Readers Dessert

This wasn’t tops on my priority list, but I downloaded the audiobook on a whim after I heard that version was good, as narrated by Julia Whelan and Zachary Chastain. This is John Green’s first novel for adults, about Juniper and Kai, two stars positioned for a breakout in Hollywood. Juniper is an ambitious child star who knows early success is no predictor of a lasting career; her storyline constantly brought Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died to mind. Kai is a relative unknown from Indianapolis; he’s all potential but is haunted by the worst thing that ever happened to him. The two meet on set for the brilliant biopic Andy Warhol Never Gets Old, where a Hollywood superstar (think Keanu + Matthew McConaghy) takes them under his wing. Kai and Juniper bond, they flirt, they make a great movie. They maybe start to fall in love, then begin to dream of Oscar noms and breakout roles. They really struggle with maintaining their humanity in the face of the Hollywood machine. This was highly listenable and engaging; I enjoyed their emotional journies and ate up the junket details, which were so juicily despicable. But I was blindsided by a major theme I did not expect to encounter here, and while I only nominally searched for content warnings before reading, I’m still shocked this went unmentioned in the majority of critical reviews I encountered before (and since) reading. This Slate review addresses that theme in detail: check it out before reading if desired. More info →

I’ve been meaning to read this for ages and finally did this month. Stoner is often described as a campus novel, and I suppose it is that, but most of all it’s a quiet character study of an ordinary man, set at the turn of the 20th century in Columbia, Missouri. William Stoner is born to a poor Missouri farming family. It’s assumed he’ll take over the farm one day, but first, his father is persuaded to send his son to university, to study the newfangled farming methods that might help them coax more life out of their deteriorating soil. In his sophomore year, Stoner takes the required English lit course and, to his astonishment, falls in love. He experiences something akin to a religious conversation; that course changes the trajectory of his life. How I wanted good things for Stoner! But his life is a tragedy, over and over: he and his chosen wife are desperately unhappy together, he’s poorly suited for the politics of academia, his parents become unknown to him, his health deteriorates. Williams lays it all out in clean and precise prose that feels perfectly suited to his tale. My verdict: I can see that this is good, but holy bookshelves, it was bleak. More info →

I recently revisited this fall 2025 release in preparation for hearing Jeff speak locally. I’m fascinated by his bio: he teaches, he preaches, he travels the world writing for Travel + Leisure. This book unfolds as a series of extended vignettes, and that composite structure well serves the story and his story. When Jeff was in his late 30s, he left his full-time job as a magazine writer in NYC and became a student at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he quickly made his way to the “Farminary,” a 21-acre working farm where students work the land and ponder life’s toughest questions. In this midlife memoir, as prompted by the farm, he reflects on what it takes to create and recognize good soil, both literally and metaphorically, covering his experiences on the farm, the triumphs and failures of growing things, formative moments from his Chinese-American childhood, and life today with friends, family, and his husband Tristan. I did much of my re-read on audio; I very much enjoyed listening to Jeff narrate his own story. More info →