Green River, Running Red was written by Ann Rule, one of the most prolific and respected true crime authors of her time. She originally intended to write this book in the mid- to late 1980s, when it was widely believed that the infamous Green River Killer would soon be caught and prosecuted. Instead, the case dragged on for decades. It wasn’t until 2001 that law enforcement finally identified the killer — and not until late 2023 that he was definitively put away for the rest of his life.
I don’t remember when I first heard about Quiet — maybe therapy, maybe work training, maybe somewhere in between — but it ended up on my reading list ages ago. Then one day I was wandering my local Barnes & Noble and saw it sitting on a shelf. I took it as a sign and bought it immediately… where it then sat untouched on my own shelf for months.
Narrative (2nd edition) by Paul Cobley is a bit of a different beast for me — because, at the end of the day, it is a textbook. This is one of the titles recommended by BookTuber Benjamin McEvoy in his “How to Get an Oxford English Education for Free” video, specifically the first book he listed in the English Literature Criticism category. And reading it, you can absolutely tell: this is a book designed to be paired with lectures, discussion, and a professor guiding you through the denser bits.
I have to admit: I didn’t complete all the poetry exercises in this book. I started with good intentions, but quickly realized I’m more interested — at least for now — in understanding how poetry works than in writing my own. And honestly, that’s okay. The exercises will be there if (or when) I circle back. What mattered most to me was learning how “good” poetry is constructed and how best to read it, especially out loud.
Longitude by Dava Sobel is a short, satisfying, and surprisingly engaging read about one of history’s most fascinating scientific challenges: how to measure longitude at sea. Sobel tells the story of the eighteenth-century clockmakers, astronomers, and explorers who tried to solve this problem — a problem that cost lives, ships, and fortunes before it was finally cracked.
It’s not often that a nonfiction book grabs me the way Family of Spies did. I first saw it on a Goodreads “anticipated nonfiction” list and immediately added it to my Want to Read shelf. So when I had the chance to get an advance digital review copy from NetGalley, I jumped on it — and I’m so glad I did. This book completely absorbed me from beginning to end. Christine Kuehn clearly did extensive research, but what makes this story exceptional is how deeply personal it feels. Her discovery of her family’s connections to both Nazi Germany and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is shocking enough, but the way she processes that information — and invites us along as she does — is what makes it unforgettable.
At this point, I’ll read anything written by Carl Sagan. He’s an amazing storyteller with a rare gift for explaining complex ideas without ever talking down to his audience. In other words, he doesn’t make his readers feel like complete idiots. Originally published in 1995, The Demon-Haunted World may show its age in a few examples, but its message is as relevant — if not more so — today as it was nearly thirty years ago.
Tell Me How It Ends may be brief, but it packs a lasting impact. Luiselli’s writing is sharp, direct, and emotionally resonant — never overblown, always purposeful. Every page matters. Structured around the forty questions children face in immigration court, the essay centers their voices while laying bare the inadequacy of a system meant to judge their futures.
This book does a great job taking a lot of information we know about life and considering where we might be able to find it – not only within our solar system, but in the cosmos. Not only that, the author thinks about both life as we know it and life as we don’t know it.
I was curious if this book would analogize to my work as a CPA in the US. Obviously the medical stuff and life-or-death nature of the job doesn’t correlate at all. Despite the view of many corporate executives, a private company’s financial statements aren’t saving lives. No one dies if we don’t issue an audit on time. However, there are a lot of life lessons that can be gained from this book.
