Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood, Illustrated by Johnnie Christmas and Tamara Bonvillain (2017) Dark Horse Comics

A three-issue set written by the imitable Ms. Margaret Atwood.  It serves two purposes; 1) a fun and sometimes silly story about a superhero (?) who is part human, part cat, and part bird vs. a man who is part human and part rat.  And 2) a plea for people to keep their cats indoors so they won't get killed and won't decimate the songbird population.  Ms. Atwood obviously enjoyed herself as the writing exposes her trademark wit.  Worth spending the afternoon reading.

Split Second by David Baldacci (2003) Grand Central Publishing

The first of the King and Maxwell books.  They have something to be ashamed of in common.  Both have lost a presidential candidate while in the Secret Service.  King eight years previously when he was distracted during an orchestrated assassination, just enough time for the shooter to kill the man he was supposed to be protecting; a hateful man who had no chance of winning the race.  Maxwell, now, also protecting a man whom everyone hopes has no chance of winning.  Only hers is kidnapped.  And a man who was in WITSEC and worked for King’s legal office has been killed in the office with King’s gun while King was on his weekly volunteer deputy patrol.  A joint task force is formed between the U.S. Marshall’s office, the Secret Service and the FBI.  No one can trace the kidnappers.  Then more people are killed and more are kidnapped.  It’s up to King and Maxwell to solve the mystery and bring the perpetrators to justice.

School for Dark Thoughts by Charles Simic (1978) Charles Seluzicki

I went by appointment to the Wilson Special Collections Library at UNC Chapel Hill to see a copy in the Rare Books Collection.

Hand printed and hand bound, signed - #84 of 235 copies.  First sheet is not part of the binding (without it, the copy would be incomplete).

Interesting page layout by the printer – no isolation of poems, once a poem ends, the next starts on the same page.  A set number of lines per page printed - if a poem or stanza hits the line limit, the next line is on the next page - a little jarring at times.

Simic tends to use quatrains but not always.  Often, he capitalizes each line.  But in some poems, only the first word of a sentence or stanza is capitalized.

The original copy sold for $22.50 (penciled on a blank page).  Now some of the 235 copies sell for over $150.00.

The pamphlet includes eight poems:

1. The Stream
2. School for Dark Thoughts (title poem)
3. The Great Anonymous Eye and Ear
4. Window Washer
5. The Guest (longest poem – 3 pages)
6. Note Slipped Under a Door
7. Peaceful Kingdom
8. Whispers In the Next Room

Symphony for a Deadly Throne by E.J. Mellow (2023) Montlake

In which the oldest sister of the Mousai is given an invitation to compete for the throne of the Thief Kingdom, and the impact it has on her love life and her family.  A new character is introduced who has her own impact on the people around the central story.  All is not necessarily well that ends.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (1984) Arte Publico Press

A year in the life of a 12-year-old Chicana in Chicago in the 1960’s and living in the house on Mango Street.  Told as a series of vignettes, it shows the world and the city from the perspective of Hispanic girls navigating the change from girl to womanhood.  Learning too early and too late about growing up.

One Fearful Yellow Eye by John D MacDonald (1978) Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins

A curiosity that feels like the wheels went flat, then reveals what you should have realized all along.  McGee is given a call for help from a woman in Chicago that he acted as matchmaker for a few years earlier.  A considerable sum has gone missing from her husband’s accounts.  The kids blame the new wife, the cook blames her wayward daughter.  McGee has other suspicions.

“A Clean Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway (1933) Scribner’s Magazine (also appeared in the collection Winner Take Nothing)

Hemingway sets the scene in few words.  A deaf old man sits in front of a café, late at night and continues to order brandies.  There are two waiters who carry the conversation of the story.  The younger of the two wants the old man to finish and leave so he can go home.  The older waiter is patient and willing to allow the old man to stay as long as he wants.  For the older waiter, it’s a matter of pride to run a clean well-lighted café.

The Nine Pound Hammer by John Claude Bemis (2009) Yearling

Mr. Bemis combines American myth with orphans fighting for their lives in a masterful tale in a late 19th Century setting.  From the opening nightmare through outrageous characters, a traveling medicine show and a blind marksman, a pirate queen and a siren, the pace never stops.  It’s the nine pound hammer and what it means that makes all the difference.

Deadly Edge by Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark (1971) Random House

Parker is just as ready to be mean as ever.  This time he’s protecting the woman he lives with.nbsp; He and a crew knock off the last show of a music venue.nbsp; They were one guy short because the guy just didn’t have it in him to do the job.nbsp; But after the money is split, they find the guy has been murdered.nbsp; Then another guy gets killed.nbsp; Parker’s contact calls him at his new residence, which he did not share.nbsp; Now Parker has to find whoever is doing the killing and stop them.

Djibouti by Elmore Leonard (2010) Mariner Books

Djibouti is a gateway to the east.  It sits on the horn of Africa between Somalia and Eritrea.  It’s also the scene of Elmore Leonard’s story about a documentary filmmaker who hopes to add to her portfolio of award-winning films.  Dara Barr, from New Orleans, and her cameraman, Xavier, go to Djibouti to film Somali pirates and get much more than they expected.

Catching Up

Trying to get back into the rhythm of writing again.

How many spaces between sentences?

For those of you who read this, you may notice that I still use two spaces after the punctuation between sentences.  All the major style guides say the rule is a single space after a period or any other punctuation mark used at the end of a sentence.

So why do I insist on using two spaces?  A few reasons.

1. I’m old school and learned to type on a typewriter about 60 years ago.  My instructor told us to use two spaces at the end of a sentence that was not the end of the paragraph.  Old habits die hard.
2. I learned to typeset a few years later.  In typesetting, we learned to use different size spacing slugs based on where on a line the space was needed.  This was especially useful when setting lines that were justified on both ends where we might add copper or brass slugs to get the spacing visually pleasing.  In between words we used a ½ pica slug called an en‑space.  For the end of a sentence, we used our largest space (only 1) that was a full pica in width, called an em‑space.  Note however, that it was twice the space between words.  You can mimic the old typesetting on a computer by reducing the font size of the spaces to half the font size of the letters (a lot of work).  Or you can maintain the old typewriting standard of two spaces at the end of the sentence.
3. I’m very near-sighted.  So, it’s particularly difficult for me to see the difference between a comma, and a period (unless I increase the size on screen 400% or more).  The two spaces at the end of a sentence makes it easier for me to distinguish between the two types of punctuation.

There is a very easy way to convert from two spaces at the end of a sentence to one space, or vice-versa, if required.  Simply use a global change.  I increase this on manuscripts I’m asked to read so I can tell whether I’m looking at a comma or a period.  For editors who request single space, I do the opposite change on the copy of the manuscript before submission.  It's more important to provide the style requested than to insist on one way or another.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, adapted and illustrated by Renée Nault (2019) Doubleday

In this graphic adaptation of Ms. Atwood’s unforgettable novel, is a succinct reminder of how politicians can use the influence of false narration to grab power and oppress.  The story is as relevant today as the dystopian future written a quarter century ago.  Beware demagogues who use outrageous lies to blame the plight of the masses on rivals.

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth Bunce (2020) Algonquin Young Readers

A delightful whodunit staring Myrtle Hardcastle, the daughter of the local prosecutor in an English town.  Her next-door neighbor died, and no one will listen to Myrtle when she says the woman was murdered.  Between her governess, her cat, her father, and a woman who might be trying to become Myrtle’s stepmother, the mystery takes a circuitous route to the solution.

Spring & All by William Carlos Williams (1923) Contact Publishing

Williams’ manifesto of the imagination.  Two of his best-known poems; “Spring and All” and “The Red Wheelbarrow” appeared first in this volume.  He alternates between an examination of how the imagination works in prose and poetry, then shows us an example in poetry.

His musings on the work on the imagination and letting the mind produce are inspiring and can be read over and over with benefits for a writer in each reading.

The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker (2021) HarperCollins

The sequel to The Golem and the Jinni – both characters, Chava and Ahmed, are now regarded as regular citizens of Little Syria in New York.  Only their relationship is rocky at best.  Theirs is not the only story.  In addition to women affected by the Jinni and the evil wizard from the original book, we are introduced to a girl who becomes central to the story, Kreindel, who helped her father create another golem, Yoselle.  All of this happens while the world runs into war.

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich (2020) Harper

A marvelous, fantastic book.  I could tell ten percent into it that it deserved the Pulitzer.  Ms. Erdrich has a complete mastery of storytelling and language.  Her subject matter, though placed in the 1950’s is as relevant today as it was then.  Her characters show us perspectives of how the government has gone back on its word to Native Americans time and again.  She has certainly thrashed them like a field.

"Mallon the Guru" by Peter Straub - In Stories, Edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, Harper Perennial

Straub shows he is a master of horror in the simplicity of a tale.  He tells the story of a man who seeks enlightenment by visiting a guru in India with a German friend.  As he reaches the village where the guru lives, he is asked to touch a dying boy, who immediately becomes better.  Then he touches a wall which glows neon where his fingers trail.  But the guru does not tell him what he expects.

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1993) Bantam Spectra

The first novel in an epic about the colonization of Mars.  The first hundred people to become Martians and their vision of a non-political, non-economics-based society.  Temper this with the reaction of an overpopulated Earth needing a place to bleed-off their starving masses and the natural tendency of people to not change.  Amazing advances in applied science to transform the face of Mars and the collision of competing forces drive an outcome that should be predictable.  The outcome is both natural and surprising.

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo (2021) Tor.com

An East Asian Canterbury Tale

Chih, cleric of Singing Hills and their birdlike companion, Almost Brilliant, go into the Riverlands, walking with other travelers, telling and listening to tales.  They have the fortune to travel with marshal arts masters, and the misfortune to need them.  Just when it seems their enemies are too many to overcome, and old man surprises everyone.

The Singing Hills Cycle is a joy to read, the stories within the story are wonderfully done, making for a quick and satisfying read.

The Cradle of Oshae by A.K. Hauser

An intriguing fantasy in a new world with great characters and cultures.  Where people who grew-up in different places travel far and find new magic in a changing world.

Watch the author's site for news about the release of this book: AKHauser.com

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill (2022) Doubleday

Kelly Barnhill steps out of her typical genre for kids and writes a wonderful satire on our patriarchal societal restrictions from the 40's through today.  If a woman you know, dragoned (metamorphosed into a dragon) how would you handle it?  Could you pretend it didn't happen?  Would that change anything?  And what would you do when it reached a tipping point?  Ms. Barnhill ponders these questions and provides good answers too.

Footnote: Ms. Barnhill suffered a concussion (her third) and worries about writing again.  I say, don't worry it, let the idea and the words come.  Because when they do, you write them down beautifully.

Cress Watercress by Gregory Maguire, Illustrated by David Litchfield (2022) Candlewick Press

A beautiful book wherein the title character, Cress, and her family move one night from their warren after her father does not come home.  They move into the Broken Arms, where the landlord is an owl.  In addition to her brother, Kip, getting sick, and her mother weaving to make a living, Cress makes friends with squirrels, meets Tunk, a bear, a skunk who is glamorous, at least in her own mind, a chinchilla, a hen, and Nasty, another rabbit.  She gets chased by Reynard, a fox.  And worries about being eaten by the Final Drainpipe, a snake.  But the best advise in the book is for writers and is told by the hen who suggests that Cress make a story.

“I don’t know how to make a story,” said Cress.

“It’s like making an egg, I think?” said the hen.  “Just sit there until it comes out.”

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (2023) Flatiron Books

Galaxy Stern returns in a story about the Lethe house at Yale.  This time she is going to try to get her mentor back from hell where he was trapped by his traitorous professor in charge of the house.  But she can’t do it by herself.  Her new Praetor and her sponsor don’t want her to mess with any more arcane attempts.  They want to count her Virgil as simply lost.  But Alex doesn’t know how to give up.

Ms. Bardugo weaves a tight tale of self-recrimination and magnificent effort that keeps the reader guessing all through the story.

Watercress by Andrea Wang, Illustrated by Jason Chin (2021) Neil Porter Books (Caldecott 2022)

A beautiful book that will tug at the heartstrings about tradition and loss.  Ms. Wang writes a tightly woven text that says so much in few words.  Mr. Chin’s art perfectly compliments the story.  No wonder it won the Caldecott and garnered a Newbery Honor.

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo (2020) Tor.com

Our favored monk, Chih is back and recording more stories, this time without Almost Brilliant.  She finds herself stopped just short of her destination aboard a mammoth for the night by a set of Tiger sisters.  After a desperate run for shelter, Chih starts telling stories to the tigers, who keep telling her what is wrong with the stories and correcting them.  They promise to let the mammoth go if Chih will record the correct version of the stories, if they don’t eat her.

An engaging storytelling that keeps you turning the page.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

A very satisfying book.  We get the tale through the careful listening of a monk who wishes to record the history of a dwelling at a magical lake.  Tales are told by a former palace servant.  The empress had been exiled once she bore the emperor an heir.  But she was from the north where they raise their girls to be fierce.

Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo (2016) Candlewick Press

The first of three books about a trio of fatherless girls in Florida.  Raymie concocts a way to get her father to come back home.  She meets Louisiana, who wants to rescue her cat, and Beverly who is fierce and unafraid of anything.  But nothing is as it seems, even with three girls who become friends.

Ducks by Kate Beaton (2022) Drawn & Quarterly

A graphic autobiography of the years when a college graduate, unable to find a job to pay off her student loans turned to the Oil Sands of Alberta to make money in clerical jobs.  It covers the horrors of abusive harassment and rape prevalent not only to the girls working there, but the First Nation women too.  Take a camp of 95% men, add a few young, naïve women and working organizations that turn their eyes away and this is the result.  I hope her book gets the attention of those who can make a difference.

Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo (2018) Candlewick Press

Part of a trio of books about girls without a father.  Ms. DiCamillo weaves a story about identity, loss, and the story of a life that isn't real. We listened to this on audio, the reader was exceptionally good with voices and attitude of each of the characters.  Raymie (from the first book) even has a small role.  It's worth the read or the listen.

The Poet by Michael Connelly (1996) Little Brown, & Co.

A new lead character appears in this novel, Jack McAvoy, a journalist in Denver.  His specialty, murder stories, becomes ironic when his twin brother, a homicide detective, kills himself.  Jack decides to write the story to cope with his grief.  Researching the issue of homicide cops committing suicide, he discovers a disturbing fact – those who had a seemingly unsolved case, all had something in common, a suicide note that simply quoted poems by Edgar Allen Poe.  Is this really the work of a suicide killer?  And can Jack expose the truth without becoming a victim himself?

Weights and Measures by Jodi Picoult (2011) in Stories, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, Harper Perennial

Miss Picoult’s poetic, ability to move the reader comes into full force here over the tragic loss of a seven-year-old daughter and the heart-rending attempt of parents trying to get past the grief.  And the extreme effects that can happen in the imagination come to life.

I read this out loud so Margaret could hear it.  Her response was that from now on, whenever someone says her stories are too sad, they should read this story.

The Knife by Richard Adams (2011) in Stories, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, Harper Perennial

Like Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart”, this story is told from the point of view of a character who has done something criminal.  It traces the discovery of a murder weapon, and the bullying that pushes the narrator to the reprehensible act.  And the confession to a dear uncle who chooses to keep the secret.

The Last Deadloss Visions by Christopher Priest

This book length essay, available on multiple sites via an Internet search, is about the non-publication of The Last Dangerous Visions, vilifying Harlan Ellison as an Editor who started the project in the 1970s and never managed to get it published before he died in 2018.

His promotion of the anthology became a sad joke within the writing community, especially with writers not getting their manuscripts back when commitments from publishers failed, for whatever reason, to result in publication.  I think it sad that the publishers did not find alternative ways to produce the project, even if it meant producing multiple books for timeliness.  There could have been More Last Dangerous Visions, Last Dangerous Visions Again, etc. (just like the five volumes of the Hitchhiker Trilogy by Douglas Adams).

Personally, I am a huge fan of Ellison’s work.  I don’t include his incomplete projects in this opinion just like I don’t include any other writer/editor’s projects that have not come to fruition.  While I do know the frustration of waiting extraordinarily long times to hear back on whether or not a manuscript has been accepted, it’s simply part of a writer’s life.  For those writers who have been fortunate to hear quickly on their manuscripts, accepted or rejected, congratulations on your wonderful luck.

In July of 2022, Blackstone Publishing announced that Last Dangerous Visions will be released September 1, 2024.

Only time will tell if the ultimate anthology of science fiction will occur before the end of the Earth.

The Peripheral by William Gibson (2014) G.P. Putnam's Sons

A dystopian weave of not exactly time travel as murder mystery.  In which a gamer girl takes over for her marine veteran brother and witnesses a murder in the future.  Only it’s not her future since her act splits her continuum from the future she sees as a peripheral in a manufactured body.  The future continuum wants her to identify the murderer and not get killed by other people in her own continuum hired by someone else in the future.  The book is fascinating.  The series based on the characters is also visually fascinating, though the plot is vastly different.

"Now is the time for all good men [and women] to come to the aid of their country" -Charles E. Weller,  The Early History of the Typewriter, p. 21 (1918) - [words in brackets are mine.]

To paraphrase, now is the time to make sure you and your loved ones, your friends, your neighbors, are properly registered to vote so that by the time polls open for the 2024 contests, you are all ready and prepared to vote.

There are over 250,000,000 voting age adults in the United States.  I would like to see 75% of voters participate in elections so we can be assured that we heard from a true majority when selecting people to hold important public offices.

As we face efforts by political machines to limit supporters of their opponents, real and imagined, just to keep cronies in power, or to place radical members of their parties in positions for no other real reason than to upset the status quo (note candidates who run during each election on a platform of simply opposing whoever is in office).  Such inaction as a platform is of no real use to the public.  

Every U.S. citizen in each State over 18 years of age who is not otherwise restricted legally can vote.  In most cases, felons who are currently serving a sentence cannot vote.  To help those who have been convicted of a crime and do not know their voting rights, see: Guide to State Voting Rules that Apply After a Conviction).

Help your fellow citizens who have a hard time registering.  If you're not sure about the rules for registration, see: Voter Registration. It's the government site that has all the rules and links to the information you need.  You can even look up State and local Election office websites here: https://www.usa.gov/election-office.

Make sure you check the rules even if you've voted before.  You might need a new card, or a change of address, or need to know the exact rules for mail-in or absentee ballots.  Learn the early voting rules for your State and help your family and neighbors get out and vote.

A Gambling Man by David Baldacci (2021) Grand Central Publishing

The second book in the Archer series – in which our hero stops in Reno and saves an old gambler from a couple of toughs.  He also impresses a singer, Liberty Callahan, enough to make her want to go with him to California where she hopes to become a star.  When they come upon the old guy facing more toughs, Archer and Callahan save him again.  Archer agrees to buy his V12 Delahaye (a fabulous looking art deco style car) to help him pay off his debt.  Though it doesn’t really help the guy and the toughs follow Archer and the singer before they get discouraged.  Once in Bay City, California, Archer connects with a private investigator whose name was given to him in the first book.  Then we get into murder mystery.  And it is a classic.  Baldacci at his best.

A Man Called Otto (from A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman) Directed by Marc Forster, starring Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño and Rachel Keller, 2DUX², Playtone, SF Productions (2023)

Having read the book and watched the original sub-titled Swedish movie, I went to the theater ready to be disappointed in another Anglicized European movie.  Was I ever wrong.

A better director, a better cast with a nuanced performance and this is as good as a remake can get.

Tom Hanks, as Otto, plays a perfect, curmudgeon whose efforts to join his late wife are frustrated at every turn.  Rachel Keller plays the beautiful, kind wife, Sonya, in flashbacks seen as Otto's memories flashing before his eyes.  Mariana Treviño plays the neighbor Marisol (played here as Mexican with degrees from Universidad de los Andes and the University of California - perhaps since this version of the movie places the scene in the U.S. instead of Sweden).  She is instrumental in changing Otto, bringing him back to life in small pushes.  And there is the most laid-back cat (played by Smeagol, an American Longhair). 

Fundamentally, the story hasn't changed that much from the original, which is good.  Though there were scenes I wish they'd kept, like those with Otto's father, and coverage of Otto's years before he met Sonya.

It could be a contender for Oscar considerations.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles (2016) William Morrow

A very well written novel - it's a western only in that it takes place in Texas in the 1870's.  It's really straight mainstream because it examines the human condition in the guise of a 72 year-old man and a ten year old girl raised by the Kiowa and trying to cope with having her life turned upside down for a second time.  If you see the ad for the movie, you'll hear Tom Hank's voice as Captain Kidd.  The cadence is perfect as are the characterizations and the changes that shape so many.  You'll chuckle in some spots, laugh outright in others, and shed tears for the best of reasons.  This is one of my favorite books and will definitely be on my list of best books to read.

Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch by Kelly Barnhill (2014) Tor.com

A fun, quick read of fantasy by a master in the genre.  Mrs. Sorenson has been widowed and is free to have her animal friends again.  No one has seen a sasquatch since she was married 30 years ago.  But now, one seems to be following her around.

OCDaniel by Wesley King (2017) Simon & Schuster

Daniel has a problem that affects him every day.  He goes through the routine before he can cry himself to sleep, and that can take hours.  In his waking hours, life can still present panic in the form of zaps.  He avoids stepping on cracks, avoids numbers that are bad, and hates being on the football team as a backup kicker.  He has a crush on the most popular girl at school, though he could never tell her.  And the girl everyone calls psycho talks to him when she won’t talk to anyone else.  Somehow, he’s agreed to solve a murder.  And he’s writing a novel.  Just an everyday kid who is hiding his own problems while wishing he was normal.
It's a good read, a complicated plot, with a good twist ending.

Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas (2020) Penguin Publishing Group

In which our heroine, Charlotte Holmes, appearing in her fifth book of the series, continues to work as the confidant of a non-existent brother, Sherlock Holmes, who is supposedly bedridden with sickness.  This time it is Inspector Treadles who is in trouble, and it is up to Holmes and her close associates to prove he is innocent of a double murder.  Charlotte ups the game on her attraction to Lord Ingram, whom she has known since they were very young.  Still romance is mostly promises and no permanent situation presents itself in this book.

Like it's predecessors, the writing keeps you glued to the page trying to outdo Ms. Holmes in deducing the real culprits while keeping herself and her associates safe and sound.

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (1998) Seven Stories Press

The sequel to The Parable of the Sower, our Heroine, Lauren Ova Olamina, has collected her verses into The Book of Life, about Earthseed, created a community called Acorn and gathered people to teach and help in a near-post apocalyptic U.S. – but her tests in life are about to get so much worse.  ‘Crusaders’ reminiscent of the KKK, enforced slavery in the name of Christianity, separation of children from the parents, a megalomaniac who promises to ‘Make America Great Again’ (the book was written in the 1990s).  This volume is told from her diaries and from her daughter’s perspective, having been abducted as a baby and raised in a home affiliated with the same church as the Crusaders.  Yet in the end, life goes on and Earthseed reaches for its goals.

A prophetic warning for our times.

The Night Window by Dean Koontz (2019) Random House Books

The final book in the Jane Hawk series.  She is still trying to find the leader of the Arcadians and failing that, find a way to bring their crimes and agenda to the attention of the world.  Two of the Arcadians’ top assassins are coming close to catching her.  A thief stumbles upon the house where her son is being kept safe by an old man and a very large man with issues and two German shepherds – he knows the boy could be worth a fortune to the Arcadians as leverage to get to Jane.  The ultimate leader of the Arcadians indulges himself with destroying a small-time Hollywood producer and for shock value makes a beautiful young woman kill herself in front of them.  The thrills come in every chapter.  Will Jane be killed, or will she save her son and the rest of humanity?

Me and Sam-Sam Handle the Apocalypse by Susan Vaught (2019) Simon & Schuster

A Best Juvenile Edgar winning book about a girl, Jesse (with an 'e'), with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who wants to save her father from going to jail over money stolen from his desk at school.  Sam-Sam is her dog who provides emotional support.  Like many kids with ASD, she is shunned, bullied and generally treated badly by other students and even some of the adults at school.  Her mother is away in Iraq for the Army and has another dog who can sniff out bombs.  Jesse tries to train Sam-Sam to find treats hidden in plastic containers, but that ongoing project hasn't gone very far.  She gains a new friend, who is also picked-on because he won't hit.  Between the two of them, they start their own detective agency.  How will they deal with the local bullies and adults with other problems?  Will they solve the mystery of the theft in time to keep Jesse's father from going to jail?  And how will they deal with the apocalypse of a tornado?

This is a wonderful read, teaching about kids with ASD and how they see and handle the world in all its weirdness.  It's also going to hit my best of the year list.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (2018) Harper Voyager

A war orphan makes her way into a military academy and learns military and arcane arts to serve her empress.  War comes, interrupting her studies and forces the harsh realities of inhumanity into her experiences.  Will she survive?  Will she make a difference?
The writing varies from sophomoric romantic wishes to clear vengeance.  I’ll read the rest of the series because what it does best is leave you wondering what happens next.

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile by Bernard Waber (1965) Houghton Mifflin

The second book about Lyle the Crocodile.  It completes the storyline in the movie of the same name.  Only here, Mr. Grump lives a couple of doors done from the Prims (not in the same building).  Mr. Grump really does find a way to get Lyle sent to the zoo.  But the resolution is different, yet still satisfying.

Best Books I Read in 2022:

This year I read 89 books.  These are what I consider the best of the list (in the order I read the books).

1.      The House on the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (2020) Tor Books

This was the first book I read in 2022 and it still hits my best of the year.  It's a book about how prejudice and hatemongering affect the most innocent of lives.  In a world where there are magical beings, a government branch is responsible for the orphanages where magical children are kept – ostensibly to keep them safe from the world and the world safe from them.  An inspector, who has closed some orphanages because they abused the children, is sent to the most secret of these on an island.  There, he encounters beings like he never has before.  These are considered the most dangerous of magical beings.  But they are all children and they’re just doing what children do; they dream of a better life.

2.      Britt-Marie was Here by Fredrik Backman (2016) Simon & Schuster

Two months went by before I found a book worthy enough of hitting this list.  It's about a woman who was cheated on and insists on making a new life elsewhere and finds it hard to change, and then finds herself changed anyway, by life, by people, by understanding more about herself.

Britt Marie has let life pass her by, watching her father, then her mother, give-up over time since the death of their other daughter, spending her time raising her husband’s children, and taking care of him  Then he had a heart attack and the other woman called her.  Britt-Marie saw that he was on the mend, then went home, packed a bag and left.  Now she’s in Borg, a small town that has been shutting down, working as the caretaker of the Recreation Center.  She’s inherited a soccer team, actually just a group of local kids.  She likes things to be neat and tidy.  So, she changes Borg, and it changes her.

3.      The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister (2015) Sourcebooks Landmark

An interesting take on magic and illusion.  A woman who performs illusions runs from the scene where a man who is assumed to be her husband has been killed with the tools of sawing the man in half.  But is she a murderess, or the victim of domestic violence who has been pursued by a man who is not her husband?  This kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the book.

4.      A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (2016) Viking

Half-way through the year I found another gem, one I had avoided.  At first glance, this book seemed off-putting in that the subject appeared to be rather boring.  It is anything but boring.  We follow the life of a Russian Count after the Bolsheviks have come to power.  If not for a poem attributed to him, they would have summarily shot the aristocrat.  Instead, they exile him to the Metropol hotel for life.  Instead of going crazy in his confinement, he makes friends.  He dines with a man from the KGB.  He lets a little girl drag him all over the hotel.  She grows up and has a child, which he must raise after the mother follows her exiled husband to Siberia.  He waits tables in the hotel's restaurant.  All through the narrative, his observations, his wit, his charm is evident.  Mr. Towles has done such a superb job with characterization, that it takes but a sentence to know who is speaking or thinking.  Easily the best book I've read in the past year, this should have gone up for a Pulitzer.

5.      The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (2009) Candlewick

Two more months went by before I read this book.  DiCamillo is a wonderful writer.  There is a distinct plot, there is a full cast of characters who are important to the story and who you come to care about, including the elephant, a dog, an orphan, a boy, a policeman and his wife, even an old soldier and a beggar, and of course, a magician.  Every promise in the book is fulfilled, even those you do not realize are promises until they are fulfilled.

6.      The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (2022) Random House

There are few books that I label as important - this is one of them.  The story follows Esme, the daughter of a worker on the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.  As a child, she sits below her father’s desk and looks at the word slips the fall from the tables.  At one point she is sent to a boarding school with disastrous effect on her life.  She notices over time that the words not included in the printed work are about women.  She becomes friends with a brother and sister in the suffrage movement.  With him, she bears a child, who is adopted by friends who move to Australia.  She starts collecting these lost words and eventually they become a book titled Women’s Words and their Meanings.  At the same time as this immense project takes place, the world changes.  War comes and with it is the loss of many of the workers on the dictionary, including a compositor with whom she fell in love.  You will laugh at parts, be angry at others, and cry tears.  But you will read a very well written book and find it a satisfying read.

7.      Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (2009) Ballentine Books

A marvelously intriguing book.  This is the story of a Chinese American boy in Seattle who befriended a Japanese American girl in 1942.  It follows the journey of the boy whose father is viciously anti-Japanese since they took over his native China.  Parallel to this is the same boy grown into a man who has lost his Chinese wife and discovers that the Panama Hotel has artifacts in its basement that were left by Japanese families when they were ‘evacuated’ during the war.  A jazz saxophone player provides a connecting role between the two time periods.  The writing is rich with poetic similes and observations of the human condition between generations and with young and old love.

8.      The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn (2022) William Morrow

Ms. Quinn becomes better with each book.  Her blend of accurate historical fact with fiction teaches us about lesser known, but important people in history and makes their stories memorable.  In this book we learn about a heroic woman who wanted to be a historian but would not let the invasion of her country go unanswered.  She responded by becoming one of World War II’s best snipers.  Read her story as she became Lady Death to the Nazi’s and did everything she could, even when not carrying a gun, to help defeat the worst megalomaniac in the twentieth century.

9.      Fairy Tale by Stephen King (2022) Scribner

Stephen King wrote a masterful tale, reminiscent of his collaboration with Peter Straub,  that involves a boy, a dog, other worlds, and something out of H.P. Lovecraft.  The hero is a seventeen-year-old boy who saves an old man’s life and finds his own life changed.  There are secrets and more dangerous secrets.  There are worlds of discovery, and more people who need the hero’s help.  A coming-of-age story that shapes a boy into a man.  This gripping tale kept me awake late into the night wanting to know what happens next through more than 600 pages.

10.   The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (2022) Berkley

In the last month of the year I found this book and liked the title.  I liked the book even better. The witches only meet on the third Thursday of every third month.  And they never meet in the same place twice.  This is very inconvenient, but very safe, or so the leader, Primrose, tells them.  Witches should live alone and stay away from entanglements.  Which is all very good, except their youngest member, Mika Moon, has been asked to tutor a set of three young witches who have been hidden by a very powerful witch.  This can change everything, for the three girls, for Mika, for Primrose, and all the other witches.  A good read, it combines urban fantasy and romance.

 As you can see in this list, I read current books as well as books published in earlier years.  I don't finish a book I don't like, so winnowing the list down to the best requires extraordinary writing.  If I were to add a non-fiction book to the list, it would be the audio version of Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft - it includes after words by his sons and is a delight to hear.

My reading list will keep me busy for the next decade and will grow as good books become available.  

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (2022) Berkely

The witches only meet on the third Thursday of every third month.  And they never meet in the same place twice.  This is very inconvenient, but very safe, or so the leader, Primrose, tells them.  Witches should live alone and stay away from entanglements.  Which is all very good, except their youngest member, Mika Moon, has been asked to tutor a set of three young witches who have been hidden by a very powerful witch.  This can change everything, for the three girls, for Mika, for Primrose, and all the other witches.  A fun read, it combines urban fantasy and romance.

The House on East 88^th Street (Lyle Crocodile) by Bernard Waber (1962) Houghton Mifflin

This is the story of a performer and a crocodile that can do what other crocodiles don’t do.  The movie followed the book closely, plus embellishments to fill-out the time and give the main character a fuller story.  The family that moves into the apartment on East 88^th street is the same, and Lyle’s lovability is the same.  But the story in the book is much shorter.  Still, it makes me want to read the other books in the series.

Murder Past Due by Miranda James (2010) Berkley

The first of the Cat in the Stacks cozy mystery series.  The amateur sleuth is a widowed library archivist at a Mississippi college.  He has a Main Coon cat that is very people friendly and boarder who is going to college.  Then there is the guy no one liked in high school or college or since who has gone on to be a famous best-selling thriller writer who is the biological father of the boarder, the boarder’s mother, a half-brother that very few people knew about, the chief librarian, whose ex-wife married the writer, the chief librarian’s assistant also known has the gossip clearing house for the town, and someone who has a big secret related to the writer.  There is also the archivist’s housekeeper and her daughter who is the interim chief of detectives in the sheriff’s office who wants to find the murderer – of the writer.

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (2022) Cryptid Press

A very entertaining first novel.  An orc who doesn’t want to go adventuring or fighting anymore, opens a coffee shop, hires a succubus as a barista, gets help converting a livery to her store and faces the local protection racketeer.  Her former crew is a mixed blessing of help and danger.  But the lesson here is one we can all use.  I hope to see more from Mr. Baldree.

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill (2022) Algonquin Books

This is a book that everyone needs to read.  Ms. Barnhill gives us much more than a fairy tale about creatures that understand goodness and greed.  In my opinion, the story is on a par with Gulliver’s travels as satire on our current world.  Here creatures can be something other than they look.  Happiness depends on goodness and children can start remarkable behavior amongst neighbors.

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer (2007) Phiolem Books

An Enola Holmes story about her tracking down a ‘kidnapped’ lady from an aristocratic family.  This is during unrest in London fomented by workers who feel they are being taken advantage of by the upper classes.  At the same time, Enola continues to try to contact her missing mother and evade the clutches of her brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes.

The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer (2006) Philomel Books

Enola Holmes is introduced as the young sister of Sherlock and Mayfield Holmes.  Her mother has disappeared, and the brothers expected a full staff at their estate.  But there is only a Butler, his wife, the cook, and their son.  The brothers intend to send Enola to a boarding school, which appalls her so, she runs away – to London, and solves the case of the kidnapping of Tweksbury, who was not kidnapped, but ran away himself.  Only Enola gets kidnapped by the same two men who kidnapped Tweky after he arrived at the docks of London hoping to get on a ship for adventure.  Will she get away, will she save Tweky, will she evade her brothers?  And why didn’t her mother take Enola with her?

Abhorsen by Garth Nix (2008) Harper Teen

The third volume in the Abhorsen series set in the old kingdom and Ancelstierre, where Lirial must use her powers as the Abhorsen in waiting and as a Remembrancer to defeat the ultimate evil that seeks to destroy the world. Sabriel, the Abhorsen, and Touchstone are threatened with assassination. Sameth and Ellimere, their children are left in charge. Samuel wants nothing to do with the dead. Moggert is along for the ride and a Disreputable Dog. The tension winds up all the way to the end - this is epic fantasy.

Recitatif by Toni Morrison (1983) in Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women 

A story about two girls raised like orphans in a shelter because their mothers could not take care of them.  One mother spent her nights dancing, the other was sick.  They tend to stay closer to each other because they’re not like the other kids, or each other.  They overcome the fact that they’re two different races, but like all eight-year-olds who become friends, they have good times and bad.  Eventually one leaves before the other and they don’t see each other again until they are grown.  But by then, they have different viewpoints on life.  The biggest difference is how they want to look back and see their pasts.  Eventually they reconcile over the past.  But they understand that their present and future are necessarily going to be foreign to one another.

Wobble to Death by Peter Lovesey (1970) W. Clement Stone 

A six-day race is organized in London with two prominent pedestrian racers and a group of known local racers.  One of the top men is being cuckolded by his own man.  Part way in, there is a death by poisoning.  Some racers take a small amount of strychnine as a tonic, but this man had way too much for it to be of his own application.  Then his trainer dies by way of gas in his tent.  Only he has a bloody dent in the back of his head.  On the last day of the race, it appears the promoter’s assistant has made off with the winnings.  It’s up to Sargent Cribb and Constable Thackeray to catch the thief and solve the murders.

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (2013) Feiwel & Friends

The granddaughter of a farmer/space pilot who went to the moon on a diplomatic mission is looking for her.  She’s been missing for three weeks, and the authorities are giving her the run-around.  What she doesn’t know is that her grandmother brought a horribly burned princess back with her and hid her for years as scientists strove to keep her alive.  Now the evil queen of the Lunars is looking for her to eliminate the last possible threat to her throne, sending an army of genetically modified humans with wolf traits and killer instincts to threaten Earth.  Will she find her grandmother?  Will she find the missing princess?

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (from The House on East 88th Street and Lyle, Lyle Crocodile by Bernard Waber) Directed by Josh Gordon & Will Speck, starring Javier Bardem, Winslow Fegley. Shawn Mendes, Eagle Picture, Hutch Parker Entertainment & Sony Pictures Animation

A fun movie about a stage magician who finds a singing crocodile, whom he names Lyle.  With visions of fantastic success, he trains the reptile to sing and dance several popular songs.  But when he gets him on stage for their premier performance, Lyle freezes.  The magician goes on the road to earn money.  When he returns 18 months later, his old home on the first floor of the building has been sold to a family: a teacher, a cookbook writer, and a shy boy.  They have discovered Lyle and after initial shock have become friends with him.  The boy has come out of his shell, the woman is considering another book and the teacher has felt rejuvenated.  But the tenant in the basement is trying to ruin everyone’s day by cheating the magician out of his property and send Lyle to the zoo.  This is a fun movie for the whole family.  Who knew Javier could sing and Dance?

Better Off Dead by Lee Child & Andrew Child (2021) Delacorte Press

In which Reacher walks into a setup of an ex-Army intelligence officer who has set a trap to find her missing brother.  After convincing her he doesn’t know anything about it, he hides, and watches two thugs fall for the trap.  She thinks her brother is dead.  Reacher thinks otherwise.  There is a man who makes anything, including bombs for money.  He is willing to exert control over this out of the way town and follows-up his threats with murders.  The brother was working for this man.  Reacher is intrigued enough to go after the man and get him and his thugs off the street.  This collaboration with Child and his son works seamlessly.  The pace is just as intense as any of the previous books.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (1993) Four Walls Eight Windows

A near-future story about society breaking down.  Specifically, what comes after and how a young woman survives the loss of her father, her family, her home and neighborhood to raiders and drug addicts, devises her own understanding of God, and finds a place to start over.  The story takes place in California.  The police and fire departments have become extremely corrupt.  Corporations are buying people and treating them like industry from the 19^th century.  People kill just to rob other people.  But in our heroine’s view, God is change and people can effect change.

The Warden’s Daughter by Jerry Spinelli (2017) Knopf Books for Young Readers

Cammie O’Reilly is the warden’s daughter.  Her mother was killed saving her from a milk truck.  She is taken care of by a trustee and is the adopted daughter of the women in prison.  She, of course, wants a mother and wished her father would marry the trustee.  She see’s the other kids who have mothers and is terribly jealous.  She acts our, trying to get attention that she refuses to accept.  When her favorite prisoner, Bobo, hangs herself, it takes time for her to accept that all the stories the woman told her.  She acts out even more and starts shoplifting.  Eventually she is caught, but instead of being punished, as the warder’s daughter, she is taken home.  Once there, she acts out against the trustee who sends her to the one place she has avoided, where the accident happened.  She returns in tears and the trustee cleans her up and calms her to sleep.  When she awakes, the trustee is gone, released for time served. Years later, she learns the woman spent an extra year at the prison just to help Cammie through her problems.

New Kid by Jerry Craft (2019) Quill Tree Books

Jordan Banks is the new kid in a private school who helps new friends overcome insecurities, prejudice, and negligent racism.  His teacher keeps confusing the name of another black student just because he’s black.  He finds a girl has a crush on him.  And he helps another girl overcome her fear of how people will see her because she has a burn scar from saving her brother’s life.  A well done, non-preachy book that deserved the Newbery it won.

Loyalty in Death by J.D. Robb (2004) Piatkus Books

“We are Cassandra” – the tagline of a group that threatens to blow up places where people gather to overthrow the government in a fourth world war (the series is set in the 2050s -the author should have added a century since we are coming up on the time of her stories and have not yet achieved interplanetary colonization or FTL).  Eve Dallas is personally targeted as are the properties of her wealthy husband Rourke.  The tension is constantly ratcheted higher to the climax on the statue of liberty.

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain (1934) Alfred A. Knopf

The only postman in this story is death. A Bum gets a job at a service station/diner and finds the diner’s owner’s wife is unhappy.  He wants to take care of that problem.  Cain weaves a story of murder and unexpected luck of both varieties.

Lirael by Garth Nix (2003) Harpercollins

The second volume in the Abhorsen series.  This follows a daughter of the Clayr who barely remembers her mother and does not know who her father was.  She only wants to gain the sight of her cousins and settles for being a librarian.  She is especially good at Charter magic and incessantly curious about the Library, especially wherever she is not supposed to go.  At the same time, the daughter and son of Sabriel and her husband, the king, Touchstone must keep the kingdom safe while the parents must continuously cross the kingdom, fighting free magic and the dead.  What Lirael and the Prince learn can make all the difference.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (2015) Henry Holt

A farm boy loses his big brother and their life savings to a conman.  He decides to do anything to get even and see the conman ruined.  To do so he becomes known as dirty hands since he will do anything for a price.  He gathers a team around him that becomes more successful than the other gangs on the docks.  Then he takes a job that promises enough money to buy freedom for his crew of six.  They break into an impenetrable fortress and steal a person.  Every character has background and things to hide.  But will the merchant they are working for keep his deal or make things much worse.

Robert B. Parker's Slow Burn by Ace Atkins (2016) G.P. Putnam's Sons

A Spenser story about fireman wannabes who think the Boston Fire Department needs help with budget for men and equipment to fight fires – and their brilliant solution is to start fires.  But that puts fire fighters and sparks, the people who provide coffee and blankets for the firefighters at risk.  Spenser is looking into what one of the Fire Chiefs thinks was the first incident where three of their own died.  At first glance it looks like fire for profit, leading Spenser to think a local made guy or his organization is responsible.  Instead that guy provides the video proof they need.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (1962) Simon & Schuster

The Carnival comes to town in October and two boys are caught up in the magic of the sinister Mr. Dark.  The language is unusually flowery by Bradbury and the three states, mad, madder, maddest, etc. seems to overpopulate the prose.  If an editor got hold of it today, it would be shorter.  But the basic good vs. evil comes through.  The book was published in 1962 and the movie came out twenty years later, the screenplay also written by the author.  I like the book’s opening better than the movie and the special effects seemed to be the movie’s overdone part. 

We have a local book and a movie club - this was our pick for October.

Nemesis by Jo Nesbö (2009) Harper

Harry Hole is in Norway and his love is in Moscow fighting a custody suit against her former husband.  A bank is robbed.  The robber never speaks more than four words out loud.  He whispers his instructions to a woman to have the manager empty the ATM into a carryall.  Then he kills the woman.  Harry is added to the robbery task force looking to solve the bank robbery, but his interest is in the murder.  A new character is added to the cast who never forgets a face.  Others in this story include gypsies, jealous lovers, and other lonely people.  Harry figures out who the real killer is.  But that's his curse, isn't it?

Come Again by Nate Powell (2018) Top Shelf Productions

A group of people live off the grid in a small community.  Yet all the problems of people still exist in their version of utopia. One mother, raising her child by herself, has a secret from everyone, along with the husband of her best friend.  Their boys discover the cave where secret meetings have been happening.  The cave likes secrets, and one of the boys becomes bait.  This is a graphic novel. It's a dark story and Mr. Powell chose to do many of the scenes in darkness.  It's worth the read.

A Contract with God by Will Eisner (2006) W.W. Norton & Company

A collection of five graphic stories in the fictional Dropsie Avenue tenement #55 by the inimitable artist, Will Eisner, for whom the top comic artists vie for his award.  Dropsie Avenue is a finctional place in the Bronx where the immigrant influx after World War I created the need for cheap housing.  55 being a Jewish group of residents, we follow the lives of two generations trying to improve their lot in life while clinging to the traditions of their religion.  Whether it is a misinterpretation of God’s responsibilities vs man’s or the attempt to be someone else, irony, karma, or fate intervenes to balance the scales.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King (2000) Scribner

The author reflects on his childhood and how that influenced his writing style of choice of stories.  He describes his writing habits and the problems he has experienced, including when he was hit by a car.  There are two bonuses: his sons Joe (Hill), an award-winning horror writer himself, and Owen King.  The best bit being about how as children, they would ask their father to tell them a story each night (no wonder they grew up to write and edit horror themselves).

We listened to the audio version read by King himself - it's well worth a listen.

The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo (2021) Candlewick

A young girl is found lying next to a usually terrifying goat. But he makes an exception for the girl, who can only remember her first name.  The current king is searching for a girl who is supposed to unseat him and change the way things are done in the kingdom.  There is also a boy whose parents were killed, and a king who walked away from his throne.  The usual wonderful writing by DiCamillo.

Fairy Tale by Stephen King (2022) Scribner

Stephen King wrote a masterful tale, reminiscent of his collaboration with Peter Straub,  that involves a boy, a dog, other worlds, and something out of H.P. Lovecraft.  The hero is a seventeen-year-old boy who saves an old man’s life and finds his own life changed.  There are secrets and more dangerous secrets.  There are worlds of discovery, and more people who need the hero’s help.  A coming-of-age story that shapes a boy into a man.  This gripping tale kept me awake late into the night wanting to know what happens next through more than 600 pages.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (2013) Square Fish

A futuristic take on Cinderella set after a World War IV and interaction with a human/lunar hybrid that uses the ability to detect and manipulate the electrical energy from emotions.  The lunar queen, who killed her sister to gain the throne, is demanding the hand of the earthly prince of the Eastern commonwealth or threatens war.  In the meantime, a broken child was rescued and is now a cyborg.  When her new father brought her home, his wife and the oldest sister was not happy.  Especially when he suddenly dies from a highly contagious plague.  Cinder is an excellent mechanic, and the prince brought her an android to fix.  It holds secrets that could shatter the fragile peace keeping war from starting.  But the biggest revelation could change everything.

Shadow Born by D.K. Holmberg (2016) CreateSpace

The third book in the Shadow trilogy – in which our heroine learns answers to long standing questions, makes an astounding discovery about her past and comes into understanding about her capabilities and develops confidence about her future.

Glitches by Marissa Meyer (2013) Tor Books

Little Cinder has lost her parents and a leg and an arm.  And she seems to have access to information in her brain whenever she asks a question.  Her new stepfather, an inventor, has taken her in to be a new member of his family.  Though her stepmother and one of her stepsisters is not very happy to have her.  She feels she needs to prove her worth and fixes the housekeeper android.  But before she can show it off to her stepfather, he has come down with a deadly plague.

Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark (2021) Little Brown Book Group

A steampunk/fantasy/mystery with djinns who have become Egyptian citizens before World War I (the Ottoman Empire still exists).  George Alec Effinger would have been proud to read this.  We have touches of each genre, advanced magical technology, fantastic creatures, a mass murder, a megalomanic who wants to remake the world in their own insane image, a heroine who prefers to dress in dapper British men’s’ clothing who is in love with another woman, and a partner who is both a strict Muslim and an avid feminist.

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn (2022) William Morrow

Ms. Quinn becomes better with each book.  Her blend of accurate historical fact with fiction teaches us about lesser known, but important people in history and makes their stories memorable.
In this book we learn about a heroic woman who wanted to be a historian but would not let the invasion of her country go unanswered.  She responded by becoming one of World War II’s best snipers.  Read her story as she became Lady Death to the Nazi’s and did everything she could, even when not carrying a gun, to help defeat the worst megalomaniac in the twentieth century.

The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman (1921) Viking Books

The words we needed to hear.  Ms. Gorman will be a significant contributor to American Poetry, with her own words, and the poets she inspires.  The United States and the world is a better place because of her poems and her actions.

She has another book coming out: Call Us What We Carry - I'm waiting for my copy.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem (1999) Doubleday

Lionel Essrog, a man with Tourette’s, along with three other marginalized guys was recruited as teenagers by Frank Minna, who does questionable jobs for a couple of old gangsters.  His mentor went away for a few years with a brother.  When he came back, he created a car service as a front for a detective agency, which was really a front for doing what he always did.  Lionel is along as backup when his mentor is killed.  As a detective, even if that was a front, he feels obligated to bring the murderer to justice, in spite of his Tourettic tics.

The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen (1980) Ace Books

One of my favorite books by Saberhagen is An Old Friend of the Family.  I discovered that it was the third book in a series and decided to start from the beginning.

Vlad Dracula wanted to join the ‘modern’ society of Victorian England, specifically London.  He records five tracks recounting his efforts to blend in and the disastrous results of his experiment.  Dracula told from the viewpoint of the vampire.  The story reads with much action that parallels Bram Stoker’s novel and pre-dates Anne Rice’s Interview.

Home Sweet Homicide by Craig Rice (1944) Simon & Schuster

Marion Carstairs is a mystery writer raising three children with a lot of trust.  They hear a gunshot followed by another and followed by the sound of a couple of cars leaving.  They run to see what happened at their next door neighbor’s house.  There is a young actress screaming and a dead body.  They decide to solve this mystery so their mother can take credit and sell a lot more books.  There is a wide cast of characters and suspects abound.  Ms. Rice mixes humor and the standard mystery outline at work.  The book is entertaining from start to finish.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (2009) Ballentine Books

A marvelously intriguing book.  This is the story of a Chinese American boy in Seattle who befriended a Japanese American girl in 1942.  It follows the journey of the boy whose father is viciously anti-Japanese since they took over his native China.  Parallel to this is the same boy grown into a man who has lost his Chinese wife and discovers that the Panama Hotel has artifacts in its basement that were left by Japanese families when they were ‘evacuated’ during the war.  A jazz saxophone player provides a connecting role between the two time periods.  The writing is rich with poetic similes and observations of the human condition between generations and with young and old love.

Sabriel by Garth Nix (1995) Harper Collins

A girl is stillborn, then brought back to life by a magician and raised by him.  She is educated outside of the Old Kingdom and taught Charter magic.  In her senior year, almost ready to graduate, she is approached by a dead thing, and she banishes it back to death.  She receives a pack with her father’s sword and magic bells.  So, a quest is set for her to find her father’s body and redeem him from death.  She returns to the Old Kingdom, chased by the dead, who have taken over everything on that side of the wall.  She goes to her father’s home, is joined by his captive free spirit, in the form of a cat, sets sail in a paperwing, crashes into a sinkhole and frees a man trapped as the figurehead of a ship in a King’s graveyard.  All they have to do is find the body of Sabriel’s father, retrieve him from death, then defeat the most powerful dark necromancer of the time.

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (2022) Random House

There are few books that I label as important - this is one of them.  The story follows Esme, the daughter of a worker on the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.  As a child, she sits below her father’s desk and looks at the word slips the fall from the tables.  At one point she is sent to a boarding school with disastrous effect on her life.  She notices over time that the words not included in the printed work are about women.  She becomes friends with a brother and sister in the suffrage movement.  With him, she bears a child, who is adopted by friends who move to Australia.  She starts collecting these lost words and eventually they become a book titled Women’s Words and their Meanings.  At the same time as this immense project takes place, the world changes.  War comes and with it is the loss of many of the workers on the dictionary, including a compositor with whom she fell in love.  You will laugh at parts, be angry at others, and cry tears.  But you will read a very well written book and find it a satisfying read.