What are you reading now?: September 13, 2025.

Have wrapped up Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame. Still plugging along with Desert Armour: Tank Warfare in North Africa: Gazala to Tunisia, 1942–43. Saving Michelangelo's Dome will follow.

Starting The Circumference of the World.

I'm still reading The Fireman by Joe Hill at home and Language City by Ross Perlin on my lunch break, although I didn't have much time to read Language City this week.

The Haunted House Diaries: The True Story of a Quiet Connecticut Town in the Center of a Paranormal Mystery
William J. Hall
4/5 stars
The title actually gives away the story line. This is the true story of a haunted house in Connecticut. I thought it was very well written. Horror/Non-Fiction

I've just finished reading Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, the third book in her excellent Wayfarers series. I've enjoyed all three of them. I bought all three of them in paperback because their covers are so pretty. There's a fourth which I intend to buy and devour.

Next up is Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. I've had it on my shelves for years now; it's time to tackle it.

The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation 1933-1939
Charlotte Beradt
3/5 stars
Interesting book about the people who were exposed to the horrors of the Third Reich. The author started collecting these internalized dreams of the people who were exposed to Nazi regime, both Jews and non-Jews. Non-Fiction

Started reading Map of Bones by James Rollins another big book with lots of thrilling adventure.

The Berry Pickers – Amanda Peters
Digital audiobook narrated by Aaliya Warbus and Jordan Waunch.
5***** and a ❤

In 1962, an indigenous family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer, a family and tribal tradition. A month into the season the family’s youngest child, four-year-old Ruthie, vanishes. The last person to see her is her six-year-old brother Joe. Authorities aren’t too helpful, but other pickers join in an exhaustive search to no avail. This will haunt the family, and Joe, in particular, for decades.

In Maine, a girl named Norma grows up in an affluent family. Her father is kind but distant. Her mother is overprotective and suffers from headaches. Norma is plagued by dreams which seem real to her, but which her parents and extended family insist are just the stuff of childhood imagination. But as she grows to adulthood, Norma comes to realize that her family is hiding a deep secret from her.

This was a wonderful book. The characters come alive on the page. Their hurts, joys, struggles, connections, love, tenderness, anger, frustration and pain are shown through their actions and reactions. The author uses dual narrators, Joe and Norma, to tell the story. Of course, neither is aware of the other so the truth comes out slowly and painfully through their memories and efforts to deal with the trauma of their childhood. Through Joe and Norma, the reader also learns about the families – Joe’s parents, and siblings; Norma’s parents and aunt.

Were I in Norma’s shoes, I’m not sure I could have forgiven the parents who raised me for their subterfuge. And while I may have understood the underlying reasons for my parents’ actions to at least understand, I would have an ever harder time overlooking Aunt June’s complicity in the lie. On the other hand, they clearly raised a loving and compassionate child, so there is that.

I appreciated learning more about the racism – both subtle and overt – the indigenous peoples endured.

The audiobook is narrated by two talented voice artists: Ailiaya Warbus handles those chapters narrated by Norma and Jordan Waunch takes on Joe’s chapters. This was very effective, and really brought the characters to life for me.

From the library: Death at an Irish Village by Ellie Brannigan
New and 3rd installment in "An Irish Castle Mystery" series

I found out Ellie Brannigan is the pseudonym for Traci Hall who also writes the "Scottish Shire Mystery" series.

I've had trouble settling to a book this week. I didn't even start Birdsong, and I was deeply bored by Girl, Woman, Other. Luckily, I have found a book that suits my current mood: Once Upon a River.

Beyond the Board: The Untold Story of the World's Most Daring Big Wave Surfer
by Maya Gabeira
4/5 stars
Amazing story of Maya Gabeira who became a famous big wave female surfer who traveled the world surfing. Biography/Sports

Graceland – Nancy Crochiere
3***

Olivia Grant is still a soap-star diva, though it’s been years since she acted. Now, tethered to her oxygen tank, she insists on one more visit to Graceland. But her daughter, Hope, fled Memphis years ago and promised never to return. So, Olivia co-opts Hope’s daughter Dylan, newly licensed and with a second-hand bright pink VW Beetle, for the road trip. Once Hope realizes what has happened, she convinces her cousin, George (a cross-dresser whose alter-ego is Jordan) to drive her from Boston to Memphis to find the octogenarian and teen.

This was a fun read with over-the-top characters dealing with drama mostly of their own making. I liked the road trip aspect the best, though their various antics once they all arrive in Memphis also kept the plot moving along nicely. (Loved the scenes with the Elvis impersonators!)

While I saw the truth far ahead of the characters, I still enjoyed watching them discover it for themselves. And I like that Crochiere did NOT give us a HEA ending neatly tied up with a bow. Life, after all, IS messy.

The new thread is up over here.