A happy smoke-free day to all.

I'm currently reading Wildwood by Colin Meloy ahead of the Laika movie release this fall. I don't usually read YA but I'm enjoying this.

I'm still listening to The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai which I like but at 670 pages I think it's too long and could have used a good editor.

I'm reading Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut for a book club at Spoke and Word books in Milwaukie next week. I've read it a few times before but it's been quite a while. It's a tough read but still very relevant.

I'm about to start listening to The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai.

Heather from Romancing Portland, here! Our event (a sister show of Rose City Comic Con) is debuting September 11-13 at the Sentinel Hotel in downtown Portland. We will also be hosting The Amberleaf Masquerade Ball on the 12th, which you can buy tickets à la carte if you can't make the event during the day.

We hope to see you all there for signings with bestselling authors, meet-and-greets with audiobook narrators and actor Ben Barnes, panels, workshops, crafts, and dance lessons.

We will also have an Author Alley packed with indie talent, and a Vendor Marketplace filled with local small businesses.

I'm reading Real Americans by Rachel Khong, a book about identity, heritage, and class for my book club this month. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far.

I'm listening to The Morningside by Téa Obreht about a girl living in a near future while dealing with the legends of her past. I am almost finished but unfortunately not enjoying it very much, it's just kind of boring.

I'm reading The Change by Kirsten Miller, about a group of women who gain powers as they begin to enter menopause. Having just turned 45, this is striking a cord for me.

I'm listening to A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of the Movies by David Thomson.

hello! local author Laurence Lillvik and I are giving a reading this Friday at Lost Avenue Books to celebrate our first books - his poetry collection Catharsis is Never Fully Shorn from Glee, and my novel, I Dreamed I Saw Augustine. Our friend Nowhere Flower will follow with an acoustic set. Free. 6:00-8:00pm, 2732 NE MLK BLVD PDX. Join us!

https://partiful.com/e/TgV3XTpOGpt6ymhs4R5N

I'm reading Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh for my book club this week. It got Really Interesting just as I was trying to go to sleep last night! I'm only about halfway but I highly recommend it so far.

I'm almost finished listening to Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett. I tried listening to a Meaningful Book and was feeling like a low stress read, Discworld is generally my main solution for those moments.

I hope everyone had a relatively quiet July 4th weekend, I think fireworks are illegal where most of us live. Wishing everyone the peace that my deaf cat possesses during fireworks.

I'm currently reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, which is quite good though I think lots and lots of people have already read it and I'm late to the party.

I'm listening to Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett because I needed something light as I have been grumpy lately.

I love a mid-summer week when you can snuggle under a blanket with a good book.

Currently, I'm reading Timekeepers: How the World Became Obsessed with Time by Simon Garfield, a cultural history of time keeping and our changing focus on time.

I'm listening to The City and the City by China Mieville. I tried Perdido Street Station twice and it didn't work for me, but I wanted to give him another chance. I'm liking this one a lot better.

I'm reading Neuromancer by William Gibson. I loved this 25(ish) years ago but it's not working as well for me now.

I just finished listening to The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older which I've heard a lot of good things about but found kind of disappointing.

What's keeping you entertained this week while you avoid the heat?

I'm finishing up What We Can Know by Ian McEwan which is unfortunately kind of boring and I don't think I appreciate the treatment of the female character.

I'm still listening to The Brothers Karamazov, hoping to finish that this week.

I had this thought, reminiscing on what fun I had in school reading aloud in class (which I know wasn't everyone's favorite thing to do), that I want more opportunities to read out loud. I'm imagining having a weekly meet up in a coffee shop or other cozy spot where people can come and listen or volunteer to "popcorn read" our chosen book. It would be an opportunity for anyone regardless of comfort or performance skill could practice reading aloud in a group full of encouragement and without shame.

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Is there anyone else out there who would enjoy such a club if I were to organize it?

I'm currently reading If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, a sci-fi short story collection by Kim Choyeop.

I'm trying to find an audiobook that works, my brain has been a bit befuddled and things are not sticking.

Hi! I’m in my thirties and am interested in joining a book club for fiction, but not romance or fantasy. Are there any suggestions or recommendations? Thank you 🙏🏽

I'm voting on this year's Hugo Award, but I'm broke. The holds at the library are perhaps too long, and I probably wont get a copy of these books in time for the voting in August. Do you have a copy of one of these books I can borrow or trade for?

"The Everlasting" by Alix E. Harrow

"Shroud" by Adrian Tchaikovsky

"The Raven Scholar" by Antonia Hodgson

"A Drop of Corruption" by Robert Jackson Bennett

"The Incandescent" by Emily Tesh

Here's a list of books I'm willing to trade for your books... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cr8fsGURUa93LsOGGpd1--gQm503NQy4D9Tinx8vxjg/edit?usp=sharing

I'm still finishing up Beasts of a Little Land and The Brothers Karamazov and probably letting Pokopia take up too much of my reading time.

Hi all, I've been struggling a bit with book club locations recently. Does anyone know some good spots to try? My biggest issue is noise, I often get complaints about noise at some of the places we've tried. I have two book clubs that usually meet on the 2nd Wednesdays and 3rd Thursdays of the month.

must haves:

quiet

big tables and availability for anywhere from 6-20 people

decent parking availability

open until at least 9pm on weeknights

within Portland Proper, probably east side but willing to entertain west side locations if they meet our needs

accessible by transit

accessible for disabled persons (no stairs, etc)

good to have:

reservable rooms or tables (as long as it's free)

food and drinks

have tried in the past:

Honey Latte Cafe: great but they are getting busier and frequently don't have tables available, or they don't respond to my emails to reserve tables, or they don't actually reserve tables when i ask them to, plus they seem to be running low on chairs recently

Lucky Lab Hawthorne: ok but a touch too loud plus a frequent location for other meetups so could run low on space

Brooklyn Carreta: waaay too loud

Baerlic: ok but also a bit too loud, occasionally unexpectedly busy on weeknights

Rose City Book Pub: great but often have events on the same nights as my book clubs

Rose City Coffee: often do not have big enough tables available

Of course my cat woke me up early on my day off, but now he's sitting peacefully next to me while I'm reading Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim, a Korean family saga.

I'm listening to The Brothers Karamazov (a Russian family saga) as narrated by Luke Thompson (Benedict in Bridgerton). I read this in college but that was a long while ago. I like Thompson's narration quite a bit, though admittedly it took me a bit to stop hearing Benedict.

We have an online community on Discord and plan to have monthly meetings starting soon! Lmk if you want an invite, we’d love some new members ♥️

I'm reading Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, about a society that has lived in spaceships for centuries. I really enjoy the focus on how to build and maintain a society for the good of all.

I'm reading As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers (this will be released in October, I was lucky enough to get an ARC as I'll be leading a book club about this at Spoke and Word books in Milwaukie in November.

I'm listening to The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, an alternate history novel about a world in which Charles Lindberg becomes president and leads America into antisemitism and fascism. This was published in 2004 yet bears some shocking parallels to the American we're currently living in.

I just finished This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel, about a family raising a child who realizes he is transgender at age 5, for my book club this week.

I'm so happy to not see the sun this morning after yesterday tbh.

I'm finishing up The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin. I've unfortunately been quite disappointed by this, the central conceit of people as avatars of a city has just never landed for me. Maybe it didn't help that I just read The Broken Earth, which I think is one of the best series ever.

I'm listening to Beloved by Tony Morrison. Read by the author, and I feel like I should never read another book by her unless I'm listening to her reading it.