This novel, set in CT, is about four wealthy couples and a very peculiar school. The school is part granola/part cult-y (theme in reading this week!), and I enjoyed the interspersed school bulletins. At first I thought it was a typical fluff book, but it‘s much darker, dealing with survivalism, hedonism, and betrayal. The ending was fantastic and unexpected.

Between this and What To Do about the Solomons, I‘ve found a new author to watch!

A fascinating, if longwinded, look inside the Children of God cult written by a granddaughter of the founder. In addition to sharing details of their worst sexual practices CW ⬇️, she also shares her life in and out of favor with the church. From being sent to re-education camps in Thailand and Japan to living sort of happily in Kazakhstan and Macau, she worked hard to escape the cult mentally and physically when she was a young adult.

My first new purchase since the #ToBShortlist came out! It‘s out now in print, but y‘all know how much I like audio, and so many are bad on audio or not available in that format. It‘s only $12 US, so I didn‘t use a credit.

Who all am I supposed to tag this year?

Despite not being a huge perfume person, this book was fascinating! Chanel No 5 was the dream of an orphan and showgirl who climbed the rungs of society to be a style icon. This is the story to Coco in relation to the perfume. The book also went into the financial side looking at Coco‘s selling of the rights to the fragrance early and the fight to gain it back.

I‘m not doing bingo this month, so I‘m just committing to the two. One a gift from @BarbaraBB 🥰 and the other a current #BookToScreen adaptation. Looks good!! #bookspin #doublespin

Darkly funny novel about a woman who will cheat on her husband but not her diet. 🤨

Kit works at a bakery owned by her sister and cousin. She has just started a strict diet with her husband, but when a carpenter does some custom work for the bakery, she finds a release for her pent up feelings that doesn‘t involve food. The characters made believable choices, and I always like that. More contemporary fiction than romance fwiw. ⬇️

We don‘t even have our tree up, but I already have a gift!! Thank you so much, Barbara! I can‘t wait for Christmas 💚🎄🥰😘

Ben was a baby boomer transgender man. He didn‘t transition until his 40s, so he understood the treatment of both women and men in science. He wrote this book as he was dying of pancreatic cancer. In addition to being fairly heavy on the science of his discoveries, he also shares about the sexism he encountered as a young person and his tireless advocacy on the part of women in the hard sciences. #audiobook

Despite @rachelsbrittain ‘s so-so on this one, my love of all things cultish made me want to give this a try.

It‘s a look at the author‘s childhood in and leaving the Children of God cult. I watched a show on ID about three women who were in as kids and it was equal parts disturbing and fascinating.

I‘ll tag anyone interested in my review. #NewReleaseTuesday #audiobook

Pretty sky here in KY this afternoon!

A funny novel about a large Jewish family split between Israel and the US. In it‘s scope and interwoven characters, it reminded me of The Nest.

The Solomon siblings grew up on a kibbutz. When brother Marc is falsely accused of running a gambling ring in CA, it sets off ripples across his family in both countries. My favorite character was Joseph. A teen caught between a fame-obsessed mom and a father that has started another family.

#relatableAF Nina is a great character. Invested in her career, successful, dealing with a sick parent, looking for love but not obsessed with it. Me in my 30s. I loved being invited into her life

I love a meaningful title and Ghosts worked in a lot of ways. Ghosts of relationships past and future, the ghosts her father sees as he slides into dementia, ghosts of changing friendships.

Really enjoyable contemporary fiction. #LovedIt Blurb link ⬇️

Well, when you put it all in a collage…it looks a little bad…

I‘m enjoying seeing physical and digital stacks from this weekend. I hadn‘t spent anything until today. 😂😂

A lot of the insights Emily makes in this reflective essay collection about her body were universal despite, as a model, her body being her main source of income. That said, even though I finished yesterday, I had to dig deep in my memory to think of the exact points she made. I enjoyed it while reading, but nothing memorable. Low pick. #botm

📸 the author‘s Instagram

I‘m really enjoying Wholehearted Faith! I have more nonfiction on this #WeeklyForecast than any other this month. I‘m unsure whether I want to read a book about the Covid vaccine, so First Shots is iffy. I‘d love to get to one on the #ToBLonglist this week, but I‘m not sure where to start. Also excited for the Bookspin!

Some things are hard to fact check. This is not one of them. 😑

For the first time, I am skipping bingo in December, but I still want to do regular #Bookspin and #Doublespin.

I‘ve been waiting all year for ornaments and a tree of titles! Happy holidays! 🎄

Take a nap and you realize you‘ve missed #botm going live! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Just two this month, but I‘m excited about both.

I was really struggling with this #audiobook. It takes more attention than I am able to give it right now. Partially because ⬇️

I hate most authors narrating their own novels. Unless you have the prowess of a VO artist to do characters, then I don‘t want you narrating it! I was hopeful because Erdrich does seem to do this in the first chapter but stops in later chapters. Maybe some would like her gravely sameness but not me. #ToBLonglist

I‘ve had a lazy day today and haven‘t read much. There were some fantastic books this week with the exception of The Life of the Mind. However, my favorite was definitely the Patchett! @Cinfhen I hope you love it too!

This has been a truly great reading month overall. I‘m averaging more than 4⭐️ for the first time this year, a welcome change after last month‘s mediocrity. My current books are no exception. 19 left in the #DriveTo500! #BookReport

Enjoying this #botm choice more than I expected!

I‘m a huge fan of Ann‘s nonfiction, and this impressive essay collection gave me all the feels. Worth reading just for the long essay about her and Carl‘s special relationship with Tom Hanks‘ assistant. I loved her stories about Carl‘s airplane, her relationships with each parent, meeting an odd super fan, and of course her bookstore. She is the epitome of Southern hospitality bringing you right to her heart.

My 2019 visit to Parnassus ⬆️

Send in the clones! This #ToBLonglist choice was a surprise hit. I‘m generally not a fan of domestic thrillers, but apparently if you add a sci fi element, I enjoy them a lot more!

This story of a woman, her clone, and their dead husband had just the right amount of tension and kept me guessing until the end. A contender for the shortlist imo. 👯‍♀️

Xe Sands‘ narration of the #audiobook is great.

Going to call this done! I put The Good Mother and High-Risers in 🐻 mode because my library is 🔥 right now, and I want to save my owned books until I have fewer library options.

Thanks for another fun month, Sarah. #BookspinBingo

Total: 22 completed, 2 hibernation, #AuthorAMonth got returned to library before I could finish it. 🤦🏻‍♀️

1. It‘s going to be a chill weekend with just my immediate family, so I should have time to read. I am hoping to get some jobs done around the house so that means audiobook time!

2. Usually broccoli casserole or my aunt‘s deviled eggs.

#Two4Tuesday Happy thanksgiving @TheSpineView 🦃💜

Quirky, kooky, and a bit weird, this is right in the zone of literary fiction I‘ve been reading lately. A woman gets in a relationship with a junkie from the needle exchange where she volunteers. When he dies, she heads to Taos, NM, a town he thought she‘d enjoy. Each of four interconnected novellas follows the MC‘s relationship with a different oddball resident of Taos. A mild pick, but a fun library backlist find. 👍🏻

Caught up on reviews!!

Sorry I missed #NewReleaseTuesday last week.

This week is by big name author and last week was about a big name president.

I‘ve been looking forward to Ann Patchett‘s new essay collection all fall, so it‘s up next. If you‘re in Nashville, she‘s signing copies at Parnassus Friday!

Reclamation is by a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. The author looks at race through the lens of her family tree.

I‘m burnt out on memoirs, but I‘m glad @Cinfhen pulled me out of retirement to read this. One of the best celebrity memoirs I‘ve read. Well organized, deeply reflective, honest without undue negativity towards others. Plus he sings and raps on the #audiobook! Gotta listen.

First, you have to have a strong stomach for LOTS of talk about womanly bleeding to read this. That may be why this didn‘t make it big OR maybe it‘s because I couldn‘t find the thread of this book. The narrative just didn‘t make sense to me. Maybe it just went over my head. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is one of my #AlgorithmExperiment books from Amazon where I bought books I hadn‘t heard of that it recommended. 3/5 Amazon. Do better!

CW: miscarriage, abortion

Damn Rebecca is a prolific writer. Her essay collections are broad meditations of a theme, this time on what loss means, from kidnapping during colonial times to the loss of species to extinction. I am continually impressed by how much her essays demand from the reader. Be prepared to examine what loss means to you.

@TheAromaofBooks this is my #doublespin.

This reads more as two separate novellas where the characters have asymmetrical relationships. The first is an older famous author who meets a much younger woman. Their relationship slides from romantic to caretaker as the story moves along. The other novella explores an Iraqi-American traveler stopped at Heathrow and detained. There is no link between the two. However, if you like short fiction and reflective stories, I highly recommend this!

I set this wildly improbable goal of 500 books and 150,000 pages this year.

1 goal down!! 🎉🎉 Now just the #DriveTo500 left!

Real talk: I did not like the little kid narrating this one. It was super annoying being in her head and listening to her thoughts. I didn‘t find it cute, and her brand of precociousness wore on me. I‘m kind of surprised I finished, but it was short, and #DriveTo500.

A fun collection of animalish essays written over the last 20+ years. Orleans shares her story of owning a large property with a menagerie. She also writes about a champion boxer stud, what happened to Keiko from Free Willy, an outbreak of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Fever, and captive tigers in the US among others. Great as an #audiobook!

I go to a fairly social justice-driven church, especially for the area where I live. And I think that drives me to dig deeper into uncomfortable aspects of my faith, so I was really happy to get this recommendation from @howjessicareads on Instagram.

This book looks at the history of the complicity of the American Protestant church in slavery and racism. Highly recommend!

They got it @Cinfhen !!! Starting now!!

I am avoiding reviewing, but still doing the #DriveTo500. 26 to go!

Both extremely quirky literary fiction titles I‘m reading are good. Tagged ⬇️

I highly recommend both my Saturday finishes. Tagged ⬇️

I‘ve got two squares left on my #BookSpinBingo board, but I don‘t want to read either atm. Such a #MoodReader

My library is wonderful, and I‘m really interested in all 4 titles I picked up this week. Plus #NewReleaseTuesday. #WeeklyForecast

I am ridiculously excited for this list of 16 books from @vivastory for #NewYearWhoDis!

I highlighted the covers of the ones that initially caught my fancy, but this is an epic match @monalyisha thank you!

7 was on my list, and I‘ve read and enjoyed 4, 8, 11, 12, 13. I‘m rereading The Martian Chronicles because I first read it nearly 30 years ago! #FeelingOld 😂

I‘m interested in more than these five, but I wanted highlight Scott‘s great list!

Interesting week. Famous People, Patient Zero, and Vanderbilt were definitely the stars! On Animals delivered, too. Just finished so I‘m still thinking about it.

Lemon and Fight Night were disappointing. I didn‘t care for the narrator or writing style in FN. Review when I figure out how to articulate it!

The Color of Compromise is a difficult read about the complicity of Christian churches in white supremacy. Going slow. #BookReport

This was a surprise #backlist library hit!

A mid-20s musician who shot to fame as a kid reflects back on his father and stepfather issues, his odd friendship with a Danish environmentalist, and a surprising decision that his first love, and fellow pop icon, makes mid-writing.

This fell so close to 5⭐️. Highly recommend the #audiobook of this novel!

This didn‘t work well as an audiobook for me. Despite multiple narrators, I had trouble following the jumps in time, perspective, and plot. This slim novel definitely packs a punch, but I had to read an online guide to have it make sense. If I had more time, I‘d probably fall down a rabbit hole of the South Korean “high school beauty murders” on which it is based. Definitely some Adnan Sayed vibes. Still a so-so as an #audiobook.

I‘m a bit of an infectious disease lover, especially zoonotic ones, so this book was absolutely fascinating to me. However, you don‘t need special medical knowledge to enjoy it.

The authors look at diseases from antiquity to now, who were the first cases, plus interesting stories of discoverers and survivors. From modern diseases like Ebola, HIV, and Covid-19 to older ones like leprosy, ergotism, and smallpox. #NerdVibes 🤓

More #bookmail! + golden hour w/ filter at 3:30 in my sunroom.

Story: these were the cheapest new hardcovers that Amazon thought I‘d like based on their algorithm. How well do you know me Amazon?? 🤨 I guess we‘ll see! #experiment

#bookmail!! #botm + 1 👍🏻📚

Loved this! Anderson Cooper looks back a family he once didn‘t claim in this fascinating historical account. He and Howe take snapshots in the lives of some family members such as one who sank in the Lusitania and another who threw a $64 million party. He reserves three chapters for his mother, including her fraught childhood and adult life in high society NYC. He includes a bit how her lavish spending made him frugal. Go #audiobook!

As I continue to limp towards the #DriveTo500 finish line, I‘m finishing up my #BookspinBingo board. I am digging print books right now, Fight Night and Asymmetry, but new audiobooks are feeling like a chore! I am enjoying Vanderbilt, though. What a fascinating family! I think I‘m going to try some more #rereads like Nobody Somebody Anybody.

High-risers is my center square, and I‘ve tried twice. Just not the right time. 🐻 #WeeklyForecast

I‘m glad I waited to review this. I adored this when I read it, but the only story I can clearly remember 5 days after finishing it is the title story, which was absolutely fantastic. Does this diminish my feelings for the book? Not really. Good incentive for a reread one day. 😉 But of the ones I‘ve read this year, it‘s firmly in the good not great category. #BorrowNotBuy I think it‘s available on #hoopla. 👍🏻

This is another great as an #audiobook novel. Rebecca Lowman is a fantastic narrator, and the tone is conversational.

I love it when the title of a novel carries great meaning. What are fake accounts? Fake social media? Falsified stories? Fake tinder profiles? Lying to gain something of value? When is it art and when is it artifice?

This novel has some interesting answers to these questions. Really thoughtful book!

I‘ve been a fan of Blau for years, and I previously enjoyed this in print, but the #audiobook adds to the fun with music!

Singer Jimmy and star Sheba come to a sleepy Baltimore suburb to get treatment by a local psychiatrist. Mary Jane is hired to care of the doctor‘s daughter and learns a lot about adult life and music while teaching them about domesticity. Some may think it‘s too cute, but it hits the right note of fun and innocence for me.

Gosh what a beautiful book! The story of a couple wrenched apart by the politics of Cyprus and the daughter they created late in life. An anthropomorphic fig tree added a imaginative dimension with a beautiful ending. Despite the slow pace, I was bolted to my recliner to read what happened next. This deeply complex novel has to be my favorite Reese pick. More literary than her usual choices. Read it! 5⭐️ #coverlove

I am struggling this week with the #DriveTo500. (Reading 500 books this year.) I am 35 away atm, but if it weren‘t for this, I‘d probably be sliding into a slump. I may finish with a bunch of #rereads, but 🤞🏻 I‘ll make it.

All three print books were BIG TIME winners!! I loved my reread of Mary Jane. Perfect for my mood now. The Ai Weiwei was far too heavy, but I‘m enjoying my #audiobook reread of Fake Accounts. #BookReport