Currently reading: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine đź“š

Currently reading: Bonita Avenue by Peter Buwalda 📚thanks to @ton for the recommendation at a Reader’s Republic meetup.

Finished reading: Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki đź“šI loved this novel. Sorta SciFi, sorta Fantasy, but all great. A fun summer read with plenty of characters who are uncommon stars.

Finished reading: A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan Book 2) by Arkady Martine 📚Fantastic world building but somehow it just doesn’t all hang together with a bit too much Deus ex Machina. However, it’s good enough that I want to read the first in the series, A Memory Called Empire, which garnered so much praise.

Currently reading: Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki đź“š

Finished reading: Whirlybird Island by Ernest Hebert đź“šWorth reading for Hebert fans, which I am.

Finished reading: Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World: Essays by Barry Lopez đź“šA beautiful book with a useful perspective on nature and living a good life. It saddens me to know that his home burned in a wildfire. Remembering Barry Lopez, McKenzie River and Finn Rock resident

Currently reading: A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan Book 2) by Arkady Martine đź“šI haven’t read the first one A Memory Called Empire but so far it seems fine to begin with Book 2. Book 1 has been hard to get from my Library.

Finished reading: The Story of a New Name (Neapolitan Novels Book 2) by Elena Ferrante đź“šoh my, these novels are SO GOOD. They are searing and painful and contain topics I hate (abuse, misogyny) but the world is so real and the characters so well drawn. I am in awe of the writing.

Currently reading: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante đź“š

Currently reading: Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World: Essays by Barry Lopez đź“š

Currently reading: Whirlybird Island by Ernest Hebert đź“š

Finished reading: Himalayan Dhaba by Craig Joseph Danner 📚Not recommended unless you’re one of those people who love it when emergency room doctors start telling graphic stories.

Finished reading: Learning from the Germans by Susan Neiman 📚Quite a good book about what Germany has done to “work off” its Nazi crimes, and what the US could do to work off its slavery crimes.

Finished reading: Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller đź“ša useful marketing book. So many in this genre are useless.

Finished reading: Frankie’s Place by Jim Sterba đź“šI liked this more than I expected. Well-off white people enjoying their boring summers in Maine in the 1990s. With recipes.

Finished reading: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir đź“šAnother one of those novels that is full of “and then this happened and then that happened.” I keep reading them through to the end but I don’t love them.

Finished reading: Because Our Fathers Lied by Craig McNamara đź“šA book with personal resonance for me, as it has to do with growing up in Washington, DC with a parent in the federal government who is not always truthful.

Currently reading: Frankie’s Place by Jim Sterba đź“š

Currently reading: Because Our Fathers Lied by Craig McNamara đź“š

Currently reading: Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller đź“š

Sort of finished reading: Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers 📚ended up skimming through to the end. No likeable characters and I couldn’t see the value in further study of their flaws.

Currently reading: Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers đź“š

Currently reading: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir đź“š

Finished reading: The Book of Form and Emptiness: A Novel by Ruth Ozeki đź“šnot as good as I had hoped. Given its weighty topics, I wanted a deeper treatment.