Started off 2024 with a reread of a favorite. Happy new year!!

loved this novel and Meryl Streep‘s narration of the audiobook enhanced the experience. Lara Kennison tells the story of how she once played Emily in Our Town and her friendship with a famous actor to her three daughters who are living back at home during the pandemic. It unfolds as the story of one summer but also a story of the role of the past and memory and choices. I really found it to be quite beautiful depiction of how life unfolds.

And some bookish art. #birthday #bookworm

My birthday #bookhaul

I could not put this one down. The first chapter ends on a shocking cliffhanger and it kept up the pace from there. Friendships and jealousy and plagiarism and the roles of race and privilege. I felt anxious and tense the entire read. Lots of awful people populate the novel but they didn‘t need to be like able to make the book work. Looking forward to seeing her next weekend at WV book festival.

Trying to sneak in some reading as I shuttle my middle schooler to various practices. Have been wanting to read this one ever since reading @Cathythoughts review.

Began my #titlesandtunes choice today and even the preface was a delight because the author wrote an essay about one delight each day beginning on his bday August 1!! Delightful! Pairing with a classic Louis Armstrong that also celebrates everyday delight. #theworldismyoyster

Kind of a disappointing read. Found this on a list of books to read in a day and didn‘t find the story that compelling. Two former college roommates reconnect and and become involved in a wide-ranging scheme with counterfeit luxury handbags. Most of it is told via a confession to a detective. Parts of it were fun but overall didn‘t feel invested or any real tension. I do love the cover.

Ok so not a typical pick but this book that chronicles the lives of women who were able to obtain an abortion compared to those who were turned away has sex, a small amount of drugs, and not really much rock n‘ roll. plenty of melancholy tunes that could accompany this but I‘m going with rock n roll Joan Jett‘s Bad Reputation - for women leading lives they want. #Titlesandtunes #sexdrugsandrocknroll

4.5 stars. I think this book is probably divisive but I liked it a lot. From the perspective of an interpreter at The Hague ICC it is a very interior book consistently mostly of her thoughts as she navigates living in a new city and her job as an interpreter. Her thoughts about the interpreter role were really fascinating. Lots of tension in a little package including a trial, a love affair, and a friendship, all of which she is navigating.

I borrowed this from the library but will be buying my own copy. Would highly recommend this book to any parent of a child age 10 and up. I found her advice to be sensible and the examples relatable. I liked how she explained the why behind how preteens and teens act. I also love the credit she gives to kids on the way they see the world. Especially liked her advice on setting boundaries and how to have various conversations with teens.

A little airport reading. This book has drawn me in immediately. I love the writing and the way she describes The Hague and the job of an interpreter.

My guilty pleasures are mystery/thriller series, and middle grade/YA books. The Bosch series has been my go to lately when I need a quick escape. My guilty pleasure listening is any song that takes me back to high school. Singing Wonderwall in the car will make me happy every time. #titlesandtunes #guiltypleasure @Cinfhen

Enjoying some wine, dessert, and an almost summer read of The Summer Book.

Adding to everyone‘s praise, such a short powerful novella. I felt alternating tension and relief on each page - I couldn‘t put it down. She really captured the feeling of how the girl must have experienced living in a new home and trying to manage her expectations and emotions.

@MicrobeMom my library hold came in on time! Looking forward to kicking off summer with this one.

I give The Anthropocene Reviewed 4.5 stars. Reading this book is very comforting and makes you appreciate all the small things about life even ones that are unpleasant. Green writes short essays reviewing things from Diet Dr. Pepper, the world‘s largest paintball, to pandemics. Within these reviews he combines historical facts about the item or place as well as his personal experience.

A very good entry in this series. Brett, an American specialist in ancient ceramics, is beaten by two men to dissuade from discussing her discovery of fakes with a museum director. From there a tale of the underground world of art dealing and antiques unravels. I always appreciate the ambiguity of justice in this series and the way it explores corruption.

A book about “people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems.” Kolbert visits a number of sites where scientists are coming up with technological methods to combat climate change - the solutions needed are drastic, expensive, not guaranteed to work, may have unforeseeable consequences - but may also be our best option. It is incomprehensible how this has become a political issue when the risks are so dire

Hoping to finish this one in the next couple of days for my work book club. This month‘s theme is immigration.

Read this one for one of my book clubs about a formerly enslaved woman in Barbados who travels across the Caribbean to find her children. I paired with a Bob Marley classic redemption song. #islandvibes #titlesandtunes

Enjoyed diving into this book this morning. Quickly engrossed in Rachel‘s story.

My 11 year old is reading this for one of his novel study books and it is beautifully written. It tells the story of a girl who moves from Syria go Cincinnati and her experiences of moving to the states, her worries about her family back home, and her Muslim identity. It felt very real and poignant.

I loved this book. A story of friendships I found it to be really beautiful. I found all the characters really relatable and the storyline engrossing even though I have no interest in gaming and have never played video games beyond Tetris and Mario brothers. Also any book set in boston in the late 1990s/early 2000s fills with me nostalgia picturing the T station, the science center, and all the stores mentioned in Harvard Square.

Sneaking in a little reading during warm-ups. Really liking Girl With The Louding Voice.

A soft pick for me. I expected to love this and went in thinking it would be more along the lines of A Secret History. it definitely captured Bodie and society‘s obsession with murdered and missing women but it didn‘t quite all gel for me. It did become a page-turner but not until after the 50% mark. I did like the boarding school memories and insights into those social dynamics.

Not my favorite in the series…but still a solid beach read. Reacher heads overseas to try and catch a sniper.

4.5. I love the Lucy Barton books and pretty much everything Elizabeth Strout writes. She is able to capture the reality of the small moments that make up life is in this way I find really moving. Lucy reflects on her life with William and their continued friendship decades after their marriage has ended. Thanks @BarbaraBB for recommending this from my vacation stack

I love my Wednesday mornings at the library cafe. An easy read and good coffee is the best way to tackle the mid-week blahs.

I think this book is probably really divisive. It has no traditional plot and is instead a series of observations and anecdotes about life in NYC as a young journalist in the 1970s. Some of the descriptions of her experiences are funny, others quite shocking, and most quite insightful. One of my favorites was her description of lawyers having found the strongest “or” in the English language in the phrase “well knew or should have known.”

I‘m going on vacation soon and have put together this book stack but I can‘t take them all…the Makkai is definitely coming…welcome opinions on which others to bring with me. I also have a kindle loaded up with mysteries and thrillers I like to read on planes and on the beach. Always need to cover e-reader and real books.

A lovely comforting read about the friendship between Nina Totenberg and Justice Ginsburg and about friendships more generally, as well as love, grief, and navigating a heavily male profession.

3.5 stars. She notes at the beginning that her sample is skewed. While she does talk to Lgbtq teens and Black and Hispanic teens it is primarily focused on white college bound kids from the upper middle class. Helpful to see teenagers perspectives on masculinity, sex, and how they view society‘s expectations of them.

Mysteries/thrillers and YA are my go-to reads when stressed. I really liked this one. A murder on a plane of a French woman who held the secrets of many. A great locked room mystery.

I loved this book. I listened to it and the narration really added to the rhythm of the book. 18 year old middle sister stands out in her community for many things, among them, reading while walking. Her descriptions of life during “the troubles” in Ireland captured the constant feeling of being watched and on alert and aware of even minute things are impacted by the conflict. The structure of the sentences was beautiful and surprising.

I‘m only on page 100 and already all the other book mentions in this book are giving me TBR overload. The only problem with a book about books is it makes me want to read more books!

New book. New mug. Haven‘t started this one yet, but really liked “Long Petal of the Sea.”

Damon‘s story of growing up in Lee County, VA had me hooked from the beginning. Kingsolver had empathy for each of the characters and drew them as whole people. she examines what has made Appalachians vulnerable to the ravages of pills and hopelessness a broken social services system, and tells a humane story of the people here. The language in the book was so beautiful. Loved it all but especially Angus and Annie and Mr Armstrong.

Lots of feelings about this one. A near future dystopia where CPS is in overdrive and sends mothers to a reeducation camp where they must learn to be good mothers to robot dolls before their children can be returned to them. Felt a bit long in the middle and sometimes a touch too over the top, but made me think and brought me to tears close to the end.

Oh this page! Late 80s and early 90s captured. I remember buying a bottle of Exclamation! And washing my face with noxzema nightly. I can still smell it. Loving this graphic novel of middle school in 89-91.

A lighter read for a Saturday morning. Having been wanting to check out Telgemeier‘s graphic novels for a while.

This is the book my 10 year old is currently reading for his novel study. I found this coming of age story about a boy and his pet fox who become separated and have to learn how to live on their own to be really moving. I like watching how both the boy and the fox change while maintaining a connection.

This is the book my 10 year old is currently reading for his novel study. I found this coming of age story about a boy and his pet fox who become separated and have to learn how to live on their own to be really moving. I like watching how both the boy and the fox change while maintaining a connection.

Really looking forward to this one.

I love this series - guaranteed page-turner for me. Bosch investigates a cold case and an apparent suicide. As always no one comes out looking totally clean and politics and other motives abound.

1st book of 2023. Look at why there is resistance to use of property destruction and other tactics in the climate movement and whether such tactics are more effective than non-violence and whether they are accepted in the climate space. Not sure I quite buy the argument fully but did buy the urgency of climate change and the need for action. I did like the focus on hope and working for change as opposed to doing nothing because “we‘re doomed.”

Here are some of my favorite reads from this year. In addition to those pictured I also really enjoyed “daisy Jones and the six” prob my best listen of the year - full cast audio; and “a tale for the time being.”

I had a very good year in books. Met my goal of reading more big books and more poetry.

Perfect read for a short flight. Thanks for the rec @Cinfhen I really enjoyed this collection of essays about the author‘s life in Israel with his wife and young son as well as his experiences traveling as an Israeli author. The essay about buying an apartment in Warsaw was particularly moving.

I‘m heading to Israel with my mom next week and picked up some books for the library to start immersing myself in some Israeli non-fiction and novels. Also downloaded To the End of the Land and a A Tale of Love and Darkness. @Cinfhen any recommendations of books or restaurants or other suggestions? We‘ll be in Eilat and Jerusalem. My mom has been many times, I‘ve only been once in 1997.