Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/25/25 Edition

The Bossy Bookworm
Aug 25
2 min read

The Books I'm Reading Now

I'm reading Gary Shteyngart's story of a precocious young girl finding her way in her complicated family and in the world, Vera, or Faith; I'm reading Steve Cavanagh's twisty revenge mystery, Kill for Me, Kill for You; and I'm listening to Maria Bamford's candid memoir, Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere.

What are you reading, bookworms?

01 Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart

Through fifth-grader Vera's point of view, we get to know her family, the Bradford-Shmulkins, and its various dynamics. They live in New York City and Vera's parents, Anne Mom (her stepmother, a stay-at-home-mom) and Daddy (a self-aggrandizing magazine editor and writer), struggle to cope with financial pressures and relationship issues, while precocious Vera tries to simply make a friend at school and find her real mother--and avoid her annoying little brother's roughhousing and meathead games.

So far this is wryly funny, sometimes zany, and heartwarming.

Gary Shteyngart is also the author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, Super Sad True Love Story, and other novels.

I received a prepublication edition of this title, which was published July 8, courtesy of Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley.

02 Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh

In Steve Cavanagh's twisty mystery Kill for Me, Kill for You, two strangers, women bearing the brunt of two different violent tragedies--and struggling with a lack of justice for those responsible--make a Strangers on a Train-type of deal: If you kill the man responsible for my loss, I'll kill the one responsible for yours.

Because the women aren't linked outside of an anonymous grief support group, and because their friendship is unknown to anyone but themselves, they should be safe from detection. But the situation is far more complicated than it seems.

Ruth, a young married woman living elsewhere in the city, is brutally attacked in her own home--and the intruder, who has piercing blue eyes but remains unidentified, is on the loose as Ruth reels from disastrous repercussions and mental illness.

The intersection of the novel's victims who are bent on justice is fascinating. This is the first mystery I've read by Steve Cavanagh. I don't love the title, but I'm hooked on the story.

03 Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere by Maria Bamford

In Sure, I'll Join Your Cult, comedian Maria Bamford mines the ups and downs of her childhood (as a child in the 1980s, she struggled with an eating disorder) and her adulthood (she's frank and funny about her own mental illness--and how she and her husband cope with various challenges surrounding mental health) to illustrate her desperate willingness to belong.

Her openness is refreshing and disarmingly charming.

I received an audiobook version of this title, which will be released September 5, courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio and Libro.fm.

You might also want to check out these Bossy reviews of memoirs I've read.