Cassie is gifted a book that turns out to do magic then soon learns there are others, leading her to learn about a small world of people who use these books, though not always for good things. There are a couple of big plot holes, but I was absorbed enough by the story to shrug them off. Not sure why I ignored this one when it came out last year, but I‘m glad I read it.

When the FBI arrested someone who had an encrypted phone, the wheels started turning. They then built an encrypted phone app with a built in backdoor so they would see all communications, and set about getting into the criminal world. This is the fascinating story of how they did this and it reads like a thriller. The genius and audacity of what they did is impressive.

A young black guy working in tech is doing pretty well, but then he gets arrested for possession the same night his best friend/roommate dies. Some of this book is very compelling, but it continually jumps back and forth from current story to backstory, which was a bit confusing on audio. And it just didn‘t entirely hold my attention.

In one of Everett‘s early books, retired OB John vacations with his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter on the Oregon coast. He‘s a bit prickly and some of the relationships show some strain, but in some ways it seems like a pretty typical family drama. But then you get to the oh shit ending and everything changes. This is a really good one of his, and that‘s saying something!

Spurred on by legal rights granted to rivers in places around the world, Macfarlane explores some of those rulings alongside people who passionately care for rivers and his experience with them himself. Rather than definitively answering the eponymous question, he lays the framework for the reader to do so themself. A very engaging read with some river sounds in the audio.

A rerelease of an earlier Crouch book, this propulsive thriller/horror finds some people in the US suddenly gripped with murderous rage and going on killing sprees. Jack and his family are unaffected and therefore targets, running across the country to try to stay alive. Multiple things in this book are wildly preposterous, but it‘s good entertainment.

Extended heavy rains in 1913 caused widespread, devastating flooding that impacted most of the eastern and central US, causing major damage and leading to flood mitigation efforts. Washed Away takes the reader through those days, focusing on Ohio and Indiana, the hardest hit, and telling the story through the experiences of individuals. A really compelling read! #ReadYourEbooks (May)

Given the stature of Baldwin, I fully expected this one to blow my socks off. While it didn‘t do that, there‘s a lot to like about it and I can clearly see his influence on many current writers. I‘m glad I finally read this.

Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a geologist who here looks back on her early life, getting into her field of science, and up to a pretty badass recent accomplishment involving NASA. She does detail some child abuse and far too much sexism (this felt all too familiar to me; wouldn‘t it be great if women could just live and not deal with this shit?), as well as her fight for equality. She has some great innovative approaches in teaching.

I approached this book about a woman who wants to marry a plane with caution, because what a premise! But it was weird in a way that really worked for me and I ended up really loving it! It‘s wildly creative and quirky and I can‘t wait to see what Kate Folk does next.

If, like me, you‘ve read all the Anna Pigeon books and are looking for something similar to fill that gap, look no further! Alex is a field biologist who goes to rural Montana for a wolverine study on protected land. After an extremely frosty reception from the locals, she sees a man running and vomiting on her one trail camera and things get going from there. I‘ve already put book 2 on hold.

I read this last week and have just dragged my feet on reviewing it. There‘s some genuinely funny lines and I like the characters, but I expect something special from KW and this is not. I‘ve read this book before and he‘s usually so fresh and new. Plus, the ending is pat and not fully developed.

May has long been an influencer, mining her kids‘ lives for content. Now her husband (and the adult kids‘ stepdad) is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Partly a whodunit and partly a (valid) critique/condemnation of using kids for content, this one dilutes out the possibilities of both. There‘s some good stuff here, but it could have been so good with a lot more editing.

This outstanding book both tells individual women‘s stories and looks at the results of a study that evaluated outcomes for women who sought abortions vs those who were turned away. It followed 1000 women over 5 years and provides an incredible amount of data, presented here in a very accessible format. This is terrific and should be widely read; I learned so much and found it riveting.

Like many on here, this was a mixed bag for me. I appreciated the multigenerational aspect of the storytelling, and the several unlikable characters crackle off the page. But the more likable characters end up flat and boring and I felt like there were several loose ends not cleaned up well (or at all). It‘s a debut that shows promise but isn‘t quite there.

A well-off older woman is found dead with a scold‘s bridle (a punishment device) on her head. Initially thought to be suicide, her death is then thought to be murder once her will is revealed. I haven‘t read Walters in a long time and was a little concerned I would no longer like her, but needn‘t have been. This is a well-crafted mystery with good development of characters and subplots.

And the Women‘s Prize winners are in! Both really worthy books (and thank goodness The Safekeep won for fiction, given what else was on the list). I‘m sad for Agent Zo, but The Story of a Heart is such a compassionate, beautifully crafted book that I cannot fault its choosing. #wp25

The Women‘s Prize for nonfiction list this year is superb and I encourage anyone to check out the entire longlist. Of the finalists above, I‘m pulling for Agent Zo, but I think all are worthy (except Neneh, which wasn‘t for me). The three on top are sticking with me more than the others, so I‘d really like to see one of them win. #wpnf25

Today‘s the big day for the Women‘s Prize! I know I‘m not alone in being underwhelmed by the fiction list, but here are the 6 finalists. I want to see The Safekeep take this one, but I‘d be happy with Fundamentally as well. I‘m about halfway through The Persians and it‘s fine, but I don‘t find it prize worthy. And if any of the 3 at the bottom win, I shall be very cross (especially that awful one in the middle). #wp25

Truth

A woman is having some challenging symptoms and thinks increased exercise might be the key. But then he pedometer watch shows an amount of walking that seems impossible. Moving through the investigation of her own behavior is both interesting and steadily increasing in dread. I did find the ending a bit odd and too abrupt, but overall I liked this one.

Several months after Abby‘s fiancée dies on a small island off Mexico, she goes there for closure. After asking some questions, she starts to wonder if she‘s been told the truth. Promising premise, and I enjoyed parts of it, but the ending is too drawn out with too many false endings and Abby is too quick to read things wrong.

Vara details her life growing up with technology as it emerges and shows how she‘s been shaped by it. Then, she does something very interesting: she feeds every 2 chapters into an AI and shows us the results. The effect is to go from interesting to see what it can do to a growing dread and disappointment. It‘s such a clever approach. This is definitely one for print or ebook rather than audio because of the format.

In this memoir, Renner details the incident where he was run over and crushed by his Snowcat. He spends a lot of time at the scene itself; it is gruesome and grim and he struggles to take each breath. I always felt he seemed like a good guy, and this confirmed it for me. I‘m so glad he‘s still with us.

The latest in the Rip through Time series finds Mallory and friends traveling out of Edinburgh to attend a wedding. And of course someone has to go and get murdered! I enjoyed the change of setting and based on what gets teed up for the characters at the end, I‘m excited to see what comes next!

Linguist McWhortet looks at English pronouns and how they‘ve changed through time as well as comparisons to other related languages. He does so with a sense of humor and points out how they probably should have evolved in different ways. He does include the validity of the singular they but also why this is linguistically jarring for some. Really interesting.

I have read and liked 2 of this author‘s previous books, but at 22%, this one is doing nothing for me. Nothing is happening! If the stage was being set or atmosphere was being developed, that‘d be great, but it‘s just not.

In this very satisfying thriller, ghostwriter Olivia has few options but to take a job writing the latest book for a King-level horror writer…who is also her estranged father. He is widely believed to have killed his siblings as a kid, and Olivia is trying to find the truth. This is well paced and sets the groundwork well for multiple feasible outcomes. I didn‘t want to put it down!

Things are going really well for Amber. She has a new, gorgeous girlfriend, who she‘s with in Vegas for a wedding. Plus, she‘s flush with cash and thus her con artist past is firmly behind her. But then a man is preying on women near her and it becomes clear they may be a killer on the loose. This is a fun, zany thriller with an edge and a touch of gore. I really enjoyed it.

I meant to post this yesterday but apparently didn‘t! I like the fiction/NF mix and hopefully I will FINALLY read Bubble. It‘s been on my list since the start of #ReadYourEbooks and has come up several times without my reading it, so I hope to break that streak this month.

Billed as a mystery, this is actually a family drama looking at the reverberations of abuse. It‘s grim and a bit uneven with an ending that falls flat. Disappointing.

And at the 11th hour, here‘s my #ReadYourEbooks for June. I am currently reading the only one of the May books that I picked up, but it‘s really good and has been on my list from the start, so I‘m calling it a win! I look forward to see what gets chosen shortly.

I found this book half baked. There are so many things it touches on that I can‘t quite say what it‘s trying to explore. I really wish her editor had pushed her more, since I feel like there‘s a lot of potential here.

Humor writer Dave Barry mainly looks back at his work life in this memoir, looking back on how it all came about and some of the bits that happened along the way. Some excerpts from his columns are well-incorporated. It‘s a bit slim and I would have liked more, but it‘s enjoyable overall.

I only managed to get to one of my #Roll100 reads in May (though actually I did read a second one that was not one of the rolled numbers), so let‘s hope I read all these in June!

Myrra is essentially a slave on a generational ship; her current bosses tell her a terrible secret before dying by suicide. She then goes on the run with their small daughter, pursued by a rookie cop. This is quite the page-turner, exploring class and race as well as mortality. #Roll100

This slim poetry book is a fictional (but feels chillingly real) training guide for slave owners on how to “handle” their slaves, especially training up young boys. It‘s written as though with annotations by a “good” slave owner. It‘s deeply disturbing.

Since a young age, Kostya has been getting intense aftertastes in his mouth around certain people. So one day he creates what he‘s tasting and gives it to the man before him and the ghost of the man‘s wife appears. I was a little hesitant about his one, and it did take a while to pull me in, but I ended up enjoying it. I do wish the climactic scene had been fleshed out a bit more.

This book looked great, but after an hour of the audio, I find myself not paying attention to it at all. I‘m not sure if it‘s me, the book, the timing, or the narrator. Maybe I‘ll try it again someday in print.

A young journalist in 1920 manages to get invited to the home of a reclusive, famous painter to write an article. From there we learn about the artist and his niece as well as the journalist‘s own story. I really liked this and think it‘s far better than at least half the #WP25 shortlist.

This is my seventh read of Backman and for me, by far the weakest of his books. There are two timelines and both get short shrift. The current day timeline could be explored more thoroughly and the past timeline feels a bit held at arms length and too much tell. I‘m disappointed with this one.

Four siblings come together after some years estranged and a difficult past relationship with their mom. Each is at a crossroads of sorts and they are figuring things out between them after a prior fight. Somewhat predictable, but I enjoyed it as a lighter read.

Pic: Columbia River in eastern Oregon

I went into this one cautiously given the potentially hyperbolic title, but it straightforwardly lays out the increasing use of lawsuits by rich and powerful people when they simply don‘t like what‘s been said about them. At times, this has led to complete dissolution of media companies, which is sometimes the goal, as is the chilling effect on speaking truth. It‘s very well done.

The description of this book sounded promising but it‘s just dumb. It‘s winking so hard at Holmes/Poirot that it‘s more like a grimace. And the construction of it just doesn‘t work. I wish I hadn‘t read it.

The first hour of this 9.5 hour audiobook is full on physical and verbal domestic abuse, and I am not here for it. It feels like this is less how a boy‘s life is impacted by different potential names and more the impact of his abusive father‘s reaction to said names. I don‘t care to read a book that gives an abuser that kind of power.

Needing money and trying to stay hidden from a scandal she had a part in, Hailey takes a very sketchy job at an old cryopreservation ship. And then she starts to see things. This starts sci-fi and goes solidly into horror. Barnes keeps doing the isolated space story, but it‘s still working, so I‘m not mad. There are a few pacing issues in spots, but overall really good.

In this book, some people from the past, famous and not, have suddenly “returned” in the future. Fun conceit, but this just ends up being them sitting there telling their stories. Those stories are valuable, but it‘s all tell and no show and it‘s just been done so much better. I found it really heavy-handed. There‘s one section of backstory that‘s really compelling, so I think Bob has potential.

In these tightly intertwined stories, which could be called a novel in stories, Millet explores a group of characters from a friend/family group. Each story serves to deepen our understanding of one or more people. I enjoyed this one and think it will work for those who don‘t usually like short stories.

I felt Bartz‘s first book was a mess, but I was entertained by it, so I gave this one a try and it‘s not good. She follows the same formula to isolate the characters and then it‘s a mess in a way it isn‘t entertaining. If there‘s a third book, I will not be reading it.

A woman visiting the Alps one day discovers an invisible wall. No other people seem to be trapped on her side, so we move forward into a story of her efforts to survive. This definitely shares some DNA with I Who Have Never Known Men and On the Constellation of Volume. I found it riveting.