Ordinary Monsters

 Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro, 660 pages.

At the end of the 19th century children with unusual abilities, Talents, are appearing all over the world. And some of them are being hunted by a man made of smoke The Talents have a special relationship with the realm of the dead, and that barrier is getting dangerously thin.

It's hard to give a good synopsis for this book because the best word to describe it is sprawling. It follows a large cast and drifts between continents and across decades constantly. It's deeply atmospheric and completely engrossing, and trying to describe it briefly would probably end up doing it a disservice (as evidenced by the fact that the synopsis on the book itself feels like it's hardly accurate). Threads are constantly picked up, then left for a while, before eventually coming in from an entirely new angle. It was very smoothly done and touches on some really cool things. I was definitely impressed by this one.

The Sandman vols. 4 & 5

The Sandman vol. 4 & 5 by Neil Gaiman, various artists, 416 pages

Having regained his position as king of dreams, Morpheus/Dream is now on to other adventures, namely those that his mischievous sibling Desire prods him into. In volume 4 (Season of Mists), Dream finds himself traveling to Hell to undo a wrong that has lasted eons, only to find that Lucifer is quitting and leaving the keys to Hell in Dream's hands. Cue the various religious traditions and other stakeholders who want him to give it to them instead. Volume 5 (A Game of You) revisits a dreamer from a previous adventure who must battle her demons both in real life and in the dreaming.

I really enjoy Dream when he's particularly sulky and I love seeing gods from world religious interact (a drunken Thor hitting on Bast is particularly amusing), and Season of Mists really delivers on both of these things. That said, A Game of You always seems like a spin-off of the series, since Dream only pops up a bit toward the end as a true deus ex machina device. The main thing I get out of that is disappointment that we didn't get to spend more time with trans woman extraordinaire Wanda. But on we go with the series.

Fault Tolerance

Fault Tolerance by Valerie Valdes, 406 pages

After dealing with an interstellar mafia and a devious plot involving mind-controlling Pokemon-esque creatures (just go with it), the crew of La Sirena Negra is ready for a bit of downtime. But then some ominous monoliths (is there such a thing as non-ominous monoliths?) have to go and appear at every intergalactic gate, blocking traffic between star systems and threatening to destroy everyone who doesn't bend to the will of those who control the monoliths (who this is isn't exactly clear at the start). And OF COURSE La Sirena Negra's co-captain, Eva Innocente, is the being chosen to hunt down some super-powerful, super-huge mechs to fight the monoliths' creators. Cue a dangerous universe-wide scavenger hunt, complete with plenty of fighting, running, and off-the-cuff decisions that are equal parts stupid and brave.

I really love this series (start with Chilling Effect), which is equal parts space adventure, found family wonderfulness, and cat jokes. My only complaints about it are completely my fault: it's been two years since I read the last installment in this series, so I'd forgotten what was going on when the story picked up; and I recently read a different book with giant space robots, which certainly colored my mental image of the mechs in this book. (Thankfully, the other book had a different enough plot and characters and relationship between robot and human that I was able to keep the stories straight.) Anyway, this was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to read what Valdes comes up with next!

Mrs. Rochester's Ghost

 Mrs. Rochester's Ghost by Lindsay Marcott (2021) 283 pages

Jane loses her job when the television series she writes for is canceled. After months of being unable to find a new job, she's feeling severe financial hardship, when she gets a call from a guy she used to work with at a bar years ago. Otis now cooks for his cousin, Evan Rochester, who's wealthy and in need of a tutor for his teenaged daughter. If Jane agrees to come, she'll have her own cottage on the grounds of Rochester's property on the California coast.

An alternating storyline is the story of Evan Rochester's wife, Beatrice, a former super model who walked into the sea several months ago, if one believes Evan's story. Some people, including Beatrice's brother, say that Evan killed his wife, having tired of living with her severe mental illness, and needing cash from their joint assets to fund his business proposals. In chapters told from Beatrice's point of view, her mental illness is profoundly on display, and it's fascinating to see how she views her husband ("my jailer") and his household employees.

Meanwhile, Jane's interactions with the brusque Rochester are improving after an awkward first meeting, making her‒against better advice‒fall for him.

I enjoyed this modern re-telling of Jane Eyre, maybe even more than Brontë's original story.

The Sandman volumes 1-3

The Sandman volumes 1-3 by Neil Gaiman, various artists, 632 pages total

For 60 years, Dream/Morpheus/The Master of Dreams/the titular Sandman has been locked away by some occultists who were trying to trap Dream's sister, Death. Slowly, he figures out a way to escape and return to his neglected realm of Dreaming. In his absence, the sources of his power have been scattered across the universe, nightmares he created have escaped, and his powers have weakened.

These first few volumes (Preludes & Nocturnes, The Doll's House, and Dream Country) set up the series beautifully, though also horrifically, with plenty of nightmare fuel to be found in diners and remote motels.

Neil Gaiman has long been one of my favorite authors, and my reread of his seminal horror/fantasy comic series is LONG overdue. It actually makes me sad to think that it took the new Netflix series to get me to read these again (because OF COURSE I have to read them again before watching).

Anyway, these are amazing, and wonderfully creative and just as relevant today as they were when they were first published more than 30 years ago.

A Song Below Water

 A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow, 288 pages.

Tavia and Effie aren't sisters, but they're like sisters in every way that matters. Except that because they aren't sisters Effie doesn't share the siren blood that Tavia has spent her whole life desperately trying to hide. It also means that nobody in Tavia's family (which is also has Effie's adopted family) has any idea what's going on with the strange magical changes Effie's going through. As the secrets they have to keep mount in a Portland that loves magical beings, just not ones that look like them, the pressure is getting unsustainable. 

I enjoyed this book, although I did find it a little slow. I really liked both Tavia and Effie, although I honestly wanted Morrow to go further with her world building. It felt like the development of the world hadn't been influenced at all by the fact that it's full of magical beings, which I felt was a missed opportunity. But there is a lot that it does very well, and there's definitely some cool things going on in here.

Not Your Villain

 Not Your Villain by C.B. Lee, 307 pages.

Bells Broussard is a shapeshifter, and it's awesome. And not only because it means he doesn't have to worry about wearing a binder to school and can color his hair on a whim. He also loves being a superhero. Which is why it's particularly terrible for him when the government names him a supervillain after he gets involved in exposing the grand conspiracy of the last book. Luckily they can't tell him what to do, and Chameleon isn't done with his heroing yet.

It's unfortunate that this book is much worse than the last one, which was already only middling, but intriguing. The first third or so of this book covers the same time period as the first book, and instead of granting many unique insights to the events it mostly reads as a very long recap. There's also more things that feel like they happen to get the plot where it needs to go, instead of keeping to any internal consistency. Which is all extra a shame because Bells is a really cool character, and it would have been cool if his book gave him as much depth as Jess's gave to her. I think this series might have lost me at this point, because I'm pretty sure I know where we're going with this, but I may pick the last two books up at some point.

Not Your Sidekick

 Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee, 283 pages.

Generations ago a massive solar flare wiped caused a series of nuclear meltdowns and other disasters that led to a radical restructuring of the entire world. It also awakened a latent gene to grant some people superpowers. Although both of her parents are superheroes (and superpowers are genetic) Jess hasn't shown any signs of inheriting any powers, leaving her feeling aimless and insufficient. Which is why when it turns out the perfect internship she's been offered is actually for local supervillain (and her parents' nemesis) Master Mischief she decides to take it anyway. But soon Jess finds out that there's more going on beyond the black and white world of heroes and villains.

I liked this book, although it read as a little more juvenile than I was expecting. I thought Jess's relationship with her secret crush and fellow intern Abby was really cute, and the world building has me intrigued, even if it's not anything earth shattering.

August Kitko and the Mechas from Space

August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White, 451 pages

Jazz pianist August Kitko is prepared to die. Giant space robots are heading toward Earth with destruction on their minds, Gus just screwed up a fledgling relationship with pop star Ardent Violet, and they're both performing at a rich guy's apocalypse party, so being ready to die is kind of OK in that situation, right? But then one of the robots, Greymalkin, hears Gus riffing on the piano during Greymalkin's inexplicable fight with another robot. Suddenly, Gus is kidnapped by Greymalkin, who turns out to be one of a handful of rebel robots who are NOT bent on wiping out humanity, and Gus's musical stylings fit so well with the robots' method of communication, so why not co-opt him as an unwitting translator?

I realize that's a LOT to process in one paragraph, and considering all of that happens in the first two chapters, it's also a rough way to start the book. However, once I got past those first two chapters, things settled down and the story became a lot more about sacrifice, love, music, mental health, and humanity and less about space robot fights (though there's still plenty of that too). I love White's Salvagers trilogy (starting with A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe), and while this one isn't quite up to that standard yet, I'm definitely curious to see where Gus and Ardent's story goes.

How to Be Perfect

How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur, 289 pages

Some background before I start discussing the actual book: The author of this book is Michael Schur, creator of the hilarious and thoughtful sitcom The Good Place, which recently finished its four-season run to much acclaim. The TV show focuses on four people dealing with their afterlives, attempting to make themselves good enough people to stay in the titular Good Place. How do they do it? By studying moral philosophy, of course!

With all of that in mind, How to Be Perfect is Schur's book report on all of the moral philosophy research he did before creating the TV show. In it, he covers all the big names of secular moral philosophy from Aristotle to Kant to Ayn Rand (ugh) to Sartre and beyond, explaining them clearly for everyday people like me, someone who never expected to read — much less enjoy! — a book on moral philosophy. It's hilarious, thought-provoking, and full of excellent footnotes. I listened to the audiobook, which was a special treat, as Good Place cast members read bits and pieces throughout the book.

I have recommended this book to just about everybody I've talked to during the last week or two, and I can't imagine I'll stop recommending it anytime soon. Read it! Listen to it! 

The Hoarder in You

The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life by Robin Zasio (2011) 222 pages

As a daughter helping a parent downsize living quarters, I have been hearing the siren call from beloved items from my childhood home.  Serendipity brought this book my way! Psychologist Robin Zasio handles the challenges from both extreme hoarders, who have homes that are unsafe, to those who have piles of clutter that are hard to get under control.

There are lots of helpful charts throughout the book, and lots of hand-holding, helping us try to figure out why it's so hard to pass up a great deal. Zasio's refrain is to look for the greater good: Holding onto something that we think has value, but which doesn't have a "home" in our home, may actually cause us more stress than not accepting it into our home at all. I found this book helpful.

Comfort Me With Apples

 Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente, 103 pages.

Sophia lives with her perfect husband in her perfect house in her perfect gated community and she is happy. Really. Why wouldn't she be happy? She loves her husband. She was made for him. If her neighbors have been asking her strange questions, and if she's finding strange things in her house, surely nothing is truly wrong. There must be a completely normal reason for the human finger bone in her knife block. 

This ended up being a different book than what I thought I was reading, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. I think it was probably pretty good, but I'm not very satisfied with the ending. I'm not totally sure it comes together, but it is certainly interesting.

Bitter Root Vol. 1: Family Business

Bitter Root Vol. 1: Family Business by David F. Walker and Chuck Brown, 160.

The Sangerye family has long specialized in purifying souls to cure the monster created when a soul hates too much. But tragedy after tragedy has struck their family in the last few years, and the few remaining family members are not at all united about what direction the family should take. And when a new type of monster appears on the street of Harlem it may be too much for the scattered remnants of the family to handle.

I think I was expecting some sort of steampunky, jazz age, odd family comic with this cover, but that's not really the atmosphere that it has. This wasn't a bad comic, but the start was sort of slow, and I don't know that it's hooked me enough to continue, although I do love to see jazz age Harlem as a setting. From what people have told me about Ring Shout the concept here sounds pretty similar, so if you liked that one maybe give this one a try.

The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, 499 pages

Since Regan and I apparently have the same TBR list, I'm going to refer to her post about this book from late July (seriously, how did we do this? It's not like it's a new book...). I generally agree with what she says: fun setting, fun characters, kinda awkward format, but overall dug it. And yes, I'll be reading the sequel too, probably around the same time Regan does. *sigh*

Crumbs

 Crumbs by Danie Stirling, 384 pages.

Everything at Marigold's cafe comes with magic baked inside. You can get a cup of Calm, or a warm serving of Contentment. Ray's normal order is hot tea and Romance. Ray's visions of the present are too accurate, and too inevitable, to allow her to feel enough surprise and uncertainty of Romance. But for Laurie, aspiring musician and current Marigold's barista, she's willing to try. Unfortunately, this budding romance also stands at direct odds with her dream job on the Magical Counsel, where she currently has an internship, and who will wipe her from everyone's memory if she gets promoted to full counselor.

I actually read this comic for the first time as a webcomic, and when I saw it was getting a print edition I was curious to know how they would change it (and if being in print might increase the resolution on some of the art). It turns out it's mostly the same, which means that it's still very cute. I love a casually magical world, and this one is extremely sweet.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth

 Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw, 128 pages.

A group of friends obsessed with ghost hunting decide that a haunted Heian-era mansion would be the perfect place to hold a wedding. The house is allegedly haunted by a woman who, when her husband died on the way to their wedding, asked to be buried alive to wait for him. It is likely also haunted by all of the girls allegedly buried to keep her company over the years. But the group, who it may be a bit of a stretch to call friends, gets more haunting than they bargained for.

This was a sort of interesting story, because the tension that arises from the fact that these people used to be friends but now mostly hate each other and the tension from the supernatural goings on are constantly bouncing off of each other, but rarely working in concert. I have some mixed feeling about this book. On the one hand there are some absolutely terrible images that have lived in my head since I read this book, on the other hand it's very frustrating that there were some other writing choices that could have been made to make this a thematically consistent and intricate book, but it just never quite comes together, which means it can't quite live up to the book it could be in my head. The ghost, despite having this story that you would think would interact with the haunting, isn't really a character, and could probably be replaced with literally any other ghost who wants to kill the people in it's house. Not a bad book, but it doesn't live up to it's own potential.

Every Heart a Doorway

 Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, 173 pages.

Children have always found ways to disappear into magical worlds. Worlds where they can finally feel like they fit. But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. So where do they go after the adventure ends? One option is Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. No Solicitations. No Visitors. No Quests. Eleanor tries to help the children move on from their adventures and live without the world they will probably never return to. 

This was my third time reading this book, and it's still one of my favorites! I reread it this time for a book club (unaffiliated with UCPL this time) and I think it's an even richer experience when shared. It's an astoundingly human look at portal fantasies with stunningly lovely prose. It's also less than 200 pages. If you haven't read this Hugo winning novella yet, why not?

P.S. If you don't believe me Kara, Patrick, and Josh have all also written about this book.

The Once and Future Witches

 The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow, 525 pages.

In alternate history 1893 there are no witches, just women who work a little minor magic. The powerful witches all burned centuries ago. But when an odd occurrence gives them hope that it may be powerful to bring witching back into the world the Eastwood sisters, long estranged and newly reunited in New Salem, decide to dedicate themselves to helping it come back. But the more magic they work the more obvious it becomes that much darker things are at work in New Salem.

I think that the most interesting part about this book, by far, is the setting. Which isn't to say anything against the plot or the characters (which are all very good), but rather high praise of how rich this alternate history is. In the world of The Once and Future Witches witches have always existed, generally openly, and this has shaped history in a number of minor and major ways (my favorite might be all of the historical and literary figures that are casually women, such as Alexandra Pope). At the same time it is in many ways just like our own world in 1893, complete with Suffragettes (who are sometimes racist), female investigative journalists, and a disaster clearly referencing the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The world is rich and interesting, and if the plot is predictable at times it's fresh and surprising at others. Overall this is a really interesting book, and it's further cementing that I'll read and enjoy anything by Alix E. Harrow.

Monday's Not Coming

 Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson, 448 pages.

Claudia has one friend, and when she doesn't show up for the first day of school she starts to worry (Monday never misses a day of school). When she doesn't show up after a week she knows something is wrong. When she starts asking questions she quickly realizes that the answers aren't adding up. She also realizes that she seems to be the only one who cares about what happened to Monday Charles. As the months go by and Monday stays missing she has to balance learning to live without her best friend with trying to find out what happened to her.

This book reminds me a lot of Jackson's book Grown in both positive and negative ways. Both combine slow-building dread with the emotional equivalent of a gut punch. Both also contain a last minute twist that ends up making the whole book weaker overall. This is a pretty solid book, just don't let the fact that it's a young adult novel fool you, it's emotionally really tough to read.

Nettle and Bone

 Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher, 245 pages.

Kara just beat me to writing about this one! You can read her review here

Princess Mara is the third daughter of a poor kingdom and practically a nun (she's lived as one for fifteen years but hasn't taken orders, for political reasons on both counts). But when she sees how abusive her older sister's husband (a much more powerful prince) is, she decides she must set out on a quest to kill him and save her sister. She collects a motley crew for the impossible task, but what better group to accomplish an impossible task than a collection of people that sound like something out of a fairy tale?

This book is super cool! It has the exact energy of being a fairy tale retelling without actually being based on any particular story, which I think is a very specific mood to hit. I really liked our cast of characters, and the book definitely kept me engaged the whole time.

The Soul of an Octopus

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery, 261 pages

In this fascinating non-fiction book, Montgomery details her experiences with several octopuses (not octopi!) while volunteering at the New England Aquarium in Boston. She originally started volunteering as a chance to observe octopuses and get to know more about the fascinating creatures, but over the course of a few years, Montgomery got to know them, as much as any human can get to know a water-dwelling invertebrate, and eventually began planning world travels based around diving to seek them out in the wild.

Half-memoir, half-nature book, this is a touching, intriguing look into the most adaptable and intelligent creatures on earth (and yes, I am including humans in this estimation — some of Montgomery's stories bear this out!). Well worth the read, or listen.

Black Water Sister

 Black Water Sister by Zen Cho, 384 pages.

Jessamyn Teoh is a closeted recent college graduate living at home with her parents. When they decide to move back home to Malaysia, a country she left when she was a toddler, she goes with them. After all, what does she have to lose? Once she gets there she is thoroughly haunted by her dead grandmother and pulled into a world of gods and ghosts, where the questions of what she has to lose and what she can bear to give up become more pressing then ever.

This was a solid book, although for some reason (which I suspect is entirely personal taste) it never quite managed to grab me. My only concrete criticism is that there is a lot of Hokkien and it's not always very clear from context what it means. But it was definitely still interesting, and I hadn't previously known very much about Taoism, so it was really cool to see fantasy pulling on some new influences. I'm definitely excited to see what everyone else thought of this book at Orcs and Aliens next week.

July totals

One. Month. Left. Now's the time to join us, blog about your books, and help out your fellow UCPL staffers! Otherwise, we're gonna have to be stealing hints from this puffin (and nobody wants that).

Jan  3/848

Kara  10/2905

Regan  9/2837

Total  22/6590

Wow, No Thank You

Wow, No Thank You: Essays by Samatha Irby, 319 pages

In this 2020 essay collection, blogger, writer, and all-around funny human Samantha Irby writes about her experiences turning 40 and moving out of Chicago to an actual house in Wisconsin to live with her now-wife. The essays detail Irby's attempts at making new friends in her new hometown; her approach to being a stepmom (what is she supposed to teach these children???); and the five stages of grief getting ready to go out with friends. All in all, this is a delightful collection, and I particularly enjoyed listening to the audiobook, which is read by the author. I'm going to have to check out the rest of her books now.

Splendid City

Splendid City by Karen Heuler, 275 pages

Eleanor is a young woman, unsure of what to do with her life until a group of witches takes her under their wing. But no sooner does she become part of their coven than she turns her creepy and cocky coworker Stan into a cat. Sentenced to live with her major mistake (no, they can't figure out how to change him back, though that hasn't stopped him from drinking beer, eating tacos, and shooting people who annoy him), Eleanor must also travel to the new country of Liberty (formerly Texas) to investigate the disappearance of a witch there.

If you can't tell from the description, this was a really odd book. It somehow manages to be completely unbelievable (people really can't tell that the talking cat who keeps chirruping at birds is actually a cat and not just a hairy guy?) and way too believable (the politicians, the media, the surveillance of the Liberty populace). I would have liked it to veer into one of the two absurdities; as it was, I just felt too unsettled to really get into the story. But I guess that's what I get for choosing a book by its (admittedly cool) cover.