Book Round-Up: Emily Edition

 Twelve Percent Dread by Emily McGovern: I generally love McGovern's comics but I couldn't get into this one. I did appreciate her satire of modern technology  and relationships, however.

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones: The Welsh mythology-based story -- about a gravedigger who has to figure out why bodies are crawling out of their graves -- was great; the overwrought, angsty, YA prose was not.

Funny Story by Emily Henry: It seems I'm destined to love every other Emily Henry novel, which means I found this one completely delightful. I really enjoyed the development of the main characters' relationship.

The Wood Wife by Emily Terri Windling: My second time reading this. It's a wonderful story about artists, fairies, and the desert, inspired by the art of Brian Froud.

The Museum of Lost Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini (pretty sure there was a character named Emily): The latest contemporary novel in the Elm Creek series (I've been skipping over the historical ones). It was fine. I admire Chiaverini's commitment to writing about social justice issues, particularly given how conservative a segment of her audience is, but her approach can be didactic.

Book Round-Up

 The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood: This is part of the Canongate Myth Series, and is a novella retelling the Odyssey from Penelope's viewpoint. Penelope proves herself to be aware of the inequities of ancient Greek life, but all too willing to make use of those inequities when it suits her, leaving me feeling ultimately indifferent to her fate. Far more effective was the Greek chorus: the twelve maids killed by Odysseus, who intersperse Penelope's narrative with poems, songs, trial testimony, etc. Their voices were haunting.

Happy Place by Emily Henry: I didn't enjoy this one as much as Henry's other novels; a good deal of the angst and misery would  have been avoided if the characters had had honest conversations with each other a lot sooner. Beach Read is still my favorite.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: This is the delightful start to a cozy mystery series with a group of septuagenarians who solve murders. It was, by turns, poignant and funny, and I can't read to read the rest.

 The Man who Died Twice by Richard Osman: So I immediately got the second from the library! Osman does a good job balancing the silly (elderly Joyce's new instagram handle is @greatjoy69) and the melancholy (a random assault drastically affects Ibrahim). I will be requesting the next volume soon.

Stumptown by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth: What a pleasant surprise to find this in my local Little Free Library! It's a comic book series centered on Dex, a troubled private detective in Portland, Oregon. My husband and I adored the show not just for its acting and stories, but also the presence of Anselm, Dex's brother with Down Syndrome. I'm still mad they canceled it after one season.

 

Book Round-Up:

 Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife: The flip side of infinity is zero, and this is a good but brief overview of the concept, written with a layperson in mind. I do wish Seife had gone into more detail in the latter half of the book, in particular the connection between zero and infinity and the implications for quantum mechanics and general relativity.

West End Girls by Jennie Colgan: I loved the two other books I've read by Colgan, but this was a disappointment -- more stereotypical and coarse in its portrayal of characters, and even a little mean-spirited. It's one of her early works, so that could explain it.

Origin by Jennifer Raff: An engaging presentation of the latest genetic and archeological evidence about the peopling of the Americas, with a good emphasis on the way racism and other forms of bias have affected and continue to affect our understanding of the science. This makes a great follow-up to Charles C. Mann's 1491 (which I strongly recommend, even if some of the information is now outdated).

The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler: A book about circuses, mermaids, tarot cards, curses, librarians, and rare books is right up my alley, and I certainly enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. I'm not sure why; most of the characters were endearing one way or another, and the story itself was interesting, but it didn't grab me. Maybe because the all-consuming love at the heart of the story is the kind of thing I get impatient with.

Gallant by V.E. Schwab: Schwab's gothic take on the alternate universe trope reminded me both of Neil Gaiman's Stardust and Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden (yes, really). I like how Schwab's novels never go quite where you expect them.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry: This was a fun inversion of the typical "city girl finds love in a small town" story, with lots of meta commentary about Hallmark movies, romance novels, and the book industry. The family melodrama was a bit heavy-handed at times, but I really enjoyed this, much more than People We Meet on Vacation (but not as much as Beach Read, which is still my favorite of Henry's).

Beach Read by Emily Henry

This novel was well worth the three months I had to wait to get it from the library. It's billed as a romance novel, I think Henry's first for adults, but it's really so much more than that. January Andrews is a romance writer dealing with writer's block, her beloved father's death, and a devastating family secret. She moves into her father's lakeside cabin to prep it for sale and finally write the book she owes her publisher, only to discover her next door neighbor is her college rival. Augustus Everett is a highly-acclaimed literary novelist also dealing with writer's block and personal troubles. They soon agree to a competition of sorts, swapping genres to see who can get a book sold first.

There was absolutely nothing surprising in the outcome -- January and Gus fall in love, she comes to terms with her father's complicated legacy, he heals from past trauma, and they both finish their books. The joy of this novel was watching it all unfold; the characters (all of them) were interesting and complex and the issues they dealt with felt real. January is a genuinely funny narrator, with a sharp wit that kept her from becoming too melodramatic.

I stayed up way too late reading this, and now I wish I had bought it (I could have read it sooner!).