I was so pleased with your response last week that I decided What-are-you-reading Wednesday? should be a regular thing. Of course, I knew that the wider Jackson community is full of sophisticates, but I had no idea you maintained the impressive intellect during a pandemic! Here's a list of what Jackson was reading last week, in case you didn't keep up to date with the comments:
- Game of Thrones series
- Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. Available via Overdrive.
- The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
- Jane Austen novels
- Jinxed by Amy McCulloch "It’s a fast-paced adventure story, set sometime in the future, about a time when smartphones have been replaced by customized “pets” that have advanced technology capabilities. But of course, all is not as it seems and I am ready for an exciting ride!"
- These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore "A truly informative historical perspective from 1492 to the present published in 2018. The author is a professor of American history at Harvard.
- Presidents of War by Michael Beschloss. We have the audio to download. "It provides the reader with an understanding of what leadership is 'both physically and emotionally'. A timely read at a time of social, economic, and political angst."
- Robin by Dave Itzkoff. We have the audio to download.
- The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica.
- The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.
Thank you to everyone who responded. I really enjoyed reading your mini-reviews. I hope you'll update us this week.
I am listening to Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore on audio this week and really
enjoying it. The titular young woman jumps to a different age every year on her birthday so, during her first jump, he age on the inside is 19, but on the outside it's 51. For each jump, she has left herself a letter. A plot like this could easily turn gimmicky, but it avoids that unwinding something like a mystery. She's trying to figure out why certain things have happened despite the direction they were going when she had left them. I don't find it forced at all. There are a few questions about her experience that I have not unraveled, how does she know the incoming Oona is younger or older when she writes her letter? The usual pitfalls of time travel, I suppose. It's perfectly diverting for a hot spring afternoon.
I seem to have returned to my usual antsyness about having trouble sitting still to read a paper book so we've been focused on audios so I can knit or cook or clean while listening. Wendell and I are also really enjoying the third book in the York Series by Laura Ruby. We only have the first book in the Library. It didn't circulate enough to justify buying the second or third, but I really recommend both. They are fun and exciting. Wendell just turned eight and a few scenes are scary, but he gets through them ok.
Lotte turns 10 on June 10. She is allowed to read one new Harry Potter per year so over the weekend she re-read The Goblet of Fire and The Prisoner of Azkaban - in one day a piece! Things really get real in The Order of the Phoenix, but I think she's up to it. Those stories just never get old, do they?
That's what we are up to. What are you reading, Wednesday? Tell us in the comments!
I have promised to loan the book “Robin” to a friend for her and husband to read, but after they are done with it, I’ll be happy to donate to the library. Just starting to read “Bluebird Bluebird” by Attica Locke. A mystery, set in Texas. Will let you know . . .
This week I am enjoying a brand new book, Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park, a juvenile fiction title for upper elementary kids. It is a beautifully written story (Park is a stellar author) that takes place in the Dakota Territory during the 1880s. Hanna has just moved to the developing town of LaForge with her white father, where he plans to set up his own store. Hanna, however, is half-Chinese and is not welcomed by all the current residents, especially when she begins to attend the local school. This book is a winner and delves into a piece of US history we don’t always learn much about.
In a book swap among participants from my local book group, I just received a copy of the wonderful novel Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. Looking forward to revisiting this story! Thinking also, with affection, of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency as a humorous refuge from these times, even though it is also set in the difficult reality of the AIDS epidemic (backdrop only, not at the foreground of events).
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari has me solidly in its grip. I won’t even try to describe where this wide-ranging story of us goes. Read it. You won’t be disappointed. By the way, I recommended it to my brother who is a truck driver. He says the audio version is very well done.