history.

I am sure it would be great for book club because there is so much to discuss, but I think I am glad I read it on my own. I think if you find yourself ready to settle in with a good long entertaining book, this one fits the bill. I gave it 4.5 stars, and since there re no halfsies, I gave it 5 stars.

It was published in 1944, and I now learned it was made into a movie in 1947 (starring Linda Darnell). I don't usually care for movies but I might look to see if I can find this. And, yes, bookwoman, I can see why it was banned by the Catholic Church.

Do not wate your valuable eyesight on Scavengers, by Kathleen Boland. A DNF. The story line was all over the place, and it was just plain awful.

Finished Atavists by Lydia Millet, a collection of short stories with interconnected characters and plot lines. (Don't know where I heard about it.) It was moderately interesting, the writing was nothing to write home about, and it had some faint glimpses of insights. Surprisingly, it was a Pulitzer finalist. Fine to meh.

I finished Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. 4 star, good for book group. A story about a brother and sister who come together after years of separation to hear the reading of the message their mother left for them in her will. Through this reading, her history and that of the entire family unfolds with the requisite murder and mystery as the family secrets unfold. What makes this different is the characters' ethnicity being black from a Caribbean Island and spending time in the UK as well as the US.

Next up, based on rec's here, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I definitely need something light!

Annie - I just picked up The Thursday Murder Club from my library! It’s #3 in my stack to read so you’ll have read it before I even start.

In anticipation of an upcoming trip to Amsterdam, I am rereading The Diary of Anne Frank. I was amazed to find that my library didn't own a physical copy, and I had to request a Libby. There are 8 people waiting for it!

Link to February 2026 Edition