For those of you who are coming late to this party, I got very far behind recording the books that I have loved over the past year. I usually do it when the month of reading ends. For almost eight months, I was unable to do that. I posted May’s edition in early December. I have three more after this one, and then I’m caught up. Yay, me!
June is a bit daunting because the list includes both a short story and a nonfiction collection. Those always take me longer. Not to mention a pile of magazines, some of which had articles that I marked that are now (at the end of December) out of date. Others are not relevant. Those that are still important talk about concerns that are a focus of the entire community.
So…here you go. This is what I liked in June.
June 2025
Bale, Rachel, “The Survivors,” AARP The Magazine, December/January 2025. Probably the most important article I’ve read all year. It puts trauma into perspective. Unfortunately, a direct link is no longer available, so the link I put up is to the issue itself, which you might have to find behind a paywall. This article, which is on mass shooting survivors, has won many awards in the past year. And here’s a quote from it:
My family doesn’t say we moved on. We say we moved forward. Because none of us wants to forget what we’ve been through. —Sheila Gutman, shot on July 4, 2022. (Sigh)
Deaver, Jeffrey, “Forgotten: A Coulter Shaw Story,” Dead Ends, Harper CollinsPublishers, 2024. I always find Coulter Shaw stories interesting if implausible. (In other words, Deaver usually fails to write me past the premise.) This one fits into that category. However, the ending makes the story worthwhile, and the read to get there is fun.
Deaver, Jeffrey, Dead Ends, Harper CollinsPublishers, 2024. On Deaver’s website, there is this statement about the book: This short story collection is available in print, eBook, and audiobook in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. There are currently no plans for a release in any other countries. And true to form, I couldn’t find an ebook anywhere. I got the paper copy on Amazon. I am finding Deaver’s career choices deeply and powerfully frustrating. The more successful he’s becoming, the more he’s limiting the ways that readers can find his publications. I know that’s because he has some weird deal with Thomas & Mercer and Amazon itself, but I do find myself hesitating even recommending his work these days because it’s so hard to find.
That said, I enjoyed this collection a great deal, and as you read this list, you’ll find the stories I liked the most.
Deaver, Jeffrey, “Ninth and Nowhere,” Dead Ends, Harper CollinsPublishers, 2024. I first saw this as an Amazon novella, and put it on the recommended reading list in February of 2020. Here’s what I said: in the hands of a lesser author, the set-up for this story would create a horribly predictable result. I love Deaver’s short work, so I figured he’d do something different with the story, but even I couldn’t anticipate what he did. Well done.
Deaver, Jeffrey, “The Writers Conference,” Dead Ends, Harper CollinsPublishers, 2024. I approached this story with a how-fun attitude. Let’s see what Jeffrey Deaver thinks of writers’ conferences. And the story fulfilled that expectation and then some.
Grann, David, “City of Water,” The Devil And Sherlock Holmes, Doubleday, 2010. UPDATE: I read this one 15 years ago, but didn’t remember doing so, and planned to recommend it again. (See the little post on the entire book.) Here’s what I wrote then: “Underneath New York City are a series of tunnels that keep the water supply moving. Some are small, some are huge, and then there are the main tunnels, developed nearly a century ago, and not maintained. At least they weren’t maintained when Grann initially wrote this piece in 2003. They couldn’t be. Whoever designed them hadn’t thought of maintenance. So in the 1970s, NY decided to build a new tunnel. They’re still building it, with completion set for 2020.
Entire generations have worked on this tunnel, including generations within the same family. Grann looks at these sand hogs, and goes into the tunnels with them. He also explores the entire water system. This essay was fascinating, both for the personalities, and for the alien environment in which they work. This essay alone is worth the price of the book.”
When I finished the essay for the second time, I looked up the project…and it is still not finished. This is amazing and weird real-life stuff. Take a look.
Grann, David, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, Doubleday, 2010. I bought this book new, and its ugly purple cover (not shown here) did not inspire me to read it. I had read a number of the essays in The New Yorker, back when I subscribed. (I stopped my subscription in protest of a racist Michelle Obama cover, back in 2008.) I read about halfway through the book in 2010, and then quit and went onto other things. Some of the essays that interested me then don’t interest me now. (See the 2010 August and September lists.)
A handful of these are dated, but many still held my attention, so I’m recommending the whole book and highlighting a few that I really liked.
Grann, David, “The Old Man And The Gun,” The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, Doubleday, 2010. I remember reading this one in The New Yorker, and thinking it fascinating then. When I got to it in this book, I realized I had remembered the whole thing, so it had made a heck of an impression. Another good essay here.
Leight, Elias, “Licensing Deals Put Artists in the Driver’s Seat,” Billboard Magazine, March 22, 2025. I have often said that the music industry is about 10 years ahead of the publishing industry. I’m not sure the number of years is correct with all the changes happening in the various industries, but the fact that change hits there first remains the same. This article explores are artists are changing the terms of their contracts with major studios. It’s worth reading for writers, especially so that they can see the possibilities…if they want to be traditionally published.
Richardson, Heather Cox, How The South Won The Civil War, Oxford University Press, 2020. I had planned to read this book for a long time, but it scared me. Because I had to acknowledge what was going on in this country in order to do so. But my own history background kept telling me that we’d been through similar things before, and the reason that we’re here is that, unlike Germany, we did not deal with our traitors properly after the Civil War. (German dealt with the Nazis. If we had done the same to the Confederates, the United States would look very different.) Richardson’s book outlines this, and then looks at the repercussions of our failed actions. She’s an amazing historian—thorough, clear-eyed, and able to speak the unpleasant truths. This book is a must-read for every American and for people who want to understand what this country is and how we have become this shambling creature that we are right now. Amazing book, thought-provoking and difficult at times. And she has an excellent Substack called “Letters from an American,” that is definitely worth following. Her long-term perspective gives me hope every day. It might help some of you as well.
Roberts, Nora, Hidden Nature, St. Martin’s Press, 2025. When Nora Roberts started writing standalone romantic suspense novels for Bantam Books in the 1980s, some misguided editor or her terrible agent (don’t get me started on Writers House) told her that her titles needed to be one or two words long. And from that moment, I was unable to remember 90% of her titles. So as I’m catching up on this list, I looked at the title of this book, with its spider web, and thought, I don’t remember this at all. But as I was gathering the link so you all can order it if you want, I read the sales copy and sure enough, I remember the book just fine.
I like Nora’s pure romantic suspense, which this is. An injured police officer takes her trauma and moves back to the town where she grew up. And yes, she meets someone, and yes, things get worse. Lately, I had been finding Nora’s books hurried at the end, and even though that’s a problem here, it’s not a bad one. I read the book fast and enjoyed it. If you like her romantic suspense, as I do, this is a good example of it.
Rose, Lacey, “Please Like Me,” The Stand-Up Roundtable, The Hollywood Reporter, May 21, 2025. Eye-opening and thought-provoking, this roundtable of successful stand-ups really challenged some of my perspectives. There was so much good stuff in here, I didn’t underline any of it. It’s as if I underlined all of it. Read this one.
Sun, Rebecca, “Michelle Yeoh Reflects on Aging, Her Past Lives, and Honoring Her Community,” AARP The Magazine, December/January 2025. Michelle Yeoh has long been one of my favorite actresses. I can’t remember when I first saw her, but she first came to my attention in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and I’ve followed her career ever since. She is in better shape than most people our age, and she always tries new things. I loved her character in Star Trek:Discovery and I love what she’s been doing in the past fifteen years. In this interview, she talks about everything from keeping fit to having a positive attitude toward work and life. Definitely worth reading.
