The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm listening to William Kent Krueger's mid-century-set historical fiction The River We Remember; I'm reading S. A. Barnes's eerie science fiction novel Ghost Station; and I'm listening to Emily Henry's newest delightful rom-com, Funny Story.
What are you reading these days, bookworms?
01 The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger
I love William Kent Krueger's historical fiction stories, and I was thrilled when I heard about this newest novel from him.
In The River We Remember, it's 1958 in a small town in Minnesota, and Jimmy Quinn, the biggest landowner around, has been found floating in the Alabaster River, killed by a shotgun blast.
Sheriff Brody Dern must face his own postwar demons when he confronts a Native American World War II veteran accused of murdering Quinn.
I'm listening to The River We Remember as an audiobook.
William Kent Krueger is also the author of The Levee, Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land.
02 Ghost Station by S. A. Barnes
In S. A. Barnes's space horror novel Ghost Station, psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has spent her career trying to understand and prevent Eckhart-Reiser syndrome (ERS).
The work is personal for Bray--and essential. The most well-known ERS tragedy ended with 29 people brutally murdered.
But when the doctor tries to help a crew who has suffered the loss of one of its own due to ERS, she travels to an abandoned planet with them--and quickly realizes they aren't telling her the full truth about what happened.
I'm reading Ghost Station courtesy of NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group.
03 Funny Story by Emily Henry
Daphne and Peter were comfortable-- both planners, reliable, and ticking all the boxes on their list of "grown-up" acts: getting engaged, moving back to Peter's hometown, buying a house, and in Daphne's case, seamlessly folding herself into Peter's life.
But when Peter abruptly breaks up with Daphne, citing his love for his childhood best friend Petra, Daphne is left reeling--and without a place to stay.
Desperate and devastated, she reluctantly moves into a spare room in the apartment of an acquaintance, "pothead" Miles. He has extra space because he was just dumped by his live-in girlfriend Petra. Who left him for Daphne's fiancé, Peter.
Daphne is a children's librarian and is always early. She hates surprises. And as far as she can tell, Miles does odd jobs and traveled around without a permanent address for months at a time when he and Petra were together. They're complete opposites. But could their shared pain lead to a friendship after all?
I'm listening to Funny Story as an audiobook (narrated by the fantastic Julia Whelan) courtesy of Libro.fm and Penguin Random House.
Henry's Beach Read was one of my favorite books the year I read it, and it made it onto the Greedy Reading List Six Lighter Fiction Stories for Great Escapism. People We Meet on Vacation was another great Henry story; you can check out my review here, and you might like to check out its spot on Six More Great Light Fiction Stories plus the five other titles on that Greedy Reading List. Emily Henry is also the author of Happy Place and Book Lovers.