Late Winter Reading: Part I

Long time, no thoughts on books. Here's Part I of a quick run-down of what I read in February and March, in the order I read them. Part II will appear on Monday. The following thoughts are generally taken from what I posted on GoodReads. "AFM" means I reviewed the audiobook for AudioFile Magazine, and you can find my review of the audiobook production there.

All of the following books were provided by the publisher in one or more forms (digital, audio, print). Thanks too to Libro.fm.

The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr. (Putnam, Jan. 2021): This is a powerful look at life, love, family, brutality, hope, and hopelessness on an antebellum Mississippi plantation. The author imagines a place for gender equality and queerness in several traditional African cultures and interweaves that with the stories of the enslaved in America.

The book was strong overall, but the elements of magical realism sometimes detracted from the principal story lines. (AFM)

Before the Ruins by Victoria Gosling (Holt, Jan. 2021): Part coming of age, part mystery, this book contains elements of first love, sexuality, addiction, poverty, and friendship. When a young man goes missing, his mother contacts his childhood friend, asking her to try to find him. This sets off a chain of events that causes Andrea to recall her painful childhood and to contact the people from her past who were with her on the night of a murder.

Some of the elements of the mystery were easy to figure out, but there were still a few twists. (AFM).

The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster, March 2021): Clear and easy to follow account of the career of Nobel Prize-winner Jennifer Doudna who, along with her team, figured out how to employ CRISPR technology to edit genes. Her discoveries had a direct impact on developing the new RNA vaccines, including those for COVID. Isaacson's work exposes the struggle of women in science, competition and cooperation in research, the intersection of research and industry/business, and the ethical and evolutionary implications of gene-editing technology.

The material in this book is accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of biology. (AFM)

The Girl from the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat (Graydon House, Feb. 2021): The book itself is well written and focuses on a young Jewish woman who escaped Europe and was working in Jersey when the Nazi army occupied the British Channel Islands. The story of Hedy and how she managed to survive despite being Jewish was well told, though I had some issues with a few plot inconsistencies and historical points.

I lived in Jersey's sister island Guernsey while conducting my doctoral research (in the 1980s) and really wanted to love this book. (AFM)

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell (Tin House, Jan. 2021): Set in the late 1800s in London, this Gothic mystery brings together a bicycle-riding woman journalist, a down-and-out orphaned Cambridge student, and a Scotland Yard inspector as they separately and then together become involved in an apparent suicide case and the mysterious disappearance of several young women.

The book works on a lot of levels: good period details, engaging mix of gothic and humor, and well-constructed plot. It was fun to see how our heroes ended up working together and figuring out what happened to the women. Here's hoping we'll hear more from Olivia, Gideon Bliss, and Inspector Cutter. (AFM)

Girl A by Abigale Dean (Viking, Feb. 2021): Lex grew up under increasingly abusive circumstances, enforced mostly by her father but not stopped by her mother. When Lex finally escapes, she flags down a car, begging the driver to call for help and save her six siblings. By the time the police get there, her father has committed suicide, but her mother is sent to prison. Years later, after their mother dies still in prison, Lex wants to turn their childhood home into a community center, but first she needs permission from her siblings, whom she hasn't seen since their escape.

The book asks: Who really survives such abuse? Is is possible? What happens when Girl A is forced to confront things she's learned to suppress. It's a difficult read. The audiobook was read by Ell Potter, whose performance captured Lex's conflicted thoughts.

Fire in the Straw by Nick Lyons (Arcade, Oct. 2020): I've been a fan of Nick Lyons's writing since my husband introduced me to his short pieces on fly fishing decades ago. I remember being excited when I learned he was starting a publishing business. Despite knowing about him, I didn't know the trajectory of his life. In this collection of essays, Lyons writes about how fly fishing changed his life and about his dedication to getting an education. He talks about his writing, his loves, his losses, and his perspective on aging.

Whether you've been a fan for years or are just discovering Nick Lyons, this is a highly recommended read.

A Pairing to Die for by Kate Lansing (Berkley, Jan. 2021): I really liked the first book in this cozy mystery series, which is set in Boulder and features a local wine maker and her boyfriend, who is a chef and restaurant owner. As with the first book, I liked the descriptions of Boulder, the wine, and the food, and I like the characters. This second outing didn't disappoint me, and I was happy to see the growth of the characters and to meet new people. The murder mystery was also well plotted.

If you're into wine, food, Colorado, and/or cozies, then give this series a try.

The Princess Spy by Larry Loftis (Atria, Feb. 2021). American Aline Griffith was determined to help her country during World War II. Through a fortuitous introduction, Aline is accepted for training as a U.S. spy and is sent to Madrid, where she infiltrates society, dates a famous matador, and then marries a count, all while carrying out dangerous missions and helping the resistance.

I had never heard of Aline, but I'm glad I know her story. Kate Reading did an excellent job with the narration, including characterizations, accents, and pronunciations.

This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith (Grand Central, Feb. 2021): When driving home one night, Tallie sees a young man who looks like he's about to jump off a bridge. She stops and talks him into going home with her. Over the course of a long Halloween weekend she and Emmett form a bond, even while hiding their secrets. Tallie's secret, which we learn almost immediately, is that she's a licensed therapist, which makes her dealings with Emmett reasonably believable. Themes of grief, friendship, and family and a down-to-earth ending.

The audiobook was narrated by Kamali Minter and Zeno Robinson, who brought out the emotions and personalities of their characters.

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5 Books for Speculative Fiction Fans

This week's roundup is all about escaping real life through speculative fiction. These days my world is full-on hard realities, so I want my reading to transport me to words that don't exist (at least not yet). The books I feature today represent some of the variety of stories found under the umbrella of fantasy and science fiction. I hope at least one will make it to your wish list.

Followers by Megan Angelo (Graydon House, Jan. 14) is a dual-time story that focuses on the effects of social media--first in 2015 and then in 2051. While some of the elements will seem familiar to our everyday lives in contemporary times (influencers and reality TV), how Angelo imagines that social media will evolve and change in the fairly close dystopian future gives us something to think about. The novel has garnered starred reviews and is billed as appealing to literary fiction lovers as well as dystopian fans. Opener:

Prologue / New York / 2051

So she still believed in mail, this woman, whoever she was. The first thing Marlow saw when she walked into the building was a grid of metal boxes, each with its own window and cobwebbed keyhole.

Audiobook: Read by Jayme Mattler (HarperAudio; 13 hr, 29 min)

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez (Del Rey, Jan 14) is the proof that science fiction is much more than the Earthlings-meet-aliens scenario of old television shows. Nia pilots a faster-than-light ship, which means she barely ages in comparison to her friends and family, eventually leaving her alone and lonely. When she meets an apparently orphaned boy, something tugs at her, and she takes him in. Others, however, have not forgotten the child, and they may want him back. Another novel with starred reviews and much buzz. Opener:

He was born with an eleventh finger. A small bead of flesh and bone beside his right pinky. The doctor calmed the worried parents and told them the nub was a harmless thing. “But still,” he said, unlacing a small cloth pouch, “a farmer needs only ten fingers to work the dhuba.” He coaxed the child to sleep with the smoke of torched herbs, and sliced the nub from the hand with a cauterizing knife.

Audiobook: Read by Shayna Small (Random House Audio; 13 hr, 17 min)

Strange Exit by Parker Peevyhouse (Tor Teen, Jan. 14) is a stand-alone science-fiction/dystopian thriller in which the only survivors of a nuclear holocaust are in orbit around Earth awaiting the time until it's safe to return to the planet. The people are kept alive in a virtual reality version of San Francisco, meant to ease their fears. When the system starts to break down and supplies run low, two teens manage to escape the simulation--one wants to rescue everyone on board before it's too late; the other decides that only some are worth saving. The reviews have been mixed. Opener:

The San Francisco Zoo: gates rusted open, weeds bursting through cracks in the asphalt, trees like many-armed scarecrows, broken and stunted. Lake figured she was the only person to set foot in the place in years. Not counting the boy in the tiger exhibit. Lake peered in at him through a curtain of dirt over the viewing glass. She guessed he was around her age, seventeen. He sat on a log, hunched over something she couldn’t see. No tiger in sight.

Audiobook: Read by Caitlin Davies (Blackstone; ~6 hr)

A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen (Mira, Jan. 14) is a different kind of dystopian story set in the aftermath of deadly flu pandemic that killed all but about 2 billion people on Earth. After a six-year quarantine, people emerge into public to start over, whether in closed cities, on communes, or in marauding gangs. Amid rumors of another flu outbreak, some survivors learn that it isn't all that easy to make a new beginning, especially when the secrets of their "before" life may be exposed. Another novel with mixed reactions. Opener:

People were too scared for music tonight. Not that MoJo cared. Her handlers had broken the news about the low attendance nearly an hour ago with some explanation about how the recent flu epidemic and subsequent rioting and looting kept people at home. They’d served the news with high-end vodka, the good shit imported from Russia. . . .

Audiobook: Read by Emily Woo Zeller (Harlequin Audio; 11 hr, 39 min)

Diamond City by Francesca Flores (Wednesday Books, Jan. 28) is a dark fantasy debut about a young adult orphan who is trying to make her way in a violent world. Aina, a professional assassin, takes on an assignment that will give her the funds to be her own boss--if she can evade her enemies long enough to make the successful hit. To complicate matters, she must justify her life choices against the lessons taught by her murdered parents, who used their magic to protect those in need. Reviewers feel the world-building could be stronger but praise the action and the plotting. Opener:

The baker’s final words were smothered by a whimper.

“You know how they say you should watch out for the quiet ones?” Aina’s breath fogged the blade of the dagger she held. “They were right.” She took her time with the blade, heedless of his screams.

Audiobook: Read by Frankie Corzo (Macmillan Audio; 9 hr, 59 min)

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6 December Thrillers Written by Women

The further we get into December the less interested I am in books that make me think. I want escape, and I want to be entertained. The most I want to ponder when I'm reading this month is along the lines of whodunit.

Here are a half dozen thrillers and mysteries that will suit me just fine. Which ones call to you?

A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh (Berkley, Dec. 3): This is a missing person thriller set in a small town in New Zealand. The characters include an outsider big-city detective who ends up as the town's only cop and a prodigal daughter who's returned home after an eight-year hiatus. The two team up to search for clues and sort through the suspects, churning up old crimes and deep secrets among the villagers. The New Zealand countryside plays a role in this dark thriller in which everyone seems to be hiding something. Opening lines:

She returned home two hundred and seventeen days after burying her husband while his pregnant mistress sobbed so hard that she made herself sick. Anahera had stood stone-faced, staring down at the gleaming mahogany coffin she’d chosen because that was what Edward would’ve wanted. Quiet elegance and money that didn’t make itself obvious, that had been Edward’s way. Appearances above everything.

Audiobook: Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld (Penguin Audio; 10 hr; 59 min) [digital and audio copies provided by the publisher]

Reputation by Sara Shepard (Dutton, Dec. 3): This thriller involves a small Pennsylvania college town, hacked email, and a murder. When tens of thousands of personal emails are dumped into a searchable public database, all hell breaks loose. When an investigative reporter returns home to help her newly widowed sister, they can't help but start looking into the husband's death, unearthing secret upon secret while a killer remains on the loose. Opening lines:

Maybe you got it at birth. Maybe you gained it through hard work. Perhaps you have yours because you’re charitable, or ambitious, or an asshole. It’s your reputation. Everyone’s got one. And if you think reputations don’t matter, you’re wrong.

Audiobook: Narrated by Lisa Flanagan, Allyson Ryan, Phoebe Strole, Brittany Pressley, and Karissa Vacker (Penguin Audio; 13 hr, 3 min) [digital and audio copies provided by the publisher]

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher (Graydon House, Dec. 30): This psychological thriller is set in Seattle and is told through the eyes of a woman who is knowingly in a polygamist marriage, even though she has never met the other women. All is fine until it's not, and the legal wife discovers the identity of one of the other woman. She meets her, incognito, and discovers her mild-mannered husband may have a violent streak, and she begins to fear for her own safety. Opening lines:

He comes over on Thursday of every week. That’s my day, I’m Thursday. It’s a hopeful day, lost in the middle of the more important days; not the beginning or the end, but a stop. An appetizer to the weekend. Sometimes I wonder about the other days and if they wonder about me. That’s how women are, right? Always wondering about each other—curiosity and spite curdling together in little emotional puddles. Little good that does; if you wonder too hard, you’ll get everything wrong.

Audiobook: Narrated by Lauren Fortgang (Harlequin Audio; 9 hr) [digital and audio copies provided by the publisher]

All That's Bright and Gone by Eliza Nellums (Crooked Lane Books, Dec. 10): In this mystery, set in the Detroit area, six-year-old Aoife and her slightly older neighbor set out to find out what really happened to Aoife's dead brother, why her mother has been hospitalized, and what her lawyer uncle isn't telling her. The story, with themes of family, grief, secrets, and redemption, is told through Aoife's eyes. Opening lines:

I know my brother is dead. I’m not dumb like Hazel Merkowicz from up the street says.

Sometimes Mama just gets confused, is all.

Like every year on the feast of Saint Theodore, his birthday, Mama sets out an extra plate for Theo, with a candle on it instead of food because I guess Theo isn’t hungry. And Mama says, “Isn’t this nice? It’s like we’re all together again.”

Audiobook: Narrated by Jesse Vilinsky (Blackstone; 9 hr, 16 min) [digital copy provided by the publisher]

Thin Ice by Paige Shelton (Minotaur, Dec. 3): In this first in a new mystery series, a thriller author takes on a new identity and hides out in a small Alaskan town while police try to track down a man who kidnapped her. Settling into her new home, she agrees to help both the local police department and the newspaper, which gives her a good platform for researching her own assailant. Small, remote towns, however, are not always as safe as one would think. Opening lines:

The good thing about being suddenly overcome with fresh terror is that you forget everything else you were afraid of. At least temporarily.

The pilot next to me in the two-seat prop plane angled his almost toothless grin my direction and said loudly, “A little bumpy today. You’ll get used to it.”

Audiobook: Narrated by Suzie Althens (Dreamscape; 9 hr, 17 min) [digital copy provided by the publisher]

Good Girls Lie by J. T. Ellison (Mira, Dec. 30): When a British high school student gets a scholarship to an elite boarding school in Virginia, she thinks she is leaving all her troubles and dark past far away across the ocean. But mean girls, secret societies, and shadowy corners of campus haunt her and any other girl who refuses to play along with the popular kids. Can our hero truly escape her past? Opening lines:

The girl’s body dangles from the tall, iron gates guarding the school’s entrance. A closer examination shows the ends of a red silk tie peeking out like a cardinal on a winter branch, forcing her neck into a brutal angle. She wears her graduation robe and multicolored stole as if knowing she’ll never see the achievement. The last tendrils of dawn’s fog laze about her legs, which are five feet from the ground. It rained overnight and the thin robe clings to her body, dew sparkling on the edges.

Audiobook: Narrated by Fiona Hardingham (Harlequin Audio; 11 hr, 53 min) [digital and audio copies provided by the publisher]

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5 New Coming-of-Age Novels

I'm never sure what to say when someone asks me to name my favorite type of book because I like to read across the genres, I love literary fiction, and I don't hesitate to read middle grade books. Of course, I find often myself drawn to specific settings and themes, and one of those is the coming-of-age story. The five novels featured today all involve the loss of innocence, as the main characters contend with secrets, love, family, and a variety of pivotal life moments.

• All the Castles Burned by Michael Nye (Turner, Feb. 13): This novel is set in 1990s Cincinnati. Owen, 14 years old, has won a basketball scholarship to a local private day school, where he befriends an Uber-rich older teammate. Owen's freshman year includes more than book learning, as he realizes money doesn't make you a good person and one's parents are not infallible.
• Things to Do When It's Raining Marissa Stapley (Graydon House, Feb. 6): I may be stretching the coming-of-age theme, but this is the story of a young woman, who returns to her home town after things go wrong in New York. While figuring out what to do next, she learns the true meaning of love, not only in romantic relationships but also in families and the strength it gives her to make difficult decisions on behalf of her grandparents.
• Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson (Soho, Feb. 20): In 1980s Oklahoma, Sequoyah, a teenager, is put in foster care after his mother is arrested on drug charges. Dreams of freedom, a taste of young love, coming to terms with his Cherokee background, and the lure of easy money draw the boy--and his foster siblings--into a dark and dangerous place.
• The Calculus of Change by Jessie Hilb (Clarion, Feb. 27): Despite being smart and talented, teenage Aden suffers from insecurities related to being overweight and unresolved issues stemming from her mother's death, a decade earlier. When she's tapped to tutor Tate, cute, cool, and Jewish, she is forced to make decisions that will ultimate determine the type of person she really wants to be.
• Rosie Colored Glasses by Brianna Wolfson (Mira, Feb. 20): After her parents divorce, 11-year-old Willow has trouble adjusting to joint custody; she wants to live full-time with her fun-loving mother, Rosie. But without the buffer of her more-aloof father, Willow begins to question her mother's choices, finally realizing that love and parenting are more complex and difficult than she had ever imagined.

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