Cariola's 2026 Challenge

Hard to believe that it has taken me this long to start a thread for 2026. Time has just gotten away from me, I guess. My reading has slowed down considerably, but I still want to be part of this group. I'll post my reviews of the current year below and will work on a nicer heading post as well.

Best of 2026 (so far)
Land by Maggie O'Farrell
Brawler by Lauren Groff
Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell
The Elements by John Boyne
A Far-flung Life by M. L. Stedman
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan

Best of 2025 (in no particular order):
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
The Pretender by Jo Harkin
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
The Voyage Home by Pat Barker
Isola by Allegra Goodman
The Seeker by S. G. MacLean
The House of Lamentations by S. G. MacLean

Currently Reading:


January
The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

February
Miss Jane by Brad Watson
A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan
Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken

March
Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah
The Possible World by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz

April
The Fourth Daughter by Lyn Liao Butler

May
A Far-flung Life by M. L. Stedman
The News from Dublin by Colm Toibin
The Elements by John Boyne
Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Life and Fatal Times of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival by Stephen Greenblatt

June
The Brawler by Lauren Groff
Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell

July
London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for the Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
Land by Maggie O'Farrell

It has been two--maybe three--decades since I've read anything by Wally Lamb. I liked his books back then, and I liked this one well enough. He's a good writer, but I do find his books to be a bit too sentimental for my current taste. Or maybe emotionally manipulative is a better term.

This is the story of a man who, having lost his job, becomes anxious and starts overusing prescribed drugs and alcohol. His wife has to support the family while he stays home and cares for their two-year old twins. Corby is able to hide his addiction from his family and believes that he has things under control--until he backs the car over his two-year old son. He's arrested, convicted of negligent homicide, and sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Most of the book takes place in prison and focuses on Corby's interactions with other convicts and sadistic guards and his struggle to maintain sobriety and earn his wife's forgiveness. Yes, it's a very sad story. And just when you think things are about to get better, they don't.

I'm sure other readers will disagree, but I was very disappointed in the way the story ended. It's not that I wanted a happily ever after ending. I just thought it was too contrived and artificial, after all the build-up of wondering how things would work out once Corby was released. A deus ex machina conclusion, if you will, one designed to wrap it up while wringing tears and leaving the reader with some hope that isn't quite justified.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

A Thousand Ships tells the story of the Trojan War from the viewpoints of the women involved: Penelope, Cassandra, Andromache, Clytemnestra and many others. The chapters alternate between the various women. Penelope's sections are written as letter to her absent husband, Odysseus, who was not only away fighting the war for 10 years but has taken six more to return while rowdy young suitors, assuming that her husband is dead, clamor for her hand (and the property that will come with it). I found the concept to be very engaging, the characters well drawn, and the novel to be well written overall. A great read, the kind of book you can put down and pick up later without missing a beat.

5 out of 5 stars.

Glad to see you back again, Deborah!

>3 Cariola: If that book was not already in the BlackHole, I would be adding it again. Very glad to see that you enjoyed it so much!

Based on the life of the author's great aunt, this is the story of a woman born with a genital defect. She would never be able to have children, was unlikely to have intercourse (at least in the usual way), and had little control over her bowels and bladder. Of course, this meant that she lived most of her life at home with a large number of siblings on a small and relatively poor farm. The local doctor made several attempts to consult "big city" university specialists, but no solutions to Jane's condition could be found. Jane's older sister was her main caretaker until her teen years, when the sister left home and fell into a rough life. Jane did make friends with the boy next door and tried, for a time, to fit in with others her age and even attend school. She only managed this by starving and dehydrating herself prior to leaving for classes, dances, etc. Eventually she gave up, even breaking it off with the boy who had fallen in love with her.

While this sounds like a sad story, the author means it to be one of hope and resilience as Jane comes to terms with her fate, makes friends, and finds value in her life.

3 out of 5 stars.

>4 alcottacre: More reviews coming!

>6 Cariola: Great! Although I suspect that I am going to have to read them when I am back from a visit to my mother's. I am leaving tomorrow and will not be back until June 10th.

From Amazon: Set in Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying tells of a horrible epidemic that is suddenly and gruesomely killing the town's residents and setting off a terrifying paranoia. Jacob Hansen, Friendship's sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, is soon overwhelmed by the fear and anguish around him, and his sanity begins to fray. Dark, poetic, and chilling, Stewart O'Nan's A Prayer for the Dying examines the effect of madness and violence on the morality of a once-decent man.

Beautifully written. This is one I had put off for quite some time. A number of reviews see it as descending into a horror novel. I get that, there are some pretty macabre scenes. But it's more the story of a man who has experienced unbearable loss yet clings to his sense of duty and his love of his family, his community, and his God. Easy to see why it has become a classic.

4 out of 5 stars.

<img src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1719766170i/202776460.jpg"

This novel is based on the real-life story of two women who were executed for witchcraft in early 14th-century Ireland. The main character, Alice Kyteler, a wealthy innkeeper's daughter, had an unhappy childhood. The author hints at possible sexual abuse at the hands of her father. Her mother gave her warnings and ended up murdered; Alice found her body trampled in the mud by the river. As she grew, Alice found she had a head for money and, in addition to running the inn, started an investment and loan business. She marries a man who can help her get ahead. And another. And another. And another. People begin to suspect that their deaths weren't caused by illness or unfortunate accidents. In each case, she benefitted financially, having first convinced her husbands to exclude her stepchildren from inheriting. She and her former maid, with whom she had a sexual relationship, are ultimately charged with witchcraft.

I enjoyed the first half of the book much more than the second, but overall, it earned 4 stars from me.

Welcome back! Never too late.

Jo is a graduate student studying the nesting habits of indigo buntings in a remote house rented from one of her professors. Having recently lost her mother and had surgery herself for breast cancer, she's looking forward to retreating from society. One night she hears a dog barking and sees a barefoot, bedraggled little girl outside. She claims to be an alien from a place in the Pinwheel Galaxy who has inhabited the body of a dead girl in order to learn more about people on Earth. Her task is to find five miracles here before she can return to her home planet. Her name is hard to pronounce, so she says that since she lives near the Big Dipper, Jo can call her Ursa. Jo take her in but keeps searching missing child websites, convinced that she belongs to someone. When she calls the police, Ursa runs off. The officer tells her that he had a friend who suffered horrible experiences in foster care and that in the end, it might be better for her to just do nothing. When Ursa returns, Jo promises not to call the police again.

The nearest farm is down the road, where Jo frequently purchases eggs. She becomes friends with a young farmer named Gabe and trusts him enough to tell him about Ursa. Gabe has his own demons, including ongoing depression, an overbearing and cruel sister, and an ailing mother, but he helps to care for Ursa.

That's all the backdrop I'll give for now. I enjoyed most of the book and, although I'm not a big fan of magical realism, there really wasn't much of it except for Ursa's claim to be an alien. Jo, Gabe, and this reader all suspect that she is actually a little girl who fled some terrible situation. I was a bit disappointed that the author felt it necessary to develop a romance, and the conclusion was a rather unbelievable happily ever after. I won't be looking for more books by this author.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

(The Washington Book Review): “A brilliantly written, moving story” (The Washington Book Review) about the converging lives of a young boy who witnesses a murder, the ER doctor who tends to him, and a woman guarding her long-buried past, from the author of What Could Be Saved.

I wasn't sure that I'd like this one, but since I do enjoy books that cover a story different points of view, I thought I'd give it a try. Lucy is an overworked ER nurse who happens to be on duty the night that Ben, a traumatized child covered in blood, is brought in. Ben's initial chapter tells us that he witnessed the murder of everyone else at the birthday party he was attending. The killer saw him hiding under a table but let him go. As the novel progresses, Ben begins telling everyone that his name is Leo. Under hypnotism, he starts to tell a very different story.

The third POV comes from Claire, an elderly woman in a nursing home. Claire has a traumatic story of her own, one that has made her reluctant to trust or open up to anyone. Ultimately, she becomes the link between the novel's three main characters when Leo begins to ask, "Where is Claire?"

I'm still a bit skeptical as to the resolution (which I won't give away here), but overall, I very much enjoyed this one and want to read other works by the author.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

>10 Cariola: Thanks! Glad to be back. This is a lot of work, but I've missed posting here. Not sure I'll get around to doing the same in my other favorite group, at least not right now.

Liv, a chef who lives in New York, survived a shooting in the restaurant in which she was wounded and a coworker was killed. She suffers from PTSD and panic attacks and has been staying in her apartment, avoiding other people. So she even surprises herself when she agrees to fly to Taiwan to help her grandmother find the daughter who has been missing for 63 years. It seems that her husband gave the toddler to another family to be raised as a future wife for their blind son. Yi-Ping never gave up her hope of finding Yi-Li. Now she saw a woman in the street who had a heart-shaped mole behind one ear, just like her daughter. She tried to catch up with the woman, calling out to her, but the woman moved on.

This novel traces what happened over the years of searching and how, using technology, the search is renewed. It develops the relationship between Liv and her grandmother as they cook together. And, of course, there's a romance stuck in for good measure. That seemed unnecessary to me and, added to a set of unlikely coincidences, lowered my score for this book to 3.5 stars.

It has been 10 years since M.L. Stedman's first novel, The Light Between Oceans, was published. It was well worth the wait. 'A Far-flung Life' is a wonderful story of the MacBrides, a family living on a million-acres sheep station in Western Australia. It begins in 1958, when an unexpected tragedy changes the lives of Lorna, Matt and Rose forever, and continues through the next 5+ decades.

Phil MacBride and his two sons, Warren and Matt, are driving down a twisty road on an ordinary day when he swerves to avoid what he thinks is a person. (It turns out to be a kangaroo.) Phil and Warren are killed, and Matt survives with head injuries that keep him in the hospital for months and cause memory loss and behavioral changes that may or may not be resolved in time. Lorna is able to hang on to the station with the help of several friends and with her daughter Rose taking over the accounting and assisting with Matt's slow recovery. But a night of drinking and its unexpected consequences lead to even more tragedies for the MacBrides, tragedies with secrets behind them that dog the family for decades.

'A Far-flung Life' follows several themes, most of them centered on Matt's story. What is our duty to family, and how much can we sacrifice for them? To what lengths can we go to hide painful truths? How do we go on living with guilt and a past that can't be changed?

In addition to this main plot, there's a threat to the station when a state-approved mining company starts exploring for minerals; a love story; and a sharply drawn portrait of the local community and a group of citizens, all hiding secrets of their own.

My only criticism is the last chapter, an ending that ties things up a bit too neatly and unbelievably. Otherwise, I was quite captivated by this book and recommend it to anyone who likes family dramas.

5 out of 5 stars.

I've very much enjoyed many of Colm Toibin's works, but others--not so much. This one falls into that latter category. I was hoping for more Irish/Dublin stories, but half of these are either about Irish people living in Spain or Spanish people living in Ireland. Sure, I loved Roddy Doyle's short story collection The Deportees, which was about immigrants moving to a booming Ireland and trying to find their place. Those stories were really interesting; Toibin's are mostly just plain dull. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I listened to it on audio, although the reader was fine. I don't know. Sometimes Toibin just leaves me feeling "meh" and wishing for one story to be over in the hopes that the next will be better.

2 out of 5 stars.

John Boyne is nothing if not diverse. He's written books for young adults, whimsy for grownups, books with a tinge of magical realism, historical novels, and much more. And he's an excellent writer in all genres. His latest, The Elements, is divided into 4 sections based on the lives of four characters, covering a period of several decades. Vanessa Carvin is a forty-something woman fleeing from a family scandal the family tragedy that followed. She has changed her name and moved to a remote Irish island, where she hopes to come to terms with what has happened and her own possible responsibility. Freya Petrus is a respected burn specialist who is hiding both a traumatic childhood and a destructive habit. Evan Keogh, who grew up on the same island as Vanessa, is a gifted footballer who would rather be an artist, despite his relative lack of talent. We first see Aaron Umber as an intern under Dr. Petrus and later as the ex-husband of Vanessa's oldest daughter. With Rachel's blessing, he has had custody of their son since the divorce and is now on a flight to Ireland to attend her mother's funeral with a very reluctant Emmett, who is estranged from his mother.

Each of these stories is quite interesting, moving back and forth in time to provide some explanations for what has happened to each of the characters. Boyne does a great job of integrating the various characters into each other's stories, some in ways more significant than others. Each of them has faced trauma in their lives, some of them multiple times. Some recover, some do not, and some pass their trauma on to others.

I don't want to give away too much, but I feel I should issue a warning that if the sexual abuse of children is a trigger for you, this book is not for you.

The Elements kept me engaged throughout, despite it being at times a tough read, and I really admire Boyne's writing and the structure he develops here.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

I had hoped for more from this book, although I'm not exactly sure what. Having taught Marlowe's plays along with Shakespeare's for years before I retired, I fully believe that he would have surpassed "The Bard" had he not died in a tavern brawl (or was it a politically ordered murder?) at the age of 29. I've read several biographies and knew the basics of Marlowe's life. That he was a scholarship boy, a cobbler's son from Canterbury. That he was known to have a preference for tobacco and young boys. That he made statements that brought charges of heresy and atheism. That he may have been a secret Catholic--or a spy pretending to one be so that he could infiltrate Jesuit circles and report back to Walsingham, Elizabeth's spymaster. That he never completed his M.A. but was granted the degree for "services to Her Majesty." But most of all, there is his extraordinary body of work, lush poems like "Hero and Leander" and plays whose shock value, ingenuity, character depth, intellectual questioning, and resplendent language are just as powerful for readers and audiences today as they were in the late 16th century. I always included several of Marlowe's plays in my Renaissance Drama courses, and in my senior seminar on Shakespeare and Marlowe, my students always enjoyed the pairing of plays by two geniuses: Richard II v. Edward II, The Merchant of Venice v. The Jew of Malta, Coriolanus v. Tamburlaine, Doctor Faustus v. Hamlet.

Greenblatt covers all of this, integrating lines from Marlowe's plays with the details of his life. Dark Renaissance would likely appeal more to readers less steeped in the period and his work than others. If I were to give a rating for Marlowe enthusiasts, I'd probably give this book 2.5 stars; for others who know little but are eager to know more, my rating would raise to 4.5 stars.

What a lovely surprise, Deborah, to wake up this morning and see your thread!

Welcome back.

The books you have chosen this year have lovely covers as a uniting theme.

Hi, welcome back! I found your reviews of The River is Waiting and The News from Dublin oddly reassuring. I abandoned both books. The first one immediately after the tragedy, because I just couldn't take it. And the second, because the stories were, as you said, just so dull. It's a shame, because I've enjoyed his novels.

>21 lauralkeet: Glad to see that I'm not alone on those two books! Fortunately, I'm about to post a much better review!

Brawler by Lauren Groff

With the exception of her last book, The Vaster Wilds (I couldn't finish it), I've read and loved everything that Lauren Groff has published. I wasn't sure about Brawler, mainly because of the title and cover, but she's back on her game with this new collection of nine short stories. The characters are widely varied, from extremely wealthy to on public assistance, from athletic to disabled, from teenage to old age. Each of them is facing a major life transition or turning point. Their stories are set between the 1950s and the present and all corners of the country. All are struggling to follow their better angels, but circumstances sometimes add strength to their worser devils.

All of the stories have been previously published, many in The New Yorker, but they were all new to me. Returning to polish and publish them was a good move on Groff's part, bringing her back to where she started and highlighting her skill at depicting human struggles and insights. Brilliant writing, stories that will stick with you for a long time. My favorite was the powerful first story, "The Wind," in which a daughter recounts a story told by her mother from her own childhood, when she, her two brothers, and her mother tried to escape domestic violence. But the remaining eight stories live up to this one, each in their own unique way. Highly recommended.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell

I've been rather "off" audiobooks for quite some time, mainly due to disappointing readers, but Thomas Judd, really made this one shine! The narrator of the story is Richard Shakespeare, younger brother of the playwright William. Richard has fled from a violent master and an apprenticeship in which he had no interest, hoping to find a place for himself in the theatre world. After a few years, he's disappointed to still be playing women's roles: he longs to be a lover or a knight. He begs his brother, whose reputation is starting to bloom, to write a proper man's part for him. William's response is to cast him as Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream. If you know the play, you'll know that Flute is indeed a man, one of the "mechanicals" who will present a play to celebrate the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta, and whose role in their play is Thisbe--another woman!

Between the stage and the brotherly conflicts, Cornwell gives us an intricate look at Elizabethan England and the various social classes. Richard falls gets into trouble, solves a mystery, falls in love. And finally gets the part he has been waiting for. Not a lover. Not a knight. But something even more thrilling! Reader Judd does an outstanding job of distinguishing all of the voices in the play, even reading the young women's lines without an element of silliness. I much prefer readers who do this well as opposed to audiobooks that employ a large cast to cover all the characters.

I haven't read Cornwell before, although he's a well-known and prolific historical novelist, perhaps best know for the Sharpe naval series and The Last Kingdom series. I'll certainly be looking for more of his works. Fools and Mortals was a Number 1 best seller when first released. It's a truly delightful novel, full of humor, warmth, friendship, suspense, betrayal, and wonderful characters. As a retired Shakespearean, I particularly enjoyed the inside jokes! I highly recommend it.

5 out of 5 stars.

>23 Cariola: I have toyed with whether to add that one, Deborah, but you have persuaded me to do so. I have read many more short stories than usual this year.

Oh, Deborah, my checking in here has been so quick and if-y that I didn't realize that you are back! I'm delighted!!!!!

I have a copy of Dark Renaissance and should be its perfect reader with just enough background to want more. I really should be reading Marlowe himself before my vision goes, but right now I'm just playing. S. O'Nan really appeals to me. I read the first of P.Barker's Trojan women books and will pick up #3 as soon as I can. I loved B.Cornwell's Sharpe and and mystery/thrillers with yachting, so I'll definitely have a look at *Fs and Ms*.
Thank you for all your work to let us see what you're reading!

>26 LizzieD: Glad you found me. The older I get, the more difficulties I run into, but I'm back and still reading and posting a bit. I think you'll like Dark Renaissance. It was a bit repetitive for me, but I found the way Greenblatt examines lines from the play in the context of Marlowe's life to be intriguing. I've had a glimpse of Cornwell's website. Not sure which series I would go for, but I have time to think as I have a lot of books to catch up one.

Do you read on a Kindle? Being able to enlarge the font really helps me. I gave away a lot of hardcover and paperback books that are just too difficult for me now. I had cataract surgery that makes it difficult for me to see up close without reading glasses, plus arthritis in my hands and wrists makes it hard to hold heavy books and to keep pages open. I'll bet you could find audio copies of Marlowe's plays, too.

>25 PaulCranswick: Hope you like it, Paul.

Well, it looks like my postings have fallen by the wayside yet again. I'll post a review for the latest one I completed and will bacvktrack to any I finished but didn't post.

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Land by Maggie O'Farrell

This is an engaging but often sad story about an Irish family, starting in 1865, after the great potato famine. Tomas works as a surveyor, a trade he learned as a boy in an orphanage. His clients are "redcoats" (English soldiers) marking out Irish territories and giving them all new English names. When Tomas sets out on a job and gets separated from his son Liam, he comes across a secluded pool that changes his life forever. He wants to stop surveying for the English and instead map out all of the special places in Ireland, using their own names and including legends. He falls into a madness that is "cured" by Father Joseph, a man that Tomas despises.

Tomas reluctantly returns to surveying for the army, but only after moving his family to a ruined house on the peninsula where he found the alluring pool. The eldest child, Edna, is a free spirit who discovers a talent for playing the fiddle, but she longs to take Liam's place at her father's side and travel the countryside (if not the world). She resents the fact that Liam is allowed to go to school and to help with surveying, but Liam's great desire is to become a priest like Father Joseph. Rose helps her mother tend the house and seems destined to marry. Eugene, born after the move, doesn't speak and seems to be either intellectually challenged or autistic, but he does have some very special gifts. The novel traces the fates of the family members. They experience many tragedies and misunderstandings, make many mistakes, but for the most part persevere and continue to find moments of joy.

O'Farrell, as usual, makes each character unique and engaging. The plot relies a good deal on coincidences and the unfortunately accurate ugly behavior of the British in Ireland. She also weaves a lot of magic, legend, and superstition into her plot. While I can't say that this is my favorite among her many novels, I very much enjoyed it and recommend it to others interested in the life of the Irish in the late 19th century.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe

In this true crime story, when a 19-year old is found in the Thames, it's quickly determined that he committed suicide by jumping from the balcony of the luxury apartment in which he was staying. MI6 cameras had caught Zac Brettler pacing back and forth on the balcony, and London Police came to the easy conclusion. But his parents are convinced that he he had been murdered. Patrick Radden Keefe, author of another terrific investigative book, 'Say Nothing' (about the disappearance and murder of a Northern Ireland mother) takes on the story in 'London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth.'

There's no question that Rachelle and Matthew had their hands full with Zac. He was an intelligent kid with high ambitions who would disappear for days at a time. After after his death, they learned that he was living a double life, pretending to be the son of a Russian oligarch and getting involved with some very shady characters. Clearly, he had gotten in way over his head. Scotland Yard had no interest in investigating the possibility that his death was a crime, so the Brettlers decided to take on the case themselves.

This was an intriguing listen. I really enjoyed the meticulous research done by Keefe here, "peeling back layers of mystery and exposing the seedy truths behind the glamorous London of posh mansions and private nightclubs, a city in which everything is for sale, and aspirational fantasies are underwritten by dirty money and corruption" (Amazon).

4 out of 4 stars. (Completed July 17)

Couple of winners there, Deborah.

I will hopefully follow you with land next month.