Weekly Reading Round-Up

I had a stack of books I was saving for slightly later in the summer, but couldn’t resist digging into them now. So, this week, I treated myself to:

— Amy Poeppel’s Small Admissions (which just came out in paperback), a smart and snarky combination of social satire and coming of age story, in which, in the wake of having both her romantic and grad school expectations crushed, a twenty-something takes a job in the admissions department of a Manhattan private school and learns about herself in the process– while dodging crazy parents;

— Susan Meissner’s As Bright as Heaven (coming spring 2018), a riveting and wrenching historical novel about a family in Philadelphia during the 1918 flu pandemic, struggling to survive in the midst of a world turned abruptly upside down, as death stalked the streets, schools and churches were closed, bodies piled up too fast to bury, and a person you waved to today might be gone tomorrow.

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What have you been reading this week?

22 Comments

  1. Christine on July 21, 2017 at 11:23 am

    I read “The People we Hate at the Wedding” and was really disappointed. It started off with a lot of potential but the plot went nowhere then just ended and the character development was really poor. Everyone was very one dimensional.

    Now I’m reading “The Breakdown.” She’s totally being gaslighted. Just trying to figure out who is doing it.

    • Lauren on July 22, 2017 at 12:05 pm

      If you’re in a mood for gaslighting, also try Carol Goodman’s “The Widow’s House”. Not that there’s a shortage of gaslighting books out right now!

      • Christine on July 22, 2017 at 1:04 pm

        I’ll have to add that one to the list! I also have the one about Cabin 10 coming up soon.

  2. Miss Eliza on July 21, 2017 at 6:35 pm

    I’ve been re-reading A Wrinkle in Time because I swear, no matter how many times I read that book I never remember what happens. But I’m MOST excited about my next book… which might just be an ARC of The English Wife!

    • Tara on July 22, 2017 at 6:59 am

      I’m teaching A Wrinkle in Time to my eighth-grade class this year. My mom always talks about how it was her favorite book growing up. What do you think about the upcoming movie?

      • Betty Strohecker on July 22, 2017 at 9:13 pm

        I haven’t seen anything about the movie. Is it going to be quite different from the old movie? I used to show it to my fifth graders since it was a Newbery Award book. It was my son’s favorite book also.

        • Tara on July 23, 2017 at 6:22 am

          Honestly, all I’ve seen is the trailer. It’s coming out this March. The star-studded cast includes Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, and Chris Pine.

    • Lauren on July 22, 2017 at 12:05 pm

      Aww, thanks, Miss Eliza! I can’t wait to hear what you think.

      • Miss Eliza on July 22, 2017 at 6:00 pm

        Tara it’s kind of why I’m reading it, I watched the preview and was like, I don’t remember that… and Lauren, seriously, I’m so excited!

  3. Cecile on July 21, 2017 at 6:36 pm

    Enjoying Murder At The Breakers.

  4. Pat Dupuy on July 21, 2017 at 6:54 pm

    I just finished Where the Dead Lie. By CS Harris. I love that series. Next up is The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffith.

  5. Betty Strohecker on July 21, 2017 at 9:04 pm

    Am about to finish Jennifer Robson’s After the War is Over, follow-up to Somewhere in France.

  6. Eirene Ritznore on July 22, 2017 at 12:26 am

    I just finished reading A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn and am now reading Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Next on the docket is Susanna Kearsley’s The Shadowy Horses. Any read that one?

    • Susan Willis on July 22, 2017 at 1:13 am

      I have read it and it is a lovely read. I enjoy Susanna Kearsly’s writing so much.

    • Tara on July 22, 2017 at 7:00 am

      You definitely should watch the movie Bright Star. Amazing.

    • Mary Lou on July 22, 2017 at 9:00 am

      Yes-I enjoyed it greatly, although having read it twice found it was for different reasons. I like the story, love the history, and the spooky aspects. The characters appealed to me differently each read. Mark of a good book and mark of events in my own life shading what I read?

    • Lauren on July 22, 2017 at 12:06 pm

      “Shadowy Horses” is one of my favorite Kearsley books! It’s so Mary Stewart-y.

    • Betty Strohecker on July 22, 2017 at 9:17 pm

      I love the Shadowy Horses and then read The Winter Sea and The Firebird. The Firebird is a great follow up.

      • Eirene Ritznore on July 24, 2017 at 1:01 pm

        Wow! Thank you so much for all the replies! I did not realize there was a film, although now I’ve read the preface of Bright Star the book, I see it was the author of the screenplay who wrote it. And thanks for all the recommendations of Susanna Kearsley books. My TBR pile just increased a few!

  7. Mary Smith on July 22, 2017 at 2:43 am

    Just finished Camilla Monk’s Spotless series. I enjoyed it…just a bit strange…. but must have liked it enough to read 4 books… very hard to describe. Started Margaret Maron’s Sigrid Harald series last night. I’ve read all the Judge Knott books, which I highly recommend, but had never read these. So many writers these days, and you are NOT one of them, Lauren, write with an 8th grade vocabulary and 6th grade grammar… Maron is not one of them either, and it’s nice to read well written, educated stories.

    • Lauren on July 22, 2017 at 12:07 pm

      Thank you so much, Mary! That’s such a compliment. And now I have to go look up the Maron books….

  8. Tara on July 22, 2017 at 7:01 am

    I’m reading King Lear and Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas.

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