A Year by the Sea - Joan Anderson

Sub-title: Thoughts of an unfinished woman

My sister recommended this as one of her favorites.  The writing was lyrical and evocative of the sea and living in a small place solo.  A fiftyish woman escapes to her bungalow on Cape Cod when her husband suggests they move across country for his job.  She reviews her life, decides she's been too giving and then welcomes him back when he decides to retire, although researching after reading the book he eventually got into other things and she had huge success that gave her a whole new career.  They are in their 50s, obviously financially very comfortable.  First world problems.  Thinking they have changed and will hold on to those changes after 50 apparently worked as she runs workshops on "getting finished".  Not a favorite as it is overly romantic and simplistic.

Published: 1999  Read: August 2026  Genre: Memoir 

Being Good - Simon Blackburn

 Sub-title: A Short Introduction to Ethics

Reading philosophy texts can be dense, with lots of vocabulary to grasp and concepts to unpack.  This slim book attempts to simplify the task, covering Aristotle, Kant, Plato and others.  The focus of the book is to address criticism of different ethical philosophies.  I don't know that I grasped all of its arguments, but it exercised my thinking and helped me understand some of the issues in the field.

Quotes:

"The Nobel prize winning economist Amartya Sen has calculated that there are over 100 million "missing women"..birth rates indicate that here should be slightly more females than males [but there aren't] because of inequalities in medical care, and sustenance as well as deliberate infanticide."

"Many philosophers argue, and I agree, that belief in the afterlife is an indefensible metaphysics; a false picture of how we as persons relate to our physical bodies. It imagines the soul as only accidentally and temporarily lodged in a body, like a person in a car. Whereas many philosophers think of the distinction between mind and body as much more subtle than this. They might say it is  much more like the distinction between a computer program and the machine it runs on. There is a distinction, sure enough, but not one that gives you any license to imagine the software running, but without any hardware at all."

Published:       Read: July 2026  Genre: Philosophy

Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances - Glenn Dixon[

 This was a lovely dystopian story about sentient appliances caring for their host family. Sounds strange, right?  It caught my attention when I picked it up at the library. It's set in a future where Watch controls the house doors, windows and lights; the Roomba vacuum keeps the things clean, the refrigerator orders groceries and controls the temperature all with the goal of carrying for their humans.  

It silently reveals a future where The Grid controls the house appliances and with that, the entire world, all in the name of peace and efficiency.  The tradeoff is the Grid is in charge.  The appliances, just like in the classic, I, Robot, seek to obey the First Protocol, protect their humans (in Asimov's language Do No Harm).  They come up with a clever solution the makes the ending enjoyable.  Highly recommend.

Quote:

"All that was a long time ago, almost as if they were different people, as if (and Harold sometimes thought this) their past was a movie he'd watched, a story he knew, something that had happened to two other people."

Published: 2026  Read: July 2026  Genre: Fiction

Legs Hearts Minds - Chris Jones

 Sub-title: Loss and Its Remedies

I heard about this book from an article previewing its 1st chapter in the Atlantic magazine.  It took a few weeks to get it from the library and I finished reading it in one day.  The author's memoir starts with him finding out his wife is texting with one of his neighbors, her lover, as he watches their exchange on her laptop that he'd borrowed to do some work.  He's a journalist, so he distances from the shock by taking screenshots and confronting her shortly after, declaring their marriage over. He'd recently lost his job and now he loses his wife, his house, half his assets and has to share his children. He's in his mid-forties and no longer can imagine a future. He turns to a life long love, football (actually soccer) and finds a way to go on.

It was a painful, heartfelt, emotional read.  His self-examination unfolds; his grief, loss and reactions are raw and real.  His pain resonated with times in my own life.  A brave deep dive into surviving loss and going on living.

Quotes:

 "When someone falls out of love with you you receive less love.  That's the simplest math of the breakup equation.  But the love you felt before--the amount of love you're ready to give--stays relatively the same.  It's not like it vanishes.  It's part of who you are, a biological measure as quantifiable as your white blood cell count or your bilirubin levels.  I was more than lonely, or the standard kind of lonely.  I had to much love, and I needed somewhere for my love to go."

"I wanted to tell the teenager at the soccer shop that he didn't look brave for not taking cover [during a fierce storm]; he looked uninitiated.  I wanted to tell him that experience sometimes makes you less confident, not more, and sometimes fear isn't a thing you can conquer but a thing you acquire."

"I had taught him, however accidentally, that it's okay to root for strangers, to be lifted or leveled by circumstances beyond your control."

"There is a third option when you choose to love something or someone.  They love you back, deeply and fiercely, but not forever.  One moment they are here beside you and the next they disappear, and not always because they want to go....Monuments are built to love.  That doesn't make love permanent.  That makes love worth remembering."

"We don't remember facts. We remember how facts made us feel."

Published: 2025  Read: July 2026 Genre: Memoir 

Lady Tan's Circle of Women - Lisa See

 

A great read from my book club.  I'd previously read her book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and enjoyed it according to my review.  This is the true story of a female Chinese physician from the 1400s who became renowned for her writings on medical treatment and medicine for women.  The writing was flowing and engaging while immersing the reader in Chinese culture over 30 years before Christopher Columbus came to America.  I loved learning about the history of women's lives and those of the elite class of people. A moving story of a legendary woman. 

Reference to the first book on forensic science: The Washing Away of Wrong Sung Tz'u

Published: 2023  Read: May 2026  Genre: Historical fiction

Proof of Heaven - Eben Alexander

 sub-title: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife

My sister gave this to me.  It's the story of a doctor who had a near death experience after going into a coma from an infection.  It was a life changing experience that drove him to share his experience with others. I was moved by the transformation of his beliefs and his passion for sharing his experience.

Published: 2012  Read: May 2026  Genre: Memoir

Replaceable You - Mary Roach

 Sub-title: Adventures in Anatomy

I enjoy this author, she takes on the quirky, queasy subjects and stays fun and informative. I've read her previous books, Stiff (about corpses), Gulp (about our digestive tracks), and Fuzz (controlling nature). 

This one dove into the subject of parts of the human body that get replaced or recreated out of necessity or vanity.  I enjoyed how she provides historical context for our attempts to replicate broken parts (iron lungs, lost limbs) and brings to question current attempts to salvage what's not working (hair transplants and cataract surgery). Another enjoyable read.

Published: 2025  Read: May 2026  Genre: Science

Hiding Mengele - Betina Anton

 Sub-title: How a Nazi Network Harbored the Angel of Death

I've long heard that Josef Mengele, the Nazi "Angel of Death" was harbored at the end of his life by a family named Bossert.  This book was written by a Brazilian author who had access to previously un-accessed letters, documents and reports about his escape to South America after WWII where he remained and died in 1979, over 30 years after the end of the war.  It's a detailed factual account constructed from first person accounts, police records and thorough research.  It a horrific account of a cruel, inhuman man and the people who protected him.  I gleaned some tidbits about the last family he was sheltered by, the Bosserts.  They were originally from Austria and had been living in Argentina for several years when they met Mengele.  The book revealed the community of German expats and family who kept his identity a secret when he was being hunted for his war crimes.  A sad, revealing story of the dedication to a belief by a group of people.

Published: 2025  Read: May 2026  Genre: History

The In-Between Bookstore - Edward Underhill

 

This was a good read for a weekend away. A trans young man living in New York City has his job eliminated and his apartment rent increased.  Checking in at home in Iowa he finds out his Mom is selling his childhood home and he decides to go back and help her move to a new place. The story tells of his angst in returning to the place he left for college as a girl and is returning as a 30 year old man. He has to face his fears and the community where he felt he didn't belong. He has a chance to make things different when he visits his previous work place, a bookstore where time is flexible. I enjoyed the story.

Published: 2025  Read: May 2026 Genre: Fiction

American Midnight - Adam Hochschild

 Sub-title: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis

This book was recommended to me by a friend and journalist as a perspective on American history - our past attitudes and actions in the 1917-1920 timeframe, when America entered WWI.  It meticulously documents the anti-German fervor of the time, the prosecution of anti-government and socialist party members, the continuing racial and mysognistic culture - things we are experiencing again today - the parallels are stark.

On one hand, it provides a perspective on today's political and social attitudes that shows how easily the U.S. embraces absurd beliefs and those promoting them.  I couldn't finish it though because of the exhaustive documentation of minutiae and the depressing persistence of evildoers. 

Published: 2023  Read (partially): April 2025  Genre: History

Joyspan - Kerry Burnhart

 Sub-title: The art and science of thriving in life's second half

I heard about this book on a video and it appealed to me because the author is a gerontologist, a area of study for me for years.  She suggests are four part focus in the second half of life - Grow, Connect, Adapt and Give.  The book is structured to introduce these concepts, provide examples of individuals applying them, giving instructions and quizzes to adopt them yourself.  She contrasts joyspan with lifespan, longevity, and healthspan and argues for deliberately seeking joy.

While I liked the idea of seeking joy I found the book repetitive and simplified in its writing and examples, a kind of overkill of her points.  

Quotes:

Life expectancy vs. Lifespan definition - "predicted average number of years a person will live vs total number of years a person lives."

[In example of how "genes are not destiny"] Identical twins die at different times - on average, ten years apart."

"Social connection played a more significant role in predicting lifespan than socioeconomic status, wealth, or professional success. Those with strong social bonds and joyful relationships also exhibited lower levels of stress hormones..."

Published: 2025  Read: April 2026   Genre: Self-help

Robinhood Math -Noah Giansiracusa

Sub-title: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life

Once again, I think this was recommended from a YouTube video I watched.  The author is a mathematician who is able to explain statistical analysis clearly.  He introduces basic concepts about how numbers are used to interpret the world and builds on them to explain the many ways they are used and abused when presenting information.  His intent is to provide understanding of the use of math in our complex world and how we can take control over it.

Some terminology / concepts he covers:

- average error rate

- expected value

- covariance

- logarithm

- algorithms

- engagement probabilities

Quotes:

"In the end 2 main factors separate professional gamblers from amateurs: 1) the ability to methodically stick to a plan for a long time, resisting temptation and impulsivity and 2) a gambling strategy that edges the odds enough to achieve a positive expected value."

"To insulate yourself from the risk posed by AI and automation, you want to diversify your skill set. That doesn't mean just learning more skills. It means learning more skills that are as different from each other as possible--skills with minimal covariance between them, so to speak."

"The Kelly strategy [even money bets] provides the optimal betting strategy in the sense that it maximizes the expected value of the logarithm of the winnings"

"if you don't want [a type of content] online, then don't engage [like, comment, share] with it. You too can shape your social media experience in whatever way you want."

Published: 2025  Read: March 2026 Genre: Non-fiction

The Sovereignty of Good - Iris Murdoch

 

I can't remember where I got the recommendation for this slim book.  It took me several months to read. It's dense, convoluted writing and I don't know that I grasped all her points.  What I took away is that the philosophies of life of other philosophers and schools of thought were being criticized in favor of her viewpoint on goodness.   In the 70s, existentialism was advanced, the focus was on making the right moral choices when a decision was required.  Her argument is that we need to get out of ourselves and see reality aside from our own egotistical view to be Good and to then act accordingly.  

Quotes:

"We are men and we are moral agents before we are scientists and the place of science in human life must be discussed in words.  This is why it is and always will be more important to know about Shakespeare than to know about any scientist and if there is a 'Shakespeare of science' it is Aristotle."

"...the idea of the Good as the source of light which reveals to us all things as they really are."

Published: 1971  Read: March 2026  Genre: Philosophy

If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies - Eliezer Yudkosky & Nate Soares

 sub-title: hy Superhuman AI would Kill Us All

This was a doom and gloom book on the future of AI.  The authors are respected experts in the field so their concerns can't be dismissed.  They make the argument that AI alignment is difficult if not impossible to achieve and consequently super intelligent AI will take over inefficient and unnecessary human beings. They share their opinions through extended parables that gets their point across without diving into the technical intricacies of AI.  Their solution: halt the development of data centers and regulate the growth of AI until humanity has a better grip on its future.  

Quotes:

"Clinging to the hope that nothing too bad will be allowed to happen does not usually help."

"Even if LLMs seem to behave like a human, that doesn't mean they're anything like a human inside.  Training an AI to predict what friendly people say need not make it friendly just like an actor who learns to mimic all the individual drunks in a tavern doesn't end up drunk."

- mentioned Thomas Midgley who invented freon and leaded gasoline, both deadly.

Published: 2025  Read: March 2026  Genre: Science/Technology

The Hunger We Pass Down - Jen Sookfong Lee

 I should be careful of interesting looking titles.  This was a depressing book about a family of Asian women whose traumatic experiences of their ancestors is passed to succeeding generations.  I kept reading hoping for some redemption, but it veered off into hauntings by ghosts of the past and never got any better. Ugh.

Published: 2025 Read: February 2026  Genre: Horror

No Straight Road Takes You There - Rebecca Solnit

I heard about this author from a YouTube video. I took a long time to read as each essay offered thoughtful reflections on the current state of affairs.

Quotes:

"We are not infrequently Mysteries even to ourselves"

"Events, like living beings, have genealogies and evolutions and to know those means knowing who they are how they got there and who and what they're connected to"

[from the chapter "In Praise of the Meander"] "You're not trying to get somewhere else but to know better where you are".

"If you equate your wealth with virtue, you tend to equate poverty with vice."
"To be broken is to reach out, to be open, to be incomplete and therefore to welcome outside in."
"We are water walking toward the next drink"

Published: Read: January 2026 Genre: Philosophy

The Correspondent - Virginia Evans

 This book sets the New Year off to a great start.  I can't remember where I saw it recommended but I checked it out from the library and finished it off in a few evenings.  A wonderful read!

A 70ish woman has been writing letters to friends, acquaintances, neighbors and authors her whole life. We are taken through her later years as she shares her activities with her brother, her son and daughter, her long time friend and others.  The book is written as a series of letters or correspondence between her, the people in her life, and an unidentified person whose letter she's written for years but has yet to send.

Sybil Van Antwerp is stubborn and exacting in her life and her expectations of others. As the story unfolds, we learn she was adopted and when her children gift her a DNA kit it adds an unwelcome complication to her decisions.  Slowly and subtly, we learn more of her life, her loves and losses and witness her evolving into a wiser person who can till learn new lessons and change relationships.

This is a rich, rewarding story of a complex person and her striving to make the best of her life.  Highly recommended.

Quotes

[On her divorce] "When I play it all back I am ashamed and yet I cannot imagine having done any other thing. Grief shared, I think, can produce two outcomes.  Either you bind yourselves together and hold one for dear life, or you let go and up goes a wall too high to be crossed. For us it was the latter."

Published: 2025  Read: January 2026  Genre: Fiction

The Instrumentalist - Harriet Constable

 

This one was shared with me from my book club.  It's the story of Anna Maria della Pieta, a real life, violin virtuoso in the 17th century.  She was raised in a well known girl's orphanage in Venice that trained them to play instruments and had a world renowned orchestra which Anna Maria eventually ran until she died at 87 in the orphanage, having lived there her whole life. Her mentor was Vivaldi, the composer of the classical music composition, The Four Seasons. 

The author takes these facts and tells a tale of a virtuoso with the drive to become a maestro who sacrifices her relationships for a career that ultimately would not be allow to a woman.

I found the purse overly descriptive, flowery and difficult to get through as it didn't add to the story. 

Published:  2024  Read:  2026  Genre: Historical fiction

Last Seen - Judith Giesberg

 Sub-title: The enduring search by formerly enslaved people to find their lost families

As the sub-title indicates, this is the stories of people looking for family after the Civil War.  Through newspaper ads by formerly enslaved people, the author weaves their desperate attempts to find family sold off callously and indiscriminately by slave owners.  The anguish is palatable of having your children, spouse, siblings taken away as slave owners attempted to retain their "property", moving south and then east as the Union Army advanced. 

My eyes were opened to the estimated one million former slaves who escaped to join the Union army as refugees, migrating to the big cities  I'd never thought of the huge numbers displaced and desperately seeking to find their relatives.  The chaos of a war on our own soil was stark - the destruction and cruelty and disregard for other humans beings, two sides with totally different beliefs, one side overpowering the other. 

The author founded a website where the advertisements and newspapers that were searched and documented for these stories and the history of the times called "information wanted" (https://informationwanted.org/ ).  It's a resource for researching enslaved people in the 1860s.

This was a tough book to read but well worth the learning. 

Published: 2025  Read: January 2026  Genre: History

2025 Books in Review

 My reading for this year was much lower than in the past due to travelling and caregiving. Under 30 books, not like me!  To be honest, most days I didn't have the energy to read, as much as I enjoy it. The year was an eclectic mix of literary fiction, books on relationships, some classics and some oddball recent publications. Here are my top 5; click on the links to read my review of each and let me know in the comments what you think:

1. Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty - my top pic is the story of a woman who predicts the deaths of people on the plane with her and its consequences. Beautifully written.
2. How to Know A Person - David Brooks - This was a thoughtful, detailed, compassionate discussion of how we get to know and understand others.
3. Search History - Amy Taylor - A different perspective on relationships in the age of social media from a fresh young voice.
4. Horse - Geraldine Brooks - Historical fiction about a real horse from the civil war era and its trainer and both of their owners.
5. Upgrade - Blake Crouch - A dystopian look at what our lives would be like if our DNA were altered to make us "better".

The complete list of the books I read this year are listed on the Blog Archive.