When one of my children was young, they used to declare "I do what I want!" It wasn't a dream phrase for any parent to hear, especially one trying to wrangle three under three into a car or tuck an overtired child in for the night but I must admit, the kid had a point. All of us, no matter our age or stage are expected to follow rules and do that which is expected of our station. It's no different for booksellers who, as a part of the job, are expected to keep pace with what's happening in the book world current or otherwise. But sometimes, we all just want to read what we want! In listening to an interview with a big name author this week (who *happens* to be headlining one of the hottest luncheon tickets in town), she repeated this idea in a slightly different manner. Reid said that she hoped no one ever felt they *had* to read her books. For her, reading should be all about pleasure and joy. For our Friday Five this week, I'm inclined to agree.

THE ABANDONED: First up, a book on loan from bookseller Robin who, being a part of what I am now calling the Great Cat Rescue of 2022 (IYKYK), generously brought in a yellowed copy of this 1950 tale about a young boy who so loves cats that after an accident he ends up turning into one. ROBIN'S FAVORITE BOOK, DO NOT THROW AWAY! is written in the front cover so I can't let you have a look, however we'd be delighted to order you your very own copy. In our handy dandy bookseller master system, this book is categorized as perfect for young readers ages 9-12. A cursory glance at the type and number of pages suggests we're talking the upper end of that young reader range. But fear not. If you've got a young cat lover in your house who loves snuggling up with you as much as the kitty, this brand new gem from Carson Ellis and Randall de Seve is for you. I'm reading it with my crew tonight.

STONES: We had the most glorious evening of poetry on Tuesday, thanks to Aaron Caycedo-Kimura and Tawanda Mulalu who generously graced us with stunning readings from their new books Common Grace (Caycedo-Kimura) and Please make me pretty I don't want to die (Mulalu). My schedule — currently populated with doctor appointments and gymnastics runs; tomato soup slurped out of thermoses while racing from hither to thither — cuts my reading time a bit short. Being that I am host to a compulsion of need for a book at the ready, poetry provides a perfect balm for the scattered soul. I just picked up Kevin Young's (poetry editor for The New Yorker) latest volume infused with history and emotion while dealing with grief and joy, present and past, and what it means to come home.

THE WATER CURE: As you probably know, we booksellers are a lucky lot, with access to titles not yet released to the public. It's fun, for sure, and yet - also overwhelming in the sense that the choices are endless. Do you read one month ahead or six? Do you press your luck on a debut author with no trusted source to give it a star or tell you it's okay to like? In this season and along with the spirit of doing just what I like, I nabbed the latest from Booker nominee Sophie Mackintosh off the ARC shelf. I love her two previous books and thus figured her latest (which releases in April 2023) was a pretty good bet. While you can't yet devour Cursed Bread, a story about a 1951 mass poisoning of a French village and the baker's wife who finds herself entangled in a tempestuous love triangle, you can start with her debut about a trio of sisters, Grace, Lia, and Sky, kept at bay from the rest of the world on a remote island for their own protection. A haunting tale good for fans who can stomach a world gone terribly wrong.

BLACK COUNTRY MUSIC, LISTENING FOR REVOLUTIONS: I might as well come clean with a well kept secret many of my closest friends don't even know: I enjoy a good dose of country music now and then. I can't pinpoint the roots of this love although I suspect my mom's adoration for Johnny Cash snuck in somewhere along the way. I also spent my university years in North Carolina and they were, in a word, glorious. So whatever was playing on the radio, which was often Nelly with a good dose of country music thrown in between, brings back good vibes. I heard about this groundbreaking work from Hanif Abdurraqib who blurbed the book: "Black Country Music holds within it vital history and also serves as a vessel for Francesca Royster's gentle, reliable, and immersive storytelling, weaving an expansive narrative to hold up the untold and undertold stories of the music-makers at the heart of America's many sounds." The best part? While learning LOTS, I'm also acquiring solid material for the store's playlists.

JACKAL: Finally, when all else fails, I'm all in on a fast-paced, page-turning crackerjack read even if the premise is horror-filled. In this devastating debut, the story opens with a young girl whose mother finally lets loose the tight grip on her daughter's freedom for an afternoon of play that ends in, well, the end. The story then jumps time to a black woman returning to her mostly white childhood town for the wedding of a dear friend only to encounter a copycat case of abduction and murder. I started this midweek on Libro.fm and kept finding excuses to do more dishes and drive around the block a time or two. Great for thriller readers of all sorts.