Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology   
by Angela Hsieh (2025)

read: 25 December 2025
rating: [+]

This is a quasi-simple book in a slightly-fantastical world where some animals are part of the geography of a place. And Goodreads tells me it’s for middle grades but I liked it for me as well. Lu and Ren are kind-of friends when they are tiny and they meet up again as young adults to try to track down Lu’s grandmother, a geozoologist, who is maybe missing or maybe just on an adventure. Gorgeously drawn and told and there’s even a mobile library which makes an appearance. Worth your time.

A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings   
by Will Betke-Brunswick (2022)

read: 25 December 2025
rating: [+]

This is a memoir about a year in the life of the author when their mother was diagnosed with a “not long to live” cancer. They also came out as trans to their family. Also all the characters in this book are drawn as birds for some reason. I’m not usually great with “my mom had cancer and died” stories (my mom had cancer and died, it’s a me thing) and I’ve had a hard time with graphic memoirs from younger people in the past. However, this one was quite good, everyone’s managing their own feelings and trying to do it together in a way that is empathetic to the fact that not everyone feels (or shares) their feelings in the same way.

The Dark Angel   
by Elly Griffiths (2018)

read: 24 December 2025
rating: [+]

Don’t know if it’s the librarian’s fault or mine but I started reading the next book in this series by accident. A LOT happens in this one and it was a little confusing. This story is mainly in Italy in a small town where everyone has known each other forever, including when the Nazis were occupying. Old secrets surround a skeleton found at a dig, and an old friend asks for Ruth’s assistance. Then the gang shows up for $REASONS. A good story, but a little unusual for this series.

Holler: A Graphic Memoir of Rural Resistance   
by Denali Sai Nalamalapu (2025)

read: 23 December 2025
rating: [+]

This is a graphic novel about the Mountain Valley Pipeline project and the people who resisted it. It’s an odd book about resistance only in that they didn’t “win,” the pipeline went through anyhow. This is a book about tactics and about hope, the differing ways people connect to the land and their various strategies in trying to combat injustice. The book gives an overview and follows six people. A bit short on the short site and it felt a bit flat to me, but I liked learning about the project and its resistance.

The People’s Library   
by Veronica Henry (2026)

read: 19 December 2025
rating: [+]

I will read any book about a library. This one was particularly good. A near future tale of book-type libraries being shuttered in favor of “check out an AI author/personage” experience-based libraries. But something’s up. The “virtus” (as the virtual personas are called) are escaping. And things may not be what they seem. Our protagonist is an introverted book-loving African American librarian with synesthesia (TAKE MY MONEY) who is trying to figure out what’s up and make it right. There are a lot of wrinkles to what goes on and I liked the various places it went. Most importantly, to me, the librarian character felt real, not just a staid book-toucher and not some cybrarian telling the book-lovers to get with the program. It’s tough to do well and I appreciated Henry’s care with the character.

Thriving in a Relationship when You Have a Chronic Illness   
by Lisa Gray (2025)

read: 19 December 2025
rating: [+]

Thriving in a Relationship when You Have a Chronic Illness. This was a LibraryThing Early Reviewer book (self help is one of the categories I am interested in). I don’t have a chronic illness per se, but I think for any couple who is aging together you hit a time when there are more medical things than maybe when you met. And navigating that may pose its own challenges especially if partners approach those things differently. This book is mainly talking about chronic stuff for people of any age. It has a self-published feel to it, but has very solid ACT-based advice and a compassionate approach.

Black Ops and Beaver Bombing   
by Fiona Mathews (2023)

read: 11 December 2025
rating: [+]

A book by two naturalists discussing the decline of some animal populations in Britain. These range from beavers (where people sneakily rewild them) to hedgehogs (so many hedgehog hospitals) to red squirrels (outcompeted by greys) and one kind of seal. They visit locations trying to spot these animals, and discuss the political issues involved with trying to save one species when balanced against others. Some good humor and trivia along the way, quite good

The Chalk Pit   
by Elly Griffiths (2017)

read: 11 December 2025
rating: [+]

This is the next in this series, about some rough sleepers, and then some pretty white ladies, who go missing. Some bones are discovered in an underground location where they’re building a new chichi restaurant. Ruth the forensic anthropologist winds up working side by side with Nelson. There’s a lot of character development (and discussions of empathy for unhoused etc) and I felt like it was a strong addition to the series.

The Woman in Blue   
by Elly Griffiths (2016)

read: 5 December 2025
rating: [+]

This is a series that I’ve been enjoying. This particular story is about religious pilgrims and the idea of complicated families. This is both true of the central mystery and true of the characters you get to know and the things they do to try to be good people. There are people battling various demons and you figure out some of the stories as the main story plays out. One of the better ones I’ve read in this series

Space Brooms   
by A.G. Rodriguez (2025)

read: 30 November 2025
rating: [+]

This was a fun romp which can be loosely described as the goings-on of a space station janitor who happens on an extremely valuable piece of tech while he’s working. He works with some new friends to try to sell it while everyone in the universe tries to get it from him. A lot of fun ambisexual characters and settings. Some out-of-place-seeming extreme violence. Part of it takes place on the Moon. Overall a fun read and tees up a sequel pretty well.

Design is a Job   
by Mike Monteiro (2024)

read: 20 November 2025
rating: [+]

You probably know Monteiro if you are a designer or work with designers. He is a “tell it like it is” guy who is in favor of strong unions, good jobs, unlearning some of the bad stuff from design school and making a lot of angry jokes many of which are very funny. I am not a designer, but a lot of his information is pretty applicable to anyone who freelances or has to work with clients at a thing they know more about than the client. This is an update from the original edition, some new stuff, some redacted old stuff. I appreciate cheap books. Good reading.

The Ghost Fields   
by Elly Griffiths (2015)

read: 20 November 2025
rating: [+]

These Norfolk-based mysteries follow a fairly predictable formula but I’m liking them just fine. This one is about an airman from WWII who gets dug up in his plane but then it turns out he’d been shot, not crashed. A lot of “Which person from the mostly-insufferable rich family did it?” pondering while the police officer who starts out “heavily pregnant” in the beginning does, of course, have her baby at a pivotal moment. A few new characters who I suspect we’ll see again, with a bit of WWII trivia mixed in there.

The Killer Question   
by Janice Hallett (2025)

read: 17 November 2025
rating: [+]

A mystery that has a pub quiz at or near the center of it. You’d think this would be right up my street and it mostly was, but it’s a bit of an epistolary tale, told in two general temporal “chunks” through text messages, emails, newspaper articles and transcribed audio recordings. No straight up narrative. I did not mind this, and it was an interesting story, but there was a little too much of “Oh wait these are out of sequence WHEN did that happen?” for me but otherwise a great read.

The Courage to be Disliked   
by Ichiro Kishimi (2018)

read: 12 November 2025
rating: [+]

A friend suggested this. I am a person who could probably stand to be more disliked (I am a pleaser, it’s not always in my best interests). This book is about Adlerian psychology seen through the eyes of Ichiro Kishimi, a noted Adlerian in Japan. It’s set up as a series of Socratic interactions between a young librarian (I know!) and an experienced psychologist. Parts of it are tedious but it does manage to get its major points across. I learned some things, had some critiques, not sure if it helped, but it was a fresh perspective.

Go Home, Ricky   
by Gene Kwak (2021)

read: 10 November 2025
rating: [+]

What was this book even about? I did love the cover. It’s about a young wrestler on a low-end wrestling circuit who gets seriously injured and has to figure out what his life is about, washed up from the one thing he loved in his late 20s. He doesn’t know who his dad is. He copes poorly with relationships and takes the news of his girlfriend’s pregnancy and decision to have an abortion poorly. He gets along well with his mom. Each chapter is one little vignette about his life. Some are good, some are stupid. There is very little plot. Kwak is a good writer and there’s a strong voice throughout this novel, but I was hoping for more story, less character.