Bossy Favorites of the Month I hope you've had a great reading month as we head into Cozy Reading Season. I present to you: my six Bossy favorite reads of October, which range from historical fiction centered around an Irish folk heroine; historical fiction based on a little-known medieval woman; a heartwarming story about an obituary writer; a haunting, thought-provoking novel told from an unsympathetic point of view; a darkly funny story about a man with dementia and his pl

McLain brings to life the story of real-life aviation legend Beryl Markham, who was the first woman to make a solo trans-Atlantic flight and who lived a life of independence and unorthodox freedom. This is a wonderful complement to Markham's own memoir, West with the Night. There are things we find only at our lowest depths. The idea of wings and then wings themselves. An ocean worth crossing one dark mile at a time. The whole of the sky. I loved Beryl Markham's beautiful, ad

This slim (122-page) novel builds from a real-life tragedy to a deep, disturbing, fascinating exploration of morality, responsibility, chance, circumstances of birth, and judgment and empathy. I was intrigued by the unsympathetic narrator as well as the thought-provoking, unflinching, pointed questions directed at the reader. Vincent Delecroix takes a grueling set of real-life events and builds a short, powerful, thought-provoking novel that plunges the reader into its plausi

Lewis immerses three disparate female characters in the often lawless mayhem of the Gold Rush in the Yukon, where a tragic death binds together their fates. It's 1898 and in Canada, the frenzy of the Gold Rush has taken hold of the frigid Yukon. Three women in Dawson City are trying to find their way. Kate is a journalist who has hurried hundreds of miles to town after an urgent letter from her sister. Martha's hotel is under threat from a local bully buying up all the proper

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Lisa Kleypas's Victorian-set novel about independent women, Queen of Lombard Street; I'm reading Alan Murrin's debut novel about two women and unlikely allies in small-town 1994 Ireland, The Coast Road; and I'm reading Vincent Delecroix's slim, powerful novel based on devastating real events, Small Boat. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Queen of Lombard Street by Lisa Kleypas As the illegitimate daughter of a fierce, Spanish-born

Sleuths of a Certain Age I'm a fan of reading mysteries in the fall--I guess this is my version of spooky seasonal reads? Recently I've been enjoying mysteries featuring complex, delightfully seasoned characters. (We could also refer to these as the Black, White, Red, and Navy Blue Covers.) Many of these protagonists are underestimated and overlooked, and they're therefore able to dig into mysteries without attracting as much notice as in their younger years. I took the libe

Lerner's slim novel offers three distinct sections. In the first, a pivotal, wandering interview fails to be recorded; then the "reconstructed" aspect of that interview becomes clear; and ultimately, issues of memory, parenthood, technology, art, faulty recollections, and forgiveness shape the story. The unnamed narrator of Ben Lerner's short (144-page) novel has traveled to interview his 90-year-old mentor Thomas (who is also his best friend Max's father) to write what will

The historical fiction-writing gift that is Philippa Gregory entertwines the richly imagined stories of three women in fifteenth century England, offering unapologetic ambition, genius manipulation, revenge plots, dark arts, and drastic comeuppances in this fascinating novel. It's 1420 and Eleanor Cobham (a real figure, about whom little is known), in a terrific initial scene, willfully misunderstands her dying mother's last wish for her, rejecting the nunnery and heading to

Anderson's debut novel offers satire and dark humor in a future where a corporate surrogate eliminates its workers' inefficiency due to childbearing. Our main protagonist is greedy, lazy, and far from introspective, yet I couldn't stop reading about her often petty, short-sighted, shallow motivations. Natalie is a young adult working at a soul-crushing job at a call center when she is offered what feels like the perfect opportunity for short-term sacrifice and long-term finan

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to the first in Philippa Gregory's Plantaganet and Tudor series, Royal Witch; I'm listening to Beth Lewis's Gold Rush-era mystery, The Rush; and I'm reading Ben Lerner's short novel Transcription. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Royal Witch (Plantaganet and Tudor #1) by Philippa Gregory It's 1420 and Eleanor Cobham arrives at the court of Henry V hoping to marry well despite her common upbringing and lack of dowry. But she soon lear

Great Backlist Mystery and Suspense Reads You know what I love about a backlist roundup of great reads? They're all likely to be available at the library. If you like cozying up with some fall mystery reading like I am, make sure to check out these titles, if you haven't read them. These six four-star mysteries are all so good and so different--they were my favorites of the year a couple of years ago, and they're so solid that I thought I'd repost again. I hope you'll check

I was completely hooked on the imagined details of the life of Irish folk heroine and female pirate Grace O'Malley. I ultimately loved the novel's unusual structure, which tracked back and forth in time and revealed more about the strong female protagonist at each turn. I fell hard for this slam dunk of a premise: A novel about a female pirate based on the life of Grace O’Malley, an Irish folk heroine who was legendarily willing to risk everything for her people. Yes, yes, an

I was charmed by John Kenney's darkly funny, thoughtful novel about an obituary writer hitting rock bottom and reflecting on mortality, leaning on his friends, and finding unorthodox ways to embrace the messiness and wonder of life again. Awkard, endearing Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who's going through some things. He's gone downhill since his wife divorced him for her prior boyfriend, and now he's all but given up on love; his last blind date involved a woman who brou

The Secrets We Hide offers what is for me the perfect blend of character development, layered interpersonal issues, and mystery twists and turns that never feel convoluted, plus other favorite Bossy elements: a small-town setting, a family legacy of police work, and a condensed, healthily paced timeline from the story's beginning to end. I was hooked on this novel. I love a story driven by a female investigator main protagonist, and in book one of this small-town mystery seri

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Ariel Lawhon's newest novel about a female Irish pirate that's based on the life of a real woman, The Pirate Queen; I'm listening to the second in Karin Slaughter's North Falls mystery series about a female sheriff and her ex-FBI agent sister, The Secrets We Hide; and I'm listening to John Kenney's novel about an obituary writer learning to live again, I See You've Called in Dead, before I go hear the author speak this week. What are you

Tales of Brave World War II Women Other titles I considered listing here were the Bossy five-star read All the Light We Cannot See; The Women in the Castle, which includes a complicated sort of bravery; and the fantastic book for young readers, The War That Saved My Life, as well as its wonderful sequel, The War I Finally Won. Are there any others you would include on a list of World War II heroines? You might also like the books on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Great Books ab

In Mandel's newest dystopian novel she presents two worlds, one lawless and one bound by constant surveillance, and she drops characters and their doppelgängers in and out of each. I was fascinated by this melancholy, layered story and its irresistible main protagonist. It's the year 2030 and the United States has collapsed. Ari Waker has just been released from prison after serving a decades-long sentence, and she emerges to a nation in turmoil where many scrape and scramble

Bannister's psychological mystery sets up an imminent death on the tracks, then takes the reader back and forth in time to share characters' back stories, faults and failings, and interconnectedness. An omniscient narrator turns the mirror back on the reader at times. The structure of Five is key to its impact. While the human condition is fragile and while everyone does have a story and while we do not know what goes on behind closed doors while we are judging books by their

Fitzgerald recounts various scenes from his gritty, disrupted childhood, shares the chosen family he forms working long-term at a bar, explains his body dysmorphia, and tells the reader how he tries to be a good person in the world. I found his stories intriguing, but for me the essay format made the book feel somewhat disjointed. In his memoir-in-essay-form Dirtbag, Massachusetts, Isaac Fitzgerald traces his life from his unlikely conception (his parents were married...but t

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Sarah Anderson's debut novel about a corporation's surrogate mother, a darkly humorous sendup of the ultimate capitalist state, Fallow; I'm listening to Ilona Bannister's fascinatingly structured novel of five characters on a train platform, one of whom will soon die, Five; and I'm listening to Isaac Fitzgerald's memoir-in-essays, Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Fallow by Sarah Anderson Natalie