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| Belgrade, Serbia |
I did a hike at the end of July for eight days, and on that hike I read at least a book a day. During the day, I'd listen to an audiobook, and at night, after setting up camp and eating, I could easily read half of a book. However, I won't lie; since then, I have been in a bit of a reading slump, so to speak. In the third quarter of 2025, I DNFed at least five books, and there were at least three more that I only got a few minutes into and just didn't feel interested, but did not give them DNF credit since I barely even started them.
The other thing is that I started a book that was 1,200 pages long and although interesting, it was SO LONG, and it kept me from starting another, so it definitely impeded my progress. However, I finished it finally, and it ended up providing a lot of interesting information after all was said and done (it was this book: The Eighth Life, recommended by Tobia, about multiple generations of the same family, set in the country of Georgia).
Despite some hiccups, there have been a few good reads in the last few months! But, instead of just listing the good ones, I will give you three good, and three I wanted to like but didn't.
THESE WERE GOOD!
Heartwood by Amity Gaige. I don't really need to say much here, as this book has been praised by many (Lisa, Birchie, etc.) already. TLDR: Appalachian hiker goes missing, police woman starts looking for her. We love all the characters, and we want them to win. (5 stars)
The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany by Gwen Straus. The title says it all. I am fascinated by this part of history and the fact that this was (a) true, (b) about women, and (c) an interesting take (told by the great niece of one of the women, who is not a writer, but wanted to get this part of history in the books). (5 stars)
The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah. This is about a woman born of Palestinian parents who is living in the US and is a teacher in a school that gets shot at by a radicalized alt right. It is a moving story about her journey into Islam, her struggles with living surrounded by people who judge her for her hijab, including some of those close to her, and how she copes with it all. (5 stars)
Don't worry; there were other good ones, but you will be hearing about them in my yearly book wrap up! I can't give away ALL the spoilers at once!
I WANTED TO LIKE THESE BUT DIDN'T
The Crash by Freida McFadden. Not her best work. I am usually entertained by her stories, but this one was a bit rote and just did not do it for me. If you want a better one, try The Teacher or The Inmate. (2 stars)
The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton. I tried. I tried again. I did it for Elisabeth. But I just could not get into it! I liked her other books (Forgotten Garden, Secret Keeper, The Lake House) so maybe I was just not in the right mind space? Anyway, I DNFed it in the end.
Radical Candor by Kim Malone Scott. It's a female boss, who is large and in charge, and successful. One who has tips so that we can all be large, in charge and successful. Who doesn't love reading about that? Well, just add a bit too much name dropping, and company name dropping, and it starts to remind me of some of the bros I worked with in the finance industry. Did you know that she worked for Apple, and for Google, or that she just happened to be talking to Steve, you know Steve, right? Steve Jobs? and Sheryl? Sandburg? DNF.
So, tell me, what is one great book you read this month (or quarter) and one that you wanted to like but didn't?
I don't remember if I've told you this before, but I almost always listen to audiobooks or podcasts when I hike. I keep feeling like I *should* take the headphones off and be One With Nature, but it's a delightfully guilty pleasure and I don't want to give it up. Mind you, I'm hiking for a few hours at most, so it's a bit different than hiking all day everyday for eight days.
ReplyDeleteI was reluctant to read Heartwood since I'd had a previous DNF with that author, and I'm glad that I got over that because of course I loved it. Did you listen to it on the big hike or was it afterward?
The Nine is going on the TBR.
I countersign on the DNF for Clockmaker's Daughter. The only thing that I liked about it is that the setting was Birchwood Manor, which is what I used to call my single gal house on Birchwood Street. After a certain point I skimmed it, which did not pay off because the ending gave me the ick. I loved some of her other books, so in my mind this was just an outlier.
I read the description for Radical Candor, and (1) it's also giving me the ick, and (2) I would not want to work for anyone who fit the description of being a kick-ass boss. I'm putting it in on the "never gonna read that" list.
What was a good book and what was a book that I wanted to like but didn't? Easy answers! My love is Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell, and my "everyone else likes it but I don't" is Broken Country. I DNF'd but listened to the Sarah's Bookshelves spoilers episode.
I think that as long as you are not listening to your audiobook in nature OUT LOUD, you go girl. I usually will hike for a little while in the morning without it so I can hear the dawn chorus, and then when hiking, I only put one earbud in, so I can have the birds as a background to the book. Two birds, one stone (pun intended!) I would not get half as much reading done if I did not read on hiking trips! As for Heartwood, I think the answer is...I did not read it while on a long hike, but did read it while walking/hiking around town and/or on the bus. I also do a lot of audiobook reading on the bus, as I cannot always focus on my book, but can listen and stare out the window still! I just put Nesting on hold.
Delete1200 pages wow. That is a huge chunker of a book.
ReplyDeleteI just read two beach reads in a row and it was lovely! Now I'm reading City of the Night Birds, which is all about the Russian ballet. I'm into it but I don't love it. I had a whole string of five star reads but I wouldn't necessarily recommend them to you as I don't think they would be your thing.
It was a huge clunker. As for your five star reads, I think sometimes I like them, but you are right, our crossover is a little slim. I just can't get into a lot of character driven novels. I need closure, Nicole!
DeleteIt is crazy to me how certain books strike a chord and I think it's because I read them at the right time. I really enjoyed The Clockmaker's Daughter BUT I think that was because it was my first Kate Morton book. The Secret Keeper was sooo much better, but I read that a few months later.
ReplyDeleteI have The Nine and Heartwood on my TBR and am just waiting for them to come in (I'll be waiting a while for Heartwood as it is a POPULAR book right now).
A book I really loved this quarter was Good Dirt. A book I wanted to like but didn't love...Small Things Like These. It's won all sorts of awards and accolades, but it just didn't do it for me. Also, Under the Harrow (ditto with awards and accolades, but didn't do it for me.)
Interesting! I actually have Small Things Like These on hold and I did get it once but did not get to it so my loan lapsed so I put it back on hold and am waiting. Now I am unsure! I have not read Good Dirt! I did also read Alive and enjoyed it a lot, but I think I had actually already read it! I am not sure if it was that or another very similar one, but either way, I enjoyed it this time!
DeleteYour mention of “Radical Candor” reminds me of another book in that vein (except the opposite purpose, i.e. it is more of an expose of tech bro/ette/girl boss culture), “Careless People,” by a former FB/Meta exec which I’ve been meaning to read. Putting it on hold!
ReplyDeleteI’ve definitely been abandoning a lot of books lately. They aren’t terrible, but they aren’t drawing me in and a lot of the contemporary fiction I’ve tried lately is kind of repetitive/trite in terms of storylines and styles. I’m such a critic, ha. A book I was disappointed by recently was “Same As It Ever Was” by Claire Lombardo. Loved her previous book (“The Most Fun I Ever Had”), but this one was wordy with an excessive backstory too painfully slowly revealed to hold my interest.
A book I enjoyed (maybe not “great,” but good) was The Midcoast by Adam White. Twisty family drama with a lot of interesting regional details. The last “great” book I’ve read lately (although pre-this quarter) was “Ask Again, Yes” by Mary Beth Keane… plot-wise it gets a little soap operatic but it is elegantly/beautifully/masterfully written and was a breath of fresh air after a lot of “meh.”
I actually enjoyed Careless People because it felt like she gave it to us more straight rather than boosting everyone up. I totally agree re abandoning books! I just can't get past the first few chapters and I lose interest fast lately.
DeleteI read Ask Again Yes and liked it! Four stars!
I thought I would like the new Emily Henry novel as her other books have worked for me but I DNF’d it fairly early on! I really enjoyed the new TJR, though. A book club friend said she didn’t like it and thought it was written by AI but I gave it 5 stars (Atmosphere).
ReplyDeleteWow 1,200 is a door stop of a book!
I have had Atmosphere on hold for-EVA! But I am looking forward to it. Did you feel that any part of it was not written by a human?
DeleteI have Heartwood on reserve at the library. It shouldn't be too long before I get my hands on it because I'm second in line now. I DNF'd Here One Moment by Liana Moriarty in August. I thought the premise sounded great but I couldn't get into it.
ReplyDeleteI gave Here One Moment four stars (out of five) but I really cannot even remember what the book was about! In one ear and out the other! I did enjoy Heartwood and hope that you do too!
DeleteOh goodness. I've had a spate of DNFs recently, too, and I hate that. Right now I'm listening to a collection of short stories (Single, Carefree, Mellow) and it's good. I'm reading Society of Lies on my kindle and it's fine, but I don't feel any urgency to get back to it. My kid and I are listening to Johnny Tremain, which is excellent, but I only get 30 minutes of it a day, if I'm lucky and she is interested in listening. I'm reading two books to her: Wild Dark Shore, which I LOVED so much, and which she is kind of meh about, and The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which she is also kind of meh about.
ReplyDeleteI have not answered your question. The best book I've read this month was The Correspondent. SUCH a good book. I listened to it and the audiobook was excellent.
Wow, The Correspondent has great reviews on GR! I had never even heard of it, so thank you! I am going to put it on my list. Other than that, I don't think I have read many of the ones you mentioned. I did read Wild Dark Shore and thought it was good...oh, and wow, I have read The Witch of Blackbird Pond but it has been ages!
DeleteI've not read any of the books you mention, but some of them sound really good. I'll have to add them to my list. I wanted to love The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store and I sort of did once I started listening to it/got through the first chunk. I found it started slow. I liked Crow Mary so much and I expect to like Heartwood - a book that I just started yesterday but already really like.
ReplyDeleteI did not love the Heaven and Earth GS...actually no, I take that back, I struggled through Deacon King Kong and so did not read H&EGC because I felt it could be more of the same (Deacon also started slow! I finished it and actually thought it was good once I was done, but it took me forever to get through it!) I hope you like Heartwood!
DeleteI also really enjoyed Heartwood. It was really good on audio!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read a ton of great books recently, but some from last month were Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez, Bad City by Paul Pringle, and The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett.
A book I thought I would love but didn't... Broken Country! I was so peeved with the main character.
I also enjoyed Bad City; it was interesting, wasn't it? I have had the Road to Tender Hearts on hold for a while and am looking forward to it. I gave Broken Country four stars but am not sure why...I remember the dog getting shot in the beginning but not much else! I need to keep better notes!
DeleteThe Eighth Life always comes up when I google lists of very big books to read and I always really want to read it. Maybe I'll pick it as my big book for the winter...
ReplyDeleteI've started Heartwood and am tearing through it - partly because it's really well written a plotted, but also because I got it on a three week loan with no renewals, so there's a sense of urgency there.
I like the Radical Candor podcast - I find lots of good takeaways there and they have insightful guests - maybe this is an example where one might as well just listen to the podcast rather than read the book? I do feel like that with a lot of non-fiction/self help books - that if I look up the author's podcast (or podcasts where they've been a guest) I get the same content and often in a more streamlined way.
This month I read/listened to Project Hail Mary and that was a really good time for me. I read Emily Wilde's Eincyclopeadia of Faeries and I can't remember why I thought it would appeal to me because it was a bit of a struggle bus. I just didn't understand the world building at all and all the characters were smug.
I really enjoyed Project Hail Mary! I also liked The Martian; I found that they were both great books. The Eighth Life was interesting and talks a lot about the history in a part of the world that I think many North Americans do not have as much knowledge about, so I liked that, but it goes through several generations of one family and I find that kind of book sometimes drags for me at times (I don't know if you read The Covenant of Water but I felt similarly about that book! Too long! Wrap it up!) I agree re Heartwood; it goes quickly as it is well written!
DeleteThe best book I've read recently is Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier. And, this wasn't super recent but over the summer I read Kindred- really wanted to love it, but didn't. I didn't hate it and I did finish it. For me, it just didn't live up to the hype. I just started The Mirror Man by Lars Kepler, and it's good so far!
ReplyDeleteMy Mom really enjoyed the Anomaly and I read it but thought it was a little strange! I liked Kindred though, but read it without knowing about any Hype; in fact, I had not even heard of it and I just picked it up randomly and so maybe that helped! I know there is a movie (TV show?) out now, so perhaps your timing was just off?
DeleteBased on Jenny’s rec, I read and loved The Anomaly. I think you would love it. A lighter (but not totally light) read was Say You’ll Remember Me, which I finished today. And now I’ve just started The Seven Husbands of Victor Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reed. I’m maybe 40 minutes in (listening) and so far it’s really good.
ReplyDelete*Evelyn* Hugo
DeleteI thought the Anomaly was okay, but very strange! I did like Evelyn Hugo though! I read it when I was hiking in Canada several years ago and it really made my hike go by fast! I have liked most of her books, although the older stuff is not as great (for me) as the newer stuff. Have you read Atmosphere yet?
DeleteNo, I know nothing about Atmosphere! I know people have posted about it, and loved it, and I read those posts, but have forgotten everything. HA.
DeleteI have never read Kate Morton but it's on my list for someday. But maybe not clockmakers daughter.
ReplyDeleteI really liked The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbinson. It was just... nice. My favourite book of the summer actually.
I also liked the new Emily Henry (Great Big Beautiful Life) and the new TJR (Atmosphere)
I have had Atmosphere on hold for a long time and am looking forward to reading it. I am just so-so on Emily Henry though. I put The Other Side of Now on my list!
DeleteI'm not a person who can listen to books. Hearing other people read makes me fussy. Plus, I like to sometimes linger on passages and reread a few here and there, savouring the language or whatnot.
ReplyDeleteI loved The Wager by David Grann (nonfiction) and Orbital by Samantha Harvey. I'm enjoying, currently, Meet Me in Another Life by Catronia Silvey, which is almost like a set of linked short stories comprising the same characters in different times/ages. And I just got a new book, Dark Renaissance by Stephen Greenblatt (nonfiction) about Christopher Marlowe and his life during Shakespeare's era, but it has to wait until I read Jon Meacham's And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle.
I'm reading more nonfiction lately; contemporary fiction just isn't doing it for me.
The Abe Lincoln book sounds interesting; I remember reading a biography on Thomas Jefferson when I was a young child and really enjoying it. I used to go and visit my grandmother on my own when I was a kid and I remember reading it when I was at her house as take home homework for school (which I enjoyed!)
DeleteI am happy to hear you tackled The Eighth Life. It is a challenge but it open ups so much more questions and gives such a great glimpse into history. I bet it's a book you could read over and over again and learn something new (not that I will. It is really long.).
ReplyDeleteI am also happy to see The Beauty of Your Face. I really enjoyed that book and it put a different spin on it.
I'll be excited what other books you went through.
Right now I am fighting my reading slump. I start so many books and def or just have them sit. I my mind can't handle any literature now. I would easily dive into romance to take my mind off but I wanted to have a bit deeper reading this year. But I am contemplating to just go with what speaks to me. Sigh. Hope you are getting out of your slump sooner than later.
I think sometimes you just need an "easy beach read" and that's okay! I am getting out of my slump, but it has taken a few quick and easy reads to do it! I did learn a lot from Eighth Life and it was nice also to learn it so close on the heels of my being in Georgia. I like learning things without it feeling dry and the book did the trick!
DeleteI wanted to like Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but I DNFed it pretty quickly. Oh, well. At least I didn't sink a lot of time into it. I read The Correspondent, which is a fictional epistolary novel in which a grumpy old woman grumps around. I loved every second of it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to hear that you were not a fan of the TJR! I will have to touch base with you after I read it and see if we align on that. As for The Correspondent, I have it on my list; I think Lisa really enjoyed it as well.
Delete