A Carnival of Snackery

A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003-2020) by David Sedaris, 566 pages; 17 hours on audiobook, read by David Sedaris and Tracey Ullman

David Sedaris is one of my go-to audiobook authors (I think I've listened to just about everything he's published), so OF COURSE I had to give this a listen too. Covering 17 years of his adult life, this collection of diary entries runs the gamut from inane musings to jokes from book events to the truly random stories that Sedaris tends to attract. While these can sometimes be crass and absurd, perhaps the most unnerving are the entries from the last few years, covering the Trump administration, the early days of COVID-19, and the racial protests of 2020. It's odd to hear him — or Tracey Ullman, who narrates the entries written in the UK and Australia) — discussing things that are still ongoing, when most of Sedaris' previous writing has been about either less impactful things (what to name a squirrel, for example) or well in the past. That said, it's a delightful listen, and I loved it.

The Paris Apartment

 

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley (2022) 360 pages

Jess has left London in a hurry after a bad incident with a boss who had harassed her one time too many. She's concerned that the police will be looking for her and she asks her brother, Ben, if she can stay with him in Paris for a bit. Ben agrees, but he isn't there when Jess arrives. All she has is a voice mail message from him, telling her that he'll let her in when she rings the buzzer. 

Jess wonders how Ben could even afford to stay in this massive building on his salary as a restaurant reviewer. The apartment building has 6 floors, one apartment on each floor. It's an old building with secret passages and "a cave" in the basement with a huge amount of wine. There's also a shack on the property that houses a scary old woman who serves as a concierge. 

Jess picks the lock to get into Ben's apartment. There are no towels in the apartment, and there is large section of lighter-colored wood and a strong smell of bleach on the floor near the door, quite troubling. Jess has no money and nowhere else to go, so she stays. She finds some clues that indicate Ben was investigating something big, trying to get a scoop on a story that could advance his career. Everyone in the building seems to be avoiding Jess or trying to get her to leave. Everyone has their secrets in this compelling and suspenseful story.

Strange the Dreamer

 Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, 544 pages. 

Lazlo Strange is an orphan turned junior librarian, a position which comes with no prestige in Zosma, but does allow him full access to the stories he loves. His favorite of these stories are those of the lost city of Weep, which produced wonders and disappeared centuries ago, and whose name he felt stolen by magic when he was a child, and replaced with the new name of Weep. So when representatives of the city arrive at the library looking for people to help them solve a problem that they refuse to describe until they get to Weep Lazlo has to finds a place in the delegation.

The city is nearly as wonderful as he imagined, even if it is haunted by the shadow of the oppressive gods that the people killed fifteen years ago. A past that is less dead then the people think, as five half-mortal children of the slaughtered gods live in hiding in the floating citadel above the city. When Lazlo comes to know one of them, Sarai, in his dreams they start to dream a way forward for the city together, even past centuries of accumulated hate and fear. 

I remembered that I really liked this book when I first read it a few years ago, but I hadn't remembered why until I reread it. This book is brilliant. It's descriptions are lush and the world is richly imagined. It's also extremely tragic, and the way that Taylor layers tragedies and always seems to find a way to make them just a little deeper and more painful is very impressive. I think a lot of what makes this book so powerful is how the painful, terrible parts and the beautiful, hopeful parts are constantly laid right next to each other. Overall a very underrated book, more people should read it. 

(Also there's fantasy etymology, and I always love fantasy etymology.)

The Kaiju Preservation Society

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, 264 pages

Jamie Gray has been rudely fired from a tech startup and is forced to get a job delivering food right as COVID-19 hit New York City. So when a regular customer offers a high-paying job at the mysterious KPS, Jamie jumps at the chance. Turns out "KPS" stands for Kaiju Preservation Society, and spends most of its time at a parallel world that is home to huge nuclear monsters, a la Godzilla. While most of the people on the KPS team are super-intelligent scientists, Jamie's job is, to quote, "picking things up and carrying them." But even that brings Jamie into way-too-close proximity to the giant creatures and the not-quite-as-giant parasites that feed on them.

This book is not meant to inspire deep thought. It's a popcorn book, just as summer blockbuster movies are popcorn movies. It's fun, it's crazy, it's full of action, and it's a quick read. I loved it, and I'll be recommending it all over the place, particularly to fans of Jurassic Park, Godzilla, and snark.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason, 408 pages

When she was born, Rory Thorne was given 12 gifts and one curse from 13 fairies (as is the tradition for princesses born to the interstellar Thorne Consortium). The one curse, however, may be the most useful thing of all though: the ability to see through flattery and lies, which will likely come in useful in her future, when she's promised in a marriage that's meant to stop a war.

Rory's "curse" is pretty cool and she does have some neat diplomatic abilities, but there's no multiverse in this book, nor is said non-existent multiverse destroyed. This was a fun mashup of fairy tales and space opera, though perhaps not my favorite book ever. Still, it made for a good discussion last night!

Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes

Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes by Phoebe Robinson, 335 pages

In this collection of essays, humorist, producer, and all-around-awesome businesswoman Robinson offers up her opinions on everything from cohabitating during a pandemic to the racial protests of the summer of 2020 to running a business as a Black woman to the aforementioned rules about Outside Clothes (which I'm capitalizing because I fear her wrath). It's an illuminating, thoughtful, and funny collection, and I highly recommend it.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse

 How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason, 416 pages.

Rory Thorne is the princess of an inherited monarchy which is also a space corporation. She's also a direct descendant of Sleeping Beauty, and as the first girl born to the line in centuries, she receives thirteen fairy blessings on her naming day. Some are grace and harp skills, but the most dramatic is the ability to see through any lies and flattery. 

When her brother is born she is no longer the heir, and before too long learns that the political role of daughters is often as bargaining chips for marriages. She's shipped off to the space station ruled by her betrothed (who doesn't seem to be around) to wait for the two years before she comes of age and gets married. And if some extremely shady stuff is going on with the regent? Surely she can't be expected to just ignore it.

I really, really liked this book. I was expecting a space opera with sort of fairy tale aesthetics, and was very impressed with how much the author committed to this book truly being both fairy tale and science fiction. I also really liked Rory. She plays a little against type for the archetype of the strong, brash heroine by actually listening to and genuinely respecting her mentors, which I found very refreshing. This book was a whole lot of fun while also having the ability to take it's serious moments seriously, and overall it's something even better than the fun, silly book I was expecting. Also apparently Rory is a space pirate in the second book and oh boy am I excited to read THAT.

The Thief Lord

 The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, 350 pages.

Prosper and Bo run away to Venice to hide from their Aunt Ester, who wants to adopt Bo and separate the boys after the death of their mother. Soon they join up with a gang of children who live mostly on the generosity of the mysterious thief lord, who is himself a child named Scipio. When the next big score looks like something magical the payout it may be enough to finally buy all of them safety and comfort, but only if they aren't all in way over their heads.

I haven't read this book since I was a kid, when it was one of my favorites. It's still extremely good. Funke's descriptions of Venice are lush and magical, and the story feels refreshingly small and personal. This is a very comfortable book to settle into, and extremely underrated in the field of juvenile lit.

April totals

Jan 4/1312

Kara 7/2347

Regan 5/1910

Total: 16/5569

Ugh, what a rough month! I'll soon be bugging people to start blogging again! You know who you are...

The Husbands

 

The Husbands by Chandler Baker (2021) 346 pages

Nora is stressed: She's under review this year to determine whether she'll make partner in her law firm. Her immediate boss is a huge drain on her time. She and her husband are trying to find a bigger house before their second child is born. While her husband, Hayden, is the sweetest guy, she still feels the pressure of being the primary parent for handling the life of their preschooler and other household duties.

The couple looks at a house in a neighborhood outside Austin, called Dynasty Ranch. The house seems perfect to Nora and the neighbors seem terrific—lots of women of various professions gather regularly and support each other. And their husbands all seem extraordinarily focused on taking care of their children, their homes, and their wives.

Nora is asked by her potential new neighbors to try to find out whether anyone/any company can be held responsible for a fire that destroyed the home of one of the neighbors and killed a neighborhood man, in order to provide for Penny, his wife. As Nora investigates, the situation seems headed in a very weird direction.