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.”

March by Geraldine Brooks

3/5 stars

What's it about? Geraldine Brooks found a surefire win in this Little Women spin-off that follows Mr. March as he serves as chaplain and teacher in the Civil War. A story about the price of one’s ideals and the miscommunications in a marriage.

How’d I find it? My husband recommended this read, and I found my own copy in a Little Free Library in Capitol Hill in DC. A walk from where I worked to a bar to meet friends, and an offering of books along the way that held me up a little, just enough. I need a bigger backpack.

Who will enjoy this book? Little Women fans, of course. Those who seek historical fiction along the lines of Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell will also like March.

What stood out? The book reads like Water for Elephants, the kind of bestseller that goes down smooth and easy. We hear Marmee’s voice at a crucial moment in the book to tease out the climax, a device that lifts the curtain on how differently one partner can experience a relationship. Despite our protagonist’s abolitionist tendencies, the language used for characters of color can shock in 2024, and I found myself wincing a few times, particularly in scenes involving Grace, who reconnects with Mr. March during the war. The allusions to the famous little women disappoint in their lack of invention; Amy is merely vain with blonde curls, and Jo is clumsy and dark.

Which line made me feel something? As a former DC resident, this warning from the ever faithful Mr. Brooks stirred in me a chuckle: “I am afraid that Georgetown in particular has an unfortunate reputation. I have been informed that drinking places are ordered closed at a half past nine, and they say there can be, well, a good deal of unseemly behavior on the streets at that hour.”

Billy Summers by Stephen King

3/5 stars

What's it about? Veteran Billy Summers has one last job as a hired assassin before he gets out of the game. Of course, it’s his messiest assignment yet, and Billy starts to question how to tell the bad guys from the good. A well-written crime novel with momentum and heart.

How’d I find it? My aunt passed this along as “a good one.” She was right.

Who will enjoy this book? The HBO series Barry is the perfect companion to Billy Summers. Certain similarities make me wonder if King was inspired by the show.

What stood out? Billy’s alias as a writer provides the frame to learn more about his horrific childhood and deployments in Iraq. The novel within a novel schtick makes the timing in this book perfect. The arrival of Alice, who contributes much of the aforementioned heart, steers the story into sentimentality, but King is, as always, an able navigator. A nod to The Shining that comes out of nowhere gave this fan much joy.

Which line made me feel something? This had never occurred to me: “Billy thinks of telling her that dead, like unique, is a word that cannot, by its nature, be modified.”

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?"

Shit, Actually by Lindy West

3/5 stars

What's it about? Lindy West compiles her reviews of cinematic favorites both beloved and awesomely bad, scored in copies of DVDs of The Fugitive. Spot-on, irreverent, and hilariously petty.

How’d I find it? I loved Shrill and had to read West’s movie takedowns.

Who will enjoy this book? Fans of the podcast How Did This Get Made?

What stood out? I reread the reviews of Love Actually, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Twilight several times to enjoy the laugh out loud moments. While West is talented and sharp as always, the quips about our current social/economic/political climate didn’t work for me in this book. Sometimes, I just want to read about movies.

Which line made me feel something? From “Never Boring, Always Horny:” "Of all the weird shit Stephanie Meyer wrote in this series, ‘all vampires love baseball’ is absolutely the weirdest. Did you know a vampire can smell a drop of baseball in a million gallons of old growth forest?"

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? Within my personal library, I am particularly proud of the nature collection and thought Fuzz would be a nice addition. This copy came from Politics & Prose.

Why not 3 or more stars? Mary Roach is a gifted writer with a keen eye for story, but she doesn’t manage to Rumpelstiltskin this into gold. Aside from the species of offender, Fuzz contains little variety. Nature, be it flora or fauna, causes harm to humans, and nature is dealt with, usually lethally. That’s about it. On the plus side: Roach’s signature dad jokes and a conversation with a Vatican priest about the ethics of man’s dominion (though the line of inquiry quickly peters out).

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?”

Out There by Kate Folk

4/5 stars

What's it about? Kate Folk’s debut story collection wanders the weird, the creepy, and the obsessive. Populated by characters who throw up their hands and give in, Out There holds a mirror up to the inanity of the 21st century.

How’d I find it? This Electric Lit article. “Dark playfulness:” book-buying catnip?

Who will enjoy this book? Those who loved Karen Russell’s Orange World and Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties will want to pick up Out There.

What stood out? The creativity in these stories makes for a dynamic read. There’s a house that “needs moisture.” A violent Thanksgiving tradition. A clinic for people with Total Nocturnal Bone Loss. Folk writes them all with humor and a touch of Cronenberg grossness. The first and last stories (“Out There” and “Big Sur”), about handsome AI that seduce women in order to steal their identities, are the book’s finest achievements.

Which line made me feel something? This description of dating at 30 really hit home: “Sam slept in a sleeping bag wadded at the center of a king-sized bed. There was a closet in the hallway where he kept his camping gear, and from which he retrieved a spare pillow for me to sleep on, still in its wrapping, as if he’d bought it for this purpose. At the foot of the bed was a Rubbermaid container full of folded T-shirts and socks. On its lid sat an electric kettle he used to boil water for coffee, so he wouldn’t have to go upstairs.” Oh, I have met Sam.

Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature by Charles Baxter

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? I recently read The Feast of Love and Gryphon and was excited to explore more of Baxter’s work when I found this at Politics & Prose.

Why not 3 or more stars? Writing about writing is one of my favorite genres, as it offers insight into the author’s approach to craft and, often, their own reading taste. I love coming away with a list of new things to read or the urge to revisit a short story with a different perspective. Wonderlands felt entry-level, its arguments too obvious to be robust. Like reality in the dream worlds Baxter describes, my mind tended to drift with every page.

The Material by Camille Bordas

3/5 stars

What's it about? The Material follows an MFA stand-up program in Chicago as the students and faculty prepare for a set competing against Second City. A novel of rich inner monologues, the competitive nature of fame, and even a school shooter.

How’d I find it? An excerpt of this book in Harper’s assured me that I needed to read the whole darn thing.

Who will enjoy this book? A readalike if you appreciate an ensemble of characters and time in their psyches? The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty.

What stood out? I can’t help but applaud this novel’s ambition. Writing about the art of stand-up comedy requires crafting performances for the page, and Bordas does just this, delivering not only the sets of her famous and would-be comics, but also their riffing creative minds, the forge where jokes are made. She writes bits that work and others that flop, lending authenticity to the story. It seems Bordas composed her first novels in French, and if English is not her first language, I’m all the more impressed by her comedic ear. Dorothy, the professor who has a new special coming out, enticed me the most; her thoughts on aging as a single woman were memorable and well-written.

Which line made me feel something? As Olivia, one of our aspiring comics, approaches the microphone: “It was almost a game at this point, testing how many unrelated-to-comedy thoughts she could hold in her head up to the last second—the more there were, the greater the relief would be at seeing them fly away with her first line, like a flock of scared-off birds after a gunshot.”