What I’m Reading

(April 2026)

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1. Daisy Jones and the Six

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SUMMARY

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.A

lso getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.
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Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

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MY REVIEW

I specifically saved this title for one of my Spring Break reads. Previously I had read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Atmosphere by Reid and loved both of them. I was hoping that Reid was one of those authors who never disappoints, no matter what the book topic.
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This one took a bit of getting used to as it was written in interview format. It takes the reader a chapter or two to begin to understand who the characters are and how they might contribute to the plot. But then the format actually allows the book to read more quickly as there are not as many words on the page. And similar to Atmosphere, the characters that I couldn’t even distinguish in the first pages became people I deeply cared about in the last few pages.

I loved this almost historical fiction look at the 1970s world of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll. It was fascinating to read about the fickle nature of bands who climb from nothing to fame, providing both the benefits and the costs.
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One of the great benefits to reading this particular book of Taylor Jenkins Reid is that it has one season of a show based upon its plot. While I never believe that movies or shows are better than the books, I do appreciate watching a director and producer bringing text to the screen.

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2. The Road to Tender Hearts

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SUMMARY

At sixty-three years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. Since then, PJ spends both his money and his time at the bar, and he probably doesn’t have much time left—he’s had three heart attacks already.B

ut when PJ reads an obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Filled with a new enthusiasm for life, PJ decides he’s going to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back.
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Before PJ can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. Anyone else would be deterred from the planned trip, but PJ figures the orphaned kids might benefit from getting out of town. PJ also figures he can ask Sophie, his adult daughter, adrift in her 20s, to come along to babysit. And there’s one more surprise addition to the roster: Pancakes, a former nursing home therapy cat with a knack of predicting death, who recently turned up outside PJ’s home.

This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for—a second shot at love and parenting—but does he have the strength to do both those things again? It’s very possible his heart can’t take it.

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MY REVIEW

I finally read this long-awaited and highly recommended book (by multiple trusted sources) on my spring break. It was only available in hardcover, and it was clear that I was not going to magically gain possession of it via a library hold anytime in the next few months; thankfully I was able to use a bookstore gift card I had received for my birthday to purchase this expensive read.

I was told this book had a similar vibe to the 2006 movie “Little Miss Sunshine,” which featured a dysfunctional cast of characters on a wild car trip out west. And it was true. PJ Halliday is mostly dysfunctional, a divorced father who never got over the loss of his daughter. His ex-wife still takes care of him, as his raging alcoholism does not allow him to be accountable to anyone at any time.

But then. A strange twist of turns–and perhaps a bit of fate–places two new people in his life and forces him to face his bleak future. Together, the three of them (and his other daughter–mostly because she doesn’t trust him)–venture off on a car trip which the reader can only expect will end in disaster and broken hearts.

I did enjoy this as my spring break read. I always believe warm weather, sunshine, and reading by a pool because there are no tasks or responsibilities in my day always help make a good book even better. It is a worthwhile read that I would recommend to others. But days, even weeks later, I’m still left wrestling with the character of PJ Halliday. While he’s definitely broken, and as complex as they come, I’m just not sure if deep down he’s a good person.

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​Go ahead and put this on your read list. Even better if you can read it by a pool in warm weather and sunshine with no other tasks or responsibilities in your day.

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3. Stiff

SUMMARY

Stiff an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.

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MY REVIEW

I had wanted to listen to this audiobook for much of the winter, but it kept alluding me. After spending hours listening to all-things related to a global disease, why not spend a few more learning about what things are done to dead bodies?

It was a fascinating listen. I was absolutely amazed with the multiple uses for cadavers and how they are “superheroes” who help us learn more about how to help and protect the living. Throughout the book, Roach weaves in ethical debates about what cadavers may and may not be used for. There’s even a point when we as the reader/listener are forced to ask when a body is no longer living and may therefore be used for research purposes. Is it when someone is brain dead? Does their heart have to stop beating? Do they have to turn cold?

I loved and appreciated her approach to the research of cadaver use. She was kind and always respectful, although I was amazed how even she could find moments of humor to sprinkle throughout (if we don’t laugh about the absurd and horrifying, what else can we do?).

I will warn any reader/listener that she is raw and descriptive in her explanations; she holds nothing back. Those with weaker stomachs might want to stay clear of this one. But for the rest of you that have a morbid curiosity, go ahead and indulge. You will be a wiser living body for it…and I guarantee you will appreciate the work the dead do to keep our bodies living longer and better lives.

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4. Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride

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SUMMARY

Lloyd McNeil has served as an officer with the Atlanta Police Department for 20 years while being a devoted father to his teenage son. But then he learns the worst possible. He has learned he has an inoperable brain tumor, and he has only months left to live.

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Lloyd begins throwing himself into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, but things don’t go according to plan. Instead of dying, he becomes a civic hero. Meanwhile, a malevolent force from his past shadows Lloyd as he tries to get his affairs in order, teach his son the lessons he needs to be a good person, and to say goodbye.

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MY REVIEW

I have no idea when or how this book was recommended to me. I can only imagine an algorithm somewhere marked me as someone who enjoys to read stories about death and dying people. And while it’s not wrong, I don’t necessarily need to read EVERY story about someone who is dying.

The plot of this one works out well on paper. A divorced police officer is given a terminal cancer diagnosis early on in the story and has to come to terms with knowing when he is going to die. It’s the “how” he’s going to die that he wants control over. And so the book ensues.

Overall, for me it just missed the mark. I didn’t care about the characters as much as I wanted to. And I couldn’t find myself appreciating the “words of wisdom” chapters sprinkled through the book that are meant to be read someday by Officer McNeil’s son, Bishop. I found myself skimming more as I continued through the book, not slowing down and taking in every word, wondering what was going to happen next. Because I simply didn’t care. I knew, like every other reader, that he was going to die. And I realized it didn’t matter to me how he died.

Readers, you can thank me for reading this one for you and recommending that you (and perhaps your entire book club) can pass on this one. There are much better books in the genre of “characters who are facing death.”

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