Steph doesn‘t just want to work for NASA, she wants to be The First Cherokee Astronaut. We follow Steph over 30 years as her tenacious determination to fulfill this dream casts a ripple effect on every person in her life.

Steph is messy. With every terrible choice she makes to get her closer to space, I was loving her and rooting for her even more. And the side characters all felt so real. I was sad when it ended. Fantastic debut.

This 1987 novel opens on a haunted house in Ohio. The entity in the house is “full of spite.” Each family member deals with its presence in their own way. But the arrival of an old family friend antagonizes the spirit and ramps up the action.

Beloved is a horror novel. The horrors of poltergeist haunting and demonic vampirism layer with the mind-wrecking grief of child death and the nightmare of a life under slavery.

👏👏👏 to Lamar Giles who wrote a pitch-perfect Bad Batch standalone that slots into the last season of the show in the few days before…that terrible event broke all of our hearts in ep 16. There is no Echo or Crosshairs in this novel, but plenty of our other characters, including lots of heartwarming (and agonizing!) Tech/Phee interactions. The new minor characters and villains are also well-rounded. Loved it.

John Green has a succinct, conversational way of writing that also somehow manages to be beautiful and heartwrenching. This is not a history of tuberculosis. This is a musing on Green‘s process of learning about TB and how all the big problems human society has—capitalism, racism, class inequities, corrupt governments—cause thousands of deaths every year from this disease, which is 100% curable.

This has a stream of conscious style narrative that I enjoyed. The highlights are the Chinese myth bedtime stories the narrator tells her kids. Her best friend and her dog add some levity to the situation.

This is exactly what the subtitle says: a history of Westeros. It‘s like reading a textbook, but with the addition of some pretty illustrations. If you‘ve read Fire & Blood, that is all reiterated in the first half of this book. A lot of this is boring, tbh, but if you‘re a GoT completist and you like pretty pictures… AND if, like me, you believe we won‘t see A Dream of Spring until Mr Martin‘s watch has ended, you might as well read it.

Rage: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Long Walk: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Roadwork: ⭐️⭐️

The Running Man: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Although I enjoyed this book quite a lot, the title is misleading. The actual escape is only covered in maybe the last 50 pages or so of the book. The rest of it is a history of Alcatraz with a focus on its use as a prison. What makes this book so interesting as a historical document is that it was written while Alcatraz was still operational.

Set in the Red River Valley in North Dakota, this novel is about a sugar beet-farming community that is suffering through the 2008 housing recession and just living their day-to-day lives. Crystal is a trucker who hauls sugar beets. Her husband has left her after seemingly committing a financial crime. Her daughter is 18 and engaged to one boy, but is in love with another (but is she really?). I loved it.

Have y‘all done your literary duties and watched the trailer for the new Wuthering Heights adaptation? I know the novel is messed up in all kinds of ways, but this film looks UNHINGED. 😆

Super excited for my September Book of the Month! 🌙

A couple of Little Free Library finds from my bike ride this morning. 🌹

This is a dual-timeline space opera involving politics, war, a very noir-style mystery, and stellar (lol space joke) characters who I really just cared about way too much. This is like if Firefly had been written by Arthur C Clarke. I also think horror fans would enjoy this book; I‘ll say that without giving too much away, but there is some dark and creepy stuff happening here. I can‘t wait to get to the second one.

Mostly mediocre short stories cobbled together by the publisher from other sources (magazines, etc). King provides an Introduction and Notes with some insights on many of the stories. The novella anchor, The Mist, has a great premise--a bunch of acquaintances from a seasonal summer town are trapped together in a grocery store while *something* outside gets closer and closer--but completely fails to deliver.

I orchestrated my read of this book to coincide with a trip to Galapagos. I also read Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle and Origin of Species beforehand. This all contributed to my enjoyment of this book.

The Beak of the Finch is focused on the Grants, a family of scientists studying Galapagos finches. Highlighting their work, Weiner illustrates visible evolution that is occurring around us right now, not centuries from now.

From tonight‘s reading

My 16yo and I have agreed on a reading challenge: We will each read 20 pages a day of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. If we do that, we will complete the book before we leave on our trip to the Galápagos Islands in a few weeks. And this (somehow?) will enhance our trip. At page 206, am I having regrets? Perhaps.

A friend recently clued me in on the fact that Placentia Library District allows ANY California resident to sign up for a virtual card online! If you are an ebook or audiobook reader, this is a perfect way to support yet another public library! I filled out the application form online, and I had my library card number by the next morning. Thank you, Placentia Library District! 💖

New bookstack! ☀️ What is everyone reading this long weekend?

The illustrations are what make this edition so special. The art highlighting the text drives home everything Snyder is trying to say with his 20 lessons.

In the back of the book are notes about each illustration. The descriptions of the photographs in particular are often heartbreaking. And the Krug integrates the artwork with the text is beautiful.

So before you decide if you should read this book, google Relf v Weinberger. This novel is inspired by that case. 😬

Our protagonist is Civil Townsend, a brand-new Black nurse in her early 20s who has secured a good gig with a federally-funded family planning clinic. She realizes that the instructions she is receiving about two of her very young patients are highly suspicious.

In the early 2000s, Lenz, a devout Christian, joined a Hollywood Bible study group mostly for some camaraderie. She quickly found herself sucked into “the Family” cult, giving them access to all her money and eventually marrying one of their own.

I would never call what Lenz experienced “harrowing,” but I definitely found myself thinking, “oh, girl, no…” many times as she was coerced into making choices advantageous to the Family.

Incredible research, insider sources, and engaging writing combine to detail the creation and rise of the Wagner Group and its leaders. This is some dark and horrifying stuff, y'all. If "war crimes" is on your content warning list, take care. I did not anticipate how jumpy this book would make me during my nighttime reading. Really gripping. For nonfiction fans and readers interested in current events and Russian history.

Heavenly Tyrant picks up pretty close to where Iron Widow left off, although it took me a few pages to figure that out because from the get-go this book is a hot mess.

Iron Widow was a brilliant story of feminine rage with unforgiving sharp teeth. The novel is grounded in the Zetian/Yizhi/Shimin relationship. Not only is that triad torn apart in Heavenly Tyrant, we are introduced to a new love/hate interest for Zetian, which I had 0 interest in.

This is a dual-timeline novel, one timeline taking place in Pakistan in perhaps the early 2000s, and the other taking place in California “now.” Our two California characters are Salahudin and Noor, teenaged best friends who have had a falling out. Our Pakistan POV character is Misbah, Salahudin‘s mom (hopefully this is not a spoiler; you find this out quickly within the novel). She is telling the story of her marriage and move to California.

Lauren lives with her family in the hellish California dystopia of 2025 where everything is on fire and the president of the US is an oligarch fascist.

Spooky, no?

Lauren also dreams of traveling north where life is better (supposedly) and starting a new religion she calls Earthseed. I‘ll try to spoil as little as I can in my review.

Unpopular opinion alert… I did not love this book. But I am curious enough to read the second one.

I worked our county‘s Pride event a few days ago, and I was happy to see a booth for the Queer Sacramento Authors Collective there. I had to pay them a visit, of course! It was hard to choose which title to get, but I really liked this cover and the author was cool, so I got Surviving Sentience 2040 by Sharon A McDonell.

May reads…so far 🌸

Fitz is smiling because my hold finally came in. 😸

This brief werewolf tale was a total treat. The conceit of each chapter being one month of the year was clever. I loved the illustrations, and was genuinely shocked at the werewolf identity reveal. I do have to take away a star, though. I‘m sad to report that I‘ve realized that 1980s SK suffered from a terrible case of fatphobia. I do not see this in his later novels, but it‘s so obvious in these earlier ones. (And I‘m reading Thinner next. 🤦‍♀️)

New #bookstack 📚

Who has read these?

This short comic is Stephen King‘s homage to the pulp horror comics of the 1950s with all their goofy gory gruesomeness. Our guide, the Creep, takes us through five stories of terrible people and their horrible demises.

There were a couple of panels that did make me giggle, but overall the book is pretty meh. The first and last stories are the strongest.

If by some chance you are super into those old horror comics, you‘ll probably like this.

In 1932, a pregnant Margret Wittmer moved with her husband and young stepson to Floreana, a small island in the Galapagos. They believed that getting out of the city and going back to nature was the only way to cure their sickly child. This is her memoir of how the family managed to survive then thrive on this basically uninhabited (at the time) island. This is a story about strong people who had more courage and fortitude than I could ever have.

I take such pleasure in a historical fiction novel as expertly written as this. And I really love a multigenerational drama. So this story of one family during Japan's occupation of Korea and beyond was wonderful perfection. I can't wait to read more of Lee's work.

A pretty short and very enjoyable science book about the Galápagos Islands and everything on them (including the people). I think if you‘re going to the Galápagos (yes, I am doing that), this book is a must-read primer for understanding the formation of the islands, all the life on them and in the ocean around them, and exactly why they are so unusual.

Okay, to get this out of the way... The dog does NOT die!

This book was too dense and too long. The whole book was slow. I thought the sex scenes were pretty ew and the ending was a cop out. The major point the entire plot pivots around was frustrating to me. And it was not at all scary.

However, I was always glad enough to pick it up and keep going, I wanted to know what was going to happen. So I guess I just have to give it a solid Meh rating.

This very simple and charming story is about a girl who is sent back to the islands of her birth to live with her grandparents. She has vague memories of her time there, but one very strong one: her baby brother being swept out to see in his boat-like cradle. She is determined to find out what became of him.

I've been meaning to read this since 2017, but kept putting it off. I had to wait awhile for my library hold to come in. So many people are reading this right now. 🤔

This is a succinct list of 20 lessons we (should) have learned from the last century on how to turn away from fascism and tyranny. I feel a need to keep running this info through my brain, so I have also placed holds on the audio and the graphic novel versions of this book.

It‘s fun to come across a bookshop I‘ve been to in a novel. If you‘re around Oakland, CA, Marcus Books is well worth a visit!

Library hold attained! 😱

#books #bookrecommendation #bookstagram #booknerd #bookobsessed #currentread #booklover #bookcommunity #librarylife #bookstack #bookhaul #bookclub

This book was respectful, beautifully written, exhaustively researched storytelling at its finest. Even though I knew how things were going to end up, this was still a nail-biter. I caught myself thinking, wow, I really really really hope they call off this launch… It might not seem like a glowing recommendation to say, “Read this! It gave me nightmares!” but it really is one of the best nonfiction books I‘ve ever read.

It‘s okay, Steve. They can‘t all be winners. The cover is rad. 🤷‍♀️

Sunday morning read

This is exactly the kind of book I would have been super into as a kid. Genuine sweetness mixed with true peril and darkness. The illustrations are adorable. This is a story about family, responsibility, and loyalty. I loved it and can't wait to read the second one. (The movie is also very good, although different in some key ways.)

I was not excited about picking up King's 1981 nonfiction book about the horror genre, but his engaging style of writing made this read super enjoyable. I would have given it 5 stars, but for the fact that is is really outdated. Which is, of course, not the book's fault. Most of the writers/filmmakers discussed are white men. There are a couple of white women. Zero creators of color (again, 1981). But overall an enjoyable book.

Morning read ☀️

As much as I liked Harlem Shuffle, I loved Crook Manifesto. This is really more like three novellas, and Pepper is as much a main character as Carney (maybe even more so). Fast-moving, dark, and funny, big recommend from me.

It's been a loooooong time since I read the og 6 Dune books. And I've been avoiding these non-Frank Herbert sequels and prequels because I just kind of did not care, even though Dune 6 ended on a cliffhanger, then FH died. But I enjoyed the latest Dune films and am enjoying the series Dune: Prophecy, so I thought "could be fun to get back into that world."

"Fun" is not the right word, unfortunately. This book was fine bordering on lame. ?‍♀️

My current reads 📚📚

✨ Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin is an absorbing cradle-to-grave bio of the writer. I am loving it.

✨ Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson is book 7 of the Dune series, the first that was not written by Frank Herbert. While it‘s nice for me to be back in the world of Dune, the writing and plot are terribly mid. I‘ll probably finish it, but I‘m not sure that I‘ll move on to book 8.