I just finished The Endling, by Maria Reva (i think there is a middle grade book with same name–not that one). I loved it and will be thinking about it for a long time. Complex, funny at times, intense, challenging. Takes place in Ukraine before and at the start of the war. Very much recommend.
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I just finished All Fours, by Miranda July. I really enjoyed it, even though I had a hard time rooting for the protagonist and kept thinking, “no! don’t do that!” for so much of the story 
I’m now reading Three Days in June by Anne Tyler. Only 30 pages in, but so far, so good.
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I just finished Apples and Oranges, a memoir by Marie Brenner about her family, specifically her brother Carl, the apple guy.
Interestingly, it touches on Trotsky and Frida Kahlo:
In the process of recounting the story of her relationship with her brother, Ms. Brenner also gives us a wonderfully vivid picture of her uncommon family: her grandfather Isidor, who made and lost and made five fortunes in Mexico and Texas; her father, Milton, who always sounded “very Texas, boastful and confident as if he’d been born in a uniform”; her mother, Thelma, who as an organizer of San Antonio Mothers for Peace made plans to confront Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara in his hotel room (“If I look chic, maybe he’ll let us in”); and her Aunt Anita, who posed for the photographer Edward Weston, interviewed Trotsky and hung out in Mexico with Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and José Clemente Orozco.
both of whom were featured in the Kingsolver book, The Lakuna, that I recommended upthread.
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I just finished Beautyland and also enjoyed it. I was surprised by how emotional I felt at the end.
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I like Julia Quinn books well enough, so got a kick out of this. She missed the one where every single character knows about an event that is critical to the plot throughout, but it’s a secret to the reader until the grand denouement in the last chapter.
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I read a book once where it wasn’t revealed till the last page that an asteroid was approaching earth that would destroy it in a few months. Everyone but the reader was aware of this, but it was NEVER MENTIONED BY ANY CHARACTER OR NARRATOR.
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The last two books I read included “so she wasn’t dead after all” and the other main character had a stillbirth that everyone knew about throughout except me (well, I strongly suspected).
There’s also a style of writing where the narrator often uses phrases that say, in effect, “had I but known” or “little did I know.” Just tell the story, don’t tell me that you know what’s going to happen and it makes a difference in what I just read but I have to wait five chapters on to find out why.
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Don’t Look Up 
Lol. This one had mermaids.
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For anyone who likes family sagas, The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai is an engaging read. It takes place in N Vietnam during Land Reform (50s) and the war that followed.
I enjoyed reading a book about Vietnam that, while it had the war as a backdrop, was not about the war. It’s not brand new (2020 - found my copy in a used book shop), and I suspect it’d be a good book club choice.
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Thanks for the recommendation. I was able to get it from the library with no wait!
The only issue was that the Libby system was down when I first tried to borrow it last week and then I forgot the name, and then I forgot to look it up, but now it is mine for 21 days.
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I just finished reading Geraldine Brooks’ new book (Memorial Days). It’s a memoir that focuses on her marriage and the sudden death of her husband Tony Horowitz (also a writer). I think the book was clearly a way for her to deal with her grief. It’s well written, but also sad.
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I finished that book recently, too, @Bromfield2. Though no two people’s grief is the same, her story took me back to Joan Didion’s reminiscence of the year immediately following the sudden death of her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, in The Year of Magical Thinking and her recounting of her daughter’s death in Blue Nights. Brooks, though, took several years before finally isolating herself in a remote area of Australia to properly deal with her grief. All of these outpourings were wrenching, painful insights into the unfillable hole of loss, tremendous but difficult reads.
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I used my free Prime trial to get the current free 3-month trial of Audible for Prime members. This is my first time using Audible or listening to an audio book. I chose the book Dungeon Crawler Carl, which is currently #5 on the best seller list and rated 4.9 out of 5.
The premise is all manmade structures on Earth are suddenly collapsed for materials by an alien race. Surviving humans who were outside during the collapse are given the choice to enter a dungeon or try to survive on the desolate Earth surface. The collapse occurred at 2AM during the blistering cold while Carl was outside in his boxers, trying to get his girlfriend’s catshow winning cat Princess Donut out of a tree. To avoid freezing in the cold, the duo is forced to go in to the dungeon.
The dungeon is part of the “Dungeon Crawler World” popular game show watched (more like Twitch where viewers can share live experiences of any crawler at any time) by quintillions of aliens across the galaxy/universe. There are 18 levels to the dungeon, the first of which is nearly the size of the Earth’s surface. The dungeon has complex RPG type game mechanics, with players having a wide array of stats that increase with experience. Most persons entering the dungeon are quickly killed by monsters/traps, and only a slim minority of players descend to each subsequent level.
However, the book doesn’t feel dark/depressing. Instead it’s often funny, with the satirical/snarky AI comments (" New achievement! Why aren’t you wearing pants? You entered the dungeon wearing no pants . Dude. Seriously? Reward…"), dungeon based on exaggerated tropes about humans, and generally amusing things that happen to the group, including Princess Donut developing the ability to speak and having higher intelligence and overall stats than Carl.
The book is nothing like I have ever read/listened to/watched before. I can see elements form Running Man, Hunger Games, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Shangri-La Frontier, Tower of God, … but the combination is original. I am really enjoying it so far, much more so than the podcasts I usually listen to during my walks. I sometimes am so interested that I keep listening after I am done walking. It’s at times laugh out loud funny, but I also connect with the characters and care what happens to them. I also want to explore and understand the world – how the dungeon works and larger purpose. It’s easy to put yourself in the scene and consider what you would do in the situation. The audio book element works well, with each character having their unique voice that is fitting to the personality.
After 3 days, I finished the first half of the book, which concludes with descending down to 2nd floor after defeating the borough boss and the Royal Court of Princess Donut / Medowlark Elder Care parties team-up.
I like how they didn’t take the usual anime tropes for this type of genre. For example, I like how they do not take the power fantasy trope with a bland personality protagonist that starts out overpowered or best in universe. Instead when the first episode of the Dungeon Crawler World show airs, Donut and to a lesser extent Carl were excited to see if they were on the show and gain potential sponsors after having defeated a neighborhood boss (caricature of a hoarder). Instead the show talked about human anatomy and featured an adolescent girl from Ecuador with 2 Rottweilers, one of which shoots lightning when it barks, as well as a large group from Africa that was tearing through the dungeon with AK-47s. The book acknowledges that Carl and Donut were initially nothing special, among the millions (at the time of first episode) in the dungeon. The same happens for next 3 airings. This makes it all the more rewarding that after completing the first half of the book, someone with the equivalent of an online/television presence finally wants to talk to them at start of Part II.
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Just finished “The Undoing Project”, and really enjoyed it. (Full disclosure, I’m an economist who is really interested in the work underlying behavioral economics and I’ve been a Michael Lewis fan since “Liar’s Poker” - I still love his description of a bond trader in that- .. but I think this book will interest a lot of people.)
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One of the best books you’ve read in the last 6 months? What if you kept a list for decades?
Sharing this story of an Ohio man who died this month and keep a reading log - for decades.
I thought this group might be touched by this!
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I’ve heard a lot of people singing the praises of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Thanks for the detailed description. I don’t always like sci fi humor (not a fan of Hitchhiker’s Guide, but love John Scalzi.) I’m currently in the midst of reading Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings books which at my not so fast reading speed will probably be occupying much of the next year. (7 books in 9 to go I think, plus some related short stories/novelas.)
ICYDK, you can also access free audio books through your local public library and libbyapp.com. (If you don’t have a library card you can set one up through your cell phone number.) There is sometimes a wait for new and popular titles, but still a good source.
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I read The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders. I paused to hunt for and read Robin Hobb’s short stories. I’m missing a couple and want to gather them before reentering Realm of the Elderlings.
Dungeon Crawler Carl is on my to-read list, which is way too long for comfort.
I thought John Scalzi’s Red Shirts was a lot of fun!!
Do you have any recommendations for his other books if I liked that one?
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