A graphic novel about a young woman in a Muslim family which immigrated to the US from Egypt. The dad is a pilot, the mom is a somewhat scold-y parent who is pressuring Anisa to go to medical school which Anisa does not want. She takes a trip to Egypt to stay with family and gets to know more of her roots and decide what she actually wants for herself--to wear the hijab and to do illustrations/cartoons as a job. Some Egyptian politics in there as well.

A graphic novel about the early days of Mormonism. This book does a good job separating fact from “Things Joseph Smith said that can’t be verified” and I appreciate it. It’s a warts-and-all look at what Joseph Smith’s deal was, and why he was charismatic and believable while at the same time being problematic along a number of axes. It ends with his death, so nothing after that is in the book. Done by an ex-Mormon, good bibliography at the end.

This was an adorable book about a girl who finds a tardigrade in some water she is examining and decides to keep it with her as a plaything. The somewhat cute and anthropomorphized tardigrade is given little environments to live in as we the reader learn more about what a tardigrade is. The book is lovely with a combination of illustrations and papercraft artwork with a lot to look at on every page. Creative and informative.

This was the next book in the Rivers of London series. Our protagonist detective is trying to support his heavily-pregnant wife while also going undercover at a tech company to try to figure out why there’s some weird magic going on there and exactly who is in on it. And there’s an untouchable billionaire at the center, of course. One of the better books in this series, a lot going on and some plausible tech stuff along with the usual magicking.

This was a bit of an infill since I started reading this a few days ago and said “Wait I’ve read this fantastical mystery set in a bell foundry before.” No idea why I failed to write it down at the time. Read it in the last year or so. It’s the next installment in the Rivers of London series and we’ve seen the protagonist cop become a detective and try to sort out the maniacal supernatural dude who has it in for him. Did not read it all the way through a second time.

A sequel to a book (Secret Identity) which needed no sequel but it was great anyhow. This is a book about comics industry intrigue and a character who was created in the 70s by a relatively unknown woman who then disappeared. A new comics illustrator steps up as part of a modern strange new scheme to relaunch the character but it turns out it’s a dangerous path/situation. Mostly a narrative but there are some comics panels for illustrative purposes and they are all great.

Another great one by Julia Wertz which I had to read a little quickly because it was an ILL I had to return. It goes back and forth between slice-of-life stuff of her in NYC but also a lot of “then and now” images of particular streets in NYC as well as deep dives into things like “Things invented in New York” and the histories of some famous/infamous NY women. Some things she claimed were “lost to history” I was not so sure about, but loved this all the same.

I’m always surprised when I read a book by someone who had written a ton of best sellers who I haven’t heard of. This author is primary a romance novelist which may explain both her output and why I hadn’t heard of her. This book--about a woman confronting her own mortality deciding to pull off one last heist with her partners in crime from her (much) younger years who she’s long lost touch with--was good but not great. The older characters felt more like tropes than people and I just kept wishing the author had chops like Richard Osman.

Another great graphic novel by Wertz though in this case it was about her recovery story (as she says, pretty average) alongside some of the other things going on in her life at the same time, a few relationships, moving house, meeting up with friends (in a section that felt a bit name-droppy but I don’t think was meant that way). Since the other book I read came after this one, I sort of knew where it was going. Really enjoy this author’s style and storytelling.

This took a long time to finish. It’s a dense history of the Manhattan area and environs from when the Dutch arrived and set up shop until about when the English took completely over. Thanks to some newly-translated early Dutch documents, there’s a lot more known about this time in history and the author is very excited to have a more complete picture. The author discusses what went into New Amsterdam which later became New York and how its origins can still be seen in the way the place works. Good history.