Just read what is now my favorite book of 2022, Ivona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley. Wonderful book with quirky characters and despite feeling light, addresses so many important issues (same sex marriage, dementia, cyber bullying, abusive relationships, etc.)
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I read “The Authenticity Project” by her early on during the pandemic. It was a stay-at-home support your local bookstore buy for me. I really enjoyed it.
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The Lords of Discipline is pretty great. I was in school in Charleston when I read it; so much rings true and his descriptions of the city are spot-on. Definitely get around to reading that one!
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Darth Plagueis. I would recommend it to anyone interested in Star Wars.
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just put in a request from my library–looks great!
i keep Seeing this book everywhere. may need to Check it out!!
Not really on topic but I’ve got to replace my old 3G Kindle; the case is cracked and the battery is dying. I’m torn about getting a basic model ($90) vs. a Paperwhite. One of the things I loved about my old Kindle was the side buttons, but those are not available except on the high end Kindle which I’m not willing to spring for. I know the basic Kindle doesn’t have great resolution but I figured it can’t be worse than the one I have now, which I’ve had for a decade.
On topic: I’ve really been enjoying the Joe Pickett books by CJ Box. Last week there was an article in the NYT about the use of falcons to control seagull populations on the Jersey Shore and those of you who know the Pickett books will recognize Yarak, Inc. as a foreshadowing of what’s going on here.
Thanks for the recommendation of The Water is Wide. It was an interesting, educational (and sometimes funny) memoir. Pat Conroy was new to me as well.
We are doing a road trip this summer, and I might download another Conroy book to my Kindle… Prince of Tide? (I have seen the movie, a bit gruesome). Other?
Fun Tidbit - I retired 8/2020, and in 2021 I read 28 books. (That was after reading only a few a year for prior three decades, except some short stretches where I’d read a few of the easy novels my kids liked). As of today, I’m at 25 books read in the first half of 2022. Mostly fiction, a few nonfiction. This group has been a wonderful source of reading ideas!
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Here’s a shout-out for the Paperwhite. I’ve really enjoyed mine and found it easy to use. The built-in light with adjustable brightness helps me read comfortably in anything from pitch-black bedroom to bright sunlight.
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one of my favorite books. I actually think the prequel to it, The Great Santini, is a better book, but I enjoyed Lords of Discipline more.
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(Iona, not Ivona, Iverson’s Rules for Commuting - for anyone who might search for it.)
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Glad you liked it! The Pat Conroy I think I want to read is Beach Music. We should compare when done.
I just finished A Free Life by Ha Jin, which follows a mainland Chinese immigrant family with great intimacy. This is my first book by him and will look for more.
In contrast to your many books in retirement, i didn’t finish a single one for the first 9 months of retirement. Finally I seem to have found the reading phase as opposed to exhausted with projects and travel phase.
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I actually didn’t read much in first half year of retirement, even though Covid kept us captive at home. After I was done with the Executor duties for my mother’s modest but very diversified estate, I started reading/logging.
I note the completed titles (from a variety of places - library, kindle, thriftbooks etc) into a Google doc in case I want to recommend books down the road. If I read everything on Kindle, that would be my list 
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If others are also thinking about reading more Pat Conroy, I found this - https://www.honestreaders.com/pat-conroy-books-in-order/
Note - Most of them are not included on Kindle Unlimited, with the exception of The Water is Wide (which I liked) and Prince of Tides.
I’ve read 4-5 Pat Conroy books and loved all but one. Anyone else read South of Broad and feel like someone else wrote it? It’s been years now since I read it but IIRC, the plot, the dialogue, the stereotypical characters just seemed very unlike the writing style of Conroy’s previous novels. The only redeeming thing I remember was the setting - I wanted to visit Charleston after reading it (and eventually did!). Conroy was such an amazing storyteller but South of Broad was a huge disappointment to me.
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For those who enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing, just saw an ad—the movie is in theaters July 15.
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Beach Music is one of my favorite books ever. Enjoy!
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So I read somewhere they filmed it in LA. A swamp is not a forest by marshland. Just sayin’. I am already disappointed.
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Some authors and books posted here I’m totally unfamiliar with, but I discovered Pat Conroy’s The Water is Wide in the public library when I was an early teen, mid-1970s and loved it. I like his earlier novels better than later ones - Lords of Discipline probably the best. I met him at a book signing once and babbled something stupid 
His life was a saga in itself and I think understandably the books he wrote reflect somewhat what was going on in his life at various times which may explain some differences. See his memoirs and Tell Me A Story: My Life With Pat Conroy by his last wife, author Cassandra King.
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