Perfume: The Story of A Murderer by Patrick Suskind

Perfume: The Story of A Murderer by Patrick Suskind

Translated from German by John E. Woods

Read by Nigel Patterson

9 hours

Published February 2001 by Vintage (originally in German in 1985)

Publisher’s Summary: 

In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift—an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille’s genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the “ultimate perfume”—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity. 

My Thoughts: 

Some quick thoughts on a book that's been on my tbr for a very long time, but which I really did not enjoy.  I can't imagine what the description of the book was for me to have added it to my tbr, but it must not have been very detailed for me to have been interested in the book it ended up being. 

• I imagine this would be categorized as historical fiction, but there's definitely an element of horror to it. 
• While I didn't care for the book itself, I will say that Nigel Patterson's reading of it is excellent. 
• Suskind's writing is wonderfully descriptive and he's able to describe scents in a way that makes it possible for readers to actually imagine them. Unfortunately, the detailed descriptions are also very difficult to read when Suskind is writing about illness or murder. 
• The ending is just very weird. 
• I don't know anyone I would recommend this to; and, for me, it just became less and less something I wanted to read to the point I just wanted it to be done. Why did I not DNF it? Because I kept thinking it would turn into the book I thought I was going to get. 
• This was made into a movie in 2006, starring Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman. No surprise neither of them ever made a big deal of having starred in it and the reviews are not good. 

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

Read by Juliet Stevenson

21 hours, 29 minutes

Published September 2014 by Riverhead Books

Publisher's Summary: 

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned; the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa-a large, silent house now bereft of brothers, husband, and even servants-life is about to be transformed as impoverished widow Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

With the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the “clerk class,” the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. Little do the Wrays know just how profoundly their new tenants will alter the course of Frances's life-or, as passions mount and frustration gathers, how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize three times, Sarah Waters has earned a reputation as one of our greatest writers of historical fiction, and here she has delivered again. A love story, a tension-filled crime story, and a beautifully atmospheric portrait of a fascinating time and place, The Paying Guests is Sarah Waters's finest achievement yet.

My Thoughts: 

I picked this one up after I'd read Water's 2009 The Little Stranger and 2002 Fingersmith. It has languished on my bookshelves for years now, so when I saw it was available in audiobook just when I was needing a book, I didn't hesitate. 

You may have noticed that this book is 21 and a half hours long which means, for me at least, that a book is really going to have to a lot going on to keep a reader's interest. But this book is a slow-burn of a novel that managed to hold my interest for all of that 21 and an half hours. 

The book is, essentially, three parts. The front end becomes a love story, the middle a shocking jolt, and the last part more of a crime story which left me very much wondering how Waters was going to keep her heroine out of trouble, whether or not Lilian was to be trusted, and whether or not Lilian and Frances' relationship could survive. 

Waters' writing is superb, as ever. She paints a vivid picture of life after the Great War, particularly what it was like for women who had lost their husbands and their means of life. Frances and her mother, despite their circumstances, still believe themselves to be above, in station, the Barbers, despite the fact that the Wrays could not survive without the money the Barbers pay them. Frances has been forced to do all of the housework, but hides it from the neighbors (who surely know what is happening). The Wrays initially are very uncomfortable with the interactions they are forced to have with the Barbers. Leonard is brash and flirtatious with Frances, making her very wary of him. But she grows closer and closer to Lilian, despite their statuses, and it reopens Frances' past relationship with another woman which disgraced the Wray family. 

I can't get too far into explaining what happens beyond that without giving away too much. Suffice to say that the relationship between Frances and Lilian causes trouble that will put them both in danger and tests that relationship. 

Hopefully I've given you enough to understand that this book will not be for everyone, particularly given some intimate scenes. For me, that wasn't an issue; this is simply a different love story, filled with yearning and hope. 

Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer

Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer

272 pages

Published September 2022 by Little, Brown and Company

Publisher's Summary: 

“Go get lost somewhere, it always does you good.”

For Arthur Less, life is going surprisingly well: he is a moderately accomplished novelist in a steady relationship with his partner, Freddy Pelu. But nothing lasts: the death of an old lover and a sudden financial crisis has Less running away from his problems yet again as he accepts a series of literary gigs that send him on a zigzagging adventure across the US.

Less roves across the “Mild Mild West,” through the South and to his mid-Atlantic birthplace, with an ever-changing posse of writerly characters and his trusty duo – a human-like black pug, Dolly, and a rusty camper van nicknamed Rosina. He grows a handlebar mustache, ditches his signature gray suit, and disguises himself in the bolero-and-cowboy-hat costume of a true “Unitedstatesian”... with varying levels of success, as he continues to be mistaken for either a Dutchman, the wrong writer, or, worst of all, a “bad gay.”

We cannot, however, escape ourselves—even across deserts, bayous, and coastlines. From his estranged father and strained relationship with Freddy, to the reckoning he experiences in confronting his privilege, Arthur Less must eventually face his personal demons. With all of the irrepressible wit and musicality that made Less a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning, must-read breakout book, Less Is Lost is a profound and joyous novel about the enigma of life in America, the riddle of love, and the stories we tell along the way.

My Thoughts: 

I read and reviewed Greer's 2017 Less (review here), which won Greer the Pulitzer Prize and which I felt had a lot to teach me and which I really enjoyed. I wrote then that I had two of Greer's other books on my Nook (still haven't gotten to those), but that I feared they would not be able to live up to Less which was so very good. Unfortunately, this one didn't either, at least not for me. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it; it was just always going to be tough to live up to the first book. 

This book finds Less crossing the country in a mad effort to try to earn enough money to pay back rent on the home he's been living in for more than a decade without any idea rent should have been paid. Less has been a successful writer so there is some demand for him, but he's struggling to write the next great book so off he goes, in part to earn money and in part to try to find the father that left him years ago. To say that for a smart man Less is often clueless is an understatement. So, of course, he finds himself in one ridiculous situation after another which give the book a lightness. But Less is also trying to find himself and what he wants for his future so there is plenty of weight to the book as well. 

While this one didn't pull me in as much as the first book, Greer's writing still impressed. You can't help but care about Arthur and hope that he finds what he needs. Maybe what this book has done is give me a lower bar for those books I already own to reach. And Greer's latest book, Villa Coco, which recently came out and which I'm waiting to get from my library. 

Brother and Sister by Diane Keaton

Brother and Sister: A Memoir by Diane Keaton

Read by Diane Keaton

4 hours, 29 minutes

Published February 2020 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Publisher’s Summary: 

When they were children in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the 1950s, Diane Keaton and her younger brother, Randy, were best friends and companions: they shared stories at night in their bunk beds; they swam, laughed, dressed up for Halloween. Their mother captured their American-dream childhoods in her diaries, and on camera. But as they grew up, Randy became troubled, then reclusive. By the time he reached adulthood, he was divorced, an alcoholic, a man who couldn't hold on to full-time work—his life a world away from his sister's, and from the rest of their family.

Now Diane is delving into the nuances of their shared, and separate, pasts to confront the difficult question of why and how Randy ended up living his life on "the other side of normal." In beautiful and fearless prose that's intertwined with photographs, journal entries, letters, and poetry—many of them Randy's own writing and art—this insightful memoir contemplates the inner workings of a family, the ties that hold it together, and the special bond between siblings even when they are pulled far apart. Here is a story about love and responsibility: about how, when we choose to reach out to the people we feel closest to—in moments of difficulty and loss—surprising things can happen. A story with universal echoes, Brother & Sister speaks across generations to families whose lives have been touched by the fragility and "otherness" of loved ones—and to brothers and sisters everywhere.

My Thoughts: 

In the early years of their lives, Randy and Diane slept in the same room, sharing a bunk bed. When they moved into a new house, they no longer shared that room. Grown Keaton wonders if Randy's life would have been different had that not been separated so early, had he had a friend to confide in every night, had they not had other siblings. She ponders the "what-ifs" had Randy been raised differently. But she doesn't throw blame and she doesn't make excuses for his behavior or his troubles. Randy was blessed to have a family who cared so much and never stopped trying to help him. 

Keaton was candid and honest about how difficult Randy's mental health and addiction were on the family and on her She struggled to be honest about what was happening, to be caring. But she also found she needed to be tough when it was called for. 

As Diane's rose to fame, she had to also straddle Randy's descent. Fortunately, her rise allowed Randy to have the best care possible for the rest of his life, something she became well aware of being hard to find, even when you have money. In the end, Keaton is able to look back with humor at the things Randy did and be in awe of the way his brain worked and not entirely sad by the turn his life took and the toll it took on the family. 

It's so wonderful to hear Keaton's voice and I highly recommend the audiobook. But I know that I missed out on those photos, letters and art. I'm thinking a read/listen option is the way to go with this one! 

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Read by David Morris

13 hours, 12 minutes

Published November 2025 by Atria Books

Publisher's Summary: 

One spring morning, a stranger named Theo arrives in the small Southern city of Golden. He doesn't explain much about where he came from or why he's there—but when he visits the local coffeehouse, where pencil portraits of the people of Golden hang on the walls, he begins purchasing them, one at a time, and giving each portrait to the person depicted. In exchange, he asks only for the person's story. And so portrait by portrait, person by person, secrets are revealed, regrets are shared, and ordinary lives are profoundly altered.

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is an unforgettable novel about the power of generosity, the importance of connection, and the quiet miracles that happen when we choose kindness and wonder.

My Thoughts: 

My book club does a book exchange every year at our Christmas party. This year, one of the women gave this book. I had never heard of it at that time, but a few weeks later I was hearing about it every where. Normally, you see me steering away from books that are all the rage; but because my friend seemed to have endorsed this one, I decided to give it a listen. 

• David Morris' reading is excellent. If you're one of the few people who haven't read this one yet, I highly recommend the audiobook option. 
• I was very much into the idea of this man wanting to gift the portraits and was really enjoying his interactions with each of the recipients. I loved that Theo met some wonderful people who he befriended, but also some others who were not so wonderful and some who were prickly.
• I was impressed with Levi's writing...except for his practice of overly describing the appearance of his characters. 
• At a certain point, this book moves away from the storyline of giving away the portraits and focuses more on the relationships Theo has made. Which is all well and good except that it felt like it happened abruptly. Perhaps Levi decided he had introduced enough characters to his story. 
• Something happens in the book, that I will not give away; but after that he feels like Levi reached the point where he decided he needed to tell not show and it seemed to me that the story began to drag on even as things began to tie up a little too tidily. 
• I did feel as though I was being emotionally manipulated at a certain point. 
• After all of that, did I like this one? Yes; and I would recommend it. I just didn't love it as much as so many others did. It would give book clubs a lot to talk about. 

That's A Good Question, I'd Love To Tell You by Elyse Myers

That's A Good Question, I'd Love To Tell You by Elyse Myers

288 pages

Published October 2025 by HarperCollins

Publisher's Summary:

Elyse Myers is known to her twelve million followers as “The Internet’s Best Friend,” sharing her relatable stories and comedic sketches and serving as an advocate for topics such as neurodivergence, impostor syndrome, body image, and more. Whether she’s making people laugh with tales of disastrous dates or giving a voice to that awkward internal monologue many of us have, she has three simple goals behind everything she makes: To make people feel known, loved, and like they belong.
In That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You, Elyse delivers a debut collection of deeply personal stories and hand—drawn illustrations, offering even more intimate reflections beyond what fans have seen on her social media, including:

• Spending 7 Minutes in Heaven accidentally friend—zoning her crush
• How Lucy, the Magic 8 Ball keychain, changed her life by accident
• Moving from California to Australia to Texas to Nebraska to like (maybe even love!) herself
• How to Fold Hospital Corners in 10 EASY STEPS!—a practical guide and a rumination about…everything
• The “meat cute” when she met her smoke show of a husband at a butcher’s counter in Australia—and how she revealed herself to be an emotional runner

Plus, tales involving bad dates and is—this—a—dates; the tempting yet futile urge to reinvent yourself, panic attacks and escape hatches, and favorite pens and systems to use them, all while loving and letting yourself be loved, preferably at the same time.

My Thoughts: 

I first came across Elyse on Instagram, initially drawn to her positive messages about dealing with depression and self doubt. I introduced her to everyone I thought would benefit from her messages. Then I began to listen to her stories, which always began "That's a good question; I'd love to tell you" and often went on for several  posts, generally accompanied by drawings. Her incredible empathy and honesty drew me to her, her humor kept me coming back for more. Myers had found a way to make her "too much" exactly the right amount and it resonated with hundreds of thousands of people. Soon she began hosting a podcast and now she's written a book. 

This is the story of her life, from the time she was little, through her time in Australia, through a trip to visit the man she'd been talking to on the phone for months in Kansas, to her marriage to Jonas. It's told through chapters that are centered on where she was in her life geographically at the time. After watching her stories and reading her posts for a couple of years, I was familiar with the bones of her life. But the book fills that in, reminding readers of Myer's openness, willingness to share her struggles, and ability to find the humor in the pain. 

Elyse reads the audiobook, which I'm sure is fantastic. But if you listen to this one, you'll miss all of the drawings which really make the stories come to life. There's at least one more book in Myers; at least I'm hoping there is. Her life has been just as interesting since her marriage. And there are all of those anecdotal stories she's shared on social media that I'm certain readers would love to hear about again. 

Would I recommend it? Certainly - who wouldn't love a book that shows how it's possible to overcome your struggles and find happiness? 

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Read by Sheila Reed and Rebecca Benson

10 hours, 53 minutes

Published June 2021 by HarperCollins

Publisher's Summary: 

An extraordinary friendship. A lifetime of stories. 

Seventeen—year—old Lenni Pettersson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Though the teenager has been told she’s dying, she still has plenty of living to do. Joining the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83—year—old, purple—pajama—wearing, fruitcake—eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined.

As their friendship blooms, a world of stories opens for these unlikely companions who, between them, have been alive for one hundred years. Though their days are dwindling, both are determined to leave their mark on the world. With the help of Lenni’s doting palliative care nurse and Father Arthur, the hospital’s patient chaplain, Lenni and Margot devise a plan to create one hundred paintings showcasing the stories of the century they have lived—stories of love and loss, of courage and kindness, of unexpected tenderness and pure joy.

Though the end is near, life isn’t quite done with these unforgettable women just yet.

Delightfully funny and bittersweet, heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot reminds us of the preciousness of life as it considers the legacy we choose to leave, how we influence the lives of others even after we’re gone, and the wonder of a friendship that transcends time.

My Thoughts: 

• This one was recommended by a friend to whom it had been recommended. I opted for the audiobook because I was ready for a new book and it was available immediately on audio. I'm glad I did - both Reed and Benson did a terrific job. I really felt like I was getting the story from Lenni and Margot. 
• I love finding books about friendship, especially friendships that end up growing a new family, that are able to explore the subject from entirely new (to me, at least) perspectives. 
• Lenni has had a tough life, made so much worse by the fact that she's dying alone with only the hospital staff as company. Until a new employee starts an arts program. Lenni chooses to attend the sessions attended by the elderly and there she meets Margot, who has lived through her own trials and sadness. 
• Between them, Lenni and Margot have lived 100 years. They decide that they will tell their life stories through art, giving them both a reason to fight to live on, at least until they finish that project. While they work through the project, readers are privy to the stories that each of the works of art portray. 
• Lenni also befriends Father Arthur, who finds in Lenni a challenge to his own faith, allowing Cronin to explore the idea of faith in the face of death. 
• Despite the fact that I knew this one had to end sadly, I still wasn't prepared for the ending's emotional hit. 
• Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. Despite the ending, it is a book filled with hope, love in so many forms, and the message that everyone has a story to tell, if we will only take the time to listen. 

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

Read by Steven Rowley

11 hours, 23 minutes

Published 2021 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Publisher’s Summary: 

Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is, honestly, overwhelmed.

So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick's brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian. Despite having a set of "Guncle Rules" ready to go, Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled acting career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. Quickly realizing that parenting--even if temporary--isn't solved with treats and jokes, Patrick's eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you're unfailingly human.

My Thoughts: 

More bullet point thoughts, as I desperately try to catch up on reviews!

• Maisie and Grant are precocious. Too precocious? Nah, it worked here because they were also so vulnerable and mostly behave exactly in the way you'd expect 9- and 6-year-olds to behave. 
• Patrick has shut down, emotionally. He can afford not to work, so has isolated himself, following the end of his successful sit-com and the loss of his partner, Joe. He is charming, fun, and sarcastic. He is also deeply insecure about aging and what people would think about him if they really knew him. 
• The relationship between Patrick, Maisie and Grant is delightful. They, of course, help him as much as he helps them. Here is a man who's been living on his own for four years. Now he is not only not alone, he is clueless about how to deal with children. It's no surprise that he figures it out in his own way; getting there is both fun and heartwarming. 
• There's a not unexpected battle with Patrick's sister, a re-entry into acting, and an ending that I was expecting, all of which made the book feel fuller. 
• This is one of those books that I feel benefited from having the author read it. Rowley is Patrick.
• Recommended by my sister, repeatedly. She was right, I did enjoy this one a lot. In fact, I'm waiting right now for the sequel on audiobook and have plans to read more of Rowley's work. 
• Would I recommend it? Yes, it's one of those great palate cleansers I so enjoy, that manages to be light but never fluffy. 

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell

I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O’Farrell

Read by Daisy Donovan

6 hours

Published August 2017 by Knopf

Publisher’s Summary: 

We are never closer to life than when we brush up against the possibility of death.

I Am, I Am, I Am is Maggie O'Farrell's astonishing memoir of the near-death experiences that have punctuated and defined her life. The childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, which she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. An encounter with a disturbed man on a remote path. And, most terrifying of all, an ongoing, daily struggle to protect her daughter--for whom this book was written--from a condition that leaves her unimaginably vulnerable to life's myriad dangers.

Seventeen discrete encounters with Maggie at different ages, in different locations, reveal a whole life in a series of tense, visceral snapshots. In taut prose that vibrates with electricity and restrained emotion, O'Farrell captures the perils running just beneath the surface, and illuminates the preciousness, beauty, and mysteries of life itself.

My Thoughts: 

It's been some time since I finished this book so I'm going to just stick with the notes I made about it when I finished it. 

• This is a sequence of near and not-so-near misses. It's shocking how often O'Farrell has had brushes with death in some way. It started with that childhood illness and ends with her own daughter's medical condition. At 16 she jumps off a harbor wall; but, because of childhood encephalitis and an inability to sense where things are and her place among them, meant she was unable to surface on her own and had to be rescued. At 18, she went for a walk during a break from work and encountered a man who appeared to be waiting for her; she manages to get away but later finds out the man has killed another young girl. Later she is on a plane to Hong Kong that almost crashes and her description of what it was like in that cabin is vivid. The chapter on one of her many miscarriages is superb and heart wrenching. 
• O'Farrell sometimes tells the experience in the third person, which makes it feel less like her own life and more like a story. But they are excellent stories and it's easy to accept them being less personal feeling. 
• I'm a big fan of O'Farrell's fiction and her ability to make readers feel like they are part of the book. This book gave me the same feeling. 
• Daisy Donovan's reading is excellent. 
• Would I recommend it? Definitely. But that recommendation comes with a trigger warning. There are a lot of things here that might be upsetting to some readers. 

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Read by Lesley Manville

12 hours 26 minutes

Published September 2020 by Viking Press

Publisher’s Summary: 

Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to...
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?

My Thoughts: 

Both this book and the Netflix adaptation where recommended to me by my dad; it was the last book he ever recommended to me and I would have read it, whether or not I thought it was something that would appeal to me. As you know, my dad was an avid reader; he was also an avid viewer of Netflix movies and series. When he discovered that the book that his care home's book club was reading had been adapted for Netflix, he decided to make it a read/watch combo. I'm glad I took his recommendation on both the book and the adaptation, which stars Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, and Pierce Brosnan. 

The older I get, the more I enjoy about older people, especially those who are living their best lives, being useful and clever and not just accepting that it's time to sit back and get out of the way. This group of friends combines their skills (and the smarts to get a police woman to work with them) to not only solve the murder, but to save the peace of the retirement village for all of the residents. It's surprisingly funny, I loved the characters, and it was twisted enough that I never saw the ending coming. Which, of course, I know is not that rare, but still 

I highly recommend the audiobook; Lesley Manville's reading is marvelous. I also highly recommend the adaptation, which is never weighed down by its all-star cast, who all shine, and stays true to the book. 

So Far Gone by Jess Walters

So Far Gone by Jess Walter

Read by Edoardo Ballerini

8 hours, 20 minutes

Published June 2025 by HarperCollins

Publisher's Summary: 

Rhys Kinnick has gone off the grid. At Thanksgiving a few years back, a fed-up Rhys punched his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law in the mouth, chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, with no one around except a pack of hungry raccoons.

Now Kinnick's old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no internet and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia?

With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his only friend (who happens to be furious with him), Kinnick heads off on a wild journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he'd left behind. So Far Gone is a rollicking, razor-sharp, and moving road trip through a fractured nation, from a writer who has been called “a genius of the modern American moment” (Philadelphia Inquirer).

My Thoughts: 

I first started reading Jess Walter's work in 2010, when the publisher offered me Walter's The Financial Lives of Poets for review. I still newish to blogging and thrilled to accept almost any book that was offered to me, but I'd already learned not to have high hopes for books that were offered to bloggers with small followings. That book took me completely by surprise; I was impressed with Walter's ability to find humor in the roughest of times and his ability to make a really tough time readable and believable. 

I didn't hesitate, then, when I was offered his 2012 novel, Beautiful Ruins, for review, which became in big critical success. In 2020 I listened to his novel, The Cold Millions. Here's what I had to say about that: 

"We love some authors because we know what to expect from them. Walter is different; I love his books because they are all so different. And yet his writing only gets better and better."

Nothing has changed since then. Although the plot of this book is completely different from his other books, I think the writing here is better than ever. The characters are real people, the relationships feel real, and the nothing here that seems unbelievable. There are heroes, but no super heroes; there are villains, but they seem like people we've all seen on the news and social media lately.  are made that feel completely true to the character who makes them; no one here is perfect, but not all of them are ready to admit that; there is humor, grit, tension, and real emotion. 

And if all of that weren't enough to recommend this book, I highly recommend the audiobook version. Never pass on the audiobook when Edoardo Ballerini is reading it. 

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

320 pages

Published October 2023

Publisher’s Summary: 

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret. 

My Thoughts: 

Any time I pick up a book that features a minority or a different culture, I’m interested to learn more about the author. Is he or she writing from a place of knowledge? In this case, she is. Peters is, according to the book jacket, a writer of Mi’kmaq and settler ancestry, who was the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award, and who lives in Nova Scotia, where much of the book is set. She is, in fact, of mixed Mi’kmaq and European heritage. This book is inspired by the real-life Mi’kmaq families who pick berries. All that contributes to a higher estimation of the book for me, knowing it’s not just researched, but lived. 

I pondered how I was going to write this review without giving anything away because I couldn't remember reading the summary many weeks ago. Then I copied the summary over here and realized this book isn't even a mystery to anyone who's read and remembers what it says. So bearing that in mind, it won't be a surprise that when I started reading Norma's first section of the book (the book alternates chapters between Joe and Norma) and realized that Peters was either really bad at dropping subtle clues or had no interest in keeping readers in the dark. The truth of the matter is that this is not a book that spends its entirety in search of Ruthie; instead it's a book about the damage that a traumatic event can cause on everyone involved. 

For Joe's family, Ruthie's disappearance is only the first of the traumas the family will suffer. Joe suffers the most visibly, living with the unbearable weight of guilt and loss. His pain manifests as violence, ultimately causing him to commit a violent act that he can't forgive himself for. So he chooses to hit the road, to punish himself and protect those he loves. We learn what Joe's life has been like as he looks back on it as he lies dying from cancer. Norma has suffered her own pain and loss. The emotional damage her parents have suffered hangs over her for the rest of her life. She grows up certain that she wasn't born to her parents but is unable to find the truth, even from those who claim to love her. 

As I neared the end of the book and struggled with what I thought might be the right way to end the book. Should Peters break our hearts? Or should Norma finally be reunited with her family? Should Joe finally find peace? Let's just leave it at this - I was happy with the way the book ended. If you recall I like a book that doesn't have a happily-ever-after ending. But then, too, some books need one. You'll just have to read this one for yourself to find out. 

One last note: this book will make for a great book club discussion, touching as it does on so many themes.

The Usual Desire To Kill by Camilla Barnes

The Usual Desire to Kill by Camilla Barnes

256 pages

Published April 2026 by Scribner

Publisher’s Summary: 

Miranda’s parents live in a dilapidated house in rural France that they share with two llamas, eight ducks, five chickens, two cats, and a freezer full of decades-old food.

Miranda’s father is a retired professor of philosophy who never loses an argument. Miranda’s mother likes to bring conversation back to “the War,” although she was born after it ended. Married for fifty years, they are uncommonly set in their ways. Miranda plays the role of translator when she visits, communicating the desires or complaints of one parent to the other and then venting her frustration to her sister and her daughter. At the end of a visit, she reports “the usual desire to kill.”

This wry, propulsive story about an eccentric yet endearing family and the sibling rivalry, generational divides, and long-buried secrets that shape them, is a glorious debut novel from a seasoned playwright with immense empathy and a flair for dialogue.

My Thoughts:

I recently went to pick up library holds that had come available and was surprised to find this title among my books. I had no recollection of requesting it, no idea who might have recommended it, and no idea why I would have requested a book about killing. I was only a few pages into the book when I became even more confused. This certainly didn’t feel like a book that was headed down the path of becoming a murder mystery. So, I did something I almost never do – I looked at the front flap to get the book description. And then I proceeded to race through this book. 

This is the story of how two people who should never have been together maneuver thru a long marriage and the effects that has on their children. Barnes explores marriage, sibling rivalry, truths behind shifting memories, and family secrets as well as examining the decisions people make in life, the long-term effects of those decisions, and how well one truly knows the people they love. 

One reviewer called it "tragicomic" and I think that's the perfect description. Barnes' writing is often witty and I found myself chucking frequently. But there is a sadness throughout that builds throughout the book. Miranda's father suffers the aftereffects of WWII and they both suffer the aftereffects of depression that followed it in England. That poverty has turned both parents into hoarders of a sort, which is both sad but also humorous in Barnes' hands. But life has hardened them as well. Which makes visiting them hard on Miranda, who writes to her sister, after one visit, that she left with "the usual desire to kill." 

I believe, in retrospect, that this book came to my attention via The New York Times Book Review and that I immediately requested it from my library just to avoid having to take the time to record it into my TBR list. I must say, it’s not a half bad way to get yourself to read something you might otherwise have put off. That would have been a terrible shame in the case of The Usual Desire To Kill.