what I'm reading... currently....

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Written in 1940 by a member of the renowned Algonquin Round Table, this account of the daily happenings in Washington, DC, during the American Civil War is surprisingly relevant and easy to read. Historical figures are off their pedestals and the city is described without glory.  Gossipy, dense, and thoroughly researched, it's a classic.

This memoir is now a movie that I stumbled into on my steam.  It is about a driven young American woman in a foreign school who has a complicated family relationship and a complicated relationship with the concept of God.  In these stormy times, I find myself reaching for books that distract or offer a hint of "there's more than this."  This book is the latter. 

I started to watch the series (Netflix? Prime?) inspired by this book but stopped because I wanted to read the book first.  When it popped up on the "Librarian's Choice" shelf as I checked out at my local library, I knew it was meant to be.  Good read, consumed in one day.  I liked the different "meet cute" premise and that I actually had a moment or two of doubt about the ending for some characters. Some plot events were a stretch in plausibility, but in general, it was an entertaining read.  

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing - I didn't expect to like this book, but I picked it up at the library on a whim because everyone seemed to be reading it.  I'd also gotten down a YouTube rabbit hole on the apparent Denver Reads conference debacle and how Ms. Yarros made herself accessible to readers during breaks, etc.  I read Fourth Wing in 24 hours.  I was also impressed that the main character demonstrated symptoms of Ehlers-Danlos, which Ms. Yarros has herself. Someone close to my family has this, and it was impressive to see a character not weaponize her illness as people in real life sometimes tend to do.  Divergence with dragons.  Not my usual genre but I bought Iron Wing. Enough said.  

Not that it is wrong or dirty or embarrassing to admit.  There's an entertaining series (five books) that I'm into, a romantasy, I guess you would call it.  I am continually yanked out of the story by its punctuation, however, and I don't want call out the author. Or maybe it's the editor who should get the ping on this one.  NO USE OF COMMAS.  For instance, "I'm not sure what to do with that mother."  Took me three reads to realize the character was tallking to his mother.  

No "find out more" on this one. 

This may be my book of the year. True crime, Alabama history, and an iconic writer.  Three sections, each of which could stand on its own in Casey Cep's clear, descriptive language, but together? Wow.  Just wow. 

My son turned me on to this series. He'd been listening to it in long car rides, and he was so enthusiastic, I jumped in.  I'm almost caught up to him.  Eric Steele and the Alpha program are 

t e r r i f y i n g.  Especially when the headlines today reported new Russian nuclear devices being discovered.  So could see it all happening.  

Sean Parnell's visceral descriptions of events and character's reactions pull you in with clean, relatable language.  I chatted with an Army veteran about the books the other day, using the example of Steele remembering to open his mouth when a grenade was about to blast near him, and my friend said, "Oh. PTSD. I forgot to do that once. Blew out my ear drums." 

I'm hooked.  Cried at a character's funeral. Good writing. 

I'm a Cornwell fan (except for the one he did about Shakespeare--- couldn't get into that one).  Just started the Nate Starbuck series set in the American Civil War.  Rolled through 80 pages before breakfast; just what I needed!  I think I grew up in the county next to "Faulconer" County, Virginia.  

I'm not much of a fantasy reader (hangs head), but Peng Shepherd's The Cartographers is pulling me into the genre of magical realism.  

I'm generally a silent reader.  Bill Bryson makes me laugh out loud.

This is my fondest hope, because I'm a generalist.  Daniel Epstein sets out to make it so.  

I bought it used, I'll admit, and it didn't start off well that e v e r y blooming page sported copius underlines.  I finally erased most of them but the spell was broken. Then the constant name-dropping--- just couldn't do it, kids.  It was more a guest book of Chanel's life than anything.  I have a lovely, now clean copy I'll happily give you.... 

Stumbled onto Mary Kingswood's Silver Lining Regency mystery series thanks to Amazon Kindle Unlimited.  Read them.  All of them.  Then go find more. 

No disrespect to Suzanne Collins--- I just am not able to get into this prequel to the Hunger Games series at this time. Maybe it's Harry Dresden's fault---

Harry Dresden, Wizard. 

Tore through the 2007 tv series starring Paul Blackthorne and featuring---what?!--- Claudia Gray in one episode.  Now I've started on the actual book series of which there are many to keep me busy for a while.  Dropped it on Kindle so I have no reason not to read it in the middle of the night without turning on the lights---

I was preparing a book care package to send to a quarantined friend, but this one didn't make it in the box.  America's Women by Gail Collins 

During the month of April 2020, Arlington Poet Laureate Emerita Katherine E. Young is posting poems from the forthcoming anthology Written in Arlington, which showcases the poets and poems of Arlington, Virginia.

Ultimate literary geek virtual event.  I'm reading In the Land of Giants: A Journey Through the Dark Ages by Max Adams AND doing a virtual walk along Hadrian's Wall with My Virtual Mission.  You get to track your virtual progress along a map of the Wall walk, with Google Streetview where available, and I naturally threw in the reading element.  I have 12 weeks (knew I would be a slow walker) to get to the west coast of England from Wallsend.  UPDATE:  I got my medal!

Special to me because I grew up there, Seasons of War by Daniel E. Sutherland recounts the War Between the States as seen through the eyes of the residents of Culpeper, Virginia.  It's not about the military battles and great leaders but about how a small town lived through the war and occupation by friendly and foe. There are so many family names on the pages that are familiar to me, I feel as if I am glancing through my high school yearbook. 

I was on a binge recently, and knocked out (savored) Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonder, Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses, and Elizabeth Strout's Oh William!   Whew! a lot of brilliance to surface from...