The Time-Travel Books What are your favorite time-travel books? I had trouble narrowing down this list, and I love a time-travel book in any genre. I'd love to hear about others you love! If you're intrigued by time-travel stories, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories. 01 Recursion by Blake Crouch In Blake Crouch's Recursion, Barry Sutton is a NYC cop looking into a suicide. Helena Smith is a neuroscientist creating technology to preserve memories and allow people to relive them. People like the victim Sutton is investigating are told that their vivid recollections of their life’s memories are not real, and that they’re actually mentally ill, suffering from False Memory Syndrome. When they encounter loved ones from their memories who are now living alternate lives, in many cases they are unable to cope with their conflicting realities. While Sutton begins digging into what’s real and what’s a lie, Smith works feverishly to preserve memories and reality. Together, they have to identify and confront dark forces that might be manipulating—and destroying—the minds and the framework of society as we know it. I cared so much about Sutton and Smith and their mission. Blake Crouch writes character-driven science fiction that I love (Dark Matter is another of his that I found fascinating.) This was sooooo good, unexpected, sweeping, and compelling. 02 Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen Kin Stewart was a time-traveling secret agent in 2142. He was stranded in the 1990s when a mission went wrong. Now he lives life as a regular guy; he works in IT, he’s happily married, and he has a beloved daughter. They have no idea about his past, which is just how he wants it. When he begins to have memory loss and other odd symptoms, he realizes it’s linked to his past time travel. Then a rescue mission arrives decades too late, to bring him to 2142 and back to another life with another family. Stewart would have to break all the rules of time travel to attempt the impossible: preserve the existence of his daughter in his current reality without destroying everything else. In Here and Now and Then Mike Chen masterfully explores: Is the past set in stone or is it malleable? Which half of Kin’s dual life is most true or immediate or valued? How much physical turmoil can one body take before giving in? What does a hero do when honesty requires putting his life at risk, yet is also essential to save it? I loooved this. Chen writes a deeply felt warring of emotions and conflicting responsibility and duty. I adore a character-driven science-fiction tale. Also, time travel! This totally hit the spot. 03 In Five Years by Rebecca Serle Dannie is on the path to achieving her five-year goals in spectacularly efficient fashion. She goes to sleep satisfied, but wakes up in another life: a strange apartment, a different boyfriend, and an alternate set of choices behind and before her. And perhaps most confusingly of all, in this second life she's lost some of her original, lifelong, rigid plans for her future, yet she's happy. Very very happy. She returns to her original reality, but Dannie can’t shake the possibilities and uncertainty created by what felt like an actual, temporary shift in her existence. What happened? But more importantly: What does that vastly different set of circumstances and her satisfaction within it mean about how she can and should live her life? Serle's In Five Years totally hit the spot for me, and it also wasn’t exactly what I expected. The setup seems like the story is a romance, but it’s actually a story about loyalty and devoted friendship without easy or saw-it-coming resolutions, and not everything is as it seems. I loved it. 04 The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow January has lived with Mr. Locke as his ward since her beloved, offbeat father disappeared during a trip to acquire artifacts for the wealthy man’s collections. Her father has since been presumed dead, and Locke keeps her safe and cared for, if without affection. But she is growing older and is looking for answers about her father’s disappearance. When she finds a mysterious book her father had acquired, it shows January unlikely possibilities about her existence and the world at large that it’s difficult to process. When she uncovers unwelcome truths about Locke and her circumstances, she has no choice but to forge into the frightening unknown. Alix E. Harrow has crafted a lovely adventure through different wonderfully imagined worlds (including the early 1900s home base). The Ten Thousand Doors of January also explores the wondrous bravery but sometimes dark and destructive forces surrounding the explorers and collectors venturing through worlds and the wanderers desperately searching for home. I received a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 05 The Bone Clocks by Davi Mitchell Teenager Holly Sykes is suddenly drawn into the world of “the radio people,” people whose voices she heard as a child. She disappears from her family and leaves behind a tragic mystery, while in her forays through new worlds she attracts dangerous powers to her. David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks is a set of six intriguing tracks through time that are full of surprises and interconnected through Holly and her various threads of reality. There are links to other Mitchell books and characters if you're paying attention, but the book can stand alone. I can say with certainty that I've never read a book quite like this before. A full genre shift around page 400 would normally make me want to throw a book through the window. But here it works somehow. This was strange and compelling. 06 All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai There are flying cars in the alternate reality of this book. Flying cars. I think you should know that going in, because it’s not the only awesome thing, but it is one of the awesome things in Elan Mastai's All Our Wrong Todays. Our main protagonist Tom makes a decision that strands him in our version of the world, which feels like a dystopia to him. He encounters alternate versions of his loved ones and universe, which are jarring but grow on him. He strikes out to explore time and place in an effort to figure out which reality to preserve. Mastai provides a fascinating story with time travel, alternate realities, love, loss, humor, bravery, and moments that made me laugh out loud. I didn't always follow the logic as laid out in the book--the supposed development of time travel itself and how time travelers affect realities--but I loved suspending my disbelief to be part of it. I loved this!

ICYMI: This five-star read--part memoir/part essay--is one of my favorite books of Ann Patchett's, and I didn't want her reflections and stories to end. “Sometimes love does not have the most honorable beginnings, and the endings, the endings will break you in half. It’s everything in between we live for.” In This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, a book that's part memoir, part essay, Ann Patchett shares personal stories ranging from her childhood through young adulthood and her first, disastrous marriage, to her current, loving relationship and adulthood filled with creativity, business, and various deeply felt connections with others. Along the way Patchett shares thoughtful moments and reflections illustrating her many loves for and deep commitments to touchstones such as beloved dogs, meaningful friendship, and the various people and places that have indelibly shaped her. She explores the hard work, specific process, and incredible joy of writing as well as her passionate decision to open a bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee. “We are, on this earth, so incredibly small, in the history of time, in the crowd of the world, we are practically invisible, not even a dot, and yet we have each other to hold on to. When we do things differently, and very often we do, I remind myself that it is rarely a matter of right and wrong. We are simply two adults who grew up in different houses far away from one another.” I began reading slowly to make this book last as long as I could, but I had to finally and sadly finish this lovely book. I adore Ann Patchett, her stories, her point of view, and her writing. I love love loved this book. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? My book club wasn't unanimous on a five-star rating, but this is one of my favorite Patchett books. Ann Patchett is the author of State of Wonder, Run, Bel Canto, The Dutch House, The Magician's Assistant, These Precious Days, and others.

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a fictional account of an interracial music duo's rise to success (and their famous split) in which race and gender issues loomed larger for me than the musical framework of the story. In Dawnie Walton's novel The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton shapes an oral history of two music idols, tracing their family lives, youthful experiences, how they met each other, their creative expression, and the passion that ignited a passionate cult following for the duo and their music--until Opal's taking a stand for her beliefs (and a concurrent, horrific tragedy) ended their music partnership in dramatic fashion. Decades later, as Opal considers reconciling with Nev for a set of reunion performances, truths from the past come to light and threaten to upend any hope of getting the two musical talents back together. Nev is presented as a nerdy musical genius, but the examples of his lyrics and musical explorations seemed corny and clunky to me. I felt consistently irritated with him as a clueless and increasingly unappealing character. He is repeatedly shown to be out of touch with the times, and he illustrates time and time again that he is determinedly unaware of his financial, male, and white privilege. The reader is also privy to his disturbing feelings of what feel like entitlement toward Opal. He felt too easy to dislike, and neither the moment his true nature was illuminated nor my cemented disappointment in him as a character came as a particular surprise. In deliberate contrast, Opal cuts a striking figure, and I loved witnessing her growth from a young, vibrant, unsure, but strong-willed performer into an icon of fashion, an outspoken speaker of uncomfortable truths about race and gender, and a determined woman who knows her mind. She is interestingly faulted, and after the story's early, painful tragedy, she shies away from facing difficult realities for a time before standing strong again in the end. I found her life story and her musical forays much more captivating than Nev's. Reporter Sunny's connection to the two performers and their past was intriguing, and I very much enjoyed watching events unfold as this connection became more important to the story. Race and gender power structures and struggles are at play throughout the novel, looming larger for me than the musical framework around which Walton builds her story. I listened to The Final Revival of Opal & Nev as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? This is Dawnie Walton's first novel. If you like fiction about music, you might want to check out the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six Rockin' Stories about Bands and Music.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading What Happened to the Bennetts, the upcoming mystery from the prolific Lisa Scottoline; the upcoming character-driven novel The Oceanography of the Moon by Glendy Vanderah, author of Where the Forest Meets the Stars, a book I loved; and my book club's next read, Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline In Lisa Scottoline's upcoming mystery What Happened to the Bennetts, Jason Bennett is a suburban dad whose life takes a horrific turn when his car is hijacked–and his family with it. The FBI tells Jason he’s in the crosshairs of a drug-trafficking organization. They advise the family to enter witness protection immediately in order to save their lives. But Jason can't shake the fact that they've done nothing wrong, and the witness protection program isn't designed for law-abiding citizens who stumble into a sinister situation. Now Jason must choose between the law…and justice. (Eeeee!) Scottoline is the author of Eternal and 31 other mysteries. I received a prepublication digital galley of this book (to be published March 29) courtesy of NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam. 02 The Oceanography of the Moon by Glendy Vanderah Riley lives on her cousins’ Wisconsin farm, where she’s grown up since the death of her mother. She cares for her captivating young cousin, finds peace in the natural world around her, and retreats within herself. Ten years after her arrival, Riley is twenty-one and has begun to chafe at the small scope of her life. When bestselling author Vaughn Orr stumbles into her family’s remote world, Riley senses that he’s hiding something–a desire to escape that she understands all too well. Vaughn and Riley feel connected, but they're each burdened by secrets and pain. Can they learn to trust each other and face the past in order to move forward? Vanderah is also the author of Where the Forest Meets the Stars, a book I loved. I received a prepublication digital galley of this book (to be published March 22) courtesy of NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing. 03 Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang In Chinese, the word for America translates as "beautiful country." But when Qian Wang and her family arrive in the United States, her parents go from professors to sweatshop workers, as they are illegal immigrants who must remain unnoticed as they struggle to survive. In her memoir Beautiful Country, Wang shares the small joys she discovered as a little girl in New York City--seeing the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lit up, her first bite of pizza, the dizzying sights and sounds of this "free" city, and others. But stress and the constant fear of illness and tragedy make for a high-anxiety household, and young Qian escapes into books in her new language. Through it all, Qian is told over and over: Whatever happens, say that you were born here, that you've always lived here. When her mother faces a health crisis, as they’ve long feared, the family's security and future may be gravely shaken. This is my book club's next read.

Science Fiction Faves I've been giving book talks lately about stories I've loved and upcoming titles I'm excited about, and I've seen some eyes-glazing-over reactions when I gush about science fiction books. I love character-driven science fiction stories. Sci-fi books can be so lovely and weird and immersive, and the stories can dive into so many fascinating big-deal issues, like feeling a greater purpose, facing a deep responsibility to other beings, undertaking noble missions, bravely exploring new worlds, or finding common ground with those who are different from you. Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought. Which other books should I add to my science fiction to-read list? 01 Recursion by Blake Crouch Recursion is more fantastic character-driven science fiction from Blake Crouch. I cared about Sutton and Smith and their mission. Blake Crouch's Barry Sutton is a NYC detective looking into a suicide. Helena Smith is a neuroscientist creating technology to preserve memories and allow people to relive them. People like the victim Sutton is investigating are told that their vivid recollections of their life’s memories are not real, and that they’re actually mentally ill, suffering from False Memory Syndrome. When they encounter loved ones from their memories who are now living alternate lives, in many cases they are unable to cope with their conflicting realities. While Sutton begins digging into what’s real and what’s a lie, Smith works feverishly to preserve memories and reality. Together, they have to identify and confront dark forces that might be manipulating—and destroying—the minds and the framework of society as we know it. I found this sooooo good, unexpected, sweeping, and compelling. Click here for my full review of this book, and check out my review of Crouch's Dark Matter. Recursion also appears in the Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes. 02 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers Chambers's science fiction is full of heart, heartbreak, and hope--with a fascinating backdrop of space travel and interspecies relations. In The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first science fiction title in Becky Chambers's Wayfarers series, young Rosemary feels lucky to have landed the job of clerk for the quirky, ragtag, but welcoming crew of the Wayfarer ship. The group is made up of various creatures from around the galaxy, and they've already built bonds through working together for ages. Yet they make room in the mix for Rosemary, who's grateful--and who's frankly glad to leave her significant personal troubles behind. Chambers's story is science fiction that's full of heart, heartbreak, and hope. The book feels much more focused on the characters--with a backdrop of space travel and otherworldly creatures--than on exploration or adventure. Much of the story is about acceptance and openness and finding ways to get along. Interspecies relations are prickly, comfortable, romantic, puzzling, or all of the above. I just adored this. Click here for my full review of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. 03 The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey This sci-fi thriller is about betrayal and revenge, but it's not the other-woman story you might expect. Evelyn Caldwell is a brilliant scientist who has long enjoyed an inspiring professional relationship with her husband, also a scientist. She's winning awards and well-deserved international attention for her incredible genetic cloning advancements--but people have noticed that her husband has recently been mysteriously absent from her side as she collects her many honors. This sci-fi thriller is about the forces that drive apart a husband and wife, and the story is about betrayal and revenge, but I hadn't read the premise before I started reading, and I almost dropped the book when I realized what was going on, I was so shocked by the setup--it's not your usual cheating-husband situation. There are loops and layers to Gailey's story that have to do with identity, autonomy, freedom, shaping others to suit your expectations and desires--and recognizing how you're shaped by others in turn. I loved the characters' unanticipated loyalty to unlikely parties and their hard-won emotional growth. I was hooked on this one and couldn't wait to find out what happened. I'd love to watch this in movie form. For my full review, see The Echo Wife. 04 Machinehood by S.B. Divya Space! Robots! Artificial intelligence! Divya has crafted strong female main protagonists who navigate the sometimes dark, always complicated pressures of life in the future--as they try to save the world. In her debut novel, Divya sets the scene in the world of 2095. Humanity around the world is reliant on pills--for health, for work focus, 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. Welga Ramirez is an elite bodyguard who is former special forces, and she's on the verge of retirement. Then the unthinkable happens: her team's client is murdered. Violent crimes really don't happen anymore, and society is thrown into a tailspin. In the midst of a global panic, Welga is drawn back into intelligence work in order to identify and fight a new enemy--one that may turn out to be a new incarnation of an old nemesis. Many large-scale issues are shown in interesting 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, please see Machinehood. This book was mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI. 05 Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy Young adult Josie's origins--specifically her immaculate conception--have overshadowed everything else in her life. Now she must delve into the darkness of her history to try to save her mother--and uncover her own true identity. Young adult Josie is Girl One, the first of nine baby girls who were famously conceived without male sperm years ago on the now-dismantled commune The Homestead. Josie has spent her life plagued by criticism, misogyny, obsessed fans, and the weight of the fascinating, unusual circumstances of her conception. When her mother disappears, Josie begins to track down the other Girls, and together the young women discover strange, unique powers as they rely on each other and attempt to unravel their shared history. They're learning to trust that the circumstances of their creation do not determine their full identities--or what they're capable of. Murphy presents the Girls as they emerge in all of their feminist, powerful glory. The journey isn't too easy, there are some identity realizations, love connections, and plot twists, and the ending of Girl One satisfied me. For my full review, please see Girl One. 06 Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson Robots, time travel, teen angst, and this gorgeous cover. Yes to all of this. I didn't anticipate the twists Johnson provides, and I was delighted by each of them. Teenage Andra finally 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 new life on this planet. Except...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 are some funny exchanges because of the differences in characters' languages. At one point Andra calls her friend Zhade (who is from a time 1,000 years past her origin time) an insult ("a-hole"), which horrifies and fascinates him. He says "That is a massive yet disgusting insult. I reck [reckon] I was born about a thousand years too late. I missed all the best words." For my full review, please see Goddess in the Machine. This book was mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI.

The issues Umrigar confronts in Honor are weighty and fascinating, but I found myself distracted by the story's pacing and an unsympathetic main protagonist. In Thrity Umrigar's Honor, Indian-American journalist Smita has reluctantly returned to India to pitch in for a friend. She's reporting on the case of Meena, a Hindu woman who was brutally punished by her village and her family for marrying a Muslim man, with those around her made to pay dearly as well. Delving into Meena's story makes clear to Smita that tradition continues to overpower personal choice in many small villages of her home country--and her journalistic discoveries threaten to unearth the painful secrets of Smita's own family history that she has carefully suppressed since her childhood. Meanwhile, Smita is drawn to an Indian man she meets on assignment. She considers the ease with which she could enter a casual romantic entanglement--while she desperately fights for justice regarding another woman's stolen right to make choices about her love and her life path without disfigurement, shunning, or death. The issues in Umrigar's novel are fascinating and important--justice, gender, power, tradition, free will, religion, duty, family, and class. Yet I found myself repeatedly pulled out of the story by its telling--stop-and-go pacing, jarringly petty arguments and perceived slights, confusing logistical snarls that bog down the story, and jarring moments that didn't seem to serve a purpose. Smita isn’t a particularly sympathetic character--she is frequently irritated, distracted, unprofessional, and focused on herself above others. In one example among many, Smita actively asks a companion a personal question, then shares with the reader that she immediately tunes out from the answer in favor of her own meandering thoughts. While throughout the book Smita is (at least initially) reluctantly working to aid a woman in need, various instances like this one left me solidly entrenched in my irritation at Smita's carelessness and selfishness. Smita didn't come across to me as believably journalistic in her habits, observation, or manner, so I was impatient with her while simultaneously struggling to believe in the premise of her career and her involvement in the story. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Umrigar is also the author of The Space Between Us, Bombay Time, and the memoir First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of an Indian Childhood.

Finlay dips her toe into a criminal underworld in the second in Cosimano's campy mystery series. She juggles motherhood, her ex, her writing career, paying the bills, and two love interests while trying not to accidentally kill anyone--or die along the way. In Elle Cosimano's first book in this series, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, we meet main protagonist Finlay Donovan: an author and a recently single mom, divorced from a cheating man who's easy to detest. She's struggling both emotionally and financially as she tries to support her two young children. Various misunderstandings during a publishing meeting about Finlay's upcoming mystery novel result in her receipt of a mysterious note implying that Finlay is involved in something sinister--and offering her an actual hit job. Cosimano struck a campy, playful tone in that book and offered a quirky setup for Finlay's complicated situation. In Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead, Finlay has her friend Vero in her confidence--and in her household, as her live-in nanny. When the women are tipped off by their accidental underworld contacts that there's a hit out on Finlay's obnoxious ex-husband, they must decide whether to save him and how. The story starts off with some silly, campy situations, and as with the first book, Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead relies periodically on absurd misunderstandings or the jumping to incorrect conclusions to keep the roller coaster going. Finlay is not a hired killer, but she continues to be far from innocent, and she's consistently stumbling into greater and greater danger and embroiling herself in criminal-adjacent behavior, if not full-blown crimes. She tampers with evidence, facilitates others' criminal activity by concealing the truth, and lies--at least by enormous omission--to her sister the cop and to Nick, a police officer and kind-of love interest. Nick's active glossing-over of his suspicions about Finlay's activities left me feeling a little squirrelly, although this was necessary to advance the plot and continue their will-they-commit/won't-they-commit tension for the next book. I liked the twist of potential trust-breaking from within Finlay's inner circle. One of my favorite elements is how Finlay, a mom of two very young children, is absolutely irresistible to two attractive, appealing, successful, intelligent, sensitive men--and how she appreciates how gorgeous they are, but she's kind of busy right now, in case you hadn't noticed. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Cosimano is also the author of the young adult mystery series Nearly Gone, the young adult fantasy series Seasons of the Storm, and the young adult books Holding Smoke and The Suffering Tree. Click here for my review of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It.

Bob Odenkirk's memoir digs into fascinating elements of process, creativity, and collaboration, and he shares his own missteps, joys, and his unexpected satisfaction in playing dramatic roles after a long career in fringe and mainstream comedy. You might know Odenkirk from his role as the sleazy lawyer with a heart in the show Breaking Bad, or from his lead role in the spinoff series I love, Better Call Saul. Or you might know him from his older work as a Saturday Night Live writer (he wrote the iconic "Motivational Speaker" skit for Chris Farley), as a writer and star of Mr. Show with his frequent writing partner David Cross, or from his work on The Ben Stiller Show. Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama takes a fascinating deep dive into the craft of comedy writing and performing, and into Odenkirk's particular journey through comedy to his later, unanticipated and significant success in dramatic roles, and I found it fascinating. This a conversational foray into Odenkirk's zigzagging route to creative success. Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama shares the gradual unfolding of the author's circuitous path through fringe comedy, his moves to more well-known avenues where he shared and experiment with his ideas, to his more recent projects and the unexpected satisfaction he has discovered through taking on deeper dramatic roles--and, in a surprise twist, action roles as well. Odenkirk shares intriguing details about what he has experienced professionally (with a little personal journey thrown in) and what he's learned along the way about himself, his way of thinking about humor and characters, and his intense love for an ensemble that works dedicatedly together and thrives on collaboration and challenge. He digs into details about process; many of his own (sometimes hard-won) revelations; his navigation of the pitfalls of--and discovery of the incredible creativity possible through--either dogged teamwork or the following of individual instincts to the exclusion of collaboration; and he doesn't pull punches as he uses hindsight to unpack what he sees as his own fallibility or missteps in certain professional situations. I was particularly interested in Odenkirk's candid introspection and reflections as related to his particular creative leanings and talents, in how he feels they have variously meshed beautifully with, boosted, or never quite gelled with various situations and opportunities, and the effect on the projects' final results. The incomplete sentences and lightning-fast topic shifts took some getting used to, but they add to the feel that you're sitting next to Odenkirk and he's filling your ear with gems from his odd and interesting life, sometimes-corny jokes included. The book seems to lend itself to an audiobook format because of Odenkirk's strong voice and manner of speaking. I received a prepublication digital copy of this recent book courtesy of NetGalley and Random House. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? If you like memoirs, you might want to check out this Greedy Reading List, Six More Fascinating Memoirs to Explore--which links to six more memoir lists for you to dig into! (That's forty-two Bossy memoir suggestions for those of you as obsessed with memoirs as I apparently am.)

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead, the second in Elle Cosimano's playful Finlay Donovan mystery series; I'm reading Quantum Girl Theory, a recent gothic mystery about a finder of missing girls from Erin Kate Ryan; and I'm listening to Dawnie Wilton's fictional musical history, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano In Elle Cosimano's first book in this series, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, we meet main protagonist Finlay Donovan: an author and a recently single mom, divorced from a cheating man who's easy to detest. She's struggling both emotionally and financially as she tries to support her two young children. Various misunderstandings during a publishing meeting about Finlay's upcoming mystery novel result in her receipt of a mysterious note implying that Finlay is involved in something sinister--and offering her an actual hit job. Cosimano struck a campy, playful tone in that book and offered a quirky setup for Finlay's complicated situation. In this second book, Finlay has Vero in her confidences as her live-in nanny. When the women are tipped off by their accidental underworld contacts that there's a hit out on Finlay's obnoxious ex-husband, they must decide whether to save him and how. Click here for my review of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It. 02 Quantum Girl Theory by Erin Kate Ryan In Erin Kate Ryan's recent gothic mystery Quantum Girl Theory, Mary Garrett focuses on finding missing girls, and she keeps her own past, her secrets, and her emotions about all of it penned up tightly. When she arrives in the Jim Crow South to investigate a girl who has disappeared, she finds that two other girls went missing as well, but local law enforcement hasn't put resources into finding them. Those two girls are Black. As Mary's search for all three girls intensifies, we find that Mary herself was a "missing girl," Paula Jean Welden, who vanished one night in 1946. Ryan explores various alternate histories and life tracks for Paula Jean while "Mary" digs more deeply into the circumstances surrounding the modern-day disappearances of the Southern girls. I received a prepublication digital galley of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group. 03 The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a fictional account of an interracial music duo's rise to success--and their famous split. Music journalist S. Sunny Shelton shapes an oral history of her two idols, tracing their family lives, youthful experiences, how they met each other, their creative expression, and the passion that ignited a passionate cult following for the duo and their music--until Opal's taking a stand for her beliefs ended their music partnership in dramatic fashion. As Opal considers reconciling with Nev for a reunion performance, truths from the past come to light and threaten to upend any hope of getting the two musical talents back together. I'm listening to The Final Revival of Opal & Nev as an audiobook.

The Second-Chance Books I've been reminded lately how much I love a good second-chance book in which the main character gets the opportunity to go back and try again, redo their life, shift their circumstances, or change the situation around them. It's an irresistible do-over premise for me: a flawed human gets another shot at existing in this unpredictable, problematic, glorious world--and appreciating it more fully while changing their original outcomes. Three more I'd like to read along these lines include: Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid; Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver Replay by Ken Grimwood Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought! Which other books should I add to my second-chance book list? Here are some of my favorite books on this theme. Two of these books also made it onto my Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes Greedy Reading List--along with four other great stories. 01 All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai There are flying cars in the alternate reality of this book. I think you should know that going in, because it’s not the only fantastic thing, but it is one of the fantastic things in Elan Mastai's All Our Wrong Todays. Our main protagonist Tom makes a decision that strands him in our version of the world, which feels like a dystopia to him. He encounters alternate versions of his loved ones and universe, which are jarring, but they grow on him. He strikes out to explore time and place in an effort to figure out which reality to preserve. Mastai provides a fascinating story with time travel, alternate realities, love, loss, humor, bravery, and moments that made me laugh out loud. I didn't always follow the logic as laid out in the book--including the supposed development of time travel itself and how time travelers affect realities--but I loved suspending my disbelief to be part of it. I loved All Our Wrong Todays! 02 The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North “What is the point of me? Either to change a world--many, many worlds, each touched by the choices I make in my life, for every deed a consequence, and in every love and every sorrow truth--or nothing at all.” Harry August has been born (in a train station in 1919) many times. From his second birth on, he is born each time carrying the knowledge from his previous lives, yet nothing seems to change the fact that he will die and begin again. Until his eleventh life, when a young girl arrives at his deathbed. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." Claire North has crafted a fascinating, twisty, thoughtful time-travel story. The first-person perspective drew me deeply into Harry's life. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is often funny, but North layers darkness into her book, as well as fascinating layers of betrayal. This story really hooked me. Side note: Claire North is a pen name for Catherine Webb, a young-adult author who wrote her first book, Mirror Dreams, when she was 14. 03 The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Nora Seed feels like she can't go on. Life is too much, there's no hope for anything better, and her future contains nothing more for her. Her despair leads her to try to end her life. But she finds herself transported to an in-between state that is not life and not death, in the form of a library that exists outside of time and holds shelves full of the "books" of all of her possible lives, from that frozen moment (midnight) forward. Each possibility of a present and future is built upon different combinations of decisions Nora could have made in her life in the past. Some lives are notable, others comfortable, and still others are full of pain. Nora dips in and out of different lives, trying on careers, love lives, travel adventures, fame and fortune, and a settled family life. But not having experienced and remembered each moment that led to her various life options--which she joins in medias res--keeps Nora at a distance from them. I didn't feel emotionally invested in Nora's story although I appreciated the implications of her experiences and was very interested in what would happen. The ending isn't unexpected, but it does feel hard-fought and satisfying. 04 Life After Life by Kate Atkinson Ursula didn't survive her own birth. But during her next go-round, she survived being born--only to die young in an accident. When she lived her next life, she met her demise another way. She often feels buoyed or hindered by a feeling of déjà vu, and occasionally she feels compelled to take another path, rush to check on a loved one, or take some other seemingly odd action, and she can't quite explain why. In Life After Life, Atkinson focuses her literary fiction lens on the character of Ursula, her relationships with members of her family, and details of life during World Wars I and II. This would be a captivating book even without the redoing-life element. But Atkinson's thrusting of Ursula back into her same existence as she shifts her circumstances slightly (with enormous repercussions); opens up her life to be bigger and more fulfilling (and, often longer); and develops inner strength, conviction, and self-assuredness--that's the real magic. I read (listened to) the immersive story about do-overs from Kate Atkinson, Life After Life, at the recommendation of my wise friend Laura. Click here for my full review of Life After Life. 05 In Five Years by Rebecca Serle Dannie is on the path to achieving her five-year goals in spectacularly efficient fashion. She goes to sleep one evening satisfied--but she wakes up in another life: with a strange apartment, a different boyfriend, and an alternate set of choices behind and before her. And perhaps most confusingly of all, in this second life she's lost some of her original, lifelong, rigid plans for her future, yet she's happy. Very very happy. She returns to her original reality, but Dannie can’t shake the possibilities and uncertainty created by what felt like an actual, temporary shift in her existence. What happened? But more importantly: What does that vastly different set of circumstances and her satisfaction within it mean about how she can and should live her life? Serle's In Five Years totally hit the spot for me, and it also wasn’t exactly what I expected. The setup seems like it’s a romance, but it’s really a story about loyalty and devoted friendship without easy or saw-it-coming resolutions, and not everything is as it seems. I loved it. 06 The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver Lydia had planned to spend the rest of her life with her childhood sweetheart and fiancé, Freddie, in their hometown of Shropshire, England. Now she's coming to terms with the recent and tragic loss of the person she loved and the future she had envisioned. But a medication aimed to help her sleep during this difficult time induces an incredible side effect: when she sleeps after taking it, she exists in a dreamworld where Freddie is still alive. She can see him, smell him, and touch him. He is unaware that this is a second reality for Lydia and unaware of anything odd about this life, and Lydia must fight to not seem as though she is grieving him--fortunately, this is made easier by how real he seems in this other timeline. Life in this alternate sleep reality continues branching off from the daytime life in which Freddie is gone; her sleeping life involves its own joys, tragedies, and increasingly complicated set of circumstances that show the realistically plausible challenges and crossroads the couple might have faced because of their real-life career tracks, senses of responsibility, and diverging paths toward happiness. Josie Silver's lovely book is heartwarming and doesn't feel overly sentimental or emotionally manipulative. The characters' feelings of anger, crushing grief, and hope feel real in both realities she's created. There's joy, and there's sadness, and there are messy routes toward forgiveness and cautious optimism. For my full review, please see The Two Lives of Lydia Bird.

In Marie Lu's young adult dystopian series starter Legend, the Republic and Colonies war with each other, a plague separates the haves from the have-nots, and young people fighting to find out the truth might just upend established, corrupt power structures for good. In Marie Lu's young adult Legend, the first in the dystopian series of the same name, the west of the United States is a region called the Republic, and it frequently clashes and fights with its neighbors. Fifteen-year-old loyal Republic citizen June has been groomed her whole life for a military position of leadership befitting her wealthy family and her privileged education. Meanwhile, fifteen-year-old Day was born in a slum and is the Republic's most-wanted criminal. But he's a product of his desperate circumstances, and the noble criminal is largely misunderstood. When the murder of June's brother pushes June and Day together, the two must fight to uncover the truth about the dark secrets the country has been keeping under wraps. (And maybe fall in loooooove!) The bad-character/good-character split is pretty clear, with purely evil actions set against hearts of gold. The "Did you kill my brother or do I love you?"/"Did you lead to the death of my family members, or do I love you?" tension is resolved in predictable fashion, but I was in for it. One important plot point explored in Legend is a plague--the potentially sinister way in which it may have been introduced, how its spread may be controlled by nefarious powers, and the way the affluent members of society can afford to treat and survive the illness while the poorer often die. A set of Republic trials conducted to sort young children is alluded to and feels reminiscent of Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games series. The master plan executed at the end of the book has a few twisty moments I liked, and while the story went roughly in the direction I expected it to, this felt satisfying. Legend touches on but doesn't fully explore potentially intriguing aspects of Lu's world--the history of the split between the Republic and Colonies; the mystery of what is occurring outside the city where Legend takes place (we know we can't trust the military's controlled, likely propagandist reports of what is occurring); the rebels' efforts; and more. I anticipate that book two in the series, Prodigy--which picks up seven days after the finish of Legend--digs into more of all of this. I listened to Legend as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Check out this Bossy Greedy Reading List for Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels I loved. Lu is the author of multiple young adult series (Legend, Warcross, The Young Elites, and Skyhunter) as well as the stand-alone adult novel The Kingdom of Back. Click here for my review of Lu's book Warcross. Check out my review of her book Skyhunter, and look for my upcoming review of the second in that series, Steelstriker.

Williams's historical fiction mystery--based on real-life double agents in the Cambridge Spy Ring--is vividly set in Europe and Russia and was a rare five-star read for me. In Beatriz Williams's historical fiction, Our Woman in Moscow, my book club's most recent read, it's 1948, and Iris Digby, her American diplomat husband Sasha, and their two children have disappeared overnight. Those who knew and worked with them are shocked. Were the Digbys abducted by Soviet agents...or did they make their way by choice behind the Iron Curtain with a suitcase of American secrets to trade? In Williams's historical fiction mystery, which skips back and forth in time, four years later, Iris's twin sister Ruth finally receives a postcard from her estranged sister. Ruth is soon on her way to Russia to try to extricate Iris from danger--but the truth about Iris's marriage and past is more complicated and fraught than Ruth could have imagined. I loved this. Every heart-stopping moment; every exquisite detail; the characters' growth, emotional distance, and unforeseen connections to each other; the trick of teasing out what was actually happening; the characterization; the machinations--all of it. There was significant page time dedicated to Ruth's work managing a modeling agency and to the groundbreaking signing of a Black model at the time, as well as side stories such as elaborate mishaps on sailing trips or drinking binges, while the denouement at the end of the story gets a puzzlingly passing mention. But I loved Williams's immersive story so much, I was in for all of Our Woman in Moscow's elements: Russia, family, spies, crossing/double-crossing, finding common ground, bravery, and illogical and irresistible love. Please please please let this story be made into a movie as soon as possible! Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Beatriz Williams is also the author of The Summer Wives, The Wicked City, A Hundred Summers, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Certain Age, and other books.

I listened to this romantic fantasy about a chosen one, a long-lost family, portals to a magical world, and a treasure of a best friendship, and while I wasn't often surprised, I had fun along the way. When I was asking for dragon-book recommendations so that I could beef up my Dragons shelf on Goodreads and put together a post of my favorite dragon books (that's right, love it or leave it!), several people asked if I'd read Nora Roberts's Dragon Heart Legacy series. I had no idea Nora Roberts had written any dragon books because, I realized, I don't know that I've ever read a Nora Roberts book, despite the fact that she has published TWO HUNDRED titles. Anyhoo, in The Awakening, which I listened to as an audiobook (I highly recommend this because: Irish accents) twentysomething Breen emerges from her average life in Philadelphia to realize she is part of a storied clan, a powerful family, and a magical line, and that she is in fact a chosen one and two worlds are depending on her for their existence. (No pressure, Breen.) So, things are upended for Breen in every way. She tracks down the truth behind the story of her father (who abandoned her years earlier so that she was raised by her emotionally distant, critical mother), she finds warmth in new family connections, and she comes into her own by nurturing talents like singing and writing, but also by embracing her own previously latent but formidable spirit. This begins as a cozy book, with lots of drinking tea (and wine! so much tea and wine!) as increasingly impactful secrets are revealed. It's a romance, in that the brooding young man Keegan who leads the clan and who seems sure to become a love interest does in fact "connect" with Breen, and they seem destined to be a power couple in the land of Talamh. Other delightful, convenient, unsurprising, and fun developments: Breen comes into windfalls of wealth that allow her freedom of all kinds. She discovers emerging and astonishingly powerful magical abilities connecting her to others and to animals (her physical-sensation connection to the horses during their mating had me agog as I drove, listening to her account!). But possibly the most fantastical aspect of the story is the ease with which she secures an agent and her book finds a publisher! The publishing and reading world are clearly poised and ready for her stories. It's a whirlwind. Breen's best friend Marco and mother figure Sally are irresistibly warm characters. Dragons are very much a side note in this book, alternately soaring in the sky and carrying Keegan to and from his destinations. I wonder if they might be a bigger part in subsequent books. The point of view starts periodically shifting about halfway through the book from Breen to other characters, which is convenient for sharing information but felt jarring to me. I'll be curious to find out if there are surprises in store in book two. But if The Dragon Heart Legacy series remains a cozy, convenient, wine- and romance-focused story with some good-and-evil battling and more about Breen coming into her own, I'm still in for it. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I'm in for the second book in this series, fall 2021's The Becoming, but I thought that the series was complete and now I see that the third book doesn't yet show an expected publication date.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Rachel Hartman's Tess of the Road, fantasy about a headstrong young woman finding her way--and also, dragons; I'm reading Bob Odenkirk's conversational brand-new memoir about comedy and life, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama; and I'm listening to the first in the prolific Marie Lu's young adult fantasy Legend series. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman First off, get a load of this gorgeous cover. Second, yes, this is a dragon book. (Who's with me on dragon books? Are we at the point where we can discuss my love for Naomi Novik's nine-book Temeraire talking-dragon series, of which I've read and loved seven? Yes? No?) In Hartman's Tess of the Road, Tess doesn't fit the mold of an obedient, quiet young woman in her medieval kingdom of Goredd, where she's protected by dragons and by the men who rule the land. This time she's really taken things too far, and she's not a lady who can be subdued. So Tess's family decides to send her to a nunnery. But Tess has other plans. On the day she's scheduled to report for the beginning of her cloistered life, she cuts her hair, pulls on walking boots, and runs away, determined to craft a life for herself outside of the narrow parameters Goredd and her family have set upon her. (I love a "woman dresses as a man to achieve an end" trope!) Tess's long-held ability to get into trouble might just lead her on an adventure of a lifetime. 02 Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama by Bob Odenkirk You might know Odenkirk from his role as the sleazy lawyer with a heart in the show Breaking Bad, or from his lead role in a spinoff series I love, Better Call Saul. Or you might know him from his older work as a Saturday Night Live writer (he wrote the iconic "Motivational Speaker" skit for Chris Farley), as a writer and star of Mr. Show with David Cross, or from his work on The Ben Stiller Show. Or you may not know of Odenkirk at all. So far, Odenkirk's memoir Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama is a conversational foray into his zigzagging route to creative success. It's the gradual unfolding of a circuitous path through fringe comedy to more well-known avenues for comics, and he shares what he experienced and learned along the way. The incomplete sentences and lightning-fast topic shifts are taking some getting used to, but they add to the feel that you're sitting next to Odenkirk and he's filling your ear with gems from his odd and interesting life. I received a prepublication digital copy of this book (published last week) courtesy of NetGalley and Random House. 03 Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu In an alternate history, the west of the United States is a region called the Republic, and it frequently clashes and fights with its neighbors. Fifteen-year-old Republic citizen June has been groomed her whole life for a military position of leadership befitting her wealthy family and her privileged education. Fifteen-year-old Day was born in a slum and is the Republic's most-wanted criminal. But he's a product of his desperate circumstances, and his intentions aren't evil. When the murder of June's brother pushes her and Day together in an uncomfortable enemies' alliance, the two must fight to uncover the truth about the dark secrets the country has been keeping under wraps. (And maybe fall in loooooove!) Click here for my review of Lu's book Warcross. Check out my review of her book Skyhunter, and look for my upcoming review of the second in that series, Steelstriker.

Who likes a little rock with their reading? I recently read The Unsinkable Greta James, and it made me think again about all the great books I've read that have music at their hearts and how it always strikes me that it must be a uniquely difficult task to convey the power of fictitious music. Here are six of my favorite fiction works that have to do with rock and roll, writing songs, performing, and the musician and band dynamics that keep it all wonderfully unpredictable and complicated and weird. What other rockin' books should I add to my to-read list? 01 Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell In Utopia Avenue, Mitchell takes us through the twists and turns of a fictional psychedelic British '60s band on its rocky rise to popularity, particularly through exploring its members' crises, joys, fears, and triumphs. It could have felt a little too abstract to read about the inspiration for made-up lyrics and melody, instrument technique, and imagined musical highlights on stage. (The fictional band focus reminded me, in a good way, of Daisy Jones & the Six, mentioned below.) But Mitchell handles all of this deftly and made me care about a singer connecting with an audience, the cathartic heartbreak-writing of songs, and the magic spark of a performance. Utopia Avenue contains endless imagined cameos, fictional adventures, and gems of wisdom from real-life musicians, authors, and artists--not to mention wild parties, betrayals, leaps of faith, breakups, and tragedy. Mitchell expertly builds the four band members into rich characters you're rooting for through their individual ups and downs as well as through the triumphs and setbacks of the band. If you like Mitchell's beautiful, offbeat, sometimes meandering and tough-to-pin-down stories, you'll likely love this almost 600-page book. He doesn't provide too easy or neat of an ending, but it feels fitting and left me satisfied. This was a really captivating story that kept me intrigued throughout. For my full review of Utopia Avenue, click here. 02 The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez On the surface, the main players in this light fiction story by Abby Jimenez are too outrageously beautiful, obscenely masculine or exquisitely feminine, with inordinately glamorous careers. One of them donated bone marrow to a stranger before becoming a burgeoning rock star. The other is a shockingly talented artist who abandoned the creation of new work after an incredibly painful loss. I worried that they would be insufferable martyrs I wouldn't believe in. But Jimenez offers an excellent setup for a romantic comedy with enough heartache that your teeth don't hurt from the sweetness. Jiminez provides the drama and angst and romance for picture-perfect escapism with a sexy center. I expected her to simply summarize the sexy parts, but no, she did not. Each chapter begins with a song title, and if you like the music, you can listen to the mix on Spotify. The author’s note about her inspiration for the book’s initial setup is heartwarming. For my full review of this book, see The Happy Ever After Playlist. 03 Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby Annie is bored and living in a boring British town. Her love life with Duncan is about as uninspiring as her surroundings. Something has to give. Meanwhile, Duncan is obsessed with a singer-songwriter who has largely disappeared from the spotlight. The reclusive artist's first released album in ages sends Duncan into fits, but Annie is inspired to publicly state her disdain for the music. This sets events into motion that none of the three could have anticipated. After a slow start, the story pace picked up, and I was really curious to follow these characters to the ends of their interconnected stories. The book's ending is somewhat noncommittal but offers inklings about the direction in which things are going. Nick Hornby is also the author of High Fidelity-- another fictional book about music that I could have included on this list, except that somehow I still haven't read it--as well as A Long Way Down, Slam, How to Be Good, About a Boy, and the memoir Fever Pitch. 04 Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid “You have these lines you won’t cross. But then you cross them.... You’ve taken a big, black, bold line and you’ve made it a little bit gray. And now every time you cross it again, it just gets grayer and grayer until one day you look around and you think, There was a line here once, I think.” In Daisy Jones & the Six, Reid offers a fictionalized account (written as fictional interviews) of the meteoric rise of a 1970s band, their mesmerizing lead singer Daisy, the group's complicated interpersonal conflicts, and the band's mysterious breakup, which broke hearts around the world. I thought the interview format might possibly get tiresome, but Reid skillfully builds the story, the complex relationships, and the pushes and pulls of the characters’ lives. The structure allowed for fascinating point of view shifts, subtleties, and humor. Daisy Jones and the Six explores multiple layers of love and heartbreak, all against a fantastic backdrop of rock and roll and the bonds and stresses of a band and a relentlessly grueling tour life. I adored Camila and her love and faith and outlook on life, and I loved this book. Taylor Jenkins Reid is also the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Maybe In Another Life, After I Do, and other books. 05 Thank You, Goodnight by Andy Abramowitz In Thank You, Goodnight, Teddy Tremble, a likable, formerly famous musician meanders into an entertaining and unlikely career resurgence. "It Feels Like a Lie" was Tremble's big 1990s hit, and he never had another success. He's almost 40, he works at a law firm, and he's given up his old dreams. But when an old friend calls, he's faced with the classic "getting the band back together" temptation. Could he really be getting a second chance at stardom? Teddy's path isn't pat or too easy, Abramowitz's dialogue is sharp and funny, and watching Tremble finally grow into himself is satisfying. I really had fun reading this. Abramowitz includes fun music references and nicely written scenes of the characters playing music. I imagine those could be tough to write in an engaging way when the reader obviously can't hear any of what the author is imagining. But he had me hooked. 06 This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales “Sometimes people think they know you. They know a few facts about you, and they piece you together in a way that makes sense to them. And if you don't know yourself very well, you might even believe that they are right. But the truth is, that isn't you. That isn't you at all.” In Leila Sales's young adult book This Song Could Save Your Life, main protagonist Elise doesn't fit in at her high school, she can't quite figure out social conventions, and she constantly feels at a loss. But when she stumbles into a warehouse party full of misfits embracing their otherness, Elise begins to see that the world outside of her claustrophobic high school is enormous, strange, and possibly even wonderful. With the help of a new friend in a band, a disc jockey, a handful of free spirits, and her own newly discovered love of music, she begins to find her way. The first half of this book started off so perfectly and wonderfully that I considered abandoning all commitments in order to hide away and read it straight through. Some too-easy moments marred a little of the book's perfection for me, but I absolutely adore this author's voice and vision and am hereby willing to read anything else she writes.

Nagamatsu's science fiction centers around a resurgence of an ancient Arctic plague. These interconnected stories are odd, fascinating, and sometimes panic-inducing, yet they offer glimmers of hope. I was intrigued by all of it. "It’s strange how the discovery of an ancient girl in Siberia and viruses we’ve never encountered before can both redefine what we know about being human and at the same time threaten our humanity. If I were a philosopher, perhaps I’d have more thoughts on this…. But there is still work to be done. There is still hope." It's 2030, and an archaeologist in the Arctic Circle discovers a body perfectly preserved in the permafrost. His personal situation is complicated by his grief for his recently deceased daughter, and he aims to continue the research work she began. But the young woman he has found may have died of an ancient virus, and thawing the body for study could unleash the long-eradicated illness all over again. The interconnected stories here are made up of strange, affecting situations, including those in which: the virus causes organs to transform into other organs until the host dies; a theme park provides rollercoaster-induced euthanasia to dying children; hotels become elaborately designed spaces used for saying goodbye or for cremation rather than travel stays; and an irresistible, sentient pig commands its own story. In one situation, referred to in the book's title, there is a captivating, dark, in-between world of floating, nebulous memories that highlights humans’ struggles to connect to each other. The space also offers those in it a tantalizing chance to look back on pivotal moments from their life, and some do so with regret or wistfulness, while others focus on the gift of being able to recall forgotten moments. Those in the in-between world are able to see the previously unknown perspectives of those who loved them, and those occupying this space manage to cobble together a surprising sense of community with purpose and passion. In suffering, he said, we found our heart. In suffering, we found new traditions, a way forward. The stories are steeped in death and in coming to terms with mortality while fighting for answers. Yet deep connections are forged--in life-or-death moments throughout the book, and in the collective goal of saving humanity--and in some cases these bonds feel deeper than long marriages. How High We Go in the Dark combines linked elements that wind through the book—a symbol of a planet with three stars repeats through time in ancient artwork, in a tattoo, and in 2037 within the painting Possibility. Characters appear in the backgrounds of others’ stories; a necklace disappears from one story in the Arctic and reappears in a casual mention around the neck of another character across the world in another time; and we see varied points of view regarding aspects of the same stories. As the virus passes like a whirlwind through societies and nations around the globe, Nagamatsu's science fiction work How High We Go in the Dark highlights interpersonal connections spanning centuries--and extending as far as the stars. Do you have have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Nagamatsu is also the author of the short story collection Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone.

I enjoyed the glimpses of Alaska and peeks into Greta's musical inspirations and aspirations, although I remained confused about why her father was so set against her musical career. In Jennifer E. Smith's new (published yesterday!) light fiction novel The Unsinkable Greta James, Greta is an up-and-coming indie rock star whose father has never approved of her career. To say that stubborn Greta and her equally stubborn father clash (and always have) would be putting it mildly. But Greta's beloved mother passed away recently, and the couples' trip to Alaska that her mother had planned for her fortieth wedding anniversary is looming. Greta's brother Asher convinces Greta to go along to keep their dad company. Asher also not-so-secretly hopes that the trip will help Greta and her father find their way to each other somehow. I found myself waiting for more explanation regarding Greta's father's refusal to accept her (now successful) music career, especially because he is shown to have been supportive of her musical passion in her youth. Was it that he wanted her to be more typical for some reason? Did he want her to settle down like her brother with a more common career and a spouse? Was it that he feared that she would have to chase fame or sell out in order to succeed? Did he fear that with an unpredictable schedule and future, she wouldn't give him grandchildren, which he wanted? But why any of this, when she is clearly happy and is not struggling--and when his soul mate, Greta's mother, fully supported the endeavor and Greta's happiness? I hoped for the revelation about some reasoning on his part, no matter how nonsensical it may have ended up feeling to Greta or even to him. But his motivation for creating this wedge, this long-term, significant, emotional distance from Greta, was never delved into to my satisfaction, nor was his generally curmudgeonly attitude explored. The foul attitude seemed to have predated his wife's death. So was his grumpiness about Greta and her music, or did he behave like this with everyone, as it seemed he did? And if the latter, why were his friends willing to travel with him, much less remain friendly on a regular basis at home? And why on earth did Greta's beatified, beloved mother put up with him and adore him? There are allusions within Greta's memories to her mother's "you don't know him like I know him" attitude--but she and we never do know him this way, so this all fell flat for me. There are tiny moves forward until a big shift that occurs at the end of the book, and the timing and drastic change felt too convenient for me to have emotional investment in it. There's an unlikely-to-be-long-term, nerdy but sweet, complicated and messy love interest that I enjoyed, and I loved the peeks into Alaska. Greta spends a lot of time day drinking (and night drinking) on the cruise, and she uses alcohol to connect with her new beau, to dull the pain of her mother's death, to soften her annoyance at her father, and to kill time. I loved the glimpses into Greta's musical aspirations and inspirations--and the brief exchanges with her young number-one fan. I received a prepublication digital galley of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group's Ballantine Books. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? If you like books about music, you might also like the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six Rockin' Books about Bands and Music. Jennifer E. Smith is also the author of nine books for young adults, including The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between.

My very favorite books from February! Here are my favorite reads of the past month, in no particular order: No Cure for Being Human, a funny, raw, thoughtful memoir about facing stage 4 colon cancer and life in general, from Kate Bowler; The Saints of Swallow Hill, Donna Everhart's recently published historical fiction about heartache and hope, set in the Depression-era South; Nobody Will Tell You This But Me, Bess Kalb's charming, touching, lovely tribute to her late grandma Bobby, a formidable and irresistible character; The Body by Bill Bryson, fascinating nonfiction about the human form, how it works, the ways it sometimes fails, and its captivating capabilities and wonders; Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir's space-focused science fiction that's filled with innovation, optimism, creativity, connection, and tons of heart. Sparks Like Stars, Nadia Hashimi's luminous historical fiction about a childhood lived in Kabul and a life in the United States that is largely shaped by having survived a deadly coup. I'd love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads? 01 No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) by Kate Bowler Touching, honest, raw, funny, and full of gritty reflections about life and faith, this was a read that I absolutely adored and gave five Bossy stars. THIS BOOK! Reading memoirs centered around cancer is not always a go for me, but this book was special. Divinity professor Kate Bowler offers meaningful insight, gritty truth-telling, and wry humor as she shares her experiences surrounding facing stage 4 colon cancer. I finished No Cure for Being Human in one evening, tabbed many, many passages, immediately bought my own copy, re-tabbed everything, and would have been perfectly willing to read the book again in its entirety right away. So many moments struck me, surprised me, or touched me as I read this lovely work, including Bowler's exploration of how our lives are largely shaped by choices out of our control and her reckoning with the way in which she considers her body after cancer treatment ("Who would fault a body that has survived so much and asked for so little?"). No Cure for Being Human is beautiful, funny, heartwarming, practical, and Kate Bowler is so wise and wonderful, I hugged this book to my chest when I finished reading it. For my full review, check out No Cure for Being Human. 02 The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart This Depression-era-set historical fiction story tracks characters in intensely difficult situations as they successfully fight for justice, peace, love, and forgiveness in a satisfying story arc that captivated me. The Saints of Swallow Hill traces the paths of Rae Lynn and Del, disparate characters in Depression-era Georgia who have two important things in common: each of their searches for food, shelter, and survival is becoming more desperate; and each of them is running from dark secrets that threaten to destroy them. As I read the first pages of this book, I admit that I was fairly hesitant--the tone felt increasingly bleak, and I wasn't sure if Everhart was going to revel in creating further mishaps and disasters for her characters. I was grateful when she laid out not only a tale of intense hardship, bad luck, and rough circumstances in a difficult period of our nation's history, but also a captivating story of determination, struggles for improvement, deep human connection, justice, love, and hope. I'm so very glad I stuck this one out so I could see these characters through and witness their journeys' ends. Click here for my full review of The Saints of Swallow Hill. 03 Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story by Bess Kalb This is an irresistible tribute to Kalb's funny, opinionated, fiercely loving grandmother--a granddaughter's best friend and a wise and formidable character. I listened to Bess Kalb's irresistible love letter to her late grandmother, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me. The audiobook was wonderful and read by Kalb. The author saved every one of her grandmother's voicemails, and here she uses them--along with emails, letters, vividly recalled conversations, and her grandma Bobby's imagined thoughts from beyond the grave--to construct a picture of a formidable, tough-love, fiercely protective matriarch in Bobby Bell. This is a heartwarming, funny, poignant, sassy tribute to a life fully lived and to a determination love freely, deliberately, and unwaveringly. It made me laugh out loud and brought me to tears. I just adored this gem. Click here for my full review of Nobody Will Tell You This But Me. 04 The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson Bryson's examination of the human body, its processes, its wonders, and its limitations is surprising, illuminating, and wonderful. “We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted.” The Body: A Guide for Occupants is made up of fascinating, funny, odd, and often unexpected information about the complicated corporeal shell we each inhabit. With his signature wit and curiosity, Bryson delves into everything you didn't know that you didn't know about the body (and, I'm glad to say, he narrates the audiobook edition of the book). I'm willing to accompany Bill Bryson anywhere he wants to take me, and an adventure through body systems, grievous injuries, and our various, wondrous healing processes is no exception. Bryson considers the body's systems, outside positive and detrimental influences upon the body, and disease and the process of death. He inspires wonder, shares knowledge, and offers sometimes shocking factoids about our bodies and how they work. For my full review of The Body: A Guide for Occupants, please click here. 05 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Andy Weir offers the fascinating story of a desperate space mission, creative innovation, and enduring optimism, with an enormous amount of heart that surprised me. Ryland Grace wakes up as the sole survivor of a last-chance effort to save Earth and its inhabitants. He's millions of miles from Earth, and he's got two dead crewmates, a chatty AI robot caregiver, a lot of complicated equipment, and a mysterious mission whose purpose and execution he'll have to unravel if he's to possibly survive--much less save humanity. Weir provides Grace with unexpected company, fascinating collaboration, fantastic interpersonal relationships (Rocky!), incredible innovation, and wonderfully big-hearted moments. The present-day story alternates with peeks back in time to life before this space mission, which show Grace as an interestingly faulted but incredibly valuable team member on the project of a lifetime. As in his book The Martian, significant page time in Weir's Project Hail Mary is spent on creative problem-solving, particularly scientific experimentation and high-stakes trial and error, and while it slowed the pace of the story, it felt warranted--and I was hooked by all of it. For my full review, check out Project Hail Mary. 06 Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi This peek into a childhood in Kabul and a lifetime of searching and yearning is luminous and vivid in Hashimi's hands. Young Sitara is living a comfortable life in Kabul in 1978. Her father has a prominent position in the government, and the family has plenty of love and laughter. But when the military soldiers she's always known turn against those in charge, the men stop protecting her family and help enact a bloody massacre that sweeps up much of the current government administration and their families. Sparks Like Stars follows Sitara through unlikely alliances, a desperate plan to escape her fiery homeland, and a life with twists and turns that ultimately lead her back to the beginning of it all. Hashimi's storytelling is luminous. She sets the scene in Kabul with the vivid sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the past that reemerge in Sitara's memories and her subconscious, and she explores Sitara's complicated, ongoing, conflicting feelings of survivor's guilt. For my full review, check out Sparks Like Stars.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Our Woman in Moscow, Beatriz Williams's story of Cold War espionage and family loyalty; I'm reading The Unsinkable Greta James, Jennifer E. Smith's light fiction about an emotionally distant father and daughter trying to find connection on a cruise to Alaska; and I'm listening to Nora Roberts's first book in The Dragon Heart Legacy series, The Awakening. That's right, draaaagons! What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams In Beatriz Williams's historical fiction, Our Woman in Moscow, my book club's upcoming read, it's 1948, and Iris Digby, her American diplomat husband, and their two children have disappeared overnight. Those who knew and worked with them were shocked. Were the Digbys abducted by Soviet agents...or did they make their own way behind the Iron Curtain with a suitcase of American secrets to trade? In Williams's historical fiction mystery, four years later, Iris's twin sister Ruth finally receives a postcard from her sister. Ruth is soon on her way to Russia to try to extricate her sister from danger--but the truth about Iris's marriage and past is more complicated and fraught than Ruth could have imagined. 02 The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith In Jennifer E. Smith's new (published tomorrow!) light fiction novel The Unsinkable Greta James, Greta is an up-and-coming indie rock star whose father has never approved of her career. He'd rather she settle down and marry, have kids, and stop traveling the world and working to boost her fame and recognition. To say that stubborn Greta and her willful father clash (and always have) would be putting it mildly. But Greta's mother passed away recently, and the couples' trip to Alaska that her mother had planned for her fortieth wedding anniversary is looming. Greta's brother Asher convinces Greta to go along to keep their dad company--and he obviously not-so-secretly hopes the trip will help Greta and her father find their way to each other somehow. I received a prepublication digital galley of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group's Ballantine Books. 03 The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book 1 by Nora Roberts When I was asking for dragon-book recommendations so that I could beef up my Dragons shelf on Goodreads and put together a post of my favorite dragon books (that's right, love it or leave it!), several people asked if I'd read Nora Roberts's Dragon Heart Legacy series. I had no idea Nora Roberts had written any dragon books because, I realized, I don't believe I've ever read a single Nora Roberts book, despite the fact that she has published TWO HUNDRED titles. Anyhoo, in The Awakening, which I'm listening to as an audiobook--I highly recommend this because: Irish accents--twentysomething Breen emerges from her average life in Philadelphia to realize she is part of a storied clan, a powerful family, and a magical line, and that she is in fact a chosen one and two worlds are depending on her for their existence. This is a cozy-dragon book so far, with lots of drinking tea while uncovering secrets, as well as: meeting long-lost family members, encountering a brooding man who seems sure to become a love interest, coming into windfalls of wealth, wondering at the emergence of magical powers, and Breen's coming into her own with talents like singing and writing, but also embracing her own previously latent but formidable spirit.

More Memoirs I've Loved I find a good memoir irresistible, as evidenced by the bajillions of memoirs I seem to read. Here are six I thought were just lovely--more about each of them below. For more more more memoirs I've loved that you might want to try, check out these Greedy Reading Lists: Six Fascinating Memoirs to Explore 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 How many memoirs is too many memoirs, you may ask? The limit does not exist! 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 The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner “Mom couldn’t teach me that because she didn’t know herself. She couldn’t show me how to be happy, only how to barely survive.” Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth of her father's forty-two children, and she grew up on a farm in rural Mexico without electricity or running water. The family lived where they did because of the convenient lack of attention paid by local authorities to the polygamous community's practices. Ruth's father, the founder of the colony, preached that men should marry as many women and have as many children as possible in order to earn God's approval. Unsurprisingly, this practice led to poverty, hunger, sexual predation, and numerous other problems for the religious sect. After Ruth's father was killed by his brother in a grab for power, Ruth's mother married another member of the congregation, and Ruth's life, along with those of her siblings, became centered around travel between the United States and Mexico in search of steady shelter and sustenance. “As I pulled the covers up and let Micah settle in next to me, I heard Mom’s voice in my ears: Children need to get used to being in the dark. She’d repeated that countless times throughout my childhood. No, I thought, they don’t.” Wariner candidly shares her life story in The Sound of Gravel, and it's one of brutally limited resources, often-transient life, primitive and dangerous living conditions, caring for many siblings--some mentally and physically challenged--general deprivation, frequent tragedies and death due to carelessness and ineptitude, and sexual abuse as the child in a polygamist culture. Her story doesn’t feel overdramatized, but it is shocking. 02 Forty Autumns by Nina Willner Forty Autumns offers fascinating, wonderfully detailed perspectives in a rich, layered family memoir that reads like fiction. The subtitle of Willner's Forty Autumns is A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall, and her memoir details the former American intelligence officer's true story of her family during the Cold War. The book's stories are largely set within an increasingly isolated East Germany that relentlessly persecutes its citizens behind the Wall, but they also follow Nina in the United States and as she spies for the United States government in West Berlin. The book's many moving parts and family characters are fluidly shaped into compelling reading by Willner, and the pacing and tone are wonderful. I thought it read like fiction. Forty Autumns offers fascinating, wonderfully detailed perspectives in this rich, layered family memoir. For more nonfiction spy stories about the Cold War, check out two great books by Ben McIntyre, the gripping Agent Sonya and a book I loved even more, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War. For historical fiction about female spies, you might want to check out the Greedy Reading List Six Books about Brave Female Spies. Click here for my full review of Forty Autumns. 03 Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick I would have liked more introspection, but I loved spending time in Kendrick's funny, honest, often wonderfully wacky point of view. In the early chapters of Scrappy Little Nobody, Kendrick does a great job of positioning herself outside Hollywood in the naive mindset of her youth. She wasn’t savvy to how show business worked, nor did she (nor her parents) particularly aspire to become members of an in-the-know stage family. She knew she wanted to act and sing and dance, and she knew these activities felt necessary to her. In Scrappy Little Nobody, she retraces her missteps and successes as well as her humble beginnings. I can’t get over the story of young Anna taking the bus from Maine to New York City with her brother and all that ensued. Her own confusion and astonishment is endearing as she explains how she figured out the way various aspects of show business really work. There's an appealing "Can you believe this? Me either! I'm down to earth and just like you!" tone that she carried through the first stories in the book, especially. I loved all of this. For my full review, see Scrappy Little Nobody. 04 Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford Ford shares how she navigated an unforgiving childhood and complicated relationships with her volatile mother and her incarcerated father, all the while figuring out her place in the world. As Ford examines her anxiety, her sometimes unhealthy relationships, and the circumstances of her childhood and upbringing, she considers her ties to the man who is her father and how significantly she may have been shaped by the people who made her and the people who raised her. “Despite everything my father had done, I was still so eager to be claimed by him. To be protected by him. To the world he was a bad man. To me, he was my dad who did a bad thing...." Ford feels an intense desire to be her own person, someone both of and separate from her challenging beginnings. Somebody's Daughter is beautifully straightforward and honest as the author follows the fits and starts (and, sometimes, roadblocks) on her path to self-discovery. For my full review, please see Somebody's Daughter. 05 Here For It by R. Eric Thomas Here For It is refreshing and playful yet thoughtful. I loved spending time with the uproariously funny Thomas. In Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America, R. Eric Thomas, the creator of Elle's sassy and smart daily column "Eric Reads the News," shares his thoughts, experiences, and reflections about life and the world around us with honesty and humor. This is officially a book of essays, but they're personal and are all drawn from Thomas's life, and the feeling to me is that of a memoir. I listened to this as an audiobook, and I adored hearing Thomas's voice take me through his essays. His voice and delivery are fabulous. Here For It is refreshing and playful yet thoughtful. I loved spending time with the uproariously funny Thomas as he recounts how he's navigated situations large and small in his life. Thomas's stories are sometimes heartbreaking, often inspiring, and they frequently made me laugh out loud. For my full review, please see Here For It. 06 Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile In Broken Horses, Brandi Carlile shares a beautifully open, poignant, tough, rich, gorgeous account of her life and career so far. The audiobook includes over thirty songs, and I highly recommend it. I can't imagine feeling the full emotion and immersive experience of this book without hearing Carlile's voice tell it--or without hearing all of the music Carlile offers here. She weaves more than thirty songs into her stories and personal history, and the placement of the music feels seamless and illustrative. In Broken Horses, Brandi Carlile shares a beautifully open, poignant, tough, rich, gorgeous account of her life and career so far. She is thoughtful, humble, and so gracefully fluid and curious, I treasured each moment she shared here. Carlile intersperses songs with stories about their impact on her or the influences that led her to write and create them. The songs are all included again at the very end of the book, by which point the listener understands their import. They felt incredibly powerful as a closure to her story. If you like books about music, you might like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Rockin' Stories about Bands and Music. For my full review of this book, please see Broken Horses.

This is an irresistible tribute to Kalb's funny, opinionated, fiercely loving grandmother--a granddaughter's best friend and a wise and formidable character. I listened to Bess Kalb's irresistible love letter to her late grandmother, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me. The audiobook was wonderful and read by Kalb. The author saved every one of her grandmother's voicemails, and here she uses them--along with emails, letters, vividly recalled conversations, and her grandma Bobby's imagined thoughts from beyond the grave--to construct a picture of a formidable, tough-love, fiercely protective matriarch in Bobby Bell. Through Bell's voice we also learn what has shaped the other women of the family: we hear rich stories of Bell's own mother--who fled Belarus in her youth--and her hardships and determination; and we glimpse the difficult relationship between Bobby and her daughter (Kalb's mother) and how it affected each woman's life trajectory. Nobody Will Tell You This But Me is based upon Bobby's stories and exchanges with Kalb, but I knew I was hooked on this one and on Bobby's voice when Kalb began the book with an imagined critique from Bobby of her own funeral. Kalb shares rip-roaring tales of family history; Bobby's distinct pride in generations of the family having overcome various hardships; her crisp, specific advice about fashion, shopping, love lives, career, and transportation; her unwavering familial loyalty, even within fraught relationships; and, ultimately, Kalb's own loss of her beloved best friend and grandma, which shakes her life and reshapes the family forever. Bobby's recounted memories don't paint her as anything close to a saint; she recounts the evidence of her faults as passionately as the recollections of her life's triumphs--many of which center around having made Bess feel safe and happy and seen. This is a heartwarming, funny, poignant, sassy tribute to a life fully lived and to a determination love freely, deliberately, and unwaveringly. It made me laugh out loud and brought me to tears. I just adored this gem. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Emmy-nominated writer Kalb (Jimmy Kimmel Live!) is also a contributor to New Yorker. This is her first book, but I really hope she writes another.

This Depression-era-set historical fiction story tracks characters in intensely difficult situations as they successfully fight for justice, peace, love, and forgiveness in a satisfying story arc that captivated me. The Saints of Swallow Hill traces the paths of Rae Lynn and Del, disparate characters in Depression-era Georgia who have two important things in common: each of their searches for food, shelter, and survival is becoming more desperate; and each of them is running from dark secrets that threaten to destroy them. Their hardscrabble stories intersect at a turpentine camp in Georgia. There, workers struggle to flip the pattern of owing more money to the camp than they can earn; try to avoid the unwelcome notice of the cruel boss; and aim to escape before meeting untimely deaths in the dangerous woods, as many unlucky workers seem to do. Everhart includes one of my favorite setups, in which a woman dresses as a man in order to achieve some end. Here, Rae Lynn seeks an escape from danger and needs to earn a wage, but unwittingly places herself in greater jeopardy. As I read the first pages of this book, I admit that I was fairly hesitant--the tone felt increasingly bleak, and I wasn't sure if Everhart was going to revel in creating further mishaps and disasters for her characters. I was grateful when she laid out not only a tale of intense hardship, bad luck, and rough circumstances in a difficult period of our nation's history, but also a captivating story of determination, struggles for improvement, deep human connection, justice, love, and hope. I'm so very glad I stuck this one out so I could see these characters through and witness their journeys' ends. I received a prepublication digital copy of this recently published book courtesy of NetGalley and Kensington Books. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Donna Everhart is also the author of The Road to Bittersweet, The Moonshiner's Daughter, The Education of Dixie Dupree, and The Forgiving Kind, none of which I have yet read. I want to read more of her books.

In Young's story, loosely set in the world of her Fable series, strong young Bryn fights for her own autonomy in an appealing tale of craftiness, determination, and love. A letter from her uncle Henrik on her eighteenth birthday calls orphan Bryn back to the island of Bastion. It might be an understatement to say that she has mixed emotions about returning, but Henrik has plans for her that he's been building for ages. Situations on Bastion are complicated by longstanding rivalries, the suspicious circumstances surrounding Bryn's parents' long-ago deaths, and an extended family with mysterious loyalties and plans of their own. I originally saw this listed as the third book in Adrienne Young's Fable series, but I don’t see that reference now. At any rate, the story occurs in the same universe as the Fable books, but the stories are only loosely connected. (Auster, who we know from Fable and Namesake, is a stranger to Bryn but part of her extended family, and his escape from the cruelties of the family in Bastion is referenced in this book.) I was thrilled to find that Young's wonderful, signature strong-young-female protagonist-in-a-man's-world element is in full effect here. Bryn finds her footing in an appealingly realistic, indirect fashion. She has missteps and recognizes an immediate need to develop a thick skin—as well as feeling the complicated impetus to establish loyalties while retaining her own secrets and power. The dynamic between Bryn and her powerful, ruthless, greedy uncle is especially interesting when Bryn takes the lead on training him (and the rest of the family) in societal niceties and protocols, with an eye toward securing pivotal business connections. Oh, and there's also the matter of her attraction to a forbidden, brooding artist who's bound to the family against his will--and Bryn is beginning to feel drawn to him while similarly shackled to her ruthless family. This was satisfying and wonderfully immersive. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Click here for my review of Adrienne Young's Fable, and click here for my review of the second book in the series, Namesake. Young is also the author of Sky in the Deep and The Girl the Sea Gave back, both in the Sky and Sea series.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Honor, Thrity Umrigar's story of love, loyalty, oppressive tradition, and hope for change in India; I'm listening to Nobody Will Tell You This But Me, Bess Kalb's love letter to her late grandmother, based on voicemails from and exchanges with with the formidable, fiercely loving woman; and I'm reading All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, Rebecca Donner's narrative nonfiction about her great-great-aunt, an American who led a powerful underground resistance to the Nazis in World War II Germany. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 Honor by Thrity Umrigar In Thrity Umrigar's Honor, Indian-American journalist Smita has reluctantly returned to India. She's reporting on the case of Meena, a Hindu woman who was brutally punished by her village and her family for marrying a Muslim man. Delving into Meena's story makes clear to Smita that tradition continues to overpower personal choice in many small villages of her home country--and threatens to unearth the secrets of Smita's own family and their history. Meanwhile, Smita is drawn to an Indian man she meets on assignment. She considers the ease with which she could enter a casual romantic entanglement--while she desperately fights for Meena's right to make basic choices about her love and her life path. 02 Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb I'm listening to Bess Kalb's irresistible love letter to her late grandmother, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me. Emmy-nominated writer Kalb saved every one of her grandmother's voicemails, and here she uses them to construct a picture of a formidable, tough-love, fiercely protective matriarch in Bobby Bell. Through Bell's voice we also learn what has shaped the other women of the family: we hear rich stories of Bell's own mother--who fled Belarus in her youth--and her hardships and determination; and we glimpse the difficult relationship between Bobby and her daughter (Kalb's mother) and how it affected each woman's life trajectory. Nobody Will Tell You This But Me is based upon Bobby's stories and exchanges with Kalb, but I knew I was hooked on this one and on Bobby's voice when Kalb began the book with her grandmother's imagined critique of her own funeral. 03 All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner The subtitle of Rebecca Donner's nonfiction work All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days is The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler. In All the Frequent Troubles, Donner traces the account of her great-great-aunt Mildred Harnack, American leader of one of the largest underground resistance groups of World War II Germany. An American PhD candidate in Germany as World War II unfolded, Mildred witnessed the emergence of Nazi ideas and power. She began to hold meetings in her apartment of political activists and others in opposition to the disturbing movement. Donner follows Mildred's path of recruiting Germans to the resistance, writing and distributing dangerous pamphlets opposing Nazi dogma, sabotaging Nazi efforts, and helping Jews escape danger. This powerful work of narrative nonfiction tracks Mildred through her courageous efforts, through immeasurable difficulty and challenge, and to her life cut short because of her repeated moral stands.

This peek into a childhood in Kabul and a lifetime of searching and yearning is luminous and vivid in Hashimi's hands. What will this change? I wonder. If I am no less alone than I was yesterday, what’s the difference? Will I feel released from this knotted grief? Will my dreams soften? Will I still be me? Young Sitara is living a comfortable life in Kabul in 1978. Her father has a prominent position in the government, and the family has plenty of love and laughter. But when the military soldiers she's always known turn against those in charge, the men stop protecting her family and help enact a bloody massacre that sweeps up much of the current government administration and their families. Sparks Like Stars follows Sitara through unlikely alliances, a desperate plan to escape her fiery homeland, and a life with twists and turns that ultimately lead her back to the beginning of it all. Hashimi's storytelling is luminous. She sets the scene in Kabul with the vivid sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the past that reemerge in Sitara's memories and her subconscious, and she explores Sitara's complicated, ongoing, conflicting feelings of survivor's guilt. The book's details made me feel the yearning in Sitara's mind and heart that blossomed since her escape from the violence and disruption of coup-era Kabul. Sitara's unsettled feelings about her past, present, and future build and shift until reaching a crescendo that requires action, whereupon she returns to her home city to try to force answers from those determined to keep secrets. Her return to the city is tricky, and while Hashimi offers some resolutions, nothing feels too simple or easy. Hashimi's writing is beautiful, and I cared about Sitara and her dilemmas and struggles and celebrated her triumphs. The supporting characters are perfectly imperfect (Tilly!). I listened to Sparks Like Stars as an audiobook, and narrator Mozhan Marno was wonderful. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Nadia Hashimi is also the author of The Pearl that Broke Its Shell, When the Moon Is Low, A House Without Windows, One Half from the East, and The Sky at Our Feet.

ICYMI: North Carolina author Rash offers a fascinating, Appalachian-set mystery told from various points of view with a Southern gothic feel. I recently included the wonderful Ron Rash short story collection Nothing Gold Can Stay in my Greedy Reading List Six Short Story Collections to Wow You, and I've been thinking about the Ron Rash books on my to-read list and the work of his that I've already read and loved. In One Foot in Eden, Will Alexander is a small-town-Appalachia sheriff, and he's certain that Holland Winchester, a local troublemaker, has been murdered. But without a body, evidence, or a suspect, he can't prove anything. Rash offers an interesting structure here as he unravels what has occurred; he tells the story through various points of view--the sheriff, a young farmer, the farmer's wife, and their son. This makes the book feel like a series of character studies with a mystery underlying it all. I loved the differing points of view regarding the same chain of events in this rural South Carolina community after World War II. One Foot in Eden is a quiet, haunting story with a Southern gothic feel and understated revelations from each character. My book club read One Foot in Eden a while back. I found it a fascinating, quick, rich read, and I loved Ron Rash's writing and this story. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? North Carolina's Rash (he teaches at Western Carolina University) is also the author of other books set in Appalachia: Serena, The World Made Straight, Burning Bright, Above the Waterfall, The Risen, The Cove, and Nothing Gold Can Stay, among others.

Hard work, interest, and commitment are essential to achievement, and Duckworth traces her research and offers interviews with various highfliers to illustrate the point. In researcher and professor Angela Duckworth's nonfiction work Grit, she explores the combination of passion and commitment that is a key component in success. Through mining past research and history on the matter as well as interviewing individuals who have reached elite levels of success, Duckworth explores what characteristics and habits support tenacity and achievement; asks whether these habits and tendencies can be cultivated; and suggests ways to boost grit. Duckworth highlights psychological research, unique examples of superlative accomplishment, and practical methods of achieving the type of grit that allows for significant achievement--for our children and ourselves. The essence of the book could be summed up in a few sentences, but I found Duckworth's account of her growing research and her evolving thinking about grit interesting. Throughout Grit, people who love what they do and who have worked tirelessly to get where they are expound upon their passions, and I enjoyed Duckworth's interviews with highfliers and successful individuals across varied disciplines. Some of these interviewees share short mottoes or snippets of "go get 'em" attitudes that feel like bumper-sticker guidance, and others explain in more depth the gritty cultures they encourage on the teams around them or cultivate within themselves. The combination of enthusiasm and determination necessary in each case felt in line with these individuals' and groups' unrelenting work and resulting measures of success. Grit offers universally useful--if not wholly surprising--lessons about locking in and not giving up, but Duckworth carefully emphasizes hard work as more necessary to the pursuit of achievement than talent or desire alone. I was thinking about my kids as I read Grit, and what I found most meaningful as I listened to it was a secondary message: the reinforcement of the belief that exposing kids to many experiences--and encouraging at least temporary commitment to them, if not immersion--can zigzag young people toward potentially unanticipated pursuits that may bring them long-term joy and fulfillment. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Angela Duckworth's father used to tell her "You're no genius." This spurred her to work hard enough to found a nonprofit, teach children math and science, and eventually become a MacArthur Fellow and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. For more nonfiction books, check out the Greedy Reading List Six Compelling Nonfiction Books that Read Like Fiction.

The heart of the mystery the emotionally tortured Frankie uncovers in the wilds of Wyoming in One Step Too Far includes heart-stopping elements I won't soon be able to forget. Lisa Gardner's recent mystery One Step Too Far is the second in her Frankie Elkin series (the first was Before She Disappeared, which I thought was great). Frankie Elkin isn't a cop and she isn't a private investigator. She's an unassuming middle-aged woman and a recovering alcoholic who has a compulsion: to locate missing people the authorities haven't been able to find. She also has ghosts in her past that she's trying to outrun. In One Step Too Far, she turns her attention to a cold case in Wyoming: a man who went missing in a national forest while on a pre-wedding camping trip with his best friends. Frankie joins the group's annual search of a remote area where Tim might have ended up. But members of the group are keeping weighty secrets, and Frankie fears they may not all make it out of the wilderness alive. I like that Frankie is an equal-opportunity problem solver, but I admit that I missed the focus on searching for women and girls that was at the heart of Before She Disappeared. In One Step Too Far, Frankie continues to grapple with the darkness and tragedy of her past but also considers different versions of her life in which she could be committed and vulnerable to important figures from the first book. It seems like she may finally be on path that could end in her allowing herself to love--but it's not clear how winding the path is and how long it may take her to get to the end. She does forge connections with some of those on her ill-fated wilderness search--while trying to figure out who among the searchers in the woods is lying and why. One Step Too Far felt far more eerie than Before She Disappeared, and haunting, creepy elements are uncovered here that I won't soon forget. I received a prepublication digital copy of this recently published book courtesy of NetGalley and Dutton Books. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I love a character-driven mystery but haven't read any of Lisa Gardner's other series. Gardner is also the author of Before She Disappeared, the first in the Frankie Elkin series, as well as multiple other mystery series (Tessa Leoni, Detective D.D. Warren, and Quincy and Rainie).

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Nadia Hashimi's story of a young woman in Afghanistan during the communist coup of 1978, Sparks Like Stars; I'm reading Lisa Gardner's recently published mystery set in the forest, One Step Too Far; and I'm reading Donna Everhart's recent historical fiction novel set during the Depression, The Saints of Swallow Hill. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi Young Sitara is living a comfortable life in Kabul in 1978. Her father has a prominent position in the government, and the family has plenty of love and laughter. But when the military soldiers she's always known turn against those in charge, the men stop protecting her family and help enact a bloody massacre that sweeps up much of the current government administration and their families. Sparks Like Stars follows Sitara through unlikely alliances, a desperate plan to escape her fiery homeland, and a life with twists and turns that ultimately lead her back to the beginning of it all. I'm listening to Sparks Like Stars as an audiobook. 02 One Step Too Far (Frankie Elkin #2) by Lisa Gardner Lisa Gardner's recent mystery One Step Too Far is the second in her Frankie Elkin series (the first was Before She Disappeared, which I thought was great). Frankie Elkin isn't a cop and she isn't a private investigator. She's an unassuming middle-aged woman and a recovering alcoholic who has a compulsion: to locate missing people the authorities haven't been able to find. She also has ghosts in her past that she's trying to outrun. In One Step Too Far, she turns her attention to a cold case in Wyoming: a man went missing in a national forest while on a pre-wedding camping trip with his best friends. Frankie joins the group's annual search of a remote area where Tim might have ended up. But members of the group are keeping enormous secrets, and Frankie fears they may not all make it out of the wilderness alive. I received a prepublication digital copy of this recently published book courtesy of NetGalley and Dutton Books. 03 The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart The Saints of Swallow Hill traces the paths of Rae Lynn and Del, disparate characters in Depression-era Georgia who have two important things in common: each of their searches for food, shelter, and survival is becoming more desperate; and each of them is running from dark secrets that threaten to destroy them. Their hardscrabble stories intersect at a turpentine camp in Georgia. There, workers struggle to flip the pattern of owing more money to the camp than they can earn; try to avoid the unwelcome notice of the cruel boss; and aim to escape before meeting untimely deaths in the dangerous woods. I received a prepublication digital copy of this recently published book courtesy of NetGalley and Kensington Books.

Andy Weir offers the fascinating story of a desperate space mission, creative innovation, and enduring optimism, with an enormous amount of heart that surprised me. It's time to learn Eridianese. Yes, I just made up that word. No, I don't feel bad about it. I'm doing a lot of things for the first time in human history out here and there's a lot of stuff that needs naming. Just be glad I don't name stuff after myself. Ryland Grace wakes up as the sole survivor of a last-chance effort to save Earth and its inhabitants. But he doesn't know that yet. He seems to be in space and isn't sure what has happened, and not only does he not remember his own name or where he's from, he also doesn't remember his scientific expertise or anything else that could help him survive and succeed in his quest. The memories are beginning to slowly shift back into focus, but he needs them now. He's millions of miles from Earth, and he's got two dead crewmates, a chatty AI robot caregiver, a lot of complicated equipment, and a mysterious mission whose purpose and execution he'll have to unravel if he's to possibly survive--much less save humanity. Weir provides Grace with unexpected company, fascinating collaboration, fantastic interpersonal relationships (Rocky!), incredible innovation, and wonderfully big-hearted moments. The present-day story alternates with peeks back in time to life before this space mission, which show Grace as an interestingly faulted but incredibly valuable team member on the project of a lifetime. As in his book The Martian, significant page time in Weir's Project Hail Mary is spent on creative problem-solving, particularly scientific experimentation and high-stakes trial and error, and while it slowed the pace of the story, it felt warranted--and I was hooked by all of it. Weir is also asking most of the big questions here, about faith and belief; selflessness and selfishness; and meaning and worth. Through exploring seemingly impossible routes toward understanding and communication, he presents a story that illustrates universal expressions of emotion, desire for purpose, and love--across life forms. In Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir has created another irresistible story of hope, resilience, wonder, and discovery. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Andy Weir is also the author of The Martian and Artemis. Click here for other science fiction and fantasy books that I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm!

I loved the idea of a relationship story told in reverse, but Out of Love touched on weighty topics that seemed to warrant deeper exploration than was possible within the structure. He stopped loving me a long time ago but wasn't brave enough to tell me. Out of Love is a love story told in reverse. The beginning of Hazel Hayes's Out of Love lays bare the painful end of a couple's relationship, and each subsequent chapter shifts backward in time to an earlier point in the couple’s time together. Hayes unravels the couple's path from final heartbreak, through a few ups and downs in the middle of their relationship, and finally to the start of their thrilling and beautiful beginning--and their first sparks of love. I love this premise, and I was hooked by Hayes's idea. But I'm not sure this story is particularly suited to the structure. Out of Love is not light fiction. Hayes explores meaningful and weighty issues: mental illness, emotional and sexual abuse, controlling manipulation, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, miscarriage, constrained desires and sexual identity, and more. In skipping from scene to scene without significant page time linking the various phases of the relationship, I felt like I was tracing disjointed moments without an exploration of the external or internal reasons for important changes and shifts. Certain nuggets of information were revealed along the way, allowing for some illumination about (sequentially) earlier motivations for actions taken in the later time periods (which I had read on earlier pages). Because of this setup for the structure of the book, I had trouble connecting to the characters and their journeys. Meanwhile, the carelessly cruel, selfish, emotionally distant behavior that occurs at the end of the couple's years together (but was presented on the first pages) lurked like a dark cloud over the entirety of the book. I was sad that I didn't get to enjoy any swooning first-love moments without the crushingly depressing implosion looming over it all. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? If you enjoy reading books that play with time, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Fascinating Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories and the Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes.

Faulkner's debut mystery is twisty and turny, with various potential bad seeds and complications--and it ends in a satisfying whirl of revelation and resolution. Trying to work out where it all began, where it all started going wrong. And I suppose the real answer is it started years before you could have ever imagined it did. Helen lives in her dream home, an old Victorian beauty where she grew up, with her architect husband, who has masterminded plans to change the house and make it even more grand. Her brother and sister-in-law live nearby, and when Helen becomes pregnant with a long-desired baby and her brother's wife announces she's pregnant as well, Helen feels sure that her life couldn't be any more full and happy. But when she meets Rachel, a single mother-to-be in her prenatal class, Helen begins to feel unsettled. The unpredictable Rachel is spontaneous and fun, but her behavior is also sometimes erratic, and she has an edge. Rachel seems to know things about Helen's life and family that she shouldn't. When she alludes to mysterious connections between the women--and a long-ago crime--her persistent presence threatens to unravel the rest of the group's perfect lives forever. Meanwhile the reader begins to suspect that Helen's loyalties and earnest, nervous desire for friendship and connection has been taken advantage of by those she has always trusted. An unreliable narrator setup can be hit or miss for me, but in this case, I felt Faulkner deftly crafted Helen as naive, overwhelmed, lonely, and, at times, medicated. Therefore the omissions and confusion on her part--which allow the tricky situations at the heart of the book to be revealed slowly--aren't too convenient, and they add layers to the mystery of who exactly the nefarious force in the story may be. Something sinister consistently bubbles beneath the too-perfect surface of Helen's life. Faulkner twists and turns through multiple potential suspects and snapshots of behind-the-scenes details, so that almost everyone seems potentially culpable. She keeps the tension rising with the stalkeresque aspect of the story, in which Rachel more and more deeply insinuates herself into Helen and Daniel's life--as well as through the creepy letters interspersed throughout, written by a dark, omniscient player in all of this after everything has come to light. I received a prepublication digital copy of this recently published book courtesy of NetGalley and Gallery Books. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? This is journalist Katherine Faulkner's first novel. She was inspired to write this book when she attended prenatal classes before the birth of her first child and noted the immediate intimacy between the women attending.

Hanan's 1980s Irish coming-of-age story is full of angst, secrets, life-and-death danger, youthful determination--and the feeling that everything is going to work out in the end. You can't keep a secret in this town unless you leave with it. Young Una has only ever loved one man, her best friend Cullen. But now Una has abruptly left town, left her family, left Cullen--she's left behind everything she knows in a desperate attempt to make things right by keeping her mysterious suffering to herself. She questions whether she's doing the right thing, meanwhile various complications--including the discovery of Cullen's new affection for her sister Ellie--keep her out of touch and determined to stand on her own two feet, no matter how difficult it is. But when tragedy looms for Ellie, Una and the boy who broke each other's hearts must try to come back together and save Ellie somehow. Set in 1980s Ireland between Donegal and Dublin, My Heart Went Walking follows the sisters and Cullen as they try to find redemption, to forgive, and to move forward into their futures with hope. I loved the details of daily Irish life and the heartwarming found-family element. Hanan explores the fascinating, infuriating condemnation surrounding--and delicate navigation of the challenges of--teen pregnancy in that time and place. For much of the book I wasn't quite clear on the status of the characters' evolving romantic loyalties and preferences. Did Una and Cullen still love each other, or was their connection naive and without basis beyond friendship? Were their new partners better fits, as they seemed? We didn't get to see Una and Cullen together for much of the book, so it was impossible to evaluate the strength of their romantic connection for ourselves, and this felt unsatisfying. There's a primary setup of "I can't tell you this enormous, life-changing fact, so I'll run away, leaving you wondering" that is essential to the story but can feel frustrating. I questioned how both Cullen and Ellie conveniently didn't ponder the likely scenario or ask more questions as soon as doing so was possible--questions that would have immediately revealed the truth of Una's situation. In the middle of the book especially I found myself wanting more specifics than summary. (I also had a few nitpicky questions, such as: why would Ellie need an explanation of a Claddagh ring? This brief exposition seemed clearly to be present for the reader's illumination.) But I absolutely loved how Una was a strong, determined, gritty young woman in the face of so many enormous challenges. The found-family element of My Heart Went Walking was heartwarming and a favorite aspect of mine. In My Heart Went Walking, Una, Ellie, and Cullen cope with grave situations and life-and-death struggles that threaten to tear them apart. Some of the book's resolutions feel conveniently clean, but the tone of Hanan's book is such that it feels evident that the reader won't be left unsatisfied or facing loose ends at the end, and I ultimately liked having everything wrapped up with a bow at the conclusion of Hanan's story. My Heart Went Walking was published February 5. I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Fire Drinkers Publishing. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? If you love books set in Ireland, you might try Patrick Radden Keefe's powerful nonfiction Say Anything or the captivating novels The Searcher by Tana French and Normal People by Sally Rooney.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Sequoia Nagamatsu's recently published science fiction How High We Go in the Dark; listening to Angela Duckworth's nonfiction book Grit; and reading Katherine Faulkner's new mystery Greenwich Park. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu It's 2030, and an archaeologist in the Arctic Circle discovers a body perfectly preserved in the permafrost. His personal situation is complicated by his grief for his recently deceased daughter, and he aims to continue the research work she began. But the young woman he has found may have died of an ancient virus, and thawing the body for study may unleash the long-eradicated illness all over again. As the virus begins pass like a whirlwind through societies and nations around the globe, Nagamatsu's science fiction work How High We Go in the Dark highlights various interpersonal connections spanning centuries--and extending as far as the stars. 02 Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth In researcher and professor Angela Duckworth's nonfiction work Grit, she explores the combination of passion and commitment that makes up key components of success. Through mining past research and history for wisdom as well as interviewing highly successful individuals in various disciplines, Duckworth explores what leads to tenacity and achievement, asks whether these habits and tendencies can be cultivated, and suggests ways to boost grit. Duckworth highlights psychological research, unique examples of superlative success, and practical methods of achieving the grit that allows for significant achievement, in our children and in ourselves. 03 Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner Helen lives in her dream home, an old Victorian beauty, with her architect husband. When she becomes pregnant with a long-desired baby, she feels her life couldn't be any more full and happy. But when she meets Rachel, a single mother-to-be in her prenatal class, Helen begins to feel unsettled. The unpredictable Rachel is spontaneous and fun, but her behavior is also sometimes erratic, and she has an edge. Rachel seems to know things about Helen's life and family that she shouldn't. When she alludes to mysterious connections between the women--and a long-ago crime--she threatens to unravel Helen's perfect life forever. I received a prepublication digital copy of this recently published book courtesy of NetGalley and Gallery Books.

Bryson's examination of the human body, its processes, its wonders, and its limitations is surprising, illuminating, and wonderful. “We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted.” The Body: A Guide for Occupants is made up of fascinating, funny, odd, and often unexpected information about the complicated corporeal shell we each inhabit. With his signature wit and curiosity, Bryson delves into everything you didn't know that you didn't know about the body (and, I'm glad to say, he narrates the audiobook edition of the book). “The great paradox of the brain is that everything you know about the world is provided to you by an organ that has itself never seen that world. The brain exists in silence and darkness, like a dungeoned prisoner. It has no pain receptors, literally no feelings. It has never felt warm sunshine or a soft breeze. To your brain, the world is just a stream of electrical pulses, like taps of Morse code. And out of this bare and neutral information it creates for you—quite literally creates—a vibrant, three-dimensional, sensually engaging universe. Your brain is you. Everything else is just plumbing and scaffolding.” I'm willing to accompany Bill Bryson anywhere he wants to take me, and an adventure through body systems, grievous injuries, and our various, wondrous healing processes is no exception. Bryson considers the body's systems, outside positive and detrimental influences upon the body, and disease and the process of death. He inspires wonder, shares knowledge, and offers sometimes shocking factoids about our bodies and how they work. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Bryson has also written the smart, wry travel books The Lost Continent, Neither Here nor There, Notes from a Small Island, Notes from a Big Country, and Down Under, as well as two books about the English language, Mother Tongue and Made in America, and A Short History of Nearly Everything and A Really Short History of Nearly Everything. I mentioned The Body: A Guide for Occupants in the list Shhh! Books I'm Giving as Gifts This Holiday.

My very favorite books from January! Aaaaaand here we are in February! It's fair to say that January somehow both lasted ten years and got away from me. My favorite reads of the past month include, in no particular order: The Maid, Nita Prose's recently published mystery with an intriguing main protagonist and lots of sweetness; The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first in Becky Chambers's science fiction series about a big-hearted, ragtag space crew's adventures; Festival Days, Jo Ann Beard's fascinating collection of short stories and essays; Dolly Parton, Songteller, Dolly's behind-the-scenes peeks at her inspirations, influences, approach, pushing the limits, and storytelling through song; The Last Green Valley, historical fiction based on the real story of a family escaping through Eastern Europe at the cruel end of World War II; and Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, Meg Long's debut young adult science fiction about a wolf and a gritty young woman's desperate journey across a frozen planet. I'd love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads? 01 The Maid by Nita Prose Nita Prose offers a surprising amount of heart and a unique main protagonist in this lighthearted murder mystery, her debut novel. In Nita Prose's recent novel The Maid, main protagonist Molly finds a hotel guest dead in his room, and her access to the room, her eccentric manner, and other's manipulations of her innocent vulnerability may mean that she's the prime suspect. Prose has built an interesting premise with Molly as an unreliable main protagonist. I was concerned that Molly's unique set of idiosyncrasies might allow for too-easy deception, and also that seeing others take advantage of Molly's innocence would make for nerve-racking, uncomfortable reading. But Prose allows for some surprises, and Molly seems more than capable of extricating herself from suspicion by using the very same personal qualities that have led others to underestimate her. For my full review, check out The Maid. 02 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers Chambers's science fiction is full of heart, heartbreak, and hope--with a fascinating backdrop of space travel and interspecies relations. In The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first science fiction title in Becky Chambers's Wayfarers series, young Rosemary feels lucky to have landed the job of clerk for the quirky, ragtag, but welcoming crew of the Wayfarer ship. Just as she's adjusting to life on board, the crew gets a lucrative opportunity: to tunnel wormholes through space to a distant planet. But things quickly take a turn as pirates and other dangers threaten the makeshift family on the Wayfarer. They each have reasons to mistrust other creatures, but they have to trust and rely on each other more than ever before in order to survive. Chambers's story is science fiction that's full of heart, heartbreak, and hope. The book feels much more focused on the characters--with a backdrop of space travel and otherworldly creatures--than on exploration or adventure. Much of the story is about acceptance and openness and finding ways to get along. Interspecies relations are prickly, comfortable, romantic, puzzling, or all of the above. I just adored this. Click here for my full review of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. 03 Festival Days by Jo Ann Beard In Jo Ann Beard's lovely collection Festival Days, she writes honestly and beautifully about moments large and small, from the weightiness of saying goodbye to loved ones for the last time to the comically complicated corralling of unruly ducks. In the nine essays and short stories that make up Festival Days, the fantastic Jo Ann Beard explores tiny moments that make up a day and ultimately make up a life, as well as enormously important moments of life-and-death balance that can define everything. Festival Days is not light reading: "Cheri" delves into the last days of a woman who is terminally ill with cancer; "Last Night" relates the final moments of the author's beloved dog's life; and the backbone of the collection is the title piece, "Festival Days," which centers around a trip through India that explores mortality and love. Festival Days is lovely and sometimes surprising; it feels honest as Beard explores bitterness, confusion, petty thoughts, life-and-death issues, trivial concerns, and intense love and loss. It's also often wryly funny. Click here for my full review of Festival Days. 04 Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton Parton shares the background and context for 175 of her songs, frankly discussing her inspiration, life, and the formerly untouchable topics she dove into headfirst through songs. What's better than listening to Dolly talk about her inspirations, her artistic journey, her joys and her silliness, those who have influenced her, and her motivations--along with short musical snippets? Nothing. This is a fast-paced book, as Dolly talks about various thoughts as related to 175 of her songs, while country music author Robert K. Oermann intersperses short intros to add structure and background. (These interjections were necessary but sometimes felt abrupt to me.) The characters in her songs are often driven to the edge of what they can cope with. Sometimes Dolly lets them fall, but other times her songs about freedom (with her metaphors of butterflies and eagles) set those in her songs soaring. Meanwhile, Dolly's offhanded mentions of endless projects, ideas, collaborations, and plans make clear she's one of the hardest working women in show business. For my full review of Dolly Parton, Songteller, please click here. 05 The Last Green Valley by Mark Sullivan Mark Sullivan explores a gripping, detailed, life-and-death period in the life of an ethnically German family at the end of World War II in this historical fiction inspired by a true story. In The Last Green Valley, Mark Sullivan, author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky, tells a tale of a family's incredible bravery and determination in the waning, cruel days of World War II. It's 1944, and Stalin's forces are rolling through the Ukraine, leaving destruction and horrors in their wake. In order to escape and survive, Emil Martel makes a haunting deal in order to keep his beloved wife, sons, and extended family safe under the umbrella of the retreating Nazi's power. Sullivan built this historical fiction around the true story of an ethnically German family running from the Ukraine at the end of World War II, filling in gaps with researched, plausible, but imagined--and captivating--details and events. Mark Sullivan also wrote Beneath a Scarlet Sky, another historical fiction book based upon a real person and his incredible story. For my full review, check out The Last Green Valley. 06 Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long I was hooked by Meg Long's debut young adult science fiction novel about tough young Sena, her skittish fighting wolf Iska, and their desperate journey across the ice. In Meg Long's Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, young Sena has lost both of her mothers to the brutal sled races on her frozen planet. Since then she's had to be scrappy, creative, and above all, tough. When she angers a local warlord and becomes eager to escape her world, she's relieved to secure promises of transport out--but the earnest scientists who would help her have one condition: she must help them take part in the planet's most infamous sled race. In Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, Long offers an intriguing story of brutal conditions, determined survival, hard-earned loyalty, grudging friendship, and a stubborn overcoming of various vivid dangers. I was hooked by Long's world-building, her evocative, immersive descriptions of the cold climate, and by tough, grumpy Sena, who has a big heart and a soft spot for Iska, her personality counterpart in wolf form. For my full review, check out Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves.

Touching, honest, raw, funny, and full of gritty reflections about life and faith, this was a read that I absolutely adored and gave five Bossy stars. It takes great courage to live. Period. There are fears and disappointments and failures every day, and, in the end, the hero dies. It must be cinematic to watch us from above. THIS BOOK! My friend James's Pastor's Book Club pick for this month was No Cure for Being Human, which I found out the same day my library hold of the book became available. It was your basic mind meld. Reading memoirs centered around cancer is not always a go for me, but this book was special. Divinity professor Kate Bowler offers meaningful insight, gritty truth-telling, and wry humor as she shares her experiences surrounding facing stage 4 colon cancer. I finished No Cure for Being Human in one evening, tabbed many, many passages, immediately bought my own copy, re-tabbed everything, and would have been perfectly willing to read the book again in its entirety right away. Bowler tells the truth, whether about small gems of wisdom she gains through her grueling experiences, her emotional and physical pain, or the many absurdities that make her laugh. She lays bare the reality of her life in limbo and her life in treatment, from moments in which she reckons with her mortality to the terror of facing possibly leaving crucial things undone before her death to others' incredible (and sometimes humorous) focus on showing her love through cooking and cleaning during her health crisis. "Is this what a siege is like?" Bowler wonders to her father at one point, noting that "There is everything to do, and nothing to be done," and that "I drift in and out of sleep only to discover that another room has been cleaned and stocked and a flurry of meals prepared and distributed with military purpose." So many moments struck me, surprised me, or touched me as I read this lovely work, including Bowler's exploration of how our lives are largely shaped by choices out of our control and her reckoning with the way in which she considers her body after cancer treatment ("Who would fault a body that has survived so much and asked for so little?"). No Cure for Being Human is beautiful, funny, heartwarming, practical, and Kate Bowler is so wise and wonderful, I hugged this book to my chest when I finished reading it. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I mentioned Kate's book Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I've Loved) in the Greedy Reading List Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality. For more books I thought warranted five big stars, check out the Greedy Reading List Six Five-Star Bossy Reads to Check Out.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Sally Hanan's My Heart Went Walking, upcoming fiction with plenty of family drama set in 1980s Ireland; the science fiction story Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir, the author of The Martian; and a young adult fantasy, The Last Legacy, which is the third in the Fable trilogy by author Adrienne Young. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 My Heart Went Walking: An Irish Tale of Love, Loss, and Redemption by Sally Hanan Young Una has only ever loved one man, her best friend Cullen, but various complications--compounded by Cullen's affection for her sister Ellie--have driven the two apart and split Una's family as well. Now Una and the man who broke her heart must try to save Ellie from tragedy somehow. Una, Ellie, and Cullen cope with grave situations and life-and-death struggles that threaten to tear them apart, while also offering lots of heart. Set in 1980s Ireland, between Donegal and Dublin, My Heart Went Walking follows the sisters and Cullen as they each try to find redemption, forgive, and move forward into their futures with hope. Hanan's story is set for publication on February 5. I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Fire Drinkers Publishing. 02 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Ryland Grace wakes up as the sole survivor of a last-chance effort to save Earth and its inhabitants. But he doesn't know that yet. He isn't sure what's happened, and not only does he not remember his scientific expertise, he doesn't even remember his own name, where he's from, or anything that could help him survive and succeed in his quest. He's millions of miles from Earth, and he's got two dead crewmates, a chatty AI robot caregiver, a lot of complicated equipment, and a mysterious mission he'll have to unravel if he's to possibly survive--much less save humanity. In Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, author of The Martian, has created another story of hope, resilience, wonder, and discovery. 03 The Last Legacy (Fable #3) by Adrienne Young A letter from her uncle Henrik on her eighteenth birthday calls orphan Bryn back to the island of Bastion. It might be an understatement to say that she has mixed emotions about returning, but Henrik has plans for her that he's been building for ages. Situations on Bastion are complicated by longstanding rivalries, the suspicious circumstances surrounding Bryn's parents' long-ago deaths, and an extended family with mysterious loyalties and plans of their own. This is the third book in Adrienne Young's Fable series. Click here for my review of Fable, and click here for my review of book two in the series, Namesake.

Bossy Short Story Love Some of my fellow readers have told me in the past that they don't gravitate toward short stories, whether because they want to dig in more deeply over the course of a longer story and book, because they feel like situations in short stories sometimes feel unresolved, or for another reason. Sometimes short stories tend toward exploring tragedy, as in many of the luminous collections here and their gorgeous heartbreaks. But sometimes nothing does the reading trick like shorter works--especially when time is tight or when I might have trouble concentrating (for example, during a worldwide pandemic)--and I especially love an interconnected set of stories that when taken collectively offer the richness of a longer, in-depth story. Have you read any of these collections? Do you have any favorite short story collections I should read? My own to-read list of short stories includes Maggie Shipstead's upcoming short story collection You Have a Friend in 10A, BJ Novak's One More Thing, Leah Hampton's F*ckface, Kevin Wilson's Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, and Ron Rash's Something Rich and Strange. 01 Thunderstruck & Other Stories by Elizabeth McCracken “Whatever you have lost there are more of, just not yours.” McCracken is a fantastic writer who highlights odd, strangely beautiful elements in small moments. Each of the nine stories in this collection builds from a loss of some kind. In what feels like careful, deliberate shaping by McCracken and her editor, the early stories felt more bleak to me and the later ones offered a little more hope, or at least acceptance. “This was her flaw as a parent, she thought later: she had never truly gotten rid of a single maternal worry. They were all in the closet, with the minuscule footed pajamas and hand-knit baby hats, and every day Laura took them out, unfolded them, tried to put them to use.” McCracken is also the author of The Giant's House, Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry, The Souvenir Museum, Bowlaway, and the beautiful, heart-wrenching An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination. 02 The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans She thought the insistence on victims without wrongdoers was at the base of the whole American problem, the lie that supported all the others. In The Office of Historical Corrections, Evans offers short stories centering around themes of race, relationships, identity, the fallibility of those who shape historical "fact," as well as grief and loss. She beautifully and powerfully illustrates essential, deep truths by tracing moments in her characters' everyday lives. The themes here are often haunting, always powerful, and wonderfully nuanced, even when the scenes (the artist's exhibition, the actual on-the-spot printed and posted corrections of "fact," and others) take metaphors to their limits. Click here for my full review of The Office of Historical Corrections. 03 Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy “His heart felt dangerously full, for the first time in years. That dried-up battered organ, suddenly flush with love. It could kill him.” In Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It, Maile Meloy keeps you on your toes as you consider what may lay in wait within the relationships she lays out, and you may not be able to anticipate who's going to have a life-changing revelation (or not), who is just who they say they are, and who isn't at all what they seem. A couple of these stories left me wishing for more, but Meloy doesn't leave you hanging, instead drawing you in with the depths of each work. Meloy is also the author of Liars and Saints and A Family Daughter as well as the story collection Half in Love. She also wrote the Apothecary trilogy for young readers. 04 Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron Rash In Nothing Gold Can Stay, a collection by Ron Rash, the stories take place in different eras, but all are set in North Carolina. The state is as prominent as a character as Rash explores trapped despair, haunting choices, and the beauty of even bleak moments. Rash's writing here is, as always, exquisite, and within these 14 stories, he turns his attention to characters who yearn, regret, and desperately attempt to hide their fragility behind steely exteriors. North Carolina's Rash (he teaches at Western Carolina University) is also the author of other Appalachia-set books: Serena, The World Made Straight, Burning Bright, Above the Waterfall, The Risen, The Cove, and One Foot in Eden, among others. 05 Redeployment by Phil Klay “There are two ways to tell the story. Funny or sad. Guys like it funny, with lots of gore and a grin on your face when you get to the end. Girls like it sad, with a thousand-yard stare out to the distance as you gaze upon the horrors of war they can’t quite see. Either way, it’s the same story.” In Iraq Marine veteran and Dartmouth grad Phil Klay's National Book Award winner Redeployment, the author shares short stories about war and life afterward that read like autobiographical vignettes. This is, as you might expect, difficult subject matter--exploring powerful emotions, troops haunted by decisions and unforeseen dangers, painful adjustments to life after war, and injury and loss. But Klay draws you into his characters' situations too fully for you to want to turn away. 06 Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout As soon as I finished reading this short story collection from Elizabeth Strout (author of, among others, Olive Kitteridge, the wonderful Olive, Again, My Name Is Lucy Barton, and Oh William!), I wished I’d slowed down and taken notes or could start all over and read it again immediately. I love how Strout interlinks characters, backgrounds, and stories so gracefully, yet also allows them to stand on their own. The stories feel immediate and real. Strout shines a light on turning points: small but powerful shifts of power or emotion, masterfully illustrating how a moment sends ripples through the day or the broader life of those involved in it—it’s fascinating. For my full review, please see Anything Is Possible.

Mark Sullivan explores a gripping, detailed, life-and-death period in the life of an ethnically German family at the end of World War II in this historical fiction inspired by a true story. "What you seek is what you will find, but only if you hunt it with all your heart and mind." "Not always," Emil said. "Always," Corporal Gheorghe insisted. In The Last Green Valley, Mark Sullivan, author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky, tells a tale of a family's incredible bravery and determination in the waning, cruel days of World War II. It's 1944, and Stalin's forces are rolling through the Ukraine, leaving destruction and horrors in their wake. In order to escape and survive, Emil Martel makes a haunting deal in order to keep his beloved wife, sons, and extended family safe under the umbrella of the retreating Nazi's power. "If you must look back, try to find the beauty and the benefit in every cruelty done to you. If you must think about the future, try to have no expectations about it." The Martels run west with the Nazi wolves--finding themselves caught between two ruthless, warring armies--in a desperate journey toward freedom. They suffer, they fear, they grieve, but they endure--and while this story doesn't feel too easy, it's gratifying when the Martels manage to find tiny moments of joy and sparks of hope they can nurture and try to keep alive as they struggle to stay alive themselves. The Last Green Valley is an exploration of loss, heartbreak, resilience, and particularly of faith. Emil cements his atheist views in the face of unimaginable evils. Early in the book, he snaps, "There is no God, no Almighty One, no Divine, no Universal Intelligence, no moon and stars moving because of dreams. Just your own hard work and what you build for yourself and what you can hide from. That's it!" Meanwhile his wife Adeline, witnessing the destruction of houses of worship under Stalin, wonders, What possesses men to do such evil? Are they even human? Can't they see that when you kill someone or destroy a holy place, the faith always goes on? Don't they see that in broken hearts and ruins, something always glows? When Emil suffers beyond what he could have imagined, he undergoes a gradual, grudging transformation in which he finds faith in unexpected places. Sullivan doesn't flinch from the difficulties this family undergoes, but I had faith that he would give me roughly the ending I was desperately hoping for. (In fact, there was more wrap-up than I personally needed at the end, but I was game for it.) Some of my absolute favorite aspects of the book were the various characters the Martels encounter, characters who dramatically affect their lives and their mindsets, for better or worse. Sullivan built this historical fiction around the true story of an ethnically German family running from the Ukraine at the end of World War II, filling in gaps with researched, plausible, but imagined--and captivating--details and events. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Mark Sullivan also wrote Beneath a Scarlet Sky, another historical fiction book based upon a real person and his incredible story. Interestingly, Sullivan has also authored eight thrillers.

In Admissions, Kendra James explores race, friendship, ambition, and the absurdities and rhythm of daily life during her time at a New England boarding school. Kendra James was the first Black legacy to graduate from The Taft School, an elite boarding school in Connecticut. When she later works as an admissions officer specializing in diversity recruitment for independent prep schools, she finds herself examining her high school educational experience with a more critical eye, forcing herself to delve more deeply into aspects of her years at Taft that she largely glossed over at the time--and ultimately debating whether or not she should be advising families to pursue the same precarious path she herself followed. Digging into the past often seems a difficult undertaking, and as she looks back, Kendra James explains that her main goals when she attended Taft were not bringing to light racial injustice and leading a charge toward change, but typically teenage: to escape into role-playing video games and write fan fiction, to bond with a few classmates through watching favorite movies, and, primarily, to secure a spot in a college of her choice, then to (as is the goal for many high schoolers, for various reasons) get out of high school and get on with the rest of her life. James notes repeatedly that she felt largely unseen and unknown during her boarding school years. When she attends various Taft alumni events in the years following her graduation, they cement this same feeling. Her appearance in a Taft publication that lists her incorrect graduation year (and reunion year) grates on her as more evidence of this. The majority of page time is focused on aspects of James's boarding-school life, including its rhythms and peculiarities. James received financial aid to attend Taft, then $35,000 a year, and she then attended Oberlin for college, which, by her and her parents' design, was an admissions door likely opened more widely because of her Taft pedigree. But the book is not in large part about financial or class privilege. At times James laments the absence of frank discussions about race that she might have had with her parents, and she criticizes the lack of information she received from them on the topic. She wishes she could have learned more from them before entering Taft about the many ways she might have expected race to affect her life--especially considering the vastly white, elite circles her parents had either dipped their toes into or immersed themselves in: for example, Taft, Smith, Brown, and her father's banking job. The author notes that when she was a high schooler, in that place and time in our society, she didn't have an understanding of the power of daily microaggressions nor of blatant racism--nor did she have the language and perspective she now has to talk about such things--in order to sift through the many disturbing race-based incidents in her young life. James's evaluation of events of these years--including the racism she experienced at school; diverse, acute instances of disturbing behavior, whether race-based and class- and gender-based; and the social segregation of social groups by race--feels hesitantly explored at times as she attempts to dig into her raw teenage feelings while acknowledging her youthful lack of understanding and her early, unformed grasp of the myriad social, racial, and class issues shaping her experience. Regarding a situation in which the strict rule-follower James was accused of wrongdoing while at Taft, the author acknowledges that for years she largely glossed over not only the event, but the racial issues bubbling beneath the incident and her resulting emotional trauma, pushing all of this down until her reckoning with it in young adulthood. Late in the book, James shares select portions of a disturbing article a white student wrote for the school paper while James also attended Taft, in which the article's author largely blames the school's racial divides on the students of color themselves and mentions her discomfort about the existence of programs and events that put people of color at their center. James expresses anger and frustration at Taft's ineffective response--and at the many missed opportunities she sees before and after that event for the school to have shaped an effective approach to true inclusion. In Admissions, James offer a book that is partly a social critique, partly a recounting of the absurdities she experienced, and partly simply her unique story of living away from home and often feeling lonely and alone in her experience. I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Kendra James was a founding editor at Shondaland, where she worked for two years. She has written articles for various publications and is the author of a romance novel, When Hearts Collide.

I was hooked by Meg Long's debut young adult science fiction novel about tough young Sena, her skittish fighting wolf Iska, and their desperate journey across the ice. In Meg Long's debut, the young adult science fiction novel Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, young Sena has lost both of her mothers to the brutal sled races on her frozen planet. Since then she's had to be scrappy, creative, and above all, tough. That means making tenuous alliances, honing her pickpocketing skills, and maintaining a cursory relationship with her aunt in order to get by. When she angers a local warlord and becomes eager to escape her world, she's relieved to secure promises of transport out--but the earnest scientists who would help her have one condition: she must help them take part in the planet's most infamous sled race (so they can conduct their research on the properties of the resources being plundered by greedy corporations--"corpos"). When Sena finds herself desperately on the run from certain death, she and her injured young fighting wolf, Iska, leap at the slim chance of surviving that icy journey in hopes of leaving this greedy, corpo-driven, ecologically damaged planet for good. But first she'll have to trust others for the first time and leave herself vulnerable to them--and she'll need to look out for her oddball team instead of only thinking of herself for once. In Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, Long offers an intriguing story of brutal conditions, determined survival, hard-earned loyalty, grudging friendship, and a stubborn overcoming of various vivid dangers. I was hooked by Long's world-building, her evocative, immersive descriptions of the cold climate, and by tough, grumpy Sena, who has a big heart and a soft spot for Iska, her personality counterpart in wolf form. I received a prepublication electronic copy of this book courtesy of Wednesday Books and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? This is Meg Long's first book. If you like books with cold settings, you might like the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings to Read by the Fire or the nonfiction book Wintering by Katherine May.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Last Green Valley, World War II-set historical fiction by Mark Sullivan (author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky); I'm listening to wonderful, smart, entertaining Bill Bryson's nonfiction winner The Body: A Guide for Occupants; and I'm reading Kate Bowler's absolute gem No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear). What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 The Last Green Valley by Mark Sullivan Mark Sullivan, author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky, here tells a tale of a family's incredible bravery and determination in the waning, cruel days of World War II. It's 1944, and Stalin's forces are rolling through the Ukraine, leaving destruction and horrors in their wake. Emil Martel makes a haunting deal in order to keep his beloved wife, sons, and extended family safe under the umbrella of the retreating Nazi's power. The Martels run west with the Nazi wolves, finding themselves caught between the two ruthless, warring armies in their desperate journey toward freedom. Sullivan built this historical fiction around the true story of an ethnically German family running from the Ukraine at the end of World War II, filling in gaps by using his own imagination. 02 The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson “We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted.” The Body: A Guide for Occupants is made up of fascinating, funny, odd, and often unexpected information about the complicated corporeal shell we each inhabit. With his signature wit and curiosity, Bryson delves into everything you didn't know that you didn't know about the body (and, I'm glad to say, he narrates the audiobook edition of the book). I'm willing to accompany Bill Bryson anywhere he wants to take me, and an adventure through body systems, grievous injury, and wondrous healing is no exception. I mentioned The Body in the list Shhh! Books I'm Giving as Gifts This Holiday. 03 No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) by Kate Bowler Reading memoirs centered around cancer is not always a go for me, but a Kate Bowler book is. My friend James's Pastor's Book of the Month Club pick for this month turned out to be No Cure for Being Human, which I found out the same day my library hold of the book became available. This isn't actually a book I'm reading--I finished the whole book in one evening, tabbed many, many passages, immediately bought my own copy, re-tabbed everything, and was immediately perfectly willing to read the book in its entirety again. This is beautiful, funny, heartwarming, practical, and so wise and wonderful. Spoiler alert: it's going to get five stars from me. Annnnnd I'm going to get to hear Kate speak this week to my book group! I mentioned Kate's book Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I've Loved) in the Greedy Reading List Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality.

Five-Star Bossy Love! Someone recently commented that I "never" give five-star reviews. And it's true that I don't throw five star ratings around lightly. Five stars for me means it makes me feel all the feelings, it makes me consider things in a new way, it gives me more than I would have expected, or all of the above. I don't want to call this lovely reader and friend a big fat liar, so instead I'll offer this Greedy Reading List of SIX five-star Bossy reads for your perusal. For the sake of variety, I've included a book each from these genres: faith-focused science fiction, young adult LGBTQ+ fiction, memoir, contemporary fiction, historical fiction, and nonfiction. If you haven't read these, I hope you'll give them a try! And if you've read them, please let me know what you think. 01 The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell This book! This book is about everything. Family, pain, love, music, influence, trust, wonder, brutality, invention, discovery, loyalty, and most of all, faith—in some cases, lost and found again. And also...aliens. In The Sparrow, humans find proof of extraterrestrial life, and the UN begins deliberating about those on Earth should proceed. Meanwhile, a small team from the Society of Jesus quickly strikes out on its own to approach the planet first. The life they find there is wondrous and overwhelming, and it forces them to rethink their assumptions about humanity and the universe. I don’t usually read books again, but I could use a copy of my own to highlight upon rereading. The Sparrow took a little time to get going for me, but then I was blown away. For my full review of this book, please see The Sparrow. 02 Autoboyography by Christina Lauren I adored this young adult LGBTQ+ love story by Christina Lauren (the pen name for the writing team Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings). The characters in Autoboyography are thoughtful and young and funny and defiant but good, and they make mistakes and pay for them and live within their awful messed-up moments and their painful consequences, and they try to figure out their lives as teenagers must. They feel first love and angst so deeply and talk about it so so SO much, and somehow it wasn’t insufferable to read about at all, it was just perfect and made me laugh (and at one point cry, ahem). The Autoboyography dialogue is fantastic and witty but feels effortless and like it comes from actual teenagers--a difficult tone to pin down. This is fantastic contemporary young adult fiction. Click here for my full review of Autoboyography. 03 When We Were the Kennedys by Monica Wood In 1963 the Woods were a typical Catholic immigrant family in Mexico, Maine. But when Monica's father dies suddenly, Monica and her three sisters begin to drift, and the family seems in danger of feeling unmoored forever. When We Were the Kennedys is a memoir about grieving deeply, leaning on family and community in a crisis and in common suffering, and figuring out the impossible: how to move on after devastating tragedy. Wood gorgeously evokes the many characters and unfathomable events that changed her family's existence--as well as that of her community and the entire country--in 1963. I loved this fantastic memoir! Wood's memoir is heartwarming and funny and tragic and vivid. I ate it up in a single day. For my full review, please see When We Were the Kennedys. 04 Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano Twelve-year-old Edward Adler is the sole survivor of a plane crash. He struggles to move forward, but he feels stuck, as though part of him will always be lost. Edward tries on the mantle of taking responsibility for every life lost; he wallows in the despair of others and their hopes that he will pursue their loved ones’ lost dreams and right their wrongs; then he messily works out how to create his own lucky, unshackled, truest life. Dear Edward was so much more than I expected, but thankfully Napolitano didn’t rely solely on her book’s promising premise. She wrote the hell out of this and created an irresistible and true-feeling character in Edward. Nothing is too easy here, nor is it ever melodramatic in Napolitano’s hands. I loved this book. I kept thinking about it while I was doing other things, and I just wanted to get back to Edward to find out how things were going. I read this book with my longtime book club. For my full review, please see Dear Edward. 05 The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati In The Gilded Hour, Donati shapes a historical fiction story about an eccentric family and a broad surrounding cast of characters--and it's all centered around independent women with unconventional women's roles in society in nineteenth century New York City. The Gilded Hour explores how these women's abilities and constraints intersect with women's rights of the time period, social responsibility, and conventions, all in an immensely readable book rich in period detail, great dialogue, and satisfying elements of love, mystery, and searches for justice. I felt that a couple of important underlying plot lines remained oddly unresolved at the end--even keeping in mind that there's a second book in Donati's Waverly Place series, Where the Light Enters. However, I just loved this story and Donati's storytelling too much to let it cloud my gleeful reading experience. I loved digging into this 750-page historical fiction wonder. For my full review, please see The Gilded Hour. 06 Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb I was going to be happy with a light, surface-level peek at therapy and at the ins and outs of a therapist's providing and receiving therapy. But Maybe You Should Talk to Someone quickly grows into a network of sometimes interconnected and consistently meaningful searches for purpose and peace that surprised me. Gottlieb says therapy is about asking, "Who am I? What do I want? What's in my way?" She also says "Everyone needs to hear that other person's voice saying, 'I believe in you. I can see possibilities that you might not see quite yet. I imagine that something different can happen, in some form or another. ' In therapy we say, 'Let's edit your story.'" I loved that, and this "editing of the story" is apparent in Gottlieb's own therapy experience and in her experiences with her patients. There's beautiful exploration in Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed of dying, death, appreciating the beauty of the impermanence of our lives, planning for loved ones after our death, and living life fully. For my full review, please see Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.

The first in Alex White's Salvagers space opera series offers diverse characters, strong women, a heist setup, and, ultimately, a ragtag group of underdogs saving the day. In Alex White's science fiction novel A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe, the first in White's Salvagers series, a group of outcasts bands together to locate a legendary ship before it falls into the hands of the wrong people, people who would use it as a weapon. The Harrow, the greatest warship ever built, has been lost for so long, some say it's merely a legend. But a hotshot racer who's on the run, a has-been treasure hunter looking for redemption, and the rest of the ragtag crew of the Capricious know that the ship is real--and that whoever controls the ship will control the fate of the universe. A Big Ship is a space heist book with lots of action, strong women characters driving the plot, and a great underdogs-unite premise. I wasn't completely clear on the intersections of magic (glyphs, spells) and futuristic technology (AI, spaceships, futuristic weaponry), but White includes extensive details about the workings and processes. The explanation of the big reveal regarding the who-what-where-why of the evil masterminds felt so involved that it drew me out of the story somewhat. I was in this for the characters, among them Cordell, the tough captain with a heart of gold; Boots, a jaded former fighter pilot turned reality star who hopes for a miracle; and Nilah, a privileged and daring racer who falls for the grumpiest crew member of all. Each character in A Big Ship is reeling from planet-level destruction and heartbreak, and it's satisfying to follow them as they seek redemption, take comfort in and build loyalty to one another, and identify and aim to outsmart their enemies to try to save the world with scrappiness and luck. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I'm in love with the title of the second book in this series, A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy. The third book is titled The Worst of All Possible Worlds. White is also the author of Alien: The Cold Forge and Every Mountain Made Low.

Parton shares the background and context for 175 of her songs, frankly discussing her inspiration, life, and the formerly untouchable topics she dove into headfirst through songs. What's better than listening to Dolly talk about her inspirations, her artistic journey, her joys and her silliness, those who have influenced her, and her motivations--along with short musical snippets? Nothing. This is a fast-paced book, as Dolly talks about various thoughts as related to 175 of her songs, while country music author Robert K. Oermann intersperses short intros to add structure and background. The interjections from Oermann are necessary, but they sometimes feel abrupt, and while Dolly's stories are as intriguing and delightful as I'd hoped, she seems to feel the need to provide summations, which begin to feel repetitive. But none of that really mattered to me. I adored listening to Dolly laugh and ponder and reminisce and reflect. Through decades of straight-talking song lyrics, she has instinctively and repeatedly offered sympathetic points of view of the persecuted, disrespected, and dismissed: prostitutes, the poor, unwed teenage mothers, and more. The characters in her songs are often driven to the edge of what they can cope with. Sometimes Dolly lets them fall, but other times her songs about freedom (with her metaphors of butterflies and eagles) set those in her songs soaring. Meanwhile, Dolly's offhanded mentions of endless projects, ideas, collaborations, and plans make clear she's one of the hardest working women in show business. I mentioned Dolly Parton, Songteller in the Greedy Reading List of book ideas Shhh! More Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Another Dolly-focused book I'd like to read is She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs by Sarah Smarsh. The author examines the social progressiveness that progressive female singers like Dolly have championed through song.

Clever young Ruth survives the oppression and turmoil in colonial New England by using her wits. With rich detail about daily life and brutal ocean voyages. In Out Front the Following Sea, new historical fiction by Leah Angstman, it's 1689 and King William's War is in full force between the French and English settlers in Ruth Miner's New England town. Ruth is an independent thinker, which is a dangerous thing in this time and place. When Ruth is accused of witchcraft and of killing her parents, she flees the rigid rules of the stifling town she's always known. She stows away on a ship where her longtime, trusted friend Owen has secured a job. But tensions on board the ship soon come to a head, and Ruth has to weigh her loyalty to Owen and her own safety--while he must do the same. Angstman offers rich, sometimes excruciating detail of the difficulties of sea life, of being a largely powerless female during the era, and of battle and injury. I found all of this extensive description fascinating, even as it slowed the pacing of the story and felt as though it somewhat ballooned the story's length. The frequent shifts in point of view stopped me from feeling linked to the characters as fully as I might have. "When the colors are gone, ye're left with some muddied water, and naught else. Then ye spend the rest of your life wishing for more paints, settling for muddied water." The limitations and cruelties Ruth experiences because she is a woman feel realistically (and maddeningly) frustrating. Understandably, she repeatedly hitches herself to a male ally--or at least a man who can provide service or stability. Complications abound. Friendships with the Pequot felt too convenient at first, then intriguingly complicated and fraught with challenges. There's a forbidden love, but oh, the lengths the couple must go to in order to try to be together. I received an advance digital edition of this book, published last week, courtesy of NetGalley and Regal House Publishing. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Leah Angstman is a historian who meticulously researched the time period of this book. She offers not only book club questions and discussion ideas, but colonial recipes, crafts, book club decor ideas, and more at this link.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading a brand-new (to be published tomorrow!) memoir, Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School by Kendra James; the love-story-in-reverse Out of Love, the debut novel by Hazel Hayes; and I'm listening to the glorious author herself read her book Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. What are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School by Kendra James Kendra James was the first African-American legacy to graduate from The Taft School, an elite prep school in Connecticut. When she begins a job as an admissions officer specializing in diversity recruitment for independent prep schools, she finds herself debating whether or not she should advise families to pursue the same precarious path she herself followed through what she felt was a cutthroat, inequitable system. In Admissions, James offers a memoir that is partly a social critique, partly a recounting of absurdities she experienced, and partly simply her unique story of living away from home and feeling like The Only One. 02 Out of Love by Hazel Hayes Out of Love is a love story told in reverse. The beginning of Hazel Hayes's Out of Love lays bare the end of a couple's relationship, then each chapter tracks farther backward through time. In this way, Hayes unravels the couple's path from final heartbreak through their ups and downs and ultimately to the start of what was once thrilling and beautiful beginning and the first sparks of love. If you enjoy reading books that play with time, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Fascinating Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories and Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes. 03 Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton What's better than listening to Dolly talk about her inspirations, her artistic journey, her joys and her silliness, those who have influenced her, and her motivations--along with short musical snippets? Nothing. This is a fast-paced book, as Dolly talks about various thoughts as related to 175 of her songs, while country music author Robert K. Oermann intersperses short intros to add structure and background. I mentioned Dolly Parton, Songteller in the Greedy Reading List of book ideas Shhh! More Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays.

Finding Your Next Great Read Although my to-read list is interminably long, having an endless TBR list brings me cozy, safe feelings, so I greedily, greedily, and continually search for books to add to it and to jump the line to must-read-now status. During the early months of the pandemic, I was in the mood for a solid dystopian, postapocalyptic read--although in hindsight that was an interesting impulse for mentally escaping that particular situation. Anyway, I wanted new, fresh ideas for titles in that vein that I might like. And I wanted a trusted recommendation. Then someone, somewhere online (who and where were you, wonderful stranger?) mentioned library programs in which librarians tailor book recommendations to patrons, and I was hooked on the idea. It was going to be magical! Books chosen just for me me me! Programs like our local Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's Find Your Next Read involve answering a few questions about your tolerance for violence, rough language, and adult content; desired time period for your book (I thought that was an interesting one); a few titles or authors you've read and liked; a few titles or authors you've read and disliked; preferred setting (domestic or foreign); and a few other matters. (The system is similar to that used by Anne Bogel on her popular What Should I Read Next? podcast, which I love.) After a few days you receive multiple personalized reading recommendations in an email. Voila! I found this whole process incredibly satisfying. In fact, now that I've gushed over it, I'm planning to submit another request soon. What shall it be? Books with curmudgeonly, unlikely heroes? Mystery series with strong female protagonists? Do librarians find such specific requests charming or just irritating? I have a guess! If you're a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library member--or if your local library system offers a similar feature of personalized recommendations--I hope you'll give it a try! Through Find Your Next Read, a librarian recommended The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers, which I recently read and reviewed (it was a winner for me). Three other titles suggested to me as promising adult and young adult science fiction, fantasy, and dystopian reads were some I had already read and enjoyed, so the recommendations were spot-on: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey (which I mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels), and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. The final two recommendations I haven't yet read but plan to: The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency #1) by John Scalzi and Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (which somehow I still haven't read). Have you taken part in a program like this? What did you think? And have you read any of my Personalized Recommendations from Librarians, hmmm?

In Jo Ann Beard's lovely essays and short stories, she writes honestly and beautifully about moments large and small, from the weightiness of saying goodbye to loved ones for the last time to the comically complicated corralling of unruly ducks. In the nine essays and short stories that make up Festival Days, the fantastic Jo Ann Beard explores tiny moments that make up a day and ultimately make up a life, as well as enormously important moments of life-and-death balance that can define everything. Each of these is an essay except for two stories, "The Tomb of Wrestling" and "What You Seek Is Seeking You," although Beard says the stories hold truths as well. Festival Days is not light reading: "Cheri" delves into the last days of a woman who is terminally ill with cancer; "Last Night" relates the final moments of the author's beloved dog's life; and the backbone of the collection is the title piece, "Festival Days," which centers around a trip through India that explores mortality and love. But Beard's writing feels like long-form poetry in a way--evocative and anchored in wonderfully wrought detail--and despite the sometimes difficult subject matter, she injects humor and beauty into the disparate scenes and situations she relates. “I’d always known I’d have to live without her someday; I just hadn’t known it would be tomorrow.” Festival Days is lovely and sometimes surprising; it feels honest as Beard explores bitterness, confusion, petty thoughts, life-and-death issues, trivial concerns, and intense love and loss. It's also often wryly funny. The last, longest, and titular essay, "Festival Days," is far longer than the others. It meanders as Beard is unmoored after heartbreak and betrayal, and her dear friend is dying. She reflects on various travels and other measures meant to distract and inspire or comfort—and the disrupted rhythm and skipping around seems to reflect her many fears and concerns. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Beard is also the author of In Zanesville as well as a collection of autobiographical essays, The Boys of My Youth. Her partner is Scott Spencer, the author of Endless Love and many other novels.