Category: Book Reviews

Book Review | Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Posted July 15, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges – how to get relative with the inevitable – you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.”

So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.

Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

It’s a love letter. To life.

It’s also a guide to catching more greenlights – and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.

Good luck.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #42: Includes a handwritten interior font)

The Reason

Someone recommended it highly to me, and it fit the 2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge prompt so I moved it up my TBR.

The Quotes

“I haven’t made all A’s in the art of living. But I give a damn. And I’ll take an experienced C over an ignorant A any day.”

“Life is our resume. It is our story to tell, and the choices we make write the chapters. Can we live in a way where we look forward to looking back?”

“I have a lot of proof that the world is conspiring to make me happy.”

“I never wrote things down to remember; I always wrote things down so I could forget.”

“Sometimes which choice you make is not as important as making a choice and commiting to it.”

The Narrator(s)

The author, Matthew McConaughey. I loved it!

My Thoughts

This is probably one of the best books I’ve read this year. I had no strong feelings towards Matthew McConaughey as an actor before reading this book. I’d loved many movies he’d been in and I have always thought he was a great actor but I just didn’t know very much about him. Now after reading the book, I have so much more admiration and respect for him.

I respect his confidence and work ethic, and the way he went after what he wanted in life. I also really love his attitude and approach to life; he seems like an introspective person who doesn’t take any of his accomplishments in life for granted. I listened to this book on audio while also reading it on a physical copy – because there were many notes, photos, and other notions included in the physical copy – and I loved seeing copies of his handwritten notes, featured quotes, and more. There were so many quotable words of wisdom, and I’m pretty sure that if it wasn’t a library copy, I would’ve highlighted almost the whole book!

This is one book that I would recommend reading both on audiobook and on the physical copy if you can. His narration is wonderful to listen to, so high energy it lifts you up too, and it sounds like he’s just having a nice conversation with you. And reading the physical book is wonderful too because of the format and the included photos and notions. I loved the whole experience.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The White Darkness by David Grann

Posted July 11, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The White Darkness by David Grann

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager, a thrilling and powerful true story of adventure and obsession in the Antarctic, lavishly illustrated with color photographs.

Henry Worsley was a devoted husband and father and a decorated British special forces officer who believed in honor and sacrifice. He was also a man obsessed. He spent his life idolizing Ernest Shackleton, the nineteenth-century polar explorer, who tried to become the first person to reach the South Pole, and later sought to cross Antarctica on foot. Shackleton never completed his journeys, but he repeatedly rescued his men from certain death, and emerged as one of the greatest leaders in history.

Worsley felt an overpowering connection to those expeditions. He was related to one of Shackleton’s men, Frank Worsley, and spent a fortune collecting artifacts from their epic treks across the continent. He modeled his military command on Shackleton’s legendary skills and was determined to measure his own powers of endurance against them. He would succeed where Shackleton had failed, in the most brutal landscape in the world.

In 2008, Worsley set out across Antarctica with two other descendants of Shackleton’s crew, battling the freezing, desolate landscape, life-threatening physical exhaustion, and hidden crevasses. Yet when he returned home he felt compelled to go back. On November 13, 2015, at age 55, Worsley bid farewell to his family and embarked on his most perilous quest: to walk across Antarctica alone. David Grann tells Worsley’s remarkable story with the intensity and power that have led him to be called “simply the best narrative nonfiction writer working today.” Illustrated with more than fifty stunning photographs from Worsley’s and Shackleton’s journeys, The White Darkness is both a gorgeous keepsake volume and a spellbinding story of courage, love, and a man pushing himself to the extremes of human capacity.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #29: Set in the Arctic or Antarctic)

The Reason

I needed a book for the 2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge prompt, but I also really liked the author’s other work, Killers of the Flower Moon, and wanted to read more of his books.

The Quotes

“Passion for something can easily tip into obsession, which is a dangerous thing, especially when those affected are they very people who so loyally stand and wait.”

“Men go out into the void spaces of the world for various reasons. Some are actuated simply by a love of adventure, some have the keen thirst for scientific knowledge, and others again are drawn away from the trodden paths by the ‘lure of little voices,’ the mysterious fascination of the unknown.”

“Death is Nature’s way of telling you you’ve failed.”

“First, optimism; second, patience; third, physical endurance; fourth, idealism; fifth and last, courage.”

My Thoughts

I’ve always been fascinated by tales of explorers and adventurers who boldly go where no one has gone before. I have absolutely no interest in extreme adventuring myself, so I feel safe reading about their harrowing exploits knowing that I will never suffer what they suffer. Part of what fascinates me is the psychology of it; why do they feel this need to explore, why do they feel this need to push their bodies to the extremes? I truly respect the kind of passion and dedication that a person must have to take these challenges on, and it is helpful in motivating me to do the little things even if that’s all I can do.

This is a short book and I think I would’ve benefitted from more knowledge of the initial Shackleton expedition because this book doesn’t go deep into it and focuses more on the more recent Antarctica expeditions with Henry Worsley and a couple of other descendents of Shackleton’s original crew. Reading about the descendents of Shackleton’s original crew trying to follow in their ancestors’ footsteps felt really meaningful, and then after when Worsley makes the trip on his own as well. I also loved the photos included in the book.

Several of the author’s other books are already on my TBR; The Wager, and The Lost City of Z, but now I’m going to be adding more books about Shackleton and the Endurance to the TBR too.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Venco by Cherie Dimaline

Posted July 11, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Venco by Cherie Dimaline

Lucky St. James, a Métis millennial living with her cantankerous but loving grandmother Stella, is barely hanging on when she discovers she will be evicted from their tiny Toronto apartment. Then, one night, something strange and irresistible calls out to Lucky. Burrowing through a wall, she finds a silver spoon etched with a crooked-nosed witch and the word SALEM, humming with otherworldly energy.

Hundreds of miles away in Salem, Myrna Good has been looking for Lucky. Myrna works for VenCo, a front company fueled by vast resources of dark money.

Lucky is familiar with the magic of her indigenous ancestors, but she has no idea that the spoon links her to VenCo’s network of witches throughout North America. Generations of witches have been waiting for centuries for the seven spoons to come together, igniting a new era, and restoring women to their rightful power.

But as reckoning approaches, a very powerful adversary is stalking their every move. He’s Jay Christos, a roguish and deadly witch-hunter as old as witchcraft itself.

To find the last spoon, Lucky and Stella embark on a rollicking and dangerous road trip to the darkly magical city of New Orleans, where the final showdown will determine whether VenCo will usher in a new beginning…or remain underground forever.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #16: Deus Ex Machina)

The Reason

I saw it on my library’s featured bookshelf.

The Quotes

“She breathed deep, appreciating the moment of solitude. Silence in an outdoor space had a presence instead of an absence.”

“Her grandmother liked to remind her that gratitude was the strongest spell, one that attracts, that transforms, that makes clear.”

“Anxiety makes everything feel very big or very small, depending on which is more hurtful in the moment. Being suddenly relieved of anxiety in this moment gave her a clear understanding that this was the life she had been running towards.”

“At one point, Lettie would have said indifference was worse than cruelty, because cruelty is at least full of passion. Now she knew different.”

The Narrator(s)

Michelle St. John. It was fine.

My Thoughts

I feel like I might have liked it more if I hadn’t gone in with high expectations. It wasn’t necessary a bad story, but it was a slog to get through and a lot of the plot points were more convenient than plausible. A lot of details were also inconsistent, some more obviously so than others; the initial impression that Venco was a big, rich and powerful company only to later seem like they were all alone and had no other help, all the Christian practices in what’s supposed to be a paganistic coven, the antagonist’s behavior in his encounters with opposition, the way the witches were discovered versus the last one.

There was a lot of potential for this story but the characters felt unrealistic to me, the things that happened to keep the story going were drawn out too long, and I didn’t like all the way things just conveniently happened to move the story along. The final quarter of the story got a little more interesting, and I was hopeful for a strong ending but it ended up feeling convenient also. I was really hoping for something good since I love stories about witches and magical heritage, but I feel like this story is all over the place and has no idea what its own message is. It’s quite a disappointing read for me.

My Rating

⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

Posted July 10, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

A carjacker lurking in a shopping mall parking lot. An abusive husband pounding on the door. A disgruntled employee brandishing a gun. These days, no one is safe from the specter of violence.

But according to Gavin de Becker, everyone can feel safer, act safer, be safer — if they learn how to listen to their own sixth sense about danger.

De Becker has made a career of protecting people and predicting violent behavior. His firm handles security for many of the leading figures in Hollywood and Silicon Valley, and his computerized risk-assessment system helps analyze threats to members of Congress and the Supreme Court.

Now, in this unprecedented guide, de Becker shares his expertise with everyone. Covering all the dangerous situations people typically face — street crime, domestic abuse, violence in the workplace — de Becker provides real-life examples and offers specific advice on restraining orders, self-defense, and more. But the key to self-protection, he demonstrates, is learning how to trust our own intuitions.

For everyone who’s ever felt threatened, this book is essential reading.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

The Reason

I’ve seen this book recommended many times as essential reading. And after reading it, I concur.

The Quotes

“It is understandable that the perspectives of men and women on safety are so different–men and women live in different worlds…at core, men are afraid women will laugh at them, while at core, women are afraid men will kill them.”

“I encourage people to remember that “no” is a complete sentence.”

“There’s a lesson in real-life stalking cases that young women can benefit from learning: persistence only proves persistence—it does not prove love. The fact that a romantic pursuer is relentless doesn’t mean you are special—it means he is troubled.”

“We must learn and then teach our children that niceness does not equal goodness. Niceness is a decision, a strategy of social interaction; it is not a character trait. People seeking to control others almost always present the image of a nice person in the beginning. Like rapport-building, charm and the deceptive smile, unsolicited niceness often has a discoverable motive.”

“I’ve successfully lobbied and testified for stalking laws in several states, but I would trade them all for a high school class that would teach young men how to hear “no,” and teach young women that it’s all right to explicitly reject.”

The Narrator(s)

The author, Gavin de Becker.

My Thoughts

This is essential reading for both men and women. I’ve been hearing about it for some time and finally decided to read it, and it made me wish I had read it sooner. Much of it talks about extreme situations, but there are also very good insights into how to set boundaries and not engage with people who make you feel uncomfortable in the first place. As a woman, I have myself been groomed since I was a child to be nice instead of assertive, to make men feel comfortable even while they make me uncomfortable, to allow myself to be “persuaded” (coerced) into situations I’ve already said no to.

I had a lot of deprogramming to do and this book would’ve been very helpful if only I had read it years ago. However, it’s still helpful now, and I believe that both men and women would benefit from reading this, because while women are more likely to be victims of violence, men are not exempt to it. Plus, I think that a lot of men don’t understand women’s concern for safety and this book might open up their eyes to it a little bit, and maybe help them be better allies and/or be more aware of not doing things that creep women out.

There are some things laid out in this book that can seem shocking and stark, and there are definitely some things that might be triggering, but I think some of it is necessary because the topic is stark and scary, and we should all be taking it seriously. So I’d recommend it as essential reading, but caution to go into it with some care and awareness.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley

Posted July 10, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley

‘Nobody in the world was more inadequate to act the heroine than I was.’

Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was ‘just’ an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn’t? As Lucy Worsley says, ‘She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern’. She went surfing in Hawaii, she loved fast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, which helped her through devastating mental illness.

So why – despite all the evidence to the contrary – did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure?
She was born in 1890 into a world which had its own rules about what women could and couldn’t do. Lucy Worsley’s biography is not just of an internationally renowned bestselling writer. It’s also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class and gender, became an astonishingly successful working woman.

With access to personal letters and papers that have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley’s biography is both authoritative and entertaining and makes us realise what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christie was – truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #46: Non-fiction about character in prompt 45)

The Reason

For the 2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge to pair with another prompt.

The Quotes

“Evil people are those who will not or cannot grow up,’ Agatha wrote. ‘A man who is a child,’ says one of her characters, ‘is the most frightening thing in the world.”

“Like so many writers, Christie was an introvert. She didn’t seek publicity and in fact often fled from it. Many members of the public seemed to resent her unwillingness to open herself to them”

“Christie’s success came as a woman in a world made by men.”

“Someone once said that the greatest character Agatha Christie ever invented was Agatha Christie herself.”

The Narrator(s)

The author, Lucy Worsley. It was great, no notes.

My Thoughts

I recently read The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont for the 2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge prompt for biographical fiction and it was paired with another prompt to read a nonfiction about the character in the book for the first prompt. I did not like The Christie Affair very much and thought the drama surrounding her disappearance was much ado over nothing, to the point where I was questioning if I should read another, different book for that prompt so that I wouldn’t have to read about it again in a nonfiction setting. The Christie Affair represented Christie so badly that I wasn’t sure I wanted to know more even though I have always been curious about her.

It took me a while to find a nonfiction book about Agatha Christie that looked interesting, and even then I was hesitant, but I’m so glad I stuck with it because this book ended up getting me so interested and invested in Christie’s life and works again. She really came to life for me, and I loved how the book told her story from her birth until her death and made it all sound so exciting.

The “downside” is that now I have to add a whole bunch of Christie’s books to my already massive TBR. I first discovered her books from my school library and binge-read as many as I could when I was 11 or 12 years old, but I’m sure I missed a lot of details at that age, and I’d love to rediscover them again now and read them with more mature eyes. I really enjoyed this book and finding out more about Christie’s real life. I’m excited to reread her books too!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Till Summer Do Us Part by Meghan Quinn

Posted June 15, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Till Summer Do Us Part by Meghan Quinn

I got what I wanted. I became buddy-buddy with my boss in an instant. But the cost will be hefty . . . finding a husband by tomorrow.

Scottie Price just started a new job, and it’s a real sausage fest. She’s the only woman on a team filled with Brads and Chads. Expecting a bachelor pad atmosphere, she is quickly corrected when she finds out everyone is happily married.

In an effort to impress her boss, Scottie mentions her non-existent husband in a company meeting. But eagle-eyed Chad points out her lack of wedding ring. Panicked, Scottie creates a story about her unhappy marriage. Unfortunately for Scottie, her boss has a solution – a one-on-one session with the best marriage counsellor in the Northeast, who happens to be her boss’s husband.

With no way out of her lie, Scottie agrees to see him. Frantic, she calls in help from her best friend who sets her up with his brother, an improv-obsessed millionaire.

Enter Wilder Wells. More than happy to take on the job, he teaches Scottie the main rule of always say yes. But the rule backfires during the session when Wilder signs them up for an eight-day summer marriage camp with all of Scottie’s co-workers where she’ll have to share a cabin with her way-too-handsome fake husband.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
N/A

The Reason

Apparently I put myself on the waitlist for this book some time ago, so I was surprised when I finally got it! It sounds like something I’d love though, fake dating and forced proximity.

The Quotes

“This isn’t a story about me falling in love with another human. This is a story about me falling in love with myself.”

“You know, as Sabrina Carpenter would say, we have really good bed chem.”

“There isn’t one person on this earth who hasn’t opened a metaphorical suitcase and dumped in it. No life is perfect, no journey unmarred. Everyone’s carrying around something.”

“Then maybe it’s time you stop trying to save face and start living without a care. Throw caution to the wind. Do things you may never have done before…”

My Thoughts

This book is just fun. It is completely unrealistic, so silly, and a total HR sexual harrassment nightmare, but I had so much fun reading it (all the while snickering and shaking my head at the silliness) that I finished it in one sitting. I love the chemistry between Scottie and Wilder, their banter is so much fun, and the way Wilder improvised his role in their fake dating scheme made me laugh out loud at parts. I can’t take this book seriously, even as a romance, because the scenario is just so improbable and over the top, but I needed fun and light, and it gave me fun and light. Now I’m craving some more romance, maybe some better ones!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | North by Scott Jurek and Jenny Jurek

Posted June 15, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

North by Scott Jurek and Jenny Jurek

From the author of the bestseller Eat and Run , a thrilling memoir about his grueling, exhilarating, and immensely inspiring 46-day run to break the speed record for the Appalachian Trail.

Scott Jurek is one of the world’s best known and most beloved ultrarunners. Renowned for his remarkable endurance and speed, accomplished on a vegan diet, he’s finished first in nearly all of ultrarunning’s elite events over the course of his career. But after two decades of racing, training, speaking, and touring, Jurek felt an urgent need to discover something new about himself. He embarked on a wholly unique challenge, one that would force him to grow as a person and as an breaking the speed record for the Appalachian Trail.

North is the story of the 2,189-mile journey that nearly shattered him. When he set out in the spring of 2015, Jurek anticipated punishing terrain, forbidding weather, and inevitable injuries. He would have to run nearly 50 miles a day, every day, for almost seven weeks. He knew he would be pushing himself to the limit, that comfort and rest would be in short supply — but he couldn’t have imagined the physical and emotional toll the trip would exact, nor the rewards it would offer.

With his wife, Jenny, friends, and the kindness of strangers supporting him, Jurek ran, hiked, and stumbled his way north, one white blaze at a time. A stunning narrative of perseverance and personal transformation, North is a portrait of a man stripped bare on the most demanding and transcendent effort of his life. It will inspire runners and non-runners alike to keep striving for their personal best.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

The Reason

I went down a rabbit hole of running memoirs. I have many more on my TBR list!

The Quotes

“We often think we can’t go any farther and feel like we have nothing left to give, yet there is a hidden potential and strength in all of us, begging us to find it.”

“Out there in the wild, on a long journey, you hike your own hike, blaze your own trail, and only you can find what you’re looking for.”

“In the case of pain, perhaps the one we know hurts us less than the one we fear.”

“It was just numbers. I knew I could outrun numbers.”

The Narrator(s)

The authors, Scott and Jenny Jurek.

My Thoughts

I’m a beginner runner with the hopes of running a marathon one day, but I can unequivocally say that I have zero plans to ever run the Appalachian Trail, much less break a record running it. That’s why I read about it instead! I have a mixture of admiration and perplexity for the Jureks reading about this endeavor; I admire their spirit and ambition to take on something that requires you to push your body to such great lengths and show what the human body is capable of, and I’m also perplexed because I have zero drive and ambition to ever do something close to this, and I wonder about where this drive comes from. It’s just so amazing to me.

What I love about this book is the dual narration between Scott and Jenny Jurek; Scott is the one who ran the trail and broke the record, but he couldn’t have done it without Jenny’s moral, emotional, and physical support. I loved that we get both of them telling the story because we don’t celebrate the spouse behind the scenes often enough, and this book really showed how they were a team, both in marriage and with this achievement. As we read through the book, we also see the support they get from so many of their friends. I love seeing the kind of community that can come about from a group of like-minded people who love the outdoors and achieving greatness with their physical bodies.

I also love how self-aware and honest the Jureks are about their shortcomings and the mistakes they make throughout this journey. They don’t shy away from talking about times they were upset when things didn’t go well, or when they had needs that weren’t met, or when they sometimes handled interaction with fans badly. There were times Scott in particular came across as arrogant and single-minded when it came to achieving his goal, but honestly, this guy has a resume that entitles him to be just a little arrogant. He also acknowledges that you have to have a special kind of go-getter mindset to do the things he did, and I completely understand that! All in all, this was a great read, and highly motivating to me to get better as a runner.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Talisman Series by Stephen King and Peter Straub

Posted June 15, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Talisman Series by Stephen King and Peter Straub

Jack Sawyer, twelve years old, is about to begin a most fantastic journey, an exalting, terrifying quest for the mystical Talisman—the only thing that can save Jack’s dying mother. But to reach his goal, Jack must make his way not only across the breadth of the United States but also through the wondrous and menacing parallel world of the Territories.

In the Territories, Jack finds another realm, where the air is so sweet and clear a man can smell a radish being pulled from the ground a mile away—and a life can be snuffed out instantly in the continuing struggle between good and evil. Here Jack discovers “Twinners,” reflections of the people he knows on earth—most notably Queen Laura DeLoessian, the Twinner of Jack’s own imperiled mother. As Jack “flips” between worlds, making his way westward toward the redemptive Talisman, a sequence of heart-stopping encounters challenges him at every step.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (see below)

The Reason

For my Stephen King challenge and because the third book in this series is coming out this year!

The Quotes

“Everything goes away, Jack Sawyer, like the moon. Everything comes back, like the moon.”

“You don’t own a thing unless you can give it up, what does it profit a man, it profits him nothing, it profits him zilch, and you don’t learn that in school, you learn it on the road, you learn it from Ferd Janklow, and Wolf, and Richard going head-first into the rocks like a Titan II that didn’t fire off right.”

“A universe of worlds, a dimensional macrocosm of worlds—and in all of them one thing that was always the same; one unifying force that was undeniably good, even if it now happened to be imprisoned in an evil place; the Talisman, axle of all possible worlds.”

“That’s how craziness works. You make connections that aren’t real.”

The Narrator(s)

Frank Muller. He has a kind of inflection at the end of sentences that distracted me at first but I got used to them as I went further into the book and stopped noticing them. Other than that, I loved his narration! His voices and the way he portrayed the characters were amazing!

My Thoughts

These books were written years apart; The Talisman in 1984, Black House in 2001, and finally, Other Worlds Than These only coming out in October 2026 (so it’s not out yet at the time of this writing). I haven’t read many of Straub’s works (I very much intend to!), but everyone knows I’m a fan of King, and I love that he often writes stories where we see the protagonists as children and then later as adults (IT, The Shining and Doctor Sleep, etc.) and we still feel the continuity and consistency of the characters and their growth. This is my first time reading these books in The Talisman series so I’m seeing these characters for the first time. In hindsight, maybe I should’ve waited until the final book came out but I got caught up in the excitement and I wanted to be ready for it.

Book 1 – The Talisman
For the reading challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #9: Featuring a natural disaster)

As usual, the best part about King’s books is his characters. Meeting Jack Sawyer for the first time as a 12-year old, I love how realistic it feels to have a boy his age facing all the difficult things that happen, the way he handles them, and how he had to step up and grow up. I feel so much for Jack having to do difficult things but I also believe in the resilience and the adaptability of children his age. They learn fast, they adapt to new realities more easily, they bounce back and try again, and I loved seeing Jack do all of those things.

I also love the other characters; Wolf, Speedy, and even Richard Sloat. Wolf is the purest and best person in the world and if you’ve read the book, you won’t wonder why he has my heart. Richard was difficult to like at first but he grew on me, and maybe claiming love for him is a little too strong but I did like him in the end.

This book was such a journey. I love how King’s books transcend genres; it’s portal fantasy, which I love, but it’s also horror, epic fantasy, thriller, adventure. He just tells the stories and disregards categorizing them – as we all should. I also want to acknowledge Straub as co-writer, I don’t mean to ignore his contribution to the book, I’m just not familiar enough with his works and have no frame of reference to comment upon who he is as a writer in relation to this book. I mean to remedy that as soon as possible! I can definitely see the difference in voice with this book as compared with other King books though, and I’m attributing that to Straub’s contribution. I’m looking forward to more of this series, and more from both these authors!

Book 2 – Black House
For the reading challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #35: Character with a secret identity)

So many years have gone by since we first saw Jack Sawyer as a 12-year-old. He’s now 31 years old and a retired cop; he’s able to retire young because he’s got money from his family. He moves to a new place which is of course, in a crisis, from a serial child murderer, and is asked to come back from retirement to help catch the murderer. He resists but the killings are related to his childhood adventure and he is uniquely qualified to fix it.

I love seeing him as an adult and still recognizing the same spirit in him that we saw in the first book. Again, the characters are the best thing about this book, and one of the things I love most is how the characters are portrayed; now that Jack is an adult and the victims are children, we initially see the children as helpless and vulnerable (which is still true in a case such as this!), but we are later reminded by a 10-year old Tyler that children are also smart, resilient, and powerful. I just love that. Obviously, I don’t like that any child was hurt by a serial killer or put in any dangerous situation, but I love that King and Straub write Tyler as having his own agency and power and not just as a helpless victim.

The other characters are amazing too, no surprise there; Beezer, Doc, Dale, Judy/Sophie, and my darling Henry. I love them all. If I had read this series before knowing the third was coming out, I’d have been satisfied with the ending but definitely filling in the blanks with my own ideas of what happens next. Now I’m just anxiously waiting for the next book so I can have some questions answered.

As of this writing, I have not read The Dark Tower series but I’ve seen references to it on Stephen King’s various fan sites, and I’m so excited to see that this story has some connections to The Dark Tower series. I can’t wait to read TDT series next and see what all the hype is about!

Book 3 – Other Worlds Than These
For the reading challenge(s):
TBD

Coming in October 2026!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this series? Would you read this series? Did you like the books or do you think you would like them?

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Book Review | High School by Tegan Quin and Sara Quin

Posted June 12, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

High School by Tegan Quin and Sara Quin

First loves, first songs, and the drugs and reckless high school exploits that fueled them—meet music icons Tegan and Sara as you’ve never known them before in this intimate and raw account of their formative years.

High School is the revelatory and unique coming-of-age story of Sara and Tegan Quin, identical twins from Calgary, Alberta, growing up in the height of grunge and rave culture in the 90s, well before they became the celebrated musicians and global LGBTQ icons we know today. While grappling with their identity and sexuality, often alone, they also faced academic meltdown, their parents’ divorce, and the looming pressure of what might come after high school. Written in alternating chapters from both Tegan’s point of view and Sara’s, the book is a raw account of the drugs, alcohol, love, music, and friendships they explored in their formative years. A transcendent story of first loves and first songs, it captures the tangle of discordant and parallel memories of two sisters who grew up in distinct ways even as they lived just down the hall from one another. This is the origin story of Tegan and Sara.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

The Reason

They’re from Calgary, Alberta, where I currently live, so I got interested to learn more about them.

The Quotes

“I had never considered what it would be like to be in love until I was in it.”

“I could think of nothing but her. I half listened in school, half studied for my tests, half completed my assignments, half lived when I wasn’t next to her.”

“I wasn’t a quitter, I just finally knew who I wanted to be.”

The Narrator(s)

The authors, Tegan Quin and Sara Quin. I did find it hard to tell their voices apart and often didn’t know whose chapter I was in without double checking, but I enjoyed their narration in general.

My Thoughts

I had never heard of Tegan and Sara until we moved to Calgary and while I’m still not very familiar with their music, I do enjoy a couple of their songs like Closer and Everything is Awesome. My curiosity stems mostly from the fact that they are from Calgary, and I loved that I recognized some of the places they talk about in this book.

Through my own fault, I was unprepared for all the high school drama contained within this book entitled High School. To be fair, there isn’t any more drama than what a normal high school teenager would’ve been going through, but perhaps I was more so unprepared for the stark honesty and raw emotions Tegan and Sara share in the book. I’m not sure that I would’ve been able to do the same talking about my own high school experience.

The thing that struck me most was how much it seemed that they didn’t get along at all as twin siblings, and yet were so on the same page when it came to making music together. I’m sure we don’t know the full story of their sibling experience and this book only shows us part of it, but it was quite interesting to see! Overall, I love their dedication to being open and honest about their high school experience and how they navigated being LGBTQ in a time when it wasn’t necessarily safe to be so. Some of those scenes made me well up from how emotional they were. I think this could be a great book for any teenager in high school.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Elevation by Stephen King

Posted June 12, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 3 Comments

Elevation by Stephen King

Castle Rock is a small town, where word gets around quickly. That’s why Scott Carey wants to confide only in his friend Doctor Bob Ellis about his strange condition: he’s losing weight, without getting thinner, and the scales register the same when he is in his clothes or out of them, however heavy they are.

Scott also has new neighbours, who have opened a ‘fine dining experience’ in town, although it’s an experience being shunned by the locals; Deirdre McComb and her wife Missy Donaldson don’t exactly fit in with the community’s expectations. And now Scott seems trapped in a feud with the couple over their dogs dropping their business on his lawn. Missy may be friendly, but Deirdre is cold as ice.

As the town prepares for its annual Thanksgiving 12k run, Scott starts to understand the prejudices his neighbours face and he tries to help. Unlikely alliances form and the mystery of Scott’s affliction brings out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others.

From master storyteller Stephen King, our ‘most precious renewable resource, like Shakespeare in the malleability of his work’ (Guardian), comes this compelling tale about finding common ground despite differences, a story with deep resonance for our time.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge

The Reason

For my Stephen King challenge, plus it was available immediately on Libby when I was looking for a quick read.

The Quotes

“He thought he had discovered one of life’s great truths (and one he could have done without): the only thing harder than saying goodbye to yourself, a pound at a time, was saying goodbye to your friends.”

“Why feel bad about what you couldn’t change? Why not embrace it?”

“Gravity is the anchor that pulls us down into our graves. There would be no grave for this man, and no more gravity, either. He had been given a special dispensation.”

“Sometimes he thought of a saying Nora had brought home from her AA meetings: the past is history, the future’s a mystery.”

The Narrator(s)

The author himself. Stephen King!

My Thoughts

I remember reading this one some years ago, but not paying much attention to it and not remembering much about it after. I enjoy it a lot more this time around. It’s light and whimsical, which is an interesting thing to say about a Stephen King story, but that’s what I love about King; you never know what you’re going to get but you are always going to be in for a great journey. I say journey, because honestly the story is a bit of a nothing-burger, nothing of substance really happens and it feels more like a fairytale than a serious story, but I always enjoy King’s storytelling. His easy way with words, even when you’re reading his scariest book, just keeps me going back to his books over and over again.

This book is a novella at only 146 pages; the characters are interesting but conflicts get resolved quickly and easily, and it’s more of a feel-good story which I’m perfectly happy with sometimes. I also like that there’s a race scene because I’ve been getting into running and reading a few running books recently. It was a really nice, fun read.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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