Four star review, originally posted here on July 4th, 2025. This book’s subject matter was interesting, and the author did a decent job explaining it. I certainly learned a lot. It definitely wasn’t perfect, though. Whenever we were talking about the books themselves and staying on track, this book shined. We learned about who did … More Goodreads Review: Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin by Megan Rosenbloom

Four star review, originally posted here on June 27th, 2025: This was an interesting memoir, to be sure. I had never heard of Nancy French or her husband before, but the idea of a ghost writer telling their own story was compelling to me. Before reading the book, I was under the impression that it … More Goodreads Review: Ghosted: An American Story by Nancy French

Three star review, originally posted here on June 19th, 2025. My review is pretty much the same as every other 3 star review. There’s nothing new or surprising in this book. Surely nobody is surprised to read that Facebook is a pretty shitty evil profit-driven company run by greedy rich people, right? We would have … More Goodreads Review: Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Four star review, originally posted here on June 9th 2025. Hey look! I read the buzziest book of the year and actually liked it! Achievement unlocked! I don’t have much to say about this book that hasn’t already been stated by every other review out there. This was a creative retelling, and I appreciated hearing … More Goodreads Review: James by Percival Everett

Four star review, originally posted here on June 9th, 2025. This book started out fantastic, and I love the idea. I appreciated the author’s note at the end, where Lawhon explains that this book is basically inspired by a true person, but in no way based on a true story. In fact, the story here … More Goodreads Review: The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Four star review, originally posted here on May 21st, 2025: I read this book in preparation for a recent vacation to Shropshire. Not much to say here- the book is exactly what it advertised itself to be: a nice little introduction to and reference material for all things Shropshire. I admit there were entire sections … More Goodreads Review: The Little Book of Shropshire by John Shipley

Four star review, originally posted here on May 20th, 2025. This is exactly the book I needed. I learned virtually nothing about African history in school. A light look at Egypt in 5th grade, and beyond that, literally nothing. In adulthood, I’ve only picked up very small tidbits here and there, usually in a book … More Goodreads Review: An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence by Zeinab Badawi

Two star review, originally posted here on March 7th, 2025. Yet another book with a great concept but lackluster execution. I was really hoping to ignore the outside world for a few moments a day by escaping into some fiction. I didn’t need it to be good. I just needed it to suck me into … More Goodreads Review: Shelterwood