loving lately: tulip time

The local annual tulip festival has just wrapped up, and notwithstanding the clogged roads and sidewalks with the influx of visitors to town, it is one of my favorite times of year - the city plants hundreds of thousands of bulbs every year and they are just gorgeous. Tulips have long been my favorite flower (my wedding bouquet was just a huge bunch of them and I still think it's the loveliest thing ever), and this year I've decided to really embrace my tulip era and become a collector of all things tulips.

1. Lego tulip bouquet: My role with building Lego sets is typically "piece finder" for my kids, but I really loved putting together a bouquet as an at-home date with Peter, so their botanicals collection stays on my radar, which is how I spotted this newly released set a couple of months ago I immediately told everyone in my household that if they don't get it for me for Mother's Day or my birthday, what are they even thinking?!

2. Tiny tulip baseball hat: Rey-to-Z is a hat go-to for personal use for me (and my kids!) and also for gifting. Typically I've purchased the initial hats, but how cute is their new embroidered tulip version?

3. Tulip basket: I really don't need another basket, but actually I think I might need this basket...

4. Painted candles: I love painted taper candles - in fact, I organized this as a very fun DIY at the Galentine's Party I hosted this year, using these wax pens on these tapers - but my local ladies and I found that our skills were just not quite there for recreating a tulip design, so I might just have to splurge on this Pottery Barn version.

5. Rollneck sweater: Like the Lego tulips, this one made me gasp aloud when I first spotted it. The J.Crew rollneck sweater in a tulip design, AND in my light spring color palette?! Much as I coveted it though I couldn't pull the trigger on full price, and it kept being excluded from promotions... until my patience was rewarded when it was put on clearance + extra 40% off. You better believe I sported it almost daily during Tulip Time last week (I guess that was one good thing about the weather being cooler than one would like for May). 

6. Jigsaw puzzle: How pretty is this painting-turned-puzzle?   

7. Washable doormat: I have a couple of Ruggable doormats and love being able to wash the covers, as well as change them out seasonally. They just came out with this tulip design and it's going to have to be the next one I add to my collection for sure.

reading lately: April roundup

April reading was bookended by the latest release from two authors whose work I have loved for years - Tana French and Lily King - and both absolutely lived up to my high expectations of them. And in between, all but one of the books I read were new-to-me authors, and some that I would definitely like to see more from soon. Here's the recap:

Literary/contemporary fiction

Heart the Lover: This novel opens in the narrator's senior year of college, when she gets noticed by star students and best friends Sam and Yash in a 17th century literature class, and she is pulled into their orbit of generous, gregarious friendship, ambitious scholarly discussions mixed with smart banter, and - eventually - a love triangle situation. Then 20 years later, when she is settled into life as a mother, a wife, and a writer, this short but extremely formative period of her life comes rushing back with some sad news and unexpected reunions, both of which force her to confront some of the decisions and (self)deceptions she made in that period. It's very much a character-driven novel but propulsive thanks to the voice of the narrator, the way that the friends, especially Yash, are so charming, and the way that the novel packs in so many emotions: infatuation, love, aspiration, angst, longing, nostalgia, grief. It made me feel a lot in a small number of pages, and that kept me turning them for sure, and left me feeling bereft when I finished, partly because of what happens in the story, and partly because when a book is such a well-done thing of beauty it's a certain kind of grief to be done with it. It's literary fiction but done in an accessible way (aside from a few of the especially philosophical/academic discussions - do real college students ever converse like that?) because the characters feel real, and the writing is infused with empathy and wisdom. The "look back" nature of it, with the narrator reflecting from later adulthood on her college years, adds to it, because it brings perspective to the angst or self-absorption of the characters in that section, things that are pretty normal for 21-year-olds but can feel tiresome to read if not handled with this kind of touch. Definitely recommend for readers who loved Lily King's Writers & Lovers, with some of the same themes and the overall general feel/emotions (not to mention a through-line on one of the characters), but also for readers who liked last year's Deep Cuts and also The Rachel Incident (similar nostalgia feeling, and the college friends/coming of adulthood), for readers who were total college English major nerds like me (or who like a literary campus novel with English-major types), and those who enjoy a novel about the writerly life; additionally, some of the grief themes/feelings made me think of the reading experience of books like When Breath Becomes Air and We All Want Impossible Things. ★★★★.5

Search: Though entirely fictional, this book is written in the format of one of those "my year of..." memoirs; in it, restaurant critic and food writer Dana recounts her time serving on the pastoral search committee for her progressive Unitarian Universalist church in southern California. The tone is lightly comedic - not satire exactly, but definitely pokes some fun at the foibles of churches and their congregants, and amusingly presents the range of typical people you'd find on a committee (the one who knows all of Robert's Rules, the one who doesn't come prepared and then asks a million questions that everyone who did read the packet already knows, etc.). While also showing some friendships as well as conflicting relationships that develop on the search committee, especially the opinions of the "youngs" versus the "olds" (with 50-something Dana being caught in the middle), it's mostly a recounting of the various stages of the process, from writing the mission statement to going on a group-bonding retreat to reading candidate bios/listening to sample sermons to inviting the shortlist for trial runs. It feels accurate to the way a process might go, and in showing it also makes you think about the purpose of church (especially the community that it creates), the different needs people have from their church and whether it's possible to suit everyone, the relative importance of different functions of a church (preaching, outreach, social justice, etc.), and more. I could maybe have gone for a bit more emphasis on these aspects as some of the nitty gritty got a little dull (as real meetings do - I could never be on this committee as I claim an allergy to meetings...) and I could hardly keep straight (nor did I *entirely* care) which prospective candidate we were learning more about. Or maybe I could have used the book being just a tad bit shorter (didn't really need the excerpts from the prospective candidates' sermons, for example). But overall I found it amusing, a bit thought-provoking in terms of church communities in general and the Unitarian Universalist perspective in general. You don't have to be a church-goer to enjoy it, as many of the interactions and ways that the committee works are representative of people in general, bit of a comedy of manners in this way. Also included in the "nitty gritty" is all of the food that they ate at their meetings, and that Dana reviewed for her newspaper job during the year, so it's kind of a foodie "memoir" too, if you like that kind of thing. ★★★.5

Yesteryear: Natalie is a influencer with thousands of followers, living on a lovely farm in Idaho with a passel of kids and an apparently perfect life in which she bakes her own bread in her gorgeous kitchen, etc. - I'm sure you can imagine the tradwife of it all. Behind the scenes though there's actually an army of helpers that actually make "having it all" possible, a persona that slips and reveals kind of a nasty, narcissistic woman underneath, and big PR/personal trouble brewing on the horizon - until one day she wakes up in "yesteryear", in the 1800s version of her farmhouse, which if far from perfect. Yesteryear actually comes with food that tastes bland, clothes that have to be handwashed in freezing cold water, aches and pains that can't be escaped, and more. This book is getting lots of buzz right now, and it definitely feels like one I need to discuss after finishing. Partly for the interesting issues it brings up about women's roles and whether they can be satisfied in any version of them, the "manosphere", the resurgence of patriarchal values in some communities, the craziness of the influencer/social media world and whether it's complete fakery (not to mention what it does to their children), the things that are done in the name of God/church, and more - but just as much for the whole WTF was that?! aspect of the plot in general. It starts out feeling like a satire/social commentary of the tradwife influencer concept, and it could be interesting to read for the melodrama of it all, along with the absolute cattiness of Natalie's voice, though I think the caustic nature of it would have been too wearing to read an entire book of. Then it veers into the past, and you're wondering what in the world this book even is - is it a time travel or horror book? A tale of some sort of crazy reality TV hidden camera situation? Or a wild fever dream? It's a wild ride, and though I was intrigued along the way, and I managed to stick with a dislikeable character more than I normally would (be prepared - I'm not sure I found any redeeming qualities in her,), I also left with kind of a depressed feeling, seeing the world through Natalie's eyes for so long, and through them seeing no way for a woman to be happy no matter what direction she chooses for her life. I think it's well written, but the whole thing is also just kind of bonkers, so I'm not quite sure what I think overall! It does feel like something totally different, and sometimes there's something to be said for moving away from "sameness" in one's reading life... ★★★.5

Mystery/thriller

The Keeper: Tana French does it again with writing the epitome of a literary/character driven and atmospheric mystery. By this conclusion of her trilogy about small Irish town Ardnakelty, I feel like I really know and have a lot of affection for Chicago transplant and former police officer Cal Hooper, teenaged Trey who ends up as kind of his surrogate daughter, and the cast of locals from gossipy shopkeeper Noreen to the somewhat grizzled old sheep farmers Cal meets up with at the pub (these guys are great - I actually laughed out loud at some of their ribbing/bantering at each other). So from page one of this book I was already right in, back to a familiar place with familiar people - and also a familiar feel of a dark undercurrent. Because while things seem to be going great as the townspeople have started to accept Cal as one of their own, his relationship with local woman Lena is going steady, and Trey seems to be headed for good things after her rocky childhood, there are long-held grudges and generational feuds in this small community, strongly held relationships to the farmland and distrust (and worse) toward people who might try to take it away... these things that usually simmer just below the surface boil over when a young woman is found dead in the river, and when related to this a scheme cooked up by local businessman Tommy, whose son was dating this young woman, is made public. Different factions take sides, and the town seems ready to come to blows as a whole, plus on the personal level this introduces many complications for Cal. To maintain his relationships in the town, he has to show that his loyalties lie with the farmers, but on the other hand Lena is not happy with some of his decisions in this regard. This reading experience felt totally immersive to me - this town feels like a real place, and the land/community are a character in themselves - but it is not fast-paced at all. Definitely character-driven and more focused on psychological tension than action, think of it more as noir than as thriller for sure. But the way that individual characters might fear for their standing or safety, or the way that the collective of the community could envelop or ostracize a person for any "offense" provided me with plenty of tension to keep me hooked (not to mention that with my affection for these characters I was biting my nails worrying about how things were going to turn out okay for them). Not a short book by any means, but I could have kept reading for even longer. ★★★★★

Brimstone Hollow: Last year I enjoyed the introduction of PI Annie Gore in The Witch's Orchard for her badassery and tenacious investigation style, and for the general slow-burn, atmospheric mystery aspects of the book. The Kentucky/Appalachian setting in particular, along with how it brought in (dark) local lore made it stand out as unique, so I was pleased to get an advanced copy of the next book in the series (via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review) and picked it up when I was hankering for a procedural. This installment furthered Annie's interesting/somewhat mysterious backstory with childhood flashbacks brought on by the father/daughter relationship (or lack thereof) in her client and her client's estranged snake-handling minister father whose death seems a bit suspicious - despite the snake handling of it all - and overall the book again was very evocative of the small Appalachian town atmosphere/characters as well as the particular natural world surrounding it, with the sulfur springs and hidden hollers. It was a bit slow moving at times (repetitive in Annie's musings about the case and her theories) and perhaps a bit overly descriptive (blow-by-blow of everything she does in the day, down to what she orders at the diner), but that part also seems to go with the genre at times. Overall though another solid and satisfying (slow-burn) mystery, and again I'd be happy to read more in the series especially if we peel back more of the layers of Annie's past along with it. ★★★.5

This Story Might Save Your Life: On the brink of a major money network deal for best friends Benny and Joy and the cult favorite podcast they have created, Benny shows up to their recording studio at Joy's house to find that windows have been smashed, and neither Joy nor her husband, their producer Xander, are anywhere to be found. As we follow Benny forward from "missing" day one, with his fears and confusion about what has happened and about his relationship with Joy, the police investigation, etc. we also get Joy's story from the beginning of their relationship and launch of their podcast, in chapters of an unpublished draft memoir. And for both characters, the disaster/near-death survival theme of their usually jokey and comedic podcast called This Story Might Save Your Life takes on a more literal and serious tone as they use it to try to survive or send messages to each other in real life... I like a thriller with a stand-out format (like 56 Days, which tells the story in reverse-ish), but while the present day alternating with journal entry/memoir entries can shake up format a bit, it feels kind of done to me - and also tends to feel rather convenient that we're getting just the info that the present-day character needs to know about what was going on with their missing friend/family member... At least in this book, the memoir sections, which I can often find a bit boring compared to the actual plotline, were quite engaging, as I liked Joy's voice from the start and was curious to find out where her story would go, as it started to peel back the veneer of what other people knew and give a real glimpse of her relationships. Of course, being a thriller, the story went to pretty unbelievable lengths. And even though I really connected with the character in the beginning (necessary for me to have any interest in a thriller type book), that began to distance a bit as the plot started to feel more unrealistic or convoluted, and I found the back half to be less strong than the front, especially as the characters' sometimes poor decisions got to me a bit. However a protagonist with narcolepsy did feel stand-out and different, interesting how that played into things. Overall though a twisty read that kept me guessing on a few aspects, didn't go too far into the ick factor of domestic relationships (though there still may be some trigger warnings to check, it typically tells about these things in a more detached way than a happening in the moment way, which I appreciate), had a friendship that I was rooting for, and kept me turning the pages even if it isn't going to go down as one of my favorites ever in the genre. This is a buzzy one right now, and I can see people loving it as a beach read this summer; it feels like a Netflix-ish miniseries waiting to happen, especially with the California setting. ★★★.25 

Romance/rom-com

Annie Knows Everything: At the start I was afraid that this wouldn't be for me as I don't love a super chaotic main character, as Annie seems to be when she shows up late and disheveled for work at a productivity app startup only to find out that her keycard doesn't work because her job has been eliminated. She connives with her best friend, an HR rep, to get moved to an open slot in the data strategy department, which she is not at all qualified for, but at least is a job! The head of this department seems a bit curmudgeonly and totally tech nerd but also happens to be rather attractive. Annie decides at once that she wants to win him over by being the best data strategist she can be - whatever a data strategist even is. She manages to weasel her way in and become essential to this little department, all the while developing a friendship with this group of guys, and undeniably finding chemistry with Connor... In the end Annie endeared herself to me, especially as she brought her strengths in problem-solving related to relational/personnel aspects of work (rather than the nerdy tech tunnel vision of her new workmates), and her personality and Connor's complemented each other well. But the conflict that brought about the big problem in their relationship was entirely caused by Annie's rash actions (which is a trend by her, plus her know-it-allness of the title), and gah that can be annoying in a character for rule-follower like me. This is for people who enjoy a workplace romance, a New York city rom-com, tech workplace foibles, great friendship/workplace banter with the charming side characters. I also really liked that it had an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers arc - I find that enemies to lovers often makes the story feel tiresome in the antagonism, and then doesn't feel realistic when all of a sudden the characters are all over each other... but this was character friction of the amusing variety, and then a fun friendship, and then I totally bought in to rooting for them to get together romantically. (Also, pretty low on steam overall - I just skipped about 1 chapter that was hot-n-heavy.) Cute and fun; I'd read more from this author in future! ★★★.75

Nonfiction/memoir

Strangers: This memoir starts out with a bang: in the early days of Covid lockdown, just after they have vacated their Manhattan apartment for the relative safety of their Cape Cod home with their preteen daughters, Belle Burden receives a message from an unknown number, telling her, "your husband is having an affair with my wife". It would be hard enough to figure out how to handle this marriage bombshell when you're with your kids 100% of the time (and hyped up on pandemic anxiety to boot) but what about when suddenly your spouse of 20 years wants out of both the marriage and parenting all of a sudden? In that moment he becomes a total stranger to Belle; in the following section she then goes through their relationship from its inception to tell their love story but also to comb through it with us as her readers for whether she should have seen any signs of this along the way. I thought this was a good audio selection, kept me quite engaged (and sometimes agog, at the behavior of her ex), though there were a few times that I wondered what the bigger picture was, why this story in particular should be out in the world for everyone to read. She definitely addresses this at the end, but it took a little while to get into that, and I might have liked to see it woven throughout a bit. I did appreciate that while we are getting Belle's side of the story, the telling of it gave the depth of her grief and emotion but also managed to give a bit of nuance to her husband, even when my brain wanted to just write him off as stereotypical midlife crisis man ick. Real life is rarely that simple. I don't know much about Truman Capote's "Swans", but part of why many people might pick up this book is that Belle Burden's grandmother was one of these New York socialites. She does go into her family history a bit with some tidbits that may intrigue, but it's really Belle's own story. I think a better literary connection would be Pete and Alice in Maine, a novel about a marriage falling apart at the beginning of the Covid lockdown, and about the challenges of parenting during that particular time + the ways that parenting can affect a marriage over the years. Like with this novel, Strangers is a story about a family with plenty of wealth and privilege, which on the one makes it kind of conflicting to consider because of the ways that even with these issues their lives are so much better off than others' - but also a reminder that everyone is human and can face heartbreak and betrayal and renewal, and a reminder that even if you could always say someone else has it worse, that doesn't mean that your difficulties aren't difficult. ★★★★

Excited to have new books from even more of my favorite authors on the shelf for May reading - here's hoping Emma Straub and Jane Harper come through as well as this month's ladies!

reading lately: kid reads roundup

Four year olds have a particular brand of humor all their own, and that's been on full display lately with what types of things make Freddie laugh, and with what types of (completely mystifying to the rest of us) jokes that he makes up. Happily, we've happened upon a few books lately that really lean into the silliness or the imagination of a four year old but are also amusing to the adult in the room. Passing them along in case you, too, just cannot read The Book With No Pictures aloud to them one more time, even if it is clever...

1. Bored: Freddie can often be the kind of kid who flops around moaning, "what can I doooooooo" if someone isn't actively playing with him at the moment, so this book about Rita  and how she is so boooooored is very relatable from page 1. She's so bored that she repeats the word over and over until it doesn't even sound like a word - something I now do every time Freddie tries to tell me he doesn't know what to do. The illustrations in this one are great, and the way Rita ends up using her imagination to make herself so busy, coming up with this whole island for bored people, is captivating and quirky funny for both parents and kids. The twist and the end is cute and made us smile too.

2. Bear and Bird: for kids who are ready to bridge from picture book to chapter book read-alouds, this series is an excellent level and length of writing. I saw it described as Frog & Toad meets Narwhal & Jelly - so you have this sweet friendship but also realistic conflicts/resolutions between the characters, in a book that feels both classic yet charmingly zany and humorous. We have borrowed 2 of these from the library and I kind of want to own them all, they're so cute and full of wit. 

3. The Future Book: this humorous book comes to you from the future, where certain things are opposite (the sun is called the moon, and the moon is called the sun), but certain things have changed in entirely unexpected ways. For example, instead of saying "bless you" when somebody sneezes, you say, "forgive me, Susan." The zaniness continues, with fun, bold illustrations, and the effect is a spot-on for kids whose humor aligns with The Book with No Pictures variety. Often Freddie won't let me read him a library book if Daddy already read it to him, but this is the kind of book that he requests to return to again and again (and then "reads" it to us himself, ad libbing in some additional funniness).  

4. Doctor Ted: an oldie but goodie we rediscovered at the library recently, after reading it with Hendrik years ago. The saying goes to be the change that you want to see in the world... and this teddy bear Ted embodies that, dressing up and role-playing different careers when help is needed, and he "helps" others on the playground or at school in actually not-so-helpful but hilarious ways. Though in the end, he usually does actually manage to save the day. We also find Firefighter Ted quite amusing.

5. The Bureau of Misplaced Dads: this one is slightly surrealist in a way that appeals to preschooler humor, turning the idea of "losing" your parent (such as getting separated from them in the grocery store or something like that) into this quirky idea (and illustrations that suit it perfectly) of a Bureau of Misplaced Dads where a whole variety of fathers who are missing their children are waiting to be found back and picked up. 

reading lately: March roundup

The bad news of my March books roundup is that the reading month felt a bit hampered by having 3 selections in a row that I just could not finish for one reason or another. I have included those books at the end - not trying to be mean about them, but I do sometimes find that hearing reasons why a person didn't finish a book can be just as informative in deciding whether I want to pick it up. But the good news is that I still managed quite a variety of books, including my first middle grade, audiobook, and literary fiction in a while, and even better, there are a couple of new-to-me authors here who provided excellent reading experiences - which means they go on my to-be-read list for whatever they come out with next!

Literary/contemporary fiction

Love Is an Algorithm: Eve is unconventional and arty and passionate, bucking her wealthy New York family's wishes to become a songwriter and musician. Danny is her brother's best friend and dating app co-creator, a computer-minded kind of guy who is always a bit anxious about his relationships and his standing, having come from less means and experience, growing up with a single dad out west. While the fledgling app isn't making great dating matches for Danny, when he and Eve get together it just feels *right* - but he's still anxious about whether she's happy, whether he's enough, whether there's anything he can do to make sure she stays (unlike his mother... baggage!). This prompts a major change to the dating app's approach, and he develops it into something that can help users quantify and monitor their relationship health/potential, complete with a friendly AI assistant that can provide suggestions for how to handle situations in their relationships. At his heart he just wants to make Eve happy in their relationship, but does his his "outsourcing" to the AI end up making him feel more distant? The narration goes back and forth between Danny and Eve's relationship with snippets of their past that show the baggage they bring into it, whether from how they were raised or from how past relationships went. I'd say it's more character-driven - the plot of the app development is more as a tool for exploring relationships and the idea of whether/how we can fully know someone, and how we handle the uncertainty of putting ourselves out there to love someone, when there's a possibility they may not love us back - but the dialogue and character development is smart and sharp while also being charming, so it moves along nicely. This is definitely not a rom-com - I feel like I have actually read the rom-com version of this (The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren), and the tone/story is much more straightforward, the characters a bit more caricature, the plot predictable in terms of the normal arc of a rom-com. This book is a modern love story for the AI age, but just as much as romantic love its about the love and relationships friends and of family, and how to navigate those things in a world that's uncertain, and when our innermost selves can sometimes be impenetrable to others. It felt fresh so enjoyable to read, yet smart and thought-provoking and also kind of interesting in terms of structure/timeline (though occasionally this felt a tad gimmicky, I mostly loved how the structure choices propelled my reading experience in a mostly character-driven story). I would love to see it as a Netflix series, I imagine it would feel kind of like how I found Nobody Wants This to be current and fresh and great banter with characters who have real feeling insecurities about relationships, and a relationship I really rooted for without it seeming cheesily rom-commy. Thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience and would be interested in other work by this author. (I received an advance copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.) ★★★★.25

Dream Count: This is a Covid pandemic book that rather than feeling triggering about lockdown uses it as a good jumping off point for exploring the reactions/self-reflections it brought about in a group of women: Chia, a Nigerian travel writer from a super wealthy family who is living in the US, spends the time of isolation reflecting on all of the romantic relationships she's had and why they didn't work (and why she feels like there's no one who has actually known her). Her friend Zikora, a lawyer in DC, has recently been abandoned by her partner while pregnant and must lean on her mother for help during this period despite their previously fractured relationship. Meanwhile her cousin Omelogor, a powerhouse in the financial world and very independent woman who has resisted marriage thus far, weathers the time in her home in Nigeria also reflecting on her past relationships. And Katiadou, her Guinean immigrant housekeeper, is facing an incredible hardship brought on by a powerful man that threatens to unravel the life she has worked so hard to achieve for herself and her daughter in America. I'd call this a great "window" book - while it explores many facets of female experience in general in terms of love and friendship and more, for me it also is a window into Nigerian culture and to the varying experiences of women of color, immigrants, people shaped by being from a place that was colonized. I also appreciated the (pointed) way it is a reminder that not all of Africa is the same thing, with characters who come from great wealth dispelling assumptions that Americans they encounter have about Africans being poor, etc. Very character driven, but the characters are so vivid that it moves along, especially as I found it interesting to see the characters from each other's eyes in the different sections. It's been a long time since I read Americanah, so I cannot say this with certainty, but to me Dream Count felt like the grown up/middle-aged version of it, dealing with some of the same themes of the female Nigerian experience (especially living in America), friendship, racism/post-colonialism, academia, and so on - but with older protagonists rather than a college student. The writing style and strong character-driven story made for a similar reading experience, so I think if you liked Adiche's earlier work, you will probably appreciate this one too. That said, I would say I liked/appreciated, but didn't love this one like I did Americanah, maybe something to do with covering so many themes and occasionally feeling in the weeds in terms of philosophizing about them, or struggling a bit to feel like there's any redemption in the male characters (and as such, why the female characters even want partners?!). ★★★★

Mystery/thriller

Good People: The Sharaf family has suffered a devastating loss that has everyone talking - members of their Afghan immigrant community, neighbors in their wealthy community, classmates of their children, investigative reporters, social media users across the country - about what led up to this, and the biggest question of all: was it a crime, or simply a terrible tragedy? Through a documentary-style narration all of these voices offer their opinions and evidence about the Sharaf family's history and misfortune. This is about as much as I knew about the plot going in, and I think this is the way to go, rather than reading the details in the publisher's blurb - it doesn't give anything away per se, but it offers enough that you might miss some of the reading experience of watching it all unfold. While it might be categorized as "mystery" this book is more of a genre mashup that reminded me of ones from Celeste Ng (especially Everything I Never Told You) or Angie Kim (especially Happiness Falls) where we know there has been a loss, and the buildup to this loss is slowly revealed to us; however, the story is just as much a family drama about the characters and their reactions to tragedy, and the effect of the loss on their relationships and community (whether family or broader community). I wanted to keep reading to find out what this big event was that everyone was gossiping about or investigating (and though it was definitely slow burn, the very short chapters in the documentary style kept it moving for sure) - but just as much I was intrigued by the competing viewpoints, the ways that communities and news outlets and social media make meaning out of a situation, gawk at others' misfortune and run trials in the court of public opinion, perpetuate or fight cultural stereotypes, and so on. Also was so intrigued by the choice to never include the voice of any of the actual family members involved, so there always remained this mystery of what they did or what they were thinking, with so much being hearsay. The documentary style made me a bit confused at times with all of the different voices, until I realized it didn't matter *that* much which friend/neighbor was talking - don't necessarily need to keep them all straight - and the timeline feel a tad convoluted at times, but overall an excellent read that I can't stop thinking about and found tons to discuss in - would be a great bookclub pick. ★★★★.5

The Unquiet Grave: We know I'm on record as a lover of character-driven Irish detective books; I picked up the first in this series several years ago thanks to a Tana French comparison, and I wasn't disappointed. I liked The Ruin for the detective procedural mixed with atmospheric Irish setting, good character development, and the slow-burn plot delving into an old case from the detective's past that is meeting a new case + dilemma in his present. This fourth book in the series was a pretty satisfying procedural as well, though admittedly if I wasn't already familiar with/attached to the characters I'm not sure that I would have loved it - the writing didn't feel as strong (felt more genre simplistic, and over-explaining of unnecessary things like the weather or the tea). The two seemingly separate murder plotlines did come together in a satisfying way in the end, and I actually also really appreciated that there was some ambiguity. The detectives figure out whodunit, but true to life there is some doubt in people's minds as to the why of it all, and as to whether the justice system really is just, and what police officers can or should do about it when they are in a moral quandary. Though not my favorite of the series (really not helped by the poorly formatted Kindle version that led to confusion about who was speaking in dialogue sections...), it's worth picking up if you like these books and are in the mood for a procedural - and if you are an Irish detective novel lover who hasn't yet read The Ruin, put it on your list! ★★★.5

Romance/rom-com

How to Lose a Lord in 10 Days: For a Regency-era romance with an unconventional, take-charge heroine and the appropriate amount of swoon/lack of steam (I always find it so jarring when books set in the Austen era have hot & heavy scenes - I guess I expect them to be more like hers when it comes to romance and propriety!), I have really enjoyed Sophie Irwin's books, especially A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting. So when I happened upon this recent one I was excited to pick it up without even knowing much about it. Like her earlier works, it has a heroine who is fighting to make the marriage/inheritance system, where she can't really pave her own way or make her own money, work for what she (or her sibling/extended family) need. But unlike the others, which were fun reads while still having some seriousness or substance, this one really went light. Lydia's family expects her to marry well to help bring up their "new money" cache in society - and will ship her off to her spinster aunt in the country if she doesn't acquiesce; conversely, Lord Ashford's father is a romantic who will approve only a match that has love in it, but Lord Ashford knows that their failing estate needs a good dowry, and soon. He sets his sights on Lydia, and then she sets her sights on trying to get him to back out of the engagement by any means necessary. Soon they're in a battle of antics and pranks, trying to trick and embarrass and goad each other into breaking off their engagement . I have to be in just the right mood for something that feels this madcap - if you can lean into that part of it, then you'll have fun. For me it started to feel a bit long, and it felt a bit lacking especially in the first half with not getting to know Lydia as a real person at all before she starts acting nutso in order to scare off Ashford - so I didn't have a real basis for rooting for her and it took me a while to hope for any romance to work out until pretty late in the game (at which point the madcap nature also calmed down a bit and I got more invested). ★★★.5

Young adult/middle grade

The Unlikely Tale of Chase & Finnegan: This is a sweet animal friendship story that will be great for fans of books like The One and Only Ivan or The Eyes & the Impossible. Chase is an anxious cub in training for a zoo's cheetah demonstration/conservation program; Finnegan is a rescue dog with self-doubt about his worthiness to live with his family who is brought in to be Chase's training companion. Along with the friendship they develop, the book handles themes of anxiety and how to help others/ourselves with it, and it models developing self-acceptance, self-confidence, and self-forgiveness. For me it felt a bit too predictable/over-anthropomorphized and didn't sweep me away with the characters' singularity (like The Eyes & the Impossible, or like Jasmine Warga did with A Rover's Story), but that shouldn't take away from how much the right set of middle grade readers is going to love this book - I think kids might be less likely to be looking for novelty with a book like this and will be pleased with these sweet friends to root for. And I think young animal lovers are going to love the cheetah + dog facts included at the end of the book, along with the information about how real zoos actually do sometimes pair rescue dogs and cheetahs in programs like this. I do think it is best for readers on the younger side of middle grade spectrum)For me it was still a nice light read to add some sweetness to the month and balance out some more dense and/or disappointing selections... ★★★.5

Nonfiction/memoir

Family of Spies: In the mid 1990s, journalist Christine Kuehn received a letter from a screenwriter asking about her family's history, specifically her German grandfather and aunt's involvement in WWII as Nazi spies. Her father had always told her that her grandfather died in a car accident in Germany, so the idea of him as a spy in Hawaii, paid by Japan to help with reconnaissance to plan the attack on Pearl Harbor, was mind-blowing to say the least. This set off a 30-year journey of finally getting some of the truth from her father about his family, researching everything related to her family's Nazi involvement (including her grandmother and uncle as well), and struggling with how to acknowledge her family's involvement in things she abhorred (as did her father - who, amazingly, joined the US army as a 19-year-old, a couple of years after Pearl Harbor, completely defecting from his family, and fighting in the Pacific, the very part of the war that they helped usher in). I thought the best parts of this book were when the author reflected on how finding out about her family's secret history affected her, and how she went about finding answers, so I appreciated how that was woven through the book. And the other most interesting parts - which actually had me on the edge of my seat a bit - were the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, in terms of learning what happened to each of the family members. Because the parts specifically about Christine's family were the ones I found the most engaging I wished for a bit more of them, like more about actual conversations she had with her dad, or even some more details like how her aunt came to live in the US after all of this, despite being known to the US government as someone with Nazi ties. And thus I could have done with a bit less of the pre-war history about the rise of Hitler, or some of the side stories about particular Japanese soldiers, etc. However, it was all very well researched, and if you really like history/WWII books you will appreciate all of it. And if you are more of an occasional nonfiction reader who is most interested in memoir like I am, this is a good foray into narrative historical nonfiction since it includes elements of memoir. I learned a lot of details about Pearl Harbor that I hadn't known, and I think this particular family's story is one that is very worth being in the historical record, as we learn from history and as we all decide what we will do in the face of rising hate/discrimination. I enjoyed it on audio as it was engaging enough to keep my mind from wandering (a hazard of audiobooks for me), though sometimes the narrator's affected accents got on my nerves I have to admit. ★★★.75

DNFs

The Displacements: I thought Bruce Holsinger's most recent novel, Culpability (dealing with AI in our world), was an excellent read on vacation, and I had also enjoyed his first, The Gifted School (dealing with college admissions scandals). So when I was reminded that I never picked up the one he published in between, I was looking forward to diving in for another mix of social commentary and juicy storytelling, this time looking at a (fictional) huge hurricane and its aftermath. I was prepared for the cli-fi nature of the story, but not fully prepared for the "after" chapters, in which thousands of families are living in FEMA camps. And in the current anxieties of the real-life newsfeed, mixed with the feeling that this type of extreme weather is all-too-likely and fully out of our control at this point, it just was not the kind of book I could do right now, so I put it down. But I still think it's one that would be a page-turning and interesting read just like his previous ones, if you aren't too stressed out by the topic/plot.

The Name Game: I have really enjoyed some of Beth O'Leary's previous books (especially The Flatshare) as romances with heart and characters to root for and not too much steam, but unfortunately I'm wondering if her books are going to go for me the way of some other romance authors I have liked. When they start going a book a year, the reading experience suffers, feeling underdeveloped... I was drawn in by the plot summary of two characters named Charlie Jones, both looking for a fresh start in life, who (accidentally) get offered the same job on a small British Isle and have to compete to be the one to keep the job. It's a fun and quirky start for a romance, and a fabulous setting for the small town and idyllic vibes, but promised to bring some depth as we unpack the struggles that have brought both to seek a new start far away from their old lives. Unfortunately, though, it just felt contrived, especially the fact that most of the story was told via journal entries (the female Charlie) and emails-to-self (the male Charlie). Did not enjoy how much of the story was told via the informal tone/voice of this, and when Charlie was writing a diary entry WHILE stranded on a large rock in high tide? I had to put this one aside. I think I could have enjoyed it more along the lines of The Flatshare if the format had been different, but in this format it didn't work for me at all. Sorry, but maybe should have judged this one by its cover...

The Homemade God: another author whose work I have previously loved - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and the follow up, Maureen, were heartwarming but with enough grit to avoid cheesiness but unfortunately has had less success for me in more recent books. Despite not finishing Miss Benson's Beetle (historical fiction that was just too light/overly plucky for me) I still wanted to try her most recent as I was interested in the beachy Italian setting, the adult sibling dynamics, and the undercurrent of mystery as they try to locate their artist father's final painting. But again I just couldn't make it in very far as the tone just felt too light and the characters too 2-D (for purporting to be a complex family drama) and the narrative voice too scattered and confusing as it switched among the 4 siblings willy nilly - they were so hard to keep track of. Might have improved, but I have too many books on my shelf to stick around just in case.

reading lately: February roundup

As a lot of my reading was vacation reading, this roundup is a bit shorter, but my February non-beach reading managed to have a lot of variety and a few solid picks. Even the ones that were not my faves still got me interested in reading other books from these new (or new-to-me) authors.

Literary/contemporary fiction

Lost Lambs: The Flynn family is descending into chaos - Bud and Catherine's open marriage is an open secret in their family/town, but it's not quite giving them the satisfaction they hoped for. Eldest daughter Abigail is a high schooler who has started dating an ex-soldier with Crohn's disease nicknamed War Crimes Wes, middle daughter Louise is in an online relationship with someone who turns out to be a religious zealot and terrorist, and Harper, the youngest and insanely smart daughter is convinced that sculptures in the town center are filled with cameras that are monitoring the citizens. Add to that a gnat-filled church under fumigation, a priest in a passive-aggressive battle with a church lady who leads the "Lost Lambs" support group, an Inner Beauty pageant, and so much more - and you've got a zany and sharply observational read about a family and a community in chaos. The tone of this dysfunctional family story is absurdist and campy and incessantly quick-witted and clever (I loved the constantly mentioned punny store and business names in their town, and some word spelling choices that made me actually LOL), but underneath there's a charm to and (author's) care for the characters that drew me to them even if everything felt too zany and overboard to make them feel like real people. There's some plot related to a local conspiracy theory and corrupt local billionaire which gets a bit wild at the end, but it's much more about the characters and their dynamics, and they were all interesting enough to carry it. Mostly it was straight-up fun, but if you want to dig deeper there's also some reflection on more personal things like the importance/power of human connection and of being seen for who you are, how we justify our actions or our complacency to ourselves; also satire and social commentary about religion, misdeeds of the rich and powerful. The book won't be for everyone or for every mood, but if you're craving something different, something light in a nutty (rather than fluffy) way, or if you are a fan of Kevin Wilson, Kristen Arnett, Carl Hiassen (honestly some of the insanity made me assume at first the book was set in Florida like the latter two authors' books, because Florida books are sometimes just downright weird!), or quirky Indie family movies, pick this up. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this family, even if I had a couple of quibbles with loose ends and somewhat rushed development toward the end of the book - though I wouldn't have wanted it to be longer, as the short-ish length was just right for a fun ride but not getting exhausted by the absurdity. ★★★★.5

The Orchard: After walking away from her career in academia, where she was well-respected for her translations of Chinese poetry from the Tang dynasty, Frith's mother Hayley decided to raise her in a rustic cabin in Vermont. Everything about this upbringing was pretty unconventional - or "noncompliant", as they jokingly termed it - from the way they muddled through making a living to the games of horseshoes they played with the local biker game, but for precocious and exuberant Frith, life was secure in her mother's love and affection, and in their deep friendship with neighbor Rosie, who taught her about the land, birds, fishing. Now that she is early in her own first pregnancy, Frith reflects on the time from their move to Vermont through her mother's death, both the joys and the hardships/heartaches of that life, and reminisces on particular events and interactions along the way as they relate to the theme of a particular poem from a stack of her mother's translations (a really lovely structure to the book that manages to be quite compelling reading, though it is quiet and relatively slow moving). This book is definitely a departure from other recent ones I've read by Peter Heller (such as The River, The Guide) that feature male protagonists and combine slow-burn literary suspense that has a mounting sense of dread along with excellent nature writing. The Orchard is about a mother-daughter relationship, and is entirely character-driven, with a reflective feel. I loved how that reflective quality, Frith telling her own story as an adult, captures the full range of emotions and understanding - we get the unbridled joys and the fears of her childhood, but we also get the new view she has on these stories as an adult, now that she can understand the undercurrents in a way she couldn't as a child (why her mother left academia, what their financial situation was really like, etc.). That rang very true to experience. Maybe occasionally the womanhood part didn't ring quite as true, being written by a man, but overall I really liked this book. More than a Peter Heller book, the setting, characters, and tone reminded me of reading Elizabeth Strout's works. A lovely book about the enduring power of love and of grace, the bond of the mother-daughter relationship as well as female friendship, about the grand and the everyday poetry of nature (and nature poetry!), and about the shared human experience over centuries and the ability of the human spirit to go on in spite of loss. ★★★★.5

The Future Saints: Hannah is the lead singer of a middling-successful band that is wrapping up its tour in a downward spiral after the tragic loss of their manager, and with her coping mechanism of alcohol she is about to go down in self-destructive flames. Theo is a record company exec who is sent in to get the band to produce their contractually obligated 2nd album before the company gives them the axe. But when a video of Hannah's raw emotional moment at their final concert goes viral, Theo's job becomes to manage their rocketing ascension to new heights - appearances on late night shows, at prestigious theaters and music festivals - as they write new music, have internal band squabbles, and as Hannah's wild antics continue to go social media nuts while on the inside she's clearly haunted by the ghost of her loss. Books run a risk when they get compared to the epitome of their sub-genre - this book was (unsurprisingly) recommended for fans of Daisy Jones & the Six - but while that can draw in an interested reader (me), they don't always live up to the comparison... Probably for lack of novelty. This book was set in a different era (current day) and had a different format (not an oral history) to Daisy Jones, but it didn't feel like it really added anything new and fresh to the books about fictional bands sub-genre. And maybe didn't successfully marry the band drama + the romance aspect - would have worked better to focus on just one or the other? With trying to weave together both, the emotions of the band drama portion didn't feel that impactful, the industry characters lacked nuance, and the drugs/booze-fueled antics of musicians made them feel like caricatures. And the romance part felt both unlikely and predictable at the same time. Felt very one-sided because Theo was just such a people-pleaser/fixer, and yet also predictable because of COURSE the record company exec that gets brought in falls for the band lead and has to choose between his loyalty to his job and his love. All that said, I would still find this satisfying beach reading for being easy reading (despite the heavy mental health/grief aspects it addresses) and by the end I was drawn in despite my reservations, partly because I like a "behind-the-scenes"/fame story so much. ★★★.25

Mystery/thriller

Darkrooms: When I see a publisher blurb that tells me a book is perfect for fans of Tana French, you know I am interested... I hadn't seen anything about this debut novel elsewhere, but that was enough to get me to pick up the story of two young women who are grappling with and investigating, in their own way, the disappearance of 9-year-old Roisin 10 years earlier, never seen again after she ran off from a summer solstice celebration and into the woods in their small Irish town. Deedee, her older sister, who is now a rookie police officer, and Caitlin, who was Roisin's best friend at the time and was the last one to see Roisin before she disappeared. The reading experience with this one was interesting. The characters doing their own investigations came to so many wildly wrong conclusions at each stage, and made such seemingly bad decisions, that what was going on with them became just as much a mystery as what happened to Roisin. I couldn't decide if they were delusional, mentally ill, lying, just kind of bad people, or what - but in the end I think it all comes down to the psychology of trauma. With that, the culprit (predator, really) became obvious to me somewhat early on - though I am not usually a person who cares about or tries to "solve" the mystery of a mystery novel - which I thought was actually an interesting and perhaps intentional choice by the author, as it makes you think about how small communities can allow things that are open secrets to fester, and about repressed trauma and what it does to people when they grow up. The girls in this story might have thought that Roisin's disappearance was a mystery, but deep down they knew about this predator in their midst, something that they covered up in their own minds and coped with through their issues (stealing, lying, drinking, drugs, envisioning monsters in the woods), even if they didn't have all of the puzzle pieces to exactly what happened to Roisin. Definitely has the atmospheric Irish vibes and slow-burn psychological suspense I like about Tana French, but not as strong in terms of character development and plotting. The timelines and motivations felt a bit convoluted at times. I am interested to see what else this author does though, especially if future books could lean a bit more into the procedural to balance out the psychological aspects. I maybe needed a bit more of that to keep me fully invested, because I found the characters hard to like, even if I did have empathy for how they were dealing with trauma. ★★★.5

Better the Blood: I like finding detective books with female protagonists, especially ones who are mothers, as it adds an interesting element/depth, and something for me to connect with, so I was interested in this one about a Maori detective in New Zealand who juggles single motherhood with rising the ranks in Auckland’s Central Investigation Branch (where by the way she also works with her ex), and she also juggles being part of the police force with her Maori background, with her family considering her a sell-out for joining an institution that disproportionally arrests brown people. A good base for a detective series in my opinion... in this first installment Hana is led to a gruesome crime scene by an anonymously emailed video, and after seeing a particular Maori symbol near the scene, she connects some other seemingly unrelated murders to it. The link turns out to be based on someone seeking retribution for a historic crime committed against a Maori elder by the colonizing British force, targeting the descendants of those soldiers. In general it felt like a genre book with the type of writing and plot, more "tell" than "show", sentence structure a bit basic. It's clear early on to the reader, and to the detectives as well, who the killer is, and so more than a procedural it's a thriller feel, with a race to try to identify/protect the next victim before the killer strikes again. If the series went more into detective investigation aspect I'd be interested in reading more from this character (and her second-in-command - really liked that working relationship), but other than the interest I had in the Maori history/culture (as well as the injustices/systemic racism they have faced) presented in the story, I thought the plot was just fine. The thrillery stuff gets a bit outlandish to me, and I didn't love the pacing, especially with how the interludes from the killer's perspective broke up the story. ★★★.25

Romance/rom-com

Most Eligible: Georgia Rose one of those contestants who is going on a hit reality dating show for the wrong reasons - but not the ones you'd expect. She is an undercover journalist looking to write an expose about the executive producer and the terrible working conditions and expectations she creates for contestants. But when she arrives to filming the first episode she finds that Love Shack's new host is none other than country singer Rhett Auburn, with whom she had an unforgettable one-night stand a year earlier, and her plans to woo the show's bachelor lead in order to write her article (and in exchange finally get the job promotion of her dreams) are thrown into internal chaos. Admittedly not many romances have been working for me lately, but one with a behind-the-scenes of a Bachelor-like show is a hook that draws me in, so I picked it up. Though I have never actually watched more than one episode of The Bachelor, I have loved dating show-based books like One to Watch, The Charm Offensive, and If the Shoe Fits for how they give this fascinating behind-the-scenes view of reality TV mixed with the drama of it, reframing things to empower the women, and maybe some swoony romance to boot. But this one was a real disappointment for me because I actively disliked the romantic pairing I was supposed to be rooting for. The expose part was intriguing and carried the plot along, but then the flashbacks that Georgia had to her one-night stand with Rhett kept coming in and being an annoying distraction. It seemed like the author was looking to get in some hot-n-heavy stuff and this was the only way to do it. At base, I didn't buy the connection between Georgia and Rhett, especially because their re-meet at the show just went from animosity to sex with nothing substantial in between. I need more charm and actual relationship development. I finished reading to find out what happened with Georgia's article, but I didn't feel like I got payoff. Overall it felt like the author was trying to do too much - the expose about a reality dating show, exploring the relationships formed by the women who are contestants on the show, and then some over-the-top backstabbing and crazy date situations, then tacking on this romance with a famous musician. It actually could have been a good book if it weren't a romance at all. Focusing on just the first two items, it could have created enough drama/tension in exploring what finding out that Georgia was there for the wrong reasons would do to the friendships she developed with other contestants, without needing the romantic relationship at all. And it would be more interesting to reframe a dating show to have people realize they are good enough for themselves, not needing this dopey guy... ★★

That's a wrap on this month. Any good books or new authors you found in February that I should add to my March list?