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Sometimes we go hard at Virtual Book Club with a series or a long book, and next time we settle in with something shorter.  This has been our habit for 2021, but it may or may not last, particularly because we haven’t picked the full list of titles for the year, but there are more below.  Regardless of the page count or genre, we hope that each book we pick will be a fun, engaging read.  Some of them may fall into the “Beach Read” category, but that feels very different for each reader.  We’d love to hear what that means to you when you join us for our discussion of Emily Henry’s Beach Read on June 18th at 7:30pm Central Time!  SIGN UP HERE to join us for a book about bookish subjects, and romance, set at the beach!

Welcome to another edition of Nikki’s readerly confessions.  I have finished exactly one book for book club on time since December, and that was not May’s selection of American Gods by Neil Gaiman.  (It was March’s Don’t Overthink It by Anne Bogel.)  I have hopes for June and forward, but only time will tell.  It took me an extra week to finish American Gods and an extra two days to finish last week’s book review title, A Thousand Ships (I stand by everything I said in the post and award it four solid stars).  Now, maybe, I can jump back on track, but I also have a Harry Potter to finish this month before I take a break from Kindle Unlimited to catch up on some library holds (yes dear readers, it’s gotten worse, but that’s a tale for another day).  

Despite zero attendees at Virtual Book Club having finished American Gods, we had a fun discussion of the book.  I’m still very intrigued at how the various pantheons were meshed into one universe as varied peoples immigrated to America, and how they interacted with each other and with Shadow.  While we, as a country, are in a state of returning to move about the land, I adore the idea of how roadside attractions are places of power in America, similarly to how temples and holy places are in the lands where these deities originated.  I’m trying to determine how to feel comfortable, or at least comfortable enough to push on, in getting my family, including two children under 12, back out into the world slowly and visiting the most powerful place in the country seems like a great idea.  (Is now when I should follow up with a confession that while I lived within sight of it for six years, I’ve only been for a wedding and haven’t gotten to explore it?  Also, kudos to the bride for traversing the hanging bridge – link for scale – and going to the cliff’s edge for some pretty amazing pictures.)

Since finishing the book I’m even more interested in the ideas of it and adding Gaiman’s follow up, Anansi’s Boys to my TBR.  I’m also more interested in Rick Riordan’s works and imprint because I want to follow the thread of how the demigod children of the not Greco-Roman pantheons were treated.  

American Gods was a long, strange trip, but it was well considered, felt thoroughly researched, and was an interesting take on a Brit moving to America combined with the consideration of how the religions of the peoples who have moved here over the centuries have continued, or not, and what did or could have taken the place of those religions both in our culture and in our hearts.  I give it a solid 4 stars.  I’m not likely to read it again, but I’m so very glad I did and I’m super intrigued at the prospect of watching the show.  

Now, for what you really wanted, what’s next for Virtual Book Club?  

On Friday, July 16, we present, More Maas, wherein the book on deck is A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses #4).  It’s been four months, we’re considering a reread already, and no, we are not sad.  Come with all of your feelings!

On Friday, September 10, in honor of Banned Books week later in the month, we’ll discuss The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments.  Yes, we’re doing multiple books again, however, the combined length is not significantly longer than May’s one title at 736 pages, and it’s very likely some attendees will have already read the first title.

October, dear readers, is for witches.  If you haven’t already recommended Shelby Mahurin’s Gods and Monsters (Serpent & Dove #3) to your hometown library, we highly recommend doing so before it releases on July 27!  I’m not ready to confirm our pick just yet, but it’s topping the list currently, depending on just how long our reread of Serpent & Dove and Blood & Honey takes, plus how the holds lines are looking.  If you have another witchy title we should consider, let us know in the comments!  

What are you looking forward to reading for a “beach read” this summer?

~Nikki 

Truly, I enjoyed my re-read of American Gods and I am so here for checking out the Starz series while I still have my current subscription. There’s nothing better than remembering where you were when you read a book the first time, and it was right after I graduated from UTC and I had just a little time on my hands between working two jobs and the part-time work that was searching for one’s first professional job in a recession. (Spoiler alert, a few months in and I moved back home with mom and dad because I couldn’t afford life, even with a roommate.)

Reading this book certainly made me want to go out and about and people super hard, too. Especially back in the old college stomping grounds. I recently did a drive up to Madison to help a good friend out and that drive through Illinois…it’s a pretty boring ride, especially in the winter when there’s not even cornfields to catch your eyes! So, I really felt for Shadow during that whole part of the book.

Where will you travel this summer and take your next ‘beach/vacation read’?

~Ashley

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