The Rolling Stones

 The Rolling Stones: The Biography, by Bob Spitz, 704 pgs. © 2026

It's an old question--Beatles or Stones? Not that anyone probably cares anymore, both groups have certainly aged out of creating anything new with any cultural significance. But Spitz's book makes a compelling case for the Stones as the greatest rock band in the world. At first, the band gave themselves that title but soon it started to stick and followed them wherever they went. This is a mighty tome filled with basically everything that happened to the group from their auspicious start to playing a sold-out in St. Louis in 2021 (I was there!), just after they lost drummer Charlie Watts to cancer. If nothing else, the Stones might just be the greatest band in the world because--unlike their contemporaries and sometimes nemeses, the Beatles--the Stones stuck together through it all--drugs, infidelity, bad shows, lost band members, more drugs, new band members, bad reviews, even more drugs, etc. It's insane the number of times Keith and Mick stood in front of a judge and faced the prospect of doing serious hard time for drug possession--and somehow got lucky each time and managed to sidestep prison in order to keep rockin'. While I appreciated Spitz's researched approach, he's clearly a superfan and there's little deep reflection here about many of the Stones' must challenging days. Sometimes it almost reads like a laundry list, with lots of events happening in quick succession--there's only one chapter devoted to the mysterious death of Brian Jones, for example. And only one covering the disaster at Altamont. And there's no mention of Chuck Berry decking Keith Richards during the filming of concert documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll. Still, this is a fantastic read for anyone interested in the overall life and times of one of the most iconic rock bands in human history. Recommended for adults. 

Agnes Sharp and the Wedding to Die For

 

Agnes Sharp and the Wedding to Die For by Leonie Swann (2026) 340 pages

Agnes Sharp, a retired policewoman, owns a house which she shares with other octogenarians. When one of them, Agnes's good friend Bernadette, decides to marry a former hitman, Agnes is upset that the household's composition will change when they move out. Later, when a note comes to Bernadette that indicates bad things will occur if the marriage happens, Agnes and the other household members keep it from Bernadette. They continue to plan the wedding. They spend an inordinate amount of time trying to add to the guest list to get to twenty, as required by the venue, including going online to find dates and paying some people to attend as well.

Meanwhile, when bad things DO start to happen, Agnes and her friends tamper with the evidence because they don't want Bernadette to worry. It feels like a Keystone Kops kind of scenario. One resident likes to pretend she's dead. She also has a snake and a turtle. (By the way, the reader is privvy to the animals' thoughts.) Another resident has a video channel. Agnes finds herself engaged to marry another resident, but is not sharing that information. These eighty-year-olds sometimes seem like children. The blurb on the book's cover indicates that readers of the Thursday Murder Club series (by Richard Osman) will find something to like: Not really. If I enjoyed slapstick, maybe. And the ending? Not at all what I foresaw. But maybe you'll like it?

Canto Volumes 1-5

Canto: If I Only Had a Heart by David M. Booher with art by Drew Zucker (2020) 152 pages 

This series is clearly inspired by The Wizard of Oz, which is why I picked it up. The artist is also bringing the style of Jim Henson's Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal to the visuals, which I honestly find a bit ugly. But hey, it's dark fantasy with a bit of steampunk. The writer has also borrowed some ingredients from Dante's levels in The Divine Comedy. There is a Tin Man, a lion-like creature, and an elfish Dorothy with a small pet dragon. There is an alternative Wizard conjuring fantastic, frightening, but false, sights. There is a quest on a yellow brick road to an emerald tower. There is the story of a traditional hero's journey that ironically leads to the villainous overlord in the tower. There is tons of action centered around our tiny hero Canto. The action and close-up detail frames are not as crisp and clear as I would like. Overall, I'm liking the writing, but not entirely loving the art.

Canto: The Hollow Men by Booher with art by Zucker (2021) 168 pages

I liked the introduction of a half mechanical witch that reminded me slightly of Mombi from Oz. I liked a little more character development for three of Canto's tin knight friends. Scarecrows appear and bat things stand in for winged monkeys, but they feel extraneous. The fight with the furies is exciting. Again the dark fantasy story and themes are enjoyable, while the art is of mixed quality.

Canto: Tales of the Unnamed World by Booher with art by various artists (2024) 128 pages

I liked this volume more overall. The giants are not my favorite characters from the first two volumes, but the first three issues of this book spin a fun quest in the giants' city of Brob. I like that the new artist brings more light to his panels. The second half of this book involves a storytelling challenge. I like the other artists who get to contribute their different styles. The Bard character who is blocking the bridge is a wonderful mix of the Patchwork Girl from Oz, the Cheshire Cat from Wonderland, and Anansi from West African folklore.

Canto: Lionhearted by Booher with art by Zucker (2024) 152 pages

This leads up to many double page battle scenes. I still think the art isn't as clear as it could be with so many tangled bodies and limbs making the action confusing. This book leans more into Dante's Divine Comedy and that is not as exciting for me. We do get a little backstory on a couple supporting characters.

Canto: A Place Like Home by Booher with art by Zucker (2025) 160 pages 

Nice wrap up of Canto's themes, loss and hope. Here's an inspirational quote from one page, "For our days that have passed! For our friends who are gone! For the hearts we possess! Our life is our own." The Shrouded Man is a threat right out of Dante's Inferno. Aulaura the elf's home life brings good emotional beats to the story, but was introduced a bit too late. Several battle scenes still have the same art issues that I explained in previous volumes.

The Bright Sword

 

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman, 688 pages.

Collum arrives at Camelot desperate to prove himself and earn a place on the round table. Unfortunately, when he arrives he finds only the D-listers of the round table, the last surviving knights after King Arthur and most of the truly great knight died two weeks before at the Battle of Camlann. But, worthy or not, they are pretty much the last traces of the old government, and so must desperately scramble for any sort of quest or sign to find a new king of Britain, and determine the future of the land. 

This book is great for fans of Arthurian legend. It is told in alternating snippets of plot and legends, which all come together to make it really feel like Arthuriana. It also makes for a nearly 700 page book with almost zero momentum, which isn't everyone's thing. I found myself really enjoying this book every time I picked it up, but I also didn't find myself reaching for it with any urgency. The prose is very good, and the characters are interesting, so if plot isn't a major concern I can definitely recommend this novel. Also a must read for die-hard fans of Arthurian legend. 

King Cheer

 

King Cheer by Molly Horton Booth, Stephanie Kate Strohm, and Jamie Green, 160 pages.

This comic retelling of King Lear takes place at the same high school as the first book in the series, 12th Grade Night. Leah steps down from the cheer captaincy that was her life after a college disappointment, and the competition to take over as captain shatters the team and opens deep rifts among friends. 

I wasn't sure that a tragedy would work as well in a high school setting as a comedy, but I was really impressed by how thoughtfully this was written. It is true that it's more funny than sad, and the ending definitely isn't a tragedy, but I do feel like it meaningful engaged with the themes of the original. This is a really cool graphic novel, and I'm looking forward to more being published in the series. 

The Keeper

The Keeper (Cal Hooper #3) by Tana French (2026), 496 pages 

The Keeper concludes French's Cal Hooper series. I will miss Cal, a retired Chicago police detective, and his struggles to feel at home in the entrenched Irish village of Ardnakelty. I really enjoyed the first installment of the series, The Searcher, and mainly continued on as I like Cal's character. I just did not enjoy #2 and #3 as much. French is VERY wordy. While she does a fantastic job of evoking the essence of Ardnakelty and its people, the story gets bogged down with the minutia. Unlike #2 (The Hunter), though, you actually get to the mystery in the first third of the book! yay! I appreciate French bringing topical issues to her novels and The Keeper brings home issues of change vs. tradition that many communities are facing. What I did not care for was the ending. I do not want to give spoilers, but I don't believe the character would do what the character did. 

After the Fall

After the Fall by Edward Ashton, 277 pages

More than a century after the fall of human civilization and the appearance of aliens on Earth, humans have lost autonomy and are owned by the grays who invaded. Born and bred to serve grays, John belongs to Martok, a gray who floats from one low-paying job to another, often without a place to live and barely enough to feed both of them. But Martok is a constant optimist, and when he leverages John's bond to start a business serving grays in need of rest and relaxation (even though grays are definitely not into that), John is understandably concerned. Especially when he learns that Martok has just 60 days until the first payment before John's bond is transferred to a gray that's likely to murder him just for fun. He'll have to figure out something to make this new business work, ideally something that won't end in death.

This is an interesting take on post-contact dystopia, in that the story is human-centric, even if the world isn't. I appreciated the way that the author makes us consider how exactly we define humanity, intelligence, and autonomy, but without sacrificing the plot and with a solid helping of dry humor. The relationship between John and his fellow bondsperson Six is both relatable and fresh, and nothing is ever quite as it seems in this book. A quick and thought-provoking read.

The Obake Code

The Obake Code by Makana Yamamoto, 352 pages

Three years after her "last heist," hacker Malia is getting bored with fixing cyber fights and living off the spoils. Convenient, then, that gangsters catch her redhanded and force her to help take down a crooked politician by stealing and decrypting some incriminating documents. However, after getting her crew together, Malia gains the attention of Maddox, a man who performed illegal experiments on her as a child. Yes, those experiments made her the best hacker around, but they also caused a world of mental, physical, and emotional trauma. So Maddox's arrival as right-hand man to the politician astronomically complicates the heist.

This was billed as a standalone novel in the world of Hammajang Luck (Yamamoto's first novel), and while you can read it without reading that first book, I don't really think you should. There are lots of references to the first book, and since I hadn't read it, I was left feeling like I was missing something. The vibes of the criminal crew skew toward The Fast & the Furious (especially with the prevalence of cruising and car thefts going on in the story), and honestly, the drama with Maddox overwhelmed the plot to the point where I forgot what they were meant to be stealing by the time they got there. So cool vibes and a decent found family, but maybe not the best heist novel out there.

The Republic of Memory

The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed, 480 pages

For 200 years, the Safina has been traveling away from Earth, heading toward a new planet that will house the thousands of colonists encased in stasis pods. Along with all those colonists, however, are thousands of crew members, many of whom are the descendants of the colonists and spend their lives keeping the Safina heading toward its new home. However, there are several factions aboard that don't think the ship should be using such a large amount of energy to maintain the stasis pods for the people who ruined the Earth they were forced to flee from. And despite a heavily regulated and structured world aboard the ship, some crew members are determined to bring change, starting with waking up their ancestors.

Following a wide range of characters, this debut novel is a captivating and wonderfully told story of revolution, based loosely on the Arab Spring uprising of the early 2010s.  The only minor quibble I had with this book is the Clockwork Orange-esque slang used by revolutionary crew members. I was listening to the book, and it took me quite a while to figure out what they were saying as they skipped around languages and euphemisms. But overall, the points of view are compelling and varied, the plot is propulsive, and the cliffhanger ending has me chomping at the bit for the next book.

Ungifted Series

Ungifted series by Gordon Korman 

Ungifted (2012), 280 pgs.
Donovan Curtis is not the first student that teachers would describe as particularly "gifted." Impulsive: yes. Creative: certainly, in terms of developing unique ways of getting into trouble. Gifted: not the first word that comes to mind. So, when Donovan mistakenly ends up at the Academy for Scholastic Distinction in classes with kids who have IQs twice his own, he feels a little out of place. However, for the sake of his family and his dignity, he is determined to fit in. So what if he is not academically "gifted," Donovan brings his own strengths to the table. 

Supergifted (2018), 297 pgs.
Noah Youkilis has always been extraordinary. With an IQ over 200, he can perform complex calculations and analyses in his sleep; he can master any academic skill without even trying; but what he'd really like to perfect is the ability to be normal. Finally, Noah's chance has arrived, now that he has been given the chance to attend the "regular" middle school in his district. With Donovan's help and Noah's enthusiasm, what can go wrong?

Hypergifted (2026), 260 pgs. 
Donovan Curtis is going to college--four whole years early! Noah Youkilis, the thirteen year old certified genius, has been accepted into Wilderton University, and he needs someone his age with him to help ease his transition from middle school into college. That's where Donovan comes in. Working as a camp counselor while Noah attends classes, Donovan does his best to make the most of his "free" time, which as it turns out is mostly spent keeping his campers--and Noah--out of trouble. It doesn't take a high IQ to know that this summer will be a chaotic one.  

The first book in this series was one of my favorites growing up, and I think it is the strongest so far (although that could just be my nostalgia talking). Ungifted does a good job of recognizing that there are many different ways to be "gifted," you just need to give people the attention and space to show it. With Supergifted, Korman took a turn for the dramatic, upping the ante quite a bit, but still included a good message: if you give people a chance, they might surprise you. These first two books are all about perception--how people perceive others based on certain assumptions and how to cut through those assumptions and get to know the person underneath. Hypergifted is more of a story written for entertainment. Reading about Noah and Donovan getting into shenanigans on a college campus is fun, but there doesn't seem to be a deeper message--which is okay! Overall this series is a pretty fun ride for middle-grade readers (and fully grown adult me).