JUNE 2023 – What are you reading?

I’m about 120ish pages into Lonesome Dove!

I read The Pretty Delicious Cafe last year and really enjoyed it.

I’m currently reading The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian. This would be a good book for the Middle East in the Voyage challenge, if it’s not already on the list. It is set in Armenia during the Armenian genocide in the early days of WWI.

I’m currently reading The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins as well as The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

I’m currently reading Starsight – the 2nd book in Brandon Sanderson’s Skyward series. This is the first Sanderson I’ve read and I’m really enjoying it.

Just finished reading Have You Seen Luis Velez?

I would never have picked this book except for finding it on one of the book lists.  It was a wonderful book – well developed characters drawn together by a tragedy.

I’m reading Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo.  It’s my first book of his and I’m loving his style and character development.

I’m currently reading Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict. It came about because I was reading on my kindle in bed and finished the book I was reading. I hadn’t downloaded a new book from the library and then found this book on Kindle Unlimited. It wasn’t what I was planning to read right now, but I am really enjoying it

I’m almost finished with Famous in a Small Town by Viola Shipman.  I’m enjoying it but I also live in Michigan and I’m familiar with the area where the story takes place.  Makes me want to take my “up north” Michigan vacation now!

Next up is a the Spectacular by Fiona Davis.  My library hold just came in so need to pick that up!

I just finished We Heard It When We Were Young by Chuy Rentaria. It takes place in small town Iowa where Mexicans have immigrated and kind of made the town their own. They are the majority, yet there are still racist issues to deal with and cultural habits to overcome. This town is just 30 miles from my home.

It’s the last day of the month and I’m hoping to finish two books that I’m before the end of the night. One is In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner (about the Khmer Rouge genocide, seen through the eyes of a young girl – heartbreaking) and White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi. I’ve read several other books of hers and always enjoy her writing – this one is quite different. I guess it’s in the horror realm, kind of supernatural – not my typical genre at all but I chose it to fulfill a prompt from our library’s Summer Book Bingo challenge. It’s well-written as I’d expect, but I’m not loving it. I’ll be happy to finish and move on to something else.

I’m about 80% done with David Copperfield.  I’ve wanted to read it since reading Demon Copperhead in January.  I find myself trying to predict what is going to happen to each character based on what happened to the corresponding character in Demon.

I just finished First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.  Eleanor Roosevelt has always been one of my heroes – someone who suffered from shyness, anxiety, and poor self-esteem who challenged and faced everyone of her fears to become a world leader, respected by so many and making a world of change in a time of darkness and hate.

I knew Bethune-Cookman college here in FL had sought to train and educate African -Americans when they could not get a good education anywhere else. I had NO IDEA of how important and connected Mary McLeod Bethune was and how much a go=getter she was, nor anything at all about her relationship with Eleanor! This book was incredibly enlightening and as soon as I can I want to take a daytrip to Daytona Beach and visit the accomplishments of Dr. Bethune! This was a fabulous book highlighting two incredible women.

I am almost finished with Weyward by Emilia Hart, and I really like it.  I enjoy the that the books moves among 3 time periods.

I am also about halfway through Lucky Red, by Claudia Cravens.  It is a fast past book set just after the Civil War.  I can’t imagine how it will turn out.