Currently Reading
The Green Mile by Stephen King #GreenMileAlong
I’m having fun with the #GreenMileAlong Readalong with Carrie at Care’s Books and Pie and Melissa at The Avid Reader’s Musings. Got ahead of the readalong schedule, between reading the ebook and listening to the audio (with a great narration by Frank Muller, who reads a lot of Stephen King’s books, I believe), so I took a short break and will be getting back to it today. It’s a loosey-goosey schedule, though (as King himself might say) so feel free to jump in anytime, if you want to!
Should We Stay or Should We Go by Lionel Shriver
Should We Stay or Should We Go (Harper, 2021) by Lionel Shriver is coming out in early June. I’ve just started it, but like so many of her books, it seems especially timely. She has explored the ideas of quality of life in old age and the cost-benefits of health care in other novels, but this one centers on a specific married couple as they approach their 80s and the suicide pact they made decades earlier.
From the author’s English publisher, Borough Press: “Lionel’s new novel is deliciously dark and inventive, and like her much-loved The Post-Birthday World it spins off into alternative plotlines depending on the protagonists’ decisions: Lionel is a master storyteller, and this is just as entertaining and visionary as we have come to expect.”
The Post-Birthday World is one of my favorites of the author’s previous novels, so I’m happy to see Should We Stay or Should We Go compared to it. She treads bravely into taboo subjects, and in this novel it seems to be at what point life in an extended period of decline to inevitable death ceases to be worth living or worth the toll it takes.
Lionel Shriver is probably best known in the U.S. for We Need to Talk About Kevin, but that was the book of hers I liked the least, although it was shockingly memorable.
12-Bottle Bar (Workman, 2014) by David Solmonson and Lesley Jacobs Solmonson
The United States of Cocktails by Brian Bartels
I also have a few review books I hope to get started on this week, and I’ll probably be dipping into my very own copy of Souls, a short story collection by Terri Bruce, which I reviewed on the blog here.
Recently Read
All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis
On my favorites list for 2021 for sure, I will be reviewing All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis soon. It just came out last week! If you want to check out some reviews in the meantime, here are some links:
Recently Listened To
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell was a fantastic audiobook, read by Ell Potter. Highly recommended!
“Of all the stories that argue and speculate about Shakespeare’s life… here is a novel … so gorgeously written that it transports you.” —The Boston Globe
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Listen to an excerpt from Such a Fun Age.
Along with Hamnet, Such a Fun Age (PRH Audio, 2020) by Kiley Reid, readd by Nicole Lewis, is going to end up on my Favorite Audiobooks of 2021, I’m sure.
Such a Fun Age received an Earphones Award from AudioFile Magazine. I had to wait a long time for the audio download from my library and I sped right through it when I finally got it.
This post is linked to “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?” hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. Check out the link-up party there for more book lists!
So many tempting books! I have had my eye on Hamnet and All the Children Are Home.
Enjoy your week, and thanks for visiting my blog.
I definitely recommend both! Thanks for visiting!
I’m looking forward to All The Children Are Home.
Have a nice week!
I loved Such a Fun Age, and I’m definitely adding the Shriver book to my TBR!
All the Children Are Home looks like a book I would enjoy… will keep an eye out for your review. Hamnet is already on my list, but think I’ll consider the audio route instead. Thanks.
We Need to Talk about Kevin sounded so difficult, I’ve avoided Shriver’s books. This one looks good though so I might give it a try. It sounds like a good companion to Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, nonfiction about end-of-life care.
I added Hamnet to my library wishlist a month or two ago but it has a really long waitlist. Everyone seems to love it!
Enjoy your week!
Shriver is a controversial author, but her novels are complex and thought-provoking.
A nice eclectic mix of books!
I think The Post-Birthday World is my favorite of her books, but the one that left the most impression on me was So Much for That.