The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry

This book was really atmospheric but I am not sure what the point was, in the end. While I enjoyed it, it seemed like it was set up to be a plot-driven story, but turned out to be more of a set of character studies? I did like it though, I liked the characters, and the descriptions were good, so I felt I could picture the setting vividly. 

Reread: Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume

Saw this book at Dollar Tree, of all places, and thought I'd grab it for $1.25 before their prices keep getting higher and higher, both out of nostalgia for a book I remember reading as a kid, and also to have a copy of a book that is frequently banned and challenged by people who don't think other people deserve to know actual medical information. The funniest thing about that is that this book isn't some explicit description of anything, it's just a story about maturing and etc. But whatever! 

So of course I had to reread it, and it was entertaining as an adult. At my ripe age, part of me thinks anyone WANTING menstruation has something drastically wrong with them, ha ha. But of course I understand that it was (is? I don't know anymore) a sign of "maturity" and etc. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Margaret's grandmother, even if she is kind of a pain in the neck from time to time. I think there were some interesting lessons in this book. 

Now I am kind of wondering if I should have picked up copies of other Judy Blume books they had.... 

(Starring Sally J. Friedman As Herself, Blubber, Deenie, and maybe 1 other?)

The Curse of Penryth Hall - Jess Armstrong

June's book club choice was... underwhelming. I wanted to like this book but the story was all over the place. And if one more character "wet [his/her] lips" I would have screamed. What does that even mean????? I can't recommend this one. 

The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton

This was a quick read - I basically finished it in 1 day. I enjoyed the story, although some of it was unpleasant, but I am left with a lot of unanswered questions too. Ultimately, I think it's about the power or suggestion, but I don't have a lot of thoughts to back that up. I really wanted to love this one, but I didn't. Not sure what exactly to make of it. 

The Husbands - Holly Gramazio

This was an enjoyable and entertaining Book Club choice.  It was a good "beach read" type of book. It did make me think about how we choose a "partner" to go through life with. 

The Last Ride of the Pony Express - Will Grant

This is an enjoyable non-fiction book about retracing the Pony Express routes. The author has clearly done a lot of research and the writing was good.

The Secret War of Julia Child - Diana R. Chambers

April's Book Club choice left me completely cold. The writing was awful, just amateurish and poorly done. It read like something written by a person who has never read a book in their life. The story itself is heavily fictionalized and full of over the top "action scenes" and silly romance nonsense that I imagine is supposed to build some kind of "will they/won't they" tension but is just tiresome. I suspect everyone else in the Book Club will love it though (I hope I'm wrong). I can't recommend this one. 

After Annie - Anna Quindlen

This was an emotional book about grief. Not sure how I felt about it. 

The Case of the Missing Maid - Rob Osler

What an utterly charming mystery! I really enjoyed this book, coincidentally a mystery set in the 1890s. This time our plucky detective is Harriet Morrow, a character I definitely want to read more about. The book cover says "Harriet Morrow Investigates" so I am hoping this is the beginning of a series, and if so I will happily read all the books. Highly recommended. 

HOWEVER, I do wish the authors of books set in this time period would learn a little more about phonographs, gramophones, cylinders, 78 rpm records, etc. (The previous Book Box book was guilty of this too, I'm not picking on this author). For one thing, volume control was not a thing in this era. In fact, the origin of the expression "put a sock in it" is dampening the sound on a gramophone by cramming something (possibly a sock) into the horn to make the sound softer. Also, recordings in this era were short, and records were generally 1 song long - there were no such things as "albums" where a recording would play for more than, say, about 3 minutes. SOURCE: I own a gramophone from the early 20th century :) Again, I am not picking on this author at all, I loved the book, it's just some extra detail for accuracy :) 

This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This sci-fi book was deceptively short but it has left me thinking. At first I wasn't sure what to make of the premise, but it didn't take me long to get into the story and I was turning pages at quite a clip to see how things turned out. Looking forward to the Book Club discussion on this one.