Another one in the Ruth Galloway forensic anthropologist series. This one has a lot of character development, a slightly lackluster mystery and doesn’t really end with a thrilling conclusion for which I am grateful (early books always saw someone in extreme peril - lately there’s just low-level peril). I’m aware the series is wrapping up soon, so this seems to be laying groundwork for it. All the usual characters have good roles.

This is a quasi-simple book in a slightly-fantastical world where some animals are part of the geography of a place. And Goodreads tells me it’s for middle grades but I liked it for me as well. Lu and Ren are kind-of friends when they are tiny and they meet up again as young adults to try to track down Lu’s grandmother, a geozoologist, who is maybe missing or maybe just on an adventure. Gorgeously drawn and told and there’s even a mobile library which makes an appearance. Worth your time.

This is a memoir about a year in the life of the author when their mother was diagnosed with a “not long to live” cancer. They also came out as trans to their family. Also all the characters in this book are drawn as birds for some reason. I’m not usually great with “my mom had cancer and died” stories (my mom had cancer and died, it’s a me thing) and I’ve had a hard time with graphic memoirs from younger people in the past. However, this one was quite good, everyone’s managing their own feelings and trying to do it together in a way that is empathetic to the fact that not everyone feels (or shares) their feelings in the same way.

Don’t know if it’s the librarian’s fault or mine but I started reading the next book in this series by accident. A LOT happens in this one and it was a little confusing. This story is mainly in Italy in a small town where everyone has known each other forever, including when the Nazis were occupying. Old secrets surround a skeleton found at a dig, and an old friend asks for Ruth’s assistance. Then the gang shows up for $REASONS. A good story, but a little unusual for this series.

This is a graphic novel about the Mountain Valley Pipeline project and the people who resisted it. It’s an odd book about resistance only in that they didn’t “win,” the pipeline went through anyhow. This is a book about tactics and about hope, the differing ways people connect to the land and their various strategies in trying to combat injustice. The book gives an overview and follows six people. A bit short on the short site and it felt a bit flat to me, but I liked learning about the project and its resistance.

I will read any book about a library. This one was particularly good. A near future tale of book-type libraries being shuttered in favor of “check out an AI author/personage” experience-based libraries. But something’s up. The “virtus” (as the virtual personas are called) are escaping. And things may not be what they seem. Our protagonist is an introverted book-loving African American librarian with synesthesia (TAKE MY MONEY) who is trying to figure out what’s up and make it right. There are a lot of wrinkles to what goes on and I liked the various places it went. Most importantly, to me, the librarian character felt real, not just a staid book-toucher and not some cybrarian telling the book-lovers to get with the program. It’s tough to do well and I appreciated Henry’s care with the character.

Thriving in a Relationship when You Have a Chronic Illness. This was a LibraryThing Early Reviewer book (self help is one of the categories I am interested in). I don’t have a chronic illness per se, but I think for any couple who is aging together you hit a time when there are more medical things than maybe when you met. And navigating that may pose its own challenges especially if partners approach those things differently. This book is mainly talking about chronic stuff for people of any age. It has a self-published feel to it, but has very solid ACT-based advice and a compassionate approach.

A book by two naturalists discussing the decline of some animal populations in Britain. These range from beavers (where people sneakily rewild them) to hedgehogs (so many hedgehog hospitals) to red squirrels (outcompeted by greys) and one kind of seal. They visit locations trying to spot these animals, and discuss the political issues involved with trying to save one species when balanced against others. Some good humor and trivia along the way, quite good

This is the next in this series, about some rough sleepers, and then some pretty white ladies, who go missing. Some bones are discovered in an underground location where they’re building a new chichi restaurant. Ruth the forensic anthropologist winds up working side by side with Nelson. There’s a lot of character development (and discussions of empathy for unhoused etc) and I felt like it was a strong addition to the series.

This is a series that I’ve been enjoying. This particular story is about religious pilgrims and the idea of complicated families. This is both true of the central mystery and true of the characters you get to know and the things they do to try to be good people. There are people battling various demons and you figure out some of the stories as the main story plays out. One of the better ones I’ve read in this series