The County Library discussion
Reader's Choice
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Reader's Choice Fall 2025
All available in audio except the graphic memoir. None currently available though. So that's a whole bunch of hold spots filled up😂
I was hoping I could get near the front of the line by checking it out today, but apparently you have to jump on the minute the list comes out.I put some on hold, prioritizing the sci fi and fantasy. The Husbands has been on my Maybe list, so I'll probably give that a shot. I still have one book from last round on hold.
I finally finished Coffee Shop of Curiosities. Today. 😅It was pretty cute. Very Sarah Addison Allen.
I'm 2/3 of the way through Great Divide and I'm struggling. I want to know what happens to some of the characters juuuuust enough to keep going but I've turned the speed up to 3x.
Great Divide was a ton of characters and tiny details and....meh? Just not my thing I guess. Running list
The Great Divide - 3
I finished my reading for the spring nominees -- didn't read four of them. Food, We Need to Talk stands out as the clear winner. Most of the rest were ties. I was not in line with the majority of voters, though.
I enjoyed Aging Disgracefully. Cute and quirky.
I also really liked Food, We Need to Talk. The Return of Ellie Black was really good.
Running list
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
I enjoyed Under Your Spell. I loved the different things the characters figured out about themselves without the story becoming heavy.
Finished William -- fun horror but ending was kind of weak for me. One down.
DNFed William at 50% Not my thing, but Audrey could you message me about the ending and what was weak? I'm curious but not enough to trudge my way through the rest of the book😅Running list
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
Loved the Return of Ellie Black. It kept me engaged the whole time.
How to Solve Your Own Murder was great. Looking forward to the sequel.Running list
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
Audrey - would you message me as well about William please? I accidentally returned it with only 30 minutes left and it is so not worth the cost to the library to check it out again, especially since I didn't like it. I'm past the point where Lily went into the cellar because she heard something.
Twilight Garden is a very sweet story of found family and cozy domestic drama. It's also a very slow story (12 hours!). I don't think the title or cover art actually fit the book at all. I'm not sad I read it but it was a bit too slow for my taste.
Running list
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
I'm just going to ditto Britt on Twilight Garden.
ugh. Wish I remembered I had listened to The Rule Book last December before checking it out again. i didn't hate it, but I didn't like it. 2 stars.
Crescent Moon Tearoom.... drove me nuts. The main conflict through the bulk of the book felt so unnecessary and obnoxious. At least it ended well. Running List
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
bailed on Under Your Spell
The Crescent Moon Tearoom - 3
bailed on The Rule Book
Here are my ratings so far:The Best Way to Bury Your Husband - 5 (I did have fun with the story, but I mostly gave it a 5 to show appreciation to the author for talking about domestic violence - I'm not a victim or anything, just that I think it's sad that it happens [end of commentary])
Cautious Traveller's Guide... - dnf
Every Time I Go On Vacation... - 4
The Great Divide - 4
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 4
Nightwatching - 3 (dnf, but gave a rating)
Return of Ellie Black - 4
Rule Book - 4 (normally I don't read Romances, except for Reader's Choice, and sometimes I like them)
Treasure Hunters Club - 3 (dnf, but gave a rating - too much swearing for me, if I remember right)
Twilight Garden - 4
Libby checkouts - William, Husbands, and Book of Doors
A friend told me she thought Book of Doors had too much swearing, so I might not finish that one. I know this isn't a "Gentle" Reader's Choice, but I just don't like a lot of unnecessary swearing.
Polar Vortex was fine. Didn't really do anything for me and the ending was so abrupt I triple checked thinking I'd missed a page or something. I generally don't read romance except for the Readers' Choice ones but I am really trying to not force myself to spend time in books I don't want to be reading so I bailed this time.
Running List
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
bailed on Under Your Spell
The Crescent Moon Tearoom - 3
bailed on The Rule Book
Polar Vortex - 3
Read Cascade Failure -- tries to be another Firefly. Not bad; kind of melodramatic at times. Lots of swearing.
Running list - Cautious Traveller's Guide... - dnf
Every Time I Go On Vacation... - 4
The Great Divide - 4
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 4
Nightwatching - 3 (dnf, but gave a rating)
Return of Ellie Black - 4
Rule Book - 4 (normally I don't read Romances, except for Reader's Choice, and sometimes I like them)
Treasure Hunters Club - 3 (dnf, but gave a rating - too much swearing for me, if I remember right)
Twilight Garden - 4
Husbands - checked out, but after listening to the first 30 minutes, checked it in for other Libby users to try - too much swearing for me, but interesting premise, I guess
William - 3 (4 until the ending)Cascade Failure - 3 (rather melodramatic)
Running list -Cautious Traveller's Guide... - dnf
Every Time I Go On Vacation... - 4
The Great Divide - 4
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 4
Nightwatching - 3 (dnf, but gave a rating)
Return of Ellie Black - 4
Rule Book - 4 (normally I don't read Romances, except for Reader's Choice, and sometimes I like them)
Treasure Hunters Club - 3 (dnf, but gave a rating - too much swearing for me, if I remember right)
Twilight Garden - 4
Husbands - checked out, but after listening to the first 30 minutes, checked it in for other Libby users to try - too much swearing for me, but interesting premise, I guess
William - 2 - I listened to about half of it, but was a little confused about the secondary characters, plus swearing, so I bailed on it.
Book of Doors - dnf - too much swearing for me, so I passed that on
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DNFed Treasure Hunters Club. In addition to the swearing others noted, I had it jacked up to triple speed and was still bored. I only made it to 36% but seriously, if I can get that far in without caring even a little about the mystery or the characters.....not a great sign.I started Every Time I Go on Vacation.... but the ebook formatting with the footnotes was driving me absolutely batty (the wait for the audio is way long) so I'll try again with a hardcopy.
Running List
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to solve your own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
bailed on Under Your Spell
The Crescent Moon Tearoom - 3
bailed on The Rule Book
Polar Vortex - 3
Treasure Hunters Club - dnf
Running list -The Best Way to Bury Your Husband - 5 (I did have fun with the story, but I mostly gave it a 5 to show appreciation to the author for talking about domestic violence - I'm not a victim or anything, just that I think it's sad that it happens [end of commentary])
Cautious Traveller's Guide... - dnf
Every Time I Go On Vacation... - 4
The Great Divide - 4
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 4
Nightwatching - 3 (dnf, but gave a rating)
Return of Ellie Black - 4
Rule Book - 4 (normally I don't read Romances, except for Reader's Choice, and sometimes I like them)
Treasure Hunters Club - 3 (dnf, but gave a rating - too much swearing for me, if I remember right)
Twilight Garden - 4
Husbands - checked out, but after listening to the first 30 minutes, checked it in for other Libby users to try - too much swearing for me, but interesting premise, I guess
William - 2 - I listened to about half of it, but was a little confused about the secondary characters, plus swearing, so I bailed on it.
Book of Doors - dnf - too much swearing for me, so I passed that on
Polar Vortex - dnf - I didn’t get very far - the graphic novel format just doesn’t work for me
Assassins Anonymous - 4
Running list -The Best Way to Bury Your Husband - 5 (I did have fun with the story, but I mostly gave it a 5 to show appreciation to the author for talking about domestic violence - I'm not a victim or anything, just that I think it's sad that it happens [end of commentary])
Cautious Traveller's Guide... - dnf
Every Time I Go On Vacation... - 4
The Great Divide - 4
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 4
Nightwatching - 3 (dnf, but gave a rating)
Return of Ellie Black - 4
Rule Book - 4 (normally I don't read Romances, except for Reader's Choice, and sometimes I like them)
Treasure Hunters Club - 3 (dnf, but gave a rating - too much swearing for me, if I remember right)
Twilight Garden - 4
Husbands - checked out, but after listening to the first 30 minutes, checked it in for other Libby users to try - too much swearing for me, but interesting premise, I guess
William - 2 - I listened to about half of it, but was a little confused about the secondary characters, plus swearing, so I bailed on it.
Book of Doors - dnf - too much swearing for me, so I passed that on
Polar Vortex - dnf - I didn’t get very far - the graphic novel format just doesn’t work for me.
Assassins Anonymous - 4
How to Age Disgracefully - 3 - dnf - I kind of got lost about halfway through, and then lost interest
We’ll see if I get to the rest - such long waits on the audio.
DNF on Nightwatching. I spend enough time with my own anxious internal monologue....I don't need to spend the time listening to someone else's.DNF on Cascade Failure because that was too many f-bombs in just the first 1% of the audiobook.
Running List
The Great Divide - 4
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
bailed on Under Your Spell
The Crescent Moon Tearoom - 3
bailed on The Rule Book
Polar Vortex - 3
Treasure Hunters Club - dnf
Nightwatching- dnf
Cascade Failure - dnf
The Husbands was entertaining -- not to be taken seriously; just exploring an interesting What If scenario. Occasional swearing.
The Best Way to Bury your Husband is very "Goodbye Earl" lol. The humor is dark but it's honestly hilarious. Running List
The Great Divide - 4
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
bailed on Under Your Spell
The Crescent Moon Tearoom - 3
bailed on The Rule Book
Polar Vortex - 3
Treasure Hunters Club - dnf
Cascade Failure - dnf
The Best Way to Bury Your Husband - 4
Honestly didn't expect to enjoy The Husbands. It just sounded so unutterably bizarre...but I did enjoy it. I do wish there'd been less swearing and talk about sex but it wasn't as bad as it could have been certainly. Running List
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
bailed on Under Your Spell
The Crescent Moon Tearoom - 3
bailed on The Rule Book
Polar Vortex - 3
Treasure Hunters Club - dnf
Cascade Failure - dnf
The Best Way to Bury your Husband -4
The Husbands - 4
Am I the only one who felt like Cautious Traveler's Guide.... was kinda...boring? Like I know there was stuff going on but it didn't feel like much happened. And I found the ending anticlimactic.Running List
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
bailed on Under Your Spell
The Crescent Moon Tearoom - 3
bailed on The Rule Book
Polar Vortex - 3
Treasure Hunters Club - dnf
Cascade Failure - dnf
The Best Way to Bury your Husband - 4
The Husbands - 4
The Cautious Traveler's Guide... - 3
All in her Head is maddening. It's amazing women haven't had a strong history of homicidal tendencies given their treatment in the name of "medicine". It's also fascinating of course. Like a train wreck 😅Running List
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
bailed on Under Your Spell
The Crescent Moon Tearoom - 3
bailed on The Rule Book
Polar Vortex - 3
Treasure Hunters Club - dnf
Cascade Failure - dnf
The Best Way to Bury your Husband - 4
The Husbands - 4
The Cautious Traveler's Guide...- 3
All in her Head - 5
Britt, Book Habitue wrote: "Am I the only one who felt like Cautious Traveler's Guide.... was kinda...boring? Like I know there was stuff going on but it didn't feel like much happened. And I found the ending anticlimactic...."
Yeah, I didn't finish Cautious Traveler's Guide because I was bored. Sounds like I didn't miss much.
I stopped working on the current RC list, because I knew I wasn't going to get the audio for the last remaining few, but also based on some of your comments, I figured I wasn't going to like the last few, because of too much swearing. The list for All In Her Head was too long, so I hopped out of line on that one.
The Book of Doors was a TRIP man. I almost bailed, because in addition to the swearing it was SO dark....but then it's really sweet. And then dark again. And then REALLY FREAKING WEIRD.
Holy rollercoaster Batman. It is just....so all over.
Also - and this drove me INSANE - the language is super British, and so is the narrator, but most of the time we're in third person limited centered on American characters and nearly the whole book is set in America. I found it SO JARRING.
So....it could almost have been a 5 star book, but between the uneven tone and maddening narration it's getting a 3🤷🏻
Running List
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
bailed on Under Your Spell
the Crescent Moon Tearoom - 3
bailed on The Rule Book
Polar Vortex - 3
Treasure Hunters Club - dnf
Cascade Failure - dnf
The Best Way to Bury your Husband - 4
The Husbands - 4
The Cautious Traveler's Guide...- 3
All in her Head - 5
The Book of Doors - 3
plus Nightwatching- dnfwhich I accidentally dropped off my running list. Because this is what happens when the app won't let you copy and paste so you retype it every time 🙄
so I only have three left
- Every time I go on vacation
- assassin's anonymous
- how to age disgracefully
I really liked The Book of Doors, and All in Her Head was pretty good. Some of the holds have finally come in.
Currently Reading:Read:
Cascade Failure – 2.5
William – 3.5
The Husbands – 3.5
The Book of Doors – 4.5
All in Her Head – 4
The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands – 2
The Return of Ellie Black – 3
Assassins Anonymous – 3
Nightwatching – 4
Interested:
+ How to Age Disgracefully
Maybe:
+ The Best Way to Bury Your Husband
+ The Crescent Moon Tearoom
+ Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies
+ How to Solve Your Own Murder
+ The Treasure Hunters Club
Not Interested:
The Great Divide
Polar Vortex: A Family Memoir
The Rule Book
The Twilight Garden
Under Your Spell
+ on hold
++ checked out
Assassin's Anonymous kind of ....fell flat? I'm not sure what it was about it but I just didn't care. I made myself finish it but ...🤷🏻Running List
The Great Divide - 3
The Return of Ellie Black - 4.5
William - dnf
How to Solve Your Own Murder - 5
The Twilight Garden - 3.5
bailed on Under Your Spell
The Crescent Moon Tearoom - 3
bailed on The Rule Book
Polar Vortex - 3
Treasure Hunters Club - dnf
Cascade Failure - dnf
The Best Way to Bury your Husband - 4
The Husbands - 4
The Cautious Traveler's Guide... - 3
Nightwatching-dnf
All in Her Head - 5
The Book of Doors - 3
Assassin's Anonymous - 3
Book of Doors had Americans speaking with British usage and vocabulary. Very weird. Otherwise very good.Ellie Black was pretty decent, but Traveller's Guide was so dull. Nothing happens. Should have been a short story.
How to Age Disgracefully was fun. Not as hilariously madcap as I was thinking it could be but it also didn't drive me crazy which I thought was probably the other option 🤣 Running List
see post two above this
I'm too lazy to type it out again
etc.
etc
How to Age Disgracefully - 4
Yes, Audrey. I'm glad it wasn't just me with Book of Doors.I think it might have been less obvious in print? maybe? rather than audio with the British narrator.
Very weird though.
The Americans kept using phrases like "different to" and "have done" and "clever" instead of smart, so I don't think the print version would have made it less obvious.
Every Time I Go on Vacation.... was a riot. Hilarious. Don't do the ebook though- the footnote formatting was a pain. There is a fair amount of language but since I was reading with my eyes rather than my ears I found it easier to ignore.
Running List
yeah I'm still too lazy
see above posts
etc
etc
etc
How to Age Disgracefully - 4
Every time I go on vacation...- 4.5
The County Library
Books mentioned in this topic
The Return of Ellie Black (other topics)Polar Vortex: A Family Memoir (other topics)
The Return of Ellie Black (other topics)
Nightwatching (other topics)
The Rule Book (other topics)
More...
The nominees for the 2025 Fall Round of Reader’s Choice are:
All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today
Assassins Anonymous
The Best Way to Bury Your Husband
The Book of Doors
Cascade Failure
The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands
The Crescent Moon Tearoom
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies
The Great Divide
How to Age Disgracefully
How to Solve Your Own Murder
The Husbands
Nightwatching
Polar Vortex: A Family Memoir
The Return of Ellie Black
The Rule Book
The Treasure Hunters Club
The Twilight Garden
Under Your Spell
William
Visit your local branch to vote or vote online at https://www.slcolibrary.org/we-recomm...
Voting runs July 1 to October 31. Let me know what you think of the nominees!