Books, graphic novels, longreads, short reads, let’s hear ‘em.
I am reading, finally, the first volume of Knausgaard’s “My Struggle”, which I had been very dubious about, but found myself utterly transfixed by thesetwo long pieces he did for the NYTimes Magazine, and did not want to miss out just because I loathe the Male Genius. I regret to report: it’s very good.
I'm re-reading Station Eleven for my book club and let me tell you reading about how very fragile society is and how easily it could collapse at any moment right now is A LOT. I'm also just starting out on The 10,000 Doors of January which is also very good.
“The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary.” If I’m going to be a Catholic Witch, I’m going to be a damn well read Catholic Witch. Just started though, enjoying it, but still tentative
I saved Jasmine Guillory’s Royal Holiday for midwinter and was so glad I did. It got me through a dreary sick day and made wintry England sound like heaven on earth. I am now re-reading AMarguerite’s Pride & Prejudice fics on AO3. An Ever-Fixed Mark , A Monstrous Regiment, and A Nobler Ambition are all so good; funny, sad, detailed, and delightful.
I am reading Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea. The Night Circus is my favorite book so I was thrilled she wrote another one. This one is just as lush and delicious. Sometimes I want to physically gnaw on the book. I'm only 50 pages in and have to keep restraining myself from going "You know what yeah I have work tomorrow but who even needs sleep" and powering through in one go.
Before that I was reading A People's History of The Civil War, which may be one of the best history texts I've read. Like if you want to understand America, this is a keystone text. I'm pretty well-versed in the ACW and I learned all kinds of things you don't learn in history class or most other books.
I just read Hammerhead: The Making of a Carpenter, a memoir about a woman who quits her job as a journalist to become a carpenter’s assistant to this tough, experienced, endearing lesbian carpenter.
I am reading an EXTREMELY esoteric book I found on the New York Public Library website by accident called The Selling Sound: The Rise of the Country Music Industry by Diane Pecknold. It's an extremely thorough look at the ascendance of country music from its nascent form as "hillbilly", derided by music industry executives and general music listeners as primitive and lowbrow, to the Nashville Sound, where the commercialized aspects that began to define the genre in the early 60's and into the 70's not only defined the music, but defined the consumers as well into embracing their identity as enterprising consumers who listen to a enterprising genre of music as well. It's fascinating!
Say Nothing by Patrick Keefe which I think you read and recommended, Nicole. I am an IRA history junkie and man, what a read. I wish more Americans knew about that history because I think it's a really compact way at opening eyes to the history of imperialism and colonialism and the treatment of humans that the British were still getting away with in the EIGHTIES. But maybe I am overly optimistic.
I recently read and LOVED a long way to a small angry planet by Becky chambers. It’s really reignited my interest in sci-fi and I have the second book out from the library which I’m really looking forward to diving into this weekend.
finally reading Left Hand of Darkness now for the first time, enjoying it a lot. i finished Little Fires Everywhere recently - thought it was great, wasn't blown away by it the way i was with Everything I Never Told You, but maybe if i'd read LFE first i'd have been blown away by that one more. i just love love love the way Celeste Ng takes you into and out of character perspective, even minor characters - she takes everyone seriously, makes their version of the story make sense to them, and it's all so distinctive, you can arrive in a scene with one character, leave with another, and know exactly whose mind you're in at any time.
Goodreads goal this year is 40 books; i'm at 6 now. soon i'm going to tackle Stacy Schiff's big Cleopatra bio; i was really impressed by her Salem Witch Trials book.
This thread is such a good mix of 'things I've read and have loved' and 'things I've heard of' and 'things I've never heard of' that I'm sure I'll enjoy a lot of the books that fall into the latter two categories. I'm taking notes!!
I am reading two books right now. The Green Rider by Kristen Britain. It's one of my favorite fantasy books and the beginning of a great series.
I'm also listening to Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. Incredibly narrated, amazingly written, and dark as heck. It needs all of the content warnings.
I'm reading Something That May Shock and Discredit You, and it's so so so good. I was going to wait until my library hold came through but I couldn't and I'm so glad I bought it!
Re-reading Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies in prep for The Mirror and the Light and then I will pass on into the next life because nothing more wonderful will happen.
I'm reading The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (delightful, I love puzzle-y books about books) and I'm also about to finish The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, which is a beautiful (and tear-jerking) love story.
I'm reading George Saunders' "Lincoln in the Bardo," which is devastating for anyone with elementary-aged children or younger (like me) and I'm struggling a bit with it. (It's gorgeous and it's good, just warning you!) And I'm reading Lynda Barry's "One! Hundred! Demons!," an illustrated series of shorts about the demons we invent/gather as we grow up, and it's sweet and wistful and hilarious. And I'm reading Aase Berg's poetry collection "With Deer" translated from the Swedish by Johannes Göransson. It's graphic and violent and weird and I don't understand most of it, but I'm super intrigued by it.
I've been in a bit of a rut lately- haven't been able to get into stuff that I know I should really like. Honestly it was really starting to worry me. But then I started Charlie Jane Anders "The City in the Middle of the Night." I've owned it for a long time and I don't know why I hadn't started. Anyway, I'm about a third of the way through and it's excellent so far!
Currently making my way through the Lymond Chronicles, on book 3, The Disorderly Knights. I really love these books and Dunnett's writing, but they require such close attention they really slow me down--which is objectively good for me but always makes me impatient, which is why it took me about five tries over three years to finish The Game of Kings.
Will take a hiatus shortly to reread Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies before The Mirror and the Light comes out!
I just finished Home Fire, a retelling of Antigone set in the modern UK, and it Fucked. Me. Up. I remember reading Antigone in high school and being vaguely annoyed at all these unreasonable people making bad decisions. The novel made me weep, and the sickly inevitability of the tragedy that was unfolding made it impossible to put down. So full of empathy and compassion.
Current read: Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia, which is inspired by The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, which I have never read. So, that will be my next read.
I just finished listening to Lindy West’s The Witches are Coming and man I love her. I’m also listening to Liar Temptress Soldier Spy. I just finished reading Upright Women Wanted and I wish it was 500 pages longer and now I’m reading Get a Life Chloe Brown which is delightful.
I just reread an article you posted “The Disbility Gulag” because I gave a public comment to our state house finance committee on the importance of funding community based care and if they were unfamiliar, they should read it! A friend with disabilities asked us to testify and have several talking points which made it much less intimidating.
Other than that, I have been working my way through Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch and just finished The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown.
Oh! And “An Education” was really good. I grew up LDS and found it fascinating and heartbreaking.
I have been on a bit of a historical nonfiction kick and am on Rising Tide by John M. Barry. It’s about the Mississippi River flood of 1927 and utterly fascinating. If anyone has recs along those lines I’d love to hear them!
I am about... 1/6th of the way into The Body Keeps the Score. What a ride. Usually I can speed through books, but this is requiring a lot of thinking and is slow going for me. It's a good read so far, but very... there's a lot of trauma talked about in the book, and sometimes it is a lot!
I'm reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for the first time, because I miss the South and I wanted a "good clean, murder," as my mother puts it
I just finished Juliet Takes a Breath, which is my favorite YA book I've read in maybe years? Before that, This Is How You Lose the Time War, also a fave.
Currently making my way through Trick Mirror, which if you like any of Jia Tolentino's essays, you'll enjoy, and In The Dream House, which is really incredible, but not an easy read by any stretch, and A Natural History of Dragons, which is a nice lighthearted alternative to both of those.
Do you listen to the NYtimes book review podcast? A lot of the editors are obsessed with Knausgaard, and spread the obsession amongst the staff and fans. For a while last year almost every episode someone was reading his books.
Myself, I'm reading Daniel's Something That May Shock and Discredit You and hot damn, is it GOOD! This is Danny at his very best, like wow, what an evolution of a narrative voice.
Reading The Overstory, which took me a while to get into but now I love (I love all Richard Powers, I knew he'd get me eventually) and George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia because I just came back from a vacation in Barcelona for the first time (flex) and wow I was not expecting to come back to the states as a history nerd as a result. It's my first stop because it's a familiar face, but I'm still kind of "jaw to the floor" about how relevant it is right now and how I missed this part of history in school while we were so focused on the WWs.
Also I have a backlog of Poetry magazines to catch up on.
I’m listening to the audio book of Becoming and I’m already sad that at some point, many hours from now, I won’t have any more stories from my new friend Michelle
I'm at the point with The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai where I could probably finish it in one sitting, but I've been stalling because I'm not quite ready to bawl my eyes out. It's really fucking good though.
I recently discovered Tana French novels so have been tearing my way through them. I have to wait for some from the library though, so I've also turned to Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling's pseudonym for her detective books).
Rereading Tamora Pierce's Protector of The Small quartet. It's about a feminist heroine making the world a better place and having adventures, with animal friends and decent men at her side. They were some of my favorite books as a teen and still comfort and inspire me now
I just finished Danny's book last week and now I'm going back and forth from catching up on comics to reading Sister Outsider by Audrey Lorde. I'd read half of the pieces in there in college, but never got around to the full collection. I'm excited to fill in the gaps!
I've just started the latest book in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London urban fantasy police procedurals, which just came out yesterday - it's called False Value. I won't spoiler anyone, but ... I am enjoying it!
I’m reading the last book in the Grisha trilogy! It’s less explicitly my shit than the Six of Crows duology, which I read first, but I’m excited for the show which I think will open this up for me a lot.
I forgot that I'm also currently listening to "Say Nothing" which is about the kidnapping and murder of Jean McConville in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, as well as the life of Dolours Price, who was a member of the IRA who was involved the murder.
Currently reading Josh Gondelman's book of personal essays, Nice Try. A fun change of pace after reading Chanel Miller's shattering memoir, Know My Name.
I'm in a Shakespeare obsession mode right now - reading A Year in the Life of Shakespeare (1599) and the Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. Greenblatt writes a lot about Shakespeare which I am also reading (yes I read too many books at once): Hamlet in Purgatory, Shakespeare and the Jews, and Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics (mmm very timely).
There is also a great series of modern interpretations of Shakespeare's plays by some literary giants: Margaret Atwood takes on The Tempest; Edward St Aubyn retells King Lear; and Gillian Flynn will attempt Hamlet next year.
I just finished The Swerve - a great account of the discovery of the lost ancient text of Lucretius which would play an important role in the upcoming Renaissance and even helped shaped the thinking of Einstein, Darwin, Galileo, etc. Fascinating reading up on the philosophy of Lucretius and the book hunters. I'm attempting to read the original Lucretius now - very difficult poem but with powerful ideas.
I'm re-reading Station Eleven for my book club and let me tell you reading about how very fragile society is and how easily it could collapse at any moment right now is A LOT. I'm also just starting out on The 10,000 Doors of January which is also very good.
Just finished Circe by Madeline Miller, which I loved!
I have just started my Wolf Hall / Bring Up the Bodies reread!!
Rereading the Emily of New Moon series, because I need some LMM in my life right now.
“The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary.” If I’m going to be a Catholic Witch, I’m going to be a damn well read Catholic Witch. Just started though, enjoying it, but still tentative
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube by Blair Braverman. I read slooooowly but it's unlike anything I've ever read!
I saved Jasmine Guillory’s Royal Holiday for midwinter and was so glad I did. It got me through a dreary sick day and made wintry England sound like heaven on earth. I am now re-reading AMarguerite’s Pride & Prejudice fics on AO3. An Ever-Fixed Mark , A Monstrous Regiment, and A Nobler Ambition are all so good; funny, sad, detailed, and delightful.
I am reading Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea. The Night Circus is my favorite book so I was thrilled she wrote another one. This one is just as lush and delicious. Sometimes I want to physically gnaw on the book. I'm only 50 pages in and have to keep restraining myself from going "You know what yeah I have work tomorrow but who even needs sleep" and powering through in one go.
Before that I was reading A People's History of The Civil War, which may be one of the best history texts I've read. Like if you want to understand America, this is a keystone text. I'm pretty well-versed in the ACW and I learned all kinds of things you don't learn in history class or most other books.
I just read Hammerhead: The Making of a Carpenter, a memoir about a woman who quits her job as a journalist to become a carpenter’s assistant to this tough, experienced, endearing lesbian carpenter.
I am reading an EXTREMELY esoteric book I found on the New York Public Library website by accident called The Selling Sound: The Rise of the Country Music Industry by Diane Pecknold. It's an extremely thorough look at the ascendance of country music from its nascent form as "hillbilly", derided by music industry executives and general music listeners as primitive and lowbrow, to the Nashville Sound, where the commercialized aspects that began to define the genre in the early 60's and into the 70's not only defined the music, but defined the consumers as well into embracing their identity as enterprising consumers who listen to a enterprising genre of music as well. It's fascinating!
I'm about a quarter of the way through Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir and am floored by how much I love it!
I know I'm late to the party on all of my reads, but my February books have included:
- Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
- The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
- Educated by Tara Westover (currently reading)
- Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch (slowly working my way through)
And, as usual, despite having plenty of books on my bookshelves that I haven't read, I am jazzed to get into:
- Catch & Kill by Ronan Farrow (also, his podcast of the same name. Avoiding the podcast until I read the book)
- Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (my sister just started and I'm so jealous? It's not like I can't also just...start it)
Say Nothing by Patrick Keefe which I think you read and recommended, Nicole. I am an IRA history junkie and man, what a read. I wish more Americans knew about that history because I think it's a really compact way at opening eyes to the history of imperialism and colonialism and the treatment of humans that the British were still getting away with in the EIGHTIES. But maybe I am overly optimistic.
I recently read and LOVED a long way to a small angry planet by Becky chambers. It’s really reignited my interest in sci-fi and I have the second book out from the library which I’m really looking forward to diving into this weekend.
finally reading Left Hand of Darkness now for the first time, enjoying it a lot. i finished Little Fires Everywhere recently - thought it was great, wasn't blown away by it the way i was with Everything I Never Told You, but maybe if i'd read LFE first i'd have been blown away by that one more. i just love love love the way Celeste Ng takes you into and out of character perspective, even minor characters - she takes everyone seriously, makes their version of the story make sense to them, and it's all so distinctive, you can arrive in a scene with one character, leave with another, and know exactly whose mind you're in at any time.
Goodreads goal this year is 40 books; i'm at 6 now. soon i'm going to tackle Stacy Schiff's big Cleopatra bio; i was really impressed by her Salem Witch Trials book.
I've been working my way through Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London books on my train commute, and they're an absolute delight.
This thread is such a good mix of 'things I've read and have loved' and 'things I've heard of' and 'things I've never heard of' that I'm sure I'll enjoy a lot of the books that fall into the latter two categories. I'm taking notes!!
I am reading two books right now. The Green Rider by Kristen Britain. It's one of my favorite fantasy books and the beginning of a great series.
I'm also listening to Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. Incredibly narrated, amazingly written, and dark as heck. It needs all of the content warnings.
I'm reading Something That May Shock and Discredit You, and it's so so so good. I was going to wait until my library hold came through but I couldn't and I'm so glad I bought it!
Re-reading Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies in prep for The Mirror and the Light and then I will pass on into the next life because nothing more wonderful will happen.
I'm reading The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (delightful, I love puzzle-y books about books) and I'm also about to finish The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, which is a beautiful (and tear-jerking) love story.
I'm reading George Saunders' "Lincoln in the Bardo," which is devastating for anyone with elementary-aged children or younger (like me) and I'm struggling a bit with it. (It's gorgeous and it's good, just warning you!) And I'm reading Lynda Barry's "One! Hundred! Demons!," an illustrated series of shorts about the demons we invent/gather as we grow up, and it's sweet and wistful and hilarious. And I'm reading Aase Berg's poetry collection "With Deer" translated from the Swedish by Johannes Göransson. It's graphic and violent and weird and I don't understand most of it, but I'm super intrigued by it.
I've been in a bit of a rut lately- haven't been able to get into stuff that I know I should really like. Honestly it was really starting to worry me. But then I started Charlie Jane Anders "The City in the Middle of the Night." I've owned it for a long time and I don't know why I hadn't started. Anyway, I'm about a third of the way through and it's excellent so far!
Currently making my way through the Lymond Chronicles, on book 3, The Disorderly Knights. I really love these books and Dunnett's writing, but they require such close attention they really slow me down--which is objectively good for me but always makes me impatient, which is why it took me about five tries over three years to finish The Game of Kings.
Will take a hiatus shortly to reread Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies before The Mirror and the Light comes out!
I just finished Home Fire, a retelling of Antigone set in the modern UK, and it Fucked. Me. Up. I remember reading Antigone in high school and being vaguely annoyed at all these unreasonable people making bad decisions. The novel made me weep, and the sickly inevitability of the tragedy that was unfolding made it impossible to put down. So full of empathy and compassion.
Current read: Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia, which is inspired by The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, which I have never read. So, that will be my next read.
I just finished listening to Lindy West’s The Witches are Coming and man I love her. I’m also listening to Liar Temptress Soldier Spy. I just finished reading Upright Women Wanted and I wish it was 500 pages longer and now I’m reading Get a Life Chloe Brown which is delightful.
I just reread an article you posted “The Disbility Gulag” because I gave a public comment to our state house finance committee on the importance of funding community based care and if they were unfamiliar, they should read it! A friend with disabilities asked us to testify and have several talking points which made it much less intimidating.
Other than that, I have been working my way through Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch and just finished The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown.
Oh! And “An Education” was really good. I grew up LDS and found it fascinating and heartbreaking.
I have been on a bit of a historical nonfiction kick and am on Rising Tide by John M. Barry. It’s about the Mississippi River flood of 1927 and utterly fascinating. If anyone has recs along those lines I’d love to hear them!
I’m reading Josh Gondelman’s book and it’s a Deeeelight
I am about... 1/6th of the way into The Body Keeps the Score. What a ride. Usually I can speed through books, but this is requiring a lot of thinking and is slow going for me. It's a good read so far, but very... there's a lot of trauma talked about in the book, and sometimes it is a lot!
Latest books I've enjoyed:
- The Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo. Fantasy/mystery novel with great female characters; honestly couldn't stop thinking about it until I'd finished
- Circe, which someone else mentioned. Why didn't I read this when it first came out?
- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone. OH MY GOD THIS IS BEAUTIFUL. It's a very quick read and so, so gorgeous.
- Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino. Worth the hype if you like the "longread on culture and feminism" type of essay she writes.
I'm reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for the first time, because I miss the South and I wanted a "good clean, murder," as my mother puts it
I just finished Juliet Takes a Breath, which is my favorite YA book I've read in maybe years? Before that, This Is How You Lose the Time War, also a fave.
Currently making my way through Trick Mirror, which if you like any of Jia Tolentino's essays, you'll enjoy, and In The Dream House, which is really incredible, but not an easy read by any stretch, and A Natural History of Dragons, which is a nice lighthearted alternative to both of those.
Do you listen to the NYtimes book review podcast? A lot of the editors are obsessed with Knausgaard, and spread the obsession amongst the staff and fans. For a while last year almost every episode someone was reading his books.
Myself, I'm reading Daniel's Something That May Shock and Discredit You and hot damn, is it GOOD! This is Danny at his very best, like wow, what an evolution of a narrative voice.
Reading The Overstory, which took me a while to get into but now I love (I love all Richard Powers, I knew he'd get me eventually) and George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia because I just came back from a vacation in Barcelona for the first time (flex) and wow I was not expecting to come back to the states as a history nerd as a result. It's my first stop because it's a familiar face, but I'm still kind of "jaw to the floor" about how relevant it is right now and how I missed this part of history in school while we were so focused on the WWs.
Also I have a backlog of Poetry magazines to catch up on.
Finally reading The Secret History. I had only vague ideas as to what it was about. It's very different in tone from what I expected. I'm enjoying it.
I've got Parable of the Sower up next for the Life's Library book club! Otherwise, grad school essays are all I read
I’m listening to the audio book of Becoming and I’m already sad that at some point, many hours from now, I won’t have any more stories from my new friend Michelle
I'm at the point with The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai where I could probably finish it in one sitting, but I've been stalling because I'm not quite ready to bawl my eyes out. It's really fucking good though.
I recently discovered Tana French novels so have been tearing my way through them. I have to wait for some from the library though, so I've also turned to Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling's pseudonym for her detective books).
Rereading Tamora Pierce's Protector of The Small quartet. It's about a feminist heroine making the world a better place and having adventures, with animal friends and decent men at her side. They were some of my favorite books as a teen and still comfort and inspire me now
I just finished Danny's book last week and now I'm going back and forth from catching up on comics to reading Sister Outsider by Audrey Lorde. I'd read half of the pieces in there in college, but never got around to the full collection. I'm excited to fill in the gaps!
I've just started the latest book in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London urban fantasy police procedurals, which just came out yesterday - it's called False Value. I won't spoiler anyone, but ... I am enjoying it!
I’m reading the last book in the Grisha trilogy! It’s less explicitly my shit than the Six of Crows duology, which I read first, but I’m excited for the show which I think will open this up for me a lot.
I forgot that I'm also currently listening to "Say Nothing" which is about the kidnapping and murder of Jean McConville in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, as well as the life of Dolours Price, who was a member of the IRA who was involved the murder.
Currently reading Josh Gondelman's book of personal essays, Nice Try. A fun change of pace after reading Chanel Miller's shattering memoir, Know My Name.
Anthony Trollope’s Barsetshire Chronicles.
I'm in a Shakespeare obsession mode right now - reading A Year in the Life of Shakespeare (1599) and the Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. Greenblatt writes a lot about Shakespeare which I am also reading (yes I read too many books at once): Hamlet in Purgatory, Shakespeare and the Jews, and Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics (mmm very timely).
There is also a great series of modern interpretations of Shakespeare's plays by some literary giants: Margaret Atwood takes on The Tempest; Edward St Aubyn retells King Lear; and Gillian Flynn will attempt Hamlet next year.
I just finished The Swerve - a great account of the discovery of the lost ancient text of Lucretius which would play an important role in the upcoming Renaissance and even helped shaped the thinking of Einstein, Darwin, Galileo, etc. Fascinating reading up on the philosophy of Lucretius and the book hunters. I'm attempting to read the original Lucretius now - very difficult poem but with powerful ideas.
I know this is off topic but it's important! https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/feb/21/its-good-humoured-derry-girls-blackboard-moves-to-ulster-museum