Another week gone by without a lot of reading, but I finished a very long book that’s been in my “Currently Reading” list for a very long time. I feel like I’m just getting started on the Big Book Summer Challenge, and here we are, already in mid-July.
If you’d like, please let me know what you’re reading in the comments; share a link to your book blog if you have one; or just say whatever you want! (If you can’t see comment section, try clicking/tapping on the title of this post to open it in full.) I’ll try to do better with my own blog visiting this week.
Currently Reading
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
I’m taking a brief break from big books by going back to Western Lane by Chetna Maroo, a first novel (or novella, at 150 pages) that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
I never posted my book haul from Christmas, but one gift was a 3-month subscription to Green Apple Books’ Apple-a-Month Club. Thank you, Molly!
The first book was Western Lane, a coming of age story, which is a genre I like, about daughters in an Indian family living in England where we traveled in January. And it’s so fun to receive a surprise book in the mail once a month!
I started it back in the winter, but during a month of being sick and feeling poorly, so I’m looking forward to restarting it today, while I’m in between books and suffering a mild book hangover after finishing a satisfyingly addictive doorstopper – The Book of Love – last night.
Recently Read
The Book of Love by Kelly Link
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In the long-awaited first novel from short story virtuoso and Pulitzer Prize finalist Kelly Link, three teenagers become pawns in a supernatural power struggle. “A dreamlike, profoundly beautiful novel [that] pushes our understanding of what a fantasy novel can be.”—Amal El-Mohtar, The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)
I started The Book of Love by Kelly Link before summer started, but at 600+ pages, it’s got to count towards Big Book Summer, so I’m adding it retroactively to my 2024 BBS List.
The Book of Love is hard to describe, because if you say “fantasy,” people immediately seem to think elves and hobbits. If you liked The Magicians by Lev Grossman, The Shades of Magic trilogy by V.E. Schwab, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, or maybe even The Chalk Artist by Allegra Goodman, you might like this one. The author received a MacArthur genius award to write this book. She put the money to good use!
I happened to be at lunch over the weekend with three medical professionals of various types, and they were saying how people in social situations were always asking them to look at their teeth, eyes, rash, etc. I said, as a librarian, I just get asked a lot whether I’ve read this or that book. Not as intrusive a question, and perfectly acceptable in a social situation! But unfortunately, I usually have to say no, and scramble to think of something to say about the book/author so the conversation doesn’t just end there. Why haven’t more people I run into read The Book of Love yet? I guess that’s what book blogs are for. 😉
Recently Listened To
Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
“Zura Johnson’s smooth voice and careful, meticulous pacing build suspense as a small space crew investigates an abandoned planet while struggling to hold on to their sanity. Isolation in space has brutal, sometimes murderous, consequences, and psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray will do anything to help her crew.” — AudioFile
I thought Ghost Station was recommended by Sue at Book by Book, but she says no, so I think I must have seen it on Kathy’s Inside of a Dog book blog, instead!
Ghost Station is science-fiction horror, from a woman’s perspective, that weaves fallout from childhood trauma and cold sleep-induced trauma into storylines involving deep-space travel and commercial greed. The story may be set years in the future, but commercial greed hasn’t changed! Narration by Zura Johnson is excellent!
I thought this audiobook would count towards the Big Book Summer reading challenge, at just under 15 hours long, but the book itself is only 384 pages long, so just shy of the 400+ mark needed. Close enough to count???
Currently Listening To
A Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris
This post is linked up to It’s Monday, What Are You Reading, hosted by Katherine of The Book Date. A place to meet up and share what you’ve been and are currently reading each week! Visit the link-up for more books to your groaning TBR pile.
Sorry, not me either. Ghost Station does sound good, but I haven’t read it. I don’t take part in the Big Books of Summer except inadvertently. My last review book weighed in at 563 pages. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
I’m reading a collection of eassays on art, travel, and other topics. Dancing on My Own by Simon Wu, published June 2024. Quite interesting.
I have also started and stopped several novels, thinking that I’ll move on when I got bored with them.
Feel Free was my introduction to Zadie Smith. I fell instantly in love with her writing. Thanks also for the heads up about Western Lane. I’ll be listening to it while I’m sewing this week.
So far I’ve finished three books for the Big Book Summer read, but I keep forgetting to update my progress.
I keep meaning to do a challenge update post for all my challenges and never do it. I hope you like Western Lane. It should be good on audio.
Sometimes I have to go to a completely different type of book if I’ve read or listened to too many of the same in a row. Mostly I mix things up, but I’m thinking of starting Lev Grossman’s new one, which is about King Arthur, either along with or soon after I finish The Once and Future King by T.H. White (also about King Arthur). I imagine they’ll be pretty different in tone, even if they’re on the same subject!