Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies, by Catherine Mack
Another meta-mystery similar to Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, and it’s good. I probably would have liked it more if I was so familiar with the other series. Bestselling mystery author Eleanor Dash wants to kill off her main sleuthing character. Unfortunately, he’s based on her real-life ex who has been blackmailing her for the last ten years. When he has several brushes with death and then she is almost murdered, she has to investigate or wind up dead. It’s good enough, but maybe a little too self-conscious. It’s the start of a series, but I don’t know if I’ll be interested enough to read more.
Mermaids in the Basement, by Carolyn Kizer
This is a collection of poetry by a lesser known, but prolific poet that focuses on women. Organized by subject, the poems pay attention to important steps in women’s lives including friendship and divorce, besides the more normal motherhood and love. There is also a series of poems translated from classic female Chinese poets. I really enjoyed this work, and Kizer’s poetry in general. Here is a snippet that I loved:
Now that I see, I see
What you have known within:
Whenever we love, we win,
Or else we have never been born
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, by Zen Cho
I have been wanting to read this author for awhile now and started with this novella. The writing is gorgeous and the ideas are interesting, but overall execution was lacking. My book club average rating came out to just below 3/5. There was a lot of world here, but too short a work to really explore it. I also read it just after my 4th The Singing Hills Cycle novella and I love those so much. Probably not fair to inset Cho right after.
Aurora Blazing, by Jessie Mihalik
A relisten. I fell in love with this space romance several years ago and needed something fun and no stress while I was going through a busy time. Just as fun as the first two times I read it.
Slade House, by David Mitchell
A sort of gothic horror about a house that exists between the cracks of the world that can only be accessed once every nine years through a metal door in the wall of an alleyway. We follow the person(s) who are invited into the house and grounds as they fall under the house’s spell. It was good, if quick. I’ve only read a few Mitchell books, but I’ve like them all.
Frieren vol 3, by Kanehito Yamada
Ancient elf Frieren continues with her companions to the north to meet the power of the reemerging Demon King she helped fell 80 years before. This time she meets a goddess of chaos who is attacking a small town. I like the chill pace of this series and its examination of what time is like for a nearly immortal elf.
The Noh Mask Murder, by Akimitsu Takagi
Considered a classic Japanese locked room mystery. It has an air of supernatural about it too which was fun, until it wasn’t. The author basically tells you who did it in the prologue, so the only thing was figuring out how (which is never that interesting to me). It was all right, but not something I’d want to revisit.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
I have a love/hate relationship with Zevin’s work. I generally like it enough, but am gob smacked by how beloved this book and The Storied Life of A.J. Firky are. She tells a good tale and really gets into the intricacies of relationships, but her books are mostly exposition. I find that really boring after several hundred pages. That said, I did overall enjoy the companion story of lifelong frenemies who become super successful video game designers. Parts of the book are still with me a week or more after I finished it. And I really did like the ending.
History of Butoh, by Khadya Anderson
Book of poetry by a LA-based poet, maybe even Pasadena. Butoh is a type of experimental dancing originated in Japan in the middle of the last century of which Khadya is a devotee. Her poems range over myriad topics. The most interesting ones, for me, were about Palestine—written more than a decade before the current war. There were also a number of poems about Southern California that I could identify with. Although her poem titled after my home town showed me it was written as she drove by on the 10. From “Desert Lines”:
Mountains crumble to boulders to rocks to sand
A huge carp shaped rock dreams of water
Another meta-mystery similar to Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, and it’s good. I probably would have liked it more if I was so familiar with the other series. Bestselling mystery author Eleanor Dash wants to kill off her main sleuthing character. Unfortunately, he’s based on her real-life ex who has been blackmailing her for the last ten years. When he has several brushes with death and then she is almost murdered, she has to investigate or wind up dead. It’s good enough, but maybe a little too self-conscious. It’s the start of a series, but I don’t know if I’ll be interested enough to read more.
Mermaids in the Basement, by Carolyn Kizer
This is a collection of poetry by a lesser known, but prolific poet that focuses on women. Organized by subject, the poems pay attention to important steps in women’s lives including friendship and divorce, besides the more normal motherhood and love. There is also a series of poems translated from classic female Chinese poets. I really enjoyed this work, and Kizer’s poetry in general. Here is a snippet that I loved:
Now that I see, I see
What you have known within:
Whenever we love, we win,
Or else we have never been born
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, by Zen Cho
I have been wanting to read this author for awhile now and started with this novella. The writing is gorgeous and the ideas are interesting, but overall execution was lacking. My book club average rating came out to just below 3/5. There was a lot of world here, but too short a work to really explore it. I also read it just after my 4th The Singing Hills Cycle novella and I love those so much. Probably not fair to inset Cho right after.
Aurora Blazing, by Jessie Mihalik
A relisten. I fell in love with this space romance several years ago and needed something fun and no stress while I was going through a busy time. Just as fun as the first two times I read it.
Slade House, by David Mitchell
A sort of gothic horror about a house that exists between the cracks of the world that can only be accessed once every nine years through a metal door in the wall of an alleyway. We follow the person(s) who are invited into the house and grounds as they fall under the house’s spell. It was good, if quick. I’ve only read a few Mitchell books, but I’ve like them all.
Frieren vol 3, by Kanehito Yamada
Ancient elf Frieren continues with her companions to the north to meet the power of the reemerging Demon King she helped fell 80 years before. This time she meets a goddess of chaos who is attacking a small town. I like the chill pace of this series and its examination of what time is like for a nearly immortal elf.
The Noh Mask Murder, by Akimitsu Takagi
Considered a classic Japanese locked room mystery. It has an air of supernatural about it too which was fun, until it wasn’t. The author basically tells you who did it in the prologue, so the only thing was figuring out how (which is never that interesting to me). It was all right, but not something I’d want to revisit.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
I have a love/hate relationship with Zevin’s work. I generally like it enough, but am gob smacked by how beloved this book and The Storied Life of A.J. Firky are. She tells a good tale and really gets into the intricacies of relationships, but her books are mostly exposition. I find that really boring after several hundred pages. That said, I did overall enjoy the companion story of lifelong frenemies who become super successful video game designers. Parts of the book are still with me a week or more after I finished it. And I really did like the ending.
History of Butoh, by Khadya Anderson
Book of poetry by a LA-based poet, maybe even Pasadena. Butoh is a type of experimental dancing originated in Japan in the middle of the last century of which Khadya is a devotee. Her poems range over myriad topics. The most interesting ones, for me, were about Palestine—written more than a decade before the current war. There were also a number of poems about Southern California that I could identify with. Although her poem titled after my home town showed me it was written as she drove by on the 10. From “Desert Lines”:
Mountains crumble to boulders to rocks to sand
A huge carp shaped rock dreams of water
