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.
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