Me: I know everything about Chernobyl now. I'm like an expert.

16yo: Tell me the names of all the people who were involved.

Me: ...Um...Russian names...a lot of them...

I was really pleased with this traditional Sherlockian pastiche, even if the ending did not quite satisfy.

It took me about 25% to get into the story. I really liked the 1960s storyline. I did NOT like the 2010s storyline. I think if it had been axed and Chamberlain had just gone with the past storyline, incorporating the few threads that popped up in the 2010s storyline that moved the plot along into the 1960s storyline, that would have worked much better. I enjoyed learning about the SCOPE project, which I had never heard about.

Good little story in the middle of the Enola Holmes series. An enjoyable easy mystery for Enola to solve, with some high stakes. What makes it so good is the seemingly effortless way Springer always writes Enola's totally charming first-person character and the vivid descriptions of Victorian London street scenes.

I would have done this as 3.5 stars if Goodreads would allow it.

This is a hard book to review. I found it interesting and compelling, but of course Herman is really preaching to the choir here. There are anecdotes that are jaw-dropping and infuriating. I was glad to "meet" women in power past and present I had never heard of before.

Such a boring cover and cheesy title (what does it even mean?), but such a great fantasy! I loved the world building, complex magic system, and dark court intrigue. If you like fantasies that skew a little darker (think His Dark Materials), you‘ll also like this.

As the last person on earth to read this book, I am happy to verify what I've been hearing for the past five years: This romance is 100% delightful in every way. Is it unrealistic? Yep. Don't care. Is it too long? Probably. But I would read a whole series with these guys, so the 421 page count is just fine with me.

Not quite as fun as the previous two installments in the series. It does pick up at the end, and there is a sort of cliffhanger. I think the setting being away from the school detracted from the boarding school atmosphere that I enjoy.

A low-stakes novel about a woman who falls into working for a toxic influencer. Based on the author‘s real-life experiences. I had a couple issues with the plot and pacing, but mostly thought it was pretty enjoyable.

When Scanlon was in college in the '90s, she had a mental health crisis. She checked herself in to a state-run mental facility and lived there for the next four years. A really great read.

Teen girl with severe OCD navigates school, a new love, her friendship with her bestie, all while trying to solve a dark mystery. The author's own OCD diagnosis gives this a high level of authenticity and the strong friendship between Aza and Daisy at the center gave this one 5 stars for me.

If you took the weirdest Kurt Vonnegut novel and inserted a dose of dark stuff, complicated writing, made it way too long, and also took most of the fun out of it, you'd have this book. There are parts of it that are engrossing. There are many parts of it that are overwritten and almost unbearably complex. I'm not ashamed to admit that I had no idea what was going on in the first chapter. I had to google it.

Don‘t read this book unless lots of animal death and racism don‘t bother you and you‘re just super into Victorian science. I‘m Brooke H on Goodreads if you want to read my full review. (And yes, I did read this entire book to prep for a trip to the Galapagos. Of which there was one chapter. So.)

The long-lost identical twin is a ridiculous unbelievable trope, but it was Elyse and Paula's reality. Separated when just infants and adopted out to different families, the two sisters found each other when one of them wrote to the adoption agency asking for information on her birth mother. The two eventually discovered that they were part of a sketchy psychological nature/nurture study by a doctor at their adoption agency. A fascinating memoir.

Not gonna lie, this one is a struggle. Might DNF. 😝

Wow, I really disliked this book. I predicted almost every twist. The dialogue was early ‘90s made-for-tv-movie bad. The sex scenes were so cringy. I would have bailed on it if I hadn‘t been reading it as part of a read along.

A cradle-to-grave bio of J Robert Oppenheimer. It was fine, I guess.

HAHAHA KIDDING. I'm literally obsessed with this book. I would like to offer a sincere thank-you to Covid, who allowed me the time to sit down and read like 90% of the thing over the course of just a couple of days. The word "engrossed" doesn't even begin to touch how I felt while reading. And also, yes, the book is better.

I liked the early parts of this memoir, where Robbins discusses her troubling early life and later starting a PR firm. But any potential connection I could have had with her gets lost after she marries the wealthy film producer. Then it's all personal medical professionals, yelling at her maid for literally just doing her job, her "divorce therapist" (I guess if you're wealthy finding a good therapist quickly is a snap), her $2k handbags...

Although beautifully written, I found Mr Stevens so aggravating and Miss Kenton‘s love for him so baffling, I can‘t say that I enjoyed this.

Our unnamed narrator has just given birth and returned home from the hospital with her baby. Her husband is given zero days off for parental leave. She struggles not only to care for her baby alone, but also to try to discover who she is now that she is a mother. This little novel is relentless in its depiction of PPD, so if that's something that will bother you, stay far away.

An adult fetch quest fairy tale centered around 1920s Mexico and Mayan mythology. I absolutely loved the imagery of the gods and the darkness of Xibalba, which is the Mayan death realm. Although I thought Casiopea and Hun-Kame could have been more fully fleshed out, I ultimately really enjoyed this fantasy.

Finished! 🎉

Having a little readathon day to see if I can finish The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. I have around 400 pages left. 🤞

Full of every predictable & tired fantasy trope. Slow as hell. So why did I enjoy it so much? 😂 (One note tho…I read this as part of a romance group. This book is NOT a romance. Def squarely in fantasy-land.)

This is the perfect novel for readers who enjoy sweet coziness, but with a little dark edge. Also, it's just the perfect novel in general. No notes. Violins, donuts, lots of descriptions of food, soul reaping...Loved every page.

My up-nexts. Also, it‘s apparently my Litsyversary today! 🎉

Happy California Library Day AND National Library Day! 😎📚 Where are my lunchtime readers? Tell me what you‘re reading today!

The library‘s display for National Poetry Month is so cute!

My copy of Thunder Song by Sasha LaPointe arrived today from Quiet Quail Books. Beautiful cover!

These are the first 12 What If? issues from 1977.

The most enjoyable issue for me was "What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor?" The worst was "What If the Marvel Bullpen Had Become the Fantastic Four?” The absolute weirdest was "What If the Spider Had Been Bitten by a Radioactive Human?" That one had me going "wut?"

I loved everything about this book: The setting, the frenemies, the suspense, the humor. I did not expect to be cackling like I was! And the last two chapters are perfect. In a recent author chat I attended, Shroff hinted there may be a sequel. Crossing my fingers for that!

Last night I went to an event featuring this author. I‘m so happy I have a signed copy of this book now! And I also purchased her memoir.

Reading this for the March fiction Feminist Book Club pick. Enjoying it so far.

Reason for reading: I‘ve been an Anne Rice fan since I was 17 (that‘s appx 500 years for anyone counting; just kidding…I‘m not a gorgeous or angsty immortal vampire being—or am I?).

The good: Lestat is the same old Brat Prince he ever was, so if you‘re into that…

The bad: 300 pgs too long, way too much talking.

Conclusion: I didn‘t hate this book but I did a mini groan every time I picked it up & I was so happy to be done with it.

Liked Vol 2 more than Vol 1. Getting to know the characters. We‘ve got some more familiar faces. I like loose cannon Moran. I do NOT like Cockney Sherlock. Will def read Vol 3. I want to know where this is going.

This was a fascinating examination of a part of history I didn‘t know much about: the girls and women who worked painting luminous watch dials with straight-up radium and the resulting court case against the US Radium Corporation. This book is very hard to read at times—radium poisoning is a horrifying way to die, and Moore doesn‘t shy away from giving us every detail. I would have liked more personal details about the women.

Barnes & Noble haul thanks to bday gift cards 📚🩷

When the first sentence of a new book has a typo. 🤦‍♀️

The ultimate reason I didn't like it is because I did not love the juxtaposition of spicy hot romance with a part of history filled with darkness and death. I think I prefer my romances to be a bit more "fun." I found it jarring to be part of the group of characters learning about John Brown's death (he is a very minor character in the book), then literally the next page our sexy protagonists are all over each other. Just not for me.

The first 25% was a quirky, fun mystery. But then it devolved into a too-long hot mess of a romance with too many characters.

The best bookstore is the kind with a dog. 🐶

My very first #botm 📚

"The Scion Societies" sections in the back of these old journals are so adorable. The officers of each scion are listed. My favorite is Belden Wigglesworth, archivist of The Speckled Band of Boston.

Reading the very first BSJ was a total delight. All the heavy hitters are repped—Edgar W Smith, Helene Yuhasova, Christopher Morley, Bliss Austin, Vincent Starrett, etc.

I think 9yo me would have read this a hundred times because I was dark AF as a kid. And that is what this book is--dark AF. And I don't think I'm at a particular point right now where I want dark kidlit. This book didn't completely work for me, although there are some things I liked.

I did like Grandmamma. She is a badass. I kind of want a retelling from her pov.

I literally cannot believe I slogged through this doorstop. Blergh.

I love a good history mystery. Polar explorers - two gigantic ships full no less - who disappear without a trace for almost 200 years? Yes, please.

I also love the random minutiae of arctic explorers in the 1840s - what clothing did they wear, what food did the ships store, what technological innovations did the ships have?

These minor cool things can‘t save this snoozefest.

I found this novel unsettling--it takes place in a US that is just hair's-breadth adjacent to our own. This is a dictatorship where books are banned, people are punished for questioning authority, and PAOs ("people of Asian origin") are constantly targeted. Worst of all, children of marginalized people are taken suddenly from their parents at the slightest infraction or whiff of disloyalty. These children are the "missing hearts" of the title.

Basically a breakneck action movie. Perfect distracting airplane reading.

It‘s Feminist Book Club book mail day! 💖📚

A fictionalized account of the life of the younger (by 11 months) brother of Vladimir Nabokov, a gay man who traveled through the high-art circles of 1920s and '30s Berlin and Paris. Unfortunately he did not survive the '40s, dying in a Nazi camp in 1945, two months before liberation. I love books about the supporting characters in historically important people's lives, and this one is excellent.