The Monsters We Defy

 The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope (2022) 349 pages

I listened to the audiobook on Libby narrated by Shayna Small. This is historical fiction with fantasy mixed in. The setting is 1925 in Washington D.C.'s "Black Broadway" neighborhood, a place and time where Langston Hughes and W. E. B. Du Bois make cameos. Even the main character Clara Johnson is based on a real person. She can see through the veil that separates our world from the spirit world. Her grandmother's ghost stays nearby to give her advice. Clara knows the rules surrounding different types of spirits making deals with humans. Like jinn, Enigmas can grant wishes or special abilities, but there is always a trick, a cost that most would see as a curse. Poor African Americans around D.C. are going missing. With information from contacts in the spirit world Clara learns she needs to recover a magic ring from an opera diva with bootleg liquor gang ties in Black Broadway. Clara will need a team to pull off this heist and stop the nefarious plot. Her ragtag crew are all very interesting characters. Most have skills from deals they've made with Enigmas. Her roommate Zelda grew up in the circus and picked up many random skills that are not magical, but very helpful. Clara also falls in love with the jazz musician, Israel Lee, on her team. It was an enjoyable adventure.

The Jazzmen

 The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America by Larry Tye, 393 pages

You could probably get more out of an official bio of any one of these jazz greats, but the author does a brilliant job of tying everyone's careers and history together in a way that shows each bandleader coming into their own and carving out an indelible space in the jazz age. Each of the three are treated to an in-depth examination of their early lives, the hardships they endured and the excitement they brought to their individual styles. Basie was the country's foremost dance enthusiast, while Ellington brought a sense of refinement and sophistication to a much maligned genre, composing over 100 original works. And Armstrong was the man with the golden trumpet whose chops rivaled Gabriel at the gates--he would eventually become a symbol for American greatness. But with his daily marijuana habit, it's no wonder the man was always smiling.  

The Chosen and the Beautiful

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo, 262 pages

I don't remember a lot about The Great Gatsby from when I read it in high school 20-odd years ago — mainly an overall jazz age feel with lots of symbolism about eyes and green lights. I don't remember particularly loving it or hating it, though I do remember rolling my eyes about the obsession over Jay Gatsby and Daisy [insert last name here]. 

With her debut novel, Vo reimagines the Fitzgerald classic with an Asian female fantasy twist: the narrator here isn't Daisy's Midwestern cousin Nick Carraway, it's Vietnamese adoptee and socialite Jordan Baker, a friend of Daisy's with a talent for paper-based magic. And Gatsby himself is alluring as always, but this time his appeal is explained by the fact that he sold his soul and his magical parties serve as a portal for other souls to be claimed by demons.

It's an excellent update to the story, and I enjoyed reading it, even if I can't remember the source material too well.