Flesh

 Flesh by David Szalay (2025), 368 pages

I am not really sure the point of this book. It follows Istvan, a Hungarian, from his teenage years to old age. Normally I love a sweeping life story. This one I did not. There wasn't a lot of depth, and, honestly, it felt like it mainly dealt with his sex-life and how it affected/progressed his life. A lot of reviews have noted that the sparse dialogue provides a contemplative, detached voice that resonates with Istvan's humanity. I found it sluggish and tedious. It would be interesting to see how many times the following riveting conversations occur in the book:

"Yes?" - "yes."

"Yeah?" - "yeah."

"Ok?" - "ok."

I realize it won the Booker Prize, so obviously many folks liked it. I just wasn't one of them.

Where We Belong

 

Where We Belong by Emily Giffin (2012) 372 pages

Marian had a child when she was eighteen and gave the baby up for adoption. She kept her address up-to-date at the adoption agency. Still, she is dumbfounded when the child, now eighteen herself, shows up unannounced at Marian's NYC apartment. Kirby is going through her own teenaged angst as a high school senior and feels that her adoptive parents don't understand her. When she finds Marion, she doesn't understand why her birth mother is avoiding talking about what really matters to Kirby, and instead, takes her shopping. Kirby finally learns the astounding information that her birth father doesn't even know that she exists at all.

The story shows the back and forth of emotions in such a fraught situation. Not only Kirby, but her parents, her birth mother, and her birth mother's parents are all finding their way through the changed world that results as Kirby goes on her quest to find the other important people in her life.

I thought the story was well-handled and riveting, with chapters alternating between Marion's and Kirby's points of view. As a bonus, Kirby lives in St. Louis and there's enough local color to make the story seem more real.

Tusk Love

Tusk Love by Thea Guanzon, 288 pages

Daughter of an increasingly poor merchant, Guinevere's job in live is clear: marry up, make sure there's plenty of money to support her parents, and be an obedient wife cranking out babies. Her parents have found her a husband and beckoned Guinevere to his home, directing her to make haste and bring along their remaining riches. Unfortunately, her carriage is beset by bandits, and her life is saved by half-orc Oskar, who is on his way to visit some relatives that he's never met. But because he's a nice guy, he redirects his path to escort Guinevere, despite the fact that she clearly isn't suited to his style of travel.

This book is written to take place in the Critical Role universe, and is obviously written with those fans in mind, with locations, names, and descriptions galore — and somewhat distracting from the plot of an otherwise bog-standard romance novel. You can read it if you're not familiar with Critical Role (I'm not), but I get the feeling those of us who aren't are missing something.

A Game in Yellow

A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper, 288 pages

Carmen and Blanca have been in a bit of a rut, sexually speaking, despite scraping the bottom of their vast barrel of kink-related twists. Blanca thinks she has the answer in a mysterious woman named Smoke, who introduces the couple to a play that is much more than it seems. Soon Carmen has been pulled under the play's influence, unable to tell what's real and what's not.

This is a very particular sort of erotic-meets-psychological horror, one that I'm sure has its fans. However, I am not one of them. This was a strange book, and while I did want to know where Carmen would end up, getting there was certainly a journey I don't want to take again. If anything about that first paragraph intrigues you, by all means, give this a read; otherwise, I have a boatload of other horror novels to recommend.

Eleanore of Avignon

Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth de Lozier, 320 pages

In 1437, Eleanore is a skilled herbalist and midwife who flies below the radar, but longs to get the same medical education as men. She gets her opportunity when she meets the personal physician of Pope Clement during a chance encounter, bargaining for an apprenticeship and soon becoming indispensable as both the Black Death and a pregnant (and disgraced) Queen Joanna arrive in Avignon. Of course, the more prominent her position, the more she comes to the attention of the zealots seeking someone to blame for the epidemic sweeping through the land.

This isn't a particularly new take on the idea of intelligent, medicinal-focused women being called witches and blamed for illness, but it is a captivating tale. Eleanore and her predicament are compelling, if not entirely believable at times. Still, an interesting read worth picking up.

One Golden Summer

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune, 400 pages

When she was 17, Alice spent the summer at her grandmother's lake house and took an amazing photo of teens in a boat. As she started her photography career, she gained success, but nothing ever lived up to that one photo, in part because it was so free from the demands of commercial Photoshop-heavy photography. So when she gets a chance to return to the lake house to care for her grandmother after she breaks her hip, Alice takes the opportunity to reevaluate her life and her photography. What she doesn't expect is to fall for the insufferable man who comes roaring across the lake in a familiar boat.

This book reads like a chick flick in book form, and I mean that in the best of ways. It's a comfortable romance, full of humor and emotion, and just a wee bit of spice, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it adapted for the screen. Read it on your next lake vacation.

The Knight and the Moth

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig, 400 pages

As one of six diviners in the kingdom, Sybil drowns almost every day, reading visions sent to her by six godlike Omens while she is fully immersed in holy water. But when her divining "sisters" begin to disappear, she teams up with the new king and his mysterious (and handsome, naturally) knight, Rodrick, to hunt down the symbols of the Omens while seeking the fates of the other diviners. While she's at it, Sybil learns enough to make her question everything she ever thought she knew about the kingdom's history and belief system.

This is one of those rare books that's marketed as a romantasy, but is really heavy on the fantasy side (I'd call it more of a fantasy with a strong romance plotline). Really, the story is about Sybil's awakening to the ways that history and belief can be twisted to the uses of those in power. This is the first book of the series, and I'm intrigued to see where it goes next.

The Murderbot Diaries - All Systems Red

 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells (2017), 160 pages

I am late to these books, but I am loving them so far. Admittedly, I watched the TV version first and was hooked. I know people always say the book is better, but I think the TV series did a pretty good job of capturing the first book. Murderbot (self-named) is a SecUnit who has managed to hack his programming so that he is no longer beholden to the company that controls him. He has gone rogue, but in a subtle way. He is still doing his security job, but with a bit more internal attitude. He is also addicted to watching Space telenovelas. He has ended-up on a security detail with free-thinking explorers who treat him more like a human than an android. This has him conflicted. The book follows the team’s planetary explorations and Murderbot's evolving relationship to himself and to the crew. Included in this is a good amount of snark. 

The Love Haters

The Love Haters by Katherine Center (2025) 302 pages

Katie Vaughn is a videographer whose boss is in the process of a dramatic downsizing. Her co-worker Cole has given her a choice assignment: to go to Key West to make a video for the Coast Guard, featuring one of its higher profile rescue swimmers—a guy who had saved Jennifer Aniston's dog—and had gotten well known on the internet as a result. While Katie is happy with the chance to shine and perhaps escape getting fired, she doesn't know at first that the job was to feature Cole's brother Hutch. Cole blames Hutch for some problems in his life, and doesn't want the assignment for himself.

Katie shows up on Key West, and meets Cole and Hutch's Aunt Rue, who owns a group of vacation cottages. One requirement by the Coast Guard requires that she know how to swim, in case the helicopter transporting the rescue team (and her) goes down. Katie doesn't want to admit she doesn't know how to swim. Rue takes charge of getting her swimming lessons and asks Hutch to help, even though Hutch is the last person that Katie wants to know about her deficiency.

Some of the plot is a bit unexpected and unrealistic, but the characters are generally well portrayed, especially Rue and her friends, and Katie's outspoken cousin Beanie. My favorite character was Hutch's dog, a Great Dane named George Bailey. The book was fine, but it's not my favorite by Center, whose work I usually enjoy more.

Chet: King Picker and Pioneer of the Nashville Sound

 Chet: King Picker and Pioneer of the Nashville Sound by Mark Ribowsky, 352 pgs. © 2026

    

Oh by jingo, this is the second! book about Chet Atkins that was published in the last year. It makes youwonder what's pushing the renewed interest--is there a viral Tik-Tok out there using Mr. Sandman in the background? Nonetheless, if you're a guitar geek or a country music afficionado, there's much to learn from this offering by Ribowsky, who published a spirited, researched bio on the legendary Hank Williams about a decade ago. 

    This book is the origin story of the original guitar hero--born in a holler in rural Tennessee, life was "Steinbeck-ian," living in a one-room country shack with a few siblings. He developed asthma early on (which kept him from entering the army during the draft), but fell in love with the guitar his older brother brought home--a beat-up Silvertone (interestingly, his older brother also had a fine career as a guitar player, performing with the Les Paul Trio for many years). He wanted the guitar so bad that all of his brother's chores in exchange for playing it, which he did until his fingers bled. He would sit at the radio and listen to broadcasts, trying to figure out what guitarists were doing in their playing. 

    His love for the music of Merle Travis influenced his unique thumb-picking style, which incorporated his other fingers to play the higher notes of a melody, something no one else was really doing at the time. He became known for lighting fast guitar licks and attention to detail. Fast-forward to his 20s and he's finally broken through in Nashville with RCA records and has become a highly-sought out producer, working with Elvis, Perry Como, Patsy Cline and countless more. His dedication to developing a "Nashville Sound" helped make Nashville the music capital is widely known as today. He was still working out licks on his guitar well into his 70s, right up until he passed away in 2001.