Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
I’ve been a fan of Liane Moriarty ever since I got sucked into reading Big Little Lies back in 2015. When I saw that she had a new book out, Here One Moment (2024), I knew I was going to read it. Unfortunately, Here One Moment, is my least favorite of Moriarty’s novels. It’s not bad, but it did not live up to my high expectations. Fortunately, it did get better once I got past the beginning of the novel. On a delayed flight from […]
The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts
My first book of 2025 is an audiobook that I read for my book club. I wouldn’t have heard of it or chosen it on my own, but that’s (partly) what book clubs are for. The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America (2021) by Elizabeth Letts is the story of Annie Wilkins and her horseback adventures from Maine to Hollywood, California. Annie was a 63-year-old farmer, on her own in Maine, and things were not […]
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
My husband and I were married in 2022. We decided to both read a book in honor of our anniversary. We would pick the book together, finding something that reminded us of the past year. So far we’ve picked books based on places that we’ve traveled. The first year we had vacationed in Florida, and we picked Swamplandia!. It was well written and memorable, but it was also weird and disturbing. This year, we were lucky enough to go to Italy, and after some google searches, […]
Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb
I was so excited when the new NPR’s Favorite Books List came out this year, and I immediately pored over it, surprised by how few books I knew. But one book immediately caught my eye. I sent the title to my husband who said it was written for a niche market of one (me!). The book was Birding with Benefits (2024) by Sarah T. Dubb, and it is a romance novel about birding. Some years ago now, I discovered that there were more birds in Colorado than just Mallards […]
Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo
I found Master Slave Husband Wife (2023) by Ilyon Woo on NPR’s Favorite Books List. It is the true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped from slavery in Georgia in 1848. I thought this book was solely about their escape, but Woo also describes the families of Ellen and William, their enslavers, as well as a significant time period after their escape. On the whole, I thought this book was well-written and interesting–although the pace lags in a couple of places. If you’ve only taken U.S. […]
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
I’ve read two books by Liz Moore so far, and I’ve been very impressed with both of them. Long Bright River and The Unseen World have interesting, three-dimensional characters, original plots, and are well written. I was also surprised and impressed by how different these two novels were. So, when I saw that Liz Moore had a new book coming out, I immediately put it on hold at the library. The God of the Woods (2024) is another completely different story. Although it is a well-written page turner with very interesting […]
