Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 [graphic novel]

 

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 The Authorized Adaptation by Tim Hamilton (2009) 149 pages

Somehow I'd missed reading Ray Bradbury's dystopian novel from 1953. This graphic novel version caught me up in no time. It's a timely subject for those reeling from book bans. Guy Montag is a fireman, but fireman means something quite different in his time: he helps burn books of those who are found to have them. He meets a young woman in his neighborhood while walking home one night, and his conversations with her make him start questioning everything he sees and knows. Good book, which makes me want to read the original. 

Go Gentle

Go Gentle by Maria Semple (2026) 365 pages

Adora Hazzard has gone through a lot to get where she is, but feels she has been saved by philosophy ‒ in particular, Stoicism. Now she has a job with benefits, unusual for a philosopher. She works at the Lockwood Library in NYC where she researches, writes, and provides moral training for the 11-year old twin sons of Lionel and Layla Lockwood. She and her 15-year-old daughter live nearby in an old building, where the 7th floor is increasingly inhabited by "The Coven," women who share food, transportation, and most of all, moral and physical support for each other as they grow older. What more could Adora want?

Throw in a few monkey wrenches: a strange delivery coming to the library, a man who contacts Adora for help getting a message to Layla Lockwood without being observed, and the destruction of some famous art pieces around the world, along with the reawakening of Adora's wish for sexual intimacy, and who knows what will happen!

The surprising plot, the good dialogue, and the delightful characters make this a fine read. Some of my favorite characters turned out to be Adora's daughter, Viv, and the Lockwood twin sons. Plus I learned/relearned a bit of philosophy in the most palatable way.

The Last Hour Between Worlds

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso, 432 pages

I first read and blogged about this book just about a year ago, and I'm still wild about this wackadoodle slipstream/multiverse magical mystery. I love the characters, the complex world that the author created, and I'm very interested in where this story goes next. Super good, though it's nearly impossible to describe. Read it, and then come talk to me.

The Girls Before

The Girls Before by Kate Alice Marshall, 320 pages

When Audrey was a teenager, her ex-best friend Janie went missing, and nobody looked for her. Janie was almost 17 and it wasn't unheard of for her to disappear for a few weeks without anyone noticing or caring when she returned, but this time, she completely vanished. Close to 20 years later, Audrey still can't forgive herself for not seeking out her ex-friend, and now volunteers for search and rescue missions any time she can. When the latest disappearance occurs, Audrey sees some disturbing similarities to Janie, from the age and description to the girls' obsession with a local witch of legend.

I liked that this book was largely from the point of view of someone on the search and rescue team, and I REALLY liked that the dog survived (phew!), but some of the twists played out a bit oddly, and I'm honestly having trouble remembering the details of this one. So it's good for a quick thrilling read, but don't expect it to stay with you.

The One Hundred Nights of Hero

 The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg (2016) 224 pages 

I read this on Libby. I like the color scheme of the art and the fantasy of this setting, an alternate land called Early Earth. "In the tradition of the Arabian Nights" is the perfect way to summarize this book. The author is British so cheeky describes the sense of humor in these feminist folk tales. Cherry and Hero outsmart the wicked suitor, Manfred, like Shahrazad delayed the vengeful Sultan, with stories. Hero wins over the guards and others with her stories in a world where women are supposed to be illiterate and powerless. She subverts all expectations.                        

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and B. Traven

 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by B. Traven (1935) 313 pages

I listened to the audiobook on Hoopla narrated by three voices. I love the movie version from 1948 and have been curious to check out the source material. The book has a lot more background information, but not about the three main gold prospector characters. Instead, the author paints a picture of Mexico, its bandits, its socio-religious conditions, and other backstories about people craving gold. The plot with Dobbs, Curtin, and Howard is nearly identical to the movie. Howard is the knowledgeable old-timer. Dobbs and Curtin first meet on an oil drilling contract and then go searching for gold in the mountains. Trust and saving each others' lives eventually devolves into paranoid distrust and murderous intentions. Dobbs, in particular, has an epic descent into madness over his greed for gold.

B. Traven: Portrait of a Famous Unknown by Golo (2024) 144 pages

This graphic nonfiction is translated from French. I was curious to learn more about the author of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The enigma, B. Traven, remains an enigma. He used many pseudonyms through the years. Golo uses Traven's novels to piece together what his life experiences might have been. It gets into the weeds of German politics between WWI and WWII. One of his novels is about the terrible conditions working shoveling coal on a steam ship, and so, it is thought it is based on his lived experience, a job that allowed him to escape Germany and the rise of Naziism. When he begins living in Mexico I was much more engaged in the life story. He wrote many novels set in Mexico. The art of the graphic novel is fairly busy (especially on the color montage pages), so I didn't find much clarity about the man.

The Incredible Kindness of Paper

The Incredible Kindness of Paper by Evelyn Sky (2025), 256 pages 

If you enjoy Hallmark movies, but want them to be even more saccharine sweet, this is the book for you. No judgement if you just want a nice story that ends in happiness (we could all use a bit of that), but this was just a little bit too over the top for me. Although - it has renewed my interest in origami.

The Marlow Murder Club

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood (2021), 384 pages

Murder is afoot in the sleepy town of Marlow. Never fear as septuagenarian Judith Potts is on the case. If you love cozy British mysteries, this is right up your alley. Overall, I did enjoy it, but it isn't a favorite. I have also already read The Thursday Murder Club and it is almost impossible to not compare the two. The MMC feels a bit heavier and less fun the then The TMC. The characters didn't feel as original and I enjoyed the relationship between the characters more in The TMC. But, if you love The TMC and have zoomed through the series and looking for something similar, definitely check out The MMC. 

That's What Friends Are For

That's What Friends Are For by Wade Rouse (2026) 344 pages

Four gay men, ranging in age from their sixties to early eighties, are living together in Palm Springs, in a pink house once owned by Zsa Zsa Gabor. They came out as gay in times when people were even less tolerant than they are today, and each of the men has been wounded along the way. They call themselves the Golden Gays, and they even put on shows regularly, modeling them after the Golden Girls TV show that aired from the late 80s to the early 90s. Teddy, who runs a vintage clothing shop, plays the role of Dorothy. Barry, who is an actor who never made it big, writes the shows for the Golden Gays and plays the role of Blanche. Sid, the oldest at eighty-one, is still working ten hours a week as an attorney. He was once married to a woman and has adult children and now grandchildren. He plays the role of Sophia. Ron keeps the house running and the others fed, as well as tends to various civic boards in the city. He plays the role of Rose.

Even now, as best friends and housemates, they have secrets from each other. The novel sets them in motion, and as we see their lives unspool, it's hard not to care about them a whole lot. I highly recommend this book.

This Inevitable Ruin

 

This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman, 870 pages.

Floor nine of the dungeon means Faction Wars! And, for the first time in history, the rich and powerful aliens who come to the dungeon to play games with their lives can die too. In this seventh book of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, the chaos is escalating as the system AI goes of the rails and pandemonium spreads outside the dungeon. 

I was really looking forward to this floor, and in some ways it met my expectations, and in some it didn't. On one hand, the out-of-dungeon politics are really interesting, and this book does a great job crystalizing a lot of details of the larger scale plot. On the other, I do feel like this book got a little bogged down in the logistics of a many factioned war, and it often felt less fun and breakneck than many of the other books because of it. I did still enjoy this book, and I will be reading more of the series. I'm excited to be almost caught up!