17 reviews 6 DEPENDS · 6 YES · 3 DNF · 2 NO Who this is

• LITERARY FICTION Roundtable Blindness José Saramago · 1995 I finished this book, and I am not sure whether that counts as a recommendation or a warning. The White Blindness Is the Easy Part DEPENDS
• LITERARY FICTION Roundtable Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver · 2022 I still finished it because Demon’s attention to the actual world kept pulling me back. A Whole Life Built from Temporary Fixes YES
• HISTORICAL FICTION Roundtable Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry · 1985 I would recommend Lonesome Dove to readers who can tolerate a very long novel that refuses to hurry toward its emotional conclusions. A Long Ride Into the Empty Part of the Heart DEPENDS
• HORROR Roundtable Swan Song Robert R. McCammon · 1987 That is enough to make the long trip worthwhile. A Big, Messy Book About What People Do After the World Ends YES
• LITERARY FICTION Roundtable The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Michael Chabon · 2000 But its central relationships are strong enough to survive the excess. A Very Long Way to Say What Escape Costs YES
• LITERARY FICTION Roundtable Theo of Golden Allen Levi · 2023 If you can accept a novel where almost every coincidence has a purpose and almost every wound eventually receives a gift, there is a lot here to appreciate. A Good Heart, With Too Much Explanation DEPENDS
• LITERARY FICTION Roundtable Yesteryear Caro Claire Burke · 2026 This is a sharp, unpleasant novel, and it occasionally pushes its satire too hard. The Farm Was Never the Point YES
• NONFICTION Roundtable Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig · 1974 If you care about repair, education, writing, and the difference between following instructions and understanding a task, the book has much to offer. A Good Manual Buried Under Too Much Philosophy DEPENDS
• ROMANCE Roundtable Beard on Tap Willow Sanders · 2021 Family friction does repeat in real life, mine does too, but on the page it needs some variation or it just reads like time being filled. Somebody Show Me the Spreadsheet DNF
• CRIME & THRILLER Roundtable Bits and Pieces Nichole Severn · 2021 Instead of engineering a credible trap and a credible escape, the text simply ignores the physical reality of the objects in the room. A AAA Battery is Not a Hydraulic Press DNF
• ROMANCE Roundtable His Secret Child Leslie North · 2015 Still, the wording of that first kiss fits a wider habit in the story of treating Slade’s decision to act first as exciting rather than potentially intrusive. Help is not the same thing as asking DEPENDS
• ROMANCE Roundtable Kingdom of Thorns Katherine Macdonald · 2020 The book is more interested in the idea of love than in the work of two people becoming close. The Book That Keeps Saying 'But' NO
• ROMANCE Roundtable Not Your Average Earl Eliza Lloyd · 2019 It is a small broken promise, and it turned out to be the most honest description of everything around it. The newel cap nobody tightened DNF
• CRIME & THRILLER Roundtable Perfect Remains Helen Fields · 2017 Callanach doesn't win with a speech, he wins with a taser he brought and a distance he'd already worked out, eighteen feet, enough time or not enough time. He Kept a Filing System for Murder and Still Missed the Tide Table YES
• WESTERN Roundtable The Broken Bow Larry D. Sweazy · 2022 What I did like, and I want to be honest that I liked it, is how much the book respects cold as an actual physical problem instead of a mood. The last page wasn't the ending, just the ad for the next one DEPENDS
• CRIME & THRILLER Roundtable The Forgotten David Baldacci · 2012 The setup works, but once again the villain is made to explain enough to remove almost every remaining ambiguity. The Investigation Works Better Than the Heroics NO
• LITERARY FICTION Roundtable The Value of Rain Brandon Shire · 2011 But the part I respect is that explanation does not become acquittal. Three Paper Roses and a Very Expensive Kind of Survival YES

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