The Tournament of Books is upon us, today being Day 1, so I had to send this out despite the fact that A) I haven’t written an intro or outro yet and B) I haven’t finished all the books. I am halfway through one that has been stressing me out so badly that it is hard to read and I still have two more after that so look forward to some post-ToB updates. Til then, though, let’s see what we have.
(Oh, and look for a couple of furry friends popping up during the Tournament. I may or may not have sent Rosie and Jamie in for the mascot program.)
Tournament of Books Books I Read
Monstrilio - Gerado Samano Cordova
A couple loses their young son to his weak health. And then the mother removes a piece of his heart and it grows into a monster. Yeah, it’s a weird premise but there is so much heart and tragedy and reflections on different kinds of grief in this novel. Switching perspectives from the mother to the mother’s best friend to the father and finally, Monstrilio himself, I was never quite sure where this was going (was VERY surprised at the jump from Lena to Joseph’s chapters!) but was enraptured the whole time. It’s sad, it’s tense, it’s just a good book.
The first thing I feel compelled to mention is that this is a monster of a book at over 600 pages. I’m a pretty quick reader and it still took me awhile to get through. The story of the Barnes family, a well to do family in a small Irish town that is slowly losing their standing as the family car business goes under, it’s told through stories from each family member’s point of view, until you finally get a bigger picture of all the context of this family’s history. Is it well written? Yes. Did I need to know what happened? Yes. But also it was just so sad. All these people, just desperately trying to be true to themselves and do what was best for those they loved and just messing up. God, it was heartbreaking.
The Librarianist - Patrick deWitt
I really enjoyed this book while I was reading it until I got to roughly the last 40 pages and had a fear of “oh, this book is just going to end, isn’t it?” The tale of the life of Bob Comet, a born and bred librarian who has spent most of his life reading novels rather than living, this book is surprisingly very little about libraries. There are four sections: modern day (2006), Bob’s early twenties, a week when Bob was eleven, and then back to modern day. Each section could very easily have been its own book. The transition from modern day to his early twenties, as we see the slow moving car crash of his falling in love and what will ultimately become of his marriage, was incredibly effective. But then, personally, I felt like it really didn’t go anywhere. While his childhood section was interesting, it didn’t really feel like it added to the story as a whole and when it ended, I was mostly left with a feeling of “…and?” I wish I liked this book more than I did.
What You Are Looking For Is In The Library - Michiko Aoyama
This was the perfect book to read after that parade of depressing novels. This book was lovely. Told in five vignettes of different folks who find themselves at the same small community library, unsure of what they need, they each encounter Sayuri Komachi, the librarian, who sneaks in one extra book that ends up being exactly what they needed. The entire book is so delightfully Japanese in structure, I’ve watched a million shows with a similar form, but it’s popular because it works. Seeing each of these strangers find out more about themselves and the world around them (and then popping up in later stories) is so fulfilling and even if it’s not super deep, it has pearls of truth that shine through. Also, in just a pure physicality sense, the book is a very pleasing size to hold? Japanese books are smaller than American and UK books and this translation is closer to the Japanese size and it just feels very nice in one’s hands. I really enjoyed this, it’s a quick read, and it’s so worth it.
Told from the point of view of a mountain lion living in the Hollywood Hills, this book is easily read in an hour. It’s not long but it is visceral and there are definitely sentences that will stick in my mind. Not something I’m going to be running around recommending but I did enjoy it and I’m glad I read it.
The Auburn Conference - Tom Piazza
Set in 1883, a young literature teacher puts together a conference of all the literary greats of the time: Whitman, Melville, Twain, Douglass, Stowe in the hopes of encouraging more reading of American literature in the school. Things get twisted, a Confederate general and a popular woman author of romances are also invited, and chaos reigns. This is a not-so-subtle reflection on current discussions of race and gender, told through the eyes of the authors and conference organizer (and one scandal-mongering reporter.) There are times where the words are a little too close for comfort but ultimately, nothing really happens. People talk and then they leave. While it was well written, it was ultimately a meh for me.
I’m still not sure what I think about this book. Set on an alternative Earth where alien ships arrived in 2023 and said everyone had thirty days to get to Antarctica before they took over and then a period twenty years after, this book had three different, interesting books layered inside it but didn’t give any of them time to breathe. I understand what he was going to for in the way Smith structured the novel but you could tell he had so much more he wanted to say, it easily could have been a trilogy and smashing it all into one less than 350 page book took away from what could have been powerful moments. I also really enjoyed all the little narrative details but there were a few moments (no one’s fat on Antarctica because they have to be fit! a character questions if she can feel love if she can’t have sex with someone and no one informs her that sex isn’t required if you love someone!) that really rubbed me the wrong way. A very :/ feeling at the end.
The Only Non-Tournament Book I Read
Mistakes We Never Made - Hannah Brown
The debut romance novel from Hannah Brown. Yes, that Hannah Brown, from Bachelor/Bachelorette fame although it is co-written with another author. It’s .. fine? It’s pretty standard rom com fare: will-they-won’t-theys that never actually got together are thrown onto a roadtrip to find their runway bride mutual friend. I mostly liked it except there is a distinct lack of closure at the end where she is clearly planning to write a second book focusing on the friend but, by doing that, she just leaves hanging several plot threads which really needed to be tied up, making the book just feel unfinished. Honestly surprised the editor let it end that way.
This past weekend was Emerald City Comic Con, a con I’ve been going to for almost ten years now. I can’t believe I’ve been in comics almost ten years, wow. This year, though, was much less focused on comics and more focused on the fact that my best friend and her husband flew out for it. We got a very nice airbnb only a few blocks from the convention center, I was only on one panel all weekend (that went really well and I feel like I actually helped folks!), and we spent most of the time doing tourist things. I haven’t been a proper tourist in Seattle in an age and it was extremely fun.
Alas, I now have no exciting things on the horizon, bar maybe a beach trip in May with another friend to see a third friend’s art show. I hate not having trips to look forward to. All of you cross your fingers that I get a certain email in my inbox very soon and I get to start making plans again.
Until then, I’ll keep reading and sending you updates. Again, you can sponsor this newsletter either with a subscription via the site ($5/month or $35/year) or, if you’d prefer to avoid giving money to the platform (very fair), you can send me it via Kofi. Subs support me AND get to pick a book for me to read and dedicate a whole special newsletter to. Make me read something boring, bad, silly! I’m happy to do it! I’ve read Colleen Hoover and Fifty Shades to see what the fuss was about, I promise I’m more fun when I’m annoyed. ;)
Wishing you all a very exciting (in only good ways) March and I’ll see you in a month! Happy Reading!