Books of 2018- Installment #20

96. We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
I first became aware of Grady Hendrix's work from the podcast Geek's Guide to the Galaxy, and I've been a fan ever since! I couldn't wait to read his new book. Well, I guess I could because I had to wait more than 2 months for the library to lend me a copy! I think this book is less horror than his other books, but it is of the times, which has plenty of horror. He has written a book where the protagonist is a female guitar player in a metal band. So if you're curious about how it's of the times, you can guess there's some misogyny in this book. But Grady Hendrix does a good job of depicting, not being a misogynist, and not overwhelming me in the horror of it.

97. The Physick of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Salem witches... This book was written before the #metoo movement, and I think that you can see that. Something incredible has happened in the #metoo movement. There's been a coalescing of expression. People are really starting to figure out how to talk about some issues that we didn't seem to have to vocabulary to highlight as clearly. Perhaps that is not accurate, maybe it is just as a character in the novel says, “We can understand the world only through the language that is at our disposal. Every period has its own linguistic— and perceptive— lens.” But regardless, talking about the Salem witch trial automatically triggers discussions of how society treats women, and while there is a lot of other aspects to this story, I know that for myself, my lens that I have been looking through ever since the 2016 election results is a lens that looks at the misogyny inherent in the system to bastardize a Monty Python's Holy Grail quote...

98. Static Ruin by Corey J. White
This is the third book in the Voidwitch trilogy that started with Killing Gravity, which I got free from Tor.com! While it could be the conclusion, it could easily continue as well. I love Mars and Ocho (Seven/Nine). Ocho reminds me so much of my little baby!! Mars gets some closure and some freedom.

99. The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang
Once again Tor.com gave me a free book!! I have to adore Tor.com! They have given me some amazing books this year!! And almost all of them the first book in a trilogy. I have read so many trilogies this year because of this excellent marketing ploy!

100. The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
I love the premise of this book. It's 1996 and Emma signs up for AOL, but for unknown reasons this allows her to log into Facebook in 2011! She of course doesn't know what Facebook is and she doesn't really understand what her profile tells her about herself, but she wants to find out! On this journey she talks to her best friend Josh...

Books of 2018- Installment #19

91. Night and Silence by Seanan McGuire
This is the latest Toby Daye story and (spoiler alert) while I'm so thrilled that Tybalt and Toby are doing well again, there were some major bombs in this story!! I have so many questions!!!!!!!!

92. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
I had heard that this was an amazing mystery, so I checked it out from the library. It has a the feel of a real Clue game but like a real Clue game- real in the uber British sense. It's fascinating! Our narrator doesn't know what's going on at first, and neither do we. If you read blurbs, it's given away pretty early on. I would say, resist! Just ride the confusion with the narrator. If you do read the blurbs, you won't know know what's going on, but sit with the confusion a bit and feel what the narrator's feeling. It's fascinating!

93. Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
This is the last book in an unusual trilogy. The universe Becky Chambers has created is amazing! It's so deeply thought-out and so full of vivid and engaging characters, species, inhabitants. The three books have a relationship with each other, but in no way need to be read together. Obviously if you do, you will have a different experience than if you don't but... At first I thought the second one (A Closed and Common Orbit) was the best, but now I'm not sure. Perhaps it's Record of a Spaceborn Few. So good news, it's a trilogy that gets better as it goes along!

94. Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
A little girl on her bike falls through a hole and lands on a giant metal hand. What is the hand? How did it get there? Why is it there? The unraveling of the mystery is what drives the book. It is not told in the traditional narrative form. We read the transcripts of recorded interviews and journal entries to see how this story unfolds.

95. The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
A girl alone in space... I feel like this must some how be in the zeitgeist because I feel like I keep encountering it. The first two examples that pop into my head are this one and Girl in Space podcast. At any rate, this is a very touching and gripping story about a girl in space.

Books of 2018- Installment #18

86. An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim
This is a really interesting time travel story. A pandemic hits the country and time travel is invented to solve the problem. But it doesn't. So what happens to the lovers who get separated by this? What happens to the country? It was a moody and affecting story.

87. The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Lena Denham apparently has started a less than 100 pages bookclub. I think this would be a perfect addition to this bookclub. This is a wonderful look at relationships and making choices, set in a space age that sent us to Mars long, long ago.

88. How to Invent Everything by Ryan North
I heard about this book on a podcast (All the Books), and it's awesome! It's funny and hella informative!!!

89. City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
I had picked up A Darker Shade of Magic and couldn't get into it, so I wasn't really expecting to want to read anything else by her. This book, however, was not the same. It grabbed me right away and hey- ghost story!!!

90. The Spaceship Next Door by Gene Doucette
I have no idea how this book wound up on my radar, but when I saw John Joseph Adams's name on the cover, I said, "Sign me up!" It took me a little bit to get into it, but the author is from Massachusetts, and it's set in Mass, and that just tickles my NE fancy. I ever so enjoyed his candlepin bowling commentary! I read it out loud to my hub, who was not suitably impressed! Have to have lived in New England, I guess!! Basically it's a story about what would happen if a spaceship landed next door and then did nothing....