Waking Gods

 Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel, 336 pages

As promised, book 2 of the Themis Files. This book begins about a decade after the first book. Our pilots are married and have been enjoying their time functioning as goodwill ambassadors for the planet. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes obvious why the Earth Defense Corps is technically a military organization when another giant robot appears in London and causes massive casualties. Even more so when giant alien robots appear in cities all over the world. A single outdated robot won't do much against an invasion, so it is absolutely vital to figure out what they want, which proves to be a difficult problem for Earth's greatest minds. 

Although a little less compelling from a character standpoint, I found the mystery of this book to be very intriguing. I think this was a great continuation, and it did a really good job continuing the questions of the first book while exploring more global consequences as the secret of Themis is out. A very satisfying sequel, and I again strongly recommend the audiobook. 

Don't Be a Drag

 Don't Be A Drag by Skye Quinlan, 368 pages.

After Briar Vincent's mental health takes a dangerously bad turn, her beloved older brother flies her out to spend the summer with him in New York, where he moved after graduation to escape their small Texas hometown and pursue his dreams of being a drag queen. New York is initially almost too much for Briar's anxiety to bear, especially after clashing with a drag king who is irritatingly full of herself (and also frustratingly hot). Which is how Briar ends up in a drag king of the year competition despite never having done drag in her life. 

This is, overall, a sort of fun book about community building. There were some aspects I found frustrating (some inconsistent characterization, a pretty slow plot, a few other minor quibbles), but there were also some interesting portions, putting it at a pretty solid 3 out of 5 for me. This is definitely a young adult novel, so mileage may vary with enjoyment of the genre. Overall a fine book with good representation. 

Orbital

 Orbital: a novel, by Samantha Harvey, 2024, 224 pgs

As stated previously, I tend to not read fiction, so my take on these things are to be taken with a grain of salt. That said this was definitely better than Ministry of Time, (which I will knock until the end of time), but also sort of not enjoyable--just in a different way. Props to the author for winning the Booker Prize on this but the exhaustive list of high praise seems unnecessarily lengthy. For me, the best fiction has to have really great prose--which this does a majority of the time--or tell an exciting story. The prose is mostly here yes, but often long-winded and arbitrary. But hey, at least the author is trying, right? Where this book goes right are some of the human mediations on life overall, as seen through the eyes of a group of astronauts. But really, it's seen through the eyes of the author. Which I find bothersome. You get to know some of the characters through ruminations but that's pretty much it. There is no plot here. How can I put that more plainly? NOTHING HAPPENS. It's just the author's mediations on the earth, space and the loneliness of the long distance human race. At times, it does make you reflect on the earth as a whole, which is what you would do if you were an astronaut, right? It makes you feel like, we're all one species, bound by collective memory and advancement. That's a happy thought, yes? But this felt more to me like the equivalent of an author trying to sound like a TikTok poetry influencer. It feels like reading the script to a Terrence Malik movie. I'm sure he's reading this right now and putting together a story board. I probably won't like the movie either. 

Between Two Sounds

 Between Two Sounds: Arvo Part's Journey to his Musical Language by Joonas Sildre, 2024, 224 pages

In my research for the Rhythm n' Books club, I came across this new graphic novel about a modern composer I had never heard of, Arvo Part. The author spent years researching and collaborating with Part to bring this book to life. Born in Estonia in the 1930s, Part developed a natural inclination for the piano and began composing and working in classical music circles early. Estonia was invaded and occupied by Germany during the war and eventually annexed by the USSR, not gaining their independence until the 90s. The novel tracks Part's life and health issues as he tries to find the freedom to create his own music, which was constantly censored and banned by the Soviets. Eventually, he and his family were made to leave the country. In time, he finds the musical voice he's been looking for, developing minimalist compositions with a holy perspective. Interesting to learn that, during certain years, Part has been considered to be the second most performed living composer, after John Williams. The illustrations are black and grey scale with thick stroke lines and the author does a very cool thing with representing music as black dots that vary in size and direction. Neat stuff. I really kind of like the graphic novel as a non-fiction vehicle for biographies, it's a great use of the format. 

Bull Moon Rising

Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon, 416 pages

Magical artifacts are incredibly important for the aristocracy to maintain their power, but Aspeth's lordly father has gone and gambled all of theirs away. To save her family's reputation and their holdings, Aspeth and her maid run off to the city to join the Royal Artifactual Guild to try to track down some new artifacts. Only problem is that they're a bit of a boys club and don't take too kindly to a plucky young woman trying to join up. The only way she can do it is if she joins the class led by the one woman in the guild, and finds a willing chaperone. Enter Hawk, a minotaur who needs to find a mate before the rutting season starts a month hence. And Hawk also happens to be one of Aspeth's teachers. But hey, marriages have been based on less... right?

This is a very spicy fantasy romance, and it goes from 0 to 60 REALLY fast. A human-minotaur main relationship definitely isn't for everyone, though if you can get past that, the side characters are plenty of fun. Not entirely sure it was worth it for me, but your mileage may vary.

That's Not Fair

 That's Not Fair by Shinsuke Yoshitake, 2024, 32 pages

I love this author's work, the illustrations are charming and the books are usually good reading for both adults and kids. My daughter and I read his first book, Still Stuck, over and over again for months and it still makes us laugh to this day. This is another good addition to what feels like an impromptu series. Here a little girl gets wise to life not being fair and confronts her father about it, who comes up with fantastically ridiculous reasons why. Perfect for older kids who are starting to ask a lot of questions. 

Sweetness in the Skin

Sweetness in the Skin by Ishi Robinson, 362 pages

Pumkin Patterson does not have an easy life. She lives with her grandmother, her Aunt Sophie, and her mom, Paulette, who is mercifully rarely home, as she's often physically and verbally abusive to Pumkin. Pumkin's grandma and aunt want a better life for her, and Aunt Sophie in particular wants to escape their downtrodden home for life in Paris. But when Sophie makes the move to France without Pumkin, and her grandmother dies, Pumkin is suddenly struggling to achieve her dreams through baking and studying hard, despite Paulette's determination to hold her back.

This is a heartbreaking story to read, despite the delectable presence of Jamaican baking and culture. It does end happily, though it was not easy to read about all of the things that Pumkin had to go through to get there. That said, I could see this being a popular book for teens seeking out more literary reading.

The Examiner

The Examiner by Janice Hallett (2024) 463 pages

"Six Students. One Murder. Can You Solve the Crime?" These words jump out from under the title on the book's cover. My own answer was a resounding "No!" For one thing, what IS the crime?!

Six students are admitted into a new yearlong Master's Program in Multimedia Art at Royal Hastings University in England. The tale is told through emails and group chats via an intranet/messaging system, for the most part. Sometimes the group chats are open to all the students and their instructor, Gela Nathaniel. Sometimes the messages are private. Sometimes we see diaries the students keep online. 

The students are a diverse group in age, experience, and country of origin. From the start, rather than work together, they seem to squabble a lot. The youngest, Jem, is 21, fresh out of her bachelor's degree. She's a go-getter; very confident and headstrong. But at least she shows up. Some of the others are having issues with family,  jobs or health. 

The final assignment for the masters program is for the students to work together on a multimedia installation for a real business and to install it in the company's foyer for a reception for the company's guests. An outside examiner is to evaluate the students' work. His queries, as the program nears the end, make us aware that he thinks something bad may have happened to one of the students. But what?

The Examiner was sometimes hard for me to stick with. There were long spells where I didn't like any characters; at other times a couple of characters were more tolerable. So many surprises and twists in this story.

Sleeping Giants

 Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, 320 pages.

When Rose Franklin was a little girl she fell down a hole and into a giant metal hand. Nearly two decades later she is a physicist leading the team studying that same hand. It quickly becomes clear that Earth is not capable of making something like this, and also that there are more pieces of one very large body scattered across the globe. Dr. Franklin's secretive team, brought together by a man so mysterious they don't know his name or affiliation, bear the responsibility of decoding technology that has the potential of shaking the nature of the world.

I listened to the audiobook of this novel and was immediately entirely engrossed. The story is told entirely through primary source documents of the events (interviews, diary entries, mission briefings, new reports, etc), which is a format that really works for me. I loved seeing the story gradually get pieced together from every angle. I also really enjoyed all of the characters, who were a good throughline for the many perspectives. The audiobook in particular was fully cast, and I thought every narrator did a great job, which may have also influenced how much I liked the characters. Perhaps in the highest mark of praise, a review for the second book will be coming soon, because I started listening to it immediately after finishing this one. 

Every Patient Tells a Story

Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis by Lisa Sanders, MD (2009) 276 pages

Lisa Sanders, MD is a Yale-educated doctor who came to her profession after having first been a journalist. She has been a medical columnist for the New York Times Magazine and also was an advisor to the TV doctors series House. 

She sees a need for doctors and medical students to be better trained in listening to patients and in performing exams, as well as in working to get diagnoses right. She gives readers an inside look into medical school and in the doctor's exam room. Sanders is not afraid to share her own experiences in medical school and beyond, including some misdiagnoses. Being privy to the backgrounds of several patients whose health issues were slow to be addressed correctly is eye-opening.