Wow, the first book club of 2021… in March! I’m glad it was warm enough to brave the courtyard. It was great to see everyone, even though we weren’t all together (partially my fault, I feel terrible.) I’m looking forward to a future of warm weather, longer daylight, and everyone together again.
This month was a mix of short stacks with I lost my reading mojo, and tall stacks with a few forgotten plots. But here’s what everyone has been reading:
Christiana read The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker about a pandemic, and a dystopian island of isolation that Matt is borrowing, The Wall by John Lancaster. Also The Memory Painter: A Novel of Love and Reincarnation by Gwendolyn Womack, and The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhader that I’m borrowing and possibly crying through this month. Most impressively, she’s started the sequel to Shantaram, The Mountain Shadow by Gregory David Roberts… goals for Ross and me for sure.
Matt read The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. One of my favorites.
Mariya is working her way through Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling. She also read a memoir I can’t wait to read, Group, How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life by Christie Tate.
Ashley skimmed through No Exit by Taylor Adams, which has been passed on to Matt. Soon everyone in the group will have read this one. Who knew it would be such a fan favorite, though Ashley wouldn’t agree. She enjoyed Christiana’s pick, The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. Her strange (but unfortunately topical) fiction pic this month is Ring Shout by P. Djeli CLark.
I read The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate (also The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel which was borrowed from the library and a much better book.) I finally read The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, on my shelf for years; also Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell and Memorial by Bryan Washington. I really enjoyed The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, but I read it in December so I’m glad Mariya is borrowing it so she can help me remember the details next month.
Ross, we all missed you. Shana and Hugh, I was really looking forward to seeing you. I’m sorry I didn’t see your message until it was too late. I hope we can catch up next month.
Thanks again everyone. On to April!
