The Man Who Invented Christmas

 

Title: The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits

Author: Les Standiford

Publisher: Crown

 
ISBN: 9781524762469

 

Thoughts: Approachable biography of Charles Dickens centered around his writing of A Christmas Carol, along with a brief history of the holiday.

Rating: 4/5

Mary Anne Saves the Day

 

Title: Mary Anne Saves the Day

Author: Raina Telgemeier & Ann M. Martin

Publisher: Graphix

 
ISBN: 9780545890663

 

Thoughts: Realistic portrayal of middle school friends fighting, but shows how standing up for yourself can make all the difference.

Rating: 4/5

A Thousand Times Before

 

Title: A Thousand Times Before

Author: Asha Thanki

Publisher: Viking

 
ISBN: 9780593654644

 

Thoughts: Beautiful novel about a preternatural connection between daughters and all the mothers who have gone before.

Rating: 4/5

Banyan Moon

 

Title: Banyan Moon

Author: Thao Thai

Publisher: HarperAudio

 
ISBN: n/a

 

Thoughts: This was a powerful novel about family, especially about mothers and daughters, but it had so much potential to also be an amazing gothic.

Rating: 3/5

Family Lore

 

Title: Family Lore

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo

Publisher: Cannongate Books

 
ISBN: n/a

 

Thoughts: Acevedo creates such rich characters, and there are many of them in this novel about family, but I was not as impressed with her first foray into adult fiction as I am with her YA.

Rating: 3/5

Finale

 

Title: Finale: Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim

Author: D.T. Max

Publisher: Harper

 
ISBN: 9780063279810

 

Thoughts: These transcripts of Max's conversations with Sondheim in the last decade show how sharp the composer was until the end.

Rating: 4/5

 

Title: At the Bottom of New Lake

Author: Sonya Larson

Publisher: Amazon Original Stories

 
ISBN: 9781542041409

 

Thoughts: Great characters, but none of them really seemed to have any growth, and the plot was very thin.

Rating: 3/5

They Dream in Gold

 

Title: They Dream in Gold

Author: Mai Sennaar

Publisher: Zando - SJP Lip

 
ISBN: 9781638931102

 

Thoughts: Highly character-driven novel that goes back and forth in time about how relationships between children and mothers and mother-figures can affect each other's lives.

Rating: 4/5

Beautiful Exiles

 

Title: Beautiful Exiles

Author: Meg Waite Clayton

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

 
ISBN: n/a

 

Thoughts: While this was historical fiction, it was so well researched that I felt like I was reading Martha Gellhorn's memoir during her love affair with Ernest Hemingway.

Rating: 5/5

Artificial Intelligence Unleashed

 

Title: Artificial Intelligence Unleashed: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Innovation: Pratical Stratageies for Small Business to Leverage AI and Drive Growth

Author: Kimberly Burk Cordova

Publisher: Cordova Consulting

 
ISBN: n/a

 

Thoughts: There was good information here, but nothing really new to me as it didn't do am intensive deep dive, and the narration, while not totally flat, sounded like an AI in a sci-fi movie with very limited range and no inflection, which honestly made it hard to follow.

Rating: 2/5

Wilder Girls

 

Title: Wilder Girls

Author: Rory Power

Publisher: Delacorte Press

 
ISBN: 9780525645580

 

Thoughts: I usually like YA dystopian, especially one with solid world-building, but the mixture with body horror just did not work for me.

Rating: 3/5

Quietly Hostile

 

Title: Quietly Hostile

Author: Samantha Irby

Publisher: Random House Audio

 
ISBN: n/a

 

Thoughts: This NSFW collection of personal humorous essays had me LOLing.

Rating: 4/5

The Covenant of Water

 

Title: The Covenant of Water

Author: Abraham Verghese

Publisher: Recorded Books

 
ISBN: n/a

 

Thoughts: Long but exceptional story; however, not for the medically squeamish.

Rating: 5/5