- I’m Glad My Mom Died – Jenette McCurdy, 2022. Massachusetts Center for the Book August challenge, from their suggested list: “A book that could be considered taboo.” This had been on my TBR list for a while. I wrote “A sad, gripping, ultimately hopeful memoir; McCurdy’s growing realization of her family’s dysfunction is well-done.”
- Oreo – Fran Ross, 1974. Second Monday selection; quotes TBD.
- Playground – Richard Powers, 2024. Nature & Environment selection; quotes TBD.
- Frog and Toad are Doing Their Best: Bedtime Stories for Trying Times, A Parody – Jennie Egerdie, 2021. Learning in Retirement had a children’s book bring-and-read and a participant brought this among others. It was cute enough that I borrowed it from the library.
- The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe, 1719. Great Books selection; quotes TBD.
- The Mouse and His Child – Russell Hoban, 1967. Multiple re-read, this time for my children’s reading group. Good discussions and I got to show off my signed first edition.
- Hattie, the Backstage Bat – Don Freeman, 1970. I brought Norman the Doorman (1959) to the Learning in Retirement event mentioned above, and someone mentioned this. Cute – love Hattie’s hat – but doesn’t hold a mouse trapeze to Norman, in my opinion.
- Yesteryear – Claro Claire Burke, 2026. Pretty good, and definitely hard to put down. My favorite thing about it was leading me to the excellent Diabolical Lies podcast.
- Number Three Joy Street: A Medley of Prose & Verse for Boys and Girls – 1925. Another smooth reading project on Distributed Proofreaders to help upload to Project Gutenberg, and again didn’t live up to my expectations. The Walter de la Mare story (“Old Joe”) stands out; his stuff has a haunting quality that I didn’t like much as a kid but found memorable.
- The Correspondent – Virginia Evans, 2025. I read the whole thing on Metro-North and it made me cry in public. A slow start, but I really loved this and will read it again. Epistolary novels are an easy sell, but the main character is hard to warm up to; despite her crabbiness, she won me over.
- Ports of Call – Jack Vance, 1999. Late/not great Vance, but enjoyable. The trio of Flook, Pook, and Snook was mildly amusing.
- Daddy Long-Legs: A Comedy in Four Acts – Jean Webster, 1912. Children’s reading group selection; quotes TBD.
Short stories
We often reference Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s brother, because Jonathan has his trait of figuring things out at a distance. Mycroft comes up very frequently in adaptations of the canon, so I was interested in revisiting his actual appearances. There are only two Arthur Conan Doyle stories featuring him: “The Greek Interpreter” and “The Bruce-Partington Papers” (although he’s mentioned two other times). Some of the nostalgic charm has worn off, but I still mildly enjoyed these.