POPS

 Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong y Terry Teachout, 496 pgs. ©2010

Birth of an American legend. I picked this book in part because I, like many others, wrongly believed Armstrong's birth to fall on the 4th of July--even Louis himself believed this was his birthday. But he was actually born on August 4th. Teachout does a great job dispelling some of the other myths that arose during Armstrong's meteoric rise to fame during the birth of the Jazz age (he also was not the first person to invent scatting). For many players and aficionados alike, he's largely credited with solidifying the genre in the public imagination and making it synonymous with baseball and apple pie and Teachout shows how close the country came to missing out entirely on Armstrong's work. Born in poverty in New Orleans, he was picked-up and thrown in jail as a youngster for firing a gun in the street. From there, he was sent to a orphanage where a teacher made him play cornet. He cut his teeth learning the ins and outs of blues and rags, playing in brothels and gentlemen clubs and became so in demand that he went north on the riverboats to play with small combos, eventually making his way to Chicago to play with his trumpeter hero, King Oliver. Teachout documents the recording sessions and other musicians that he spent time with, detailing his strained relationship with his white manager Joe Glaser, who may have been funneling some of his money to the mob. Armstrong survives the Great Depression to see younger players helm the birth of the Swing and Bebop eras, in which he had little respect. In fact, many younger black players accused Armstrong of being an Uncle Tom and playing only to white audiences. But the real truth is that Armstrong was a musician at heart--he didn't care who heard him, as long as he could play music. His style was revolutionary and his technical feats laid the groundworks for jazz legends to come. 

Joe the Pirate

 Joe the Pirate: The Life and Times of Marion Barbara Carstairs by Hubert and Virginie Ausustin (2026) 224 pages

"Joe was an adrenaline junkie who drove an ambulance in the First World War, piloted speedboats into history as 'the fastest woman on water,' flew an airplane through a hurricane, and battled crocodiles. Her love life was no less whirlwind." Virginie completed this posthumously for Hubert. I like the design of the book with art deco cover and chapter breaks. Joe is such a fascinating and complex individual. The life of a socialite with both their parents (and multiple stepfathers) regularly having affairs clearly affected Joe in constantly chasing each new paramour. This is for mature readers since it openly portrays Joe's many sexual conquests. "I came out of the womb queer." And yet, their mother and the press and even friend/lover Marlene Dietrich tried to force them into feminine roles. I love the art in this biography. The black and white can be realistic and dramatic. A couple pages are illustrated in color, perhaps pointing to the legend status of the story of Joe flying through a storm. I appreciated Kate Bugos' preface too. She writes about how discrimination and privilege were both part of Joe's life, and how their paternalistic leadership on Whale Cay came from their British upbringing.

Severance

Severance by Ling Ma (2018), 291 pages

The novel (written before COVID), follows Candance Chen, a millennial, dealing with the fallout of a mass pandemic. While some parts of the novel are eerily prescient and disturbing, it is overall quite boring. Chen is deeply uninteresting and despite going through some hard tragedies, doesn't particularly engage with her life. It is a bit maddening. She finally takes some initiative at the end, but even that is lowkey dull. This book could have been really interesting, but it is not.

The Russian Cage

 

The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris, 304 pages.

In this third installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth is not on a job. Instead, she has to make her way to the Holy Russian Empire (made up mostly of what was once the West coast of the United States) after receiving a letter that says Eli is in jail. In San Diego, she reconnects with her sister Felicia, meets Eli Savarov's family, and gets way more involved in the politics of the royal family than she would like. 

This was probably the weakest book in the series to far. This is another fish-out-of-water story, much like A Longer Fall, and the actions that characters decide they need to take to kick off the climax make no sense, nor do their consequences (I will avoid being more specific for spoiler reasons). That being said, it was still very entertaining. The GraphicAudio version of the audiobook in particular is fun to have on in the background, and it's easy to get sucked into the story. I will probably continue listening to these. 

Good Luck, Babe!

 

Good Luck, Babe! by Erin Baldwin, 332 pages.

Noelle and Yumi have been best friends since they were kids, until an impulsive kiss the night they submit their application to the Adventureverse (an Amazing Race-type reality show) resulted in a year of no contact. But Noelle will do anything to get the money for her father's medical treatment, including fake-dating her former best friend for an all-couples season of reality TV. Now the girls are suddenly remembering what it's like to be each other's person, but it's hard to figure out feelings on national television, and even harder when everyone else has to believe you already have them figured out. How is a girl supposed to know what's real?

I think this book was made in a lab for me specifically. Much like Noelle, I grew up watching The Amazing Race with my family, and it's uncanny how exactly Baldwin nailed the tone, to the point where I definitely heard the clues in Phil Keoghan's voice, and could visualize the shots of the challenges. I thought the depiction of Noelle's ADHD and anxiety were very well done, and I loved the characters, both individually and as a unit. I would have liked to see a little bit more explicit clearing of the misunderstanding in the backstory, because the hardest thing I found to buy about the premise was that they misunderstood each other that badly for a year, after seeing how instinctively they seem to understand each other at literally every other point. Overall though, I think this novel did a great job balancing a fun, silly premise with a solid emotional heart, so it can be forgiven for making me hum Chappell Roan under my breath for days. I also NEED a director's cut for this book, because every cut for time scene that Baldwin describes in the author's note sounds delightful.

This book will be released 6/23/26 

The Bright Sword

The Bright Sword (2024) by Lev Grossman, 688 pages

After reading the reviews from Kara and Regan, I decided to give this book a go. I love Arthurian tales and this one did not disappoint. I particularly loved how it deals with what does a Knight of the Round Table do when their leader dies and spiritual quests dry up? Collum, a would-be knight, finds himself at the center of this conundrum and the reluctant problem solver. This is a meandering tale that frequently flashes back to the great Knights’ adventures. Grossman tackles everything from the Knights’ pettiness between each other, the lasting influence Roman occupation to the reluctant spread of Christianity. If you are looking for a quick read - this is not it. But, if you want to slow down and just enjoy a tale, this is your book. 

Emma

 

Emma by Jane Austen (1816) 484 pages

Until recently, the only book of Austen's which I had read was Pride and Prejudice, along with many take-offs using the Bennett family as a starting point. I have been thirsting for something substantial to read, something that would be a sure winner, and Emma was that sure winner.

Possibly everyone reading has long been aware of the plot of this novel: Emma is a twenty-one-year-old woman from a family of means, determined to care for her elderly father rather than to marry. She does relish the idea of trying to match up other available young people and she takes credit for the successful marriage of her former governess and a local widower. When Emma meets Harriet Smith, a young woman of unknown parentage, Emma is determined to keep her from marrying a farmer who has caught her eye, but instead wants to match her up with a man who is higher up in society. Things don't always work out the way she expects.

The reader meets all sorts of people in the small town of Highbury, some 16 miles outside of London, many of whom are just regular folks, and some who are more in the "gentleman's" class of people, such as her neighbor, Mr. Knightley, who is the brother of Emma's sister's husband. Sometimes Emma has a streak of classism and other times we see a more humanitarian side of her. Her inclinations evolve as time goes on and as she tries to assuage her father's negativity. This work is a fine, classic story.

Fear and loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: a savage journey to the heart of the American dream by Hunter S. Thompson (1971) 204 pages 

Nothing beats an audiobook when doing mindless chores, so why not take a blast to the (mindless) past. Thompson was the outlaw journalist of the 1960s and this little book is a trip (in the vernacular of the time). If you ignore the absurd overdone shenanigans, Thompson is critiquing the social mores and the post-countercultural movement – albeit in Las Vegas circa 1971. Thompson, known for his over-the-top hyperbole does not disappoint – driving across the desert at 100 mph in a red convertible, gulping drugs, trashing hotel rooms, and nipping at norms on every page. Thompson, whose alter-ego goes by Raoul Duke in this mini-saga, is accompanied by his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, as they report on a desert road race and incidentally end up attending a law enforcement convention – a not-so-subtle irony. When published in Rolling Stone magazine this was radical; now it would be dismissed as another attention-seeking story. Thompson had a fascination with former President Nixon (he is mentioned a couple of times in the book) and in retrospect, Thompson foresaw the future of our political leadership. He would surely have a front row seat at the White House UFC cage fight. Alas, we no longer have curated satirists; perhaps we are all Thompson now. 

Brooms

 Brooms by Jasmine Walls with art by Teo Duvall (2023) 240 pages

"It's 1930s Mississippi. Magic is permitted only in certain circumstances, and by certain people. Unsanctioned broom racing is banned. But for those who need the money, or the thrills...it's there to be found." Practicing magic and racing on brooms is an allegory for the intersectionality of being queer and black or indigenous or asian. There is tons of diverse representation in this graphic novel. The first race that we, the reader, witness, which explains the mechanics of the game, establishes antagonists, but skips some steps before our central characters win the race. I wish it spent more time visually explaining the game. The characters have just a few defining traits, mostly centered around their identity, so I wish there was more depth to them too. However, it was still a fun read. I loved the post Bios scrapbook pages.

Capitalism: a global history

Capitalism: a global history by Sven Beckert (2025) 1325 pages

Full disclosure – I have not finished this yet.  Hardly anything makes me happier than a book with 200 pages of notes – unfortunately the font size for the note section is considerably smaller than the text, forcing me to use a magnifying glass as I flip to the notes. Humor aside, this book is a monumental achievement. Following in the footsteps of the incredibly detailed overview of the ubiquitous economic system published by Thomas Piketty -- Capital in the Twenty-First Century in 2014 which received tremendous attention for a book on economics, this tome takes a similar approach, using historical datasets and archives. Beckert, an acclaimed Harvard academic, is a gifted researcher and accomplished writer.  If you think of capitalism as water, you can trace the history from a droplet to a rivulet and on to the ocean -- many rivers to cross. And the waterways are worldwide, including the Tigris, Yangtze, Rhine rivers, the Caribbean and Red seas, a whole world of water – i.e. capitalism. Traditionally the origin of capitalism is attributed to Adam Smith circa 1700s, but the Beckert defines the economic model more broadly, extrapolating the role of traders – his first example in the port of Aden in Yemen circa 1100-1200 – as prototype capitalists. The traders acquired capital and worked to grow that capital by expanding trade networks, increasing their fleets, and delegating to subordinates. Beckert’s Capitalism is everywhere -- regardless of the ideology of the client state.  The epilogue is inconclusive; there is no way to predict the future of capitalism, but he does emphasize the lack of sustainability of the current pernicious manifestation of this economic system.