Audiobook: The Hotel Balzaar

Leave a comment

by Kate DiCamillo
Read by Allan Corduner
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: The Puppets of Spellhorst
Content: It’s a short book, and there isn’t anything objectionable. It’s in the Beginning Chapter section of the bookstore (grades 1-2) but it could go older.

Lest you think this is a continuation of the puppet story in the first book, it’s not. I think it’s only a “series” because it’s so similar in feel and tone as the first one. There are no continuing characters and you absolutely could treat this as a stand-alone.

Marta is a girl that lives with her mother in the attic of the Hotel Balzaar. Her father is in the war, and has gone missing, and Marta has been told to not make any disturbances. But when an elegant Countess comes to the hotel, Marta finds herself entranced and spends time with the old woman, as she tells her seven stories.

That’s it for the plot. But, much like the first one, the charm is in the telling of the story. Again, like the first one, I think it’s best read aloud/listened to – Corduner does a fantastic job – because it’s not the plot or the characters that drive this book forward, it’s the telling. There’s an anti-war message and a bit about how telling stories gets us through hard times. It’s slight, but it’s enjoyable.

I’m curious to see what DiCamillo does with the next book in the series.

Field Notes for the Wilderness

Leave a comment

by Sarah Bessey
First sentence: “Dear Wanderer, Welcome, Welcome, my friend.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s an epistolary book, so if that’s not your jam, it might be hard to read. It’s in the Thought/Religion section of the bookstore.

I picked up this book mostly because I have been thinking about faith and church and religion a lot lately. It’s not an easy thing for me to process; I’m so used to just doing things that I don’t really stop and think about the Why behind them. I don’t know if I was hoping that this book would give me some sort of blueprint to figuring out what I feel. At any rate, it’s a series of letters by Bessey exploring what it means to be in the Wilderness of your faith, finding oneself on the outside of religion for whatever reason.

First off, this took me six months of reading on and off, so I honestly don’t remember much from the beginning. I do remember being glad that I’m not alone in my questions and doubts and that it’s not an abnormal part of faith. She does have some good advice for not being so rigid in one’s worship, and the importance of remembering that Jesus is really at the center of all things.

So, while it wasn’t what I wanted (or maybe even needed right now), it was worth reading, if only for the things that resonated with me.

Audiobook: The Sherlock Society

Leave a comment

by James Ponti
Read by Marc Sanderlin
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are some intense moments. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Alex Sherlock has taken inspiration from his last name and started The Sherlock Society at his middle school. It’s mostly just him and his friends Yadi and Lina, until the last day of school when Alex’s sister, Zoe, joins. She’s the one who comes up with the plan to take this society out into the larger world. With the help of their former-reporter grandfather, they set out to find a mystery to solve.

What starts out as trying to find Al Capone’s buried treasure in the Miami area turns into a discovery of corporate corruption and environmental disaster. Can they prove their case, or will the end up taking the fall?

Oh, this one was a lot of fun. I really liked Sanderlin’s narration; it was a good combination of earnest and deadpan to reflect the middle-grade book. Some moments were intense (I can see a younger kid being on the edge of their seat!) and it was often hilarious. I liked that the kids all had good parents (it was the grandpa out there helping them get into trouble, of sorts) and that their lawyer mom kept things mostly above board. It was a solid mystery, too; I guessed the ending but not too long before the characters got there.

I’ve had a coworker who has been trying to get me to read James Ponti’s spy series, and after this one, I think I really need to give it a try. He’s a fun writer, and I’m impressed with this book.

What I Ate In One Year

Leave a comment

by Stanley Tucci
First sentence: “I never dream about food.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 15, 2024
ARC pilfered from the shelves at work.
Content: There is some swearing, including quite a few f-bombs, though he often censors himself. It’s in the Biography section of the bookstore.

This one has a simple enough premise: every single day (mostly) of 2023, Tucci wrote about what he ate. He missed a few days, he summed up a few days, but for the most part, he did it. He also writes about the things connected to food: shopping, cooking, and interacting with friends and family. He also writes about the pleasure he has with eating and cooking and sitting down with people he cares about to have a meal.

And the book is glorious. Truly.

In something so mundane as recording what he ate, Tucci finds something interesting to say, about food, about life and living, about companionship and friendship, and about how food connects us and makes the world grander. It’s truly a delight to sit with the actor over the course of the year. I adored the book. I’m glad he includes recipes, I’m glad he decided to do something so simple as this. And honestly: Tucci has become one of my all-time favorite food writers. (Reading it often made me want to go cook and eat.)

I adored this one.

Monthly Round-Up: September 2024

Leave a comment

A couple of thoughts: 1) did September just fly by for everyone else, too? I swear the last time I checked it was the end of August. 2) I love romance books, they’re fun and enjoyable, but after a month of reading nothing but romance and children’s books, I need something with a little more heft to it. More non-fiction next month.

My favorite happened to be one I read at the end of August but didn’t blog about until this month:


Pony Confidential

I still think about this one. There’s a strong possibility it will end up on my favorites this year. I just adored it.

As for the rest:

Middle Grade:

Buffalo Dreamer (audiobook)
The Cookie Crumbles
The Night War
Magnolia Wu Unfolds it All
On a Wing and a Tear

Adult Fiction:

Done and Dusted (audiobook)
Four Weekends and a Funeral
The Truth According to Ember (audiobook)
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
Assistant to the Villain (audiobook)
Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet
Swift and Saddled
Apprentice to the Villain (audiobook)

Non-Fiction:

The Bookshop (audiobook)

What was your favorite this month?

On a Wing and a Tear

Leave a comment

by Cynthia Leitich Smith
First sentence: “Hesei, cousins!”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are a couple of intense moments. Otherwise, it’s a short book with short chapters. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) Section of the bookstore, but I’d give it to a good younger reader as well.

Mel and Ray are off for spring break, and the only thing they want to do with Grandpa Halfmoon is go to a Chicago Cubs game. Except they are thrown a loop: Great-Grandfather Bat was injured and is recuperating in Mey and Ray’s backyard. And he’s been summoned to another Birds vs. Animals baseball game, and it’s up to Grandpa, Mel, and Ray to take Great-Grandfather Bat from Chicago to Georgia.

It’s a road trip!

There are adventures on the way, as they make the trek, stopping to see relatives in Kansas and Oklahoma, before getting Great-Grandfather Bat to his game.

On the one hand, this was a sweet modern folk tale. It has the cadence of a Bre’r Rabbit tale – the omniscient narrator talking directly to the reader, with folksy asides. And I do like the way Smith weaves in Native traditions, cultures, and challenges throughout the book. But it wasn’t quite a straight-up fantasy (Smith even says it’s not fantasy, it’s fiction, even though she warns not to interact with wild animals the way these characters do) but it wasn’t a realistic fiction book either. Maybe it was that there was a little bit of everything and the whole didn’t quite add up.

I didn’t hate the book, but it wasn’t my favorite either.

Audiobook: Apprentice to the Villain

Leave a comment

by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Read by Em Eldridge
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: Assistant to the Villain
Content: There is violence and swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for Assistant to the Villain, obviously.

Trystan has been taken by King Benedict, and it’s up to Evie to save him. Which she does, but that unleashes a chain of events that have both Trystan and Evie scrambling to fulfill the prophecy and save the magic in Rennedawn.

I enjoyed the first one well enough, and I honestly wanted to like this one. I enjoyed the narrator of the first one and thought that it would be just as much fun. But then, the slow-burn romance that started in the first book never really went anywhere. Sure, they almost kissed, but then he pulled back and they went back and forth with “I love him/her but I can’t” or “he/she doesn’t want me” and I just lost patience with it. Sure, there’s a plot that was supposed to be interesting, but about 80% of the way through the book and the plot wasn’t anywhere near to wrapping up and I just lost patience with it. I don’t want yet another book of will-they-won’t-they and pining and growling and being jealous and not communicating and I just bailed.

Some books are for some people. This one ultimately wasn’t for me.

Swift and Saddled

Leave a comment

by Lyla Sage
First sentence: “I’ve come in contact with a lot of liars, but none quite so big as Google.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Done and Dusted
Content: There is swearing, including many f-bombs, as well as on-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Ada Hart is an outsider to Meadowlark, Wyoming, brought there as an interior designer for Wes Ryder’s guest ranch. What she expected: to get the job done well. What she didn’t expect: to fall in love with Wyoming, Rebel Blue, and Wes Ryder.

There’s a lot more than that – Ada is coming off a bad divorce from a controlling husband and is gun-shy about relationships; Wes is trying to find his footing with the new guest ranch he’s in charge of. There’s a lot of push-and-pull, but eventually, they come to figure things out. While I don’t think it’s as spicy as Done and Dusted, there are some good sex scenes and banter between Wes and Ada. I appreciated that there wasn’t much of a third-act fallout, and it was quickly resolved. I also appreciated Wes’s support of Ada, both as she worked through her trauma and of her budding career.

Sage is a good writer, and she knows how to write a good romance. These are a lot of fun.

Magnolia Wu Unfolds it All

Leave a comment

by Chanel Miller
First sentence: “Magnolia Wu was almost ten.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s heavily illustrated, short, and with lots of white space. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore, but I’d give it to a precocious younger reader as well.

While Magnolia likes her family’s laundromat, she feels like nothing ever happens. Then, the summer that she turns 10, she and her new friend Iris decide to return all the lost socks that have been left. What follows is an adventure as Magnolia and Iris learn about their neighbors in their New York City neighborhood.

It’s a cute little book, full of fun illustrations. There’s not much depth to it: Magnolia and Iris solve one little sock mystery after another while Magnolia learns the value of hardworking, caring parents, and Iris and Magnolia navigate a friendship.

Cute, especially for those beginning/struggling readers.

Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet

Leave a comment

by Samantha Allen
First sentence: “I’ve knocked on a thousand doors before, but this one is different.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: December 3, 2024
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is swearing, including many f-bombs. There is also talk of sex, and one description of a hate crime against an LGBTQ+ character. It will be in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

Adam is in a writing slump. He had one successful book – his tell-all memoir about leaving the Mormon Church when he came out as gay – but everything in the 15 years since then has fallen flat. He’s not even sure he can be a writer anymore. Then his agent lands him a cushy job: the Hollywood star Roland Rogers needs a ghostwriter right now and he wants Adam. Except Roland isn’t actually there. At least not physically – his body is buried under a mound of snow in Utah. However, his consciousness still exists and can inhabit the kitchen speaker, and so he can still talk to Adam. Once they get past the weirdness of the situation, they settle in to write. But it’s not going to be easy, on either of them. Between the two, there’s a lot of trauma to unpack – both religious and of the toxic masculinity varieites – and as they do, they end up growing closer.

In some ways, this is the straight up (if a little weird) romance the publishers are touting it as. They do develop a relationship. But, it’s so much more than that. In the end, I think the point of this one is to highlight the ways connection and vulnerability are important, how it’s possible to get by without them, but your life is so much richer with them. I didn’t end up cyring at the end, but I was moved by the decisions that Adam and Roland made, and the way their relationship turned out.

I’m not sure I would have ever picked this one up if I hadn’t been asked to read it by a well-meaning publicist, but I’m glad I did. It’s quite a delightful little book.