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.”

Fire by George R. Stewart

5/5 stars

What's it about? A lightning strike in the Sierra Nevada creates the wildfire known as Spitcat, which rages over eleven days in this outstanding nail-biter of a nature novel. Through intricate portraits of the firefighters, animal inhabitants, and the forest itself, Stewart crafts a luxurious landscape in which readers will become heartbreakingly invested.

How’d I find it? Fire was the August 2024 selection of the NYRB Classics Book Club, which you absolutely need in your life.

Who will enjoy this book? Fans of The Overstory by Richard Powers or Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson will not be able to put Fire down.

What stood out? This read utterly enchanted me. Chapters open with a philosophical or historical treatment of fire, including the glorious line “Lightning is the true Prometheus,” before zooming into the happenings of one of the book’s characters, including the Spitcat herself. I couldn’t get enough of John Bartley, the ranger who loves the trees as family, and Judith, the plucky young lookout who first sees smoke. Originally published in 1948, the book suffers from some racist and sexist language, its only weakness.

Which line made me feel something? Stewart’s writing blew my socks off. Take, for example: “Now a fire is more like a shape-shifting monster, stretching out long and encircling arms before it. Now a fire is like a nation, growing weak for a while, and then springing up with a new vigor, as millions of flamelets within it die, or as new flamelets blaze up. But—man or monster or nation—like them all, the fire is the thing-in-itself. It begins, and is, and ends; it is born, and lives, and dies.”

Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams

5/5 stars

What's it about? Pearl works for Apricity, whose proprietary tech tells people what they should do to be happier. But do people even want to be happy? Pearl’s son Rhett has an eating disorder, and maybe Apricity can tell Pearl how to save him. A gorgeous novel about humanity and fulfillment.

How’d I find it? The New York Times review made reading this book a priority. I found a gently used copy at Powell’s.

Who will enjoy this book? Tell the Machine Goodnight is for the sad girls, a pet sub-genre of mine that includes all of Lana Del Rey’s discography and the film Sometimes I Think About Dying. You know what? I’m creating a tag called Lana to commemorate works of this ilk. If you appreciated the writing chops and feels of Biography of X by Catherine Lacey or the “sad girls of the future” lilt of Everything You Ever Wanted by Luiza Sauma, you’ll enjoy Williams’s first adult novel.

What stood out? Williams chooses to shake up the narration throughout the book, made up of standalone chapters à la Olive Kitteridge. The effect rounds out the story’s focus on the human, which contrasts with the added chaos of technology. Calla Pax, a superstar for her screaming abilities, was a particularly compelling character.

Which line made me feel something? The meaning of Apricity recalls our blue light present and holds its melancholy tightly: “The warmth of the sun on one’s skin in the winter.”

Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib

5/5 stars

What's it about? A heritage, a celebration, and an elegy delivered with Abdurraqib’s romance and ruin. No one writes culture quite like Hanif, and his honoring of A Tribe Called Quest is a sweet masterpiece.

How’d I find it? Hanif is one of our finest writers, so I want to read whatever he’s putting out.

Who will enjoy this book? Sure, this book will speak to hip-hop listeners, but it’s also for the MTV generation for whom music was a lens through which to view America.

What stood out? Smart, generous, and nostalgic, the essays of Go Ahead in the Rain chart the rise and fall of A Tribe Called Quest within the legacy of Black art. Abdurraqib weaves in his own coming-of-age vignettes as a kid in Columbus who used music as a foothold. The book is gorgeously written, especially the chapter “Lament,” written in the form of letters to Q-Tip, Phife, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad.

Which line made me feel something? It’s hard to pick just one in a book so excellent, but I’ll settle on the following: “Which is why the sample is a joy, isn’t it? The wind blows a memory of someone into a room through sound, and the architect captures that memory with their bare hands and puts it on wax.”

Old New York by Edith Wharton

5/5 stars

What's it about? In these four outstanding novellas, Edith Wharton hones in on the constraints of class within New York society of the mid-1800s.

How’d I find it? It’s no secret that I love a pocket edition. I was browsing a neighborhood library book sale in Washington, DC, and this tiny Wharton collection in mint condition (no longer) had to come home with me.

Who will enjoy this book? This is Literature with a capital L. If you like the big names in short fiction, these novellas will charm you. This is also a great book for fellow Austenites looking for a cunning period read. Wharton delivers.

What stood out? I may not have enjoyed Ethan Frome, but this book is a real winner. Each story is unique — a young man is entrusted with his family’s legacy in “False Dawn,” while “New Year’s Day” plays with the trope of a woman scorned — which makes the collection extra engrossing. The ending of “Old Maid” came out of nowhere and instantly put me in tears.

Which line made me feel something? From “The Spark,” in which a certain Civil War poet makes an appearance: “Those four years had apparently filled to the brim every crevice of his being. For I could not hold that he had gone through them unawares, as some famous figures, puppets of fate, have been tossed from heights to depths of human experience without once knowing what was happening to them—forfeiting a crown by the insistence on some prescribed ceremonial, or by carrying on their flight a certain monumental dressing-case.”