A fascinating examination of the ways caste sustains systemic racism in the US.

A weird and wonderful reimagining of the Frankenstein story that takes place in a dystopian society where all AI technology has been destroyed. Nell Crane feels like an outsider because of the obvious ticking of her mechanical heart. After finding a detached mannequin hand, she wonders if she can build a friend for herself.

A part of my reading wheelhouse that I‘ve only discovered recently is the nature writing/memoir combo. The author describes going to live with her grandparents after her parents‘ divorce. The relationship she develops with her grandfather and his bees. She shares what he taught her about life in general and the importance of bees to the health of the world. Now I want a beehive.

An utterly delightful memoir by the current Ravenmaster at The Tower of London. Skaife shares his journey to becoming the Ravenmaster, glimpses of day-to-day life with the ravens, and the legends and literary connections behind the ravens. I was entranced and completely taken into another world.

In an essay based on her marvelous TEDTalk, Adichie explains WHY we should all be feminists. She‘s incisive and articulate, yet never takes herself too seriously. A must-read!

I thought this might be a little too woo for me, but I actually quite enjoyed it, especially the discussions about mindfulness and gratitude.

Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s morning and evening inspirational tweets that are often just what you need to hear. Perfect for picking up and reading bits at random.

Content warning: suicide

After her mother‘s suicide, Leigh sees a bird that she‘s sure is her mother trying to send her a message. A box of old pictures sends her to Taiwan to meet her grandparents and heal a rift in the family.
There‘s a touch of magical realism, along with beautiful writing and a strong sense of place.

I loved the intertwined stories of Willa Knox (in the present) and Thatcher Greenwood (in the past). They are linked by the home they inhabit many years apart.

In both the past and the present, the characters deal with people who fight progress and prefer to remain mired in the past.

I especially loved the inclusion of real-life scientist Mary Treat, who corresponded with many of the leading scientists of her day, including Charles Darwin.

Emilia inherits her father‘s bookstore after his death and struggles to deal with her grief while keeping the bookstore open. It becomes the heart of the community and everyone who meets there gets a happy ending.

If you enjoy books about books/bookstores, check out this little gem. Utterly sweet and charming.

Legend, book one.

June is a prodigy and well on her way to a high-ranking military position. Day is a petty criminal and rebel from the slums. Their paths cross when Day kills Junes‘s adored older brother and she sets out to get revenge.

What she finds raises more questions than it answers and sets her and Day on an even more dangerous path.

Excellent YA dystopia.

For the sake of their daughter, two exes decide to spend a week on vacation together over Christmas. They bring their new partners along. What could possibly go wrong?

A dysfunctional family drama with plenty of dark humor.

I read this right after Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris and they paired quite well.

Accessible and direct. Could also be titled, “Shit White People Need to Know.”

Alexandra Mountbatten is a clock-setter, but a twist of fate makes a job as a governess her only option to support herself. Her new charges, two unruly (and utterly delightful) young girls live with their guardian, an infamous rake with no plans to settle down. I loved the characters and their witty banter, which made me laugh out loud more than once.

Holy trigger warnings, Batman. There is some extremely graphic violence here, including rape, extreme violence to children, and a school shooting.

This is a gripping psychological thriller revolving around two separate crimes, one in the past (a violent home invasion) and one in the present (a school shooting). I couldn‘t put it down, even when I wanted to. Not for the faint of heart.

Le Cirque des Rêves arrives at night, without warning. It‘s magical experience, fueled by a competition between two young magicians. Celia and Marco try to outdo each other‘s magical creations, but neither realizes that only one of them will survive the contest. But when they fall in love, the game suddenly changes.

In this sixth installment, Inspector Gamache is on leave, recovering from a case gone horribly wrong. Of course, he is drawn into a murder investigation involving the long-lost body of Quebec‘s founding father. Meanwhile, he revisits a prior investigation to address a very important unanswered question.

As a girl, she made a terrible wish and her mother never came home. As a lonely woman, her heart was frozen and she made another wish—to be struck by lightning. That wish comes true as well, but the aftermath leads her down a path she could never have anticipated, to a man who might have the power to melt her cold heart.

A beautiful story of connection and redemption that reads like a fairytale.

Mulan meets one of those fashion design reality shows, plus lovely writing and immersive world building. With her brothers fighting in the war and her father ill, Maia‘s family receives a summons for her father, a tailor, to appear at the emperor‘s court. Maia dresses as a boy and goes to the court in her father‘s place. The competition to become the emperor‘s tailor is fierce, but dangerous magic could destroy Maia forever.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, book one.

Three Pines is a quaint little village in Quebec. When a well-liked resident is found dead, Inspector Gamache is called in to investigate. I haven‘t read a lot of cozy mysteries, but I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of this series.

There are parallels to Murder, She Wrote and The No. 1 Ladies‘s Detective Agency

Arc of a Scythe, book three.

An action-packed conclusion to the trilogy, filled with political intrigue and mostly-satisfying endings for the many characters. I highly recommend the whole trilogy.

A loose retelling of Rumpelstiltskin featuring three young women whose stories intertwine as each looks for a way to subvert society‘s expectations.

Miryem is the daughter of a Jewish moneylender who freely lends, but never collects. Miryem takes over the business and discovers a talent for changing silver into gold.

Gorgeous writing and lovely female friendships!

An action-packed follow-up to Scythe.

Lots of political intrigue and murder. Oh, and the ending is one heck of a cliffhanger, so make sure you have the next book handy.

Follow-up to The Bone Witch. If you love a compelling anti-hero, this is a must read. Fascinating plot and characters and gorgeous writing.

A blend of fantasy and historical fiction about a group of witches fighting the patriarchy in Victorian New York.

A collection of (mostly) sci-fi/fantasy stories that show Jemisin‘s amazing range. Highly recommend.

Creepy doings involving secret societies at Yale. Loved it!

I‘ve only recently discovered Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and she‘s already become one of my must-buy authors.

In this Cinderella-adjacent tale steeped in Mexican folklore, Casiopea dreams of escaping a life of drudgery in her grandfather‘s home. When she snoops in a mysterious black chest in her grandfather‘s room, she finds the bones of Hun-Kamé, the Mayan god of death, and is soon off on a quest to recover his throne in the underworld.

Faeries may be beautiful and immortal, but they‘re also cruel and deceitful. As a human living in their world, Jude knows this all too well. Her determination to have some control over her own life leads her into a complex web of betrayal and political intrigue.

Amy, an unmotivated retail employee dreaming of a better job and a better life, works an extra shift that may prove to be her last. Set in a haunted IKEA-like store that wants you to stay...forever.

Ten teens are invited to an exclusive party at the island home of a popular classmate. Before long, they realize that something sinister is happening.

There‘s a striking similarity to Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie.

When three friends decide to renovate an old house in an abandoned village, they encounter a vengeful spirit who wants them gone. Their stories collide with a doctor investigating a suicide and mourning the disappearance (and presumed death) of his son.

Creepy!

“I can‘t take another dead girl.”

Because of her mother‘s drug addiction, Sadie had to take charge of her little sister. She‘s done her best to protect Mattie and give her a normal childhood. When Mattie is murdered, Sadie sets out to find and punish the killer. The narration jumps back and forth between Sadie telling her own story and a podcaster investigating the case. This is perfect as an audiobook.

TW: sexual abuse / other harm to children

A ship is lost at sea while filming a mockumentary about the lovely ladies of the sea at the Mariana Trench. Years later, the film company sends another crew in the hopes of proving that the terrifying footage from the first trip was not a hoax and mermaids are real.

Action-packed and gory. You will never think of mermaids the same way again.

I‘m the target audience for this book (a cis-female feminist with some curiosity about witchcraft). Though there was some interesting information for beginners, I never really connected with the author‘s style.

Loved the cover!

Cas is a teenaged ghost killer who tracks down malevolent spirits and sends them on using an ancient blade he inherited from his father. When he encounters Anna, a ghost who wears a gown that is sopping wet with blood, he‘s prepared to kill her. But an unexpected desire to find out more about her leads him to discover that his calling is not what he‘s been led to believe. Best for middle grade/YA readers who want just a bit of gore.

TW: mental illness, suicide, animal abuse

T. Lily Decker lives in fear of developing schizophrenia, a mental illness that runs in her family. An internship at a newspaper brings her to a local zoo where she bonds with a baby elephant she nicknames Swifty. When the mother elephant rejects Swifty, Lily ends up on an adventure that will change her life.

Save it for when you need a good cry, because it‘s a five alarm snot-bomb.

I loved this book. I kind of want to press it into the hands (or better yet, the ears, because it‘s perfect as an audiobook) of every white person I know.

The writing is beautiful, and Dyson‘s explanations and examples are clear and relatable. If you‘ve ever wondered what white privilege means, or how to tell the difference between prejudice and bigotry, this book is for you.

An inventive retelling of Rumplestiltskin that is far more satisfying than the original. I loved it!

“This is the thing about fairy tales: You have to live through them, before you get to happily ever after. That ever after has to be earned, and not everyone makes it that far.”

A luscious dark fairy tale featuring two artistic sisters (a writer and a dancer) who escape their abusive mother and earn spots in a prestigious art program. Of course, the school is hiding secrets and not everyone is who they seem to be.

A retelling of Rapunzel combined with the story of real-life French novelist Charlotte-Rose de la Force. Sexier than I expected, and also includes a rape scene that could be very triggering.

A retelling of Cinderella from her stepmother‘s perspective. Lush language and plenty of captivating historical details. Highly recommended for fairytale fans.

A collection of mini-biographies of (mostly) princesses that attempts to separate fact from the mythology that surrounds many of these historical figures.

Lush historical fiction based on the complicated family saga of one of the first Impressionist painters, Camille Pissarro.

A good resource for young people who have no idea AT ALL about how finances work. If you already have a basic understanding of your financial life, other books would probably be a better fit.

A riveting, action-packed vampire tale set in Mexico City. Atl is the last surviving member of an ancient vampire family. She‘s on the run, desperately seeking a way out of Mexico when she meets Domingo, a street kid who is fascinated by the vampires he reads about in comic books.

I‘ll definitely be reading more by this author.

“Reader, I murdered him.”

Jane Eyre meets #MeToo meets Dexter. A rollicking good time with a heroine who is not going to put up with men‘s bad behavior.

Loved it!

Evie‘s stepfather returns from fighting in WWII and at first it seems like things are back to normal. But when he suddenly whisks the family away for a vacation in Florida, Evie begins to realize that all is not what it seems.

What a depressing book. The chokehold the super rich have on our political system is both horrifying and fucking maddening. I had no idea that all of their philanthropic organizations are little more than tax shelters where they can fund things that directly affect their bottom line. If you‘re not sure we need more oversight, read this book.

What I wanted most at the end of this book was to know what we can do. I mean, besides DRACARYS.

Enfin un livre que je peux lire en français. J'ai lu ceci en anglais il y a plusieurs années. Babar est aussi gentil que je me souviens.