Engaging narrative nonfiction about the crew of a ship who became deserted on an island. Betrayal and adventure abound! I was impressed with the amount of detail, due to the fact that first person accounts of the events exist today. I actually listened to the audio which was exciting.

I get list-frantic this time of year. A solution to the problem of “how am I going to read all these books!?!” is choosing shorter titles to listen to. Eastbound was first up from the #NYT top 10 list, one not on my radar. A book in translation written years ago but feels very “now” as a Russian solider meets a French traveler on a train. It felt like being on a train: chugging along at a fast pace, full of people and sights and sounds.

My November reads for #BookSpinBingo
Didn‘t manage to clear the board, but did get several bingos
Still have several reviews from this plus first days of December to post. Always playing catch-up!

December #BookSpinBingo plans. Though I have a feeling things will go off the rails as I‘m inundated with best of the year lists and get squirrel-y around the holidays. 🐿️
Most of these are #tob24 long listers with a few #NYT best of the year and #NaturaLitsy and bonus #europacollective

Feels like your grandpa came up with these one-liners. And I mean that in the best way. These little nuggets of wisdom are no-nonsense and practical. I listened to the audiobook which was nice but I must admit, I don‘t remember a single piece of advice, as it‘s been a week since listening. I think having this book to flip through from time to time would be the best format.

A portrait of a relationship in the era of #metoo. Semi-famous British influencers Ola and Michael are due to be married in a month when “The List” comes out: a list of men who‘ve sexually assaulted or otherwise abused women. Michael‘s name appears and Ola is assigned to write a piece about it for the feminist magazine she writes for. Does Michael deserve to be on the list? Great audio narration!

Well, it‘s that time of year again: “best books” season. I love the lists but also get stressed out with my reading life 😆
I always look forward to the NYT end of the year list.
I happened to already be in the middle of two of their choices:
-Master Slave Husband Wife
-North Woods
And I read chain gang which I didn‘t love. I plan to try a few others including The Best Minds and Fire Weather (which I was already on hold for)

I‘m so torn on this one! I listened to the audiobook quickly; it was over before I could get my bearings. I kept thinking the setting was northern UK in 1666 (where my previous read took place!) but then the narrator would speak about Microsoft Teams! This is somewhat brilliant on the author‘s part: a timeless story, layering experiences of women over millennia of abuse and forced obedience. However, it was a confusing reading experience.

Historical fiction at its very best! Lyrical writing, vivid imagery, and realistic characters helped place me right in the action of this village quarantined by the Plague in 1666 England. From the point of view of Anna, readers experience the sights, sounds, terrors, and small moments of joy while watching family and neighbors struggle, succumb to illness, hunt witches, and lose faith in God and fellow man. A contender for top of the year for me!

An interesting blend of fact and fiction…focused on the women who were victims of Ted Bundy who Knoll refuses to name throughout the entire book. He is instead The Defendant and gets very little attention. Readers instead hear from Pamela, head of the sorority where two women were murdered and Ruth, another victim. Smart concept, though I‘m not totally sold on the experience of blending fact and fiction in this way. Tepid pick.

Resting this morning after a trip to see family yesterday and prepping to host the other side tomorrow for another Thanksgiving dinner. 📖 ☕️

Amazing! I loved learning about the processes of cells—the basis for understanding all other bodily functions and malfunctions and consequently how we are treating illnesses. Cancer features prominently, as its cellular complexities are still beyond our control but incredible minds are constantly advancing the field of study and treatments. The writing is accessible even if much of it went over my head. I listened to the audio and loved it!

Gurba writes about her identity as a Mexican-American, her family and romantic relationships and explores the “creep”s through these stories. Horrible people but also racism and other insidious issues. I found it uneven, and wondered how some sections were meaningful to the point she was trying to make, but still pick, because I did enjoy the audio narration and most essays.

Currently reading for book club on Monday. I‘m seriously loving it! Though the subject matter is tough to read, the writing is gorgeous.

Wow! Perez does an incredible job of driving the point home about how all around difficult, not to mention unfair, and even dangerous it is to be a woman in our world. Medicines were created based on male physiology, crash dummies are the size of male drivers, and MEN ARE ALWAYS PAID MORE EVERYWHERE. This book is informative, infuriating and vital for humans to read. A thoroughly researched book which I will recommend widely! #NonfictionNovember

This memoir is about losing one‘s parents to death and disease. As my mother has recently undergone cancer treatment (3 times with different cancers) I could easily relate to the way Chung describes the feelings she had when her mother became ill with the same horrible disease. Chung lives on the opposite side of the country and was unable to visit her ailing mother during Covid restrictions which is another horrible addition to her pain.

Points for originality! It‘s not too often you read a book from the point of view of a queer mountain lion. Hanging around behind the Hollywood sign in LA, this creature has seen some things and makes observations about humans. Observations about hikers, dog owners, and unhoused people made me feel ashamed to call myself a human. Then there‘s a strange connection with a teen girl. Based on an actual animal who lived in an LA park. #tob24

A very non-fiction seeming novel, Biography of X is a fictional biography of the author, artist, and mystery of a woman known as X. Written by her wife, CM, after X‘s death the work spent on the biography uncovers much of the deceptions of their marriage. CM interviews many people from X‘s past and readers encounter an alternative history of the US, in which part of the nation is a theocracy, where X was born. Too long but thought provoking.

Threw this together, Barbara. Favorites from the ones I‘ve read of the the #ToB24 long list are:
Birnam Wood
Big Swiss
Happiness Falls
Hello Beautiful
The Guest

Hoping to get to quite a few more since many were already on my list. 🐓

@BarbaraBB came through with the alert for the #ToB24 list. I‘ve only read 11 of the 58 😱
These three were already on my list, so I‘m grabbing them from the shelves to take home with me. So convenient working at a library 😆

I‘ve joined a new “literary club” where I was assigned this memoir. Why didn‘t I know the change-maker Wangari Maathai before this?! Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her conservation efforts by founding the Green Belt Movement, feminist activism, and peaceful demonstrations leading to bringing democratic change in Kenya. Wangari was intelligent, inspiring, but so down to earth and I loved learning about her life in her own words.

Boy Parts qualifies as a train wreck book, so horrible but impossible to look away. British young woman, Irina is obsessive: with her appearance, her work as a photographer, her relationship with an ex roommate/partner/bff, and most of all the “boys” she uses as models in her work. This one is a page turner but be prepared to feel uncomfortable most of the time. This has something to say about how society views beautiful women.

Roz Chast is an original. Her latest is a dream diary which makes me want to start my own because I have quite the unusual dreams myself! Listening to other people‘s dreams can be tedious, so I‘m glad it wasn‘t any longer. While this wasn‘t life-changing, I found it entertaining and a pleasant enough little graphic novel to flip through. 💭

The Cool Bean
The Smart Cookie
The Good Egg

The Bad Seed and The Big Cheese wouldn‘t fit.

My coworkers are so talented! Look at The Big Cheese!

I love an essay collection! And this one from Jenn Shapland delivered on exactly the reason I read these: for thought provoking opinions on a variety of topics including: the human impact on the environment and consequences leading to illnesses like cancer. Racism, queer experiences, living child-free are also a focus of the essays in this collection. I listened to the audio narrated by the author which was a great listen.

I really enjoy R. Eric Thomas‘s narration, though I did prefer his first book Here For It, over his latest. This one features the pandemic (as it must—all the authors do something with it right??) and a bit of a melancholic feel throughout. Death and grief are present but lacked a meaningful impact for me. Nevertheless, I‘ll always be grateful for audio time with the author! He‘s funny though not overtly so, and seems to be a kind, standup guy.

What an excellent book! Leland is going blind, just not as soon as he initially believed. He‘s a husband and a father and has known this fact about his sight since before meeting his wife. The contemplation of how his sight will affect his quality of life, relationships, work, and even safety is thoughtful and profound. Historical facts, current policies, blind communities and much more on blindness helped me gain a new perspective on sight.

I‘ve been having a grand time with #bookspinbingo these days. I don‘t always remember to post the final product on here…and this is October wrap up which I‘m super late on but I managed to clear the board! 🙌
I know it‘s difficult to see some titles here. It was a great reading month!

Listened to this audiobook, (loved hearing the author‘s voice and inflection) but it would have been better as a physical book to use for reflection. Tasks are assigned throughout for self awareness and mindful meditation on one‘s worth and experiences. These types typically don‘t appeal to me. This would be better suited for “lost souls” as the subtitle suggests, and I‘m not in that place right now. It‘s not you, book, it‘s me!

I‘m not a makeup expert and I don‘t follow the popular brands, but I‘m always here for a behind the scenes look at companies and their ceos, especially if it‘s scandalous. 😆 I‘m sorry to report that there‘s really not a scandal here. The author just seems to be mystified and fascinated by Emily Weiss, founder of Glossier, which absolutely blew up! It‘s a light pick for me, since there‘s no tell-all though I was led to believe there would be??

A history lesson of life on Earth. Though much of this is dense, Halliday does a great job explaining how evolution impacted our planet by highlighting specific organisms who lived throughout time. It‘s truly remarkable how much we‘ve learned about life from fossils. This book would certainly be better suited as a physical read, as much was difficult to grasp as I listened. A great read for #NaturaLitsy readers!

Liliana was murdered by her boyfriend, taken away as a vibrant young college student in Mexico City, what‘s termed “femicide” there. Garza, her sister, writes this book to bring her sister back to life through journal entries, letters, and childhood memories. It‘s obvious she wrote this for herself and less for the reader. The grief is palpable and Liliana jumps off the page. Not typical true crime, but instead a vivid portrayal of a lost sister.

Another soccer season begins tonight. (Just one outdoor practice for an indoor season)

Book it is! 📖 ⚽️ and woooweee is it dark!

I so related to these women who loved bugs and were considered “weird” or different. My great aunt named me “bug lady” when I was a child. Plus this cover art is gorgeous. I wasn‘t amazed at the writing, and I think I‘ll forget most of the plot and specifics about the characters, but I‘ll remember the feeling this gave me: a cottage-core, nature-loving, Secret Garden vibe. 3 Weyward women (in different times) escape terrible men in a cottage.

Does anyone really exist like this!?! I found this so bizarre…a French woman obsessed with her husband she‘s been married to for over ten years. Basically the entire book is her anxieties about his opinion of her. She goes to unfathomable lengths to keep him interested. She doesn‘t care about her kids, simply lives for “my husband”. Totally not relatable for me! 😆 The very end is worth the read!

Loved the beginning! Things fell apart for me when the many characters were introduced that felt like cardboard cutouts to me. It‘s a shame because I loved the MC and her mysterious trunk. Take this with a grain of salt though; I historically don‘t do well with supernatural elements and horror. A feminist western with horror, I mean, wow! Just didn‘t work for me unfortunately. I should have bailed.

Multilevel marketing (MLM) at its most cringey! This addictive audiobook is on hoopla and I finished it in a day. I found the author to be rather phony and problematic. She even pitches her next business venture (Sober Moms or something)in this book! Though to her credit, Paulson was making thousands monthly riding the wave of her “downline” who did all the work and walked away from the beauty products company. Still enjoyed the read!

I have read many memoirs about divorce/affairs/separation/marriage from a woman‘s perspective. This one is interesting because it‘s written by a man and is very different in tone (sarcastic, jokey) from the many I‘ve read. The other big difference here is the way the author centers Christianity in his marriage and the book. And my oh my does he share the gory details of his relationship! At the very end, his wife wrote a chapter. Great audiobook!

November plans. Mostly nf so we‘ll call it #nonfictionnovember 🍁

A quick read about an incredibly prolific French art thief. Finkel focuses only on the thief and his accomplice gf who were focused and brazen in their pursuit of collecting stolen artifacts for their own personal collection. What makes them unique in the world of art theft is that they stole art to keep and not to sell. They ended up with hundreds of artifacts crammed in their upstairs room of his mother‘s apartment. Good audio!

Naomi Klein has been repeatedly confused with Naomi Wolf, who wrote the feminist book “The Myth of Beauty”. Wolf then “switched sides” and began appearing on Fox News against the COVID vaccine. Klein uses this mistaken identity to explore so many contemporary issues we face today: climate change, politics, the pandemic, racial justice, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, social media, autism, and so much more. Long, and all over but a good audio.

I grew up idolizing Britney. My 1st bf had her poster hanging in his closet. She was huge! Sadly, no one had her back and she fell from grace. This book shows us just how little loving support she had from her family. A bratty sister, alcoholic and abusive father, selfish mother all who used her for money. I‘m glad to read Britney‘s take, especially after the horror of the conservatorship. She deeply loves her boys, is so human and FREE! 🙌

Read and loved The Push, Audrain‘s debut, so I knew I‘d be reading this despite the less favorable reviews I‘ve seen for it. They were right, this wasn‘t as good. This one‘s super dark (like her debut) but from a mother‘s perspective who basically doesn‘t like her child. I just found it uncomfortably unpleasant throughout. A neighborhood of bad people doing bad things and children around witnessing. Plus too long.

Count me in as a Shark Heart fan! This is a fantastic example of magical realism that‘s highly original and yet deeply felt, rooted in reality, with meaningful symbolism of people turning into creatures rather than suffering human disease as we know them. A study in grief and love. At times quietly funny and often moving. One that will stay with me.

HOW did I miss this icky little scandal?! I‘m not sure but this audiobook made me chuckle several times. The Falwells, (unknown to me before this book) evangelical leaders, head of Liberty University, got kinky with a 20 something “pool boy” as Giancarlo Granda became known in the press. This is his story from his own words (with the help of a coauthor of course). It‘s a short audio that filled me in on some past drama. There‘s a doc on Hulu.

So much to chew on!! This is one of those out-there concepts that seems just plausible enough to consider: a DNA test to find your perfect match. It doesn‘t get into the science at the heart of all of this, instead this shows a few of the many possible ways this can impact lives through (quite a few!) characters‘ storylines. So many twists! And I tell you I was hooked! I‘m going to read more by Marrs. Our book group loved it.

I cannot stop listening. Britney has been through it!!! No wonder she‘s made some poor choices, she‘s had no one to show her the way or have her back. How freeing it must feel to finally have a voice.

If you have to go to the doctor, you treat yourself after with a slice of pizza as big as your face. With orange Italian soda and book, obviously!

NPR host Ari Shapiro is so nice to spend time with! Obviously, the audiobook is the way to go with this one, as he narrates stories from his personal and professional life, with a heavy emphasis on public radio experiences. Gay, Jewish, musician, husband…listeners are treated to many stories of his reporting, band, and career. Thanks for the rec @Megabooks !!