Natalie
@abookandadog.com
I love to read and hang out with my dog. I blog about it at https://abookandadog.com
The Janitor by Don Winslow—a quick Audible Original about a lawyer-turned-fixer who makes rich people's messes disappear. Gave me City of Dreams vibes, plus fun baseball nods for this new Dodgers fan. Not my favorite Winslow novella, but solid. #booksky
The Janitor by Don Winslow: Audiobook Review — A Book and A Dog
A review of The Janitor, Don Winslow's new Audible Original novella about a lawyer-turned-fixer, narrated by Titus Welliver. Entertaining, if imperfect.
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This Is Your Mind on Plants—Pollan's look at opium, caffeine, and mescaline and how culture and law decide what's a "drug." Loved that he narrated it himself. The mescaline chapter, and his respect for Indigenous ceremony, stuck with me most. #booksky
This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan | Review — A Book and A Dog
I read Michael Pollan’s This Is Your Mind on Plants—opium, caffeine, and mescaline, and how culture and law decide what counts as a drug. A review of the book and audiobook.
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📚 Weekend reading stack: Being Ram Dass, Last Seen by J.T. Ellison, and Suttree by Cormac McCarthy. Quite the mix — memoir, thriller, and Southern gothic all at once! #booksky #weekendreads
The Delivery by Gregg Hurwitz—a humanoid AI companion who "helps" a struggling family by answering wishes they never intended. Short, sharp, and unsettling. Made me appreciate the ordinary, unautomated parts of life. #booksky
The Delivery (by Gregg Hurwitz) — A Book and A Dog
The Delivery by Gregg Hurwitz review. A couple brings home a humanoid AI named Mr. Man. At first he’s a miracle—then he misunderstands their private frustrations, with violent results. Tight, unsettli...
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Lightning in a Mason Jar by Catherine Mann was a dual-timeline story of survival, secrets, and second chances. Bailey Rae uncovered her late aunt's hidden past as a protector of women fleeing abuse. Handled with real compassion. #booksky
Lightning in a Mason Jar (by Catherine Mann) — A Book and A Dog
Review of Lightning in a Mason Jar by Catherine Mann: a dual-timeline story of survival, secrets, and second chances, told with unusual gentleness.
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Rereading The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub before book club (and book 3 arrives in October!). Jack Sawyer is the toughest 12-year-old I've met on the page, and his bond with Wolf is everything. Long road, but the ending delivers. #booksky abookandadog.com/blog/the-talisman
The Talisman (by Stephen King and Peter Straub) — A Book and A Dog
Rereading Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman before the third Jack Sawyer book. A tough 12-year-old, an unforgettable Wolf, and a long road that still lands.
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Kliewer's The Caretaker has an eerie, irresistible setup—isolated Oregon coast house, strict rites, real dread. The mental-health thread deserved more follow-through, and that ending just... stops. Loved his debut more. #booksky
The Caretaker (by Marcus Kliewer) — A Book and A Dog
I loved Kliewer’s debut, so I expected more from The Caretaker. Eerie Oregon-coast house, strict Rites, strong audio—and an ending that just stops. Full review.
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Into the Fire, book 5 in Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X series, has Evan Smoak taking one more job on the 1-855-2-NOWHERE line while nursing a concussion and a very dangerous threat. Intense action, real heart, and a cliffhanger that has me needing book 6 now. #booksky
Into the Fire by Gregg Hurwitz — Orphan X Review — A Book and A Dog
I’m hooked on Orphan X. A review of Gregg Hurwitz’s Into the Fire—the action, Jack’s advice, Scott Brick’s narration, and that cliffhanger.
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September's Amazon First Reads pick: Trust No One by Mary Burton, a suspense novel that's already got my attention. Plus a bonus short read this month—The Back Bedroom by Gregg Olsen. Excited to dive into both! #booksky
It took me 26 years to finally open the three-volume Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh—1,800 pages of a real, complicated, philosophical man, not the myth. Five pages a day was the right pace. So glad I finally met him this way. #booksky
The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh: A Review — A Book and A Dog
A personal review of The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh: how Jo van Gogh-Bonger shaped the collection, what the letters reveal, and why they are worth reading slowly.
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Finished the Alphabet series with Y is for Yesterday—bittersweet, since it's Grafton's last completed book. Too much going on and hard to connect with the characters, but glad I saw Kinsey's story through to the end. #booksky
Y Is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton — A Book and A Dog
I finished Sue Grafton’s Alphabet series with Y Is for Yesterday, the last Kinsey Millhone novel she wrote. A disappointing end—and why I read it anyway.
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This weekend I’m finishing up The Talisman by King and Straub for my IRL Constant Reader book club. Also starting The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams on audio. #booksky #dogsky #FridayReads
A signed copy, gifted by a shop owner in Jerome, AZ—The Ghost of the Cuban Queen Bordello by Peggy Hicks blends a ghost story with the real, well-researched history of a 1920s madam—Jelly Roll Morton ties, a 1927 murder, a kidnapping claim. More than I expected. #booksky
The Ghost of the Cuban Queen Bordello by Peggy Hicks | Book Review — A Book and A Dog
A signed copy from a Jerome shop led me to Peggy Hicks’s mix of ghost story and biography. The Cuban Queen is sharper—and colder—than the legend.
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Tried A Secret in the Keys by Hope Holloway on Audible — slow start but Beck Foster's journey to the Florida Keys (and the family secret waiting there) won me over. Holloway makes the Keys sound like paradise. #booksky
A Secret in the Keys by Hope Holloway | Review — A Book and A Dog
I almost quit Hope Holloway’s A Secret in the Keys before Beck reached Coconut Key. The Florida Keys setting—and Holloway’s Asheville Christmas book—kept me listening.
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Loved No Exit, so I picked up Taylor Adams's Her Last Breath. The cave scenes are genuinely frightening, but I saw where it was headed pretty early, which took some of the edge off. Still a solid, well-built thriller. #booksky
Her Last Breath by Taylor Adams | Book Review — A Book and A Dog
I loved No Exit, so I picked up Taylor Adams’s Her Last Breath on Libby. The cave scenes are frightening—but I could see the ending coming. Full review.
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Wasn't sure Vietnam combat was a story I wanted to read—but The Women by Kristin Hannah proved me wrong. Frankie McGrath's journey as an Army nurse, and the silence she faced coming home, broke my heart. Julia Whelan's narration is stunning. #booksky
The Women by Kristin Hannah Review: Unforgettable and Heartbreaking — A Book and A Dog
I wasn’t sure I wanted a Vietnam War novel. Kristin Hannah’s The Women proved me wrong—an emotional, unforgettable story of the nurses too often forgotten.
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A mysterious 86-year-old stranger arrives in a small Georgia town and starts giving people back pieces of themselves through pencil portraits — and their own stories. Theo of Golden is steady, quietly astonishing, and stayed with me long after I finished it. #booksky
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi: A Review — A Book and A Dog
A warm, honest review of Allen Levi’s Theo of Golden. Why this hyped debut won me over, what I loved about Theo, and why the David Morse audiobook is worth a Libby hold.
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This weekend I’m taking a short break from The Talisman to explore 1920’s Jerome, Arizona in The Ghost of the Cuban Queen Bordello by Peggy Hicks. Also finishing up Her Last Breath by Taylor Adams. #booksky #weekendreads
The Secret Life of Sunflowers reimagines Jo van Gogh-Bonger — the woman who brought Vincent's work to the world — through a dual timeline with a present-day auctioneer. I came for the sunflowers and stayed for Jo. #booksky
The Secret Life of Sunflowers Review | Jo van Gogh-Bonger — A Book and A Dog
I came for the sunflowers and stayed for Jo van Gogh-Bonger. A dual-timeline review of Marta Molnar’s novel about the woman who made Vincent famous.
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Signed up for Ruth Ware's newsletter and got a free bonus: her short story "We Will Be Watching," about four coworkers trapped in an escape room that starts exposing their secrets. Properly creepy, tightly paced, and great ending. #booksky
We Will Be Watching (by Ruth Ware) — A Book and A Dog
I deleted my Instagram account a few years ago, and the only real downside was losing touch with the authors I followed. I loved seeing their upcoming books, event announcements, and the…
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I'm such a Freida McFadden fan. Dear Debbie gave me exactly the dark, twisty entertainment I crave. Debbie Mullen is a suburban advice columnist whose helpful exterior hides far more ruthless solutions underneath — and she's done being the bigger person. Loved watching her work. #booksky
Dear Debbie (by Freida McFadden) — A Book and A Dog
I’m such a Freida McFadden fan. Her books reliably deliver the kind of twisty, bingeable entertainment I crave, and I only wish I could catch up on her new releases and dive into the…
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This weekend, I’m booked! 🤓 I’m rereading The Talisman by King and Straub for book club. (We’re anticipating the release of T3.) I’m absolutely loving Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. I’m enjoying Lightning in a Mason Jar by Catherine Mann as my late-night book. #booksky #weekendreads
I attended an author event at The Back Room, hosted by Hank Phillippi Ryan and Karen Dionne. This month I had the pleasure of "meeting" Jennifer Hillier, LJ Ross, and Robert Thorogood. I wrote about the whole evening on my blog, which includes book recommendations from each author. #booksky
The Back Room - Summer’s Best Books — A Book and A Dog
I had another entertaining evening at the August session of The Back Room: Cocktails and Conversations with Your Favorite Authors , hosted by the delightful Hank Phillippi Ryan and…
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Risen from the Ashes by Patrick O'Brian traces the West Baden Springs Hotel's decline and remarkable restoration. The photos from its empty, deteriorating years are haunting — and make the 1996 restoration all the more satisfying. Beautifully written and photographed. #booksky
Risen from the Ashes (by Patrick O’Brian) — A Book and A Dog
Risen from the Ashes by Patrick O'Brian covers much of the same territory as the first West Baden Springs Hotel book I recently reviewed, West Baden Springs: Legacy of Dreams .
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Finally read My Year of Rest and Relaxation after loving Moshfegh's Eileen years ago. Julia Whelan's narration is great, but the unnamed, self-destructive protagonist left me cold. Short book, felt long. A rare disappointment for me. #booksky
My Year of Rest and Relaxation (by Ottessa Moshfegh) — A Book and A Dog
I read Eileen , one of Ottessa Moshfegh’s earlier novels, years ago and loved it. I remember it being strange, perplexing, and kind of frightening—all in a good way. As her subsequent books…
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Murder at the Breakers by Alyssa Maxwell brought me to Newport's Gilded Age and the Vanderbilts' Breakers mansion. I wanted more sense of place and could've done without the protagonist's impulsiveness, but the ending genuinely surprised me. #booksky
Murder at the Breakers (by Alyssa Maxwell) — A Book and A Dog
As a lifelong visitor to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, I’ve long been intrigued by the Vanderbilts. I love learning about that house and the family’s history, so when I saw…
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It Could Have Been Her puts secondary character Jane Trevally center stage, and it's an excellent choice. Dual timelines, steady dread, and mysteries that still surprised me. Hugo the terrier is a scene-stealer. The full-cast audiobook was phenomenal. Dark, moody, and addictive. #booksky
It Could Have Been Her (by Lisa Jewell) — A Book and A Dog
Lisa Jewell has such a long backlist of titles, which means I have a lot of great books by her still ahead of me. I fell in love with her storytelling through her suspenseful thrillers, though I’ve al...
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This weekend I’m reading another book about West Baden Springs. This one is by Patrick O’Brian. Also listening to My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. Definitely not a character I want to emulate. Curious where this one is headed. 🙄 #booksky #FridayReads
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier imagines the story behind Vermeer's famous painting. Vivid 17th-century Delft setting, complicated household characters, and prose that mirrors brushwork itself—restrained and beautiful. Loved it. #booksky
Girl with a Pearl Earring (by Tracy Chevalier) — A Book and A Dog
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier has been on my radar for a long time. I didn’t realize it was first published in 1999, but I’d seen steady praise for it over the years. I finally…
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Picked this up during our stay at West Baden Springs Hotel—a photo-rich history of the "Eighth Wonder of the World." Packed with wild details (a circus wintered there!) and a lovely personal note from the author near the end. Writing's average; photos are excellent. #booksky
West Baden Springs: Legacy of Dreams (by Chris Bundy) — A Book and A Dog
To celebrate my retirement in September 2024, my husband and I spent a few days at the West Baden Springs Hotel in French Lick, Indiana. It’s a magnificent and unexpected gem tucked into…
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