Expectation: A modern-day revenge tale that doesn’t solely involve rich, white and heterosexual characters.
Reality: A bit clichéd but surprisingly heartfelt and raw exploration for grief, regret and redemption.
All in Audiobook
The Last House on Needless Street – Catriona Ward
Expectation: A page-turning supernatural thriller.
Reality: A slow-burn mystery with some satisfying last act reveals.
The Cat Who Saved Books – Sōsuke Natsukawa
Expectation: A fun-filled adventure that celebrates reading and the human-animal bond.
Reality: A disjointed and heavy-handed mess.
The Troop – Nick Cutter
Expectation: Your standard gore fest.
Reality: An old school throwback gore fest with a surprising amount of heart.
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
Expectation: A philosophical and meandering over-rated classic.
Reality: An intimate and deeply affecting reflection on growing older and feeling needed.
Underground Airlines – Ben H. Winters
Expectation: A history-flipping tale of empowerment.
Reality: A novel that isn’t bad, but in hindsight is incredibly problematic given the author’s race.
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die – Chip Heath & Dan Heath
While “Stick” provides a few good insights into how to craft a message with easy recall and that drives action, some of the examples felt trite compared to other, similar books – or maybe there’s only a handful of original business books out there?
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Expectation: A folksy tale of second chances.
Reality: A soap opera of confusing plots, overly sexualized characters and an insane amount of fart jokes.
Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate and Innocent Man – Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic
“Indianapolis” is an exhaustive, sometimes tedious, but largely engrossing telling of the worst U.S. Naval disaster after Pearl Harbor that had largely vacated the public consciousness for 30 years until Robert Shaw’s Quint, the shark-obsessed fisherman in “Jaws” gave his bone-chilling monologue about surviving the USS Indianapolis sinking.
We Are the Brennans – Tracey Lange
Expectation: A complex and layered story about family, regrets and moving forward.
Reality: A melodrama about terrible people, that think they are good people, getting a happy ending.
Billy Summers – Stephen King
Expectation: A supernatural thriller centered around a new Stephen King classic character.
Reality: A crime mystery that goes down several rabbit holes, but it’s an overall rewarding return to form for King.
Somebody’s Daughter – Ashley C. Ford
Tracing her earliest memories through post-college, Ford presents a candid view of her life as a lower middle class Black kid in Fort Wayne, a mid-sized city in Indiana that is not economically or racially diverse.
Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
Expectation: A science fiction snooze-fest.
Reality: A surprisingly funny and touching story about second chances and building community.
Early Morning Riser – Katherine Heiny
Expectation: A breezy romantic comedy.
Reality: A surprisingly funny and sentimental story of chosen family that had me questioning some of my own choices in life.
The Anatomy of Desire – L.R. Dorn
Expectation: A mediocre thriller featuring social media influencers.
Reality: A mostly surface-level execution that is strongly aided by the full cast audiobook narration.
Jonny Appleseed – Joshua Whitehead
Expectation: For some reason I thought this was a young adult read.
Reality: This is anything but young adult. It’s a raw and painful story that has a fair amount of hope sprinkled in.
Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World – Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Expectation: An intimate portrayal of young love and learning how to grow as individuals and as a couple.
Reality: A bit scattershot from a plot perspective but just as well-written and affecting as the first book.
¡Hola Papi!: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons – John Paul Brammer
Brammer states early and often that he’s not a trained mental health professional, simply a person that stumbled into a career with the ability to help others. “¡Hola Papi!” is clear example that he’s succeeded.
Gay Bar: Why We Went Out – Jeremy Atherton Lin
There are multiple things I took umbrage with in this unfocused, pretentious, and boring historical memoir (is that a thing?) that I gave up at 34 percent read.
No One Goes Alone – Erik Larson
Expectation: A good old fashioned ghost story told in radio serial style.
Reality: An intellectual ghost story that’s heavy on talking and light on action.