21st Century Literature discussion

Why read alone when you can buddy read? All members are welcome to suggest a buddy read (BR) in the comments below.

◾️ 21st Century Lit is obviously our focus, but we also welcome BRs for other books our members are keen to read together

◾️ If you find at least one other buddy, sort out a start date. If you are planning:

▪️ A last minute BR: create your own discussion thread within this "Buddy Reads" folder, choose the "New Topic" option to start a discussion and name the thread by "[month] [year] - [book title]" (e.g., May 2025 - The Flat Woman)

▪️ A BR in the future: A mod will re-confirm with you the month prior. If at least 2 members are still interested, we'll create the discussion thread and include it in our monthly newsletter

◾️ If the book has previously been read by the group, we will re-use the earlier thread. Our index is HERE

@Rose & Nadine - Regarding Hotel World by Ali Smith, after next week my reading schedule is open. Whichever date is best for the two of you will work for me.

If anyone else is interested, feel free to jump into the conversation :D

Beige wrote: "@Rose & Nadine - Regarding Hotel World by Ali Smith, ... If anyone else is interested, feel free to jump into the conversation"

Oh, what a great read. I'm eagerly awaiting Glyph at the end of this month. I've been reading one of her books every month for over a year.

Beige wrote: "@Rose & Nadine - Regarding Hotel World by Ali Smith, after next week my reading schedule is open. Whichever date is best for the two of you will work for me.

If anyone..."

Great! I will put it on hold today but it will be at least a week before I can pick it up. So maybe we can start in February?

@Rose - February is great for me. Let's see what Nadine says.


@JP - One book a month, for over a year sounds like an interesting way to experience an author. Which one surprised you the most?

And I'm going to have to have a rethink. If I like an author, I have tended to put their works behind a figurative emergency glass, I want to always have them to look forward to. But I'm getting older, haha! Last year I started to compromise with one a year from some of the authors on my favorites shelf.

Our second suggested buddy read is The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch. Which sounds like one of difficult to classify books. Literary Memoir? Experimental memoir? Auto-fiction without the fiction? I will stop there 😸

Because of the movie coming out last week, my library queue is an estimated 3 months. Is anyone interested in reading this in late April/early May?

Yes, April/May sounds great to me for The Chronology of Water.

Rose wrote: "Yes, April/May sounds great to me for The Chronology of Water."

That would be wonderful.

I will attempt Hotel World in February, but my schedule is tight February/March so I may be overestimating my free time.

Rose wrote: "Beige wrote: "@Rose & Nadine - Regarding Hotel World by Ali Smith, after next week my reading schedule is open. Whichever date is best for the two of you will work for ..."

February is fine with me!

Debi and I are planning to read Ali Smith's short story collection, The Whole Story and Other Stories in June. You're all welcome to join us.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Oh my goodness, yes! I'm in!

Thank you, Beige, Hi Rose. This is going to be great.

Absolutely. This is The Year of Ali Smith for me, where I'm attempting to read all her books, roughly in pub order, but I'm always happy to jump ahead for a buddy read.

Nadine in California wrote: "Rose wrote: "Beige wrote: "@Rose & Nadine - Regarding Hotel World by Ali Smith, after next week my reading schedule is open. Whichever date is best for the two of you w..."

I think my brain has gone soft! I thought we had a thread for the Hotel World buddy read, but I don't see it anywhere and I can't remember if we had a discussion. I feel like I've talked about it a lot, but maybe the discussion was entirely in my own head!

Nadine in California wrote: "Nadine in California wrote: "Rose wrote: "Beige wrote: "@Rose & Nadine - Regarding Hotel World by Ali Smith, after next week my reading schedule is open. Whichever date..."

Nadine, here you go: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

@Rose - I was hoping you'd join us! Yay. Also, thanks for sharing the Hotel World link

@Nadine - I feel like the group "search discussion posts" works really well these days. After you search you can narrow down with a radio button to look for keywords only in the thread title.

But also, I think keeping track of reads is a challenge all around, so we are beta testing a new group that lists multiple Literary group's schedules all in one spot. You can see it here...
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

I will probably join in for Ali Smith The Whole Story and Other Stories. I'm a little backed up and extra busy this month so I am not making commitments but I love the author and haven't read this one.

Hey all,

We have another buddy read option for June. victoria marie and I plan to read Will and Testament by Vigdis Hjorth (2019) and you're all welcome to join us :D

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I was going to suggest a buddy read Pulitzer Prize fiction winner, Angel Down by Daniel Kraus here, but we were pretty filled up so I suggested in the Newest Literary Fiction group for June. If anyone is here that isn't there and interested in discussing the book in June feel free to join in. The book is not one I would usually read but because it won the Pulitzer, I feel I should give it a go.

I will probably join, Sam. I bought it in January after it was on the best books of NY Times, but then was a little bit discouraged by the fact it's one long sentence. A buddy read could help me persevere...

Ruben wrote: "I will probably join, Sam. I bought it in January after it was on the best books of NY Times, but then was a little bit discouraged by the fact it's one long sentence. A buddy read could help me pe..."

My thoughts exactly.

Hey all,

I'm looking forward to our June reads and I also anticipate I'll be around to chat more 🤞

I was wondering though, I was planning to join 3 of our buddy reads...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
My Tender Matador, Will and Testament & The Whole Story and Other Stories. Since we have no buddy reads planned yet for July, should we move one over?

I was thinking we shift Will & Testament to July.
@victoria marie - if you're still interested, does that work for you?

Hi Beige,

I'm planning to read all three of the buddy reads you mentioned, but would be just fine with moving one to July - my June dance card is overflowing, and I'm still finishing my last May group read! I've put all of these on hold but don't have any of them on hand yet.

Thanks, Rose! Glad that works for you too :D

Beige wrote: "I was wondering though, I was planning to join 3 of our buddy reads...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
My Tender Matador, Will and Testament & The Whole Story and Other Stories. Since we have no buddy reads planned yet for July, should we move one over?

I was thinking we shift Will & Testament to July.
@victoria marie - if you're still interested, does that work for you?"

I'll be in on My Tender Matador in June.

I just read another Vigdis Hjorth and quite liked it, and I have access to the audio of Will & Testament, but as it seems it is for others, July would be better for me for that, so I'll probably join if it's in July.

Ulysses
A qualified Sherpa is standing by.⛰

Mark wrote: "
Ulysses

A qualified Sherpa is standing by.⛰"

I saw your suggested guide over at the short story club and if I decided to dip in I'd take your advice. However, I may try Joyce's short story 'A Painful Case' - I'm thinking of ending this year with a story a day challenge.

I bought a copy of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao however many years ago, but I never finished it. Perhaps someone would like to join? I'm in no rush.