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  • Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green

    Over the years I have contemplated reading John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars. The novel published in 2012 continues to be a bestseller. However, the subject matter is grim, two dying teenagers who fall in love at a cancer support group, and so for now the book is not for me. But I did… Continue reading

  • The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

    Last year, I tried to read The Great Alone (2017) by Kristin Hannah. But about 80 pages in “the book wasn’t booking,” as they say on TikTok. However, I know what a popular and acclaimed author Kristin Hannah is, so this year I decided to give The Four Winds (2021) a try. ​And at first,… Continue reading

  • The Pitt on HBO Max

    Normally I review books at this site but I just wanted to say a few words about the hot new medical drama The Pitt. What makes The Pitt must watch TV? The writing of course. It is being called the most accurate medical drama ever to appear on TV. Real life doctors, nurses, EMT workers… Continue reading

  • Hole In My Life by Jack Santos

    “Ironically… being locked up in prison is where I fully realized I had to change my life for the better… It is where I went from thinking about becoming a writer, to writing.”— Jack Gantos, Hole in My Life I was scrolling around for more memoirs to read and decided to ask ChatGPT for a… Continue reading

  • Pray For Silence by Linda Castillo

    Pray for Silence (2010) is the second novel in Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder mystery series. I read the first book Sworn to Silence a few years ago and loved it. And what really sold me, in addition to the writing and the small town Amish community setting, was the chemistry between Police Chief Kate Burkholder… Continue reading

  • My Beloved Monster: Masha, The Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me by Caleb Carr

    “Seventeen years; and here we are at that day. The one of us in spirit, the other in scarred, aging body with just one risky job, the last risky job, left to do: to tell the story of the shared existence that filled those years … Yes, she was a cat; but if you are… Continue reading

  • My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier

    ““We were dreamers, both of us, and like all dreamers asleep to the waking world … We would have both survived, had we been other men” — Daphne du Maurier, My Cousin Rachel ​About two or three years ago I read Daphne du Maurier’s classic romantic suspense novel Rebecca. It didn’t grab me the way… Continue reading

  • A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

    This review will contain spoilers Nao is a 16 year old girl living in Tokyo who is having a difficult time at school. She cannot turn to her parents because her mother is dealing with her father’s severe depression. Nao decides to start a diary about the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun,… Continue reading

  • Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister

    Famous Last Words (2025) by Gillian McAllister falls under the thriller genre but I think it also works as an inverted mystery where you know who committed the crime but the mystery is why? And so why would Luke Deschamps, a good husband and father, wake up one morning, write his wife Cam (Camilla) a… Continue reading

  • 2026 Reading Plans Revised

    I am looking at my list of the 40 books I was planning to read in 2026 and though I had fun designing the list, I don’t see myself following through. To be honest, I am having trouble getting this new blog “Reading Matters Part II” started. Book reviewing is difficult—even short reviews are not… Continue reading