REVIEW A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James

 

I love me a good St. James novel especially when it's particularly close to Halloween because her books seem to combine just the right amount of dark and supernatural and mystery so I was very excited when I learned that she had a new book coming out. This novel is set in Fell, NY (the same town that The Sundown Motel was set in). Fairly early on in the book, you find out that three siblings - Dodie, Vail and Violet Esmie, have a brother named Ben that disappeared one day while they were playing hide and go seek and has not been found.  These acts happened 18 years earlier. The siblings have decided that it is finally time to return to the family home in Fell (which has remained empty since their parents' death) to find out what happened to Ben and why Violet is only called "Sister." Each of the siblings seems to have a special, natural power - Violet can see ghosts, Vail sees lights and Dodie is haunted by water that continuously drowns her. 

I genuinely enjoyed this book - it had the right amount of spookiness and terror and the pacing was very good.  The book is slow burn Gothic, which is exactly what I was looking for. However, there was simply too much going on such that St. James couldn't seem to tie it all up neatly for us. Don't get me wrong, it's really good, until the end, which was disappointing. The character that I enjoyed the most was Vail, followed closely by Violet. I could deal a little less with Dodie, who seemed like a stereotype on legs. This is definitely a good, solid read by this author, although perhaps not her best.  I look forward to her future novels.  

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I have had my surgery and am waiting for results. I was worried about the anesthesia but that turned out to be ok.  I'm trying to take it easy and give my body some grace while I recover. I'm still feeling pretty sore and I had a headache and sore throat for a few days (I was intubated). 

1. Grace Walker's debut book wins a major award,
2. Why you wake up earlier the older that you get. 
3. What a breast lump feels like.
4. Why witches are depicted with pointy hats. 
5. Pope Leo is getting lung surgery this week. He apparently has lung cancer.
6. Two Americans won the Nobel Prize in Economics. 
7. Here's what to do if you're unsure about your measles vaccine status.
8. Classic Mexican novels.
9. Campus mysteries that look intriguing. 
10. RJ Mitte, who played Walter Jr. in Breaking Bad, has passed away.
11. Have you ever run political attack ads - in the wrong state?
12. Books that combine true crime and a Gothic feel.
13. What does it mean to be well read?
14. The Nikon comedy animal awards are up.
15. If you use Libby, here are some tips from a librarian.
16. This just put me into overload.
17. If you're like me, you hate the longer nights and early darkness. Here are some ideas for improving your mood.
18. Best horror books of the century.
19. The biggest stars of the 70's and where they are now.
20. Sally Roony can no longer sell her books in the UK.
21. Maybe I will try to make this.
22. 20 celebrities that you didn't know were twins.
23. The scariest movie in the year that you were born.
24. Halloween traditions that don't exist anymore.
25. I love locally roasted coffee. They are online here.
26. Make a sick day kit for flu and cold days.
27. Five works of folk horror that aren't for the weak hearted.
28. Some essential books for understanding North Korea's cult of personality.
29. 9 words from the sixties that we still use today.
30. 25 songs that were written for only the movies.
31. How TikTok is changing the English language. 
32. Baby Cheetahs - on Livestream!!
33. 7 extraordinary indigenous sites from the US
34. Freddie Mercury would have been 80 this year and so his costumes are taking center stage at an exhibit.
35. Books to read before they hit the screen.
36. Ultimate fall 2026 reading list.
37. WHat do ghosts, witches and vampires smell like?
38. There are new treatment rules for menopause treatment.
39. There is a new movie - on Elizabeth Holmes?!
40. Barnes and Noble picks for the best books of 2026.
41. Trying to move past the stereotyping of the American South.
42. Five essential books to understand the Venetian ghetto and Jewish history.
43. Thoughts while re watching When Harry Met Sally.
44. 7 regency era etiquette rules that would drive people mad today.
45. 
    

I'm currently reading The Last Girl and listening to Greenlights.

REVIEW Taipei Story by RF Kuang

 

This novel follows Lily Chen, a college student at Yale, who travels to Taiwan to study in an immersive, intensive language program in Taipei with other college students. The trip seems doomed to failure right from the start - Lily and her roommate have misjudged their living arrangements (the plumbing is unreliable, it is very small and cramped in the apartment, they don't like each other much), the program is way more rigorous than she thought it would be and she seems to be constantly burnt out from not being able to communicate in Chinese with the people that live in Taiwan. That doesn't stop her from really yearning and hoping that she will fit in someday due to her Chinese heritage. The novel is set in the city of Taiwan with its smells, food, cultural experiences and people. 

I generally really enjoyed this novel and finished it fairly quickly.  This wasn't a typical Kuang book (she also wrote Babel and Katabasis) and I thought that it was not only brave that she was exploring different genres but also that she generally did a good job. She was exploring themes related to coming of age, culture shock, shame at failing your heritage and being too American. The book seems to be almost completely introspective. Lily is experiencing things and we are witnessing her inner monologue as she experiences them.  I really enjoy learning about people and so I enjoyed this - even though Lily wasn't always likeable (I don't think she was meant to me). Having said that, I was disappointed by the ending, which felt more like the middle of a chapter than an actual ending - although I very much related to the feeling of goodbyes with people that you have been immersed with for a while.

I generally thought that this was a very good first effort.  

REVIEW: Black Dahlia by William Mann

 

I'm obsessed with True Crime, if you couldn't tell.  This was and is the OG true crime mystery and still hasn't been solved. It has been, in my opinion, a long time coming as it is very victim centered and works to debunk the victim blaming that has occurred for decades. 

For those of you that don't know, Elizabeth Short has been identified as the Black Dahlia - a woman that was found bloodless and bisected at her torso (and obviously dead) in a grassy lot on a very cold January morning in 1957 in Los Angeles. In writing this book, Professor Mann has relied upon documents that he got through FOIA requests which included but are not limited to autopsy reports, grand jury transcripts and police reports.  In writing this book, the author hopes to humanize Elizabeth, although he cannot give us any further ideas as to who may have committed this horrible act. Ms. Short's means were particularly limited - she was one of four girls that was being raised by a single mother in Medford, MA after her cruel father left the family.  In the wake of World War II, she was one of many young girls that migrated to LA hoping to break into Hollywood. She often left behind debts in rooming houses and relied upon men to buy her lunch at the lunch counters. Her teeth were terrible, and she often fixed them with melted wax poured into her mouth. 

What I really loved about this book was how it captured the LA of the turn of the century and really attempted to humanize the victim.  His book focuses less on who the killer was and actually focuses on SHort's last months in an effort to assist in figuring out who she was. It also was an encyclopedia of mess-ups on the part of the LAPD, including officers that go rogue and failures to account for certain suspect's and their alibis.  

I very much enjoyed this intriguing and well researched book, and appreciated the perspective that it provided.  Definitely a much needed take on an approximately 80 year old case. 

Links I love

 

It finally started to get cold this weekend. We had our first frost advisory and I had to turn the heat on. I was hoping to get to November before doing it but here we are.  I got tagged for my surgery which is on Thursday.  Things are starting to feel really real now. I am scared mostly that I won't wake from surgery, at least in the immediate future, and long term, that it has actually spread to multiple body parts.  

• No one expected Leo to be Pope, except those who knew him as Bob.
• Just short of it's 200th  birthday, a natural history museum shuts down.
• Some of these look good.
• Five funny science fiction books.
• According to some editors, these are the best movies to watch during spooky season.
• Some "dad jokes" that will leave you in stitches.
• The Nobel Prize in Medicine goes to three scientists who were researching brain activity.
• Nine novels about people that are the poorest people in the room.
• Michael Douglas in the limelight.
• 11 contemporary books perfect for autumn reading.
• 7 smells that defined fall in the 1980'a.
• Locations from horror books that you can actually visit.
• Here is the National Book Award shortlist for poetry and the shortlist for fiction. The list for translated literature is also out.
• Oprah has selected her latest book club read.
• Epistolary thrillers that let the evidence do the talking.
• On the life and death cycles in Sylvia Plath's work
• The best new historical fiction coming out this month.
• Best epics for for those that like fantasy books.
• 18 books about librarians.
• Why does the Headless Horseman carry a pumpkin?
• Decline in reading is the main threat tMusto the EU book trade.
• The Kirkus book awards for 2026 have been announced.
• Thrillers most famous lawyers.
•  Must read historical mysteries of the fall.
• The biggest scary movies for each year in the 80's.

I am currently reading A Box Full of Dreams by Simone St, James - it's her most recent and has the perfect creepy vibes for right now.  I'm listening to This is Me: A Reckoning by Hayden Pannetiere and is narrated by her, which is very odd given her recent, tragic death.

REVIEW The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

I read this book in high school and loved it and that feeling still remains after this reading. I picked this book up because my daughter is reading this and wanted to be able to talk about it in a more in depth way.  The narrator of this book is Nick Carraway, Gatsby's neighbor, although he is definitely from a different socioeconomic class than Gatsby is. At the beginning of the novel, Nick has only heard of Gatsby and his parties. Everyone seems to have been to one. One night Nick gets invited to a party and it absolutely changes his life. We learn about a man whose reputation really outshines his substance. He is rumored to have studied at Oxford, been a war hero and has so, so many outlandish stories.  But when we get down to it, we learn that Gatsby is tragically flawed and that is his undoing.

Although some might find the plot slow, I didn't feel that way at all.  The prose and tension building is beautifully written. It really makes you sit back and really re-assess your priorities in life (much much less than a cancer diagnosis is but there we are). Its deconstruction of the American Dream is absolutely brilliant.  This novel, though short, definitely deserves its status as the great American novel. 

I am selling my copy - you can find it here. 

REVIEW The Thoroughbreds by Elin Hilderbrand

 

This is the sequel to the Academy which came out last year I believe.  The characters from last year are now Seniors, worried about SAT's, college applications and graduation. Additionally, the teens we met last year are also going through some interesting experiences.  The Golden couple - Charlie and East - are fighting a lot. The star QB - Dubs - and his go to wide receiver/best friend are seemingly estranged. ANd there's a new day student - Pippa Sacks - is really upsetting the social landscape at the boarding school. And the Dean is also dealing with financial issues.Over the summer, the school somehow lost like 7 million out of its operating budget. 

This book was exactly what I needed to read after reading about white supremacy in the last book that I reviewed. This is fast, frothy and light, but also kept my interest. Who doesn't like a boarding school novel? Especially in the fall? I enjoyed how the book took apart the college application process as well as the life at a boarding school.  There never really was a moment where I thought that the book should move more quickly, the pacing was pretty good. What I didn't not particularly like is that everything seemed to resolve too neatly.  They were sometimes abrupt. However, that being said, it's still a very compelling read and I would recommend it. 

If you like Elin Hilderbrand, I'm selling an autographed copy. If you are a Pangobooks member, you can also make me an offer.