I‘ve never read anything about the Spanish Civil War or the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. I learned a lot from this book and think Ruta Sepetys is doing such important work, writing about complex and dark historical moments for young people. That said, I did get impatient and feel like it dragged on in places, and I found the whole ending pat and a little too cleanly tied up. I‘m interested in reading her earlier books, which seem tighter.

Geraldine Brooks‘ Pulitzer Prize-winning March follows the absent patriarch of Louisa May Alcott‘s Little Women in his service as chaplain during the Civil War. While I appreciate Brooks‘ detailed historical contextualization and the point she makes about moral rigidity, I felt March lacked the warmth and beauty required to be persuasive as a counterpoint to its source of inspiration.

I listened to this audiobook with my husband and in-laws on our way to and from Indiana for Thanksgiving, care of Libro.fm! Bill Bryson had us laughing hysterically every 20-30 minutes for 12 hours! I loved learning about the history, environment, culture, and geography of this utterly unique country/continent, while laughing at Bryson‘s misadventures along the way! 🦘

Set in the 1800s, The Signature of All Things follows the life of Alma Whitaker, the naturalist, moss-obsessed daughter of a self-made plant magnate, from before her birth to her old age. The beauty and enjoyment in this book are in the twists and turns of a life fully lived, not plot. Within these pages, you‘ll find curiosity and love, desire and sexuality, god and science, family and sacrifice, all the grandeur and humble detail of life itself.

I found Shrill so entertaining, funny, comforting, and validating to read, it would be easy to dismiss its importance. Shrill is Lindy West‘s debut collection of autobiographical essays and the basis for the Hulu series starring Aidy Bryant. Just like its author, this book is loud in all the best ways, its ferocity and humor casting out trolls and carving out a space for women‘s voices and bodies at the volume of their choosing.

I found this collection of essays by Shrill author Lindy West unexpectedly delightful to listen to. It‘s not that I didn‘t think I‘d enjoy The Witches Are Coming, I just wasn‘t expecting how funny and warm it would be in addition to being sharp and incisive. Reading Shrill next! Thank you to Libro.fm for this free listening copy!

I probably would have passed this by but for the praise of several fellow booksellers! I‘m glad I gave it a try, listening to the audiobook on Libro.fm with my husband. This was way quirkier and twistier than I expected, and it charmed me! Nina‘s struggle to rise above her own anxiety, trust issues, and introversion really spoke to me and were written really realistically. You‘ll root for Nina till the end!

This short audiobook is a great introduction to the life and work of the iconic primatologist Jane Goodall. Especially well suited to a young audience, the audio includes sound effects that bring Jane Goodall‘s story to life. This definitely got me interested in learning more! Thanks to Libro.fm for the free listening copy!

It‘s the early 20th Century in Vermont, and January Scaller, the “exotic”-looking ward of a wealthy collector who employs her absent adventurer father, discovers that she can open doors to other worlds. What she finds is a lost history, a tragic romance, a nefarious plot, and a wide open horizon. While this didn‘t blow my mind, it was a very satisfying fantasy, impressive from a debut author, and I‘ll be keeping an eye out for Harrow‘s next book!

This collection of essays by New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino was a delight to read, sharp and full of insights about the self in a culture of self-deception and identity in the era of feminism and the internet, self-optimization and the scam artist.

Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan taught their daughter that science reveals the wonder of a world greater than the limits of myth. Here, Sasha writes with such reverence, beauty, and tenderness about how we can find meaning as humble humans on a pale blue dot through ceremony, celebration, and ritual. Part memoir, part guidebook, and part social history, this reminded me of the grandeur of the universe and the magic of finding our own place within it.

With just 5 days until Halloween, this graphic novel is the ultimate cozy read to soak up all the Fall feels! Deja and Josiah have been buddies each Autumn for years while working at the world‘s best pumpkin patch and in Pumpkinheads, we join them on their last night at the patch before heading off to college the next Fall. What starts like any other night at the patch becomes an epic and romantic adventure complete under the harvest moon! 🎃

I love a full cast audiobook, not to mention Meryl Streep as the narrator! Thank you to Libro.fm for the free listening copy! This was such a delightful way to return to this childhood classic whose insights into friendship, life, and death endure.

I actually found myself quietly thrilled while reading these fresh and personal takes on the March sisters of Little Women. My favorites were Kate Bolick, author of Spinster, on Meg and our relationship with clothing and Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties, on Beth and illness and how we and others narrate our lives. A wonderful fresh look at Little Women, perfect for following a reread before the new film adaptation!

Wayfarers fans seeking the warmth and comfort of Becky Chambers‘ flagship series might need to look elsewhere, but for what it‘s worth, I loved this darker yet still tender and beautiful look at the universe. What you will indeed find is a queer and considered look at humanity, discovery, and hope. As always, I can‘t wait for what comes next from Becky Chambers.

The ultimate cozy read! With all the excitement over the new Greta Gerwig adaptation, it was time to revisit this classic! Pleasantly, I found myself just as entranced at 28 as I did at 10. Yes, there are some dated gender ideas and more religion than I remembered, but I found myself deeply inspired by the focus on self-improvement that the transcendental Marches promote. I laughed at, cried for, and loved those March sisters all over again!

Cyrus Grace Dunham, sibling to Lena, writes gorgeously and grippingly of their gender journey, but the overwhelming and graphic depictions of emotional pain paired with the seeming obliviousness to their privilege as a ridiculously wealthy and vastly supported person made this book a so-so for me. I‘m glad this exists because we need more representation on bookshelves but I can‘t wholeheartedly recommend it.

I‘m trying to parse out how much of not loving this book was just the audiobook narrator not working for me. The audiobook narrator sounds like she‘s reading a picture book—everything occurs as infantile even when it‘s profound trauma being described. When I reflect on the plot and characters, I feel moved and like it more than I did while listening to it, but the characters still feel a little underdeveloped and the plot disjointed to me.

My husband and I own two bookstores and listened to Simon Sinek‘s Start with Why together a few years ago and have had many discussions on our “why” ever since! In The Infinite Game, Sinek urges us to reconsider our view of what “winning” means in business. In a finite game, like chess, we win and then go home, but business is an infinite game, to win is to stay in the game and keep playing. Thanks to Libro.fm for the free listening copy!

I really struggled getting through this and am glad I finished it, but it was eye-opening and mind-altering. Be prepared for dense philosophy! The Spell of the Sensuous is about how the development of the alphabet contributed to the severing of our relationship with nature; non-representational written language moved our vivid “reading” of/relationship with the world around us to a more solipsistic reading of/relationship with ourselves.

English professor Leah Price turns our common conceptions about the health and history of the book on its head in this concentrated examination of how we‘ve thought of books and reading through time. I particularly enjoyed her chapters on biblio-therapy and book activism. It did feel a bit rangy and scattered to me—but full of fascinating facts about books to ponder!

This was my first Philippa Gregory and I didn‘t know what to expect. I really enjoyed the slow, pleasant pace, rich detail, and getting to know Alinor and the remote tidelands during the English Civil War. I believe this is the first in a new series, but I loved how realistically this book ended. While I enjoyed it, I don‘t plan on reading a sequel, because I felt satisfied with this story and its setting, but I‘m interested in her other books.

Having escaped the Hinterland with the help of Ellery Finch, Alice is back in gritty NYC, and so are that dark world‘s other denizens—and someone‘s murdering them one by one. Meanwhile, Ellery‘s seeking his own way out of the dying Hinterland and back to Alice. The Night Country builds off the world of The Hazel Wood beautifully, becoming a door to a vast, wonderfully constructed universe that gleams with magic like a blade glinting in the dark.

For anyone who grew up gifted but ditched art & has asked, “What if?” Now you‘ll be asking, “Where has this book been all my life?” As a kid, Friedman played viola at Interlochen Arts Camp. Now she‘s a freelance writer questioning what creative success means. Talking to her campmates, she discovers a range of creative engagement & encourages us all to make peace with the possible selves of our pasts & rediscover the creativity within us all along.

More page-turner than think piece, The Testaments is a different book from its predecessor. What I love about Handmaid‘s Tale is that cerebral interiority that‘s missing from Testaments, but that‘s not a bad thing. 34 years later, maybe Atwood thinks we need action and a dream of defeating evil. This sequel is written by a much different author for a much different audience at a much different historical moment, and I‘m here for its hopefulness.

I just wasn‘t wowed by this. This collection of essays felt disconnected and at times too “essay-ie,” like I could imagine the author flying around forcing meaning from random situations. There were many moments when I enjoyed the meanings Jamison was presenting, and I definitely enjoyed learning about the loneliest whale and the museum of broken relationships and Jamison‘s experience as a stepmother, but the book as a whole never gelled for me.

True to her form, this is a memoir not necessarily of the events of Solnit‘s coming of age, but rather the greater influences in her development as a feminist, an activist, and a writer in 1980s San Francisco. Solnit describes the formation of her own voice while interrogating the culture that silences women through violence and disregard. Sure to inspire and vindicate many and offer encouragement to all to invest in voices long suppressed!

The reviews are killer and the themes of race, gender, and environment are so relevant, but from the get-go, I felt unsure about the writing. A strong plot can carry weak dialogue though. I can see why Jodi Picoult couldn‘t put it down, but to me it was because it was a train wreck. This is sure to be a controversial book rich for discussion, but to me it‘s problematic at best and ultimately unhelpful to racial, gender, and environmental justice.

Second time reading! How a young woman, raised without modern medicine, schooling, or a birth certificate in a remote Mormon, survivalist household in Idaho, earned a PhD from Cambridge is an incredible story on its own. It is, however, Tara Westover's unflinching and authentic examination of her interior life and her education's impact on her relationship to herself and her family that makes this memoir so absorbing and important. A must read!

In the 1970s, a dramatic experiment conducted by a Stanford psychologist shook the foundations of psychiatry and contributed to the floodgate release of mental patients in the 1980s. Dr. Rosenhan convinced 7 sane people to join him in committing themselves to asylums. But who were these “pseudopatients” and what really happened to them? In pursuit of the truth, Cahalan leads us into the greater landscape of the history of psychiatry in America.

In Hysterical, journalist Eleanor Morgan seeks to understand the connections between women‘s mental and physical health and their hormones. I think this was an ambitious attempt at something doctors still don‘t understand, but what emerges is worthy—a consciousness-raising look at what cultural factors keep us from understanding and accepting these connections and encouragement to be more curious and less silent about our bodies.

A Wild Sheep Chase is my first Murakami! The synopsis cannot do it justice, but an ad executive in 1978 uses a postcard image of sheep in an ad and suddenly finds himself (and his psychic ear-modeling girlfriend) on a literal wild sheep chase under pressure from a powerful right wing boss. This book runs on dream logic, but it‘s more vivid, strange, & real than any dream I‘ve ever had. I feel kind of hypnotized! What Murakami would you recommend?

This was my least favorite Rainbow Rowell so far, but I‘m still going to read the sequel, Wayward Son, when it comes out next month. It took a while to lift off for me, and Simon isn‘t very likeable until you see him with Baz. I do think RR riffs off all the “Chosen One” tropes beautifully; I just felt like the romance was a little rushed once it started, so I didn‘t get as many of those delicious Rowellian lead up to romance feels.

This was my first Anne Lamott, and we picked this audiobook for a short car trip. It was okay! Anne Lamott was funny and thoughtful and there were some interesting perspectives, but it felt scattered at times. I‘m probably just not the right reader for this.

Don‘t be put off by the preciousness of the title. If you‘re a woman who lost your mother young, this is a must read. There are a lot of behaviors & attitudes I have that I was aware are related to childhood trauma, but it was astonishing to learn how much of these are common to women whose mothers died young. I now want to push this into the hands of every motherless daughter I meet. You‘re not alone in your grief or your experience of the world.

Can you imagine meeting the love of your life in Auschwitz? Though this incredible story reads like fiction, for Lale and Gita Sokolov, this was the reality of their life. I agree with other readers that the writing doesn‘t make this a literary masterpiece, but it doesn‘t have to—the story is so valuable, and it‘s astonishing to think after so many years there are still powerful stories of survival and heroism like this one waiting to be told.

This was my least favorite of Becky Chambers‘ Wayfarer series, but that doesn‘t mean I didn‘t absolutely love it! Each book in the Wayfarer series has filled me with tenderness, self-compassion, empathy, and much needed perspective. This installment explores the Exodan fleet through several characters, and the culture and system of the fleet is a fascinating backdrop to the everyday extraordinary of human life wherever you are in time and space.

I‘m not a YA reader anymore, mostly because I find the romances so unbelievable. Rainbow Rowell is my super number 1 exception. She writes with so much verisimilitude and tenderness and humor. In Fangirl and in Eleanor and Park, she captures the anxious rush of falling for someone for the first time as well as the difficulty of growing up and the love and pain we experience through our families. So well written and so much fun to read! A favorite.

This was my first Malcolm Gladwell, and now I have to go read everything else! In Talking to Strangers, Gladwell investigates what goes wrong when we interact with people we don‘t know, using dramatic scenarios ripped from the headlines, history, psychology, and criminology. Gladwell begins and ends with the tragic death of Sandra Bland, and it‘s impossible to ignore how urgently we need better strategies of understanding strangers.

This brutal, heart-tenderizing memoir was not what I expected from the sweet cover! Mailhot writes gorgeously and with a fierce, direct vulnerability that‘s almost unbearable at times, whether recollecting her mother‘s death, her institutionalization, or losing her son in court. Mailhot bares the heart of the “difficult woman,” and as someone who has also borne that title, I thank her for these heart berries—they come straight from the chest.

This YA romantic fantasy graphic novel is what 2019 needs! Hard of hearing teen witch Nova works for her grandmothers at their magic rare bookshop. One night, she finds her childhood crush, the non-binary werewolf Tam, has returned to town pursued by dark magical forces. Nova and Tam find themselves up against challenges both within and without, but with their love and the support of their community, they have the power to prevail. So lovely!

In this brief but powerful alternate history, the WWII-era Radium Girls, sickened by the radioactive paint with which they are numbering clockfaces, are replaced by elephants. Intelligent and powerless, they too are abused and manipulated into this deathly work against their will. This is a potent, sharp, and imaginative investigation of the consequences of injustice, the force of story, and the power of community.

Poet Heather Christle began researching and writing The Crying Book at a time when tears were most copious for her, while both grieving the suicide of a close friend and anxiously preparing for the birth of her daughter. What emerges from Christle‘s exploration of the act of crying is both intimate and intellectual, particular and profound, as she dives into the significance of tears personally, scientifically, and historically.

While I enjoyed the dynamics between Elizabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas, Nathaniel‘s epic sass, and the romantic elements of the story, that was about all that I enjoyed in Sorcery of Thorns, and it just didn‘t add up to a consistently enjoyable or meaningful read for me. I felt like it should have ended several times before the end.

Country music legend Blaze Foley once lived in a treehouse in the woods of my own Carroll County in the 1970s with writer Sybil Rosen. This memoir of those years together, their romance, and Blaze‘s tragic and untimely death is the basis for the 2018 film Blaze, which Sybil co-wrote with director Ethan Hawke. Country music fans and literary memoir fans will all find something to move them to tears in this gorgeous book. Read, watch, listen! 📗🎞🎶

I guess this just wasn‘t for me! I‘m not a mystery reader at all—murder just ain‘t my cup of tea, no matter how cozy! But I‘d heard picturesque Three Pines was populated with lovable characters I‘d want to visit again and again, so I thought I‘d give it a try! Unfortunately, I just didn‘t connect with the characters and I found the mystery scintillating enough to finish this one but not enough to read further books.

Those disappointed to learn the sequel to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet doesn‘t star the crew of the Wayfarer won‘t be disappointed long. I think I fell even more deeply in love with Pepper and Lovelace in this standalone novel. Becky Chambers‘ optimistic form of sci-fi is the ultimate in self-care reading, and Rachel Dulude is the perfect narrator. I can‘t wait for the next!

This meditation on grief and wildness and memory is gorgeously written. I think there‘s something about grief that we imagine will be heartwrenching and cathartic to read about but is so deep and intimate that it remains slightly aloof all the while. H is for Hawk captures that and the strange and completely individualized ways we deal with the inescapable reality that those we love we will lose someday.

Blue and Red are elite agents on opposite sides of the time war. When Blue leaves Red a cheeky letter on a battlefield, an unlikely correspondence begins that could get them both killed. With Garden closing in on one side and Commandant on the other, Blue and Red must put all their training to the test to save each other. This fun, fast, and poetic novella traces humanity to its possible extremes and finds the common thread that holds us together.

It‘s New Years Eve 1984 and Lillian Boxfish, aged 84(ish), is taking a walk through Manhattan. Formerly the highest paid advertising woman in the country, Lillian looks back on the highs and lows of a long life and career as she meets the diverse denizens populating a 1980s NYC in decline. Lillian‘s perceptions of the city and its people, both past and present, are so authentic, full of wisdom, generosity, and a welcome touch of the bitter.