My Current Reads
Books I’ve read and reviewed.
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre
The Spy and the Traitor is a wholly engrossing espionage-centered biography about Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB officer who spied for MI6 during the Cold War. Disillusioned with Soviet communism, he helped the West by exposing Russian spies and sabotaging Soviet plots. Macintyre details the intense spy games between the US, UK, and USSR, and culminates in Gordievsky's dramatic escape from Moscow in 1985. It's a thrilling tale of espionage, betrayal, and the impact one man had on history.
The Color of Everything by Cory Richards
The Color of Everything is a memoir of adventure, success, fame, and the struggle to overcome personal demons. Cory Richards grew up in Utah's mountains, learning outdoor skills from his father despite a troubled home life. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he found solace in photography and climbing. His successful adventure photography career was disrupted by a catastrophic avalanche, forcing him to confront past trauma and mental health.
When Among Crows by Veronica Roth
When Among Crows is a compelling novella that delves into Slavic folklore, exploring themes of redemption, empowerment, and self-actualization. Dymitr, part of a line of hunters who endure great pain in order to slay the world’s monsters, is on a perilous quest to find the legendary witch Baba Jaga. To succeed, he must form an uneasy alliance with Ala, a zmora (a Slavic night demon) cursed and near death. Promising her a cure in exchange for her help, they battle against time and the dangers of the Chicago underworld. However, Dymitr’s hidden secrets and true motives could ultimately lead to their downfall.
Thorn Tree by Max Ludington
Thorn Tree is a masterful piece of gorgeously constructed literary fiction from new-to-me author, Max Ludington. Daniel Tunison, a reclusive artist now in his late sixties, lives in a quietly appointed former guest cottage in Hollywood Hills. Known for one briefly monumental and massive sculpture, Thorn Tree, that he constructed from scrap metal in the Mojave desert in the 1970s, Daniel is haunted by past tragedy and a lifetime of mistakes made along the way.
Julia by Sandra Newman
Set in the dystopian world of 1984, Julia Worthing is a mechanic in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth in the nation of Oceania, ruled by the ultra-totalitarian Party and its enigmatic leader, Big Brother. Living in a world perpetually at war, Julia has always been a loyal citizen, cynically obedient to the regime’s slogans while secretly breaking the rules when convenient. However, her encounter with Winston Smith sets off a chain of events that challenges her beliefs and forces her to confront the harsh realities of her society. Through Julia’s eyes, Newman takes readers on a journey through Orwell’s iconic dystopia. Giving a fresh perspective and breathing life into Julia, she reveals unexpected depths in this familiar gray world.
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
It’s easy to find the beauty in the fantastic, the miracles, the extraordinary. It’s so much harder to constantly see the beauty in the mundane, the everyday, the expected. But Bertino does just that by wielding the lens of the narrator, Adina. Through Adina's continued exploration of the people around her and, importantly, of herself, Bertino reminds us that if you can find wonder in the mundane, you’ve found Beautyland.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Based on a real-life incident in Peru during the winter of 1996/97, Patchett delivers her trademark fantastic characters, rich with a diverse range of depth and complexity within a balanced narrative. Drawing inspiration from the incident, Patchett overlaid a situation that frees up space for her characters to shine. Through a third-person narrator, she masterfully navigates the various vignettes and milieus, moving around the tension-filled house.
Monsters by Claire Dederer
Monsters delves with an unflinching voice into the validity of looking at the artists' works through a squeaky clean lens. Is this a disservice in any way? Who gets to decide what's acceptable and what isn't? In a world now subjected quite quickly and quite easily to a cancel culture of hard lines and soapbox voices, are we forgetting to look at the darker aspects of human beings as the creatures they are?
Redwood Court by DéLana R. A. Dameron
In DéLana R. A. Dameron's novel, Redwood Court, Mika Tabor's tale begins with a family tree assignment — something particularly difficult to both explore and encapsulate in the same way or to the same degree as her white classmates. So the unfurling of Mika's beautifully rich tapestry of matriarchal generations begins with the idea of filling out the tree with stories, rather than simply names, branching the idea of the tree outwards instead of focusing on the typical upwards angle.
New York by Edward Rutherfurd
With the crisscrossing and overlapping lives of his characters' stories that span hundreds of years, New York comes alive, revealing the origin of so many well-known landmarks and the rich but malleable history.
Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King
King’s collection of short stories in Five Tuesdays in Winter offers a variety of themes, characters, and story lengths. She seemed to effortlessly deliver whatever she desired, and easily can be slotted in as the rare Goldilocks collection.
My Policeman by Bethan Roberts
My Policeman is a tragic tale that plays with identity, understanding, society, and self-acknowledgement.
Baumgartner by Paul Auster
Baumgartner is a continuation of what is seemingly Paul Auster's life's work of playing with concepts, experimenting with ideas, and exploring the what-if moments, the in between pauses, and the split-second decisions that veer a path in a different direction.
Audience-ology by Kevin Goetz
Audience-ology reveals the behind-the-scenes world of Hollywood test screenings, where opinions from real people shape iconic movies. Goetz does not disappoint.
Singer Distance by Ethan Chatagnier
Set in an alternate history where Martians have been part of Earth's history since the late 19th century, Singer Distance opens in December 1960. Rick Hayworth, an MIT grad student, embarks on a cross-country road trip with his fellow students, headed to the Arizona desert and a potential legacy.
Summerwater by Sarah Moss
Amid a Scottish summer's rainy backdrop of a day, Moss sets the stage with disparate groupings of strangers temporarily part of a reluctant lakeside vacation community. With the gloomy weather largely keeping them indoors and in their secluded cabins, ….
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
Aelin Galathynius, once known as the assassin Celaena Sardothien, is back in the empire, seeking vengeance and the restoration of her kingdom. As the Queen of Terrasen, she embraces her identity but….
Speech Team by Tim Murphy
In Speech Team, Tip Murray, a nonprofit writer in his early forties, receives shocking news of a former teammate's suicide. This revelation leads him and his high school best friend, Natalie, on a nostalgic journey to….
Spider-Man: Life Story by Chip Zdarsky and Mark Bagley
In the iconic Amazing Fantasy #15 from 1962, 15-year-old Peter Parker's life changed forever when he was bitten by a radioactive spider, transforming him into the Amazing Spider-Man.
Homecoming by Kate Morton
Kate Morton is back on her game with this new release, Homecoming. After a less than stellar showing for me from The Clockmaker's Daughter, Morton has returned to form and crafted a wonderfully layered story that is ….