Just finished The Vaster Wilds and found it quite interesting. It’s another story of human endurance (not sure why I tend toward these) with a rather difficult ending. I binged through it, which I rarely do. The end did not satisfy my curiosity or the reason I kept reading, but I still “enjoyed” it. Worth the read.
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If the author narrates the audio, I’d go with that. I read the book itself. [ETA: I just looked it up. He does narrate it himself.]
There are numerous Spanish phrases he throws in from time to time that I had to look up, if that enters into your thinking.
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Thanks. The Solito audiobook offered by my library is narrated by author, so that is what I picked for waitlist. Typically I like to do my nonfiction as audio, listen while running and gardening. (I have no spanish skills, so I might wish I had picked ebook - we’ll see.)
Any Baldacci fans? I read almost all of his books, but his current one, A Calamity of Souls, is special. It’s a riveting story with autobiographical elements, and stand alone so can be read without knowing his other themes and characters. I probably especially appreciated it since it takes place in 1968 Southern Virginia, where so much ugly racism abounded; I currently live in Northern Virginia and have heard awful stories from even native Northern Virginians about such history.
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I’ve read Baldacci’s Atlee Pine series (she’s an FBI agent). He ended the series after four books. I haven’t read A Calamity of Souls, but it sounds interesting.
I’ve read several of Baldacci’s books. Will look this one up.
I was on the waitlist forever for The Alice Network. Came through a couple of weeks ago and I couldn’t put the book down. Was a great read.
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I have not heard of A Calamity of Souls, but it must be popular. Lots of folks on the library hold lists. Including me now too.
I appreciated Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. It probably doesn’t hurt that I am very familiar with the geographical location of the story. I typically am impatient for more “plot” but I found myself enjoying his character descriptions.
I enjoy a good David Baldacci book, they are hard to put down. I will have to look out for this one.
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Finished “Indian Burial Ground” by Nick Medina last night. His first book was “Sisters of the Lost Nation”. Both are mysteries which are set on a Native American reservation. Well written, good characters and stories and interesting view into life on a reservation and Native culture.
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My favorite Baldacci was Wish You Well, not in the thriller genre. This book sounds very similar to that one, thank you for the heads up.
I really liked Solito and am going to hear the author speak this weekend at our literary festival here in Santa Fe. I really want to hear how his life has gone (apparently well) but I don’t think he has been able to connect with the people he traveled with from El Salvador. I wanted answers at the end of the book!
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I’m jealous! I would love to hear him speak. There are a few YouTube videos that have him speaking, but it’s not the same as in person.
Finished Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. It is truly a great read. Layered stories, many characters, complex relationships, family secrets. So very good. Highly recommend.
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So another detective series well worth it is Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy books, about a Catholic RUC policeman (“peeler”) in Belfast in the 80s during the Troubles. It’s very atmospheric and in a weird way topical now, about living in an environment where the lines of identity are very sharply drawn and people hate each other on cue, but in reality things are much more complicated and nuanced, and people form alliances of convenience and interest across battle lines. The first is The Cold Cold Ground and the latest is The Detective Up Late (Tom Waits). The protagonist has hardboiled detective DNA; substance abuse problems, attachment issues, but a strong personal code of behavior. If you like police procedurals, noir, or hardboiled, you will like this. A minor yet consistent theme is the bitterness toward the role of American money in stoking this conflict.
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Today I FINALLY finished a book I liked but a book that for some reason was trying for me to finish. In fact, i ended up switching from Kindle book to audio book about half way through. It’s rare for me to read two books at a time but with this book I did.
The book was Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Such a different book for me. I’m curious who else read it and your thoughts.
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That’s been discussed a LOT in the past; you can probably search the thread for comments. In fact, so many people have read it that it got passed up for the Book Club here on CC. I loved it.
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I figured so! I’m always late to the book party! 
Ill do a search.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was one of my favorite books last year. I really cared a lot about the characters even when they were behaving badly and/or stupidly. I found the discussions about making video games fascinating. (I have two kids who play a lot of them.) It was full of quotes that made me laugh and others that made me think. Interesting that you preferred it as an audiobook. I often find them hard to follow and for the last few years I’ve been listening to podcasts in Spanish instead because I’m trying to learn the language.
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - I liked it. But I didn’t love it as much as other readers who raved about it.
I do a combo of books, ebooks, audiobooks. Usually I prefer non-fiction as my audiobook (often in parallel with a novel book or ebook). But sometimes it just depends on what is available at our library. Last month I did the novel “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” on audio. Good thing I’m retired because it was 33 hours long. Listened while running, walking, gardening, exercising, going to sleep (set to stop after 15 min or chapter end).
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As @mathmom says, the book gave me a real connection to video game playing son. The entire process of development and creativity was fascinating. I was impressed at the level of detail the author put into the games themselves. I wish they were real! I tried to interest son in reading the book but he is not a fiction reader. But some day I may send it to him, although perhaps some of the dark sections might be a bit much.
I also got a renewed appreciation for:
Amusingly, my SIL was reading the book when she and brother visited in late 2022, soon after I had read it.
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