On My Nightstand May 28, 2023

It’s officially summer reading season! Here’s to hours spent reading in the sun! I can’t wait. Here’s my summer reading list if anyone is interested. Yes, I know I have high expectations for myself this summer!

Have a great week everyone.

Quote of the week

“
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche as quoted by Stacy Willingham in A Flicker In The Dark

What I’m Reading This Week

A Flicker In The Dark by Stacy Willingham - I’m one chapter in on this thriller and I think I figured out who did it. I can’t wait to keep reading to see if I’m right.

The Coal Tattoo by Silas House - I “discovered” Silas House this year, and I am so happy I have his whole backlist to go through.

Thunderstruck by Eric Larson - Having trouble getting into this one. Has anyone read it?

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This post is linked to The Sunday Post on Caffeinated Reviewer.

On My Nightstand May 14, 2023

The weather has been beautiful this week, and I’ve been doing so much reading on my porch. One day I lost my kindle, and it took me about an hour to find it. It was under a cat. Peak cat lady.

Have a great week everyone!

Quote of the week

“What was the use of building a legacy if the ones who deserved the fruit never lived long enough for the harvest?”

— Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

What I’m Reading This Week

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert I didn’t get to start this until the end of last week, so I’m still working on it. I really like it so far.

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley This is okay, but I want more. I’m about 3/4 of the way through.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samatha Shannon This might be the week when I finally finish this chunkster.

Note: links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

This post is linked to The Sunday Post on Caffeinated Reviewer.

On My Nightstand August 21

The view from my reading chair last weekend.

Now that the kids are going back to school I’m looking forward to getting back into a routine. I also want to get back to posting here. I love having this record of my reading life! (This isn’t a complaint about my kids. They’re great. It’s just we travel a lot when they’re out of school, and when we’re not traveling any sort of routine I would develop is blown out of the water by needing to drive them places. So any hour not spent with logistics is spent working.)

Last weekend was wonderful- I spent a good part of it in my reading chair on the back patio catching up with my books. I’m hoping to carry on that momentum this weekend!

Here’s what’s on my nightstand:

Lightfoot by Nicholas Jennings - I picked this up when I was in New Hampshire and have been reading it slowly because I need to keep stopping to listen to the music referenced. I’m really enjoying this one.

A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth by Samantha Weinberg - I picked this up as part of the #ReadingAfrica challenge. It looks super nerdy and I’m looking forward to it.

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield - This is part of a buddy read on Litsy. It’s a bit odd and I’m still waiting for something to happen.

All The President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward - This is my current audiobook. I started this to get all the dirt on Nixon, but I’m staying for the fascinating working relationship between Woodward and Bernstein.

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This post is linked to The Sunday Post on Caffeinated Reviewer.

Show Us Your Books February 2022

This year I finally gave in to reading glasses.

Given that I had two week reading slump in January it is amazing to me that I read so many great books. Like really good, cry all night, book of the year type books.

I started logging my books in Storygraph this year. I don’t log everything it wants me to- that would become a job. I’m enjoying it even though I still prefer my good old fashioned handwritten book journal and spreadsheet for logging, and Litsy for sharing reviews. My favorite thing about Storygraph so far is how it assigns moods to each book and I am clearly a emotional and reflective reader.

Five Stars

The Storyteller by Dave Grohl -- I would have never listened to this if so many people on Litsy hadn‘t said how excellent it is. And I agree! This has got to be one of the best audiobooks I‘ve ever listened to. You can really hear the emotions in Grohl‘s voice as he talks. I loved too that he grew up not too far from where I live.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles -- I bailed on this one years ago because it doesn‘t have quotation marks, but a book club brought it to me again. I‘m so glad because it was a beautiful book. This is just a pleasant story, and I’ve heard the movie does it justice. A hug of a book. It made me feel good.

Four Stars

Transcendent Kingdon by Yaa Gyasi -- A lot has been said about this book so I won‘t add my clumsy synopsis, but I will say that I really loved it. I put off reading it for so long because I didn‘t think it would hold up to Homegoing. It was different but still just as heart wrenching in all the best ways.

The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook -- This was another one from the bottom of my TBR list, and it was a good read. It takes place in Germany just after WWII, and is understandably grim. It was very interesting though to examine each person‘s reactions to the terrible conditions and to imagine how I would have fared. A good book to read on a cold, dark January day.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte -- What a wild ride! Not a boring classic!

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman -- Great poetry collection. This almost read like a time capsule from the last two years.

Three Stars

The Quiet Zone by Stephen Kurczy -- I have traveled through this area several times, and was interested in learning about it. This book wasn‘t what I thought, but it was interesting enough to listen to on a long drive.

The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly -- I picked this book based on the cover alone, and I‘m happy to say it worked out! It was told in three timelines but all centered around one English garden. It‘s so super cold here lately. I enjoyed reading about a garden in bloom.

The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty -- This one was a bit slow in the middle but wow, what an ending.

This post is linked to Show Us Your Books and Quick Lit.

Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

December Show Us Your Books

My cat can be slightly distracting…

November was a good reading month. I took part in Non-fiction November on Litsy, and really enjoyed myself. I also started in on my project to re-read my favorite books of the last decade.

These are my notable books from November. Check back on December 27th for a round up of my favorite books of the year!

Best of the Month

It’s All Relative by A.J. Jacobs - I grabbed this book on a whim from the Libby app, and ended up loving it. Author A.J. Jacobs falls down the rabbit hole of genealogy and ends up trying to plan a family reunion for everyone he’s related to which turns out to be pretty much everyone on earth. Funny, interesting, and touching- a great audiobook read by the author.

Non-Fiction Audiobooks That Kept Me Company While Raking Leaves and Baking Pies

Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen - I started reading this book because of my current obsession with Andrew Johnson, and ended up really enjoying the whole thing. Presidential psychology is one of my favorite things to read about, and it turns out Vice Presidential psychology is just as interesting. There’s also a lot in here about how hard it is to go from a position that is essentially considered a show piece to running a whole country (and you thought you had a bad day at work.)

Me by Elton John - This had everything you’d want in a celebrity autobiography: gossip, name dropping, outlandish outfits, descriptions of how famous songs came to be, and a few touching moments. I love that Eton John doesn’t take himself too seriously.

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel - Listening to this I kept thinking about how my college trip to the Louvre was wasted on my 21 year old self. I had no idea what those precious works of art had to go through to hang in that museum.

Project Re-Read

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman and Brooklyn by Colm Toibin are both still the punches in the gut I remember them to be. They’ll both stay on my favorites list.

And A Few More Current Reads That I Liked A Lot

I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones - Two girls from different backgrounds are forced together when a race riot breaks out at their high school football game. Similar to, but not as good as The Hate U Give; it’s still well worth the read.

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Homes - I loved Linda Holmes in her Television Without Pity days, and was really excited to read her debut novel. This was a solid story about Evvie and her journey after her husband who she didn’t like very much died. I listened to the audio which was well done.

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See - Lisa See is a go to author for me, and this was no exception. If you enjoy books about friendships between women read this book.

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April 2017 Audiobooks

Spring is here, and I'm spending a lot of time listening to audiobooks while I walk under flowering trees. I'm enjoying it as much as I can before summer starts, and I need to stay inside near my air conditioner! I live in DC, so probably about another two weeks.

I found Z for Zachariah in the kid's section of my library, but it freaked me the heck out, and I'm glad I didn't try to listen to it with my kids. It's an end of the world novel about a girl living alone on a farm after a nuclear war - until a man finds her.

I finished The Nature of the Beast, and am sad to say I only have one book left in the series until the new one comes out in August. I liked this one as much as I have liked the last few. That is to say, a lot. Plus there's physics! Yay physics!  Can anyone recommend a similar detective series that is good on audio?

I've also been busy reviewing books for The Armchair Audies.

Here are my review so far:

In Harm's Way

Paul McCartney

A Time to Die

Reviews for the last two in the category will be coming this month, and then I'll announce who I think should be the winner in the category.

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REVIEW: Paul McCartney: The Life by Philip Norman

This is my second review for The Armchair Audies.

This biography of Paul McCartney starts like a lot of biographies of stars starts - with a forward detailing the author's relationship to a star and his or her work. And so I will start this review. Like most liberal arts students I went through a Sergeant Pepper phase in college, but when I think of Paul McCartney I think of my Dad's music more than mine. That may have clouded my ability to listen to 30 hours and 44 minutes of the details of Paul's life on audiobook.

I enjoyed the history of the Beatles, and a more R rated view of their time in Hamburg that Malcolm Gladwell made famous in Outliers. I also really liked learning the backgrounds behind their songs. Fans had a tendency to make all of the songs about drugs. In many cases they were right (Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds), but they were also wrong sometimes (Fixing a Hole was about DIY, not heroin.)

But then things start to drag. The breakup, tax troubles, Yoko troubles, and drug use seem to go on forever. Many parts are repetitive as well. We must have heard about the meatloaf Linda McCartney used to make before she became an animal rights activist five times. By the end I was repeatedly checking the counter to see how much more I had to go.

I did love the narrator for this audio book. The accent was perfect. It sounded like someone who could have grown up in Liverpool with Paul.

I'd recommend this book if you're a super fan, but otherwise skip it.