Monthly Round-Up: March 2025

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I was thinking, as I put this all together, that I read quite a bit (for me) this month! So many audiobooks, so many non-fiction books. I quite surprised myself. My favorite, though, was the only middle grade book I read, back at the beginning of the month:

The Trouble with Heroes

Such a good book. I can’t wait to sell it! As for the rest:

Adult Fiction:

Beg, Borrow, or Steal
Fast & Reckless
Sword Catcher (DNF)
The Bridge Kingdom
Sandwich
Kate & Frida (audiobook)

Non-Fiction:

Food for Thought (audiobook)
Everything is Tuberculosis
How We Learn to Be Brave
Abundance (audiobook)

YA:

The Raven Boys (reread) (audiobook)

What was your favorite this month?

Audiobook: The Raven Boys

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by Maggie Stiefvater
Read by Will Patton
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is swearing, including a couple of f-bombs, talk of teenage drinking, and a murder. It’s in the Teen Bestsellers section of the bookstore.

I wasn’t going to write a post about this one, since I don’t have much new to say from my first review 13 years ago. Then I realized that even though I have reread this a couple of times, I finally experienced it in a different format, and that warranted mentioning. I’ve heard that Patton – who narrates the whole series – is a good narrator and that the audiobook is a good experience, but I haven’t felt the need. Until this year. I decided I needed Maggie’s stories in my life, and I was feeling a gravitational pull towards the Raven Cycle, so I decided to do the audio. And they’re right: Patton is an excellent narrator for this book (and I’m assuming the series – I’ve got Dream Thieves on hold already) and it’s an excellent way to experience Henrietta and Blue and the boys. I plowed through it because I didn’t want to stop listening (because good story + good narrator = a remarkable experience).

I’m glad I finally got around to listening to this one!

Audiobook: Kate & Frida

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by Kim Fay
Read by Kelsey Jaffer & Ines del Castillo
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are some emotionally charged situations, including a library fire in Sarajevo. It’s in the Adult Fiction section of the bookstore.

It’s the early 1990s, and Frida Rodriguez is in Paris to try and figure herself out. She wants to be a war correspondent, and she is trying to get someone to help her get into Sarajevo so she can cover the Serbia-Bosnia conflict. While she’s waiting, she writes to the best bookstore in Seattle (which isn’t Elliot Bay Books, but actually is) and Kate Fair answers her letter. Thus begins a correspondence between the two young women where they discuss books, food, life, romance, family, and everything else.

It’s another slight novel that really is more than it seems. There’s a lot of bookish references that I didn’t get – I really wasn’t reading what was popular in the early 1990s, not like now – but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy listening to Kate & Frida write back and forth. I was also in my 20s in the 1990s, and it all felt very, well, real to me. I also adored the narrators. Both women did excellent jobs bringing these letters to life, and giving both Kate and Frida more depth.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Sandwich

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by Catherine Newman
First sentence: “Picture this: a shorelined peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is a lot of swearing, including many f-bombs. It’s in the adult fiction section of the bookstore.

I usually don’t take my boss’s recommendations when it comes to books; she and I just have too different of reading preferences. She likes deeply literary things (and mysteries) and I prefer character- and plot-driven genre fiction. So, when she told me I really needed to read this one, I kind of brushed it off.

And then I kept seeing it everywhere, from people whose tastes are more similar to mine, and whose opinions I respect. And so I picked up for myself for Christmas.

I hate to say it, but my boss was right: I needed to read this one. It’s the story of one week in summer, a family vacation – mom, dad, two adult children, one partner, grandparents – all coming together. It’s about nothing, really, just snippets of their vacation. But it’s also about everything. It’s about growing older as a woman, watching your kids get older and become adults themselves, about redefining what it means to be a woman, a person who was once needed and now no longer is, really. It made me laugh – Newman’s observations about menopause, abou the barely contained anger and frustration, about the conflicting emotions (rage, gratitude, regret, joy) you constantly feel as a woman, are spot on – and it made me sob.

It’s a slight thing, this novel, but it packs a punch. And I am glad I finally got around to it.

The Bridge Kingdom

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by Danielle L. Jensen
First sentence: “Lara rested her elbows on the low sandstone wall, her eyes fixed on the glowing sun descending over the distant mountain peaks, nothing between here and there but scorching sand dunes, scorpions, and the occasional lizard.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is violence (lots- the body count is high in this one), on-page sex, and swearing including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Lara – along with 19 of her half-sisters – has been trained by her father, the king of Maridrina – with one goal in mind: marry King Aren, the king of the Bridge Kingdom, gain his trust, infiltrate his country, and help her father bring the country to its knees. At first, Lara is all-in on this plan: she has come to believe that Aren and his country are responsible for the starvation and plagues in her own. But, as she comes to know Aren and his people, she’s not so sure. Perhaps, just maybe, things are not quite as they seem.

I had kind of low expectations going into this one, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a solid fantasy – I liked the world-building that Jensen did, which never felt overly expository, and I liked the characters she developed. I didn’t get much of a sense of many of the minor characters (there were so many!), but Lara and Aren were really fully developed, which I liked. I did think the sex was a little bit… performative? If that’s the right word; it just didn’t feel as connected as I feel it could have been. My biggest complaint though was the twist with 40 pages left in the book. I don’t mind reading a sequel, but I do get a bit annoyed when the story is left unfinished and I feel I have to read the sequel to finish it out. That said, though, Jensen is a decent writer, and this was a solid book

Audiobook: Abundance

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by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
Read by the authors
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: It gets a bit policy-wonky at times. It’s in the Politics section of the bookstore.

In this slim, yet dense, book, Klein and Thompson take the Democrats/liberals to task for not doing enough to support the politics of plenty. We have enough, they argue, we should be able to have a more equal society. And yet, we don’t. They look at history and policy and ask questions about why we aren’t making progress in technology, science, climate change, housing, and transportation. And it boils down to: we have let government regulations slow everything down to the point of inaction.

This was a challenging book for me at least. I’ve always been on the side of government is and can do good for the bulk of the people, and I’m a big supporter of things like universal health care are and universal basic incomes. But, given that our government is the way it is (or isn’t anymore, honestly), why can’t we have a country that distributes its abundance more equitably. Klien and Thompson break it down, and challenge the status quo, insisting (rightly) that it doesn’t work. They admit that they don’t have answers – because the answers for one place will be different than answers in another – but they do recommending asking one question: why? If something isn’t working, if something is broken: ask why? Why does Wichita have a problem with the homeless? Because there is a housing shortage. Well: why? And then go from there. Talk about policies that address the why.

I don’t have any real hope that this book will change anything at a national level, but I found it challenging enough to rethink some of my ideas about how things Should Be. And perhaps that’s all Klein and Thompson can ask for.

How We Learn to Be Brave

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by Mariann Edgar Budde
First sentence: “On Monday, June 1, 2020, at 7:06 p.m., the president of the United States strode defiantly across Washington, D. C.’s Lafayetter Park – trailing a retinue of aides, Secret Service agents, his daughter Ivanka, the attorney general, and America’s top military leaders, including the secretary of defense and the chairmen of the Joint Cheifs of Staff – in order to be photographed holding a Bible in front o St. John’s Church, whose parish house had sustained minor fire damage during protests during the previous evening.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s kind of dense in some spots, though it’s mostly accessible. It’s in the Religion and Philosophy section of the bookstore.

Like many people, I picked up Budde’s book in the wake of her sermon pleading Trump to have mercy for those who are less fortunate. I picked it up partially because of the backlash against her (“who was she to criticize the president?”), but also I was curious. This was written in the aftermath of Trump’s performative use of the church and the Bible to prove that he was… something (Christian? Devout? He is neither.)… and her explanation of how she came to speak out against him at the time. It’s a bit of a self-help book, as she explores different aspects of bravery from choices (or not) to perseverance.

I don’t think I was expecting anything when I picked it up, but I did find some interesting insights into Jesus and some insights into how to be more mindful in the world. I’m not sure Budde set out to create a blueprint, or to put herself up as an example (I know that she didn’t intend to be an example, as she used many other people’s experience as well), but I found it to be a thoughtful look at what bravery, in a Christian framework, means.

I’m glad I read it.

DNF: Sword Catcher

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by Cassandra Clare
First sentence: “It began with a crime.”
Content: Not sure – there’s violence and some on-screen sex. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

There’s something about an orphan who is raised to be the body double of the prince. And a young woman/magician (I kept thinking the similarities to Jews in the 1930s were remarkable) who lives in the city’s restricted part. Somehow the Ragpicker King (who is he? No idea.) is involved.

I read 264 pages of this book. Two Hundred and Sixty Four. The two main characters didn’t meet until page 200. There was so much exposition. So much “World Building.” So. Many. Words. I couldn’t find the plot. I didn’t care about the characters. I couldn’t keep a handle on the politics. There’s a good way to do fantasy, and then there’s those bloated fantasy books where there are so many words that you lose sight of what’s supposed to be happening.

I bailed. I don’t regret it. There’s a reason why I don’t usually read books over 500 pages. This absolutely reinforces that rule. It’s a hard nope from me.

Fast & Reckless

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by Amanda Weaver
First sentence: “Will Hawley downshifted, desperately attempting to hang onto his car as the laws of physics tried to rip it off the track.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is a lot of swearing, including many f-bombs, as well as quite a bit of on-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Mira Wentworth has been away from the F1 circuit for seven years, when she was exiled in discrace. Will Hawley is back on the F1 circuit after 3 years away, ever since his disastrous rookie season. When both of them show up to the new season – Mira as her father’s personal assistant (he’s the team principal) and Will as a driver – neither of them want a relationship. Mostly because a relationship between them would be disastrous. But, there’s chemistry, and tension, and sparks fly (pun intended!), and yeah… of course there will be drama. It’s F1.

Things I liked: that Mira’s scandal was truly horrifying, and her coming to terms with it was a definite growth arc. Will was very sassy, though I’m not as convinced he’s changed. The spice level was high but not off the charts. I have no idea how accurate the behind-the-scenes F1 stuff was, but it was fun to travel the world to the places I have seen on screen and in the app. None of the people were real, but there were elements; I could guess at who, maybe, that driver could be. It was silly and it was fun, and it was a quick read.

I really don’t want much more out of a romance, especially an F1 one.

Everything is Tuberculosis

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by John Green
First sentence: “Around the turn of the nineteenth century, the Scottish tinkerer and chemist James Watt began working on a new project.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Release date: March 18, 2025
Content: There’s a couple of milder swear words. It will be in the Health section of the bookstore.

When John started talking about tuberculosis on the vlogbrothers YouTube channel, I didn’t know what to think. I mean, I knew about tuberculosis – I got the TB tests when I was a kid – but I didn’t really think about tuberculosis. And so, I watched in fascination as John shared his research and stories over the years in his videos, and learned about how much tuberculosis has influenced human history.

This book, in many ways, is a synthesis of those videos. But, what I found remarkable was how John (can I call him John? I’ve been watching the videos until 2008, and it feels kind of weird to call him Green) made the disease personal. He focuses on Henry, a young man with tuberculosis that John met in Sierra Leone. He focuses on Henry’s struggle with the disease, his struggle to get treatment, and the reasons why. Interspersed with Henry’s story, John gives us the history of the disease and the development of treatment for the disease.

But, what I found most powerful in the book was the ending. John writes: “We cannot address TB only with vaccines and medications. We cannot address it only with comprehensive STP programs. We must also address the root cause of tuberculosis, which is injustice. In a world where everyone can eat, and access healthcare, and be treated humanely, tuberculosis has no chance. Ultimately, we are the cause. We must also be the cure.”

It’s a book that is absolutely worth reading.

P.S. If you’d like to do something to help, may I suggest supporting good.store? The Green brothers have set up a way to get subscriptions of things you might need (from coffee/tea to soap to socks and underwear) and all the profits go to help either building a maternal health center in Sierra Leone or tuberculosis treatment programs. It’s not a lot, but it is something. (And the products are really good as well: I’ve done the Awesome Socks club, and we’re currently getting the soap, and the tea is excellent.)