Title: Magpie Murders
Author: Anthony Horowitz
Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins / 477 pp
Published: October 2016
Genre: mystery, thriller, books about books
Book Group: Library
Book Group: Library
Finished: 1/4
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This is a re-read for my library book group. Here are my thoughts at the first reading (and they're the same this time, even though I knew what was happening).
From the publisher:
Alan Conway is a bestselling crime writer. His editor, Susan Ryeland, has worked with him for years, and she's intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. Alan's traditional formula pays homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. It's proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.
When Susan receives Alan's latest manuscript, in which Atticus Pünd investigates a murder at Pye Hall, an English manor house, she has no reason to think it will be any different from the others. There will be dead bodies, a cast of intriguing suspects, and plenty of red herrings and clues. But the more Susan reads, the more she realizes that there's another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript—one of ambition, jealousy, and greed—and that soon it will lead to murder.
Masterful, clever, and ruthlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage crime fiction.
#52BookClub prompt 3: Title starts with letter "M"
Title: Bear
Author: Julia Phillips
Length:: 7 hrs and 51 mins / 304 pp
Published: June 2024
Genre: literary fiction, contemporary fiction, family
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 1/5
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This is a beautifully written depressing as hell novel. Poverty, grief, and sisterhood are major themes explored. The bond between the sisters is tightly woven by poverty and caring for their dying mother. Elana becomes mesmerized by a bear that shows up on their tiny island off the coast of Washington, and Sam is more cautious.
From the publisher:
A mesmerizing novel of two sisters on a Pacific Northwest island whose lives are upended by an unexpected visitor — a tale of family, obsession, and a mysterious creature in the woods, by the celebrated, bestselling author of Disappearing Earth.
They were sisters and they would last past the end of time.
Sam and her sister, Elena, dream of another life. On the island off the coast of Washington where they were born and raised, they and their mother struggle to survive. Sam works long days on the ferry that delivers wealthy mainlanders to their vacation homes while Elena bartends at the local golf club, but even together they can’t earn enough to get by, stirring their frustration about the limits that shape their existence.
Then one night on the boat, Sam spots a bear swimming the dark waters of the channel. Where is it going? What does it want? When the bear turns up by their home, Sam, terrified, is more convinced than ever that it’s time to leave the island. But Elena responds differently to the massive beast. Enchanted by its presence, she throws into doubt the plan to escape and puts their long-held dream in danger.
A story about the bonds of sisterhood and the mysteries of the animals that live among us — and within us — Bear is a propulsive, mythical, rich novel from one of the most acclaimed young writers in America.
#52BookClub prompt 42: Non-human antagonist
Title: Undercover Bromance
Author: Lyssa Kay Adams
Length:: 9 hrs and 8 mins / 348 pp
Published: March 2020
Genre: contemporary romance, rom-com, adult fiction
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 1/7
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
This is the second installment in the Bromance series, turning some traditional tropes upside down. The enemies-to-lovers trope works well. And the way that a romantic hero is developed and portrayed is also interesting. My only complaint is that the #MeToo aspects of the book were repetitive. Having it as the major plotline was unexpected and perhaps too ambitious. And the epilogue was a major letdown.
The audio narration is great.
From the publisher:
Braden Mack thinks reading romance novels makes him an expert in love, but he’ll soon discover that real life is better than fiction.
Liv Papandreas has a dream job as a pastry chef at Nashville’s hottest restaurant. Too bad the celebrity chef owner is less than charming behind kitchen doors. After she catches him harassing a young hostess, she confronts him and gets fired. Liv vows revenge, but she’ll need assistance to take on the powerful chef.
Unfortunately, that means turning to Braden Mack. When Liv’s blackballed from the restaurant scene, the charismatic nightclub entrepreneur offers to help expose her ex-boss, but she is suspicious of his motives. He’ll need to call in reinforcements: the Bromance Book Club.
Inspired by the romantic suspense novel they’re reading, the book club assists Liv in setting up a sting operation to take down the chef. But they’re just as eager to help Mack figure out the way to Liv’s heart... even though she’s determined to squelch the sparks between them before she gets burned.
#52BookClub prompt 41: Cover font is in a primary color
Title: The Queen of Poisons
Author: Robert Thorogood
Length:: 9 hrs and 10 mins / 272 pp
Published: January 2024
Genre: mystery, cozy mystery, British literature
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 1/10
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This is the third installment of the Marlow Murder Club and is my favorite yet. I loved the dynamics between Judith, Suzie, and Becks. And the subplot of Becks' mother-in-law had me exasperated on Becks' behalf. There were moments when I thought I had it figured out, alas, I didn't. The audio narration is fantastic.
From the publisher:
The Marlow Murder Club is on the hunt for a killer... Geoffrey Lushington, Mayor of Marlow, dies suddenly during a town council meeting. When traces of aconite―also known as the queen of poisons―are found in his coffee cup, the police realize he was murdered. But who did it? And why?
The police bring Judith, Suzie, and Becks in to investigate the murder as civilian advisors right from the start, so they have free rein to interview suspects and follow the evidence to their heart's content… which is perfect because Judith has no time for rules and standard procedure. But this case has the Marlow Murder Club stumped. Who would want to kill the affable mayor of Marlow? How did they even get the poison into his coffee? And is anyone else in danger? The Marlow Murder Club is about to face their most difficult case yet...
Title: Here One Moment
Author: Liane Moriarty
Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins / 512 pp
Published: September 2024
Genre: contemporary fiction, mystery thriller, Australia
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 1/13
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?
Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.
Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.
How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.”
Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.
A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.
If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?
Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.
#52BookClub prompt 39: Has an epigraph
Title: Camp Zero
Author: Michelle Min Sterling
Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins / 304 pp
Published: April 2023
Genre: speculative fiction, dystopia, climate fiction
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 1/19
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
This premise piqued my interest: a contemporary speculative dystopian story set in the permafrost tundra in Canada. Unfortunately, the stereotypes and tropes explored are too clichéd for me. Sex workers, entitled male characters (really, not one of the male characters is multi-dimensional), and commercial exploitation by capitalists. The narrative threads were all over the place, with flashbacks and backstories in weird sections of the book. As critical as I sound, the premise and the world-building absolutely held my interest.
From the publisher:
In the far north of Canada sits Camp Zero, an American building project hiding many secrets.
Desperate to help her climate-displaced Korean immigrant mother, Rose agrees to travel to Camp Zero and spy on its architect in exchange for housing. She arrives at the same time as another newcomer, a college professor named Grant who is determined to flee his wealthy family’s dark legacy. Gradually, they realize that there is more to the architect than previously thought, and a disturbing mystery lurks beneath the surface of the camp. At the same time, rumors abound of an elite group of women soldiers living and working at a nearby Cold War-era climate research station. What are they doing there? And who is leading them?
An electrifying page-turner where nothing is as it seems, Camp Zero cleverly explores how the intersection of gender, class, and migration will impact who and what will survive in a warming world.
#52BookClub prompt 14: Climate fiction
Title: The Little Village of Book Lovers
Author: Nina George
Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins / 272 pp
Published: July 2023
Genre: historical fiction, magical realism, fantasy, France, romance
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 1/20
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
A young woman with the extraordinary power to bring soulmates together searches for her own true love in this tender, lyrical standalone novel inspired by the “bona fide international hit” ( The New York Times Book Review ) The Little Paris Bookshop
In Nina George’s New York Times bestseller The Little Paris Bookshop, beloved literary apothecary Jean Perdu is inspired to create a floating bookstore after reading a seminal pseudonymous novel about a young woman with a remarkable gift. The Little Village of Book Lovers is that novel.
“Everyone knows me, but none can see me. I’m that thing you call love.”
In a little town in the south of France in the 1960s, a dazzling encounter with Love itself changes the life of infant orphan Marie-Jeanne forever.
As a girl, Marie-Jeanne realizes that she can see the marks Love has left on the people around her—tiny glowing lights on the faces and hands that shimmer more brightly when the one meant for them is near. Before long, Marie-Jeanne is playing matchmaker, bringing true loves together in her village.
As she grows up, Marie-Jeanne helps her foster father, Francis, begin a mobile library that travels throughout the many small mountain towns in the region of Nyons. She finds herself bringing soulmates together every place they go—and there are always books that play a pivotal role in that quest. However, the only person that Marie-Jeanne can’t seem to find a soulmate for is herself. She has no glow of her own, though she waits and waits for it to appear. Everyone must have a soulmate, surely—but will Marie-Jeanne be able to recognize hers when Love finally comes her way?
#52BookClub prompt 10: Author's last name is also a first name
Title: Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting
Author: Clare Pooley
Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins / 342 pp
Published: May 2022
Genre: contemporary fiction, LGBT, found family, humor, romance
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 1/23
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This book fits me. When I see the same people routinely in a non-social venue (say, commuting or going to the same places often enough to recognize them) I give them nicknames. So does Iona Iverson as she commutes on her way to a once glamorous job in her once glamorous life. A chance encounter that brings Iona and regular commuters on her train together, they form an awkward bond--that turns into a delightful found family. Lulu is my favorite character!
I liked that the short chapters focused on different characters because each diverse character is facing unique struggles. I really fell in love with all of them. The author compassionately explores sensitive topics.
From the publisher:
Every day Iona Iverson, a stylish, opinionated, larger-than-life magazine advice columnist, rides the train to work with her dog, Lulu. Every day she sees the same people, whom she knows only by nickname: Impossibly-Pretty-Bookworm and Mr-Too-Good-to-Be-True. Of course, they never speak. Seasoned commuters never do.
Then one morning, the man she calls Smart-But-Sexist-Manspreader chokes on a grape right in front of her. He’d have died were it not for the timely intervention of Sanjay, a nurse, who gives him the Heimlich maneuver.
This single event starts a chain reaction, and an eclectic group of people discovers that talking to strangers can teach you quite a bit about the world around you—and even more about yourself.
#52BookClub prompt 21: Character's name in the title
Title: Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies
Author: Catherine Mack
Length:9 hrs and 34 mins / 342 pp
Published: April 2024
Genre: cozy mystery, Italy, humor
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 1/25
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
I loved the premise of Eleanor wanting to kill off the male protagonist of her blockbuster book series and the slapstick-esque series of events that ensue. I can't wait for more in the series!
From the publisher:
Ten days, eight suspects, six cities, five authors, three bodies . . . one trip to die for.
All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next in her Vacation Mysteries series―is that too much to ask?
Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life―the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with ten years ago and now can't get out of her life―Eleanor’s enlisted to help solve the case.
Contending with literary rivals, rabid fans, a stalker―and even her ex, Oliver, who turns up unexpectedly―theories are bandied about, and rivalries, rifts, and broken hearts are revealed. But who’s really trying to get away with murder?
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is the irresistible and hilarious series debut from Catherine Mack, introducing bestselling fictional author Eleanor Dash on her Italian book tour that turns into a real-life murder mystery, as her life starts to imitate the world in her books.
#52BookClub prompt 24: Title is a spoiler
Title: Orbital
Author: Samantha Harvey
Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins / 207 pp
Published: December 2023
Genre: science fiction
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 1/25
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?
#52BookClub prompt 13: Title is ten letters or less
Title: The Glass Hotel
Author: Emily St. John Mandel
Length:: 10 hrs and 28 mins / 307 pp
Published: March 2020
Genre: literary fiction
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 1/27
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Huh. I loved the beautiful writing. I liked the characters who weave their way through the non-linear narrative. But ultimately I'm left wondering what I just read. Of course, all I can think of is those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I found the Ponzi scheme and its rippling effect throughout the book fascinating. This book takes characters from the luxurious life to the shattered dreams of the nearly homeless.
From the publisher:
Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the night she meets Jonathan Alkaitis, a hooded figure scrawls a message on the lobby's glass wall: Why don’t you swallow broken glass. High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis's billion-dollar business is really nothing more than a game of smoke and mirrors. When his scheme collapses, it obliterates countless fortunes and devastates lives. Vincent, who had been posing as Jonathan’s wife, walks away into the night. Years later, a victim of the fraud is hired to investigate a strange occurrence: a woman has seemingly vanished from the deck of a container ship between ports of call.In this captivating story of crisis and survival, Emily St. John Mandel takes readers through often hidden landscapes: campgrounds for the near-homeless, underground electronica clubs, service in luxury hotels, and life in a federal prison. Rife with unexpected beauty, The Glass Hotel is a captivating portrait of greed and guilt, love and delusion, ghosts and unintended consequences, and the infinite ways we search for meaning in our lives.
#52BookClub prompt 43: Explores social class
Title: How to Solve Your Own Murder
Author: Kristen Perrin
Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins / 358 pp
Published: March 2024
Genre: cozy mystery
Book Group no
Book Group no
Finished: 2/1
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
There are stock secondary characters: the broody detective, the busybody neighbor, the recalcitrant vicar, the best friend, and the unpleasant (obnoxious) cousins. With the red herrings and misdirections, Annie makes a few convenient mental leaps, but the mystery's solution is straightforward.
From the publisher:
For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate... Now it's up to her great-niece to catch the killer.
It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.
Title: Apprentice to the Villain
Author:Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins/ 368 pp
Published: August 2024
Genre: fantasy, romantasy, magic, romance, dragons, young adult
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 2/3
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
NOTICE TO STAFF: There has been a disturbing increase in cheeriness, sprightly behavior, and overall optimism of late. Please resume your former dark, ominous terrors at your earliest convenience. ―Mgmt
Evie Sage has never been happier to be the assistant to The Villain. Who would have thought that working for an outrageously handsome (shhh, bad for his brand) evil overlord would be so rewarding? Still, the business of being bad is demanding, the forces of good are annoyingly persistent, and said forbidding boss is somewhat…er, out-of-evil-office.
But Rennedawn is in grave trouble, and all signs―Kingsley’s included―point to catastrophe. Something peculiar is happening with the kingdom’s magic, and it’s made The Villain’s manor vulnerable to their enemies...including their nemesis, the king.
Now it’s time for Evie to face her greatest challenge: protecting The Villain’s lair, all of his nefarious works, and maybe (provided no one finds out) the entire kingdom. No pressure, Evie.
It’s time to step out of her comfort zone and learn new skills. Like treason. Dagger work. Conspiring with the enemy. It’s all so…so…delightfully fun.
But what happens when the assistant to The Villain is ready to become his apprentice?
#52BookClub prompt 22: Found family trope
Title: Crazy Stupid Bromance
Author: Lyssa Kay Adams
Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins / 345 pp
Published: October 2020
Genre: contemporary romance, rom-com
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 2/7
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This installment of the Bromance Bookclub series tackled serious issues and had the humor to off-balance the heavy themes. The secondary characters were featured in previous books and felt like old friends. I wasn't sure I would like the friends-to-lovers trope but I liked the characters of Alexis and Noah so much that I was rooting for them the whole time. And Beefcake made my day!
From the publisher:
A hacktivist and a cat café owner decode the friend zone in this romantic comedy from the author of Undercover Bromance.
Alexis Carlisle and her cat café, ToeBeans, have shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef’s sexual harassment. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they’re sisters. Unsure what to do, Alexis turns to the only man she trusts—her best friend, Noah Logan.
Computer genius Noah left his rebellious teenage hacker past behind to become a computer security expert. Now he only uses his old skills for the right cause. But Noah’s got a secret: He’s madly in love with Alexis. When she asks for his help, he wonders if the timing will ever be right to confess his crush.
Noah’s pals in The Bromance Book Club are more than willing to share their beloved “manuals” to help him go from bud to boyfriend. But he must decide if telling the truth is worth risking the best friendship he’s ever had.
Title: The Faculty Lounge
Author: Jennifer Mathieu
Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins / 304 pp
Published: July 2024
Genre: contemporary fiction, education, adult fiction, and realistic fiction
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 2/8
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
At once an ode to educators, a timely glimpse at today’s pressing school issues, and a tender character study, following a sprawling cast of teachers, administrators, and staff at a Texas high school.
With its ensemble of warm and unforgettable characters, The Faculty Lounge shows readers a different side of school life. It all starts when an elderly substitute teacher at Baldwin High School is found dead in the faculty lounge. After a bit of a stir, life quickly returns to normal—it’s not like it’s the worst (or even most interesting) thing that has happened within the building’s walls. But when, a week later, the spontaneous scattering of his ashes on the school grounds catches the attention of some busybody parents, it sets in motion a year that can only be described as wild, bizarre, tragic, mundane, beautiful, and humorous all at once.
In the midst of the ensuing hysteria and threats of disciplinary action, the novel peeks into the lives of the implicated adults who, it turns out, actually have first names and continue to exist when the school day is done. We a former punk band front man, now a middle-aged principal who must battle it out with the schoolboard to keep his job; a no-nonsense school nurse willing to break the rules, despite the close watch on their campus, when a student arrives at her office with a dilemma; and a disgruntled English instructor who finds himself embroiled in even more controversy when he misfires a snarky email. Oh, and there’s also a teacher make-out session in a supply closet during a lockdown.
As these people continue to manage the messiness of this school year, there is the looming threat of what will become of their beloved Baldwin High. Ultimately, at the heart of this unconventional workplace novel is a story of the power of human connection and of the joy of finding purpose in what it is we do every day.
#52BookClub prompt 33: A standalone novel
Title: The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers
Author: Samuel Burr
Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins / 362 pp
Published: April 2024
Genre: contemporary fiction, puzzles, cozy, and LGBT
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 2/10
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
An extraordinary, gloriously uplifting novel about the power of friendship and the puzzling ties that bind us.
Clayton Stumper might be in his twenties, but he dresses like your grandpa and fusses like your aunt. Abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by a group of eccentric enigmatologists and now finds himself among the last survivors of a fading institution.
When the esteemed crossword compiler and main maternal presence in Clayton’s life, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle on him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for life beyond the walls of the commune.
So begins Clay’s quest to uncover the secrets surrounding his birth, secrets that will change Clay—and the Fellowship—forever.The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers is pure joy, a story about love and family and what it means to find your people—no matter what age you are.
#52BookClub prompt 33: Related to the word "Puzzle"
Title: Martyr!
Author: Kaveh Akbar
Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins / 331 pp
Published: January 2024
Genre: literary fiction, LGBT+, family saga, poetry, coming of age, philosophical fiction
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 2/13
My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
I'll be honest, this was almost a Did Not Finish.
From the publisher:
Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.
Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others.
#52BookClub prompt 40: Stream of consciousness narrative
Title: Within Arm's Reach
Author: Ann Napolitano
Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins / 352 pp
Published: January 2004
Genre: literary fiction, family saga
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 2/14
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The story is told from the perspectives of six different characters: Catherine, the matriarch of the family; her eldest daughter, Kelly; Kelly's husband, Louis; their two daughters, Gracie and Lila; and Noreen Ballen, a nurse who is hired to care for Catherine after she has a fall. As the story unfolds, we learn about the secrets and lies that have been passed down through the generations, and how they have affected the relationships between the family members. We also see how each character is struggling with their own personal demons, and how they are all trying to find their place in the world.
From the publisher:
No one in my mother’s family ever talks about anything that can be categorized as unpleasant or as having to do with emotions. . . .
This spellbinding debut by bestselling author Ann Napolitano is a poignant reminder of how connected we are to those we love, even when we cannot find the words to say it. The unforgettable story of three generations of a large Irish Catholic family, Within Arms Reach is another rich and deeply satisfying novel from the author who captured the many dimensions of grief in Dear Edward and the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood in Hello Beautiful.
#52BookClub prompt 30: Audiobook has multiple narrators
Title: Icebreaker
Author: Hannah Grace
Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins / 447 pp
Published: August 20222
Genre: contemporary romance, sports, enemies to lovers, new adult
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 2/17
My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. It looks like everything is going according to plan when she gets a full scholarship to the University of California, Maple Hills and lands a place on their competitive figure skating team.
Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins.
Nate’s focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. Which is tricky when a facilities mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team—including Anastasia, who clearly can’t stand him.
But when Anastasia’s skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot.
Sparks fly, but Anastasia isn’t worried…because she could never like a hockey player, right?
#52BookClub prompt 25: Breaks the fourth wall
Title: Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom
Author: Ilyon Woo
Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins / 416 pp
Published: January 2023
Genre: biography, non-fiction, American history
Book Group: School
Book Group: School
Finished: 2/19
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as “his” slave.
In 1848, a year of international democratic revolt, a young, enslaved couple, Ellen and William Craft, achieved one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in American history. Posing as master and slave, while sustained by their love as husband and wife, they made their escape together across more than 1,000 miles, riding out in the open on steamboats, carriages, and trains that took them from bondage in Georgia to the free states of the North.
Along the way, they dodged slave traders, military officers, and even friends of their enslavers, who might have revealed their true identities. The tale of their adventure soon made them celebrities, and generated headlines around the country. Americans could not get enough of this charismatic young couple, who traveled another 1,000 miles criss-crossing New England, drawing thunderous applause as they spoke alongside some of the greatest abolitionist luminaries of the day—among them Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown.
But even then, they were not out of danger. With the passage of an infamous new Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, all Americans became accountable for returning refugees like the Crafts to slavery. Then yet another adventure began, as slave hunters came up from Georgia, forcing the Crafts to flee once again—this time from the United States, their lives and thousands more on the line and the stakes never higher.
With three epic journeys compressed into one monumental bid for freedom, Master Slave Husband Wife is an American love story—one that would challenge the nation’s core precepts of life, liberty, and justice for all—one that challenges us even now.
#52BookClub prompt 37: Genre chosen for you by someone else
Title: The Night We Lost Him
Author: Laura Dave
Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins / 298 pp
Published: May 2024
Genre: mystery, thriller, adult, contemporary fiction
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 2/22
My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
Nora Noone’s father, Liam, was many things to many people. To the public he was a self-made hotel magnate, whose luxury boutique hotels were among the most coveted destinations in the world. To his three ex-wives, he was a loving yet distant family man who managed to keep his finances—and his families—separate. But to Nora, her father was always a mystery—especially after his suspicious death at his cliffside home.
Though the authorities rule Liam's death accidental, Nora and her estranged brother, Sam, believe otherwise. As they form an uneasy alliance to unpack the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past and uncover a family secret that changes everything.
#52BookClub prompt 4: Title starts with the letter "N"
Title: The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
Author: Janice Hallett
Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins / 416 pp
Published: September 2023
Genre: mystery, thriller, adult, contemporary fiction
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 2/23
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
I've always been a fan of epistolatory books and this was well done in audio format. I was never bored and never rolled my eyes.
From the publisher:
A new novel from the “clever and inventive” (The Washington Post) internationally bestselling author of The Twyford Code and The Appeal about a true crime journalist who revives a long-buried case about a cult—and finds herself too close to the story.
Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared.
Now, true crime author Amanda Bailey is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the true-crime scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and also on the baby’s trail.
As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realize that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they’d ever imagined, and in pursuit of the story they risk becoming part of it.
#52BookClub prompt 47: "I think it was blue"
Title: The Lion Women of Tehran
Author: Marjan Kamali
Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins / 327 pp
Published: July 2024
Genre: historical fiction, coming of age, feminism, literary fiction
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 2/28
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation.
Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.”
But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.
Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.
#52BookClub prompt 51: 300-400 pages long
Title: Isn't It Bromantic?
Author: Lyssa Kay Adams
Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins / 350 pp
Published: July 2021
Genre: contemporary romance, sports, friends to lovers, chick lit
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 3/2
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
With his passion for romance novels, it was only a matter of time before Vlad wrote one.
Elena Konnikova has lived her entire adult life in the shadows. As the daughter of a Russian journalist who mysteriously disappeared, she escaped danger the only way she knew how: She married her childhood friend, Vladimir, and moved to the United States, where he is a professional hockey player in Nashville.
Vlad, aka the Russian, thought he could be content with his marriage of convenience. But it’s become too difficult to continue in a one-sided relationship. He joined the Bromance Book Club to learn how to make his wife love him, but all he’s learned is that he deserves more. He’s ready to create his own sweeping romance—both on and off the page.
The bros are unwilling to let Vlad forgo true love—and this time they’re not operating solo. They join forces with Vlad’s neighbors, a group of meddling widows who call themselves the Loners. But just when things finally look promising, Elena’s past life intrudes and their happily ever after is cast into doubt.
Title: By Any Other Name
Author: Jodi Picoult
Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins / 544 pp
Published: August 2024
Genre: historical fiction, feminism, romance
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 3/4
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
This is a fascinating premise. And it's well-crafted. The historical sections were my favorite parts. I was moved to tears.
From the publisher:
Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.
In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.
Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.
Title: For Your Own Good
Author: Samantha Downing
Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins / 373 pp
Published: July 2021
Genre: mystery, thriller, suspense, contemporary
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 3/8
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
Teddy Crutcher has won Teacher of the Year at the esteemed Belmont Academy, home to the best and brightest.
He says his wife couldn't be more proud—though no one has seen her in a while.
Teddy really can’t be bothered with the death of a school parent that’s looking more and more like murder or the student digging a little too deep into Teddy’s personal life. His main focus is on pushing these kids to their full academic potential.
All he wants is for his colleagues—and the endlessly meddlesome parents—to stay out of his way.
It's really too bad that sometimes excellence can come at such a high cost.
USA Today bestselling author Samantha Downing is back with her latest sneaky thriller set at a prestigious private school—complete with interfering parents, overeager students, and one teacher who just wants to teach them all a lesson…
Title: The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement
Author: Sharon McMahon
Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins / 320 pp
Published: September 2024
Genre: nonfiction, biography, history, politics, social justice
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 3/9
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
America’s favorite government teacher offers thrilling, heartfelt stories of ordinary American heroes. Most pundits and historians sell a dangerously naïve version of the American story—either praising its most consequential figures uncritically or criticizing them unfairly. Sharon McMahon believes the truth is more human. In her debut book The Small and the Mighty, she tells the inspiring stories of twelve Americans--regular people with human foibles--whose extraordinary heroism in the face of mounting trials created the character of our country. With the same clarity and candor that's earned her millions of fans, McMahon follows the daughter of formerly enslaved parents who sparked a reformation in Black education, a Japanese immigrant who nearly died in combat and became a consequential Senator, and even the electrician who saved her husband’s life. Her unforgettable prose and meticulous research tell the story of America from the perspective of the unsung heroes whose devotion to their country will restore your faith in the American dream. The portraits of our nation’s most improbable champions, innovators, and rebels in this book celebrate the United States and reveal our common humanity. The Small and the Mighty is the encouragement we all need in an age of doomscrolling and division.
Title: The Kitchen Front
Author: Jennifer Ryan
Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins / 408 pp
Published: February 2021
Genre: historical fiction, WWII, British literature, food
Book Group: school
Book Group: school
Finished: 3/14
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The audio is very well done, not overly sentimental in tone.
From the publisher:
In a new World War II-set story from the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, four women compete for a spot hosting a wartime cookery program called The Kitchen Front - based on the actual BBC program of the same name - as well as a chance to better their lives.
Two years into WW2, Britain is feeling her losses; the Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front is putting on a cooking contest--and the grand prize is a job as the program's first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the contest presents a crucial chance to change their lives.
For a young widow, it's a chance to pay off her husband's debts and keep a roof over her children's heads. For a kitchen maid, it's a chance to leave servitude and find freedom. For the lady of the manor, it's a chance to escape her wealthy husband's increasingly hostile behavior. And for a trained chef, it's a chance to challenge the men at the top of her profession.
These four women are giving the competition their all--even if that sometimes means bending the rules. But with so much at stake, will the contest that aims to bring the community together serve only to break it apart?
#52BookClub prompt 50: Set in the 1940s
Title: She Doesn't Have A Clue
Author: Jenny Elder Moke
Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins / 336 pp
Published: January 2025
Genre: rom-com, cozy mystery, contemporary romance
Book Group: no
Book Group: no
Finished: 3/17
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
From the publisher:
A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.
Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift. But when the bride is poisoned and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hostralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret.
As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.
#52BookClub prompt 52: Published in 2025
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)