News of the World by Paulette Jiles

This book is a wonder. It takes topics that normally wouldn't grab me (an old former soldier travelling around the Old West, a tragic tale of an orphan that sounds way too sad for me) and it snares me, hook, line and sinker. 

News of the World by Paulette Jiles introduces us to Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd as he makes his way through Texas post Civil War, making a living giving readings from a stack of newspapers to audiences seeking a window on the world. The old man has fought in two wars and lost a wife, and now enjoys his rambling life on the road. When he's asked to deliver a young orphan who had been captured and raised by members of the Kiowa tribe to her only living relatives, he reluctantly agrees. The heart, understanding and courage he displays on the perilous journey is matched by the young girl's bravery and tenacity in the face of being torn from the only family she remembers – her Kiowa family.

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel has a lot going on, a lot of different threads. There's a Ponzi scheme, ghosts, and moral dilemmas aplenty. It was a lot; at moments a little too much, but it somehow never quite went overboard for me.

Thanks to the dumpster fire that was 2020, my attention span for reading dimmed as the year wore on. I turned to short stories (and found many great ones), and still managed to get in several novels or full-length nonfiction books. But they seemed to take so long to get through! I didn't fly through this one at top speed, but I finished in less than two weeks, which was pretty damn good given my difficulty staying focused by the end of the year.

Slow Burner by Laura Lippman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't read a lot of mysteries, but this was kind of fun. 

In Slow Burner by Laura Lippman, a woman finds her husband's secret burner phone with flirty text messages to another woman. Whatever will she do?

What to Watch January 2021

Woo-freaking-hoo! Nearly time to kiss 2020 goodbye! Pop the bubbly and grab the remote, it's time to look ahead to the one thing we can count on in 2021 – new streaming stuff to watch!

As always, I've compiled a list of shows I'd like to see that come to streaming soon, and I'm sharing it here along with links to everything coming to streaming services so you can go through and pick your own must-watch shows. 

And away we go!

Snow Day by Julie Lipson

You want a short, sweet Christmas romance set in a winter wonderland? You want to listen while you fold laundry and walk the dog? What, you even want it to be fun, like a play, with different voice actors and sound effects to bring it to life? Ok, fine, you got it.

The light-hearted, hopeful Snow Day by Julie Lipson is a merry holiday tale. I'd call it more of an audio play than an audiobook. Runtime is just over an hour, so it's easy to fit in here and there.

Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley

"Young people reading Jane Austen for the first time think that the stories are about love and romance and finding a partner. But a happy home is equally as much what all of her heroines don’t have, and yet desire."

Much more has been written about Jane Austen than she had time to write herself in her brief life. But in Jane Austen at Home, historian Lucy Worsley investigates the topic from a new slant: the homes in which Austen lived, and the insecurity she likely felt about not having a secure, permanent home to call her own.