Theo of Golden - reading it now, should be finished by tomorrow. Really not a book I would normally pick out for myself but so many recommended I had to see if it would hold my attention. It is! Edit: I guess I could have done a search on the title, certainly been mentioned before.
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Reading Brawler by her now. Enjoying the stories.
Reading From Upheaval to Action: What works in changing higher ed, by Levine and Van Pelt. Really interesting.
I finished All We Can Know but did not like it at all. Theo of Golden was my first DNF of the year. My choosing compass needs a fix, perhaps!
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From The New Republic:
Congratulations to Brian Goldstone for winning the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction for “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America.” The reporting that sparked it began right here at TNR for the September 2019 print issue.
“Once upon a time, mass homelessness did not exist in the United States. The population of people without stable living situations periodically surged, but these waves were temporary, subsiding as the economy improved. The phenomenon we now know as homelessness—pervasive, unremarkable, seemingly intractable—arose only in the 1980s.”
Revisit the landmark feature that became the genesis for Goldstone’s Pulitzer-winning book: The New American Homeless | The New Republic
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I finished “This Book Made Me Think of You” by Libby Page last night. It was a very sweet and came at a time when I needed a nice love story. Fast read with a few twists & turns, but a happy ending.
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I’m reading The Hong Kong Widow by Kristen Loesch. It’s a supernatural horror novel, not usually my favorite genre, but it evokes a lost Shanghai (during WWII, evocative descriptions of botched self-owned bombing raids by the Kuomintang and Japanese butchery of the populace) and the fatal ordeals of mainland refugees fleeing to Hong Kong in the late 40s and early 50s. The protagonist/narrator is present at a seance at a Victoria Peak mansion in the 50s that results in a mysterious mass murder. She survives and in old age, after emigrating to Seattle, she brings her US-born daughter back to Hong Kong to figure out what really happened. Very gripping and surprising.
Has anyone read the latest Wally Lamb, The River Is Waiting? It was riveting but ultimately extremely sad and upsetting. I finished it right before bed last night, and that was a mistake.
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Just finished Go Gentle by Maria Semple. Absolutely unhinged plot and very entertaining. Loved the characters. I also saw her interviewed recently and she is delightful.
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“Unhinged” is the perfect word to describe the plot, particularly the last half. In that way, it reminded me of her break-out novel, Where’d You Go Bernadette? In both cases, I preferred the book before things got too wacky. She writes so well about women, and is so witty. I find the crazier turns at the end too far-fetched for my taste.
I loved the idea of the coven–anyone interested? 
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I have it downloaded on my Kindle but have a one other book ahead of it. Glad you enjoyed it!
I vaguely remember Where’d You Go, Bernadette going off the rails a bit which knocked my rating down a notch, but I still enjoyed it. I assumed Go Gently might be similar based on its plot description, but figured it might be good enough for a beach read anyway.
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I definitely wanted more about the coven!
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Reading “The Road to Tender Hearts” and really enjoying it.
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I just started The Road to Tender Hearts! I am about 50 pages in and also enjoying it.
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Ok. “The Names”. So many people raving about it. I’ve tried three times to start reading it and I just can’t get into it.
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I read it for a book club. I had difficulty with it. I was 150 pages in before I “got it,” so I started over. I’d give it a B.
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I thought The Names had a more interesting idea than execution, although there are many books I might say that about! But I didn’t struggle to get through it.
Just discovered this thread! Branching out to other corners of CC now that my last kid is almost launched, lol.
I love to read, but I’m more of a genre fiction reader than literary fiction. I love fantasy – epic and urban and all sorts – and contemporary romance but not bodice rippers.
That said, this year I did read Remarkably Bright Creatures, Project Hail Mary, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The House in the Cerulean Sea. Really enjoyed all of them except thought that last one was a little heavy-handed with its moral lesson. I have John Green’s Everything is Tuberculosis on my TBR pile – he just spoke at D22’s graduation, and I enjoyed listening to him a lot.
Otherwise, I keep a steady diet of Abby Jimenez and Ali Hazelwood and Sarah Adams – and I’m considering a reread of Wheel of Time after the kiddo graduates and things calm down. I started reading it in college and petered out somewhere around book 8, so I never even got to the Brandon Sanderson ones. It is a deep shame. 
Also, the posts about Dungeon Crawler Carl made me smile – I didn’t think it would interest me, but one of my best friends is an AP Lit teacher and such a brainy bibliophile – she LOVES those books, so I just started the first one. I’m four chapters in and mildly amused, lol. I’m also listening to Apprentice to the Villain, which is book two in a series – it’s completely ridiculous but also somewhat amusing, and I need something light when I’m doing chores.
I probably won’t have much to contribute here since the vibe seems to be more erudite books than my typical fare, but I do love to see what people are reading!
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Not the kind of thing I would usually read, so I just looked it up on Amazon and thought it would be worth a shot. I was about to put it on my “to read” list when I noticed it was on sale for 4.99. In the cart it went. I was even able to use some forgotten bonus points to get it for $1.
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I think I recommended this somewhere above - it was actually recommended to me by D19. Very interesting. (One of the few I listened to as audiobook as it counts as non-fiction).
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I’m about to read Everything is Tuberculosis for a book group next month.
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