Okay, so shameless plug, but I know you love when underestimated women take it to corrupt and patriarchal institutions so, my new small town educational thriller out with Blackstone publishers might be right up your alley. It's called THE BOARD and here is the latest review from Publishers Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9798228016880. Let me know a good email if you want a PDF review copy. I also just finished A Mother Always Knows which is a cultish Vermont thriller I loved. :)
The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl. I'm still reading Fired Up, and I'm listening to How to Read a Book by Monica Wood for my book club. I prefer listening while walking or driving, so I need to carve out time to read the actual books on my TBR list. I lean toward non-fiction, and I wrote a memoir, but thanks to my book club, I'm reading titles I likely might never have picked up. I love historical fiction.
I'm not sure how I found it, perhaps just scanning available audiobooks from my library, but it was inspiring. Can't believe I'd never heard of the author either.
I’m just finishing up Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb and I’m really enjoying it. Right before this I read Careless People and while it was excellent it left me pretty disheartened
James, by Percival Everett, while listening alongside to Elijah Wood reading Huck Finn. Compelling combo. This month I'm onto Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and it is blowing me away - superb.
I've read several 5 star books lately, but probably my favorite, and a contender for best book of 2025, would be Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven. Other top contenders are When the Harvest Comes by Denne Michele Norris, and Woodworking by Emily St. James.
I read incessantly, and am at 102 books for the year so far. I'm told I read fast, but I haven't had any speedreading training, it's just how I read. I favor smutty romances and brand new literary fiction, and the occasional memoir. I am not a fan of horror, fantasy, thrillers, or science fiction. I usually read in bed after my partner goes to sleep, and on vacations. I save the literal beach reads to read on the beach. I like to read on planes as well, as a distraction for their awfulness these days. Actually, all reading I do now is my attempt to distract myself from the awfulness, which explains why I've read so much this year. I've already nearly doubled what I read all last year, and expect to at least triple it if not quadruple it.
I usually have a stack on the bedside table. 1/2 are fiction with strong female characters and 1/2 are non-fiction. I just finished My Name is Emilia Del Valle by Isabel Allende (all-time favorite author) and I'm also reading Fired Up (almost finished) and Talk by Allison Wood Brooks.
Last night I finished an advanced copy of The Freedom Seeker by Richura Gupta and it was incredible! Although it's for YA, every adult should read it! I also loved Our Last Vineyard Summer by Brooke Lea Foster, Everyone Is Lying To You by Jo Piazza, Our Last Resort by Clemence Michallon and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. All highly recommend!
I suck at reading books because of busyness and all, but I recently read "On Juneteenth" by legal historian Annette Gordon-Reed, the first African American to win a Pulitzer for history. It's a concise look into how race shaped Texas' history, life in post-Jim Crow Texas and what Juneteenth means to the history and people who celebrated the day before it became a national holiday. As a lifelong history nerd, I loved it!
“The attempt to recognize and grapple with the humanity and, thus, the fallibility of people in the past — and the present — must be made,” she writes. “That is the stuff of history, too.”
I love my histories and Abe Lincoln is one of my heroes, so I'd recommend much anything by historian Harold Holzer.
I'm taking my time with Fired Up (I'm about a quarter of the way through), but so far it's a fave for sure, as I knew it would be! For fiction, my women's empowerment book club is reading "The Lost Apothecary," which I'm on my second time reading and loving. For nonfiction, I've read "The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power," by Katherine Morgan Schafler three times and it is remarkable - always something new to take away each time I read it. I also just finished two fun and light reads by Jesse Q. Sutanto "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers" and "Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)." My favorite books are classics like "Catch 22," anything by Herman Wouk ("Marjorie Morningstar," "Don't Stop the Carnival") and most of Graham Greene's work (especially "Our Man in Havana" which I laughed my ass off reading).
The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore A true story about another badass woman we never read about before.
That is an excellent book!!!
Okay, so shameless plug, but I know you love when underestimated women take it to corrupt and patriarchal institutions so, my new small town educational thriller out with Blackstone publishers might be right up your alley. It's called THE BOARD and here is the latest review from Publishers Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9798228016880. Let me know a good email if you want a PDF review copy. I also just finished A Mother Always Knows which is a cultish Vermont thriller I loved. :)
The Dry Season by Melissa Febos
The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl. I'm still reading Fired Up, and I'm listening to How to Read a Book by Monica Wood for my book club. I prefer listening while walking or driving, so I need to carve out time to read the actual books on my TBR list. I lean toward non-fiction, and I wrote a memoir, but thanks to my book club, I'm reading titles I likely might never have picked up. I love historical fiction.
OMG I just read The Comfort of Crows, too! I'm so glad to find someone else who knows about that book!
I'm not sure how I found it, perhaps just scanning available audiobooks from my library, but it was inspiring. Can't believe I'd never heard of the author either.
I’m just finishing up Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb and I’m really enjoying it. Right before this I read Careless People and while it was excellent it left me pretty disheartened
I am reading Many Lives, Many Masters again. It’s a book that has changed my life. Just recently finished Crones Don’t Whine.
Loving the new book list y’all are giving me! 🫶
I read Many Lives, Many Masters so many years ago. Still remember how it resonated. So good.
James, by Percival Everett, while listening alongside to Elijah Wood reading Huck Finn. Compelling combo. This month I'm onto Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and it is blowing me away - superb.
Antidote
I've read several 5 star books lately, but probably my favorite, and a contender for best book of 2025, would be Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven. Other top contenders are When the Harvest Comes by Denne Michele Norris, and Woodworking by Emily St. James.
I read incessantly, and am at 102 books for the year so far. I'm told I read fast, but I haven't had any speedreading training, it's just how I read. I favor smutty romances and brand new literary fiction, and the occasional memoir. I am not a fan of horror, fantasy, thrillers, or science fiction. I usually read in bed after my partner goes to sleep, and on vacations. I save the literal beach reads to read on the beach. I like to read on planes as well, as a distraction for their awfulness these days. Actually, all reading I do now is my attempt to distract myself from the awfulness, which explains why I've read so much this year. I've already nearly doubled what I read all last year, and expect to at least triple it if not quadruple it.
Still Life by Sarah Winman was just the breath of fresh air and joy that I need these days.
I usually have a stack on the bedside table. 1/2 are fiction with strong female characters and 1/2 are non-fiction. I just finished My Name is Emilia Del Valle by Isabel Allende (all-time favorite author) and I'm also reading Fired Up (almost finished) and Talk by Allison Wood Brooks.
Last night I finished an advanced copy of The Freedom Seeker by Richura Gupta and it was incredible! Although it's for YA, every adult should read it! I also loved Our Last Vineyard Summer by Brooke Lea Foster, Everyone Is Lying To You by Jo Piazza, Our Last Resort by Clemence Michallon and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. All highly recommend!
I suck at reading books because of busyness and all, but I recently read "On Juneteenth" by legal historian Annette Gordon-Reed, the first African American to win a Pulitzer for history. It's a concise look into how race shaped Texas' history, life in post-Jim Crow Texas and what Juneteenth means to the history and people who celebrated the day before it became a national holiday. As a lifelong history nerd, I loved it!
“The attempt to recognize and grapple with the humanity and, thus, the fallibility of people in the past — and the present — must be made,” she writes. “That is the stuff of history, too.”
I love my histories and Abe Lincoln is one of my heroes, so I'd recommend much anything by historian Harold Holzer.
I'm taking my time with Fired Up (I'm about a quarter of the way through), but so far it's a fave for sure, as I knew it would be! For fiction, my women's empowerment book club is reading "The Lost Apothecary," which I'm on my second time reading and loving. For nonfiction, I've read "The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power," by Katherine Morgan Schafler three times and it is remarkable - always something new to take away each time I read it. I also just finished two fun and light reads by Jesse Q. Sutanto "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers" and "Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)." My favorite books are classics like "Catch 22," anything by Herman Wouk ("Marjorie Morningstar," "Don't Stop the Carnival") and most of Graham Greene's work (especially "Our Man in Havana" which I laughed my ass off reading).
The Heaven and Earth Grocery store by James McBride :)
I loved this one too!
I enjoyed that, too. Read it for my book club.
The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon-touches on so many issues, including identity, history, love and loss...a masterpiece