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Happy Place
★★★★★ An exploration of relationships and friendships in Henry's most mature offering yet, centered on a week-long vacation in Maine.
Greg Barlin
Aug 1, 20233 min read


Wrong Place, Wrong Time
★★★★★ A mother sees her son commit a murder, and must find out why while stuck in a backwards time loop. Sounds weird, but it works well!
Greg Barlin
Jun 19, 20233 min read


Ordinary Grace
★★★★★ A 1961 coming-of-age story about a boy in rural Minnesota, who is forced to deal with tragedy as he navigates his path to manhood.
Greg Barlin
Mar 21, 20232 min read


Mad Honey
★★★★★ It's a love story and a legal thriller, but its authors' deft handling of many tough subjects is what elevates this novel even more.
Greg Barlin
Mar 12, 20233 min read


B.F.F.
★★★★★ Following up her excellent debut Group, Tate returns with another memoir, this time focusing on her struggles with female friendship.
Greg Barlin
Feb 25, 20233 min read

The Best Book of 2022: Thistlefoot
★★★★★ The reunion of 2 siblings around a mysterious house is the backdrop for this lyrical beauty of a novel, my favorite of 2022.
Greg Barlin
Jan 11, 20233 min read

The #2 Best Book of 2022: Demon Copperhead
★★★★★ An ode to Charles Dickens in the form of a modern retelling of David Copperfield, set in Appalachian Virginia over the last 30+ years.
Greg Barlin
Jan 10, 20233 min read

The #3 Best Book of 2022: The Final Strife
★★★★★ A land where one’s blood color determines their race is the setting while a secret sect try to infiltrate to infiltrate the government
Greg Barlin
Jan 9, 20232 min read

The #4 Best Book of 2022: All My Rage
★★★★★ An exploration of the immigrant experience through the story of 2 high school students of Pakistani descent, growing up in rural CA.
Greg Barlin
Jan 8, 20231 min read

The #5 Best Book of 2022: Firekeeper's Daughter
★★★★★ A high school girl is thrust into an FBI investigation to try to uncover a drug ring that is terrorizing Native American tribes
Greg Barlin
Jan 7, 20232 min read

The #6 Best Book of 2022: Seventeen: Last Man Standing
★★★★★ The greatest assassin in the world, Seventeen, must take on his predecessor, against a backdrop of a threat against global security.
Greg Barlin
Jan 6, 20232 min read

The #7 Best Book of 2022: Nightcrawling
★★★★★ The story of Kiara, a young woman 3 months shy of her 18th birthday, living in East Oakland and trying to scrape by on her own.
Greg Barlin
Jan 5, 20232 min read

The #8 Best Book of 2022: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
★★★★★ Spanning 30 years of the main characters' lives, it's the story of 3 friends inspired to create something great in the world of gaming
Greg Barlin
Jan 4, 20232 min read

The #9 Best Book of 2022: Book Lovers
★★★★★ A better version of the "city dweller finds love in a small town" trope, while also ranking as the funniest book I read in 2022.
Greg Barlin
Jan 3, 20232 min read


The Best Book of 2021: We Begin at the End
★★★★★ A thought-provoking and heartbreaking coming of age story, mixed with a small town mystery. My clear favorite of 2021 by a wide margin
Greg Barlin
Jan 13, 20222 min read


The #2 Best Book of 2021: Cloud Cuckoo Land
★★★★★ An ambitious, sprawling novel that intertwines 3 storylines across different places and times, but magically comes together in the end
Greg Barlin
Jan 12, 20222 min read


The #3 Best Book of 2021: Project Hail Mary
★★★★★ A scientist trapped alone in space trying to survive. What worked for The Martian does again and this time might be even better.
Greg Barlin
Jan 11, 20221 min read


The #4 Best Book of 2021: Razorblade Tears
★★★★★ When two young gay men are murdered, their fathers join forces to take solving the murders into their own hands.
Greg Barlin
Jan 10, 20222 min read


The #5 Best Book(s) of 2021: The Last Watch + The Exiled Fleet
★★★★★ A ragtag group of soldiers (and a few criminals) are staffed at the end of the universe. Things are mostly boring...until they're not
Greg Barlin
Jan 9, 20222 min read


The #6 Best Book of 2021: Great Circle
★★★★★ Meet protagonist Marian Graves, a woman in determined to fly planes in the early 1900s at a time when women, quite simply, didn't.
Greg Barlin
Jan 8, 20222 min read
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