The gift of the Magi - but make it twisty

I loved the author‘s first book and had high expectations for this one. I LOVE reading about Russian ballerinas. I‘m not sure why, but I feel like I was being kept at a remove from these characters. It was difficult to root for them or empathize.

Read because I keep seeing this book everywhere. Devoured because it was delightfully ridiculously twisty and I had no idea where we were going to end up.

An uneven chunkster about one man in a German settlement in Russia on the banks of the Volga. It couldn‘t quite decide if it wanted to be history, fairytale or magic realism - or maybe was purposefully speaking to these genres and I missed the point.

A well-narrated story of the natural daughter of a scientist who creates human-animal hybrids.

Unlikeable people connected in intricate ways and just generally making the world worse. I‘m not making this sound like the pick that it is.

Absolutely blown away by how much I loved this book. A fantastic tale of two sisters with a long and complex history. There is so much love between them despite their differences.

Purchased on vacay because the tagline is chef‘s 😘

I really didn‘t know what I was getting into from the cover / blurb. This was a lot deeper, darker, and more reflective than I was expecting. I would never have bought it for my MIL for Christmas if I‘d had trigger warnings. Oops - we shall see how she likes it.

What a page turner! The world building was masterful and the stakes consistently high. I loved this story of a group of human scientists taken prisoner by an alien species.

A most excellent holiday travel companion. Loved both narrators. Shades of SA Cosby.

Michael Crichton but make it deep.

Interesting if slight. Off to do a deep@dive into golden moles.

Witchcraft! Forbidden love! Forgotten history! Perilous voyage! This book has it all.

Mike Leigh levels of bleak - exceptionally well done. At first I thought it was a thriller but it‘s more a deep dive into family trauma, poverty, and politics.

Cheers, Littens! Entering this holiday by finishing this one on #netgalley. It had enough ambition for a 500+ page book. The threads came together well and I was entertained each step of the way. Cheers, all!

A light pick. The characters were well-written but the story didn‘t really go anywhere.

I started off not liking how ridiculous the premise seemed and then got sucked in and really enjoyed myself.

This was the only possible book choice for the end of the Eras. A comfort read for any Swiftie.

Having stalled on The Pickwick Papers, I wasn‘t sure how I‘d like OT. I loved the combination of social justice and melodrama. The characterization of Fagin is definitely heavy handed and problematic; that aside I found this a surprisingly engrossing read.

Beautiful book (with lovely thick pages)! My heart breaks for Tarek, Ali, and Rafik.

I found this one hard to get into - and normally I like a dual timeline thriller. It picked up midway through, though I think I‘ll have forgotten all about it in a week or so.

This one was a miss for me. Liked the child characters and not much else - the pacing seemed really off.

This one had a very Amelia Bedelia vibe that I found harder to get behind. Maybe because there was no murder mystery 🤷‍♀️

Devoured in one ridiculous gulp

Most excellent concept. Pretty solid execution.

I was sneakily trying to finish this door stopper at the Roisin Murphy show last night. The book is as good as everyone is saying. I have one teeny quibble about the ending but otherwise it was phenomenal. Up there with Tomorrow x3, Natchez Burning, Birnam Woods and a few select others who live up to the hype.

I‘m forever looking for books featuring lifelong female friendships that speak to me the way Elena Ferrante‘s books do. This comes close.

Devoured during a lazy weekend. Loved how everyone had such an intricate backstory and the twists and turns were bonkers.

Thanks to #netgalley for access to this audiobook. I liked the initial concept more than the execution. The chapters - each audibly named - are very short and the naming makes for a disruptive experience

There were literally too many things going on in this one for me.

IKEA is my nightmare so this was right up my alley until it wasn‘t. The ending dragged a bit for me. Concept was pure genius though.

I felt like I kept searching for meaning while reading this book - where was the narrator and what time was it? Once I gave into the fact that the uncertainty was a deliberate part of the experience, I absolutely loved it.

Is Penny a victim of an evil care home or simply getting older and doddery?

First of all, I think we should get Julie Flett to do the art for more book covers - love this cover so much. Second, I almost didn‘t read this book because of how traumatized I was by Vermette‘s (amazingly written) other books. This one is much gentler in many respects- the story of two sisters who deal with their famous mother being outed as a pretendian in different ways.

Henry is an agoraphobic robot engineer who is working on an AI robot, William, in his home lab. What could go wrong?

I came of age in the same time and place as the book and so much of it rang true to me - the way girls were sexualized and blamed for it in particular. While I don‘t love Hernandez‘s writing, I‘ll always search of her books as she tells an excellent multifaceted story.

I liked the way the pieces of this anthropomorphic cozy mystery came together. It was also my first ever #powellsbooks purchase

More of a very sad love story than a thriller. I enjoyed it most of the time - but it was a bit boring in parks and the name of Liam‘s love felt like a bit of a tortured trick.

Loved it from the very first line.

A delightful manga that I read over several days. Akino is the newest concierge at a department store that caters to anthropomorphic animals.

Audaciously dark and twisted! It caught me by surprise that I felt so much for the MC at the end. Allllllll the trigger warnings.

I do find eels utterly fascinating and Shell does a good job of explaining the history of man‘s enduring interest in this mysterious creature

September was a slooooooow reading month for physical books. This highly anticipated fantasy started off so strong and then fizzled and fumbled for hundreds of pages.

Annie is a cuddle bunny (sex robot) set to auto didactic mode. This deeply uncomfortable novel explores her relationship with her owner - a liberal misogynist- and her growing sense of self. Highly recommended.

I listened to this over a few sick days (during which I missed a concert I‘d been really excited about). I have no clue what motivated the MC to get involved with solving the murders, art thefts, secret celebrities. Honesty this book simply had too much going on and none of it seemed to make much sense. Could by the NyQuil, could be the book.

Jane is a writer on sabbatical who makes relentlessly terrible choices in this entertaining look at race, identity, parenthood, career.

An utterly fantastic road trip listen. I love Kelly‘s voice, her stories, her attitude. No notes.

Absolutely tore through this audiobook and loved it: the characters‘ stories, the politics, the insights into Deaf culture. Though the end felt a teeny bit rushed, this was still a strong pick for me.

A soft pick. I particularly enjoyed Judy Greer‘s narration as Kate, a new arrival in a closed community who finds herself in danger and pursued by Sasquatches. The story wasn‘t quite as scary / intense as I‘d hoped, but was good fun for a stressful September.