Hendrix writes some weird-ass books. Some employees at ORSK (an IKEA knockoff) are recruited to stay overnight with their boss to see if they can catch someone that has been vandalizing the store. It turns into quite the nightmare. The story is a commentary on modern work and consumerism, but turns creepy and bizarre. It‘s spooky enough for a scaredy cat like me and has some good laughs too. This is my fourth Hendrix and my favorite so far.

I love this series, but this one was my least favorite. A bit long winded and the mystery didn‘t quite work. The last one had so much depth, so maybe #5 just pales in comparison.

Did not love this. It was all over the place and never really settled on any tone or vibe - is it supposed to be quirky, funny, deceptively serious? Then it ties up quickly with a “life lesson” and ends.

A 74 year-old serial killer thought she was done with that old life, moving on to retirement and bingo. But then she gets lured back into the killing. The story is a lot about aging actually. Hauling dead bodies is rough when you have arthritis and your memory issues make it hard to keep track of your lies. I would have liked a bit more humor. But it‘s a clever premise.

The book is about the disintegration of the Hatmaker marriage and the rebuilding of her life. But it is no salacious tell all. Instead, Jenn examines the troubled foundations under that relationship and her own part in its demise. With honesty and candor, she talks about digging through the rubble to understand the faulty building blocks and then how she began to start anew, with a stronger sense of self and healthier relational habits. Fantastic.

I absolutely adore Gibson‘s poetry. It‘s joyful and fierce and vulnerable and bursting with love.

This is a follow up to Boyne‘s Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, focusing on the boy‘s sister Gretel through her long life after the events in the first book. It is compelling and engrossing, although I questioned some of the historical possibility of some plot points. I truly hated the ending, so that was a bummer. The narrators on the audiobook are stellar and I highly recommend it if you want to read this.

Pagonis shares how they came to discover during college that they were intersex and reflects on the difficulties growing up, knowing they were different but not understanding why. They also recount their move into activism and advocacy work, eventually helping to stop unnecessary surgeries on intersex children at the very hospital where multiple procedures were performed on them throughout childhood. Very eye opening.

3 1/2 stars. Amy Griffin tells the story of remembering long-repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse and how she has moved towards healing in the aftermath of that discovery. Very interesting to hear about that process, and of course heartbreaking as well.

3 1/2 stars. A haunting novel about family secrets. This was good, but a bit confusing as the story jumped around in time. (I listened to the audiobook so it may be that the breaks were more obvious in print.) I discovered O‘Farrell when I read Hamnet and have been making my way through her backlist since then. She‘s a solid go to author for me.

An Appalachian Trail hiker goes missing in Maine and a search and rescue team is deployed to track her down. We get the point of view of the hiker and the main warden in charge, as well as the family and various leads they are following as the days tick by and survival odds wane. Interesting to see what that process looks like. Good book.

This is a beautiful, complex, queer coming-of-age story about Tom and Ming, a young gay couple. We see their relationship grow, shift, change as Ming comes to understand she is trans and begins to transition. It is a nuanced and honest look at the many joys and challenges that come with transition. My only complaint is that it really needed some tightening up - so many overdrawn descriptions of sitting, eating, walking. it is a great debut though.

Just discovering the poetry of Andrea Gibson after their death last month. I can see why they were so treasured by the LGBTQ community and beyond. A fantastic collection. So sad Gibson is gone but grateful we will continue to have their wise and powerful words.

Beautiful 🌈

I just loved this. The initial humor makes room for more depth than I was expecting. Bud is an obituary writer. And after a botched blind date he drunkenly pens his own obituary and manages to publish it. Put on leave from his job, Bud has some time to spend with friends, start a funeral attendance habit, and examine his own life. The question: in light of your own mortality, how does one make a meaningful life?

I try to read classics periodically and I‘d never read this. I tried to be excited. It was fine.

I‘m not sure how a book about a couple stranded at sea for four months could be dull, but this one actually was. A bit of a slog.

Great audiobook. A movie exec falls for a screenplay, and a cinematographer she thought she hated. A lovely, grown-up, not too sticky sweet romance.

Vuong‘s prose is vivid and heartbreaking and full of longing. His main character Hai wants love and family and meaning, and he finds it in an unexpected friendship with an elderly woman with growing dementia. They save each other and find a home with each other for a time when they are both in crisis. And he also finds connection within his small, wildly diverse crew at the chicken restaurant where he works. It is just a beautiful book.

The story unfolds in a single, life-altering day. Annie is 37 weeks pregnant and is shopping for a crib at IKEA when a devastating earthquake hits, leaving her to navigate the crumbling city alone. We follow her throughout the day as she talks to her unborn child, recalls memories of her life before, and struggles to survive. It is a compelling premise, but the overall narrative felt somewhat disjointed to me. But definitely worth a read.

Rhys Kinnick has spent several years living off the grid, abandoning his daughter and her children. But when his grandchildren are suddenly thrust upon him, he is pulled back into reality. This book tackles dysfunctional family dynamics against the backdrop of Christian nationalism, political division, and social upheaval. Walter injects a lot of humor and warmth, focusing on the clumsy attempts to bridge the emotional gaps between his characters.

Fun little cozy mystery. Good on audio.

Nailed it.

What a terrific debut! A trans high schooler befriends her still closeted trans teacher in this funny, sharp, compassionate novel that highlights a variety of trans experiences through an ensemble of fantastic, fleshed out characters and complex relationships. It champions the importance of solidarity and joy within the trans community despite the challenges that come with living in a society that often lacks understanding. I just loved it. 5⭐️

This was fun and creative and ridiculous. Even being completely clueless about D&D-type gaming and whatnot, I had a good time, but I‘m not sure I want to read seven more of them. (I‘m not quite the target audience for this haha.) Very entertaining though.

Got about halfway through this and I‘m just sort of bored. I think I‘m just going to move on.

I just adored this beautiful book. Sybil is in her 70s and has had a full life as a lawyer, a wife, a mother, and a friend. The one defining constant throughout her life has been letters. She has written and received hundreds of letters. And now, as she enters the last years of her life, we see the fruition of those epistolary relationships as she confronts some long buried truths.

This is a basic Trans 101, and most folks that already have knowledge of the trans community will not necessarily find a wealth of new information here. It would be helpful for someone who is just getting started on the journey to educate themselves. Bailar shares personal stories to illustrate the points he is making. The chapter on trans folks in sports was particularly well done and helpful in understanding the nuances of that issue.

A few hundred folks go on a two week vacation on an isolated island for a new resort opening. And then the sun explodes and disappears, leaving the vacationers trapped on the island. Everyone jumps into survival mode and the social order disintegrates. The premise was really intriguing. But the execution was just okay. It was entertaining, and had an interesting twist. A soft pick.

A truly heartbreaking account of the many, many women abused, neglected, raped, and killed by the Kennedy clan. Alongside the well known Jackie, Carolyn, and Marilyn are several others whose names are lost to history but whose lives were forever altered by Kennedy men. Just another sad reminder that men with wealth, power, and family clout have been getting away with the most egregious behavior for decades.

A funny, heartwarming book full of death, dysfunctional family drama, and a cat. Very on brand for Hartnett. Really enjoyed it.

I love Wilson‘s dysfunctional family stories. This one has newly discovered siblings on a cross country road trip trying to track down their absent father. It‘s amusing and odd and just what I‘ve come to expect and appreciate about Wilson‘s characters. Loved the audiobook.

Emily Henry is a must read author for me, and this is the first book of hers that I did not love. Henry totally deserves to write what she wants and try new things, but maybe this one is just not for me. It felt like straight up historical fiction with a romance thrown on top, but both pieces felt shortchanged and underdeveloped. Not my favorite.

Another thoroughly enjoyable book from Holmes. And great on audio. Insider podcast info, a cute waiter, a Great Dane inspired meet-cute. What‘s not to like?!

Happy Pride Month to all who celebrate! 🌈 I am President of PFLAG Franklin in Tennessee and host an LGBTQ+ book club for our chapter! I am a long time ally and mom to a lesbian daughter and a nonbinary/trans kid. Just a shout out to all the queer folks and the people that love them! Happy Pride reading!!!

Rooney gives us two brothers - Ivan, a brilliant but socially awkward chess prodigy, and his older brother Peter, a seemingly confident civil rights lawyer. The story explores the brothers‘ fragile bond as they navigate the months following the death of their father and the complex relationships to the women in their lives. It beautifully walks you through the intricacies of grief, love, identity, and family. The ending just broke me open.

This was delightful and real and messy and sweet. Just loved it. A one night stand leads to an unplanned pregnancy, leaving our young heroine to navigate a new path with a man she barely knows and shifting all her other relationships as well. The audiobook was top notch - narrator Alex Finley is terrific. This is my first book by this author and I‘ll definitely read another.

Typical Hendrix weirdness. Horror, but not too scary. (Unless of course you have a puppet/doll phobia. If so, this one will do you in.) A wacky, entertaining, spooky book.

Reading a bunch of plays for a play reading committee. Several of them are aggressively mediocre. Some are truly awful. Kate Hamill‘s brilliant adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is the shining star of this pile. If you are a theater person, get ahold of any adaptation by Kate Hamill. They‘re fresh. They‘re inventive. They are a dream for a great director and a group of talented actors.

Finley is a not terribly successful writer and a recently minted single mom. It‘s not going well. But then she unwittingly gets a job as a contract killer and things get a whole lot crazier. This is funny, quick moving, and very entertaining. Definitely reading the rest of the series.

Dominic and his three children have lived on a small isolated island near Antarctica. They are finishing up some work and await the boat that will come for them in 6 weeks. But then a mysterious woman is found near their shore. As she is rescued and begins to heal, she discovers that the family may be keeping some secrets. Atmospheric and haunting, this story takes some unexpected turns and keeps the reader on edge. Engrossing reading.

Bass reflects on the many facets of Jesus as she shares bits from her own spiritual life. Sort of a combination of memoir, theology, and mysticism. It focuses on those experiential ways that Jesus interacts with us and guides us, leading to a more encompassing view of Jesus.

This book examines the lives of four interconnected but vastly different African women. Adichie is a master of language, and her social and cultural insights are incisive as always. So it was an interesting, if a bit too long, book. But I didn‘t quite connect with it like her previous novels.

The premise seemed so good - a man and his daughter have lived alone in the woods for 8 years until his past comes calling. The actual story, however, was just so-so. So I was about finished with a mediocre book, oh well. And then at the very last moment, the author slaps a ridiculous ending on it, and tops that off with an asinine epilogue. So now I‘m sort of pissed. Not a fan.

This was interesting and had some lovely thoughts about the interconnectedness of humanity and beyond. It‘s just too woo-woo for me and a tad long-winded. Not my thing, but I imagine there are others who would really love it.

A quick little happy book about a lively middle aged lady that sets out on an adventure in a horse-drawn bookmobile. Lovely tale, written in 1917, for book lovers.

Not my favorite of hers, but Patchett is always reliably good. The audiobook was well done. A story of two families broken by divorce and the ways they get stitched back together. The 6 children, the products of poor parenting, manage to create a bond in the midst of their parents‘ dysfunction.

Nelson‘s The Red Parts is a compelling book about watching the trial of the man who murdered her Aunt Jane. The murder took place in 1969 before Nelson was born, but the murderer was not discovered until 2004. Nelson had just written this book as the trial was announced. In it she pieces together a portrait of Jane using snippets of Jane‘s journals, then reflecting on her life and murder in verse. It‘s a fascinating pairing and an affecting read.

I am such an Emily Austin fan. Her books often feature smart, quirky, emotionally wounded, interesting lesbians. While this tackles mental health issues, it never feels too dark or overwhelming. It feels real, compassionate, and even absurdly funny at times. This book is about Sigrid and her sister Margit. They are each struggling in different ways that are discovered as you read their thoughts in the book. Austin treats her characters so kindly.

This an exceptionally deep dive into the NASA shuttle program, culminating in the devastating - and tragically preventable - explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. Gives me a new respect for the bravery of the astronauts. But it was a great disappointment to learn how NASA was run and the disservice done in failing to protect the lives of those willing to risk their lives to venture into space.