What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? Please share! We’d love to know.
FINISHED:
THE WOUND IS WHERE THE LIGHT ENTERS by Chris Young—Texas Book Festival author 2026
“At twenty-six years old, after spending four years in the county jail awaiting my day in court, I was sentenced to life in prison without parole triggered by two prior drug felonies (the three-strike rule).”
Chris’s story will open your eyes to the horrors of incarceration and the futility of caging people then it will break your heart as he fights through medical needs, bureaucratic red tape, and personal loss. It is a remarkable story of resilience and perseverance.
CATCH THE DEVIL: A True Story of Murder Deception and Injustice on the Gulf Coast by Pamela Colloff 
Texas Book Festival author 2026
Paul Skalnik was a prison con man who was always willing to volunteer cellmate “confessions.” The investigators and the courts wanting to close cases took him at his word more often than not. When Jim Dailey a ne’er do well Vietnam vet was caught up in a case that involved the murder of a young girl, it was Skalnik’s account of Jim’s participation that put Jim on death row. After years of investigation and conversations with Skalnick, Dailey and others who knew of the case, Colloff delivers a sad but gripping report of the evidence in the case and her belief in Jim Dailey’s innocence.
THE BURNING SIDE by Sarah Damoff—Texas Book Festival author 2026
When April and Leo’s house burns their marriage is already stressed. They move in with her parents who have recently received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. In many ways these are people passing through life stuck in their own problems and not seeing the love that’s in the middle of it all. ~~
NOW READING:
THE UNDERSTORY by Saneh Sangsuk, translated by Mui Poopoksakul—
OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution by Denise Kiernan—Texas Book Festival author 2026
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND: A Road Trip Through U.S. History by Beverly Gage—Texas Book Festival author 2026
American history survey course through some specific locations—think history road trip.
THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF FIRST LADY FREEMAN by Deesha Philyaw
Texas Book Festival author 2026
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I’m reading Reset, The House of Cromwell and two other others soon to be determined. Last week I read Swan Song, Code Name Dagger, The Sun Also Shines and Cat Lady.
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I finished The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz, the October discussion book. I will save my comments for that discussion, but as I read it, I thought it was an amazing story. My opinion of it may change after I learned more about it subsequent to having read it.
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Last Week:
I finished My Friends by Fredrik Backman and will rave about it to anyone who will listen. It is such a nice slice of lime and the author really knows how to tell a story with multiple storylines.
I should be done with Buckeye by Patrick Ryan by tomorrow. I am getting very emotionally involved with the characters and story. They are living tough lives (some aspects of which are their fault) but it ends up as a sad family situation. I am 47 pages from the end and honestly don’t know how it will go.
Next up in the stack is The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb and I am excited to read it because I have not read any of Lamb’s work.
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Finished up with Lisa See’s Lady Tan’s Circle of Women and while she writes wonderfully informative (fictional) history of China, the overwhelming repeated trials and tribulations and details of the foot binding could have been dialed back. I appreciated her notes after about the historical accuracy about Lady Tan. Our book club has read and discussed several books of hers.
Now I’m reading Etna by Paul Yoon. “Set in a fictional country in the present day, this is a story told through the eyes of an ex-military dog, Etna.” Also reading The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout.
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OOPS, sorry, did not mean previous comments as reply to @Anthony_Conty . But now that I’m here, I really enjoyed My Friends. So personal and engaging.
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I quit last week’s The Beasts of the East: The Fall and Rise of America’s Eastern Wilderness by Andrew Moore. I made it to the fourth chapter but could stomach no more. Too depressing.
I’m now reading The Mysterious Mr. Badman: A Yorkshire Bibliomystery by W.F. Harvey (first published in 1934) and up next will be another mystery from the 1930s, Fast Company by Marco Page.
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Last week I read:
THE READING LIST by Sara Nisha Adam’s The beginning of the book was a fun and entertaining read, but by the middle it went downhill. A list of books is found by a librarian in a book that was returned. The list is a source of mystery and is circulated by many people. I agree with @Erin_O and her book club’s assessment of the book posted in last week’s recent reads. It was a likable read however, it had potential with a mix of interesting characters but the depth of the plot was weak. All the books on the list should have been included more in the plot.
THE JOY LUCK CLUB by Amy Tan I chose this book for my challenge topic: to read a book that was made into a movie. I enjoyed the 1993 movie, and I have rewatched it often. Surprisingly, I thought the movie was a successful adaptation of the book. The book is about 4 women immigrants from China to San Francisco around the time of the Japanese invasion. The women form a wonderful bond and each week meet to play Mahjong. The book does a remarkable job describing the relationship of each motherʼs challenge with their American born daughter’s and the generational and cultural conflict.
THE LONG WALK: A Story of War and the Life That Follows by Brian Castner I mistakenly assumed this was September’s read for 1,000 books to read.
However the book I was supposed to read was written by Slavomic Rawicz. Obviously I wii have to have more attention in our future books. Thankfully the book by Castner was interesting. The author describes a serviceman’s life out in the field (in Iraq after the 2nd war) and the subsequent life at home with its psychological impacts. The author describes the problems our military had in trying to normalize life in Iraq after the overthrow of the government, problems of which most civilians are not aware. These problems should be a major consideration as we try to determine a course of action in the future/
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I finished Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve by Lenora Chu, which was discussed at an IRL book group the previous week. (I had two more chapters to read when I attended the meeting, but since it is a memoir, I wasn’t concerned about spoilers, etc.) Her experiences with the Chinese education system was interesting, but the storyline was a bit dry and repetitive at times, so it was an effort to finish it. For a reading break, I read Nina Totenberg’s memoir, Dinners with Ruth which was very touching and enlightening.
I’m now rereading Rachel Beanland’s Florence Adler Swims Forever in preparation to lead a discussion at my local library’s IRL book group. And, speaking of the library, I borrowed a copy of Lily King’s Heart the Lover, which I’m looking forward to reading next. I read Writers and Lovers by King six years ago, so I’m doubtful that I’ll remember much to link the characters to her more recent publication.
Happy reading, all!
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THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE by Erik Larson. I’m reading it for book club, but it was on my TBR list, anyhow. It’s about Churchill and the beginning of World War II, before the United States got into it. But I’m into November now, so Pearl Harbor happens pretty soon. Larson tries to make this book different from all the many, many other books about Churchill by choosing to write about some of the more personal details that didn’t make it into those other books. It’s interesting. But something I never realized before were the many, many English people who kept diaries. I wonder if they still do. And they didn’t write like people talk. For instance, instead of saying, I went to the bomb shelter, they would say, one goes to a bomb shelter. After a while, I found it irritating.
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I rarely don’t finish a book, but you reminded me that I didn’t finish a book a couple of weeks ago called IF YOU TELL by Gregg Olsen because it was so sickening, one sick, awful thing happened after another. I’m surprised I got to the halfway point it was so nightmareish.
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I am surprised you can read that Florence Adler book twice. I could barely read it once. I didn’t like that book at all.
I just finished The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett and thoroughly enjoyed it. I read it for our Book Challenge prompt of recommendation by another BookBrowse reader. Ms. Stockett does a tremendous job of showing the marginalization of women, children, non-whites, and the poor in the first half of the 20th century. I’d like to think we’re a better country now with more social safety nets than in the time period of the book, but am not so sure as I was 20 years ago.
I’m almost done with The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz for our 1000 Books to Read Before You Die side read. It’s been interesting to read other BookBrowsers’ comments on the controversy related to this “memoir.” I’ve started The Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan for our Book Challenge prompt of a Middle East setting.
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I won’t invite you to the Zoom option for the discussion. 
Oh shucks!
I won that book for my book club, and I don’t think anyone cared for it.
The Spendlid and the Vile has been on my TBR list as well. I enjoy Erik Larson. I’ve only read Dead Wake and The Demon of Unrest so far.
I, too, have read a few of Larson’s books. My book club is reading THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE right now. I also have a couple more of his books to read: THE DEMON OF UNREST and ISAAC’S STORM.
Isaac’s Storm was the first Erik Larson book I read. I’ve since read almost all of his other books, but it remains my favorite to this day.
I too am part of the Erik Larson fan club. I think my favorite is still The Devil in the White City but I also thoroughly enjoyed The Splendid and the Vile. I will always remember it as the first book I read at the start of covid and it helped distract me from the horrifying reports we were getting about covid fatalities. Larson is an auto-buy author for me. I want to read anything he writes.
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