altlovesbooks

Ick.

Okay, so this ended up being way more general fiction than it was either horror (unless you count body horror) or thriller. I think I was expecting something way different than what I was delivered, and while the story told isn’t bad exactly, I get kind of bored with stories involving people working through childhood trauma. Even if that story is told inside the (literal) belly of a whale.

Jay has daddy issues. His father was a lover of the sea, a diver who also took on unpleasant jobs to pay the bills for his large family. Has a big attitude problem, and looks down on anyone who doesn’t view the sea and everything in her the same way he does, including his own son. He expected Jay to follow in his footsteps and become a diver, an activist, a lover of the sea in his own right, and the two grew apart when Jay didn’t want any of that for himself. (Ending spoilers here) Then his father dies, a suicide off his friend’s boat, and Jay feels compelled to retrieve his father’s underwater remains in an attempt to heal the rift in the family that the two of them left behind. He becomes a whale snack, and the rest of the book is him trying to get out of this whale, while also hearing the voice of his dead father and working through all the issues the two of them had with each other.

This one’s more literary than I was expecting, and the pacing is incredibly slow for what it is. While in the belly of the whale, we’re treated to flashbacks in Jay’s life that further defines the relationship between him and his father, interspersed with very short segments about his attempts to get out of the whale. See, the whale just seems like a metaphor for the grief and guilt Jay carries around with him surrounding his father and Jay leaving home, and while I’m sure there’s something there for people that appeals to, I was here for whale science and “holy shit I’m swallowed by a whale, what do??”

There’s also a ton of visceral body horror, both in Jay and in the whale, leaving me queasy a number of times as I envisioned “Beaky” in his hand, being slowly dissolved by stomach acid, and various other injuries sustained while on his weird physical-and-mental journey.

So, like, it’s a fine book, but just not for me. I made it through out of stubbornness, but it didn’t feel like a rewarding slog through whale stomach contents.

Nope.

Every time I try and read something from the thriller/mystery pile of books people recommend to me, I come away disappointed. Maybe it's me?

The rest of this will be in spoilers. Know that there's heavy ending spoilers here.

Okay, so I have a major problem with authors who try so hard to be smarter than their readers, and this book had that in spades. When The Twist happens in the last 2o% of the book or so, I think us, as the readers, are supposed to just ignore the first part of the book and pretend like it never happened, because after The Twist it just doesn't matter anymore. The author's doing the "GOTCHA!" finger guns in the background, and we're supposed to ignore the fact that the entire book was written in first person and thus in the mind of the actual killer, and none of this is even hinted at. All for the sake of The Twist and The Gotcha. Her mind, her thoughts, all of it indicates this is her first time in the house, and yet if she's the killer, it very clearly isn't. It feels like lazy storytelling.

None of the characters are likeable. Except maybe the real estate agent Judy, who knew better than to go driving out to a house in bumfuck nowhere in a blizzard and who has high standards for the houses she shows. You go girl, and good on you for staying out of the book.

I gave it a star for being a quick read, and it at least kept me reading until the end, if only for maybe the wrong reasons.

Shanghailanders is an ambitious debut story about a super rich Shanghai family told in reverse order from 2040 back to 2014. The book opens as the family has basically ended – the children have grown up, grown apart, the husband and wife argue fairly frequently and are apart more often than together. Then, each chapter takes the story back a few years to see how the family got to that point. Each chapter dials the time period back a few years, and follows a different member of the family initially (the three girls, the husband, the wife), and then starts also including various members of the household as well (a driver, a nanny, etc.) to paint a more full story of this family’s life.

The prose of the book was what ultimately kept me reading. The author has a way with words that really painted the scenes, the cities, the different ways the family has of interacting with one another. Ultimately, though, I left disappointed in the book, because it felt like the reverse way of telling the story didn’t add anything. There wasn’t any real payoff at the end for reading the story backwards, and at more than one point in the book I found myself wanting to know what happens as a result of the chapter, not what came before.

There’s a good story here, I just wish it were told differently.

I received an ARC copy free through Goodreads Giveaways.

Actually..... not a bad book at all. It's very high level, so if you're looking for minutiae in how to protect your hyper specific use case of a library, you won't find that here, but if you're just looking for something to get you in the right ballpark with your mindset, this did its job well. My library is not a traditional public library so I wasn't able to map some of the advice perfectly to my experiences, but it did get me thinking a lot about the role my library plays in a disaster and the position we're in to assist afterwards.

I thought Chapter 2 was the most useful for me in terms of information and mindset, but I also appreciated the author touching on the aftercare of employees following a disaster in Chapter 3. There's a lot of really great information and links to further assistance all throughout this book, and it was helpful in giving me a jumping off point for planning our own disaster recovery plan.

If you had told me a few years ago that my favorite TMNT property wouldn't involve the Fab-4 at all, I wouldn't have believed you. How could you have TMNT without the TMNT?

This particular volume is a split timeline story, where we're told the story of how The Last Ronin (no spoilers from me here, nosir) got to where The Last Ronin picks up. Some small plot/backstory holes from the first story are plugged up here, and we're introduced to the new/next Fab-4 that clearly is picking up where the last left off. We get a bit more lore/history from the Ronin-verse fleshed out, and setup for where things are going in the future.

More of these, please.

This book suffers from "book-2-itis", I think. I really liked the first book and thought the pacing, setting, and story were all really well done, but this book 2 seems to just not hit the same high notes with me.

Iari and Friends are exploring ruins looking for the separatists that plagued the first book. Things go sideways in the ruins, and suddenly our cast of characters is split between Iari and Corso on a Templar rescue mission and Gaer, Winter Bite, and Char in Windscar trying to make the Important People care about the fact that Iari's on a potential suicide mission in the heart of unfriendly territory.

Lots of action happens. So much action! And banter! Great, engaging banter! Basically all the reasons I loved the first book are here again in the second. But maybe it was the setting (not quite a murder mystery, not quite a thriller) or the fact that there was an incredible amount of exposition shoehorned in amongst the action that I found my attention drifting in parts. Still a great book, just not quite the same high highs as the first.

I hope there's a book three to tie up some loose threads (hello Iari x Gaer), but I saw a mention that this is only supposed to be a duology, in which case I'm left deeply unsatisfied.

"No fear, McGrath."

I’m not crying, you’re crying. Seriously, who’s cutting all the onions in here? I’m not one to get sentimental or teary when reading very often, but this one unexpectedly did me in. Fair warning, this is a sad book with many trigger warnings, but it’s a very good book.

Frances “Frankie” McGrath is the daughter of a well-to-do family from Coronado Island, who grows up very close to her brother. Her brother graduates, enlists in the military as men in the McGrath family do, and is sent to Vietnam. Frankie, feeling a need to do something more with her life, also enlists as a nurse to be sent to Vietnam. Her family is less than pleased (women, after all, don’t belong in the military), but she goes anyway. This book is about her experiences as a nurse during the Vietnam War, and the problems she experiences coming home again.

I’m going to reiterate here that this is not a happy book. It’s very much a gut punch all the way through, and while most of it is family/relationship drama, there’s a good bit of Vietnam and PTSD discussion as well. It’s very thought provoking about the experiences of women who served in Vietnam being even more forgotten and marginalized than men who served, while also making you want to cry and keep reading at the same time.

If I had to point out one thing I wish had been done differently, it would’ve been the very ending. Bringing Jamie back seemed gratuitously sad, like it was included just to evoke more tears in the last few pages. I have no problems with sad things, but it felt a little out of place and unnecessary with all the other sad things that had gone on. But that’s super minor and I know very personal, so I definitely don’t want to discourage anyone from giving this a read.

An easy addition to my 2024 favorites for this year.

"The debts of the father must be paid."

Okay, now that the first book laid the groundwork for the new story after a lot of infodumping and "as you know" character conversations, I’m extremely pleased with book two. The two points of view from the first book are back here, with Olive Paper working her way through her own identity issues and stepping out from behind her family’s legacy and Darin Bales coming to terms with his own weaknesses and working to overcome them. It was great seeing them come together as unique characters and not just existing by merit of being the children of great people.

Really no complaints about this one, it hits all the same high notes from the first series with a new cast of characters that tackles things their own way. Olive Paper was far and away my favorite viewpoint of the two here, but I also enjoyed Darin’s interactions with his friends and how he leverages the powers he struggles to control in taking care of those around him.

Can’t wait for the next book!

Well, I liked the premise! Who wouldn't want literal superpowers bestowed on you through a book, right? The problem was that this book suffered some major pacing/development issues that prevented me from thoroughly enjoying myself, and it also requires the attentive reader to entirely turn off the part of the brain responsible for thinking logically about time travel implications. It was these two things that prevented me from rating the book higher, but I do have to say that I did mostly enjoy the story told. There was just a lot of telling.

Cassie works at a bookstore when an elderly regular of hers, Mr. Webber, stops by one snowy evening, exchanges some banter about world travel and The Count of Monte Cristo, and then passes away right there in the shop. In front of him, Cassie finds a mysterious book with an equally mysterious message for her right inside the cover. This was her introduction to The Book of Doors, which lets her travel anywhere (and anywhen) just by opening a door. There's other books out there with other strange and mysterious powers, and just as many people trying to get their hands on them. Cassie finds herself sucked into a power struggle she never knew existed, armed only with a book to keep her and her friends safe.

The cast of characters in this book is rather large, but don't worry, only a very few of them are actually relevant to the plot. There's an equally huge number of different books of different powers out there as well, but again, don't worry, as our heroes really only make use of two or three regularly. The author does a lot of handwaving of these other books (evidently a whole library's worth?), which was a little disappointing. The plot also moves incredibly slow in the beginning while everything's being set up, and then after it falls over the tipping point things start moving incredibly fast, which was a little problematic. It took so long for the plot to start moving, and then when it does, interesting plot points are handwaved away in a "we'll think about this later" off scene sort of way as the author barrels through their plot points to get to the end. After all the time setting things up, I expected a bit more care to be taken with the end.

And then don't get me started on all the time travel shenanigans that aren't adequately explained. DO NOT click this spoiler/read this spoiler if you're at all interested in this book (I'm not joking) (HEAVY ending spoilers here): So ultimately it was Cassie who made the books, right? But we don't actually ever talk about that and what that means or how it happens. She just saw Izzy die (but not actually), freak out, go through a door to nothing, and then.....hangs out there for months, sheds her emotions into books, and then somehow they're distributed out before everything started hundreds of years ago for everyone to fight over. She was the origin of the books, but everytime afterward that Cassie starts to think about it she waves it away as being too large to think about. Girl, you're right, but also the readers want to know wtf that was all about so we need to have a moment together, I think. It just smacked of the author having a cool idea but not really knowing how to adequately/satisfactorily explain it at the end, so we'll just have the main character not talk about it at all okay?

But if you're able to turn your brain off and want an original book superpower-themed thriller, give this one a try.

This was more of a memoir/tongue-in-cheek nonfiction about the reasons the author reads, with some bonus advice about how we can use her experiences to improve our own reading. It's basically a series of essays about various topics related to reading--everything from the author's early experiences in a library to how to read horror if you're a scared reader to teaching a classroom of students how to appreciate Lincoln in the Bardo to a lot more diverse topics.

Not a lot connects one essay to the next except the author's life and reading, but it was an interesting listen none-the-less. It was a great audiobook for me to listen to, as I feel like if I were reading it I would start getting bored of the meandering-ness of the book. I did get some things out of it, and really liked her approach to working in poetry that I might consider doing, but not a lot will stick with me now that it's done.

I do think the author has a great sense of humor and outlook on life though. It was an amusing book to listen to, if nothing else.

"How nice it is to be two happy people on a purple moon."

You guys.

You guys.

For the short story fans out there, for the grounded sci-fi lovers on my list, even for the “I need a short book to pad out my Goodreads goal already” people, I ask that you keep this one on your list or in your mind for March. I’m going through a rough mental patch this last week or two, and this book was everything I needed to hear in all the right ways.

August lives in a Spire on a world of purple sand. A Spire is essentially a self-contained tower of people, like a vertical city. If you’re familiar with the term “arcology”, it’s like that. August herself is a rarity, in that she’s half human, half spyren, an alien race who are spiritually and physically connected with the world, and share memories and emotions through the sand around them. Her mother (the spyren) left the Spire when she was very little to return to her people, while her father left as soon as August was old enough to live on her own. They’ve remained out of her life since. She’s since made a living on the Spire as a sand reader, someone the residents can go to to have memories in the sand read for them (like a medium), but the job is taking a terrible toll on her mental health. She opts to take a sabbatical and find something new to do with her life. It’s through this that she meets Alix, a painter, and Lekka, a gardener who maintains the plants on the outside of the Spire (like a window washer, but…plant maintainer). As she slowly starts connecting with these two and finding where she belongs now that she feels she can’t go back to sand reading, the past intrudes on her new happiness.

It bills itself as a cozy science fantasy novella, and I agree with that assessment. It’s sci-fi in setting, fantasy in terms of sand reading, and grounded in the feelings of fear, inadequacy, and awkwardness we all feel when leaving something familiar behind and branching out into something new. The writing is stellar (badumtssss), and very quiet and deliberate in terms of setting the scene. I absolutely want to live on the Spire as described. It’s more family drama than action packed, so temper your expectations accordingly, but it really was the thing I needed to read right now.

Thank you to BookSirens and the publisher for providing me with a free eBook copy in exchange for an honest review.

"When history is the only guide, what room is there for the future?"

My Goodreads goal for the year is met, and yet I couldn’t help but pick up this novella when I saw it in my ARC recommendations. I’m kind of a sucker for speculative sci-fi concepts, and the fact that it’s in a bite-sized novella/short story format was ideal. I will say it left me wanting, but in a good way.

Rahnia is stuck on a planet, looking for a thing that may or may not exist, in order for her people that she grew up with to have a home. In a moment of despair, after she’s given up hope of finding this thing and wondering if it even matters anymore, it finds her. It being the voice box, a real Lorax-esque “I speak for the planet” type being. Without giving too much away, she’s presented with an offer that she can’t easily refuse, but ends up spending the rest of her life fulfilling the best way she can.

The prose is incredibly lyrical and moving, for one. I thought the author did a fantastic job of describing the setting, describing Rahnia’s fragile state of mind in places, and the constant conflicting emotions she feels throughout the story. I also loved the idea of Rahnia being able to (plot spoilers here) manipulate nature/the planet like she’s able to, but I do wish a bit more had been said here about how that translated to creating a better future for the planet. I get that she was able to put the planet on a better path towards peace and prosperity, but nothing was said about how Rahnia was able to do that with what she was given.

Just a really great read, a short one too. This will unexpectedly stick with me a bit, I think.

Thanks to BookSirens and the publisher for providing me with a free ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

"You can fall out of your own safe life that quickly, and nothing you thought you knew will ever be the same again."

I’m going to spoil this up front for everyone concerned before reading. Here’s my doestshedogdie.com report: The dog does not die.

New year, new amazing 5 star book! Teeeeechnically I started this in 2023, but the only date that counts is the date you log it as read, right? Right. If the rest of my 2024 reads could be this good, I’d be a happy camper.

The world has ended long ago, so long ago that Griz only knows it from tales passed down, and from what he finds when scavenging. His family lives on an island (maybe in the Scotland region? Being not from that side of the planet, I’m fuzzy on actual geography, but the setting/feeling sounds right), and very rarely sees other people. They’re a very close family, especially Griz and his two dogs Jess and Jip. A strange man arrives with a ready smile and a quick tale, and suddenly Griz is one dog less. What follows is Griz’s quest to get his dog back across a post-apocalyptic Britain. John Wick would approve.

First, to get out ahead of the complaints, this is a bit of a slow burn. Rather than it being a fast paced thriller of a sci-fi book, this takes place in the form of a journal Griz keeps of his journey, where we get to read his thoughts, his musings, and what he understands about the remnants of the world around him. It’s quiet in many places and doesn’t feature many characters (what with most of the population being, y’know, dead and all). But it was just so damn atmospheric and bittersweet, reading about how things have changed and how Griz approaches the world. This was all the slow parts about Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel that I liked best, wrapped up into one neat little package without all that pesky interpersonal drama getting in the way.

Major plot twist spoilers (seriously, don’t click this unless you’ve finished the book): And that 80% twist? I absolutely didn’t see it coming. I was really curious about the hints dropped by Griz all throughout the book, but I wasn’t expecting what was delivered. I guess I take book titles too literally.

I will say, what is it with the stylistic choice to not use quotation marks to indicate dialogue? This isn’t the first book I’ve read like this, and I still dislike the decision. But the book was just so damn good for me that I’m willing to overlook it just this once.

Just a really fantastic book to start my 2024. Read this if you like the idea of a quiet, introspective, post apocalyptic John Wick without killing.

DNF, this would probably be better off titled "The Book at (World) War (II)", because at least within the first 100 pages, we only really read about a sliver of historical wars, and then a large swath of World War II. I also feel like this is a series of dry factoids in search of a premise. The information presented didn't feel very cohesive, and it was difficult to figure out where things were going and how it related to the title/summary of what I thought I was getting into.

I like the cover art though. I have a reproduction of this particular image on my wall at home (sans book info, of course). The original can be found here: https://www.loc.gov/item/2002709066/

I read RJB’s Foundryside several years ago, but left it a bit letdown and not really wanting to continue the series. I found its magic system convoluted, unnecessarily layered, and full of infodumps about why exactly something works one way and not another. Other people really dug it, but I thought the word salad it turned into was hard to follow. Having said that, I’m really glad I gave him another chance, because I think The Tainted Cup is something special.

Dinios Kol (or, Din to just about everybody in the book) is an assistant to Ana Dolabra, something of an investigator in the realm of Daretana. Rather like a certain Sherlock Holmes, Ana is very eccentric, a bit unreliable, and rather brusque and sarcastic to just about everybody around her, but is brilliant at what she does. Din is her eyes, ears, and hands into these investigations, and we follow him as he begins the investigation into the mysterious death of a rather prominent officer involving a tree mysteriously (and gruesomely) growing out of his body. The investigation quickly starts snowballing, and the two find themselves called to the very front lines of Daretana’s most dangerous battlefront against a most massive foe.

Right off the bat I like that, this time around, the magic system is much more subtle, requires less infodumping, and feels more organic (hehehe) to the plot and setting. Rather than it being the pivot point and purpose of the story like it was in Foundryside, it takes a bit of a backseat here where it’s still involved and necessary, but doesn’t feel like you’re being beaten over the head with it. I also really like the overall plot. Once upon a time I lamented to a friend that there was a distinct lack of fantasy murder mysteries. This is exactly in the realm of what I was looking for. It really does feel like a Holmes/Watson adventure, with clues and leads and a mystery that Holmes (Ana) solves early on and Watson (Din, our eyes and ears) struggles to keep up with. The last 10-20% of the book was my favorite section, where things click into place, suspects are hunted, and just enough is left teased and hanging for there to be both a satisfying ending and an anticipated sequel to look forward to.

There’s also a bit of a romance! It’s not a major plot and not a ton of time is spent fleshing it out, but it’s there, and I’m actually kind of hoping it’s continued in the next book.

Keep this one on your radar if you’re a RJB fan, if you’re like me and love the idea of a fantasy murder mystery, or if you’re looking for something fast paced and fun.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

Hey! We’re back in the Three Pines! And after a run of two books in the series that I didn’t care for, I actually enjoyed this one! Or maybe my feelings about the previous two books made this one feel not as bad. Unclear. I will say that, despite us being back in the Three Pines, on familiar ground, and working a familiar case, things managed to feel just a bit sloppy. I think if I didn’t actively dislike the previous two books, I’d probably rate this one lower.

Gamache & Co. are called on to provide security at a rally being held over the holidays. The person holding the rally is the most inconspicuous, likeable person you’re liable to meet, and yet they’re there to present some incredibly distasteful facts and figures. Someone takes a few shots at her during the rally, and the plot is off to the races! Her aide turns up dead, fingers get pointed, and it’s up to Gamache to unearth the various long buried skeletons in closets to get at the purpose and the truth.

First off, full stars for being back in the Three Pines. I missed it here.

But I had some issues with the book. Namely, it felt like it tried to do and be too many things at once. Major plot spoilers: For instance, Penny buries the lede hard on what exactly it is Abigail is presenting on for so long that I was expecting everything from anti-vax sentiments to a full-blown Nazi rally. It’s actually eugenics, but it seemed like that didn’t even matter to the larger murder reveal so I’m not sure why it was played so coyly. It also felt vaguely forced, like the other social issue books Penny’s written in the past, which took me a bit out of the story. It also felt rather repetitive in places, with Gamache & Co. rehashing the same points, the same strong feelings, the same sentiments in different locations frequently during the book. Penny is great at creating interpersonal drama over many different facets in a murder mystery, so when I was reading the same points rehashed several times throughout the book, I started to get a little bored.

I still am giving this a cautious 4 stars though, if only to keep myself in the game and happy to read the next book in the series. It’s an improvement on All the Devils are Here, but it’s definitely not the same caliber as the early books in the series.

I thought this book was inoffensively bland at its best and actively harmful at its worst. Early on in the book it talks about determining if the difficult conversation is one that you need to be having at all, and gives the example of two coworkers who aren't getting along. A direct quote from the book about this scenario:

"If you still feel like you need to say something, either because you are the defacto leader, or that the tension between these two coworkers is generally making for an uncomfortable work environment; then the only conversation that you might have is to empower the one who has come to you to have the conversation themselves. You might suggest, 'It sounds to me that there are some important things you need to discuss with your coworker. I know it will be a difficult conversation, but it is probably best that you talk to them rather than me since you are most directly involved.'"

Yes, I'd love for people to be adults about everything, but as a supervisor/manager, there are absolutely times you need to clear up interpersonal issues. Washing your hands of the situation and dumping it back on them to figure out is not a good look.

The rest of the book talks about how to actually have difficult conversations, but most of it is information that I thought was rather obvious. Know your facts, don't make assumptions, don't coe out swinging with wild accusations. I don't like their idea of using a 3x5 card with your talking points, though, since it then looks like you're talking to your card and not to the person, but whatever.

Skip this, was not impressed.

"In a fight of one against many, chaos favored him."

I managed to squeeze in all four Sanderson secret project books before the end of the year, and that’s a big deal to me. Normally I don’t read authors/series back-to-back like this. I’m somewhat glad I did, because it lets me really compare the four books against each other in terms of my enjoyment and arrive at a (somewhat) legitimate review score. The tl;dr version is that it’s a decent book (particularly if you really sink your teeth into Cosmere stuff), but definitely not a stand-alone story, and be at least caught up with the Stormlight Archive through Rhythm of War before riding this ride.

Nomad, a key player in the Stormlight Archives, is on the run, and winds up on a murderous mudball of a planet. The sun is actively trying to kill everyone on its surface, forcing its residents to live in moving cities that travel just in the sun’s wake so as not to, y’know, fry. The Cinder King is the despot of this planet, trying to unify everyone under his singular rule (and thumb). The rebel faction on this planet are the ones Nomad falls in with, and the book follows his story of trying to escape this planet while also saving the people from the Cinder King’s rule.

From, basically, page 1 Sanderson throws you into the deep end of Nomad’s predicament, and from there it’s wall-to-wall action until the end. It’s a very fast paced book, which is somewhat uncharacteristic of Sanderson. It’s also rife with Cosmere spoilers for the unwary, so it’s important that you’re well-versed in your lore before tackling this one. I appreciate that the Cosmere exists, but I don’t do extensive Cosmere study, leaving me having to do some emergency cramming to understand some of the more intricate details. It’s definitely not a stand-alone read, which Sanderson owns in the afterword. This book is Sanderson’s gift to the fans, and it shows.

I ended up with a 4 star rating on this one, just because I definitely didn’t enjoy it as much as Tress or Yumi, but I did like it more than Frugal Wizard. It’s just really fast paced (have I said that enough?), and there’s a lot going on. It’s a must-read for anyone invested (hahahaha) in the Cosmere, though.

"At Least He Never Walked"

Where I’m an avid Haruki Murakami fan, me and running are casual acquaintances at best. I don’t enjoy running the way other runners seem to, and even trying to understand the mentality is foreign to me. I have incredible respect for people who are runners, let alone ultramarathon runners and triathlon competitors, it’s just not something for me. So when a gathering of friends decided to get together to read this book (as we all respect Murakami as a writer to varying degrees), I almost passed. I’m actually glad I didn’t, because there’s more to this book than a man talking about how much he loves running.

I mean, there’s tons of that too. Murakami is an accomplished runner as well as an author, and he has all the right to talk to us about how he prepares for marathons and approaches running in general. He lives an incredibly disciplined lifestyle, makes time for a considerable amount of running each day, and generally takes very good care of himself. There’s lots here for the people who run, where Murakami finds the motivation to do so, how deep he has to dig when he’s in the thick of a marathon, the mental preparations he goes through leading up to a race. I mean, at the core of it, it’s just a matter of strapping on some sneakers and going at it, but it’s easy to say that on paper and a thousand times harder to actually do.

For the rest of us like me, who find running a chore and something to only trot out when escaping a bear or something, there’s good thoughts here too. I liked Murakami’s thoughts on persistence, approaching tough problems, and many other little things that I can apply to everyday life. The troubleshooting he goes through to figure out a problem (like his swimming form) and the importance of just keeping at something are good things to keep in the back of your brain. While you may not be swimming, being able to identify a problem exists and trying to figure out how to fix it rather than just scrapping the whole thing/idea/race/hobby will get you far.

Not a long book, but I appreciated this look into his head as he runs.

"It comforts her that for every path she’s taken during her many revolutions around the world—for every individual footstep, it seems—there’s a story."

Kind of a melancholic book overall, but also one that made me think about the value of living in the moment, about all the stories one makes in a lifetime, and how you can affect someone from just a brief meeting and never even know it. I finished this book yesterday but still find myself thinking about it at work, so I guess that’s the mark of something I really got a lot out of.

Aubry harbors a disease. Not a contagious disease, but one that, if left untended too long, will kill her. The treatment isn’t a conventional one—as long as she keeps traveling, the disease stays dormant. But stay in any one place for more than a couple days, and it rears its ugly, bloody, awful head and Aubry must move on or die. She can’t retrace her steps, can never return to cities she’s already been, and thus can’t form prolonged attachments to people or places without being forced to give them up to keep her disease happy. This is a story of her journey, the places she travels, the people she meets, and how this endless cycle that dominates her life affects her.

First and foremost, not a lot happens. I know that’s a weird thing to say given the premise, but the story is about Aubry’s journey and not about the disease per se. Lots of short stories in Aubry’s life, but don’t go into this expecting neat answers. It’s very much in the realm of magical realism, from some of the situations Aubry ends up in and some of the people she meets, but the book still maintains one foot in reality and always brings her back. I really enjoyed the journey and was able to overlook that some of my main questions were never explicitly answered in the process, but it might not hit the right notes for someone looking for a definitive resolution.

I really did love the way this author wrote Aubry. We follow her on her journey from the first days of her disease, to when she starts running from her disease, to when she starts hunting her disease, and finally to when she starts accepting her disease. All along the way I felt simultaneously bad for Aubry who has to give up all these people and places she loves every few days and also really admiring the mental fortitude it took her to do it. The longer she’s with this disease the more it starts wearing on her, and I appreciated that the author was able to convey that so well.

Just a beautiful, melancholy story about a woman and her time in the world. I really loved it, honestly.

I'm heading into a much-needed weeding project at my library, and this book was really helpful in many different ways in how to tackle things. Not only does it go section-by-section and talks about topics you may need, what can stay, what can be weeded, etc., but it also includes several helpful tips for the things around weeding projects that you might not think of. Messaging for the masses, getting your staff on-board, interviews with actual librarians at actual libraries about their weeding projects, some (full) example collection development plans with annotations to consider, it's quite comprehensive. One of my favorite things I pulled from here was a sample weeding schedule, which breaks down a collection by month, and gives you target areas to review/weed each month. Obviously it needs to be tailored to your specific collection, but it's a handy jumping off point for a large project like mine.

It does try to state absolutes in a field where, as we all know, nothing is absolute, but if you're able to read critically and understand that things may be different in your specific collection and how to apply the knowledge, there's a lot of good here.

Heavy handed with Japanese satire, I appreciated what this book was doing, but kind of found it boring.

Patient No. 23 is a madman whose story takes up the majority of this short book. He's out hiking, chases a Kappa (a Japanese spirit) White Rabbit style, and winds up in Kappa Land. Rather than be concerned at this turn of events, he moves right in and starts trying to fit in with his new (strange) neighbors.

We get a lot of author commentary about Japan's feelings on several topics, through Kappa who find themselves in similar situations. Everything is very episodic, in that the (short) chapters are fairly self contained. Something happens, Patient No. 23 provides commentary on Kappa behavior about the something, and we move onto the next chapter, which is generally something completely different. I would have appreciated a little more direction, but then again, these are Kappa we're talking about.

It just never rose beyond "huh" for me, interest-wise. A lot of what's discussed here isn't new, Japan is prudish, Japan is conservative, Japan doesn't like outsiders, Japan is hard working to a fault, on and on, fairly unrelentingly. The cover art was what drew me in, I just wish I enjoyed the story more.

Like, woah, right?

I missed this when it came out originally, and also when it came out in its 10th and 15th anniversary editions evidently. But not this time! This time, for its 20th anniversary, I read it! Worth the wait? Heck yes!

This was a fantastic trip down memory lane for anyone familiar with the Batman universe. Aside from Hush himself, basically everyone else he interacts with are all old favorites. All of his classic rogues gallery are here, and a number of side characters and Bat Family-adjacent friends and allies are too. If you're looking for new ground to be covered, maybe give this a pass, but there's a reason this one is one of the classics.

The art is striking, the story left me wondering the entire time about the identity of Hush, and I loved the inclusion of the alt cover art and annotated script. The annotations in particular pointed out things I had missed when reading it the first time through. There's also some PHENOMENAL black and white sketches at the end that I loved.

Great edition of a great story, perfect for anyone who just wants a great story with some familiar faces.

"Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a place with no nightmare painters. Then the people got eaten. It’s a short story."

I thought Tress of the Emerald Sea was going to be my favorite of the secret projects, and was not prepared for the ride this book took me on. I’ll be up front in saying that I don’t obsess over the Cosmere, and in fact have read things all out of order from “The Proper” reading order. This book absolutely can stand on its own, no Cosmere background necessary, but there are small details (and probably more than I noticed since I don’t retain small things book to book all that well) if you know where to look.

This book connects two people, Yumi and Painter, from two very different backgrounds. One grows up under strict guidance, her day dictated moment to moment, with no place for frivolous thoughts or actions. Her place in the world is to be the yoki-hijo, the one chosen to speak with spirits and get their cooperation in helping the people of her world. The other also dedicates himself to his people, but his service takes the form of being a Nightmare Painter—one who banishes dark spirits that materialize in his city and feed on the bad dreams of its residents. The more dreams it eats, the stronger it gets. A plea from a spirit brings Yumi and Painter together, where they each experience the other’s life in their body and have to figure out the what and the why of things before it’s too late.

In true Sanderson fashion the “what” and the “why” do a lot of the heavy lifting in this story, and things are kept appropriately mysterious until near the end. I loved the continuing discussion about the value of art, the power of friendship (in a not overbearing way), and how two opposites can come together and make something special together. There’s also quite a bit of irreverent commentary (from our narrator telling the story, someone you’ve met before if you’ve read other Sanderson books), some very touching moments, and a romance that didn’t have me rolling my eyes. That, dear reader, is kind of a rare thing for me.

It (obviously) has strong Japanese roots in the story, which is acknowledged by Sanderson in the afterward (mild influence spoilers) (both Final Fantasy 10 and Hikaru no Go are sampled from here, but twisted enough to be satisfyingly different), so if that feel of story isn’t your thing, you might be disappointed. I, on the other hand, was engaged throughout the whole book (even Tress had small sections that felt a bit drawn out to me), to the point of waking up two hours before work so I could finish it.

Highly enjoyed this one. Super, mega, totally recommend it.