June Reading Wrap-Up+

Hey, did you know we are WELL into July and yet it turns out I never actually hit publish on my June post? Seriously, it's been completed and everything. Incredible stuff happening over here, I tell ya. Better late than never I guess?

We are officially in summer now! I mean, it's been summer sure, solstice and whatnot. But I don't write these mid-month so. Summer! Every since school let out I feel like I have been in vacation mode which isn't great cos I still have to work (though we'll have our vacation soon enough). But we're figuring out a summer routine, even if it seems to change week-to-week. Sadly, that has not yet included a trip to the library to pick up our summer reading checklists (Did you know our library does ones for adults as well as kids? Libraries are swell.)

What I didn't really do is get into a good reading groove this month. Not a terrible one but had some fits and starts with actually reading books. The good news is the books I did finish I did enjoy so quality at least. And it was the NJ book crawl which just means "hey, why don't you go to a bunch of different bookstores this weekend?" and we said "Yes, excellent idea!" I think I probably acquired more books than I read this month but that's fine. I'm just squirreling them away in preparation for leaner book-gathering months.

Why not jump into those stats, shall we?

Total books read

3

The Briar Clubby Kate Quinn

Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

I am not usually the biggest fan of historical fiction, particularly that set in the ‘40s-‘50s. But I do love multiple POVs and a murder mystery, so I was cautiously optimistic about this book club pick. And it paid off.
The story is set at a women’s boarding house in the 1950s, where most of the residents keep to themselves and out of the way of the unpleasant landlady. That is until a new boarder, Grace, shows up, taking the tiny attic room. Grace hosts weekly dinner parties (making good use of the small hotplate in her room) when the landlady is playing bridge and this is what brings the women (and the landlady’s young children) home together. From here, we get POV sections for the various boarders, how they ended up in this home, what they’re hoping for. And the women begin to change, becoming more and more enmeshed in each other’s lives. There are, to steal the description from the back of the book: “poised English beauty Fliss whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; police officer’s daughter Nora, who is entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Bea, whose career has ended along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.” There are more beyond these. And of course there’s the murder mystery I mentioned. Because when the story opens, the women are gathered in the house along with a dead body (though we, the readers, don’t know who it is), as well as the police.
I’m not sure this is going to be a book to stick with me long-term, but I did look forward to listening to it more than I expected.
Rating: 4 stars

Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka

This was a reread because the audiobook was on sale as I was browsing Libro.fm and I had to have it. I went back to look at my original review of this from a couple years ago which started with "This book was SO MUCH FUN" and you know what? STILL FUN. A bunch of assassins and other underworld-type people find themselves on a bullet train. Is a coincidence? Seems unlikely.  Even knowing basically how things unfold, I still loved it. I did skip past one particular scene that I won't get into here. Excellent choice. Will prob read again. Or maybe some of Isaka's other books, because apparently Bullet Train is second in a series (despite the fact that the first book in the series, Three Assassins, is described as "utterly propulsive follow-up to Kotaro Isaka’s international bestseller, Bullet Train")

Rating: 5 stars

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Why not keep the re-read train going? I picked up a paperback copy of this during a recent NJ Book Crawl adventure (the adventure: meet up with friends, go to bookstore, get lunch, go to a SECOND bookstore, go to a bakery) and have it sitting on my coffee table right now. Did I read this paperback copy?? I did not. But I did pick up an audiobook copy from the library and decided to relisten. Guess what? This was ALSO amazing the second time around. This was the first Backman I read and it has all of the hallmarks I love from the guy. Curmudgeonly and/or stupid people who are so much more than first impressions suggest. People who (lovingly) interfere. Moments that make me sob. Moments that make me laugh. Moments that make me sob AND laugh at the same time. And hope. Always hope. There's a would-be bank robber turned accidental-hostage-taker and a bunch of people going to see an apartment the day before New Year's Eve (odd time for an open house) and the police officers trying to make sure everyone is safe (including the hostage taker) before those Stockholmers get there.

Rating: 5 stars

I also started the latest Rainbow Rowell book Cherry Baby but didn't make it too far before I decided this probably isn't my thing, but maybe I should re-read Attachments again.

Total pages read

1,205

Fiction

100%

Female authors

33%

US authors

33%

BIPOC authors

33%

Translations

67%

Book club pick

33%

Reread

67%

Format

audiobook: 100%

Where'd I get the book

library: 67%

indie: 33%

Decades published

2020s: 100%

Resolution books

67%

Bullet Train is a translation by a Japanese author

Anxious People is a translation by a Swedish author

May Reading Wrap-Up+

It's May! Which has been a crazy month. Weather-wise in my neck of the woods I feel like we've had ALL the seasons, sometimes back-to-back (97 one day, 41 the next), though it seems to be ending on a nicer note. The way-less-small-by-the-day one (aka Matthew) had baseball this month which is adorable to watch, we had a quick long weekend up in Toronto which was a lot of fun, and just in general getting ready for the summer and vacations, which I am HERE for. 

Reading was a bit slower this month. I had a harder time focusing on a book and really getting into something. Perhaps June will be more successful (though as I look at past reading trackers, no, probably not.)

To the stats? TO THE STATS!

Total books read

4

Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want To Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes by Jessica Pan

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman

Sucker Punch: Essays by Scaachi Koul

Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want To Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes by Jessica Pan

Jessica was lonely. She was living in London with her husband but none of her friends lived nearby. And how do you make friends as an adult, especially if you are a shy introvert (shintrovert)? Pan decides, after hitting rock bottom during a gym weight loss contest, she needs to make changes in her life and that means saying yes more often, like an extrovert would. The book is a series of challenges she gives herself, with the help of various experts, so she can learn to talk to strangers, go beyond small talk to connect, make friends while traveling alone, even do stand-up comedy and host a dinner party. This book called to me from a very tiny bookstore shelf (The bookstore was tiny. The shelf was average size. Tall, even.) Pan's stories (each chapter functionally stands alone, though it is roughly chronological) are funny and sometimes cringe and yes, I feel like I saw (see?) a lot of myself in her worries both about loneliness as well as the things she had to push herself to overcome. 

Rating: 4.3 stars

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

This book is a little difficult to explain. The entire story is told through Slack chats. Including those of main character Gerald, who somehow gets stuck inside Slack (his mind is anyway, his body is still at home). His bosses don't seem to mind his extended "work from home" time since his productivity is great. This isn't just Gerald's story though, and we get Slack chapters from several different co-workers who are dealing with a PR crisis (they are a PR firm after all) involving poisoned Pomeranians from a dog food client. The book is absurd satire and I did listen to this vs reading, which I don't know how much that affected things (there are multiple people who talk primarily in emojis which is interesting in an audiobook. not that it didn't work but would love to see those chapters). It's a little gimmicky but I enjoyed (even if there is one point near the end that is a bit...eeeeehhhh but it's spoilery so I won't say more here).

Rating: 3.8 stars

Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman

Three friends spend the summer after high school in Greece but after The Incident(TM), only two friends come home, their lives changed. Ten years later, the two surviving girls, Bess & Joni, come together again. The book is from the POV of Bess, who always felt like a bit of an outsider, even among their small friend group. The story jumps back and forth between present day, when the other friend Joni is wrapped up in a new potential crime and flashbacks to the past. There is some inspiration from Amanda Knox* (teen girls accused of a crime and their personal lives torn apart in the press), though not exactly the same. Bess and Joni are unlikable which would be fine if they were also interesting but unfortunately that wasn't always the case. I also had my own personal pet peeve where the character, in a 1st person story, is keeping stuff from the reader with no clear reason to do so (e.g., it's first person but it's via letters where they may have reason to hide details) except that the author is trying to build tension. There were times I did enjoy the story, mostly towards the end, and it's too bad more of the story didn't keep up that level

Rating: 3.2 stars

Sucker Punch: Essays by Scaachi Koul

I am a fan of the podcast Scamfluencers of which Koul is one of the hosts. I've also read an earlier book of hers, One Day We'll All Be Dead And None Of This Will Matter, that I remember liking well enough. So when on the pod she mentioned a new book about her divorce, I checked the library and low-and-behold, there was an audiobook version ready to be borrowed! This is a collection of personal essays about her divorce, yes, but also family, love, fighting and even reflecting on some of what she wrote in her previous book (where she talks about her happy with relationship with her soon to be husband and as we now know ex-husband) and what it means to live so much of your life in the public sphere of some kind. The essays build on each other though in general are stand-alone pieces, dealing with her divorce in varies degrees. The essays probably could have benefitted from being a bit further removed from the divorce but perhaps there will be a follow up collection. They are at times funny and raw and I liked listening to Koul read them on the audiobook. And I may go back and revisit her other book.

Rating: 3.7 stars

I also started Best Offer Wins which I think I would enjoy but it wasn't the right time for it so alas, perhaps I'll get back at the end of the library queue and try again in about 5 months when it becomes available again.

Total pages read

1,186

Fiction

50%

Female authors

75%

US authors

75%

BIPOC authors

50%

Book club pick

25%

Format

audiobook: 75%

paperback: 25%

Where'd I get the book

library: 75%

indie: 25%

Decade published

2010s: 25%

2020s: 75%

Resolution books

50%

Sorry I'm Late is by an Asian author

Sucker Punch is by an Asian-Canadian author

*Fun fact or like, probably not fun but anyway. I did a semester abroad in the same town (Perugia) that the Amanda Knox stuff happened. Except luckily I was there before it happened (though unfortunately a friend was there at the same time, partially on my reco for how GREAT it was, and her experience with the town was...a bit different from mine.)

April Reading Wrap-Up+

Would you believe that, once again, I had this post mostly written and then just forgot to post it? Well, you should because that is very on brand for me.

I'm not really sure what to say about April. It flew, but don't they all? The weather was nuts in these parts. We got some false summer where it was brought home just how excited I am for the prospect of getting AC put in on our second floor (unfortunately something that won't be happening until late summer/fall). I got to see friends. There was a Wild Kratts Live show for you theater buffs (who are under the age of 10 anyway). Things have been a bit crazy in some work world things (it's always something). And I got some reading done, which is really, the most exciting part, no?

Total books read

5

How To Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Strange Pictures by Uketsu

Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

How To Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy and Creative In Spite of Myself by Jenny Lawson

Not only was I of course stoked to know a new Jenny Lawson* book was coming out but also I managed to get on the "Notify Me" list early enough at my library that I was the first person to check it out. See, I leave app notifications off on Insta but I have them for the Important Things. Anyway, this book was different from her earlier books in that she frames it less as memoir and more as advice, of things that have worked for her when she's, well, not okay, whether because of her depression, ADHD, anxiety or various autoimmune conditions. It was less laugh-out-loud funny than her previous stuff (though still had its moments), but still a wonderful book that I will probably pick up a physical copy of at some point because while I loved hearing her read it, this does feel like the type of book you may want to flip to a particular section of at different times.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

OK, sure, I read this before. Not even a year ago. But now we're are in the middle of full-blown media tour for the movie and lots of people were talking about how GREAT the audiobook is, and a bunch of my library holds hadn't come in yet so I decided to look for it. Unfortunately because it is an Audible exclusive (which should not include libraries, Amazon I hate you so much), the only versions my library has are in Italian and Spanish, which, NGL, I briefly considered the Italian and testing how well Duolingo is working out for me. But in the end I caved because it was on sale for $5 and look, I'm not  happy about this either but people were right and the audiobook really is SO GOOD. I was a little worried because while I loved reading The Martian, the audiobook fell flat for me but no, this was just as good this time around and I loved it as much and now I need to figure out time to see the movie (in an actual movie theater!). And I realize I haven't talked about the story at all but I just read & wrote about it not long ago so I guess I'll just link to that...here.

Rating: 4.5 stars

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

This started as a Matthew bedtime story. I didn't remember a ton about it but when I saw it on some list of kids books, I remembered how much I liked it as a kid, so thought I'd give it a try for him. Here's the thing. He didn't really care. Mostly it seemed to center on too many adults and he wanted more children. I tried for a few days but it wasn't sticking. Except at that point, I was invested and also I couldn't remember how things turned out, so I decided I would just read it myself while he listened to Diary Of A Wimpy Kid audiobooks. Everyone was happy. The Westing Game involves a dead business tycoon, a bunch of seemingly unrelated "heirs" named in the will, and a game to figure out who murdered Westing and thus win the $200M. It's a fun mystery with word games and unexpected pairings, and twists, and turns. It did drag a bit here and there, especially in the latter half but I still enjoyed and was still surprised.

Rating: 3.75 stars

Strange Pictures by Uketsu

Should I have read this instead of listened to it so I could see the pictures? I mean, probably. The audiobook said both at the start and the end, how you should look at the companion PDF to view the titular Strange Pictures. Except I got a library copy which came with no such PDF so I relied on a bit of Google Image searching and sure, maybe that isn't ideal but even after seeing the pictures, I think I was fine. Strange Pictures is a collection of interconnected stories where the pictures serve as important clues to solve multiple-crimes. Even without the images, I was drawn into the stories, to the mysteries. It starts the discovery of a blog that seems normal enough but ends abruptly with a post about how the writer can never forgive an unnamed "you" and the feeling that these pictures posted years earlier hold the answer. Sure, it's not the most believable of mysteries (and if anything, I would probably categorize it more as horror than mystery) but it was enough to draw (ha) me in and I will probably check out another Uketsu book, this time probably in physical book form.

Rating: 4 stars 

Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

Another Ernest Cunningham book! He's solved a few murders in the past and now it's time for a bank heist! Because who doesn't love a locked room mystery? Ernest and fiancée Juliette are in a bank in a remote town trying to secure funding for a detective agency when they, along with 8 other people, are taken hostage by a masked man whose motives seem...confusing to say the least. There are lots of motives, lots of secrets, and of course Ernest is compelled to try to solve the crime(s) going on. The Ernest books are all so much fun and while the first (Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone) is still my fav, this was still fun and twisty (but no cheating the mystery!) and I love Ernest as narrator.

Rating: 4.5 stars 

I also started a book The Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer, but honestly a lot of little things just had me arguing with the book (largely to yell "did you Google nothing while writing this??) and I dunno maybe it will get better or maybe I will continue to wonder how a grim reaper works a 9-5 job because don't people die outside of those hours? Do others take those cases? Also how has she had no experience with people who maybe aren't thrilled to find out they're dead, given this is a job she's had for years? Sorry I will stop now. But you can prob see why I just returned it to the library.

Total pages read

1,540

Fiction

80% - right now, prob the best place to be

Female authors

40%

US authors

60%

BIPOC authors

20%

Translation

20%

Reread

20%

Format

audiobook: 80%

ebook: 20%

Where'd I get the book

library: 80%

Kindle/Audible: 20%

Decade published

1970s: 20%

2020s: 80%

Resolution books

60%

The Westing Game was published in 1978, so pre-2000

Strange Pictures is by a Japanese author and is a translation

Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief is by an Australian author

*Fun side story that I have FOR SURE told on this blog before but TBH, I'm not going to back right now (maybe ever?) to see what I wrote so you're getting it again. The first ever book signing I went to was Jenny Lawson's first book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened. And just by luck of where we were sitting, my friend and I were the first people at the table to get our books signed. When we got up there, my friend and I looked at each other and then looked at Lawson and sort of sheepishly said "Hey, we're not really sure what we're supposed to say here cos we've never done this." To which Lawson said "I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to say either cos I've also never done this. So we'll just figure it out together." and it was wonderful and lovely and really made things feel way less awkward. Though don't worry, I made things real awkward at a Christopher Moore book signing a few months later because I was owed one, I guess.

March Reading Wrap-Up+

Look at this, another month. How'd that happen? (Also I started writing this over a week ago and then...forgot about it. My bad.)

This month is pretty neat cos it's both my and Tom's birthday month, so good times at both end. Did we do anything special for our respective days? Well Tom had to work (may be his birthday month but it's also the busy season). But I took the day off work, got coffee and spent the day watching Lord of the Rings movies (or at least Fellowship and Two Towers) alone and lemme tell you. New birthday tradition? I think so! I just need to figure out a way to fit all 3 movies into the day.

In other news, reading this month was apparently all about murder. I didn't mean for it to work out that way, but ya get what ya get when most of your library holds are just not coming in so you see whatever is available now in the mysteries section. Also, I'm thinking I need to get the small one's library card set up in my Libby account along with my own because I am often running up against my hold limit because of all of his stuff (he now listens to audiobooks while going to sleep).

Let's take a look at those stats, shall we?

Number of books read

5

Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood

Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Maureen Johnson & Jay Cooper

The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

This Is Not A Game by Kelly Mullen

Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood

Judith, Becks and Suzie are back in a fourth murder mystery. The people of Marlow know who to turn to and so when Verity's husband Oliver goes missing, she shows up on Judith's doorstep. Oliver and other members of the amateur dramatic society (including former member turned Hollywood star) went on a private cruise but no one has seen Oliver since. It's another cozy mystery with a locked room and clues that all come together in a dramatic reveal. Is it the best of the series? Eh, not really, but it was still a good time.

Rating: 3.75 stars

Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Maureen Johnson & Jay Cooper

I didn't even remember putting this on my library hold but hey, it showed up one day, and that's fun. A cute informative guide to staying safe if you ever decide to visit a quiet English village (watch out for...everyone and everything basically). It's silly and it's quick and the drawings are funny and the illustrator recently came to the goblin's school and that was a fun lil coincidence. 

Rating: 4 stars

The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson

There's a book club at the local community center and sure, it's not the most popular activity going on but there are a few folks who show up. One of the members is acting a bit...off. Then money goes missing from the community center roof repair fund during the book club and now Nova's job is in jeopardy (I mean, it's her book club after all and is she sure she locked up the office?) Then a dead body shows up and the book club member can't be found anywhere, well, Nova and the other book club members don't really have a choice but to investigate. (There is very much a choice, but Agatha Christie fan Phyllis decides they need to look into it and she is a force.) A fun cozy mystery with a ragtag group that come together and see if they can get to the bottom of everything going on and save the community center, of course.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

It's hard to say much about Agatha Christie's stuff in general and even moreso when it's something as popular as this classic. This was my first time reading it but I have seen the Branagh movie and listen, say what you will about them, I'll prob watch any of his Poirot movies that come out. All that is to say, I already knew the ending, which sure, ruins the mystery a bit but the book is still fun for all of the things that make Christie so iconic (the characters! the secrets! the big reveal!) and the casual racism of a book from the 1930s to my present-day mind was a little silly ("The passion shown in this crime could only have been done by one of Latin blood. Arrest the Italian!") 

Rating: 4 stars

This Is Not A Game by Kelly Mullen

Mimi lives on Mackinac Island, Michigan and is happy living on her own and avoiding the locals. But when she gets an invite from her socialite neighbor that is...persuasive, she finds she has to attend this party/auction. This does give Mimi an excuse to try to patch things up with her granddaughter, Addie, who is having her own problems given the recent break-off of her engagement to business partner Brian who is ALSO cutting her out of the business. Of course, genres being what they are, the pair are trapped at the party when a storm snows them all in and then when a body shows up, well, why not do some snooping? Mimi and Addie both like puzzles after all. All the makings of a cozy mystery but things fell flat for me. I don't know if it was the writing or the narrator (both?) but it was difficult to tell the 2 main characters apart and there is a lot of not-at-all-subtle investigating going on that made it hard to suspend disbelief with what people would put up with. But locked room mystery, family secrets, amateur sleuthing, it isn't all bad.

Rating: 2.75 stars

Number of pages read

1,391

Fiction

100%

Female authors

80%

US authors

40%

BIPOC authors

0%

Format

audiobook: 80%

ebook: 20%

Where'd I get the book

library: 100%

Decade published

1930s: 20%

2020s: 80%

Resolution

60%

Murder on the Marlow Belle and A Busybody Book Club are both by UK authors

Murder on the Orient Express is by a UK authors and published a bit before 2000

February Reading Wrap-Up+

February is done. How is this the shortest month but also it was 1000 years long and ALSO over in a flash? Witchcraft, that's what this month was.

In the Northeast we're coming off of a blizzard (at least at the time I'm writing this) and while it could have been worse in my area (I see you, Providence and Boston with like 30 inches of snow) it was still not fun to deal with. OK, I mean, the snow is a little fun, but there's just been So. Much. Of. It. We spent basically all of Monday trying to clear the snow. And we have a snowblower* but it still took all day, mostly because it's battery powered and it demanded mandatory breaks every 1hr 45min, which, tbh, I did not mind. AND THEN, after digging ourselves out and dealing with 2 snow days, we got more snow. Not much, sure, but enough that schools were delayed. 

All that is to say, if whatever I write below feels a little...off, please know I'm writing this in that frame of mind, which is to say exhausted, both physically and mentally. You're welcome.

Did I spend any time relaxing and reading? Hahahaha. I did a few times decide, when I had a second to sit down, to set a stopwatch to see how quickly I get interrupted and how often. First attempt was 11 min of trying to relax with 4 interruptions. I did get one almost 5 minute stretch so. That was something. But I did get reading done so let's take a look

Number of books read

7

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

May Contain Murder by Orlando Murrin

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen

The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose

The Wizard of Oz (graphic novel) by L. Frank Baum & Ben Caldwell

Little Bosses Everywhere: How The Pyramid Scheme Shaped America by Bridget Read

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

I can't quite remember when I picked this up but it was relatively recently on a trip to a bookstore. I recognized the title as a show my husband and I had started before getting distracted (this is not the show's fault) and we should really go back and watch it again. The book is a bit hard to describe. It's not a straight narrative. Willis Wu is Generic Asian Man in this world with dreams of becoming the pinnacle of what is available to people like him: Kung Fu Guy. Sometimes a screenplay, sometimes character background, a look at race & stereotypes in TV & movies, and in American more generally. "Who gets to be American? What does an American look like?...After two centuries here, why are we still not Americans?" "Why doesn't this face register as American?" and topics dealt with subtly (to an extent) at times, and then very direct (those are quotes, after all). The story is clever and entertaining and a quick read (once I finally had some time to sit down and read it).

Rating: 4.25 stars

May Contain Murder by Orlando Murrin

A sequel to Knife Skills Paul Delamare is back, this time on a luxury superyacht headed from England to the Caribbean to celebrate the recent wedding of an old friend. But then a priceless necklace goes missing, a person is found dead, the ship seems to be drifting off-course and Paul is trying to figure out what is going on, what secrets do the other guests have and how is he going to get out of this one? All while things back at home in London seem to be falling apart. These books are mostly...fine. The mystery is interesting enough, the characters are colorful and there is some charm in the fact that, generally, Paul is SO BAD at detectiving. He tries and he's in very precarious situations where he finds himself without much solid footing and he's not a detective. He's a chef (so there are many lovingly-described food scenes) so he shouldn't be good at this and that piece works, even if it can get frustrating. At times the story drags and it was easy to zone out a times.

Rating: 3.25 stars

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Bedtime read for the little guy (when I can tear him away from Captain Underpants and Dogman. No shade to either of those series, btw). He was a big fan of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG and I realized I didn't remember much of this book except there's a huge flying peach and some giant talking insects. The whole story is wild because there is all of that, as well as an eccentric man that appears out of the woods offering James a special concoction that will turn his sad lift around, attacking cloud men and a trans-Atlantic voyage. Also a cadre of giant talking insects. It was weird and silly and also a bit "Oh. OK." It was fine. Strange things happen and it's a bit of a series of things that happen that ultimately don't ladder up to much.

Rating: 3 stars

Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen

Historical figures have shown up in modern times and listen, that is honestly not a big deal for the story. Everyone is fine with that. The important thing is now Harriet Tubman has returned, is in NYC and is looking for a producer to help her with a project. She's going to make an album and looks for our narrator Darnell. Darnell doesn't entirely know why he was chosen or if he's even up for the challenge. He listens to stories Harriet and the others in her entourage (of course she has an entourage) can tell her about their time, about slavery, about their lives. Darnell is also dealing with is own concerns and secrets. This was clever and moving and funny and highly recommended.

Rating: 4.25 stars

The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose

The third Molly the Maid novel. This time, things seem to be going pretty well for Molly. She is engaged, work is going well, and she recently learned, via an Antiques Roadshow-esque show, one of her gran's items turns out to be worth more than a small fortune. That is, of course, until the item goes missing. There are no murders in this book. Instead we spend a lot (a lot) of time in a diary her grandmother started keeping late in life to explain to Molly some of her (gran's) early life. These chapters make up what I would estimate to be like 60% of the book. Was it actually 60%? I dunno but it was a lot and I gotta tell you, it wasn't for me. The second book had a lot of flashbacks (which is essentially what these were) but they still centered on Molly and seemed more connected to who Molly was and the present-day mystery. This one...less so. 

Rating: 2.75 stars

The Wizard of Oz (graphic novel) by L. Frank Baum & Ben Caldwell

I didn't actually mean to take out a graphic novel version of this when I was looking for something to read to the boy (the risks of borrowing books on the app and also not reading descriptions). But it all worked out because this story treatment was fun, the artwork was evocative and at times funny and there is some praise on the fact that none of the images looked like the oh-so-famous movie. Given it's place in culture, that is impressive. Was this close to the actual, original story? I have no idea, but I liked it and the boy liked it.

Rating: 4 stars

Little Bosses Everywhere: How The Pyramid Scheme Shaped America by Bridget Read

I don't know why but I am drawn to pyramid schemes (or MLMs). Not in a participatory way, but in a "I wanna hear about these scams" kind of way. I don't know exactly what it is about them but I can't seem to get enough. Maybe it's because they're cult adjacent but typically don't end in mass violence. So why not read about how MLMs / pyramid schemes have had a much bigger hand in shaping America since the early 1900s? I mean, other than the fact that it's sort of depressing to see how much powerful people have lobbied and shaped consumer protections and basically did whatever they could to keep the money flowing to them (and keeping most people in the downline in the dark for just how much they were actually spending). I wished there was a bit more about the people affected by MLMs today but overall this was a very good (if infuriating) read.

Rating: 3.75 stars

Number of pages read

1,913

Fiction

86%

Female authors

29%

US authors

57%

BIPOC authors

29%

Rereads

14%

Book club

14%

Format

audiobook: 57%

ebook: 29%

paperback: 14%

Where'd I get the book

library: 86%

chain bookstore: 14%

Decade Published

1960s: 14%

2010s: 14%

2020s: 71%

Resolution books

71%

Interior Chinatown is by an Asian author

May Contain Murder is by a UK author

James and the Giant Peach is by a UK author AND published before 2000

Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert is by a Black author

The Maid's Secret is by a Canadian author

*AMAZING foresight on our part to decide to get one this year 

January Reading Wrap-Up+

Oh man, I am already killing it this year! And by killing it, I mean totally forgetting to update over here. Auspicious start to the new year, let me tell you.

Was I doing anything especially busy that kept me from updating this? ...eh. I mean, no more busy than usual. But I am cold. I am cold right now when writing this and it has just been cold out and when I am cold and tired, you know what I want to do with my limited free time? It's mostly huddle under a blanket and I've been playing Pokemon ZA (Xmas gift for the boy, also present for me!) 

But I DID actually get reading done last month, so why not talk about that?

Number of books read

6

I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

How To Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places by Mary Roach

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose

I'm Starting To Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin

I am in general a fan of Jason Pargin. I liked his stuff when he wrote for Cracked. I like the TikTok videos he makes now. I was sort of in the middle when it came to his John Dies at the End novel. But I heard he had a new book unconnected to the John ones and decided to give him another try. I definitely enjoyed this one more. It's a road trip story. A Lyft driver pulls up to a job where he finds a young women sitting on a big, black box. She offers him $200K to drive her and the box out to DC except he can't look in the box, ask what's in the box, they have to leave right then and oh, he also has to leave behind any devices that could be used to track them (like a phone or a laptop). Before leaving, Abbott (the Lyft driver) leaves a message on his Twitch stream he's going to be offline for a couple days and don't worry. The internet loves a mystery (conspiracy) and the story is made up of these 2 on their cross-country trip, a scary biker guy that really wants that box, and many members of the Reddit community trying to figure out what is in this box. There's a bunch of action, lots of social commentary about male loneliness, internet algorithms, social media that at types felt like they would fit in with some of the videos Pargin makes (not saying he agrees/disagrees with all of the points made but yeah). Overall, I liked it, even if I had a few eye rolling moments. Because at the end, I liked the way things unfolded (I didn't see it shaking out that way)

Rating: 3.75 stars

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

I realized I had a read a few different Ogawa books in the past (The Housekeeper and the Professor, Revenge, Hotel Iris) and liked her but it had been a while. So While I was looking for something to read, I found the library had a copy of The Memory Police. A woman lives in a town on an isolated island and for years, things on this island are forgotten. One day, the inhabitants will wake up and will no longer have any memory of common things, such as roses or perfume. Most people don't even really realize these things have been forgotten, but for those that somehow can still remember, the memory police patrol to make sure no forbidden items are kept. The unnamed young woman has lost her both her parents (one to death, the other to the police). She's a novelist and she learns her editor, R. still remembers the lost things. She and a family friend, the-old-man, create a hidden room under the floorboards to hide R. as more and more things start to be forgotten. The story is slow and methodical, with a tension under every scene. I know I am missing deeper meaning in much of this and while this isn't my favorite of hers, it is one likely to stick with me.

Rating: 3.9 stars

How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur

I have read this the last few Januarys because it is an excellent way to start the year, reminding me that I should continue to try to be better each day but that I am going to fail and fail and fail again. But to keep trying. It's funny and I'm going to keep recommending it and keep reading it.

Rating: 5 stars

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

I read this many years ago when I was young, so when I was trying to find something to read to the small one, this came up on a list. I don't know that he understood all of the jokes and puns but he still like it. Milo, bored with the world, comes home one day to find a mysterious toy tollbooth in his room. He goes through it and finds himself in a fantasy land, and on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason and help unite the Kingdoms of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis, with the help of a Watchdog named Tock and The Humbug. It's silly and fun and Matthew liked it, so for a children's book, that's also a pretty good rating.

Rating: 4.5 stars

My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places by Mary Roach

I was scrolling through my digital libraries for something to listen to while I wait for my library holds to come in. This is a collection of columns Roach wrote for Reader's Digest about all sorts of things (shopping at Costco, dinner party invite rules, calling customer service, many of them about her husband). The columns have Roach's sense of humor but I miss her interest in learning something new that you get in her books like Stiff or Gulp. They're fine but there isn't really much to them and for the most part, they didn't stick with me, despite the fact that this is a re-read.

Rating: 3 stars

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose

A sequel to The Maid, Molly the maid is back again. Now head maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, and helping set up the new tea room to host a famous mystery writer, JD Grimthorpe. However, this being a murder mystery and all, the author drops dead on stage, right before he is able to make his mystery announcement. Detective Stark is back, trying to solve the case and Molly has some key information from her past about Grimthrope, when she and her Gran used to clean the huge Grimthorpe mansion. The story is then split between Molly trying to solve the murder and flashbacks to Molly's childhood. I liked this one even better than The Maid and I'll probably read some more of her stories. 

Rating: 4 stars

Number of pages read

1,660

Fiction

67%

Female authors

50%

US authors

67%

BIPOC author

17%

Rereads

33%

Translation

17%

Format

audiobook: 83%

ebook: 17%

Where'd I get the book

library: 67%

gift: 17%

Kindle/Audible: 17%

Decade published

1960s: 17%

1990s: 17%

2010s: 17%

2020s: 50%

Resolution books

50%

The Memory Police is a translated book by a Japanese author and written pre-2000

The Phantom Tollbooth was written 1961 (so also pre-2000)

The Mystery Guest is by a Canadian author