“Tough Luck,” by Sandra Dallas (St. Martin’s Press, 2025)
Our plucky, resilient, inventive yet no-nonsense heroine is no angel, yet seems to be protected by her own guardian angel. Fourteen-year-old Haidie, along with her younger brother, sets off in 1863 from an Iowa orphanage to find the father who left them years before for the allure of Colorado gold mines. Haidie encounters both kind souls and scoundrels on her journey, with most of the latter getting at least their comeuppance if not frontier justice. Dallas displays her knack for capturing quaint 19th-century dialogue. And, while the locales of Denver, Idaho Springs and Georgetown may all sound familiar to most Coloradans, the rough-and-tumble 19th-century towns depicted here will surprise many. (Disclousure: Sandra Dallas is a freelance book reviewer for The Denver Post.) — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus,” by Emma Knight (Pamela Dorman Books, 2025)
No octopi here. Knight’s debut novel features Penelope Winters, a Canadian who travels to Edinburgh for university. She connects with friends of her father and learns as much about family and sex as she does about her studies. I enjoyed the witty and quick writing, but the story seems more old-school than contemporary. Yes, people use chat apps, but that’s all that anchors this book to the 20th century. The characters are interesting, although a bit stereotyped. Consider this a coming-of-age novel. (A Read with Jenna pick.) — 2 1/2 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
“The Bookbinder of Jericho,” by Pip Williams (Ballantine Books, 2023)
Young British twin sisters, Peggy and Maude, are working in a bookbindery during World War I. Maude is autistic and displays echolalia (the repetition of heard word fragments). Peggy has given up her dream of higher education due to her commitment to Maude. Later, when she gets a full scholarship to Somerville, she is torn between studying and her love for a Belgian soldier. The book details the process of bookbinding from the “girls’ side of the bookbindery.” Each section of the novel is formed by books, including Shakespeare’s England and Homeri, that were bound at the time but not available to most people. Several characters, including Tilda Taylor, from the author’s earlier novel, “The Dictionary of Lost Words,” appear here and bring news of the war. — 3 stars (out of 4); Diana Doner, Lafayette
“Naked,” by David Sedaris (Little, Brown and Company, 1998)
Don’t read a book by David Sedaris unless you’re prepared for off-the-wall humor. Not always “proper” in content but forever hilarious, this volume was written long enough ago that he doesn’t reveal any of his more sensitive side, which he’s starting to do nowadays. Still, like any ground-breaking humorist, much of his work is actually grounded in sorrow and heart-wrenching perceptions. But for years, he disguised the origins of that pain, like he does in these essays. Unless you probe the roots of these pieces (“Dinah, the Christmas Whore” features his family cashing in on an event with a prostitute, the eponymous “Naked” set in a nudist camp), you might miss the original creative impulse. In “The Quad” — in which he becomes acquainted with and helpful to a severely handicapped female student — life might be mundane, but with Sedaris, never boring. — 3 stars (out of 4); Bonnie McCune, Denver (bonniemccune.com)
“Trouble Island,” by Sharon Short (Minotaur Books, 2024)
A faced-paced whodunnit with bodies falling left and right, and theories piling up faster than the bodies. No one can trust anyone else, and with good reason, in this tale based on the author’s own family stories and the true histories of bootlegging, fatal storms, island life and more on Lake Erie. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver