Quick Lit August 2024

Pride and Prejudice should be read in the spring; Emma in the summer. But Persuasion is for fall. This the last novel Austen completed before her death, and it’s darker and more serious in tone than her earlier works. With its themes of love, regret, and fidelity, this is my favorite Austen novel—at least some of the time. But always in autumn.
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From the publisher: "A deep penetration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche, The Bell Jar is an extraordinary accomplishment and a haunting American classic."
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From the publisher: "Athens, 2024. Olivia Nkomo has always been ambitious, smart, and an overall go-getter. Now that she’s graduated from university, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to land her dream job at the Summer Games. The first step? Securing her new internship, which will put her in the center of all the action, where she hopes to run into some of her favorite athletes. Ezekiel “Zeke” Moyo, the heartthrob star runner of Team Great Britain, is more than ready to claim his title as the fastest man in the world, following in the footsteps of the greatest athletes of all time. His future to the finish line is looking bright—despite his recent breakup with celebrated gymnast Valentina Ross-Rodriguez constantly making headlines. When Olivia and Zeke collide—literally—on the first day of training, sparks fly. As the games grow closer, so do Olivia and Zeke. But the competition starts stirring up uncomfortable memories from Zeke’s past . . . and Olivia’s internship doesn’t turn out to be what she expected. Will they be able to overcome these hurdles and achieve their dreams? Or will it come at the cost of their budding romance?"
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This was an interesting change of pace from my usual reading; I picked up the audiobook when our resident spreadsheet whisperer Donna mentioned she was enjoying the audio version. The author hosts a popular podcast and is a longtime tech reporter, but I wasn't familiar with her work when I dove in to her tale—part professional memoir, part recent history—of covering U.S. tech companies beginning in the 1990s. Swisher's breezy style and the breadth of material covered here made this entertaining reading for someone who doesn't pay all that much attention to what's happening in Silicon Valley, but would like to better understand the workings of an industry that affects all of us every day. Narrated by the author. 7 hrs 40 mins.
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This second chance contemporary romance centers on Eli and Georgia, a couple who met and fell in love when they were teenagers, but broke up five years ago under painful circumstances. Now they're back in California to celebrate the wedding of their mutual best friend Adam, and for his sake, they've resolved to pretend that everything is fine and they're both at peace with how things ended. But the truth is they never got over each other. When they're brought back into each other's lives for a week to help pull off the wedding, sparks fly. This was a delightful, smartly-written read with heart and depth; I flew through it. (Open door.)
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Dreamy and surreal, this hybrid of autofiction and speculative fiction is set in the wake of a pandemic (but not our pandemic) and features a Florida ghostwriter grappling to make sense of the world as it is now, her troubling personal relationships, and the increasing pull a VR program called ELECTRA has on some community members and her own sister. This short novel is more than a little bit weird and had me constantly thinking of Lauren Groff's short story collection Florida for its similar mood and setting. I happened to read Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar just before picking up this book and that turned out to be fortuitous timing.
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Our 15th Summer Reading Guide is coming May 14th.  Pre-order now and plan to join us on May 14th for Unboxing—the best book party of the year!

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It’s almost time for the Summer Reading Guide. Order now and plan to join us on May 15th for Unboxing—the best book party of the year!

summer reading starts May 16th

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