Camp Damascus
Chuck Tingle


As someone who had experienced religious trauma, I wish I liked this book more than I did.

It's nice to see an autistic author write an autistic main character, it makes for a very authentic voice. The ending was cliche, but satisfying in our fraught political climate.

It took me forever to get through the book, even though it's not long. It just didn't grip me.

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Winter Garden
Kristin Hannah


This is technically a 3.75 rating; I like Kristin Hannah's historical fiction.

I enjoyed the story within a story concept, it was interesting and well executed.

Since I have aging parents, the first few chapters of the book made me weep.

The characters were complicated; this worked in the context of the story but I don't think I'd be as forgiving of someone like Anya IRL. Her background was obviously tragic but taking 40 years to open up to her children after treating them coldly throughout their childhood, yikes. Way to create generational trauma.