Pre-Covid I traveled extensively for work, and am always carrying a Kindle Fire. Once I download the book I am working on, I turn off WiFi and turn on airplane mode. I don’t exit out of the book, and my battery last a really long time this way. An added benefit is that if the book is from the library and happens to expire while I’m reading it, since it’s not connected to the internet it doesn’t disappear off my device until I exit out of the book.
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I love portable battery chargers, but even the expensive ones seem to work for only a few months for me! I spent $100 on my last one. The thing weighs a ton and now it’s not charging my phone. 
I didn’t use it constantly, either. Ugh.
Interesting @MainLonghorn-- wife has had one for 2+ years problem-free. Hers hold enough electrons to charge her phone supposedly 4 times. She uses it to charge her phone while on bus excursions, for example, and she can take a picture through the window while it charges. The thing only cost around $30.
Hi All: It has been a VERY long time since I have posted on the Parent Forum (or any CC topic), but I have always enjoyed this thread and the binge-watched TV shows (and a couple others…). Anyway, I need a good fiction book to distract myself from what’s been going on with my life lately. To give you an idea, I really liked American Dirt (not disputing its accuracy 
), The Silent Patient, all Olive Kitteridge books. Nothing too heavy but well written. I am currently reading The Giver of Stars which seems fine, but I really need to lose myself in the story. Thanks for your suggestions. 
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How about the last days of night or a gentleman in moscow - these are the two books that everybody I know liked, so I feel safe at recommending them.
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Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid was one of the best books I’ve read recently. It’s smart and thought-provoking, and an easy read. If you haven’t read them already, you might like The Heirs by Susan Rieger and The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney.
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Thanks!
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@swimdogmom I went looking through my good reads thread to see what struck me.
My favorite books from the last few years.:
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty: quoting myself, “I thought this book was absolutely delightful. Alice bangs her head in the gym and loses ten years. She’s still in the honeymoon phase of her marriage, but discovers that she’s actually headed for divorce. Can she have a do-over? Funny, fast paced with a few twists and turns I did not expect at all.”
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti: “Wow. One of the best books I’ve read this year. I’m not sure how Tinti made me care so much about Samuel Hawley who is a Bad Man and his daughter who has her own faults. But as the story alternates between Hawley’s backstory (each of which involves being shot) and the more contemporary story of Loo’s adolescence we see the two stories beginning to converge. Can love change a person? Can we escape our past and start again? Are we victims of our nature? It’s all there.” (This was a CC Bookclub pick.)
Harry’s Trees by John Cohen: It’s a beautifully written, feel good story. I loved the quirky characters. And while one might quibble that everything gets a little too neatly wrapped up, I thought it was perfect pandemic reading. (This was a CC bookclub pick.)
The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish: I liked this more than other CC readers as I recall. It’s like a Jewish version of Possession by A. S. Byatt (which happens to be one of my favorite books.) the story of modern day academics are doing research who have found a trove of papers hidden in a house and the 17th century story of the woman who wrote them. You’ll learn about Spinoza, London during the Plague, and the history of Jews in England. Maybe more than you wanted to know. (This was a CC bookclub pick.)
If you want something super fluffy, I loved reading The Crazy Rich Asian books by Kevin Kwan. Can’t pretend they are anything but bonbons though!
I second or third A Gentleman in Moscow. I absolutely loved it. Beautiful writing. Some of it is laugh out loud funny while other parts are poignant. Just don’t get caught up in the fact that it is not a realist novel. There are nods to the fact that Stalinist Russia was a miserable place to be, but they are just nods.
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Love these recommendations. You had me at “Jewish version of Possession!”
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After I read “A Gentleman in Moscow” I went to his earlier “The Rules of Civility” which was also wonderful.
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I recently read and loved The Push.
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I recently read Writers and Lovers by Lily King, author of the wonderful Euphoria. I just loved it
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Thanks much. Yes, I read a Gentleman in Moscow and liked it. I’ll write those suggestions down and check into them.
If you are not sick of the crazy college admission process - I just stayed up too late and binge read the newly released FICTION book called: Girls with Bright Futures.
The story follows 3 girls from a private prep school and all the behind the scenes wrangling of admissions and parent obsessions around college admissions. I know it is fiction - but living in a high tech, stock option wealth area - parts ring very true
A fun read and also one that reminds us that it will work out okay and kids not parents should really own this process.
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If there is anyone left on the planet (or at least on this thread) who hasn’t read A Gentleman in Moscow, the Kindle version is only $1.99 on Amazon today (2/7).
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Thanks gotham_mom - Such a Fun Age was just what the doctor (or psychiatrist …) ordered to get my mind off things. Read in two days which for me is super fast. Subject matter would not normally be my thing, but well written and the story moved right along.
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So glad you enjoyed it. Nothing makes me happier than making a successful book match!
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Since the film version just came out, I’ll plug News of the World by Paulette Jiles. I really enjoy her books (NOTW, Enemy Women and Simon the Fiddler are the three I have read). I loved News of the World and found it extremely affecting. While the film does not entirely do it justice (one problem with film versions of novels), and omits and adds things that simplify or distort the story, watching the film reminded me in some ways of why I loved the book. It’s better than the movie.
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Just finished Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson. A short, poetic and beautifully written book.
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Just read Tangled Up in Blue (Rosa Brooks). A liberal 40-something Georgetown Law professor joins the DC police force for 4.5 years. First part of the book has some of her family background and how she came to be aware of the program. Next segment is the process of training, qualifying and patrolling. Last part is some of the outcomes of the process. A very fast read, surprisingly funny in parts, and deals with the inherent contradictions with a deft touch. Definitely not a polemic, and thought provoking in a not-depressing way.
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