Reading Update

I forgot to post a Friday Reads on Friday, but as it turns out, I would have had no idea what I was going to do on Saturday. I got a wild hair and just went through my shelves and took off books I was interested in reading right then. I put them on top of one of the books I started a couple of weeks ago and just started reading. I started with the first chapter or so of each book and went in a cycle. When I'd read a chapter in each of the five books, I started over. I spent a lovely couple of hours this way. I realize this now means I'm reading, like, 7 books, but in this moment, I'm okay with that. Here are the 7 books I'm currently reading at varying rates of speed.

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo - This is a bizarre retelling of The Great Gatsby from the perspective of Jordan Baker who is an adoptee from Asia who is a golf pro. I think I heard she's also gay, but I haven't got that far in the book. This is my work book. I read it at lunch if I'm feeling like reading.

Jane and the Year Without a Summer by Stephanie Barron - This one is really sad. It's set during the year that Jane is in Cheltenham for a water cure for whatever it is that is ailing her. The illness that would eventually kill her. We are 100 pages in and as of yet, there is no mystery. This is my bedtime book. I read a few pages before bed at night.

Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Crosby - This is one I started several weeks ago, and then felt it was too gritty for my mood then. I'm feeling a bit stronger now, so I've picked it back up again. Bug used to be a getaway driver for a crime gang. He got out of the life, but he misses it. He definitely misses the money. He gets a chance to do one last job and he feels like he has no choice. His mother needs money for her care facility, his daughter needs money, his boys need braces, etc. I'm almost a third of the way through it. He's planning the heist with a couple of brainless idiots who will probably ruin everything.

The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse: An Extraordinary Edwardian Case of Deception and Intrigue by Piu Marie Eatwell - I'm only a quarter of the way into this one. So far, the duke, who was an excessive recluse (think most of his massive house was underground with secret tunnels, but most of it was unused) has died without issue. His second cousin comes to inherit and is happy for 20 years. Then some crazy woman in town says her father-in-law was actually the duke and didn't die in 1864, but faked his funeral and went on to hide out as his true person, the duke. If this is true, then his oldest legitimate son would be the true heir.

American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes, and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffery Toobin - When this whole thing went down, I was 3 months old. I remember studying it a little bit in college for my psych degree. What a weird situation. The description of her kidnapping is terrifying. I'm only a third of the way in. So far she's been in a trunk, then moved to another car. We'll see where we go next, and how they convince her to join their little group.

Long Bright River by Liz Moore - The actual physical book of this is large. It's taller than all the other books, it's pages are very thin, and it has nearly 500 of them. I feel like I read and read and read, and only got 5% through the book. It's an excellent 5% so I'm excited to keep going. Mickey is a cop. On the night we start out, she's training a new partner. They get a call of a body found in a field where bodies are frequently found. She worries that it's her sister, Kacey, who is a drug addict and sometime prostitute. This one isn't, but she realizes the hasn't seen her sister for awhile. No time to think about that now, this particular body is a murder.

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn - Before she died, Jamie introduced me to the Bridgerton TV show and I was hooked. I haven't watched past the first episode, but I knew I had to read the books. I started this one during my "book flight" Saturday, and then just kept reading. I'm 75% through it and I think it's even better than the show. The show added some dramatic plot lines that are unnecessary and a little gross. The book is fabulous Regency romance. Just what I needed.

So there you go. I figure I'll finish Bridgerton first and then decide which one to work on. Or I'll just go in circles until one truly captures my attention.

Have you done this "book flight" situation? "Try a Chapter" as it were? Would you try it? Tell me your thoughts.