The Fortunes of Jaded Women

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh (2022) 255 pages

Generations ago, a Vietnamese woman, Oanh Duong, left her husband to marry someone else for love. The audacity! Her ex-mother-in-law visited a witch to place a curse on her and all her future children: no sons shall be born into their families. Fast forward to Oanh's great-grandaughter, Mrs. Ly Minh Durang. She has four daughters by two husbands. Her daughters have watched family discord for all their lives; indeed, they haven't spoken to each other or to their mother for a long time. Between them, the four daughters have eight daughters, and they each have their own issues with them, as well. (There is a family tree at the beginning of the book that helps keep all of these women straight.)

None of the youngest generation has found love; they are as jaded as their mothers about the prospect. Circumstances in their youth—several families together in a small house, hearing their mothers fight with their fathers—have not helped them find happiness. However, some of the women are quite successful in business. One has already made her fortune as the head of a computer company. Another is a dermatologist, one is a designer of a clothing line who lives in Saigon, and a couple of them run small businesses in Southern California, where most of the story takes place. As proud as their mothers are of these daughters, there is toxicity in their relationships with them.

Mai Nguyen, one of the daughters of Mrs. Ly Minh Durang, visits Auntie Hua, a fortune teller based in Hawaii, as she has done each year for the past ten years. She is told that this coming year will bring huge changes: a death, a wedding, and a birth of a baby boy in the family. Is the curse to be broken? As temperamental as Mai Nguyen is (it's not uncommon for her to start flinging fruit at her sisters), she starts reconnecting with her sisters and mother and daughters. The result is humorous, poignant, and more than a bit crazy.

The Islander

 

The Islander: My Life in Music and Beyond by Chris Blackwell 334 pp.

Winner of the 2023 Polar Music Prize, Chris Blackwell was born in England and grew up in both England and Jamaica. His young life was filled with family friends like Noel Coward, Ian Fleming, and Errol Flynn. Fleming and Blackwell's mother became a couple after his parents divorced. After being expelled from an elite school in England, Blackwell returned to Jamaica. He attempted several jobs before finding himself in the music industry, culminating in the creation of Island Records. Island gave young Steve Winwood and Bob Marley and others their big starts along with many others. Marley stayed with Island for his entire (but too brief) career and became one of Blackwell's closest friends. Blackwell championed Ska, Reggae, New Wave and more marginal styles of music. It was his intent to give little known and underdog musicians of great talent their chance to shine in the music world, sometimes succeeding, other times not. His passion was for getting the best out of the musicians without focusing on monetary success, often to the detriment of the business. In later years he produced Grace Jones (who became another great friend), U2, Tom Waits, Robert Palmer, and many others. After sixty years in the music business he went on to produce films. His later life has been that of a hotelier, creating and renovating properties into unique and boutique hotels with the first being on the property of Ian Fleming's Goldeneye estate where the James Bond books were written. Now in his eighties, Blackwell is still active and, while in his 70s introduced his own brand of rum, Blackwell's Black Gold. The audiobook was narrated by actor Bill Nighy.

The Storyteller's Death

 

The Storyteller's Death by Ann Davila Cardinal  327 pp.

Isla Sanchez Larsen's young life falls apart when her father dies. Instead of comforting her, her mother becomes distant and then sends her to stay with her great aunt in Puerto Rico every summer. The death of her Puerto Rican grandmother when Isla is 18 changes everything. Grandmother was a great storyteller and upon her death Isla discovers she too has the gift. But with her gift comes frightening visions of an incident in her family's past. The visions threaten Isla's life and she must find a way to stop them before she or someone else gets hurt while dealing with her mother's alcoholism. The audiobook was read by Marisol Ramirez

Fay Wray and Robert Riskin

 

Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir by Victoria Riskin (2019) 416 pages

The author is the youngest daughter of the actress Fay Wray and writer Robert Riskin. I've been noticing a trend of many dual biographies being published, and I was curious to learn more about these two entertainers. The author also provides brief biographical details about a handful of people living and working adjacent to the title figures such as John Monk Saunders, Frank Capra, Merian C. Cooper, Jo Swerling, and, of course, the author herself and her siblings. I appreciated the supporting photos throughout rather than limiting the photos to a few glossy pages right in the middle. Fay is so linked to her one role in King Kong (1933), in which she is wearing a blond wig, that I don't think I recognized her in the couple other films from her filmography that I have seen. I am intrigued to watch more of her performances. The films Frank Capra directed are thought to be stamped with his style, but this book makes the case for Riskin's screenplays sharing authorship for the films so many love. The witty dialogue and values of rooting for the little guy are definitely something I enjoy, and now I know how much of Riskin is contained in what he wrote. 

Sourdough

Sourdough by Robin Sloan, 352 pages

Lois Clary is a programmer at a Silicon Valley company that is creating giant robotic arms to do the work of humans (think stirring and putting things together) when she receives the gift of a sourdough starter from a pair of brothers who only know her as the lady who always orders spicy soup from them. Lois knows nothing about baking, but takes the gift and decides to give it a whirl, quickly learning that this sourdough starter is not normal. She's soon swallowed up into a world of strange food, an even stranger farmers market, and research into the brothers' enigmatic ethnicity.

I read this book when it first came out in 2017 and remembered loving it. I was pleasantly surprised that this is still the case today. It's clever and weird and, oddly, not the only book in my collection featuring a sentient sourdough starter. While many strange things in this book are truly fictitious (though wouldn't Lembas be cool to have in real life? For hiking purposes alone...), the Lois Club is absolutely real, which is completely delightful. A fantastic book about food, technology, and what makes us really alive.

By the way, the edition of the book I have includes a bonus story, "The Suitcase Clone," which is tangentially related to Sourdough. It was equally captivating, and I'd love it if Sloan expanded it into his next book.

Last bit: see those bright yellow spots on the cover? Yeah, they glow in the dark.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

 An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green, 343 pages.

When April May first sees the giant robot statue in the middle of the night walking home she almost keeps, before she chastises herself for not properly appreciating something really cool and decides to call a friend to make a video about it instead, dubbing the statue Carl. She never expected the video to amount to much, but it turns out New York Carl is one of many, many Carls that popped up simultaneously all around the world, and by being one of the first to talk about it she is catapulted to instant celebrity. Soon April is addicted to the rush of fame, and April May (the person) is subsumed by April May (the brand), and as the phenomenon of the Carls keeps getting weirder, April finds herself stuck right in the middle.

This was a really cool novel. It was engaging and fun, and I feel like it had a real clarity about the kinds of issues it wanted to be in conversation with. My only real complaint is that April May repeatedly feels like she's learning the same lesson over and over again, and instead keeps making the exact same mistakes. But! I do still think this was a cool book overall, and the ending feels like it wants to lead directly into the next book, so I expect I'll be writing about that before too long.

Fun Fact: If you spend much time on YouTube you might already know Hank Green, who has produced SO many shows on there for SO many years. You might also know him as the brother of more famous novelist John Green.

Where I Can't Follow

 Where I Can't Follow by Ashley Blooms, 352 pages.

Doors have appeared to people in Blackdamp County, Kentucky for generations. Nobody knows where they go or why exactly they choose the people they do, but it's usually agreed upon that little doors tend to appear to people who are just about at the end of their rope. That certainly makes sense to Maren, who is wandering the woods in the middle of the night in freezing temperatures trying to find her grandmother with dementia after a long day at a pointless job that doesn't pay enough. She spent a lot of time praying for a door after her mother left through one when she was nine and, even though she's much older now, her door (and the idea of leaving all of her problems behind for good) brings her a lot of comfort, even if she swears she'll never take it. But the doors don't wait forever, and soon Maren's door and the people who love her are both pushing her to make a choice, as she decides what kind of future she can live with.

I really liked this one! Blooms is an evocative storyteller, and Blackdamp seemed to grow off the page. Despite that long plot description, this is mostly a very reflective novel, with a very empathetic look at a whole lot of mental health problems both in Maren and the people who have loved her. This novel feels like it uses it's speculative elements to keep it's difficult subject matter at just enough narrative distance to be emotionally safe to handle, and I think it did a great job with that. This is definitely one I would recommend.

Kindred

 Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, 264 pages

I was stunned to find this gem was written 35 years ago, and (to me) has not "aged" a bit. The voice, dialogue, tone and context are clear, unpretentious, and (sadly) still culturally/socially relevant. Also, I didn't feel voyeuristically or perversely entertained by the hardships of the main character, but empathetic and enlightened. Butler draws her characters with dignity, even the bad guys. I wish I had more spare time to read, I would devour all of Butler's books.

Concentrate: Poems

 Concentrate: Poems by Courtney Faye Taylor, 96 pages

Reflections and inflections on "concentrate", a word song, visually lyrical, too. I was nervous when I took in the first few lines, but left hopeful by its final refrain. Taylor is a master with words, and with her world. "I survived single mother daughterhood...I've earned this bodily door" she states. Highly recommended.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto, 338 pages

Vera Wong is a lonely widow who runs a dying teahouse in San Francisco's Chinatown. She has one or two regular customers, a son who can't be bothered to text her back, and a rigid early-to-bed, early-to-rise schedule. When she comes downstairs one morning to find a dead body in her teahouse, Vera's quiet world is thrown into chaos, with lazy police (her words) and a slew of murder suspects, who swing by the teahouse in the days following the death. As she gets to know her suspects, however, Vera creates a new family for herself, one with adult "children" who respect their elders (read: they let Vera push them around), and a precocious stand-in granddaughter. One of them must be the murderer, and whichever one it is will break Vera's heart.

As much as this is a murder mystery, this is also cozy book about found family, which is a favorite of mine. Sutanto nailed the goofy overbearing aunties in Dial A for Auntie, and while Vera isn't nearly as wacky as those aunts, Sutanto has created another memorable set of characters here. I loved the relationships between the characters, and even if the ending stretched credibility a bit, I still enjoyed it immensely, and I'd love to read more about Vera and her cobbled-together crew.

The Perishing

 The Perishing by Natasha Deón, 304 pages.

Lou is a young Black woman who wakes up with no memories and no clothes in an alley in Los Angeles in the 1930s. She winds up in a good foster home that teaches her to value her education and works to make friends in her community and become a journalist, despite her unknown origins and a few strange abnormalities (like having to conceal the fact that she heals very, very quickly). We, the readers, know Lou is some sort of immortal because there are chapters narrated from a future life of hers, but Lou herself has no idea.

I think I may have liked this book better if it's synopsis wasn't so misleading. Most of the cool science fiction stuff that drew me to it only happens in the last 5%-10% of the novel, so it's mostly just historical fiction with occasion intercessions from the future that mostly felt like they gave the author an excuse to soapbox about various issues from a character with more perspective for a few chapters at a time. As a historical fiction novel it's alright, although even I (with know particular specialization in the 1930s) caught a few minor inaccuracies. Overall I'm just not entirely sure what this book wanted to be, and I'm not sure I would recommend it to someone else.

An Immense World

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong, 464 pages.

I think this is one of my new favorite books. Yong guides the reader through the mechanics and corner cases of various senses (and not just the five that humans usually talk about), but that really undersells what this book is. I had initially picked up this book with the intention of getting some insider knowledge for a game where I was playing a character who can turn into animals, but what I got instead was a total paradigm shift. Yong does an unbelievable job adding magic to the world we live in, and I often had to put down the book to really sit with the implications of something I just read (the chapter on vision in particular had a lot of these moments). 

I've been recommending this book to pretty much everyone, even before I finished it, and I'm going to keep doing that here. Read this book to learn more about nature, or people, or just to add some wonder into your life. Yong is funny, thoughtful, empathetic, and does an excellent job writing for science in a way that laypeople can understand. This book was never a drag.

Fair warning: if you're anything like me and read this with anyone else in the room, you WILL have to stop every five minutes to share fun facts.
 

The Bullet That Missed

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman (2022) 342 pages

The four members of The Thursday Murder Club (Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim) are onto another cold case. These seventy and eighty-year-olds befriend a news anchor to see what he can share with them about the murder of his co-worker, Brittany, ten years ago, when her car went off a cliff. Brittany had been working on a massive VAT (value added tax) fraud case when this occurred. The scheme is thought to have made millions for someone. The Club delves into those who worked with Brittany, as well as those whom she may have been investigating, and tries to follow the money to figure out who else may have been involved in the case.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth has been receiving strange text messages from an unknown number, which indicate that she will soon be called upon to help this unknown person. When the time comes, she's given no choice but to kill someone or else her best friend will be killed. Will her work experience at MI6 allow for a positive outcome?

Between these two cases, and a few developing relationships, there is no shortage of surprises while new information is parceled out. Even when I think the story is getting wrapped up, the twists continue. It's a lovely British book for a mystery lover, and I eagerly await the next installment.

Dinners With Ruth

Dinners With Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships by Nina Totenberg (2022) 304 pages

Nina Totenberg, Legal Affairs Correspondent for National Public Radio, weaves a riveting tale of her friendships with not only Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but with others on the court, too. It's quite interesting to see Justice Antonin Scalia shown from Totenberg's perspective, as well as Sandra Day O'Connor, John Paul Stevens, and others.

We see Totenberg's move from college (which she didn't finish) to her early journalism jobs and later to NPR. We see the strong friendships that bonded women together in male-dominated fields, whether it is putting together stories for the radio or researching and writing up opinions for the U.S. Supreme Court. Many of these friendships evolved over lunches out, or dinners shared at Totenberg's home. We learn about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's marriage and health issues, and also about Totenberg's marriages, as well. Totenberg isn't reticent about sharing her mistakes with us. I found the memoir quite good.

The Verifiers

The Verifiers by Jane Pek, 358 pages.

Claudia Lin (secretly) works at Veracity, a job she landed after getting a high score in an online mystery game that was actually a recruiting test. Veracity is a referral-only agency that investigates to see if people are lying in their online dating profiles (spoiler alert: they usually are). She's initially excited to get her first real case on the job, but soon begins to question the unusual nature of the customers requests. And when the woman who hired them doesn't show up for their scheduled meeting she begins to investigate, despite her bosses protests. After all, you can't just hire someone because they're really into solving mysteries and then expect them to leave a mystery unsolved. It soon becomes obvious that their customer was not who she said, and the investigation takes Claudia into much more dangerous places than she ever expected in this novel on dating, truth, and choice in the digital age.

I really liked this book! I thought detective-novel loving Claudia was a really fun protagonist, but Pek also did a good job keeping the stakes high. There were several times when it felt like the mystery was resolved only for it to go even deeper. My only complaint was that Claudia often jumps to conclusions without ever really noticing that she's doing that, even after her incorrect jumps get her in trouble multiple times. It's still definitely a cool book though, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel when it comes out.

The Album of Dr. Moreau

 The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory (2021) 176 pages

Kara previously reviewed this book here. I listened to the audiobook on Hoopla narrated by Luis Moreno. It is quite short, which was great for my short commutes. The weird concept of Dr. Moreau hybrids and boy band culture is what hooked me. The murder mystery plot followed the regular procedure. All the witnesses are gradually interviewed: the ocelot boy, the bonobo boy, the elephant boy, the pangolin boy, the bat boy, the victim's wife, the stage manager, and the leaders of the fan club. The detectives examine the area surrounding the hotel penthouse. The assisting detective, Banks, makes lots of corny jokes. The lead detective, Luce Delgado, used to perform a magic act with her dad here is Las Vegas. Now she is a mother to a pre-teen, who is the biggest fan of the WildBoyz. Luce has special skills and knowledge that make her the perfect detective for this case. On top of the murder mystery there is the mystery of the boys' background. Who created them? How? I'm not sure I totally buy the twist at the end. Luce gives us a simple and a complicated explanation for the murder. That is fine. But the bigger mystery of these genetic experiments remain largely a mystery.

When Stars are Scattered

 

When Stars are Scattered by Omar Mohamed & Victoria Jamiesan  256 pp.

This graphic novel and National Book Award Finalist is the true story of Omar, the author, and his brother Hassan who are living in the Dadaab Somali Refugee Settlement in Kenya. After running after their village is attacked, Omar and Hassan are separated from their mother. They are put in the care of an older woman refugee because their mother had not been found. Omar is very protective of his brother who has special needs. Hassan does not speak and has seizures. Omar is given the chance to go to school but at first cannot be convinced because he feels it's his job to care for his younger brother. Finally he is convinced to attend the camp school. Soon they are interviewed for the possibility to leave the camp to go live in another country. The wait is very long before the boys are finally sent to the U.S. After fifteen years in a refugee camp Omar completed college and started Refugee Strong, a nonprofit helping to fund education and health programs for refugees.

Siren Queen

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo, 282 pages

Luli Wei became obsessed with the movies when she was a little girl, so when she gets a chance to join that world, she's determined to become a star. She eventually brokers a three-year deal with an intimidating studio head to be a featured actress in movies — and with the impressive caveat of "no maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers." However, deals with the studio also have a supernatural, finicky element to them, so Luli still has to tread lightly if she wants to really rise as a star.

Byron blogged about this book in October, and while I agree that this is a really creative way to depict the film industry (particularly back in the early days of talkies, when this is set), I'd also argue that this is firmly placed in the realm of fantasy. The studio heads might as well be fairy kings, and the author does an excellent job of making their studio lots, weekly ethereal fire celebrations, the mysterious occasional disappearances of actors, and more feel very fae-like. It's an intriguing story, and one that I'll be ruminating on for quite some time. Well worth a read for fans of old Hollywood and fantasy alike.

Spare

Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, 410 pages

Amid his contentious separation from the British royal family, Prince Harry has published his memoir, which he hopes will explain exactly why he had to make the choices he did (he spells this goal out pretty clearly in the prologue). The memoir details his childhood where it was clear he was the "spare" to his older brother's "heir," his grief and disbelief at the death of his mother when he was 12, his tumultuous teen years, the way he found himself in the British Army, and finally finding a life partner in his wife, Meghan Markle. Throughout it all, he is abundantly clear about the role that the British press has played in all of the most difficult moments of his life, and — perhaps more surprisingly to those of us outside the Commonwealth — the role that his dysfunctional family has played in those moments.

While Prince Harry is certainly telling his side of the story, one that certainly won't match up with the story told by his family (and has just as certainly caused additional conflict between them), it's refreshing to read something in which Harry controls the narrative, when it's clear that that has never been the case in the past. He's frank, he owns up to his past mistakes, and at times gives a bit too much information (I really didn't need to know about ALL the locations where he got frostbite on a trek to the North Pole). While there are some who will complain that he's a prince, and what's he got to complain about, it's hard not to feel sympathy for someone whose life has been so strictly dictated and limited, even if that cage is gilded. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect going into this book, but I truly enjoyed reading this open and deeply humanizing memoir of one of the most famous royals in the world.

A final note: I listened to the audiobook, which was read by Prince Harry, and I highly recommend it. He's an excellent narrator who does a fairly good American accent for a Brit.

Homicide and Halo-Halo

 Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala, 279 pages

Kara's review of this book finally gave me the push to read this book that I had been meaning to read for about a year. 

I'm afraid that I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the first. The exposition was pretty front-loaded, and it was quite a while before it felt like the plot really started. That being said, I did still definitely like this book, and once the plot got going the mystery was twisty and interesting. I also thought it was novel (no pun intended) to have a cozy mystery series that actually gives the murders some weight. Lila is still reeling psychologically from the last book when this one starts, and that's not something I'm used to seeing addressed in the genre (that tonal dissonance is actually why I often struggle to get invested in books in the genre). Overall I would say that this isn't my favorite entry in the series, but my issues with it feel isolated enough that I'm definitely still planning on picking up the next in the series. I'm still excited to see what the author does next!
 

Tress of the Emerald Sea

 Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, 483 pages.

Tress is a very normal girl who lives on an inhospitable island in the Emerald Sea. The Emerald Sea is made of spores which, when exposed to the least bit of water, explodes instantly into vines. She washes windows, makes pies, cultivates her cup collection, and spends time talking with Charlie (who is definitely not the local lord's son Charles in an extremely bad gardener disguise). Tress thinks she would be content enough to live here forever, even though most people think the island is so terrible that there's a law that says nobody can leave. But when Charlie is taken hostage by the evil Sorceress Tress decides that if nobody else is going to do anything about it she is simply going to have to, and sets out to sail the Emerald Sea (and other, more dangerous, spore seas besides) and bring him back. Soon Tress is doing things she never believed herself capable of, including becoming a pirate in the crew of a monstrous captain, and also asking questions that could be considered impolite.

This novel was initially written in secret as a gift to the author's wife, and is at least partially a response to The Princess Bride, which he says is a great movie, but in which the titular character doesn't get to do much. This is a really fun adventure story that also manages to be very emotionally resonant. It takes place in the same extended universe as many of Sanderson's other books and is told by Hoid, a worldhopper who manages to make it onto every planet and every story. His narrative voice is insightful, engaging, and extremely funny, and it also lends itself well to the slightly fairytale tone the novel has (although his asides might be confusing to people who haven't read more Cosmere books). I would still definitely recommend this book to anyone, especially fans of The Princess Bride or pirate stories

Murder at Half Moon Gate

 

Murder at Half Moon Gate by Andrea Penrose 360 pp.

In Regency England, the Earl of Wrexford, an eminent scientist, discovers the body of a gifted inventor murdered in an alley. After reporting the death to the authorities, Wrexford is drawn into the investigation after the man's widow insists it was not a random robbery. The inventor's plans for a revolutionary improvement to the steam engine have gone missing, plans that are worth a fortune. Wrexford, his friend and political cartoonist Charlotte Sloane, and her two young wards join in the hunt for the killer. Suspects abound but as soon as they are sure of a suspect that suspect meets the same bloody death as the inventor. Wrexford and Sloane gather the local street urchins, friends of Sloane's wards, to be on watch and relay messages, much like Sherlock Holmes's Baker Street Irregulars. During all this, the local constabulary are pretty much useless. Lots of twists and turns in the story. This is the second book in the Wrexford & Sloane series but the only one I have read. 

King Leopold's Ghost

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild (1998) 442 pages

A friend planned a Jolabokaflod event around New Year's this year. It was my first time participating in the Icelandic Yule book flood tradition. This history book was gifted to me as a recommended read. 

This is about the exploration and colonization of the Congo. The Belgian King Leopold's rapacious rule for resources such as ivory and rubber caused the many indigenous African peoples to be enslaved, traumatized, and killed. There were a few journalists and missionaries who protested despite efforts by the state to silence them. 

It was well-researched and revealed how rarely the Africans' experience was given voice by Europeans and Americans. It was fascinating and disturbing history. Yet there were heroes highlighted in the Congo reform movement. E. D. Morel, Roger Casement, George Washington Williams, William Sheppard, and Hezekiah Andrew Shanu each are revealed to have achieved something in the fight against Leopold's human rights crimes.
 

Devil's Food

Devil's Food by Kerry Greenwood (2006) 238 pages

Corinna Chapman is a former accountant turned baker. Her weekday life revolves around waking up at 4 am to make bread for restaurants and for her shop. She employs Jason, a former drug addict, as her very capable baking assistant, as well as Kylie and Goss, two wanna-be actresses who man the register in the bakery shop. Everything goes south when both Kylie and Goss get quite sick, and then Corinna's flower-child mother shows up, demanding Corinna help her find Corinna's father, who left the commune they lived in. Corinna would love to find her father, if it will mean that her mother will go away!

It's all hands on deck as several of the very eccentric residents of the apartment building, as well as Corinna's lover Daniel, work to help stabilize the girls' health and to figure out where Corinna's father went. They go into some scary neighborhoods and always seem to be a step behind. When some creepy monastic dudes show up at the bakery, demanding Corinna make an unpalatable bread, using their own recipe, that just adds to the weirdness.

The Making of Her

The Making of Her by Bernadette Jiwa (2022) 336 pages

Joan lives in Dublin with her husband Martin and his very difficult mother, Molly. The year is 1996, and Joan finds herself still grieving for the daughter they gave up for adoption 30 years ago, before they were married. They went on to marry and have another daughter, Carmel. Although Joan puts up a front, her depression over Martin's insistence that they give up the baby continues all these years later, affecting her relationships with both her husband and their younger daughter. Martin had insisted that no one be told the secret about their first child, who was born in London, away from their hometown.

When Joan and Martin receive a letter from their first daughter, Martin is uninterested in meeting with her, afraid that her existence will hurt his reputation in the business community. Joan meets with the daughter, Emma, and learns what crisis has caused Emma to contact them after all of this time.

The book's title, The Making of Her, could be used to describe Joan, Emma, or Carmel. The story is a powerful reminder of women's issues and many of the nuanced emotions related to adoption and motherhood.

Even Though I Knew the End

Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk, 136 pages

Helen is an augur who uses her magical abilities to track murderers, kidnappers, and all manner of lowlifes through 1940s Chicago. When she's not doing that, she's spending her time with Edith, the saintly love of her life. However, Helen has a secret that not even Edith knows: Helen's soul is not hers, and in just a few days, the demon who owns it is coming calling. But if she can manage to catch Chicago's most notorious serial killer, there's a chance she can keep that soul, and her life, a bit longer.

In this short book, Polk creates a rich world of angels, demons, magic, and hidden lesbian nightclubs. It's wonderfully told, and just the perfect length, and I can see why it has received so many accolades. However, angels and demons books aren't really my cup of tea, and having read Rebecca Roanhorse's Western-set Tread of Angels fairly recently, I felt like this one was just OK. But if demons, angels, and soul bargains are your jam, by all means, read this, as it's a great addition to that fantasy subgenre.

(Also: let's judge this book by the cover for a minute, because that is GORGEOUS.)

Don't Fear the Reaper

Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones, 457 pages

Four years have passed since the Independence Day Massacre, in which dozens of Proofrock, Idaho, residents were slaughtered at Indian Lake. The town has been trying to rebuild, and horror movie-obsessed Jade Daniels has been mired in a long trial over her role in the event. But in December 2019, Jade is finally free and has returned to town for a few days. Unfortunately, Jade's return coincides with a massive snowstorm hits Proofrock, cutting the town off from the world at the same time that notorious serial killer Dark Mill South is being transported through the town.

This book with an earworm-inducing title is the sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw, which you really should read before picking up this one. In both, Jones creates a world full of bone-dry humorous nods to the many tropes of the horror genre, specifically slasher movies, and he does so masterfully. Jade is a wonderful central character, and those around her fill the traditional horror roles perfectly. That said, this isn't a book you want to read while eating, or just before or after eating, as the descriptions are vivid and gruesome. If you're a fan of slashers, both of these books (and the forthcoming third book in the Indian Lake trilogy) should be on your to-read list. Stephen Graham Jones is a master of the genre.

A Master of Djinn

 A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark (2021) 396 pages

I listened to the audiobook through Hoopla and it was narrated by Suehyla El-Attar Young. Three years ago I read Clark's novella The Haunting of Tram Car 015, which was my introduction to this world and the detective character Fatma. I really looked forward to revisiting this alternate steampunk Cairo of 1912 in a full-length novel. Djinn and magic were released into the world several years before. Clockwork automatons, self-driving vehicles, and other tech are boosted by magic to allow futuristic wonders in the past. The novella introduced a major women's suffrage movement in Cairo in these years before WWI might happen. It also introduced the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities of which Fatma is one of the only women agents. Now Fatma has to work to solve the murder of all the members of a secret brotherhood with a rookie partner, Hadia, another woman agent. Fatma often receives surprise help from her girlfriend Siti as well. All three are kick-ass characters! Colonialism and racism are important themes that connect this magical world to history. Cairo is a cosmopolitan place with Pagans, Muslims, and Christians living side by side. Drawing on the real-life 1919 Egyptian Revolution against British occupation, revolution is stirred up in the streets. The murderer comes forward claiming to be the master of djinn, the being who opened the door between the magical and mundane worlds. Fatma's agency and the police cannot get the murderer in custody because they surround themselves with many magical henchmen and stir up chaos. Fatma is also convinced the murderer is an imposter, not the revered figure they claim to be. Bonus points for some cool librarian, archivist, and bookseller characters providing key clues to unravelling the illusions at play. I enjoyed the mixture of mystery, adventure, and fantasy.

Light from Uncommon Stars

 Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, 372 pages.

This is actually my second time reading this book. You can read my first review, which I stand by, here (and also Kara's original review here). This wonderful novel is just as good the second time, and I even began to get a little more definition on why I liked it the second time around.

The troubles in this book are categorically much larger than the joys. Deals for the soul, intergalactic war and civilization ending plague, even the much more grounded harassment and abuse. How could things like noodles, ducks, and a kind word from a stranger stack up? And yet they do. Not only do the joys manage to balance the terrible weights, in the end they are all that matters. And I think that, as one of the central tenets of the book, this is part of what I find so soothing and beautiful about it. This book definitely makes the list of ones to reread when I'm feeling down.  

P.S. Something about this book reminds me of Everything Everywhere All At Once, so if you liked that movie this book may be a good pick.

Four Treasures of the Sky

 Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang, 320 pages.

Daiyu always hated that she was named after a tragic heroine, and never wanted anything to do with her story. Unfortunately for her, tragedy sometimes comes anyways, and after her parents are arrested by the Qing government it comes for her quickly. Over the course of the next three years Daiyu picks up and drops identities quickly: the homeless boy Feng who learns calligraphy in exchange for cleaning the school, the prostitute Peony kidnapped and trafficked into a San Francisco brothel, and Jacob Li trying to make his way in Montana during a period of extreme anti-Chinese hate following the Chinese exclusion Act. 

To establish something important right away, this book is very sad. The whole thing is very rough to read. I was adding content warnings on one of the websites I use to track my reading and I think I used at least a dozen. That being said, it is a very interesting book. Four Treasures of the Sky focuses on a hugely unexamined, and important, part of the American West, as well as the history of immigration in America. I also found Daiyu herself very engaging and sympathetic, and she had an interesting perspective on all of the tragedies and atrocities she witnessed. So, if you're feeling prepared for a tragedy and have an interest in the American West or Chinese immigrant experiences, this book may well be worth your time.

West Point 1915

West Point 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley, and the Class the Stars Fell On by Michael E. Haskew  235 pp.

The subtitle of this book refers to the fact that of the 164 graduates of the United States Military Academy in 1915, 59 of them achieved the rank of Brigadier General (1 star) or higher. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar N. Bradley reached the rank of General of the Army (5 stars), an honor only given to nine others in history. While the book mainly focuses on Eisenhower, who is the most famous due to his Presidency, there is much about Gen. Bradley, and the others, especially their accomplishments during World War II. The last of the "stars", Gen. James Van Fleet died in 1992 at the age of 100. The last member of the class of 1915 was Col. Edmund Ellis who lived to be 104 and died in 1995.

A friend of mine was an Army Bandsman stationed at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX in the late 1970s. Gen. Bradley lived the last years of his life in a house on the grounds until his death in 1981 at 88. When the band played Retreat each evening, Bradley would attend if his health permitted. His personal aide, a major, would bring him out in his wheelchair, then help the General to stand as the band played. He served on active duty for 69 years, 8 months, and 7 days, the longest active duty career in the United States Armed Forces.

Other Birds

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen (2022) 287 pages

Zoey is ready to start college, and is feeling pressured by her father and stepmother to permanently move out of their house in Tulsa. They had reluctantly taken her in when her mother died when Zoey was seven. She has never really been treated as part of the family and she seeks to find some essence of her mother at an efficiency apartment that she had inherited on Mallow Island, off the coast of South Carolina. The condo is not far from the university she'll be attending in the fall. When she arrives on the island, she meets Fraiser, the caretaker of the small condo community called The Dellawisp, named after the small turquoise birds who live on the property, birds which are not shy about landing on people, pulling on their shoelaces, or even following them inside. Additionally, there are four other units besides the one now owned by Zoey, but the inhabitants aren't open about meeting her ‒ or each other, for that matter. The only person who makes an extended appearance on Zoey's first day there is Lizbeth, a hoarder who shushes any activity. Zoey tries to change the dynamics; her enthusiasm is refreshing for a young woman whose best friend at the moment is an invisible pigeon.

I'm not sure what I love the most about this book. It could be the birds, the ghosts (yes, even the ghosts have chapters, telling us about themselves!), or the atmosphere of The Dellawisp in general. But the characters are compelling, and as we learn their backstories, the story grows in scope. I highly recommend this book!

Fairest

 Fairest by Gail Carson Levine, 352 pages.

Aza has an exceptionally fine voice, even by the standards of the nation of Ayortha, who are known for their exceptionally fine voices. Unfortunately it's balanced by the fact that she is also exceptionally ugly, regularly attracting stares from the beauty-obsessed Ayorthans. But it seems her fortunes might just reverse when the innkeeper's daughter is invited to the palace to witness a royal wedding, and even more so when the new queen discovers Aza's unique talent for throwing her singing voice and demands she help her hide her own poor voice. Soon Aza is in over her head, and the world is not at all what she thought it was.

Fairest is a retelling of Snow White in much the same way that Ella Enchanted  (which this is technically a sequel to) is a retelling of Cinderella. Which is to say that it isn't afraid to make changes, and loves to dig into the ramifications of a lot of the baseline assumptions in the original fairy tales. Fairest in particular is concerned mostly the the classical equation of beauty to goodness. I really liked this book as a kid, and I kept thinking about it recently, so I decided to reread it. I think it definitely still holds up! Although it's lack of movie has rendered this book relatively obscure compared to Ella Enchanted I do think that it's just as good, and if you enjoyed that book I would definitely recommend this one.

How to Be an Antiracist

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, 305 pages

With a title that starts with "how to," one would expect this book to read like a self-help guide. It doesn't. Instead, Kendi unpacks the ways in which racism impacts the world around us in this book, providing clear definitions and examples of racist and antiracist policies and ideas. Intertwined with these essential history and civics lessons are stories from Kendi's personal story, explaining the ways that he is continuing to uncover the racist ideas that have permeated his own life and strive toward an antiracist life in the future. By doing so, he makes this goal a realistic one for his readers. 

This is one of those books that was on my "yeah, I really should read that" list for quite a while. I still feel like I should have read it before now, but I listened to the audiobook of this (available through Libby, and read by the author), which was released this year. It's based on the paperback version of the book, which is filled with revisions, notes, and additional insight that wasn't available when the book was originally published in 2019. So, in that sense, I'm glad I waited to hear these additions, which really do bring more context to the world in which we live.

Light From Uncommon Stars

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, 372 pages

This is my second time through this lovely book, and my first blog post is here. Nothing about my opinion has changed — I still love it! — so I'm not going to rewrite everything here. I'm looking forward to hearing what the Orcs & Aliens think about it on Monday.

The Librarian of Crooked Lane

 

The Librarian of Crooked Lane by C.J. Archer 284 pp.

Librarian Sylvia Ash knows nothing of her ancestry. Her father was unknown and her mother refused to speak of her family background. When a diary from her brother, a casualty of WWI, suggests there were magicians in the family she doesn't believe it. Sylvia tries to find an answer by consulting a well-born son of a magical family only to find he is not the least bit magical and his magician mother is out of the country. Gabe has survived a harrowing four years of WWI, miraculously without injury. Now he works as a consultant for Scotland Yard in matters of magic. The theft of a magical painting brings Gabe and Sylvia together in the investigation. This story adds a few new twists to the "magical" part of the story but otherwise it seems to be one more in a plethora of stories where simmering romance and magic mix. There are two more books in the "Glass Library" series but I think I'll pass.

Dead With the Wind

Dead With the Wind by Miranda James (2015) 291 pages

Dead With the Wind is the second in a series in which two eighty-something-year-old sisters help solve murders. In this story, An'gel and Dickce have arrived at their cousin Mireille's estate prior to the wedding of Mireille's granddaughter, along with their ward, Benjy, and their cat and dog. The bride-to-be, Sondra, is as ill-tempered and self-centered as the old sisters remember. There's a lot of talk about how Sondra should have been spanked as a child. Neither her mother nor her grandmother have discouraged her behavior, and the refined An'gel almost immediately douses Sondra with water from a vase upon hearing her disparage her grandmother. It only gets worse from there: a heart attack, a strange death, and more. The fact that Sondra was due to receive a large inheritance from her father when she married seems to indicate that money is at the root of these incidents.

The story is okay, but I found myself a bit weary of the Southern hospitality "Yes ma'am," "No Ma'am," "Miss An'gel," etc. I enjoyed the first book in the series more, but I'm stopping here.

Heavenly Pleasures

Heavenly Pleasures by Kerry Greenwood (2005) 241 pages

Kerry Greenwood's second book in the Corinna Chapman series is a fast and compelling read. Set in a slightly seedy area of Melbourne, Australia, is a building named Insula, which houses several floors of apartments, with businesses below, including Corinna's bakery. Her fellow residents are an array of odd but mostly lovable characters, including Jason, a 15-year-old former heroin addict whom she brought in to help her in the bakery in the first book of the series. He continues to prove himself as a creative baker. Corinna's new lover, Daniel, returns injured from a job in which he rescued a girl. New problems pile on as fast as bread comes out of the ovens: a nearby chocolate shop, named Heavenly Pleasures, run by two sisters, has had some of its chocolate tampered with, which is causing great problems with their customers. Daniel is asked to investigate. A girl, Selima, who works at the chocolate shop has been vindicated in the tampering, but suddenly disappears. Also, a couple of new tenants have moved into the building. One is a reclusive man, Mr. White, who came with little gear, and almost never leaves his apartment. A confident older woman, Sylvia Dawson, has also moved into the building. She is more gregarious, as well as able to weather problems: "Mrs. Dawson preserved her social smile, as I was sure she could do through tidal wave, earthquake, nuclear attack, or someone using the salad fork for their fish course. They made hostesses tough in the old days." This mystery is filled with similar turns of phrases that made me laugh aloud. Even when problems that the police can't fully share with them loom, or when danger is upon them, the residents rely on each other. And if one likes cats, kittens and more kittens, there is plenty of feline activity to enjoy vicariously.

I'm planning to keep with this series.

Negotiating the Nonnegotiable

Negotiating the Nonnegotiable: How to Resolve Your Most Emotionally Charged Conflicts, by Daniel Shapiro, © 2016, 319 pages

There have been many books written recently documenting our current level of intense polarization across the United States and elsewhere, highlighting the growing increase in an ever-present state of conflict, but few books written with the sole intention of providing us with the tools needed to navigate, defuse and otherwise deescalate some of those conflicts. Negotiating the Nonnegotiable does just that. 

Daniel Shapiro, founder and director of the Harvard International Negotiating program, lays out a fundamental text for anyone interested in how to get beyond conflict, how to bridge the gap between individuals and groups, and how to think about conflict from a birds-eye perspective. And this author has the credentials. This is not some feel-good, self-help book--Shapiro has launched conflict resolution initiatives across the globe. 

He starts off by identifying what he calls "the Tribes effect," showcasing the subtle ways our identity is shaped by our surroundings and the social groups with which we become aligned. Shapiro then writes of the different ways the tribal mindset sabotages our faculties and essentially our abilities to think critically and objectively about a conflict. One of those ways I found fascinating was what he refers to as vertigo. Have you ever been so mad at another person during an argument that all you can see is the color red? That's vertigo. It's a state we find ourselves in during a conflict when we feel our identity is under threat. It affects us outside our awareness, makes us fixate on negatives, and diminishes our capacity to self reflect. Shapiro provides the reader with strategies that improve self-awareness during conflicts so that we be forward-thinking about what exactly is at stake and what our main objectives are. 

This book is not a political book but focuses on  resolving conflict between any kind of relationship--political or personal, groups or individuals, everything in-between.  If you've ever had a disagreement with a family member and you felt that there was no getting over it, this may be a good start to learning how to bridge the gap. Check out this video to get a sense of what this book is about: https://youtu.be/PBkDdWzXTO0

Recommended for adults interested in social science, psychology, conflict resolution and improving relationships. 

The Graphic Canon, Volumes 1-3

 

The Graphic Canon, Vol. 1-3 edited by Russ Kick, adapted from works by various authors, with art by various artists (2012) 1600 pages

There are some works included in this literary canon by people of Afro, Latino, and Asian descent. Some graphic adaptations of classic works are more successful than others. I'll try to keep this blog entry short by offering only a few highlights or critiques for each volume.

Volume 1

I had previously read three excerpts from Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey's graphic Action Philosophers!. It was a pleasure to revisit these entries. I especially liked the adaptation of Lucretius's "On the Nature of Things." There was also a great adaptation of a Noh play by Hagoromo. The adaptation of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West was fun. And I enjoyed the satire of Swift's Gulliver's Travels and "A Modest Proposal." 

Volume 2

There were too few actual graphics for adaptations of three Grimm fairy tales, three Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, and five Edgar Allan Poe short stories/poems. There was an intriguing adaptation of The Mortal Immortal, something Mary Shelley wrote other than Frankenstein. This volume of 19th century literature has a mix of very short and very long works. Many were visualized too minimally. Edgar Allan Poe and Lewis Carroll are perhaps over-represented. Still I loved the visuals merged with the rhyme for Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.

Volume 3

I caught two outright errors presented in the biographical introductions to two author's works in this volume. What others might the editor have missed? It is amusing mixing Kafka's The Metamorphosis with Charles Schulz's Peanuts. The poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wildred Owen is given haunting graphics of the horror of WWI. There are excerpts of two graphic adaptations of James Joyce's Ulysses, yet it still remains difficult to fully understand. Hemingway's article "Living on $1,000 a Year in Paris" nicely illustrates the 1920s. "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke offers radical graphic design of text with no images, but is still touching. A Robert Crumb adaptation of Sartre is frustratingly left in French with only a summary of the plot translated in the intro. "The Voice of the Hamster" by a teenaged Thomas Pynchon was very funny. I counted a full fifteen entries that gave a single page to convey a work. This is too minimal. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but not tens of thousands of specific words contained in most novels. These minimalist entries did not draw me into wanting to read the original works.

Homicide & Halo-Halo

Homicide & Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala, 279 pages

Lila is still dealing with the aftermath of her ex being murdered in her family's restaurant when she's asked to be the third judge in her small town's popular beauty pageant. While she's reluctant to do it, Lila agrees, since she's a past winner of the pageant and she has a new cafe to promote. Unfortunately, just as the multi-event pageant gets rolling, one of Lila's fellow judges turns up murdered, and Lila's cousin Bernadette is the primary suspect. Once again, Lila's pulled into solving a murder to help save her family.

This mystery series (start with Arsenic & Adobo) is fun, funny, and filled with mouthwatering descriptions of Filipino food (thankfully, there are recipes at the end!). But this second volume also has a lot to say about grief, trauma, and allowing yourself to heal. Manansala balances the fun and the serious really well, and turns out an excellent novel in the process. I'll definitely be reading more of this series!

The Undocumented Americans

 The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, 208 pages (read by the author)

This book was written after the presidential election in 2016, when Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (a DACA recipient) was panicking about the state of the country. She decided to go around the country collecting the real stories of undocumented Americans, as well as writing about her own experiences with being undocumented for the first time under her own name. What follows is a very interesting book that (by her own admission) is not impersonal enough to call journalism and too thoroughly researched to call anything else. She interviews people who's health was severely impacted by helping with the clean-up after 9/11, undocumented communities in Flint, and families split up by deportation (among many others).

This book was interesting, although I'm afraid my experience with it was a little worse as a non-audiobook listener who tried to take it in audibly. I'm sure if you struggle with audiobooks less than me it would be a good experience though, as Cornejo Villavicencio reading her own words definitely helps convey the emotional weight she wrote them with.

February totals

Wow, we read a LOT in the shortest month!

Byron: 1 book/238 pages

Hammy: 2 books/800 pages

Jan: 8 books/2689 pages

Kara: 15 books/5374 pages

Karen: 10 books/3082 pages

Kelly: 2 books/576 pages

Kevin: 3 books/984 pages

Regan: 9 books/3651 pages

Shannon: 4 books/768 pages

TOTAL: 54 books/18,162 pages

Phew! Nice going, team UCPL!

A World of Curiosities

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny (2022) 390 pages

What starts with the need for more space in an apartment in the village of Three Pines leads to a walled off area broken through - a wall that was erected over a hundred years ago - revealing a huge painting that partially replicates a famous painting in England. The creepiest part of this painting is how many of its altered elements seem to be speaking out to Chief Inspector Gamache directly, hinting at details committed by a serial killer who was in prison for his gruesome crimes. But then, how was the painting put behind the brick wall relatively recently, with no one being aware of it being done?

The novel also brings us back 10 years ago, to the murder case where Chief Inspector Gamache first chose to bring the outspoken, rather disrespectful Jean-Guy Beauvoir onto his team. That case was pivotal to so much of what follows in this series. Two abused children are orphaned when their mother is murdered. Their appearance in this story as young adults adds much second-guessing.

So many of the residents in the village are involved in this intricate, and at times, quite suspenseful novel. Already a Penny fan, I found this story to be among her very best.