There’s a lot to be said for a good story cycle. I was entranced by Julia Phillips’ Disappearing Earth, about the disappearance of two girls on a remote Russian peninsula and how that crime both rocks a community and hardly affects its petty problems at all. Sequoia Nagamatsu’s How High We Go in the DarkContinue reading “‘How High’ Soars with Sorrow, Joy”
Tag Archives: Would talk about at a party
‘Say Nothing’ Speaks Volumes of Irish Troubles
This week has brought an unwanted opportunity to think about the conflicts that have stretched through my not-very-long life. Most of the headlines and footage have been about violence and destruction in the Middle East. Which is not unearned, but it’s also easy to assume that all of the violence has been centered in thatContinue reading “‘Say Nothing’ Speaks Volumes of Irish Troubles”
‘Wild’ a Lovely ‘Psalm’ for the Discontent
Not to judge a book by its cover or anything, but frankly I expected more robots in Becky Chambers’ Psalm for the Wild Built. I mean, there’s one on the cover, but you don’t even hear about a single robot until halfway through. That said, once I moved past my precious expectations, I found this PsalmContinue reading “‘Wild’ a Lovely ‘Psalm’ for the Discontent”
‘Seek You’ Brings Connection to Loneliness
In case anyone’s noticed, we’re in a pandemic right now. The last two years have been, in many places and for many people, a study in loneliness. Throughout 2020, bloggers and news outlets weighed in on how to combat “skin hunger,” the phenomenon of longing for human touch. We keep searching for a “new normal”Continue reading “‘Seek You’ Brings Connection to Loneliness”
‘Chouette’ is Strange, but Lingers
Claire Oshetsky’s new book, Chouette, has one of the strangest and most gripping beginnings I have ever read: “I dream I’m making tender love with an owl. The next morning, I see talon marks across my chest that trace the path of my owl lover’s embrace. Two weeks later, I learn that I’m pregnant. YouContinue reading “‘Chouette’ is Strange, but Lingers”
‘Rising’ Tension Drives ‘Malibu’
All happy families are alike, as Tolstoy says, but that’s not the case in Malibu Rising, which follows a quartet of super-close siblings who would probably describe themselves as a happy family—even if poverty, fame, and necessity have made their version of happiness looks a little more complicated than most. Nina Riva, a 25-year-old modelContinue reading “‘Rising’ Tension Drives ‘Malibu’”
Character Goes Deep in ‘Luminous Dead’
I love the Nathan Pyle comic about reading. The simple four-panel comic really nails the immersive reader experience. Sometimes the immersion is as good as being on a sailing ship exploring new waters. Sometimes it’s tainted with magic and quarreling gods. And sometimes, it thrusts you in a dark, unpredictable cave where sight and soundContinue reading “Character Goes Deep in ‘Luminous Dead’”
‘Upright’ Lets Characters be Themselves
A few months ago, I read and loved Anna North’s Outlawed so much that it made me give the side-eye to Sarah Gailey‘s Upright Women Wanted because the premises have so many similarities. Both feature fierce young women who chafe against the bleakly misogynistic Wild West backdrop to the degree that their lives are threatened.Continue reading “‘Upright’ Lets Characters be Themselves”
‘Spy’ Too Compelling to Put Down
Every good spy story has coded messages, secret info drops, tense crossings of international lines, sordid love affairs, stakes of life or death and the threat of world war, and a few good turncoats. Ben McIntire’s The Spy and the Traitor has that and more—and perhaps most notably, is nonfiction. Oleg Gordievsky is a goodContinue reading “‘Spy’ Too Compelling to Put Down”
‘Last Stone’ an Uncritical Story of Iffy Policing
A lot of the books that end up on my TBR come from other reviews, which isn’t ideal for reviewing purposes but usually by the time I get around to reading them I’ve forgotten what the book is about, let alone what a reviewer said about it. That’s the case with The Last Stone byContinue reading “‘Last Stone’ an Uncritical Story of Iffy Policing”
Ring Reads 