Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune

Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe  322 pp.

As he did with his own family in Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty, Anderson Cooper & Katherine Howe chronicle another family of wealth and fame in the Gilded Age of the Robber Barons. The story begins with Johann Jakob (the first John Jacob) Astor's arrival in the U.S. to build his fortune in the fur trade, continuing through the building of the family's wealth through massive real estate holdings in New York, to the last downfall when Brooke Astor's son was convicted of defrauding his elderly mother. There are only brief mentions of the ex-pat branch of the family who created their own dynasty within the British peerage system. Even the less savory episodes in the family are handled matter-of-factly and not inflated by scandal mongering. An epilogue tells a brief history of actress Mary Astor, who was not related but was given the stage name to manufacture a public presence for her budding acting career. I listened to the audiobook version read by Cooper.

How to Sell a Haunted House

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (2023) 417 pages

Louise learns that her parents have died in a car crash, and comes back to Charleston, SC for the funeral, fully expecting to fight with her brother, Mark, whom she deems spoiled, selfish, and unreliable. Mark has hired someone to empty the house so that they could put it on the market. Louise is aghast at his decision to do that without consulting her, and she calls off the crew. But when she goes into the house, the creepiness hits her hard: Hundreds of dolls are in the house, as well as puppets that their mother had made. Very weird things happen which she tries to rationalize away. Later, Louise and Mark can no longer rationalize what happens after they are attacked by the toys, as well as by an imaginary animal Mark had created in his youth.

Their mother, Nancy, was the creator of the puppets, and had even had a Christian puppet ministry for some years. The trigger for the eeriness seems to lie in her childhood and with her family. The house had been in her family when she was a child.

The creepy factor is high in this book! It's not my usual style novel, having grabbed it quickly, thinking in error that the haunting had to do with old memories. By the time I had properly read the blurb on the dust jacket, I decided to plunge in anyway. Quite a trip.

Murder on Mustang Beach

Murder on Mustang Beach by Alicia Bessette (2023) 323 pages

Callie Padget moved back to her uncle's place on a quaint island in the North Carolina Outer Banks after some time away as a reporter on the mainland, and now she works in a bookshop. Apparently in the first book in this series, set about a year ago, Callie tried to help the police solve a murder case, and almost lost her life in the process. Now she is just relishing her friendship with Toby, who runs a martial arts studio, and they're ready to have an official first date when they discover a dead body in Toby's studio. Toby is a prime suspect. Meanwhile, Callie's becoming friends with Geri-Lynn, a woman who runs a santuary for wild horses on the island. Geri-Lynn has been hyping up the pregnancy of one of the mares on social media, only to notice that she can no longer find the mare. She doesn't want to get the police involved, and asks Callie to help her figure out how the pregnant mare escaped or whether someone stole her. Can Callie help prove Toby's innocence and also find the missing mare?

I learned a bit about the wild horses that arrived from Europe hundreds of years ago, and how they continue roaming free on preserves, protected from most interaction with people. The main characters and most of the secondary characters felt real, including a young girl who had great trouble socializing with people. I may go back and read the first book in the series, although the background isn't needed in order to enjoy this one.

Happyish

Happyish by Jeanette Escudero (2022) 245 pages

Alex Martinez was ready to mark the completion of a year since her unexpected, unwanted divorce when her neurologist told her that her headaches were caused by a brain tumor. Probably not cancerous, but still a big deal, because it needed to be removed soon, and it would require her to have a support system, in addition to lots of therapy and healing time.

This health news converged with her poorly received presentation to her longtime bosses at an auto parts company, which was vying to have its products sold in PriceMart stores. Her bosses told her to take some time off, and her reaction ‒ not knowing if that might have meant she was fired ‒ was to decide to travel to places that her younger sister wanted to see, before she died of leukemia many years before. And not to tell her two mothers about the tumor. Alex starts out at the Grand Canyon, then goes to Costa Rica, then to Puerto Rico.

The book covers Alex's journey, both in space and time and relationships. There's something about her that made it hard for me to relate to her exactly, but watching her live through it all felt authentic.

Dance with the Devil

Dance with the Devil (Mercenary Librarians #3) by Kit Rocha (2022) 352 pages

I continued to enjoy this series. It picks up immediately after the events of the second book, and a relatively short span of time has past in total in all three books. The TechCorps security memos and such, which are inserted between chapters, are contemporary, so we are past the flashback scientific observation entries from the training days of various members of the team. Dani and Rafe now get to be the center of attention. Their relationship is developed. Their skills are needed especially for the key mission. Dani's superspeed and inability to feel pain as a security expert and Rafe's supersoldier intelligence officer experience make for an entertaining and tense grifter scenario amongst the rich on The Hill. It was teased at the end of the previous book that we would meet Rafe's family and we do. The team of reliable people building a community in the oppressed Five-Points neighborhood of Atlanta continues to grow. The found family continues to care for each other. Despite the gap between the rich and poor as well as the tech and medical dystopia setting, the main characters always find hope in each other. This third part perhaps has more sexiness and more pulse pounding action. There are still chapters from the point of view of each of the main team members, but they are short. This one wrapped up a lot of the story threads from the previous two books. However, there are still characters from the widening circle of Five-Points residents that have not had their chance at the center of a story, and we get hints of a future threat from the Franklin Center for Genetic Research that will lead to further adventures.
 

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel by Harper Lee, adapted & edited by Fred Fordham  288 pp.

This graphic novel version of the classic book is impeccably done. It is true to the novel as much as possible. Much of the wording of the original text is used. The artwork is realistic and true to the time period and small town local. Atticus is drawn with dignity, though not as handsome as Gregory Peck. Nothing in this graphic version is exaggerated or overdone. I found it to be an excellent version and good way to revisit the story without reading the original novel again. Also, Boo Radley wasn't as fearsome as Robert DeNiro in the in the film.

Ana María and the Fox

 Ana María and the Fox by Liana De la Rosa, 341 pages.

Ana María Luna Valdés is the daughter of an important Mexican politician, and her father's strict control has made her terrified of being anything less than the perfect daughter. But when she and her sisters have to flee Mexico for London during the French occupation by Napoleon III, Ana María experiences a modicum of freedom for the first time, and finally gets to decide what she wants for herself. One of the things she wants for herself is Gideon Fox, a young abolitionist and member of the house of commons from humble beginnings. However, Ana María is still engaged to a man her father chose for her, and being associated would hurt both of them politically, so instead they have to dance around each other for months until circumstances force desperate measures.

This book was, unfortunately for me, not quite what I was expecting. I was expecting something that leaned more historical fiction, but this book felt much more Regency romance (despite technically being a Victorian setting). The first sentence of the blurb also reads "a marriage of convenience between a Mexican heiress and a shrewd London politician makes for a scandalous Victorian bargain," which while technically true is also very misleading. The "marriage of convenience" comes very near the end of the book when they are both fully aware they are in love, and is not in fact particularly scandalous. I personally found myself a little bored with this book, but the characters were solid, and I suspect people who are actually fans of the historical romance genre might really like it.

Ring Shout

 Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark, 185 pages.

Kara wrote about this book here before it actually came out, and I think she told me about it not long after, but I finally got around to reading it, and I don't disagree with anything she said. I will also add that I think that writing a classic monster hunting story and making it about racism is a very effective twist. Funnily enough, this is not the first book I read where people can get so hateful they turn into literal monsters that need hunting, that was Bitter Root, which you can read about here, although I think Ring Shout nailed the landing harder. This is a fascinating novella, and I would recommend it.

It Was Vulgar & It Was Beautiful

 It Was Vulgar & It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic by Jack Lowery, 432 pages.

This book is mostly about the group Gran Fury, which was originally part of and later splintered from the larger and more famous AIDS activist group ACT UP. However, to place the art collective/activism group more in context, Lowery actually follows much of the AIDS epidemic and the history of ACT UP. I had heard of ACT UP before, but this book was my first introduction to Gran Fury, which served as the organization's self-proclaimed propaganda wing.

Lowery does a great job keeping this history very narrative and engaging. He does a really excellent job really digging into the humanity of all the people involved, which feels especially powerful given the rampant dehumanization of people with AIDS during the epidemic. Although I do wish I had been taking notes while reading, there were a whole lot of people with complex relationships, and I sometimes had problems remembering who was who. Overall this is a very compelling and informative book about an often overlooked part of history, and I would definitely recommend it. 

I'm including a few of Gran Fury's posters from the book here.

Pageboy

Pageboy by Elliot Page, 271 pages

In this candid memoir, Page explores his family, his career, his mental health journey, and his long, difficult relationship with his gender. As a trans celebrity who became famous playing the pregnant titular character in Juno, his transition and his life in general have been subject to media scrutiny and social media hatred. While this book certainly discusses that element of his life, the overriding theme of this memoir seems to be about him finding his authentic voice in his personal and professional relationships. It weaves seamlessly between his experiences as a kid and teen growing up in Nova Scotia, and his life as an adult, making the book anything but linear and giving it a more literary quality. I loved this book, and I'd love to read another memoir by him later on in his life — I'm sure he'll have some well-written stories to tell.

Ratking

 

Ratking by Michael Dibdin  266 pp.

This is the first book in the Aurelio Zen mystery series. Zen whose police career has stalled after an unsuccessful kidnapping case and he's stuck in a dead-end office job within the Rome police. Zen is a dark and brooding character with a chip on his shoulder, trying to redeem himself with this investigation. When no one else is available, Zen is sent to Perugia in Umbria to investigate the kidnapping of a powerful industrialist named Ruggerio Miletti. The family has paid a ransom but the kidnappers want more. Zen's investigations reveal dysfunction and dissention within the Miletti family and he suspects this isn't a "typical" Italian kidnapping. The death of Ruggerio after he was released by the kidnappers turns the tale into a murder mystery. The family are suspect, but who fired the deadly bullet? 

This book was narrated by British actor, Michael Kitchen. While I am a fan of his work in Foyle's War and other television shows and movies, I found his very distinctive voice to be a distraction. I'm sure those not familiar with him will think it is fine.

Cadillac Beach

 Cadillac Beach by Tim Dorsey  339 pp.

I enjoy Carl Hiaasen's novels about Florida mayhem, especially the ones that include the former governor known as "Skink". I was expecting something in a similar vein in this book featuring Dorsey's main character Serge Storms. Yes, there are similarities but Serge Storms is "over the top" in his actions/reactions. Serge is off his meds and joins with his substance abusing friend, Lenny in the search for the truth about his grandfather Sergio's death and the missing jewels that were stolen in the early 1960s. They set up a phony tour company and kidnap some sports fans/customers for a wild romp through Miami. Flashbacks to the time period of the theft and Sergio's disappearance flesh out the story. The involvement of the Mob, the CIA, FBI, and the militant Cubans makes the story very convoluted. The body count is excessive. In spite of it all the ending is somewhat happy. 

Sabriel

Sabriel by Garth Nix, 292 pages

Sabriel is a young woman on the brink of graduation when a mysterious message from her father sends her on a quest to find his body and stop the unquiet dead from taking over the land. (Did I mention Sabriel and her dad are necromancers? They are.) Soon, she's left the safety of the modern land of Ancelstierre and ventured into the magic heavy Old Kingdom, where her magical powers (and the dead) are stronger. Throw in a talking cat that's not actually a cat, a formerly-frozen-in-time queensguard, and a slew of zombie-esque evil contructs, and you've got yourself a classic fantasy novel.

This has been on my radar as something I'd like to read for years (it was originally published in 1996), and only now did I get around to picking it up. It's not my favorite fantasy novel, but it's definitely not bad — and I particularly liked the aforementioned not-a-cat, Mogget, who deserves a place in the fantasy cat hall of fame (I'm creating this just now, if it doesn't already exist). Glad I finally read this one!

August totals

Why yes, Laura Dern is talking about how late I'm running with this post!

Anyway... here are the delayed totals for August:

Byron: 2 books/624 pages

Jan: 8 books/2654 pages

Kara: 9 books/4283 pages

Karen: 12 books/4489 pages

Kathleen: 6 books/2083 pages

Regan: 13 books/4124 pages

TOTAL: 50 books/18,257 pages

Everything Within and In Between

 Everything Within and In Between by Nikki Barthelmess, 336 pages.

Ri Fernández’s grandmother has been very strict her whole life that she should be "American." Nevermind that her grandmother's definition of American is very narrow and means that Ri isn't allowed to speak Spanish, or hang out with the people in her neighborhood, or really engage at all with her grandmother's Mexican culture. Ri thinks things might have been different if her mom hadn't left, and when she finds a letter from her that her grandmother was hiding she is determined not only to see her, but to embrace every part of her identity. This means finally addressing a lot of things that she had never been willing to deal with, with her white friends, her grandmother, and herself. 

This was a really sweet book. I have a few criticisms (everyone seems to be very lacking in emotional intelligence only until the big confrontations when they convey their feelings perfectly), but overall I really enjoyed it. It's a pretty wholesome, introspective young adult novel that has a fair bit to say about identity.

The Art Thief

 The Art Thief by Michael Finkel, 240 pages.

This book tells the story of Stéphane Breitwieser, a French art thief who stole an unprecedented amount of art from various museums, art auctions, and cathedrals across Europe over the course of his nearly decade long career. Unlike most art thieves, Breitwieser never sold anything he stole (the step at which most thieves are caught), instead keeping everything in his attic room in his mother's house, feeding an unquenchable desire to possess and bask in every beautiful thing he coveted.

The writing on this book is a little dry, and the story isn't as high stakes as the blurb would like you to believe. None of which reduces how fascinating a story this is. The book is remarkably well researched, including much information provided by Stéphane Breitwieser himself. The book is full of detailed descriptions of real-life heists, which I think can't help but be interesting. I would definitely recommend this as a quick and compelling non-fiction read.

Bunny

 Bunny by Mona Awad (2020) 305 Pages

I had NO idea what I was getting into with this one, but I'm so glad I dove into it. I read this a little under 24 hours. Devoured it. I felt like I was dreaming while reading it. A perfect start to Spooky Season reading. I honestly don't even have the words for an apt synopsis. If you like really weird, symbolic, dreamlike stories, you'll love this.

Grad students, writers, a cult-like girl group, absolutely wild imaginations, twisting reality, so many bunnies, violence, potential madness

Wandering through Life

 Wandering through Life: A Memoir by Donna Leon 193 pp.

This memoir by the author of the Commissario Brunetti mysteries seems like talking to an old friend. Written as a series of vignettes about different periods of her life Leon covers a wide range of her life. Part one covers her early life from her childhood in New Jersey, summers on her grandfather's farm, selling produce, developing a love of opera, and heading to college. The second part tells of her experiences as a teacher of English in Iran (just prior to and during the Shah's downfall, then teaching college in China, and finally Saudi Arabia before finally settling in Italy. Venice is her love and the place where Brunetti solves crimes. Leon has also written travel books and books on music including her favorite composer, G.F. Handel. Now 80 years old, Leon lives in Switzerland for most of the year but returns to Venice frequently. Her 32nd Brunetti mystery was published this year and she's said nothing about stopping.

The It Girl

The It Girl by Ruth Ware (2022) 422 pages

Hannah has working class roots and finds it exciting to have gotten into Oxford. Her suite-mate, April, comes from a wealthy family and takes it as a given that she is at the school. The other freshmen in their group are Will, Ryan, Hugh and Emily. April is the It girl of the title, the glue that keeps the others together. She's beautiful, rich, charming, and quite a drinker, but can write a decent paper with enough of a supply of pills to keep her awake. She's quite pushy and insistent. She also plays some horrid practical jokes. 

When April is murdered during the spring, Hannah and Hugh had just seen one of the university's porters leave the area near the girl's suite. He had been rather creepy all year, and because no one else was around, the porter was convicted of the murder. Ten years later, after Hannah learns he died in prison, she starts having doubts that he was the murderer. By this time, she's married to Will (who had been Hannah's boyfriend at Oxford) and six months pregnant. Money's tight. Will doesn't want her to start asking the others about who else could be the murderer, but Hannah can't NOT do it. As she reconnects with the other students, the stakes grow higher. Will is her husband. Hugh is a plastic surgeon, Will's best friend. Ryan had a stroke in his twenties and is recovering with the help of his lovely wife and small children. Emily is an academic, sharp and practical. Is the murderer one of them, or could it be someone else at the university?

The story is told from Hannah's point of view, flashing back and forth from "before" to "after." I thought I was on top of the clues, keeping up with Hannah, but was floored at the end!

Jackal

 Jackal by Erin E. Adams, 352 pages.

Liz Rocher returns to her hometown in Johnstown, Pennsylvania only very reluctantly. But it's her best friend's wedding, and after a traumatic breakup in New York she has to prove to herself she can still trust her own judgement. Then her best friend's daughter (who is also her own beloved stepdaughter) goes missing in the woods the night of the wedding, and the only sign is a bloodstained scrap of her dress. In the desperate search for the little girl Liz learns that she is not the first little black girl to go missing in those woods, and if she ever wants to find her Liz is going to have to get to the bottom of dozens of disappearances and deaths stretching back decades, including an encounter from her own youth that left her scarred.

This book is a really compelling piece of social horror, and an engaging mystery. For the first half of the book or so I wasn't even certain what genre it was going to turn out to be. And there is just so much plausible evil in this book that I wasn't certain who the villain was until the book revealed it. This was a really interesting read, and I would definitely recommend it for fans of the genre. 

A House with Good Bones

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher, 247 pages

Sam is a furloughed archaeoentomologist (she studies the bugs at archaeological digs) who decides to spend the time she would have been at a dig visiting her mom, who lives at the home she inherited from Sam's late grandmother. Gran Mae was a piece of work — very judgmental and obsessive, with Southern racist sentiments just bubbling under the surface of her "nice and normal" lifestyle — and when she arrives, Sam is dismayed to find that her mom has returned the previously funky and colorful house to the boring off-whites and doilies of Gran Mae's time there. But what really weirds her out is the garden, which is full of perfect roses but completely devoid of insects. Things are obviously not right.

I've been on a bit of a Kingfisher kick recently, so this short horror novel is right up my alley as we head into spooky season. It's relatively gore-free (if you don't count all of the thorns from the rosebushes), but with plenty of "something's off here" atmospheric vibes and Kingfisher's trademark no-nonsense, realistic protagonist. No surprise that I loved it.

Edison's Ghost

Edison's Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History's Greatest Geniuses by Katie Spalding  342 pp.

Does genius cover all aspects of a genius's life? It is apparent in this book that it does not. Often it seems that great intelligence precludes common sense. Nicola Tesla, the electrical genius responsible for our power system being AC current, lived in multiple hotels, getting evicted when he didn't pay his bills. He also fell in love with a pigeon. Albert Einstein loved to sail but was very bad at it and often capsized and needed rescuing because he also couldn't swim. Isaac Newton stared into the sun and blinded himself for three days. The Curies carried Radium around and kept it in their bedroom and desk drawers leading to Marie's death. These and many more examples of what could be called the stupidity of genius are featured in this book. Spalding pulls no punches in relating these stories in what is a hilarious account of our "best and brightest". . . or not. The only problem with this book is the frequent comparisons to popular culture which is going to limit the book's relevance ten years down the road. 

Fourth Wing

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, 517 pages

Violet Sorrengail has spent her whole life preparing to train as a scribe, but her  mother has very different ideas, and Violet is instead pushed into the deadly rider school, where she must learn to ride dragons in the neverending war effort. If the death-defying feats and vicious ambition of the riding school aren't bad enough, Violet is the youngest of "those Sorrengails," — meaning her mother (the military's highest general), her sister (a decorated rider in the military), and her late brother (who was a powerful mender, one who can magically fix even the worst injuries) — which puts a giant flashing target on her back, especially when it comes to Xaden Riorson, whose father led the rebellion that started the war to begin with.

There is something very "young adult" about this whole book — the exceptional newcomer with a target on their back, the daring feats that are required to succeed in the school, the quick pacing, even the love triangle between the main character, the drop dead gorgeous bad guy, and the main character's protective longtime best friend (and yes, as in most of those, I kinda want to smack the bestie upside the head). But these characters are a bit older, and there's more sex and violence than you find in the average YA fantasy. It was a bit predictable, but it was also intriguing enough that I'll definitely read the second book, which comes out in November.

Daddy-Long-Legs

 

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster (1912) 194 pages

I recently read a book* that reminded me of Daddy-Long-Legs, which I'd read as a preteen. I wanted to read it again to see just how similar the plots are. In Daddy-Long-Legs, Judy is an orphan who has lived in an orphan home her whole life. She's 17 and finished with high school. As the oldest of the orphans, she basically works for her board, helping with the younger children and with cleaning, especially prior to visits by the members of the Board of Trustees. After one of their visits, Judy is told that one trustee, upon learning that Judy has excelled in writing, wants to finance her college room and board. The only requirement is that she write to him every month to let him know how things are going. He stays anonymous ‒ to her, he is "John Smith." Not sure who he is exactly, and not liking the generic name John Smith, she refers to him as Daddy-Long-Legs.

Judy is a perky and enthusiastic young woman who often illustrates her letters with drawings that add to the charm. Her writing shows that she is sometimes impulsive but quite thoughtful, and oh-so-happy to be at college with hopes of becoming a writer, and with a budget for proper clothing so that she no longer looks like an orphan. Judy's letters continue all through college, until she finally meets Daddy-Long-Legs some months after graduation.

For a bit, I wondered if Judy was "being groomed" by the trustee or by society at large, but decided no, based on her spunky personality and her sometimes stubborn streak that seem to be a good compass for her choices, especially notable since the book was written over a hundred years ago and has Judy writing in favor of more rights for women. Fast read.

* Dear Mr. Knightley, by Katherine Reay

I'm Glad My Mom Died

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, 304 pages

Jennette McCurdy started her acting career at age 6, eventually becoming the star of Nickelodeon's iCarly and Sam & Cat. But she never really wanted to act — her mom wanted that for herself, and when she couldn't do it, she forced her young daughter into it instead. In I'm Glad My Mom Died, McCurdy lays bare her experiences as a child actor, including all of the emotional manipulation, disordered eating, and codependency that her mom subjected her to over the years. Yet she also clearly illustrates how complicated that relationship was, as she was also protective of her mother's reputation and the love she had for her. 

This is by no means a cheerful story, but the fact that McCurdy was able to write it (and, since I listened to the audiobook, read it aloud) with such candor is a hopeful sign for her future. An excellent book, though not an easy one to read.

Where Peace Is Lost

Where Peace Is Lost by Valerie Valdes, 390 pages

Kel is a quiet and lonely woman living on a remote planet, full of peaceful communities and respect for nature. She's been there for five years, sharing nothing of her past life with her distant neighbors, when a war machine from an abandoned outpost on the planet activates and begins marching toward civilization. Worse, the breeding ground of a species that forms the basis of the planet's biosphere and economy. Kel reluctantly gets pulled into the effort to stop the machine, and must decide if her peace and secrets are worth more than the safety of the planet's residents.

I've enjoyed everything that Valdes has written, and this book is no exception. She treats Kel's situation with care and kindness, and slowly reveals the main characters' secrets in a way that feels both suspenseful and natural. I love the type of civilization she built, particularly the focus on respecting the environment, which doesn't seem forced. An excellent story that's somehow both quiet and action-packed at the same time. I have no idea if she's planning on writing more books about Kel, but if Valdes does so, I'll happily read them.

Nettle and Bone

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher, 243 pages

Much like Regan, I read and reviewed this book about a year ago, and I think I liked it even more the second time through. The characters are fantastic, the twists on fairy tale tropes even better, and the animals are the best of all (kinda like most of Kingfisher's stuff). I can't wait to see what everyone thinks at Orcs & Aliens on Monday!

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (2011), 499 pages

Really intriguing study detailing the nuts and bolts about "how" we think. The easiest way to visualize this is to imagine that there are two systems for processing thoughts in your brain--one that works fast and one that works...not so fast. System 1 is sort of automatic and operates quickly with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control. It's how we make intuitive decisions quickly. Think of the following problem:

5+5 = ?

You know the answer from experience and you didn't need to engage any sort of "back-end" brain functions. 

System 2 demands that your brain slows down to recall information or any steps to solving more complex or nuanced problems. Try to solve this problem in your head:

18,480 x 5,390 = ?

Your heart probably started beating faster and your eyes dilated. That's your system 2 kicking in. Your brain is recalling a whole host of steps and memories and processes for solving a problem like this. 

Both systems operate independently but tend to support each other over a range of activities, for example, emotions (system 1) are crucial in adopting logical reasoning (system 2). The main function of System 1 is to maintain and update a model of your personal world, which represents what is normal in it. System 2 focuses on choice and concentration. Kahneman also details some of the most recent research in heuristics and decision-making. A deep-dive of a book that offers an important perspective into how human being really operate and why. 

By Its Cover

 By Its Cover by Donna Leon  237 pp.

Commissario Guido Brunetti is on the hunt for a thief of rare books from a Venetian library. In spite of security procedures, someone has walked off with many, rare and high value volumes. Other books have been mutilated by having pages with important illustrations removed. There is a suspect but he has vanished and his identity is unknown. Then the brutal murder of a former priest who frequented the library leads Brunetti into the illegal trade in rare books. Brunetti and his usual assistants solve the crime but the book ends rather abruptly. 

Dear Mr. Knightley

Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay (2013) 325 pages

Samantha Moore spent years of her life at Grace House, a place for children who have been removed from their families. After graduating from college, Sam had worked for a large company, but had lost her job, and at age twenty-three, she decided to see if a benefactor who had offered to pay her way through graduate school was still willing to fund her, and he was. The requirement for her funding in the journalism program was that she write letters regularly to the benefactor, who used the pseudonym Mr. Knightley, after a character in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

The book is comprised almost entirely of Sam's letters to the benefactor, with a few exceptions. Sam is a great fan of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, among other authors, and at a young age had found escape, solace, and coping mechanisms in their books, often hiding behind the words of their characters in her own life.

The book follows Sam's life from about the time of her application to get into grad school through to the end of the program, showing how her life, her writing, and her relationships change over time. Dear Mr. Knightley is the author's debut novel.

The Holiday Trap

The Holiday Trap by Roan Parrish (2022) 432 pages

Take two miserable characters ‒ a gay woman (Greta) from Maine who is tired of having to appease her family, and a gay man (Truman) living in New Orleans who has just discovered his partner of 11 months has a husband and child ‒ and give them a somewhat pushy mutual friend (Ramona) who puts them in touch for a house swap for the holidays. What do you get? A changeup in each of their lives, bringing them each new ideas, joy, and romance. The over-arching theme is how much of yourself do you give up in order to make your family/partner happy? Is it okay to do what you want, even if it will make someone unhappy? The book is filled with sage advice which comes from many different colorful characters. Four hundred+ pages flew by fast.

Homegoing

 Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016) 305 pages

I loved this novel. I listened to the first half as an audiobook then had to switch to print. It is an epic multi-generational saga that in some ways is fourteen separate, but connected, coming-of-age tales. "Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana" on Africa's southwest coast. One stays in Africa and the other is sold into slavery in America. The chapters alternate between Effia's and Esi's descendents. This is historical fiction through a range of historical time periods. The historical details and variety of lived experiences of the African Diaspora are described with such liveliness. There are stories of love, of suffering, of labor, of grief, of colonization, and of discovering a black person's place in the world. 

David Mogo Godhunter

David Mogo Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa, 349 pages

David Mogo is a demigod living in Lagos in the years after the gods fell to Earth. The arrival of the gods has turned the once-thriving city into a place where feral godlings run amok and frustrated gods take out their pent-up anger on whatever human residents get in their way. David makes his living doing odd jobs for those who deal with the gods, and when a local wizard/gangster hires him to trap a couple of gods in a vessel, David initially takes up the job — but then discovers the horrific way the wizard is using the gods' powers. Soon, David finds himself in an uphill battle against the wizard and a whole pantheon of Nigerian gods.

A blurb on the back refers to this as "a Nigerian Harry Dresden," and I guess I can see that — David Mogo is definitely a down-on-his-luck guy who keeps getting into tricky situations with supernatural creatures and coming out battered and bloodied, yet somehow still in control of his powers. I particularly enjoyed the different gods and mythologies presented here, which are intriguing and new to my Western eyes. However, as rich as the religious/folkloric traditions are in this book, the plot is a bit messy and the characters are a bit one-dimensional. But it's a debut novel, and I know from his other books that Okungbowa has the ability to present African-based fantasy with plenty of complex stories and characters.

Portrait of an Unknown Woman

 

Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Daniel Silva  431 pp.

Gabriel Allon has retired from his job as head of the Israeli Secret Service and settled, with his family, in Venice. His wife, Chiara, is running Tiepolo Restoration Company while Gabriel does the art restorations. Soon he is drawn into a deadly investigation of the sale of art forgeries on a grand scale. To catch the forgers and unscrupulous dealers, Allon must become the world's greatest art forger and enter into the dirty side of the multimillion dollar art world. This book has all the action and intrigue of the previous novels without the political angle.

Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters

 Sea-Daughters, Sun-Daughters by Aimee Ogden (2021) 110 Pages

A brief, beautiful sci-fi novella. In a futuristic world where multiple human-hybrids live in different clans across the globe and stars, many of whom are developing viruses. Artuale, a former sea-dwelling human hybrid is on the hunt for a cure for the current plague that is terrorizing her new clan and home. Her husband, whom she genetically changed for, lives above water on land and is currently dying. The land-dwelling hybrids do not get along with the clans of the ocean-dwellers. Artuale seeks out the World Witch, a former lover, but also someone who can get a hold of just about anything, for a price. Artuale is hoping the World Witch can help save her husband. The World Witch, Yanja, has also changed...he is now a male. In this world, it is much easier to shape or genetic variance or even sex. Yanja takes Artuale through the gates, off-world, where they come to a place which might be able to genetically formulate a cure for the plague. They are told they must quarantine for two weeks, which they decide is too much time to waste. Artuale suits up and cuts into the station, hoping to infiltrate the place in order to get her samples tested. She is found and arrested, along with the Yanja. Artuale believes that all hope is lost when the guild responsible for medical experimentation and creation intervenes and allows the samples to be tested. They have values in which the human hybrids must be saved by all means. Artuale is given a choice...she must either leave this civilization forever and never leave her place with her husband again or become a citizen of star civilization. She chooses to return to her world, never to leave. She saves her village and her new hybrid species. On the return flight, her and Yanja have relations, which results later in a pregnancy which her body accepts (since she was previously ocean-clan, her body would not produce children with her current husband). Overall, I really loved this short novella. The various ways in which the author dives into sexuality and LGBTQ themes really melds well with the story. I definitely will be reading more from this author, as I wish this story wasn't so brief!