It’s been a long time since I last posted an “It’s Monday” update. Or since I last posted anything at all, really. I still remembered the password to get into my blog, though!
Currently Reading
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart
“A perfect novel for these times and all times, the single textual artifact from the pandemic era I would place in a time capsule as a representation of all that is good and true and beautiful about literature.”— Molly Young, The New York Times
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart was a Christmas gift, and I’m enjoying reading it in the mornings. It’s set in 2020 and is about a group old friends weathering the pandemic together in the host’s bungalow colony in upstate New York. It’s funny, but also makes you think.
Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris
Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris is my book club book for Wednesday. Gulp! I’ve barely started it!
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Egan’s brand-new novel, The Candy House, is amazing! One of my top ten books of the year, for sure. It revisits characters from A Visit from the Goon Squad, which I listened to on audio way back when (2010? Really?) and am rereading as an ebook now.
Recently Read
Our Little World by Karen Winn
Our Little World by Karen Winn is coming out May 3rd. I received an advance reading copy through NetGalley. Our Little World didn’t wow me, but it did Sally Hepworth:
“Wow, wow, wow! I was utterly transported by this intriguing novel. Set against a colorful 80s backdrop, this coming-of-age story will have you flying through the pages as it explores that most complicated of all relationships, sisterhood. Several times I had to remind myself to breathe! With tragedy, secrets and twists and turns, this book will have you captivated from the first page.”
—Sally Hepworth, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Sister
Recently Listened To
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
One of NPR’s Best Books of 2021
One of Buzzfeed’s Best Romances of 2021
A Cosmopolitan Best Romance of 2021
A LibraryReads Pick!
One of CNN and PopSugar’s Best Books of January
This one wasn’t as funny as I had hoped it would be. It could be I’m just too old for it.
Currently Listening To
How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
“How High We Go in the Dark is a book of sorrow for the destruction we’re bringing on ourselves. Yet the novel reminds us there’s still hope in human connections.” — The New York Times
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu came out in January, so I’m late getting to my audiobook from NetGalley. If you can stand a novel of interconnected stories from different people’s perspectives about a future plague that decimates the world’s populations, this is a good one.
Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light: Essays by Helen Ellis
Funny! Needs to be listened to privately or with headphones/earbuds, due to Ellis’s potentially embarrassing remarks on the indignities of menopause, speculation about the sex lives of couples in her social circle, and her completely unfiltered conversations with her girlfriends, etc.
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!
i’m reading miriam margolyes memoir and a crime novel by Katrine Engberg.
I don’t fare well with a lot of prize-winning books but I do tend to like winners of the Pulitzer Prize. I thought A Visit from the Goon Squad was one of the books that has been languishing on my TBR for a decade but I don’t see that it’s actually on there. Thanks for the reminder to add it.
Enjoy your week!
Bring Your Baggage… does sound like fun and shocking! I read Sold on a Monday when it came out. Great to see you back on the blog. Only a short pause really in the scale of things. Take care.
I was disappointed in the Gary Shteyngart book, haven’t read the others you are reading. That’s quite a huge list!
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Oooh, so many good books for you! I SO want to read A Visit from the Goon Squad, especially now that she has a new release out – I am way behind.
I also have How High We Go in the Dark on audio, and from reviews, it seems it is either brilliant or depressing (or maybe both?). I should finally give it a try and see for myself – maybe that will be my next audio.
I’m late with my “Monday” visits (it’s Sunday night!) but I hope you enjoyed your books this week!
Sue
Book By Book
[…] so I finished it this week! I wrote a little bit about this tragicomic novel by the author in a previous “It’s Monday” post, but now that I’ve come to the end, I’ve given it 4 (out of 5) stars on LibraryThing, […]
I went back and read A Visit from the Goon Squad! I had listened to it on audio before, and thought it was great that way, too.