Go Gentle by Maria Semple (Literary Fiction)

An absolute pleasure to read from start to finish!

Adora Hazzard — one-time comedy writer turned staff philosopher for precocious (and wealthy) twins on the Upper West Side. Lover of the Stoics. Instigator of a modern day coven (not what you think but even better!). And … an unwitting participant in the convoluted slip ’n slide of an art heist / Interpol / spy ring adventure. It’s funny how I can ignore the “plot” almost completely in favor of the deep dive into Adora’s character— her development of a personal life philosophy (with well-educated underpinnings), her eventual reckoning with poor past decisions, and her somewhat herky jerky reaction to the possibility of … love.

I give the writing an A+++. Fast paced, witty, infused with exceptional banter and a razor sharp clarity of thought applied to complex topics. Full of intriguing characters (in addition to Adora) — all memorable in their own way based not on who they are but on what they think, say, and make happen. I LOVED the injection of philosophy from the ancients to the current times — all made accessible and applicable to everyday life. I’ve read a lot of philosophy (admittedly a few decades ago) but I enjoyed thinking some new (to me) thoughts and puzzling out how what I learned might apply to my life. I’m a sucker for questions of moral rectitude and applied ethics and those were plentifully supplied. I also loved the various relationship reflections, shifts, and the way Semple depicted discussions on volatile topics with a subtle recognition of when ideology or a simple lack of thought snuck in and how the relationship changed (suffered?) as a result.

In summary — loved this book! Made me laugh, made me think, made me reflect, and it was fun to read. Can’t ask for much more than that! Some people took a real dislike to Adora, applying some pretty interesting judgements to her character (we have, as a culture, become so over-the-top judgmental IMHO). I think I could take up a whole book club discussion on the whys of that one. For my part, I’m a big fan.

Just a few quotes that don’t give too much away — there are great ones on every page:

“Inside her apartment, Matt (shoes-on, doing the couch luge) was gunning people down with an intensity I reckoned he never applied to learning her love language. A statement bong dominated the coffee table. Meanwhile, out in the hallway, bag handles had begun to cut off circulation to his beloved’s ringless fingers.”

“An unimpeachably intentional, highly curated, feminist old folks’ home? Nah, not much of a ring. A tragic, estrogen-free trio trying to put our best face on the realization society is done with us and we’re destined to die alone? No, and bite your tongue.”

“I adored learning about the personal lives of the philosophers and tracking the progression of collective thought throughout history. How every breakthrough idea had been a

Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings by Jared Diamond (popular science / history)

I never read the very popular Guns, Germs, and Steel, so perhaps my expectations for this book were too high, but I did find it disappointing. The subject was ostensibly “When do leaders matter” — is there something uniquely capable about them or are they just in the right place at the right time and someone else would have accomplished the same thing had they not been there. To expand on this “query” Diamond elaborates (at length and in a rambling, unclear, and far too repetitive manner) on the “research” methods used to investigate the question: biography, the “Hamlet test,” and natural experiments (finding experimental situations “in the wild” rather than planned in laboratory).

The book is segmented into four categories: Political, business, sports, and religious leaders. I did enjoy many of the “stories” — mini biographies of “great” figures in each category, and some high level, but interesting analysis of why some religions succeeded while others did not (surprisingly Islam was not mentioned which is a bit of an oversight? Perhaps intentional?). However, I found the depth of investigation to be shallow to the point where I felt some recaps came straight from wikipedia without checking for factual inaccuracies (of which I found several), and conclusions drawn in a sloppy fashion without adequate coverage of contributing factors or even breadth of contributing research.

The writing is (IMHO) simply bad. The narrative rambles, repeats, inserts some personal stories that were strangely ineffective at bonding us to the writer. A large number of pages are devoted to explaining various research techniques but I did not find the writing to have the clarity I look for when explaining potentially complex or unfamiliar subjects. I’m already familiar with these techniques but I wouldn’t have understood them from his verbose and incoherent descriptions. I was also a bit disturbed in some places by his content — asking his readers “do they feel strongly enough about an individual leader’s negative impact that they would sacrifice their own life in order to assassinate him or her?” He was referring to Hitler but too many people today are taking that question seriously and considering “evil” targets that have done little more than disagree with their ideology. Do we want to suggest to people that assassination is a noble endeavor as that question suggests? Similarly, he lumped Margaret Thatcher and Mao Zedong together into a category of leaders with a “mixed legacy.” Mao killed 40 – 80 million of his own people. Does Margaret Thatcher really fall into the same category? Small points but troubling nonetheless.

The book is really a set of vignettes loosely aligned with leadership and impact. I found it entertaining at times, though more difficult to read than it should have been. I didn’t find the main question to be an important one, nor do I think he actually came to any real conclusion, never mind one based on real data extracted from solid research methods. I would categorize this in the popular science / history category along with Mary Roach, Malcolm Gladwell and their ilk, though less entertaining.

Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book was published on September 1st, 2026.

Monsters of Ohio by John Scalzi

Another wacky (and every-page humorous) story from John Scalzi. I love that every Scalzi story that I read reminds me of … absolutely no other story I’ve read. Unique, fun, and — regardless of the weirdness (and sometimes grossness) — pretty upbeat! I bet Scalzi doesn’t even have to work hard on this stuff — I think his tall tales come tumbling out of his brain already perfectly formed.

The setting — a small town in Ohio, a greedy corporation ready to extract every resource before tossing the remainders away, an even sleazier representative of said corp looking to further line his own pockets with some friendly embezzlement on the side. One thing about Scalzi’s books — it’s always very clear who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. Enter our hero, the wry, competent, guy-you-want-on-a-desert-island Mike Boyd — freshly “released” from a D.C. job in the USDA, coming “home,” tail between legs to an emotional set of townies. And then things start to get weird in the way only Scalzi tales can get. Check out the book cover for a few hints. Reminds me of old Astounding magazine covers…

A couple of extra points. Loved the first chapter which is told in second person from the perspective of … a rabbit. Hysterical. Could not stop laughing but also completely engrossed in the rabbit’s experience! Also — cryptids — have not heard that word before but I like it and it has high relevance. Look it up!

Fun, easy to read, a great reality-based hero, and did I mention weird? Really stimulates the creative centers and the funny bone.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on November 3rd, 2026.

The American Way of Killing by Malcolm Gladwell (Non fiction)

Gladwell’s latest tackles the highly emotional topic of Violence in America — and he tackles it with a shocking amount of anger and aggression aimed at Americans — all 350 million of us. Gladwell’s general approach to his subjects is to (in his words) find interesting anecdotes and interesting research and pair them up. The set of vignettes in this collection do this but in a hostile and often misleading way. Hostile in that he’s clearly angry at Americans (again — all of us) literally and repeatedly calling us stupid, dishonest, “morally reckless,” and pedantic at various points in the narratives. Misleading in that none of his “stories” are comprehensive — some offer partial (but never tested at scale) solutions, many describe efforts and explain why they are a waste of time, a few contradict each other, and several leave out critical aspects of the data that could change the conclusions. I am glad I read this book and I did learn some new and relevant information, but I strongly recommend reading the book critically and doing your own supplemental research to get a fuller picture.

The bits I found interesting: Americans (according to Gladwell) think they are over policed, but in fact we are largely under-policed. A comparison of police forces in L.A. and Berlin (equal populations with L.A. a larger physical area) surprised me. 8,500 police in L.A. vs 18,000 in Berlin. This section included a good description of how a larger police force could prevent more crime and improve community engagement based on interviews with those who had run large police forces (e.g. Boston, L.A.). A dive into a program to teach young men (the victims and perpetrators of the largest segment of gun violence) how to maintain emotional control based on the “realization” that much of gun violence was based on “an exaggerated sense of moral injury leading them to take the law into their on hands.” A few dips into how gun fatality statistics are influenced on the one hand by the amazing abilities of surgeons to save victims who would have died in the past, and on the other hand by the location of trauma centers which are often not close enough to the areas that need them the most. While not productive in any sense, I did learn something from the details of the assault weapons ban — pages and pages of specific weapons banned, an even longer list of those not banned, followed by his point that most homicides were committed with handguns anyway.

The pointless or frustrating bits: Long diatribes about our “absurd” focus on the second amendment and the pedantic nature of the Supreme Court, betraying incomprehension for what the Constitution is and how the Supreme Court is supposed to make decisions (Gladwell is a British-Canadian who has lived in the U.S. since the mid eighties without applying for citizenship so maybe he missed the memo?). Conflating homicides and suicides into single gun violence statistics which give misleading ideas about where the biggest problems are. Some sideways mentions of racism without any cohesive theme — almost as though just throwing it in there.

I’ve read most, if not all, of Gladwell’s books and have enjoyed them. They are called “pop sociology” and I enjoy the surprising tidbits. However, with such a critical topic under discussion, the light-weight nature of the anecdotes coupled with the needlessly hostile tone really didn’t work for me. Read it — but spend some time thinking about what you read and maybe do a little extra research before drawing any conclusions.

There are so many good sources of relevant information out there. Here are a few statistics that I found (and found easily): There is an oft referenced meme on gun friendly states having the highest amount of gun deaths. Using the CDC data at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/homicide.html, what I found is that by removing the suicides and only looking at homicides, many of the “red” states known to be very gun friendly (Montana, Wyoming, Alaska) jumped down to the middle of the list because almost all (80-90%) of their gun deaths were suicides. In fact, California (very blue!) and Montana (pretty red!) have the exact same number of homicide gun deaths per capita. I also looked up what percentage of firearms in the U.S. were used to cause injury or fatality — according to https://publichealth.jhu.edu/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/data/annual-gun-violence-data, this is 0.003% of all firearms. Lastly, I asked one of the AI engines to give me information on guns used in self-defense and it gave me pointers to several different surveys run by a variety of organizations resulting in a large range (70,000 – 2,500,000) of reported self-defense events, mostly guns used as a deterrant, i.e. without firing a shot. For me this helps to frame why so many people want guns and how few (and concentrated) the use of guns for violence is.

I should mention that I am by no means a “gun nut,” and I’m extremely worried about the level of overall violence in our country — not just inner city gun homicides, but the tendency towards violence with any kind of weapon, the acceptance of politically motivated violence, the excusing of violence committed by the mentally ill, and the violence committed by people who just seem to enjoy it. Some level of gun control is of course required, but it is in no way sufficient. We have a big problem with people and culture — some of Gladwell’s stories point in the right direction, but not nearly enough.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 29th, 2027.

Peck & Peck by Bonnie Garmus (Literary Fiction)

At heart, this is a novel about poetry and how it can change your life — but the poetry theme is tightly inserted into a narrative populated by a madcap scramble of an adventure story replete with good vs evil, multiple layers of deception, the best kind of quirky characters, and lots of personal confusion (and eventual growth :-)) You can read it for the plot, the twisty characters, and / or for the opportunity to do some pretty deep thinking.

Our narrator is Batter — a somewhat timid character who falls hard for Poetry despite experimenting with a wide variety of majors that might have led to more lucrative careers (he does surprisingly well in Accounting). He recognizes that he hasn’t the talent to be a Poet himself, but decides he wants to discover Poets — like Brian Epstein discovered the Beatles. When he heads to the Big Apple after graduation nobody (but himself) is pleased, but through an interesting set of happenstances he lands a (very) low level job at Peck & Peck — the highly illustrious and beyond upscale (also incredibly expensive) Poetry journal. That’s when things start to get interesting.

I’m a character person, and the characters in this book are so very captivating. It took me awhile to warm up to Batter whose timidity and lack of self confidence or direction I found irritating, but I fell in love with his mother immediately. If you’re looking for an Elizabeth Zott type figure, Rainey is it. Rainey is a typeface designer and even if you haven’t a smidgen of interest in the characteristics of typefaces (e.g. common fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, or Palatino or unusual ones such as Impact, Baskerville, Caslon), you might well find her mini contextual lectures on the practical and emotional factors of typeface choice fascinating — I know I did. Dad is the “interesting” kind of historian — one who examines not just what happened in the past, but how the narration shifts with the teller, and how easily we can all be bamboozled. Every one of the editors at Peck & Peck have their own idiosyncratic set of motivations, cringes, hopes, and driving instincts that keep you on your toes if you happen to get bored. And then there is Batter’s “love at first sight” interest… Every character is a real obsessive type — but that’s what makes them interesting (and almost every one of the obsessions is completely obsession-worthy!)

But what about Poetry as a strong theme? I’ve never been a big fan, despite my voracious reading habits. But I perked up when I read one poetry-passionate character toss off the fact that 95% of poetry is boring. Yes! But his thesis is that the very top 1/2% is life changing. This book included excellent pointers to some spectacular poetry and surprisingly I have compiled a set of them and am happily reading, tearing (as in crying, not ripping) up as appropriate.

So — overall fun to read, some very interesting philosophical questions to ponder, a whole lot of tangent topics that were either completely new to me or offered new depths to what I thought I knew already — such as typeface design, slam poetry sessions, and … have you ever heard of heteropaternal superfecundation? Look it up! Reminded me of John Irving books in the way all the weird tangents actually come together in the end to achieve something. A good read.

Quotes:
“Poetry provides answers and despite what my pre-law classes would call an appalling lack of evidence, their answers always seemed right. Or something even more unlikely. Truthful.”

“Awful people succeed because nice people let them. This is the drawback of being nice. Nice people worry that it isn’t nice to take action against awful people because they don’t want to act awful themselves – they don’t want to stoop to that level. But I think nice people have been stooping all along. The worst kind of stooping – because it isn’t stooping, it’s bending over.”

“Poetry is problematic. First, it’s not easy. It forces you to think and sometimes thinking hurts. Also, poetry can make you feel stupid, like you don’t get it. And if you do get it, then it’s only because it just revealed something about yourself that you were hoping to keep hidden.”

“That, in a nutshell, is how the brothers gained new readership: by showing normal, everyday people what poetry was really all about. How it could make them feel; what it could make them think; and why it could change their lives — not just for one night, but for every night thereafter.”

“Dickinson once wrote that hope is a thing with feathers. If that’s true, despair must be a pair of concrete shoes. I know because I wore mine home.”

“The poets I publish have the nerve, the audacity, to face life’s struggles. To wrestle with ugliness, to question prevailing wisdom, to grasp at beauty. And they do it, not by mimicking what’s already been done — not by tilling the same ground, not by planting the same crop, not by sowing the same harvest — but by starting fresh. In a world devoid of poets, do you know what you get? Another knockoff. Another mouthwash.”

“Humans thrive on constant renewal. We require fresh ideas and original thinking to survive, and yet it sometimes feels like the art and necessity of thinking is becoming passe; that the one-size-fits-most, sitcom-rich, knockoff lifestyle is winning. I confess that some days I find the passivity of the human race overwhelming.”

“Since you’re a poetry lover, maybe you’ve heard of this new thing that makes poetry tolerable. It’s called music.”

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 13th, 2027.

Buckeye By Patrick Ryan (Literary Fiction)

A sweeping, historical, novel that delves into the intimate lives of two couples in the post WWII midwest: Cal Jenkins, prevented from doing his patriotic duty due to a birth defect; his wife Becky, a spiritualist whose life work is helping the living connect to their dearly departed (and never for a fee); Felix Salt, a true gentleman with a deep secret he keeps even from himself; and his wife Margaret, abandoned at birth and deeply craving family.

The Amazon description summarizes with: “Sweeping yet intimate, resplendent with moments of deep emotion and unforgettable characters, Buckeye is a transportive story of love, loyalty, sacrifice, and forgiveness.” That isn’t the way I would have described it — I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to understand why I didn’t like it, because I really did not!

I can see why I should have liked it: it was written well, contained deep dives on various topics in human interaction such as the “love, loyalty, sacrifice, and forgiveness” mentioned above. And it did utilize meticulously drawn characters to drive the plot. But in truth I often found it a slog to read — and I did not find the characters memorable (or engaging) at all. I particularly had an issue with the way the women were drawn. The two men made sense — I could see how their life experiences made them who they were, and I was attracted to their personal growth throughout the book. But the women did not work for me — especially Margaret whose behavior appeared to be explained away as an oversimplified result of her childhood. I’m trying not to include any spoilers here, but suffice it to say that I do not believe her story would have ended up the way it did, and I was pretty unhappy with the distribution of guilt (i.e. some characters should have felt more guilt than they did, while others felt more than they should have). My gut feeling is that while the book is marketed as an ensemble piece, Felix is the central character — the only one imbued with a “real person” vibe and the only one who gets a “happy ending,” somewhat at the expense of everyone else IMHO. But to each his or her own! You may identify with and applaud the narrative around what may be for you a compelling character. Would love to discuss this more with anyone who has already read it so I don’t have to keep quiet about what bugged me!

Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggars (Narrative Non-fiction)

An entertaining and educational book about one man’s successful effort to revitalize Yemen’s quality coffee production. It stars a somewhat unlikely hero — Mokhtar Alkhanshali — an American of Yemeni descent growing up in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district who is initially depicted as a bit of a screw up but manages to accomplish what would be impossible for most.

This is a work of “narrative non-fiction” — it reads like a novel but is a “true story” (not based on a true story). It’s part education and part high adventure, giving every type of brain something to hook into. I learned an astonishing amount about the history of coffee production, the means of assessing “quality” coffee, the convoluted “seed to Starbucks” process, and a great deal about starting and funding a complex business. I also learned more than I ever knew existed about Yemen — its history, current political climate, and US immigrant community. All of this learning was encapsulated in an intriguing (i.e. not at all dry) narrative that was full of compelling characters, the ideal level of concept-supporting detail, and literal high adventure (Try to escape the country during a civil war! Crossing the Red Sea on a tiny boat! Getting out of Dodge while drowning in an ocean of bureaucracy!).

I particularly found the way he did business to be interesting — while not an admirable student, Mokhtar thrived in an entrepreneurial setting, supported by his social abilities and connections. He was fast thinking, able to engage with a wide variety of people, and had a ready made set of connections in Yemen without which I don’t think he could have gotten very far — they certainly had to bail him out many times. Plenty of implicit commentary on what life is like in a low trust society. Also plenty of implicit commentary on the role of women in Mokhtar’s community both within the U.S. and Yemen — there were no women in the story! The exceptions were those in supporting roles (someone’s wife, someone’s admin, and one group of stellar coffee workers located by a business partner’s mother — they were the only workers who didn’t steal!). I did appreciate that the political commentary (which I will not comment on) appeared to be impartial and not agenda based.

A note on process the author used to write this book (according to an SF Gate article). Apparently the work is based on extensive (hundreds of hours) interviews with Mokhtar, but additionally Eggars traveled to the various regions personally to retrace the route, went through his own Q-grading coffee course, and verified events through interviews with several of the key players.

Not my usual reading material — I had a lot of questions, particularly about people, and nobody to ask — but lots of well-documented information that I’m glad to now know.

Numb Were the Beadsman’s Fingers by Alan Bradley (Historical Mystery)

This is the 12th, and probably last, delightful mystery in the Flavia de Luce series. If you’re new to the series, it follows an 11-year old irreverent chemist and amateur detective pottering about with her poisons in her family’s decaying estate in 1950s rural England. If you are newbie, I recommend going back and starting at the beginning — it isn’t necessary, but it’s much more fun.

This book starts with an immediate hook — Flavia and Dogger (the family manservant with a complex past and a “black belt in noncommittal”) are called in to the (silent) Sisters of Clemency convent to help identify a recently deceased nun who — wait for it — turned out to be a man. The (quite satisfying) unraveling of this mystery takes us to the Klondike, the shell-shock victims of WWI, and an intriguing Rosary Code. The writing is humorous and full of the creative and surprising asides that constantly stream out of Flavia’s fertile mind. The characters are highly competent (each in their own way) and likably quirky. The story is fun to follow with the kind of relevant (and sometimes utterly irrelevant) tangents that will attract the intellectually curious reader.

Alan Bradley wrote the first book in the series when he was 70 based on his winning entry for the Debut Dagger fiction competition. He passed away at the age of 87 just this last May.

Thank you to Bantam Sons and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on November 3rd, 2027.

Malice by Jonathan Kellerman (Mystery)

Number 42 in what has quickly become my favorite police procedural series, starring a gruff, inexorable, gay LA homicide detective and his best friend Alex Delaware, a psychologist who has a real talent for consulting on extra twisted murder cases. In this case, they track down the psychopath who has attached his own particular twist to the killing of three apparently unrelated victims.

AI suggests that this series is also a psychological thriller series — I agree with the psychological part, but I’m happy to say that while I’m on the edge of my seat during the entire trip, I’m never anxious (which is what often happens in books I label thrillers). Perfect for me.

I started reading this series a couple of years ago and have read them completely out of order with no problems. Kellerman is quite good at recapping any bit of history necessary to understand the narrative in a short set of aptly placed sentences. And while I usually read (as opposed to listen to) books, this is one series that I prefer opting for audio — John Rubinstein — the reader for most of the series — is fantastic and I’ve become accustomed to the personalities he imbues in the characters via their voices.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on February 2nd, 2026.

Otter Music by Karen Joy Fowler (Fiction)

I’ve read (and loved) every single book Karen Joy Fowler has ever written, spanning a wildly different set of genres and topics. Unfortunately, I found this book very disappointing.

Our protagonist and narrator — Lainey Miller — is a marine researcher with a penchant for otters. Told in a series of vignettes, we watch her search for hope and maybe some fun in what feels like a devastatingly, collapsing world. The tiny bit of narrative (about 30% of the book) combines recalled childhood memories (random obsessions and a strange but interesting thread about Lizard People — an odd, but apparently documented mashup of ancient gnosticism and current conspiracy theories) and some funny and heartwarming scenes with her family members.

Excellent writing as always, but I missed having a real narrative arc, and wished for a little more story in the midst of the hand wringing. To be fair, she did include some positive scientific discoveries and policy successes, but they felt trivial in the face of the utter dread Lainey feels about the state of the world. In the last few pages — I don’t think this is really a spoiler as there is very little story here — Lainey does come to a decision about a personal attitude adjustment — finding a way to be more positive in her life — but unfortunately I found her insights to be more of the “shlocky” variety than anything I could find meaningful or inspiring. Perhaps readers who are also in a state of constant dread and anxiety about the state of the world will feel better hearing someone else expressing their fears, and will enjoy this book more than I did.

Thank you to G. P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on February 23rd, 2027.