Lies Sleeping   
by Ben Aaronovitch (2018)

read: 2 September 2026
rating: [+]

This was a bit of an infill since I started reading this a few days ago and said “Wait I’ve read this fantastical mystery set in a bell foundry before.” No idea why I failed to write it down at the time. Read it in the last year or so. It’s the next installment in the Rivers of London series and we’ve seen the protagonist cop become a detective and try to sort out the maniacal supernatural dude who has it in for him. Did not read it all the way through a second time.

Alter Ego   
by Alex Segura (2024)

read: 23 August 2026
rating: [+]

A sequel to a book (Secret Identity) which needed no sequel but it was great anyhow. This is a book about comics industry intrigue and a character who was created in the 70s by a relatively unknown woman who then disappeared. A new comics illustrator steps up as part of a modern strange new scheme to relaunch the character but it turns out it’s a dangerous path/situation. Mostly a narrative but there are some comics panels for illustrative purposes and they are all great.

Tenements, Towers and Trash   
by Julia Wertz (2017)

read: 23 August 2026
rating: [+]

Another great one by Julia Wertz which I had to read a little quickly because it was an ILL I had to return. It goes back and forth between slice-of-life stuff of her in NYC but also a lot of “then and now” images of particular streets in NYC as well as deep dives into things like “Things invented in New York” and the histories of some famous/infamous NY women. Some things she claimed were “lost to history” I was not so sure about, but loved this all the same.

Rules for Aging and Larceny   
by Julia London (2026)

read: 23 August 2026
rating: [+]

I’m always surprised when I read a book by someone who had written a ton of best sellers who I haven’t heard of. This author is primary a romance novelist which may explain both her output and why I hadn’t heard of her. This book--about a woman confronting her own mortality deciding to pull off one last heist with her partners in crime from her (much) younger years who she’s long lost touch with--was good but not great. The older characters felt more like tropes than people and I just kept wishing the author had chops like Richard Osman.

Impossible People   
by Julia Wertz (2023)

read: 20 August 2026
rating: [+]

Another great graphic novel by Wertz though in this case it was about her recovery story (as she says, pretty average) alongside some of the other things going on in her life at the same time, a few relationships, moving house, meeting up with friends (in a section that felt a bit name-droppy but I don’t think was meant that way). Since the other book I read came after this one, I sort of knew where it was going. Really enjoy this author’s style and storytelling.

The Island at the Center of the World   
by Russell Shorto (2005)

read: 18 August 2026
rating: [+]

This took a long time to finish. It’s a dense history of the Manhattan area and environs from when the Dutch arrived and set up shop until about when the English took completely over. Thanks to some newly-translated early Dutch documents, there’s a lot more known about this time in history and the author is very excited to have a more complete picture. The author discusses what went into New Amsterdam which later became New York and how its origins can still be seen in the way the place works. Good history.

Ignore All Previous Instructions   
by Ada Hoffman (2026)

read: 13 August 2026
rating: [+]

A lot going on here! An autistic likely-lesbian is a scriptwriter in a world where GenAI owns the copyright to everything and sort of “owns the narrative” of all the culture’s stories. But! Maybe there’s another way. She reconnects with a person from her past who is now a man and envisions a different future. Alternating timelines from her growing up “different” to being a grown-ass lady with a job... and a desire for something different. Also this all takes place in space so there’s a certain amount of mucking about in spaceships and spaceports.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone   
by Benjamin Stevenson (2022)

read: 6 August 2026
rating: [+]

This was a fun sort of meta-mystery where the author is fully aware they are writing a book about the curious case of a dead guy (and then a bunch more dead people) while his somewhat argy bargy family is having a family get together at an Australian ski lodge during the middle of a storm. A lot of breaking the fourth wall type of things, a good amount of humor and a story at the center of it which is compelling. It was mainly published in Australia, but worth tracking down.

Bury Me Already   
by Julia Wertz (2026)

read: 26 July 2026
rating: [+]

I haven’t read any other books by Wertz but I will track some down. This is a long pregnancy memoir which encompasses not just her pregnancy/birth/motherhood but also her own relationship stuff, family issues, concurrent crises of people near her. It’s warts-and-all in a way I found refreshingly frank without being complainy. I learned some things and really liked Wertz’s style and storytelling abilities. I say this a lot lately but “Usually not my jam but very good.”

The Unquiet Grave   
by Dervla McTiernan (2025)

read: 25 July 2026
rating: [+]

I just finished Tana French’s Cal Hooper series and remembered this read-alike, the Cormac Reilly series. Cormac is a local (unlike Cal) but he does sometimes feel out of step with what’s going on around him in Galway. He’s contemplating moving to a different job, his second in command may be moving to Australia, and his ex is back, pregnant with a missing husband. Also maybe someone hacked the lottery. Lots going on, a well-crafted mystery novel that lays it all out.

Charity and Sylvia   
by Tillie Walden (2026)

read: 14 July 2026
rating: [0]

Really not sure if I didn’t click with this book because of The Discourse around it or because it was just not my jam. You’d THINK I’d love this story of women living companionably together as partners in early Vermont but there was just a lot going on, no real through line narrative, and the author admitted she made some of the story up for dramatic reasons and I couldn’t stop wondering what was made up. Tillie is a treasure, this book was only okay.

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders   
by Daniyal Mueenuddin (2009)

read: 13 July 2026
rating: [+]

A book about the changing way of life in Pakistan. This is a collection of “linked” chapters (they’re all about the same general area and share characters but only just; I couldn’t always figure out how they related) which were all about what I would consider class differences and longing. Some stories are about the upper classes, and some about the servant classes with stark divisions highlighted. A lot of misery but not always in the way you’d expect.

I Contain Multitudes   
by Ed Yong (2016)

read: 6 July 2026
rating: [+]

Ed Yong is, of course, a treasure. I had somehow not read this book when it came out in 2016 and even though some of it may be outdated (though I don’t know which parts) it was still a fascinating read about the various ways in which microbes define a lot of the things around us, and in fact define us in many ways. I really enjoyed the plain-talking way he was able to describe pretty heavy science-y stuff, always answering the “Why would I care?” parts first.

Missing Sam   
by Thrity Umrigar (2026)

read: 6 July 2026
rating: [+]

I’d read another book by this author that I had not remembered. Went back to check and it was a similar, sort of heavy but extremely well-written book. This one is about a woman who goes missing (white, history of family trauma) and her wife who looks for her (American, Muslim, family became distant when she came out to them). Really grim in parts, but there’s love at the center of all of it. If you avoid trauma stories, avoid this one, otherwise, a very good read.

The Keeper   
by Tana French (2026)

read: 30 June 2026
rating: [+]

Tana French’s Cal Hooper series does not miss. An American ex-cop moves to a small town in Ireland, learning the ways of a place where everyone’s known each other for generations. In this episode a young woman who is set to marry to local Big Man’s son turns up dead. Trying to figure out what happened is a whole thing where everyone’s a suspect and vigilante groups form and disband. Cal is folded more into the community as they unravel the story, this reveals some buried feelings of Lena’s and everything disrupts and then settles again.