Favorite TV Shows Reviewed in 2019

It's time for my annual wrap-ups, starting with TV shows. Listed down at the bottom of this post are all of the shows that I reviewed here on my blog in 2019 (some new shows, some continuing favorites for us). TV shows here includes both those on network TV, cable, and On Demand, as well as on the major streaming services (and many shows are available on the network websites, too). I have also added all of these to my TV Reviews tab on the blog, so you can come back anytime to see ALL of the shows I have ever reviewed here. I only review shows I enjoy, so anything listed here or on the TV Reviews tab is worth trying.

Best of TV
First a few superlatives - my favorite shows reviewed last year in each category/genre - always tough choices to make because TV shows are just getting better and better (and more and more!). Some of these I almost made two-way or three-way ties, but I stuck to the rules. Remember that we enjoyed all of the shows reviewed - see the full list at the bottom of the post.

Best Comedy

The Other Two (A, C, I) - Comedy Central

(not only very funny but also clever, smart, and an insightful look at today's world)

Best Drama

Unbelievable (N) - Netflix

(powerful true story with excellent writing and acting)

Best Dramedy

 The Rookie (A, C, I) - ABC

(one of our favorites, now in season 2 - action, drama, suspense, and a sense of humor)

Crime/Mystery/Thriller/Legal/Action

Imposters (C, N) - Bravo 

(suspenseful, funny, great cast, though this category was a tough call, and In the Dark and Dead to Me were both very close seconds!)

Best Sci Fi

Hanna (A) - Amazon

(we were glued to our TV for this one! Twisty, suspenseful, excellent cast - can't wait for season 2!)

All TV Shows Reviewed in 2019

So much good TV last year, though it's depressing how many great new shows we enjoyed have already been cancelled! That's the flip side of having so many choices.

KEY: Available on:

A = Amazon Prime

C = Cable and/or Cable On Demand
H = Hulu

I = On network’s own website

N = Netflix

S = Showtime

(Offerings from subscription services change all the time, so double-check. Also, some shows are available for an additional fee on Amazon Prime whether you subscribe or not. Most networks offer some episodes of every show for free at their own websites.)

Comedy
The Other Two (A, C, I) - Comedy Central
Weeds (A, N, S) - Showtime

Drama
Good Trouble (A, C, I) - Freeform
Unbelievable (N) - Netflix

Dramedy (both comedy and drama)
The Rookie (A, C, I) - ABC

Crime/Mystery/Thriller/Legal/Action
Dead to Me (N) - Netflix
The Enemy Within (A, C, H, I) - NBC
The Fix (A, C, H, I) - ABC
Imposters (C, N) - Bravo
In the Dark (A, C, I, N) - CW
Proven Innocent (A, C, H, I) - Fox
Stumptown (A, C, I) - ABC
The Widow (A) - Amazon

Sci Fi
Hanna (A) - Amazon
Manifest (A, C, H, I) - NBC
The Passage (A, C, I) - Fox

It's Monday 1/13! What Are You Reading?

Happy 22nd Birthday to my youngest son! We will be celebrating tonight with dinner at his favorite restaurant, which also happens to be where he works 5 nights a week right now (during college break) but hey, it's his choice! He doesn't get sushi there when he's working, so that's the attraction. Then, cake and presents back at the house. We love celebrations in our family!

My son's 1st birthday

I have been scrambling to catch up on my 2019 reviews (December was crazy, not only with the holidays but with losing my laptop for a week for repairs in the middle of the craziness!), and I am almost there. I plan to post my 2019 end-of-year wrap-ups this week for books and TV shows. My movie wrap-up will have to wait until next Movie Monday, since we have the birthday dinner tonight. Then, I can finally sign up for my 2020 reading challenges! I know I am way behind on all this. I have had to accept this - my life motto is "Better late than never!"

Here's what we've all been reading this past week:

I finished my First Book of the Year, the selection for my neighborhood book group: Running on Red Dog Road: And Other Perils of an Appalachian Childhood by Drema Hall Berkheimer. I loved this warm, funny childhood memoir about growing up in rural West Virginia during and after WWII. Her stories of living with her grandparents while her mother was in New York working as a Rosie the Riveter (and after her mom came back home) are lively, charming, and often hilarious and include encounters with gypsies, snake handlers, and moonshiners. Most of my book group also enjoyed this light-hearted memoir, though many of the members rated it lower than I'd expect, mainly because there wasn't much depth to it in terms of serious issues, I guess. We tend to be a thoughtful group! But we did have a lively and fun discussion, with lots of nostalgic memories of our own.

With my book group obligation finished, I moved on to what I had planned as my First Book of the Year, Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday, a Christmas gift from my son. I've wanted to read this novel since its release in early 2018, and it appeared on many Best of 2018 lists that year. So far, it is living up to my expectations! I am about two-thirds of the way through this novel, which so far has been in two parts. In part 1, called Folly, a young assistant editor named Alice falls into a romance with a much older, famous writer named Ezra Blazer in the years after 9/11. Part 2, Madness, centers on an Iraqi-American man named Amar who gets stopped in customs at Heathrow while trying to visit his brother in Kurdistan and spends a long time in a holding room there, all while flashing back to his childhood, college years, and earlier visits to the war-torn region and how it differs from the only home he has ever known, in America. The writing is exquisite, completely pulling me into each story, making me care about the characters, and wondering how their stories will eventually intersect. It is a thoughtful, intricate pair of stories filled with details that make you feel as if you really know these people.

On audio, I finished my first audiobook of 2020: Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center. This is a novel I'd been wanting to read since its release last year, after hearing so many rave reviews from other book lovers. It's about a female firefighter named Cassie whose carefully constructed life shatters when she has to leave the Austin fire department where she's done so well to move to Massachusetts to help her estranged mother who is now blind in one eye. Her new job there is with a fire department that has never even seen a female firefighter, so Cassie must prove herself all over again. To make matters even more complicated, there's also a new rookie there who Cassie is attracted to ... and Cassie does not date, not ever. I enjoyed this multi-faceted novel even more than I thought I would, with its unexpected depth as Cassie gradually begins to come out of her self-imposed protective shell and to heal from past hurts, even as she deals with current challenges.

Now, continuing my focus in January on books I've wanted to read for a long time, I am listening to A Man Called Ove, my first-ever Fredrik Backman! I've heard such great things about this novel, its author, and all the other novels Backman has written since. The novel begins by describing the daily routines of Ove, a grumpy, solitary man living in Sweden who's recently been forced into an early retirement that he never wanted. Ove is very practical and wants to be useful, but he is also set in his ways and quite judgemental about those who approach life differently than he does! I started laughing from the very first minutes of listening, so I am definitely enjoying it so far.

My husband, Ken, is still reading a new Christmas gift that our son gave him, The Raven Tower by Anne Leckie. The two of them enjoy the same kind of fantasy novels (they are also watching Game of Thrones together on DVD!), so our son had fun picking this one out for his dad (he hasn't read it yet either). I see that this is Leckie's first fantasy novel, but she has won Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke awards, so she must be a good writer! Patrick Rothfus, an author whom they both enjoy, said of this novel, "It's a delight to read something so different, so wonderful and strange." I'm sure our son will want to borrow it after his dad finishes it - like mother, like son! Ken wasn't so sure about this unique novel at the beginning, but he is still reading it.

And my update last week was wrong. I said our son, 25, was now reading Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski, book 1 of The Witcher series. However, when he came home, I noticed that was not the title on the book! It turns out he is reading The Last Wish, which is not officially considered book 1 but is a prequel explaining how the main character got his Witcher start. You have probably heard all the hype recently about the new Netflix TV show (and apparently, a best-selling video game, too) based on this book series, and even though he hadn't read the books yet (usually a requirement in our house), my son jumped into the Netflix show the first day it was released and is enjoying season 1. So, when he received The Last Wish as a Christmas gift, he quickly set his other book aside to read it. He's enjoying it so far and says that having watched the TV show isn't ruining the book for him, since the action in this book takes place before the TV series. He's loving both!

Blog posts from last week:

Fiction Review: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward - powerful tale of death, family, coming-of-age, and racism in the American South

Graphic Novel Reviews: 3 Graphic Novels for All Ages - reviews of great graphic novels for middle-grade, YA, and adult readers

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week?

Graphic Novel Reviews: 3 Graphic Novels for All Ages

I have been scrambling to try to catch up on my December 2019 reviews so that I can finally move forward to 2020! To that end, I am combining 3 short reviews of graphic novels, each targeted at different age groups, from middle-grade to YA to adult: Sunny Rolls the Dice by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm, Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden, and Stanislaw Lem's The Seventh Voyage by Jon J. Muth. I enjoyed all three of these very different but all entertaining graphic novels. I'll review them in age order.

I always look forward to a new graphic novel from sister-brother team Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm, and their latest middle-grade book, Sunny Rolls the Dice, did not disappoint. Their first two graphic novels about Sunny were Sunny Side Up and Swing It, Sunny (reviews at the links), and this latest entry continues the story of a young girl in the 1970's trying to manage middle-school. In this book, Sunny is torn between enjoying what her friends call "childish things," like her newfound love of playing Dungeons and Dragons with the boys in the neighborhood, and keeping up with her best friends, who seem to only be interested in fashion, boys, and being cool. And they make it clear that D&D is not cool. As always, Sunny figures it out in the end and is true to herself while also being a good friend, and the Holms' siblings perfectly capture that awkward transition from child to teen. These books are always warm, funny, relatable, and just plain fun, with colorful, realistic drawings, but my favorite thing about them is that they take place in the 70's when I was almost the exact same age that Sunny is in the books, and the authors nail it when getting the details of the era right, from music to clothes (I myself had almost every single outfit Sunny wore in this book!) to TV shows to that classic 70's style in the house. Sunny even gets a cassette player and Love's Baby Soft for Christmas! It's like she's living my life, and I always love going along for the heartfelt, nostalgic ride.

Are You Listening?, on the other hand, is written for a young adult audience and captures many of the issues and struggles of teens. Teenaged Bea is clearly on the run, though she can't decide quite what to do, when she runs into Lou, an older woman from her town. Lou is an auto mechanic who has worked on Bea's mother's car, so they recognize each other. Both of them are a bit vague as to their plans and destinations, but they join up when Lou offers Bea a ride in her small car, which is pulling a little teardrop trailer. Through long days, dark nights, and stops at diners and convenience stores (and the addition of a lost cat to their journey), the two of them slowly let down their guard and begin to open up to each other. At one point, the trip takes a bit of a fantastical turn (freak snow storms in Texas and roads to nowhere), but through these challenges, the young woman and the older woman begin to confess to their reasons for running away, which helps them each address their own issues. Some of those issues are difficult ones and the illustrations are correspondingly dark, as the two of them travel through the night. Somehow, that atmosphere of a dark car at night leads to an unexpected intimacy that Walden perfectly captures here. This is a moving and ultimately hopeful story, about connecting with people and dealing with your challenges.

Sample page from Are You Listening?

Finally, Jon J. Muth has taken a classic science fiction story by Stanislaw Lem, The Seventh Voyage, and turned it into an entertaining and witty graphic novel that is aimed at adults but appropriate for all ages. Though I enjoy science fiction, and especially time travel, I was unfamiliar with Lem's work, but from this story, I think I would like his books and stories very much. In this graphic novel, a space traveler named Ijon Tichy (apparently, Lem wrote a whole series of stories about him) is moving through space in his tiny solo ship when he encounters vortexes that create multiple versions of himself. He needs to make repairs to the outside of his ship and needs an extra person to do it, but his multiples are surprisingly unwilling to help. His small ship soon becomes crowded with different versions of himself from different time streams (i.e. the tomorrow version of himself and the two-days-from-now version of himself), leading to very funny situations as he argues and even fights with himself. This is a large format graphic novel with full-color illustrations showing Ijon and his multiples. I love time travel and alternate time line stories for their complexity, and I thoroughly enjoyed this one that also combines humor into the suspenseful tale. I loved this clever, witty adaptation and will definitely look for more from both Muth and Lem.

Sample page (with maximum Ijon multiples!) from The Seventh Voyage

It was a great month for graphic novels for me!

Disclosure: I received these books from the publishers in return for honest reviews. My reviews are my own opinion and  not influenced by my relationship with the publishers or authors.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 
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You can purchase Sunny Rolls the Dice, Are You Listening?, and Stanislaw Lem's The Seventh Voyage from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, using these links:

 .    .   

Or you can order any of these graphic novels from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: Sing, Unburied, Sing

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward landed on almost every Best Books of 2017 list and also won the National Book Award for Fiction that year. My husband gave it to me as a gift the following year, and it sat on my TBR shelf--with many other acclaimed books--until I made time to read it in December, when I often try to catch up on books from my own shelves I have been meaning to get to. It was worth the wait, a compelling and powerful story about life and death, love and family.

Thirteen-year-old Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with and are mostly taken care of by their kind and loving Black grandparents, Pop and Mam, in a small house in rural Mississippi. Mam is very sick now and stays in bed, while Pop tries to take care of the small farm, the house, and the children. Jojo and Kayla's mom, Leonie, is Pop and Mam's daughter and also lives in the house--when she remembers to come home. Much of the time, in between working as a cocktail waitress in a rundown bar, she is high, often with her friend, Misty. Michael is Jojo and Kayla's White father, and he loves his kids, but he's in prison now. Leonie also had a brother named Given but he died in a horrible, violent way when he was just a teen, and now Leonie only sees him when she is high, which is both frightening and comforting to her. When she gets the news that Michael is being released early, Leonie packs the kids into the car along with her friend, Misty, and the four of them head north to Parchman Farm, the state penitentiary, which has a long and violent history. Pop himself spent some time there as a teen and tried to protect Richie, an even younger boy who took the brunt of abuse from older, violent criminals.

Sing, Unburied, Sing is a deceptively simple story of a family, filled with layers of meaning, symbolism, and complexity. Chapters are alternatively narrated by Jojo, Leonie, and a few by Richie. It's a relatively quick and engaging read, with lyrical language that pulls you into the story and characters you quickly come to care about. Racism is woven into every thread of the story, in the violence that often befalls the Black males, the way Jojo is treated when he leaves the safety of Mam and Pop's house, and the rejection of Jojo and Kayla by their own White grandparents. The novel also contains threads of the supernatural. Besides Leonie's sightings of Given, there are symbols and visions as Mam approaches death, and a surprising extra passenger on the way home from the prison. While I don't always enjoy these kinds of magical realism stories, I was completely engrossed by this novel, cared for its characters, and was pained by their challenges. It is a very powerful tale of death, family, coming-of-age, and racism in the American South.

285 pages, Scribner

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audio book here, read by multiple narrators, and/or download it from Audible.

You can purchase Sing, Unburied, Sing from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order Sing, Unburied, Sing from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

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It's Monday 1/6! What Are You Reading?

Whew, what a hectic Monday! I am just now getting to my Monday books post, after dinner. Busy, busy! But I saw my massage therapist, who helped with a recent back problem, and restocked groceries after the holidays, and finally picked up my '92 VW Cabriolet from the shop where it's been for 6 weeks. So, it's been a productive day at least.

I am asking myself WHY I thought that New Year's week would be so relaxed, and I'd have so much "free" time to get caught up on everything. Ha! Hilarious. I think I kid myself on that one every year. In reality, it was a very busy week, though we had lots of time with good friends and finally managed to get everyone together for our annual cookie/Grinch party. It was January 3, but better late than never! This is a tradition we've kept with our oldest friends since our four kids (theirs and ours) were toddlers and preschoolers - look at them (with the addition of partners) now! We still enjoy decorating cookies and watching the Grinch together.

We've all been enjoying our books over the holidays. Here's what we've been reading this past week:

I finished Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, an author I have never read before (gasp!), for my last book of the year. It's a sort of day-in-the-life story set in London after WWI, with Clarissa Dalloway as the main character. My intention was to pick a short book I could finish before the end of the year, but this one was slow-going. It features long sentences, long paragraphs, LOTS of semi-colons, and no chapter breaks! I got very sleepy every time I tried to read it (admittedly, usually at bedtime) but persevered and finished after midnight on New Year's Eve (that counts!). The characters and the history were interesting, but it was a bit too rambling for my taste, with long passages that suddenly switch to the perspective of a minor character. Apparently, its focus on the details of everyday life was ground-breaking when it was published in 1925. You can read my full review at the link. I'm curious as to whether Woolf's memoirs are any more readable.

I had a First Book of the Year all picked out until I realized my book group is this week, and I didn't even have the book yet! I borrowed a friend's Kindle to read Running on Red Dog Road: And Other Perils of an Appalachian Childhood by Drema Hall Berkheimer and have almost finished it (just the Epilogue to finish tonight). I loved this warm, funny childhood memoir about growing up in rural West Virginia during and after WWII. Her stories of living with her grandparents while her mother was in New York working as a Rosie the Riveter (and after her mom came back home) are lively, charming, and often hilarious and include encounters with gypsies, snake handlers, and moonshiners. I have thoroughly enjoyed this light-hearted memoir and look forward to discussing it on Wednesday.

My last audio book of 2019 was a good one, Remarkables by Margaret Peterson Haddix, a recent release and middle-grade supernatural adventure. A young girl named Marin moves to a new town with her family and discovers something strange going on in the woods behind her new house. She's up in a tree and sees a group of teenagers hanging out and laughing together ... and then they all suddenly disappear and later reappear. Marin is stunned and intrigued and teams up with a neighbor her age, Charlie, who knows more about what's going on but tries to warn her away. This was just what I needed to end the year right - fast, fun, and mysterious! Haddix is always a sure bet for exciting and original middle-grade adventures. You can read my review at the link.

And now I am enjoying my first audiobook of 2020: Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center. This is a novel I'd been wanting to read since its release last year, after hearing so many rave reviews from other book lovers. It's about a female firefighter named Cassie whose carefully constructed life shatters when she has to leave the Austin fire department where she's done so well to move to Massachusetts to help her estranged mother who is now blind in one eye. Her new job there is with a fire department that has never even seen a female firefighter, so Cassie must prove herself all over again. To make matters even more complicated, there's also a new rookie there who Cassie is attracted to ... and Cassie does not date, not ever. I am thoroughly enjoying this multi-faceted novel so far, as Cassie gradually begins to come out of her self-imposed protective shell and to heal from past hurts.

My husband, Ken, is still reading a new Christmas gift that our son gave him, The Raven Tower by Anne Leckie. The two of them enjoy the same kind of fantasy novels (they are also watching Game of Thrones together on DVD!), so our son had fun picking this one out for his dad (he hasn't read it yet either). I see that this is Leckie's first fantasy novel, but she has won Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke awards, so she must be a good writer! Patrick Rothfus, an author whom they both enjoy, said of this novel, "It's a delight to read something so different, so wonderful and strange." I'm sure our son will want to borrow it after his dad finishes it - like mother, like son! Ken's not so sure about this novel yet, but he's waiting to see how the plot develops.

Our son, 25, was still reading Web of Eyes by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle last week, book 1 in the Buried Goddess Saga series. According to its blurb, a rotten thief and a stubborn knight must work together to save a broken kingdom, which sounds like exactly the sort of plot my son likes! He was enjoying it so far, but while away visiting his girlfriend for New Year's, he switched books to start reading one that her parents gave to him for Christmas...

He is now reading Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski, book 1 of The Witcher series. You have probably heard all the hype last week about the new Netflix TV show (and apparently, a best-selling video game, too) based on this book series, and even though he hadn't read the books yet (usually a requirement in our house), my son jumped into the Netflix show the first day it was released and has been enjoying it. So, when he received book 1 as a gift last week, he quickly set his other book aside to read it. He's enjoying it so far and says that having watched the TV show isn't ruining the book for him. He's loving both so far.



My blog posts last week - I'm trying hard to catch up on reviews after the holidays so I can finally do my 2019 wrap-up!

Movie Monday: Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker - a satisfying conclusion to the saga

First Books of 2020! - how I started my new reading year

Fiction Review: The Nest by Cynthia D-Aprix Sweeney - warm dysfunctional family saga

Middle-Grade Review: Remarkables by Margaret Peterson Haddix - fun supernatural mystery

Memoir Review: Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt - warm, funny memoir about death, family, and moving forward - highly recommended

Fiction Review: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - day-in-the-life story set after WWI

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week?

Fiction Review: Mrs. Dalloway

My last book of 2019 was also one last classic for my 2019 Back to the Classics challenge: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. This was one of my Christmas gifts from last year, and an author I have been wanting to try for years. I struggled with the writing style but ultimately found it to be an interesting, if somewhat sluggish, story.

The entire novel takes place on a single day in post-World War I London. Clarissa Dalloway, the title character, is an upper-class woman preparing to host a party that evening. The novel begins with her going out for flowers in the morning and ends as the guests are leaving her party late at night. Written in the third-person, the narrative follows not only Clarissa on this beautiful June day in London but also many of her neighbors, friends, and acquaintances. There is Peter Walsh, an old friend who wanted to marry Clarissa when they were young and just returned from India, after being gone for decades. Septimus Warren Smith, accompanied by his lovely Italian wife, seems to be losing his mind, mired in obsessive thoughts and paranoia after his service in the war, in what today would be called PTSD. Lady Bruton, an older and much-admired society dame, invites Clarissa's husband, Richard, to lunch to help her craft a letter to the editor. Even Clarissa's own daughter, Elizabeth, gets her few pages of thoughtful observation. Many of the characters are not only describing the present day but also thinking back to their pasts, forming a fuller picture of their lives. The narrative moves from one character to another, as the day moves forward into night and the much-anticipated party.

Sounds intriguing, right? My problem wasn't with the content of the novel but with the writing. This is the first Woolf book I have read, so I don't know whether this is typical, but the novel is filled with extra-long sentences, long paragraphs, very few section breaks, and no chapter breaks at all. I often found it difficult to follow and had to re-read. In one sentence, I counted seven semi-colons (Woolf seems to have a special affinity for them) and eight commas! Some paragraphs wandered on for 2-3 pages. This made it difficult to keep my attention, especially since the narrative was often meandering from one character to another. I didn't dislike it--the day-in-the-life of an early twentieth-century society and historical perspective were certainly interesting--but it took a lot of concentration and effort for me to follow. Apparently, Woolf's focus on the everyday trivialities of everyday lives was something entirely new at the time of its writing (1925) that became common eventually in novels, so it was also interesting to read something that was ground-breaking for its time. It is certainly a thoughtful novel, and I am glad to have read it, though I prefer novels with a faster pace and a more straightforward writing style. I am very interested to hear what Woolf's other novels and her memoirs are like and wondering if I might like a different book of hers more.

194 pages, Harcourt

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sampleof the audio book here, read by British actress Anne Flosnick, and/or download it from Audible. I wonder if this novel would be easier to follow on audio?

You can purchase Mrs. Dalloway from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order Mrs. Dalloway from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Memoir Review: Making Toast

I don't remember when I first heard about the memoir, Making Toast: A Family Story, published in 2010 by award-winning journalist Roger Rosenblatt, but I know I have been wanting to read it ever since. I finally had the chance when it showed up among new audio books this fall. This brief but moving memoir was just as wonderful as I'd heard, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it.

The memoir covers the period after the author's adult daughter, Amy, died unexpectedly, leaving behind a husband and three young children. To help with their grandchildren, Roger and his wife, Ginny, moved from their home on Long Island to Bethesda, MD, moving in with their son-in-law, Harris, and the kids. He describes both the agonizing grief they each felt and also what their daily lives together were like. Roger and Ginny--known as Boppo and Mimi by the kids (and their friends)--are many years past the daily care of children themselves, but they step right into their new roles helping to care for six-year-old Jessica, four-year-old Sammy, and one-year-old James (affectionately known as Bubbies). Roger/Boppo describes the routines and events of their lives, including his morning ritual of making toast to each child's particular preferences. While, yes, the subject matter is quite sad, the memoir is actually very, very funny and often left me laughing out loud while listening to my iPod, as Roger tells the stories of their lives. It's as much about his grateful and amusing observations of his grandchildrens' childhoods as it is about their grief.

I absolutely loved this warm, witty memoir about life, death, and family. I'd never heard of this very prolific writer before (he's written 18 books, 6 plays, memoirs, plus for The New Yorker and other top publications), but I can see why he's been so highly acclaimed and awarded. He has a wonderful way of describing everyday things that makes you nod your head in agreement and laugh out loud, even in the midst of sadness. The memoir is especially good on audio, read by the author in his quiet, understated way. In fact, I now very much want to read the other memoir of his that's been sitting on my TBR list for ages, Kayak Morning: Reflections on Love, Grief, and Small Boats. In Making Toast, he is able to encapsulate the complexities of grief and how a family moves on with life after the impact of a shocking death. It is beautifully written, endearing, funny, and powerful. I can't wait to read more from Rosenblatt.

176 pages, Ecco

HarperAudio

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sampleof the audio book, read by the author, here and/or download it from Audible.

You can purchase Making Toast from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order Making Toast from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Middle-Grade Review: Remarkables

I always enjoy Margaret Peterson Haddix's middle-grade sci fi/mystery adventures, and her latest, Remarkables, is no exception. I listened to this fun, intriguing stand-alone novel on audio, and it was the perfect end to my 2019 audio books.

Marin's family has just moved to Pennsylvania for her mom's new job, but it's a lot of change all at once for her family. After all, her baby brother, Owen, was just born recently, they moved to a new house in a new state, and her dad is looking for a new job, while her mom adjusts to one with more responsibility. Marin is in no hurry to make new friends here, after a painful experience with her old friends just before she left. She is perfectly happy exploring the woods behind her new house on her own. In fact, she's up in a tree in those woods when she spots a group of teenagers. They seem to be best friends, a group of both girls and boys talking and laughing together, walking home from school, having snacks, and doing homework in the backyard behind Marin's own. But then, as she's watching them, the entire group disappears--poof! They are suddenly gone, leaving no trace. Marin is stunned and doesn't know what to think. She soon meets a boy her age in the neighborhood, named Charley, and discovers that he, too, has seen the mysterious group of teens disappear. Charley calls them the Remarkables, and though he is reluctant to get Marin involved, he finally shares his theories about who they are and what is going on. It all has to do with a tragedy that occurred twenty years ago, involving Charley's own father. Throughout that summer, Marin and Charley investigate the Remarkables, watching them from the woods and doing research at the library. In between, another tragedy gives Marin a chance to maybe patch things up with her old friend. Finally, just before the summer ends, Marin and Charley learn the truth of the Remarkables.

I always enjoy Haddix's middle-grade novels for their original, engrossing plots that move the story along at a fast pace. I couldn't wait to listen to more and easily finished this audio by December 31, my goal. That's not the only thing I liked about the novel, though. Haddix has also created realistic child characters with plenty of emotional depth. Though Charley and Marin are investigating a supernatural mystery, the novel is also filled with plenty of issues that real-life kids face, too: bullying, the ups and downs of friendships, addiction in parents, and even a death (not one of the main characters). All of these real-life problems are nestled naturally in the narrative among the kids' ongoing sleuthing, which often provides them with some much-needed distraction. The story comes to a surprising and satisfying conclusion, both in the mysterious world of the woods and in the kids' real lives.

304 pages, Katherine Tegen Books

HarperAudio

Listen to a sampleof the audio book here and/or download it from Audible.

You can purchase Remarkables from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order Remarkables from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: The Nest

As I scrambled to read books on my shelf previously given as gifts before I got more book gifts for Christmas, The Nest by Cynthia D-Aprix Sweeney was high on my list. I finally read this family novel that my husband gave me (birthday? Mother's Day?) that was critically acclaimed and on many Best of lists when it was released in 2016. Though I wasn't sure I'd like it at first, this dysfunctional yet likable family won me over, and I enjoyed reading it.

In the Prologue, the adult Plumb siblings are attending a family wedding when disaster strikes. Oldest brother Leo does something incredibly irresponsible and stupid, as he often does, and a tragedy occurs. The four siblings have always counted on the Nest, their pet term for a nest egg their father left them when he died many years ago. The money has been held in a trust, growing steadily, for the four of them to split when the youngest, Melody, turns 40. Each of them is counting on that sudden influx of money in the next year for different reasons. Melody and her husband plan to use it for their twin girls' college education, as they approach their senior year in high school. Melody has worked very hard to make ends meet, living in a modest but beautiful home in a good neighborhood. Jack, the younger brother, is a gay man married to his partner, Walker, and running an antique shop. But Jack has a shameful secret: the couple lives beyond their means, and Jack has secretly taken out a second mortgage to pay for their lifestyle and upgrades to his shop. Walker has no idea, but Jack plans to pay off the huge debt with the Nest so he'll never know. Older sister, Beatrice, is managing OK financially, but she feels stuck, working for a tiny literary magazine and unable to write the novel she was supposed to write, after some early success with short stories. The other three siblings are stunned when their aloof mother announces at lunch one day that she used almost all of the Nest to make Leo's "problem go away." Now what will they all do?

When I started this intricate family drama, I thought, "Oh, no, another story about wealthy upper class New Yorkers." It's just not usually my favorite kind of set-up. But I soon realized that the Plumbs may have acted that way at times, but in fact, none of them was actually wealthy, and they were far more relatable than I first anticipated (college tuition? mortgage and debt? Check and check). And, while Leo is a bit of a jerk, the other three siblings--and the other people in their lives--are interesting, warm characters with plenty of depth. The more I read, the more I delved down into those layers of complexity and got to know (and like) them better. The author also includes plenty of unexpected plot twists. Not everything works out perfectly for every character, but the novel is brought to a satisfying conclusion. I ended up thoroughly engrossed in the Plumb siblings' lives and enjoyed the time I spent with this messed-up, lovable family.

353 pages, Ecco (imprint of HarperCollins)

Something to look forward to! Emily V. Gordon, screenwriter of The Big Sick is adapting The Nest as a movie for Amazon (no word yet on when it will be finished).

Listen to a sample of the audio book here, narrated by Mia Barron and/or download it from Audible.

You can purchase The Nest from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order The Nest from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

First Books of 2020!

Happy New Year!!

For the past seven years, Sheila at Book Journey has hosted First Book of the Year, where readers from all over the world post photos with the first book of the new year that they're reading. Here's mine:

Wow, I look tired! I'm not used to staying up till midnight! ha ha But the important thing about this photo is what I'm holding (which you can't see too well) - my TWO First Books of the Year, one in print (on a Kindle) and one on audio.

I was all set with my First-of-the-Year choice (Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday, a Christmas gift) when I realized I hadn't yet read the book choice for my neighborhood book group ... which is NEXT week! Oops - poor planning. But I chose something I have been wanting to read for my audio book.

So, my two First Books of the Year are:

Running on Red Dog Road: And Other Perils of an Appalachian Childhood, a novel by Drema Hall Berkheimer (on the Kindle for book group)

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center (on audio on my iPod)

What is YOUR first book of the year?