I'm going to try to continue to update this reviewing blog more frequently. Here's some extremely short book reviews:

1. Only Time Will Tell: The Clifton Chronicles by Jeffrey Archer. Harry, raised in poverty, gets a chance to go to boarding school with sons from more fortunate families and learns much about the class struggle and honor and friendship; takes place in England between the wars. First of seven in the series. I love Jeffrey Archer! This isn't terribly deep stuff, but he's a thoroughly entertaining writer.

2. The Edge of Lost by Kristina McMorris. Coming-of-age tale of Tommy who learns how to reinvent himself amid many adventures from Ireland to New York to Alcatraz Island. He is such a likable, adaptable character that you'll find yourself cheering for him through every mishap.

3. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. Chinese American Ohio university professor's family seems to fit into an idyllic lifestyle in the college town until their A+ daughter disappears. Many secrets become unfurled as they discover what happened. All is clearly not what it seemed.

4. The Lost Wife: A Novel by Alyson Richman. Historical fiction that taught me much about Terezin and the art movement that happened there during the Holocaust. A terrific, moving, redemptive love story set during the most terrible of times.

5. The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. Carrie, in Scotland researching the Jacobean uprising, finds herself slipping back in time and becoming a participant in events at a now abandoned castle. This is a very intelligent book, not one of the "Outlander" rip-offs you see so often. You'll learn a lot of history and also get swept up in a romance all set in a castle on a cliff above the brooding sea.

6. The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill. This story follows Wolf Hadda, who suddenly finds himself imprisoned for acts that he swears he did not commit. The story moves back and forth from his hard-scrabble childhood years, to his first love, and to his current court case. I LOVE THIS BOOK. Let's just say revenge is indeed a dish best served cold.

7. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. This book is incredibly long and detailed and I loved every second of it. Follows six different storylines, in six different points in time, and is shared in six different writing styles - such a unique book. Each story is so compelling and clever, and just as you get swept up in one tale the author moves you on to one of the other five stories. The movie version is fun, but leaves out an incredible amount of material.

8. The Passage by Justin Cronin. This is a book about the government's botched plan to create "super humans" and the devastating effects of their mistakes on all of humanity. The book starts off with great storytelling about an event, moves a long a bit, then switches forward 100 years in time. Stick with it. The writing is superb, the horror is terrifying, and the entertainment factor is high. When I finished reading it I was devastated that I'd have to wait for a few years for the sequel.

9. You by Caroline Kepnes. Okay this book is SO not for everyone. Really. It is about a truly warped, nutcase guy who is over-the-top obsessed with a girl who wanders into the bookstore where he works. It is gruesome, shocking, and written in a thoroughly fresh way. The crazy thing is that as the main character shares his every inner thought about the world and people in it, you can almost begin to sympathize with him. There is a sequel, but I need a long break because this book is quite disturbing.

10. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. One of the saddest books I've ever read. Four young men come of age while attending university in NYC. One of them, Jude, suffers from extreme depression (including cutting behaviors) and as the book unfolds you learn why he is so sad and diminished. The friends all wander in and out of each other's lives, but Jude is the touchstone. Very disturbing material, and a tough ending, but the writing makes it worth the journey. People seem to either love it or just literally hate it.

Finally, consider delving into Haruki Murakami. He is just the most delightful, creative writer and the translations of his novels read beautifully. He often explores the human condition, parallel worlds, strange happenings, and above all else: love. He also wrote a great book about why he's a runner. Check him out. IQ84 is my favorite, but be prepared for a very long read (1,000+ pages).