Horse--One Book Week with a One Word Title.

 

    Geraldine Brooks is a talented and accomplished writer, and her latest book, Horse, shows her skill at translating her research into a well-told story. She weaves together several storylines that coalesce around a famous racehorse named Lexington. She tackles the thorny issue of writing from the perspective of a black person, even though she is white. I read a review of Horse in the Altlantic by Jordan Kisner addressing that topic. Here is a link: 638449 

  The two main black characters, Jarrett and Theo, don't evolve over the course of the book. My guess, and it's only a guess, is Brooks didn't want to give them any deep flaws to overcome for fear of misrepresenting black men. On the other hand, Horse is a carefully crafted puzzle. She starts with several seemly unrelated pieces and then lays them together to form a coherent, clever picture. I enjoyed it.🏇🏇🏇

Aliens, Tennis, and Hospitality

    Light Years from Home by Mike Chen is sci-fiction that revolves around relationships. The narration pings between brother Jakob, who's been missing for fifteen years, his twin sister, Kass, who believes Jakob flaked out to do his own thing, and Evie, the younger sister, who is convinced he was abducted by aliens. This drives the sisters apart. Then Jakob returns, claiming he needs their help to save the universe. Is it abduction or mental illness? Chen's fresh take on an abduction story is what happens to those left behind? It moved slowly at times, building drama and meeting setbacks, but overall I enjoyed the story. The hurting family has emotional depth and veracity, plus the tension of possible invading aliens. 👽👽

    Taylor Jenkins Reid's latest book, Carrie Soto is Back feels very timely. It is the story of a tennis champion who returns to playing at 37. She wants to defend her record number of grand slams. As I read the book, I thought of Serena Williams retiring from tennis. It's hard not to. Reid does an excellent job writing nail-biting tennis matches. She educates the reader about tennis--though I still don't quite understand about "breaking" your opponent's serve--and then writes breathless accounts of tennis battles. The plot is tight and compelling. Soto is a driven woman isolated from others. She is a figure both admired and loathed. Winning is how she defines her worth. This creates a toxic brew of ambition and animosity within her.  🎾🎾🎾🎾

    There is controversy surrounding this book. Carrie Soto is a Latina character, and Reid is white. Here is a link addressing that: readers-raise-alarms-about-taylor-jenkins-reids-upcoming-book

 

    In her latest book, The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World, Rosaria Butterfield makes a strong argument for generous hospitality. The book imparts the theology of hospitality with many anecdotes from her personal life. She is a hospitality ninja. I felt inferior. As I read on, I gained perspective. She is speaking from several years--perhaps decades--of experience and mentoring in this area. Her views are well articulated and deeply thought out. I found the book both challenging and inspiring. You can do this and get moving! 🥘🍲😋

From Mysteries to Misery to Making

 

  I was ecstatic to read the latest installment of the Thursday Murder Club, The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman. His quirky, complex characters and the ridiculous situation they get into make me laugh out loud. My minor complaint is there are many characters, and I get confused if I've encountered this or that person in his previous books. Is there something crucial I'm supposed to remember? In the third book, the Murder Club takes on a cold case of a missing-presumed-dead reporter who was about to break a huge story. There is also continuing fallout from previous cases. Spicing things up is a dash of romance amongst the senior set. 👵🏻 ❤️👴🏻

   The Dry by Jane Harper was also a mystery. It appears a struggling farmer, Luke, kills his wife, son, and himself. His estranged best friend, Aaron Falk, returns to the rural town that drove him away to attend the funeral. He gets roped into investigating the deaths. Harper paced this book well. Luckily I started it early in the day because it sucked me in, and I didn't want to stop until I reached the end. I listened to the audiobook, and the accents added to the Australian setting. It was a tense, secretive story that kept me guessing till the end. 

  Both the mystery books I read this week were stellar, but in different ways. Reading them one after the other caused me to appreciate the skill it takes to build a compelling mystery and the various paths authors take to achieve their goals. 🤩

  I find Elizabeth Strout to be a gifted author. When I read her books, I am wrapped in the sadness and struggle of her characters because their voices are that authentic. Lucy by the Sea continues the story of Lucy Barton, a fresh widow who lives in New York when the pandemic strikes. Her ex-husband William convinces her to go with him to Maine until it passes. About three weeks or so, right? Strout captures the terror and unpredictability so well. I returned to the world of washing my groceries, isolation, and worry. Lucy has a complicated relationship with her rural roots and family. This cripples her enjoyment of the family she's created as she battles self-doubt and anxiety. It is written in the first person. Having read the previous books in the series, I feel I'm residing in Lucy's head, hearing her thoughts and wrestling with her concerns. Her self-talk is abysmal, realistic, and too much like my own. She makes me feel my latent sadness and fear as I enjoy her first-rate writing.😢😱

  I'm so glad the next book I picked up was this one.

    Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic was the antidote to depressing inner monologue of Lucy Barton. Gilbert kicks butt and takes names when it comes to facing her fears surrounding creativity. This was my second read through this book and I liked it even better this time. Her enthusiasm and just-try attitude fired me up to invest in writing. I am inspired by her letter to fear because it is a negative self talk neutralizer. 😌 

Here is a cute video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utW2cq17nBk

    What a great reading week I had with four stellar, wildly different books. 📚

The Mystery of Listening to Ghosts 👻👻👻

 

    I read the second in the Perveen Mistry series, The Satapur Moonstone, by Sujata Massey. It was as good as the first. link to that review here Maybe better because a return reader had been introduced to the world of 1920s India. This adventure takes place outside of Bombay in the princely state of Satapur, where members of the ruling family are mysteriously dying. Perveen contends with hazardous travel, dangerous animals, and a tangled tale of who-done-it. I was guessing until the end. There is a third one that I'm excited to read.🥻🔎

    I want to be a better listener--as long as I don't have to put down my phone. That candy is going to crush itself. 🍬🔨 You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy makes an excellent case for lifting my eyes from the screen to pay attention to others' words and their expressions and body language. I found the book readable, relatable, and applicable. I would recommend it to anyone seeking to connect with others: and who isn't after Covid lockdowns? Candy Crush doesn't feed the soul.👂🙉 

    I anticipated The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston to be a heavy literary book. I was so wrong. It is a paranormal romance fantasy. As Halloween approaches, this would be a perfect book for a romantic book club. It has impossible love and ghosts--lots-- and a midnight stroll in a cemetery with a ghost! The heroine has the rare ability to see ghosts. In the small town where she grew up, it got her labeled as the town weirdo, even though her parents ran a respectable funeral home. Right?! I found this book to be dexterously put together with ticking time bomb plot devices, captivating puzzles, chaos sorted, and wrongs righted.  Plus, of course, true love. 👻❤️

Traffic Jam

 

    Sometimes at my house, we debate what is and isn’t science fiction. I ran across an intriguing quote that generated good discussion:

“A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam.” – Frederik Pohl

    Upgrade by Blake Crouch is a prediction of the traffic jam, and it’s a good one. It asks a great question: if humanity were more intelligent could we solve our most pressing problems like the climate crisis? Logan Ramsey is the conflicted, troubled superhero to answer that question. He works for the Genome Protection Agency. In a world where gene modification has run rampant, someone has to reign in the crazies. For Logan, it’s personal because his mother, with his help, caused the most significant, deadliest genetic disaster. He is seeking to atone when he is genetically modified: upgraded. Will being smarter, stronger, and faster equip him to save the world?

    I would call this hardcore sci-fi because it only uses what our world has or might have. There is no external help from aliens, witches, or hobbits. It is fast-paced and provocative. It suffers slightly from a lack of warmth between characters, but Blake makes a tremendous effort to infuse it with emotion. 

 

    I want to be a better writer, and to that end, I try to read books that educate and encourage me. Charlie Jane Anders’ book title snagged me. Never Say You Can’t Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories appealed to my sense of tragedy. This book is a mash-up of memoir, instruction, and encouragement. She leans into taking the emotions of anger and helplessness to fuel creativity. I would listen to several chapters and feel fired up to write. 

    I love mysteries. My book club is doing an entire year of mysteries, and I’m so excited! The Widows of Malabar Hill: A Mystery of 1920s Bombay by Sujata Massey is a terrific mystery. It is deeply researched and depicts the smells, clothing, food, culture, and topography of Bombay crisply and immersively. It can be a little dry at first due to world building, but it keeps the action going. Paveen Mistry is the first woman lawyer in Bombay and because of past experiences she fights fiercely for the rights of women. She is an intelligent, creative detective. I liked this book because, even though it is heavy on history, Massey crafts a credible mystery that was a terrific read. And there is more of them!

Mostly Mysteries 🔎

    What a good reading week I've had! I read three excellent books.

 

    The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz surprised me. At first, I didn't like it because it was full of unpleasant, selfish people, but then they grew up. When I googled The Latecomer, auto-complete said things like: is it true? I had those questions as well because Korelitz grounded the book in reality. Outsider artist Achilles Gildo Rizzoli's art is a critical ingredient in the plot. achilles-g-rizzoli Other "real life" characters had me checking to see if I was reading a novel. One review called it a "comic novel," but I found it a portrayal of family members trying to get their needs met at the expense of others. It is an intriguing book that I enjoyed. I frequently googled the people and events mentioned. It was intricate, thought-provoking, and unpredictable. I don't know if Korelitz would say this, but I found the story's moral to be that therapy can make you a better person. It worked for the characters in this book. 

    I listened to the audiobook Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto. A disclaimer at the beginning explained that the English the aunties spoke wasn't intended to mock Asian people, but to represent them. I learned so much from this book! The characters are Indo-Chinese, meaning in the past, family ancestors migrated from China to Indonesia and then to an English-speaking area like Hong Kong or the United States. The Aunties speak Chinese and Indonesian fluently, but English is more challenging. Many funny moments revolve around the Aunties not understanding what someone means in English and Meddie not comprehending what the Aunts are saying in Chinese and Indonesian. The main character, Meddelin Chan, is a mid-twenty-year-old photographer who helps with the family wedding business. Her male cousins all move away as soon as possible and encourage Meddie to do the same. Meddie believes there is a curse on her family that causes all the men to leave--all the aunts are divorced. So when Meddelin accidentally kills a date her mother set her up with, she turns to her aunts, and they ride to rescue. This is a screwball comedy book that also does an excellent job as a mystery. 

    Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke was recommended on the podcast What Should I Read Next several times, and I've had it on hold for over a month. It was worth the wait. Darren Mathews' family has lived in Texas for generations. He dropped out of law school to start the journey to becoming a Texas Ranger after the murder of James Byrd Jr, a Texas black man, by three white men from the same town. Byrd was dragged behind a pickup for several miles until he was decapitated. Mathews is pulled in several directions. He tries to live by the Ranger code, but circumstances make it difficult. He is called upon to look into the death of a black man in the small town of Lark, Texas, but only when a young white woman is found dead days after the first death. I gave this book five stars because it tells a suspenseful, tangled story. I was guessing until the end who the killer was. I knew who I wanted it to be. This is the first in a series, and I can't wait for more. 

🤓😍🥳 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.