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Rebooked, Newton, MA (2026)

09/01/2026

I read a lot of books in August that were just fine and one that was completely delightful. Can you guess which one?

Here are the books ranked roughly in terms of my enjoyment:

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins was completely fantastic on audio. It’s considered the granddaddy of British detective stories and is so clever, with an intricate structure of multiple narrators picking up the story from each other but each with a distinct voice, point of view and set of biases. Written in 1868 so much of this big novel feels fresh and modern.

The Unselected Diaries of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 6 and 7: I picked this series up again this month on audio and loved it in that format. Light and breezy without much substance but a lot of fun.

The Singer’s Gun by Emily St. John Mandel: Read this backlist in anticipation of her new book coming out this month and I really enjoyed the way she writes and the twisty plot but the end kind of ruined the book for me.

Taiwan Travelogue: Extremely sly premise of a novel within a novel within a novel??? This one spoke to my head much more than my heart.

The Great Wherever: Liked most of the characters and the way the story was told but found the main character so annoying that it soured me on the book, even though I appreciated what the author was trying to do.

Mr. Bridge: After loving Mrs. Bridge last month I had high hopes for this one but it was just so bleak that even the beautiful writing could not save it for me.

I See You Called in Dead: Kind of simpy but not as bad as Theo of Golden so if you liked that you might love this!

08/17/2026

Did you know you can support Rebooked by making us your bookseller partner when you buy audiobooks from Libro.fm? They’re having a great sale right now and I picked through pages and pages for you to pull out some recommendations that I have read and loved. And look at those prices!! Find the link to my bookseller page in the comments.

07/02/2026

I read 6 books in June. Here’s what I thought. (Warning: Unpopular opinions ahead!)

The Land and Its People by David Sedaris was my favorite book of the month. I always do his books on audio because he narrates them himself and that’s a crucial part of the experience. As he’s aged his essays have gotten more poignant but remain just as hysterically funny. This is another really strong collection that I adored.

I finally read Lonesome Dove and it was great! I loved McMurtry’s leisurely pace and the way he lets his characters develop over so many pages.

The Feast by Margaret Kennedy was an intriguing backlist title recommended by which I would never have found on my own.

Which brings me to Whistler by Ann Patchett which, sadly, I found a bit lame. Patchett is somewhat hit or miss for me: I love many of her books including Tom Lake but not all of them. I did this on audio which was a huge mistake because I already knew that I find Patchett’s reading voice grating and supercilious (she reads this herself). In contrast to David Sedaris who has the perfect delivery, Patchett seemed to me to be the last person who should have been reading this book. She gets a little trill in her voice when she reads something that she clearly thinks is clever and made me hate her protagonist, Daphne, intensely. What a goody two shoes I kept thinking. I know this book is beloved by many and maybe I would like it better if I’d read it on the page but it didn’t work for me. There were some nice scenes and dialogue but it was repetitious, oversold the themes and the plot felt flat and didn’t build toward anything. Please, all you Whistler lovers tell me why you loved it!!!

The Road to Tender Hearts and Theo of Golden were both big misses for me as I expected them to be. Twee is the word which leaps to mind. (To be fair Tender Hearts was a much better book, just not for me).

What are you reading?

04/04/2026

Here’s what I read in March:

My re-read of The History of Sound was my favorite of the month: Excellent, excellent, excellent. Short stories loosely linked in setting, theme and tone. If possible, I enjoyed it even more than the first time. The writing immediately draws you in and puts your mind at rest and every story in the collection is extraordinary: profound and moving.

Also really loved Departures by Julian Barnes. I wasn’t sure at first but once the story settled in I found it graceful and poignant.

Troubles, an under the radar Irish historical novel set during the first round of troubles in 1920, was a great read!

Exit Lane and Something Borrowed were fun, escapist rom-coms set in NYC. Can’t resist those!

The oh so French Swimming in Paris left me a bit cold but I loved our book club discussion.

And I appear to be the rare person for whom Mother Mary Comes to Me did not work at all. This memoir has been receiving accolades right and left but I found it choppy and the cerebral style kept me at too much of a distance.

What did you read in March?

02/03/2026

I had a great reading month in January. Here were my favorites.

Flesh by David Szalay: LOVED. I can see why this won the Booker Prize. So smart and restrained but with so much to say.

Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson: LOVED. A charming and hysterical memoir of raising children.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: IMPRESSIVE. Finally got around to reading this modern classic

Bread of Angels by Patti Smith: BEAUTIFUL PASSAGES. Smith writes so well about living a creative life but I’ve liked some of her other memoirs more. Try M Train!

Winter by Ali Smith, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai and Fair Play by Louise Hegarty were all really good and completely different from one another. Read Winter is you want dreamy minimalism, Loneliness if you want a torrent of beautiful words and Fair Play if you want something clever and experimental and you like mysteries.

A Marriage at Sea was intriguing for awhile but then quite dull.

And to my surprise I really enjoyed Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry despite not being a fan of hers. Now if she can only eliminate a few words from her vocabulary—murmur and wriggled (as in in and out of clothing) for starters☺️

What did you read in January?

12/31/2025

I read 95 books this year and here are my favorites

TOP TEN
1. The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck
2. My Friends by Hisham Matar
3. The Hopkins Manuscript by R.C. Sherriff
4. Heart the Lover by Lily King
5. Among Friends by Hal Ebbott
6. Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Cespedes
7. Who Will Run The Frog Hospital by Lorrie Moore
8. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
9. The Details by Ia Genberg
10. The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller/Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

11/03/2025

I read 13 books in October and here’s what I thought:

Among Friends: LOVED Much darker than I usually like but the exhilarating writing won me over.
Buckeye: LOVED this on audio. An old fashioned novel with a lot of heart.
The Impossible Fortune: LOVED this on audio also. Witty British dialogue gets me every time.
Heart the Lover: LOVED and read in one day.
Another Marvelous Thing: Reread this Laurie Colwin on audio but I think I prefer this one on the page.
Seduction Theory: REALLY LIKED Clever and scathing and made me very happy not to be in academia.
Sula: Really glad I read this with book club or I wouldn’t have appreciated it at all.
Perfection: Another really clever book but left me a bit cold.
Mr. Wilder and Me: unexpectedly sweet and nostalgic.
The Berry Pickers: This was fine but nothing special.
Train Dreams: A lot of people love this one but I didn’t.
The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy: Had to do it after binging (and loving, duh) the show. Exactly what you would expect.

What have you been reading?

10/02/2025

I read these six books in September and here’s what I thought:

Jeff Hiller’s memoir, Actress of a Certain Age, was perfect on audio, warm and witty and absolutely hysterically funny.

The Best of Everything is a big soap opera of a novel written in the 1950s which follows four young women as they navigate their early 20s in NYC. Really entertaining!

Mercy by Joan Silber is a series of interconnected stories each about a different character somehow related to the others. It reminded me of Elizabeth Strout and I liked it a lot.

I loved Hisham Matar’s My Friends and his backlist Anatomy of a Disappearance had lovely writing and similar themes but it was just so sad.

A Reason to See You Again was a well- written family story but I found the characters somewhat annoying. I really liked Attenberg’s previous book All Grown Up. Give that one a try instead.

Flight was not for me. I finished it but found it extremely grating.

What have you been reading?

08/02/2025

July reading roundup:

Favorite overall: The Hopkins Manuscript - I simply can’t believe this searing sci-fi novel was written in 1939 and not last week. Beautiful writing and plot which moved in unexpected (and chilling) directions. Thanks to for getting me to read it.

Favorite re-read: The Remains of the Day - a wonderful, poignant, funny, and so sad book.

What did I read?: The Last Samurai - a modern classic that makes you feel really dumb and really smart at the same time. Someone needs to explain this book to me!

Pleasant and Diverting: Frankie - a surprisingly good story of the life of an Irish woman in the NYC art world of the 1960s. Goes down easy.

Best series: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion - perfect charming bedtime reading. On to Volume 3!

Best on Audio: Murder Takes a Vacation: Total fluff but lots of fun.

Fine but forgettable: Bug Hollow - getting a lots of love from others though so you may love it! How to Read a Book - trying to be too many different things at once

What was your favorite read in July?

07/01/2025

I read eight books in June and here’s what I thought:

Audition – Wound up really loving this mind-bending mother/son story once all the smart folks in book club talked through some of the stranger bits with me.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. I – This fictional journal of a young woman in London in 1883 is witty, light and charming. Looking forward to the rest of the volumes (I think there are six or seven). Thank you to Paperback Summer Reading Guide for the rec.

Great Black Hope – A lot to love here, especially when the story left NYC, even though I wanted to shake the main character much of the time. Would recommend reading this on the page. I did the audio and it really bogged down for a while in the middle but thanks to a fantastic review by I persisted and was very glad I did.

Days of Light – Loved the writing but not the story. The main character, Ivy, goes on a spiritual journey as we follow her throughout her life and it just didn’t make sense to me. But beautiful writing!

Ms. Hempel’s Chronicle – This 2008 novel about a middle school teacher told in a series of short story like chapters was lovely and a little bit quirky.

It’s a Love Story – I really loved Monaghan’s first novel Nora Goes off Script but haven’t liked anything she’s written since until this one which was delightful on audio. It’s a romance with nothing particularly clever or new but Monaghan is very funny and writes likeable characters. A perfect beach read.

The Cranes Dance – Picked this up because I loved Howrey’s book They’re Going to Love You (read that one!). This is a ballet story about two sisters and if you are a dancer you’d probably love it. Howrey (a dancer herself) writes beautifully and the main character’s voice was compelling but the dance stuff got a bit boring and the sisters’ dynamic didn’t really work for me.

Shopgirls – A big disappointment. Blau’s novel, Mary Jane, was a delightful surprise for me last year but this new novel about a young woman working in a department store was clunky and totally blah. And a hideous cover.

What did you read in June?

Rebooked

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