Recently my book club read The Great Gatsby. This was, I hazard, the fourth time I’ve read it–I actually listened to it. It was phenomenal. The language–oh my giddy aunt–as well as its immediacy mesmerized me. This book, written almost a hundred years ago, read as if it was describing our time, our loss, and our devastating capacity for hope. I adored it.

It has inspired me to add the classics–broadly defined–back into my reading. I’m now enjoying Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and, when I’m done with that, plan to reread–the last time was in the late 70s– Madame Bovary.

Do you read the classics? What are your favorites? What should I tackle? Anything you loathe?

I read two to three books a week.. Goodreads tells me that this year I’ve read 45 books–this is probably low as I don’t keep track of re-reads. I’ve tried some new authors–Kate Canterbary, Leigh Bardugo, Trish Dollar, and Louise Candlish–as well as authors I’ve enjoyed in the past–Kelly Bowen,  Cate C. Wells, Dervla McTiernan, and others. My favorite books thus far have been everything I’ve read by Bardugo–Ninth House is AMAZING–Trish Dollar’s Beck Sisters duo, and Sascha Rothchild’s Blood Sugar. (I am writing a review of this–if you liked Gone Girl or Where the Crawdads Sing and think Carl Hiaasen is funny you should read this.)

Currently, I’m reading an ARC of Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young. Though I’ve not read her previously, Young is wildly successful YA author–I believe Spells for Forgetting is her first non-YA.  I’m also reading Lisa Jewel’s The Family Upstairs which somehow I missed. This turned […]