👽☕️😭All Books Published (In English) in 2024

    James S. A. Corey--the pen name of the writing duo Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck--writes masterful science fiction. The Mercy of the Gods is an excellent story with incredible world-building, science, and a propulsive plot. Multiple storylines are unfolding, coming together, and branching off again. The basic premise is that a human-populated world is invaded by an aggressive, robust species of aliens who relocate the "best" of the world's citizens. It's excellent.

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    Before We Forget Kindness by Toshikazu Kawaguchi continues his series "Before the Coffee Gets Cold." Individuals risk becoming ghosts to return briefly to the past to say what they failed to say to a loved one who is gone. It is complicated and also refreshingly hopeful. The author is Japanese. One woman returns to talk briefly with her husband, who died before their baby was born. She wants to know what name he wants to give the child he never met. It is a rule that it is impossible to change the future by returning to the past, but the book demonstrates that you can change how you understand the past. It is a lovely book. 

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    The Women by Kristin Hannah has received much well-deserved attention and accolades. It tells the story of a young woman, "Frankie" McGrath, who volunteered to go to Vietnam as a nurse in the Army and had very little nursing or life experience. Her time there was horrendous, but she rose to the challenge and became an excellent nurse and a traumatized veteran. This book should have trigger warnings. Hannah does an exceptional job of showing how damaging untreated PTSD can be, and she compounds the trauma with tragedy after tragedy. I found it to be overwhelming to the point of melodrama. In the end, I didn't like it. I think it was because the central character lacked warmth and a connection with others. 

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🐈‍⬛💊 🐕Murder Trouble, Drug Trouble, and more Murder Trouble!😍

 

    I love the whacky series featuring senior citizens who local murders called "The Thursday Murder Club"  by Richard Osman. He is starting a new series, and its first book is We Solve Murders. Osman writes quirky characters that get into ridiculous problems while trying to solve a tricky murder. He starts with a fresh cast. Steve Wheeler is a retired policeman comfortable with his well-ordered life. His daughter-in-law Amy works as a professional bodyguard for a high-end protection business. A mysterious trail of influencer deaths clusters around Amy. She needs to solve who is behind them and why before she ends up in jail or dead herself. She finds help in the unlikeliest of places. I'm going to like them!

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    The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin was recommended by my sister, and when I started reading it, I thought it was fiction. It begins at a desperate point where Lara uses a stolen credit card to stay in a hotel with her young son. She waits there for her husband to bring heroin for them both to get high. She goes on to explain how their drug use has dismantled her comfortable suburban life as she steals and lies to support their habit. This is about the time I realized it was a memoir. Hardin tells her gripping story of addiction, jail, and recovery. 

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    I have seen the Netflix series advertised, but I wanted to start with the book. I was surprised that A Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson was a  YA book. The mystery: a five-year-old disappearance of 17-year-old popular high school student, Andie, becomes the capstone project for straight-A student Pip. Andie's boyfriend Singh is believed to have killed Andie, then killed himself out of guilt, but her body was never found. The deeper Pip digs, the more things don't add up. When she starts receiving threats to stop looking or else, Pip knows she's onto something. I liked this twisty story. The pace was good. My only complaint is never go to confront a killer alone! There are two other books in the series, and I'm excited to read them.

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🧩Why is Everything I Read Depressing? 1 Horror, 2 Dystopian, 1 Opiod Crisis, and 1 🧩

 

    I have read Matt Dinniman's "Dungeon Crawler Carl" series and looked forward to Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon, another LITrpg short for literary role-playing game. LITrpg is a work that uses the structure of a computer role-player game with monsters, quests, battles, and multiple players. Where the "Dungeon Crawler Carl" series has a loss of players and mystery,  it has a playful silliness. Carl has dedicated himself to helping others succeed and survive. His mantra is, "You will not break me." Duke, in Kaiju, repeats, "This is too much," as he makes dark choices necessary for survival.   

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    I don't love The Giver. Dystopian fantasy stories aren't my favorite in general. Even though I would like to live in a world where people don't suffer, and everyone has what they need materially, the cost is high. Only one person understands what has been sacrificed. He has the knowledge of good and evil and it's time for his successor to receive it. I read a review that referenced the Biblical imagery, that I had completely missed and now I want to reread the book. 

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    I enjoy hearing what Malcolm Gladwell says and have read many, if not all, of his books. The Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering was meaty, engaging,  and well-told. He digs into painful topics like COVID-19, the opiate crisis, teen suicide, and more with insightful kindness and hope. I come away from reading his book, especially this one, feeling educated and given tools to interpret the world around me. 

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    I am excited to read the latest from James A. Corey. who wrote "The Expanse" series, which spawned an excellent series that ended too soon. The pair that makes up James A. Corey combines all the sci-fi elements. As Frederik Pohl says, "A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam." I have yet to read the start of the next series--a matter of when not if--but I did read this short novella called Livesuit about soldiers who fight the war against alien invaders in a livesuit. A livesuit is a body armor loaded with tech. A soldier is encased at the start of his/her enlistment of seven years and decanted when the enlistment is over. The suit makes the soldiers practically invincible. 

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    I picked up the The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni because I wanted something intriguing but not too much thinky-thinky. Mike Brink becomes a savant through a traumatic brain injury. He has the ability to see patterns that others can't see which makes him . . . a master at solving and creating puzzles. He is presented with the puzzle of a convicted murderer that hasn't spoken since the death of her boyfriend until she gives her prison therapist a puzzle for Mike Brink. It leads down a weird and hard to sustain rabbit hole. 

😇אה🧠🧩

🧛🏻‍♂️Horror and 😇Self-Help

 

    The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix is a horror story of the vampire variety. Unfortunately, Hendrix is such a good writer that his creepy scenes have burrowed into my brain like a cockroach into an ear. I don't know if I'll read any more of his books because he does a brilliant job of showing, not telling, and I like to sleep at night.

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    I heard about No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Proven Plan for Getting What You Want in Love, Sex, and Life by Dr. Robert Glover on Marriage Therapy Radio (https://marriagetherapyradio.com/2024/08/06/ep-332-no-more-mr-nice-guy-with-dr-robert-glover/) where Dr. Glover was interviewed by Zach and Laura. He has counseled many "nice guys" to help them toward healthier ways of navigating life. He does not advocate toxic masculinity but encourages men to ask for what they need and appreciate their worth. I found lots of things to apply in my own life. If you seek to get your emotional, physical, social, and financial needs met by taking care of others to the extent that you don't care for yourself, then you will probably not get your needs met. 

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