📚🦁 A Good Mix of Thinky-Thinky and Entertaining

 

    I enjoy reading award-winning books for several reasons. One is so I appear bright. Another is to understand what sets this book apart from all the others. Orbital by Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize. It was shortlisted for the Ursula Le Guin Prize and nominated for Best Science Fiction on GoodReads.  I had expectations. I think what made Orbital stand out was that it didn't have a dynamic science fiction plot. It recounts a day on the International Space Station, gazing down at Earth and pondering life. The writing is excellent. Harvey had eloquent descriptions of the land masses slipping by. The deep thoughts revolved around climate change, our place in the universe, and what motivates someone to pursue being an astronaut, but I didn't love it. I guess I'm still a philistine when it comes to reading.

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    Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe was sold as a fun romp. A nineteen-year-old woman becomes pregnant by her married English teacher and decides to keep the baby against everyone's advice. As the daughter of a single mother herself, she has limited support and few options. She loses her waitress job, and her roommates move out. Desperate to support herself, she starts an OnlyFans profile. Thorpe uses the storyline to hilariously explore conundrums, such as why acting is acceptable in movies but not in professional wrestling, and what distinguishes someone as white trash from someone more palatable. The book stressed me out because it's hard to watch a single mom make poor choices that have harsh consequences. But Margo is plucky and loves her son and family; you must root for her. 

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    How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley was so fun. A "mature" and somewhat reclusive woman decides she needs to make friends. First, she gets a wipe board to make a list.

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I was immediately hooked. This book belongs in the same subgenre as The Thursday Murder Club. It has quirky characters who need a shake-up in their lives. Things go wrong, things go right, and sometimes, things go really wrong. People help one another, and lives are changed for the better. There are smart dogs, grumpy senior citizens, teen dads, and menopausal housewives.  It has a formula, much like a romance novel, that's predictable and comforting, with whimsical side trails. This is a book that you know will have a happy ending, but it is delightful to see how they get there.

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    I have been reading through a compendium of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis before bed. It was not my first trip through Narnia, and it felt like visiting friends. When I first read the Chronicles, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was the first book in the series because it was the first one written. Now, The Magician's Nephew is first because it is the first chronologically. My favorite scene remains the same, where Eustace, who had become a dragon, once again became Eustace the boy. The final book, The Last Battle, does not hold up well, but it does a grand job of finishing the series. Overall, the books and the writing are worth five stars. 

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    I'm enjoying reading books by Phaedra Patrick (what a fun name!). The Mess Lives of Book People seemed like a title designed to capture me. A woman in her 40s, Liv Green, is a cleaner. One of her clients is her favorite author, Essie Starling. When Essie dies, she leaves Liv with a life-changing bequest that will challenge her self-concept and shake up her life. I found the book to be a stretch in the realm of possibility, but entirely entertaining.

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