What are you reading right now?

Reading the latest of the Gamache series and enjoying it as I have enjoyed the others. Each to his or her own. I needed a break from the Brit murder mysteries I have been reading. I love the setting of the Gamache series -so much like areas very near to where I grew up. I am also enjoying a Christian daily devotional called Change My Relationship: 365 Daily Devotions for Christians in Difficult Relationships by Karla Downing. Lots of good stuff, some similar to what we advise here.
I totally disregard what any celebrities recommend.

I read The Cloisters a Jenna Bush Hager recommendation. It was very good, the end will completely catch you by surprise! It was excellent, no agenda that i saw. Just a good story.

Yeah, I generally avoid the books recommended by celebrities, the celebrities seem to want to shove an agenda down our throats and the books almost never live up to the hype.

Just read Open House by Elizabeth Berg, an Oprah Book Club favorite. The main character is going through a divorce and I honestly found her to have no redeeming qualities. Way too dysfunctional and whiny for me, I’m surprised I finished it

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

It's inspired by David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. So far - halfway through - I'd call it Depressing Copperhead. But Oprah must have liked it because she chose it for her book club.

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro. She's excellent. I have gobbled up all her memoirs because I love memoirs, but this is also just excellent.

I'm reading a Louise Penny Inspector Gamache book (Bury Your Dead) and I have to say it's not going well. I've avoided the series because I remembered disliking one of the first books, but they keep being recommended and Penny herself has been lauded with honours so I searched for the earliest book in the series I could get from my library. I'm going to soldier on in the hope that this series will grow on me but I find it difficult to suspend my eye rolling disbelief in almost every aspect of this book.

Anyone thinking about "Code Name Blue Wren" to be released tomorrow? I am.

How interesting! I thought most of us just read new fiction, which I don’t usually go for. I’ve recently acquired Collins’ ‘Keepers of the Keys of Heaven – a History of the Papacy’, which covers every Pope/ Church Father to Benedict XVI. I looked up the first 300 years again to remind myself about Clement I, Origen and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite - there's a lot to remember in 2000 years! I got the book because I was particularly interested to check the Gnostics and the Arian Controversy (which are often referred to elsewhere), just a bit later in Church history, but I must admit that the very early stuff simply indicates to me that power struggles were alive and well almost immediately. The limited number of people who could read back then, were capable of arguing at enormous length about the unprovable, very little of which was actually referred to in the Bible. Pius IX kept that tradition alive at least to 1854 with the Immaculate Conception!

From Clement to Origen: The Social and Historical Context of the Church Fathers


The Beauty of the Unity and the Harmony of the Whole: The Concept of Theosis in the Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite


Making Senses Out of Scripture: Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did

Alva,

That sounds like an interesting read. Enjoy!

It is interesting to read different perspectives on life. Personally, I don’t wish to be a martyr when it comes to accepting pain. I have a low tolerance for pain. I don’t wish to hit my threshold and suffer needlessly.

I feel many people put off getting hospice for far too long, when they could be utilizing palliative or comfort care services sooner than they do.

The Pain Chronicles Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing and the Science of Suffering.
I am not enamored of the author's personal story of her OWN pain journey, but the history of pain is fascinating, and I find in reading this that it is interesting to look at your own pains, when they hit, and perhaps a "why" they do so. Recommend this one. Author is Melanie Thernstrom.

🥰 for forum members who are aspiring writers...

"If you don't see the book you want on the shelf, write it."

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. He was one of the good Roman emperors. He pretty much had life figured out.

Has anyone read, This Chair Rocks by Ashton Applewhite?

I just saw her being interviewed on a show that I was watching. She’s an interesting woman, an advocate for the aging population.

You can read about her on thischairrocks.com

The Brainwashing of My Dad is available as a documentary on YouTube, I've bookmarked it!
(I think it's worth mentioning that this was published in 2015)

Currently reading The Brainwashing of My Dad by Jen Senko, who also did a documentary film on this. It's about how her Dad got enmeshed in right wing political thinking (exposure to relentless right wing media) and how her Mom got him back to his normal self (cut back on the right wing media input). Easy to read and understand, with historical explanation of the goals of right wing media.

Juse finished "Motherland" by Elissa Altman. Hopefully most can count blessings if reading this book.

Good to know MJ. Thank you!

@Gershun, if you like big fat historical fiction, the members of the HF group I belong to on Facebook highly recommend anything by Edward Rutherfurd (yes, spelled with a U). His books are massive, but I haven't read any of them as I don't buy books and the library won't let me keep them long enough to finish.

Just finished Barbara Kingsolver's "Demon Copperhead," a modern-day (well, in the 1990s-2000s) telling of "David Copperfield" set in rural Virginia. It was excellent, but not exactly ubpbeat and cheery.

Lessons in Chemistry was another recent read and pretty good, too.

Just finished The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Set in Alaska with themes of the rugged wilderness, family dysfunction, mental illness, alcoholism, domestic violence, young love, small town neighbors, it’s a long lot of story. Great beginning and like so many books kind of goes on too long, but a good read overall. Supposedly is being made into a movie

There are a lot of so called children's books that are very good reading, The Secret Garden comes to mind, or Anne of Green Gables. When my mom got books from the CNIB library they were almost all young adult stories because she wanted no sex, no violence.

As a former English teacher, I am embarrassed to say that I am now always too exhausted to focus on a "serious" book. Instead, I am revisiting some children's books and just read again Because of Winn Dixie. I enjoyed the quirky characters and their stories, the rescued dog, and the gentle reminder that we need to look beyond the surface before we make judgements about people. I also recommend the movie based on the book.

I'm reading a real yawner right now. I might just hurl it when I'm done. It's called The Hideaway. I don't even remember the author's name offhand. I'll finish it though cause I have this thing where I have to finish a book even if it's a stinker.

CWillie. I read two of the Rabbit books. They were terrible. Wouldn't read anymore.

CW, Dorothy Parker was a wise woman and a great reviewer: "this book should not be cast aside lightly, but hurled with great force."

I never mind a true, juicy villain but Rabbit is just tiresome. Try the Flashman novels instead.

I started Rabbit, Run by John Updike last night and it was tough going so today I've been looking for a synopsis and reviews on line. I'm finding there are others that felt pretty much what I do - horrible person has a horrible life, and the synopsis tells me he learns nothing. And bonus! there are even sequels where the protagonist continues being a horrible, unlikable d**k, and he never does learn or grow into anything. I'm not sure I have the stomach to keep trying, this may be one of those books that I never finish.

Due to an overabundance of snow I could not get my recent choice home from the library! It has caused quite a stir down there in town as my choice is an inter- library loan and only available to me, the requester, for a short time. The snow is available in my driveway for an extended visit apparently!

So I hit my own bookshelves, looking for something I haven't read in some time. Decades ago for The Caine Mutiny, but it's just as good this time as last time. A classic! Has anyone read it, or watched the movie lately! I have the dvd waiting until after the book!
The book I requested, for those with inquiring minds, is Stone 588, a story about a miracle cure for almost anything in the form of a small stone! Couldn't we all wish to have that for real in our hands! God bless, and stay strong, Caregivers!

I finished the latest V.I. Warshawski novel by Sara Paretski last night....fitbit says I nodded off around 12:30 so not overly late!
The author writes a good story but I with the latest novels I really have trouble reconciling the flaws in her character's time lines. Wiki says Paretsky bumped V.I.'s birth date up to 1957 because she was aging out of her more athletic exploits, but IMO she's still too resilient for belief and many of her other mainstay characters - especially the dogs! - are much too hale and hearty for their supposed histories.