Read, not published, in 2025, though on the recent side for the most part. "When people write reviews, they are really writing a kind of memoir--here's what *MY experience* was eating at this restaurant or getting my hair cut at this barbershop." - John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed.
(Adult Fiction) M.T. Anderson doesn't simply tell stories. He conveys language, eras, settings, personalities, and worlds. He creates characters to embody the stories and let's them tell the stories in their own particular vernacular and style. This…
(Adult Nonfiction) A delightful book that explores the many different types, forms, and varieties of senses that exist among the many different creatures of the world. All the diverse ways that animals can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch that we…
(Teen Fiction) An unexpected delight. I found the lighthearted narrative voice charming and loved spending time in its company. It's conversational, personable, and personal. It spends the largest part of its time relating the perspective of James,…
(Youth Nonfiction) Marvelous storytelling.
Harari takes a long, complex, convoluted idea about the nature of human societies and turns it into an accessible, engaging narrative covering the span of human history since the Agricultural Revolution.…
(Adult Nonfiction) The subtitle of this book is "A Book of Strangers," but I don't think that's accurate. I think a more apt name for what Sharlet has accomplished here is the title of a book--and movement--by Valerie Kaur: "See No Strangers."…
(Adult Fiction) A wonderful, historical, atmospheric setting, engaging characters, adventure and intrigue aplenty, magic, myth, and legend, and excellent storytelling. All the ingredients needed for an excellently fun book. - Amina al-Sirafi should…
(Adult Fiction) This is a novel about a novel in which a novel saves the world, about the power of stories. This is a story about the complexities of relationships, of independence and interdependence. This tale is about Artificial Intelligence,…
(Youth Fiction) A gripping tale of war, family, spies, espionage, riddles, and code breaking told masterfully. Suspense, mystery, historical accuracy, realism, and propulsive plotting and pacing. Deserves the widest of audiences. - Summer, 1940.…
(Adult Nonfiction) A fascinating, clear, and concise explanation of our current mathematical understanding of existence--without using math. Or, at least, Rovelli's current understanding, as he makes clear this is what makes the most sense to him as…
(Adult Fiction) Never have I more appreciated the short story form nor more enjoyed a short story collection. Berlin is an amazing writer, and here portrays so much humanity in all its beauty and ugliness with compassion and acceptance; so…
(Teen Fiction) Wow.
This book's short description includes the detail that Jane's father confines Jane's mother in a series of pneumatic tubes, tightly controlling her ability to interact with the family. "Confined to pneumatic tubes" may seem like…
(Adult Fiction) A heartrending tale of tragedy and joy told with an irreverently animated and humorous voice.
Lampo is a wry and sarcastic unemployed man-child in ancient Syracuse, sharing events right after their city has repelled an invading…
(Teen Biography) Ogle's third and final book about his traumatic youth. After escaping the abusive home of his mother and stepfather, 17-year-old Rex is ready to start college from his dad's house. But then his dad learns Rex is gay and kicks him…
(Adult Nonfiction) What a delight! Informative, entertaining, beautiful, and profound.
Sedivy uses her own life to frame a meditation on human interaction with language over the course of a lifetime, how language is learned and acquired in…
(Adult Fiction) You might not think an entire book about fighting distraction--the course of one day, from waking to sleep, inside the head of an Oxford student trying to focus on writing an essay about Shakespeare's Sonnets, intentionally isolated…
(Youth Graphic Fiction) An excellent story of a middle grade girl navigating American life as a Chinese immigrant and her efforts to figure out how to meld the two cultures into her identity. Very everyday, slice of life and relatable; not preachy;…
(Adult Nonfiction) It has become fairly common knowledge that, in most countries, corporations are granted legal personhood, with the same protections, rights, and responsibilities as individual people. Less well-known is the recent movement to…
(Youth Fiction) An engaging and exciting story of two kids following clues on a treasure hunt through history. It reminds me of the Nicolas Cage movie National Treasure, except presenting established facts and theories--with clear explanations about…
(Adult Fiction) A uniquely fascinating and stimulating book.
One that presupposes that great genius is inherently unstable, then creates fictionalized details of the lives of a few great thinkers to illustrate the point. Human genius, in this case,…
(Adult Nonfiction) In this book, Temple Grandin makes a compelling case for acknowledging and nurturing visual thinkers. A majority of us are verbal thinkers. Our thoughts are given form by words, we understand instructions, ourselves, and the world…
