Waiting for New & Notable Book Club to start and discuss this book which was an extremely complicated one to read- lots of disjointed characters that all have a tenuous thread back to a single person. Well written and if you take it as just a bunch of short stories it's quite enjoyable but try and remember who's who and your brain will start to hurt.

Sitting at the Biltmore Estate by the French Broad River with this Asheville based book. Not loving it so far but I'm only on page 37 so I'm sure it will get better!

I take it back. This was the perfect book to read while in Costa Rica! Great story! Has anyone figured out why it's called State of Wonder?

I'm starting to question my choice of reading this book while on vacation in Costa Rica. Things are getting scary!

I enjoyed this book! Which is hard to do considering the subject matter: hospice nurse treating a curmudgeon professor while at the same time dealing with her three tour Iraqi vet PTSD husband. The third plot line, which I almost skipped reading but am so glad I didn't, is about a Japanese pilot that bombs Oregon during WWII. Who knew?! It all comes together nicely in the end. Try this new author. His other book "The Curiosity" is good too!

I just couldn't finish it. Too disjointed. Too many characters that I just didn't care about. Sorry Ann Patchett!

I just can't seem to get away from the classics. I love them all, this one included. And, super secret maybe, I happened to see an ARC of the rerelease of the sequel at my local bookstore. I'm so excited!

"...the prospect of a world still transfixed by a U.S.-jihadist war in 2020 is the least likely outcome. In fact, what is happening in the Islamic world ultimately will not matter a great deal. If we assume that the upward trajectory of U.S. Power remains intact, then 2020 should find the United States facing very different challenges." Such a fascinating book!!!

"The morning breeze billowing the chintz curtains smelled of the sea..." Totally living this book as I read it!

Visiting a friend, stumbled upon a used and collectible book store in an old barn behind a dilapidated house on Martha's Vineyard. Me: "Oh my god, have you ever read 'Shadow of the Wind'?" Friend: "No!" So, I buy it for her as a gift only to get back to her house and find she already had a copy, dusty and sitting on an end table in a seldom used sunroom. I love that! Good books are hard to avoid!

Two flights and two chapters in I'm excited for geography and literary magic to meet!

My husband read this book to both our kids when they were little. They have all talked about it and mentioned it so many times that I felt like I needed to read it. I am not a science fiction fan so I get bogged down in the technical stuff but I have to say the story is compelling, the characters are likable and memorable and the plot keeps you moving along. Great book to motivate kids to love science and learn about space.

Unexpected surprise on this one. Such an unusual writing style that I did not think I would like it or be able to get into it but I enjoyed it! Short semi-disjointed chapters. Topics are tossed and tumbled throughout. Characters are memorable once you remember who she's talking about. Like I said, unusual read but I'm glad I read it!

Unexpected surprise on this one. Such an unusual writing style that I did not think I would like it or be able to get into it but I enjoyed it! Short semi-disjointed chapters. Topics are tossed and tumbled throughout. Characters are memorable once you remember who she's talking about. Like I said, unusual read but I'm glad I read it!

A great first novel that highlights the odd but perceptive combination of pregnancy with small town dramatics. I enjoyed it!

I have read three of Sara Addison Allen's books. This one, though memorable, was my least favorite. I don't want to give anything away so I will just say that the story is engaging but doesn't become interesting until the very end, if that makes any sense at all.

Sorry for the cheesy add-on to the photo. I just couldn't help myself. :) I thoroughly enjoyed this short, sweet novel of a young autistic girl and her "Sophie's Choice" decision about her scruffy stray dog whom she names Rain, because, of course, it's a homonym.

Enjoying this incredible story while hiking (and hammocking) the Rattlesnake Lodge Trail. My husband fell asleep before he could start Anthony Doer's "The Shell Collector" book of short stories. :)

"Even though he knew it was a hallucination Jay felt the old familiar anger lock into place again. Jay could barely remember a time when he wasn't angry at someone. His parents. His school. Himself. And most of all, there was Joe; Joe who had vanished one day without warning or reason..." So good!

Danny Ellis invites you into his horrific yet heartwarming childhood in the memoir of his upbringing in an Irish Home for Boys. At once cringing and at other times uplifting his story will leave you wanting to get on a plane to Ireland just to see where this all took place.