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Ready or not, it’s here! I went to my first holiday party of the season on Saturday night and had a fun time with neighbors and friends. Love those parties where the journey is only one house away. What a welcome respite from the mind numbingly boring way I spent Friday night and ALL day Saturday: at a retirement seminar that I’ve successfully avoided going to for years. I’m still a few years out, and did takeaway a couple things I was unaware of, but mostly learned that I’ve done a good job getting all my ducks in a row. It was a lot of time to give up for reassurance! Because the end of the week was so busy, I’ve read about 12 pages in the last three days. Hopefully, this week will be a little quieter.
Last Week’s Reads
This isn’t quite the accomplishment it looks like. The first two books I was almost finished with when the week began and the third was very short. I enjoyed Loving Frank by Nancy Horan quite a lot. Horan’s story of the love affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick really highlighted the social norms of the time and how hard it was to fight against them. (Mini-review at the end of the month.) I loved everything about the audiobook of Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming. Stop by on Friday for my full review. I had lunch with Catherine from The Gilmore Guide to Books last weekend and she generously gave me a copy of Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill. Catherine and I often share the same taste in books, but this wasn’t one of them. For me, this book about a marriage was one of those “stream of consciousness” tellings that I get tired of very quickly. Still, being so short (160 pages), it was easy to finish.
Currently Reading
I’ve listened to the first couple hours of Little Deaths by Emma Flint and still am just not sure about it. At times I think it’s picking up, but then it slows down again. I’ll probably give it another hour and if the story still hasn’t grabbed me, call it quits. I somehow forgot that I’d asked for an ARC of Ways to Hide in Winter, a debut by Sarah St. Vincent, but it showed up on my Kindle. I’ve barely started and can’t really even speak to what it’s about, so I’ll let the publisher, “Steeped in the rugged beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with America’s war on terror raging in the background, Sarah St.Vincent’s Ways to Hide in Winter is a powerful story about violence and redemption, betrayal and empathy . . . and how we reconcile the unforgivable in those we love.”
I’m playing the Libby/library game right now. The problem with having gone on a requesting binge is that now they’ve all come in at once. I got The Far Away Brothers by Lauren Markham and Little Deaths on the same day. Sadly, it’s just not possible for me to listen to all of both before they’re due, which is why I’ll move on soon if Little Deaths doesn’t pick up. I also have Happiness by Aminatta Forna sitting on my shelf, and will likely give that a try next.
I hope you have a great week in books!
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I have Becoming gracing my coffee table…and hope to read it soon! I’ve heard such good things about it, and I loved watching a couple of interviews she did, one with Robin Roberts and the other with Oprah.
Enjoy your week, and here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES
I liked the audio so much, I might need to pick it up in print. Enjoy!
I was mind of meh about Dept of Speculation too. Some lines were just dynamite while it overall just didn’t hold together for me.
Glad to hear I’m not alone on that one.
I have an Audible credit lingering and can’t decide if I want to pickup Becoming or the new Stephanie Plum book. Haha.
My roundup!
I vote for Becoming, but you probably could have guessed that. It’s 19 hours so you get your money’s worth for one credit.
I just finished The Cuckoo’s Calling a couple weeks ago and I think it was 17 hours or something. So, I’m not adverse to long ones. Thanks for the rec – I’ve been kind of leaning that way anyway. 🙂
Umm? Stream of consciousness is one of the literary techniques that has me quickly DNFing a book. I admire your resolution that you finished it. I’m curious about becoming but read so little nonfiction that I hesitate to buy it. Maybe this will be the impetus for visiting the public library I pass on my way to exercise each day. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
I have the hardback of Becoming but may purchase the audio of it for my sister. Michelle speaks so well and you’d have the emphasis of her voice.
It really was special listening to her tell her own life story.
All your books are new to me. Take care. My weekly update
I hate when all the library books show up at once. Good luck! I finished only 1 book last week, so I decided to hold off writing my review post until next Monday.
I don’t usually request many library books, so this all at once thing is new to me…and frustrating!
I wasn’t a big fan of Dept. of Speculation either… at least it was short.
I’m glad the party was fun. A retirement seminar does sound extremely boring. Everybody is reading Becoming. I’m glad it was good. Have a great week!
Thanks, Aj…you, too.
Isn’t it true about holds coming in all at once. I’ve just started requesting audiobooks via Libby and really enjoy that library service! Looking forward to hearing what you think of Ways to Hide in Winter. That definitely looks intriguing!
I’m a little over halfway through with Ways to Hide in Winter now and it just keeps getting better. It was a bit of a slow build, but I’m into it now.
Haha I just had a bunch of holds all come in at once, too. So funny how that always seems to happen! I’m really interested in the audiobook version of Becoming since she narrates it herself iirc. I’m so glad to hear you loved it!
So good!
My library* allows pauses on holds. Works for me! I watch my library holds closer than my bank balance LOL.
I’m so excited .. just picked up Ladder to the Sky!
*San Francisco Public Library … named this year’s “Best Library” by Library Journal. They are so good that I “gifted” a trip to the library and a library card for a friend’s birthday. We are a small city of 49 square miles which supports a main library, 26 (!) branches and a bookmobile.
I grew up in the Los Gatos area, so know San Francisco very well. It’s one of my favorite cities on Earth. Of course, they’d have a wonderful library system!
It’s neat that you & Catherine live in the same city and can get together to chat over books. Both your sites I really enjoy. (I once lived in Seattle too 1990-93). So glad you liked the Michelle Obama book, wahoo! Sounds like it’s good as an audiobook but does she read it?
Yes, Michelle reads her own memoir. That’s part of what makes it so good.
Sadly, Catherine is moving next spring and I’ll really miss out lunch/book dates.