After another year of mostly fantasy, it was great to start 2026 with some non-fiction. Author Candice Millard’s history books have been on my radar for such a long time. I’ve had her book on Teddy Roosevelt, River of Doubt, on my shelf for years. Hero of the Empire, her book about Winston Churchill, also had my attention. But Destiny of the Republic? Not interested. I’d look at the cover and think “Who is this bearded fellow? James Garfield? What did he do?”

Turns out I was very wrong because after flying through this 308-page book, I realized James Garfield was the man.1 But I was also right because he didn’t get to do much during his brief time as the 20th POTUS.

I can’t really spoil this book (it’s history after all) but I also don’t think many people know this story and it’s fun to discover as you read. Millard introduces the key players — Garfield, Charles Guiteau, and Alexander Graham Bell — and puts them on a collision course that results in tragedy. A tragedy that any modern civilian with basic CPR and knowledge of germ theory could have prevented.

This is highly readable and approachable history and Millard strikes a tone of academic but not stuffy. On my personal rating scale, I recommend you add this to your list but notice how high I put that arrow. For history lovers this easily crosses into must read territory.

Have you read this? I’d love to know your thoughts. I’m interested in watching the Netflix adaptation and will report back when I do.

Thanks for reading!

Kyle

2025 was an odd reading year. I started the year with a goal to read more non-fiction and more books by women and succeeded in only one of those goals. I ended up reading just as much fantasy and an almost identical break down of fiction to non-fiction as last year. But (and this is a big but for me!) I did read more books by women and that can mostly be attributed to one author: Sarah J. Maas. I’m proud to report that I finished all 7 books in her Throne of Glass series and had a blast with it. I go into a little more detail further down.

Below I highlight my favorite books and reading experiences of 2025. Any crossover with what you read this year?

New(ish) Releases

I don’t read a lot of new releases. Last year it was four, this year only two. Neither ranked high for me but I’m still glad I read them.

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang Not a favorite but certainly interesting. I liked her 2022 novel Babel more. Kuang’s concepts are memorable and thought provoking. She is dang smart, yet her writing is approachable and readable. It was hard to put down so I don’t know what kept it from crossing into “I love it” territory. It never quite hit the high of theme, character, and story converging to a satisfying conclusion.

Clown Town by Mick Herron I wrote about this more in depth here, so I’ll only add that for how much I was looking forward to this book and consider myself a big fan of Herron, this didn’t reach the highs of others in the series.

Honorable Mention: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. New enough to count here, but what a page turner! I don’t want to spoil anything, but there came a point when I said to myself: “This girl better not be [redacted].” And I was right and then felt frustrated. Kudos to Liz Moore for all those red herrings though. And the cover design is an A+.

Favorite Fiction

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - I adore this book. It was my favorite of 2025 and I’ll be re-reading it this year. Kingsolver gave a voice to Demon that is crystal clear and unwavering. At first I thought it was cheating to retell a classic Dickens novel but now that I’ve read more than half of David Copperfield, I’m even more impressed with what Kingsolver did. It is paced well and completely gripping.

She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper - I had so much fun with this tight crime thriller. From start to finish, the story of a man fighting to save his daughter from a dangerous gang was creative and satisfying. I cared for the dad, I cared for the daughter, and somehow the author got me to care for a stuffed bear.

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman - I had a great time hanging out with the ‘Club as they used their different skills and experiences to solve murders. I’m determined to read the rest of the series (just don’t ask me about the movie).

Favorite Non-fiction

The Wager by David Grann - Grann is an excellent storyteller and this caught my attention and never let go.

Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott - I should be reading this short treatise on creative writing every month because Lamott makes me feel like anything is possible.

Making Movies by Sidney Lumet - Motivated me to never give up on my dream of making a movie while at the same time convincing me that it will be the hardest thing I ever do.

Favorite Series

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas - Okay, let’s talk about this series. I was looking forward to reading a Maas series about a female assassin. Her other books I read had these fae creatures that were hopped up on aggressive, sexual energy. I wanted something more grounded.

Joke was on me. Mild spoiler for Throne of Glass but you find out in book 3 that the female assassin is in fact a fae warrior queen. Who has lots of aggressive fae energy. Fortunately, this series is less about the romance and more about the young heroine coming into her power and fulfilling her destiny. I enjoyed the cast of characters even though they’re mostly an interchangeable group of fae, shape shifters, magic wielders, and witches.

Each book in the series built to an epic conclusion. Had I been reading them as they came out, I would have enjoyed theorizing and anticipating the next release. They go down easily, requiring very little thought or effort, and if you come for the vibes you won’t be disappointed.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - I’m so glad I started this series in 2025 and can’t wait to get back into it in 2026. The character dynamics are delightful and like nothing I’ve ever read. Give the audiobook a chance and I know you won’t be disappointed!

Favorite Narrator: Jeff Hays

This dude is unreal. Is he even human? Is he an alien? His narration of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series enhances the entire experience. From his Patrick-Warburton-as-Kronk sounding Carl to the diva Princess Donut who shouts in all caps in her text messages, Hays gets it. The production value is so high that it breaks out of audiobook category and into Immersive Audio Experience (IAE) category.

Stats

• Total books: 52

  • 35 read, 15 on audio, 2 hybrid

• 28 written by men, 24 written by women. Love to see it!

• 26 by authors new to me, 26 by familiar authors

• 7 re-reads (Tom Lake, The Nickel Boys, Wind and Truth, Harry Potter 6, Four Thousand Weeks, Bad Actors, Slough House).

• 43 fiction (13 fantasy, 3 LitRPG); 9 non-fiction. Lopsided as always.

• Oldest Book: “Our Town” 1938 (I guess this is more of a play but it’s still old). Read 6 books published in 2021, the most of any publication year.

Most Anticipated Book of 2026

Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel, coming in September. What’s yours?

I hope your reading year was everything you hoped it would be. I’d love to hear what your favorite books and bookish moments were in 2025. Let me know in a comment or simply reply to the email.

Thanks for reading and thanks to all who make the Substack community such a wholesome place to be.

Kyle

Graphs

Just as water eventually wears down stone, so too was I eventually worn down by her persistence. I started my Throne of Glass journey in March of this year. I’ve dragged my feet plenty since then, but I have no regrets and I promised Cat I’d finish the series before the end of the year.

Maas’s books don’t win Pulitzer prizes but they entertain and delight millions, including me. The best part is discussing a corny piece of dialogue or jaw dropping scene with my friend. I plan to say more on Maas later but for now I’m working my way through Tower of Dawn and Empire of Storms simultaneously and then will move right into Kingdom of Ash, the last book in the series. After that I look forward to what she’ll hound me to read next.

While I’m busy reading Throne of Glass, there are movies and TV shows coming out that I want to watch based on books that I don’t have time to read. Here’s a short list of what I’m not reading and hope to get to when my Throne of Glass journey is over.

Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron

Y’all know I’m a huge Mick Herron fan. I love the Slow Horses books, but I’m curious if A) this book is any good and B) the show is any good. I’ve heard nothing which maybe is a bad sign.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

This book has been on my list for ages and seeing that first trailer with a couple of my favorite actors (Buckley and Mescal) got me really excited. I’ll probably see the movie first and get to the book later.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I did a Frankenstein deep dive a number of years ago and with the new Guillermo del Toro adaptation on Netflix, I wanted to read it again so it would be fresh. I’ve read mixed reviews on the film: Some rave, others surprisingly positive, while others lean negative.

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

This is a 116 page novella published in 2002 and the adaptation just released on Netflix today. It looks like a beautiful film that mourns the changing American landscape at the turn of the century and I can only imagine Johnson’s writing invokes similar feelings.

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

I’ve been meaning to read Candice Millard for years. She has a book about Teddy Roosevelt (The River of Doubt) and another on Churchill (Hero of the Empire). Her book Destiny of the Republic is about James Garfield and was recently adapted by Netflix (Death by Lightning). I’ve heard nothing but great things.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The teaser trailer that broke the internet, those scandalous billboards, and that gorgeous second trailer. This movie certainly has my attention and shot this book up to the top of my list. Plus my friend gave it 1 star on Goodreads - I’m intrigued!

Honorable Mentions: All Her Fault by Andrea Mara, The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

I’d love to know if you’ve ever tried to get someone to read something and how it went down. Did they love it and thank you? Dislike it and never trust your recommendations again? Please share.

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Thanks for reading,

Kyle

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Hello friends and welcome to another edition of Bite Size Reviews (#190),

I just realized I’ve been writing for a little over 6 years and I am so happy that 1) this medium, though imperfect, exists and 2) I have you to share it with. I love hearing from you through email reply, comment, text message, and in the case of some, in person. There are days when I consider taking all my reading offline but those thoughts rarely last long. I would miss out on shared experiences that enrich my life. I would miss out on seeing all the book-loving goodness that is out there.

I started on Tiny Letter and sent my first email on June 30, 2019 titled “What I learned this week.” Then I renamed the blog to “Reading Like It’s My Job” and moved to Substack. Eventually I settled on “Bite Size Reviews” and that name has stuck. It's been 6 years of fairly consistent blogging and 189 articles/reviews. Thanks for being here, it means so much to me.

Clown Town had big shoes to fill

This week I was privileged to read my most anticipated book of 2025, Mick Herron’s 9th Slough House novel titled Clown Town.1 Quick background for those who don’t know: I love this series. When I read the first book, Slow Horses, back in 2023, I gushed over the witty writing and smart plot. Herron brought each character to life, especially Jackson Lamb head of the MI5 rejects. I devoured books 2 through 8 which were all interesting, funny, and exciting. Herron instantly became an auto-buy author.

I had high expectations as I started reading Clown Town. I wondered how much longer Herron wanted to write these books and if this could be the last one and it would end with a bang. I wondered if he was going to include characters from his Oxford Investigations series and introduce the idea of a shared universe. I wondered if he’d pivot to Lamb sloughing off his persona and becoming a more traditional hero.

None of those things happened. These aren’t Marvel movies; these are novels written by a British man. Herron is way too disciplined to do any of that. He has consistently demonstrated across 8 books (9 if you count The Secret Hours) that he enjoys setting up a problem, finding a way to get the slow horses involved, then giving each character something interesting to do to try and solve the problem. The formula works and he stuck with it.

I just didn’t find the problem, how the slow horses got involved, and what each character got to do to solve the problem all that interesting this time around. It lacked the punch and zip of the previous books. Nobody gets to shine. And a major character dies which I’m having a hard time accepting.

There were still laugh out loud moments and chuckle softly to myself moments and smirk moments. I especially loved the scene with 7 slow horses crammed like clowns into one car. That was fun to imagine.

Overall, it was nice being back with the slow horses and I’ll look forward to the next installment with more measured expectations.

Thanks for reading. As always, I’d love to know what you’re reading, watching, and enjoying these days!

Kyle

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End Notes:

Other things I’ve written about this book series: Book 1/Season 1 (Slow Horses); Book 2/Season 2 (Dead Lions); Book 3/Season 3 (Real Tigers); The standalone Slough House adjacent book The Secret Hours. Season 5 premieres on Apple TV+ September 24th. And for the hardcore Herron stans out there, Down Cemetary Road premieres on Apple TV+ on October 29th and stars Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson.

What I’m watching: I’m enjoying The Paper on Peacock. It consistently makes me laugh and I’m always excited for the next episode. I’m liking Peacemaker season 2 but not quite as much as season 1. Eagly better live forever. Bird blindness is funny.

What I’m reading next: I’m going to finish David Copperfield (37%) and then Demon Copperhead (27%). I made it too much work to read them concurrently while taking notes so I’m just going to read them like a normal person.

It’s a great time to be a reader. Paper, digital, and audio formats are all at our disposal. They each have benefits and drawbacks.

Paper

Peak book is the physical book and I’ll hear no arguments to the contrary. The combination of enticing title and attractive cover art immediately ignites my imagination with possibility. The cover broadcasts a tone or mood and is the first thing the book says to me.

Picking up the book and flipping through the pages give my other senses a chance to participate. The thickness and weight give a sensation of the time that will be spent reading. Books have a unique smell. The sound and feel of skin on paper as a single page turns is gratifying. The entire experience is a reminder that this object and I exist - we take up physical space, we have weight, and beyond our physical characteristics there is something more complex going on inside and that complexity can be discovered and known.

Progress in a physical book is one thin page at a time that aggregates and can be seen by the bookmark making its journey from one side to the other.

What are the drawbacks? If I get a hard cover edition from the library, it has a thin plastic cover that protects and secures the dust jacket. Protected reading, like other protected things, is still fun but not everything it could be.

Digital

I love my kindle. If I highlight a passage from a kindle book, whether I own it or it’s a library loan, that highlight will sync with Goodreads for me to reference later. It’s a size and weight that is just right for reading while walking. The screen is easy on the eyes for reading in full sunlight or in the dark. It can tell me how much time is left in the book or chapter.

Drawbacks: It’s a sterile, hard, flat, plastic nothing burger that has none of the appeal of a paper book other than the words themselves.

Audio

Audiobooks are great. They tell you how to pronounce places and names, like Her-my-oh-knee rather than Her-me-own. The narrator’s performance can be additive and infused with more than what my brain can come up with. I can listen on the go and make progress on a book during my commute or while exercising. I can carry multiple audiobooks in my pocket. I can carry multiple library catalogs in my pocket. Yes that’s right, I juggle multiple libraries at once. Don’t tell them.

Bless the library for still carrying Audio CDs, which are usually available and can bridge the gap of waiting for a hold. For example, I can get the Audio CD of Kristin Hannah’s The Women right now and get started while I wait in line.

Drawbacks: This isn’t exactly a drawback but listening to Lonesome Dove and then reading it were two different experiences. I cherish them both, but now I can’t help wonder if I’m missing anything if I only do the audiobook. For me, listening is like a road trip while reading is like a hike and I worry that I’m driving past landmarks that need to be observed more closely. Or not even a landmark but a small clump of wildflowers growing out of the rocks. It’s harder to highlight, share, and consider individual sentences or paragraphs. Right now I’m reading Demon Copperhead and there are sentences that deserve rumination. This FOMO I like to call FOMOOABS (Fear Of Missing Out On A Beautiful Sentence) has caused me to set aside the Demon Copperhead audiobook in favor of print.

How about you - what’s your favorite format? I’d love to hear.

Leave a comment

Thanks for reading,

Kyle

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I can’t remember the moment I was turned on to Robert Caro. I’ve been aware of The Power Broker for years, but it wasn’t until I watched the documentary Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb that I became a super fan.

Seeing his writing process and his research process filled me with the deepest respect. His books take years to write. He’s published six in 50 years. Today I want to talk about the first 300 pages of his first book, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York.1

What I’ve discovered in these 300 pages is that Caro is a master storyteller who structured his book with style. Allow me to explain.

The stories are memorable

Robert Moses started coming to power in New York City in the 1920s and he gained his power via control of the Parks Commission. He built parks, expressways, parkways, beaches, and other significant public works. Caro tells one engaging story after another about Moses’ machinations. For example:

• Thousands of clumps of beach grass were planted by hand on the dunes of Jones Beach to hold down the newly dredged-up sand and keep it from blowing into the air.

• Otto Kahn’s under the table payment to Moses so the Northern State Parkway would be diverted south rather than cutting through his private golf course.

• James Roth, a farmer of no means nor influence, having his farm cut in two by the same Northern State Parkway that Moses diverted 3 miles south to avoid the golf courses and estates of the rich, but not one tenth of a mile more to keep Roth’s land intact.

• Moses’ convoluted tactic of “putting down stakes” where he’d ask for money for a project, mislead the Legislature into thinking it was the total amount, then spend it all making irreversible changes to the land. Denying him additional funding to complete the project meant the money already spent would go to waste and the grading stakes already put down would have to be torn out. And nobody wanted that.

All these and more in the first 300 pages.

The structure is elegant

In Caro’s memoir Working he talks about his decision to put all of Moses’s accomplishments — everything he built — up front in the introduction. Paragraphs containing the names of the expressways, parkways, parks, and other public works. This early awareness puts the cards on the table and loudly declares: “This is a man who got things done.” The questions the rest of the book answers are “How?” and “What were the consequences?” How did Bob Moses, an unelected official, amass enough power, enlist enough labor, and summon enough resources to finish so many large scale construction projects? And how did those projects impact the city and its inhabitants?

Caro also says in the introduction: “Both before and after Robert Moses the city was utterly unable to meet the needs of its people in areas requiring physical construction.” How did Moses do it?

With that set up, Caro takes us through six chapters of Moses’ early life, education, idealism, and career failures — as biographies do. He emphasizes the importance of executive power in accomplishing anything in politics and introduces us to Governor Alfred E. Smith, who was Moses’ most powerful ally in the 20s. At this point Caro decides to pause and spend chapter 7 learning all about Al Smith’s early life, education, and career. A mini biography within the biography. And I’m here to tell you, dear reader, that Al Smith is my new favorite former Governor of New York.

It’s an elegant detour and makes the switch from Governor Smith, one of Moses’ loyal champions, to his successor Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of Moses’ staunchest opponents, all the more poignant.

Yes this book is long, but I’m digging it. I’m taking my time and trying to savor it. Caro took 7 years to write it, I can spare a few months to read it.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you after the next 300.

Kyle

Hello everyone,

This week I started reading The Power Broker in earnest. It’s long. It’s dense. It does not take place on Roshar. But I’m loving it. I just finished chapter 7 and I think the way Caro structured the first 7 chapters is a work of genius.

I love carrying the paperback around and having people comment on the ugly cover. I love that it doubles the weight of my backpack. I love imagining Bob Caro turning every page as he did his research. The writing is engaging; each sentence is a feast with words and grammar and punctuation to chew on. It makes me happy.

But have I mentioned it’s long? And that it’s taking me a long time? I’m doing a lot of re-reading of chewy sentences and paragraphs to make sure I understand. It’s not that Caro is trying to obfuscate or show off; I genuinely believe that he was trying to make every single sentence sing. It could just be that I’m coming off a Jack Reacher book so it’s taking a minute to recalibrate to real sentences.

When I read a book I like to have the physical copy, kindle version, and audio so I can attack it on multiple fronts. With The Power Broker, I’m finding that audio only works in the car during my commute. I’m not listening during exercise or house chores or the other typical times because I’m afraid to miss a clever word choice or phrasing. That might change over time as I get more comfortable with the prose. Or it might not because so far I’ve enjoyed dipping a little deeper into the well by going slow.

Today I thought it would be fun to look at a small sampling of all the books I won’t be reading anytime soon because of this 1126 page behemoth standing in my way and demanding my attention. Many of these are new books from authors I’ve read and loved who decided that the best time for a new book release was while I was on Roshar.

Do you recommend any of these? What should I add to the list?

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Many friends have raved about this book, my friend Sara being the most recent. It sounds like something I will love: Multi-generational family saga set in India with characters overcoming challenges through faith and love. I want to read it.

Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

Re-reading Four Thousand Weeks is another thing I’m not doing right now. That book changed how I think about time and attention and my own limitations, so I’d love to read Burkeman’s latest. I’m waiting on the paperback to be released.

Homicide by David Simon

I recently watched the first season of The Wire and loved getting into the nitty gritty of police work on the streets of Baltimore. Prior to creating that series, then-reporter David Simon spent a year in Baltimore with a homicide unit, the first reporter ever given unlimited access. I’m sure this will be bleak and eye opening.

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda

I can only do so much graphic novel / manga before I need a break and as delightful as volume 1 was, I had to stop partway through volume 2. But I’ll always have the memory of watching the live action Netflix series in Japan with the fam and falling in love with Luffy and his crew.

Long Island by Colm Toibin

This is the sequel to Brooklyn, a book I very much enjoyed back in 2016. It continues the story of Eilis and…the man she chose in that book. I would love to dive into this and let it sweep me away, but in order to get to 1970s Long Island I have to first understand how Bob Moses reshaped New York from 1924 to 1968. Hence, The Power Broker.

The Empyrean Series by Rebecca Yarros

This could be fun, right? Yarros is crushing it. Millions of copies sold. Fastest selling adult novel in 20 years. Everyone is reading it and I just hate feeling left out. Ok I’ll make a deal: If Jenny starts reading Fourth Wing, I will too.

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

This is another popular, divisive book that had a lot said and written about it and now that the dust has settled I want to read it.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

I mostly want to read this due to the cover design. Is that pink paint? Pink blood? Did a unicorn die? I know nothing about the plot but watched the positive reviews roll in from the moment it was published.

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Braiding Sweetgrass was a special experience for me and I want to read all of Kimmerer’s words about nature and living beings. Abundance and reciprocity are themes she explored in that book and it appears she expounds on them here.

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

I’m a Moriarty fan from way back (ahem, 2024) and plan to listen to all her books. Caroline Lee is just too good at the narration to miss any of these.

As always, thanks for being here. It means so much that we can share books with one another.

Kyle

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It’s a collection of bite-size book reviews she gathered from friends and family. I was so touched and delighted by it and carried it around with me for days to show to coworkers. It is a treasure.

Eventually I want to read all 40+ books that were recommended. There are books in there that have been on my list a long time and others I’ve never heard of. I love flipping through it and reading why someone loves a book and why they think I’ll love it too.

Into Thin Air

The recommendation from my friend Cat was Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, which had been on my list forever. It relates the story of the 1996 Everest expedition that ended in disaster when 8 climbers lost their lives. She read it last November and it sent her on a mountaineering reading binge.1 Her enthusiasm was infectious and I started reading immediately.

The book inspired me to 1) Never climb Everest and 2) Go out and have an adventure. I have mountains in my backyard here in Colorado and hiking one in the winter would be cold and challenging.

But nothing like Everest. The 29,028 foot summit is not suited for human presence. The jet stream that pummels the mountain makes it impossible to summit most of the year. The narrow window at the end of May when conditions are ideal lead to multiple expeditions attempting to summit at the same time, which looks like this:

This traffic jam of commercial expeditions guiding inexperienced climbers is the exact thing Krakauer was attempting to discourage by writing about the 1996 disaster. Unfortunately it seems to have had the opposite effect:

I was blown away by this story and the entire enterprise of Everest expeditions. It was fun to text Cat an insane detail and then discuss it during one of our walks along Boulder Creek. And when the polar vortex rolled through Colorado, we walked anyway, unfazed by it. It was no Everest.

Everest the film

I watched the 2015 film Everest starring Jason Clarke and Josh Brolin. While I think the book is better, the movie does an admirable job depicting certain events. The story of Beck Weathers was inspiring to see on screen and Josh Brolin made that moment soar.

The marketing makes it look like an action movie, with Brolin dangling from a ladder above a crevasse. It is not an action movie, it is a tragic disaster movie. Many of the climbers who died that fateful day simply stopped moving and could not start again. Some fell and their bodies were never found. Some bodies remain on the mountain to this day. To climb Everest, you have to hike through graves. I can’t think of a more glaring warning sign.

Thank you Cat for the great recommendation and thanks to everyone who contributed to my birthday gift. If you didn’t get a chance to contribute and are feeling left out, I’ll always take a recommendation in the comments!

Kyle

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In today’s newsletter, I won’t spend any time introducing the Cosmere. Sanderson has an excellent website with all you need to know (link here). My goal is to help you decide if you’re interested in reading his books and if so, knowing where to start. Some fans are adamant about a Cosmere reading order and others think you can start anywhere. I agree with the approach to find what you think interests you the most and start there.

I also have a spoiler section where I’ll be nerding out and nobody can stop me. Let’s get into it.

Ok, if you haven’t stopped reading already I assume you fall into one of three groups.

1. You’re like my wife and don’t care for fantasy. At all. You’re not interested in reading a Brandon Sanderson book now or ever. My friend Nic, who doesn’t read fiction, also falls into this group.

2. You’re like my friend who has read Tolkein and Martin and want your fantasy dark and adult. You get the impression Sanderson is too juvenile for your taste.

3. You’re like my friends who have read Meyer, Maas, and Yarros. Romantasy is more your bag.

I’ll address each of you and see if I can find something that will appeal to your taste.

Group 1: You don’t care for fantasy and would rather not read anything by Sanderson

You are the toughest crowd. You read non-fiction or historical fiction. You would rather spend your few precious moments of life in the real world than fantasy land. Fantasy has nothing to offer or teach you.

I have to be careful what I recommend and give you options without overwhelming you. Here are two novels, a short story, and a novella that I’d recommend for this group:

• The Emperor’s Soul (novella): The protagonist, Shai, has the magical power of Forgery, which can permanently change an object into something else. When she is arrested for theft she is given an ultimatum: Either create a Forgery of the dying Emperor’s soul that can stand in for him and continue giving the people hope or be executed. Forgery of a human soul is the hardest to pull off and seeing how Shai navigates her predicament using her skill is like a satisfying prison break movie.

  This is 176 pages long and I’d be surprised if you’re not hooked after 10.

  

• Elantris1 (novel): This book is fun! It has an optimistic protagonist who I want to emulate. He takes a wretched situation and makes the best of it. He turns enemies into allies and allies into true friends. I loved that he was dedicated to study and practice. He recognized areas of weakness and surrounded himself with people who were strong in those areas. I’ve only grown fonder of this story with time. I’m confident you’ll enjoy the journey if you give it a chance.

• The Sunlit Man (novel): Nomad is a wanderer who has ended up on a dangerous planet with a killer sun. He must help the people stay on the dark side of the planet and avoid the Cinder King’s evil gang who wants to harvest them for energy. I understand that a name like “Cinder King” might be an immediate deal breaker for you, but this book has action, adventure, and engineering! The problem solving is really cool and if you’ve worked in product development you’ll relate to what the characters go through. I will confess this has an awesome Cosmere connection that had me squealing with joy, but you don’t need that to have a good time.

• Sixth of the Dusk (short): Another short story for the crowd that has no time for fantasy nonsense. The magic in this story is birds! For that alone it is worth your time.

Group 2: You like fantasy, but Sanderson comes across as too YA for your taste.

I can understand the position, especially the argument that most of Sanderson’s fans are teenage boys (not sure if this is true). My teenage nephew is a big fan and has read all his books. Anything that appeals to a teenage boy won’t be worth the time of someone with your mature and refined taste. You’ve probably heard that there’s no sex or cursing and that doesn’t feel realistic to you.

Give the books in this group a go and then tell me Sanderson doesn’t have a dark side.

• Mistborn Era 1: These books get dark and violent. A major element of the magic involve metal spikes hammered through the eye sockets and other parts of the body. That’s dark! The bestial koloss are horrifying to imagine with their loose, torn skin hanging off their bodies.

  This trilogy is easily Sanderson’s most popular book series because they don’t require as much commitment as the five-book, 1300-page-each Stormlight archive, yet they are packed with lore. I was dubious after book one but by book three I was totally sold on the entire experience. Like Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, the Mistborn trilogy should be thought of as one book in three parts.

  

• Warbreaker (novel): The best of the standalone novels, Warbreaker has princesses, magic swords that crave the destruction of evil, and BioChromatic Breaths that give special powers such as awakening inanimate objects. The twists and turns are highly satisfying and well earned and I think Sanderson nailed the ending. If you’re a fan of Aragorn or Jaime Lannister then you’ll love Vasher and his sentient sword.

Group 3: You love romantasy. Are Sanderson’s books sexy enough?

No, they aren’t. I won’t lie to you. A single scene lasting half a page in A Court of Thorns and Roses was steamier than all his books combined. He just doesn’t go there. It’s all snuggles and shoulder rubs. But that’s not to say that the relationships aren’t sweet and touching. Here are some places to start if you need a break from the smut and want a good wholesome love story.

• Tress of the Emerald Sea (novel): My favorite Sanderson reading experience, mostly because it was a buddy read with my friend Cori (who, I might add, is a big fan of romantasy and loved this book). Tress lives a simple life on an island with parents who love her. She collects cups. She does not fall in love with a dragon, but she does have to face one to rescue the love of her life, a prince named Charlie. If you like The Princess Bride, you’ll enjoy Tress.

• Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (novel): Yumi is a young woman bound by tradition and responsibility. Nikaro is the “nightmare painter” whose job is to defend his city from evil forces. Together, these two have a sweet relationship in a very Your Name-esque story. For the romantasy fans I will entice you with information: These two spend time together naked! That’s right! So I don’t want to hear criticisms about how chaste Sanderson’s writing is. No they don’t have sex, but I still don’t want to hear it! Naked is naked. Also, check out this book’s gorgeous artwork.

• The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance (novels): Books 1 and 2 of the Stormlight Archive. I suggest the first two for a couple reasons: One, I think they are the best in the series. Two, if you’re not hooked by the end of book 2, there’s no point in talking about 3 through 5. Sanderson has so many set ups and pay offs across these two books but at the same time he’s creating new questions and doing more set up. Characters cross paths with each other and interact in ways that open up exciting possibilities. One of my favorite scenes in the entire series takes place in book 2 between two characters, a hot man and a hot woman. I really can’t say more but I hope that’s enough to tempt the romantasy lovers to give it a chance.

The rest

It’s crazy, I’ve been typing for what seems like hours and still haven’t mentioned Mistborn Era 2, the rest of the Stormlight Archive, White Sands, and a handful of short stories. What I’ve highlighted above are the best starting points for someone who is curious (or hesitant) depending on the types of books they like.

I hope I’ve convinced you to give Sanderson a chance, even if it’s only a couple hours to read a short story. I certainly underestimated him and thought there’s no way his books lived up to the hype, but I was very surprised with how invested I became in each story.

2025 Reading Plan: Year of (mostly) Non-Fiction

In 2025 I’ll be focusing on non-fiction. My must-reads are:

• The books by Robert Caro: The Power Broker, Years of Lyndon B. Johnson series

• The Edmund Morris Teddy Roosevelt trilogy

• Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, since I loved The Warmth of Other Suns so much.

• The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer, since I loved Braiding Sweetgrass so much.

• She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey

• Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes DuMez

• The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Thanks so much for reading!

Kyle

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Spoiler Section - Don’t read below unless you’ve read the Stormlight Archive

I wanted to highlight some of my favorite parts and passages from the Stormlight Archive.

Words of Radiance chapter 72: “Selfish Reasons.” This is what I was referring to above as one of my favorite scenes in all the books: Kaladin and Shallan together in the chasm. The sexual tension between them was heightened by the intensity of their situation. Survival was the most expedient thing at the moment, but they were also hyper aware of one another.

He was suddenly aware of her pressed against his back. Holding him, breath warm on his neck. She trembled, and he thought he could hear in her voice both terror and fascination at their situation.

I love that image of these two together, terrified, and wholly reliant on each other. Their relationship ends up being more platonic but to me they’ll always have the chasm.

The Way of Kings chapter 67: “Words.” Kaladin and Bridge 4 coming to the rescue of Adolin and Dalinar on the shattered plains. This is such a crowd pleasing moment. It doesn’t matter that you see it coming, it is executed so well.

This is my choice, he thought as the Parshendi archers formed up. It’s not some angry god watching me, not some spren playing tricks, not some twist of fate. It’s me…I choose to try to rescue these men, though I know I will probably fail.

Words of Radiance chapter 85: “Swallowed by the sky.” Kaladin saving Dalinar and confronting Szeth.

You sent him to the sky to die, assassin,” Kaladin said, Stormlight puffing from his lips, “but the sky and the winds are mine. I claim them, as I now claim your life.

Of all the ways to kill a person, Szeth decides to just surgebind Dalinar to the sky and then let him fall to his death. Kaladin arriving in the nick of time was just so rad.

Words of Radiance chapter 56: “Whitespine Uncaged.” Kaladin jumping into the arena with Adolin. Is there anything more cinematic? The heroic rescues in this series are just so good.

Spear in hand, he grabbed the edge of the wall and flung himself over, dropping to the sands of the arena floor below.

Words of Radiance chapter 66: “Stormblessings.” Adolin and Kaladin becoming pals after Adolin imprisons himself to make a point.

Didn’t seem right, you in here.

Wait, are you wearing cologne? In prison?

I was hoping for a bit more tension between Adolin, Kaladin, and Shallan but that would have been hard to pull off. The story is really dang good as it stands. Thanks for indulging me for this part.

What another outstanding reading year it has been. I will look back on this year with fondness and gratitude. I had moments of euphoric bliss and moments of subtle heartache. This year had it all for me.

Rather than providing a list of my favorite books, I’m going to touch on a few highlights from my reading year.

Notable New Releases by Amor Towles and Percival Everett

I read four new releases this year by authors I had read and enjoyed previously. All four were fantastic and further cemented these guys as must-read writers. Slow Productivity by Cal Newport and Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt both left me with a lot to think about.

Table for Two by Amor Towles broke my heart multiple times, but the part that has stuck with me since April is on page 178 near the conclusion of “The Bootlegger.” When I opened my copy, I knew exactly where to find it. Trust me when I say it’s even better in context:

James by Percival Everett was intelligent, funny, and brought the character of Jim from Huckleberry Finn to vivid life. Reading it in tandem with Huck Finn while on vacation in Palm Springs was an unforgettable experience. I immediately wanted to read everything Everett had written. Upon returning home from vacation, I checked out six of his other books from the library just to be near them. So far, I’ve read The Trees (2021) and Erasure (2001) but there are many more.

Year of Sanderson

I read 16 books and 8 short stories by Brandon Sanderson to prepare for his new release, Wind and Truth. With how much I want to say about his books, I think the Year of Sanderson recap deserves its own post. To tease that a little bit, I’ll let you know two things: 1) I’m proud of myself and thrilled with how the year went and 2) I’m looking forward to reading books written by authors not named Brandon Sanderson. More to come!

Knockout Non-fiction: Robert A. Caro and Evan Puschak

Even during a year of non-stop fantasy, I snuck in 8 non-fiction audiobooks. Robert A. Caro’s Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing and Evan Puschak’s essay collection Escape into Meaning inspired me the most. I want to write like these guys. Working got me excited and motivated to read Caro’s The Power Broker and LBJ series starting in January of next year. Escape Into Meaning showed me what a smart and engaging essay about film and pop culture looks like. Both were read by the authors, which enhanced the experience. I’m now praying daily that Bob Caro lives long enough to publish the fifth book in his Lyndon B. Johnson series and a full memoir about his own fascinating life.

Trilogy Heavyweight Champion

I’m a sucker for series and trilogies and Cixin Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past holds the undisputed position of “Trilogy That Melted My Brain.” Every book presents mind-boggling sci-fi ideas that are truly terrifying and have me hoping we are alone in the universe. The weapon used in Death’s End is so unexpected and original and should make for some trippy visuals when it’s adapted by Netflix.

Caroline Lee’s Voice

Give this lady all the awards. I love her charming narration of Liane Moriarty’s books, especially Apples Never Fall. She imbues the characters with humor and compassion. Set in Australia and about an Australian family, it’s only appropriate that I’m hearing the story told by an Australian narrator. I certainly wouldn’t have read it with an Australian accent. This is part of the magic of audiobooks, similar to Gerard Doyle’s biting British narration of the Slough House series and Jim Dale’s acclaimed performance for Harry Potter. No, it’s not the same as my inner voice, it’s much better.

I hope you also had a memorable reading year. I’d love to hear what your favorite books and bookish moments were in 2024. Let me know in a comment or simply reply to the email.

Thanks for reading and thanks to all who make the Substack community such a wholesome place to be.

Kyle

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Stats and graphs

(Because if I can do anything in excel, it’s a basic pivot table)

• Total books read: 57

• 50 written by men, 7 written by women.

• 13 by authors new to me, 44 by familiar authors (because after reading my first Sanderson book, the remaining 23 fell into the “familiar” category).

• 6 re-reads (Dune, The Three Body Problem, A Gentleman in Moscow, Adventures of Huck Finn, Harry Potter 5, The Outsiders).

• 49 fiction (26 fantasy and 8 sci-fi); 8 non-fiction.

• Oldest Book: Huck Finn (1884). Read 5 books published in 2023, the most of any publication year (3 were Sanderson “secret projects”).

• 15 five-star ratings and only 2 of 57 that were just ok or worse. I enjoyed just about everything this year.

Most Anticipated Book of 2025

Big Dumb Eyes by my favorite comedian, Nate Bargatze. I’ll get to see him live next year, too.

Shoutouts

• Casey - Top of the list this year! Thanks for collaborating with me and writing the enticing Booket List bookstore reviews. Let’s keep it going in ‘25.

• Jenny Pate - It’s your birthday for 20 more minutes so I need to hit Publish! Happy Birthday to my biggest supporter.

• - You can articulate a thought better than literally anyone.

• Cat Matthews - For book talk walks (I just came up with that, it might be too much) and for the future mountains you’ll climb.

• ! The Good Word is a substack staple for me, thanks for all your honesty and humor this year.

• Vanessa Gerard - My Friend with a capital F.

• Kalie Sosdian - Your wedding was the social highlight of my year.

• - A constant source of inspiration and encouragement.

• Sara Skidmore - You always have a kind word and it means a lot.

• Emily Rabe - If I ever moved back to Houston, we would be neighbors and chat books.

• Keturah B - No, Amor Towles is not paying me. I do this noble work for free.

• Mom and Dad for reading every word.

• - We have a lot of overlap in our tastes! Keep up the great work.

The following was originally published September 2020.

It has been over a year since I sent my first newsletter on July 1, 2019. I have sent 30 since then and I love having a record of what I have read. I enjoy going back and recalling what was happening in the world, how I felt about those happenings, and what books I was reading to make sense of the world (or escape from it). Obviously I struggle with consistent documentation and sharing. The past several months since I sent my last letter have been eventful to say the least. I have kept my reading pace strong even though my writing has fallen off. Let's talk about a couple books, shall we?

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Yes, I did my prison time. How long are you going to punish me as a result of it?

I remember watching Ava Duvernay's documentary "13th" back in 2017 and not knowing who Michelle Alexander, Bryan Stevenson, or Ibram X. Kendi were. These days those feel like household names. That documentary, viewed at the ripe old age of 33, felt like the beginning of my education in mass incarceration and an unfair criminal justice system. I had always been aware that racial inequality and unfairness existed, but I always thought of it as something that happened "back then." Examples of racial injustice today were rare, I thought. This documentary made me feel like I'd been looking at the issue through the wrong side of binoculars and someone finally flipped them around for me. The issues were suddenly right up in my face, zoomed in, and focused. I was appalled and outraged at the unfairness that was happening right now.

That was 2017. Currently, 2020 is happening. George Floyd was killed in police custody. Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Jacob Blake and others were killed or seriously injured by police. Protests and riots have been happening across the country. With the topic of police brutality and racial injustice so prevalent, it was time to further my education.

My book club at work selected to read The New Jim Crow and I'm so glad I read it. It goes even deeper into these issues and was uncomfortable in a positive way. The main argument is that individuals branded "felons" pay for their crime with prison time and then continue to pay through employment and housing discrimination. The majority of those felons are Black men and a significant percentage of the crimes are drug possession. The "war on drugs" of the 80's, Ms. Alexander claims, was actually a war on communities of color.

Ms. Alexander makes many claims. She has an agenda and a bias and judging by some reviews on Goodreads, that agenda and bias upsets some people. What was important for me is that it got me thinking of issues I don't normally think about and I started having several important conversations that I don't normally have. It is painfully obvious that we do have a problem in America and it is bigger and more complicated than I imagined. We have so much work to do and I'm starting in my heart, in my home, and with my vote.

Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday

Get your day scheduled. Limit the interruptions. Limit the number of choices you need to make.

Time for some straight talk: I am easily distracted. My wife will tell you to keep me away from shiny things (i.e. bookshelves full of books, anything related to movies, a screen of any kind, etc.). While I wouldn't define my life as loud and chaotic, my brain is a bit jumbled most of the time. I rarely sit quietly in a room alone with nothing but my thoughts. And most of the time when I sit down to write, I - Oh! "Grand Designs" is on! Brb...1

Needless to say, I had been looking forward to reading Stillness since the beginning of the year so it could solve all my problems (ha, like it's that easy!). I wanted to achieve a stillness of mind, spirit, and body in order to find greater contentment and excellence. A family trip to Bear Lake in June presented the perfect opportunity to dig in and "still out."

Mr. Holiday is a gifted writer and story-teller. To support his points, he weaves in anecdotes from the lives of famous people past and present. There were also a multitude of references to Stoic philosophy that reminded me of several stoic principles that I haven't revisited in a while. The book reads more like a handbook that ought to be marked up, dog-eared, and referenced when needed. I like that about it, but that's not how I read. I blaze through and then move on to the next thing! Even the book about slowing down and contemplating couldn't get me to slow down and contemplate it. Sigh.

That said, it serves up a lot of advice that you've heard before (keep a journal, meditate, read, get a routine, put the phone down, get enough sleep) but when put all together and sprinkled with stories and Stoicism, feels quite fresh. Reading it was like eating a Monte Cristo for the first time (which I'll never forget was at Kenny & Ziggy's in Houston, TX): Sure, I'd had a turkey sandwich before and of course I'd had a ham sandwich before, but I'd never had both stacked between two thick slices of French toast and served with syrup, powdered sugar, and jam. Yum.

For those interested in learning more about Stoic philosophy with modern application, I would highly recommend A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine.

That's it for me. I've got a few books in the pipeline that I'd like to write about so stay tuned.
Thanks for reading along,
Kyle

Jonathan Haidt is having a bit of a moment due to his recent book The Anxious Generation and I think it is well deserved. With the election looming, I wanted to repost a review of his 2012 book that changed my thinking about why we vote the way we do.

This review was originally published in 2021 but I still find it relevant - please let me know what you think!

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Someday I’ll start a review with something other than “I think everyone should read this!” Today is not that day.

I needed this book. I needed these ideas and this level of thinking and research. Jonathan Haidt didn’t get his political ideology from watching YouTube videos on autoplay. He has been doing research, reading, writing, and teaching for decades.

I wish I had read The Righteous Mind when it came out in 2012. And then again 4 years ago. And then again at the beginning of last year. It could have saved me several impassioned arguments with loved ones (and a couple of strangers).

Let’s put the past behind us and get into it.

Published 20121 | 419 pages
Tags: Non-fiction, Psychology, Politics, Philosophy

What’s it about?

I considered posting quote after quote from the book and just calling that my review. Dr. Haidt seems to be pulling from multiple fields and several bodies of research to construct his arguments. The biggest take-away for me is the idea of living in a “moral matrix” where one is convinced that the morals of his or her team are correct and any righteous anger directed at the immoral “other team” is justified. Dr. Haidt, raised in a liberal household, speaks of his moral awakening this way:

Liberalism seemed so obviously ethical. Liberals marched for peace, workers’ rights, civil rights, and secularism. The Republican Party was (as we saw it) the party of war, big business, racism, and evangelical Christianity. I could not understand how any thinking person would voluntarily embrace the party of evil, and so I and my fellow liberals looked for psychological explanations of conservatism, but not liberalism. We supported liberal policies because we saw the world clearly and wanted to help people, but they supported conservative policies out of pure self-interest (lower my taxes!) or thinly veiled racism (stop funding welfare programs for minorities!). We never considered the possibility that there were alternative moral worlds in which reducing harm (by helping victims) and increasing fairness (by pursuing group-based equality) were not the main goals. And if we could not imagine other moralities, then we could not believe that conservatives were as sincere in their moral beliefs as we were in ours (emphasis mine).

He goes on to talk about how spending time in India opened his mind to an alternative moral matrix and that upon returning home, “social conservatives no longer seemed so crazy.”

I had escaped from my prior partisan mind-set (reject first, ask rhetorical questions later) and began to think about liberal and conservative policies as manifestations of deeply conflicting but equally heartfelt visions of the good society. It felt good to be released from partisan anger. And once I was no longer angry, I was no longer committed to reaching the conclusion that righteous anger demands: we are right, they are wrong. I was able to explore new moral matrices, each one supported by its own intellectual traditions. It felt like a kind of awakening.

Ok, so maybe I will just post quotes. The most important thing for me is that Dr. Haidt is not representing the right or the left. He doesn’t have a dog in that fight, rather his dog is trying to bridge the gap. He’s trying to help each side see the morality in the other. We are so suspicious of the other side and so trusting of our own side that we’ll believe what our side says about the other side, which might be, at best, incomplete.

How did it impact me?

I’ll be thinking about these concepts every time I have a discussion with somebody. Understanding a person’s moral foundations seems so obvious in hindsight. Trying to convince people using reason without taking into account the emotional/intuitive aspects of their moral matrix seems so foolish. And yet, I’ve been doing it all my life.

Since reading, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to test the concepts. Just this past week I tried understanding the reasons why a loved one wouldn’t get vaccinated and I made every effort to see the moral foundation upon which the arguments rested. Let me tell you, it is easier said than done. It’s nice to read a book but it’s going to take real-world practice, ideally face to face, to get better at these conversations.

Any downsides?

I do have a few qualms, one being that I wish Dr. Haidt had more real-world, “the rubber meets the road” data. A lot of his data comes from people answering questionnaires online at yourmorals.org or from interviews. Sure, we can say our morals would compel us to chase down and tackle the guy assaulting the woman behind the dumpster, but how many of us would have the courage to act in that moment? I’m not sure how that data would be collected but imagining your response to a situation could be drastically different than how you’d actually respond.

My other qualm is that I’m starting to feel “morally superior” to everyone who hasn’t “woken up” to the fact that partisan anger is SO DUMB. I find myself feeling more than a bit angry at their partisan anger. This concerns me.

You will like this if…

…you enjoy Malcolm Gladwell's books. I got some serious MG vibes early on, but it soon became apparent that Haidt is in another league.

…you want to engage and have more productive conversations with people on the other side.

…you want to understand your own beliefs and moral foundations better.

…you’re tired of verbal battles that get nowhere.

That’s all for me this week! I’d love to know what delicacies of literature you’ve been tasting lately.

— Kyle

Thanks for being here, I love hearing from readers (whether you agree or disagree). Feel free to leave a comment.

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I want to thank everyone who reached out last week with heartfelt condolences about my grandfather. It was so nice to receive texts, emails, and comments and hear memories of your grandparents. It meant a lot to me, so thank you.

Amor Towles is on my short list of “auto buy” authors. I will buy whatever this guy writes, sometimes multiple copies depending on the edition. When his newest book released back in April, I went in early to my local bookstore in Lafayette (The Read Queen - check it out, it’s awesome!) to pick it up.

Table for Two is a collection of 6 short stories and one novella. The short stories are all unique with no connection to his other books that I could discern. The novella, “Eve in Hollywood,” is a continuation of Evelyn Ross’s story from his 2011 novel Rules of Civility.

I enjoyed each short story and was once again charmed by Towles’ ability to get me invested immediately. He’s so good at introducing characters and situations that are unique yet familiar. The pages turned easily for me.

Below I will touch on the stories, without spoilers, and conclude with a review of “Eve in Hollywood.”

“The Line”

Pushkin is a typical Towles protagonist with a heart of gold. A simple farmer who relocates to Moscow with his wife Irina during the Russian Revolution. Her fervor for communism lands her a job in a factory, while Pushkin’s patient demeanor doesn’t seem to have a place in the new regime.

He finds himself out of work and standing in lines for daily rations. Whether it’s for bread, cabbage, or coffee, Pushkin stands in the line. As he strikes up conversation and befriends those standing with him, his story takes him places far beyond the front of any line.

In typical Towles fashion, a seemingly mundane premise is given vibrant life. I was rooting for Pushkin until the very last page, and I’ll never look at standing in lines the same again.

“The Ballad of Timothy Touchett”

Timothy Touchett, struggling writer, misunderstood artist, lands a job with Mr. Pennybrook, a gregarious bookseller who discovers Touchett has a very particular skill and a particularly weak will. Exploitation ensues.

This story would work well as a full-length novel and left me wanting more adventures of Timothy Touchett. He has a great alliterate name for a hero, villain, or a little of both.

“Hasta Luego”

Two strangers, Jerry and Smitty, meet for drinks at a hotel bar after their flights are canceled. What starts as a seemingly harmless night of one round after another ends up in a place that is impossible to foresee.

The depths of humanity are on full display in this story. I related to Jerry, I related to Smitty, and I found myself asking the questions: “How far would I be willing to go for a complete stranger? How hard would I be willing to fight for my spouse? How hard would she be willing to fight for me?” I loved how this one ended, just loved it.

“I Will Survive”

Recently remarried Peggy suspects her new husband John of infidelity. She asks her daughter Nell to follow him and find out. Once again, you will never guess what is actually going on.

I’m running out of words to describe these stories! For this one I think ‘tragedy’ works best. It’s beautiful, sad, and speaks to the limits of what humans can handle emotionally.

“The Bootlegger”

He had sat in the fifth row at Carnegie Hall for every Saturday night in April because, as a Manhattanite in his midthirties with a six-figure salary and an Ivy League education, that’s what he thought he should be doing. Just as he should be buying custom suits from boutique tailors and French wines at fine restaurants. But in a humbling manner, fate had brought him face-to-face with the devoted, the committed, the impassioned.

Investment banker Tommy Harkness and retiree Arthur Fein have a run-in at Carnegie Hall that changes their lives.

I won’t say more other than if you only read one of these stories, this is the one to read. The way Towles describes the feeling of listening to a particular piece of music was evocative. He couldn’t have picked a more effective combination words and it made me want to rush out to the symphony.

“Eve in Hollywood”

A majority of the stories described above share a love for the arts that is oh so lovely. Whether it’s classical music, painting, old books, or even handwriting, it’s almost as if Towles wants to write about all the things he loves. And he writes about them in his signature elegant style.

“Eve in Hollywood” has a different vibe. Set in LA in 1938 during the golden age of Hollywood, it’s a hard-boiled detective story starring Evelyn Ross from Rules of Civility. She takes actress Olivia de Havilland under her wing and, with the help of a colorful cast of characters, protects her from the nefarious designs of evil men.

While a continuation of Evvie’s story from Rules of Civility, this novella is as different from the tone and style of that novel as the LA skyline is from NYC’s. It’s violent and suspenseful and takes unexpected turns. I loved it.

I want more adventures of Eve, the no-nonsense amateur detective who outwits bad actors and protects the helpless. I gotta give a shoutout to Rebecca Lowman, audio narrator of Rules of Civility. While I didn’t listen to “Eve in Hollywood,” I still heard her voice in my head whenever Eve spoke.

That’s all from me this week. Who are some of your auto-buy authors? I’d love to hear!

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Thanks for reading,

Kyle

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This post originally went out in August 2022 to 137 recipients and now there are nearly 500 Bite Size Review readers! As a mini celebration, I’m reposting one of my favorite articles about a book that altered my perspective in a dramatic way.

Homegoing was one of my favorite books of 2022 and one that I still think about often. I want more people to read it.

(Plus I’m sure you all wouldn’t mind a break from me talking about fantasy).

And speaking of more people, to be nearly at 500 subscribers for several months has been interesting. Why do I care so much about a numerical milestone? Isn’t it more important to engage with active readers rather than recruit 5 more who may hit the subscribe button but never read? I don’t do this for the numbers and yet I’m still human and get a thrill when anyone likes, comments, or subscribes. I guess that’s how the social media aspect of Substack gets you.

What’s an even greater thrill to me is recommending a book that you end up loving. I love connecting over shared adoration and excitement. And I love getting your recommendations. So rather than asking you to share this post and help me get to 500, please just leave a comment with a book that has changed your life. Thank you for being here!

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This week I finished an amazing book that left me gobsmacked and wiping tears from my eyes. It is my favorite book of the year and one I’ve placed firmly in the “life-altering transcendence” category (a short list).

Pages: 300 | Published: 2016

What it’s about

The structure of the novel is simple and elegant. It follows the family lines of two Ghanaian half-sisters, Effia and Esi, across 7 generations. Effia’s line stays in Africa while Esi is sent to America on a slave ship. Each chapter reads like a short story from a member of one of the generational lines, and their lives diverge dramatically.

Why I loved it

Each short story was heartbreaking and hopeful, but it was the way it all came together at the end that impacted me in such an emotional way. The last two stories are about Marcus and Marjorie, college students in the present. After all the struggle and pain and centuries of separation, the way the two lines intersect again is what I found beautiful and unlike anything I’d read before.

Marcus, a PhD candidate at Stanford, was “struck by the need to study and know his family more intimately.” He learned about his great-grandfather, “H,” who spent years in the convict leasing system. It made Marcus weep and filled him with pride.

Two-Shovel H they had called him. But what had they called his father or his father before him? What of the mothers? They had been products of their time, and walking in Birmingham now, Marcus was an accumulation of these times.

It hit me hard that we are all links in the chain of history and an accumulation of all that came before us. To borrow a Biblical term, our hearts can be turned toward those that came before. When we learn about our own ancestors, we may weep at what we find, but we’ll inevitably find things to be proud of as well. I loved the notion of learning the messy truths of the past.

Why it was a “life-altering, transcendent” read

We are all so small - human - and at the same time part of something so large - human history. Marcus said:

It was one thing to research something, another thing entirely to have lived it. To have felt it. How could he explain to Marjorie that what he wanted to capture with his project was the feeling of time, of having been a part of something that stretched so far back, was so impossibly large, that it was easy to forget that she, and he, and everyone else, existed in it—not apart from it, but inside of it.

I felt my heart turn towards all the regular, every-day people who lived their days inside the past. My heart turned toward African people and their descendants who were bought, sold, enslaved, or incarcerated. The characters in this book are stand-ins for the millions of people who lived through that history. They felt alive and real to me and even present, as if all their stories were happening in the now. It was somewhat out-of-body how clear they were, how I could almost see them, and all because of a book.

If you’ve read this, I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts.

Leave a comment

As always, thanks for reading.

Kyle

It’s a beautiful day to talk about books. Kolo?

The year of Sanderson is in full swing and there’s no turning back now. I’m 4 books and 3 stories into this journey and have found each reading experiences to be immersive, entertaining, and unique. Sanderson sure has an Imagination! I’m currently reading The Hero of Ages (book 3 of the Mistborn trilogy) and looking forward to starting Tress of the Emerald Sea next. My friend Chris is also reading the trilogy and it’s fun to have a friend on the reading journey!

Today I want to give a little background on Brandon Sanderson’s first two published books, Elantris and Mistborn: The Final Empire (which I’ll refer to as Mistborn from this point on) and explain why I’ve been recommending Elantris to fantasy and non-fantasy lovers alike. I even want my wife (who doesn’t care for fantasy) to read it! I think Mistborn is great and I’m finding the trilogy as a whole to be especially satisfying, but it leans harder into fantasy tropes whereas Elantris is first and foremost a good book with an engaging story.

What are these books about?

Mistborn: The original idea came from two places: Sanderson’s desire to write a heist story similar to Ocean’s Eleven or Sneakers and to write a story that answers the question “what happens if the Dark Lord wins?” It follows a rag tag team of thieves as they try to take down the evil Lord Ruler, who has been in control of the Final Empire for 1,000 years.

Elantris1: The city of Elantris in the kingdom of Arelon used to be magical and blessed but has fallen from grace. The inhabitants of the once glorious city are now cursed outcasts struck by a mysterious illness called the Shaod. What’s worse, the Shaod continues to claim new victims who are then cast into Elantris and kept as prisoners within its walls.

The characters and story

Elantris: I cared about the characters from the moment I met them. The book opens with Prince Raoden discovering he’s been inflicted with the Shaod and must now join the cursed Elantrians. I was immediately invested in his journey as he found allies, took on the Elantrian gangs, and tried to discover the cause of the curse. I loved his optimism and hope and his commitment to study and practice.

Princess Sarene arrives in Arelon as an outsider who follows her curiosity and doesn’t take no for an answer. She also needs allies in order to outmaneuver political adversaries and prevent the kingdom from falling into the wrong hands.

The paths of these two main characters run in parallel and had me highly anticipating when they’d eventually cross. I wasn’t disappointed.

Elantris is part mystery, part political intrigue, part prison break, part religious commentary, with a dash of romance and sprinkle of fantasy action — a highly ambitious first novel that I know you’ll enjoy!

Mistborn: I had a harder time connecting with main characters Vin and Kelsier, who had a lot of power and were up against highly powerful adversaries. Kelsier plays one note for the entire book and I didn’t feel much for him. Vin is a fantastic character with an inspiring journey as she learns about trust. I’ve enjoyed continuing her arc in books 2 and 3.

Magic system and the use of magic

Mistborn: Much can be said about allomancy, the magic system in Mistborn where small vials of metal shavings are ingested and then “burned,” providing supernatural abilities like super strength (think Captain America) or metal pulling/pushing (think Magneto). It is an awesome magic system that gets used in highly creative ways. But to me, it’s a little overly complex and overly used.

In Elantris, the magic is called Aon and it’s very simple: You draw the shape in the air and the specific magic connected to that shape is released. But how bold to have the magic “dead” for 90% of the book! It’s not a spoiler to say that Aon is restored: The question was never will the magic come back, but how. I quite enjoyed the pay off and now I’m dying for a sequel.

The action

I’m an action nut but I think Mistborn had too much action. It got a little exhausting and frustrating to imagine. There is nothing external that activates the allomancy and there’s even a joke between characters that you don’t need to put your hands up to pull or push metal. The mental image of bodies zipping around on allomantic lines and throwing coins entered absurd territory for me.

The action in Elantris is mostly political with a climax in the last hundred pages that felt like it was from a different book. In other words, it didn’t have much action and I was perfectly happy (and think you will be too!).

Thank you for reading and putting up with my fantasy phase!

— Kyle

It happened all the time: Talented kids turned into ordinary grown-ups. Butterflies became moths.

Hello, Readers —

Liane Moriarty has a new fan, and it’s me!

I was wrong about her and judged her books and her readers incorrectly. I thought the titles were too tantalizing (The Husband’s Secret, Truly Madly Guilty) to be taken seriously. From what I had seen of Big Little Lies on HBO, I assumed she was merely going for shock value via stories of trauma and domestic violence. I put her in the Colleen Hoover bucket and that wasn’t fair.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book and I think you might be too. I enjoyed the mystery, the family drama, and what it has to say about relationships and parenting.

I gave it 5 stars not because it’s the best book I’ve ever read, but because it was a highly satisfying experience. It was smart and insightful and easy to recommend. I listened to the audiobook and Caroline Lee was flawless in her narration and enhanced the overall experience.

The Mystery

The Delaney’s are a tennis family in Sydney. Stan and Joy Delaney have recently retired from running a popular tennis academy. They have four grown children who were all tennis stars in their youth with tons of potential, but none of them made it big.

One night, a young woman named Savannah shows up at their house with a large cut over her eye. She’s a stranger to Stan and Joy and says her boyfriend hit her. They take her in and Joy slides easily into the nurturing mother role. Savannah stays one night, then another. Then another. Joy is loving and trusting, but her kids start to get suspicious.

Then Joy disappears and Savannah is nowhere to be found. Now the kids are really suspicious, and eyes start turning to Stan. Did he play a role in her disappearance?

The chapters alternate between before the disappearance and after the disappearance. The plot is twisty with clever reveals and well-paced doling out of new information. Moriarty is dealing with serious subject matter but balances it well with moments of levity. I wanted to know the ending, but I was enjoying the journey.

The Family Drama

The Delaney’s are not completely dysfunctional, but they have plenty of baggage and drama. Each Delaney child has issues to work through and knots to untie. They’ve made mistakes, some small, some big, some huge. Moriarty has a way of endearing them to you in spite of their flaws. There’s a deft touch at the generational challenges that arise in a family and what gets passed down.

I love sports, sports stories, and tennis, so I enjoyed the bits of “tennis as an analogy for life.” There are excellent scenes of dialogue, in particular an unforgettable dinner scene where Stan dresses down each child on why they didn’t make it in tennis. As Danny Rojas says: “Harsh, but fair.”

Relationships and Parenting

I really love what this book has to say about being married and raising kids. Marriage is tough. Parenting is tough. We screw up all the time. There’s a lot of wisdom about relationships and parenting and being parented. It made me laugh and it made me tear up. A fictional disappearing woman mystery is doing so much!

Moriarty touches on long nights with young children:

When she thought of that long night, it was like remembering an extraordinarily tough match where she’d prevailed. Except there was no trophy or applause. The only recognition you got for surviving a night like that came from other mothers. Only they understood the epic nature of your trivial achievements.

She hints at regret we could feel when kids aren’t little anymore:

When she looked at photos of her children when they were little, she sometimes thought, Did I notice how beautiful they were? Was I actually there? Did I just skim the surface of my entire damned life?

And she shares wisdom on watching your children make their own decisions:

There was nothing Joy could do to change the outcome of her children’s lives, any more than she could’ve changed the outcome of their matches, no matter how hard she bit her lip…or how much Stan muttered instructions they couldn’t hear. Sometimes their children would do everything exactly as they taught them and sometimes they would do all the things they’d told them not to do and seeing them suffer the tiniest disappointments would be more painful than their own most significant losses. But then other times they would do something so extraordinary, so unexpected and beautiful, so entirely of their own choice and their own making, it was like a splash of icy water on a hot day. Those were the glorious moments.

I’ll for sure be reading more Moriarty! I haven’t watched the show yet (it is streaming now on Peacock) but when I do I plan to be back to discuss its merits.

Thanks for reading,

Kyle

This post was first published on March 4, 2022 and went out to 74 recipients. There are quite a few more of you now so I’m sending it out again with hope it finds someone who needs it.

I’d love to know if you’ve read either of these books and what you think of them.

Leave a comment

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Pages: 304 | Published: 1982

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.

I’m a little speechless about this book. The reading experience was wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Celie, Shug, Sofia and Nettie and was fully invested in Celie’s growth and self-realization. Her character transforms in the most beautiful way, against all odds, thanks to the love and support of those around her. You hardly recognize her as the person from the beginning of the novel.

In a similar way as Their Eyes Were Watching God, this book inserts you into the lives of Black women in the early twentieth century rural south and I found the journey worthwhile. Remnants of that world still exist today which is why it’s important for new generations of readers to discover this book.

The phrase “the least of these” from the Bible comes to mind as I think about some of these characters. While they may not be assigned high value in the rankings of society, the reality is they are “expressions of the divine” and the rest of us can choose to see that.

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Pages: 549 | Published: 2010

I can’t gush about this book enough. Isabel Wilkerson is insanely talented. The length and subject matter should not intimidate anyone because this book is the definition of readable. From some non-fiction writers I get the vibe that they are flexing - they want you to know they are smart and tend to shine a light on themselves rather than the subject matter. Isabel Wilkerson puts her subjects front and center with all the respect they deserve. Her writing isn’t pretentious or showy in any way. The tone is confident because she really does know her stuff.

There has been some debate lately over what to teach in schools, banned books, and feeling discomfort when it comes to learning about racism. Yet here's this landmark, Pulitzer Prize winning work that has been around for over a decade. Anyone can pick it up and read it. One can get sucked into all the drama online and form opinions based on the uninformed and fear-based opinions of others, or, one can check this book out from the library and take advantage of the dozen+ years of research that went into its creation. Ms. Wilkerson has done the work and it shows on every page. I couldn’t detect a “spin” or “agenda” or even a whiff of bias unless you count bias towards truth. I feel kinda lazy but also highly grateful that all I have to do is read. It feels like I’m taking advantage of the situation.

If you are looking for a thoughtful and rigorous treatment of race relations in the US, this is it. Start here. It spells out conditions in the Jim Crow south and the inner lives and struggles of real people who left their homes looking for something better in the north and west. They bravely left everything they knew behind. That’s how bad it was. And while they found conditions better outside of the south, that doesn’t mean life was without struggle.

I'm baffled and beyond impressed with the time, attention, research, effort, everything that Ms. Wilkerson put into this book. She mentions in the acknowledgments that she pursued it as a calling and she thanked God for the will and fortitude to make it through the journey. I also thank God that she brought this into the world.

In recent months I've been reading my grandfather's personal history and enjoyed spending time in another time and place with a dear loved one. Reading The Warmth of Other Suns has been a similar experience and the three subjects of this book feel real and dear to me. Ms. Wilkerson tells their stories with so much grace. She never puts them on a pedestal - these were real people with real problems who made some poor choices in the same way we all do. But they also made courageous and inspiring choices, worked hard, and made an impact through caring for their families and others.

Theirs are the stories that I want to remember and use as a guide in my own life.

For more on The Color Purple, check out these recent posts from other writers.

Jeremy Anderberg from Read More Books:

I’ve never read anything quite like The Color Purple and doubt that I will again. It’s a uniquely powerful novel that’s incredibly heart-breaking, but also deceptively optimistic and hopeful. It easily deserves a 5-star rating and should be on everyone’s lifetime reading list.

Joel J. Miller from Miller’s Book Review discusses the history of banning The Color Purple and concludes with:

In the hands of a discerning student or thoughtful teacher such a book can…help make sense of suffering. Does that mean students must simply imbibe and adopt Walker’s answers to these problems? No. That’s what thinking is for. Books assist thinking; they don’t do it for us. Or have we forgotten that?

Thanks for reading,

Kyle

Earlier this year I wrote about Jenny Odell’s outstanding book How to Do Nothing, which ignited the desire to take up “bird noticing1.” This week I’m talking about a book that is the next step on my bird noticing journey.

It’s called Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach To Conservation That Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy and it inspired me as a homeowner in the suburbs to get involved in conservation using a method that’s completely new to me. Let’s jump in!

I was immediately taken in by the main premise: Conservation and sustainability must take place on private property. For the longest time I thought conservation meant composting, conserving water, never washing my jeans, cold showers, and trying to reduce my carbon footprint. Tallamy argues that there is more to sustainability. Your yard — the land you own and live on — is only sustainable if it is capable of sustaining life. Conserving water and energy are worthy goals, but conserving life must also be a priority.

If conservation is to happen, it must happen largely on private property, but not just on farms and ranches; it must include all types of private property, from the smallest city lot to the largest corporate landscape.

For Tallamy, no amount of private property is too small to practice what he preaches, which is creating a “Homegrown National Park” by replacing 50% of your lawn with native plants. Turf grass, while attractive, doesn’t support enough life. The birds that are migrating and reproducing in your area get energy from worms dense in nutrients, and those worms are adapted to eating native plants. To have a thriving bird community, you need a thriving worm community and to have a thriving worm community, you need native plants.

Which is why this feels like the next step in bird watching — rather than hoping the birds show up, I can landscape with native plants and bring the birds to me.

I have no idea if I have it in me to reduce my lawn by 50% — we enjoy playing soccer and baseball in the backyard and I’m a little ashamed to admit that I love a lush, green lawn. Plus, what will the HOA say? Rather than going all in on turf replacement, I plan to take Tallamy’s advice to hesitant homeowners by starting small; next spring I’ll test out some native plants in our garden areas and see how it goes.

Native plants don’t just bring the worms and birds - they require less water than grass and help the pollinators which are essential to life on earth. Wins all around.

Others are thinking about this topic and there are resources for finding plants native to your area. The National Wildlife Federation has a native plant finder and Audobon.org has a site for finding native plants for birds.

Overall, I recommend the book to those interested in the topic and need a push to get started. Even if you only read the final chapter, titled “What Each of Us Can Do,” you’ll get useful tips and advice.

Thanks for reading,

Kyle

Hello, readers, I’ve missed you!

My house is nearly done with a major renovation that kicked off at the end of June.

Check out the before:

And after!

It’s exciting to be near the finish line and start using all the fun new features.

Today I’m going to gush about Mick Herron’s latest book, The Secret Hours, and encourage you once again to give Slow Horses a try.

The book gods have smiled down upon me from their shelves on high. I’m not sure what I did to deserve this, but it has never happened to me before and might never happen again so I’m going to enjoy the heck out of it.

Here’s what happened: I picked this book up thinking it was a standalone from Mick Herron. He’s taking a break from the Slough House series, I thought. I was looking forward to trying something new from an author I liked.

I bought the book. I didn’t read a blurb or any reviews. The one unavoidable piece of marketing I saw was: “A must for Slough House fans.” Ok, a little vague, but as a fan of Slough House, any new Mick Herron book is a must for me. I didn’t think much of it beyond that.

I started reading and the opening scene was thrilling and heart pounding. Herron writes action well and I was eating it up.

But wait, what’s this on page 30? A mention of…First Desk? That’s a Slough House thing. Is this another First Desk or THE First Desk?

Hold on hold on hold on hold on try not to skip ahead and look for other familiar names [does just that] OH! I know that name on page 137! Is this what I think it is??

Ok man, calm down. Probably just a throw away reference. But no, now it’s talking about another person that I definitely recognize. Same habits, same speech patterns, it’s definitely him! Holy fish and chips this is what I think it is!!

And so on.

I can’t tell you exactly why I got so excited to discover that this book takes place in the world of Slough House. I felt like I was being rewarded for the time spent reading the series. There were some easter eggs, some backstory, and some questions answered that have been kicking around since book one. As a new fan who only started the series this year, I’m curious if long time fans were as pumped as I was.

While The Secret Hours certainly can stand on its own as a clever and thrilling spy novel, that’s not how I recommend you read it. Work your way through the 8 book Slough House series like you would an 8 course meal. There’s no rush; have fun with each one. Begin with the hors d'oeuvre: Slow Horses. If you like it, try the soup: Dead Lions. Sprinkle in the novellas along the way like you’d sprinkle parm on pasta. When you’ve finished the rich and well crafted meal, take in The Secret Hours as a warm and satisfying nightcap. By then the world and characters will feel safe and familiar.

Thanks for reading. If you’ve read any books in this series I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Until next time,

-Kyle

Last weekend we had a life-giving visit from our dear friends the Casey’s. We shared meals, went on a hike, visited the Boulder Bookstore, and had discussions on parenting and mindfulness.

Prior to their visit, we all decided we’d read How to Connect by Thich Nhat Hanh and discuss it when we were together. It was the perfect pick.

One of our favorite lines from the book was something we all needed to hear:

When we see a red light or stop sign, we can smile and say thank you, because it’s helping us reconnect with ourselves and the present moment. The red light is our friend.

The next time you are caught in traffic, don’t fight. If you sit back and smile to yourself, you will enjoy the present moment and make everyone in the car relaxed and happy.

This quickly became a mantra for the 8 of us as we drove around Boulder together on a sunny Saturday morning. The traffic was horrible, so we sat back and started hoping the lights would turn red so that we could smile and say thank you and breathe and reconnect. The stop lights were more than happy to oblige us. Eventually we realized it was game day and the University of Colorado was playing longtime rival Nebraska. When we made it to our hiking spot at long last, the screams from the stadium accompanied us on our walk.

The thing I'm most grateful for with this book is giving me new language to talk about the past and some of the hurt that lives there. It isn't trauma, not for me. It's more like knots that need to be untangled.

Some of us cannot think about our father or mother without feeling anger or sadness. The suffering we experience as children accumulates and forms blocks of pain, anger, and frustration in our consciousness that tie us up and obstruct our freedom. These internal knots have the power to drive us and dictate our behavior.

I sometimes wonder if trauma is a bit overused today and applied to everything bad or sad that has ever happened to us. It’s so prevalent that I started doing the same thing. This book helped me realize that I can use other words that fit me better and I can leave trauma to those who have truly experienced it.

On a lighter note, I can't think about being tied up inside without thinking about the scene from What about Bob?, the classic Bill Murray film, where Bob is literally tied up with bombs around his neck and proclaims: “Baby step, untie your knots.”1

Thich Nhat Hanh has an entire series of books that I’m interested in checking out. I’m curious if they will start sounding repetitive or if each will be the breath of fresh air that How to Connect was.

Thanks for reading! Until next time,

Kyle

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