Books on the Nightstand discussion

Sorry! I was on vacation. While I was gone I finished listening to Among Friends, *** Suder: A Novel, ***and A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck ****
I read and laughed out loud to Dave Barry's Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass—How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up *****

Today I finished former Labor Secretary Robert Reich's book Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America. I gave it 5-stars. He does an excellent job of explaining how the U.S. came to the income inequality it's experiencing now as well as other issues confronting us.

Finished Persuasion by Jane Austen

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished The Sirens. I read this book for my book discussion. It was GMA's book pick for April, 2025. I never warmed to this book and gave it only 3 stars.

My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley

My Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished two books yesterday. First was Fanny Flagg's newest book Something to Look Forward To: Fictions. It's primarily a book of short stories that I felt was not up to Flagg's past work. I gave it 2 stars.
I also listened to In the Hands of the People: Thomas Jefferson on Equality, Faith, Freedom, Compromise, and the Art of Citizenship which is a book of quotes by and about Thomas Jefferson. I think it would have been better if I had listened to it with my eyes in the book. I gave it 3 stars.

Finished reading The Book of Unknown Americans which was a Booktopia book in 2015. I really liked this book giving it 4.5 stars.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Broken by Jenny Lawson

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished reading Among Friends. I had listened to this book about a month ago but did not give it a star rating mostly because I was confused about what I heard, so I thought if I read it... I got it this time, but am still confused about the ending which I felt was very nebulous. I give it 3-stars.
I also finished a "children's book" Hansel and Gretel. I was eager to read this when I saw that Stephen King wrote the story to accompany illustrations by Maurice Sendak.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Started but did not finish 'Open Season' by C.T. Box (I traveled to the Wyoming Big Horns in Sept) but-ICK! Dismal depiction of rural life in cowboy country. Creepy criminals AND law enforcement! So I began Ariel Lawson's "Frozen River" instead.

Finished two

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

My Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

At last! I finished the final volume: At last! Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 3: The Complete and Authoritative Edition (Volume 12)
My 3-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Listen to Kamala Harris‘s book, 107 Days. I gave it four stars. Harris reads it herself, and does a really good job. I love behind the scenes.

I listened to (while reading the Kindle version) of Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space for my book discussion tomorrow night.

My 5-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds, I haven’t written my review yet, but I will definitely be giving it 5 stars.

Finished The Compound by Aisling Rawle

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A road trip and an audiobook about to be due with a long wait list presented me with the perfect conditions to finish two books today.
The first was Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America which I started on the road trip and finished today. The book is about the town I live in. It made me angry and fired a fuse to do something more than I have to see what changes can be made. My 5-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The book I listened to today: Who Knew by media mogul Barry Diller. This one I gave 4-stars: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished My Beloved today. I have not written my review yet, but...
I couldn't wait for the next Mitford book came out with the previous 14 volumes. Many of those I listened to on my 35 minute ride from the school where I taught and home (or vice versa). I loved listening to John McDonald's soothing voice help me detox after the day at school. I was very disappointed to discover that a new/different narrator voiced this volume. His voice did not give me the same tranquil feeling as McDonald.
In addition, I felt this volume ended up being a bit preachy. I know they are a religion based story, but I felt at one point that I was being hit over the head - not through the entire story, just toward the end.
It certainly seemed that I had to blow a lot of dust off my brain to recall the various characters and their stories.