Book 1: ‘Welcome to Forever” by #NathanTavares.
Great portrayal of a gay relationship in a future where memories can be edited. Ironically, Tavares needs an editor himself. Way too many ideas, overly complex with pacing issues.
There’s some larger plot to save the whole world that isn’t needed; just focusing on these men and how they keep coming back to each other no matter the amount of editing is enough. Much better than Tavares’ first novel.
Book 2: “Last First Snow” by #MaxGladstone.
Incredible. Gladstone has this ability to write palpably and ephemerally so you catch the meaning even as it slips away. But leaving you with enough so you’re not frustrated or confused. He takes something as grounded as community organizing for housing, the pressures of development and business interests, and wraps it in Craft (magic), wars with gods, and so much more. I’m re-reading this whole series.
Book 3: “The Beautiful Mystery” by #LouisePenny.
Yay, we’re not in Three Pines for this one. Kind of a relief actually. But my fatigue with Penny’s formula in this series continues: Gamache’s brown eyes, his quiet, still manner, the corny quips with Beauvoir. 🙄 And the constant questions posed by the narrator that indicate: You are reading a mystery. Just ICYMI. We get it, girl. The larger story creeps along, though, and I’m here for it. The monks too.
Book 4: “Orbital” by #SamanthaHarvey.
A single day aboard the space station is 16 orbits of the Earth. A lovely book that takes a different approach to being in space: humanist, tenderness for all we are. Rare in the softness it treats the cold darkness of space, mainly stemming from its point of view above the Earth. Inhabiting a place of extreme contradictions, Harvey draws a circle around our hearts.
Book 5: “Drowned Country” by #EmilyTesh.
I enjoyed Book 1 of this duology more. The gay relationship isn’t where we left it, and the typical chopping up of a linear recounting of how it got there was jarring. I just wanted to enjoy them being together. The world continues to be interesting though, and the characters are still likable.
Book 6: “The Naturalist Society” by #CarrieVaughn.
Really great premise that’s marred by a largely uninterrogated colonialist worldview: Arcane Taxonomy grants a portion of the magic from the thing that’s named. Primarily birds. Vaughn isn’t ignorant of the dynamics this creates for queers, women, and POC (our MCs), or that Western ways of knowing and naming aren’t the end-all, be-all. But the engine driving everything remains the will to conquer.
Book 7: “Dead in Long Beach, California” by #VenitaBlackburn.
A wholly original way of exploring grief that wasn’t depressing. Coral is a lesbian author who finds her brother dead by suicide, and begins responding to texts on his phone as him. Intercut with excerpts from her own dystopian novel and flashbacks from their family’s lives, it was hard to follow at times but always beautifully written. An I-love-how-your-mind-works author, I-could-never.
Book 8: “Beautyland” by #MarieHeleneBertino.
Love the premise: a young girl realizes she’s an alien and reports on humanity via fax to her people on Planet Cricket Rice. But for this twist, it’s a Bildungsroman that’s much more enjoyable during her childhood vs. adult years. Two passages from the former, one involving her misophonia, truly made me cackle. There’s never a direct confirmation of her origins but her adulthood disappointed for me. Oh well.
Book 9: “The Atlas Paradox” by #OlivieBlake.
This was a hate read. Not sure why I feel a need to subject myself to writing that hasn’t improved from the first book, characters that are still loathsome, and a story that doesn’t make up for any of these shortcomings. I do have a completionist tendency which might be getting more severe over the years. Lord help me, I’ve already decided to read the next (please-let-it-be-the-last) book in the series.
Book 10: “The Murder of Mr. Wickham” by #ClaudiaGray.
The title alone! Lead characters from Northanger Abbey, Emma, Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Pride & Prejudice are suspects in the titular crime. I’ve read all of Austen’s novels, and have the usual faves, but I enjoyed the extensions of these characters’ stories (purists beware); even the unhappy ones. A new crime-solving duo must navigate decorum to find the killer. De-fucking-lightful.
Book 11: “Elena Knows” by #ClaudiaPiñiero.
Another book with no punctuation or new paragraphs for dialogue. I can’t wait for this trend to be over. Our protagonist spends a single day fighting her Parkinson’s while making a difficult journey across Buenos Aires. She learns painful things about key women in her life and her part in their suffering. Beautifully human.
Book 12: “Where the Axe is Buried” by #RayNayler.
I love this cover so much; it’s like a riso print for a comic. Had to diagram characters, locations, and timelines to follow all of the jumping around. It’s Nayler’s usual fare of capitalism, consciousness, environmental collapse, and AI, but he always manages to write interesting stories about them in different combinations. It’s not all bleak, but what a mess we continue to make for ourselves.
Book 13: “On the Calculation of Volume (Book 1)” by #SolvejBalle.
A woman keeps waking up to Nov. 18th. Non-sci-fi with a sci-fi premise! Tara tests the boundaries of her circumscribed life, driven by curiosity, philosophy, and despair. Short, but it drags sometimes as you’re trapped in the monotony with her. Even though I’d like to learn what becomes of her, I don’t think I can read the full septology. Hubby said the 2nd didn’t add anything.
Book 14: “The Ministry of Time” by #KalianeBradley.
Unexpectedly funny! Good story too: a handful of people across history are brought to the near future before their recorded deaths. The main “expat” is Commander Graham Gore, an arctic explorer from 1847 whose priggishness is endlessly entertaining (I’m an unrepentant Darcy lover). A romance, like in many stories where the tension is better than consummation, ruins it though.
Book 15: “Titanium Noir” by #NickHarkaway.
This was mildly interesting: a murder mystery among genetically altered “titans” and exploration of their strange underworld. Guess I’m just not into this genre. The only noir book I truly enjoyed was “Something More Than Night” by Ian Tregillis—I recommend that instead.
Book 16: “Four Roads Cross” by #MaxGladstone.
After five books in this series, what else is there to say besides I plan on buying all of them? And happily re-reading, maybe in sequential order this time, maybe in publication order after that. Only then picking up the new books. There are few series I can think of that bring such perpetual pleasure: Earthsea, His Dark Materials…
Book 17: “The Galaxy, and the Ground Within” by #BeckyChambers.
I’m not sure this series needed to go on this long. This and the prior book take place in the same world, but not in a material way that matters. It’s just another cozy sci-fi story about people working it out. Which Chambers is excellent at writing! Just make it a standalone.
Book 18: “The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennett, Witch” by #MelindaTaub.
I enjoyed this! The title demands to be uttered aghast at a ball. The usual liberties taken with these beloved characters and their stories—I’ll read them all. Taub doesn’t quite have Austen’s voice down, and it’s a bit overlong, but recommended for fans of witchy books and “Pride and Prejudice.”
Book 19: “The Late Mrs. Willoughby” by #ClaudiaGray.
The second Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery. Our crimesolving duo, Jonathan Darcy, son of the “Pride and Prejudice” Darcys, and Juliet Tilney, daughter of the “Northanger Abbey” Tilneys return. But his school chums are introduced, still clinging to childish dynamics and cruelties that complicate the MCs’ increasing regard for each other.
Book 20: “A Discovery of Witches” by #DeborahHarkness.
Twilight for grown-ups. The lead is a Mary Sue/Chosen One who learns again and again that the power was within her all along. It’s unbearably straight and gendered with her vampire man. Goes on too long. Not finishing this series. I am curious, though, if the TV series is any good.
Hoochie Daddy moved to mas.to
Karen Alexander