Melissa Llanes Brownlee, 2022

A novella in flash fiction chapters about Hawai'ian gods living in late-stage capitalism. Kahi, the chaotic destroyer, and Lua, the philosophical creator.

Through keen observations of modern life and immortality, Brownlee uses the characters to reflect on the beauty and sadness of existence. Far from dour though, the stories are funny and use sly pop culture commentary.

Both the length of the book and vignettes show how wisdom can be conveyed with an economy of words. The characters are fully formed in twenty-nine short stories. By story's end, the reader is both primed and gobsmacked by its finality.

Read it.

#books #flashfiction #novellainflash #mythology #drabble

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

• Mastodon
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• StoryGraph

See all #Larrys2025Faves

I fell short of my goal of 35 books, petering out at 26. Maybe reading goals are dumb. I wrote more, listened to more music, and grew fatigued by the counting. I had a plan to finish nine more in December, then thought, 'What am I doing here?' Rethinking for 2026, maybe genre challenges? Read Beowulf?

2025 Superlatives

Best Read: Death of the Author – Nnedi Okorafor 

Runner Up: Playground – Richard Powers 

Note: Both have similar plot twists and themes 

Best Debut: Brooklyn Motto – Alex Johnson 

Best Non-Fiction: The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir – Neko Case

For books, I don't restrict to 2025 releases; this is a list of all books consumed, in random order:

1. Red Sonja: Consumed - Gail Simone: Red Sonja done right Larry’s 100 review

2. Death of the Author - Nnedi Okorafor: Wow Larry’s 100 review

3. I Wouldn't Say It If It Wasn't True: A Memoir of Life, Music, and the Dream Syndicate - Steve Wynn: Not the casino owner

4. Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside - Nick Offerman: Clowning on Jeff Tweedy was the highlight

5. Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe - David M. Perry, Matthew Gabriele: Proving elites have always been annoying Larry’s 10 Review

6. River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Road - Cat Jarman: Academic but approachable history

7. Between Two Fires - Christopher Buehlman: Macabre historical fiction

8. The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource - Chris Hayes: Well researched and compelling, if a little obvious

9. Brooklyn Motto - Alex Johnson: Pre cell phone wonderland Larry’s 100 review

10. Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism – Sarah Wynn-Williams: Dishy dystopia origin story

11. The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir - Neko Case: Stark but resilient Larry’s 100 review

12. The Blacktongue Thief - Christopher Buehlman: My fave author discovery of 2025 Larry’s 100 review

13. Blind Owl Blues: The Mysterious Life and Death of Blues Legend Alan Wilson - Rebecca Davis: Sad ending to a fascinating Blues Rock introvert

14. Playground - Richard Powers: There and back again through the AI funhouse mirror

15. Comedy Samurai: Forty Years of Blood, Guts, and Laughter - Larry Charles: Soul searching for laughs through some TV/Movies biggest comedies

16. William Blake vs the World – John Higgs: Diary of a madman

17. The Great Courses: The Viking Age: New Perspectives on History and Culture - Jennifer Paxton: Paxton is my fave public lecturer, Folk singing Dad Tom must be proud

18. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin: Twee, emo and overrated

19. The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities - Wayne Kramer: Ghost listen Larry’s 100 review

20. A Kiss Before Dying - Ira Levin: I am going to read a Levin a year

21. The Uncool: A Memoir - Cameron Crowe: Almost Famous: The Writer's Cut Larry’s 100 review 

22. The Conan Chronicles #1: The People of The Black Circle - Robert E. Howard: Hail Crom

23. Rumors of My Demise - Evan Dando: He can talk, and he told us Larry’s 100 review 

24. The Bloodsworn Saga #1: The Shadow of the Gods - John Gwynne: Viking X-Men

25. The Bloodsworn Saga #2: The Hunger of the Gods - John Gwynne: High gore content

26. The Bloodsworn Saga #3: The Fury of the Gods - John Gwynne: A heck of a yarn

#books #reading #2025BestOf #BookReviews #BestOfBooks #Larrys2025FavesBooks #BookRecommendations #AmReading #100WordReview #Larrys100 #100DaysToOffload #Larrys2025Faves

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

• Mastodon
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• StoryGraph

Note: Part of my ongoing #AudioMemoir series reviewing author-read memoirs. Previous: Neko Case, Cameron Crowe. and Evan Dando. Coming: Larry Charles.

The late Brother Wayne Kramer's narration of his life was a liminal listening experience for me. Hearing his voice made him alive, even though I knew he wasn't. The back-from-the-grave narration started with a Michigan youth and ended in L.A. as a father and Punk icon.

Kramer laid bare addictions, crimes, and failures while celebrating resilience as a guitar gunslinger. The MC5 saga was covered, as was prison time with Jazz musician Red Rodney, and too much junkie business with Johnny Thunders. His reflections on being a roofer and woodworker balanced the Rock 'n' Roll excess.

Listen to it.

#books #MusicChannel #AudioMemoir #MC5 #Punk #WayneKramer #MusicMemoir #100WordReview #Larrys100 #100DaysToOffload

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

• Mastodon
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• StoryGraph

Note: Part of my ongoing #AudioMemoir series reviewing author-read memoirs. Previous: Neko Case, Cameron Crowe. Coming: Wayne Kramer, Larry Charles.

The 100 Word Review of The Lemonheads' new album, Love Chant

Funny, honest, and soulful, Dando takes an unflinching look at his life as a teen punk of privilege, alterna-hunk, and dope fiend.

Examining his Boston upbringing, 120 Minutes indie rock era, and the burdens of being hot, Dando ambles through life dedicated to art and deconstruction. Stories of Gibby Haynes, Courtney Love, Keith Richards, and others intermingle with harrowing tales of the House of Shock crack den and breakdowns in Australia. 

He owns it all. No big sobriety arc or 12-step apology tour. He knows he’s hurt people and wasted time, but his warmth and talent shine.

Listen to it.

#AudioMemoir #100WordReview #Larrys100 #100DaysToOffload #EvanDando #books #MusicChannel

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

• Mastodon
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• StoryGraph

Warnings from the Carolingian Empire about our current era. To be familiar with 2025, we get Brinkmanship, bloody battles, and family infighting deconstructed and reexamined. Charlemagne’s offspring did not honor him.

Perry and Gabriele are dynamic public historians, deploying a lively narrative and sharp scholarship. The use of poetry and participant reflections builds empathy for players in this epic soap opera.

I appreciate the reminder that egos, power-mad schemers, and an endless supply of nepobabies are centuries-old tropes. The authors spare no one as they posit elites can be the stupidest of us, then and now.

Place a library hold.

#Drabble #100WordReview #Larrys100 #BookReview #History #MedievalHistory #Oathbreakers #Carolingian #Nonfiction #PublicHistory #Bookstodon #2025Books #100DaysToOffload #books #history

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

• Mastodon
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• StoryGraph

Note: This is part of a series on memoirs read by their authors. #AudioMemoir

Previously in this series: Neko Case

Coming soon: Wayne Kramer, Evan Dando, Larry Charles

Listening to Crowe’s warm narration as he mines his teen music journalism years for laughs and tears, it felt like Almost Famous: Writer's Cut. 

A love letter to the 1970s, with Rock Stars galore, from Lou Reed to Dicky Betts. Tales of long tours, late nights, and chance encounters. All guided by mentor Lester Bangs. 

Light on movie career, but has choice Fast Times stories. Even winning an Oscar is quick business. 

Not the box set of his life, rather a double album. But in the end, it is a story about a family in San Diego.

Listen to it.

#Audiobook #AudioMemoir #CameronCrowe #Memoir #Bookstodon #FediBooks #MusicMemoir #RollingStone #70sMusic #Larrys100 #Drabble #100WordReview #100DaysToOffload #books #MusicChannel

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

• Mastodon
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• StoryGraph

In January, I wrote, “I feel bad for the rest of the books I will read this year.” As we wind down 2025, my statement holds.

No spoilers, but multiple stories power this novel. Advanced bio-prosthetics, driverless cars, and battle bots all feature in the plots. The narrative is American, African, and Galactic, expanding by the powers of ten.

Okorafor gives a soul and voice to what is artificial. Through that alchemy, she quilts together a complex, creative, and cautionary story about our collective walk into AI Evolution with intimacy and scale.

A novel for the Neo-Neolithic age.

Read it.

#Bookstodon #BookReview #NnediOkorafor #DeathOfTheAuthor #Drabble #100WordReview #Larrys100 #100DaysToOffload #books

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

• Mastodon
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• StoryGraph

Helming Robert E. Howard's Red Sonja, author Gail Simone demonstrates a bard's touch for the Sword & Sorcery genre.

Simone celebrates the character's excesses and writes her lively action sequences, on the battlefield and in the bedroom. At times, overburdened by side quests, but the epic boss battles thrill with clear emotional stakes.

Chapters opening with historical documents, folklore, and societal analysis ground the narrative in a larger world but in inventive ways.

The Falcon's “Blood Man” is a devastating character study of violent male fragility. His POV chapters are like reading the manifesto of a real-world incel terrorist.

Read it.

#BookReview #SwordAndSorcery #RedSonja #GailSimone #Drabble #100WordReview #Bookstodon #100DaysToOffload #books

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

• Mastodon
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• StoryGraph

Branded deadbeat by his thieves guild, rare of coin, but still a romantic optimist (when he's feeling lucky), protagonist Kinch Na Shannack colorfully narrates us along his macabre adventures.

What unfolds is a rollicking low fantasy adventure—more taverns and flophouses than courtly castles. Kinch picks up a motley crew, including a red wine-obsessed knight who stores giant fighting birds in her tattoos, a paraplegic witch who enchants recently deceased torsos to walk, and an assassin cat.

Magic systems and world-building are inventive but subtle, opting to start small and grow.

Ever the trickster, Kinch is a riot. Read it.

#Bookstodon #BookReview #Fantasy #Drabble #TheBlacktongueThief #CultureDrabble #ChristopherBuehlman #100DaysToOffload #books

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

• Mastodon
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• StoryGraph

Most will start this expecting Neko's tales of Rock & Roll, only to read a memoir about poverty, family pain, and generational trauma. Case presents a stark look at growing up poor and neglected in North America.

There are some music business bits, but they feel like addenda to her rich story. Music helped save her, but it's only part of her narrative. Her quest to find her Slavic heritage resonated with me, from horse-riding women warriors to lady wrestlers to The Muffs.

Her writing crackles with verve. She dashes off analogies, deploying wordplay with a songwriter's touch. Listen to it.

#100WordReviews #Drabble #BookReview #Memoir #NekoCase #NewBooks2025 #Bookstodon #AudioMemoir #100DaysToOffload #books #MusicChannel

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

• Mastodon
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• StoryGraph