I spent the last few months crocheting a throw blanket for a family member. Yes, those stitches are meant to look like cats. 

This Was Our Pact, by Ryan Andrews
Graphic novel reread. It is so lovely and magical, like watching a Ghibli film. Always recommend.
 
General Lucian K. Truscott Jr., by Glyn Harper
This is a book published by the company I work for. While writing copy for emails, I was flipping through it looking for a hook and wound up getting hooked myself. (I never read military history!) General Truscott was a key American general during WWII and was responsible for taking Italy back. Really well-written that is easy to approach, even for a non-military person like me.
 
Exposure, by Ramona Emerson
Navajo photographer Rita Todacheene returns for another mystery, this time involving a serial killer. This book wasn’t as well put together as the first book, but was still worth reading.
 
Another Mother Does Not Come When Yours Dies, by Mubanga Kalimamukwento
A book of poetry by a Zambian American author. The title comes from a poem in the collection which is based on an old saying in Zambia. The poet’s mother died when she was 10 and was sent to live with an aunt who was abusive. Many of the poems are about her memories of her mom which then contrast with the poems about her own motherhood. Some poems went over my head, but all-in-all it was a solid collection.
 
The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories, by various
A graphic novel in the Cautionary Fables & Fairytales series. Many of the stories are based on Grimm’s Fairy Tales so are quite dark. Overall, I like it a lot. Great art for each entry.
 
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, by Kylie Lee Baker
This was a read for book club and is much darker than we usually read. It was fantastic, but one of those books that I would only recommend with heavy caveats. Set during the early month’s of COVID, Cora is a crime scene cleaner. She notices that dead bats are being left at the scenes of violent murders of Asian women at the same time that the hungry ghost of her recently dead sister begins to follow her. This is a grotesque book, gotta get that out there. However, horror may be the best genre to focus on the erasure and violence that women of Asian ancestry experience both in the US and their home countries.
 
Mrs Spy, by M.J. Robotham
It’s 1965 and widow Maggie Flynn is a watcher for MI5, the British domestic spy office. Her husband had been part of MI5 before he died. Maggie has never believed the story she got about his death and while babysitting a defector, she accidently finds out secret information about her husband. After that she will break all the rules to find out what really happened. This description sounds really dire, but the book is fun, funny, and well-paced with lovely, friendly characters. I think there will be more Maggie Flynn books and I look forward to it.
 
The Change, Kirsten Miller
This was recommended to me by a friend who described it as menopausal women getting superpowers. I was in. Also, I loved the author’s Kiki Strike MG series. I loved this book, but damn, it was another dark read as it was wish fulfillment for what should happen to all the disgusting people in the Epstein files. Great characters (I want to be Harriet) and a very satisfying ending.
 
If I Stopped Haunting You, by Colby Wilkens
So-so spooky romance. Well, not so spooky really. Four American horror writers go to a writing retreat at a castle in rural Scotland. The two main characters are supposed to be of native descent, but it doesn’t add to the story (and I find out after that the author says she’s native but no one can find out how). The horror writers know very little about actual horror books. The ghost mystery/historical romance was kind of lame. I guess I really didn’t like it so much.
 
All the Lovely Bad Ones, by Mary Downing Hahn
Graphic novel version of this well-known MG writer’s books. Really liked it. Very spooky with a well-developed mystery. Travis and Corey love mean pranks. But they take it too far when they spend their summer at their grandmother’s inn in Vermont and wind up waking ghosts attached to the house from 150 years before. Recommend!
 
Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature, by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian
My quick description of this is a cross between Braiding Sweetgrass and Why Fish Don’t Exist—two books I love. The essays that make up this work are about the comfort nature has always brought the author, even while trying to figure out where she fit in on the sexuality spectrum. Kaishian, a mycologist studying fungi in all its forms, uses the natural world to explore the gender binary and queerness. Her approach is definitely influenced by Robin Kimmerer, and the personal nature of it made me think of Lulu Miller. I enjoyed this book a lot.

​Hide, by Kiersten White
There is something perfect about an abandoned amusement park as the setting for horror. This story makes great use of the space. Fourteen people are invited to partake in an ultra game of hide-and-seek. Whoever wins after a week will get a big payout. But, once the game has started, the stakes are raised when people start disappearing. Turns out the picture-perfect town just down the road from the park has some dark secrets. I enjoyed this book, as I did the author’s Mister Magic. Definitely recommend.
 
Jane Austen's Bookshelf, by Rebecca Romney
A love letter to Jane Austen and the female writers who inspired her. Romney is a rare book dealer and fell down a rabbit hole researching women authors were inspirational to Jane. Many of these women and their works were nearly forgotten, so Romney made it a challenge to find books by eight of these authors and revive their legacy. There is a lot of talk about how the books we think of as “classics” become so. She points out how these women who were phenomenally famous in their time were rebuffed by “scholars” as less-than because they were so popular. Fascinating read!
 
Water Moon, by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Highly imaginative, fairy-tale like story of a woman not of the human world and the not-quite-human man who comes into her life just as she needs him. It’s hard to describe this story without going into huge amounts of details. I mostly enjoyed it, but felt that a lot of the strange places the main characters visit in this other world were created by DnD dice. It was like they were made as weird as possible with no… I don’t want to say logical because it isn’t a logical world. Maybe, as weird as possible with no connective tissue between them. Each place is physically and emotionally distinct with no through line. Not sure I’m explaining it. However, it was a decent read and I’m sure would appeal more to readers who are not me.
 
Ocean’s Godori, by Elaine U. Cho
A space opera where the solar system has been colonized and is dominated by the Alliance space agency and the conglomerate Anand Tech. Ocean is a disgraced Alliance member ekeing out a living on a courier ship. Her best friend Teo is framed for the murder of his family. And there are pirates. Lots of pirates that might be kind of good? This book was fun enough, but the story was all over the place. I listened to it and so could tune out. It might have been a DNF if I had tried reading it.
 
Homeward Bounders, by Diana Wynne Jones
This book came out early in Jones’ career and already she was showing her ability to create multiple universes—well before Howl’s and Chrestomanci. I enjoyed this short romp through the multiverse. Not amazing, though the story is super well plotted, but it was a fun romp.
 
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, by V.E. Schwab
This was a book club read and was the worst rated book we’ve read so far. I haven’t read any of Schwab’s adult novels and my comembers have and like her work. This is a vampire tale of immortality that was so boring. The narrative switches through time among three viewpoints until it culminates in late 2019. The story of the first vampire takes up nearly half of the book and offers nothing towards the ultimate plot. Also, most of the storyline was done better by Anne Rice almost 50 years ago. I don’t usually go into why I dislike a book, but as I was not the only one to dislike it, I don’t feel quite so bad.
 
A Small Place, by Jamaica Kincaid
A short nonfiction book about the author’s homeland, Antigua in the British West Indies. It is a meditation on what home means when it doesn’t really have an identity of its own. The people of Antigua (in the late 1980s when this was published) are the result of the slave trade and colonialism and the poverty and corruption they experience is always a result of that history. Lyrical, sad, and somehow uplifting, this is an ode by an insightful writer to the place that made her who she is.
 
Even Though I Knew the End, by C.L. Polk
Lovely queer noir novella about a magical detective, Helen, who has sold her soul to the devil. Offered a chance to save it, and continue to be with her girlfriend, Helen undertakes a dangerous investigation. Great quick read that lovingly combines the gritty, 1930s detective novel with magic.
 
The Book Censor's Library, by Bothayna Al-Essa
In a near future where people’s access to knowledge has been removed and books are highly censored, imagination is against the law and assimilation is paramount. The story follows a newly appointed book censor who has vowed to be the best one ever. Yet one of the first books he reads—that he know has already been censored—he falls in love with. Before he knows it, he is stealthily removing books from the Censorship office and then recruited by an underground movement to save books. Surreal, this book is a delightful love letter to reading and a warning about what happens when knowledge is taken away.

Abhorsen, by Garth Nix
Relisten, of course. I started the other two last month and had to finish the series. I love Garth Nix’s worldbuilding so much. His worlds feel lived in.
 
Goldenhand, by Garth Nix
This is a sequel to Abhorsen that came out almost 15 years after it. It’s a fun story, but there is a lot of fan service in it that makes it not quite as compelling as the original series. This was my first listen to it.
 
Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett
I started the month with a lot of rereads. This continued by reread of The Watch series of Discworld books. This one that has already become a classic, getting the Penguin Classics treatment. It’s a very moving book about bad leaders and inept revolutions, and we get to see Sam Vimes as a green youngster.
 
Sandor Katz's Fermentation Journeys, by Sandor Ellix Katz
My first nonfiction in a while. As I love to ferment, this book was a fascinating walk through how fermentation is different, and how similar, it is around the world. I really enjoyed it.
 
Full Speed to a Crash Landing, by Beth Revis
Fast-paced novella about an idealistic government agent searching for a technology that could regenerate the earth and a clever scavenger who also has a stake in the tech. The tech is aboard a ship that crash landed onto a molten planet and they have to find it before the ship falls into the lava.
 
The Door, by Magda Szabo
The first book I read by this author, Abigail, I loved. This book is moving and masterful and full of taut emotion and it’s just about two women—one old and one younger, one a cleaning lady and the other an author—and their fraught, but ultimately loving, relationship. Not much happens, but Szabo’s writing keeps you turning the pages as fast as you can. I really enjoyed this book and am still thinking of it.
 
A Master of Djinn, by P. Djèlí Clark
A fun steampunk romp through an alternate history where an Egyptian mystic opened a doorway between worlds allowing Djinn to come into the world and bring their magic with them. In 1912 Cairo, Fatma works for the Ministry that oversees magic and magical creatures. When a group of British colonialists die mysteriously, Fatma is assigned to solve the case. The mystic who opened the worlds, who disappeared a generation before, suddenly appears, Fatma’s case becomes more complicated. With the help of her new partner, Hadia, and her clever lover, Siti, they become involved in a world-shattering conspiracy.
 
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty
I loved this book. It was another person’s pick for book club and I couldn’t have been happier about it. Medieval middle east piracy (based on real history), middle-aged woman MC, legends holding a grain of truth, and a crew of talented, experienced sailors. Read it. It’s a delight.
 
Old Friends and New Fancies, by Sybil G. Brinton
This is considered to be the first published sequel to Jane Austen’s novel. Or, as I like to think of it, the first published fan fiction. The book has characters from all six novels. The primary characters are Georgiana Darcy, Captain Fitzwilliam, Mary Crawford, and William Price. It is a charming story and interesting to read. The author only published this book, but she took a lot of pains to make this a true-to-Jane’s characters and treats them with love.
 
Temple Alley Summer, by Sachiko Kashiwaba, trans. by Avery Fischer Udagawa
Last month I read The Village Beyond the Mist by the same author and adored it. That books is one of the author’s earliest books. This is one of her most recent—separated by about 40 years. It was also a delight. People can come back to life if someone wishes hard enough for them to. But that has knock-on effects in the real world, as Kazu finds out when a girl called Akari suddenly shows up.
 
Cloche and Dagger, by Jenn McKinlay
A cozy mystery set in a storied milliner’s shop in the heart of London. My friend sent it to me as a birthday present and it was a nice “potato chip”-kind of read. The mystery was well thought out with a nice twist to it.

June 2025 reads
 
The Crescent Moon Tearoom, by Stacy Sivinski
A nice story about triplet witches who open up a successful tea leaf-reading café who find that they have been cursed. Also threatening their livelihood is the local Council of Witches who demand the sisters help three witches find their purpose. As the sisters begin to find their own path in the world, it seems like all they have worked for will fall apart. This is definitely a book of cozy magic. I listened to it and it was entertaining. I realized during this book, that I don’t like stories about, or with, circuses. I mean, I tend to avoid them, but realize now that I don’t like circus stories. Weird.
 
The Railway Conspiracy, by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan
Book two in the Dee & Lao mystery series set in 1920s London. A riff on Holmes and Watson, this mystery involves a plot to restore the emperor as ruler in China that Judge Dee Ren Jie has followed clues leading him back to London, where he again involves the young professor Lao She in his escapades. Good mystery, well-written setting, and a really talented audio book narrator makes for a great read.
 
Cascade Failure, by L.M. Sagas
A mismatched group of people on an advanced AI ship, Ambit, set out to foil a new technology that could destroy planets. A fun adventure with well-developed characters in a filled-in world. It moves POV among the characters and got a little wordy when people were thinking about their problems, but overall I enjoyed it. Will likely read the next in the series.
 
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses, by Malka Ann Older
Third book in The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti series set in a far future Jupiter the last humans live on a ring built around the planet. I read the first two in February and loved them and was excited for the third. Now I’m bummed because if there will be more, a new one won’t be out for a year or more. Pleiti joins former classmates to investigate threats to one of them on the cusp of being made a full professor. Mossa can’t help but be lured into the mystery. I just realized this one is another mystery riffing on the Holmes/Watson relationship.
 
The Village Beyond the Mist, by Sachiko Kashiwaba, transl. by Avery Fischer Udagawa
An enchanting children’s tale about a girl who is sent for the summer to a remote village which turns out to be magical. Apparently Spirited Away, one of my favorite films, was inspired by this story. Simple and engaging, it reminded me of stories for younger readers by Dianna Wynne Jones. I loved it.
 
Pashmina, by Nidhi Chanani
A graphic novel about a teenage American-Indian woman, Priyanka, who wants to know about her roots and family in India. When she discovers a beautiful pashmina hidden in her mother’s closet, it gives her visions of the India she’s always wanted to know. Her mother lets her go to visit her sister still living in India. There they research the history of the magical pashmina. I’ve had this book for years and kept forgetting to read it. A truly lovely story about family history and generational trauma.
 
Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor
This is a major departure for Okorafor’s usual sci-fi/fantasy. I didn’t love it, but I liked it a whole lot. Until the end, it seems like a straightforward story of a Nigerian-American woman’s struggles for identity and independence, interlaced with excerpts from her own novel, Rusting Robots. And it is, but it also isn’t. It is very readable, though, just like all of Okorafor’s writing, and there is a big twist at the end which I did not see coming.
 
In An Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire
This is book #4 in the Wayward Children series. It was more unconnected than the first three. It definitely wasn’t my favorite. A girl in the 1960s finds a door to a fairy world and in that world of the Goblin Market she gets to be brave and willful. Over the rest of her youth, she comes and goes between the worlds, but has to decide which she wants to remain in before she’s 17. As with all these books, this choice is edged on either side.   
 
Sabriel, by Garth Nix
For years, this was my comfort listen, but I haven’t read or listened to the series in at least ten years. Usually, I stop reviewing books that I read/listen to over and over. *cough* Murderbot *cough* But since it’s been awhile, I though I would include this relisten. Loved it. Still love it.
 
Lireal, by Garth Nix
Ditto. And the Library!!!
 
The Fifth Elephant, by Terry Pratchett
I’m still working on my reread of all the Watch series of Discworld books. In this book, Sam and Sybil travel to Uberwald for the crowning of the new dwarf king. There they quickly come into a plot by a family of werewolves to break a long-standing peace treaty. Sam kicks butt as usual. Not my favorite in the series, but we do get to know many of the recurring characters much much better.