And Other Book Recs for the New Year
My initial thoughts on The Grey Wolf – some spoilers
As with all of her books, Louise Penny’s Gamache series can each be read on its own. Each story is in a bottle, and stands alone. There will be some inside jokes or references that will be missed as well as not knowing who some of the recurring characters are, but that’s all right if you’re in it simply for the murder and mystery and not necessarily for the characters and their development. That said, this book brings back some characters from earlier books as well as referring to incidents that happened in earlier books, and…SPOILER HERE: while this book ends well and with a definite conclusion, it still ends on a cliffhanger. We now know that the next book titled, The Black Wolf will be released on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.
The book starts with a phone call, and an uncharacteristic rudeness and anger from Armand Gamache, and from there it is a non-stop adventure from Three Pines through Montreal to Ottawa, up to James Bay, and back again. We meet new people and run into familiar ones and with each page turned, more and more plots and sub-plots are revealed while still maintaining the mystery and keeps us guessing until the very end. There is no way to know who lives and who dies and how lives will be changed by the end of the book, and as I said, while it is a satisfying ending, we are left wanting more and expecting more with another installment several months away.
I plan to re-read this book in a few more weeks and of course, will do a re-read in September before the next book comes out.
Other books I’d recommend you put on your 2025 reading lists include:
Richard Osman’s new book, We Solve Murders. He is the same author who wrote The Thursday Murder Club series. This book is equally well written and enjoyable with characters that are easy to fall in love with. We Solve Murders is not related to the characters of The Thursday Murder Club, but looks like another series to keep your eyes out for in the future.
A Lily Among Thorns: The Mohawk Repatriation of Kateri Tekakwitha by Darren Bonaparte. This book is something that I’ve read for my research for my own book, and highly recommend this to anyone I meet. It is an excellent viewpoint of learning context and cultural mistakes in the Jesuit narrative of St. Kateri’s life.
And two that I’m currently reading or about to start:
Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury. I got this a couple of years ago as a gift and I haven’t had the chance to sit down and read it. That’s about to change.
The Missing Star by Julie Canepa. It’s based on a true story of love, loss, hope, and survival and stems from Julie’s friendship and interviews with Holocaust survivor Vladimir Munk and his wife Kitty. Full disclosure, Julie is in a writing group that I meet with, and hearing the behind-the-scenes tales from the related Emmy Award winning documentary that she authored has been very exciting indeed. I’m looking forward to restarting this one as the new year gets going.
These are all good starts for those cold, winter months and snow days!
I also highly recommend the Libby App for all your digital library needs. I use this nearly every day, and it opens up a whole new world of reading for me on my Kindle.
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 