What are you reading?

[WampusCat]

narya, I also read “Killers of a Certain Age” and found it to be funny.

My latest read wasn’t exactly escapist: “Life After Doom: Wisdom and courage for a world falling apart” by Brian D. McLaren, published last year. He wrote it in response to the climate crisis, but its insights also apply to life in America, where everything is definitely falling apart.

The latest novel: “The Collected Regrets of Clover” by Mikki Brammer. Clover, the most introverted main character I've ever come across in a book, is a death doula, who helps terminal patients in their final days or months. She records their last words, regrets and advice in notebooks, but her own life is painfully constricted. The plot does not necessarily go the way you think it will, which was a plus.

Other recent reads I’d recommend:
“The Last Ballad” by Wiley Cash is a novelization of a true story about a union activist and singer in Bessemer City, North Carolina, in the early part of the 20th century. It’s not a spoiler to point out that she was pulled out of a truck and shot by a mob. Such a powerful and painful story! I came across this book while researching that mill town because my grandkids will be moving there this summer (gulp!). It’s only 45 minutes away, but I’m worried about the schools and the general redneck atmosphere.

“The Secret Book of Flora Lea” by Patti Callahan Henry is an engaging novel about a woman who finds a published book that is based on the stories she used to tell her younger sister. But the sister died decades ago, and no one else heard their stories. Could her sister be alive after all?

“The Road to Roswell” by Connie Willis isn’t her best by far, but it’s fun. An alien who looks like a tumbleweed carjacks a woman who is in Roswell for her crazy friend’s wedding.

“She Who Knows,” a novella by Nnedi Okorafor, is difficult to describe but I enjoyed being immersed in its story, set in post-apocalyptic Africa.

[narya]

Good to see you, Wampus. I'll add some of those to my ridiculously long wish list (1,275 at last count)! I'll probably read the Clover book first, since one of my volunteer jobs is as a peer grief group facilitator, and the Life After Doom, because I continue to beat the drum about climate change to anyone who will listen (which is most of my friends who, like me, live too close to sea level in my town). And to balance it out, the Flora Lea book. I tend to have 5 or 6 audio books opened at one time on my phone, sampling sci-fi, mystery, and other fiction, interspersed with serious non-fiction in small doses.

And my latest reads:
The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul. I have always had an uncomfortable feeling about drag. For some performers it appears to me to be a form of pink-face - acting like a maligned group (women) as a way to get laughs. Comedians do this too - put down women (or if they are "edgy", other marginalized groups) as a way to get laughs and have dominance over the audience. But in RuPaul's eyes, he's a flamingo, and dressing in drag is a way of displaying his true self. While in drag, he says he exerts power over the highly masculine gay men who normally put down effeminate gay men like him - he makes them uncomfortable. He doesn't think he is putting down women. I still don't get it, but there are a lot of things about people I don't get, so I'll just live with it.
Confession by Leo Tolstoy. A short (2 hr) musing on going from Orthodox Christian to atheist to a place where he has a somewhat nebulous faith again. Along the way he had a varied life, in the military, killing people in duels he provoked, living as a landlord off the serfs under him, occasionally thinking about the rightness of that, contemplating suicide, and contemplating the meaning or meaninglessness of life. It gives a bit of backstory to his fictional books.
American Eldercide by Margaret Morganroth. A hard read, so I skimmed the print version. It discusses the horrific loss of life in nursing homes during the early days of COVID.
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams. As soon as I finished this book, I made a Goodbye to Facebook post on FB, before I lost my nerve. I'm actually still on it, slowly erasing all of my presence there - posts, replies, likes, etc. FB doesn't make it easy to do, but I don't want anything left when I leave in a few weeks. I did this same housecleaning at the beginning of the Big Cheeto's first term, terrified to have an electronic trail of any kind. But then I gradually came back. This time, I hope to leave for good. I don't want to support FB any more. Yes, you should read the book, even if you don't use FB. It addresses the clueless way Washington and Silicon Valley handle non-USA news, if they are aware of it at all. Chilling. And the misogyny is awful.
The Expanse series (9 books, each 20 hrs long). I've read these books way too many times. I promised myself that this year, 2025, I would just read one book from The Expanse per month, and read the series thru only once this year. Well, I just finished the 9th book, again, in just three months It's my sure way to fall asleep, because I know exactly what everyone is going to say, and exactly where I fell asleep.

[Maria]

I'm on "The Adventures of a Xeno-Archaeologist" series by Jenny Schwartz. I'm definitely liking this author!

[WampusCat]

narya, I’m unfamiliar with The Expanse series, but it sounds as though I should give it a read!

Maria, I’m also intrigued by the xeno-archaeologist series. Another to add to the list.

[Frelga]

I left out Translation State by Ann Leckie, set in the same universe as her Ancillary series. It's a standalone, but connected to the same greater political story arch, and features a cameo by Breq, the protagonist of the series. A rare SF story where aliens are really alien, and the audiobook narrator does a great job with Qven's voice.

[Jude]

I had thought someone here recommended "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus, but I searched and can't find a post mentioning it. So I don't know where I heard of that book.

Anyway, I can't recommend it too highly. The main character a woman pursuing a scientific career in the 1950's and 60's finds herself, by a strange set of circumstances, hosting a cooking show where she approaches cooking from a scientific point of view and explains to her audience the chemistry behind cooking.

[Frelga]

When you say can't recommend too highly, do you mean that it's so great that no praise is high enough, or that your level of recommending it isn't very high?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I was wondering that too!

[Jude]

Oh, sorry. I meant the former. I should have said "I can't recommend it highly enough".

[Impenitent]

Lessons in Chemistry is absolutely terrific!

It's very funny, maddening in parts, deliciously written and excellent social commentary.

I have no doubt that Jude intended a positive recommendation.

Edit: cross-post with Jude

[Frelga]

I put it on hold on Libby at 9:05am and it was available at 9:23. Shortest hold ever?

[Inanna]

I just put a hold on Libby for my copy!

[Jude]

I'm pretty confident that you both will love it!

And I think my weird unclear syntax in my earlier post must have been due to me not being fully awake yet.

[WampusCat]

What you say about “Lessons in Chemistry” reminds me of my 10th grade chemistry teacher. She told us that she could do complex chemical labs but was a terrible cook. Which made little sense, she said, since cooking is basically applied chemistry.

[narya]

Maria, the Jenny Schwartz series (first book "Astray") looks interesting, but not showing up in my libraries.

I started watching the Lessons in Chemistry TV series, but lost interest. OK, I'll download it now, and we can chat about it in a few weeks, as soon as Inanna snags a copy to read.

[Maria]

"Astray" is free on Audible for members, the rest of the series you have to buy.

[WampusCat]

“Free” is the magic word. I think I’ll listen to “Astray” next.

[Alatar]

The TV Series is great. My Girls all read the book and thought the TV show worked really well despite not having a canine narrator

[Inanna]

I started watching the Lessons in Chemistry TV series, but lost interest. OK, I'll download it now, and we can chat about it in a few weeks, as soon as Inanna snags a copy to read.

I got my copy!

Are we going to read it now? Frelga, did you start?

Narya, what a great idea. Am all excited about talking about the book. lol.

[RoseMorninStar]

There is a 6 week wait for 'Lessons in Chemistry' from my library. By then I'll be in Italy.