Great book, took a long time to read, descriptive dialogue. For more matured readers.??????

Loved! Could not guess the ending - super fun and well written!

I listened to this audiobook of short stories on Libby after it popped on my radar as a July Indie Next pick. This is a collection of 11 tales set in the south that cover a lot of content: pregnancy, violence, sex and intimacy, church, hair, Blackness and more. Nearly all of the vignettes felt forgettable and most seemed unresolved in my opinion. The narration was solid but the stories didn’t captivate me. My hands-down favorite from the bunch was “How Does Your Garden Grow?” which is a memorable and unique depiction of fibroids.

Lucy Barton tells us all about her ex-husband’s life, including the collapse of William’s third marriage, the anxiety of having a father who was a Nazi POW, and his discovery that he has an older half sister in Maine. Of course readers also learn more about Lucy and her past and current relationships with William. Great beach-read for fans of Strout’s other books.

awesome

3.5 stars. This was a decent YA read that follows 17-year old Madeline in a sort of coming-of-age romance. Her brother is engaged to a woman who Mads fears may not be the right fit. This book is about her family interactions as well as many firsts- dates, kiss, and more. I liked the premise but felt like this book lost its way slightly in the love triangle aspect with potential suitor Connor and Marco. I appreciate that this book was not totally expected and messy at times in a real life sort of way. I listened to an ARC audiobook on NetGalley.

I like everything, I can't choose.

Spy camp by Stuart Gibbs is a very good book about theirs kid named Ben Ridley is on spy school but the bad organization called SPIDER is trying to get him to work for them but he rejected it so now they are trying to find him to kill them. But they have to get to a place 500 miles away where SPIDER is. Van they make it alive and still takedown the enemy?

3.75 stars rounded up. I find this book very hard to rate as much of the merit comes from its status as a classic. Mark Twain’s novel is full of adventure, boyhood mischief and depictions of the racist antebellum Southern US. I’m very familiar with the story and probably have the strongest memory of the Elijah Wood portrayal on film. There’s nostalgia that comes with taking that trip down the river with Huck and Jim and revisiting their stops along the way. Yet, during this reading, I was shocked at the preponderance of vernacular and ear-piercing slurs (specifically the n-word) that made it rather hard to listen to on audio. If this book were written today as historical fiction, I’d probably be rounding down the rating, but I can’t ignore where this text stands in history. Tom Parker’s narration felt rather fast-paced, but his voice felt authentic though his occasional vocal clicks stuck out a bit.

Read book 2 times through.