en-US Mon, 07 Apr 2025 08:31:37 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9281730914 Mon, 07 Apr 2025 08:31:37 -0700 /review/show/6936919643 Karyl started reading Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard
]]> ReadStatus9278723607 Sun, 06 Apr 2025 13:50:30 -0700 /review/show/7467803483 Karyl is currently reading She and Her Cat: Stories by Makoto Shinkai
]]> Review7467716420 Sun, 06 Apr 2025 13:34:00 -0700 /review/show/7467716420 Karyl gave 2 stars to How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? (Hardcover) by Anna Montague
bookshelves: 2025, library-reads, lgbtqia-plus, recent-releases
I picked this up on one of my many trips to the library, as it seemed intriguing. One of the blurbs on the back was written by Jonas Jonasson, who wrote The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, which I quite enjoyed, and he said that this book was “At once tender and hilarious…� My dude, did we even read the same book? Yes, it was tender, but I must have missed the hilarity.

Magda Eklund, a 70-year-old therapist in practice with two of her med school buddies, embarks on a road trip after losing her dearest friend Sara, a person she has loved in silence for most of their lives. Of course, she learns a lot about herself and about her relationship with Sara during this road trip, but there is so much navel gazing that I was hard-pressed at times to keep my eyes open. And there was so much shifting in the time line that I was never very certain whether Sara was still alive or whether she had passed on.

I appreciated that we have a book about a gay 70-year-old woman, but it was just too slow and introspective for me. ]]> Review7460086929 Sun, 06 Apr 2025 10:02:01 -0700 /review/show/7460086929 Karyl gave 4 stars to The Skeleton Takes a Bow (Kindle Edition) by Leigh Perry
bookshelves: 2025, cozy-mystery, kindle-reads, library-reads, mysteries
I can’t remember now how I stumbled across the first book, A Skeleton in the Family, but it was delightful enough that I really wanted to continue reading the series. Alas, my state library system seems to have misplaced the physical copy of this book, and it wasn’t available on Libby until very recently. But now it is, and I’m so excited!

I gave the first book a very generous 4 stars, and this book is even better. Of course, you have to suspend your disbelief, as Sid is a walking, talking, and coherent skeleton, but Perry writes him so well that he’s strangely believable. And the care that he has for both Georgia and Madison is so endearing. He makes us all wish we had a skeleton bestie.

I wish I could have read this faster, but this was my bedtime book, and I kept falling asleep while reading. I look forward to reading more from this series! ]]> Review7460041370 Thu, 03 Apr 2025 14:15:36 -0700 /review/show/7460041370 Karyl gave 4 stars to A Symphony of Echoes (The Chronicles of St Mary's, #2) by Jodi Taylor
bookshelves: 2025, alternative-history, ebook, fantasy-sci-fi, historical-fiction, library-reads, time-travel, in-a-foreign-land
When I start a series, I always wonder if/when it’s going to start to fade a bit. I was all about the Outlander series for the first five books or so, and then I just seemed to lose interest. I can’t even get into the show anymore, though I liked the first season or two. By contrast, I quite enjoy the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley, and was so thrilled to hear he’s restarted the series.

I realize it’s only the second book in this series, but if Taylor keeps writing like this, I will definitely keep reading these books. My only quibble with Taylor’s writing is I don’t love how she’ll have Max explain off-camera what’s going to happen, what her plan is. I find that distracting; I’d rather Taylor change scenes entirely and then explain what’s going to happen. When Taylor has Max refer obliquely to the plan, so as not to spoil things until she’s ready to have Max explain, it feels jarring and tends to take me out of the novel.

My favorite part of this book was the team-building exercise in which Max had her people round up some dodos. The whole scene had me quietly laughing to myself and wishing I had been a part of it.

Another reviewer mentioned that they preferred this book over the first one, as Taylor stuck to actual history in terms of Mary, Queen of Scots, versus going back to the Cretaceous and checking out the dinosaurs. I do agree; my imagination doesn’t quite extend that far.

I look forward to the next book in this series! ]]> ReadingNotesCollectionPlaceholder4260790 Tue, 01 Apr 2025 11:57:20 -0700 Review7450825922 Tue, 01 Apr 2025 11:55:32 -0700 /review/show/7450825922 Karyl gave 3 stars to The Ten Loves of Nishino (Kindle Edition) by Hiromi Kawakami
bookshelves: 2025, japanese-fiction, in-a-foreign-land, kindle-reads, library-reads
This is a book I wish I could discuss with someone else. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone else who reads Japanese fiction. But I feel like there is a lot to unpack in this short novel.

Partway through the book, I had to look up the author to see what gender they were. As uncomfortable as some of these stories were, they would have been downright cringy had a man written them. I appreciated too that Kawakami centers women in these stories, even though the book is supposedly about Yurihiko Nishino.

Nishino himself is not a very likable person. He continues to engage in sexual activity with a woman, even when she says no. He admits he was in love with his sister. He seems incapable of monogamy and pits his various love interests against each other. We learn all of this from these ten women who tell us of their relationship with Nishino and how it played out. I would really have preferred each story to focus on how much better off each woman became when they realized Nishino was no good.

The translation by Allison Markin Powell is quite good. Most other novels I’ve read translated from the Japanese have a certain choppiness about them, but Powell’s translation is much more smooth. ]]> Review7450336848 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:12:11 -0700 /review/show/7450336848 Karyl gave 5 stars to What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust (Flavia de Luce, #11) by Alan Bradley
bookshelves: 2025, cozy-mystery, favorites, in-a-foreign-land, kindle-reads, library-reads, mysteries, recent-releases
I love the Flavia de Luce books. I know that some folks might be over Flavia’s antics, or feel that the series has run its course. I do remember devouring the first five books within a short time, as that’s all that had been published till that point, but when the next was published I had issues recalling what had happened in the previous books. Strangely enough, I didn’t have that experience with this novel. Everything came rushing back to me as I turned to the first page.

While there are some things in this book that are far-fetched, it’s good to be back with Flavia once more. Besides, the entire premise of the novels are not exactly reality-based. How many 11-year-olds have a better grasp of chemistry and experimentation that’s most college students?

At any rate, in this novel, Flavia has lost her dad and inherited Buckshaw, her ancestral home. Taking care of her is Mrs Mullet, the housekeeper, and Dogger, the groundskeeper. To augment her income at Buckshaw, Mrs Mullet has agreed to care for Mr Greyleigh, a man who had worked as a hangman. One morning Greyleigh ends up dead, and it’s clear that he’s been poisoned. Was it Mrs Mullet’s mushrooms that poisoned him, or something else? And who wants him dead?

I’m infinitely glad to have had one more trip back to Buckshaw, with Flavia joyfully riding Gladys down the country lanes, and having deep conversations with Dogger. Thank you, Mr Bradley. ]]> UserFollowing324606274 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:10:24 -0700 /user/show/4061144-alan-bradley Karyl is now following Alan Bradley ]]> ReadingNotesCollectionPlaceholder4257746 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:10:18 -0700