To The Moon And Back by Eliana Ramage

This is a book that is one of Reese Witherspoon’s book of the month choices and I have been slowly but surely reading my way through those. This one I found to be a little confusing period I read it over several weeks so in bits and pieces and that may have been a contributing factor. In the end I was glad that I read it especially when you consider um that there are very few Native American authors writing fiction. Thirteen-year-old Steph Harper knows she is different from her friends and classmates living in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in 1995. Determined to be an astronaut, she notes, “I only had about a decade or so to rid myself of every fear I had left,” replacing them with what NASA calls “awareness and preparedness and disaster response protocol.” Steph’s single-minded drive forms the heart of a drama that unfolds from those teen years through 2027 while deftly exploring Cherokee identity, queer love and the price of ambition. Steph’s father, whom she, her mother and younger sister Kayla fled eight years ago, instilled in her a love of space while warning her about the end of the world. Those mixed emotions and strengths end up dictating the course of Steph’s life in wildly unpredictable ways, especially when endless obstacles seem to stand in her way. She is surprised to fall in love with a Cherokee college classmate, Della Owens, who as a baby was adopted and raised by a Mormon couple, and, after a highly public custody battle, allowed only one day of visitation a year with her birth father. While Della fully embraces her Cherokee heritage, Steph focuses on escaping to space.

No Other Choice (2025)

This Korean film was short listed for the 2026 Academy Awards in the Foreign Language category, and in my mind the Koreans can give the Danes a run for their money when it comes to dark dark comedy. It does not get bleaker than this. It opens in happier times for Man-su and his family, including a supportive wife, Lee Mi-ri, two beautiful children, Si-one and Ri-one, and two gorgeous dogs. As they celebrate their perfect lives outside of their perfect home, storm clouds appear on the horizon. The symbol becomes real when Man-su is downsized from his paper company, forced back into a brutal job market. Man-su realizes that the only way to beat the competition for the job he wants is for them to be unable to apply for it, so he puts in motion a series of plans to literally eliminate his competition. What starts as relatively playful and almost silly, a tone enriched by Lee’s layered performance that mingles Man-su’s desperation, intelligence, and broken pride, eventually gets much darker, but also angry, a commentary on what happens when fragile masculinity is fractured by corporate greed. Something has to give. And it does. This did not make the final cut to be nominated, but it is well worth seeking out.

A Witch's Guide To Magical Inn Keeping by Sangu Mandanna

This is not my typical genre of book, but one of the multiple things that I like to do as a reader is to read somewhere around half of the New York Times 100 Notable Books each year. They are about half fiction and poetry, half non-fiction, and while I mine the list for non-fiction ideas (I need the help in that arena, and try to read at least some no-fiction, even though it is not my first love), I tend to read more fiction. In any case, that is where I found this, which I would call a cosy, romance fanatsy. Sera Swan used to be a magical prodigy—Guild golden girl, full of promise—until she did the unthinkable: resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine (and, accidentally, a rooster). The Guild exiled her, stripped her magic, and left her to piece her life together. Fifteen years later, she’s running a magical inn that only appears to people who need it, surrounded by an oddball mix of humans and magical misfits. Then Luke Larsen, a prickly magical historian, shows up with his little sister Posy. Luke might just have the key to restoring Sera’s magic—if she can convince him to help without attracting the Guild’s attention. What follows is equal parts mystery, magical hijinks, and slow-burn partnership between two stubborn people who are much better at helping others than accepting help themselves. It all works out in the end with a few bumps along the way and while adequately charming, it did not win me over to the genre.

Nuremburg (2025)

There are countless variations of the saying “history repeats itself.” Nuremberg is a movie that wants us to remember. The story revisits the final days of World War II and the Nuremberg trials. The movie begins with Göring attempting to flee at the end of the war before being captured by Allied forces. We see him, along with other leading figures from Hitler’s inner circle, taken into custody. Douglas Kelly, played by Rami Malek, is brought in to create psychological profiles of these men. In the background is the effort of Justice Robert Jackson, played by Michael Shannon, who believes these men must stand trial for their crimes. He argues that they should not simply be executed. There must also be a public accounting for the horrors carried out in the name of the Third Reich. It is interesting that they brought a psyc Russell Crowe’s Göring is charming to the point of being almost disarming. We watch the two men talk and probe one another. Kelly is writing a book about what he is learning from Göring and the others. His questions cut to the heart of how such atrocities came to be. When Kelly asks why he followed Hitler, Göring describes a devastated Germany after World War I, a nation humiliated and made to suffer. Hitler told them that foreign powers were feasting on their pain and promised that Germany could reclaim its former glory. He made them feel proud again. Kelly’s obsession with Göring becomes his downfall, costing him his position, but not before Göring is put on trial. We watch Göring skillfully maneuver through Jackson’s questioning. Despite its flaws, there is something worthwhile in Vanderbilt’s attempt. Kelly eventually wrote his book. It revealed that what occurred in Germany could happen anywhere. The perpetrators of Nazi crimes were ordinary people who embraced a message that told them walking over the bodies of others was worth obtaining power. No one wanted to hear thst warning, and here we are, back at the beginning again.

Last Train To Memphis by Peter Guralnick

Ok, first off, if you are looking for a book about Elvis the man, you are not going to be happy with this. While it is densely researched, it ends in the late 1950's--it really is about how it all got started . It is based on hundreds of interviews and nearly a decade of research, it traces the evolution not just of the man but of the music and of the culture he left utterly transformed, creating a completely fresh portrait of Elvis and his world. This volume tracks the first twenty-four years of Elvis’ life, covering his childhood, the stunning first recordings at Sun Records (“That’s All Right,” “Mystery Train”), and the early RCA hits (“Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel”). There’s more to this book than Elvis. It’s also the story of the American music industry in the 1950s. There is alot about how music was made and marketed at that time, and how rock n roll changed it. It wasn’t just about the sound but about how the music was actually sold. For example, how going on near-constant tour to small music venues was considered the best way to market yourself. The chapters about how Elvis’s manager, the Colonel, got him onto television and how television really started to change the music industry were fascinating. I heard and read a lot of the very bad things about the Colonel. This book really brought to light the why. The Colonel may have taken a much larger percent (25%) than was usual (10%), but he also had a great business mind and really got things done. It was the Colonel who got Elvis on television and in the movies. I’d always thought the Colonel pushed Elvis into the movies but this book showed from its extensive interviews that Elvis himself was quite interested in being like James Dean. The relationship, at least at the beginning, was a lot more give and take, and then inevitably it deteriorated, as did they.

Hamnet (2025)

Chloé Zhao is a master at translating a book into a movie. I was very impressed with her adaptation of Nomadland and this is even more impressive. Maggie O'Farrell's book comes to life in this movie in a in a beautiful and cinematic way. I don't often say this but while I loved the book the movie was more emotionally on target. In addition to being a visually stunning, emotionally devastating movie it is also a deeply sensorial exploration of grief, anchored by exceptional performances from Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. This is the story of William Shakespeare at home. This comes from a work of fiction but attempts to explain both Shakespeare's attraction to a woman who is uneducated as well as to hypothesize the egis for his one of his greatest plays. Agnes, is the daughter of a forest witch, and her connection to the earth, the trees, and the sky feels tangible and powerful. She meets Will --who will eventually turn out to be The Bard—their connection feels just as alive and free. They frolic and flirt joyfully, and the qualities that make her an outcast to everyone else make her wonderful to him. In no time, they’re married, then have a daughter named Susanna, and then twins: a boy and a girl, Hamnet and Judith. They have a blissful home life when Shakespeare is home and this is shattered when Hamnet dies. The grief that they that he experiences leads to the tragic play Hamlet.

Missed and Loved by Susie Boyt

This is another one of the “it's Friday and if you haven't read this it's new to you” book recommendations. This is the story of basically getting a do over in life. Ruth is a woman who believes in and despairs of the curative power of love. Her daughter, Eleanor, who is addicted to drugs, has just had a baby, Lily. Ruth adjusts herself in ways large and small to give to Eleanor what she thinks she may need—nourishment, distance, affection—but all her gifts and interventions fall well short. Eleanor an her partner are heavily using as well as largely ignoring their baby. After someone dies of an overdose in Eleanor's apartment building , Ruth hands her daughter an envelope of cash and takes Lily home with her, and Lily, as she grows, proves a compensation for all of Ruth's past defeats and disappointment. Love without fear is a new feeling for her, almost unrecognizable. Not everything goes perfectly well but it goes well enough and that is just perfect for Ruth. I really enjoyed this book and it is on the short side, something that can be read in an afternoon or two.

Last Days On Lake Trinity (2025)

This short documentary was shortlisted in that category for this for the 2026 Academy Awards. South Florida is facing a housing crisis, and that is one focus that this documentary brings to light. In March of 2022, Trinity Broadcasting Network, who owned the land, informed residents of Lakeside Park Estates that they had until December 31, 2022 to move out. Cooley centers on three women–Nancy Sanderson, Laurie Laney, and Nancy Fleishman–as they begin their hunt for another place to live after, it appears, that the county cannot combat TBN’s order. There are three things that I noticed watching rather than listening to this story. The 1st is that the place that they have which is waterfront is very beautiful and would be very hard to replicate. The second is that the mobile homes that these women live in are well beyond their sell by date. They are living in conditions that would be condemned I believe and then the third is that they have very few financial options and so this is a story of David and Goliath where the corporation holds all the cards. At the beginning of the film, Laney tells us that her first big purchase was her mobile home, but the real sense of belonging came within the community of Lakeside. Community and the collective experience is at the heart of Trinity. Fleishman worked off and on for TBN for years, and the silence from the company is troubling, especially when she calls to speak to someone about following up on the help they allegedly said they would provide.

Throwback by Maureen Go

I picked this up because it is a YA pick for Reese’s book club and I have very much enjoyed her selections. Priscilla, a first-generation Korean American and former high school cheerleader, expects her daughter, Sam, to pursue the All-American dream. But Sam isn't interested in the clichéd high school experience; she's a modern Gen Z teen. After a huge argument, Sam is transported back to the '90s alongside a 17-year-old Priscilla. It may be a bit contrived, bed but this time-travel tale brilliantly explores family, identity, and the immigrant experience making it a must-read for teens. There are plenty of LOL-worthy moments as Sam tries to navigate the '90s. However, the most poignant moments occur when Sam realizes how casual racism, cultural differences, and the pressure to meet Halmoni, Sam’s grandmother, and see how her expectations have shaped Priscilla into who she is today. I didn't enjoy this as much as others that I have read in the past but I would read another book by this author and I did like the time travel aspect in retrospect even though I found it odd at when I was reading it.

If I Had Legs I Would Kick You (2025)

I watched this movie because the actress was nominated for an Academy Award. It is about the unraveling of Linda, a wry, worn-down mother and therapist played magnificently and unflinchingly by Rose Byrne. I 100% agree with the award going to Jesse Buckley for her work in Hamnet which was incredible but Rose Byrne was my second choice. Like unbandaging a cut too soon, leaving it oozing and throbbing, a red gash for the world to see that you clearly lack self-control, Linda seriously struggles to juggle the mysterious illness of her daughter and the sudden collapse of her literal and metaphorical ceiling, leaving her with no pillars to support her. There are some very smart things that are said in this movie about shame and hiding things. It's a cautionary tale to do neither. It is better to RIP off the Band-Aid than to leave things unattended to for literally everyone’s sake. Ane lest you think it would take months for things to get this bad, as a mental health professional myself, it can all go bad in a blink of an eye.