What I'm reading . . . What about you?

snowmom said:

Listening to [Audible] Lonesome Dove.   It won a Pulitzer in the 80's.  Slow in the beginning but an excellent tale overall.  Greatly detailed story about life in the western US in the late 19th century.

 Once I start commuting by car again - which may be never - I'd like to listen to that one. 

jeffl said:

I read The Underground Railroad by a Whitehead.  Thought I was going to love it.  Gave it a B.  

 Just finished this. I also ended up being underwhelmed. Maybe it's because I just read Octavia Butler's Kindred before this, which treads a similar path, and which I found much more effective. I think if you're going to do a fictional version of a story that can hold it's own in a non-fiction setting, the fiction version needs to bring something that you couldn't accomplish with a non-fiction approach. Double for if you're going to introduce some fantastical/magical-realism elements like a literal underground railroad. Colson's book didn't really do that for me.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/books/summer-what-to-read.html

Excellent review of books To read, or reread, in this new normal life. I have  already read a number of the books mentioned, but found so many more that I have not.
One book that was not included, and, in my opinion, should have is Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. 

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. A well-researched chronicle of life at the time of Jesus, as seen through the eyes of a woman. 

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. One of the best novels I've read in a long time. It begins in Acapulco with the main characters, a mother and her 8 year old son. and their struggle to reach El Norte. It's a book you can't put down,so well written and you learn so much more about the migrants' struggle. When I finished reading it I was exhausted, it is so real. It has changed my perspective. 

Based on a excellent NYT Book review, and my love of Shakespeare, I just started Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. It is the first print edition book I have purchased in ages (Kindle chews up My books) — I already have it promised to two friends to share.

Hamnet ( spelled several ways 400+ years ago) was the son who inspired his father to write “Hamlet”. 

So far, at Page 21, it is gripping!

 Re: American Dirt, I found it haunting and probably among the best books I’ve ever read. I recommended it to anyone who would stand still long enough to listen to me rave about it. I read it early, and was so happy it took awhile for the controversy about it to summer and then boil, because if that had happened first, I probably would not have bothered to pick it up. 

Heynj  - I am so glad you enjoyed the read. American Dirt is a great book. The title probably turns people off. All the characters are great,too.