Joe's Sixth Book Cafe of 2026
This is a continuation of the topic Joe's Fifth Book Cafe of 2026.
Talk 75 Books Challenge for 2026
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Books Read in 2026
January 2026
1. This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki*
2. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
3. The Day the Moon and Earth Had an Argument* by David Duff, The Crystal Heart* by Aaron Shephard, and The Knives* by Brubaker/Phillips.
4. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.
5. Drawing on Walls* by Matthew Burgess.
6. Isola by Allegra Goodman. Good but not great story of parentless Marguerite growing up spoiled by her rich circumstances, but still good-hearted, in a medieval castle-type setting, until her guardian unclesells her lands and takes heron a journey to the New World - Canada. She ends up left on an empty stony island where she overcomes her coddled upbringing and survives under animal and weather duress. She finally makes herway back to France and is reunited with her dear friend Claire, and all turns out well.
7. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. An epistolary novel. The life of in-her-70s Sybil Van Antwerp, as revealed in letters to and from her, and some unsent ones. She mentors a brilliant but socially teenage boy, who lives with her when things are their worst. She spars with her daughter Fiona, both of them longing for a better relationship but can’t figure out how to get it. She reveals all - almost all - to her best friend Rosalie, who has exchanged letters with her since they were little girls. Sybil lost her young son under heart-rending circumstances that broke her family apart and caused her husband to leave her. Now, at her advanced age, she finds herself caught between two men who both want her. And she unexpectedly learns she has a closely similar sister in Scotland she knew nothing about. . Well done and worthy of the popularity it has attained mainly through word of mouth.
8.Twelve Months by Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden is back, in another corker of a story. Queen Mab of the winter court has appointed Harry her Winter Knight, and told him he will be marrying Lara Raith, currently head of the White Court of Vampires. Harry isstill mourning the loss of Karrin Murphy, a cop who battled alongside him and who reciprocated his love. . Harry., as usual, is not inclined to be easily compliant to authority, but Lara is intoxicatingly beautiful and brilliant in her own right, and Queen Mab has sufficient power to make it stick. Meanwhile, Harry is dedicated to freeing his half-brother Thomas (a vampire) from the clutches of a Hunger demon, and to free Thomas’s kidnapped pregnant wife, too. Lots of good ingredients for a juicy tale, and as usual Butcher manages to blend them into a tasty and satisfying dish.
February 2026
9. Stolen in Death by J.D. Robb. Another solid Eve-Roarke procedural, centered around stolen jewelry and a seemingly unnecessary death. Roarke had connections to the jewelry, and a woman from his past surfaces.
10. Villette by Charlotte Bronte. See review below.
11. A Bride’s Story 15 by Kaoru Mori. In this one we’re mostly in England instead of the Silk Road, as Smith brings Talas home with the intention of marrying her. His parents disapprove, of course, and think she must be from India (she’s from Turkistan, IIRC). They settle in his family’s enormous “cottage”, with sheep for Talas to happily tend. Mori’s drawing skills continue to impress and even improve.
12. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Review below.
13. Anti-Hero by Gregg Hurwitz. Descent into the sordid porn and abuse of women business. During an epileptic seizure in public, Anca is kidnapped by four teenage men who proceed tobrutalize and rape her, then sell the film to a porn site. Evan, with the help of his techno-wizard adopted daughter Joey, and former nemesis Candy, rescues Anca, tracks down the young men and brings them to justice via new nemesis FBI agent Naomi Templeton, who’s wiiling to work with him on this. He also straightens out a falling añart billionaire genius, who in turn helps him destroy the porn site that is fomenting the abuse.
March 2026
14. Antarctica by Claire Keegan. Short stories by the author of Foster and Small Things Like These. She was able to convey a lotbin those short novels, and the same happens here. The title story is a masterwork as a woman dissatisfied with her marriage goes on a risky adventure. The author has a knack for ending a story sooner than you’d expect, with perfection, so that you’re satisfied yet your mind carries on the story into what happens beyond. Looking forward to her next novel.
15. Murder in Mistake by Anne Cleeland. Kathleen Doyle once again uses his truth-sorting powers and dream visits from a ghost to help her husband Lord Acton solve a complicated set of murders where veiled motives cause misdirection. There’s a new baby girl who needs breast-feeding, but Doyle handles a busy maternity leave with her usual aplomb. Love this series; always a pleasure to reunite with Doyle and Acton.
16. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.* A competently done graphic version. This story is always appealing, but I kept thinking of the much more magical illustrations of Inga Moore.
17. Lucas Wars by Laurent Hopman.*
18. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. The first in a silly fun post-apocalyptic series.
19. The Crossroads by CJ Box. A Joe Pickett mystery in which Joe is in a hospital bed coma for most of it, after an ambush that gave him a bullet wound to the head. His three daughters investigate, which is fun.
20. The Hard Line by Mark Greaney. Another exciting Gray Man adventure. This time Court Gentry, the GM, is working with a team to thwart a Chine attempt to take over U.S. intelligence services with the help of high-up traitors. They send multiple GM-level assassins to kill key intelligence operatives. Among them are two with personal scores to settle with the Gray Man. One targets the GM’s father, which results in the GM and his father teaming up to fight a half dozen trained killers. Another fun thriller in this reliably action-filled series.
21. Please Wait to Cross by our cousin Elissa Bass. I enjoyed her Happy Hour, but this one a little less. Part of that is the inclusion of a somewhat grisly murder scene in an otherwise lightish romance novel. I can definitely see why she did it -it sets up a future valuable section about the main character’s good works, but yhe tonal asymmetry didn’t work for me.
22. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. The first half of this novel about an unhappy academician trying to get tenure at and Oxford/Cambridge-type university had me wondering why the book is revered. (I got it off that BBC Top 100 list). The introduction talks about how much Amis detested the academic environment and hidebound tradition, and it shows. In the second half Jim becomes more sympathetic, and his passive agressivevbattles with forces thst be (the main villain is named Welch, but I didn’t hold that against the book), and efforts to mollify a histrionic romantic interest while also pursuing a level-headed beauty made the reading much more interesting. As impossible as it seemed early on, thigs work out okay for Lucky Jim.
23. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Not my cuppa. An intolerably Christian father who oppresses his wife and daughters, and tries to force his Christian beliefs on African natives (the Congo) without for am minute considering their existing beliefs or, for that matter, their daily lives.
24. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. The self-published phenomenon by a first-time author. A huge bestseller. Theo is a handsome, charming 86 year old man who comes to a small Georgia town, Golden, and keeps information about himself under wraps. He loves a local artist’s portraits of the townspeople and proceeds to buy them bit by bit. He arranges to give their portrait to each subject in exchange for time discussing their lives. In this way he becomes a valued member of the community. I enjoyed the community members and Theo, and Levi deftly mixes it up so it doesn’t get repetitive. Turns out that Theo had quite a life pre-Golden, and has unexpected connections to the town. A well done feel good novel.
25. Becoming Yourself by Shunryu Suzuki. Suzuki was an influential Zen master and author of one of my favorite Buddhist books. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. This one is a loose collection of transcribed talks Suzuki gave at the San Francisco Zen Center, which my Chicago Zen Center is affiliated with. I love his lighthearted skepticism about all the behavioral rules (e.g. the 16 precepts). His view: they’re important, but don’t overweight them. If you sit (meditate) well and get yourself into the compassionate Buddhist mindset, you’ll be fulfilling them without even thinking about it. The book also has a chapter by his wife about her life with Suzuki, and Suzuki’s explanation of how he learned Zen, and how and why he came to America to teach us Buddhism. Start with Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. If you love it, you’ll want to read this one.
26. The Waves by Virginia Woolf. My goddaughter’s favorite of hers, and one of the BBC Top 100. Very poetic writing; consists of a half dozen or so freeflowing interior monologues interspersed witb lovely descriptions of the sea and shore. Stuctured from sunrise to sunset, it tracks the connected characters as they age from young to old. Explores the growth of identity and aspirations for unity over loneliness. Impressive, but my favorites remain Mrs. Dalloway and A Room of One’s Own.
27. The Astral Library by Kate Quinn. This fantasy novel on its face seemed like such a departure for this author of excellent historical novels like The Alice Network, The Rose Code and The Briar Club. But her Afterword makes it clear that she’s been an avid fantasy reader her whole life. She makes good use of that knowledge, as this novel features the ability to enter and live in the books of the Astral Library. This is a godsend for 26 year old Alix, who after being raised in multiple foster homes is eking out a meager existence cobbling together part time jobs, including one at the Boston Public Library. The Librarian in the AL is ancient and dragon- tough, and somewhat reluctantly takes on Alix as an assistant. This lead to adventures in multiple books, as the AL seems to be under a mysterious attack. Wearing the right clothing in books such as Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice is always an issue, particularly since the library’s funding (of course) has been cut, like every library’s. Luckily Alix’s best friend Beau is a rising fashion design star who can kit her out. Dire dilemmas relating to the attacks keep the book hopping, and it ended up being a very enjoyable diversion in our stressful time. A book lover’s, and fantasy lover’s delight. Given her enjoyment of the genre, I suspect that this is not the last we’ll see of Alix and the AL.
April 2026
28. Oh Brother by Georgina Chadderton. A graphic memoir from Austria about a young girl growing up with a brother very much on the autism spectrum. Rob is mostly non- verbal, so clever that they have combination locks on every door, and sometimes violent. Her parents are great with him, but he affects every aspect of their lives. Taking him to get his haircut or to the dentist is a major operation which he resists. Gina has trouble making friends but makes a good one in Callie, who puts up with Rob even after he bites her. Gina has her own anxieties and difficulties at school, but loves Rob and knows he always has to come first.. From an afterword we know that Rob becomes increasingly difficult, and after he turns 18 is moved to a house that provides proper. Gina learns at 32 that she’s on the spectrum, too. . What I particularly liked about this book is I haven’t often gotten this perspective from a sibling on a spectrum-resider. The graphics were so-so.
29. There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. A VERY high concept sci-fi book about battling a creature who preys on memories.
30. The Violence: My Family’s Colombian War by Adrian’s Es Ramirez.
31. More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa. Liked its “Days” predecessor a lot. The first half was a snooze.💤 Peaceful, but not much happening. The second half took a turn for the much better, with suppressed characters opening up to each other. I ended up glad I read it, and I’ll read more by this author.
32. Anger by Thich Nhat Hanh. Subtitled “Wisdom for Cooling the Fames”, I found it very helpful in trying to defuse and calm down my anger. Mindful breathing, embracing the anger and taking care of it like a loved one, rather than suppressing it or”venting it”. He says the last may give temporary relief, but in the end it just feeds the anger. Lots of good stuff about getting relationships back on track, the roles of parents, and more. Glad I read this one.
33. Transition by Ben Lerner. A disappointment that probably is my fault. Book critics have been robustly supportive of this one, and it basically sailed over my head. Supposedly an examination of memory and digital recording in novel form, it unfortunately did little for me. The most interesting part was when the main character’s daughter had an eating disorder that got straightened out.
May 2026
34. The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst. This cozy fantasy was delightful from beginning to end. It took me back to the first fantasies I read as a lad, and the pleasure I took in them. Clarisa’s boyfriend breaks her heart, and she needs to get away for the summer to heal. Her Aunt Zee needs help at her Vermont Inn, which turns out to have some wonderful secrets and surprising guests. A treat to read.
35. Woods & Words: The story of Poet Mary Oliver by Sara Holly Ackerman.
36. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Re-read. Spiritual and Buddhist, but also warmly personal and touching. This was an impressive re-read: not an easy subject to make so appealing.
37. Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood. Like our daughter, I’ve enjoyed this author’s STEM romances. This non-STEM one was just okay.
38. Platform Decay by Martha Wells. It has the humor we’ve all enjoyed, led by SecUnit’s skepticism concerning all things human, sometimes surfacing as distaste (e.g., our constant need for bathrooms) and sometimes an inability to understand (why the attempts to interpret his expression). I was a little disappointed by the somewhat unilinear plot: Murderbot has to rescue humans trapped on a space station from pursuing corporate villains out to capture or kill them. He connives his way through the ginormous space station, hoping to reconnect with an escape shuttle. His rescuees include weak and incomprehensible (to him) children whom he must reluctantly accommodate. It’s fun, but for me doesn’t reach the heights of some of its predecessors.
39. Wild for Austen by Devoney Looser. It’s subtitled “A Rebellious, Subversive and Untamed Jane”. The author is a well-known Austen scholar with other Austen books under her belt. This one seeks to dispel the notion that Austen was a cloistered, prim village girl with little exposure to the outside world. Looser’s arguments are effective. Through her brothers and other relatives and acquaintances she got around much more than commonly thought, and her inner fire was often on display. An authorial tic that annoyed me was Looser’s repeated use of the word “wild” to advance her premise. Among the otherwise skillful writing and meticulous research, it felt surprisingly amateurish. Still, I was impressed by the breadth of her knowledge and the depth of that research. It was great learning more about a favorite author and her works. I’m re-inspired to dig into her sometimes naughty, sometimes hilariously mean-spirited Juvenalia.
40. The Golden Hour by Niki smith.*. A well-done 235 page graphic story about Manuel, 10-11 years old, who was traumatized by a school shooter, but thought to pull the fire alarm and ended up saving his art teacher. A school project leads to friendship with white farm boy Sebastian and black classmate Caysha, both of whom help Manuel (who is Latin) when he gets triggered by noises or events.
It’s well done - also featuring realistic parents who are open-minded- and I hope it gets found by YAs and middle grade readers. The warm friendships are a highlight.
41. Out Law by Jim Butcher. A fun outing with Chicago wizard Harry Dresden. Harry is teaching a young apprentice wizard named Fitz, who knows how to create fire and some other things, but is ignorant of a whole lot more. Meanwhile chief gangster Marcone has called in a chip to have Harry help an annoying low echelon gangster, Tripp, go straight. It turns out Tripp is owed $10 mill by a rival gang leader after winning a bet, and the rival would rather kill him than pay it. The rival has a fantastically strong black blob called The Lurker doing what he asks; it gets inside animals and people and takes them over. The rival’s right hand man has the Lurker inside him. Harry, helped by the Valkyrie Bear, has to keep Tripp safe, get the $10 million for Tripp’s legit new charity, and defeat the rival and the Lurker. He figures out a clever way to do that with the help of Demonreach, and at the same time teach both Fitz and Tripp some valuable lessons. . I was very happy to have another Harry Dresden story to read.
42. Night Watch by Kevin Young. One of the best poetry collections I’ve read in a while. I always find it hard to describe poetry collections. I’ll think some more and maybe post an excerpt or two. Meanwhile I’m going to look for his previous collection, Stones.
43. Names and Faces by Leise Hook. A well-illustrated graphic memoir about a biracial Asian/white girl. She’s caught betwixt and between and has trouble figuring out her own identity. She grows up to look white. Her happiest time seemed to be when she was in an international school filled with mixed race children. There nobody thought there was something odd about her appearance.
She explores her Chinese heritage and experiments with her hair, going through a blonde phase. The lack of Asian role models, including in American girl dolls, troubles her mind. It’s all interesting enough, and caused me to think a lot more about what life is like for biracial people. But there is no real resolution. I suspect that there will be a second book covering more of her journey. She appears to marry a white man, so there may be more ruminations not only about her own identity, but that of any children.
44. This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page. A charmer in which a widow’s late husband leaves her a book a month for a year at a local bookstore, with a letter for each as to why. Some send her on adventures, others have other purposes. In the process the bookstore personnel also have an effect on her life. An enjoyable read, and each chapter begins with book recommendations from the bookstore owner which hit the spot for me and lead me already to a good book I hadn’t known about.
45. Tales from the Cafe by Kai Taksini. A follow-up to Before the Coffee Gets Cold in which the cafe time travelers travel to the past, and in one instance the future, to deal with grief issues. There are two more books in this series that I’ll likely read.
46. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. A family in crisis at an unexpected pregnancy and a racist cop who put the innocent father in prison.
June 2026
47. Visitations: Poems by Julia Alvarez, the author of A Time of Butterflies. Very satisfying poems that read like short stories, covering memories from her entire life, which started in the Dominican Republic. In an afterward she notes that she was first published as a poet and that this volume isn’t a departure from novel-writing but a return to her love of poetry. I’ll be looking for earlier collections.
48. The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant by Liza Tully. Like many others, I imagine, I couldn’t resist that title! Merritt is the terse, brusque, detail-retentive detective, and Blunt is her enthusiastic, not as bright assistant who is a good surrogate for the reader. It reminds me a bit of the Hawthorne and Horowitz relationship in Anthony Horowitz’s murder mysteries. Blunt also feels a bit under-used and disrespected.
It was quite enjoyable - was it suicide or murder? If murder, whodunnit and why? There’s a large cast of familial and other suspects. When it finished, the relationship had developed to where I thought, this likely is the start of a series and, sure enough, their new one will be out any minute now, The Forty Year Grudge.
49. Radiant Star by Ann Leckie, the author of the Ancillary books, starting with Ancillary justice. The good news is it’s an Imperial Radch book, à la the Ancillary books. Unfortunately I found it underwhelming. It features lots of religious, political, family and community jockeying for position, which other readers might find more interesting than I did. I gave it four stars; Leckie knows how to keep the pages turning. 1200+ Amazon readers gave it a slightly more enthusiastic 4.2 rating.
50. _Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. It took us quite a while to read it to each other, but it was worth it. The summer of young Doug Spaulding and brother Tom in 1928 small town Illinois. Lovely storytelling, with one reminder after another of the simple gifts life brings us - a new pair of sneakers for Doug that has him running and jumping with poetic revelry, an old man whose vivid stories of years gone by have the boys viewing him as a Time Machine. This book had a profound positive effect on teenage disaffected me.
51. The Lions’ Run by Sara Pennypacker, author of the terrific Pax.
52. Human Nature Vol. 1 by Dan Aronofsky. Sci-fi graphic novel with a good story so far - the protagonist gets himself kidnapped by aliens in hopes this will help him find his disappeared daughter.
53. Days at the Torunka Cafe by Satoshi Yakisawa.
54. Dolly All the Time. A fun light romance.
55. The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke. The first Dave Robicheaux mystery. Someone recommended this series to me. It was enjoyable modern noir, with tough, witty repartee, but I’mon the fence about continuing. Maybe one more at least to see how it goes.
July 2026
55. Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell. A well done history of the famous battle in which the Duke of Wellington beat the previously unbeaten Napoleon. The author drew on extensive research to include verbatim battlefield reports and excerpts from memoirs to lend immediacy. Fascinating how errors by Napoleonic and the steadfastness of Wellington led to the favorable result in a very close contest. How would subsequent events differ if Napoleon had won?
56. Pippa Park Raises Her Game by Erin Yun.
57. Pippa Park Crush at First sight by Erin Yun.
58. Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell.
59. It Won’t Always Be Like This by Malaka Gharib.*. A well done graphic novel about an Egyptian Filipino girl growing up in the U.S. and visiting her father and stepmother in Egypt every summer.
* Denotes a graphic work
January 2026
1. This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki*
2. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
3. The Day the Moon and Earth Had an Argument* by David Duff, The Crystal Heart* by Aaron Shephard, and The Knives* by Brubaker/Phillips.
4. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.
5. Drawing on Walls* by Matthew Burgess.
6. Isola by Allegra Goodman. Good but not great story of parentless Marguerite growing up spoiled by her rich circumstances, but still good-hearted, in a medieval castle-type setting, until her guardian uncle
7. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. An epistolary novel. The life of in-her-70s Sybil Van Antwerp, as revealed in letters to and from her, and some unsent ones. She mentors a brilliant but socially teenage boy, who lives with her when things are their worst. She spars with her daughter Fiona, both of them longing for a better relationship but can’t figure out how to get it. She reveals all - almost all - to her best friend Rosalie, who has exchanged letters with her since they were little girls. Sybil lost her young son under heart-rending circumstances that broke her family apart and caused her husband to leave her. Now, at her advanced age, she finds herself caught between two men who both want her.
8.Twelve Months by Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden is back, in another corker of a story. Queen Mab of the winter court has appointed Harry her Winter Knight, and told him he will be marrying Lara Raith, currently head of the White Court of Vampires. Harry is
February 2026
9. Stolen in Death by J.D. Robb. Another solid Eve-Roarke procedural, centered around stolen jewelry and a seemingly unnecessary death. Roarke had connections to the jewelry, and a woman from his past surfaces.
10. Villette by Charlotte Bronte. See review below.
11. A Bride’s Story 15 by Kaoru Mori. In this one we’re mostly in England instead of the Silk Road, as Smith brings Talas home with the intention of marrying her. His parents disapprove, of course, and think she must be from India (she’s from Turkistan, IIRC). They settle in his family’s enormous “cottage”, with sheep for Talas to happily tend. Mori’s drawing skills continue to impress and even improve.
12. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Review below.
13. Anti-Hero by Gregg Hurwitz. Descent into the sordid porn and abuse of women business. During an epileptic seizure in public, Anca is kidnapped by four teenage men who proceed to
March 2026
14. Antarctica by Claire Keegan. Short stories by the author of Foster and Small Things Like These. She was able to convey a lotbin those short novels, and the same happens here. The title story is a masterwork as a woman dissatisfied with her marriage goes on a risky adventure. The author has a knack for ending a story sooner than you’d expect, with perfection, so that you’re satisfied yet your mind carries on the story into what happens beyond. Looking forward to her next novel.
15. Murder in Mistake by Anne Cleeland. Kathleen Doyle once again uses his truth-sorting powers and dream visits from a ghost to help her husband Lord Acton solve a complicated set of murders where veiled motives cause misdirection. There’s a new baby girl who needs breast-feeding, but Doyle handles a busy maternity leave with her usual aplomb. Love this series; always a pleasure to reunite with Doyle and Acton.
16. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.* A competently done graphic version. This story is always appealing, but I kept thinking of the much more magical illustrations of Inga Moore.
17. Lucas Wars by Laurent Hopman.*
18. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. The first in a silly fun post-apocalyptic series.
19. The Crossroads by CJ Box. A Joe Pickett mystery in which Joe is in a hospital bed coma for most of it, after an ambush that gave him a bullet wound to the head. His three daughters investigate, which is fun.
20. The Hard Line by Mark Greaney. Another exciting Gray Man adventure. This time Court Gentry, the GM, is working with a team to thwart a Chine attempt to take over U.S. intelligence services with the help of high-up traitors. They send multiple GM-level assassins to kill key intelligence operatives. Among them are two with personal scores to settle with the Gray Man. One targets the GM’s father, which results in the GM and his father teaming up to fight a half dozen trained killers. Another fun thriller in this reliably action-filled series.
21. Please Wait to Cross by our cousin Elissa Bass. I enjoyed her Happy Hour, but this one a little less. Part of that is the inclusion of a somewhat grisly murder scene in an otherwise lightish romance novel. I can definitely see why she did it -it sets up a future valuable section about the main character’s good works, but yhe tonal asymmetry didn’t work for me.
22. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. The first half of this novel about an unhappy academician trying to get tenure at and Oxford/Cambridge-type university had me wondering why the book is revered. (I got it off that BBC Top 100 list). The introduction talks about how much Amis detested the academic environment and hidebound tradition, and it shows. In the second half Jim becomes more sympathetic, and his passive agressivevbattles with forces thst be (the main villain is named Welch, but I didn’t hold that against the book), and efforts to mollify a histrionic romantic interest while also pursuing a level-headed beauty made the reading much more interesting. As impossible as it seemed early on, thigs work out okay for Lucky Jim.
23. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Not my cuppa. An intolerably Christian father who oppresses his wife and daughters, and tries to force his Christian beliefs on African natives (the Congo) without for am minute considering their existing beliefs or, for that matter, their daily lives.
24. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. The self-published phenomenon by a first-time author. A huge bestseller. Theo is a handsome, charming 86 year old man who comes to a small Georgia town, Golden, and keeps information about himself under wraps. He loves a local artist’s portraits of the townspeople and proceeds to buy them bit by bit. He arranges to give their portrait to each subject in exchange for time discussing their lives. In this way he becomes a valued member of the community. I enjoyed the community members and Theo, and Levi deftly mixes it up so it doesn’t get repetitive. Turns out that Theo had quite a life pre-Golden, and has unexpected connections to the town. A well done feel good novel.
25. Becoming Yourself by Shunryu Suzuki. Suzuki was an influential Zen master and author of one of my favorite Buddhist books. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. This one is a loose collection of transcribed talks Suzuki gave at the San Francisco Zen Center, which my Chicago Zen Center is affiliated with. I love his lighthearted skepticism about all the behavioral rules (e.g. the 16 precepts). His view: they’re important, but don’t overweight them. If you sit (meditate) well and get yourself into the compassionate Buddhist mindset, you’ll be fulfilling them without even thinking about it. The book also has a chapter by his wife about her life with Suzuki, and Suzuki’s explanation of how he learned Zen, and how and why he came to America to teach us Buddhism. Start with Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. If you love it, you’ll want to read this one.
26. The Waves by Virginia Woolf. My goddaughter’s favorite of hers, and one of the BBC Top 100. Very poetic writing; consists of a half dozen or so freeflowing interior monologues interspersed witb lovely descriptions of the sea and shore. Stuctured from sunrise to sunset, it tracks the connected characters as they age from young to old. Explores the growth of identity and aspirations for unity over loneliness. Impressive, but my favorites remain Mrs. Dalloway and A Room of One’s Own.
27. The Astral Library by Kate Quinn. This fantasy novel on its face seemed like such a departure for this author of excellent historical novels like The Alice Network, The Rose Code and The Briar Club. But her Afterword makes it clear that she’s been an avid fantasy reader her whole life. She makes good use of that knowledge, as this novel features the ability to enter and live in the books of the Astral Library. This is a godsend for 26 year old Alix, who after being raised in multiple foster homes is eking out a meager existence cobbling together part time jobs, including one at the Boston Public Library. The Librarian in the AL is ancient and dragon- tough, and somewhat reluctantly takes on Alix as an assistant. This lead to adventures in multiple books, as the AL seems to be under a mysterious attack. Wearing the right clothing in books such as Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice is always an issue, particularly since the library’s funding (of course) has been cut, like every library’s. Luckily Alix’s best friend Beau is a rising fashion design star who can kit her out. Dire dilemmas relating to the attacks keep the book hopping, and it ended up being a very enjoyable diversion in our stressful time. A book lover’s, and fantasy lover’s delight. Given her enjoyment of the genre, I suspect that this is not the last we’ll see of Alix and the AL.
April 2026
28. Oh Brother by Georgina Chadderton. A graphic memoir from Austria about a young girl growing up with a brother very much on the autism spectrum. Rob is mostly non- verbal, so clever that they have combination locks on every door, and sometimes violent. Her parents are great with him, but he affects every aspect of their lives. Taking him to get his haircut or to the dentist is a major operation which he resists. Gina has trouble making friends but makes a good one in Callie, who puts up with Rob even after he bites her. Gina has her own anxieties and difficulties at school, but loves Rob and knows he always has to come first.
29. There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. A VERY high concept sci-fi book about battling a creature who preys on memories.
30. The Violence: My Family’s Colombian War by Adrian’s Es Ramirez.
31. More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa. Liked its “Days” predecessor a lot. The first half was a snooze.💤 Peaceful, but not much happening. The second half took a turn for the much better, with suppressed characters opening up to each other. I ended up glad I read it, and I’ll read more by this author.
32. Anger by Thich Nhat Hanh. Subtitled “Wisdom for Cooling the Fames”, I found it very helpful in trying to defuse and calm down my anger. Mindful breathing, embracing the anger and taking care of it like a loved one, rather than suppressing it or”venting it”. He says the last may give temporary relief, but in the end it just feeds the anger. Lots of good stuff about getting relationships back on track, the roles of parents, and more. Glad I read this one.
33. Transition by Ben Lerner. A disappointment that probably is my fault. Book critics have been robustly supportive of this one, and it basically sailed over my head. Supposedly an examination of memory and digital recording in novel form, it unfortunately did little for me. The most interesting part was when the main character’s daughter had an eating disorder that got straightened out.
May 2026
34. The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst. This cozy fantasy was delightful from beginning to end. It took me back to the first fantasies I read as a lad, and the pleasure I took in them. Clarisa’s boyfriend breaks her heart, and she needs to get away for the summer to heal. Her Aunt Zee needs help at her Vermont Inn, which turns out to have some wonderful secrets and surprising guests. A treat to read.
35. Woods & Words: The story of Poet Mary Oliver by Sara Holly Ackerman.
36. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Re-read. Spiritual and Buddhist, but also warmly personal and touching. This was an impressive re-read: not an easy subject to make so appealing.
37. Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood. Like our daughter, I’ve enjoyed this author’s STEM romances. This non-STEM one was just okay.
38. Platform Decay by Martha Wells. It has the humor we’ve all enjoyed, led by SecUnit’s skepticism concerning all things human, sometimes surfacing as distaste (e.g., our constant need for bathrooms) and sometimes an inability to understand (why the attempts to interpret his expression). I was a little disappointed by the somewhat unilinear plot: Murderbot has to rescue humans trapped on a space station from pursuing corporate villains out to capture or kill them. He connives his way through the ginormous space station, hoping to reconnect with an escape shuttle. His rescuees include weak and incomprehensible (to him) children whom he must reluctantly accommodate. It’s fun, but for me doesn’t reach the heights of some of its predecessors.
39. Wild for Austen by Devoney Looser. It’s subtitled “A Rebellious, Subversive and Untamed Jane”. The author is a well-known Austen scholar with other Austen books under her belt. This one seeks to dispel the notion that Austen was a cloistered, prim village girl with little exposure to the outside world. Looser’s arguments are effective. Through her brothers and other relatives and acquaintances she got around much more than commonly thought, and her inner fire was often on display. An authorial tic that annoyed me was Looser’s repeated use of the word “wild” to advance her premise. Among the otherwise skillful writing and meticulous research, it felt surprisingly amateurish. Still, I was impressed by the breadth of her knowledge and the depth of that research. It was great learning more about a favorite author and her works. I’m re-inspired to dig into her sometimes naughty, sometimes hilariously mean-spirited Juvenalia.
40. The Golden Hour by Niki smith.*. A well-done 235 page graphic story about Manuel, 10-11 years old, who was traumatized by a school shooter, but thought to pull the fire alarm and ended up saving his art teacher. A school project leads to friendship with white farm boy Sebastian and black classmate Caysha, both of whom help Manuel (who is Latin) when he gets triggered by noises or events.
It’s well done - also featuring realistic parents who are open-minded- and I hope it gets found by YAs and middle grade readers. The warm friendships are a highlight.
41. Out Law by Jim Butcher. A fun outing with Chicago wizard Harry Dresden. Harry is teaching a young apprentice wizard named Fitz, who knows how to create fire and some other things, but is ignorant of a whole lot more. Meanwhile chief gangster Marcone has called in a chip to have Harry help an annoying low echelon gangster, Tripp, go straight. It turns out Tripp is owed $10 mill by a rival gang leader after winning a bet, and the rival would rather kill him than pay it.
42. Night Watch by Kevin Young. One of the best poetry collections I’ve read in a while. I always find it hard to describe poetry collections. I’ll think some more and maybe post an excerpt or two. Meanwhile I’m going to look for his previous collection, Stones.
43. Names and Faces by Leise Hook. A well-illustrated graphic memoir about a biracial Asian/white girl. She’s caught betwixt and between and has trouble figuring out her own identity. She grows up to look white. Her happiest time seemed to be when she was in an international school filled with mixed race children. There nobody thought there was something odd about her appearance.
She explores her Chinese heritage and experiments with her hair, going through a blonde phase. The lack of Asian role models, including in American girl dolls, troubles her mind. It’s all interesting enough, and caused me to think a lot more about what life is like for biracial people. But there is no real resolution. I suspect that there will be a second book covering more of her journey. She appears to marry a white man, so there may be more ruminations not only about her own identity, but that of any children.
44. This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page. A charmer in which a widow’s late husband leaves her a book a month for a year at a local bookstore, with a letter for each as to why. Some send her on adventures, others have other purposes. In the process the bookstore personnel also have an effect on her life. An enjoyable read, and each chapter begins with book recommendations from the bookstore owner which hit the spot for me and lead me already to a good book I hadn’t known about.
45. Tales from the Cafe by Kai Taksini. A follow-up to Before the Coffee Gets Cold in which the cafe time travelers travel to the past, and in one instance the future, to deal with grief issues. There are two more books in this series that I’ll likely read.
46. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. A family in crisis at an unexpected pregnancy and a racist cop who put the innocent father in prison.
June 2026
47. Visitations: Poems by Julia Alvarez, the author of A Time of Butterflies. Very satisfying poems that read like short stories, covering memories from her entire life, which started in the Dominican Republic. In an afterward she notes that she was first published as a poet and that this volume isn’t a departure from novel-writing but a return to her love of poetry. I’ll be looking for earlier collections.
48. The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant by Liza Tully. Like many others, I imagine, I couldn’t resist that title! Merritt is the terse, brusque, detail-retentive detective, and Blunt is her enthusiastic, not as bright assistant who is a good surrogate for the reader. It reminds me a bit of the Hawthorne and Horowitz relationship in Anthony Horowitz’s murder mysteries. Blunt also feels a bit under-used and disrespected.
It was quite enjoyable - was it suicide or murder? If murder, whodunnit and why? There’s a large cast of familial and other suspects. When it finished, the relationship had developed to where I thought, this likely is the start of a series and, sure enough, their new one will be out any minute now, The Forty Year Grudge.
49. Radiant Star by Ann Leckie, the author of the Ancillary books, starting with Ancillary justice. The good news is it’s an Imperial Radch book, à la the Ancillary books. Unfortunately I found it underwhelming. It features lots of religious, political, family and community jockeying for position, which other readers might find more interesting than I did. I gave it four stars; Leckie knows how to keep the pages turning. 1200+ Amazon readers gave it a slightly more enthusiastic 4.2 rating.
50. _Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. It took us quite a while to read it to each other, but it was worth it. The summer of young Doug Spaulding and brother Tom in 1928 small town Illinois. Lovely storytelling, with one reminder after another of the simple gifts life brings us - a new pair of sneakers for Doug that has him running and jumping with poetic revelry, an old man whose vivid stories of years gone by have the boys viewing him as a Time Machine. This book had a profound positive effect on teenage disaffected me.
51. The Lions’ Run by Sara Pennypacker, author of the terrific Pax.
52. Human Nature Vol. 1 by Dan Aronofsky. Sci-fi graphic novel with a good story so far - the protagonist gets himself kidnapped by aliens in hopes this will help him find his disappeared daughter.
53. Days at the Torunka Cafe by Satoshi Yakisawa.
54. Dolly All the Time. A fun light romance.
55. The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke. The first Dave Robicheaux mystery. Someone recommended this series to me. It was enjoyable modern noir, with tough, witty repartee, but I’mon the fence about continuing. Maybe one more at least to see how it goes.
July 2026
55. Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell. A well done history of the famous battle in which the Duke of Wellington beat the previously unbeaten Napoleon. The author drew on extensive research to include verbatim battlefield reports and excerpts from memoirs to lend immediacy. Fascinating how errors by Napoleonic and the steadfastness of Wellington led to the favorable result in a very close contest. How would subsequent events differ if Napoleon had won?
56. Pippa Park Raises Her Game by Erin Yun.
57. Pippa Park Crush at First sight by Erin Yun.
58. Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell.
59. It Won’t Always Be Like This by Malaka Gharib.*. A well done graphic novel about an Egyptian Filipino girl growing up in the U.S. and visiting her father and stepmother in Egypt every summer.
* Denotes a graphic work
