🤓😍🥳 Happy Anniversary to Me!

 

    This post will frequently mention my Dear Husband( DH). DH bought The Reading List A Novel by Sara Nisha Adams for me as a surprise, which was delightful. In a corner of London is a mysterious reading list that makes its way into the hands of several different people--unhappy, disconnected people that could use understanding and inspiration. The narrative bounces between Mukesh, an elderly widower, and Aleisha, a disgruntled nineteen-year-old summer staff at the local library. Mukesh asks for a book recommendation, and Aleisha, at a loss, gives him one from a booklist she found in a returned book. As they read through the list, they both are challenged to consider their lives and others. The Book List makes the case that books and libraries can change lives. I agree. The book has a fairytale quality, but it's because books are magical. However, it is not without complex topics. One of the books on the list is The Kite Runner, a book I'm still trying to gather enough courage to read. From what I've heard, it is a book that rips out your heart. I want to read those books, but sometimes I have difficulty jumping in, knowing it will hurt. I would rather be blindsided. 

"Please try to remember that books aren't always an escape; sometimes books teach us things. They show us the world; they don't hide it."

~

"Sometimes, books just take us away for a little while, and return us to our place with a new perspective." 

      from The Reading List

~

That is the only grownup book I read this week! I'm almost done with a long, complex book I will unpack next week. Stay tuned.

This past Saturday was my anniversary, and in our usually nerdy way, DH and I went to a bookstore. If you live in or near Baltimore or plan to visit, I recommend Charm City Books. It is a small, but a potent independent bookstore. It has a surprisingly well-stocked children's room and friendly, knowledgeable staff. DH bought the book Before Music: Where Instruments Come From by Annette Bay Pimentel, illustrated by Madison Safer, to read to visiting grandkids. I read it and learned things. For example, I didn't think of rocks as musical instruments, but they are!

 

    Here is a link to the bookstore:

https://charmcitybooks.com

Different Flavors of Sci-Fi

    It has been a Science Fiction season for me. I interpret this to mean things are complicated, and I want to escape. Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson wasn't precisely what I wanted. It takes place about thirty years in the future, and climate change has become a massive problem for low-lying areas around the world like the Netherlands, the United States, and parts of India and China as well as others. A Texas billionaire has a solution. He creates a giant gun that fires sulfur into the atmosphere, which reflects back the sunlight, cooling the earth. The problem is that a beneficial change to one part of the ecosystem generally means a detrimental change to another. And not everyone or every country will like or stand still for that. Stephenson, I think, is considered hardcore sci-fi. He finds science and cultural trends and extends them into the future. The story starts with the Meth-Gators watch and Hogzillas watch and then gets weird. As I read, I thought this couldn't be true, but an internet search would prove me wrong. Termination Shock is a time investment to read (708 pages), but an exciting ride. I wouldn't say it's his best work--Cryptomnomicon or Seveneves-- would be my favorites, but I found it worth the effort.

    I've recently discovered Emily Henry and have read some of her prior works. A Million Junes is a Hatfield and McCoy, Romeo and Juliet kind of romance set in a place where the world is thin where the line between reality and the supernatural blurs. what-are-thin-places The two forbidden lovers try to solve the mystery of why their families hate each other so profoundly. It has good things to say about forgiveness, shame, and guilt. A lovely podcast I listened to, Marriage Therapy Radio (https://marriagetherapyradio.com), had an episode about having a personal philosophy of forgiveness. It's been on my mind, and A Million Junes helped me consider it from Henry's perspective while it absorbed me. Not bad, right?

 

    My final book of the week, finished just before lunch today, is Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It was apparently a week of reading authors I've read before. Reid is having a moment lately. She also wrote The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, and Daisy Jones & The Six. This earlier work doesn't feel as accomplished as her latest titles. It is a multiverse story Multiverse. Hannah Martin returns to LA after ten years of wandering. On her first night home, she gets hit by a car, or she gets together with her high school sweetheart. Reid's two storylines contain the same significant events--pregnancy, divorce, and family estrangement, but the different iterations react uniquely. The chapters alternate between the two lines. I like the What-If nature of the multiverse, and Reid has both Hannahs grow and mature. All roads lead to taking responsibility for her life. I didn't think of this as romance fiction when I started, but it did have the happy ending making it a restful summer read.

Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch Series Books II and III

  This weekend was spent hiking the Appalachian trail with Dear Husband, so I didn't read much. The weather was terrific. Query: do 8 miles and some change mean (1) 8 miles and a little more or (2) ALMOST 9 MILES? 

    Asking for a friend. 

   I finished Anne Leckie's Imperial Radch Series. It well deserves all the awards it has won with excellent world-building, characters, and plot. The second and third books of the trilogy are strong stories that continue to develop the action and tell an encapsulated, satisfying story in each book. The culmination rocked. 

 

 

  I didn't mention this with the first book, but Leckie's main character--a former AI of a spaceship--doesn't see gender. The Radch society that created her doesn't differentiate between males and females. It is gender neutral. At first I thought it was entirely women, but the planet she finds herself on has languages that need the correct pronouns and Breq is trying to decide who's male and who's female. I like that sci-fi can create spaces to discuss themes like gender, race, and politics. At times it felt slightly moralistic, but Leckie keeps the action moving. 

    Here is a post that addressed her use of "she" for both genders: post-binary-gender-in-SF-ancillary-justice-by-ann-Leckie

  I found talk of an adaptation starring Keira Knightly. Keira-Knightley-to-star-in-ancillary.html 

    I would watch that!

Here is a cool fan-made book trailer. It contains spoilers if you haven't read the series. ancillary-justice-fan-made-trailer

    

    The Imperial Radch Series is good sci-fi: entertaining me while it made me think.

Sci-Fi, Essays, and a Dog Story

 

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd is a dystopian virus novel with an odd Eastern Religion twist. There are gobs of dystopian novels. To be noticed, a story needs to be extraordinary, and this one is. The premise is humanity's shadows are disappearing, dividing the world into shadowed and shadowless. When people's shadows disappear, their memories gradually fade, much like dementia. There is an interesting relationship and comparison between a man who suffered memory loss due to a car accident, an American, and the first man to lose his shadow, who is from India. As people lose their memories, they gain the fantastic ability to create things using their imaginations--fierce beasts, fantasy landscapes, and destruction. Shepherd takes several story threads and weaves them into a notable, readable book.

    

    I am a reader who writes as well. I like C. S. Lewis and thought The Art of Writing and the Gifts of Writer would be instructive. It was. Lewis is an excellent thinker and adroit communicator. As a Lord of the Rings fan, I enjoyed essay about Tolkien and The Hobbit. I was surprised by the fact that Lewis reads books two or three times before he reviews them. I'm a one-and-done reader. I think the book was hastily pulled together, and some pieces are weaker than others, but it's still C. S. Lewis.

     I live in the Baltimore, MD area and have read Laura Lippman's mystery novels set in Baltimore. They are exciting, and I get an extra thrill in recognizing places I know. Here is a link to her mysteries: laura-lippman However, My Life as a Villainess let me see another side of her writing talent. Her essays are humorous and insightful. I learned she became a first-time mother at fifty-one, her husband, David Simon, created a little show called The Wire, and about her friendship with Ann Hood. Getting to see into her mind was a treat.

    It is universally acknowledged that any book with a dog as a significant character ends in its death: Sounder, Where the Red Fern Grows, Marley and Me. The dog dies in Homer's The Odyessy. Sorry for the spoilers. 😜  However, The Friend by Sigrid Nunez is a most unusual dog book. The protagonist has lost their long-time fellow writer, teacher, friend, and mentor to suicide. Through a series of unfortunate events, she ends up with his Great Dane in her two-room, no dogs allowed, New York apartment. I don't have time for rereading books--so many books, so little time--but I think there is so much here that it deserves to be read several times. The Friend is a masterful piece of writing. This would make a great book club book because there is much to discuss: betrayal, privilege, student/teacher relations, fidelity, marriage, love, and pets.

    When I worked at a bookstore, my favorite section to shelve was sci-fi. I noted this series by Ann Leckie, Ancillary Justice, and meant to read it one day. That day came this week. Leckie has built a solid, credible world. Her book deserves the awards it's received. Breq is an AI created from a human body who, along with other similar AIs, is ancillary to a ship. They become the physical manifestation of the ship. And then something happens, and Breq is severed from the network, leaving her alone and angry. The story is well-paced, suspenseful, and with compelling characters. Well told. 

Unconventional Women

 

    Maggie O'Farrell is a favorite author of mine--she wrote Hamnet--so I'm reading through her other titles. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox brings together two unconventional women for comparison and contrast. Iris gets a call from an insane asylum asking what to do with her great aunt, Esme Lennox. It is closing, and Iris is listed as next of kin. Iris had no knowledge of Esme's existence. Iris is the only one left in her family except for her grandmother, who has dementia. The narrative shifts back and forth between the two women telling their history. O'Farrell builds suspense by continually keeping the reader off balance. I think I know what's going on, but I don't. My miscalculations of the plot were usually due to conventional storylines like odd girl meets a man who appreciates her, the love between sisters, and happy endings. This book addresses the vulnerability of women in a bygone age, but also currently. It is complex and engaging. I liked it.

    Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman surprised me. It was also a story about sisters struggling with being unconventional and ostracized and trying to make their way in the world. They ask the same big question: can I endure being different? Can I find a way to flourish? Practical Magic was surprisingly hopeful and encouraging. Its story is rooted in Massachusetts and its history with witches. It gives the book a feeling that this could possibly be a true story. I found it similar to Harry Potter's premise that magic is all around us, but we aren't awake to it. It was a satisfying book because everyone gets what they deserve. 

    There is a movie based on the book with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman released in 1998. It's a fun spooky adaption that doesn't follow the book closely. As a book person, in the debate of which is better, the book or the movie, I usually choose the book. Books can show you more of the inner workings of a character than a movie. Because the film and the book Practical Magic are so different, I don't think they should be judged by each other. I believe they have different goals from the start. Both are good, in their way.