This sly little book examines upward mobility, what we‘re “supposed” to want, and the emptiness that often results. I really liked this. I would have liked it to have more of an edge to pump it up to loved status for me, but it‘s really good.

#NBAlonglist, translated literature

This is the story of Edward McCabe, a black politician in Kansas who hatched the idea as Oklahoma was becoming a state of having it be a black-only state. I love that this man existed and that his story is being told, but I found this a bit dry. It may have been the audio, so if you try this, I would suggest print.

#NBAlonglist, nonfiction

This book follows a barge built in Sweden in 1979 for use as quarters for offshore oil workers. Over its lifetime, it served as hotel, troop quarters, and prison, and spent more than a little time derelict in various places around the world. The author uses this to explore society, though I felt economy (despite the subtitle) was not necessarily the focus. Really interesting stuff.

And finally, the NBA longlist for fiction has arrived! I have to say, I‘m fascinated by this list. Though I‘m a bit annoyed that fully half aren‘t out yet (and 3 won‘t be out until November), I‘m delighted that some of the “expected” books (like Audition) aren‘t here. I like the surprise and the continued NBA habit of including small press books (there are 2). I haven‘t read a single one of these and can‘t wait to dig in!

I‘ve been sitting on my gift certificate for CB Book Company and went today to seek out some NBA longlist books. I didn‘t find any and thus settled into a nice browse and ended up with a great stack (pictured with my latest crochet critter)! Helen, they were so delighted by how we know each other, it was really lovely. Thank you again!

A family of 5 is headed for an event with the 17 year old behind the wheel, but the vehicle in AI driving mode. They end up hitting another car head on, killing both occupants. While this is definitely an exploration of AI, it‘s also an examination of the various ways each human contributed to the situation. I thought it was fantastic.

This is ostensibly an ongoing conversation between father and son as the father is facing death in a retirement home. But it doesn‘t really have a traditional structure, unsurprising for Everett, but it lost me a little. Parts of it I really liked, but as a whole it didn‘t really work for me.

This is the list every year that really excites me—the nonfiction NBA longlist! As usual, this year‘s list is super topical and I‘m delighted to see it‘s very feminist as well. Again, I‘ve read 2, the El Akkad and the Li, both terrific. Run the Song seems the odd one out for me and I‘m most curious about Motherland, which isn‘t out yet.

Sitting firmly between The Sixth Extinction and An Immense World, this book looks at the extraordinary qualities of animals and how they are harmed by human light pollution. It also looks at how this light pollution came to be and how humans ourselves are harmed by it. It‘s so well done and truly functions as a call to action to start dimming our nighttime world for everyone‘s benefit.

Halley is headed toward divorce when she suddenly gets fired. Then her dad calls: he‘s broken his leg in a fall and needs emergency surgery. She rushes to his house and finds there evidence that her mother did not die the way she‘d always been told. She starts investigating and more secrets are uncovered. This one gets a little bananas by the end, but Ellison laid the groundwork well enough that I could go with it.

It‘s here!! National Book Awards longlist week!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳 Today‘s lists are translated lit and young people‘s lit (you‘ll have to go their website for the latter, which I don‘t follow). I‘ve actually read 2 of these, the Kang and Hunchback, and the Balle and Barrera don‘t release until November, which is always frustrating. I am loving the cover of Sleep Phase and We Computers only has 3 ratings on Goodreads, so I love seeing it elevated here.

I found this one a little hard to get into at first and I don‘t know if that was me or the book. But then I did and it really gets going and I didn‘t want to stop listening! Díaz does not shy away from gore here, so be aware of that. It‘s really good.

I really got into the story and characters in book 1 of this trilogy, so I raced right to book 2, and it disappointed me. The first third of this book is just fight after fight between our core group and various people, and fighting takes up a lot of the end, too. Very little is done to advance the story or characters. Really dull, and too long of a book for that! Now I don‘t know if I want to bother with book 3. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it‘s an origin story setting up the reader‘s understanding of a character for a series, also being a series set around a black man at a time that was rare. On the other hand, it‘s a whole lot of people menacing each other without much of a through line and a ludicrous number of bodies piling up. I can‘t quite give it a pick. Pretty cool that my library has a signed first edition.

I didn‘t love her previous book, so I initially ignored this one, but I recently heard a description of it and wanted to try it out. And I really liked it! Valerie disappears while hiking the AT and Bev is in charge of the SAR efforts. Plus, a third woman becomes invested in the case. I like the multiple perspectives and the story kept me riveted.

While nothing can be as delightful as Swann‘s sheep characters in Three Bags Full, she apparently also has a knack for portraying old folks with humor. Suddenly, several old folks are murdered and Agnes decides to investigate. It‘s fun and I look forward to book 2.

In 1984, a white man went to a church at night during a bible study and murdered the black deacon and his wife in cold blood. The police, insisting it wasn‘t racially motivated, proceeded to not solve the case. This book follows the situation until the current moment, showing how poorly our “justice” system can work. It‘s very well written.

Six people in San Diego are visited by odd people who snap a silver bracelet on their wrists. Shortly thereafter, the world ends but the six are shifted to an alternate earth in which it‘s possible to manipulate aspects of time. They start to learn about their unique capabilities while hiding from the authorities and learning someone wants them dead. There are little issues with this, but I enjoyed it and look forward to book 2!

This searing book looks at 5 families in Atlanta who, despite working hard and making educational efforts, find themselves homeless due to lack of housing and policies designed to have them fail. It‘s a damning indictment of how we run our country in the US. We should be appalled and I truly wish every republican would read this book with an open mind to see what happens. Dion Graham reading it makes it marginally easier to swallow.

I didn‘t post my list, but here are my four books for September‘s spins. We‘ll see how I do given that as soon as the National Book Awards longlists come out next week, I‘ll be pivoting hard toward them. For August, I‘m just finishing up the one book I read for #ReadYourEbooks, but I‘m still thrilled as it‘s long and been on my Nook forever.

Here are my latest little critters. The cactus and mushroom are part of a plant arrangement I‘m making for my mother-in-law for her birthday. And the dino is just because I think it‘s cute. 😬 All patterns are from the tagged book. #ShowandTellTuesday

This book opens with a very wacky, very gory extended horror scene. Which Tingle gets away with by terming it a “low probability event,” and we‘re off to the races with Vera, who is not handling the mental trauma of that event at all well. But then someone comes along looking for her particular knowledge. This is fun!

This book looks at space colonization, whether it be Mars or the moon, and looks at all the reasons why it is so very unlikely to occur (sorry Jeff and Elon). It‘s quite interesting and they clearly take a cue from Mary Roach on the humor front, though with slightly less success. A low pick for me.

Meg has made it as an actress, but has had to change herself and is kinda exhausted by the Hollywood scene. So she takes a trip to a town in Ireland where she had wanted to go to school. Somehow, she discovers herself in the life she would have lived had she done so. I really enjoyed this one and thought the author did a good job pulling it all together. Plus there‘s some good humor sprinkled through.

On October 19, 1984, a small commuter plane crashed in northern Alberta, killing 6. Four men survived. This tells the story of the crash and how it happened, their experiences before rescue, the aftermath, then follows the men for over 20 years. It‘s terrific narrative nonfiction and an excellent read.

😂

I read Gretchen‘s previous two books and they were a bit of a split decision for me. This one is a bit different, with horror elements but really more of a noir with good creeping dread but a bit less gore. I liked parts of it but was a little bored by the end. And the cover is so dreadful to look at, I figured a pic of yesterday‘s walk would be preferable as the main image. Low pick for me.

This book is a delightful peak at the (mostly past) people of Astoria, Oregon. It starts with a longer piece about the Flavels, the “first family” of the town, then moves into short pieces about other inhabitants. There‘s a lot of white guys, but I appreciate that there are also a fair number of women, from a semi-notorious madam to one of the last full blooded Clatsop Indians. I found this delightful!

When I read about this, I was super pumped for it, but it ended up just meh. It‘s too much backstory and just plain didn‘t hold my attention. I kinda wish I had bailed.

My B&N #bookhaul order has arrived! All were 50% off and I‘m so excited. The sale ends on Sept 1, I think, if anyone still wants to shop.

In this book, Johnson looks at how black people have always been considered less than in the US and shows how that just isn‘t true. He shows examples of genius in black people, even just little things, and largely by looking at people who aren‘t known or famous. I came away feeling that the biggest genius in black culture is black community, which he shows beautifully. It‘s a great book that left me thoughtful.

Here‘s my latest critter. I made most of it on our long drive to my in-laws‘ house and the rest while I was there. My hubs suggested the rainbow horn and I think it works. #ShowandTellTuesdat

In 2020, 4 women grew intrigued about a cold case and started to work together to investigate it. I had really mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, the book is well-written and propulsive and what they discovered is fascinating. On the other hand, they made amateur mistakes, nearly putting themselves at serious risk, and committed fraud. So I can‘t quite call this a pick.

In Abrams‘ latest, someone has died at a high tech company and there‘s a question of whether AI was involved. Avery and her gang are brought in to investigate and we really see how things with AI can go wrong. Chilling, and a great read.

Uh-oh, I‘m going to piss some people off with this one! I HATED this book. It is heavy-handed treacle and I have no idea how it‘s persisted this long. In order to get through it, I switched to audio so I could make my little fox while listening. I only persisted because it‘s for my local bookstore‘s bingo card. 😬

Lottie didn‘t set out to kill people, it just kind of happened that way. But she got away with it and is now retired and living in another town under a new name. Until someone comes knocking, stirring up her past, and she feels there‘s no choice but to kill again. Such a fun premise, but I found this really uneven. Parts were great, but this could‘ve been a much better book.

Peter Lindsey moved as a kid to Cannon Beach in 1946. Here, he tells some history of the town before that, then stories from his own life. My husband‘s life mirrored Pete in many ways, only 40 years later and glimpsing Pete‘s story gives me more of a look into my husband‘s, which is cool! And it‘s such fun to see and hear what the town used to be. This book was an utter delight!

As she mentions at the start, this is a political history of the US. Some of it is how I learned history in school, but some definitely has a different focus, for which I am grateful. It‘s long but really worthwhile. Every time I dive into US history, it reminds me that none of the stupid shit happening now is new. And we got to better spots after those previous times, so that gives me hope.

The Big Bullshit Bill has slashed federal funding for state libraries, causing harm everywhere. So, my act of resistance today was to go to the next town over and pay to get a non-resident library card, thereby helping the library. I will be renewing yearly as long as this crap continues.

In his latest, Cosby deftly builds a layered narrative of greed, violence, and revenge. This is his darkest book and quite possibly his best yet. If you‘re looking for a master class on how to create dread, look no further. An absolute masterpiece.

The latest book in the Hana Westerman series finds a major character in peril and the search for the perpetrator. It‘s excellent, but I‘m saddened by a choice Bennett made here (though it works for the book). If you‘re looking for gritty mysteries set in New Zealand with Māori characters and author, definitely check these out.

As far as I‘m concerned, Annie Hartnett officially has a hat trick: three books, all of excellent. I really enjoyed her latest, which deftly blends tragedy with humor and her signature offbeat style story. I could have done without the judgmental, sanctimonious daughter, but she does make a good foil.

Not a book I would pick, as I already know a fair amount about checklists and how impactful they can be. But I‘m checking out the book club at the local library and this is the next read. The writing is so good that it really kept me engaged, so bravo to Gawande!

I meant to post yesterday but forgot. 😬 I‘ve been crocheting lately and love my little cow! I got the pattern from the tagged book.

#ShowandTellTuesday

Littens! We are good to have so many unread books! Woohoo!! 🥳

https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/do-i-own-too-many-books/

I‘m so glad I finally read this—it‘s brilliant! Hurston is clearly an incredible writer, and the audio reader (Ruby Dee) is absolutely fantastic. It made me sad while listening to this that as a kid they had me read crap like The Old Man and the Sea in school and we should‘ve been reading this.

In this clear-eyed book, Beinart addresses Jewish people who continue to support the war in Gaza and enumerates through data and the breaking down of straw man arguments why they should not. This is by no means a screed and he is firm in his support for all Jewish people. I worry that this won‘t move the right people (I‘m not Jewish and already agree with him), but I very much hope it does.

While this book has hands down the best title of the year, the title implies a cheekiness or lightness the book lacks, so I think it does it a disservice. It‘s an exploration of two highly visible trans women who don‘t “pass,” their relationship, and the hate they receive. And all around how shitty and judgmental people can be. It‘s not a perfect book, but I‘m glad it exists. Low pick for me.

This one just isn‘t working for me. I‘m not a fan of the writing or the structure, which frequently flips into memoir after a very short snippet of science.

I know Boyne is well liked, but apparently he‘s as bad as JKR and I thought people might want to know.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/aug/11/polari-prize-nominees-and-judges-w...