Loved The Rosie Project and its sequel The Rosie Effect. There is a third book that came out in April—The Rosie Result. I just ordered it from my local bookstore.
Oh, I didn’t know there was a third Rosie book! Thanks, Bromfield.2
If you want to read something silly, but ultimately kind of sweet. I actually can recommend Earth Fathers are Weird. Warning there is sex. Alien, gay, tentacled sex. But it’s really about family and friendship and only marginally about the sex.
I’m listening to The Rosie Project and loving it so far… 
“Gravity is the thing”, one of the Moriarty sisters, is a lovely audio book. I am a complete sap.
I recommend two lovely memoirs. Manhattan When I was Young and a follow-up, Speaking With Strangers. Short, poignant, funny, sad… memoirs by Mary Cantwell, who describes her life in NYC in the 50s/60s when she was a writer for women’s magazines (later NYT) and her husband was rising in the publishing industry.
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk. Just wonderful. Very charming and poignant.
Just finished Where The Crawdads Sing. Lovely description but the dialogue was a little stilted.
About to start Laura Lippman’s Lady in the Lake. It’s getting great press and praise from early readers.
Oohh - I love Laura Lippman’s books. @surfcity , please let us now what you think when you’ve finished!
I just finished Where the Crawdads Sing. I loved it. Plus, it made me want to spend time in nature.
Summer reading - Deanna Raybourne’s Victoria Speedwell series. It reminds me of my much-loved Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters.
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes and The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman. My friend would describe them as “family” books. Linda Holmes does the NPR pop culture happy hour.
I have both Laura Lippman’s latest (Lady in the Lake) and Joshilyn Jackson’s new one (Never Have I Ever) to read. I started the JJ book, but got distracted.
Yes! I’ve just started the second book in the series, and I definitely noted the similarities between Veronica’s and Amelia’s voices. It’s like I’ve found a cache of unpublished Elizabeth Peters books.
I just finished The Great Believers by Rebbeca Makkai. It was recent National Book Award finalist. Tells the stories of the AIDs crisis in the 1980s in Chicago and how it cruelly decimated a network of friends. Draws comparisons to the the Lost Generation of 1920s Paris. There’s also subplots about a mother in today’s time who’s looking for her estranged daughter and one about discovering a lost art collection. It’s so well done with the characters seeming 100% real, and the undercurrent of the whole book is all about love and compassion during difficult times. This one will stick with me for a long time.
^ agree “ the great believers” …excellent
I just finished *The Rosie Project *. Marvelous book!
SPOILER:
I guessed almost from the very beginning who the father was. Didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story whatsoever. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.
I’m reading “Pocketful of Names” and really enjoying it. The author lives in Maine and Texas, so I like him! The book is more than a beach read. He’s good at capturing small details of Maine life, such as vendors not sending bills for months - when they realize they need the money. The book is about a young woman who inherits her great-uncle’s tiny island off the coast of Stonington. She’s an artist who reminds me of my daughter. I love all the descriptive passages as well as the character development.
We love Anderson Cooper was a great audio pick, short quirky stories, well narrated.
Finished three books, all about deaths! My summer reading list needs some major revamping!
- “how not to die alone”, don’t love it, but quite readable. A cute book, could really see it being made into a movie, love story “buried” in morbid theme.
- “Say nothing: a true story of murder and memory in Northern Island”. As I mentioned in my earlier post about the book “milkman”, this book provides the historical backdrops for “milkman”, the sectarian war between Catholics and Protestants, and the IRAs and the British army/government. A pretty depressing but informative read.
- “chronicle of a death foretold”, a short book, yet full of cultural, historical, and religious subplots. An older book, felt timeless.
Did a road trip for the past several days that enabled me to listen to the second novel in the Rosie trilogy (the Rosie Effect) and to start the third book, The Rosie Result.
The second book exhausted me at times. Poor Don’s well intentioned but not well received project in the park was both hilarious and painful. His subsequent deceptions (also well intentioned) just seemed to get him deeper and deeper into the muck, and I hurt for him. The episode on the airplane at the end had me dying with laughter. I enjoyed the secondary characters that were introduced in this second book.
I think I will actually be sad to come to the end of the series.
The Silent Patient is one of the best books I have ever read. I highly recommend it. Great mystery.