The Dry

 Jane Harper

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Mystery Thriller

Aaron Falk returns to his hometown after more than twenty years to attend the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke Hadler. The town believes Luke murdered his wife and young son before taking his own life, but Luke's parents struggle to accept that explanation. They convince Falk to stay for a few days and take another look at what happened, hoping an outsider—who also knows the town—might notice something everyone else has overlooked.

Being back home isn't easy for Falk. His return stirs up memories of another tragedy that changed his life years earlier: the death of his friend Ellie Deacon. At the time, suspicion fell on Falk, and the accusations became so overwhelming that he and his father left town. 

The more Falk digs deeper into the tragedy of the Hadler family, the more long-buried secrets come to the surface. This mystery thriller doesn’t depend on shocks and twists a lot. Instead, everything unfolds gradually in a slow pace through conversations, memories, and flashbacks

By the end, everything comes together in a way that felt convincing to me. The answers may not surprise every reader, but they made sense. I was actually glad the book resisted the temptation to become overly dramatic. Too many crime novels seem determined to outdo themselves with increasingly unbelievable reveals. The Dry stays grounded, and I think it's a better book because of that.

Reading this was part of my ongoing mission to clean up my bookshelves. It's one of those books I'd been meaning to get to for years, and I'm glad I finally did. At the same time, I don't think I'll ever feel the urge to read it again. Once the mystery is solved, a lot of the appeal naturally fades. A four-star read doesn't automatically become a forever book, and this is one I'll be unhauling without much hesitation.

What really stayed with me wasn't the mystery itself but the atmosphere. Jane Harper captures the feeling of a town that's been worn down by years without rain. The dry riverbeds, the dust, the struggling farms, and the short tempers all blend into something that hangs over every chapter. It almost feels as if the drought is quietly pushing everyone toward their breaking point. The title The Dry suddenly seems like the only name this book could have had.

Some readers will probably find the pacing too slow, and I can understand why. There are stretches where not much seems to happen on the surface. Still, I think the slower pace suits the story. Rushing through it would have weakened the mood, and the atmosphere is arguably the novel's greatest strength. It's one of those books where the setting often leaves a stronger impression than the actual plot.

As for the rest of the series, I don't own the second novel. From what I understand, it follows Falk on a completely different investigation rather than continuing this story, which is probably the right choice. I'll likely pick it up eventually, but there's no urgency on my end. I'm happy to leave Aaron Falk here for now, remembering The Dry as a well-written, believable mystery that succeeded more because of its atmosphere than because it tried to shock me.

Key Themes

• Isolation
• Past Trauma
• Grief
• Loss
• Small Town
• Secrets
• Betrayal 
• Trust

Across the Universe

 Beth Revis

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Science Fiction + Young Adult

One of my reading goals this year has been to work through older books I've owned for ages and decide what actually deserves a place on my shelves. Across the Universe was part of that project. I own the entire trilogy, and if I'm being honest, I went into this expecting it to be an easy unhaul. It had been sitting there for so long that I assumed I'd missed the window where it would appeal to me. As it turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

The story follows Amy, who agrees to be cryogenically frozen alongside her parents during a 300-year journey aboard the spaceship Godspeed. Her parents are essential members of the future colony on a new planet, so the family leaves everything behind in the hope of helping build a new civilization. Amy isn't supposed to wake up until the ship reaches its destination, but someone opens her cryogenic chamber decades too early. Instead of a new world, she finds herself trapped on a ship where almost everyone is a stranger and very few people seem interested in telling her the truth.

Running alongside Amy's story is Elder's. He's next in line to lead Godspeed under the guidance of the current ruler, Eldest, and has spent his life believing the ship's way of doing things is the only way things can work. As Amy begins asking questions that no one else dares to ask, Elder slowly starts seeing cracks in the society he hopes to inherit. Before long, the story shifts from a survival tale into a mystery involving murder, secrets, and generations of carefully controlled lives.

What surprised me most wasn't the mystery itself, although I thought it was handled well. It was the setting. A generation ship drifting through space for centuries is such a simple idea on paper, yet Beth Revis manages to make it feel surprisingly lived-in. Every section of Godspeed, every rule, and every tradition hints at how much a society can change when it's completely isolated. I kept wanting to learn just one more thing about how this world worked, and that curiosity carried me through the entire novel.

The biggest surprise, though, was how much I enjoyed reading it. I genuinely expected to finish the book, shrug, and add the trilogy to my unhaul pile. Instead, I closed the last page looking forward to the sequel. Another pleasant surprise was the complete lack of a love triangle. I was almost waiting for one to show up because so many YA books from this era leaned heavily on that trope. The fact that it never happened was a huge plus for me and allowed the mystery and the world to stay at the center of the story.

Beth Revis's writing also deserves credit. It's clear without feeling overly simplistic, and I found it very easy to settle into the story each time I picked the book up. Her world-building is probably the novel's strongest feature. Rather than dumping information all at once, she lets readers piece together how life aboard Godspeed functions through everyday interactions, conversations, and small discoveries. 

I did have a couple of issues. The first was the romance. Amy and Elder worked well enough together, but their feelings seemed to develop faster than I could fully buy into. Given everything happening around them, it's understandable why they'd form a connection, yet I never felt like the relationship had enough time to breathe before it became an established romance. A slower build would have made the emotional moments land a little better for me.

My other complaint is oddly specific, but anyone who reads quickly might run into the same thing. I occasionally found myself mixing up the names Elder and Eldest. Not the characters themselves—I never had trouble remembering who they were—but the words are visually so similar that I'd sometimes read one when the sentence actually said the other. Every now and then I'd reach a line that didn't quite make sense, go back, and realize I'd simply read the wrong name. It's a small issue in the grand scheme of things, but it happened often enough that I noticed it. Even so, Across the Universe ended up being one of those rare books that completely overturned my expectations. Instead of clearing space on my shelves, it convinced me that the trilogy deserves to stay a little longer.

Key Themes

• Freedom
• Control
• Coming of Age
• Isolation
• Identity
• Hope
• Leadership

Fooled by Randomness

 Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Nonfiction

I don’t know who gave me this book to read it. I had it on my shelf for a long time. I thought it’s time now to pick it up and see what all the hype is about. Fool by Randomness has a main idea that grabs one’s attention. The concept that luck and chance play a much bigger role in our lives than we like to admit is fascinating, and it's something that applies to many parts of our lives than just investing or financial markets. This idea makes you evaluate success and failure differently.

There were many points I found myself agreeing with the author, but at the same time there were other points that I found myself not fully in agreement with his views. The good thing is that he keeps challenging the way we naturally think of events and reminds us that people often confuse luck with skill. 

Despite that, I’ll have to say that the biggest problem I faced with this book was unfortunately the writing style. While the core premise was compelling, I found the author’s delivery to be quite a struggle to get through. I feel the writing instead of pulling me inside the book, was doing the opposite. It made an interesting idea somehow less interesting.

There were also quite a few sections where I felt like I was reading one case study after another. I understand why those examples were included, but after a while they started to feel more like pushing on the brake and slowing me down.

Another issue was the repetition. Once I understood a particular point, the book would often come back to it again using different examples. I didn't need that many reminders, and I think the book could have been shorter without losing its message.

Despite all the cons I have mentioned, I still think the book has value. The core message is strong, and it makes you think and question things like success, failure, or even think about your own decisions. I feel this is the kind of book that gives you a lens to look at the world differently. 

If the delivery here matched the quality of the ideas, my liking and appreciation for this book would have been much bigger—my reading experience would have been much better. In other words, I feel the concept here was stronger than the execution.

I think a 3-star rating would be a fair rating here. I’m glad I read it because the main idea is worth thinking about. This is the kind of book that is enough to read once. I don’t see myself picking it up in the future. 

Key Themes

• Luck vs. Skill
• Randomness
• Illusion of Knowledge
• Risk & Uncertainty
• Illusion of Expertise

Requiem

 Lauren Oliver

Rating: ⭐⭐½
Genre: Dystopia + Young Adult + Romance

Requiem is the conclusion to the Delirium series. In this book, the conflict between the Wilds and the cured society reaches turmoil. The story alternates between Lena, who continues fighting alongside the resistance, and Hana, now living the life the cure was supposed to guarantee and questioning her new life.

The revolution takes over in this installment, and the story focuses more on the political unrest and the characters' relationships. Lena (like most YA books of that era) is torn between Alex and Julian, while Hana is trying to figure out the society that promised her hapiness once she is cured. Seeing events unfold from both sides adds some welcome perspective, gradually revealing the cracks beneath the polished surface of the cured world.

The story builds toward a large-scale confrontation, trying to balance romance, revolution, and personal growth all at once. Whether it succeeds probably depends on what each reader was hoping to get from the finale. Rather than wrapping everything up neatly, the ending leaves several threads unresolved, inviting readers to imagine what comes after instead of providing clear-cut answers.

I rated Delirium 3 stars, Pandemonium 2.5 stars, and now Requiem lands at 2.5 stars as well. Looking back, I don't think the trilogy ever settled on a clear identity. In some ways, it feels like Lauren Oliver was experimenting with different ways of telling the story. The first novel stays entirely with Lena's perspective, the second jumps between two timelines, and the finale introduces alternating chapters from Lena and Hana. I can appreciate an author trying something different, but the constant shifts in narrative structure made the series feel a little disjointed. At times, it almost felt as though each installment belonged to a different version of the same story. Ironically, the straightforward approach of the first book still worked best for me.

The surprise for me in this installment was how much more I enjoyed Hana's chapters. I think her perspective brought a sense of mystery and tension that Lena's storyline often lacked. Lena's chapters frequently circled around the same familiar emotional conflicts, whereas Hana's struggle between duty, expectation, and her own sense of self kept me far more invested.

Like so many Young Adult dystopian novels from this period, the obligatory love triangle once again becomes a major focus. Sometimes it feels as if publishers believed a YA dystopian novel simply wasn't complete without one. For me, that's where the story loses some of its potential. 

The political conflict and the questions surrounding the society are far more interesting than the romantic drama, yet they often take a back seat. It doesn't help that Alex and Julian never really developed into especially memorable characters. Across all three books, they remain surprisingly one-dimensional, which makes the emotional weight of Lena's choices feel less convincing than it probably should.

Lauren Oliver's writing is easy to read, and I think it is accessible to most readers. The ideas are certainly there, but they never felt as fully explored as the premise seemed to promise. I kept waiting for the series to dig a little deeper, and it never quite did.

Now that I've finally finished the trilogy, these books will be moving on to a new home. They're part of my summer shelf-cleaning project, where I'm revisiting older purchases and deciding which ones have earned a permanent place on my shelves. Unfortunately, this series didn't make the cut. I'm glad I stuck with it to the end, if only to satisfy my curiosity, but I can't see myself returning to it. The first book remains the standout, while the trilogy as a whole never quite lived up to the potential of its premise.

Key Themes;

• Love 
• Control
• Survival
• Resilience
• Freedom
• Grief
• Resistance

Dead to the World

 Charline Harris

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½

Genre: Fantasy

Dead to the World feels like a bit of a shift in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Yes, maybe not a dramatic one, but something in the tone changes. The plot itself is actually pretty straightforward: witches are targeting vampires, and in the middle of all that, Eric Northman loses his memory. From there, things don’t exactly explode into action. Instead, the story settles into something quieter, more character-focused, almost like the chaos is happening off to the side while the real story unfolds in smaller, more personal moments. 

With Eric suddenly stripped of everything that makes him… well, Eric, Sookie ends up taking care of him. It puts her in a position we haven’t really seen before. She’s not just reacting to him or pushing back against his authority—she’s guiding him, protecting him, even trying to understand him. And what she finds is a version of Eric that feels softer, more open, maybe even a little disarming. Whether that’s the “real” Eric or just a temporary version of him is something the book kind of plays with. 

The witch storyline is there throughout, and it does add tension, but I kept feeling like it never fully took center stage. It’s almost like it exists to keep the plot moving while the book quietly focuses on relationships instead. That might work really well for some readers, but I found myself occasionally wishing for a bit more urgency.

Another thing that stood out was who wasn’t there. Jason is basically missing (for plot reasons), and Bill is… barely present. It gives the book a very different feel compared to earlier installments. The world feels smaller, more contained, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does change the balance quite a bit.

I’ll be honest, this one took me longer to finish than I thought it would. I can’t even point to a single reason. It’s not slow, exactly, but the pacing has this uneven rhythm. Some parts pulled me in, others just sort of drifted by. I’d pick it up, read a bit, then put it down again—not out of boredom, just… a lack of urgency, maybe.

That said, Eric really is the highlight here. This is probably the most focus he’s had so far, or at least the most revealing version of him. Seeing him without his usual confidence makes him feel more human than ever. It works, even if the amnesia angle itself feels a bit too convenient at times.

The romance also takes a noticeable step forward in this book. There’s more of it, and it’s more direct than in previous installments. Sookie and Eric’s connection gets space to develop in a way that feels intentional, not just hinted at. I liked that… but I can also see how it might come at the expense of the main plot, which ends up feeling a little secondary.

On the flip side, the reduced role of Bill—and the near absence of Jason—does leave a gap. If you’re attached to those characters, you’ll feel it. And while the witch conflict is interesting on paper, it never quite lands with the impact it probably should have. It’s there, it works, but it doesn’t linger.

I think a rating of 3.5 stars is fair for this one. It’s enjoyable, especially if you’re invested in Eric, and it definitely leans more into character than plot. Whether that works for you probably depends on what you’re reading the series for. For me, it worked… just not all the way.

Key Themes

• Identity
• Power
• Vulnerability
• Love
• Control

Goodbye, Things

 Fumio Sasaki

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Nonfiction

Goodbye, Things is one of those books that either will convince you to make changes in your life by taking the first step or will make you totally dismiss the whole idea of what it suggests and go on with your life as it is without taking its advice. There is no right or wrong here, because it is your life and you know better what is right or wrong for you.

The author gets very personal in this book by giving his take on minimalism. He blends practical advice with his own reflections on why we clutter our lives in the first place. While the book may seem to be mainly about decluttering your house, I feel it is more about decluttering your mind first—setting your priorities and understanding what is more important and what you can let go of to save your energy and money.

The great thing is that the book is very easy to read and understand. I alternated between reading and listening to the audiobook, and both formats worked well for me in reinforcing the message. The content is quite easy to digest and makes you pause and think of the possibilities if you applied the idea to your own life.

One of the strongest aspects of the book is how motivational it is. I won’t lie here when I say that this book has motivated me and made me want to declutter many unnecessary things in my house. I found that the author’s honesty about less doesn’t mean less but can be more is very fascinating and, at times, even liberating. 

While reading the book, I was thinking about my book shelves, movie collections, and other items. Yes, I have been unhauling things lately that I don’t plan to read or watch again—especially those that have less reread or rewatch value. It can be difficult at first to part with your things at first, but eventually it will feel like a very freeing process. The idea that everything we own, actually, we don’t own but are renting, that the book suggests is true if you think about it. We come to this world without a thing, and we leave it empty-handed. Whatever we leave will be passed to someone else. 

I’ve also begun applying the same mindset to other areas—clothes, electronics, and even unnecessary furniture. The book highlights something simple yet powerful: the more you own, the more complicated life becomes. Managing, organizing, cleaning, and even thinking about all those items adds a kind of invisible weight that you don’t fully notice until you start removing it.

I feel minimalism should not stop at physical things but also should include digital decluttering, which the author mentions too. Organizing and decluttering your PC or mobile can be a starting point before you go for the physical items. 

The book is not without downsides. Those downsides can differ from one reader to another. I don’t think that everything the author suggested could be practical for everyone. People have different lifestyles and different living situations. There was also a bit of repetition, which I find is a flaw of many nonfiction books. 

Overall, Goodbye, Things was a positive reading experience for me. It’s not the perfect universal guide because those do not exist, but without a doubt, I found it to be impactful and convincing. You don’t need to follow every piece of advice by the author. However, I bet you will find a few of his ideas that can help you in making your life less complicated than it is with so many things surrounding you. It is definitely worth reading. 

Key Themes:

• Minimalism
• Freedom
• Identity
• Possessions
• Decluttering
• Ownership

Pandemonium

 Lauren Oliver

Rating: ⭐⭐½
Genre: Dystopia + Young Adult + Romance

This is the second book in the Delirium series. The story continues with Lena escaping the society that was controlling her, including her emotions, and running in the Wilds, where she is forced to survive in the harshest conditions. Living in such conditions with other fugitives who rejected that same system is a big challenge. Every single day is a test of her endurance, resilience, and identity. 

Unlike the first book, which was linear, Pandemonium is split into two timelines: “Then” that is the period which follows Lena’s life in the Wilds after her escape. “Now” is the time Lena is taking a new identity and working in disguise for the Resistance. In the “Now” period, Lena becomes involved with Julian, the son of a powerful figure tied to the old system, complicating both her mission and her emotions. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares for larger moves against the government, but nothing is simple or stable.

As usual for young adult books of that era, a love triangle is thrown into the mix. It feels very cliché and predictable, and honestly, it doesn’t add much beyond manufactured tension. The emotional conflict often feels like it is being prioritized over the actual dystopian world-building, which weakens some of the stakes.

While the pacing is noticeably better than book one, the dual timeline structure didn’t really work for me. I was genuinely tempted more than once to just read all the “Then” chapters first and then go through the “Now” sections afterward. The constant switching broke the flow instead of enhancing it.

I can clearly see Lena’s character development and how she becomes more decisive and resilient compared to the first book. However, the supporting characters don’t get the same attention for such development or growth. To me, they often felt like they were fixed most of the time. I was hoping for some meaningful evolution. 

Many parts of the book also felt repetitive, especially in the Wilds sections, where survival struggles and camp life start to blend together after a while. And with Book 1 ending on a cliffhanger and Book 2 doing the same, it becomes frustrating. This isn’t a TV series—each book should feel like a complete story rather than a setup for the next installment.

Overall, Pandemonium is an improvement in pacing and gives Lena a stronger arc, but it is weighed down by clichés, structural choices that don’t fully land, repetitive sections, and an overreliance on cliffhangers. A 2.5-star read: readable, sometimes engaging, but uneven and frustrating in key areas. Now only book three is left to finish this series. 

Key Themes

• Love 
• Control
• Survival
• Resilience
• Freedom
• Grief
• Resistance