Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert A. Caro

When I searched for great books about writing, this was the result. It was an excellent book that inspired, comforted and challenged me as a researcher, interviewer and writer.

finished January 2, 2025

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

I’d heard the hype for this novel for a long time, and it lived up to it. If I had liked the last 50 pages better, it’d be an early top contender.

finished January 3, 2025

Poster Girl by Veronica Groth

I enjoyed this standalone dystopian novel by the author of the Divergent series.

finished January 5, 2025

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price

I saw this highly recommended and wanted to read it to become more informed.

finished January 5, 2025

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

I enjoyed this historical fantasy set in Egypt, though I’m a little frustrated by inconsistent details.

finished January 6, 2025

Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez

The things that frustrated me in the first book were worse in the sequel. Both the author and protagonist routinely forgot details from earlier in the duology, which was incredibly frustrating as a reader. The premise was great, but the execution was flawed. I did love Together We Burn by this author, so check that one out!

finished January 7, 2025

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

I hadn’t read this in quite a while. I just really love letters and commas and prepositional phrases and introductory clauses.

finished January 8, 2025

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney’s peculiar writing style can give us a beautiful sentence like “Into the silence at last spills the sound of applause.” But also, “Blotchy her face he thinks,” which almost made me give up reading forever. I liked the book fine.

finished January 9, 2025

Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark

This is a magnificent guide to writing. Honestly, I should continuously reread it to keep learning from it.

finished January 10, 2025

A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg

This was a good novel about a family full of women who are not girls’ girls. I’m a pretty big fan of Attenberg’s fiction.

finished January 11, 2025

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

It was very cool to read one of the foundational texts of magical realism, which I love. The narrative is quite insane, so that was a lot to take in, but the brilliant moments are so brilliant. I also enjoyed reading a book in which every word was clearly chosen with care—and it was a translated book, from Spanish originally to English.

finished January 14, 2025

What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

I did learn quite a bit from this book. And I think compiling a collection of interviews, art, excerpts of other works, etc. to propel an argument is a cool idea. But this was a little too eclectic and diverging for my personal taste.

finished January 15, 2025

The Cat and the City by Nick Bradley

I read this for Check Meowt Book Club, hosted by the Lexington Public Library at the Lexington Humane City—yes, among cats! I liked this book more than the rest of the book club did. I think it’s time to consider myself a pretty big fan of interconnected short stories.

finished January 16, 2025

When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

I knew it might be a mistake to read this fantasy novel when the sequel doesn’t come out until October, and I was right. I pretty much devoured this book that includes dragons, inter-kingdom dynamics, romance, a secretive past life, and more. Now I’m gonna wish the year away.

finished January 17, 2025

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

More dragons! I reread this book ahead of the third book’s release. I really do enjoy it, and I hope the third book lives up to the first; I thought the quality dipped quite a bit in book two.

finished January 18, 2025

A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib

In two books, Hanif Abdurraqib has become an essayist I will always want to read. He’s so brilliant.

finished January 21, 2025

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

My friend McKenna was right that this was better on second read. There are still parts that would have benefited from another edit; they rushed the publication of this one.

finished January 22, 2025

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Like the first time I read Fourth Wing, I read this in one sitting (with a brief break to watch M*A*S*H with Loui while we ate dinner). There’s a lot that I liked about it. I’ve been ruminating on the ending since I read it. I’ll be eager to read the next one.

finished January 23, 2025 (at 3 a.m.)

Margo’s Got Money Problems by Rufi Thorpe

On a technical level, this author is a great writer—I never once got distracted by grammar while reading. And splitting a novel between first and third person because sometimes our narrator needs distance from her own past actions is a cool technique. Other than that—and I’m sorry to sound so harsh—I have no idea why this book needs to exist, much less why it’s so popular. It was unpleasant and not entertaining. I think I just don’t like reading about stupid characters, something I noticed when reading Where the Library Hides.

finished January 23, 2025

This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher

I loved this book! The blurb comparing it to The Princess Bride was exactly right. Romance, fantasy, friendship, grief, jokes—wonderful.

finished January 24, 2025

Writing Beyond Race: Living Theory and Practice by bell hooks

This book included some really helpful guidance for me as I work on my book. I also enjoyed reading bell hooks on pop culture—because I love pop culture writing, and she was a genius.

finished January 26, 2025

Looking for Alaska by John Green

I’ve been meaning to reread this for a long time. It inspired my Tumblr username, lookingforbailey. Good times.

finished January 28, 2025

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

I reread this ahead of seeing the movie soon. It’s a very good book.

finished January 29, 2025

Connie by Connie Chung

This memoir by a longtime broadcast journalist educated me about the business and about some 20th century history. The photos were also amazing—her style was so good.

finished January 31, 2025

Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura

I had high hopes for this Indiana Jones-inspired romance novel, but it wasn’t of the highest quality, in my opinion.

finished February 4, 2025

The Heart and Other Monsters by Rose Andersen

I heard this author speak at AWP in 2023 and have long meant to read this book. It’s a memoir about the overdose death and maybe murder of the author’s sister. The book got off to a slow start for me, but the second half was excellent.

finished February 4, 2025

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki

I saw this highly recommended, with a cat on the cover, so I was excited to read it. There were things I liked about it, but it’s a book about astrology, a subject I am not that interested in. But this was the third translated book I’ve read in as many months, and I’m glad I’m (slowly) increasing my intake of translated books.

finished February 6, 2025

Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams

I really enjoyed the first two books in this romance series, and this one was the same. They’re all set in a fictional Kentucky town called Rome.

finished February 8, 2025

That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey

This author is part of the team that wrote This Will Be Fun, so I wanted to read one of her solo books. This was a pretty fun romance read, set at an adult summer camp.

finished February 9, 2025

Boy with a Yellow Lemon by Trina Peiffer

Loui and I bought this book of poetry on our wedding day, just after our ceremony in Poor Richard’s Books. I saved it to read on our first anniversary. It was a lovely collection of poetry about Kentucky and family.

finished February 10, 2025

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

This is a remarkable fantasy novel. I read it slowly, partially because my ebook had to be returned to the library. I eventually decided to buy it and finish it. It feels like I savored it, and it deserved to be savored. I think Ms. Clarke may find herself on my top 10 list two years in a row.

finished February 11, 2025

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

A (or the) central thesis of this book is that art is collaborative: “You are the sum of your influences.” Or, in the words of Taylor Swift, “I wanna be defined by the things I love.” I borrowed my friend Kris’s copy, so I read his annotations alongside the book, and Loui was laying beside me as I read, so I paused my reading to discuss things with him. That seems like a fitting way to consume this book.

finished February 11, 2025

Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon

My craft lecture, one of my final requirements for my MFA, was about showing my reporting and researching work in my book, so this book was right up my alley.

finished February 12, 2025

Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

I really like Kevin Wilson’s style. I enjoyed this, though I didn’t like it as much as I remember liking his other novels. It was cool that it was set in Tennessee, with some Bowling Green shout-outs. Crazy that some readers might need Sonic Drive-In explained to them.

finished February 13, 2025

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

“But what I was beginning to see was that settlement, itself, was violent.” Much of this book is about Coates’ visit to Palestine. It was an illuminating read.

finished February 15, 2025

Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne

I can’t tell you how many times I thought, “Wow, these characters are RUDE!” before remembering that this romance novel was a Pride and Prejudice retelling.

finished February 16, 2025 (very early in the morning)

Magically Black and Other Essays by Jerald Walker

I really enjoyed this collection of essays. The author’s style is very clean and his pacing very good.

finished February 16, 2025

Dating and Dragons by Kristy Boyce

This was a cute romance novel about teens who play D&D. I liked it better than the first in this series.

finished February 17, 2025

The Tigerbelles: Olympic Legends from Tennessee State by Aime Alley Card

“No matter what limitations or constraints were designed to hold them back, these women ran forward.” This was a very compelling book about Black women pioneers in track and field.

finished February 18, 2025

Sex, Lies and Sensibility by Nikki Payne

This was a fun romance read. I’ve only read Sense and Sensibility once, many years ago, so I didn’t anticipate the plot points in this one like I could for this author’s Pride and Prejudice retelling.

finished February 19, 2025

Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

I read this for the Check Meowt Book Club, but I ended up skipping book club because I was feeling antisocial.

finished February 20, 2025

The Reggie Warford Story: Integrating Basketball at the University of Kentucky by Scott Brown

I picked this up from the Kentucky table at Joseph-Beth a couple months ago, then I saw that the author was having a book event with Goose Givens, which Loui and I attended. It was a good read.

finished February 21, 2025

Games Untold by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Like all books in this universe, this one was very intriguing. I liked that all the short stories centered on the theme of the power that love holds.

finished February 27, 2025

Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work by bell hooks

As is often the case, I liked some essays in this collection more than others. As is always the case, bell hooks is a genius.

finished February 27, 2025

From These Roots: My Fight with Harvard to Reclaim My Legacy by Tamara Lanier

This book has a lot of similarities in style to mine, so it was instructive to read. There were things I liked and didn’t like as a reader, which will help me in my own revision.

finished March 1, 2025

Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman

I loved this book! I really enjoyed learning more about the process and development of such an acclaimed artist. This book was a great example of how easy it is for a reader to read a book when the writer has worked incredibly hard to research and write it.

finished March 2, 2025

Jonah’s Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston

Obviously this was excellent, as Zora Neale Hurston was excellent. One of my favorite pieces of writing in the world is this essay by Alice Walker about Hurston.

finished March 5, 2025

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

This was the conclusion to a trilogy that I really enjoyed, about a human scholar who studies faeries and her colleague who turns out to be a faerie.

finished March 6, 2025

Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination by Toni Morrison

I started reading a different book, which referenced this book as essential reading. I happened to already have it on my shelf, so I paused the other book to read this first. It’s a helpful analysis.

finished March 8, 2025

Time of the Child by Niall Williams

I finished with 45 minutes to spare before this ebook was due back to the library. I really like Niall Williams writing; I prefer This Is Happiness, one of my top 10 books last year.

finished March 10, 2025

Hera by Jennifer Saint

Hera was always sort of a villain in the Percy Jackson universe, which was my first introduction to the Greek myths. It was nice to read a book that centered her as a (still complicated) hero.

finished March 12, 2025

My Old Kentucky Road Trip by Cameron M. Ludwick and Blair Thomas Hess

This is the first of five books by this Kentucky duo. It’ll make you realize how much more of Kentucky you still need to see. I have known Blair for a few years now, and I got to write about this book for my day job.

finished March 14, 2025

How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo

This was a challenging book, in multiple senses of the word. I learned a lot from this analysis of what and how we read—and really, more broadly, how we understand the world.

finished March 16, 2025

The Knight and the Butcherbird by Alix E. Harrow

This fantastical, horrific short story by a fellow Kentuckian has immediately become a favorite. I loved it and highly recommend it.

Note: This is a short story, and I debated how to count it in my list. I decided to count it as half, and therefore I am documenting another good short story I read today as the other half: The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke. I love that this slim short story and the epic fantasy novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell put us in the same world.

finished March 16, 2025

More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Kentucky Women by Mimi O’Malley

I saw this on the Kentucky display at the library. It includes a section on Alice Dunnigan!

finished March 18, 2025

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

I loved it. Suzanne Collins is a genius, seriously.

finished March 18, 2025

Book Boyfriend by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

This was a pretty fun romance about people who love fantasy books.

finished March 19, 2025

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green

This was a highly anticipated book in the Vandiver-Ross household. Loui listened to it (read by John Green!) and I read it in print within a couple of days. It was, of course, well written and informative.

finished March 20, 2025

The Breakup Tour by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

The female main character was very inspired by Taylor Swift. I don’t often like second-chance romances, but I did really enjoy this one.

finished March 22, 2025

Blessed by Sherry Robinson

I finally read this novel by my MFA classmate! I stayed up way too late reading because I was really engrossed in the story.

finished March 24, 2025

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

I’m finally starting this legendary fantasy series! This is the second slow fantasy book I’ve read this year—not slow in a bad way at all; slow like worth savoring. I’m used to fantasy driven by plot, but this feels more focused on the world.

finished March 26, 2025

Surrendered Child by Karen Salyer McElmurray

This was, at times, remarkably hard to read—a testament to skilled writing about hard topics.

finished March 28, 2025

Forget Me Not by Julie Soto

I devoured this romance! I’m a sucker for a man with flower tattoos who is wildly in love.

finished March 29, 2025

Not Another Love Story by Julie Soto

So I immediately moved on to Soto’s other romance, which I think I liked even more.

finished March 30, 2025

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

A favorite exchange from this book: “After a pause she said, ‘I see your magic is not good only for large things.’ ‘Hospitality,’ he said, ‘kindness to a stranger, that’s a very large thing.’”

finished April 1, 2025

Hiroshima by John Hersey

This is a remarkable piece of journalism.

finished April 1, 2025

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

This concluded the original trilogy of Earthsea; I enjoyed it.

finished April 5, 2025

Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin

This was, as Le Guin writes in the foreword, the first Earthsea book she wrote with women as the main characters. It was my favorite so far.

finished April 7, 2025

Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

This collection of stories from Earthsea is very nearly tied with Tehanu for my favorite in the series.

finished April 10, 2025

The Swans of Harlem by Karen Valby

This book about Black ballerinas in the 20th century was both a good model for my own book and an informative and enjoyable read.

finished April 10, 2025

The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin

I don’t think I would fully say I enjoyed this book more than the previous two, but my enjoyment at being in the world of Earthsea continued to grow throughout the entire series. I think that’s the mark of a very good fantasy series.

finished April 11, 2025

I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer

I love her poetry collection What Kind of Woman and finally read this one. I loved it.

finished April 11, 2025

Right on Cue by Falon Ballard

This was a cute romance book, even with a miscommunication plot I didn’t love.

finished April 12, 2025

Overlooked: A Celebration of Remarkable, Unappreciated People Who Broke the Rules and Changed the World by Amisha Padnani and the Obituaries Desk

I love obituaries! And I love people from history finally getting the attention they deserve! So this was a lot of fun to read, and it was a beautiful book with photographs, too.

finished April 14, 2025

Change of Heart by Falon Ballard

This was a rather insane premise for a romance novel; it reminded me of Ashley Poston’s slightly fantastical novels.

finished April 14, 2025

The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History by Rodney Stark

I forget where I saw this recommended, but I was intrigued. It was an interesting read, though I’m not that trained in sociology so I was sometimes lacking context.

finished April 16, 2025

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

A friend asked me if I had read this, which I took as her recommendation, but actually she hadn’t read them yet either. But I’m glad I read this because I really enjoyed it! I started it on the way to pickleball, and I was so eager to keep reading that I almost didn’t care that I was playing poorly. Then I stayed up late to finish this…

finished April 16, 2025

Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli

…and the sequel! I really enjoy a fantasy duology.

finished April 17, 2025 (very early in the morning)

Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hammad

I saw this highly recommended. There is so much wisdom and analysis in this slim volume.

finished April 19, 2025

Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney

I finally heard Nikky Finney read in person during a Lexington literary celebration. She read a poem about Gurney Norman, who is also an important mentor to me. I finally bought and read a full volume of her poetry, which was, of course, brilliant.

finished April 23, 2025

Watch Me by Tahereh Mafi

I thought, “Oh, maybe I won’t be as intrigued by this new installment in the Shatter Me series.” I was wrong, of course—Tahereh Mafi is always incredible. I read this in basically one sitting.

finished April 25, 2025

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

I could no longer resist a full Hunger Games reread, with the added context from Sunrise on the Reaping.

finished April 27, 2025

A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order by Judith Flanders

“We think, therefore we sort.” This was not a quick read, but I did enjoy learning about how alphabetical order became the predominant method for sorting.

finished April 28, 2025

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Yes, I read this again a month later. I couldn’t resist a full series reread.

finished April 29, 2025

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This was my first time reading my illustrated copy. I still think these books are masterpieces.

finished April 30, 2025

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

So much in Sunrise on the Reaping relates to the events and characters in this book.

finished May 1, 2025

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I think I may be in the minority when I say this is my favorite book in the trilogy.

finished May 1, 2025

The Thinking Heart by David Grossman

This was a very wise and well-written collection of essays about Israel and Palestine. David Grossman asks, “And I ask: how can those who believe man is created in God’s image trample that image?”

finished May 2, 2025

I’m Your Huckleberry by Val Kilmer

Like many other people who use Libby through my library, I wanted to read this after Val Kilmer’s passing.

finished May 2, 2025

Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

I really liked the main characters of this romance novel, and I liked many of the interpersonal relationships outside of the main romantic relationship. I was a little stressed out by just how many external obstacles they faced.

finished May 3, 2025

Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire by Ashley Spencer

I loved this book. It was well written and well reported, and it was perfect for me as a tween during Disney Channel’s tween empire.

finished May 8, 2025

Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti

This might be the soonest I’ve reread a book from the previous year’s top 10. The book about the history of the alphabet made me want to revisit this book, which is an insanely brilliant collection of sentences, in alphabetical order, from 10 years of Heti’s diaries. “There must be other ways to keep a diary than all this minutiae,” she writes in the T chapter, but I love reading the minutiae.

finished May 8, 2025

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

I read this in one sitting. It’s a romance novel that prominently features the reporting process of the main female character, whose name is Alice. Emily Henry might as well have dedicated this book to me. I loved it.

finished May 8, 2025