Tag: 4 stars

Books I really liked! Maybe they weren’t the best of the best, but I’d probably recommend them (especially if you’re a fan of the genre).

The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

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Title: The Late Americans
Author: Brandon Taylor
Format: ebook (ARC)
Genre(s): Literary fiction
Rating: ★★★★☆

As a novel this is a somewhat frustrating book, with no real plot and a spotlight that briefly shines on characters only to drop them as the focus shifts. However, it is beautiful when taken as a collection of interconnected vignettes portraying graduate students (and others in their lives) trying to navigate difference and identity and purpose at a liminal stage in their lives.

This was my first experience of Taylor’s writing, and I loved the style of narration — although at least for me the dialogue was all so similar that it (and the large cast who popped in and out of the story) made it hard for me to distinguish one character from another, at times. The stories were fully embodied, and I felt viscerally the frustration, tension, loneliness, and threats of violence throughout the book. This made it uncomfortable when (as happened often) I was frustrated with how the characters related to each other, but it also made a strong overall impression on me, leaving me not with a definitive story but a sense of sharing these young people’s experiences as they tried to find their place in the world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage, for providing an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. The Late Americans comes out on June 22, 2023.

The Midwife by Tricia Cresswell

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Title: The Midwife
Author: Tricia Cresswell
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Historical
Rating: ★★★★☆

Set in the mid-19th century, The Midwife follows the stories of Joanna, a woman in Northumberland with extensive knowledge about medicine and midwifery but no memory of her past, and Dr. Borthwick, an accoucheur (a physician who delivers babies) with a spotless professional reputation and a closely guarded secret in his private life.

As their stories unfold, we learn more about Joanna, Dr. Borthwick, and the many interesting (and often kind) people who surround them as they apply their medical expertise in their respective communities. The medical details in the book are fascinating — including the context in which medicine was practiced and how factors like location and class influenced medical outcomes (and indeed still do). But the relationships are also captivating, and I found myself equally interested in Joanna and Dr. Borthwick’s personal and emotional journeys.

The only drawback for me was the twist with Joanna’s backstory (the explanation for her memory loss), which felt unnecessary; nevertheless, I came away from the book with a strong connection to the characters and was satisfied with how their stories played out.

Something Spectacular by Alexis Hall

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Title: Something Spectacular
Author: Alexis Hall
Format: ebook (ARC)
Genre(s): Romance, Historical
Rating: ★★★★☆

This delightful sequel to Something Fabulous tells Peggy Delancey’s story as she learns to let go of her longstanding love for Arabella Tarleton and falls (literally, at first!) for the opera singer Orfeo. Prepare yourself for anachronisms (explained in the opening author’s note), flamboyant humor, journeys of self-discovery, and a well-crafted (and sometimes steamy) romance as Alexis Hall delivers another whimsical yet touching romantic comedy.

It’s satisfying to watch Peggy define not just who she is and how she wants to show up in the world, but also what matters to her — including her struggle with whether it’s legitimate to make seemingly traditional life choices without accepting the entire framework that society insists comes with them. And although the narrative focuses on Peggy’s perspective, Orfeo has their own growth arc as they learn to ask for and embrace possibilities they haven’t previously let themself imagine for their life.

This is a lovely, funny romance but also an exploration of what it means to care for someone — whether a friend, a partner, or yourself.

(Addendum: I’m dying to know what happened to Sir Horley and can only hope that the next book will be about him!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for providing an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Something Spectacular comes out on April 11, 2023.

Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli

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Title: Someday, Maybe
Author: Onyi Nwabineli
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Fiction
Rating: ★★★★☆

This debut novel is gripping but also really heavy: It is entirely the story of a woman’s grief after her husband’s suicide, following her journey through myriad emotions and thoughts and challenges in the aftermath of his death.

Throughout the book I was immersed in Eve’s emotional state, and I empathized with all of her reactions and the stages (cycles) of grief she experienced. I adored her family and friends, was appalled by her mother-in-law, and grasped at the memories of her husband — each of them felt like real people, full of depth (as Eve observed and I truly believed, “lives are lived outside of mine and people are not mere characters in my story but are stories all their own”). I also appreciated that the focus stayed on Eve and her grief; despite her own consuming drive to understand her husband and his decision, the book never really became about him and his psychology, at least not separate from how Eve was processing it.

When I put down the book I felt like I’d travelled hand-in-hand with Eve, learning and experiencing so many things about her family, her culture, her beauty, and her strength in the face of a devastating loss.

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain

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Title: The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle
Author: Matt Cain
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆

This is a seriously sweet, heartwarming story about Albert Entwistle, a closeted postman on the verge of retirement who is pushed into reevaluating his solitary lifestyle and searching for the young love he lost many years before.

We see flashbacks to Albert’s past, and without dwelling on the trauma we’re given a very real glimpse of the fears and challenges of young gay men growing up in small town England at the time. This is juxtaposed with present-day Albert getting to know some of his coworkers and neighbors, including a young single mother, a lonely retired woman, and a gay couple who are new to town.

I loved the portrayal of the North, including a walk through Manchester’s Gay Village, and I enjoyed seeing Albert grow as he ventured farther out of his comfort zone both physically and emotionally. The way things ended felt a bit too perfect and easy, but it fit with the spirit of the story and left me with a lingering sense of joy and hope.

Why Dance Matters by Mindy Aloff

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Title: Why Dance Matters
Author: Mindy Aloff
Format: ebook (ARC)
Genre(s): Nonfiction, Arts
Rating: ★★★★☆

Why Dance Matters is part of the “Why X Matters” series from Yale University Press, and based on the blurb, I expected a more sociological analysis of the role dance has in our lives, and how dances from diverse countries and cultures both express and form a part of who we are. This impression was not accurate — although it does mention a variety of dances, the book primarily focuses on western concert dance (especially ballet and modern dance) and analyzes specific works, choreographers, and performances in detail.

If you enjoy western dance history and critique, and especially if you’re interested in the many ways that dance connects with pedestrian life (quite literally in the extensive analysis of walking and dance), this could be a good book for you. Aloff’s nuanced descriptions flow from one choreographer to the next, from one genre to another, and from anecdote to performance in a way that brings these dances to life. I remain disappointed that the book glosses over non-western and social dances, but the analysis that it does offer is well worth it as a deep dive into how these dances connect with the rest of our lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and Yale University Press for providing an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Why Dance Matters comes out on January 17, 2023.

Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet

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Title: Dinosaurs
Author: Lydia Millet
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Literary fiction
Rating: ★★★★☆

Millet writes a deceptively simple novel about a man named Gil who, in the wake of a failed relationship, walks from New York City to Phoenix; we follow his story as he settles in his new home, discovers the desert landscape and wildlife, and builds new connections, starting with the family next door.

We only really see glimpses of the other people in Gil’s life, the bits and pieces of them that Gil encounters — and yet they show up as whole people, with their own messiness and complex motivations. In the process, we also experience the tension between the individual and the community, between one’s desires and one’s obligations, and the way that our lives play out in a web of relationships. And there all along, sometimes coming to the fore, are the ways that nature shapes our experiences (and how we shape it back, climate change and reckless hunting and all).

While the novel touches on difficult and dark subjects, they mostly stay on the fringes as Gil meanders through, making this a well-crafted, smooth read that never makes you directly confront the challenges it raises.

Dinosaurs is part of the Tournament of Books, a sort of March Madness for 16 books from the previous year. If this sounds like an interesting event to you, I’d recommend checking out the list and trying at least one or two books that catch your eye!

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

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Title: The Stationery Shop
Author: Marjan Kamali
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Historical
Rating: ★★★★☆

This is a beautifully written novel about a woman’s journey from her first love, discovered as a teenager in a stationery shop just before the 1953 coup in Tehran, through her life in the United States — influenced at each stage by the expectations, challenges, and often trauma of those around her.

I’ll admit that if I were judging the plot on its own, this would probably be a three-star book at most: central to the plot are the dubious lack of communication between young Roya and Bahman after the coup and the way their love never wanes or even really changes shape over time. But if you can accept that part of Roya’s story, the rest of the book elegantly portrays how she (and the other people in her life, at various points) faces cultural and familial expectations; immigration, culture shock, and a new language; doubt and roadblocks in her career; and grief and uncertainty. Throughout it all, there are also evocative descriptions of the food that frequently serves to bring people closer together.

I probably enjoyed this book more because of my personal connections to Iran and my love of Persian food, language, and culture, but I think it’s also worth reading for the writing style and exploration of themes like love, alienation, loss, and self-determination.

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall

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Title: Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble
Author: Alexis Hall
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Romance, Comedy
Rating: ★★★★☆

I was lucky enough to nab this book — the second in a series about a fictional baking competition — from the library almost immediately after it came out, and then (as I do with Alexis Hall’s novels) zipped right through it, cackling all the way.

Although ostensibly a rom-com about two of the competitors, Paris and Tariq, a huge part of the story is about Paris’s anxiety and his journey as he recognizes it, accepts it, and learns how to deal with it. So it’s not all fun and baked goods: I felt sucked into Paris’s anxiety and frustrated by the repetitive, negative cycles he went through, especially in moments where he lacked empathy for the people around him and sabotaged his relationships. But that meant his growth also felt fairly realistic, and it was well balanced with genuinely cute moments and lots of laughing about the competition.

If you like Hall’s style of humor, miss the early seasons of GBBO, don’t mind the open-endedness of an HFN ending (which is more about the main character’s ability to be in a relationship than about this particular relationship, per se), and enjoy when your romances come with a strong helping of Serious Issues, you might find this story as lovely as I did.

Embassytown by China Miéville

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Title: Embassytown
Author: China Miéville
Format: Audiobook & eBook
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Rating: ★★★★☆

This book took my love of linguistics, anthropology, and science fiction and wound them together into an intricate story about the inhabitants of a colonized world where the native Language can only convey truth.

I have never experienced a book that did quite what Miéville did here: not only make semiotics a central part of a novel but also drop you into it in a way that’s almost like participant-observation in a new country, with a definite sense that something is going on around you but you have no clue what. I loved the slow unraveling of the story as it picked apart and made sense of the people, the history, the culture, and the place (and its technologies), although there are some points — including details about Language and its restrictions — that remained fairly handwavy.

This is not an easy or light read, as it touches on topics like colonialism, oppression, war, indoctrination, cultural contact, authenticity, and relationships. But if you’re willing to wade through the heavy moments and sit with the confusion, it’s a fascinating exploration.