How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi

 How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi edited by Chris Balakrishnan and Matt Wasowski, 320 pages.

This book consists of bite-sized bits of knowledge on all sorts of STEM topics adapted from pop-science presentations given over two decades. It includes section headings such as "Mmm...Brains," "Creature Features," and "Tech (High and Low)." Most of the topics aren't more than a couple of pages long, and include a cute little comic or drawing of some sort (the book blurb describes these as infographics, but I didn't see anything I would describe as such flipping through the physical edition after I finished the audiobook).

Unfortunately, I found this book to be pretty much all style with little substance. It does a great job making the reader feel like they're learning something in a fun and easy way. Unfortunately, with how tiny the chapters are, by the time I got through the introduction and opening jokes there was essentially no time left to actually learn much. This feels like it's intended to be picked up and read a handful of pages at a time, but it's not actually efficient enough about presenting information to be very good for that. Unfortunately I don't know that I can recommend this extremely stylish book, there are better choices for books of general curiosities.

The Field Guide

 The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, 114 pages.

The Grace children move with their mother to their great-aunt's strange and broken-down old mansion. The strange sounds in the walls quickly escalate to worse things at the hands of an invisible tormenter, who just might be a creature from the world of faerie.

I remember tearing through this series as a kid, and given that it's been a whole lot of years, I wanted to see how well it held up. I'm glad to report that it is still a pretty neat kid's book! The illustrations throughout really add to the feeling of the book, and there's a really interesting atmosphere. That being said, this book almost feels like a prologue to the series, as we are only really introduced to the world of faerie in the very last pages. The book reminds me just a little of A Series of Unfortunate Events for slightly younger readers. I would recommend it for middle schoolers or older elementary schoolers with an interest in mythology and unraveling mysteries. 

August Kitko and the Mechas from Space

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

August Kitko had resigned himself to inevitable death by giant robot with the rest of the planet. Which makes it a big surprise when the doomsday robot is attacked by a second giant doomsday robot, who proceeds to kidnap him and make him an integral part to the forces trying to save humanity from certain destruction. This is a whole lot of pressure for a jazz pianist, and soon he's drawn into a series of questions whose answers will determine the fate of his species. 

I had such a great time with this book! I had a hard time putting it down, and managed to tear through the whole thing in a few days. I was impressed at the amount of thought put into making all of the mechas unique and interesting, and that thoughtfulness translated into some really fabulous giant robot fights. I thought this novel did a really good job balancing these fun and exciting elements with the seriousness of the extinction event in the premise. I also really liked both Gus Kitko and Ardent Violet, who is both Kitko's rockstar love interest and the second protagonist of this book. This is a space opera with an emphasis on the opera, which is a fun choice. This book definitely makes my recommendation list, and I'm very excited to discuss it with Orcs & Aliens next week!

Lesbian Love Story

 Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir in Archives by Amelia Possanza, 288 pages.

Author Amelia Possanza often felt starved of a lesbian community, or of lesbian role models to help he build up her idea of herself. This book is an attempt to dig into the historical record to find both the records the lesbians through the 20th century left behind, and the places that they were scrubbed from the archives. Possanza makes no promises of a neutral history. Rather, the whole premise of this book is using these stories of the women who came before to help her construct herself. The scope is wide-reaching, organized by decades across the United States, but with a special focus on Possanza's home in New York City. It is at times philosophical, at times historical, but always very honest.

I was very impressed by this book. Possanza expertly managed to avoid doing the thing that annoys me in many nonfiction books about historically neglected topics do; she is always extremely clear what was fact and what is speculation. I was also touched by how personal this journey was for the author. It felt like being invited into something intimate, and by the end you can't help but feel you know her. I was also impressed by how neatly she connected the many threads of this book, bringing past and present together seamlessly, as well as fact and fancy. This is an impressive piece of nonfiction that feels longer than it is, and I would definitely recommend it to others. 

Apple and Knife

 Apple and Knife by Intan Paramaditha (trans. Stephen J. Epstein), 199 pages.

This Indonesian collection of horror short stories draws on European fairy tales, Indonesian folklore, and general horrifying experiences of existing as a woman into a very modern feeling book. Unfortunately, none of the stories managed to stir in me the type of emotion I would hope for in horror, nor do any of them particularly stick in my memory. 

While this collection didn't really work for me, it did remind me quite a lot of Mariana Enriquez's Things We Lost in the Fire, another collection of horror stories in translation. I think that people who enjoyed that book might very well enjoy this one as well. 

The Mulberry Tree

 The Mulberry Tree by Allison Rushby, 294 pages.

Imy and her family have just moved all the way from Australia to a small village in England as they pursue a fresh start after a tragedy. When her family is touring houses she is immediately obsessed with a beautiful cottage with a terrifying ancient mulberry tree. A tree which, according to legend, takes little girls living there the night before their eleventh birthday. Which is ridiculous of course, except for the strange song Imy starts hearing in her head in the weeks leading up to her own eleventh birthday...

This book starts so strong! It has a very spooky atmosphere in a very specific way that's hard to manage outside of middle grade horror. The rhyme is unsettling and the premise is interesting. Unfortunately, this falls apart fairly quickly by the middle of the book, as Imy decides she won't be afraid anymore (and pretty much succeeds). It also has one of the most disappointing endings I've ever read, which feels like it undermines the entire rest of the book and also doesn't make any sense. I unfortunately don't know that I can recommend this book, as much as I would like to. 

Flamer

 Flamer by Mike Curato, 366 pages.

I read this frequently banned graphic novel for banned books weeks, and have been extremely slow getting around to actually writing about it. Which wasn't a problem, because Byron wrote his review in a timely manner and I completely agree with pretty much everything he said! The graphic novel was sometimes a little crude for me (it seems boy scout camp has a very different atmosphere than girl scout camp), but I overall found it to be an extremely powerful story. I especially found Curato's use of bright pops of fiery color to be very effective. This is a powerful story of feeling othered in adolescence, and I definitely think it could do plenty of young people a lot of good.

Brave New World

 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 268 pages.

The titular brave new world comes at the end of industrialization. Society has been totally restructured to remove pain, suffering, and instability; as well as art, religion, and scientific exploration. The population is happy and, above all else, stable. The novel follows the rare few who are unsatisfied with their easy and totally challengeless life, as well as an even rarer outsider who finds this new society profoundly empty when introduced to it.

I had never read this classic novel before, and I'm really glad I finally got around to it. The book gives you a lot to think about, but very few clear answers. It feels in many ways more conversational than many classic novels. Although there is fairly little plot to speak of, I still found this an engaging little book. 

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

 Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune, 416 pages.

Linus Baker as found a home and a family with Arthur Parnassus and the weird and wonderful children of Marsyas Island. He hasn't looked back since he left DICOMY, but the organization isn't done with them yet. Arthur is summoned to testify about his experiences of abuse in a DICOMY orphanage, where he learns that the new head of the organization is a polite, respectable woman who also happens to be a bigot very dedicated to destroying the home he has so painstakingly built for himself. 

It was a real pleasure to get back to these wonderful characters. That being said, I didn't like this book quite as well as the first. It feels like while the first was very focused on character interactions, this one was more speeches than anything else. This makes an amount of sense, as the first book was about finding a home, and the sequel is more about fighting for it. Overall I would say this book is still very good, and important, but the reading of it is a very different experience than the first book in the series. 

The House in the Cerulean Sea

 The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, 394 pages.

Linus Baker works for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY for short) and spends his rainy, grey life in a rainy, grey city evaluating government orphanages that house magical youth and filling out paperwork. His long and steady record leads Extremely Upper Management to send him to evaluate an extremely secret orphanage that houses children that are considered especially dangerous or unusual. The monthlong visit with the weird and wonderful children of Marsyas Island Orphanage floods him with all of the color his life was missing, and soon he's wondering how he will ever live without the children and their caring and enigmatic caretaker. 

This was a reread for me, and it was just as wonderful the second time (although perhaps not as desperately needed as December of 2020 when I read it the first time). I love all of the characters, Linus included, and the whole novel reads like a warm hug. At a recent author event I attended Klune mentioned that this was the first book of what he informally thought of as the "Kindness trilogy" (along with Beneath the Whispering Door  and In the Lives of Puppets) and I can't get over how completely apt that is. This is a book about compassion, finding love and community, and confronting biases (both internalized and towards others). A truly lovely book, highly recommended to anyone who hasn't already read and also people who have. 

Our Dining Table

 Our Dining Table by Mita Ori, 236 pages.

Yutaka is a great cook, but his own poor childhood has left him too nervous to eat around other people, so he mostly ends up eating convenience food. A chance encounter with brothers Minoru and Tane leaves him somehow promising to come to their house and teach them how he makes Onigiri. The brothers recently lost their mother, and despite his best efforts older brother Minoru is a terrible cook, and taking care of his much younger brother has been proving a real challenge. Soon Yutaka is coming over to cook often, and that is exactly how a better family is built (especially once he and Minoru start falling in love). 

This was an extremely wholesome comic. The characters were all very sweet, and the story felt the same kind of wholesome as a good meal. My only real complaint is that the fact that the whole story is in a single volume means there are a lot of things that are mentioned but are never really explored. I feel like if this was a four volume series it might have more depth, but as is it's a warm, single setting story. I would recommend it as a light read and a good option for trying manga. 

No Longer at Ease

 No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe, 196 pages.

This book follows Okonkwo's grandson Obi as he tries to find his place in a new Nigeria decades later. Obi was once the smartest boy in his village, which is why he was given the privilege to go to England to get his degree and uplift his people. But bit-by-bit the corruption of the colonial civil service in Nigeria sinks his hooks into him, as all of his cultural touchstones slowly disintegrate. 

This book, second in publication order but last chronologically, wrapped up our Big Book Challenge for the year! It was fascinating to see how quickly the world changed around this one family, as many things were both similar and completely unrecognizable when compared to Things Fall Apart. I personally found this novel more engaging than the first. I found Obi's character struggles very compelling. I do think that this book had some of the same pacing issues I complained about in Things Fall Apart, but I did find them less extreme. I would certainly recommend this book if you liked the first one, and perhaps even if you didn't. 

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride

 The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi, 289 pages.

A man who has spent his life studying fairy tales, and also believing in them, marries a wealthy but strange heiress, and together the two live on the boundary between fantasy and reality. The one promise she extracts from him is that he never look into her past, or it will destroy their marriage. But when they have to go back to her childhood home to tend to her dying aunt it becomes harder and harder not to pry, as the house holds secrets it desperately wants to be known. Meanwhile, decades in the past, two little girls sharing the same soul descend down an ever darker path. 

This novel had an extremely gothic feel. The prose was lush, and the general atmosphere is of a slowly strangling dread. It was compelling and terrible to see how things inevitably fell apart. I would strongly recommend this to fans of dark fairy tales, modern gothic books, and people who enjoyed Starling House by Alix E Harrow. 

How to Order the Universe

How to Order the Universe by María José Ferrada trans. Elizabeth Bryer, 170 pages.

Seven-year-old M wants nothing more than to join her father on the road as a traveling salesman, a wish he is (perhaps irresponsibly) happy to indulge. While her mother thinks she is at school, she is instead using this unique upbringing to construct a worldview all her own.

M's unique voice guides some profound insights about humanity. I found the story simple, engaging, and very quick to read. I also thought it was fascinating how the Pinochet dictatorship managed to saturate the whole story, despite never being explicitly named. I think this is a story with very wide appeal. It is a very quick read that I do believe I will be thinking about for much longer than it took me to read.

Delicious in Dungeon vols 2-4

 Delicious in Dungeon vols 2-4 by Ryoko Kui, 576 pages.

(I wrote about the first leg of the adventure here)

The Touden party continues their adventure deeper into the dungeon to find the red dragon and save Falin! As they go they get both a greater understanding of the ecosystems that exist in the dungeon and of each other. They do in fact find the dragon in this leg of the series, but killing it and resurrecting Laios' sister may yet prove more complicated than they had hoped.

I'm very much still enjoying this series! The characters are very compelling, and Kui puts a really exceptional amount of thought into her worldbuilding. I'm very excited to see where this series is going now that we're off of the clearly defined journey of the premise.

Things Fall Apart

 Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, 209 pages.

Okonkwo is a man's man, wildly successful by the metrics of his Igbo village in late 19th century Nigeria. After a tragic accident Okonkwo is forced to flee his home, and when he returns seven years later the forces of colonization are in full force, and his place in the world becomes deeply uncertain.

As an ethnography I found this book extremely successful. I also felt that it was very effective at meeting Achebe's goal of changing Western views of Africa, and especially precolonial Africa. As a novel, I'm afraid I found it less successful. It was slow and meandering, and aside from Okonkwo himself I found few of the characters very compelling. That being said, I would still consider this a valuable book, and at only 200 pages I would definitely consider it worth the time put in.  

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

 The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, 483 pages.

Amina al-Sirafi was one of the most famous (and infamous) pirates on the Indian ocean during her colorful younger years. But ten years ago she left all of that behind to raise her daughter, after a tragedy so dark she doesn't like to think of it. That is until her family is threatened and she's pulled back in to find a kidnapped girl, with a reward so great it would change her family's life forever. Unfortunately, fortunes don't come that easy and she quickly finds herself in over her head and facing off against magic that is frankly terrifying. 

This was the epitome of an adventure book, and it was so much fun! The Islamic folklore was incorporated in a way that almost felt more like magical realism than full fantasy, and it helped the story to ride the line between very believable and larger than life. I loved all of the characters, and for the whole time I was reading this book I didn't want to be doing anything else. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys historical fantasy, lighthearted pirate adventures, and older female protagonists who get things done. 

Rogues

 Rogues: The True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe, 368 pages.

This book pretends at more cohesion than it truly has. It would probably be more honest to market it as an anthology of Patrick Radden Keefe's journalism, which happens to be mostly focused on crime. That structural gripe out of the way, Radden Keefe's writing is very good, and I found myself drawn into chapters that I had little interest in when I started. He does an excellent job building suspense without making real events feel like fiction; as well as presenting what feels like a fair and balanced perspective in many cases. I would recommend this book to fans of the author's other work.

Girly Drinks

 Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol by Mallory O'Meara, 384 pages.

This book is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, with an emphasis on world history. O'Meara traces the history of women producing, marketing, and drinking alcohol from the dawn of civilization in ancient Mesopotamia to trendy New York bartenders in the present day. Furthermore, she doesn't only concern herself with the standard "western civilization" path covered in many world history classes. This book goes to every continent except Antarctica, and returns to many places multiple times. This is both a good and a bad thing. The book is organized pretty much chronologically, which is great for placing things in a world context, but often jarring when a story in France is interrupted by a ten page unrelated interlude in Africa, before returning to France again. 

That being said Girly Drinks is extremely readable. My only other complaint is that O'Meara is guilty of one of the classic blunders of feminist books, where she feels the need to point out how feminist the book is every few pages instead of just showing us. Aside from this minor quibble, it is very obvious that the author runs a podcast, and her casual intimate style makes this book very approachable and fun.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, 400 pages.

Maali Almeida wakes up dead, which even by his standards is a lousy way to start the day. What's worse is that he has no idea how he got that way, or why his body is being dismembered and thrown into Beira Lake. In life he was a war photographer, an arranger of meetings, a gambler, and a closeted gay man in 1990 Colombo, so the list of people who could have potentially wanted him dead and his body disposed of isn't exactly short. His ghost has only seven days to answer these mysteries, as well as to lead the people he loves most to the photos he had tucked away to rock a nation being torn apart by civil war, terrorist activity, and government corruption.

This is a pretty depressing book. Which isn't exactly surprising given the setting, but it bears saying anyway. The protagonist is dead from the beginning, as are a whole lot of other ghosts, and it is absolutely full of gruesome and unfair deaths. It is also a higher context book than a lot of the other world literature I've been reading this year, and I do feel like there's an assumed amount of knowledge about Sri Lanka that I didn't have going in. All that being said, this is a very well constructed book. Being dead allows for a pretty wide perspective, and the fact that it was told mostly in pretty short vignettes was a great decision. I also found the mystery pretty compelling, although it wasn't quite as prominent as I might have thought it would be. Finally, I was pleasantly surprised to find this book, and Maali in particular, less misanthropic than I was afraid it would be, especially by the end. This is not a light read, but I would say it is a good one.