Book Nook Cafe discussion

Here are lists of book suggestions that I get from various libraries and around the net.

Feel free to share any book lists your library creates.

Greenwich Library


~~Hello Kitty Must Die
by Choi, Angela S.
One of the funniest murder "mysteries" I've ever read all year. For fans of "Dexter" and dark comedy. - Krampus


~~A Psalm for the Wild-built
A Monk & Robot Book
by Chambers, Becky
A fabulous quick read for those looking to make their book quotes! A fresh take on the philosophical debate on the intersection of man and nature. - Yukon Cornelius


~~Hidden in Snow
An Åremorden Novel
by Sten, Viveca
Viveca Sten's Hidden in Snow is a great read for Mystery fans who enjoy reading about a murder based in a foreign country; in this case Sweden. Her writing is so evocative of Sweden as a murder occurs in a cold, snowy Swedish Ski Resort. - Roy


~~~A Place for Us
by Mirza, Fatima Farheen
This novel moves back and forth in the time in the lives of an Indian American family, exploring tensions that arise as the children navigate their way between two cultures. For those who enjoy character-driven stories with intense family relationships. - Lorna


~~Final Girls
by Sager, Riley
Equal part horror and thriller and reminiscent of slasher films. Keeps you guessing until the end! - Melissa


~~~Nora Webster
by Tóibín, Colm
An Irish Hedda Gabler, crafted masterfully by one of the most acclaimed authors of our time. Toibin is as successful as ever at dissecting the human condition. - Travis


~~Circling the Sun
by McLain, Paula
A captivating novelization of the life of Beryl Markham, famed as a racehorse trainer and an aviator who flew solo across the Atlantic in 1936. Markham's strong, adventurous spirit and McLain's picturesque descriptions of British Kenya make this story shine. - Lorna


~~Here's To Us
A What If It's Us Novel
by Albertalli, Becky
First loves Ben and Arthur fall in love early in their lives. As they age, they try to understand this dynamic between them. - Roy


~~~Rock Paper Scissors
by Feeney, Alice
Alice Feeney is the queen of twists, and this thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat! - Nicole


~~~Stay With Me
by Adebayo, Ayobami
One of my favorite writers of the last ten years. I find Ayobami's books impossible to out down, and this one about love and loss is maybe her best. - Travis

~~~Bright I Burn
by Molly Aitken

Alice Kyteler grows up in medieval Ireland, where, despite being a woman, she inherits and grows her father's businesses...and then marries and buries multiple husbands (some in suspicious circumstances). Savvy Alice, who's based on the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Ireland, narrates this lyrical tale. Read-alikes: Tidelands by Philippa Gregory; Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier.


~~~~ The Sunflower House
by Adriana Allegri

After the dying uncle who raised her shares that her mother was Jewish, Allina Gottlieb hides her heritage to survive. Even so, she's assaulted by an SS officer and forced to work as a nurse in a Nazi eugenics program, where she meets and grows close to another SS officer, one with his own deadly secret. This debut will please fans of well-researched, immersive World War II novels like those by Jennifer Chiaverini and Heather Morris.


~~~~ Pearly Everlasting
by Tammy Armstrong

In a 1920 Canadian logging camp, Pearly Everlasting is born, and her parents also take in an orphaned bear cub, Bruno, raising the duo as siblings. In the 1930s, a new camp boss causes trouble for Bruno, and he's sold off. But Pearly goes after him, even though it means heading alone to places she's never been. This atmospheric novel by an award-winning poet is "warmly enchanting" (Kirkus Reviews).


~~~~ The Fabled Earth
by Kimberly Brock

Set on Georgia's Cumberland Island, this evocative dual-timeline tale takes place in 1932, when a society party ends with two dead, and in 1959, when painter Cleo Woodbine, an attendee at the earlier gala, is pulled out of her shell by two women, including the daughter of the outsider socialite who was once her rival. Fans of sweeping stories with coastal settings and bits of mystery and magical realism will like this.


~~~~ A Kid from Marlboro Road
by Edward Burns

In 1970s Long Island, 12-year-old aspiring writer Kneeney's summer involves fishing, speaking at his beloved grandfather's wake, and worrying about his sad mother. This debut novel from actor-filmmaker Edward Burns mines his Irish Catholic upbringing to produce "an endearing and insightful coming-of-age story" (Kirkus Reviews). Read-alikes: Jacqueline Woodson's Another Brooklyn; Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.


~~~The Booklover's Library
by Madeline Martin

In World War II-era Nottingham, England, widowed Emma needs money and manages to find a job at Boots' Booklover's Library. Due to rules about widows and married women working, she pretends to be single and acts as if her beloved daughter is her sister. As the Blitz worsens, she sends her daughter to the country and finds hope in friends and the power of books and reading. Read-alikes: Jennifer Ryan's The Underground Library; Annie Lyons' The Air Raid Book Club.


~~~ Queen Macbeth
by Val McDermid

This "love letter to Scotland" (Kirkus Reviews) reimagines Shakespeare's Macbeth through the eyes of Lady Macbeth. As she and her ladies-in-waiting are on the run from rivals, she recalls her marriages, her time as queen, and her son's rise to power. At less than 150 pages, this novel is perfect for fans of historical fiction retellings who like quick reads. Read-alikes: Ava Reid's Lady Macbeth or Joel H. Morris' All Our Yesterdays.


~~~ The Stone Witch of Florence
by Anna Rasche

Ginevra di Gasparo uses ancient gemstone magic to heal others but is accused of witchcraft and expelled from medieval Florence. But when a thief steals precious church relics during the Black Plague, she's asked to return and help solve the crimes. Written by a gemologist and jewelry historian, this debut blends historical fiction and fantasy and will appeal to fans of Leigh Bardugo's The Familiar and M.T. Anderson's Nicked.


~~~~ The Restless Wave
by James Stavridis

Working-class Floridian Scott Bradley James loves the ocean and graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1941. He survives Pearl Harbor and plays roles in other battles, including Midway, while navigating ambition, romance, and guilt. Anchored with real people (Ernest Hemingway, Lt. Cmdr. Wade McClusky, and others), this coming-of-age novel by a retired admiral is a gripping series starter.


~~~~Polostan
by Neal Stephenson

Born in 1916, Dawn Rae Bjornberg is raised in Montana by anarchist cowboy relatives and in Russia, where her Leninist father lives. Making her own way as a teen, she sees Depression-era America, the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, the beginnings of the Soviet Union, and then gets mixed up with the KGB. Intricately plotted, this 1st Bomb Light novel is "tremendously entertaining...a glorious achievement from a unique and compelling writer" (Booklist).

Alias Reader wrote: "
Greenwich Library
~~Hello Kitty Must Die
by Choi, Angela S.
One of the funniest murder "mysteries" I've ever read all year. For fans of "Dexter" and dark comedy. .."

What a way to start the New Year, Alias.

Hello Kitty Must Die--Angela S. Choi calls to me because, while fascinated, i have never understood the Hello Kitty world. :-)

I also took note of Hidden in Snow--Viveca Sten, for the Nordic angle. Sweden!

I will not be reading Circling the Sun--Paula McLain, but i'm pleased to note that someone opted to write an historical fiction of the life of Beryl Markham, author of West with the Night. Born in the UK, she was a bush pilot in Kenya and horse trainer. In the '80s, i believe it was, Stephanie Powers played her in a tv movie.

I just remembered that i also read a bio of her, Straight on Till Morning: the Biography of Beryl Markham--Mary S. Lovell. Markham had a "romantic" history with the royal family, as well as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. What a life, eh?
Read more here--https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_M...

Alias Reader wrote: "...Polostan
by Neal Stephenson

Born in 1916, Dawn Rae Bjornberg is raised in Montana by anarchist cowboy relatives and in Russia..."

Polostan--Neal Stephenson

I had to laugh at the first line of description for this novel. LOL--anarchist cowboy relatives. Sign me up! Actually, not, as i continue to find historical fiction a bother.

I noticed also that actor Edward Burns is beginning a novel writing career in A Kid from Marlboro Road. Interesting.

While Val McDermid's Queen Macbeth doesn't really call to me (short, though it be!), i was intrigued to read in one of the GR reviews that she is based on Gruoch Ingen Boite, Scottish queen, the daughter of Boite mac Cináeda, son of Cináed II.

madrano wrote:

I will not be reading Circling the Sun--Paula McLain, but i'm pleased to note that someone opted to write an historical fiction of the life of Beryl Markham, author of West with the Night. Born in the UK, she was a bush pilot in Kenya and horse trainer. In the '80s, i believe it was, Stephanie Powers played her in a tv movie.."

Yes ! West with the Night by Beryl Markham

is an excellent book.

Paula Cappa's Literary Studio . . .

Stop by my literary studio for January Book Recommendations. 2.5-minute video on YouTube. Fiction and nonfiction.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GmPfyD...

~~~The Book Club for Troublesome Women
Bostwick, Marie
Margaret Ryan never really meant to start a book club . . . or a feminist revolution in her buttoned-up suburb.


~~~A Forty Year Kiss
Butler, Nickolas
Charlie and Vivian parted ways after just four years of marriage. Too many problems, too many struggles. When Charlie returns to Wisconsin forty years later, he's not sure what he'll find. He is sure of one thing-he must try to reconnect with Vivian to pick up the broken pieces of their past. But forty years is a long time. It's forty years of other relationships, forty years of building new lives, and forty years of long-held regrets, mistakes, and painful secrets. This is a literary valentine that promises to become a love-story for the ages.


~~~Tartufo
Buxton, Kira Jane
After nearly losing the election to a geriatric donkey, newly installed Mayor Delizia Miccuci can’t help but feel like the sun has finally set on the rural Italian village of Lazzarini Boscarino. Tourists only stop by to ask for directions, Nonna Amara’s cherished ristorante is long shuttered, and the town hall is disgustingly overrun with glis glis poo—even Postman Duccio has been disgraced. All that’s left is Bar Celebrità, a rustic establishment where weary locals gather to quibble over decades-long disputes, submit their poor stomachs to bartender Giuseppina’s volcanic espresso, and wonder what will become of the place where together they’ve spent their entire lives. Little do the villagers know that local truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza has just happened upon something that could change everything. A truffle—un tartufo, that is—sits beneath the soil with the power to either be the greatest gift or the foulest curse the village has ever seen.


~~~~Wake Up and Open Your Eyes
Chapman, Clay McLeod
When Noah's aging parents stop returning his calls, he travels to their Virginia home and finds it in shambles. They have been violently possessed via the media they watch-and much of the country is succumbing, too. With his nephew-also unaffected-Noah tries to return home to safety.


-----Killer Potential
Deitch, Hannah
Darkly funny and provocative, this edge-of-your-seat thrill ride follows two unlikely fugitives—an SAT tutor who finds her rich employers brutally murdered and the bound woman she frees from their mansion—an irresistible debut novel perfect for fans of The Guest and My Sister, the Serial Killer.


------Loose Lips
Donovan, Kemper
A first-rate ghostwriter and successful mystery author needs to make a buck--even if that means setting foot on a cruise ship, something she vowed she'd never do. To top it off, the 'Get Lit Cruise' is being organized by Payton Garrett, a very popular, bestselling author--and the ghostwriter's long-time frenemy from back in their MFA days. Over the years, Payton has reinvented herself. She gained a wife while ditching her journalist husband--who is also on board. And she's acquired a rabid following who eagerly snapped up the invitations sent to a select few of her newsletter subscribers. The guests, all female, will receive personalized instruction from experts in five different writing genres, while basking in Payton's reflected glow. Between mentoring guests, flirting with Payton's ex, and taking bets on how long before someone performs a reenactment of Titanic's 'I'm flying!' scene, there's plenty to keep a ghostwriter occupied. But there's one activity nobody expected: solving a murder.


------The Crazies: The Cattleman, the Wind Prospector, and a War Out West
Gamerman, Amy
This is a story about a fight between neighbors when the folks next-door are on the Forbes 400 list and you're the guy fixing an irrigation ditch in a vest mended with duct-tape. Big Timber, Montana is one of the windiest towns in one of the windiest states in the country. Mountain gap winds howl down from the Crazies like a coyote, rattling windows in their frames and nudging semi-trucks sideways on Interstate 90. Most locals learn to live with the wind. Rick Jarrett sought his fortune in it. His decision to erect Crazy Mountain Wind would spark fifteen years of legal tussles, pitting him against a Texas oil magnate, a flashy Vegas criminal defense attorney, the heir to the largest privately held company in America, and a former cop committed to conserving and preserving this last best place on earth.


------I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free
Hawkins, Lee
I Am Nobody’s Slave tells the story of one Black family's pursuit of the American Dream through the impacts of systemic racism and racial violence. This book examines how trauma from enslavement and Jim Crow shaped their outlook on thriving in America, influenced each generation, and how they succeeded despite these challenges.


-----The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt
Iversen, Chelsea
London, 19th century. Harriet Hunt has a special relationship with the garden outside her house. A year after the mysterious disappearance of her father, a cruel man who left her buried in his debts, the garden is her only solace. But a woman alone is vulnerable and as debt collectors and law enforcement swoops in, ready to take advantage of her dire situation, Harriet has no choice but to marry for her own protection. Soon, she finds herself attached to a man worse than her father. Determined to find the truth behind her father's disappearance and finally free herself from the controlling men in her life, Harriet discovers that her garden is more than just a sanctuary: it contains a strange magic that responds to her emotions in ways she can't explain. And as she struggles to take back her power, it becomes clear there are dark things tangled in her garden's roots.


--------The Kingdom of No Tomorrow
Josaphat, Fabienne
The story of a young Haitian woman in California who becomes involved with the Black Panthers and discovers that being part of the revolution may not always mean equal justice for women.


------Sinkhole, and Other Inexplicable Voids: Stories
Krow, Leyna
The women of this beguiling, darkly fabulist, new story collection grapple with the question "What do we owe our family and friends in times of wild uncertainty?" as they strive to be good mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, wives, and companions in a world that is constantly shifting around them.


-------The Boxcar Librarian
Labuskes, Brianna
Inspired by true events, a thrilling Depression-era novel from the author of The Librarian of Burned Books about a woman’s quest to uncover a mystery surrounding a local librarian and the Boxcar Library—a converted mining train that brought books to isolated rural towns in Montana.


-----I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom-Com
Lemming, Kimberly
Dorothy Valentine is close to getting her PhD in wildlife biology when she's attacked by a lion. On the bright side, she's saved! On the not-so-bright side, it's because they're abducted by aliens. In her scramble to escape, Dory and the lion commandeer an escape pod and crash-land on an alien planet that has...dinosaurs? Dory and her new lion bestie, Toto, are saved in the nick of time by a mysterious and sexy alien, Sol. On their new adventure, they team up with the equally hot, equally dangerous Lok, who may or may not be a war criminal. Whether it be trauma, fate, or intrigue, Dory can't resist the attraction that's developing in their trio.


--------The Four Queens of Crime
Limoncelli, Rosanne
In this debut mystery, DCI Lilian Wyles, the first woman detective chief inspector in the CID, is determined to find a killer with the help of the four queens of crime, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham, perfect for fans of Elly Griffiths and Claudia Gray.


------Every Tom, Dick & Harry
Lipman, Elinor
Taking over her parents’ estate-sale business is not the life’s work that Emma Lewis bargained for. Yes, she grew up helping them empty people’s nests, but nothing prepared her for her biggest and stickiest “get”--the grand, beautiful house of ill repute masquerading as a decidedly beddable B and B. Should Emma turn down potential clients in need of decluttering just because they are shady, escort-y, and proud of it?
No. A girl must make a living.


---------American Bulk: Essays on Excess
Mester, Emily
Americans are caught up in bulk. We guiltily watch Amazon boxes pile up on the porch, wade through endless reviews to find the perfect product, and crave the comforting indulgence of a chain restaurant. In American Bulk, Emily Mester intertwines cultural critique and personal history to explore how the things we buy, eat, amass, and discard become an intimate part of our lives.


---------Harlem Rhapsody
Murray, Victoria Christopher
In 1919, as civil and social unrest grips the country, there is a little corner of America, a place called Harlem where something special is stirring. Here, the New Negro is rising and Black pride is evident everywhere...in music, theatre, fashion and the arts. And there on stage in the center of this renaissance is Jessie Redmon Fauset, the new literary editor of the preeminent Negro magazine The Crisis. W.E.B. Du Bois, the founder and editor of The Crisis, has charged her with discovering young writers whose words will change the world. .


-------Knife Skills for Beginners
Murrin, Orlando
The Chester Square Cookery School in the heart of London offers students a refined setting in which to master the fine art of choux pastry and hone their hollandaise. True, the ornate mansion doesn't quite sparkle the way it used to--a feeling chef Paul Delamare is familiar with these days. Worn out and newly broke, he'd be tempted to turn down the request to fill in as teacher for a week-long residential course, if anyone other than Christian Wagner were asking. The students are a motley crew, most of whom seem more interested in ogling the surroundings (including handsome Christian) than learning the best ways to temper chocolate. Yet despite his misgivings, Paul starts to enjoy imparting his extensive knowledge to the recruits--until someone turns up dead, murdered with a cleaver Paul used earlier that day to prep a pair of squabs. Did one of his students take the lesson on knife techniques too much to heart, or was this the result of a long-simmering grudge?


--------The Lamb
Rose, Lucy
Margot and Mama have lived by the forest ever since Margot can remember. They spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door. Strays, Mama calls them. People who have strayed too far from the road. Mama loves the strays. She feeds them wine, keeps them warm. Then she picks apart their bodies and toasts them off with some vegetable oil. But Mama's want is stronger than her hunger sometimes, and when a beautiful, white-toothed stray named Eden turns up in the heart of a snowstorm, Margot must face the possibility that her life is changing for good.


---------Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood's First South Asian Star
Sen, Mayukh
A beautiful reclamation of a pioneering South Asian actress captures her glittering, complicated life and lasting impact on Hollywood.

What a bevy of books, Alias. Several caught my eye but not enough to add to my TBR. Still, some, such as Loose Lips--Kemper Donovan sound kinda fun. Mystery writer's ghostwriter's cruise?!

But, if forced, i think i'd rather read The Boxcar Librarian--Brianna Labuskes, based a bit on the historic WPA boxcar library, which was used in Montana, if i understand things correctly. Several years ago there were several books about delivering books to citizens during the Depression in hills of the South. This sounds akin to that, albeit a novel. Oh dear, did i just add this to my TBR? At least it's not to be published until next month.

Drats! "Thanks, Alias" for sharing the list.

Thanks there seem to be two books coming up about the queens of crime

The Queens of CrimeThe Four Queens of Crime

also the The Book Club for Troublesome Women

sounds interesting

Sophie wrote: "Thanks there seem to be two books coming up about the queens of crime."

The book Club for Troublesome Women sounds interesting.

It's published the end of April

Thanks for the heads-up, Sophie !

Sophie wrote: "Thanks there seem to be two books coming up about the queens of crime

The Queens of CrimeThe Four Queens of Crime

also the ..."

Thank you, Sophie, for the advanced warning on these.

The Benedict novel sounds good, i must admit. I've been disappointed by her but throwing several mystery writers together in an era sounds appealing.

I'm not sure of the Rosanne Limoncelli novel (series to be, it seems), as i don't know her writing.

I like the idea of exploring a group of women's reaction to Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, such as in Bostwick's novel, too.

The Benedict Novel was already on my list, when the others popped up. Seems to be some Zeitgeist - a good idea, does not mean, that the book is enjoyable, though. The queens of crime sound sounder.

------The Co-op
by Tarah DeWitt

Short on cash to flip the run-down Santa Cruz home they just co-inherited, exes LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds agree to a marriage of convenience to access LaRynn's trust fund. But they soon discover the house isn't the only thing getting repaired. Try this next: No One Does It Like You by Katie Shepard; Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle.


---------Pickleballers
by Ilana Long

After her husband leaves her for another woman, Meg Bloomberg takes up pickleball, where she crosses paths (and paddles) with Ethan Fine, a handsome environmentalist who's determined to turn her neighborhood pickleball court into a nature preserve. This feel-good enemies-to-lovers debut will appeal to fans of Hedging Your Bets by Jayne Denker.


---------The Muse of Maiden Lane
by Mimi Matthews

In Mimi Matthews' 4th and final Belles of London Victorian romance, silver-haired spinster Stella Hobhouse, fresh from her second unsuccessful season in London high society, and artist Teddy Hayes, deemed an outcast because of his wheelchair, agree to a high-stakes marriage of convenience, sparking a slow-burn attraction thanks to their shared outsider status. Try this next: A Gamble at Sunset by Vanessa Riley.


---------The Courting of Bristol Keats
by Mary E. Pearson

Bristol Keats struggles to keep herself and her sisters alive after the tragic disappearance of their parents. When she receives a letter from a mysterious aunt she never knew existed, everything she thought she knew about her family crumbles and she must carefully navigate a world of monstrous intrigue to rescue her father. For fans of: slow-burn faerie-centric fantasy with well-developed characters and steamy romance, such as Sarah J. Maas' Crescent City series or Lyra Selene's A Feather So Black.


---------A Legend in the Baking
by Jamie Wesley

In this fast-paced 2nd Sugar Blitz novel, social media manager Sloane Dell and football player/Sugar Blitz Cupcakery co-owner August Hodges team up to promote the company's new location, re-igniting their long-simmering passion for one another. Try this next: Yin Yang Love Song by Lauren Kung Jessen.
Focus on: Second Chance Romances


---------Can't Resist Her
by Kianna Alexander

Fifteen years after sharing a kiss at their high school dance, Summer Graves and Aiko Holt reconnect when they end up on opposite sides of a demolition project that's set to destroy their former school. Can they put their differences aside for a second chance at love? For fans of: the film Two Weeks Notice; The 7-10 Split by Karmen Lee.


--------Just Some Stupid Love Story
by Katelyn Doyle

After a drunken hook-up at their high school reunion, screenwriter Molly Marks and lawyer Seth Rubenstein make a bet to predict the romantic futures of five couples -- including themselves. Reminiscent of When Harry Met Sally, this witty romance will appeal to fans of You, Again by Kate Goldbeck.


---------Aphrodite and the Duke
by J.J. McAvoy

As her younger sister prepares for her first season, Aphrodite Du Bell returns to London for the first time since her own debut -- when the handsome Evander, Duke of Everely, broke her heart by marrying another. Evander, now a widower, has always regretted not following his heart. Can he win back Aphrodite's trust? For fans of: Bridgerton.


-------------The Reunion
by Kayla Olson

Former costars and ex-BFFs Liv Latimer and Ransom Joel must confront past hurts and unresolved feelings as they shoot a reunion special for Girl on the Verge, the teen drama that made them both famous. Try this next: Christina Lauren's Twice in a Blue Moon, Ava Wilder's How to Fake It in Hollywood, or Lucy Parker's London Celebrities series.


---------Fool Me Once
by Ashley Winstead

Communications director Lee Stone is paired with lawyer Ben Laderman to pass a green energy bill in Texas. The only problem? She broke his heart years ago, and now she's wondering if she made a mistake. This "romance with bite, wit, and heart" (Kirkus Reviews) will appeal to fans of Technically Yours by Denise Williams.

Saints Preserve Us! That last one! As though Texas knows what Green Energy is!

lol

Sophie wrote: "The Benedict Novel was already on my list, when the others popped up. Seems to be some Zeitgeist - a good idea, does not mean, that the book is enjoyable, though. The queens of crime sound sounder."


LOL, indeed, Sophie!

madrano wrote: "Saints Preserve Us! That last one! As though Texas knows what Green Energy is!

lol"

I guess it falls in the romance + Fantasy genre. ;)

Well written, Alias Reader!

------ The Gardener's Plot
by Deborah J. Benoit

In this award-winning debut novel, widowed young writer Maggie Walker moves home to western Massachusetts, buys her recently deceased grandmother's old Victorian home, and joins the local community garden. Then she turns sleuth when she finds the real estate developer who'd wanted her house buried in the garden. Read-alikes: Joyce Tremel's Deadly to the Core; Mark Waddell's The Body in the Back Garden.



----------A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer
by Maxie Dara

Pregnant Kathy Valance is middle-aged and in the middle of a divorce. She's also a grim reaper with S. C. Y. T. H. E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences), and her newest client, a teenager, insists he was murdered. Now Kathy's got 45 days to sort it out or doom him to ghosthood forever. Read-alikes: C.M. Waggoner's The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society; Olivia Blacke's A New Lease on Death.


---------A Killer Clue
by Victoria Gilbert

Retired librarian Jane Hunter helps catalog thirtysomething Cameron Clewe's collection of rare crime novels at his North Carolina estate, coaches him in social niceties, and teams up with him to solve crimes. In their 2nd outing, the two assist a bookseller who's hoping to clear her deceased mother's name but is then arrested for murder herself. Read-alike: Ellery Adams' The Secret, Book, and Scone Society mysteries.


--------Ashes Never Lie
by Lee Goldberg

Following Malibu Burning, this intricate, fast-paced 2nd outing for Los Angeles arson investigator Walter Sharpe and his action-oriented new partner Andrew Walker has them teaming up with homicide detective Eve Ronin (who stars in another series by author Lee Goldberg) after a string of fires uncover a burnt corpse who's been shot. Read-alikes: Michael Connelly's novels; Joseph Schneider's Detective Tully Jarsdel mysteries.


---------Against the Grain
by Peter Lovesey

In his multi-layered 22nd and final outing, curmudgeonly senior police detective Peter Diamond and his partner Paloma go to Somerset to visit one of his former underlings, Julie Hargreaves, who's sure that a local woman convicted for manslaughter is innocent. Despite hating the country, Diamond goes undercover in a rural village without benefit of policing tools to uncover a killer. Read-alikes: Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope mysteries; Mark Billingham's Detective Miller novels.


---------Pony Confidential
by Christina Lynch

Narrated by both a grumpy pony and his former owner, Penny, who's just been jailed for a murder she supposedly committed when she was 12, this thoroughly charming novel follows the aging pony as he travels the country plotting his revenge on the girl who broke his heart. But then Pony discovers Penny didn't sell him years ago and sets out to prove her innocence. Fans of Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie mysteries will appreciate this humorous, thought-provoking tale that has a bit of bite.


---------Guilt and Ginataan
by Mia P. Manansala

Brew-ha Cafe co-owner Lila Macapagal turns sleuth for the 5th time after her business partner Adeena Awan is found holding a bloody knife next to a body in a corn maze. With help from personable friends and relatives, Lila investigates with her beloved dachshund dog by her side in this culinary cozy with Filipino recipes included. Read-alikes: Valerie Burns' Baker Street mysteries; Vivien Chien's Noodle Shop mysteries.


-------The Rivals
by Jane Pek

Crime fiction fan Claudia Lin and her business (and maybe more) partner Becks run an exclusive small agency vetting online dating matches with help from their tech expert Squirrel. In this "excellent" (Kirkus Reviews) follow-up to The Verifiers, they also again investigate a murder after a client dies and it seems to be related to online dating services secretly using AI for nefarious reasons. Read-alike: L.M. Chilton's Swiped.


-------Rough Pages
by Lev AC Rosen

In his atmospheric 3rd outing, Andy Mills, an ex-cop turned PI in 1953 San Francisco, tries to figure out what happened to two bookstore owners who've disappeared along with the list of subscribers to their gay book service. When a murder occurs, the stakes go up, and Andy suspects the mafia is involved. Read-alikes: John Copenhaver's Nightingale novels; Stephen Spotswood's Pentecost and Parker novels.


----------Deadly Animals
by Marie Tierney

In 1981 South Birmingham, England, precocious 14-year-old Ava Bonney often sneaks out at night to study decaying roadkill at her amateur body farm. One evening, she finds the dumped body of a teen boy and anonymously phones it in. The cops investigate, and Ava does, too, but then another boy goes missing. Fans of Minette Walters and Mo Hayder will want to read this "dark, twisted" (Booklist) debut and series starter.

----------Bright I Burn
by Molly Aitken

Alice Kyteler grows up in medieval Ireland, where, despite being a woman, she inherits and grows her father's businesses...and then marries and buries multiple husbands (some in suspicious circumstances). Savvy Alice, who's based on the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Ireland, narrates this lyrical tale. Read-alikes: Tidelands by Philippa Gregory; Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier.



---------The Sunflower House
by Adriana Allegri

After the dying uncle who raised her shares that her mother was Jewish, Allina Gottlieb hides her heritage to survive. Even so, she's assaulted by an SS officer and forced to work as a nurse in a Nazi eugenics program, where she meets and grows close to another SS officer, one with his own deadly secret. This debut will please fans of well-researched, immersive World War II novels like those by Jennifer Chiaverini and Heather Morris.



----------Pearly Everlasting
by Tammy Armstrong

In a 1920 Canadian logging camp, Pearly Everlasting is born, and her parents also take in an orphaned bear cub, Bruno, raising the duo as siblings. In the 1930s, a new camp boss causes trouble for Bruno, and he's sold off. But Pearly goes after him, even though it means heading alone to places she's never been. This atmospheric novel by an award-winning poet is "warmly enchanting" (Kirkus Reviews).



---------The Fabled Earth
by Kimberly Brock

Set on Georgia's Cumberland Island, this evocative dual-timeline tale takes place in 1932, when a society party ends with two dead, and in 1959, when painter Cleo Woodbine, an attendee at the earlier gala, is pulled out of her shell by two women, including the daughter of the outsider socialite who was once her rival. Fans of sweeping stories with coastal settings and bits of mystery and magical realism will like this.



------------A Kid from Marlboro Road
by Edward Burns

In 1970s Long Island, 12-year-old aspiring writer Kneeney's summer involves fishing, speaking at his beloved grandfather's wake, and worrying about his sad mother. This debut novel from actor-filmmaker Edward Burns mines his Irish Catholic upbringing to produce "an endearing and insightful coming-of-age story" (Kirkus Reviews). Read-alikes: Jacqueline Woodson's Another Brooklyn; Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.



----------The Booklover's Library
by Madeline Martin

In World War II-era Nottingham, England, widowed Emma needs money and manages to find a job at Boots' Booklover's Library. Due to rules about widows and married women working, she pretends to be single and acts as if her beloved daughter is her sister. As the Blitz worsens, she sends her daughter to the country and finds hope in friends and the power of books and reading. Read-alikes: Jennifer Ryan's The Underground Library; Annie Lyons' The Air Raid Book Club.



----------Queen Macbeth
by Val McDermid

This "love letter to Scotland" (Kirkus Reviews) reimagines Shakespeare's Macbeth through the eyes of Lady Macbeth. As she and her ladies-in-waiting are on the run from rivals, she recalls her marriages, her time as queen, and her son's rise to power. At less than 150 pages, this novel is perfect for fans of historical fiction retellings who like quick reads. Read-alikes: Ava Reid's Lady Macbeth or Joel H. Morris' All Our Yesterdays.



----------The Stone Witch of Florence
by Anna Rasche

Ginevra di Gasparo uses ancient gemstone magic to heal others but is accused of witchcraft and expelled from medieval Florence. But when a thief steals precious church relics during the Black Plague, she's asked to return and help solve the crimes. Written by a gemologist and jewelry historian, this debut blends historical fiction and fantasy and will appeal to fans of Leigh Bardugo's The Familiar and M.T. Anderson's Nicked.



---------The Restless Wave
by James Stavridis

Working-class Floridian Scott Bradley James loves the ocean and graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1941. He survives Pearl Harbor and plays roles in other battles, including Midway, while navigating ambition, romance, and guilt. Anchored with real people (Ernest Hemingway, Lt. Cmdr. Wade McClusky, and others), this coming-of-age novel by a retired admiral is a gripping series starter.



----------Polostan
by Neal Stephenson

Born in 1916, Dawn Rae Bjornberg is raised in Montana by anarchist cowboy relatives and in Russia, where her Leninist father lives. Making her own way as a teen, she sees Depression-era America, the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, the beginnings of the Soviet Union, and then gets mixed up with the KGB. Intricately plotted, this 1st Bomb Light novel is "tremendously entertaining...a glorious achievement from a unique and compelling writer" (Booklist).

Alias Reader wrote: "


------ The Gardener's Plot
by Deborah J. Benoit

In this award-winning debut novel, widowed young writer Maggie Walker moves home to western Massachusetts, buys her recently deceased grandmother..."

Pony Confidential—Christina Lynch, an old horse as detective/avenger? LOL!

Thanks for the list, Alias

Alias Reader wrote: .."

Queen Macbeth—Val McDermid. Sounds intriguing. Neat premise. I appreciate the other titles, as well, Alias. Thank you.

madrano wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "


------ The Gardener's Plot
by Deborah J. Benoit

In this award-winning debut novel, widowed young writer Maggie Walker moves home to western Massachusetts, buys her recently..."

This is an old book: a flock of sheep investigates into the murder of their shepherd

Three Bags Full

I'm glad you enjoyed the list. I hope you find some gems.

Sophie wrote: "This is an old book: a flock of sheep investigates into the murder of their shepherd

Three Bags Full
..."

It seems like this is a reoccurring plot ! :)

LOL, Sophie. Clever, fun idea. Thanks for the title.

History & Current events



------The Basketball 100: The Story of the Greatest Players in NBA History
by David Aldridge & John Hollinger (editors), with The Athletic NBA staff

Aided by commentary from 40 writers of The Athletic, award-winning sports reporters David Aldridge and John Hollinger co-edited this engaging ode to basketball excellence, offering profiles and rankings of the 100 greatest players in the history of the NBA. For fans of: Why We Love Football: A History in 100 Moments by Joe Posnanski.


------Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future
by Vince Beiser

In this disturbing and incisive study, award-winning journalist Vince Beiser (The World in a Grain) examines the human and environmental toll of mining metals used for digital technology. Further reading: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara; The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives by Ernest Scheyder.



-----Trial by Ambush: Murder, Injustice, and the Truth About the Case of Barbara Graham
by Marcia Clark

Marcia Clark, the former lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, examines the little-known 1953 home invasion and murder of 64-year-old California widow Mabel Monahan in this "masterful" (Publishers Weekly) true crime tale. Try this next: A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton by Deb Miller Landau.



------Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way into Our Hearts
by Jeremy Egner

New York Times television editor Jeremy Egner's feel-good oral history chronicles the production of the Emmy Award-winning series Ted Lasso, featuring illuminating interviews with the show's cast and crew. For fans of: Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation by Jim O'Heir; The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History by Andy Greene.



-------The Icon & the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought...
by Stephanie Gorton

Journalist Stephanie Gorton's (Citizen Reporters) well-researched history chronicles the feud between feminists Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett, whose conflicting views of birth control access spurred heated debates in early 20th-century America. Further reading: The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship, and Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age by Amy Sohn.



------Cabinet of Curiosities: A Historical Tour of the Unbelievable, the Unsettling, and the Bizarre
by Aaron Mahnke with Harry Marks

Aaron Mahnke adapts his popular Cabinet of Curiosities podcast with this engaging collection of stranger-than-fiction stories from throughout history. For fans of: When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain: History's Unknown Chapters by Giles Milton.



-------How to Think Like Socrates: Ancient Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Modern...
by Donald J. Robertson

Psychotherapist Donald J. Robertson's accessible and incisive follow-up to How to Think Like a Roman Emperor explores the parallels between Socrates' philosophical principles and modern ways of thinking. Further reading: Reasons Not to Worry: How to Be Stoic in Chaotic Times by Brigid Delaney; Aristotle's Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life by Edith Hall.



------ Box Office Poison
by Tim Robey

Film critic Tim Robey's sweeping and lively history surveys a century of Hollywood's big screen failures, offering a "surefire hit for movie lovers" (Library Journal). For fans of: My Year of Flops, the A.V. Club Presents One Man's Journey Deep into the Heart of Cinematic Failure by Nathan Rabin.

------ A Very Bad Thing
by J.T. Ellison

Renowned author Columbia Jones collapses and is later found dead at her book tour, leaving her daughter and fans in shock. Though initially baffled, police soon uncover dark secrets from her past, exposing multiple motives for her murder. As a relentless reporter and detective dig deeper, her hidden truths risk destroying more lives.



----- Karla's Choice
by Nick Harkaway

In 1963, George Smiley has stepped away from espionage, seeking a quiet life. Yet a Russian defector’s mysterious case pulls him back into the shadows. Written pseudonymously by John le Carré’s son, this novel, set between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, revives le Carré’s iconic spy world.



------ The Boyfriend
by Freida McFadden

After a string of terrible dates, Sydney Shaw finally meets her ideal man -- a charming doctor. But when a young woman is murdered, part of a series of coast-wide killings by a man who dates his victims, Sydney grows uneasy, suspecting her “perfect” boyfriend might be more dangerous than he seems.



----- Prey
by Hilary Norman

In this dual timeline thriller, two women fight for survival against a ruthless killer. In 1941 London, Harriet Yorke manages Calla House during the Blitz, but a chance encounter with a murderer sets off deadly events. In 2019, Libby, living in the same house, uncovers haunting connections to Harriet’s past.



----- Flint Kill Creek: Stories of Mystery and Suspense
by Joyce Carol Oates

In this unsettling but "grimly satisfying collection" (Publishers Weekly), Joyce Carol Oates explores the dark dynamics of dysfunctional relationships. From anxious mothers to jealous colleagues, her characters face tension, violence, and horror in ordinary settings. Oates’s precise prose delves into the macabre, with each story revealing the disturbing closeness between love and hate.



------ You Have Gone Too Far
by Carlene O'Connor

In O’Connor’s chilling 3rd Dimpna Wilde mystery, a violent cult leader, Cahal Mackey, returns to Dingle after serving time for lesser charges. Decades ago, Mackey terrorized the town, and now, with new murders and abductions, Dimpna helps detectives with their investigation, uncovering dark truths in a gripping, atmospheric tale.



------ To the Kennels: And Other Stories
by Hye-Young Pyun

A series of unsettling, surreal stories by Shirley Jackson Award winner Hye-Young Pyun explore themes of anxiety, alienation, and dark surprises. From disappearing elephants to a foggy drive through hell, Pyun blends psychological suspense with Kafkaesque elements, creating a chilling reflection on contemporary life and hidden fears.



------- The President's Lawyer
by Lawrence Robbins

In this high-stakes legal thriller, veteran DC litigator Rob Jacobson is tasked with defending his childhood best friend, a former U.S. president, accused of murdering his mistress. As Rob delves deeper into the case, his growing doubts make him question whether his friend is guilty or if something more sinister is at play.



------- This Cursed House
by Del Sandeen

Sandeen’s gothic debut takes readers to 1960s New Orleans, where Jemma Barker, a young Black woman, flees her past and takes a job with the mysterious Duchon family. Upon discovering their curse, Jemma becomes their last hope. Blending supernatural suspense with complex themes of race and family, Sandeen offers a fresh, atmospheric take on gothic horror.



------- The Undercurrent
by Sarah Sawyer

A new mother battling postpartum depression becomes fixated on the unsolved disappearance of a girl from her Texas hometown. Returning to her childhood home, she uncovers long-buried family secrets while grappling with the complexities of motherhood, obsession, and broken relationships in this compelling, multi-perspective mystery.

------ Villa E
by Jane Alison

A 1920s modernist masterpiece house in the French Riviera connects two architects: Irish designer Eileen Gray, who created it, and famed Swiss artist Le Grand (based on Le Corbusier), who's obsessed with it. Taking place over a week in the 1960s and told from the perspectives of both artists, this complex novelization of real events explores art, envy, arrogance, and more.



------ The Most
by Jessica Anthony

On a warm November Sunday in 1957, Kathleen Beckett, who gave up going pro in tennis to get married and have kids, enters her Delaware apartment complex pool and refuses to come out. As she ponders her past and her options, her husband does the same while trying to get her to leave the water. Alternating viewpoints as the hours progress, this atmospheric novella examines a marriage awash with secrets.



------ The Instrumentalist
by Harriet Constable

In the early 1700s, real-life composer and musician Anna Maria della Pietà grows up in a Venetian orphanage where music is paramount. Taking up the violin, the determined young prodigy studies under famed composer Antonio Vivaldi, who takes credit for some of her work in this immersive debut with a feminist flourish. Read-alikes: Tracy Chevalier's The Glassmaker; Alyssa Palombo's The Assassin of Venice.



------ The Naturalist's Daughter
by Tea Cooper

In 1808 Australia, Rose Winton assists her naturalist father who's studying the platypus. When he's injured, Rose goes to England to present his work and is stunned by something she learns. In 1908, Sydney librarian Tamsin Alleyn digs into the history behind a donated sketchbook that might change her own life. This evocative novel effectively mixes science and history with bits of romance and mystery. Read-alike: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert.



------ The Unicorn Woman
by Gayl Jones

In the early 1950s, Black World War II veteran Buddy Ray Guy has trouble readjusting to life in the Jim Crow South and ponders his past, including his time in France. While traveling around, he also meets a fascinating array of people and looks for the carnival performer known as the Unicorn Woman, whom he saw once and has never forgotten. Read-alike: Mudbound by Hillary Jordan; Home by Toni Morrison.



------ Maria
by Michelle Moran

In 1950s New York, Oscar Hammerstein works on what will be his last musical, based on the life of Maria von Trapp. But when Maria sees the script, she's so unhappy she goes to his office. With Hammerstein unavailable, she tells his secretary her real story, and they become unlikely friends in this immersive novel based on the creation of The Sound of Music. Read-alike: A Tender Thing by Emily Neuberger.



------ 54 Miles
by Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement in March 1965, biracial Adam leaves college to go to his parents' home state of Alabama and take part in the march from Selma to Montgomery. After Adam is injured, his uncle comes to check on him, as does his mother, but each are ravaged by horrible memories. Fans of Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s The Last Thing You Surrender, set 20 years earlier, will recognize some characters, but newcomers can still start here.



------- The Paris Gown
by Christine Wells

Three young women meet in 1950 Paris: Claire, a Parisian who dreams of being a chef; Gina, a wealthy American who wants to write a novel; and Margot, a bubbly Australian whose family has sent her to Europe for refinement. Circumstances find them all in Paris again in 1956, and a Christian Dior gown draws them together in this charming novel about friendship and fashion. Read-alikes: The Last Dress from Paris by Jade Beer; The Ball at Versailles at Danielle Steel.

------ Haunted Ever After
by Jen DeLuca

Newly arrived in haunted Boneyard Key, Florida, Cassie Rutherford teams up with local coffee shop owner Nick Royer to investigate the seaside town's spirited history. Well Met author Jen DeLuca's feel-good foray into paranormal romance offers plenty of atmosphere without the scares. Try this next: Haunt Your Heart Out by Amber Roberts.



------ 'Til Heist Do Us Part
by Sara Desai

A year after stealing a multimillion-dollar diamond necklace from mafia boss Joseph Angelini, Simi Chopra and her crew (including ex-boyfriend Jack Danger) are tasked with returning it, plus interest -- or else. Sara Desai ups the stakes in the funny and action-packed sequel to To Have and To Heist. Try this next: Jewel Me Twice by Charish Reid.



------ Magical Meet Cute
by Jean Meltzer

Shaken by the sudden appearance of antisemitic flyers in her Woodstock, New York neighborhood, Jewish witch Faye Kaplan creates a clay golem of her dream guy. The next morning, she accidentally hits a man while riding her bike -- a man who looks suspiciously like her golem. Jean Meltzer's page-turning blend of romance and magical realism tackles real-world issues with humor and heart. For fans of: Dream On by Angie Hockman.



------- The Break-Up Pact
by Emma Lord

After their respective humiliating breakups go viral, estranged childhood best friends June Hart and Levi Shaw parlay their newfound internet fame into a fake relationship that they hope will boost their profiles (for good this time). YA author Emma Lord's (The Getaway List) slow-burn adult debut features well-developed characters whose fake relationship is threatened by their real feelings. For fans of: Unrealistic Expectations by Andie J. Christopher; The Rule Book by Sarah Adams.



------ Frequent Fliers
by Noué Kirwan

Roped into helping plan her cousin's wedding to her own longtime crush, Lanie Turner crosses paths with fellow frequent flier, medical researcher Ridley Aronsen, during her transatlantic travels. Sparks fly -- but will the pair's relationship take off or stay grounded? Noué Kirwan's leisurely paced and character-driven follow-up to Long Past Summer is a Library Journal Romance Pick and Amazon Editors' Pick for Best Romance. Try this next: Maya's Laws of Love by Alina Khawaja.


************ Focus on: Paranormal Romance ***********


----- Wings Once Cursed & Bound
by Piper J. Drake

Set in Seattle, this 1st book in the Mythwoven urban fantasy/romance series stars Thai American dancer Peeraphan "Punch" Rahttana, who conceals her kinnaree heritage from the humans around her; and vampire Bennett Andrews, a member of a supernatural secret society that tracks down magical artifacts, such as the cursed red shoes that Punch is currently wearing. For fans of: Sarah J. Maas.



------- The Fake Mate
by Lana Ferguson

Doctors and wolf shifters Mackenzie Carter and Noah Taylor's fake dating scheme backfires when they find their animal urges too strong to resist in Lana Ferguson's steamy romance that playfully draws on Omegaverse fanfiction tropes. For fans of: Bride by Ali Hazelwood.



------- Payback's a Witch
by Lana Harper

Lana Harper's revenge-tinged fantasy stars witch Emmy Harlow, who returns to her hometown and comes into her own powers with the help of Talia Avramov, with whom she shares an unexpected but growing attraction. Payback's a Witch kicks off the high-drama and evocative Witches of Thistle Grove series; the most recent entry, Rise and Divine, was published in August. Try this next: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna.



-------- My Roommate Is a Vampire
by Jenna Levine

For the too-good-to-be-true monthly rent of $200, Chicago-based artist Cassie Greenberg is willing to risk getting murdered by her handsome and deeply eccentric Craigslist roommate, vampire Frederick J. Fitzwilliam. For fans of: Ashley Poston's The Seven Year Slip.



------- Hunt on Dark Waters
by Katee Robert

After stealing from her vampire hookup and escaping through a portal to the realm of Threshold, witch Evelyn is rescued by a band of monster-hunting interdimensional pirates led by the telekinetic Captain Bowen. This "swashbuckling romantasy" (Publishers Weekly) marks the opening installment of the Crimson Sails series by the author of the bestselling Neon Gods books. Try this next: The Bright and Breaking Sea by Chloe Neill.

-----All the Birds in the Sky
Anders, Charlie Jane
Childhood friends Patricia Delfine, a witch, and Laurence Armstead, a mad scientist, parted ways under mysterious circumstances during middle school. But as adults they both wind up in near-future San Francisco, where Laurence is an engineering genius and Patricia works with a small band of other magicians to secretly repair the world’s ever growing ailments. But something is determined to bring them back together—to either save the world, or end it.

-----The Windup Girl
Bacigalupi, Paolo
What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits? And what happens when this forces humanity to the cusp of post-human evolution? This is a tale of Bangkok struggling for survival in a post-oil era of rising sea levels and out-of-control mutation.

-----Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight
Bodard, Aliette de
A major first collection from a writer fast becoming one of the stars of the genre... Aliette de Bodard, multiple award winner and author of The Tea Master and the Detective, now brings readers fourteen dazzling tales that showcase the richly textured worldbuilding and beloved characters that have brought her so much acclaim.Come discover the breadth and endless invention of her universes, ranging from a dark Gothic Paris devastated by a magical war; to the multiple award-winning Xuya, a far-future space opera inspired by Vietnamese culture where scholars administrate planets and sentient spaceships are part of families.

-----Lilith's Brood
Butler, Octavia E.
All of humanity must share the world with uncanny, unimaginable alien creatures after war destroys Earth, in an omnibus edition containing three classic science fiction novels--Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago. The acclaimed trilogy that comprises Lilith's Brood is multiple Hugo and Nebula award-winner Octavia E. Butler at her best. Presented for the first time in one volume, with an introduction by Joan Slonczewski, Ph.D. Humanity has been destroyed and centuries later is resurrected by a mysterious people known as the Oankali. How will these two cultures survive together to rebuild a world.

-----The Galaxy, and the Ground Within
Chambers, Becky
With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The only thing it has going for it is a chance proximity to more popular worlds, making it a decent stopover for ships traveling between the wormholes that keep the Galactic Commons connected. If deep space is a highway, Gora is just your average truck stop.

-----Exhalation
Chiang, Ted
In these nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories, Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.

-----Leviathan Wakes
Corey, James S. A.
Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach. Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

-----Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K.
By 2021, the World War has killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remain covet any living creature, and for people who can’t afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacra: horses, birds, cats, sheep. They’ve even built humans. Immigrants to Mars receive androids so sophisticated they are indistinguishable from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans can wreak, the government bans them from Earth. Driven into hiding, unauthorized androids live among human beings, undetected. Rick Deckard, an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, is commissioned to find rogue androids and “retire” them. But when cornered, androids fight back—with lethal force.

-----American War
El Akkad, Omar
An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle--a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself.

-----This Is How You Lose the Time War
El-Mohtar, Amal and Max Gladstone
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future. Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them.

------Solitaire
Eskridge, Kelley
Jackal Segura is a Hope: born to responsibility and privilege as a symbol of a fledgling world government. Soon she'll become part of the global adminstration, sponsored by the huge corporation that house, feeds, employs and protects everyone she loves. Then, just as she discovers that everything she knows is a lie, she becomes a pariah, a murderer: a person with no community and no future. Grief-stricken and alone, she is put into a experimental program designed to inflict the experience of years of solitary confinefinement in a few short months; virtual confinement in a sealed cell within her own mind. Afterward branded and despised, she returns to a world she no longer knows. Struggling to make her way, she has a chance to rediscover her life, her love, and her soul--in a strange place of shattered hopes and new beginnings called Solitaire.

-----Tears of the Trufflepig
Flores, Fernando A.
A surreal debut novel set on the Texas-Mexico border, blending magical realism, sci-fi, and political parable to tell the story of an everyday man's tumble into a bizarre and sinister criminal underworld.

-----Ammonite
Griffith, Nicola
Change or die. These are the only options available on planet Jeep. Centuries earlier, a deadly virus shattered the original colony, killing the men and forever altering the few surviving women. Now, generations after the colony lost touch with the rest of humanity, a company arrives to exploit Jeep—and its forces find themselves fighting for their lives. Terrified of spreading the virus, the company abandons its employees, leaving them afraid and isolated from the natives. In the face of this crisis, anthropologist Marghe Taishan arrives to test a new vaccine. As she risks death to uncover the women’s biological secret, she finds that she too is changing—and realizes that not only has she found a home on Jeep, but that she alone carries the seeds of its destruction...Ammonite is an unforgettable novel that questions the very meanings of gender and humanity. As readers share in Marghe’s journey through an alien world, they too embark on a parallel journey of fascinating self-exploration.

-----Brown Girl in the Ring
Hopkinson, Nalo
The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways-farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.

----The Fifth Season
Jemisin, N. K.
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, masquerading as an ordinary schoolteacher in a quiet small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Mighty Sanze, the empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years, collapses as its greatest city is destroyed by a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heartland of the world's sole continent, a great red rift has been been torn which spews ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries. But this is the Stillness, a land long familiar with struggle, and where orogenes -- those who wield the power of the earth as a weapon -- are feared far more than the long cold night. Essun has remembered herself, and she will have her daughter back. She does not care if the world falls apart around her. Essun will break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.

-----Spaceman of Bohemia
Kalfar, Jaroslav
When Jakub Procha is sent into space to examine a cosmic dust cloud covering Venus, it may be a solo suicide mission. Dreaming of becoming a national hero and desperate to atone for his father's sins as a Communist informer, he leaves his beloved wife behind and launches into the galaxy. But things aboard spaceship JanHus1 quickly turn weird, and, to make matters worse, he soon learns that his wife has disappeared without a trace back on Earth. As his spaceship hurtles toward an unknown danger and his sanity wavers, Jakub encounters an unlikely fellow passenger -- a giant alien spider. He and his strange arachnid companion form an unlikely bond over late-night refrigerator encounters, where they talk philosophy, love, life, death, and the incomprehensible deliciousness of bacon. But when their mission is thrown into crisis by secret Russian rivals, Jakub is forced to make violent decisions -- recalling the tortured past and dark political heritage he's buried -- in a desperate quest to return to his Earthly life. Packed with nail-biting thrills, exuberant heart, and surprising and absurd humor in the lineage of Kafka and Vonnegut, Spaceman of Bohemia offers an extraordinary vision of the endless human capacity to persist -- and risk everything -- in the name of love and home.

-----The Calculating Stars
Kowal, Mary Robinette
On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process. Elma York's experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition's attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn't take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can't go into space, too. Elma's drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.

-------The Space Between Worlds
Johnson, Micaiah
A multiverse-hopping outsider discovers a secret that threatens her home world and her fragile place in it-a stunning sci-fi debut that's both a cross-dimensional adventure and a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging. CARA IS DEAD ON THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR WORLDS. The multiverse business is booming, but there's just one catch: no one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying-from diseases, from turf wars, from vendettas they couldn't outrun. But on this earth, Cara's survived. And she's reaping the benefits, thanks to the well-heeled Wiley City scientists who ID'd her as an outlier and plucked her from the dirt. Now she's got a new job collecting offworld data, a path to citizenship, and a near-perfect Wiley City accent. Now she can pretend she's always lived in the city she grew up staring at from the outside, even if she feels like a fraud on either side of its walls. But when one of her eight remaining doppelgangers dies under mysterious circumstances, Cara is plunged into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and future in ways she never could have imagined-and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world, but the entire multiverse.

--------The Dispossessed: A Novel
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Shevek, a brilliant physicist from the anarchist moon Anarres, risks his life by traveling to the mother planet of Urras in the hope of offering wisdom to its inhabitants and to reunite the two long-alienated worlds.

------The Left Hand of Darkness
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Le Guin's Hainish series begins with the assumption that centuries ago humanoids from the planet Hain ventured through the solar system establishing colonies on various planets including Earth. For mysterious reasons these colonies lose all contact and knowledge of each other until the 21st century when an attempt is made to establish a galactic league. Individual stories in this loosely organized series explore the inherent communication difficulties in the mingling and clash of cultures that, over the centuries of separation, have developed widely disparate social and political structures as well as a range of biological differences.

---------Ancillary Justice
Leckie, Ann
Now isolated in a single frail human body, Breq, an artificial intelligence that used to control of a massive starship and its crew of soldiers, tries to adjust to her new humanity while seeking vengeance and answers to her questions.

----Ninefox Gambit
Lee, Yoon Ha
Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris's career isn't the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next. Cheris's best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress. The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao--because she might be his next victim.

----The Three-Body Problem
Liu, Cixin
With the scope of Dune and the commercial action of Independence Day, this near-future trilogy is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience this multple-award-winning phenemonenon from China's most beloved science fiction author. Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

-----Severance
Ma, Ling
Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies halt operations. The subways squeak to a halt. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.

--------Station Eleven: A Novel
Mandel, Emily St. John
An audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame, and ambition set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, from the author of three highly acclaimed previous novels. One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time-from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains-this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet. Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

-----A Memory Called Empire
Martine, Arkady
During a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court, Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident--or that Mahit might be next to die. Now Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion--all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret--one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life--or rescue it from annihilation.

---------The City & The City
Miéville, China
When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he investigates, the evidence points to conspiracies far stranger and more deadly than anything he could have imagined.


------Blue Light
Mosley, Walter
San Francisco in the mid 1960s is already a crazy place when a cosmic blue light randomly strikes people in its path, quickening their DNA and enhancing their strengths. Under blue light nothing remains the same.

-----Gideon the Ninth
Muir, Tamsyn
Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit. Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, she is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection. Without Gideon's sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die. Of course, some things are better left dead.

----------Infomocracy
Older, Malka
It's been twenty years and two election cycles since Information, a powerful search engine monopoly, pioneered the switch from warring nation-states to global micro-democracy. The corporate coalition party Heritage has won the last two elections. With another election on the horizon, the Supermajority is in tight contention, and everything's on the line.

--------Moon of the Crusted Snow: A Novel
Rice, Waubgeshig
A daring post-apocalyptic novel from a powerful rising literary voice. With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, people become passive and confused. Panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. Soon after, others follow. The community leadearship loses its grip on power as the visitors manipulate the tired and hungry to take control of the reserve. Tensions rise and, as the months pass, so does the death toll due to sickness and despair. Frustrated by the building chaos, a group of young friends and their families turn to the land and Anishinaabe tradition in hopes of helping their community thrive again. Guided through the chaos by an unlikely leader named Evan Whitesky, they endeavor to restore order while grappling with a grave decision. Blending action and allegory, Moon of the Crusted Snow upends our expectations. Out of catastrophe comes resilience. And as one society collapses, another is reborn.

------The Sparrow
Russell, Mary Doria
In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be human.

-------Contact
Sagan, Carl
Astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway receives an encrypted message, apparently from a solar system many light-years away.

----------Lock In
Scalzi, John
Fifteen years from now, a new virus sweeps the globe. 95% of those afflicted experience nothing worse than fever and headaches. Four percent suffer acute meningitis, creating the largest medical crisis in history. And one percent find themselves "locked in"--fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. One per cent doesn't seem like a lot. But in the United States, that's 1.7 million people "locked in"...including the President's wife and daughter. Spurred by grief and the sheer magnitude of the suffering, America undertakes a massive scientific initiative. Nothing can restore the ability to control their own bodies to the locked in. But then two new technologies emerge. One is a virtual-reality environment, "The Agora," in which the locked-in can interact with other humans, both locked-in and not. The other is the discovery that a few rare individuals have brains that are receptive to being controlled by others, meaning that from time to time, those who are locked in can "ride" these people and use their bodies as if they were their own. This skill is quickly regulated, licensed, bonded, and controlled. Nothing can go wrong. Certainly nobody would be tempted to misuse it, for murder, for political power, or worse....John Scalzi's Lock In is a novel of our near future, from one of the most popular authors in modern science fiction.

----The Last Policeman
Winters, Ben H.
When the Earth is doomed by an imminent and unavoidable asteroid collision, New Hampshire homicide detective Hank Palace considers the worth of his job in a world destined to end in six months and investigates a suspicious suicide that nobody else cares about.

Alias Reader wrote: "
History & Current events



------The Basketball 100: The Story of the Greatest Players in NBA History
by David Aldridge & John Hollinger (editors), with The Athletic NBA staff

Aided by commentar..."

You dropped a load of books on us, Alias! In this group, i marvel that some of them got published. For instance, How to Think Like Socrates: Ancient Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Modern World--Donald J. Robertson. Wasn't he the one who questioned? That was it? Logic, follow through, and on. ANYway, i'm sure folks will buy & read it. Maybe i'm too old for this one.

But then there is the Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way into Our Hearts. I'm too old for that, too.

It sounds as though i do not appreciate this post, but i do. It's instructive. Mood? Time for Deb to stop typing?

Alias Reader wrote: "


------ A Very Bad Thing
by J.T. Ellison..."

Thanks for these, Alias. While not my genre, i sometimes find myself there.

I'm intrigued with Karla's Choice--Nick Harkaway simply because he is John Le Carré's son, apparently assuming Smiley's life depictions.

and

The Undercurrent--Sarah Sawyer offers an unusual way to overcome post-partum depression, solving a cold case. Worse, in Texas.

madrano wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "
History & Current events

-You dropped a load of books on us, Alias! In this group, i marvel that some of them got published. For instance, How to Think Like Socrates: Ancient Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Modern World--Donald J. Robertson. Wasn't he the one who questioned? That was it? Logic, follow through, and on. ANYway, i'm sure folks will buy & read it. Maybe i'm too old for this one."

LOL.... It's one I added to my TBR notebook.

Alias Reader wrote: "

------ Villa E
by Jane Alison..."

As it happens, i read The Most--Jessica Anthony. I guess i didn't think of it as historical fiction but i can see why. Regardless, i rather liked the book, although (view spoiler)[even at the end, it's unclear what happened/why today (hide spoiler)]. The premise is a married mother, who skips church with her family to enter the apartment swimming pool. And, basically, refuses to get out.

Nice list, Alias. Thank you.

Alias Reader wrote: "

------ Haunted Ever After
by Jen DeLuca

Newly arrived in haunted Boneyard Key, Florida, Cassie Rutherford teams up with local coffee shop owner Nick Royer to investigate the seaside town's spiri..."

I am constantly dismayed at the variety of romance novels and the predicaments depicted. None call to me but i like reading the bits you share, Alias. Thanks.

Alias Reader wrote: "

-----All the Birds in the Sky
Anders, Charlie Jane
Childhood friends Patricia Delfine, a witch, and Laurence Armstead, a mad scientist, parted ways under mysterious circumstances during middle sc..."

Fan of this genre that i am, i draw the line at paranormal, witches and such. They are terrific fodder, i know, they just don't call to me in my advanced years. Several of the plots sound tempting. I wanted to say that Philip K Dick's Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?: The inspiration behind Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 was tough for me, both times i began reading it. So, still on my TBR, mostly due to the film, Blade Runner.

I have read The Calculating Stars--Mary Robinette Kowal. It is one of those alternative history SF novels, which was intriguing. However, by the end i realized it was a series and knew i was finished with the story. Still, it was neat and i believe others might enjoy it. Actually, i think Shomeret read & liked it, which is where i heard about it enough to read.

Alias Reader wrote: "

-------The Space Between Worlds
Johnson, Micaiah
A multiverse-hopping outsider discovers a secret that threatens her home world and her fragile place in it-a stunning sci-fi debut that's both a c..."
Thanks for the lists. I haven't had time to go through all of them but I will and undoubtedly my TBR will grow.

madrano wrote:

The premise is a married mother, who skips church with her family to enter the apartment swimming pool. And, basically, refuses to get out."

LOL

You're welcome. I hope a few call to you and land on your TBR.

A few that I recently added to my TBR were from BookTuber recommendations.

The reviewer said the audio was good, too.

All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle
If you loved A Man Called Ove, then prepare to be delighted as Jamaican immigrant Hubert rediscovers the world he'd turned his back on this "warm, funny" novel (Good Housekeeping).

In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship, and fulfillment. But it's a lie. In reality, Hubert's days are all the same, dragging on without him seeing a single soul.

Until he receives some good news—good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on. The news that his daughter is coming for a visit.

Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out.
Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship, and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all . . .

Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird. But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows, will he ever get to live the life he's pretended to have for so long?

--------------

This isn't my usual go to genre. However, the reviewer said the audio was very good.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady—ah, lady of a certain age—who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to.

Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing—a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn’t know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer.

What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?

Alias Reader wrote: "

-------The Space Between Worlds
Johnson, Micaiah
A multiverse-hopping outsider discovers a secret that threatens her home world and her fragile place in it-a stunning sci-fi debut that's both a c..."

This post is full of SF which either call to me, have been on my TBR awhile, or i've already read. It's fun to relive a book, so to speak, from someone else's descriptions. I didn't recognize The City & the City--China Miéville from the description. It is a most thoughtful novel, once one realizes what's going on. (view spoiler)[Basically, a populations shares the same space at the same time & dimension, which means citizens have been trained from birth on to "unsee" those who are not of their "city". Confused? Just go with it. (hide spoiler)] This one lingers in my brain because it can represent so much.

I read and didn't understand much of The Three-Body Problem--Liu Cixin. I tried watching the series version & was even more lost, as i didn't envision what i was seeing at all. On my Challenge, i intended to reread this but am now not sure i will. It needs my full concentration, which is fractured at present. I liked the premise of the story, as i understood it, or i wouldn't give it so much thought & energy. Allow me to say that when Barbara wrote her review, i understood much more of the book, so i know there is hope. :-)

I read and enjoyed Station Eleven--Emily St. John Mandel, but found the series lacking...until the conclusion, at which point i understood why it was presented this way. My brother, who didn't read the book, loved the mini-series, so there's that.

I also liked The Left Hand of Darkness--Ursula K. Le Guin, although i don't remember it from the description given. Unfortunately it was such a long time ago that i read it, my notes are not on computer and, therefore, in our storage unit.

Moon of the Crusted Snow--Waubgeshig Rice was a very good post-apocalyptic novel. I relish such books for the way the "end" is presented. In this case, set on a Canadian reserve for Indigenous People, the understanding is slow because they are less reliant on technology. I see there is a sequel, which i have added to my TBR, Moon of the Turning Leaves.

I have added the following, from this post, Alias, making up for the dearth in the others. Rest assured, you've hooked me!

Contact--Carl Sagan Can you believe i haven't read this? Liked the film, though.

Severance--Ling Ma

The Last Policeman--Ben H. Winters. Post-apocalypse. Why would he care? Most eager for this one.

The Sparrow--Mary Doria Russell. For some reason, i thought this was a romance novel. Glad to know better.

Thank you, Dear Alias Reader!

You're welcome, deb.

Since we talked about Science fiction in another thread I thought I would add to your TBR Mountain.

:)

You thoughtful woman! And i mean that, btw, no tongue in cheek.

madrano wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "

-------The Space Between Worlds
Johnson, Micaiah
A multiverse-hopping outsider discovers a secret that threatens her home world and her fragile place in it-a stunning sci-fi ..."

I read The Sparrow years ago, and even I liked it, and I'm not a love of science fiction at all. Mary Doria Russell is a good writer. Her characters in the book are so human, so real. She's not strictly a science fiction writer and has written books on other topics that have been very well-received, though I believe The Sparrow has been her most popular book, and it was very good. She said she was going to write a sequel, but I don't know if she did. I do know she retired from even writing. I took a look at her Website not long ago.

Edit: She did write a sequel, Children of God and I knew that. I don't know why I forgot it momentarily. I suppose because I didn't read that one.

I am kind of interested in her book Epitaph, which is about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. I like Westerns, as do many Italians, but Cormac McCarthy can prove a little "too much" for the more sensitive among us, though I believe he's the more realistic...probably. I don't watch Westerns on TV, no interest there, but I do like to read them once in awhile. Right now, I have so many books waiting to be read, but don't know when I'll get to them all. As you know, I have a new baby, and I'm also working every chance I get with my own poetry, trying to put together a cycle of poems tied to the four seasons. There will be more than four poems, though. I've entered some of my poetry in contests. They don't pay much, with the exception of Bridport, which pays the poetry winner 5,000 pounds, but I'm not entering for financial gain. Poets aren't known for their lavish lifestyles. LOL

If you have Kindle Unlimited, I recommend you browse on Amazon. They are making more and more books available to Kindle Unlimited customers, especially those of us who don't need to read a book the day it comes out. Many other books are only 5.99 for Kindle Unlimited customers. I got a lot of "Ian Rutledge" books that way. I think a subscription is around $15 a month, but that's fine with me when I can stock my iPad with low-priced books I really want to read.

Bella (Kiki) wrote: 'm also working every chance I get with my own poetry, trying to put together a cycle of poems tied to the four seasons. There will be more than four poems, though. I've entered some of my poetry in contests. They don't pay much, with the exception of Bridport, which pays the poetry winner 5,000 pounds, but I'm not entering for financial gain. Poets aren't known for their lavish lifestyles. LOL
."

We are rooting for you, Bella ! Best of luck.

Bella (Kiki) wrote: "If you have Kindle Unlimited, I recommend you browse on Amazon. They are making more and more books available to Kindle Unlimited customers, especially those of us who don't need to read a book the..."

Yes. A person can look at the unlimited catalog before they join.

I would also note they also have a few audio books.

They have various plans. Family plan, individual plan etc.