Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash
My subject line today is a weak attempt on my part to make light of why I haven’t written a review in so long. I mentioned having COVID in my July recap, but that was two weeks ago. I’ve had little to do but read so reviews should have been flowing like water. Instead, the only thing flowing is my nose when I’m not sleeping or coughing up a lung. I’m COVID-free, but still dealing with the after-effects so activity at The Gilmore Guide is going to be spotty for a while.
My reading taste is also a bit wonky these days, partly due to being sick and also because of everything happening in American politics. I’ve always loved literary fiction, but lately I don’t have the attention for it. What has worked? Entertainment that doesn’t tax the brain, which accounts for today’s two books and all the great fantasy series I’m currently immersed in (more on that later).
How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
Published by Mariner Books
Publication date: June 18, 2024
Bookshop
A book store, a grieving widower, a newly released prison inmate, and a volunteer prison librarian come together in How to Read a Book a light, easy read about incongruous friendships and second chances. Frank, Harriet, and Violet are known to each other only through circumstance until a chance meeting at a local book store puts events in motion that reinvigorate each of their lives. There are several plot choices that verge on eye-rolling, but for anyone wanting simple, tidy endings for complicated lives this is thoroughly enjoyable. Plus, lots of conversations about books!
How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
Published by Mariner Books
Publication date: June 18, 2024
Bookshop
Dee Kwan has spent her life being schooled in positivity by a mother who accepts nothing less. So, when Dee’s grandmother needs to recover from hip surgery her mother decides they should all move into Dee’s house. From this overcrowded situation that has her sleeping on a cot in a closet, Dee has to conquer a new job as a diversity consultant at a luxury women’s brand. An affirmation chanting mother, racist grandmother, and new toxic workplace frontload The Takedown with opportunities for drama, all of which ensue. This is classic rom-com territory with the exception of the attitudes and dialogue of the entitled white men running the clothing company, which are shocking (but probably accurate). The seriousness of racism and gender inequities in the workplace kept me from choking on the sweetness and left this the light easy reading I needed.
Thank you for these book suggestions; I enjoy a lighter read every once in a while. I’m sorry to hear you are struggling with the after effects of COVID. Take care, and I hope you feel better soon.
Thank you! I’m better, I just need to buckle down and write some reviews!
Hope you feel better soon. I appreciate your recommendations here and on the podcast. I just finished You’d Look Better As A Ghost due to
your endorsement and I really liked it. It’s outside of the kind of book I usually read but your recap interested me so I took a chance on it
and was glad I did. Thanks!
It’s a bit dark, but in a funny way. Sometimes I need that!
I’m sorry to hear you have not been feeling well. That sounds like my first experience with covid in May of 2022. It was brutal and I was sick for a good 2 weeks. I had the prophylactic antibody injection so thought I would be fine. I learned that I should have gotten a paxlovid rx! So when I tested positive this past fall, I got paxlovid and my case was very mild – whether it was mild because that strain of covid was mild or the paxlovid did its trick, I’ll never know. Those of us with suppressed immune systems can have a really tough go when we get viruses like Covid!
I just finished “Mrs. Quinns Rise to Fame” which I read because of you! I love GBBO so it was such a delight to read! So thank you for bringing it to my attention!
I also got the Paxlovid. I cannot even imagine what it would have been like if I weren’t vaccinated or able to take the anti-viral.
I’m so glad you loved Mrs. Quinn’s Rise. It was exactly what I needed (I almost wrote “kneaded”; I can’t help myself). 😉
Hope you feel better soon! I had a similar response to How to Read a Book, which I wanted to love because I’d really enjoyed The One in a Million Boy. I also found the book a bit too tidy and ending seemed abrupt to me. I loved the endnote/epilogue, but prior to that, the conclusion seemed to come in a rush and added an element (the woman who escaped from prison briefly) that I didn’t think was necessary.
Yes! It was good, but I wanted great.
I hope you feel better. Wasn’t that DNC electric? So many good speeches … now we just need to vote her in. I’m fired up & pumped up & we won’t be denied this time. No way, no how. As for the books, I have read the Monica Wood book … and liked the parrots part in the book except for the head guy there. But the parrots were cool. take care.
The Obamas!! The Barack crowd size comment?! I loved it. I’d like to be optimistic, but I’m not. Conservatives have the country in a chokehold. They don’t care about the candidate they just want the power and Project 2025 and they’ll get it. Even if she wins there’s no guarantee some state electors will certify her win. It really is frightening.