Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro, translated by Eve Hill-Agnus

5/5 stars

What's it about? An accomplished ship captain impulsively allows her crew to swim in the sea, and everything that comes after goes awry. Most concerning: the voyage started with twenty sailors—now there are twenty-one. An eerie page-turner.

How’d I find it? I picked up a few titles from a display of short reads at Powell’s, and all have been bangers. Admittedly, this cover played no small role in my purchase.

Who will enjoy this book? The disjointed narrative and dreamy prose of Ultramarine recall Julia Armfield’s Our Wives Under the Sea.

What stood out? Mariette Navarro knows what she’s doing. The shifting realities of Ultramarine keep the reader tense, but the siren effect of its atmospheric language make the discomfort worthwhile. That uneasiness lingers, even though the book is brief and can be consumed in one captivated sitting. The ocean is very scary.

Which line made me feel something? A representative example of Navarro’s beautiful writing: “They’ve left the sounds of the earth and of the surface: they discover the music of their own blood, a drumming to the point of jubilation, percussion that could lead them to a trance. Dark sound of held breaths, symphony of lightness.”

Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith

5/5 stars

What's it about? Isabel goes to work at the public library in Portland, nurses an impossible crush, and attends a party. Those are the happenings in this trim, satisfying novel that captures perfectly an ambivalent twentysomething circa 2010.

How’d I find it? The staff picks at Powell’s rarely steer me wrong.

Who will enjoy this book? The library link and worry about climate change in Glaciers make this reader suspect that Jenny Offill was heavily inspired by Smith’s work in writing Weather. Either way, the two books pair nicely. For another read that takes place over one day, try A Simple Man by Christopher Isherwood.

What stood out? Smith nails time to the wall, writing into a moment when rising sea levels and the war in Iraq joined the search for intimacy as prime concerns for young adults. Glaciers presents a tiny time capsule, made all the more potent by Isabel’s nostalgia and need to preserve the past as well as the possible. The novel ends with a circle of partygoers swapping stories; it’s an elegant departure from the focus on the individual and sticks its landing.

Which line made me feel something? This bit of banter between Isabel and her friend Leon: “Who darns socks? Girls nobody tells stories about.”

Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer

5/5 stars

What's it about? At long last it’s here—and it’s real good. In this prequel to the Southern Reach series, we return to the Forgotten Coast at three points in its history: twenty years before Area X, eighteen months before Area X, and at the start of Central’s first expedition (in a section narrated by Lowry, its only survivor). Absolution introduces Old Jim, the piano player at the village bar, and lifts the curtain on Central’s nefarious dealings that brought about Area X. VanderMeer cranks up the horror in this installment; “Dead Town,” the book’s first section, will ruin white rabbits for you.

How’d I find it? I couldn’t wait for the release of Absolution. In fact, I attended the book launch at Powell’s and asked VanderMeer if this book would be as weird as Dead Astronauts. “Weird, but in a different way,” he said. Indeed—I haven’t read anything quite like Absolution.

Who will enjoy this book? Lovers of Alex Garland, who directed the film adaptation of Annihilation, the first book of the series, will appreciate the creepiness and tension in VanderMeer’s work.

What stood out? The book’s three sections read like linked novellas, each with a distinct perspective on the mystery of Area X. I came away wanting to revisit the whole series (a massive feat for a prequel) to see how the reveals influenced my appreciation of the other books. Absolution is all momentum and culminates in Lowry’s account of the first expedition, a foulmouthed, drug-addled rant that leaves the reader as twitchy and anxious as Lowry himself. VanderMeer keeps his readers in the palm of his hand, and it’s a wild ride, even knowing how the story ends.

Which line made me feel something? “Worse, because too often there was so little emotion there, or the emotion flared up again raw, and then banked almost into ash, and wasn’t that awful? Wasn’t that the wrong kind of oblivion? While thinking, If you cut someone out of your life that way, hadn’t you become, for a time, a kind of monster? DIdn’t that deserve the ash?”

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

5/5 stars

What's it about? When a unicorn realizes she may be the last of her kind, she embarks on a quest to find the others. A whimsical and profound tale of the grappling between greed and love.

How’d I find it? The animated film has been a favorite of mine since childhood. What a delight to find that much of the dialogue in the movie was lifted straight from the book.

Who will enjoy this book? This is a fantasy classic and therefore a must-read for fans of the genre.

What stood out? The tone of the writing—dark, full of import—elevates the story to fairy tale status. I especially enjoyed the portion of the book that takes place in King Haggard’s castle. The unicorn’s turn as human creates a palpable strangeness.

Which line made me feel something? This description of a wizard’s power: “The wind was cold and rank, a wet, hooty marsh wind, and it leaped here and there in the room like a gleeful animal discovering the flimsiness of human beings.”

The Body in Question by Jill Ciment

5/5 stars

What's it about? C-2 gets involved with F-17, a fellow juror on a high-profile murder trial in which an adopted teen is accused of killing her baby brother. Even this brief escape from caregiving doesn’t relieve C-2 of her life at home with her aging husband. A sharp little novel with heart.

How’d I find it? I found this at Powell’s, and the bookseller who checked me out fussed over this writer. I now understand why.

Who will enjoy this book? This had the tone of the fantastic 2002 film Unfaithful.

What stood out? Ciment takes us into the sexuality and morality of adult womanhood. It’s raw, genuine, and a thrill to read. The wrench thrown into the works by the health of C-2’s husband, a much older man who depends on her, provides a compelling contrast to the isolation of jury duty and C-2’s affair.

Which line made me feel something? “Grief doesn’t feel as if a rug has been pulled out from under her. There is no rug. There is no floor on which to lay a rug. There is no ground on which to build a floor to lay a rug.”

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

5/5 stars

What's it about? In the second installment of the Time Quintet, Meg Murry must team up with Calvin, her nemesis/old principal Mr. Jenkins, and some mysterious new partners to pass a series of tests that determine the fate of a rapidly ailing Charles Wallace. A perfect little book that explores the miracle of being with whimsy and wisdom.

How’d I find it? Since rereading A Wrinkle in Time, I’ve been excited to see what the Murrys get into next.

Who will enjoy this book? Reading Madeleine L’Engle is like being in front of a cozy fire on a drizzly winter day, all warmth and weight. If you relish such a tone (for me, it’s like an injection of Christmas spirit), this book is for you. Think Everything Everywhere All at Once.

What stood out? L’Engle pitches out the rules of reality as we know it and writes a more daring, imaginative possibility. The mysterious farandolae, the mattered form of a cherubim, the song of the universe—delights for the mind. The fascinating cast, including the terrifying and annihilating Echthroi, propels with velocity this quest that is just as much physical as spiritual. Meg is a Namer!

Which line made me feel something? Mr. Murry makes a brief cameo to deliver this whopper on hope: “There are still stars which move in ordered and beautiful rhythm. There are still people in this world who keep promises.”

Virgin by Analicia Sotelo

5/5 stars

What's it about? Channeling experience, myth, and art, Sotelo muses on sexuality and the trauma created by men in this winning first collection.

How’d I find it? Actually, this book found me. At J. Michaels Books in Eugene, I casually opened Virgin to “My Father & de Chirico Asleep on Chairs of Burnt Umber" and dissolved into tears. Had to have it.

Who will enjoy this book? This is Kendra DeColo for the younger set. If you haven’t read her, try “I Pump Milk Like a Boss.”

What stood out? Sotelo’s tone is familiar and conversational, bringing levity to topics that would otherwise weigh down the book. She takes on absent fathers and the sexualization of girls while making me smile. The language is gorgeous, and this Greek mythology nerd loved her riffs on Ariadne and Persephone. Virgin has it all: cohesion, wit, beauty, and relevance. Aside from the aforementioned poem, “Ariadne Discusses Theseus in Relation to the Minotaur” was my favorite.

Which line made me feel something? From “I’m Trying to Write a Poem about a Virgin and It’s Awful:” “everyone knows the best shadows always look like the worst kinds of men”

Amen, sister.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

5/5 stars

What's it about? Six astronauts in low orbit move through a day on the space station as they witness sixteen sunrises and sunsets on Earth. A dreamy little novel about progress, ambition, and the place of humanity in the cosmos.

How’d I find it? Trolling the fiction shelves at Powell’s on a weekday. This cover caught my eye, and I took it home. Six months later, Orbital won the 2024 Booker Prize.

Who will enjoy this book? If you liked When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut, this might speak to you.

What stood out? Orbital creates the delicious feeling of one’s own smallness, the dizzying scale of the universe that exists beyond the self. I enjoyed every word. Harvey’s winding descriptions and breathy proclamations add to the mystic qualities of this book, whose action takes place mostly in the minds of astro/cosmonauts Chie, Shaun, Nell, Anton, Roman, and Pietro. The references to space programs can feel elementary for those like yours truly who read a lot (like, a lot) about astronomy, but these will be launch points for further research for inductees. Savor a standout passage in which Shaun reflects on Velázquez’s painting Las Meninas.

Which line made me feel something? “The mundaneness of their earth-stuck orbit, bound for nowhere; their looping round and never out. Their loyal, monogamous circling which struck them last night as humbly beautiful. A sense of attraction and servitude, a sort of worship.”

Shadows of Carcosa: Tales of Cosmic Horror by Lovecraft, Chambers, Machen, Poe, and Other Masters of the Weird

5/5 stars

What's it about? This collection of top-notch stories explores atmospheric horror and the dread of the unknown. A book of veritable bangers.

How’d I find it? When I managed a bookstore at Busboys & Poets, this book always caught my eye. Now it’s mine!

Who will enjoy this book? The cryptic editor’s note at the end of the book suggests that this read is meant for the Lovecraft fans, but any horror lover would appreciate.

What stood out? Despite the fact that all the stories are written by men whose oeuvres straddle the 19th and 20 centuries, these tales showcase a diversity of style and subject, united in their pervasive creepiness. “The White People” by Arthur Machen and Ambrose Bierce’s “The Damned Thing” were absolute masterpieces. I didn’t quite understand the meaning of “cosmic horror” or why these pieces were lumped together, but fortunately the work stands alone

Which line made me feel something? This terrifying landscape description from “An Inhabitant of Carcosa” by Ambrose Bierce: “Protruded at long intervals above it, stood strangely shaped and somber-colored rocks, which seemed to have an understanding with one another and to exchange looks of uncomfortable significance, as if they had reared their heads to watch the issue of some foreseen event. A few blasted trees here and there appeared as leaders in this malevolent conspiracy of silent expectation.” Shudder.

Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin, Translated by Megan McDowell

5/5 stars

What's it about? A new technology is sweeping the world. Kentukis, cute pet robots controlled by anonymous human users, offer companionship to their keepers and an intimate relationship with a stranger to their dwellers. What might such privileged access cost us? Can privacy exist in a world where someone is always watching? A genius novel about connection.

How’d I find it? Samanta Schweblin’s prowess ensures that every book she puts out is a winner. I picked up my copy at Powell’s. I mean, look at that cover!

Who will enjoy this book? I was heavily reminded of the charming stories in Out There by Kate Folk while reading Little Eyes. Another short and creepy read that features tech gone bad? This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno.

What stood out? Schweblin structures the novel in vignettes, using locations as chapter titles. The effect turns the book into pins in a map, a book-length collection of reels. My favorite storyline: Emilia, a single woman in Lima whose son gifts her the chance to be a dweller, becomes so attached to her German keeper that she pushes the boundaries of her role as household rabbit. Little Eyes feels like a warning from the future, one that clearly ruffled me, as I’m composing this review in incognito mode.

Which line made me feel something? In a chapter focused on Alina, the bored partner of an artist: “Why were the stories about kentukis so small, so minutely intimate, stingy, and predictable? So desperately human and quotidian…Sven would never change his art for her. Nor would she change, for anyone, her state of existential fragmentation. Everything faded.”