2025

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.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.
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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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).

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.
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.

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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.
💭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: The Bodyguard: A methodical professional bodyguard goes private to protect a wealthy 22-year-old Brazilian woman named Anna, whose family has many enemies. The Greatest Trick of All: A highly skilled hitman, mentored by a man named Ryland, must use everything he was taught to master one final trick to survive. Ten Keys: A drug-dealing hitman feels compelled to confess his guilt and fears to a complete stranger while waiting in a bar. Safe Enough: Wolfe, a man from the Bronx now living in the country, is hired by a woman to find her missing husband, but he must determine if she can be trusted. Normal in Every Way: Relegated to file clerk duty in 1950s San Francisco, a brilliant but awkward rookie cop uses his unique talent for connecting historic dates to solve crimes. The .50 Solution: An assassin is hired to kill a racehorse and clashes with his client over the high-caliber weapon requested for the job. Public Transportation: A journalist and a police officer have an unofficial conversation that reveals the truth behind a “conveniently” closed murder case. Me and Mr. Rafferty: A serial killer narrates his habit of leaving subtle, grisly clues for the detective hunting him, seeking a twisted form of connection. Section 7 (a) (Operational): An operative meticulously assembles a team for what appears to be a high-stakes military or covert mission. Addicted to Sweetness: A powerful criminal leader named Socrates interrogates a thief about stolen sugar, exploring the unexpected consequences of harsh punishments. The Bone-Headed League: An FBI agent stationed in London is challenged by a colleague to solve a murder case using clues inspired by a Sherlock Holmes story. I Heard a Romantic Story: While lying in wait for a target, an assassin overhears a romantic story that provides a backdrop to his mission. My First Drug Trial: Before a court appearance for drug possession, a defendant struggles with his internal monologue about whether or not to get high one last time. Wet with Rain: Two men traveling to Dublin to buy a house find themselves disrupted by a Special Branch officer who suspects the property hides something serious. The Truth About What Happened: Set in 1942, an African American man working on a top-secret national security project (the Manhattan Project) is interrogated about what he knows. Pierre, Lucien & Me: A tale centering on art fraud, past regrets, and the relationship between the narrator and two other men. New Blank Document: A freelance writer in Florida is hired to find and interview the secret, unacknowledged brother of a famous jazz pianist. Shorty and the Briefcase: An injured police officer uses his analytical skills and brainpower to assist his colleagues in a major bust. Dying for a Cigarette: A short, punchy tale involving a high-stakes situation where a cigarette plays a central role. The Snake-Eater by the Numbers: A rookie London police officer is mentored by a corrupt sergeant who prioritizes high arrest numbers over actual justice.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.
Thoughts: This was a good read. Strong female protagonist, and one significant twist.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭A humorous 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.
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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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. Claus 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.

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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.
💭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.”

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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?”

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.”
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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!
💭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.

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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.”
💭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.

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Book #112	Book: The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Uncovering Secrets, Reuniting Relatives, and Upending Who We Are		Author: Libby Copeland
	Source: Library book Format: Print	Pages: 294	Duration: 11/18/25 – 11/21/25 (4 days)
	Rating: ★★★★★	Genres: nonfiction, science, 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.
💭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.”

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭A few favorite quotes: “The house smelled like garlic and laundry.” “It wouldn’t be fair to call me a snob and my brother trash, but it wouldn’t be far from accurate.” “My poor wife. I didn’t know how little I loved her until she was dead.” “A few times we even tried to recapture whatever odd coincidence of lonesomeness and availability we’d found together that first summer in Alna, but inevitably one of our body parts would fail us — sometimes his, sometimes mine.” “You know women. Stray, cats, all of them, either purring in your lap or pissing in your shoes.”
🎓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.

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Book #109	Book: People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present		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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.”

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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?”

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.
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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.”

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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.
🎓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.

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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.
💭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.

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Book #67	Book: The Guest List		Author: Lucy Foley
	Source: Library book 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.
💭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.

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Book #66	Book: One of Us is Dead		Author: Jeneva Rose
	Source: Library book Format: Audiobook	Pages: 272	Duration: 08/05/25 – 08/06/25 (2 days)
	Rating: ★★★★★	Genres: nonfiction, 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.
💭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.

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Book #65	Book: Finding Me		Author: Viola Davis
	Source: Library book 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.
💭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.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: “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!

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Book #64	Book: I Need a Lifeguard Everywhere but the Pool		Author: Lisa Scottoline & Francesca Serritella
	Source: Library book 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.
💭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.”

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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.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

Book #62	Book: The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life		Author: Dr. Robin Zasio
	Source: Borrowed from a friend 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.
💭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).

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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.
💭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.

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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.
💭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.

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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: A woman’s airplane seatmate gets murdered and she’s sucked in. 🖌6-word review: Easy read. Typical cozy mystery. Satisfying.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
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 a lot most of it, and thus am probably doomed to repeat it. I’ll take the chance. With that said, if you do like history, you might very well love this book. When I read a book of the historical fiction genre, I expect the story to be, let’s say, 90% story, 10% history. This book was about 75% history, 25% story — and Russian & Chinese history, at that. A positive about the book was the author’s voice, which was laugh-out-loud (literally) at times with irreverent interjections and comments. This is a Mostly Social Book Club, and I look forward to hearing what the others in the group think of it when it’s time to discuss it.

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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.
💭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.

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Book #56	Book: Bittersweet		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.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

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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.
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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

Book #49	Book: Death Row		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.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.”
🎓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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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.
💭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.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.