2025 Reads and Reviews - Anything Goes

[Book Concierge]

People of Darkness – Tony Hillerman – 3.5***
Book number four in the Leaphorn & Chee mystery series focuses Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee, as he tries to unravel a 30-year-old mystery in pursuit of a missing box of “trinkets and mementos” that has been stolen from a very wealthy man. Hillerman does a marvelous job of weaving Native American (particularly Navajo) traditions, culture, and myths into his mysteries. I came late to the Tony Hillerman fan club, but I’m glad I got here and I’m enjoying the series.
LINK to my full review

[Julie]

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The Haunted House Diaries: The True Story of a Quiet Connecticut Town in the Center of a Paranormal Mystery
William J. Hall
4/5 stars
The title actually gives away the story line. This is the true story of a haunted house in Connecticut. I thought it was very well written. Horror

[Julie]

The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation 1933-1939
Charlotte Beradt
3/5 stars
Interesting book about the people who were exposed to the horrors of the Third Reich. The author started collecting these internalized dreams of the people who were exposed to Nazi regime, both Jews and non-Jews. Non-Fiction

[Book Concierge]

The Berry Pickers – Amanda Peters – 5***** and a ❤
In 1962, an indigenous family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer; a month into the season their youngest child disappears. This was a wonderful book. The characters come alive on the page. Their hurts, joys, struggles, connections, love, tenderness, anger, frustration and pain are shown through their actions and reactions.
LINK to my full review

[Julie]

Book Concierge wrote: "

The Berry Pickers
– Amanda Peters – 5***** and a ❤
In 1962, an indigenous family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer; a..."

I read that and enjoyed it!

[Julie]

Beyond the Board: The Untold Story of the World's Most Daring Big Wave Surfer
This is the true autobiography of Maya Gaberia, who is the most daring big wave surfer. She traveled all over the world surfing. I thought this was a great read. Highly recommended!
Sports

[Book Concierge]

Graceland – Nancy Crochiere – 3***
This was a fun read with over-the-top characters dealing with drama mostly of their own making. I liked the road trip aspect the best, though their various antics once they all arrive in Memphis also kept the plot moving along nicely. (Loved the scenes with the Elvis impersonators!)
LINK to my full review

[Fishface]

Maynard's House by Herman Raucher

5 stars!


Do not miss this one! Beautifully written, hard to put down, and wonderfully eerie. This was sold to me as a horror novel but it's not that clear-cut. I am immediately going to seek out other books by this author

[Julie]

The Gas and Flame Men: Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I
Jim Leeke
4/5 stars
This is the true story of the men who went to WWI to work in the Chemical Warfare Service and who were baseball players. Some of them lost their lives in the service. Sports

[Fishface]

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus


4 stars

This is simply the most terrifying, suspenseful book I have ever read. I had to put it aside for more than a week because it was such incredibly rough going. But I finally went back to it and I'm not sorry I did.

[Book Concierge]

The Night We Lost Him – Laura Dave – 3***
This mystery opens with Liam Noone, a hotel magnate with three ex-wives, three adult children and a long-term lover, being pushed off a cliff to his death. Two of his children, Nora and Sam, join forces to discover what happened to their dad, and why. I am Soooo over the dual time-line device and this one isn’t done all that well. By the time the kids determined that he was pushed, I’d lost interest in who did the pushing. It’s okay, at best.
LINK to my full review

[Fishface]

The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers by Michael Newton just came in at the library for me. I have no idea why I sent for it because I was pretty sure it was just going to be two of the author's other books combined into a single volume. It isn't. But it's sending me down a rabbit hole of rechecking every fact I'm finding in here. Have I heard if this case before? Is this victim's name in my Book of the Dead? I was up so freaking late last night leafing through this one.

[Julie]

Stupid TV, Be More Funny: How the Golden Era of The Simpsons Changed Television—and America—Forever
Alan Siegel
4/5 stars
I thought this book was so interesting and the author did get a great job writing this book. Highly Recommended! Film and Entertainment