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one of the best books I've read in the last 6 months is . . .

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Replies to: one of the best books I've read in the last 6 months is . . .

  • EconPopEconPop 649 replies11 threads Member
    "The Warmth Of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson.
    Follows three different families' journeys during three different decades of the Great Migration. Along the way, it includes many facts and anecdotes not directly related to those families.
    Very moving.
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  • EconPopEconPop 649 replies11 threads Member
    "The Mountain" by Paul Yoon.
    A collection of short stories about people trapped in dangerous wartime locales. Focuses on the humanity of the situation, and never gets into the larger issues of countries and soldiers.

    This is the second book I've read by Yoon. He is an author with great literary talent.
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  • makemesmartmakemesmart 1775 replies14 threads Senior Member
    @EconPop
    Love “warmth of other suns”. Moving and very informative, I learned so much about the great migration and its impacts to American society.
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  • EconPopEconPop 649 replies11 threads Member
    @makemesmart ,
    Me too. I ended up feeling embarrassed that I learned so much, because I felt like I should have known more about something so impactful. But I'm glad I know it now. It really is an informative and great book.
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  • NJWrestlingmomNJWrestlingmom 1786 replies2 threads Senior Member
    I haven't gone through the whole thread, but I just finished and loved Educated by Tara Westover. Biography of her life growing up with Mormon survivalist parents in the mountains of Idaho. Along the lines of The Glass Castle, another of my all time favorites.
    Starting Before We Were Yours now, which I've heard great things about.
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  • SybyllaSybylla 5065 replies60 threads Senior Member
    I finished hillbilly elegy, which would be a great read vs audio, I didn't mind the narration on the audio book but it wasn't great. But the content and subject was really well done. Recommended reading.
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  • SybyllaSybylla 5065 replies60 threads Senior Member
    And for light fluff with a li'l undertow, the Liane Moriarty audio books are all really engaging.
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  • Nrdsb4Nrdsb4 18096 replies164 threads Senior Member
    edited July 2019
    Finished Eleanor Oliphant. Great book.

    I read some of the 1 star reviews on Amazon. I don't think we read the same novel.
    edited July 2019
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  • ConsolationConsolation 22898 replies184 threads Senior Member
    I've been trying to force my way through Swamplandia! and having a hard time. I'm finding the writing style overdone, and really I don't like reptiles, swamps, or Florida. :) Just got The Tattooist of Auschwitz out of the library and will start it shortly. I've been finding it difficult to pick out things I really want to read at the library lately.
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  • makemesmartmakemesmart 1775 replies14 threads Senior Member
    Highly recommend “the oversotry” by Richard Power. I am only 140 pages in, I. Love. It!
    Bought the paper version from Amazon so that DH and DS could read it too. Each story is titled by one character, they are all connected one way or another by trees (“the solidified air”/“the passage between earth and sky”), American chestnut, maple, Douglas fir, Linden, aspens, oak, elm, ..., each story moves me and touches me. So beautifully written!
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  • colorado_momcolorado_mom 9478 replies83 threads Senior Member
    A good friend recommended this book, and I found it a very worthwhile read - "Being Mortal : Medicine and What Matters in the End" by Dr Atul Gawande. I bought a used copy online, but I see you can get the PDF from ebay for $1.50.
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  • TempeMomTempeMom 2970 replies25 threads Senior Member
    Hated Swamplandia.
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  • ConsolationConsolation 22898 replies184 threads Senior Member
    Well, I finished the Tattooist of Auschwitz, and my verdict is enthralling story, poorly told. It really does read like a novelized screenplay, and I've seen that done better. The whole time I was reading it, I kept imaging if it were written by someone else. Daniel Mason, for example.

    @TempeMom, thank you. I'm going to take that as permission to take it back to the library unfinished! :)
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  • dentmom4dentmom4 1527 replies4 threads Senior Member
    Just finished How Not to Die Alone. Excellent book, and thanks to the person who suggested it. Started off just a bit slow, but great character development and finishes well. Halfway in, I couldn’t put it down.
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  • garlandgarland 16538 replies206 threads Senior Member
    ^Glad you liked it! :)
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  • shawbridgeshawbridge 5942 replies54 threads Senior Member
    edited July 2019
    This may be a little off the beaten path, but I am learning a lot from Kissinger the Negotiator: Lessons from Dealmaking at the Highest Level by James Sebenius. Dissects Kissinger's strategy (as opposed to his geopolitical vision) and looks at how he acted to accomplish his objectives. Two other recent books that I enjoyed a lot were Skyward by Brandon Sanderson (my favorite fantasy/scifi author) and Educated by Tara Westover (memoir of a young woman who grew up in an isolated survivalist Mormon family in Idaho led by a bipolar father who ended up leaving her family and attending Yale and Oxford).
    edited July 2019
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  • oregon101oregon101 5648 replies138 threads Senior Member
    So agree. I loved Eleanor and liked the prose of Crawdads. However, when I got to the issue of the death and trial I skimmed the rest. Still, a more enjoyable book than, say,
    Boringly. (sic) What was that awful book? Bowlinger?
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