Welcome to Quick Lit, where we share short and sweet reviews of what we’ve been reading lately.
This month several long-awaited library holds came in. Real life bumped a spiritual memoir to the top of my reading list. And I was underwhelmed by a much-anticipated new release, but I’m carefully recommending it anyway (with caveats).
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry: A Novel
Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion
Girl Waits with Gun
Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People
Fans of the author's first memoir Pastrix won't want to miss this new one: Bolz-Weber delivers another wildly irreverent, profanity-filled spiritual memoir about how God chooses who he chooses, even if those people seem to us like the most unlikely candidates. Poignant and hilarious stories give life to this concept: in my favorite chapter, Bolz-Weber and her "token" conservative friend fire off rifles at the local shooting range. The second half lags a little but I'm glad I stuck it out.
More info →A Share in Death (Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James Book 1)
What have YOU been reading lately?
49 comments
Wow-lots on this list I want to read. (I always find my best recommendations here.) Thanks
I’ve been wavering on Girl Waits For Gun but now I’m adding it to my TBR pile. Thanks for the suggestions and inspiration. I love these link ups! Such a fun community of readers!
I just got done with Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and quite enjoyed it…. have you read it?
I read it because I heard they were making it into a movie this year…. and also saw they were making Eleanor and Park into a movie! Thought you would appreciate that!
No, I haven’t read that one yet. (And I JUST saw the news about E&P!)
I am reading Accidental Saints right now, and I’ll add the Deborah Crombie books to my list–I have the first three Louise Penny mysteries waiting for me on my shelf!
Do it! I love Deborah Crombie even more than I love Louise Penny. 🙂
that is quite an endorsement! I’m so happy knowing that my to-read list is growing!
Great list! I recently finished Our Souls at Night (Kent Haruf), which was lovely, and Pretty Girls (Karin Slaughter), which was suspenseful but a bit gruesome.
I don’t know the Haruf, but I hear you on Pretty Girls. I abandoned that one a third of the way in a month ago. So gruesome!
Now that you’ve successfully been hooked on Louise Penny and Deborah Crombie… it’s time to go for the Elizabeth George. DO IT. I mean, her books average about 550 pages each, and there are only 19 of them. And you only have 4 kids. You clearly have plenty of time to join the Inspector Lynley addiction. 😉
Hahaha! I’m still thinking about it. 🙂
You’re the second person to recommend Girl with a Gun.
I just finished Black River by S.M. Hulse. This is a short, hauntingly beautiful novel that is difficult to read at times. It will remain with me for a long while.
Looking forward to Girl with Gun and to adding Deborah Crombie to my TBR list!
Finished two books that I chose for the 2016 reading challenge: “Shanghai Girls” and “Frankenstein.”
“Take This Bread” looks like one I need to read.
I loved Girl Waits With Gun! So fun. And I read about half a dozen of Deborah Crombie’s mysteries a while back. Maybe I need to get back to them.
Several of the books you mentioned are on my radar if not in my TBR stack yet. I want to give Deborah Crombie a try. I read the first of Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache mysteries and I was underwhelmed. I need a new mystery author. My favorite of all time, PD James, passed away, so sadly no more of her wonderful Inspector Dalgliesh.
This month I have read:
The Lake House by Kate Morton. Page-turner! Loved it.
The Last Bus to Wisdom . The last novel by Ivan Doig who wrote about the West in beautiful prose. He passed away last year. This one was a coming of age story set in 1951 about a boy and his great uncle who run away on Greyhound bus one summer. Really good.
Now almost finished with The House at The End of Hope Street by Menna Van Praag. Magical realism full of mentions of famous women ( particularly authors) and books. It is a great book for bibliophiles. If you like Sarah Addison Allen, you will enjoy it. Her other book The Dress Shop of Dreams is also quite good.
Would you believe I’ve never read a P.D. James novel? If I did, where should I start?
In my opinion, some of her later ones in the Adam Dalgleish series are the best. She definitely improved as she went along. Plus the first ones were written in the 60’s and they have a different tone. My favorites are:
Devices and Desires
The Murder Room
A Taste for Death
The Lighthouse
If you don’t read them in order it is not a big deal, although you might be confused by his change in rank and his “romantic” life.
I want to hear this answer, as well
My reading habit plummeted in December, and this year I am determined to read more non-fiction, and more from my own shelves. I have finished The Green Ember by SD Smith (recommended by my grade-schoolers who loved it) and am nearly done with How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, which came in my Christmas stocking. Also reading Creative Schools by Ken Robinson who did the TED Talk on education. Once I finish those two I’m choosing a big fat novel to celebrate.
Great reviews, I’ve added two of them to my list.
I picked up ‘Girl Waits With Gun’ last fall and I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe I’ll give it another try at some point.’My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry’ is the same as ‘My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises’ right?
Thanks for sharing!
This week, I’m making my way through The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith. I have to take breaks because I’m finding it a bit graphic at certain points.
I’m also reading and loving The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (finally!)
Also reading Jon Krakauer’s ‘Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town’. It’s a tough read but incredibly well done.
I am halfway through “Maeve’s Times, In Her Own Words”, a selection of Maeve Binchy’s writings from the Irish Times. Although I have read every single Maeve Binchy book more than 1 time, I had never read any of her “columns” in the Irish Times. Many of the pieces have made me laugh aloud! Even though I am not Irish ? A must for Maeve Binchy fans! I still tear up when I think of her death 3.5 years ago.
Thanks so much for hosting the Quick Lit link up! I find myself checking out your blog weekly and am excited to listen to the new podcast as well. Currently, I am reading The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx (working through the Pulitzer Prize winners) and Yes Please by Amy Poehler. Thanks again and good luck with your reading!
My pastor gave me a copy of Pastrix to read. Once I finish that I’ll have to pick up her next book!
I received Girl Waits with Gun for Christmas, and I cannot wait to read it!! My TBR is monumental, but after reading this, I am going to move it up. I hadn’t heard about Accidental Saints, but I’m definitely putting it on my list. I loved Pastrix. Great list!
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