I’m still playing catch-up on the lists, but I decided last month to stay current with the current reading, which feels quite good. I have more reading time, which is nice, but some of it is for school work. Lots of ancient plays and plays in translation. I’m learning a lot about storytelling, history, and the human condition, which is great fun.
With all of that in mind, I plucked a book off my TBR shelf. It’s a time travel book about Broadway musicals (yes, indeed). It was self-published by a long-time sf writer, who has a long traditional career. Sadly, even though this book has (by its description) a lot of reader cookies for me, I’ve abandoned it. (“Reader cookies” is a term coined by Gardner Dozois, the former editor of Asimov’s, and the term means what it sounds like. Something a reader will happily gobble up.)
The book is problematic in a variety of ways. I got the paper edition which just looks like a bound manuscript. The section headers are underlined in bold, just above the first paragraph of each section (which is in tiny font). So I was already fighting the book. Last night I got midway through and realized that the time travel part was a travelogue, there was no dramatic tension, and the characters are opaque. The book is more thought experiment than novel, and I’m not into that kind of sf. So I let it go, with great regret, because it sounded (and still sounds) like something I might love.
I read some short stories that I can’t stop thinking about, but on the novel front, I didn’t find much to love. What I did find was good or worth reading. I read both John Grisham and Michael Connelly’s latest legal thrillers this month and had a realization: Connelly, the former reporter, writes the law as it is, which means the ending is unsatisfying. Grisham, the lawyer, writes the fantasy. I find that fascinating. I prefer the fantasy…and I also prefer Connelly’s characters. So, I’m recommending both books.
I’ve also scattered a few articles in here as well. Enjoy!
November, 2025
Buck, Craig Faustus, “Home Game,” The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2025, edited by John Grisham, Mysterious Press, 2025. The problem with telling you which short stories I like in these various anthologies is that often, I can’t summarize the story. This is one of those cases. Suffice to say that the characters are good, the dog is a survivor, and the story caught me buy surprise. Read and enjoy.
Denison, Niki, “The Magnificent Magnus Swenson,” On Wisconsin, Spring 2025. I had never heard of Magnus Swenson before, but the man had a finger in a lot of pies that led to modern life. The tease at the top of the article calls him “The UW’s first prolific inventor,” and yep, that’s an understatement, so much so that in this article, they ran out of room for things that were major. Like this summary that had me wanting more:
His thesis on the chemistry of sugar won him a $2,500 prize from the USDA and an offer of a job running a sugar plant in Texas. Following a public experiment with a faulty centrifuge that sprayed sorghum molasses all over 400 of Madison’s leading citizens and local farmers, Swenson concluded it was a good time to leave town.
Um…what? I can only imagine. And I’m sure it’s in some kind of newspaper somewhere, but really? Wow. And how many other things went colorfully awry? Anyway, this is a fun piece as well, and rather mind-boggling.
Erickson, Doug, “Bucky Badger’s Game Day,” On Wisconsin, Spring 2025. An absolutely delightful and upbeat article about what it takes to be a mascot for a huge university team. It’s not just one person acting as a mascot. It’s several. They were interviewed as a group, and declined to give their full names, making sure to maintain the “Bucky” mystique. The amount of work here is tremendous, but the amount of heart even more so. If you want something to lift your spirits (and not just school spirits), read this.
Falenwolfe, Tracy, “Jamming at Jollies,” The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2025, edited by John Grisham, Mysterious Press, 2025. Another story filled with great characters and a lovely voice, but at its heart, something I can’t summarize for fear of ruining it. This story’s ending did make me smile, though, which is unusual in short mystery fiction.
Connelly, Michael, 
The Proving Ground, Little Brown, 2025. Even though [SPOILER ALERT] this book ends with a realistic whimper, it’s still worth reading. Connelly explores a civil case against an AI company that may or may not have allowed its chatbot to convince a boy to murder his girlfriend. All along, I wondered how a case this big could fit into 400 pages, but Connelly makes it work. The journey is fascinating, the arguments a tad scary, and the difficulties clear. Not the best Lincoln Lawyer book, but a darn good novel all the same.
Grisham, John, The Widow, Random House, 2025. I find Grisham’s books oddly compelling even when I strongly dislike the characters. I did not like Simon Latch, the main character, or anyone else for that matter. They’re calling this a whodunnit, but that’s not the focus of the book. The book’s focus is how someone can end up on the wrong side of the law, not because they did anything wrong, but becau
se they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Since Grisham works hard for the Innocence Project, I suspect this is a topic near and dear to his heart. As I said, I find the book oddly compelling and I do think, if you’re a Grisham fan, you’ll enjoy the read. If you’ve never read one of his books, this is not the book to start with.
Kelly, April, “The Art of Disappearance,” The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2025, edited by John Grisham, Mysterious Press, 2025. This story has alligators and swamps, some truly unpleasant characters, and a twist that made me laugh out loud. Enjoy!
Lovelace, Kai, “Only a Story,” The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2025, edited by John Grisham, Mysterious Press, 2025. I was reading this story at UNLV’s Union during my lunch and almost turned to the next story because I thought the opening was overwritten. I wasn’t reading carefully, so I skipped ahead and realized, well, duh, this was an excerpt from the book our protagonist was reading. And from that moment forward I was good to go, and glad I did, because this is a lovely piece about people and dreams and art, all wrapped in a very noir package.
Miller, Shannon, “Showgirls Are Forever: How The Icon Endures…” Las Vegas Weekly, August 21-27, 2025. A fascinating short history of the Las Vegas showgirl, complete with interviews with some of the early “girls.” It’s the kind of local history that magazines do well, and it’s really worth reading.
