Albany Public Library discussion

Hey y’all and welcome to week two! This week's theme is Musical Moments. If you haven’t read as much as you would have liked, don’t worry, you’re not in “treble” , there’s still plenty of time! So, start up the band…or book and let’s get reading!

Let us know what you are reading or if you have any fun summer plans coming up! If you're looking for any inspiration, here’s this week's list of recommendations:
Night Music
The Music Shop
Ghost Music
Exile Music
Light from Uncommon Stars
We Sold Our Souls
Music Is History
This Is Your Brain on Music
To Feel the Music: A Songwriter's Mission to Save High-Quality Audio
Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in Seven Songs

Anything interesting out there that's not on our list? Let us know and if you have a reading playlist definitely share some of those books and songs below!

Musical reading! :)

Emily wrote: "Hey y’all and welcome to week two! This week's theme is Musical Moments. If you haven’t read as much as you would have liked, don’t worry, you’re not in “treble” , there’s still plenty of time! So,..."

A few of music-related books I have read (NOT for summer reading. I read them a while ago):

Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be. Honestly, I only gave this one 2 stars, but that is becasue I know nothing about country music, and there was a LOT of details about various female musicians. I did learn a lot about how women were consciously pushed out of the country scene in the beginning of the 21st century - e.g. radio conglomerates told their stations they could only play one female artist an hour!

The Violin Conspiracy - a mystery that does not involve a murder!

The Music Shop - Light book. A decent summer read. Might be good on audio if they also play the music discussed in the novel. (Oops, and now I see you have this one on your list.)

I endorse The Violin Conspiracy!

Totally not music-related, but I am currently reading Acorna by Anne McCaffrey.

Just finished Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano.

I thought the first half was a little slow and it took me a really long time to get through it but I enjoyed the second half a lot more!

Currently reading Circe by Madeline miller. It started off great but has gotten a little slow 🫤

I’m reading Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee and The Running Grave (Strike book 7). I am also looking forward to the latest Andy Weir after seeing the recommendations on these threads.

Susan wrote: "Emily wrote: "Hey y’all and welcome to week two! This week's theme is Musical Moments. If you haven’t read as much as you would have liked, don’t worry, you’re not in “treble” , there’s still plent..."

Great minds think alike! We love to see everyone's recommendations!

Theresa wrote: "I’m reading Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee and The Running Grave (Strike book 7). I am also looking forward to the latest Andy Weir after seeing the recommendations on these threads."

Awesome! I just finished reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, because my book club picked it for next month. I really liked it and I want to read more of his other books. That's one of the things I like about book club, is that it gets me to read books I otherwise might not get to.

Ashley wrote: "Currently reading Circe by Madeline miller. It started off great but has gotten a little slow 🫤"

Keep going you can do it!

Elementary music teacher here so this made my heart so happy 🩵 funny enough I don’t LOVE reading books about music haha!
😬😬😬

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Amy Winehouse is one of my musical inspirations, so I loved the book Amy, My Daughter written by her father Mitch Winehouse.
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I also really enjoyed Most Dope; The Extraordinary life of Mac Miller.
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On my TBR is The Instrumentalists by Harriet Constable

Just finished Emily Wildes Encyclopedia of Fairies and I’m starting The collected regrets of clover .

Kelly wrote: "Just finished Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano.

I thought the first half was a little slow and it took me a really long time to get through it but I enjoyed the second half a lot more!"

I've added it to your count~ I hope your next book keeps a better pace all the way through!

Theresa wrote: "I’m reading Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee and The Running Grave (Strike book 7). I am also looking forward to the latest Andy Weir after seeing the recommendations on these threads."

Andy Weir is only of my favorite Authors. I can recommend The Martian and Project Hail Mary by him. I had a patron recommend Project Hail Mary to me by saying it was better than The Martian which I found hard to believe until after I read it Project Hail Mary. His writing is so funny in unexpected ways and so nice about explaining scientific concepts. And with that I have talked myself into re reading his books.

I also really appreciate how Project Hail Mary's main character's name is a pun with the title.

Kelly wrote: "Just finished Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano.

I thought the first half was a little slow and it took me a really long time to get through it but I enjoyed the second half a lot more!"

I remember reading this last summer and thinking it was a bit of a spin on Little Women. its not exactly one to one on that but that was the vibe for me.

If it helps, your current read The Fourth Wing (and its sequel Iron Flame) were both really fun books in my opinion. I liked guessing the twists and turns that series has.

Courtney wrote: "Elementary music teacher here so this made my heart so happy 🩵 funny enough I don’t LOVE reading books about music haha!
😬😬😬

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Amy Winehouse is one of my musical inspirations, so I loved the book..."

I think the last music related book I read was this https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... that my friends lovingly called the Hamiltome.

I also get increasingly annoyed with books about libraries after working in libraries for so long. It makes sense to want to read something different. I hope your current reads are at least fun and interesting to you.

Oooh! Add to this music-themed list, “Symphony of Secrets” by Brendan Slocumb! It’s so good! It prompted me to go back and read his other book, “The Violin Conspiracy” that someone else here mentioned.

Grace wrote: "Courtney wrote: "Elementary music teacher here so this made my heart so happy 🩵 funny enough I don’t LOVE reading books about music haha!
😬😬😬

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Amy Winehouse is one of my musical inspirations, so..."


Yes I feel that I want an escape!! I just finished Emily Wildes Encyclopedia of Fairies and I enjoyed it and now I started The Collected Regrets of Clover which is already captivating me!!

My brain needed a fluffy read, so I have just completed The Cheat Sheet .

Just finished
The Infernal Machine by Steven Johnson

I finished Sense and Sensibility and The Candy House this past week. I really struggled with with both books for different reasons, but both were for book clubs so I had to push through.

I’ve started Southern Man, Greg Iles’ newest book and it’s very compelling so far.

Hi, all! I just finished The Guest List by Lucy Foley and Absolution by Alice McDermott. Was planning to re-start Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo next but instead I think I'll pick one or two of these music-themed suggestions!

Courtney wrote: "Elementary music teacher here so this made my heart so happy 🩵 funny enough I don’t LOVE reading books about music haha!
😬😬😬

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Amy Winehouse is one of my musical inspirations, so I loved the book..."

Courtney wrote: "Elementary music teacher here so this made my heart so happy 🩵 funny enough I don’t LOVE reading books about music haha!
😬😬😬

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Amy Winehouse is one of my musical inspirations, so I loved the book..."

I've updated your count! I really liked Emily Wildes Encyclopedia of Fairies, I can't wait for more from the author!

Mirkat wrote: "My brain needed a fluffy read, so I have just completed The Cheat Sheet."

I've updated your count! We all need a fluffy read sometimes or even oftentimes-no shame here!

Noreen wrote: "Just finished
The Infernal Machine by Steven Johnson"

I've updated your count! Keep on readin' on!

Jaybee wrote: "I finished Sense and Sensibility and The Candy House this past week. I really struggled with with both books for different reasons, but both were for book clubs so I had to push through.

I’ve sta..."

I've updated your count. I understand the struggle of having to finish a book I don't especially love for book club, but we do what we have to do for book club, right?

Jessica wrote: "Hi, all! I just finished The Guest List by Lucy Foley and Absolution by Alice McDermott. Was planning to re-start Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo next but instead I think I'll pick one or two of these..."

Jessica, I've sent you a message, we need to verify which Jessica you are and then we will your books to your count!

I have just finished a great mystery _A Shameful Murder_ by Cora Harrison I might read the rest of the series as well.

Grace wrote: "Courtney wrote: "Elementary music teacher here so this made my heart so happy 🩵 funny enough I don’t LOVE reading books about music haha!
😬😬😬

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Amy Winehouse is one of my musical inspirations, so..."
Similarly, I get tired of fiction set in NYC because it seems that almost half of US books are set there, and it gets boring, especially when I already know the city fairly well. Plus I sometimes get the books mixed up!

Jessica wrote: "Hi, all! I just finished The Guest List by Lucy Foley and Absolution by Alice McDermott. Was planning to re-start Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo next but instead I think I'll pick one or two of these..."
Did you see Alice McDermott when she spoke at UAlbany a few weeks ago? it was mostly about Absolution. She is always great to listen to. I just picked a copy up at the library today.

Today I finished Before the Coffee Gets Cold , a Japanese time-travel book.

For week 2 I finished Mama's Boy by Avery Flynn. Then I read one of the books of this week's list - The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce. It was interesting to flow through the years in a British vinyl record shop.

I love the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series!

I’ve finished 4 books so far since the challenge began:

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

not music related but i just finished The Guest by Emma Cline! really fun read, will be puzzling over the ending for a few days at least.

I wanted to keep with the theme so I pulled off two books on my TBR shelf- one was the Queen in Comics! and one was the Prince in Comics!. While I learned a lot about both musicians/bands, I didn't like the back and forth between illustrated chapters and narrative chapters. In addition, I read Alicia Williams' new one called Mid-Air and volumes 2-4 of a lovely manga series Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 1.

Finally getting back on track! I read Be Gay, Do Comics for Week 1, which does have the issues of tone- and quality-consistency inherent in many anthologies but likewise serves as a great look and reminder of just how broad and multi-faceted the LGBTQ+ community truly is. A lot of it is memoir, including a piece about folk-dancing from the Gender Queer maestro emself Maia Kobabe! But also if you're interested in learning about less-widely-explored elements of LGBTQ+ history and culture but looking for a sort of sampler-platter of subjects to give you a lead to start digging into (queerness and historic Islam, queer protests and civil disobedience in the decades before Stonewall, queer parenting in Mayalsia, queer individuals in history who deserve to be read more about, etc) I absolutely recommend this.

For the music theme, I've just picked up Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band!

This week I finished Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley and Eat a Peach. They were both fine - in the 3-star region - memoirs about work, albeit creative and back-breaking work. I like novels about/set in the workplace, but haven't found a lot of them, thus these non-fiction books.

These were both fast reads. Nothing earth-shattering, but interesting and possibly good for summer, atlhough reading about working around Death Valley during one of the hottest periods we have had in Albany was a little uncomfortable.

Late to comment but I’m 2 books down so far! Good Material, by Dolly Alderton (which I actually finished on 6/30), and I just finished The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo this morning.

Neither are music themed! But if someone is looking for
a music themed book, I recommend The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by my friend Elissa Sloane! If you liked Daisy Jones and the Six, AND you’re a 90s kid, you’ll
definitely enjoy it!

I finished All Fours by Miranda July, really liked it.
Now reading 2 short ones in hopes of catching up.
The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind (free little library find) and maybe Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica

None are music related but I recommend all books by musician John Darnielle.

Spencer wrote: "I finished All Fours by Miranda July, really liked it.
Now reading 2 short ones in hopes of catching up.
The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind (free little library find) and maybe Nineteen Claws and a Blac..."

Spencer we are on the same page! I have just a little bit left of All Fours and I recently read The Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle (did you see TMG when they came to Empire last Spring?).

I actually had started Nineteen Claws earlier this summer but didn't finish it before it was due back to the library. The stories are great, but each one really leaves you staring at a wall.

Elizabeth wrote: "Spencer wrote: "I finished All Fours by Miranda July, really liked it.
Now reading 2 short ones in hopes of catching up.
The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind (free little library find) and maybe Nineteen ..."

Wow, that's a lot of recent overlap! I also don't know how I feel about Nineteen Claws, might not continue. I didn't catch TMG at Empire but I have seen them a few times over the years. Were you at that show?

Hello all,
I feel this summer reading group is great. Everyone has such interesting comments and thoughts. I have been reading the Millennial book series. It has been interesting and lite reading but enjoyable. My reading partners are our 3 Cats,
Mr. Stripes, Miss Rocki, and Miss Luna.

Spencer wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "Spencer wrote: "I finished All Fours by Miranda July, really liked it.
Now reading 2 short ones in hopes of catching up.
The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind (free little library find) a..."

Sure was!

I like Agustina Bazterrica, but will say her short stories have the same problem that Tender is the Flesh did for me, which is that they all feel like a stellar beginning where once a twist is introduced the story is immediately over. At some point I'll return to the collection, I'm not a big short story reader to begin with; I like a lot of time to get attached to the characters.

I managed to finished “The Final Girl Support Group” by Grady Hendrix and “The Husbands” by Chandler Baker even though it was a very busy work week for me! I’m hoping I can finish up Britney Spears’ book this weekend in between coaching and a family reunion. Fingers crossed!

For Weeks 1-2 I read The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin and The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis