Some Thoughts on Fiction

Powell's in Portland, August 2015

Reena's Xplorations Challenge this week gives us some questions to ponder regarding fiction. First, she asks what constitutes fiction in the post-truth era, and I'm probably going to disagree with most of the other responders when I say I don't think our era is less truthful than any other era. Regular people have always lied, or at least insisted upon their version of the truth, as have politicians and their entourages, and whatever media existed at the time. What we see now however is more of a mass production and dissemination of lies because of the way "news" can reach so many of us almost instantly. There is also so much media available in so many forms. Back in the day, we had to wait for some wanderer to wend his way to our village to give his version of a thing that happened months ago at court. Now, within five minutes the whole world knows what a President said at a conference. Or, we think we know, depending on our source and whatever meme we saw on social media.

How thin or distinct are the lines between fact and fiction? 

In writing, as opposed to political "news," the lines are somewhat clearer between fact and fiction. Somewhat. Recently, I read a non-fiction book about bats, and I think it's safe to assume that all the bat information I learned was factual. The author was specific about what was known and what wasn't. (I will have a Thursday Thirteen post on bats coming soon.) Historical books can definitely be biased towards a particular viewpoint. Biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs are in the non-fiction section, but those are all someone's version of what happened. Self-help books are considered non-fiction as are books about food, travel, economics, and religion. Hah! Poetry is its own category. 

My favorite types of books fall into the fiction category, but even here things can get muddled. Some fiction is based on true stories. Some characters are closely based on people the author actually knows. Some writers use real-world locations and events in their fiction, while others create imaginary cities and scenarios. Science fiction and fantasy writers sometimes create whole new worlds and types of creatures in their stories.

Do the disclaimers that all characters are fictional really mean anything?

No. All characters, even the nonhuman ones, come from bits of the author's experience, whether direct or from something s/he read. No one writes in a vacuum. Since most real people aren't that interesting on the page, the best fictional characters are a mix of traits that the author has observed or read about. Even monsters, dragons, aliens, gods, etc., are a mishmash of human qualities. We create them all in our own image because what else is there? Funnily enough, the most fictional of fictional characters are probably the dreaded stock characters that a lazy writer grabs from the cardboard stash: the corrupt cop, the schoolyard bully, the cozy grandmother, etc. Real people are usually more nuanced.

Do you follow a formula when writing fiction, or just let it all flow freely?

For a while, I was writing spicy romantic fiction (novels and short stories), and that was all formulaic. I quit writing it and unpublished what I had when I became the stock cozy grandmother. No one wants to stumble across their nana’s erotica. Yuck. My later fiction is more free flowing. Hell, I didn't even know how Ghosted was going to end when I started it. Generally, I begin with a title or an idea that I think is funny and go from there. Sometimes I get bogged down in banter and have to delete a bunch of it to make room for action. Good short stories and flash fiction are actually harder to write than novels because there's no room to indulge yourself with prolonged banter, physical descriptions, and pointless meandering. The pointless meandering is my favorite.

Speaking of that, I had this enormous post written with my thoughts on various genres blah blah, but I have now scooped all that into a new post because I had actually missed addressing Reena's questions. 

Two for Tuesday: Nonfiction

Two ducks in Los Angeles (my photo)

As I mentioned earlier, I’m trying to get out of my reading rut of thrillers and romances by choosing other genres and even nonfiction when the mood moves me. Here are two reviews of nonfiction books I read in July.

1. When the Earth Had Two Moons by Erik Asphaug. As a layperson, I enjoyed this book very much. Some of the science (ok, most of it) was over my head, but I still managed to learn a lot from the way the author tried to make it more easily digestible with metaphors and such. Sometimes the language became quite poetic! It definitely heightened my curiosity to read further on the topic and also made me more aware of the crucial need to fund space exploration. Four stars.

2. Marley & Me by John Grogan. I didn’t expect to cry at the end of this book because honestly Marley seemed like such an annoyance to put up with. I could not have handled having this giant destructive dog in my home, even with a man around to do most of the wrassling. The descriptions of the constant drool were enough in themselves for me to nope out. Kudos to Grogan for making most of the misadventures sound funny and ultimately heartwarming. When Marley’s decline began, I did get the feels, especially because it all reminded me of the loss of my own pets, one of which was relatively recent (RIP Gatsby). Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, including the teary parts. Four stars. 

PS: Marley & Me was made into a movie in 2008 starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. It was good, but the book was better.

Summer Reading Bingo 3

Reading challenge bingo card 

Welcome to my summer bingo book series, where I post five short reviews at a time. I'm giving myself the whole summer to finish the bingo card, not just the month of June. This is my third set of reviews; you can find the first set here and the second one here.

1. Grumpy/ Sunshine. Two Truths and a Marriage by Nicole Snow. First, I confess that I'm generally not a fan of this romance trope. Perhaps it hits too close to home ~ why would you fall for a grumpy jerk just because he looks good? Ugh, guilty. Anyway. I knew I had to pick one for this challenge, so I chose the one with a bakery involved. The level of suspension of disbelief required to enjoy this novel however was too high for me, even if there were cupcakes happening. Our hero Dex was supposed to be this wildly successful businessman, but he was a big lump who couldn’t communicate properly with anyone, not his family, not the creep he was trying to impress, and certainly not Juniper. I liked Junie, but it made no sense that she was running the bakery by herself at age 24 with no business experience, when her grandmother, the original owner, was still healthy and vibrant. Why wouldn’t Nana have sent Junie off for a degree in business before retiring and handing over the shop? Dex, the cranky real estate mogul, stomps into Junie’s bakery one day and orders a million desserts (that he hates because he’s a fitness freak) for a business meeting. Of course, a fake engagement will ensue, as that makes total sense. Creepy mafia guy that Dex wants to make a deal with loves the desserts, so naturally our suave hero blurts out that he's engaged to the bakery owner. And then… and then… the mafia creep decides that he’s going to use Junie’s sweets to hide codes to cash drop locations. Like wtaf? COME ON! So absurd. Lots of hot sex and sugary puns couldn’t save this disaster from my 2-star rating.

2.  One word title. Sweet by Emmy Laybourne.  Fun, fast-paced story about a bunch of wealthy people on a cruise who go violently insane after a bad man and an evil scientist get them addicted to a sugar substitute weight loss supplement. The worst of human behavior is highlighted when these folks will do anything ~ and I mean anything ~ to get another taste of the sugary drug. We see greed, selfishness, and egotism displayed alongside the maniacal quest for superficial perfection, or what society has decided is physical beauty anyway. Body image and self esteem issues are explored as well. There’s also a love story between the two teenaged main characters, but there are no explicit sex scenes. Lots of blood and gore though! This is a horror novel. I gave it four stars.

3. Age gap trope. The Professor’s Obsession by N. Viktoria. This was a sweet story, with an interracial element as well as the age difference (older male, by 18 years), but there was no real conflict between the main characters. Everything proceeded relatively smoothly ~ whenever Marcus made a slight faux pas, Sage corrected him, and all was well. Emma, Marcus’ daughter, only needed around a minute to process their relationship. The real drama was with their colleagues, but even that resolved itself neatly. There were a bunch of editing errors, such as when Marcus went to Sage’s apartment for the first time ostensibly to make love, but the scene faded to black, and the author must have forgotten she wrote it because later there was a first sex scene AND a first visit to Sage’s apartment. Confusing! Three stars.

4. A book about a father. Between a Heart and a Rock Place by Pat Benatar. Fabulous, uplifting story of a woman who fought fiercely for her love, her family, and to control her own music and image. With Pat's every success, chauvinistic label executives and other jerks tried to get in her way and quash her dreams, but she ultimately prevailed. For most of her journey, Pat was supported by her wonderful and super talented husband Neil (“Spyder”) Giraldo, proving that great men do exist. Except for one blip, they were an unshakable team. The reason I’m putting Pat’s memoir in this category is because it is about a father ~ the moment Pat met Neil she decided he was her soulmate and would become the father of her children. He is heavily featured throughout the book, since they are a team, both professionally and romantically. And they have two beautiful daughters, though their privacy is respected, and Pat does not go into great detail about them. I awarded this book one of my rare 5-star ratings.

As an aside, I finished this book at the beginning of July 2026 and cried at the end when Pat described how the USA came together after 9/11. We don’t have much of that spirit now at our 250th birthday, just division and hate for the “other side,” which is heartbreaking. I don’t have any ideas on how to fix this; it’s just sad.

5. Title begins with J. John Gribble Is Gone by Peter James. This was a quick (73-page), twisty little mystery, "free" with Prime membership and included in the July selections. I read it while my car was getting serviced on a Saturday morning. Even though some of the story is far-fetched, the idea that we can be subject to massive, life-altering inconvenience due to a technology breach is all too believable. The setting is in England, and for whatever reason, it was more fun to imagine all these shenanigans happening in a British accent, sort of like a Monty Python skit. Four stars.

I'll return soon with the penultimate bingo card! I'm happy to have only 10 books left to close it out, as I am getting tired of some of these genres and want to read more nonfiction soon. The Benatar memoir was truly enjoyable. (I already read a book about planet formation, which I will review in an upcoming Two for Tuesday post.)

Summer Reading Bingo 2

Reading challenge bingo card

Welcome to my summer bingo book series, where I post five short reviews at a time. I'm giving myself the whole summer to finish the bingo card, not just the month of June. This is my second set of reviews; you can find the first set here.

1. Free space. Guarded by the Grizzly Bear by Reece Barden. This book was recommended by Mary, and it sounded fun, so I grabbed it off Kindle Unlimited. It had been some time since I tried to read a shifter romance, and this one got 3 stars, which is a good rating from me for this type of novel, where I find it impossible to suspend my disbelief. While the male main character was a stereotypical possessive jerk, though of course totally hot as required (it's never acceptable when a non-handsome man stalks you), the female MC (a cop) was strong and interesting, until the end anyway, and that was a treat. The setting seemed to be in the USA, maybe Montana, but around the halfway point there were a few UK spellings (favour, pyjamas), so maybe it was set in Canada. Unclear. This kind of thing throws me out of the story because I need to understand the logistics. Even a fantasy novel should be consistent with details. Bad proofreading, assuming there was any.

(I wouldn't normally use the "free space" so soon, except I had already started this book when I decided to join in on the summer reading bingo suggested by my book club leader.)

2. Ice cream on cover. Ice Cream and Incidents by Agatha Frost. I really wanted to like this book because it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a cozy mystery. It began in a promising way with some unexpected characters, but it soon turned into a boring drag (not punning). The writing was simply flat with loads of telling not showing. There was zero chemistry between the main character Julia and Barker, her fiancé; in fact, I thought they might be headed for a breakup given their lack of affection (I know cozies don't do explicit love scenes, but there was nothing here). They were happy with their dull cardboard existence, apparently. The only reason this novel gets 2 stars instead of 1 is because some of the drag queen scenes were fun. The description on Goodreads is incorrect, btw: there was no murder, just a stage “accident.” Finally, the title had nothing to do with the story. Yes, they had ice cream a couple times on vacation, but Julia was a cake baker. Why not Icing and Incidents?

3. Has June in the title. June by K. Nicole. Despite all the typos (what is it with books lately not being properly proofread and edited?!), I really enjoyed this book! Gave it 4 stars. It was a very atypical romance novel with fresh writing and interesting characters. And chemistry, whew! There was lots of graphic sex in this book, which was important to the plot. Another strong female lead carried half the story, with the hot criminal dude taking the other half. As in Grizzly, the female MC was a cop, but in this case the male MC truly was a bad guy. Some of the Black lingo was a little hard for me to follow, but I got the gist of most of it from the context, especially as the story progressed. The writing was full of vivid detail, which I always appreciate. I have a huge TBR pile, but eventually I want to read more books by this author.

4. NY Times Best Seller. Never Leave the Dogs Behind by Brianna Madia. This memoir was hard to read from an emotional standpoint, but it was very well-written and ultimately satisfying. Since her marriage fell apart, Bri is suicidal, manic-depressive, and dissociative. The only thing keeping her going is her love for her dogs. She isn’t a very likable person, but the reader can understand why she became so bitter and ran off to the desert to get away from everyone. Internet popularity is always a double-edged sword, and it was great to see Bri finally quit caring about hateful Instagram comments and root her sense of self in the physical world. Four stars.

5. Published in June. The Beach Holiday by Nina Manning. I had mixed feelings about this book. First, it annoyed me with the now/ then narrative. I understand that a lot of thrillers do this, but I find that it lessens the suspense factor. We know Sadie is safe because there’s a “now,” so we may not be as invested in the “then.” Just tell the dang story as it happened! Why is this so difficult lately? Second, the narration was in first person, but we were only privy to some of Sadie’s headspace. She kept secrets from us and lied to us. If you want to create distance from the reader, use third person. All that said, I ended up enjoying a big chunk of the story only because it was so different and weird, though preposterous. There were a lot of unanswered questions too, the main one being… why the heck couldn’t Sadie have told her family about Bruno?! I guess that would have wrecked the flimsy premise of Sadie “needing” to go to Fiji. Three stars.

Alrighty then, I have completed 10 bingo squares, yay me! Onto the next set of reviews…

Challenge Accepted and Completed

Powell's in Portland, August 2015

In December, the leader of our online book club posted a genre challenge. I sort of forgot about it, and she posted a reminder last week. As I perused the list, I realized that I actually had satisfied each one, except for young adult, a genre I generally hate. I browsed the Kindle Unlimited YA offerings the other day until I found a novella that didn't sound too bad. Now, I'm finished with the books and will post a brief review of each. (I read all these and more this year.)

1. Contemporary Fiction. I read (and watched) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, which I discussed in some detail last week in this post. I gave the book 3 stars on Goodreads.

2. Historical Fiction. I finished up my lengthy Victoria Holt (aka Philippa Carr) binge with Daughters of England. Though this book was last in the series, it wasn't last chronologically, and I still enjoyed it a lot. Holt expertly weaves history with fiction to create believable plots and characters. The stories are inseparable from the history, as political events drive beliefs and behavior (same as now, even if we are unaware in the moment). I am used to Holt's abrupt endings, though I find that they are discordant with her meticulous storytelling otherwise. Four stars. 

3. Fantasy. The Gunslinger by Stephen King satisfied this genre. I found the novel to be ambitious, as it was clearly a setup for the next in series (good example of why I am not fond of series where each book does not stand alone, as Holt's do), but it only works well if you go on with the series, which I did not. I tried ~ I began The Drawing of the Three ~ but it was so gory and gross that I DNF. I gave Gunslinger 3 stars regardless for King's high quality writing. I don't have to enjoy plot and/or characters to appreciate his wordsmithery.

4. Science Fiction. Another Stephen King novel goes here: 11.22.63. I watched the miniseries first and mostly enjoyed it (discussed at the end of this post), and then at Roy's recommendation I read the book. I absolutely loved it! The descriptions were so lush with detail that I really did feel like I was back in the 1950s and early '60s. The butterfly effect was fully in play too, with several iterations of "what if," and I am always up for that sort of thought experiment. I highly recommend this epic novel (800+ pages, so set aside some time). This book received a 5-star rating from me.

5. Mystery/Thriller. I grabbed The Date by T.H. Murdock last week from the Amazon First Reads pile, and I'm glad I did. I gobbled up the whole novel in one day because it was that compelling. Murdock expertly layered in the suspense, shifting suspicion from one character to another, until the reader was completely hooked. I literally couldn't put it down until I knew whodunit. Another 4-star winner.

6. Romance. Love at the Lake by Julie Milo fit this category as well as one in another challenge. I gave it 3 stars for attempting to tackle the weighty subjects of dyslexia and adoption in an otherwise fluffy novel, but it didn't do either all that well because so much time was devoted to the fluff. I'm not one of those who hates "pure" romance novels (without any mystery or other element), but I need more of a plot than high school angst over whether or not a boy/girl likes the other boy/girl. Note: the characters were 23 years old, but still acted like teens.

7. Nonfiction. At a library sale, I found a "coffee table book" titled Love of Goldens by Todd R. Berger and had to get it for my daughter and son-in-law, who have a golden retriever (Rory). I love goldens too now! I gave this book 5 stars for the wonderful photos and adorable vignettes.

8. Biography/Memoir. I finished Peter Gethers' Norton the cat trilogy with his second book (read out of order), titled A Cat Abroad. While this middle section of Norton's life was enjoyable enough to get a 4-star rating from me, it wasn't as compelling as books one and three. The first book was our introduction to baby Norton and how he impacted the author's life, and the third and last one was exquisitely sad as we had to say goodbye to our sweet kitty friend. Abroad was exactly as titled ~ Peter takes his kitty on all sorts of trips, which were fun adventures, with vivid and descriptive writing, but I couldn't appreciate all the French language jokes, and it was not as emotionally gripping overall.

9. Literary Fiction. I read The Correspondent by Virginia Evans for my online book club, and it fits this genre. This book began in the most tedious way by flinging a boatload of characters at the reader (18 in the first 16 pages!) that were impossible to keep track of until later in the story. I kept going however and eventually became intrigued by the threads tying all these people to the main character. I also liked that the MC was cranky and unlikeable, but she was still interesting to read about. Three stars for this.

10. Young Adult. Incantation by Alice Hoffman is categorized as YA, so I chose it because I liked her writing in the past. What can I say about this book? It was about a family of Jews in Spain around the time of the Inquisition. Absolutely awful, yet fabulous writing. I'm glad it had fewer than 100 pages because idk if I could have read more about this terrible time. I gave it 5 stars, and I think it's important to be reminded about how evil humans are to one another, since we can become numb to the news. I haven't created labels for young adult or magical realism, but I think historical fiction plus fantasy will do for this novella.

11. Horror. In general, I avoid horror novels and movies, except when there is a promise of a solid story along with the gore/scariness. The Fourth Wife by Linda Hamilton delivered. I found this story to be fresh and intriguing, and I was fascinated by the relationships among the sister-wives. It was "gothic" in a way and full of creepy ghosts, despite being set in a 19th century house in Utah, not a crumbling old English mansion. Four stars.

12. Poetry or Short Stories. Odd category mix, as these are two very different genres. I read Poems for the Lost Because I'm Lost Too by Exurb1a, and I found the writing highly relatable even though the author is a young guy in Eastern Europe. His themes of existential angst, isolation, and meaninglessness resonated with how I have felt off and on over all the years of my life. He went off into the weeds a bit with his forays into the supernatural, and I skimmed those sections, but overall... yeah. Liked it! Four stars.

As a side note, I am not being hypocritical with my high ratings of most of these challenge books after complaining repeatedly that people rate books too highly ~ I read many books recently that merited 2 or 3 stars, but I focused on the better ones for these mini-reviews. For example, in the poetry category, I gave 2 stars to another book of verse, but why mention it when I can recommend Poems for the Lost?

Flashback Friday : The Black Swan

Somewhere in time...

I’m participating in Fandango’s Flashback Friday today with a post from my old WP blog dated May 15, 2020, which was apparently a repost for that day's FFF of a post from May 15, 2011. Freaky! I found it on the Wayback Machine.

(The Black Swan was written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.)

Consequential Properties of Scalable Randomness

(From The Black Swan, pgs. 159-160)

This section deals with common prediction errors; I found it very interesting.

1. Taleb uses life expectancy here: the older we get, the fewer days we have left. Makes sense, right? If we live past our predicted death date of 79 to age 90, we don’t get 50 more years tacked onto the odds-chart. We’ll get around 5; and if we live to 100, we’ll get 2.5, etc. This is easily understood.

2. But with outcomes dependent on human variables, we can have extreme fluctuations. If a person tells you a project will be done in 79 days and it isn’t done by day 90, it’s not likely to be finished on day 95. If it’s not completed on day 100, Taleb says it’ll have another 89 days to go. “The longer you wait, the longer you will be expected to wait.”

This is so true, and so simple, and yet it seems less of a “common sense” item than the first one. Why is that? Maybe because for most of us, or possibly it’s just me, we want to trust people when they tell us they’re going to do something, and when they’re late, we want to believe that they’re going to fix the problem and finish up as close to the originally promised date as they can.

Anyway, I’m still getting a lot out of this book, though I read it in small doses, sometimes putting it down for a week or more.

K.I.S.S.

The older I get, the more I appreciate simplicity. I’m sure I am not unique in this preference. For example, Target just sent me an email telling me how happy they are to have me as a longtime customer. This would be the very same Target whose outside credit agency has rejected my new bank account about a dozen times, so I am forced into paying by phone. Since you can’t reply to the email, I decided to write a scathing letter about how badly I have been treated by both Target customer service and their stupid credit agency. I had fantasies about my extremely well-written (but very mean) letter going viral. People would finally appreciate my savage wit and intellect! I’d become famous!

Then I thought, nah, I will just continue not shopping at Target, which has been working well for a while now.

Regarding social media, the more FB annoys me, the easier it becomes to K.I.S.S. and avoid it. Lately, I’ve been checking my book club for updates, perusing the first dozen posts in my feed, and skedaddling out. If it weren’t for my book club, I would spend even less time there. 

I find Substack too difficult to navigate, so even though I have a couple pieces posted there, I never go unless I receive a link to an article that seems interesting.

Instagram actually pays attention to what I enjoy, so now my feed is filled with photos from zoos and kitty accounts. Ads for puzzles and “healthy” cookie dough may appear, and that’s okay. Funny that IG used to be my least favorite site! Words, man, I am here for words, I used to insist. Hah. Words are so irritating. Show me a red panda and keep your political jabber to yourself.

That said, I follow a few politicians and celebs there. I plan to read Valerie Bertinelli’s new book at some point (though I won’t pay the full hardback price). A few months ago, I donated to Gavin Mewsom (keeping this typo, sorry), so he sent me his book (for “free”). I will read that soon. I am currently, and by accident, reading two time travel books, including the 800 page novel 11.22.63 by Stephen King, which isn’t simple at all, but it’s damn good. (Update: just finished the non-King book and will review it soon on Goodreads.)

I refuse to read books I dislike, which means I don’t read all the selections every month for my online book club. My local, in-person club generally chooses books that I enjoy, so that’s cool. I joined an unofficial book club at work, but it’s via a comedian on YouTube, so I probably will pass on some of the selections. They’re very male-centric. 

I still like to engage in creative hobbies, but painting is so time intensive and messy. My friend Lisa gave me a sketchbook, and I am going to begin drawing instead of painting. Maybe I’ll engage in a little watercolor too. A whole world of possibilities opened up when Lisa said it’s not “cheating” to print out pictures from the internet and use them for inspiration or even copying outright ~ that’s what I basically did with those acrylic tutorials anyway. Real artists use models and photos all the time! Idk why I thought drawing/ sketching should come straight from my imagination. Silly.

How ironic is this looooong post? Maybe I should write a whole series on simplicity… or a novel!

Let’s keep it simple

Nobody wants War and Peace

Shiny things abound 

Gold Dust Woman

I think I have some Stevie Nicks fans among my handful of readers, so I would like to recommend the biography of her that I finished yesterday Gold Dust Woman. It was written by Stephen Davis (who has written many rock star bios) and published in 2017. It's a long book (450 pages), dense with detail, and can get tedious at times when Davis goes off into tangents, but overall I enjoyed it and gave it four stars. 

It's interesting to me when people have all-consuming passions that rule their lives. My passions are brief and shallow, fluttering across my focus like butterflies, and then off they go. Stevie had many serious problems that impacted her trajectory, yet she persevered until she became the fabulous rock goddess we know and love today. Stevie knew that superstardom was her ultimate destination, and nothing was going to stop her from achieving her dream. I am in awe of that kind of drive.

My writing has stagnated. It's not just that I don't want to get up at 4AM to write before work; I simply don't feel like writing fiction at all, save for a random flash here and there. Poetry is a different animal, and every few weeks I feel a bit of inspiration to knock out some verse. I no longer feel writing is my passion or calling or anything of the sort though. For a while, it was an obsession, and now it isn't. Same goes for painting and other crafts that I loved, sometimes for a few years and other times for a weekend. Take the "neuro art" I tried a few weeks ago: I had every intention of doing a lot more of it, but now I can't be bothered. Will I do another at some point? I don't know. So much intense coloring at one time tends to make my hands ache. I have always enjoyed tabletop jigsaw puzzles and recently did a bunch, but for decades I hadn't touched one. 

Last Saturday I took a cookie decorating class at Grunderfully Delicious with a few book club friends. It was so much fun! My results turned out pretty nice even though it was my first time ~ in the old days, when I baked my own cookies, my idea of decorating was to toss on a few sprinkles and call it a day. Saturday's class was about serious decoration techniques and even included fondant. Fondant! The cookies were delicious, and I have now eaten them all and am ready for another class. I hope she has upcoming ones themed for St. Patrick's Day and/or Easter, and there are Saturday spots available. I'm not quite at the point of taking time off from work for a cookie class, but I do think about them a lot now.

Anyway, I was in a reading slump for a couple days last week where no books appealed to me, but now I'm back to the world of thrillers and romances. In fact, my current read is a novel called How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates, so it combines the best of both genres. Or the worst, as the case may be.

First Reads of 2026

Before I get into the books, I want to say a word (or 500) about stats. As you know, Bob, one of the main reasons I gave up two relatively popular blogs is because I became obsessed with checking my stats. With Ultrablog, my obsession was tracking IPs to try to figure out who was visiting me ~ this rarely works now because peeps use their phones, and the IP and location changes. I also freaked out if a post received way fewer views/ comments compared to my average. With my more recent WP blog, I was obsessed with follower count as well as comments per post. Like many other bloggers, I quit worrying about views per post, as those are meaningless. Fast forward to this blog, where I don’t fuss about any stats whatsoever. I have noticed lately that WP bloggers based in the US and UK are wondering why they get an onslaught of views from places like Hong Kong and Singapore, when they don't have any followers from there. Welp, now that I have been commenting more on those WP blogs, I too am getting views from Hong Kong and Singapore. While my comments here are about the same as they've been all along, averaging only a few per post, my views overall have exponentially increased. What am I going to do about this? Nothing. I assume that the view counts are as meaningless as they've ever been, but I just wanted to feel included.

OK then. Let's start with my first DNF of the year: The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter. This was one of our three January books of the month, which is the only reason I started it, as I have heard that Karin's books are horrendously gory and violent. Yep, it was horrible ~ technically a thriller, but really more like horror, at least at the beginning. I read about 10 pages or so and gave up. So, I have no idea whether the story is good or if the grossness abated, but I tend to believe not/ not. I won't ever try this author again. Yuck! Here's a thing about trigger warnings: they don't work that well for me because I can handle impossible goriness, such as supernatural shenanigans, but when it sounds realistic, I am out. Karin's sounded real. When I read, I picture what I am reading throughout the book, so those disturbing images stay with me. The ones from TGD are still kind of floating around my mind a bit.

The first book I read for the year was A Cat Abroad by Peter Gethers. I read his first Norton book, The Cat Who Went to Paris, six years ago and loved it. Then for some odd reason I skipped the second book in the trilogy and went straight to the third: The Cat Who'll Live Forever. This was also great, though as you might guess from the title, heartbreaking as well. It hasn't been that long since Gatsby died, so even thinking about that third book makes me cry. Recently, as I was (obsessively) rearranging my physical bookshelves, I realized that I had never read the second book, so I ordered a used copy. I loved it, though not quite as much as I loved the other two books because it’s very travelog-y, as one might expect. Since I have never been to Europe nor do I know any French, many of the funny moments don't do much for me. And not to be mean, but I don't have much (or any) sympathy for the travel mishaps of people who have gobs more money than I do. I can smile at the petty ironies and minuscule woes of their lives, but do I really care? Nah. Norton's behavior is still adorable however. Four stars (the other two received five each). This counts as a memoir on my genre hop list.

I am still teary over a novel I finished this morning: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. It begins very slowly, and I might have DNF'd it except that a couple peeps in my book club loved it. So, I kept going and am sure glad I did! Nora, the MC, is a whiny, sad sack of a person, and I didn't relate to her all that much, at first. The premise is that after she tries to commit suicide she hovers in a state between life and death where she visits a fantasy library that contains all the stories of her life that might have been as well as a huge tome of regrets. As Nora chooses other lives to slip into, she's guided both practically and philosophically by her old primary school librarian (the one person from her past who had shown her unconditional kindness). As Nora's epiphanies accumulate, I begin to resonate with them, especially the ones about living to please other people. Whether struggling to keep a straight A average for my mom or to be accepted by my peers or to find a boyfriend, my earlier life was also dominated by the need to receive praise from others. My first paragraph about blog stats is a good example. I internalized all this dreck to such an extent that I felt guilty when not writing a bestselling book while working full time. Why can't I do more? Other people do more. Why can't I achieve any level of socially blessed success, blah blah blah. Anyway, TML explores these ideas plus the obvious conclusion that being yourself is enough. Going after your own dreams is not selfish. Relinquishing old dreams and being content with what you have (where I am now) is just fine too! None of these are radical concepts, but Haig presents them in a fresh and emotionally relevant way, so TML received five stars from me. It also counts as a fantasy book on my genre hop list.

Speaking of the genre hop challenge, it's not my intention to complete the entire list the first quarter. I may expand the categories into subgenres or simply read two or more from each. While A Cat Abroad counts as a memoir, it's not a biography, so I will try to find one of those I might enjoy (the category is biography/ memoir). Also, I noticed at the bottom of the hop list is a bonus category to reread five favorite books, which I may do too. The whole point is to read books I love, and if I can't give a book three or more stars, I probably should consider tossing it in the DNF pile. Of course, sometimes I'm digging a book and then get really annoyed at the ending, so there's that. 

Hope your new year is going swimmingly so far ~ mine is, literally, with all this rain. Back to the office tomorrow I go, hi ho, hi ho.

PS: I found a way to add a DNF shelf to my Goodreads without it marking the book as "want to read," which was so annoying. I had to do it from my laptop. Apps aren't always all that and a bag of chips.

PPS: Nope. Goodreads insists on marking my DNFs as "read," which wrecks my count. I have deleted the DNF shelf once again.

Officially in My Fusspot Era

This year I have read an absolutely insane amount of books (250+), and I have come to some decisions. First, I am slowing down because I want to retain more of the content. Second, I have been in a genre rut with psycho thrillers and romance, and I want to read more broadly in 2026. I don’t mean more fiction genres, but other types of books entirely, such as poetry, biography, and science. Third, when I do read genre fiction, I plan on being much fussier. 

This all is basically just me clarifying stuff for myself; I expect it to have zero interest to anyone else. I needed a place to vomit my thoughts.

I won’t read a contemporary romance novel if the meet cute involves clumsiness/ spilling of food, beverage or paperwork. Post meet clumsiness may be acceptable depending on the circumstances. In The Hating Game, Lucy was trying to make Josh jealous and tripped/ fell in her sexy dress and high heels, dumping out her purse all over the floor. That was funny and cute, but it was also cringe because I would have sprained my ankle. It’s like the scene in Miss Congeniality when Gracie strides out all gorgeous and blows Eric’s mind… then she falls. These are not technically meet cutes!

I won’t read a CRN or any kind of mystery where the plot could be obliterated by one session with Google. I mean, come on. Any type of fake ID/ mistaken identity motif is not going to work in a modern story unless the character has bought fake creds from a super hacker. Or if they’re a government agent. 

I don’t want to read books with teenaged protagonists. This is handy because it rules out genres that already don’t appeal to me, such as fantasy and young adult. I can’t bear anything about high school drama, nor do I want to see teens saving the world in some dystopian yuck. But what about Victoria Holt? All her heroines are teenagers. Great question! I am tired of her books and don’t plan on reading any more of them, so that works out. Granted, teens were different back when and way more mature, but even so. Also, I am suspicious of that “new adult” genre full of people under 30. They’re annoying and not much different from high schoolers.

I still like romances, though I am on somewhat of a break, but I don’t want to read about second chances. They annoy me. I just finished a holiday romance (The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah by Jean Meltzer) that had not only a second-chance motif but also was full of ghosts (a la A Christmas Carol), and I liked it enough to give it three stars. But I consider it an exception, mainly due to the fabulous job Jean did in describing migraines and related issues, including rationing meds because insurance allows only nine pills per month. In general, however, I don’t care for ghosts or exes hanging around past their expiration dates. 

What else? I don’t like the trope of the grumpy boss (billionaire or not) and his “sunshine” romantic interest. Why does the man always get to be the grump anyway? I am over mafia romances because they’re all the same. I am not a fan of contemporary characters who “hate” each other and end up in a fake-dating situation because there’s never actually a need for it other than to satisfy the terms of a will, but characters who are willing to sell their souls for a chunk of change don’t appeal to me anyway. Maybe hater dater fakery is acceptable in a Regency or other old-timey romance, depending on the details. Back then, people had fewer options. I am not ruling out CRNs though ~ they just need to have better plots than the standard omg I spilled coffee on the cutest guy but it turns out he’s my hot new boss and totally grumpy because his grandma cut him from her will unless he gets married in 30 days and he really needs her farmland to develop an enrichment camp for orphans.

Now we come to murder, blood, and gore. In general, I am not a fan of graphically described injury and death, but I do love mysteries and detective stories, so I will tolerate gore for the sake of the story. If I see from the book jacket that the main point of the novel is to come up with gruesome torture scenes, then that’s a hard pass right there. It’s one thing to describe a death in context of a police procedure, but it’s quite another to witness the writer revel in bloody descriptions. I don’t want to go inside the mind of a maniacal serial killer who gets off on amputations, etc. There are so many gross books out. But I also don’t want to read cozy mysteries, where bodies are bloodless and the murder scene smells like pumpkin spice candles. 

Horror is too disgusting and disturbing for me. I gave it a chance with the Haunted series by Lee Mountford back in October because I liked the first book, but they became a nonstop river of gore. The last few books were basically a skim because of all the rotting corpses and mangled eyeballs. Shudder. I’m reading a murder mystery right now that is all about the various clues and psychological aspects of the characters. (So far, there haven’t been any disturbing passages.) That is what I like in a story, not descriptions of death or how bodies look in the morgue. The same goes for any book about relationships ~ I want to read rich and vivid details about the characters’ mental and emotional worlds, not a boring recitation of sex romps. 

This also means I will be more discerning re the books I am willing to read for my book clubs, especially the online club.

Some Stuff I Watched

I guess I am out of my paranoid mood and ready to fling opinions into public again like birdseed in the desert. It’s amusing to me how I used to say so much without giving a fig for privacy. My own, that is. But you can’t always be totally open about yourself without involving others, since most of our stories aren’t solo experiences. Luckily, I haven’t had drama of that type for many years, but I constantly see drama unfold on social media from the casual expression of opinion on whatever topic, so that sometimes gives me pause.

I finally watched Somewhere in Time (1980), which was sad and romantic, but the time travel “science” was so ridiculous that I couldn’t take it seriously. In a way, it reminded me of Blake Crouch’s novel Recursion, in which the “science” was infinitely more complex but also ultimately absurd. Both stories set up a loop of impossible events repeating without resolution. I also had a hard time believing that a successful writer would throw his current life away on a whim to find a woman in an old photo. Jane Seymour was incredibly beautiful though, so perhaps that was enough motivation. Christopher Reeve’s appearance struck me as fake, as if his face had been molded from plastic like a Ken doll. I know that isn’t true, but there was something very odd about him, and I had trouble getting into the story because of that as well. I watched it on Prime.

I also watched Death Becomes Her (1992), starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn. This had a crazy plot, centered around vain celebs and an anti-aging potion, along with bizarre special effects, like something out of a campy horror film. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t what I saw; I generally enjoy both actresses and was disappointed overall in the movie, despite a few funny moments. This was on Netflix.

Nobody Saw Us Leave is a new Netflix limited series (only five episodes) based upon a true story about two wealthy Jewish families in 1960s Mexico. The families are friends because of mutual business interests, and one of their sons marries another one’s daughter. It’s not quite an arranged marriage per se, but it’s clear the couple is not in love. After having two children, the wife begins an affair, and the man she falls in love with is her brother-in-law (her husband’s sister’s husband). After her husband discovers the affair, he informs his sister, and both are more humiliated than heartbroken. They probably would have done nothing more than sulk about this, but their father decides that his son must abduct his own children and leave the country. It’s not entirely clear why the father insists upon this, even as the situation becomes more complicated when the other family hires an ex Mossad agent to successfully track them down, but the story is compelling regardless. I probably missed some nuances because the dialogue was translated and dubbed, and some scenes were out of chronological order, but still I recommend it. The book (written by the daughter who was kidnapped) hasn’t been translated ~ if it ever is, I would read it. 

Nobody Wants This (rabbi and non-religious woman, both with cuckoo families, especially hers, fall in love) has returned for its second season on Netflix, and I binge-watched the entire season this weekend. It isn’t as crazy as it sounds because each episode is sitcom length and dissolves quickly in my mind like cotton candy. I find the whole show to be basically sans substance even though it’s purportedly about major life issues. Then again, so is The Connors (also a show I’ve been watching on Netflix, though not bingeing), which has received less attention but is much better. I find Kristen Bell pleasant to look at, but her character Joanne is unbearably stupid (until maybe the last couple episodes of S2, where she finally displays some insight). Also, I get annoyed with shows that portray a Jewish mother as pushy and obnoxious, but to be fair a lot of on-screen moms are portrayed this way because Hollywood writers find this tired old trope to be endlessly hilarious, apparently. The scenes with Seth Rogen as an unconventional rabbi were the funniest overall. 

There’s one thread I pulled out of the show that I both relate to and find interesting: the idea that we have in our minds of not necessarily the perfect boyfriend or girlfriend, but the concept of ourselves in a relationship. So, we repeat behaviors because we see ourselves as a person who does such and such thing without regard to the actual unique human being we are supposed to be getting to know. For example, a man always buys roses for his girlfriend’s birthday, oblivious to the fact that his new one is allergic, even though she has mentioned it. A woman always bakes cookies for her boyfriends, but her new guy is diabetic. These are extreme examples, but you see what I mean. People get stuck on a path of actions that don’t mesh with their current situation, yet they have trouble adapting to their new reality.

Anyway. I am looking forward to seeing the new biopic of Bruce Springsteen, which has just hit the theaters.

Books That Could Have Been a Text

I read a lot. I mean a lot. For example, it’s now October 7 (very sad anniversary of the attack on Israel, but also Prime Day, yay), and I have already finished four books this month (OK, one was a novella). Some people don’t read four books in a year! I know, because I am friends with them. Smart people, great at games, but reading isn’t their thing. Anyway, for a while now, I have been pretty jaded about plots. It’s been said that there are no new storylines, but only new ways of retelling the same old ones, and I concur. Hence, this post: book types that could have been a text question to AI.

1. Haunted House 

Q: I have inherited an old house from my weird uncle, and it’s full of strange symbols, shadowy figures in the mirrors, and scary thumps and moans during the night. What should I do?

A: Run away right now and don’t go back!

2. Devil’s Spawn

Q: I am six weeks pregnant and have undeniable proof that the father is a demon who will use this child to unleash chaos and terror upon the world. How should I proceed?

A: Get an abortion! (And quit having sex with demons.)

3. Forbidden Room

Q: I am governess to the mad duke’s daughter, and he said that I must never go into the attic, but the upstairs maid told me there’s a trunk in there containing the duchess’s diary which will prove that the duchess ran off with the coachman and wasn’t murdered by the duke. Should I retrieve the diary so the duke will love me?

A: No. Stay the hell out of there and make friends with the new coachman. I hear he is cute (and also not mad).

4. Grumpy x Sunshine

Q: My new billionaire boss is incredibly mean and horrible, though he is very handsome and did I mention a billionaire? Should I put up with his verbal abuse for 300 pages until he sees me in a bikini at the company retreat and falls in love with me?

A: No. He will always be a jerk. Find a new job.

5. Friends to Lovers

Q: I just had an epiphany that I am in love with my childhood best friend, but he hasn’t ever indicated he feels the same except that one time when he was really drunk, which I don’t count. Should I despair over this for 300 pages while we try to make a go of romances with others or take a job I don’t want in a faraway state to get away from this mess?

A: Neither. Just tell him you love him right now.

6. Fake Dating

Q: I hired an actor to pretend to be my boyfriend at my cousin’s wedding so my family would stop bugging me about being single, but we got drunk and slept together. Now I am in love with him, but if I tell him, I won’t be able to figure out if what he says back is real or acting. For how many pages should I agonize over this?

A: Zero. Tell him immediately.

7. Fantasy Quest

Q: So like you know I found a map to the lair of the ancient monster dragon who guards the sparkly thing that will save the universe from destruction. Should I skip my midterms and go get it right away before the witch grabs it for evil purposes?

A: No. Study for your tests, eat your vegetables, and quit peering through game portals.

8. Amateur Detective

Q: I don’t think the police did a thorough investigation into the cookie dough murder, and since I have retired from the library I have time to help. Should I take my poodle Mr. Noodles to the bakery cafe and try to get more information from the shady new waiter?

A: Mind your own business and leave solving crimes to the cops.

9. Family Feud

Q: Should I let the misunderstanding with my sister fester for another 50 years until one of us is dying, or have a difficult conversation with her before the next round of holidays?

A: /eye-roll/

10. True Story

Q: Hey, do you think people would enjoy reading about my transformative journey from—

A: No.

The end.

Three Movies and a Book

I actually went to see a movie in the theater! My friend L and I had the entire place to ourselves Sunday afternoon, which doesn't bode well for the future of movie theaters, especially because the film we chose received good ratings. Drop was classified as horror, which is why some other friends declined to go, but I see it has been reclassified as mystery/thriller. That makes sense ~ I would call it psychological suspense. Anyway, we enjoyed it, and it reinforced our hatred of online dating. After that, I had a delicious veggie sandwich at Boudin Bakery. It is fun to leave the house sometimes, lol.

Also this past weekend I watched 99 Homes on Netflix, starring Michael Shannon, and it was entertaining, though it became a bit preposterous. It's based on the sad reality of evictions during the 2008 foreclosure crisis, but it veers into absurdity at times, such as when a super wealthy house flipper partners up with a random construction dude and brings him to high-level meetings. It has an intriguing ending however, which generated an interesting Reddit discussion.

The Residence is a popular comedy on Netflix, so I checked it out. Hated it! DNF'd episode one and will not try again. I loathe the new way of TV writing/ editing with super short scenes and random snippets of convo flickering past as if the entire show is a montage of previews. Is this due to viewers' short attention spans? It gives me a headache and also irritates me on Bachelor Nation shows. I'm never sure if I'm getting the real gist of a conversation when all they show are truncated snips. Some of the other "reality" shows I've tried are even worse (like Mormon Wives).

Behold the Monster by Jillian Lauren allowed me to check off the true crime nonfiction box on my 2025 Reading Challenge. Sort of. When I requested the book, I didn't realize that Jillian had taken great liberties of fictionalization to the point where I wasn't sure where her actual interviews with Sam Little (serial killer) ended and her imagination began. For example, were all the parts about Sam's childhood abuse real, or did she enhance those same as she did his victims' stories? I found it interesting at first, especially when she did a dive into genetics, but after a while I became bored. Jillian went into great detail about police bureaucracy and such, and I didn't care at all about the layout of buildings and offices blah blah blah. Nor did I need vivid descriptions and back stories on the officers. It was all too much, and the book was too long. I got the feeling Jillian was doing an assignment and needed to pad her wordcount. Two stars.

Weird coincidence ~ right after I began the book, Jillian Lauren (Shriner, married to a rock musician) got shot by the cops outside her own house in Los Angeles (see this article). Jillian's waving a gun at the police kind of makes sense because while I was reading the book, I got an eerie feeling that she was a bit too in sync with psycho Sam. Not every writer who creates monsters is a monster of course, but Jillian seemed to go above and beyond what she needed for the book. Case in point, she has the urn of his ashes in her garage.