I can’t believe it’s September 1st already. I am in awe of how quickly this summer has whizzed by, as it seems like minutes ago we were discussing possibilities for the summer while planting the garden.
As August started, I was ready for a classic summer beach read and picked Summer of ’69 since someone had donated to the little library that I run and it looked interesting. This was the second of her novels that I have read, I read Winter Street two winters ago when I was looking for a book to match the season. Hilderbran seems to be good for that as she as many other seasonal titles. Besides my first brush with Summer of ’69 in the little free library, I enjoy reading historical fiction which is also something else that drew me to this title.
Those were the days! Want to spend part of your summer on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket without having to spend a fortune? Reading Summer of ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand is just the ticket – no lines, no delays, no cancellations, no reservations, and a lot cheaper. The story is about a family on Nantucket, and one of the daughters has taken a summer job on neighboring Martha’s Vineyard. Hilderbrand’s intimate knowledge and experience from her time on Nantucket made it easy for her to set such a vivid scene. She weaves personal details of the time that authenticate the period and demonstrate how much times have changed. Summer of ’69 is an interesting historical fiction novel but an equally terrific beach read. Hilderbrand covers all the hot points from the civil and women’s rights movements to the war in Vietnam, the moon launch, Woodstock, and Chappaquiddick. It’s a multi-generational story told by multiple family members – a great way to see how the times affected everybody and let the reader know each character. I loved how Hilderbrand used the names of classic songs from sixties bands like Buffalo Springfield and Jefferson Airplane. Great book, and if they ever make a movie, the soundtrack will be fantastic! Now I am curious and think I will put her other book, Summer of ’79, on my TBR list. I listened to the audiobook and Erin Bennett does a great job with the narration. 13 hours, 34 minutes
One of the things that I have been doing as I go through my Goodreads challenges is to read books that I have been meaning to read ever since I was in high school or college. There are tons of books I may have started and not finished or meant to get to but never did. I believe The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of those books that I wanted to read but life got in the way until now.
Cross the hilarity of Monty Python’s Flying Circus with Kurt Vonnegut’s dry wit, and you have Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It is a whimsical science fiction classic, but the humor may not be for everyone. The book has a cultish following, as fellow hitchhikers love to quote from it. Try asking your Alexa what the answer to life is. I recommend the book to those who enjoy British humor. Stephen Fry does an excellent job narrating.
I love my Literati Book Club, it has exposed me to so many authors and genres, I particularly like the fact that you can change the club you are in if you don’t like the upcoming book, you just have to switch clubs by the 17th of the month. I’ve been in a bunch of clubs at this point, I am currently in Cheryl Strayed’s Wild Reads club and reading Kat Chow’s Seeing Ghosts. Last month I was in Brynn Elliott’s The Art of Philosophy club. That club’s aim is ” to empower readers with the tools to seek out philosophical insight and creative inspiration in their daily lives.” I decided to take a chance with reading the August selection since it was a book of poetry. I don’t generally read poetry but have been trying to broaden my horizons. Plus the way this summer has been going for me, I thought I should give it a chance.
I have never been a huge fan of poetry, but I enjoyed reading this book. I read this as part of my Literati book club selection in The Art of Philosophy club. The proems of beautifully written and uplifting. My biggest complaint about the book however would be the use of too small of a font size for a number of poems which made reading them extremely difficult. Also the use of white type also sometimes too small on a light colored background. I would have given the book a higher rating however these things took away from my overall reading experience.
So far I am 47 books into my Goodreads challenge which is 81% of my goal of 58 books. I spent a lot of time this summer working on my own book which is set to be released any day now. I will write a separate post regarding that book once it has been officially released. Needless say I am extremely excited about it since I have physically been working on this project for over two years, although the seed was initially planted almost 30 years ago!
This month I listened to six books and continued to make snail-like progress in the physical books I chose to read. Thirty-three books at the half-year mark isn’t a bad situation, considering I am 57% towards finishing my yearly goal of 58 books. I find that I continue to either choose home runs only to follow it up with a strike or a foul ball. Ok, maybe they are base hits and just feel like strikes after hitting homers.
I began the month coming off of a strike last month with My Year of Rest and Relaxation and choose Brood to begin the month with. I figured I could relate to another chicken tender.
I really enjoyed listening to Brood by Jackie Polzin and narrated by Rebecca Lowman. Brood is more than a story about a woman’s experience with her four chickens. At the core, this is a book about loss and grief. So from that perspective, the book has a depth that some may not be able to fully relate to.
Despite the sadness that the reader can hear in the author’s voice, there is humor in the story. Where there are chickens, there is usually something to laugh and smile about. I have four chickens of my own just like the author, so I can relate to her experiences with them. I learned a few new things too which as a chicken owner is always helpful. Much like parenthood, I had no idea what to expect from raising chickens, so also like parenthood, it’s helpful to see how others do things.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has chickens, loves animals, or is interested in a quick good read.
I decided that I would like to read/listen my way through the entire Agatha Christie collection. As a young girl who struggled reading, I found I was always interested in reading an Agatha Christie mystery. I have read And Then There Were None many times. So to begin my journey through the Christie Collection I thought I would start at the beginning.
I aim to read/listen to all of Agatha Christie’s books, starting with this early work (1925), The Secret of Chimneys. This story is filled with a large cast of characters, some of who pop up in later works of Christie’s. Superintendent Battle is introduced, although he plays a more supporting role.
A lot is going on in this book, so I found myself confused for a good portion of the story and not in the good murder-mystery way. Upon doing some reading afterward, I discovered Agatha Christie admitted that when it came to ‘Chimneys,’ she made the mistake that many young authors do by trying to put “far too much plot into one book.” This explains my confusion. Overall, this wasn’t a favorite of mine and it was just okay.
I was disappointed that one of my favorite go-to authors let me down. But to keep it in perspective, it was her first novel and there was plenty of room for improvement which we know she achieves throughout her career. We can’t always hit home runs, particularly early in our career.
I choose The Henna Artist next, as it had been on my TBR list for some time and in following along with exploring authors from other countries and cultures, I picked this novel next.
The Henna Artist submerses the reader/listener into a colorful world of saffrons and cinnamons, her words making you smell the curry and cumin wafting in the air as you learn about Lakshmi and her world. Alka Joshi’s debut novel paints a vivid picture of 1950s India and the challenge for women, particularly in a world controlled by men.
The story focuses on the life of Lakshmi, a woman who has fled an abusive husband and reinvents herself to gain her independence. Life becomes more challenging for Lakshmi as her past catches up to her and threatens to unravel all she has worked so hard for.
Trigger warning: two themes that may disturb readers/listeners are abortion and infidelity
I like this book and highly recommend it to readers and listeners. Sneha Mathan does a magnificent job narrating the book and giving life to various characters.
I felt it was time to switch things up and I discovered that Audible has a fantastic series out called Words + Music. I actually listened to one of the first in the series with the James Taylor: Break Shot two years ago. Each one is about 90 minutes long and narrated by the musician. The Who is touring this summer and I have never seen them. I don’t plan to, my concert days are behind me. But I do enjoying sitting down and listening to the artist tell their stories about the music and their lives.
I enjoyed listening to Pete Townshend’s Somebody Saved Me; it felt like you were sitting in a room with Pete as some instruments surrounded him while he talked about his career. I have always liked The Who’s music so learning a bit about the man behind the music and some of the songs that I grew up with is always a treat. Fans of The Who will appreciate spending a couple of hours with Pete. Well done, Audible Originals – I hope there will be more memoirs like this produced where the musician can play their music as they are talking about it. I realize ASCAP/BMI prohibits that a lot, but it adds to the overall experience of listening to the tunes, like in this wonderful Audible Original with Pete Townshend.
I decided from there to revisit a genre that I hadn’t in a while – the world of fantasy. I am a fan of fantasy books and so going back to my trusty TBR list, I checked out the Fantasy collection and selected Piranesi which had been on my list since 2020.
Suzanna Clarke’s Piranesi is a story centered around the title character, a likable man in harmony with nature and his surroundings. I was struck by the feeling of having gone through the wardrobe ala C.S. Lewis and ending up in a world like the Eagle’s Hotel California. “Such a lovely place…There’s plenty of room at the Hotel California…You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!” In the fantastical world in which Piranesi inhabits, the House is an ever-expanding one, filled with endless halls and marble statues, the ocean floods its basement, and the clouds engulf its top floors. The narration is mainly through Piranesi’s journals which he meticulously keeps, so we discover and untangle the mystery along with him. He is an engaging character whom I came to care about as I saw his patience and fortitude. I also keep journals, so I was amused at his indexing system and thought it somewhat clever. The few characters in the book add to the isolation of Piranesi’s world. The story is not just one of fantasy though but also one of dark mystery challenging the reader/listener. Clarke borrows the name from the 18th-century artist, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, known for his etchings Carceri d’Invenzione, (Imaginary Prisons). It’s not essential to know this upon reading the story; however, it helps in being able to interpret the larger picture. There are multiple layers to this book, rich in imagery and symbolism; you’d probably see something you missed the first time in each reading. I listened to the unabridged version from Bloomsbury Publishing on Audible which was wonderfully narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor. It’s a quick listen at 6 hours and 58 minutes. 4.5 stars
So far it had been a good month of listening. My dog needed surgery so I was stuck at the house for a couple of weeks since we were literally tethered to one another via a 6-foot leash the entire time. I made some headway reading Smile by Sarah Ruhl. I haven’t even touched There, There by Tommy Orange all month, as I was trying to finish Smile before moving on to another physical book. This month for my Literati club, I switched to the Atlas Obscura club and have added to the TBR List The Puzzler by A.J. Jacobs. I love puzzles and games, so I could not miss the opportunity to read this book. Which I will – hopefully soon.
To close the month I went to another book which had been on my TBR list for about a year – Hamnet.
Hamnet is a story of a multigenerational family and their domestic life in late 16th century England, around the time of the Plague. Grief is a central theme explored. The story revolves around how the individual family members deal with their grief and how that grief affects their relationships within the family.
The narrator, Ell Potter, does a beautiful job with the lyrical prose of Maggie O’Farrell. I was somewhat disappointed in this book. I was expecting more after reading some of the initial reviews, which caused me to put it on my TBR list. I found myself initially very confused; knowing I was reading a fictional account of the marriage of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway; it was hard to recognize them. Anne is only referred to as Agnes, and William is barely mentioned by name. The title character, Hamnet and Hamlet, were interchangeable at that time. This, coupled with the multiple viewpoints which make up the narration, made things even more unclear.
However, somewhere three-quarters of the way in, maybe sooner, I became more invested in the characters and what they were experiencing. Hamnet is a story of a marriage and a family who endure life in a time when survival was at its most challenging; sacrificing themselves for others, surviving separation when it is necessary, and finding love can bring about the greatest heartbreak of all. This isn’t my favorite piece of historical fiction, but it was a good story in the end. 2.5 Stars
Oh, well – we can’t always pick winners. So where now will I turn my attention? I have a lot of things going on here. I am working on having my book published which is very exciting and a huge undertaking. I have my garden to finish planting and seeding for this season. There will also be plenty of weeding to do since it’s been raining here for the last few days and things are getting lush. I’ll need a good book to listen to as I weed, it makes that chore so much more enjoyable! I wish I had a wheel I could spin that contained all the names of the books on my TBR list that at a push of a button would spin and reveal the title of my next book to read or listen to. Sometimes I find selecting a book to be the biggest challenge of all.
Let me know what you are reading or listening to this summer. I am always looking for new titles to add to my ever-growing TBR list. Until next month, happy reading and listening, everyone!
April was a full month where I was able to add four more books to the Read category getting closer to my goal of 58 books for the year. I am currently at 27 books completed. This month I read two fantastic books and two lesser so. I started the month off listening to The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell. I saw the title on my Goodreads feed because a friend of mine had read and liked it; so I thought I would give it a try.
I really liked this book and thought that it was a touching story about a catholic family and their ‘extraordinary” son, Sam. From the moment I started listening to the book, I was absorbed in the world of Sam, his parents, and his friends, Ernie and Mickey. Each character is well-developed and well-rounded and adds their own spark to the story. This book is the story of a boy who spends his life being judged by appearance. Unfortunately, our society continues to look too much at the shell and not remember it’s what’s inside that makes us who we really are. “Our skin, our hair, and our eyes are simply the shell that surrounds our soul, and our soul is who we are. What counts is on the inside.” I highly recommend this book – it’s a great story that the author also narrates wonderfully as well.
I always find it difficult to follow up on a book that I have really liked. I tend to switch genres completely and often I will fall back on short stories. I decided to to go this route after having finished The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell. I turned to a collection by one of my all-time favorite authors, Neil Gaiman.
I listened to the audiobook version, which was only available through my audiobooks.com account, and it did not allow me to view the chapters at all if I wanted. The book starts with a long foreward by Gaiman, where he gives a little background about each story. To his credit, he mentions that the listener may want to jump ahead, but I decided to listen anyway. I’m not sure how far into the foreward I was when I started to think about jumping ahead to the stories, realizing that I would only be able to jump away in small 15-second increments. So I continued to listen.
The short stories in this collection range from chilling and scary to sad and sentimental, many of which had been published before. There are several homages to some literary influences of Gaiman’s from Sherlock Holmes in ‘The Case of Death and Honey’ to ‘The Man who forgot Ray Bradbury.’ Then there is the tribute to Doctor Who in the story ‘Nothing O’Clock,’ which I enjoyed despite never having seen any Doctor Who before. There is also a nob to David Bowie in ‘Kether and Malkuth’. The collection wraps up with a short story called ‘Black Dog,’ which features Shadow Moon, the protagonist from Gaiman’s American Gods novel.
‘The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains’ ‘Nothing O’Clock’ ‘Kether to Malkuth’ ‘Orange’ ‘A Calendar of Tales’ ‘The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury’ ‘An Invocation of Incuriosity’ ‘The Case of Death and Honey’ ‘Pearls’ ‘Black Dog’
Overall, I liked this collection, but it was not one of my favorites, so I was also disappointed. I am a huge fan of Neil Gaiman’s and a big fan of short stories, so I felt this collection fell short.
A good book for a long drive
I found myself wondering where to turn my attention next. I had a long 8-hour plus drive that I would have to contend with and I really needed to pick a good book for the drive. As I looked over my TBR list, I came across a book that I put on the list after having seen the book on my father’s coffee table last summer, The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. I thought this might be a good pick since I could possibly talk about the book with my dad when I was visiting with him that weekend. The long drive down to Connecticut was to see my father and celebrate Greek Easter with my family whom I hadn’t seen since last July.
From the moment I started listening to this book, I was sucked down the rabbit hole! This is the first book I have read of Kate Quinn’s and it will not be the last. The Rose Code is a masterful piece of historical fiction based around the real men and women Enigma code-breakers who worked at Bletchley Park in the English countryside during World War II.
The story revolves around three young women from different backgrounds called to Bletchley Park to serve their country by cracking codes and keeping secrets. Quinn didn’t write just one heroine but she wrote about three of them. Three strong women who I came to care very deeply about their story.
The narrator, Saskia Maarleveld, does a fantastic job of bringing to life all of the characters of which there are quite a few. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, mystery, and espionage stories.
How Do You Follow Up a 5 Star Book?
Twice in one month, I found myself having to figure out how to follow up a great book. So I pivoted to a book that I knew one of my nieces had read and thought from the cover it might be a good change of pace.
I did not enjoy this book and only managed to finish it because it was short, and I was waiting to see if there was a point or climax – which never came. The depression that the main character is dealing with is conveyed in the writing style, but the main character wasn’t someone you come to care about. I don’t enjoy books where the protagonist is a narcissist. I felt bad for and cared more about her friend, Reva. The only good thing about the book was the narrator, Julia Whelan, does a good job bringing the characters to life.
Not a great book to end the month, but not all books can be winners. The important thing is to keep on reading. Currently, I am reading Smile: The Story of a Face by Sarah Ruhl. I’ve been bad about reading my physical books lately because I have been painting, drawing, driving, and listening to my audiobooks. My Literati club books are piling up, with the latest one coming in There, There by Tommy Orange, which I am only 10 pages into. I didn’t mean to start it, but I began to peruse upon opening the box, which led me to read a bit.
There is also a stack 3 feet high ( I am not exaggerating) sitting on my file cabinet of books waiting to be read. I can’t help myself around books sometimes. I just love books. I remember the old days of hanging out in bookstores. I would spend hours in the stacks of books, particularly if they had cozy chairs and spaces for you to hang out and check out the selections more thoroughly. Those were the old days, though. Today I purchase books via my Literati book club or the Book of the Month Club or Amazon. There was a small independent bookstore in my old hometown that I would frequent, but there isn’t one near me where I live now. Now I share the books I have read with my community via the Marleywood Little Free Library, where I am the steward.
If you have any book recommendations, please leave me a comment. I am always looking for new book ideas. Happy reading.
It’s been a busy couple of months and I have been listening to a bunch of really great selections and read a bunch too! I am really enjoying my Book of the Month Club selections and the Literati Book Club as well. I highly recommend them both; however, if you are looking for a club that has online book discussions – Literati is your place to look. They have a great app as well so whether you are on your phone, iPad or computer, it’s a very easy site to use. Literati has a bunch of different book clubs where authors or celebs have selected the book. Each one has a theme like Austin Klein’s Read Like an Artist, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild Reads. I’ve been in Kelly McGonigal’s Joy Collective but just switch to Susan Orleans’ Private Collection. If you want to leave one club for another, you simply make the switch online before the 17th of the month. (FYI: I don’t get any thing for recommending these in any way shape or form. I just like their services. )
Here are my reviews for my June-July Reads and Listens.
“This is the great horror of life: that mistakes are forever, and cannot be undone. You can never truly go back, even if you want to retrace your steps and take another route. The path has already disappeared behind you.”
How well do you know the people around you? In this day of social media when appearances seem to be everything, can you trust what you see. Con artists,grifters and narcissists are real and this is the story of some of them. The story touches upon themes of friendship, mental illness, and trust to name a few. It’s a wonderful psychological thriller and the narrators Julia Whelan as Nina and Lauren Fortgang as Vanessa do a superb job. A great listen!
“…it is sad, of course, to forget. But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten. To remember when no one else does.”
I just finished listening to this book and now that it’s over, I loved it. While I was listening to it, I felt it was slow in parts, but interesting enough to continue. I thought that the author had drummed a few things in, repeating things a few times more necessary perhaps, to get the point across on what it must have been like for Addie to experience. But if you can keep push through it, it’s worth it. This is a beautifully written story rich with interesting characters. I found it a bit confusing , listening to audiobook, since the story skips around in time and keeping things straight in my head took a little more focus on my part. But all in all, I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to those who have a little patience and enjoy finding the devil in the details. Julia Whelan does a fantastic job with the narration. She is becoming. favorite narrator of mine. 3-1/2 stars.
“Until recently, I didn’t think that humans could choose loneliness. That there were sometimes forces more powerful than the wish to avoid loneliness.”
I was sucked into the story from the moment I opened the book. Kazuo Ishiguro is a beautiful writer who masterfully brings us right into the world of artificial intelligence with introducing us to Klara, the main character and narrator. Klara provides an interesting and unique perspective. The book touches upon many themes: relationships between humans and relationships humans have with technology; grief; social inequality, just to name a few. I highly recommend this to anyone – it’s a beautifully written book and has such an interesting perspective on what the future could bring.
“Increasingly at Southern airports, instead of a “good-bye” or “thank-you,” cashiers are apt to say, “Have a blessed day.” This can make you feel like you’ve been sprayed against your will with God cologne. “Get it off me!” I always want to scream. “Quick, before I start wearing ties with short-sleeved shirts!”
I enjoy David Sedaris and his stories about his life and family. Sedaris describes any given situation so that you feel as if you are right there beside him. I’m not a political person so when I hear comedy start to talk politics I tune out, particularly these days. I’ve had too much of the bashing from all sides, so those two short parts weren’t my favorite.
But since I am a second generation Greek-American I especially enjoyed hearing stories about his Papou and Yaya and all his Greek experiences! I could listen to him talk about the Greeks for hours and I’m sure I would be in stitches laughing. Calypso has a little bit of everything and it’s good to hear some up-to-date material from Sedaris. Sedaris’s books always make me laugh.
“How were you supposed to change- in ways both big and small- when your family was always there to remind you of exactly the person you apparently signed an ironclad contract to be?”
I picked this book as my Book of the Month club selection and was excited to read another novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, as I really enjoyed Daisy Jones and the Six and I had seen other great reviews about Malibu Rising–initially. Malibu Rising was just okay to me – a quick beach read at best. For multi-generational family story, that was based around the Riva family of 6 – I found most of the characters lacking in depth other than Nina and Kit. Jenkins Reid captures the essence of Malibu and transports you to its beautiful sand, surf and people. I just wish overall, there had been a little more substance.
“Being drunk never changes a person, but it does grant their shadow selves free rein to step forward.”
Beautifully written while taking on tough subjects as forgiveness, transitions, trauma, abuse and racism. Michele Harper brings us into her world from rough beginnings into the world of emergency medicine. You don’t have to be a nurse, EMT, doctor or anyhow related to the medical profession to be able to relate to her stories. I read this book because it was the July book from my Literati book club as part of the Joy Collective which focuses on “books that explore our capacity to find hope, courage, and belonging.” This book certainly accomplishes all of that and so much more.
“Hadn’t the hummingbird been a kind of miracle? Hadn’t it diminished us not to see this as a miracle and protect it?”
I wanted to like this book more than I ended up once I finished. I have not read a lot of climate change fiction, but I think there must be others that are more riveting and keep you at the edge of your seat because the stakes are so high. I didn’t experience that with this book. The characters aren’t particularly likeable which may be why i didn’t feel as invested in what happened with them.
The climate change issues mentioned specifically are issues which we see and feel already today: extinctions of animal species, wildfires, pandemics… We can imagine these more because we are already living through them versus having the author paint a picture through his words of a post apocalyptic world. I found the writing to be very choppy which may be why when listening to the book it was difficult to follow at times and lacked a certain flow.
Zenodotus puts The People We Keep on the #Marleywoodlflmustreadlist
The People We Keep is a story about people and the the decisions we make and how they affect our world and the world of those we touch. Allison Larkin does a wonderful job in introducing us to April and her world – showing us who she is to her very core and the people she let’s into her life. We care deeply about April and what is going to happen to her. Larkin does an excellent job over putting as much thought into the other characters, Margo, Ethan,Carly, Robert and Justin. My son went to IC in Ithaca, New York and Larkin nailed her description of this beautiful town at the foot of one of the Finger Lakes and how the people who have spent any time there love it so and migrate back. Knowing this I felt a sense of familiarity reading the other places April encounters, despite having never visited those places. I loved and cared April and her world. Well-written and easy to read, Allison Larkin created great characters with such depth, that I was swept up in April’s life journey and taken back to the 90s.I highly recommend this book. 4.5 Stars!
“It’s funny about love’, Sophia said. ‘The more you love someone, the less he likes you back.’
‘That’s very true,’ Grandmother observed. ‘And so what do you do?’
‘You go on loving,’ said Sophia threateningly. ‘You love harder and harder.”
I really enjoyed this book and I can see myself picking up and rereading it again and again. The relationship between the grandmother and Sophia is priceless. This book is beautifully written and the descriptions of their island will transport you to their world and put you right next to them, smelling the salty air and seeing the amazing beauty which surrounds Sophia and her grandmother. Tove Jansson’s reflections about people, relationships, and connections to nature, are ageless. There is so many levels to this book – it’s a must-read. 5 stars!
I read this book as a recommendation from the Book of the Month club. The title sounded intriguing to me as I glanced over the selections of the month. I also enjoy and appreciate a good short story. A well written short story can pack a punch in just a few pages. Evans accomplishes this is a number of her short stories – my favorites being King Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain, Alcatraz and Why Won’t Women Just Say What They Want. The title story and novella, The Office of Historical Corrections, is an interesting premise but I found the characters to be somewhat predictable.
It’s been a very busy spring and start to the summer and admittedly my head has been in a book or listening to books. The more I listen to books, the more I want to read physical books, not just the ones on my Kindle. I like the feel of a hardback book on my lap, the feel of the pages as I turn them. Recently, I joined two book clubs that send you physical hardback books. I don’t live near a local bookstore – independent or otherwise, so I have found my recent membership into these two clubs to be helpful in introducing me to new books and authors.
Book of the Month Club was my obvious first choice, since I am very old-school. This was the club that my Mom was a member of way-back-when. I remember the box showing up as a little girl – like a gift in the mail! I thought it was the coolest thing, still do. My first book sent to me was The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. I wrote a review of the book in my post Reading & Listenings – May 2021.
The other book club I am a member of is Literati which I discovered through my Instagram. Literati has a number of different clubs within their website and the books are selected authors, celebrities and people of interest. I am currently in the Joy Collective hosted by Kelly McGonigal. The focus of this group is : ” Rousing page-turners steeped in the science of our human brain…The Joy Collective will help you to discover actionable strategies to bring more joy, compassion, and resilience into your life. Feel connected to something bigger than yourself with books that explore our capacity to find hope, courage, and belonging.”
So far I have read the June pick of Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. I was sucked into the story from the moment I opened the book. Kazuo Ishiguro is a beautiful writer who masterfully brings us right into the world of artificial intelligence with introducing us to Klara, the main character and narrator. Klara provides an interesting and unique perspective. The book touches upon many themes: relationships between humans and relationships humans have with technology; grief; social inequality, just to name a few. I highly recommend this to anyone – it’s a beautifully written book and has such an interesting perspective on what the future could bring.
What I like about the Literati Club which I think BOMC could do a better job is Literati makes you feel like you are part of a book club complete with discussions and questions to think about. Both have websites and apps but again Literati’s seems to be more engaging, particularly the ability to post a question to the group or make a remark. where as BOMC is simply more about selling the books as opposed to building a community discussion around the books.
The July pick for Literati’s Joy Collective which I have only just started yesterday The Beauty of Break by Michele Harper
Xine's Pack 