The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (audiobook)

 genre: thriller

As a successful therapist, Mariana Andros is very in tune with human nature. And when a friend of her niece Zoe is found murdered, she can't help but become emotionally involved.  Back in Cambridge, where her own love affair with her beloved late husband Sebastian started, Mariana is pulled into the mystery.  What's the deal with this secret collegiate society of women?  And could Zoe's professor of Greek Tragedy be involved?

This is a psychological thriller that, while keeping me guessing, also had so many plot holes in the end, in my opinion.  It kept my attention and the writing was fine.  I do enjoy a good university mystery and I was surprised by the twist at the end but I had a hard time BELIEVING it.  Like I had to suspend my disbelief too much and it didn't click into place like the best kind of mysteries do.  Having already read the Silent Patient, I did enjoy a couple Easter eggs in there but in the end, this was more atmospheric than good.

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (audiobook)

genre: speculative fiction

A hundred years from now, Ton Metcalf is a scholar living in a Britain that has been submerged beyond recognition.  Instead of an island, it is now an archipelago and in order to continue his research on a famous historical poet, he must travel by boat to reach far flung repositories of documents. Tom's world is the result of catastrophic climate change and while professors are still trying to teach the literature and poetry of our time, there is little interest when our kind of technological golden age has ended, apparently forever.  But Tom is obsessed with an epic poem that was written during the 2010s and that, while all the literature points to its existence, has been lost.  He is willing to do whatever it takes to find it.

Okay, the narrative format of this book eventually worked for me.  I don't want to spoil anything, but Tom's personal narrative wasn't as compelling to me as other parts, but by the end it all wound itself together really well.  I didn't really like any of the actual characters, so that damped things a bit, not a one of them felt sympathetic to me even while I was interested in what was happening.  I just really was intrigued by the future that Tom lives in as well as how he looked back at OUR time, at MY lifetime, from the eye of a future historian.  It made me look at fresh eyes with the marvel of the world I live in and with a preemptive grief for what stands to be lost if we don't collectively find a way to somehow do something about climate change.  I did not see the mystery unfolding until it was happening and so overall, 3.5 stars.

The Names by Florence Knapp (audiobook)

genre: contemporary fiction

When Cora arrives are the office where she must register the name of her beloved baby boy, the decision feels like a weighty one.  Does she give him the name that her husband expects or does she go with her heart?  With a husband like Cora's whose expectations are high and exacting, it is no small choice.  And in the novel that follows, we get to see three alternative futures that roll out from the different names that Cora chooses.

This book was breathtaking to me.  It was deeply painful and upsetting at times, domestic abuse is such an excruciating thing to witness and process.  But the rest of it?  The joy and the beauty and the rebuilding?  The messiness of family and relationships?  The fluidity of our stories when we can believe that we have the power to shape the kind of life we want to have?  The magical moments that remind us of how fleeting and miraculous this human experience is?  It made me want to hug these characters and cheer for them and raise a glass to their resilience.  It is lyrical and the wordsmithing just shines.  After the few few chapters, I got good at keeping people and timelines straight, although it did take a bit of effort. For me, the effort was completely worth it.  Five stars.

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica translated by Sarah Moses

genre: horror/speculative

The woman's story has been written on whatever she can find - WITH whatever she can find.  The words are written so she can process what she's seeing and experiencing, as well as how she got to where she is.  Her life as an "unworthy" member of the Sacred Sisterhood is one of privation and punishment.  But, when the earth around her is dead and broken, at least it is shelter and it is not being alone.  When another new woman arrives, however, our narrator does start having questions about her own time before she entered the gates and put on her white tunic.  What's so painful that she can't even remember it?

This is a freaky story, honestly.  It is violent and there is a menacing pall over everything that happens within the abandoned monastery where she now lives.  It's a religious/culty set up that I find intriguing and it's got a post-apocalyptic vibe that I like.  I still don't understand some of what I read, I feel like that's on purpose but it's a little unnerving.  But also, there is beauty here, some scenes that capture the magic of the ordinary when the entire modern world has crashed to pieces.  It is hard to think about a dead earth and what would happen to all of us and what kinds of societies WOULD exist when communication is nonexistent and survival is such a razor's edge.

Somehow, I have once again accidentally picked up a book with a sapphic love story.  It's not super graphic in a sexual way but it is graphic in a horror way that I tend to shy away from.  I can't decide if it is crazy beautiful or just upsetting with some parts that I really found memorable.  Clearly, I can't decide how I feel about it.  If nothing else, it definitely gave me a a Halloween vibe and I would read something else by this author for sure.  3.5 stars.

The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden (audiobook)

 genre: historical fiction

Isabel leads a lonely and secluded life in the Dutch house that had once been filled with her mother and her brothers.  The house itself is like a cave where she hides and hoards all the things that remind her of time gone by. By the beginning of the 1960s, Isabel is more of a recluse than not so when her brother just gives his girlfriend permission to stay in the home a while, Isabel is NOT okay.  Eva is loud and brash and really everything Isabel is not and so the house that once felt like a haven now vibrates with everything Isabel cannot stand.  Eve drives Isabel to the brink of what she can handle and then the house itself casts a spell that even Isabel's own rigid inner world can't resist.

I decided to try this because it was recommended in my local independent bookstore and it recently won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025, so I didn't even read the blurb, I just got the audiobook from my library.  It's in a unique, post-WWII time period where Isabel's town looks mostly put back together into its pre-war state but for the people who experienced the war and its immediate aftermath, on the outside they may look the same but inside, there is trauma that can't help but bubble to the surface.  I was so intrigued by how Isabel looked at her world and those that surrounded her.  Her extreme sensitivity, her unique way of categorizing her world, the way she wants so badly to not care about people but yet her whole brain is wrapped up in the tiny nuances of them.   I most especially found the last third of the book to be so, so well-written and timely.  It shook me and gave voice to issues of ownership and reparations in a visceral way.  It was interesting to think about how much our THINGS can matter to us when our loved ones are lost.  I also have maybe never read any Dutch literature before and I loved the setting in the countyside among such a stoic people.

Note to readers but with spoilers: there is a sapphic storyline with many open door scenes.  You can skip over them if you don't care to read about female lovemaking - and this book was good enough, to me, that I feel like if you can just skip ahead when you see them coming, this is a really powerful story.  There aren't any important plot points during the "scenes" so you won't get lost if you skip them.  But be forewarned, there are many of them).

Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

genre: contemporary fiction

Margo's short affair with a college professor has landed her pregnant.  I HATE even writing that sentence because it makes it sounds like it's Margo's fault somehow, not the fault the man who GOT her pregnant.  But the reality is that she IS pregnant and that professor has no interest in being involved and so Margo is on her own, at 20 years old, and has to figure out what the heck to do with her blown-up life.

The book is about how she solves her problems as well as the people in her life that both disappoint her and surprise her.  I tried, as I was reading, to really try and open my mind about her choices (online sex work) and not judge her but instead try to understand and have compassion.  Honestly, I eventually felt kind of proud of her for just owning her decisions and finding ways to be good at what she's doing.  Would I ever do it?  No.  Do I want to read about a bunch of dudes' junk over and over?  Not particularly. But the REST of the story, the parts NOT about sex work, are actually really interesting and sometimes very cute and funny.  It's not poorly written and it really opens your eyes to the challenge of surviving when you can't turn to parents or friends to bail you out.   It ends up being a tender, family-you-choose kind of story, if you can stick it out. 

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (audiobook)

genre: historical fiction

Beth’s life in her small British village is a peaceful one, at least on the outside. She is deeply in love with her husband Frank and she finds real meaning in working their farm together, along with Frank’s younger brother Jimmy. But from the beginning, we know something is off. There is a grief and sadness that permeates Beth’s inner world and as we go back and forth in time - Beth’s story slowly threads itself together. And the choices that she makes - along with the men she has loved - will circle down into a tragedy that shocked me when the mystery was revealed.

So many trigger warnings in this gripping book. Death and loss and marital infidelity. I had a hard time ever feeling like I could completely root for Beth and yet also I believed her when she explained her decisions. She was so human - I couldn’t hate her even when I hated what she was doing sometimes. I am glad I came in completely blind to this story because I had no idea where it was going. There is a LOT of back and forth in time but it wasn’t hard for me to track, I just lost myself in the lovely narration and by the end, I felt tender and satisfied with how Beth put her world back together. If you enjoy mysteries and relationship/family drama, you might enjoy this.

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel

genre: true crime

There are a lot of people in this world who LOVE art.  We flock to museums and mansions, cathedrals and galleries just to feast our eyes on the beauty that other people have made: paintings and sculptures and housewares.  But for Stéphane Breitwieser, looking at it is not enough.  He has to HAVE it, in his hands and then in his home.  So he steals it.  He steals so much art that soon the attic of his mother's house is full.

This is the feels-too-crazy-to-be-true story of one of the world's most notorious art thieves and how he finally got caught.  The writing is succinct and interesting.  I felt like I could tell what was real from what was a guess.  I appreciated the author's notes at the end, explaining how he was able to gather all the information he needed to even piece this story together.  Also, it kinda broke my heart.  His kind of obsession can impact generations of people, right?  Historical treasures are a communal gift to us and our children and when people ignore that pact we all make with each other, it's so upsetting.

This was an interesting read.

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larsen

genre: history

While I cannot actually imagine having to be in Churchill's shoes during the early years of World War 2, I know have a much better idea.  This LOOONNNGG book is a detailed look at Churchill and his close family and confidants during his first year as Prime Minster.  We experience with the horrors of the Blitz and the genuine unknown of if America would ever enter the war and given Britain the help it so desperately needed.  We see the world through the wide eyes of his 18 year old daughter Mary, both her desires to serve the county as well as to flirt and dance and live the big life any other 18 year old wants.  I liked that we were reading primary source material and while sometimes I didn't care about the love life of such and such minister - overall I appreciated remembering that war happens ON TOP of life - not instead of it.

I learned to much.  This part of the war was always a little vague in my mind but now I feel far more educated.  I found myself reading parts of this book out loud to my husband (also a history buff) because I was constantly being surprised.  I had to keep reminding myself that THEY DID NOT KNOW HOW THE WAR WOULD END.  These people did not have the blessed gift like we do to start this story and know that it all turns out ok.  I am so grateful to these world leaders - quirky as they were - for bringing down Hitler's fascism and creating a safer world for us to live in.  May it continue for my children's children to enjoy.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells (audiobook)

genre: science fiction

Murderbot is a self-aware Security Unit.   He's been hired by Preservation to protect the crew who is surveying a new planet for possible terraforming.  He's just not all that particularly interested in doing a thorough job of it - not since he managed to free himself from the programming that could control him.  So when things go very wrong, Murderbot's range of choices is far larger than it would be otherwise.  When the crew notices he's not like other Security Unit, things get more  complicated than Murderbot would prefer.

This was a great listen.  It's super short but the narrator is excellent.  Murderbot is a lovely blend of cranky old man,  a moody teenager and a soap opera obsessed introverted uncle.  The interplay of the human team with this AI robot feels pertinent to me and even though the plot didn't necessarily super interest me, I loved the story, if that differentiation makes sense.