Burn it to the ground

March and April 2026 Books

Wed, 06 May 2026 13:51:00 GMT

Five books read in March and six in April. I know I said in an earlier entry I wanted to read a little more slowly and more thoughtfully this year, and it started well, with me only reading five books each in January and February but having actual thoughts about them. But for the last couple months reading has been frustrating, and the slowness is not due to reading thoughtfully but because I'm bored and not reading at all for long stretches. I've been reluctant to DNF anything because none of the books have been bad (although April ended with a splat, see reviews below), and I think the problem is me. I can blame working long hours, but even when I have free time I rarely use that time to read. I'm hoping I can get past this slump soon. I probably just need to be more aggressive about DNFing stuff I'm not having fun reading.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-7 (January)
Books 8-14 (February)

( 15. No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull - 2 stars )

( 16. An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi - 3.5 stars )

( 17. The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ote Utomi - 4.5 stars )

( 18. The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin - 3.5 stars )

( 19. The Monster by Seth Dickinson - 3 stars )

( 20. Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin - 3 stars )

( 21. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett - 5 stars )

( 22. J is for Justice by Sue Grafton - 4 stars )

( 23. The Curator by Owen King - 2.5 stars )

( 24. Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland - 2 stars )

( 25. Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan - 2 stars (Spoilers for pretty much all of it) )

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February 2026 Books

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 11:04:32 GMT

Seven books read in February, no DNFs.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-7 (January)

( 8. The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hildebrand - 3.5 stars )

( 9. Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen - 2 stars - slight spoilers )

( 10. Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse - 2.5 stars )

( 11. The Unmothers by Leslie J. Anderson - 3.5 stars )

( 12. Here Beside the Rising Tide by Emily Jane - 4 stars )

( 13. Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King - 4.5 stars )

( 14. The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull - 2.5 stars )

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January 2026 Books

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:34:22 GMT

First books post of the year! Sorry it's so late. I finished seven books in January, no DNFs. It was a fairly good reading month, with no books that I absolutely hated.

For new people, this is the general format of the books post: each individual book is under a cut, which is for length and not for spoilers. Any spoilers will be warned for outside of the cut. Under the cut I'll have a quick summary of the book's premise followed by a short review. Some of the reviews will be longer, especially if I'm ranting about a book I didn't like.

( 1. Under the Rainbow by Celia Laskey - 3 stars - Maybe spoilers, but I prefer to think of them as trigger warnings, because the book certainly doesn't give you any )

( 2. I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton - 4 stars )

( 3. The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge - 4 stars )

( 4. Lone Women by Victor LaValle - 3.5 stars )

( 5. A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham - 3.5 stars )

( 6. The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller - 4 stars )

( 7. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King - 4.5 stars )

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Book Awards 2025

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 14:59:22 GMT

This is the best I can do.

( Top Five Favorite Fiction Books of 2025 - no spoilers )

Best Nonfiction Book of 2025:
Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America by Pekka Hämäläinen. Very dry and academic and not for everyone, but I learned so much reading this that I had never known before, and the rigor really put it above all the pop science and history nonfiction I read this year. I appreciated how comprehensive a history this was while still delving into the details.

Best Series I Started in 2025:
The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan. I know I have The Tainted Cup above as a five star read as well as the start of a series, but a) I don't want to repeat books, and b) this book starts off what looks like a traditional trilogy while Bennett's series seems like it's going to be more of a case where each book mostly stands alone. This is good, solid epic fantasy with a world and characters that I want to know more about. I actually only rated this 3.5 stars(!), but the ending left me excited to move on to find out what's going to happen.

Best Re-Read of 2025:
Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. Dark Tower is still my favorite series.

( Bottom Five Least Favorite Fiction Books of 2025 - no spoilers )

Worst Nonfiction Book of 2025:
Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen. I actually read their second book first, which was a solid three stars, so I decided to give this one a try. It had everything annoying that made me rate the second book only three stars, only ramped up to intolerable levels. It doesn't even reach the level of a pop science book; it's too shallow even for that. I think the language is supposed to be relatable to laypeople, but it's so casual and dumbed down that it felt insulting to read. The constant quips were awkward and annoying. I learned nothing from this book because there's zero substance.

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December 2025 Books

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 18:09:43 GMT

Last Books post of the year. I know there are still a couple days left, but after I finished my most recent book I decided to take a short break and start fresh on January 1st. No unfinished books hanging on from 2025. Also, I stopped because I reached exactly 100 books! Which was a surprise to me. The last time I had 100+ books was in 2017, and that was because a large chunk of them was Doctor Who novels, which are fast reads.

I'm not sure how I got to 100 this year. Maybe because I made it a goal to read more mystery/thriller books this year, and they are generally shorter and faster-paced than my usual science fiction and fantasy? Also I think getting into the habit of reading a little before bed every night instead of playing on my phone (as well as starting to put a dent into the stack of unread books I own) helped that along. I kind of failed at listening to many audiobooks this year compared to last year, so they're a minor contribution to the overall count. And I do count DNFs, which some people will claim is cheating, but who cares? There's no prize for reaching a certain number. I suppose if I was claiming I read 100 books and half or more of them were DNFs, you might have an argument, but I only had eight DNFs total this whole year. I have a personal rule that I need to have read at least 25% of a book before counting it; there are some DNFs I quit only a couple chapters in because I could tell from the beginning it was not for me, and those I don't count. I think there was only one book this year that fell into that category, and it is not included in any of my book posts or the overall count.

I might do awards this year? I know I said that last year and never did, but I can try again.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)
Books 16-24 (March)
Books 25-33 (April)
Books 34-41 (May)
Books 42-49 (June)
Books 50-58 (July)
Books 59-67 (August)
Books 68-89 (September/October/November)

( 90. Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey - 3 stars )

( 91. H is for Homicide by Sue Grafton - 2 stars )

( 92. Codex by Lev Grossman - 2.5 stars )

( 93. This Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour - 3 stars )

( 94. Brutes by Dizz Tate - 2 stars )

( 95. Bag of Bones by Stephen King - 2 stars )

( 96. Home Before Dark by Riley Sager - 3.5 stars )

( 97. American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson - 3 stars )

( 98. Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow - 2 stars )

( 99. The Emperor's Railroad by Guy Haley - 2 stars )

( 100. The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later by The Tectonic Theater Project - 3 stars )

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September, October, November 2025 Books Post

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 19:27:18 GMT

This is for September, October, and November because I suck at updating. HUGE post ahead.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)
Books 16-24 (March)
Books 25-33 (April)
Books 34-41 (May)
Books 42-49 (June)
Books 50-58 (July)
Books 59-67 (August)

( 68. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - 2.5 stars )

( 69. The Genius Plague by David Walton - 3 stars )

( 70. The Lifted Veil by George Eliot - 3 stars )

( 71. G is for Gumshoe by Sue Grafton - 3.5 stars )

( 72. The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon - DNF )

( 73. Picnic in the Ruins by Todd Robert Petersen - 3 stars )

( 74. Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen - 2 stars )

( 75. The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett - DNF )

( 76. Mickey7 by Edward Ashton - 3.5 stars )

( 77. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - 4 stars )

( 78. The Green Mile by Stephen King - 4.5 stars )

( 79. The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake - 2.5 stars )

( 80. The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler - 5 stars )

( 81. Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara - 3 stars )

( 82. Smothermoss by Alisa Alering - 3.5 stars )

( 83. The Doloriad by Missouri Williams - DNF )

( 84. The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward - 3 stars )

( 85. The Untold Story by Genevieve Cogman - 4 stars )

( 86. The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay - 2 stars )

( 87. Sundial by Catriona Ward - 4.5 stars )

( 88. Wizard and Glass by Stephen King - 5 stars )

( 89. The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake - DNF )

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August 2025 Books

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 17:37:44 GMT

I read 9 books in August, as well as reaching my original goal of 60 books this year. I increased the goal to 75.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)
Books 16-24 (March)
Books 25-33 (April)
Books 34-41 (May)
Books 42-49 (June)
Books 50-58 (July)

( 59. The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman - 4.5 stars )

( 60. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - 3.5 stars )

( 61. Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America by Pekka Hämäläinen - 4 stars )

( 62. Relics by Tim Lebbon - 2.5 stars )

( 63. Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon - 3 stars )

( 64. The Glory of the Empress by Sean Danker - 3.5 stars )

( 65. The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman - 3 stars )

( 66. Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine - 2 stars )

( 67. Desperation by Stephen King - 2 stars )

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July 2025 Books

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 14:58:44 GMT

Nine books read this month, including one DNF.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)
Books 16-24 (March)
Books 25-33 (April)
Books 34-41 (May)
Books 42-49 (June)

( 50. The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman - 4.5 stars )

( 51. The Regulators by Richard Bachman - 3.5 stars )

( 52. Number One Fan by Meg Elison - 4 stars )

( 53. Morgan Is My Name by Sophie Keetch - 4 stars )

( 54. Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley - DNF )

( 55. The Longest Autumn by Amy Avery - 3 stars. SPOILERS )

( 56. The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan - 3.5 stars )

( 57. F is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton - 3 stars )

( 58. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt - 4 stars )

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

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June 2025 Books

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 14:20:08 GMT

Another eight books read in June.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)
Books 16-24 (March)
Books 25-33 (April)
Books 34-41 (May)

Cut for length, not for spoilers. Any spoilers will be marked.

( 42. E is for Evidence by Sue Grafton - 4 stars )

( 43. Rose Madder by Stephen King - 3.5 stars )

( 44. The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers - 3 stars )

( 45. Tell Me What I Am by Una Mannion - 3 stars )

( 46. Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science by Erika Engelhaupt - 4 stars )

( 47. Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez - 3.5 stars )

( 48. Medicine's 10 Greatest Discoveries by Meyer Friedman and Gerald W. Friedland - 4 stars )

( 49. Free Space by Sean Danker - 4 stars )

Sorry this is so late. Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

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May 2025 Books

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 16:21:24 GMT

Late again. It was kind of a ho-hum reading month, with nothing rating higher than 3.5 stars, and I didn't feel particularly eager to write up this entry. Still, I read eight books in May, no DNFs.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)
Books 16-24 (March)
Books 25-33 (April)

As usual, cut for length, not spoilers. Any spoilers that do make it in will be marked.

( 34. Holdout by Jeffrey Kluger - 3 stars )

( 35. Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen - 3 stars )

( 36. Let Him In by William Friend - 2.5 stars )

( 37. Admiral by Sean Danker - 3.5 stars )

( 38. The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings - 2 stars )

( 39. Weyward by Emilia Hart - 3 stars )

( 40. Face by Joma West - 2 stars )

( 41. Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds - 3.5 stars )

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April 2025 Books

Mon, 05 May 2025 18:19:26 GMT

I know I said Sunday, but it's not that late.

Not the most productive reading month; I was very busy the first half of the month and my reading slowed down a lot. I still finished nine books, with one DNF.

Going back to putting everything beneath cuts, because I thought the previous format was ugly and confusing. Spoilers will be marked.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)
Books 16-24 (March)

( 25. After the Forest by Kell Woods - 3 stars )

( 26. Unbound by Christy Healy - 2 stars. Slight spoilers for the ending )

( 27. Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden - 2.5 stars )

( 28. The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman - 4 stars )

( 29. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel - 4 stars )

( 30. A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them by Neil Bradbury - 5 stars )

( 31. Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio - DNF )

( 32. Tonight, I Burn by Katharine J. Adams - 2.5 stars )

( 33. Insomnia by Stephen King - 3 stars )

Anyone else read any of these? What did you think?

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March 2025 Books

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 17:36:17 GMT

New goal: create this monthly books wrap-up in a private post as I finish stuff, instead of trying to do it all at the end of the month.

I read nine books in March, bringing me to a total of 24 for the year.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)
Books 10-15 (February)

16. Rednecks by Taylor Brown - 2.5 stars. This is a historical fiction based on the West Virginia Mine Wars and the origin of the term "redneck." Many of the characters are based on real life figures who featured in this conflict, the largest armed conflict on American soil since the Civil War.

( My thoughts on Rednecks )

17. The Quiet Room by Terry Miles - 3 stars. This book takes place in the same world as Rabbits. Emily Connors has spent most of her life playing the alternate reality game Rabbits, which involves traveling to alternate universes. At the beginning of the book Emily finds herself in an alternate universe where the game doesn't seem to exist. Worse than that, this alternate is dying and will soon blink out of existence. Worse than that, without the game Emily can't get back to her home universe. Her only chance is to find a place called the Quiet Room, which probably doesn't even exist. Emily, along with some of her acquaintances who have also been trapped and Rowan Chess, a native to the universe who has no idea what's going on, sets out to find a way back home.

( My thoughts on The Quiet Room - some spoilers for the first book )

18. The Vagabonds by Nicholas Delbanco - 1.5 stars. The three Saperstone siblings, Joanna, Claire, and David, are scattered across the country living their own lives and dealing with their problems when the news comes that their mother has died. The siblings travel to Saratoga Springs, where the reading of their mother's will comes with a huge surprise that will change all of their lives.

( My thoughts on The Vagabonds - spoilers, but this book is so pointless can they really be called spoilers? )

19. Ten Drugs: How Plants, Powders, and Pills Have Shaped the History of Medicine by Thomas Hager - 4.5 stars. This book is exactly what the title says: a history of several drugs (the title says ten, but it's more like ten-ish, as the author tends to count different drugs that fall into the same class as just one) and the effect they had on society.

( My thoughts on Ten Drugs )

20. Edenville by Sam Rebelein - DNF. Ever since publishing his first novel, Campbell has struggled with writer's block and has failed to produce anything new. Then, out of the blue, he is invited to become a writer-in-residence at Edenville College. Campbell and his girlfriend Quinn move to Edenville despite Quinn's misgivings: she grew up in a small town near Edenville and is familiar with the weird, unsettling stories about the place. Before long Campbell realizes that he's not been hired for this writing abilities, and Quinn is trapped between wanting to stay in the friendly, picturesque town and wanting to flee from the unnerving, underlying strangeness. But it might already be too late to escape.

( My thoughts on Edenville )

21. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett - 5 stars. Din, who has been altered by magic to possess perfect memory, is the assistant to eccentric investigator Ana Dolabra, who has been called in to investigate the bizarre death of an Imperial officer. It soon becomes clear that the man was murdered, and that he wasn't the only one to be murdered in such a fashion. Worse, some of these murders caused a serious breach in the wall that protects the empire from the giant monsters who periodically come up from the sea to rampage through the land. Fearful of a terrible conspiracy to bring down the empire, Din and Ana must find the murderer before it's too late.

( My thoughts on The Tainted Cup )

22. The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman - 4 stars. The third book in the Invisible Library series. When Librarian Irene is nearly incinerated by a malfunctioning door back to the library, she has to find alternative transport back to report what has happened. Once she's back in the Library, she discovers that her door isn't the only malfunctioning one--and some other Librarians haven't been as lucky as she in escaping the possibly booby-trapped portals. Clues lead Irene and her assistant Kai to an alternate version of St. Petersburg, where they hope to find answers before the entire Library is destroyed.

( My thoughts on The Burning Page )

23. The Adventurists: Stories by Richard Butner - 3 stars. A selection of short stories that are mostly magical realism in content and feel, with a dash of Kafka-esque absurdism.

( My thoughts on The Adventurists )

24. D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton - 3 stars. The fourth book in the Kinsey Millhone detective series. This book opens with Kinsey being hired, once again, to do something that she thinks could be easily done by the client themselves. In this case, the client is Alvin Limardo and he wants Kinsey to deliver a cashier's check to a person he claims to be unable to find. Always with one eye on her bank balance, Kinsey takes what promises to be an easy job. Except the check she's given as a retainer bounces, and when she goes to track down Limardo she discovers he's actually a man named John Daggett--and that he's just been found dead. His daughter is convinced he was murdered and she hires Kinsey to find out who did it. Problem is, Daggett didn't make himself very popular while alive, and the list of potential suspects is dauntingly long.

( My thoughts on D is for Deadbeat )

I am going right now to start the April books post so that it'll be ready to go in early May! And maybe I'll have better reviews when I'm not dredging my memory for what happened. I usually type up completely new reviews for posting on DW, but for this one I honestly just C/Ped my Goodreads reviews for a lot of them. That's lazy, I'm sorry.

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February 2025 Books

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 13:44:07 GMT

Look, it's still March!

February was pretty slow, reading-wise. I read six books, but two of them were DNFs, so I actually only read four whole books. Count continues from January.

And I've had a StoryGraph for a few months, but I just recently started adding books to it. My profile is here.

Previous books posts:
Books 1-9 (January)

10. Scorpica by G. R. Macallister - 3 stars. This is the first book in an epic fantasy series. Scorpica is one nation among five alliance nations that are all ruled by a matriarchy. One day girls just stop being born, which causes a crisis across the nations and stresses the alliance to a breaking point. The story follows several different characters as they navigate the changing world and learn to face their destinies.

( My thoughts on Scorpica )

11. Neuropath by R. Scott Bakker - DNF. Tom is a psychology professor going through your typical midlife crisis. He's bored with his job, his marriage has fallen apart, and he doesn't get to see his kids as often as he'd like to. Then the FBI shows up at his office one day, looking for Tom's best friend Neil, who has gone rogue from his low-level job at the NSA and is using his understanding of neurology to torture and mutilate innocent victims. The FBI wants Tom's help in figuring out how to stop Neil.

( My thoughts on Neuropath )

12. Confessions by Kanae Minato, translated by Stephen Snyder - 3.5 stars. Middle school teacher Yuko Moriguchi is teaching her last class, having decided to resign after the death of her daughter. But her last day doesn't go the way her students expect, as Yuko tells them what really happened to her daughter and sets into motion the revenge she has planned for those responsible.

( My thoughts on Confessions )

13. The September House by Carissa Orlando - 2 stars. Margaret and her husband Hal grew up in financially struggling homes and wanted nothing more than to own a beautiful home of their own. Finally they've made it, moving into a large Victorian house that was surprisingly cheap. But there's a reason for that, as they discover their house is haunted. Very, very haunted. Hal wants to move out, but Margaret is determined to hang onto her dream home no matter what the cost.

( My thoughts on The September House )

14. Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty - DNF. The first book in an epic fantasy heavily inspired by Mahabharata. This is a heavily political fantasy with a lot of POV characters and mostly concerns the conflicts between the Mathuran Republic and the Magadhan Empire, which is determined to destroy and absorb the small republic. Add in the machinations of several other different factions as well as a prophecy predicting the return of an ancient cosmic enemy, and you have too much going on to summarize in a short paragraph.

( My thoughts on Sons of Darkness )

15. Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King - 3 stars. Next up on the King reread, this is a short story collection, featuring a wide variety of kinds of stories as well as a nonfiction article.

( My thoughts on Nightmares and Dreamscapes )

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January 2025 Books

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 20:09:58 GMT

I kept saying the January books post would be soon, but clearly I have a wonky definition of the word "soon," as it's already March.

Anyway, here it is. I read nine books in January. I'm trying something new and keeping my little summary above the cut, with my thoughts under the cut. Spoilers, as always, will be marked.

1. Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist - 2.5 stars. Two years ago Lena dropped out of med school and went to work for her botanist aunt in Italy. Now she's back home because her father has lost his job and she needs to help her family pay the rent. She finds a job working as an assistant to the personal physician of an extremely wealthy family. This includes being on-hand to administer treatment for the inevitable alcohol poisoning and drug overdoses suffered by guests of the family's wild and lavish parties. After a particularly rough party where she witnesses an innocent acquaintance being humiliated and degraded, Lena decides to put her botany knowledge to use and punish them all.

( My thoughts on Tripping Arcadia )

2. The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz - 3 stars. Struggling writer Alex is invited to attend a writing retreat at the home of her absolute favorite author and of course she jumps at the chance. She and the four other attendees are told upon arriving that they must complete an entire novel during the month-long retreat, and the best one will be given a massive publishing deal. They also must hit a certain word count per day or they will be kicked out of the house and sent home with nothing. It's nightmare NaNoWriMo. Not only that, but Alex's former BFF Wren is another of the attendees. Alex is terrified of Wren and Wren is an immature mean girl who lives to beat down her former friend in every way she can think of. And then a blizzard cuts the isolated house off completely from the outside world, and strange, spooky things start to happen.

( My thoughts on The Writing Retreat )

3. Night Film by Marisha Pessl - 3.5 stars. Ashley Cordova, daughter of mysterious director Stanislaus Cordova, famous for his dark, troubling, and impenetrable films (think basically an amalgamation of Kubrick, Hitchcock, and David Lynch), is found dead by apparent suicide. Disgraced investigative journalist Scott McGrath thinks there's more to the story. But he has to be careful with his investigation, as it was an ill-researched and immediately debunked hit piece on Stanislaus that destroyed Scott's reputation to begin with. So no one is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to any Cordova. Pairing up with a couple of 20-somethings who have tenuous connections to Ashley, he sets out to find out what really happened, and what dark secrets the Cordova family is hiding.

( My thoughts on Night Film )

4. Nestlings by Nat Cassidy - 2.5 stars. Ana and Reid are a married couple with an almost one-year-old baby. Ana suffered a traumatic birth experience and is still recovering from the effects. Reid is an aspiring musician who is slogging his way through a standard office job that he hates. It seems like their luck is about to turn, however, when they are picked out of the housing lottery and given an apartment in a swanky NYC building they would otherwise never be able to afford. But from day one something seems off. Ana has a bad feeling she can't shake. Reid is growing increasingly angry and impatient with his life and family. The baby won't stop screaming. The neighbor seems to be in the middle of a psychotic break and none of the building staff seem to care. As things grow stranger, it becomes clear there is something terrible happening to the building's inhabitants.

( My thoughts on Nestlings )

5. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters - 2 stars. Ruthie, youngest daughter of a migrant Mi'kmaq family, disappears from Maine one summer. Her older brother Joe was the last to see her, and he never stops blaming himself for her disappearance. Meanwhile, Norma grows up in a middle class household with a distant father and an overbearing mother. But there's a huge secret her parents are keeping from her, and it will take her decades to figure out what it is.

( My thoughts on The Berry Pickers )

6. Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King - 4 stars. Dolores Claiborne is sitting in the local police station, having been accused of killing her wealthy employer Vera Donovan. She insists Vera's death was an accident, and over the course of the evening, she tells her story--the whole story, about her abusive marriage, her attempts to be the mother her children needed, her complicated relationship with Vera, and the murder that she did commit.

( My thoughts on Dolores Claiborne )

7. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow - 4 stars. I'm going to paste part of the Goodreads blurb because it basically covers it: "For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself."

( My thoughts on The Dawn of Everything )

8. The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman - 4 stars. The second book in The Invisible Library series. Irene is now Librarian-in-Residence in the alternate version of London that most of the first book was set in. Kai the dragon prince is still her assistant/apprentice, and they still work regularly with Holmes-esque detective Vale. When Kai suddenly goes missing, it soon becomes clear that he has been captured by one of the Fae, who has taken him to a different alternate world and plans to auction him off, with the ultimate goal of provoking a war between the Fae and the Dragons. Irene, as a member of the neutral Library, isn't allowed to take sides. But she can't just leave Kai to suffer, so she risks her life, her career, and everything to go after him.

( My thoughts on The Masked City )

9. C is for Corpse by Sue Grafton - 2 stars. In this one Kinsey is hired by wealthy 20-something Bobby Callahan. Bobby was in a car accident six months prior that killed his best friend and left Bobby with life-long physical disabilities. Everyone blames Bobby for the accident, assuming he was drunk and speeding, but Bobby insists he was forced off the road by another car, and that someone deliberately tried to kill him over some secret that Bobby found out. Problem is, due to his TBI Bobby can't remember what that secret was or who it might have been about. So Kinsey takes the case with no clues, no suspects, and a client who can't be anything more than vague about what actually happened to him. Though it soon becomes clear that Bobby might be right after all.

( My thoughts on C is for Corpse )

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Wednesday Media

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 14:12:12 GMT

Reading
Still working on Dolores Claiborne and The Masked City. I'm also currently reading two new library ebooks:

1. Scorpica by G. R. Macallister - First in a series. It started out pretty slow, but has picked up.

2. Confessions by Kanae Minato - I think this was a booktube rec. It was on hold and I just got my hands on it yesterday. I haven't actually properly started it yet.

I finished my audiobook from last week and started a new one, The Quiet Room by Terry Miles. It's the sequel to Rabbits, which I ~~read~~ listened to a couple years ago.

Physical book is still The Dawn of Everything, which is a very thick book. Should be on track to finish by the end of the week.

Watching
Still SVU, just about to finish season 23. I haven't been watching anything else.

Playing
I opened up the Xbox app on my computer for the first time in years and started playing some casual games again. Right now mostly just Mahjongg and Solitaire type things. I'm thinking of getting some puzzle books? I don't know, I feel like I need to spend less time on my phone.

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Wednesday Media

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 13:31:49 GMT

I guess I'll try to do this again. I almost always manage to forget about it when it's actually Wednesday.

Reading
Three ebooks from the library:
1. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters - I don't think I've ever been so bored in my life. One of my goals for 2025 (yeah, I'm just going to continue peppering these random goals throughout my posts instead of putting them all in one place) is to get better at DNFing books that are just not happening for me. I have failed in this goal for this book, because it's short and I'm already like 80% of the way through. But I am so bored.

2. Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King - Part of the Stephen King re-read, obviously, though this is one of the few of his books I've neither read before nor own a physical copy of. It is surprisingly short and I rudely started reading it at my sister-in-law's birthday party instead of socializing.

3. The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman - The second book of the Invisible Library series. I just started reading and I have no opinion of it yet.

One physical book:
1. The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow - Second attempt at this book. I first got it as an ebook from the library, but I only read a couple chapters before deciding I wanted a physical copy. It was sitting in my pile of unread physical books and was a random number pick by my brother Josh. I'm a little over halfway done.

One audiobook:
1. The Nestlings by Nat Cassidy - I'm almost done with this one and really should have just gone ahead and finished it yesterday. It's horror; like a lot of horror it has collapsed into ridiculousness in the final 20% or so. But I'm not done with it so the very end may yet save it.

Watching
1. Continuing with the Law and Order: SVU rewatch, which I think I never actually mentioned I was doing. I started in December and have just been binging the whole thing. I used to watch it every week in college, when it was in its earlier seasons, but I haven't really watched it since about season six or so. I'm up to season 20 at the moment.

2. Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas - Yes, I'm watching this garbage on Netflix, mostly so that when I'm done I can watch the debunking videos on YouTube. It's dovetailing interestingly with the Davids book above in that both are covering similar topics but while the book is sticking with archaeological evidence and contemporary records (if available) and underlining that anything beyond that is wild speculation at best, the show seems to be mostly accurately portraying the same information but then gleefully embracing the Wild Speculation and eventually ending up somewhere in Unhinged Conspiracy Theory That "They" Don't Want You To Know About. Both the book and show make the same point that modern archaeology is pointing toward a more complex prehistory than what has been assumed before, but the book is also making the point that this shows that prehistoric humans were just as intelligent, thoughtful, and politically and socially aware as modern humans, while Graham Hancock thinks the opposite. He seems to think the only explanation for this more complex prehistory is that some lost advanced civilization that had contact with all these different cultures at the time taught them how to build pyramids and farm crops, because "primitive" humans could not have possibly figured any of that shit out themselves. But I may talk more about that some other time.

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December 2024 Books

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 17:27:27 GMT

The last book post of 2024. I read thirteen books in December, bringing my year total to 87 books.

Previous posts:
Books 1-10 (January/February)
Books 11-17 (March)
Books 18-21 (April-ish)
Books 22-38 (May/June/July)
Books 39-48 (August)
Books 49-54 (September)
Books 55-64 (October)
Books 65-74 (November)

Again, cuts are mostly for length instead of spoilers.

( 75. Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein )

( 76. B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton )

( 77. The Seat of Magic by J. Kathleen Cheney )

( 78. The Employees by Olga Ravn )

( 79. Sunbringer by Hannah Kaner )

( 80. Go as a River by Shelley Read )

( 81. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald )

( 82. Our Hideous Progeny by C. E. McGill )

( 83. Defekt by Nino Cipri )

( 84. The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee )

( 85. Burn the Negative by Josh Winning )

( 86. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman )

( 87. Gerald's Game by Stephen King )

I may do an awards post later that looks at the year as a whole.

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November 2024 Books

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 19:33:13 GMT

Another ten books read in November. Also, I might do "book awards" again, like I did once here. That might be fun. Look for that later this month.

Previous posts:
Books 1-10 (January/February)
Books 11-17 (March)
Books 18-21 (April-ish)
Books 22-38 (May/June/July)
Books 39-48 (August)
Books 49-54 (September)
Books 55-64 (October)

( 65. For Blood and Money: Billionaires, Biotech, and the Quest for a Blockbuster Drug by Nathan Vardi )

( 66. A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton )

( 67. Dark Sky by Mike Brooks )

( 68. The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart )

( 69. The Waste Lands by Stephen King )

( 70. A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross )

( 71. Thief Liar Lady by D.L. Soria )

( 72. Godkiller by Hannah Kaner )

( 73. The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer )

( 74. Breath from Salt: A Deadly Genetic Disease, a New Era in Science, and the Patients and Families Who Changed Medicine Forever by Bijal P. Trevedi )

That's it for November.

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October 2024 Books

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:04:53 GMT

Late again.

I read ten books in October and actually reached my Goodreads goal of 60 books for the year, so I upped my goal to 75.

Previous posts:
Books 1-10 (January/February)
Books 11-17 (March)
Books 18-21 (April-ish)
Books 22-38 (May/June/July)
Books 39-48 (August)
Books 49-54 (September)

Books under cuts mostly for length reasons. Spoilers will be marked.

( 55. After Dark by Haruki Murakami - There are spoilers, but I can't really spoil this book because nothing happens )

( 56. The Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee )

( 57. Adrift by Lisa Brideau )

( 58. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson )

( 59. The Last Wild Horses by Maja Lunde )

( 60. The Sleepless by Victor Manibo )

( 61. The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez )

( 62. The Drift by C.J. Tudor )

( 63. How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix )

( 64. Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale - spoiler that's not actually a spoiler because this book is stupid )

I'll try to be faster with November.

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September 2024 Books

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 19:16:49 GMT

This is a bit late, but I've been dealing with a lot of personal stuff the past several weeks.

And as just a note, I haven't forgotten about reading the physical books that some of you randomly picked in this post. I was going to get started as soon as I was done with Notre Dame de Paris, but Victor Hugo just ain't happening right now. I haven't touched the book in a month. I did finish the Jennifer Doudna book finally, though, so I WILL be starting on the little pile I made based on your number picks, going in order of receipt. When I get through this little pile I'll re-number and make a new post.

Anyway, in September, between doing the show and the personal crap going on, I only read six books. Short synopses and my thoughts under the cuts; any spoilers will be minimal and warned for. The numbers are the total for the year so far.

( 49. A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher )

( 50. Finna by Nino Cipri )

( 51. Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee )

( 52. Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu )

( 53. Mr. Breakfast by Jonathan Carroll )

( 54. One For My Enemy by Olivie Blake )

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August 2024 Books

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 12:54:57 GMT

I read ten books in August, bringing my total for the year up to 48.

Cut mostly for length, not for spoilers. If there are spoilers I will mark them.

( 39. Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb )

( 40. The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz )

( 41. The Down Days by Ilze Hugo - Very slight spoilers )

( 42. Four Past Midnight by Stephen King )

( 43. Ascension by Nicholas Binge )

( 44. Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham )

( 45. The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez )

( 46. Needful Things by Stephen King )

( 47. Ghost Music by An Yu )

( 48. All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham - Minor spoilers )

Currently reading: Ten pages of Victor Hugo a night because that's about all I can manage before falling asleep, a biography I've already spent most of the year trying to get through, a short story collection, a novella, and a horror audiobook with an irritating reader.

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A simple post

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 22:45:57 GMT

This isn't the books post, but it's somewhat relevant. I read mostly library ebooks but I keep buying physical books. So the physical books I haven't read yet have been piling up. I recently moved all the unread books I have to my living room and stacked them up against the wall as a way to shame myself into reading more physical books since I did spend actual money on them. I currently have 67 unread books stacked up in my living room. That is not counting the current physical book I'm in the middle of reading (The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson, which I've been struggling with since January despite that the subject matter should be right up my alley. It is a writing issue, not a content issue, because I am 100% done with this smarmy author); my reread of Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo; or any of the books for the recently re-started Stephen King reread, which are in a separate pile.

Anyway, I have numbered these books 1-67 in a mostly random order, so your task, should you choose to accept, is to pick a number between 1 and 67. And I will read the books in the order they are picked. Do not choose #59 because Greg got first pick and that was his number (#59 is The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer, which I will start reading as soon as I've finished Victor Hugo).

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August 12th - Books Part 2

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 18:27:09 GMT

This is what happens when there is a post I need to make and I'm avoiding it. I don't post for several days. Sorry. It just sucks because I had the whole original books post typed out with 21 books and the I lost all but four books. I've been avoiding re-typing all of that. But I need to do it, so here we go. I've also included links to previous 2024 book review posts.

Books 1-10
Books 11-17
Books 18-21

( Books 22-38 - Very minor spoilers, if that )

Most of these are short impressions and mostly spoiler-free. If anyone wants to know more about the books or my opinions of them, feel free to ask.

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August 2nd - Books Part 1

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 22:04:41 GMT

Today's entry: books!

I have not made a books post since early April. I'm still a little ahead of my reading goal, with a total of 38 books read in 2024 so far. Here's the list of the ones I have read since my last books post (#18 - #38), each with a tiny review.

EDIT: Well, I spent an hour typing this out and then my computer crashed, which it has been doing a lot lately. I need a new one. Anyway, the saved draft only restored the first four I typed up, and I don't have time today to redo the whole thing, so four is what you're getting. I'll put the rest in a separate entry.

( Books under here )

I'll try to post Books #22-#38 tomorrow, or more likely Sunday. I've also already finished Book #39, but that was just today and it'll go in the August roundup that I really promise to try to remember to make at the end of the month.

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July 1 2024 - Garden update

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 03:13:11 GMT

New challenge! Post every day in July!

So here's a garden update, now with pictures. These pictures are actually about a week old now, because I'm still struggling with updating regularly.

( Garden pictures under here )

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