The Robot Books I love a good artificial intelligence- or robot-focused story, and these six (plus, in several cases, their sequels) really captivated me. Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought! Which other books should I add to my to-read robot book list? 01 The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells You can click the links here to find my full Bossy reviews of Murderbot books 1 through 3 ( All Systems Red , Artificial Condition , and Rogue Protocol ), book 4, Exit Strategy , book 5, Network Effect , book 6, Fugitive Telemetry , and book 7, System Collapse . SecUnit is a company-supplied security android who accompanies corporate forays into planetary exploration. Unbeknownst to its clients, SecUnit has hacked its governor module--and secretly refers to itself as Murderbot. Privately disdainful of the weak, inefficient humans it protects, Murderbot is exploring who it is and what is possible. SecUnit is a fantastic main character; it's grumpily and charmingly obsessed with keeping its people safe and with not being touched or talked to about feelings. It gleans tips about holding conversations and functioning around others by watching its favorite show, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon . Murderbot befriends other AI beings; it's constantly and cleverly problem-solving; it sulks and likes to veg out with its media; and it grudgingly becomes attached to certain humans in its orbit. The Murderbot series is funny and poignant and odd and wonderful. Click here for my glowing reviews of the first three books in this series and click here for my reviews of Exit Strategy and Network Effect . 02 Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson This story features supporting AI and robot characters in an intriguing futuristic setting. Lora Beth Johnson hooked me immediately with the premise of Goddess in the Machine and with main protagonist Andra's voice. Teenage Andra wakes up after being cryogenically preserved for a century-long journey to a new planet. She's a little creaky and sore, sure, but she's ready to be reunited with the team, which includes her mother and the rest of her family, plus many others involved in the complex project. They'll begin the work of bravely populating and building a society on this new planet. But Andra soon realizes she wasn't sleeping for 100 years. She was asleep for 1,000. The people, terrain, and language are not what she studied for or expected, everyone she once knew has already lived and died--oh, and the general population, whoever they are, thinks she's a goddess, and they've been waiting excitedly for her to wake up and save them. There's a twist/double twist in Goddess in the Machine that I didn't see coming, and I found the whole story compelling. For my full review, please see Goddess in the Machine . The sequel to this book is Devil in the Device . 03 Machinehood by S. B. Divya In her debut novel, Machinehood , S. B. Divya sets the scene in the world of 2095. Humanity around the world is reliant on homemade and commercially manufactured pills--for health, for work focus, for managing bots, for healing, for sleep, and for transitioning between all of the above. The economy runs on robots, partially augmented humans, and humans desperately trying to compete with artificial intelligence and survive in the gig economy. Space! Robots! Artificial intelligence! I wished for more page time spent on everyday tasks and activities (cooking, shifting household modules, travel, and communicating), which were all carried out in Jetsons-level, fascinating, futuristic ways. But Divya is too busy crafting strong female main protagonists (complete with working mother guilt, which exists in the future too) as they: navigate ethical considerations such as pressures on workers and workload expectations; consider modifications to the body to enable faster or more strenuous work; manage the implications of a backlash against artificial enhancements; and face society's inability to extricate itself and the worldwide economy from a reliance on pills. The management of many large-scale issues and their side effects are shown in shades of gray rather than black-and-white, including the meaning and value of personhood; the definitions of health, autonomy, and freedom; sometimes-necessary compromises; and the promise for the future of the world. For my full review of this book, please see Machinehood . 04 Skyhunter by Marie Lu In Skyhunter , Lu offers a story about refugees desperately trying to escape becoming conscripted into the Federation army; elite Striker fighters trying to salvage their society despite the Federation's widespread and evil efforts; and the demonization of the "other." A mysterious prisoner from the front arrives who could be friend or foe, and our main protagonist Talin must figure out whether to destroy him or trust him with her life--before things unravel irrevocably for her and her fellow warriors. The surprising ending made my heart stop. Then I remembered that this was the first in a series and that the story would continue past the final complications and shocking events, so I did not hurl the book through the window. Complex motivations are at work here, as well as clashes between idealism and realism and editorialization about class and race. There is plenty of substance and depth in this young adult title to captivate adult readers. Skyhunter  made it onto this list because of the augmented humans in the book. For my full review of this book, please see Skyhunter . And check out my Bossy review of the sequel, Steelstriker . 05 An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green “We are each individual, but the far greater thing is what we are together, and if that isn't protected and cherished, we are headed to a bad place.” Green's An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a gloriously oddball book with lots of heart. In the middle of the night on a New York City street, April and her friend Andy stumble across something truly weird--a giant metal soldier sculpture that reminds them of a samurai. They happily record a video with the sculpture, which they call Carl, and upload it to YouTube. The next day, the world is changed. Carls have cropped up in cities throughout the world. What is the meaning of these robotlike creatures? Are they neutral, are they sinister, or might they be here to save humanity? The faulted character of April May was wonderful, and I was fascinated by the way her actions and hopes allowed a peek into a fame- and attention-seeking existence. Also: Robin! And: Carl—! For my full review of both books in the Carls series, see An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor . 06 Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) by Sylvain Neuvel A girl named Rose in rural South Dakota falls into a hole that has intricate carvings covering the walls and wakes up in the palm of an enormous robot hand. Where did it come from? What do the carvings mean? What is the purpose of any of this? Years later Rose is a world-renowned physicist working to unlock the secrets of the hand and the curious artifacts, but the mysteries persist. The interview structure keeps the characters at a distance from the reader, yet Neuvel allows their spoken-only participation in the book to express their growth, hopes, and fears. The characters are relating events that have already happened through the lenses of their own points of view, creating the potential for unreliable narrators, characters who are hiding important information, and many resulting twists and turns. Neuvel explores concepts of personal responsibility, how the possibility of life beyond Earth affects everything, and how manipulation and observation--potentially by other beings in the solar system--shape behavior. Also: the ending--! The next books in this series are Waking Gods and Only Human , and I enjoyed them both.

This slim book tells the story of a small crew of astronauts in the twenty-second century who are searching for alien life--and who must come to terms with their purpose and their uncertain future when they lose communication with Earth. I could not have predicted each version of me that I shifted into, but through my history, one constant has always remained true: change itself. It's the twenty-second century, and in Becky Chambers's novella To Be Taught, If Fortunate , Ariadne O'Neill and her three crewmates are exploring a planetary system many light years from Earth. They're working to determine whether human life can be sustained on one of the four planets there. Through a technique called somaforming, human space flight has been revolutionized; synthetic supplementations allow humans to travel to otherwise deadly environments. Nothing was ever enough on Mirabilis. Every discovery made, every hour spent in someone else's sheets, every conversation and collaboration and new vista taken in made me want more, more, more. We were alive on that world. We were kings without enemies, children removed from time. As Ariadne documents the dangers and promise of her mission, she and her crewmates consider their impact on the worlds they visit; lament a disruption in communication from earth and wonder at its causes and impact; and wait and wonder about who has the authority to determine their next steps--and what they should be. This book is quite short, and I wished for more time with and development of the characters. The ending felt somewhat abrupt, and the story is without a clear resolution. This fits the dilemma that faces the crew near the close of the book, yet I found it unsatisfying. The book's unwieldy title comes from this quote that Chambers provides within the book, from former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim in 1977, as recorded on the Voyager Golden Record: "...We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship--to teach, if we are called upon; to be taught, if we are fortunate...." I love a space setting (feel free to check out these other Bossy reviews of novels set in space ), and I really enjoyed the glimpses of this space crew working together, coping with setbacks, and making discoveries. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Becky Chambers is also the author of A Psalm for the Wild-Built , the wonderful The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet , and other books.

ICYMI: This series by Naomi Novik introduces vain, strong-willed, talking dragons, their complex, wonderfully faulted handlers, and wartime conflicts demanding bravery and loyal bonds between the beasts and their humans. “It seems very strange that the ocean is full of things that one can eat as one likes, and on land everything seems to be spoken for,” Temeraire said. In the first of Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, we're introduced to Captain Will Laurence, a young, upstanding seafaring captain fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. When his ship captures a French frigate carrying an unhatched dragon egg, Will finds himself in uncharted territory--and suddenly finds that he has a strange new future ahead, in the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire. Novik's dry humor comes through through the novel's irresistible Will-Temeraire interactions. Temeraire is young, greedy, vain, and outrageously loyal to Will, and Will is attempting to civilize Temeraire, while being inspired to reconsider traditions and expectations with new eyes because of Temeraire's fresh, disruptive point of view. “I should rather have you than a heap of gold, even if it were very comfortable to sleep on.” I've read seven of the nine books in the Temeraire series, in which the dragons are haughty and greedy and intensely loyal to their riders; Novik explores world politics and the intricacies of nations' relationships and airborne dragon battles within the books' alternate history; and the human protagonists are wonderfully faulted and fantastic. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Naomi Novik is also the author of richly wrought fantasy novels featuring main protagonists I love: Uprooted  and Spinning Silver  as well as the Scholomance series, A Deadly Education , The Last Graduate , and The Golden Enclaves . The stories in her book Buried Deep revisit some favorite Novik worlds as well as introducing the world where Novik's future series takes place. For more Bossy reviews of books about dragons, please check out the titles at this link .

Espach layers complex emotional challenges like suicidal thoughts, grief, and loneliness with funny, quirky, poignant moments in this charming, heartwarming novel. Phoebe arrives at the decadent Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, wearing a green dress and heels, and she's quickly mistaken for one of the "wedding people." But Phoebe is having a crisis, and she's latched onto being at the site of her former dream vacation--which she'd envisioned visiting with her now-ex-husband--as the answer to her problems. Lila has planned her million-dollar wedding down to the last detail, and Phoebe's depression and her very presence are throwing her for a loop--only the wedding people  were meant to have rooms at the inn, and Lila isn't used to having her plans go awry. Phoebe and Lila are unlikely confidantes and even more unlikely friends. But as the wedding week goes on, each woman is surprised by what she discovers about herself and the truths she is forced to confront. I loved the tone of this novel. Espach writes a playful, poignant, often funny novel while anchoring the characters in complex emotions: suicidal thoughts, grief, loneliness, and despair. I was struck by the balance of depth and humor, and I was hooked throughout. Espach leans into the concept of chosen family, a favorite of mine, and offers up second chances with realistically messy fallout and life-changing consequences at stake. The Wedding People explores mortality, trust, layered connections, expectations, and love. Characters struggle to find their true selves and then to be true to themselves, and while I felt confident that things would work out, I loved cheering on the characters through the fits and starts and imperfections along the way. I listened to The Wedding People  as an audiobook. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Alison Espach is also the author of T he Adults  and Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to a story about redemption, forgiveness, and books, which is set in Maine, How to Read a Book ; I'm listening to Alison Espach's playful and poignant novel about second chances, The Wedding People ; and I'm reading Bonnie Blaylock's Appalachian-set 1930s historical fiction about a traveling packhorse librarian and the family she becomes connected to in the mountains of Kentucky, Light to the Hills . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 How to Read a Book by Monica Wood The cover art and title of How to Read a Book gave me the impression that Wood's novel was likely going to be cute, sweet, and neatly wrapped up. But the book opens in a prison, with female inmates participating in their weekly book club in rural Abbott Falls, Maine. Main protagonist Violet Powell is being released after 22 months' imprisonment for the drunk-driving accident in which she killed an older woman. Harriet Larson is a retired English teacher who leads the prison book club, and her forays into the local bookstore catch the eye of handyman Frank Daigle, who is still coming to terms with the loss of his wife in a car accident (caused by Violet). When the three cross paths out in the messy, unexpected, heartbreaking world, their encounters seem destined to change them all forever. I'm listening to How to Read a Book as an audiobook. 02 The Wedding People by Alison Espach Phoebe arrives at the decadent Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, wearing a green dress and heels, and she's quickly mistaken for one of the "wedding people." But Phoebe is having a crisis, and she's latched onto being at the site of her former dream vacation--which she'd envisioned visiting with her now-ex-husband--as the answer to her problems. Lila has planned her million-dollar wedding down to the last detail, and Phoebe's depression and her very presence are throwing her for a loop--only the wedding people were meant to have rooms at the inn, and Lila isn't used to having her plans go awry. Phoebe and Lila are unlikely confidantes and even more unlikely friends. But as the wedding week goes on, each woman is surprised by what she discovers about herself and the truths she is forced to confront. I'm listening to The Wedding People as an audiobook. Alison Espach is also the author of T he Adults and Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance. 03 Light to the Hills by Bonnie Blaylock I love a historical fiction story set in Appalachia , and I also love to read books about books . In Bonnie Blaylock's Light to the Hills , it's 1930 in the Kentucky Appalachians, and Amanda Rye is a traveling packhorse librarian, a recently widowed young mother, and somewhat of a local to the region. She makes a special connection with a mountain family facing tough times despite their double work at the coal mine and their small farm. The MacInteers--tough yet tender mother Rai, her clever daughter Sass, playful older son Finn, and a hardworking father as well as the family's younger children--are hesitant to accept help. But Amanda brings them reading materials, apples for treasured pies, and some joyful company. The bond between Amanda and the family tempts her to share a dark secret from her past, and secrets have a way of revealing themselves. Amanda's history may not only shake up her future, but affect the MacInteers as well.

My very favorite Bossy October reads! This month my favorite reads were a missing-person camp story in two timelines; literary fiction set in Belfast during The Troubles; literary fiction about two brothers coping with the death of their father; an exploration of fate and mortality; a serial-killer story based on real-life events; and a collection of fantasy stories. If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! And I'd also love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads? 01 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore I loved this summer-camp setting, the slow build of mystery in two timelines, the privilege and working class disparities, the eventual revelations concerning the disappearances of both Van Lear children, and the beautifully wrought tragedy and redemption. In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adirondack summer camp. But the girl isn't just any camper. She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work. Oddly, her brother Bear, beloved by all who knew him, disappeared fourteen years earlier. He was never found. A frantic search takes place, and as the locals look for Barbara, various Van Lear secrets come to light. The split between the largely blue-collar area and the privileged Van Lear family is shown to be stark and significant . I love love love a summer-camp story, and I loved The God of the Woods . I was intrigued by the mysteries and their layers, which are continually revealed, and while I usually feel more invested in one timeline over another, with The God of the Woods , I was equally interested in both timelines. Liz Moore is also the author of Long Bright River  as well as Heft and The Unseen World . For my full review of this book, please see The God of the Woods . 02 Trespasses by Louise Kennedy Kennedy writes poignantly about the Irish Troubles through the point of view of Cushla, a young adult stretching her wings despite her limits--her mother's alcoholism, her father's death, and her small outer Belfast community, where violent Protestant-Catholic tensions are threatening to rule every act, thought, and dream. Cushla is a young teacher (who also fills in at the family pub) living through growing violence outside of Belfast. Along with her alcoholic mother and her impatient barkeep brother, she grieves the loss of her father while going about her day and living her modest lifestyle. But Cushla--along with many other citizens--is more and more astounded by the increasing conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and the violent acts stemming from the growing schism. Kennedy draws the reader into the specific place and time of the story, vividly building the constant undercurrent of tension, the twinges of fear, the devil-may-care affair, the sickening reckonings. This is beautiful and heartbreaking, but Trespasses is never maudlin or too easy. Both the world and the characters' personal lives are complicated, messy, wonderful, and fragile. I listened to Trespasses  as an audiobook. Click here for my full review of Trespasses . 03 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Intermezzo is one of my favorite Rooney novels yet, exploring complicated families, grief, unconventional relationships, forgiveness, and possibilities that once seemed impossible. In the wake of their father's death, two brothers reel from the loss in his own way. They clash, hurt each other deeply, and wonder if they can ever reconcile. The men's methods of coping with their grief often test the line between hopelessness and possibility. Each of their romantic relationships is unconventional, and various players involved struggle to let go of societal expectations in favor or what feels real and meaningful and what makes them happy. Through it all, both Ivan and Peter are repeatedly forced to consider their place in the world and what the future might hold. But wars are being waged, and Rae quickly figures out that she's not the heroine of the story. She's the villain. And only she can organize the rest of the plotting, dark, moody, sometimes exasperating bad guys (and girls) in an attempt to change all of their futures. I'm such a greedy reader, it's been a while since I've slowed down to savor a book the way I felt compelled to do while reading Intermezzo . I was invested in the characters and their messy methods of coming to terms with death and with seizing control of their own lives. The prose in Intermezzo is gorgeous and often feels poetic--in fact, many of the notes in the back matter credit poems as the source of some of the references on these pages. Rooney is also the author of Normal People , Conversations with Friends , and Beautiful World, Where Are You . Please click here to see my full review of Intermezzo . 04 Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty I loved this dive into the repercussions of a seemingly psychic woman's predictions of demise for her fellow passengers on a flight. Characters scoff, become resigned, or work to control their futures as they face issues surrounding their mortality. An elderly woman is causing a major disruption on an airline flight. She's going through the plane as if in a trance, announcing expected ages of and causes of death for each person aboard. From the overworked dad trying to make it home in time for his daughter's musical, to the mother of two young, crying children, to a spry older couple, to Allegra herself, the Death Lady (as she is later called) announces a prediction of each person's age of and cause of demise. Here One Moment  traces what begins to happen as the first of the Death Lady's predictions seem to come true and each passenger considers the prospect of their own immortality--and for some, what seems to be their imminent death. Here One Moment tracks many characters' subsequent dilemmas and decision-making, in a few cases delving back into their past to set a stage for current-day events--and building a rich story of the life of the Death Lady herself. I love a book that considers life and death and inspires me to do the same, and Moriarty shapes each character's path forward in varied ways. They are thoughtful, dismissive, daring, resigned, afraid, negligent, or determined; they defy their prediction, or try to control their fate, or recognize how they most want to live out their days and make new choices. I listened to Here One Moment as an audiobook. Please click here for my full review of Here One Moment . 05 Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll Knoll's novel was inspired by real events; Bright Young Women  traces a serial killer targeting young women and in the character of Pamela, offers a no-nonsense, brilliant nemesis who won't let up until she brings the criminal to justic e. Jessica Knoll's novel Bright Young Women  is inspired by real-life events: the targeting of a sorority by the first "celebrity serial killer" in his final killing spree. But when the studious, responsible Pamela stays home from a party and investigates a strange noise in the sorority house, she discovers a horrible tragedy--two of her sisters (one, her best friend) are dead and two others are maimed. And in her shock and horror, Pamela spied the culprit as he skulked away. In Seattle, Tina Cannon is trying to figure out what happened to her dear friend Ruth, who disappeared from a nearby state park. When she hears about the horrifying events in Tallahassee, she becomes convinced that what happened to Ruth is linked to the Florida sorority attack, and she travels to Florida, determined to get to the bottom of the crimes. I expected the novel to feel more salacious, and I was thankful that it did not. I found it satisfying to read about Pamela's growing contempt for The Defendant, her long-term commitment to prosecuting him, and her mission to find peace for his victims. The friendships and love interests--which were powerful enough to overshadow the book's dysfunctional families and painful relationships--were welcome distractions from the horror at the heart of this story. I read Bright Young Women  for my book club. For my full review, check out Bright Young Women . 06 Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik Novik never seems to make a misstep, and the thirteen stories here revisit favorite fictional worlds, delve into never-before-revealed adventures, and offer a glimpse into the author's newest world-building adventure--which I already love. I love reading Naomi Novik's books without exception. Novik's newest work, Buried Deep , is a collection of thirteen stories that span the worlds of her fantastic novels--and hint at new works to come. When I read a collection of short stories, I inevitably develop favorites, and while reading Buried Deep  I enjoyed all of the stories but particularly loved three. "After Hours" allowed me to delve back into Novik's Scholomance series, which I adored. I hated for this one to end, because what I actually wanted was the impossible: to read another full-length work taking place in the world of El and Orion. "Dragons & Decorum" is a glorious mashup of Novik's dragon stories (see my mention of the Temeraire series, below) and Pride and Prejudice , and it made me grin with glee the whole time I read it. And "The Long Way Round" is a tantalizing peek into Novik's next world, with a savvy, gruff female captain at sea, her beloved, artistic, romantic brother, and a big adventure. I'm already obsessed with this story and can't wait to read the full-length version. I received a prepublication copy of Buried Deep and Other Stories  courtesy of NetGalley and Ballantine. For my full review, please see Buried Deep .

Novik never seems to make a misstep, and the thirteen stories here revisit favorite fictional worlds, delve into never-before-revealed adventures, and offer a glimpse into the author's newest world-building adventure--which I already love. I love reading Naomi Novik's books without exception--just check out the links to my many rave Bossy reviews at the end of this post to find out how much. Naomi Novik's newest work, Buried Deep ,  is a collection of thirteen stories that span the worlds of her fantastic novels--and hint at new works to come. When I read a collection of short stories, I inevitably develop favorites, and while reading Buried Deep I enjoyed all of the stories but particularly loved three. "After Hours" allowed me to delve back into Novik's Scholomance series, which I adored. I hated for this one to end, because what I actually wanted was the impossible: to read another full-length work taking place in the world of El and Orion. "Dragons & Decorum" is a glorious mashup of Novik's dragon stories (see my mention of the Temeraire series, below) and Pride and Prejudice , and it made me grin with glee the whole time I read it. And "The Long Way Round" is a tantalizing peek into Novik's next world, with a savvy, gruff female captain at sea, her beloved, artistic, romantic brother, and a big adventure. I'm already obsessed with this story and can't wait to read the full-length version. I received a prepublication copy of Buried Deep and Other Stories  courtesy of NetGalley and Ballantine. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Naomi Novik is the author of richly wrought fantasy novels featuring main protagonists I love: Uprooted  and Spinning Silver  as well as the Scholomance series, A Deadly Education , The Last Graduate , and The Golden Enclaves . Novik has also written a series of nine fantastic books about dragons, the Temeraire series. The dragons talk and are haughty and greedy and intensely loyal to their riders, Novik explores world politics and the intricacies of nations' relationships and airborne dragon battles within the books' alternate history, and the human protagonists are wonderfully faulted and fantastic. I've read seven of the nine installments, and I'm dreading reaching the end of the series.

Kennedy writes poignantly about the Irish Troubles through the point of view of Cushla, a young adult stretching her wings despite her limits--her mother's alcoholism, her father's death, and her small outer Belfast community, where violent Protestant-Catholic tensions are threatening to rule every act, thought, and dream. Cushla is a young teacher (who also fills in at the family pub) living through growing violence outside of Belfast. Along with her alcoholic mother and her impatient barkeep brother, she grieves the loss of her father while going about her day and living her modest lifestyle. But Cushla--along with many other citizens--is more and more astounded by the increasing conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and the violent acts stemming from the growing schism. A pub visitor, married barrister Michael Agnew, intrigues Cushla with his intelligence and his attention. He entreats her to teach him and his friends Irish, and after the two begin having an affair, she finds out that he's been defending IRA members and may be in danger. After one of her students' fathers is beaten almost to death, a snowball of events causes secrets to be revealed, hearts broken, lives lost, and everything turned on its head. Kennedy draws the reader into the specific place and time of the story, vividly building the constant undercurrent of tension, the twinges of fear, the devil-may-care affair, the sickening reckonings. This is beautiful and heartbreaking, but Trespasses is never maudlin or too easy. Both the world and the characters' personal lives are complicated, messy, wonderful, and fragile. I listened to Trespasses  as an audiobook. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! You can click here to find more Bossy reviews of books set in Ireland, including the nonfiction book Say Nothing , Claire Keegan's fiction, and others.

Booth cushions the blow of the main protagonist's early-onset Alzheimer's with a zany romp, lots of love for books, and heartwarming, unexpected friendships. Elaborate mythology swirls around the mysterious author of the blockbuster fantasy series The Falling Children, which was written under a pen name, F. T. Goldhero, and fans dream up fantastical stories about the writer and his life. He is often assumed to be living in outrageously wealthy fashion in a European castle. But the real-life author behind the books is unassuming Libby Weeks, holed up in her apartment with her dog. She is private, isolated, lacking in self-esteem--and when she was starting out, she naively signed away most of her rights to the millions the series later garnered. Now Libby has hit a writing wall. She's allowed the falling children to work themselves into a seemingly impossible conundrum that is sure to lead to their deaths, and she can't determine how to extricate them. She's months late delivering the newest installment of the series, and her publisher and fans are losing patience, to the point that online message boards, then newspapers, begin printing threats and promises to unveil the author's true identity and force a conclusion to the books. But Libby receives a devastating diagnosis that changes everything: early-onset Alzheimer's. As she's reeling from the news and considering her potential legacy and the fate of the falling children, she becomes obsessed with finishing her book...but she's going to need some help. Enter superfan Peanut Brixton--who may be even more familiar with The Falling Children books than Libby herself. Libby sets out with her dog on a quest to seek Peanut's wisdom...but she's starting to lose the plot of her own life, and the loner is in need of support that's far greater than writing inspiration. The cover of Libby Lost and Found struck a light-fiction chord for me. The tone of the book is often playful--but dark humor often surrounds Libby's diminishing memory, and countless who's-on-first types of conversations occur as a result. This is a zany romp, as Libby's determination to push on to an ending for her series combines with her lack of commanding details around the mission she has set out on to cause upheaval at every turn. The story is a quick read and somewhat of whirlwind. It often felt like a young-adult story because of the significant focus on young Peanut and her own challenges. Libby Lost and Found holds a tragic illness at its center, with lots of heart and redemption softening the blow. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! I received a prepublication copy of Libby Lost and Found courtesy of NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark. Libby Lost and Found is Stephanie Booth's first book.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Naomi Novik's book of stories, Buried Deep ; I'm listening to Colm Toibin's Long Island ; and I'm listening to Louise Kennedy's poignant novel set during the Irish Troubles, Trespasses What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik Naomi Novik is the author of fantasy novels featuring main protagonists I love: Uprooted  and Spinning Silver  as well as the Scholomance series, A Deadly Education , The Last Graduate , and The Golden Enclaves . Novik has also written a series of nine books about dragons, the Temeraire series. The dragons talk and are haughty and greedy and intensely loyal to their riders, Novik explores world politics and the intricacies of nations' relationships and airborne dragon battles within the books' alternate history, and the human protagonists are wonderfully faulted and fantastic. Naomi Novik's Buried Deep is a collection of thirteen stories that span the worlds of her novels. I received a prepublication copy of Buried Deep and Other Stories courtesy of NetGalley and Ballantine. 02 Long Island by Colm Toibin It's 1976, and Irish Eilis Lacey lives in Long Island, married to Tony, an Italian American plumber who's one of four brothers. The enormous extended family lives in houses scattered all over the neighborhood, with cousins racing all over. But one day a man visits Eilis, explains that his wife is carrying Tony's baby, and vows to drop the baby upon Eilis's doorstep when it is born. I'm listening to Long Island as an audiobook courtesy of Libro.fm and Simon & Schuster Audio . Colm Toibin is also the author of The Master , The Magician , and other novels. 03 Trespasses by Louise Kennedy Cushla is a young teacher (who fills in at the family pub) living through growing violence outside of Belfast. Along with her alcoholic mother and her impatient barkeep brother, she grieves the loss of her father and is astounded by the increasing conflict between Catholics and Protestants. A pub visitor, married barrister Michael Agnew, intrigues Cushla with his intelligence and his attention. She finds that he's been defending IRA members, and the two begin an affair. But when one of her students' fathers is beaten almost to death, everything turns on its head, and nothing will ever be the same. I'm listening to Trespasses as an audiobook.

More Memoirs I've Loved I love a good memoir, one that offers a glimpse or a deep dive into the life and pivotal experiences of another person. For me, the best memoir makes you feel some of the author's feelings and understand their perspective. This is a genre of books I often like to listen to in the form of audiobooks read by the author, because I love hearing a person tell their own story. For more memoirs I've loved that you might want to try, check out the Greedy Reading Lists Six Illuminating Memoirs to Dive Into and Six Illuminating Memoirs I've Read This Year . Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought! Which other books should I add to my memoir to-read list? 01 A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa Ishikawa, who is half-Korean, half-Japanese, and who lived under oppressive totalitarian rule for thirty-six years, tells a fascinating story of his life in North Korea--and of his gripping escape. The promise of better work and stronger education for the children lured Ishikawa's family from Japan to North Korea. But reality was a far cry from the promised utopia. The author traces a tragic cycle of bureaucratic ignorance and force, hunger and desperation, cruelty, and resignation. This short memoir digs into the author’s repeated experience with North Korean horrors and despair—and sets these experiences in contrast to his prior life and heartbreaking knowledge of the free, if difficult, world of his youth in poverty in Japan. The version of this book that I read was riddled with typos, which I imagine came about during the translation from the author's original Japanese account. For another set of accounts of life in North Korea, try Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea . My book club read this fascinating book, and I think Demick does an excellent job of exploring the brainwashing, isolation, and fear in North Korea, while building the stories of caring families and their everyday lives in which the madness is normalized. 02 This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps Celebrity memoir time! I first saw Busy Philipps acting on my beloved Dawson's Creek many years ago, and since then, I've remained vaguely aware of her best-friendship with Michelle Williams, her various acting roles, and her candid social media presence. In This Will Only Hurt a Little , Philipps conversationally takes us through her youth in Scottsdale, Arizona, her awkward years, her discovery of her comedic leanings, her friendships, and her loves, mistakes, victories, and joys. She's frank about her missteps and she embraces an active-work-in-progress approach to her personal growth and learning. I listened to Busy read this in audiobook form. It’s interesting to hear experiences a person believes has shaped his or her life, and in This Will Only Hurt a Little , Philipps offers tales from childhood and Hollywood that affected her positively or negatively, while never flinching from laying bare her own regrettable, brave, stumbling, or confident decisions, trials, and adventures. 03 Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood Lockwood is a poet, and her view of the world is entertainingly quirky and off kilter. Her father the priest is an outrageous real-life character in Priestdaddy , and Lockwood works to present him as appealingly so. Late in the book she openly laments at how difficult this is (she worries, “I️ can only write down what you say”). Her tone is loyal while remaining brutal and honest. Her mother is presented sympathetically while coming off as odd, and Lockwood herself takes on a somewhat unhinged tone while recounting off-kilter periods for the family. There’s silliness, dark humor, and life-and-death tragedy—for example, the discovery of a nearby toxic waste dump as a likely reason for widespread and devastating health effects in the community. Lockwood notes that she is not a Christian but is very much “of” the church because of her upbringing. Her exploration of rituals, abuses of power in she's witnessed, and her own present-day participation in traditions felt most interesting to me. Lockwood is also the author of No One Is Talking About This , a book that is odd, disturbing, and likely not everyone's cup of tea. But it's truly unlike anything I have ever read, and the second section, which is an enormous departure in tone from section one, brought me repeatedly to tears. Please let me know if you've read this one! 04 Inheritance by Dani Shapiro Shapiro shares her shock at discovering (via a DNA test taken on a whim in her mid-fifties) that her biological identity as the descendant of two lines of Orthodox Jews is not accurate. The parents who raised her are no longer alive to question, and with this discovery, Dani voraciously challenges her own sense of self and is shaken to her core. She wonders about whether she has a claim to beloved extended relatives who shaped her life but are not, after all, blood relations; she reflects on her religious and cultural integrity and identity; she worries about her predispositions to heretofore unknown genetic health issues; and she considers her potential legacy to her own child—all while panicking about who she is after all and how she can possibly trust what she has believed to be the truth about almost anything anymore. Through practical research, lengthy reflection, and delving into the grief and the increasing layers of loss she feels, Shapiro eventually allows herself to feel hope and a growing peace regarding the likely truth—as well as a sense of freedom in having a more fluid sense of herself as a person. I thought Inheritance was fascinating, thoughtful, jarring, and just lovely. 05 Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur Brodeur was always captivated by her mother and her magnetic personality. Her mother confided her darkest secrets to young Brodeur as though she was a friend, and she drew the teenaged Brodeur in as an accomplice to her longtime extramarital affair. I feared that reading this memoir was going to make me feel like the worst type of voyeur—that the details of the affair at the center of this story might make me feel uncomfortable at best and would feel tawdry at worst. But the story was ultimately more about an emotionally stunted mother, her codependence on her adolescent daughter, and how the author unraveled the many smothering ties to the woman whose conditional love and affection directed her life for too many years. Brodeur is a measured writer who thoughtfully considers her youth, her infatuation with and reliance on her mother (who throughout her life is only concerned with her own impulses and desires), and how her own eventual personal growth drove a rift between her and the mother she idolized, a shift that changed everything forever. Wild Game was really interesting and a quick, engrossing read that surprised me with its depth. I was given a copy of this book by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 06 My Life with Bob by Pamela Paul Pamela Paul, editor of The New York Times Book Review, writing in her mid-forties, recounts her dedication to a single book, one of her own making. She's carefully taken this book to Thailand, Paris, and London, shuffling it from apartment to apartment where it holds a place of honor and has for twenty-eight years. It's a book listing each of the books Paul has read to date. The Book of [Read] Books (which she affectionately calls Bob) reflects the author's hopes, dreams, adventures, and searches for meaning, while her life and the conditions within it affect the books she seeks out and dives into at different points of her life. My Life with Bob is also an examination of a reader's relationship with books, with reading, and with the paralyzing, never-ending, constantly expanding list of titles that make up a to-read list: “At this point, there is no human way that I could read even those books I've deliberately marked as absolute must-reads. . . . This is every reader's catch-22: the more you read, the more you realize you haven't read; the more you yearn to read more, the more you understand that you have, in fact, read nothing. There is no way to finish, and perhaps that shouldn't be the goal.” Paul delves fully into her meandering post-college years--during which Bob provides more structure in her life than anything else does. She dabbles in exploring her more recent life and reading habits as well in this thoughtful, unpretentious, gloriously nerdy, and lovable book.

Intermezzo is one of my favorite Rooney novels yet, exploring complicated families, grief, unconventional relationships, forgiveness, and possibilities that once seemed impossible. Peter Koubek is a thirtysomething attorney in Dublin, unshakeable, unsentimental, and highly successful. He's struggling to maintain two relationships--with Naomi, a playful and uninhibited younger woman, and with his intellectual and caring first love, Sylvia, who is coping with chronic pain and disability since a terrible accident a decade ago. Ivan Koubek is ten years younger, a competitive chess player, a loner, and, he has always thought, his brother's Peter's opposite. In the wake of their father's death, each brother reels from the loss in his own way. They clash, hurt each other deeply, and wonder if they can ever reconcile. The men's methods of coping with their grief often test the line between hopelessness and possibility. Each of their romantic relationships is unconventional, and various players involved struggle to let go of societal expectations in favor or what feels real and meaningful and what makes them happy. Through it all, both Ivan and Peter are repeatedly forced to consider their place in the world and what the future might hold. The choppy sentences and phrases that make up Peter's point of view were initially difficult for me to adjust to, but Ivan's thoughtful, measured viewpoint balanced it out. Along with the brothers' divergent paths forward after loss, their distinct voices--one machine-gun-like, one softly pensive--emphasized that while appearances might suggest that the older, responsible lawyer brother might be more steady than the just-out-of-college, contract-worker brother who feels socially awkward and is doubting his chess prowess after having built his young life around the pursuit, the opposite is often the case. I'm such a greedy reader, it's been a while since I've slowed down to savor a book the way I felt compelled to do while reading Intermezzo . I was invested in the characters and their messy methods of coming to terms with death and with seizing control of their own lives. The prose in Intermezzo is gorgeous and often feels poetic--in fact, many of the notes in the back matter credit poems as the source of some of the references on these pages. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Rooney is also the author of Normal People , Conversations with Friends , and Beautiful World, Where Are You .

The reality-show setting and LGBTQIA+ representation in Ever After flips the traditional fairy tale in satisfying, heartwarming ways in this romantic story. Dev has dedicated his career to the reality dating show Ever After , helping to shape it into the popular, long-running franchise it is. He's typically the handler for the "princesses" as they vie for the attentions of the show's star ("the prince"). But when his producers cast disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its newest eligible bachelor and assign Dev to be his handler, Dev isn't sure he can salvage the situation. Charlie is devastatingly handsome--but he's awkward, clumsy, private, and quiet...not exactly the most promising television presence. How will they capture enough usable moments to make a show? Dev spends countless hours with the bachelor, working to get him to loosen up and open up. Dev shares that he's recently broken up with Ryan, who also works on the show. And Charlie begins to realize he feels more of a connection to Dev than to any of the twenty beautiful women currently parading through his life. The story's romantic storyline depends heavily upon one character's never having entertained thoughts of the sexuality and desire that blooms dramatically within the book. This revelation opens the door to the discovery of and the discussion of various characters' newly realized or revealed sexual identities--as well as, in some cases, the expressed aim of not defining sexuality with traditional rigidity. Best friends play key roles in supporting the two love interests and in helping them realize their true feelings. I loved the open discussions of mental health, the characters' realistic imperfections, the LGBTQIA+ representation, and the deeply felt romance. I listened to The Charm Offensive  as an audiobook. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! If you like the sound of this book, you might also like the books on my Greedy Reading List Six Romantic Novels Set in the World of TV and Movies . For more Bossy reviews of books with LGBTQIA+ representation, please check out this link .

The gems of What I Ate in One Year are, as promised in the title, the food-related moments Stanley Tucci delves into over the course of a year--cooking, eating, appreciating, entertaining, and bringing together the people he loves around a table. Cooking, eating, and appreciating delicious food is an essential part of Stanley Tucci's satisfaction, and in the nonfiction book What I Ate in One Year , he allows the food and wine that he prepares, eats, or enjoys (and, occasionally, pans) over the course of a year to add structure to the passage of 365 days, while interspersing some personal moments and brief mentions of professional pursuits. The book is not particularly full of substance, but the moments that Tucci includes from his personal life help showcase the many atmospheric, cooking- and eating-focused entries, which are delightful. Tucci is irresistibly playful, confident yet humble; mesmerized by excellent food prepared simply and served with style; and he is also occasionally curmudgeonly. He loves what he loves, and he especially loves his people and his Italian food. I listened to What I Ate in One Year  as an audiobook. It's a joy to listen to Stanley Tucci read his books in his wonderful voice. The only downside to taking in the book in this format was not being able to jot down the few recipes he mentions. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Stanley Tucci is also the author of the cookbooks The Tucci Table and The Tucci Cookbook, as well as the memoir Taste: My Life Through Food .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Stephanie Booth's story of an author developing early-onset Alzheimer's who relies on a superfan to help her finish out her series; I'm listening to the wonderful Stanley Tucci's What I Ate in One Year ; and I'm listening to the reality-show-set rom-com The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun. What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Libby Lost and Found by Stephanie Booth Libby Weeks is the author of the wildly popular fantasy series The Falling Children. She used a pen name, F. T. Goldhero, in order to protect her privacy. She's months late delivering the newest installment of the series, and her publisher and fans are losing patience. But Libby receives a devastating diagnosis that changes everything: early-onset Alzheimer's. As she's reeling from the news and considering her legacy, she becomes determined to finish her book...but she's going to need some help. Enter superfan Peanut Brixton--who may be even more familiar with The Falling Children books than Libby herself. I received a prepublication copy of Libby Lost and Found , which was published October 15, courtesy of Sourcebooks Landmark. 02 What I Ate in One Year (And Related Thoughts) by Stanley Tucci Food is an essential part of Stanley Tucci's life, and in What I Ate in One Year , he allows the food and wine he cooks, eats, and enjoys over the course of a year to add structure to the passage of 365 days--while interspersing personal moments and professional pursuits. Tucci is irresistibly playful, even when he's being slightly curmudgeonly. He loves what he loves, and he especially loves his people and his Italian food. I'm listening to What I Ate in One Year as an audiobook. Stanley Tucci is also the author of cookbooks and the memoir Taste: My Life Through Food . 03 The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun Dev has dedicated his career to the reality dating show Ever After , helping to shape it into the popular, long-running franchise it is. But when his producers cast disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its newest eligible bachelor, Dev isn't sure he can salvage the situation. Charlie is awkward, clumsy, private, and quiet...not exactly the most promising television presence. As Charlie's handler, Dev spends countless hours with the bachelor, working to get him to open up. Dev shares that he's recently broken up with Ryan, who also works on the show. And Charlie begins to realize he feels more of a connection to Dev than to any of the twenty beautiful women parading through his life. I'm listening to The Charm Offensive as an audiobook. If you like the sound of this book, you might also like the books on my Greedy Reading List Six Romantic Novels Set in the World of TV and Movies .

Fairy Tales and Retellings For this list, I focused on books with fantastical elements; clear good-and-evil conflicts; characters living as royalty or in poverty or both; traditional or newly imagined imagery; metamorphoses, enchantments, or magic; a concentration on wishes and dreams; and especially those with roots in fairy tales, fables, or folklore. Which other books would you include on this list? What fairy tales for grown-ups have you loved? 01 The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden The Bear and the Nightingale is an ancient-feeling, dark fairy tale of a story that takes place within a small Russian village and centers around an extended family. "True believers" are pitted against dark, feared forces, turning on its head what the village collectively believes to be good and pure. Those who triumph over destructive righteousness, blind obedience, and attempts at wielding selfish power do so by remembering the old ways, defying expectations, and showing limitless bravery. A few elements (tying the original appearances of the dark force to later more fully realized appearances, for example) meandered along and might've been shored up more fully. But the writing was ethereal and practically brought a chill to my skin as I read about the snow and cold danger. The main protagonist and conflicted priest were irresistible characters. The Bear and the Nightingale is the first book in the Winternight trilogy. The Girl in the Tower and The Winter of the Witch are the others, and I think Arden's stories get even stronger as the series goes on, with complex interpersonal relationships, court politics, mystical creatures, and wonderful character development. Katherine Arden is also the author of The Warm Hands of Ghosts . 02 The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey I'm a sucker for hardscrabble Alaska stories, but this book is much more than that. In The Snow Child , Ivey shares a luminous tale, based on a Russain folktale, set in the snow and unforgiving cold. In 1920s Alaska, Jack and Mabel are struggling. They desperately wanted children, but that part of their lives was not destined to be. They're getting older, and Jack buries himself in the backbreaking work on the farm while Mabel turns inward, driven to despair and hopelessness. In an impossible, magical turn of events, a moment of simple winter joy leads to renewed hope that they may be able to share their love with a child after all. Ivey intersperses fairy tale-like elements with evocative details of the cold, stark atmosphere in which they take place. I wasn't initially sure I was going to be able to suspend my disbelief as I dove into the story, but Ivey engrossed me fully in the world and its workings. I really liked this story and I still think about this book, years after reading it. My book club was not unanimously sold on this book, to the point that I'm tempted to include it in a future Greedy Reading List called "Books to Break Your Book Club." But if you like magical realism, this is a hauntingly lovely, wintry read. Ivey's book To the Bright Edge of the World was also wonderful. It appears on the Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings to Read by the Fire . 03 Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik Miryem comes from a family of moneylenders who are on the verge of being unable to provide for themselves any longer. So Miryem sets herself the task of collecting the debts owed to her family, earning her the reputation of being able to spin silver into gold. When a foolish boast forces Miryem into a position of meeting the tsar's impossible challenge, she finds that the mysterious tsar isn't what he seems. The swirl of events draws other innocent young women into Miryem's complicated web and toward potential ruin for all of them. Spinning Silver is a creatively and fully reimagined version of Rumpelstiltskin, but Novik goes well above and beyond that fairy tale. The magical and irresistible tale includes protagonists with kickass girl power; multiple and haunting twists and turns I was eager to ride out with the characters; and a magic touch in telling a well-known story with more heart that I would have imagined. Novik's story offers endless odd, lovely, unexpected, and complex elements. 04 The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker In Helene Wecker's tale, which has roots in Jewish and Arab folk mythology, the lives of two outwardly human mythical creatures intersect in the dark Bowery of late 19th century New York. Chavia is a golem of clay brought to life by a desperate, disgraced rabbi, sent across the ocean to New York City, while Ahmad is a jinni, a being made of fire created in the ancient Syrian desert and trapped in a copper flask that makes its way to New York City as well. The two become linked and grow to be unlikely soul mates. The Golem and the Jinni explores issues of ownership, responsibility, and belonging, as Wecker simultaneously digs into the creatures' feelings, loyalty, and true affection. Wecker offers sentimental moments of discovery, yet the tone of the book often feels dispassionate, as though it is a study of such things, measured at a distance. This is magical realism, folklore, and historical fiction wrapped up in one very interesting read. 05 The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo The Night Tiger is a wonderful historical fiction mystery and love story shaped by superstition, fables, and tales. Ji Lin is a young girl who would have dreamed of becoming a doctor if society would allow it, but she's stuck working off her mother's Mahjong debts by being a lowly dance hall girl. She encounters a Chinese houseboy, Ren, on a bizarre mission, and their paths become intertwined around a superstition that men can turn into tigers. Ji Lin doesn’t fit the mold of a typical woman from 1930s Malaysia or that of the British colonists living there—in all wonderful ways. She’s itching for (and finds) adventure, knowledge, and much more in her life than the loveless match she was expected to make. She speaks her mind and ruffles feathers even as she exploits assumptions about women, sexual attraction, and power. There's magical realism at the heart of this book, and Choo also examines colonialism, superstition, and young love. I thought it was fascinating. I also listed this book in the Greedy Reading List Six Historical Fiction Mysteries to Intrigue You . 06 Uprooted by Naomi Novik “Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.” Agnieszka has grown up in a quiet village, surrounded by people she loves. But evil lurks in the nearby Wood, with the dark presence of the wizard they call the Dragon looming over all of them. The Dragon keeps them safe from the Wood, but at a high price: each year he demands one young woman from the village. She is taken for ten years to serve him. The next choosing is coming up quickly, and Agnieszka is sure that her best friend Kasia will be next to go. She considers every desperate plan she can to try to save Kasia from this horrible fate, knowing all the while that she cannot prevent what is to happen. This is the second Naomi Novik book on this short list because she reimagines fairy tales so captivatingly. Uprooted is a thoughtful, satisfying grown-up fairy tale with gloriously imagined details. I ate it up. Novik is also the author of the Scholomance series: A Deadly Education , The Last Graduate , and The Golden Enclaves . I feel compelled to also mention that Novik has a series of nine books about dragons, the Temeraire series, and the dragons talk and are haughty and greedy and intensely loyal to their riders, and the novels explore world politics and nations' relationships and airborne dragon battles within the books, and the human protagonists are wonderfully faulted and fantastic.

I felt like the story started off slowly, but once the world was built and the background established, I was hooked on the interpersonal relationships, the dramatic conflicts, the creatures' magical abilities, and their evolving quests. Various demons work as mercenaries in Nine Hells, and Bex trusts only them to protect her. Over time, some of these demons have evolved into grumbling lackeys for the Eternal King, or bound slaves. But when Bex and her demons team up with a new client--a powerful male witch who's got it in for the king--it could change everything. The first part of the book felt clunky to me, bogged down by explanations of how Aaron's imagined world works and the basic history of various conflicts and groups (gods, demigods, demons, free demons, witches, warlocks, East Coast/West Coast, heaven, hell--I was reeling a little bit). Eventually the story seemed to hit its stride, and the various demons, magical powers, dark histories, missions--and the Bex-Adrian friendship, client-bodyguard relationship, and growing attraction--made me wonder what would happen next. Neither Bex nor Adrian is exactly what they appear, nor are they following the scripts set out for them. Together, they are more powerful and capable and creative than alone, and they make a formidable team that reimagines reality for their kinds. Now that the world of the books has been built, I expect the second installment to move along at a nice clip; Aaron's dynamic battle scenes were a strength here. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Rachel Aaron is also the author of the DFZ Changeling series, the Heartstrikers series, the Crystal Calamity series, and other books. I listened to Hell for Hire  as an audiobook.

Knoll's novel was inspired by real events; Bright Young Women traces a serial killer targeting young women and in the character of Pamela, offers a no-nonsense, brilliant nemesis who won't let up until she brings the criminal to justic e. Jessica Knoll's novel Bright Young Women is inspired by real-life events: the targeting of a sorority by the first "celebrity serial killer" in his final killing spree. In 1978 Tallahassee, Florida, the serial disappearances and deaths of young women in the Pacific Northwest couldn't feel farther from the carefree, fun-loving sorority life president Pamela Schumacher's capable, savvy sisters are enjoying. But when the studious, responsible Pamela stays home from a party and investigates a strange noise in the sorority house, she discovers a horrible tragedy--two of her sisters (one, her best friend) are dead and two others are maimed. And in her shock and horror, Pamela spied the culprit as he skulked away. In Seattle, Tina Cannon is trying to figure out what happened to her dear friend Ruth, who disappeared from a nearby state park. When she hears about the horrifying events in Tallahassee, she becomes convinced that what happened to Ruth is linked to the Florida sorority attack, and she travels to Florida, determined to get to the bottom of the crimes. The abductions and deaths at the hands of the Defendant (as he is called throughout) are so disturbing, I welcomed the breaks from the immediate aftermath of the heinous crimes and time spent in the Tina-Ruth storyline--which later ties into Pamela's storyline. It was horrifying that the sorority girls in the story received so little guidance and support after their trauma--I chose to believe that the events were so unprecedented, everyone was in shock. The capable Pamela yet again must take charge despite her fear and rage and pain. When the police forces of multiple states seem unable to contain or prosecute the diminutive, self-aggrandizing, not-so-clever killer who seems to often stumble across his victims and also luck into an unlikely escape, Pamela takes on what is eventually a central role in trying to take down The Defendant. (At multiple points I imagined Pamela grumbling and shaking her head as she has to do the dirty work and do EVERYONE'S JOBS, UGH.) I expected the novel to feel more salacious, and I was thankful that it did not. I found it satisfying to read about Pamela's growing contempt for The Defendant, her long-term commitment to prosecuting him, and her mission to find peace for his victims. The friendships and love interests--which were powerful enough to overshadow the book's dysfunctional families and painful relationships--were welcome distractions from the horror at the heart of this story. I read Bright Young Women  for my book club. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Jessica Knoll is also the author of Luckiest Girl Alive , The Favorite Sister , and American Girl .

I loved this dive into the repercussions of a seemingly psychic woman's predictions of demise for her fellow passengers on a flight. Characters scoff, become resigned, or work to control their futures as they face issues surrounding their mortality. Flight attendant Allegra Patel loves her work--despite the sometimes-bossy passengers, their overstuffed baggage, and the fallout from someone's inevitable air sickness. But on today's flight, an elderly woman is causing a major disruption. She's going through the plane as if in a trance, announcing expected ages of and causes of death for each person aboard. From the overworked dad trying to make it home in time for his daughter's musical, to the mother of two young, crying children, to a spry older couple, to Allegra herself, the Death Lady (as she is later called) announces a prediction of each person's age of and cause of demise. Here One Moment  traces what begins to happen as the first of the Death Lady's predictions seem to come true and each passenger considers the prospect of their own immortality--and for some, what seems to be their imminent death. Here One Moment tracks many characters' subsequent dilemmas and decision-making, in a few cases delving back into their past to set a stage for current-day events--and building a rich story of the life of the Death Lady herself. I love a book that considers life and death and inspires me to do the same, and Moriarty shapes each character's path forward in varied ways. They are thoughtful, dismissive, daring, resigned, afraid, negligent, or determined; they defy their prediction, or try to control their fate, or recognize how they most want to live out their days and make new choices. I wasn't sure how Moriarty was going to tie up the many loose ends, but by the time the book ended, I felt like the story offered an appropriate amount of open-ended aspects, with more resolution and satisfaction than I'd anticipated. I listened to Here One Moment  as an audiobook, and I loved hearing the Australian accents. For more Bossy reviews of books about mortality, please check out the titles at this link . I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this story! Liane Moriarty is also the author of Three Wishes , The Last Anniversary , What Alice Forgot , The Hypnotist's Love Story , The Husband's Secret , Big Little Lies , Truly Madly Guilty , Nine Perfect Strangers , and Apples Never Fall .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Liane Moriarty's story of the aftermath a plane full of psychic predictions regarding conditions of each passenger's death, Here One Moment ; I'm reading Sally Rooney's newest novel, about young-adult brothers seeking love and hope after their father's death, Intermezzo ; and I'm listening to the first in Rachel Aaron's Tear Down Heaven fantasy series, Hell for Hire . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty Flight attendant Allegra Patel loves her work--despite the sometimes-bossy passengers, their overstuffed baggage, and the fallout from someone's inevitable air sickness. But on today's flight, an elderly woman is causing a major disruption. She's going through the plane as if in a trance, announcing expected ages of and causes of death for each person aboard. From the overworked dad trying to make it home in time for his daughter's musical, to the mother of two young, crying children, to a spry older couple, to Allegra herself, the Death Lady (as she is later called) announces a prediction of each person's age of and cause of demise. Here One Moment traces what begins to happen as the first of the Death Lady's predictions seem to come true and each passenger considers the prospect of their own immortality--and for some, what seems to be their imminent death. I'm listening to Here One Moment as an audiobook. 02 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Peter Koubek is a thirtysomething attorney in Dublin, unshakeable, unsentimental, and highly successful. He's struggling to maintain two relationships--one with Naomi, a playful younger woman, and one with his earnest and caring first love, Sylvia, who is coping with a health issue. Ivan Koubek is ten years younger, a competitive chess player, a loner, and, he has always thought, his brother's Peter's opposite. In the wake of their father's death, each brother tests the line between hopelessness and possibility, considering his place in the world and what the future might hold. Rooney is also the author of Normal People , Conversations with Friends , and Beautiful World, Where Are You . 03 Hell for Hire (Tear Down Heaven #1) by Rachel Aaron I love a playful fantasy book (see Hench and Starter Villain ), and I'm hoping Rachel Aaron's Tear Down Heaven series is one I'll love too. Various demons work as mercenaries in Nine Hells, and Bex trusts only them to protect her. Over time, these free demons have evolved into grumbling lackeys for the Eternal King. But teaming up with their new client--a powerful male witch who's got it in for the king--could change everything. Rachel Aaron is also the author of the DFZ Changeling series, the Heartstrikers series, the Crystal Calamity series, and other books. I'm listening to Hell for Hire as an audiobook.

The Civil War Books This painful, terrible time in our nation's history makes for some poignant, brutal, often beautiful storytelling. News of the World and Simon the Fiddler are two more by Paulette Jiles that I've waxed poetic about on this blog, and others on my to-read list include The House Girl by Tara Conklin, March by Geraldine Brooks, Old Abe by John Cribb, Widow of the South by Robert Hicks, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy b y Karen Abbott, and Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles. If you like historical fiction, you might also like some of my many other Bossy Bookworm Greedy Reading Lists; here are just a few: Six Historical Fiction Books I Loved in the Past Year Six Historical Fiction Mysteries to Intrigue You Six Great Historical Fiction Books Set in the American West Six More Great Historical Fiction Books Set in the American West Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought! And: which other books should I add to my Civil War historical fiction to-read list? 01 The Color of Lightning by Paulette Jiles This beautiful, heartbreaking book. It's set toward the end of the Civil War on the Texas plains, centering around the bare-bones but amazing basic facts known about the real life of a freed black man—with the details of his life imagined and elaborated on in fantastic form by the author, and many other richly created characters that make the story come to life. Absolutely horrific and vivid details of Native Americans’ physical brutality are depicted; naive and uninformed eastern urban white men’s ideas and outrageously rigid ideas meant to “civilize” western Indians are gradually undone; complexities and brilliantly laid out fundamental differences in white and Native American life views are gracefully explored; white-Indian friendships fraught with potentially lethal misunderstanding but incredible trust and humor are imagined; and the tragic and multilayered reasons for the undoing of any hope of white-Indian coexistence build slowly to a tragic end. The dreams of many of the key characters and self-reflections are lovely and illuminating and poignant. Jiles turns assumptions on their heads: untested characters find they are capable of incredible grit—and other idealist characters find themselves crushed and without any of the basic answers about justice and life they were once confident in. This book broke my heart and I just adored it. I reviewed it here . Jiles also wrote the wonderful News of the World and Simon the Fiddler as well as Chenneville . 02 Fallen Land by Taylor Brown Taylor Brown's debut novel is set in the final year of the Civil War. Callum, an Irish horse thief, fled to America an orphan at fifteen years old. Ava's family is gone, killed by war. The young couple find one another and bond to each other in their desperate run to escape the devastated South. They encounter the fiery ruin of Sherman's March on their way to safety and a new life, and their love is one beautiful light in the darkness of the country's ravaging war. I was stressed reading Ava and Callum's circumstances, but the preciousness of lives lived moment by moment (while the characters fight for survival--and also attempt to live as good people and find love and joy) was wrought beautifully by Brown. Their perspective of coming upon the devastation immediately after Sherman's March through Atlanta was particularly shocking and affecting. This is a rough yet sometimes tender story set at the end of the Civil War, amid the confusion and desperation and cruelty and kindnesses of that time. Brown also wrote the wonderful Gods of Howl Mountain , Wingwalkers , and Rednecks . 03 Wilderness by Lance Weller “I'm American. Like I told you. And I'm American and not something else because they failed that day. They couldn't do it and most of them probably knew they couldn't do it before they even started, but they went anyhow. There's honor in that. I don't reckon there's much honor left in the world now, but they had it that day and I honor them on both sides by knowing what I can about it. Much as I can.” Weller's Wilderness is set several decades after the Civil War, but the story pivots on Abel Truman's experiences in the Civil War's Battle of the Wilderness and how they shaped his life, led him to the wilds of Washington state, and set him on what is likely his final journey. This took me a while to get into, but I'm so glad I didn't give up on it. I loved the merging of stories and the luminous writing about tragedy, evolution of character, and boundless love--this is a gorgeous story. Weller has developed a graphic novel adaptation of this book. 04 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson “I wish I could leave you certain of the images in my mind, because they are so beautiful that I hate to think they will be extinguished when I am. Well, but again, this life has its own mortal loveliness. And memory is not strictly mortal in its nature, either. It is a strange thing, after all, to be able to return to a moment, when it can hardly be said to have any reality at all, even in its passing. A moment is such a slight thing. I mean, that its abiding is a most gracious reprieve.” Marilynne Robinson's Gilead chronologically precedes her novel Lila and takes the form of the aging Reverend's recollections and letters to his young son. The book spans generations of fathers and sons from the Civil War to the twentieth century, includes reflections about the war, and it's a beautiful book, so I decided that it's going on my Civil War list. Gilead is largely an exploration of the Reverend's complicated relationship with his troubled young namesake and the evolution of his faith and preaching. This is a gentle, slow-paced story from the heart-wrenchingly gorgeous writer. Marilynne Robinson is also the author of Home , Lila , Jack , Housekeeping , and other books. 05 Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird Bird's Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen is based on the story of a real-life female Buffalo Soldier, Cathy Williams, with many liberties taken for the sake of shaping a story. I was happy to suspend my disbelief at the many conveniently outlandish circumstances or coincidences—which led key characters to cross unlikely paths, caused characters to avoid making important discoveries until the timing was more convenient to the arc of the tale, or set events essential to a resolution in a magical otherworld to allow imagined outcomes. Bird does an excellent job of keeping up the tension and making clear the high stakes of Williams’s enormous secret and the destruction that would befall her if it came out. She explores in fascinating detail the hardscrabble life of a newly freed Black person—and the often desperate circumstances of women (especially Black women) without men to protect them at the time. The major and minor love stories are sweet and tragic on multiple levels. I also mentioned this book in the Greedy Reading List Six Historical Fiction Novels I Loved . 06 Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders “Only then (nearly out the door, so to speak) did I realize how unspeakably beautiful all of this was, how precisely engineered for our pleasure, and saw that I was on the brink of squandering a wondrous gift, the gift of being allowed, every day, to wander this vast sensual paradise, this grand marketplace lovingly stocked with every sublime thing.” The premise of Lincoln in the Bardo , which the reader quickly grasps, is that the characters are caught in limbo, somehow unaware of and in denial about their earthly demises, and they repeat the same patterns and manipulations while making mental excuses for their diminished or changed states, all the while waiting for (impossible) opportunities to "feel better" and return to their lives. The construction (short, often one-line passages followed by the speaker's name) of Lincoln in the Bardo could've been clunky, but the characters' voices were distinct enough to work. This is twisted, base, and funny, but sometimes also sentimental and poignant, with peeks into deceased characters' pivotal life moments as well as hypothetical looks into Lincoln's frame of mind and motivation as he struggled with his personal losses and feelings of responsibility for the significant loss of life on both sides during the Civil War. The character growth surprised me and felt in line with the tone and pacing of the story. This was unusual and fascinating all around.

ICYMI: My favorite Kate Quinn books center around strong young women proving their mettle during wartime crises, and The Alice Network offers the tales of two women whose stories span decades and who become linked forever. In this historical fiction novel by Kate Quinn, the stories of two women—an imagined World War I spy from the Alice Network (a network that actually existed) in France and an American socialite looking for her cousin in 1947—are brought together across the decades . I loved the strong female protagonists and seeing their fire and grit and growth. Both of the more modern-day storylines were wrapped up neatly as with a bow. I would have been in favor of having the romantic element be tied up without the Eve aspect, or having neither of them tied up at all, but the “end of movie”-type closure for both felt too convenient, and even a little dismissive of the complexities of the time and the specific difficulties of the characters' situations. But I was fascinated by the World War I focus and in many cases the spy details’ basis in reality. I wished I’d known the information from the author’s note as I read because of how much of the stories of the women’s lives was pulled from first-person records. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Kate Quinn is the author of the fantastic titles The Diamond Eye , The Huntress , The Rose Code , and, along with Janie Chang, The Phoenix Crown .

I loved this summer-camp setting, the slow build of mystery in two timelines, the privilege and working class disparities, the eventual revelations concerning the disappearances of both Van Lear children, and the beautifully wrought tragedy and redemption. In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adirondack summer camp. But the girl isn't just any camper. She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work. Oddly, her brother Bear, beloved by all who knew him, disappeared fourteen years earlier. He was never found. A frantic search takes place, and as the locals look for Barbara, various Van Lear secrets come to light. The split between the largely blue-collar area and the privileged Van Lear family is shown to be stark and significant. I love love love a summer-camp story, and I loved The God of the Woods . I was intrigued by the mysteries and their layers, which are continually revealed, and while I usually feel more invested in one timeline over another, with The God of the Woods , I was equally interested in both timelines. The Van Lears' story draws in many of those who orbit around them; it's full of tragedy upon tragedy, emotional upset, gaslighting, and cover-ups--yet things are often not as they seem. Some questionable decisions seemed aimed at protecting the vulnerable, although their reality may have be achieved the opposite; some characters are presented as selfless but are shown to in truth be horribly selfish; some of those who seem strange and odd are hiding benign or heartfelt secrets, and have been deeply shaped by them. Many mysterious elements are cleared up at the end of the book in satisfying swirls of truth; all the pieces make sense, but after the slow build of the majority of the book, this pacing felt a little rushed to me. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Liz Moore is also the author of Long Bright River  as well as Heft and The Unseen World .

The Paris Novel is the first novel by food writer, memoir author, food critic, and James Beard award-winner Ruth Reichl. It's a fairytale-like love letter to Paris in which a staid young woman has almost magical encounters with food, fashion, and kind strangers, which collectively and dramatically shape her future. Stella is practical, frugal, regimented, and independent. A copyeditor who lives by a careful daily schedule, she is thrown for a loop when her estranged, impulsive, selfish mother dies and leaves her an unusual inheritance: a one-way plane ticket with the directive "Go to Paris." She's tempted to defy her mother by not following her bossy demands, but when Stella arrives in Paris, a series of fortuitous encounters with French fashion, food, caring characters, and her own past make for a sweet story. The novel's eating and vivid French food descriptions are, as one would expect from Reich, a fun highlight--and also a pivotal part of her self-discovery and her future. Fashion also turns out to be a key to Stella's fate, and French designs are highlighted within The Paris Novel and given an almost magical power. The relationships that seem problematic or fated to fail each turn out to be essential to Stella's happiness and part of a found family that propels her forward into a more rich, full life. With the exception of her fraught past relationship with her mother--as well as a haunting (and for me, surprisingly dark) element to the story, an occurrence in Stella's childhood that happened due to her mother's self-obsession and lack of supervision--there's no doubt everything is going to work out on all fronts for Stella in this novel. Convenient encounters, fairytale-like turns of events, and decadent experiences with food and fashion are fun, heartwarming, and light, and make for a satisfyingly clean wrap-up of all conflicts. I listened to The Paris Novel as an audiobook. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! This is Ruth Reichl's first novel. Her wonderful food-focused memoirs Garlic and Sapphires  and Tender at the Bone  were both listed in my Greedy Reading List of Six Foodie Memoirs to Whet Your Appetite , and you can find my review of Save Me the Plums , her memoir about heading up Gourmet magazine, here .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Jessica Knoll's novel inspired by real-life events surrounding a serial killer in the 1970s, Bright Young Women ; I'm reading Ann Liang's novel based on myth, A Song to Drown Rivers ; and I'm listening to the first novel by food writer and critic Ruth Reichl, The Paris Novel . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll Jessica Knoll's novel Bright Young Women is inspired by real-life events--specifically, a sorority targeted by the first "celebrity serial killer" in his last killing spree. In 1978 Tallahassee, Florida, the serial deaths in the Pacific Northwest couldn't feel farther from the carefree, fun-loving sorority life president Pamela Schumacher and her sisters are enjoying. But when the studious, responsible Pamela stays home from a party and investigates a strange noise in the sorority house, she discovers a horrible tragedy--two of her sisters are dead and two others are maimed. In Seattle, Tina Cannon is trying to figure out what happened to her dear friend Ruth, who disappeared from a nearby state park. When she hears about the horrifying events in Tallahassee, she becomes convinced that what happened to Ruth is linked to the sorority attack, and she travels to Florida, determined to get to the bottom of the crimes. I'm reading Bright Young Women for my book club. 02 A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang In Ann Liang's A Song to Drown Rivers , Xishi is a beautiful young woman who makes her village of Yue proud, for she will almost certainly make a good marriage match. But she catches the eye of the well-known young military advisor Fanli, and as she becomes trained in playing music and hiding her emotions, she develops a traitorous plan: to overturn the village of Wu, empower her own people, and avenge her sister's death. She rises through the ranks and gains access to the king--but if she is revealed to be a traitor, not only she and Fanli but their home villages will be destroyed. I fell in love with Ann Liang's fake-dating young adult novel This Time It's Real , read it in one rainy afternoon, and included it in my Greedy Reading Lists Six of My Favorite Light Fiction Reads from the Past Year , Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading , and My Bossy Favorite Reads of Summer  the year I read it. And you can find my review of her great young-adult rom-com I Hope This Doesn't Find You here . I received a prepublication edition of this title, which was published October 1, courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. 03 The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl Stella is practical, frugal, regimented, and independent. A copyeditor who lives by a careful daily schedule, she is thrown for a loop when her estranged, impulsive, selfish mother dies and leaves her an unusual inheritance: a one-way plane ticket with the directive "Go to Paris." She's tempted to defy her mother by not following her bossy demands, but when Stella arrives in Paris, a series of fortuitous and fairytale-perfect encounters with fashion, food, caring characters, and her own past make for a sweet, heartwarming novel. This is Ruth Reichl's first novel. Her wonderful food-focused memoirs Garlic and Sapphires  and Tender at the Bone  were both listed in my Greedy Reading List of Six Foodie Memoirs to Whet Your Appetite , and you can find my review of Save Me the Plums , her memoir about heading up Gourmet magazine here .

My very favorite Bossy September reads! This month my favorite reads were a retelling of a Mark Twain story; historical fiction set in North Carolina; contemporary fiction about an unplanned pregnancy; the real story of a beloved figure from stage, film, and song; a missing-person mystery; and a fantasy story within a story. If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! And I'd also love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads? 01 What the Mountains Remember by Joy Callaway The historical fiction story about the building of the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, had a romantic element that was bigger than I was anticipating, but I enjoyed Callaway's storytelling on building logistics, the power of class and society, complications of widespread TB infection, visionaries shaping the future, as well as the love story that for much of the book seems destined for failure. It's 1913, and Belle Newbold hasn't been into the mountains since her father died in a tragic West Virginia mining accident. In the seven years since, Belle's mother has reinvented herself as a society woman and has remarried, while Belle has learned to keep the family's past poverty, hunger, and struggles a secret. Belle is fearful--particularly for her mother's sake--that her father's true origins may be uncovered and be their undoing. All of this, along with her pain at the loss of her beloved father, keeps her closed off emotionally. For her intended husband Worth, his tragic family past and complicated present seem to be stumbling blocks that can't be overcome. The ins and outs of the Grove Park Inn's design and logistics of building were fascinating; Belle's research serves as an avenue for sharing this information, which feels thoroughly researched by the author herself. The romance aspect of the story became more of a focus than I was anticipating, and I enjoyed Callaway's realistically tangled obstacles that persistently thwarted the easy path to love. I listened to What the Mountains Remember  as an audiobook. For more North Carolina stories, check out the books on this Bossy list . For my full review of this book, please see What the Mountains Remember . 02 The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean I'm a big fan of Emiko Jean's writing. The Return of Ellie Black  was a disturbing setup followed by a somewhat too-easy-feeling reveal, but in between, I was captivated by the ride. I'm fascinated by a missing-persons story . In Emiko Jean's The Return of Ellie Black , Detective Chelsey Calhoun is shocked by the reappearance of Ellie Black, a young girl who's been missing for two years. Chelsey is especially invested in the case because her own sister Lydia went missing years earlier--before falling victim to a tragic murder-suicide carried out by her boyfriend. The story takes us inside the claustrophobic, twisted, abusive, extremely disturbing compound where Ellie is kept prisoner--and she's not the only girl being kept against her will. When she comes home alive, only Chelsey finds it strange that Ellie has left her captor and remains alive. Has Ellie been released, rather than escaped? The reveal of the true story behind the abductions, cruelties, and murders seemed far-fetched (every one of the elements--motivations, participants, delusions--were linked to close-to-home situations). But as always, I enjoyed Jean's writing, and I couldn't wait to find out who was behind the infuriating, extremely disturbing kidnappings and why. Emiko Jean is also the author of the great young adult stories Tokyo Ever After  and Tokyo Dreaming  and Tokyo Forever , as well as Mika in Real Life , Empress for All Seasons , and other books. Click here for my full review of The Return of Ellie Black . 03 Long Live Evil (Time of Iron #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan Sarah Rees Brennan offers a funny, dark, clever story within a story in which the heroes and villains are redefined, redemption is always possible, revenge is sweet, and rewriting the story doesn't always shift the plot in the way you'd expect. I love a story that flips a traditional setup, and Long Live Evil  is my newest favorite in the Villains Are People Too book trend (check out two of my other recommendations in this vein below). Rae has always taken comfort in books. But now she's dying, and in a panic, she makes a magical deal in which she lives on...in the world of her sister's favorite fantasy series. But wars are being waged, and Rae quickly figures out that she's not the heroine of the story. She's the villain. And only she can organize the rest of the plotting, dark, moody, sometimes exasperating bad guys (and girls) in an attempt to change all of their futures. When Rae begins tinkering with characters, trying to shift the plot--posing as a prophet telling the future--she figures out that she's not the only one who came from the "real world" and has infiltrated the story. And she also realizes she may not be helping; she may be making everything worse. This is so funny, sometimes dark, and it has lots of heart. I adore all of the twists on the heroine-villain setup. I listened to Long Live Evil  as an audiobook courtesy of Libro.fm. For other books that take a sympathetic, darkly playful view of a villain, check out Hench and Starter Villain . Sarah Rees Brennan is also the author of the fantastic character-driven young-adult fantasy In Other Lands . Please click here to see my full review of Long Live Evil . 04 James by Percival Everett Percival Everett's James is a fascinating retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  from the point of view of enslaved Black character Jim, who here demonstrates intelligence, ambition, defiance, unbridled fury, and the ability to wrest control of elements of his life. In James , Percival Everett's retelling of the Mark Twain novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , we hear a version of that novel's story told from enslaved Jim's point of view. James is secretly teaching other enslaved people to read; sneaking to delve into the library of books in the big house, including works of philosophy by John Locke (he also holds imagined arguments and discussions with noted philosophers during several delirious moments of the story); and is an expert code-switcher who tailors his language to follow white people's expectations of a submissive Black person. James is beleaguered by the ignorance, skewed power structure, and cruelty of the white people surrounding him. Through a stint as a performer in a minstrel show; a pivotal encounter with versions of the scam artists from Huckleberry Finn , the Duke and Dauphin; and the making and losing of allies and enemies, Everett turns multiple situations from Huckleberry Finn  on their heads, frequently empowering James to shift the course of events. Yet the true horrors of life as an enslaved Black person in the deep South at the time of Twain's novel are brutally evident, and Everett doesn't shy away from depicting the resulting abuse, casual cruelty, and, often, death of Black enslaved people at the hands of white people. The trauma on the page is difficult to read, but more difficult to consider in its origins, as it is rooted in horrifying fact and reality. I listened to James as an audiobook. Please click here for my full review of James . 05 Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe Thorpe's irresistible character of 19-year-old Margo discovers her strength, drive, creativity, and vulnerability after becoming pregnant. She defies societal expectations to provide for her baby and to find fulfillment in her personal and professional life. Margo is a 19-year-old community college student having an affair with her married professor. When she finds that she's pregnant, she begins a winding path to figuring out her life that mainly entails defying most of the stereotypes of a young single mother. She is told she will receive zero support from the baby's father; she loses two roommates due to the baby's crying; she receives little practical help from her mother; and she loses her job. Yet she finds a true friend in her last remaining roommate, who until then seemed primarily a source of rent; she finds a strange and fulfilling new relationship with her estranged father, a former professional wrestler; and she dives into an unorthodox new profession in order to secure a financial future for her family. Thorpe offers lots of joy and offbeat fun, yet doesn't shy away from weighty conflicts between classes, genders, ages, education levels, and levels of wealth or poverty. Margo butts up against--and at times, dismantles--frustrating societal expectations and double standards related to sex, desire, body autonomy, and freedom. The story and its characters feel unexpected and fascinating; Margo's Got Money Troubles  is an edgy contemporary novel with a wonderfully oddball premise and a captivating amount of depth. For my full review, check out Margo's Got Money Troubles . 06 Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran I was hooked on the behind-the-scenes feeling of Moran's historical-fiction conversations between Maria von Trapp and an assistant to Oscar Hammerstein. In Michelle Moran's novel Maria , she uses two timelines to shape the story of the real woman behind Julie Andrews's legendary depiction in The Sound of Music . In the past, richly built period, we track Maria's path from the nunnery to her position at the heart of the von Trapp family. In the 1950s timeline, Oscar Hammerstein is striving to bring Maria's story to life on the stage--but is tempted to rework some of the facts to heighten its impact. The demanding, exacting, elderly Maria insists that the depiction track more closely with her real life, and she furiously shares detailed notes with Fran, an up-and-coming young assistant in Hammerstein's office. I was fascinated by the script and production's departures from the facts within the story--most of which track with the movie version--which Maria highlights in her conversations with Fran. For example, the depiction of the Captain in the script at hand is as the family disciplinarian, but Maria asserts that she was the more strict and demanding parent. The family's singing is romanticized, but Maria reveals that one daughter had extreme anxiety about performing, and that while the singing was well received by the American public, the grueling touring schedule was rooted in a desperate bid to put food on the table for the family when few other prospects existed. This is compelling reading, and for all who consider The Sound of Music  sacred holiday viewing (and an essential singalong opportunity) like I do, it's irresistible to learn more about Maria through the "behind the scenes" feeling of the book. I listened to Maria as an audiobook. For my full review, please see Maria .

Sarah Rees Brennan offers a funny, dark, clever story within a story in which the heroes and villains are redefined, redemption is always possible, revenge is sweet, and rewriting the story doesn't always shift the plot in the way you'd expect. I love a story that flips a traditional setup, and Long Live Evil  is my most recent favorite in the Villains Are People Too book trend (check out two of my recommendations in this vein below). Rae has always taken comfort in books. But now she's dying, and in a panic, she makes a magical deal in which she lives on...in the world of her sister's favorite fantasy series. But when she dives into the book, wars are being waged, and Rae quickly figures out that she's not the heroine of the story. She's the villain. And only she can organize the rest of the plotting, dark, moody, sometimes exasperating bad guys (and girls) in an attempt to change all of their futures. As Rae falls into the role of the evil sister plotting against the beautiful, sweet heroine Leah, she feigns amnesia to cover her ignorance about how this new world works and how she fits into the story. But when Rae begins tinkering with characters, trying to shift the plot--posing as a prophet telling the future--she figures out that she's not the only one who came from the "real world" and has infiltrated the story. She wishes she'd paid more attention to certain plot points that are life-and-death important to her now. And she also realizes she may not be helping the cast of characters or securing her own safety; she may be making everything worse. If she can get to the magical flower that rarely blooms and could transport her back to her biological family, she'll be able to leave all of this complication behind. But she's begun to realize that her fictional family and chosen family in her new life have become precious to her, and it also dawns on her that she may be the key to saving them from the unforeseen evil that could destroy them forever. This is so funny, sometimes dark, and it has lots of heart. For two other great books that take a sympathetic, darkly playful view of a villain, check out Hench and Starter Villain . I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book! I listened to Long Live Evil  as an audiobook courtesy of Libro.fm. Sarah Rees Brennan is also the author of the fantastic character-driven young-adult fantasy In Other Lands .

Smith's historical fiction story in two timelines equally powerfully evokes the bleak Dutch winters of the 17th century and grimy, volatile 1950s Brooklyn, along with fascinating details of art and art forgery and a tense undercurrent that kept me hooked. The painting referenced in Dominic Smith's novel title is a rare landscape by a female Dutch painter--the first woman admitted as a master painter to Holland's Guild of St. Luke's. At the Edge of a Wood is a stark, arresting winter landscape, and the painting hangs over the bed of the descendant of the first owner of the work. Ellie Shipley is a struggling Australian grad student when she agrees to paint a forgery of the painting--and she does a fine job, if she does say so herself. But an inheritor of the work in 1950s Manhattan wants to show it in an exhibit. Ellie, now a celebrated art historian, is potentially facing a disaster in which her forgery comes to light on the world stage. The Last Painting of Sara de Vos twists through betrayal, love, lots and lots of art, loss, fear of discovery, and exquisitely detailed restoration and forgery processes. These richly built elements form a backdrop to two women's linked journeys, separated by 300 years. Smith equally vividly captures the harsh beauty of both grimy 1950s Brooklyn and 17th century Dutch bleak winters. I was totally taken in by the winding paths of the women's expectations and limitations, and by their ultimate breaks from the traps in which they find themselves. For more novels I've read and reviewed that focus on art, please check out this link . I'd love to hear your thoughts on this book! Dominic Smith is also the author of Return to Valetto , The Electric Hotel , The Beautiful Miscellaneous , Bright and Distant Shores , and The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre .

The historical fiction story about the building of the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, had a romantic element that was bigger than I was anticipating, but I enjoyed Callaway's storytelling on building logistics, the power of class and society, complications of widespread TB infection, visionaries shaping the future, as well as the love story that for much of the book seems destined for failure. I love a North-Carolina-set story, and Joy Callaway's historical fiction What the Mountains Remember had me hooked: the novel traces the building of the famous Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. It's 1913, and Belle Newbold hasn't been into the mountains since her father died in a tragic West Virginia mining accident. In the seven years since, Belle's mother has reinvented herself as a society woman and has remarried, while Belle has learned to keep the family's past poverty, hunger, and struggles a secret. Belle is set up to marry an eligible (and wealthy) bachelor who's a stranger to her, Worth Delafield, and since she and Worth have each sworn off love, they're sure to keep their heads on straight as partners, without drama or heartbreak. But when they meet, sparks fly. Belle is fearful--particularly for her mother's sake--that her father's true origins may be uncovered and be their undoing. All of this, along with her pain at the loss of her beloved father, keeps her closed off emotionally. For Worth, his tragic family past and complicated present seem to be stumbling blocks that can't be overcome. Belle is determined to write the stories of the extraordinary everyday men who are building the Grove Park Inn, and her unwelcome, growing affection for Worth is distracting her. Meanwhile, he's finding himself overwhelmed by the magic of Belle and rethinking his own desire to stay distant. The Asheville of the novel is on the verge of becoming a city of tuberculosis sanatoriums; those behind the Grove Park Inn project are working furiously to shift the city's focus into tourism and, they hope, a brighter and stronger future. The tuberculosis situation is a tricky one: bosses are worried about the Grove Park Inn timeline and potential slowdown due to worker illnesses; Belle is set on protecting the workers' jobs by keeping their illnesses a secret from supervisors; and having men go to work sick is likely to infect others with the potentially deadly disease. The complex moral and practical aspects of the TB raging through the area are not fully resolved. The ins and outs of the Grove Park Inn's design and logistics of building were fascinating; Belle's research serves as an avenue for sharing this information, which feels thoroughly researched by the author herself. The romance aspect of the story became more of a focus than I was anticipating, and I enjoyed Callaway's realistically tangled obstacles that persistently thwarted the easy path to love. The meddlesome, shallow, foolish character who repeatedly threatens to undo all of the good things that are being built in the book is a source of tension for the story, and one whose comeuppance felt welcome when it came. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book! For more North Carolina stories, check out the books on this Bossy list . I listened to What the Mountains Remember  as an audiobook. Joy Callaway is also the author of The Grand Design , The Fifth Avenue Artists Society , All the Pretty Places , and Secret Sisters .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Sarah Rees Brennan's darkly playful dive into life as a villain in a fantasy story, Long Live Evil ; I'm reading Liz Moore's newest mystery, set in a 1975 Adirondack summer camp where the young camper daughter of the owners has disappeared, God of the Woods ; and I'm listening to Joy Callaway's historical fiction set in the time of the building of North Carolina's Grove Park Inn in Asheville, What the Mountains Remember . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Long Live Evil (Time of Iron #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan I love a story that flips a traditional setup, and I have high hopes that Long Live Evil is going to be my new favorite in the Villains Are People Too book trend (check out two of my recommendations in this vein below). Rae has always taken comfort in books. But now she's dying, and in a panic, she makes a magical deal in which she lives on...in the world of her favorite fantasy series. But wars are being waged, and Rae quickly figures out that she's not the heroine of the story. She's the villain. And only she can organize the rest of the plotting, dark, moody, sometimes exasperating bad guys (and girls) in an attempt to change all of their futures. I'm listening to Long Live Evil as an audiobook. Sarah Rees Brennan is also the author of the fantastic character-driven young-adult fantasy In Other Lands . For other books that take a sympathetic, darkly playful view of a villain, check out Hench and Starter Villain . 02 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adironack summer camp. But the girl isn't just any camper. She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work. And her brother disappeared fourteen years earlier. He was never found. A frantic search takes place, and as the locals look for Barbara, various Van Lear secrets come to light, and the split between the largely blue-collar area and the privileged Van Lear family is shown to be stark and significant. Liz Moore is also the author of Long Bright River as well as Heft and The Unseen World . 03 What the Mountains Remember by Joy Callaway I love a North-Carolina-set story, and Joy Callaway's historical fiction What the Mountains Remember has me hooked: the novel traces the building of the famous Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. It's 1913, and Belle Newbold hasn't been into the mountains since her father died in a tragic West Virginia mining accident. In the seven years since, Belle's mother has reinvented herself as a society woman and has remarried, and Belle has learned to keep the family's past poverty, hunger, and struggles a secret. Belle is set up to marry an eligible (and wealthy) bachelor, Worth Delafield, and since she and Worth have each sworn off love, they're sure to keep their heads on straight as partners, no drama or heartbreak. But when they meet, sparks fly. Belle is determined to write the stories of the extraordinary everyday men who are building the Grove Park Inn, and Worth is distracting her--and finding himself overwhelmed by the magic of Belle herself. For more North Carolina stories, check out the books on this Bossy list . I'm listening to What the Mountains Remember as an audiobook.

Powerful Books about the Experiences of Immigrants I could have listed many other powerful books about immigrants. But these four fiction works and two nonfiction titles resonated with me, each offering glimpses into the challenges and triumphs of leaving one land and tackling another; striving to hold on to culture while navigating unfamiliar pitfalls; and facing the fears and joys of seeking a new life in a new place. 01 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee In the early 1900s, a teenager falls for a silver-tongued stranger on the coast of Korea. But when the relationship falters, she flees into a marriage with a sickly traveling minister and escapes to Japan, setting in motion the events that will shape the generations to come. Noa didn’t care about being Korean when he was with her; in fact, he didn’t care about being Korean or Japanese with anyone. He wanted to be, to be just himself, whatever that meant; he wanted to forget himself sometimes. Pachinko is a sweeping generational story of hardship, sacrifice, and fifty years of Korean-Japanese cultural conflict beginning in the early twentieth century, as seen through the experiences of one family. The many details of daily life (food, dress, tradition) in Korea and Japan made the almost-500-page story come alive for me. 02 The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya Wow. Wamariya writes beautifully and brutally honestly about her journey of fleeing from Rwanda and through six other African countries—with her tough, hustling older sister Claire—during and after the Rwandan genocide. In The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After , Wamariya recalls her experiences through her childlike point of view, which allows for a painfully pure set of painful memories, betrayals, horrors, and sometimes a steeled numbness. Wamariya shares her views of the world, her often jarring experiences in the US—with her sister and family on weekends in inner city Chicago and her weekday life and schooling in wealthy Kenilworth, then Hotchkiss and Yale and beyond—and her search to help other refugees’ stories be known and for her own peace. The author's tone and voice is like poetry at times, raw and spare and true. 03 In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero The heart of Diane Guerrero's story is powerful: a hardworking family is preyed upon by criminals' financially ruinous scams against undocumented workers; the family members experience years of constant fears of deportation; and then they must face the shocking potential reality of deportation itself. Guerrero's interest in drama and her later fame ultimately help buoy her up despite her personal agony and family heartbreak, and she ultimately becomes an activist for immigration reform. Meanwhile, Guerrero is young and often sounds like it as she flits from topic to topic in her account of her life and especially her experiences as an actress in Orange Is the New Black . The details of her immigrant family's challenges, struggles, and strength were the elements I found most affecting about In the Country We Love . 04 The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob When practical surgeon Thomas begins speaking aloud and at length to his long-dead Indian relatives, his daughter Amina is called home to try to soothe him and help her mother figure out what's going on. In The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing , Jacob alternates between the past and present, India and Seattle, shaping the stories of each of the family members Thomas is conversing with and ultimately telling the story of an extended family and its many ups and downs. The title may be a little self-conscious, but the book itself is darkly funny, with wonderfully paced dialogue and compelling characters' lives you can get lost in. The title may be a little self-conscious, but the book itself is darkly funny, with wonderfully paced dialogue and compelling characters' lives you can get lost in. Jacob writes beautiful meditations on allowing oneself to either be haunted by the past or embrace its everyday presence in your life; accepting fateful choices and their ongoing impact; carving out an identity that both encompasses and is separate from a family's immigration, ethnicity, and familial ties; and letting go. 05 Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli Because—how do you explain that it is never inspiration that drives you to tell a story, but rather a combination of anger and clarity? How do you say: No, we do not find inspiration here, but we find a country that is as beautiful as it is broken, and we are somehow now part of it, so we are also broken with it, and feel ashamed, confused, and sometimes hopeless, and are trying to figure out how to do something about all that. This is a long essay (but a short book) illustrating the complex behind-the-scenes challenges and tragedies surrounding the child migration crisis in the US. Luiselli structures Tell Me How It Ends around the forty questions interpreters ask of undocumented children during their intake interviews upon arrival in the country. She explores the contradictions between potential safety and a future for immigrants and a reality that is more brutal and uncertain than the children and their parents may have feared. ​ 6 A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum In A Woman Is No Man , Etaf Rum explores the often powerless and essentially voiceless statuses of her female characters within their conservative Arab culture, both in Palestine and as immigrants and first-generation Americans in New York. Much of this is dark. Yet there are bright points: some rare friendships emerge, sisters build intense loyalty to each other, girls and women find joy in secret reading and in books, women find strength and demand truth rather than secrecy, and there are occasional breaks to freedom. The details Rum provides as a thread throughout the book of the food, spices, and meals that create much of the structure of the women’s days are wonderful. A Woman Is No Man ultimately explores the superhuman drive and bravery required by Rum's female characters--but also many other real-life women in comparable situations--to write a new history, one in which they enjoy basic freedoms and a voice. For my full review of this book, please see A Woman Is No Man .

In the third Emma Makepeace novel, British spy Emma goes rogue in order to save world leaders and prevent an assassination at the hands of Russian mobsters. In the newest Emma Makepeace suspense novel from Ava Glass, The Trap , British spy Emma must work at breakneck speed to prevent a high-profile assassination by the Russians in the days leading up to the momentous G7 summit in Edinburgh. Emma's efforts are significantly complicated by the fact that the potential victim is unknown-- and by the fact that those in charge of her own spy network have discounted the Russian threat and are no longer supporting efforts to unravel its source or its possible impact. But Emma and her small team are convinced that if the Russians' plan is allowed to take shape, it will be disastrous. They must determine how many boundaries they can push and how many lines they're willing to cross in order to uncover the truth in time to thwart the deadly plan. I questioned one of Emma's forays into the past, which seems likely to place a person she treasures in danger. There aren't significant subplots, so this is a straightforward-feeling story, a sort of "mystery light," without complicated layers. But I love a spy-thwarting-Russian-plots storyline, and Ava Glass delivers yet again on that front. Glass briefly reviews how Emma's past has strengthened her motivation to take down Russians with nefarious intent, and she offers an opportunity for Emma to go rogue--within a team determined to save the country and leaders from around the world. Gadgets, disguises, alternative identities, bugs and surveillance-- The Trap  involves many of my favorite spy-story elements. I received a prepublication edition of this book, which was published September 3, courtesy of Ballantine and NetGalley. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you've read this book! Ava Glass is also the author of Alias Emma   and The Traitor .

Among the Bros is a disturbing true story of increasing greed, shocking carelessness with human life, drug addiction, tragic turns and deaths, and outrageous hubris that is the undoing of the young men at the heart of the nonfiction account. Max Marshall's Among the Bros  is a nonfiction peek into a multi-million-dollar drug ring and its many intersections with fraternities in the southeast. By tracing the college lives of Mikey and Rob, friends at the College of Charleston, as they pledge fraternities and then carve out paths for themselves--Mikey drops out, while Rob seems to be a golden child who does and has it all--Marshall details the young men's increasingly dangerous and illegal choices and their involvement in an interstate drug ring. Marshall notes that he himself was a member of a fraternity, ostensibly to allow for an insider perspective to these communities or at least some context from his own experience. But this doesn't feel like a fraternity story. The boys who are interviewed and highlighted in the book generally have access to money, some live together, and in many cases they demonstrate a desire to have a good time, which might be said to allow for the spread and abuse of substances detailed here. But Among the Bros focuses on what feels like something well beyond fraternity life: the book subjects are ambitiously greedy, drug-fueled, and they show growing disconnects from reality, society, basic survival strategies, and common sense. The young men involved are insufferable: they are selfish, frequently idiotic, and callous. They demonstrate shocking carelessness with human life and a disregard for its worth; compounding greed; extreme foolishness; lack of awareness; a prevalent sense of entitlement and arrogance; an irrational sense of being above the law; and devastating levels of hubris that end up being the men's undoing. Marshall ultimately links the drug ring to multiple tragic stories of addiction, several deaths, and a murder. The scale of the drug ring is terrifying--involving thousands of pills, huge units of cocaine, and more, all moving across state lines and through chains of sale and use. About 75 percent of the way through the book, the facts begin to focus on the sting and the chain of informants, which I found particularly interesting. But I didn't feel there were other illuminating angles to the story beyond the shock and awe of the account. As I read the disturbing sequence of events, I felt increasing despair and disgust as well as horror at the synthesizing of hundreds of interviews, text messages, and accounts, and at times I questioned the hearts and souls of the human beings being discussed. I was relieved to finish reading this one. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book! I listened to Among the Bros as an audiobook. For other Bossy reviews of nonfiction books, check out the titles at this link .

I'm intrigued by a missing-persons story, and I'm a fan of Emiko Jean's writing. The Return of Ellie Black was a disturbing setup followed by a somewhat too-easy-feeling reveal, but in between, I was captivated by the ride. I'm fascinated by a missing-persons story . In Emiko Jean's The Return of Ellie Black , Detective Chelsey Calhoun is shocked by the reappearance of Ellie Black, a young girl who's been missing for two years. Chelsey is especially invested in the case because her own sister Lydia went missing years earlier--before falling victim to a tragic murder-suicide carried out by her boyfriend. While Chelsey is thrilled that Ellie is back, she's frustrated by Ellie's refusal to provide information that might lead the police to her captor. While Chelsey struggles to be patient with the young woman who is coping with layers of trauma, she realizes that Ellie's hiding something--and she may be putting her own life and the lives of others in danger. The story takes us inside the claustrophobic, twisted, abusive, extremely disturbing compound where Ellie is kept prisoner--and she's not the only girl being kept against her will. When she comes home alive, only Chelsey finds it strange that Ellie has left her captor and remains alive. Has Ellie been released, rather than escaped? I was distracted by the way Ellie wasn't held accountable (despite her significant trauma) and wasn't pressed for details regarding the culprit who snatched her, where she might have been, and who else was there--all of which could have helped police get to the bottom of multiple other disappearances, past and present. I also found it strange that Chelsey operated as a solo actor in the investigation to the extent she did. The reveal of the true story behind the abductions, cruelties, and murders seemed far-fetched (every one of the elements--motivations, participants, delusions--were linked to close-to-home situations). But as always, I enjoyed Jean's writing, and I couldn't wait to find out who was behind the infuriating, extremely disturbing kidnappings and why. I listened to The Return of Ellie Black  as an audiobook. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Emiko Jean is also the author of the great young adult stories Tokyo Ever After and Tokyo Dreaming and Tokyo Forever , as well as Mika in Real Life , Empress for All Seasons , and other books.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Molly Aitken's historical fiction novel set in 13th-century Ireland, Bright I Burn ; I'm listening to Among the Bros , Max Marshall's nonfiction investigative account of the intersections between Southern fraternity members and a multi-million-dollar interstate drug ring; and I'm listening to a suspenseful mystery about a missing young woman who reappears after two years, The Return of Ellie Black . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken Molly Aitken's historical fiction Bright I Burn is based on the true story of the first woman in Ireland to be burned as a witch. In 13th-century Ireland, Alice witnesses her mother's difficult domestic life and lack of autonomy, and she swears she will find a way to take more control of her own life. Women in the 1200s aren't given much freedom, and she must wrest her power from her father, her husbands, and society. But a powerful woman is resented and feared, and threatening accusations begin to fly regarding how Alice earns so much money and how her deceased husbands met their maker. I received a prepublication edition of this book, which was published September 10, courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. 02 Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story by Max Marshall Max Marshall's Among the Bros is a nonfiction peek into a multi-million-dollar drug ring and its many intersections with fraternities in the southeast. By tracing the college lives of Mikey and Rob, friends at the College of Charleston, as they pledged fraternities and then carved out paths for themselves--Mikey dropped out, while Rob seemed to be a golden child--Marshall details the young men's increasingly dangerous and illegal choices and their involvement in an interstate drug ring. Marshall links the drug ring to several deaths, a murder, and tragic stories of addiction, as well as shocking carelessness with human life, greed, intense foolishness, and hubris that ends up being the men's undoing. I'm listening to Among the Bros as an audiobook. 03 The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean Detective Chelsey Calhoun is shocked by the reappearance of Ellie Black, a young girl who's been missing for two years. Chelsey is especially invested in the case, because her own sister Lydia went missing years earlier, before falling victim to her boyfriend's tragic murder-suicide. While Chelsey is thrilled that Ellie is back, she's frustrated by Ellie's refusal to provide information that might lead the police to her captor. While Chelsey struggles to be patient with the young woman who is coping with layers of trauma, she realizes that Ellie's hiding something--and she may be putting her own life and the lives of others in danger. I'm listening to The Return of Ellie Black as an audiobook.

Are you intrigued by reflections on life and death? This is a departure from many of my more playful Greedy Reading Lists: witchy books, young adult favorites, or gifty book ideas, for example. But I find a memoir about facing mortality fascinating. We're all headed toward the same end in this life, after all, and those brave enough to commit their feelings, experiences, fears, thoughts, and even joy to paper when their death feels imminent seem to lay bare the true roots of the human experience. Reading the reflections of someone facing death is powerful in that it forces me to consider my own life and how I choose to live it. If you like memoirs, you might like the books I list on these Greedy Reading Lists: Six Fascinating Memoirs to Explore Six More Fascinating Memoirs to Explore Six Musicians' Memoirs that Sing Six Illuminating Memoirs to Dive Into Six Illuminating Memoirs I've Read This Year Six More Illuminating Memoirs to Lose Yourself In Six Foodie Memoirs to Whet Your Appetite Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality Six of My Favorite Memoir Reads Last Year Have you read books about mortality--or memoirs that aren't on this topic--that you'd recommend? 01 The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams In Yip-Williams's memoir, the subtitle of which is A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After , she candidly shares the many heartbreaking aspects of facing her own imminent death from metastatic colorectal cancer. Yip-Williams is a beautiful, intelligent writer who reflects deeply on life and on her situation. The Unwinding of the Miracle serves as her powerful farewell to her family but is also meaningful for anyone considering the way they live and how they might choose to face their own mortality. The details of Yip-Williams’s childhood and the obstacles she overcame to simply be alive as an adult to face this sobering reality are incredible. But she is truly amazing in the way she honestly recounts her fury and panic, her excruciating treatments and effects, her exhaustive search for new life-extending options, and her reckoning with the realization that at some point desperate hope for survival must transform somehow into an effort for grace in dying and making plans for leaving loved ones behind. 02 I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell I Am, I Am, I Am is Maggie O'Farrell's memoir of pivotal near-death experiences that shaped her life and affected the way she considers her existence. Her recollections include a childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, an encounter with a potentially dangerous man in the vulnerable middle of nowhere, and her struggle to protect her daughter. The seventeen snapshots of O'Farrell's life at different stages highlight the frighteningly fragile nature of life. The construct of tracing near-death experiences to tell the story of her life didn’t feel forced at all, and O’Farrell’s meditations on the precious nature of life felt new, honest, raw, and fascinating. I loved this. O’Farrell’s writing is exacting but lyrical, capturing the nuances of the moments that lead to and make up sudden crises, arising challenges, and the dangers and narrow escapes that shape a life. For my full review of this book, see I Am, I Am, I Am . 03 When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi “I began to realize that coming in such close contact with my own mortality had changed both nothing and everything. Before my cancer was diagnosed, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn’t know when. After the diagnosis, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn’t know when. But now I knew it acutely. The problem wasn’t really a scientific one. The fact of death is unsettling. Yet there is no other way to live.” Kalanithi, a young neurosurgeon facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, found himself with many thoughts about existence and little time left in which to consider his life and his impending death. Kalanithi makes a shocking shift from being a doctor helping terminally ill patients to being a patient with inoperable lung cancer and terminally ill himself. The author was thoughtful, intelligent, and searching for purpose, grace, and meaning in life and death--whether through studying literature, practicing medicine, loving deeply, or becoming a father. His book is rich in reflections and explorations, if too short, like his life. 04 I've Seen the End of You by W. Lee Warren Warren's book, the subtitle of which is A Neurosurgeon's Look at Faith, Doubt, and the Things We Think We Know , made me cry on an airplane, repeatedly. Warren’s life story, both personal and professional, and his push and pull between faith and science, is complex and deep. His experiences as a neurosurgeon, in the war, with his divorce and his remarriage, his beloved blended family, and his suffering unimaginable loss all inform his explorations of doubt, resilience, hope, and joy as related to his faith. Watching his up-and-down, sometimes wonderfully messy self-discovery take shape through this book was a beautiful thing. I wondered if his answers would be too easily reached or too pat, but Warren digs deeply into the realities of doubting his faith, God, his life’s work, and his vision of an afterlife. Warren admits when he’s a mess, and he shows us the zigzag of a route he himself took through coping with tragedy, sharing that there are many opportunities to feel defeated, and that it’s natural to feel doubt and rage and disbelief in the face of enormous pain and tragedy. There was just a little bit of repetition at times, but I read an advance reader's copy, so this likely changed before publication. I received an advance copy of this book from WaterBrook and Multnomah and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 05 The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs “I am reminded of an image...that living with a terminal disease is like walking on a tightrope over an insanely scary abyss. But that living without disease is also like walking on a tightrope over an insanely scary abyss, only with some fog or cloud cover obscuring the depths a bit more--sometimes the wind blowing it off a little, sometimes a nice dense cover.” It seems crass to critique a book like this one. How can you wish for more of a synthesis of a life, more of an expression of heartbreak, more more more, when the real question is: how did Riggs manage to step back from her urgent life-and-death situation to write any of it? The Bright Hour is a North Carolina woman's thoughtful account of events, written with an aim of preserving the essential history and memories from her life for her two small boys. She wrote the book while she was dying of breast cancer. I don't believe Riggs's intention was to portray her husband as a largely unsympathetic figure, but that's how he came across to me as a reader. Her, waiting on the street in Paris while he visits his favorite bookstore but she's too sickly to climb the stairs to it; him, out for beers with friends while she's home coping--even though I know caregivers have to create well-earned breaks; and his funny but often dark humor. 06 Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved by Kate Bowler Plans are made. Plans come apart. New delights or tragedies pop up in their place. And nothing human or divine will map out this life, this life that has been more painful than I could have imagined. More beautiful than I could have imagined. Bowler, a young mother and divinity professor coping with long-term stage IV colon cancer, shares her faith, fury, despair, humor, and even joy as she faces difficult and beautiful truths about mortality--such as her family's future, which will continue even if she is gone. Bowler considers the flawed idea that all challenges are tests of character. There’s a frequent focus on the prosperity gospel—which I’d never heard named but that is familiar as being preached and pursued by some evangelical pastors and their followers, as well as the #blessed crowd. Bowler tackles this "God's reward/punishment" mindset within her personal framework of cancer treatment and the ebbing and flowing of hope for recovery. She tackles the biggest human issues with humor, and I love her voice. Bowler spoke at a virtual women's retreat I attended and has spoken at my church as well. She was gracious, funny, unassuming, and a pure delight to listen to. If you haven't listened to it yet to find this out for yourself, Bowler's podcast, Everything Happens, is wonderful. Kate Bowler's book No Cure for Being Human is a five-star, all-time favorite read of mine.

Annis is a young Southern woman enslaved, sold, and abused in the years before the Civil War. In Let Us Descend , she leans on the stories of her warrior female ancestors as she draws increasing strength from her own instincts and drive for survival. Some pull back. Some cry. Some scrabble for crying babies, rot-gutted women, soft-eyed men, shivering children clustered about us in the dim cold before dawn. To this death before death. To this selling.... Hell, my mother said, and more of us marching there every day. Annis lives with her mother on a Carolina rice plantation in the years before the Civil War, and when her white enslaver--the man who raped her mother and sired Annis--turns his lascivious attention to her, she fears that new horrors are in store. But her troubles are about to be compounded: she's separated from her mother, sold, and forced to begin walking in a trail of roped women many miles toward the slave markets of New Orleans. Without her mother's protection--and inspiring tales of their warrior-woman ancestors--Annis is left with only the ghost of her fierce African grandmother, who seems to be following Annis's path south, dropping crumbs of information about her mother's fate, which may or may not be true. Ward employs magical realism through the presence of this accompanying female spirit, which ties Annis to her ancestry and family history. The spirit is presented as powerful, and it is able to control storms, but its advice, based upon accounts of the histories of the women in Annis's ancestral line--including that of her mother--are increasingly suspect and seem unreliable. Annis leans on the comfort of the presence of this fierce spirit during grim or terrifying times, but as the story progresses and she relies more fully on her own instincts, she has waning interest in shifting her behavior at the spirit's frequent suggestion. The horrifying, specific, dark cruelties throughout the story, which are inflicted upon Black people by white people, are extremely difficult to read. In order to see the story through, I kept reminding myself that I was bearing witness to a fictional version of real-life atrocities, and that reading about and recognizing such events is important. I read Let Us Descend  for my book club. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Feel free to comment and let me know! Jesmyn Ward is also the author of Sing, Unburied, Sing . You can find other Bossy reviews of books that tell the stories of enslaved persons here .

I was hooked on the behind-the-scenes feeling of Moran's historical-fiction conversations between Maria von Trapp and an assistant to Oscar Hammerstein. In Michelle Moran's novel Maria , she uses two timelines to shape the story of the real woman behind Julie Andrews's legendary depiction in The Sound of Music . In the past, richly built period, we track Maria's path from the nunnery to her position at the heart of the von Trapp family. In the 1950s timeline, Oscar Hammerstein is striving to bring Maria's story to life on the stage--but is tempted to rework some of the facts to heighten its impact. The demanding, exacting, elderly Maria insists that the depiction track more closely with her real life, and she furiously shares detailed notes with Fran, an up-and-coming young assistant in Hammerstein's office. I was fascinated by the script and production's departures from the facts within the story--most of which track with the movie version--which Maria highlights in her conversations with Fran. For example, the depiction of the Captain in the script at hand is as the family disciplinarian, but Maria asserts that she was the more strict and demanding parent. The family's singing is romanticized, but Maria reveals that one daughter had extreme anxiety about performing, and that while the singing was well received by the American public, the grueling touring schedule was rooted in a desperate bid to put food on the table for the family when few other prospects existed. A minor note regarding the modern timeline: Fran's love interest is petty, jealous, chauvinistic, and unappealing--the end of the relationship seems to come far later than it should. This is compelling reading, and for all who consider The Sound of Music  sacred holiday viewing (and an essential singalong opportunity) like I do, it's irresistible to learn more about Maria through the "behind the scenes" feeling of the book. I listened to Maria as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Michelle Moran is also the author of Cleopatra's Daughter.

This historical fiction story in two timelines introduces the little-known real-life figure of librarian Jessie Carson, who traveled from the NYPL to war-torn France and introduced a novelty to communities there during World War I: children's libraries. “I’m sorry that you lost your mother,” she said. “I suppose that the best ones are like mine. Somewhat annoying, forever pushing you to do what you don’t want to do. But gentle, too, like a pillow that softens a thousand blows from this hard life.” I love a book about scrappy librarians , and Janet Skeslien Charles's historical fiction novel Miss Morgan's Book Brigade takes that setup farther into favorable Bossy territory by sending an idealistic, headstrong young librarian from the US to Europe and into a World War I setting. The story is told in two timelines. The past timeline is based on the real-life NYPL librarian Jessie Carson, and Charles tracks Carson's journey to work for the American Committee for Devastated France, funded by billionaire heiress Anne Morgan. In France, Carson not only helps rebuild communities destroyed by war, but along with her ambitious, inspired team of women, establishes something never before seen in France: children's libraries, where kids in war-torn communities can dream, lose themselves in fictional worlds, and try to recapture some carefree hours of their youth. The more modern timeline introduces Wendy, a NYPL librarian in the 1980s. In a book-within-a-book structure, the aspiring author Wendy is searching for a book topic when she stumbles upon the bare-bones story of Jessie and the Cards, as the group of women working in France were informally known. The more recent timeline allows for context for Jessie's story--little known and not well documented--beyond our reading of the original sequence of events, but the more recent story otherwise feels somewhat thin. Much of it centers around Wendy's falling in love with her vivacious coworker Roberto. I listened to Miss Morgan's Book Brigade as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Janet Skeslien Charles is also the author of The Paris Library .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Ava Glass's newest Emma Makepeace spy mystery, The Trap ; I'm listening to Miss Morgan's Book Brigade , Janet Skeslien Charles's historical fiction in two timelines, focused on a World War I-era NYPL librarian who makes waves in France; and for my book club I'm reading Jesmyn Ward's novel, set in the years before the Civil War and told from the point of view of an enslaved young woman, Let Us Descend . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 The Trap by Ava Glass In the newest Emma Makepeace suspense novel from Ava Glass, The Trap , Emma must work at breakneck speed to prevent a high-profile assassination by the Russians in the days leading up to the momentous G7 summit in Edinburgh. Emma's efforts are significantly complicated by the fact that the potential victim is unknown-- and by the fact that those in charge of her own spy network have discounted the Russian threat and are no longer supporting efforts to unravel its source or its possible impact. But Emma and her small team are convinced that if the Russians' plan is allowed to take shape, it will be disastrous. They must determine how many boundaries they can push and how many lines they're willing to cross in order to uncover the truth in time to thwart the deadly plan. I received a prepublication edition of this book, which was published September 3, courtesy of Ballantine and NetGalley. Ava Glass is also the author of Alias Emma and The Traitor . 02 Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles I love a book about scrappy librarians , and Janet Skeslien Charles's historical fiction novel Miss Morgan's Book Brigade takes that setup farther into favorable Bossy territory, by sending an idealistic, headstrong young librarian from the US to Europe and into a World War I setting. Basing the past timeline (there's also a modern timeline of discovery that allows for context beyond the original sequence of events) on the real-life NYPL librarian Jessie Carson, Charles tracks Carson's journey to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. There she not only helps rebuild communities destroyed by war, but establishes something never before seen in France: children's libraries, where kids in war-torn communities can dream, lose themselves in fictional worlds, and try to recapture some carefree hours of their youth. I'm listening to Miss Morgan's Book Brigade as an audiobook. Janet Skeslien Charles is also the author of The Paris Library . 03 Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward Annie lives on the Carolina rice plantation of her white enslaver, and when he turns his attention to her in lascivious ways, she fears that new horrors are in store for her. But her troubles are about to grow in ways she hadn't anticipated: she's separated from her mother, sold, and forced to begin walking in a trail of roped women many miles toward the slave markets of New Orleans. Without her mother's protection--and tales of their warrior-woman ancestors--Annie is left with only the ghost of her fierce grandmother, who seems to be following her path south. Ward's language is frequently poetic, and the cruelties throughout the story are difficult to read. I'm reading Let Us Descend for my book club. Jesmyn Ward is also the author of Sing, Unburied, Sing .

Historical Fiction Story Love If you're into historical fiction, you might also like to take a look at the books I listed on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Great Historical Fiction Stories Set in the American West , Six Historical Fiction F avorites , Six Historical Fiction Mysteries Sure to Intrigue You , and Six Great Historical Fiction Stories about the Civil War . You can also search by category under the Bossy Book Reviews menu to find other historical fiction books I've liked that you might like too! What are some of your favorite historical fiction reads? 01 The Huntress by Kate Quinn I'm all in for World War II-set books with tough, brave female protagonists, and I loved this book. Nina Markova always wanted to fly, and when Nazis begin to wreak havoc on the Soviet Union, she joins the Night Witches, an all-female regiment of night bombers pushing back the Germans. That is, until Nina becomes stranded behind enemy lines. I thought this character-driven post-WWII story was wonderful, with compelling and lush detail about tough female pilots; life in the Siberian wild; Boston; antiques and photography; and the patient, persistent, creative detective work done by Ian, Tony, and Nina. The reader is able to see events unfolding while the characters remain unaware, but watching the pieces shift and click into place is immensely satisfying. Kate Quinn is also the author of the fantastic titles The Rose Code , The Diamond Eye , and The Alice Network. Please click here for my full review of The Huntress . If this book sounds down your alley, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War II . 02 A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler Fowler captures wonderful details in A Well-Behaved Woman , both in the surroundings and the rigid views of the period about women, marriage, sex, politics, public and private behavior—and of course "society," which almost serves as a main character in this book, it so constantly shaped behavior, views, marriage and divorce decisions, and everything else. But Fowler also does an excellent job of delving into the all-consuming obsessions the desperate young Alva likely had with appearances and others’ opinions in order to grasp and keep hold of her position as a Vanderbilt. As she grows as a person, in her perspective on the world, and in her role and responsibilities within it, Alva questions being a slave to society, money, and expectations. Fowler strikes a realistic balance between what feels frivolous and what is Ava's meaningful growth, including her important role in the women’s suffrage movement. I loved it! Fowler also wrote A Good Neighborhood . For my full review of A Well-Behaved Woman , click here . 03 The Parting Glass by Gina Marie Guadagnino ​ Well well well! A lady’s maid in love with the lady, racy scenes, angst, wonderful details of a life in service to a wealthy family in 1830s New York, immigrant challenges, Irish gangs, people pretending to be different than they are, shifted expectations, true friendship—I loved this debut from Guadagnino! In this upstairs/downstairs novel, set in nineteenth century New York, Mary Ballard is a lady’s maid to high society's wealthy and respected Charlotte Walden. But on her own time, Mary is Irish exile Maire O’Farren, and she keeps mixed company as part of a secret society of rabble-rousers. Meanwhile, privileged Charlotte has her own secrets, and when both women's true situations begin to be revealed and to unravel, Mary finds that she and her brother are in jeopardy. With powerful looks at the widespread nineteenth-century prejudice against the Irish and other immigrant groups, as well as introducing a heart-wrenching, forbidden, unrequited love of one woman for another. 04 The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker The Ragged Edge of Night centers around a World War II-era friar-turned-husband, Anton Starzmann, during the dark days of the war. When his school is shut down by the Nazis, he weds a widow who seeks a husband to help her raise her three children. The story beautifully lays out details of quiet life in the German countryside set against a background of unpredictable violence and destruction; tragedy; and gloriously stubborn, subversive resistance to the Reich. The wise asides in what felt like another point of view drew me out of the story, but generally I was all in on this one. Anton is searching for redemption after horrific events surrounding his students and school. His wife Elisabeth fears his involvement in the resistance that plans to assassinate Hitler. When the SS realizes what's going on, Anton's bravery and Elisabeth's dedication to this quiet, steady man are both tested. If you like historical fiction set during World War II, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War II . Hawker also wrote One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow , which I mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Historical Fiction Stories Set in the American West and the upcoming The Fire and the Ore . 05 Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird Bird's Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen is based on the story of an actual female Buffalo Soldier, Cathy Williams, with many liberties taken for the sake of shaping a compelling, captivating story. I was happy to suspend my disbelief at the many conveniently outlandish circumstances or coincidences—which led key characters to cross unlikely paths, caused characters to avoid making important discoveries until the timing was more convenient to the arc of the tale, or set events essential to a resolution in a magical otherworld to allow imagined outcomes. Bird does an excellent job of keeping up the tension and making clear the high stakes of Williams’s enormous secret and the destruction that would befall her if it came out. She explores in fascinating detail the hardscrabble life of a newly freed black person—and the often desperate circumstances of women (especially black women) in that time who were without men to protect them. The major and minor love stories are sweet, if also tragic. 06 All the Forgivenesses by Elizabeth Hardinger Oh, I loved this story! I was so sad when I finished it. Bertie! I would very happily read a full Little House on the Prairie -length series about Bertie and her life. Bertie is tough on herself and lives a hardscrabble farming life in the early twentieth century Midwest. She broke my heart over and over by feeling as though she didn’t deserve happiness and by never realizing the value of the important and continual sacrifices she willingly made for her family. Hardinger offers up many crisp and varied details of the time, she captures Bertie’s speech patterns, and, most importantly, she transports the reader into the gruff but hopeful mindset of a young woman forced to grow up too quickly--a woman who for years feels she must push away any hopes for a life that is easier or full of joy. And all of this is set against the backdrop of Bertie's endless daily and bone-wearying tasks of plucking chickens, caring for siblings, carting water, and all the rest. When the promise of a better life started to glimmer at the edges of her vision, I almost cheered.

I love Peter Heller's books, and Burn offers a wonderfully complicated friendship, meaningful connections to nature, momentous secrets, and looming danger. But the lack of resolution at the end of the novel left me feeling deeply unsatisfied. Jess and Storey are childhood friends who spend their summer adventures exploring striking, remote areas of the U.S. This summer they head to Maine to camp, fish, and hike. Maine, like other states across the country, has been swept by a secession movement, but Jess and Storey assume the conflicts and political upheaval won't touch them out in the wild, and they figure that the charged friction might even die down while they're in the woods. After weeks in the wild, they're shocked to come upon a town that's been blown apart. The bridge has burned, cars along the road are black and smoking, and shells of buildings teeter. The friends soon realize that conflicting political ideologies have led to this horror here and elsewhere in the country--and that they must use their wilderness expertise and dodge armed men (militia or U.S. military; they're unsure) in order to make it out to safety. Jess and Storey's situation becomes more and more complicated as they encounter survivors--some with deadly intentions, some needing life-saving help. And all the while, Jess and Storey are considering the worth of their own lives--and keeping enormous secrets from each other. Flashbacks delve into their friends-like-family years of linked lives--and a disturbing revelation that either stretches the bounds of acceptability or goes well beyond conventional limits on a skewed pairing of power, age, and relationship. I love Peter Heller books--the connection to the wilderness, the layered friends-like-family relationships, the looming danger. I'll read anything Heller puts down on paper. But the lack of resolution involved in Burn 's (non-)ending here made me crazy with frustration. I felt like the fascinating build-up in so many areas of the story warranted much more at the novel's close. I read Burn courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Heller is also the author of The Last Ranger , The Guide , The River , and The Painter , as well as the stellar novel The Dog Stars .

Thorpe's irresistible character of 19-year-old Margo discovers her strength, drive, creativity, and vulnerability after becoming pregnant. She defies societal expectations to provide for her baby and to find fulfillment in her personal and professional life. Margo is a 19-year-old community college student having an affair with her married professor. When she finds that she's pregnant, she begins a winding path to figuring out her life that mainly entails defying most of the stereotypes of a young single mother. She is told she will receive zero support from the baby's father; she loses two roommates due to the baby's crying; she receives little practical help from her mother; and she loses her job. Yet she finds a true friend in her last remaining roommate, who until then seemed primarily a source of rent; she finds a strange and fulfilling new relationship with her estranged father, a former professional wrestler; and she dives into an unorthodox new profession in order to secure a financial future for her family. Thorpe offers lots of joy and offbeat fun, yet doesn't shy away from weighty conflicts between classes, genders, ages, education levels, and levels of wealth or poverty. Margo butts up against--and at times, dismantles--frustrating societal expectations and double standards related to sex, desire, body autonomy, and freedom. Young Margo finds herself in the midst of the significant complications of single motherhood, an insecure financial situation, the weight of responsibility for a tiny, helpless human, the shocking power of others' judgments (a custody battle; ominous Child Protective Services visits), all while navigating complex family dynamics--and maybe even a hint at a future romance. The story and its characters feel unexpected and fascinating; Margo's Got Money Troubles  is an edgy contemporary novel with a wonderfully oddball premise and a captivating amount of depth. I received a prepublication edition of this novel (which was published in June, oops!) courtesy of NetGalley and William Morrow. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Rufi Thorpe is also the author of The Knockout Queen . A book that takes a very different look at unexpected single motherhood--its tone is much lighter, and many of the logistical complications are glossed over--is Ready or Not .

Percival Everett's James is a fascinating retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of enslaved Black character Jim, who here demonstrates intelligence, ambition, defiance, unbridled fury, and the ability to wrest control of elements of his life. In James , Percival Everett's retelling of the Mark Twain novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , we hear a version of that novel's story told from enslaved Jim's point of view. James is secretly teaching other enslaved people to read; sneaking to delve into the library of books in the big house, including works of philosophy by John Locke (he also holds imagined arguments and discussions with noted philosophers during several delirious moments of the story); and is an expert code-switcher who tailors his language to follow white people's expectations of a submissive Black person. When the book begins, James's escape is imperative--he hears that he is about to be sold, and that his wife and daughter are to remain on the plantation. In an inconvenient coincidence, Huck Finn has just faked his own (gruesomely bloody, courtesy of pig blood) death in order to run away from what he feels are oppressive rules. The timing will almost certainly set white folks on James's tail as a presumed child murderer. The two are stuck together for a time, and the James-Huck Finn connection built by Everett is unexpected and intriguing. But the real heart of the book is James: the crushing limitations put upon him due to the color of his skin; his growing inability to abide by the constricting, frequently deadly stakes of being a slave on the run; and his sometimes violent, scrabbling struggle to wrest control of his life. James is beleaguered by the ignorance, skewed power structure, and cruelty of the white people surrounding him. Through a stint as a performer in a minstrel show; a pivotal encounter with versions of the scam artists from Huckleberry Finn , the Duke and Dauphin; and the making and losing of allies and enemies, Everett turns multiple situations from Huckleberry Finn on their heads, frequently empowering James to shift the course of events. Yet the true horrors of life as an enslaved Black person in the deep South at the time of Twain's novel are brutally evident, and Everett doesn't shy away from depicting the resulting abuse, casual cruelty, and, often, death of Black enslaved people at the hands of white people. The trauma on the page is difficult to read, but more difficult to consider in its origins, as it is rooted in horrifying fact and reality. I listened to James as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Percival Everett is also the author of Erasure , Assumption , Wounded , The Trees , and other books.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Michelle Moran's novel Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp ; I'm listening to James , Percival Everett's retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the enslaved character Jim; and I'm reading Rufi Thorpe's unexpected and unorthodox contemporary novel, Margo's Got Money Troubles . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran In Michelle Moran's novel Maria , she uses two timelines to shape the story of the real woman behind Julie Andrews's legendary depiction in The Sound of Music . In the past, richer period, we track Maria's path from the nunnery to her position at the heart of the von Trapp family. In the 1950s timeline, Oscar Hammerstein is striving to bring Maria's story to life on the stage--but is tempted to rework some of the facts to heighten its impact. This is compelling reading, and for all who consider The Sound of Music sacred holiday viewing (and an essential singalong opportunity) like I do, learning more about Maria and the "behind the scenes" feeling of the book is irresistible. I'm listening to Maria as an audiobook. Michelle Moran is also the author of Cleopatra's Daughter. 02 James by Percival Everett In James , Percival Everett's retelling of the Mark Twain novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , we hear a version of that novel's story told from enslaved Jim's point of view. James is secretly teaching other enslaved people to read; sneaking to delve into the library of books in the big house, including works of philosophy by John Locke; and is an expert code-switcher who tailors his language to follow white people's expectations of a submissive Black person. The James-Huck Finn connection built by Everett is unexpected and intriguing, but the real heart of the book is James: the crushing limitations put upon him due to the color of his skin; his growing inability to abide by the constricting, frequently deadly stakes; and his sometimes violent, scrabbling struggle to wrest control of his life. I'm listening to James as an audiobook. Percival Everett is also the author of Erasure , Assumption , Wounded , The Trees , and other books. 03 Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe Margo is a 19-year-old community college student having an affair with her married professor. When she finds that she's pregnant, she begins a winding path to figuring out her life that mainly entails defying most of the stereotypes of a young single mother. She is told she will receive zero support from the baby's father; she loses two roommates due to the baby's crying; she receives little practical help from her mother; and she loses her job. Yet she finds a true friend in her last remaining roommate, who until then seemed primarily a source of rent; she finds a strange and fulfilling new relationship with her estranged father, a former professional wrestler; and she dives into an unorthodox new profession in order to secure a financial future for her family. This feels unexpected and fascinating; Margo's Got Money Troubles is an edgy contemporary novel with a wonderfully oddball premise and a captivating amount of depth. I received a prepublication edition of this novel (which was published in June, oops!) courtesy of NetGalley and William Morrow. Rufi Thorpe is also the author of The Knockout Queen .

My very favorite Bossy August reads! Welcome to the last gasp of summer---and the final Bossy summer book reviews. I hereby present to you historical fiction, literary fiction, romance, fantasy, and science fiction. I'm just that well-rounded! If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! And I'd also love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads? 01 The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd The Final Act of Juliette Lloyd  is a historical fiction art-focused mystery told in two timelines. I found the story immensely satisfying. In The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby , Ellery Lloyd (the husband and wife writing team of Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos) offers a gorgeously wrought historical fiction mystery in two timelines. In 1938, runaway heiress and aspiring artist Juliette Willoughby gives up her inheritance (and dark family history) for love, then disappears into Europe with surrealist painter Oskar Erlich. She works tirelessly on a painting that garners significant interest, while Oskar's work doesn't get the attention he was hoping for. The tension between Juliette and Oskar begins to drive them apart, and Juliette begins to fear that her family has tracked her down in Paris. Then Juliette and Oskar perish in a Parisian apartment fire--along with Juliette's brilliant painting. Fifty years later, Caroline and Patrick, two Cambridge students who are falling in love, are also on the hunt for dissertation topics. They stumble upon a treasure trove of items belonging to Juliette Willoughby--and indications that the famous Paris apartment fire was no accident at all. The modern-day timeline follows Caroline and Patrick through twists and turns, through the ins and outs of the art world, to the eventual collapse of their relationship (minor note: this occurs off page, and I found it somewhat unsatisfying). The mysterious appearance of what seems to be a Juliette Willoughby original, followed by a tragic death within Caroline and Patrick's circle, bring the two back together, fueled by their knowledge of Juliette's motivations and their desire to understand the past more fully. I was intrigued by the structure, and I liked the gradually revealed elements of Juliette's painting and of her past. This was immensely satisfying historical fiction. I listened to The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby  as an audiobook. For my full review of this book, please see The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby . 02 You Are Here by David Nicholls David Nicholls's characters, some of whom are strangers to each other, meander through the English countryside on a days-long jaunt--and along the way allow long-held vulnerabilities to fall away in this beautiful, heartbreaking, heartwarming story. In David Nicholls's You Are Here , a small group of Sophie's friends, along with her teenage son, assemble to "walk" (hike) through the hills and moors of northern England for several days. After meeting for the first time, Michael, a recently divorced teacher, studious and thoughtful, and Marnie, a playful copy editor who prefers solitude after her own divorce, fall into a companionable rhythm and, to their surprise, begin to seek out each other's company in an extended hike toward the coast. We see the disconnect between Marnie and Michael's inner selves and their unsure, sometimes awkward acts and words, and it's deliciously heartbreaking to be privy to their insecurities and fears as well as their soaring hopes--and their crushing attempts to reign them in, in case their feelings aren't reciprocated and their fragile hearts can't take another round of loss. I loved this literary fiction--the increasing vulnerability and search for connection after heartache, the vivid descriptions of English countryside, and the small moments that mean everything. Click here for my full review of You Are Here . 03 The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren The Paradise Problem  is the perfect light fiction read to close out the summer, with a high-stakes fake marriage, comeuppances for the greedy bad guys, our main protagonists' falling deeply in love, art > wealth, and plenty of Christina Lauren's signature steamy scenes. In Christina Lauren's newest romantic fiction, Anna and West are a young married couple on the verge of divorce. But this isn't heartbreaking for either party, because they were only married to reap the benefits of married student housing at UCLA. Several years after saying goodbye, Anna is struggling to pay for her father's cancer treatment and has just been fired from her cashier's job at the corner store...when West shows up on her doorstep. The two were never divorced after all, West has a trust fund--and he has to stay married to Anna to collect on it. Which means traveling together to a tropical island for his sister's wedding, pretending to be soulmates, and fooling West's family. This is an adorable fake-dating-in-paradise setup with funny dialogue, a wonderfully imperfect main protagonist, steamy moments, and a tantalizing prospect of a Happy Ever After ending. The writing team of Christina Lauren also authored the books The True Love Experiment , The Unhoneymooners , In a Holidaze , Love and Other Words , Something Wilder , and Autoboyography . Click here for my full review of The Paradise Problem --and links to lots of other romantic fiction titles I've loved. 04 Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout Elizabeth Strout examines the range of characters from her many books and their intersecting stories, their imperfections, and their explorations of the meaning of life. In small town Crosby, Maine, acclaimed writer Lucy Barton and attorney Bob Burgess walk and talk about everything under the sun--their pasts, their missteps, what they wonder about, and their dreams. Bob is defending a man accused of a terrible crime: killing his mother, a mean, reviled lunch lady long perceived as an enemy of the town's young children. But the young man, a self-taught artist, is counting on Bob and an unorthodox approach to figuring out who really killed Bob's mother. Tell Me Everything  digs into secrets and lies, revenge, forgiveness, resignation, heartbreak, second chances, abuse, and addiction. And the story weaves in characters from other Strout books, including Olive Kitteridge. But the story is primarily about human connections. Bob and Lucy explore the complexities of life, revealing more and more about their own inner selves as they take their weekly walks and become more dear to each other. And Olive and Lucy share stories from their own lives and those they've encountered, trying to come to terms with the meaning of life and the human condition. Please click here for my full review of Tell Me Everything . 05 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett A leviathan lurks in the ocean, threatening destruction on a grand scale, while an unorthodox, brilliant investigator and her stalwart new assistant work to solve a murder mystery that reaches into the highest levels of society and government. In Robert Jackson Bennett's novel, The Tainted Cup , he blends a rich, historical fiction-feeling story, a Sherlock Holmes and Watson-type investigatory relationship, and fascinating otherworldly fantasy and steampunk elements into a captivating story. In a mansion in Daretana, an imperial officer lies dead--with a tree growing out of his body. Brilliant, grumpy, extremely high-ranked detective Ana Dolabra and her inexperienced, staid, intuitive apprentice, Dinios Kol, aim to use their magical enhancements to get to the heart of what seems to be a murder--one that might threaten the whole Empire. I was fascinated by the tone of The Tainted Cup . The partnership between impatient, extremely intelligent Ana and the closed-off, steady, intuitive Din was a standout. Ana is Sherlock Holmes-esque in that she holds many of the answers to the mysteries that abound--but she doles them out on a need-to-know basis. The Tainted Cup  explores issues of class, wealth and privilege, duty, the power of nature, handicaps and gifts, and betrayal and loyalty. I loved this book and the extended story that Robert Jackson Bennett has begun here. For my full review, check out The Tainted Cup . 06 The Blighted Stars (Devoured Worlds #1) by Megan E. O'Keefe Megan E. O'Keefe's first space opera in the Devoured Worlds series presents failing worlds filled with conflict, shifting loyalties, pollution and destruction, and the beginnings of a lovely love story. In the first book of Megan E. O'Keefe's Devoured Worlds series, The Blighted Stars , studious Tarquin Mercator is the unlikely heir to his ruthless father's galaxy-wide mining empire. Naira Sharp is a quick-minded spy and revolutionary who thinks she knows why newly discovered planets are being destroyed--and it all comes down to the greed of the Mercator family. Naira is determined to stop them. Disguised as Tarquin's new bodyguard, Naira is celebrating her access to the Mercator family--until she and Tarquin realize they're stranded on a dead planet. Now they must rely on each other to survive--and together they stumble upon a widespread plot with corruption that spans the galaxy. Pollution and multiple worlds' destruction drives the plot, and various characters' belief in their own judicious use of technology and science to play God is as complicated and faulted as one could anticipate. The love story emerges through difficult circumstances and is lovely, although in some ways it's still in its infancy at the end of the book. The love story is also far from the focus of the book. The tone of The Blighted Stars  is a somewhat dark and horrifying space adventure, with moments of sweetness and levity. I was hooked on all of it. O'Keefe creates a high-stakes, universe-spanning drama in The Blighted Stars , and it sets up complexities for the books to come in this series, which I definitely want to read. For my full review, please see The Blighted Stars .

The Paradise Problem is the perfect light fiction read to close out the summer, with a high-stakes fake marriage, comeuppances for the greedy bad guys, our main protagonists' falling deeply in love, art > wealth, and plenty of Christina Lauren's signature steamy scenes. In Christina Lauren's newest romantic fiction, Anna and West are a young married couple on the verge of divorce. But this isn't heartbreaking for either party, because they were only married to reap the benefits of married student housing at UCLA. Several years after saying goodbye, Anna is struggling to pay for her father's cancer treatment and has just been fired from her cashier's job at the corner store...when West shows up on her doorstep. The two were never divorced after all, West has a trust fund--and he has to stay married to Anna to collect on it. Which means traveling together to a tropical island for his sister's wedding, pretending to be soulmates, and fooling West's family. This is an adorable fake-dating-in-paradise setup with funny dialogue, a wonderfully imperfect main protagonist, steamy moments, and a Happy Ever After ending. I loved this! Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? The writing team of Christina Lauren also authored the books The True Love Experiment , The Unhoneymooners , In a Holidaze , Love and Other Words , Something Wilder , and Autoboyography . You might also be interested in the books on these Greedy Reading Lists: Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading Six More Great Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading Six of My Favorite Light Fictions Reads of the Past Year Six More of My Favorite Light Fiction Reads of the Past Year Six Great Light Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading , and Six More Great Light Fiction Stories

Elizabeth Strout examines the range of characters from her many books and their intersecting stories, their imperfections, and their explorations of the meaning of life. In small town Crosby, Maine, acclaimed writer Lucy Barton and attorney Bob Burgess walk and talk about everything under the sun--their pasts, their missteps, what they wonder about, and their dreams. Bob is defending a man accused of a terrible crime: killing his mother, a mean, reviled lunch lady long perceived as an enemy of the town's young children. But the young man, a self-taught artist, is counting on Bob and an unorthodox approach to figuring out who really killed Bob's mother. Tell Me Everything digs into secrets and lies, revenge, forgiveness, resignation, heartbreak, second chances, abuse, and addiction. And the story weaves in characters from other Strout books, including Olive Kitteridge. But the story is primarily about human connections. Bob and Lucy explore the complexities of life, revealing more and more about their own inner selves as they take their weekly walks and become more dear to each other. And Olive and Lucy share stories from their own lives and those they've encountered, trying to come to terms with the meaning of life and the human condition. I read an advance copy of Tell Me Everything courtesy of Random House and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Click here to check out my reviews of Strout's Lucy by the Sea , Anything Is Possible , Olive, Again , My Name Is Lucy Barton , and Oh William!  Elizabeth Strout is also the author of Olive Kitteridge .

The fantasy-science-fiction novel Moonbound spans time and splits into several stories, for me never quite gelling into a coherent tale I could sink my teeth into. In Robin Sloan's science-fiction-fantasy tale Moonbound , it's eleven thousand years in the future, and young Ariel lives with his brother in a land controlled by a powerful wizard. Yet to the wizard's constant dismay, Ariel seems destined to never quite live up to his destiny, and he never behaves quite evilly enough, either. Dragons feature heavily in the lore of the kingdom, including their ages-old trip to the moon, where they still reside and, we are told, wield control over the Earth. An ancient, sentient AI creature takes up residence inside Ariel, serving as an internal voice and a documentarian of Ariel's life experience. A young girl arrives, telling the story of her own timeline, and she and Ariel begin to figure out they may be able to advance their own goals if they work together. For me, the many disparate pieces of the novel never really fit together in a coherent way. The dragons are a large part of the history--and are purported to exercise control over humans and creatures on earth--yet are never present, nor does the threat of their wrath ever feel real. The Ariel storyline feels most compelling when it focuses on the interplay between Ariel and the omniscient Anth inside him, but the book moves in several other directions, making the tale feel disjointed. Clever beavers feature heavily in this book, and I never felt as though this strange element gelled with the rest of the story. I listened to Moonbound as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Robin Sloan is also the author of M r. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore  and Sourdough .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Christina Lauren's newest fake-marriage, tropical-island-set rom-com The Paradise Problem ; I'm listening to Moonbound , Robin Sloan's fantasy-science-fiction story; and I'm reading Lisa Wingate's Oklahoma story told in two timelines 90 years apart, Shelterwood . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren In Christina Lauren's newest romantic fiction, Anna and West are a young married couple on the verge of divorce. But this isn't heartbreaking for either party, because they were only married to reap the benefits of married student housing at UCLA. Several years after saying goodbye, Anna is struggling to pay for her father's cancer treatment and has just been fired from her cashier's job at the corner store...when West shows up on her doorstep. The two were never divorced after all, West has a trust fund--and he has to stay married to Anna to collect on it. Which means traveling together to a tropical island for his sister's wedding, pretending to be soulmates, and fooling West's family. This is an adorable fake-dating-in-paradise setup with funny dialogue, a wonderfully imperfect main protagonist, steamy moments, and a tantalizing prospect of a Happy Ever After ending. The writing team of Christina Lauren also authored the books The True Love Experiment , The Unhoneymooners , In a Holidaze , Love and Other Words , Something Wilder , and Autoboyography . You might also be interested in the books on my Greedy Reading Lists Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading , Six More Great Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading , Six of My Favorite Light Fictions Reads of the Past Year , Six More of My Favorite Light Fiction Reads of the Past Year , Six Great Light Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading , and Six More Great Light Fiction Stories . 02 Moonbound by Robin Sloan In Robin Sloan's science-fiction-fantasy tale Moonbound , it's eleven thousand years in the future, and young Ariel lives with his brother in a land controlled by a powerful wizard. Yet to the wizard's constant dismay, Ariel seems destined to never quite live up to his destiny, and he never behaves quite evilly enough, either. Dragons feature heavily in the lore of the kingdom, including their ages-old trip to the moon, where they still reside and, we are told, wield control over the Earth. An ancient, sentient AI creature takes up residence inside Ariel, serving as an internal voice and a documentarian of Ariel's life experience. A young girl arrives, telling the story of her own timeline, and she and Ariel begin to figure out they may be able to advance their own goals if they work together. Clever beavers feature heavily in this book, which feels odd to me. I can't wait to figure out how each of the story's seemingly disparate pieces fit together. I'm listening to Moonbound as an audiobook. Robin Sloan is also the author of M r. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and Sourdough . 03 Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate In 1909 Oklahoma, one Choctaw sister goes missing from a white settlement, and young Olive takes the younger Native American sister to find the only family the girl has left. In 1990 Oklahoma, law enforcement ranger Valerie Boden-Ordell is seeking some peace and quiet in her new post. But controversy over a new national park in the area, a missing teen hiker, and the discovery of the decades-old graves of three children mean there's a lot of work for Valerie to do. Lisa Wingate is also the author of Before We Were Yours . To find Bossy reviews of other missing-persons stories I've read, check out the books at this link . For Bossy reviews of Western stories, check out the books listed here .