Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History
by Philippa Gregory, 2024 Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History—Unveiling the Untold Stories of Women Who Shaped England from 1066 to Modern Times is a history of women, yes, but specifically the history of women in Great Britain. One that we in the United States largely inherited in the form of attitudes, culture, […]
Why Birches Are White
by Elena S. Smith, 2006 As we often do when we enjoy an author’s latest novel, we go deeper into their catalog. Such was the case with my decision to read Why Birches Are White—Elena S. Smith’s first book, written in 2006. Elena is a colleague and local Spokane author, and a retired English professor […]
Gluten for Punishment: Just Desserts for the Heartbroken, Lovesick, and Jilted
by Julie Seyler, 2025 Gluten for Punishment is a hybrid memoir/cookbook written by long-time baking blogger (https://twobittart.com) and trained chef Julie Seyler. This Gen-Xer took her real-life stories of dating disasters in the modern world and turned it into a memoir. Sometimes funny, sometimes exasperating, she chronicles five main relationships that start out mostly from […]
2025 Book Review Roundup
Apologies that I didn’t finish this compilation in time for your holiday gift giving! But as promised, here is a comprehensive guide to everything I read (or almost everything) in 2025. This year I surprised myself as there are more than 50 books on the list. Even so, I deleted about five from the final […]
Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
by Christine Kuehn, 2025 Every family has secrets—shameful things they’d rather not get aired in public. Then there are other families that have real whoppers. Imagine finding out that your German grandparents were not only Nazi loyalists, but were the key spies who supplied the Japanese with critical intel leading up to the bombing of […]
Mother Mary Comes to Me
by Arundhati Roy, 2025 I listened to the audio version of this book, Mother Mary Comes to Me, an astounding memoir by an Indian author and former Booker prize winner. The book is listed as one of the New York Times Best 10 Books for 2025 and Goodreads Best Memoir for 2025, among others. Normally I don’t care […]
The Bernards of Louisiana: An Acadian Family History
by Ryan U. Bernard, 2025 You might think you learned about the Louisiana Purchase in school, and know something about the migration of French-Canadian (Acadian) citizens in the mid-1700s to our southern state. You might be mistaken. Even though I was always a good student, and lived 35 years in southeast Texas, a few hours […]
The 4th Cohort: Finding Dark in the Light
by Kevin L. Hostbjor, 2025 In The 4th Cohort: Finding Dark in the Light, set in the late 1980s, a hidden, privately funded underwater facility uses an overhead offshore oil rig as its cover. Hiring secret, highly trained and highly paid crews (cohorts) for 5-year commitments, they operate small submarines to test cruise missiles as […]
The Secret Life of Sunflowers
by Marta Molnar, 2023 I have mixed feelings about The Secret Life of Sunflowers. The historical part involving Vincent Van Gogh, his brother Theo, and sister-in-law Johanna was by far the most interesting part. The author alternates chapters between these historical parts and a modern-day counterpart of a failing businesswoman named Emsley. I found this […]
Flashlight
by Susan Choi, 2025 I’m starting to listen my way through the 2025 Booker Prize shortlist. The first one I’ve listened to is Flashlight by Susan Choi, a remarkable and complex story that spans decades and traces three fractured families through postwar Korea, Japan, and America. I say remarkable because I don’t think I’ve ever […]
Hiding For My Life: Being Gay in the Navy
by Karen Solt, 2025 Last week, as a member of the National Association of Memoir Writers, I attended our virtual monthly book club where I heard an amazing woman speak about her memoir. She had served in the US Navy for 22 years, closeted as a lesbian sailor for the entire time. She didn’t realize […]
The Spy from Beijing: An Espionage Thriller
by Joan M Kop, 2025 Local Spokane writer Joan M Kop’s latest book is the spy thriller The Spy from Beijing: An Espionage Thriller. She takes us on a unique journey that weaves in the intelligence threat to the US from China, embedded spies and double agents, potential theft of DNA databases to gain economic […]
Seren
by Peter Gooch, 2025 Seren is a mystery set in the art world of 1970s Detroit. Many mysteries, murder and otherwise, as it turns out. [This page contains affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase from a link on this page, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.] […]
Presumed Guilty
by Scott Turow, 2025 Scott Turow released this book as a follow-up to his 1987 blockbuster, Presumed Innocent, where we met his former prosecutor and former judge, Rusty Sabich, for the first time. In an interview for The New York Times, I learned that the initial idea for Presumed Guilty was the splashy, headline-grabbing disappearance, […]
2024 Christmas Book Review Roundup
If you have a hard-to-buy-for book lover on your Christmas list, here is a vetted list of 34 books I’ve read this year that I can highly recommend! Those of you who follow this blog know that I write periodic book reviews during the year. Where does the time go? I couldn’t possibly write reviews […]
