Homer Price, by Robert McCloskey
37/60 | Started 05.19.25 • Finished 08.13.25 | 5 stars
Took us a while to read this one because we started before school was over and then didn't pick it back up... all that said, these are very amusing stories with quirky characters and general shenanigans. Accompanied by Robert McCloskey's delightful illustrations. 10/10 would recommend - Carolyn loved it.
The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay
36/60 | Started 07.30.25 • Finished 08.04.25 | 3 stars
I'm all about a book of essays - it's probably my favorite kind of non-fiction to read. The premise is that the author commits to producing an essay a day on something that brings him delight. We don't get all the essays in this book, but a good number of them (*spoiler alert: there's a follow-up collection*), and many of them are fine. However, hardly any of it gripped me like I hoped it would (see earlier reviews of essay collections like Ann Patchett's These Precious Days or Laura Maria Philpot's Bomb Shelter or John Greene's The Anthropocene Reviewed for proof that I'm a big fan of the genre). I was really expecting to be moved in my own sense of delight and gratitude, I guess. And a few were just kind of dumb to be honest. Still, there was some good writing and overall it was decent, so I'm giving it 3 stars.
The Door-to-Door Bookstore, by Carsten Henn
35/60 | Started 07.25.25 • Finished 07.30.25 | 4 stars
A fun little story about an older man, set in his ways as the delivery man for the local bookstore. His position, according to the new bookstore manager, is becoming more and more obsolete, and so he fears his very existence is in the balance. Insert a precocious girl who befriends the man while he's on his last few rounds. An easy read, clean, delightful and a little predictable but with a good blend of characters. Would recommend.