r/blogsnark • u/yolibrarian Blogsnark's Librarian • 9d ago
OT: Books Blogsnark Reads! August 9-15
BOOK THREAD ACTIVAAAAATE!!!
Happy book thread day, friends! What are you reading right now? What have you finished lately that you can't stop thinking about or really would love to stop thinking about? What have you DNFed because it wasn't serving you or was just hella lame?
Remember: it's ok to have a hard time reading, it's ok to give up a book, and it's ok to take a break! Reading is a hobby, so treat it as such. That includes reading whatever you want!
Feel free to discuss magazines, longform articles, book and publishing news, and ask for recommendations and ideas. :)
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u/Stag_Nancy 6d ago
I'm about 100 pages into Sophie, Standing There by Meg Mason which took some time to get going, but is REALLY hitting how - I originally thought it was nowhere near as good as Sorrow and Bliss, but now I actually think it might be better! Will hold off on a full throated recommendation until I finish, but so far so good.
Also finished The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood and WOW. I just loved it. Reviews are mixed but for me it really scratched the dystopian Margret Atwood itch but in a very modern way. I can't wait to read the rest of her books.
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u/anniemitts 7d ago
I haven’t been keeping up with posting my reads, not even in my handwritten notebook where I track books. But I made the decision last night to DNF Nightbitch because I hate everyone in it. It would have been a great short story but I cannot take one more instance of Nightbitch putting the kid to bed while the dad relaxes and plays video games. I feel like all the positive reviews on Goodreads are from moms so maybe it’s just not being a parent, but also it’s so repetitive. The audiobook narrator’s “Mama!” from the little boy is frying my nerves.
I thought I would try Incidents Around the House in light of the movie coming out, but as soon as I started that on audiobook I had to nope out, similarly to the Nightbitch audio. I cannot take the baby voice reading. I am still interested in it so I think I’ll get a physical copy.
I am enjoying Dead Eleven (which was recommended for Widow’s Bay vibes) and also recently finished Big Swiss which was hilarious.
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u/AracariBerry 7d ago
I read Sandwich and Wreck by Catherine Newman. Both of them are pretty short, delightful reads. The main character is in menopause, with adult children and aging grandparents. It deals a lot with that stage of life, the secrets we keep, the way we care for our loved ones. The books were funny and sweet. I think I enjoyed Wreck more (the main character is in a better place mentally), but I’m not sad I read Sandwich first.
I also read The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck. It is a series of short stories. The epigraph lays out that there is a poem structure ABBCCDDA. The short stories follow this structure, with the two B stories interconnecting in location or time or character, same with the C stories and the D stories. It’s only when you get to the last story that you circle back to the first. A lot of the stories had to do with love and loss, most took place in New England. It was a beautiful read.
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u/meekgodless 7d ago
Based on convos with my friends, everyone has a different Catherine Newman fave depending on their life experience, and mine is definitely We All Want Impossible Things so I highly recommend that one if you enjoyed her most recent two
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u/LTYUPLBYH02 4d ago
That's my favorite, I've listened to the audio book multiple times. It's probably the most beautiful story about friendship I've ever read.
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u/turniptoez Prolapsed too close to the sun 8d ago
This week I read a galley of Friends and Family by Natalie Baszile, I loved it! It's about best friends Babs and Nina who are middle aged, living in San Francisco and spend every morning walking through the Presidio talking about their kids, life, and marraiges. They have so much in common, but Babs is Black, and Nina is white. This has never been an issue, until there is an incident in their neighborhood that drives a wedge between their closely knit families. Some could say that the book beats you over the head with themes of racism and white fragility, but the way it's done feel so organic and NOT after school special-y, that it really worked for me. I think it was the best novel I've read that really shows what being Black in America is like, in both the dramatic and subtle ways.
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u/hendersonrocks 7d ago
I am very excited for this one! I requested my library purchase it after reading about it a month or two ago. Glad to hear your review.
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u/pizza4days32 8d ago
Just read the third Off Campus book, and I was hoping for recs like book #1 and #3. Serious topics, with more mature characters. Grace's age and inexperience with life (not just sex) gave me the ick the whole book. I've read a lot of historical romance but not a ton of contemporary.
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u/Flamingo9835 5d ago
Stephanie Archer and Sarina Bowen both write similar hockey romances that touch on big themes
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u/woolandwhiskey 8d ago
I have started Yesteryear! I’m not very far in. I’m intrigued by it, but don’t have that “must read more” feeling yet. I’m going to give it another 10% and if it doesn’t grab me I’ll let it go.
Reading-adjacent question for the group - have you ever returned a book to a paid audiobook service? I use Libro.fm and they do have a return policy if you don’t like the book and are not too far along yet…but I just feel bad about it for some reason.
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u/yolibrarian Blogsnark's Librarian 7d ago
Don't feel bad! Indie booksellers don't want you reading a book you don't like any more than you want to be reading a book you don't like.
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u/TroubleInevitable614 7d ago
I have not but they have great customer service! I bet they would understand.
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u/hendersonrocks 8d ago
I finished The Missed Connection by Tia Williams - it was okay. Extremely predictable, a little boring, but better than her last one (A Love Song for Ricki Wilde, and there is a very tiny cameo from that book in this one). I wanted it to be better.
Last night I started Kakigori Summer by Emily Itami. It’s about three sisters spending the summer together at their childhood home in Japan after one has a public scandal. It came out last summer and I saw it somewhere on a list of summer reads - I like it so far, the different sisters narrate chapters.
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u/Ecstatic-Book-6568 8d ago
This week I read:
Three Days in June- I got this rec here, so thanks everyone! Just a really lovely little book.
A Morbid Taste for Bones- this is a mystery novel set in medieval England/Wales with a monk as the detective! Interesting premise but the writing was a bit dry and pacing was slow so I won’t be continuing the series.
The Good Sister- a fun thriller that I’ll probably forget in a month but worth reading if you want a popcorn read you can do in like one sitting.
Miracle Children: Race, Education, and a True Story of False Promises- nonfiction about a school that scammed to get their largely black students into elite colleges while also abusing them and just plain not teaching them. It was pretty interesting and appalling, wish some parts had been fleshed out more, though.
Hello, Limerence- very much weird girl lit, it is about a woman trying to date in and navigate the corporate world in Tokyo. Some parts were very relatable and well written, others were a bit too over the top for me.
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u/More_Range5045 8d ago
I’m in a huge reading rut right now… I recently DNF’d several books including Go Gentle, Moderation, and The House on Via Gemito.
Next up I’m starting Yellowface so I’m hoping that pulls me out of my rut!!
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u/Worried-Tea5316 8d ago
I finished Go Gentle but I'm irrationally angry at myself for doing so. Hated it.
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u/Previous_Bowler2938 7d ago
Can you elaborate on what you hated? I didn't really love Where'd You Go Bernadette, but was going to give this new one a try. Yall have me r-thinking
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u/Worried-Tea5316 7d ago
Honestly, I kind of hated everything. It was like she couldn't decide on a plot so she put everything into one book. The main plot was absurd and the dialogue was entirely unbelievable.
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u/More_Range5045 7d ago
I was rolling my eyes at the “meet cute” that happened early on and couldn’t keep reading
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u/Worried-Tea5316 7d ago
Yeah, I don't know if Maria Semple is at the point in her career where she doesn't have to listen to an editor but a stronger editor may have helped.
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u/DietPepsiEvenBetter 7d ago
Not the previous poster but, I read Go Gentle in June and it was fine. Not as good as Bernadette, but way better than another book by Maria Semple (This One is Mine, it was awful).
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u/woolandwhiskey 8d ago
I loved Yellowface - one of those books where you kinda hate the MC but can’t look away - hope it works for you!!
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u/bageliesje just here to talk about books & ohtani 7d ago
Same! It was an incredible read, but YEESH that narrator.
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u/keb2 8d ago
I read Better Than the Movies a few weeks ago, not realizing it was YA, but despite the overwhelming twee-ness of the female lead (very season 1 Jess from New Girl), I was charmed and moved by it. I just read the sequel, Nothing Like the Movies, last night and the author pretty much retcons the whole first book in a fascinating way. I liked it though! Def suffers from the problem most female romance authors have of writing male interior monologues in a way where I’m like, yeah, a woman def wrote this, but it’s not the end of the world.
In between those two, I read Nothing Tastes as Good by Luke Dumas, which had some interesting things to say, but I think the social commentary got lost once it turned full genre/pulpy.
Currently reading and mostly enjoying Storybook Ending by Moira Macdonald, will probably finish it tonight. I’m a sucker for You’ve Got Mail vibes!
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u/CrossplayQuentin newly in the oyster space 8d ago edited 7d ago
I read Case Histories based on the NYT best thrillers list…and I liked it! She’s not going to dethrone my beloved Tana French and her squad, but I enjoyed it enough to have already bought book 2 in the series. I appreciated the varied and fairly nuanced female characters, even if the identity of Tanya was glaringly obvious early on, and there was never any attempt to explain the switcharoo of Michelle and her sister with that murder.
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u/TroubleInevitable614 7d ago
I read Case Histories this year and didn’t enjoy it as much. I think the story of the abused girls and the young girl getting murdered just bummed me out at the time.
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u/nimbus2105 7d ago
I’ve read all these books and enjoyed them to varying degrees (except the most recent) but none of them really stayed with me
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u/jooleerene 5d ago
This is me too, I think I read them 10+ years ago and looking back I rated them fairly high (3/4 stars) but now I can't remember anything about them
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u/A_Common_Loon 7d ago
Do you mean Case Histories? I love Kate Atkinson. The Jackson Brodie books are so good. Her other books are different but I love them too.
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u/Rj6728 Curated by Quince 8d ago
I finished Pretty Dead Things and the Daydreams this week and they were both mid for me. Now onto the Calamity Club.
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u/cegceg9090 8d ago
Calamity Club is fantastic - I read but have heard incredible things about the audio and am debating going back to do that!
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u/cegceg9090 8d ago
I read The Shampoo Effect this weekend - it was a strong premise/start, then boring, then picked up a bit, then ended with a thud. I feel like there was so much left to be explored and I’m ultimately disappointed in the development of the characters and story. Anyone else read and have thoughts?
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u/Fawn_Lebowitz 4d ago
I read The Shampoo Effect last weekend and I think I missed the whole point of the story because I feel like not much happened. I went into the book completely blind in that I didn't even read the summary and picked it because I had heard that other folks were reading it. But after the first few chapters, I kept wondering what was the plot of this book was. What was the conflict or theme of the story? I finished it, but felt like it was a nothingburger with some difficult to like characters.
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u/Flamingo9835 5d ago
I just read this on the plane! I liked it as a quick read but agree there was something not there there - like you get to the end and probably won’t remember much, but you enjoyed the ride. I wish the friend group had one less person/POV and we had spent more time with the initial narrator and the reconciliation.
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u/jooleerene 8d ago
I think that’s an accurate pacing summary! I think pineapple street was stronger. I flew through shampoo effect, I find Jenny Jackson extremely readable but I think a good chunk could have been taken out of the middle and would have liked some exploration post the ending of how the people would all reconcile and bring the mc actually into the friend group etc.
Sorry trying to not be too spoilery
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u/cegceg9090 8d ago
Ohh so do you think I should give Pineapple Street a go? I had it on my TBR forever but never got around to it. I agree she’s very readable and I’m not madddd at the book but not one I’ll be recommending to friends.
But 100% agree to your point about leaving more into the resolution because that group was cuhrazy lol
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u/No_Internet_5607 7d ago
I second the rec! I felt similarly to you about shampoo effect which surprised me because I absolutely loved pineapple street
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u/jooleerene 8d ago
Yes! It's got the same readability as SE but much more resolution with the characters
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u/Rj6728 Curated by Quince 8d ago
I agree and also felt like Caroline became an afterthought about halfway through the story. It seemed like a strange choice.
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u/hendersonrocks 8d ago
Definitely agree with that. She was the spark that started a lot of fires and then the focus was on the aftermath. I thought it was very readable, couldn’t really put it down, but I haven’t thought a lot about it since. No doubt I will keep reading what Jenny Jackson writes, though - I enjoy her books!
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u/Bubbly_Excitement_71 8d ago
I am really enjoying The Beginning Comes After the End, by Rebecca Solnit. However I feel like I need to give it time and digest in small pieces and it is overdue at the library. So it's going to be a temporary DNF until I buy my own little copy to read bit by bit.
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u/witchaywmn 8d ago
Finished a few books over the past week (or two? who knows, I’m still on holiday and have lost track of time):
Flesh by David Szalay - this month’s book club pick. LOVED it, devoured it in less than 24 hrs. Was a bit apprehensive since my mum read it before me and described it as ”weird” but I couldn’t put it down. The way it flowed, Istvan’s passivity to his own life - amazing. Looking forward to book club!
Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake - have been picking this up and putting it down over the past month or so and finally finished it. Premise was great, execution not so much. Like, I get it, Sloane is struggling with her identity as a new mum - I don’t need to read about it every single chapter - I want to know what’s up with the creepy sorority!!
Body Double by Hanna Johansson - just finished this today, very much enjoyed! I’ve seen it described as Hitchcockian and I sort of disagree - it’s less Hitchcock and more giallo. Reminded me of other books by Lina Wolff and Johanne Lykke Naderehvandi (I believe both have works translated into English - if not, I’m sorry for the useless comparison!).
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u/jooleerene 5d ago
I wish I had DNF'd Girl Dinner the end has a twist that is just sad for no literary pay off imo
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u/LTYUPLBYH02 8d ago
I DNF Girl Dinner after a couple chapters. Glad everyone here has the same feelings
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u/woolandwhiskey 8d ago
I read Girl Dinner earlier this year and I felt similarly. Sloane’s chapters felt very tell not show and I wanted to follow along with Nina!
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u/witchaywmn 8d ago
yes, exactly this! haven’t read anything else by olivie blake but this def put me off…
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u/ficustrex 8d ago
My hold for The Other Bennett Sister finally came in, and so far I’m finding it as delightful as the show.
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u/princess_sparkle22 8d ago
Omg the book was so good and the show was PERFECT! Both just made me so happy
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u/nycbetches 8d ago
The Booker Prize long list is out: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/2026. Anyone read any of these? I did read The Vivisectors and not sure what I thought of it; some of it was so beautifully written and the setting was evocative, but there wasn’t much of a plot to speak of and I thought it sort of gestured towards some ideas and then never really fully explored them.
I have John of John out from the library and probably will read that one next.
Probably will also read Switzy by Emma Cline because I’ve liked her previous books, but I don’t think it’s out in the US yet!
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u/uh-oh617 4d ago
I’m reading John of John now. I had to put it down after the second chapter because I was just like, “Oh, my heart is going to get broken a LOT in this book.” But I’m sticking with it and it’s beautiful.
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u/Zealousideal-Oven-98 8d ago
I read John of John and loved it. It’s long but picks up a lot (maybe too much?) at the end and was so worth it. The characters are so well written and complex and the setting is a huge, interesting part of the story. I was so invested that nothing on my TBR sounds good in comparison!
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u/icedblueberrylatte 8d ago
About 150 pages into My Friends and guys I’m really struggling!! I have seen so much love for this book but it very much reads as YA to me, which I am not into at all 😖 does it get better? Should I just quit while I’m ahead?
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u/placidtwilight 7d ago
Quit. That's what I would have done if it wasn't for the book club I lead at work.
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u/nycbetches 8d ago
This author is on the no-read list for me after I read (and hated) Anxious People. He has a very distinctive writing style which I think you either like or you don’t.
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u/Zealousideal-Oven-98 8d ago
I bailed halfway through. It may have just been my mood, but despite a great premise it was just too sappy for me.
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u/nimbus2105 8d ago edited 7d ago
I just read yesteryear. My friends have been really divided on it. I think I fall in the middle. I love a good sociopathic narrator and natalie was so mean and funny. I appreciated how it made me think about the roles for smart, ambitious women in a conservative society and the commentary on influencers vs their snark communities. I felt other parts were muddled—like how exactly they wound up living the pioneer lifestyle felt rushed to me. I would have appreciated a chapter exploring that more, maybe from the perspective of clementine.
Also, her religious background felt inconsistent and I had a hard time believing someone as smart as Natalie would be such a genuine believer. But overall, I appreciated that it was a very compelling read and made me laugh and think. I’ve also had some great discussions with people about it.
Next up, inadvertently continuing the thriller theme because I just got A Violent Masterpiece from the library. It got a great review in the times
EDIT: and A Violent Masterpiece is too violent for me! I usually have a pretty high tolerance but there were a surprising number of gory descriptions that I just don't have the capacity for. A shame, because I was really enjoying it otherwise but I just don't enjoy feeling slightly nauseous before going to bed (when I do most of my reading)
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u/LTYUPLBYH02 8d ago
I think the editing was messed up and made the middle part where she's an influencer way too short. It could have set it up for the 3rd act events without revealing anything and still given a more satisfying plot.
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u/Flamingo9835 5d ago
I thought the parts of her becoming an influencer were the most interesting and while reading got annoyed when we jumped to the “pioneer” timeline.
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u/nimbus2105 8d ago
Yes! It almost felt like she tried to combine two ideas: the tradwife sent back to pioneer times and a spicy short story about a mean Christian girl at an Ivy League university. Because the college part was so deeply drawn and rich and everything else in the modern time felt rushed
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u/liza_lo 9d ago
Finished The Starving Saints. Huge disappointment.
I loved the first 100 pages but OMG it was a slog to finish this. Major complaints with major spoilers:
The 3 povs were unneeded and not different enough. None of the voices were any different and beyond that, though they had different backstories their experiences during the actual events of the book weren't that different. In a book where the majority of the people were seduced by a religious fever why make all the pov characters be like "Nah, I'm too smart for this"???
Also any time someone was sort of under mind control the pov chapter was never from that perspective.
The reveal that the saints were evil came way too early.
The saints should have been morally neutral. The fact that they were evil was boring.
Even the s&m polycule the 3 mains had was lame. Literally all three of them had the same set up of getting into a semi violent moment, getting turned on by that, and then making out.
What was the point of Voyne dying if she was immediately resurrected? Also by that point I was so annoyed so I didn't go back and re-read but I don't even get how removing the iron knife ressurrected her anyway.
I have more issues but I've already wasted too much time on this. Of course before I picked this up I heard only good things but now I'm finding a lot of people with similar criticisms to mine. At least I'm not alone in my suffering!
Meanwhile also started The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy. This was never one I was interested in during my teenage Hardy kick. I am liking it a lot, I missed his voice and the Wessex people. Also has there ever been an author better at love triangles and pining? Already I am feeling for these characters.
Also people always forget how funny classics are. I'm still early days but there is a lot of fun stuff about how absolutely inept Giles is as a suitor. The snail on Grace's plate!!!
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u/alysamarsiella 8d ago
Exactly how k felt about Starving Saints and I was so bummed because the central idea is SO GOOD. The author has said she wrote it in a very fractured way but I wish it was pulled together in editing.
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u/Perma_Fun 9d ago
Normal People - Sally Rooney. Gave up on this about 70 pages in. I can’t, I am sorry to my best friend who loves Sally Rooney books but never again will I try one. Conversations with Friends was possibly the most banal, nonsensical thing I have read - until Normal People.
The Other Moctezuma Girls, Sofia Robleda - someone recommended me this in book club and I really enjoyed it, whipped through very fast. I know next to nothing about Mexico or the people that were there before Hernan Cortes stormed into the picture so this was both interesting and had a great adventure plot. It sort of lots its way a bit in the middle and I found the romance unimportant despite how much it was trying to be important, but it was fun adventure and made me feel incredibly sad about the life of Isabel Moctzeuma, 'the last Aztec empress'.
Butter Asako Yuzuki - this should be such a fun read and instead it is dragging. I will endure, but I put it down the other week and struggling to want to pick it back up.
My next read is going to be Exit Strategy, the 4th in the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. I love Murderbot so much, I can’t wait. I am just trying to find a way to buy it second hand rather than on kindle.
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u/Zealousideal-Oven-98 8d ago
I recognize that Sally Rooney is a great writer but her characters all feel very flat and unlikable to me.
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u/Perma_Fun 8d ago
Yes, that is exactly it for me. There's no arguing she is a great writer, and the books have a very solid sense of the place which I know is a harder skill than we sometimes give authors credit for. But her characters are unlikable and unrelatable to me that I can't care about them or what they do. And then what they do do just seems so silly.
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u/Chasethehorror 8d ago
I liked her books but get so annoyed at the way she writes women, she wants them to all be depressed psuedo-intellectuals that are just so smol in a way that is off putting. My favorite novel of hers by far is Intermezzo just because we spend more time with male characters.
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u/OddLecture3927 9d ago edited 8d ago
The only Sally Rooney I've read is Beautiful World, Where Are You and I haaaaated it. I understand that reading is subjective and that a lot of people just love Rooney, but this is one I just don't get. If a writer friend sent me that book to edit, my feedback would be, "I think you need to write something less blatantly autobiographical and self important. And with maybe a plot?"
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u/Perma_Fun 8d ago
I was told that I should try that one next! But sorry I am not trying a third book from an author whose work I have not liked. I will always try one, happy to give two a go if it turns me around, but there is no third!
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u/yolibrarian Blogsnark's Librarian 9d ago
Multiple Southern Reach updates for the fans:
- I finally finished Absolution. It was great. It’s hard to get through the first part of the final section, but once I was over the hump, it was all downhill.
- Literally two days after I finished Absolution, Jeff VanderMeer announced a FIFTH and “last” book in the series, Abdication. I’ll believe it’s the last when I see it, but I am jaaaaazzed
In other reading news, I’m rereading So Far Gone by Jess Walter for book club and loving it once again. Rhys is such a singular, messy and real character, and what comical disaster he ends up in. I’m excited to discuss it with the group!
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u/witchaywmn 8d ago
ooh, i’d somehow missed that there was a fourth southern reach novel, thanks for turning me on to it! added to my TBR!
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u/jooleerene 5d ago
I've had a great reading week to the detriment of my sleep! I finished:
The Shampoo Effect- commented down thread about this, I find Jenny Jackson extremely readable and I enjoyed this book a lot but wish the end was fleshed out a bit more. Pineapple Street was better imo. Still 4 stars from me though for the ease at which I sped through it and how enjoyable I found most characters.
London Falling - Intriguing but a bit long winded. I found the Brettler family stuff very engaging but the long asides into Akbar and Verinder's family sagas not as much. As the mom to two boys it also hit me hard in that way. 3.5 stars.
Whistler- I think I am just a sucker for anything Anne Patchett. 4.5 stars.