- Mar 31
Review of You Can't Be Serious by Kal Penn
Penn's thoughtful memoir explores serious issues yet also made me laugh out loud. You Can't Be Serious is both thoughtful and playful, and I loved the audiobook. I'm generally in for memoirs, and lately I've been drawn to memoirs by funny people. Kal Penn's smart, fun You Can't Be Serious explores his early struggles to make it in Hollywood as he straddles humorous roles and dramatic opportunities; attempts to deflect racism from casting heads and writers; and digs in to try
- Mar 30
Review of The Oceanography of the Moon by Glendy Vanderah
The Oceanography of the Moon reads like a romance, with superlative moments, emotional encounters with art and music, and clean resolutions to the story's various complications. Riley lives on her cousins’ Wisconsin farm, where she’s grown up since the death of her mother. She cares for her captivating young cousin, finds peace in the natural world around her, and retreats within herself. Ten years after her arrival, Riley is twenty-one and has begun to chafe at the small sco
- Mar 29
Review of Quantum Girl Theory by Erin Kate Ryan
In Erin Kate Ryan's historical fiction mystery, she uses a fascinating story structure to explore different potential paths for interlinked young women in the Jim Crow South. In Erin Kate Ryan's recently published historical fiction mystery Quantum Girl Theory, Mary Garrett focuses on finding missing girls, and she keeps her own past, her secrets, and her emotions about all of it penned up tightly. When she arrives in the Jim Crow South to investigate a girl who has disappear
- Mar 28
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 3/28/22 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham's recent mystery about the disappearances of young women and seeking justice; I'm listening to Kal Penn's memoir You Can't Be Serious, which takes on his acting journey as well as his political career; and I'm reading my first book from John Lescroart, the upcoming (to be published tomorrow!) legal thriller The Missing Piece. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 A Flicker in t
- Mar 25
Six Riveting Time-Travel Stories to Explore
The Time-Travel Books What are your favorite time-travel books? I had trouble narrowing down this list, and I love a time-travel book in any genre. I'd love to hear about others you love! If you're intrigued by time-travel stories, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories. 01 Recursion by Blake Crouch In Blake Crouch's Recursion, Barry Sutton is a NYC cop looking into a suicide. Helena Smith is a neuroscientist
- Mar 24
Review of Tess of the Road (Tess of the Road #1) by Rachel Hartman
Rachel Hartman's young adult story follows irresistible, hardheaded, wonderfully faulted Tess as she breaks from rigid medieval gender roles in favor of adventure and discovery. It's captivating, sometimes weighty, and often playful, but never silly. She felt like she was seeing with two different eyes: an eye full of stars that still saw the romance, and a new eye, one she'd acquired while walking, an eye full of... It was full of fire, she decided. Her second eye saw the fl
- Mar 23
Review of This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
ICYMI: This five-star read--part memoir/part essay--is one of my favorite books of Ann Patchett's, and I didn't want her reflections and stories to end. “Sometimes love does not have the most honorable beginnings, and the endings, the endings will break you in half. It’s everything in between we live for.” In This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, a book that's part memoir, part essay, Ann Patchett shares personal stories ranging from her childhood through young adulthood and
- Mar 22
Review of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a fictional account of an interracial music duo's rise to success (and their famous split) in which race and gender issues loomed larger for me than the musical framework of the story. In Dawnie Walton's novel The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton shapes an oral history of two music idols, tracing their family lives, youthful experiences, how they met each other, their creative expression, and the passion that
- Mar 21
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 3/21/22 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading What Happened to the Bennetts, the upcoming mystery from the prolific Lisa Scottoline; the upcoming character-driven novel The Oceanography of the Moon by Glendy Vanderah, author of Where the Forest Meets the Stars, a book I loved; and my book club's next read, Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline In Lisa Scottoline's up
- Mar 18
Six Science Fiction Favorites to Dive Into
Science Fiction Faves I've been giving book talks lately about stories I've loved and upcoming titles I'm excited about, and I've seen some eyes-glazing-over reactions when I gush about science fiction books. I love character-driven science fiction stories. Sci-fi books can be so lovely and weird and immersive, and the stories can dive into so many fascinating big-deal issues, like feeling a greater purpose, facing a deep responsibility to other beings, undertaking noble miss
- Mar 17
Review of Honor by Thrity Umrigar
The issues Umrigar confronts in Honor are weighty and fascinating, but I found myself distracted by the story's pacing and an unsympathetic main protagonist. In Thrity Umrigar's Honor, Indian-American journalist Smita has reluctantly returned to India to pitch in for a friend. She's reporting on the case of Meena, a Hindu woman who was brutally punished by her village and her family for marrying a Muslim man, with those around her made to pay dearly as well. Delving into Meen
- Mar 16
Review of Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano
Finlay dips her toe into a criminal underworld in the second in Cosimano's campy mystery series. She juggles motherhood, her ex, her writing career, paying the bills, and two love interests while trying not to accidentally kill anyone--or die along the way. In Elle Cosimano's first book in this series, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, we meet main protagonist Finlay Donovan: an author and a recently single mom, divorced from a cheating man who's easy to detest. She's struggling
- Mar 15
Review of Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama: A Memoir by Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk's memoir digs into fascinating elements of process, creativity, and collaboration, and he shares his own missteps, joys, and his unexpected satisfaction in playing dramatic roles after a long career in fringe and mainstream comedy. You might know Odenkirk from his role as the sleazy lawyer with a heart in the show Breaking Bad, or from his lead role in the spinoff series I love, Better Call Saul. Or you might know him from his older work as a Saturday Night Live
- Mar 14
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 3/14/22 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead, the second in Elle Cosimano's playful Finlay Donovan mystery series; I'm reading Quantum Girl Theory, a recent gothic mystery about a finder of missing girls from Erin Kate Ryan; and I'm listening to Dawnie Wilton's fictional musical history, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano In Elle Cosimano's first b
- Mar 11
Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories
The Second-Chance Books I've been reminded lately how much I love a good second-chance book in which the main character gets the opportunity to go back and try again, redo their life, shift their circumstances, or change the situation around them. It's an irresistible do-over premise for me: a flawed human gets another shot at existing in this unpredictable, problematic, glorious world--and appreciating it more fully while changing their original outcomes. Three more I'd like
- Mar 10
Review of Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu
In Marie Lu's young adult dystopian series starter Legend, the Republic and Colonies war with each other, a plague separates the haves from the have-nots, and young people fighting to find out the truth might just upend established, corrupt power structures for good. In Marie Lu's young adult Legend, the first in the dystopian series of the same name, the west of the United States is a region called the Republic, and it frequently clashes and fights with its neighbors. Fiftee
- Mar 9
Review of Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams
Williams's historical fiction mystery--based on real-life double agents in the Cambridge Spy Ring--is vividly set in Europe and Russia and was a rare five-star read for me. In Beatriz Williams's historical fiction, Our Woman in Moscow, my book club's most recent read, it's 1948, and Iris Digby, her American diplomat husband Sasha, and their two children have disappeared overnight. Those who knew and worked with them are shocked. Were the Digbys abducted by Soviet agents...or
- Mar 8
Review of The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy #1 by Nora Roberts
I listened to this romantic fantasy about a chosen one, a long-lost family, portals to a magical world, and a treasure of a best friendship, and while I wasn't often surprised, I had fun along the way. When I was asking for dragon-book recommendations so that I could beef up my Dragons shelf on Goodreads and put together a post of my favorite dragon books (that's right, love it or leave it!), several people asked if I'd read Nora Roberts's Dragon Heart Legacy series. I had no
- Mar 7
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 3/7/22 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Rachel Hartman's Tess of the Road, fantasy about a headstrong young woman finding her way--and also, dragons; I'm reading Bob Odenkirk's conversational brand-new memoir about comedy and life, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama; and I'm listening to the first in the prolific Marie Lu's young adult fantasy Legend series. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman First off, get a load of this gorg
- Mar 4
Six Rockin' Stories about Bands and Music
Who likes a little rock with their reading? I recently read The Unsinkable Greta James, and it made me think again about all the great books I've read that have music at their hearts and how it always strikes me that it must be a uniquely difficult task to convey the power of fictitious music. Here are six of my favorite fiction works that have to do with rock and roll, writing songs, performing, and the musician and band dynamics that keep it all wonderfully unpredictable an