Goodreads Update 8/27/2026
So, it looks like I haven't actually posted a Goodreads update since the beginning of June. Is that right? I don't know. It sounds fake, but when I went back through my posts, I couldn't find one after that. I will check again, but if that's the case, we are talking about 60 books added since then. I might spread this out over several posts. Maybe get a snack and a cuppa. This could take a while.
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss - I might actually buy this just to stare at the cover. I'm hoping for a cozy read about books and booksellers from this one.
Muv: The Story of the Mitford Girls' Mother by Rachel Trethewey - Based on the number of book releases I've seen lately about the Mitfords, I'd say I'm not the only one with an interest.
The Confessions of Samuel Pepys: Private Revelations from Britain's Most Famed Diarist edited by Guy de la Bedoyere - Let me get this straight. A French guy is editing the famous British guy's diaries? Ok. Whatever. I'll still read it.
Split Second: Thirty-two Switcheroo by Janet Evanovich - I am very stressed about this release. The library has usually added the November Evanovich book to the catalog by July. It's not there yet. I'm very upset. Sure wish I knew someone at the library I could ask. (I just sent an email. I'll keep you posted.)
Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood - I was reading over the summary on Goodreads, trying to remember why I put this on my list. Then I got to the last sentence: Kiersten White meets Tomi Adeyemi in this Ethiopian-inspired debut fantasy retelling of Jane Eyre. Oh, there it is.
Henry Tudor Must Die by Jillian Laine - Honestly, this cover makes this look like a YA book, but it's labeled Adult. Whatever. Here's the 411. The night before Anne Boleyn is scheduled to be beheaded, Catherine of Aragon turns up in her cell in the Tower of London. (For those not in the know, Catherine was Henry VIII's first wife. The marriage was annulled, and she was exiled. Anne Boleyn is her replacement, who was tried for high treason, convicted by a jury that included her former fiancé and her uncle, and beheaded.) Catherine says she can get her out of prison if she will join her efforts to murder the king. I could be here for this.
Sisters of the Midnight Sun: A Murder in Arctic Alaska by Rebecca Wright Stevens - I am fascinated by Alaska. Like, it's part of the U.S., but it's so very different. This is nonfiction by a public defender in very Northern Alaska who has to defend a man on murder charges involving two sisters that everyone knows. It's summer, and the sun doesn't set, so no one can remember what time of day they last saw the sisters. Native culture is very powerful here, and some people would prefer to see a different kind of justice enacted. I'm interested in the cultural backdrop included in her recounting of the investigation and trial.
All That's Unseen: An Appalachian Memoir by Emilee Hackney - At the risk of sounding like a lunatic, I will state that I am also fascinated by Appalachian culture. I promise there are some places and people I'm thoroughly uninterested in reading about.
A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings - This one might be a really difficult read. I'll have to save it for a time when I'm feeling strong and/or full of rage. Tia and her husband joined the Quiverfull movement as newlyweds. A Christian woman is quiet, submissive, and keeps the house. She hides the abuse from people who would intervene. Until she realized there wouldn't be a Savior coming to her rescue. She would have to rescue herself.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans - This won the Women's Prize for Fiction, I believe. I think it's mostly told in letters? The older woman has always written letters to people to air her grievances, but never sent them. Somehow, she has to come to terms with her past. That's a terrible summary, but I don't really want to know too much.
The Cat Who Saved the Library by Sosuke Natsukawa - I bought this on a recent Nerd Nite and then I had to add it to my GR list. Unfortunately, I don't have the first book.
Big Bad Wool by Leonie Swann - I didn't even know this existed until I saw it at the bookstore. I snapped it up and then added it to my list.
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi - I keep hearing this is fantastic. It's kind of a cozy literary fiction, I think. A small town is changed and uplifted by the arrival of a guy. That's all I got.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke - Reviews are divided on this one. The protagonist, Natalie, is a "trad-wife influencer." Basically, she curates her social media output to portray her as old-fashioned, homey, and traditional. Then one day, she wakes up in 1800-something, in a life just like the one she pretends to emulate for social media. Only now she doesn't have industrial-grade ovens, nannies, and a husband who looks like a cowboy but is actually a multi-millionaire businessman. She's got to figure it out on her own. The description of the main character makes her sound a lot like Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. I might read this just to see how alike they really are.
Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers' Rights edited by Ashley Hope Perez - This is a huge anthology of stories, poetry, essays, graphic novels, etc. to give teens the tools to fight for their right to read. I say huge. It's less than 300 pages. I was referring to the number of contributors.
Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives by Lucy Mangan - You know I'm always here for a book about books and reading.
This Dark Night: Emily Bronte, a Life by Deborah Lutz - Apparently, this is drawn from previously inaccessible notebooks and diaries. That in itself is interesting, since I'm fairly sure Charlotte thought she burned them all.
The Austen Affair by Madeline Bell - This could be great, or it could be awful. Someone is filming an adaptation of Northanger Abbey, and the two co-stars do not get along. Then they both get sucked back to the early 1800s, where they have to fake it till they make it and figure out how to get back to their century. It is, of course, a romance novel.
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa - And here we have the first book in the series mentioned above with The Cat Who Save the Library.
The Heart of Bennet Hollow: An Appalachian Pride and Prejudice Retelling by Joanne Bischof DeWitt - Again. It could go either way. This one is bumped forward 100 years and across the pond in Virginia.
Murder in Highbury by Vanessa Kelly - Emma Knightley has gone from local matchmaker to local sleuth. She and Harriet Martin (nee Smith) find Mrs. Elton dead at the altar of the church.
Living with Jane Austen by Janet Todd - This is a mashup of a memoir and a review of Jane Austen's work and how it affected the life of the author.
Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez - On Goodreads, this is tagged "Historical Fiction." I have to disagree. It's set in 2007. Anyway, this is about a young woman in Brooklyn drawn into the party life of her neighbors just before Obama's election.
Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang - This is another one I've heard is amazing. I know nothing about it, other than that it is fantasy. I like the typewriter on the cover, though.
Okay. I'm tired. I've been doing this for an hour and a half. And there are still 32 books to go. I don't even remember where I found all these books. I must have dissociated and just started clicking things.
I'll post another one next week.