Sessahhh

Oh farts. I have not been updating my 2025 Book Reads list! 😱 The good news is I finished another nine books since my last post. The bad news I gotta try to remember the last nine books and my overall thoughts. 🌚😬 I mean… I guess I don’t *have* to but I do enjoy going back to these lists later on. 🫤

SessaReads book 25: Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Great author but after loving Funny Story so much, this romcom felt a bit forced with silly tropes and manufactured angst. Maybe I’m just not into that level of intense sibling relationship. 🤷🏼‍♀️

SessaReads book 24: Loose Lips by Kemper Donovan
Good murder mystery. Thought I figured it out but there was some good twisty bits at the very end. The audiobook was enjoyable. I think I prefer the first in this series but I’ll read the next.

SessaReads book 23: A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson
Didn’t love, didn’t hate this one but it’s finished. Meh twists.

SessaReads book 22: Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder by Bellamy Rose
Ehh. This one was ok, esp after books 19 & 21. The murder mystery part of the story was good but then they also tried to cram in cutesy romance and it was unnecessary and meh. First-time published author? Felt like it.

SessaReads book 21: Funny Story by Emily Henry
This is not an oopsy duplicate entry. I listened to the audiobook on the commute. Finished that and then read the book. And then relistened and reread certain ::ahem:: parts. It was that good.

SessaReads book 20: The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories 3 by Joseph Gordon-Levitt & wirrow
These books are a delight, no matter if you read the words and then take in the surrounding the art, or vice versa. They feel like excellent starters to jumpstart your brain into creating a complicated story.

SessaReads book 19: Funny Story by Emily Henry
This audiobook was a monster clocking in at over eleven hours. And yet… in what feels like a first outside of the HP universe, I have re-listened to so much of this. Like. Whole chapters over and over. 18-20? 26? 27? Twenty. Fucking. Eight. Uuuunfffff

If pressed, my preference would remain with The House in the Cerulean Sea buuuut… I’ll read pretty much anything by this author, in this universe or another. Any person who calls themselves the Anti-JKR is aces in my book.

SessaReads book 18: Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune
I was so completely excited when I saw there was a sequel to my fav read of 2023. This one gave me a sliver of hope for our collective future, even if we have to wade through shit and bigotry and general awfulness in the now.

SessaReads book 17: Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum
The use of multiple narrators to tell the story, or at least that character’s interpretation, was great. If you’re in corp Am, you’ll recognize reasons you hate it, particularly the exec suite. If you’re not, you’ll realize why it’s terrible.

SessaReads book 16: Fun Home: a family tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
If the expanded title didn’t elicit warning bells, this graphic novel has plenty of TW. Overall well done, but move along if suicide, depression, funeral homes, poor communication, or angsty family drama make you uncomfortable.

SessaReads book 15: What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella
At under two hours, this was a quick listen but really well done imo. A fictionalized autobiography with some parts taken from the author’s real life and some people/events/moments altered. A tough topic but uniquely done.

SessaReads book 14: Everything is Fine, Volume 1 by Mike Birchall
Delightfully creepy comic. Quick read.

SessaReads book 13: Death in the Downline by Maria Abrams
Everything you assume you’ll hate about multi-level marketing schemes even if you’d never participate? Yea, your spidey senses are correct. Built on a pile of lies and only the very top profit. I enjoyed this murder mystery.

I mentioned it to my therapist [talking books is my favorite part of our conversations] and she recc’ed it as the next read for her book club. Ha!

SessaReads book 12: The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan
This was fantastic! I picked up their new book not knowing until a few pages in it was the second in the series. This audiobook was an absolute delight with funny, smart, solid women leads — one verrrry Kamala Harris-esc.

Wowwwwww I am behind in posting finished reads this year… buckle up, I’ve got a few [eleven]. Eep 😬

SessaReads book 11: New York Sketches by E.B. White
Kinda interesting to read bits written a century ago and compare it with today’s reasoning and understanding of the world. I particularly enjoyed a passage of Rockefeller Centre and 99¢ entry for ice skating or $50/hr for the whole place.

SessaReads book 10: Unwanteds: Island of Fire by Lisa McMann
Kids and I have been reading this since last year but when time is tight, it always got left by the wayside. The audiobook, however is read by a British fellow making the series way more interesting. Plus many hours in the car over break..

SessaReads book 9: Mojave Ghost by Forrest Gander
I like to try different genres but ehhh… while this was well done for its category, it was not really for me. Beautiful imagery but I was not always interested.

SessaReads book 8: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
This novel was so very good, esp when I switched to the audiobook. It was a well written story that weaved itself between various characters and their individual plots.

SessaReads book 7: I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together: a memoir by Maurice Vellekoop
Graphic novel with good pictures but the overall story was not my jam. I should have given up a bunch of times but for whatever reason I just kept pushing through nearly 500 pages.

SessaReads book 6: Secrets of the Octopus by Sy Montgomery
Gorgeous photographs and wonderful stories. I genuinely delighted in reading this and learning more about these neat creatures.

Oh my. I am so very far behind in updating this list… I just finished book 11 😳📚

Oh. My. Fucking. Fuuuuuuck.

Love the enthusiasm of the protesters and workers but for the love of democracy, stop with the “lock him up” chants

SessaReads book 5: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
This has been on my TBR list for years but it was the audiobook that made it a good read, esp with all the Korean pronunciations. Ngl, a few parts are real tough. You can’t help but relate to your own familial relationships and heartache. 😭

SessaReads book 4: We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
I adore this author’s Thursday Murder Club series and this new series was just as good. Murder mystery takes you around the world with some delightfully unique characters and plenty of twists, turns, and murders.

Unreal