Like many on here, this was a mixed bag for me. I appreciated the multigenerational aspect of the storytelling, and the several unlikable characters crackle off the page. But the more likable characters end up flat and boring and I felt like there were several loose ends not cleaned up well (or at all). It‘s a debut that shows promise but isn‘t quite there.

A well-off older woman is found dead with a scold‘s bridle (a punishment device) on her head. Initially thought to be suicide, her death is then thought to be murder once her will is revealed. I haven‘t read Walters in a long time and was a little concerned I would no longer like her, but needn‘t have been. This is a well-crafted mystery with good development of characters and subplots.

And the Women‘s Prize winners are in! Both really worthy books (and thank goodness The Safekeep won for fiction, given what else was on the list). I‘m sad for Agent Zo, but The Story of a Heart is such a compassionate, beautifully crafted book that I cannot fault its choosing. #wp25

The Women‘s Prize for nonfiction list this year is superb and I encourage anyone to check out the entire longlist. Of the finalists above, I‘m pulling for Agent Zo, but I think all are worthy (except Neneh, which wasn‘t for me). The three on top are sticking with me more than the others, so I‘d really like to see one of them win. #wpnf25

Today‘s the big day for the Women‘s Prize! I know I‘m not alone in being underwhelmed by the fiction list, but here are the 6 finalists. I want to see The Safekeep take this one, but I‘d be happy with Fundamentally as well. I‘m about halfway through The Persians and it‘s fine, but I don‘t find it prize worthy. And if any of the 3 at the bottom win, I shall be very cross (especially that awful one in the middle). #wp25

Truth

A woman is having some challenging symptoms and thinks increased exercise might be the key. But then he pedometer watch shows an amount of walking that seems impossible. Moving through the investigation of her own behavior is both interesting and steadily increasing in dread. I did find the ending a bit odd and too abrupt, but overall I liked this one.

Several months after Abby‘s fiancée dies on a small island off Mexico, she goes there for closure. After asking some questions, she starts to wonder if she‘s been told the truth. Promising premise, and I enjoyed parts of it, but the ending is too drawn out with too many false endings and Abby is too quick to read things wrong.

Vara details her life growing up with technology as it emerges and shows how she‘s been shaped by it. Then, she does something very interesting: she feeds every 2 chapters into an AI and shows us the results. The effect is to go from interesting to see what it can do to a growing dread and disappointment. It‘s such a clever approach. This is definitely one for print or ebook rather than audio because of the format.

In this memoir, Renner details the incident where he was run over and crushed by his Snowcat. He spends a lot of time at the scene itself; it is gruesome and grim and he struggles to take each breath. I always felt he seemed like a good guy, and this confirmed it for me. I‘m so glad he‘s still with us.

The latest in the Rip through Time series finds Mallory and friends traveling out of Edinburgh to attend a wedding. And of course someone has to go and get murdered! I enjoyed the change of setting and based on what gets teed up for the characters at the end, I‘m excited to see what comes next!

Linguist McWhortet looks at English pronouns and how they‘ve changed through time as well as comparisons to other related languages. He does so with a sense of humor and points out how they probably should have evolved in different ways. He does include the validity of the singular they but also why this is linguistically jarring for some. Really interesting.

I have read and liked 2 of this author‘s previous books, but at 22%, this one is doing nothing for me. Nothing is happening! If the stage was being set or atmosphere was being developed, that‘d be great, but it‘s just not.

In this very satisfying thriller, ghostwriter Olivia has few options but to take a job writing the latest book for a King-level horror writer…who is also her estranged father. He is widely believed to have killed his siblings as a kid, and Olivia is trying to find the truth. This is well paced and sets the groundwork well for multiple feasible outcomes. I didn‘t want to put it down!

Things are going really well for Amber. She has a new, gorgeous girlfriend, who she‘s with in Vegas for a wedding. Plus, she‘s flush with cash and thus her con artist past is firmly behind her. But then a man is preying on women near her and it becomes clear they may be a killer on the loose. This is a fun, zany thriller with an edge and a touch of gore. I really enjoyed it.

I meant to post this yesterday but apparently didn‘t! I like the fiction/NF mix and hopefully I will FINALLY read Bubble. It‘s been on my list since the start of #ReadYourEbooks and has come up several times without my reading it, so I hope to break that streak this month.

Billed as a mystery, this is actually a family drama looking at the reverberations of abuse. It‘s grim and a bit uneven with an ending that falls flat. Disappointing.

And at the 11th hour, here‘s my #ReadYourEbooks for June. I am currently reading the only one of the May books that I picked up, but it‘s really good and has been on my list from the start, so I‘m calling it a win! I look forward to see what gets chosen shortly.

I found this book half baked. There are so many things it touches on that I can‘t quite say what it‘s trying to explore. I really wish her editor had pushed her more, since I feel like there‘s a lot of potential here.

Humor writer Dave Barry mainly looks back at his work life in this memoir, looking back on how it all came about and some of the bits that happened along the way. Some excerpts from his columns are well-incorporated. It‘s a bit slim and I would have liked more, but it‘s enjoyable overall.

I only managed to get to one of my #Roll100 reads in May (though actually I did read a second one that was not one of the rolled numbers), so let‘s hope I read all these in June!

Myrra is essentially a slave on a generational ship; her current bosses tell her a terrible secret before dying by suicide. She then goes on the run with their small daughter, pursued by a rookie cop. This is quite the page-turner, exploring class and race as well as mortality. #Roll100

This slim poetry book is a fictional (but feels chillingly real) training guide for slave owners on how to “handle” their slaves, especially training up young boys. It‘s written as though with annotations by a “good” slave owner. It‘s deeply disturbing.

Since a young age, Kostya has been getting intense aftertastes in his mouth around certain people. So one day he creates what he‘s tasting and gives it to the man before him and the ghost of the man‘s wife appears. I was a little hesitant about his one, and it did take a while to pull me in, but I ended up enjoying it. I do wish the climactic scene had been fleshed out a bit more.

This book looked great, but after an hour of the audio, I find myself not paying attention to it at all. I‘m not sure if it‘s me, the book, the timing, or the narrator. Maybe I‘ll try it again someday in print.

A young journalist in 1920 manages to get invited to the home of a reclusive, famous painter to write an article. From there we learn about the artist and his niece as well as the journalist‘s own story. I really liked this and think it‘s far better than at least half the #WP25 shortlist.

This is my seventh read of Backman and for me, by far the weakest of his books. There are two timelines and both get short shrift. The current day timeline could be explored more thoroughly and the past timeline feels a bit held at arms length and too much tell. I‘m disappointed with this one.

Four siblings come together after some years estranged and a difficult past relationship with their mom. Each is at a crossroads of sorts and they are figuring things out between them after a prior fight. Somewhat predictable, but I enjoyed it as a lighter read.

Pic: Columbia River in eastern Oregon

I went into this one cautiously given the potentially hyperbolic title, but it straightforwardly lays out the increasing use of lawsuits by rich and powerful people when they simply don‘t like what‘s been said about them. At times, this has led to complete dissolution of media companies, which is sometimes the goal, as is the chilling effect on speaking truth. It‘s very well done.

The description of this book sounded promising but it‘s just dumb. It‘s winking so hard at Holmes/Poirot that it‘s more like a grimace. And the construction of it just doesn‘t work. I wish I hadn‘t read it.

The first hour of this 9.5 hour audiobook is full on physical and verbal domestic abuse, and I am not here for it. It feels like this is less how a boy‘s life is impacted by different potential names and more the impact of his abusive father‘s reaction to said names. I don‘t care to read a book that gives an abuser that kind of power.

Needing money and trying to stay hidden from a scandal she had a part in, Hailey takes a very sketchy job at an old cryopreservation ship. And then she starts to see things. This starts sci-fi and goes solidly into horror. Barnes keeps doing the isolated space story, but it‘s still working, so I‘m not mad. There are a few pacing issues in spots, but overall really good.

In this book, some people from the past, famous and not, have suddenly “returned” in the future. Fun conceit, but this just ends up being them sitting there telling their stories. Those stories are valuable, but it‘s all tell and no show and it‘s just been done so much better. I found it really heavy-handed. There‘s one section of backstory that‘s really compelling, so I think Bob has potential.

In these tightly intertwined stories, which could be called a novel in stories, Millet explores a group of characters from a friend/family group. Each story serves to deepen our understanding of one or more people. I enjoyed this one and think it will work for those who don‘t usually like short stories.

I felt Bartz‘s first book was a mess, but I was entertained by it, so I gave this one a try and it‘s not good. She follows the same formula to isolate the characters and then it‘s a mess in a way it isn‘t entertaining. If there‘s a third book, I will not be reading it.

A woman visiting the Alps one day discovers an invisible wall. No other people seem to be trapped on her side, so we move forward into a story of her efforts to survive. This definitely shares some DNA with I Who Have Never Known Men and On the Constellation of Volume. I found it riveting.

This completely delightful book finds a group of sheep in France with their shepherdess when a deer is found horrifically killed in the woods. The sheep try to solve the mystery while protecting their own flock. It‘s so cute and fun, and the translator really did a marvelous job.

Early in the COVID pandemic, Cora‘s sister is brutally killed in front of her in an anti-Asian hate crime. She then becomes a crime scene cleaner and starts getting visited by ghosts. I was initially put off by the title, but I‘m glad I got over that, as I found this really absorbing.

I tried, but this one is not for me. I don‘t like the writing or the voice and based on other reviews, it doesn‘t look like those will change, so I‘m out. #WP25 longlist

I was unenthusiastic when I saw this on the #WPNF25 longlist: really, another famous dead white guy? So I dragged my feet on picking it up. But once I did, I struggled to put it down because the writing is SO good. There are some issues with some bits near the end being slotted in not quite so seamlessly, but overall I really enjoyed this.

In the latest installment of the maid series, a televised antiques show comes to the hotel and the staff get the first crack at them, where Molly learns something extraordinary. We also get Gran‘s backstory in a separate timeline, which I wasn‘t sure about at first as it pulls us out of the hotel, but it did work. And once again, Lauren Ambrose is perfect on the audio.

Twins Julie and Chloe are separated quite young after their parents die. Now, Chloe is a trending influencer and Julie is at a dead end. Then Julie finds Chloe dead and finds herself slipping into Chloe‘s life. I really enjoyed this. It has a good tone and veers into camp (but it works) while providing social commentary on social media.

I was looking for a lighter, faster paced read, and this YA horror fit the bill. A family heads to a small Oregon Coast town for the summer. It‘s beautiful, but they‘re advised not to stay out after dark or talk to strangers. Obviously, something bad is going on. It was a fun read, though the cover is terrible and makes it look campy, which it isn‘t.

The spins this month for #ReadYourEbooks gave me 3 NF, which is fun. I didn‘t manage to read any last month, so we‘ll see how I do in May!

I wasn‘t a fan of An Island and so would not have read this if not for the #WP25 longlist, so color me surprised that I enjoyed it. It is a portrait of a selfish, self-pitying woman who I think the reader gradually comes to see we all have a bit of inside us. She‘s unlikable, of course, and we gradually come to understand her a bit by the end. I do think this is worthy of the list.

Abigail is trying to find her solo way in Soap Lake after her husband takes off for a work opportunity. In a separate timeline, we see Esme grow up in Soap Lake then meet the fate we see in Abigail‘s timeline. I enjoyed this overall but was sometimes thrown going back and forth between the stories, as there‘s no reminders that the timelines are different. I also thought the ending was a bit too drawn out and I got a little bored.

I did a lot of nodding and “yep”ing as I listened to this one, about how a subset of American society has turned against the knowledge of experts (and no doubt it‘s happening elsewhere, too). He doesn‘t offer solutions, which is of course frustrating, but then the first step to problem solving is acknowledging the problem. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, @Riveted_Reader_Melissa !

My first read of short stories from PE, and they‘re good, including a couple of fantastic ones. So far I do like his novels better, but it was fun with this one to read a couple a day.

MAGGIE NELSON 😲😍

And she signed my book! ☺️

A bomb goes off on a British school tour bus in northern France and Chief Inspector (on leave) Ortley rushes to the scene, as his daughter is on the bus. I would term this a literary mystery, as it does have a central mystery but the heavy lifting here is the exploration of anti-Middle Eastern racism in British society. It‘s terrific.