Goodreads Update July 2025

So apparently I added a few books to my TBR list this month. I didn't think I had which means they just trickled onto the list instead of a mass adding session. Let's see the damage.

Book Banning in 21st-Century America by Emily J. M. Know - I was sure I had already added this one and talked about it. Apparently not. I served with Dr. Knox on the Beta Phi Mu executive board when she was past-president. I have so much respect for her and her work. This is a new edition of a book that she published at least a decade ago. It comes out in November and I've already pre-ordered it.

Understanding Austen: Key Concepts in the Six Novels by Maggie Lane - I don't remember where I learned about this book. It's not new, as it came out in 2012. The author discusses the way Austen used language and what the different words mean in context.

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis - I saw a friend last month and when I said I hadn't read this, she said, "Ok I'm gonna need you to do that." So it's on the TBR.

Rosarita by Anita Desai - I found this one in a back issue of the New York Times Book Review. It is about a young woman from India who is in Mexico to study Spanish. A woman approaches her and says she knew her mother when she was in Mexico painting. Bonita (our main character) says there's no way. Her mother isn't a painter and has never been to Mexico. But something feels off, so Bonita goes on an adventure of learning her mother's secrets.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy - I finally heard enough people rave about this book, so I added it to my list. It's about an isolated island upon which a random woman washes up. She is keeping secrets, but why?

Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall - I am hesitant about this one. The instigating event is that a dog gets shot. So, yeah, but one of my coworkers said it's not too bad, so we'll see. A woman and her family live in the village where she grew up. Her brother-in-law shoots a dog trying to attack their sheep, and it turns out the dog belongs to the man who broke her heart decades ago, and who has now returned to the village. Secrets, the past, all the stuff she's been trying to bury, it's coming up.

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar - I heard an interview with the author and it sounded interesting. It's kind of a fairy-tale retelling, but not a fairy-tale I'm familiar with as the writer is from somewhere in the Middle East. Iran maybe?

Mark Twain by Ron Chernow - This addition is kind of a pipe dream. It's 1200 pages. I don't know if I'll ever get through it.

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig - I bought this while I was on vacation and then discovered I had never actually added it to my to-read list. Rectifying that now.

The Killing Fields of East New York: The First Subprime Mortgage Scandal, a White-Collar Crime Spree, and the Collapse of an American Neighborhood by Stacy Horn - I found this in another back issue of the New York Times Book Review. I really liked Stacy Horn's Damnation Island, so it wasn't too hard to convince myself to add this to my list.

Red City by Marie Lu - Marie Lu has previously only written for YA audiences. This is her first novel aimed at adults. It's urban fantasy set in an alternate Los Angeles. Sounds great. It's coming out in October.

And there it is. All the books I added to my list in July. Whew!