My rating: 3.5-4/5 (I'm torn).

This book begins with Kathy, a recovering addict who has somewhat recently been abandoned by her husband who is also an addict, being evicted from her home for supposedly not paying taxes. A cop helping with the eviction named Lester becomes instantly drawn to Kathy and helps her move out. The house is quickly sold for auction to the Behranis, a family of Iranian immigrants who had everything when Colonial Behrani worked for the military in Iran (I think? I'm not super up on the history here) but lose it all and are forced to flee when the Shah is overthrown. When he sees the house, he believes he can buy it, sell it for a profit, and start to give his family a better life.

The author really makes you feel for both sides here. It turns out that Kathy didn't actually owe taxes, and it was a clerical error by the county. However, Behrani legally bought the house. He doesn't want to just return the house to the county after moving his family and with a better life still in reach.

The conflict between Kathy and the Behranis eventually reaches a boiling point that I didn't exactly see coming and had me up late reading to see what happens. This book is emotionally charged, heartbreaking, and beautifully written.

My main complaint with the book is Kathy's character. She's a bit too flawed for me - she felt really sorry for herself and never did the logical or smart thing, in my opinion. She lies to her family and falls back into addiction. It was hard for me to like her, so I found myself rooting for the Behranis even though Kathy hadn't done anything to lose the house. Kathy's character is what makes me question if this book was really 4 stars for me.

Making this review spoilery now so I can express my feelings better.

I was so pissed that Kathy lived. What was the point? I would have felt bad for her in the end if she had died, but instead she lived while everyone else died? I don't really understand. And having her family come at the end and just her being rude and feeling sorry for herself more? What's the point? I really don't get it. Why did the author have her survive? I feel like you're supposed to feel for both sides, like you're supposed to feel like she's desperate and didn't do anything to deserve dying, but I would have felt more bad for her if she had died. And then in the end they act like she shouldn't have to go to jail, but she didn't let the family go when she had the chance so she's just as guilty. This book was better for me when I thought she was dead.

Finished my first Agatha Christie last night - Murder on the Orient Express! It feels a bit silly to ​review such a classic author, but I'm doing it anyway.

This book is about one of Christie's famous detectives, Hercule Poirot, and a cast of interesting characters aboard the train the Orient Express. When one of the passengers on the train is found murdered with twelve stab wounds, Poirot knows it must be a fellow passenger who committed the crime.

Part of my motivation for reading this books was that I wanted to read it before seeing the movie that comes out in November. When my dad and I decided to take the Amtrak to Portland while he was visiting me, I knew I HAD to read this book on the train!

This book definitely isn't like the typical "murder mystery" books that I've read, which are mostly thrillers or very dramatic. Instead, it's like a brain teaser or a logic puzzle with a cozy feel. I think I finally understand why they call this genre "cozy"! Clues are complex and detailed, and are weaved throughout the story as Poirot interviews each passenger. I did not predict the ending or pick up on most of the clues, despite trying! This book started out a bit slow (and confusing) for me, but picked up speed soon enough to keep me interested, and eventually I didn't want to put it down and was DYING to finish it! I found myself wishing our train ride was a little longer.

This definitely won't be my last Christie mystery! I'm excited to try out the Miss Marple series and read some of her standalone work. If you haven't read any Christie before, I think this book is a great place to start.

Autumn by Ali Smith has been shortlisted for the Man Booker, and also it shares a name with the upcoming season so it's a very timely read. It was a 4 star read for me, meaning I really enjoyed it a lot and would recommend it to lots of people.

This book weaves back and forth between the lives of Daniel, a 100(+?) year old man, and his old neighbor Elizabeth, now in her early thirties. Their lives intertwined when Elizabeth was just eight years old, and her mom started using Daniel as an impromptu babysitter. In the present day, Elizabeth deals with the realities facing her country after Brexit and Daniel remembers (through dreams, mostly) many moments from his life, some featuring Pauline Boty and her art.

To say that this book is lyrical is almost an understatement. The writing is so beautiful and vivid, I actually took pictures of some of the pages as I was reading to remember the words. The descriptions in this book are like poetry. Elizabeth is very relatable and I really liked her character. Daniel is somewhat mystical but his dreams really set a scene.

Here's a description of October: "October's a blink of the eye. The apples weight down the tree a minute ago are gone and the tree's leaves are yellow and thinning. A frost has snapped millions of trees all across the country into brightness. The ones that aren't evergreen are a combination of a beautiful and tawdry, red orange gold the leaves, then brown, and down." For every month that passes in the book, Smith puts you right there in the middle of it.

Normally I'm not a fan of character and description driven, structurally loose books that don't have a ton of plot action. This book was absolutely the exception to the rule. The rich, whimsical prose and nuanced depictions of Elizabeth's life in both post-Brexit Britain and Daniel's past combined perfectly in this extraordinary work of art of a novel. I would highly recommend it if you like descriptive prose and really feeling a book more than reading it, if that makes any sense. I know I'll definitely be picking up the next books in this quartet.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward is undeniably a beautifully written book and emotional story. It follows Jojo, a thirteen year old boy, his baby sister Kayla, and their mom Leonie as they set out on a long drive (with one of Leonie's friends in tow) to pick up Jojo and Kayla's father, Michael, from prison.

The perspective oscillates between Jojo and Leonie. The family lives with Leonie's parents, Mam and Pop. Mam is dying of cancer and Pop carries his own burdens. Leonie is not a good parent to Jojo and Kayla. She struggles with drug addiction and sees visions of her dead brother Given whenever she gets high. Jojo cares for Kayla because Leonie can't (or won't), and has too much responsibility for an thirteen year old. Jojo at least has Pop as a father figure, but Leonie is wants Jojo to see Michael in that way, despite Michael's absence from Jojo's life.

I feel like Jesmyn tries to make you feel for Leonie, and see her perspective, and while I could a little bit, I couldn't forgive her selfishness and cruelty towards her children. When Kayla gets sick on the car ride, Leonie doesn't take it seriously and instead is bitter that Kayla reaches for Jojo instead of her. Leonie repeatedly chooses drugs and her own self interests over those of her family. When a cop points a gun at Jojo, Leonie doesn't try and protect him. I guess how I felt is how Jojo also felt, only he was stuck with her. It was no surprise that she consistently disappointed him.

The language in this book is descriptive and really sets the scene. I felt for Jojo and Kayla the whole time. The tension built up during the car ride can be felt through the pages. However, the ghosts that haunt the family were a bit much for my liking. Some parts of the book seemed a little random and unnecessary, some parts felt contrived and unbelievable, and some parts dragged on and on.

Overall, I can see why people are moved by this book. While I enjoyed it, I just didn't have the connection with it that I would have liked. I'd still recommend it to fans of Jesmyn Ward and people who like family dramas and a descriptive setting in the deep south.

I listened to this as an audiobook read by the author. It was interesting to learn more about Amy's life and career. This book has some funny parts and some serious parts, but overall it wasn't memorable or moving or feeling inducing. I mostly listened when I was bored. I do like Amy Schumer a lot and I think listening to her read the book increased the enjoyment for me. Although I didn't love it, it was still an enjoyable and entertaining listen.

This book was a delight. The characters are some of my absolute favorites. Cyril Avery (not a real Avery) is gay, but he unfortunately grows up in Ireland when it's illegal (an actual crime) to be gay.

Maybe I'm just bad at history that isn't American (probably, unfortunately) but I had no idea that priests were almost royalty and being gay was illegal in Ireland. This book follows Cyril and a cast of other amazing characters through his life as he comes to terms with his identity.

Cyril is the adopted son of Charles and Maude Avery, who are extremely detached parents but still good providers. Cyril realizes he's gay very young, and starts his life fighting it until he realizes he has to be himself if he ever wants to be happy at all.

The character development is outstanding. The writing is witty but touching. This book was a slow burn for me... it took me awhile to believe the hype. My only complaint about this book is that it felt a bit unbalanced. I would have liked less time at the beginning of Cyril's life and more towards the middle and the end. I think the beginning was a bit slow... although maybe it was intentional for character and story development.

This book eventually did live up to the hype surrounding it. I would definitely recommend it - it's one of my favorites this year.

Louise Penny has a big following on bookstagram - some of my favorites, like @topshelftext and @katereadsbooks_, are big fans. Oh, and Hillary Clinton, according to her book What Happened. I was a little afraid to start the Inspector Gamache series because, what if I didn't like it?! What if I didn't get the hype? Well, thankfully that didn't happen. I finally joined the Louise Penny club thanks to a buddy read, and I'm so glad I did. I now understand the fandom, and although this wasn't my favorite book of the year or anything, I still really enjoyed it and will be happily starting the second book in the series soon.

For those of you who aren't on the Louise Penny train yet, Still Life is the first book in the series. It takes place in the small village of Three Pines somewhere in Quebec. When a beloved townsperson, Jane, turns up murdered around Thanksgiving (cough perfect seasonal read cough), Inspector Gamache and his team arrive at the village to solve the case.

I appreciated many of aspects of this book. I love the cozy small town vibe of Three Pines. It reminds me of another favorite fictional town, Stars Hollow. However, although this book is cozy AF, I think categorizing it as a cozy mystery would kind of discount the literary elements. I really enjoyed the writing and this book didn't feel like *just* a cozy mystery, if you will. Not to say there is anything wrong with that, but I feel like the writing in this book is stronger than I would expect for a typical cozy.

Jane, the lady who is killed, is a good character and I felt invested in figuring out who would have wanted to kill her and why. Gamache is another great character and I'm looking forward to see his character development through the series. All of the characters of the town really brought the town to life, and I could picture the relationships in my head pretty easily.

Another great thing about this book: I didn't figure out who the killer was, and there wasn't a huge twist to keep it that way! I like a good twist every now and then, but I appreciated that Penny was able to keep me guessing without some crazy completely unpredictable ending. I mean, I didn't predict the ending, but it was enough of a part of the story that it didn't feel completely out of left field.

There were a few aspects to this book that sort of bothered me, but definitely didn't ruin the experience. The first thing that isn't spoiler-y was the character of Agent Nichol. She is completely immature and maybe she's this way so we can see her character develop in the future, but she came off as entitled, lazy, and just plain rude. If she's going to be in future books (which I assume because why else would she have been in this one, but I still hope not), I don't know why Penny didn't give her ANY redeeming qualities. She's completely unlikeable in a bad way, to the point where it was annoying to have to read about her. I mean I get having unlikable characters, and I have enjoyed many a book with extremely flawed characters, but... she was too much.

I also didn't love was the pacing. Many parts of the book felt a little slow. Long portions of dialogue didn't hold my interest, and I had to reread a few sections. Another thing - while the descriptions of the characters allowed me to picture them, some characters felt a bit contrived, or like a list of traits. I feel like a list of traits doesn't make a character. Also the flamboyant gay couple who run a diner and love antiques was a little stereotypical. I mean, none of this was enough to ruin the experience for me - just saying, it isn't without its flaws.

And now for the spoiler-y bits... Many parts of this mystery were unbelievable. A perfect kill with an old fashioned bow and arrow? People forgetting seemingly important details, like Jane invited them to the living room for the FIRST TIME EVER, and nobody brings it up for a few days? Hmmm....

Also the motive for the crime is... well, not a good or believable reason to murder someone, in my opinion. Ben, the person who has been described as kind and nobody suspects, really killed someone on the off chance they would realize he was at Fair Day from the painting? First they'd have to figure out that Timmer was killed, which nobody from the village even really suspected! Meh. Anyway...

I did really enjoy the experience of reading this book, and the Three Pines world. Despite a few minor complaints, I'll definitely be picking up the second book in the series soon. I'm happy to have jumped on this LP bandwagon!

Heather, the Totality by Matthew Weiner was a one-sitting read for me. Thanks to Little Brown for my copy! This kept me reading one cozy evening last week. I was completely hooked very early on in the book. I couldn't put it down!

Heather, the Totality follows two stories that are parallel in time but completely different in experience, and the build-up to the characters meeting is intense. Like, very intense. Matthew Weiner sure knows how to get you invested in the outcome from early on in the book!

The Breakstone family, consisting of Karen, Mark, and their seemingly perfect daughter Heather, are an affluent yet otherwise unremarkable family in Manhattan. Before Heather is born, Karen and Mark are a normal, somewhat uninteresting couple. Heather becomes the center of their universe, and brings a bit of tension to their relationship as having a child shifts the focus away from them as a couple.

Meanwhile, Bobby grows up in poverty. From his backstory of violence and grandiose delusions, we learn he is likely some sort of sociopath. When Bobby is hired to work on renovating the penthouse above the Breakstone family's apartment home, he becomes fixated on Heather and fantasizes about what he will do to her when he finally gets her alone.

This book did have a few flaws for me. The detached narration style leaves the characters as more of sketches than fully developed people. They could have been further developed somehow. I also wasn't a fan of the focus on female beauty. I didn't like that Karen "didn't know how pretty she was." That felt a little cheap to me. Similarly, there is a focus on how pretty Heather is, and how she is so irresistible and charming partly because of her beauty. I prefer female characters to have more redeeming qualities than their looks.

Overall, this was a thrilling read. The tension leading up to the paths colliding is palpable. I wanted to know.. was Heather safe?! I was hooked from the start. If you're looking for a quick read that will get your heart racing, this book is for you!