My Life As A Mood Reader
An unconventional reading roundup, or so we hope.
I have ruminated and oscillated wildly (and I do mean wildly) on whether to send out reading roundups as a part of this newsletter. There is so much great bookish content out in the world. And as I wrote about here, I don’t want to add to the onslaught of recommendations we get each day as humans existing in, and around, social media.
At the same time, I am seeing a gap in the “market,” so to speak. [I was a three-year dual-degree in graduate school, apparently you can take the woman of out marketing class but the MBA teachings lie dormant within her waiting to be unleashed.]
I am an extreme mood reader. This can mean slightly different things to different people but how it plays out in my life is as follows: I collect book recommendations like dog hair on a black cashmere sweater; I add said recommendations to my unlimited number of holds on Libby;1 the holds come in, I am not in the mood to read the book; I let the hold go to the next person in line; and I buy a book that I am in the mood to read. And the cycle continues.
This is both grossly inefficient and expensive. What I have always sought but not always found is someone, often a friend, to tell me what a book feels like—the mood or atmosphere or headspace you need to be in to enjoy the book. Storygraph can help in this regard. As can searching Goodreads reviews. So can certain of my favorite bookish podcasts.
But I think we collectively need more resources for mood reading. Even the most type-A among us, are subject to caprice in our reading life. We all alternately want to be challenged, comforted, confronted, coddled. And sometimes we want all of that in a single day! And I think that is the whole point of highbrowlowbrow—speaking to the disparate parts of us, as and when our moods dictate.
So, I believe I have a solution.2 For each month of this year (some of these posts will necessarily need to be retroactive given that I launched this newsletter, on a whim, a week after my 37th birthday) I am going to write a paragraph or so about each book I read that month. The paragraph may or may not include a synopsis but it will definitely include what mood you might want to be in when approaching the book.
It may also include some of the juiciest quotes or thoughts from the book, because, well, I love collecting quotes. I will often include links to reviews, tidbits about authors, funny BookTok videos, or any other miscellany that tickles me. I will do this because its my nature, I’m an aggregator and researcher, and I can’t help it. And because I am an agent of chaos, I may include spoilers (with warnings). I probably won’t include marketing copy, full synopses (maybe links to those), or recommendations because, again, you can find all of that elsewhere.
Here is the important bit, when it comes to the publishing industry (and honestly the internet-at-large) I am nobody. No one is sending me ARCs. I can’t even get approved for anything interesting on NetGalley. I would die of happiness if I got a press mailer from the Big Five, but that is not my reality. Therefore, I am totally free (and fortunate) to be spicy and saucy with these reading roundups, and I intend to be (if you’re going to use a nom de plume, you might as well take advantage of it).
At the same time, I firmly believe most books are worthy of readers. It is just about finding the perfect match, or moment. I hope my reading roundups will help with that.
So without further ado, let’s dig into my March reading.
NB: March was a light reading month for me. Hard to say whether I was in a reading slump, or I was too busy out celebrating making it to age 37 (honestly, it feels like quite the achievement). You can normally expect reviews for 8-10 books each month. I am also choosing to start with March because it was a light month. I want to see if this format works—fun for me, and useful for you. If you have thoughts, please, please reach out. I love hearing from all of you. Thank for your patiently experimenting and iterating with me.
📚 West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman. Starting off saucy, as promised. People loved this book, or loved hating this book. Despite pretty fawning coverage of the author in The New York Times (he published his first book at age 47), the book only has a goodreads rating of 3.1. It is a murder mystery set at a remote hunting club in upstate New York in the 1970s. The setting reminded me a bit of Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett, which took place in a small town in New Hampshire that was also home to an exclusive hunting club for millionaires. Eclectic setting aside, I loved this book. It is for those among us who enjoy a whodunit, as well as history and factoids about whodunits. The writing is sharp and witty. The structure is unusual and clever. The ending is controversial. I would never forgive myself if I gave too much away but hopefully I have enticed you to pick this book up.
Read this if you’re in the MOOD for: something surprising, a page-turner, with a few dark observations about humankind. Also, a quick read.
Hot Take: I preferred this to Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Murdery Mystery Novel, in which I found the narrator to be tiresome.
A quote to keep: “You have to be wary, I’ve found, of creating false connections. Sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence. The human mind yearns for order, even to the point of inventing it where, in truth, there’s just chaos.”
📖 Family Family by Laurie Frankel. A family saga about adoption. I liked this book but it was not a rave for me. In my highly scientific rating system, I would give it a meh plus. I think it took on the mantle of a worthy subject and it was well-plotted. On the other hand, in certain parts, I found the exposition to be more “telling” than “showing.” My high school English teacher probably would not have approved. [She definitely would not have approved of the casual writing style in this newsletter, however. That we know for sure.]
Read this if you’re in the MOOD for: laughs but maybe also tears. You definitely want your heart strings tugged upon. You may also want to purchase this book solely for its attractive cover, I won’t judge.
A quote to keep: “She had created this child, loved and nurtured it, coaxed its development, strengthened its heart, and ironed its core. Served at its center and also built her life around it. And now, now she had no choice but to send it into a cruel, unsafe world where she could neither control nor protect it.”
📖 Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. A murder mystery set in the Bay area with a geriatric, Chinese-American protagonist. I listened to this one as an audiobook and adored the narration, which enhanced my experience of reading the book and perhaps heightened my interest in it. It was well-written, with lots of interesting themes (respect for elders, identity, belonging) and cozy vibes—the tea shop setting was a yes for me. You will probably guess the ending, so don’t pick this one up if being stumped is your aim.
Read this if you’re in the MOOD for: comfort. Or you miss your grandmother. You can read this with a blanket and a good cup of Oolong, on a rainy day.
A quote to keep: “In her experience, it’s best to nod and agree with what people say before doing exactly what you wanted from the very beginning.” [Life advice we all need to take.]
📚 Dead Lions by Mick Herron. The second book in a series about maladroit MI5 spies. The Apple TV series is based on these books. I have read, and adored, the series but based on this New Yorker profile (by Jill Lepore!) I thought I might give the audiobooks a try for a re-read. They are well-narrated but I personally loved reading the physical copies, if only because Herron’s dry wit is inimitable. I always want to underline his pithy and wry observations. Not my favorite book in the series but you must read the series in order to fully enjoy the character development (just don’t get too attached).
Read this if you’re in the MOOD for: for falling in love with a crazy cast of characters. You want to feel better about your own career woes. You’re eagerly anticipating Slow Horses season four. This particular book in the series may also be enjoyable if you’re planning to travel to rural and/or small-town England, in the near future.
A quote to keep: “That, anyway, was what happened if you let life smooth you down, plane away the edges that made you different.”
📕 The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. The second book in a hit young adult series about a high-schooler who inherits a huge fortune, and why. Lots of puzzles at the center. This was… perfectly fine. I think I was expecting something with the ground-breaking energy of The Hunger Games Trilogy or The Enderverse and this just wasn’t that. Also all of the characters were just so good at everything—handsome, kind, smart. Give me a flaw! Please, please sound off in the comments if you think I should keep reading this series.
Read this if you’re in the MOOD for: an easy, quick read. An escape from your adult life. Something to read alongside your pre-teen? [Don’t take my advice here, I have a four-year old.]
A quote to keep: I’m sorry, I don’t have one. Perhaps, I’m a snob. Please feel free to sound off about that as well.
📕 House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas. Oof I do not know where to begin here. You either know everything there is to know about the Maasverse or you don’t, and in which case, where have you been hiding? Obviously reading
’s dissection of the Maasverse is a must. In my eyes, Petersen can do no wrong but this might be my favorite piece of hers (after the viral Millennial Burnout article). This Vulture article about Maas was fun, but perhaps also a bit dismissive of Maas’s wide appeal?In any event, HOFAS, as the BookTokkers call it, is the third book in the Crescent City series, which is not as gratifying as ACOTAR. There, I said it. If my high school best friend reads this, our friendship is over (but, again, why one benefits from a nom de plume). This book was long (maybe even a slog?), lacking in the “faerie smut” we have all come to expect from Maas, and the crossover we were all anticipating was somewhat of a let down. Proceed at your own risk. If you have time for a ~1000 pages, might I suggest you invest them elsewhere? I listened to this book, on an insane speed, to get through to the end.
If you’re worried about missing out on reading ACOTAR 6 or CC4, maybe watch a TikTok recap before the next book comes out instead? They are shockingly helpful. See here.
All of this to say, I love Maas just as much as the next millennial woman in the school pick-up line. This just wasn’t my favorite book of hers—it happens.
Read this if you’re in the MOOD for: completing a series, compulsively, because you are someone (like me), who has a hard time not finishing what they have started.
A quote to keep: “I yield my crown, my title, to the queen.” [I really wish my mate would say this to me, more often.]
📚 Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. The legendary Ann Patchett writes about Our Town, roads not traveled, the small, perfect moments in life, summertime, and mother-daughter relationships. I have never seen (or read) Our Town. And I think that made deeply engaging with this book more challenging. Patchett, herself, has said she started the book knowing she wanted to write about the play. I also struggled with the way mother-daughter relationships were portrayed, they seemed rather idealized to me. I also wondered why the daughters were missing so much of their own mother’s origin story but, perhaps, that is cultural—as I hail from a suffocatingly close Indian family and there is so little of my mother’s life I have not investigated. The book also gets off to a slow start, so I would recommend patience. I listened to Meryl Streep’s narration of this book, which was perfection. The only explanation for how she differentiated each of the daughters voices is that she has three daughters of her own? [Or her gazillion Oscars. Or that.]
All of that said, this is still Ann Patchett. The book was beautifully written and I’m better for having read it. I also appreciated the New Hampshire references, having a personal connection to that state.
Read this if you’re in the MOOD for: summertime. This is a book to be relished on a hot day, near a body of water.
Hot Take: You could pair this with the Amazon Prime TV Series The Summer I Turned Pretty. I write this because, in a real highbrowlowbrow twist, both the book and the show are so very evocative of summer and the beauty of youth.
A quote to keep: “I drop beneath the surface and open my eyes. It’s as if someone bought up all the diamonds at Tiffany’s and crushed them into dust, then spread that dust across the water so that it sifts down evenly, filtering through the shards of light that cut into the depth.”
It was clearly Mystery March for me, which I would not have realized had I not labored over this post. I hope you enjoyed it, skimmed where you needed to, and will be back for January and February, which will have very different assortments of books. Thank you, as always, for your attention and time.
I live in Washington, DC, which means I am entitled to a library card in at least six different library systems. My holds aren’t quite unlimited but close. And before you get jealous, as you might imagine, this is one of the few perks of living in the nation’s capital.
If there is an AI version of this type of reading roundup, please, just don’t tell me. As the Bible says, “[w]hat has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” I was surprised to find these words came from the Bible as I did not grow up in (or around) a Judeo-Christian faith but its definitely a quote to keep, so we shall.
Meh plus made me laugh aloud.
This resonated deeply! I do something similar with an *it's giving* for each book and 3 things that speak to the mood or vibe of the book. Love how you set the scene here with the moods, very handy for us mood readers!