Quick lit

It's that time of the month again (not that time of the month again) when I link up with Modern Mrs. Darcy for What We're Reading Lately!


This month...


Psalms, Titus and Proverbs

Photo by Lalaine Macababbad on Unsplash

I finished Psalms, zoomed through Titus, and started Proverbs.


Titus 3:2:  "Malign no one...be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men."  Uncomfortably convicting.


Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

I briefly debated leaving this one off my list because I didn't technically read it; I listened to the audio version, read by Kaling herself.  But I feel that my list needs all the padding it can get, so here we are.  Besides, that still counts, right?


I so appreciate Mindy Kaling's voice, by which I mean her persona and message, although her reading voice was very pleasant to listen to as well.  She's funny and refreshing and seems like the girl next door that you could be besties with.  By the end I felt like I had skated on the edge of my raunch tolerance long enough, though.  Glad to read (hear) it, glad when it was over.


Oh, but also--how lovely to hear someone else lament about the trials of having the name Mindy.  I am not the only one who endured years of adults, convinced they were clever, asking about Mork.  Thank you, Mindy Kaling.  We can totally be Mindy friends.


The Witch Elm by Tana French

Ooooh, this was good.  I devoured it in like two days.  Very interesting take on the unreliable narrator.  It kept me guessing for a while, although I did get close enough in the end so when whodunit was revealed I wasn't surprised.


Dead bodies, suicide, family dysfunction, and contested wills, but what bothered me the most was the inevitable romantic breakup!  Alas.


Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

This is really fun.  I think it's the title that really reminds me of Mr. Lemoncello's Library.  But it's also about a giant puzzle.  I have just a few chapters left that I hope to finish off as soon as this post is done....


I do wonder how much of the tech stuff is true.  Can computers really do all the stuff in the book?  And is that an accurate portrayal of the Google campus?  Maybe someone techie will read it and fill me in.


And bonus surprise:  the cover glows in the dark.  So, if you leave it on your nightstand overnight, you might want to flip it face-down.  Unless you want to blearily wonder in the middle of the night (sans glasses) what is glowing and what you could've possibly left plugged in next to you.


The Young Carthaginian by G. A. Henty

I just started reading this to Lizzy and Caleb for school, as we're learning about Carthage.  I read it before, either to or with one (or both?) of the older kids.  It's about a young man in Hannibal's army, learning from the best, so to speak.  Sadly, our library copy does not have nearly as cool a cover as this.


Now I'll go see what happens to Mr. Penumbra.  Happy reading!