Station Eleven

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is about the world after a pandemic kills the majority of humans. 

Beginning in the last days of the current civilization, then jumping a few years into the future, we see how life has changed for the survivors. 

Kristen was a young girl when the plague happened. She was already drawn to acting, so her membership in the Traveling Symphony years later is no surprise. The group of actors and musicians travel along the edge of Lake Michigan, stopping in the towns to perform, trade news and supplies, and provide a break from the new normal for the town folks.

This is all I will say about the details. This is one of the best post-apocalyptic stories I have read. Mandel does not shy away from the dark parts of the change, but also does not gratuitously explain each gory detail. In fact, the plague was so fast and efficient, it is over quickly. 

Read the book before you watch the HBO series based on the book. 

Mandel, Emily St. John. (2014). Station Eleven. New York: Alfred A Knopf.

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (Singing Hills Cycle #2)

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo is the second book in the Singing Hills Cycle of fantasy novellas with the feel of a loved folk tale.

Cleric Chih continues their journey to gather stories. Needing a ride up the mountain, they are offered a ride by Si-yu and her mammoth Piluk. She will get them to the next way station where they will travel to their next planned destination.

Before they can reach safety, the mammoth is surrounded by three tigers. After a standoff, Chih offers a story to the tiger in exchange for their safety. Tigers love stories. If the story is good enough, she will not eat them.

Chih tells the intricate story of the famous tiger ancestor who took a human lover. But for every part of the story that the tiger feels is wrong, they will be closer to becoming dinner.

I love this series! Deceptively simple seeming stories (based on the length of the books) are packed with history, cultural wisdom, and everything else a good story should be. 

Vo, Nghi. (2020). When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. New York: TOR.

Noor

Noor by Nnedi Okorafor is a science fiction book that feels like the near future.

Anwuli Okwudili - who prefers to be called AO - has enhanced limbs due to birth defects. She chose to have surgeries to replace her useless limbs with state-of-the-art technology. This tech makes some people in her world think of her as unnatural - a cross point between tradition and religion of the past and the possibilities of the future. 

When she is attacked in the market, these enhancements save her life, but now she is on the run. She has no one who will harbor her, so she heads into the northern Nigerian desert. Where she comes across a man with two cows. 

DNA (he also prefers to be called by his initials) is a Fulani herdsman. He was traveling with all of his cattle and a few other herds. When they tried to go through a town they were attacked. But the videos only start when he is defending himself. Now he and his two remaining cows, Carpe Diem and GPS, are heading north to find help.

The only place to hide is the natural disaster in the desert - the Red Eye - a continuous sandstorm that has been raging for years. There is rumor of a safe haven in the middle of it. 

Okorafor has written a timely, compelling novel of corporations, social media, and the human ability to adapt. This is a beautifully told tale of the crossroads of so many things facing us in this time - all coming to a crashing head in the African desert. Read this today.

Okorafor, Nnedi. (2021). Noor. New York: Daw Books.

The President and the Frog

The President and the Frog by Carolina de Robertis is a beautiful book about a life spent in the service of making a country more just. 

In an unnamed Latin American country, a former president is about to be interviewed by yet another foreign journalist. Though he has been out of office for a while, his journey from protesting the previous regime and spending years in prison before becoming president is inspirational to people everywhere.

At 82, the president spends most of his time in the garden enjoying the quiet. He is a little surprised and resigned that he is still getting requests for interviews. Always when they come, they exclaim at the size of his small home and then move outside to film the interviews. 

And each time, the president considers telling them about the frog that came to taunt and encourage him to talk - keeping him from going insane while he remained in a hole in the ground with no human contact. A frog that may well have been a figment of his imagination.

Filled with humor and the strength of the human spirit, The President and the Frog is a philosophical novel about survival for the greater good. Told in flashbacks and present day, this is a wonderful book that everyone should read. It reminds me of my other favorite recent read: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Both capture the best of what it can mean to be human. Buy them both today from your local, independent bookstore. 

de Robertis, Carolina. (2021). The President and the Frog. New York: Alfred A Knopf.

The Unspoken Name (Serpent Gates #1)

The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood is the first book in the Serpent Gates YA fantasy series.

Csorwe lives at the Shrine of the Unspoken. She is about to be the latest sacrifice to the god of her homeland. Every fourteen years a young woman is given to the god. 

A month before her date, a pilgrim comes to the temple and requests a prophesy from the god. Csorwe is the conduit for this. Sethennai is asking about the Reliquary of Pentravesse, a legendary item that allowed Pentravesse to live in harmony with his god. Usually being tied to a god, and using the magic they emit, is very hard on the human body, most magicians dying young.

When Csorwe gets to the temple a month later, Sethennai offers her another way. If she comes with him, he will teach her languages, fighting and more. He thinks she can eventually help him win his city back from the man who usurped him.

Larkwood has started a great young adult fantasy series. Csorwe is a strong character who learns a lot about herself in this first book. She also falls in love and risks all to save the woman she loves.

Larkwood, AK. (2020). The Unspoken Name. New York: Tor.

Matrix

Matrix by Lauren Groff is about a twelfth century young woman, half-sister to the Queen of England, who was exiled to an abbey to live among the nuns.

Marie, half-sister to Queen Eleanor, only spent half a year at court when Eleanor sent to her live at an abbey in the county - far from court. 

When Marie arrived, at seventeen years old, the abbey was a poor and gloomy place. Born in the north of France, orphaned, moved to court and then exiled, Marie knew little of religion when she arrived at the abbey. 

Over time, Marie will learn to love the abbey, the sisters, and her life. As she is promoted, she does what she can to strengthen the abbey. She changes rules as she goes until she has a fortress of safety in a time when women had few safe places in the world.

Though not interested in the time period, Groff's excellent story telling had me right away. This is a story based on a real historical figure in early England / France. A woman who had a great influence on her community and country.

Groff, Lauren. (2021). Matrix. New York: Riverhead Books.

The Taste of Sugar

The Taste of Sugar by Marisel Vera is the story of Puerto Rico and early American capitalism's effect on Puertorriqueños.

Following the saga of one Puerto Rican family through the Spanish - American war, colonialism by Spain and then the United States. After the hurricane of 1899, when Puerto Rico had already been hit hard by the high US tax, a group of sugarcane growers in Hawaii advertised what appeared to be a good job with housing for families.

The Vega family were coffee growers in the Utuado region of Puerto Rico. When the younger son, Vicente, went to the city for his cousin's wedding, he met Valentina Sanchez. Her family had a stationery and printing shop. 

Life on the coffee farm was very different for Valentina than life in the city. They were also in for more changes as the US and Spain fought and the hurricane loomed.

Vera has written an important story that is not taught in US History - one more of the many that is skipped - of Puerto Rico's introduction to US capitalism. More than 5,000 Puerto Ricans moved to Hawaii to face the horrible conditions on sugar plantations. 

Vera, Marisel. (2020). The Taste of Sugar. New York: Liveright Publishing.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune (Singing Hills Cycle #1)

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo is a story of epic proportions in a tiny package. This is the first novella in the Singing Hills Cycle.

Cleric Chih and their companion Almost Brilliant are taking a detour on their way to the capital to chronicle the coming eclipse. Land that has been closed off for years, most of the reign of the previous empress, is now open. They want to catalog the place where a young royal spent most of her marriage to the emperor - in exile. 

Chih is surprised to find an old woman at the cabin where the emperor's wife-in-exile lived. While they catalog the home, the old woman Rabbit tells them stories of her life as handmaiden to the emperor's wife. 

This is storytelling at its best. A complete fantasy novel in 120 pages! Vo is a wonderful writer. Buy a copy today.

Vo, Nghi. (2020). The Empress of Salt and Fortune. NY: Tom Doherty Associates Books.

Diamond Doris: The True Story of the World's Most Notorious Jewel Thief

Diamond Doris: The World's Most Notorious Jewel Thief by Doris Payne and Zelda Lockhart is a fun, fast read about a very successful thief.

Doris grew up in West Virginia in a coal mining town. At eight years old, she decided she had to protect her mother from her abusive father. That was also when she decided she would never get married.

Not long after, Doris realized that it was easy to distract the shop person she was talking to, to the point of them losing track of their merchandise. Thus began a seven decade long career that spanned the globe. 

This is a great memoir. Super fun read about a bad ass woman who told a psychologist when asked why she did it, that the jewelers wanted her to take the diamonds to absolve them of thier guilt for selling African diamonds. 

Payne, Doris & Zelda Lockhart. (2019). Diamond Doris: The True Story of the World's Most Notorious Jewel Thief. NY: Amistad. 

The Sentence

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich is about a bookstore being haunted by their most annoying customer. But it is so much more than that.

On All Souls Day, Flora dies. Tookie is convinced that since then she has been haunting the bookstore - traveling the same isles that Flora did most days, her bangles gently jingling. The independent bookstore in Minneapolis is based on the author's own store.

Tookie got the job at the bookstore after spending years in prison. Her love of books grew during her incarceration. A former teacher would drop off books when she could. Not she must solve what Flrora wants. 

Beginning in November 2019, the characters live through our changing world - Covid, police shootings, continued prejudice against Black and brown people. Tookie explores what the living owe to the dead in this moving, loving look at one of the strangest years of our lives.

Erdrich is a wonderful writer. She is the only author I can think of whose work somehow already has the prospective to write about event so recent with such care and insight.

Erdrich, Louise. (2021). The Sentence. New York: Harper. 

The Gilda Stories

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez is a different kind of vampire tale. Written in segments, the first being published in the Village Voice, this tale follows a young Black woman from escaping enslavement through the year 2050.

In the 1950s, outside of New Orleans, Gilda finds a young woman hiding in her cellar. The Girl has escaped and fled from Mississippi. Gilda takes her in, moves her to town to help at her brothel. 

After a few years, when Gilda is ready to move on, she turns the girl - giving her the chance to live until she decides otherwise. All she asks is that the girl use the name Gilda.

The chapters that follow lead Gilda to San Francisco, Boston, New York and more. While telling the story of a gentler vampire archetype, one who gives as she takes, Gilda travel through generations of changes in civil rights.

Gomez is a classic lesbian novel. She explores Blackness, radical ecology, redefinitions of family, and the fluidity of the vampire in human society.

Gomez, Jewelle. (1991). The Gilda Stories. San Francisco: City Light Books.

The Sweetness of Water

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris, set at the end of the US Civil War is a tale of hope, heartbreak, friendship and endurance.

The war has ended, Union soldiers are in the South making sure that the formerly enslaved people know that they are free to leave if they wish. Tensions are still high as white land owners face the change, Black workers try to understand their options, and town folks adjust to a new reality.

George Walker and his wife Isabelle live on a property outside of the town of Old Ox, Georgia. Being from a family that moved South from Nantucket, George has never had enslaved workers on their land. They never needed workers as George inherited enough from his father to never have to work. He does enjoy wandering his property.

As George wanders, thinking of the news of his son who when to fight in the war, he comes across two brothers camping in his woods. Prentiss and Landry were born on the neighboring farm. When they were told of their freedom, they left. 

George and Prentiss develop a kind of friendship. Isabelle has taken to Landry - a calm, large man who does not talk much due to an injury (read: beating) when he was younger. 

When George hires Prentiss and Landry to help him start a small peanut farm - paying them the wage he would pay any man - some of the people in town do not agree with his ideas.

Harris has written a beautiful book. It is set in a hard time in US history, but he shows the positives and negatives of people at the time. My dread of reading of the time period were unfounded. Though there are hard parts of the book, he does not dwell on them, but gives his characters room to grow and have hope. Read this book.

Harris, Nathan. (2021). The Sweetness of Water. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Red Hood

Red Hood by Elana K Arnold is a retelling of Little Red Ridinghood. In this version, the wolves are the ones in danger.

Bisou lives with her grandmother in the woods near Seattle. She has lived there since her grandmother came and got her in Canada after her mother was killed.

As Bisou is walking home after a school dance, a wolf attacks her. It is the biggest wolf she has ever heard of. But it does not harm her. She manages to evade and then kill the wolf. 

When her grandmother figures out what happened, she has a story to tell Bisou. One about boys and how they can become wolves, endangering the young women around them.

Arnold has written a very readable, important book for all teen girls. 

Arnold, Elana. (2021). Red Hood. New York: Balzer and Bray.

The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean

The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey is a nonfiction trill as she follows the possibility of massive waves around the globe with surfers, scientists, insurance agents and wreck salvagers.

Think of the wave at the end of Point Break - so big it is impossible to ride or even survive. Now consider that as larger waves were discovered by surfers, they adapted to the greater speed. Big wave surfers are towed to the wave crest by jet skis. 

What causes these waves? And the waves that are said to have eaten ships in the part of the map that used to say, "There be monsters?" And how can they be predicted for ships' safety?

Casey tells us the answers and current theories in this wonderful book. From Hawaii with Laird Hamilton to South Africa with a man who salvages ships in the most likely place for them to sink on the planet, she breaks down what is known and what it still to discover about the ocean and its waves, moods and forces.

If you are looking for an engaging, heart-pumping read in nonfiction, I wholly recommend this book.

Casey, Susan. (2010). The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean. New York: Doubleday.

Light from Uncommon Stars

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki is a breathtakingly beautiful story and a special treat for musicians.

Shizuka Satomi is a violin teacher with a reputation of training masterful musicians who die young. That is because she has made a deal with a demon - she has to deliver the souls of seven violists in exchange for her own life.

Katrina Nguyen is a teen runaway staying with an acquaintance in the San Gabriel Valley, California. She is a mostly self-taught violinist who prefers to play gaming music. 

Shizuka meets Katrina in the park. Katrina is playing and Shizuka has returned home after many decades away. The neighborhood has changed a lot. One thing that Shizuka is pleased to see is that the giant donut still exists. 

Lan Tran and her family run Starrgate Donut. Captain Tran and her family traveled through galaxies to find Earth. Now they are setting up a stargate using the giant donut.

These three characters, plus a brilliant luthier, come together in interesting ways in this beautiful story. This is one of the best books I have read this year (a year of wonderful books)! Buy one for yourself of any musicians in your life.

Aoki, Ryka. (2021). Light from Uncommon Stars. New York: Tor.

The Body: A Guide for Occupants

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson is an informative, humorous look at what makes a human.

Going part by part (or system by system) Bryson uses his famous humor to impart the fun, interesting, and strange facts about the human body and the people who study us.

This is a great introduction for those of us who did not take a lot of physiology classes in school. You will also be better at trivia games once you read it!

Bryson, Bill. (2019). The Body: A Guide for Occupants. New York: Doubleday.

The Last Graduate (Scholomance #2).

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik is the second book in her Scholomance series - a fantasy book about a high school where more students are killed by mals than graduate. 

El and her classmates are seniors. This is the year that alliances are cemented and seniors practice for the battle of the graduation hall. But this year is a little different. Is the school saving up to attack them later, or are there fewer mals trying to kill everyone?

Read everything by Naomi Novik! This series is no exception. El is a great character surrounded by creative classmates. I love this series.

Novik, Naomi. (2021). The Last Graduate. New York: DelRey.

Scavenge the Stars (Scavenge the Stars #1)

Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim is the first book in her young adult fantasy series reimagining The Count of Monte Cristo. 

Amaya has been on a work ship for years. It is common for children to work off their parents' debts in this manner. The captain of this ship is as likely to add years to their service as he is to beat them. 

Amaya is counting the days until she can leave the ship and find her mother in the city of Moray. When she saves a man from drowning, he seems to be her ticket off of the ship.

Becoming part of a plot for someone else's revenge (presented to her as her own) Amaya has to get close to the son of the man who owns the ship she spent so long on. 

Sim has set up a great tale of fantasy, revenge and extravagance. Fun series.

Sim, Tara. (2021). Scavenge the Stars. New York: Disney Books.

Becoming

Becoming by Michelle Obama is a memoir of a Southside Chicago girl who grew up to become a bad ass woman. I listened to this on audiobook, read by the author.

Born into a loving, supportive family, Michelle Robinson demanded excellence of herself from a young age. From going ahead of the assigned piano assignments, to excelling at school, to becoming a lawyer she pushed herself. It may have come from her family lovingly pushing her to do her best. Or her mother and a couple of other moms pulling their kids out a class with a teacher who was too overwhelmed to encourage. Whatever the case, Michelle Robinson was an awesome young woman before she met Barack Obama.

This is a beautifully told tale of growing up, meeting the love of her life, supporting a partner in politics even when she herself never liked politics, becoming the first Black family in the White House, raising two strong, independent daughters, and more. 

Michelle Obama is a powerhouse. This audiobook was a delight to listen to. Once you read/listen, check her out on the Netflix show Waffles and Mochi! 

Obama, Michelle. (2018). Becoming. New York: Crown Publishing.

The Missing Hours

The Missing Hours by Julia Dahl is about a sexual assault of a college freshman and her process of trying to find out what happened to her.

Claudia Castro is known as a rich, party girl. She is a freshman at NYU who has decided to stay in the dorms over Spring break. 

When Claudia wakes up the morning after going to a campus adjacent bar, she does not know what happened to her. She is missing some of her clothing and smells like she has been sick. But she has no memory past ordering a drink.

What follows is the harrowing tale of knowing something terrible happened, having no idea what or who. With the help of a dorm neighbor, she tries to piece things together while staying away from her family until her face heals.

Dahl, a crime reporter herself, has written a hard-hitting story that is all too real in our society. 

Dahl, Julia. (2021). The Missing Hours. New York: Minotaur.

Not Here to Be Liked

Not Here to Be Liked by Michelle Quach is a high school struggle to balance being yourself and still get what you want.

Eliza Quan is the managing editor of her high school paper. Each year there is a staff election to pick the Editor in Chief. Eliza is sure she is going to be chosen as she is the most qualified and the only one running.

But when she gets to the election, Len a boy who usually sits in the corner and does not get involved other than to turn in articles about sports, announces he is running too. 

It turns out that while the staff respects Eliza, they like Len better. 

When Eliza writes an op ed about her loss, feminism, and why he was the wrong choice - an article that was never meant to be published but someone finds and post it - a wave of protests spread through the school.

Quach has written a compelling story that contains many important issued not often covered in YA. Great read.

Quach, Michelle. (2021). Not Here to Be Liked. New York: Katherine Tegen Books.

The Guide (Sequel to The River)

The Guide by Peter Heller is a fishing murder mystery where the guide might be in deep water. Heller fans will recognize Jack from The River. 

Kingfisher Lodge, located on the a mile and a half of the best fly fishing in the world, plays host to the wealthiest of clients. And now, during the latest of a series of world-wide pandemics, it is one of the last places to get away.

Jack has been hired to finish out the season when a river guide quits with no notice. He will be in charge of one to two clients at a time. And he is about to be thrown in as his first client is arriving in the morning.

Alison K is a well-known singer, taking a break from touring to recover. She is a seasoned fisherperson, having grown up in the Carolinas in a fishing family. She arrives with a security guard who assesses the lodge before he signs off on her week of rest.

But something strange is going on here. Each edge of the property is very clearly marked - one with a Don't Get Shot sign, and the other with a Beware Dogs will eat you vibe. 

What follow is Peter Heller at his best (which he is at in each of his books!). A suspenseful ride that will keep readers up until the last page. If you have not yet read Peter Heller, start today with any of his novels. You will quickly consume them all!

Heller, Peter.(2021). The Guide. New York: Alfred A Knopf.

Hot Dog Girl

Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan is the story of an epic summer spent working at an amusement park. 

Elouise "Lou" Parker is hopeful for an amazing summer. It is her second summer working at Magic Castle Playland with her best friend Seeley - a place that is also nostalgic because it is where her parent met.

Lou is hoping for a good costume this year, not the hot dog she had to wear last year. If she is really lucky, it will be something that puts her near the diving pirates - Nick in particular. 

Seeley is an artist who is happy this is her last summer in town before leaving for college. She is usually up for anything, but trying to help Lou get together with Nick is not on her list. Nor is Lou trying to set her up with someone when she is still getting over her ex-girlfriend.

Dugan has written a fun, summer read. It is sweet, humorous and heartfelt. 

Dugan, Jennifer. (2019). Hot Dog Girl. New York: Putnam.