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?

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

Sally Gould grew up in Australia the daughter of a paramedic, and she follows in her father's footsteps, training to become a "frog" herself.

In her memoir, Gould explores her early days of uncertainty, moments of panic, scenes of complete disgust, tragic endings, and inspiring moments in which her team's arrival saves a life.

Gould takes the reader through the ups and downs of the job and is frank about her mental health challenges and how she coped with them.

I received a prepublication audiobook version of this title courtesy of Libro.fm and Simon & Schuster Australia.

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02 A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry

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 A Tale of Two Cities, with a rebellion against faery powers taking place within the mayhem of the French Revolution.

In this historical fiction-fantasy, characters from Dickens's tale are plunged into a dark, powerful magical world. Here, Sydney Carton was abducted by faeries when he was a small child, and his doppelgänger Charles Darnay is a changeling.

Carton is imperfect but capable of shifting power structures, and clever enough to reimagine the faery-controlled underbelly of his world by taking the entire magical system by surprise.

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03 The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur by Lev Grossman

Collum is an instinctually gifted, strong knight who has literally fought for training as a ward; his family has little use for him, and his heart is set upon joining King Arthur's court.

But when he finally makes his way to the Round Table, only elderly, impaired, has-been knights are left, and he learns that Arthur was killed weeks earlier. But Collum refuses to believe that a life as a knight is no longer possible for him. Along with Merlin's apprentice, Nimue, he becomes determined to usher in a new age, where Excalibur is reclaimed, Camelot is secure from would-be usurpers, and the kingdom is inspired again by bravery and might.

Lev Grossman is also the author of the Magicians trilogy. I read the first in that series, The Magicians, for but me it was short on magic and fantastical elements, but long on entitlement and malaise.

I'm listening to The Bright Sword as an audiobook.