Tag: books
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Monthly Reading Roundup: July 2026
Here are some of the highlights, and one notable low-light, from the past month of my reading life. Nine Raves Whistler, by Ann Patchett (2026) Premise: After over forty years, a woman is reunited with an ex-stepfather with whom she shared both a natural affinity and a life-changing trauma-bond. Review: Ann Patchett has this way…
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Monthly Reading Roundup: June 2026
Here are some of the highlights, and one notable low-light, from the past month of my reading life. Nine Raves Father Material (London Calling 3), by Alexis Hall (2026) Premise: Happily tucked into their committed unmarried life, Luc and Oliver consider big next steps Review: I was uncertain whether we needed another book in this…
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Monthly Reading Roundup: May 2026
Between some unexpected duds and a vacation on which I didn’t get a lot of reading done, May was probably my weakest reading month in the past few years. But there were still some notable reads along the way. Here are some of the highlights, and one notable low-light. Nine Eight Raves Son of Nobody,…
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Monthly Reading Roundup: April 2026
April ended up being a pretty good reading month for me, even with a few misses along the way. Here are some of the highlights, and one notable low-light. Nine Raves The Gospel according to Lazarus (aka The Lost Gospel of Lazarus), by Richard Zimler (2019) [RE-READ] Premise: After his being raised from the dead…
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Monthly Reading Roundup: March 2026
March was a decent reading month, but I struggled to find books that really captivated me. I finished a lot of great books, but also didn’t make it past page 15 of a lot too. Nine Raves Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor (1971) Premise: An aging woman moves into a London hotel…
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Monthly Reading Roundup: February 2026
I realized last month that doing a full recap of all my reading was going to be too onerous to be sustainable, so this month I’m introducing a new format, Nine Raves and One Pan, with an additional spot highlighting a piece of Notable Nonfiction. Nine Raves Searching for Terry Punchout, by Tyler Hellard (2018…
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Monthly Reading Roundup
January was an interesting month in my reading life. Overall it was been successful, with a lot of 4.5- or 5-star reads, but not much has really stood out to me so far. The book for which I had the highest hopes, David James Duncan’s Sun House (2023), proved to be far too long, repetitive,…
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Top Reads of 2025
I’ve been doing these best reads of the year lists since 2017 and it’s become one of my favourite traditions. This year, I thought I’d recognize the top 25 of ‘25, fifteen fiction and ten fiction. Fiction 15. Life, and Death, and Giants, by Ron Rindo (2025) If I wanted to be nitpicky, there were…
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Bookish Hall of Fame 2025, Part III: 28-1
This week, I’ve been updating my Bookish Hall of Fame to account for the books I read in 2024. (I redid the Hall of Fame in February and March, but never got around to posting the updates until now!) Part I discussed the Hall of Fame Emeritus books (i.e., those books that fell out of…
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Bookish Hall of Fame 2025, Part II: 72-29
Last time, I started my (long delayed) accounting of my updated Bookish Hall of Fame by talking about the Hall of Fame Emeritus books (i.e., those books that fell out of the top 100 but remain much beloved) and the ‘ground floor’ Hall books (100-73). Today I will go through the next two ‘floors’, accounting…
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