2025

Finished book #30 in 2025

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Book #30
Greek Lessons book cover		 Book: Greek Lessons Author: Han Kang
Source: Library loan
Format: Print		 Pages: 176 Duration: 03/20/25 – 03/29/25 (10 days)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Genres: literary fiction, Asian literature, romance, Nobel Prize
📕10-word summary: Sight-losing professor and speech-loss adult student connect on several levels.
🖌6-word review: Concentration required: arduous-to-read, Nobel-prize-winning, lyrical literature.
💭Favorite quote: “She has goosebumps on her arm and on the back of her neck from the aggressive air conditioning.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: imperious, hanji, zelkova, inarticulacy, maru, dappled, cryptomeria, fretsaw, paroxysm, philtrum, declensions, iljumun, bunsik, stridulations, hanok
Description:* In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight. Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it’s the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I saw this book on BookBub and the description intrigued me enough to check its availability in the library. I liked the plot premise and that it won the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2024. Not surprisingly though, that made arduous reading at times. Several times I put it down after reading only a short bit of it. I didn’t discover until a good way into the book that the male protagonist’s storyline was in first person and the female protagonist’s storyline was in third person. Short on dialogue tags, there were times when I could only tell who the speaker was by whether it was in first person or third person particularly in chapter 19, A Conversation in Darkness. I expected to like this book more than I did, but I’m just not a huge fan of lyrical writing, and this book was no exception in spite of being a Nobel Prize winner.

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Finished book #29 in 2025

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Book #29
Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem book cover		 Book: Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds Author: Nancy Johnson James
Source: Library loan
Format: Print (picture book)		 Pages: 32 Duration: 03/19/25 – 03/19/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: nonfiction, African American, poetry, biography, history childrens
📕10-word summary: Short, biographical introduction to an African American seamstress and poet.
🖌6-word review: Lyrical prose. Beautifully illustrated picture book.
💭Favorite quote: “What thoughts do you carry when idle with nothing to do? Do you dream of the future? Or of someone who lived before you?”
Description:* What dreams do you carry? Myra Viola Wilds dreamed of opportunity. She left her home in rural Kentucky for the city, learned to read and to write, and became a dressmaker. She hand-stitched gorgeous gowns. She worked so hard she lost her eyesight, and her world went dark. But those well-loved stitches turned into words, and one night Myra woke in the middle of the night and wrote a poem she called “Sunshine.” She kept writing. She wrote the lush green, sweet-corn yellow, cerulean blue, sunshine-y world from memory, collecting her poems into a book called Thoughts of Idle Hours, published in 1915.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This was one of 3 books that I saw in an article reviewing 3 recommended children’s picture books about African-American people: 1) And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories, 2) Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer, and 3) Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds. I hadn’t heard of Myra Viola Wilds before reading this book, and I’m glad to know about her now. The story seemed a little disjointed to me, hence the 4-star, as opposed to 5-star, rating. The art work is great.

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

Finished book #28 in 2025

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Book #28
Notes of Unspoken Words book cover		 Book: Notes of Unspoken Words Author: Jennifer S. Alderson
Source: Free BookBub download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 259 Duration: 03/14/25 – 03/19/25 (6 days)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Genres: fiction, MM romance, MMM romance, LGBT, polyamory
📕10-word summary: A dysfunctional gay male couple takes in a third partner.
🖌6-word review: Existential angst, self-doubt — to a fault.
💭Favorite quote: “I’d never seen three men together in a committed relationship. Before me sat three groups of them. It was great to see.”
Description:* Casper loves two things — his guitar and his stepbrother, Reed. Being in a band with Reed is both amazing and torturous. If only Casper could get out of his own way and tell Reed how he feels. The lead singer, Reed’s passion is music, but he’d give it up if it means staying in Casper’s arms. When a new man enters their lives, he could be who Casper and Reed are missing to make them whole. The lost soul, Elic’s world tilts when he meets Casper and Reed. Living on the streets has left scars on Elic, inside and out. He’s surprised to find both men desire him. Their relationship is tested repeatedly. Truths are revealed. They will have to lift each other up and prove their love is worth it if they want to see what their future looks like.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I’m not a fan of romance novels at all — and after reading this one, I’m still not. The only other gay romance novel I’ve read has the most oddly specific genre I’d seen to date: gay Amish romance, and it was called A Forbidden Rumspringa. I nabbed this book from BookBub back in December as a free download, and finally decided to give it a whirl. One blurb I read about it contained two acronyms I had to look up: MMM and HEA. There was a lot of, “I don’t deserve you,” or “You deserve better,” “I don’t deserve what’s happened to me,” etc. In other words a lot of existential wallowing. Also a lot of thinking the wild sex and intensity of their feelings for each other was going to last forever. Ah, youth!

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Finished book #27 in 2025

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Book #27
Death by Leprechaun: A St. Patrick’s Day Murder in Dublin book cover		 Book: Death by Leprechaun: A St. Patrick’s Day Murder in Dublin Author: Jennifer S. Alderson
Source: Free BookBub download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 189 Duration: 03/13/25 – 03/13/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, cozy mystery, holiday, travel, Irish culture
📕10-word summary: Bad guy, Guy, pisses off people and gets hisself kilt.
🖌6-word review: Typical cozy mystery. Decent “holiday read.”
💭Fun quote: “Sláinte!”
🎓A new-to-me word: coddle
Description:* When an old friend is arrested in Dublin, tour guide Lana Hansen will need the luck of the Irish to clear him of the crime. Lana is thrilled her friend Jeremy and his wife are on her tour to Ireland. The couple are having the time of their lives exploring the country’s rich literary and cultural history, until they run into Guy Smith, a reporter Jeremy recently exposed as a fraud. A tussle turns into a fight and leaves each man vowing to destroy the other. Yet cross words and dirty looks tell Lana that Jeremy is not the only client on her tour who has a grudge against the reporter.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This book was “right on time” — holiday-themed and free — in my daily BookBub email. It was a short, quick read, although when at 50% complete without anyone having yet been murdered, I wondered how long without a murder in a murder mystery was “acceptable.” A search found the answer to be all over the place, but most said closer to 25% to 33% of the way through. While down that rabbit hole, in one page about what elements make a good cozy mystery, the author said to “include a plot twist that the reader won’t see coming.” I’m pretty sure you can’t write a plot twist that people will see coming. Not seeing it coming is the very nature of a plot twist. Needless to say, I’d be hard-pressed to take writing advice from the author of said writing-advice article. I found 3 editing misses in this book, which only made me happier that I got it for free.

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Finished book #26 in 2025

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Book #26
Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer book cover		 Book: Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer Author: Quartez Harris
Source: Library loan
Format: Print (picture book)		 Pages: 40 Duration: 03/12/25 – 03/12/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: nonfiction, biography, picture book, art, writing, childrens, African American, LGBT
📕10-word summary: Rare children’s biography about an African American and LGBT person.
🖌6-word review: A lyrical, beautifully illustrated picture book.
💭Lyrical quote: “The first time James Baldwin read a book, the words clung to him like glitter.”
Description:* Before James Baldwin was a celebrated novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and activist, he was a boy who fell in love with stories. Words opened up new worlds for young Jimmy, who read and wrote at every opportunity. He ultimately realized his dreams of becoming an author and giving voice to his community, and in doing so he showed the world the fullness of Black American life.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This was one of 3 books that I saw in an article reviewing 3 recommended children’s picture books about African-American people: 1) And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories, 2) Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer, and 3) Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds. I was curious to see how a children’s book would (or wouldn’t) address the fact that James Baldwin was gay, and I suppose it was “age appropriate” that it wasn’t mentioned at all as part of the main story. It is covered in a back-matter section called, “More About James Baldwin,” which noted: “As a young adult, Jimmy began to reckon with his sexual identity. He was queer and felt romantic love toward both men and women, which was an aspect of identity that was rarely spoken about publicly during that time. That silence made him feel alone.” The back matter also contains short “A Note from the Author” and “A Note from the Artist” sections. This book is beautifully illustrated.

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Finished book #24 in 2025

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Book #24
Attachments book cover		 Book: Attachments Author: Rainbow Rowell
Source: Library loan
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 338 Duration: 03/08/25 – 03/09/25 (2 days)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, romance, chick lit
📕10-word summary: An I.T. security guy is sucked into employees’ email conversations.
🖌6-word review: 75% epistolary “dialogue.” Amusing, fun, fluff.
💭Amusing quote: “She was loud. And funny. (But not as funny as loud.)”
🎓Some new-to-me words: strident, pithy, rotavirus, Valkyrie, nadir, vetiver
Description:* Beth and Jennifer know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives. Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now — reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers — not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke. When Lincoln comes across Beth’s and Jennifer’s messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can’t help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories. By the time Lincoln realizes he’s falling for Beth, it’s way too late to introduce himself. What would he say…?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This book was on NPR’s list of great summer reads. Not being in school and being retired made me wonder what characteristics of a book make it a “summer read.” According to AI, it’s “a light, accessible, and entertaining book, often with a focus on escapism, romance, or a lighthearted plot, perfect for relaxing during the summer months.” Not sure why you can’t relax during the spring, fall, or winter months — but I digress. I enjoyed this book, which comprised many email exchanges between the two female protagonists. Reading other people’s mail is something that appeals to me, and I can see why Lincoln, the I.T. guy, got sucked into reading Beth’s and Jennifer’s — ethics and privacy issues aside. It definitely checked off the summer read characteristics of escapism, romance and a lighthearted plot. With enjoying the book said, if a movie was made of it, it’d be the kind of movie I’d never want to see.

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Finished book #23 in 2025

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Book #23
The Lost Daughter book cover		 Book: The Lost Daughter Author: Elena Ferrante
Source: Library loan
Format: Print		 Pages: 140 Duration: 03/06/25 – 03/06/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: fiction, Italy, feminism, family
📕10-word summary: A candid, ferocious, and compelling introspection on womanhood and motherhood.
🖌6-word review: Classic Ferrante voice — quirky and dark.
💭Compelling quote: “How foolish to think you can tell your children about yourself before they’re at least 50. To ask to be seen by them as a person and not as a function.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: Camorra, reproof, pareo, tohu-bohu
Description:* Leda, a middle-aged divorce, is alone for the first time in years when her daughters leave home to live with their father. Her initial, unexpected sense of liberty turns to ferocious introspection following a seemingly trivial occurrence. Ferrante’s language is as finely tuned and intense as ever, and she treats her theme with a fierce, candid tenacity.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I was prepared for this author’s voice, quirky and dark, from her book The Days of Abandonment, which I read in 2022. My husband watched and reviewed the movie made from this book, starring one of his all-time favorite actors, Olivia Colman, and which was Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s directorial debut. There was a lot packed into the 140-page story, and it’s a rare, refreshing, honest look at women who aren’t completely taken and in love with their own children. Oh, and lest I forget, my pet-peeve overused word made an appearance on p. 18: “They called each other by name with drawn-out cries, hurled exclamatory or conspiratorial comments, at times quarreled: a large family group, similar to the one I had been part of when I was a girl, the same jokes, the same sentimentality, the same rages.”

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

Finished book #22 in 2025

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Book #22
And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison's Life in Stories book cover		 Book: And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories Author: Andrea Davis Pinkney
Source: Library loan
Format: Print (picture book)		 Pages: 48 Duration: 03/06/25 – 03/06/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: nonfiction, biography, African American, poetry, picture book, childrens, art
📕10-word summary: Author Toni Morrison’s life beautifully honored in poetry and pictures.
🖌6-word review: Brilliant accomplishments. Understandable poetry. Glorious art.
💭Compelling quote: “You, Tony Morrison, first-of-the-first brown-skinned bosses, bringing color to an all-white literary landscape.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: griot, gutbucket
Description:* From imaginative child to visionary storyteller, Toni Morrison was a fiercely inspiring writer who helped change the world. This poetic picture book is part love letter and part biography, praising the power of this Nobel Prize winner. With its tender refrain, readers will know how much Morrison’s stories — and their own — mean to the world. She was loved — and so are they!*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This was one of 3 books that I saw in an article reviewing 3 recommended children’s picture books about African-American people: And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories, Go tell it: how James Baldwin became a writer, and Dream a dress, dream a poem: dressmaker and poet, Myra Viola Wilds. I didn’t expect this one to be poetry, but thankfully, it was very accessible poetry. I knew that Toni was a Pulitzer Prize winner (1988), but I didn’t know (or remember) that she’d also won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1993) and that President Obama honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2012). This book is beautifully illustrated.

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

Finished book #21 in 2025

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Book #21
The Sublet: A Short Story book cover		 Book: The Sublet: A Short Story Author: Greer Hendricks
Source: Free First Reads download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 49 Duration: 03/02/25 – 03/02/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Genres: fiction, short stories, psychological thriller, novella
📕10-word summary: Ghostwriter learns truths about the famous person she’s writing for.
🖌6-word review: 49 pages were just enough. Unremarkable.
💭Laughable quote: “With the cleansing power of this sage, I release all negative energy from this space. Visualize the smoke absorbing all negativity. Watch it disappear and float out of the windows.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: wakeboarding
Description:* Anne is barely keeping it together. A frazzled ghostwriter and aspiring novelist, she juggles nine-year-old twins and a listless marriage from an overcrowded Manhattan apartment, spreading herself thinner each day. Just as Anne is about to give up on her dreams, she lands her biggest client Melody Wells. When Melody passes along a lead on a spacious sublet complete with East River views, built-in closets, and three bedrooms, Anne can’t believe her luck. Melody seems to know just what her family needs. But as small, unsettling incidents begin to accumulate, Anne starts to wonder what price she’s willing to pay for the good life.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This was an “interesting enough” read, nothing remarkable. I was interested enough to invest 49 pages to see how it ended. I’m ambivalent about including the explanation of polydactyl cats and the boiling frog apologue. It felt like a couple of things that the author knew about and wanted to fit into the story, which violates a classic rule of writing: In your edit, find your favorite word or line that you worked into the story and delete it.

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Finished book #20 in 2025

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Book #20
Eleven Numbers book cover		 Book: Eleven Numbers: A Short Story Author: Lee Child
Source: Free Prime Reading loan
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 50 Duration: 03/02/25 – 03/02/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: fiction, short stories, thriller, mystery, espionage, novella
📕10-word summary: A mathematics professor gets himself in a world of shit.
🖌6-word review: My first Lee Child book. Excellent.
💭A favorite quote: “Korovki [a Russian prison] is like any small town. Full of gossip. Sometimes exciting.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: last
Description:* Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics — in short, a nobody from nowhere. So why is the White House calling? Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he’s the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough. Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever. All he has to do is get to a meeting with the renowned Russian mathematician who created it. But when Nathan crashes headlong into a dangerous new game, the odds against him suddenly look a lot steeper.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I became aware of Lee Child during an after-lunch stroll with my friend Jen through Barnes & Noble. She recommended his Jack Reacher books, but this book of his was available to borrow free through Amazon’s Prime Reading service, so I grabbed it. At 50 pages, it was a super quick read, although I do wonder what part of that enjoyment was served by my love of mathematics. Although the Kindansky numbers in this book are fictional, they reminded me of the Fibonacci numbers, which actually exist in mathematics. I thought it was a great introduction to Lee Child’s writing, which I definitely plan to read more of, probably starting with Killing Floor, the first in his Jack Reacher series of 29 books to-date.

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

Finished book #19 in 2025

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Book #19
The Rules of Fortune book cover		 Book: The Rules of Fortune Author: Danielle Prescod
Source: Free Frist Reads download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 293 Duration: 02/28/25 – 03/02/25 (3 days)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, African American, family
📕10-word summary: Family faces hard truths in wake of businessman patriarch’s death.
🖌6-word review: Good story. Good pacing. Hopeful ending.
💭Compelling quote: “Casual dress is a privilege for those given the benefit of the doubt. It is for people who will be accepted without question, and that’s not you.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: senescence, bicker, boater hat, quiddities, bouclé, B-roll, kente, diapason, rubicund, inosculated
Description:* On their Martha’s Vineyard estate, the Carter family prepares to celebrate. But when the billionaire patriarch dies right before his 70th birthday, the media is quick to question the future of the multi-industry conglomerate that makes the Carters living legends. Amid the succession crisis, his daughter, Kennedy, is questioning her father’s past. Kennedy is an aspiring filmmaker, and the documentary she’d planned to present at her father’s party begins an inquest into the life of a man she never really knew. As a twisted history emerges, the fault lines in the family grow. Torn between morality and the promise of maintaining wealth, Kennedy must decide what’s most important—the Carter legacy or exposing the shocking truth of how it was built.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I liked how each chapter was from one character’s perspective, and essentially rotated through the members of the family at the center of this story. A scene about “a request form to ensure the chef and housekeeping staff were aware of everything from who liked to sleep with socks on, to who liked their bacon extra crispy,” reminded me of a spreadsheet that my work team created once for an off-site retreat that involved several nights during which some of us would have to share a hotel room: “We’ve started a spreadsheet to note preferences such as “needs white noise,” “likes it cold,” “snorer,” “not a morning person,” etc. Well, it quickly devolved with added columns, such as: “potty-trained,” “litterbox-trained,” “nude sleeper,” “never-nude sleeper,” “needs arm rub to fall asleep,” “needs bedtime story + song,” “needs bedtime story only,” “AM radio,” and “cuddler.” And the memory made me chuckle. I enjoyed reading about “the Black experience” attending Princeton, and a couple of times thought of a book I read last year, The Last Negroes at Harvard,” to which there was an allusion in this book, in fact. There are some good thoughts in this story about capitalism vs. humanitarianism.

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

Finished book #18 in 2025

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Book #18
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone book cover		 Book: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone Author: Benjamin Stevenson
Source: Library loan
Format: Audiobook		 Pages: 384 Duration: 02/26/25 – 02/28/25 (3 days)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, crime, books about books
📕10-word summary: More murders take place while trying to solve old ones.
🖌6-word review: Very complicated plot points. Didn’t love.
💭Compelling quote: “Age gives you perspective. Now I know the difference between being popular and just being talked about.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: balaclava
Description: Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.* *From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: Like many others, the catchy title of this book drew me in. But, I didn’t love this book. The author broke the fourth wall often, which at times came across as a funny or expositive aside, but at other times felt too gimmicky. There were a lot of characters and murders in the story — with lots of sometimes obscure, and often complicated, connections to people outside the family. I never quite cared — as much as I thought I should have — about who the murderer was. My pet-peeve overused word made an appearance about a third of the way through: “I leaned over and whispered conspiratorially.” And in what’s apparently an Australian pronunciation quirk, the narrator of this audiobook distractingly pronounced the word “assume” (which was used a lot) as “ashoom.” I’d be hard-pressed to recommend this book without a lot of caveats.

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Finished book #17 in 2025

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Book #17
Turbulence book cover		 Book: Turbulence Author: David Szalay
Format: Print Pages: 145 Duration: 02/24/25 – 02/25/25 (2 days)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: fiction, short stories, travel, flying, interconnectedness
📕10-word summary: The ripple effect on each other of 12 mostly strangers.
🖌6-word review: Quick paced. Nice surprises. Wonderfully interconnected.
💭Compelling quote: “What she hated about even mild turbulence was the way it ended the illusion of security.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: muezzins, fug, tiffin, escutcheon
Description: A woman strikes up a conversation with the man sitting next to her on a plane after some turbulence. He returns home to tragic news that has also impacted another stranger, a shaken pilot on his way to another continent who seeks comfort from a journalist he meets that night. The journalist’s life shifts subtly as well, before she heads to the airport on an assignment that will shift more lives in turn. In this novel, Szalay’s diverse protagonists circumnavigate the planet on twelve flights, from London to Madrid, from Dakar to Sao Paulo, to Toronto, to Delhi, to Doha, en route to see lovers or estranged siblings, aging parents, baby grandchildren, or nobody at all. Along the way, they experience the full range of human emotions from loneliness to love and, knowingly or otherwise, change each other in one brief, electrifying interaction after the next.* *From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: During a recent after-lunch stroll with my friend Jen, through Barnes & Noble looking at books, sharing what we’ve read, and trading recommendations, she recommended this author to me. This book of his was readily available at my library, and I loved the premise. As it turns out, though, Jen recommended John Scalzi — and has never read anything by this author! But now that she’s read my review of this book, she’s adding it to her to-read list. Too funny! I loved how each of this book’s chapters was around a flight, whose chapter title comprised the flight’s departure and arrival airport codes, and after the first chapter, how each featured someone who was somehow connected to the person in the previous chapter. There were a couple of nice surprises; for example, when you didn’t know how someone at the beginning of a chapter was connected to anyone in the previous chapter, and it was revealed in such a way that all of sudden you figured it out or it became obvious. I also liked when a character seemed unlikable or unsavory in one chapter, but you found out why they might be that way in the subsequent chapter. (It reminded me of Stephen Covey’s 5th habit: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood®.) If I’m remembering correctly, only the first story involved literal and figurative turbulence, the others having just the figurative sense of it — turbulence in the character’s lives. Also, I thought the ending was brilliant. I will probably put this forth as my Mostly Social Book Club book when it’s my turn again to chose one.

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

Finished book #16 in 2025

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Book #16
The Book of Last Letters book cover		 Book: The Book of Last Letters Author: Kerry Barrett
Format: Kindle Pages: 400 Duration: 02/20/25 – 02/23/25 (3 days)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: historical fiction, World War II, romance, dual timeline, books about books
📕10-word summary: Nurse creates opportunity for potential last words to loved ones.
🖌6-word review: Compelling dual timeline — ultimately heartwarming — story.
💭Compelling quote: “She was suffering terribly, and you did the best thing for her. This is a war, and any man on the battlefield would have done the same thing.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: maisonette, hob, Luftwaffe, Primus, cagoule, swifts, biro, chivvying, trundling, naff, welly
Description: London, 1940: When nurse Elsie offers to send a reassuring letter to the family of a patient, she has an idea. She begins a book of last letters: messages to be sent on to wounded soldiers’ loved ones should the very worst come to pass, so that no one is left without a final goodbye. But one message will change Elsie’s life forever. When a patient makes a devastating request, can Elsie find the strength to do the unthinkable?
London, present day: Stephanie has people she’d like to speak to: her estranged, incarcerated brother; her nan, whose dementia means she’s only occasionally lucid enough to talk. When she discovers a book of wartime letters, Stephanie realises the importance of our final words – and uncovers the story of a secret love, a desperate choice, and the unimaginable courage of the woman behind it all.* *From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I read about this book on BookBub and it was available for a $.99 download. Since I had a credit for that amount, I “bought it” at no out-of-pocket expense. I appreciated that this was one of those dual-timeline stories in which both the present-day storyline and the in-the-past storyline were both good. Other than the aspect of “the nurse and the airman” communicating in “the book” in a couple of pages that were “purposefully stuck together to keep them private” being totally implausible, it was a believable and compelling story. I was completely sucked into it, and I looked forward to picking it back up as soon as possible and pretty much zipped through it. YMMV, of course.

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

Finished book #15 in 2025

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Book #15
The Answer Is No book cover		 Book: The Answer Is No Author: Fredrik Backman
Format: Kindle Pages: 68 Duration: 02/19/25 – 02/19/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, short stories, humor, novella
📕10-word summary: Man who doesn’t like people very much overdoses on them.
🖌6-word review: Smart satire. Overdone hyperbole at times.
💭Compelling quote: “Therefore, to avoid your neighbors, you have to make yourself uninteresting, but not too uninteresting, because that makes you interesting.”
Description:* Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and Pad Thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: Until this book of his, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with this author. I read A Man Called Ove in 2017 and with so many metaphors and similes (several of them in one paragraph at times), the writing became distracting enough for me to abandon the book. Then in 2023, our Mostly Social Book Club read Anxious People, and I absolutely loved it! I’m happy to say I really enjoyed — albeit just short of loving — this book. I thought that at times, although it sounds redundant, the hyperbole was over-the-top — to approach being just plain silly. I’m also turned off when (professional) reviewers describe a book, like many did about this one, as “hilarious” or “laugh-out-loud funny,” because humor is so personal and subjective. With all that said, it was a short, fun read, and I’d definitely recommend it. I chose this book as my November 2024 First Reads offering, which provides free early access to an editor’s pick from Amazon Prime.

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

Finished book #14 in 2025

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Book #14
All the Lovers in the Night book cover		 Book: All the Lovers in the Night Author: Stuart Turton
Format: Audiobook Pages: 224 Duration: 02/18/25 – 02/19/25 (2 days)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, Japan, Japanese literature, literary fiction, Asian literature, Romance
📕10-word summary: A glimpse into a mid-thirties freelance copy editor’s inner life.
🖌6-word review: Sometimes great, sometimes excruciating protagonist’s dialogue.
💭Compelling quote: “As long as you’re living on this planet, you have to be serious about something, but it’s better to be serious about a limited number of things.”
Description:* Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition. When Fuyuko stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it. As the long overdue change occurs, however, painful episodes from Fuyuko’s past surface and her behavior slips further and further beyond the pale.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I saw this book in my BookBub email, and it sounded interesting, perhaps because the protagonist was a copy editor. I went back-and-forth between not liking and liking this book, and ended up on the “like” side, as per my 4-star rating. Several times, I had to tell myself that I was frustrated with the main character because she was an introvert when she sometimes either took forever to answer somebody’s questions, or just didn’t answer them at all. I found all three of the main people she interacted with during the story — Hijiri, Mitsutsuka, and Noriko — quite interesting. I also liked how this book did not have a “Hollywood ending.”

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

Finished book #13 in 2025

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Book #13
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle book cover		 Book: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Author: Stuart Turton
Format: Audiobook Pages: 458 Duration: 02/14/25 – 02/17/25 (4 days)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, fantasy, crime, time travel
📕10-word summary: Man stuck in time loop until he solves a murder.
🖌6-word review: Interesting premise. Complicated execution. Tedious reading.
💭Favorite quote: “Thankfully, the leaves and twigs are so demoralized by the earlier rain they don’t have the heart to cry out beneath my feet.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: brazier
Description:* Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. Understood? Then let’s begin… Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others…*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: If, like me, the title of this book reminds you of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, disabuse yourself right now of any notion of a connection between the two books. There isn’t any. It took me a while to get the rhythm of how the storyline in this book was going to work, and the dealbreaker for me was the one chapter that was solely exposition of the time- and body-traveling rules. I mean, if you have to stop the story with a chapter explaining how a device — which you’re purportedly employing to enhance your narrative — is going to work, maybe that’s a little too heavy-handed writing. It suspended my effort to suspend my disbelief with the sort of reading equivalent of breaking the fourth wall in theater.

Tedious, annoying, distracting: 1) I found it tedious that there were 8 “hosts” (i.e., other characters’ bodies) that the protagonist inhabited during the story, but then there were a couple of bodies he “visited” more than once. End it already. 2) Overuse of the word “conspiratorial” (or its derivative) in writing is annoying to me, and there were three instances of it in this book. Nobody whispers and conspires that much. 3) This is the second audiobook by a British author that I’ve listened to recently in which I found distracting the pronunciation of these words as “enna-thing,” “enna-one,” and “evra-thing.” Is that how all Brits say those words? I don’t think so.

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

Started book #13 in 2025

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Starting off with a complete aside, this book has no connection whatsoever to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

At 33% of this book read, I’ve come across the word “conspiratorial” (or one of its derivatives) 3 times. Here are the contexts:

  • In chapter 1: Impatient to unburden myself of the morning’s trauma, I try again to raise the issue of Anna, but my Samaritan silences me with a conspiratorial shake of the head.

  • In chapter 6: There’s a crook in her smile, a slight twist of the lips that could easily be damning yet somehow comes across as conspiratorial.

  • In chapter 19: My grimace causes Harrington to lean over conspiratorially, “I had the same reaction.”

Finished book #12 in 2025

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Book #12
Flags of Our Fathers book cover		 Book: Flags of Our Fathers Author: James D. Bradley
Format: Kindle Pages: 400 Duration: 02/08/25 – 02/13/25 (6 days)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Genres: nonfiction, military fiction, war, World War II, biography, military history
📕10-word summary: Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima photograph’s shocking history.
🖌6-word review: Scholar-like accounting. Incredibly written. Horrific details.
💭Compelling quote: “John’s other nightly habit, though, was something he refused to talk about at all. When Betty would ask him about it in the morning, he would simply turn away. He’d be sleeping, his eyes closed, was the way my mother remembered it. But he’d be whimpering. His body would shake, and tears would stream out of his eyes, down his face.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: chockablock, sintering, billet, supplanted, jingoistic, pillboxes, mettle, tyro, bivouacked, bibulous, paeans
Description:* In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: To be clear, the writing in this book is excellent. My 2-star rating is because I didn’t enjoy it, and I would not recommend it to others, which is a result of my extreme pacifism and the excruciating details about the horrific acts of war written about in this book. Full disclosure: The only reason I didn’t abandon this book was because it was a Mostly Social Book Club book. I skipped chapters 7 (D-Day), 8 (D-Day Plus One), 9 (D-Day Plus Two), 10 (D-Day Plus Three), and I skipped over many other paragraphs, passages, and sometimes pages of prolonged descriptions of murder, torture, and dismemberment. While reading this, I thought a lot about my father, and his 2 combat tours in Vietnam, during one of which he received a Purple Heart for wounds received during Operation Purple Martin. I also thought about his unwillingness to talk about his time in Vietnam like a lot of the guys in this book with regards to the battle on Iwo Jima. Also, like a lot of these guys, my dad suffered from long-term effects of his war experience — he was a terrible sleeper, couldn’t eat rice because it reminded him of maggots in the food in the field, and had severe PTSD reactions to fireworks being set off.


With all that said, this story is a fascinating look at marketing and PR and its — in retrospect — absolute disastrous treatment of the most recognizable image of World War II, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal. And finally, the Afterword of this book made me gasp.

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

Finished book #11 in 2025

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Book #11
The Fall Risk book cover		 Book: The Fall Risk Author: Abby Jimenez
Format: Kindle Pages: 82 Duration: 02/07/25 – 02/07/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, romance, short story, novella
📕10-word summary: Neighbors bond over the shared stairs to their apartments disappearing.
🖌6-word review: Fun characters. A short, playful story.
💭A favorite quote: “Sometimes the start of something good begins during something bad,” he said. “We don’t get to pick when these things happen.”
Description:* It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I chose this book as my February 2025 First Reads offering, which provides free early access to an editor’s pick from Amazon Prime. I liked the premise of the story, and it was a short little book to slip in after reading 4 lengthier ones and before starting the next serious, nonfiction, book club book, Flags of Our Fathers.

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

Finished book #10 in 2025

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Book #10
The Storyteller's Secret book cover		 Book: The Storyteller’s Secret Author: Sejal badani
Format: Print Pages: 390 Duration: 02/02/25 – 02/06/25 (5 days)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: historical fiction, India, romance, cultural
📕10-word summary: Deep personal loss leads to self-healing and uncovering family tragedy.
🖌6-word review: “A rich, thoughtfully woven generational tale.”
💭A favorite quote: “Her stories were her only passport to places she had never been. Without them, she would be forever trapped in this village.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: Dalit, ghatiya, salwar kameezes, mangalasutra, puja, lassi
Description:* Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past. Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation. *From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I read about this book on BookBub and found it in the library, with no waiting list for it. I love, love, loved this book. It’s the kind of book that while reading, I’m thinking, “How do writer’s come up with this stuff? It may very well end up being the best book I read in 2025, and it’s only January. And it might very well become my next Mostly Social Book Club book recommendation.

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

2025 books read

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So far in 2025, I’ve read 30 books:

Row 1: Greek Lessons | Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem | Notes of Unspoken Words | Death by Leprechaun | Go Tell It | The Address Row 2: Attachments The Lost Daughter | And She Was Loved | The Sublet | Eleven Numbers | The Rules of Fortune Row 3: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone | Turbulence | The Book of Last Letters | The Answer Is No | All the Lovers in the Night | The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Row 4: Flags of Our Fathers | The Fall Risk | The Storyteller's Secret | Something in the Water | Yellowface | My Absolute Darling
Row 5: The Uncommon Reader | Magical Midlife in Glimmerspell | Some Trick | All the World Beside | All the Ugly and Wonderful Things | Arthur & George


Ratings legend:

★★★★★ Completely enthralling, couldn’t put it down. and/or More than just entertaining (e.g., educational, enlightening). Would highly recommend.
★★★★☆ Really great book in all respects with perhaps some minor flaws. Would definitely recommend.
★★★☆☆ Average. An entertaining read but probably forgettable. Might or might not recommend.
★★☆☆☆ Finished, but did not like. Would not recommend.
★☆☆☆☆ Abandoned before finishing, usually because it was poorly written or just uninteresting to me.


The books I’ve read so far in 2025—summary

Clicking on the title of a book will take you to its detailed entry further down on the page, which contains a description of the book and some thoughts I had about it.

Number Title & author Source Format Pages Duration Rating Genres
30 Greek Lessons
by Han Kang		 Library loan Print 176 03/20/25 – 03/29/25 (10 days) ★★★☆☆ literary fiction, Asian literature, romance, Nobel Prize
29 Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds
by Nancy Johnson James		 Library loan Print (picture book) 32 03/19/25 – 03/19/25 (1 day) ★★★★☆ nonfiction, African American, poetry, biography, history childrens
28 Notes of Unspoken Words
by Michelle Dare		 Free BookBub download Kindle 259 03/14/25 – 03/19/25 (6 days) ★★★☆☆ fiction, MM romance, MMM romance, LGBT, polyamory
27 Death by Leprechaun: A St. Patrick’s Day Murder in Dublin
by Jennifer S. Alderson		 Free BookBub download Kindle 189 03/13/25 – 03/13/25 (1 day) ★★★★☆ fiction, cozy mystery, holiday, travel, Irish culture
26 Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer
by Quartez Harris		 Library loan Print (picture book) 40 03/12/25 – 03/12/25 (1 day) ★★★★★ nonfiction, biography, picture book, art, writing, childrens, African American, LGBT
25 The Address
by Fiona Davis		 Library loan Large print 462 03/10/25 – 03/12/25 (3 days) ★★★★★ historical fiction, mystery New York, romance
24 Attachments
by Rainbow Rowell		 Library loan Kindle 338 03/08/25 – 03/09/25 (2 days) ★★★★☆ fiction, romance, chick lit
23 The Lost Daughter
by Elena Ferrante		 Library loan Print 140 03/06/25 – 03/06/25 (1 day) ★★★★★ fiction, Italy, feminism, family
22 And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories
by Andrea Davis Pinkney		 Library loan Print (picture book) 48 03/06/25 – 03/06/25 (1 day) ★★★★★ nonfiction, biography, African American, poetry, picture book, childrens, art
21 The Sublet
by Greer Hendricks		 Free First Reads download Kindle 49 03/02/25 – 03/02/25 (1 day) ★★★★☆ fiction, short stories, psychological thriller, novella
20 Eleven Numbers
by Lee Child		 Free Prime Reading loan Kindle 50 03/02/25 – 03/02/25 (1 day) ★★★★★ fiction, short stories, thriller, mystery, espionage, novella
19 The Rules of Fortune
by Danielle Prescod		 Free Frist Reads download Kindle 293 02/28/25 – 03/02/25 (3 days) ★★★★☆ fiction, mystery, thriller, African American, family
18 Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
by Benjamin Stevenson		 Library loan Audiobook 384 02/26/25 – 02/28/25 (3 days) ★★★☆☆ fiction, mystery, thriller, crime, books about books
17 Turbulence
by David Szalay		 Library loan Print 145 02/24/25 – 02/25/25 (2 days) ★★★★★ fiction, short stories, travel, flying, interconnectedness
16 The Book of Last Letters
by Kerry Barrett		 Free BookBub download Kindle 400 02/20/25 – 02/22/25 (3 days) ★★★★★ historical fiction, World War II, romance, dual timeline, books about books
15 The Answer Is No
by Fredrik Backman		 Free Frist Reads download Kindle 68 02/19/25 – 02/19/25 (1 day) ★★★★☆ fiction, short stories, humor, novella
14 All the Lovers in the Night
by Mieko Kawakami		 Library loan Audiobook 224 02/18/25 – 02/19/25 (2 days) ★★★★☆ fiction, Japan, Japanese literature, literary fiction, Asian literature, Romance
13 The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
by Stuart Turton		 Library loan Audiobook 458 02/14/25 – 02/17/25 (4 days) ★★☆☆☆ fiction, mystery, thriller, fantasy, crime, time travel
12 Flags of Our Fathers
by James D. Bradley		 Library loan Kindle 400 02/08/25 – 02/13/25 (6 days) ★★☆☆☆ nonfiction, military fiction, war, World War II, biography, military history
11 The Fall Risk
by Abby Jimenez		 Free Frist Reads download Kindle 82 02/07/25 – 02/07/25 (1 day) ★★★★☆ fiction, romance, short stories, novella
10 The Storyteller’s Secret
by Sejal Badani		 Library loan Print 390 02/02/25 – 02/06/25 (5 days) ★★★★★ historical fiction, India, romance, cultural
9 Something in the Water
by Catherine Steadman		 Library loan Audiobook 352 01/30/25 – 02/01/25 (3 days) ★★★★★ fiction, mystery thriller, suspense, crime
8 Yellowface
by R.F. Kuang		 Library loan Audiobook 323 01/27/25 – 01/28/25 (2 days) ★★☆☆☆ fiction, thriller, mystery, books about books, books about writing, British
7 My Absolute Darling
by Gabriel Tallent		 Library loan Kindle 432 01/23/25 – 01/26/25 (4 days) ★★☆☆☆ literary fiction, coming of age, thriller, domestic abuse, violence
6 The Uncommon Reader
by Alan Bennett		 Library loan Print 120 01/22/25 – 01/22/25 (1 day) ★★★★☆ fiction, British literature, books about books, novella
5 Magical Midlife in Glimmerspell
by Addison Moore		 Free BookBub download Print 235 01/20/25 – 01/21/25 (2 days) ★★☆☆☆ paranormal women’s fiction, cozy mystery, gothic
4 Some Trick
by Helen DeWitt
(Abandoned)		 Library loan Print 197 01/16/25 – 01/19/25 (4 days) ★☆☆☆☆ literary fiction, short stories
3 All the World Beside
by Gerrard Conley
(Abandoned)		 Library loan Print 353 01/15/25 – 01/15/25 (1 day) ★☆☆☆☆ literary fiction, historical fiction, queer, LGBT, Romance
2 All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
by Bryn Greenwood		 Library loan Print 421 01/10/25 – 01/13/25 (4 days) ★★★★☆ fiction, justice, domestic abuse, drugs, drama, crime, contemporary romance
1 Arthur & George
by Julian Barnes		 Gift from friend Print 388 01/01/25 – 01/09/25 (9 days) ★★★☆☆ fiction, historical fiction, mystery, British literature, crime, justice

The books I’ve read so far in 2025—details

Book #30
Greek Lessons book cover		 Book: Greek Lessons Author: Han Kang
Source: Library loan
Format: Print		 Pages: 176 Duration: 03/20/25 – 03/29/25 (10 days)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Genres: literary fiction, Asian literature, romance, Nobel Prize
📕10-word summary: Sight-losing professor and speech-loss adult student connect on several levels.
🖌6-word review: Concentration required: arduous-to-read, Nobel-prize-winning, lyrical literature.
💭Favorite quote: “She has goosebumps on her arm and on the back of her neck from the aggressive air conditioning.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: imperious, hanji, zelkova, inarticulacy, maru, dappled, cryptomeria, fretsaw, paroxysm, philtrum, declensions, iljumun, bunsik, stridulations, hanok
Description:* In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight. Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it’s the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I saw this book on BookBub and the description intrigued me enough to check its availability in the library. I liked the plot premise and that it won the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2024. Not surprisingly though, that made arduous reading at times. Several times I put it down after reading only a short bit of it. I didn’t discover until a good way into the book that the male protagonist’s storyline was in first person and the female protagonist’s storyline was in third person. Short on dialogue tags, there were times when I could only tell who the speaker was by whether it was in first person or third person particularly in chapter 19, A Conversation in Darkness. I expected to like this book more than I did, but I’m just not a huge fan of lyrical writing, and this book was no exception in spite of being a Nobel Prize winner.

Book #29
Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem book cover		 Book: Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds Author: Nancy Johnson James
Source: Library loan
Format: Print (picture book)		 Pages: 32 Duration: 03/19/25 – 03/19/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: nonfiction, African American, poetry, biography, history childrens
📕10-word summary: Short, biographical introduction to an African American seamstress and poet.
🖌6-word review: Lyrical prose. Beautifully illustrated picture book.
💭Favorite quote: “What thoughts do you carry when idle with nothing to do? Do you dream of the future? Or of someone who lived before you?”
Description:* What dreams do you carry? Myra Viola Wilds dreamed of opportunity. She left her home in rural Kentucky for the city, learned to read and to write, and became a dressmaker. She hand-stitched gorgeous gowns. She worked so hard she lost her eyesight, and her world went dark. But those well-loved stitches turned into words, and one night Myra woke in the middle of the night and wrote a poem she called “Sunshine.” She kept writing. She wrote the lush green, sweet-corn yellow, cerulean blue, sunshine-y world from memory, collecting her poems into a book called Thoughts of Idle Hours, published in 1915.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This was one of 3 books that I saw in an article reviewing 3 recommended children’s picture books about African-American people: 1) And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories, 2) Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer, and 3) Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds. I hadn’t heard of Myra Viola Wilds before reading this book, and I’m glad to know about her now. The story seemed a little disjointed to me, hence the 4-star, as opposed to 5-star, rating. The art work is great.

Book #28
Notes of Unspoken Words book cover		 Book: Notes of Unspoken Words Author: Jennifer S. Alderson
Source: Free BookBub download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 259 Duration: 03/14/25 – 03/19/25 (6 days)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Genres: fiction, MM romance, MMM romance, LGBT, polyamory
📕10-word summary: A dysfunctional gay male couple takes in a third partner.
🖌6-word review: Existential angst, self-doubt — to a fault.
💭Favorite quote: “I’d never seen three men together in a committed relationship. Before me sat three groups of them. It was great to see.”
Description:* Casper loves two things — his guitar and his stepbrother, Reed. Being in a band with Reed is both amazing and torturous. If only Casper could get out of his own way and tell Reed how he feels. The lead singer, Reed’s passion is music, but he’d give it up if it means staying in Casper’s arms. When a new man enters their lives, he could be who Casper and Reed are missing to make them whole. The lost soul, Elic’s world tilts when he meets Casper and Reed. Living on the streets has left scars on Elic, inside and out. He’s surprised to find both men desire him. Their relationship is tested repeatedly. Truths are revealed. They will have to lift each other up and prove their love is worth it if they want to see what their future looks like.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I’m not a fan of romance novels at all — and after reading this one, I’m still not. The only other gay romance novel I’ve read has the most oddly specific genre I’d seen to date: gay Amish romance, and it was called A Forbidden Rumspringa. I nabbed this book from BookBub back in December as a free download, and finally decided to give it a whirl. One blurb I read about it contained two acronyms I had to look up: MMM and HEA. There was a lot of, “I don’t deserve you,” or “You deserve better,” “I don’t deserve what’s happened to me,” etc. In other words a lot of existential wallowing. Also a lot of thinking the wild sex and intensity of their feelings for each other was going to last forever. Ah, youth!

Book #27
Death by Leprechaun: A St. Patrick’s Day Murder in Dublin book cover		 Book: Death by Leprechaun: A St. Patrick’s Day Murder in Dublin Author: Jennifer S. Alderson
Source: Free BookBub download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 189 Duration: 03/13/25 – 03/13/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, cozy mystery, holiday, travel, Irish culture
📕10-word summary: Bad guy, Guy, pisses off people and gets hisself kilt.
🖌6-word review: Typical cozy mystery. Decent “holiday read.”
💭Fun quote: “Sláinte!”
🎓A new-to-me word: coddle
Description:* When an old friend is arrested in Dublin, tour guide Lana Hansen will need the luck of the Irish to clear him of the crime. Lana is thrilled her friend Jeremy and his wife are on her tour to Ireland. The couple are having the time of their lives exploring the country’s rich literary and cultural history, until they run into Guy Smith, a reporter Jeremy recently exposed as a fraud. A tussle turns into a fight and leaves each man vowing to destroy the other. Yet cross words and dirty looks tell Lana that Jeremy is not the only client on her tour who has a grudge against the reporter.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This book was “right on time” — holiday-themed and free — in my daily BookBub email. It was a short, quick read, although when at 50% complete without anyone having yet been murdered, I wondered how long without a murder in a murder mystery was “acceptable.” A search found the answer to be all over the place, but most said closer to 25% to 33% of the way through. While down that rabbit hole, in one page about what elements make a good cozy mystery, the author said to “include a plot twist that the reader won’t see coming.” I’m pretty sure you can’t write a plot twist that people will see coming. Not seeing it coming is the very nature of a plot twist. Needless to say, I’d be hard-pressed to take writing advice from the author of said writing-advice article. I found 3 editing misses in this book, which only made me happier that I got it for free.

Book #26
Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer book cover		 Book: Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer Author: Quartez Harris
Source: Library loan
Format: Print (picture book)		 Pages: 40 Duration: 03/12/25 – 03/12/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: nonfiction, biography, picture book, art, writing, childrens, African American, LGBT
📕10-word summary: Rare children’s biography about an African American and LGBT person.
🖌6-word review: A lyrical, beautifully illustrated picture book.
💭Lyrical quote: “The first time James Baldwin read a book, the words clung to him like glitter.”
Description:* Before James Baldwin was a celebrated novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and activist, he was a boy who fell in love with stories. Words opened up new worlds for young Jimmy, who read and wrote at every opportunity. He ultimately realized his dreams of becoming an author and giving voice to his community, and in doing so he showed the world the fullness of Black American life.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This was one of 3 books that I saw in an article reviewing 3 recommended children’s picture books about African-American people: 1) And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories, 2) Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer, and 3) Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds. I was curious to see how a children’s book would (or wouldn’t) address the fact that James Baldwin was gay, and I suppose it was “age appropriate” that it wasn’t mentioned at all as part of the main story. It is covered in a back-matter section called, “More About James Baldwin,” which noted: “As a young adult, Jimmy began to reckon with his sexual identity. He was queer and felt romantic love toward both men and women, which was an aspect of identity that was rarely spoken about publicly during that time. That silence made him feel alone.” The back matter also contains short “A Note from the Author” and “A Note from the Artist” sections. This book is beautifully illustrated.

Book #25
The Address book cover		 Book: The Address Author: Fiona Davis
Source: Library loan
Format: Large print		 Pages: 462 Duration: 03/10/25 – 03/12/25 (3 days)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: historical fiction, mystery New York, romance
📕10-word summary: Uncovered family history, a century apart, rocks the family’s world.
🖌6-word review: Well-done, dual-timeline epic family secrets story.
💭Amusing quote: Melinda: “Did you make any friends in rehab?” Bailey: “No. Not my type. Bunch of drunks and addicts.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: bedsit, shantung, dupioni, aquiline, trompe l’oeil, cur, bombazine, Birkin, truncheon
Description:* A century apart, Sara and Bailey are both tempted by and struggle against the golden excess of their respective ages — for Sara, the opulence of a world ruled by the Astors and Vanderbilts; for Bailey, the nightlife’s free-flowing drinks and cocaine — and take refuge in the Upper West Side’s gilded fortress, the Dakota. But a building with a history as rich, and often as tragic, can’t hold its secrets forever, and what Bailey discovers inside could turn everything she thought she knew about the building’s architect, Theodore Camden, and Sara and Bailey’s ancestor — and the woman who killed him — on its head.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This was a Mostly Social Book Club book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was one of those dual-timeline stories, where I preferred one storyline over the other — in this case, the past (1880s) over the more recent (1980s). It was an epic family secrets saga, which at times reminded me of one of my all-time favorite classics, The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. The title of the book is an allusion to when this actual apartment building in NYC was first built and its location was considered “way out there” from “the city,” but the promise/prediction was that one day it would become the address to have. And indeed it did, with the area now known as the “Upper West Side” area of Manhattan. The building still exists, and according to AI, the maintenance fee for an apartment in the building can range from $11,057 to $13,000 per month. As of this writing, there are 2 units for sale — one for $6.2M with 8 rooms, 4 bedrooms, and 2½ bathrooms, and one for $19M with 6000 sq.ft. 15 rooms, 5 bedrooms, and 9 bathrooms. If the name of the apartment building sounds familiar, it might be because it’s where John Lennon was shot and killed in 1980.

Book #24
Attachments book cover		 Book: Attachments Author: Rainbow Rowell
Source: Library loan
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 338 Duration: 03/08/25 – 03/09/25 (2 days)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, romance, chick lit
📕10-word summary: An I.T. security guy is sucked into employees’ email conversations.
🖌6-word review: 75% epistolary “dialogue.” Amusing, fun, fluff.
💭Amusing quote: “She was loud. And funny. (But not as funny as loud.)”
🎓Some new-to-me words: strident, pithy, rotavirus, Valkyrie, nadir, vetiver
Description:* Beth and Jennifer know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives. Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now — reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers — not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke. When Lincoln comes across Beth’s and Jennifer’s messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can’t help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories. By the time Lincoln realizes he’s falling for Beth, it’s way too late to introduce himself. What would he say…?*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This book was on NPR’s list of great summer reads. Not being in school and being retired made me wonder what characteristics of a book make it a “summer read.” According to AI, it’s “a light, accessible, and entertaining book, often with a focus on escapism, romance, or a lighthearted plot, perfect for relaxing during the summer months.” Not sure why you can’t relax during the spring, fall, or winter months — but I digress. I enjoyed this book, which comprised many email exchanges between the two female protagonists. Reading other people’s mail is something that appeals to me, and I can see why Lincoln, the I.T. guy, got sucked into reading Beth’s and Jennifer’s — ethics and privacy issues aside. It definitely checked off the summer read characteristics of escapism, romance and a lighthearted plot. With enjoying the book said, if a movie was made of it, it’d be the kind of movie I’d never want to see.

Book #23
The Lost Daughter book cover		 Book: The Lost Daughter Author: Elena Ferrante
Source: Library loan
Format: Print		 Pages: 140 Duration: 03/06/25 – 03/06/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: fiction, Italy, feminism, family
📕10-word summary: A candid, ferocious, and compelling introspection on womanhood and motherhood.
🖌6-word review: Classic Ferrante voice — quirky and dark.
💭Compelling quote: “How foolish to think you can tell your children about yourself before they’re at least 50. To ask to be seen by them as a person and not as a function.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: Camorra, reproof, pareo, tohu-bohu
Description:* Leda, a middle-aged divorce, is alone for the first time in years when her daughters leave home to live with their father. Her initial, unexpected sense of liberty turns to ferocious introspection following a seemingly trivial occurrence. Ferrante’s language is as finely tuned and intense as ever, and she treats her theme with a fierce, candid tenacity.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I was prepared for this author’s voice, quirky and dark, from her book The Days of Abandonment, which I read in 2022. My husband watched and reviewed the movie made from this book, starring one of his all-time favorite actors, Olivia Colman, and which was Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s directorial debut. There was a lot packed into the 140-page story, and it’s a rare, refreshing, honest look at women who aren’t completely taken and in love with their own children. Oh, and lest I forget, my pet-peeve overused word made an appearance on p. 18: “They called each other by name with drawn-out cries, hurled exclamatory or conspiratorial comments, at times quarreled: a large family group, similar to the one I had been part of when I was a girl, the same jokes, the same sentimentality, the same rages.”

Book #22
And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison's Life in Stories book cover		 Book: And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories Author: Andrea Davis Pinkney
Source: Library loan
Format: Print (picture book)		 Pages: 48 Duration: 03/06/25 – 03/06/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: nonfiction, biography, African American, poetry, picture book, childrens, art
📕10-word summary: Author Toni Morrison’s life beautifully honored in poetry and pictures.
🖌6-word review: Brilliant accomplishments. Understandable poetry. Glorious art.
💭Compelling quote: “You, Tony Morrison, first-of-the-first brown-skinned bosses, bringing color to an all-white literary landscape.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: griot, gutbucket
Description:* From imaginative child to visionary storyteller, Toni Morrison was a fiercely inspiring writer who helped change the world. This poetic picture book is part love letter and part biography, praising the power of this Nobel Prize winner. With its tender refrain, readers will know how much Morrison’s stories — and their own — mean to the world. She was loved — and so are they!*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This was one of 3 books that I saw in an article reviewing 3 recommended children’s picture books about African-American people: 1) And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories, 2) Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer, and 3) Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds. I didn’t expect this one to be poetry, but thankfully, it was very accessible poetry. I knew that Toni was a Pulitzer Prize winner (1988), but I didn’t know (or remember) that she’d also won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1993) and that President Obama honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2012). This book is beautifully illustrated.

Book #21
The Sublet: A Short Story book cover		 Book: The Sublet: A Short Story Author: Greer Hendricks
Source: Free First Reads download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 49 Duration: 03/02/25 – 03/02/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Genres: fiction, short stories, psychological thriller, novella
📕10-word summary: Ghostwriter learns truths about the famous person she’s writing for.
🖌6-word review: 49 pages were just enough. Unremarkable.
💭Laughable quote: “With the cleansing power of this sage, I release all negative energy from this space. Visualize the smoke absorbing all negativity. Watch it disappear and float out of the windows.”
🎓A new-to-me word: wakeboarding
Description:* Anne is barely keeping it together. A frazzled ghostwriter and aspiring novelist, she juggles nine-year-old twins and a listless marriage from an overcrowded Manhattan apartment, spreading herself thinner each day. Just as Anne is about to give up on her dreams, she lands her biggest client Melody Wells. When Melody passes along a lead on a spacious sublet complete with East River views, built-in closets, and three bedrooms, Anne can’t believe her luck. Melody seems to know just what her family needs. But as small, unsettling incidents begin to accumulate, Anne starts to wonder what price she’s willing to pay for the good life.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This was an “interesting enough” read, nothing remarkable. I was interested enough to invest 49 pages to see how it ended. I’m ambivalent about including the explanation of polydactyl cats and the boiling frog apologue. It felt like a couple of things that the author knew about and wanted to fit into the story, which violates a classic rule of writing: In your edit, find your favorite word or line that you worked into the story and delete it.

Book #20
Eleven Numbers book cover		 Book: Eleven Numbers: A Short Story Author: Lee Child
Source: Free Prime Reading loan
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 50 Duration: 03/02/25 – 03/02/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: fiction, short stories, thriller, mystery, espionage, novella
📕10-word summary: A mathematics professor gets himself in a world of shit.
🖌6-word review: My first Lee Child book. Excellent.
💭A favorite quote: “Korovki [a Russian prison] is like any small town. Full of gossip. Sometimes exciting.”
🎓A new-to-me word: last
Description:* Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics — in short, a nobody from nowhere. So why is the White House calling? Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he’s the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough. Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever. All he has to do is get to a meeting with the renowned Russian mathematician who created it. But when Nathan crashes headlong into a dangerous new game, the odds against him suddenly look a lot steeper.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I became aware of Lee Child during an after-lunch stroll with my friend Jen through Barnes & Noble. She recommended his Jack Reacher books, but this book of his was available to borrow free through Amazon’s Prime Reading service, so I grabbed it. At 50 pages, it was a super quick read, although I do wonder what part of that enjoyment was served by my love of mathematics. Although the Kindansky numbers in this book are fictional, they reminded me of the Fibonacci numbers, which actually exist in mathematics. I thought it was a great introduction to Lee Child’s writing, which I definitely plan to read more of, probably starting with Killing Floor, the first in his Jack Reacher series of 29 books to-date.

Book #19
The Rules of Fortune book cover		 Book: The Rules of Fortune Author: Danielle Prescod
Source: Free Frist Reads download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 293 Duration: 02/28/25 – 03/02/25 (3 days)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, African American, family
📕10-word summary: Family faces hard truths in wake of businessman patriarch’s death.
🖌6-word review: Good story. Good pacing. Hopeful ending.
💭Compelling quote: “Casual dress is a privilege for those given the benefit of the doubt. It is for people who will be accepted without question, and that’s not you.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: senescence, bicker, boater hat, quiddities, bouclé, B-roll, kente, diapason, rubicund, inosculated
Description:* On their Martha’s Vineyard estate, the Carter family prepares to celebrate. But when the billionaire patriarch dies right before his 70th birthday, the media is quick to question the future of the multi-industry conglomerate that makes the Carters living legends. Amid the succession crisis, his daughter, Kennedy, is questioning her father’s past. Kennedy is an aspiring filmmaker, and the documentary she’d planned to present at her father’s party begins an inquest into the life of a man she never really knew. As a twisted history emerges, the fault lines in the family grow. Torn between morality and the promise of maintaining wealth, Kennedy must decide what’s most important—the Carter legacy or exposing the shocking truth of how it was built.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I liked how each chapter was from one character’s perspective, and essentially rotated through the members of the family at the center of this story. A scene about “a request form to ensure the chef and housekeeping staff were aware of everything from who liked to sleep with socks on, to who liked their bacon extra crispy,” reminded me of a spreadsheet that my work team created once for an off-site retreat that involved several nights during which some of us would have to share a hotel room: “We’ve started a spreadsheet to note preferences such as “needs white noise,” “likes it cold,” “snorer,” “not a morning person,” etc. Well, it quickly devolved with added columns, such as: “potty-trained,” “litterbox-trained,” “nude sleeper,” “never-nude sleeper,” “needs arm rub to fall asleep,” “needs bedtime story + song,” “needs bedtime story only,” “AM radio,” and “cuddler.” And the memory made me chuckle. I enjoyed reading about “the Black experience” attending Princeton, and a couple of times thought of a book I read last year, The Last Negroes at Harvard,” to which there was an allusion in this book, in fact. There are some good thoughts in this story about capitalism vs. humanitarianism.

Book #18
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone book cover		 Book: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone Author: Benjamin Stevenson
Source: Library loan
Format: Audiobook		 Pages: 384 Duration: 02/26/25 – 02/28/25 (3 days)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, crime, books about books
📕10-word summary: More murders take place while trying to solve old ones.
🖌6-word review: Very complicated plot points. Didn’t love.
💭Compelling quote: “Age gives you perspective. Now I know the difference between being popular and just being talked about.”
🎓A new-to-me word: balaclava
Description:* Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: Like many others, the catchy title of this book drew me in. But, I didn’t love this book. The author broke the fourth wall often, which at times came across as a funny or expositive aside, but at other times felt too gimmicky. There were a lot of characters and murders in the story — with lots of sometimes obscure, and often complicated, connections to people outside the family. I never quite cared — as much as I thought I should have — about who the murderer was. My pet-peeve overused word made an appearance about a third of the way through: “I leaned over and whispered conspiratorially.” And in what’s apparently an Australian pronunciation quirk, the narrator of this audiobook distractingly pronounced the word “assume” (which was used a lot) as “ashoom.” I’d be hard-pressed to recommend this book without a lot of caveats.

Book #17
Turbulence book cover		 Book: Turbulence Author: David Szalay
Source: Library loan
Format: Print		 Pages: 145 Duration: 02/24/25 – 02/25/25 (2 days)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: fiction, short stories, travel, flying, interconnectedness
📕10-word summary: The ripple effect on each other of 12 mostly strangers.
🖌6-word review: Quick paced. Nice surprises. Wonderfully interconnected.
💭Compelling quote: “What she hated about even mild turbulence was the way it ended the illusion of security.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: muezzins, fug, tiffin, escutcheon
Description:* A woman strikes up a conversation with the man sitting next to her on a plane after some turbulence. He returns home to tragic news that has also impacted another stranger, a shaken pilot on his way to another continent who seeks comfort from a journalist he meets that night. The journalist’s life shifts subtly as well, before she heads to the airport on an assignment that will shift more lives in turn. In this novel, Szalay’s diverse protagonists circumnavigate the planet on twelve flights, from London to Madrid, from Dakar to Sao Paulo, to Toronto, to Delhi, to Doha, en route to see lovers or estranged siblings, aging parents, baby grandchildren, or nobody at all. Along the way, they experience the full range of human emotions from loneliness to love and, knowingly or otherwise, change each other in one brief, electrifying interaction after the next.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: During a recent after-lunch stroll with my friend Jen, through Barnes & Noble looking at books, sharing what we’ve read, and trading recommendations, she recommended this author to me. This book of his was readily available at my library, and I loved the premise. As it turns out, though, Jen recommended John Scalzi — and has never read anything by this author! But now that she’s read my review of this book, she’s adding it to her to-read list. Too funny! I loved how each of this book’s chapters was around a flight, whose chapter title comprised the flight’s departure and arrival airport codes, and after the first chapter, how each featured someone who was somehow connected to the person in the previous chapter. There were a couple of nice surprises; for example, when you didn’t know how someone at the beginning of a chapter was connected to anyone in the previous chapter, and it was revealed in such a way that all of sudden you figured it out or it became obvious. I also liked when a character seemed unlikable or unsavory in one chapter, but you found out why they might be that way in the subsequent chapter. (It reminded me of Stephen Covey’s 5th habit: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood®.) If I’m remembering correctly, only the first story involved literal and figurative turbulence, the others having just the figurative sense of it — turbulence in the character’s lives. Also, I thought the ending was brilliant. I will probably put this forth as my Mostly Social Book Club book when it’s my turn again to chose one.

Book #16
The Book of Last Letters book cover		 Book: The Book of Last Letters Author: Kerry Barrett
Source: Free BookBub download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 400 Duration: 02/20/25 – 02/23/25 (3 days)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: historical fiction, World War II, romance, dual timeline, books about books
📕10-word summary: Nurse creates opportunity for potential last words to loved ones.
🖌6-word review: Compelling dual timeline — ultimately heartwarming — story.
💭Compelling quote: “She was suffering terribly, and you did the best thing for her. This is a war, and any man on the battlefield would have done the same thing.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: maisonette, hob, Luftwaffe, Primus, cagoule, swifts, biro, chivvying, trundling, naff, welly
Description:* London, 1940: When nurse Elsie offers to send a reassuring letter to the family of a patient, she has an idea. She begins a book of last letters: messages to be sent on to wounded soldiers’ loved ones should the very worst come to pass, so that no one is left without a final goodbye. But one message will change Elsie’s life forever. When a patient makes a devastating request, can Elsie find the strength to do the unthinkable?
London, present day: Stephanie has people she’d like to speak to: her estranged, incarcerated brother; her nan, whose dementia means she’s only occasionally lucid enough to talk. When she discovers a book of wartime letters, Stephanie realises the importance of our final words – and uncovers the story of a secret love, a desperate choice, and the unimaginable courage of the woman behind it all.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I read about this book on BookBub and it was available for a $.99 download. Since I had a credit for that amount, I “bought it” at no out-of-pocket expense. I appreciated that this was one of those dual-timeline stories in which both the present-day storyline and the in-the-past storyline were both good. Other than the aspect of “the nurse and the airman” communicating in “the book” in a couple of pages that were “purposefully stuck together to keep them private” being totally implausible, it was a believable and compelling story. I was completely sucked into it, and I looked forward to picking it back up as soon as possible and pretty much zipped through it. YMMV, of course.

Book #15
The Answer Is No book cover		 Book: The Answer Is No Author: Fredrik Backman
Source: Free First Reads download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 68 Duration: 02/19/25 – 02/19/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, short stories, humor, novella
📕10-word summary: Man who doesn’t like people very much overdoses on them.
🖌6-word review: Smart satire. Overdone hyperbole at times.
💭Compelling quote: “Therefore, to avoid your neighbors, you have to make yourself uninteresting, but not too uninteresting, because that makes you interesting.”
Description:* Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally. *From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: Until this book of his, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with this author. I read A Man Called Ove in 2017 and with so many metaphors and similes (several of them in one paragraph at times), the writing became distracting enough for me to abandon the book. Then in 2023, our Mostly Social Book Club read Anxious People, and I absolutely loved it! I’m happy to say I really enjoyed — albeit just short of loving — this book. I thought that at times, although it sounds redundant, the hyperbole was over-the-top — to approach being just plain silly. I’m also turned off when (professional) reviewers describe a book, like many did about this one, as “hilarious” or “laugh-out-loud funny,” because humor is so personal and subjective. With all that said, it was a short, fun read, and I’d definitely recommend it. I chose this book as my November 2024 First Reads offering, which provides free early access to an editor’s pick from Amazon Prime.

Book #14
All the Lovers in the Night book cover		 Book: All the Lovers in the Night Author: Mieko Kawakami
Source: Library loan
Format: Audiobook		 Pages: 224 Duration: 02/18/25 – 02/19/25 (2 days)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, Japan, Japanese literature, literary fiction, Asian literature, Romance
📕10-word summary: A glimpse into a mid-thirties freelance copy editor’s inner life.
🖌6-word review: Sometimes great, sometimes excruciating protagonist’s dialogue.
💭Compelling quote: “As long as you’re living on this planet, you have to be serious about something, but it’s better to be serious about a limited number of things.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: plumeria, mugicha
Description:* Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition. When Fuyuko stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it. As the long overdue change occurs, however, painful episodes from Fuyuko’s past surface and her behavior slips further and further beyond the pale.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I saw this book in my BookBub email, and it sounded interesting, perhaps because the protagonist was a copy editor. I went back-and-forth between not liking and liking this book, and ended up on the “like” side, as per my 4-star rating. Several times, I had to tell myself that I was frustrated with the main character because she was an introvert when she sometimes either took forever to answer somebody’s questions, or just didn’t them answer at all. I found all three of the main people she interacted with during the story — Hijiri, Mitsutsuka, and Noriko — quite interesting. I also liked how this book did not have a Hollywood ending.

Book #13
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle book cover		 Book: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Author: Stuart Turton
Source: Library loan
Format: Audiobook		 Pages: 458 Duration: 02/14/25 – 02/17/25 (4 days)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, fantasy, crime, time travel
📕10-word summary: Man stuck in time loop until he solves a murder.
🖌6-word review: Interesting premise. Complicated execution. Tedious reading.
💭Favorite quote: “Thankfully, the leaves and twigs are so demoralized by the earlier rain they don’t have the heart to cry out beneath my feet.”
🎓A new-to-me word: brazier
Description:* Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. Understood? Then let’s begin… Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others…*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: If, like me, the title of this book reminds you of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, disabuse yourself right now of any notion of a connection between the two books. There isn’t any. It took me a while to get the rhythm of how the storyline in this book was going to work, and the dealbreaker for me was the one chapter that was solely exposition of the time- and body-traveling rules. I mean, if you have to stop the story with a chapter explaining how a device — which you’re purportedly employing to enhance your narrative — is going to work, maybe that’s a little too heavy-handed writing. It suspended my effort to suspend my disbelief with the sort of reading equivalent of breaking the fourth wall in theater.

Tedious, annoying, distracting: 1) I found it tedious that there were 8 “hosts” (i.e., other characters’ bodies) that the protagonist inhabited during the story, but then there were a couple of bodies he “visited” more than once. End it already. 2) Overuse of the word “conspiratorial” (or its derivative) in writing is annoying to me, and there were three instances of it in this book. Nobody whispers and conspires that much. 3) This is the second audiobook by a British author that I’ve listened to recently in which I found distracting the pronunciation of these words as “enna-thing,” “enna-one,” and “evra-thing.” Is that how all Brits say those words? I don’t think so.

Book #12
Flags of Our Fathers book cover		 Book: Flags of Our Fathers Author: James D. Bradley
Source: Library loan
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 400 Duration: 02/08/25 – 02/13/25 (6 days)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Genres: nonfiction, military fiction, war, World War II, biography, military history
📕10-word summary: Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima photograph’s shocking history.
🖌6-word review: Scholar-like accounting. Incredibly written. Horrific details.
💭Compelling quote: “John’s other nightly habit, though, was something he refused to talk about at all. When Betty would ask him about it in the morning, he would simply turn away. He’d be sleeping, his eyes closed, was the way my mother remembered it. But he’d be whimpering. His body would shake, and tears would stream out of his eyes, down his face.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: chockablock, sintering, billet, supplanted, jingoistic, pillboxes, mettle, tyro, bivouacked, bibulous, paeans
Description:* In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: To be clear, the writing in this book is excellent. My 2-star rating is because I didn’t enjoy it, and I would not recommend it to others, which is a result of my extreme pacifism and the excruciating details about the horrific acts of war written about in this book. Full disclosure: The only reason I didn’t abandon this book was because it was a Mostly Social Book Club book. I skipped chapters 7 (D-Day), 8 (D-Day Plus One), 9 (D-Day Plus Two), 10 (D-Day Plus Three), and I skipped over many other paragraphs, passages, and sometimes pages of prolonged descriptions of murder, torture, and dismemberment. While reading this, I thought a lot about my father, and his 2 combat tours in Vietnam, during one of which he received a Purple Heart for wounds received during Operation Purple Martin. I also thought about his unwillingness to talk about his time in Vietnam like a lot of the guys in this book with regards to the battle on Iwo Jima. Also, like a lot of these guys, my dad suffered from long-term effects of his war experience — he was a terrible sleeper, couldn’t eat rice because it reminded him of maggots in the food in the field, and had severe PTSD reactions to fireworks being set off.


With all that said, this story is a fascinating look at marketing and PR and its — in retrospect — absolute disastrous treatment of the most recognizable image of World War II, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal. And finally, the Afterword of this book made me gasp.

Book #11
The Fall Risk book cover		 Book: The Fall Risk Author: Abby Jimenez
Source: Free First Reads download
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 82 Duration: 02/07/25 – 02/07/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, romance, short stories, novella
📕10-word summary: Neighbors bond over the shared stairs to their apartments disappearing.
🖌6-word review: Fun characters. A short, playful story.
💭A favorite quote: “Sometimes the start of something good begins during something bad,” he said. “We don’t get to pick when these things happen.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: Dalit, ghatiya, salwar kameezes, mangalasutra, puja, lassi
Description:* It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I chose this book as my February 2025 First Reads offering, which provides free early access to an editor’s pick from Amazon Prime. I liked the premise of the story, and it was a short little book to slip in after reading 4 lengthier ones and before starting the next serious, nonfiction, book club book, Flags of Our Fathers.

Book #10
The Storyteller's Secret book cover		 Book: The Storyteller’s Secret Author: Sejal badani
Source: Library loan
Format: Print		 Pages: 390 Duration: 02/02/25 – 02/06/25 (5 days)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: historical fiction, India, romance, cultural
📕10-word summary: Deep personal loss leads to self-healing and uncovering family tragedy.
🖌6-word review: “A rich, thoughtfully woven generational tale.”
💭A favorite quote: “Her stories were her only passport to places she had never been. Without them, she would be forever trapped in this village.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: Dalit, ghatiya, salwar kameezes, mangalasutra, puja, lassi
Description:* Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past. Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I read about this book on BookBub and found it in the library, with no waiting list for it. I love, love, loved this book. It’s the kind of book that while reading, I’m thinking, “How do writer’s come up with this stuff? It may very well end up being the best book I read in 2025, and it’s only January. And it might very well become my next Mostly Social Book Club book recommendation.

Book #9
Something in the Water book cover		 Book: Something in the Water Author: Catherine Steadman
Source: Library loan
Format: Audiobook		 Pages: 352 Duration: 01/30/25 – 02/01/25 (3 days)
Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: fiction, mystery thriller, suspense, crime
📕10-word summary: Greed begets greed as newlyweds descend into a beyond-dangerous situation.
🖌6-word review: Riveting. Chilling. Fast-moving, who’s-doing-it mystery thriller.
💭A favorite quote: “But that’s life, isn’t it? Sometimes you’re the dog; sometimes you’re the lamppost.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: The nuanced difference between flotsam and jetsam, especially in the context of maritime law.
Description:* Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water. Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous decision to speak out or to protect their secret.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: My friend Nicole recommended this book 2 years ago, and I finally got around to reading it. And it’s become my first 5-star book in 2025! Yay! It’s a fast-moving story and Erin is the kind of protagonist that you’re yelling at, “Don’t do it! You know you shouldn’t do it!” all the while knowing she is going to do it, and since she is, you can’t wait to see what happens so you can say, “I knew it!” and “I told you so!” It’s a complex, but very-well-weaved set of plot lines with a very nice twist at the end. I listened to the audiobook of this novel, which was read by the author, Catherine Steadman. It’s the first book I’ve read of hers, and I’d definitely consider another.

Book #8
Yellowface book cover		 Book: Yellowface Author: R.F. Kuang
Source: Library loan
Format: Audiobook		 Pages: 323 Duration: 01/27/25 – 01/28/25 (2 days)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Genres: fiction, thriller, mystery, books about books, books about writing, British
📕10-word summary: White author steals and publishes dead Asian author’s next book.
🖌6-word review: A most improbable plot. Marginally interesting.
💭A favorite quote: “Social media is such a tiny, insular space. Once you close your screen, no one gives a fuck.”
🎓A new-to-me word: consanguinity
Description:* White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequence. Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This story started off okay, but as soon as you find out what June Hayward intends to do with Athena Liu’s manuscript, it’s blatantly obvious that it’ll never work. As hard as I tried (at least at first) to have some empathy for June, I liked her less and less as she became more and more delusional about what and why she was doing what she was doing. By the end, I only finished it because I was so close to the end, not because I cared about June’s character any more. Would not recommend—especially if you’re a writer.

Book #7
My Absolute Darling book cover		 Book: My Absolute Darling Author: Gabriel Tallent
Source: Library loan
Format: Kindle		 Pages: 432 Duration: 01/23/25 – 01/26/25 (4 days)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Genres: literary fiction, coming of age, thriller, domestic abuse, violence
📕10-word summary: The complex chaos of a 14-year-old girl’s domestic abuse experience.
🖌6-word review: Too violent. Too graphic. Too infuriating.
💭A favorite quote: “The truth of you, if it is there at all, exists beyond an unbridgeable and irreducible epistemological gap.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: verdigris, cassoulet, erinys, salal, stob, cultivar, gyre, rictus, cauls, numinous, adumbrations
Description:* At 14, Turtle Alveston knows the use of every gun on her wall. She knows how to snare a rabbit, sharpen a blade and splint a bone. She knows that her daddy loves her more than anything else in this world and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her with him. But she doesn’t know why she feels so different from the other girls at school; why the line between love and pain can be so hard to see. Or why making a friend may be the bravest and most terrifying thing she has ever done. Sometimes the people you’re supposed to trust are the ones who do most harm. And what you’ve been taught to fear is the very thing that will save you…*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: First of all, Goodreads includes “Young Adult” as a genre for this book. I can’t imagine any situation, context, or universe in which this book could garner such a designation. There are a lot of triggers in this book, the biggest one being incestuous rape. And, as if that’s not horrendous (and adult) enough, the graphic detail in which the physicality of the act is described is off-the-charts unnecessary. There is also a lot of talk, description, and use of guns in this book, another topic that I abhor. The ratings of this book are a complete dichotomy between love and hate. I gave it a 2 rating: “Finished, but did not like. Would not recommend.” In an attempt to temper my extreme bias against reading about emotional, physical, or domestic abuse (and guns!), I will admit that this book is well written, which is to say I think it earns the “literary” part of the “literary fiction” designation.

Book #6
The Uncommon Reader book cover		 Book: The Uncommon Reader Author: Alan Bennett
Source: Library loan
Format: Print		 Pages: 120 Duration: 01/22/25 – 01/22/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, British literature, books about books, novella
📕10-word summary: The Queen, an opsimath reader, becomes passionately obsessed and challenging.
🖌6-word review: Enjoyable fictional account—well-written book-about-books novella.
💭A favorite quote:
Prime Minister’s advisor: “Your employer has been giving my employer a hard time.”
Kevin, the Queen’s advisor: “Yes?”
PM’s advisor: “Yes. Lending him books to read. That’s out of order.”
Kevin: “Her Majesty likes reading.”
PM’s advisor: “I like having my dick sucked. I don’t make the Prime Minister do it. Any thoughts, Kevin?”
Kevin: “I will speak to Her Majesty.”
PM’s advisor: “You do that, Kev. And tell her to knock it off.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: duff, glabrous, careered, equerry, flummeries, boulle, accretion, chivvied, opsimath, peregrinations, tetchy
Description:* Led by her yapping corgis to the Westminster traveling library outside Buckingham Palace, the Queen finds herself taking out a novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett. Duff read though it is, the following week her choice proves more enjoyable and awakens in Her Majesty a passion for reading so great that her public duties begin to suffer. And so, as she devours work by everyone from Hardy to Brookner to Proust to Beckett, her equerries conspire to bring the Queen’s literary odyssey to a close.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This was an enjoyable, easy-to-read book that was a welcome change from my 3 previous 2025 books. I thought it was amusing how the Queen referred to herself as “one,” as opposed to the royal “we.” For example, responding to “Your Majesty has started reading,” she says, “No, Sir Claude. One had always read. Only these days one is reading more.” I was also amused when every once in a while, she said something that sounded a lot like Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey. For example the Queen writes, “‘One recipe for happiness is to have no sense of entitlement.” To this she added a star and noted at the bottom of the page: ‘This is not a lesson I have ever been in a position to learn,'” which reminded me of the Downton Dowager’s infamous response to, “‘There are many hours in the day. And of course I’ll have the weekend,’ he says. Lady Grantham says, without a hint of sarcasm, ‘What is a weekend?'” And finally, although a fictional work and no names are stated, the inferred Queen is Queen Elizabeth II, the Prime Minister is presumably Tony Blair, and the Duke would naturally be Prince Philip.

Book #5
Magical Midlife in Glimmerspell book cover		 Book: Magical Midlife in Glimmerspell (Hot Flash Homicides #1) Author: Addison Moore
Source: Free BookBub download
Format: Print		 Pages: 235 Duration: 01/20/25 – 01/21/25 (2 days)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Genres: paranormal women’s fiction, cozy mystery, gothic
📕10-word summary: Midlife crisis leads woman to town rife with the paranormal.
🖌6-word review: The cozy mystery genre gone awry.
💭A favorite quote: “I shoot Harold a look. It took us 3 years to have Harper and not a single baby soul followed suit. I was at war with my ovaries, my uterus, doing everything humanly possible to give Harper a sibling and here Charlene jumps into bed with my husband and makes it a reality.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: transmundane, telesensual
Description:* An impending divorce. A hot homicide detective. And spontaneous time travel. Midlife in Glimmerspell is proving to be magical. “If I thought the first half of my life was a bumpy ride, I’d better buckle up because I’m about to go over the hill and off the rails.”*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: So far in 2025, I’m on a roll—but it’s not a good one—of books that just aren’t working for me. Fortunately, I got this book as a free 4-book series download, and needless to say (but I’m going to anyway), I won’t be reading the other 3 books in the series. It was not at all what I expected, which was your typical cozy mystery. I would estimate that 25% of it was spent on the murder, while 75% of it focused on the female protagonist drooling after a dreamy male detective, time traveling, vampires, werewolves, and fae. Time traveling does intrigue me, and I’ve read some books of that genre, such as: Remember Me Tomorrow, Oona Out of Order, The Midnight Library, Mrs. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Time Traveler’s Wife, In Five Years, and A Wrinkle in Time, but I don’t like the gothic genre at all.

Book #4
Some Trick book cover		 Book: Some Trick (Abandoned) Author: Helen DeWitt
Source: Library loan
Format: Print		 Pages: 197 Duration: 01/16/25 – 01/19/25 (4 days)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ Genres: literary fiction, short stories
📕10-word summary: Thirteen short stories; didn’t understand 2 of the first 5.
🖌6-word review: Not my cup of tea. Abandoned.
Description:* [DeWitt’s] jumping-off points might be statistics, romance, the art world’s piranha tank, games of chance and games of skill, the travails of publishing, or success. “Look,” a character begins to explain, laying out some gambit reasonably enough, even if facing a world of boomeranging counterfactuals, situations spinning out to their utmost logical extremes, and Rube Goldberg-like moving parts, where things prove “more complicated than they had first appeared” and “at 3 a.m. the circumstances seem to attenuate.” In various ways, each tale carries DeWitt’s signature poker-face lament regarding the near-impossibility of the life of the mind when one is made to pay to have the time for it, in a world so sadly “taken up with all sorts of paraphernalia superfluous, not to say impedimental, to ratiocination.” *From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: Read the description. ‘Nuff said.

Book #3
All the World Beside book cover		 Book: All the World Beside (Abandoned) Author: Gerrard Conley
Source: Library loan
Format: Print		 Pages: 353 Duration: 01/15/25 – 01/15/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ Genres: literary fiction, historical fiction, queer, LGBT, Romance
📕10-word summary: Two men negotiate dangerous, secret love in Puritan New England.
🖌6-word review: So lyrical it obfuscates plot. Abandoned.
Description:* Cana, a utopian vision of 18th-century Puritan New England. To the outside world, Reverend Nathaniel Whitfield and his family stand as godly pillars of their small-town community, drawing Christians from across the New World into their fold. One such Christian, physician Arthur Lyman, discovers in the minister’s words a love so captivating it transcends language. As the bond between these two men grows increasingly passionate, their families must contend with a tangled web of secrets, lies, and judgments that threaten to destroy them in this world and the next. And when the religious ecstasies of the Great Awakening begin to take hold, igniting a new era of zealotry, Nathaniel and Arthur search for a path out of an impossible situation, imagining a future for themselves that has no name. Their wives and children must do the same, looking beyond the known world for a new kind of wilderness, both physical and spiritual.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: “Lyrical writing is used to create a piece that feels more deeply evocative than usual, thanks to its song-like, poetic property. In a way, it’s prose that sounds more like a poem.” I’m not a fan of it. I have survived some lyrical writing: In 2020, I read What Belongs to You, and although containing lyrical writing and having a 40-page paragraph, I not only finished it but gave it 4 stars. In 2022, I read On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, for whose 6-word review, I wrote, “Chapter 9 is so lyrically beautiful,” and I gave it 5 stars. However, when the writing is so lyrical that I can’t follow the plot, that’s a deal-breaker—as was the case with this book.

Book #2
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things book cover		 Book: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things Author: Bryn Greenwood
Source: Library loan
Format: Print		 Pages: 421 Duration: 01/10/25 – 01/13/25 (4 days)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, justice, domestic abuse, drugs, drama, crime, contemporary romance
📕10-word summary: Young girl negotiates her family’s abusive, criminal, and dysfunctional lifestyle.
🖌6-word review: Gloom, despair, agony abundant. Unconventionally triumphant.
💭A favorite quote: “I mostly liked high school. I liked learning things. How numbers work together to explain the stars. How molecules made the world. All the ugly and wonderful things people had done in the last two thousand years.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: lassitude, keening
Description:* As the daughter of a drug dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. It’s safer to keep her mouth shut and stay out of sight. Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house, until one night her star gazing causes an accident. After witnessing his motorcycle wreck, she forms an unusual friendship with one of her father’s thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold. By the time Wavy is a teenager, her relationship with Kellen is the only tender thing in a brutal world of addicts and debauchery. When tragedy rips Wavy’s family apart, a well-meaning aunt steps in, and what is beautiful to Wavy looks ugly under the scrutiny of the outside world. Kellen may not be innocent, but he is the fixed point in Wavy and Donal’s chaotic universe. Instead of playing it safe, Wavy has to learn to fight for Kellen, for her brother, and for herself.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This is the third book in 2025 for our Mostly Social Book Club. There are several trigger-warning-worthy topics covered in this book—primarily for domestic abuse and rape; although, one reviewer purports: “trigger warning basically for everything.” Goodreads lists “young adult” as one of the genres of this book, which is mind-boggling to me. I spent a lot of time while reading it in a mental debate about the definition of pedophilia, while “seeking first to understand, then to be understood.” (And, yes, I know Stephen Covey was a homophobe.) I look forward to our book club discussion about this book when we get to it.

Book #1
Arthur & George book cover		 Book: Arthur & George Author: Julian Barnes
Source: Gift from friend
Format: Print		 Pages: 388 Duration: 01/01/25 – 01/09/25 (9 days)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Genres: fiction, historical fiction, mystery, British literature, crime, justice
📕10-word summary: Two distinctive men’s lives intersect in a most unlikely way.
🖌6-word review: Slow until the connection is made.
💭A favorite quote: “Flowers. Each year, without fail, on the 15th of March, Jean receives a single snowdrop with a note from her beloved Arthur. A white flower once a year for Jean, and white lies all the year round for his wife.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: succoured, cynosure, glaucous, locum-tenens, amanuensis, packstaff, oleaginous, paterfamilias, purlieus, tantalus, coir, drayman, carapace, interregnum, fettle, jocosities, febrile, mendacious, mephitic, fulminate, pusillanimous, palaver
Description:* As boys, George, the son of a Midlands vicar, and Arthur, living in shabby genteel Edinburgh, find themselves in a vast and complex world at the heart of the British Empire. Years later—one struggling with his identity in a world hostile to his ancestry, the other creating the world’s most famous detective while in love with a woman who is not his wife—their fates become inextricably connected.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: I received this book a couple of years ago from my friend Susan Katz. Thanks, Susan! I found the first half of it slow moving, during the telling of the story of each of the main characters, Arthur & George (duh). I put this book down a lot, which is why it took me 9 days to read it. In addition to (the first half) not being riveting, it’s a pretty dense book comprising (as you can see by my list) a lot of words I had to look up while reading—it sure would have been easier reading it on a Kindle. Learning about Arthur and George in alternating story snippets, we find out who Arthur (really) is a good way into his story—and since I hadn’t read anything about the book beforehand, it was a nice surprise that kicked up my interest in the book a little bit. I considered abandoning this book a couple of times, but in the end, I was glad I stuck with it. With that said, I wouldn’t recommend it without a couple of caveats, which is why I gave it 3 stars (Average. An entertaining read but probably forgettable. Might or might not recommend) instead of 4 (Really great book in all respects with perhaps some minor flaws. Would definitely recommend). I see that this book was made into a 3-part 2015 PBS Masterpiece TV mini series, but I don’t plan to watch it.

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