The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, by Garth Nix
This was a really fun follow-up to The Left-Handed Booksellers of London—Nix’s alternative 1980s London and the magical booksellers who monitor magic in the UK. We get a return of the fashion-forward Merlin and recently magical Susan as they try to stop a powerful, ancient spirit who wants Susan’s powers. I almost liked this book better than the first because I was already familiar with the setting and could fall right into it.

Two Tribes, by Emily Bowen Cohen
This is a lovely middle grade graphic novel about a 13-year-old girl being raised by her white Jewish mother with questions about her indigenous father and heritage. Mia’s father hasn’t been in the picture since her parent’s acrimonious divorce. Knowing her mom won’t let her visit her father, she sneaks away taking a bus from Los Angeles to Oklahoma where she gets to know her other family and learns about her tribe. Of course, she gets in big trouble for it, and it all works out well in the end. It’s great for biracial kids who wonder who they really are. And people who like well-told stories, of course.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute, by Talia Hibbert
A YA debut by one of my favorite romance authors. Celine and Bradley used to be best friends, now they are enemies competing for a prestigious scholarship in their last year of school. It turns out that their big fight four years earlier was more of a misunderstanding and that they both care a lot about the other. Main characters with real lives, secondary characters you want to hang out with too—Hibbert always tells a great story.

The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society, by Eleanor Janega
A fantastic read about women during the medieval period (which covers 1200 years!). I really enjoyed this book and Janega’s delivery of the information, as well as the way she made sure the reader understood that nearly all information has been filtered through the lens of men. Who, by the way, believed women to be sexually insatiable and far more interested in sex than men. Janega also offers a lot of insight into our modern era by contrasting it with the medieval period. Highly recommend!

The Fox & the Little Tanuki, by Tagawa Mi
A cute looking manga. It is cute looking, but I couldn’t get into it. I felt the story was choppy and the dogs and main fox character looked too much alike.

The Quiet Gentleman, by Georgette Heyer
A reread. This is the one that started it all for me. Still fantastic.

Camp Sylvania, by Julie Murphy
I’ve read nearly all of Murphy’s books and they have all been great. This is her first foray into a story with a fantasy element and it really worked. Maggie is sent to a summer “fat” camp, against her wishes, that has been rebranded as a “wellness” camp by the new owner and famous influencer, Sylvia Sylvania. Things are immediately weird there—they can only eat red-colored food, they can’t leave their bunks after dark, and they are encouraged to donate blood daily. Maggie quickly makes friends with her bunkmates as they try to find out why camp is so strange. Yes, vampires are involved. Murphy does a great job creating a full, reality-based story with or without the fantasy element. The story is really a take down of wellness culture.
 
Network, Effect, by Martha Wells
This was a relisten. (I don’t always add in my rereads of The Murderbot Diaries, but I haven’t reread this in awhile.) Always worth it.

Spector Inspectors, by Bowen McCurdy and Kaitlyn Musto
A really fun graphic novel about a group of young ghost hunters with a popular YouTube channel who visit a haunted town and become mired in a hundred-year-old mystery. The spookiness was well done, the art is great, and all four main characters are a delight. Recommend.
 
Siren Queen, by Nghi Vo
Old Hollywood steeped in magic? I’m in…duh. This Hollywood is an extension of the fae realm complete with soul bargaining, magic spells cast by cameras, Friday night Wild Hunts, and stars who really become part of the firmament. Luli Wei is a Los Angeles native who falls in love with movies, making it her life’s mission to become a start while avoiding the pitfalls of losing her soul, her body, or worse. So much of what makes this book great is that Vo doesn’t actually change any of the language used to talk about the magic of Hollywood, but the way she uses it changes the implications from hyperbole to real magic. Very good book. Highly recommend.

White Horse, by Erika T. Wurth
A sort-of (?) horror by an indigenous author. Waitress/bartender Kari has got her life in order after a rough childhood—her mother abandoned her and her father had brain damage from an accident—and an adolescence of heavy drug use. Things change suddenly when her cousin gives her a bracelet that once belonged to her mother, a woman of the Cree tribe. Now Kari is being visited by the ghost of the woman she never knew and to free herself of the haunting, she has to find out what happened to her mom. Overall a good book, I liked the characters and the not easy relationships between extended family. This was not scary at all, though. I guess ghosts just aren’t scary to me.
 
The Empress of Salt & Fortune, by Nghi Vo
Another novella in the Singing Hills Cycle, where cleric Chih comes across the old servant of the recently deceased empress. They listen to her story and come to understand the true history of how the empress claimed the throne. This is another novella series that I’d call cozy. Quiet, low-stakes, but beautifully told. Like listening to a story around a campfire.
 
Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer
One of my all-time favorite Heyer books, and always a comfort read. Who needs a knight in shining armor to rescue you from dragons? More comfortable is someone who will hold an umbrella for you in the rain or make sure you have a seat at a ball. Freddie and Kitty forever.
 
Fault Tolerance, by Valerie Valdes
Last book in this trilogy, and just as fun as the first two. Still filled with oodles of pop culture references, this one’s storyline comes from 80s mecha cartoons, particularly Voltron. I have a feeling that I miss a lot of references too as the author is a gamer and I don’t really game. Still a hoot to read.
 
Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco, by K. Iver
This is a heartbreaking, and stunning, poetry collection about the author’s first love, their suicide, and the unending grief. Iver is nonbinary, queer, and the beloved of the title was trans and helped them to understand their own sexuality as a teenager. As a study on grief, it is insightful and emotional. As a look into growing up as a queer kid, its equally tragic.
 
The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams, by Daniel Nayeri
When Monkey is “sold” to Samir, he is in for a lot more trouble than he could guess. Traveling the Silk Road with a merchant caravan, Samir has made a lot of enemies—he talks a good game but his products leave something to be desired—who now have sent seven assassins after him. Good thing Monkey is there to have his back. Nayeri’s prose is gorgeous and the episodic nature of the book harks back to Arabian Nights. This would be a perfect read aloud for the whole family.
 
Death at the Savoy, by Prudence Emery and Ron Base
It’s the swinging 60’s at the poshest hotel in London. Priscilla, a young Canadian, manages the press office for the Savoy. That is when she’s not partying at all hours or fending off unwanted advances. When the dead body is found in the River Suite, and it’s found out she may have been the last person to see the guy alive, her world turns topsy turvy as she conducts her own investigation into his mysterious death. Frothy fun with a lot of great details. (One of the authors actually worked at the Savoy at that time.) It’s a great potato chip read.
 
Welcome to Feral, by Mark Fearing
This is a middle grade graphic novel in the vein of Goosebumps or Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Feral is a small town with a lot of supernatural shenanigans. Each chapter tells a different creepy story—from a slide that eats children to a bicycle that launches a kid into orbit. The art is not my favorite style, but the simple, bold lines adds a lot to each story. Definitely a recommend for kids who are into the creepy.
 
Looking Glass Sound, by Catriona Ward
Like The Last House on Needless Street, this story is mind bending. It’s a meta story within a meta story, and while the jacket description is absolutely true, it only reveals the very surface of the story. I can’t think of a way to write what the book is about without making this a very long paragraph and give too much away. What I can do is say how great this book is and how much it will stick with you after you have read it.
 
Have His Carcase, by Dorothy T. Sayers
After reading Death at the Savoy, I wanted to read a real, classic British mystery and was in the mood for Sayers—especially one featuring Harriet Vane, Lord Peter Wimsey’s paramour. I like these mysteries because it isn’t all about the mystery. Sure, they are trying to solve a murder, but the story is also about Harriet and Peter’s proto-relationship. This is a great whodunnit though, and while I had a good idea what the ending was going to be, it did keep me guessing. Can’t go wrong with a Sayers’ mystery.

Unraveler, by Frances Hardinge
Frances Hardinge has created another incredible world. In Raddith, disgruntled people can grow curse eggs that, when released, do terrible curses. This is because the country butts up against The Wilds—a swampy forest that is magical and super creepy. Kellen has the ability to reverse curses, but this causes its own trouble. A nefarious group is gathering cursers for a revolt. Kellen and his companion Nettle are in the thick of the plot and have to find a way to stop it in time. This book is really a story about abuse and the chain of harm that one instance of abuse can instigate. It’s sad and strange and very hopeful.
(As an aside, I wonder if we could put all her strange worlds together as one planet—Deeplight, Fly By Night, A Face Like Glass, Gullstruck Island, and now, Unraveller.)
 
A Tale for the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki
This genre bending story is tragic, infuriating, and full of beauty. Nao is a sixteen-year-old living in Tokyo and being mercilessly bullied. Her father is suicidal after losing his job. She is planning on killing herself, but only after telling the story of her great-grandmother through a diary. Ruth is a writer living on a remote island on the Pacific coast of Canada who finds Nao’s diary when it washes ashore a year after the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. As she and her partner read the diary, they worry about what happened to Nao. I do recommend this book, but be forewarned, the bullying is truly terrible.
 
Yellow Boy, by Alex Luu
This is a poetry chapbook left in my little library. It has no ISBN. In my effort to read more poetry, I thought I’d give it a try. It is a lovely work. Luu is a Vietnamese American from Southern California and is a slam poet. Themes take on the discrimination he faces, the hardness of his father and grandfather, how redemptive love can be. Here are some lines that stuck with me:
    “They wonder why I have Buddha around my neck, but a Bible in my hand; They ask me what my religion is. I tell them I will believe in whatever will make me a better person.
   “How well you do them proud Taking a black boy from his family And cry self defense; That you were scared for your life? Now, ain’t that white privilege? Killing a black man, while playing both the victim and the hero?”
   “Breathing in the breath of broken tongues, I am the sum of every hour of sleep My father lost to keep food on the plate.”
 
Meet Me In the Margins, by Melissa Ferguson
A cute romance about an aspiring author and current editor at a small publishing house and the introduction of her new boss—an experienced editor from New York who is also the son of the owner. As Savannah is rushing to get her manuscript in shape for a looming deadline, she finds a secret editor who helps her anonymously. She is also facing the impending marriage of her sister to her longtime ex. Fast and sweet, this is a fun read. Caveat, the gaslighting she faces from her family is terrible. It made me so angry.
 
Shuna’s Journey, by Hayao Miyazaki
This was an early manga of Miyazaki’s, from the early 1980s, and is revealing as to where his work came from and how it grew. Nausicaä certainly grew from this tale of climate change, greed, and a journey to solve the problem. Not amazing but worth the read for fans or kids.
 
Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley
I’ve read some of Mosley’s nonfiction, but never his landmark book. I needed a good mystery and this hit the spot. He really brings home the city of LA in the late 1940s. Easy Rawlins is a great character—trying to stay on the right path but always getting knocked off it. Faced with entrenched discrimination and friends who’ll do anything to get by, he is the center of a tornado that could take him at any time. Very good book.
 
Captain Carter: Woman Out of Time, Jamie McKelvie
In this alternate history version, it was Peggy Carter who became the super soldier and who went into the Arctic ice to save New York during WWII. Newly awakened, she goes to the UK and reluctantly begins working for S.T.R.I.K.E., which is being undermined by a manipulative Prime Minister. This story was Awesome. It reminded me how good superhero comics can be when they are done right. Highly recommend, even for non-comic readers.
 
The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark
A steampunk Egypt that has developed advanced technology with the help of Djinni. The Ministry of Alchemy sends agents to investigate a tramcar that seems to be possessed by a spirit. At the same time, a vote for women’s rights is coming up in parliament bringing thousands of women to the city. Senior agent Hamed al-Nasr will have his hands full trying to navigate bureaucracy, pagan religions, and a host of women activists. Super fun novella. It’s a follow-up to another novella set in the same space, which I’m definitely going to read.
 
You Just Need to Lose Weight, by Aubrey Gordon
Nobody writes, or talks, about anti-fat bias like Aubrey Gordon. She is so smart, well-researched, educated, and erudite, that when she talks on a subject, I know that I will get a lot of great information. This book is just like her podcast, “Maintenance Phase.” It talks in-depth about twenty “myths” that fat people hear all the time. She takes each one apart with documented research and offers ways that allies can help and questions for all of us to check our anti-fat bias. Highly recommend.
 
Station Eternity, by Mur Lafferty
Reread. I listened to this one in January and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Such a good mystery with so many tiny clues that I needed to read it to really understand how the mystery was solved. Loved it the second time even more.
 
If I Survive You, by Jonathan Escoffery
Finally! Finally finished this book I started for one of my committees last year. It’s really good, though not entirely my sort of thing. It is a series of interconnected short stories about a Jamaican-American family in Florida—mostly centered on Trelawny, the younger son. It covers themes of being a light-skinned black man in the South with parents who have accents; the treatment a sibling who is not the favorite; and how family bonds are the hardest to break even when they are not healthy. Escoffery is a very talented writer. The first and last stories are both written in the second person and it is done so well, I couldn’t help but be drawn in. I would suggest this book for people looking for contemporary literary. 

Station Eternity, by Mur Lafferty
This is another one of those cross-genre sci-fi books, and I am here for it and for more. In the not-so-distant future, Mallory is one of only three humans living on the closest space station to earth. She’s there because wherever she goes a human is murdered and only she can solve the mystery. Where there are no humans, there will be no murders. Until a ship carrying the first load of humans from earth arrives, when chaos explodes. Mallory, with the help of ex-soldier, old-friend, and one of the other humans aboard the station, Xander, must figure out who the murderer is before all the humans are killed. This is a damn fine romp, mixing a good whodunnit with a crazy cast of out-of-this-world characters. Can’t wait for the next one.
 
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
So, I may have read this one once or twice or a hundred times before. But this version! This version has all of the letters in the book (19) handwritten and folded like real letters. I confess, this version made me giddy. It was as fun as the first time I read the book thirty years ago. I think I actually squealed when I got to Mr. Darcy’s long letter. So good.
 
The Man Who Could Move Clouds, by Ingrid Roja Contreras
A memoir that I started for one of the awards committees that I was on last fall. I didn’t have a chance to finish it before, but really enjoyed the beginning. And now, have enjoyed the whole book. I feel like this writer is the spiritual descendent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Even though this is a true story, there are magical elements, as Rojas Contreras is from a long line of curanderas in Columbia. The pacing is superb, releasing bits and pieces of information in a way that draws you in, and the language is gorgeous. I would recommend this one to readers who like magical realism or who may not be into memoir.
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Southern Spirits, by Angie Fox
A romantic, cozy mystery with a MC that can talk and see ghosts? I’m in. I found a reference to this book on some list and had to order a copy, and it was terrific. A perfect potato-chip read. Verity is about to lose her ancestral home in order to pay off her former fiancé, when she accidentally binds the spirit of a former gangster to the land. With his help, she explores ways to save her home and helps to solve a thirty year old crime.
 
The Road to Gondwana, by Bill Morris
This is a book that will be published in the US in March by the publisher I work for. I don’t read every book that we put out, but this one caught my interest. While not as personal a natural history exploration as Why Fish Don’t Exist, I felt that the two books had a lot in common. Author Morris is inspired to research the fossil history of an extinct plant species known as glossopteris. By following the appearances of this fossil, scientists were able to discover the fact that the continents as we know them were once in a very different formation. This book explores how glossopteris was discovered in the early years of fossil exploration until the late 20th century when plate tectonic theory was confirmed. It is also a travel log of Morris’s travels to various places to see how the fossil record fits together. Really interesting book that explores paleobotany in a relatable way.
 
The Hollow Kind, by Andy Davidson
A horror that I picked up off the new table at the bookstore because how can you go wrong with Southern Gothic, Eldritch Horror? You can’t. Even though this story has more body horror than I would like, it was still an uncanny read (which is what I look for in horror). Nellie and her son are on the run from her abusive husband. When she is left her grandfather’s broken-down house and land, she jumps at the opportunity to build a new life for her and her kid. But the house and property are broken down for a reason. Something terrible lives there.
 
Wonder City, by Victor Fusté
I love the art in this graphic novel. Simple lines and watercolor fill is so expressive and pretty. The story was meh. Famous explorer father dies mysteriously, polar opposite teenaged daughters must figure out what happened. Secret, underground New York temple with its own subway. An artifact that can destroy the world. All the elements are there, but it just didn’t quite do it for me.
 
The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald
This was a delight! I listened to it (as I’ve never gotten around to pulling out my copy). It’s the story of Princess Irene and miner Curdie as the goblins that live inside of the mountain plot to get rid of the humans. This might just be a perfect story. Clever, poor boy and a princess who can help herself, what’s not to love.
 
Prime Deceptions, by Valerie Valdes
Captain Eva and her crew on La Sirena Negra are back and they get an offer they can’t refuse. Well, they can, but they also need the huge payout the job would provide. They are on the search for a rogue scientist that takes them to the one planet Eva vowed to never return to, Garilia, where years before she unwittingly caused a mass murder. This book is non-stop action and, also, one big Pokémon joke. It is hilarious and so much fun. 

​Frederica, by Georgette Heyer
One of my favorite Heyer books was the perfect reread at the beginning of a very stressful month. This is one of the funniest of her books and is always a delight.
 
Bodies in a Bookshop, by R.T. Campbell
A mystery about antiquarian booksellers in 1946 London. The mystery itself was a little ho-hum, but the insight into the bookselling circles was fascinating. Worth reading just for that.
 
The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal
I loved Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series and love the film, The Thin Man, so I had high hopes for this book, but it was only OK. The main characters are based on the Nick and Nora characters from the movie/book, but have their own, late-21st century foibles. Tesla Crane is one of the wealthiest and most well-known persons in the world. On a cruise ship to Mars for her honeymoon, Tesla ‘s husband is arrested for a murder committed near their suite. Tesla uses all her formidable resources (mostly money and clout) to solve the murder(s). The setting is fun, the characters flat. Tesla’s whole personality is a mash of PTSD, chronic pain, and spoiled. The best thing about the book is the cocktail recipe that heads up each chapter. I’m still having fun with those recipes.
 
The Christmas Bookshop, by Jenny Colgan
Another reread. This is my favorite of Colgan’s booksellers romance series. Set in Edinburgh at Christmastime, it really feels like you could step into the story. Really enjoyed it and it will probably be a regular holiday read for me.
 
Enola Holmes & the Elegant Escapade, by Nancy Springer
Yay! Another installment to one of my favorite series. This time we get to know Enola’s friend, Lady Cecily, even better as Enola has to break her out of her prison—her bedroom in her father’s house. With Sherlock playing a larger role again, this is another fun installment in the series.
 
Killers of a Certain Age, by Deanna Raybourn
I saw this title, and had to pick it up. I read what it was about, and I had to buy it. Its about four sexagenarian women who have spent their lives as elite assassins for a secret group that tries to make the world a better place by murdering the bad guys. Now that they are about to retire, their organization has turned against them. Good thing they are really good at what they do. This was the perfect potato chip read. Twisty, action-packed, with well-realized characters and motivations. It was a blast!
 
A Very Merry Bromance, by Lyssa Kay Adams
I started reading this series ages ago and enjoyed the first two. Somewhere along the way, I lost track of them and now book five is out (this one). Famous country singer Colton is falling hard for Gretchen, a woman in his extended friend group. After a one night stand a year ago, he can’t quite get over her. Gretchen is an immigration attorney devoted to her job. When her wealthy family offers a chance to make some real change, all she has to do is to get Colton to sign up as the spokesperson for her family’s business. With his Bromance book club friends to support him, Colton now just might have a chance with her. As with the other two I’ve read, fun, fun, fun.
 
The Witcher Ronin, by Rafal Jaki
This is the Witcher we all know and love from the TV series but now in comic book form. Set in Japan he faces yokai and oni while searching for Siri. Great story, but the art wasn’t my thing. A little too 70’s superhero comic for my tastes.
 
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassins, by Terrance Hayes
A book of poetry in my favorite format, sonnets. Hayes’s words are powerful and jarring. The Assassins in the tile are the oppressors of black Americans, whether white or brown or black. He writes from a personal view of small issues to the overall treatment of blacks across history. Not an easy read—some of the poems were a bit too scatological and referenced things I didn’t know, but overall worthwhile.
 
The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the Heart, by Chesil
A story of a Korean-Japanese girl and the prejudice, bullying, and displacement she experiences. Ginny Park’s family is Korean, but have lived in Japan for generations. She is one of the Zainichi, ethnic Koreans who face extreme racism in the country they should call home. She is about to be expelled from school, again, and must confront her past to understand why she acts like she does. Short and powerful, this is a eye-opening story about racism as trauma.