Currently Reading
Lake Success (Random House, 2018) by Gary Shteyngart
Lake Success (Random House, 2018) by Gary Shteyngart was a recent birthday gift from my husband, so I started it right away and let all my library loans expire! 😉
The narrator of the novel is a man who has had a run of bad luck but has also royally screwed up. The combination makes him cast off his old life and go on a road trip trying to get back to a time when he was happy. He’s not a likeable character, but I guess he is sympathetic because I do feel sorry for him and am hoping he can sort himself out.
Cloud Cuckoo Land (Scribner, Sept. 2021) by Anthony Doerr
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr is definitely going to be one of my top favorite books of the year, so I bought my own copy when I was about a third or half of the way through it and returned the library copy I had. Coming close to the end over the weekend, I finally realized I had accidentally skipped over a chunk in the middle and needed to go back. The book is divided into several story and time lines, so while I had noticed events had skipped forward, I didn’t realize that it wasn’t written that way.
So I have more of this great book left than I thought. Which is a good thing!
Temporarily Not Reading
When Things Get Dark (Titan, 2021) edited by Ellen Datlow
My ebook loan from the library expired before I could finish this collection of short stories, so I’m waiting for it to come back around again. I hope I’ll reach the top of the holds list before next October!
Currently Listening To
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
Recently Listened To
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles is definitely a favorite audiobook of 2021! All of the narrators – Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland & Dion Graham – are so good.
More on this next week, as I absolutely cannot let the library loan expire before I finish. It’s almost 17 hours long!
We Are the Brennans (Macmillan Audio, 2021) by Tracey Lange
An Irish family in New York keeping dark secrets from each other and dealing with the consequences. The audiobook narration by a new-to-me narrator, Barrie Kreinik, was excellent!
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!
Ed. notes — For custom Twitter text at publication or scheduling time: It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? 0-0-21 #IMWAYR @theBookDate REMEMBER to change the URL slug and post title before publishing!
I really really need to start listening to Lincoln Highway. Everyone is raving about it.
It is SO good!
I’m interested to hear that you didn’t find the main character in Lake Success very likeable, because that’s how I felt about all the characters in his latest, Our Country Friends (review Nov. 12).
We Are the Brennans looks good to me! Thanks for sharing.
I’ll check out your review! I’ve only read one other book by him so far, I’m pretty sure — Super Sad True Love Story.
Nice looking assortment of books. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
What a nice mix! I like short stories sometimes so I’m curious about that one…
Might be a duplicate comment- I’ve been having trouble leaving comments on some blogs- but the short story collection sounds fun!
I need to get to Cloud Cuckoo Land.
[…] wrote about Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr in my last “It’s Monday” post and said it would definitely be in my top ten favorite books of 2021. Having finished it, it is now […]