A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

4/5 stars

What's it about? Thirteen-year-old Meg Murry and her savant baby brother Charles Wallace embark on a mission to find their long-missing father, with the guidance of the enigmatic Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit and the support of smart, athletic Calvin. The quest has a far more complicated objective: to save the world from Evil.

How’d I find it? Though I rarely reread anything, I’ve recently had a hankering to revisit books I loved as a child. I met Madeleine L’Engle when I was eleven and was in awe of her. A Wrinkle in Time was the first of her books I encountered.

Who will enjoy this book? This book is perfect for young readers interested in probing bigger questions about purpose and goodness.

What stood out? The eerie monotony of the planet Camazotz and the healing love of Aunt Beast hold special places in my literary education; the story abounds with similar treasures. A Christian undercurrent that was invisible to me as a child runs through A Wrinkle in Time, and it admittedly smacked of another agenda that I found less savory in this reread. I wish the rescue of Charles Wallace was less rushed after such a paced build to the climax, but this is a small gripe in a story that sparkles with ingenuity.

Which line made me feel something? This conversation between Meg and her mother: “‘Do you think things always have an explanation?’ ‘Yes. I believe that they do. But I think that with our human limitations we’re not always able to understand the explanations. But you see, Meg, just because we don’t understand doesn’t mean that the explanation doesn’t exist.’”

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.”

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? Thanks to this bookstagrammer, I get all kinds of great recommendations for reads off the beaten path.

Why not 3 or more stars? I Who Have Never Known Men has a fascinating premise: a young girl and 39 women are imprisoned for years in an underground cage patrolled by guards, and no one knows why or how they got there. Once they escape to the desolate world above, the story spins its wheels for the rest of this short and nightmarish novel, stalling at any moment that threatens momentum. Harpman’s commitment to letting the reader marinate in uncertainty is quite the tease and memorable indeed.

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.”

The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier

3/5 stars

What's it about? After a terrifying bout of turbulence, Air France flight 006 touches down at JFK with all 243 passengers unscathed. Or does it? This speculative thriller runneth over with ideas about fate and the soul.

How’d I find it? This book was on the frontlist table at Solid State Books, and I heard positive feedback from readers that inspired me to get my own copy.

Who will enjoy this book? Those who appreciated Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility or How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu will enjoy the interconnected stories and gigantic cast.

What stood out? Le Tellier crams in everything but the kitchen sink. There’s child abuse, interracial relationships, a hitman for hire, closeted sexuality, suicide, terminal illness, and on and on. The first 150 pages are pure character introduction, with most chapters ending with the arrival of a federal agent, but the anticipation is worth the reveal. I recommend reading the English translation by Adriana Hunter, as she ably smooths over Le Tellier’s awkward attempts at relating American culture. Macy’s is not a supermarket, sir.

Which line made me feel something? At the point in the book where I’d simply had enough of new characters, Le Tellier drops this disarming bit of self-awareness: "He surrenders to the fascination of lives other than his own. He’d like to choose one, to find the right words to describe this creature, and succeed in believing that he has come close enough to it not to betray it. Then move on to another. And another. Three characters, seven, twenty? How many simultaneous stories would a reader consent to follow?"

Everything You Ever Wanted by Luiza Sauma

3/5 stars

What's it about? Iris is losing her lifelong battle with depression. Her career as a digital brand strategist? Meaningless. The tense distance from her family? Overwhelming. Feeble attempts at love? Unfulfilling. There’s a way out: the reality show Life on Nyx is offering 100 Earthlings the chance to live on another planet for the rest of their lives. A wry and devastating book about how the trappings of civilization obscure what really matters.

How’d I find it? This bookstagrammer in the UK has the absolute best recommendations. She gets my taste exactly.

Who will enjoy this book? No book can overshadow my admiration for Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis, but Everything You Ever Wanted is certainly in the same family of novel with its reality TV in space backdrop.

What stood out? This narrative slipped in and out of realities in a way that left loose ends and kept me guessing. My interpretation of Iris’s fate may just be a reflection of my mood at the time, and I appreciate any book that immediately demands a reread. While hard to put down, Everything You Ever Wanted has its flaws. The mother trope pushed Iris’s story into clichéd territory, and we get too few breadcrumbs about the mystery of Nyx (what a setting though). The chapters titled “These Are the Things” and “Things,” which catalogue what Iris misses on Earth, offer sweet interludes.

Which line made me feel something? This cracked me up: “The other night, she dreamed she was in a corner shop, and as she unfolded a twenty-pound note it released a whiff of papery, cocaine bitterness. Did banknotes smell of cocaine, or did cocaine smell of banknotes?”

The Singularity by Dino Buzzati

4/5 stars

What's it about? In this slim tale of horror, Ermanno Ismani accepts a government appointment to a top-secret research facility, so secret that no one seems to know where it is and what the scientists actually do there. When Ermanno and his wife Elisa arrive and realize the truth, it may be too late to save themselves.

How’d I find it? After seeing this incredible cover (drawn by the author himself), I signed up for the NYRB Classics Book Club. Hurray for book mail!

Who will enjoy this book? If you agreed with my review of The Invention of Morel or loved that “Be Right Back” episode of Black Mirror, you’ll enjoy The Singularity.

What stood out? This great little story feels modern, speaking to the uncertainties around artificial intelligence with which we’re currently grappling. The reveal of the research project delivers a shock, and Buzzati mounts the horror and tragedy with each page. I found that the narrative style lacked cohesion, but the plotting of this tale means I won’t forget it soon.

Which line made me feel something? From a long monologue by the mad, sad Endriade, lead scientist of military zone 36: “No spending limit, understand? Billions, tossed there in front of me like pebbles, as much as I liked. The old dream. But now…Now I was completely uninterested. That’s how we men are, wretched flesh.”

P. S. My curating skills must be improving, because I’m finding so many 4-star books this summer.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

3/5 stars

What's it about? In a violent America, Lauren Olamina knows her community exists on borrowed time, its protective walls no match for murderers, fire-crazed drug addicts, hungry dogs, and thieves. As Lauren prepares for a life outside, including managing her secret ability to feel others’ pain, she develops her own spiritual philosophy and ambitions to spread it to others. A book about the journey, survival, and found families.

How’d I find it? The legacy of Octavia Butler means this read has been on my radar for years. I picked up a copy at Powell’s.

Who will enjoy this book? Those who liked the Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin should appreciate.

What stood out? Parable of the Sower takes the form of Lauren’s diary, which contains the reader within Lauren’s steadfast, no-nonsense worldview and obscures some of the book’s more interesting characters, like Bankole and Grayson Mora. Butler does not hold back in hammering home the bleak nature of the book’s reality; death, rape, and loss lap like waves. The ramifications of Lauren’s pain-sharing abilities don’t come through, but perhaps this plot point is more important in the next installment.

Which line made me feel something? While many of Lauren’s philosophical writings can come off as Instapoetry, the opening verse offers much to chew on: “Prodigy is, at its essence, adaptability and persistent, positive obsession. Without persistence, what remains is an enthusiasm of the moment. Without adaptability, what remains may be channeled into destructive fanaticism. Without positive obsession, there is nothing at all.”

The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares

4/5 stars

What's it about? Such a cunning little tale that it would be criminal to reveal much. Suffice it to say that a fugitive exiles himself to an island where all is not as it seems. Marvelously executed and funny to boot.

How’d I find it? Thank you, Powell’s! Your generous supply of the outstanding NYRB imprint never disappoints.

Who will enjoy this book? Fans of Ted Chiang, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, or the film Infinity Pool will revel in this novella.

What stood out? Bizarre and tragic, romantic and creepy, The Invention of Morel builds via fantastic turns that gratify the playful mind. Bioy writes a solid tease and knows when to leave the details murky. I felt that the epistolary format didn’t serve the plot, but this is a small gripe.

Which line made me feel something? Hilarious: “We are suspicious of a stranger who tells us his life story, who tells us spontaneously that he has been captured, sentenced to life imprisonment, and that we are his reason for living. We are afraid that he is merely tricking us into buying a fountain pen or a bottle with a miniature sailing vessel inside.”

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

5/5 stars

What's it about? I recognize that this may be very confusing within a book review for Jurassic Park, but I cannot restrain myself: “‘God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs.’ ‘Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth.’” An apt synopsis of the book, though the earth inheritors are unstoppable female dinosaurs rather than human women.

How’d I find it? My spouse said I should read this, and I couldn’t put it down for four days. Thanks to Powell’s for the copy.

Who will enjoy this book? I’m pretty sure most readers already know whether or not they like Jurassic Park. Horror fans, you are in for a terrifying book.

What stood out? Crichton’s ability to build tension rewards the reader mightily; he had me chewing my nails over breakfast at Lutz Tavern. I appreciated the story’s pacing, its tangents into chaos theory, and the perspective shifts between characters. Not a page is wasted. A downside: Dr. Sattler gets little to do except nurse, and Crichton only tells us a character’s race if they’re not white.

Which line made me feel something? Ian Malcolm with the truth bombs: “But we have soothed ourselves into imagining sudden change as something that happens outside the normal order of things. An accident, like a car crash. Or beyond our control, like a fatal illness. We do not conceive of sudden, radical, irrational change as built into the very fabric of existence. Yet it is.”