Currently Reading
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
“Three cheers for Curtis Sittenfeld and her astute, sharp and ebullient anthropological interest in the human condition.”—The New York Times Book Review
I received an advance copy of Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld and decided to read it in honor of Valentine’s Day this week. (As well as to try and keep up better with the books on my NetGalley shelf!) The setting is a live TV comedy show like Saturday Night Live, with Sally, a writer with the show, – whose whole life is the show, really – surprised by her reaction to the handsome, unexpectedly funny pop star singer, Noah, who is that week’s guest host and musical performer. I love it!
The Talking Drum by Lisa Braxton
“The Talking Drum, set in the early 1970’s, deftly weaves the stories of three young, struggling couples living near Petite Africa, a community of African and West Indian immigrants. Issues of gentrification, race, gender politics, and class inform this propulsive story, but at its heart, this is a novel about who you love and who becomes your home. A moving and skillful debut.” – Stephanie Powell Watts, author of No One Is Coming To Save Us
This is a sad, but unfortunately realistic story about redevelopment forcing out low-income and middle-income residents of their homes, neighborhoods, and livelihoods. Hope and optimism are still present in the story about three-quarters of the way along, but getting harder for the characters to maintain. A good book by a local author!
Recently Read
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt is an amazing book! If you’re interested in ideas, Akira Kurosowa films, foreign languages, ancient languages, math, science, and in questioning commonly held beliefs about learning, parenting, and education, you should definitely give this book a try. Especially if you don’t mind having to look up a lot of stuff as you read!
Currently Listening To
A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
“Robert Bathurst performs this 18th Inspector Gamache mystery with the assurance of one who knows the village of Three Pines and its (mostly) gentle residents well….[F]ans are in for a treat.” – AudioFile Magazine (Earphones Award Winner)
If you’re not a Louise Penny fan, don’t start with this one. If you are, then you’ve probably already read it. I’m enjoying it, but so far it’s not one of my favorites!
Recently Listened To
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
““The creature telling this story, a security unit tasked with protecting a planetary survey team, calls itself ‘Murderbot.’ It’s depressed and withdrawn, and Kevin R. Free performs the character perfectly, giving its voice languid tones and a slow-speaking pace but layered with an unsettling tension that hints at dangerous rage.” — AudioFile
I’ve been listening to a lot of AudioFile award winners lately! All Systems Red by Martha Wells is first in the Murderbot Diaries series and has been on my TBL list for several years. Not sure why I waited (they are short!) and wish I hadn’t. The next one is Artificial Condition.
Please let me know what you’re reading and/or listening to in the comments! In trying to fix the commenting issue, I messed up something else, and now no emails are being sent to blog subscribers. Sigh.
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!
Interested in the LAST SAMURAI and the rom com at the beginning of the post.
Hmm? The Murderbot books have been on my Kindle since 2020. I really should give them a try. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
I really enjoyed the recent Gamache TV adaptation 🙂
wow, so many good things here!
The Last Samourai is massive, but it sounds so much like my type of books, thanks, just added it to my TBR!!
I read World of Curiosities. So well written as usual, but honetly I would have DNFed it if it had been written by any author other than Louise Penny. The topic was so so tough.
Ah, I have been wanting t try Martha Wells for a while as well, thanks for mentioning the audio. On my way to add it as favorites on Hoopla – that’s my way to make there my list of TBL.
The Curtis Sittenfeld book sounds like it might just be very interesting. Will look for your thoughts.
The Talking Drum sounds excellent! I’ve been listening to the last few Louise Penny novels (I skipped from 1 to 15!) and enjoying them. I think I have this one in my audio files – I keep meaning to check. My husband and I really enjoyed the first season on the TV show Three Pines. All Systems Red sounds great, too!
I’m late this week, but I hope you enjoyed your books –
Sue
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