November Reading Wrap-Up+

I went nuts with reading in November. Just wait till you see those stats. What happened? Well, see, there was this election. And post said election I decided that perhaps I am spending too much on social media and for my mental health, perhaps I don't need to be doing that so much anymore. And I have, to a large extent, replaced random social media scrolling with reading some book I already have on my phone. Thus did I add 3 ebooks where normally I have, well, zero. That and I have decided, for the time being, to focus on comfort reads and the thing about comfort reads is they tend to go fast, so I get through more of them.

There is much to be thankful for, so for now, let's focus on that. And those stats

Total books read

9

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion by Tori Telfer

Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley

Murder Most Actual by Alexis Hall

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

The Author's Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig & Karen White

The Queen of Poisons by Robert Thorogood

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

I love Rainbow Rowell but in general, I am not a huge fan of her Simon Snow stuff and I don't read much in the way of graphic novels so I haven't followed her She-Hulk stuff. I was interested to see she had a new adult fiction book coming out and while it's not my fav of hers (that will come later in these reviews) I still did enjoy it. The story itself is a bit of a slow dance, as the story is about two people, Shiloh and Cary, who have been best friends since high school and everyone assumed they'd get together. They seem meant for each other but things just didn't work out and they went their separate ways, until meeting up again at a mutual friend's wedding. the book is missing a lot of the humor of some of her other work but the relationship between the 2 main characters is sweet and their reason for not getting together feels real instead of manufactured. The good parts help make up for some of the less-than-stellar pieces

Rating: 3.75 stars

Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion by Tori Telfer

Who doesn't like a book about lady scammers? I mean, I suppose the people being scammed weren't crazy about it. But I've been relistening to podcasts like Scamanda so hearing about historical scammers seemed like fun. This book includes stories from the time of Marie Antoinette up through current day. In books like these I typically find myself drawn to the more modern stories but here those were far less interesting and instead I wanted more of the older cons. Maybe cos pissing off rich aristocracy seems less problematic than stealing from 9/11 charities. Who knows

Rating: 3 stars

Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley

Remember when I said I wanted some more comfort reads to replace some of that Twitter scrolling? Well look no further. This is such a feel good book about a bunch of strangers who get intwined in each others lives. Iona is a larger-than-life character and I love an older force-of-nature woman who begins to meddle in the lives of people around her. Unlikely friendships form, tragedies are averted, lives are changed. Overall it's a feel good story that gives you some hope for humanity. Something that is nice these days.

Rating: 5 stars

Murder Most Actual by Alexis Hall

Cozy mystery set in a remote Scottish castle. Liz, a true crime podcaster, is on the rocks with her wife Hanna but they're hoping this trip will help spark something. Except one of the other guests end up murdered and now Liz wants to solve the murder, Hanna seemingly wants to yell at everyone, and no one seems concerned enough that they are apparently trapped with a killer. The tone of the book was odd, with the focus shifting so often between the murder and the relationship between Liz and Hanna, never really nailing either. Elements were fine. But the description saying it's for fans of "Clue, Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building" (all things I love) do this book a disservice because this book does not have the humor or characters of any of those.

Rating: 3 stars

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Again, a comfort read. I love, love, love this book. The romance elements are fine but it's the relationship between Beth and Jennifer that Lincoln so falls in love with that drives the story. It's so wonderful and sweet and good. This was my 6th read and it won't be the last

Rating: 5 stars

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson

Another comfort read! This one a bit slower going but I love the conceit of looking around the domestic sphere and how things got the way they are cos there is a lot of history in all of these little decisions. 

Rating: 5 stars

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

This is a fun lil Christmas special mystery from the guy that wrote Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. It has 24 chapters, so you can read it as a murder mystery advent calendar and see if/how Ernest figures out why his ex-wife woke up covered in blood, her boyfriend dead on the kitchen floor, claiming she has no memory. Where I said Murder Most Actual prob shouldn't include comparisons to things like Knives Out, this one feels right. Maybe not as good as the other Ernest Cunningham books but I still considered relistening to this one once I finished it so that's saying something

Rating: 4.5 stars

The Author's Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig & Karen White

Another remote Scottish castle murder mystery, this one on an even-more-remote Scottish island. Literary darling Brett is found dead in his locked tower during a writers' retreat attended by three American authors. They say they're three friends working together on a book set in this historic castle. What do they know about the murder? Were they involved? And can they help solve the crime?

I read one of the reviews that said the characters are insufferable for the first 40% but it gets better after that. Which is true and I absolutely almost stopped reading a few times because of how annoying the characters are. This reviewer was right, at just before the halfway mark, the book did get better. Not good, though. Just better. I still did a lot of eye rolling and I keep reading how the book is described as "a pointed satire of the literary world" which if you say so, book blurb. If you want to read it, let me know so I can complain about specific plot points to you.

Rating: 2 stars

The Queen of Poisons by Robert Thorogood

The third installment of the Marlow Murder Club mysteries, Judith, Becks and Suzie are back trying to figure out who killed Marlow's Mayor, a man who seemed to be loved all around, but his fellow members of the planning committee seem to have their own skeletons in the closet. I love a force-of-nature older woman (see Iona above) and Judith is happy to barrel through the usual way of doing things if it means she can put her keen mind to the test to figure out this murder. And along with her are good friends, the vicar's wife Becks who knows how to smooth things over with witnesses when Judith's methods might...ruffle some feathers. And Suzie, town dogwalker, radio host, spitfire in her own way who actually witnessed the murder happen, not that that made who did it any clearer. Fun time and I look forward to future installments.

Rating: 4 stars 

Total pages read

3,135

Fiction

78%

Female authors

78%

BIPOC authors

0%

US authors

56%

Rereads

33%

Format

audiobook: 67%

ebook: 33%

Where'd I get the book?

Kindle/Audible: 33%

Library: 67%

Decade published

2010s: 22%

2020s: 78%

Resolution books

44%

Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting, Murder Most Actual and The Queen of Poisons are all by UK authors

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret is by an Australian author

October Reading Wrap-Up+

I can't believe it's already November. Halloween is now behind us which is sad but also I'm sort of exhausted from all of the Halloween stuff. (Halloween party! Trick or treating in town! Trick or treating at houses! Parades!) But I still love a spooky season, even if my reading didn't really reflect that (whoops).

We were also pretty productive this month. Take a look at this before and after of my office. 

And that picture from last month which books just stacked in front of a bookshelf? Well, now they're all on their own shelf! Next up will be some serious reorganizing of books because the current method is "put on a shelf as was unpacked from a box" which has its charms but isn't the most effective method to finding things.

Total Books Read

5

The Cartographers by Peng Shephard

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

How To Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

The Cartographers by Peng Shephard

Family secrets. Magical realism. Maps. 

Nell has been estranged from her father for years, ever since a blow-up at work over some seemingly worthless maps. Both trained as cartographers, Nell's father works at the NY Public Library while Nell works at a place making maps look old for rich people to hang in their homes. But one day her father is found dead at his desk and Nell finds one of those worthless maps, a gas station map, hidden in his desk and now she's trying to figure out what really happened to her father. 

The premise is interesting, I love the multiple POVs as you hear from people in Nell's father's life and I'm all for some magical realism. Except, there were a lot of pieces that didn't work for me. A lot of plot holes that never felt sufficiently explained. A lot of choices from people that again, I'm fine with characters making dumb choices but I need to understand WHY they did the thing they did, which at times here seemed to be "for the plot". And also, for a book filled with people obsessed with maps, I walked away from this going "...OK guys but, they're just maps" and thinking about that bit in Arrested Development when Buster studied cartography. 

It's very much an "I liked it, but..." situation here

Rating: 3.5 stars

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

Jolene would rather not connect with her colleagues at her office job. No need to make friends, discuss personal lives, anything like that. But after getting in some trouble for an email, Jolene has to go through some sensitivity training and have restrictions placed on her computer. Except there's been a mistake and now she has access to everyone's inbox and chats. Seeing what her colleagues think of her can be painful but she also learns that layoffs are coming and maybe she can use this to her advantage. The story is funny with a lot of cringe humor moments that did make me stop listening for a bit to get a break. Jolene is awkward with an overbearing family and a Tragic Past that the book dances around for an annoyingly long amount of time before the reveal. Funny moments of office life and a cute rom-com storyline.

Rating: 3.5 stars

How To Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley

I've been on my library waitlist for this for a while (and had to push it off a few times because timing never quite works out with library holds, does it?) A feel-good story (in a way) about a group senior citizens joining together with a daycare next door to save their community center. Ensemble cast that come together to support one another, make friends, etc. etc. It's all very much the same theme as the other Pooley books I've written and while some of the characters are fun to watch, they don't have quite the same oomph as say Iona from Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting.

I loved loved loved Iona Iverson, was sort of meh on The Authenticity Project and I feel like this falls somewhere in the middle. I appreciate the geriatric cast and the themes of aging and feeling invisible, but I needed more out of the characters.

Rating: 3.5

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

I was looking in the library app for books available now to borrow and found something that looked like it was up my alley: The Last Word by Elly Griffiths. Which you'll notice, not the title listed above. And that's because, after listening to about 30 minutes or so (and going back to relisten a few times) I realized that book is the 4th in a series. Whoops. I returned it and figured I'd try from the beginning. And thus, The Stranger Diaries. This is a murder-mystery where the murderer seems to be using a short story called "The Stranger" as inspiration for killing people known to English teacher Clare. We get multiple POVs from Clare, Clare's daughter Georgia, the main detective on the case (and who the series is apparently named for) Harbinder Kaur and then interspersed with excerpts from this short story. Overall, it was fine. It had some fun turns and surprises, though overall I was annoyed with 2/3rds of the narrators and significantly question some of Clare's parenting choices. But given the narrator I did like, DS Kaur, is the subject of others in the series I may check out more

Rating: 3.25 stars

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

Osman thoroughly won be over with The Thursday Murder Club series. And sure, did I wish I was reading another one of those when I first picked this up? Sure. But I still bought a hardcover copy of this book (at full price! gotta support local bookstores) because I believed this would be just as good. I am so happy he did not disappoint. 

Another murder mystery story, this time featuring private security bodyguard Amy Wheeler who travels around the world, finding herself in dangerous situations. This time things seem lower-key, as she is hired to guard world-famous author Rosie D'Antonio from a Russian hitman, which Rosie seems to take in stride because afterall, if she isn't causing chaos, what's the point? But it seems someone is trying to kill Amy and it seems to be related to a series of influencer murders, the latest of which happened not far from where Amy is stationed in South Carolina. Amy brings in her father-in-law Steve, a retired detective who would much rather stay home and stick to his routine of TV and pub trivia, to help figure out who wants her dead and who is killing these influencers.

Everything I enjoyed from TMC is here: the humor, the characters (love Rosie and Steve especially) and the mystery. I will definitely be reading more from this series (though hopefully after the next TMC book).

Rating: 5 stars

Total pages read

1,834

Fiction

100%

Female authors

80%

BIPOC authors

20%

US authors

20%

Bookclub/readalong

20%

Format

audiobook: 80%

hardback: 20%

Where'd I get the book

Indie bookstore: 20%

library: 80%

Decade published

2010s: 20%

2020s: 80%

Resolution books

100%

We Solve Murders, How To Age Disgracefully and The Stranger Diaries are all by UK authors

I Hope This Email Finds You Well is by a Canadian author

The Cartographers is by an Asian-American author

September Reading Wrap-Up+

Autumn is here and the weather in this area is starting to feel like the season. And after moving to our house sometime in May, we have, I believe, finally found all of the boxes of books. That's exciting, after having kept them in boxes for almost 2 years. Also, I'm pretty sure there was some book multiplying happening because how do we have so many books? I'm not sure. I've also realized just how many built ins our previous townhouse has and I really took those for granted. 

This is just one of our bookshelves (I guess the floor counts as a shelf) and it is very indicative of what every bookshelf in the house looks like. And this is a new bookshelf. Someone in the house (ahem, me) suggested perhaps just one new bookshelf would not be enough but it's fine. I'll be ordering more soon now that the reality of the situation is clear. It's a good thing I started using the library as much as I do now, though of course I also bought a new book yesterday. Two actually cos the little monster got one as well.

Now, let's take a look at those stats. 

Number of books read

4

Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick by Maya Dusenbary

Butter by Asako Yuzuki

Shit Actually: The 100% Definitive Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan

Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick by Maya Dusenbary

A re-read while I waited for library holds to come in (in particular the next one which I had pushed back at least 5 times). Really frustrating (though slightly repetitive) coverage on all the ways the healthcare system fails women. Whether its not taking their medical complaints seriously, or just not studying them at all, it's one thing after the other. The book does start to make the same points again and again which made it a little hard to focus on at times

Rating: 3.5 stars

Butter by Asako Yuzuki

I have been trying to figure out what to say about this book even before I finished it. And I don't think I'm any clearer on it. The book is a bit slow and not a lot happens for a while. But also a ton happens. It hops from one genre to another at times, but the storytelling always feels consistent. I was on multiple times surprised with the direction the story took. I was also bored at times, but also really wanted to know where this was going. I'm saying all this cos I don't know if I can describe the plot. A woman who works at a men's magazine in Tokyo finds herself becoming obsessed with this woman who is currently in jail for killing a number of former lovers (though she proclaims her innocence) and who had a great appreciation for food, especially butter-heavy French cooking, slightly unusual for Japan.

Rating: 4 stars

Shit Actually: The 100% Definitive Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

Another re-read while I again, waiting for the library hold timing to line up. I've read/listened to this a few times and of course the titular "Shit, Actually" review of Love Actually is a classic that I think about whenever the movie comes up. Some of the reviews made me laugh, some made me cringe, some made me roll my eyes. I think I've enjoyed it more in the past but it still entertained me, moreso when she's talking about the movies she enjoyed (The Fugitive) than the ones she didn't (Love Actually notwithstanding) 

Rating: 3.25 stars

The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan

I'm not even 100% sure where I heard about this. I may have been browsing the library app for titles that were available right then. Or I was looking through books that were on sale and decided to see if the library had a copy. However the way, the library did have a copy of this murder mystery available right away and I love a murder mystery. A ghostwriter (who I am confirming now remains unnamed throughout the book, something I did not realize until I just went to name her) gets the opportunity to write the memoir for former Senator and failed Presidential Candidate Dorothy Gibson, a not-especially-subtle Hillary Clinton-inspired figure. Before they can do much in the way of memoir discussing, Dorothy's neighbor turns up dead and for reasons that are never explain, Dorothy decides she wants to investigate the case. The mystery itself, very Agatha Christie-esque is fun and has your colorful suspects with lots of motives. But why have the political candidate angle? I have no idea. I kept assuming all would be revealed at the end and nope. It never came up. But if you sort of ignore that part (it can be hard at times, I acknowledge) it's fun mystery.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Total pages read

1,472

Fiction

50%

Female authors

75%

BIPOC authors

25%

US authors

75%

Rereads

50%

Translation

25%

Format

audiobook - 100%

Where'd I get the book

Kindle/Audible - 50%

Library - 50%

Decade published

2010s - 50%

2020s - 50%

Resolution books

25%

Butter is by a Japanese author and is a translation

August Reading Wrap-Up+

Another month has passed and with that, summer is over as well. The little monster has started first grade ("What?" I hear you say. "What do you mean? He is just baby, how is he doing this?" Believe me I ask these questions too.) We continue to work through unpacking and we've found what I hope to be most of our boxes of books. It's definitely not all, which is somewhat unfortunate because we have already filled the bookshelves we have. I did not consider the fact that our previous place had built in bookshelves that are lacking here. Oops. Guess we'll have to go shopping for some more shelves!

Talking about books, let's see what my stats looked like for August

Number of books read

6

The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yee Nee and SJ Rozan

The Good, The Bad, & The Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Andrea Vernon & The Corporation for UltraHuman Protection by Alexander C. Kane

Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson

Brat: An '80s Story by Andrew McCarthy

How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yee Nee and SJ Rozan

Historical fiction murder mystery taking place in 1920s London, trying to track down who has been killing Chinese immigrants. Lots of Sherlock-esque elements here (a Sherlock/Watson relationship between Dee Ren Jie and Lao She, street urchins as eyes and ears, opium use, the general setting) with an interesting twist. It look me a little time to get into the setting and get myself into the story but once in, I was in. Fun, quick-paced mystery that I very much enjoyed. Looks like it’s the start of a series so I’ll prob check out the others.

Rating: 4.15 stars

The Good, The Bad & The Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Meddy Chan, her mom and 3 aunties are back, this time in Jakarta celebrating both her honeymoon to Nathan and Chinese New Year. Now that Meddy has found her love, it’s time to focus on the aunties, in this case Second Aunt rekindles a romance with a former boyfriend (who may or may not be a crime boss). Naturally, there is a mix-up and our heroes get tangled up in 3 feuding families. While still a lot of fun, this is probably the weakest of the Aunties books, probably because I feel like we spent way more time with Meddy (and Nathan who, I’m sorry, is very boring) and less time with her mom and the aunties, who, let’s be clear, I am THERE for. 

Rating: 3.75 stars

Andrea Vernon & The Corporation for UltraHuman Protection by Alexander C. Kane

I've read this at least three times and it is just as fun every time. Office-comedy except the office is for a company that manages superheroes. There's an equal amount of superhero-ing (a giant alient egg thing shows up over Yankee Stadium one day) and office-ing (the superheroes need to complete sexual harassments training) and I love it. And it includes my favorite/most obnoxious superhero, Inspector Well Actually, who has powers of super observation and can basically tell the future but only if he is correcting someone ("Well, actually...") 

Also, I've listened to a few audiobooks that Bahni Turpin has narrated and she is great

Rating: 5 stars

Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson

I think the summary for this book does it a disservice. Because it describes something that sounds like a cozy mystery with two misfits team up to solve a crime. Which...eh. Not really the tone. The initial mystery sort of takes a back seat to a lot of background for the two main characters who are both in their own ways running from their pasts. Pasts that I think the author could have done a better job with (something I am struggling to put into words without spoilers but I think the author was too concerned with keeping them likeable that it hurt the impact of their pasts). I liked the set up but things took a turn that was fine but not really what I wanted. 

Rating: 3.5 stars

Brat: An '80s Story by Andrew McCarthy

A memoir from Andrew McCarthy that seemed to be full of contradictions. He talks about revisiting his early acting career and gaining a better understanding, but I felt like he kept the reader at arm's length and I never really got to know him. Which I suppose makes sense, considering he talks about how a defense mechanism of his to act very aloof and pretend he doesn't care, which seemed to have rubbed some of his costars the wrong way (although hard to say cos he doesn't really get into it... except with Jon Cryer and that's mostly cos McCarthy didn't like him). His timeline jumps around a bit because he's trying to keep things tied to the 80s, which made things a bit hard to follow at times. He describes his acting style and what he was drawn to as much more prestigious work than his IMDB page would suggest (sir, you were in Mannequin and Weekend at Bernie's. Not shade to either but come on). And honestly, he titles this Brat but then talks about how he wasn't really part of the original Brat Pack. He was more Brat Pack-adjacent. But I did like his writing and he had a turn of phrase about his dad that I liked and wishing I had written down before I returned the book to the library.

Rating: 3 stars

How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

A murder-mystery that flips back and forth between 1965, the summer when Frances got a reading from a fortune-teller that told her she would be murdered and started a lifelong obsession, and present day with her great-niece Annie who is trying to uncover the truth and find out who did kill her Great Aunt Frances (that's not a spoiler, it happens pretty early in the book and the summary describes) in part to gain access to a vast fortune and let her and her mom stay in the home they've always lived in. It's a fun story, with lots of twists and turns, potential allies and suspects.

Rating: 4 stars

Total pages read

1,817

Fiction

83%

Female authors

50%

BIPOC authors

33%

US authors

67%

Rereads

17%

Book Club reads

17%

Format

audiobook - 83%

hard back - 17%

Where'd I get the book

Kindle/Audible - 17%

library - 83%

Decade published

2010s - 17%

2020s - 83%

Resolution books

50%

The Murder of Mr. Ma is by an Asian-American author

The Good, The Bad & The Aunties is by a Malaysian author

Nosy Neighbors is by a UK author

July Reading Wrap-Up+

What started as a slow month (I didn't start reading anything until the 8th) really picked up near the end. Which is surprising considering July felt like a very busy month. I mean, I didn't move or anything so I guess there's that but the monster turned 6 (what is time, even?) and we had our 10 year wedding anniversary (again, time, what?) so there were Things happening.

Hey look, I have actually kept up with my book bullet journal, even if I keep forgetting to post it here.

Anyway, let's get to those stats, shall we?

Number of books read

5

You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffian & Lacey Lamar

Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz

Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffian & Lacey Lamar

This book is so much fun. I’ve read it at least 3 times now and it’s just as funny each time. And yes, it’s a book about racism and what is funny about that? Well, when recounted by comedian Amber Ruffian & her sister Lacey Lamar about mostly the everyday nonsense Lacey runs into being a Black woman in very white Omaha. While the audiobook lacks some of the visuals Amber describes, the fact that it is read by Ruffian herself (with some interjections from Lacey) more than makes up for it. Very funny and a quick read
Rating: 5 stars
 

Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
Gilda is anxious. She’s constantly worried about death, can’t hold a job, can’t keep her apartment clean, ignores her sort of girlfriend and can’t talk to her family, who seem to rather hide problems rather than confront them. She finds herself at the local Catholic church and is mistaken for someone applying for the new receptionist job, she’s too embarrassed to correct the priest and instead pretends to be straight and Catholic to accept the job (that she admittedly needs). She even pretends to be the previous receptionist, Grace, when she starts seeing emails from Grace’s old friend start turning up in the church inbox and can’t bear to break the news. But when suspicions arise around Grace’s death, Gilda finds herself in a tricky position. See how interesting that premise sounds? There are moments here and there, but it felt like at least 80% of the novel was Gilda being anxious. Anxious in different locations but as a character, she was one-dimensional, hardly changing throughout the book. The set up and even the outline of the characters felt like there was so much potential that never really materialized.
Rating: 2.75 stars
 

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell
Murder mystery around a Great British Bake Off-esque show? Yes, please! Or at least "yes, please" in theory. In execution, well. Six amateur bakers make their way to a Vermont estate for a 5-day Bake Week challenge, hosted and judged by estate owner and celebrity baker Betsy Martin. The book opens a few days into the contest with a body being found before we jump back to day one and meet the contestants who each narrate their own chapters, along with chapters from Betsy. Things seem to be going wrong from the start, odd things happening to the ingredients, and what is up with that wing of the house no one is allowed in? Lots of interesting things being set up, but, as I mentioned, the whole book takes place over a couple days so from the start, things felt rushed. Still a mostly fun book (I still wanted to know what happened) but fell a bit flat.

Rating: 3.25 stars

Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz

Oh look, another entry in the Hawthorne & Horowitz series. This time Anthony is telling the story of a past Hawthorne investigation, one that he is not directly part of because, let's face it, there are only so many intriguing murder mysteries that can happen "in real life" before belief has been suspended a bit too far. A grisly murder happens in what seems to be an idyllic cluster of homes in Riverside Close, when the new neighbor (who didn't really fit in with this tight-knit community) is found dead. Everyone had motive. Everyone had secrets. Who could have done it? And how can Anthony help tell the story of a case that's already closed? There's less of the dynamic between Hawthorne & Horowitz than in the other books, which is a shame because that is fun to see, but it's still an entertaining murder mystery and yes, I'll probably continue on should Horowitz keep writing them.

Rating: 4 stars

Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

My first Stevenson book, Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, was one of my favorite books of last year. But I was surprised to see it listed as the first in a series because it didn't seem to be the kind of story to lend itself to a sequel. But apparently it did and we once again join Ernest Cunningham as he writes about solving a murder complete with clues, both hidden and those called out to the reader, lots of twists, humor and in general a good time. I mean, it's five crime writers trying to solve a crime. That's a good time, isn't it? 

Rating: 4.25 stars

Total pages read

1,523

Fiction

80%

Female authors

60%

BIPOC authors

20%

US authors

40%

Rereads

20%

Format

audiobook - 100%

Where'd I get the book

Library - 80%

Gift - 20%

Decade published

2020s - 100%

Resolution books

80%

You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey is by a Black author (or pair of them, really)

Everyone in This Room Will Be Dead Someday is by a Canadian author

Close to Death is by a UK author

Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect is by an Australian author

June Reading Wrap-Up+

We’re in the middle summer now. Which means vacations, maybe some that involve some travel time. Maybe some time relaxing by the pool or sitting on the beach. You know, prime time to get some reading done? Well, I have done a trip! It involved a cross-country plane ride.* And there was time by the pool and on the beach. How much reading did I get done on said vacation? Nothing. Zilch. Oh, I had books. I had a library book I had been on the waitlist for I think 100 years waiting on. I had a physical book I threw into my bag as backup. But it turns out that children can be a bit of a distraction. Oh the plane, because I was interrupted every few minutes, I couldn’t get into the flow of a book without just re-reading the same couple sentences over and over, so I ended up relistening to some old podcasts because who cares if I miss big chunks? And the pool and beach, well there is no sitting down time there. Not that this wasn’t a fun vacation. I have just accepted that, for now, vacations are a gap in my reading time instead of my time to read. Which is really too bad because that library book I mentioned? I had to send it back to the library only about 25% of the way through because my time was up and there was a long line of others waiting for it. Rouge, I will come back for you.

Let’s get to those stats! 
 
Number of books read
4
Joyful Recollections of Trauma by Paul Scheer
The List by Yomi Adegoke
Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka
The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo
 

Joyful Recollections of Trauma by Paul Scheer
I am a big fan of the podcast How Did This Get Mad, where 3 comedians (plus guests) talk about bad movies. Paul Scheer is the ringleader of this and a number of times throughout the 10+ years’ worth of episodes little tidbits about his life growing up have come out. They’re usually awkward and hilarious. So, as he’s been talking about this book he wrote, of course I was going to check it out. I actually think I was the first person to get it when my library got a copy (love that “notify me” feature in Libby, btw). And first thing I want to say is the book is funny. There are a lot of funny anecdotes about growing up and getting into comedy and all of that. But the “Trauma” in the title isn’t metaphorical and things were a lot rougher and sadder for parts of his life than I would have thought from the personality he puts out in his work. If you’re a fan of his work in general (and seriously, check out HDTGM), then definitely give this a listen. And I recommend listen since he reads it which really sells some of the humor. Plus, the audiobook includes clips from the podcast when he’s telling various childhood stories so you get the bonus of reactions from his co-hosts Jason and June.
Rating: 4 stars
 

The List by Yomi Adegoke
Ola and Michael seem like the perfect couple, the best example of #BlackLove. But only a few weeks before their wedding, Michael finds himself on “The List”, a #MeToo inspired anonymous list of men in media who have committed some sort of assault on women. Michael is accused of sexual harassment, certainly not as bad as some of the multiple rape accusations others on the list get, but still not good. The book is then alternating chapters from Ola’s and Michael’s POV. Ola as she grapples with believing all women (she is a feminist writer for the publication Womxxxn) and if this wasn’t Michael on the list, she would be on the front line in calling for these men to be held accountable while also lambasting women who stood by them. Michael meanwhile is trying to understand who put him on the list and while he vehemently denies the claim, he has an idea who is behind it. While an interesting premise, this book didn’t really work for me. First, it jumps into the list almost immediately, to the point where I hadn’t really connected with the couple yet, so any shock that this character was on the list is…muted to say the least. Then there is the “mystery” of if Michael belonged on the list or not which could have made the book more interesting except it didn’t work here. There were interesting ideas here, especially the idea of being tried in the court of Twitter, but the execution was repetitive and fell flat.
Rating: 2.75 stars
 

Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka
Algorithmic recommendations say they’re going to give everyone personalized recommendations, but in reality these algorithms have the affect of making everything the same and no matter where you go or what you look for, you see similar trends be it in coffee shops or TV shows or music or even places to visit. Can you really make a free choice when algorithms determine so much of what you see? I think they’re interesting questions and there were good points made about how much affect the algorithms on social media, in Netflix, in Spotify, in TikTok affect what trends in culture. But there were multiple times when it seemed like the author just kinda wanted to talk about the cool music they liked and how it’s way better than the pop music Spotify will recommend, or how they did vacations better because they focused on “being there” instead of taking pictures to ostensibly post on social media later. And while I get this was not the main point, it seemed missing to not address at all the YouTube algorithm sending people down crazy right-wing, conspiracy theory rabbit holes.
Rating: 3 stars
 

The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo
Really wish I could remember where I heard of this book. I think it was some list of diversify your reading or maybe just about mysteries and thrillers. Who knows. I should probably write this down when I add a book to my TBR. Anyway, in continuing with a theme of geriatric killers, this book is about an aging contract killer who goes by Hornclaw. She seems like any other 65-year-old grandma, never standing out, but you wouldn’t guess her coat is lined with knives and she has enough kills under her belt she can’t remember them all. But what does she do as she ages? Can she retire or is that not really an option when this has been your world for the last 45 years? Like with a lot of this month, I liked the idea of the book but was surprised with some of the directions it took. I thought it would be a bit more humorous as Hornclaw figures out what is retirement like for someone like her? There is a bit of a line about her connecting with a doctor and his family but that played a much smaller role through most of the book than I would have guessed based on the summary. We got a bit about her past and how she came to this line of work but overall the story seemed disjointed and the ending a bit rushed.
Rating: 3 stars
 
Total pages read
1,170
 
Fiction
50%
 
Female authors
50%
 
BIPOC authors
50%
 
US authors
50%
 
Book club reads
25%
 
Translations
25%
 
Format
Audiobook – 100%
 
Where’d I get the book
Library – 75%
Gift – 25%
 
Decade published
2010s – 25%
2020s – 75%
 
Resolution books
50%
The List is by a Nigerian-British author
The Old Woman with the Knife is by a Korean author and a translation 
 
*If you’re curious, the trip was to San Diego, where we’ve actually gone the last few years because there are lots of fun things to do and also we have friends out there so it’s nice to be able to see people as well as like, go to Disneyland and Legoland. Two places that also do not lend themselves to much reading time.

May Reading Wrap-Up+

Man. May. I'm so tired.

I mentioned in the April post that we bought a house. Yay! Finally! Well in May, we moved into the house. Which is great! But also a lot of work. We moved just before Memorial weekend. And then we had plans for the weekend. And then I had to travel for work. So we're still living out of boxes but we're slowly getting things unpacked and soon enough (I hope!) we'll even begin decorating and have pictures up on the walls and things like that. Stuff to make it feel like it's really our house. Of course we had drama on move in day involved a hot water heater pouring water on the basement floor. (It's funny now because nothing was really damaged and my father-in-law is GREAT and fixed everything the next day). 

Let's get into the stats and also see if I can get images to upload or not. (Hey look, I did it! Now to go back and update the past ones)

Total books read

4

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr

A cozy little mystery story. Clayton was found on the steps of a home for The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers when he was a baby. It's a bit of a commune for people who make puzzles. Mazes and jigsaws and crosswords and trivia. He's raised by all the members of the house, but primarily by Pippa, the founder of the fellowship. When she passes away, she leaves Clayton a series of clues to help him discover his past and where he came from. The story jumps between present day, as Clayton tries to figure out Pippa's clues, and the past, when Pippa was first forming the fellowship. It's a sweet story, with apparently some puzzles you can solve as you go but which I did not because I mostly listened to it but that sounds like it could have been a good time if that's your thing.

Rating: 3.75 stars

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

I loved Reid's earlier book, Such a Fun Age, so when library hold timing finally lined up with my real-world timing, I was excited to check this out. It's a story with multiple narrators: RA Millie, visiting professor Agatha and student Kennedy. The story is more about characters than any plot, because it takes a long time for any sort of plot to happen. On the one hand, this could be fine depending on the character. On the other hand, there was a lot about RAs and RA life and honestly, it wasn't all that interesting. There are also character reactions that seem entirely overblown. But once I did get over an initial hump, plot or no, I was interested enough to keep listening. That said, maybe check out Such a Fun Age

Rating: 3.5 stars

The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz

The library always seems to have a copy of these Hawthorne and Horowitz books available and it is pretty great that Horowitz makes his literary counterpart kind of a dumb dumb, so I am all in on this series. This time Hawthorne has to solve a murder of a critic and Horowitz is the lead suspect. I mean, this critic did give a pretty scathing review of Horowitz's play, putting much of the blame on Horowitz's writing. But could he really have done it? Hawthorne agrees to help or rather, agrees to solve the case, wherever the truth may take him. Very fun murder mystery series with a protagonist who is just a little bit pathetic. 

Rating 3.6 stars

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

After multiple attempts to get this book (including downloading a library copy to my Kindle and promptly losing my Kindle in the move) I managed to read this book for my book club. Fantasy from Clarke and while fantasy isn't my favorite genre, I loved Strange & Norrell so Clarke gets the benefit of the doubt. Which is good because this book throws you right into a world / labyrinthine of marble rooms filled with statues and you have to just kind of go with it. We meet the narrator, who is called Piranesi by The Other, the only other living person (there are a few skeletons Piranesi attends to). Piranesi sees himself as a scientist, filling journals with what he is doing, observes, as he survives in this House. Some rooms regularly flood (providing him the opportunity to fish), some rooms that are filled with clouds that bring rain, and some middle rooms that birds have made home. But slowly there seems to be another world and we're learning about everything alongside Piranesi. The book grabbed me and I finished all but 30 pages in one sitting (having a flight helped).

Rating: 4 stars

Total pages read

1,413

Fiction

100%

Female authors

50%

BIPOC authors

25%

US authors

25% (the others were all UK)

Book club reads

25%

Format

audiobook: 75%

ebook: 25%

Where'd I get the book?

library: 100%

Decade published

2020s: 100%

Resolution books

100%

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, The Twist of the Knife, and Piranesi are all by UK authors

Come and Get It is by a Black author