Calli - I gave up on The Paris Apartment fairly early. I didn't find any of the characters interesting. And there's so much else out there to read.

I read a couple Lucy Foley books last year. I enjoyed the first one and then felt the second one was almost exactly like the first one, which was a disappointment. Same character types etc.

I’m 2/3rds of the way through my reread now, and I had forgotten a surprising amount of the details of the book. I remember the characters and impressions and the cliffhanger but that was about it.

Well, hi, all. I've got a plan to read 23 books on 2023. Probably laughably few for some of you, but, hey.

I figure reading in here will boost my plan, so I'm going to scour for some recs. That KS in advance!

Right now I'm reading a pretty lackluster book called Dragonfly by Leila Meacham that was gifted to me at Christmas, but I'm almost done, so I'm going to persevere.

The tl;dr - every character is a Mary Sue, and nothing is earned.

I listened to The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson while I was driving back and forth a couple of times at Christmas time. The science was riveting and the mechanations of that world were pretty fascinating to me - the intermingling of academia and commercial endeavors -- though he sometimes got a bit... I dunno, puerile?... with interpersonal stuff. (I don't think I've ever had to spell that word out before. It was hard.)

I've been really lucky in my fantasy reading this month.

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb: If I had to elevator pitch this, I'd call it Jewish Good Omens in early 20th century NYC, and it's so charming and sweet.

Saint Death's Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney is a rather long and twisty story of a rather sunny-natured necromancer with a literal allergy to violence.

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo is Old Hollywood with fae and dark magic.

Oh, hey, I picked up a sample of Saint Death’s Daughter - I think because of a review but I don’t actually remember how I came across it. Anyway, good to hear you liked it! Adds some weight to its entry in the what-to-read-next lottery

I really enjoyed When the Angels Left the Old Country. It was less Good Omens-y than I thought it might be (no apocalypse, for one thing), but I didn't mind. I thought it was well-plotted and the specifically Jewish theology of the angels and demons was really interesting to me. And I appreciated how joyfully queer the story is without feeling anachronistic. I predict many Buffistas would like it too!

I finally finished my reread of Ninth House and OMG I had forgotten so much. I knew Sandow and Belbalm were the bad guys and Darlington was in a Hell dimension, but that was about it. I guess that’s what you get for reading like your life depends on it during a pandemic and not really taking any time to reflect on any of it. I’m hoping to start the sequel tonight.

I’m relieved I’m not the only one, sj.

Oh, good-t! I’m relieved too. I’m going to read other things for a couple of days before starting the sequel.