TTT: Halloween Freebie

TTT: Halloween Freebie

I know. Boring. I share the same Spotify list every year at this time. Except I do add new songs each year so the list is getting longer and longer. Push play and have a listen while you look at these funny photos of animals in costumes.

 

Happy Musical Halloween!

-Anne

Sunday Salon --Frightening and fun

Weather: We are experiencing the third driest October in over 100 years. I know it is not nice to spend the whole autumn under an umbrella, but we need rain! (Frightening.) Update: As I am finishing up before posting, it has started to ran! Yippee!

Trolls: The photo above is a collage of the eight Thomas Dambo trolls who are visiting Northwest Trek, an animal park in Pierce County, where we live. Our grandsons had two days off for teacher conferences so we commandeered them for one day. The mission: to find all the trolls who were hidden all around the park. We started our quest around 12:30 pm and we found the last one around 3:30 pm, right before the park closed for the day. We got a late start because we first had to take our youngest grandson to urgent care, at the request of our daughter, because he was complaining of a sore neck and headache. Poor guy has strep. He still wanted to go to the park so we dosed him with Motrin and wore masks whenever we were in direct contact with other people, like when we were on the tram tour portion of the day. I guess he crashed when he got home, sleeping for three hours in the late afternoon. There are four more trolls at the St. Defiance Zoo in Tacoma which are part of the same grouping. Guess we'll have to figure out another day we can take the boys on another troll hunt. (Pretend frightening and fun.)

On Tyranny: Timothy Snyder put together a very small book with 20 lessons to help people to resist acts of tyranny from their government. Below is the the actor John Lithgow reading out the 20 lessons. If you'd prefer not to watch but wonder what the twenty lessons are, I've listed them below. I recommend you read the book, too. It is short and to the point. (Frightening.)

Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny Lessons: (1) Do Not Obey in Advance; (2) Defend Institutions; (3) Beware the One-Party System; (4) Take Responsibility for the Face of the World; (5) Remember Professional Ethics; (6) Be Wary of Paramilitaries; (7) Be Reflective if You Must Own a Gun; (8) Stand Out (this means, speak up, even when others do not); (9) Be Kind to Our Language; (10) Believe in Truth; (11) Investigate; (12) Make Eye Contact and Small Talk; (13) Practice Corporeal Politics; (14) Establish a Private Life; (15) Contribute to Good Causes; (16) Learn from Peers in Other Countries; (17) Listen for Dangerous Words; (18) Be Calm When the Unthinkable Arrives; (19) Be a Patriot; (20) Be as Courageous as You Can.

Do you live in the USA? Please vote early if you can! I know it sounds hyperbolic, but our democracy depends on good people voting so our new Congress can help protect us from a maniacal president. (Frightening but hopeful.)

Do you believe in life after Trump? (Fun)

Books:

• Currently reading --
• Howl's Moving Castle by Wynn-Jones. I am loving this middle grade book. Can you believe this is my first time reading it? Audio. 15%
• A Mercy: a novel by Morrison. Going back to the beginning of our country, Morrison writes a story about the beginnings of slavery. eBook. 2%.
• Recently finished --
• The Things We Never Say by Strout. A Booker Prize finalist, Strout does it again, writing a story with relatable characters who struggle with their inner life. Who doesn't? Print. 4+ stars.
• Crook Manifesto by Whitehead. The second book in the Harlem Shuffle series. This wasn't a good audiobook choice. I had a hard time following the action. Audio. 3 stars.
• The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 1 by Brower. A fun introduction to the series. I am ready to read on. Audio. 4 stars.
• Homestead by Moustakis. A book club selection. Our discussion was fun even if I had some issues with the story or the writing. Audio. 4 stars.
• Recent blog posts --
• TTT: My Perfect Day
• Review: Mad Mabel
• Upcoming November Reading Challenges

Have a good week! Just a few more things to think about...

From Heather Cox Richardson. (Frightening)

-Anne

Upcoming Reading Challenges: Novellas in November and Nonfiction November

Two reading challenges for the month of November: Ready, Set, Go!

 I spent a little time today on the library catalog lining up possible reads for November in preparation for the two challenges for the coming month.

1. Novellas in November:

Hosted by Bookish Beck and Cathy@746Books

For the purposes of this challenge books under 200 pages qualify, even nonfiction titles which are under that page count.

The read-along book:  

Sympathy Tower Tokyo by Qudan, 197 pages 

Other books I may read:

1. Terrestrial by Rivera Garza, 160 pages

2. A Mercy by Morrison, 167 pages

3. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson, 111 pages

4. On Community by Plett (Nonfiction), 170 pages

2. Nonfiction November:

Hosted by Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

Weekly topics are:

Week 1 November 2-8 - My Year in Nonfiction - Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? 

Hosted by Heather at Based on a True Story.

Week 2 November 9-15 - Nonfiction Journeys - This week choose a book that reflects a journey for its author or for the reader or both.  This can be a physical journey,  an emotional, psychological or spiritual journey or a combination of these.   Any nonfiction title that leaves its author/protagonist and/or reader in a different place at the end from the start point is good for this challenge.   

Hosted by Frances at volatilerune.blog   

Week 3 November 16-22 - Nonfiction Pairings - This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. Or maybe it’s just two books you feel have a link, whatever they might be. You can be as creative as you like!

Hosted by Liz at librofulltime.wordpress.com

Week 4 November 23-29 - What I've Added to my TBR - It's a month of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones made it into your TBR? Be sure to link up to the original blogger who posted about that book.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz 

Books I'm considering for the month:

1. Let the Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom by Felix

2. Your Presence is a Danger to Your Life: Voices of Survival and Witness in Gaza by Yazbek, translated from Arabic by Price

3. The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America by Levithan and Duckel

4. Trash: A Garbageman's Story by Pare-Poupart

As per usual, I will try to double up on other challenges I'm trying to finish up for the year which include the Goodreads Fall Challenge and the National Book Award Challenge.

-Anne

Friday Book Snippets: MAD MABEL

Title: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

1st snippet, from the prologue:

It is interesting to note that there are two groups of people who are rarely, if ever, suspected of murder. These groups are elderly women and little girls.

2nd snippet, 69% of the preview:

School is an arduous thing. Sure, there are a few who sail through it like a yacht on the breeze, untouched by its breathless cruelty, but the vast majority would agree that its ghastly.

Summary: Elise Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She wasn't always Elise. Once she was Mad Mabel Waller, the youngest person in Australia to be convicted of murder. Was she really mad or was she just misunderstood? Finally she is tells her story to correct the record.

My thoughts: A month ago I attended a birthday party for a friend who was turning 70. Her friends and family came together to celebrate her big day. I only knew a few people at the event so I ended up in a small group with people I didn't know when it was time to play the guessing game. As we sat together we started visiting and as per usual the topic turned to books. One of the gals talked about her favorite recent reads -- Mad Mabel. To my memory she talked about how funny and complex the book was. When it came time to select a new book for our club, several gals suggested Mad Mabel and that conversation came back to me. I looked forward to reading a funny, complex novel.

When I finally started listening to the audiobook I found myself waiting for "funny." The book's summary led me to believe it would happen: "Sharp, surprising, and wickedly funny, this is the unforgettable story of a woman who’s spent a lifetime being underestimated—and is about to prove everyone wrong. Again." Maybe I don't have a good sense of humor. The story is certainly complex but not funny to me. Maybe there were a few funny moments but by-in-large, not funny. When Elise finally gets the chance she tells a story of a tragic and neglected childhood. In the second snippet we learn about what her life was like a school -- tortuous. Then she would go home and the neglect would begin. Her story was really heartbreaking. 

I thought that Sally Hepworth did a good job threading the needle, though. The story really wasn't super maudlin. I only cried a tiny bit. But by the end of the book I found myself cheering for Elise and her new life as a neighbor and a friend. It was a very tender ending. 

I'll be interested to hear what the other gals in my book club think -- funny or not funny. I'll let you know.

______________________________________________________ 

Welcome to a combined Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday56 with a new name Friday Book Snippets. I am co-hosting this weekly blogging event with Olivia at Bemused & Bookish. You can link up at either of our sites but be sure to still visit and comment on other participant's blogs to increase our community.

Directions: Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a) the book's opening and b) page 56 (or another page) from the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please. 

Click on the "OH-NO" message and it will take you to the linkup this week. I'll find you there.

LinkUp: 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

-Anne

TTT: My Perfect Day

Here is the family at the cabin on the mountain lake.

My Perfect Day

I am with my whole family at a cabin in the woods on a scenic, mountain lake. 

I wake at sunrise when the mist is still over the lake. I take a hot cup of coffee outside and sit quietly on the deck watching the sun rise over the mountain, meditating on the beauty of the setting. I am joined by my daughter who wants to sit quietly also, listening to birdsongs hoping to identify some.

Over a simple breakfast the family plans the activities of the day. Shall we go for a quick hike or go out in the canoe first? My grandsons are with us and we decide on a polliwog (tadpole) hunt and a visit to the neighbors' cabin. It is time we go over so the kids can meet and play together.

Later the family gathers in our swimsuits on the dock and play in the water or we sun ourselves. The temperature is in the high 70s or low 80s F. I visit with my sisters, while the men paddle the kids out to the neighbor's moored sailboat. They climb aboard and play pirates. Laughter is the music of the moment.

I move to the hammock in the shade with my book, though I find myself lulled to sleep for a moment or two. A hummingbird buzzes me en route to a feeder near the deck.

On this perfect day my father is still alive and healthy. He and I my brother head to a nearby stream in search of periwinkles (snail larvae) which they will use for fishing bait. Late afternoon is a perfect time for them to take the boat out to the favorite fishing hole. The old trolling engine starts on the first pull on this day.

While the two men fish, the rest of us will gather around for a rousing game of nerts at the big table inside. Things get very competitive but we all know it is just for fun. 

For dinner we make it simple. Barbequed burgers, chips, watermelon, salad. Everyone eats outside on the deck. For some reason the mosquitoes and other bugs have decided to leave us alone. (It's my perfect day, after all!)

A few folks make sure that the logs in the firepit are lit and will be burned down to hot coals in time for making S'mores later in the evening. We all gather around the fire, roasting marshmallows on sticks and preparing the chocolate bars and graham crackers to accept them when they are toasted to the correct golden color.

My husband breaks out his guitar and we sing a few songs before people start to drift away preparing for bed.

It was a perfect day.

(This is an idyllic variation on the vacations of my childhood. My family would rent a cabin on a lake in the mountains. Time stood still as my siblings and I, along with our parents, wandered from one low-key activity to the next. None of our activities were planned other than we had food available on a schedule and we usually came home from the vacation with a nice tan. We would play raucous game of nerts and spend hours paddling around in the inflatable kayak. Now that all my siblings and I have our own families there are too many of us to stay at the cabin but we have visited it for an afternoon (see photo) so the kids get an idea of what life was like when vacations were perfect 😎)

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- October 17, 2026

Our Purple Autumn Ash finished dropping all its leaves this week. Here is Bingley showing off the colors.

Weather: Yesterday it was almost 80 degrees. It felt good but it is also worrisome. It shouldn't be 80 in October. The weather person on the news assured us the temperature was coming down today and it may even rain a bit.

Today is No Kings Day of Action, October 17th -- If you can't attend an event in your area, like I can't, at least vote early!!! Don and I spent an hour yesterday filling out our ballots and then drove to drop them off at one of several drop-off spots in our area. We are lucky we don't have to rely on the mail.

A friend visited from afar: My best friend from my hometown visited us this past week from Singapore, where she lives now. Being with a long time friend was such a comfort. Know what I mean? Talking about things without having to to fill in the backstory or to explain oneself. Unfortunately, though we sat and visited for hours, we didn't take a photo of two old-ish ladies who have known each other for almost 55 years. Thanks for the visit, Rita. I love you!

Reading is finally picking up: With the trip and then the jet-lag, reading has really fallen off lately. But I finally seem to have my reading mojo back.

    Currently reading:

• Homestead by Melinda Moustakis -- set in Alaska prior to statehood. A book club selection for Tuesday's meeting. Audiobook. 40%
• The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout -- Another book by a favorite author. 36%
• Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead -- the second book in the Harlem Shuffle trilogy. Audiobook with Don. Just started.

    Recently completed and reviewed:

• Good Poems edited by Garrison Keillor -- I've been reading this poetry collection all summer. Review pending.
• Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman -- I finished this audiobook sitting in the back of the rented car while we sped toward Scotland.
• Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout -- I finally finished the Amgash series now that I've read this, the second book!
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway -- This classic is 100 years old this month. I've finally read it!
• Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth -- Someone told me this book was funny. I didn't think so. It was really very sad with moments of hope. Another book club selection. Review pending.

Blogging: I scheduled several posts to hit while we were on the trip, so this is essentially a month of blogging:

• FBS: Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
• TTT: My Fall Reading List
• FBS: The Typing Lady by Ruth Ozeki
• TTT: Matching Fall themes with Books
• FBS: The Astral Library by Kate Quinn
• Sunday Salon: Highlights of UK Trip
• TTT: Books That Conjure Up Happy Memories
• Banned Books Week
• Book Tag - Goals to get me to the end of 2026
• TTT: Books that Feature Indigenous People

A short post today. We are jumping in the car for a quick 24-hour trip to Oregon! I'll visit with you on the flip-flop.

-Anne

Friday Book Snippets: ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

Title: Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

First page snippet, from the story "The Sign": 

Tommy Guptill once owned a dairy farm, which he'd inherited from his father, and which was about two miles from Amgash, Illinois. This was many years ago now, But at night Tommy still sometimes woke with the fear he had felt the night his dairy farm burned to the ground.

2nd snippet, page 57, from the story "Windmills":

Now, as Patty drove into her own driveway and saw the lights she had left on, she realized that Lucy Barton's book understood her. That was it -- the book understood her.

Summary: Anything Is Possible is the 2nd book in the Amgash series by Elizabeth Strout. It is a collection of related stories about people who live in or around the small town of Amgash and who knew Lucy Barton, the protagonist of the series, when she grew up there years ago.

My thoughts: Lucy Barton grew up poor, real poor in Amgash where she and her two siblings were outcasts at school and desperately unhappy. Lucy's dream of becoming a writer was helped by a counselor at her school who helped her get a scholarship to college. She did become a writer and published several books which, to the people left behind in Amgash, makes her either a celebrity or someone who advanced beyond her station in life. This book is populated with these people, who periodically interact with Lucy.

Back in 2016 one of my book clubs read I Am Lucy Barton, the first book in a new series by Elizabeth Strout. In the book Lucy has an operation, which she barely survives. During her convalescence, her mother comes to stay with her. It isn't until this book, published in 2017, where we come to understand how astonishing it is that the mother came to be with Lucy since the she had never shown Lucy or her siblings any kindness at all when they were growing up. In fact we learn about how dire Lucy's whole childhood was and how amazing it was that she made it out of the life of such terrible poverty. 

I'm not sure at the time I realized the first book was part of a series at all and so I didn't read on until 2022 when that the same book club selected the 4th book in the series, Lucy By the Sea, for a club meeting. This time I felt more connected to the story since it was a COVID lock-in story, one we could all relate to since we had all lived it. In 2024 when the 5th book in the series, Tell Me Everything, was published I was first in line to read it. Having now read the 1st, 4th, and 5th books in the series it was time to go back and read #2 and #3. Oddly I picked the third book, Oh, William, to read next and now finally I have finished the whole series by completing the second book, Anything is Possible.

I liked the whole series, I think I gave all the books a rating of 4 stars, and I really like Elizabeth Strout's writing style, which I find very readable. In this book, for example, I was able to easily make the jump from one story to the next as I learned about Lucy Barton's life through the eyes of others. It was a very clever writing technique. If you are familiar with the author's body of work at all you have probably heard of her Olive Kitteridge book and series. The first book won the Pulitzer Prize for literature. In that series, as in this series, characters from other books often make cameo appearances, which makes one feel connected to the town/setting. I like that a lot. Today I will start a new book by the author, published in 2026, The Things We Never Say. I expect to meet some old "friends" along the way.

______________________________________________________ 

Welcome to a combined Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday56 with a new name Friday Book Snippets. I am co-hosting this weekly blogging event with Olivia at Bemused & Bookish. You can link up at either of our sites but be sure to still visit and comment on other participant's blogs to increase our community.

Directions: Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a) the book's opening and b) page 56 (or another page) from the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please. 

LinkUp: 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

-Anne

Classic Review: THE SUN ALSO RISES --- 100 years old!

The Sun Also Rises was Ernest Hemingway's first novel and it was published in October 1926. Today I found the original review of the book published in the New York Times (Oct. 31, 1926) and decided I would share a few snippets from that review and add a bit of my own commentary to it.

NYT: Ernest Hemingway's first novel The Sun Also Rises, treats a certain of those younger Americans concerning whom Gertrude Stein has remarked: "You are all a lost generation."

It is well known that Hemingway served as a Red Cross volunteer in the Great War as an ambulance driver on the Italian front. After the war he became a correspondent for the Toronto Star living in Paris, 1921-28. While in Paris he famously palled around with other authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, and James Joyce. The Sun Also Rises is one of the novels most closely associated with the Lost Generation due to the novel's epigraph, which is the quote by Gertrude Stein. This generation became disillusioned with traditional values after the terrible war and the huge toll it cost on human life. This disillusionment was on full display in The Sun Also Rises.

NYT: Mr. Hemingway has chosen a segment of life which might easily have become "a spectacle with unexplained horrors"...On the face of it, he has simply gathered, almost at random, a group of American and British expatriates from Paris, conducted them on a fishing expedition, and exhibited them against the background of a wild Spanish fiesta and bullfight. The characters are concisely indicated. Much of the inherent natures are left to be betrayed by their own speech, by their apparently aimless conversation among themselves. Mr. Hemingway makes his characters say one thing, convey still another...

The characters are Jake Barnes, a news correspondent working in Paris; Bill Gorton, an American novelist who is celebrating a recent publication of a book; Lady Brett Ashley, a British lady waiting for her divorce from a husband who returned from war with severe PTSD (though it wasn't called that in the book); Mike Campbell, Brett's fiancé, a hard-drinking Scottish war veteran; Robert Cohn, another author who is out of ideas for a new book, he is obsessed with Brett; and Pedro Romero, a bullfighter.

The characters, minus the bullfighter, spend the majority of the book drinking copious amounts of alcohol and talking about each other, often behind someone's back. Jake loves Brett while Robert is obsessed with her. She is with Mike but chases other men endlessly. In a letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald who asked what the book was about, Hemingway said, "the only instruction is how people go to hell."

NYT: The story is told in the person by Jake Barnes, an American newspaper correspondent. The approach notoriously invites digress and clumsiness. The way Hemingway plays this hard-boiled Jake is comparable to Jake's own evocations of the technique of the expert matador handling his bull. In fact, the bullfight within the story hears two relations to the narrative proper. It not only serves to bring the the situation to a crisis, but also suggests the design which Mr. Hemingway is following. He keeps goading Jake, leading him on, involving him in difficulties, averting serious tragedy for him, just as the matador conducts the bull through the elaborate pattern of danger.

It wasn't until I read this review that I understood what Hemingway was attempting to show us about his main character, Jake, through the example of bullfighting. Sometimes I have to get hit in the head before I finally understand why a book has become a classic. There it is. A bullfighting story to explain a man.

NYT: It is truly a gripping story, told in lean, hard, athletic narrative prose that puts more literary English to shame. Mr. Hemingway knows how not only to make words be specific but how to arrange a collection of words which shall betray a great deal more than is to be found in the individual parts. It is magnificent writing, filled with that organic action which gives a compelling picture of character.

Isn't this amazing? The reviewer recognized aspects of Hemingway's writing that the author came to be known for throughout his career: athletic prose and specific words arranged carefully. This was Hemingway's first novel and already he was showing us what to expect from him in the future. 

Whew. I admit I like the book a bit more after reading this 100-year-old review, written in what I think of as old-fashioned language. Hemingway's writing style isn't my favorite. I miss the transitions and descriptions. I hated the constant and limitless drinking. I spent half the book worrying that someone was going to die from alcohol poisoning or that they were all alcoholics, which I've pretty sure that at least two of them were. Maybe the unrestrained alcohol use was Hemingway's idea of what going to hell looked like. I guess I would concur. Hemingway and the other Lost Generation writers were known for their heavy drinking. And alcohol use, or the numbing that happens when one drinks, could certainly be a symptom of the meaninglessness of a disillusioned generation.

Amor Towles, who wrote the introduction for the Penguin Classics edition I read, said this in conclusion: 

The immediacy of the novel is one the central reasons for its durability. By focusing his narrative on an acutely observed moment in time unburdened by the baggage of the past or the moralizing of the future, by stripping his prose of qualifications, interruptions, and unnecessary verbiage, by allowing the flaws of his characters to be on unvarnished display, Hemingway ensures that we are fully present in the tale.

Hemingway takes us from alluring Paris, gives us a fishing trip for a reprieve, and ultimately we end up to Pamplona and are in the terrain of the bull. "The Sun Also Rises remains deeply satisfying despite essentially being a novel about unpleasant people behaving unpleasantly." 

________________________________________________

Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. Penguin, 2022.

“MARITAL TRAGEDY; the SUN ALSO RISES. By Ernest Hemingway. 259 Pp. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. $2..” The New York Times, 31 Oct. 1926, https://www.nytimes.com/1926/10/31/archives/marital-tragedy-the-sun-also-rises-by-ernest-hemingway-259-pp-new.html. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

-Anne

TTT: Top Books Featuring Indigenous People/History

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Book Featuring Indigenous People

Today is Indigenous Peoples' Day (used to be Columbus Day) in the U.S. I decided to go off-the-board and create a list of excellent books featuring Indigenous people! (Indigenous tribes in parenthesis)

1-3. The Justice Trilogy by Louise Erdrich (Ojibwe)

    a. The Plague of Doves (2008)

    b. The Round House (2012)

    c. LaRose (2016) 

     I cannot begin to tell you how impactful these books have been to understanding Indigenous people and culture. I sum up each book in the link about the trilogy. 

     I have really enjoyed all of the Erdich's books I've read and recommend them all. She is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa, an Ojibwe tribe. All her books include at least some Indigenous characters. The Sentence; The Night Watchman; The Mighty Red. 

4. Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi)

A nonfiction book of botanical wisdom and human-nature reciprocity. It is very kind and gentle an makes one feel that they too can become a better person. There is an adult book, too, but I like the YA book better.

5. Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (Blackfeet)

It might be a horror story but it is also a historical account of the heartbreaking story of what happened to the Blackfeet nation when the buffalo hunters came to their land.

6. There There by Tommy Orange (Cheyenne, Arapaho, Lakota, urban Native Americans)

Native Americans come to life in their own chapters but soon we see that they are almost dancing around each other as the circle dance draws closer and closer to the final event, the Big Oakland Powwow. Some of the characters will come to dance in their regalia, others will come to fulfill work commitments, while others will come with mischief in their hearts. Profound. There is a sequel: Wandering Stars.

7. Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley (Ojibwe)

A teenage girl works undercover for the police on her reservation. It is a mystery but it also includes lots of the tribe's traditions and cultures. The first book of a YA series. I haven't read the other books.

8. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Osage)

A super interesting account of what happened to the Osage tribe in Oklahoma in the early 1920s. Much better than the movie which was made from it.

9. Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee, Cree, Apache, Tuscarora, Navajo, Native Hawaiian, Choctaw, Aleut/Alutiiq, and more.)

Short stories by a variety of Indigenous authors. Native teens all receive the help they need when they arrive (often magically) at the Legendary Frybread Drive-In.

10. Apple (Skin to the Core): a Memoir by Eric Gansworth (Onondaga)

A memoir written by an Indigenous author and artist. The book is written in verse and is about his life as an outsider. He is a member of one tribe but lived on a reservation for another tribe (Tuscarora). The term "Apple" is a slam to a Native person. It means red on the outside but white on the inside.

11. You Don't Have to Say You Love Me: a Memoir by Sherman Alexie (Spokane)

If you haven't read any Alexie, I suggest you start with his much-awarded, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, a semi-autobiographical/fictional account of a young Indian growing up on the Wellpinit Reservation (Spokane tribe) in Washington state, but going to school off the Rez...making him a part-time Indian in both places. Then read or listen to this book You Don't Have to Say You Love Me: a Memoir and the picture of his life will be filled in.

12. Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Lakota Nation/ Rosebud Sioux tribe) 

A mystery set on the Rosebud Sioux reservation of South Dakota. Winter counts refers to a traditional Lakota pictorial calendar system.

13. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters (Mi’kmaq, mainly found in Northeastern Canada)

A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl is kidnapped when her family is picking berries in Maine. What her absence does to the family is the focus of the story. Profound. First book in a series.

14. Poet Warrior: a Memoir by Joy Harjo (Muscogee)

Harjo is the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States. This is her story.

_____________________________________________________________

Books I'd like to read by Indigenous authors:

• Bad Indians Book Club by Patty Krawec (Anishinaabe)
• The Door on the Sea by Caskey Russell (Tlingit)
• If the Dead Belong Here by Carson Faust (Edisto Natchez-Kusso)
• To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage (Cherokee)
• Whereas: Poems by Layli Long Soldier (Oglala Sioux)
• The Tao of Raven: A Native Alaskan Memoir by Ernestine Hayes (Tlingit)

-Anne

Goals to Get Me to the End of 2026 Book Tag

I got the idea to do this book tag from Emma at Words and Peace who posted her 2026 goals book tag the other day. The creator of the tag is Lost in the Narrative. Emma tweaked things and so did I.

GOAL #1:
Are there any books that you started this year that you need to finish?

Yes, three:

• The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days by Kate Bowler
• Jane Austen: For Every Day of the Year by Tara Richardson
• The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

GOAL #2
Do you have any holiday books you hope to read before year's end?

Possibles:

•  The Bewitching due to its Halloween-ish theme and it is a book on the Goodreads challenge for the fall.  
• Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. I wanted to read it last year for the Christmas season but didn't get to it.

GOAL #3
Is there a new release that you’re still waiting for?

I have three fall releases I hope to get to:

• Partita by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon
• Hollywood, Ending by John Green

GOALS #4
What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

• The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (Book Prize Shortlist)
• Dèy by Edwidge Danticat(National Book Award finalist, Fiction category)
• Tree of Knowledge by Victoria Chang (National Book Award finalist, Poetry category)

GOAL #5
Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year?

It might be Partita. I have loved all of Kingsolver's books so it wouldn't surprise me if it took over the number one spot.

GOAL #6

Goals you created in January you still need to finish up before year's end?

Oh boy. It's a lot:

• Read one of the Booker Prize finalists (See above #4)
• Read two of the winners or finalists for the National Book Award (See above #4)
• Read two past winners of the Pulitzer Prize (Unlikely)
• Read two 2026 Printz Honor books (Less likely)
• Read seven books for the Autumn Goodreads Challenge (doubling up is allowed)
• Read and review the remaining four book club books for the two clubs
• Read four more books from the NYT Best Books of the 21 Century list
• Total=22 books. I could read that many books in the remaining time but it is very unlikely that I will finish all these goals. That number, 22, doesn't include the books I want to finish and the new releases I want to get to, either. That total is 29. Gulp. Next year I am paring down my challenge list for sure. My heart is no longer into many of these challenges: Printz and Pulitzer past winners among them. The NYT Times listed books I've read recently I haven't liked so I may remove that personal challenge, too. Who cares if I read the books on that list or not?

GOAL #7
Have you already started making reading plans for 2027?

1. I am only at the mulling over stage of what book I want for my One Big Book Challenge of 2027. I'm considering from: 

• Anna Karenina
• Midnight's Children
• Don Quixode 
• Crime and Punishment

2. I want to read a book published in 1927, making it 100 years old, so I am checking for possible options:

• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolfe
• Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
• The Big Four by Agatha Christie
• Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne

Phew. I need to get to work!

-Anne