62 Comments

ok, SO! How many of you have already picked this one up??

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LOVED Ministry of Time. Would make an amazing 8 part series. It’s an amalgamation of so many things… a little bit Outlander/Dr. Who/Ghosts UK/ dare I say even a TINY bit of why people love Edward Cullen in Twilight 😬. And SO MUCH MORE to flesh out in the dynamics of politics, war, displacement, and relocating ourselves.

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YES! 1000%.

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So so good! I love her weird brain 😅

It was fun to realize half way through the book that we never learn her name.

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I have it on hold at the library. I'm next in line!

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Closer than ever befooooore!!!

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Put it on hold at library after summer reading episode. Waiting for it to come in from the library. #2 in line. Hoping people read fast so I can get my hands on it before a planned trip.

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My queue was sooooo long. 27 weeks so I ended up purchasing it. I am way too impatient for 27 weeks haha

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27 weeks is TEN YEARS

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I requested it at the library and its due back on 6/14! Can't wait.

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I just finished TODAY because I wrote it down from the summer reading episode. Not a spoiler but I loved it. SEVEN DENISE STARS/ Glowing Doors

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Ordering from my local indie bookseller today! So where shall we send our voice memos???

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LISTEN, if you want to sent voice memos, I'll take em! gretamjohnsen@substack.com

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I’m reading this right now after hearing the recent interview on the Code Switch podcast. So, so good! I’m dying to see what happens, but also don’t want it to end.

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I love this suggestion! I will listen to that episode too

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ooh I can't wait to listen to that! such a perfect book for code switch

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I’m about halfway through, and I cannot stop thinking about the average weight of a cloud! I really like the book so far, but no mater how it ends, I feel like it will have been worth it just to learn this “very interesting fact”.

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Looking forward to reading this, currently reading The Book of Love by Kelly Link.

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I had trouble getting into this one, but I want to give it another try soon.

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I think I would have had a much harder time with that one if I hadn't done the audio! It does take a minute to find its groove.

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It was a bit of a slow start for me, but I think it’s worth revisiting, I’m invested now!

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Long live the book club! But my fear is this…without the weekly podcast to get me through, I will literally never put my laundry away lol

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Putting laundry away is overrated. But you could do it while listening to the book club pick!

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Sounds like a good idea!

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Probably my favorite book of the year so far. It grabbed me on so many levels: immersive storytelling, deep connection to specific times and places, fully realized, multi dimensional characters… I could go on and on but at bottom it was truly gripping and the issues and the stakes felt so real…

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EXACTLY!!

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I’ve been saving this one for the 4th of July holiday, but finding it hard to wait! And Nothing to See Here is also on my all-time fave list!

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omg I loooove saving books for future holidays! but also TREAT YOURSELF NOW

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It’s on my list now too, along with others’ recommendations. My two favorite latest reads:

Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese

Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III

Both will break your hearts and fill your souls at the same time.

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This is my next read, sitting atop my library stack! I've chosen this as my Massachusetts Center for the Book reading challenge pick for June: a book that inspired a film or TV series. Also just finished Funny Story by Emily Henry last night—delightful and charming, just what I needed.

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ooh, so fun that you get to pick the books!!

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Oh, I can see why she keeps up the eight-fold fence in place. It does definitely limit a full emotional experience. Then again, if the book had been totally swoony, I would have hated it!

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HA I feel you on that!!

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Oooh, I’ve heard so much internet chatter about this book! I haven’t read it yet but now I’m even more intrigued. Checking my library’s catalog now…

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I am patiently waiting in the CPL cue, I'll have to come back later to see what everyone thinks!

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Putting it on reserve right now!

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I loved Anita deMonte Laughs Last. Greta, I read it because of the author interview you did! I had recently listened to the podcast Death of an Artist (first season is about the artist Ana Mendieta who is the inspiration for Anita) which I highly recommend in conjunction with this book.

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Omg, yes! I read Anita de Monte Laughs Last based on the same author interview, and was honestly a little confused later in the month that it wasn’t the official Nerdette book club pick….oops! I really loved it, and will definitely be checking out your podcast recommendation.

I listened to it while traveling this spring, and it had me laughing out loud on the plane.

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WASN'T IT SO GREAT!!!

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Got audio version today and will probably be done tomorrow, loving it

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ooh I read the print but now I want to listen to the audio!!

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I’m trying to ration listens because I don’t want it to end

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I am reading it NOW. I’m kind of vacillating. At first I loved it. Now, 3/4 of the way in, I’m wondering whether having such a cerebral protagonist is sucking some of the emotion out of the book. I also think that the payoff better be good, based on the extremely lengthy buildup. I’m listening to the book on Audible, so I will be interested to hear what others thought about reading the actual pages!

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Payoff is there. I felt similarly, like the good premise was getting stretched a bit thin. Very glad I finished.

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Thank you! I will definitely finish it, just lagging a bit at this point.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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ooh, interesting! I was talking to a very smart friend recently how pointed out that part of the protagonist's chill-ness/cerebreality is likely a trauma response. Not sure if that makes it make more sense?

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Some of this is what you read, when. I just finished reading North Woods, which I loved so much that I practically rolled around in the book. This book has a very different feeling - maybe I needed a palate cleanser.

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Omg, I loved North Woods too! Read my library's copy, then went out and bought my own. Ahhh, so good.

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I finished this last night and I loved MOST of it. Their banter was perfection with their language differences…LOVED. Guinness described as spicy marmite 👩🏻‍🍳💋

The ending and how it made reveals tho….idk. I’m conflicted. 😬 the pacing threw me off too

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Oh wow I loved this one - I think it will be a re-read, but first I have to push my copy into the hands of my favourite IRL book friends :)

One small thing I really enjoyed was the way the narrator described her attraction like a sudden-onset illness.

The incidental descriptions of the state of the climate crisis just slightly in the future were a gut punch - I read them as my city was in the midst of our first record-breaking heat wave of the summer.

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I thought the premise was interesting and fun, and I enjoyed the escalation of both the plot and the characters' relationships as the book progressed. I really liked how it wrapped up as well. My only hang-up was the fact that the author/narrator set up the time travel element early as something that we don't need to understand (just go with it, she basically said), but the tension in the book is *about* the time travel element. I get why the author made this choice, but it also bugged me (every time I found myself having to think about how it all happened or was confronted with pieces of how it happened, I thought about how she said I wouldn't have to do that!). Not a dealbreaker for me, just a gripe I had with it despite liking the rest so much.

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I was pretty meh on this book, it felt a bit slow to me until the last 3/4 and THE TWIST! So I like it better overall knowing the end but still not sure it’s one of my faves of the year??

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I wanted to love it. But I felt like I wasn’t smart enough for her writing. I also felt like there was meant to be another twist that never materialized (or maybe I just wanted that)… idk! It was good! I’m glad I read it!

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I have 2 hrs left to go in the audio book, and I am using every spare second of time to squeeze in a few more minutes. Obsessed with this speculative premise, the sense that as the book moves on I understand LESS of the overarching premise of the books. The bits of history that get woven in - loving it so much! And the audiobook readers are FAB.

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I just started The Ministry of Time and I stayed up way too late last night reading! I'm hooked!

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Okay - I just finished this. I wanted to love it. LOVE it. It was described with all my book words. Quirky, rom com, sci fi, mystery, etc. But for a time travel sci fi novel, it didn’t feel plot-y enough for me. The story was great! But I wanted it to read like a movie, and it didn’t in the middle half (beginning and end were great). I think if I hadn’t been listening to it, I would’ve quit. I’m glad I didn’t, I just wish it would’ve been more action packed.

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I agree!! I wanted to love it and I did like it but it was just fine. I wanted more plot and better pacing. The middle was a slog and then I didn’t care much about the payoff at the end.

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This is about where I am. There were just too many boring parts.

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I felt some of this too—didn't quite meet my expectations based on the description. I think her writing wasn't quite for me, or maybe it was the main character?

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Alright, I'm considering this my push/shove to read this one this month!

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hahaha I would have said NUDGE but I do think you'll like it!!!!!

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