Some things come in waves, and this month was a tsunami. So much has been going on that overwhelmed my reading life this month, not the least of which was the rise of the delta variant and preparing to send the kids back to school in it. I also had a few duds on my reading list this month that I didn’t end up finishing. With that caveat, this is what I got through.
Speculative Fiction
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse – This book gets 4 stars for setting, but 3 stars overall. The setting is derived from indigenous American cultures, which is very different if you’re used to European or Asian settings. I really enjoyed the gradual world building and coming to understand the world. So many of the reader’s assumptions are undermined (assuming you’re reading from a western background) and that made it fun.
The part that didn’t work for me as much was the characters and plot. The characters were all kind of passively along for the ride; their motivations felt weak to me. They were more of puppets for the author’s intentions rather than fleshed out people. The plot eventually brings all the various strands together, but it felt like only maybe half of a full novel. The ending was not really satisfying.
I would consider reading the rest of the series to see if the characters come into their own, but it’s not rocketing to the top of my TBR pile.
Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan – Not as enjoyable for me as the Memoirs of Lady Trent. An alternate history novel with faeries sounds like it’s in my wheelhouse, but it turns out in this case to be all politics, very little action. This book was fine, but I can’t find a reason to continue the series.
The Martian by Andy Weir – Downloaded the Will Wheaton audiobook version, which I hadn’t listened to before. The old audiobook is one of my standbys, and this one is good as well. I also enjoyed the bonus material at the end, journal entries and letters from Whatney from before and after the events of the book. The “No Fries!” scene justified the whole addition. What else can I say about The Martian? It’s a favorite of mine. If you enjoyed Apollo 13 and like science, this is a book for you.
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020, edited by Diana Gabaldon – Read about half, not super interested, so back to the library it goes.
Other Fiction
Silence by Shūsaku Endō – A harrowing, thoughtful classic. I first read this book for an art history class at BYU. Yes, that’s weird, and as a new freshman, it went way over my head. The point was to talk about the importance of representative art to religion, which I can see on this read-through. This story is a difficult one and brings up many questions to a believing audience, all while taking religious truth claims very seriously, which is rare. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to think deeply about cross-cultural religion.
Non-Fiction
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch – Loved this just as much the second time around. McCullough puts so much thought into her analysis of internet language and culture, from why when you started using the internet matters to understanding emojis as gesture. I highly recommend this book to anyone who uses words online (aka everyone).
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose – I read the first one and a half chapters. Might be useful for would-be writers who haven’t taken any college literary analysis courses, but I didn’t find it helpful. Lots about how to slow down and do close analysis on a text, and because it’s from random texts, you probably won’t care about most of it.
