The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman (2016) 65 pages
I read this short novelette three times, especially savoring it the second and third times. Backman knows how to pack so much into so few words and I didn't want to miss any of them. A wealthy middle-aged divorced man with a grown son has cancer, and he looks back at his life while considering the lives of his adult son and of a cancer patient who is a young girl. Drawings here and there make this work even more charming.
This brief book, written by a friend, is not a how-to book on the Tarot. Rather, it's a collection of insights gleaned from the author's meditations on the meaning of each of the 78 cards in the Rider Waite Smith tarot deck. Pemburn's brief commentary on the cards of the 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana give added discernment to the traditional meanings of the cards. This is only available in ebook format.
This is one of my favorite books from childhood and I had the fun of portraying the Duchess in a somewhat modernized production of the play back in the dark ages when I was in high school. It's one I drag out every few years just for the enjoyment of the absurd characters and goings on. This time I listened to an audiobook version read by Scarlett Johansson. I quite wish this version had included Alice Through the Looking Glass as that contains the parts I like best in the Alice adventures. However, Johansson does a good job of narration.
Middle school can be a tough time. Janey prefers to stay on the sidelines, hidden from the drama between the popular kids and those on the other end of that spectrum. Then someone arrives at school wearing a blue wig, silver swimsuit, red mask, torn tights, high tops, and a cape to turn the lives of Janey and everyone at the school upside down. Captain Superlative, as she calls herself, is on a mission to be nice to people and get them to be nice in return. Janey is intrigued and determined to find out more about this "superhero". Then she is picked to be the Captain's sidekick and learns what it truly means to be a friend. This moving story seems a perfect read for these uncertain times.
Archbishop Wighard, candidate to lead Canterbury is found garroted in his rooms in the Lateran Palace in Rome. Treasures he brought with him are found to be stolen. A monk, Brother Ronan Ragallach, who happened to be found in the vicinity is charged with the murder. However, there is much more to this mystery than first appears. Bishop Gelasius fears this affair will provoke a war between the Saxons and the Irish and appoints the highly educated Sister Fidelma of Kildare and Brother Eadulf of Canterbury. As Fidelman and Eadulf investigate the story becomes more convoluted until the murderer turns out to be one who was never considered a suspect. These mysteries are highly detailed with medieval references.
This modern day take on Little Women is terrific. Sisters/step-sisters in a struggling, mixed race, blended family are as close as any siblings can be. There mother works extra shifts to support them while their father is off fighting in the Middle East. Of course there are spats and jealousies among them but when it comes down to things that are important they become a force to be reckoned with. Jo is intent on her writing. Beth is becoming a singer/songwriter/performer. Amy is a budding artist, and Meg just wants to marry a rich man and not have to work, until she realizes that isn't a viable plan. There are familiar characters from the Alcott novel, including Laurie, who becomes a love interest. When Beth becomes ill, and their father is seriously injured in battle, the sisters bind together even more. One spoiler: Beth lives in this version.
This charming story of the life of musician Frankie Presto is enhanced by the addition of real life celebrities from the music industry. Frankie, a Spanish orphan is taken in by a blind guitarist who teaches him to play guitar. When his life is in danger he is sent to the U.S. in the bottom of a boat with his old guitar and six magical guitar strings. He eventually joins one band after another, including Elvis Presley's. Along the way he encounters Hank Williams, Carole King, KISS, and many others. He eventually becomes a pop star but finds his musical life is too much of a strain because his music has life altering effects on some people. After hiding away on an island he eventually returns to the public eye only to die onstage in a miraculous way. The novel is told in flashbacks and includes commentary by a plethora of celebrity musicians who gather for Frankie's funeral. I listened to the audiobook which is the best way to experience this book. Roger McGuinn, Ingrid Michaelson, Paul Stanley, John Pizzarelli, Wynton Marsalis, and others read their respective parts of the novel.
Binti is leaving her home for University. The first person to do so. In fact, she is not supported by her family and is kind of running away. During her interstellar trip, the ship is overtaken by Meduse, an alien race who was wronged by the University. Everyone is killed except for Binti and the pilot. She sells herself as a negotiator to talk the University into returning something stolen from the Meduse. Will she be successful? I'm not going to spoil this novella, read it yourself.
You might assume this is about Jane...and of course, it IS in a way. But the focus is actually her older sister Cassandra. This deals with Cassandra, the self appointed protector of Jane's legacy. She is intent on making sure nothing that might sully Jane's memories are left to the younger generations. In this book, she is working to retrieve letters written to her sister-in-law Eliza. Cassandra is helping her niece clear out the house she lived in with her parents. When Cassandra discovers the stash of letters, we see in flash back the beautiful relationship between Jane and Cassy. Their personal histories are revealed and the events that shaped their lives detailed in this fictional account. If you are an Austen fan, this is the book for you. Do yourself a favor and listen to the audio version which is perfectly read by Juliet Stevenson.
Cuisine Chinoise: Five Tales Of Food And Life / Zao Dao, Diana Schutz (Translation), Adam Pruett (art), 102 pgs.
I checked this out to check off a box on the Read Harder Challenge and I'm glad I did. I found out that author is up and coming in China and newly translated to English. These five stories are odd and sometimes hard to follow. It isn't clear if that is because I'm not smart enough or maybe something got lost in translation. Still, the art was interesting and the parts I did understand were pretty cool.
Sophie Heawood was told by her doctor that she was unable to conceive due to a medical condition. Later, during a tryst with her sometime casual lover, she ends up pregnant. She embarks upon a lonely pregnancy and single motherhood with hilarious results. I loved the author reading her own story. A journalist, Heawood has a good feel for perspective and keeps this memoir rolling along.
Calla, like all other girls, enters a lottery after "becoming a woman." Each is given either a white ticket or a blue ticket. Those with whit tickets become mothers, those with blue tickets are implanted with an IUD and go to work, never to become mothers. All is fine for Calla until she enters her 30's and has the urge to procreate. This creates problems as the system does not allow for it. She gets pregnant, goes on the run and hooks up with some like minded women.
The interesting part of the book is the lack of explanation for this system. Calla doesn't seem to live in an overpopulated area. When she goes on the run, there are several small towns and rural areas that she visits. There doesn't seem to be a food shortage. There are seriously no hints. The white ticket women that she runs across are mothers of one or two. Not like they are consolidating reproduction for the healthy or whatever. For some reason this bothered me more than any other part of the story...much of which is bothersome.
Deadly Forecast by Victoria Laurie (2013) 372 pages
This was my first book by this author, who has pulled in a psychic from another of her series, MJ Holliday, to lend assistance to this case. It felt a bit strange to have the FBI bosses frequently asking the women for their psychic impressions, but once I suspended my disbelief, the mystery played out reasonably well.
Just like everybody else, bank robbers can have bad days. And that's just what happens to set in motion the plot of Anxious People. Driven by a cheating spouse who is threatening to cut off access to their children, the wronged party turns to robbing a bank. But when things don't go right at the bank, the robber flees to the first door they see across the street, ending up in a real estate agent's open house for an apartment and creating the world's most awkward hostage situation. Meanwhile, a young cop and his partner (who is also his dad) must sort out exactly what happened to catch the robber.
There's something innately hilarious yet very real about the situation and the characters that are thrown together in this fantastic book. Yes, they're anxious people, and yes, there are definitely some serious bits, but on the whole, this is a wonderful, heartwarming story. Highly recommended.
The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu got together to celebrate a birthday and talk about joy. The result of their visit and interviews is this book. These two are fabulous friends in addition to being some big names in the religious world. They default to forgiving and loving and both are Nobel Prize winners. What they say here is not new but the way they have demonstrated their beliefs in the lives they lead is impressive. Some good hints for everyone here.
Danny's life is falling apart. A year after his wife died in a car accident, his son Will has still not spoken. Now Danny loses his job and has to figure out a way to pay his back rent or possibly have his legs broken by his landlord's strong man. Desperate for money, Danny decides to become a street performer after struggling to find a job. He buys a very cheap panda suit and starts dancing for a living. After not making much in the early weeks, he realizes his has to invest in his act. This turned out to be a delightful listen, perfectly narrated by Rupert Holliday-Evans. Danny, Will and the unlikely cast of people who help them is exactly what I needed in the middle of the pandemic. Hearty thumbs up.
It has been a decade since popular cheerleader Trumanell disappeared. The number one suspect is her brother Wyatt, now the town piranha. Odette is a young police woman who returned to her hometown to solve the case. Five years later, still unsolved, she is struggling with her relationships to her dead father, unhappy husband and her former boyfriend, Wyatt. When a mysterious one eyed girl is dumped in a field near town, emotions boil to the surface. This is a well done thriller with fantastic narration.
In this complex story, Elliott begins her retelling of the military campaigns of Alexander the Great, but with a woman named Sun standing in for the young ruler. She's young and underestimated by her mother, Eirene, queen-marshal of Chaonia, but eager to prove herself against their foes, the four-armed Yele. But Sun is unsure of who she can trust, even among her Companions and particularly her newest Companion, Persephone Lee, whose family is known for its duplicity. Full of intrigue and maneuvering both on and off the battlefield, this is a captivating story for those who enjoy military science fiction.
I bought a copy of U. City’s own David Linzee’s mystery novel after he gave a reading at the library last year (remember in-person events?) and put it away to enjoy on vacation. Somehow, I didn’t get to it, it got shelved, and I completely forgot about it until recently. By now, he may be well on the way to publishing the next in the Renata Radleigh series. Renata, now in her fourth outing, is a charming main character, a British mezzo-soprano who often sings in St. Louis during the St. Louis Opera season each year. Part of the fun is in recognizing the thinly veiled references to local institutions and people. In this book, however, Renata and her boyfriend, the Adams University PR man, Peter Lombaro, are on an “opera cruise” on the Queen Alexandria II. As always, someone gets offed, and Renata is drawn into the investigation. And as has happened before, suspicion falls on her. But it isn’t just a rerun of other plots, it is an engaging romp. I know that David and his wife, Claire, took the Queen Elizabeth II cruise to Britain for “research reasons.” Must have been as fun as this book. 270 pp.
Although the book is timely, dealing with revenge, reality TV, and morality in the Trump era, I didn’t really like it all that much. Agnes, a young, inexperienced, and well-meaning teacher at a private school tries to befriend Heidi, an angry high school student who is a child of privilege but seldom interacts with her absent parents. When a trip to New York City with another student, that Agnes sets up in hopes that it might foster a friendship, ends up leading to Heidi falling into the clutches of a man who rapes her, Agnes’s stunned response when Heidi seeks comfort from her has the unintentional consequence of causing the girl to disappear without a trace. It’s probably not giving away too much to say that decades later Heidi will turn up and exact retribution. But in my mind, Agnes’s “offense,” which will also permanently alter the trajectory of her life, doesn’t merit the punishment. 338 pp.
Bryce Quinlan is a half-fae working for an antiquities dealer during the day and partying like crazy at night when her best friend is brutally murdered in a way that completely baffles the angelic authorities of Crescent City. The crime completely changes Bryce's outlook on life, and when a similar murder takes place two years later to someone who was just seen in Bryce's company, the angels pull her into their investigation. What follows is a dangerous investigation that takes Bryce and her angel-of-death companion Hunt into the seediest and scariest parts of their city as they try to find the culprit.
It's interesting seeing the world Maas created in Crescent City, with all of the social and magical castes and rivalries involved. I'm curious to see where the rest of this series takes Bryce and Hunt, particularly if it involved more interactions with the merpeople of Crescent City's river. A fun and sexy urban fantasy.
Nora Seed was depressed well before her cat died, but when she got fired from her job and missed the piano lesson she was supposed to teach and had her elderly neighbor "fire" her from picking up his prescriptions for him THE VERY NEXT DAY... well, she couldn't see a way forward. The Midnight Library takes place in the moments after Nora's suicide attempt, where it's unclear whether or not survive. During this time, Nora visits The Midnight Library, where her childhood school librarian helps her look at the choices she's made in the past, and the lives that she may have lived if she'd chosen differently. It's a bit like It's A Wonderful Life, but with a really fantastic therapist on hand. Haig does a wonderful job of presenting anxiety and depression accurately and kindly, so that this book could be absolutely wonderful for someone who is on the road to success when it comes to managing their mental health. That said, it could also be a depressing story for someone who's not in a great state of mind. Though I enjoyed the story, I'm hesitant to give an all-out recommendation for this.
Simran seems to have everything lined up for a fantastic life: she's living in New York, she's finishing up her Master's in psychology, and her fiance is a medical resident with a promising future. But as planning for a large Indian wedding moves along, the cracks in her life begin to appear. Simultaneously, her mother, Nandini, is similarly experiencing some strain from her in-laws, as well as Simran's future mother-in-law. It doesn't help that mother and daughter can't seem to talk, or get a hold of Nandini's mom back in India. Can the women hold it together to see this wedding through?
Dave's debut novel, this book shows the pressures of not only being a woman, but being an Indian-American woman, tasked with serving traditional in-laws in a society that keeps pressuring women to "lean in." It's illuminating and fascinating (I'm *so glad* my wedding preparations were not like this!), and I look forward to what Dave writes in the future.
In her long-awaited followup to the FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC Hyperbole and a Half, Allie Brosh once again knocks it out of the park with her funny, awkward, and gut-wrenchingly honest autobiographical essays (that are, in large part, illustrated). I love her honesty, her weirdness, her sense of humor. And while readers know that she isn't always aware of her impact on the rest of us, I hope she knows that we love her and her goofy drawings for exposing so much truth in such great ways.
A really fun read by a guy who used to be Carrie Fisher's assistant. Not that this fictional character has ANYTHING to do with her. Kathi Kannon did star in an epic sci fi movie and is loved by all. In her later years she is an addict and a bit of a quirky icon. She is hard to work for but also easy in some ways. Charlie (or Cockring as Kathi calls him) gets this as his first gig being an assistant after a horrible job as night new writer. This is really Charlie's story. We hear about his childhood, his dad and what he wants out of life (a love life anyone?). Fun read.
Author Cathy O'Neil takes the on subject of mathematical algorithms and she makes it fascinating to read about how Big Data affects our lives: how public school teachers get evaluated, how students get accepted into colleges, how communities get policed, how insurance gets priced and more. She tackles the unfairness of these WMDs (Weapons of Math Destruction) and how they worsen the lives of those already living at the margins, as well as for some who are not. An eye-opening read, even for a reader without extensive mathematical background.
In upstate New York, there's a small town called Torrance, right next to the Chilewaukee reservoir. But underneath the lake, there are the remains of Galesburg, an old town that was destroyed against the residents' wishes to build the reservoir a century ago. Initially, the lake was going to help supply water to New York City, but that plan was scrapped mid-way through the tunneling process, when engineers determined that it would literally be an uphill battle. Now, in a season of record rainfall, the aging dam is in dire need of repairs and some of the descendants of Galesburg's founders aren't so sure their ancestors are resting peacefully.
This could be described as either horror or supernatural thriller, but based on the nods to The Shining (remember, it was the Torrance family that was staying at the Overlook), I'm going with horror. And like the book where it gets its town's name, The Chill is full of ghosts doing much more than simply rattling chains and being spooky. These are some industrious vengeful spirits, and they are not here to play. A good read for a very rainy day.
A secret government team is tasked with the near-impossible mission of stealing the Aleph Tablet, an artifact that has been mythologized across the galaxy as the keystone to a long-gone alien race. To do so, they'll have to visit black market auctions and tangle with the most powerful crime lord in the galaxy, all while breaking in a new team recruit, who is both talented and volatile. Oh, and keeping the tablet out of the hands of their rivals.
This is the second book in this series, and despite not having read the first one, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its motley crew. I'll be tracking down book one, and following along with the team's future adventures.
Six years after a pandemic has knocked out 70% of the world's population, life is starting to return to a sort-of normal. People have settled into Metro areas or hippie-esque Reclaimed areas, though there are looting gangs that still rove around the countryside. In San Francisco Metro, former pop star Moira is trying to shed her past identity, despite her estranged father's controlling attempts to track her down, while widower Rob is trying his best to raise his 7-year-old daughter Sunny, who thinks her mom is coming back. And then there's Krista, who, even before the pandemic, decided to move forward and never look back. But the reemergence of a flu strain like the one that caused the pandemic heightens anxieties, throwing these four into each others' lives in ways they never imagined.
Oof. This was a hard one to read right now, as COVID-19 cases keep rising in the U.S. I certainly wouldn't have read this if I didn't have to for a committee I'm on, especially because of how realistic all of the press releases and politicians' speeches are, despite the book being written and released BEFORE COVID-19 hit. (Really, the least realistic thing about the whole book is the president taking the disease seriously... and the fact that the president is a woman.) I can't recommend reading this one, at least not for several more years.
It's the summer of 1985, and freshman-to-be Lauren is slowly separating from her lifelong best friend, Miranda. Miranda's boy crazy and determined to spend her summer finding an upperclassman with a nice car to take her to school in the fall. Meanwhile, Lauren's dealing with her antagonistic relationship with her mom, which has only gotten worse since Lauren's dad was brutally murdered last November. When the brutal murder of two girls comes to their small town, Lauren's determined to find the connection to her dad, though just about everyone else in town is having trouble remembering... well, anything to do with either crime.
This is an excellent mix of supernatural and all-too-human horror, wonderfully told. The small-town life, the trials of teenagehood... it all rings true and marries perfectly with the cursed story of the town. Highly recommended.
For as long as she can remember, Iona has been an architect in the city, designing all manner of buildings in the constantly expanding, constantly changing built environment. But when one of her colleagues dies the same week that an odd young woman appears in her office, things start to seem a bit odd to her. Soon, she's discovering that not everything is as it seems, and questioning the world around her.
This is a quirky, odd book, unlike anything I've read. In fact, I'd say it's much more like a Doctor Who episode, as it manages to combine wooden automatons and aliens and a talking cat. There are some definite plot holes here, but it's still worth a read, as it's just so strange and quirky.
For more than 30 years, Bridget and Will have formed two-thirds of the Forsyth Trio, a chamber ensemble that has hosted a series of violinists over the years. During that time, Bridget raised two children as a single mom, and Will has steadfastly remained her closest friend, though many outsiders suspect that there's more to their relationship. When the story starts, they are once again about to welcome a new violinist into the trio in the fall, after Bridget spends her summer with her boyfriend at her run-down country house in Connecticut. But then the boyfriend dumps her, both her kids unexpectedly come home, Will's landlord sells his apartment building, and they can't get ahold of their new violinist...well, "disarray" only begins to describe their summer.
I love dysfunctional family stories, and this one does not disappoint. Yes, they're affluent and eccentric, and I'd probably hate spending more than a few minutes with them in real life, but this was a ton of fun to read. Recommended for fans of dysfunctional families and classical music.
Ever since I started working out seriously a few years back, I've been curious about the late great Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legendary workout regimen. This book, written by her longtime personal trainer, spells it out and tells you how to do everything properly. It includes lots of excellent cartoon illustrations of the late Supreme Court justice doing all of these stretches and exercises, and has modifications for those of us working out from home or for those of us who aren't as much of a strong beast as RBG (which, let's face it, is pretty much everyone).
Anyway, I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to work out like a boss (or who just wants to bask in RBG's amazingness).
In this alternate history, Parry imagines the late 18th Century as a tumultuous time for British and French, and their Caribbean colonies...but with the added twist of magic. So yes, the French Revolution is led by Robespierre to unseat (and un-head) the aristocracy, but this time Robespierre is a secret necromancer and Marie Antoinette is a fire mage. William Pitt still becomes a very young Prime Minister in Great Britain, but he's got a magical secret of his own. British abolitionist William Wilberforce is still fighting against slavery, but he's also against the unfair restrictions placed on commoners with magical powers (aristocrats, naturally, are allowed to do as they please, magically speaking).
It's an interesting take on an interesting period in history, and while it's well done, one wonders if the addition of magic is really necessary to "jazz up" this tale. Surely the actual intrigue and conflicts would be enough here. That said, it's a good philosophical fantasy tale, similar to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (but without all the obnoxious footnotes).
A group of teens in small-town Texas drag an old mannequin into a movie theater as a final prank against a friend, but things don't go exactly how they planned. Soon, our narrator Sawyer and his pals are caught in the crosshairs of a murderous, living mannequin, and Sawyer has to figure out the best course of action. What starts out campy rapidly becomes a psychological thriller where nobody knows what will happen next. Jones packs a punch in a short book, and it's fantastic horror. Can't wait to read more by him.
This is an utterly charming book tells of the club at the retirement community that consists of four unlikely friends who get together to solve cold cases. Then a hot case comes their way! The builder of the community is murdered and they are working hard to figure out the mystery. All of this sounds so much like any other book featuring a murder but this book is different. These characters are so fabulous it is hard to describe. I looked forward to every utterance, every plan they hatched and every insight into the relationships among the characters. It was the first book in a LONG time that I actually slowed down while I was reading it because I didn't want it to end. If you like interesting characters and dialog and have no hatred for mysteries, give this one a try. It was the perfect book at the perfect time for me and I'm thrilled to see that a second one is in the works.
I enjoyed this biography where Lenny tells about his childhood, his relationship with his parents and the beginnings of his career in music. His close relationship with his mom and grandparents and his more difficult relationship with his Jewish dad, a former military man whose focus was order and discipline. As a kid, he sang in an exclusive choir and learned music. He wasn't that good of a student in other areas. The real problem with this book is that it ends right as things get interesting. He marries Lisa Bonet and really launches his career and then we will have to wait for the next book, I guess. I assume there will be another. I enjoyed hearing this audio read by the author.
Juliet Worthington-Smith - could there be a better white lady name? Our protagonist is a black out drunk whose wallet is found next to a murdered man that she knew. She can't remember anything from that night because she is, as often happens, very drunk. The police have her down as the only real suspect and now she is working to clear herself. She digs into the affair the murder victim was involved in and harasses his wife thinking she had plenty to gain. As time goes on we see Juliet's very dysfunctional life an family. Even now she can't resist drinking to excess most days. She teams up with a former boyfriend who is an investigative journalist in an effort to find the murdered. We learn of their odd past and Juliet's role in a stabbing that almost killed him. Basically, bad news follows this woman around or maybe she is the bad news? The pacing of this is a little off but the story will keep you interested and the ending includes an interesting twist.
This intense graphic novel is the basis for the movie that came out in 2014. I am trying to catch up on great graphic novels and this one is very good. The art is marvelous and conveys the gritty dystopia of the train. There are three other volumes in the series, one is a precursor. I'm on to the next one.
This book is comprised of eight thought-provoking short stories that often center on young gay and transsexual persons, usually in a rural setting. One, called A New Mohawk, is told by a transman who has discovered that his mohawk has become a miniature replica of a wall between Israel and Palestine. He can hear the rockets going between the territories, and whenever a person is mortally wounded by the fighting, the tiny being falls off his head onto the floor and dies. Heady stuff, indeed. Some other stories have similar kinds of magical happenings. In others, drugs might fuel the weirdness.
This book is a series of transcripts from talks given by the author in the early 1970s. I listened to the audiobook version which probably colored my less than stellar opinion of the book. The narration by Jim Gimian sounded a bit like a bored Sam Waterston. I am not Buddhist but have read quite a bit of Buddhist literature. Much of Trungpa's commentary was off-putting to me. The premise of the title, that spirituality should not be used for personal rather than spiritual gain makes perfect sense. However, his explanations of some other principals veered more toward a cultish mind control than "enlightenment." YMMV.
Carmen, Dee Dee, and Elise don't seem to have much in common when they meet at yoga class, but after a bit of chatting they realize that the one thing they do share is a struggle to go through the belongings of their late mothers. The three form a pact to help each other clear out the old boxes (and, in one case, a whole condo) of their mothers, helping each other with both the physical and emotional labor involved. As they begin their tasks, each woman must deal with revelations, sometimes shocking, and come to grips with who her mother really was.
I appreciate what Williams is doing by showing these women shouldering the burden of dealing with what a loved one has left behind — after all, don't we all end up taking on that job at some point? — and the stories told here are all valid and intriguing. That said, they fit together a bit clumsily, particularly considering that the whole book takes place over the course of a few weeks. I'm just not sure I buy the friendships coalescing quite so quickly and solidly to enable sharing long-buried secrets so freely. But it was a quick read, and definitely offers an easy path toward something we'll all have to deal with, so...
Four years ago, Mal disappeared while monster-hunting on a moor with her girlfriend, Lee. Lee assumed that Mal was dead, but as it turns out, she was simply trapped on an alternate Earth, living with the dinosaurs there. It turns out that there are several Earths, each with a different evolutionary path that branches off at different catastrophic points in time. Oh, and the walls between them are slowly becoming more and more porous, leading to what may be the final, all-Earths catastrophe.
Massive in scope and insanely creative, this book brings together the smartest (or at least most dogged) beings from several Earths, fending off their own prejudices (and evil opportunists) to try to solve the problems of the multiverse. I particularly liked what Tchaikovsky had to say about human intelligence, as well as our consideration of "the other." The interstitial chapters from an academic book about the multiverse are sometimes a bit plodding, but they're much shorter than the action-filled chapters and they do have a point, so it's better to read them as you go. It's a big book, but for someone looking for a new take on evolution and the idea of parallel universes, it's definitely worth the time.
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| This is how The Rock returns his library books. (Or at least we're assuming that's what's in the bag) |
Jan 4/1106
Kara 10/3766
Karen 8/1853
Linda 5/1471
Patrick 4/1623
Total: 41/7631
Artist Mia and her surgeon husband Harrison have just moved into the small town of Hope Springs, Pennsylvania. It seems to be a perfect life, except Mia keeps having these vivid dreams about a very specific random man. Imagine her surprise when she meets that man and finds out he's been having dreams about her too! Soon Mia and the dream guy (Oliver) are investigating all of the possible implications of their dreams, straining Mia and Harrison's already fraught relationship, brought on by Harrison's long hours and Mia's third miscarriage. Mia is soon questioning whether Harrison or Oliver is who she's really meant to be with.
This was a really tough premise for me to swallow, and even though the book got easier to read as I went, the first half involved so many eyerolls on my part (at the premise, not the writing or anything) that I had a really tough time getting into it. But if you're OK with more mystical possibilities than I am (and that could include just about everyone), it's probably a good read. It just wasn't my cup of tea.
An insular yet technologically connected eco-community in the wilds of Washington seems like an idyllic place to live...until Mount Rainier erupts, cutting Greenloop off from the rest of the world. The handful of residents are prepping for a survivalist winter when an additional complication arises in the form of mysterious, smelly, and potentially violent unidentified creatures that have been flushed out of their Rainier habitat by the eruption. Will the techno-hippies of Greenloop make it out alive?
Bob Woodward's latest book delves deeply into Donald Trump's administration and Cabinet. He gained his information via seventeen on-the-record interviews with Trump, and extensive interviews with those around Trump. I learned much more about those who worked in Trump's administration, like Jim Mattis, Rex Tillerson, Dan Coats, and Jared Kushner. We learn much about Trump's relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jon Un.
The book starts its journey at the time Trump was choosing his Cabinet, in November 2016, and leaves off in late July 2020, as the coronavirus still raged. The book is well-documented, with extensive footnoting and index. Most fascinating to me, in a kind of "craning to see the accident at the side of the road" way, were the texts of the discussions between Woodward and Trump.
