October - 2025

October Wrap-Up: My Favorite Reads of the Month

Bossy Favorites of the Month In October I read a number of books that I liked but didn't love. Luckily, a few of my reads during the second half of the month were standouts. Here are my six favorite reads of October. What were some of your favorite reads this month? 01 Katabasis by R. F. Kuang I loved the dark--and often darkly funny--journey of Cambridge postgraduate magick students Alice and Peter to hell, a quest they undertake because their advisor has died and they reall

Oct 31

Review of Frog: The Secret Diary of a Paramedic by Sally Gould

Gould's memoir of her life as a paramedic is frank, captivating, often revolting, and disarmingly honest. She takes the reader on ride-alongs so vividly described, it's as though we're in the ambulance. She shares her pride in caring for patients, her deep frustrations, and she is open about her mental health struggles. Sally Gould's memoir is named after a darkly humorous term of affection for paramedics in Australia (frog, because everything a paramedic touches croaks). Gou

Oct 30

Review of The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

The Everlasting involves jaunts through multiple versions of the same story, as our fantastic main protagonists shift and change, bravely outsmart those who would control them, dare to hope for a future together, and fight dark forces until the bitter end. This is adventure-heavy, sometimes tender, and always intriguing. I loved it. Sir Una Everlasting was a legendary knight in the kingdom of Dominion, an orphan who rose to greatness and died in service to her queen. Her bra

Oct 29

Review of A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry

This faerie-centric reimagining of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities offered a compelling story of redemption and self-sacrifice with a significant fantasy undercurrent that is key to the plot. I felt bogged down by the explanations of the workings of the faerie system, its punishments, and its policies. I feared this was the best of times; I hoped it could not get any worse. H. G. Parry's novel A Far Better Thing is a twist on Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities , and Parr

Oct 28

Three Books I'm Reading Now, 10/27/25 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Sally Gould's memoir about being a paramedic, Frog ; I'm reading H. G. Parry's reimagining of A Tale of Two Cities as a dark, faery-controlled world with the French Revolution as a backdrop, A Far Better Thing ; and I'm reading a King Arthur novel by Lev Grossman, The Bright Sword . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Frog: The Secret Diary of a Paramedic by Sally Gould Sally Gould grew up in Australia the daughter of a paramedic, and s

Oct 27

Six More Books about Brave Female Spies

Tough women, secrets and smarts, and sneaky spying! I love a peek at a secret world and books about spies specifically. My first Greedy Reading List on this topic was Six Books about Brave Female Spies . If you like stories about brave women during wartime, you might also like the titles I listed on the recent Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War II . 01 Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees Rees does an excellent job of taking us t

Oct 24

Review of Nine Liars (Truly Devious #5) by Maureen Johnson

The fifth in Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious young adult mystery series showcases Stevie Bell's instincts, doggedness, and ability to uncover the truth, this time in London while she and her friends visit Stevie's long-distance boyfriend David and investigate a decades-old double murder in a group of Cambridge friends. In the fifth in Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious series, skilled amateur high school sleuth Stevie Bell is in denial about her senior-year to-do list. She is ov

Oct 23

Review of Care and Feeding: A Memoir by Laurie Woolever

Woolever's experiences working for Mario Batali and Tony Bourdain are fascinating--and, in the case of Batali, often disturbing. The food-focused writing and restaurant workings are the highlights; the author also recounts the implosion of her personal life, addiction, and extramarital affairs as well as shaping a new normal for herself. Laurie Woolever is fresh from culinary school and realizing that she doesn't want to be a chef when she stumbles into a position as an assis

Oct 22

Review of These Memories Do Not Belong to Us by Yiming Ma

I'm drawn to stories that explore issues around memory. In Ma's science fiction novel, China is the sole global superpower, and citizens' memories are valuable, dangerous, manipulated, and mined. Recollections serve as currency and as fodder for a government seeking to prosecute any subversive citizens. In a future land ruled by the Qin Empire, citizens all wear MindBanks, contraptions that record, monitor, and transfer memories and thoughts. Memories can be manipulated, unac

Oct 21

Three Books I'm Reading Now, 10/20/25 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading the wonderful Alix E. Harrow's upcoming novel The Everlasting ; I'm listening to Yiming Ma's exploration of a future in which memories are valuable but dangerous, These Memories Do Not Belong to Us ; and I'm listening to Laurie Woolever's foodie memoir centering around being an assistant to Mario Batali and Tony Bourdain, Care and Feeding . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow Sir Una Everlasting was a le

Oct 20

Six Short Story Collections to Wow You

Bossy Short Story Love Some of you bookworms have told me in the past that you don't like or at least don't gravitate toward short...

Oct 17

Review of Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

I loved the dark--and often darkly funny--journey of Cambridge postgraduate magick students Alice and Peter to hell, a quest they undertake because their advisor has died and they really need his recommendations. Also, they each fear they're the one who killed him. ...maybe going on meant believing in what she couldn't possibly know. Maybe if she went on she could find some way to make this pain stop. In Kuang's dark academia fantasy novel Katabasis , Alice Law is a postgrad

Oct 16