Likely an unpopular opinion but I thought this one was just okay. Entertaining enough but I found myself skimming in places and never really got attached to the characters. Is it a good read for a flight or a lazy afternoon? Sure. Is it particularly memorable? Not so much. I typically like Hazelwood‘s stories but this one was just so-so for me.

As always, Shusterman asks a very interesting question in his latest YA science fiction story. What if there was a pandemic, one with a mortality rate higher than Covid, caused by a virus that, if you survived, left you feeling content…happy…unburdened by negative emotions, a need for money, a new found wonder for the world… How would you react? Would this be good for the world? Or bad? Really, really interesting story & a lot to think about.

Have to go with Shusterman to start the weekend…

Loved it—this was absolutely fantastic! The second Detective Galileo mystery, featuring a detective and his best friend who is a physics professor, was every bit as good as the first. While you know, more or less, very quickly who the culprit is, it is the investigation of the “how” that drives the narrative. A seemingly impossible crime, preconceptions, betrayals, secrets…all the ingredients come together in a very satisfying story. Excellent.

A gorgeous graphic memoir, aimed at young readers, about the author‘s middle school & high school years. Loewinsohn often lets the art tell the story (notes that look like they were ripped out of a spiral notebook are interspersed amongst the comic panels) which means that the narrative meanders, something I didn‘t mind because there is so much to see. A memoir about friendship, art, & finding your way. Contemplative & visually entertaining.

Yay for Tuesday and some new books ahead of a couple of days of snowy weather…

❄️📚

Going with another mystery for tonight‘s reading…

Ohh, this was good. I think I liked this one even better than the first—and while the story seems to be wrapped up for now, it looks like there will be more sometime in the future. Which is good because Corland knows how to tell an entertaining story. This one has all the right ingredients—friendship, love, danger, lies, secrets, loads of action, more than a little tension, & betrayal. Fantastically flawed, interesting characters too. A good read.

Today‘s book haul…

Hot cup of tea + a new book = the best way to handle a rainy Friday in January. It‘s a gorgeous edition. Hopefully this one is as entertaining as the first one was.

🌧️🫖📖

Took my time with this one because I was having so much fun I didn‘t want finish it. I don‘t know what it says about me that I was rooting for each of the assassins—as they take on their jobs (which soon intersect)—to the very end. 😬 As you can imagine, however, with so many assassins populating this thriller, there‘s a lot of murder & mayhem. Love the dialog, love how clearly/distinctly each character is written. A fast, very entertaining read.

Next…

This will likely be a love it/hate it book for readers…Kang‘s writing is exquisite—painful, heartbreaking, beautiful, & unrelenting as she tells the story of a friendship (in the present) & the massacre of residents of Jeju Island (an effort to root out communists) in the not too distant past. It‘s a powerful examination of the past & the horrors people will inflict on each other (youngest & oldest included). A particularly timely read right now.

New Han Kang so of course I have to read it next!

The plot thickens in Vol. 4 and, because they have too, things get even more complicated and unpredictable. Dokja is the only reader of a lengthy web published novel, a story he now finds himself in and while that definitely gives him some advantages, the story didn‘t originally include him and his actions are changing things…as are those of other players. It‘s definitely a wild ride and a great read. Entertaining story, lively & colorful art.

Excellent manga that tells a powerful, often heartbreaking, story about bullying, in its various forms from perpetrator to bystander, and its lasting effects. When a young man bullied a classmate in elementary school because she couldn‘t hear, he changed her life as well as his. Now in high school he regrets what he, and others did, and hopes to make things right. Other themes include suicidal thoughts, forgiveness, jealousy, & guilt. Great read.

My daughter knows Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favs so whenever she goes somewhere and has extra time, she‘ll look for an edition that I don‘t have or which she just thinks is really cool. Needless to say, I love whatever she finds but have to say that she really outdid herself this time as she got me this Korean edition while in Seoul. Love the cover…need to start working on my Korean…❤️🦚📖🇰🇷

This novella is a fast, fun read at just around 100 pages. A group of acquaintances (not even they would call themselves friends…exactly) meet every night in a graveyard when they all step out of their jobs for a smoke. One night they find a hole…where there wasn‘t one the night before. That hole taken together with a mysterious outbreak of sudden acts of violence by people in town demands answers…which involves rats &…more. As I said, a fun read.

This was good but not Bullet Train or The Devotion of Suspect X good. An award winning Japanese locked room murder mystery, this book is about two friends who believe they can solve a 40 year old cold case that has long stumped the police as well as amateur detectives. All the clues are there & interestingly enough, the author interjects two notes within the text urging readers to try and solve the crime before the friends do. Entertaining read.

So good—the blurbs on the cover are 100% correct. This book is ingenious, excellent, & elegant. I might also add well-crafted, tense, & compelling. There is also more than one surprise which upends everything & leaves you guessing. Great characters, emotional depth, & an intricate plot easily make this one of the best mysteries I‘ve read recently. The translation is excellent, very fluid, and this was a very enjoyable, engaging read.

This was the most fun I‘ve had reading a book in a while. A man boards a bullet train looking for revenge, another pair of men board with a suitcase full of money & a hostage they rescued. A a third boards sure that the “easy” job he is on will somehow go wrong…and that‘s not everyone. Twists & turns & Thomas the Train not to mention one reveal after another constantly raises the tension on this really fun, violent, entertaining read. Loved it.

This one starts fast and I must say, so far I‘m really entertained! 🚆

This quiet, powerful story tackles school bullying, anxiety, stress, forgiveness, & friendship. Seven students, victims of school bullying, find themselves traveling through a mirror & into a mysterious castle where one of them will be granted a wish. The story unfolds slowly as they overcome their distrust, learn to open up & trust again, & as they find the courage to confront their fears. Twists at the end offer even more emotional depth. ❤️

Read this for work & thought I would mention it for two reasons. First, if you are interested in geography, mapmaking, the process of discovery, this offers a fascinating, albeit it scholarly, look at the subject (fair warning, it is definitely aimed at students/academics). More importantly, every time I read something like this, I marvel at people venturing out into the world without GPS, without knowing much about what is beyond the horizon.

Today‘s reading is an award winning book from Japan…

Spending time with the Forgers never disappoints! Love this story and these characters. Anya is a delight—and never more so than in this one when she and Damian try to find time to meet…alone…and of course nothing goes according to plan! Friendship, spy battles, Yor‘s cooking, finals, you name it, this installment has a lot going on. Fabulous, frenetic, and always fun, Spy X Family is simply the best. 😍 Highly recommend the entire series.

I didn‘t like this standalone book quite as much as Tan‘s Daughter of the Moon Goddess/Heart of the Sun Warrior duology but it was still a fun, fast paced, entertaining read. Gods, mortals, evil flying creatures, portals, love (lost and perhaps found), danger and high stakes—if you like all these things, you‘ll find a lot to like in this book. Great characters, great world building—Tan is a great writer and knows how to tell a good story.

#Two4Tuesday

1. Absolute favorite thing in winter is reading a good book with a hot cup of tea while snow is falling outside. Love the quiet, love looking out the window and seeing the snow, love diving back into the book.

2. Sometimes when I read the tagged book it‘s as if I can feel the cold wind, hear the crunch of snow under my feet. More than any other book I‘ve read, this one makes me FEEL winter.

@TheSpineView

Vol. 3 and this series is getting better & better now that we are fully involves involved in the game. What really makes this story work is the main character, Dokja, who is not only surviving but also actually thriving because he‘s read the book, he knows what happens &, most importantly, he‘s good at adapting when his actions change what happens. More danger, bigger monsters, & even great evil in this one. Fun & very entertaining series.

Fluffy snow is falling and everything is quiet—perfect reading conditions. Think I‘ll start this one today.

Actually Volume 2. When the sole reader of a 1,300+ chapter book published online finds himself & the world in the midst of that very same story, it will take all his knowledge, wit, & courage to survive. Especially when viewers of the show (because that‘s what it is) & other players have their own agendas. Danger, schemes, high stakes—it‘s a really fun, entertaining read. Even better, it‘s being adapted for a K-drama due out later this year!

This book is exactly what would happen if you mixed The Mummy with Indiana Jones with Night at the Museum with the Met Gala with Amelia Peabody—Davis throws all the best/worst archaeology, museum, tombs, curses, bad family, treasure hunting, you name it tropes at the wall and for the most part they stick. Is it in any real way accurate? No. Is it a fun and entertaining read? Yes, it is and I can see this being a fun escape for readers.

#ThreeListThursday @dabbe

Impossible to resist a “greatest books” list.

I‘ve read 56 of the 100 books which puts me, at the moment, at #20 on the list.

Favorites include the tagged book—love it and The Fellowship of the Rings—as well as I Want My Hat Back (love Klassen), American Born Chinese, and The Graveyard Book.

Books I would add: The Lightning Thief (first Percy Jackson), Stuck (Oliver Jeffers), & The Monster at the End of this Book.

Today‘s reading—the Met, ancient Egypt and a mysterious queen, a curse. What could go wrong? I imagine all sorts of fun and adventure awaits. Danger too…

Sometimes you just want to read about an underdog taking on the bad guys…creatures…whatever they might be. Happily this fit the bill perfectly. Jinwoo Sung is known as the “Weakest Hunter of All Mankind” which means he isn‘t much use when it comes to a fight…until it becomes clear it‘s going to take brains not brawn to solve the predicament he finds himself in. And then, of course, he discovers it‘s actually much more complicated. A fun read.

Can a bad story be beautifully written? This book unambiguously proves the answer is yes. There‘s no story here—which was undoubtedly the author‘s intent—it is simply 200+ pages of people marveling at the vastness of the universe, the wonder & fragility of human existence, seeing Earth from space, & the simultaneous mundanity/extreme risk of living on the space station. Gorgeous, contemplative writing but it‘s oddly lacking in emotional impact.

Today‘s reading when not working…

This may be my favorite Kosuke Kindaichi yet. In this outing, a young man learns he is the long-lost heir of a wealthy family that‘s been is disarray ever since the man‘s father, as he learns, went on a murderous rampage. What should be a joyful return home to his family quickly becomes a nightmare as people start dying. Love the twists & turns in these mysteries, the setting, characters, & tension. Another entertaining read.

#12Booksof2024

My favorite book of the year was one of the last I read in 2024. My December pick can only be the tagged book, a quietly compelling look at love and grief, myth making, history and storytelling through the lens of warring gods, a grief stricken historian, and a storyteller confronting a terrible fate. Loved the slow, deliberate pace of this book that traces myth to history to story…and much more. Excellent.

@Andrew65

#12Booksof2024

Hard to believe we‘re already up to November with our list—so fun sorting through everything I read and picking favorites. Hard too, but this month was an easy one. Loved this story about a midwife in late 18th c. Maine. Once I started I found it impossible to put down. Setting and characters—with plenty of people to love and/or hate—were fantastic. A great high stakes story that keeps you engaged from page one.

@Andrew65

Took my mom to Barnes & Noble to get her some books for her birthday…and came home with a few for myself. 😬 Surprising absolutely no one I might add…. Tagged book has been in my radar for awhile. Mom recommended Orbital and I‘ve seen a lot about Butter here and other places so I decided to give it a go.

#12Booksof2024

My favorite book in October was City of Bones, a wonderfully inventive and intriguing fantasy from Martha Wells (of Murderbot fame). One of her earlier works it nonetheless displays all the things I like her books for—great characters, snappy dialog, exceptional world building and a story that always entertains and surprises. Reading this makes me want to revisit more of her backlist.

@Andrew65

Starting a new Kosuke Kindaichi murder mystery tonight… Yokomizo‘s plots are always complex, always interesting and the atmosphere is always creepy with a healthy dose of tension and danger. I‘m anticipating another great story.

I find, as was the case throughout this excellent short story collection, that horror is often the most horrific, compelling, and impactful when it is firmly grounded in how the mundane, how the seemingly ordinary parts of life are often the scariest. From a late night drive in dense fog & life in a village surrounded (seemingly) by dog kennels, to a house on a murky pond, the horror in this books simply oozes across the pages. A good read.

#12Booksof2024

My favorite book in September was the first in a new series by the author of The Expanse. Corey (two friends writing under a pseudonym) excels at world building and in this series has created a terrifying & yet fascinating world where humans are not okay and there is a real possibility (probability?) they won‘t survive what is happening. A thrilling & engaging read with high stakes.

@Andrew65

#12Booksof2024

Favorite book in August was one that‘s made its way onto almost all (if not all) the end of year “best books” lists for 2024. I raced through this one and was surprised by how much I liked it. Really well constructed thriller with good writing, interesting & compelling characters, and a tangled bundle of secrets. Definitely an entertaining read.

@Andrew65

The family is still asleep so it‘s just me, a cup of coffee, and a short story collection from South Korea to start my 2025 reading.

🌅📖☕️

Book 221 and done in 2024. This one was every bit as fun as the first book and I definitely look forward to continuing the series. A cast of fun, quirky—and occasionally absolutely ridiculous—characters keep things lively as they navigate rivalries, adventure, and danger all the while one of them is carrying around mummified faerie remains…better not to ask…This one was really entertaining.

#Two4Tuesday

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2025 is filled with all sorts of reading fun!

1. I usually set a goal, well within my reach so I don‘t stress about achieving it, for the number of books I want to read. So, 150 for 2025.

2. Off the top of my head, I‘d have to say I‘m really looking forward to V.E. Schwab‘s new book (tagged)—I‘ve loved everything she‘s written with one exception so I‘m ready to dive into another one.

@TheSpineView

#12Booksof2024

July-this is the last short story collection to make my “favorite of the month” list. What I really enjoyed about this loosely interconnected group of stories is that they focused on older characters, the retirement set, & the trials/tribulations of a group of friends, & individuals, dealing with everything that comes with aging—the ups/downs, the gossip, the indignity, the appreciation for life. Very entertaining.

@Andrew65