Fleishman is in trouble

Fleishman is in trouble / Taffy Brodesser-Akner, read by Allyson Ryan, 373 pgs.

We hear a long tale of Toby Fleishman's failed marriage.  His wife Rachel seemed to be "not crazy" which was the original attraction.  They are giving up on a 15 year marriage that produced two kids.  Toby is a devoted dad, Rachel not exactly a doting mother but a powerhouse at work.  Everyone is unhappy and suffering.  There are a lot of pages here that tell Toby's story.  The narrator is his friend from college, Elizabeth.  They recently reconnected after Toby moved out.  We see her story too.  At the end, we hear Rachel's perspective.  For much of the book, we are meant to empathize with Toby, in the end, maybe it is Rachel who deserves our sympathy.  I liked the way the perspective shifted on this.  The audio version was good but I had to get the book and finish reading because I was anxious to see how the story ended.  Makes you think about what you know about other people...do you really know anything?

Nine Perfect Strangers

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty (2018) 453 pages

Nine people converge on Tranquillum House, a health resort run by Masha, a highly driven woman with a type-A personality who had survived a massive heart attack ten years prior. The guests have responded to the ads for the expensive resort either to lose weight, improve their health or their personal relationships, or gain spiritual nourishment. One young couple have relationship issues stemming from having won the lottery. One family is there to heal as the 3rd anniversary of their son's/brother's death nears. One woman is there to pamper herself because her latest romance novel has not been purchased by her publisher, making her concerned that she's all washed up in her fifties. Plus she's lost her American boyfriend, which is another story in itself. All of the guests have fascinating backstories, as does Masha, the owner of the resort.

The guests are surprised to start the ten-day regimen with five days of silence, punctuated with frequent smoothies and diets tailored just for them, along with meditations, yoga, massages, and more. By the time I'd gotten just beyond the halfway point, I felt that the book had already given me a full experience, as the characters learned about themselves and their fellow guests. But there were 200 pages left. Where was the author going to go next? All I can say is to expect the unexpected as the revelations continue!

Right after the weather, by Carol Anshaw

Cate, at 42, hasn’t exactly risen up in life as her demanding mother and mostly-absent father, divorced for years, would have preferred.  She’s cultivating a new relationship with Maureen, hoping perhaps to have found a life-long companion, but can’t let go of her attraction to Dana, whose partner Jody is unaware of their affair.  A set-designer by trade, she is working on sets for a Chicago play she dislikes and feels will fail, while coping with the reappearance of her former husband, Graham, in her spare room.  He’s between marriages, and since he bought the apartment for her, she can hardly say no.  It’s just after Trump’s election and Graham has fallen deep into conspiracy theories.  He has brought his dog, Sailor, with him.  In many ways, Sailor is the most completely likable character in the book.  Neale, her childhood friend, lives nearby with her twelve-year-old son, Joe, in a sketchy neighborhood.  When Neale is attacked in her kitchen by vagrants, Cate inadvertently is her savior, but the event will color their long-time relationship and completely upend Cate’s life.  Deftly written, with an ambiguous ending.  270 pp.

Brideshead revisited, by Evelyn Waugh

Decades ago, I watched the wonderful PBS adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, one of Waugh’s best-known, and best, novels.  I found myself equally enthralled by the original book.  As the book opens, we are in the waning days of WWII.  Charles Ryder’s unit has arrived at unknown destination for training, which turns out to be the grand house of Brideshead, where Charles spent an enchanted time between the wars.  This casts him back into the past.  Meeting the flamboyant Sebastian Flyte at Oxford, Charles was immediately drawn to him, but Sebastian warns him not “to get involved with my family.”  This turns out to be impossible.  A coming of age story, a religious conversion story, and a very human story.  432 pp.

Eruption

Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens by Steve Olson, 300 pages

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in southwest Washington state. The unprecedented blast leveled trees, destroyed houses, decimated lakes, and killed 57 people. In his book, Olson examines the days, weeks, months, and years of decisions leading up to the eruption, looking at political policies both local and federal, the history of the timber companies working around the mountain, and the scientific studies of those who examined and reported on the mountain in the days leading up to the blast. What results is fascinating, horrifying, and a testament to the power of nature. It's a history lesson well worth remembering.

Everywhere You Don't Belong

Everywhere You Don't Belong by Gabriel Bump, 264 pages


After his parents abandon him, Claude lives with his grandmother (who everybody just calls Grandma) in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood. It's a rough area, and when an unarmed kid is shot by the police just down the street from Claude's house, tensions get even worse. The local gang, the Redbelters, starts fighting the SWAT team, and riots ensue. But Claude continues drifting along, as everything happens around him, as he worries that he'll be abandoned again by the few people he cares about, as he makes vague plans for the future.

In his debut novel, Bump has created a sharp, witty, insightful novel with the most realistic protagonist I've read in ages. I can't wait to see what else Bump has in store for us.

Abigail

Abigail / Magda Szabo, trans. by Len Rix, 333 p.

Gina Vitay is 14, wealthy, spoiled and an emerging light of the Budapest social set of 1943.  She is shocked and bewildered when her beloved father sends her abruptly to a fortress-like Lutheran boarding school in the far east of Hungary, with orders to have no communication with any of her former friends.  She struggles to fit in, chafes at the rigid rules, and pines for her home, but she also becomes fascinated by the school legend of Agatha, a classical statue in the garden who fulfills wishes for the girls at their times of greatest need.  On the surface a small story, with many features of a young adult coming-of-age novel, Gina's childish point of view provides a fresh glimpse of the war as it was experienced in Hungary.  Intelligent melodrama, and very satisfying.

A Long Petal of the Sea

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende  353 pp.

Allende is one of my favorite authors so when her new book came out I quickly read it. This is the story of the Spanish who, after fighting the Civil War in Spain on the Republican side, were forced to leave their country. With the help of poet Pablo Neruda, Victor Dalmau, a medic in the war, marries Roser, his late brother's pregnant widow, to gain a place on board the ship leaving for Chile. There they, along with other exiles, make a new life for themselves. Their lives become entwined with established Chilean families as Victor becomes a respected doctor and Roser makes a career of her music. Years later the CIA led coup that unseated and murdered Victor's friend, President Salvador Allende, Victor and Roser once again find themselves in exile, this time in Argentina. Eventually they return to the adopted land they came to love. This epic tale covers nearly six decades of the lives and loves of Victor, Roser, and the rest of their family. In a fairly short novel, Allende packs a lot of detail without overdoing it.

A Warning

A Warning by Anonymous (2019) 259 pages

If you wanted to be reminded of all the other reasons that Donald Trump might have been impeached, then this book is for you. It's written by a self-described senior Trump administration official who says s/he fears for our nation. The book lists the myriad reason why s/he believes Trump never should have been given the keys to the White House, most or all of which you probably have heard:
His impulsivity; his temper; his inability to take in more than a single datum at a briefing; his praise of dictators, his damage to relationships with U.S. allies, his secretive interactions with foreign leaders that he hid even from his own administration; his trust in what Putin tells him, rather than what U.S. Intelligence agencies share, etc.

The book is well-organized and is easily digested, except that it is, of course, greatly troubling.

The cuckoo's calling

The cuckoo's calling / Robert Galbraith, read by Robert Glenister, 455 pgs.

The first in a series about private investigator Cormaran Strike, a veteran of war in Afghanistan who lost a part of his leg and it now trying to make it back in London.  His love life is a mess, he is in debt and the temp agency has sent a replacement even though he tried to cancel his contract.  Robin, his erstwhile temp turns out to be the best thing that has happen to him in ages.  They end up working closely together on the death of a celebrity fashion model.  The cops think it was suicide, but her family thinks it could be murder. Strike pieces together the story and we are with him the entire way.  Exciting and intricate, I will certainly continue with this series.

Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere / Celeste Ng, read by Jennifer Lim, 338 pgs.

Elena Richardson is a good person.  She rents a property to deserving people for below market rate.  She feels good about giving them a leg up.  When Mia and her daughter Pearl show up, they seem like the perfect tenants.  Pearl becomes fast friends with Elena's son Moody and is soon a fixture around the house. Mia ends up taking an offer to clean and cook for the family of six.  But when Mia gets involved in a situation with a co-worker who abandoned her baby but now wants her back, Mia and Elena clash.  Elena decides to find out more about her renter with the mysterious lifestyle and background. The consequences affect both families and things become irreparable. I love how we get to know the Richardson family and the Mia and Pearl.  The perspectives of each character is fascinating. This book has been on my list for awhile and I'm glad I finally got to it.  Excellent narration by Jennifer Lim.

They called us enemy

They called us enemy / George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker, 204 pgs.

A memoir by George Takei of Star Trek fame.  He tells the story of him and his family during WWII being moved from their home to a camp.  The fear that Japanese people (many who were born in America) living in America were loyal to Japan and would cause trouble in the states.  Japanese internment is so near in our history yet shockingly, those same feelings of fear of people who are in any way different seems so contemporary.  Beautifully done.

Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians / Kevin Kwan, read by Lynn Chen, 527 pgs.

Nick and Rachel are two professors in love.  He invites her to meet his family in Singapore but does not prepare her for the realities of his family.  They are old money.  Lots of money.  The lifestyle they lead is so out of bounds of what Rachel knows, she is thrown for a loop.  And Nick is seen as a very eligible bachelor so there is scheming and gossip and craziness following them everywhere.  I thought this was going to be a light read, a fun romance but it was really so much more.  Aside from the scheming and fun description of excess, I enjoyed that there were a lot of characters with different perspectives and that the "romance" part was not always the center of the story.  Don't get me wrong, the focus on BUYING and having expensive things is a little nuts but there is more to it than that.  Would have liked more focus on Rachel's field but  this does depict her on vacation. Lynn Chen did a great job with the audio.

All This Could Be Yours

All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg (2019) 299 pages

Victor, a rich, 73 year old man on the threshold of death, lies in a hospital in New Orleans, a victim of a heart attack. This book looks into his life and into the lives of his family: wife, Barbra, daughter Alex, and son Gary.

Alex has flown to New Orleans to be with her mother, and she presses her mother about what crimes and misdeeds her father did during their years in Connecticut, and especially wants to know why Barbra stayed with him, since he was so abusive. Barbra, on the other hand, wants Alex to make her peace with her father.

Gary, staying in Los Angeles, is trying to find work as an assistant director of television programming. He struggles with whether or not to return to see his father before he dies. Meanwhile, his wife, Twyla, is in New Orleans, struggling with her own demons.

The story abounds with multifaceted characters and rings true, although it's hard to square why Barbra did stay with Victor. Then again, that's often true in abusive relationships. It was hard to put this book down.

Cats of the Louvre

Cats of the Louvre by Taiyo Matsumoto, 428 pages

In this beautiful book, Matsumoto presents two dovetailing stories: that of the cats who live in the attic of the Louvre and that of Louvre employees Marcel and Cecile, who are convinced that Marcel's sister disappeared into one of the museum's paintings as a child. And the Louvre itself is as much a character as any cat or human.

The story is quiet and, for the most part, calm (much like the museum at night), and exquisitely told. It is presented in the traditional Japanese manga style (reading right to left, both in pages and within panels) and while that may present a challenge to those who are unfamiliar with the format, I highly recommend giving it a try with this book. A beautiful book, and a beautiful story.

The Inventor and the Tycoon

The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded Age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures by Edward Ball  447 pp.

Eadweard Muybridge (born as Edward Muggeridge) was a pioneer in the field of stop motion photography. He was the man who invented a process that allowed him to sequentially photograph a galloping horse to prove that at certain instances all four legs were off the ground. Muybridge performed this feat at the behest of railroad Tycoon and politician Leland Stanford. Horses were a hobby of Stanford's. Stanford led the Central Pacific Railroad in the building of the western section of the transcontinental railroad and was Governor and later, U.S. Senator for California. Muybridge married Flora Stone in 1872. A couple years later he discovered his wife's infidelities with a drama critic named Harry Larkyns. Muybridge tracked him down to Calistoga, California and shot him point blank in the chest. At the trial Muybridge's attorneys used an insanity defense based on a serious head injury suffered many years prior. He was acquitted on the grounds of "justifiable homicide." While the stories of these two men are interesting and their connection important, the execution of those stories was less than satisfactory. The author jumps back & forth in time in a way that seems random and is often confusing. The audiobook is adequately performed by John H. Mayer.

Come Tumbling Down

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire, 206 pages

*SPOILERS AHEAD FOR Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones*

In this fifth book of McGuire's Wayward Children series, we return to the dreary, horrific Moors, home world for twins Jack and Jill. At the end of Every Heart a Doorway (book 1 in this series), mad scientist-in-training Jack has killed her evil-yet-frilly twin Jill and is taking her body back through their door to the Moors. When this book starts, that door is reappearing, with someone who appears to be Jill being dragged through by yet another girl. But "Jill" is actually Jack in Jill's reanimated body — turns out Jack and her mad scientist mentor, Dr. Bleak, resurrected Jill, and then Jill's vampire master made Dr. Bleak swap their bodies so he could turn Jill into a vampire. So Jack has returned to Eleanor West's to ask her friends for help defeating Jill and her vampire master, and in getting her own body back.

Does that plot summary sound like a crappy B-movie? Yup. But I SWEAR no plot summary can do justice to McGuire's intricately drawn characters and the very real feelings they have. I'm constantly amazed by her writing, and this book is no exception. Another fantastic entry in this series.

Ayesha at Last

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin, 351 pages

At 27 years old, Ayesha's family has all but given up on her marrying a nice Muslim man. She wants to be a poet (but is settling for substitute teaching) and is stuck dealing with her younger and flighty cousin Hafsa. But when she meets Khalid, a traditional young man who is helping their mosque plan an event for young adults, both Ayesha and Khalid feel a connection, though neither will admit it. But thanks to a small mixup that Ayesha neglects to fix, Khalid thinks that she is actually Hafsa. Throw in some rishtas (the traditional courtship and marriage offers of Islam), and we have a thoroughly confusing, yet entertaining tale. Taking more than a few cues from Jane Austen, this is a great mashup of traditions in a very modern setting. I devoured it in nearly one sitting, and I highly recommend it to fans of Austen, romance, and mistaken identity stories.

Gideon the Ninth

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, 448 pages

When she was an infant, orphan Gideon was grudgingly taken in by the Ninth House, where she became a playmate/indentured servant to House heir Harrowhawk, though Gideon always dreamed of escape. Her chance finally arrives after more than two decades, when the mystical and revered First House sends a summons to the Second through Eighth Houses for their best necromancer and a cavalier to come compete for a job serving the undying Emperor. Harrowhawk and Gideon answer the call on behalf of the Ninth, traveling to a world inhabited only by reanimated skeletons, searching through a possibly empty palace for keys to their potential future.

Rereading my description, it sounds like a really dark and weird story, which is definitely correct. But it doesn't fully capture the twisted humor and horrifying situations. Gideon is basically a sword-wielding foul-mouthed jerk who is forced by uber-goth Harrowhawk into pretending to be a silent creepy nun. And this possibly empty palace? Dusty and creepy as anything you've ever seen in a movie, read about in a book, or dreamed in your worst nightmare. Somehow, it combines to make a story that is funny and creepy and full of action and intrigue.

Two Graves

Two Graves (Agent Pendergast series) by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child  484 pp.

When you read certain series out of order you may find yourself confused. That was the case with this book. I have read Fever Dream in which Helen, Agent Pendergast's wife is murdered. I haven't read Cold Vengeance where Helen apparently is found to be alive. This book begins with Helen alive but being kidnapped and then murdered. Pendergast is once again devastated and hides himself away but returns to work when a mysterious serial killer stalks New York. Pendergast realizes he has a personal connection to the killer. That investigation leads him to a plot involving modern day Nazis continuing the horrific work of Josef Mengele. A side plot involving Pendergast's "ward" Constance Greene explains some of the mystery surrounding her existence. I found this episode in the series to be one I had a hard time putting down (or turning off since it was the audiobook).

The Overstory, by Richard Powers

I read this first when it came out in 2018 and re-read it for discussion with my book club.  If anything, in light of forest fires in Australia for example, and the relaxing of environmental protections in this country,  it has a more urgency than ever.  At that time, I wrote:

Richard Powers is a polymath who in his twelve novels has immersed himself in many different disciplines – genetics, music, and artificial intelligence among others – to the extent that you would believe he had deeply and exclusively studied each.  In The overstory his themes are ecology, the environment, and specifically trees.  All kinds of trees, but primarily those which once blanketed much of this country.  The novels nine main human characters are introduced one by one in separate chapters at the beginning of the book – each chapter a novella unto itself.  The trees themselves are characters – one mourns the loss of chestnuts and American elms, and the imminent destruction of old-growth redwood forests.  It is the plight of the latter that draws the characters together.  New discoveries about the ability of trees to communicate with each other and the interconnectedness of all parts of a mature forest galvanize those who care about the forests into action.  At 500+ pages of dense and gorgeous prose, the book may seem a bit over the top to some (the pun is intentionally as some characters are literally living in the tops of trees to protect them), but many readers will find everything about this book engrossing and enlightening.  I admit to being a big fan of Powers’ writing (and of trees….) and hope many people give this epic story the attention it deserves.  512 pp.

Strangers and cousins, by Leah Hager Cohen

What might have been the straightforward story of a family wedding is complicated by several subplots and secrets.  Walter and Bennie are hosting the wedding of their oldest daughter, Clem, in a few days.  They live in an old, decaying family home in Rundle Junction.  Clem, half-Jewish, half WASP, is marrying her black college roommate, Diggs, so already gender and racial disparities are in play.  In addition, Rundle Junction itself is being polarized by the arrival of a new bunch of residents, ultra-Orthodox Jews who are building new homes with two kitchens.  Opposition to them is couched as an environmental impact fear (there’s a marsh) rather than anti-Semitism.  The three other Blumenthal children are as quirky as their oldest sister (who secretly is planning to turn the customary solemnity of a wedding into a performance art pageant).  Oh, and Bennie hasn’t revealed to anyone but Walter that, at 44, there’s a another bun in the oven.  As the story opens, Great Aunt Glad arrives – ancient and scarred by horrible burns sustained as a girl in an actual pageant in Rundle Junction that killed many local children.  It is clear as the story advances that she is dying.  Perhaps too many balls to keep in the air at once, but rather delightful.  320 pp.

Fleishman is in trouble, by Taffy Brodesser-Anker

A “he said,” “she said,” debut novel reminiscent of Fates and furies, with strong echoes of Philip Roth and other mid-century Jewish authors.  I read it in part because a friend of mine’s daughter-in-law’s sister is the author.  Brodesser-Anker writes very well and the book is hard to put down despite one’s underlying feeling that these privileged, wealthy people sure do whine about their lot in life.  The characters are ultra-rich New Yorkers – Toby Fleishman, the husband in novel, is relatively poor as he is only a well-regarded hepatologist at a major hospital.  He has decided to divorce his wife, Rachel, after fifteen years of marriage because he feels she is wedded to her wildly successful career as founder and head of a talent agency representing major stars.  She shows little interest in him or their two children, Hannah, a pre-teen, and eight-year-old Solly.  Then one morning, Rachel drops off the children at his apartment and fails to pick them up when expected.  She just disappears.  The first section, Toby’s side, is the longest.  Then we get the other Fleishman’s side, Rachel’s.  Overhanging these two stories is a first-person narrator, Libby, a friend of Toby’s from their college years.  She shows up, with little introduction – not even her name is known for a long time – fairly early on in Toby’s section, and this is her story as much as the Fleishmans’.  The book was long-listed for a National Book Award and I recommend it.  373 pp.

Murder on a Midsummer Night

Murder on a Midsummer Night by Kerry Greenwood (©2008, US edition 2009) 257 pages

Smart, sexy, fashionable Phryne Fisher juggles two different mysteries along with a very sweltering Australian summer in 1929, prior to air conditioning. First, a possible murder of Augustine, a junk shop owner whom everybody calls "good" and "honest." His death is currently listed as suicide, greatly upsetting his mother, who made the case that he would never do such a thing. Second, Phryne fields a request to look discreetly for a child who may have been born to a teenager in 1865, prior to a later marriage that produced four children. The woman has recently died, and her family and attorney find that they need this information in order to disperse her estate. Add theft, blackmail, greed, drug use, and excess alcohol into the mix and sprinkle with information about antiquities and some relevant history. Thus the scene is set. Phryne isn't always her cool, collected self in the impossible heat, but along with her usual crew of helpers and a couple retired actors, the knots eventually become untangled. 17th in the series, this book was a great read on a winter day!
 

Redemption

Redemption (Amos Decker #5) by David Baldacci  417 pp.

When Amos Decker and his FBI partner Alex Jamison visit Decker's home town to visit his murdered daughter's grave on her birthday he is approached by a dying convict who was Decker's first murder arrest as a rookie cop. Now it turns out the convicted man may actually have been innocent and Decker puts his job with the FBI in jeopardy as he begins investigating the possible miscarriage of justice with the help of his former police partner. As he investigates, some person or persons try to thwart him by killing off the people who have the information he needs. The investigation leads to a massive conspiracy involving seemingly innocent businesses, prominent citizens, and the daughter of the wrongly convicted man. The return of character Melvin Mars (The Last Mile - Amos Decker #2) is a positive addition to the crime-fighting ensemble. The audiobook is read by Kyf Brewer and Orlagh Cassidy.

Supernavigators

Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way by David Barrie  301 pp.

David Barrie, not to be confused with humorist Dave Barry, explains the science behind the abilities of different living creatures to navigate their surroundings. Many people know about the "dance" performed by bees to share directions to food sources or new hives. But how do animals know which way to go when they migrate? How do fish and sea mammals find their way in the depths of the ocean? How do the swallows return to Capistrano on schedule and Arctic Terns make their way from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again? It can't all be visual because their travel continues even in storms, fog, and the dark of night. Scientists around the world have studied this question and have proved or come near to proving that most use a variety of inborn methods including auditory, optical, and olfactory senses as well as the ability to detect the magnetism of the earth itself. This book examines the science behind all this and proposes even more questions about the mysterious abilities in the animal kingdom. 

A Canticle for Leibowitz

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.  334 pp.

This classic of science fiction literature has been on my "to read" list for awhile and I finally got around to reading it. In a post-apocalyptic desert in the southwestern U.S. in a land devastated by nuclear war that essentially is a new Dark Ages inhabited by mutant victims of radiation and religious communities. The residents of a cloistered monastery worship Leibowitz and study the "holy relics" created by him. The relics amount to blueprints and random memos found in an abandoned fallout shelter where. The novel covers thousands of years centered around the monastery of St. Leibowitz up to a time in the far future when world annihilation is once again a threat. The appearance of "The Wanderer", a strange man who is apparently immortal, leads some of the monks to believe he is, in fact, Leibowitz. Even though this book was published in 1959, many of the topics are timely which cements it's place as a classic.

How Rory Thorne destroyed the multiverse

How Rory Thorne destroyed the multiverse / K. Eason, read by Nicole Poole 408 pgs.

Rory is a princess of the Thorne Consortium.  As eldest child she assumes she will inherit the throne.  But when her father is killed and war begins, it is advantageous for her to be promised to a prince of a distant world in order to negotiate peace.  Rory has always been strong willed and has been taught by the best.  She received 13 fairies blessings when she was born including being immune to flattery.  When things get dicey, Rory has trusted advisers and her own cool head.  She deals with the incarceration of her advisers and eventually herself under the guise of "keeping her safe."  But she is savvy and has made her own alliances.  Fast paced and interesting.  Rory is someone we can admire.

Man at the helm

Man at the helm / Nina Stibbe, 312 pgs.

The first in a series that I've read out of order.  We meet Lizzy Vogel and her siblings soon after her father left their mother for a man.  Lizzy's mom isn't used to being single and falls into a hell of a depression.  Lizzy and her sister are convinced that a new "man at the helm" is what is needed to right things.  They look around their new village and try to set their mom up with men who they think will work out.  Some of their choices are laughable.  Written in the straight forward way as the other books, we hear Lizzy's voice as she notices and deals with things from her 10 year old perspective.  Enjoyable.

Strange Planet

Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle, 144 pages

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably seen Pyle's short and cute web comics of aliens that use often-elaborate and always literal ways of describing everyday occurrences and objects. Strange Planet is his first collection of these comics. As expected, they're clever and delightful, though perhaps a bit much to read all in one sitting. So check it out, and read a few pages at a time. It'll brighten up your day without having to scroll through Facebook or Twitter first to find them.

Recipe for a Perfect Wife

Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown, 322 pages

It's 1955, and Nellie Murdoch is a young housewife in the suburbs. Her husband, however, is not exactly the easiest to live with. He expects perfection (and a perfect baby) from Nellie, and gets jealous and abusive if his demands are not met. But Nellie has her lovely garden and her mother's old cookbook to keep her company.

Sixty-three years later, former publicist Alice Hale has moved into Nellie's old house with her new husband, who is ready to fill up the large mid-century home with children and home-cooked meals, neither of which Alice is too excited about. Struggling with both her husband's expectations and her newly empty schedule, Alice discovers Nellie's old cookbook in the basement, and starts channeling the 1950s housewife in ways even she's not aware of.

Told in alternating chapters, these two stories illuminate the parallels between the two women's lives, including the pressures put upon them by both their spouses and society. It's a captivating, and fascinating book, and Brown is very sly in her storytelling, particularly in Nellie's tale. I got sucked in and couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.

Do You Mind If I Cancel?

Do You Mind If I Cancel? by Gary Janetti, 159 pages

In this short memoir, Hollywood producer Janetti offers up essays on different experiences in his life, many of them filled with his dreams of what could have (or, in his mind, should have) happened. The experiences range from his years working in a snooty New York City hotel, to his lifelong love of soap operas, to the multiple times he has missed seeing Patti Lupone. Throughout, the essays are hilarious and insightful. I listened to the audiobook, which is read by the author, and I flat-out loved it.

Karen Memory

Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear, 350 pages

Karen Memery is a "seamstress" at Madame Damnable's Hotel Mon Cherie in the gold-rush era Pacific Northwest. When a fellow prostitute turns up dead behind the hotel, Karen finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation, and in a fight against a devious bordello owner who may be using less-than-legal means to influence the constables. This is Jack the Ripper meets the Wild West, and full of steampunk creations. It's that last part that I'm not so excited about. I loved the character of Karen, as well as her friends Priya and Miss Frederica, and the bad guy is suitably horrid. But I think I would have liked them all just as much without steam-powered machines and dirigibles in the background. A good story though, and I'm looking forward to discussing it with the Orcs & Aliens tonight.

Taxi Driver Wisdom

Taxi Driver Wisdom / Risa Mickenberg, 175 pgs.

Lots of wisdom and philosophy from taxi drivers. First off there is something very easy about talking to someone that you see for only a short time.  Also, taxi drivers see everyone so they have a lot of life experience.  This little book was so much fun to read. I'll leave you with a few things to ponder: on high blood pressure: "Everything comes out the same, no matter whether you make it hard on yourself or not." "Vietnam War is finished but sixth avenue construction is never finished." "Love is 90% responsibility.  Whatever that other 10 percent is, it must be quite something."

The witches are coming

The witches are coming / Lindy West, 260 pgs.

A collection of essays that starts with Lindy accepting the role of a witch and agreeing it is a witch hunt.  The first chapter ends "We're witches, and we're hunting you." A refreshing take on the repeated "this is a witch hunt" that we hear in the news every day.  West has a nice collection here that makes you think and several that will make you laugh. 

Away With the Fairies

Away With the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood (©2001, US edition 2005) 241 pages

This Phyrne Fisher mystery, 11th in the series, has Phryne's attention split two ways:  First, she's asked by Detective Inspector Jack Robinson to help with a case in which Miss Lavender, a prolific artist of fairy drawings as well as the main advice columnist for a women's magazine, is found dead in her apartment.  There is a wide range of suspects: those who live near her, those she worked with, and those she may have counseled in her advice column. The other situation which draws Phryne's attention is that her Chinese lover, Lin Chung, has been sent to China on a silk-buying trip for his grandmother's business in Australia. The year is 1928 and the seas in which he is sailing are rife with pirates who capture vessels and hold persons for ransom. That is, if they don't throw them overboard to the sharks. Phryne hasn't heard from Lin Chung for too long and she's quite concerned, to put it mildly. To make it worse, she keeps finding herself attacked by persons of Chinese ancestry while she uncovers details pertinent to both mysteries. Some slices of this book show the darkest side of Phryne I've ever seen. Quite compelling.

The Flatshare

The Flatshare / Beth O'Leary, read by Carrie Hope Fletcher and Kwaku Fortune, 328 pgs.

Tiffy Moore is looking for a place to live - cheap and FAST.  She and Justin have broken up (again) and she needs to move out of his place.  Leon is a hospice nurse who works nights.  He needs some money FAST and decides to rent out his flat to someone who works days.  They will never see each other.  Leon's girlfriend handles the renting and so Leon and Tiffy have never met even though they share a space.  They leave notes for each other and leftovers.  Slowly they feel like they know each other even though they have not seen each other. They are friends.  But you know what is coming, right?  This is, after all, a romance.  I'll let you guess the rest.  Strong supporting cast of friends make this quirky and delightful.  The audio book is perfectly read by Carrie Hope Fletcher and Kwaku Fortune.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk  274 pp.

Sixty-something Janina Duszejko lives outside a small Polish town near the Czech border. She is a quirky amateur astrologer and a fanatical animal rights proponent, constantly battling with the local hunters and writing unacknowledged letters to the local authorities. She is also mourning the loss of her two dogs which she calls her "little girls." After one of her neighbors dies from choking on a sliver of deer bone, Janina is convinced the animals are taking their revenge on people for hunting. Soon there are other mysterious deaths, including that of the local priest. The deaths differ in method but all have connections to hunting. This is an unusual story full of unusual characters, the most unusual being Janina herself. The author is a Booker and Nobel Prize winner and this novel is like nothing I've ever read before. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Beata Pozniak. The heavily accented narration was occasionally hard to understand but it suited the story well.

December totals!

Christa  16/4598
Cindy  1/385
Jan  3/875
Josh  1/212
Kara  17/5150
Karen  7/2597
Kathleen  2/700
Patrick  6/1437

TOTAL: 53/15,954

Chilling Effect

Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes, 434 pages

Eva Innocente is minding her own business, carting goods across the galaxy when she learns that her sister has been kidnapped by The Fridge, a criminal syndicate that's known for cryogenically freezing its victims until their loved ones pay off exorbitant ransoms. And that's just what has happened to Eva's sister, forcing Eva to take on increasingly dangerous missions to pay the ransom. Oh, and in the meantime, she has to figure out how to deal with the massive bounty placed on her by a rich guy who just couldn't take no for an answer when he hit on her.

This book won't win any awards, but it's a fun galaxy-trotting caper with a vibrant cast of alien beings (including the clawed quennians, who emit smells that correspond with their emotions), a great Latina protagonist, and some psychic cats (who I'm pretty sure are just regular cats that they think are psychic). I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it for fans of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe.

Gwendy's Button Box

Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar, 164 pages

Gwendy was a young, bullied girl when a strange man gave her an even stranger box with levers that dispensed small chocolate animals and silver dollars, and yes, some hard-to-push buttons. But it's good that those buttons were hard to push, as each had the ability to cause a tragedy on a grand scale, something Gwendy finds out the hard way.

Rather than being a traditional horror story, Gwendy's Button Box is closer to a mix between Pandora's box and The Tell-Tale Heart. It's short, but full of creeping fear and suspense. A good and creepy way to spend a couple of hours.

Natural and home remedies for aging well

Natural and home remedies for aging well: 196 alternative health and wellness secrets that will change your life, 364 pgs.

Lots of practical advice in a lot of different areas and a few things that seem a little crazy.  And maybe they are NOT crazy...they just seem that way to me.  Focusing on the over 50 crowd, decide for yourself what might work for you.

Dead Man's Chest

Dead Man's Chest by Kerry Greenwood (2010) 259 pages

This 18th installment of the Phryne Fisher mystery series delves more into Phryne's family life than usual--her adopted daughters are featured, as well as Dot, her beloved companion. The group arrives at a vacation destination four hours from home in Australia (although with Phryne driving, it was just three hours away). They discover that the rental home is missing the married couple who were to provide care and meals for them. After exploring the place, and finding no evidence of a murder, but only of a hasty retreat, they decide to stay after all, with one of Phyrne's daughters eager to try her hand at cooking. A local young man whom Phryne dubs Tinker is asked to join the group to provide some muscle as well as to sleep near the kitchen for protection. As much as Phryne, a detective, attempts to stay off the job during this holiday, a number of people show up in need of her services. The group has its share of excitement.

This was an enjoyable read; nothing terribly deep, but as always, Phryne's personality and opinions provide entertainment.

Death at La Fenice

Death at La Fenice: a Novel of Suspense / Donna Leon, 263 p.

The first installment in the now very successful Guido Brunetti series features a world-renowned German conductor dead of cyanide poisoning at the Venice opera.  A dead conductor and a cast of suspects including the soprano, the wife, and a disgruntled stage manager sounds like a cardboard plot, but Brunetti is a subtle, well-drawn character I may learn to like. 

Lot

Lot: stories / Bryan Washington, read by the author plus a cast, 222 pgs.

A series of related stories mostly featuring a young African/Latino American in Houston as he decides that he is gay and deals with his family and friends. This book packs an emotional punch.  The family is very working class and struggling as the father/husband disappears and the family restaurant is failing.  The three siblings are adrift and changing as is the neighborhood.  These stories give us a glimpse of others in the area but the center is the restaurant.  Hurricane Harvey packs a wallop but the people just keep going.  Washington is an interesting new voice.

The Escape

The Escape (John Puller Book 3) by David Baldacci  470 pp.

Army CID agent John Puller returns in this thriller with a large body count. Puller's brother, Robert, is imprisoned for life for espionage at the military's prison facility in Leavenworth, Kansas. The prison has been unescapable until the security system is hacked and the backup systems disabled. Robert Puller escapes and disappears. Various government security agencies are involved in the investigation and it is decided that John Puller provides the best option for finding his brother and bringing him in alive. Some in those agencies would rather see him dead and Puller's investigation uncovers criminal activities and conspiracies that threaten the security of the country. Puller's partner in the investigation, Veronica Knox, is from a different agency than CID and he is not sure he can trust her. As for the body count, it includes foreign spies, a military general or two, other higher ups in government security agencies, and more who are shot, stabbed, or blown up in various ways. There are slow spots, mainly in the dialogue between John Puller and agent Knox but all in all it's one you don't want to put down (or in this case, stop listening to).

The Weight of Ink

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish  592 pp.

I was close to finishing this before the end of 2019 but didn't quite get there. This story takes place in London in the 1660s and the early 2000s. Esther Valasquez is a Jewish woman of a Portuguese family that escaped the Inquisition to settle in Amsterdam. After the death of her parents she takes a job in London working as a scribe for a rabbi who was blinded by the Inquisitors, a job that is considered unsuitable for a woman. Helen Watt is a British historian who is called on to investigate a collection of papers discovered during the renovations of a 17th century house. Helen and her American graduate assistant work on finding the identity of the scribe while each dealing with their own personal problems. The orphaned Esther is dependent on the charity of a congregation in Amsterdam. When the rabbi and others insist she marry and give up her beloved job as scribe she rebels. Esther and Helen are strong women battling the attitudes of the men in their lives. The story is well researched an written but drags in spots and I kept wondering if it was ever going to end.