Fluke explores how it‘s likely that the little things (whether we leave the house now vs in 5 minutes) have major impacts on how our lives play out. None of this is measurable of course, but he includes many examples in support of his hypothesis. I generally tend to agree and found this fascinating with lots of food for thought.

OMG it is here! And it‘s huge—70 books! I‘ve read (or tried) 20 of them so far and some on here I just won‘t read, so I suspect I will not be a completist this year. What do you think of the list?

https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/the-year-in-fiction-2025

And the big day is here—here are the winners of the 2025 National Book Award! I thought A Guardian and a Thief would win for fiction (and it is so worthy), but Raja had my heart and I‘m thrilled to see it. El Akkad as the NF winner is spot on. But I am perplexed by the translated winner. I found this book impenetrable and Sad Tiger is just so good, I really feel it should have won.

My book club picked this one and it was a mixed bag for me. The parts showing a slice of life in 1980s/90s Japan were really interesting but the rest wasn‘t very compelling. It just didn‘t really come together as a whole for me. Only one person at the meeting really liked this.

You would think a series of books about a woman getting stuck in a time loop and repeating the same day over and over would be repetitive. Not in Balle‘s hands. These books treat the situation as a many-sided figure, with each volume contemplating a different side and somehow keeping it fresh. This one opens things up a bit and the ending sets up more of that. Loved it.

#NBAshortlist, translated lit

I don‘t know about Taylor anymore. I loved his first 2 books, but his second 2 have been disappointments. In this one, struggling painter Wyeth is trying to figure out who he is in the world. There‘s some really good stuff but also lots of tell rather than show, some of which is just political pontificating (which I agree with but doesn‘t fit in the book). I feel like this could‘ve been really good with more work.

Orlean‘s latest is her own story, of her life in writing. She chronicles how she came to be a writer, some of the magazine stories and books she wrote, and what was going on in her life each step of the way. I found it delightful. In some ways I‘m amazed that she ever got a book published—the publishers really put her through the wringer with her first two.

This really lovely book is by a woman who has been a shepherdess for over 20 years focusing on pastoralism in Vermont. It‘s meditative and delves into her deep connection with the land. It reminds me totally of Raising Hare. I loved it.

#NBAlonglist, nonfiction

I learned something this week about NetGalley. The app has a function for ebooks that will read it aloud to you. It‘s obviously not as good as an audiobook, but when I wanting to keep reading but had to do something else, I could! That makes me really happy, though of course I would choose a human voiced audiobook over this if I had the option. Am I the only one who didn‘t know about this?

The audio of this story of the Donner party is a bit dry at first, but the writing is so good that despite the subpar audio, the quality takes over and it‘s fully absorbing. I love that I finished it while driving through PNW mountains—it made the listen even more atmospheric.

I‘m not usually a fan of child narrators, but @squirrelbrain ‘s review convinced me to give this a go. Helen, you were right. The pacing and structure of this book are so good, pulling you in, letting you figure out what‘s happening before the characters do, then wondering how they‘re going to respond when they learn the truth. Just superb.

Best line I‘ve read in a while

This history of refrigeration sounded exactly like the nerdy fun I would love. But at 30%, despite the cover pic, it‘s almost all meat and being covered in a way this vegetation finds nauseating. So I‘m all done.

This novel is a meditation on pregnancy and childbirth and how frankly fraught it can be. I‘ve never seen a better, more nuanced, subtler rebuke of abortion bans. This book makes it so clear that rules about choices and decisions around pregnancy belong with a patient and their doctor, not in a legislature.

Whether you‘re a Gen Xer like me and loved both Family Ties and Back to the Future or you came to love the movie later, this is a short but really delightful look at Fox‘s experience making the movie. His schedule was insane—Family Ties by day and shooting the movie at night. Yet he shows nothing but gratitude. I loved this.

For some reason, I love a “let‘s explore the Arctic, oops we got stuck in the ice!” story, and this one is the last voyage of William Barents. There‘s a whole lot of polar bears here, showing them as truly bold predators and the sailors going to every length possible to kill and sometimes mutilate the bears (it was a little hard to listen to). I finished the book on our walk today, so I figured I‘d show you Bindi with the elk antler she found.

I loved Chou‘s debut novel a few years ago and this collection of her stories is also terrific. Like her novel, she is so sly in her social commentary here. The stories are thematically linked with a focus not just on identity but how we are seen by others and coming to terms with that reality. Whatever Chou brings to us next, I will be eagerly waiting in line.

I keep meaning to post this and keep forgetting. I‘ve been terrible about actually reading my ebooks for the past few months as I‘ve been distracted by the NBA longlists and NetGalley books. So hopefully I turn that around this month and actually get to one or more of these.

#ReadYourEbooks

The workday is ending when suddenly an emergency alert goes out—a nuclear missile is headed toward southern England and will hit in 59 minutes. We follow multiple characters as the clock counts down, making for a tense a propulsive read. I really liked this and especially liked that it didn‘t end up where I expected.

This one is definitely the spiritual (though not actual) sequel to Miller‘s The Change with a dash of Alix Harrow‘s The Once and Future Witches mixed in. I really enjoyed it.

This starts on a sad note, with a young boy losing his father, then follows him through life to see his relationship with his own son. It‘s quite funny in places and a perfectly fine book overall, but ultimately forgettable. I‘m surprised to find it on the #NBAlonglist for fiction, as it‘s a bit thin. A low pick for me.

I made it a third of the way through this and I just have no interest in continuing. I wanted to love this fictional story of a real trans historical person, but I‘m just finding the writing a bit impenetrable.

#NBAshortlist, translated lit

My dad had a mild case of polio as a kid (and was forever bothered that his school burned his desk and pencil box), so this story of polio in the US, from infections to vaccines, was fascinating to me. But frankly, I would have enjoyed it even without that connection. The writing is engaging and I just wanted to keep listening.

I was really charmed by this book. It‘s a cozy mystery set in a Halloween-themed town (the bakery is The Walking Bread) during a literary festival run by the protagonist, who runs the town bookstore. The store is used to good effect and there‘s a very cute, believable doggie character. The downside is the copy editing is horrible, which I don‘t hold against the author. It‘s the start of a series and I look forward to book 2.

This was a tricky read for me because, while it‘s an excellent book, whenever something finance/economics is discussed, my eyes go a bit blurry and my brain gets fuzzy. So that made it hard for me to get all the info into my brain. But for those who don‘t have that issue, it‘s an interesting recounting. He does try to draw parallels to today, which was not as successful for me.

Cora meets Sam in a baby group and they have an instant connection. As they get to know each other better, the idea of an affair is floated but pushed aside. In Cora‘s head going forward, she imagines the affair alongside reality where it isn‘t happening. This is a good exploration of the choices we can potentially make and has some great humor and skewering of striving white yuppie types.

Book 2 of this series picks up immediately where book 1 left off. I do think this one is better than the first. Plus the author shows a willingness to be pretty brutal to characters. The ending suggests there‘s another book coming, and I‘m curious enough to read it when it comes out.

Great title, cool cover (though there‘s no fire in the book), very meh book. It starts fairly well but then seems to be different genres in different sections and the pacing is all over the place.

Beach Books in Seaside, OR turned 20 years old today! 🥳 What a huge accomplishment for a small business in a very small town. So, they had a celebration where everything was 20% off and here‘s my haul! I am proud to have been shopping this store both in person and through Libro for 12 years (8 years for Libro).

I have a confession to make. I used to watch America‘s Next Top Model. (I know.) I don‘t remember if I was still watching when Sarah was on, but I really enjoyed seeing her peek behind the scenes at the show. I‘m sad at how she was continually badgered about her weight and fascinated at what long days they were put through without any real communication. They were really treated badly.

This excellent book is the story of the atomic bomb told by the people involved in making it and those it impacted. I particularly appreciate the extensive section of voices from Japan of those who were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the bombs were dropped there. Hard to listen to, but vitally important.

This is a supremely frustrating book. The writing is great, but it is in desperate need of editing. It goes on and on in a way that just makes it a slog, then finally perks up in the last quarter. The only reason I stuck with it was that I was determined not to bail on two #NBAshortlist for translated lit books in a row. If you try to read it and get bogged down, I recommend skipping forward to chapter 11 and going from there.

Using true events from the life of Jane Stanford in 1905, this book adds a modern day timeline of writer Zoe staying in the same Oahu hotel room as Jane. I enjoyed this and felt the dual timeline worked well. It was fun to be back in Hawaii for a few hours. 😉

This is a predictable but entertaining thriller that leaves a path into book 2 at the end. I‘m curious enough that I‘ll be reading that one as well. Oddly enough, this was more about getting to know the two main characters than it was about plot. But I was ok with that.

I absolutely loved this short story collection. It speaks to what it is to live as a woman in the world and it is feminist as hell in the best possible way. This one has earned a rare spot in my permanent collection. #Roll100 (August)

This is an unsatisfying book that follows a group of people across a couple of days in a group home for older adults. It introduces too many characters at once, forcing the reader to spend too much time trying to sort things out rather than just settling into the story. Hard to believe this is from the same person who wrote Red Clocks, which is brilliant.

This is a fascinating book. It‘s at once an exploration of why the author believes Xi‘s China will try to take over Taiwan in the near future and a current international relations primer. I for sure learned a lot from this book.

The latest on my stack of bails, I‘ve listened to a quarter of this and it‘s doing nothing for me. I swear there isn‘t any dialogue at all. So back it goes to the next person in line.

I loved the idea of this—a man‘s first encounter with a computer in the late 80s and there‘s already some kind of AI involved. Plus, translated from Uzbek? Sounded cool! But the execution just isn‘t working for me and just over 50 pages in I don‘t want to pick it back up. My first bail of the #NBAshortlist for translated lit (or any of the lists, for that matter).

Combining history and family memoir, Motherland starts around the Bolshevik Revolution and looks at the women attached to important moments of Russian history while telling the story of Ioffe‘s family. Near the end, it also explores the deep misogyny of the current Russian regime. I thought it was terrific.

#NBAshortlist, nonfiction

My father in law let me borrow this little book about dory fishing in Cannon Beach, OR, a now defunct practice due to depleted fishing stocks. Overall I enjoyed it but was disappointed by the casual killing of sharks for no good reason.

I was grabbed by the cover of this and went in blind. Early on, it seemed like it was going to be an exploration of language, but at the halfway point it‘s doing nothing for me, so I‘m out.

This is a fun creepy house YA Horror novel with lots of body horror (I‘ve never seen so many uses of the word “viscid”). It was a good palette cleanser for me between literary fiction reads. And the cover has some fun metallic elements.

I struggled with this one a little. It follows the wife of a preacher, her son, and her son‘s girlfriend. Aided by the always fantastic Bahni Turpin, the preacher‘s wife bursts with life and sass, but that exuberance is not maintained in the other chapters.

This book on female friendship follows 4 women across decades in non-linear fashion as they deal with life and their relationships with on another. I found the pacing a little uneven but overall really liked the book. Pictured with our pretty sunset the other night.

#NBAlonglist, fiction

I have mixed feelings about this one. She delves into a lot of injustices, some well known, others less so, so there‘s a lot of educating going on. But she doesn‘t accomplish what the subtitle suggests and at times presents some things as facts which may well be, but doesn‘t adequately support them with data. She also advocates for abolishing policing entirely without really addressing what that would mean.

This author‘s first book didn‘t quite work for me, but her follow up is superb. Following a small family across a week in Kolkata during significant food shortages, it looks at human depth and how we all carry both guardian and thief within ourselves. It is a literary read with the propulsive pacing of a thriller. It would be a very worthy winner of the National Book Award.

#NBAshortlist, fiction

I‘ve liked some of Klune‘s books and liked the premise of this, but ultimately it was not for me. As others have mentioned, it is repetitive and the central relationship was too problematic for me. Also, I found myself irritated by some of the writing. I probably should have bailed.

This #NBAlonglist book (nonfiction) was a mixed bag for me. The content, about a genderqueer Asian couple, their life together, and lives before meeting, is great. But the construction of one partner writing as the other felt gimmicky to me. The best section is Lam‘s childhood in Vietnam and escape from that country at 12.

I wanted to take a moment to pay homage to Portlanders who, instead of being cowed by a dictator, embraced their first amendment right to peaceful assembly and continued protesting, but in costume, to prove the lie to their city being “war ravaged.” I cannot think of a better response. I love their creativity and stance for their, and our, rights.