All Friends Are Necessary by Tomas Moniz

 Title:All Friends Are Necessary

Author: Tomas Moniz
Did I listen or read?: library book
When did I finish?: 11/10/2026
When was the book published: 2024
Main Characters: Efren "Chino" Flores, Metal Matt, Suzi has Matt's baby, Mike and Kay
What happens? Years of Chino's life in NorCal with ferns, covid, friends.  Bisexual stuff.  A dog named Brucebruce, one called Sabbath (like Black Sabbath) and cats name Balls and something else.
How long was this? 266 pages
Did I like this? Enjoyable.  A story. Lives.  Not action packed, but not without action.
Overall grade: B+

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

 Title: First Lie Wins

Author: Ashley Elston
Did I listen or read?: libby audiobook
When did I finish?: 11/10/2026
When was the book published: 2024
Main Characters: Evie Porter AKA Lucca, her mother, Mr. Smith.  George the delivery guy. Devin, who she hires to help her.  Ryan, the mark.
What happens? Evie is entangled with Mr. Smith's criminal fraud capers, and is sent to befriend Ryan, and we get flashbacks of her past cons.
How long was this? 340 pages about 10 hours
Did I like this? Really different and entertaining
Overall grade: B+

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths

 Title: The Frozen People

Author: Elly Griffiths
Did I listen or read?: library book
When did I finish?: 11/4/2026
When was the book published: 2025
Main Characters: Ali Dawson, Cain Templeton (1850), Isaac Templeton, team from Cold Cases, Geoff, John, "Smith", Ali's son Finn and ex-husband Declan
What happens? Ali's team time travels to work on old cases, and Isaac Templeton asks her (specifically) to go back to 1850 to see if Cain is really a murderer.
How long was this? 289 pages
Did I like this? Yeah, really good and fast paced. Good time travel adventure and theory.
Overall grade: A-

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

 Title: The Perfect Marriage

Author: Jeneva Rose 

Did I listen or read?: Libby audiobook

When did I finish?: 10/22/2026

When was the book published: 2020 

Main Characters: Sarah and Adam Morgan, Kelly the waitress, Ann the assistant, Bob the annoying co-worker

What happens? Sarah is hyper-successful at law, Adam a flailing writer, has an affair with Kelly.  She winds up dead in his bed, all the evidence points to him, and Sarah will defend him.

How long was this? 352 pages 9 hours

Did I like this? It was overall pretty good.  A little mystifying  at times but interesting twists

Overall grade: B+

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

 Title: Kristin Hannah 

Author: Kristin Hannah

Did I listen or read?: Oakmont library book

When did I finish?: 10/28/2026

When was the book published: 2018

Main Characters: Leni (daughter), Cora (mom), Ernt Albright (viet vet father), Large Marge, Tom and Matthew Walker

What happens?  Leni and Cora agree to move to Alaska to help Ernt sane.  It doesn’t work, but they love Alaska

How long was this? 440 pages 

Did I like this? Good writing, great story, hard to read

Overall grade:  B+

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami

 Title: The Other Americans

Author:  Laila Lalami

Did I listen or read?: book present from Hope

When did I finish?:  10/18/2026

When was the book published: 2019

 Main Characters: Nora, daughter of Driss who is killed, her mother, Jeremy old friend who is a vet and now a cop, Coleman, black lady detective

What happens? Driss is killed in a hit and run, and they suspect the guy who owns the bowling alley next to his cafe, as they have been arguing.

How long was this? 301 pages 

Did I like this?  A good story, well told and paced.  It’s a story about immigrants, but mostly they are “just like us”

Overall grade:  B+

The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson

 Title: The Code Breaker

Author: Walter Isaacson

Did I listen or read?: bought the book at the Copeland warehouse sale

When did I finish?:  10/9/2026 

When was the book published: 2021

Main Characters: Jennifer Doran’s, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Feng Zhang, George Church

What happens? The process of figuring out how to use CRISPR on humans.  The process of how to use CRISPR to quickly develop mRNA vaccines for COVID.  Clustered Regulrarly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.

How long was this?  481 pages

Did I like this? Good story, real science 

Overall grade:  B+