This is my #top24of24! I was a bit stingier with the 5⭐️ this year, and only 8 received that (upper left quadrant plus Dead Bastards and Cue the Sun in bottom right). The rest are 4.75⭐️ and 4.5⭐️. Nine of these are nonfiction, which is about normal and pretty close to my reading NF/F split. Can‘t wait to see even more of these as the year winds up! 👏🏻📚

Thank you Chrissy!! I don‘t know your handle, but I believe these two packages are for #JSwap2024!! Thank you!!

I‘m slowly redoing my bookshelves and finished these today! Lots of cleaning out and reorganizing!

Loved this. It‘s the first non-reread I‘ve given more than 4⭐️ to this month. I love how she brought in classics like 1984 and Alice in Wonderland. A truly important read in this time of repression and book banning.

A man gets a job as a book censor in his repressive state. But he didn‘t anticipate falling in love with books. Now he must manage his books and his family with ever increasing danger from the state and the resistance. #tob25

Finished my reading Bourdain year! I will make a larger post about it soon. This book didn‘t work for me on audio but did in print. The badass couple at the center are obviously Tony and first wife Nancy. Lots of sex, lots of guns and killing, and a fair amount of n-words. 😬

When a mob informant comes to Saint Maarten, it upends the lives of Henry and Frances. In the past, he‘s done some mob work but fights to keep his slice of paradise.

Eesh. Not my favorite from #aardvark. This felt a little thin and drawn out to me. I eventually ended up skimming. Better editing (and cutting about 75 pages of redundant stuff) could‘ve helped.

Jemma finds employment at a house in New Orleans. She initially thinks she‘s being hired as a tutor, but the family has different ideas and is hiding a lot of secrets. Some may unlock parts of Jemma‘s past.

This was a bit hard to follow on audio. It is a bit hard to distinguish what is actually happening from the MC‘s imagination. That said, I‘m still thinking about it, which surprises me and took it from a so-so to low pick.

An Ethiopian immigrant returns to the US from Paris where he has a family. A death causes him to reflect on his childhood, relationships, and his family‘s immigration story. #tob25

It‘s finally here! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 #aardvark

Anyone know where I should start?

I low-key loved this. She took a married couple and showed the difficulties of their relationship in two bite-sized vacations. You first join them hosting each set of parents at the Jersey Shore. Wang highlighted the difficulties with in-laws in mixed-race marriages. Several years later the couple vacations alone in the Catskills, but nosy neighbors in the next bungalow bring out tensions in their now long-distance marriage.

I just finished this and I‘m so angry!! It‘s the story of 5 - make that 2 - siblings, and he focused on the 2 I was least interested in. One sister is disabled and gets no story. Two more you hear from in the beginning and never again. One you don‘t even know what happens to at the end. I‘m calling BS!! You had almost 500 pages!!

That said, the writing is beautiful. The characters who are explored are captivating. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Mixed bag for me.

“They‘d made a mistake. They‘d fought back against the way the world worked, tried to snatch a queer kid from the jaws of its cruel indifference…”

At its heart, outside of the blood and guts, 👆🏻 is what the book is about. I liked this much more than Manhunt, and I came to really love and root for this rag-tag group of queer kids forced into a conversion camp by their parents. I love how they immediately accepted each other for who they are.

I enjoyed this #aardvark pick. Contemporary fiction with a bit of a mystery at its heart.

Powerful newspaper editor Lila dies leaving her family reeling, especially her youngest daughter Grace who recently published an autofictional book about the family. Grace believes her grandmother, who left Lila and her siblings to an abusive father, may still be alive and in hiding.

I am surprised at the sheer number of contemporary fiction picks on the #toblonglist. I liked the choice to use a female audiobook narrator for this book focused on the life of an everyman as he navigates life from childhood to his 40s. That said, I didn‘t particularly enjoy spending time with George. He was self-centered and self-involved. Pathologically unable to learn from his mistakes. I didn‘t hate it, but I can‘t recommend it. 🤷🏻‍♀️ #tob25

First snow of the season, but I‘m headed to the post office!! #JS2024

Are we supposed to tag the person we‘re sending to?

I keep telling myself it‘s good that I got two of the longer #toblonglist books for my #bookspin and #doublespin because I have the time to read them this month. Yeah, we‘ll go with that…😂 My motto has been lately “If you can‘t say it in under 300 pages, is it worth saying?” 😬😂 …Some authors disagree with me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

December is the month I usually do #bookspinbingo. I just tried using canva to make the card, and it went…okay. Oh well! I‘ll enjoy paring down all the books I‘ve bought this year (errr…this month, too 🫢🤫). #toblonglist #aardvark

Ratings collage! I'm finishing up my #readingBourdain year. Only one to go. This month, I reread all the posthumous books written by other people. I think In the Weeds is best. (I'll tag it below.) I feel like Tom's take is between the hagiography of Bourdain and the little bit hitting-below-the-belt of Down and Out in Paradise. The Last Interview is worth picking up, too. I need to read more in that series.

Usual end-of-year slow down in reading for me. No 5 ⭐, but I highly recommend the three pictured here! I'm glad to be reading more horror. I always enjoy it more than I expect I will.

What did everyone get from @AardvarkBookClub this month?? I almost picked The Resurrectionists, but I‘m really excited about these!! I‘ve been wanting to try Armfield again. The other two weren‘t on my radar but sound up my alley. #aardvark

So this, besides 1, is all #toblonglist and #aardvark picks from this year. Excited for the last draw this year!! I may even do bingo! #bookspin

This was fun and a bit light for a typical #tob25 choice. I enjoyed it though. Struck a nice authentic chord.

A down-on-his-luck comedian is dumped by his long-term girlfriend. He struggles because, at 35, all his friends are married - most with kids. He wants that life so badly. He goes to hilarious lengths to figure out why Jen dumped him while getting a strange housemate and cobbling together jobs to keep his comedy career alive. #toblonglist

The Bonne Maman advent calendar is ready for tomorrow!

Bieker does dark really well. An abusive husband and father dies. His wife takes the blame for his murder while his daughter slips into the night and starts over in San Francisco. Told in (excellent) alternating timelines the daughter (now a mother) unravels when she hears from her estranged imprisoned mom. She also writes about her father‘s abuse and her escape.

Yeah, this is one of those #tob25 books that just seems to be obtuse and weird for the sake of it. That said, I found these friends strangely charming. Available on #hoopla. Def a #borrownotbuy!

Two friends are navigating college and the life after when animals suddenly start stalking people on city streets. A billionaire kills all the animals in the world with a sound pulse. Later, one friend finds herself in his thrall. #toblonglist

Great questions! I don‘t have a fave song atm, but I‘m enjoying the 90s Alternative subreddit crowdsourced alphabetical playlist that has the top ten vote getters for each letter. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XLGgFmT10ZiXbIPEnpuC8?si=GPsRxt-yRxiD2nY3BIVH... it‘s reminded me of many favorite songs!

I hope the MC of Good Material takes a cue from Swift‘s “We Are Never Getting Back Together”! 😬

Yawn. 🥱 This #toblonglist choice was kinda a chore. Maybe I‘ve had too much politics, but looking back at a young man‘s fictionalized work on the Obama campaign was just not something I‘m into right now. Maybe if I had read it before Harris lost I‘d feel different, but now…🤦🏻‍♀️

I don‘t think the book is poorly written I just didn‘t want to read it. If you find the premise interesting, give it a shot. #tob25

Serendipitously, I was reading this #toblonglist choice when it was announced. It was what I needed at the moment. Offbeat weird funny book that isn‘t sticking with me at all. I liked it, but you don‘t need to run out and read it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

A mild-mannered man gets a blood test that predicts a life of criminality in his future. He immediately goes and shoplifts gardening shears. Things just get wackier from there. #tob25

I still need to look and see which I'd like to read, but here is a list of ones I have & ones I own. Since I was so scant on doing reviews parts of this year I've marked the ones I loved (top pick!) and ones that were still fantastic (HM - honorable mention). I honestly didn't think I would've read so many because I've read more nonfiction and fewer books overall this year. ToB and I just must've been on the same wavelength. #tob25 #tob25longlist

Another banger from Read with Jenna this Fall! (With my new bookends)

May writes of cousins - one in England the other in Nigeria, who are brought together by one tragedy and torn apart by another. I was super invested in these characters! I didn‘t care for May‘s debut, Wahala, but I‘m glad I gave her another shot!

I enjoyed this, but I didn‘t love it. The audiobook is extremely well done with Riley reading her reflections on her mom and Julia Roberts reading Lisa Marie‘s parts. Overall, I wanted more but feel embarrassed to ask for it. Riley has lost so much that she was brave to take this on. I just yearned for something meatier. Most surprising revelation: Lisa Marie and Michael Jackson weren‘t a stunt, and she took his virginity. 😳

If you want to cook classic French dishes, this is a good cookbook. However, it requires access to a good butcher and ordered specialty supplies for many recipes. It‘s not one I‘ll be referring to often, but I enjoyed Tony‘s asides and advice. I think Appetites, his later home cookbook with recipes from his travels, is the more visually interesting, easier to cook from book…except when he recommends buying $200 cans of tuna…

Reading Bourdain year cont…

I read that a good portion of this book was researched and written by his first wife, and after reading his books for a year, I tend to agree. But she did a great job. Short but informative. The chapters about food are clearly in his distinctive voice. The fascinating dive into first-person sources didn‘t read like Tony at all.

If you‘re interested in learning more about Mary from an empathetic perspective, read this.

This short story collection was more hits than misses. She examines the intersection of being Black and Puerto Rican in America.

It‘s bookended by stories about a college girl who joins a convent. The first told by the men lusting after her and the final story by her. Another hit was a multiple perspective story about a man married to one sister while in love with and a father to the other‘s children. #doublespin

This was a wild true crime book about the evolution of fundamentalist Mormon colonies in Mexico from the 1800s on but with special focus on the LeBaron family and their current issues with narco trafficking. Even Keith Raniere of NXIVM has a cameo. Let‘s just say these Mormon colonies have evolved quite differently than the ones in the US. Interesting audiobook!

My email to @BarbaraBB about this book when I finished it last night:

1. The English translation is really well done.
2. The use of negative space was incredible.
3. The suspense was superb.

4. I didn‘t get the ending at all.

This reads very YA, but the type of YA I actually enjoy. (Plucky female heroine!) However the will they/won‘t they romantic subplot really wore on me by the end.

Sophie is a very sheltered virginal Catholic high schooler. Her parents have been hiding that a deadly disease is spreading across the country that causes victims to viciously attack and rape others. Sophie must find her way out of this hellscape on her own. #aardvark

This is my second book by Hamya, and I have the same complaint. She writes about emotional subject matter in a way that comes across as completely devoid of emotion to me. It‘s jarring in a bad way.

An author writes vulgar books and sleeps around. He doesn‘t like it very much when his daughter invites him to as play she‘s written about this and its affect on her life.

Yeah, I didn‘t like this at all. I think Jenny and I just have very different senses of humor because this was more tedious than funny to me. I didn‘t like Little Weirds either, so I think I‘ll probably pass if she writes another. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I‘ve sat on my #bookspin review for a couple of days. Blake‘s wife committed suicide at 39 just a few years into their marriage. She was a poet and had written a memoir about her dad‘s bank robberies and deceptions. He found out Molly was hiding secrets of her own. But is this intimate, unflattering portrait of a very troubled woman his story to tell? I‘m not sure. He lets himself off and his flaws off too easy. Good book but should it exist?

Two pages in and I‘m already finding this all too relatable!!

Such an important read now. The authors look at the link between right wing conspiracy thought and new age gurus. The historical ties between yoga and fascism and abuses within that movement were interesting. They also talked about specific new age social media influencers that spread false information about Covid and tried to “red pill” followers. Based on their podcast if you‘re more into those.

Wow. Just wow. This book takes a haunted house story and puts it through a funhouse mirror. I don‘t want to say too much. Just read it.

Ezri has returned to Dallas with their daughter to be with their sisters when both parents die suddenly and violently at home. The three siblings untangle the knots of childhood trauma as they deal with their parents‘ deaths and the house that may have caused them.

Dinner in the oven and an #aardvark box delivery! Winning at life!

Perfect title! This is the book I needed this week. Relatively mindless and darkly funny millennials complaining about marriage, art, and academia.

Moddie has ended a 10-year relationship and returned to X, a small Midwestern town with a university where many of her high school friends have taken positions. When visiting artist David arrives, too, their new presence shakes up pre-existing friendships and marriages.

So Bourdain‘s fiction is straight mid except for his short story collection (tagged below) that I read last month and gave 4.25⭐️. That said, if you‘re a big fan (or a completist 🙋🏻‍♀️), it‘s worth a read. There are fun Easter eggs of places he discusses in his later memoirs. It is so strange that he always has to write himself into books even if it makes little sense to the plot. (A junkie chef in this one.) There were long scenes ⬇️

I don‘t like YA because the drama feels a bit melodramatic. And while Dellaria did dial it back some from her YA roots, her first novel didn‘t hit a natural pitch. Plus, there are more young orphans than a Disney movie!

Annie and Juliette are best friends growing up in LA. When they separate for college, Juliette meets Noah. Years later Noah is trying to make it in Hollywood with his girlfriend Jesse. Their four lives colliding = devastation. ⬇️

Going to try to come back to reviews. Of course, I‘m starting with a hard book I didn‘t understand. I just couldn‘t grasp the why of this book. The Blake Crouch-ish aspects started way too late to pack a punch.

A woman moves back to Florida with her husband to care for her parents. She flashes back to times in an asylum there and works on her relationship for her sister but is flummoxed when the sister goes missing.

So I didn‘t know this was going to happen this year, but I‘ve slowly been reading my way through all of Bourdain‘s books. Some I hadn‘t read — like his graphic novels, which I just thought were okay — and others I‘ve read in new ways like this annotated version of KC that I really enjoyed. All I have left now is Les Halles CB, Typhoid Mary, and Bone in the Throat. Gone Bamboo I read on audio, and the format didn‘t work for me, so ⬇️

I‘ve got a stinkin‘, spoiled rotten dog on my heated throw this morning preventing me from taking a proper bookshelf picture, but I‘m not complaining! 😂

I was sure 12 would be picked, so I changed what was there 5 times. I ended on a book about suicide. I‘m now afraid it will be too emotionally draining 😬 #bookspin. My #doublespin is a short story collection that has been on my TBR forever.

The one review I posted recently was of my last Doublespin, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, which I loved. My Bookspin, Up in the Air on which the Clooney film was based, was a bust. Hoping for two good ones in November! Thanks Sarah for keeping this going into the quarter-century mark! 😱😱

Damn! Aardvark coming in hot again! And the tagged one is signed. I just couldn‘t help myself. 😂 #aardvark