But for its occasionally desperate need of a more scrupulous editor, I enjoyed this story of a therapist returning home to Salem to care for her aging father and reflect on her life. Salem itself seems to be a character and the story is interwoven with its history and myth. There are a lot of threads to the story that Barry pulls together in a satisfying way as long as you manage to muscle your way through the odd redundancy of the book‘s middle.

Daniel James Brown is the king of narrative non-fiction as far as I‘m concerned. Anyone who can make the journey and sufferings of the Donner party read like a novel is someone special. Brown captures the hope for the journey, the host of delays and bad decisions that set the party on its doomed path, and the party‘s desperate attempts to survive - all set within the wider historical context that made the tragedy possible. Bleak topic, great book!

Happy New Year, all! My January #BookSpin list is working hard this year. It‘s got all the books I have in my possession from @Texreader ‘s #AuldLangSpine list and all the books I have in my possession for this month‘s #AuthorAMonth - T. Kingfisher, along with the usual odds and ends. Here‘s hoping the spin makes some helpful choices so I don‘t have to, *gasp* use my own decision making skills! 😱📚😍

I‘ve surprised myself in middle age by becoming a huge fan of locked room mysteries, and this is a fine specimen. When Ern, author of books about writing mystery books, attends a family reunion at a ski resort when his brother gets out of jail, he hardly expects to be solving a murder, let alone two. The mystery is detailed and rife with family secrets and Ern is a forthright, sympathetic and humorous narrator. I‘ll be reading more of this series!

Soon after Wren and Lewis get married, Lewis is diagnosed with a mutation. He is turning into a great white shark. Despite the bizarre premise, this is a Serious Book. Despite the transformation to animal, this book is very human as it plumbs the depths of Lewis and Wren‘s hearts. Beautifully and poetically written, Shark Heart captures the human experience - full of joy and grief and fear and, ultimately, hope. #BookSpin

As the 2nd book in the Torch trilogy, I can‘t say too much about the plot, but this is a worthy successor to Songlight. It adds a new perspective that teases more details about the past while also following the other characters on each of their treacherous journeys. The amount of POVs and action is almost overwhelming but I think that‘s just a 2nd book putting all the pieces in place for what will hopefully be an amazing conclusion in book 3!

In a world rent by perpetual war between Brightland and Ayland, two Unhuman girls meet in songlight - a type of telepathy persecuted by all those without it. Elsa is secretly in love with a cadet but being trained as a wife for a returning soldier. Kaira is the daughter of a man whose purpose is to root out people like her. Together their power could spell ruin or salvation for their dystopian world as they try to escape the paths set for them. ⬇️

Merry after Christmas! Hope everyone who celebrated had a lovely holiday and that Santa brought you lots of books. After lots of good family time, I‘m using today to become one with the couch. 😁

This is an interesting thought experiment of a book that imagines the lives of those stricken by a virus that robs them of their episodic memory. The nameless narrator lives at the Center, taking courses in basic human behavior to work their way back to society. Greene crafts his short novel around the realistic quandary that exists in rebuilding identity when the stories people know and have been told about themselves are gone.

I‘m not a big romance reader and definitely not a big holiday romance reader, but this was a super cute listen for the holiday season. Jill returns home to Powell Park from LA in disgrace after not being able to make anything of her would-be screenwriting career. An unwilling participant in family festivities, Jill spends her holiday dodging ex-friends and ex-boyfriends and feeling more and more like a disappointment to her family and herself. 1/2

In this novel in verse, Latham and Waters bring to life the journey of the last ship to bring enslaved Africans to Alabama. The full cast audiobook is beautifully read and engagingly tells the story of the Clotilda, the enslaved, and the enslavers each from their own points of view. I was unfamiliar with the story of the Clotilda. This book was a great way to learn about these extraordinary Africans who carved out a place of their own in Alabama.

There might be a good story in here but it‘s, unfortunately, buried beneath clumsy, juvenile writing. The main character, who actually prays to the fuhrer like he‘s a god, is staggeringly naive and the focus is more on her forbidden romance than the history. I think I just like my historical fiction to have a little more meat on its bones, so I bailed around page 150.

I‘m so excited to have @Texreader as my #AuldLangSpine match this year. I know it‘s a great match because I already have a lot of her list on my TBR! The 4 pictured are likely to be my January reads since I have all 4 on hand, but I‘ll probably pick up Four Seasons in Rome and/or Baking Cakes in Kigali on audio to get in some great-sounding new-to-me reads, too! Looking forward to some great reading! Thanks @monalyisha for your matchmaking skill!

Can‘t believe it‘s already time to close out another year of #BookSpin 😱

In Medieval Bruges, a ruling elite battles to keep the scriptures from being understood by commoners, but Aleys longs to truly experience the living God for herself. Eschewing her arranged marriage to become a Franciscan nun, she finds companionship and service alongside a group of Beguines who secretly study a forbidden translated scripture. When miracles begin to occur, Aleys finds herself walking a line between saint and heretic. (1/2)

Ross Gay took a year to chronicle the small joys in his life, and it is, well, delightful. While he doesn‘t shy away from those things in this world that are definitely not good, among those he finds countless delights that made me smile and laugh and look for the good around me. He narrates the audio, and his narration makes it even better.

I picked up this novella for a quick beach read and that was its perfect purpose. It is a lightweight, feel good story about Scott Carey, a man who finds himself to be less and less affected by gravity, but still determined to make inroads with his married lesbian neighbors who desperately need an ally in their small town. I was disappointed that this wasn‘t spooky, but it‘s still a sweet read about a man working to heal his community. Soft pick.

In the dust bowl of 1930s Saskatchewan, charming, careless Maurice Dove, the eponymous student of weather appears on a farm and turns the lives of two sisters upside down. Frugal, hard-working Lucinda captivates Maurice with her beauty while grasping, passionate Norma Joyce captures his attention with her cleverness. The sisters‘ inexhaustible fascination with him shapes the whole of their lives from the prairies to Ottawa to NYC. (1/2)

Jasper “Jazz” Dent is obsessed with serials killers, and who could blame him considering his dad *is* one. His dad is finally locked up, leaving Jazz alone with his demented grandma, his friends, and his quest to prove to himself and the world that he‘s nothing like dear old dad. When another killer shows up in his hometown, Jazz finds himself wrapped up in the investigation. This fast moving YA story is a little Y for this A. (1/2)

Dark Sisters follows the legacy of a healer accused of witchcraft whose daughter, betrayed, unleashes a curse that reverberates into the present where the daughter of a wealthy cult leader must unpack the secrets of her history to redeem her community. In tackling three timelines, DeMeester sometimes stumbles in her pacing, but this is still a darkly satisfying story of feminine rage and revenge. #NetGalley 12/9 release.

Clover is a death doula in NYC who has neglected living her own life in favor of shepherding the dying through their deaths. We meet her as she is meeting the special set of people who will propel her to take up her own life again. I liked but didn‘t love this. I was expecting a deeper story but a lighter touch. Instead, it was fluffier than expected and a little heavy handed with the “embrace life” message. Still worth reading, a soft pick.

Ready for November! #BookSpin

Wolf by Wolf was action packed and entertaining but I loved its sequel even more. Yael and an unlikely group of allies fight to maintain the momentum of the resistance which means going back to the source of the project that made her. Delving deeper into the characters‘ pasts and motivations while still maintaining the action makes Blood for Blood a richer reading experience. A satisfying conclusion to an excellent duology!

After my 3rd of 3 “meh” spooky season reads, I think I‘m calling it and going back to my regularly scheduled reading. This one had too many POVs of characters that were somehow universally unlikable, vampire and human alike. This bunch of repressed liars are probably supposed to be a social commentary but are mostly just boring. Semi tongue-in-cheek vampire lore and the much more vampirey closing pages just nudged this up to a so-so. #doublespin

Graudin imagines a world where the Axis powers won WWII and continued expanding territory. Yael, survivor of concentration camp medical experiments, has a unique opportunity to serve the resistance by racing in the Axis Tour, a motorcycle race from Germany to Japan, the victor of which will meet Hitler himself. Action packed, filled with moral quandaries and a near romance, this is excellent alternate history. Getting right into #2 in the duology!

Just a little vacation reading. 📖 🏖️ It‘s been a minute since I‘ve read any Stephen King!

Spooky season #bookspin ! 🎃 📖

Josie is driving to her job as a high powered young CEO of a fashion company when she literally runs into her past in the form of Will Grant. A fight between workaholism and attraction ensues. This was enjoyable enough to keep me reading but ultimately boring. I wanted more “Will they/won‘t they?” It was obvious they would. Who would pass up a young Henry Cavill lookalike ready to dismantle his whole life to be whatever you want him to be to you?

Chris and Emily‘s lives are so intertwined from birth that it‘s no surprise that they become a couple in high school. Their future together seems predetermined until the night Emily dies by gun shot wound, tearing the lives of her loved ones apart. I liked this in that it was very readable, Picoult checks all the emotional boxes, and I love a dramatic courtroom scene but the more I think about it the more problematic it becomes. (1/2) #DoubleSpin

Packed with action and more family secrets than you can shake a stick at, this story of one family who benevolently rules their Virginia county during Prohibition is hard to put down. The story follows youngest daughter Sallie as she navigates the many twists and turns of her own family tree to ascend to the “throne” of her father, the Duke, who is nothing if not local royalty. (1/2)

Can‘t believe it‘s already time for September #bookspin At least this month I‘ve got the post posted before the spin is spun! 😆

Jess is still recovering from the injuries she received in the car crash that killed her mother when she arrives in the remote Canadian wilderness to live with her estranged father. When the unthinkable happens, she and her dad‘s dog are left to fend for themselves. I found Jess to be a compelling character and really enjoyed this fast-paced, thrilling story of survival against the odds.

This one wasn‘t for me. I‘ll admit it was a gamble reading the sequel to a book I read eons ago, but I‘m still not sure I would have liked it. It picks up with Pei and Ji Shen moving to Hong Kong and trying to make their own way just in time to get caught up in its WWII occupation by Japan. Many things happen, but the competent, if unadorned, writing lacks much urgency or emotion. As a result, it was just too easy to put down.

No time like when the month is half over to post your August #bookspin list, am I right? 🤪

It‘s special when an author can take multiple points of view, combine them with a non-linear timeline and emerge with a cohesive, satisfying, thought-provoking story. Cummins achieves that here with a story of 3 generations of Puerto Rican women struggling to understand their unique identities and learning to care for each other. A richly told story with compelling characters, this story about identity, family, and belonging is not to be missed.

I tried reading this in two different formats, and I think it‘s time to admit it‘s just not for me. This “thriller” has two first person narrators who are not particularly likable and, even worse, not particularly interesting. Any would be thrills get lost in Nina and Christian woodenly delivering unnecessarily drawn out details of a crime that seems to be created by a series of bad decisions made by them and their respective spouses. 🥱 Next!

I go back and forth on this one. On one hand, it is a little…vacuous? Most of the action takes place with Zippy, our narrator, working her dream job on the I Magnin sales floor. She and many of the supporting characters seem much younger than their ages in a way that is downright distracting. On the other hand, it‘s a book with heart. (1/2)

I really thought that I would enjoy this fictionalized account of Beryl Markham‘s life in colonized Kenya, but I read 100 pages and found myself surprisingly…bored? Even in first person narration, she‘s not really coming to life for me here. Might be a case of bad timing, but I‘m ready to move on from this one. My July #DoubleSpin

Sarah Dessen has a formula: lost, vulnerable female narrators learning how to love and be loved. The formula works so well on me. When Ruby‘s mom disappears, she finds herself living with the sister she thought had abandoned her. As she tries to settle into private school, new friendships, and an idyllic life with her sister and brother-in-law, she can‘t help but feel out of place and as if her new life is only temporary. (1/2)

Didn‘t forget my July #BookSpin list!

Somehow I ended up with copies of this book in 3 different formats but ultimately went with audio. Gabra Zackman‘s narration adds feeling and nuance to this dual timeline story of Augusta, a pharmacist who had her heart broken by her father‘s delivery boy during her youth in 1920s Brooklyn only to rediscover him when she moves into a Florida retirement community many decades later. (1/2)

I‘m bailing out of this one. The premise of the adult granddaughter of Arab immigrants finding her own voice in stand-up comedy sounded great. Unfortunately the comedy isn‘t particularly funny, she‘s got a cringey schoolgirl crush on her boss, and, when trying to learn more about her history, her grandmother gives her a journal to read that is written in third person omniscient. 🤔 Might end up fine but I‘m just not vibing with it. June #bookspin

I recommended this book to my book group because I loved it so much the first time I read it. I then reread it, petrified that I wouldn‘t love it as much as the first time. I need not have worried, I loved it *more.* This story about American missionaries in China in the early 20th century pouring out their lives in sacrifice to heal the bodies and souls of strangers on the other side of the world is balm for my own soul. (1/2)

This is a fantastic dual timeline historical fiction debut that follows the history of a family of women with the ability to reproduce the memory of things written by their pencil company‘s pencils. Amidst the turmoil of WWII and the following Chinese civil war, cousins Yun and Meng are forced to reckon with their unique power and its dangerous repercussions. (1/3)

Golden sky orb is giving light again today! This book is the story of an enslaved woman in Barbados escaping her “apprenticeship” to go on a quest to find her children who had all been sold away. Tragic but also hopeful, this immersive story captures the varied experiences of Rachel and her children in the islands and in South America, a historical time, place, and subject I have not had much opportunity to read about before. Excellent! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Almost time for June #BookSpin 🙂📚

The mysterious golden sky orb appeared, so today we‘ve got a picture of one of these here old timey paper books. This book surprised me. It‘s a set of interconnected short stories set on the islands of the VA shore, a remote place full of people living hardscrabble lives. The stories are vivid but dark, bringing their setting to life. Well-written but unremarkable, the last few took an interesting turn which made for a better than expected read.

After hapless, unmotivated Ed Kennedy interrupts a bank robbery in process, he finds his simple life interrupted by a series of cryptic messages anonymously delivered via playing cards that he must decode and deliver to strangers and friends alike. In the process his small life expands exponentially. This is a sweet story about making a difference with an unexpected end. I struggled a bit with its believability but enjoyed it regardless!

Natasha Boyd reimagines the life of Eliza Lucas, left behind by her father at 16 to manage his 3 indebted plantations. Imagining a way out of debt and out of marriage, Eliza gambles everything on a new crop, indigo. A good historical story and an easy read but Boyd‘s prose is so elementary at times that when she includes excerpts of the real Eliza‘s letters the divide between the real person and the character becomes a little too wide.

Changing it up and actually remembering to post my #bookspin list before the spin. Watch out, world. 🤪