3 Stars • Set in 1950 London, a disillusioned teacher, Margery Benson, quits her job and sets off to New Caledonia to find the rare golden beetle—a dream from her childhood. She hires bubbly, enigmatic, Enid Pretty, as her assistant. Their chaotic sea voyage and jungle quest spark mishaps, secrets, and an unlikely friendship.

#MissBensonsBeetle #RachelJoyce #Bookish #suvataReads

4 Stars • A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking is a quirky, charming, funny fantasy adventure for young adults and up. 14-year-old Mona is a minor wizard whose only magic is baking: perfect bread, dancing gingerbread, super-fluffy biscuits. She‘s happy working in her aunt‘s bakery and wants no part of heroics. ⬇️

3.5 Stars • In 1950s Quebec, teen Maggie is forced to give up her newborn daughter Elodie after a forbidden romance. Elodie grows up in an orphanage reclassified as a mental hospital under the Duplessis Orphans scandal, facing neglect and abuse. ⬇️

#HyggehourReadathon

Sitting in my favorite reading chair and just beginning this title. Anticipating a fun and lighthearted fantasy.

Hosted by:
@AlIDebooks @TheBookHippie
@Chrissyreadit

If you want to follow me on StoryGraph, I have the same username there. It really is much better than Goodreads.

5+ Stars • The Elements (2025 collected edition) by John Boyne is four interconnected novellas—Water, Earth, Fire, and Air—examining child sexual abuse and its aftermath from four perspectives:

• Water: The enabler (a wife fleeing scandal after her husband's conviction).
• Earth: The accomplice/bystander (someone who knew/suspected but did nothing).
• Fire: The perpetrator (the abuser's mindset, unflinching and unexcused). ⬇️

4 Stars • Unlocked is a brief prequel to Lock In, told as an oral history of interviews. A virus spreads globally, mistaken at first for bird flu. Most recover, but ~1% develop locked-in syndrome—complete paralysis with full consciousness. Millions die; millions more are trapped in their bodies. Named Haden's Syndrome after the U.S. First Lady falls ill, it triggers massive research and tech breakthroughs.

Read in December 2025
15 Books
Four 5-Star reads this month:
• Signal Fires
• The Second Life of Mirielle West
• Twice
• The Secret of Secrets

#Goodreads #Bookstagram #Litsy #Libby #Audible #Kindle #StoryGraph #Bookish #suvataReads

5 Stars • 6th Robert Langdon thriller: Robert Langdon joins girlfriend Katherine Solomon (from The Lost Symbol) in Prague for her lecture on human consciousness. Her research proves consciousness persists after death as scientific evidence for an afterlife. Katherine vanishes; Langdon races through Prague's landmarks, tunnels, and secrets, evading assassin and a shadowy organization.

Sitting in my living room, under a blanket, in a recliner, and listening to the audiobook. Hubby is watching football. I‘m feeling very comfy and cozy.

#hyggehourreadathon

4 Stars • A grieving widower, suicidal after losing his family in a Christmas accident, is saved by a mysterious stranger named Gabriel. He then connects with a widow and her bullied son—who've also met Gabriel—finding healing, love, and holiday hope through divine intervention. A classic Evans tale of redemption and Christmas magic.

#TheChristmasStranger #RichardPaulEvans #Bookish #suvataReads

Reading on #Litsy with Christie‘s Capers (Reading Agatha Christie's books in publication order) Hosted by @Librarybelle #AgathaChristieClubR3

3.5 Stars • The Mysterious Mr. Quin (1930): 12 short stories featuring elderly Mr. Satterthwaite and the enigmatic, Harlequin-like Mr. Harley Quin. ⬇️

4 Stars • At a wedding, best man Nick Silver tells Elizabeth he's in danger—then vanishes. The club investigates a kidnapping, murder, unbreakable Bitcoin code, car bombs, and a locked safe. A thrilling, twisty cozy mystery full of humor, heart, and the gang's enduring friendship.

#TheImpossibleFortune #ThursdayMurderClub #RichardOsman #Bookish #suvataReads

3.5 Stars • This magical realism debut novel follows Nella Carter, an enslaved woman in 18th-century America who bargains with Death for immortality: she must prove humanity is worth saving, or lose everything. Over centuries, she travels the world, falls in love repeatedly, creates art, and collects evidence of human goodness—until a modern-day connection forces her to confront the cost of eternal life.

3.5 Stars • Taliesin, the first book in Stephen R. Lawhead‘s Pendragon Cycle, blends Arthurian legend with Atlantis myth. Charis, an Atlantean princess, survives her homeland‘s destruction and meets Taliesin, a prophetic Celtic bard, in post-Roman Britain. Their romance, set against cultural upheaval, births Merlin and sets the stage for Arthur‘s rise.

#Taliesin #ThePendragonCycle #StephenRLawhead #Bookish #suvataReads

3.5 Stars • Did Adam & Eve Have Belly Buttons? answers 199 real questions from Catholic teens in a clear, concise Q&A format. Answers are faithful to Church teaching, backed by Scripture and the Catechism. Organized by themes like God, Jesus, the Church, morality, prayer, and more, it tackles doubts on topics such as evolution, abortion, contraception, other faiths, and Catholic practices.

3 Stars • Elsa Vargas, a math teacher, has long suspected her introverted son Bird was switched at birth. When a new student, Thomas, resembles her younger son and shares Bird's birthday, Elsa becomes convinced Thomas is her biological child. Her obsessive pursuit of the truth—including befriending Thomas and considering DNA tests—threatens her family bonds.

#TheProbableSon #CindyJiban #Bookish #suvataReads

5 Stars • Twice is a magical realism novel about second chances. Elderly Alfie, dying and detained after a suspicious casino win streak, reveals his secret gift: he can "redo" any moment in his life exactly once—going back to change a decision. Through his life story, he experiments with this power to fix mistakes, chase dreams, and alter fates, but learns that true love and some losses can't be reclaimed. ⬇️

5 Stars • 1920s Los Angeles: A glamorous socialite Mirielle West is suddenly diagnosed with leprosy and exiled to the national leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana. Stripped of her privileged life, she enters a hidden world of patients society has rejected, where she must confront stigma, loss, and her own flaws while discovering resilience and unexpected connections. A moving historical novel about the real history of America‘s only leprosy colony.

3 Stars • The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell is darker, sharper sequel that drags the Lamb family back into hell when a grim discovery on the Thames reopens their past. Jewell juggles old ghosts, new crimes, and a seemingly separate storyline with ruthless skill. Henry is still gloriously unhinged, Lucy finally fights back, and the twists land like punches. Taut, twisty, and emotionally brutal.

5 Stars • Signal Fires is a poignant, non-linear novel about time, trauma, guilt, and the invisible threads that connect people across decades. It weaves together two neighboring families in a suburban neighborhood in upstate New York, exploring how a single tragic night in 1985 reverberates through their lives for generations.

#SignalFires #DaniShapiro #Bookish #suvataReads

4 Stars • TB is not a relic of the Victorian era; it is still with us, still evolving, and still killing about 1.3-1.5 million people every year (more than HIV and malaria combined in most recent years). Green argues that the story of TB is the story of inequality: the bacterium exploits poverty, overcrowding, malnutrition, and weak health systems, which is why it thrives in the 21st century just as it did in the 19th.

Read in November 2025
14 Books
Two 5-Star reads this month:
• The Imitation of Christ
• The Widow

#Goodreads #Bookstagram #Litsy #Libby #Audible #Kindle #StoryGraph #Bookish #suvataReads

3 Stars • Silver Tears, the gripping sequel to The Golden Cage, continues the story of Faye Adelheim, a brilliant and ruthless billionaire cosmetics mogul. Faye lives in hiding in Italy with her daughter while her cosmetics empire, Revenge, thrives in Sweden. ⬇️

Reading on #Litsy with Christie‘s Capers (Reading Agatha Christie's books in publication order) Hosted by @Librarybelle #AgathaChristieClubR3

4 Stars • Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, now married and bored, take over a detective agency as a front for British Intelligence to catch spies. Instead, they gleefully solve 15 light-hearted, self-contained cases, ⬇️

5 Stars • A small-town lawyer, Simon Latch, takes on what seems like a simple task: writing a will for an elderly widow, Eleanor “Netty” Barnett, whose husband secretly left behind a hidden fortune. After Netty dies under suspicious circumstances, Simon becomes the prime suspect. The story follows the unraveling of the case, exposing greed, hidden motives, and a tense fight for justice as Simon tries to clear his name.

4 Stars • R.F. Kuang‘s Katabasis (2025): Two rival Cambridge PhD students in analytic magick descend into a bleak, bureaucratic Hell to rescue their abusive mentor‘s soul after he dies without writing Alice‘s recommendation letter. A sharp, Dante-inspired satire of toxic academia, ambition, and self-destruction.

#Katabasis #RKuang #Bookish #suvataReads

3.5 Stars • In The Restoration Garden by Sara Blaydes, landscape architect Julia restores Havenworth Manor‘s neglected gardens, finding a WWII-era diary by Margaret. It reveals a family scandal of alleged treason. With Margaret‘s godson Andrew, Julia decodes floral clues, uncovering secrets of love and heroism while healing her own past.

#TheRestorationGarden #SaraBlaydes #Bookish #suvataReads

5 Stars • The Imitation of Christ (Latin: De Imitatione Christi) is one of the most widely read Christian spiritual classics after the Bible. Written by the German-Dutch monk Thomas à Kempis (a member of the Brethren of the Common Life and the Devotio Moderna movement), composed in Medieval Latin around 1418-1427. ⬇️

4.5 Stars • All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby follows Titus Crown, Charon County‘s first Black sheriff, as he hunts a serial killer targeting Black children after a school shooting. Unearthing ritualistic murders tied to racism and fanaticism, Titus confronts corruption, personal struggles, and a militia threat in a tense Southern town.

3.5 Stars • In The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, Aiden Bishop is trapped in a time loop at Blackheath estate, where Evelyn Hardcastle is murdered daily. To escape, he must solve her murder, waking each day in a different guest‘s body with eight chances to crack the case. Guided by the Plague Doctor and hindered by rivals, Aiden unravels a web of secrets, betrayals, and shifting timelines in a twisty, metaphysical mystery.

Oh, so close…

4.5 Stars • Alice (2015) by Christina Henry is a grim retelling of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. After a decade in an asylum, Alice, haunted by memories of a violent "tea party" and the sinister Rabbit, escapes with Hatcher, a fellow inmate. In the brutal Old City, they evade crime lords and face the monstrous Jabberwock, tied to Alice‘s traumatic past. As Alice uncovers her suppressed memories and emerging powers, she seeks vengeance.

4 Stars • Final Girls by Riley Sager is a psychological thriller about Quinn Carpenter, a "Final Girl" who survived a massacre ten years ago but lost her memories of it. Living a curated life in New York, her stability crumbles when another Final Girl dies and a third, Sam, forces Quinn to face her past. Twists unravel secrets, blurring victim and villain. A fast-paced, meta-horror tale of trauma and betrayal.

3 Stars • Love is in Small Things Vol. 1 is the first installment in a beloved illustration book series by South Korean artist Puuung. Published in 2020, this collection features approximately 100 gentle, wordless illustrations that tenderly depict intimate moments between a loving couple, emphasizing that true love shines through subtle, everyday gestures rather than dramatic displays.

4 Stars • I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes follows retired U.S. agent Pilgrim hunting a terrorist, Saracen, planning a biological attack on America. The fast-paced thriller tracks Pilgrim‘s global chase, from New York to the Middle East, blending espionage, personal trauma, and a race to stop catastrophe.

#IAmPilgrim #TerryHayes #Bookish

4.5 Stars • Mutiny: A Novel of the Bounty by John Boyne retells the 1789 HMS Bounty mutiny through John Jacob Turnstile, a 14-year-old cabin boy. On a mission to collect breadfruit from Tahiti, tensions rise under strict Captain Bligh. After Tahiti‘s allure captivates the crew, Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny, setting Bligh adrift. ⬇️

3.5 Stars • Gravewater Lake by A.M. Strong and Sonya Sargent (2025) is a psychological thriller. Anna washes up on Gravewater Lake's shore during a blizzard. She is injured and has amnesia. Rescued by Gregg, she‘s trapped in his isolated house as eerie noises and fragmented memories fuel paranoia. Is Gregg her savior or captor? Very Hitchcockian with twists that unravel secrets in this tense, tale of trust and deception.

4 Stars • Honor by Elif Shafak traces a Turkish-Kurdish family, focusing on twin sisters Jamila and Pembe. Jamila stays in their village, while Pembe moves to London with her husband and three children. In the 1970s, Pembe‘s innocent connection with another man leads her son Iskender, driven by traditional notions of honor, to kill her.

Read in October 2025
17 Books
Five 5-Star reads this month:
• The World We Found
• The Intruder
• A Nefarious Plot
• Welcome to the Monkey House
• I Must Betray You

#Goodreads #Bookstagram #Litsy #Libby #Audible #Kindle #StoryGraph #Bookish

4.5 Stars • No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai follows Yozo Oba, a young man alienated from society, masking his despair with a clownish persona. Through his notebooks, we see his troubled childhood, failed relationships, addiction, and suicide attempts, reflecting his profound sense of being "inhuman." Set in early 20th-century Japan, the novel explores isolation, identity, and societal pressures, culminating in Yozo‘s tragic self-destruction.

Reading on #Litsy with Christie‘s Capers (Reading Agatha Christie's books in publication order) Hosted by @Librarybelle #AgathaChristieClubR3

4 Stars • The Seven Dials Mystery (1929) by Agatha Christie is the second novel featuring Superintendent Battle. During a house party, a young guest, Gerry Wade, dies unexpectedly after a prank involving sleeping pills goes awry. ⬇️

5 Stars • The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar follows four women who were idealistic friends in 1970s Bombay. Decades later, Armaiti, dying of cancer in the U.S., seeks a reunion. Laleh and Kavita, now a doctor and a lesbian navigating India's norms, search for Nishta, trapped in a fundamentalist marriage. Through flashbacks and a tense reunion, the novel explores friendship, lost dreams, and India's social divides, blending hope and heartbreak.

4 Stars • A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro follows Etsuko, a Japanese widow in England, reflecting on her past in post-war Nagasaki after her daughter Keiko‘s suicide. Through unreliable memories, she recalls her friendship with Sachiko and her troubled daughter Mariko, mirroring her own struggles with motherhood and loss. The novel explores trauma, guilt, and cultural displacement in a subtle, fragmented narrative.

3 Stars • A literary detective in an alternate 1985 England, faces chaos when the Goliath Corporation erases her husband, Landen, to exploit her book-jumping ability. Mentored by Miss Havisham in the BookWorld‘s Jurisfiction agency, Thursday battles memory-manipulating villain Aornis Hades, navigates novels like Great Expectations, and uncovers conspiracies involving time travel and a reality-threatening "pink goo."

4 Stars • In T.J. Klune‘s In the Lives of Puppets, a Pinocchio-inspired sci-fi novel, Victor Lawson, a human, lives in a post-apocalyptic world with a found family of robots: nurturing Gio, witty Nurse Ratched, nervous Rambo, and mysterious Hap. In a machine-dominated society hostile to humans, Victor‘s quiet life of tinkering is disrupted when their hidden home is threatened. ⬇️

3.5 Stars • In The Bullet That Missed (Thursday Murder Club 3) by Richard Osman, the four elderly friends—Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim—investigate the decade-old disappearance of journalist Bethany Waites, who uncovered fraud before vanishing. Their probe into a money-laundering scheme and a shady TV producer stirs danger, while Elizabeth faces a threat from her MI5 past. ⬇️

3 Stars • Famous Last Words is a psychological thriller about Camilla, literary agent and new mother, whose husband, Luke, disappears after seven years, only to resurface as the perpetrator of a shocking hostage crisis. As Cam unravels the mystery behind Luke‘s cryptic final message and violent actions, the story alternates between her perspective and the tense standoff, revealing secrets about their marriage through twists and a poignant climax.

5 Stars • Oh, Freida, you‘ve done it again! The Intruder is a psychological thriller where Casey, a recluse, shelters Ella, a mysterious pre-teen girl, during a blizzard in a remote cabin. As Ella‘s dark past of abuse and hidden identity unravels, Casey faces a deadly game of survival, packed with McFadden‘s signature twists, trauma, and betrayal.

#TheIntruder #FreidaMcFadden #Bookish

3.5 Stars • Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic who finds missing people, takes on a dangerous case from convicted serial killer Kaylee Pierson. With 21 days until Kaylee‘s execution, Frankie goes undercover at a remote Hawaiian eco-resort owned by Kaylee‘s ex, a tech billionaire, to find Kaylee‘s missing sister, Leilani, abducted 12 years ago. ⬇️