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Rebooked, Newton, MA (2026)

04/04/2026

Here’s what I read in March:

My re-read of The History of Sound was my favorite of the month: Excellent, excellent, excellent. Short stories loosely linked in setting, theme and tone. If possible, I enjoyed it even more than the first time. The writing immediately draws you in and puts your mind at rest and every story in the collection is extraordinary: profound and moving.

Also really loved Departures by Julian Barnes. I wasn’t sure at first but once the story settled in I found it graceful and poignant.

Troubles, an under the radar Irish historical novel set during the first round of troubles in 1920, was a great read!

Exit Lane and Something Borrowed were fun, escapist rom-coms set in NYC. Can’t resist those!

The oh so French Swimming in Paris left me a bit cold but I loved our book club discussion.

And I appear to be the rare person for whom Mother Mary Comes to Me did not work at all. This memoir has been receiving accolades right and left but I found it choppy and the cerebral style kept me at too much of a distance.

What did you read in March?

02/03/2026

I had a great reading month in January. Here were my favorites.

Flesh by David Szalay: LOVED. I can see why this won the Booker Prize. So smart and restrained but with so much to say.

Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson: LOVED. A charming and hysterical memoir of raising children.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: IMPRESSIVE. Finally got around to reading this modern classic

Bread of Angels by Patti Smith: BEAUTIFUL PASSAGES. Smith writes so well about living a creative life but I’ve liked some of her other memoirs more. Try M Train!

Winter by Ali Smith, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai and Fair Play by Louise Hegarty were all really good and completely different from one another. Read Winter is you want dreamy minimalism, Loneliness if you want a torrent of beautiful words and Fair Play if you want something clever and experimental and you like mysteries.

A Marriage at Sea was intriguing for awhile but then quite dull.

And to my surprise I really enjoyed Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry despite not being a fan of hers. Now if she can only eliminate a few words from her vocabulary—murmur and wriggled (as in in and out of clothing) for starters☺️

What did you read in January?

12/31/2025

I read 95 books this year and here are my favorites

TOP TEN
1. The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck
2. My Friends by Hisham Matar
3. The Hopkins Manuscript by R.C. Sherriff
4. Heart the Lover by Lily King
5. Among Friends by Hal Ebbott
6. Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Cespedes
7. Who Will Run The Frog Hospital by Lorrie Moore
8. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
9. The Details by Ia Genberg
10. The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller/Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

11/03/2025

I read 13 books in October and here’s what I thought:

Among Friends: LOVED Much darker than I usually like but the exhilarating writing won me over.
Buckeye: LOVED this on audio. An old fashioned novel with a lot of heart.
The Impossible Fortune: LOVED this on audio also. Witty British dialogue gets me every time.
Heart the Lover: LOVED and read in one day.
Another Marvelous Thing: Reread this Laurie Colwin on audio but I think I prefer this one on the page.
Seduction Theory: REALLY LIKED Clever and scathing and made me very happy not to be in academia.
Sula: Really glad I read this with book club or I wouldn’t have appreciated it at all.
Perfection: Another really clever book but left me a bit cold.
Mr. Wilder and Me: unexpectedly sweet and nostalgic.
The Berry Pickers: This was fine but nothing special.
Train Dreams: A lot of people love this one but I didn’t.
The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy: Had to do it after binging (and loving, duh) the show. Exactly what you would expect.

What have you been reading?

10/02/2025

I read these six books in September and here’s what I thought:

Jeff Hiller’s memoir, Actress of a Certain Age, was perfect on audio, warm and witty and absolutely hysterically funny.

The Best of Everything is a big soap opera of a novel written in the 1950s which follows four young women as they navigate their early 20s in NYC. Really entertaining!

Mercy by Joan Silber is a series of interconnected stories each about a different character somehow related to the others. It reminded me of Elizabeth Strout and I liked it a lot.

I loved Hisham Matar’s My Friends and his backlist Anatomy of a Disappearance had lovely writing and similar themes but it was just so sad.

A Reason to See You Again was a well- written family story but I found the characters somewhat annoying. I really liked Attenberg’s previous book All Grown Up. Give that one a try instead.

Flight was not for me. I finished it but found it extremely grating.

What have you been reading?

08/02/2025

July reading roundup:

Favorite overall: The Hopkins Manuscript - I simply can’t believe this searing sci-fi novel was written in 1939 and not last week. Beautiful writing and plot which moved in unexpected (and chilling) directions. Thanks to for getting me to read it.

Favorite re-read: The Remains of the Day - a wonderful, poignant, funny, and so sad book.

What did I read?: The Last Samurai - a modern classic that makes you feel really dumb and really smart at the same time. Someone needs to explain this book to me!

Pleasant and Diverting: Frankie - a surprisingly good story of the life of an Irish woman in the NYC art world of the 1960s. Goes down easy.

Best series: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion - perfect charming bedtime reading. On to Volume 3!

Best on Audio: Murder Takes a Vacation: Total fluff but lots of fun.

Fine but forgettable: Bug Hollow - getting a lots of love from others though so you may love it! How to Read a Book - trying to be too many different things at once

What was your favorite read in July?

07/01/2025

I read eight books in June and here’s what I thought:

Audition – Wound up really loving this mind-bending mother/son story once all the smart folks in book club talked through some of the stranger bits with me.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. I – This fictional journal of a young woman in London in 1883 is witty, light and charming. Looking forward to the rest of the volumes (I think there are six or seven). Thank you to Paperback Summer Reading Guide for the rec.

Great Black Hope – A lot to love here, especially when the story left NYC, even though I wanted to shake the main character much of the time. Would recommend reading this on the page. I did the audio and it really bogged down for a while in the middle but thanks to a fantastic review by I persisted and was very glad I did.

Days of Light – Loved the writing but not the story. The main character, Ivy, goes on a spiritual journey as we follow her throughout her life and it just didn’t make sense to me. But beautiful writing!

Ms. Hempel’s Chronicle – This 2008 novel about a middle school teacher told in a series of short story like chapters was lovely and a little bit quirky.

It’s a Love Story – I really loved Monaghan’s first novel Nora Goes off Script but haven’t liked anything she’s written since until this one which was delightful on audio. It’s a romance with nothing particularly clever or new but Monaghan is very funny and writes likeable characters. A perfect beach read.

The Cranes Dance – Picked this up because I loved Howrey’s book They’re Going to Love You (read that one!). This is a ballet story about two sisters and if you are a dancer you’d probably love it. Howrey (a dancer herself) writes beautifully and the main character’s voice was compelling but the dance stuff got a bit boring and the sisters’ dynamic didn’t really work for me.

Shopgirls – A big disappointment. Blau’s novel, Mary Jane, was a delightful surprise for me last year but this new novel about a young woman working in a department store was clunky and totally blah. And a hideous cover.

What did you read in June?

06/01/2025

I read 9 books in May. Here’s what I thought.

The History of Sound: Excellent, excellent, excellent. Short stories loosely linked in setting, theme and tone. The type of controlled, introspective writing that I adore.

Run For The Hills: Perfect on audio. Kevin Wilson writes the best poignant, funny stories with just the right amount of sappy. I predict this will be one of the big books of summer 2025.

The Correspondent: A lovely epistolary novel.

Season of Migration to the North: A really excellent and challenging modern classic set in Sudan and translated from the Arabic. Great discussion with book club.

Theft: A modern novel set in Tanzania that I understood much better for having read Season of Migration.

Ladies’ Lunch: Compelling short stories. My first title from Paperback Summer Reading Guide.

The Carousel: Picked up this slim Rosamunde Pilcher novel to read as a relaxing bedtime book and it was perfect. Lovely setting, undemanding story, satisfying plot.

You Only Call When You’re in Trouble: I’ve read a number of books by Stephen McCauley and always have the same reaction. They’re just sort of blah. Perfectly serviceable but nothing to really grab hold of.

Tilt: The only book I read in May that I really didn’t like. Only finished it to see if something interesting would happen. Spoiler, it didn’t.

05/01/2025

This weekend in Brighton is looking fantastic! I’ll be set up inside. Come on by to pick up some new reads or a Morher’s Day gift.

03/03/2025

I read seven books in February and liked them all. Here’s what I thought:

Stone Yard Devotional - This lovely Australian novel about an unnamed middle aged woman taking a pause in her life to reckon with her past while staying at a remote convent was my favorite kind of quiet read. Warning: absolutely do not read if you are bothered by mice! Trust me!
Back After This – loved this one on audio read by the author. It’s a charming and funny Nora Ephron-esque rom com about a podcast producer who reluctantly agrees to work with a romance influencer who sets her up on 20 blind dates for a new podcast. Big surprise, things do not go well.
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man – this 1912 pre-Harlem Renaissance novel was astonishing. I had never even heard of it but was blown away by how modern it felt.
Three Days in June – not my favorite Anne Tyler (that would be Breathing Lessons) but still a solid read.
The Strange Case of Jane O. – I loved Walker’s previous books but I’m not really sure what this one was trying to do but it held my attention.
A Month in the Country – another quiet read which I liked a lot, especially the ending.
The Mighty Red – I have to admit I’m not a huge Louise Erdrich fan. This one felt very choppy to me and I didn’t really care about most of the characters.

What was your favorite read in February?

02/01/2025

I read to relax and escape so no surprise I read a lot in January. It was also friggin cold so the couch under a blanket was the most logical place to be. Here’s what I thought:

My Friends - Loved, loved, loved!
The Wedding People- thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish
Home Cooking - Laurie Colwin, swoon.
Piglet- incredibly original with bonkers wedding scene
My Last Innocent Year - liked a lot, very thought provoking
One of Ours- I love Willa Cather and this won the Pulitzer but it wasn’t my favorite of hers
The Safekeep - I liked it ok but not sure what all the fuss was about
Rental House - liked this one
Shell Games - a slight but absorbing thriller
Ballerina - my first Modiano and I really don’t get what he’s trying to do

What did you read in January?

Rebooked

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