I realized the other day that it’s been months since I did a reading update. Since I have fifteen books I haven’t shared, my goal is to write reviews for four books a week until Christmas. If you are building a reading list for 2026, here is your chance to get some ideas!
I’m titling this one “Light Books With Deeper Themes” because if you read the first three, which are all light in tone, you will find themes of loneliness, friendship, anxiety, and hope.
The last one is not a light book, but each of these book posts will have a wrench thrown in. Just go with it.
Valencia and Valentine by Suzy Krause
I read a different book of Krause a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. This book has been waiting in my Kindle for quite a while now.
In Valencia and Valentine, we are introduced to two characters. One is a young woman, Valencia, who works in a call center, is very socially awkward, and is afraid of everything - basically a young woman who is afraid to live. The other is an old woman, Mrs. Valentine, who lives alone, but loves being around people and finds excuses to talk to others and ways to fill her days with small, meaningful things - an old woman who has learned how to live well.
I thought I knew where this story was going, but about a quarter of the way through I realized I had no idea. As we get further looks at Valencia’s existence we realize how dark and empty it truly is, and for most of the book she stays right there in that darkness. We also start to realize that all is not quite well with Mrs. Valentine.
Just as I started to feel rather uneasy about what was actually going to happen to these two characters, I glimpsed the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. The ending was completely unexpected, slightly tragic, but also happy and sweet. I don’t want to spoil it, so that’s all I’ll say. If you pick this one up, be prepared for the unexpected.
Content Notes: Some discussion of mental health disorders, some disturbing dreams/hallucinations.
Bottom Line: Sweet and sad and a little weird. Pick it up if you don’t mind a little tragedy with your uplifting fiction.
The Happy Life Of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh
I read a Christmas book I did not enjoy by Walsh last year, but I decided to give her another chance and I’m so glad I did. Isadora Bentley reads an article she considers to be ridiculously with 31 ways to be happy. She decides to turn the article into a science experiment in order to debunk the article. Along the way she ends up finding new friends, connecting with a certain professor, and learning how to enjoy life. I thought this was a sweet, uplifting read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Content Notes: One of the things she tries is yoga, and as someone who has convictions against yoga I wasn’t a fan of that. No other notes that I can recall,
Bottom Line: Pick it up if you are in the need of something quirky and light.
The English Masterpiece by Katherine Reay
In the 1970s, Lily helps her boss, Diana, plan a new Picasso exhibit at an art museum, but she ruins the opening event by impulsively declaring one of the Picassos a fake. She is immediately put on leave, and is devastated. Not only has she potentially lost her dream job, but her family will suffer from the lost income. She has to find a way to find out what is really going on with that painting, and hopefully save her job and her boss’s reputation, and stay out of jail. But is everything as it seems with her boss? Where did that painting actually come from?
As someone who doesn’t know much about the art world, and also doesn’t like modern art at all, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. Reay did a great job explaining the basics of how museums acquire paintings, and there were interesting explanations about what makes art special as well. The underlying themes of this book are more about friendship, sisterhood, and the value of meaningful relationships. I also really enjoyed the 1970s setting, which I thought was painted well.
Content Notes: Vague references to sexual relationships, but I would consider this a clean book.
Bottom Line: Pick this one up if you like mysteries, museums, and are a tiny bit interested in art.
Midnight In Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
I mentioned in the spring how I had become interested in the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, and this book is a very thorough history of it.
Higginbotham tells the story of what caused the disaster, the initial reaction to it, the efforts to contain the reactor, the effects on the surrounding countryside, and the devastating effects on the men who were sent to work in the danger zone. He also tells how it was finally contained, and some of the research that has been done in the Chernobyl area since the disaster. Despite writing about such a devastating event, I thought the author offered a balanced view of nuclear energy, including the concerns and the benefits.
I learned so much from this book - including that the scientists were initially worried that the reactor, if not contained, would burn down through the earth, perhaps never stopping until it reached the core. Can you imagine? I listened to this book on audio, which I think was the right way for me to read it, because it let me get the information I was interested in without getting too bogged down in the names and details.
Content Notes: Some cursing in various quotes, people die from cancer and related illnesses because of the radiation.
Bottom Line: If you don’t know much about Chernobyl, this is the book to learn about it.
These are books I finished in the early fall, but as I revisit them in writing this review post, I am remembering how much I enjoyed them all. The first three each struck a nice balance between being meaningful and easily readable. And the last one was just fascinating without having to try.
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