01 Surrender Your Sons
This summer stinks. Teenage Connor's elderly friend died, his boyfriend talked him into coming out, and now his mother thinks he's going to hell because he's gay, and she's grounded him indefinitely.
But Connor doesn't know that things are about to get a lot worse. Middle-of-the-night kidnapping-to-a-conversion-camp-level worse.
I don't have a bead on the tone of this one yet; Connor is a little snarky, but I believe the plot is going to include mystery/thriller elements.
(For my full review, see Surrender Your Sons.)
02 A Very Punchable Face
Has Colin Jost lived long enough to fill out a memoir with fascinating anecdotes? He started A Very Punchable Face with a story that is really his mother's (to be fair, it's interesting--she was the chief medical officer for the New York City Fire Department and in NYC during 9/11), which makes me worry that he won't have enough experiences of his own.
So far there are also a surprising number of scatologically focused tales, which I am not fully invested in.
I'm counting on enough behind-the-scenes Saturday Night Live peeks to keep things rolling.
(For my full review, see A Very Punchable Face.)
03 Simon the Fiddler
Simon the Fiddler is set at the end of the Civil War. Scruffy, hot-tempered, baby-faced Simon evaded a position in the Confederate Army for years by passing as too young...and by running away on occasion. But he's finally been conscripted into the military and is desperately hoping that his post in the regimental band keeps him out of danger.
As the Confederates' surrender looms and Simon's band plays for officers of both sides at a celebration marking the end of the war, he lays eyes on an Irish governess for a Union colonel's family. He falls hard for Doris despite their brief, indirect conversation. They part ways, but the thought of her keeps him strong during the hardships and uncertainty that follow. He's playing in a "scratch band" near the Texas coast with other big-hearted characters to try to make ends meet, but he's desperate to get back to her and figure out if the reality of Doris lives up to the mental pedestal he's placed her upon.
Jiles provides wonderful details of 1865 Texas and life at the end of the War Between the States. I'm listening to this as an audiobook and the narrator of Grover Gardner is wonderful.
Paulette Jiles also wrote two other Civil War-era historical fiction books I loved, News of the World and The Color of Lightning, as well as one I haven't read but intend to, Enemy Women.
(For my full review of this book, see Simon the Fiddler.)
What are you reading now?
Concurrently reading a young adult LGBTQ mystery, a comedian's memoir, and a historical fiction story set during the Civil War--I'm keeping the wacky reading combos going!
What types of books are you reading, and have you found that your reading habits have changed during Pandemic Times?