FROM THE SPINE - OCTOBER 2026 BOOK REVIEWS

October 2026

October was hard. It felt like a meat grinder. This one was packed with stress, grief, and fog. I’m learning how my body handles grief this year. It’s weird. Grief with stress is a bad combo, so I’m leaning into the coping mechanisms I have and trying to find new ones. I realized I want to play soccer again, and that’s pretty scary. 

Anyway, here are the books I finished and my reviews of them:

Fiction Books

Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

This book is a fascinating collection of stories told from the perspective of a middle school refugee. The stories are Daniel’s, collected from his past in Iran, his family’s separation and relocation to the US, and his attempts to understand his new home in Oklahoma. Some authors try to emulate kids’ language and thought levels in their storytelling, and are unsuccessful because they try too hard or miss the innocence of children, or overcomplicate the language. Not this one. The storytelling is fantastic. The main character’s view of the world fits with his age and experiences. It just felt right, and in my experience, that’s hard to do. 

The main character begins the story as Khosrou, a wealthy child in Iran. His father is a dentist with a rock star personality. His mother converts to Christianity, which is a capital offense in Iran, so Khosrou, his mother, and his sister become refugees, fleeing death through Dubai, Italy, and eventually living in Oklahoma. On the road to Oklahoma, Khosrou becomes Daniel and tells his stories to win over his classmates. His style is complex and interweaving, like the Persian rugs of his homeland. He tells light, funny stories, as well as deep, desperate truths, mixed in middle-school-aged language and flair. He wrestles with separation from his father, domestic abuse, and trying to make friends in a new country. 

This book is engaging and fun. I wish more of it had included Khosrou’s father, who is hilarious. The story about his dad taking them to the water park when he visits in Oklahoma and bribes his way into the good graces of the kids and staff is hilarious. I loved the way the author was real, and gritty, and deep, in the way kids are. I have some questions about Persian bathrooms now. The title of the book comes from the end of The Lord of the Rings, when Sam wakes up to find Gandalf is alive. The idea is that some of our saddest memories are based on assumptions which can be proven wrong. In the end, good wins. In the end, everything will be made right. This is one of my deepest hopes. This is one of the most powerful aspects of redemption. 

This is for storytellers, gamers, and refugees. 

(Rated PG, Score 9/10, audiobook read by the author, 7:48)

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman (DCC #3)

Carl, Princess Donut, Katia, and Mongo wake up on floor #4 in a fast-moving subway car. They fight their way to a safe house where they are joined by Donut’s manager and their dungeon guide, Mordecai. They spend some time working on upgrades, buying a new personal space, and other related perks. After resting up, they go exploring the floor, hoping to locate the stairways to the fifth floor. They have a week before the fourth floor will collapse. The floor turns out to be a giant spaghetti noodle mess of train lines. None of it makes any sense for most of the book. Mordecai gets put in timeout for attacking another character in the safe house, so the team loses their experienced guide for most of the book. Carl picks a fan prize that looks like a dumb book, but it is The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook. The book is a secret collection of recipes, tips, tricks, and advice written by over 20 previous dungeon crawlers. Carl has to use the book in secret, or it will disappear, so he spends extra time in the bathroom learning from it. The nature of the 4th floor forces the crawlers to stick together for protection and to solve the layout of the floor in time. The team works together with some old and new friends to ride the rails and explore the stations and secrets of the floor. There are some massive battles and some epic twists and turns in the plot on this floor. The way the characters band together and rise above the evil, as well as the nasty plot twists, make this my favorite volume in the series so far. 

This is for adult gamers and geeks.

(Rated R, Score 9/10, Hardcover, 544 p.)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter#1)

I never really understood the Harry Potter hype when it was big. I lost a few friends for a couple of weeks each time a new book would be released. I tried reading this first book a few times but couldn’t get into it until I discovered audiobooks. Then I was able to get past the weird, non-magical intro bit where Harry is abused by his adopted muggle family. Harry discovers he is a famous wizard and goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry spends his first school year becoming immersed in the new magic culture, battling a troll, sneaking out of his room at night with his father’s invisibility cloak, and generally getting into all kinds of trouble. The “getting into trouble” bits really make Jet nervous as we listen to the story, so I’ve been trying to explain tension and resolution and how Harry is basically in trouble for all the books. Harry and his friends combine their skills and all the tricks they learned in their first year to solve a series of challenges protecting the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Harry faces his nemesis to keep the school safe. I appreciate the story structure a bit better after hearing it again. The characters are fantastic. There’s even a dragon. You may have to give this book more than one shot to get into it, but once you get hooked, you have to read all seven books. 

This is for little wizards and witches, and is perfect around Halloween.

(Rated PG, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Jim Dale, 8:18)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter#2)

Harry Potter is back for another year at Hogwarts. There is a little house elf named Dobby who tries to prevent Harry from going to school, trying to protect Harry. Harry figures out how to get around the difficulties caused by the house-elf and makes it to school in an invisible flying car with his friend Ron. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, teaches them to never let Pixies loose in class, but not much else. Finally, the trouble that Dobby warned about begins. The Chamber of Secrets opens, and several characters are petrified in different attacks in the school. The whole school is trying to figure out who might be the heir of Slytherin who has opened the chamber. Harry learns that Hagrid was once a student at Hogwarts who was expelled for keeping a giant spider as a pet. When Hagrid is arrested and sent to Azkaban, he tips Ron and Harry off about how to find Aragog, the giant spider. In the Forbidden Forest, Harry and Ron meet Aragog and his giant spider clan, where they learn that Hagrid was foolish, but not the heir of Slytherin. One final attack takes place when a student is kidnapped and taken to the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Ron find a final clue uncovered by Hermione and find their way down into the Chamber of Secrets. There they face danger and try to rescue the school. In the aftermath, Harry is sorting out his feelings and struggles with Dumbledore, who leads Harry to the truth- Harry chose to be in Gryffindor, not Slytherin. “It is our choices, Harry, that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities.” That line really resonates with me. It’s not our dreams, fears, rumors, or doubts that make us who we are; it’s what we do that counts. Jet and I enjoyed the audio and illustrated version of this book, and he had so many questions as the story worked itself out.

This is for young ones learning when to bend the rules. 

(Rated PG, Score 7/10, audiobook read by Jim Dale, 9:02, Illustrated copy (Jim Kay), 259p.) 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (HP#3)

Here we go with year three at Hogwarts. Harry finds himself in the Leaky Cauldron for a few days after blowing up his aunt, running away from the Dursleys, and taking a ride on the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley. Harry spends most of the book learning the story around his parents’ death because a man tied to their betrayal and death, Sirius Black, has escaped from Azkaban and seems to be hunting Harry. The Dementors from Azkaban attack Harry several times during the story. They suck out joy, life, and hope, making one feel that they will never be happy again. The remedy after a Dementor attack? Chocolate, of course. The students have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, Professor Lupin, who actually teaches them, creature by creature, how to defend against dark creatures. Lupin helps Harry to develop his patronis spell to ward off Dementors. The Weasley twins give Harry a very powerful gift called the Marauder’s Map, which shows the Hogwarts grounds as well as the live location of everyone on the school grounds. Harry uses the map and his invisibility cloak to sneak out of the school to Hogsmeade. The Dursleys didn’t sign his permission form to go to Hogsmeade, so Harry has to break the rules. The plot gets a bit complicated towards the end of the book, where the author spins two parallel timelines together using Hermione’s Time Turner. The students finally discover who Sirius Black, Professor Lupin, and Scabbers the rat really are, and who actually betrayed Lilly and James Potter. My favorite part is Dumbledore trusting the kids to make the story right. 

This is for time-turners and truth-seekers. 

(Rated PG, Score 7/10, audiobook read by Jim Dale, 11:49, Illustrated copy (Jim Kay), 336p.)

The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinneman (DCC#4)

The fifth floor of the dungeon is a massive world filled with bubbles like a sheet of bubble wrap. Each bubble has four kingdoms: Air, Tomb, Land, and Sea. Each kingdom has a castle. Each castle is filled with mobs, a boss, and some sort of puzzle designed to allow quick defeat of that kingdom. Crawlers must work together to defeat each kingdom in their bubble to unlock the stairways to the sixth floor before the floor timer expires and the fifth floor collapses. Carl, Princess Donut, Katia, Mongo, and Mordecai land in the Air Kingdom. They have to figure out how to defeat a floating castle of angry Dirigible Gnomes before they move to the Land Kingdom, where they face a bizarre slime. Then they face certain death in the Sea Kingdom, being eaten by a sharktopus. Finally, they have to defeat a ghost in the Tomb Kingdom. On their quest, they seek three items, which combine to make the gate of the feral gods. The powerful items allow crawlers to create portals with one very dangerous side effect: the portal summons a feral god. Anything feral is to be avoided; feral gods most of all. Carl upgrades his anarchy skills throughout the book. Princess Donut figures out how to participate in the galactic socials, which is good and bad. Katia learns how to operate solo and gains some much-needed confidence and levels. Mongo is still my favorite, though he doesn’t get much work in this story. 

This is for crawlers and gamers. It will keep you up past your bedtime.

(Rated R, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Jeff Hays, 18:03)

Willodeen by Katherine Applegate

This is a cute little book that is one of my daughters’ favorites. It is about a little girl named Willodeen, a humming bear named Duzu, and the town they save called Perchance. Willodeen loses her family in a wildfire. She’s adopted by two older ladies named Mae and Birdie. She dodges school in favor of studying nature on her own. She loves the creatures of the forest, even the smelly ones called Screetchers. The town is threatened by dual forces: fires caused by the trains and the dwindling humming bear migration population. Connor is a young boy who befriends Willodeen. They share a love for nature and learn that they both feel deep scars after losing their parents. Together, they brave the town’s politics and help to save it. 

Like Applegate’s other books, this one focuses on how humans are nearsightedly destroying our world. The choices we make have consequences beyond today. They can trickle down to our kids and younger generations. At least it gives us hope. Hope that if we work together and understand the consequences of our actions, we can heal the world. 

This is for all little readers, and some older readers who need to see the world anew.

(Rated G, Score 7/10, audiobook read by Ariadne Meyers, 3:46)

Non-Fiction Books

With my brain fogged up, I didn’t finish any non-fiction this month. :( 

Currently Reading-

Many Waters by Madeleine L’Engle

The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinneman (DCC#5)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (HP#4)

Make Believe by Mac Barnett

I track my books in a database called Goodreads. It might help you manage your reading lists. 

Final Thoughts- 

Here are two quotes that I came across this month that I have been pondering:

“Being inoffensive, and being offended, are now the twin addictions of the culture.” 

— Martin Amis

These addictions are all about division. Only by ignoring them can we build connection and understanding. They support the lie that if someone disagrees with you, they hate you. Only in relationships is it safe to disagree well and, through conversation, deepen our understanding of ideas. How are you shaking off these addictions? 

“I'm here today to cross the swamp, not to fight all the alligators.” From The Art of Possibility. 

I’m running out of time to fight all the alligators, and fighting them doesn’t contribute to the big goal of getting across the swamp. If you see me fighting alligators, please redirect me to the task at hand.

My words for this year are Calm and Together, which means I’ve been tossed into dividing chaos. We are most of the way through the year, and I think I am finally learning how to invite people to come together and provide a sense of calm in the storm. I still have a lot of growing to do in these areas, but I can see the value they provide in this dark, crazy, lonely world. 

Thanks for adventuring with me. 

Joshua

FROM THE SPINE - SEPTEMBER 2026 BOOK REVIEWS

September 2026

September felt like a weird dream- living in a new house with no idea where anything is or belongs. Trying to learn new patterns. Trying to not drive to the old house on auto-pilot. The heat was brutal too. I made my fourth trip to NM this year to attend my Granny Renee’s memorial service. That was a hard trip, but very important for grieving and healing. 

Anyway, here are the books I finished and my reviews of them:

Fiction Books

Cold Eyes by Peter Cawdron

Dali wakes up with no idea who he is (like Grace in PHM). His memories didn’t stick. He is part of a team of four clones on a deep space mission to make first contact with an alien planet. The crew is twelve light-years away from Earth. Sandy is the warship Magellan commander. Kari is the ship scientist/botanist. Helios is the ship doctor. Dali is the humanities expert tasked with communicating with the two alien races on Bee. The story feels like a sci-fi adventure book, but it is packed with ideas about the social, political, religious, and scientific implications of first contact with aliens. The author assumes that other sentient creatures would have their own drama, motivations, and lies. The story has plenty of science, action, discovery, and plot twists. I found it to be creative, unique, and entertaining. Thanks for sending this one to me, Mike.

This is for interstellar adventurers, scientists, and artists. 

(Rated R, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Neil Shah, 13:03)

The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson (Wingfeather Saga #4)

Janner turns thirteen at the start of the book and gets blind-plopped in the middle of nowhere as part of a Durgan ritual designed to test the young man’s skills at survival, orientation, and navigation. During his trip back, the Fang army attacks Ban Rona with an air assault- Bat Fangs. Kalmar alerts the backup troops about the secret assault and saves the city from being overrun. Leeli discovers that her whistle harp has the ancient power to turn the tide of battle. She also uses her dog-speak gift to send messages and reinforcements where needed. The Fangs pull back, and the city stands for the moment. Kalmar knows that the only way to win the war is to cut the head off of the snake- Kalmar goes after Gnag the Nameless in the Castle Throg. On his way, he finds Janner and a young troll he rescued and befriended named Oood. The trio heads toward the deeps of Throg. On their way, they go through Clovenfast, and they meet the queen and spark hope in the creatures there. On the doorstep of the deeps, the broken cloven army takes out Oood. The boys make it into the Castle Throg, steal the ancient stone, and run away from a Bonnifer Squoon spider creature. But Gnag isn’t in his castle. He is capturing Leeli. The boys are captured at the bottom of their escape route from the castle, and the children are taken to the Isle of Anniera, where Gnag forces the jewels to open a secret chamber called the Fane of Fire, where he steals a much bigger ancient stone of power. The final battle is a crazy mix of all the creatures, including the dragons, ridge runners,  fangs, and cloven. The end of the book is a story of ultimate sacrifice as the Wingfeather brothers seek to heal the fangs and the cloven who will be the seeds that begin the renewed kingdom of Anniera. This is my favorite book in the series. It is the most complete. It ties up almost all of the loose ends. It takes you through the darkest depths, and tension and sorrow and loss, but restores your hope. It’s a reminder that we are all loved and named by the Maker. It says that little boys are made out of much more solid stuff than we give them credit for. Let’s challenge, teach, and grow them. Let’s help them do dangerous things, carefully. 

This is for adventurers, seekers, and healers.

(Rated PG, Score 10/10, audiobook read by the author, 13:46)

The Poisoned King by Katherine Rundell (Impossible Creatures #2)

Christopher Forrester is a guardian. He guards the way between our world and the Glimoria Archipelago- a magical place where all the impossible creatures live. He is called back to the Archipelago by Jacques, the tiny dragon, to investigate the death of the dragons. Naravirala, the ancient sphinx, guides them in their investigation. On their way to find the ancient dragons, they rescue a princess, Anya Argen, who is being hunted by her evil uncle, Claude Argen, who seeks to be king. The children face many dangers in their quest to save the dragons. They evade assassins who would kill Anya so that Claude would inherit the throne. The children are aided by the berserker Fidens Nighthand, and his love, the scientist, Irian Guinne, who have established a massive sanctuary for creatures in need. Nighthand is my favorite character behind Jacques. The berserker does not feel fear, and so, cannot love, because to love is to risk loss, and that is terrifying. I love the characters and plot development in this story almost as much as the first book. I enjoyed the way Rundell describes difficult things like the internal poison of revenge, or the depth of treachery in gold. I love all the magic, and wonder, and power that the impossible creatures bring into the story. I love way the story leads to the inevitable ruin of greed. As with the first book, I loved the language, the world-building, the adventure, and the deeper truths. We are already looking forward to book 3. 

This is for dragon riders, alchemists, and young royals. 

(Rated PG, Score 10/10, audiobook read by Sam West, 7:06)

Mission Critical by Mark Greaney (Gray Man #8)

Gray Man teams up with Anthem (Zoya) and Romantic (Zach Hightower) in Poison Apple, a sub rosa (off-the-books) CIA program. The CIA has a mole who is selling secrets to the Chinese, Iran, and other anti-American actors. The action starts with Gray Man finding himself in the middle of a shootout during a compromised prisoner handoff. The prisoner has info about the CIA mole, and the bad guys kidnap him from the CIA to keep him quiet. Anthem escapes a death squad ordered to execute her at a CIA safehouse, and cons her way over to the UK in search of her father (General Zakharov), who is supposed to be dead, but is actually an active Russian spymaster working in the UK. Romantic is ordered to lean on the short list of CIA employees who had access to all the recently compromised ops to scare out the mole. The chase leads to the Five Eyes spy conference where the leaders of all the English-speaking intelligence agencies will meet in Scotland. The ultimate plot is against that conference.  A bio weapon is being made to infect the top spies with pneumonic plague. It’s up to Poison Apple to spoil the attack. 

Like the other Gray Man books, this one is filled with violent action, snark, subterfuge, and vigilante justice. It begs the question: Who are the “good guys”? What if the good guys are also bad? Is it ok for the good guys to do bad things to the bad guys to protect the rest of us? I found it fascinating that this book about weaponized plague would find me right after finishing a book about Ebola and the great lengths we went to to not weaponize it accidentally against ourselves. 

I recommend this book to Mitch Rapp, Jason Bourne, and Gray Man fans. 

(Rated R, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Jay Snyder, 17:01)

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

Some books are therapeutic. This little book is that type. Mackesy wrote this book for everyone- from eight to eighty-year-olds. It’s filled with over 100 beautiful drawings of the boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse as they interact. The dialog is simple and very profound. The boy is lonely when he meets the mole. The mole loves cake. The fox is usually silent because he’s been hurt by the world. The horse is the strongest. The characters look at the wild which is scary and beautiful with storms, night, snow, and spring. I love this book and reread it often. It reminds me of many good, healthy truths. 

This book is for everyone. It is deeply therapeutic. Get the hardback and read it with a warm beverage to refresh your soul. 

(Rated G, Score 10/10, Hardback)

Non-Fiction Books

What’s Wrong With The World by G.K. Chesterton

I borrowed this book from my friend Jason many moons ago and finally got through it. The language is 1910 England English, so it was a bit more challenging than the other books I've read lately. Chesterton undertakes a study in five parts of the broken bits of society and argues that we already know how to fix them; we just haven’t had the discipline or courage. The five parts are: 1) The homelessness of man. 2) Imperialism. 3) Feminism. 4) Education. 5) The home of the man. Running through all parts is the theme that reformers have confused the cure with the disease by trying to radically reinvent the family rather than by going back to the fundamental family unit as it has been successfully used in the past. People want a fancy new future, not boring disciplines and structure. Instead of industrial capitalism or state socialism, Chesterton argues for distributing property back to families willing to use it well. He calls it Distributism. On feminism and education, he argues that we are getting “progress” at the cost of our freedoms. He suggests that women’s suffrage is a way to suck women into the drudgery of the modern workforce rather than a way to give them equal rights. In a similar way, he suggests that the modern education system is just creating little cogs to fuel the economic/industrial machine, when it should be creating whole, free individuals. The point is that we get obsessed with the novelty of the future, rather than focusing on the successful/proven methods we can study from the past. Thank you, Jason, for letting me borrow this book. I’ll get it back to you soon.

This is for a philosophical revamp, and thinkers who appreciate old truths. 

(Rated PG, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Bernard Mayes, 6:54)

No One’s Coming by Kevin Hazzard

This is a fascinating book about mixing airplanes and lethal infectious diseases. Phoenix Air is the company who gets the phone call, when situations are impossible like moving ebola victims without infecting the modern world. Ebola is a terrifying disease. We send doctors all over the world to fight the disease. But what happens when those doctors get sick. They want to come home and fight the disease with the people they love. This book is about how the people at Phoenix Air went above and beyond their duty, and literally invented the art of safely transporting patients with infectious diseases. There were no rules for how to properly handle situations like this and the fear and red tape in the way were monumental, but the crew at Phoenix Air stepped up, innovated, and pushed through safely. There’s a quote I use at work for situations like this: Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist. The crew at Phoenix Air had a long history of knowing the rules and dealing with elevated risk and danger from their time hauling explosives. This put them in a strategic position to invent biomedical transport when the need arose. 

Thanks, Phil for recommending this one. 

This is for airplane people and medical people.

(Rated R, Score 9/10, audiobook read by Nick Mills, 8:04)

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

The biology involved in climbing Mount Everest was a little bit lost on me until I read this book. The summit of the giant mountain is almost 30,000 feet. Airplane pilots learn to deal with hypoxia starting at about 10,000 feet. The author was part of an expedition attempting to summit Everest in May, 1996. The book covers the trip through base camp and each of the other camps on the mountain as the group acclimates to the altitude and the elements.  The author includes some of the history of the mountain and how climbing it had become more commercialized as guides are highly-paid to get inexperienced climbers to the top. During the climbing season in the book, there were several different climbing teams working their way up the mountain and each had different guides and different skill levels. Several groups attempted to summit on May 10. Some made it. Others are still there, frozen in death. It was fascinating to read about the way the lack of oxygen caused the climbers to lose cognitive function and make poor decisions in the weather and the altitude, and how communication deteriorated leading to the death of several climbers. The human will to overcome difficulty and suffering is unbelievable.  One climber was left for dead by his teammates twice and still managed to get himself low enough to be rescued properly after spending two nights (I think) unprotected on the mountain. I climbed several mountains in my youth, and I now can confirm that I have no desire to tackle Everest.

Key takeaways: Oxygen is important. Always climb with a buddy. Careful communication is important in crisis. Nature is unforgiving. Even the professionals make mistakes. Getting to the top is not the only goal because you still have to survive the trip back down.

Thank you, Lucas for recommending this one to me. 

This is for climbers, adventurers, and sherpas.

(Rated PG-13, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Philip Franklin, 9:08)

Currently Reading-

Many Waters by Madeleine L’Engle

Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

I track my books in a database called Goodreads. It might help you manage your reading lists. 

Final Thoughts- 

How do you say goodbye to someone who had been such a big part of your biggest moments? How do you honor them well? How do you process all the grief without it getting stuck somewhere behind your Adam’s apple? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions. I’m still discovering them. When we traveled to Alamogordo in southern New Mexico for Granny’s memorial service, we were each trying to answer those questions. My dad and my uncle asked me to give her eulogy. I spent a lot of time working on crafting the right words. There are some words in there that make me cry every time I read them. I think that those words that are the closest to the truth about who she was and how much she meant. Those are the words that are closest to describing her properly. I’m sure what I said wasn’t perfect, and my delivery was interrupted by my allergies (tears), but my hope is that it helped the people there remember Granny in a beautiful way, and that it captured the essence of what she means to my family and her community. My Granny was a wonderful lady.  She will be deeply missed.  

Thanks for adventuring with me. 

Joshua