I sat here for five minutes trying to sum up the things listed below, but my mind is drawing a blank. Little byproduct of the summer seasonal sads, probably. Anyway, here are things:
Voted this week. Quick question: Does Mamdani have a friend who is looking to relocate to Texas? I’d like Denton to experience how it feels to have Mamdani as mayor.
Every week, I make approximately 2,435 new plans for the plants in and around my home. This week, my favorite daydreams are thrifting small dishes to use as drip plates for pots and making mint ice cream out of the extravagance my plant has produced.
I have a Rec League. I love the unabashed sharing of things people love. It’s a nice brain break in the middle of the day.
I am very close to finishing my Libro.fm challenge for the year. The prompt that’s holding me up? “Plan or join an audiobook outing.” Because…why would I want to do that. I meant to listen to an audiobook during the last get-together of my local Silent Book Club, but I got overstimulated that day and ended up not going. Maybe I’ll try again. Or maybe I’ll include listening to an audiobook in my car. Technically, that’s an outing, in that it’s outside my home. It doesn’t say it has to be an outing with other people. It’s a stretch, but I may get desperate.
Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire by Don Martin (I love his description – “For kids who’ve found themselves on the wrong side of scripture but the right side of choir”)
Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders (narrated by Lisa Flanagan, Marisa Calin, and Sena Bryer) – Listen to an audiobook by a transgender author
Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa (narrated by Harrison Knights) – Listen to an audiobook by an LGBTQIA+ author
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – Reread your favorite book from high school
One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon – A novel written in a genre the author has never explored before (i.e., Yoon’s first adult novel/horror/mystery after writing YA romance/family)
No, it’s not about seeing how many mashed potatoes I can eat without suffering serious consequences (a challenge I would happily undertake). For fans of the Books Unbound Podcast, it’s about reading the books that have been on your TBR for a minute that you haven’t quite gotten to yet. Mashed potatoes are the perfect metaphor for how I feel about the books that hover near the top of the TBR. Saving the best for last, if you will. Like eating mashed potatoes after you’ve eaten everything else on your plate.
[Aside – I do not do that. Potatoes first. Sometimes, potatoes only. Sometimes, potatoes mixed with something else on the plate, even though that violates the one-food-at-a-time code. That’s just how excited I get about eating potatoes.]
I do not have leftover feelings about mashed potatoes. And I don’t have leftover feelings about any book I’ve listed on a TBR this year, either.
This month’s list is intentionally sparse (well, compared to my usual TBRs) to allow me to give some TLC to the books I’ve already planned but didn’t read yet because…
Someone else had them on hold at the library, or
I started them and then had to switch gears to finish a book club selection before we met and didn’t pick the original book back up, or
(most likely) I had 30+ books on my TBR for the month, and that’s not typically a reasonable expectation.
I incorporated most of my cozy reading plan for May into the summer months, but there are a few books that I had on hold at the library that became available recently. I’ll continue to read these throughout this month.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinnaman (also fulfills the Book Riot challenge “choose a prompt from a previous year” – specifically, “read a staff pick from an indie bookstore”)
I ordered the three curricula I’m tackling for this challenge so that the one that will take the longest to see progress on (i.e., learning organ) was started first. While that’s not going as quickly as I’d planned, I have made some progress. At this point, I’m still regaining flexibility/mobility in my fingers so that I can play keys more nimbly. We’ll add in feet later.
That skill will also help out with my second curriculum, which I’m easing into this month. My goal for this curriculum is to write a score (or a song) and upload a recording on Bandcamp. I already have a rough draft of a score that I’m excited to perform. This curriculum will include some readings on deep listening, experimental sound/music, and other related topics. I’m going to start with these:
I don’t have specific books for the May mini-challenges here yet, but I’m keeping an eye out for these prompts as I read. Extra challenge this month – the three May mini-challenges must be published in different decades.
May Mini 1 – A coffee shop scene
May Mini 2 – Character has a roommate
May Mini 3 – “I’ll be there for you.”
Libro.fm
OK, so I am burning through audiobooks these days. So I’m going to keep doing so with this challenge in mind. Books I should be able to finish by the end of the month:
This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page (narrated by Zadeiah Campbell-Davies) – Read a bookseller-recommended audiobook – this one has been recommended by so many people, and it finally became my turn on our library’s waitlist, and I finished and returned it within 24 hours. It’s so good. I concur with my librarian friend that this is the best book about books (and bookshops) that I’ve read in a long time. I enjoyed the audio, but I’m 100% going to buy the print copy because 1) book lists, and 2) I will definitely re-read it at some point.
The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd (narrated by Saskia Maarleveld) – Read an audiobook with a buddy. It was…fine. But Brenda also read it via audio to discuss at book club last night, so I’m counting it toward this prompt.
Flashlight by Susan Choi (narrated by Eunice Wong) – Plan or join an audiobook outing. I’m counting my Silent Book Club meetup this Sunday as an “audiobook outing.” I’m sure others will also be reading via audio, as this will free up our hands for food truck treats.
A Murder in Eight Cocktails by Kelly Mullen (narrated by Laurence Bouvard) – Read an audiobook from our New This Week podcast
The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende (narrated by Samantha Desz, Cynthia Farrell, Joy Osmanski, and Timothy Andrés Pabon) – Listen to an audiobook by a Latine author
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (narrated by Arian Moayed) – Listen to an audiobook by a South West Asian or North African author
I hope you get to read (and eat) some of your mashed potatoes, too!
Unpopular opinion – Spring is, objectively speaking, the very worst season. At least in Texas. But I imagine any place with trees or floral plant life is just unbearable right now.
So what does that leave? The desert? Desert people – how are you right now? Can you breathe? I’ve forgotten how it feels to be able to do that. Is it wonderful? I bet it’s wonderful.
The pollen is really pollening. My gray car has taken on a perpetual yellow tint, despite vigilant rinsing. I’m constantly drugged, and as they are providing no actual symptom relief, I’ve concluded the allergy meds are merely keeping me alive. I have a constant wheeze. It’s a miracle I can open my eyes wide enough to read print at all.
That must be why the audiobooks I read in March outnumbered the print books I read. For the first time ever. Incredible.
It’s National Poetry Month, though, so I’m going to power through with puffy, watery eyes to enjoy all the lovely collections I’ve planned. Print is always my preference with poetry.
[Disclaimer – I am a Bookshop.org affiliate – I get a cut of the sales from most of the links below.]
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler (I haven’t quite finished the previous ones in the series, so I’m going to have to read them OUT OF ORDER to get this one read by the time book club comes *melodramatically breaks out in hives*)
Game Changer by Rachel Reid (I just picked this up from the library yesterday, and it’s currently my top priority read – I’ve been waiting since February 16! I know I’ve pre-ordered the special editions that are coming out in October, but I am tempted to purchase regular copies so I can read them earlier.)
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (Still waiting. But I’m #2 instead of #14, which is where I started on the waitlist, so…pretty impressive, Denton HR fans!)
It’s National Poetry Month, and I’m going to celebrate not only by reading lots of poetry but also by learning more about how to write it well from some of my favorite poets.
Financial Feminist by Tori Dunlap – April Mini Challenge: Knock, knock: who’s there? (answers the question/describes a person)
Libro.fm
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (narrated by Adjoa Andoh) – Listen to an audiobook by a disabled author (Part of The Great Audio Reading Surge of March 2026. It’s so good! I’m excited to read the other two this month.)
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (narrated by Robert Sean Leonard) – Listen to a banned book (Another part of The Surge. I am glad I didn’t read this as a child. I was way too sensitive to have been able to handle this then. It was almost too much for Adult Me to try to listen to during lunch and while driving. There was ugly crying involved.)
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab – Listen to a Libro.fm staff pick (Also read in March. While I liked Schwab’s series – Shades of Magic and Villains, specifically – better, it was a solid read, and the audio was fantastic.)
Judge Stone by Viola Davis and James Patterson (narrated by Viola Davis) – Read an audiobook from your wish list (Just waiting on my libro.fm credit for the month to pop up!)
It is March, which is the best month. The month of my birth. I can even forgive it for being spring. It’s starter spring, when I am thinking about which plants I want to have outside this year and trying to convince myself that my allergies aren’t that bad. It’s a tricksy month. I can get on board with that.
As is my custom, I’ve started several of these already (and even finished a couple). A peek into my process – I start compiling my TBR lists at least a couple of months in advance. My book clubs generally have things already picked out (e.g., two of them have selections chosen for the whole year already), so I go ahead and list those books and plug them into the reading challenges where they fit. Then, as I start herding together the print copies for the blog post picture, I find myself picking them up. And when I pick a book up, I start thumbing through it. And then, before I know it, I’ve started/finished it.
As problems go, it’s a nice one to have.
Anyway, here are my reads for the best month of the year!
[Disclosure: Most of the links below are affiliate links; I get paid a percentage if you purchase from these links. Alternatively, you could search your favorite indie bookshop on Bookshop.org or Libro.fm, and they get an even bigger cut!]
Book Clubs
I am especially excited about my book club selections this month. Happy birth month to me!
I’m pretty sure cozy is accidentally (but also predictably) becoming my favorite reading challenge this year. I’m looping the books from the series I’m reading into this curriculum, so I’ll also list them under this heading from here on out.
I’m spending the month finishing up my reads for January and February (which will still put me ahead of schedule on this challenge). Most of what I’m focusing on this month for this challenge is the curriculum for learning to play the organ.
PopSugar
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde – A book you were hoping would fit into a prompt but doesn’t
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas – A book with a shadow daddy
52 Book Club
My Friends by Fredrik Backman – Provokes strong emotion (I have never read a Backman book without either ugly crying or laughing until I wheeze – usually both – at some point, and this one was no exception)
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas – Character with a secret identity
A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny – Read an audiobook in a new setting (in my new office during my lunch break – because I can shut the door and be left in peace for an hour – such a luxury!)
Nowhere Bookshop Bingo
Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry – bookish memoir/biography
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash – Nowhere book club pick
Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry – A book by an author who went to your high school or college
Modern Mrs. Darcy Spring Preview
Three(ish?) times a year, Anne Bogel (aka Modern Mrs. Darcy) and her team tell us the new books coming out that season that they think we will particularly enjoy. I don’t ever make it through all of them, but I pick a handful out of each season, from either the actual list or the “other books you might like that we haven’t vetted yet” list, that sound amazing (and/or that I have received via one of my subscriptions).
Happy February, friends! As long as January felt, I didn’t quite read as much as I’d hoped. Too much doomscrolling. So I’m going to put a healthy limit on that and carve out some specific time in February for reading. Here are some of the things I hope to dive into.
I am approaching this year’s theme a little differently than I have in the past. Inspired by the curriculum portion of the Anti Brain Rot Reading Challenge, I’ve put together a monthly curriculum for it. I haven’t decided if I’m going to post each month’s lesson plan separately, but just in case I don’t, here are my cozy nonfiction and fiction choices for February.
Little Organ Book by Flor Peeters and Pedal Mastery by Joyce Jones – Part of my organ curriculum that will span the rest of the semester (and, I imagine, further after that as I improve my organ-playing skills)
Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson – A memoir/biography
If This Is Love, I’ll Take Spaghetti by Ellen Conford – A book that has been on your shelf the longest. I thought it would be the Hank the Cowdog series, but I’m pretty sure I owned this one first. I still have the copy I bought from the Scholastic Book Fair!
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay – A book you meant to read in 2020
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones – A book from President Obama’s summer reading list (2025, but it didn’t specify a year)
In the Country of Women by Susan Straight – Book rec from a friend (and also reading with said friend!)
PopSugar
Fangs by Sarah Andersen – A book in a different format than your usual: physical, audio, eBook – I usually have one of each format going at any given time, so I took a little license with this prompt and chose a book that’s mostly illustrations
Happy January, friends! As you can deduce from the picture, I’m utilizing my library card a lot these days. Trying to reorganize the shelves to make room for the books I own is a whole cozy project and one of the first on my list to tackle this year. Anything I can do to slow the inflow of new books that need to find a space will help.
To be clear, I’m not…not buying books. Don’t be absurd. Just not buying as many.
Anyway, here are the reading plans this month. I’ve finished a few from this list already, but I’m looking forward to the rest!
Book Clubs
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter – I listened to this one on the way to and from the farm at Christmas. So good! Although the male voice on the audio gets low and hard to hear at points. That added some stress I didn’t need in holiday traffic. Delightful otherwise, though.
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi – This is for the second meeting of the fantasy book club at a local bookshop that has just announced they’re CLOSING!!! Sad times! I guess we’ll see tomorrow what the plan is going forward, if there is one.
I may not be able to attend the Rise & Shine book club this month. The theme is “something old,” so I would love to gush over Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White, which is one of my faves. Of course, it falls on the one Saturday this month I have to work. And of course, March’s meeting (when the theme is “something funny” – I love funny things and would love to get all those recs!) does, too. UGH.
Series
I’m a sucker for series. I devoured most of the Rebel Blue Ranch series (next up is the enemies-to-lovers one – one of my favorite tropes!) and the Dream Harbor series last month, and the series tab is the largest by far on my TBR. This format is excellent for character development, which is one of my main requirements for really enjoying a book. This year, I’ll be diving into new series as well as re-reading some favorites. I loved Catherine Newman’s Sandwich, so I’m hyped about the follow-up. One of my book clubs is reading The Long Goodbye later this year, so I’m finally starting the Philip Marlow mysteries! I’m re-reading Inspector Gamache this year, and I quit a few pages into the latest Thursday Murder Club because I forgot some things from previous books that I know would make it more enjoyable, so I’m re-reading those as well. Here are the ones that I’m planning for January.
So many reading challenges! My, aren’t we ambitious? I’m going back to fitting books into multiple challenges, and I’m trying to fit as many of my book club selections into them as well, so you’ll see quite a few repeats. Here goes nothing.
Anti Brain Rot Challenge
Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray – A historical fiction book
The Catch by Yrsa Daley-Ward – A book by a Black author who is alive
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich – A book by an indigenous/Native American author
Another facet of the Anti Brain Rot Challenge is giving yourself deep-dive studies (and designing their corresponding curricula) throughout the year. I have three planned for the year, and the first is going to be learning to play the organ. I already play the piano, so it’s mostly a matter of incorporating the feet. I think. We’ll see. I’m working through an online basics course and brushing up on theory right now, but I imagine there will be several books I add to the syllabus before the end of the “semester.”
Popsugar
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman – A book that features a platonic friendship between a man and a woman
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson – a kangaroo word on the cover (a word with a synonym/similar word inside it – “history” includes “story”)
Enchantment by Katherine May – A book with a dust jacket
Libro.fm
Christmas Days by Jeannette Winterson – Listen to an audiobook read by the author
OWC (Overeducated Women With Cats)
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler – A book that starts a series
Endling by Maria Reva – A book long-listed for an award (Booker Prize)
Enchantment by Katherine May – A nonfiction book about science or nature
BBBC (Bad Bitch Book Club)
This Winter by Alice Oseman – A book with a red cover (which is not the cover of the book that popped up on bookshop.org – but here is its red cover, which is super cute)
Alphabet Challenge
The goal of this one is, in this year of ‘26, to read books where either the title or the author’s name begins with each of the 26 letters of the alphabet. To add a little more spice to the challenge, I’m also going to limit it to books I own.
January’s prompt is pretty easy – title includes an article. So any “a,” “an,” or “the.” Look at The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich, fulfilling all sorts of different prompts this month!
I don’t know how much I’ll participate in this one. The start date of the tournament is March 6, and it seems like it would be more fun if I had read all of them by then (and even in my woozy, ambitious New Years state of mind I know that’s not going to happen). But maybe I’ll start with these and see how it goes.
I usually post resolutions on New Years Day, but I decided not to rush it. Yesterday was nice. I got to hang out with Sarah and friends, eat some delicious food, and read a little bit. It’s hard to believe that I go back to work in less than 48 hours. Before I do, though, you know I want to share my resolutions for the year with you.
Technically I have seven (large) goals, but all of them are divided into many small steps that help me get there.
Start Checking Off That 10-Year Bucket List
The bucket list I put together in 2025 ended up with way more than 50 things on it, and some of them are bigger goals that are going to take the whole 10 years to accomplish. Additionally, if I know me (and I do), I won’t stop dreaming up things I want to do, so the list is likely to grow over the next decade. Clearly there are more than five things I’m going to cross off that list this year.
I’m already going to address some of them in pursuit of my financial and cozy goals (see below), but I’ve identified 11 things off the list that I want to do this year. As I’m currently looking for a new job and/or an additional income stream, the order in which they happen will depend on how fast that comes to pass, as a new job would likely have a different busy season to work around, and some of them cost a little money. But right now, this is roughly the order I’m thinking of starting them:
Join the Plot Twist Book Bar dark academia book club
Enjoy a personal reading retreat in a hotel with room service
Renew my passport
Write a score or a song
Upload an original recording to Bandcamp
Finish a fiction manuscript
Take a small town road trip
Read 200 Books
This is…lofty. But I think it’s possible. What I like about this goal is that having it in mind will remind me to give myself regular downtime, which I have a hard time remembering (shocking, I know). I am also attempting quite a few reading challenges throughout the year, and gamifying anything almost always makes it more fun for me.
Establish a Regular Journaling Practice
One thing that keeps me grounded the best is journaling. It not only helps me decompress and slow down my brain before sleep but also improves my awareness of how well I’m taking care of myself in general.
One thing that I often put off and forget to do is journaling. I am hoping to establish a regular practice.
Daily is ideal, but any regularity is an improvement that I will consider a success. I’m using the guided journal that accompanies Shonda Rhimes’s Year of Yes. I may decide later in the year I don’t need the prompts but for now the questions provide a good framework.
Have 100 Cozy Moments
I couldn’t figure out how to phrase this one, because it could encompass a lot of things. “Cozy moments” sounds a little woo for me, but it will have to do.
Basically, I want to be intentional about pursuing my theme for the year.
This may look like actually noting when moments are cozy or actively seeking them out. It may look like rearranging spaces at home, work, or elsewhere to be more welcoming. It may look like clearing out some clutter to give my brain a rest. There are many different ways this could play out, and I bet I can catalogue at least 100 of them!
Set and meet 100 small financial goals
This sounds like a lot, but it’s fewer than I met last year, so it’s doable. My focus this year (other than increasing income) is on three main things:
Mapping out a solid plan for retirement
Having a solid purpose for each savings bucket
Building a solid knowledge base
The keyword is solid. That’s how I want to feel about my finances at the end of the year (and have the evidence to back the feeling up).
Write 50,000 Words
For real, this time. Something tells me that finishing a fiction manuscript would be an excellent way to make this happen.
Go on 25 Microadventures
A lot of the items on my 10-year bucket list surprised me. Apparently, I want to go places. Did not know that about myself. I’m not sure if I actually want to go places, or if I think I should want to go places.
Welp, we’re going to test it out this year with 25 small microadventures. I’m defining a microadventure as any outing that takes from an hour up to a day. It can be almost anything. It just has to include a place I’ve never been or something I’ve never done. Bonus points if it’s free.
I may ask for suggestions later, but I have a pretty good list going already. It might be telling that this is the resolution I’m least excited about, but maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. It doesn’t hurt to try (I hope).
And there you have it. Those are the plans. It looks like a lot, but it’s mostly a continuation of things I’m already working on. It just gives them a little structure.
Here we are, in the final, feral week of 2025. A week for doing whatever I want (I mean, more so than usual). A week of no morning alarms. A week of drinking a disturbing amount of great coffee and eating an excessive amount of cheese. A week of hyper-focused cleaning (I hope) and uninterrupted hours of reading (I guarantee).
A week to reflect. To accept. To transition. And to begin.
During the first half of the week, I’m going to be posting about my 2025 resolutions and how they went. Then, in the second half of the week, you’ll hear about the unhinged volume of my ambitions for 2026.
I did pretty well this year overall. There was only one goal I made for my year that I didn’t reach – writing 50,000 words. Remember when I could write 50,000 words in just a month? Good times. That is not a reasonable expectation these days, but I thought for sure I could reach that benchmark in a whole year. I did do quite a bit of writing, though, and I submitted my work to more places than in the previous five years combined, so that’s something.
I surpassed my reading goal of 180 books. My Goodreads and StoryGraph counts don’t match, but I didn’t feel the need to skim through and see which ones got missed. There were probably a few missed on both. If a book showed up in a search on either one, it got counted in some way. By the end of today, my Goodreads count will be 186, and my StoryGraph will be 181, and I expect there will be even more by the time the new year rolls in.
I stopped keeping track of my genres at some point this fall, but the numbers were pretty well spread out, so I am satisfied with how that effort played out. I definitely read something from each category at least twice.
Finally, the reading challenges. I thought that by only counting a book toward one of the challenges I participated in, it would make them a little more difficult to finish, and…it sure did! I looked back through my unfinished prompts this afternoon, and I definitely would have finished two more if I had counted books on multiple challenges. So I’m going back to that next year. Because a prompt met is a prompt met (also because with the number of challenges I’m participating in next year, I would have to almost double my overall reading goal to finish them otherwise). But hey – I officially finished one!
For the last few days of the year, I’m reading through some cozy romance and fantasy books, as well as some books I’ve had checked out at the library for a while. Another new practice I want to put in place going forward is keeping the number of books I have checked out below 20. There’s just no reason to have more than that out at a time, even as much as I read. I get why it happens. It’s usually one of two things. Either I get excited about an author and put everything the library has that they’ve written on hold, or I put things on hold that are on my monthly TBR and then they don’t become available until after the month has passed and I have moved on. So I end up stockpiling a lot of things I wanted (and still want) to read. I’m officially entering my more liberal use of the “for later” function and less hoarding era. You’re welcome, fellow readers of Denton.
I finally met that 180 goal I’ve had for three years in a row, and even better, I’ve gotten to talk nerdy with a lot of other readers through book clubs and events. I think I’m happy with my reading choices this year.
While I will definitely exceed my overall reading goal of 180, I may not complete many of my reading challenges this year. Part of the reason for this is that I added the extra challenge of only counting a book once (i.e., not allowing it to count for prompts on different challenges). But also, I have been more of a mood reader this year, which, while delightful and amazing in its own right, doesn’t lend itself easily to meeting more structured challenges.
I think this is the easiest one for me because I go into it knowing it has clear limits. Most of the time that I spend listening to audiobooks is in the car (although a few of these got finished at home when I just couldn’t wait until the next commute to hear the rest), so I’m mostly confined to the hours I spend driving. Knowing I have a smaller window of time to work toward the goal makes me more intentional with this challenge. I typically only check out or buy audiobooks that fit the prompts, especially during the first half of each year. Also, at 24 books, it’s one of the shorter challenges. As long as I finish two a month, success is a given.
I’m going to list all the books I read, but I’ll also comment on some that stood out.
Read a bookseller-recommended audiobook – Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, narrated by Julia Whelan. I love Emily Henry, and Julia Whelan is one of my favorite narrators, so this was almost guaranteed to be a winner for me. It turned out to be one of my favorite books I’ve read from this author overall. It is not just a romance; there are also elements of mystery, family relationships, and mental health issues scattered throughout. The dynamic of struggling with ambition, competence, and competition was also really well written.
Listen to an audiobook by an indigenous author – Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. I read this with one of my book clubs a year or two ago, and I much prefer the written copy. I had to rewind a lot with the audio.
Listen to an audiobook mentioned on the Libro.fm podcast – Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Listen to an audiobook by an LGBTQIA+ author – Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune. I have loved everything by TJ Klune I have read, and this was no exception. One critic referred to it as “A Man Called Ove meets The Good Place,” and I concur. It is a gentle, beautiful imagining of the afterlife and found family, and I adored it.
Read an audiobook published before you were born – The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Listen to an audiobook by a disabled author – Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young. Sweet rom-com with really lovable characters.
Listen to an audiobook by an author of Asian and/or Pacific Island descent – Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Read an audiobook about a historical figure and/or event – The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
Listen to an audiobook by a Black author – I’m so (Not) Over You by Kosoko Jackson. The dialogue in this book was great. Charming and fun.
Listen to an audiobook by a South West Asian and/or North African author – The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali. This beautiful and heart-wrenching story of friendship and how it changes, specifically within the cultural shifts of Iran across decades, was one of my favorite books I’ve read overall (audio or otherwise) this year. I thought Kamali couldn’t top The Stationery Shop, but I think this one did.
Read an audiobook adapted into a TV series or movie – It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Read a winning audiobook from our 2024 Bookseller Choice Awards – The Third Gilmore Girl, written and narrated by Kelly Bishop (Ha! The first draft of this post, I typed her first name as Emily. Glad I caught that.). What a grand life she has led! I loved every moment of this book.
Listen to an audiobook by a Latine author – Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo. I laughed and cried so hard throughout this book. The cadence of Acevedo’s prose is perfect.
Listen to an audiobook from an independent press – The Book of X by Sarah Rose Etter. I don’t know who told me it was body horror year (I picked it, so I have no one to blame but myself, but still), but I think I need a break from this genre. It was good, but…whew.
Listen to an audiobook by a transgender author – Nevada by Imogen Binnie
Listen to a banned book – Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Melinda Lo. This book explores the intersection of Chinese immigrant culture and a young girl coming out and coming of age in the 1950s (during the McCarthy-era red scare). The character development was solid, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Reread an old favorite on audio – The Little Prince (abridged) – by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, read by Richard Gere and Haley Joel Osment. My last Audible purchase. I just couldn’t resist hearing those two read one of my favorite stories.
Preorder an audiobook and start it on release day – Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd
Share Libro.fm with a friend or family member – Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang. This was the first selection of a new fantasy book club at my local bookstore. The discussion was lively and fun, and I think I’m really going to like this group. The book was phenomenal – worth every single bit of the hype. The world-building was seamless without extraneous exposition, and the characters were nuanced and realistic. It explored colonization, racism, caste systems, social justice, misogyny, religious dogma, etc, No spoilers, but I loved the ending.
M. Suzanne Terry 