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.
But also, saying at the same time that he's the most recognizable person who's been on taskmaster? He's just at the intersection of everyone's niche interests.
December 4, 2025 at 6:08 PM
But also, saying at the same time that he's the most recognizable person who's been on taskmaster? He's just at the intersection of everyone's niche interests.
It's so un-fun! Like, too much of it is about mid-covid museum financials. You've got a whole building of skeletons to work with! Do more skeleton stuff!
November 26, 2025 at 9:33 AM
It's so un-fun! Like, too much of it is about mid-covid museum financials. You've got a whole building of skeletons to work with! Do more skeleton stuff!
Like, it's fine! I understand why people like him! I just don't, but keep buying his books at the used book store because they're there?
November 26, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Like, it's fine! I understand why people like him! I just don't, but keep buying his books at the used book store because they're there?
and the dad who needs to protect her from mysterious, powerful forces. Fine, but goes exactly how you expect.
November 26, 2025 at 2:14 AM
and the dad who needs to protect her from mysterious, powerful forces. Fine, but goes exactly how you expect.
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...
Shout out to the terrible Development Director character, who is cast as a villain but is maybe the only person who is even half reasonable?
November 23, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Shout out to the terrible Development Director character, who is cast as a villain but is maybe the only person who is even half reasonable?
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.
The super-smart pigs are a delight, however.
November 23, 2025 at 2:31 PM
The super-smart pigs are a delight, however.
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.
... younger Ren reads more like a cartoon of a teen, regardless of her age. Still a really solid follow up. Also, read it the first time and listened this time as an audiobook--highly recommend. There are musical productions of some of the hymns, which was very fun and goofy.
November 23, 2025 at 2:22 PM
... younger Ren reads more like a cartoon of a teen, regardless of her age. Still a really solid follow up. Also, read it the first time and listened this time as an audiobook--highly recommend. There are musical productions of some of the hymns, which was very fun and goofy.
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.
Reposted by the jessica berg**
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.
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.
Mid-and-post-apocalyptic novel about the horrors of technology and people and mostly corporations, this has such rich, cool world-building. On to the next one!
November 2, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Mid-and-post-apocalyptic novel about the horrors of technology and people and mostly corporations, this has such rich, cool world-building. On to the next one!
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.
Reposted by the jessica berg**
🥃 And @thejessicaberg.bsky.social will not stop talking about Taskmaster (2015 - current TV series), while drinking a pretty good St Agrestis Phony Mezcal Negroni.
October 29, 2025 at 2:00 AM
🥃 And @thejessicaberg.bsky.social will not stop talking about Taskmaster (2015 - current TV series), while drinking a pretty good St Agrestis Phony Mezcal Negroni.
I don't think the government would just let you do (redacted) and then leave! Or (redacted)! Or (redacted)!
October 25, 2025 at 7:44 PM
I don't think the government would just let you do (redacted) and then leave! Or (redacted)! Or (redacted)!
...all of the science seems decades behind reality, no one behaves as though they're researching dangerous pathogens, and even the broader world of 'here's how science would function' seemed really inaccurate.
October 25, 2025 at 7:43 PM
...all of the science seems decades behind reality, no one behaves as though they're researching dangerous pathogens, and even the broader world of 'here's how science would function' seemed really inaccurate.
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.