I'm still adjusting to the whole being a parent means you don't have long lazy Sunday afternoons to sit and read thing. Every month when I look at how many books I've read, I'm like wow, that's so much less than I used to read. And then I remember it's probably not fair to compare my pre-kid reading volumes to now. Still working on that.

I read a couple of excellent books over the last two months that I've been recommending to everyone.

So without further ado, onto the books.

Five Stars

James by Percival Everett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This will likely be one of my favorite books of the year This retelling of Huck Finn is so good. I loved to see Jim as a full person, with this whole big life that’s just not there in the original and building such kindness into him, even though he had no real reason to be kind to any of the white people in the book. I couldn’t put this book down and I was sad to leave Jim when it ended.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading this book made me a little bit sad about how we destroyed an entire generation of children with screens and social media. But there was so much good food for thought about what we can do to change the tide and create healthier relationships for our kids with the Internet. I appreciated the practical tips especially at the end of the book. I'd say this is a must read for any parent trying to figure out how to manage devices for their kids.

The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Like many others, I've been following Sharon's corner of the Internet since 2020. I've learned a lot from her, and she's introduced to many new authors and other great books. She's also an excellent storyteller on her podcast, so I was looking forward to her book release. Her strong storytelling continues here. In many sections, I could hear her voice in my head as if she was narrating this on her podcast. I enjoyed the stories she shared in this book, each one infused with hope.

Four Stars

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this was more like 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because I enjoyed the story overall. I did almost throw in the towel because the book opening with creeper lurking in the woods outside of a house was a bit too much for me when I was literally reading this book in the middle of the might. But during the daylight hours the creepy factor was turned down. Ethan Marsh has returned to his childhood home where 30 years ago, his best friend disappeared from the tent where he and Ethan were camping in Ethan's backyard. No body was ever found and no one knew what happened to Billy. But creepy things start happening in the neighborhood, forcing Ethan to reckon with the past.

A Hidden Secret by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another fun Kate Burkholder mystery short story. I listened to the audiobook of this while I was doing chores around the house and it made the time pass very quickly because I just wanted to know where the story was going to go. I really love these short stories that bridge the gap between some of the longer books.

Three Stars

Candy Corn Murder by Leslie Meier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really wanted to love this book as much as I loved the Lucy Stone mystery that I read last Halloween, but this book started a little slow for me. It was still a fun and cozy Halloween mystery. It just started a little slowly.

The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was a fast read, but I really struggled with it. It seemed like Daphne was just so flat in this book and had no real agency. I got frustrated with just about every decision she made and felt like there were a million other choices she could have made instead of the ones she did.

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really liked the payoff at the end of this book, but it was a bit of a journey to get there, and I felt like there needed to be more description or backstory on the mysterious "birds" that supposedly haunt the woods. But besides a few of those challenges I had with the plot, I did enjoy the back and forth timeline building to the climax where almost every character had a motive and almost anyone could have been the dead body found on the beach.

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