- Nov 30, 2022
Review of An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken
ICYMI: Elizabeth McCracken shares her heartbreaking, gorgeous, terrible story of loss and love surrounding the loss of her baby at nine months in utero and her experience living through grief in this stellar five-star memoir. "This is the happiest story in the world with the saddest ending." Elizabeth McCracken was happily single, focused on her writing career. But then she found herself in love and married, thrilled to be expecting a child, living in rural France. Life held
- Nov 29, 2022
Review of The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken
McCracken straddles the line between novel and memoir in a work whose heart is a love letter to her extraordinary mother. The author explores her own wonder, joy, loss, and peace as she reflects on the formidable woman after her death. After her larger-than-life mother's death, the narrator of The Hero of This Book faces the sale of the family home in New England and travels to her mother's favorite city, London. She considers whether her role as an author offers an opportuni
- Nov 28, 2022
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 11/28/22 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Circus Train, Amita Parikh's upcoming novel set in a 1920s circus world as World War II looms; I'm reading When the Day Comes, Gabrielle Meyer's time-travel story of a woman leading two drastically different lives in two eras and forced to choose; and I'm reading The Box in the Woods, a stand-alone young adult mystery from Maureen Johnson that features smart, determined Stevie Bell from the Truly Devious series--and hopefully also inc
- Nov 25, 2022
Shhh! Holiday Cookbook Gift Ideas
The Cookbook Gift Ideas This is the first of several Bossy book gift idea lists I'll share on Fridays leading up to the holidays. I hope you'll find a book or two in these lists to delight you or someone you love! I spend most of the year focusing on fiction titles, with a healthy dose of memoirs and some nonfiction mixed in. When it comes to giving books as gifts, I often focus on books that correlate with my loved ones' hobbies--and I know a lot of wonderful cooks. Here are
- Nov 24, 2022
Thankful for Five-Star Bossy Reads
Thankful for Five-Star Bossy Favorites I've been thinking through my favorite books of the year for an upcoming year-end Greedy Reading List I'll be posting--and I'm always thankful for books and reading. So today I wanted to reshare some of my five-star reads from the past in case you need a great long-weekend read or book gift idea. I try to read books I'll enjoy, find interesting, and/or be entertained by, and a five-star read is a special one for me. It may make me feel a
- Nov 23, 2022
Review of True Biz by Sara Nović
True Biz is a coming-of-age story, a beginner's primer on Deaf culture, and a captivating novel about romance, disappointment, fury, and loyalty. I happily read it in one sitting. Students at the residential River Valley School for the Deaf are trying to get through finals, maintain teenage crushes on each other, and make the most of living out from under their parents' roofs. But the hearing headmistress February (a CODA--a child of deaf adults), the rebellious new transfer
- Nov 22, 2022
Review of Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
Kevin Wilson's wonderfully odd 1990s coming-of-age novel centers around teens Frankie and Zeke, their mysterious artistic creation, and the work's ripple effect, which reaches well beyond what they ever could have imagined. Sixteen-year-old aspiring writer Frankie is just trying to get through a late 1990s summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, where she's lived all her life. Despite her noisy, raucous household (she has triplet brothers and a busy single mom), she's used to being a
- Nov 21, 2022
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 11/21/22 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Blackwater Falls, a recently published thriller by Ausma Zehanat Khan about the mystery of missing immigrant girls in Colorado; I'm reading True Biz, Sara Novic's coming-of-age story set in a boarding school for deaf students; and I'm reading Tell Me an Ending, Jo Harkin's speculative fiction about the purposeful erasing of memories--and what might happen if someone who wanted to forget suddenly remembers all of their past pain. What are
- Nov 18, 2022
My Six Favorite Book Club Books of 2022
Book club love! These are my favorite book club reads from the past year. We also read Betty, We Are Not Like Them, All Her Little Secrets, Cultish, Beautiful Country, and These Precious Days by Ann Patchett. I haven't read that last one yet, and it could turn this list upside down, because I do love me some Ann Patchett! For my favorite book club reads from the past, check out the Greedy Reading Lists Six Book Club Books I Loved Last Year and Six Book Club Books I Loved in 2
- Nov 17, 2022
Review of The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
ICYMI: Graham Moore tells a historical fiction tale based on real events surrounding the rise of the light bulb--with compelling conflicts, spying, details of high society, and various characters' exploration of the billion-dollar question: Who can rightfully claim to have invented this life-changing invention? The Last Days of Night is a fictionalized account based on the dramatic Edison-Westinghouse-Tesla conflicts during the rise of the light bulb and major developments in
- Nov 16, 2022
Review of A Restless Truth (Last Binding #2) by Freya Marske
The second book in Marske's series is an irresistible queer magical mystery thriller with Edwardian England details, racy encounters, vulnerability and love, and witty banter on a ship bound for England. A Restless Truth is the second in Freya Marske's queer fantasy mystery Last Binding trilogy that began with A Marvellous Light. A Marvellous Light was full of details of life in Edwardian England, gay love, mystery, magic, wonderful dialogue, and plenty of heart. I adored it.
- Nov 15, 2022
Review of Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks
ICYMI: Geraldine Brooks crafts a historical fiction story of 1666, a year in which disease, fear, and loss make way for redemption, unexpected joys, and inspiration in a remote English village. I recently read Geraldine Brooks's newest book, Horse, and I realized that I haven't posted a Bossy review of another Brooks favorite of mine, Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague. In 17th century England, an infected bolt of cloth carries the plague from London to a small town. Anna
- Nov 14, 2022
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 11/14/22 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Kate Atkinson's newest book, historical fiction set in 1926 jazz-era London; I'm reading Kevin Wilson's newest, Now Is Not the Time to Panic, about two teenage misfits; and I'm reading the recently published heart-warmer Meredith, Alone, a debut novel from Claire Alexander. What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson It's 1926 in London, and recovery from the Great War inspires the city to dive into a
- Nov 11, 2022
Six Illuminating Memoirs to Dive Into
Do you love memoirs like I do? I love digging into the story of someone's life--notable because of chance, circumstance, or choice--and escaping into an eye-opening and fascinating memoir. If you love memoirs, you might also like the titles I listed on these Greedy Reading Lists: Six Fascinating Memoirs to Explore Six More Fascinating Memoirs to Explore Six Illuminating Memoirs to Dive Into Six Illuminating Memoirs I've Read This Year Six More Illuminating Memoirs to Lose You
- Nov 10, 2022
Review of The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
I was hooked on the captivating details of Renaissance life, masterfully paced swirling danger and paranoia, and richly developed major and minor characters in The Marriage Portrait. “You need a plan,” she hears—or seems to hear—her old nurse, Sofia, say, from a place near her elbow. “To lose your temper is to lose the battle.” In The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O'Farrell turns her attention to Renaissance Italy to tell a historical fiction story of a precocious third daughter
- Nov 9, 2022
Review of The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin
I was interested in both of Martin's World War II storylines. The author's historical fiction romance-writing is evident here, in contrast to the tone of The Last Bookshop in London. As World War II explodes, Ava is safe and cozy in her job at the Library of Congress. But a surprise job offer from the US military leads her to Lisbon--opening her eyes to wartime difficulties and instilling a passion in her to help European refugees. Meanwhile, Elaine, who is French, is doing w
- Nov 8, 2022
Review of A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock #1) by Sherry Thomas
This first book in Sherry Thomas's gender-flipped Sherlock Holmes mystery series offers not only an irresistible heroine, but a fascinating examination of gender in Victorian society--and what happens when women blow up expectations. I listened to the audiobook of Sherry Thomas's A Study in Scarlet Women, the first in her Lady Sherlock series. The story presents Charlotte Holmes, a clever, forward-thinking, independent woman trapped in the Victorian age, a time in which women
- Nov 7, 2022
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 11/7/22 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Sherry Thomas's Victorian mystery (the first in a hefty series) starring an independent young woman who invents an alternate identity of Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet Women; I'm reading Less Is Lost, the second in Andrew Sean Greer's series (the first book was Less) about the character of author Arthur Less and the lengths he'll go to to try to avoid coping with the difficulties of life; and I'm listening to The Librarian Spy,
- Nov 4, 2022
Six Foodie Memoirs to Whet Your Appetite
It's time for the foooood books! The shout-out: this Greedy Reading List theme was suggested by my lovely longtime friend, fellow book lover, and stalwart Bossy Bookworm supporter, Judy! Let's all hear it for Judy! :) I love a memoir, I love reading about people doing what they love, and I also love eating. I therefore love memoirs written by chefs and by people who are obsessed with food, and the books listed here are some of my favorites in this category. I included two boo
- Nov 3, 2022
Review of The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy
The twist in The Other Side of Night is fascinating, but I wanted to feel more for the characters, who experience extensive trauma, feel frequent suspicion, and resignedly accept deep tragedy. In Adam Hamdy's The Other Side of Night, the lives of a young boy, a respectable citizen, and a disgraced police officer are intertwined through connections to a series of mysterious deaths. A novel written to explore real-life tragedies, an enigmatic note written in a copy of the novel