Books

It’s been a good while since I’ve posted a reading update. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading, though! And it turns out, my spring had a fairly strong slightly supernatural theme (with one outlier).

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo • ★★★★☆

I’d been putting off reading The Familiar for a while. A book set in Spain during the Inquisition? No, thanks! I’ll be depressed elsewhere.

But I’m glad I caved. In The Familiar, Luzia, a servant in a not-so-prominent household, can perform milagritos to help manage her work. Maybe that’s lightening the load on her way home from the market or cleaning something quickly. It’s also removing the char from a loaf of bread – the miracle that gets her found out by her employer.

Eventually, Luzia is brought to the Spanish court to compete in a secret tournament with other potential miracle workers. The entire time, Luzia has to walk several fine lines. She can’t let on that she knows the woman who is actually her aunt, a figure in Spanish court; she shouldn’t show her feelings for Santángel, a familiar; and she definitely should not perform any miracles that would make her look like a heretic – or expose that her family is Jewish.

This book was wonderfully full and a new era and place for historical fiction for me.

House of Splinters by Laura Purcell • ★★★★☆

There isn’t a Laura Purcell book out there that I haven’t absolutely devoured. When I discovered that The Silent Companions, her first major gothic release, got a prequel, I needed no further convincing.

House of Splinters gives the origins of the weird wooden cutouts that haunt a home in The Silent Companions. I still find the idea of them moving around and looking uncannily real very scary. I wouldn’t say it was as good as the original, but certainly worth a read. It was wonderfully atmospheric and captivating for any fans of gothic stories, old haunted estates, light witchcraft, and ghosts.

The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis • ★★★☆☆

A few things about The Hounding: I do not think it can be called horror or suspense or even Gothic (despite how it’s often described), but it butts against all of these genres in the slightest of ways. All this to say that if those are your typical genres (like they are for me), The Hounding will help you stretch a bit.

In The Hounding, a group of sisters are accused of transforming into a pack of dogs after superstitious villagers hear howling and even claim to see them shapeshift. Are they actually shapeshifters? Is this just The Crucible with dogs? Who knows?!

The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister • ★★★★☆

It’s been a few months since I finished The Bog Wife, and I still can’t stop thinking about it. I think it might be one of my most intriguing reads. Because I cannot stop thinking about it, I have to write about it, so SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Bog Wife follows the reclusive Haddesley family in remote Appalachia. The family patriarch and his children all live in their collapsing family home together. They very rarely leave the property; instead they obsessively tend to the bog, rehash their family history (more than ten generations of Haddesleys have lived on a bog – some overseas, many in Appalachia). The bog is their thing. The family is their thing. Their weird family history book written in old French is really their thing.

So when the patriarch begins to decline, his children begin the ritual of essentially feeding him to the bog. That means they have to call the one escaped Haddesley home. She returns and the family watches their dad sink into the bog (DARK).

Then the eldest son, Charlie, has to perform a ritual and dig up a wife from the bog. That’s where every Haddesley matriarch is from. WILD.

But the bog doesn’t produce a bog wife. The whole family is confused. The second son, Percy, thinks that he probably should have killed Charlie because Charlie can’t have children and continue the family line. But the rituals only work with the oldest living son.

And then Charlie discovers that the family’s legacy is pretty much a farce. There are no ten generations of Haddesleys on the property. It’s five at best. But then where did their mother come from? Who is the woman who just floated up from the bog?

It’s a lot! It’s Shirley Jackson! It’s The Village by M. Night Shyamalan! It’s something else entirely.

Actress of a Certain Age by Jeff Hiller • 🎧 • ★★★☆☆

Here’s the outlier of the season: A celebrity memoir that’s as far from dark and ominous as it gets. But that’s what makes it fun!

During the tail end of my maternity leave, I started watching Somebody Somewhere on HBO. I had plowed my way though a lot of TV during nighttime feedings to keep myself awake. Somebody Somewhere soon became a show I wanted to watch rather than one that I would watch just so I wouldn’t fall asleep holding our baby.

This was very much due to Hiller’s performance as Joel. The character was so real and joyful. And then I realized I’d seen Hiller in a few other shows, like the season of American Horror Story that I never finished and as a flight attendant in an episode of 30 Rock. After seeing his Emmy speech in 2025, I was totally charmed by Hiller.

So I got the audiobook from the library (which has a fantastic cover), and enjoyed his story. He talks about persistence, loss, compromise, and eating a lot of Tate’s Cookies. It was mostly light and fluffy, but I think he wrote about the loss of his parents very well as well as his foundation of faith (which isn’t something I typically love, but I do like his perspective).

I’m truly shocked at how well I’ve kept up with my reading so far. I suppose having quiet time at home from essentially 8 PM onwards helps. I think I did the bulk of my reading after our son’s bedtime and during naptimes. It’s a good routine for all of us.

We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida, translated by E. Madison Shimoda • ★★★★☆

I hate to say it, but I always thought of pet-focused books as being kind of hokey. I think Marley and Me is to thank (and, nope, I’ve never even read it!). But We’ll Prescribe You a Cat availed me of that misconception.

Within a few pages, I felt like I was snuggling up with a comfy blanket, a cup of tea and, of course, a cat on sunny morning.

In We’ll Prescribe You a Cat, a handful of patients visit the unusual Kokoro Clinic for the Soul. The doctor there is odd and has one treatment: cats. Chapter after chapter, patients take home pets to cure what ails them: work struggles, dealing with cliques at school, coping with loss, and so on.

It sounds so simple, but that’s part of the joy. Sometimes all you need to set you right is a cat (and a good book).

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle •🎧• ★★★★☆

Wolf in White Van pulls you backward through time. It begins with Sean who runs a mail-in role-play game. Two high schoolers who subscribed to this fantasy world began to blur the lines between imagination and reality. As Sean deal with these ramifications, you go back in time with him. How did this game begin? Who is Sean? How did he come to be?

Darnielle leaves you to connect a lot of the dots which makes Wolf in White Van (and his other novels) an exceedingly interesting read.

Enjoying the audio versions of these is almost essential. Darnielle has a unique voice in the literary and literal senses, and they both augment his work.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich • ★★★★☆

I’ve never read a Louise Erdrich book set in the present era. I wondered for a split second if this could match The Master Butchers Singing Club or Four Winds. Because she is Erdrich, all she does is incredible.

The first chapter of The Sentence was not what I expected; it kicks off with Tookie unknowingly committing a crime and going to prison. That wasn’t what I was interested in. However, the book quickly flashes forward to Tookie’s life after prison. She’s married, works at a bookshop (run by a fictional Erdrich!) and deals with sometimes irritating customers.

After her most aggravating customer dies, Tookie believes she’s being haunted. And somehow, Erdrich weaves this ghost story into what the world was like in 2020, from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to the death of George Floyd and beyond. It’s masterful and heartwarming. Maybe I should nudge this one to five stars?

The Witches of Santo Stefano by Wendy Webb • ★★★☆☆

I’ll say this: I don’t think that Wendy Webb is the best writer in the world. Despite having gothic themes, her books are filled with Hallmark movie-esque characters (and some plot holes). But I still find her books irresistible.

All are set in the Midwest, several in Wharton, a fictionalized version of Bayfield, Wisconsin (one of my favorite places); that’s certainly a major part of the appeal.

The Witches of Santo Stefano starts in Wharton where soon-to-be-divorced Cassie discovers in family records that her great-grandmother’s cause of death was witchcraft. Cassie feels the need to get to the bottom of the witchcraft mystery (and to get away from her spouse) for a while, so she travels to her family’s ancestral home: Santo Stafano, Italy.

From the jump, Cassie is in an Italian Hallmark movie: She befriends the owner of a cafe and her Airbnb host, gets a crush on a local, and gets all up in the family business of her new friends. It’s cute. It’s very cozy. It’s also not as scary as Webb’s other outings. I’ll also say that I found the family tree portion of this book a little confusing. I think the story went back one generation too far if you ask me!

See you next month! And remember, I’ll be over on The StoryGraph this year!

My reads this month were extremely varied. I’m glad for it! It gives me some idea of where I want to go in the coming months with what I pick up.

Men Have Called Her Crazy by Anna Marie Tendler • ★★★★☆

When I heard Anna Marie Tendler, the artist who was once married to John Mulaney, was writing a book, I was so eager to pick it up. When I heard it was not a gossipy take-down of Mulaney, I became less interested. This was petty and wrongly reduces Tendler down to the role of being a celebrity’s wife instead of being an interesting, talented person in her own right.

In Men Have Called Her Crazy, Tendler details the time she spent in an in-patient psychiatric facility in 2021 along with stories from her life. She focuses especially on her history with men, her various professional and educational pursuits, how she coped with trauma, and finding moments of peace. I found Tendler to be infinitely charming. Her writing is self-reflective and smart, and she puts into words a lot of the experiences many women have with suppressed rage—especially rage that stems from experience with men.

This book could be hard for some to read as it deals with psychiatric issues and unhealthy relationships, so please proceed with caution.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones • ★★★★☆

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead starts with a body. Janina finds her neighbor dead in his home. She has her suspicions about what killed him. Later, when a police officer is found dead in the woods, she tries to tell the police what’s going on.

It all sounds very traditional murder mystery, but I assure you it’s not. This book, originally written in Polish, is slightly absurd and un-put-down-able. It has me excited to pick up another book from Tokarczuk.

Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green • 🎧• ★★★☆☆

Full disclosure: I became aware of John Green through Instagram. The algorithm would feed me fun reels from him, some of which would mention tuberculosis. Only later did I realize he wrote The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns (neither of which I read). I queued up Everything Is Tuberculosis since I like a nonfiction listen here and there.

I learned a lot while listening, but I don’t think this is something I’d recommend to others. It lacked some of the charm I had expected based Green’s videos (but also, maybe that expectation was unfair).

Holly by Stephen King • ★★★☆☆

Like everyone, I’ve absorbed a lot of Stephen King throughout my lifetime. I’ve seen The Shining, It (both versions), Misery and plenty more. Despite all this, I’ve never read anything from King. Why I started here with Holly, the third in a series, is entirely random.

My thoughts are… It was entirely entertaining but not my favorite. The story was kind of a gross one (cannibal serial killers). I also don’t think I’m entirely sold on King’s writing style. I found the dialogue to be very unnatural and sometimes clunky. I had a hard time believing that two characters would meet and in the first 15 seconds learn their thoughts on COVID, how long they lived near Bell College, and what a great employee they once had five years ago—all unprompted besides a hello.

This doesn’t turn me off the idea of reading more from King in the future (he seems like a cool guy and he’s responsible for The Shining which I love), but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to pick up another in the near future.

See you next month! And remember, I’ll be over on The StoryGraph this year!

August is typically my biggest book month of the year, but without my family’s annual trip up north, I didn’t read very much. What I did read fell a bit flat (with the exception of another book by Riley Sager.

But let my reads be your guide anyway. Maybe there’s something in here that will speak to you a bit more!

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan • 🎧 • ★★★☆☆

This book has been on my radar for a while. I was intrigued by a haunted house book that wasn’t on some cliff in England or an old home in New England. The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years follows two Indian families who emigrated to South Africa, and the haunting isn’t your standard ghost.

In the present day, teenager Sana explores the multi-family home she and her father just moved to. Sana is haunted by the death of her mother and twin sister. She fills her days exploring the history of her new home.

Decades earlier, you learn about one of the home’s original inhabitants: Meena, a second wife to a businessman who feels unwelcome there. While Sana uncovers Meena’s story, the house grows spookier (but really not that spooky, IMO).

But I felt like there was some tension and scares missing here. I enjoyed the stories (particularly Meena’s) but was left wanting more.

Read if you like: I’m not sure I have a good parallel here! Sorry, folks!

The Clinic by Cate Quinn • ★★☆☆☆

I hate to admit it, but I picked this book up 100% based on the cover. A scary Victorian-style house perched on a cliff in the fog? It was giving The Sanatorium vibes, and I had to rent it.

But this book was too long, not nearly atmospheric enough, and was full of characters I didn’t care about. Also, some of the timelines seemed off to me. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention.

So what’s it all about? Well, after the death of her sister, Meg checks into the rehab clinic where her sister died in hopes of finding some answers. While there, she keeps to herself, suspects everyone and essentially treads water for the bulk of the book.

The story is also told from the point of view of the clinic’s manager who starts to suspect that the treatments there aren’t on the up-and-up.

Read if you like: The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse.

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager • ★★★★☆

Riley Sager does it again. In Home Before Dark, Maggie returns to her childhood home after her family fled it 30 years prior. Unlike her parents and readers of her father’s famous book, she doesn’t think it’s haunted; she thinks it should be flipped.

This book flashes between Maggie’s experiences in the present day (including nosy reporters, odd neighbors and a helpful handyman) and bits from her dad’s book. Was her dad’s story all for the money? Is it haunted at all? I loved guessing!

I also loved how this book drew a lot from the creation of The Amityville Horror, but made it good.

Read if you like: The Family Plot by Cherie Priest or any other books by Riley Sager.

The Unmothers by Leslie J. Anderson • ★★★☆☆

I read somewhere that The Unmothers should be added to the folk-horror cannon. I’m not sure it’s quite that good (but it’s not that bad!).

Here, journalist Marshall gets sent to a rural Southern town to investigate a rumor that a horse gave birth to a human baby. Intriguing! Once Marshall arrives, though, she suspects this is all a hoax. However, something else mysterious is happening in this town.

The first half of The Unmothers was a little too detective-y for me. But once the supernatural elements came into play (far too late in my opinion) this book picked up.

Read if you like: Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey or Diavola by Jennifer Thorne.

Keep up with what I’ve read over on Goodreads! Also, if you’re an audiobook fan, I encourage you to try Libro.fm—you can support your favorite small bookstore while downloading your next listen.