Maggie Hope is now a British spy and dropped into Hitler's Germany. She is just as spunky, brave, and smart as ever! We also meet new German characters who are a part of The Resistance.

His Majesty's Hope is darker than the first two in the series. We see first hand some of the Nazi atrocities happening to Jewish people and to children with disabilities. It was heart-wrenching in many cases. And I was on the edge of my seat in many places of the book as Maggie found herself in some very harrowing situations!!

My boys and I read this book at a pace of about 1/2 page per day, ha! I don't remember ever reading it as a kid, despite always being interested in Paddington Bear, so I was happy to finally learn his story. It's very British and very funny - highly recommend! But it's probably more interesting for children older than my two boys are right now (3 and 5).

Anne Lamott has such a way of allowing a person to poke fun at one's self while considering some cold hard truths: we all falter as human beings no matter how great we think we are. I am not at all religious, but still found a lot to think about while reading this book. It teaches us to show mercy to ourselves and others, even when no one really deserves it. And mercy just might be the things that saves us all in the end.

I was so excited about a new Setterfield novel! This didn't disappoint - what a fairy tale! Set on the Thames, it's a story about stories. The stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell each other, and the stories we grew up believing. This novel was rich with details, characters, setting, and atmosphere. I adored it and can't wait until Setterfield publishes again.

I listened to The Trespasser by Tana French on audio, which had its downsides. It was about twenty hours long! I thought that I'd never finish it, which is not a good feeling to have lurking in the background when you are working through a book. It set a hurried tone, which made it difficult for me to slow down and really concentrate on the investigation. Perks of listening to this on audio were that the narrator spoke in an Irish accent and I could hear how the names were supposed to be pronounced, which is sometimes difficult for me!

This one was about a beautiful young blonde woman found murdered in her home. The investigation zeroes in on her boyfriend very quickly, but the detectives on the case believe that there's something more at play here. Loyalty, importance of familial bonds, and the desperation that people feel when the integrity of their lives is threatened all played a large role. And as usual, French does a great job with the police procedural. It's always fun to get an inside look at the mind of a detective and the games that they have to play to find the perpetrator. This doesn't beat my favorite of the Dublin Murder Squad Series (The Likeness), but still enjoyable!

This book took tremendous courage to write. Westover did the hard work to examine her life experiences, however difficult and traumatic, to piece together a narrative of resilience and hope. Despite our pasts, we all have the ability to learn about each other and love a little more. And thank goodness for kind teachers along the way, those who never write off anyone no matter how "hopeless" the cause might seem.

This was an incredible memoir that I never wanted to put down. It's a must read, especially in this moment in the world, when it's so easy to write someone off as an "other."

There's so much to unpack with this novel, which I hope to do with a blog post soon (edited to add the link to my post: https://katiegilley.com/2019/01/31/gilead-marilynne-robinson/). I was scared to read anything by Marilynne Robinson because I knew she'd be too smart for me. And while probably 95% of what she had to say went totally over my head, I still fell in love with the characters and the stories she shared.

In a nutshell, this book is about a man named John Ames. He's in his 70s and has been given bad news from his doctor, which saddens him because his son is very young, 5-6, and he knows he won't be able to see him grow into a man. John decides to start a journal for his son to remember him by. This journal almost becomes a reckoning of John's life - his own memories from his childhood, those his father shared with him, and his attempt to grapple with his life's work.

Never boring but always quiet - this was such a wonderful book to read. I think it might be one of those books that I read again in 10 years or so, just to see how I've changed.

This was the first book I've read by this author and it took me a while to get used to her style, but as a fellow Texas-Ex I was thrilled when I found my groove!

Brown gives us new tools to examine our self thoughts in an accessible and light-hearted way. She provides practical and real world examples of people falling into their pit (or "under a rock") and how they're able to rally with their families and friends to understand each other better and help each other rise.

I can't wait to get my hands on Brown's other books. She is inspiring, heartwarming, and rooted in decades of research.

This book was rich with atmosphere, which is what gets me every time!! It's a modern gothic thriller that sucked me in and wouldn't let me go. I loved all of the bookish aspects to this - Helen's leather satchel, doing one's work in a library, a modern character who wrote his story with a fountain pen dipped into an inkpot, and all of the research done to find books and letters that told the story of Melmoth.

This was full of bookish fun and I can't wait to read another by this author!!

Newport continues to make me think about how my habits and values work together -- or against each other! I loved his premise of thinking about how we can use social media and our phones to help us meet our big goals, instead of letting all of the distractions get in our way. It was especially helpful to learn about the ways that social media companies use human psychology to keep our eyes glued to the screens. This book was full of practical advice on how to use social media in moderation and other analog activities that provide richer and more fulfilling experiences.