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Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.
I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.
Have I killed someone? Yes. I have. Who was it? Let’s get started.
There’d been a lot of hype for this book and I’ve been hearing about this book for a while. I thought it sounded really interesting.
The Quotes
“Family is not whose blood runs in your veins, it’s who you’d spill it for.”
“You can tell a lot about someone from whether they can handle an uncomfortable silence. If they ride it out or snap it off.”
“Anger is as much an heirloom as any Rolex.”
“Every basic task starts to feel like a decision, and that becomes so draining that you end up unable to make any of them.”
The Narrator(s)
Barton Welch. He was very pleasant to listen to.
My Thoughts
I must admit I didn’t love this book. I had high expectations coming into it and had been anticipating reading it and the other books in the series, but I’m not sure that I’ll continue with it. It’s not horrible, but I didn’t enjoy the writing style. It felt gimmicky, and the constant breaking of the fourth wall annoyed me and took me out of the story.
The story itself wasn’t incredible either and I didn’t connect very much with the characters. In fact, I would say that the book as a whole was quite forgettable to me. Perhaps the most memorable thing about it for me is the title of the book. I just finished it and I couldn’t tell you anything about the characters or significant things that happened because nothing and no one really stood out to me.
However, it is well-written and -crafted despite my dislike of the writing style, and there are some great quotes I really liked in the book. I can understand why people would enjoy this book, but it just didn’t connect for me unfortunately.
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?
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is My Unpopular Bookish Opinions
I’ve had so many opinions I thought were unpopular that turned out to be quite common and I felt a bit pressured to think of more, so I’m just going to cop-out with an easy alphabetical prompt. Here are some books I’ve read beginning with C.
Top Ten Books Beginning with C
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood – I’ve talked about this book several times because it’s one of my favorite books; it focuses on the friendships between women and the way we are pitted against each other and taught to see each other as rivals. It’s been a while since I read it and I desperately need to reread.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – Another favorite that I’ve read many times but never get tired of. If you’re daunted by its size, I promise it’s really fast paced and easy to read once you get into it!
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black – One of my favorite vampire stories although I can’t remember why! I guess I need to reread this too!
Carrie by Stephen King – I’ve read this before and I mean to read this again soon for my Stephen King Reading Challenge. It has been on my mind lately because of the buzz about Mike Flanagan adapting it. It’s very exciting!
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein – It’s a WW2 spy story and I remember feeling all the feelings when I read it more than ten years ago. In my Goodreads review I mention that this is a book I need to reread. I think I need a separate TBR list for rereads!
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – This book is on this list purely for bragging purposes. 😂 I read it, it was okay, it mostly felt like a fever dream, but I read it relatively recently and I wanted to make sure everyone knew how much of an intellectual I am. 🤓
Circe by Madeline Miller – I would read anything by the author, and yes, I loved The Song of Achilles too, but I loved this one more. I love how relatable Circe is as a woman, goddess, witch, person. Another book I really want to reread!
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I also would read anything by TJR, every book she’s written is gold! But I have a few favorites and this book is one of them.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer – I love the whole series! I love fairytale retellings in general and I always seek them out, but this one was special and different when it came out and I just loved how creative it was and how the overarching story brought everything together.
The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan – This is one of my most favorite, most underrated authors I have ever read. I love every single one of his books but his most popular book only has about 20K ratings. It’s a shame because they are all so good. This book was my first and it’s about a man who has been frozen in ice for a century and wakes up in current times. All his books have been 5 stars for me, and I would reread them over and over again.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books with Springy Covers
I couldn’t come up with a creative spin on this topic so I just went with books that had the word “spring” in the title. I ended up a pretty good list, I think, and unfortunately, more books added to my TBR! 😂 I hope you enjoy these!
Top Ten Books with Spring in the Title
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson – This book has been on my TBR forever! I keep meaning to read it but haven’t gotten to it yet. It sounds like a very important book to read about the environment and I can’t believe it was written 50 years ago!
Rumours of Spring by Farah Bashir – This is a memoir about a girl in India and I must say I am intrigued! I came across it as I was looking for books for this list and it just caught my attention.
Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews – I’ve seen this author’s name everywhere and I thought I must have read at least one of her books but apparently not. Maybe it’s time to remedy that.
Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – This is the third book in the Dragonlance Chronicles that I’m trying to do a reread on this year! I cannot wait to get to it!
Absent in the Spring by Agatha Christie – Written under her pseudonym Mary Westmacott, it just reminds me I’ve still got many of the author’s books on my TBR!
The Spring of the Ram by Dorothy Dunnett – I have heard good things about the author when it comes to historical fiction. I had a few of her books on my physical shelves at one point but I moved and had to give away a lot of books so she’s still on my TBR!
Black Spring by Henry Miller – I’m not sure I’m interested in this book, but the cover is very attention-getting and I had to include it.
Spring Fever by P.G. Wodehouse – The second book with this title on my list, but it sounded good, and I’ve been curious about the author’s works so it’s on the list!
Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang – Historical fiction set in China with magical realism! I must read it!
A Spring Without Bees by Michael Schacker – This one is another one about the environment and I’m simultaneously wanting to read it and scared to. I think it’s important to educate ourselves though.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
A deeply compelling exploration of the death industry and the people—morticians, detectives, crime scene cleaners, embalmers, executioners—who work in it and what led them there.
We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what we’re so afraid of, when we are never given the chance to look?
Fueled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers, and a former executioner who is responsible for ending sixty-two lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a homicide detective, and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.
Through Campbell’s incisive and candid interviews with these people who see death every day, she Why would someone choose this kind of life? Does it change you as a person? And are we missing something vital by letting death remain hidden? A dazzling work of cultural criticism, All the Living and the Dead weaves together reportage with memoir, history, and philosophy, to offer readers a fascinating look into the psychology of Western death.
It was the BOTM for my in-person bookclub, member’s choice.
The Narrator(s)
Hayley Campbell, the author herself. I really enjoyed the narration and listening to the book through her voice. It’s technically scientific nonfiction but I also think it’s a little bit of a memoir about her own journey researching the book, and I loved that she shared her personal experiences through the journey.
My Thoughts
Our in-person bookclub had a very deep and meaningful discussion about this book, our own thoughts on death and dying, and how we felt about the book and death. Personally, this book blew me away, I’ve always been morbidly curious about death and the business of death, but I didn’t expect the author to also delve into the emotional aspects of those who work in the business.
There are so many things we don’t think about until it affects us, but at the same time, this is one of those things that when it does affect us, we’re not necessarily in the right frame of mind to think about them. I love that Campbell have so much compassion and empathy for those who work with death and the dying, and I love that she puts a spotlight on the topics that we typically avoid.
One of the criticisms that came up as our bookclub was discussing the book was that Campbell inserted her own emotions and judgement a little to much while interviewing some of her subjects. I agree in that particular instance, but I also think that it was her way of trying to understand it. That doesn’t excuse it at all, because I personally feel that she did push a little too hard and I didn’t like that she did that. I did like that she got emotionally invested and personal in the book, but I think there should be a balance between being professional and letting her interviewees tell their story, and inserting her own emotions and judgement into their stories.
It is still a very good book and I learned so much. I loved it so much, I bought my own copy so that I can reread it over again. There really is a lot to be gained from reading this book, morbid as it is, and I would highly recommend it to anyone!
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?
A year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter, thirty-two, lets her annoying, ten years younger brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. It’s supposed to be a chance for her to pull herself together again, but when she discovers that her brother’s even-more-annoying best friend is also coming on the trip, she can’t imagine how it will be anything other than a disaster. Thus begins the strangest adventure of Helen’s well-behaved life: three weeks in the remotest wilderness of a mountain range in Wyoming where she will survive mosquito infestations, a surprise summer blizzard, and a group of sorority girls.
Yet, despite everything, the vast wilderness has a way of making Helen’s own little life seem bigger, too. And, somehow the people who annoy her the most start teaching her the very things she needs to learn. Like how to stand up for herself. And how being scared can make you brave. And how sometimes you just have to get really, really lost before you can even have a hope of being found.
I have enjoyed Katherine Center’s other books, and this one in particular had been talked up so much by Rissi from RissiWrites.com that I just had to read it.
The Narrator(s)
Marguerite Gavin. I enjoyed the narration very much.
My Thoughts
Okay, there is quite a bit of cheesiness and some cringy parts in this book, but overall I loved it and thought it was such a cute read. It’s also what I needed because I have been reading so many heavy books in recent months and very few romances. I have read several of Katherine Center’s books and really enjoyed them, so I thought I would take a chance on this one too. I’m glad I did because even though it was a little cheesy/cringy, there was also some really great scenes and heartwarming stuff that made me happy.
I also realized that there was a movie adaptation and I ended up watching it immediately after reading the book!
I love Ellie Kemper so I was really looking forward to the movie and seeing what they did with it. They took out some of the cringiest bits, which I’m glad of(!), but it also felt a little less charming. I felt like the MC wasn’t as charming as in the book, and there wasn’t enough chemistry between the two leads. But I still enjoyed it and it was such a nice book and movie combo to take me away from the other solemnities in life. I would still recommend both.
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?
Now in paperback, the eye-opening book that was nominated for a 1998 James Beard Foundation award in the Writing on Food category.
In the winter of 1996, Michael Ruhlman donned hounds-tooth-check pants and a chef’s jacket and entered the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, to learn the art of cooking. His vivid and energetic record of that experience, The Making of a Chef, takes us to the heart of this food-knowledge mecca. Here we meet a coterie of talented chefs, an astonishing and driven breed. Ruhlman learns fundamental skills and information about the behavior of food that make cooking anything possible. Ultimately, he propels himself and his readers through a score of kitchens and classrooms, from Asian and American regional cuisines to lunch cookery and even table waiting, in search of the elusive, unnameable elements of great cooking.
I am a foodie and I have a weird fascination for food writing. I also have a couple of books by Michael Ruhlman that I haven’t read yet. This book happened to be available from my library so I dove in!
The Narrator(s)
Jeff Riggenbach. It was great!
My Thoughts
I loved the writing and the storytelling. I got so immersed in the whole book as I was reading that it just transported me away from real life and into a culinary dream world. It made me think about food and cooking so much more deeply; my relationship with food, the way I approached cooking for myself and my family, the appreciation I have for food and food culture. I loved the way the author talks about food and cooking and his own appreciation for food and his experience of working in the kitchen.
It almost made me want to sign up for culinary classes but I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn’t do well as a professional cook. I love food, and I love cooking, but as Ruhlman’s teacher talks about in the book, I don’t think I have that drive to cook for others professionally and to always show up no matter the weather and the occasion (and unlike Ruhlman, I’m totally fine with that!).
I love Ruhlman’s candidness and the way he talks about his experience with such transparency. I love the way he is so passionate about food and cooking, and I love the way he really makes me feel like I’m right there. I want more of this and I hope to come back to this book again in the future.
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?
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.
To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.
I thought the premise was brilliant. This book has been on my TBR for ages and it’s a buddy-read on my online bookclub so I decided to join in.
The Quotes
“The entitled assholes of the world are sustained by girls who forgive too easily.”
“That’s not a matter of losing control. Every guy who does something like that knows exactly what he’s doing. There is always a moment where he consciously decides that he will ruin someone’s life to feel better about his own. Always.”
“Shame and humiliation are self-imposed emotions, and from here on out, I choose not to feel them.”
“This body of mine is not big enough to contain the scale of emotion coursing through me. How could I feel a rage like this, and not be able to tear the sky open and scorch the earth?”
My Thoughts
Overall, I didn’t like the book very much. I liked the idea and the worldbuilding based upon Chinese culture; it’s new and different and I thought the story itself was very interesting. The execution was very poor though. The MC, Zetian, was an incredibly Mary Sue character; her powers kept increasing to ridiculous levels, within days, with no training and no explanation, against people who were supposed to have higher Qi points than her. The fight scenes were almost always conveniently not shown on page, taking us into things that happens in the mental realm instead. I get that the battles fought in the mental realm are important, but there should be enough physical fight scenes to balance it out as well.
The intimate and vulnerable scenes between the MCs felt very shallow; there wasn’t any chemistry and I didn’t feel their connection at all. We are mostly told and not shown a lot of the feelings they feel; the anger at the oppression and being lied to, the love and attraction between the MCs. I just didn’t feel it. I don’t know if I’ll read the next book. I really like the story idea, but I’m character-driven and I need to like the characters and feel like they make sense. We’ll see.
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?
A super-powered collision of extraordinary minds and vengeful intentions—#1 New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab returns with the thrilling follow-up to Vicious.
Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.
But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought—and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other.
With Marcella’s rise, new enmities create opportunity–and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.
I read Vicious, the first book in the series, and loved it. I wanted more of the story.
The Quotes
“How many men would she have to turn to dust before one took her seriously?”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a human versus a human or a human versus an EO or an EO versus an EO. You do what you can. You fight, and you win, until you don’t.”
“The next time you point a gun at someone, make sure you’re ready to pull the trigger.”
“The life I had is gone. There’s no getting it back. I’d rather make a new one. A better one. One where I don’t have to pretend to be weak to survive.”
My Thoughts
I didn’t like this book as much as the first one. I loved the characters, and still do, but there were so many plot holes and issues with the story this time around that were really convenient and annoying. The storytelling style with the jumping timelines was also an issue; it was very confusing and tedious to get through.
The catalyst of the story was stupid, in my opinion, because Victor justified doing many bad things by saying that he was trying to cover their tracks, but that doesn’t make sense at all because anyone with any common sense would realize that it’s exactly what would bring attention to them. I also didn’t like how conveniently things were resolved in the end during the boss battles. I still love Sydney and Mitch, and I think June is a very interesting new character. I want to know what happens to them in the next book, but I’m not looking forward to slogging through the jumping timelines storytelling style, and if the plot is going to have issues like in this book, I don’t know if it’s going to be worth it. I truly hope it gets better.
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?
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
March 2025 Wrap Up
The first couple of weeks in March was quite slow for me in terms of reading. I was in a bit of a slump and only finished two books in those two weeks. The good news is that the other six books happened in the second half of the month, so at least I got my reading mojo back!
My March 2025 TBR Intentions
I managed to read three books from my TBR, and cross one off as a dnf. I’m sorry, I loved Fourth Wing and I wanted to see the series through but I just didn’t feel excited about Onyx Storm as I was reading, and 25% in I just… didn’t want to pick it back up. Maybe I will finish it, one day, but it’s not a priority.
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (dnf)
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman I stumbled upon The Main Dish by the author while browsing on Audible. It was only an hour or so long, so I listened to it out of curiosity, and I ended up wanting more so I borrowed this book from Libby. I didn’t expect to get so engrossed in it. The whole time I was reading it I was completely immersed in his world of food and cooking, it was such an experience! I enjoy cooking but I’ve always known I’d never be a professional chef because I don’t care enough for precision and finesse; this book made me consider enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America! I eventually came to my senses and realized that while I love reading about the life of a chef, I don’t think I’d do well as one. Still, it made me want to!
All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell This book blew my mind! It was the BOTM for my in-person bookclub that another member chose because it was one of their favorite books. I’ve had Stiff by Mary Roach on my TBR for ages and a morbid fascination about death and dying, so I thought this book would be really interesting. I expected something clinical and analytical, facts about the business of death, but it turned out to be much more emotional than that. It talked about what people in the death business did, but more importantly, it also talked about the people themselves; why they do it, how they got into it, the emotional toll it takes on them, ways they cope. There is a lot more to this book that I could go into; we had such an incredible discussion during our bookclub meeting for the book, but just suffice to say that I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about death and grieving.
April 2025 TBR Intentions
I wasn’t able to get to all the books I wanted to read last month but I’m hoping I’ll get them this month! Plus some others. I’m really looking forward to all of these!
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Terror by Dan Simmons
The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Stoner by John Williams
How was your month in March? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful April with lots of great books!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books You’d be a Fool Not to Read
I had some trouble with this topic, I won’t lie, it’s too hard to pick from all the great books out there! But I hope you’ll find some good ones on this list and I hope you’ll enjoy them if you choose to read them.
Top Ten Books You’d be a Fool Not to Read
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber – I read this book almost ten years ago but I still think about it occassionally. It sticks with you. It’s a story about a missionary who leaves his wife behind (for years) to go to a new planet and spread his message to the aliens living there, but it’s the exploration of human nature and humanity that struck me. I need to reread this sooner rather than later.
Biting the Sun by Tanith Lee – Another book that delves into the human psyche and what it means to live a hedonistic lifestyle. If nothing is important, then what is it that makes life meaningful?
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – This trilogy is marketed under YA and launched a whole trend of dystopian YA books, but it is honestly in a league all its own. It still holds up after all these years, and again, the exploration of human suffering and what it means to be human is the thing that gets me.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – Another exploration of human suffering, with a vengence! Literally. I know this is a thick book and can be daunting but it’s so fast-paced and thrilling that you don’t even notice it once you get started. There are so many exciting twists and turns, especially if you’re reading it for the first time, but even after a dozen rereads, I still get excited reading it again.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah – This is one I’d recommend listening on audiobook because the author reads it. His performance is a work of art and you really feel like he’s a friend having a conversation with you and telling you his stories. I’m a huge fan and I have so much respect for him for so many reasons.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – I’ve only read a couple of books in this series, but it’s so fun and different that I can’t not include it on the list. It’s so rich and funny, and yet, also poignant in some ways. You’d be a fool not to at least try it, really!
Life of Pi by Yann Martel – I love the fantastical elements of this story as well as the exploration of our religious beliefs and spiritual values. You could say they actually go hand in hand in many ways. This book made me think about why I believe what I believe.
11/22/63 by Stephen King – Honestly, you’d be a fool not to read at least one book by Stephen King. It doesn’t have to be one of his big horror books, in fact, his non-horror books are some of my favorites. If you don’t know which one to pick, I’d recommend this one, but he’s just got so many good ones! I may be biased, but I’m also right! 😂
Circe by Madeline Miller – You might have heard about The Song of Achilles by the author, and it’s good, but I think this one is better! For some reason, I never wrote a review for the book, but impressions stick, and I remember feeling all my feelings for a while after reading the book.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly – This is a well-known classic but it’s popular for a reason. The more I think about this book, the more impressed I become. I love how this story came to be, I love how insightful the author is about the topic of human nature and monsters, both literally and figuratively. It is a haunting story.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
