What are you reading in 2025?

[rosarugosa]

A little slow to post, but these were my January reads:
The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurty - I guess most are familiar with either the book or the movie. I thought it was just OK. A coming of age story set in a small western town.
Zone One by Colson Whitehead - my third and least favorite book by him and my least favorite zombie book. It was really slow going for a zombie book.
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane - his books are always great and I think this was one of his best. This was a novel set in South Boston during the busing fiasco of the seventies. It amazes me that this stuff happened so close to me during my lifetime, and it seems like another planet in another era. Lucky me.
Judgment by Joseph Finder - nothing special but a decent page-turner, which is what I've come to expect from Finder.
Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates - I found the first half of the book to be a bit of a slog, and I considered not finishing it. I'm glad I stuck with it because she is a good writer, and it got better as we got more into the serial killer part of the plot.
Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore - I really enjoyed this one! It was a fun, fast read with time-travel, which I happen to love. It had some substance to it, not just fluff, and I liked the way it was structured.

[pinkytoe]

Just finished Pearly Everlasting which I really enjoyed. Story of a girl and her orphan bear raised as siblings in an early 1900s Canadian logging camp. It would make a great movie.

[rosarugosa]

I got a lot of reading done in February!

• Artemis by Andy Weir - SF from the author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary. It was an OK read, but not as good as his other two.
• The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon - Just another serial killer book (yawn).
• Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall - I really liked this one, focused on themes of motherhood and the evolution of abortion rights.
• James by Percival Everett - Good, pretty quick read. It was kind of the Huck Finn adventure told from the viewpoint of the escaped slave Jim. I didn't love it as much as I expected, but it was definitely good.
• Breaking the Spell by Daniel Dennett (NF) - I only recently discovered Daniel, and then he died shortly afterward. He was a prominent atheist, one of the famed four along with Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens, and practically a neighbor from the state of Maine. The book had some decent substance to it, but it was a real slog and read like a textbook. I read it as a side-book, and probably started and finished 25 other books in the time it took me to read this one. It was an attempt to examine religion under the lens of scientific inquiry. I doubt it would sway any believers, and for people like myself, it was a case of preaching to the choir.
• The Last Flight by Julie Clark - an OK thriller type book.
• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (NF) - really great, true story about Louie Zamparini, WW2 POW and hero, and Olympian athlete.

[iris lilies]

Rosa, I recently skimmed a book about the Jane abortion provider network, but I don’t remember the title of it.

I already mentioned this in another thread because it was such a page turner: Last Call for Bud Light: the fall and future of America’s favorite beer.

The author was a perfect person to write this book because he worked at a high-level for Anheuser Bush and left a year before the big meltdown of Bud Light. It seems that so many sensible people have the same view of this fiasco, and it is that pairing with Dylan Mulvaney was not the smartest thing in the world, but Anheuser could’ve come out of that little problem if they had acted right by simply apologizing. But they kept doubling down and doubling down and doubling down again, revealing the inability of their foreign overlords to understand the American beer market and the Bud Light customer.

That was exactly my reaction, I wanted to see a head roll and an apology for the marketing head’s verbal insult. She should’ve been fired, not necessarily for a marketing campaign, but for her interview where she called her customers “fratty and out of touch.”

This book author wants to see Anheuser Busch purchased by an American and brought back into the fold of great American brands.

In the skin of a Jihadist by a French journalist who initiated an online relationship with a major figure in the terrorist network. She masqueraded as a young woman who would come to Syria and become his third wife. She strung him along for several months to get information for her story about how these terrorists recruit European young people. She had to be anonymous for the entire story and for the book due to retribution from French terrorist cells.

[KayLR]

Could not get through "Shelterwood." I was just slogging through it and I'm not always patient with the dual timeline storytelling. Maybe it takes a special skill, either writing or reading.

Now I'm devouring Anne Tyler's latest, "Three Days in June."

[Rogar]

I already mentioned this in another thread because it was such a page turner: Last Call for Bud Light: the fall and future of America’s favorite beer.

The author was a perfect person to write this book because he worked at a high-level for Anheuser Bush and left a year before the big meltdown of Bud Light. It seems that so many sensible people have the same view of this fiasco, and it is that pairing with Dylan Mulvaney was not the smartest thing in the world, but Anheuser could’ve come out of that little problem if they had acted right by simply apologizing. But they kept doubling down and doubling down and doubling down again, revealing the inability of their foreign overlords to understand the American beer market and the Bud Light customer.

This book author wants to see Anheuser Busch purchased by an American and brought back into the fold of great American brands.

I think it is interesting how the brewing industry has gone full circle on LBGQ/DEI things. As beer goes, so goes the nation?

https://teamsters856.org/uncategoriz...oycott-strike/

[happystuff]

Still haven't finished Les Miserables, but have started Jane Eyre. Enjoying it so far.

[iris lilies]

I think it is interesting how the brewing industry has gone full circle on LBGQ/DEI things. As beer goes, so goes the nation?

https://teamsters856.org/uncategoriz...oycott-strike/

That little bit of history of Teamsters and gay coalition is interesting. In my mind, Bud Lite’s partnership with trans persons could have worked if handled differently and if the brand manager hadn’t gone on record insulting her customers.

Budweiser products have been a sponsor at Pride parades for years, so alliance with the alphabet people isn’t new or foreign.

[Rogar]

Or, there are a lot of Bud drinkers who are homophobic and the far right made a big deal in the media over nothing important to enterprise on that.

I don't consider Bud a responsible organization and their loss of sales is not bringing any tears to my eyes.

I'm reading The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong. It was a best seller and up for awards a couple of year ago and traces the origins of the four major religions. It might sound a little boring, but it's quite readable without being too simplistic.

[nswef]

I just finished "The Women" by Krisitn Hannah for the 2nd time- once for myself and then this time for the book club (30 years and still going strong) I love how whe writes. Second reading (I had forgotten much of it- just my anger at the reality) was just as compelling as the first.