Posts
Well, here we are, four months (egads) since my last post. I have nothing to blame but wellness (or lack thereof), pandemic brain and malaise, family emergency and probably just sheer lack of gumption. I have a ton of catching up to do and I don't want to let good titles get short shrift because my act hasn't been together, so...
Below are a few (somewhat) brief $.02 opinions about books I've read or listened to recently. This first catchup set happens to include some of the best books I read this year. I hope you'll consider one or two for your own TBR stack if they strike your fancy.
The title and cover intrigued me enough to check this out, and the synopsis I read (I try to avoid them for the most part) sealed the deal: low-level publishing worker Florence Darrow thinks she is the next great American author. When she tries some tricks of the trade to leverage a publishing deal, she ends up out on her ass, but soon the opportunity of a lifetime comes her way. She is asked to work as the assistant to the brilliant, best-selling author known as Maud Dixon, a pseudonym hiding one of the biggest secrets in the industry. These two women, both complicated and wily, end up as the basis for a twisty psychological thriller filled with "Oh hell no!" moments. I truly enjoyed every minute, which has been hard to come by this year (and last). I recommend this whole-heartedly.
This unassuming novel (spare cover, a brief 160 pages) knocked my socks clear to the other side of the room. Billed as Parasite meets The Good Son, I didn't hesitate when the publisher asked me to take a look. I love a short book that packs such a punch, it really is an art I hold in the highest esteem. Here, Kwon revisits the 17-year-old murder of Kim Hae-on, known as The Beauty School Murder, through chapters from the perspectives of Kim's younger sister and two of her former classmates. While uncovering the reasons for and perpetrator of the crime is certainly part of the story, Kwon writes brilliantly about jealousy, privilege, appearance, repercussions, and trauma. Kwon's first novel translated to English from her native Korean, here's hoping there are many more.
I'm not one of those folks who is immediately all-in on a space story, but this cover left me powerless. Turns out the insides are just as fabulous, centering on June, whose Uncle Peter was famous for his fuel cell inventions. Then something went awry and he wasn't. June is difficult for her Aunt to raise alone following Peter's death, so she is sent to the National Space Training Program named after her uncle. Decades younger than her school peers, June struggles and flourishes. Even as she is ultimately given a coveted position on a space station, June is haunted by the spacecraft that went missing when she was twelve. Her intellect and belief in her uncle drives her to prove the craft is still out there and its crew alive, even after all this time. More than I expected in the best of ways.
If SGJ's 2020 book, The Only Good Indians, hadn't lured me with its cover and set me off on a SGJ marathon (instantly a must-read author for me), the cover of 2021's offering would have gotten me. SGJ is often billed as horror, but I'm not sure that entirely fits. Certainly there are horror components, but his work defies genre for me. Heart is certainly a thrilling love letter to slasher films and its protagonist, Jade Daniels, writes all of her English papers based on the theme (one of the coolest parts of the book). Jade is also certain her town of Proofrock is a place destined to become a horror movie - where the masked killer comes back to seek revenge. She even has all the normal slasher film "roles" cast with locals. But of course when things start to go wrong, no one will believe her. This book is difficult to describe in worthy words, so I'm simply going to encourage you to give it a try if you have even the slightest warm spot for slasher films.
Just as a few poets sent me down my recent(ish) poetry rabbit hole, Stephen Graham Jones sent me down something of a horror trek. I'd heard nothing but raves about this one, so when it came across my desk I was curious and anxious to dig in. Man did it blow my expectations out of the water and spun my head around (heck, even Stephen King was blown away). Ted lives in his boarded up family home with only his part-time daughter (Lauren) and a cat (Olivia). Or does he? Dee believes Ted is hiding her long-vanished sister Lulu inside and is bound and determined to get her back. What you think you know, you don't. Some of what you guess might be right, but it doesn't matter because (1) there will be layers and layers on top of it and (2) Ward goes about peeling back the truth in such a loving, horrific, suspenseful way that you will want to read it all over again when you've finished, just to read it with that new education. By far one of the best books I've read this year and another stellar work that has me on the steadfast path to more "horror."
No comments:
Post a Comment