Dead in Long Beach, California by Venita Blackburn

4/5 stars

What's it about? Graphic novelist Coral discovers her brother Jay dead by suicide and hides his passing from loved ones as she reconciles with the loss. In her first novel, Blackburn ably finds humor in the grief.

How’d I find it? I heard about this book on the Fully Booked podcast and had to read it after listening to the interview. Thanks to Multnomah County Library for the copy.

Who will enjoy this book? Those who savored The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty or Orange World by Karen Russell will appreciate the craft, wit, and humanity of Blackburn’s achievement.

What stood out? Dead in Long Beach, California is a collage of Coral’s mourning, excerpts from her science fiction series and fan fiction, and the reflections of an omniscient “we” who unpack key moments of Coral’s life and relationship with her brother. Both siblings remain inaccessible as characters, which makes Coral’s choices all the more horrid. But it works for Jay, a canvas for the book’s real focus: how major loss ripples and rocks through lives.

Also, this cover. Bananas. What on earth was the marketing strategy?

Which line made me feel something? A nugget of pure gold: “We have measured the hormones, the chemicals of fright and disbelief, the boil of the blood when a person encounters the dead. As close to one being as all of humanity truly is and pretends to be in their poems and scriptures, there is something different when the dead is familiar, when the corpse is expected to be articulated with a remembered smell, sound, and texture.”

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.”

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

5/5 stars

What's it about? Tyson breaks down the basics of our universe and its many mysteries, both solved and unsolved, in a series of palatable essays that inspire curiosity. A read that leaves one humbled and grateful to exist.

How’d I find it? If you’ve ever strolled around the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore, you’ll often pass on the sidewalk a cardboard box of books free for the taking. I found this book in one of those boxes, and now it is mine to revisit or pass along.

Who will enjoy this book? This is a book for the people, particularly the spiritually, philosophically, or scientifically inclined. Close readalikes include Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything and Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens.

What stood out? I am on a hot streak of finding five-star books, and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry sparked what I crave most in a nonfiction read: a desire to learn more. Tyson had me scrolling through Astrophysics Journal for research on quasars, sketching out my own theories, and enrolling in a quantum mechanics class on Coursera. The book’s many descriptions of scale boggle and satisfy the brain. Example: “more bacteria live and work in one centimeter of my colon than the number of people who have ever existed in the world.”

Which line made me feel something? “Again and again across the centuries, cosmic discoveries have demoted our self-image. Earth was once assumed to be astronomically unique, until astronomers learned that Earth is just another planet orbiting the Sun. Then we presumed the Sun was unique, until we learned that the countless stars of the night sky are suns themselves. Then we presumed our galaxy, the Milky Way, was the entire known universe, until we established that the countless fuzzy things in the sky are other galaxies, dotting the landscape of our known universe. Today, how easy it is to presume that one universe is all there is.”

Wound from the Mouth of a Wound by torrin a. greathouse

3/5 stars

What's it about? torrin a. greathouse writes the violence and beauty of the queer, trans, disabled, and chronically ill experience. A book of reckoning and blooming.

How’d I find it? I discovered greathouse’s work in an issue of Poetry and have so been looking forward to reading her debut collection. This copy came from Multnomah County Library.

Who will enjoy this book? Fans of Danez Smith and Cameron Awkward-Rich should appreciate, and I think this would also appeal to young adult readers ready to take on darker and more intimate discussions of self-discovery.

What stood out? I wanted this book to pass my “wound” test, especially since the word appears twice in the title. Of course it didn’t. Wound from the Mouth of a Wound is not to blame. The book succeeds at its own objectives, and greathouse’s ear for language and creativity in form attest to an outstanding talent. Take my favorite poems of the collection, “They Leave Nothing for the Morning” and “On Using the Wo│men’s Bathroom.” Bangers. But was the general dictionary of words as expected (teeth and throat and tongue and stars and blood)? Yes. And am I at a stage in my readership in which I prefer books that transcend the experience of the self and its history? Also yes.

Which line made me feel something? Recognizing that excerpting will butcher the poem’s careful line breaks, here’s a snippet from “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination Before a Diagnosis Can Be Determined:” “Still, inside my body— / kingdom with poisoned wells. I want anything but an elegy / lining my bones. I just want to be a question this body can answer.”

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? You know what’s the best part about the remainders section at Politics and Prose? Sometimes I will have forgotten about a book I want to read, then squeal in delight to find it unexpectedly among the shelves.

Why not 3 or more stars? John Darnielle gives me literary blue balls. His stories are unsettling, run through with dread, and always reserved in their telling, so much so that you wonder whether he’s keeping something from you. The two teenagers who take the game too far, the event that destroyed Sean’s face, a reconnection with an old flame, Chris Haynes—none of it amounts to much. Like The Universal Harvester, Darnielle’s second novel, the central mystery isn’t to be solved. While I can respect the journey being the point, Wolf in White Van doesn’t lead the reader anywhere satisfying. I, for one, read the last line, shrugged, and set the book aside.

What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman

3/5 stars

What's it about? While contemporaries settle down and start families, sitcom writer Kristin Newman chases romance and adventure around the world. A lighthearted, sometimes bawdy read that guarantees a happy ending (thank you, thank you) as early as the dedication page.

How’d I find it? A delightful colleague at Solid State Books recommended this some months ago, and I picked up a copy at Multnomah County Library.

Who will enjoy this book? Amy Schumer’s The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo has a similar tone and energy.

What stood out? Newman delivers a cohesive narrative with developed characters (the enigmatic “Ferris Bueller,” her besties Hope and Sascha), and I enjoyed her travel recommendations. The book’s humor and epiphanies all read as too obvious for my taste, though this might not ring true for others.

Which line made me feel something? Newman and I share an ick: “There were a few months spent with an overly emotional French writer, who absolutely made it into my Top Three in the bed department, but who called his own writing ‘beautiful.’”

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.”

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? One of my truest joys is browsing the horror section at Powell’s Books on Hawthorne on a Saturday afternoon. This was a jewel from one of those excursions.

Why not 3 or more stars? This Thing Between Us is worth a look; it’s not a bad book by any means. I took issue with the epistolary format that didn’t end with the book’s climax and its meandering conclusion. There’s a certain sloppiness here that gets under my skin, especially when the story has such potential. Itches remain unscratched. Siri gone mad? I craved something a bit more ME3AN.

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

5/5 stars

What's it about? Sy Montgomery makes friends with octopuses in this exploration of the soul and of the diversity of consciousness on Earth. A hug of a book that I was ready to dismiss but couldn’t help but admire for its spirit and openness to discovery.

How’d I find it? My spouse says this book was given to him to prove the cruelty of eating mollusks. It’s effective — you’ll never want calamari again.

Who will enjoy this book? If you’re constantly watching documentaries on Netflix or anything narrated by David Attenborough, this read is for you. A fiction readalike? The Overstory by Richard Powers or The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler.

What stood out? Montgomery inhabits her project by befriending cephalopods, learning to dive, and becoming entangled in the happenings of the New England Aquarium. I appreciated the memoir approach to consciousness as a subject. Blending personal experience and science, The Soul of an Octopus is a human book about something beyond our species.

Which line made me feel something? “Perhaps, I muse, this is the pace at which the Creator thinks, in this weighty, graceful, liquid manner — like blood flows, not like synapses fire. Above the surface, we move and think like wiggly children, or like teens who twitch away at their computer-phones, multitasking but never focusing. But the ocean forces you to move more slowly, more purposefully, and yet more pliantly.”

Supermarket by Bobby Hall

1/5 STARS

How’d I find it? Bless the Little Free Libraries of the world. On a rainy day in DC while walking to the metro, I spotted this bright cover and tucked it into my jacket.

Why not 3 or more stars? Hall shows his hand far too soon in this novel about aspiring writer Flynn, who takes his craft so seriously that inspiration and mental illness quickly muddle. The cues that suggest that all is not what seems give the game away around page 16, and the rest is preposterous dialogue and signal fires for the truly inattentive.