Tag Archives: favourite books

Auto Buy Authors: Helen Dunmore

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British novelist, poet, and essayist Helen Dunmore (who sadly died in 2017) has been part of my reading diet for many years. What I like about her writing is its lyrical quality and also there is often a thread of unease running through her narratives, at least in my favourite books.

Of the thirteen adult novels she wrote before her death (she also wrote many books for children), I have read six plus her collection of short stories, Ice Cream. Thankfully, I have four more of her books on my tbr shelf.

The first book I read by Dunmore, With Your Crooked Heart, predates this blog.

Every day for a month now the sun has shone, and every morning you’ve brought the same things out into the garden.

The Times Literary Supplement said the book is “unites strong characterization and a rip-roaring plot with an archetypal quality somewhere between a fairy story and a Greek tragedy.

Thus began my love affair with Dunmore.

Your Blue-Eyed Boy

This is what I said: This is a novel about reconciling who you are now with who you were when. It’s easy enough to pretend that each section of your life is complete and separate, but this is a novel that asks us to question our past choices, our past loves and our place in the here and now.

A Spell of Winter

This is what I said: A Spell of Winter has many of the gothic hallmarks: the gloomy dwelling, a sense of mystery, a distressed heroine. As long as Cathy and Rob are isolated, they manage to sustain their relationship. But like winter, it can’t last. Eventually, the real world seeps in in ways both expected and unexpected.

The Greatcoat

This is what I said: The Greatcoat was published under the Hammer banner (horror aficionados will recognize Hammer as the British production company behind  films like The Woman in Black and Let Me In.  They’ve entered the world of publishing in partnership with Arrow, a subsidiary of Random House. It’s nice to read a “horror” story that is less about blood and guts and more about the kind of chills which prickle your skin and send a shiver up your back. There are no monsters here, but The Greatcoat is deliciously creepy nonetheless.

Talking to the Dead

This is what I said: …like all of the Dunmore novels I’ve read – as literary as they are – this one has an element of psychological suspense. The pace isn’t fast though; information is revealed slowly, like veils pulled back one at a time.

Zennor in Darkness

This was Dunmore’s first novel. This is what I said: Zennor in Darkness has a thread of the gothic and the forbidden running though it and this book is particularly melancholy because of the setting. Modern readers will have had no experience with the horrors of WW1 and what it did to communities and individuals, and although this book doesn’t take place in the trenches the book captures so much of that horrible period in history.

I had a lovely chat with Shawn Breathes Books about Zennor in Darkness a couple summers ago. You can watch that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDu_cUSDY44

My segment starts at about the 7:22 mark

If you have never heard of Helen Dunmore, I can highly recommend her. My favourite book is A Spell of Winter.

Auto Buy Authors: Gabriel Tallent

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From his website: “Gabriel Tallent was born in New Mexico and raised on the Mendocino coast by two mothers. He studied English at Willamette University, with a focus on eighteenth-century cultural history. After graduation, he led trail crews, scrubbed toilets at Target, worked in the dining room at the Alta Lodge, and bussed tables at the Copper Onion. He now lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Hattie, and their three rambunctious boys.”

I feel sort of like Gabriel Tallent is going to be the same sort of writer as Donna Tartt: everything he writes will be a masterpiece, but we’re going to have to wait a long-ass time between books.

Despite the fact that he only has two novels to his credit, this is how I know he’s an auto buy author for me. When Crux came out earlier this year, nine years after his debut My Absolute Darling, I bought and read it immediately. Such is the power of an auto buy author. Fingers crossed I don’t have to wait another decade for the next book.

I am not sure how My Absolute Darling ended up on my reading radar. It was named on The New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books list in 2017, but I didn’t discover it until 2019. I considered it for my book club pick, but said this in my review: “I highly recommend this book, although I understand that it won’t be palatable for many readers. It was on my short list as a potential selection for my book club, but I knew – even before I read it – that most of the women in my group would have a very difficult time with its subject matter. After reading it, I can say with certainty that I was right: they would have hated it. But I would argue that it’s compelling, intelligent and worthy of the copious praise it has received.”

I have often (selectively) recommended it, though, and virtually everyone who reads it agrees that it is amazing.

Crux was definitely an easier book to read subject-matter wise. It’s the story of teenage besties Dan and Tamma who spend their days rock climbing and dreaming of a different life. In my review I said “There is a lot of climbing jargon in this book and that might not be to everyone’s taste. I don’t know a dang thing about climbing, but by the end of it I was invested in their pursuit of “sending” each climb they attempted. I loved Crux. It’s my first five star read of 2026.”

Tallent is a talented writer. And he pulls no punches. And he has broken my heart twice now. So, obviously, he’s an auto buy author.

Auto Buy Authors: Lisa Reardon

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In my continuing series on the authors whose books I will always buy, this month’s featured auto buy author is Lisa Reardon. There is very little updated info about Reardon on the internet and that’s because she pretty much dropped off the face of the map in 2010 when she was incarcerated for the assault with the intent to commit murder of her father. Her sentence was four – seventeen years. There is very little information to be had about Reardon, but here is another account of the events surrounding this incident. I believe she only served a couple of years of that time and once she was released she sort of disappeared from the spotlight. As far as I know, she only wrote three novels and I have read all three. If by some miracle she wrote something else, I would hand over my money in a nanosecond.

I read Reardon’s novel Billy Dead at least 20 years ago and it is a book that has lodged itself in my heart for many years. My read of it predates this blog, but I reposted the NY Times review of it here.

“People lose people. I don’t know why we’re all so damned careless. Folks lose their kids, men lose their women, even friends get lost if you don’t keep an eye out.”

No question, Billy Dead is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I am a fan of gritty fiction and in Reardon’s capable hands, the story of siblings Ray, Jean, and Billy is a gut punch of a book. The dysfunction is a deep, dark well in this book and so is the abuse, but then so is the love. I think I really do need to read it again. I definitely became a fan of Reardon.

Next I read The Mercy Killers.

“It’s hard to think how different their lives would have been if it weren’t for the mess they got themselves into, if it weren’t for that war, if they hadn’t all been so young and stupid and scared.”

In my review of this book I said “Lisa Reardon writes about characters who live in a world vastly different from my own. They are broken-down people whose lives are messy – filled with violence and alcohol and drugs and hopelessness.”

Although I wouldn’t have thought that I would like The Mercy Killers based on its synopsis, I did like it.

Then I read Blameless.

I said: “Blameless is a quiet novel where nothing much happens. Mary is often her own worst enemy, but as her story is pulled back layer by layer and you come to understand all the ways life has kicked her in the teeth, you just want something, anything, good to happen for her. Reardon has a particular gift when it comes to writing broken characters and I really enjoyed my time with Mary, even though, like her previous novels, the story is pretty grim.”

“Oh my God,” she cried. “Oh my God,” with heaving, gasping, snot-filled sobs.

“It’s all right, Sharon.” I pulled my visor down low over my face. People up and down the beach were looking at us. “It has a happy ending.”

Across the board, Reardon’s novels are compelling, dark, potentially triggering and definitely ‘go there’ in ways that might make many readers uncomfortable. But they are also really well-written, heart-wrenching, and compelling. Therefore, although I suspect I will never have the opportunity to buy another book by her, Lisa Reardon is an auto buy author.

Auto Buy Authors: Carolyn Slaughter

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My love affair with Carolyn Slaughter began in the 80s when I happened upon her novel The Banquet in a second-hand bookstore in Hamilton, Ontario. That book, which opens with the lines “I am waiting for them to come. I am not frightened at all”, was a sucker punch of a read and sent me on a treasure hunt for more of Ms. Slaughter’s books.

Slaughter was born in India in 1946, but the family moved soon after to the Kalahari Desert in what is now Botswana. She lived there until her family moved to London in 1961.

Every single book of Slaughter’s I have managed to find has felt like a stroke of luck because like Thomas H. Cook, you’re not picking up one of her books at the local big box book store. Sadly, everything I have read by Slaughter predates this blog with the exception of her memoir Before the Knife, which was published in 2002 and chronicles her childhood in Africa. It is the book she says she wrote to make sense of why she’d been driven to write about violence and murder up until that point. There’s a 12-year gap between The Widow and this memoir. Slaughter hasn’t published anything since 2007’s Dresden, Tennessee which, sadly I DNF. Although I suspect she may be retired, Slaughter became a psychotherapist in lives in (according to Wiki) New Jersey.

I have read and enjoyed several of her novels.

The Story of the Weasel (in North America it was called Relations), 1976

”This my third attempt to put my thoughts down on paper; in my mind they chafe mercilessly.”

This is the story of Christopher and Cathy, siblings in the late 1800s, whose relationship is, let’s just say, complicated. If you recall another set of siblings named Christopher and Cathy, you’ll have a clue as to why. This book floored me when I read it.

This was Slaughter’s debut and the second book I read. This is also the book that prompted me to write my first and only fan letter to an author and, miraculously, she responded!

Magdalene, 1978

”Today is my birthday, today I am thirty-seven. And look, here is my face floating in the polished silver mirror.”

This is the story of Mary Magdalene and her relationship with Christ. I remember this book as being as angsty as heck.

Dreams of the Kalahari, 1981

“The small girl sat on the sand under the thorn tree.”

An autobiographical novel of a young girl’s coming of age in the Kalahari.

The Banquet, 1983

This is the story of an architect called Harold who meets a young shopgirl called Blossom at a Marks & Spencer. She is the most beautiful woman Harold has ever seen and the two eventually fall in love. One of the most beautiful and horrifying books I have ever read.

A Perfect Woman, 1984

“A woman stood by her window looking out at the garden with the gaze of someone surveying the sea or a long sweep of hills and fields.”

The story of a love triangle.

The Innocents, 1986

“I’m being buried alive.”

A tale of South Africa during the Apartheid

My collection will be complete when I get my hands on Columba, 1977; Heart of the River, 1982; The Widow, 1989. I own, but have not yet read, A Black Englishman, 2004.

#31for65 – A month of books for my birthday

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I celebrated a milestone birthday in May and so I decided to share 31 influential reads with my friends on Litsy. I thought it might be nice to add those titles here as I think it offers a sense of who I am as a reader and what sorts of books shaped my reading life. In the order in which they appeared on Litsy:

Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery

It would be unCanadian not to love this character and this book and spending time with her on PEI is one of my earliest reading memories.

The Bobbsey Twins of Lakeport – Laura Lee Hope

When I was a kid, my mom’s younger brother used to give me a couple Bobbsey Twins books for my birthday every year. Sadly, I don’t have all of them anymore, but I do have a couple really old copies that once belonged to my mom’s sister. I loved spending times with these mystery-solving siblings.

The Silver Sword – Ian Serraillier

I was in grade 7 when I read this book and it was one of those books that I thought a lot about over the years. I found a copy on Bookoutlet a few years ago and re-read it. Not as amazing as my 12-year-old self remembers it, but still an important part of my reading history.

A Little Princess – Frances Hodgson Burnett

This book might have been the first book to ever make me cry and I have read it a few times since I was a kid and I can confirm: still makes me cry. Sara Crew is one of my favourite protagonists ever: kind, resilient, and she understands the power of a good story.

The Bridges of Madison County – Robert James Waller

I mean, great literature this is not, but I distinctly remember reading it when I lived in the UK and sobbing my eyes out and then immediately mailing the book to my BFF so she could also sob her eyes out. I will never re-read this book because I know it’s schlock and I want the memories of that first experience to live in my heart forever.

Billy Dead – Lisa Reardon

I selected this book for my book club many years ago and everyone but me hated it. I get it, though. This is a dark, dark book but it is also so well-written and so unflinching. It remains one of the most visceral reading experiences of my life and I will definitely read it again at some point.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith

Francie Nolan is a friend of mine. She was when I first read this book when I was 12 or 13 and she was again when I reread this book a few years ago.

Flowers in the Attic – V.C.Andrews

I read this book in 1979, which is the year it came out and the year I graduated from high school. I mean, is there a person alive who came of age in the late 70s who didn’t read this book? It was shocking, scandalous even, at the time. Literature it is not, but it’s definitely a seminal book in my reading life.

The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak

I don’t think I will ever get over the experience of reading this book and spending time with Liesel, Max, Rudy and the Hubermans and, yes, our narrator, Death. It’s reading nirvana.

Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell

Not sure why this book has two different titles, but mine was called Hamnet & Judith. You could call it just about anything and it would still be an absolutely devasting novel about Shakespeare (unnamed) and his wife (called Agnes) and the loss of their son Hamnet which inspired the play Hamlet. The movie is also fantastic, if you haven’t yet seen it.

The Banquet – Carolyn Slaughter

Later this month, I will be talking about Carolyn Slaughter as part of my auto buy author series. I discovered this novel back in the 80s and it absolutely floored me. It’s about an intense love affair that culminates in a shocking and devastating event and, I gotta say, I had and have never read anything like it.

Our Daily Bread – Lauren B. Davis

This story about people in crisis and the sacrifices they make to save those they care about is absolutely phenomenal. I chose it for book club and we actually had a Twitter (back when Twitter was a thing) chat with the author, which was so awesome.

The Secret History – Donna Tartt

I read this book when it first came out, never stopped thinking about it, and then read it again a couple years ago. It absolutely stands the test of time and it’s hard to overstate how influential it is.

Atonement – Ian McEwan

Atonement, like most of McEwan’s novels, take a little bit of perseverance, but they are always, always worth it. This is, by far, my favourite (and I have read a few), and both of my adult children (who read the book in AP Lit in high school) would say that it is a perfect novel. Can’t say I disagree.

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

I read this book 25 years ago and I remember bawling so hard I couldn’t see the pages. I know some people get all icked out by the fact that sometimes these characters were at vastly different points in their lives (and also ages) but I just saw a love story that could not be restrained by the restrictions of time and I was there for it!

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

This was one of the first ‘adult’ books I ever read and I fell I love with Jane and the moors and Rochester. This is definitely on my radar for a re-read.

The World of Winnie-the-Pooh – A.A. Milne

My mom read Pooh to my brothers and me when we were kids and the 100 Acre Wood has a special place in my heart. There are lessons in this book which we could all stand to relearn, I think.

Possession – A.S.Byatt

I read this years ago and I recall it being a tough book, but I also remember feeling really smart when I finished so there’s that. A book about desire, and poetry, and dedication and academia.

This Time Tomorrow – Emma Straub

This book made me feel all the feelings and any book that does that is an automatic winner.

We Begin at the End – Chris Whitaker

Duchess, the main character of this novel, will stay with me forever.

Velocity – Kristin McCloy

My most read book for reasons that are deeply personal. Man, I hate this cover, but also, man, do I ever love this book. I think my review does a pretty good job of explaining my feelings.

The Paper Palace – Miranda Cowley Heller

I have read this book three times, and I have loved it every single time.

The Famous Five – Enid Blyton

Honestly, I don’t remember a single thing about these books other than the fact that they made me want to talk with a British accent and go to boarding school.

That Was Then, This Is Now – S.E. Hinton

Perhaps not as well known as her debut, The Outsiders, I liked this one more (and I loved The Outsiders).Kids still read and appreciate Hinton’s novels today, for reasons that are totally legit.

Sweet Savage Love – Rosemary Rogers

My mom loved historical boddice rippers back in the day and I think I read them because she read them. Authors like Rogers and Kathleen Woodiwiss definitely left their mark, though.

Forever – Judy Blume

I read this book as a teenager (it was published in 1975, so I was definitely the target audience) and I remember loving it for its realistic portrayal of young love. It’s probably pretty tame by today’s standards (YA has definitely gotten racier) but for the time it was quite graphic and also quite amazing.

IT – Stephen King

I have read a lot of Stephen King, but IT is my favourite. I was in NYC the summer this book came out and I carried it with me everywhere. The kids in this book are anything but losers and I loved them all. Say what you want, King can spin a yarn.

The Serpent King – Jeff Zentner

Not all YA is created equal, and Jeff Zentner is top of the heap for me. The characters in this book, three high school seniors – Dill, Travis, and Lydia – are some of the most vibrant, heartbreaking characters I have ever met.

The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank

Whatever I knew about empathy at a young age, I learned from reading this book when I was 12.

Brother – Ania Ahlborn

Maybe this seems like an odd choice for a “most influential” books list, but I’ll tell you this: Michael, the main character of this extremely graphic and extremely heartbreaking horror novel, is someone I still think about.

Our Town – Thornton Wilder

If Robby Benson hadn’t starred in the1977 television adaptation of Wilder’s Pulitzer winning play, I might never have encountered it, but 1977 was my Benson era so…This play has meant so much to me over my life, including being the subject of my undergrad honours thesis.

So, there you have it, 31 book that have meant a lot to me over the course of my 65 years. There are so many books that might have made the list on a different day, but I think this one does a pretty good job of showing you where I have been and what I am reading now.

Feel free to tell me about some of your most influential reads. I would love to hear about them!

Auto Buy Authors: Thomas Christopher Greene

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I decided last month to take a look at my auto buy authors. You know the ones, your ride or die authors whose books you know will deliver. If you want to look at my criteria and read about my first auto buy author, Thomas H. Cook, you can visit that post here.

This month’s auto buy author is another Thomas: Thomas Christopher Greene.

Thomas Christopher Greene is an American writer and co-founder and past president of the Vermont College of Fine Arts. He’s the author of seven books, of which I have read four. There’s a great interview with him here.

My first experience with Greene was back in 2011 when I read his novel Envious Moon. About that book I said: “Love is the one emotion that drives people, especially young people, to reckless behaviour. Greene’s novel captures that love-fueled momentum and propels Anthony, Hannah and the reader on a journey that is both heart-felt and heart-breaking.”

Like I said in my review, I am a sucker for star-crossed lovers or any book that taps into angsty longing and Envious Moon had that in spades, so of course I was going to seek out more books by this author.

Here’s what I’ve read:

The Headmaster’s Wife: One of the delights of this books (if you can actually call a novel about grief ‘delightful’) is letting the pieces of this puzzle click together in their own time. This is a book that sort of reads like a mystery, but isn’t that what life is at the end of the day? An unfathomable mystery. I read it in one sitting.

The Perfect Liar: Max W. and Susannah meet at a fancy art party in New York City. They are drawn to each other almost immediately and soon after, they are married. Now they live in Vermont where Max has taken a job as a lecturer at a small liberal arts college. One morning, while Max is away giving a lecture at an art institute in Chicago, Susannah discovers a note pinned to their front door: I KNOW WHO YOU ARE. Couldn’t put it down.

If I Forget You: The novel opens in 2012. Henry, a poet and lecturer at NYU, sees Margot – for the first time in 20 years – on the street in Manhattan. When their eyes meet, “the face Henry sees travels to him from a lifetime ago.” Instead of speaking to him, though, she runs away. It is from this point that their story unspools – toggling between their college days and this point in the present. Lives lived and all that.

Greene seems to walk that line that I love so much between page turner and literature, often with a heaping helping of angst thrown in.

I still have some Greene books to look forward to: Mirror Lake, After the Rain, I’ll Never be Long Gone, and Notes from the Porch: Tiny True Stories to Make You Feel Better About the World. I can’t wait to track these books down.

Auto Buy Authors: Thomas H. Cook

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At last count, I have 500 unread books on my bookshelves. I wish I could say that I am mortified by that number, but I am not. I am a mood reader and I like to be prepared for all contingencies. I also love buying books because books as objects just make me happy. Who knows what I am going to feel like reading on any given day, and it gives me a lot of pleasure to shop my shelves.

But then there are those tried and true authors whose books somehow make it to the tip top of that pesky TBR pile. Somehow, these authors always seem to move to the front of the line and even though I have many (many) books that have been languishing on my shelves waiting to be read, when these authors have a new book out–or in the case of today’s featured author, I stumble across a new-to-me book by them–I somehow forget my shelf and read the book straight away. (Alternatively, as is also true in the case of today’s featured author, I squirrel the book away for a rainy day when nothing else is floating my boat, and I need a guaranteed winner.)

What makes someone an auto buy author? That’s what I would like to write about today because I have several writers who meet my own very subjective criteria, my drop-everything-and-read-their-latest-book-asap crew.

  1. Writing. I love it when a book is well written. Sometimes the writing doesn’t have to be stellar for me to enjoy a book’s plot or characters, but when the writing is excellent, that is definitely a bonus. Auto buy authors always have, at the very least, prose that isn’t clunky.
  2. Plot. There are certain types of plots that I really enjoy. I love books that keep me guessing. I love angst. I love dark academia. I love it when the writer alludes to things that have yet to be revealed to the reader. I love to be surprised.
  3. Characters. I love it when I love the characters, when they feel as though they could be a friend of mine. When I root for their success (or sometimes their demise). I love characters that feel like real people.
  4. The feels. I love a book that punches me in the gut, makes my eyes burn with unshed tears, or a book that makes me sob. I love a book that grabs me by the throat and shakes me until my teeth rattle, a book that makes me read way past my bedtime, until my eyes are burning.
  5. The unexpected. I love a twist, especially when it’s not contrived. I love it when a book breaks my heart.

Somehow, auto buy authors always have the perfect combination of these things and there’s something about that first encounter that makes me want to dive into another book. When that book also turns out to be great, then they make my auto buy list. I thought it might be fun to take a look at some of the authors whose work I have enjoyed and whose books I will always buy.

I thought it might be fun to share these authors with you and, of course, I would love to hear which writers would make your list!

First up: Thomas H. Cook

Thomas H. Cook is an American writer of mysteries with over 30 titles to his name. It doesn’t look like he’s had anything published since 2018. He has won many awards over the years, including an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

I discovered Cook in 2007 when I happened upon his 1995 novel Breakheart Hill in a second hand bookstore. I knew nothing about Cook, but I was totally intrigued by the novel’s opening lines: “This is the darkest story that I have ever heard, and all my life I have labored not to tell it.”

Thus began my love affair with Cook.

Turns out, though, his books are not that easy to find. I can’t just head to Indigo and grab one of his books off the shelf. Tracking Cook books (haha) down is a bit like going on a treasure hunt. I was delighted when I went to a huge second hand book sale in Moncton (about 90 minutes from me) last summer and happened upon a title I didn’t own. If I am in a second hand book store, he’s the first author I look for. Over the years, I have managed to get my hands on 16 of his novels (two of which I am saving for that rainy book day).

Here’s why I love him.

First of all, he’s a brilliant writer. His writing is astute, and often lyrical (but not overly fussy.) He (mostly) writes what I would classify as literary mysteries. They are never just straight-up whodunnits. His characters are complicated and many of his novels deal with father/son dynamics. In virtually every book I have ever read by Cook, there has been some sort of mind-blowing/wait, what? twist that has made me want to go back and start again to see what I missed. While I have not loved every single book I have read, every single book I have read has been well worth the time and effort and has been heads and tails better than much of the dreck out there.

So, here’s what I have read:

Breakheart Hill – a leisurely southern gothic novel, filled with a real sense of place and time. The characters are interesting and flawed and I was 100% surprised by the ending, which wasn’t a cheat even though it felt like it should have been.

The Chatham School Affair – a richly realized mystery which unfolds as the book’s narrator, an elderly lawyer named Henry Griswald, recalls the events which transpired the year he was 15.

Places in the Dark – The story concerns brothers William and Cal who grow up in an idyllic seaside town in Maine in the 1930s. They are as different as night and day: William an energetic dreamer who rushes through life filled with hope and enthusiasm and Cal, the older more pragmatic brother. Still, despite their differences, they are close. Then Dora March comes to town.

Red Leaves – the story of the Moore family: Eric (owner of a camera shop), Meredith (teacher at a small community college) and Keith (their teenage son). They live in a small New England town and live, what Eric believes, is a perfect life. That is until eight-year-old Amy Giordano goes missing and the last person to have seen her is Keith, who’d been babysitting her that evening.

Instruments of the Night – the story of writer Paul Graves, a man who has spent his career writing about the horrible dance between serial killer and sadist Kessler (and his accomplice, Sykes) and the man who has spent his career chasing him, Detective Slovak. This might be my favourite novel by Cook.

The Cloud of Unknowing – David and Diana Sears were raised by their brilliant but schizophrenic father. Now they are adults and they carry all the baggage from that often difficult childhood. I have lukewarm feelings about this one.

Evidence of Blood – Jackson Kinley is a true-crime writer. His career has brought him close to unimaginable horrors: rapists and murderers and people who torture others for pleasure. Kinley (as he is most often called) seems somehow immune to these horrors. His armor is breached, however, when he gets the call that his childhood friend, Ray Tindall, has been found dead.

Master of the Delta – a book about fathers and sons, about the part luck plays in how our lives turn out, about kindness and cruelty.

The Fate of Katherine Carr – George Gates is a former travel writer who now writes features for the local paper and spends his evenings drinking scotch at his neighbourhood bar. He’s a broken man, but no wonder: his eight year old son, Teddy, had been taken off the street on his way home from school, murdered and the murderer had never been caught.

The Interrogation – the story of two cops, Norman Cohen and Jack Pierce. Each man has a heart full of demons (Cohen is haunted by his experiences in war; Pierce’s young daughter was a murder victim), but they are tenacious and accomplished interrogators. Since the story is set in 1952 they have to rely on the evidence they gather the old-fashioned way: visiting crime scenes, talking to people, chasing leads.

Mortal Memory – a story that begins when narrator Stevie Farris discovers, at age 9, that his father has shot and killed his mother, Marie, older brother, Jamie and sister, Laura. The knowledge of this horrific act tortures Stevie, mostly because he doesn’t understand why his father committed such a horrible crime. Wasn’t his family happy?

Peril – like a noir film, peopled with shadowy gangsters in crumpled hats, a beautiful, fragile heroine who earns the good will of the men she meets, and a bunch of guys who ultimately, turn out to be loyal and decent.

Blood Innocents – the story of NYC police detective John Reardon who, returning to work after the death of his wife, is given a strange case involving the slaughter of two deer in the Children’s Zoo in Central Park.

Into the Web – Roy Slater’s acrimonious relationship with his father isn’t the only difficult thing about returning to his childhood home. Just a few weeks before he was about to leave for college, Roy’s brother Archie was arrested for the murders of Lavenia and Horace Kellogg. Now he’s back in a town filled with ghosts – and then another dead body turns up.

And the two books I am saving for a rainy day: Flesh and Blood & Night Secrets.

I am on a mission to find all the remaining Thomas H. Cook titles that exist.

Goodbye Days – Jeff Zentner

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Oh, Jeff, what are you doing to me?

The Serpent King, Jeff Zentner’s YA debut, was one of my favourite books of 2024. I figured I couldn’t go wrong with reading his follow-up, Goodbye Days. Geesh. Who is this Jeff Zentner guy and why does he insist on breaking my heart?

Carver Briggs, aka Blade, would have been pretty excited about his final year at Nashville Arts Academy if he hadn’t just buried his three best friends: Blake Lloyd, Eli Bauer and Mars Edwards. Now, though, he has to navigate this last year of high school without the rest of the Sauce Crew and deal with the overwhelming guilt that he is, in fact, responsible for their deaths.

He doesn’t think he killed them on purpose. And he knows that no one thinks he “slipped under their car in the dead of night and severed the brake lines.” But he did text Mars, who was driving, and the authorities did find Mars’s phone at the crash scene with a “half-composed text” to Carver. That was right before his friends slammed into the semi.

Now Carver is having panic attacks and debilitating feelings of guilt which are compounded by the fact that he is growing closer to Jesmyn, Eli’s girlfriend. It’s all too much. And he knows that he is not the only one who is suffering.

When Blake’s grandmother suggests that the two of them share a “goodbye day” for Blake, Carver is initially reluctant. She proposes that they spend a day together, doing the things that Blake used to love to do, and sharing their stories about him. A ‘goodbye day’ of sorts.

“Funny how people move through this word leaving little pieces of their story with the people they meet, for them to carry. Makes you wonder what’d happen if all these people put their puzzle pieces together.”

Goodbye Days is my first five star read of 2025. In all the ways I loved The Serpent King, I loved this one just as much. Zentner is so gifted at writing teenagers who are thoughtful and funny and broken and hopeful. This book was profoundly moving and yep, I cried.

For the most part, you don’t hold the people you love in your heart because they rescued you from drowning or pulled you from a burning house. Mostly you hold them in your heart because they save you, in a million quiet and perfect ways, from being alone.

I will read anything this guy writes.

Talking at Night – Claire Daverley

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If I had read Claire Daverley’s debut Talking at Night a little bit earlier, it would have most certainly made my list of the top twenty books I read this year because I LOVED it! I am always talking about how straight-up romances just don’t float my boat, how I need a little pain with my pleasure. This book delivered and then some.

Rosie and Will meet at a bonfire when she is seventeen and he a little older. Although they go to the same school and share some friends, and Will tutors Rosie’s twin, Josh, in further maths (advanced A level math), these two don’t really know each other until Will suddenly finds himself telling Rosie things he’s never said to anyone.

Will and Rosie could not be more different. Will is “detached and standoffish, despite his popularity and a long list of girlfriends.” Rosie is “a virgin, and she is vanilla.” She also suffers from OCD and is far less outgoing than Josh. It is clear, though, that these two are drawn to each other in ways that neither of them quite understand.

When Rosie tries to pre-emptively end things (because things haven’t really even begun, although they both understand that there is something between them), Will tells her that he thinks about her “On my bike. And in the garage. And when I’m cooking, and running, and trying to sleep.” This is new territory for Will.

Watching these two navigate these feelings over the years – because the novel does span decades – is truly a thing of beauty. There are lots of obstacles preventing them from having the HEA that I wanted for them, but that’s the bit I like best. Where’s the story if they meet, fall in love and suddenly have everything they didn’t even know they wanted?

Will has demons and a past. Rosie has a complicated relationship with her mother and subverts her own desires to make others happy. Tragedy looms around the corner which further complicates things. Rosie goes off to university, but Will stays home in Norfolk. And through it all – Will and Rosie pine and hell yes! so did I.

I loved these two characters. I loved the secondary characters. I loved the unexpected bonds that are forged. I loved the way this book is written. I read it in two sittings, turning the last page way past my bedtime.

If I had my Top Twenty list to do over again, this one would definitely be in the Top 3! Although perhaps not objectively the best book ever…it hit all my sweet spots and so it’s 100% a winner in my book, and that’s the beautiful thing about reading – my opinion is the only one that counts.

The Serpent King – Jeff Zentner

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The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner has been in my classroom library for ages, but a friend on Litsy recommended I read it based on some other recent books I have read and enjoyed (Shiner, Midnight is the Darkest Hour).

No question – The Serpent King will be in my Top Ten books of the year. It’s a five-star read.

Dill, Travis and Lydia live in Forrestville, Tennessee – a backwater, Bible belt town near Nashville. In their senior year of high school, the three are each other’s besties. Actually, they are each other’s only friends.

Dill Early is the son of a disgraced preacher, currently serving time for possessing child pornography. He and his mother live in abject poverty, buried under the weight of the debts which have piled up due to the senior Early’s incarceration and a car accident which has left Dill’s mother suffering from chronic pain. Dill worries constantly about his faith, his future, and his unrequited feelings for Lydia.

Travis Bohannon is a 6’6″ dork. He “wore a necklace with a chintzy pewter dragon gripping a purple crystal ball” and often carried a staff and a battered copy of a book from the Bloodfall series. He belonged to the same church as Dill – back before Early sr. was arrested – and that’s where the two became friends. Travis’s older brother Matthew had been killed in the Middle East and the loss of his older brother had soured Travis’s father even more towards Travis. He is a truly odious human.

Lydia Blankenship runs a successful fashion blog called Dollywould, named after one of her sheroes, Dolly Parton. She takes crap from no one, but she is often the target of the school bullies, who poke at her for everything from her appearance to her Internet success. Every time she claps back against the asshats in her school, I just wanted to high-five her. Lydia is different from Dill and Travis though in that she lives in a nice house (her father is the town dentist) and her parents support her dreams. Her parents are also two of the only adults in this novel I actually didn’t want to run over with my car. Lydia speaks her mind and she wants more for her friends, particularly Dill.

So, it’s their last year of high school. Time to start thinking about the future. Lydia’s life is planned. She has a list of schools she’s gunning for; NYU at the top of the list. Travis intends to stay in Forrestville and work at the family lumber yard. Dill’s mother wants him to work full time at the grocery store and help pay off the family debt. In fact, she’d be just as happy if he quit school now and went straight to work.

I cannot tell you how much I loved these three teenagers. Their dreams (or lack thereof), their insecurities, their successes, their complicated family dynamics and, most of all, their love for each other. These characters are so heartbreakingly human that when tragedy strikes, it rips your heart out.

When I think about the qualities of a five star book, I am looking for a great story, great writing, realistic characters. Icing on the cake is a book that makes me laugh – which I did. Sometimes these characters, particularly Lydia, say amusing, quippy things. The needle goes up a notch – don’t ask me why – if a book makes me cry. The Serpent King definitely made me cry.

Growing up is hard enough without having all the cards stacked against you. I have never hoped for the wellbeing of characters, particularly Dill and Travis, more than I did in this book. That this is Zentner’s debut is astounding. It’s a knockout.

Highly times a thousand recommended.