Gorey!

I think I was first exposed to Edward Gorey's art on the cover of the book The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs.  And then I remember the opening to the PBS show Mystery which I LOVED.  AND THEN I found the book The Shrinking of Treehorn!  It is one of my all-time favorite books and Gorey was the incredible illustrator.    When I saw and read Nonsense!  The Curious Story of Edward Gorey I found out that he not only was an illustrator, but also an author.  Shame on me for not knowing that before this!  The Wuggly Ump was wonderful!  As was Nonsense! 

I Have to Try to Remember

that if someone on goodreads has tagged a book as "romantic suspense," it is probably not for me.  You would think I would have learned this by now.  The Third to Die is probably a great book!  And I feel bad only giving it a 3 star rating because I am sure that as far as romantic suspense books go, it is probably a 5!  It is first in a series but I won't lower the overall star ratings by reading any more because it just isn't my cup of tea.  But if you like romance with your detective fiction, go for it!

Yeah...

In 2020 I have already read 1.5 David Levithan books.  He didn't show his disdain for we who are not in great physical shape in either!  Turning over a new leaf?  Or did you put some weight on, Mr. L.?  19 Love Songs is a collection of short stories and it was uneven.  Levithan appeals to me a lot more when he didn't clearly telling his own story.  The story about the love between his mom and dad and the one about a protest he attended after the 2016 election are exceptions.  The mom-dad was decent.  The protest one was excellent.  It made me remember our church's response to the election.  Offering prayer/support time for those who felt particularly threatened by the horrible, horrible person who took office.  It was such an awful time.  Here at work, too.  We were just devastated.  And what is worse, his time in office has turned out to be even more damaging and hate-filled than expected.  And we are in for many more years to come.
I will say it here, and I think I said it before, he will win this year and in 2024 he will win again.  People say, "that can't happen" but think of all of the things about which we have already said just that.  Yet his evil persists.  Not just his hate, but the hate his supporters show as well. 
The snow day story and the story about Infinite Darlene were really, really good.
The rest were okay but the ones about Levithan himself, I mean, I know even his fiction has parts of himself in it, but the ones that were clearly Levithan telling a personal story, I could barely get through them.   

New to the Game

I didn't know Joshua Ferris because I am new to the world of adult authors!  But he is very accomplished and I am so glad I found Dinner Party and Other Stories, a collection of eleven short stories that were all unique.  It for sure made me want to read more from him.  It made me laugh and made me think! 

Sadly, This is America

An American Marriage is one of the best books I have ever read.  It is sad that we who work in libraries don't let people know about the databases we have.  In our county we have two eAudio sites, Hoopla Digital and Overdrive.  We have another one, but it is terrible.  Anyway...with Overdrive, there are a set number of copies and only one patron can listen or read a book at one time.  So there are waiting lists.  Right now on Overdrive there are about 100 holds for An American Marriage on audio download.  But with Hoopla, I can listen, you can listen, we all can listen at the same time.  No waiting.  So I was SO fortunate to check both resources and listen to this incredible book.  And then I got to hear Tayari Jones on this podcast and this one!  Simply excellent.  Must-read.  And it is Oprah's Book Club pick, currently! 

First Book of the New Year!

Saint Anything is by Sarah Dessen and I know so many people from whom Sarah Dessen is one of their most favorite authors.  I really did like Saint Anything very much and I will seek to read another from Dessen this year, but I can't say it was really my kind of book, just a little too much romance for me.  Still,  I really liked the fact that it avoided some stereotypical stuff by (SPOILER HERE:  when Sydney and her best friend's brother get together the best friend doesn't hold this massively long terrible grudge and/or bad feelings and it moves along quickly).  Good book! 

More Shakespeare!

If We Were Villains wasn't Shakespeare, but he did figure in it.  This book was so good.  Just a really, really good mystery, but more than a mystery! I just loved it from start to finish and can't wait for M. L. Rio's next book,

Halloween Has Come and Gone

But I don't feel my usual post-holiday depression.  Maybe just a wee bit, but not like I used to when I did so many Halloween-ish things.  On Halloween itself I listed to The End of Summer:  Thirteen Tales of Halloween and that was very cool.  I did so when I was running (slowly, slowly) around different neighborhoods and it was particularly fallish and there were many spooky lawns.  It was cool.  Good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, I hope to do that next year, too, with another good Halloween book. 

Really Different

The Locals was not my usual kind of book.  But these days I think that I am not sure if I am getting to the point where I no longer have a "usual kind of book!"  Maybe that is one of the good things about limiting myself to audiobooks.  My sweet friend Rebeky recommended this to me and I knew nothing about it when I started it.  The first chapter is WHOA and it is just WHOA and the rest of the book is so...interesting and it is very thought-provoking.  It is different and funny and disturbing in some ways and I would highly recommend a listen! 

Ha Jin

After The Boat Rocker, I wanted to read another Ha Jin book and found A Good Fall, which was probably the best book of short stories I have ever read because all of the stories were consistent in excellent quality.  Now I just want to read more and more of his stuff!  So so good!

An Accident

The Boat Rocker was a book I read by total accident.  I didn't even realize it was an accident until I was 1/2 way through it, but I was hooked.  I saw a book with a similar cover and thought that I wanted to listen to it, then I saw this one available on audio and it completely hooked me.  Not knowing much about China, this makes me want to know more.  And I loved the main character, Feng.  It was just perfect.  Loved it.  Highly recommended.

GREAT collection!

The Mystery Writers of America Presents The Blue Religion:  New Stories about Cops, Criminals and the Chase was a great book!  One I found after reading Face Off, which was good but not as good as this, to me, anyway, because I love police procedurals!  It is edited by Harry Bosch creator, Michael Connelly.  His contribution to the collection is especially good.  I liked Alafair Burke's story, too, even though it was one that was predictable, it was really, really good and so that says a lot.  I liked her writing a lot.  Paul Guyot has an especially great story.  Man, it was just so good.  I LOVE how his website describes him as "fair selling author!"  There were just so many GREAT ones here.  SO MANY.  And all of them were at least good.  Just a must-read!

So THAT'S how it happens (not really)

I have always wondered how people flee a country.  When I read Exit West and read of the doors through which those seeking to leave scramble, I admit I honestly thought for a second, "Oh, wow. How is that possible?  Huh."  Well, no, it doesn't happen that way.  That is the magical realism part of the book, but the rest seems very raw and real.  This was a love story, and a refugee story and a story of the evils of humanity story and a story of the beauty of humanity story.  And it shows how life does go on, in small and in "ordinary" ways, like falling in love and feelings and "normal" things, even in the midst of the very worst of times.
On goodreads, Diane S. said this about the book, "We need more books like this, or no, maybe that's wrong, what we need are more readers of books like this. The country it takes place is unnamed, but one part makes it sound as if it is in Asia somewhere. A country under siege by opposing parties, a country at war with itself, a dangerous place, how so many in this world live in constant danger, constant war.," and I couldn't agree more.