Book 79: The Guest by Emma Cline. The worst person you know scams her way around The Hamptons. This one was enjoyable but not great, with an unfulfilling ending. It's a riff on Cheever's The Swimmer and that part is fun.
December 15, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Book 79: The Guest by Emma Cline. The worst person you know scams her way around The Hamptons. This one was enjoyable but not great, with an unfulfilling ending. It's a riff on Cheever's The Swimmer and that part is fun.
Book 78: The Echo Wife. I re-read this one because I was talking about it--and it's still really good. Even knowing all of the twists and turns (you know, like cloning your wife so you can have a better wife), it still holds up.
December 15, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Book 78: The Echo Wife. I re-read this one because I was talking about it--and it's still really good. Even knowing all of the twists and turns (you know, like cloning your wife so you can have a better wife), it still holds up.
Book 77: The Night Parade by Ronald Malfi. I keep buying Malfi books because he's written a million and they keep showing up where I am. This one was better than some of the others...but still pretty derivative. End-of-the-world plague, magical daughter with a secret...
November 26, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Book 77: The Night Parade by Ronald Malfi. I keep buying Malfi books because he's written a million and they keep showing up where I am. This one was better than some of the others...but still pretty derivative. End-of-the-world plague, magical daughter with a secret...
Book 76: The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas. Okay, I knew this book was going to be dumb (museum...haunted by dinosaurs??) but I thought it would be fun-dumb. Instead it's dumb-dumb, more racist than you expect, and every character is unlikeable.
November 23, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Book 76: The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas. Okay, I knew this book was going to be dumb (museum...haunted by dinosaurs??) but I thought it would be fun-dumb. Instead it's dumb-dumb, more racist than you expect, and every character is unlikeable.
Book 75: MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood. O&C part 3. This one has an interesting structure (telling / re-telling different stories to the Crakers that then become their religion) but Toby, who was so interesting in the last book, turns into a wimp and even Zeb turns unlikeable.
November 23, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Book 75: MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood. O&C part 3. This one has an interesting structure (telling / re-telling different stories to the Crakers that then become their religion) but Toby, who was so interesting in the last book, turns into a wimp and even Zeb turns unlikeable.
Book 74: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. Good sequel to Oryx & Crake. We get more info on the gardeners and the pre-apocalypse world, which I like, but one of the narrators is written better than the other. The older gardener Toby seems like a real person...
November 23, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Book 74: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. Good sequel to Oryx & Crake. We get more info on the gardeners and the pre-apocalypse world, which I like, but one of the narrators is written better than the other. The older gardener Toby seems like a real person...
Book 73: Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton. I really liked Compton's first book, and this sounded promising: woman's guardian angel kills her husband on their wedding night?? But what started as a cool idea goes in a million directions 1/3 of the way through and never recovers.
November 23, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Book 73: Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton. I really liked Compton's first book, and this sounded promising: woman's guardian angel kills her husband on their wedding night?? But what started as a cool idea goes in a million directions 1/3 of the way through and never recovers.
Book 72: The Most by Jessica Anthony. Why is this book so popular? Terrible people make boring life choices, but in the 50s. ZZzzz.
November 3, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Book 72: The Most by Jessica Anthony. Why is this book so popular? Terrible people make boring life choices, but in the 50s. ZZzzz.
Books 71: Salt Slow by Julia Armfield. Armfield is so cool and these short stories are amazing. A creepily powerful girl band, monstrous women, and her specialty: wet horror. Pick this one up and read everything else she writes.
November 2, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Books 71: Salt Slow by Julia Armfield. Armfield is so cool and these short stories are amazing. A creepily powerful girl band, monstrous women, and her specialty: wet horror. Pick this one up and read everything else she writes.
Book 70: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I remember being a little annoyed the first time I read this because I didn't know it was the first in a series--but it's really a lot of fun.
November 2, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Book 70: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I remember being a little annoyed the first time I read this because I didn't know it was the first in a series--but it's really a lot of fun.
Book 69: One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford. I wanted to like this one so much! The idea was fun--post-zombie outbreak, a researcher keeps her zombie husband in her apartment while she looks for a cure--but characters were meh. And for a novel that's written so, so scientifically...
October 25, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Book 69: One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford. I wanted to like this one so much! The idea was fun--post-zombie outbreak, a researcher keeps her zombie husband in her apartment while she looks for a cure--but characters were meh. And for a novel that's written so, so scientifically...
Book 68: Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. A fun vampire novel that read a little YA.
October 20, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Book 68: Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. A fun vampire novel that read a little YA.
Book 67: Private Rites by Julia Armfield. Because I've read Armfield before, I knew what I was in for--character-driven, slow-burn--but I can see how that would turn people off. There are juuuuust enough things planted that you mostly know where it's going...
October 20, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Book 67: Private Rites by Julia Armfield. Because I've read Armfield before, I knew what I was in for--character-driven, slow-burn--but I can see how that would turn people off. There are juuuuust enough things planted that you mostly know where it's going...
Book 66: Girl in the Walls by A.J. Gnuse. I thought this was going to be a thriller, but it was a not-very-well-written book about...a tween orphan who lives in the wall of a house because everyone is an idiot.
October 20, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Book 66: Girl in the Walls by A.J. Gnuse. I thought this was going to be a thriller, but it was a not-very-well-written book about...a tween orphan who lives in the wall of a house because everyone is an idiot.
Book 65: The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder. This is a reread and wow it's so crazy that a book about fascist over-policing/surveillance in a society where any challenging people, things, and memories are literally disappeared is still hitting this hard.
October 12, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Book 65: The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder. This is a reread and wow it's so crazy that a book about fascist over-policing/surveillance in a society where any challenging people, things, and memories are literally disappeared is still hitting this hard.
This is a reread and wow it's so crazy that a book about fascist over-policing/surveillance in a society where any challenging people, things, and memories are literally disappeared is still hitting this hard.
October 12, 2025 at 2:27 PM
This is a reread and wow it's so crazy that a book about fascist over-policing/surveillance in a society where any challenging people, things, and memories are literally disappeared is still hitting this hard.
Book 64: We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer. This one started out as a reddit/No Sleep project...and you can tell. The central Haunted House theory was kind of cool, but also, one I've read/seen before. I don't normally mind mysterious endings/unanswered questions, but a lot of this one felt...
October 7, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Book 64: We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer. This one started out as a reddit/No Sleep project...and you can tell. The central Haunted House theory was kind of cool, but also, one I've read/seen before. I don't normally mind mysterious endings/unanswered questions, but a lot of this one felt...
Book 63: Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones. For spooky season, I wanted to revisit a really great ghost story. Everything about it is so unique and so devastating. It's a quick read with an incredible ending.
October 6, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Book 63: Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones. For spooky season, I wanted to revisit a really great ghost story. Everything about it is so unique and so devastating. It's a quick read with an incredible ending.
Book 62: Dhalgren by Samuel Delany. This is one of my favorite books--I've read it a few times but this round I listened to the audio version. It continues to be great and weird and gross and smart. A guy who's can't remember anything moves into a mostly-abandoned city...
October 2, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Book 62: Dhalgren by Samuel Delany. This is one of my favorite books--I've read it a few times but this round I listened to the audio version. It continues to be great and weird and gross and smart. A guy who's can't remember anything moves into a mostly-abandoned city...
Book 61: The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman. This was a good vampire book, but it's a follow up to The Lesser Dead, which is a Great vampire book.
September 16, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Book 61: The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman. This was a good vampire book, but it's a follow up to The Lesser Dead, which is a Great vampire book.
Book 60: Harrow The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. A delightful sequel. Super different from the first book in the series and challenging in a neat way. I totally understand why the writing style of this one isn't for everyone, but I think as long as you're reading it and...
September 11, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Book 60: Harrow The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. A delightful sequel. Super different from the first book in the series and challenging in a neat way. I totally understand why the writing style of this one isn't for everyone, but I think as long as you're reading it and...
Book 59: Where I End by Sophie White. This was a re-read for book club & it was just as good the second time. Super horrible & triggering content, but written so interestingly. I'd say it's one of those really great books that I wouldn't recommend to most people, except I recommend it all the time.
September 11, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Book 59: Where I End by Sophie White. This was a re-read for book club & it was just as good the second time. Super horrible & triggering content, but written so interestingly. I'd say it's one of those really great books that I wouldn't recommend to most people, except I recommend it all the time.
Book 58: The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. Another reread because I wanted something sad and haunting and oof. This is it. Catholic-adjacent folk horror where somehow the nice mom is the most hateable character. Really rewarding plotting and incredible writing.
August 27, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Book 58: The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. Another reread because I wanted something sad and haunting and oof. This is it. Catholic-adjacent folk horror where somehow the nice mom is the most hateable character. Really rewarding plotting and incredible writing.
Book 57: Hum by Helen Phillips. I liked the vibe of this one more than the plot/characters. It's set in the very-near-future where we're grappling with surveillance technology and kids and training ai to eventually take over your job so we're all just doing gigs for people...
August 27, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Book 57: Hum by Helen Phillips. I liked the vibe of this one more than the plot/characters. It's set in the very-near-future where we're grappling with surveillance technology and kids and training ai to eventually take over your job so we're all just doing gigs for people...
Book 56: The Return by Rachel Harrison. I've read this one a few times and went back to it because I feel like I was in a little bit of a book funk. Still great, still fun, still captures the weirdness of post-college friend groups.
August 26, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Book 56: The Return by Rachel Harrison. I've read this one a few times and went back to it because I feel like I was in a little bit of a book funk. Still great, still fun, still captures the weirdness of post-college friend groups.