Another impressive Caldecott Medal winner. It took the 2025 award for illustration (by Rebecca Lee Kunz.)
Two-year-old Chooch do66th book read in 2025
Another impressive Caldecott Medal winner. It took the 2025 award for illustration (by Rebecca Lee Kunz.)
Two-year-old Chooch does his best to “help” around the house, always messing something up. Sissy, his older sister, must learn how to deal with it. The whole family jumps in to explain and teach Sissy to make room for a younger sibling.
I remember that struggle with my younger sister!
The family is Cherokee, as is the author, and the reader learns many Cherokee words, with their pronunciations provided. ...more
In her 6th Tess Monaghan novel, Laura Lippman’s story revolves around one of Baltimore’s most famous former residents: Edgar All65th book read in 2025
In her 6th Tess Monaghan novel, Laura Lippman’s story revolves around one of Baltimore’s most famous former residents: Edgar Allan Poe. In fact, the title comes from one of Poe’s poems: The City in the Sea. “Lo! Death has reared himself a throne, In a strange city, lying alone.”
On a cold January morning, a fat little man shows up in Tess’s office. He is distasteful, a bit ridiculous, and wants her to follow a man who he feels cheated him. He is an antique scout, according to his business card. He suspects that the cheater is the man who visits Edgar Allan Poe’s grave in January every year, leaving a bouquet of roses and a bottle of cognac. The antique scout wants the private eye to follow this man, known as “the visitor,” on that freezing night.
Is it just coincidence that another of my favorite mystery authors, Sue Grafton, also began the last book I read by her, D Is For Deadbeat, with a visit to her private eye’s office from a sketchy, suspicious character? The fat little antique scout is sketchy indeed.
In any case, A Strange City was another twisty, complex murder mystery with a rather unique twist (sorry, I could not resist.) Who puts a dead Edgar Allan Poe in a 21st century crime novel?
Laura Lippman is a lifelong resident of Baltimore. She lists two biographies of the writer in her acknowledgements. It is clear from the story that she read quite a bit of Poe himself. I, on the other hand have read very little of the great man’s work. That is going to change now!
While reading Anne Sexton’s third book of poetry, I also began reading a biography by Diane Wood Middlebrook. I enjoyed that syn64th book read in 2025
While reading Anne Sexton’s third book of poetry, I also began reading a biography by Diane Wood Middlebrook. I enjoyed that synergy because I learned about how she came to be a poet, how her poetry is autobiographical, how she used her creativity to combat her mental health issues.
In Live or Die, she is debating with herself (and her therapists) whether she will ever be well, whether to keep trying, but also realizing that her poetry will save her when nothing else can. Some of these poems are micro-short stories. Some are flights of fancy, some are bursts of defiant life. I feel her writing skills in this collection have reached a new level of competence and impact.
I was struck by how life for women in mid-20th century America could constrain their creativity, punish them for not being fully functional mothers while requiring them to have children. Psychiatry was still heavily Freudian.
Also, as always, there are the critics, the marketers, etc. She was heralded as one of the first female confessional poets. She was also maligned for it. In truth, along with Sylvia Plath, I feel she broke ground for so many female writers in all genres. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for this 1966 cri di coeur! ...more
I read this for a reading group. We had read and admired The Postcard by Anne Berest. One of us is a fine artist. We are all wom63rd book read in 2025
I read this for a reading group. We had read and admired The Postcard by Anne Berest. One of us is a fine artist. We are all women.
Gabriele was a young woman in 1908, graduate of an elite music school in Paris, and planned to be a composer. Instead, she met and fell in love with a painter: Francis Picabia. They marry and together are key players in the avant-garde of the arts in the early 20th century following the harrowing results of WWI.
The book, another one of Anne Berest’s “true novels,” is well-researched, beyond exciting and almost beyond belief. If you are any kind of artist, you know that we are a different breed of human and rarely feel obligated to follow any proscribed behavior except for deep commitment towards our chosen art form.
We meet many of the greats of the time: Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Guillaume Apollinaire, Anton Webern and others who created Cubism, Surrealism, Dada, etc.
Gabriel is a tireless supporter and brilliant promoter of these artists, but she is also a woman who either did not know about birth control or was too busy to learn. She had four children with Francis Picabia but was rarely involved in caring for or raising them. Fortunately, she had well to do parents who kindly took care of and raised them whenever Gabriel was traveling or too busy.
Anne Berest is the daughter of a woman mysteriously connected to Gabriele. It was one of the big secrets in her family and she resolved to get to the bottom of it. She and her sister Claire, who is also a novelist, researched and wrote the book, which was published in France well before The Postcard, but was translated into English and released just this year by Europa Editions.
Does it ever get any easier for a woman to be both an artist and a mother? I think not. I thank both Anne and Claire Berest for this testament to strong and talented women, to artists, to rebellion as a form of impetus for change in human civilization. Especially I thank them both for expressing not a word of censure toward the amazing Gabriele but instead honored her work and sacrifices as commitment to the arts.
Interestingly, Gabriele long out-lived her husband and went on to live a full and active life. ...more
Ten years ago, I read Independent People by Halldor Laxness and discussed it with my Tiny Book Club. We were swept up in this ta62nd book read in 2025
Ten years ago, I read Independent People by Halldor Laxness and discussed it with my Tiny Book Club. We were swept up in this tale of a fiercely independent Icelandic small landowner who raises sheep. Ann Patchett claims it is her favorite book. We loved the writing.
One of my reading vows this year is to read as many as I can of the books I have received from my Archipelago Books subscription, in the order in which they came to me. Salka Valka was next.
Halldor Laxness published Salka Valka three years prior to Independent People. It is set in a remote fishing village on the coast of northeastern Iceland. Salka is the daughter of a woman who brought her to this fishing village. She does not know who her father is, she is eleven years old and wise beyond her years. She does not miss much.
By the end of the tale, she has become involved in the politics and economics of the village, the take down of the village storekeeper and the takeover of his fish business, had a doomed love affair with a rebellious young socialist, maintained her independence as a woman and is no longer poor.
I found the reading easy and finished the 600+ pages in six days. It gave me another look at the uprising of workers in the early 20th century, which happened around the world, even in Iceland. Salka Valka is an admirable heroine. I mentioned above that already by eleven years old she was wise beyond her years. Through her fearlessness and strength, she became even more wise. She had lessons to learn, heartbreaks to live through but she was never defeated. ...more
I am a little behind the times with Sarah J Maas. Just starting to discover her books and series. The Throne of Glass series was61st book read in 2025
I am a little behind the times with Sarah J Maas. Just starting to discover her books and series. The Throne of Glass series was her first and I have read the first two: Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight. Very well written YA Fantasy! According to her website, I was advised to read this collection of five novellas next. Each one is a particular mission that assassin Celaena Sardothien had been assigned by her master, Arobynn.
These missions took place before the first Throne of Glass book but though I was familiar with some of the characters and history of the series after reading those first two books, I got Celaena’s backstory from the novellas.
Celaena is a fascinating character. Fearless, strong, ruthless and as independent as her position in the Assassin’s Guild will allow. At 16 years old, in these novellas, she has experienced enough tragedy to justify her wariness. Still, she loves fine clothes, make up, jewelry and luxurious surroundings, as well as reading books. The love of her life is Sam and their passion for each other runs hot, though she is still a virgin.
I admit to being impressed by how well Sarah J Maas makes Celaena believable and keeps the content “proper” for young adult readers. She must have studied Judy Blume! ...more
I first read this debut novel by Angela Carter in 2001. I came across it in the library while looking for something else. Due to6oth book read in 2025
I first read this debut novel by Angela Carter in 2001. I came across it in the library while looking for something else. Due to rave reviews on the dust jacket, I took it home.
According to my reading notes back then, I did not like it much. In fact, I wrote “Two young men, losers, under the spell of a young female waif, a violent gory ending, some humor in an ironic tone.”
When I found the book on my 1966 reading list, I remembered that I read it but not what it was about. So, I read it again. This time in my reading notes I wrote, “Glad I reread it. Understand better what she was doing. Reminded me of Theodora Keough.”
Angela Carter has many rabid fans. I plan to read as many of her novels as I can fit into my reading. She has concerns similar to other authors I love: Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood in particular. Because it is a debut, I predict her books will get better as she goes. She is not for the faint of heart. She is ruthless with her characters, perceptive about the breakdowns of society in the 1960s, brutally feminist. ...more
One of my “friends” on Goodreads made a comment the other day that they were “studying horror.” That made me smile. I would not 59th book read in 2025
One of my “friends” on Goodreads made a comment the other day that they were “studying horror.” That made me smile. I would not say I was studying the genre, but I have been taking baby steps into it for a couple years now. In certain ways it is less scary than the news lately.
I would not have come across Victorian Psycho if not for the Otherppl Book Club. Once a month I get a book from this subscription and have received many books by authors I would not otherwise have read. Brad Listi, whose “book club” it is, also has a podcast on which he interviews the authors of the books he sends out.
(A plug here for book subscriptions. They bring to my attention books I might not have found or chosen on my own. They are a wonderful antidote to the algorithm driven world of current book publishing and promotion.)
Victorian Psycho is definitely in the horror genre. If you like Patricia Highsmith or Shirley Jackson, you might want to check out this revenge tale carried out by a governess in a Victorian manor. It is short, it is truly creepy, sometimes it is even funny. ...more
I love this author! I first discovered her in a story collection. Her own collection, The Friendly Persuasion, was published in 58th book read in 2025
I love this author! I first discovered her in a story collection. Her own collection, The Friendly Persuasion, was published in 1945 and featured a Quaker family in late 1800s Indiana. The main idea was how to create peace between people without preaching about it, but by example.
Now I have read five of her books and have always found such wisdom and faith in the human capacity for love along with our other mixed characteristics.
A Matter of Time is the story of two sisters whose devotion and dependence on each other is a thing of heart and mind. When Tassie was just a toddler, her baby sister was placed in her arms, and she was told to always take care of Blix. She has, through everything women can experience.
As in her previous books, Jessamyn West puts so much truth, courage and love into what could have been only heartbreaking. I will leave it to interested readers to discover the rest of the story by reading the book. If you like tales of women helping each other, of sisters overcoming life’s challenges together, I recommend A Matter of Time ...more
The third book in the Southern Reach Trilogy was, for me, the hardest to read and the most confusing. I had to resort to a fan s57th book read in 2025
The third book in the Southern Reach Trilogy was, for me, the hardest to read and the most confusing. I had to resort to a fan site for explanations of what was going on. That helped a bit, but not enough to increase my enjoyment.
Perhaps when I have read the latest book, Absolution, I will be able to grant absolution to Jeff Vandermeer for what he put me through ...more
Another book by Ursula K LeGuin which I read 25 years ago and remembered nothing except a feeling of fascination. I like that th56th book read in 2025
Another book by Ursula K LeGuin which I read 25 years ago and remembered nothing except a feeling of fascination. I like that this author does not make herself easily understood. The reader must pay attention and identify for herself the elements of the story.
The elements here are a planet, Werel, where two different tribes of humans have been exiled for hundreds of Earth years. They are in conflict with each other and have certain taboos, so when a young woman from one tribe falls into a relationship with a man from the other, the tensions between these peoples are made palpable.
The main issue is that winter is approaching. Any season on Werel lasts for 15 Earth years. Winter is brutal and neither group is fully prepared. A barbarian enemy is headed towards them hoping to prey on what few resources remain. I know, it does not totally add up, but you have to go with it.
In rereading Planet of Exile some elements that impressed me the first time remained impressive: an “interracial” love affair, a form of telepathy, the long seasons, and the necessity for cooperation in order to survive.
So here we are today, with climate change, racial conflicts exacerbated by rampant immigration, and ideological differences inflamed by money and politics. LeGuin, in her own unique way, gives us clues but not answers. ...more
It was time for a mystery! Sue Grafton’s fourth in her Kinsey Milhone series. The deadbeat shows up in her office with a big che55th book read in 2025
It was time for a mystery! Sue Grafton’s fourth in her Kinsey Milhone series. The deadbeat shows up in her office with a big check he wants delivered to some young man. Despite her qualms she takes the job and it instantly gets complicated.
I found the plot more convoluted than any of the three earlier books, but I also grew to admire Kinsey’s attitudes, methods and outlook even more as well.
The end of the story was dark! What will she do next? ...more
This is Murakami’s most recent novel. I read it for a reading group. That group loves Murakami and has read more of his books th54th book read in 2025
This is Murakami’s most recent novel. I read it for a reading group. That group loves Murakami and has read more of his books than I have. In fact, I have only read four: his first two, Kafka on the Shore, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I found all four intriguing. He spoke to me as a 20th century person.
However, I had a hard time with The City and Its Uncertain Walls. I found it confusing, even a bit of a slog actually. The other two members of the reading group had similar reactions though their Murakami love is so strong that it carried them through. By the end of our discussion, we were making jokes about “uncertainty.”
Bottom line: I need to fill in the Murakami books I have missed (not a small endeavor) and then come back to this one. ...more
Winner of the Caldecott Honor Illustrator Award for 2025. Illustrator C G Esperanza used oils on watercolor paper in an extravag53rd book read in 2025
Winner of the Caldecott Honor Illustrator Award for 2025. Illustrator C G Esperanza used oils on watercolor paper in an extravagant array of bold hues that create right along with the story of a young girl whose father takes her on a morning horseback ride through the dawn.
The story is a celebration of Black joy and a father spending special time with his daughter.
I felt that joy as I read. Lots of girls dream of being a cowboy in their early years. I was one. ...more
This was another reading group pick and I was delighted to read it.
It is historical fiction set in Boston in the early 1800s. I52nd book read in 2025
This was another reading group pick and I was delighted to read it.
It is historical fiction set in Boston in the early 1800s. Isobel Gamble and her dodgy husband Edward flee Glascow due to his debts. He is a somewhat abusive husband addicted to opium.
Isobel is the heroine of the story. She has gifts galore. Excellent seamstress and embroiderer, she can just barely support herself when Edward returns to the sea. She also has synesthesia, meaning she sees colors in everything, but has been raised to keep that a secret lest she be accused of witchcraft.
Isobel meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, and they soon fall for each other, bringing her first experience of sexual pleasure. But Nathaniel is also more interested in his writing than he is in her.
You can learn more about the plot if you look around, but not from me. It is a wondrous plot with many twists and lots of stories about strong and talented women.
What the author has done is tell the story of Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter in a new and imaginative version. Her thorough research is obvious but not overbearing. At first, I was unimpressed by her descriptive writing and what felt too much like a romance novel, but she won me over with her views on strong women and witch hunting.
Isobel prevails by plying her needle both literally and figuratively. ...more
I originally read this wonderful novel in 2005, for a reading group. I read it again this year, for a reading group. I loved it 51st book read in 2025
I originally read this wonderful novel in 2005, for a reading group. I read it again this year, for a reading group. I loved it both times.
Libertad Gonzales is the daughter of two truckers whose mother died at Libertad’s birth. She was raised by her father while riding the Interstates in his 18-wheeler. He taught her to read, to navigate truck stops and eventually to drive an 18-wheeler herself.
When the story opens, Libertad is serving time in a Mexican prison and is consumed with guilt but unable to reveal her crime to her fellow inmates at the Mexicali Penal Institution for Women. She picks up an old paperback in the prison library and begins reading aloud but what comes out is not the story in the book but her own.
The other women are largely illiterate, so Libertad forms The Library Club and “reads” to them from various novels. Thus, the reader learns her history, as do the inmates, who are not stupid and figure out what she is doing. They are hooked though and follow these readings like a daily soap opera.
The prison, its inmates and staff comprise a complex scenario of graft, rehabilitation and sorority. The truckers are larger than life and the author even provided a glossary of trucker lingo.
In my second reading I realized more clearly that this is a story of how haunted Libertad’s father is, both by his past and her mother’s death. As the young girl moved into her teens, she and he had to refigure their relationship. It got complicated.
I reread this debut novel by Ursula LeGuin. My first reading took place in 2000, and I barely remembered anything. It is the fir50th book read in 2025
I reread this debut novel by Ursula LeGuin. My first reading took place in 2000, and I barely remembered anything. It is the first of the Hainish Cycle, which includes many novels and stories. It is science fiction and it is good.
Rocannon is an Earth scientist studying cultures on a certain unnamed planet. After a long period of space travel, there are various humanoid races on many planets. An intergalactic entity, of which he is a part, has been attempting to set up a confederacy to enable communication and diplomacy between planets.
An enemy of the confederacy arrives and kills off all Rocannon’s team, as well as a woman he loves, and destroys any means for Rocannon to return to Earth. Thus, he must become one of the people of that planet.
I like Le Guin’s skill in writing sci fi and her views on how different races and cultures can and cannot achieve understating ...more
Many serious readers say that they read mysteries as a palate cleanser. I do that as well. I also keep a couple picture books on49th book read in 2025
Many serious readers say that they read mysteries as a palate cleanser. I do that as well. I also keep a couple picture books on the shelf and they serve a similar purpose.
My mother and grandmother read picture books to me when I was small. (I think that is partially how I learned to read.) I read picture books to my sons and grandchildren, but they are all grown. Now I read them to myself and especially study the pictures.
BIG won the 2024 Caldecott Medal, awarded to the illustrator who is not always the author. In this case, Vashti Harrison did both the illustrations and the text.
Due to all kinds of cultural markers, but specially fashion, the weight loss empire, and such ridiculous sayings as “a woman can never be too thin or too rich”, having a big body is considered bad.
In this story, a girl is encouraged as a baby and toddler to grow big. In fact, she was praised when she ate all her food. Then she went to school, her body kept growing, until she was too big: for the swings, for a part in a pageant about flowers, etc. This was puzzling and hurtful.
The story goes on to tell the ways she moved through her depression about being big to deciding she liked the way she was. She enjoyed her imaginative, compassionate, smart, and funny ways.
Just about perfect for me who has always stressed about my weight, even though I am probably quite average. Now I need a book called OLD! ...more
As I read through My Big Fat Reading Project, I have included Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s amazing African Trilogy, in which 48th book read in 2025
As I read through My Big Fat Reading Project, I have included Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s amazing African Trilogy, in which he chronicles the culture clash of his people with British colonizers.
1. Things Fall Apart, 1958: A strong but violent Nigerian man loses his way when the white man comes.
2. No Longer at Ease, 1960: Set in the 1950s. A bright boy receives a scholarship from his village and goes to university in England, returns to become a civil servant in Lagos, then loses his certainty and surrenders his tribal values as he tries to assimilate.
3. Arrow of God, 1964: A tale about the clash between the Chief Priest of the god of six villages and a British officer. Whose god is more powerful?
These three books showed the tensions and troubles that arose in Nigeria between native culture and the colonizers’ culture.
In A Man of the People, 1966, Nigeria has achieved independence from the British but is not prepared for self-government. Corruption abounds while young Nigerians try to improve the democracy they are supposed to be creating. Once again old tribal ways creep in as leaders chase prosperity and power at the expense of their people.
The most popular politician falls into unscrupulous lusts and greed while the idealistic main character discovers that he too is lured by such temptations.
By means of wonderfully drawn characters and expert storytelling, Achebe shows these conflicts as they play out in families, how the women are often as oppressed as ever, and how power corrupts even the most forward looking and smartest people.
He is considered the most influential author of modern African literature. He has certainly made me aware of the reasons for the struggles of African nations to create stable societies that can exist in these global times. Once again, I have learned more truth from fiction than I find in the news. ...more
The poems in this collection deal with languages (lost and found), shifting borders due to wars, and the effects of displacement47th book read in 2025
The poems in this collection deal with languages (lost and found), shifting borders due to wars, and the effects of displacement on the author who lived through it. Sometimes you don’t need to move an inch to find yourself in a different country.
The border is between Austria and Slovenia. If you look it up on a map and if you know a little European history, you see that the area is one of those historical “hot spots” where military and economic conflict was nearly continuous for centuries.
I have no credentials for reviewing poetry except that I have been reading it daily for several years now. For me it takes several readings of a poem before I can glean what it might be about. I think it is good for my own writing to be doing this practice.
I was quite impressed by Maja Haderlap’s talent and skill as she brought this very foreign place alive for me while also reminding me how language is a deep and powerful emotional part of any human being’s makeup. ...more