King Sorrow

 King Sorrow by Joe Hill, 887 pages.

In 1989 Arthur Oakes' friends come together to go to extreme measures to get him out from under the thumb of drug dealer's who have threatened him into stealing rare books from the college library. Arthur and his friends, mostly too wealthy to have any respect for the impossible, use a journal bound in human skin to summon a dragon to take care of their problem. But as with all deals with dark and dangerous entities, there is a catch, and the six young people are tricked into sacrificing someone to the dragon every year, or else be eaten by the dragon themselves. Over decades they tell themselves they are only killing evil people, and that they are improving the world, but dragons aren't interested in good and the cost only gets heavier.

This was a compelling book, although I have to admit that by the last third or so it got exhausting watching bad things happen to bad people. We spend time in the head of each of the six involved in summoning this dragon, and several of them are frankly pretty terrible. I enjoyed this book, although I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was about 200 pages shorter. 

Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore

 Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz, 368 pages.

Violet Thistlewaite has spent her whole life as the fearsome Thornwitch, right-hand to the dark sorcerer Shadowfade. But after Shadowfade is killed by a hero, and the hero tells her to "be good," Violet has to reinvent herself. She wants to be someone better, and the town of Dragon's Rest is the perfect place to set up a flower shop and try to make up for some of the evil she did in her life. But when a mysterious blight strikes the plants of the town she will have to work with her landlord (a grumpy, but handsome, former alchemist) to save the town that is becoming her new home. 

This book was good enough, but it ended up being a strangely generic book for how unique and interesting it's premise was. The book was cute and fairly well-written, and I quite liked the supporting cast. However, I felt like the drive to preserve this cute and cozy vibe rather undercuts the frankly massive death count in Violet's backstory in a way that wasn't particularly balanced. This was a fine book, but I'm afraid it didn't quite live up to the great book it could have been. 

Trust

 Trust by Hernan Diaz, 402 pages.

This nested novel is divided into four fictional books. The first is a novel that is a fictionalized account of a New York financier and his wife. The second is an incomplete autobiography from the real man himself, attempting to correct the slanders of the novel and paint himself in a better light. The third is an essay from the ghostwriter of that autobiography, at the time a young woman just starting out, but now an aged author at the end of a brilliant career. The final, shortest section, is the journal of the financier's wife, whose life has been reinterpreted by so many people. Throughout these narratives more truth emerges from the contrasts, as no one person's story can be complete, as much as power would like it to be so.

This novel was very well-written, which unfortunately couldn't make up for the fact that I found it interminably boring. It turns out reading well over a hundred pages of a biography of a fictional financier with no real hobbies of meaningful connections is not any more interesting than reading that of a real one. The mystery the synopsis promised is not as large or dramatic as implied, and the ways each narrator was unreliable were generally easy to spot. Overall this felt like a solid concept that didn't turn out to be as interesting in execution as I may have hoped. 

If We Were Villains

 If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio, 354 pages.

Seven aspiring Shakespearean actors at an exclusive arts school have spent four years growing deeply entwined with each other. Through the years the roles they play onstage on offstage have blurred and grown deeply entangled. When one of their own dies, all of the bitter feelings and guilt begin to poison the survivors, as they have to convince not only the police they are guiltless, but also themselves. Oliver Marks has just finished serving a ten year sentence for his classmates murder, and he is finally ready to tell the truth to the retiring police officer who has been haunted by the case all these years. 

This book feels, in many ways, like a love letter to The Secret History by Donna Tartt. That being said, I actually liked this book better than that foundational text of the dark academia genre. Rio did a masterful job creating in the reader the feelings of the characters, transferring an atmosphere that was frequently both suffocating and frantic. I also found the tension between the characters conforming to their assigned archetypes and existing as complete people fascinating. It also feels worth mentioning that I have been thinking about the end of this book since I finished it a few weeks ago. I would heavily recommend this as a tense, character-driven drama. 

Wind and Truth

 Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson, 1330 pages.

This book marks the end of the first arc of the Stormlight Archive, and ties the many interwoven threads to their conclusion. It is difficult both to summarize the fifth book in a series, and also one that is well over 1000 pages, so I'm going to be very brief. This book takes place in the 10 days between the agreement between Dalinar and the god Odium at the end of the last book, and the contest that they agreed upon. Both sides are desperately trying to gain or keep ground before borders solidify at the time of the contest. Meanwhile, others seek answers from the ancient past and the Heralds to find any long-term advantage against Odium. 

For the first section of this book I finally experienced some of the issues that people who don't like these books have complained about. There was a perspective character whose story I didn't care much about, and I was impatient to get back to story lines I cared more about, while also feeling like the perspectives shifted a little to fast to really settle into any story. That being said, once it hit its stride I found myself completely hooked as usual. There were a whole lot of really standout scenes in this book, in addition to the answers to many deep lore questions. I love that characters in this series, which despite being classic high fantasy is ultimately about mental health, are able to not only make meaningful progress, but to maintain that growth from book to book. The end of this book managed to really surprise me, and I am ready to settle into the expected tragically long wait until book six. 

Of Women and Salt

 Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia, 207 pages.

Winding from Cuba to Miami, from 1866 to 2016, this book follows a line of mothers and daughters through terrible choices and awful men. Intersecting this family line are Gloria and Ana, a mother and daughter from El Salvador with a very different relationship to immigration. 

I thought this book had a really interesting premise and absolutely beautiful writing. Garcia's writing reminds me of poetry, and her images were often sharp and striking. However, I don't think that this book was long enough to deal very meaningful with the many women it introduced—a problem that is exacerbated by the fact that I believe around half of the book is instead following Gloria and Ana, giving them individually far more "screen time" than any member of the family that is meant to be the center of this family saga. I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure it quite lived up to its own potential. 

Every Step She Takes

 Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun, 384 pages.

Sadie Wells doesn't have time for much of anything, but especially not for dating. And after a long list of dates with men with zero sparks (best not to think about why she's 35 and has maybe never been attracted to a man), she's desperate to get away from her life, and spontaneously agrees to take her influencer sister's place on a tour of the Camino de Santiago. When she is convinced the plane is going down she confesses all of her secrets to her seatmate, only to discover (to her horror) that said seatmate is named Mal, and is also on her tour. And also it's a tour specifically for queer women. Sadie has 100s of kilometers of self-discovery before her, whether she feels ready or not.

Alison Cochrun's books never miss for me! I really loved both Sadie and Mal, and the Camino itself wove its way through the narrative beautifully. That being said, I feel like the plot of this one was a little weaker than her standard. Mal agrees to help Sadie recapture the queer adolescence she missed out on, which ends up involving a lot of "practice" dating. Despite the fact that I feel like they were pretty upfront with their feelings at multiple points, the story still treated it like they were secretly pining, which I don't feel like made a lot of sense with what we had seen. Minor believability gripes aside, I still had a great time with this book, which I found both funny and sincere. 

Once Upon a Tome

 Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller by Oliver Darkshire, 244 pages.

Oliver Darkshire originally wandered into an apprentice role at Sotheran's, one of the oldest bookshops in the world, mostly out of a lack of direction or any skills marketable at a better paying job. But the atmosphere (and strange cast of eccentrics) built up by Sotheran's in its nearly 300 year existence proved intoxicating, and he ended up staying for many years beyond the one he had planned. 

This book was delightful. I listened to the audiobook (read by the author), and it did an excellent job capturing the personal and lighthearted way that Darkshire told his many stories. It felt a little like a friend telling you about their day at work, with a tendency towards humorous exaggeration. This is the kind of book that serves as a window into a very specific profession, and leaves you happy knowing a little more about the world. A fun, light read perfect for book lovers. 

Mexican Gothic

 Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, 320 pages.

Noemí Taboada isn't known for being serious. She is a Mexican heiress and a glamorous debutante, flitting between men and other amusements. But when her father receives an unsettling letter from her cousin, Noemí is sent as her father's emissary to make sure she is alright. What she finds is a crumbling mansion way out in the mountains and an equally decaying family obsessed with their own legacy. The house is silent and moldering, and the hostility she feels immediately soon begins to give way to something more ominous. She went to see if her cousin needed an asylum, but she soon starts to wonder if she may as well.

This book was a little slow hitting it's stride, but once it did it was extremely atmospheric and spooky. I enjoyed seeing the pieces come together as the mystery slowly unspooled into something darker and darker. I think this was a really solid choice to kick off my fall reading, and I'll probably read more by the author. 

The King's Shadow

 The King's Shadow: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Deadly Quest for the Lost City of Alexandria by Edmund Richardson, 352 pages.

When James Lewis deserted the East India Trading Company's army, he walked into the desert and kept going until he became one of the first westerners to live in Afghanistan for centuries, and so Charles Masson was born. Masson would take on many roles living in Afghanistan: fake holy man, alchemist, political advisor, and unwilling spy. But the role he took on enthusiastically (and many would say obsessively) was archaeologist, as he relentlessly pursued Alexander the Great and the lost city of Alexandria beneath the Mountains.

This was a completely fascinating history, one of those stranger-than-fiction stories that feels to exciting to be true. Richardson does an excellent job focusing the narrative in a way that is both engaging and informative. This book is impeccably researched, and draws heavily on firsthand accounts from disparate sources. Richardson does an excellent job adding context, so that even with no background knowledge the book is easy to follow. Also, in a rare treat for a 19th century archaeologist, Masson himself was a deeply sympathetic figure, which made it very easy to invest in his story. This book reminds me quite a lot of David Grann's The Wager, so fans of that book would almost certainly enjoy this one, but I would also recommend it highly more generally. 

A selection of August graphic novels

 Middlewest: The Complete Tale by Skottie Young with art by Jorge Corona (2021) 560 pages

I first encountered Skottie Young's work as an artist in the Marvel Oz adaptations. When I saw the story synopsis of this adventure Young wrote I knew I would enjoy it. There are multiple homages to the land of Oz. Middlewest could be Kansas. There's a deep level and a surface layer. The story explores generational trauma and men with anger issues. But visually it is a thrilling fantasy world, not quite like our own. Abel's closest confidant is a talking fox, there are diesel-punk flourishes, and a found family in a traveling carnival. By about half way through, the story ventures in its own direction with less obvious Oz references. There is human trafficking of children as farm workers. As more characters become involved in the story, and with multiple characters who turn into violent storms, there are wide shots with a lot of chaos where it is hard to keep track of all the moving parts. However, the art by Jorge Corona with color by Jean-Francois Beaulieu really pops the majority of the time.

Climate Changed: A Personal Journey through the Science by Philippe Squarzoni (2012) 467 pages

Through references to films and other books the author let's us into his thought process on how to begin, end, and present compelling arguments in graphic non-fiction form. It is part memoir, but still the bulk of it is presenting the facts about human technology and its effect on the Earth's environment. The author is French and he interviews several experts from France, but they represent international nonprofits or governmental advisory boards in many cases. Climate change is true. It is time to stop denying it. We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions! But will Capitalist powers in the industrialized world get behind changing our way of life? There is a metaphor that the author describes about a parachutist who forgot his parachute that is very impactful. At over 450 pages, there are so many facts and figures, as well as sociological concerns to take in. The strongest message that Squarzoni conveys is that we are running out of time to stop or reverse the damage done to this ecosystem we share.

A Girl Called Echo Omnibus by Katherena Vermette with art by Scott B Henderson (2023) 224 pages

Issue #1 feels too short. You spend quite a bit of time with Echo in the real world, not just time traveling back to the 19th century. There isn't a fantasy or sci-fi method to her time traveling. It is more like she has a great imagination and a good history teacher. Echo seeks out other books about the Pemmican Wars period in her school library rather than just relying on the class's textbook. She's a good student although she has a hard time making friends. She loves rock music and has a shaky relationship with her mom. The art is good, but not super exciting. In issue #2, Echo begins to make friends in middle school and falls in love with a boy back in the 1800s. The Metis fight for their right to govern themselves when their territory is sold to Canada. Again with the history lesson we are given very brief highlights of major events, but I wish it was more in depth. I wish we learned more about the people and how they lived. I did not fully understand the political maneuvering. There are a couple pages that act as montages, but the writer and artist are trying to pack too much information into those pages. They should have been given more pages to tell the story. Issue #3 spends less time in Echo's modern day life with more pages devoted to 1885. The history is the real selling point and we get some continuity between issues 2 and 3. I like that the authors acknowledge the emotional trauma that Echo is experiencing as a witness to history. The resistance fighting can lead to death and loss, but it is necessary. The writer connects Echo to her ancestry directly in this one. Issue #4 is a pretty strong conclusion that wraps up the loose threads. Echo gains more control of when she travels back and forth in time. US history and Canadian history are fairly similar in constantly taking land from Indigenous people. There are no big surprises in this issue, but Echo is shown by people in her life (past and present) that despite the anger and pain her people have survived and have a future.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The Scorpius Run by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott with art by Angel Hernandez (2024) 128 pages

Fun adventure. This takes place sometime before the current third season, which is airing as I read this. Good art of new characters and old. The villain seems to have god-like powers. The full Enterprise crew, plus newly introduced aliens, all have important parts to play. A dangerous spaceship race is set up in this new Scorpius Sector and Captain Pike must figure out how to unite the competitors.

Stitches: A Memoir by David Small (2009) 329 pages

A blurb on the back cover from a critic at the Washington Post is spot on.      "[Small] employs angled shots and silent montages worthy of Alfred Hitchcock." The author's ability to show us his dreams and nightmares is amazing. His real life is so full of angry silences and repressed emotions. One dream while visiting grandma with Jesus on a crucifix repeating his grandma's words, "He was a Durn Little Fool!" is especially memorable. Alice in Wonderland provides some meaningful symbolism through Small's young life too, including his therapist being the white rabbit. The many surprise revelations of his troubled family are tough, but somewhat relatable.

The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix (2018) 176 pages

Good coverage of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life and some German history. I like the visuals too, a combination of realistic and symbolic. The rise of Hitler is described in detail. Then we learn about Dietrich's rebel seminary as Nazi's were coming to power and the German spy agency Abwehr (pronounced UP-fair) that contained many agents who were conspiring to stop Hitler. Each of three attempts to assassinate Hitler are described with high suspense. The author says, "This story is not primarily a work of scholarship but a work of art," but I commend his research. Very successful graphic nonfiction.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep

 A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall, 432 pages

A year ago E. Cidnosin and scholar Henerey Clel disappeared when E's marvelous home beneath the sea was destroyed. The two had begun a correspondence first to discuss natural history, but soon because they are two lonely individuals who come to care about each other very deeply. As E's sister and Henerey's brother begin to reconstruct their siblings' last days (and build their own friendship), they too are quickly pulled into the same mysteries that drew in E and Henerey.

This book is set in such a fascinating world. The planet is almost entirely covered in water, and society has a distinctly Victorian feel and is mostly organized around three colleges, while we get only hints of the apocalyptic event that started this society. This novel is epistolary, told entirely in letters and the odd journal entry. This book reminded me a lot of Victorian Science Fiction, which definitely won't be for everyone, but I personally loved it. I loved all of the characters, and was completely invested in their relationships of every description. I would definitely recommend this to fans of Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies and also anyone who likes unusual worldbuilding.  

Alice Isn't Dead

 Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink, 323 pages. 

After Keisha's wife disappeared, the grief nearly destroyed her. When she starts seeing her in background of news reports across the country, looking into the camera at disaster sites and tragedies, Keisha decides that the only thing that matters is finding Alice. So she becomes a truck driver and scours the country for her wife, finding herself quickly sinking into a conspiracy of monsters.

This book was written by Joseph Fink, one of the co-creators of the hit podcast Welcome to Nightvale, and is based on a podcast also called Alice Isn't Dead. It was this podcast link that made me think this may be a good audiobook choice for me, but to be honest it mostly made me curious about the original podcast. That being said, I did still like this book. Keisha has anxiety, and the way it was handled was unusual and interesting. There are also some interesting, if not extremely original, meditations on the nature of hatred and collective action. I liked this book, but I'm not sure it's high on my recommendations list, and I suspect it's not better than it's source material. I suspect people who enjoy horror set on highways and in liminal spaces would enjoy this treatment of the topic.