Hey Reader,

I finished reading all 20 books in Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series. For the second time this year. Long story I can tell you some other time. By the time I finished the series, I'd had enough of dead and murderous monks.

Right now I want to show you exactly how chippy I got while reading The Grey Wolf, which is book 19 of the Inspector Gamache series. Book 21 is Miss Walcott's Ghost, to be released October 20.

To be clear: I love this series. I respect Louise Penny enormously. You don’t write 20 books about the same group of people and keep readers like me wandering around Three Pines for years and stumbling into one murder after another without being very, very good at what you do.

Through both turns through the series I've bounced between the audiobooks and my Kindle Scribe. When I’m listening, I mostly listen. When I’m reading on the Scribe, I usually have the digital pen in my hand.

And apparently Opinions. 🔥

I wasn’t taking notes for a newsletter. I was just reading. And talking back. 😒

This is one reason I'm enchanted by the Gamache series.

☝🏻 Jean-Guy doesn’t announce that he’s protecting Armand. He just quietly moves between him and the wolf.

I noticed.

So I wrote it down.

👇🏻Then things began to deteriorate. 😏

When did I stop observing the characters and start arguing with them? 🤭

This is also a perfectly legitimate form of literary analysis. At least according to me. 🤠

And then we arrived here. 👇🏻

I stand by my scholarship.

By the end, I had apparently appointed myself director, as you'll see from this next note. 👇🏻

☝🏻 People have guns drawn! Put those things down before somebody gets hurt. Nobody has eaten. Gamache still has his tie on. Let's all have a tea and reveal the murderer in a civilized environment. Oh, and somebody order Beauvoir some bistro takeout before he collapses.

Here’s what I love about all these scribbles in my Kindle Scribe margins.

I don’t actually have an annotation system.

• Sometimes I notice a beautiful sentence.
• Sometimes I catch a tiny piece of character.
• Sometimes I’m trying to remember who the heck somebody
• Sometimes I heckle. Because it's fun. The characters don't talk back! 😉

I don’t do this with every book...

...and this matters. A lot!

1. I don’t want reading to become another productivity project with a five-color highlighting system and seventeen pieces of metadata.
2. Reading is allowed to just be reading.

When I do feel like writing in the margins...

I’ve started thinking of it less as taking notes and more as having a conversation with the book.

Those conversations become surprisingly useful.

Not because they preserve the author’s thoughts, b ut because these silly little notes preserve mine.

By the end of The Grey Wolf, I knew I hadn’t particularly enjoyed the plot of this book, but I had a blast blasting the characters. 🤷🏻‍♀️

What is it that I didn't like about this book? Was it the book?

It's possible that...

• This particular plot just didn’t work for me.
• I’m tired after tearing through the Gamache books.
• The book seemed to be less about the Three Pines characters and much more about action and suspense, much like a James Patterson title.

I’ll read it again someday and maybe wonder why 2026 Tracy was so cynical.

Isn't this the other thing about reading?

The book stays the same. It's the reader who changes over time.

We bring whatever version of ourselves exists that day to the page—our attention, our patience, our mood, our experience.

And if we happen to scribble while we’re there, we leave behind a little record of that reader.

Sometimes Future Me gets a thoughtful observation about character and loyalty. (See Jean-Guy note at the top)

Both are legitimate scholarship. 😉

🫵🏻 Do you talk back to your books?

If you’ve ever left an especially unhinged note in the margins, hit reply and send it to me.​
Reader hecklers welcome.

Oh, and my dear, dear friend Ariel Schaper has just published her third book! Mysteries and Misty the Purple Kitten!

My mom and I got an advance version and it's an excellent, imaginative, and kind story. Catch the Kindle Unlimited title here. I'm so proud of this kid!

That's it for this week. Read something you love today.

—Tracy

P.S. If you want company while you rebuild your reading life, my tip jar is here. It keeps this newsletter free and fueled by espresso instead of ads.

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