Homer Public Library 15 in '16 discussion

What's everyone reading? After a long stint of nonfiction, I'm diving into fiction again! Right now I'm listening to Etta and Otto and Russel and James. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not as it was slow to get going, but now I'm enjoying it. The characters are plain-spoken but have great depth and I appreciate when an author can make that work.

Did you see that one of the books from our list, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, won the Pulitzer Prize yesterday? It's one of the books that nobody has submitted yet and I'm wondering if it's because the cover isn't terribly appealing.

I read The Soul of an Octopus and absolutely loved it. I learned so much, not only about octopuses, for instance the word for more than one octopus is never octopi but octopuses. Why you might ask? Because that would make part of the word Greek and part of it Latin. Who knew? The characters were enchanting, especially the ones who live in sea water. The humans were pretty entertaining, too. I also read If You Lived Here, I Would Know Your Name. I thought I got the title from the reading list, but sure can not find it. Was it mentioned in a previous discussion? However I found it, I also enjoyed it. The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of ConsciousnessIf you Lived here I would know your name

Anne wrote: "I read The Soul of an Octopus and absolutely loved it. I learned so much, not only about octopuses, for instance the word for more than one octopus is never octopi but octopuses. Why you might ask?..."

Hi Anne, If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name was on last year's list. So you're not imagining it. :)
So far all the reviews for The Soul of an Octopus have been great. It's on my ever-growing list.

Thanks, Teresa. However I was not part of last year's program. Maybe I looked at an ol book list, who knows. But it was fun to read so definitely not time wasted. If anyone needs more reading recommendations, because there is no such thing as too many books on your list, I am newly involved in a book discussion group in Boise, ID. Last month's entry Brown Girl Dreaming was great. A free verse memoir about growing up in both the north and the south during the 60s and 70s. We found lots of tie ins to our current immigration issues.

I've fallen seriously behind on my reading, so when I was at the library a couple of days ago I picked up one I knew I could polish of in short order. Agnes and the Hitman was a fun romantic comedy! The characters were pretty well drawn (I immediately got a picture of the policeman as Tommy Lee Jones in the Client) and the plot engaging. I recommend it if you need something lighthearted.