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Billed as YA, which I’ve grown tired of, this didn’t come off that way at all. Except for a lot of yelling, there’s nothing significant that marks the two protagonists as young. One can unravel curses, the other is formerly cursed. And their world sits uneasily but peaceably next to The Wilds. Found this on a list of recommended books from 2023—I can only do the same.

Came to this one late: I remember when everybody seemed to be reading or talking about it. Really enjoyed Nguyen’s immigrant short stories in “The Refugees”. This is much more politically sophisticated as the title says, but not what I expected. Nor did it go where I thought it would—more espionage than I normally like. While the sequel is also on my list, the TV show isn’t anymore. Too dude-focused.

What a beginning. Unfortunately, the rest doesn’t quite gel. A standalone fantasy novel that throws you into its world building without any handholding. There’s a way to do this that’s successful, and normally Wells has no problem with it. Not here. The things she focused on were not what I wanted to read more about. Kinda frustrating!

Love this author and this series, but this is the least successful so far. We’re moving further away from the original characters and follow five new (mostly) unrelated characters. It just felt disjointed. And I cared more about some vs. others, e.g. Eyas the caretaker who does funeral rites. Learning more about Exodans and the culture of humans who left earth was really interesting though.

A grumpy librarian! Named herman melvill! Bound in other ways to that other Melville! And who wants to hide books away from people!

Wonderfully misanthropic. But the final two-thirds of this 80-page, single long sentence don’t bear out the promise of its quietly weary start. Big points for the premise though; I can definitely identify with it.

I enjoyed “The Martian” and this is more of the same, which is a good thing. Ryland, the protagonist, is a golden retriever of a narrator: super ENTHUSIASTIC! which surprisingly, didn’t grate (too much). Because it’s science and problem-solving, and Weir does a good job of keeping it interesting without dumbing things down. Really fascinating stuff. The stakes are much higher this time too. Very enjoyable.

I wanted to read the book before watching “All of Us Strangers”. The protagonist is straight and it’s set in Japan. The dialogue and dynamic with his parents was old-timey; not in a good way. But I suppose this was the author’s way of telegraphing the difference between past/present/the amorphous events of this story. Had to read the ending a few times to get it. The movie is an improvement, which is a rare thing.

When I was young, I understood this term literally. Whitehead’s alternate history does the same intentionally. The point of view alternates between Cora and other characters she encounters on her journey from the Georgia plantation she escaped. Whitehead creates harrowing and fascinating scenarios at each of the stops, illuminating the cruelty and contradictions at the heart of the United States.

That there are books of and for just about everything is a neat conceit. On the one hand, of course. On the other, The Book of Pain, Luck, Illusions, etc. grant you control over these things. This relatively simple premise becomes quite complicated, overly so: time-travel, Books for anything the plot requires (Speed, Memories, Joy), ignored the constraints that every magical system needs. Entertaining though.

A lovely novella about The Green Man, who lives with his cat, mends clothes, hangs with dryads, and tends to the forest. Tesh does a lot of worldbuilding in a short number of pages, throwing in twists, a sweet queer romance, and a sense of danger for the characters we love. Part 1 of a duology, looking forward to the next.

Felt I needed to read this with everything going on. Also took a workshop on comic journalism, which apparently Sacco pioneered? One of the conventions of this genre is that the author inserts themself into both the narrative and the drawings—there’s no pretense of objectivity or an attempt at invisibility. I didn’t like Sacco’s unvarnished sexism and Western bias. But even 40 years from publication, this taught me a lot.

Much preferred her other novella, “In the Act”. This has many of the same building blocks, primarily a woman in a loveless marriage and a dated setting (1960s?). This time, the love interest is a “frog man”, and like “The Shape of Water”, they get it on: all over the house! Some lovely stretches of writing, but the ending was disappointing.