Earlier today, I finished "Jane and Dan at the End of the World". It is about a couple who go to a super fancy restaurant to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. While there, an activist group storms in and takes everyone hostage. Jane eventually realizes the group is acting out a book she wrote 6 years earlier that sold less than 500 copies.
I liked it. I thought the story kept moving along well. And it was kind of funny.

I also finished book 4 in a cozy mystery series about a caterer in Colorado and the many people who seem to die whenever she is around. There are 17 books in the series, and I am finding I am just not up to reading about murdered people in book after book after book. I need to take a break and read something lighter between each book in the series.

I just finished Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. It's about how to make ideas "stick" in peoples' minds, and it was very good.

Anonymous wrote:Just started Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Finished that one last month. Loved it!

Anonymous wrote: Based on a review in the article below I just finished:

The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons.

“Siddons conjures anxiety from the ordinary in this slow-burn, Southern Gothic thriller — one of the best haunted house tales of the last century. The book’s narrator, a wealthy Atlanta woman, is living a picture-perfect suburban life, until someone builds a house on the vacant lot next door. It quickly becomes clear that there is something malevolent about the new build, which infects anyone who enters it with scandal, suffering and, ultimately, death.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/books/paranoia-thriller-books.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jU8._RPN.upBzXBSCOu8X&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare


Partway through I realized I had read it before (came out in the 1970’s) but continued to read because my memory was fuzzy and I was enjoying it. Great story that kept me engaged throughout.

Anne Rivers Siddons had a HOLD on me in the 90s - Colony and Outer banks were my favorites. Her earlier stuff was really good, too. Loved her writing so much. She was a master!

(that said, the ones she wrote at the end were bad. Really bad. Like make me angry and hurl the book across the room bad - so if you want to dive into Anne Rovers Siddons, avoid those entirely. Don't read anything published after 2010 (and even some of the 2000's start to be a little suspect).

"The Antidote" by Karen Russell. A little slow going the first 100 pages. Some literary tricks I don't love but am sticking with it. Learning about the Dust Bowl from the perspective of those living in it as opposed to those fleeing it is interesting, I have to say.

“My Antonia” by Willa Cather. (I really needed a bit of a slow, historical novel that is completely removed from contemporary times.)

Pastorial. Absolutely loving it, so intriguing and mysterious.

Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan - set in rural Ireland, told in 21 chapters by different narrators. Some of the voices resonated with me more than others, but I really enjoyed the full view of the trauma and strength of a community. I started it on a whim, and now have to/plan to read predecessor book The Spinning Heart.

Audition by Katie Kitamura - just started. So far it seems very skillful, but I am not sure I like it. Somewhat detached narrative voice. Starts with a middle aged actress narrator at a lunch with a young man.

Clown Town by Mick Herron (the 9th Slow Horses book)

It's ok. He doesn't quite bring the energy of the previous books (I'm not done yet). and there's a lot of revisiting old ground so far... I will come back and update

Anyone else reading this one? I loved the book series, devoured books 1-8