Happy Place

 

Happy Place by Emily Henry (2023) 400 pages

Harriet, a surgical resident working in San Francisco is thrown into an extremely difficult situation in her very favorite happy place: a gorgeous mansion in Maine she has spent with her best friends and significant others since their college days. She arrives to find her ex-fiance is waiting for her at the beach house. Her friends announce that because this is the last year they will be able to use the house, as it will be sold, they wanted to have a final-hurrah with everyone in the same place. Harriet's friends do not know that her and Wyn, her ex have broken up for the past 5 months. Not only that, she hasn't even seen or talked to Wyn in the last several months as she blocked his phone number because it was too difficult. Most of this book is diving into the previous "happy places" spent during the various relationships: the girls during their college years, and various apartments and places where Harriet and Wyn have lived. The rest of the book bounces back in time and present day, where in private Harriet and Wyn struggle with picking up the pieces and trying to figure out where everything went wrong. It was a fairly good read, but I was under the impression it would be a much lighter-content beach style of read, but it was actually pretty emotionally heavy!

Rememberings

 

Rememberings by Sinéad O'Connor (2021) 304 Pages

Beautiful, heart wrenching, so incredibly sad. She went through SO much not only as a child but a teen, young woman, mother. I mostly listened to the audiobook as she read it, she laughed at some of her own words which was so wonderful to listen to after her untimely recent death. I cried! 

This memoir goes through most of Sinéad O'Connor's life, from her early traumatic childhood (CW: abuse) throughout her teenage years, relationships, and of course the beginnings of her musical career. This is honestly one of the best memoirs I've read, I don't read a lot of nonfiction but this one was absolutely worth reading, especially if you are a fan of her music. Learning the life behind the artist is always incredibly interesting to see how their art translates from the things that have happened to them in their personal life. I was really interested in listening to someone who grappled with their Catholic faith, especially the abuse and family dynamics as someone who is from a predominantly Irish Catholic family.

Die vols. 2-4

 Die vols. 2-4 (Split the Party/The Great Game/Bleed) by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, 496 pages.

25 years after they escaped the five former friends have been pulled into the world of Die, and they can't go home until everyone agrees that the game is over. Everyone alive anyways. After finding out that Sol is not only alive, but has been designing the game for them the last 25 years, this becomes divisive. It becomes even more divisive as our "heroes" decide which lives count as real in a fantasy world. If the tensions can't be resolved everyone can't go home. And soon the world pushes them to cooperation for much bigger problems, as everyone must ask what Die really is, where it came from, and what it wants/

After getting readers familiar with the premise in book one, the plot and characters can really start taking of starting in volume 2. I found the characters very compelling (if not always very likable) and seeing them engage with an also very interesting world is both compelling and thought-provoking. The series also has some interesting things to say about the iterative nature of creative invention. The plot lost me a little at the end (I do not enjoy non-linear causality as a plot point), but I found the story compelling enough overall that by that point I didn't really care. The character arcs end in a place that feels both satisfying and dramatic. This is a short series that packs a whole lot of punch and I would definitely recommend it, especially for people who are interested in getting into comics but not interested in dealing with the sprawling mess that is series that have been running for decades.
 

Dawnshard

 Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson, 171 pages.

This novella takes place between books three and four of the Stormlight Archives, and follows side characters having there own adventure. That description told me very little, so I'm just now getting to it three years later, and I definitely regret waiting this long. Rysn (the Thalen trader from an earlier book's interlude who suffered a fall and lost the use of her legs) needs to get her larkin (a mythical flying, stormlight eating creature) back to it's ancestral home to save it from a mysterious illness. Unfortunately it's ancestral home is a mythical island in hostile seas. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately again) a formerly disappeared ship that was previously looking for that same island has reappeared (sans crew) and the queen of Urithiru wants it investigated for any relation to the war effort. So Rysn has government support and a few Windrunners (Herdazian knights Lopen and Huio). Which are absolutely necessary with all of the weird and ominous signs that keep appearing on the boat. This island holds ancient secrets, and there are forces that will do anything to protect them.

This book short little novella had way more deep lore for the Cosmere than I was expecting! There are some implications in some of the secrets we discovered that will probably be felt in plenty of books. Aside from that, the story itself was a real treat. In his acknowledgments Sanderson thanks several paraplegic people who he consulted with for Rysn, and the amount of care and interest really shines through the whole book. It is also an absolute delight to get chapters from Lopen's perspective. The character is always fun, but it was very interesting to see his fun-loving nature (which is completely genuine) interact with some more serious internal thoughts (which we rarely get to see from him from an outside perspective). The very multi-cultural nature of this cast also put a lot of emphasis on language differences on Roshar, which I thought was neat and rarely gets much time in the mainline books. I would absolutely recommend this as necessary reading for anyone who enjoys the Stormlight Archives.

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Dennis Washburn, 1177 pages

Written more than 1,000 years ago, The Tale of Genji is often considered to be the first psychological novel, as in it deals with emotions and relationships instead of action. And indeed, this book is ALL about the relationships, particularly those surrounding the super-attractive son-of-an-emperor Genji and the many ladies of his life. He might be "radiant" and swoon-worthy to the Heian court, but so many of his actions are abhorrent to modern readers and eye-roll-inducing to even the narrator. I appreciated the subtle sarcasm and the strong female characters (despite the fact that most of them don't have actual names), as well as the insight into Heian Period Japan. At times, it was hard to keep track of timelines and characters — though with all of Genji's wives and consorts, I'd be shocked if a first-time reader could keep them all straight — but overall I'm glad I read this monumental book. I'm curious what the final word will be on Genji at our last adult summer reading discussion tomorrow night.

The Devil You Know

The Devil You Know (Mercenary Librarians #2) by Kit Rocha (2021) 304 pages

I read the first book in this series back in 2020. I was sold by the sales pitch that Deal with the Devil is Orphan Black meets the post-apocalyptic Avengers as well as the series being named the Mercenary Librarians. The story mainly takes place around Atlanta with an evil TechCorps that has monopolized services and resources for the wealthy on the Hill. A small group of super soldier men called the Silver Devils, led by Knox, finally escape being employed by TechCorps when their assignment is to eliminate a group of enhanced lady clones, led by Nina, who subversively help the poor and disenfranchised in the Atlanta area. The first book focuses on the leaders Knox and Nina and how the two groups find family and common purpose. There is action, romance, and psychological tension. This second book develops Maya, who has a super memory and is the primary librarian, and her budding relationship with Gray, the brooding sniper with a brain implant that his body is rejecting. The main mission is to save a bunch of cloned children, and they have a showdown with the big bad who wants our heroes dead. Tobias Richter is the big bad head of TechCorps security. There are chapters from the point of view of each member of the team mixed with traditional chapters in the third person. We also get background hints from company memos and journal entries from the woman who raised Maya. These keep the experiments done to the clones and super soldiers and the abilities they develop fairly mysterious. The found family grows with new members and allies. I'm continuing right away with the third book in the series.
 

Vintage Murder

Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh 274 pp.

This is the second Inspector Roderick Alleyn mystery to take place in a theater . I know there is at least one more that I read many years ago (not surprising as the author was also a theater director). Alleyn is on holiday in New Zealand and is offered a seat in the train carriage carrying a traveling dramatic troupe. He is trying to stay incognito so as not to disrupt his vacation but he is recognized by a few of the players, including one who was present at the previous theater murder he solved. An after performance party in honor of the leading lady becomes the murder scene with the victim being the manager of the theater company. An elaborate surprise was planned where a Jereboam of Champagne was set to drop easily onto the arrangement on the table. Someone removed the weight that was to control the descent and instead, it smashed into the head of the manager/husband of the leading lady. Once the local police learn the identity of Alleyn, they enlist his help in solving the crime. In my opinion there are a few too many suspects which make the story a bit convoluted. However, it is nice to read Marsh's descriptions of the lush scenery in her native land.  

How the Word Is Passed

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning of the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, 336 pages

In this fascinating and vital book, Smith recounts his experiences visiting a handful of places that are in some way tied to slavery in the United States. He visits Thomas Jefferson's Monticello plantation, which is only recently starting to include details about the enslaved people who built and maintained the plantation in the site's tours; the Whitney plantation, which centers its education efforts around the lives of the enslaved people who worked there and throughout the South; Louisiana's Angola Prison, which was once a plantation and (through some questionable Jim Crow laws that have only recently been challenged or struck down) still houses a shockingly high percentage of Black prisoners; the Confederate Blandford Cemetery; Galveston Island, where Juneteenth began; New York City, where the history of slavery has literally been paved over; and Senegal's Goree Island, where thousands of people were packed into the ships that took them from their homeland and into a life of slavery. 

Smith notes in an afterword that this isn't meant to be a definitive description of each of these places and that his experience is certainly different than it might be for someone of a different race, gender, or educational background (he is a Black man with an Ivy League doctorate). That said, it's eye-opening and sometimes uncomfortable, and it's a book I'll be recommending to everyone. An amazing book that should be required reading.

The Collector

The Collector by Daniel Silva 402 pp.

Daniel Silva masterfully continues the series that takes storylines from the headlines  and turns them into all too plausible plots in my favorite series. Gabriel Allon, art restorer and former head of Israeli Intelligence has retired from his spy/assassin duties to live a quiet life in Venice with his wife and children, working as an art restorer. At least that's the plan until he ends up involved in the recovery of a priceless Vermeer painting missing for decades. Allon teams up with a beautiful master thief and a Danish oil executive to recover the painting. The team ends up sidetracked in a race to stop the Russians from using a nuclear option against Ukraine. Even though retired, Allon enlists the assistance of his former colleagues of "the Office" so many of the usual characters once again appear in this novel,

I Have Some Questions For You

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai (2023) 435 pages

Bodie Kane is a film professor and podcaster who goes back to the boarding school where she attended high school to teach a couple of two-week long mini courses. Being on campus pulls her 25 years back into the past: she had roomed one semester with Thalia Keith, who was murdered during their senior year. Omar, a Black coach who ran the athletic programs had been found guilty of the murder and had been in prison for a couple of decades now. Bodie is now re-hashing her time at high school, including many instances of sexual harassment by male students towards female students, and of possible grooming of Thalia, by one teacher in particular, and she now thinks Omar is innocent.

She gives her podcasting class an assignment to investigate and report on a number of possible topics, including the murder of Thalia, and two students are looking into it. Most adults on campus, in addition to Bodie's former classmates, are displeased when word gets outs that Bodie is encouraging the re-examination of the murder. 

Numerous instances where women have been killed by their partners are interspersed throughout, which help inform Bodie's reconsideration of Thalia's murder. The modern MeToo movement and racism both loom large. Bodie is obsessed and goes through her own list of suspects one by one, trying to look for reasons and opportunity for each person to have murdered Thalia. In a sleep-deprived moment, she even adds herself to the list.

Bodie's character, and the other characters she describes in the course of the story, seem so well fleshed out in this riveting novel.