Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Hiromi's Sonicwonder!
Last night Adam and I had a date night to Santa Cruz! We went to Betty Burgers for dinner (yum!), got Lemon Drop cookies at Pacific Cookie Company, and the went to Kuumbwa to see Hiromi's Sonicwonder!
I discovered Hiromi on youtube a number of years ago, and was an instant fan. She's truly a jazz virtuoso, but when she plays piano, you can just see the JOY radiating out of her.
I never thought I'd get to see her live, but this was my SECOND time - after seeing her at Yoshi's in Oakland back in 2023.
The show was amazing! I can't wait to see her play live again next time she comes around!
The show was amazing! I can't wait to see her play live again next time she comes around!
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Book 23 of 2025
Author: Kirsten Smith
Published: 2022
Format: eBook
Date Started: 3/28/25
Date Finished: 4/2/25
Days to read: 6
I was interested when I saw this book featured women who develop magic powers when they go into menopause, but it was also a crime novel! Magic, feminine rage, friendship and crime - right up my alley. The book was great and I absolutely need this to be made in to a show or a movie, and Hannah Waddingham needs to play Harriet - it would be the most perfect casting ever.
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Thursday, March 27, 2025
Book 22 of 2025
Author: Bonnie Garmus
Published: 2022
Format: eBook
Date Started: 3/26/25
Date Finished: 3/27/25
Days to read: 2
I loved this book! I went in pretty blind, which is amazing considering how popular it is. Elizabeth Zott is such an interesting character! The sexist discrimination she faced was so gross, but I’m glad she stood up to it. The intertwining storylines bringing together past and present were so engaging, and I liked that the ending resolved the story but left room for a sequel (fingers crossed)!
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Book 21 of 2025
Author: Bob the Drag Queen
Published: 2025
Format: eBook
Date Started: 3/25/25
Date Finished: 3/26/25
Days to read: 2
I was so excited to get this book on release day!
I love Bob the Drag Queen and this is their debut novel. It was a quick read, and I enjoyed it - the premise was so creative! However, the writing felt a little undeveloped, and the book could have benefited from the characters and scenes being fleshed out a little more. I think Bob shows promise and I hope they write another book!
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Monday, March 24, 2025
Book 20 of 2025
Author: Evie Dunmore
Published: 2020
Format: Paperback
Date Started: 3/19/25
Date Finished: 3/24/25
Days to read: 6
This is the 2nd book in a historical romance series set during the British Suffrage movement. I really enjoyed this one - Lucie (the main character) was so ‘real’ in her devotion to her values and belief in making sure women were treated as... well, people. Her love interest (Tristan) had a
surprising amount of depth, and I really loved him by the end. Such a delightful and fun read!
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Book 19 of 2024
Author: T.J. Newman
Published: 2024
Format: eBook
Date Started: 3/18/25
Date Finished: 3/18/25
Days to read: 1
This was a wild, terrifying, heart wrenching story, and I couldn’t put it down! T.J. Newman has a real talent for writing characters that, when faced with unfathomable situations, behave in a completely realistic way. Her books are also well researched and the technical details read authentically. This is her third book and they have all been so good!! I’m a fan for life.
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Book 18 of 2025
Author: Richard Osman
Published: 2024
Format: eBook
Date Started: 3/7/25
Date Finished: 3/15/25
Days to read: 9
This took me a while to read because I’m in a bit of a slump, but any other time I would have binged it in a few days. An excellent, twisty murder mystery! Once I got all the characters straight (there were a lot!) I was hooked. I loved that when a character had a hunch or thought about who the murderer was, they ‘kept it to themselves’, leaving me to keep guessing!
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Book 17 of 2024
Author: Shari Franke
Published: 2025
Format: eBook
Date Started: 3/5/25
Date Finished: 3/6/25
Days to read: 2
I’ve never been a fan of family vlogging (it’s immoral and unethical), so I wasn’t familiar with the Franke family when this story hit the news. The details are horrifying, and reading about it from the perspective of one of the children affected was just so sad. It’s inspiring that even after all she’s been through she’s speaking out for other children forced into vlogging.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Book 16 of 2025
Author: Eliza Knight, Denny S. Bryce
Published: 2024
Format: eBook
Date Started: 2/25/25
Date Finished: 3/4/25
Days to read: 8
This is a fictionalized book about the unlikely friendship between Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe. I *really* wanted to like this, but it just felt like a slog. It jumped between 1st person (Ella) and 3rd person (Marilyn), which took me out of the story every time it switched, and I questioned how much was based in reality. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t compelling enough for me.
Monday, February 24, 2025
Book 15 of 2025
Author: Sara Goodman Confino
Published: 2022
Format: eBook
Date Started: 2/22/25
Date Finished: 2/24/25
Days to read: 3
This is the second book I’ve read by this author!
A woman going through a divorce takes her feisty grandma back to her family’s home town, and learns all kinds of things on the journey. I’m a sucker for family history stories, and I loved how the plot moved forward by jumping back and forth between present day and the grandmother’s youth. Such a fun read!
Sunday, February 23, 2025
Book 14 of 2025
Author: Rivers Solomon
Published: 2019
Format: eBook
Date Started: 2/19/25
Date Finished: 2/23/25
Days to read: 3
I loved the last book I read by Rivers Solomon so I was excited to pick this up - and it exceeded my expectations. The concept of a society where nearly all of its members live with no knowledge of their history of trauma hit a little close to home right now. I also love that the process of creating this story was described as an artistic game of telephone (read the afterword!)
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Book 13 of 2025
Title: The Last Murder at the End of the World
Author: Stuart Turton
Published: 2024
Format: eBook
Date Started: 2/16/25
Date Finished: 2/19/25
Days to read: 4
The last of humanity will be extinguished in a few days, and there is a murder to solve - what to do? This book has been on my TBR since I saw it in a bookshop in Ireland, and I’m so glad I finally got to it. I went into this pretty much blind, I picked it mostly because I liked the cover, but the story inside did not disappoint! This is a mystery that is expertly told, and I really enjoyed it.
Saturday, February 15, 2025
Book 12 of 2025
Author: Nishi Patel
Published: 2025
Format: eBook
Date Started: 2/15/25
Date Finished: 2/15/25
Days to read: 1
The second book of poetry by my friend Nishi!
A stunning collection examining grief, growth, change, art, and nature. It’s filled with beautiful illustrations, too! Several of the poems hit me right in the feels - it was like they were already written on my heart, and Nishi put them into words. I highly recommend this (and her 1st book, too!) to anyone - even if you’re not into poetry.
Friday, February 14, 2025
Book 11 of 2025
Author: Percival Everett
Published: 2024
Format: eBook
Date Started: 2/12/25
Date Finished: 2/14/25
Days to read: 3
WOW. This book was so good. I didn’t want to put it down! It was so interesting to look at the Huck Finn story from James’ perspective. The unflinching portrayal of the brutality and racism experienced by slaves was sad to read, but I think it’s important (especially as a white person) to not shy away from it even when it’s hard. This book deserves every accolade - don’t skip it.
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Book 10 of 2025
Author: Marcia Clark
Published: 2020
Format: eBook
Date Started: 2/4/25
Date Finished: 2/12/25
Days to read: 9
This was a slow read for me due to personal stuff going on, but I really enjoyed it. Out of the 4 books in this series, the stakes for the characters were the most personal in this story, and the continuing storylines were wrapped up in a satisfying way. Marcia Clark is a great writer, and I will for sure read more of her books in the future - hopefully some of her non-fiction!
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Book 9 of 2025
Author: Marcia Clark
Published: 2017
Format: eBook
Date Started: 1/30/25
Date Finished: 2/4/25
Days to read: 6
This was my favorite book in this series so far! It was also the most complex, there is a lot of stuff going on! But the story flowed effortlessly, I was never confused or lost in the plot. All the books in this series have dealt with moral and ethical gray areas in the justice system, but this one was the most thought provoking. Can’t wait to jump right into the next and final book in the series!
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Book 8 of 2025
Author: Marcia Clark
Published: 2016
Format: eBook
Date Started: 1/27/25
Date Finished: 1/29/25
Days to read: 3
The second book in this series was a wild ride! It really kept me guessing as to “who done it” until the end, which is always a delight for me, since I’m very good at figuring that out early in a book. It’s a nice change of pace to have a crime novel focused on what happens after the crime is committed, and to be from the perspective of an attorney preparing for trial.
Monday, January 27, 2025
Book 7 of 2025
Author: Marcia Clark
Published: 2016
Format: eBook
Date Started: 1/25/25
Date Finished: 1/27/25
Days to read: 3
This is a re-read for me to refresh my memory before I read the other 3 books in the series. I picked this up when it came out in 2016 and loved it. Fast moving, thrilling ending, and yes, the author is *that* Marcia Clark. I was excited for the next book in the series and then spaced out, but now I have my hands on all of them so it’s time to binge read some crime novels!!
Friday, January 24, 2025
Book 6 of 2025
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Published: 2025
Format: eBook
Date Started: 1/20/2025
Date Finished: 1/24/2025
Days to read:4
I’ve been looking forward to this book for months! I had a few issues with the writing - the first seven chapters had me completely lost, and I think the text could’ve used a bit more strenuous editing, but the story was enthralling, and I loved rejoining these characters on their adventures. As I expected it would , the book had a great cliffhanger, and I can’t wait for the next one!
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Book 5 of 2025
Author: J.D. Salinger
Published: 1951
Format: Paperback
Date Started: 1/18/2025
Date Finished: 1/19/2025
Days to read: 2
One of my book challenge prompts this year is to read a book I’ve been avoiding… And I feel like if I’m 46 and I haven’t read this yet, I’ve definitely been avoiding it. My favorite part was definitely Holden’s clear narrative voice, but damn, what a narcissistic twit he was. It was a good book, but maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it as a teenager? Who knows.
Friday, January 17, 2025
Book 4 of 2025
Author: Evette Dionne
Published: 2020
Format: eBook
Pages: 170
Date Started: 1/15/25
Date Finished: 1/17/25
Days to read: 3
Ever since I saw Suffs on Broadway last summer, I’ve been eager to learn more about the US suffragist movement. This excellent book brings the stories of oft-ignored Black women to the forefront, and explains how suffrage, abolition, anti-racism, & anti-lynching movements were intertwined. Many of the women featured were authors - I’m excited to read their books!
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Book 3 of 2025
Author: Steven Rowley
Published: 2024
Format: eBook
Date Started: 1/10/2025
Date Finished: 1/15/2025
Days to read: 6
I loved The Guncle, so it was great to reconnect with the characters in the next part of their story. This wasn’t quite the emotional gut punch that the first book was, but I still really enjoyed it!
I was so glad that it continued to address the experience with loss - because grief never really goes away. Also I want to be friends with all these people. They’re messy but fun!
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Book 2 of 2025
Author: Patricia L Hudson
Published: 2022
Format: eBook
Date Started: 01/06/2025
Date Finished: 01/09/2025
Days to read: 4
This tells the story of the women connected to famed explorer Daniel Boone - focusing on his wife and two eldest daughters. The stories of so many women from this time were lost, so this was fictionalized, but it was an enthralling read. I was especially interested in this because I am descended from Boones - so the folks in this book were my cousins!
Sunday, January 5, 2025
Book 1 of 2025
Author: Ananda Lima
Published: 2024
Format: eBook
Date Started: 1/1/25
Date Finished: 1/5/25
Days to read: 5
I primarily read novels, so short stories often leave me wanting more. This collection, though, is woven together so expertly, and once I figured out what parts were from the writers perspective vs the short stories she was writing, l loved it (The first story confused me a lot!). I’m still thinking about it after finishing it, so I will probably re-read this!
