Book Round-Up

 A Death in Cornwall by Daniel Silva: My first Silva novel, recommended to me by my husband because the protagonist has retired from spying to become an art restorer. It was fine, but the descriptions of how beautiful and wealthy every character was got tedious. I'm starting to believe there is an inverse correlation between how much time is spent on what the characters look like and the quality of the book.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells: This satirical sci-fi novella was utterly delightful. Murderbot was just so much fun to read about, and I actually teared up at the very end. I can't wait to read the rest.

Back After This by Linda Holmes: This wasn't my favorite of her novels (the podcast industry setting wasn't my thing), but I continue to love the wit of Holmes's writing, and the fact that her characters act like grown-ups.

The Sorceror's House by Gene Wolfe: My first Gene Wolfe was kind of a disappointment. I liked the structure (epistolary) and there were some neat ideas and intriguing motifs, but the attitudes of the characters were straight out the 1970s and 1980s, despite the novel ostensibly taking place in 2000s.

Book Round-Up

 Flying Solo by Linda Holmes: Her second novel was just as enjoyable as her first, with wonderful characters, a sweet romance, a little mystery, and an unconventional happy ending.

Just One Look by Lindsay Cameron: A fun thriller about a young lawyer who, after spectacularly blowing up her life and career, has to start over as a contract attorney doing document review. The documents she reviews, which lead to a new, dangerous obsession, are a lot more exciting than the documents I reviewed when I was a lawyer.

The Bear Went over the Mountain by William Kotzwinkle: A laugh-out-loud-on-the-subway book about a bear who finds a manuscript in the woods and decides to get it published. It's a satire not only of academia and publishing, but humanity, too.

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova: Córdova's short story was one of the only good ones from Toil and Trouble, so I was excited to read its expansion into a novel filled with family legacies, art, magic, and resilience.

The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden: This was a disappointment. The protagonist, stuck in her life, is given three magic lemon drops that allow her to live out a day where she has made different choices in the past. She was far too passive and martyrish, though, and the resolution was a bit too pat. A far better novel about regrets and "what ifs" is Matt Haig's The Midnight Library.

Book Round-Up

The Forgers by Bradford Morrow: an unconventional mystery with an unreliable narrator. In fact, the narrator is so repellent -- an ex-felon, unremorseful, snobbish, egotistical, and worst of all too willing to lie and deceive the supposed love of his life -- by the second chapter I accurately predicted his character arc. I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as I hoped I would.

The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang and Sonney Liew: Yang and Liew revive a very obscure Golden Age superhero, the Green Turtle, and give him an explicitly Asian identity and backstory, and the result is delightful -- poignant and clever and laugh-out-loud funny. The trade paperback collects the 6-issue mini-series, and I really hope they plan to write and draw more someday.

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes: I've been a fan of Holmes's pop culture writing for a while, so I was pleased to see she had published a novel, and even more pleased to have enjoyed it. It's a romance between a widow (Evvie of the title) who's not grieving the way everyone expects her to and an MLB pitcher whose career was derailed by the yips, but it's also about Evvie's relationship with her best friend, and most importantly about her healing.

Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald: A novel about time-crossed lovers meeting in Grand Central Station, in the vein of The Time Traveler's Wife. The story was fine, the characters were fine, the writing was fine, and I had to force myself to finish it.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara: Despite loving mysteries I generally don't read true crime books, especially about serial killers, because all too often I find the works exploitative, sensationalistic, and occasionally downright creepy in the way the perpetrators are treated. This book came highly recommended, though, and the praise it has received is justified. McNamara's writing is compelling without being excessive, and she is deeply respectful of the victims and their families.