What I'm Reading September 17, 2022

First up and most anticipated, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin. I don't want to add any spoilers, but one character immediately gave off "too good for this earth" vibes, and... I always feel like I discovered Zevin before anyone else, only because I read her young adult novel Elsewhere when I started working at San Elijo, and it made me realize how much I was going to love choosing books for the library.

Next up was a mystery I waited far too long for. Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead is a locked room mystery, but the writing just felt stilted. I will give the next book in the series a try when it comes out, but Mead will have to grab me in the first 50 pages!
I checked out a copy of A Place in the World, by Frances Mayes when I saw it on the new book table at the Doylestown Free Library. I've felt she's been riding on the success of Tuscan Sun forever, and this did nothing to change my mind. When I look at the quotes I wrote out, they're all quotes from other authors! Quotes and lots of name dropping made this a meh book for me.
I have mixed feelings about Mohsid Hamid's The Last White Man. A novella, with Hamid's signature lengthy and comma-filled sentences didn't flow right for me. The happy ending seemed pasted on, after the anxiety of whether Anders would survive life as a brown man surrounded by fearful white people. Still, I'm thinking about it over a month after I finished it, which is always a mark of a good book to me. It's just Hamid-lite compared to Exit West.
California Soul, by Keith Corbin was a speed read for me. Corbin grew up in Watts and is now a chef/owner of a restaurant in LA, with stints of drug abuse and prison in between (well, his drug use was concurrent with being a chef.) 
Deanna Raybourn switched it up from her historical mysteries with Killers of a Certain Age, about four women who worked as assassins. The Museum, the agency they work for, was established by former CIA/MI6 agents to track down and kill nazis who escaped justice after World War II, but expands to kill others as time and these agents reduce the number of WWII era nazis. The characters are lightly sketched, but the action and dual timelines kept me reading. I hope she'll continue writing about these women and give us more backstory. 
All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, by Rebecca Donner, told a fascinating story of German and American resistance in the early days of WWII. I love narrative nonfiction, but this suffered a bit from a scarcity of information on Mildred Harnack. Still, Donner clearly connects the dots between the nazi regime and the current GOP, including the smug belief on the part of German conservatives that they could keep Hitler in check; the belief by Hitler that any publicity is good; the burning torches and banning of books, the false news narratives; and the relegation of women to strictly the role of child bearers and carers. 
Next up: ALL the books! So many authors I love have new books out this fall that I've lost track of those I've ordered and I've hit the limit on holds from the library. It will be a cozy book reading fall, with Grammy's chair to relax in.

What I'm Reading August 18, 2022

Finished Jess Walter's The Angel of Rome and Other Stories. He's one of those writers that makes beautiful writing look effortless. 

Next up was Scattered All Over the Earth, by Yoko Tawada. In the near future, Japan is gone, fallen (sunken?) to climate change, along with most of its citizens. Hiruko now lives in Denmark, seeking anyone who speaks her first language, while she communicates in Panska, a pidgin Scandinavian language she created. She gathers a motley crew and travels around Europe. As she weaves stories for immigrant children out of her memories of Japanese fairy tales, she pulls from universal folklore to fill in the blanks of her memories. Really creative, and I look forward to the next two books in the trilogy.

I followed this up with a binge read of Denise Mina's Garnethill trilogy. Set in the underbelly of Glasgow, I found myself rooting for Maureen, even though I usually hate characters that constantly get in their own way. Very satisfying ending for me!

A nonfiction break with 52 Ways to Walk by Annabel Streets. A nice supplement to The Age Well Project, and a few good ideas for future walks (once it cools off!)

A memoir by Raynor Winn, The Salt Path left me wanting to shake the author at times. A couple loses their family farm just as the husband is diagnosed with a terminal disease. Somehow she decides walking the the South West Coast Path in England is the best way to stretch their dole payment. I kept thinking there should have been someone they could have stayed with, but then there would have been no book. An interesting if disquieting cautionary tale.

The Marlow Murder Club, by Robert Thorogood. A variation on Strangers on a Train, set in a Thames-side village. Very little character development and not a series I'll continue.

Another first in a series English mystery, The Body in the Garden, by Katherine Schellman, was a bit better. Schellman left room for her main characters to grow, and the London setting was a plus. 

I downloaded The Christie Affair, by Nina de Gramont on audio for my visits to Jean, thinking I'd finish it in five days of driving. Instead, Jean got Covid, and I listened around the house. Great narrator, and I figured I knew what was coming, so I wasn't too upset when my loan ended while I still had an hour or so left in the book. Because it was a 7 day hold, I got an instant notification that I could borrow it again, so I finished, and I'm glad it did, because de Gramont added a great plot twist that tied some things up most satisfactorily! 

The Doylestown Library purchased two gardening books I'd requested based on reviews in The New York Times: You Grow, Gurl, by Christoper Griffin and Becoming a Gardener, by Catie Marron. The former was an introduction to houseplants, covering what and where to buy plants, how to place them in your home, and how to pot and care for them. The author is a self-described Plant Kween, and the book is a chatty version of his Instagram, and was a quick and fun read. I'd love to see Griffin and Marron have cocktails together! Marron worked in finance, as an editor at Vogue, and is the widow of a very, very rich man. Her book is gorgeous, sprinkled with watercolor illustrations, paintings (some from their art collection) and photography of her garden. It reads more like a long essay, and reminded me of Dominque Browning, who oddly doesn't get mentioned in the extensive bibliography (and I just went down a Google rabbit hole to be reminded that it was Browning who wrote the reviews of these gardening books!) 

And this morning, I finished Nuclear Family, by Joseph Han, about a Korean family living in Honolulu. I was so close to DNFing this in the middle and am very glad I didn't. The family runs a few Korean lunch plate restaurants, with sporadic help from their two children. Jacob, who knows his family won't accept him being gay, travels to Seoul to teach English. His grandfather, who wanders Seoul as a ghost, trying to return to the north to reunite with his first family, finds Jacob and possesses him. Jacob then attempts to cross the DMZ, failing and bringing massive negative attention to his family in Hawaii. His sister is self medicating her depression with pot, and is never without a bong, a vape pen, or edibles. It was unremittingly bleak, but Han pulls out a hopeful ending. Another reminder that telling a hyper-specific story well always tells the universal story, too: Always connect.

What I'm Reading July 25 ,2022

I had a spate of holds arrive at once, and they got better as I read:) First up, and least favorite, was The Men, by Sandra Newman. The premise of a planet without men was intriguing, but the plot was non-existent. Characters appeared to be integral to the story, then disappeared. I sped through the last hundred pages just to see if she could pull something out of it, but unfortunately no.

Next was The Premonitions Bureau, by Sam Knight. This would have been a great long form piece in The New Yorker or The Atlantic. There just wasn't enough material for the book, so he padded it with some tangents that I felt weakened the book.

I always look forward to a book by Ruth Ware, and The It Girl  didn't disappoint. It also didn't wow me like The Death of Mrs. Westaway did. I knew who the murderer was at least halfway through the book:/ But Ware does suspense so well, I was still quite anxious reading the last fifty or so pages. 

I put The Kingdom of Sand  by Andrew Holleran on hold based on one sentence quoted in the review in The New York Times:

"Using a two-lane highway presumes that everyone coming toward you wants to live as much as you do..."

A book that epitomizes what fiction does, because reading it gave me insight I could never have into the lives of older single gay men living semi-closeted in central Florida. Another beautiful quote:

"...when people express tenderness and kindness to someone it's often because of someone else. Love and kindness have a lineage their recipients know nothing about."

I've been waiting for Isaac Fitzgerald's memoir, Dirtbag, Massachusetts since I stumbled upon his newsletter. Finally one that lived up to the hype! A few of my favorite lines:

"Even before I learned how to read I learned to respect books as a second religion."

And,

"My mother gave me my first Saint Jude medal [patron saint of impossible causes] when I was twelve, which could have felt like calling it a little early."

Finally, I read a few essays from Rogues,  by Patrick Radden Keefe. The one about Anthony Bourdain was so bittersweet.

Right now I'm reading Jess Walter's short story collection, The Angel of Rome,  and am loving it.

What I'm Reading July 14, 2022

A few that got hyped so much my expectations were too high and a few solid picks from The New York Times  book review.

First up, Ordinary Monsters  by J.M. Miro. Vibes of Harry Potter and The Mysterious Benedict Society, only more gory. Started out great, dragged on way too long (which is why I thought of J.K. Rowling!) I believe it's the first in a series, but I won't read the rest.

Sorrow and Bliss, by Meg Mason. A surprise, as I thought it was more of a beach read from the cover. Generational mental illness that no one talks about destroys a marriage. I'm a sucker for smart conversations between sisters. Well-written, and I'll enjoy reading her backlist titles. 

A mystery set in LA in the early 60s, One Shot Harry,  by Gary Phillips took me a while to get into. The heavy expository dialogue didn't do it for me, but I get why he included it--the 60s are ancient history for some readers! Great characters, and I look forward to the next book in the series.

Girls They Write Songs About, by Carlene Bauer was another victim of hype. My expectations were too high, and I doubt I'm the audience for this book. But I did enjoy the brief glimpses of New York.

The Shore, by Katie Runde. Seaside Heights summer, with a family roiled by the father's imminent death from a glioblastoma. Beautifully written, especially the teen daughters. 

Search,  by Michelle Huneven. One year and a few months of a search for a new minister at a Universalist Unitarian church. Phew, these characters were so unlikeable. I also found the dialogue of the younger people so stilted that none of it felt believeable. Disappointing.

Hurricane Girl,  by Marcy Dermansky. Now this one was surprising in a good way! A young woman leaves LA and buys a beach house in North Carolina, only to lose it to a hurricane 10 days later. A brilliant first person narrative of a woman suffering from a brain injury; I felt her struggling to make sense of the world. I read it in one night, and am still thinking about it.

The Recruit,  by Alan Drew. I read Shadow Man,  the first book in this series, a few weeks ago, after reading a review of The Recruit in the Times. It was good enough for me to read the second, which is much better! They're set in a fictional Rancho Santa Elena (which sounds like Rancho Santa Margarita) and the second book deals with white supremacy groups there. It was definitely a page turner, and I'm sorry I'll have to wait at least a year for the next one.

Finally, I read--in print!--The Empathy Diaries, by Sherry Turkle. The first part about her early life and education had me underlining and researching, but when she got to MIT, I felt the book flatten. Or rather, it turned into a book about Seymour Papert, and not her!

What I'm Reading June 27, 2022

First up, Companion Piece, by Ali Smith. Another author who could write an advertising jingle and I'd read it. Did I get the whole curlew/curfew thing? Probably not. Did I love the sheer enjoyment she had playing with language? Absolutely. A quote:
"No, I meant why are books important, she said. Apart that they're a pleasure? I said. Because, uh, because they're one of the ways we can imagine ourselves otherwise."
And another (perhaps the last lines of the book? I don't have it in front of me to check.):
"Every hello, like every voice - in all the possible languages, and human voice is the least of it - holds its story ready, waiting. That's pretty much all the story there is."
Happy-Go-Lucky, by David Sedaris. My least favorite of his books by a mile. Did the pandemic make him cranky or is it age? Or am I the cranky one?

And back to a mystery with The Dark Remains, by William MacIllvanney and Ian Rankin. A prequel to MacIllvanney's series, written by Rankin. 1970s Glasgow, a dark and depressing city with dark and depressing cops and mobsters. Now I'll have to find the MacIllvanney books and see if Jack Laidlaw remains a philosopher cop or not. 

The Willpower Instinct, by Kelly McGonigal. This was a re-read, mainly to see what I could use for my ReLearn program. It's loaded with research, but written in a breezy way so you don't feel loaded with research. Very helpful summaries, and lots of things to share with my class. I have her new book The Joy of Movement from the library but I think I got the gist of it from a New York Times article. 

The Foundling, by Ann Leary. Based on a true story about a home for "feeble-minded women" in the late 1920s. It could have used a bit more "show, don't tell" as we learned about these homes and the eugenics movement, and it really lost me at the tidy ending.

Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? by Seamus O'Reilly. At times I was laughing so hard I was afraid I'd wake Kevin up. Other times had me tearing up. A great memoir set in Northern Ireland.

What I'm Reading June 14 2022--Not Mysteries

A book I really didn't enjoy, nor do I think I was meant to: Very Cold People,  by Sarah Manguso. Evidently her childhood was very similar to the one described in this book, so I'm glad she was able to overcome it and write about it. It was just so depressing:/

When Women Were Dragons, by  Kelly Barnhill. Her first adult novel, still leaning heavily into the fantasy/fairy tale realm. I liked the story, but felt it was a little too didactic for an adult novel. But that dragon world sounds like paradise!

The Puzzler,  by J.A. Jacobs. Not my favorite of his books, but I will still read whatever he publishes.I love his deep dives into topics that I wouldn't expect to enjoy. 

This Time Tomorrow, by Emma Straub. One of my favorites of the month, involving life on the Upper West Side, friendship, and mortality. Her dad and best friend are two of my favorite recent characters. Some quotes:

Maybe that was the trick to life: to notice all the tiny moments in the day when everything else fell away, and, for a split second, or maybe even a few seconds, you had no worries, only pleasure, only appreciation of what was right in front of you.
...but that was New York, watching every place you'd kissed or cried, every place you love, turn into something else.
Happy endings were too much for some people, false and cheap, but hope--hope was honest. Hope was good. 
We Don't Know Ourselves, by Fintan O'Toole. This took me so long to read! I think I checked it out three times from three different libraries. O'Toole wrote a history of modern Ireland, modern in his definition starting with 1958, the year he was born. I learned so much about the dark side of the church's role in Irish government (spoiler: it was all dark.) His premise is that the Irish exist by dodging reality--about the abuse of children by priests, about abortion, about government corruption--and anyone who confronts others with that reality is breaking the code that keeps the country together. Great quote (among many) toward the end of the book: "What is possible now, and was entirely impossible when I was born, is this: to accept the unknown without being so terrified of it that you have to take refuge in fabrications of absolute conviction." (Sounds like a description of a Trump supporter, now that I read it again.)

Bloomsbury Girls, by Natalie Jenner. A semi-sequel to The Jane Austen Society, which I think I started and didn't like. This one was enjoyable, a bit predictable, but it's London and bookstores. so I lapped it up anyway.

What I'm Reading June 14, 2022

OK, I need to find a better way to do this! 15 more books to add, some of which I've forgotten. 

First up, mysteries:

Death at Greenway,  by Lori Rader-Day. Beware when our publisher describes your book as a new Christie. It was well written, but the mystery just faded away.

Something to Hide, by Elizabeth George. One of the best of her recent Inspector Lynley books. Tough subject matter of female genital mutilation, but overall, the great characters I expect from her.

The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan. Please let me remember not to read any more of her books!

Observations by Gaslight, by Lyndsay Faye. Short stories told from the POV of other characters in the Holmes universe. Each one was absolute perfection!

Give Unto Others by Donna Leon. I admit, I only read these now for the descriptions of Venice. Very much meh.

All the Queen's Men,  by S.J. Bennett. The first book in this series was good, this one dragged. Not a series I'll continue.

Overboard,  by Sara Paretsky. Another one that didn't spark my interest. I like the series, but the last few have made me question if I want to keep reading.

Two for Sorrow,  by Nicola Upson. The third in her Josephine Tey series. I like all the secondary characters, but not Josephine. This one was clever, but not my favorite. 

Rotten to the Core, by T.E. Kinsey. I do love Flo and Lady Hardcastle, but damn, they're running out of people in the village to murder! These are worth reading just for the repartee between these two characters. Definitely a palate cleanser of a book.