Megan

Love on the Brain is my May book recommended by a friend (look at me, actually on top of this for once)! Thanks, Samantha, for the recommendation! I've been wanting to read one of Ali Hazelwood's books for a while, and since my last read was non-fiction and a bit serious, I was ready for something fun and lighthearted.

The fun bit about Ali Hazelwood is that she is a neuroscientist (now romance novelist), and most (all?) of her books include women in STEM and science-based plot lines. I know Samantha recommended this one in particular since the protagonist is a neuroscientist, and as a bonus much of it takes place at the Houston Space Center, which I just visited a few weeks ago so that was a fun bonus for me.

As for the plot itself - most of it was pretty clear from about chapter 2. Not to say I did not enjoy it! I very much did, and got through this book in 2 or 3 days. I loved our protagonist (although for as smart as she was, she was sometimes very, very not smart) and some of the side characters were hilarious/adorable. I was rooting for our love interests to get together and was very happy when they did (spoilers!).

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A few years ago I attended a continuing ed training focused on helping clients with weight/emotional eating/body image concerns. That training was so helpful to me in so many ways, and one of the great side effects was that I was introduced to Aubrey Gordon. She is an amazing thinker and community organizer, and has written for many years under the pseudonym of “Your Fat Friend.” She is also the co-host of the AMAZING podcast Maintenance Phase.

Anyway, needless to say reading one of her books has been on my list for a while now. As suggested by the title, this book is organized into 20 chapters, each one focused on a different myth about fat people (perhaps relevant here - one of the chapters focused on reclaiming the word “fat” as a neutral body description, akin to short/tall). If you have never thought about your views on body size, never questioned your innate reaction to congratulate people for weight loss, never thought about how larger bodies are portrayed in the media (or as the punchline of jokes), this may be a great book for you! It is heavily research-based, but for me the biggest punches come from stories and experiences of her own life.

If you are already a Maintenence Phase listener, you have probably been exposed to a fair amount of the information in this book (although not all). And if you expect it to read like a MP episode, that is not quite the vibe. Many of the chapters end with questions to think about and/or actions to take, which I really appreciated. I'm very glad I read this book!

It is always such a satisfying feeling to finish a series! This is the last book in the main Bridgerton series (yes there are prequel and side quests but we're just not going to count that at the moment). It follows the story of Gregory, the youngest brother, as he finds his way into adulthood. The story is fun, and full of many of the romance tropes that will all know and love, plus a few extra twists and turns. The story made me hope that the show actually makes it all the way through the books because Shonda will have a GREAT time with some of the things happening here.

If you, like me, have had the gumption to read all the way to Bridgertons #8, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Aurora is an action/suspense novel premised on what would happen if a solar flare were to disrupt our electric grid. This was an easy book to get lost in, and I thought the premise was smart and interesting. I thought the characters were pretty well written, although a few of the “bad guys” fell a bit flat for me.

This is not a book I would have been likely to pick up and read without someone pointing me at it, but I'm glad I did.

The Nix is a story primarily about our protagonist, Stephen, and our runner-up protagonist, his mother Faye. Faye left Stephen as a child and we enter the story with Stephen as an adult learning that his mother has made the national news. The book then ranges around time, letting us learn more about both of their lives, from their perspectives as well as a handful of side characters.

To be honest, I struggled a bit to get into this book. Not that the story wasn't interesting, but I think that this author's writing style took me a while to adjust to. Or perhaps his sense of humor and mine don't quite connect (I read more than one review saying this book was funny, but while I could see it being witty/sarcastic/dry humor, it never made me want to laugh).

All that being said, after I got into it I found the story really fascinating (Faye's story even more so than Stephen's) and the last few chapters really wrapped up the story so nicely, I was very satisfied at the end.

Bonus points! The author is from Iowa and large parts of the story take place there - I found the representation extremely well done. Also bonus points if you have interest in 60s counterculture and particularly the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Extra bonus points if your family has history in Norway. I also hugely enjoyed the side stories clearly poking fun at World of Warcraft and similar games.

I'm slightly at a loss as to how to describe this book. Think....a secret society with forbidden knowledge has their leader disappear. As you follow the students/disciples on their quest to find him, you learn more about their society along the way. This is a fantasy novel, and I think would sit in the “dark academia” subcategory. But this is DARK academia. Way dark. It also gets pretty weird/trippy, although I think that is what saved it for me. Some of the characters are so bizarre that they tip over into being charming. The plot is also pretty bizarre, to the point that by the end you're just shrugging your shoulders and saying, “sure, why not?”

I had a few points early on in reading that I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through, but by the end I was enjoying it. If you're looking for a spooky-ish novel to read under a blanket during spooky season, this could be the book for you.

This book was a RIDE. Sooo many different levels of goodness here! It is a great example of why I love speculative fiction so much. Yes, it is a story about a group of humans colonizing a new planet. It is also really a story about humans and how our minds work (and break) and how we can walk a fine line between striving and insanity. This book was so well-written and suspenseful, I was pulled along until the very end. The ending was so satisfying to me I was sad to realize this book was part of a series. (Like, hard to imagine improving on that ending?) But luckily it seems that the other books are written in the same universe but with different casts of characters and I am SO IN to read those books!

I continue my slow march through the Wheel of Time! I have already read most (but not all) of this series, so I've dedicated myself to getting through. I'm reading along with a podcast which as I've said before is a format I really enjoy. I've read The Great Hunt many times, so it's no surprise I enjoyed it again. I really like the first three books of the Wheel of Time, and I think they stand on their own as a story arc which is really well done.

It has been slightly hilarious to have been in the middle of re-reading this when Mike and I finally decided to get through series two of the show (which covers mostly the same ground). The show is...fine...and I'll continue watching, but some of the disconnects between the two are pretty jarring.

Anyway, this is a great book, if you haven't read The Wheel of Time series and you're a fan of fantasy books I think it's a worthy project to take on. :)

This book is amazing. It covers the history of autism, including the many twists and turns around developing the diagnosis and evolving understanding of prognosis and treatment. That sounds sort of boring but it. is. not.

If you or someone you love is “on the spectrum,” or if you work in mental health, or if you are just interested in brains and how they work, this is a must read. (Or a must listen, in my case!)

Rick Riordan (specifically the Percy Jackson/Olympians series) has been a part of our household for many years. E, especially, loved this series. I'm pretty sure he's read everything there is to read in this particular world (and it's a fair amount) and I don't even want to know how many times he has re-read them.

So, anyway, when I found a podcast that was going through and discussing the books, I decided it was time I actually read them for myself! One book in and I'm enjoying them. Although I have to admit, a decent part of my enjoyment I think comes from connecting with something important to my kid and maybe a little less of just me enjoying it. Upsides include lots of humor, and lots of good action. It is definitely YA, though, and while that's not a bad thing I think I'm missing a bit of depth. I'll be interested to see if it grows up as the series goes on (much in the way that the Harry Potter series ages/deepens as the books go on).

I just finished the third book in the Percy Jackson series. This is one of the series I am reading along with a podcast. The third book seems to be where this series takes a turn to the slightly more serious. Percy again must travel across the country to help a friend (does this kid ever stay in one place??), and needs to contend with trying to understand more mysterious prophecies.

This book (and the series, so far) are fun and easy to read, and I'd definitely recommend it to any middle-grade readers near you (especially boys, especially neurodivergent boys). Also probably more fun for anyone with a working understanding of Greek mythology. I'm still waiting for it to really grab me, though. E tells me the 4th and 5th books are the best, so I'm excited to get started on the next one!

It was a bit of struggle to get into this book, and I never felt super connected with any of the characters. This is a slightly older sci-fi novel and definitely read to me as an older novel. Like an Agatha Christie murder set on a different planet?? Anyway, I definitely got more interested as the book progressed, but I'm not dying to pick up any more books by this author.

This was a fun read to curl up with over this gloomy weekend! This book was suggested to me by Alana, and I was about 80% of the way through it when I remembered I had been meaning to save it for 2025 so I could use it in next year's friends recommendations! (Alana already claimed a month this year, with the excellent Ladyhoppers.) But I'm sure she'll be full of more good recommendations for next year (right??)!

The Stars Too Fondly is a spacemance, which is sci-fi's answer to romantasy. Cleo and her friends start out on a quest to break into the site of a failed spaceship that has been sitting empty for 20 years. While exploring, they manage to fire up the engines and send the ship off on it's original journey. Luckily, the captain of the original journey has programmed herself as a hologram on board the ship so they have help in figuring out what went wrong with the original plan, and of course how to get back home.....

I think this book did a great job balancing the sci-fi/action plot with the romance story, and I really enjoyed all the various plot lines. Just what I needed to help me escape reality for a weekend!

This was my book recommended by a friend for this month. Now, has Sandy actually read this book? No. (At least, not last we talked about it.) But she heard about it from a friend and she thought I'd like and she's right!

Apparently I'm in my spacemance era, as this is my second (queer) spacemance book in a row! Ruthie is a space-faring con artist, and her newest mark is personal. She wants to get revenge on the man that broke her sister's heart. But of course nothing goes smoothly, and her mark's mysterious sister might be on to her....

This was a fun book, really mostly a thriller/heist story that happens to be set in space. Bonus points for the female focus (there are men, obviously, but all in minor roles). Almost through with this year - here's hoping that the book I've had on hold for MONTHS now comes through to be my December read! Then I'll be needing more recommendations!

Apostles of Mercy is the third book in the Noumena series (apparently intended to be five books). In this installment we continue to follow Cora, who is acting as the main interpreter/liaison for a group of aliens on Earth. While Cora is trying to figure out her relationships with both humans and aliens, there is more trouble brewing as another group of aliens is discovered.

Consistent with the first two books, this novel is action-packed. Drama, battles, explosions, espionage - you really want to keep turning the pages. I find the author's depictions of the aliens thought-provoking. Many times aliens are written basically as humans, but with horns or purple skin or whatever. If not that, then the other choice is just generic “monsters.” Sci fi where the authors really try to imagine truly alien intelligence is fascinating. (I think Arrival does a good job of this, and maybe also Project Hail Mary?) This series is trying to do that as well - and mostly succeeding.

Overall, fun read and a great series (I think I liked this book less than the first but more than the second).

The Bridges of High Hill is the 5th installment of the Singing Hills Cycle. This is a group of novellas which follow a non-binary cleric named Chih. The world feels a lot like ancient Imperial China, but with magic. Chih's main work as a cleric is to collect and record stories, and this serves as the basis of all of the novellas.

I have really enjoyed this series (although the author claims you can read them in any order, so I'm using the word “series” lightly), and this book was no exeption. In this story Chih has met a young woman who is going to meet a suitor who might end up being her husband. However, it becomes quickly apparent that not all is what it seems. This story is a meditation on truth and how to know who you can trust. Maybe because of this it read a little darker than the other books in this series, which I think I enjoyed? Things felt a little more suspenseful and surprising.

Anyway, I love all these books, and they are so short that if you're looking for something different this is a great book to try!

Zami is my June book recommended by a friend. Thanks, Jordan! (Do you even remember recommending this book to me??) Zami sat on my to-read list for a long time, always on hold and whenever my digital copy would be available I'd be in the middle of something else and go to the back of the line! I'm really glad I got around to reading it.

Zami reads essentially as an autobiography of Audre Lorde's childhood and early adulthood in the 1940s and 50s. (She calls it a biomythography - combining history, biography, and myth.) The book follows through her childhood with immigrant parents in Harlem, through Catholic school and WWII, a brief exploration of Mexico and then finding her place as an adult back in New York. There is direct exploration of race, sexuality and gender in honest and touching ways.

But most of all, this is a story about women. (In this way it reminds me of The Red Tent.) Difficult, real, and tender relationships with her mother, sisters, friends and partners. And because it is Audre Lorde, the prose is lyrical. A lovely read.

This book imagines a future with China ascendant and America in the wake of a socialist revolution. About half of the chapters follow our protagonist, China Mountain Zhang, while the other half follow various other characters. Some side characters get multiple chapters, some only one, and their stories overlap to varying degrees with Zhang's. To me this is mostly a story about people trying to make a life on the margins of society.

All of these concepts sound really interesting - but I found myself having difficulty getting really engaged with the story. The world building is really cool but maybe had one too many ideas - while the plot line(s) just fell a little flat. I also felt like the book was trying to make Big Points about socialism v capitalism and I wound up not really caring enough to figure them out. It may not help that this was published in 1992 and just feels dated.

I'm not mad that I read this, but it won't be something I'm going to be recommending a lot to others.

I have finished my first book of 2024! This was the January pick for the Sword and Laser podcast. The Shining Girls is the story of a time-traveling serial killer and the victim he failed to kill. They chase each other through time as she tries to solve the mystery and he tries to finish what he started.

This is a book that doesn't sit neatly in any genre. I think I'd put it first in the thriller/suspense category, with some mystery and sci-fi/fantasy elements. Maybe a little dash of horror?? I thought the characters were interesting and well-written, and the concept of the book was really neat. For my own personal tastes, it was a bit gory/violent. However, my biggest complaint was that I felt the book left a lot of big questions unanswered - time travel always offers up a lot of interesting plot possibilities and I feel like the book could have done more there?

Apparently this was also made into a show for Apple TV, if that's more your speed.

TA-DA! With this book, I met my book reading goal for 2024! I have said before and I'll say again, the one thing the pandemic was good for was getting me back into the habit of reading.

Anyway! The book that tipped me over the edge was Calamity, which is the final book in the Reckoners trilogy. We listened to the first book as a family on vacation at some point, and over the last year E and I have been listening to the rest while getting in his driving hours. He got his liscense with an hour left to go in the last audio book, and we finally finished it up driving out and back for his senior pictures.

The series follows the Reckoners, a group of humans who are trying to fight entities known as Epics. Epics used to be normal humans until a mysterious event called the Calamity gave them powers and also inevitably turned them evil. In this third book we learn the truth about Calamity as the Reckoners try to find a solution to undo what has been done.

I found this whole series to be fun and enjoyable. It is pitched for a YA audience but I still found it fun and engaging, and there were a few twists at the end of this that I did not see coming. E and I both agreed that the ending was pretty satisfying. Good book, good series, would be a great read for younger readers who are into Marvel/comics/superhero type stuff.

Firefight is the second in the Reckoners series - which is a young adult sci fi series. Our family listened to the first....at some point last summer, and so the second has been what E and I have been listening to on our various trips to and from Cedar Falls to get his driving hours.

In Firefight we get to follow our protagonist David/Steelslayer (he's gotten a cool new nickname now) to a new city to learn more about the Epics and what may have created them. But as we learn more things also become more...complicated. There is a lot of fun action in this book, and I have to imagine Sanderson had a really great time dreaming up all the powers of the different Epics. E and I were definitely invested in the story, and the mix of humor and action was perfect for the two of us. Again, it's a YA series so the foreshadowing is a little thick at times, but there were also some twists and turns that I didn't see coming.

Absolutely recommend, and we're looking forward to finishing the trilogy!

Ladyhoppers is a such a fun (and funny) book! Primarily a sci-fi/fantasy book, it also could be put on the action/adventure shelf as well. Our protagonist has been sent on a mission to fix “tears” that have been appearing on her world. Her mission pretty immediately goes awry and she has to use her wits to find her way back home. The action starts from the very first page and really just keeps rolling through the end. Our characters travel through many different worlds, and I could just tell that the authors were having so much fun thinking of what adventures to have happen next. (In this way, it reminds me of my current reading of Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners series, where I often think just how much fun he must be having writing it.) In what I consider both a pro and a con, this appears to be a standalone novel. (Pro - I do NOT need any more series to be reading! Con - I felt like there was still a significant amount of story that could be told at the end of this.)

This book is female forward and LGBTQ friendly. While this book is not marketed as YA, I'd be comfortable with any of my teens reading it (your mileage may vary on how you feel about swearing). Certainly if you're looking for a book off the beaten path, and wanting to support small publishing groups, this is a great place to start!

The Red Tent is a re-telling of the Biblical story of Dinah (the only daughter of Jacob in the Old Testament). It is told entirely from her perspective (birth to death), and focuses primarily on the women in her world and their lives together. Described like that, this sounds a little dry, but this book is amazing. The story is rich and deep and mystical, full of joy and sorrow. And while there is plenty of action, it is primarily about the relationships of women. Mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunties, daughters, best friends play almost all the central roles in the book.

For bonus points - if you are a fan of musicals parts of this book will take you back to Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Dinah is half-sister to Joseph).