I liked Etna. Didn’t love it, but it certainly was creative and different.
I use Libby probably 75%of the time, library 20% and purchase a hard copy 5%.
My routine with Libby is to download a book and immediately put it on airplane and once I’m sure I like the book I return it- and then finish it on airplane. I prefer to only read one book at a time.
Once I finish a book I immediately rate it on GoodReads and then go off airplane to recharge my kindle and to download a new book!
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I don’t use Libby for reading (library website → kindle via Amazon) so I don’t see its info, but I assume that if I’ve been on a waitlist for a book (which is usual) that there will be others after me.
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If you put the book you are waiting for on hold then it won’t auto renew. I would never keep a book out that is not renewable and I don’t think anyone else here was advocating that.
If there are no holds on a book folks can keep it as long as they can keep renewing it.
I am a big reader, over 100 books a year, all from the library, almost all of them physical books. My library does not have fines and will not renew a title that has holds on it. I admit to being guilty of holding on to a book past the due date when it won’t renew because I am almost done reading it. If I have a book that I have not yet started which I can’t renew and it is due, I return it and try and get it again at a later date. I am sometimes in the situation of putting holds on several popular titles and them all coming in at the same time. In those cases, I have to balance varying due dates and which ones to read first. I am pretty friendly with most of my local library staff. They will on occasion override the system and renew a book for me. They know I am a good patron who reads quickly and I will get the book back quickly. Because I am getting books from a consortium, they may have different borrowing times - some only 14 days and some 28 days. Again, I try to read the ones that are due back sooner first.
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@Sweetgum i know that a book will not renew if othe people have holds on it . That has been my experience with both my current and former library system.
I am frustrated that many times I have holds on books which seem to take a very long time. As I said before, people check them out and keep them past their due date ( no fines) even when several people are waiting.
Our library allows you to “ freeze” holds. I do this if I am going out of town for any length of time but also if I have a lot of other books checked out and I know I won’t be able to read it for awhile.
My habits are very similar to yours!
I’m reading John of John now and really enjoying it. Thanks for sharing the list!
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I’m on the waitlist for that!
I’m not totally loving the Strout but enjoying it enough to keep going - just over halfway.
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I’ve read John of John and The Things We Never Say. I will definitely read Marlon James, but it looks like a big commitment so I’ll wait till I have the time and space. I hadn’t heard of the others but will check them out.
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I don’t know about the Marlon James. It’s the kind of book theme-wise I would usually read, but the NYT review put me off it, and I didn’t like the sample I read of the first few pages.
It looks like The End of Everything is not out yet? That’s the only other one on the list that sounded appealing to me, however, I will wait and see what others here have to say about the various books! I probably would not have picked up the Strout book earlier if not for the positive reviews about it here.
I am still waiting for my next “punch” book… the way I felt after reading Demon Copperhead and Prophet Song… books that blew me away and stayed with me for weeks afterwards.
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I recently finished The Things We Never Say…and, I dunno. I enjoyed it, mostly, but I wasn’t blown away like I expected to be based on the reviews.
I think I just prefer a different category of books, lol, and not so much literary fiction. I’ve been really happy working my way through everything by Katherine Center. 
I did read Iona Iverson’s Rules for a Commuting recently, and I enjoyed that a lot. Found family is one of my favorite tropes. I haven’t picked up How to Age Disgracefully yet, though.
The last book that really blew me away – that wasn’t my typical light fantasy or romance – was probably Remarkably Bright Creatures. That stayed with me for a long time.
I recently read “Heart the Lover” by Lily King. After hearing how good it was I was underwhelmed, Just discussed it in one of my book clubs and we all agreed that the characters were not well sketched out , they were weird and the main character makes some poor decisions. We all felt it was “meh”.
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I enjoy literary fiction but it has to be a story that interests me too! And it doesn’t have to be “highbrow”. Something that comes to mind is The Thirteenth Tale, which is a gothic mystery, but oh so beautifully written. One of those books I’d reread some paragraphs just because I thought they were written so well.
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Her other book Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield, is even better.
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I enjoyed both of these - they echo each other a little, so maybe take a bit of a break between them. A similar one (and unlike at least the others of his that I’ve read) is Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People, which I enjoyed too.
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I think my church friends (mostly my age or older) are still passing around the Iona book. I said I don’t need it back - just pass it on to somebody who needs a laugh. Even one husband who generally reads only nonfiction liked it.
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Both books - The Thirteenth Tale and Once Upon a River - were CC Bookclub discussion books, 2009 and 2019 respectively.
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Currently enjoying Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth.
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