The Big World According to Little Hunterman

The Big World According to Little Hunterman: Fun and Seriously Cool Doggy Wisdom for Dog Lovers by Lassal Hunter  230 pp.

Hunter is a small Parson Russell Terrier (the former Jack Russell Terrier renamed by the AKC) who imparts his doggie sized view of the world (and croissants) in this fun little book. Hunter is found in the Webtoons comic Little Hunterman. Hunterman delivers his message in the form of "wee mail" some of which is about wees but also covers other topics like his tail-less rubber duck named Flynn, his persnickety eating habits, how to find the perfect wee tree, the difference between naps, blackout sleeps, and lazy Sundays, and of course, croissants - his favorite food. Some comics are interspersed in the chapters to add to the amusement. 

Red, White & Royal

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, 423 pages.

Alex Claremont-Diaz hates Prince Henry of England and his stupid face and boring personality. After he makes headlines when the president's son is seen in an altercation with the prince at his brother's wedding they have to convince the press that it was all a misunderstanding and actually they're best friends in order to save both families a scandal. Unfortunately (fortunately?) the act isn't an act for very long, as Alex realizes that most of Henry's public persona is in fact a persona, and soon the two are talking more honestly than they talk to anyone else. This turns into something more romantic before too long (shocking), but since their relationship would literally cause an international incident, everything has to be very clandestine. Is this a long term solution? Probably not! The question becomes how much will they each give up for this relationship.

I liked this book, I found the characters compelling. Like all of McQuiston's books I find the supporting characters to be one of the most compelling parts. This wasn't my favorite of the author's books, but I still found it sweet and fun, a perfectly enjoyable book.

The Secret History

 The Secret History by Donna Tartt, 559 pages.

Richard is a scholarship student at a small but respected university in New England. From the day he sees them he is intrigued by the insular and enigmatic group of classics students, the only five at the whole university involved in their program, which rarely puts them in contact with the other students and almost exclusively taking classes with one charismatic professor. After a chance encounter he is accepted into the program and their ranks, which begins a year that forms social bonds he can never break and ends with murder.

It's honestly a little surprising that I am just now reading this book, which definitely had an influence on many books I've enjoyed. The plot is honestly only alright, but the writing is lush and descriptive. It's not surprising the dark academia (which this book is largely credited as the progenitor of) is a sub-genre defined more by its aesthetics and atmosphere than anything else. The novel is immersive, and I found myself entirely unbothered by the fact that the details weren't anything phenomenal. Somehow reading The Secret History felt like the quintessential experience of reading a book. I don't know if I would recommend this book to everyone, but I would definitely recommend it to people who are more invested in prose than plot.

The Lost Girls

 The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl, 197 pages.

Due to the exceptionally cruel rules of vampirism, Holly Liddell hasn't been able to change at all since 1987, when her vampire boyfriend convinced her they would be in love forever. Thirty-four years later he abandoned her at a gas station and she's stuck with her crimped hair and night shift at Taco Bell, magically bound to follow him around. It's even worse when she finds out that she's the THIRD girl he's done this to, and that he's getting ready to do it again. Elton's other exes, Rose and Ida, are determined to kill him to both save this new girl and secure their own freedom, and as soon as Holly meets the new target (and feels some shockingly strong feelings about her) she's on board too. 

This book was interesting, but I'm not sure it entirely worked. It's rare to see a young adult novel about vampires portray them as truly monstrous, and it was definitely interesting that this one did. However, as a romance novel, and especially a romance between a human and a vampire, it made it a little hard to buy-in. There's just a lot of murder and corpse mutilation to feel too sympathetic to the protagonists you are clearly supposed to feel very sympathetic for. This book was sort of fun, but there are a lot of components that just don't feel like they quite come together.

We Could Be So Good

 We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian, 384 pages.

 Nick Russo works as a reporter at one of the biggest newspapers in New York at the end of the 1950s. Andy Flemming is set to inherit said paper, which terrifies him, because he can't keep track of his own keys. So Andy gets assigned to work as a reporter for a year to get a feel for it, and soon enough he and Nick are inseparable. They're best friends, and Nick pushes down the possibility of anything more, because even if Andy feels the same, being outed as gay in 1958 would cost him his job, and probably get him arrested besides. But soon both Andy and Nick have to decide if this growing relationship between them is something worth fighting for.

This is the first book I've read by Cat Sebastian, and I've got to say I'm really impressed. From the very beginning I was sold on the fact that these two characters like each other, and there were a whole lot of reasons why they work romantically. I also appreciated that, due to the plethora of external factors, there didn't have to be a lot of contrived emotional reasons why these two characters, who obviously care deeply about each other, can't be together. I'm always annoyed by (romance novels in particular) where there would be no plot if the characters just talked to each other, and I was pleased that there was very little of that here. Overall a pretty neat historical fiction novel, and I would definitely recommend it to people interested in either the time period or a solid historical romance.

Slaughterhouse Five

Slaughterhouse Five, or the Children's Crusade, A Duty Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut Jr (1969) 215 pages

I read this long ago, but needed a refresher. It's clear that many of the events that Vonnegut experienced in World War 2 were incorporated into this novel, especially when he and other American soldiers were captured by the Germans and shipped to Dresden to be used as labor in the beautiful, culturally significant city that was said to have no military value. Despite that, after a month, the Americans and English firebombed the city, killing 135,000 people and turning the city into an ashy moon-like wreck. The American prisoners of war survived only because they were based in an underground meat locker of a slaughterhouse, Slaughterhouse Five, to be exact.

The story revolves around a man named Billy Pilgrim, who, like Vonnegut, also fought in the war and experienced this horrific event. What's different about Billy is that long after the war, Billy says he was kidnapped by an alien people called Tralfamadorians, and taken to live in a zoo-like enclosure on their planet. This is when Billy becomes unstuck in time. When he isn't on Tralfamadore, he lives in Ilium, New York, as an optometrist, married to the daughter of the optometry's school's president. Lots of snippets of Billy's life unfold in a non-linear manner, indicative of the time travel he experiences, visiting and re-visiting times in both the past and future. He learns that the Tralfamadorians don't understand humans' concern with death. They think that that there are some bad moments, but there are a lot of other moments that are not bad. All moments have always existed, and there's nothing that can be done to change them. Billy is told that of all the inhabited planets Tralfamadorians have studied, only Earthlings believe in free will.

Terrible story about coping with war, told in an entertainingly wry way...

 

Hickory Dickory Death

Hickory Dickory Death by Agatha Christie (1955) 164 pages

When Hercules Poirot's very capable secretary makes a few mistakes, he's amazed and finds out that she's distracted because of some weirdness happening in a boarding house that her sister manages. Several unrelated things have gone missing or damaged, and some of the young people who live there (mostly college students) are getting annoyed or unnerved as a result. 

Poirot goes to visit the students with the excuse that he's giving a talk about crime. The students aren't fooled, but they are interested in hearing what he thinks about their situation. One evening shoe, a diamond ring, a stethoscope, lightbulbs, and many more things have disappeared over the past couple of months. Additionally, a silk scarf is cut up, along with a rucksack. These occurrences seem random, directed at several different people in the building. When one young woman, who works in a hospital pharmacy, confesses to Poirot that she was responsible for some of the disappearances - but not all - Poirot is troubled and thinks the police should get involved. 

The possible suspects include a medical student, as well as students studying archaeology, psychiatry, law, medieval history, and more. A couple others aren't in college anymore. When suspicious deaths start to happen, Poirot and his friend, Inspector Sharpe, put their heads together and - of course - solve the crimes.

The Salt Grows Heavy

 The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw, 106 pages.

After her daughters devour the kingdom where she was once held captive, a monstrous mermaid goes on a journey with a mysterious plague doctor to anywhere but there. They soon come upon a small village full of children with monsters of their own, monsters who are very important to our plague doctor. 

This dark fairytale is mostly a play on the little mermaid story, but it definitely plays with other elements as well. I was really excited to get my hands on it, because that cover is gorgeous and everything about the (admittedly vague) premise appealed to me. Unfortunately, it didn't feel like this story had any idea what it wanted to say or do. There was a lot of very graphic gore and violence that didn't really feel like it was there for any particular reason, and the tone was confused. I was tragically very disappointed in this novella, which made it's scant 100 pages feel too long.

When Women Invented Television

When Women Invented Television by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, 333 pages

In the late 1940s, when television was in its infancy, four women helped shape the medium, introducing genres and formats, and blazing trails that have largely been forgotten. Why? Because their shows were for the most part broadcast live and not captured on film. But Betty White (pioneer of daytime talk shows), Gertrude Berg (Jewish sitcom queen), Irna Phillips (mother of soap operas), and Hazel Scott (the first African American woman to host a TV show) were the founding mothers of TV, and Armstrong's book shines a much-needed spotlight on these overlooked women. It's well worth a read (or a listen, which is how I experienced the book). 

The Nursing Home Murder

 

The Nursing Home Murder by Ngaio Marsh 224 pp.

This is the third book in the Inspector Alleyn series. The death of a prominent member of Parliament dies after an emergency surgery at a nursing home (British for private hospital) and most thought it was just an unfortunate outcome. However, his wife insists on an inquest which brings Alleyn into the investigation of who injected the MP with a fatal dose of a drug. The surgeon is the prime suspect along with the nurse who had an affair with the MP. Then there are others on the surgical team with connections to communist agitators who could also have played a part in the murder. The murderer is revealed after Alleyn stages a reenactment of the surgery. Alleyn's reporter friend, Nigel Bathgate, assists with the investigation.