One of the best books I've read in the last 6 months is . .

Audio book version of the Lager Queen of Minnesota was delightful.

We just discussed The Silent Patient in bookclub on Wednesday. I liked it, but wouldn’t say my favorite. It was a lively group

@Sybylla Agree! Lager Queen was delightful. Did not love Silent Patient, Did not like Crawdads. Great Believers was excellent! Disappearing Earth is excellent as well.

Rising out of Hate a non fiction book about Derek Black, son of the former grand wizard of the KKK and David Dukes godson. He was the heir apparent to lead the White Supremicist movement. Then he went to college and ended up friends with Jews and Hispanic immigrants and renouncing his parents values. An easy read and fascinating story.

@scout59 I just finished LADY IN THE LAKE by Laura Lippman and I enjoyed it. I have not read a lot of her books but from what I understand it is a little different than most of her standalones. The structure was very interesting and there was a lot to think about regarding class, race, religion, women etc. I do recommend it!

Crawdads audio is good so far. I had to return the “Home for erring and outcast girls” as intolerable. Gawd only knows what is sounds like on normal speed.

I heard an interview and read an article by Derek Duke about his journey. Very interesting. I will have to check out his book.

The floating freedmans was a nice audio, light and a little witty.

@mom2and, his name is Derek Black, not Duke. His mother was once married to David Duke before marrying Derek’s father. Mom has tremendous taste in men. ?

Campusland. The audio version is terrific, it is hilarious. Required reading on the college confidential reading list IMO.

I just binge read Martha Well’s Murderbot Diaries - a series of 4 novellas about a snarky AI who has hacked its programming so that it can operate independently. In the beginning it is much more interested in watching soaps, but reluctantly does its job so as not to get caught, but things soon get interesting in a universe where corporations have all the power, but are unaware how smart the AI’s they have created are. Tons of fun. A novel is supposed to come out next year. Can’t wait.

Working on some older books, “age of innocent” and “of human bondage” (reread), enjoyed both of them and especially the “bondage”, plan to read more of W. Somerset Maugham books.
Also finished “there, there”, by Native American author Tommy Orange, it got good reviews but I didn’t like it very much, it has all the stereotypes of American Indians with formulaic plot lines that are very predictable, wish it would be better.

I have The Undoing Project (Micheal Lewis) on audio and man, that is some deep stuff. His narrator is great, and I really enjoyed Moneyball and The Big Short, as usual what the books are about are never what the books are actually about. It is hard to get into as it seems so rambling, but it suddenly just sucks you in.

@Sybylla I can’t imagine listening to the audiobook of Undoing Project since it’s so chockful of information (most above my head) that I need to read and reread the same passage sometimes. Kudos to you!

This is a very reader friendly book for anyone interested in behavioral economics. Save me from reading the actual Daniel Kahneman book. I was told that Richard Thaler Misbehaving on the same subject is more approachable than Kahneman’s.

I do a lot of rewinding LOL.

If you like “undoing project”, you will enjoy “thinking, fast and slow”, written by Daniel Kahneman a lot too.

I still haven’t read Thinking, Fast and Slow, but it was all my dh could talk about for weeks and he ended up giving a talk based partly on the ideas in that book.

@mathmom

One of my brothers says T F & S is his all-time favorite book!

“Love and Ruin” by Paula McLain. About a really remarkable woman.

"In 1937, twenty-eight-year-old Martha Gellhorn travels alone to Madrid to report on the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War and becomes drawn to the stories of ordinary people caught in the devastating conflict. It’s her chance to prove herself a worthy journalist in a field dominated by men. There she also finds herself unexpectedly—and unwillingly—falling in love with Ernest Hemingway, a man on his way to becoming a legend.

On the eve of World War II, and set against the turbulent backdrops of Madrid and Cuba, Martha and Ernest’s relationship and careers ignite. But when Ernest publishes the biggest literary success of his career, For Whom the Bell Tolls, they are no longer equals, and Martha must forge a path as her own woman and writer.

Heralded by Ann Patchett as “the new star of historical fiction,” Paula McLain brings Gellhorn’s story richly to life and captures her as a heroine for the ages: a woman who will risk absolutely everything to find her own voice."

Got Campusland on audio book, but not sure I even want to keep listening. The characters are so unlikeable, some of them cross over to the despicable. I like to see at least some semblance of justice come through in stories about wrongdoing, but I get the sense that isn’t going to happen on any level or in any one of stories weaving through the novel.

Blech