We Ride Upon Sticks

 

We ride upon sticks / Quan Barry, 366 pgs.

The Danvers High School field hockey team isn't great.  They have a history of losing seasons.  Now, they decide to take action.  Do they add workouts?  get a ringer?  No, they make a pact and maybe "sell their souls" and a now they are big time pre-season winners. To keep the wins coming, they commit a bunch of "evil" acts...ok, mostly just the kind of things well brought up teen girls don't do. This book takes us through the 1989 season, we meet the team and get inside their heads (oh yea, they are all in each other heads too).  

For me, perhaps it was the 80's time frame, the team dynamics, depictions of teen hilarity or just the absolutely fabulous writing...but this is certainly a favorite now.  Quan Barry knows a thing or two about writing a memorable set of characters.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, 160 pages

Dex is a monk in the main city on the tiny moon on which they live. They appreciate being a monk, but feel a call for something more than the city-based work they do, and so become a tea monk — a nomadic monk that visits the small villages that dot the moon, providing tea, an empathetic ear, and a place to relax for an hour or two. But when Dex strikes out into the wilderness, they discover a robot, the first one any human has seen for millennia, since the robots were given autonomy and released from the service of humankind. While this is understandably surprising, the robot wants to learn more about humans, and as the pair spend some time together, they learn about one another.

That's pretty much the whole of this short novel, but it is SO MUCH MORE than that too. With Chambers' trademark kind writing style and plenty of meaningful conversations between the two characters, this is also a meditation on humanity and our place within the universe, the relationship between the descendants of oppressors and slaves, and the importance of taking time for oneself. I knew I'd love this book (based solely on the author's other work), but this was perfect.

*This book has not yet been published. It will be released July 13, 2021.

An almost zero waste life

 

An almost zero waste life: learning how to embrace less to live more / Megean Weldon, 176 pgs.

I don't know why I have a weakness for books like this.  I've read several and keep requesting them.  There really isn't anything new to hear about buying less stuff, recycling, avoiding packaging or choosing the easiest to recycle option.  Weldon encourages simplifying your diet to reduce waste.  That might make sense. For me, if nothing else, the pandemic taught me I have quite a dependence on paper products.  Weldon wants me to use rags and wash them but I can't see myself managing my cat's without paper towels…and lets not even talk about getting rid of toilet paper.  Still, several interesting alternatives here and why do we pay so much for cleaning chemicals that are dangerous to our health and the environment?

The Dark Archive

The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman, 338 pages

After an almost completely skippable sixth book in this series (which pains me, as that was the heist book and I generally love heists), Cogman has returned to form with The Dark Archive. And a bit part of that probably has to do with Irene working in her base world, with her regular allies (dragon prince Kai, detective extraordinaire Peregrine Vale) and the ally-ish Fae (Lord Silver, Sterrington). In this installment, Irene and the aforementioned allies have all been subject to a series of assassination attempts, likely due to the recent truce between the Fae and dragons, though none of them are sure who's behind the attempts. The return of some past foes — as well as Irene's new Fae apprentice, Catherine — serve to keep things fresh and interesting. Loved this one, and can't wait to read what's next for Irene!

Outer darkness

 Outer Darkness: Vol 1: Each Other's Throats / John Layman & Afu Chan, 152 pgs.

Captain Rigg is testing out his new crew and ship, learning who can be trusted and who is going to cause him problems.  A power struggle is inevitable and sure enough, there is one.  Now they are dealing with some sort of occult influence and being thrown off schedule for the mission that nobody knows the details of.  I really didn't think this was going to be my kind of thing but it was.  Fantastic art and a story that reminds me a bit of a Star Trek episode.

The case of the missing men

The case of the missing men / Kris Bertin & Alexander Forbes, 300 pages.

Fans of Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys will like the vibe of this odd graphic novel that tells the story of a small town with big issues.  People are going missing, others are being murdered but the cops don't seem to be on the case.  A high school detective club starts looking for one particular missing man and finds many others.  What is happening in Hobtown?  Only a group of crazy kids can solve this mystery but at the same time, they are dealing with their own teen-age and hormonal issues.  I had a hard time following this at times and I can't say the art elevated my experience. Maybe this one was just too odd for me.

 

The shape of ideas

 

The shape of ideas: an illustration exploration of creativity / Grant Snider, 144 pages

What a wonderful little motivational book.  Snider breaks down this topic into 10 subjects including inspiration, contemplation, exploration...you get the idea.  Each topic is broken down into its percentage of genius with perspiration being the most at 29%.  Everything starts with an idea.  What a small word that is really the basis of everything.  As always, the illustrations are fantastic and Snider has a lot to say.

Summer on the Bluffs

Summer on the Bluffs by Sunny Hostin, 432 pages

Back in the 1970s, Ada Vaux Tanner became one of the first Black women on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, fighting hard to earn the fortune she would one day use to build a beautiful "cottage" in Martha's Vineyard and to make sure her three goddaughters had everything they could ever possibly wish for. Now, as she turns 66 and five years after her beloved husband Omar died, Ama is ready to give the keys to the cottage to one of her goddaughters, and has invited the three of them out to the Vineyard for the summer. While Perry, Olivia, and Billie all would love to own the house that was more home to them than any other place they lived growing up, they each have their own challenges that they're bringing to the table — and Ama has some secrets that she needs to share with them before any bequests can be made.

Told in alternating points of view from the four women at the center of the story, as well as a few flashbacks to Ada's early days in New York City, this relationship-centric read focuses on a well-to-do Black family in the upscale African American community of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. So many relationship fiction titles are centered on rich families dealing with secrets and problems, but so few of those families feature people of color. This story is a welcome addition to the genre, and I look forward to additional stories about Ada and her goddaughters.

Kings of the Wyld

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames, 529 pages

Once upon a time, Clay Cooper was part of Saga, the most famous (and infamous) band in the land, fighting back monsters, saving villages, diving deep into the heart of Heartwyld, the perilous forest that covers a huge swath of land between Agria and the city of Castia. For the past couple of decades, however, the members of Saga have gone their own ways, settling down and, well, getting old and out of shape. But when Saga frontman Gabe shows up on Clay's doorstep with plans of getting the band back together to rescue his daughter from a monster horde in Castia, well, the old guys dust off their swords and battleaxes to strike out into the Wyld one more time.

This was a fun book to read, full of references to both fantasy quests and aging rock bands. It's equally full of humor and creative beasts, sometimes at the same time (owlbears! bards that fair as well as Spinal Tap's bassists!). So much fun, and a great reunion tour for Saga.

Interior Chinatown

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu (2020) 270 pages

Interior Chinatown reads like a cross between a screen play and the real life of Willis Wu, a young Asian American who is trying to move up in the film industry. When the book refers to other characters, one struggles at first to determine whether the character is a real person in Wu's life or a character in a TV show that he has bit parts on. And is the "Golden Palace" a real restaurant or a screen location or both?

Since he was a child, Wu has always wanted to be "Kung Fu Guy," but as an adult in the film industry, he's relegated to roles such as "Background Oriental Male," "Dead Asian Man," or "Generic Asian Man" number 3, 2, or 1.

The lives (and stereotypes) of Asian Americans are examined and compared to those of Blacks, women, and White men. Messages regarding family and values and much more are subtly–and unsubtly–conveyed via this novel's creative structure.

Creativity

 

Creativity: a short and cheerful guide / John Cleese, 103 pgs.

Hints and tips about creativity and how we can all be creative.  I think Cleese is a pretty good example.  He talks about his writing and how he evolved from a math/science/lawyer type guy into someone who was more creative.  Thriving means giving yourself a chance...keep revising, don't make decisions too quickly, give an idea time to percolate. This is truly a short and cheerful guide.  I wonder if it is short to maintain the cheerfulness.  He does tell of having fallow periods but nothing that seemed to stressful for him.  A nice reminder that we can all improve.

A Wealth of Pigeons

 

A Wealth of Pigeons: a cartoon collection / Harry Bliss & Steve Martin, 272 pgs.

Steve and Harry are a bit of an odd couple but their work together is pretty fantastic. This book is the result of their work together, Harry the artist, Steve adding the captions.  Interspersed are a few pages that reveal the working relationship between the two and their first meeting.  I hope this partnership continues.

Surviving Autocracy

 

Surviving Autocracy / Masha Gessen, 295 pgs.

I wish I hadn't felt compelled to read this but given the precarious state of democracy, it is a good book to study.  Gessen was early to sound the warning of the significance of the 2016 election and the road ahead.  Here is 22 solid chapters full of examples of why we need to worry and the march up to each hill that we went over without stopping to see the obvious.  It is not uplifting, but it does show that we can't be too careful when we start looking at actually SEEING what is going on right in front of us.

In Five Years

 

In Five Years: Rebecca Serle, 255 pgs.

Dannie is a high level lawyer looking for even more prestige.  She has a solid five year plan that includes marrying boyfriend David and climbing the ladder.  One night, she falls asleep and wakes up 5 years hence.  She is living in a different apartment and finds herself with a man she does not recognize. She is confused and discombobulated but then they make love and she thinks maybe things haven't turned out too badly.  Now she wakes up again in her own life - present day.  She is stunned by this vision of her future but thinks she should stick with her original plan.  Life happens and time passes...she ends up meeting the man she saw herself with she doesn't know how to handle her feelings.  Her best friend Bella, her polar opposite as far as personality is dating this guy and falling for him big time.  Dannie decides to double down on making her original plan happen but can you deny fate?

Firewatching, by Russ Thmas

Detective Inspector Adam Tyler works in South Yorkshire’s Cold Case Unit and is called to the scene when a skeleton is discovered wall-up in the basement of a mansion that is being renovated.  The property had belonged to the financier, Gerald Cartwright, who disappeared six years previously.  It was thought that he’d had shady dealings and vanished intentionally, but this throws that theory into question. The mansion has suffered from neglect and fire damage from a blaze some years back and the person renovating it is Gerald’s son, Oscar.  One snag, seemingly coincidently, Tyler had met Oscar for the first time at a bar the night previously, and they had gone back to his apartment for anonyomos sex.  Tyler’s gayness isn’t his only problem with some of the other officers either.  The cast of characters will soon include a young Muslim female constable trying to make her mark and facing her own type of discrimination, a hunky local fire chief, and Tyler’s supervisor, who is out to get him.  Gerald’s sins are slowly revealed to include far more than illegal business deals.  The “Cask of Amontillado” meets fear of being burned alive.  Quite well done for a debut mystery.  355 pp.

The care and management of lies, by Jacqueline Winspear

A few books into her popular “Maisie Dobbs” series, Winspear paused in 2014, the 100^th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, to write this non-mystery novel centering on the “home front” and women’s place in that conflict.  It is a quietly effective and ultimately tragic book.  Kezia and her best friend Dorothea – known at home as “Dorrit,” and who will become “Thea” after school – meet as scholarship students at a prestigious girls’ school in London.  They come from the same rural area, but their close bond is formed primarily because of their shared humble beginnings (a country vicar’s daughter and a local farmer’s).  This bond is only reinforced when Kezia marries Thea’s older brother, Tom, who manages the family farm after the early deaths of both parents.  As the book opens, Thea has become deeply involved in women’s suffrage, while Kezia seems content to move into a more traditional role as a wife.  Somewhat miffed, Thea gives her friend The Woman’s Book, a compendium of household hints, cookery, and advice, as a wedding gift, a not-too-subtle dig at the world Kezia will soon enter, subservient to a husband and caught in society’s expectations.  However, soon after Kezia and Tom marry, war breaks out and Tom joins up, leaving the inexperienced Kezia to manage not only the household, but the entire farm, its livestock, and those who work on the land.  Thea, having narrowly escaped being caught and arrested for her suffrage and pacifism work (and those arrested were often abused and force-fed), sees driving an ambulance as a way to avoid apprehension.  Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire.  Chapters alternate between Kezia’s struggles to keep the farm going in the face of shortages and losing help as men join up, Tom’s service in the trenches of France, and Thea’s work in the danger zone.  What keeps Tom, and soon his fellow soldiers in the trenches, going are Kezia’s letters to Tom describing (entirely fictional) delicious and inventive dinners she is preparing for him each day.  Sounds a bit treacly, but it is quite moving.  319 pp.

Long Story Short

 

Long Story Short: Mr. Fish and friends turning famous books into cartoons / Mr. Fish, 140 pgs.

I had really high hopes for this.  Perhaps I'm just not smart enough but I've read a LOT of the books featured here and often did not really "get" the cartoon.  Perhaps it is only me, the art is interesting, I just didn't always see the connection.

Third Girl

 Third Girl by Agatha Christie (1966) 218 pages

In this Hercule Poirot mystery, a young woman‒with vacant eyes and unattractive hair and clothing‒comes to Poirot to say that she may have committed a murder. He starts asking questions, but she stammers and soon leaves, telling him she's sorry, but he's too old. Thus insulted, Poirot is mulling this over when his old friend Ariadne Oliver calls. It turns out that the young woman fits the description of someone Mrs. Oliver recently met named Norma. Mrs. Oliver happened to talk about Poirot in a conversation with Norma.

Norma and her mother had been abandoned by Norma's father 15 years ago when Norma was five. After Norma's mother died,  Norma's father reappeared with a new wife to run the prosperous company that his now-deceased brother owned. Norma doesn't get along well with her stepmother, and takes a room in an apartment with two other young women, including one who works for Norma's father. Norma is involved with a young man who just doesn't seem suitable. Is he really interested in her or is he out for her eventual inheritance? As facts come out, Poirot and Mrs. Oliver (and a private investigator that Poirot has hired) try to figure out why Norma thinks she might have murdered someone and who it might be.

This is a classic Christie, one that I'd first read years ago. As Poirot often says, once the puzzle pieces are there, one needs to work to rearrange them to see the truth. 

 

A week in winter

 

A week in Winter / Maeve Binchy, 325 pgs.

Chicky Starr left Stoneybridge to follow Walter to the States.  When they break up, she deceives her family and instead says they are married.  She finds work in a rooming house and works hard.  Years go by and she has saved some money and is thinking of returning home.  Now she makes up a car accident to explain Walter's absence.  Back in Stoneybridge, she fixes up an old place to become a lodging and is now ready for her first guests.  This book focuses on one character at a time starting with Chicky and going through all the people involved.  Like almost all of Binchy's work that I've read, this is a feel-good trip down a predictable but pleasant lane.

Good Company

Good Company by Cynthia d'Aprix Sweeney, 320 pages

Twenty years into their marriage, actors Flora and Julian seem to have finally reached a level of comfort, career-wise. Flora finally has a regular voice-acting role on an animated TV series, while Julian's star is rising as he's been promoted to series regular on his police procedural role. Their daughter, Ruby, is getting ready to graduate and begin college. But when Flora finds Julian's long-lost wedding ring — and nowhere near the pond where he claims to have lost it — she begins reevaluating their relationship. 

Told in chapters that bounce back and forth between the early days of their relationship and their current situation, as well as between Flora and their close friend Margot (a much more successful actress), this sophomore effort from Sweeney offers up a nuanced look at the evolution of relationships, both romantic and platonic. I loved this book and I can't wait for others to read it!

*This book is scheduled for publication April 6, 2021.

A Game of Cones

A Game of Cones by Abby Collette, 352 pages

Just six months after the village of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, experienced its first murder investigation, another dead body turns up. This time, it's the representative of an out-of-state corporation that's planning on buying up real estate in the central business district to create a vertical mini-mall. Having had her fill of amateur sleuthing, ice cream shop owner Win Crewse would love to pass this investigation by, but when a friend visiting her from out of town becomes implicated, Win and her pals must start sleuthing once again.

This is the second book in the Ice Cream Parlor mystery series by Collette, and while it's still full of the quirky fun side characters of the first book, this one doesn't quite hold up as well. That said, it's so nice to see a cozy mystery series centering on a young Black woman and her family. I hope that Collette's series continues, and that the stories tighten up a bit as they go. The characters and location have so much potential!

*This book is scheduled to be released March 2, 2021

Six Wakes

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty, 391 pages

When Maria Arena wakes up in a new clone, she knows that she must have died in some mysterious manner just days after embarking on a 400-year journey aboard a colony ship. The trouble is, she's not the only new clone awakening. It turns out the entire six-clone crew of the Dormire has been slaughtered and reawakened, and if that wasn't disturbing enough, they're 25 years into the journey with no memory of that time in space, and someone disabled the AI that's running the ship's processes, including navigation and gravity. Suddenly, they're in a race to fix the ship and find the killer, who must be the previous version of one of those clones. But will they be able to do it with no witnesses and unknown motives?

This is a fascinating locked-room murder mystery, with an innovative twist in that the killer certainly has no memory of their deeds. That said, it also raises a lot of fantastic questions about humanity, the ethics of cloning, and where the laws of Earth end. I can't wait to discuss this with the Orcs & Aliens book group on Monday night!

Snow, Glass, Apples

 

Snow, Glass, Apples / Neil Gaiman and Collen Doran (art), 88 pgs.

What if the story of Snow White is a little wrong.  What if the step mother was just misunderstood?  What if Snow White wasn't really the innocent?  This beautiful graphic novel is told from the step mother's viewpoint.  The art here is absolutely stunning.  Just gaze at that cover and imagine how much is inside.

The Secret Chapter

The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman, 334 pages

The sixth book in the Invisible Library series finds Librarian (and spy and book "procurer") Irene and her dragon friend Kai heading off to a world trapped in the 1980s to get a rare copy of an ancient text — only to find out when they get there that they have to go to *another* world and pull off a high-stakes art heist in order for the book owner to turn over his book to the Library. Of course Irene and Kai also have to work with the chaotic and untrustworthy Fae on this heist, though as they start planning their theft, it turns out that the orderly dragons might have a dog in this fight too.

As Cogman mentions in the acknowledgements, there comes a point in this series where you simply MUST have a heist, and this is that book. As much as I love heists and this series, though, this one just doesn't rise to the top for me. It's still a barrel of fun, and some of the characters are fantastic...I just wish we had a bit more insight into the heist-prep side of things. (Heists are always more fun when you get hints at what the thieves are planning, after all.) Oh well, it's still a fun book and a favorite series, so I'll definitely be devouring whatever Cogman cooks up next.

The truants, by Kate Weinberg

This debut novel is an Agatha Christie type mystery with a charismatic teacher as the central figure.  Impressionable young minds in thrall to a teacher seems to be a somewhat common theme in books I’ve recently read.  The narrator, first-year student Jess Walker, has given up a chance at an Oxbridge education to attend one of the newer universities established in industrial areas of Great Britain in the sixties.  She is studying English in East Anglia because she has been so impressed a book, “The Truants,” by Lorna Clay, who teaches there.  Lorna, as everyone calls her, lectures on the works of Agatha Christie and is an expert on the author, who was a bit of a mystery herself.  Not long after Christie’s “The murder of Roger Ackroyd” was published, and at the height of her fame, she disappeared for almost two weeks.  Police throughout England frantically searched for her.  She reappeared at a hotel 11 days afterwards claiming to remember nothing.  Disappearances feature in Weinberg’s novel, as well as unreliable characters like Roger Ackroyd.  Jess falls in with three other Lorna acolytes, Georgie, an aristocratic girl with a penchant for drugs; Nick, a geology major of Indian ethnicity (and the most “grounded” so to speak of the three); and the somewhat older Alec, a journalist from South Africa, who is visiting because of an earlier connection with Lorna.  Various triangles, romantic and otherwise, form among the characters as they all vie for Lorna’s attention.  Eventually, one of them will die.  Fun and well-written.  311 pp. 

January totals!

Bernie's keeping an eye on our book drop for us.

Christa  16/4614

Jan  6/1779

Josh 1/497

Kara  23/8098

Linda  7/2096

TOTAL: 53/17,084