LOVED Gentleman in Moscow. Loved. There are a couple of quotes that just stuck with me. One had to do with being in “reduced circumstances.” How once you have suffered reduced circumstances it is impossible to ever go back to that innocent place of always thinking you will be on top of the world and you deserve it. Rings true at my house.
@scout59 Yay! I’m glad someone read it. The second book is coming out soon.
If anyone is looking for a good recommendation… @ignatius recommended The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner a few pages back. I read the whole series this month and pre-ordered the new book. It is a great series and I second the recommendation.
I’m nearly done with “The Trespasser” and like it a lot, too.
I’ll jump in (Queen’s Thief series) when the audio version is released. Looks like Book 1 is being released mid-May of this year!
And, I just started The Dry, resulting in a very long walk for me & the dog!
I recently read for the first time The Handmaid’s Tale, because of a sign I saw at the Women’s March: “The Handmaid’s Tale is not an instruction manual.” I love near-future dystopian novels, and had I read it a year ago, it would have been a delicious indulgence. Now… But what a terrific and terrifying book. I thought of it last week when I saw in the news a picture of a group of men sitting around a table discussing women’s healthcare needs. I thought, “Looks like a meeting of the Commanders.”
Currently in the middle of A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell. Good reading, though I sometimes have a bit of trouble with the jumping-around-in-time bits.
Recently started All the Light We Cannot See on audiobook. Making a 5 hour drive tomorrow and a 5 hour return on Tuesday, so should definitely be able to finish it. So far I am really enjoying it.
I really enjoyed All the Light.
@jaylynn wrote: “I liked “The Dry” but honestly am not sure why all the press. It’s a deftly-written mystery, though not overly complex, with interesting peeks into what a killing drought in Australia is like.”
I agree, good story. I think what kept it from being a GREAT book, for me, is that I didn’t have that one or two favorite characters that hook you.
“Gentleman in Moscow” next in queue!
@jaylynn and @Midwest67 - I wanted to like “The Dry” more than I did. I thought the beginning and the middle were fairly strong (I liked the descriptions of the small town and the weather), but the ending, to me, was just meh. And I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the main characters.
I agree, I didn’t see what all the hubbub was about. I hate when that happens!
What to read next? I have three books on hold at the library, just waiting for someone to return something: “Zone One” (zombies), “Universal Harvester” (mayhem), and “Ill Will” (the new Dan Chaon).
@scout59, My reading twin!
I tried “Zone One” but it was too interior for me. Now that I loved Whitehead’s " The Underground Railroad", though I think I should try again.
“Universal Harvester”. I’m not going to say anything. You let me know when you’ve read it.
I’m waiting for “Ill Will” too!! lol.
Finished listening to All the Lightness We Cannot See. I really enjoyed it. Elegantly written and beautifully paced, it kept me engaged the entire time.
I was disappointed we never learned the fate of one of the main characters, but I suppose that happened in real life as well. Can’t imagine going through one’s entire life with no resolution whatsoever on the fate of someone so important in life.
I loved All the Light We Cannot See and read it twice… which character do we not 100% know the resolution? Are you talking about the father?
Loved All the Light We Cannot See. Really engaging.
All the Light We Cannot See
SPOILER
@bookmama22, I was being deliberately vague for anyone who might not yet have read it.
But yeah, the father.
Yes I realize after I posted that there could be some on this board who hadn’t read this book yet but there was a fairly extensive discussion on this book when it was published initially and then following the Pulitzer. As regards the character the resolution of the specific details of how/why/when are not really the central focus of the story
Well, that doesn’t really have anything to do with my personal disappointment about it. The book does reference the sincere attempts by M-L and Etienne to find out what happened to that character. I was sorry not to find out, though one could possibly make assumptions with the scant information they did discover.
Ok ok, you guys talked me into All the Light We Cannot See. (and I didn’t read the spoilers above) 
Okay, @jaylynn (my reading twin) – I just finished Universal Harvester. It was not the book I thought it was going to be, but I’m glad it was the book it was. Really glad.
I spent three years in Iowa (not far from Nevada), and I thought the author really nails small-town Iowa life (and the corn…I always thought the corn was pretty creepy.)
I was born and grew up in Iowa! I knew a lot of those towns, too. I’m going to need to message you. It was exactly that-- not what I thought it was going to be.
@LasMa, DON’T read this now, don’t even open it (spoilers from the first post), but you might want to go here after you’ve finished All the Light We Cannot See: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1716824-all-the-light-we-cannot-see-anyone-read-this-i-have-questions-p1.html
It’s a short thread from a couple years ago, but has some good questions and comments.