Bilgewater

Bilgewater / Jane Gardam, 227 p.

Clearly I have made Jane Gardam my quarantine friend and comfort read, and this might be my favorite.  This is the hilarious and sweet coming-of-age story of Marigold Green, known to the boys in the boarding school where her father teaches as Bilgewater.  Motherless since birth, and wholly convinced that she is hideously ugly, Marigold nevertheless has a nearly idyllic sounding childhood with her loving father and their live-in helper Paula.  The narrative arc feels familiar but the story is filled with surprises.  Really lovely.

The Diamond Age

The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson  499 pp.

This is a convoluted description because of avoiding spoilers. In a future incarnation of Earth, a nanotechnologist named John Hackworth makes an illegal copy of a state-of-the-art interactive device called the "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" with the intent of giving it to his young daughter. Before he can give it to her he is robbed of it by a gang of street urchins. One of the gang gives the book to his younger sister, Nell who rapidly finds herself engrossed almost to the point of addiction. The book is intended to guide the young women to "interesting lives." The Earth of the Diamond Age, where it is cheaper to make windows from sheets of diamond instead of glass, is divided into differing branches or tribes of society called phyles and the thetes, or those without a tribe. The prominent phyles are the Neo-Victorian New Atlantis, the Han (Chinese Celestial Kingdom), and the Nippon (Japanese) with many lesser phyles intermingled in their societies. With the help of the primer and Miranda, the actor who embodies its contents, Nell grows into a strong, self-sufficient, and worthy leader who becomes the leader of thousands of young women raised on the primer. I am undecided where to place this one in my " Best Stephenson Books" list. It's somewhere in the middle, better than his Baroque Cycle but not as good as Reamde, Fall, and Snow Crash. 

Rule of the Bone

Rule of the Bone, Russell Banks, 390 pages

I originally read Russell Banks's Rule of the Bone in high school, and at the time thought the protagonist Chapman, AKA The Bone, was underwhelming and I did not understand why he seemed so blank at the start of the book. Rereading it now, fifteen years and a lot of life experience later, I can understand the "blank" qualities he exhibited, that he just seemed to follow along with the events that were occurring around, and how he never really seemed to understand right from wrong. His lack of world and life experiences that are positive contrast strongly with what he feels should be right, and that is a lot of where his internal conflicts come from. He goes from homeless, drug addled teen and criminal, to a young man who finally understands that life outlooks come from role models and experiences, and even negative experiences can create positive changes in one's life. His sometimes rambling and unreliable nature as a narrator are showcased in the way that Banks writes, in train of thought sentences that expand and contract based upon the actions of Chappie. While an enjoyable read, some of the topics Banks hits upon (child abuse, drug abuse, murder) may be a bit much for some readers.

At Last

At Last (Patrick Melrose bk. 5) by Edward St. Aubyn  272 pp.

The title for this last book in the series seems very apropos because I am happy to finish this series. That being said, I did enjoy this book much more than the other four. Once again, Patrick has lost a parent. His mother finally died after many years of illness. Most of the book centers around the funeral service and reception afterward. It seems wrong to say, but parts of it are hilarious. St. Aubyn gives us the internal thoughts of many of the attendees at the funeral as well as the conversations between various recurring characters. The snarkyness abounds. Patrick has come to terms with the loss of the house in France to the New Age "shaman" but may have found a way to keep the trust fund money out of the charlatan's hands. Patrick has also begun to temper his excesses and may finally become a reasonably functional adult. Even though I found the series less than satisfying, I am curious to see the Benedict Cumberbatch portrayal of Patrick Melrose.

Two Across

Two Across by Jeff Bartsch, 293 pages

At the age of 15, Vera and Stanley became rare co-champions of the National Spelling Bee, essentially packaging them together in the public eye for the rest of their lives. Three years after their win, Stanley, in a desperate attempt to avoid further academia (which had previously been foisted upon him by his hermit mother), suggests a scam wedding to Vera, so that he can pursue his true passion: building crossword puzzles. Vera agrees to the fraud, with more than a little hope that Stanley will reciprocate the crush she has on him. Instead, they're stuck together and constantly on the run (often Vera running from Stanley) as the con gets trickier and trickier to maintain.

I loved the premise for this book, Bartsch's first. It's maddening how Vera and Stanley dance around each others' feelings, but that's OK, it's how this book is meant to be. I also loved their shared nerdiness about spelling, crosswords, trivia, and math, which permeates almost all elements of their story. If the book has any fault, it's in the ending, which seems a bit abrupt. However, the story's still a wonderful one and fans of wordplay (or Wordplay, the documentary about crosswords) will love it.

Disgruntled by Asali Solomon

Disgruntled by Asali Solomon, 285 pages.

When this story begins, Kenya Curtis is eight. She lives with her mother and father in West Philadelphia. Her father, Johnbrown, is a self-described housepainter and philosopher, and her mother, Sheila, is a librarian (yay!).
Johnbrown and Sheila are part of an activist group of like-minded friends that call themselves the Seven Days. They have taken the name of the group from Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, and their aim is to advocate for their black neighbors against the injustices they see around them. As the story progresses, and Kenya grows, the group itself, and Kenya's parents find their aims and goals changing and unraveling. Kenya has to find a way to navigate her own life when those around her become, in a variety of ways, unreliable.
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