Nonfiction, Travel, Stories

 

Japan, Beyond the Genkan

An Insider’s Guide to the Soft Power, Strong Market, and Social Harmony of America's Asian Partner

by Joshua W. Walker, PhD

June 2, 2026, Amplify, NetGalley

Book description: Part memoir, part diplomatic and political treatise, and part love letter to a culture he lived in as a bicultural and bilingual American, Dr. Walker shares the tools to fully comprehend and appreciate what Japan offers to the United States and the rest of the world today.

He explores Japan’s notions of soft power and social harmony, and the robust markets that help the nation to have global standing as America’s largest investor. In Japan, within a house the genkan is the semi-public lobby entrance that goes into the private space  where guests are greeted. Dr. Walker as an adopted dosanko—the title of someone from Hokkaido, Japan—invites us beyond the genkan into a rare insider’s view of the country.

West Meets East: Stories of Americans in China

by William N. Brown

July 28, 2026; Amplify Publishing, NetGalley

Book description: Author Bill Brown, who planned to stay in China for two years and ended up staying for thirty-five, knows the power of intercultural exchange first-hand. In this intimate collection, he shares the stories of twenty Americans who have lived long enough in China to truly understand it. 

Despite an at times fraught relationship between the two countries, these people have discovered up close that the China Dream and the American Dream are both the universal dream of peace and prosperity for our families and our nations..

Nice Places

by Vincent Chu

June 2, 2026; Forest Avenue Press, NetGalley

Genre: world travel, satire, humorous fiction

Advance Praise

A must-read book of 2026, The Sunday Times

"The Californian writer Vincent Chu pokes fun at the tired clichés of therapeutic retreats and transformative 'gap yahs' in this punchy satire."

—The Sunday Times

“Vincent Chu manages to recover the art of the travel narrative, dusting off the ashes of our expectations and capturing, with humorous, cutting prose, a picture of the places and people who might yet revive us."

—Tupelo Quarterly

"The jovial novel Nice Places finds philosophical gold beneath a surface of absurdity."

—Foreword Reviews

"Hilariously sharp, Nice Places is an anthem for anyone who has felt like a cog in the machine. Vincent Chu delivers a profound, high-stakes meditation on the identities we curate and the messy realities of finding where we truly belong.

What are you reading this week? Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday 

Whistler by Ann Patchett and Other Books I've Read/Plan on Reading

 Book Review

Whistler

A Novel

by Ann Patchett, June 2, 2026, Harper, NetGalley

Adult fiction, literary fiction

Book description: When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn’t seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. 

My take on the book: This novel is about two young girls, Daphne age 9 and her younger sister Leda, who become attached to their mother's third husband, Eddie. When Eddie gets into a car accident that injures both himself and Daphne, the girls spend some time in the hospital - Daphne for her car injuries, and Leda for an almost burst appendix.

Eddie has disappeared when the girls get home from hospital. Their mother has sent him away, then divorced him. Daphne blames herself as the cause.

When Eddie appears again in their lives 44 years later and evidently sick, Daphne and Leda question him about the past and what really happened the night of the accident and afterwards.

The answers are surprising. The title of the novel is based on a story of Whistler, a horse who waits on the woman who was injured riding him and was thrown. Whistler stays with her until he can rescue her and take her home.  

The girls, especially Daphne, never forgot that story of the horse and how Whistler influences their actions later in life is the crux of the novel.

 

Heart breaking, emotional, and full of human truths in relationships. This was an excellent read. 

Books I'm Reading

Bearer of Bad News

A Novel

by Elisabeth Dini, April 29, 2026, Gallery Books

Women's fiction, mystery and thriller

I'm enjoying Lucy Rey's adventures in the Italian Dolomites, part of the Alps, as she searches for a woman to whom she will be the "bearer of bad news." Hired by another woman to find Coco, Lucy is to deliver the bad news on behalf of Coco's sister back home. 

Years ago, I almost took a job teaching English as a Second Language in the Dolomites, but turned it down thinking it was too far away from London, where I was at the time. I was therefore eager to read this book set in the Dolomites, to see what adventures and experiences I might have missed!

The descriptions of the area do not disappoint. Makes me wonder: what if I had taken that job; would I have loved the experience of the Dolomites?

See my full goodreads review of Bearer of Bad News.

Before I Disappear

A Novel

by Cate Quinn

Nov. 10, 2026, SourceBooks, NetGalley

Book Description

From the acclaimed author of The Clinic and The Bridesmaid comes a pulse pounding thriller following a criminologist who wakes in a remote motel with no memory of how she got there, or the people who claim they will protect her.

Criminologist April Anderson wakes up in a remote motel with a new name, a new identity, and absolutely no memory of how she got there. Told she's under police protection as the victim of a disturbing crime, she'll have to stand as a witness on a major trial that she knows nothing about. April isn't sure who to trust — the cop guarding her from an unknown threat, or the fiancé secretly tracking her.

I enjoy this trope - amnesia in all its forms as an important part of a book plot. 

My review: Criminologist April Anderson is a respected university lecturer, who is attacked, loses the memory of the attack and finds herself in a witness protection program while waiting to testify in a sensational mob related trial. 

The amnesia section of the book is intriguing, especially as April tries to recall what happened to her and to make sense of the images that flash into her mind of a Cutting Room, where giant reels of thread whirr above, sending the threads down to the floor, covering her face and body.

The intrigue of the novel lies in April's attempts to piece her past together, her connection to the mob boss soon to be on trial, and her relationship with her police handler, the cop assigned to keep her hidden and safe in witness protection.

The ending is surprising, as April finds there is another, deeper side to her personality, one that does not fit in with her normal life as a university expert on crime. 

Intriguing yet disturbing at the same time.

Not My Job Anymore

by Margie Benedict

May 1, 2026; Riveting Reads Inc., NetGalley

Description

“A sparkling later-in-life tale that spills over with wit, warmth, and humanity.” —Kirkus Reviews 

What happens when Viola, a woman who has spent forty years being dutiful, decides she’s done surviving—and starts living dangerously instead?

Set against a Massachusetts beach town in winter, this novel is a sharp, darkly funny, emotionally charged story about marriage, betrayal, grief, desire, and reinvention at the moment life is supposed to be winding down.

The Quitters Club

A Novel

by Jessica Strawser

June 1, 2026, Lake Union Publishing, NetGalley

Description: a hopeful and empowering novel about the messy beauty of female friendship and the deep courage it takes to rebuild a life at any age.

When four ride-or-die friends reunite for a getaway, they’re desperate for a break, a chance to reconnect. But each is hiding a deeper reason why. Marie feels like an impostor teaching “How to Say No” seminars while her marriage has evolved into something she never said yes to. Brooke’s most heartfelt goal—motherhood—is proving out of reach. Lucy’s dream career has broken her spirit, possibly for good. And Collins feels trapped in grief by her late husband’s legacy.

All their lives, they’ve encouraged each other not to give up—but they can’t do this anymore. Now, at a breaking point, they make a pact: Quit. And help each other through the fallout.

What are you reading this week? Have you been surprised by books you forgot in your TBR pile?

Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday 

Surprises in My TBR Pile of Books and EBooks

 From my TBR List

Biography/Memoir

by Ava Chin

Mott Street

A Chinese American Family's Story of Exclusion and Homecoming

Pub April 2023, PENGUIN GROUP

Book description:

As the only child of a single mother in Queens, Ava Chin found her family’s origins to be shrouded in mystery. She had never met her father, and her grandparents’ stories didn’t match the history she read at school. Mott Street traces Chin’s quest to understand her Chinese American family’s story. Over decades of painstaking research, she finds not only her father but also the building that provided a refuge for them all.

In New York’s Chinatown she discovers a single building on Mott Street where so many of her ancestors would live, begin families, and craft new identities. She follows the men and women who became merchants, “paper son” refugees, activists, and heads of the Chinese tong, piecing together how they bore and resisted the weight of the Exclusion laws. 

Hope Never Dies

An Obama Biden Mystery

by Andrew Shaffer

Pub July 2018, Quirk Books

Book Description:

Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama team up in this high-stakes thriller that combines a mystery worthy of Watson and Holmes with the laugh-out-loud bromantic chemistry of Lethal Weapon’s Murtaugh and Riggs.
 
Vice President Joe Biden is fresh out of the Obama White House and feeling adrift when his favorite railroad conductor dies in a suspicious accident, leaving behind an ailing wife and a trail of clues. To unravel the mystery, “Amtrak Joe” re-teams with the only man he’s ever fully trusted: the 44th president of the United States. Together they’ll plumb the darkest corners of Delaware, traveling from cheap motels to biker bars and beyond, as they uncover the sinister forces advancing America’s opioid epidemic.

Part noir thriller and part bromance, Hope Never Dies is essentially the first published work of Obama/Biden fiction—and a cathartic read.

Obama Biden Mysteries #2

Hope Rides Again by

Andrew Schaffer

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Readers' Favorite Humor (2019

In the sequel to the New York Times best-selling novel HopeNever Dies, Obama and Biden reprise their roles as BFFs-turned-detectives as they chase Obama's stolen cell phone through the streets of Chicago, and find a vast conspiracy.

What are you reading this week? Have you been surprised by books you forgot in your TBR pile?

Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday 

ARCs To Be Read

 

Now reading

It's Not What You Think

A Novel

by Clare Mackintosh

Nadeeka thinks her boyfriend Jamie is cheating and rushes home to confront him. But at home she is greeted by flashing police lights, police tape, and the news that Jamie has been stabbed to death. 

She not only wants to solve the murder but also to find out the truth about their relationship. She goes about solving this on her own.

I am in the middle of reading this, even though publication date is not till September 2026. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for making the ebook ARC available for readers. 

My next read on the list

Come Undone

A Novel

by Eddie Huang,  June 16, 2026, NetGalley 

Sounds like a memoir, but it's really a romantic novel.

“Come for the satirical millennial cringe and over-the-top luxury lifestyle fantasy, stay for the surprisingly sensitive portrayal of a bombastic, bighearted Asian American dudebro who risks it all for a chance at the real thing.”—Jean Chen Ho, author of Fiona and Jane

Lies Between Us

by Jessica Goodman, June 2, 2026; NetGalley

Mystery, thriller, teen and YA

The Gold sisters and the Silver brothers grew up side by side in waterfront mansions. But one carefree summer takes a dark turn when a beach party ends in tragedy and their perfect world cracks wide open. 

Suddenly, the bonds that tie these families together are strained by suspicion and fear. Painful secrets surface, revealing the fragile truths they've all been hiding.

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday 

Reading List for end of May

 Books from NetGalley that I'm currently reading

Hidden in Memories

by Viveca Sten, Nov. 18, 2025

This has been one of my favorite thriller writers. Viveca Sten's novels are set in Sweden.

Inspectors Hanna and Daniel are knee deep in finding the killer of a hotel developer who was found stabbed in a luxury resort in the Swedish mountains. Did the locals disapproval of Charlote's plans to turn an idyllic location into a tourist spot play a part in her death? When a cleaning lady witness to the murder is found killed, the plot thickens. 

I'm enjoying this thriller, as I have the author's other books.

Tout ce que j'aurais aimé te dire

by Gaby Fournel, June 2024

Two friends escape the rough past of Paris to open a cafeteria/library in a small town in the Basque village in Spain. Atmospheric and hopeful.

Stolen Secrets

by S.F. Baumgartner, June 2026

An FBI special agent must save her teenaged adopted daughter, Jamie Beth, who had turned herself in to kidnappers to save her look alike friend  kidnapped in her stead. 

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday