America’s Most Gothic: Haunted History Stranger Than Fiction by Leanna Renee Hieber My rating: 1 of 5 stars I knew this wasn’t working for me about two chapters in, but I stubbornly stuck with it just to confirm that I’m not the right reader for this book. Sometimes perseverance doesn’t pay off. In the interest … Continue reading “America’s Most Gothic” by Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes| books are life
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang My rating: 2 of 5 stars My second attempt at a book by R.F. Kuang, and this time its marginally better. At least I learned what “katabasis” is, so now I’m intellectually improved.———— In a fight between Kuang and the grind of academia no punches are pulled. “Christ,” said Peter. “Hell … Continue reading “Katabasis” by R.F. Kuang| books are life
Island of Whispers by Frances Hardinge My rating: 4 of 5 stars “Kindness is not weakness. To be kind in this unkind world is walking through a battlefield without armor or sword. It takes courage and strength to be kind.” Frances Hardinge can make books even for quite young audience into something special — sweet … Continue reading “Island of Whispers” by Frances Hardinge| books are life
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott My rating: 2 of 5 stars Apparently wisdom does not have to come with age since young me and adult me are pretty much in agreement that we didn’t and do not care much for this one. I wonder whether I would have appreciated some exposure to this story … Continue reading “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott| books are life
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard OsmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars “I am learning that it is important to stop sometimes, and just have a drink and a gossip with friends, even as corpses start to pile …| books are life
Endling by Maria Reva My rating: 3 of 5 stars “But why must a country be bombed before we care about it?” Recently I’ve read a book by a Ukrainian writer investigating Russia’s crimes against humanity since the full-scale Russian invasion, and despite being a nonfiction account it at times had a postmodernist feel because … Continue reading “Endling” by Maria Reva| books are life
Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir by Craig Mod My rating: 3 of 5 stars I thought I liked walking, but compared to Craig Mod I might as well be a sedentary sedimentary rock. Mod takes it to new heights, putting dozens of kilometers per day walking a Japanese peninsula, walking with passion and … Continue reading “Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir” by Craig Mod| books are life
Hemlock & Silver by T. KingfisherMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI’m surprised to realize how much I genuinely enjoyed this. “I just want to save people and then have those people go away and, ideally, …| books are life
Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary by Victoria Amelina My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s painful, reading this account of Russian invasion of Ukraine through the eyes of a Ukrainian novelist and poet who not only lives through the surreal horror of this injustice but also joins an NGO … Continue reading “Looking at Women Looking at War” by Victoria Amelina| books are life
The Forest of a Thousand Eyes by Frances Hardinge My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book made my inner eleven-year-old so happy, even if my outer self is three decades removed from that inner kid. Frances Hardinge is a magician, and that is a fact. “She pulled out a piece of charcoal and started … Continue reading “The Forest of a Thousand Eyes” by Frances Hardinge| books are life
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee MohamedMy rating: 3 of 5 starsAaaaaand – this wraps up my Hugo Awards 2025 nominated novella reading, and it says something that I’m just so relieved that …| books are life
The Hungry Gods by Adrian TchaikovskyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars “Sometimes future demands sacrifice.” Having read a string of quite unsatisfying novellas recently, I was about to start doubting the ge…| books are life
Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de BodardMy rating: 2 of 5 starsThe idea of this world seemed interesting — who doesn’t like wormhole travel complications? Even if the premise of human naviga…| books are life
Yosemite: The Complete Guide: Yosemite National Park by James KaiserMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI read through this book twice. The first time when the only idea of Yosemite National Park I had was that…| books are life
Shark: The Illustrated Biography by Daniel AbelMy rating: 5 of 5 starsSharks. The teeth in that wide inviting grin. The speed. The sheer persistence of a very successful existence for roughly 450 m…| books are life
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia SamatarMy rating: 2 of 5 starsHoly symbolism. Holy heavy-handed symbolism. The problem when you make your characters so abstract and indistinct tha…| books are life
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane BradleyMy rating: 2 of 5 starsThis book, it seems to me, is unsure about what it wants to be. It’s trying to dip into several genres – romance and science fict…| books are life
The Emilie Adventures by Martha WellsMy rating: 3 of 5 starsThe Emilie Adventures by Martha Wells have a bit of a vintage classic feel to them, like a throwback to Jules Verne and Co. Maybe it’s th…| books are life
The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs by Richard SmithMy rating: 5 of 5 starsEven though I hopelessly fail even at snorkeling, let alone braving scuba divin…| books are life
Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy by Martha WellsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars “Did you meet someone?” Well, yes, Martha Wells is finally giving the wink-wink, nudge-nudge to all of us …| books are life
What Feasts at Night by T. KingfisherMy rating: 3 of 5 starsT. Kingfisher’s writing both fascinates and soothes me. She’s great at perfectly setting the scene, reliably delivers gentle yet sharp hu…| books are life
In a Sunburned Country by Bill BrysonMy rating: 4 of 5 starsIf you take Bill Bryson at face value, then you gotta be a real survivalist to make it out of Australia alive. “It has more things that w…| books are life
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John WiswellMy rating: 1 of 5 stars “You want to know if I’m mad that the woman, or the monster … or … or, the person that I like is eating [spoil…| books are life
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam KayMy rating: 5 of 5 stars “So I told them the truth: the hours are terrible, the pay is terrible, the conditions are terrible; you’…| books are life
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill BrysonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars “It would be useful (I wasn’t quite sure in what way, but I was sure nonetheless) to …| books are life
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin StevensonMy rating: 4 of 5 starsI’d advise anyone not trying to die to not hang around Ernest Cunningham; he has now penned two true crime nonfiction…| books are life
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins ReidMy rating: 3 of 5 starsI was not underwhelmed or overwhelmed but just “whelmed”, which should be a word just like its “under-” derivative is becoming. Even the astr…| books are life
Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King by Bradford MatsenMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI remember watching The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau as a mesmerized nine-year-old, completely awed by the beauty of th…| books are life
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally RooneyMy rating: 2 of 5 stars“Purposeful awkwardness” is how I can describe this book in just two words. I don’t know whether that goes along with supposedly…| books are life
Ready Player Two by Ernest ClineMy rating: 1 of 5 starsGAME. FINALLY. OVER.For fck’s sake. That’s the phrase that repeats itself over and over in my Kindle notes as I was slogging my way through th…| books are life
The Ocean’s Menagerie: How Earth’s Strangest Creatures Reshape the Rules of Life by Drew HarvellMy rating: 3 of 5 starsWhen I think of ocean animal life, it’s sharks and whales and dolp…| books are life
Life on Svalbard: Finding Home on a Remote Island Near the North Pole by Cecilia BlomdahlMy rating: 3 of 5 starsSo, where was I after reading this book? Probably booking my ticket to Svalbard — and…| books are life
I Will Show You How It Was: The Story of Wartime Kyiv by Illia PonomarenkoMy rating: 4 of 5 starsI just hope that someday Russia will experience exactly what it’s doing to Ukraine. Exactly the same…| books are life
How to Win The Bachelor: The Secret to Finding Love and Fame on America’s Favorite Reality Show by Chad KultgenMy rating: 3 of 5 starsMy innocence as far as The Bachelor franchise goes was fo…| books are life
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John ScalziMy rating: 3 of 5 starsI love cheese, even if it doesn’t always love me back. But after this book, I suppose I can grudgingly admit that having our Moon su…| books are life
Death at the Sanatorium by Ragnar JónassonMy rating: 3 of 5 starsThe mere idea of a decades-old murder in a partially abandoned tuberculosis sanatorium is fascinating, but it gets absolutely irresi…| books are life
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John GreenMy rating: 4 of 5 starsTuberculosis feels like it should be a disease of the past; the disease that m…| books are life
All You Need Is Love: An Oral History of The Beatles by Peter BrownMy rating: 2 of 5 starsI don’t think I’m the right reader for this book.Maybe I would have been at some point. I’ve discovered the…| books are life
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne CollinsMy rating: 3 of 5 starsYou can gasp all you want, but for me, despite loving The Hunger Games trilogy, it was only after seeing him on screen impeccably pla…| books are life
Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes by Svante PääboMy rating: 4 of 5 starsI must admit I was easily seduced by the title, being very curious about the Neanderthals, and didn’t even realize u…| books are life
Daily Life in Elizabethan England by Jeffrey L. SingmanMy rating: 3 of 5 starsI’m addicted now to the books on details of daily life in different historic periods. It brings history to life and set…| books are life
One Giant Leap: Apollo 11 Remembered by Piers BizonyMy rating: 4 of 5 starsNo, apparently I’ll never tire of finding more and more books about the Apollo program, why’d you ask?So here’s something …| books are life
Sunken Lands: A Journey Through Flooded Kingdoms and Lost Worlds by Gareth E. ReesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars “We are the children of the flood. All of us living today are descended from those who saw …| books are life
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard OsmanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars “The sun is up, the skies are blue, and murder is in the air.” It’s the ultimate cupcake of a murder(s) mystery solved by a septuage…| books are life
