It Was Sad & It Was Beautiful

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Finished June 28, 2026; paperback/audiobook on Everand

This book has been on my TBR ever since it came out. I kind of giggled when I got to the tumblr quote of all time that I have seen in many a ship over the years:

“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”

The sad bois, the tragedy, meddling gods, self-fulfilling prophecies; it was worth the wait, Madeline Miller knows what’s up.

The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly. Finished June 27, 2026; audiobook on audible

This is the fourth Ballard and Bosch book and it was set in late 2020/early 2021 and referenced the pandemic, the election, George Floyd, and the insurrection. All that was kind of a lot and the POV wasn’t split between Ballard and Bosch like in previous books, it was all from Ballard perspective, although Titus Welliver still did the narration of Bosch’s dialogue. With all of that going on I didn’t have as good a time as with the previous books, but I’m still hoping to continue with the series because I just think living through a pandemic and then reading fiction about living through that same pandemic is just not for me right now.

Hondo by Louis L’Amour. Finished June 24, 2026; audiobook on Spotify

A few weekends ago, I was lucky enough to attend a live reading of short stories (Selected Shorts podcast tour) and I got to see one of my all-time favorite character actors David Strathairn read a George Saunders short story called “Home.” And since David Strathairn has the greatest speaking voice of all-time, that sent me looking for any audiobooks he narrated. So, I picked Hondo because it’s a John Wayne movie that I enjoyed and it seemed like a cold story for him to narrate. It was an excellent time, he did a great job with all the different voices and I really enjoyed my time.