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Pagan Spain by Richard Wright A

I was fascinated by Wright’s experiences in Francoist Spain. I wonder what he would make of Spain today.

A Place Both Wonderful and Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History of Twin Peaks by Scott Meslow A-

A behind-the-scenes look at my fave show Twin Peaks, including Fire Walk With me and The Return.

The B-List

Devout: Losing My Faith to Find Myself by David Archuleta B+

The singer writes about being gay and Mormon and dealing with an overbearing father (and his experiences on American Idol) in this memoir. I’m a casual fan of his, and I enjoyed it.

Kiss & Tell by Adib Khorram B+ A gay hockey player turned boy band member deals with coming out while being famous.

Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut B+. Vonnegut is always worth a read.

The Black Unicorn and Wizard at Large by Terry Brooks B+

I definitely prefer Landover to Shannara, and if that’s wrong, I don’t want to be right. They’re lighthearted, and I like the real world guy in this new fantasy world aspect of it.

Moving On by Larry McMurtry (B) The (800 page) first part of the series that Terms of Endearment is a part of. While the 800 pages began to get repetitive (and why it’s a B and not higher), McMurtry is an excellent writer and captures late 1960s Texas well.

The Housemaid and The Housemaid Is Watching by Freida McFadden B (while The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden was a C+). I’m sorta over thrillers, but the first and third of these series were decent, even if by the third I figured out the twists (which is why I’m sorta over thrillers). The second never clicked with me, but I already forget why.

Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books by Hwang Bo-Reum B A Korean writer’s short essays on her relationship with books. As a book lover, I enjoyed it, but they weren’t really about getting closer to books in my opinion…just random thoughts on how she reads.

Christine by Stephen King (RR) B- Evil car! I liked the world building so much better than the plot or the characters…

The C-List

La Lucci by Susan Lucci (with Laura Morton) C+ I sorta blame the ghostwriter, who was the same as Lucci’s first memoir, for the boringness. Lucci is anything but boring, and she deserves a memoir worthy of her…

Artemis by Andy Weir C- After loving Project Hail Mary last month, I was looking forward to his second book (I read The Martian around the time of the film). And it was horrible. He cannot write women characters at all, and this was a first person narrative about a woman living in a lunar city. I won’t be reading anything else he writes after this one.

Bloom by Robbie Couch C-. This was supposed to be about grief, but it gave me more grief. A neglected houseplant begs to be watered after its owner dies and the owner’s husband and stepdaughter grief but forget about it. I felt so bad for the plant that I hated this book.