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books read: 2020 may-june
I read 14 books in May and 6 in June. And at the rate of COVID-19 cases in Texas, won't be back in the office anytime soon in July, so I still won't get to review my January & February reads for now. I could probably figure out if I went back far enough in my journal, but I rarely read my previous journal entries. I write to get it out of my head, not necessarily as a form of record-keeping I'm interested in perusing! It's a whole thing, I guess.
EDIT: Somewhere in these months I read the cnovels Very Happy and Don't You Like Me, but I forgot to write them down. The date of my bookmarks is my best guess!
Currently reading Asian American Dreams by Helen Zia and Artificial Condition by Martha Wells.
- Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge - My first Frances Hardinge book and in retrospect perhaps the most middle grade of her books? I think all of her stuff fits more into middle grade than YA, though, and the lack of romance is a decided part of that. I like the strange world she brought me to and the child protagonist was believable in her naivete and her skills, with a world of adults continuing their machinations around her that she slowly discovers. I'm not sure I enjoyed the father-on-pedestal storyline, but I did like the evolving loyalties and suspicions throughout the book.
- We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby - A series of funny and gross essays that I didn't always enjoy, but always gave me new perspectives! I think I discovered her because a friend was reading her latest book, but this one was what my library had available, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Memoirs via short personal essays really work for me if the writing is good, because let me tell you, not everybody can or should be writing a memoir (cough, Aasif Mandvi), but I enjoyed this.
- The Bridge on the River Wye by Adam Fitzroy - A quiet little murder mystery set in rural UK (it's on the border of England and Wales, I think), much more about family and farming and a cute little m/m relationship than either the murder or the mystery... But a quick, cozy read that I largely enjoyed. Maybe I will try some of the author's other works? Stage Whispers has good reviews.
- The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge - Loved this deeply. Takes place in less of a distinctly fantasy world and more of a historical England with magic at work...another girl with daddy issues, but a really well-woven story, rich with complicated female characters and complicated relationships between all the characters. I love-hate the protagonist, but she is a convincing main character with her worldview and beliefs driving her action. Slow start but the plot really ratchets up the tension through the climax. Kept thinking about how sunlight is the best disinfectant applied in this story.
- Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe - I often find nonfiction boring or difficult to get through, even if covering an interesting topic or series of events. Guess I was just waiting to be introduced to narrative nonfiction, which this does very well -- but with meticulous research and endnotes and bibliography. I really knew nothing about Northern Ireland or The Troubles besides a vague impression of the IRA being terrorists and "Irish car bombs" being an insensitive drink name. So this was a very illuminating book and written in an imminently readable way. Finished it off in two days over a weekend and definitely felt like I learned a lot. In particular it's really resonated with me that it's not very distant history, since so many of these actors are still living and making history...
- Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge - Firmly into the fantasy world and very interesting/creepy premise with people only being able to learn a certain number of facial expressions. Feelings are dangerous! I liked the friendships the protagonist wrought over time, and the slow unraveling of the world's secrets, and the happy ending. Probably did not appreciate the cheese stuff enough. I also liked the unconventional knight/hero character.
- The Hating Game by Sally Thorne - A highly praised chick lit romcom book, and I ended up kinda hate-reading it, kinda rooting for the main couple? It's poorly written and edited, imo, and very tropey, and there's a distinctly noticeable overemphasis on the protagonist being a short tiny woman and her love interest being super tall, but like no human being spends that much time thinking about how tiny they are -- and I am her size. Just own your size kink, author! The couple was completely inappropriate at work, the side characters were kinda paper-thin archetypes, they squeezed in a fake wedding date scenario...lol, I still don't know if I liked the characters that much but I guess I was rooting for them at the end.
- The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths - A popular rec from the local murder bookstore (Murder by the Book), and supposedly some kind of modern gothic mystery? Perhaps gothic is just not for me. It was okay, and I liked the different POVs (some more than others), but the mystery solution was kind of a stretch and not that satisfying to me. The best part was the creation of the fake author and his fake short story and how it was woven throughout the book and its plot/murder to solve. That was a cool concept.
- The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black - Clearly written earlier because her pacing and storytelling were not as good as her latest Folk of the Air series, but similarly featuring a "monstrous" girl, but she also got to subvert tropes by being the flirty popular kissing girl? I liked her brother's romance with the boy in the glass coffin in theory, but I'm not sure the story quite conveyed their chemistry or romance or whatever.
- Final Play by Eden Finley - A wrap up to the Fake Boyfriend series with short stories focusing on all the main couples. In retrospect, I'm not sure which of the couples is my favorite, but it was kinda nice to revisit all of them together and happy and moving onto the next stage of their lives together, whatever that looked like for them.
- One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus - Murder mystery YA set in a high school! Characters designed around the archetypes in The Breakfast Club! It was better written than I expected and the author actually made each POV feel different and made me like/care about all of them -- some of them with real issues, and some of them with issues real to teens in the moment. I guessed Cooper's secret immediately though. It's practically a trope of its own at this point. But I liked the characters eventually growing close to each other, with that growth and closeness facilitating how they get out of this situation. And the Nate/Bronwyn was cute and I shipped it.
- Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews - The novella between the trilogy about Nevada and the new stories about Catalina -- a baffling decision to make Nevada a semi-Bridezilla? But I like Catalina a lot as a narrator and character, both here and later in Sapphire Flames. This was cute and quick; Ilona Andrews is always fun.
- A Brush with Death by Ali Carter - Oh man, I hated this main character immediately and never got over it. This story is just so...snooty? Not necessarily about money but about art and people. And pets. I don't know, none of the characters were particularly endearing, the plot was meh, and I guessed who the killer was like...as soon as they found the body. It was not very well written as a mystery. As a character study of snooty British people, maybe. They remain unlikeable though. Also this MC should not have been poking around the way she did, though I know that's sort of part and parcel of the genre.
- Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino - Somehow I'd never picked up that she had lived in Houston for a significant portion of her life? Anyway, another series of long essays that were really interesting and brought me new perspectives, some while relating to her experiences and thoughts and some while distinctly disagreeing with her. She's a deft writer though, and I think the essays about internet particularly resonated.
- A Ferry of Bones and Gold by Hailey Turner - This urban fantasy m/m novel had been on my to-read list for a long time...this was a bad time to finally get around to it, because it's entirely pro-law enforcement and even more pro-ex-military rogue law enforcement. No thanks, fuck you, tough guy. The world was too complicated and never fully fleshed out, but the stakes did match the climactic showdown. The relationship was also...fast but hot? So at least they had chemistry. Diverse characters and relationships. Just...so not rooting for this asshole ex-military-semi-cop. The constant demonizing of the media too, ugh. The press is doing its fucking job holding you assholes accountable.
- Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James - An epic fantasy novel built on African lore and mythology -- I really enjoyed the totally different experience in a world that was much less familiar to me! But it has that feel of being Written By A Dude, where there is a lot of excessive and gratuitous violence (that is sometimes sexual) to prove how hard and gritty it is. On the other hand, the main character is gay, and that seems rarely mentioned? He sleeps with a few dudes and the UST and unspoken jealousy with a couple is written very well, and I like his eventual relationship a lot. But the plot and pacing is off, especially for the last part of the book, which destroyed all my interest in reading anything more (this is supposedly book 1 of a trilogy). There is also a pervasive sense of misogyny threading through this book I can't shake... But the world and mythos were very cool and I don't regret reading it.
- My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame - A "wholesome" family-friendly manga from an artist more known for his explicit bara -- very heartwarming as a single father in Japan wrestles with the idea of a non-traditional family, including the Canadian husband of his estranged late twin. I liked his growth, the daughter, his relationship with his ex-wife, and the theme of appreciating the value and preciousness of moments now, even if things change in the future. (There were a few lingeringly loving depictions of dudes' bodies though lol)
- These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer - Always! A! Romp! I never escape the first third of the book without wishing for an AU of actual boy!Leon/Duke and how it could turn so quickly into delightfully filthy power dynamics... but by halfway to two-thirds of the way into the book, I'm reminded how much I love Leonie and how fitting she is for the entire family and especially the Duke. Everyone is so ridiculous in this melodramatic story but it's so fun. (Heyer is so, so classist though; it's inescapable.)
- All Systems Red by Martha Wells - I don't often enjoy sci-fi but I had heard good things and it's only a novella, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I did like it! Enough to request the sequels from the library, anyway. A murderbot that would rather not murder or deal with feelings but instead dive into escapist fictional drama where there are no stakes? I understand.
- Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer - I always worry I won't enjoy this after the dynamics of These Old Shades but actually Mary is such a welcome breath of fresh air in her practicality, and it's so nice to see Fanny and Leonie and Rupert in all their silliness later in life. This book is actually much iddier for the emotional h/c between Juliana and her love, and with Mary repressing her feelings and wanting to sacrifice her happiness because she thinks she's not good enough... Still delightful.
EDIT: Somewhere in these months I read the cnovels Very Happy and Don't You Like Me, but I forgot to write them down. The date of my bookmarks is my best guess!
Currently reading Asian American Dreams by Helen Zia and Artificial Condition by Martha Wells.
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I've read a few reviews of Black Leopard, Red Wolf and it is your concerns that have kept me on the fence re: reading it.
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