I never saw the movie, or read the book. It's been on my radar forever. I have actually reserved it a few times and not read it. Maybe before 2020 ends I will read Rebecca. ( it's also one of my most favorite names).

Ded, I'm not sure if you were the recommender and if so thanks for the previous suggestion of Nothing to See Here. I read at your(?) suggestion and loved it, very clever funny easy read.

I just finished Winter Counts, an interesting hybrid novel: a thriller featuring a hard boiled investigator with a hard luck back story who is a Lakota Indian, or at least a half-Lakota Indian. He works as an enforcer on the reservation and the book included a lot of themes and plot points related to Native American spiritual and cultural values and beliefs. I'm hoping this is the first of a series because I'd like to know more about Virgil Wounded Horse and his world.

Oh salonva, you are in for a real treat. The goodreads description doesn't capture it at all. But when I told the folks in book group last night that the movie was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, they got a better sense of it. Laurence Olivier did a bang up job as Maxim. Joan Fontaine played the lead. Apparently there's a new remake, but I doubt I'd ever see it. Hitch did it to perfection. I also remember a public TV version with Diana Rigg (RIP) playing the Mrs. Danvers role and she did it superbly.

Book has one of the most famous opening lines:

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again....

I'm reading "Wish You Well" by David Baldacci. I got this on my Kindle in February and just now reading it. I'm not sure I have ever read anything by David Baldacci but the reviews said this is not his regular kind of book. It's pretty good. I'd give it 4 stars.

Well, I'm finally reading A Gentleman in Moscow, and thoroughly enjoying it. Stopped at a thrift store yesterday and l left with a half dozen books, of course. Have just finished Before the Fall which I enjoyed immensely.

Despite having little on my plate these days, I haven‘t seemed to be much interested in reading.

Since last posting, I finished Iron Lake, the first in a crime/mystery series by William Kent Krueger. Though a bit different than his popular standalone novels, I continue to enjoy his writing style, as well as the setting of his books and characters. I plan to read more in this series.

Yesterday I finished The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey. The best part of this book was its historical setting in 1920s India where the main character is Bombay’s first female solicitor. It’s basically a mystery and has a little too much going on in terms of plot but it was interesting to read about the subculture of the Parsi/Zoroastrian, as well as the Muslim practice of purdah. So while the plot itself could have stood some editing, it was a worthwhile read for me. 3.5 stars

I have three books waiting on my Kindle from the library. I’m not sure which I’ll read next. New releases by two authors whose previous works I really liked: Afterlife by Julia Alvarez, Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. The other I think might have been recommended here - Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal.

Do not waste your time with 'new book', The House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild. There's a story in there somewhere... not located despite 300+ pages with a surfit of predictable characters.

I've started The Lost Jewels, Kirsty Manning. Feels a little YA to me, with explanations for things I'd assume to be common knowledge.

DH is enjoying I Give It To You, Valerie Martin. The author is endorsed by Margaret Atwood, Jane Smiley, John Banville. Martin won Britain's Women's Prize for Property. I'll read this next; involves Tuscan nobility and WWII-focused dissolution of the family during fascism. (Oh, goodie, a chance to read about a different divisive dictator.)

I just read Beneath a Blanket of Snow for book club #1. The author is a friend of someone in the book club and it's only available on kindle. It was actually a very good read and I think it will make for good discussion. As I often note, there were a few too many coincidences but overall it was good and certainly better than I expected. I would give it 4 stars.

I am not sure what I will read now- I might try another Miss Buncle ( which I loved but I am almost saving it) . I am going to check what I have on hold at the library because so many come all of a sudden and I go from not having anything to read to having 3 or 4 that I have to delay. Rebecca is definitely on the list too.

Almost at the end of "Always Young & Restless" By Melody Thomas Scott. Very good! Its about her life on & off the soap

Running, I got the suggestion of Nothing to See Here from these threads, which I appreciate very much. Can’t take credit for having found it but I’m glad you are enjoying it, too.

@runninginplace and @stacey_mb, Thanks for the recommendation for The Thursday Murder Club. I read it while waiting for other books to be available and found it pleasantly cozy. Now, I'm reading The Coroner by M.R. Hall. It's the first in a series and isn't available as a digital book so I had to buy a used paperback. I hope I like it because I need a new series to read.

Friends And Strangers

I just inhaled Leave the World Behind and am not quite sure how I feel about it. It's challenging to describe but here goes: a New York family has rented a lovely but very isolated house waaaaaaaay out in the countryside of Long Island. On their second day there an older Black couple arrives, the owners of the home who tell the vacationers some kind of power outage occurred in NYC and they decided to come to the vacation house--can they stay there along with the visitors?

I won't say more about the plot but it's creepy, suspenseful and deliberately opaque in terms of exactly what is happening. The book's gotten wildly divergent reviews, some love it and some hate it. It wasn't a long read and I guess I 'enjoyed' it, at least it kept my attention all the way through till the ambiguous ending!

I also read the latest John Grisham A Time For Mercy over the weekend and am happy to recommend it more enthusiastically. It is the third book featuring Jake Brigance, an attorney in a small Mississippi town and as this NYT review says, it's like settling down to listen to a story about people you know told by someone who knows how spin a good yarn.

In fact, for anyone who wants/needs a literary respite from the insanity of the world right now, I'd highly recommend starting with the first Jake Brigance book A Time to Kill then continue with Sycamore Row and finish with A Time for Mercy. It will soothe your soul to spend some time in Clanton with Jake as he fights for what is right.

There are certainly dark and violent plot lines (trigger warning for A Time to Kill, it begins with a sickeningly vividly described child rape) but overall, it rewards one's beliefs in the virtues and values people should and hopefully do still hold.

As promised, here's our book list for 2021. It looks like a good one.

January – Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

February – The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian

March – The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

April – Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

May – The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper

June – The Library Book by Susan Orlean

July – American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

August – The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

September – A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

October – This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

November – Luster by Raven Leilani

December – The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Great list, Annie! I’ve read 6 of those books and have a 7th one on my nightstand.

Very varied list, Annie. I have only read 2, but I think 2 or 3 are also on some upcoming lists for my bookclubs.

I just got 2 books from the library so I decided to start This Tender Land,

This is just for me, not for book club. I am in 3 book clubs, and now that they are on zoom, I do try to fit in the books but feel less driven to do so.

One book club is reading The Book woman of Troublesome Creek which I read a few months ago and loved.

Another one will be The Lost Roses ( the author of The Lilac Girls), and The Hidden Life of Trees.

Thanks for that list, Annie. I've read six of them, but there are some new titles there I'm eager to investigate.

salonva, I'm read The Lost Roses now and am enjoying it.

Annie, our book clubs have a couple of books in common, and The Beauty in Breaking was my book nominee so I hope you enjoy it too.

The Vanishing Half was a DNF for me, I found it another same old same old story following some family with many misfortunes over decades. My daughter loved it and says it picks up about midway and most of the book club was very keen to read it.

I need to get over my dread that it's going to be another Where the Crawdads Sing which I also loathed and which the rest of the world adored. Hmm maybe I just found my euphemism for that kind of book so let me say now I hope this isn't a crawdad LOL.

Below is our book club list for this season. We go from September-June with a summer break book.

I just started The Henna Artist and am enjoying it, rather to my surprise. The author does an amazing job in evoking a very particular place and time. Every reading session I literally feel I've been transported into 1955 Jaipur India. It's intensely immersive reading in a way I rarely experience and I like it!

October

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

November

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

December

The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper

January

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger,

February

The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah

March

The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton

April

Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and CS Lewis by Patti Callahan,

May

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

June

Long Man by Amy Greene

Summer Reading Suggestion:

Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

I just finished listening to The Lonely Hour, which is series Bryant & May Peculiar Crimes Unit #16 by Christopher Fowler. I really enjoyed it and it had enough twists and turns and tension to be very entertaining. It was a little more gory than most books I have read, but not "over the top." Detectives Arthur Bryant and John May are two London police detectives, and Bryant's contribution is his vast knowledge of often obscure facts. The audiobook took a touch of patience for what seemed to be a very elderly man (Bryant) drone on about various topics. But I realized that there was a lot of humor and clever interaction, and went along for the ride!

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donahugh (Room) was quickly published as soon as she submitted it this past March. It concerns a nurse working in a Dublin hospital during the Spanish flu epidemic. Sad and wrenching but highly recommended. Lots to discuss with a group.

Finished the Lost Roses and enjoyed it. 4 star and good for book group. It's written by the same gal who wrote the Lilac Girls. For those who read the latter, it was a WWII book about Caroline. The former is about Caroline's Mother during WWI. Apparently she's working on a 3rd book about Caroline's Grandmother. Works of fiction but based on actual events. My GFs and I had the pleasure of visiting the family homestead which is now open to the public. Very interesting family and a lovely home.

I just love these recommendations. Thanks for your lists. I’ve added several to my TBR pile .

Running, I am so glad to hear someone else could not stand Crawdads. I fought my way through expecting it to improve but it was ridiculous. Ten other one everyone loved and I couldn’t stand was The Help.

I tried reading The Lying Lives of Adults but couldn’t get into it. I’ve made the decision not to read books I’m not enjoying very much even for book club. There are just too many good ones out there and time is short. I just started The House By the River by Lena Manta and it’s very good so far. Will report back when I am done.

I'm reading The Mighty Franks right now -a recommendation from Will Schwalbe, who has not yet failed me. Described on Amazon as: "A psychologically acute memoir about an unusual Hollywood family by Michael Frank, who "brings Proustian acuity and razor-sharp prose to family dramas as primal, and eccentrically insular, as they come" (The Atlantic)".

Memoir is a favorite genre of mine. I wasn't familiar with the author (a writer), but I think this wonderfully written narrative shows just how fascinating the lives of ordinary families can be. I've always found the culture contained within a given family unit to be endlessly fascinating.

Dedtired, I've made the same rule for myself. If I'm not feeling a book I drop it like a maskless friend urging me to join them at a bar. Life is just too short and there are too many great books waiting out there to waste time.

I have a literary just-one-bite rule: I read 50 pages. If it hasn't grabbed me by then it's usually due to one of several reasons: I can tell the theme, plot or characters are going to be a huge downer for me, I actively DISLIKE the theme, plot or characters usually due to bad writing or I'm so bored with the theme, plot or characters I"m literally counting pages till I hit 50. That happened with American Dirt recently. I could tell pretty early on that the plot was formulaic and badly written and I also don't have the emotional wherewithal to spend a whole book agonizing over the fictional reflection of a current heartbreaking reality of life in the US.

While I'm here, I finished The Henna Artist and I'll split my review. I give the plot a B-. Formulaic is being kind as it was really a soap opera and the characters were not terribly believable to put it charitably. Authorial skill though, A+. As noted I can't recall another book written as vividly in evoking a sense of place and authenticity so overall this one rated a solid B. I enjoyed it even as I rolled my eyes at yet another silly twist in the story.

Next up is the newest Longmire book. I've been saving it since I always enjoy a good visit to Absaroka county with Walt and the gang.

runninginplace, I too enjoy Longmire books...fond memories of visiting his cabin and the incredible views from there from the TV show. Actually filmed in Valles Caldera NM, it looks like WY....but with better weather.

Annie, what gorgeous views! I've not watched the tv show because I don't like having my inner view of literary characters whose stories are still being published dictated by whoever the producers chose to star as them for the movie or series LOL.

I'm thinking I may have to break my rule for Game of Thrones though. I kept vainly hoping George Martin would actually finish the books as he had planned but it seems clear the tv show's monstrous huge success finally killed any hope of that happening! Shame, although he is such a lazy writer it's an open question as to whether he ever would have completed the series anyway.

Upside is I hear the tv show was pretty good ;).

runninginplace, have no fear about the Longmire series...Craig Johnson has been very involved since the inception, and when I read about Walt Longmire or Henry, I picture Robert Taylor and Lou Diamond Phillips...perfect casting.

My favorite line from the show was when Walt comes across a huge disaster on the highway in the middle of nowhere and has to deal with it by himself, and a civilian survivor looks at him and says, "Shouldn't you call 911?" Longmire responds, "I AM 911."

I’ve hit a reading block so to speak, due to 11/3 nervousness. Started several books, but couldn’t persist.

Annie, did I say how much I liked The Hearts Invisible Furies? If it wasn’t at the very least short listed for an award, someone wasn’t paying attention. Highly recommend . Thanks, Annie!

nutsaboutplants, maybe you need to try a funny or happy book about another time or place ... there's a whole thread devoted to happy reads: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5998181/happy-reads#n=53  

Humorous books by someone like Dave Barry or Erma Bombeck or Still Foolin' 'Em by Billy Crystal was wonderful, especially in the audio book as he narrates it and mixes in some of his stand up stuff.

In fact, maybe switching to audio format may be more accessible for you now.

Or maybe a book that doesn't take a lot of effort to read. GF just gave me a Mary Higgins Clark book ... haven't read one of those in decades. Or an Agatha Christie mystery.

Or maybe a book about people doing courageous things like Boys in the Boat or Unbroken.

If none of those work, then maybe try short stories for awhile...saki...o'henry...or even poe. I often think that short stories are given the short shrift if you will, though they can be most absorbing, especially when they pack a punch. And if you don't like the story, it won't be for long. :)

Thanks martinca, but someone else recommended it here first, so I was just a follower on that one. Was it ded-tired who first mentioned it?

Running, GOT is very, very good. I've also read A Song of Ice and Fire, sometimes ahead of the show. There are a few discrepancies here and there, but it's not to be missed.

I recently read and really enjoyed a very short novel that was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Title is The Old Woman and the River by Ismail Fahd Ismail, translated by Sophia Vasalou. It reads a bit like a fable and takes place in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. An elderly woman who had to escape the fighting decides that she wants to return home, taking her donkey and dealing with the results of the battle in a courageous and heartwarming way.

I just finished Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. That was a great read. I have just stared What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman. I am looking for a light, fun travel memoir to read if anyone has any suggestions I am all ears.

Annie, I did enjoy that happy reads thread by olychick. Even added my recommendations to it. Right now, I’m just too incapable of distraction, I guess. Can’t read anything other than news about you know what.

Remember nutsaboutplants....all things in moderation.

hooked, If you haven't read Bill Bryson, you'd enjoy his books, some of which are travel oriented. I enjoyed A Walk In the Woods and In a Sunburned Country. Also, there is The Yellow Envelope which is a travel memoir which we read as a community read in our town.

I’ve been on a roll of not great books lately. I recently decided to try out a new author (2nd novel) and am so glad I did. The book is BETTY: a novel by Tiffany McDaniel. It’s sort of a coming of age story about a girl with a white mother and Cherokee father in the 1950’s and beyond. At first the novel started a bit slow but it became more layered and...not poetic or mythical exactly but more of a deep understanding of how an exceptionally great person can live in an often overlooked ordinary person. It’s also a story of secrets.

You will need a good sized box of tissues for this one.

I would rate this book a 4.9 out of 5.

Edited: this book has ruined me for reading another book at this time. I’m trying but with little success. It’s horrifically haunting, greatly emotional , beautiful and all out gut wrenching. Other reading is flatlining after that.

Oh yeah, I've had that feeling where the last book was so good, I know it'd be tough to find another to measure up, though you hope it could happen.

Just finished reading Red to the Bone for book group. 2 stars and that's being generous. One of those I was glad was short! Part of it may be the style with which it is written. Each chapter is narrated by a character in the story, but you don't always know who until well into the chapter, and you have to figure out the time as well as it's done in inconsistent time gaps..and it's done with this stream of consciousness thing where everything seems 2nd hand as opposed to the reader being in and part of the story. Seems very removed to me. It reminds me of short stories that other people like but that never make sense to me... a snapshot in someone's life and after I read it, I say, why did I just read that?

Next up will be Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong

for my other book group. No idea how that will go either, but there it is.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I finished it two days ago and still thinking about it. Not my usual thriller for sure.

I just read The Most Fun We Ever Had, recommended here, I think. I loved so much about this book, the writing, the story lines and character development of each of the 4 daughters. It jumped around in time a little bit and I found that a little hard to follow sometimes, but pretty quickly made sense.

What I didn't care for was the tiresome portrayal of the parents' love for each other...I mean it went on and on and on - so much so, I found myself skipping not only sentences and paragraphs but pages. It needed to be laid out well for much of the story about the family to make sense, but omg. Shut up about it already. Other than that, a totally enjoyable read.

Oly, just checked out The Most Fun We Ever Had. Starting tonight.

justterrilyn, just placed a hold on Betty.

reading a series by Sarah Graves about a woman who lives in Eastport Maine and is remodeling an 1800's house and getting involved with a murder in every book!

Sliding in before the end of this month's discussion-finished the newest Longmire mystery Next to Last Stand an hour ago.

I enjoyed it, the mystery was a bit thin but satisfactorily resolved and the author definitely was in relaxed mode with a lot of humorous interplay between the well established characters. A new one was introduced and I look forward to seeing if and how his personality is developed .

That said, I suspect Walt Longmire may be headed toward his last sheriff's round up soon. In the series, which moves at a real life pace, he is a Vietnam vet which means he is (charitably) at least 70 YO. The plot thread about his ongoing love affair with a young deputy on his staff is getting faintly icky and the character is openly musing about feeling past being able to do a lot of the physical feats that were so common in the earlier books.

There were quite a few foreshadowings throughout the book and heck the title itself makes me wonder if it's an easter egg for longtime readers. Will be interesting to see where and for how long the series goes.

Just put 2 books on hold at the library:

Spilled Milk...not sure where I heard a recommendation for that one...probably one of these threads long ago.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead which was recommended here.

Highly recommend these two Valerie Martin novels: I Give It To You and Trespass. I like the latter better, but enjoyed both. 4 Stars.

My last October post..

I finished Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal. Great premise, not so great execution. There were too many side stories that detracted from the best part of the plot - the Punjabi widows, their stifled lives and the freedom they felt when together in the classroom. I wish the author had focused on this part of the story and spent time developing the characters. I did appreciate learning a little bit about Punjabi culture in contemporary England. Overall 2 stars for me.

Also finished Afterlife by Julia Alvarez. I long ago read her novel In the Time of Butterflies in which I learned a lot about the Dominican Republic’s dark history. This novel takes place in New England, about a newly retired and suddenly widowed college professor. A moving story about grief, sisterhood, and searching for a meaningful life amidst so many changes. Alvarez uses comic relief to balance the sorrow the main character is feeling. Quick read. 4 stars.

Last week, dh and I had a 10 hr roundtrip road trip in one day to take our college son to a doctor appointment, Last time I made the trip alone, this time dh went to help with the long drive so I chose an audiobook that would appeal to both of us. We listened to The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11. Certainly not an easy subject as it’s a chilling and heart wrenching account told in a series of short interviews with first responders, survivors, witnesses, friends and family, govt officials. It certainly held our attentIon but it is a lot to listen to - I was in tears at point listening to one first responder talking about how he and fellow firefiighters laid the body of Fr. Mychal Judge on the altar of St. Peter’s. 5 stars

Currently reading Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. Really enjoyed her previous book, Homegoing. Not too far into this one yet to have an opinion.

A few books I've enjoyed over the last week or so:

The Wrong Way to Save Your Life, essays by Megan Stielstra

Good Boy, My Life in Seven Dogs, by Jennifer Finney Boylan

The Mighty Franks, a memoir by Michael Frank