Eclipse Books

We traveled to and from Dallas for the solar eclipse, and we know what that means: airplane reads! We also ended up with massive delays coming home, which meant I finished two books I already had in progress and read a bunch more, and knocked off three Read Harder Challenge categories.  Here's the wrapup:

This Day Changes Everything (by Edward Underhill) 

Young adult romance between two queer kids in marching bands, both in New York to march in the Macy's parade. Cute, although the characters saying "I love you" after one day just did not work for me. The author lampshaded it, but it was still extremely silly.  But otherwise very Dash & Lily vibes,  charming. RHC category: YA book by a trans author.

Just Another Epic Love Poem (by Parisa Akhbari) 

A bildungsroman about a girl in love with her best friend, with whom she has been writing an epic poem for years. The pacing is a bit off at the beginning but then plays out beautifully. There's a lot of poetry that's supposed to be good, and thank god it is good (and the book features a lot of wonderful world poetry as well, especially from the narrator's Persian culture). It goes beyond the YA romance into a beautiful ode to sisterhood and family and I wept on the plane for the entire conclusion. If your YA standards are high, this will meet them. 

Also introduced me to this piece by Kahlil Gibran:

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful. How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic (by Jack Lowery) 

RHC category: a book about drag or queer artistry. After considering various books by and about drag queens, I went another direction and decided to read about Gran Fury, the artistic collective associated with ACT UP.  Lowery brings lessons from the height of the AIDS pandemic into today by focusing on the importance of art, collective action, and propaganda. I enjoyed the epilogue, where he traced a line  from Silence = Death to Black Lives Matter, showing that activism through art continues to be urgent and important.

The Core of the Sun (by Johanna Sinisalo) 

I'm guessing Goodreads somehow recommended this for the RHC category of "a work in translation from a country you haven't visited." This is translated from the Finnish and is referred to as "Finnish weird," which explains why it's about a dystopia where there's a black market for chili peppers, and our main character tests the spice level of one by sticking it in her vagina in the first paragraph of the book.  But the main thee of the book is the Finnish society presented here, which has undergone scarily plausible "domestication" of women.  A fascinating page-turner; the only issue was a rather abrupt ending that I wish had been a bit more fleshed out. But Finnish weird, who knew? I'm into it.

Daniel, Deconstructed (by James Ramos) 

Another young adult read (they're good for airplanes). This one is a celebration of all the spectrums: gender, sexual, romantic, neurodiverse, and I enjoyed the autistic MC and his hyper-empathetic lens on the world. The plot is a  bit meandering, but ultimately an enjoyable book, just sweet and hopeful. 

All the Lovers in the Night (by Mieko Kawakami) 

A Japanese novel in translation, by the author of Breasts and Eggs. Although I didn't enjoy it quite as much (a shame, since the narrator is a proofreader) I enjoyed the moody, meditative, slice of life exploration of memory and connection. (The "work in translation" category would have been so easy if I hadn't been to Japan; I love Japanese novels.) 

Phew! I also got halfway through a mystery (a conspicuously absent genre from this list) but that's definitely enough for now. Oh, and I saw totality!

ETA: Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (by Benjamin Stevenson)

Already finished it and not worth a separate post. I like the concept of this one, the breaking of the fourth wall, and the ultimate resolution to the plotline was really good. The way it played out was just a bit too convoluted for me, and Ernest isn't really likeable nor does he seem smart enough to pull off all the deductions at the end. Plus everyone is really mean to him for no reason! Idk, as the kids say these days, it was mid. 

The Devotion of Suspect X (by Keigo Higashino)

One of the Read Harder challenges this year is to read a "whydunit" or "howdunit" and this Japanese mystery was recommended in the "howdunit" category. And it definitely fits: you find out who is murdered, and by whom, at the very beginning. Then you follow the trail of the detectives investigating the case and the murderer as they try to cover their tracks.  The question isn't how did the murder occur, but how did the murderer cover their tracks and will the detective uncover the solution.

I thought it would be impossible for this novel to have some kind of twist, but it did anyway, and I loved it. The ending was abrupt (there is a sample of another book at the back, so partly it was that we were not at 100% yet in the Kindle progress meter when it ended) but really works. Another hit in my series of Japanese mystery novels!

A Very Punchable Face (by Colin Jost)

I'm a huge SNL fan, but avoided Jost's memoir fr a long time because I heard there was a lot in there about pooping and I'm not really into scatological humor. But somehow I ended up reading it anyway, and that's really only one chapter. (It is definitely gross, though.)

Very tongue-in-cheek, but insightful as to the inner workings of SNL and Colin's experiences there. How he ended up hosting Weekend Update, why his favorite time was working as a staff writer, why he thinks he'll leave soon, what he thought about Donald Trump, it's all in here.  Highly recommend for Saturday Night Live fans.

Two Light Reads

A Most Agreeable Murder (by Julia Seales)

I chose this for the Read Harder category "read a book based solely on the title." It turned out to be pretty delightful - a quite silly pastiche of Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes, and Agatha Christie as told by Daniel Pinkwater.  One of the characters is named "Croaksworth" and the novel takes place at "Stabmort Park," if that gives you a sense of the style. The mystery and romance at the core are actually both very enjoyable, and what's not to love about the main character, a fine lady who longs to be a detective? Lots of Jane Austen easter eggs as well. If this sounds fun - it is! I very much hope there's a sequel.

The No-Girlfriend Rule (by Christin Randall) 

This was a young adult novel I picked up and then couldn't put down. It's told via a Dungeons & Dragons - excuse me, Secrets & Sorcery - campaign.  Hollis's boyfriend won't let her join his game, so she goes out and finds her own, among a bunch of awesome queer people.  Via the game, her character starts to have feelings for another character, and maybe Hollis doesn't realize how much of her own desires are in there too.  The boyfriend is truly awful from page one, and yeah it could have been a bit more subtle, but it makes the part where she finally figures out he is awful quite satisfying. I think if you are a D&D fan you will love it.  Oh! And amazing portrayal of a fat and neurodivergent heroine, both on the cover and on the page. It's done so, so well. Will definitely pick up Randall's future books!

The Librarianist (by Patrick deWitt)

I did it - I read all the Tournament books except the two play-in-round losers.  So I'm almost a completist. (Also my two least favorite books made it through the first round, grr, argh.) 

This one is about a retired librarian named Bob, who lives a quiet life since his wife left him decades before, reading book. He decides to start visiting a neighborhood senior center. We then get flashbacks to his marriage and to his childhood, before a finale in the present.

The childhood flashback was a bit too whimsical and my least favorite part, but I enjoyed everything else and the character study of Bob. I don't think it's one of the top books in the tournament but I did enjoy it, which is not nothing, considering my feelings about SOME of the OTHER BOOKS. 

Monstrilio (by Gerardo Sámano Córdova)

Down to three books left and four days to go in the Tournament of Books (one is 658 pages so finishing is unlikely, but I'll make sure to read whenever wins the play-in.)

I was worried Monstrilio - whose premise is "grieving mother grows a monster out of part of her dead son's lung" - would be both too gross and too depressing for me, but I was bought in right away when I realized the narrator was extremely weird, and her relationships were bizarre, and it was not the book I was expecting at all.

The second part is told by her best friend - who is in love with her. The third part from her ex-husband. And the final part by Monstrilio himself, the lung-monster. It uses the monster as a trope to show the lengths that family will go to protect each other, the magic of found family, and it's even been read as a queer allegory. It's one of those books that I would never have picked up without the tournament, and I'm so glad I did.

Chain-Gang All-Stars (by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah)

Wow, I loved this. A near-future and extremely plausible dystopia, where prisoners are forced to fight to the death for corporate sponsorship and entertainment.  Woven throughout are statistics about real prison conditions, inequities, etc. And Adjei-Brenyah absolutely nails the ending, I won't say any more than that, except that it's unflinching and exactly right.

Going into it, knowing nothing except the descriptions of the books, this one was my vote for ToB winner. I think it might be the one I go for in my bracket.  It's bold, of-the-moment, and masterfully written. Loved it.

Dayswork (by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel)

Another Tournament of Books entry. (I have about a week and five books left, can I do it?!?) (Probably not; I'm saving the three play-ins for last and if I run out of time, I will just read the winner.) 

This is a unique novel that revolves around a married woman researching Herman Melville during the early months of the pandemic.  It has almost no plot, and I would have enjoyed a smidge more, but it's a delightful read with a lot of great tidbits about Melville.   (My favorite is this quote from Philip Hoare: "Melville would never have finished his book today - he'd be constantly Googling 'whale.'") 

Tournament-wise, it should win the first round (it's up against Cold People, which has no ending) but should lose the second round to either Blackouts or Boys Weekend.  Then again, my predictions are almost always wrong, so we shall see...

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (by James McBride)

I'm still working my way through the Tournament of Books shortlist, including this one by James McBride. There's something about McBride's writing that I find kind of... I don't know... twee? Artificial?Oprah's book club?

<a pause while I go to Goodreads and try to find someone who articulated this vague feeling on my behalf>

Okay here's one: "we are introduced to character after character after character who all have adorable folksy names and charming, convoluted, 'hilarious' backstories that involve star crossed romance, traumatic family histories, or hair brained schemes that resulted in the weird nickname they now have or the strange limp they're walking with and it just goes on and on and on until I thought I was gonna scream."

Yes, thank you Sara the librarian! It's too cutesy, and I felt the same way about Deacon King Kong, which I DNF after a couple hundred pages of folksy meandering.  I enjoyed McBride's memoir and I understand the appeal of the novel, but it's definitely not my favorite. 

Legends & Lattes (by Travis Baldree)

This book kicked off an entire genre - cozy fantasy - that is now a category in the Read Harder Challenge. My friend Gale also told me I must read this, even though fantasy is not my thing.  But between friendship and reading challenges, I made it happen.

It is of course delightfully cozy.  Our lead character, an orc named Val, dreams of retiring from battles and opening a coffee shop. Mild complications ensue, but mostly this is about the assembling of a charming cast of characters, a dash of romance, and general coziness.  There is a prequel which I will probably read, but mostly I want a sequel! I want more time in the world of these characters and their little coffee shop.

My Fair Brady (by Brian D. Kennedy)

I have been starting and abandoning a lot of young adult novels; I think my standards have gotten higher. Which is why My Fair Brady was such a delight - good characters, excellent plot, well written, diverse without being try-hard, and featuring queer theater nerds and social anxiety. 

Wade is a theater star and Elijah joins the tech crew hoping to make friends. Elijah asks Wade to Henry Higgins him into a popular kid; Wade wants to impress his ex-boyfriend by taking on Elijah as a project. The way it evolves is naturalistic, has some surprising moments, and feels authentic. As a bonus, it's genuinely funny without, again, trying too hard.

If you're a queer YA fan, and especially if you're also a theater fan, this one is well worth your time. 

The Lost Journals of Sacajewea (by Debra Magpie Earling)

This was a twofer, both a Tournament of Books contender and a historical fiction book by an Indigenous author for the RHC.

I'm going to call this one a me problem. It's a wonderful story and written in such a creative fashion, with Sacajawea's unique vocabulary and interesting conventions like sacred words being written in a lighter typeface and so forth. So I'm not saying it's in any way cliche or derivative. Bu unfortunately I just do not vibe with classic indigenous literature.  Like, the mighty Spirit, the great buffalo, the wolf god, the river spirit, blah blah blah.  It's like descriptions of scenery to me, and it bores me to death. Plus, like yes, white people are colonizers and are evil, and everyone suffered, and by the end the cumulative effect was moving, but I was boredddddddd.

It's also not an easy read, because you have to translate Sacajawea's experiences, and it helps to know a little bit of the history being covered because it's easy to miss certain characters and plot points. And again, I just kept bouncing off the language. The book is a real achievement and the atmosphere and the feeling of it stayed with me in a positive way and I'm sure I could have gotten more out of it if I'd tried harder.  What I'm trying to say in the end is that I think I failed this book, it did not fail me.

Thesis and Antithesis

No, that's not a book title, just a way of describing this pair of books. 

Brainwyrms (by Alison Rumfitt)

I read this for the Tournament of Books and only because a friend and I are trying to be shortlist completionists this year.  It was truly one of the most unpleasant reading experiences I have ever had. I wanted the cover away from my Kindle as quickly as possible.  It's a body horror novel about anti-trans sentiment in the UK, and I admire the audacity, but boy, was this ever gross. Just like... so gross. Not poorly written. But.... very very gross.

A Family Affair (by Harper Bliss)

I needed something completely different, so immediately bought (yes, I actually purchased this one) a lesbian romance that was advertised to me on Facebook, about a woman who has an affair with her sister-in-law.  (If you don't like reading about cheating or forbidden romance, this is not for you, although it is handled sensitively.) This had one of my pet peeves, which is dialogue that doesn't sound like words anyone would actually say.  One character describes another by saying: "Although a touch distant, she was very nice."  I mean can you imagine anyone saying "Although a touch distant" in an actual spoken sentence?  But still, it is exactly what I needed to read and I enjoyed it, cheesiness and all.

Blackouts (by Justin Torres)

This is a Tournament of Books entry that also qualifies for the RHC, which is a delightful little two-fer.  It won the National Book Award in 2023, and I can understand why.  I think this NPR review can give you a better sense of the book than I can.

I've been turning it over in my head a couple of days and I think I appreciated this book more intellectually than emotionally.  But its a hell of an intellectual achievement. The blackouts and historical ephemera themselves are fascinating, as are the endnotes about them from the point of view of the narrator. That lifted the whole work for me.  

I wasn't as compelled by the two main characters and wished there had been something more, a stronger emotional core, I guess? But this is the kind of book that's perfect for plenty of ToB discussion, and I'm already looking forward to it.

Yes & I Love You (by Roni Loren)

Read for the RHC category "romance with neurodivergent characters." (I actually started The Heart Principle for this category but DNF when the plot changed halfway through and I did not want to read about someone being gaslit by their horrible family for hundreds of pages.) 

Yes & I love you is about Hollyn, who has Tourette's, and her neurodivergence is meaningfully incorporated into the plot and handled extremely well. I'm not a huge romance reader but this was enjoyable - instead of constant miscommunication, the leads communicated openly and the obstacles were real, not manufactured by the plot.  

There's also a throughline about improv (hence the title) and Hollyn using it to get our of her comfort zone (and also hook up with the hot improv instructor).  Recommended for romance fans!

A Fatal Crossing (by Tom Hindle)

The downside of the library system (and it is a very tiny downside compared to all the many upsides) is that I can check out some books over and over again, not have time to read them, and by the time they pop up, I forgot who told me about them or why I was interested in the first place.  I've been trying to clear out my queue by reading (or at least starting and DNFing) books that I've accidentally checked out or delayed repeatedly. I'm running out of holds and virtual shelf space!

Anyway, this is another Agatha Christie homage, with a murder set on a gilded age, Titanic-like passenger ship. I thought the plot was well constructed, but the characters are not as vividly rendered as those in a Christie novel, so some of them blended together and I sometimes got confused about who was who. The narrator is the ship's officer sidekick to the main detective, who quite frankly was unpleasant to read about as he was kind of a dick. The book is also fairly long and a bit repetitive at times.

There is a Christie-like twist at the end that's well-executed but I'm still not fully sure how I feel about it.  I need to talk about it in full spoilery fashion, so if you read this, let me know!

Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD: A Scientifically Proven Program for Parents (by Eli R. Lebowitz)

This book was super helpful. I'm not going to talk too much about it on a public blog, but I can tell you a friend and I strolled along the beach yesterday and had a long chat about everything I learned and have been thinking about. It helped alleviate a lot of that all-too-familiar parental guilt, too.

If your child has any type of anxiety, this is worth a read. As I work to implement some of the book's strategies, wish me luck!

The Guest (by Emma Cline)

I love kicking off the year with a great read, don't you? This Tournament of Books entry is my first foray into Emma Cline and has a completely unsympathetic disaster of a main character and I absolutely loved every minute of it, including the ambiguous ending.

Alex is basically scamming her way across the Hamptons, trying to hang onto her rich boyfriend and ingratiating herself in other ways into the social scene there. She does not do a great job of this, but somehow we want her to keep coming out on top. Like the Talented Mr. Ripley, but with less murdering? 

This is not for everyone (the ending might be too ambigous for some) but if I were voting now for the ToB zombie, it would get my vote. Sorry Open Throat and Big Swiss, I still love you!

Year-End Book Wrapup 2023

Once again, my goal this year was to read 75 books and complete the Read Harder Challenge.  I finished 88 books and completed the RHC; you can check out which book I read for each category and see links to reviews in last year's post.

One of the challenges was, like last year, to "repeat a challenge from any of the previous years.” Both this year and last I went back to 2015, since I wasn’t doing this challenge in 2015.   This year I read a microhistory; last year I read a self-help book.

However, a lot of the other books I read (excluding the ones I read for the challenge this year, since I don’t double dip) also covered challenges in 2015. Here’s a list:

A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people) - Forward
A book published before 1850 - Northanger Abbey
A book that was originally published in another language 
- The Aosawa Murders
A romance novel - Very Sincerely Yours
A book that someone else has recommended to you - Mercury Pictures Presents
A book by a person whose gender is different from your own - Madly, Deeply
A YA novel - 6 Times We Almost Kissed….
A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25 - Never Kiss Your Roommate 
A book published this year -  Friday I’m in Love
A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ - It’s Not Like It’s a Secret
A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure - A Pocket Full of Rye 
A book that takes place in Asia - Earthlings
A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65 - Endless Night
A book that is a retelling of a classic story - The Love Match
A sci-fi novel - Cold People
A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind  - Boys Weekend

So I have six remaining categories from 2015 that I’ve never done, which I can work my way through in the next couple of years.

Top five books of the year:

1. Against White Feminism

This was the most personally transformative book I read this year, about divesting feminism not from white people, but from white supremacy. A challenging and worthwhile read.

2. Boys Weekend

Another entry from later in the year, but just delightful, satirical, clever. I’m not usually a huge graphic novel fan, but I loved all the easter eggs in this one.

3. I Have Some Questions for You  

Rebecca Makkai is absolutely great. I think after I finished this I immediately went back to reread The Great Believers.

4. Life Ceremony  

I love Japanese literature, and actually this book and the next both fall in that category. This one (by the author of the incredible Convenience Store Woman)  is probably not for everyone, since it gets a bit gruesome, but I love her writing.  I’m not usually a short story fan at all, but I adored this.

5. The Decagon House Murders

I read quite a few Japanese murder mysteries this year, and this homage to And Then There Were None was my favorite.

Honorable mentions: Big Swiss, Open Throat, 6 Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did), The Anthropocene Reviewed, The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era, My Brother's Husband, Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist


Bottom three books:



1. You Can Go Your Own Way



I finished this because it was a YA and it was quick but man, I got so angry at this book. Barely a plot, and the summary was a huge lie.

2. Cold People



I only finished this for the sake of being a ToB completist.  It had potential but absolutely no ending whatsoever, and the worldbuilding doesn’t quite cohere. 

3. The Other Black Girl



Read for the RHC last year and it sounded great, but was disappointing.  I felt like it ultimately failed to come together.
 
2024 plans: 

For 2024 my goal will once again be 75 books, and the Read Harder Challenge. I will track my Read Harder Challenge books here throughout the year and use the tag 2024 rhc.   


Some initial thoughts: My friend loaned me Legends & Lattes so the first category is a gimme. I like the author event category although that could be a challenge. I don’t know how to determine “a book that went under the radar in 2023” (what counts as “the radar”) but I’ll give that one some thought.  

 For “previous year’s challenges” I think Blackouts by Justin Torres would count for “A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade” and it’s also in the Tournament of Books, so that's my plan there.  The others need some more thought! The full list of categories:

Total: 2/24


[_] Read a cozy fantasy book.
[_] Read a YA book by a trans author.
[_] Read a middle grade horror novel.
[_] Read a history book by a BIPOC author.
[_] Read a sci-fi novella.
[_] Read a middle grade book with an LGBTQIA main character.
[_] Read an indie published collection of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author.
[_] Read a book in translation from a country you’ve never visited.
[_] Read a book recommended by a librarian.
[_] Read a historical fiction book by an Indigenous author.
[_] Read a picture book published in the last five years.
[_] Read a genre book (SFF, horror, mystery, romance) by a disabled author.
[_] Read a comic that has been banned.
[_] Read a book by an author with an upcoming event (virtual or in person) and then attend the event.
[_] Read a YA nonfiction book.
[_] Read a book based solely on the title.
[_] Read a book about media literacy.
[_] Read a book about drag or queer artistry.
[X] Read a romance with neurodivergent characters: Yes & I Love You
[_] Read a book about books (fiction or nonfiction).
[_] Read a book that went under the radar in 2023.
[_] Read a manga or manhwa.
[_] Read a “howdunit” or “whydunit” mystery
[X] Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat! Blackouts (National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade)

American Mermaid (by Julia Langbein)

A Tournament of Books shortlist entry.  Two intertwining storylines: a screenwriter goes to L.A to make a version of her novel into the movie, and then excerpts from the novel. 

The L.A. satire was sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating. (Mostly the main character's terrible choices were frustrating.) The novel within the novel had the more exciting plot, although it doesn't really make much sense, and then everything tried to wrap itself up with magical realism?

I don't know, I didn't hate it and will enjoy discussing it in the Tournament of Books, but it wasn't my favorite.  I placed my zombie vote for Open Throat, and I still stand by that one so far.  Eleven books to go if I'm going to be a shortlist completist for the first time ever!

Romantic Comedy (by Curtis Sittenfeld)

A creatively structured, above-average twist on the romcom genre. The main character is a writer for an extremely thinly veiled version of Saturday Night Live; the first third of the book goes through a week on the show in which she gets to know the host and musical guest, and they hit it off, only to end on a sour note of misunderstanding.

We pick up again in the midst of Covid lockdown, when the two characters become email pen pals and friends. She eventually drives out to visit him, they connect in person, complications ensue, yadda yadda yadda. 

The SNL stuff was fun (I too have read all the SNL memoirs in the world) and I enjoyed the epistolary secton, although the main character really seemed to lack growth and got a bit grating by the end. A fast read, for SNL and romcom fans who don't mind a whole lot of Covid flashbacks (also not my favorite).

Boys Weekend (by Mattie Lubchansky)

Like Shamshine, this is a Tournament of Books entry; unlike Shamshine (in my opinion) this graphic novel has an undercurrent of real profundity.

It's about a trans-femme named Sammi who is invited to be the "best man" at their friend Adam's wedding, along with a truly horrifying group of tech bros, a cop, and one "not like the other girls" woman. The bachelor weekend is on a capitalist, libertarian hell island version of Las Vegas, with clone strippers, a party submarine, and an odd group that looks like it might be a cult. And as Sammie navigates dealing with their gender in this group, they are either seeing real monsters or having a psychotic break.

I loved everything about it, from the tiny world-building easter eggs to the central metaphors representing Sammi figuring out what vestiges of their old life are worth hanging onto and what may be worth leaving behind. A super quick read but I found myself going back to savor panels, and I think I will probably at least skim through it once more before I return it to the library.

Highly recommend! 

The Shamshine Blind (by Paz Pardo)

Speculative fiction that's weirdly a cross between Shades of Gray by Jasper Fforde and Thursday Next by Jasper Fforde. It's an alternative future where Argentina has achieved world domination by weaponizing color and most major American cities are in ruins. It is left to our hero, Kay Curdita, to unravel a conspiracy in Daly City, resolve her romantic problems, and save the day.

This is a Tournament of Books offering that feels, for the Tournament, relatively lightweight. It's definitely fun but more of a romp than a Serious Novel, and thus will probably not make it too far in the competition. But still, you never know. It's super enjoyable nonetheless, especially for Fforde Ffans.

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library (by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Alison Watts)

This was one of my top picks from the ToB longlist and I was happy to see it make the shortlist.  It is billed as a novel but reads as interlocking short vignettes about people who go to a library and get magically recommended the perfect book by a mysterious librarian.

The only thing I didn't enjoy was that the librarian was described as so big it was shocking to people, and the narrators compared her to everything from Baymax to a giant panda to the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Every time we started a new vignette I was bracing myself for the description of this woman.

Apart from that, I adored the characters, each and every one. Each vignette was delightful and I loved that the resolutions to their problems were realistic and represented that tiny shift in consciousness that is very Joycean.  I always love the matter-of-fact, minutia-laden style of Japanese authors.  Just as delightful as I anticipated.

Cold People (by Tom Rob Smith)

I was hoping this wouldn't make the shortlist so I could DNF it but alas, it made the shortlist and my friend and I are trying to read the whole list, so I persevered. 

The writing is good, but world building here makes no sense and contradicts itself multiple times. (Are they all overcrowded or has everyone died? Is there "only one stained glass window on the continent" or is Notre Dame there? Do they have no technology left or do they somehow have supercomputers? Are humans unrealistically peaceful or unrealistically stupid? So many questions.)

The ending is the most irritating part, because it is unsatisfying in and of itself, and clearly meant to set up a sequel. I might read the Wikipedia summary of any sequels that come out but there's no way I'm reading more of this.

You Can Go Your Own Way (by Eric Smith)

In hindsight I'm really not sure why I kept reading this; I think because of the very delightful pinball arcade setting? But the pacing of this book is truly insane. Here's the blurb:

"A heartwarming and thoughtful enemies-to-lovers rom-com about two teens—one trying to save his family's failing pinball arcade, the other working for her tech genius dad who wants to take it over—who get trapped together in a snowstorm."

They do get trapped together in a snowstorm. Except it doesn't happen until about 70% into the book, when they have already solved their major conflict. They are trapped for, generously, three pages.  But then all these huge developments happen at the end (their big conflict, which is at like 90%) and is immediately solved with a time jump that makes it feel like multiple chapters are missing.

The writing of the "girls" makes it obvious that a man wrote this book. The characters are flat and feel like cardboard stand-ins. (Nick, in particular.) The chapters alternate POVs but the voice of each character is exactly the same (they both refer to people as "standing about" multiple times, which is awkward). The cultural references are all Gen X. Dear YA authors: you can't keep dropping these sentences - e.g., "like that old movie my mom likes, called Clueless" - throughout an entire book.

Anyway, sorry to that author, this was not a winner.

Open Throat (by Henry Hoke)

A short but powerful novel from the point of view of a cougar who lives below the Hollywood sign, observing the people and sights of "ellay."  

Somehow this conceit completely works, giving a perspective on humanity that packs a punch. This is one of those "never in a million years without the Tournament of Books" discoveries.  I'm so happy the shortlist is out! 

If you're interested in dipping into the ToB this year, at only 176 pages, you can't do better.

Against White Feminism (by Rafia Zakaria)

My final book for the Read Harder Challenge, and unlike Pleasure Activism, this book exceeded all my expectations! 

This book is not anti-white people, it is anti-white supremacy. Zakaria argues persuasively that the modern feminist movement is irrevocably underpinned with whiteness. (Even the framing of first-, second- and third-wave feminism - those are the waves of white, Western feminism.) (She also feels the way I do about choice feminism, which is negatively.)

It challenged and educated me, and I think it's a must-read for anyone trying to be a feminist. I consider intersectionality an essential part of my feminism but this still opened my eyes to a lot of blind spots I've had and undoubtedly will continue to have.

Read this one!

Friends Forever: The One About the Episodes (by Susman, Dillon, Cairns)

A very breezy* read about the sitcom that stays pretty surface level.  There are recaps of 10 or so episodes per season, but not all of them, and a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff is glossed over. (For example, Matthew Perry's well-known addiction struggles are not mentioned at all, RIP.)  There is also at least one embarrassing mistake, where the authors say Christina Pickles played Bridget Jones's mom in the movies. That was Gemma Jones! For superfans only.

*You can't say you're breezy, that totally negates the breezy!

The Rachel Incident (by Caroline O'Donoghue)

When the Tournament of Books longlist comes out, I used to try and guess which books would definitely make the shortlist and read those first, but it's a bit of an exercise in futility. Now I go through and see which books I'm most interested in, grab them from the library, and hope reading them will get me a start on the shortlist when it comes out in a couple of weeks.

This gets me winners like The Rachel Incident, which I otherwise wouldn't have read and deeply enjoyed.  It's like a distilled down version of Sally Rooney, in the sense that it's by an Irish writer and about complex interpersonal relationship - and distilled in that it gets to the point quicker and is a punchier read. It also has as interesting conceit, in that the narrator is writing about it in hindsight and offering commentary on her own choices as a twentysomething.

A great way to kick off the 2024 Tournament of Books! The only other book I've read that made the longlist is Big Swiss, and I'll add the tag to that one. Excited to dive into more.

A Pair of YAs

Finished a couple of YAs so figured I may as well "feed two birds with one scone" as I read today in a listicle about moving away from violent metaphors.

The Borrow a Boyfriend Club (by Page Powars) 

This is about a trans teen named Noah who wants to join the "Borrow a Boyfriend Club" at his school to prove he's a boy. It's very joyful and accepting, and the romance is very cute. The only issue for me is that Asher (the love interest) is kind of too much of an asshole and wasn't very likeable. He's supposed to be like the jerk with the heart of gold but it was very difficult to see why people would even put up with him or why he was popular. Ah well.

Her Good Side (by Rebekah Weatherspoon) 

Definitely recommend this one; it's about a plus-sized Black girl and a shy, tall Asian guy who fake date because of Reasons and of course this leads to real feelings can you believe it? The ending is a bit abrupt but the book overall is adorable and the leads are absolutely delightful. I loved the authenticity with which Bethany is written and her two high-powered WNBA moms and her passion for cooking and her realistic self-confidence... all wonderful. Extremely cute YA.

Pleasure Activism (by adrienne maree brown)

Read for the category of "a book about activism" - note that activism is in the title, and the subtitle is "The Politics of Feeling Good, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing World."  But this is really a book about pleasure, particularly sexual pleasure, as seen through a queer, POC lens. It's a compilation of essay, poetry, interviews, and dialogue and really doesn't focus much on activism, at all. More about "activism" in the sense of activating pleasure. (Apparently the secret is being poly.)

So in terms of my expectations: I was hoping to learn more in here about how to infuse political activism with pleasure to sustain the fight, and help encourage others to take action by making activism pleasurable. When I realized this is really more about POC folks reclaiming their own pleasure, I was let down. But maybe this book was just Not For Me, and that's okay; it seems to have resonated with its audience.

That said, there is some great, profound stuff in here and I got a lot of out if. Some disappointing stuff (judgment about food, despite being explicitly body positive; a disability interview with an abled person) but some amazing essays by collaborators and brilliant thinkers (of whom brown is clearly one.)  It's the most "woke" book I've ever read, parsing its own language with multiple disclaimers and definitions and I can imagine some readers might find it overkill, but maybe it's necessary. 

There is an audience for this book but I think perhaps white feminists are not that audience. My final category in the challenge is "a nonfiction book about intersectional feminism" and I'm going to read Against White Feminism.  Maybe I'm already pretty good at pleasure, and am looking for more challenge.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (by Benjamin Stevenson)

A great, metafictional, tongue-in-cheek murder mystery in the style of Anthony Horowitz.  And what a title!

This is one where the solution is actually quite guessable, but in spite of that, it's such a fun ride.  Unfortunate about all the murder but Stevenson's style makes it fun anyway. The characters are great, there are lots of twists beyond the solution that made it a page-turner, and I'm thrilled to see there's another book with this same main character coming out next year! I've already reserved it.

I do have the new Richard Oseman in the queue too, and maybe another Japanese mystery or two, so I'm not quite done with murder yet.

If You Still Recognise Me (by Cynthia So)

I put this as "world literature" since I am pretty sure the author (like their main character) lives in London.  I've been trying to clear out my library book backlog and started a couple of YAs that I abandoned, but this one I stuck with until the end.  It's quite good - focusing not entirely on the romance at the center but also on complex friendships, fandom, culture, queerness, the immigrant experience, and coming of age. Multi-layered and just really generally good!

Recommended for YA fans (as in, I immediately texted the cover to my friend Jenfoo, with whom I exchange all YA book recommendations).

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders (by Soji Shimada)

The Japanese murder mystery kick continues! This one is formatted as two friends talking about, and then trying to solve, a notorious series of murders 40 years previously. A lot of the book is just the dialogue between these characters, a detective and a Watson-style sidekick. But the structure was fun and I particularly enjoyed parts where the author challenges the reader to solve the murder, insisting all the clues are there, and even gives a list of questions to which you can guess the answers.

I guessed nothing right but enjoyed the twist and the resolution. I felt it could have had more emotional impact but I enjoyed the reveal of the killer very much and it was a page-turner as I raced to find out whodunnit!

The Decagon House Murders (by Yukito Ayatsuji)

I've been recommending this to all the mystery fans I know, especially Agatha Christie fans! It's yet another Japanese locked room murder, which echoes and pays homage to And Then There Were None. It's perfect for fans of that novel. 

Anything else I want to say could maybe be spoilery so I won't.  But I love a mystery novel with a solid reveal at the end and this one definitely delivers.  (I'm still not over one I read recently where the solution was so convoluted that it required a complete stranger to coincidentally show up in the neighborhood and drop dead in a convenient location at the right time.) 

Minnesota Books

I finished three books on my recent trip to Minneapolis and am off on another work trip soon, so I am squeezing in this little blog.

Rift Zone: Poems (by Tess Taylor)

For the RHC category "an author local to you" comes this amazing book of poetry by El Cerrito resident Tess Taylor. (It turns out we know people in common, which I didn't discover until I was talking to some other local poets at a school event.) I learned a lot about micro-local history and was blown away by the poems. If I had time, I'd dig up some quotes, but she has a lot listed on her website and I recommend them so highly.

The Honjin Murders (by Seishi Yokomizo) 

A "locked door mystery" originally published in 1946, but more recently translated into English. I enjoyed the atmosphere and characters here, and the mystery did keep me guessing, but the solution was beyond preposterous, really.  I'm going to keep exploring Japanese mysteries though until I find one that's both atmospheric and satisfying. Recommendations welcome!

The Dos and Donuts of Love (by Adiba Jaigirdar) 

The "reality show" at the center of this book is incoherent - Great British Bake-Off exists, and this is called Junior Irish Bake-Off, but it's structured like Masterchef, and the hosts are Gordon Cramsey, Padma Bollywood, and Marie Cherry? Really? The filming and editing process makes no sense. And on top of all of this, the romance falls totally flat.  Unfortunately this is a miss for me, although the fat positive and Bangladeshi-Irish representation are wonderful.

Forward: Stories of Tomorrow (edited by Blake Crouch)

I loooooove speculative fiction, and this collection of six stories was free on Amazon Prime.  On the whole this was a great collection but here are mini-reviews of each of the stories:

"Ark" by Veronica Roth 

About a scientist cataloging Earth’s flora in the last days of the apocalypse. Very moving and a great start to the collection. 

"Summer Frost" by Blake Crouch

About a video game developer whose character breaks free from her programming. Maybe my favorite of all of thses! Makes me want to seek out more of his work.

"Emergency Skin" by N. K. Jemisin

An explorer from a civilizaton of elites who has come back to Earth to get genetic materal (and amazing twist as to what the material ends up being). a little heavy handed but really good. 

"You Have Arrived at Your Destination" by Amor Towles 

About a man who considers using a futuristic futility cliinic to plan his child’s future. Great concept, somewhat flawed execution. 

"The Last Conversation" by Paul G. Tremblay 

A man wakes up with no memories and has to slowly realize who he is, with the help of a mysterious doctor. Wonderfully creepy! Really loved it. 

"Randomize" by Andy Weir 

This is about a high tech casino heist and my expectations were high! I loved the premise but the ending was not good and ultimate I think this was my least favorite.

My Brother's Husband (by Gengoroh Tagame)

And the category is, "Read a graphic novel/comic/manga if you haven’t before; or read one that is a different genre than you normally read." I have read plenty of graphic novels, but never a manga, so that is what I decided to tackle this time - the two volumes of My Brother's Husband.  And as with most graphic novels, I opted to read this one on paper.  It was enough of an adjustment figuring out how you're supposed to read it (from back to front and left to right - I looked at guides online) to try and do that digitally.

This is the story of a Japanese father whose twin brother moved to Canada and married a man. His brother dies before the story begins, and his widower visits Japan to connect with his husband's brother and niece.  The brother has to confront the subtle nature of homophobia in Japan as well as his own behavior towards his brother when he was alive. 

The characters are wonderful, the art is beautiful, the story is realistic and moving. Kana, the little girl of the family, is so delightful and charming. I'm so glad I read this and highly recommend.

Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh (by Rachael Lippincott)

Started and abandoned a couple of similar books before delving into the latest Rachael Lippincott. I've enjoyed her work before! Warning about this one - it is not a retelling of Pride & Prejudice, unfortunately. The name is just a reference to the fact that our character goes back in time to the regency period, there is no Mr. (or Ms.) Darcy, just a Sapphic romance across time.

You have to suspend a lot of disbelief here, not just for obvious reasons but because the Regency section is full of anachronisms and people behaving the way no normal person would behave. But what saved this was the slow build of tension and the sweetness of the central romance.  Like we practically got a scene of the heroine whisking her lover away on a white horse at the end, but whatever! It was cute!

So keep your expectations not too high and it may work for you, as it did for me. 

Books Read While Melting

Another set of books finished on a trip - this time a work trip to Austin during a week when the temperatures were in the 100-110 range. Thus, the melting.  Although I read many of these on airplanes and in cool hotel rooms, as always.

Sorry, Bro (by Taleen Voskuni) 

This book is a debut by an Armenian-American author. I loved the Armenian proverbs that began each chapter and were woven throughout the text.  The writing was subtly funny and there was great chemistry between the leads. Great cast of characters and amazing main character. I kept letting this one expire because the title put me off, but I'm glad I kept putting it back on my library list so I could finally get to it!

The Appeal (by Janice Hallett) 

A really fun epistolary mystery, and such a page-turner. Clever, funny, super satisfying and entertaining. If you're a fan of Agatha Christie-style mysteries, you have to read this one.

The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era (by Gareth Russell) 

One of the RHC categories this year is once again "Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat!" and I've been working on the 2015 challenges, since I started the RHC in 2016 so I missed that year completely. If I don't do any double counting, I've completed 14 categories from that challenge, but this is the one that is the most unique so this is the one I think I'll count for 2023.  A microhistory zooms in on a small event in history and connects it to a broader context, which this fits perfectly. It was also really fascinating, although very focused on the aristocracy.  (It all made sense when the author gave a shoutout to his friend Emerald Fennell at the end - he's clearly from that class himself.) Still, fascinating!

Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (by Chen Chen)

As with most poetry collections, uneven with moments of transcendence. Read for the category "book of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author" (Chen is both).  He includes a memorial poem to Justin Chin, a poet who I met at his reading with Beth Lisick decades ago that was part of the reason I moved to the San Francisco area to study poetry.  I had no idea Chin had died in the interim; I still have his signed book somewhere. But at any rate, I liked this fine.

If Tomorrow Doesn't Come (by Jen St. Jude)

The Sapphic spiritual successor to The Fault in Our Stars. A tearjerker that reads like a YA but allows the characters to just be in college already.  Reminded me also a bit of Last Night (the Canadian film starring Sandrah Oh) with its apocalyptic setting.  Also recommended! Hey, I enjoyed most of these books! Love when I get a good run like this.