#36 [2026/CBR18] America the Beautiful? by Blythe Roberson

My husband recommended America the Beautiful?: One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled (2023) by Blythe Roberson. I have a bit of a contest going with my oldest brother to see who can get to more U.S. national parks (I'm winning), and this book seemed on point. Roberson was taking an epic summer road trip to visit every U.S. National Park in the lower 48 that she hadn't yet been to. I chose at the time not to read it, but this summer we were driving back from Glacier National Park and needed some entertainment. We started the Audiobook.

It's hard for me to explain why I originally passed on this book. I have a hard time reading or watching people do things that I've done. This is especially true for Youtube videos of people going to places I've been, especially if it was a meaningful trip. There's a little bit of FOMO that I might have missed out on something cool, but there's also the frustration that comes if I feel they didn't do it "right". I understand that it's not rational, but it might help explain my reaction to this book.

Roberson is a millennial from New York City who grew up camping and obtaining junior ranger badges at various national parks. Now she's decided to take a break from her desk job and go earn junior ranger badges from all the lower 48 National Parks she hasn't been to yet. She picks up her step-father's car and begins at Isle Royale National Park, an island in Lake Superior. She continues around the country, with stops to visit friends along the way.

I thought Roberson could often be funny and entertaining. I enjoyed hearing about her experiences in the parks. I have also camped out of my car, so I could definitely relate. I have gone on a number of road trips to see a couple of national parks at at time, but mine are always limited to a week or two. I think two months would be exhausting. I have also never paid much attention to the junior ranger badges, but it seems like it could be a--sometimes--interesting way to learn more about the parks.

However, I did get a little bored/frustrated with this book. First, I wish there had been more content on the actual national parks. Roberson tended to have very little time, so she would drive in, do a hike, and then leave in a couple of hours. Glacier--the park my husband and I had just left--had maybe a sentence. Others had more, but this book was not really about the parks. In addition, the narrator for the Audiobook mispronounced two of the parks' names: Isle Royale and Guadalupe.

Second, even though I agree with all of Roberson's liberal, feminist tangents, I don't think they all fit well into the book. It felt like she was trying to hit every liberal talking point as filler. Some of these certainly related to the parks, like the fact the land was originally Native American and how Climate Change is affecting these unique and beautiful spaces. However, it all felt like something I'd read before, and her arguments felt a little superficial. 

In the beginning of the book Roberson talks about how few women write travel memoirs or go on adventures like hers. She says that men have much more freedom than women to adventure (often true when kids are involved, but it depends on the couple). She said that fathers can disappear for two months and no one thinks anything of it. I disagree. Again, it depends on the family, but my little brother could not and would not abandon his wife and kids for two months to go on an adventure. I think men traveling solo more than women was more true thirty to forty years ago. I travel by myself all the time, and I see plenty of women traveling solo. There are also tons of Youtube accounts of solo women sharing their journeys. It's not as remarkable anymore.

Although there were some entertaining parts, this book did not really resonate with me.

#35 [2026/CBR18] Patchwork by Kate Evans

I try to read a graphic novel every once in awhile to expand my literary tastes. This year, I saw Patchwork (2025) by Kate Evans on NPR's Books We Love List and knew that I needed to read it. I love Jane Austen, and Pride and Prejudice has been my favorite book since I first read it back in college. I've heard little tidbits about Austen's life here and there, but I really don't know much about her. I figured this book would be perfect for me.

Jane Austen and her sister sewed a patchwork quilt for their mother, which is the inspiration for the title. I thought Patchwork was very well done. The drawings are beautiful--especially the full-page drawings. They really allowed me to dive into Austen's world and imagine what her life was like. In fact, I learned a lot about Austen, including her early years, her family, her connections, and how her writing was originally received. I had heard that Austen and her sister were close--much like Jane and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice, but I saw how important they were to each other while reading this book.

Evans often uses text from Austen's books in order to show what happened in Jane Austen's life back in the day. This is a fascinating technique because I could imagine Austen using her own life as inspiration for her novels. I am not as familiar with all of Austen's work as some, so I imagine the people that really know Austen's work would get even more out of this technique. Of course, we don't know what was actually said or thought back then, and apparently Jane Austen's sister, Cassandra, may have burnt the more interesting letters she exchanged with Jane.

In addition, Evans weaves in context of the time period. In one section of the book, Evans describes where all of the different layers of the quilt came from, including cotton from American slavery, linen from the Irish, and other textiles from the East India Company. The context was insightful, helpful, and well done.

The only frustrating thing about this book is that I occasionally found it a little hard to follow. I came in knowing so little about Austen that I sometimes wanted a little more context about her life and how we know what we know about her. In fact, this book has piqued my curiosity so strongly that I am now interested in reading a traditional biography of Austen in order to learn more.

This was a relatively quick read with beautiful pictures. There are also extensive notes in the back. I read a good portion of them, but it was a bit of a slog and I ran out of time to finish all of them. However, I would recommend this book to any Jane Austen fan.

#34 [2026/CBR18] Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton

I saw Raising Hare (2025) on so many different lists at the end of the year, but I was a little resistant. All I knew was that a woman raised a baby hare and wrote a book about it. I love animals, so you'd think I'd jump at a chance to read more about them. However, I'm not a big fan of turning wild animals into pets, and I feared that Raising Hare would be some kind of Disney-fied rendition of nature.

Fortunately, I was wrong. I listened to Raising Hare as an Audiobook, and I loved it. As soon as I finished, my inclination was to immediately get the hardcover, so I could read it again myself. (I haven't done that yet, but I think it's only a matter of time).

In February 2021, Chloe Dalton has returned to her country home in the English countryside while everything is shut down by Covid. Her home is a converted barn that sits in the middle of a field and family members live close by. One day she stumbles on a newborn hare lying flat in the middle of the lane. She hopes that its mother will come for it and leaves it be. But when she walks by again, many hours later, the hare is in the same place. Worried that it will get run over or that dogs will get it, Dalton picks up the hare and brings it home.

I learned a lot about hares in this book--primarily, that hares are different from rabbits. Rabbits burrow underground and are born furless and with their eyes closed. Hares do not burrow, but have their babies above ground. Hares are born with fur and with their eyes open. They are able to move very shortly after birth but rely on hiding until they are a little older and faster. When hares are a year or younger, they are called leverets.

Dalton quickly learned that it is very difficult to keep a leveret alive in captivity. It is rarely, if ever, done and there is very little information about it. But she was informed that it was too late to bring the leveret back, now that it had her smell on it. After trying to pawn the leveret off on her sister, Dalton focused on keeping the little thing alive. 

Dalton fed the leveret three times a day, but otherwise handled it only when necessary. She pulled some grasses from the field near where she found the leveret and set up a little home in a shoebox. Critically, Dalton made a hole in the shoe box, so the leveret was not trapped. In fact, the one time Dalton followed "hare-raising" advice from the internet and put the leveret in a cage, was the one time that the leveret did not do well and seemed close to dying. It seems that the stress of captivity is not good for them.

I loved Dalton's approach to keeping the leveret. She used a mix of common sense and a respect for its autonomy as an independent creature. She did not think of it as her pet. She tried not to interfere or control it, and she was always opening up doors in her house so that it had free rein. Dalton wanted the leveret to grow up and live a normal life outside.

It was clear the leveret felt safe with Dalton and the two had a relationship. But this book isn't just about the leveret, but also about how much the leveret changed Dalton. She became so much more aware of the other animals in the fields and the dangers they faced. She started doing research on a large number of new topics as the natural world became more important to her. She learned a number of small things she could do around her house to improve wildlife habitat. The leveret even changed her perspective on success and what she wanted out of life. This small animal that is often overlooked or dismissed as a pest became so interesting and so important as soon as Dalton took the time to observe it with its best interests at heart.

It was inevitable that the leveret raised by Dalton would eventually take off into the fields. Sometimes it would come back in the morning, and sometimes she wouldn't see it for weeks. But one day, Dalton found the young hare's new babies in her garden. And so, she got to learn even more about hares as she watched the hare that she had raised, raise others. 

I loved this book. It seemed like both a small, personal story, and also a meaningful glimpse into a larger world. I'm still thinking about this book many days later. I'm not sure if everyone will find this book as emotional and as powerful as me, but I would highly recommend it.

#33 [2026/CBR18] A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar

I was seeing A Guardian and a Thief (2025) by Megha Majumdar all over the place at the end of last year. It was on every best-of list that I could find. It's a finalist for the National Book Award, and has many other accolades. I thought this book was very memorable and well written, but also difficult to read because of the subject matter. It feels a little too real and a little too on point, and it is horrifying to be an intimate viewer to its tragedy. If you haven't read this book, but are interested, I would recommend skipping my review and reading the novel with as little foreknowledge as possible.

Ma, her aging father, and her 2-year-old daughter, Mishti live in Kolkata in the near future. Climate change has wreaked havoc on the city. There is very little food, it is dangerously hot, and the pollution is suffocating. They are lucky to live in a nice house with air conditioning and have a small stock of food. The book begins with the small family making their way to the American Embassy to receive their passports and visas. They are traveling to the United States in one week in order to join Ma's husband and Mishti's father, Babu. Ma is desperate to get out before things get even worse. They were able to obtain the visas because Babu is a climate scientist. He is now waiting for the arrival of his family in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

However, the night they receive the passports, Boomba, a young man from outside of the city comes into their home and steals almost all of their food, Ma's purse with the passports, and even Mishti's small toy truck. The family wakes in the morning and realizes their lives have turned from a short-lived struggle to one of desperation and possible despair. The police do not help them. The embassy also has no sympathy for them, and will likely not be around much longer anyways. Both Ma and her father will do anything to protect young Mishti as they figure out what to do.

As I read this book, it was interesting to focus on how I felt about the characters. Beginning the book with Ma, her father, and Mishti naturally had me rooting for them. Who doesn't want an adorable little toddler reunited with her father and living in relatively safer conditions. I hated that Boomba ignorantly stole the precious documents they needed for safe passage--not even recognizing what they were for. Sure, Ma took a little food from the shelter she worked for, but who doesn't want to feed their kids.

But then I learned more about Boomba. He had a family in much worse straits with no promise of the relief of moving to the United States. He came to the city out of a desperation to bring his family to a better place, but he had so few options. When everything was stolen from him, he was left with nothing. And then he saw Ma steal some eggs at the shelter he was staying at and decided to steal them back from her. 

In the end, this story has no heroes and no villains. Ma is a caring person who ran the shelter with compassion; she sacrifices so much for her daughter and family; but she can also steal from that shelter for the security of her family. Boomba is a loving, hardworking brother and son who is willing to work hard to bring them to a better life. But when that is not an option, he will steal, lie, and threaten violence for them. Even Ma's father, an artist at heart with an abiding love for the city of his birth, will do anything it takes to provide for his granddaughter. 

This book was a stressful read because it was obvious that there would be no happy endings with such desperation. But it was also memorable and felt like a pointed reminder of where our world might end up (or has ended up in some places) with climate change and drastic inequalities of wealth.

#32 [2026/CBR18] Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About by Isabel Klee

I stumbled on Isabel Klee on one of my Instagram-reeling marathons (@Simonsits). She seemed like a nice, young woman who fosters dogs and documents their stories on Instagram. She lives in Brooklyn, which I recognized from my visits to my brother and enjoyed seeing again. I've liked her Instagram stories for awhile now. The publicity she brings to her rescue dogs and the rescue organizations she works with bring in a fair bit of money and many potential adopters. Every time she works with partners to advertise things on Instagram, she donates some of that money.

So, when I saw Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About (2026) by Klee, I figured it might be fun to read. I'd heard that she had worked for The Dogist (another NYC-based, social media, dog person), and I was curious about the details. I was also curious how she came to have her dog, Simon, and how he changed her life. In addition, I'd seen Isabel's fiancé on Instagram, and I was curious about their story. I used Audible to listen to the Audiobook, which is read by Klee.

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed in this book because it wasn't what I was expecting. I wanted to like this book because I liked Klee from Instagram, but there wasn't enough detail for me. If I'm going to read a memoir, then I want to really understand what makes them tick and how they became who they are. Although I superficially learned about some of Klee's previous relationships, I didn't really get a sense of who she was. Many of the dogs that she discusses in her book, I'd seen on Instagram, so she'd taken care of them relatively recently. But she has them interspersed throughout the book with mini lessons of what we can learn from them. I found I enjoyed seeing their stories in person more than reading about them.

Klee writes that she dropped out of college and moved to New York City, something she's always wanted since growing up in New Jersey. She lives in a number of not great apartments with various roommates and dates men who are not great for her--at least two of them cheated on her. I was interested to hear how she adopted Simon, and when she found out that he had a seizure disorder. It was also interesting to see what she thought about her now-fiancé when she first met him. 

It's hard for me to describe what put me off this book. First, I do wish I could have understood her trajectory better. Although she mentions working for Elias for many years (the dogist), there was very little detail about what she did for him besides a couple short stories here and there. I had assumed that it was her work with Elias that led her to developing her own social media platforms, but she never talks about it. Second, I wish Klee had been more specific when discussing her relationships. She would mention an ex-boyfriend and that they had problems, but there were never enough details for me to really see what was happening. Even when she has problems with her current fiancé, she says that she pushed him away because he wasn't crazy about her, then she went to therapy and it was better. It is certainly her right to only divulge what she is comfortable divulging, but I found it frustrating and difficult to relate to. Instead, she used generic descriptions about love and friendship and lessons learned that were hard to hear from someone younger than me without the details to back it up.

I enjoy Klee's content, and I wanted to enjoy this book, but it just wasn't for me.

#31 [2026/CBR18] Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood

By this point, I will read any book by Ali Hazelwood, and I'm usually not disappointed. However, she's so prolific that her books often sneak up on me. As soon as I became aware of its existence, I put Two Can Play (2026) on hold at the library and just recently finished it.

Two Can Play feels very much like a Hazelwood romance novel, but it is also shorter than many of her novels--about 200 pages. The story is about two video game developers who work for rival companies. Viola is excited because her favorite book series is going to be adapted into a video game, and she desperately wants to work on it. The problem is that the developer wants both the company Viola works for as well as the warring video game company to work together.

There are a lot of personal conflicts between these two companies, but the only problem Viola has is with Jesse Andrews. Back when she was first applying for jobs, she interviewed with Jesse and his boss. At the time, Jesse worked for yet another company. Jesse's then-boss was inappropriate and sexist, and Viola walked out of the interview. Jesse was embarrassed by his boss's actions and caught up to Viola. He apologized for his boss and recommended another company that he thought would be a good fit for her.

It ended up being good advice because Viola is currently working at the company Jesse had recommended. The problem was that she often ran into him at various industry events and conventions, and he was always aloof and indifferent. She didn't understand why he disliked her, but it was unfortunate because for a short time, she'd had a little crush on him. The final straw was at a recent, Christmas wedding (his best friend and her cousin, or something, were getting married, so they were both there). He looked horrified and publicly refused to kiss her when they found themselves under the mistletoe. He abandoned her, stalking away without even a kiss on the cheek. This humiliated Viola and whatever was left of her crush officially died.

In order to facilitate the better relations between the two companies, the developer set up a ski retreat at a lodge in the mountains. This would be the test to see if the companies can work together and do the job. Suddenly, there is a lot of forced proximity between Viola and Jesse. Jesse continues to be perfectly polite and distant with her until he loses a drinking game and Viola helps him back to his room. It comes out that he liked her, but due to a misunderstanding when they first met, he thought Viola wanted nothing to do with him. 

It doesn't take much after that for the two to get closer and closer, with all of the action taking place during the retreat. 

Hazelwood does her normal thing where the couple is absolutely perfect for each other. Although it might not be realistic, it is satisfying to read. The misunderstanding felt a little unrealistic--especially that it lasted so long, but I was willing to buy it. I did appreciate that Hazelwood didn't throw a last-minute wrench into their relationship, but just let them get together without extra drama. 

Final summation: I liked Viola and Jesse and I was happy to see them together. I enjoyed this one.

#30 [2026/CBR18] To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage

I was a little surprised to find that this is the second book about a lesbian astronaut that I've read in the past six months. Back in December, I read Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and I loved it. I can't remember where I first saw To the Moon and Back (2025) by Eliana Ramage, but at some point I put it on hold at my library. 

I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I began this book, but I liked it. Steph Harper is a teenager living in Tahlequah, Oklahoma--the Capital of the Cherokee Nation, with her mother and younger sister, Kayla. Steph is obsessed with everything space and her one goal in life is to become an astronaut. Steph is not interested in her Cherokee roots and wants more than anything to get to a fancy boarding school in order to begin her long road to space.

Steph's sister, Kayla, has fully embraced her Cherokee roots and is much more involved in the community. Steph's mother, Hannah, views Tahlequah as a safe place for her and her daughters to grow up and stay. Neither one understands Steph's obsession, but her mother dutifully creates a Cherokee culture and space camp, when she can't afford to send Steph to the real Space Camp.

As she gets older, Steph begins to explore her sexuality--primarily in college when she meets Della Owens. Della was made infamous in the Cherokee community as a young girl. Della was adopted by a Mormon couple in Utah, but her father and the tribe challenged the adoption under the Indian Child Welfare Act. Della was torn from her father and grandmother as a young child when she was given back to her original adoptive family. Now as an adult, she is more interested in exploring her Cherokee heritage.

This story is told in many different ways. It begins simply from Steph's point of view as she grows up in Tahlequah. Then there are some intermittent chapters from Della's perspective as she visits her father and continues on to college. After college, there are texts, emails, and even dating profiles. I thought it was a unique and interesting way to tell a story.

What sticks with me most about this story was how well Ramage did in showing real, flawed characters. She described where they were coming from and what motivated them, and they always felt real. More than once, I was so frustrated with Steph and how she treated other people in her life. But I could also see how much she was struggling. That is also true with Kayla and her mother. They felt like a real family with a truckload of baggage who cared about each other and were doing the best they could--even when they unintentionally hurt each other. 

***SPOILERS*** Two chaotic scenes were some of the best in the book, in my opinion. The first was when Steph discovers that her mother kept her acceptance letter from Exeter from her. At this point in the book, we know how desperate Steph is to get into Exeter as a stepping stone to NASA. She's planned her whole future around it. To find that acceptance letter and know it was too late was gutting, and Steph's reaction was understandable. But there were layers on top of it, too, because they are at a public climbing gym, Kayla is upset because she thinks Steph is talking to her mother about something else. There is pandemonium on the climbing wall, and a nearby birthday party is watching the whole thing with judgment of the Cherokee kids.

The second scene that was so memorable is the graduation dinner. Steph's family and her conservative Mormon girlfriend's parents are all going out to dinner to celebrate. Steph's mother is nervous and accommodating. Kayla is defiant and provocative. Della's parents are trying, but are disapproving on a number of levels. Della is keeping quiet, and Steph is missing a lot of important information. It was spiraling and funny on a number of levels, even though serious things were happening. ***END SPOILERS***