Book covers of the 136 books I read in 2025:
Jump to a summary table of each book with the title, author, source, format, number of pages, when read, rating, and genres.
Ratings legend:
| ★★★★★ | Completely enthralling, couldn’t put it down. and/or More than just entertaining (e.g., educational, enlightening). Would highly recommend. |
| ★★★★☆ | Really great book in all respects with perhaps some minor flaws. Would definitely recommend. |
| ★★★☆☆ | Average. An entertaining read but probably forgettable. Might or might not recommend. |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Finished, but did not like. Would not recommend. |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Abandoned before finishing, usually because it was poorly written or just uninteresting to me. |
The books I read in 2025 — summaries
Clicking on the title of a book will take you to its detailed entry, which contains a 10-word summary, a 6-word review, a favorite quote, new vocabulary words, a description of and thoughts about the book.
| Number | Title & author | Source | Format | Pages | Duration | Rating | Genres |
| 136 | My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout |
Library loan | Large print | 193 | 12/30/25 – 12/30/25 (1 day) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, family, relationships | 135 | Juror #3 by James Patterson |
Library loan | Large print | 352 | 12/29/25 – 12/30/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, mystery, legal thriller, crime |
| 134 | The Mayfly by Ben Rogers |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 268 | 12/28/25 – 12/28/25 (1 day) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, short stories |
| 133 | Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout |
Library loan | Large print | 240 | 12/25/25 – 12/28/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, family, relationships |
| 132 | Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki |
Library loan | 288 | 12/25/25 – 12/26/25 (2 days) | ★★★☆☆ | nonfiction, business, finance, money, personal finance, self-help, personal development | |
| 131 | In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing by Elena Ferrante |
Library loan | Large Print | 160 | 12/25/25 – 12/25/25 (1 day) | ★★★☆☆ | nonfiction, essays, writing, books about books, memoir, Italian Literature, feminism |
| 130 | The Famous Lady Lovers: Black Women and Queer Desire before Stonewall by Cookie Woolner |
Library loan | E-book | 210 | 12/23/25 – 12/25/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, queer, history, Lesbian, LGBT, race, education |
| 129 | Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson |
Library loan | Audiobook | 253 | 12/21/25 – 12/21/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, humor, family, road trip |
| 128 | Safe Enough by Lee Child |
Library loan | Audiobook | 237 | 12/18/25 – 12/19/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, short stories, crime, mystery, thriller, suspense, anthologies |
| 127 | If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay |
Library loan | Audiobook | 336 | 12/17/25 – 12/18/25 (2 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, thriller, mystery, suspense, crime |
| 126 | What She Saw by Mary Burton |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 347 | 12/15/25 – 12/17/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, mystery, thriller, suspense, crime |
| 125 | A Santa Stabbing by Geri Krotow |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 266 | 12/13/25 – 12/14/25 (2 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, cozy mystery, Christmas, crime, murder |
| 124 | Peppermint Cookie Murder by Trixie Silvertale |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 238 | 12/12/25 – 12/12/25 (1 day) | ★★☆☆☆ | fiction, cozy mystery, Christmas, holiday, fantasy, paranormal |
| 123 | The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick |
Library loan | Kindle | 380 | 12/08/25 – 12/10/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, books about books, feminism |
| 122 | The Heart of Everything by Marc Levy |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 205 | 12/05/25 – 12/06/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, magical realism, suspense, family, love, romance |
| 121 | Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris |
Library loan | Audiobook | 291 | 12/03/25 – 12/04/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, psychological thriller, mystery, crime |
| 120 | Digital Minimalism: On Living Better with Less Technology by Cal Newport |
Library loan | Audiobook | 290 | 12/02/25 – 12/02/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, self help, productivity, psychology, technology |
| 119 | The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede |
Library loan | Audiobook | 271 | 12/01/25 – 12/02/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, history, Canada, inspirational |
| 118 | The Woman in Me by Britney Spears |
Library loan | Audiobook | 288 | 11/30/25 – 11/30/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, memoir, autobiography, music, mental health, family |
| 117 | The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande |
Library loan | Audiobook | 208 | 11/30/25 – 11/30/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, business, productivity, medicine, science, psychology, self help |
| 116 | The Lane That Leads to Christmas by Melanie Lageschulte |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 280 | 11/27/25 – 11/29/25 (3 days) | ★★☆☆☆ | fiction, cozy mystery, Christmas |
| 115 | Notes to John by Joan Didion |
Library loan | Audiobook | 250 | 11/25/25 – 11/26/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | nonfiction, memoir, mental health, psychology, alcoholism, parenting |
| 114 | Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith |
Library loan | Audiobook | 368 | 11/23/25 – 11/24/25 (2 days) | ★★★☆☆ | nonfiction, self help, psychology, mental health, personal development |
| 113 | No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister |
Library loan | 314 | 11/21/25 – 11/23/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | literary fiction, books about books, interconnectedness | |
| 112 | The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Uncovering Secrets, Reuniting Relatives, and Upending Who We Are by Libby Copeland |
Library loan | 294 | 11/18/25 – 11/21/25 (4 days) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, science, DNA, genetics, sociology, family, health | |
| 111 | No Conscience by Phil M. Williams |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 333 | 11/16/25 – 11/18/25 (3 days) | ★★☆☆☆ | fiction, thriller, mystery, drama |
| 110 | Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh |
Library loan | Kindle | 294 | 11/15/25 – 11/16/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | literary fiction, short stories, science fiction |
| 109 | People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn |
Library loan | Audiobook | 237 | 11/11/25 – 11/14/25 (4 days) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, Jewish, history, Judaism, religion, essays, politics, Holocaust |
| 108 | The Hush by John Hart |
Friend loan | 432 | 11/09/25 – 11/14/25 (6 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, mystery, thriller, suspense, horror, fantasy, supernatural | |
| 107 | Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle |
Library loan | 217 | 11/08/25 – 11/08/25 (1 day) | ★★★★☆ | nonfiction, memoir, Christian, religion, spirituality, faith, gangs | |
| 106 | The Women of Arlington Hall by Jane Healey |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 329 | 11/06/25 – 11/06/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, romance, World War II |
| 105 | Isola by Allegra Goodman |
Library loan | Audiobook | 346 | 11/04/25 – 11/05/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, literary fiction, France, romance, survival, Canada |
| 104 | The Widow’s Husband’s Secret Lie by Freida McFadden |
Library loan | Audiobook | 152 | 11/04/25 – 11/04/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, mystery, thriller, humor, satire, novella |
| 103 | The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens |
Library Loan | Audiobook | 306 | 11/03/25 – 11/03/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, mystery, thriller, crime, suspense |
| 102 | Nobody Wants Your Sh*t by Messie Condo |
Library loan | Audiobook | 194 | 11/03/25 – 11/03/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, self help, humor, how to, personal development, reference health |
| 101 | The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 326 | 10/30/25 – 11/01/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, witches, romance, witchcraft |
| 100 | I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett |
Library Loan | Audiobook | 247 | 10/29/25 – 10/29/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | literary fiction, humor, race, African American, satire |
| 99 | The Lost Husband by Katherine Center |
Library Loan | Audiobook | 304 | 10/28/25 – 10/29/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, romance, family |
| 98 | Never Lie by Freida McFadden |
Library Loan | Audiobook | 286 | 10/27/25 – 10/27/25 (1 day) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, suspense |
| 97 | Ice on the Grapevine by R.E. Donald |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 304 | 10/25/25 – 10/26/25 (2 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, suspense |
| 96 | The Restoration Garden by Sara Blaydes |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 296 | 10/23/25 – 10/23/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, mystery, World War II, British literature |
| 95 | The Curious Secrets of Yesterday by Namrata Patel |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 281 | 10/21/25 – 10/22/25 (3 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, romance, India, family, culture |
| 94 | Bears Don’t Care About Your Problems by Brendan Leonard |
Gift from a friend | 224 | 10/18/25 – 10/21/25 (4 days) | ★★★★☆ | nonfiction, humor, nature | |
| 93 | Trust by Pamela Kelley |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 273 | 10/15/25 – 10/17/25 (3 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, cozy mystery, romance, crime, suspense |
| 92 | Ocracoke: The Pearl of the Outer Banks by Ray McAllister |
Won in a raffle | 256 | 10/10/25 – 10/12/25 (3 days) | ★★★★☆ | nonfiction, history, geography, Outer Banks, culture | |
| 91 | Sign Off by Patricia McLinn |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 234 | 10/10/25 – 10/12/25 (3 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, mystery, thriller, suspense, crime |
| 90 | The Second Mrs. Astor by Shana Abé |
Library loan | Audiobook | 323 | 10/07/25 – 10/09/25 (3 days) | ★★★★☆ | historical fiction, romance, disaster, society |
| 89 | And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie |
Library loan | Kindle | 258 | 09/25/25 – 10/07/25 (13 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, classics, Agatha Christie |
| 88 | What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella |
Library loan | e-book | 128 | 09/24/25 – 09/24/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, novella, family, cancer |
| 87 | The Direction of the Wind by Mansi Shah |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 318 | 09/21/25 – 09/23/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, family, India, France, cultural |
| 86 | The Real Deal by Caitlin Devlin |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 359 | 09/17/25 – 09/19/25 (3 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, contemporary, young adult, LGBT, drama, mental health |
| 85 | The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve |
Library loan | Kindle | 320 | 09/14/25 – 09/16/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | science fiction, time travel, mystery |
| 84 | The Upper Room by Mary Monroe |
Library loan | e-book | 384 | 09/12/25 – 09/14/25 (3 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, African American, drama, urban, family |
| 83 | Persuasion by Jane Austen |
Library loan | Audiobook | 249 | 09/10/25 – 09/11/25 (2 days) | ★★☆☆☆ | historical fiction, literature, classics, romance, 19th century |
| 82 | My Friends by Fredrik Backman |
Library loan | Kindle | 435 | 09/07/25 – 09/09/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | literary fiction, coming of age, friendship, art, LGBT |
| 81 | As Long as You’re Mine by Nekesa Afia |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 265 | 09/01/25 – 09/05/25 (5 days) | ★★★★☆ | historical fiction, romance, mystery, race |
| 80 | The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler |
Library loan | Audiobook | 288 | 08/30/25 – 08/31/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, romance, books about books |
| 79 | The Memory Library by Kate Storey |
Library loan | Audiobook | 335 | 08/28/25 – 08/30/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, books about books, family, diversity, community |
| 78 | The Lies You Wrote by Brianna Labuskes |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 350 | 08/26/25 – 08/27/25 (2 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, mystery, psychological thriller, suspense, crime |
| 77 | Obitchuary: The Big Hot Book of Death by Spencer Henry & Madison Reyes |
Library loan | 224 | 08/24/25 – 08/25/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | nonfiction, humor, death, cultural, science, sociology | |
| 76 | My Father’s Wives by Mike Greenberg |
Library loan | 223 | 08/22/25 – 08/23/25 (2 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, family, relationships, psychology | |
| 75 | Mergers and Acquisitions: Or, Everything I Know About Love I Learned on the Wedding Pages by Cate Doty |
Library loan | 356 | 08/19/25 – 08/20/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | nonfiction, memoir, humor, romance, journalism, sociology | |
| 74 | Family Reservations by Liza Palmer |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 303 | 08/17/25 – 08/18/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, food, family, thriller |
| 73 | One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak |
Library Loan | Audiobook | 288 | 08/15/25 – 08/15/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, short stories, humor, essays |
| 72 | Martin Misunderstood by Karin Slaughter |
Library Loan | Audiobook | 147 | 08/14/25 – 08/14/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, short stories, humor |
| 71 | The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood |
Library Loan | Kindle | 352 | 08/13/25 – 08/14/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, mystery, crime, thriller |
| 70 | Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan |
Library Loan | Audiobook | 128 | 08/12/25 – 08/12/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, literary fiction, Irish literature, Christmas |
| 69 | Bad Date: A Short Story by Ellery Lloyd |
Free First Reads download | Audiobook | 58 | 08/12/25 – 08/12/25 (1 day) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, short stories, mystery, thriller |
| 68 | The Road Towards Home by Corinne Demas |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 283 | 08/07/25 – 08/12/25 (6 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, romance, family, friendship |
| 67 | The Guest List by Lucy Foley |
Library loan | Audiobook | 319 | 08/07/25 – 08/07/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, mystery, thriller, suspense, crime |
| 66 | One of Us is Dead by Jeneva Rose |
Library loan | Audiobook | 272 | 08/05/25 – 08/06/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, thriller, mystery, suspense |
| 65 | Finding Me by Viola Davis |
Library loan | Audiobook | 289 | 08/03/25 – 08/05/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, memoir, biography, feminism, African American |
| 64 | I Need a Lifeguard Everywhere but the Pool by Lisa Scottoline & Francesca Serritella |
Library loan | Audiobook | 336 | 08/02/25 – 08/02/25 (1 day) | ★★★☆☆ | nonfiction, humor, womens, essays, chick lit |
| 63 | We Used to Live Here by Daniel Hurst |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 274 | 08/01/25 – 08/01/25 (1 day) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, mystery, thriller, horror, crime |
| 62 | The Hoarder in You by Dr. Robin Zasio |
Friend loan | 222 | 07/30/25 – 07/30/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, self-help, psychology, mental health | |
| 61 | The Alone Time by Elle Marr |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 316 | 07/28/25 – 07/30/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, mystery, thriller, crime |
| 60 | Broken Bayou by Jennifer Moorhead |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 265 | 07/26/25 – 07/27/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, mystery, thriller, crime |
| 59 | Anxious in Nevada by Diana Xarissa |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 206 | 07/25/25 – 07/26/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, cozy mystery |
| 58 | The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson |
Library loan | Audiobook | 396 | 07/23/25 – 07/24/25 (2 days) | ★★☆☆☆ | historical fiction, humor, adventure, Sweden |
| 57 | Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Bayard |
Library loan | Kindle | 417 | 07/20/25 – 07/22/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, romance, politics, class |
| 56 | Bittersweet by Susan Cain |
Library loan | Audiobook | 331 | 07/18/25 – 07/18/25 (1 day) | ★★★☆☆ | nonfiction, psychology, self help, mental health, personal development, philosophy |
| 55 | The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth |
Library loan | Audiobook | 336 | 07/16/25 – 07/17/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, mystery thriller, mental health |
| 54 | The Toy Car: A Short Story by Rose Tremain |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 48 | 07/16/25 – 07/16/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, short stories |
| 53 | The Loves of My Life by Edmond White |
Library loan | 256 | 07/15/25 – 07/16/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, memoir, queer, LGBT, gay, biography | |
| 52 | Hell of a Book by James Mott |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 315 | 07/01/25 – 07/08/25 (8 days) | ★★★★☆ | literary fiction, racism, books about books, magical realism, African American |
| 51 | Family & Other Calamities by Leslie Gray Streeter |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 253 | (06/27/25 – 06/30/25 (4 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, romance, humor |
| 50 | Reckoning Hour by Peter O’Mahoney |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 315 | 06/25/25 – 06/27/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, legal thriller, mystery crime |
| 49 | Death Row: A Short Story by Freida McFadden |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 74 | 06/24/25 – 06/24/25 (1 day) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, short stories, mystery, psychological thriller, suspense |
| 48 | This Impossible Brightness by Jessica Bryant Klagmann |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 308 | 06/20/25 – 06/24/25 (5 days) | ★★★★☆ | literary fiction, fantasy, mystery, dystopia, magical realism, science fiction |
| 47 | Diamonds on the Danube by Cheryl Dougan |
Friend loan | 103 | 06/19/25 – 06/19/25 (1 day) | ★★☆☆☆ | fiction, cozy mystery, travel | |
| 46 | The Bingo Hall Detectives by Jonathan Whitelaw |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 336 | 06/16/25 – 06/18/25 (3 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, cozy mystery, crime |
| 45 | Abscond: A Short Story by Abraham Verghese |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 38 | 06/15/25 – 06/15/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, short stories, coming of age, relationships, family, death, Indian culture |
| 44 | The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin |
Library loan | Audiobook | 290 | 06/14/25 – 06/14/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, romance, books about books, relationships |
| 43 | In One Person by John Irving |
Library loan | 425 | 06/04/25 – 06/13/25 (10 days) | ★★★★★ | literary fiction, LGBT, queer, coming of age, gender diversity | |
| 42 | The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars by Joël Glenn Brenner |
Library loan | 367 | 05/27/25 – 06/02/25 (7 days) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, food, history, business, biography | |
| 41 | Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley |
Library loan | 343 | 05/18/25 – 05/22/25 (5 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, romance, chick lit, LGBT, diversity | |
| 40 | The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson |
Library loan | 309 | 05/15/25 – 05/17/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, humor, art, family | |
| 39 | The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman |
Library loan | Kindle | 422 | 05/13/25 – 05/14/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, mystery, crime, humor, series |
| 38 | Plays Well with Others by Allan Gurganus |
Library loan | Kindle | 368 | 05/07/25 – 05/11/25 (5 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, magical realism, gay, LGBT, queer, New York, AIDS, chosen family |
| 37 | Blank by Zibby Owens |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 250 | 05/04/25 – 05/06/25 (3 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, humor, romance, books-about-books, chick lit |
| 36 | Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter by Peter Singer |
Library loan | 376 | 04/25/25 – 05/02/25 (8 days) | ★★★☆☆ | nonfiction, philosophy, essays, psychology, religion, politics, science, society, sociology | |
| 35 | Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style by Paul Rudnick |
Library loan | 368 | 04/20/25 – 04/24/25 (5 days) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, romance, LGBT, queer, humor | |
| 34 | The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash |
Library loan | 324 | 04/15/25 – 04/18/25 (4 days) | ★★★★☆ | historical fiction, New York, entertainment industry, mental health | |
| 33 | The Best We Could Hope For by Nicola Kraus |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 260 | 04/12/25 – 04/14/25 (3 days) | ★★★★☆ | historical fiction, mystery, family |
| 32 | The Lost Letters from Martha’s Vineyard by Michael Callahan |
Library loan | 304 | 04/07/25 – 04/10/25 (4 days) | ★★★★☆ | historical fiction, mystery, romance, drama | |
| 31 | Snow in August by Pete Hamill |
Library loan | Kindle | 403 | 04/01/25 – 04/03/25 (3 days) | ★★★☆☆ | historical fiction, magical realism, coming of age, language, baseball, religion, Judaism, Catholicism, ethnic identity |
| 30 | Greek Lessons by Han Kang |
Library loan | 176 | 03/20/25 – 03/29/25 (10 days) | ★★★☆☆ | literary fiction, Asian literature, romance, Nobel Prize | |
| 29 | Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds by Nancy Johnson James |
Library loan | Print (picture book) | 32 | 03/19/25 – 03/19/25 (1 day) | ★★★★☆ | nonfiction, African American, poetry, biography, history childrens |
| 28 | Notes of Unspoken Words by Michelle Dare |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 259 | 03/14/25 – 03/19/25 (6 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, MM romance, MMM romance, LGBT, polyamory |
| 27 | Death by Leprechaun: A St. Patrick’s Day Murder in Dublin by Jennifer S. Alderson |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 189 | 03/13/25 – 03/13/25 (1 day) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, cozy mystery, holiday, travel, Irish culture |
| 26 | Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer by Quartez Harris |
Library loan | Print (picture book) | 40 | 03/12/25 – 03/12/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, biography, picture book, art, writing, childrens, African American, LGBT |
| 25 | The Address by Fiona Davis |
Library loan | Large print | 462 | 03/10/25 – 03/12/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, mystery New York, romance |
| 24 | Attachments by Rainbow Rowell |
Library loan | Kindle | 338 | 03/08/25 – 03/09/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, romance, chick lit |
| 23 | The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante |
Library loan | 140 | 03/06/25 – 03/06/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, Italy, feminism, family | |
| 22 | And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories by Andrea Davis Pinkney |
Library loan | Print (picture book) | 48 | 03/06/25 – 03/06/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | nonfiction, biography, African American, poetry, picture book, childrens, art |
| 21 | The Sublet: A Short Story by Greer Hendricks |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 49 | 03/02/25 – 03/02/25 (1 day) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, short stories, psychological thriller, novella |
| 20 | Eleven Numbers: A Short Story by Lee Child |
Free Prime Reading loan | Kindle | 50 | 03/02/25 – 03/02/25 (1 day) | ★★★★★ | fiction, short stories, thriller, mystery, espionage, novella |
| 19 | The Rules of Fortune by Danielle Prescod |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 293 | 02/28/25 – 03/02/25 (3 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, mystery, thriller, African American, family |
| 18 | Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson |
Library loan | Audiobook | 384 | 02/26/25 – 02/28/25 (3 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, mystery, thriller, crime, books about books |
| 17 | Turbulence by David Szalay |
Library loan | 145 | 02/24/25 – 02/25/25 (2 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, short stories, travel, flying, interconnectedness | |
| 16 | The Book of Last Letters by Kerry Barrett |
Free BookBub download | Kindle | 400 | 02/20/25 – 02/22/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, World War II, romance, dual timeline, books about books |
| 15 | The Answer Is No: A Short Story by Fredrik Backman |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 68 | 02/19/25 – 02/19/25 (1 day) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, short stories, humor, novella |
| 14 | All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami |
Library loan | Audiobook | 224 | 02/18/25 – 02/19/25 (2 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, Japan, Japanese literature, literary fiction, Asian literature, Romance |
| 13 | The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton |
Library loan | Audiobook | 458 | 02/14/25 – 02/17/25 (4 days) | ★★☆☆☆ | fiction, mystery, thriller, fantasy, crime, time travel |
| 12 | Flags of Our Fathers by James D. Bradley |
Library loan | Kindle | 400 | 02/08/25 – 02/13/25 (6 days) | ★★☆☆☆ | nonfiction, military fiction, war, World War II, biography, military history |
| 11 | The Fall Risk: A Short Story by Abby Jimenez |
Free First Reads download | Kindle | 82 | 02/07/25 – 02/07/25 (1 day) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, romance, short stories, novella |
| 10 | The Storyteller’s Secret by Sejal Badani |
Library loan | 390 | 02/02/25 – 02/06/25 (5 days) | ★★★★★ | historical fiction, India, romance, cultural | |
| 9 | Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman |
Library loan | Audiobook | 352 | 01/30/25 – 02/01/25 (3 days) | ★★★★★ | fiction, mystery thriller, suspense, crime |
| 8 | Yellowface by R.F. Kuang |
Library loan | Audiobook | 323 | 01/27/25 – 01/28/25 (2 days) | ★★☆☆☆ | fiction, thriller, mystery, books about books, books about writing, British |
| 7 | My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent |
Library loan | Kindle | 432 | 01/23/25 – 01/26/25 (4 days) | ★★☆☆☆ | literary fiction, coming of age, thriller, domestic abuse, violence |
| 6 | The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett |
Library loan | 120 | 01/22/25 – 01/22/25 (1 day) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, British literature, books about books, novella | |
| 5 | Magical Midlife in Glimmerspell by Addison Moore |
Free BookBub download | 235 | 01/20/25 – 01/21/25 (2 days) | ★★☆☆☆ | paranormal women’s fiction, cozy mystery, gothic | |
| 4 | Some Trick by Helen DeWitt (Abandoned) |
Library loan | 197 | 01/16/25 – 01/19/25 (4 days) | ★☆☆☆☆ | literary fiction, short stories | |
| 3 | All the World Beside by Gerrard Conley (Abandoned) |
Library loan | 353 | 01/15/25 – 01/15/25 (1 day) | ★☆☆☆☆ | literary fiction, historical fiction, queer, LGBT, Romance | |
| 2 | All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood |
Library loan | 421 | 01/10/25 – 01/13/25 (4 days) | ★★★★☆ | fiction, justice, domestic abuse, drugs, drama, crime, contemporary romance | |
| 1 | Arthur & George by Julian Barnes |
Gift from friend | 388 | 01/01/25 – 01/09/25 (9 days) | ★★★☆☆ | fiction, historical fiction, mystery, British literature, crime, justice |
The books I read in 2025 — details
Book #136 |
Book: My Name is Lucy Barton | Author: Elizabeth Strout | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Large print |
Pages: 193 | Duration: 12/30/25 – 12/30/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, family, relationships | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Heart-to-heart conversations between mother and hospitalized daughter with tenuous relationship. 🖌6-word review: Surprisingly less than I expected, wanted. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “‘It’s not my job to make readers know what’s a narrative voice and not the private view of the author,’ and that alone made me glad I had come.” | |||
| Description:* Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’m reading the 5-book Amgash Series by this author, of which this is the first book in the series, but my third book in the series, as I’m reading them out of order. In 2023, I read the 4th book, Lucy by the Sea in my book club just after the pandemic, and which was actually centered around the pandemic, and I loved it. Just last week, I read the 3rd book in the series, Oh William!, and loved that, too, and which prompted me to read the remaining 3. So, imagine my surprise when I read this first book in the series and didn’t love it. I’m glad I didn’t read this one first, because I might not have gone on to read the others. I’m very curious to read the 2nd book, Anything is Possible, in 2026 to hopefully see how the writing improves to the level I loved in books #3 and #4. | |||
Book #135 |
Book: Juror #3 | Author: James Patterson | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Large print |
Pages: 352 | Duration: 12/29/25 – 12/30/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, mystery, legal thriller, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Juror #3 plays a significant role in back-to-back murder trials. 🖌6-word review: Legal thriller unfolds at good pace. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “Growing up poor in small Mississippi towns, I had learned at an early age to anticipate other people’s reactions. And when my gut failed me, I had my fists.” | |||
| Description:* The murder of a woman from one of the town’s oldest families has Rosedale’s upper crust howling for blood, and the prosecutor is counting on Ruby’s inexperience to help him deliver a swift conviction. Ruby’s client is a college football star who has returned home after a career-ending injury, and she is determined to build a defense that will stick. She finds help in unexpected quarters from Suzanne, a hard-charging attorney armed to the teeth, and Shorty, a diner cook who knows more than he lets on. Ruby never belonged to the country-club set, but once she nearly married into it. As news breaks of a second murder, Ruby’s ex-fiancé, Lee Greene, shows up on her doorstep — a Southern gentleman in need of a savior. As lurid, intertwining investigations unfold, no one in Rosedale can be trusted, especially the twelve men and women impaneled on the jury. They may be hiding the most incendiary secret of all.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: The is my second James Patterson book, having read his Merry Christmas, Alex Cross 13 years ago in 2012. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book centered around a trial, and I really enjoy them. I’ll have to look for more to read in 2026, perhaps starting with 1 or 2 from this list of 11 Best Legal Thrillers That Bring the Courtroom Drama, only a couple of which I’ve already read. As I have to believe that most readers of this book are, I was surprised when what seemed like the climax of the drama around juror #3 was reached in the middle of the book. It’s one of those times when you think, “Dang, there’s still half the book left. How can that be?” Read on. | |||
Book #134 |
Book: The Mayfly | Author: Ben Rogers | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 268 | Duration: 12/28/25 – 12/28/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, short stories | ||
| 📕10-word summary: 8 quite different short stories, albeit some with common themes. 🖌6-word review: Sometimes arcane writing; many unappealing-to-me plotlines. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “But you’ve never heard me refer to my ‘Mr. Morning’ as a ‘beaver basher’ or a ‘cranny axe!’ Still, if it be necessary, do allow me to herein and henceforth renounce this most troublesome organ, which ‘serves as duct for the transfer of sperm but equally so the dissemination of so much poisonous masculinity.’ Lord. To think all my life I’ve been lugging such a weapon betwixt my legs! When last we shared a bed and you tugged me to tumescence, am I to understand you were actually trying to uproot the root of all evil? Do tell…” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Mephistos, Sikorsky, mayfly, riffle, absquatulating, helpmeet, escritoire, larder, memento mori, Sozodont, road agentry, invectives, pudenda, rusticate, manzanita | |||
| Description:* The life of a mayfly can be harrowing or hilarious, but it is always short. So, too, the short story. Fans of the genre will love the inventive specimens on display in this rollicking debut collection. A group of aging engineering professors take the weekend off for some fun and felony. A pro cyclist learns the cost of greatness in a Pushcart-nominated ride. A member of the Manhattan Project sees the world’s first nuclear reaction through resentful eyes. A Hollywood editor discovers what belongs on his cutting room floor. And in 1869, an aspiring writer pens a series of letters during his doomed homecoming to Virginia City, Nevada.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. |
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| Thoughts: I wanted to like this book more than I did. I really don’t like when I’m reading a story and I’m not exactly sure what’s going on in it for an extended period of time. There were a few of those in this collection. The biggest problem, I think, was that I wasn’t interested in, or just didn’t like, the plotlines of most of the stories. Some examples include: a bunch of guys (implausibly) stealing a Reno landmark, an athlete pushing himself beyond safety, anthropomorphizing animals, and a bunch of privileged kids pulling pranks at an exclusive tennis camp. The story I liked the most appealed to me because it was epistolary in nature and it was about writing, but it was way too long for a short story in an anthology. If it wasn’t the last story in the collection, I probably would have abandoned it, but it was ultimately satisfying — the ending “saving it.” It would have been better as a novella, or perhaps as the first story instead of the last, at which time you already had an expectation of it being much shorter than it turned out to be. | |||
Book #133 |
Book: Oh William! | Author: Elizabeth Strout | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Large print |
Pages: 240 | Duration: 12/25/25 – 12/28/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, family, relationships | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Writer and her ex-husband are still figuring each other out. 🖌6-word review: Beautiful writing. Protagonist’s “voice” is captivating. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “Please try to understand this: I have always thought that if there was a big corkboard and on that board was a pin for every person who ever lived, there would be no pin for me.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Chagas disease, schistosomiasis | |||
| Description:* Lucy Barton is a writer, but her ex-husband, William, remains a hard man to read. William, she confesses, has always been a mystery to me. Another mystery is why the two have remained connected after all these years. They just are. So Lucy is both surprised and not surprised when William asks her to join him on a trip to investigate a recently uncovered family secret — one of those secrets that rearrange everything we think we know about the people closest to us. What happens next is nothing less than another example of what Hilary Mantel has called Elizabeth Strout’s “perfect attunement to the human condition.” There are fears and insecurities, simple joys and acts of tenderness, and revelations about affairs and other spouses, parents and their children. On every page of this exquisite novel we learn more about the quiet forces that hold us together — even after we’ve grown apart.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I loved this book, as I loved the author’s Lucy by the Sea, which our book club read in 2023. I just love the way the protagonist narrator thinks and speaks. Lucy by the Sea is actually the 4th book in a 5-book series, and this book, Oh William!, is the 3rd in the series, and after reading it, I’ve decided to read the other 3 in the series: My Name is Lucy Barton (#1), Anything is Possible (#2), & Tell Me Everything (#5). | |||
Book #132 |
Book: Rich Dad, Poor Dad | Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 288 | Duration: 12/25/25 – 12/26/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: nonfiction, business, finance, money, personal finance, self-help, personal development | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Important things about money that our schools don’t teach you. 🖌6-word review: Very educational, but heavy on hype. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “Ray Kroc’s McDonald’s is not in the business of hamburgers; it’s in the business of real estate. Today, McDonald’s is the largest single owner of real estate in the world, owning even more than the Catholic Church.” | |||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: chaologist | |||
| Description:* Rich Dad, Poor Dad is Robert’s story of growing up with two dads — his real father and the father of his best friend, his rich dad — and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing. The book explodes the myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich and explains the difference between working for money and having your money work for you.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This book made me glad we’re retired and (financially) comfortable in retirement. I completely agree that our education system does a disservice to people by not teaching basic finances, and I’m glad I took on learning it myself and early in my life. These type of hyped-up financial (inspirational?) books remind me of books about losing weight, the similarity being that to lose weight, you need to expend more calories than you take in and to grow wealth you need to spend less money than you take in. In the end, it really is that simple. But it’s not easy, and most people aren’t willing to do it. And I’m extremely grateful (and lucky) to have a life partner who was willing to do it in his life, too. | |||
Book #131 |
Book: In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing | Author: Elena Ferrante | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Large print |
Pages: 160 | Duration: 12/25/25 – 12/25/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: nonfiction, essays, writing, books about books, memoir, Italian Literature, feminism | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Pandemic-aborted lectures about Ferrante’s writing process turned into a book. 🖌6-word review: Very academic and at times esoteric. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “Beautiful writing becomes beautiful when it loses its harmony and has the desperate power of the ugly. And characters? I feel they are false when they exhibit clear coherence and I become passionate about them when they say one thing and do another.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: camorrist, canticle, calque | |||
| Description:* In 2020, Claire Luchette in O, The Oprah Magazine described the beloved Italian novelist Elena Ferrante as “an oracle among authors.” Here, in these 4 crisp essays, Ferrante offers a rare look at the origins of her literary powers. She writes about her influences, her struggles, and her formation as both a reader and a writer; she describes the perils of “bad language” and suggests ways in which it has long excluded women’s truth; she proposes a choral fusion of feminine talent as she brilliantly discourses on the work of Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Ingeborg Bachmann, and many others. Here is a subtle yet candid book by “one of the great novelists of our time” about adventures in literature, both in and out of the margins.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’ve read 2 books by Elena Ferrante — The Days of Abandonment in 2022 and The Lost Daughter in 2025 — and both books have brutally honest female protagonists whose first-person accounts “take you down” with them. It’s quite remarkable writing, which is what made me interested in reading about her writing process. I gave this book only 3 stars solely due to the “may or may not recommend” part of that rating. I doubt this book would be interesting to non-writers, and it’s quite an academic endeavor, which is also a turn-off for a lot of people. | |||
Book #130 |
Book: The Famous Lady Lovers: Black Women and Queer Desire before Stonewall | Author: Cookie Woolner | |
| Source: Library loan Format: E-book |
Pages: 210 | Duration: 12/23/25 – 12/25/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, queer, history, Lesbian, LGBT, race, education | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Academic study of Black queer women in the Jazz Age. 🖌6-word review: Mostly fascinating. Sometimes infuriating. Text-book style. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: In 1926, the Black newspaper The New York Age published a front-page article with the graphic headline “Woman Rivals for Affection of Another Woman[,] Battles with Knives, and One Has Head Almost Severed from Body.” The lengthy opening sentence read: “Crazed with gin and a wild and unnatural infatuation for another woman, Reba Stobtoff, in whose Manhattan apartment her friends and acquaintances had gathered for a Saturday night rent party, grabbed a keen-edged bread knife and with one fell swoop, severed the jugular vein in the throat of Louise Wright after a fierce quarrel in which Reba had accused Louise of showing too much interest in a woman named Clara, known to underworld dwellers as “Big Ben,” the name coming from her unusual size and from her inclination to ape the masculine in dress and manner, and particularly in her attention to other women.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: deportment, liminal, dissemblance, interwar, extant, dirk, swains, rent parties, buffet flats, imbricated, specious, inveigling, nances, chorines | |||
| Description:* Black queer women have shaped American culture since long before the era of gay liberation. Decades prior to the Stonewall Uprising, in the 1920s and 1930s, Black “lady lovers”—as women who loved women were then called—crafted a queer world. In the cabarets, rent parties, speakeasies, literary salons, and universities of the Jazz Age and Great Depression, communities of Black lady lovers grew, and queer flirtations flourished. Cookie Woolner here uncovers the intimate lives of performers, writers, and educators such as Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Gladys Bentley, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, and Lucy Diggs Slowe, along with the many everyday women she encountered in the archives. Examining blues songs, Black newspapers, vice reports, memoirs, sexology case studies, and more, Woolner illuminates the unconventional lives Black lady lovers formed to suit their desires. In the urban North, as the Great Migration gave rise to increasingly racially mixed cities, Black lady lovers fashioned and participated in emerging sexual subcultures. During this time, Black queer women came to represent anxieties about the deterioration of the heteronormative family. Negotiating shifting notions of sexuality and respectability, Black lady lovers strategically established queer networks, built careers, created families, and were vital cultural contributors to the US interwar era.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
Thoughts: I’m going to count this as having taken a course in Queer Studies, Gender Studies, or African American Studies, because early on in this book, I thought, “This reads like a text book or somebody’s dissertation.” Turns out it was the author’s 2014 doctoral dissertation at the University of Michigan, was adapted into a book published by the University of North Carolina Press, and has been used as a college text book in various courses. It’s extremely educational and a mostly fascinating, sometimes infuriating (i.e., discrimination, hate crimes, police brutality, etc.) look at the plight of queer, Black women in the 1920s and ’30s. The chapter names are:
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Book #129 |
Book: Run for the Hills | Author: Kevin Wilson | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 253 | Duration: 12/21/25 – 12/21/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, humor, family, road trip | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Half-siblings road trip to find/meet their father who abandoned them. 🖌6-word review: A sibling story like no other. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “I have no idea how you and I are connected,” Rube said to Mad’s mother. “Oh, I don’t think we’re anything.” “So I mean, I don’t know if it’s legal or anything, but maybe you would be, like, my stepmother once removed?” “Oh, honey, I don’t think it works like that.” “No, I know. But, we’re connected, obviously.” “Sure, why not?” she offered. |
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| Description:* Ever since her dad left them 20 years ago, it’s been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it’s a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it’s mostly okay. Mostly. Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben — left behind by their dad thirty years ago — has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all. As Mad and Rube — and eventually the others — share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I absolutely loved this book, in fact it might be my “book of the year” for 2025. This is my second book by this author, having read The Family Fang earlier in the year, and the common denominator is “quirky” — both in terms of storyline and characters. From reviews I’ve read, this author seems to be known for that. I hope to read another of his books in 2026. This is a 2025 book (published May 13), and I’d be very, very surprised if it isn’t made into a movie. At this time, the author and the publisher still own the rights to the book. | |||
Book #128 |
Book: Safe Enough | Author: Lee Child | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 237 | Duration: 12/18/25 – 12/19/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, short stories, crime, mystery, thriller, suspense, anthologies | ||
| 📕10-word summary: 20 crime mystery short stories by the Jack Reacher author. 🖌6-word review: Diverse stories quickly pull you in. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “My faith has no room for superstition.” | |||
| Description:* For the past 20 years, Lee Child has been one of the bestselling authors in the world, thanks to the popularity of his iconic and instantly recognizable hero Jack Reacher. But even at the height of Reacher’s fame, Child’s short story writing was not confined to the series; throughout the course of his career, he published tales about a range of characters on both sides of the law, including assassins, a body guard, CIA and FBI agents, gangsters, and more. Meticulously plotted and packed with Child’s trademark action and suspense, the stories show the author’s mastery of the short form, and they’ve never been collected before now.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
Thoughts: I’ve been dancing around this author’s Jack Reacher stories for about a year now. But after reading his short story, Eleven Numbers, earlier this year, and now this “non-Jack-Reacher” collection of short stories, I’m going to read Killing Floor, the first in the 30-book (to date) Jack Reacher series in 2026. The 20 short stories in this anthology comprise:
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Book #127 |
Book: If Something Happens to Me | Author: Alex Finlay | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 336 | Duration: 12/17/25 – 12/18/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, thriller, mystery, suspense, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Boy witnessing girlfriend’s abduction ignites a dangerous turn of events. 🖌6-word review: Several complicated plots wore me down. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “Few things in this world can make you feel better than a dog.” | |||
| Description:* For the past 5 years, Ryan Richardson has relived that terrible night. The car door ripping open. The crushing blow to the head. The hands yanking him from the vehicle. His girlfriend Ali’s piercing scream as she is taken. With no trace of Ali or the car, a cloud of suspicion hangs over Ryan. But with no proof and a good lawyer, he’s never charged, though that doesn’t matter to the podcasters and internet trolls. Now, Ryan has changed his last name, and entered law school. He’s put his past behind him. Until, on a summer trip abroad to Italy with his law-school classmates, Ryan gets a call from his father: Ali’s car has finally been found, submerged in a lake in his hometown. Inside are two dead men and a cryptic note with five words written on the envelope in Ali’s handwriting: “If something happens to me…”*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: A 4-part structure and a multiple-POV narrative with no fewer than 3 name changes for a couple of characters (for example, Ali → Taylor → Sophia; think witness protection program for Ali/Taylor/Sophia and her father) — well it quickly gets exponentially complicated. We’ve got local law enforcement, state-level FBI (complete with a “dirty” agent), and the mob involved in various plots and sub-plots. It’s a lot. YMMV. I have no doubt that a lot of people would love this book. | |||
Book #126 |
Book: What She Saw | Author: Mary Burton | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 347 | Duration: 12/15/25 – 12/17/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, suspense, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Writer, daughter delves into 30-year-old murders to find the bodies. 🖌6-word review: Good murder mystery. Good unraveling pace. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “Paxton’s gaze was locked on her breasts — or, as he said in court, the long line of her neck.” | |||
| Description:* Cold case reporter Sloane Grayson has come to a small mountain town in Virginia to solve a mystery. 30 years ago, her mother was one of 4 women who vanished during a music festival. The event’s promoter was eventually convicted of their murders, and Sheriff CJ Taggart closed the case. But for Sloane, it’s still open. Because the bodies were never found. With Taggart long dead, Sloane must make do with questioning the victims’ families and the few remaining witnesses once again. If they’re still willing to dredge up memories of a crime that made their town notorious. As for the incarcerated killer, he has always maintained his innocence. Sloane isn’t entirely convinced he’s lying. Somewhere nearby, unmarked graves conceal the bones and secrets of the dead. Sloane will do anything to find them and unearth the truth, even if that means playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with someone determined to stop her.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a good read. Strong female protagonist, and one significant twist. | |||
Book #125 |
Book: A Santa Stabbing | Author: Geri Krotow | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 266 | Duration: 12/13/25 – 12/14/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, cozy mystery, Christmas, crime, murder | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Naval aviator turned amateur sleuth finds dead body in shop. 🖌6-word review: Strong female characters. Interesting, without schmaltz. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “It’s part of being in retail.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: narthex, psittacines, weir | |||
| Description:* Retired Navy pilot Angel Warren’s new life awaits in Stonebridge, Pennsylvania, where she’s opening Shop ‘Round the World, her travel-inspired gift and novelty shop. A newly empty nester and longtime widow, she’s looking forward to leaving her flying career and its many life-or-death decisions behind and reconnecting with family and friends. Right now, Angel’s biggest challenge is getting the shop ready for its grand opening just weeks before Christmas. Until she finds a dead body in the shop murdered with one of her specialty Santa figurines. Even worse, Angel’s fingerprints are on the “weapon” and she’s a prime suspect. It doesn’t help that the deceased is an old friend who’s collected a long list of enemies as a cut-throat real estate agent. And then there’s the Stonebridge Chief of Police—and Angel’s high school BFF—who brings her in for questioning. If Angel wants to clear her name before the Christmas rush, she’s going to need to do some sleuthing on her own—and with the help of her stressed out parrot, Ralph.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I gave the storyline of this typical cozy mystery 4 stars, but I had to subtract a star for my overall rating due to a dozen “missed edits,” including wrong words (e.g., “What so you mean by ‘everything?'”), missing words, (e.g., “Got a good night’s in my own bed last night.”), or repeated words (e.g., “Knock off the bigger suspects off first.”) and for hyphenating the word “Stonebridge” (which is used a lot) sometimes as “Stoneb-ridge” and “Stonebri-dge,” WTF? Also, ditch the parrot! I don’t know why annoying pets are included in some stories. This story is one of them. On the plus side, there are two LGBT couples in the story. And interestingly enough, this is the 2nd book in a week that has had Matryoshka dolls as props in them. This is the final holiday-related book I’m going to read. I like to read at least one at this time of the year. | |||
Book #124 |
Book: Peppermint Cookie Murder | Author: Trixie Silvertale | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 238 | Duration: 12/12/25 – 12/12/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Genres: fiction, cozy mystery, Christmas, holiday, fantasy, paranormal | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Santa’s daughter leaves the North Pole to open a bakery. 🖌6-word review: Think of synonyms for preposterous. Apply. |
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| 💭A humorous quote: “Have you tried talking to the gals at the bingo club? That group drinks a lot during bingo. And there’s nothing like alcohol to pry the truth from someone’s lips.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: sluice, Dolomites in Carezza, Val d’Ega | |||
| Description:* Cindy Claus is excited to open her own bakery. She’s determined to pursue her passion and have her holiday treats prove she’s more than a Yuletide heir. But before she can whisk up a success, her roommate is murdered and Cindy is the prime suspect. With finding the real killer the only way to beat the rap, Cindy relies on the kindness of strangers and her father’s trusted arctic fox. But without a recipe for success in the unfamiliar human world, grilling the wrong suspects could put her behind bars. Can Cindy sift out the clues before she’s done and dusted?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’m glad I didn’t pay money for this book. So much to dislike. Santa’s daughter, Cindy Claus, who is 114 years old finally tells her father (Santa, who is a little over 1000 years old and Mrs. Clause is rumored to be nearly 2,000 years old) that she’s not interested in taking over “the business” when he retires. Her parents agree to let her go to a place called Silver Shoals to open a bakery. In “the human world,” she doesn’t know a lot of things, such as what money is, and she doesn’t understand metaphors, similes, aphorisms, exaggerations, or puns, which the author mostly uses as a device to show you how she responds to the people in this little town using them incessantly. But don’t worry, she has her family pet from the North Pole with her, who is an artic fox that passes as a dog in the human world, although he has to remember not to speak to her, or her to him, in front of other people. That’s the bad news, the good news being that he explains all of the townspeople’s figurative language to her, because of course, he understands them. 🙄 Three other things: 1) Considering the name of the book, neither a peppermint cookie nor a murder had appeared yet at 43% into the book, 2) Cindy used a lot of stoopid ejaculations, “Oh reindeer poop!” “Icicles!” and “Blizzards!” to name a few, and 3) just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, the word conspiratorially showed up. Numbing frost! I can’t not recommend this book enough. | |||
Book #123 |
Book: The Book Club for Troublesome Women | Author: Marie Bostwick | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Kindle |
Pages: 380 | Duration: 12/08/25 – 12/10/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: historical fiction, books about books, feminism | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Four friendships forged in a book club prevail in self-discovery. 🖌6-word review: Humorous, thought-provoking, and ultimately hopeful, inspirational. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Apart from reservations, vodka stingers are the only thing I know how to make.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: décolletage, Shalimar, toile, bouclé, pavlova, clarion, shantung, zaftig, laminitis, pabulum, ordnance | |||
| Description:* By 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan is living the American woman’s dream. She has a husband” target=”_blank”>, three children, a station wagon, and a home in Concordia — one of Northern Virginia’s most exclusive and picturesque suburbs. She has a standing invitation to the neighborhood coffee klatch, and now, thanks to her husband, a new subscription to A Woman’s Place — a magazine that tells housewives like Margaret exactly who to be and what to buy. On paper, she has it all. So why doesn’t that feel like enough? Margaret is thrown for a loop when she first meets Charlotte Gustafson, Concordia’s newest and most intriguing resident. As an excuse to be in the mysterious Charlotte’s orbit, Margaret concocts a book club get-together and invites two other neighborhood women — Bitsy and Viv — to the inaugural meeting. Nicknaming themselves “the Bettys,” after The Feminine Mystique‘s author Betty Friedan, these 4 friends have no idea their impromptu club and the books they read together will become the glue that helps them hold fast through tears, triumphs, angst, and arguments — and what will prove to be the most consequential and freeing year of their lives.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: Not that I’ve ever seen Desperate Housewives, or read or watched The Stepford Wives, but after the first couple of chapters of this book, I thought it might be like what I imagine them to be about. Hoping it wouldn’t be the case, I forged ahead. Fortunately, the 4-women book club reads The Feminine Mystique, the classic by Betty Friedman, which lights a fire in these women and things become more interesting. This is yet another “books about books,” which I’m drawn to, and about which I recently blogged about. In addition to The Feminine Mystique, these books are mentioned in this book: Gift from the Sea (read in 2024), Coming of Age in Samoa, Mansfield Park, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Wuthering Heights (read in 2015), Joy in the Morning, The Girls of Slender Means, The Bell Jar, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, A Room of One’s Own, The Second Sex, The Group, Revolutionary Road, Babbit, A Town Like Alice, Herland, Dearly Beloved, The Old Man and the Sea (read in 1991). And finally, ugh, yet another book that used my overused, nemesis word, “conspiratorial.” | |||
Book #122 |
Book: The Heart of Everything | Author: Marc Levy | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 205 | Duration: 12/05/25 – 12/06/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, magical realism, suspense, family, love, romance | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Son’s father’s ghost visits with a haunting, time-limited, compelling request. 🖌6-word review: Sweetly told tale with likable characters. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “An adult is just a child with debt.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Škoda, vetiver, jute, Arsène Lupin | |||
| Description:* There’s nothing too unusual about a father asking his son for a favor — unless, of course, the father in question has been dead for five years. Thomas, a young virtuoso pianist living a quiet, carefully structured life in France, is stunned when his late father, Raymond, suddenly appears in his home. He’s not a ghost in the traditional sense — he’s real enough to ask for help. His request? That Thomas travel with him to San Francisco to find Camille, the long-lost love of his life. For Thomas, it’s as surreal as it sounds. And yet… it might be his last-in-a-lifetime chance to know his father as a man and to square the regrets of the past. Together they embark on a five-thousand-mile journey that questions the very nature of existence, proves that love never fades, and rekindles the curious, heart-tugging bond between a parent and child that somehow endures beyond death.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This is a brand new book that isn’t scheduled to be published until January of 2026, but it was one of Amazon Prime’s December First Reads selections. I’m not a fan of the magical realism genre, but maybe because it was just one ghost, with not a lot of back story about how his appearance happened and “rules of engagement” with the entity, it didn’t bother me. I could have done without the word “conspiratorial” rearing its ugly head early in the book. I thought it was a sweet, little story. | |||
Book #121 |
Book: Bring Me Back | Author: B.A. Paris | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 291 | Duration: 12/03/25 – 12/04/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, psychological thriller, mystery, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Man imminently marrying sister of dead former girlfriend gets mind-fucked. 🖌6-word review: Twisted tale. Reader gets mind-fucked, too. |
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| 💭A memorable quote: “Time is an oddity when it comes to memories.” | |||
| Description:* Finn and Layla: young and in love, their whole lives ahead of them. Driving back from a holiday in France one night, Finn pulls in to a service station, leaving Layla alone in the car. When he returns, minutes later, Layla has vanished, never to be seen again. That’s the story Finn tells the police. It’s the truth – but not the whole truth. 12 years later, Finn has built a new life with Ellen, Layla’s sister, when he receives a phone call. Someone has seen Layla. But is it her – or someone pretending to be her? If it is her, what does she want? And what does she know about the night she disappeared?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This tale has more twists than Rapunzel’s braids. As the reader, I could see possible truth in every theory the protagonist considered — and there were a plethora of them throughout the book. What kept me from giving it 5 stars was: Enough of those goddamn Matryoshka dolls already! (And the fact that the author didn’t, at least once, use that proper name for those dolls.) This was one of those plots that made me think, “How do writers come up with these things?” | |||
Book #120 |
Book: Digital Minimalism: On Living Better with Less Technology | Author: Cal Newport | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 290 | Duration: 12/02/25 – 12/02/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, self help, productivity, psychology, technology | ||
| 📕10-word summary: How to stop mindlessly sacrificing your time, productivity to clickbait. 🖌6-word review: Provides practical, albeit not easy, strategies. |
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| 💭An interesting quote: “Digital minimalism definitively does not reject the innovations of the internet age, but instead rejects the way so many people currently engage with these tools.” | |||
| Description:* In this timely and enlightening book, Cal Newport introduces a philosophy for technology use that has already improved countless lives. Digital minimalists are all around us. They’re the calm, happy people who can hold long conversations without furtive glances at their phones. They can have fun with friends and family and eat out at restaurants without the obsessive urge to document the experience. Now, Newport gives us a name for this quiet movement and makes a case for its urgency in our tech-saturated world. Drawing on a diverse array of real-life examples, from Amish farmers to harried parents to Silicon Valley programmers, Newport identifies the common practices of digital minimalists and the ideas that underpin them.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I found several nuggets in this book, a couple being: 1) the difference between conversations and connections, and 2) the concept of “high quality leisure.” I’ve already implemented one practical suggestion, which was to remove the Facebook app from my phone because it contains more of the “sticky” functionality, as well as provides location and activity data that the “attention economy” finds so valuable, which is to say is used to make money off us. It also confirmed my “intentional” use of Facebook, which I’ve been doing since the beginning of February 2025 — “using” Facebook instead of it using me. I do that by only going on it for 3 reasons: 1) as a very quick and efficient way to compress images to use in my writing, 2) to grab images I’ve posted there that I want to use in my writing, and 3) to check updates from groups I’m in that only use Facebook to communicate, all of which I can still do by logging in through the web interface. Not everything in the book resonated with me, but often that’s how self-help books are, and I’m happy to have been made to think deeply on this topic. | |||
Book #119 |
Book: The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland | Author: Jim Defede | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 271 | Duration: 12/01/25 – 12/02/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, history, Canada, inspirational | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Small-town Canadians open their town and hearts to stranded strangers. 🖌6-word review: Poignant, inspirational, well-woven story affirms humanity. |
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| 💭An interesting quote: “They placed their lives on hold for a group of strangers and asked for nothing in return. They affirmed the basic goodness of man at a time when it was easy to doubt such humanity still existed.” | |||
| Description:* When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001, due to the closing of United States airspace, the citizens of this small community were called upon to come to the aid of more than 6,000 displaced travelers. “For the better part of a week, nearly every man, woman, and child in Gander and the surrounding smaller towns stopped what they were doing so they could help. They placed their lives on hold for a group of strangers and asked for nothing in return. They affirmed the basic goodness of man at a time when it was easy to doubt such humanity still existed.”*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This is a great, uplifting story of incredibly generous people pouring out their hearts, opening their homes, and spending money (much of it their own) just because, they said, “It was the right thing to do.” I wasn’t familiar with this aspect of 9/11, and I certainly didn’t know that there was a musical, Come from Away, made based on the story. It’s confounding to me how musicals are made based on some books and movies that seem to be pure drama. Bob reminded me, “Look at the musical made about Carrie, based on both the novel and the film!” I have no desire whatsoever to see a play based on this book. If you, like Anne Murray, could use “a little good news,” I couldn’t recommend this book more. | |||
Book #118 |
Book: The Woman in Me | Author: Britney Spears | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 288 | Duration: 11/30/25 – 11/30/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, memoir, autobiography, music, mental health, family | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Britney Spears details the stories behind her very public ordeals. 🖌6-word review: Fascinating, infuriating “rest of the story.” |
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| 💭An interesting quote: “In that moment, I made peace with my family — by which I mean that I realized I never wanted to see them again, and I was at peace with that.” | |||
| Description:* In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice — her truth — was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey — and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love — and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: Just wow. | |||
Book #117 |
Book: The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right | Author: Atul Gawande | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 208 | Duration: 11/30/25 – 11/30/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, business, productivity, medicine, science, psychology, self help | ||
| 📕10-word summary: How checklists help multiple disciplines — with simple, complicated, complex tasks. 🖌6-word review: Orgasmic for checklist, to-do list nerds. |
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| 💭An interesting quote: “The volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correctly, safely, or reliably.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Many aviation, construction, and medical terms, procedure, and process names | |||
| Description:* In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds. An intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I am a to-do list (which is a type of checklist) whore, right up there with being a spreadsheet whore. I loved this book because it shows how something as simple as a checklist can save time, money, and actual lives in various disciplines, such as medicine, aviation, skyscraper construction, & finance. Beyond explaining how, it talks about the research that has gone into devising effective checklists, and testing done to test and refine checklists once devised. The descriptions of how complex the tasks can be in all of those disciplines is both fascinating and mindboggling. | |||
Book #116 |
Book: The Lane That Leads to Christmas | Author: Melanie Lageschulte | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 280 | Duration: 11/27/25 – 11/29/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Genres: fiction, cozy mystery, Christmas | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A “priceless” nativity set is stolen from a small-town church. 🖌6-word review: Uninteresting detail not advancing the plot. |
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| 💭An interesting quote: “The post office was one of the few organizations that had close contact with residents on a regular basis, and Kate’s boss took its secondary role as a social lifeline very seriously.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: twinset, haymow, archly | |||
| Description:* Kate is bracing herself for a blue Christmas. It’s the first since her divorce, most of her decorations are missing after too many moves, and her impulsive gesture of goodwill to one struggling family has spurred debate at the post office. But her troubles take a back seat when a mail stop at one of the area’s oldest churches presents a puzzling dilemma. The rural congregation’s antique nativity set, which was hard-carved by an early settler, has vanished from the altar. As Kate and her friends try to track the artwork’s whereabouts, they are met with a fascinating mix of folklore and facts — along with resistance to their efforts. And the case only gets more complicated as secrets are exposed and new leads are revealed. Can they recover the beloved nativity before the Christmas bells ring?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I like to read at least one holiday-themed book at this time of the year and unfortunately picked this one. First of all, I automatically assume a “cozy mystery” is going to have a murder in it, but not all of them do. And this one didn’t. So I was bedeviled and impatient waiting for a murder until I realized there wasn’t going to be one. Second of all, the protagonist lived alone with 3 barn cats (all with names), an indoor cat, and a dog, all of which she conversed with in full sentences and often, sometimes for an entire chapter. Annoying. My biggest issue with the book was the amount of detail about things that didn’t advance the plot — the cat chit-chat for example. Get to who stole the nativity already. And as if I wasn’t already cranky enough about the book, my nemesis word, conspiratorially, made an appearance. | |||
Book #115 |
Book: Notes to John | Author: Joan Didion | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 250 | Duration: 11/25/25 – 11/26/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: nonfiction, memoir, mental health, psychology, alcoholism, parenting | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Detailed, intimate recollection of therapy sessions written to her husband. 🖌6-word review: Confusing pronoun antecedents. Psychologically fascinating, heartbreaking. |
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| 💭A compelling quote: “You don’t always have to look ahead for the bump in the road. Your anticipating the bump won’t make the bump disappear. It’ll still be there. You’re afraid you won’t be prepared to deal with it if you don’t anticipate it, but you will. Your adrenalin kicks in and you deal with it. And meanwhile, you’ve been happy, which gives you more strength to deal with it.” | |||
| Description:* For several months, Didion recorded conversations with [her] psychiatrist in meticulous detail. The initial sessions focused on alcoholism, adoption, depression, anxiety, guilt, and the heartbreaking complexities of her relationship with her daughter, Quintana. The subjects evolved to include her work, which she was finding difficult to maintain for sustained periods. There were discussions about her own childhood—misunderstandings and lack of communication with her mother and father, her early tendency to anticipate catastrophe—and the question of legacy, or, as she put it, “what it’s been worth.” The analysis would continue for more than a decade. Didion’s journal was crafted with the singular intelligence, precision, and elegance that characterize all of her writing.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: There is a healthy amount of debate about the ethics of sharing these notes written by Joan Didion to her husband John Dunne accounting her own therapy sessions with her psychiatrist from December 1999 to January 2002. The Guardian contends: Notes to John by Joan Didion review – an invasion of privacy. I’m of the opinion that it’s detailing things that happened to her, so it’s her story to tell. With that said, I do think it’s good that all of the principal players (i.e., Joan herself, her husband, daughter, and psychiatrist) are now dead. This is a fascinating look at what’s been called helicopter parenting (now also being called “lawnmower” or “snowplow” parents), specifically with regards to the inability to see how what seems like is helping a child really isn’t. I took off one star, because I struggled with following the pronoun antecedents used throughout. It takes some getting used to the fact that most times when she’s using “I,” she’s referring to herself, when using, “he,” she’s referring to her psychiatrist, and when using “you,” she’s referring to her husband. | |||
Book #114 |
Book: Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? | Author: Julile Smith | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 368 | Duration: 11/23/25 – 11/24/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: nonfiction, self help, psychology, mental health, personal development | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Psychologist shares skills to maintain mental health, navigate life challenges. 🖌6-word review: Very pragmatic, therapeutic. Free workbook included! |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Thoughts and feelings are not facts; they’re but one view of things.” | |||
| Description:* Filled with secrets from a therapist’s toolkit, Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? teaches you how to fortify and maintain your mental health, even in the most trying of times. Dr Julie Smith’s expert advice and powerful coping techniques will help you stay resilient, whether you want to manage anxiety, deal with criticism, cope with depression, build self-confidence, find motivation, or learn to forgive yourself. The book tackles everyday issues and offers practical solutions in bite-sized, easy-to-digest entries which make it easy to quickly find specific information and guidance.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’ve read (and already do) a lot of the things talked about in this book, so I wasn’t fascinated or blown away by it. In general about self-help books, I think that one either resonates with you or not. If it resonates, and you’re motivated to change, it can be wildly helpful. (For me, it was 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which I read in the early 1990s.) The thing I liked most about this book is that there is a free, downloadable companion PDF to it, which can be used to actually do the work that this “self-help” book espouses. It’s 308 pages, almost as long as the 368-page book! I might recommend skipping the book and reading the explanations and doing the exercises in the companion piece. The thing about self-help books is that a lot of people think just reading them will “fix” things, when the reality is that you have to practice the ideas and techniques in them to help/improve/fix whatever it is that was the impetus to reading the book to begin with. This book is well written and very structured with recaps and “toolkits” at the end of each section about: Dark Places (about working on “low moods,” which are just this side of diagnosed depression), Motivation, Emotional Pain, Grief, Self-Doubt, Fear, Stress, & A Meaningful Life. | |||
Book #113 |
Book: No Two Persons | Author: Erica Bauermeister | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 314 | Duration: 11/21/25 – 11/23/25 (4 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: literary fiction, books about books, interconnectedness | ||
| 📕10-word summary: No two people experience Alice’s book in the same way. 🖌6-word review: Refreshing exploration of a book’s “life.” |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “She’d be OK, he told himself, and he needed to be somewhere else. Somewhere so completely else that the grief wouldn’t find him. Ignoring the fact that grief is not a stalker but a stowaway, always there and up for any journey.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: pill bug, blinkered, blowzily, selkie, hardtack | |||
| Description:* Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager hiding her homelessness, to a free diver pushing himself beyond endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller in search of love, a widower rent by grief. Each one is drawn into Alice’s novel; each one discovers something different that alters their perspective and presents new pathways forward for their lives.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s a refreshing look at how a book is experienced by different readers — still affecting different people in different ways 9 or 10 years after its publication. In addition to learning of each character’s discovery of the book and how it affects their life, an interconnectedness emerges between several of the characters and the book’s author — and then among the readers. This was a Mostly Social Book Club book, chosen by Mary. | |||
Book #112 |
Book: The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Uncovering Secrets, Reuniting Relatives, and Upending Who We Are | Author: Libby Copeland | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 294 | Duration: 11/18/25 – 11/21/25 (4 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, science, DNA, genetics, sociology, family, health | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Personal stories, scientific facts, implications, and consequences of DNA testing. 🖌6-word review: Important. More complex than you think. |
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| 💭A compelling quote: “I told my mom that the man she told me was my biological father wasn’t my biological father. And she had this look come over her face, and she had to tell me that her uncle had raped her.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: paucity, blithely, pogrom, dross, propinquity, enmities, panoply | |||
| Description:* In The Lost Family, journalist Libby Copeland investigates what happens when we embark on a vast social experiment with little understanding of the ramifications. She explores the culture of genealogy buffs, the science of DNA, and the business of companies like Ancestry and 23andMe, all while tracing the story of one woman, her unusual results, and a relentless methodical drive for answers that becomes a thoroughly modern genetic detective story.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: One of the impetuses for reading this book was that within the last year or so, two people in our extended family found out they had children they didn’t know they had. There is so much to this topic! “At-home DNA testing is sometimes called ‘recreational,’ to distinguish it from genetic tests that are ordered by doctors. But its implications can be far more profound than the term ‘recreational’ implies.” Between and among stories of people on personal DNA-related quests, the book includes quite a detailed look at the complex biology of DNA as well as the explosive rate of change in DNA-related technology over relatively few years. I liked the personal stories much more than the biology and technology information (which was usually too much “in the weeds” for my interest; but if you like that kind of stuff, it’s fascinating). The main story, about “Alice” and her family’s search for information about her father’s life is absolutely mindboggling! I used to think that as long as I didn’t give a DNA sample, I would be “safe” from all of the consequences and implications of DNA testing, but this book unequivocally disabused me of that notion. No one’s “safe.” | |||
Book #111 |
Book: No Conscience | Author: Phil M. Williams | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 333 | Duration: 11/16/25 – 11/18/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Genres: fiction, thriller, mystery, drama | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A sociopathic mother wreaks havoc on unlikeable, unsympathetic family characters. 🖌6-word review: Too much tell, not enough show. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “The walls were barren, the decor jail-cell chic.” | |||
| Description:* Wes Shaw’s different than his siblings—darker, awkward, the perpetual ne’er-do-well. Mary Shaw’s the doting mother, showering her children with gifts from the heart and the pocketbook. The Shaws have survived divorce and death, but something sinister is in their midst. The truth threatens to tear them apart. The lies threaten to tear them apart. Which side will each choose?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I cared not one iota about the characters in this book, and it seemed like the author must have been “burned” by a sociopath in his life. At the end, one of the characters sends an email to his siblings with the definition of a sociopath in it, including 21 (yes, they’re numbered) signs of a sociopath, followed by 12 enumerated (yes, again, numbered) examples of what makes their mother a sociopath, followed by 7 enumerated things one should do if they encounter a sociopath. Wait, is this a textbook? I can’t roll my eyes far enough back into my head to do justice to this writing “device.” Don’t read this book if you’re not a masochist. | |||
Book #110 |
Book: Homesick for Another World | Author: Ottessa Moshfegh | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 294 | Duration: 11/15/25 – 11/16/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: literary fiction, short stories, science fiction | ||
| 📕10-word summary: 14 dark short stories featuring longing, isolated, and discontented characters. 🖌6-word review: Classic Moshfegh. Icky, yet realistic, revelations. |
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💭A few favorite quotes:
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| 🎓Some new-to-me words: padded, mottled, cornichon, melasma | |||
| Description:* [A]s many critics noted, Moshfegh is particularly held in awe for her short stories. Homesick for Another World is the rare case where an author’s short story collection is if anything more anticipated than her novel. And for good reason. There’s something eerily unsettling about Ottessa Moshfegh’s stories, something almost dangerous, while also being delightful, and even laugh-out-loud funny. Her characters are all unsteady on their feet in one way or another; they all yearn for connection and betterment, though each in very different ways, but they are often tripped up by their own baser impulses and existential insecurities. Homesick for Another World is a master class in the varieties of self-deception across the gamut of individuals representing the human condition.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This is my third Ottessa Moshfegh book, following Eileen (read in 2018) and My Year of Rest and Relaxation (read in 2020), which is enough for me to say that this is “classic Moshfegh.” Moshfegh has cited the poet and novelist Charles Bukowski as an influence on her work. And like Bukowski, she creates characters who are considered socially deprived and isolated. This book comprises 14 short stories, and here are 6 of them with synopses for a flavor of her characters and topics: Bettering Myself: A teacher who despises her students becomes paralyzed by the fear of her own success when she is given a chance to leave her job. Malibu: A man manipulates his disabled uncle into making him his sole heir. Mr. Wu: A man sabotages a potential relationship before it can even begin. The Beach Boy: A widower seeks revenge at the resort where his wife may have cheated on him with a male prostitute. A Dark and Winding Road: A man goes to his parents’ cabin to spite his pregnant wife and ends up having an affair with his brother’s girlfriend. A Better Place: The collection’s final story, a dark fairy tale about two siblings who believe they don’t belong on Earth and decide they must kill someone to return to their true home. | |||
Book #109 |
Book: People Love Dead Jews | Author: Dara Horn | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 237 | Duration: 11/11/25 – 11/14/25 (4 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, Jewish, history, Judaism, religion, essays, politics, Holocaust | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Challenging contemplation of why there’s unremitting fascination with Jewish deaths. 🖌6-word review: Important. Requires vulnerability, rigorous intellectual investment. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “When a young employee at the Anne Frank House tried to wear his yarmulke to work, his employers told him to hide it under a baseball cap. The museum’s goal was “neutrality,” one spokesperson explained to the British newspaper Daily Mail, and a live Jew in a yarmulke might “interfere” with the museum’s “independent position.” The museum finally relented after deliberating for 4 months, which seems like a rather long time for the Anne Frank House to ponder whether it was a good idea to force a Jew into hiding.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Many Jewish cultural and religious words | |||
| Description:* Renowned and beloved as a prizewinning novelist, Dara Horn has also been publishing penetrating essays since she was a teenager. Often asked by major publications to write on subjects related to Jewish culture — and increasingly in response to a recent wave of deadly antisemitic attacks—Horn was troubled to realize what all of these assignments had in common: she was being asked to write about dead Jews, never about living ones. In these essays, Horn reflects on subjects as far-flung as the international veneration of Anne Frank, the mythology that Jewish family names were changed at Ellis Island, the blockbuster traveling exhibition Auschwitz, the marketing of the Jewish history of Harbin, China, and the little-known life of the “righteous Gentile” Varian Fry. Throughout, she challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination with Jewish deaths, and so little respect for Jewish lives unfolding in the present.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: A friend of mine (who, FWIW, is not Jewish) recommended this book to me, and boy am I glad she did. It’s incredibly educational and thought-provoking in terms of getting you to take a look at your own beliefs (and prejudices, many not obvious) about Judaism and the Holocaust. For one thing, I’ll stop telling the (not true) story that my Portuguese grandparents dropped the “s” off the end of our last name at Ellis Island when they emigrated here from The Azores. This book also helped me understand what it is about Holocaust novels that just doesn’t sit right with me — enough that I’m not interested in reading any more of them. I recommend this book highly and unequivocally. This is a comprehensive review of the book by Katherine E. Aron-Beller of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. | |||
Book #108 |
Book: The Hush | Author: John Hart | |
| Source: Friend loan Format: Print |
Pages: 432 | Duration: 11/09/25 – 11/14/25 (6 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, suspense, horror, fantasy, supernatural | ||
| 📕10-word summary: An enigmatic man on dangerously haunted land confronts its demons. 🖌6-word review: Sometimes confusing. Stephen King-ish at times. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “The receptionist was as polished as the marble floor.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: scree, hardscrabble, keening, understory, pocosin, manumission | |||
| Description:* It’s been 10 years since the events that changed Johnny Merrimon’s life and rocked his hometown to the core. Since then, Johnny has fought to maintain his privacy, but books have been written of his exploits; the fascination remains. Living alone on 6,000 acres of once-sacred land, Johnny’s only connection to normal life is his old friend, Jack. They’re not boys anymore, but the bonds remain. What they shared. What they lost. But Jack sees danger in the wild places Johnny calls home; he senses darkness and hunger, an intractable intent. Johnny will discuss none of it, but there are the things he knows, the things he can do. A lesser friend might accept such abilities as a gift, but Jack has felt what moves in the swamp: the cold of it, the unspeakable fear.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’d never heard of this author, so when I saw this book at a friend’s house, I borrowed it. I’m not a big fan of the fantasy, supernatural, or horror genres, but I gave this a go anyway. Overall it was a compelling story, but it had a lot of characters (sometimes called by their first name, sometimes by their last, which confused me sometimes — with some “Now who is this character again?” noise in my head. And with so many characters, dialogue tags were essential but missing enough times that I thought, “Whose line is whose in this dialogue exchange right now?” a little too often. I definitely got some “Stephen King vibes” more than once while reading this — think It. This is the 2nd in a 2-book series, but it stood on its own, and I’m not interested in reading the first book in the series. | |||
Book #107 |
Book: Tattoos on the Heart | Author: Gregory Boyle | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 217 | Duration: 11/08/25 – 11/08/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: nonfiction, memoir, Christian, religion, spirituality, faith, gangs | ||
| 📕10-word summary: What true compassion looks like — from a gang-intervention program’s perspective. 🖌6-word review: Educational, thought-provoking stories about compelling people. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Forget Kleenex. Forget handkerchief. Soledad is sobbing into a huge bath towel. And the few of us there found our arms too short to wrap around this kind of pain.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: pyrrhic, recalcitrant, braggadocio, tertianship, Garpian dread, salvific | |||
| Description:* For 20 years, Father Gregory Boyle has run Homeboy Industries, a gang-intervention program located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles — also known as the gang capital of the world. In Tattoos on the Heart, he has distilled his experience working in the ghetto into a breathtaking series of parables inspired by faith. From giant, tattooed Cesar, shopping at JC Penney fresh out of prison, we learn how to feel worthy of God’s love. From 10-year-old Pipi, we learn the importance of being known and acknowledged. From Lula, we understand the kind of patience necessary to rescue someone from the dark — as Father Boyle phrases it, we can only shine a flashlight on a light switch in a darkened room.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This book was enthusiastically and highly recommended by a friend. The message in this book is unequivocally a “5-star” one — even to an atheist reader in spite of it being completely steeped in Christian values and beliefs. I wish my rating scale had ½ stars, so I could have given it 4½ stars instead of 4. The “½-star struggle” I had with it was that there are a lot of slang terms in it (many left to decipher by context), and there are a lot of (untranslated) Spanish words/phrases/sentences in it. (Full disclosure: I speak pretty much zero Spanish.) Complicating that, many of the slang terms were in Spanish. While reading this book, I thought a lot about my friend Hugh, who gave his heart to people experiencing homelessness in his Loves Wins Ministry work in the Raleigh, NC area. This seems like the kind of book he could write from the compelling stories and insights he used to share about that work when he was doing it. I’d only recommend this book with some caveats, the main one being with regards to non-religious people. They’d have to be someone who I believe would open their hearts to the message despite the deeply religious wrapper it’s in. With all that said, I’m glad I read it. I found the education about gang-intervention approaches alone worth the price of admission. I also think Gregory Boyle should be made a saint whenever “the rules” (which are quite rigorous) allow it. | |||
Book #106 |
Book: The Women of Arlington Hall | Author: Jane Healey | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 329 | Duration: 11/06/25 – 11/06/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: historical fiction, romance, World War II | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A female codebreaker gets herself in the thick of things. 🖌6-word review: Fast-paced, somewhat-educational, with intelligent female protagonist. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “The choices a person makes in life are shaped and influenced by a complicated calculus of time and circumstances and chance.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: bandbox, bodhran, lothario, peplum, star-crossed | |||
| Description:* 1947: Adventurous Radcliffe graduate Catherine “Cat” Killeen cancels her wedding and upends a future that no longer suits her. At the behest of her professor and hungry for a challenge, Cat arrives in Virginia to work on a confidential military project. A student in cryptoanalysis, Cat is already ahead of the game—to assist in rooting out Soviet spies who have infiltrated the US. Joining the “government girls” of Arlington Hall, Cat gains the respect of her superiors and the friendship of her peers. Then, on a night out in DC, Cat runs into Jonathan Dardis, her arrogant and privileged Harvard rival and newly minted agent for the FBI. What Cat and Jonathan share is a competitive drive and an attraction that’s becoming just as spirited. They’re also united in the same critical goal for America. Together, they’re diving deep into the shadows of espionage.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a free download from the choice of July 2025 Amazon First Reads, and I was afraid this book was going to be nonfiction and similar to Hidden Figures, so I was pleased to find that it was not like that at all. (Not that that wasn’t a compelling story!) In this historical fiction story, I liked Catherine (Cat), the smart (Radcliffe graduate), the fact that she called off her wedding on her wedding day, made smart, likeable co-worker friends, and quickly became recognized as a significant, respected contributor to her codebreaking department and its mission. I also appreciated the Author’s Notes included at the end of the book, which explained that: “This is a work of fiction, but it is inspired by and incorporates true events and real people. Codebreaking and the early days of the Cold War are both complex and layered subjects, and to write a novel inspired by that era means honoring the historical facts.” | |||
Book #105 |
Book: Isola | Author: Allegra Goodman | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 346 | Duration: 11/04/25 – 11/05/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: historical fiction, literary fiction, France, romance, survival, Canada | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Epic saga of love, faith, and defiance in reimagined history. 🖌6-word review: Forceful writing with venerable female protagonist. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “And that is when I saw his soul rising from his body.” “How could you tell it was his soul and not smoke from the tapers?” “The smoke was gray. His soul was white.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: virginal, bandolier, citrine, approbation, abnegation | |||
| Description:* Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian’s servant and the two develop an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished and abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue. Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she’d never before needed.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I saw this in my daily BookBub email, and it sounded interesting. Since it wasn’t free, I got on my library‘s waiting list on August 13, 2025 at #132, and it became available 2 days ago on November 4, 2025. Inspired by the real life of a 16th-century heroine, Isola is a story of a woman fighting for survival. It covers her saga from 1431-1544, during which she suffers more loss in short enough time that it wouldn’t be surprising if she became a hoarder one day. The narrator sounded British, so there were a lot of “enna-things” and “evrah-things” throughout the book. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, albeit it was pretty intense at times, especially with regards to death and killing. This was my first book by this author, and I would consider reading another someday. | |||
Book #104 |
Book: The Widow’s Husband’s Secret Lie | Author: Freida McFadden | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 152 | Duration: 11/04/25 – 11/04/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, humor, satire, novella | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A woman has killed her husband. But has she really? 🖌6-word review: Satirical mind and word games entertain. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “The director of the psychiatric ward is my father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former college roommate.” | |||
| Description:* My husband is dead. I attended his funeral. I watched his casket be lowered six feet into the ground. (Actually, it may have been only five feet, but that still seems like more than enough.) And then we ate an array of finger sandwiches and deviled eggs and miniature beef wellingtons that cost more than my first car. My point is, Grant is gone. And so are all his many, many deep, dark secrets which I never really ever bothered to ask him about. He is never coming back. So why do I still see his face everywhere I go?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a wild little ride with malapropisms, mondegreens, & memes. Make sure you firmly plant your tongue in your cheek as you start. | |||
Book #103 |
Book: The Life We Bury | Author: Allen Eskens | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 306 | Duration: 11/03/25 – 11/03/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, crime, suspense | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A wrongly convicted, terminally ill man makes a dying declaration. 🖌6-word review: Fast-paced, confounding crime mystery unravels compellingly. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Add to that cauldron an ever increasing measure of cheap vodka — a form of self-medication that quelled the inner scream but amplified the outer crazy — and you get a picture of the mother I left behind.” | |||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: vacuous | |||
| Description:* College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe’s life is ever the same. Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran–and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder. As Joe writes about Carl’s life, especially Carl’s valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I loved this book, because it was one of those stories where you can’t figure out how something that seems so “black and white” or “open and shut” could have happened any other way. But then, like Paul Harvey’s radio program of yesteryear, The Rest of the Story, another perspective reveals how it did. I also liked how the climax didn’t happen until pretty much the very last page. I might very well make this a Mostly Social Book Club book in the future. | |||
Book #102 |
Book: Nobody Wants Your Sh*t | Author: Messie Condo | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 194 | Duration: 11/03/25 – 11/03/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, self help, humor, how to, personal development, reference health | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Freeing yourself and family from f*cking clutter before you croak. 🖌6-word review: Laugh-out-loud funny, sarcastic, and wicked smart. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Hold onto the gratitude — that’s the important part — and let the thing go.” | |||
| Description:* Inspired by The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, Nobody Wants Your Sh*t will light a fire under your untidy ass with humor and helpful organizing tips that you’ll actually want to use. Like a delightfully foul-mouthed best friend, this book dishes out the funny, unpretentious advice you need to hear most. You’ll discover how to deal with your sh*t like there’s no tomorrow, live in the moment without the f*cking mess, and make your life and your eventual death a hell of a lot easier. With this witty guide, you’ll learn how to: ditch the d*mn indecision, get your sh*t together and feel fantastic, and give your busy family a f*cking break… and more! Whether you’re getting ready to move in, move on, or just move your ass, Nobody Wants Your Sh*t will help you take control of your f*cking life.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I have heard of both The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning and Marie Kondo, but I didn’t know that 1) “after the birth of Marie Kondo’s third child, her rigorous attitude towards tidying her home relaxed in order to make room for more personal priorities at this stage of her life,” and 2) there’s an author who goes by the pseudonym of Messie Condo who has written 2 parodies — so far, and this being one of them — based on the ideas of the Swedish death cleaning concept and Marie Kondo’s writing. I loved this writer’s “voice” (copious curse words included), and I laughed out loud and cackled a lot while reading it. It came across as very real to me, particularly by nailing human nature and calling all of us on our bullshit. I highly recommend the audiobook version read by Hillary Huber. | |||
Book #101 |
Book: The First Witch of Boston | Author: Andrea Catalano | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 326 | Duration: 10/30/25 – 11/01/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: historical fiction, witches, romance, witchcraft | ||
| 📕10-word summary: An outspoken healer is accused, convicted of being a witch. 🖌6-word review: Fictional-but-believable account of the time’s hysteria. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “He doubted that the Widow Hallett had ever lifted anything heavier than her skirts.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: poultice, pillories, mithridates, umbilicus, doublet, poppets, quim, physic, milksop, imperious, doxy, capotain, petitgrain, Beltane, maleficium, bodkin | |||
| Description:* Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1646. Thomas and Margaret Jones arrive from England to build a life in the New World. Though of differing temperaments, cautious Thomas and fiery Margaret, a healer, are bound by a love that has lasted decades. With a child on the way, their new beginning promises only blessings. But in this austere Puritan community, comely faces hide malicious intent. Wrong moves or words are met with suspicion, and Margaret’s bold and unguarded nature draws scorn. Soon, Margaret is mistrusted as more cunning woman than kind caregiver. And when personal tragedies, religious hysteria, and wariness of the unknown turn most against her, even the devotion Margaret and her husband share is at risk.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: Being from Massachusetts, I find its witch-hunting history an interesting topic, although I’m not fascinated or obsessed with it by any means. Many of the reviewers who didn’t like this book cited “gratuitous” and “explicit” sexual details as a reason, which I didn’t find to be the case. Others complained that it wasn’t “historically accurate,” which I didn’t mind — as it’s called historical fiction for a reason. And yet others complained that both its title and its prologue were “spoilers.” Well, there are plenty of books that start off with an incident, and then go back and tell you how it happened, which was the case here and wasn’t at all a deterrent to my reading. I liked how outspoken the protagonist was and thought the author did a good job showing how the word and actions of women during that time of hysteria were misinterpreted and misrepresented. Also, I’m a fan of epistolary elements in novels. | |||
Book #100 |
Book: I Am Not Sidney Poitier | Author: Percival Everett | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 247 | Duration: 10/29/25 – 10/29/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: literary fiction, humor, race, African American, satire | ||
| 📕10-word summary: The wild adventures of a rich, shrewd Sidney Poitier doppelgänger. 🖌6-word review: Funny, clever, and highly entertaining writing. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “My penis hung there, unimpressive and unimpressed. Beatrice dropped to her knees and took me in her mouth. Hormones got the better of me, and I began to swell, at least my penis did. But before I could get completely hard, she’d start in with her teeth, and my organ would retreat. It went like that for a bit — back-and-forth, pleasure and pain, arousal and repulsion, erection and reflation. She sucked away like a maniacal vacuum.” | |||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: deleterious | |||
| Description:* Not Sidney Poitier is an amiable young man in an absurd country. The sudden death of his mother orphans him at age 11, leaving him with an unfortunate name, an uncanny resemblance to the famous actor, and, perhaps more fortunate, a staggering number of shares in the Turner Broadcasting Corporation.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This is a funny story about a serious subject: a social hierarchy that scrambles to balance a person’s skin color with their mind-numbing wealth. I thought of The Blind Side story at one point, but I liked how this author overtly commented on the trope of the “white savior narrative,” which critics of The Blind Side cited. I did a lot of chuckling, and a little laughing out loud, reading this book. The simple comedic device of the main character’s name being “Not Sidney Poitier” (i.e., his “first” name is “Not Sidney” and his surname is “Poitier”) lead to a lot of misunderstandings that “never got old,” at least to me. I also loved how the main character (“Not Sidney”) takes a class from a Professor Percival Everett, making the author of this book also a character in it. One thing I didn’t particularly care for was that there were 3 dream sequences, which I don’t like in books — because it’s usually not clear to me if they’re just supposed to show how absurd dreams can be, or if there’s something allegorical or metaphorical in them to advance the plot — and one of them in this story was super, super long. I still liked the book enough overall to not subtract a star from the rating because of it, though. This is my 3rd Percival Everett book, having read both James and The Trees in 2024, and he’s a writer a highly recommend. | |||
Book #99 |
Book: The Lost Husband | Author: Katherine Center | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 304 | Duration: 10/28/25 – 10/29/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, romance, family | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Widow moves from her mother’s house to her aunt’s house. 🖌6-word review: Family dysfunction abounds. Excellent dialogue tags. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “And there it was, the chasm I came to over and over with my own kids, that separated the things I knew from what they could understand. The vast difference between what you could learn from experience and what you could teach.” | |||
| Description:* “Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for — Dear Lord! — 2 whole years, and I’m writing to see if you’d like to be rescued.” The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who, after the sudden death of her husband, Danny, went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape, a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country. Before she can talk herself out of it, Libby is packing the minivan, grabbing the kids, and hitting the road.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I very much enjoyed this book. It contains a lot of life lessons in terms of perspective, love, happiness, and family, and it does a good job of “showing” them instead of “telling” them. The best thing about the writing (which I actually listened to, since it was an audiobook) was the generous use of dialogue tags in it. I never once thought, “Wait a minute, who’s saying this?” | |||
Book #98 |
Book: Never Lie | Author: Freida McFadden | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 286 | Duration: 10/27/25 – 10/27/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, suspense | ||
| 📕10-word summary: The dream house of a young couple has bad juju. 🖌6-word review: Confusing-at-times, dual-timeline, story with many characters. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Apparently, asking him to commit murder was a deal breaker.” | |||
| Description:* Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams. But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace 4 years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate. In search of a book to keep her entertained, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels. And then Tricia reaches the final cassette. The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This book had a lot of characters, including one or two who turned out to be the same characters. (It’s a complicated mess.) It’s just not a very well-written book, including repetition of some things. For instance, she must have said that the main couple had been married for 6 months and known each other for 10 years three times too many. I also found a couple of editing misses in the book. If I had ½ stars in my rating scale, I’d’ve given this a 2½ instead of a 3. | |||
Book #97 |
Book: Ice on the Grapevine | Author: R.E. Donald | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 304 | Duration: 10/25/25 – 10/26/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, suspense | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Detectives work to unravel the mystery behind a frozen corpse. 🖌6-word review: Lots of characters. Felt lost sometimes. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Lonesome had hit him like a Mack truck, and sleep was the best antidote for now.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: moldering, kokanee, puttanesca | |||
| Description:* A frozen corpse turns up at a highway brake check just south of the Grapevine Pass. Ex-homicide detective Hunter Rayne, who now drives an eighteen wheeler, is persuaded by his irascible dispatcher, Elspeth Watson, to help clear two fellow truck drivers who are arrested for the murder. The circumstantial evidence is strong, and a rookie detective from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department is eager to score a win. The investigation crosses the Canada-U.S. border when the victim is identified as a second rate musician from Vancouver, and it turns out there were more than a few desperate people happy to see him dead, including the accused couple. Hunter has to use all his investigative skills to uncover the truth.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: There were a lot of characters in this book, and I lost track of who characters were at times. It might be because this was book #2 (in a 5-book series) even though series like these are usually touted as also working “standalone.” I also found it frustrating that the two main people suspected of the murder would not speak, even to their lawyers, for at least 75% of the book. Out with it already. | |||
Book #96 |
Book: The Restoration Garden | Author: Sara Blaydes | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 296 | Duration: 10/23/25 – 10/23/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: historical fiction, mystery, World War II, British literature | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Landscape architect unearths the tangled history of a once-celebrated garden. 🖌6-word review: Compelling, fast-paced, dual-timeline mystery is solved. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “It seems like everyone who sets foot on these grounds never truly leaves. It takes hold of you.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: wych, parterre, fen, bergamot, florilegium, laburnum | |||
| Description:* Julia Esdaile is hired to restore the now-abandoned historic gardens at Havenworth Manor. For the enigmatic lady of the manor, 92-year-old Margaret Clarke, the reason for the restoration is the deeply private story of a promise made a lifetime ago, and a vow to keep it before she dies. In 1940, Margaret’s older half sister, Irene, an aspiring artist, dreamed of an exciting world beyond Havenworth. Her only escapes are James Atherton, a handsome officer in the RAF, and her sketchbook of flower drawings. Irene follows James to London, where she is forced to make a choice she never imagined. With that, Irene vanishes from Margaret’s life forever. Now, Julia is determined to uncover both the long-buried secrets of the past and the truth behind a heartbreaking mystery that only restoring the gardens of Havenworth can solve.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was another dual-timeline delve into family secrets, where both the past and the present storylines interested me, and where the storyline in the past is debunking all of the “theories” the people in the storyline in the present are devising while trying their best to figure out what actually happened. It was a quick-paced unraveling, and a book I’d consider as a future Mostly Social Book Club book. | |||
Book #95 |
Book: The Curious Secrets of Yesterday | Author: Namrata Patel | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 281 | Duration: 10/21/25 – 10/22/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, romance, India, family, culture | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Woman rejects expectation to carry on her family’s generational business. 🖌6-word review: Well-told unraveling of consequential family secrets. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Tulsi had let it go. Stopped being persistent and began her slow walk over emotional eggshells.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: asafetida, Vedic, fenugreek, dupatta, salwar, ajwan, Ayurveda, gulab jamun, ashwagandha, rakshasi | |||
| Description:* Raised by her mother and grandmother and tutored in the healing wonders of spices, Tulsi Gupta is expected to carry on the ancestral tradition from her family’s Salem spice shop. Restless and reluctant, Tulsi yearns to follow her own path—destiny has other plans. When she finds a letter written by her grandmother, addressed and never sent, that speaks of a long-ago betrayal, she decides to unravel the mystery as a distraction. But Tulsi stumbles into much more than she bargained for. With each new discovery, she learns there’s much more to her mother and grandmother than their expertise in the remedial aromas of coriander and cloves. When an attractive neighbor begins renovating the shuttered deli next door, Tulsi finds the courage to break her routine and chase the unexpected. As she digs into the past and secrets come to light, she’s determined to heal old family wounds and find her true purpose — and maybe even love — every step of the way.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This is my fourth book this year about Indian culture, and it was another good one. The others were The Direction of the Wind, Abscond: A Short Story, and The Storyteller’s Secret. Three of the four stories, including this one, were about mother-daughter relationships and generational secrets. | |||
Book #94 |
Book: Bears Don’t Care About Your Problems: More Funny Shit in the Woods from SemiRad.com | Author: Brendan Leonard | |
| Source: Gift from a friend Format: Print |
Pages: 224 | Duration: 10/18/25 – 10/21/25 (4 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: nonfiction, humor, nature | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Sometimes funny, sometimes sarcastic, thoughts and observations on outdoor activities. 🖌6-word review: Part Dave Barry, part Gary Larson. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “This works the same way as having a baby, or buying a big house, can save a marriage.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: glissade, talus, boulderer, Elvis leg, belay, postholing, couloir, hantavirus, avy beacon | |||
| Description:* If you’ve ever considered the absurdity of sleeping on the ground in a place where bears live, pooping in a bag on a glacier, or trying to teach someone you love a sport that scares them to the point of loudly threatening to kill you in front of strangers, Bears Don’t Care About Your Problems will make you laugh. Author and creator of Semi-Rad, Brendan Leonard is part Dave Barry, part Gary Larson, and 100% twisted in his own fresh way. The Semi-Rad perspective has become the funny, introspective voice of outdoor Everyman and Everywoman adventurers.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: A friend we met on our fall 2025 New England & Canada BearCruise bought this book for my husband and me as a thank you for tagging along with us when we drove to the Anne Murray Centre, a 2-hour, one-way drive from our Halifax, Nova Scotia port call. It was a fun read even though I am the furthest from what you’d call “an outdoorsy person” as you can get. I particularly enjoyed the “Lose weight now with the 10,000-foot diet” chapter. | |||
Book #93 |
Book: Trust | Author: Pamela Kelley | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 273 | Duration: 10/15/25 – 10/17/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, cozy mystery, romance, crime, suspense | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Innocent teacher is accused of murdering one of her students. 🖌6-word review: Slow beginning. Rushed ending. Decently forgettable. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “‘Why relive the past?’ Gramps was always a big believer in moving forward.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Tommy John surgery | |||
| Description:* In Trust, 36-year-old high school teacher, Lauren, is about to get married when one of her students goes missing and she becomes a person of interest. Her fiancé, David, is a former minor-league pitcher turned stockbroker who is surprised to discover that there are things he didn’t know about Lauren. With the help of his 91-year-old grandfather, and his friend Jack, the assistant sheriff, he searches for the truth.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was an interesting enough book, but nothing great, and I’ll probably forget it even more quickly than I forget most books, and I’d be hard-pressed to recommend it. It was fine, just nothing great. It sort of dragged for the first two-thirds of the book, and then felt rushed through the final third. It’s one of those books I’m glad I got as a free download, where it’s been on my Kindle “shelf” for 8 years. | |||
Book #92 |
Book: Ocracoke: The Pearl of the Outer Banks | Author: Ray McAllister | |
| Source: Won in a raffle Format: Print |
Pages: 256 | Duration: 10/12/25 – 10/14/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: nonfiction, history, geography, Outer Banks, culture | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Historical, geographical, and cultural look at what makes Ocracoke special. 🖌6-word review: A well-researched, informative, and well-told story. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Sand, of course, is not meant to be at rest. Neither are barrier islands. As their sands are shifted by wind and wave and storm, the islands move, often breaking apart and reforming.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: cognomen, unslaked, yaupon | |||
| Description:* “Ocracoke” tells the island’s story from the early days of Native Americans and European explorers to today’s artists, musicians, fishermen and bicycle-riding tourists. Along the way, it shares the stories of Blackbeard the Pirate’s bloody demise, German U-boat attacks off Ocracoke’s coast, and the role of the iconic 1823 Ocracoke Lighthouse. Here, too, are portraits of ferries full of visitors, a legendary herd of once-wild ponies, miles of nationally honored beaches, the charmingly unpaved Howard Street and the poignantly serene British Cemetery – along with the inside stories of what draws families back year after year, generation after generation. *From goodreads.com’s synopsis. |
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| Thoughts: This is my 14th nonfiction book of 92 books read-to-date in 2025. My husband and I attended a fundraiser recently at which Ocracoke stories and music were featured, and I won a door prize there and he won a raffle. This book was in one of those prize baskets. I could count the number of times I’ve been to the Outer Banks of N.C. on one hand (at least twice to Kitty Hawk), but I’ve never been to Ocracoke. This book was a great introduction to the area with chapters such as Blackbeard; Shipwrecks & Life-Saving Stations; Hurricanes; The Ferries, The Highway, and The Seashore Park; The Ponies; and The Keepers of Ocracoke. I found it an informative, interesting, and well-written book. The only reason I didn’t give it a 5th star for its rating was because of the low quality of the illustrations and photos, of which there were a lot. | |||
Book #91 |
Book: Sign Off | Author: Patricia McLinn | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 234 | Duration: 10/10/25 – 10/12/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, suspense, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Banished TV journalist flexes her muscles as a homicide detective. 🖌6-word review: Interesting enough story. Lots of characters. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Marty Beck was still fighting a dead woman for a dead man.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: basilisk, candy-ass, slued, strafed, remonstrations | |||
| Description:* TV journalist Elizabeth “E. M.” Danniher will tell you she committed two sins — she didn’t stay young, and she made an enemy of a powerful news executive — her ex. She used to break national news. Now her top story as the “Helping Out!” reporter at dinky KWMT-TV in Sherman,Wyoming is getting a refund for a defective toaster. Tough, funny and determined, Elizabeth wrestles with isolation, keeping a professional edge, and an evolving self-image. Is Wyoming — the land of cattle, cowboys, tumbleweeds, and fewer than 6 people per square mile — her new home or a road to permanent obscurity? Soon she’s in a battle of wills with ex-football player turned journalist Mike Paycik, who sees her as a handy rung on his career ladder. And there’s the matter of a deputy sheriff—missing or murdered? Elizabeth finds herself investigating at the insistence of a girl who’s set on proving her father’s innocence.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I was glad to finally read this free BookBub download from April 2024. As a lot of these free BookBub downloads are wont to be, this was the first in a series of — in this case — 15 books. It was just an average read, and I wouldn’t read another one in the series, unless it happened to turn up as a free download and had an exceptionally interesting title or premise. | |||
Book #90 |
Book: The Second Mrs. Astor | Author: Shana Abé | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 323 | Duration: 10/07/25 – 10/09/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: historical fiction, romance, disaster, society | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Step inside Madeleine Force’s scandalous courtship and catastrophic honeymoon voyage. 🖌6-word review: Realistically portrayed. Refreshing female protagonist perspective. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Marriage is work, enormous work, because it’s a living entity that needs everlasting attention. It will push you and bend you and test you, and if you’re not prepared for any of that, it will shatter you.” | |||
| Description:* Madeleine Talmage Force is just 17 when she attracts the attention of John Jacob “Jack” Astor. Madeleine is beautiful, intelligent, and solidly upper-class, but the Astors are in a league apart. Jack’s mother was the Mrs. Astor, American royalty and New York’s most formidable socialite. Jack is dashing and industrious—a hero of the Spanish-American war, an inventor, and a canny businessman. Despite their twenty-nine-year age difference, and the scandal of Jack’s recent divorce, Madeleine falls headlong into love—and becomes the press’s favorite target. On their extended honeymoon in Egypt, the newlyweds finally find a measure of peace from photographers and journalists. Madeleine feels truly alive for the first time—and is happily pregnant. The couple plans to return home in the spring of 1912, aboard an opulent new ocean liner…*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I chose this book several weeks ago, because it was “available immediately” from the library. Although, I knew it was about the Titanic, I had no idea that the settings of the story would include Newport, RI; Bar Harbor, ME; & Halifax, NS, which were three (of the 5) port calls on the New England & Canada cruise we just returned from, so that was cool! The actual Titanic disaster wasn’t the center of this book, and it didn’t provide any “new” information about it. Most of the book focused on Madeleine Force, whom Jack Astor married after he divorced his first wife — hence the title of the book. It covers how they met, how he pointedly pursued her, and the sometimes-high price of fame and fortune. | |||
Book #89 |
Book: And Then There Were None | Author: Agatha Christie | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Kindle |
Pages: 258 | Duration: 09/25/25 – 10/07/25 (13 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, classics, Agatha Christie | ||
| 📕10-word summary: All 10 people on an island die one by one. 🖌6-word review: Intricate plot seems implausible at times. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “When a man’s neck’s in danger, he doesn’t stop to think too much about sentiment.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: contadini, cairngorm, iniquitous, pukka sahib, desultory, truncheon, cosh, sangfroid, quietus, wangle | |||
| Description:* First, there were ten—a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a little private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they’re unwilling to reveal—and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. A famous nursery rhyme is framed and hung in every room of the mansion. When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: It took me 13 days to read this book, because for 10 of them I was in New York City seeing plays for 3 days, and then on a New England & Canada cruise for 7 days. Agatha Christie said this was her most difficult book to write. I struggled with it a little, probably because I was usually distracted while reading it, and there were huge gaps in time (sometimes days) before I picked it up again. I liked that the deaths were centered around a nursery rhyme, but it was ambiguous enough that it didn’t really help you figure out how and who was going to be killed next, but after they were dead, it made sense in retrospect. | |||
Book #88 |
Book: What Does It Feel Like? | Author: Sophie Kinsella | |
| Source: Library loan Format: e-book |
Pages: 128 | Duration: 09/24/25 – 09/24/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, novella, family, cancer | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A woman’s experience through a glioblastoma diagnosis and its prognosis. 🖌6-word review: Compelling, sometimes even humorous, honest observations. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “It doesn’t matter if anyone knows the answer, it can be good to ask the question anyway.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: pratfall, clambered | |||
| Description:* Eve is a successful novelist who wakes up one day in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, never far from her side, explains that she has had an operation to remove the large, malignant tumor growing in her brain. As Eve learns to walk, talk, and write again—and as she wrestles with her diagnosis, and how and when to explain it to her beloved children—she begins to recall what’s most important to her: long walks with her husband’s hand clasped firmly around her own, family game nights, and always buying that dress when she sees it. Recounted in brief anecdotes, each one is an attempt to answer the type of impossible questions recognizable to anyone navigating the labyrinth of grief.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I chose this book without knowing what it was about, which in retrospect, is probably a good thing. I probably wouldn’t have read it had I known, but it was a good read. This work is a fictionalized autobiography in which the narrator prevails as both positive and even humorous at times. As rare as glioblastoma is, I’ve known 3 people in my life with it — one a relative and 2 acquaintances. | |||
Book #87 |
Book: The Direction of the Wind | Author: Mansi Shah | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 318 | Duration: 09/21/25 – 09/23/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, family, India, France, cultural | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A daughter looks for her mother who left their family. 🖌6-word review: A well-done, dual-timeline story. Satisfying ending. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Nita spun around, quickly swallowing the bite of bread she had been chewing and hoping she didn’t have crumbs littering her clothes but did not look because she was too self-conscious to show how self-conscious she was.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: foi, hichko, fua, papad, ba, paan, arrondissement, namaskar, Bhagwan | |||
| Description:* Sophie Shah was six when she learned her mother, Nita, had died. For 22 years, she shouldered the burden of that loss. But when her father passes away, Sophie discovers a cache of hidden letters revealing a shattering her mother didn’t die. She left. Now that Sophie knows the truth, she’s determined to find the mother who abandoned her. Sophie jets off to Paris, even though the impulsive trip may risk her impending arranged marriage. In the City of Light, she chases lead after lead that help her piece together a startling portrait of her mother. Though Sophie goes to Paris to find Nita, she may just also discover parts of herself she never knew.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I do love a good “finding some secret letters” and dual-timeline stories, both of which this book comprised. I saw many similarities between this book and one I read 7 months ago, The Storyteller’s Secret, in terms of being centered around an Indian family and a daughter that travels to another country in search of a better understanding her mother. I recommended that one to our Mostly Social Book Club, and I might very well put this one forth as one of my future selections. I am not a fan of “Hollywood endings” (i.e., sappy sweet), which this one was just (mercifully) shy of — an ending I’d characterize as bittersweet as opposed to sappy sweet. | |||
Book #86 |
Book: The Real Deal | Author: Caitlin Devlin | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 359 | Duration: 09/17/25 – 09/19/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, contemporary, young adult, LGBT, drama, mental health | ||
| 📕10-word summary: 6 young girls become TV sensations with mostly disastrous results. 🖌6-word review: Reinforced my uninterest in realty TV. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Reading feels like achieving something. It’s the opposite of wasting time.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: spliff, rucksack, faff, bhaji, barbican, gabbled, scarpered, gormless, ketamine, Biro, twee | |||
| Description:* Belle Simon was just 12 years old when she was one of 6 girls plucked from obscurity to star in reality TV sensation, The Real Deal. Under the wing of dazzling star Donna Mayfair, she and the other 5 girls were meant to become world-famous actresses, singers and dancers. But at 26, Belle is trying to live anonymously, away from being loved or loathed. But when a producer offers Belle a big paycheck to join a reunion special, she can’t say no. If people are going to talk about that shocking final episode anyway, maybe this is an unexpected opportunity. Everyone watching thinks they know what happened, but only Belle knows what really occurred away from the cameras and outside the editing room. Is she ready to go back and confront her past? And will anyone believe her if she reveals the truth?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’ve never seen a realty TV show, and I’d never read a book about one — until now. This book validated my uninterest in them. With that said, the one thing I really liked about this story is how it contained situations and experiences that various characters interpreted in completely different ways, which actually precluded the reader from knowing what actually did happen. I came away with the feeling that at least half of the main characters were unreliable narrators. Normally that kind of ambiguity doesn’t sit well with me, but the pettiness, manipulation, and meanness that the producer and writers imposed on the characters and into the TV show storyline, all in the name of a bigger audience and higher ratings, kept me from caring about what did really happen. And regretfully, my overused-word nemesis, conspiratorially, made an appearance in this book. | |||
Book #85 |
Book: The Memory Collectors | Author: Dete Meserve | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Kindle |
Pages: 320 | Duration: 09/14/25 – 09/16/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: science fiction, time travel, mystery | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Four strangers time travel to the same significant past day. 🖌6-word review: Thoughtful, clever, interestingly interconnected compelling storylines. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “The first time I’d lived this life, I’d rushed through it, ignoring the details around me. I’d looked at the things in my life without really seeing them at all. Today, it’s the little things I latch on to.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: dun, kohl | |||
| Description:* What would you do if you could spend an hour in your past? Four strangers in the beach town of Ventura, California are about to find out. Elizabeth aches for one more precious hour with her son who died in a senseless accident. Andy is desperate to find his first love who vanished after a whirlwind romance. Logan craves the rush of surfing and mountain climbing, yearning to reclaim the freedom he lost after a misstep landed him in a wheelchair. Brooke is looking for an hour of relief from the guilt of an unforgivable mistake. Enter Aeon Expeditions, the groundbreaking time travel invention of Mark Saunders—which allows some lucky clients the chance to spend an hour in their past. Even though Aeon’s technology ensures time travel can’t alter the future, all four clients, including Mark’s ex-wife Elizabeth, yearn to revisit the hour that changed their lives forever.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: Another book to support my notion that the only kind of science fiction I really like is time-travel stories. Other time-travel books I’ve enjoyed include Remember Me Tomorrow, Oona Out of Order, The Midnight Library, Mrs. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Time Traveler’s Wife, In Five Years, and A Wrinkle in Time. I like the notion in this story that while you can’t go back and do something differently in the past that changes an event in your future, you can learn something when you go back that changes how you “frame” what happened back then once you get back. | |||
Book #84 |
Book: The Upper Room | Author: Mary Monroe | |
| Source: Library loan Format: e-book |
Pages: 384 | Duration: 09/12/25 – 09/14/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, African American, drama, urban, family | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Dysfunctional family of mythical proportions slogs its way through life. 🖌6-word review: Absolute train-wreck-esque — outrageous, confounding, and terrifying. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “See—Fast Black told me to carry her to the bedroom on account of she had a notion between her legs that was hot as a stole car!” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: vaingloriously, chifforobe, joogin | |||
| Description:* Maureen, a young black girl torn between her mother, the notorious Mama Ruby, whose healing powers and reputation cause people to fear her, and the harsh realities of life, comes of age, in a powerful, evocative tale set in a migrant labor camp in the bayous of the Florida Everglades.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I can’t think of another book with as much destruction — both physical and emotional — with regards to both the characters and the situations they bring about. Most of the characters are unlikeable and unlovable, and it’s hard to pinpoint why I didn’t abandon this book on that alone — I guess it was like the proverbial train wreck. The narrative voice of the story is almost exclusively AAVE. | |||
Book #83 |
Book: Persuasion | Author: Jane Austen | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 249 | Duration: 09/10/25 – 09/11/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Genres: historical fiction, literature, classics, romance, 19th century | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Second chance comes around after a previously persuaded broken engagement. 🖌6-word review: Not just a little torturous — disappointing. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.” | |||
| Description:* In many respects, Persuasion marks a break with Austen’s previous works, both in the more biting, even irritable satire directed at some of the novel’s characters and in the regretful, resigned outlook of its otherwise admirable heroine, Anne Elliot, in the first part of the story. Against this is set the energy and appeal of the Royal Navy, which symbolises for Anne and the reader the possibility of a more outgoing, engaged, and fulfilling life, and it is this worldview which triumphs for the most part at the end of the novel.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: Both the preantepenultimate and the antepenultimate books I’ve read mentioned and lauded this last-completed novel of Jane Austen, which was the impetus for my reading it. I was not impressed. I preferred — probably by a thousand times — Jane Eyre. YMMV, of course. | |||
Book #82 |
Book: My Friends | Author: Fredrik Backman | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Kindle |
Pages: 435 | Duration: 09/07/25 – 09/09/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: literary fiction, coming of age, friendship, art, LGBT | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Four teens’ friendship changes another teen’s life 25 years later. 🖌6-word review: Indescribably compelling book, incredibly beautifully written. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Death is public, but dying is private.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: prow, gawps, splutters, petrichor | |||
| Description:* Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into 18-year-old Louisa’s care.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This is my 4th Fredrik Backman book, having read The Answer is No earlier in 2025, Anxious People in 2023, and A Man Called Ove in 2017. I actually abandoned A Man Called Ove (for distracting overuse of similes!); loved The Answer is No, which was a short story; and adored Anxious People, which I laughed my way through. This book, however, absolutely blew me away. The writing is just phenomenal, with so many turns of phrases that virtually stunned me and that make your heart either sink or leap. There were just under 1,000 people on the library’s waiting list when I joined it, and I waited months for it. I can see why it’s so popular, and the wait was totally worth it. I’d like to make this book a Mostly Social Book Club book one day, but we only read books that we can borrow (or get for free), and I’m sure it’ll be a long, long time before this one becomes “readily available.” If you’re the type who buys books, I can’t recommend this one enough. | |||
Book #81 |
Book: As Long as You’re Mine | Author: Nekesa Afia | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 265 | Duration: 09/01/25 – 09/05/25 (5 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: historical fiction, romance, mystery, race | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Two generations of women unravel dangerous secret connection between them. 🖌6-word review: Well-established characters in compelling dual-timeline story. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “She was so tired of him thinking he knew better than her because he had been gifted with a penis. She was so tired of him thinking he knew better than her because he was white.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: douppioni | |||
| Description:* Professional ballerina Thea Ross’s world shatters when her screen-legend father commits suicide, leaving behind a shocking confession to a decades-old murder. Determined to uncover the truth, Thea teams up with a relentless journalist, following a trail of clues that leads her back to the glittering yet treacherous world of 1930s Hollywood. There, she discovers the story of Lorelei Davies, a struggling actress willing to endure anything for her family’s sake. As Thea peels back the layers of Lorelei’s life—her dreams, fears, and dangerous secrets—the connection between Lorelei’s past and Thea’s present challenges everything she believes about her family history. But as she untangles all the lies, she comes to know herself more truly than ever before.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I really like dual-timeline stories, especially when I like the storyline of both time periods. There is a lot of #MeToo — before #MeToo was a thing — in this story, which always infuriates me to read about. I thought of Marie Benedict’s The Personal Librarian several times while reading this book, with regards to Lorelei’s hiding her race (being light-skinned enough to “pass”) and all the fears associated with doing that — not unlike living life in the closet. There was a murder mystery at the heart of this story, and I liked how the people in the later storyline were surmising what happened, while the earlier storyline was relating what did happen. | |||
Book #80 |
Book: The Jane Austen Book Club | Author: Karen Joy Fowlery | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 288 | Duration: 08/30/25 – 08/31/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, romance, books about books | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A 5-women and 1-man book club discuss Jane Austen novels. 🖌6-word review: Clever premise; sometimes hard to follow. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “If she’d worked in a bookstore, Allegra would have filed Austen under horror.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Ridgebacks, shirred | |||
| Description:* In California’s central valley, 5 women and 1 man join to discuss Jane Austen’s novels. Over the 6 months they get together, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her eye for the frailties of human behavior and her ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Karen Joy Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships. Dedicated Austenites will delight in unearthing the echoes of Austen that run through the novel, but most readers will simply enjoy the vision and voice that, despite two centuries of separation, unite two great writers of brilliant social comedy.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I didn’t realize the structure of this novel, which was that 6 people meet monthly to discuss one Jane Austen novel and that the members use the novels they’re currently reading to understand and reflect on their own complicated relationships. I spent too much time while reading this thinking, “Now who is this speaking?” I don’t generally re-read books, but this is one I’d be interested in re-reading knowing what I now know about it. A coincidental thing about it is that the previous book I read, The Memory Library, had Jane Austen’s book, Persuasion (which I’d never heard of) as a germane element of it, as does this book! I guess that’s a sign that I should read it. On the disappointing side, my pet peeve, overused word, conspiratorially, was used three times in this hoity-toity book. | |||
Book #79 |
Book: The Memory Library | Author: Kate Storey | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 335 | Duration: 08/28/25 – 08/30/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, books about books, family, diversity, community | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Family circumstances bring a mother and daughter together to heal. 🖌6-word review: Great character development. Poignant, heartwarming story. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Happiness comes in many forms. I once read that whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world, a door opens to let in more light. I’ve read a lot of good books, and my world has always been full of light.” | |||
| Description:* For 42 years, Sally Harrison has been building a library. Each year, on her daughter’s birthday, she adds a new book to her shelves – with a note in the front dedicated to her own greatest work. But Ella – Sally’s only child – fled to Australia 22 ago after a heated exchange, and never looked back. And though Sally still dutifully adds a new paperback to the shelves every time the clock strikes midnight on July 11th, her hopes of her daughter ever thumbing through the pages are starting to dwindle. Then disaster strikes and Ella is forced to return to the home she once knew.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’m a sucker for a book about books, so it was an easy decision to read this one. And fortunately, it didn’t disappoint. I loved the diverse characters in this story, and I always find the process of someone coming to realize that something isn’t — or many things aren’t — what they appear to be. There’s a very good possibility that I’ll make this one of my future Mostly Social Book Club books. | |||
Book #78 |
Book: The Lies You Wrote | Author: Brianna Labuskes | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 350 | Duration: 08/26/25 – 08/27/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, mystery, psychological thriller, suspense, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Two murders — one a copycat — 25 years apart convolutedly converge. 🖌6-word review: Multiple, “duplicate” characters hard to follow. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “If someone can’t fix something about themselves in five minutes, you shouldn’t mention the thing [to them].” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: plink, unsub, idiolect, antanaclasis, tendre, skeeze, apex predator | |||
| Description:* The double murder of a married couple draws FBI forensic linguist Raisa Susanto into an investigation that mirrors a decades-old crime. 25 years ago — to the day — Alex Parker murdered his parents, then took his own life, leaving behind a note admitting everything. Raisa, paired with forensic psychologist Callum Kilkenny, uses her skills to read between the lines. Especially now that paranoid postings on a conspiracy thread suggest that Alex was a victim himself — theories that have piqued the interest of a perceptive content moderator and a true-crime podcaster eager for a big break. Something more sinister than a copycat crime is at play, and plundering the darkest corners of a killer’s mind leaves Raisa vulnerable to a deadly twist even she never saw coming.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’d never heard of a forensic linguist before, and I loved everything about that aspect of this story. But I struggled with the setting at times, having a hard time keeping straight when we were talking about the murder that happened 25 years ago or the current-day “copycat” murder, especially while characters associated with each were still being introduced. I also struggled with a couple of the characters toward the end, and I supposed this is somewhat of a spoiler alert, it got very confusing once two of the characters were revealed to really be other characters, but from the point we find that out, one of them begins being referred to as their “real” character name while the other one continues to be referred to by their “fake” character name. (Why???) That aside, I will say that the final, final twist was pretty brilliant. I’d be hard-pressed to recommend this book, at least not without several caveats. | |||
Book #77 |
Book: Obitchuary: The Big Hot Book of Death | Author: Spencer Henry and Madison Reyes | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 224 | Duration: 08/24/25 – 08/25/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: nonfiction, humor, death, cultural, science, sociology | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A mostly fun look at the myriad facets of death. 🖌6-word review: Funny, interesting, surprising, educational, well written. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Apparently, scientist and doctors alike are discovering our brains are thought to continue working for 10 minutes or so after we die, meaning our brains may in some way be aware of our death.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: lachrymatories, moirologists, senicide, Thalaikoothal, ubasute, accabadoras, sin-eater, paraphilia, spectrophilia, scaphism, takotsubo cardiomyopathy | |||
| Description:* It’s safe to say everyone thinks about death – whether they want to or not. But have you ever wondered about what sort of keepsakes you can make with your remains, or given any thought to the most scandalous deathbed confessions throughout history? Well Madison Reyes and Spencer Henry have, and they’ve spent countless hours scouring the darkest corners of the internet, digging through newspaper archives, devouring documents, and picking the brains of death industry experts to bring you Obitchuary, a darkly funny and deeply poignant exploration of all things death.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I saw this book back in February when my friend Jen and I took our after-lunch stroll through Barnes & Noble. I love a good obituary, so the title of this book had me at “bitch.” I didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the title, “The Big Hot Book of Death,” which is what the book is mostly about — the many facets of death, not just the obituary. With chapters like “Coffin Confessions,” “Executions to Die For,” “The Last Word,” and “If These Dolls Could Speak,” the authors cover several of the colorful history, traditions, and contemporary practices surrounding death. The authors of this book have a podcast called Obitchuary, which presumably was why that was part of the title — to entice podcast subscribers to read their book. “The Last Word” chapter reminded me of Famous Last Words by Laura Ward, which I read back in 2015. | |||
Book #76 |
Book: My Father’s Wives | Author: Mike Greenberg | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 223 | Duration: 08/22/25 – 08/23/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, family, relationships, psychology | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Man seeks insight from father’s 5 wives proceeding his mother. 🖌6-word review: Some plot points disjointed or missing. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Her hand on my knee meant she was doing exactly what she promised she would: lying with me, as opposed to me.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: lothario, scintilla | |||
| Description:* Jonathan Sweetwater has been blessed with money, a fulfilling career, great kids and Claire, his smart, gorgeous, sophisticated wife. But there is one thing Jonathan never had: a relationship with his father. Percival Sweetwater III has been absent from his son’s life since Jonathan was nine years old. A 5-term U.S. senator, now dead, Percy was beloved by presidents, his constituents, and women alike, especially the five women who married him after Jonathan’s mother. On a quest for understanding — about himself, about manhood, about marriage — Jonathan decides to track down his father’s five ex-wives. His journey will take him from cosmopolitan cities to the mile-high mountains to a tropical island—and ultimately back to confront the one thing Jonathan has that his father never did: home.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: The premise of this book interested me enough when I read about it in my BookBub.com email to check my library for its availability. There were two main story lines (i.e., wife’s possible infidelity and husband learning more about his dad to better understand himself) that I assumed would be intertwined or at least have some cause-and-effect with each other or something. I agree with these sentiments of another reader’s Goodreads review: “The writing is technically competent, but this is a very forgettable book that wavers somewhere between a mystery that isn’t, [a] Gary Stu having an angst-fest, and an attempt at a story about introspection in which the character never gets around to being introspective. In other words, it’s a lot of reasonably literate words that don’t seem to have much point behind them.” | |||
Book #75 |
Book: Mergers and Acquisitions: Or, Everything I Know About Love I Learned on the Wedding Pages | Author: Cate Doty | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 356 | Duration: 08/19/25 – 08/20/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: nonfiction, memoir, humor, romance, journalism, sociology | ||
| 📕10-word summary: The NYT’s wedding announcement publication process and author’s coming-of-age story. 🖌6-word review: Career more interesting than coming-of-age aspect. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “As best we could, we copied Mrs. Shaw, who reeked of Virginia Slims and was as tanned as a leather handbag.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: rumaki, forfend, loucheness, vaunted | |||
| Description:* In New York City in pursuit of love — and to write for The New York Times — Cate Doty finds her natural home in the wedding section, a first step to her own happily-ever-after, surely. Soon she is thrown into the cutthroat world of the metropolitan society pages, experiencing the lengths couples go to have their announcements accepted and the lengths the writers go in fact-checking their stories; the surprising, status-signaling details that matter most to brides and grooms; and the politics of the paper at a time of vast cultural and industry changes. Reporting weekly on couples whose relationships seem enviable — or eye-roll worthy — and dealing with WASPy grandparents and last-minute snafus, Cate is surrounded by love, or what we’re told to believe is love. But when she starts to take the leap herself, she begins to ask her own questions about what it means to truly commit…*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I worked with Cate for a few months, which is what drew me to this book. I always wondered how someone went from working in NYC on the wedding/society pages of the NYT to being a marketing content strategist for an open source software company in Raleigh, NC, but I never had a conversation with her about it. I was most interested in this book from a professional editor perspective and really enjoyed those aspects of it. I’m really not interested in weddings, though, and I did skim over parts of the book where she wrote about movies about weddings (e.g., My Best Friend’s Wedding, Father of the Bride, The Wedding Singer, & Runaway Bride), since I hadn’t seen a single one of them. I made it 80% through the book before encountering my pet peeve, overused word, conspiratorially: “My grandmother leaned forward conspiratorially in her chair. ‘The Coast Guard took me on a submarine,’ she whispered.” I did appreciate that this book did a good job of acknowledging the role race, class, heteronormativity, and patriarchy played in the decisions made about which announcements — and what information and how many details were included in them — got into the society pages of the NYT. | |||
Book #74 |
Book: Family Reservations | Author: Liza Palmer | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 303 | Duration: 08/17/25 – 08/18/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, food, family, thriller | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A fragile family empire teeters on the brink of disaster. 🖌6-word review: Ambitious women in a delicious trainwreck. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “There’s something particularly irrefutable about finding actual evidence of how truly clueless you once were. The blind hope of it just breaks your heart.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: poissonier, patinaed, brassicas, kouign-amann, peloton, murmuration, izakaya, ayahuasca, cassava | |||
| Description:* Maren Winter is a world-renowned restaurateur who has built an empire. No one heeds the whispers of her retirement more closely than her three daughters, all in service to their mother’s legacy. On the night of Maren’s annual New Year’s Eve party, a line is crossed, and word of a humiliating family meltdown spreads like a Northern California wildfire through the culinary elite. It’s a golden opportunity for one of the daughters to step into power — and a trigger for a spiraling descent into paranoia and blind ambition. As the Winter family’s dissolution begins, so does a journey of competition, love, loyalty, self-preservation, and the need for three women to forge a path of their own.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: All 4 of the main characters are strongly drawn as 3 ambitious, headstrong daughters try desperately to get out of the shadow of their more ambitious, more headstrong mother. There are plenty of food-related adjectives that describe this tale: delicious, pungent, bitter, chewy, and satiating — to name a few. This is a strong candidate for a future Mostly Social Book Club choice for me. My only complaint about it is my pet peeve about the overuse of the word “conspiratorial,” which was used three times in this book. Ugh. | |||
Book #73 |
Book: One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories | Author: B.J. Novak | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 288 | Duration: 08/15/25 – 08/15/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, short stories, humor, essays | ||
| 📕10-word summary: 64, mostly playful, stories on a wide range of topics. 🖌6-word review: A couple disappointing. Most cleverly imaginative. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “I’m 3 away, across,” said Allie. “Three away up-down 2 different ways, and 2 away diagonal. And 4 away up-down 4 different ways,” said Lisa. | |||
| Description:* B.J. Novak’s One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is an endlessly entertaining, surprisingly sensitive, and startlingly original debut collection that signals the arrival of a welcome new voice in American fiction. Across a dazzling range of subjects, themes, tones, and narrative voices, Novak’s assured prose and expansive imagination introduce readers to people, places, and premises that are hilarious, insightful, provocative, and moving-often at the same time.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: What an interesting book! It’s a collection of 64 stories, with the shortest one being 16 seconds and the longest one being 37 minutes in the audiobook. My favorite was called “A Good Problem to Have,” a 15-minute story about the man who purportedly devised the infamous math problem — A man leaves Chicago at 12 p.m. on a train heading for Cleveland at 60 m.p.h. Another man leaves Cleveland at 1 p.m. heading for Chicago on a train going 85 m.p.h. At what time will the two trains cross paths? — and relates its origin story. Another favorite of mine was the 2-minute story called “Bingo,” from which came the snippet in my favorite quote listed above. And, finally, I thought the penultimate story in the collection, the 34-minute “J.C. Audetat, Translator of Don Quixote,” was just brilliant. | |||
Book #72 |
Book: Martin Misunderstood | Author: Karin Slaughter | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 147 | Duration: 08/14/25 – 08/14/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, short stories, humor | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Buckle up for a ride through Martin Reed’s misunderstood life. 🖌6-word review: Kooky, outlandish characters and plot elements. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “One of the downsides of being a pretend Lesbian was that men didn’t open doors for her anymore.” | |||
| Description:* Crime fiction obsessive Martin Reed is the proverbial butt of everyone’s jokes. Working as a glorified accountant at Southern Toilet Supply and still living with his cantankerous mother, he has become resigned to the world in which he lives — the school bullies now pick on him in the workplace, women still spurn him, and his arch enemy is now his supervisor. Martin arrives at work one morning to find the police on-site. A co-worker has been brutally murdered and her body abandoned in a ditch. And the overwhelming evidence points to Martin — especially when he can’t or won’t admit that he has an alibi. When a second victim is found in the company bathroom, things really conspire against Martin. The one bright star on his otherwise bleak horizon is the beautiful and sympathetic Detective Anther Albada, but even she’s beginning to have her doubts about his innocence. Could Martin be guilty? Or is he just misunderstood?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This is the quirkiest book I’ve read in a long, long time. Before even looking at the reviews of it, I knew it was going to be one of those “you either love it or hate it” kind of books. I’m in the former camp. The characters are off-the-charts kooky and the situationships all of them get into are outlandish. The character named Unique, pronounced you-ni-kay with the accent on kay, had me rolling. | |||
Book #71 |
Book: The Marlow Murder Club | Author: Robert Thorogood | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Kindle |
Pages: 352 | Duration: 08/13/25 – 08/14/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Three women help solve one murder that turns into three. 🖌6-word review: Entertaining read. Interesting characters. Improbable ending. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Marry in haste, repent at leisure.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: bulrushes, RNLI, aspidistra, punt, prow, weir, gilet, truncheon, peckish, cygnets, probity, moreish, Portakabin, dopatta, bathos, repechage, atavistic, subaltern, stentorian | |||
| Description:* Judith Potts is 77 years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper. One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don’t believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a good story and one that made me wish I had ½-star ratings, as I would have given it a 4.5 instead of a 4. What kept me from giving it 5 stars was the ending, which was an over-the-top rescue scene whose one-word “feel” to me would be “swashbuckling.” There were just too many improbable things that the “murder club” members had to overcome to save their mate. One thing that I thought was weird was that the 3 women that helped solve this murder mystery never once referred to themselves (nor did anyone else refer to them) as a “club” like in The Thursday Murder Club. I checked the publication date of that book to see if it preceded this one, thinking perhaps this book put “club” in its title to ride the coattails of that one’s success if it was published subsequently. And it was. Interestingly, in my review of The Thursday Murder Club, I said the same thing about wishing I had ½-star ratings. All that aside, I’d definitely recommend this book and would consider making it a future Mostly Social Book Club book. OH! Lest I forget, this book used “conspiratorial” three times. Ugh. | |||
Book #70 |
Book: Small Things Like These | Author: Claire Keegan | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 128 | Duration: 08/12/25 – 08/12/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: historical fiction, literary fiction, Irish literature, Christmas | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Man with serious existential angst struggles to find his purpose. 🖌6-word review: Tightly written. Underlying darkness. Ultimately redemptive. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “And blades of cold slid under doors and cut the knees off those who still knelt to say the rosary.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Herefords (cattle), cheviot (ewes), Rayburn (stove) | |||
| Description:* It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’m not sure if the writing was “that good” or if it’s something internal to me, but I really felt this protagonist’s angst. Overall, the story was pretty much a buzzkill, but it did redeem itself (I guess) in the end. Having recently read Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, I’d definitely categorize this story as bittersweet, and the protagonist certainly had enough sorrow and longing to make him [more than] whole. | |||
Book #69 |
Book: Bad Date: A Short Story | Author: Ellery Lloyd | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 58 | Duration: 08/12/25 – 08/12/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, short stories, mystery, thriller | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A twisty short story about love, obsession, and deadly deceptions. 🖌6-word review: Needed more — even for short story. |
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| 🎓A new-to-me word: contravened | |||
| Description:* Fay Roper is a divorced single mom and a globally famous actress. She’s also unlucky in love. Maybe because the last thing Fay wants in a man is yet another superfan. But somehow, every time she has a boyfriend who isn’t a stalker, he abruptly disappears from her life. With the help of her best friend and right-hand woman, Poppy, Fay decides to change the game and join an exclusive new dating app under a false identity. A subscriber named Oliver takes the bait. But Oliver likes to play games too. And only one of them can win.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I wasn’t drawn to any of these characters, and I think the story needed more fleshing out in spite of being a short story. Sometimes I choose the bonus short story from a month’s Amazon’s First Reads selections as an introduction to an author I haven’t read, to see if I might want to read other books that they’ve written. That was the case with this one, and after reading it, I’m not particularly motived to read another. | |||
Book #68 |
Book: The Road Towards Home | Author: Corinne Demas | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 283 | Duration: 08/07/25 – 08/12/25 (6 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, romance, family, friendship | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Two retirees reconnect late in life and fly the coop. 🖌6-word review: Interesting characters and aging realistically depicted. |
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| 💭An amusing quote: “I didn’t know bagpipes were out of favor around here,” said Noah. “Sound like dying whales,” said Artie. | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: scofflaw, outflanked, damselflies, odonates, pugnacious, exuvium, gigue, wrack, nap, peent, whelk, continuo, augury, Nemean lion, Augean stables, cormorants | |||
| Description:* Widower Noah Shilling considers Clarion Court to be less an independent living community and more a prison. But there may be hope for the place yet. The newest resident is bold, eccentric, rule-breaking Cassandra Joyce — whom, as it turns out, Noah met long ago in college. As Noah and Cassandra get reacquainted, major changes at Clarion Court force them both to reevaluate their living situation. When Noah invites Cassandra to rough it with him at his Cape Cod cottage, the old friends must decide whether they should risk embarking on the next stage of their journey together.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I liked that the older couple at the center of this story negotiated a budding romance realistically instead of romanticizing it. I also liked that Cassandra in particular appreciated each of them having their own interests and not wanting to be, or do things, together all the time. It reminded me of my husband’s and my shared feeling that: “You’re my everything, but you’re not my every minute.” I have a soft spot for Cape Cod, so the part of the story set there added to my overall enjoyment of the book. They shopped in a supermarket in Orleans, which wasn’t far from Eastham, where we rented a house for a month during the Covid pandemic. | |||
Book #67 |
Book: The Guest List | Author: Lucy Foley | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 319 | Duration: 08/07/25 – 08/07/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, suspense, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Idyllic couple and wedding venue ends in mayhem and murder. 🖌6-word review: A trifecta of twists seals it. |
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| 💭An amusing quote: “There’s nothing less sexy than a lack of ambition, is there?” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: marquee, slapdash | |||
| Description:* Guests gather to celebrate a wedding. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The wedding is perfectly planned, but the people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The toasts are cringeworthy, and then someone turns up dead.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This is another book that people either hated or loved. I’m in the latter group. Three revelations toward the end of the story completely justified murder, and I like the interconnectedness of the revelations. More than once while reading this book, I thought of one of my favorite books — Donna Tartt‘s The Secret History, which I read 29 years ago. This is my second Lucy Foley book, and I liked it much better than her The Paris Apartment, which I read two years ago. | |||
Book #66 |
Book: One of Us is Dead | Author: Jeneva Rose | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 272 | Duration: 08/05/25 – 08/06/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, thriller, mystery, suspense | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Vicious and deadly antics of — real and desperate — Atlanta housewives. 🖌6-word review: Interesting, sometimes over-the-top, characters and plots. |
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| 💭An amusing quote: “Buckhead was all about smiles. You smiled when you were pissed, and you smiled when you were pleased.” | |||
| Description:* Meet the women of Buckhead—a place of expensive cars, huge houses, and competitive friendships. Shannon was once the queen bee of Buckhead. But she’s been unceremoniously dumped by Bryce, her politician husband. When Bryce replaces her with a much younger woman, Shannon sets out to take revenge… Crystal has stepped into Shannon’s old shoes. A young, innocent Texan girl, she simply has no idea what she’s up against… Olivia has waited years to take Shannon’s crown as the unofficial queen of Buckhead. Finally, her moment has come. But to take her rightful place, she will need to use every backstabbing, manipulative, underhand trick in the book… Jenny owns Glow, the most exclusive salon in town. Jenny knows all her clients’ secrets and darkest desires. But will she ever tell? Who amongst these women will be clever enough to survive Buckhead—and who will wind up dead? They say that friendships can be complex, but no one said it could ever be this deadly.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: At times, this book reminded me of The Last Mrs. Parrish, which I read in 2023 and described as “a wild ride of deliciously conniving viciousness.” The Olivia character in this book rivaled the main character, Amber, in The Last Mrs. Parrish, whom I described as “putting the con in conniving and having a complete lack of conscience, compassion, or remorse, leaving her with zero redeeming qualities.” I listened to the audiobook of this one, and at times, the southern accents got on my nerves, but I did like the fact that they had enough narrators (5 of them!) to differentiate the voices of the 6 main female characters. This was a different plot structure than most murder-mysteries where someone gets killed fairly early in the book and then the plot unravels to reveal the killer, in that it starts off with one character talking to a detective about someone in this group of women’s lives who’s been murdered, but you don’t find out until the very end who was killed and how. | |||
Book #65 |
Book: Finding Me | Author: Viola Davis | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 289 | Duration: 08/03/25 – 08/05/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, memoir, biography, feminism, African American | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Viola Davis bares her soul in her rags-to-riches, hate-to-love story. 🖌6-word review: Good writing. Hard passages. Fascinating woman. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “There are decades of suppressed secrets, trauma, lost dreams, and hopes. It was easier to live under that veil and put on a mask than to slay them.” | |||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: “the haints” | |||
| Description:* In my book, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life-changing decision to stop running forever. This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This is the path I took to finding my purpose but also my voice in a world that didn’t always see me.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I love Viola Davis and remember being riveted by How to Get Away with Murder when I watched it — and her. She narrated this audiobook, which won her the 2023 Grammy for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording, and which earned her the coveted EGOT status, becoming the third Black woman in history to achieve the honor. It was a dramatic reading for sure, but as good as it was, I still had to listen to it at 1.5x the recorded speed, because I’m just that impatient. My favorite scene was when she went to her interviews to get into Julliard, which traditionally took 3 days, but she told the committee, “I have to work tonight, and I have a 4.5-hour train ride home, so I need your decision in 45 minutes.” You go, woman! | |||
Book #64 |
Book: I Need a Lifeguard Everywhere but the Pool | Author: Lisa Scottoline & Francesca Serritella | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 336 | Duration: 08/02/25 – 08/02/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: nonfiction, humor, womens, essays, chick lit | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Mother and daughter, in respective chapters, share their life observations. 🖌6-word review: Meh. Not as funny as touted. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “I’m always interested in products that claim to be aphrodisiacs, when we all know that the one and only aphrodisiac is a man volunteering to build you some bookshelves.” | |||
| Description:* A collection of stories from the real lives of Lisa and Francesca, guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. Join them as they regret drunk-shopping online, try smell-dating, and explore the freedom of a hiatus from men — a “guyatus.” They offer a fresh and funny take on the triumphs and facepalm moments of modern life, showing that when it comes to navigating the crazy world we live in, you’re always your own best lifeguard.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’m very wary about reviews that promise “you’ll LOL” or that “this book is hilarious,” particularly when it’s the author themself saying it. Humor is so subjective, and it’s only one of the reasons I don’t attend (or watch) stand-up comedy. And this book, especially at the beginning, sounded like mini-stand-up routines to me. With all that said, I did literally laugh out loud several times while reading this book, but nowhere near as much as “guaranteed.” My 3-star rating means I “might or might not recommend” it, and I’d only do so with caveats for this book; for example, if you love stand-up comedy. As a complete aside: The name of this book reminded me of an exercise check-in in my collection: “I don’t need a personal trainer so much as I need someone to follow me around and slap food out of my hands.” | |||
Book #63 |
Book: We Used to Live Here | Author: Daniel Hurst | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 274 | Duration: 08/01/25 – 08/01/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, horror, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: New homeowners discover — and make — dark secrets that get unearthed. 🖌6-word review: Good story, but the writing’s not-so-much. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “All I know is that I’ve done some things right and some things wrong, and I’ll probably carry on that way until the day that I die.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: lothario, OAPs | |||
| Description:* When the Burgess family move into their “forever” home, it seems like they are set for many happy years together at their new address. Steph and Grant, along with their children, Charlie and Amelia, settle into their new surroundings quickly. But then they receive an unexpected visit from a couple who claim to have lived in the house before. They wish to come in and have a look around for old time’s sake. Seeming pleasant and plausible, Steph invites them in. And that’s when things begin to change. It’s not long after the peculiar visit when the homeowners begin to find evidence of the past all around their new home as they redecorate. But it’s the discovery of a hidden wall containing several troubling messages that really sends Steph into a spin.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: Another book that I’ve had for a while, this one downloaded free in May of 2023, it was a quick read and a typical crime mystery. The story kept me interested, unravelling at a good clip. The writing was not great, and one thing that annoyed me (to no end, for some reason) is that the main guy in the story fools around with someone and after the second time, he starts referring to her as his “mistress.” It was an affair comprising 4-5 trysts. I’d probably recommend this book if someone asked me about it, but I certainly wouldn’t be out there touting it. | |||
Book #62 |
Book: The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life | Author: Dr. Robin Zasio | |
| Source: Friend loan Format: Print |
Pages: 222 | Duration: 07/30/25 – 07/30/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, self-help, psychology, mental health | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Understanding and addressing the complicated psychology of cluttering and hoarding. 🖌6-word review: Good mix of education and actions. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “To the extent that clutter gets in the way of living in the kind of environment we’d like to be living in and leaves us feeling stressed or remiss, we can all improve our relationships to our possessions.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: fallow | |||
| Description:* Our fascination with hoarding stems, according to Dr. Robin Zasio, from the fact that we all fall somewhere on the hoarding continuum. From compulsive shoppers to hobbyists and collectors to ordinary, run-of-the-mill pack rats—to some degree or another, we all hoard. Dr. Zasio, of the Emmy-award-winning A&E show, Hoarders, shares behind-the-scenes stories from the show, including some of the most serious cases of hoarding that she’s encountered — and explains how we can learn from these extreme examples. She also shares psychological and practical advice for de-cluttering and organizing, including how to: 1) tame the emotional pull of acquiring additional things, 2) make order out of chaos by getting a handle on clutter, and create an organizational system that reduces stress and anxiety.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: Although I would argue that we are at level 0 of the 1-5 hoarding levels, my husband loves the Hoarders TV show, and after watching an episode will walk around our house looking for anything that might be pared down, donated, or discarded. The 5 levels are: 1) There is light clutter, but household cleanliness is mostly maintained, 2) Clutter congests the house, and there may be unpleasant odors, 3) Unsanitary and unorganized clutter occurs inside and outside the home, 4) The home has major structural damage and completely unusable spaces, and 5) The house is likely uninhabitable and can’t be salvaged. I, on the other hand, once tried to watch the show and barely lasted 15 minutes before having to excuse myself. But, I loved the psychology of this book explaining why people keep things, and I’m hoping to use it to address four areas I keep putting off “downsizing”: 1) several laptop and gym bags, which to-date I’ve been unable to decide on which one (or 2 or 3) to get rid of, 2) high school memorabilia (i.e., yearbooks & scrapbooks), 3) two old computers I have — one PC that takes up desk space I’d like to be able to use and another old Mac that sits in a bag in a closet, and 4) some clothes (dress shirts, t-shirts, and shoes) that I don’t wear. Complete possibly-TMI aside: It took quite a while for it to stick with me that the oft-used acronym, CBT, stood for cognitive behavioral therapy and not cock and ball torture (NSFW). | |||
| Book #61 |
Book: The Alone Time | Author: Elle Marr | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 316 | Duration: 07/28/25 – 07/30/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Two sisters are forced to confront a childhood family tragedy. 🖌6-word review: Expeditious pace. Lots of plot twists. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “People say they want a family, but rarely are the real consequences for the woman part of that discussion.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: char siu, deus ex machina, melanated, har gow, marmot, shoyu, cheongsam, jook | |||
| Description:* Fiona and Violet Seng were just children when their family’s Cessna crash-landed in the Washington wilderness, claiming the lives of their parents. For twelve harrowing weeks, the girls fended for themselves before being rescued. 25 year later, disturbing details about the Seng family are exposed, a strange woman claims to know the crash was deliberate. Fiona and Violet must come together to face the horrifying truth of what happened out there and what they learned about their parents and themselves — before any other secrets emerge from the woods.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was yet another book I downloaded for free over a year ago and was happy to finally get to. It was a good read with lots of family dysfunction and “bombshells” — plot twists, if you will — revealed at a good clip and that kept me wanting to read more. This is another book I’d consider making a future Mostly Social Book Club book. | |||
Book #60 |
Book: Broken Bayou | Author: Jennifer Moorhead | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 265 | Duration: 07/26/25 – 07/27/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Troubled child psychologist returns to childhood home to protect secrets. 🖌6-word review: Fast paced and kept me guessing. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Even though I’ve only crossed a state line, I feel like I need a passport to be here.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: bupkis, boudin, bench warrants | |||
| Description:* Dr. Willa Watters is a prominent child psychologist at the height of her career. But when a viral video of a disastrous television interview puts her reputation on the line, Willa retreats to Broken Bayou, the town where she spent most of her childhood summers. There she discovers some of her troubled mother’s belongings still languishing in the attic — dusty mementos harboring secrets of her harrowing past. With waters dropping due to drought, mysterious barrels containing human remains have surfaced, alongside something else from Willa’s past, something she never thought she’d see again. Divers, police, and media flood the area, including a news reporter gunning for Willa and Travis Arceneaux — a local deputy and old flame. Willa’s fate seems eerily tied to the murders. And with no one to trust, she must use her wits to stay above water and make it out alive.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was another free book I downloaded over a year ago and am happy to get to. It was a quick, interesting read that kept me guessing the “who dunnit” until the very end. The reviews of this book seem to favor either 2 stars or 5 stars — you see what I rated it. YMMV. | |||
Book #59 |
Book: Anxious in Nevada | Author: Diana Xarissa | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 206 | Duration: 07/25/25 – 07/26/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, cozy mystery | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Woman’s airplane seatmate gets murdered and she’s sucked into it. 🖌6-word review: Easy read. Typical cozy mystery. Satisfying. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “That mother of his looks as if she’d eat her children for profit.” | |||
| Description:* I’m Holly Parker, and on my 50th birthday I decided to stop adding things to my bucket list and start crossing a few items off instead. Visiting all 50 states was at the top of the list. A low-cost, direct flight to Las Vegas was exactly what I needed. After chatting with the couple in the seats next to mine on the flight, I was happy to arrive in Vegas and go straight to bed. My body clock, not yet reset to Vegas time, had me awake and eager to explore very early the next morning. I’d barely finished my breakfast, though, before I stumbled over a dead body. What are the odds that the victim would turn out to be the man I’d sat next to on my flight? Why is his former fiancée suddenly trying to be my best friend? And how do I convince the local police that I had nothing to do with his murder?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a super easy and fast read, and I’m always happy to read a book I downloaded over a year ago, but just hadn’t gotten to yet. I’d never heard of this author, and this is the first book in her Midlife Crisis Mystery Series comprising 6 titles to date, and whose titles are of the schema “[Emotion] in [State]” and presumably going down the alphabet for the emotions: Anxious in Nevada, Bewildered in Florida, Confused in Pennsylvania, Dazed in Colorado, Exhausted in Ohio, and Frustrated in Massachusetts. If it were me, I’d’ve gone for alliteration of the emotion and the state, so perhaps: Nervous in Nevada, Fun in Florida, Pensive in Pennsylvania, Confused in Colorado, Ostracized in Ohio, and Morose in Massachusetts. | |||
Book #58 |
Book: The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared | Author: Jonas Jonasson | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 396 | Duration: 07/23/25 – 07/24/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Genres: historical fiction, humor, adventure, Sweden | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A centenarian with a larger-than-life backstory ditches the nursing home. 🖌6-word review: Too much history for my taste. |
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| Description:* After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he’s still in good health. A big celebration is in the works for his 100th birthday, but Allan really isn’t interested (and he’d like a bit more control over his alcohol consumption), so he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey. It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory: he has not only witnessed some of the most important events of the 20th century, but actually played a key role in them.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: Just know that second only to physics, history was my least favorite subject in school. I’m not interested in it so don’t know/remember |
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Book #57 |
Book: Courting Mr. Lincoln | Author: Louis Bayard | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Kindle |
Pages: 417 | Duration: 07/20/25 – 07/22/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: historical fiction, romance stories, politics, class | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Mr. Lincoln beloved by Mary and Joshua — who’s wooing who? 🖌6-word review: Beautifully written. Cerebral vocabulary. Homoerotic innuendo. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Had she not, in the early months of the campaign, longed for Harrison’s election as a nun longs for Christ — chastely and to the exclusion of everything else?” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: treacled, mantua, merino, succubus, plenitudes, nightjars, hied, torpor, prolix, perforce, tippled, incommoded, interregnum, rube, reticule, descant, sward, badinage, plashing, auger, rictus, terpsichorean, caesura, cozen, lambrequins, heliotrope, surcease, annealed, blancmange, adumbrating, inveigled, senescent, crepuscular, effulgence, diminution, ormolu, pecuniary | |||
| Description:* Told in the alternating voices of the marriageable Mary Todd and Lincoln’s best friend, Joshua Speed, and rich with historical detail, Courting Mr. Lincoln creates a sympathetic and complex portrait of Mary unlike any that has come before; a moving portrayal of the deep and very real connection between the two men; and most of all, an evocation of the unformed man who would grow into one of the nation’s most beloved presidents.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: The title of this book caught my attention shortly after I had been looking at plays to see when we’re in NYC in September, and read about “Oh, Mary!” It turned out to be a little gem of a book, with the bonus being that the (gay, which I didn’t know) author teases out the (homoerotic) relationship between Abraham Lincoln and his best friend Joshua Speed in the context of both he and Mary Todd loving him. I love the author’s voice, which was consistent with a period piece, and at times reminding me of Downton Abbey or The Gilded Age. This is another book I’d consider putting forth as a future Mostly Social Book Club book of mine. | |||
Book #56 |
Book: Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole | Author: Susan Cain | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 331 | Duration: 07/18/25 – 07/18/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: nonfiction, psychology, self help, mental health, personal development, philosophy | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A potential reframing, or paradigm shift, about sorrow and longing. 🖌6-word review: Possible antidote to exorbitant existential angst. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “You sing happy birthday in C major. You compose a funeral march in C# minor.” | |||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: edenic | |||
| Description:* Loss and impermanence are inescapable, part of the warp and weft of our lives. They are essential to love, to growth, and to art. And yet, too often, we don’t acknowledge loss in the broadest sense, let alone honour the experience of it. We see it as a bad thing, rather than understanding that using our suffering will lead to true compassion. Illuminating, thoughtful, and deeply necessary, Susan Cain’s new book will help us to name and value the experience of loss, pointing the way toward ways of being and rituals that help us to accept it rather than bury it.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I’m not a fan of self-help books — and with regards to this one in particular, I don’t have any sorrow or longing that I need to deal with — so if it hadn’t been a Mostly Social Book Club book, I would have abandoned this one. As an atheist, the (too) many allusions, references, and connections to (various) religions in it were a huge turn-off, and I’m not very open to what some call complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), so all that talk (and there was plenty of it) was also uninteresting to me. With all that said, I’m open to the possibility that someone who is struggling with sorrow and longing might find this book interesting and helpful. It just wasn’t my cup of tea for the many reasons I’ve mentioned, and I’d be unlikely to recommend it without a number of caveats. | |||
Book #55 |
Book: The Soulmate | Author: Sally Hepworth | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 336 | Duration: 07/16/25 – 07/17/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, mystery thriller, mental health | ||
| 📕10-word summary: An unlikely suicide unravels — was it an accident or murder? 🖌6-word review: Compelling story despite unacknowledged magical realism. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “For all of his foibles,” Mum always says, “at least your father does what he’s told.” | |||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: limerence | |||
| Description:* Picture a lovely cottage on a cliff, with sloping lawns, walking paths, and beautiful flowers. It’s Gabe and Pippa Gerard’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Over the past several months, Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until one day, he doesn’t. When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral… Did the victim jump? Was she pushed? And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate… lie? As the perfect façade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel. Because sometimes, the most convincing lies are the ones we tell ourselves.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This is my third Sally Hepworth book, having read The Good Sister in 2021 as a book club book and Uncharted Waters in 2022 as a free Amazon First Reads download. Like this book, I read both of those in 2 days and gave them 5 stars. This story moved at a good clip, which kept me reading. Written from a dual, alternating perspective, one being the living female protagonist and the other being the deceased female protagonist. I’m ambivalent about the dead woman “speaking,” because I don’t like magical realism (which wasn’t a listed genre of this book), but she actually provided a lot of information as to the motives of other characters. That aside, I liked the book enough to give it 5 stars, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, and I may end up putting it forth as a Mostly Social Book Club book in the future. | |||
Book #54 |
Book: The Toy Car: A Short Story | Author: Rose Tremain | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 48 | Duration: 07/16/25 – 07/16/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, short stories | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Petros Castellanos comes of age negotiating competing familial expectations. 🖌6-word review: Nicely compact and well-written short story. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Emma searched in what she and Dan called The Awful Cupboard, the space where they put all the things they no longer liked or needed but which they thought they might like or need one day in the future.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: lukanika, rota, scops owl | |||
| Description:* In the sun-bleached idyll of his Greek island home, 17-year-old Petros Castellanos’s future seems mapped out: he’ll inherit his father’s modest taxi fleet and continue his family tradition. However, his English mother sees a different path for her son, one that leads far from the watchful eyes of their small community. So Petros goes to London to stay with his mother’s cousin. The capital is an overwhelming city whose dazzling possibilities both terrify and enthrall him. But he must decide: will he disappoint his father to fulfil his mother’s dreams, or find the courage to chart his own course home?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a bonus free Amazon First Reads download, and being a short story by an author I wasn’t familiar with, I thought it might be a good introduction to her. It has a good pace and enough tension to keep it interesting and wondering how everything would resolve. | |||
Book #53 |
Book: The Loves of My Life | Author: Edmond White | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 256 | Duration: 07/15/25 – 07/16/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, memoir, queer, LGBT, gay, biography | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Legendary author unapologetically shares his gay love and sex life. 🖌6-word review: Honest. Irreverent. Witty. Some questionable generalizations. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “I first discovered my sadism when I was in my mid 20s and tricked with a small guy who kept saying, ‘Don’t touch my hair. I told you, don’t touch my hair.’ Though he was a bottom, he had so many irritating rules; I finally slapped his ass and he came.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: outré, wen, unguent, goût exclusif, marmoreal, orreries, velleity, louche | |||
| Description:* In this peerless memoir, the 85-year-old “paterfamilias of queer literature” (New York Times) recounts the sixty-plus years of sexual escapades that have inspired his many masterpieces. He explores the sex he had with other closeted boys in 50s Midwest, with women as a young man trying to be straight, the sex he’s paid for and been paid for, sex during the Stonewall and HIV eras, and in the age of the apps. Through stories of transactional sex, mutual admiration, open relationships, domination, submission, love, and loss, he paints an indelible portrait of queer history in America and abroad in a way only someone who has lived through it can.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I think a lot of gay men, particularly those of “a certain age,” would appreciate this unabashedly detailed telling of Edmund White’s love and sex life. Details like he had over 1,000 sex partners, and at one point he was masturbating up to 5 times a day. Oh yeah, and he had a little dick. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly crassness of all that — the writing is exquisite and even academic at times. | |||
Book #52 |
Book: Hell of a Book | Author: Jason Mott | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 333 | Duration: 07/01/25 – 07/08/25 (8 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: literary fiction, racism, books about books, magical realism, African American | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A complex story. A complex storyteller. Addressing a complex topic. 🖌6-word review: Lyrical writing with an unreliable narrator. |
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| Description:* An astounding work of fiction, both incredibly funny and heartfelt, asking readers to embrace the fantastical in order to get to the heart of racism, police violence, and the hidden costs exacted upon not only Black Americans, but America as a whole.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I went into this book knowing that I was going to be challenged, because neither magical realism nor lyrical writing appeal to me. But the topic is super important, and the book has won numerous writing awards, so I wanted to give it a chance. Not surprisingly, I spent a lot of time frustrated not knowing what was real and what wasn’t, and not knowing the connection between two of the characters — the unnamed author of the book in the book, which happens to have the same name as the book itself and the character called “The Kid.” That sentence alone should give you a taste of the state of confusion I stayed in throughout most of the book. In the end, it was hard to follow, but the topic was and important one, and I’m glad I stuck with it. | |||
Book #51 |
Book: Family & Other Calamities | Author: Leslie Gray Streeter | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 253 | Duration: 06/27/25 – 06/30/25 (4 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, romance, humor | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A journalist confronts a former mentor who stole her work. 🖌6-word review: Lackluster characters. Interesting but uncompelling plot. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “At a certain age, your face is sick of you, and it’s done hiding it for you.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: firmament, sabra | |||
| Description:* Entertainment journalist Dawn Roberts has a lot to work a widow’s grief, betrayals of family and friends, and scandals that almost tanked her reputation. Not that Dawn dwells on the past. Well, hardly. When she returns to Baltimore with her husband’s ashes, she can’t avoid it. In fact, she’s diving into decades of backstabbing and treachery for her first trip home in years. Joe Perkins, her former mentor, whose explosive exposé about big-city corruption is being turned into a slanderous movie, is also back in town. The villain of the piece? Dawn. She’ll finally set the record straight. Returning home might just be the biggest story in Dawn’s life, a fresh start—and happy ending—she never expected.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: After finishing the book I read after this one, I had to really think to remember what this book was about. That can’t be good, can it? The chapters switch between the past and the present, but the past isn’t done in traditional flashbacks. Instead, the female protagonist, Dawn, becomes submerged in memories or in stories she’s telling to others. It may sound confusing, because it is — at least it was to me, at first. The whole story just didn’t grab me, and I’d be hard-pressed to recommend it to anyone. | |||
Book #50 |
Book: Reckoning Hour | Author: Peter O’Mahoney | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 315 | Duration: 06/25/25 – 06/27/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, legal thriller, mystery crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Chicago lawyer returns to hometown — takes on two interconnected cases. 🖌6-word review: Good tension. Good pace. Satisfying resolution. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Crimes of the disadvantaged were punished much more harshly than crimes of the advantaged.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: pluff mud, bowrider, tomahawk steak | |||
| Description:* Big-city defense lawyer Dean Lincoln left his picturesque hometown of Beaufort years ago. But now, the lure of small-town life and a family matter have drawn him back. Amidst the sultry heat and the Spanish moss, and beneath the facade of Southern small-town charm, Lincoln begins work again and is immediately thrown into two cases: a rich kid charged with murder and a poor kid accused of arson. Both swear they are innocent. Both feel the system is trying to crush them. And in this corner of the South, guilt is rarely decided in the courtroom… Lincoln’s return has stirred a long-standing grudge, and it could cost him everything — his career, his clients, even his life. As the clock runs out on the truth, trouble is closing in fast.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I was surprised at, and pleased with, how much I enjoyed this book, especially since it was the first in a series (Dean Lincoln Legal Thriller #1) and a free download, which as a combination in my experience doesn’t often bode well. As of right now, there’s only one other book in the series, and if I can find it free somewhere, I just might read it. I thought the setting, — Beaufort, SC — was described and integrated into the story to the extent of itself becoming one of the “characters.” Also, the small-town legal corruption felt believable, if not on the verge of stereotypical, and at more than one point, I thought of the lyrics, “A big-bellied sheriff grabbed his gun and said, ‘Why’d you do it?’ The judge said ‘guilty’ in a make-believe trial, and slapped the sheriff on the back with a smile…” I liked this book enough to possibly make it a Mostly Social Book Club choice of mine some day. And last, but certainly not least, I’m thrilled to have reached book #50 by the end of June. I’d love for this to be a 100+-book year, which I haven’t had since 2022, when I read 102 books. | |||
Book #49 |
Book: Death Row: A Short Story | Author: Freida McFadden | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 74 | Duration: 06/24/25 – 06/24/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, short stories, mystery, psychological thriller, suspense | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A condemned murderess professes her innocence until the bitter end. 🖌6-word review: Clever twists, but sometimes confusingly executed. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Bowman explained to me that the protocol in this state calls for the injection of three drugs. First midazolam, a sedative. Then vecuronium bromide, which will paralyze my muscles. And last, potassium chloride, which will stop my heart from beating.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: peewee football, omakase | |||
| Description:* Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering her husband. She had an alibi and no known motive, yet Talia’s unwavering protestations of innocence have always been ignored. Then one day in the visiting area, she sees a recognizable stranger she’s certain is her husband. It turns out the man she’s been convicted of killing may not be dead after all. But as the days tick away toward Talia’s execution, what will it take for her to be believed?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a bit of a roller coaster while reading, between the alternating “dream” chapters and the “current day” (but not “real?”) chapters, and at times confusing — as in “Wait. What’s going on here?” I did think that, overall, there were clever twists and that it would be interesting to re-read it knowing everything I knew by the end. With that said, I’m not one to re-read books, and I won’t be re-reading this one. | |||
Book #48 |
Book: This Impossible Brightness | Author: Jessica Bryant Klagmann | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 308 | Duration: 06/20/25 – 06/24/25 (5 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: literary fiction, fantasy, mystery, dystopia, magical realism, science fiction | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Grieving woman develops unlikely connections with — dead and alive — townsfolk. 🖌6-word review: Interesting premise. Ended right on time. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “It is agonizing, the disposition of the human mind to construct obstacles in one’s own path, when the world itself has given us none.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: QL card, rappie pie, hepatica, phonautograph, ogham, mottled, cairn, lupine | |||
| Description:* After the mysterious disappearance of her fiancé, Alma Hughes moves to a remote island in the North Atlantic, where she hopes to weather her grief and nurture her ailing dog. But the strange town of Violette has mysteries as well. Townsfolk say that the radio tower overlooking their town broadcasts messages through their home appliances, their dreams, even the sea itself. When lightning strikes the tower, illuminating the sky in a brilliant flash, Alma finds herself caught in the unexplainable aftermath of one of Violette’s deadliest storms. As the sea consumes the island, threatening its very existence, the deaths and lost memories of the recently departed also devastate the community. Alma, with a unique link to the lost, may be the only one who can help them move on. But to do so, she must confront a tragic loss of her own.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I acquired this book in January of 2024, and I’m surprised I downloaded it because I dislike 4 of the 6 genres listed for this book: literary fiction, mystery, fantasy, dystopia, magical realism, science fiction. The only thing more surprising than that is that I actually didn’t abandoned it and I liked it pretty well. I did experience, although to a minimal degree, a couple of the things I don’t like about fantasy, magical realism, and science fiction, which is constantly trying to figure out “the rules” of how things work in these unreal worlds, and then making sure the author is true to them. For example, in this book, one of the characters can see and hear dead people (and a dead dog), but only certain dead people, and those dead people can see and hear each other. Also, I’m a stickler for “speaker attribution” (a.k.a. “dialogue tags”), because if they’re not used for a chunk of conversation between people, I think the writing has to be very, very strong to keep the reader from asking, “Wait, which person is saying this?” I experienced this a couple of times in this book. And, finally, I spent too much time wondering why the name of this book was This Impossible Brightness instead of The Impossible Brightness. | |||
Book #47 |
Book: Diamonds on the Danube | Author: Cheryl Dougan | |
| Source: Friend loan Format: Print |
Pages: 103 | Duration: 06/19/25 – 06/19/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Genres: fiction, cozy mystery, travel | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Tour guide on Danube riverboat cruise uncovers diamond theft shenanigans. 🖌6-word review: All-around mediocre writing, characters, and plot. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Temptations are a reminder that I have a choice.” | |||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: Lipizzan | |||
| Description:* She never expected to be cruising down the Danube trying to catch a diamond thief red-handed. Adelle didn’t expect her 60s to be boring. So when her travel-agent friend asks her to guide a cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam, the born people-pleaser jumps at the chance to help four women have an unforgettable vacation. But when expensive jewelry goes missing, she fears one of her happy travelers could be the culprit. Will Adelle unmask the crook before her adventure sinks into muddy waters?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I bought this book as a gift for a friend who is also a reader and a book club member (although we’re not in the same book club) and with whom I’m going on a “Danube Delights Riverboat Cruise” soon. We thought it would be fun to read a book related to cruising the Danube — but not a nonfiction book about it — and then get together one day on the cruise and discuss it; you know, sort of like a book club meeting but while enjoying our unlimited drink package and taking in the scenery along the way from Budapest to Regensburg, Germany. With all that said — and I have a lot more to say that I’m not including here but have outlined for our discussion on the cruise — this book wasn’t very good. It was more a travelogue (which is what we didn’t want to read) than it was a mystery. At the end of chapter 7 (out of 13), there was still no mention of diamonds or a crime. We’re hoping that “sometimes the worst books make for the best discussion” will come into play with this one. I definitely would not recommend this book, nor would I read any other books in this series, which is part of the “River Cruise Cozies.” | |||
Book #46 |
Book: The Bingo Hall Detectives | Author: Jonathan Whitelaw | |
| Source: Free BookBub download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 336 | Duration: 06/16/25 – 06/18/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, cozy mystery, crime | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A sleuth mother-in-law won’t take accident for a friend’s death. 🖌6-word review: Light reading. Very British. Entertaining enough. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “The crowd began to disperse and Amita felt a little better. Fewer prying eyes, fewer wagging tongues.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: anorak, Digestive, bone idle, huckled, bairns, git, kaylied, sozzled, schtum, toff, shufty, faff, scrumping, gattered, brolly, treacle | |||
| Description:* Jason Brazel is an out-of-work journalist who lives in Penrith with his family and mother-in-law, Amita. She knows everyone and everything that’s going on in this corner of the Lakes. So when it’s discovered that Madeline Forbisher, one of Amita’s fellow regulars at the bingo club has died, found by the postman outside her crumbling country home close to Ullswater Lake, she senses immediately this is no accident. The trouble is, no one else seems to take her suspicions seriously. That is, until she enlists the help of her friends at the Penrith Bingo Club.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This free BookBub Kindle download had me at “bingo” — not because I love bingo (I don’t), but because I thought some characters in it might remind me of the people in the bingo hall that I’d observed during the 3 years I took my mother to play once a week. (It didn’t remind me of any of them, for the record.) I waffled between a 3- and a 4-star rating, because I wanted to like this book more than I did. The conversation between the mother-in-law and her son-in-law got on my nerves at time, and they had a lot of the dialogue. I also tired a bit of the plethora of British/Scottish slang (see my vocabulary list above) throughout the book. And, of course, I was put off by my pet peeve word, which appeared 35% into the book: “‘You can make money from it in other ways too,’ she leaned in conspiratorially.” On the plus side, it was a pretty good mystery whose unraveling I did enjoy. And with all that said, it’s the first book in a series, and I’m disinclined to read any more of them. | |||
Book #45 |
Book: Abscond: A Short Story | Author: Abraham Verghese | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 38 | Duration: 06/15/25 – 06/15/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, short stories, coming of age, relationships, family, death, Indian culture | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Fate challenges Ravi to find his place in the world. 🖌6-word review: Great author. Compelling characters. Tight story. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “You want to know when I fucking see God, Connor? I see God when Sheryl McGilicutty comes to our pool in her bikini and I see the outline of her coochie. That’s God speaking right there.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: sambar, idli, palaver | |||
| Description:* It’s a New Jersey summer in 1967, and thirteen-year-old Ravi Ramanathan has the makings of a tennis prodigy. His surgeon father encourages his ambition, while his mother dreams of their only child following his father’s path. Surrounded by his parents’ love, Ravi chafes a bit at their daily routines and little traditions. Then one unexpected day, everything changes. Realizing how much he took for granted, Ravi must grow up overnight and find a new role in the life of his family.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a bonus free short story First Reads book for June 2025. I was curious to see what an author of often “heavy” and often long books would do with a short story — and what the heck, it was free! I read Abraham Verghese’s Cutting for Stone (560 pages, so intense!) 13 years ago as one of our Mostly Social Book Club‘s 2012 books, and I’ve had my eye on his The Covenant of Water (715 pages!) for a while now, but I’m not ready to commit to that yet. Not unexpectedly, the writing and tale told in this short story was excellent, and the subject matter, while grave, was less intense to me than Cutting for Stone. This is an author whose work I like, so I’m sure I’ll eventually get to The Covenant of Water. | |||
Book #44 |
Book: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry | Author: Gabrielle Zevin | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Audiobook |
Pages: 290 | Duration: 06/14/25 – 06/14/25 (1 day) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: fiction, romance, books about books, relationships | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Man gets a chance to turn around his deteriorating life. 🖌6-word review: Great characters, literary allusions, and story. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Do you miss your [writer] husband?” Lambaise asks. “Not really,” she says after a bit. “His sense of humor sometimes, but the best parts of him were in his books.” |
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| 🎓A new-to-me word: jejune | |||
| Description:* A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly. And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, but large in weight. It’s that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a quick, easy read for me. Books, a bookstore, and book clubs are an integral part of the story, which appealed to me greatly. This book alludes to a lot of stories, books, plays, and authors (see all 64 of them), and when I searched goodreads.com for one of the books mentioned early on in this story, The Late Bloomer by Leon Friedman, to see what it was about, I was surprised to find an entry there that said it wasn’t a real book. I love that someone took the time to create that entry, and it made me wonder how many times people search for books that don’t really exist when seeing them mentioned in another book, and what percentage of those have entries like this one for them. I originally read this book in 2020, and this was a re-read as it’s been chosen as a Mostly Social Book Club book by Suzanne. | |||
Book #43 |
Book: In One Person | Author: John Irving | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 425 | Duration: 06/04/25 – 06/13/25 (10 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: literary fiction, LGBT, queer, coming of age, gender diversity | ||
| 📕10-word summary: A bisexual man shares his richly diverse sexual relationship history. 🖌6-word review: Compelling story with rare, bisexual point-of-view. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Maybe more to the point, I had acquired an undeniable mystique – if only to the Bancroft butt-room boys. Don’t forget: Miss Frost was an older woman, and that goes a long way with the boys — even if the older woman has a penis!” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: derring-do, obligingly, stultifying, habiliment, intercrural, poleaxed, craven, obdurately | |||
| Description:* A New York Times bestselling novel of desire, secrecy, and sexual identity, In One Person is a story of unfulfilled love—tormented, funny, and affecting — and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character, tells the tragicomic story (lasting more than half a century) of his life as a “sexual suspect,” a phrase first used by John Irving in 1978 in his landmark novel of “terminal cases,” The World According to Garp. In One Person is a poignant tribute to Billy’s friends and lovers — a theatrical cast of characters who defy category and convention.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: First things first: Let me give myself a big ol’ pat on the back for getting through this 425-page book with its very small font size. It may not sound like a big deal, but these days that’s usually a showstopper for me, and if the writing hadn’t been John Iriving’s, I probably would have abandoned it after the first chapter. I’d never heard of this John Irving book — his 13th — and I’m glad I came across it. The description says it has a “cast of characters who defy category and convention,” and if anything, that’s an understatement. The protagonist’s bisexual point-of-view was a nice change and it highlighted the many ostracizing things people — even gay people — say about bisexuals. This book has won a number of awards including two bisexual-specific awards that I didn’t even know existed: Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature (2013), San Francisco Book Festival for General Fiction (2013), Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction (2013), Bisexual Book Awards for Fiction (2012). It’s been a long time since I’ve read a John Irving book, and it was nice to do it again. He is, after all, the author of one of my all-time favorite books: A Prayer for Owen Meany, which I read 28 years ago in October of 1997. | |||
Book #42 |
Book: The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars | Author: Joël Glenn Brenner | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 367 | Duration: 05/27/25 – 06/02/25 (7 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, food, history, business, biography | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Learn the striking differences between the Hershey vs. Mars corporations. 🖌6-word review: Easy-to-read inside scoop — cut-throat global competition. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Candy corn was originally called chicken feed.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: blitzkrieged, longitudinal conches, skid, naïf, chimerical | |||
| Description:* Corporate candy giants Milton Hershey and Forrest Mars built business empires out of one of the world’s most magical, sought-after substances: chocolate. Joël Glenn Brenner — the first person to ever gain access to the highly secretive companies of Hershey and Mars — spins a unique story that takes us inside a world as mysterious as Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Packed with flavorful stories and outrageous characters that give the true scoop on this real-life candyland, it’s a delectable read for business buffs and chocoholics alike.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This is my 6th nonfiction book this year, and I read it on a long-ago recommendation by my brother-in-law. Being extremely interested in both chocolate and business, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I learned a lot of things about the chocolate-making business as well as the Hershey and Mars families. My biggest “Aha! moment” was when they described Tootsie Rolls as “chocolate-flavored taffy.” I’ve never thought of a Tootsie Roll as taffy, but I’ll never not think of it as that from now on. The only negative about this book (and it’s neither the book nor the author’s fault) is that it was published in 1998, and I couldn’t help thinking about most of the statistics or processes described: “I wonder what they are now, 27 years later.” Thanks, Jimmy, for the recommendation. | |||
Book #41 |
Book: Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting | Author: Clare Pooley | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 343 | Duration: 05/18/25 – 05/22/25 (5 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, romance, chick lit, LGBT, diversity | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Train choking incident sparks a friendship between eclectic fellow commuters. 🖌6-word review: Easy reading. Interesting characters. Somewhat predictable. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Deborah sat down and took a thin file out of the practical but ugly briefcase that paired nicely with her sensible but dull shoes.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Louboutins, diamanté, insouciance, salubrious, clever clogs, dole money, parterre, oleaginous, ladder your tights, tetchy, taking the Mickey | |||
| Description:* Every day Iona, a larger-than-life magazine advice columnist, travels the 10 stops from Hampton Court to Waterloo Station by train, accompanied by her dog, Lulu. Every day she sees the same people, whom she knows only by nickname: Impossibly-Pretty-Constant-Reader and Terribly-Lonely-Teenager. Of course, they never speak. Seasoned commuters never do. Then one morning, the man she calls Smart-But-Sexist-Manspreader chokes on a grape right in front of her. He’d have died were it not for the timely intervention of Sanjay, a nurse, who gives him the Heimlich maneuver. This single event starts a chain reaction, and an eclectic group of people with almost nothing in common except their commute discover that a chance encounter can blossom into much more. It turns out that talking to strangers can teach you about the world around you — and even more about yourself.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I didn’t notice until about a third of the way into this book that it was by the same author who wrote The Authenticity Project, which our book club read in 2023. I liked this book slightly better, probably because it reminded me of my years riding the bus to work, during which I wrote what I dubbed “buscapades” that included giving the “regular” riders that I saw on the bus nicknames like the protagonist in this story does to her fellow train commuters. Hers included “Magic Handbag Lady,” “Crazy Dog Woman,” “Terribly-Lonely-Teenager,” and “Smart-But-Sexist Manspreader.” Some of the bus rider nicknames I gave included “The Phone Lady,” “Sci-fi Fantasy Man,” “Logorrhea” (portmanteau of logophile and diarrhea; i.e., someone who won’t STFU), “Arguing Man,” “Right-Hand Rule Lady,” “Thong Lady,” “Waffle House Lady,” and “Madonna and Genetically Beautifully Daughter.” Here’s one of those blog posts with a classic buscapade scene in it that I referred to as “a buscapade character reunion.” | |||
Book #40 |
Book: The Family Fang | Author: Kevin Wilson | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 309 | Duration: 05/15/25 – 05/17/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, humor, art, family | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Quirky family adventures with bizarre parents and arguably exploited children. 🖌6-word review: Compelling enough story. Structure sometimes confusing. |
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| 💭Favorite quotes: • “Annie took another sip of the vodka, letting the alcohol seep through her system, turning bad ideas into good ones.” • “He could count on one hand the number of times he’d had sex and still have enough fingers left over to make complicated shadow puppets.” |
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| 🎓Some new-to-me words: sestina, pratfalls | |||
| Description:* Annie and Buster Fang have spent most of their adult lives trying to distance themselves from their famous artist parents, Caleb and Camille. But when a bad economy and a few bad personal decisions converge, the two siblings have nowhere to turn but their family home. Reunited under one roof for the first time in more than a decade and surrounded by the souvenirs of their unusual upbringing, Buster and Annie are forced to confront not only their creatively ambitious parents, but the chaos and confusion of their childhood.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I saw this book in my 5/12/25 BookBub email and it sounded interesting and was available in the library. I noticed that it had been made into a 2015 movie, and I asked my husband if he’d ever seen it, and having not, he watched it while I was reading the book. “Quirky” is a good word to describe both the story and the titular family. The story shifts between the past and the present, and that was a little confusing until I figured out the structure. I enjoyed the imagination of the “performance art” scenarios enumerated, and I enjoyed the intellectual quandaries as to whether it was indeed “art,” and whether or not the children (and arguably the wife) in the family were being exploited. In answer to this discussion question at the end of the book: “Have you ever witnessed an event in your own life that felt like a Fang performance?” I’d have to say it was the time I participated in a flash mob on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. | |||
Book #39 |
Book: The Man Who Died Twice | Author: Richard Osman | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Kindle |
Pages: 422 | Duration: 05/13/25 – 05/14/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★☆ | Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, humor, series | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Thursday Murder Club’s septuagenarians in the throes of it again. 🖌6-word review: Complex story. Enjoyable read. Stopping here. |
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| Description:* Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He’s made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life. As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn’t that be a bonus? But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at knocking off 4 septuagenarians. Can The Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I read the first book in this series, The Thursday Murder Club in 2023. Like that one, I liked this book a lot, but I didn’t love it. This one also involves mafias, cartels, or organized crime, none of which I enjoy reading about. It looks like this series is up to 5 books now. I’m glad I read this one, but I won’t be reading any more of them. | |||
Book #38 |
Book: Plays Well with Others | Author: Allan Gurganus | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Kindle |
Pages: 368 | Duration: 05/07/25 – 05/11/25 (5 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, magical realism, gay, LGBT, queer, New York, AIDS, chosen family | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Newly arrived southerner in NYC creates a brilliant chosen family. 🖌6-word review: Ran cold. Ran hot. Ran cold. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “I sit reading the Times, waiting, though basically I have no talent for waiting.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: rictus, toney, natch, filched, rube, rheostaticly, tintypes, juvenilia, pogrom, odalisque, comestibles, diptych, freesias, gessoed, tocking, rawboned, dandyism, fusty, zabaglione, cowcatcher, odalisquing | |||
| Description:* It’s 1980, and Hartley Mims Jr., a somewhat overbred Southerner, arrives in town to found his artistic career and finds a circle of brilliant friends. He soon discovers both Robert Christian Gustafson, archangelic boy composer of Symphony no. 1: The Titanic, and Alabama Byrnes, a failed Savannah debutante whose gigantic paintings reveal an outsized talent that she, 5-feet tall, can’t always live up to. This circle — sexually venturesome, frequently hungry, hooked on courage, caffeine, and the promise of immortality — makes history and most everybody else. The story chronicles a ragtag group of gifted kids who come to seek their fortunes; they find the low-paying joys of making art and the heady education only multiple erotic partners can provide. They suddenly encounter a brand-new disease like something out of fifth-rate sci-fi. Friends are soon questioning how much they really owe each other; they’re left with the ancient consolation of one another’s company and help.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: In the early chapters of this book, I found myself asking a couple of times, “Okay, who is the narrator here?” and “What exactly is going on right now?” — 2 questions, IMHO, a reader should never be asking. I waffled throughout the story as to whether this was a 3- or 4-star book. I thought of the first half as a 3. Then it really picked it up, and I was leaning toward a 4. But I completely lost interest in the ending, which had a section name of “Appendix,” so I almost didn’t read it. After an entire (very) realistic story, the last 15 or 20 pages was all magical realism, one of my least favorite genres, and worse, it was about heaven (thinly veiled as “paradise”) with 3 short chapters about “how everything works up here.” Not a fan. I will take a second to praise the use of the word “collusive” (instead of the overused “conspiratorial”) in: “…she flashed me one collusive wink that made me feel almost human again, partly included.” | |||
Book #37 |
Book: Blank | Author: Zibby Owens | |
| Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle |
Pages: 250 | Duration: 05/04/25 – 05/06/25 (3 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Genres: fiction, humor, romance, books-about-books, chick lit | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Writer’s-blocked author devises a book with a possibly preposterous plot. 🖌6-word review: Meh. Too many non-plausible plot points. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Darling, it’s not a vacation with kids; it’s a trip.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: mishegaas, towheaded | |||
| Description:* A wife, mother, and frustrated writer faces an impossible deadline for turning her life around in a hilarious debut novel about family, friendship, success, and exhilarating self-(re)discovery. Pippa Jones is a 40-ish former literary sensation who fears she will be a one-hit wonder. After the follow-up book she was almost done writing had to be tossed, she couldn’t write a thing. Months of staring at a blank page made her confidence vanish like a one-night stand. When she finds out that she has only 5 days left to finish (or rather, start) or repay an advance she’s already spent, Pippa has a brilliantly original idea. Okay, fine, her twelve-year-old son came up with it as a joke, but Pippa and her teenage daughter approved. Pippa’s not only going to make a bold statement, but she’ll change the book world while she’s at it! Can she pull it off? At this point, she doesn’t have a choice. When Pippa’s publisher gets intimately involved, it unlocks a series of plot twists she never saw coming.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: This was a free First Reads book from way back in February of 2024, and I’m glad it was free. I thought the entire premise of turning in a “blank” book to meet a deadline, and purportedly to make a statement about the book publishing industry, was far-fetched at best, and that was confirmed. I found it very heavy-handed, and was unimpressed overall. In addition to that cockamamie stunt of a blank book, there were other quite improbable things that happened; for example an Instagrammer who checks out L.A. real estate incognito and then posts about it, goes to a place that turns out to be a “love nest” where her husband goes to cheat on her. What are the chances? Two things I did appreciate about the book were: 1) My pet peeve word, conspiratorial, did not appear, and 2) Instead of using the overused “palpable” or “was deafening” in this context, the author wrote: “The silence felt tangible.” I would be hard-pressed to recommend this book. | |||
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| 📕10-word summary: Influential philosopher contemplates complex life questions from an ethical perspective. 🖌6-word review: Very thought-provoking, but ultimately dated material. |
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| Description:* In this book of brief essays, Peter Singer applies his controversial ways of thinking to issues like climate change, extreme poverty, animals, abortion, euthanasia, human genetic selection, sports doping, the sale of kidneys, the ethics of high-priced art, and ways of increasing happiness. Singer asks whether chimpanzees are people, smoking should be outlawed, or consensual sex between adult siblings should be decriminalized, and he reiterates his case against the idea that all human life is sacred, applying his arguments to some recent cases in the news. In addition, he explores, in an easily accessible form, some of the deepest philosophical questions, such as whether anything really matters and what is the value of the pale blue dot that is our planet. The collection also includes some more personal reflections, like Singer’s thoughts on one of his favorite activities, surfing, and an unusual suggestion for starting a family conversation over a holiday feast.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: It’s been a long time since I’ve read a “cerebral” book, of which this one definitely qualified. Several times I had to read a sentence two or three times to parse and understand it. The questions explored were very heavy and fascinating. The downside of the book was that the date of each essay was different, including different years with almost all 10 or more years ago, and in an an essay it would say things like, “this week… such-and-such a thing happened,” but you didn’t know what year it was. And along those same lines, because the essays were so old, a lot of the things posited as possibly happening in the future, we already know don’t play out that way. It looks like there was an updated version of the book printed in 2023, with 8 more essays in it. I probably should have read that version. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Chronicles the highs and lows of a decades-long, rule-breaking romance. 🖌6-word review: Funny. Sad. Infuriating. Heartwarming. Always interesting. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “He relished conversation; he celebrated and savored anointing a shimmeringly pleasing word or phrase, treating the English language as a treasure trove to be plundered. Or more plainly: he loved to talk and make sure he was good at it.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: straw boater, hauteur, antediluvian, homunculi, officious, swain, vicuña, inveigle, sisal, Etruscan, frippery, fustiness | |||||||||
| Description:* Devastatingly handsome and insanely rich, Farrell Covington is capable of anything and impossible to resist. He’s a clear-eyed romantic, an aesthete but not a snob, self-indulgent yet wildly generous. As the son of one of the country’s most powerful and deeply conservative families, the world could be his. But when he falls for Nate Reminger, an aspiring writer from a nice Jewish family in Piscataway, New Jersey, the results are passionate and catastrophic. Together, the two embark on a uniquely managed romance that spans half a century. They are inseparable—except for the many years when they are apart. Moving from the ivy-covered bastion of Yale to NYC, L.A., and eventually all over the world, Farrell and Nate experience the tremendous upheaval and social change of the last 50 years. From the freedom of gay life in 1970s Manhattan to the Hollywood closet, the AIDS epidemic, and the profound strides of the LGBTQ+ movement. *From goodreads.com’s synopsis. |
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| Thoughts: When I was still on Facebook, an ad for this book appeared on my timeline. It sounded interesting, so I added it to my library to-read list. I thoroughly enjoyed it with the comedic highlight being the description of a wedding at the beginning of chapter 15 and the “take-that | up-yours | touché” highlight being in a reading-of-the-will scene in the middle of chapter 18. Unfortunately, my pet peeve word appeared at about ⅓ of the way into the book: “There were photos of the happy, or at least conspiratorial, couple at the altar, arm in arm before a floral arch at the reception…” The larger-than-life characterization of Farrell is most excellent. This author, also a screenplay writer, has worked as an uncredited script doctor on films including The Addams Family and The First Wives Club. He was credited through the pseudonym “Joseph Howard” for his work on Sister Act, which was originally intended for Bette Midler. The screenplay went through many revisions and was re-fashioned for Whoopi Goldberg. (At this time, Rudnick refused to have his real name associated with the script.) He received sole writing credit for Addams Family Values, In & Out, and the screen version of his play Jeffrey. I would consider this book for a future Mostly Social Book Club book. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: A healing NYC family’s year preceding the John Lennon’s assassination. 🖌6-word review: Fascinating male relationships. Excellently paced plot. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “When, once in a blue moon, they fought, it was scary, in the way arguments can be between smart people who know exactly how to hurt each other.” | |||||||||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: SRO | |||||||||
| Description:* It’s the fall of 1979 in New York City when 23-year-old Anton Winter, back from the Peace Corps and on the mend from a nasty bout of malaria, returns to his childhood home in the Dakota. Anton’s father, the famous late-night host Buddy Winter, is there to greet him, himself recovering from a breakdown. Before long, Anton is swept up in an effort to reignite Buddy’s stalled career, a mission that takes him from the gritty streets of New York, to the slopes of the Lake Placid Olympics, to the Hollywood Hills, to the blue waters of the Bermuda Triangle, and brings him into close quarters with the likes of Johnny Carson, Ted and Joan Kennedy, and a seagoing John Lennon. But the more Anton finds himself enmeshed in his father’s professional and spiritual reinvention, the more he questions his own path, and fissures in the Winter family begin to threaten their close bond. *From goodreads.com’s synopsis. |
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| Thoughts: I saw this book in a BookBub email, and since I recently read The Address, which was about The Dakota apartment building in NYC, the fact that it was part of this title caught my eye. While the building was a “major character” in The Address, it played a comparatively small part in this story. As is often the case with historical fiction, I wondered how much of the story was historically factual and how much of it was fiction. John Lennon played a big part in this story, and at first, each time it said he did something, I wondered if he really did that and looked it up. (e.g., owned a sailboat named “Isis.”) Checking everything soon became untenable, and it didn’t really matter in this story. There were 2 things about this story that I loved: 1) the male relationships — specifically those between Anton and his father, Buddy; Anton and his brother, Kip; and Anton and John Lennon, and 2) this story moved right along; a typical example being when one paragraph mentioned that something was going to happen in 3 weeks (and arguably, it’s the thing you’re most interested in seeing how it plays out), and in the very next paragraph, it’s 3 weeks later. No waiting until the next chapter with filler or another storyline, or anything like that. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Kids try to resolve effects of very complicated family dynamics. 🖌6-word review: Powerful story. Family tree logistics challenging. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “It means that we never really know what we’ve seen, only what we noticed. It means absorbing that these are two different things, and living differently with that knowledge.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: cerise, crenellation, striate, apotheosis, kouros, pullulate, louche, palaver, chiaroscuro, deadheading | |||||||||
| Description:* When Bunny Linden abandons her 3 children with her older sister, Jayne, she knows Jayne will be the perfect mother, one that she could never be. As months turn into years without word, Jayne and her husband, Rodger, a rising journalism star, strive to give the children the opportunity to flourish and feel loved. When Jayne and Rodger finally have a child of their own, a seemingly stable home is built. But then, after nearly a decade, Bunny resurfaces and sets a chain of events in motion that detonates all their lives.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: This was a compelling story with a lot of kids in it, of which one sister (Bunny) dumps her 3 kids (Sage, Huck, & Brian) on her sister (Jayne) who then has 2 kids (Linden & Clyde) of her own — raising all 5 of them, and at times they think they’re all brothers and sisters, when in fact 3 of them are cousins to the other 2. And then there are 2 other kids (Michael & Luke) of Margaret and her first husband, who are Jayne’s & Bunny’s half-brothers. It was just a lot. So much in fact, that after reading chapter 20 (of 25), I had to stop and draw this family tree to remind myself who Michael & Luke were (they hadn’t been mentioned for ~15 chapters) and how they were related to the other 5 kids. And if that wasn’t enough — and it really was — at one point Jayne divorces Rodger and marries another man who has a kid (Justin), so becomes Linden’s and Bunny’s step-brother. Anyhoo, that was all problematic, but I really did enjoy the story, and I loved the pace. It moved along snap, snap, snap. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Dual-timeline, multi-generational story reveals consequential, brutal, and grave family secrets. 🖌6-word review: Compelling story with pronoun antecedent issues. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Kit was taken aback, because maternal concern is not an armament Lucinda keeps in her quiver.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: stagecraft, insouciance, shoulder season, traif, harridan | |||||||||
| Description:* In 1959, Hollywood ingenue Mercy Welles seems to have the world at her feet. Far removed from her Nebraska roots, she has crafted herself into a glamorous Oscar-nominated actress engaged to an up-and-coming director… until she shockingly vanishes without a trace, just as her career is taking off. Almost 60 years later, Kit O’Neill, a junior Manhattan television producer, is packing up her recently deceased grandmother’s attic, only to discover a long-lost box of souvenirs that reveal that the grandmother who raised her and her sister Claire was, in fact, the mysterious Mercy Welles. Putting her investigative skills to use, Kit is determined to solve the riddle of her grandmother’s missing life, and the trail eventually leads to Martha’s Vineyard.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I suppose I was destined to read this book for several reasons: 1) I saw it in my 3/27/25 BookBub email and went to put it on my to-read list at the library, where I found it already there from my 7/29/24 BookBub email. 2) I’m a sucker for stories about found letters. 3) I have a great fondness for stories about The Cape in general, and Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, & Provincetown in particular, probably because I grew up just off The Cape in Fall River, and my husband and I spent a month at a VRBO in Eastham during the pandemic. In this dual-timeline story, I found the storyline in the past more interesting than the one in the present, but both kept me interested. The only complaint I had was that there were several times when a pronoun’s antecedent wasn’t clear. For example, a paragraph talked about 2 female characters, and the subsequent paragraph referred only to “she” (4 times), and I wasn’t sure which of the 2 characters it was referring to until the end of the paragraph. And finally, my pet-peeve word showed up a quarter of the way into the book: “Well,” she said almost conspiratorially, “it’s just we don’t see Mint out that much anymore. She rarely leaves Sycamore.” | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: An altar boy and a rabbi forge an impenetrable bond. 🖌6-word review: Religious dogma eclipses remarkable relationship storyline. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “This was the last mass of the day, and so he went back to the altar to extinguish the two candles with a long-handled device the altar boys had named the 'holy snuffer.'” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: ciborium, chasuble, maniple, amice, Spaldeen | |||||||||
| Description:* Brooklyn, 1947. The war veterans have come home. Jackie Robinson is about to become a Dodger. And in one close-knit working-class neighborhood, an 11-year-old Irish Catholic boy named Michael Devlin has just made friends with a lonely rabbi from Prague. For Michael, the rabbi opens a window to ancient learning and lore that rivals anything in Captain Marvel. For the rabbi, Michael illuminates the everyday mysteries of America, including the strange language of baseball. But like their hero Jackie Robinson, neither can entirely escape from the swirling prejudices of the time. Terrorized by a local gang of anti-Semitic Irish toughs, Michael and the rabbi are caught in an escalating spiral of hate for which there’s only one way out — a miracle.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I read about Pete Hamill’s book, North River, but the library didn’t have it. Searching on the author’s name, I saw this book, which sounded interesting. I didn’t notice that one of the genres of the book was magical realism, of which I’m not a fan, and unfortunately, that aspect didn’t manifest itself in the book until the very end — or I might have abandoned it. It was a decent story, but a huge section of it was about religious beliefs that didn’t advance the plot, and of which I started skimming through after it went on and on and on. (FTR, I am an atheist.) I also found way too much violence depicted in the book, of which I’m also not a fan. I gave it 3 stars for the story that was outside of all that, which was the relationship between the young Catholic protagonist and the elder Jewish rabbi, which I really enjoyed. I was extremely disappointed in the ending of this book for the reason I already stated. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Sight-losing professor and speech-loss adult student connect on several levels. 🖌6-word review: Concentration required: arduous-to-read, Nobel-prize-winning, lyrical literature. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “She has goosebumps on her arm and on the back of her neck from the aggressive air conditioning.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: imperious, hanji, zelkova, inarticulacy, maru, dappled, cryptomeria, fretsaw, paroxysm, philtrum, declensions, iljumun, bunsik, stridulations, hanok | |||||||||
| Description:* In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight. Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it’s the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I saw this book on BookBub and the description intrigued me enough to check its availability in the library. I liked the plot premise and that it won the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2024. Not surprisingly though, that made arduous reading at times. Several times I put it down after reading only a short bit of it. I didn’t discover until a good way into the book that the male protagonist’s storyline was in first person and the female protagonist’s storyline was in third person. Short on dialogue tags, there were times when I could only tell who the speaker was by whether it was in first person or third person particularly in chapter 19, A Conversation in Darkness. I expected to like this book more than I did, but I’m just not a huge fan of lyrical writing, and this book was no exception in spite of being a Nobel Prize winner. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Short, biographical introduction to an African American seamstress and poet. 🖌6-word review: Lyrical prose. Beautifully illustrated picture book. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “What thoughts do you carry when idle with nothing to do? Do you dream of the future? Or of someone who lived before you?” | |||||||||
| Description:* What dreams do you carry? Myra Viola Wilds dreamed of opportunity. She left her home in rural Kentucky for the city, learned to read and to write, and became a dressmaker. She hand-stitched gorgeous gowns. She worked so hard she lost her eyesight, and her world went dark. But those well-loved stitches turned into words, and one night Myra woke in the middle of the night and wrote a poem she called “Sunshine.” She kept writing. She wrote the lush green, sweet-corn yellow, cerulean blue, sunshine-y world from memory, collecting her poems into a book called Thoughts of Idle Hours, published in 1915.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: This was one of 3 books that I saw in an article reviewing 3 recommended children’s picture books about African-American people: 1) And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories, 2) Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer, and 3) Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds. I hadn’t heard of Myra Viola Wilds before reading this book, and I’m glad to know about her now. The story seemed a little disjointed to me, hence the 4-star, as opposed to 5-star, rating. The art work is great. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: A dysfunctional gay male couple takes in a third partner. 🖌6-word review: Existential angst, self-doubt — to a fault. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “I’d never seen three men together in a committed relationship. Before me sat three groups of them. It was great to see.” | |||||||||
| Description:* Casper loves two things — his guitar and his stepbrother, Reed. Being in a band with Reed is both amazing and torturous. If only Casper could get out of his own way and tell Reed how he feels. The lead singer, Reed’s passion is music, but he’d give it up if it means staying in Casper’s arms. When a new man enters their lives, he could be who Casper and Reed are missing to make them whole. The lost soul, Elic’s world tilts when he meets Casper and Reed. Living on the streets has left scars on Elic, inside and out. He’s surprised to find both men desire him. Their relationship is tested repeatedly. Truths are revealed. They will have to lift each other up and prove their love is worth it if they want to see what their future looks like.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I’m not a fan of romance novels at all — and after reading this one, I’m still not. The only other gay romance novel I’ve read has the most oddly specific genre I’d seen to date: gay Amish romance, and it was called A Forbidden Rumspringa. I nabbed this book from BookBub back in December as a free download, and finally decided to give it a whirl. One blurb I read about it contained two acronyms I had to look up: MMM and HEA. There was a lot of, “I don’t deserve you,” or “You deserve better,” “I don’t deserve what’s happened to me,” etc. In other words a lot of existential wallowing. Also a lot of thinking the wild sex and intensity of their feelings for each other was going to last forever. Ah, youth! | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Bad guy, Guy, pisses off people and gets hisself kilt. 🖌6-word review: Typical cozy mystery. Decent “holiday read.” |
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| 💭Fun quote: “Sláinte!” | |||||||||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: coddle | |||||||||
| Description:* When an old friend is arrested in Dublin, tour guide Lana Hansen will need the luck of the Irish to clear him of the crime. Lana is thrilled her friend Jeremy and his wife are on her tour to Ireland. The couple are having the time of their lives exploring the country’s rich literary and cultural history, until they run into Guy Smith, a reporter Jeremy recently exposed as a fraud. A tussle turns into a fight and leaves each man vowing to destroy the other. Yet cross words and dirty looks tell Lana that Jeremy is not the only client on her tour who has a grudge against the reporter.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: This book was “right on time” — holiday-themed and free — in my daily BookBub email. It was a short, quick read, although when at 50% complete without anyone having yet been murdered, I wondered how long without a murder in a murder mystery was “acceptable.” A search found the answer to be all over the place, but most said closer to 25% to 33% of the way through. While down that rabbit hole, in one page about what elements make a good cozy mystery, the author said to “include a plot twist that the reader won’t see coming.” I’m pretty sure you can’t write a plot twist that people will see coming. Not seeing it coming is the very nature of a plot twist. Needless to say, I’d be hard-pressed to take writing advice from the author of said writing-advice article. I found 3 editing misses in this book, which only made me happier that I got it for free. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Rare children’s biography about an African American and LGBT person. 🖌6-word review: A lyrical, beautifully illustrated picture book. |
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| 💭Lyrical quote: “The first time James Baldwin read a book, the words clung to him like glitter.” | Description:* Before James Baldwin was a celebrated novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and activist, he was a boy who fell in love with stories. Words opened up new worlds for young Jimmy, who read and wrote at every opportunity. He ultimately realized his dreams of becoming an author and giving voice to his community, and in doing so he showed the world the fullness of Black American life.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | ||||||||
| Thoughts: This was one of 3 books that I saw in an article reviewing 3 recommended children’s picture books about African-American people: 1) And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories, 2) Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer, and 3) Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds. I was curious to see how a children’s book would (or wouldn’t) address the fact that James Baldwin was gay, and I suppose it was “age appropriate” that it wasn’t mentioned at all as part of the main story. It is covered in a back-matter section called, “More About James Baldwin,” which noted: “As a young adult, Jimmy began to reckon with his sexual identity. He was queer and felt romantic love toward both men and women, which was an aspect of identity that was rarely spoken about publicly during that time. That silence made him feel alone.” The back matter also contains short “A Note from the Author” and “A Note from the Artist” sections. This book is beautifully illustrated. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Uncovered family history, a century apart, rocks the family’s world. 🖌6-word review: Well-done, dual-timeline epic family secrets story. |
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| 💭Amusing quote: Melinda: “Did you make any friends in rehab?” Bailey: “No. Not my type. Bunch of drunks and addicts.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: bedsit, shantung, dupioni, aquiline, trompe l’oeil, cur, bombazine, Birkin, truncheon | |||||||||
| Description:* A century apart, Sara and Bailey are both tempted by and struggle against the golden excess of their respective ages — for Sara, the opulence of a world ruled by the Astors and Vanderbilts; for Bailey, the nightlife’s free-flowing drinks and cocaine — and take refuge in the Upper West Side’s gilded fortress, the Dakota. But a building with a history as rich, and often as tragic, can’t hold its secrets forever, and what Bailey discovers inside could turn everything she thought she knew about the building’s architect, Theodore Camden, and Sara and Bailey’s ancestor — and the woman who killed him — on its head.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: This was a Mostly Social Book Club book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was one of those dual-timeline stories, where I preferred one storyline over the other — in this case, the past (1880s) over the more recent (1980s). It was an epic family secrets saga, which at times reminded me of one of my all-time favorite classics, The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. The title of the book is an allusion to when this actual apartment building in NYC was first built and its location was considered “way out there” from “the city,” but the promise/prediction was that one day it would become the address to have. And indeed it did, becoming the area now known as the “Upper West Side” area of Manhattan. The building still exists, and according to AI, the maintenance fee for an apartment in the building can range from $11,057 to $13,000 per month. As of this writing, there are 2 units for sale — one for $6.2M with 8 rooms, 4 bedrooms, and 2½ bathrooms, and one for $19M with 6000 sq.ft. 15 rooms, 5 bedrooms, and 9 bathrooms. If the name of the apartment building sounds familiar, it might be because it’s where John Lennon was shot and killed in 1980. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: An I.T. security guy is sucked into employees’ email conversations. 🖌6-word review: 75% epistolary “dialogue.” Amusing, fun, fluff. |
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| 💭Amusing quote: “She was loud. And funny. (But not as funny as loud.)” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: strident, pithy, rotavirus, Valkyrie, nadir, vetiver | |||||||||
| Description:* Beth and Jennifer know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives. Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now — reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers — not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke. When Lincoln comes across Beth’s and Jennifer’s messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can’t help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories. By the time Lincoln realizes he’s falling for Beth, it’s way too late to introduce himself. What would he say…?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: This book was on NPR’s list of great summer reads. Not being in school and being retired made me wonder what characteristics of a book make it a “summer read.” According to AI, it’s “a light, accessible, and entertaining book, often with a focus on escapism, romance, or a lighthearted plot, perfect for relaxing during the summer months.” Not sure why you can’t relax during the spring, fall, or winter months — but I digress. I enjoyed this book, which comprised many email exchanges between the two female protagonists. Reading other people’s mail is something that appeals to me, and I can see why Lincoln, the I.T. guy, got sucked into reading Beth’s and Jennifer’s — ethics and privacy issues aside. It definitely checked off the summer read characteristics of escapism, romance and a lighthearted plot. With enjoying the book said, if a movie was made of it, it’d be the kind of movie I’d never want to see. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: A candid, ferocious, and compelling introspection on womanhood and motherhood. 🖌6-word review: Classic Ferrante voice — quirky and dark. |
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| 💭Compelling quote: “How foolish to think you can tell your children about yourself before they’re at least 50. To ask to be seen by them as a person and not as a function.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Camorra, reproof, pareo, tohu-bohu | |||||||||
| Description:* Leda, a middle-aged divorce, is alone for the first time in years when her daughters leave home to live with their father. Her initial, unexpected sense of liberty turns to ferocious introspection following a seemingly trivial occurrence. Ferrante’s language is as finely tuned and intense as ever, and she treats her theme with a fierce, candid tenacity.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I was prepared for this author’s voice, quirky and dark, from her book The Days of Abandonment, which I read in 2022. My husband watched and reviewed the movie made from this book, starring one of his all-time favorite actors, Olivia Colman, and which was Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s directorial debut. There was a lot packed into the 140-page story, and it’s a rare, refreshing, honest look at women who aren’t completely taken and in love with their own children. Oh, and lest I forget, my pet-peeve overused word made an appearance on p. 18: “They called each other by name with drawn-out cries, hurled exclamatory or conspiratorial comments, at times quarreled: a large family group, similar to the one I had been part of when I was a girl, the same jokes, the same sentimentality, the same rages.” | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Author Toni Morrison’s life beautifully honored in poetry and pictures. 🖌6-word review: Brilliant accomplishments. Understandable poetry. Glorious art. |
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| 💭Compelling quote: “You, Tony Morrison, first-of-the-first brown-skinned bosses, bringing color to an all-white literary landscape.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: griot, gutbucket | |||||||||
| Description:* From imaginative child to visionary storyteller, Toni Morrison was a fiercely inspiring writer who helped change the world. This poetic picture book is part love letter and part biography, praising the power of this Nobel Prize winner. With its tender refrain, readers will know how much Morrison’s stories — and their own — mean to the world. She was loved — and so are they!*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: This was one of 3 books that I saw in an article reviewing 3 recommended children’s picture books about African-American people: 1) And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories, 2) Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer, and 3) Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds. I didn’t expect this one to be poetry, but thankfully, it was very accessible poetry. I knew that Toni was a Pulitzer Prize winner (1988), but I didn’t know (or remember) that she’d also won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1993) and that President Obama honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2012). This book is beautifully illustrated. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Ghostwriter learns truths about the famous person she’s writing for. 🖌6-word review: 49 pages were just enough. Unremarkable. |
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| 💭Laughable quote: “With the cleansing power of this sage, I release all negative energy from this space. Visualize the smoke absorbing all negativity. Watch it disappear and float out of the windows.” | |||||||||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: wakeboarding | |||||||||
| Description:* Anne is barely keeping it together. A frazzled ghostwriter and aspiring novelist, she juggles nine-year-old twins and a listless marriage from an overcrowded Manhattan apartment, spreading herself thinner each day. Just as Anne is about to give up on her dreams, she lands her biggest client Melody Wells. When Melody passes along a lead on a spacious sublet complete with East River views, built-in closets, and three bedrooms, Anne can’t believe her luck. Melody seems to know just what her family needs. But as small, unsettling incidents begin to accumulate, Anne starts to wonder what price she’s willing to pay for the good life.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: This was an “interesting enough” read, nothing remarkable. I was interested enough to invest 49 pages to see how it ended. I’m ambivalent about including the explanation of polydactyl cats and the boiling frog apologue. It felt like a couple of things that the author knew about and wanted to fit into the story, which violates a classic rule of writing: In your edit, find your favorite word or line that you worked into the story and delete it. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: A mathematics professor gets himself in a world of shit. 🖌6-word review: My first Lee Child book. Excellent. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Korovki [a Russian prison] is like any small town. Full of gossip. Sometimes exciting.” | |||||||||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: last | |||||||||
| Description:* Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics — in short, a nobody from nowhere. So why is the White House calling? Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he’s the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough. Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever. All he has to do is get to a meeting with the renowned Russian mathematician who created it. But when Nathan crashes headlong into a dangerous new game, the odds against him suddenly look a lot steeper.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I became aware of Lee Child during an after-lunch stroll with my friend Jen through Barnes & Noble. She recommended his Jack Reacher books, but this book of his was available to borrow free through Amazon’s Prime Reading service, so I grabbed it. At 50 pages, it was a super quick read, although I do wonder what part of that enjoyment was served by my love of mathematics. Although the Kindansky numbers in this book are fictional, they reminded me of the Fibonacci numbers, which actually exist in mathematics. I thought it was a great introduction to Lee Child’s writing, which I definitely plan to read more of, probably starting with Killing Floor, the first in his Jack Reacher series of 29 books to-date. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Family faces hard truths in wake of businessman patriarch’s death. 🖌6-word review: Good story. Good pacing. Hopeful ending. |
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| 💭Compelling quote: “Casual dress is a privilege for those given the benefit of the doubt. It is for people who will be accepted without question, and that’s not you.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: senescence, bicker, boater hat, quiddities, bouclé, B-roll, kente, diapason, rubicund, inosculated | |||||||||
| Description:* On their Martha’s Vineyard estate, the Carter family prepares to celebrate. But when the billionaire patriarch dies right before his 70th birthday, the media is quick to question the future of the multi-industry conglomerate that makes the Carters living legends. Amid the succession crisis, his daughter, Kennedy, is questioning her father’s past. Kennedy is an aspiring filmmaker, and the documentary she’d planned to present at her father’s party begins an inquest into the life of a man she never really knew. As a twisted history emerges, the fault lines in the family grow. Torn between morality and the promise of maintaining wealth, Kennedy must decide what’s most important—the Carter legacy or exposing the shocking truth of how it was built.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I liked how each chapter was from one character’s perspective, and essentially rotated through the members of the family at the center of this story. A scene about “a request form to ensure the chef and housekeeping staff were aware of everything from who liked to sleep with socks on, to who liked their bacon extra crispy,” reminded me of a spreadsheet that my work team created once for an off-site retreat that involved several nights during which some of us would have to share a hotel room: “We’ve started a spreadsheet to note preferences such as “needs white noise,” “likes it cold,” “snorer,” “not a morning person,” etc. Well, it quickly devolved with added columns, such as: “potty-trained,” “litterbox-trained,” “nude sleeper,” “never-nude sleeper,” “needs arm rub to fall asleep,” “needs bedtime story + song,” “needs bedtime story only,” “AM radio,” and “cuddler.” And the memory made me chuckle. I enjoyed reading about “the Black experience” attending Princeton, and a couple of times thought of a book I read last year, The Last Negroes at Harvard,” to which there was an allusion in this book, in fact. There are some good thoughts in this story about capitalism vs. humanitarianism. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: More murders take place while trying to solve old ones. 🖌6-word review: Very complicated plot points. Didn’t love. |
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| 💭Compelling quote: “Age gives you perspective. Now I know the difference between being popular and just being talked about.” | |||||||||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: balaclava | |||||||||
| Description:* Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: Like many others, the catchy title of this book drew me in. But, I didn’t love this book. The author broke the fourth wall often, which at times came across as a funny or expositive aside, but at other times felt too gimmicky. There were a lot of characters and murders in the story — with lots of sometimes obscure, and often complicated, connections to people outside the family. I never quite cared — as much as I thought I should have — about who the murderer was. My pet-peeve overused word made an appearance about a third of the way through: “I leaned over and whispered conspiratorially.” And in what’s apparently an Australian pronunciation quirk, the narrator of this audiobook distractingly pronounced the word “assume” (which was used a lot) as “ashoom.” I’d be hard-pressed to recommend this book without a lot of caveats. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: The ripple effect on each other of 12 mostly strangers. 🖌6-word review: Quick paced. Nice surprises. Wonderfully interconnected. |
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| 💭Compelling quote: “What she hated about even mild turbulence was the way it ended the illusion of security.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: muezzins, fug, tiffin, escutcheon | |||||||||
| Description:* A woman strikes up a conversation with the man sitting next to her on a plane after some turbulence. He returns home to tragic news that has also impacted another stranger, a shaken pilot on his way to another continent who seeks comfort from a journalist he meets that night. The journalist’s life shifts subtly as well, before she heads to the airport on an assignment that will shift more lives in turn. In this novel, Szalay’s diverse protagonists circumnavigate the planet on twelve flights, from London to Madrid, from Dakar to Sao Paulo, to Toronto, to Delhi, to Doha, en route to see lovers or estranged siblings, aging parents, baby grandchildren, or nobody at all. Along the way, they experience the full range of human emotions from loneliness to love and, knowingly or otherwise, change each other in one brief, electrifying interaction after the next.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: During a recent after-lunch stroll with my friend Jen, through Barnes & Noble looking at books, sharing what we’ve read, and trading recommendations, she recommended this author to me. This book of his was readily available at my library, and I loved the premise. As it turns out, though, Jen recommended John Scalzi — and has never read anything by this author! But now that she’s read my review of this book, she’s adding it to her to-read list. Too funny! I loved how each of this book’s chapters was around a flight, whose chapter title comprised the flight’s departure and arrival airport codes, and after the first chapter, how each featured someone who was somehow connected to the person in the previous chapter. There were a couple of nice surprises; for example, when you didn’t know how someone at the beginning of a chapter was connected to anyone in the previous chapter, and it was revealed in such a way that all of sudden you figured it out or it became obvious. I also liked when a character seemed unlikable or unsavory in one chapter, but you found out why they might be that way in the subsequent chapter. (It reminded me of Stephen Covey’s 5th habit: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood®.) If I’m remembering correctly, only the first story involved literal and figurative turbulence, the others having just the figurative sense of it — turbulence in the character’s lives. Also, I thought the ending was brilliant. I will probably put this forth as my Mostly Social Book Club book when it’s my turn again to chose one. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Nurse creates opportunity for potential last words to loved ones. 🖌6-word review: Compelling dual timeline — ultimately heartwarming — story. |
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| 💭Compelling quote: “She was suffering terribly, and you did the best thing for her. This is a war, and any man on the battlefield would have done the same thing.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: maisonette, hob, Luftwaffe, Primus, cagoule, swifts, biro, chivvying, trundling, naff, welly | |||||||||
| Description:* London, 1940: When nurse Elsie offers to send a reassuring letter to the family of a patient, she has an idea. She begins a book of last letters: messages to be sent on to wounded soldiers’ loved ones should the very worst come to pass, so that no one is left without a final goodbye. But one message will change Elsie’s life forever. When a patient makes a devastating request, can Elsie find the strength to do the unthinkable? London, present day: Stephanie has people she’d like to speak to: her estranged, incarcerated brother; her nan, whose dementia means she’s only occasionally lucid enough to talk. When she discovers a book of wartime letters, Stephanie realises the importance of our final words – and uncovers the story of a secret love, a desperate choice, and the unimaginable courage of the woman behind it all.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. |
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| Thoughts: I read about this book on BookBub and it was available for a $.99 download. Since I had a credit for that amount, I “bought it” at no out-of-pocket expense. I appreciated that this was one of those dual-timeline stories in which both the present-day storyline and the in-the-past storyline were both good. Other than the aspect of “the nurse and the airman” communicating in “the book” in a couple of pages that were “purposefully stuck together to keep them private” being totally implausible, it was a believable and compelling story. I was completely sucked into it, and I looked forward to picking it back up as soon as possible and pretty much zipped through it. YMMV, of course. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Man who doesn’t like people very much overdoses on them. 🖌6-word review: Smart satire. Overdone hyperbole at times. |
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| 💭Compelling quote: “Therefore, to avoid your neighbors, you have to make yourself uninteresting, but not too uninteresting, because that makes you interesting.” | |||||||||
| Description:* Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally. *From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: Until this book of his, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with this author. I read A Man Called Ove in 2017 and with so many metaphors and similes (several of them in one paragraph at times), the writing became distracting enough for me to abandon the book. Then in 2023, our Mostly Social Book Club read Anxious People, and I absolutely loved it! I’m happy to say I really enjoyed — albeit just short of loving — this book. I thought that at times, although it sounds redundant, the hyperbole was over-the-top — to approach being just plain silly. I’m also turned off when (professional) reviewers describe a book, like many did about this one, as “hilarious” or “laugh-out-loud funny,” because humor is so personal and subjective. With all that said, it was a short, fun read, and I’d definitely recommend it. I chose this book as my November 2024 First Reads offering, which provides free early access to an editor’s pick from Amazon Prime. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: A glimpse into a mid-thirties freelance copy editor’s inner life. 🖌6-word review: Sometimes great, sometimes excruciating protagonist’s dialogue. |
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| 💭Compelling quote: “As long as you’re living on this planet, you have to be serious about something, but it’s better to be serious about a limited number of things.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: plumeria, mugicha | |||||||||
| Description:* Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition. When Fuyuko stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it. As the long overdue change occurs, however, painful episodes from Fuyuko’s past surface and her behavior slips further and further beyond the pale.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I saw this book in my BookBub email, and it sounded interesting, perhaps because the protagonist was a copy editor. I went back-and-forth between not liking and liking this book, and ended up on the “like” side, as per my 4-star rating. Several times, I had to tell myself that I was frustrated with the main character because she was an introvert when she sometimes either took forever to answer somebody’s questions, or just didn’t them answer at all. I found all three of the main people she interacted with during the story — Hijiri, Mitsutsuka, and Noriko — quite interesting. I also liked how this book did not have a Hollywood ending. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Man stuck in time loop until he solves a murder. 🖌6-word review: Interesting premise. Complicated execution. Tedious reading. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “Thankfully, the leaves and twigs are so demoralized by the earlier rain they don’t have the heart to cry out beneath my feet.” | |||||||||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: brazier | |||||||||
| Description:* Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. Understood? Then let’s begin… Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others…*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: If, like me, the title of this book reminds you of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, disabuse yourself right now of any notion of a connection between the two books. There isn’t any. It took me a while to get the rhythm of how the storyline in this book was going to work, and the dealbreaker for me was the one chapter that was solely exposition of the time- and body-traveling rules. I mean, if you have to stop the story with a chapter explaining how a device — which you’re purportedly employing to enhance your narrative — is going to work, maybe that’s a little too heavy-handed writing. It suspended my effort to suspend my disbelief with the sort of reading equivalent of breaking the fourth wall in theater.
Tedious, annoying, distracting: 1) I found it tedious that there were 8 “hosts” (i.e., other characters’ bodies) that the protagonist inhabited during the story, but then there were a couple of bodies he “visited” more than once. End it already. 2) Overuse of the word “conspiratorial” (or its derivative) in writing is annoying to me, and there were three instances of it in this book. Nobody whispers and conspires that much. 3) This is the second audiobook by a British author that I’ve listened to recently in which I found distracting the pronunciation of these words as “enna-thing,” “enna-one,” and “evra-thing.” Is that how all Brits say those words? I don’t think so. |
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| 📕10-word summary: Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima photograph’s shocking history. 🖌6-word review: Scholar-like accounting. Incredibly written. Horrific details. |
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| 💭Compelling quote: “John’s other nightly habit, though, was something he refused to talk about at all. When Betty would ask him about it in the morning, he would simply turn away. He’d be sleeping, his eyes closed, was the way my mother remembered it. But he’d be whimpering. His body would shake, and tears would stream out of his eyes, down his face.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: chockablock, sintering, billet, supplanted, jingoistic, pillboxes, mettle, tyro, bivouacked, bibulous, paeans | |||||||||
| Description:* In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
Thoughts: To be clear, the writing in this book is excellent. My 2-star rating is because I didn’t enjoy it, and I would not recommend it to others, which is a result of my extreme pacifism and the excruciating details about the horrific acts of war written about in this book. Full disclosure: The only reason I didn’t abandon this book was because it was a Mostly Social Book Club book. I skipped chapters 7 (D-Day), 8 (D-Day Plus One), 9 (D-Day Plus Two), 10 (D-Day Plus Three), and I skipped over many other paragraphs, passages, and sometimes pages of prolonged descriptions of murder, torture, and dismemberment. While reading this, I thought a lot about my father, and his 2 combat tours in Vietnam, during one of which he received a Purple Heart for wounds received during Operation Purple Martin. I also thought about his unwillingness to talk about his time in Vietnam like a lot of the guys in this book with regards to the battle on Iwo Jima. Also, like a lot of these guys, my dad suffered from long-term effects of his war experience — he was a terrible sleeper, couldn’t eat rice because it reminded him of maggots in the food in the field, and had severe PTSD reactions to fireworks being set off.
 With all that said, this story is a fascinating look at marketing and PR and its — in retrospect — absolute disastrous treatment of the most recognizable image of World War II, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal. And finally, the Afterword of this book made me gasp. |
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| 📕10-word summary: Neighbors bond over the shared stairs to their apartments disappearing. 🖌6-word review: Fun characters. A short, playful story. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Sometimes the start of something good begins during something bad,” he said. “We don’t get to pick when these things happen.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Dalit, ghatiya, salwar kameezes, mangalasutra, puja, lassi | |||||||||
| Description:* It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I chose this book as my February 2025 First Reads offering, which provides free early access to an editor’s pick from Amazon Prime. I liked the premise of the story, and it was a short little book to slip in after reading 4 lengthier ones and before starting the next serious, nonfiction, book club book, Flags of Our Fathers. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Deep personal loss leads to self-healing and uncovering family tragedy. 🖌6-word review: “A rich, thoughtfully woven generational tale.” |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Her stories were her only passport to places she had never been. Without them, she would be forever trapped in this village.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: Dalit, ghatiya, salwar kameezes, mangalasutra, puja, lassi | |||||||||
| Description:* Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past. Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I read about this book on BookBub and found it in the library, with no waiting list for it. I love, love, loved this book. It’s the kind of book that while reading, I’m thinking, “How do writer’s come up with this stuff? It may very well end up being the best book I read in 2025, and it’s only January. And it might very well become my next Mostly Social Book Club book recommendation. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Greed begets greed as newlyweds descend into a beyond-dangerous situation. 🖌6-word review: Riveting. Chilling. Fast-moving, who’s-doing-it mystery thriller. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “But that’s life, isn’t it? Sometimes you’re the dog; sometimes you’re the lamppost.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: The nuanced difference between flotsam and jetsam, especially in the context of maritime law. | |||||||||
| Description:* Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water. Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous decision to speak out or to protect their secret.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: My friend Nicole recommended this book 2 years ago, and I finally got around to reading it. And it’s become my first 5-star book in 2025! Yay! It’s a fast-moving story and Erin is the kind of protagonist that you’re yelling at, “Don’t do it! You know you shouldn’t do it!” all the while knowing she is going to do it, and since she is, you can’t wait to see what happens so you can say, “I knew it!” and “I told you so!” It’s a complex, but very-well-weaved set of plot lines with a very nice twist at the end. I listened to the audiobook of this novel, which was read by the author, Catherine Steadman. It’s the first book I’ve read of hers, and I’d definitely consider another. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: White author steals and publishes dead Asian author’s next book. 🖌6-word review: A most improbable plot. Marginally interesting. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Social media is such a tiny, insular space. Once you close your screen, no one gives a fuck.” | |||||||||
| 🎓A new-to-me word: consanguinity | |||||||||
| Description:* White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequence. Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: This story started off okay, but as soon as you find out what June Hayward intends to do with Athena Liu’s manuscript, it’s blatantly obvious that it’ll never work. As hard as I tried (at least at first) to have some empathy for June, I liked her less and less as she became more and more delusional about what and why she was doing what she was doing. By the end, I only finished it because I was so close to the end, not because I cared about June’s character any more. Would not recommend—especially if you’re a writer. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: The complex chaos of a 14-year-old girl’s domestic abuse experience. 🖌6-word review: Too violent. Too graphic. Too infuriating. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “The truth of you, if it is there at all, exists beyond an unbridgeable and irreducible epistemological gap.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: verdigris, cassoulet, erinys, salal, stob, cultivar, gyre, rictus, cauls, numinous, adumbrations | |||||||||
| Description:* At 14, Turtle Alveston knows the use of every gun on her wall. She knows how to snare a rabbit, sharpen a blade and splint a bone. She knows that her daddy loves her more than anything else in this world and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her with him. But she doesn’t know why she feels so different from the other girls at school; why the line between love and pain can be so hard to see. Or why making a friend may be the bravest and most terrifying thing she has ever done. Sometimes the people you’re supposed to trust are the ones who do most harm. And what you’ve been taught to fear is the very thing that will save you…*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: First of all, Goodreads includes “Young Adult” as a genre for this book. I can’t imagine any situation, context, or universe in which this book could garner such a designation. There are a lot of triggers in this book, the biggest one being incestuous rape. And, as if that’s not horrendous (and adult) enough, the graphic detail in which the physicality of the act is described is off-the-charts unnecessary. There is also a lot of talk, description, and use of guns in this book, another topic that I abhor. The ratings of this book are a complete dichotomy between love and hate. I gave it a 2 rating: “Finished, but did not like. Would not recommend.” In an attempt to temper my extreme bias against reading about emotional, physical, or domestic abuse (and guns!), I will admit that this book is well written, which is to say I think it earns the “literary” part of the “literary fiction” designation. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: The Queen, an opsimath reader, becomes passionately obsessed and challenging. 🖌6-word review: Enjoyable fictional account—well-written book-about-books novella. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: Prime Minister’s advisor: “Your employer has been giving my employer a hard time.” Kevin, the Queen’s advisor: “Yes?” PM’s advisor: “Yes. Lending him books to read. That’s out of order.” Kevin: “Her Majesty likes reading.” PM’s advisor: “I like having my dick sucked. I don’t make the Prime Minister do it. Any thoughts, Kevin?” Kevin: “I will speak to Her Majesty.” PM’s advisor: “You do that, Kev. And tell her to knock it off.” |
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| 🎓Some new-to-me words: duff, glabrous, careered, equerry, flummeries, boulle, accretion, chivvied, opsimath, peregrinations, tetchy | |||||||||
| Description:* Led by her yapping corgis to the Westminster traveling library outside Buckingham Palace, the Queen finds herself taking out a novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett. Duff read though it is, the following week her choice proves more enjoyable and awakens in Her Majesty a passion for reading so great that her public duties begin to suffer. And so, as she devours work by everyone from Hardy to Brookner to Proust to Beckett, her equerries conspire to bring the Queen’s literary odyssey to a close.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: This was an enjoyable, easy-to-read book that was a welcome change from my 3 previous 2025 books. I thought it was amusing how the Queen referred to herself as “one,” as opposed to the royal “we.” For example, responding to “Your Majesty has started reading,” she says, “No, Sir Claude. One had always read. Only these days one is reading more.” I was also amused when every once in a while, she said something that sounded a lot like Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey. For example the Queen writes, “‘One recipe for happiness is to have no sense of entitlement.” To this she added a star and noted at the bottom of the page: ‘This is not a lesson I have ever been in a position to learn,'” which reminded me of the Downton Dowager’s infamous response to, “‘There are many hours in the day. And of course I’ll have the weekend,’ he says. Lady Grantham says, without a hint of sarcasm, ‘What is a weekend?'” And finally, although a fictional work and no names are stated, the inferred Queen is Queen Elizabeth II, the Prime Minister is presumably Tony Blair, and the Duke would naturally be Prince Philip. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Midlife crisis leads woman to town rife with the paranormal. 🖌6-word review: The cozy mystery genre gone awry. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “I shoot Harold a look. It took us 3 years to have Harper and not a single baby soul followed suit. I was at war with my ovaries, my uterus, doing everything humanly possible to give Harper a sibling and here Charlene jumps into bed with my husband and makes it a reality.” |
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| 🎓Some new-to-me words: transmundane, telesensual | |||||||||
| Description:* An impending divorce. A hot homicide detective. And spontaneous time travel. Midlife in Glimmerspell is proving to be magical. “If I thought the first half of my life was a bumpy ride, I’d better buckle up because I’m about to go over the hill and off the rails.”*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: So far in 2025, I’m on a roll—but it’s not a good one—of books that just aren’t working for me. Fortunately, I got this book as a free 4-book series download, and needless to say (but I’m going to anyway), I won’t be reading the other 3 books in the series. It was not at all what I expected, which was your typical cozy mystery. I would estimate that 25% of it was spent on the murder, while 75% of it focused on the female protagonist drooling after a dreamy male detective, time traveling, vampires, werewolves, and fae. Time traveling does intrigue me, and I’ve read some books of that genre, such as: Remember Me Tomorrow, Oona Out of Order, The Midnight Library, Mrs. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Time Traveler’s Wife, In Five Years, and A Wrinkle in Time, but I don’t like the gothic genre at all. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Thirteen short stories; didn’t understand 2 of the first 5. 🖌6-word review: Not my cup of tea. Abandoned. |
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| Description:* [DeWitt’s] jumping-off points might be statistics, romance, the art world’s piranha tank, games of chance and games of skill, the travails of publishing, or success. “Look,” a character begins to explain, laying out some gambit reasonably enough, even if facing a world of boomeranging counterfactuals, situations spinning out to their utmost logical extremes, and Rube Goldberg-like moving parts, where things prove “more complicated than they had first appeared” and “at 3 a.m. the circumstances seem to attenuate.” In various ways, each tale carries DeWitt’s signature poker-face lament regarding the near-impossibility of the life of the mind when one is made to pay to have the time for it, in a world so sadly “taken up with all sorts of paraphernalia superfluous, not to say impedimental, to ratiocination.” *From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: Read the description. ‘Nuff said. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Two men negotiate dangerous, secret love in Puritan New England. 🖌6-word review: So lyrical it obfuscates plot. Abandoned. |
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| Description:* Cana, a utopian vision of 18th-century Puritan New England. To the outside world, Reverend Nathaniel Whitfield and his family stand as godly pillars of their small-town community, drawing Christians from across the New World into their fold. One such Christian, physician Arthur Lyman, discovers in the minister’s words a love so captivating it transcends language. As the bond between these two men grows increasingly passionate, their families must contend with a tangled web of secrets, lies, and judgments that threaten to destroy them in this world and the next. And when the religious ecstasies of the Great Awakening begin to take hold, igniting a new era of zealotry, Nathaniel and Arthur search for a path out of an impossible situation, imagining a future for themselves that has no name. Their wives and children must do the same, looking beyond the known world for a new kind of wilderness, both physical and spiritual.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: “Lyrical writing is used to create a piece that feels more deeply evocative than usual, thanks to its song-like, poetic property. In a way, it’s prose that sounds more like a poem.” I’m not a fan of it. I have survived some lyrical writing: In 2020, I read What Belongs to You, and although containing lyrical writing and having a 40-page paragraph, I not only finished it but gave it 4 stars. In 2022, I read On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, for whose 6-word review, I wrote, “Chapter 9 is so lyrically beautiful,” and I gave it 5 stars. However, when the writing is so lyrical that I can’t follow the plot, that’s a deal-breaker—as was the case with this book. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Young girl negotiates her family’s abusive, criminal, and dysfunctional lifestyle. 🖌6-word review: Gloom, despair, agony abundant. Unconventionally triumphant. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “I mostly liked high school. I liked learning things. How numbers work together to explain the stars. How molecules made the world. All the ugly and wonderful things people had done in the last two thousand years.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: lassitude, keening | |||||||||
| Description:* As the daughter of a drug dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. It’s safer to keep her mouth shut and stay out of sight. Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house, until one night her star gazing causes an accident. After witnessing his motorcycle wreck, she forms an unusual friendship with one of her father’s thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold. By the time Wavy is a teenager, her relationship with Kellen is the only tender thing in a brutal world of addicts and debauchery. When tragedy rips Wavy’s family apart, a well-meaning aunt steps in, and what is beautiful to Wavy looks ugly under the scrutiny of the outside world. Kellen may not be innocent, but he is the fixed point in Wavy and Donal’s chaotic universe. Instead of playing it safe, Wavy has to learn to fight for Kellen, for her brother, and for herself.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: This is the third book in 2025 for our Mostly Social Book Club. There are several trigger-warning-worthy topics covered in this book—primarily for domestic abuse and rape; although, one reviewer purports: “trigger warning basically for everything.” Goodreads lists “young adult” as one of the genres of this book, which is mind-boggling to me. I spent a lot of time while reading it in a mental debate about the definition of pedophilia, while “seeking first to understand, then to be understood.” (And, yes, I know Stephen Covey was a homophobe.) I look forward to our book club discussion about this book when we get to it. | |||||||||
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| 📕10-word summary: Two distinctive men’s lives intersect in a most unlikely way. 🖌6-word review: Slow until the connection is made. |
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| 💭A favorite quote: “Flowers. Each year, without fail, on the 15th of March, Jean receives a single snowdrop with a note from her beloved Arthur. A white flower once a year for Jean, and white lies all the year round for his wife.” | |||||||||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: succoured, cynosure, glaucous, locum-tenens, amanuensis, packstaff, oleaginous, paterfamilias, purlieus, tantalus, coir, drayman, carapace, interregnum, fettle, jocosities, febrile, mendacious, mephitic, fulminate, pusillanimous, palaver | |||||||||
| Description:* As boys, George, the son of a Midlands vicar, and Arthur, living in shabby genteel Edinburgh, find themselves in a vast and complex world at the heart of the British Empire. Years later—one struggling with his identity in a world hostile to his ancestry, the other creating the world’s most famous detective while in love with a woman who is not his wife—their fates become inextricably connected.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||||||||
| Thoughts: I received this book a couple of years ago from my friend Susan Katz. Thanks, Susan! I found the first half of it slow moving, during the telling of the story of each of the main characters, Arthur & George (duh). I put this book down a lot, which is why it took me 9 days to read it. In addition to (the first half) not being riveting, it’s a pretty dense book comprising (as you can see by my list) a lot of words I had to look up while reading—it sure would have been easier reading it on a Kindle. Learning about Arthur and George in alternating story snippets, we find out who Arthur (really) is a good way into his story—and since I hadn’t read anything about the book beforehand, it was a nice surprise that kicked up my interest in the book a little bit. I considered abandoning this book a couple of times, but in the end, I was glad I stuck with it. With that said, I wouldn’t recommend it without a couple of caveats, which is why I gave it 3 stars (Average. An entertaining read but probably forgettable. Might or might not recommend) instead of 4 (Really great book in all respects with perhaps some minor flaws. Would definitely recommend). I see that this book was made into a 3-part 2015 PBS Masterpiece TV mini series, but I don’t plan to watch it. | |||||||||
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