A deeply compelling exploration of the death industry and the people—morticians, detectives, crime scene cleaners, embalmers, executioners—who work in it and what led them there. We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that ... more >
The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins This was the first of my two short Halloween reads. Like most of my Halloween reads, it wasn’t particularly scary. The story opens with the Countess Narona visiting a doctor in London, and recounting a strange story about her meeting her fiance’s jilted lover. ... more >
I run a virtual book club for seniors, volunteering for a non-profit (check it out and see if you’d like to help, or consider participating in the national village movement closer to your home), and we take turns picking out the books we read. One of the advantages this has ... more >
From the host of the YouTube channel that went viral—Dad, How Do I?—comes a book that’s part memoir/part inspiration/part DIY. Rob Kenney’s father left him and his seven siblings when he was fourteen years old, and the youngest had to fend for themselves. He wished that he had someone who ... more >
Usually I have more books on my quarterly reading list, but in addition to the five books here, I read and reviewed seven other books: The Trials of Koli, Quiet in Her Bones, Overnight Sensation and Superfan, Book of Love, The Fall of Koli, and An Unexpected Peril All Creatures ... more >
“How do you start a journey when the roads are blocked? Who can you trust in a country where the Nazi regime has only just fallen? “This is the story of the liberation of four Dutch political prisoners at the end of World War II, and about their trek home ... more >