 Icelandic cafe decor. These are color coordinated books that look cool, but the books have been cut away about 3 inches from the spine so that they can be displayed. The bookshelves don't need to be full sized this way, but the books are unreadable.
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 Gregory Roberts. 2003. This was a huge saga, some of which was an interesting outsider's view of India, as the narrator is an Australian fugitive hiding in 1980's Bombay, moving in the shady world of organized crime, It is a stereotypically masculine storyline, complete with going off to fight in a war that lasts for a whole section of the book. The women characters are shallow and undeveloped, with the focus more on glorifying this particular set of criminals, who have an honor code unto themselves and yet turn on each other in a variety of ways that moved the story forward, but did not really draw me in. There are several sections that are graphically violent in ways that I did not think were necessary except for their value as being shocking and gross.
That said, there were long stretches of the book that I was drawn into, such as his time living in the slum and working as a sort of medic and the time when he was involved with falsifying international documents, but overall, I just couldn't get excited about this narrator's story and often found myself rooting against him a lot of the time, hoping the few women that make an appearance would leave him and whatnot. Not recommended.  Aiden Thomas. 2020. This is a YA book with Queer teens as the main characters in which their Queerness is not the main storyline was so much fun. Finally, we are starting to see true representation across genres and it is even more fabulous when the books are really good. This is a magical story about family, real family, grief, growing up, and change. The narrator is a trans boy in a family and community with strict gender roles around religion and the performance of magic that make navigating transness challenging, but not the only hard thing as the book navigates loss, love, and friendship. Added to this is a mystery to be investigated and solved. All of this is written in an accessible way that didn't feel heavy at all and didn't made you feel lectured at. Things like binders, pronouns, and bathrooms get mentioned as just a regular part of life, rather than being made into the center of the storyline. It is a charming and delightful read, with a hint of, but not too much, romance. A great addition to the YA genre and I am looking forward to adult fiction following this same trend of having books by and about trans people that are not meant to educate or inform, but rather to just add to the reading options out there. Highly recommend.
 Jhumpa Lahiri. 2008. This series of short stories that eventually tie together were difficult to follow as they introduce new characters and jump around. I kept trying to figure out the connection to the last segment, which I think distracted from being able to enjoy the actual story. I didn't like the first part, but the second set of intertwined stories culminated in a nicely tied together ending that was entirely unpredictable and yet made sense once we got there in a way that I don't think the first half of the book ever did. Not recommended.
 Shirley Jackson. 1962. Once in a while, I will read a book on paper when it isn't available in an audio format and my friend/co-worker, Sloane, bought this for me to read. I took it on a beach trip and found it to be sort of the opposite of a beach read. It is by the same author who wrote the short story, The Lottery, which most everyone I know probably read in a high school or college English class. The introduction talks about the author's experience of isolation and being the target of overt antisemitism, which provided interesting context for both The Lottery and this story in which the narrator and her sister experience ostracism and are tormented by their neighborhood. Sad and poignant, the murder mystery unfolds slowly and, in an unusual trick of narration, isn't the main point of the story at all. Rather, the message here reminds the reader that social isolation breeds more isolation and the more you pull away from community, the more community will pull away from you until sometimes it goes too far, with the ultimate question remaining open as to whether you can ever return from that point. A good read for those partial to paperback. Not not recommended.
 Brian Doyle. 2019. I didn’t particularly like Brian Doyle's revered novel, Mink River, so I was skeptical I was going to like this collection of essays and other writings of his, collected and compiled by friends and colleagues when it became apparently that his illness would be costly and ultimately terminal. It was a delightful surprise to find that this was an incredibly powerful book. It was interesting to read it on the heels of Father-ish because many of the essays in this book were reflections on his parenting, but unlike Father-ish, which I found superficial and trite, this book was deeply moving and spiritual. The stories were insightful and novel, with heartfelt insight and a loving softness that was at once painful and joyous. The writing is nothing short of beautiful. Moving and lyrical, it feels like every word is in the right place. I typically find parenting vignettes told by people who have happy childhoods and who love parenting to be hollow and kind of annoying, but these were neither.
Highly recommend.  Yaa Gyasi, 2020. This novel, about a scientist research addiction, has a lot going to for and feels like one of the STEM cross over books popular with high school lit teachers trying to get STEM kids to engage with reading. The story behind her career choice is compelling and unfolds slowly and without fanfare. The character development and plot are solid, the writing is good, and the book holds together well. All that said, I found that it lacked any kind of spark, though, and I always felt like I was reading a well-crafted story, rather than feeling sucked into it. I can see, though, why others love this book. Not not recommended.
 Torrey Peters. 2021. I read this off-list one because so many friends were reading it and talking about it. There is a lot to love about this story that focuses on transwomen's relationships with motherhood. It is a rare novel that presents a trans-feminine life experience with any depth or complexity to it and this one tackles not only that, but also the taboo topic of detransitioning. The writing is excellent and the story lured me in with enough drama to keep me focused, even reading late into the evening when I should have gone to bed, which for me is the sign of a good read. To boot, the story stayed with me a good deal after finishing the book as I continued to think about the characters and plot. There were a few moments in the middle that I felt rambled and could have been tightened up, but the rest was solid enough that I could look past that. Recommend.
 Terence Gray, Erin Day, & Ian Thake. 2020. After slogging through some longer, heavy reads recently, I decided to go off list in search of something light and mindless, which brought me to this free audible release. A podcast performance of a quick, light romance, this book is inoffensive and cute, but doesn't offer enough. While it is probably technically a romance, it omits any sex scene and has nothing that makes a lasting impression. It follows a romance that follows in the wake of Bachelor type reality tv show, but feels like the plot was lifted from a Hallmark Christmas movie. Not recommended.
 Susanna Clarke. 2004. Written in the Jane Austen era style of prose, this alt-history fantasy novel is long. I found that it dragged on. In a world with magic-magic, trick-magic, and cons, this books is filled with distracting footnotes that provide information needed to follow the story, but that on an audio book at least, are distracting. I found it hard to tell what was real history and what was alternative history, given I don't know the Napoleonic era well. There was a lot of war-related politics that I didn't entirely follow and a rea lack of depth to the women in the story. Not recommended.
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AuthorI'll read anything a friend recommends & I love telling people what I think about it. Every year, I read 50 books recommended by 50 different friends. Welcome to My 50 Bookish Friends Blog. SearchCategories
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