Tag: nonfiction

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June 2026 Book Blog

Rather a light reading month for me. I was busy.

Books Reread

The cover of Rapture of the Deep shows a girl in a swimming costume diving for treasure at the bottom of the ocean.
Harcourt Children’s Books

Rapture of the Deep by L.A. Meyer
Bloody Jack book 7 of 12
Continuing my re-listen of this series. In this installment, Jacky is tasked by British Intelligence to use the brand-new scientific intstrument, the diving bell to recover Spanish gold lost off the Florida Keys. As usual, full of memorable characters and fun hijinks. There isn’t a bad book in this series, but I think this one is not my favorite. The pirates of the Caribbean stuff is good though. I do love Jacky and Jaimy’s starcrossed love, but I also think Jaimy is not my favorite of Jacky’s league of devoted men.
4.5/5 moray eels

New Books Read

The cover of Light of the Jedi shows four Jedi, two human, one Wookie, one Twi’lek, brandishing lightsabers and looking noble while star cruisers fly overhead
Del Rey

The Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule
The High Republic book 1 of 8 (the novels, not the graphic novels)
CW: death
This book scratched the itch I had to live in the world of Star Wars when the Jedi were in their golden age. This is the first book of the High Republic series. There are lots of helpful reading order guides if you were also overwhelmed when looking at the list of Star Wars novels. When a transport ship carrying immigrants to the Outer Rim collides in the hyperlane, remnants of the ship are thrown out of hyperspace at light speed. Before the emergencies can decimate several Outer Rim systems, the Jedi must do what they can to help and figure out how this catastrophe happened. I enjoyed this. It has the feel of the movies, where you’re following several groups of characters and hopping around. You can almost imagine the screen wipe transitions between chapters. I enjoyed getting to meet new Jedi, especially the non human ones. The ensemble cast did make it a little hard to really fall in love with any one character, though I did like them all. I did think more Jedi died than needed to. We’ve already seen that in Episode III. I don’t need more of that. I did really like whenever they said “We are all the Republic;” just makes me feel nice in this era of political division.
3.75/5 lightsabers

The cover of The Fifth Season shows a stonework carving of leaves and spirals

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin***
**Book Hangover Alert
Broken Earth Trilogy book 1 of 3
CW: abuse, manipulation, murder of children, prejudice
Incredible. I don’t know how to blurb this book, so I’m going to let you read the back cover copy when you go buy it. Or don’t even bother, because the back cover copy doesn’t really do it justice either–just read it. Fascinating world and innovative magic system. Super interesting use of 2nd person POV. Pacing and unfolding of the narrative was very well done. Super ready for the next one. Luckily, they’re all out.
5/5 stones

The cover of Godkiller shows a stag lifting his antlers before the moon, as a twisted tree trunk grows to pierce the animal in the breast
HarperCollins

Godkiller by Hanna Kaner***
Fallen Gods book 1 of 3
CW: death of parents
I wanted to like this more. I’ve been meaning to read it for a long time because I absolutely love the cover. And it’s possible that reading it during and after I finished The Fifth Season made me like it less by comparisson. In a world filled with as many gods as their are worshippers, but in a country where god’s are outlawed, a Godkiller attempts to help a child who is bound to a god. I felt the POVs weren’t very strongly differentiated. It felt like the author had written it in omnicient third person and then was told they had to change it to limited third and label all the chapters. I think the omnicient third could have worked, but because each chapter was labeled with a character’s name, I was annoyed when we head hopped or when I forgot whose head I was supposed to be in. I also thought Elo had way more chemistry with the king than with Kissen. Loved the disability rep. Thought the world was interesting, but I don’t know, it just fell a little flat for me.
3.5/5 shrines

The cover of I’m Glad My Mom is Dead shows a young white woman (Jennette McCurdy) in a pink suit holding a pink urn. Her expression is like “sorry, not sorry"
Simon & Schuster

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy***
CW: eating disorders, abuse, grooming
Very difficult to put down. I feel like I need to create a little Venn diagram of the themes of memoirs I’ve read. This one hits on childhood fame and Hollywood, eating disorders, abusive parents, and grief of losing one’s mother. Former child actress and star of iCarly, Jennette McCurdy explores her feelings after the death of her mother, untangling complicated feelings of love and grief and realizing the abuse she suffered. The vignette style had punch and kept me reading, but felt slightly disjointed at times. I would be interested to know if Jennette ever spoke more with her father or her brothers about her mom’s behavior and impact on their homelife growing up. I was shocked (as I always am in memoirs like these) that no one stepped in or stepped up or seemed to recognize the abuse happening. Why did they let Jennette’s mom behave like this for so long? So many people failed her.
4.5/5 therapists

The cover of The Subtle Art of folding Space shows layers of universes as a box of dim sum as it appears in our universe, shifting through different permutations through space
Tor Books

The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu***
This was a really fun little sci-fi. Maintainer of the physics of the multiverse, Ellie discovers a secret cabal of Maintainers trying to alter physics and thereby rule it. I won’t pretend I followed the stuff about physics. But I really enjoyed Ellie and Daniel and his creating food out thin air. And really the story was about Ellie’s relationship with her sister, not physics.
3.75 skunkworks

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Fifth Season for a classic of the fantasy genre written by one of the greats, who happens to be a Black woman. Read Godkiller for excellent disability rep including ambulatory wheelchair users, amputees, and Deaf indivudals. Read I’m Glad My Mom Died because I think it will make you more empathetic. Read The Subtle Art of Folding Space for queer and Asian rep in sci-fi.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

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March 2026 Books

New Books Read

The cover of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark shows a fire made of pages of text on a black background

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
CW: murder, sexual abuse of children
A thriller/mystery about a woman hired to ghostwrite her estranged father’s memoir about the unsolved murders of both of his siblings in their teens. I enjoyed this. It was a propulsive and easy read. The prose was nothing special, but it kept us moving.
3.5/5 film reels

The cover of The Vegetarian by Han Kang shows a woman's silhouette gazing into the sky on a red background

The Vegetarian by Han Kang***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: institutionalization, eating disorder, domestic violence
I don’t know how to blurb this book. It was really good. Weird, but good. Here’s the blurb from Wikipedia: “The Vegetarian is a three-part novel set in modern-day Seoul and tells the story of Yeong-hye, a part-time graphic artist and home-maker, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody nightmare about human cruelty leads to devastating consequences in her personal and familial life.” I don’t really feel like that does it justice, but I guess it’s not wrong? I don’t know, it fails to capture the weird atmosphere and mood throughout. I also thought the POV choice was interesting as in each part of the novel we switch POVs but none of the main POVs are Yeong-hye herself. You could talk about a lot of different themes in this book, but I think the patriarchy and expectations of womanhood and wifehood, as well as disability in Korea are the ones that stood out most to me.
4.5/5 bloody dreams

The book Pests by Bethany Brookshire held up in front of a disgruntled gray tabby
Pip offended at the implication that she might be a pest

Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire***
Nonfiction. It’s what it sounds like. Brookshire examines the vertebrates that humans across the globe consider pests (including but not limited to rats, mice, pigeons, pythons, cats, horses, elephants, wolves, bears, and deer) and how and why these animals receive that designation. I thought this book was fascinating in the way Brookshire interrogated the way humans conceptualize animals and nature and where they belong and don’t belong (deer in the forest far from my house = good, deer in my hard eating my garden = bad). She brings up a lot of interesting things to think about when it comes to how we can manage invasive species, what we consider nature (where animals should be) and human spaces (where animals should not be), and how we can share this planet we all live on.
4/5 rats

The cover of Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood shows a ship sailing on a sea of barbed wire waves

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood*
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: death of a child
A retelling of the Tempest in which a retired theater director uses a production of the Tempest put on in a prison as a way to get revenge on those that forced him into retirement. Atwood is just so clever. I loved the layering of the play within the novel which is itself the play and the themes of prisons, literal, societal, and mental. It was also funny! ( I mean so is the Tempest)
4.5/5 swimming caps

The cover of The Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson shows a child sitting facing away from the viewer in the window of a ruin, looking at a burning building in the background
37 Ink

Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson***
CW: racism, racial slurs, assault, child abuse
Look, I’ve read a lot of WWII historical fiction, okay? There’s a lot out there. But this book was unique in its subject and perspective, so we’ll allow it. In 1950s Germany, Ethel, the wife of an American officer, discovers an orphanage of half-Black children fathered by African American service members during the war with German women. Many German women felt they couldn’t keep the children, whether because of prejudice or economic concerns, so Ethel works to get the children adopted by American families. Woven into Ethel’s narrative is that of Ozzie, an African American service member stationed in Germany in the late 1940s and Sophia, an African American teenager in the 1960s who is one of the first to integrate her boarding school but who longs to learn the truth of her history. You can see how all of these threads will intertwine. I enjoyed this. I thought Johnson’s writing was well researched and evocative. It seemed to me that there were maybe more non-racist white characters than was believable (but I’m not the one who did the research and I wasn’t alive then). And one more thought is a spoiler:
Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

I loved the happy ending, but it did feel a little unbelievable that Sophia just ‘always felt she didn’t fit in’ and then conveniently just happens to meet another kid who was one of these adopted babies from Germany and then manages to actually find her family and it turns out they really did want her after all. It’s the fantasy of all children who grow up in unhappy homes that they’re actually adopted and parents who want them are somewhere out there and they were just separated by an accident of faith. But how likely is that story really? I did also think it was a little weird that they never once mention Katia’s unique hair color in his storyline. I know she was trying to keep it a mystery that Sophia is that child, but it was pretty obvious…

4/5 nuns

The cover of Voices by David Elliot shows a young girl in armor before a gold halo made up of words

Voices by David Elliott*
CW: death
A novel-in-verse about the last hours of Joan of Arc’s life. Elliott weaves in real quotes from the Trial of Condemnation and the later Trial of Nullification. We also get poems from Joan as she waits on pyre and poems in a variety of voices from the people and objects around Joan including her parents, the saints and angels guiding her, her sword, her armor, her clothing, the candle that lights the pyre, the fire itself, and more. I really enjoyed this. I thought the structure was fascinating. Elliott uses specific poetic forms for different voices and I was a big fan of the concrete poems in the collection. My only quibble was that I hated the font chosen for Joan’s poems.
4/5 voices

On the cover of Semi-Well-Adjusted-Despite-Literally-Everything, the author Alyson Stoner smashes their face against glass as though peering at the viewer as an animal in a zoo
St. Martin’s Press

Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything by Alyson Stoner***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: body dysphoria, religious trauma, domestic violence, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts, drug and alcohol abuse , sexual assault
If you think you don’t know who Alyson Stoner is, yes you do. Child actor known for Isabella on Phineas and Ferb, ‘the little white girl’ in the Missy Elliott video, Caitlyn in Camp Rock, and many more, Stoner opens up about the addictiveness of fame and the damaging way the industry works, especially in relation to minors. This memoir was not as painful to read as Elliot Page’s but I still think there are a lot of people who owe Stoner apologies. I thought the memoir was well written and the chapters were well structured. I was happy that in the end
Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

Stoner is on their way to healing and a much more healthy relationship with work and their body and using their platform to advocate for minors in the industry.

4.5/5 call backs

The cover of Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath shows a bird's eye view of a bear walking through a forest holding a shovel and dragging a bag that is trailing blood
IDW Publishing

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath
CW: murder, gore
Adorable serial killer? This book is pitched as Dexter meets Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town and that is correct. Adorable bear Samantha is an upstanding citizen in her small town, but when she visits the city, anyone might find themself her victim. But when someone starts terrorizing Sam’s town, she must stop the serial killer before they ruin the town or unmask her. The art in this book is really incredible. It’s dark but it was fun.
3.5/5 newspaper articles

Books I did not finish

The cover of The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart shows too snakes snarling at each other

The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart
This pains me so much because I LOVED Stewart’s Drowned Empire series, but I’m still trying to achieve my goal of not finishing anything I’m not enjoying. Life is too short. I’m not super good at it but I’m trying. I read 200 page of this book and was STILL not into it, so I finally gave up. I think the problem was that with so many POVs, by page 200, it still felt like we were on page 50 in the development of the narrative. I think Stewart should have focused on just Hakara and Rasha (and this from someone obsessed with writing huge casts and multi-pov stories *sobs*). It just wasn’t working for me. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters and I didn’t feel like I totally understood the world and I wasn’t interested enough to want to. Very sad about it.
1/5 altered

*This book only includes straight white cis people. 

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Vegetarian for great Korean literature. Read Pests to learn more about humans’ relationship to nature and how we can all thrive. Read The Keeper of Lost Children for an untold story of African Americans during WWII. Read Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything to learn about how capitalism destroys everything.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

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January 2026 Books

Books Reread

The cover of Mississippi Jack by L.A. Meyer shows a girl in a red dress playing a fiddle and dancing on the cabin of a keelboat on a river

Mississippi Jack by L.A. Meyer***
Bloody Jack book 5 of 12
CW: slavery, n-word, racism, racial slurs
Continuing on with my re-listen of this series, one of my all time favorite series. In this book, Jacky is hiding from the British government who still wants to arrest her for piracy by traveling down the Mississippi River in a keelboat that’s also a floating tavern and musical and theatrical revue. As always it’s very fun, though on a reread, I might like this one a little less than I remember. I just think Jamie is very annoying in this one. He’s always complaining and while, yes, bad things happen to him, bad things happen to Jacky too and she always has a good attitude about it. Also I don’t love the way he treats Clementine. It feels different than the way Jack treats her various beaus throughout the books.
4/5 tall tales

New Books Read

The cover of To The Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage shows an erupting volcano, stars, and the moon
Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster

To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage***
CW: domestic violence, trauma, racism
I liked this but I think not as much as my sister did. Steph is determined to be the first Cherokee astronaut, a journey that will span decades and continents and whose consequences will ripple out in her family and relationships. This is an important book that examines themes of culture, identity, appropriation, and the effects of colonization.
3.5/5 sharks

The cover of Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler shows the title and author on a blank white background rimmed in yellow and purple

Who’s Afraid of Gender by Judith Butler***
Fascinating examination by one of the world’s foremost gender scholars of what everyone’s so afraid of when it comes to ‘the gay agenda.’ Unfortunately, this is one of those books where the people who most need to read it are also the people least likely to. But even if you’re not afraid of gender, this book can still help you understand the fear of the Right and give you the tools to combat it.
4/5 phantasms

The cover of Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman shows Carl running through a circus about to throw a stick of dynamite in his trademark boxers, Princess Donut the cat on his shoulder and Mongo the velociraptor at his heels
Ace Publishing

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
Dungeon Crawler Carl book 2 of 8
CW: gore, body horror, death
The second installment of the Dungeon Crawler Carl books follows Carl and Donut down to the third floor of the Dungeon–created when an alien corporation zoned the Earth for mining and killed nearly everyone and everything on the surface, leaving all the survivors to fight for survival in a real life video gameshow being streamed to every corner of the universe. I’m still enjoying these, particularly the audiobooks. I think I liked this one just a little less than the first one, but I am enjoying the development of the geopolitical aspects. I’m interested to see how the governments and corporations outside the Dungeon develop.
4/5 bombs

The cover of Don't Let the Forest in by CG Drews shows a black and white drawing of a boy in a school uniform with what looks like claw marks ripping the image across his face. From the tears, flowers and throrns and bugs creep through
Feiwel & Friends

Don’t Let the Forest in by CG Drews
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: child abuse, neglect, trauma, PTSD, gore, body horror
Impossible to put down. I loved this dark, obsessive horror. I don’t know how to blurb this one (I’m going to try anyway), but I think you should read it. When Andrew arrives back at boarding school for senior year, he’s haunted by something he can’t quite remember, an accident from last year. With his twin keeping an odd distance from him and his best friend Thomas’s abusive parents missing, Andrew is desperate to figure out what’s going on. But there’s something dark awaking in the forest. Can the boys keep it from consuming them and the rest of the school? Obsessed. I’m not saying Thomas and Andrew had a healthy relationship, but I’m also not saying I’m against it.
5/5 monsters

The cover of The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie shows a mustachioed Peter Dinklage as Poirot standing before a shadowy train
Audible

The A.B.C Murders by Agatha Christie*
CW: murder
Always fun to read a Poirot novel. In a challenge to Poirot, a serial killer is working their way through the alphabet. Can Poirot catch them before too much blood has been spilled? This one was kind of fun. I liked the way the reader was led through the mystery because I felt like I was figuring things out a little ahead of Poirot, but then there would be a twist. The Audible full cast performance was very good, and Peter Dinklage was perfect as Poirot.
3.5/5 railway guides

The cover of The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch shows a split image, one side Christmasy with a drawing of the Christmas Prince in a red coat and the other side Halloweeny with the Halloween Prince in black. They eye each other playfully
Bramble

The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch***
A delight. Red, White and Royal Blue meets The Nightmare before Christmas. The Prince of Christmas falls for the Prince of Halloween, but the running of one of the world’s biggest holidays is more fraught than he could have imagined. Is revolution coming to the Christmas monarchy? I loved the banter and the characters and the magic of the holidays. And I loved that it wasn’t just a romance but also a political revolution.
4.5/5 swear word jack-o-lanterns

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
CW: death, suicide, trauma
I really enjoyed this. It was dark, atmospheric, and moody, but also surprisingly hopeful and heartwarming. When a mysterious woman washes ashore nearly dead on Shearwater Island at the edge of Antarctica, the family of caretakers on the island, must decide whether they can trust her with the island’s dark history. I loved the themes of climate change as well as trauma and healing. I really liked the prose. I have one more thought but it’s about the ending. Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

I was hoping for a happy ending though.


4.5/5 seals

The cover of The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden shows a lit cabin in a winter night. The silhouette of a girl stands before the cabin in the snow.
Del Rey

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden*
**Book Hangover Alert
I didn’t like this book quite as much as Arden’s The Warm Hands of Ghosts, but it was still good. Inspired by Russian folklore, the story follows Vasya, a wild young girl whose grandmother may have been a witch, and the struggle between two brothers Fear and Death. The book examines themes of tradition, religion, and feminism. I loved the magical world and all of the different folktale creatures we get to see. I really loved the examination of Christianity as a way to exercise control and enforce conformity through fear. I don’t really feel like that gets talked about enough. A little sad the bear was the bad guy.
4.5/5 hearth spirits

*This book only includes straight white cis people. Aside from Poirot, who obviously is queer coded, The ABC Murders only includes straight white cis people.

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Mississippi Jack for themes of slavery and indigenous conflict with colonizers. Read To the Moon and Back for queer indigenous perspectives. Read Who’s Afraid of Gender because it will make you smarter and more thoughtful. Read The Nightmare before Kissmass for queer joy and also revolution and reparation in fantasy. I’m not tagging Dungeon Crawler Carl yet but I have a feeling that as the books go on, they’re going to get more and more political.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

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End of Year Round Up 2025

Total books read: 124

Number of pages read: 43,227

New books read: 109

Books reread: 15

Number of books by women, trans, and nonbinary people read this year (only counting new books read): 73

Number of books by BIPOC this year (only including new books read): 30

Number of books by disabled authors this year (only including new books read)*: 3
*This can only include authors I know are disabled. More on the list could be and I might not know. 

Breakdown by genre (only counting new books read):
-Fiction: 88 (children’s literature: 2; classics: 1; contemporary fiction: 6; fantasy: 20; graphic novel: 3; historical fiction: 12; horror: 5; literary fiction: 9; mystery: 3; romance: 1; science fiction: 9; thriller: 1; YA: 16
-Nonfiction: 20 (biography: 1; children’s literature: 1; history: 2; memoir: 3; philosophy: 1; science: 9; social science: 1; travel: 1; true crime: 1
-Poetry: 1

First book of the year: Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adyemi

Last book of the year: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Most read author of the year: Rick Riordan, for the second year in a row (I guess if it’s going to a straight white man). I read 4 books by him.

Best books of the year (in no particular order; not including rereads):
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
My Friends by Frederick Backman
The Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M. Anderson
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Icarus by K. Ancrum
The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
Ocean’s Godori and Teo’s Durumi by Elaine U. Cho
The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
Chlorine by Jade Song
The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J.R. Dawson
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
Eight Bears by Gloria Dickie

Lowest-rated books of the year:
Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adyemi
The Home for Wayward Girls by Marcia Bradley
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Books I didn’t finish:
My reading goal this year was to not finish any books I wasn’t enjoying. I didn’t quite meet my goal. I did still finish a few things I thought weren’t great, but it’s an ongoing process
Time Travelers: Victorian Encounters with Time and History edited by Adeline Buckland and Sadiah Qureshi
Rabbit & Robot by Andrew Smith
The Basic Kafka by Franz Kafka
Prague Fatale by Philip Kerr

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October 2025 Books

Books Reread

The cover of Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams shows the famous ruins in a drawing as they may have appeared with Incas living there

Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams*
I’m planning another trip to the Inca Trail so I reread this book. Adams does a good job balancing his personal travelogue of his trek in the Sacred Valley, history of Hiram Bingham’s expeditions, and history of the Incas and the conflict with Pizarro. He also covers current controversies over the Incan artifacts in Yale’s care. Very readable.
3.5/5 llamas

The cover of Bloody Jack by LA Meyer shows the front of a ship with a figure of indeterminate gender on the bowsprit
I know this cover isn’t the same style as the rest of the series. It hurts me too, but this one is signed.

Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer *
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 1 of 12
CW: attempted rape, war, death, plague
This is one of my all time favorite books from one of my all time favorite series. Orphaned in London in 1799, little Mary Faber joins a street gang but when the leader of their gang is killed, Mary rechristens herself Jack and joins the crew of HMS Dolphin as a ship’s boy. The series follows Jacky’s historical hijinks and escapades including but not limited to naval engagements, piracy, finishing school, horse racing, spying in the Napoleonic wars, and so, so much more. Even though we’ve all heard it before, my family and I listened to it on a road trip. I cannot recommend the audiobook highly enough. Katherine Kellgren does a superb job with these books including all the voices, dialects, and songs therein.
5/5 kites

The cover of The Curse of the Blue Tattoo shows a girl dancing on a dock surrounded by sailors

Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L.A. Meyer*
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 2 of 12
CW: attempted rape
Book 2 follows Jacky at finishing school in Boston after she’s discovered to be a girl. And if it doesn’t sound like she could get in much trouble at school (compared to in disguise as a boy in the Royal Navy) well, you’d be wrong. This is maybe one of my least favorite books in the series but there aren’t any bad books in the series.
4/5 sheepdogs

New Books Read

The cover of Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi shows a light skinned Indian woman in a green sari

Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi***
This was one of my Book of the Month books. I enjoyed it. When an influential Indian artist dies mysteriously in a hospital in Bombay in 1937 where nurse Sona works, Sona must undertake a quest to clear her name from suspicion and return several paintings to the artist’s friends. It was interesting to read a historical fiction set in India shortly before partition with an Anglo-American protagonist.
3.5/5 paintings

The cover of Teo's Durumi by Elaine U Cho shows two figures holding hands before a Japanese style pogoda with a space ship flying overhead

Teo’s Durumi by Elaine U. Cho***
**Book Hangover Alert
The Alliance book 2 of 2
CW: gore, serial murder
I’m obsessed with this duology! I’m dying for someone to make it into an action series. It would be so good. Framed for the murder of his family, Teo must clear his name and bring the perpetrators to justice with the help of his ragtag crew of misfits. It has a very cinematic, space opera feel and I just adored it.
5/5 skin suits

The cover of Falmer by Mike Curato shows a drawing of a boy giving the Boy Scout salute surrounded by flames
Henry Holt and Company

Flamer by Mike Curato***
CW: homophobia, religious trauma, suicide attempt
I like to celebrate Banned Books Week all month long. This graphic novel follows Aiden, a closeted teen, at Boy Scout camp as he comes to terms with his sexuality and his own internalized homophobia. I really liked the art in this graphic novel. Several really gorgeous panels, and I really loved the color palette choices.
3.5/5 canoes

The cover of the Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson shows a closeup of colorful bird feathers
Viking Press

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson***
**Book Hangover Alert
A nonfiction book about the craziest museum heist I’ve ever heard of. Johnson traces the crime: the theft of hundred’s of rare, historical, and endangered bird skins from an outpost of the Natural History Museum in London. Why would you steal bird skins from a museum, you ask? For the bizarre and niche hobby of salmon fly tying. Johnson excavates the community’s problematic obsession with using endangered bird feathers in the art form. This book was so wild. I can’t recommend it enough.
4.5/5 birds of paradise

The cover of Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo shows a neon-lit Chinatown street at light with a couple under a streetlight

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: homophobia, racism
The second book I read for Banned Books Month, and it was excellent. Set in the 1950s in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Last Night at the Telegraph Club follows Lily, a teenager trying to navigate her sexuality and culture as well as racism and the Red Scare. It’s such a loving book with interesting and nuanced characters. I really loved getting to read a historical fiction book in this time and place, as it’s not one I’ve read about before.
4.5/5 male impersonators

The cover of We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson shows an etching of two girls surrounded by ominous looking villagers
Viking Press

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson*
**Book Hangover Alert
Just a lil something spooky for Halloween. The Blackwood sisters live with their ailing uncle in their estate on the outskirts of town, shunned by the villagers for a tragedy that killed the rest of their family six years ago. But are the girls as innocent as they seem. Jackson is such a master of atmosphere; I really have no idea how she does it. I’m also a big fan of Mary Katherine, the unreliable narrator of the story.
3.5/5 black cats

The cover of A Thousand Times Before by Asha Thanki shows a tapestry of women's profile's

A Thousand Times Before by Asha Thanki***
CW: domestic violence, religious conflict, colonialism
I said above I’d never read a historical fiction set in the partition of India, but I read two this month. This book is a family saga that follows three generations of women in India during and after partition. A magical tapestry allows the women to pass down their stories and histories and gives the woman from the current generation the power to create change through art. I loved the concept of this book, but I felt the pacing was off. I wanted to be into it, but it dragged.
3/5 tapestries

The cover of Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy shows a waning sliver of moon

Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy*
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: suicide attempt
This one is an early release. I heard Levy speak at the Aspen Literary Festival and her humor convinced me to buy the book. I enjoyed this. It was weird, but good. I’m struggling to write a blurb for it that makes sense. I felt like this book captured what it feels like to be alive right now. To have lived through Covid, to be surviving under capitalism, to be watching America’s descent into fascism and still be trying to live your life. Set in New York City in the near future, “Flat Earth is a story of coming of age in America, a novel about commodification, conspiracy theories, mimetic desire, and the difficulties of female friendship that’s as sharp and sardonic as it is heartbreaking” (I took that from the Penguin Random House blurb). I’m not sure I would say I liked it, but I can’t stop thinking about it?
3.5/5 documentary films

The cover of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison shows a young black girl hunched at a window

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: rape, misogyny, racism, death of animals, incest, child sexual abuse, n-word
The last book I read for Banned Books Month. You know, I had resisted reading this one a bit because I always feel like Morrison’s books are kind of a bummer. (Very important, obviously! But not happy books.) But I actually really liked this one–although, that’s not to say it wasn’t a bummer. The book orbits Pecola, an ‘ugly’ black child who longs to have blue eyes. I thought the choice of POV was super interesting as well as the engagement with the themes of whiteness and internalized racism and beauty standards and the way these systems self perpetuate. Morrison also writes some beautiful prose.
4/5 blue eyes

*This book only includes straight white cis people. Perhaps unfair to give this designation to Turn Right at Machu Picchu and The Feather Thief. The later Bloody Jack books are more diverse, but these first couple are pretty white and straight.

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be lying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Six Days in Bombay to learn about India before partition and the experience of being Anglo-Indian at that time. Read Teo’s Durumi for an Asian-inspired sci-fi with queer characters. Read Flamer for a queer coming of age. Read The Feather Thief to consider the impact humans have on the earth. Read Last Night at the Telegraph Club for untold queer, Asian history. Read A Thousand Times Before for more about Indian partition and queer history. Read The Bluest Eye to learn about internalized racism and the insidious value placed on whiteness.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

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August 2025 Books

Books Reread

George Allen & Unwin

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien*
Such a comforting reread in these trying times. I think The Two Towers is still my favorite book of the series, but of course this one is good too. I love Merry and Pippin’s friendship in this one, which I think is shown in even sharper relief because they aren’t together for most of this book. Once again, the book is split into ‘what everyone else is doing’ first, and then ‘what Frodo and Sam are doing.’ I also forgot how much more stuff there is after they (spoiler) destroy the ring. I did also listen to the appendix this time as well, which I think I skipped the first time I read this book.
4/5 fell beasts

New Books Read

Atria Books

The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas
CW: abduction of a child, murder
This one was fun! A spooky thriller set in a run down museum, it’s a little Night at the Museum meets Jurassic Park plus a murder mystery. Paleontologist Simon Nealy returns to the Hawthorne Museum where his sister disappeared in their childhood determined to finally figure out what happened to her. But the museum is haunted by the ghosts of prehistoric beasts. Can Simon help all these restless souls find peace? Overall I really enjoyed this. Good tension building and fun concept, although I did predict the murderer almost immediately and I did feel like I had a few unanswered questions by the end.
3.5/5 dino ghosts

Joseph Henry Press

Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth’s Ancient Atmosphere by Peter D. Ward and David W. Elhert
I read this as research for a future project, though it was perhaps not very helpful for that. I still read the whole thing though because it was interesting. The authors’ main argument was that the level of oxygen in the atmosphere on prehistoric Earth was the main driver of speciation. They argued that in times of low oxygen, there was more species diversification, then in times of high oxygen levels, those species which had developed very efficient breathing were able to grow much larger and dominate. I thought their arguments sounded convincing, though I don’t know that I know enough about chemistry or geology to comment. This book also came out in 2006 and I don’t know if there are any updates to the research since then.  It did not answer the question of whether humans could have breathed the atmosphere in the Permian, which was not necessarily in their research purview, but it is an important question to me. 
3/5 species

Random House

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro*
I had kind of a hard time getting into this one. In a post-Arthurian Britain where no one can retain long-term memories, an older couple named Axl and Beatrice set off in search of their son. I read in Maggie Stiefvater’s review of this book that it reminded her of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi though she found Piranesi “warmer and sadder.” I would agree with that assessment. I liked the exploration of memory and grief and conflict, but it didn’t fill me up or unmoor me the way Piranesi did.
3/5 she-dragons

W. W. Norton & Company – I really dropped the ball with this one. I could have photographed the copy I read in the museum in front of a bear diorama, but I didn’t

Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future by Gloria Dickie***
I always try to read something on-theme in the museum so this was my latest nonfiction pick. Dickie writes about each of the eight bear species we have on earth with clear-eyed compassion. Each chapter focuses on one bear species where she charts the ecological and social threats to each species. I learned a lot from this book, and I hope everyone reads it so we can work together to save these wonderful animals from extinction.
4.5/5 bears (duh)

The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J.R. Dawson***
CW: mass shooting, death, grief, suicidal ideation
**Book Hangover Alert
I loved this. Full disclosure, Jen was my mentor at Drexel’s MFA program, so I am a little biased. This book is a Sapphic Orpheus and Eurydice retelling set in Chicago. After losing her sister in a mass shooting, Charlie finds herself able to see ghosts–but not her sister. Searching for her sister’s spirit, she stumbles upon a lighthouse at the edge of the lake run by the Ferryman who ferries souls to the underworld every night. But Charlie finds more than she bargained for in the Station Master’s daughter Nera. It was so excellent. I loved the multi-POV narration. I loved the world. I loved the concept. I loved the remnants scattered throughout the narrative. I loved the prose.
5/5 remnants

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Dungeon Crawler Carl book 1 of 8
These books are all the rage right now. And for good reason. They are really fun. When the Earth is turned into a huge mining site for extraction by the Borant Corporation, all surviving humans are thrown into the Dungeon, a real life video game beneath the Earth’s surface televised for the whole Universe. Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat Princess Donut must team up to survive the Dungeon. It’s a little Hunger Games meets Squid Games meets Ready Player One. Perfect for fans of DnD. It was really fun, and I highly recommend the audiobook because the narrator was excellent.
4.5/5 achievements

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor***
The Nsibidi Scripts book 1 of 3
This was so fun! A Nigerian inspired fantasy, Sunny, an albino American-Nigerian living in Nigeria, discovers she’s a Leopard-person gifted with magic. She joins her peers to learn to control her magic and the young Leopard-people must discover the secrets of the Black Hat serial killer menacing children near their village. I loved the developing friendship between Sunny, Chichi, Sasha, and Orlu. I thought the world was really cool. I started a new tag on StoryGraph for books about Magic School that Aren’t Hogwarts. So if you’re looking to fill that void without supporting a terrible person, check this one out!
3.5/5 juju knives

*This book only includes straight white cis people. Once again the classics, which is unfair but still true.

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be laying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Eight Bears to learn more about these wonderful creatures, conservation, climate change and what humans can do to reverse the detrimental effects we’ve had on the environment. Read The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World for Sapphic fantasy and Jewish representation in fantasy. Read Akata Witch for Nigerian inspired fantasy.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

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July 2025 Books

Books Reread

George Allen & Unwin

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien*
The Lord of the Rings book 2 of 3
**Book Hangover Alert
I forgot that this book is in two parts, one about the rest of the fellowship and one about Frodo and Sam, and does not go back and forth between them like the movie does. This movie also starts and ends in a slightly different place than the book. Otherwise it’s very faithful. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are on the trail of Merry and Pippin who were kidnapped by orcs but then rally the ents into resistance in Fangorn Forest. Frodo and Sam continue on toward Mordor, enlisting the unwilling and devious help of Gollum. I haven’t yet reread the third book, but I still think this one might be my favorite. I also love to see the developing friendship between Legolas and Gimli.
4.5/5 ents

Macmillan

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne*
I’ve read this book before, but it was kinda fun to reread it with the backdrop of all the Victorian scientific history I’ve been reading lately (who knew context helps you enjoy something more fully??). Verne was really just excited about geology, like everyone else was at the time so he wrote this adventure novel that talks about rocks probably way more than today’s average reader would be interested in. After finding an account of a man who (you guessed it) claimed to have journeyed to the center of the earth, Dr. Lidenbrock and his reluctant nephew Axel follow in his footsteps down a volcano in Iceland to uncover the secrets hidden under the rocks. This was also fun to read right before I went to Iceland. Overall, I enjoyed it much more than when I read it originally for school in the summer before 8th grade. Of course I have to critique the lack of female characters. And after Axel’s sweetheart Gräuben says she wants to come on the adventure! Axel didn’t want to go! Take her instead!
3.5/5 prehistoric monsters

New Books Read

Doubleday Anchor Books

Darwin’s Century by Loren Eiseley*
Yet another book about Victorian scientific history. This one was cited a bunch in Taylor’s and Dolnick’s books so I went ahead and read it too. It was pretty good. Mostly focused on what paved the way for Darwin’s theory of evolution (he argues Darwin wasn’t a one of a kind genius who came out of nowhere with this crazy idea).
3/5 barnacles

Delacorte Press

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
We Were Liars book 1 of 2
**Book Hangover Alert
A good fast paced read. I really enjoyed this one. Cadence Sinclair comes from a privileged family and spends every summer on a private island near Martha’s Vineyard. But after an accident the summer she was 15, Cady is struggling to remember what happened and no one in her family will tell her. My one critique is about how the prose sometimes devolved into poetry. I just think prose doesn’t become poetry just because you put some line breaks in it. I think the author would have been better off writing lyrical prose than half-baked, partial poems. Do a novel-in-verse or a novel of lyrical prose, but don’t try to do both.
4/5 dogs

The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic
All for the Game book 4 of ?
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: abuse, trauma, brainwashing, sexual assault, assault, suicide
The way Sakavic has her fandom by the throat. Taking place after the original trilogy, this book is from the perspectives of Jean Moreau and Jeremy Knox as Jean unlearns how to be a Raven and learns how to be a Trojan instead. We love to see that healing journey. And I’m also loving meeting all the new characters. Sakavic has always had a knack for writing extremely lovable, flawed, complicated characters.
4.5/5 ravens

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Hild by Nicola Griffith*
The Hild Sequence book 1 of 2
CW: slavery, incest
I wanted to like this more than I did. I just really like the cover tbh. Historical fiction set in the seventh century in Britain, young Hild must navigate the complicated politics of kings and lords vying for power to gain what power she can as a young woman. Griffith’s prose is really nice, but I struggled to get through this one. I liked Hild and Begu and Cian. I’m not sure what it was that made it hard for me to get into. There were a lot of characters and difficult names–it was almost like reading a high fantasy–and they were hard to keep straight.
3/5 prophesies

Delacorte Press

Family of Liars by E. Lockhart
We Were Liars book 2 of 2
This one was good too. I think not quite as good as the first one, but still a quick, easy, enthralling read. It’s a prequel, set before the events of the first novel, but has spoilers for the first one, so read it second. This novel follows Carrie, Cadence’s aunt in her seventeenth summer on the island, exploring the secrets her family keeps and the relationships of the three sisters. It helps to explain how Cady’s mom and aunts ended up the way they are. I liked the voice in the first book, but this book had the exact same voice, even though our narrator is a different character. Would have loved to see some variation in the voice.
3.5/5 ghosts

The Golden Raven by Nora Sakavic
All for the Game book 5 of ?
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: abuse, trauma, brainwashing, sexual assault, assault
I didn’t realize there was going to be more than one book about Jean Moreau. I should have waited to start any of them until all 3 were out. But alas. When I finished the first one, I immediately read this one. And now I wait. Still enjoying these. Sakavic’s prose is so readable, if a little unpolished and repetitive.
4/5 Trojans

Atria Books

My Friends by Frederik Backman***
CW: child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault (mentioned), drug use, drug abuse
Nobody does funny-sad like Backman. I adored this. By like 5 minutes in I was crying and laughing and then that continued for the whole novel. When homeless teen Louisa breaks into an art auction in order to see her favorite painting in person, she could never imagine that she’d meet the artist (in an alley behind the auction, while running from authorities who think she was there to vandalize the painting). And when the artist passes away the next day, Louisa could never have foreseen he’d leave the painting to her. Now Louisa’s got a priceless painting and no idea what to do with it except follow the man who gave it to her, the artist’s best friend to learn the story of the artist and the painting. As unpredictable as real life, the story is fantastically human, full of love and heartbreak and friendship. Rarely do I ever see a book that celebrates or captures true friendship the way this book does. Possibly my new favorite Frederik Backman book.
5/5 farts

Thames and Hudson

When Life Nearly Died by Michael J. Benton*
Another one I read for research. This is about the Permian mass extinction event, the largest mass extinction in history. It gives a good amount of background on some of the other extinctions as well, especially the KP event and the history of our understanding of mass extinctions. It was very interesting. I won’t pretend to understand all the geology and paleontology at work here, but overall I thought Benton did a good job of laying out his argument and evidence in an understandable way. Though, I don’t plan to set my novel near the end-Permian event, so not sure how relevant this actually was to my research.
3/5 Lystrosauruses

The Mayor of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham***
CW: racism, n-word
I enjoyed this. Hungry for a change at being a serious reporter, Nelly, a young Black woman from a well-to-do family, takes an assignment to find the Mayor of Maxwell Street, a shady figure who seems to run all of Chicago’s underworld. But is Nelly in way over her head? With her charmed life on the line, Nelly must decide what she’s willing to do for her freedom. I thought this one was fun, but I’m not sure I was completely satisfied by the ending.
3.5/5 glittering parties

*This book only includes straight white cis people. We know those classics are just going to be straight white cis people. It’s probably not fair to label the history books with this label, since the gender and sexual identity of the researchers isn’t relevant, however, women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ individuals have long been excluded from scientific research. I’m not labeling the We Were Liars books with this designation, not because they’re not almost entirely straight white cis people, but because there is some critique of race, class, and heteronormativity. I don’t have any idea if there were people of color in Britain in the seventh century, so maybe this isn’t fair for Hild either, and there is a whiff of homoeroticism in this book, but there could have been more.

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be laying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read My Friends because it will make you a better person. Read The Mayor of Maxwell Street for a 1920s historical fiction focused on the Black community of Chicago.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

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June 2025 Books

Books Reread

George Allen & Unwin

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien*
What a nice comfort book to read in these trying times. When Frodo’s uncle leaves him an enchanted ring, Frodo is pulled into a struggle to save middle earth. Peter Jackson’s movie is excellent and that is in part because he had great source material. A classic. It was nice to visit Tom Bombadil again too.
4/5 barrow-wights

New Books Read

The Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao***
Iron Widow book 2
CW: see content warning from the author at the beginning of the book
I won’t do a little summary of this book, because I don’t want to spoil the first book. This book was good, but I wouldn’t say I really enjoyed it. The first book was fun. I loved how Zetian, Shimin, and Yizhi interacted with one another and how they took on the establishment. In this book they almost don’t interact at all, which I found disappointing. I liked the examination of Laborism and the continued themes of feminism, especially how Zetian is learning her own shortcomings as a feminist. But the first half of the book dragged a bit. Still fascinated by the world. I’ll probably still read the next book.
3.5/5 suits of spirit armor

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang***
Gods Beyond the Skies book 1
I love when authors thank each other in their acknowledgements. It was a coincidence that I happened to pick this book and Heavenly Tyrant up at the library at the same time, but I loved seeing both authors thank each other in the acknowledgements. Ruying has the power to pull the life force from someone’s body, but she is one of a conquered people. When a conquering prince discovers her power, Ruying is forced to become his personal assassin to save her family. But the prince is charismatic. He seems to want peace and unity between their people as much as she does. As Ruying is drawn in by his promise of peace, she must learn to trust herself to do the right thing for her people. I enjoyed this. I liked seeing Ruying’s character develop throughout the book.
3.5/5 blessings from Death

Tor Nightfire

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle***
**Book Hangover Alert
This one was fun. Screenwriter Misha made it in Hollywood by writing queer horror movies, but then the studio tells him he has to kill off his gay leads right at the culmination of their relationship. Despite being closeted in his hometown in Montana, Misha is ready to stand for his principles until he starts being menaced by monsters from his own movies. Are these crazy stalker fans or something more sinister? I really enjoyed this. Great tension building. Important themes about technology and art and capitalism (spoiler: this book is anti-AI) that I was left thinking about long after the story ended. My one critique is that I hated the dialogue tags. This is probably just a personal quibble.
4/5 horror monsters

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: ableism, Nazis, racism
Stiefvater’s adult debut is a sparkling historical fiction with elements of magical realism. After Pearl Harbor, the US government requisitions several luxury hotels to house Axis diplomats and foreign nationals in the hopes that if the diplomats are well treated, the American diplomats in Germany will be as well until a prisoner swap can be arranged. Hotel general manager June must figure out how to host the enemy, keep her staff under control, and balance the mineral water springs that flow beneath the hotel which return the same energy they are given. I can’t say enough good things about this book. I don’t feel like I explained it very well, but just trust me, you should read it. Gorgeous prose as always. Interesting and compelling characters. Magical and ethereal setting that fills you with longing. I adored it. I also loved seeing the themes of disability in this book, especially a consideration of the way Nazis were persecuting disabled people, which I think often isn’t talked about enough. My only caveat about this book is that you should not read about a luxury hotel while staying at a budget hotel. Lends itself to too much comparison.
5/5 dachshunds

Indiana University Press

Earth Before the Dinosaurs by Sébastien Steyer
A book I read for research. This book has gorgeous illustrations. It went a little more in depth on evolutionary history than I needed it to. I really just wanted to know what kind of animals were alive in the Carboniferous and Permian periods.
3/5 dimetrodons

Camp by L.C. Rosen
This was a very fun, easy read. Randy has been coming to queer camp as a theater kid for several years now, but this year he has a plan to catch the eye of butch gay boy Hudson who has never so much as looked at him. All he has to do is give up theater, his friends, his style, and everything he loves about camp. But when Hudson looks at him in his new masculine clothes, it’s all worth it. Or is it? I enjoyed this. I read it very fast. I did think maybe there was some trauma that didn’t really get fully addressed and it did seem like there was kind of a lot of sex for a YA book. I try not to be a prude (and I am and 100% against banning books), but I do think sexual content in YA books should be approached differently than in an adult book.
3.5/5 painted nails

Books I didn’t finish

University of Chicago Press

Time Travelers: Victorian Encounters with Time and History edited by Adelene Buckland and Sadiah Qureshi
This book was just a little more niche than I needed it to be. I read it as research for a novel I’m thinking about, but a few of the essays were more academic and focused than I wanted. I read the essays that interested me and skimmed the rest.

*This book only includes straight white cis people. 

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be laying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Heavenly Tyrant to learn about Laborism, overthrowing fascist regimes, and the subjugation of women in many different government systems. Read To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods for a fantasy inspired by the true events in Manchuria during WWII under Russian and Japanese subjugation. Read Bury Your Gays for queer rep in horror (with a happy ending!) and a critique of AI and the commodification of art. Read The Listeners to learn more about the Nazis and disability. I’m not marking Camp as a Book for a Social Conscience, not because it doesn’t have good representation, or because you shouldn’t read it, but just simply because I don’t think it will make you a better person if you read it. Which again doesn’t mean it isn’t good.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

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May 2025 Books

Books Reread

Scholastic

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater*
**Book Hangover Alert
One of Stiefvater’s more underrated books I think. Like the Chincoteague pony swim, except the horses are cursed, carnivorous monsters. Every November the flesh eating water horses come out of the ocean and any man brave enough can capture, train, and race one in the Scorpio Races. But this year Puck Connolly, the first girl to enter is racing, and she has everything to lose. I love the characters and, as always, I love Stiefvater’s prose.
4/5 flesh-eating horses

Penguin Teen

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao***
See content warnings from the author at the beginning of the book.
Reread this one because the sequel is FINALLY out! When her sister is killed by a celebrity pilot, Zeitan joins the army–which sacrifices girls to power crafts that can fight alien invaders–not to sacrifice herself but to seek vengeance for her sister. I listened to the audiobook this time, and really enjoyed the narrator’s performance. She was a perfect choice for Zeitan. You can read my original review here. I gave this book a 4 last time I reviewed it, but I think that’s a little low.
4.5/5 heroic forms

New Books Read

Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party by Edward Dolnick*
This book was super fascinating. It traced the early discoveries of ancient creatures in the early 1800s, the people at the forefront of these discoveries, and the way Victorian thought had to shift to make room for new ideas about how old the earth is and what kinds of creatures lived here before us. This is a very readable popular science book.
4/5 fossils

Titan Books

The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth***
The Undetectables book 1 of 3
This one was so fun. When three lesbian teenage witches formed the Undetectables detective agency, no one would take them seriously. But several years later, when they get the chance to investigate a real case, they can’t pass up the chance, even as the occult serial killer gets ever more dangerous. I loved the humor and the characters. I also loved the representation of a character with EDS. It’s so nice to see a protagonist with a chronic illness and see how it actually affects her life and the kinds of accommodations and work arounds she finds. I also loved that we got to see her grappling with the way her perception of herself and the way she perceives how her friends think about her since becoming disabled. I think it was written in a really relatable way.
4.5/5 ghosts with cat ears

Babylonia by Constanza Casati
CW: slavery, war, gore
A sweeping historical fiction about the only known female ruler of the Assyrian Empire. This one was really cool. I didn’t know much about Assyrian Empire before reading this. I liked the world, the plot, and the characters, though the prose was a little snoozy at times.
3.5/5 leopards (how come the leopard never got a name??)

Doubleday

All that Remains by Sue Black
A nonfiction book by a forensic anthropologist sharing fascinating tidbits from her long career. Black does a good job balancing science and story, as well as the somewhat voyeuristic interest many of us have with the dead with the utmost respect for human remains.
3.5/5 bones

Tor Teen

Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth***
I binged this in a day. A retelling of Shakespeare’s The Twelfth Knight. Student vice president Viola Reyes and student president and star running back Jack “Duke” Orsino can’t stand each other. But when Duke is injured in a game, he finds solace playing online role-playing game Twelfth Knight where he meets veteran player Cesario. But Cesario is actually Viola’s online alter-ego, the male persona allowing her a safer space in the gaming community. Can these two resolve their differences and learn that neither of them is who the other thought? This was really fun. My only critique would be that it maybe could have been a little more queer (it was a little queer, but come on, it’s Shakespeare).
4/5 cosplays

Liveright

Impossible Monsters by Michael Taylor*
This one was a lot like Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party, though more in depth, more academic, and more focused on the interaction of science and religion through the 19th century. The tension between science and religion came from the shift from the study of science as a way to appreciate God’s creation to the discoveries in science refuting religious beliefs. It was super fascinating.
3.5/5 species

Books I did not finish

Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Rabbit and Robot by Andrew Smith
This is an absurd YA dystopian book. I think I could have really enjoyed this, but it was too long and too repetitive and the humor got really old really fast. I think the concept was interesting and the social critique was probably cool, though I didn’t finish it, so I can’t really analyze it.
1/5 weird androids

*This book only includes straight white cis people. 

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be laying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Iron Widow for a Chinese-inspired fantasy about a girl discovering her feminism. Read The Undetectables for queer and disabled rep in paranormal mystery. Read Twelfth Knight to learn more about women and people of color in the gaming community.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

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April 2025 Books

New Books Read

The Home for Wayward Girls by Marcia Bradley*
CW: child abuse, trauma
We had to read this for the MFA graduation residency. It was. Not great. Loretta grew up on a ranch where parents sent their troubled daughters. But the Home’s prerogative is not rehabilitation and Loretta suffers from her abusive parents just like the girls sent to the home. Characters were very flat. The protagonist came off as a Mary Jane. Once she escapes the Home, everyone is always telling her how special she is and it came off really unbelievable. I understand the impulse to make it clear to readers that even someone who has been through something terrible can have a happy ending, but the way it was done here seemed like it minimized her trauma and the trauma of others who have been through these kinds of institutions. Made it feel trite. Also the nonlinear structure killed the tension because we knew from the start that Loretta was going to escape the Home and be happy and successful. 
2.5/5 buttons

The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabeth Lim
I don’t think I enjoyed this quite as much as the first one, but it was still good. Shiori must fulfill the promise she made to her stepmother and return to dragon pearl to its rightful owner, along the way reckoning with dragons, demons, and magic hating citizens. I love the characters and the fantasy world. Shiori is such a good character (and so are Kiki and Seryu), and Lim does a good job of characterizing all her brothers even though there are 6 of them. 
4/5 dragon pearls

All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell
A nonfiction book all about people whose professions revolve around death. Funeral directors, embalmers, executioners, large scale disaster managers, crime scene cleaners, cryonics caretakers, death midwives the people who take your body when you donate it to science. It was fascinating and Campbell writes with inquisitive compassion as she puzzles out her own obsession with death. Did make me wonder if I should include more of the gross, gritty details of bodies that I mostly left out of my novel.
4.5/5 donated bodies

Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis
**Book Hangover Alert
Loved this. A sapphic historical fiction about two sisters running a scam as mediums. I liked the use of multiple perspectives to show us the unreliableness of our narrators. I know why the timeline was organized like all of Sylvie’s chapters up to the reveal, then Charlotte’s chapters rewind to the beginning, take us through the events of Sylvie’s chapters, and then go to the end. That’s how she preserved the big reveal at the end of Sylvie’s section, but then when we switched to Charlotte and had to rewind I was like WAIT but what happens NEXT?? It was still really good though. 
4.5/5 toads

Hank’s Big Day: The Story of a Bug by Evan Kuhlman
We read this as our story time book at the museum this month. A very cute story of a roly-poly’s day out with his friend Amelia.
3/5 roly-polies

The Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M. Anderson***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: grief; (The author does include content warnings at the beginning of the book)
I ADORED this. Like A Man Called Ove meets The House on the Cerulean Sea. Cursed with immortality and the ability to see ghosts, Peter finds ghosts and sends them on their way, wandering from place to place, unable to return home. But when a tricky ghost keeps him in town longer than expected, Peter finds himself growing closer to the residents than he has to anyone in centuries. I loved the characters and the found family and the plants and the ghosts. Cool magic system and ghost rules. Just loved the cozy vibes. 
5/5 minty ghosts

(the book photography gradually gets less and less inspired)

Ocean’s Godori by Elaine U. Cho***
**Book Hangover Alert
The Alliance book 1 of 2
This was so fun. A disgraced pilot trying to find her place in the universe must help her best friend, heir to a controversial tech empire, when he’s framed for the murder of his family. She and her misfit crew set off on this epic space opera. It did have the learning curve of other sci-fi where they throw you in and you have to figure out what words mean and there are a bunch of characters and you’re like what is going on for the first little bit. But not nearly as frustrating as like Dune! I loved all the characters and I’m super interested in the conspiracy (it’s the first in a series which I forgot as I neared the end with mounting anxiety that we wouldn’t wrap everything up. We didn’t). 
4.5/5 vultures

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez***
**Book Hangover Alert
An author retires to a barrio in the Dominican Republic where she builds a cemetery to bury all the notes from stories she didn’t write. Those untold stories weave together with her own story and the story of the woman she hires to care for the cemetery. A quiet, lit-fic book that asked a lot of really interesting questions about storytelling and who gets to tell stories and what happens to stories that aren’t told and the line between truth and fiction. Nice use of omniscient POV and weaving together of so many different people and stories. I liked that she didn’t tone down the Spanish for an English speaking audience. I liked working for it a bit. 
4/5 sculptures

Bear by Julia Phillips*
I read this because bears are my favorite animal, but it wasn’t really about bears. It was about more sad adults. It wasn’t bad, I just didn’t like it. Sam is waiting for the day she and her sister can leave their home and dead end jobs on San Juan Island. But when a bear appears on the island, Sam’s sister realizes she may not want to leave. The prose was good, the characters were complex, the plot had an air of inevitability about it. But the moral of the story was “you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.” And (spoiler) the bear dies. Very sad. 
3/5 bears

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson*
**Book Hangover Alert
Mistborn book 1 of 7
This was really good. In an ash-filled wasteland ruled by the immortal and divine Lord Ruler, rebellions never work. But a rag tag crew is forming to challenge the Lord Ruler and the nobility and it might just be one street urchin with a power she hardly understands that will be the key to overthrowing the Empire once and for all. It might be a bit on the long side with a bit of a slow start but the last quarter of the book was action packed. This is only my second Sanderson book but I can already tell he always comes up with really interesting, innovative magic systems. He also did a good job explaining the magic system in bits and pieces so I wasn’t overwhelmed with information and I felt like I was figuring it out as the characters used and learned about it. Could have probably had at least one more important female character. This is a high fantasy book that had the right amount of romance for me. 
4.5/5 metals

Yimby: Yes! In My Back Yard! by Sheryl Recinos***
Full disclosure, someone in my MFA program wrote this book, so I’m a bit biased. A response to the “Not in my backyard” anti-homelessness and immigration slogan, this children’s book welcomes all people and advocates for housing for all. It has gorgeous illustrations and an important message.
4/5 advocates

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
**Book Hangover Alert
Thursday Murder Club Mysteries book 1 of 5
I loved this. At a retirement home outside of London, some of the residents solve old cold cases for fun, but when the builder for an expansion of the property is murdered, they suddenly have a real case to solve. This was just so darling. So fun, so British. I liked the multi-POV and the way Joyce’s journals were incorporated. Super excited about the film they’re making too.
4.5/5 mysterious photographs

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green***
**Book Hangover Alert
Everyone should be required to read this book. Green writes so beautifully and informatively about the history, present, and potential futures of tuberculosis. I felt the same kind of frustrated longing reading this book as I did Braiding Sweetgrass–that we as humans could choose a better, kinder path, and we keep choosing not to. Capitalism sucks.
5/5 treatments

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls by Cherie Dimaline***
CW: sexual assault, drug use
Winnie and her father live in and care for the cemetery, but low revenue might force them to leave. When ghost tours reignite interest in the cemetery, Winnie thinks this might be the way to save the cemetery, but when a real ghost shows up, she has to decide whether to save her home or her new friend. I liked the depictions of OCD and the LGBTQIA+ and Native representation. It did feel like there wasn’t very much urgency in the main plot, and we were more worried about getting the ghost’s backstory, but I still enjoyed it.
3.5/5 ghosts

Books I did not finish

This year the only goal I set for myself was not to finish any books I wasn’t enjoying. I’ve already failed this goal several times this year, but I’m trying to do better. There are so many books I want to read. I don’t want to waste time reading books I don’t like.

Prague Fatale by Philip Kerr*
Bernie Gunther series
This was boring. I didn’t feel invested enough in the mystery to keep reading. It was a bit of a tits and ass book, but I could have gotten over that if I was invested in the mystery.

The Basic Kafka by Franz Kafka*
I’ve read The Metamorphosis and I really like that story, but I wasn’t really into any of the other stories in this collection. “The Judgement” was pretty good, but I just wasn’t into these enough to keep reading. Plus I think I’ve already seen the best lines from Kafka’s journals and letters on Tumblr.

*This book only includes straight white cis people. I’ve heard Brandon Sanderson has started to write more diverse casts in his more recent books.

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be laying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Keeper of Lonely Spirits for some mature LGBTQIA+ romance. Read Ocean’s Godori for a Korean inspired space opera with LGBTQIA+ rep. Read The Cemetery of Untold Stories for Dominican rep and history. Read Yimby: YesI In My Back Yard! for compassion and social justice. Read Everything is Tuberculosis if you care about the future of humanity. Read Funeral Songs for Dying Girls for mental health, LGBTQIA+, and Native rep.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

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