November 2.0

Having switched my a laptop to an IPad, I still haven’t figured out an easy way to embed pictures so, this blog is image free. Be aware - this blog will be ending in December of this year. It’s had a good run, but the time of blogs seem to have run its course. If you want to see continuing reviews, you can find pictures and book reviews on my Instagram account @bookaddictpnw

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

“Loco, Loony, Mental, Midget, Jap, Retard, Freak…Maybe you’ve seen this kind of cruelty emerging and even helped it along, or maybe you’ve just been complicit and watched as the bigotry spread, or maybe you’ve been targeted, too.” Weird. Unique. Verbose. Heart wrenching. Eerie. Utterly Cool. This book is so hard to explain as Ozeki is such a unique writer; seriously, I’ve never read another author quite like her. She’s too wordy for my taste, and yet I can’t stop reading her. She digs into my brain, sets up house, and won’t leave. If you’ve read her, you know what I mean. And if you haven’t, give her a try if you like weird and cool. Gist of this book: Kenji, a musician,  dies when he passes out in the alley and is run over by a chicken truck. Yes, you read that correctly ( I told you - weird) The entire book is the aftermath of this death for Annabelle, his wife who turns into a hoarder, and his teenage son Benjamin, who hears voices of the objects around him, most particularly the book who is telling his story. It’s not a perfect tale. Admittedly, I skim read some pages with a character who drove me nuts, and yet it was impossible to put this looooong, heavy, utterly fascinating book down. I suspect this is a book readers will either love or hate, not a lot of grey area. But oh my, if you love it, you won’t forget it.

Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng

A long list nominee for the Aspen book award, which focuses on works of fiction with a social impact, this is not a book I would normally have picked up. And as much as I disliked the ending, I was fascinated by the book itself. It begins when the Cultural Revolution is implemented in China in the 1960’s, and focuses on three main characters: Dawn, a free-spirited violinist and composer, Momo, a student of engineering yet fascinated with the world of music, and Cassia, a nurse with a deeply held secret that impacts her future. When Momo and Cassia marry, and their first-born daughter is born without lower legs, they return to the family village of Trout River and leave Junie there to be raised by her grandparents while Momo and Cassia emigrate to America. The author swings back and forth in time, moving amongst the characters, showing the difficulties of both life in China, as an immigrant in America, and how Junie sees the world. The writing is beautiful, the story is unique and multi-faceted, and yet I found myself wanting more. I rarely say “This book needed to be longer,” but in this case, that’s my position. The ending was beyond frustrating, though it will provide a book club with some extremely provocative conversation. (If you want an ending wrapped with a pretty lil bow, this one isn’t it)

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Yes, you have seen this book advertised as a new movie coming out, and yes it is a rom-com, and yes, I normally hate these kind of books. Buuuuut…this one was funny, light-hearted, fiery hot, and highly entertaining. The two main leads both want the promotion at their book publishing house, and they’ve been playing hilarious games of one-up-manship for months so why not continue? The one problem is…they’ve got some hot chemistry. I loved the ambitious female lead, the complex and thoughtful male lead, and the final resolution was beyond satisfying. Looking for some light entertainment? This one will do it!

Thunder Bay (Cork O’Connor, #7) by William Kent Krueger

I am slowly working my way through this series, and I don’t write them all up since it’s not necessary after the first one and yet…this one deserves a review. If you liked This Tender Land by WKK a couple years ago, this seventh book in his mystery series gave me many of the same vibes. This time the mystery is around the elderly Mide (sage, oracle, wise man, and my favorite character in the series) of Cork O’Connor’s Native tribe, the Anishinaabe of Iron Lake, MN. It is Cork’s job to find Henry’s long lost son, and in this quest, we read of Henry’s youth and his lost love of long ago. Of course, there is a mystery and a few murders, but it is the story of Henry, of his time in the government run boarding school, of the prejudice and violence perpetrated against him, that makes this book stand out. Highly recommend (and yes, it can absolutely be read as a stand-alone)

Dial A For Aunties by Jessie Q. Sutanto

Think Weekend at Bernies, but with a gaggle of Asian aunties, one mama, and a twenty-something daughter who has secrets, big ones. I mean, what family members do you have who would hide a dead body for you if you asked them to, right in the middle of the biggest wedding your family business has ever put on? Oh, and at the hotel where your ex-college boyfriend is the owner/manager? Okay, not real plausible, I know, but the audio gave me some seriously big guffaws and chuckles, which was worth all the silliness of the story. 

A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock #1) by Sherry Thomas

If you like feminist mystery stories, you’re gonna love this one, because in Thomas’ version of Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective is a woman. Set in Victorian times, Charlotte Holmes struggles with making an independent life for herself; it’s not easy, as neither her parents nor society will allow it. Luckily, she meets an independently wealthy woman who also doesn’t quite fit in the Victorian box of society, and this female Holmes now has her Watson. All she needs is a murder to solve, and then the plot takes off. It is a bit of a slow start, as the scene must be set and the characters introduced, but the second half of the book is a fast-paced, fun little mystery. I can’t wait to pick up book two!

November Reading

 The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

“For only when you have seen that you are truly forsaken will you embrace the fact that what happens next rests in your hands, and your hands alone.” This book is a piece of writing to savor. An odyssey - a story of two brothers who dream of a new life, of a professor who writes of heroes yet never has an adventure, of a boy who can’t fit in anywhere, of a girl whose life is determined by her father and wants something more, of a Black man who goes to war and loses his wife and child, of a boy unloved and unwanted. It tells the tale of how our interactions with others matter, that when our lives collide sometimes explosions occur and sometimes miracles happen. If felt like a throwback tale to me, of nostalgia - of heroes and villains, of adventures and travails, of hopes and dreams and failures. Oh, I adored this odyssey. PS Sally saves this book from being too male-centric. I mean, this quote… “The Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty are big. The Mississippi River and the Grand Canyon are big. The skies over the prairie are big. But there’s nothing bigger than a man’s opinion of himself.”

He Started It by Samantha Downing

This book had all the ingredients to be a potato chip book extraordinaire: Grown up siblings recreating their childhood road trip with Grandpa, in order to earn their inheritance / Snarky mean hilarious  narrator/Seriously dysfunctional family/Lies upon lies upon lies. I turned pages deliciously fast, enjoying every word/line/chip until…I reached the bottom of the bag/end of the book. Then I wanted to SCREAM. Come on - give me some crumbs please. Yep. Total buzzkill yet entertained me for a day!

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Anyone else remember this short-story-turned-into-book-and-movie from decades ago? I remembered It breaking my heart, but not all the topical nuances for today's world. Since Richard Powers used it as a motif threaded through his latest Booker-nominated novel Bewilderment, I knew I was in for a re-read. The premise, if you remember, is that a mentally handicapped young man named Charley agrees to a brain experiment where a surgery will slowly make him brilliant, as in smarter than most normal people. We see the progression of Charley through his journals, where his spelling and grammar are phonetic and his thinking is child-like. As Charley's brain cells increase, so do his negative interactions with society and other humans. It is a tale of disappointment, tragedy, sorrow, and ultimate failure as Charley, and his mouse friend Algernon, slowly devolve back to their original abilities. Profound in its observations of humanity, it is a fantastic companion read with Bewilderment and proves that literature can stand the test of time.

As Good as Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #3) by Holly Jackson

Did you love the first in this series, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder? I sure did. And the second book, Good Girl Bad Blood, was equally as good. Therefore, starting into book three held so many wonderful possibilities. Cue the big saw labeled BUZZKILL. Don't get me wrong - the first half of the book was quite good, tho it did require googling the summary of the last two books as it had been awhile. But solid mystery, looking at how was currently stalking Pip and how can they free an innocent young man imprisoned for being the DT Killer? But that second half??? Where the author takes a smart, tenacious, awesome lead character and turns her into someone I seriously cannot get behind, someone who breaks laws, covers up, frames others, and is all about viglante justice?? Nope. Just nope. I understand Pip had serious PTSD from previous incidences, but to totally flip not only Pip but sidekick Ravi into fundamentally different human beings? I wanted to throw this book across the room after I turned the last page. 

The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Cordova

This is just a cool, weird, crazy book. If you like magical realism, this is your jam; if not, I would avoid it. I mean, Grandma Orquidea is a tree as she's dying (she coughs up mud!), and all the grandkids have roses, thorns, etc. growing out of them. Yeah...weird but cool. It tells of a young Orquidea growing up in Equador and her life adventures that brings her to America. For me, it was entertaining and a wonderfully narrated audio, but a bit too much death in odd places and a bit too out there. 

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

Romance...not my normal go-to, but this one was different. Instead of the "weak, stupid woman falling for big strong male" trope that seems to be rather typical in this genre, this book uses two very imperfect leads to make a case for love. Eva and Shane spent a week together in June fifteen years ago; they were drunk, stoned, messed up kids running from the realities of their lives. Yet the memories lingered. Fast forward and they are both successful novelists, yet both deal with so much more than their past. Shane is a recovering addict and Eva has debilitating migraines and an only child to raise. I loved the messiness of their love story, the topical themes this book addressed, and the perfect amount of steam for me. Need a break from sad, cerebral reads - this one will do it:) Extra bonus: it in written by a woman of color and has a diverse cast of characters.