Susan Scribner

I can't possibly give this book a rating. How do you rate a book that made you literally feel nauseous as you approach the horrible climax? Do you give it one star for being so disturbing and bleak, or do you give it five stars for being beautifully written and unafraid to lay bare some ugly truths about love, parenting and life in general? To quote a line from Woody Allen's “Annie Hall” (completely out of context), reading this book is really a Kafka-esque experience.

Not sure I can rate or review this until I read the second half. But so far it's about a 3 - a little slow, and I'm not sure I see the fascination with Javier, who comes across as your typical Boy With Problems that Excuse His Bad Behavior. But I'm rooting for Kiram to find a happy ending, so I'll read on.

Not quite as good as her previous Sevenwaters novels but still enjoyable and a chance to catch up on familiar characters. Nice to have more of a beta hero who isn't as sullen as some of the others, but he is injured for most of the book and doesn't get a chance to prove his strength and courage until the last 100 pages or so. Looking forward to Maeve's story, Flame of Sevenwaters, which will be released in November.

I'm not very familiar from Hanna's music from either Bikini Kill or Le Tigre (I believe I was listening to Barney and Elmo when BK was in their heyday) but I was still fascinated by her raw and honest memoir. “Each song felt held together with Scotch tape and was somehow minimal and complex at the same time.” That's Kathleen Hanna describing the music of another band, the Raincoats, but it is also an apt description of this book: short, choppy, episodic chapters that together build a portrait of a woman who experienced numerous traumas but used them to create groundbreaking feminist music and support other women with similar experiences. That's true Girrrl Power. The Spice Girls can kiss Hanna's ass.

This is what Hemingway would be like if I liked Hemingway - simple and understated but with heart. Devastatingly beautiful. I bought an old paperback copy and then was very upset to learn that the author had died several years ago. He deserved many more years of sharing his gift with the world.

Props to the authors for crafting a winter holiday romance novel that features Christmas, Hanukkah, and the end of Ramadan, which all coincided in the first year of the 21st century. The friendship between the two very different FMCs is more engaging than either of their romance arcs, which are straight out of a Hallmark holiday movie. Completely coincidentally, such a movie is being filmed in the snow globe - I mean small town - they are all stranded in, where every single inhabitant is cheerful, generous and a champion of diversity. Treacly holiday romances aren't really my jam, but at least this one was truly inclusive.

One of those books that evokes an intellectual response of “whoa, the plot was wicked cool,” and an emotional response of “meh.”

It's always a pleasure to meet a new K.J. Charles couple. It's a given that their dynamics will be complex and nuanced, and not easily distilled into tropes such as “grumpy vs. sunshine” or “enemies-to-lovers.” [b:The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen 57102663 The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (The Doomsday Books, #1) K.J. Charles https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1663091244l/57102663.SX50.jpg 89360006], the first half of The Doomsday Books duology, featured insecure, intellectual Gareth and outgoing but overburdened smuggler king Jess. There are similarities between the situations confronting Gareth and Nobleman's Guide's Rufus; both are unexpectedly thrust into elevated roles, but the two men's personalities couldn't be more different. While Gareth was a timid law clerk when his story began, Rufus is a former soldier - big, blunt and quick to anger. Luke, whom we met as a boy in Secret Lives, is now an organized, smooth-tongued secretary, with a carefree attitude that obscures layers of hurt and anger.Readers of Secret Lives will be aware that Luke is hiding a Big Secret. The suspenseful first half of Nobleman's Guide is shadowed by the knowledge that there will be fallout when the truth is inevitably revealed, even as the two MCs become friends and then lovers. The second half of the book truly rips your heart out as they gingerly start over, Luke determined to make amends and Rufus determined to uncover and address the reasons behind Luke's deceptive behavior. For readers who have ached for “Goldie” ever since he appeared in Secret Lives, the catharsis and closure is long-awaited and beautifully executed. As always, the found family aspect that Charles does so well enriches the story. Rufus starts out as the unexpected heir to an earldom, with his tenants, servants, and new family all resenting him. But thanks to his innate goodness and the assistance of his charming secretary, he slowly wins over most of them, with a few notable exceptions. Luke already has a large family, but he needs to resolve painful issues that have kept him at a distance from them for many years. For those of you who like to categorize KJC's work by the number of corpses, I'd say this one is definitely on the low end of the scale. Unlike Secret Lives, there is less external danger but more internal conflict, making the relationship between the MCs feel even more intimate. Two books into KJC's traditional publishing career and she has lost none of the sharpness that make her “romance with a body count” novels so uniquely satisfying.ARC gratefully received from Net Galley in exchange for objective review.

3.5 stars. The sole murder victim in the latest J.D. Robb bestseller is the former captain of the NYPSD's Internal Affairs Bureau. His former protégé, Lieutenant Don Webster, finds the body. Now he desperately needs help from Lieutenant Eve Dallas, even though he once had to take away her badge during an IAB investigation (#8 [b:Conspiracy in Death 172691 Conspiracy in Death (In Death, #8) J.D. Robb https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1305124508l/172691.SY75.jpg 3093655]). Unfortunately there are too many red herrings as Dallas spins her wheels, not really moving forward on the case until the very end. But we get a lovely scene in Chapter 1 as Dallas and her magnificent husband Roarke visit his relatives in Ireland (it's never not funny to see Dallas' reaction to cows), and the epilogue shows the strength of the found family ties that Dallas has developed in the course of 57+ cases.

4.5 stars. Although it isn't marketed as such (no cute, cartoony cover), The Road Towards Home is a delightful contemporary romance, distinct in its septuagenarian MCs. Some of the challenges they face are related to their age, but others are part of any new relationship: how much to trust, how much to let the other person in, how much to consider changes. Cassandra is a little too pushy and self-righteous, while Noah is too closed off and stubborn, but they are eminently likeable in their imperfections. Plus there is a lovable Newfoundland named Melville, a tarantula or two, and a terrarium full of stick insects.

I'm much closer to Noah and Cassandra's age than I am to the 20- and 30-something MCs in most of the romances I read, and it was an unexpected pleasure to find a novel that takes love between two Medicare-eligible adults seriously.

An Amazon First-Reads book, May 2023.

I was expecting a lot more based on the rave reviews and endorsements. Considering the hero did little but glower at the heroine until the last few pages of the book, it was not a convincing love story. Also, the “glamour” magic concept was underdeveloped. What the heck is a “fold” that the author kept referring to? Why do some people have this glamour talent while others do not? How is it useful besides in a superficial way to make pretty art scenes? The book read quickly but left little impression. I may pick up the next book in the series to see if it gets any better once the hero and heroine are married, but I am not rushing out to find it.

This was one of the better Chick Lit books I've read in a while - reminded me of Marian Keyes' “Rachel's Holiday.” Spin was funny and romantic, and featured lots of growth in the main character. I felt a little uncomfortable with the way the author glossed over the consquences of Katie's deception. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that I think she got off a little too easily. Still, a very engaging novel and an author I will definitely check out again.

Brandon Wolf is a biracial, gay survivor of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting who became a well-known LGBTQ+ activist (and a “national surrogate” for Elizabeth Warrens'2020 presidential campaign!). After a painful childhood in rural Oregon convinced Wolf that he would never find a safe space, he impulsively moved to Orlando where he became part of a welcoming queer community. His sense of security violently destroyed by the mass shooting, Wolf dealt with grief and guilt, eventually deciding to dedicate his life to working on behalf of other “misfits” to honor the legacy of the friends he lost.

I hope Wolf has a bodyguard. I fear that publication of this book will put a bigger target on his back in Florida governor Ron DeSantis' draconian dress rehearsal for an intolerant, ultra-conservative, right-wing Christian nation.

3.5 stars. This is a cute, multi-cultural take on “The Prince and the Pauper,” in which the Elijah (the Prince) is the heir to a huge Korean tech company and Jessica (the Pauper) is a working class Korean-American whose college aspirations are limited by her family's financial situation. When their Korean names are switched upon arrival in New York City, Elijah is assumed to be one of ten summer worker-bee interns and Jessica is whisked away in a limousine to serve in the Executive Leadership program (aka “keeping the rebellious child under control”).

Once the two MCs figure out the reason for the mix-up, they decide to continue the ruse, mostly at Elijah's urging. He loves the freedom of exploring the City without his family's surveillance and the friendships he makes with the other interns. Jessica is more cautious, knowing that she has more to lose than Elijah, but she goes along with him because it is her opportunity to shine professionally and possibly earn a college scholarship. Plus she thinks Elijah is hot. What could go wrong (besides everything)?

The Name Drop is a breezy, predictable read. I appreciated learning about Korean business culture, traditions and cuisines. The differences between Elijah's and Jessica's family dynamics are incisively explored. The romance is marred slightly by Jessica's tendency to overshare when she's nervous, which Elijah considers “adorable” but is one of my least favorite heroine clichés. Also Elijah is supposed to be a selfish asshole who learns How to Be a Good Person, but while he keeps telling the reader about his dickishness, a far more altruistic person is shown. Those little niggles aside, this is a charming YA romcom with a well-deserved HEA.

ARC received from Net Galley in exchange for review.

It seems rather audacious for me to criticize a novel by a prize-winning author, but honestly I'm not sure what Zadie Smith was trying to accomplish with this long, disjointed and slow Victorian-era novel. Frequent flashback chapters, many undated, didn't help. Only one character was fully developed, but she was primarily a passive witness to events, not the force behind them. The parallels between the titular Fraud's obvious lies and Donald Trump's behavior (also Boris Johnson?) are less than subtle. The chapters devoted to the story of a former Jamaican slave who is the Fraud's staunchest ally leave little more of an impression than “white English people smug about their country's abolition of slavery, willfully ignorant about the source of their imported cotton.”With Charles Dickens as a minor character and George Sand making a cameo appearance, I guess The Fraud is supposed to be an homage to (and satire of) classics like [b:Bleak House 31242 Bleak House Charles Dickens https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1280113147l/31242.SY75.jpg 2960365] and [b:Middlemarch 19089 Middlemarch George Eliot https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568307771l/19089.SY75.jpg 1461747]. Having recently read both of those tomes, I am not impressed (although props to Smith for calling out Dickens' blatant sexism). I highly recommend Smith's debut novel [b:White Teeth 3711 White Teeth Zadie Smith https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1374739885l/3711.SY75.jpg 7480] and 2016's [b:Swing Time 28390369 Swing Time Zadie Smith https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1514344635l/28390369.SY75.jpg 48487231], but I advise you against investing your valuable reading time in this book's 450+ pages.

Nathan Hill's second novel is too long (600 pages) and self-indulgent. But if you can wade through the author's eagerness to share EVERYTHING he has ever learned about (deep breath): social media algorithms, gentrification, the placebo affect, wellness culture, parenthood, young children's eating habits, landscape painting, prairie fires, and other subjects that “puzzle, amuse, or amaze” him, you will find a painfully real but hopeful story of a marriage between two broken people (and honestly, who amongst us isn't at least a little bit broken?). Recommended if you have a lot of time on your hands and don't mind reading a book by an author who apparently never heard the literary advice “Kill your darlings.”

Before Rotten Tomatoes, Tik Tok, and YouTube, movie reviews primarily appeared in newspapers and magazines. Gene Siskel and Robert Ebert, rival movie critics at Chicago newspapers, shook up the industry in the 1970s-1990s by hosting a TV show in which they usually vigorously disagreed about the merits of each movie they reviewed. Audiences tuned in to Sneak Previews to see the hosts squabble about blockbusters, art films, foreign films, and even B-movies. Somewhere along the line, they added the now ubiquitous Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down to each review. Sadly, Siskel died in 1999. Ebert soldiered on with a new partner, but the magic was gone, and by the time of his death in 2013 online movie clips and reviews were readily available, rendering the Sneak Previews format obsolete.

Opposable Thumbs is a breezy, enjoyable look back at Siskel & Ebert's heyday. There's no dirt or revelations of long-held secrets, and the author repeats himself occasionally as he tries to stretch the material over 200+ pages. I appreciated it for the nostalgia factor. YMMV if you get all of your reviews from Tik Tok or Instagram and can't imagine why the opinions of two white men mattered so much.

I don't want to give this book 5 stars, because it portrays the absolute worst of 21st century capitalism, enough to trigger me even though I left the workforce 10 months ago. Yet I can't not give it 5 stars. Exit Interview is brilliantly written, devastatingly incisive, and surprisingly humorous. Kristi Coulter spent 12 years working at Amazon in a variety of corporate positions. An overachiever since childhood, she viewed the offer of Senior Manager, Books & Media Merchandising an ideal way to grow professionally and escape the tedium of her current job. She had heard rumors that Amazon was a stressful workplace, but figured she was tough enough to handle anything.By her second day, Kristi finds herself “drinking from the fire hose,” with her direct reports complaining that they are stretched too thin and her bosses telling her to “find efficiencies” to meet their targets. Her colleagues reassure her they expect great things of her so often that she's ashamed to ask for help (“It feels like being Jesus, if everyone had a task list for Jesus written in acronyms he didn't understand”). Every workday includes at least six hours of meetings, and that's not counting the pre-meetings to strategize for the real meetings. Nobody knows what anyone else is doing, reorganizations happen frequently without warning, and the goals of one team are in direct conflict with another. Meanwhile, orders come down from CEO Jeff Bezos that are completely unrealistic and subject to change at his whim. Through short, punchy chapters including a brutally honest (but fictional) job description, increasingly cynical aphorisms of professional advice, and illustrations of Amazon's “leadership principles” in their Orwellian reality (“Accomplish more with less” means laptops repaired with duct tape), Coulter helps the reader understand why she stayed for so long despite the toxic environment, how Amazon's touted “meritocracy” was just another word for sexism, and the series of events that motivated the girl who cried in kindergarten because she got one Not Satisfactory mark on a phonics worksheet to finally resign. I haven't read a corporate takedown this powerful since Joshua Ferris' novel [b:Then We Came to the End 97782 Then We Came to the End Joshua Ferris https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442800496l/97782.SY75.jpg 2926759]. Our culture of prioritizing productivity above all, worshipping the wealthy, and demanding instant gratification has brought us to this place where Jeff Bezos can heap misery upon thousands in the name of “making customers happy.” You can blame Kristi Coulter for being an “Amhole,” but almost all of us are complicit.

Henry Winkler is a mensch who deserves the late-career success (and awards) he's experienced after finally breaking free from his image as The Fonz. He has a sense of humor and perspective about his life (sure, he couldn't get a decent job for decades, but his earnings from Happy Days were nice to have). I wish he were a little less patronizing towards children with disabilities - he labels them as “special” (cringe) and uses them as an example of how lucky he is in comparison when he fundraises for them. But his openness about his dyslexia and the emotional wounds he endured from parents who constantly criticized him for being a lazy no-goodnik render this book more interesting than the average Baby Boomer memoir.

This is less of a history and more of an analysis of comedy as an art form in the past 25+ years. Fox, a Vulture (“Devouring Culture”) writer, examines the evolution of comedy news such as The Daily Show; the impact of social media on how comedy is presented and distributed; the delicate issues of timing and political correctness; the complex relationship between performer and audience; and even the question of whether or not comedy has to be funny. Interesting, enlightening and thought-provoking, marred only by Fox's ill-advised attempts to be funny himself (he's not).

Extremely enjoyable oral history from Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker about the groundbreaking, joke-a-minute Airplane!, including interviews with the stars, bit players, production crew, and current comedians who were influenced by its unique brand of humor. The book also looks back at ZAZ's youth and college days in Wisconsin, where their dream of writing and directing a hit comedy movie flourished despite their lack of knowledge, money, or connections. Their unlikely journey (anyone remember Kentucky Fried Movie?) eventually led to the point where ZAZ were cold calling Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges and other Hollywood drama veterans and begging them to star in their bizarre movie, playing it completely straight while chaos reigned around them. Among the many fun facts I learned from the book: the Paramount studio heads wanted Barry Manilow (!) to play leading man Ted Striker instead of Robert Hays; Shelly Long of Cheers fame auditioned for Elaine's part; and most of the dueling PA announcers' lines were lifted verbatim from Arthur Hailey's blockbuster suspense novel [b:Airport 124918 Airport Arthur Hailey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309288724l/124918.SY75.jpg 120317]. It should be noted that the non-ZAZ interviews were conducted by Will Harris, a former writer for the A.V. Club, whose “Random Roles” columns were highlights of the pop culture site. Sadly, AVC is now a shell of what it used to be because Capitalism, but I relish seeing writers from its heyday securing plum jobs like this one.

Starling House cast a reading spell on me that I haven't experienced since [b:The Raven Boys 17675462 The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1) Maggie Stiefvater https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573508485l/17675462.SY75.jpg 18970934] and its sequels more than five years ago. I couldn't speak, eat, or sleep until I finished it. With a few days' distance, I can see objectively that the book has some flaws. The racism subplot is underdeveloped, and the romance between tough as nails, ornery Opal and foreboding, reclusive Arthur needed more interactions to be convincing. But none of that mattered as I was immersed in this unique mix of Southern gothic, fantasy, mystery, horror, and love story (with a bonus “hellcat” that deserves its moniker). Consider yourself warned: Starling House will grab its claws into you with its first sentence and not relinquish its hold until you turn the last page.

Nora Roberts' latest trilogy is a good old fashioned ghost story. Whenever the spirits living in FMC Sonya's new home make their presence known - some benevolently, some maliciously - the novel sparkles. But the other subplots are dullsville. Okay, Sonya does catch her fiancé screwing one of her bridesmaids only weeks before the wedding, but she recovers quickly and the rest of her life is perfect. She has a loyal BFF, a supportive mom, and surprise! an uncle she never knew dies and bequeaths her a huge mansion in coastal Maine. Everyone she meets in her new hometown is friendly and welcoming, including the MMC, who represents the third generation of attorneys who worked with her uncle. Their romance proceeds gently and uneventfully; of course the guy is handsome, supportive, brave and thoughtful. Way too much time is spent describing Sonya's graphic design work, BFF Cleo's artwork, her new home's architecture and its interior design. As an example, here's the scintillating conversation the first time the MMC's buddy tours the house. Cherrywood, pristine. The wood's a little thirsty. This and the mermaid [statue] need a good buff with paste wax. Don't be using any supermarket spray shit on these pieces. Any of them. You can do the lemon oil, orange oil between, but once, maybe twice a year, you buff with a good paste wax.Compare that to Roberts' [b:Year One 34311452 Year One (Chronicles of The One, #1) Nora Roberts https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1488360073l/34311452.SY75.jpg 55367060], where a mysterious plague starts killing off millions of people in the first chapter...I know, not all books need to have the same tempo, but I shouldn't want to skim multiple paragraphs to get to the good stuff. The final chapters and abrupt cliffhanger ending do ramp up the paranormal eeriness. Maybe the slow start was necessary to set the scene for action-packed books 2 and 3. Hopefully, Roberts can sprinkle her magic storytelling dust and rescue this series from its sluggish beginning. Uncorrected Digital Galley received from Net Galley in exchange for honest review.

If you're not familiar with comedian Gary Gulman, Google his routine about how the US states were assigned their two-letter abbreviations. It's one of the most hilarious six minutes of stand-up in comedy history. Gulman is also famous for his openness about his longtime struggle with major depression, most notably in an HBO special The Great Depresh.

Misfit isn't a full memoir; instead, it's Gulman's recollections of his life from kindergarten to high school graduation. He mines his frequently painful childhood for laughs, but you can easily see the dynamics that were in place to foster mental illness in an already sensitive kid. Unfortunately, some of the stories just aren't that interesting or insightful, and the book feels longer than 285 pages.

In between each chapter are short interludes describing the 11 months of 2017-18 when Gulman's illness was so severe that he had to move back in with his mother. I wish he had bridged the gap from 18 year old Gary, on his way to Boston College on a (short-lived) football scholarship to the 47 year old man who didn't have the energy to get out of bed. Maybe that's the next book? Anyway, I greatly admire Gulman for helping reduce the stigma of mental illness, even if this book was just a tad disappointing.

Better than [b:A Restless Truth 59807966 A Restless Truth (The Last Binding, #2) Freya Marske https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1642534531l/59807966.SY75.jpg 94199553], not as astonishing as [b:A Marvellous Light 53217284 A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding, #1) Freya Marske https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1634067514l/53217284.SY75.jpg 80535939]. A Power Unbound focuses on Jack Alston aka Lord Hawthorn, and Alan Ross, whose antagonistic relationship that began in Truth evolves into a somewhat kinky enemies-to-lovers romance. But for my money, the reason to finish out this trilogy is the strong presence of Edwin and Robin from Light. Edwin, especially, has a crucial role to play in the Big Six's* quest to stop the bad guys from amassing unlimited magic and power. It's rewarding to see Edwin come into his own as a skilled magician, but Marske really puts him through hell, and his beloved non-magical Robin can only be of limited assistance. Jack and Alan's insults and fights seem petty in comparison. Marske triumphantly burst onto the scene with The Last Binding trilogy, so her follow-up will be eagerly anticipated. I wonder where she goes from here. *Maud and Violet are back too. Violet is fine but Maud IMHO is more annoying than endearing.