first in Philippa Gregory's Plantaganet and Tudor series, Royal Witch; I'm listening to Beth Lewis's Gold Rush-era mystery, The Rush; and I'm reading Ben Lerner's short novel Transcription. Gregory is the author of forty novels, including more than thirty historical fiction works. 02 The Rush by Beth Lewis It's 1898 and in Canada, the frenzy of the Gold Rush has taken hold of the frigid Yukon You might also like these other Bossy reads about the Gold Rush. 03 Transcription by Ben Lerner The narrator

I loved this. 06 Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson Gold is in my blood, in my breath, even in the Her gold sense has kept her family fed and sheltered, but it's dangerous too. When Lee's power is discovered, she has to run, and she runs toward the gold. rush. This is the first book in Rae Carson's young adult Gold Seer trilogy set in Gold Rush-era America; the

I listened to How Much of These Hills Is Gold as an audiobook. I love a Gold Rush story, a young adult story, a story about brave young women meeting challenges. In How Much of These Hills Is Gold, Lucy and Sam are orphaned siblings who must become tough as nails

In Darling Rose Gold, she gives us Münchausen syndrome by proxy, lies, betrayals, and double-crossing

Ron Rash's newest Appalachian-set novel explores a small town shaken by upended expectations, the Korean In Ron Rash's newest novel, The Caretaker, Blackburn Gant is the sole caretaker of a hilltop cemetery I loved the glimpses of rural life and of the specific place and time that Rash crafts so well. I included the wonderful Ron Rash short story collection Nothing Gold Can Stay in my Greedy Reading List North Carolina's Rash (he teaches at Western Carolina University) is also the author of other books set

Novel is the first novel by food writer, memoir author, food critic, and James Beard award-winner Ruth This is Ruth Reichl's first novel.

I loved this. 06 Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson Gold is in my blood, in my breath, even in the Her gold sense has kept her family fed and sheltered, but it's dangerous too. When Lee's power is discovered, she has to run, and she runs toward the gold. rush. This is the first book in Rae Carson's young adult Gold Seer trilogy set in Gold Rush-era America; the

Gould's memoir of her life as a paramedic is frank, captivating, often revolting, and disarmingly honest Sally Gould's memoir is named after a darkly humorous term of affection for paramedics in Australia ( Gould grew up in Australia the daughter of a paramedic, and she follows in her father's footsteps, training In her memoir, Gould explores her early days of uncertainty, moments of panic, scenes of complete disgust More Books You Might Like This is Sally Gould's first book.

Here's the premise of Hannah Orenstein's latest book: nineteen-year-old Avery Abrams was set to be the When she hits a version of rock bottom and moves home, Avery's former teammate and crush Ryan (who did fiction/fantasy To Sleep in a Sea of Stars and a young adult historical fiction story set during the Gold Rush, How Much of These Hills Is Gold) in the Greedy Reading List Three Books I'm Reading Now, 11/3/

Much of the story is told from Andy's point of view, and his capability for emotional growth is...limited I listened to Good Material as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book?

ICYMI: North Carolina author Rash offers a fascinating, Appalachian-set mystery told from various points 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 I found it a fascinating, quick, rich read, and I loved Ron Rash's writing and this story. Serena, The World Made Straight, Burning Bright, Above the Waterfall, The Risen, The Cove, and Nothing Gold

I love love love a summer-camp story, and I loved The God of the Woods . continually revealed, and while I usually feel more invested in one timeline over another, with The God pieces make sense, but after the slow build of the majority of the book, this pacing felt a little rushed

. 02 Head Over Heels Just listen to this premise from Hannah Orenstein's latest book: nineteen-year-old When she hits a version of rock bottom and moves home, Avery's former teammate and crush Ryan (who did (I finished this one; click here for my full review.) 03 How Much of These Hills Is Gold I'm listening to How Much of These Hills Is Gold as an audiobook. I love a Gold Rush story, and a young adult story, and a story about "otherness" and about brave young

I loved this. 06 Walk on Earth a Stranger ​ Gold is in my blood, in my breath, even in the flecks in Her gold sense has kept her family fed and sheltered, but it's dangerous too. When Lee's power is discovered, she has to run, and she runs toward the gold. rush. This is the first book in Rae Carson's young adult Gold Seer trilogy set in Gold Rush-era America; the

"You haven’t even picked out a new duvet set; I’m told that’s a very important milestone.” As Good As Dead is the final book in A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, a series I've loved, and I've been Book one in the A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (AGGGTM) series is A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and book two is Good Girl, Bad Blood. Holly Jackson is also the author of Kill Joy (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #0.5) and Five Survive.

Mira Winston is 18 years old in 1978, hitting golf balls at the country club on a summer day when she After the accident, the golf prodigy turns to all the wrong places while trying to cope with her grief

In John Gwynne's Norse-inspired saga The Shadow of the Gods , it's been a century since the gods battled Only their bones hold power now--for those brave enough to seek them out. I listened to The Shadow of the Gods  as an audiobook. More from John Gwynne: Gwynne is also the author of book two in this series, The Hunger of the Gods ,

There in the sharp teeth of the Gilded Mountains, where the snow and murderous cold conspire to ruin Kate Manning's Gilded Mountain is set in early 1900s Colorado as Sylvie Pelletier leaves her family's I was taken with the details of mining-company life and the contrast against the lush life of excess

Patrick Radden Keefe took a subject I wasn't initially captivated by and crafted another work of his signature masterful narrative nonfiction. He hooked me with details, then astounded me with the order he was able to impose upon the chaos of secrets, lies, and the still-unknown elements of the story. I shared in a recent book talk that this book topic wasn't inherently a hook for me, but that in my view, Patrick Radden Keefe can do no wrong, so I dove in. London Falling is about the disappearance of a young man, Zac. Zac’s dogged parents won’t give up on finding out the truth of what happened to their son, and when the reactions from London police feel disappointing and lackluster, Zac’s parents approach the media directly. Then Patrick Radden Keefe crafts this nonfiction work that reads like a novel. The book delves into Zac's astounding, long-held personal secrets; into the implications of the increased presence and power of Russian oligarchs in London; into the pressures and alternate universe of high society and extreme wealth; and into the many sinister tendrils crisscrossing the city’s dark underbelly. “[Bob Dylan] created all sorts of elaborate tales about himself.” He was a trickster who confected a mysterious persona that may have been ridiculous but ultimately served him well. If you mentioned those adolescent fibs to Dylan today, he would probably “laugh about it,” Matthew ventured. “But there are lots of people out there who have created a fantasy existence for themselves...." Keefe shares incredible key details of the disturbing circumstances of Zac's disappearance, such as an MI6 camera that happened to be positioned across the river and captured a crucial moment in Zac’s life. He also unravels a complicated web of lies and discovers the extent of Zac’s alter ego, including a sometimes-Russian accent that apparently fooled grown men and made them believe he was the son of a Russian oligarch. Later, Keefe explores the actions of depraved, horribly evil, destructive individuals that Zac was unlucky enough to become involved with--as well as mounting evidence that their lack of prosecution is linked to their secret informant status. As he always seems to do, Patrick Radden Keefe takes a complex, tangled situation and shapes it into intriguing narrative nonfiction that you can latch onto. There are so many branches of this story, and so many complicated implications of the main players’ actions, lies, and secrets, I can’t imagine anyone but Patrick Radden Keefe successfully imposing this much order on so much chaos and so many unknowns. More Patrick Radden Keefe and Other Nonfiction Gems Patrick Radden Keefe is also the author of the powerful Empire of Pain and Say Nothing, one of my favorite nonfiction books. For more nonfiction titles I've reviewed, please check out the books at this Bossy link.

conservative policies as manifestations of deeply conflicting but equally heartfelt visions of the good It felt good to be released from partisan anger. elephant) might lead me to think through and sometimes rationalize justifications (as the rider) for holding The author examines "how moral diversity can so easily divide good people into hostile groups that do

In Blood of the Old Kings , dead sorcerers power the empire, which has long been run on a system of necromancy But when a long-dead sorcerer takes the shape of a voice in her head and pushes her to question the rules discover and use their power, and in different ways, Arienne, Cain, and Loran all do so in Blood of the Old I love a historical-fiction-feeling fantasy story like this one, and Blood of the Old Kings sets up I listened to The Blood of the Old Kings  as an audiobook.

In Good Girl, Bad Blood, Holly Jackson's sequel to the wonderful young adult mystery A Good Girl's Guide His twenty-four-year-old brother Jamie is missing, the police aren't responding with any urgency, and In Good Girl, Bad Blood, she reckons with her own dark side and reflects on what she's capable of. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is Holly Jackson's first book in this series. Her third book, As Good as Dead, is coming out next month. I can't wait.

In Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You, songwriter, singer, and musician Lucinda Williams shares I loved hearing how she got into music--really, how music took hold of her and never let go, and how Williams resists categorization at all fronts and seems unsurprised as she notes that she was told early Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You was wonderful--spare yet fully developed, often surprising, I listened to Williams's Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You as an audiobook and enjoyed hearing

The Gilded Hour explores how these women's abilities and constraints intersect with women's rights of

Iris's beloved brother is missing in action in the war among the gods, and sending letters through a The gods' war provides the structure for the book's main conflict, but the story feels primarily focused on everyday, regular-human wartime concerns--with an unlikely-feeling god-war and magical letter-sending I'm imagining that book two will offers glimpses into the gods' war?

In Meg Long's debut, the young adult science fiction novel Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, young Sena In Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, Long offers an intriguing story of brutal conditions, determined I was hooked by Long's world-building, her evocative, immersive descriptions of the cold climate, and 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.

Family secrets and conflicts come to a head as The Gods of Howl Mountain reaches a dark, brooding, beautiful

I want to tell you about a lifetime solving these cold cases, from Laci Peterson to Jaycee Dugard to Paul Holes, the detective who found the Golden State Killer, comes a nonfiction work about tracking cold Employing someone dedicated to cold cases was a budgetary luxury we couldn't afford. Cold case units were the exception rather than the rule, despite the fact that the number of unresolved He tracks for the reader the somewhat circuitous route he took in beginning to look into cold cases,

I read this young adult mystery in a day, it was so good. through her thought process as she considers anyone and everyone, sometimes backtracking and often pushing It's so good. What did you think? I love Jackson's writing and the characters of Pippa and Ravi, and I'll definitely read the sequel, Good

In The Last Thing He Told Me, Hannah has just celebrated her one-year anniversary of marriage to Owen Laura Dave sets up a well-rounded, fascinating mystery; Hannah and Bailey are pushed to work together The Last Thing He Told Me has me ready for more from this author.

closed-in forests, and the traps and dangers of the winter and the wild that I could almost feel the cold The standouts for me in First Light were the Greenland setting, the alternate world, the bitter cold, The rural Siberian settings are exquisitely wrought, with stark, rugged, lush landscapes serving as the In what is now a famously ill-fated turn of events, the ship Endurance became trapped in the ice and crushed What are some of your favorite cold-setting books?

We are never closer to life than when we brush up against the possibility of death.

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.

River Crossing ; and I'm reading Saara El-Arifi's novel Cleopatra , an empowering, fascinating story told River Crossing by Ian McGuire Ian McGuire's newest novel White River Crossing is set in the brutal cold winter of 1766, a bedraggled fur peddler arrives at a remote Hudson Bay Company outpost with a chunk of gold But the Hudson Bay Company's boorish John Shaw and bookish Thomas Hearn, who are pushing the expedition

Despite being told there was a romance between Xavier and Juniper, the basis of this romance just didn't

Jessica's father (Emily's grandfather), who demands details of Emily's career plans; reconnecting with dear old I mentioned I Was Told It Would Get Easier (along with The Fate of the Tearling and The Girl from Widow

ICYMI: I loved Taylor's exploration of various faiths, striving for open-mindedness, respecting differences, and finding captivating new avenues for her faith in this five-star read. In Holy Envy, Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest who left a position as a church pastor, shares her experiences and surprises while teaching a course on the religions of the world at a small Southern college. Holy Envy is a thought-provoking, accessible look at world religions and at the bridges that can be built between people of various faiths by considering traditions and beliefs that overlap as well as those that are wholly individual. Taylor examines differences in faiths as well as where varied faiths intersect, and by seeing these religions through the eyes of her students--many of whom are venturing into knowledge of world religions for the first time--Taylor shares how she learned more than she could have imagined. I found her lengthy exploration of the concept of and circumstances of “the stranger”--and how it can shed invaluable new light on a life and established beliefs--especially interesting. Taylor is smart and thoughtful, delicate yet straightforward, and I was taken with her vulnerability and honesty as she revealed how the lessons she learned related to and reflected upon her own experiences. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Barbara Brown Taylor is also the author of An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith, Learning to Walk in the Dark, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, and other books. I love her thoughtful writing and introspection.

This is an appealingly cozy and old-fashioned mystery, with the flavors, sights, and sounds of colonial But Murder in Old Bombay largely feels like an appealingly cozy and old-fashioned mystery: as Jim works

01 The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian Mira Winston is 18 years old in 1978, hitting golf balls at the country After the accident, the golf prodigy turns to all the wrong places while trying to cope with her grief writes books such as the Daevabad Trilogy: The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, and The Empire of Gold

Edith has a degree in German (and, more importantly and unbeknownst to her, an old connection to a hunted Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook alludes to the way Edith includes coded intelligence within her letters wonderful: the complicated workings of different groups' postwar efforts; the bombed--or jarringly lush

Bossy Short Story Love Some of you bookworms have told me in the past that you don't like or at least 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 The state is as prominent as a character as Rash explores trapped despair, haunting choices, and the Rash's writing here is, as always, exquisite, and within these 14 stories, he turns his attention to

Genie Lo is a Bay Area sixteen-year-old who's tall enough to be generally criticized by her petite Asian The Epic Crush of Genie Lo reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer at times, in the best way possible

ignorance of minotaurs and of sex in general, she's pledged to pair with him, and she enters into a rushed The minotaur character (he's strong, with a heart of gold) is beastlike in his urges and relentlessness

in a polluted, dying city flees to a mountaintop retreat--and finds that fresh food, clear air, and lush Zhang is also the author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold? nuptials, it doesn't take long for them to realize that Art has been kissing a boy and that Gwen has a crush

When they eventually advanced to the Olympics, a dramatic event stopped their journey to the gold medal --and broke them up for good. (when they're advised to "trust no one," they would have been wise to follow the suggestion, phew) pushed The events after Kat and Heath's later reunion push limits (Heath's modern-day betrayal of Kat feels

This is a wonderfully paced and recounted Cold War-era true story of spy intrigue, paranoia, bravery, The Spy and the Traitor is a wonderfully paced and skillfully recounted Cold War-era story of spy intrigue double agent for Britain’s MI6, to be appointed Resident in the KGB—and to ultimately help end the Cold He does an excellent job of immersing the reader in Cold War-era mindsets, priorities, and sometimes

But when her husband pushes her too far with abhorrent behavior, Del hops a train and dives into the For my full review of this book, please see October in the Earth. 03 The Caretaker by Ron Rash Ron Rash's I included the wonderful Ron Rash short story collection Nothing Gold Can Stay in my Greedy Reading List western landscapes Val passes through, gritty San Francisco, and the powerful cliffside ocean as well as lush She grew up in a cold, strict British boarding school in the early 1800s.

wonderful: the complicated workings of different groups' postwar efforts; the bombed--or jarringly lush historical fiction mystery, which skips back and forth in time, four years later, Iris's twin sister Ruth 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. The character of the brothel madam with a heart of gold has probably been overdone in literature.

of the future, a desperate chef is enlisted to create elaborate dishes for the wealthiest elite on a lush in a polluted, dying city flees to a mountaintop retreat--and finds that fresh food, clear air, and lush Zhang is also the author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold?

Charlotte--is also the author of Why We Love Baseball, The Baseball 100, Paterno, and The Secret of Golf the first book from a racing team principal, and Steiner promises to keep the pace moving in this no-holds-barred Global Color Line, about the world's first Black heavyweight boxing champion. 05 Freedom to Win: A Cold Story of the Courageous Hockey Team that Fought the Soviets for the Soul of Its People--and Olympic Gold researched, character-driven nonfiction account of the Czech hockey team's noble quest to win an Olympic gold