⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I love a good crime story with a morally ambiguous detective. But while the writing was solid, the noir elements on point, and a host of interesting characters kept it fresh, at some point the side stories and characters got overwhelming. Simply put: there were too many names.

⭐️⭐️ - I wanted to love this, but it just didn’t work for me. The story is fine and the writing is excellent. In the end it was the characters that threw me off. Your mileage may vary because my rating is both a Goodreads and StoryGraph outlier. Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito is now available.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - It took me a little while to get into this book, but I’m glad I stuck with it because I ended up loving to read about food, obsession, murder, love, Japanese society, and, yes, butter. I really need to visit Japan and eat. Butter, by Asako Yuzuki is now available.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I loved this book. Great writing and pace, not to mention that online porn described in Yiddish terms is perfection. As is the book’s cover. Shmutz by Felicia Berliner is now available.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Reading slumps are no joke, but Joan helped me out by being authentic, charmingly awkward, and unintentionally (for the most part) funny. Joan is Okay by Weike Wang is now available. #booksky

Spent some time at the Brookline Booksmith yesterday finally using up a Christmas gift card. 😍

Haven’t read his work in decades but fondly remember the impression his books made on me. My late brother would send them to me while he was in college and I was in middle school and they opened my eyes to what stories could be.

I missed positing on here but Feb 6 was the book launch of Considering Us by @jennbouchardbos.bsky.social! Thanks so much for sending the library a copy to share! #booksky

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Going in I knew this would be painful but I do seem to have a type... The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson is now available in the library on this snowy Sunday. #littlefreelibrary #booksky

If I read any more news my head might actually explode so instead I’ve pulled out my bookbinding materials and am back to work. If I’m too distracted to read a book at least I can make one.

I know it’s February 1, but I forgot to share my 2024 StoryGraph year in review! #booksky #littlefreelibrary

I’ve been running a Bookstagram account since 2020 for my little library and announced yesterday it will be going dark as I continue to dump my META accounts. And I finally got out of my reading slump with Jesmyn Ward’s Let Us Descend, which is now in the snow covered library. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️