KILL THE NEXT ONE :: Federico Axat

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is reprinted here with permission.

I lagged a little getting this post to the site. Kill the Next One was published in December 2016 and was one of my favorite reads of last year. I thought I would wait until the paperback release to run the review, but there doesn't seem to be one on the horizon. Thus, you get the full-court press on the hardcover (or library) edition of this whackadoodle of a novel.

Argentinian author Federico Axat followed a complex recipe for his first work translated into English: create a compelling mystery, then wrap it in layers of uncertainty. Throw in some violence, a dash of a secret suicide club, a pinch of adultery, a mental hospital and enough repressed memories to ice the whole shebang. Don't forget the side order of demonic opossum. Write some scenes twice, changing them just a hair. Cut into pieces and mix, leaving your protagonist and readers to question their sanity for more than 400 riveting and agonizing pages. The result is a spectacular mind-meld of a psychological thriller, Kill the Next One.

Poor Ted McKay is trying to commit suicide when he's interrupted by an insistent knock at the door. His visitor is a stranger who makes Ted an offer he can't refuse: kill a murderer who went free and a second man who is suicidal like Ted. In return for those two deaths, someone will kill Ted so he can die a heroic victim rather than by his own hand.

As Ted tries to carry out his mission, the world tilts on its axis. It's unclear what is real, who is telling the truth and how Ted was chosen for his semi-nefarious deeds. As his mind fractures, memories start to leak through, bringing frightening clarity with them. Axat brilliantly creates an environment permeated by doubt and the anxiety it perpetuates. The story is chilling, but Axat has the skill to infuse it with humanity while maintaining the nightmarish atmosphere. Kill the Next One is a recipe baked to perfection.

STREET SENSE: If you love a full plate of well-plotted mind-fuckery, do not hesitate.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE: When you've decided to take your own life--it doesn't matter whether you have any doubts about your decision--those final minutes will test your will.

COVER NERD SAYS:  This one is a bit middle-of-the-road for me. It's not a turn-off, per se, but there's nothing about it that really attracts me other than its weirdness. I do like the font and the way the text is organized. The fact that it's odd certainly goes with the content. One reason I was looking forward to a paperback edition was to see if the would change the cover. Hopefully that day will come, particularly since I think it will open this book up to more readers, which it deserves.

THE DIRTY BOOK CLUB :: Lisi Harrison

A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness and is reprinted here with permission.

A dirty martini will make you admit things to other people, but a dirty book? That will make you admit things to yourself…Each time you uncover one of these truths, a brick falls from the facade you've built around yourself and leaves a hole for the light to shine through. Men are wonderful, but wood alone can't cultivate that light. You need fire. You need girlfriends.

Gloria Golden and her three twenty-something girlfriends throw a potluck every full moon, complete with cigarettes, martinis and Neil Sedaka "spinning on the Magnavox." In 1962, they follow the tenets of marriage columnist Miss Matrimony and the publication Prim: A Modern Woman's Guide to Manners.

One evening, the women begin to question their truths and repressions, spurred by Gloria's marital woes and TWA stewardess Marjorie's latest Parisian souvenir, The Housewife's Handbook to Selective Promiscuity. Over the next 54 years, the group explores and pushes their boundaries by secretly reading evocative books. Against this glorious backdrop, four present-day women become the chosen successors to Gloria's generation. Disparate women who barely know each other and often don't even like each other, they all need to participate or the club will fold.

In The Dirty Book Club, Lisi Harrison charms with a kick-in-the-pants narrative replete with a Golden Girls/Maude vibe that is far from superficial despite its sublime sauciness. Harrison (Monster High) dissects relationships and self-determination in eight unique voices full of attitude and soul; smart and raucous dialogue will have readers rooting for her distinctive characters in search of their authentic selves. 

STREET SENSE: Some of the language in this book had me howling (and endlessly sharing naughty bits with Pop Culture Nerd; i.e., things dropping "like a hot testicle," cleavage described as "crevasse-deep...like an oversized change purse positioned to receive pennies from heaven."), yet it didn't lose its depth or turn into fluff (despite what the eventual cover art might say - see below). I really wanted more of the older generation and could have read an entire account of their club history and complex relationships. This may be simply because I'm old, but there was also much more substance to mine there. I fear this book may be categorized as "chick lit," and while I don't have anything against "chick lit" per se (other than that moniker, which kind of drives me nuts), it usually isn't in my wheelhouse. I personally wouldn't necessarily label this book that way and, even if so, still highly recommend it to those of you who, like me, think that genre isn't their bag.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  I should quote something deep here, because Harrison's writing has plenty of layers along with wonderful character moments and growth, but I just about swallowed my tongue laughing at this one and couldn't pass up sharing the following gem from the ladies of the older generation. You'll see why I loved them so.

[A car honks outside]

"Hold on a minute," Jules said. "Are you really dating a horn honker?"

Confused, Addie nodded.

"Oh, shugah, you can't. That man needs to go to cotillion and learn some manners."

"As long as he hits clit-illion first, I don't care where he goes," Addie said, fluffing her cleavage and then turning to leave.

COVER NERD SAYS: The Advanced Reading Copy I received displayed the cover on the left, which I adore. What better than a plain brown wrapper to enclose a book about women reading (and speaking) sexy literature? Plus that brown/blue combo is a knockout and they key sparks thoughts of a mystery. That cover is a winner. Then they had to go ruin it with the final cover on the right. Ugh. To me it reads as fluff and that is not what this book is. I was super disappointed. Perhaps even though I loved the book I'm not its target audience and the final cover is related to the publisher's thoughts on a specified market. However, I would stop for the first cover every day of the week and pass the one on the right without a second glance. Thoughts?

 

BREAKING BAD 101 :: Alan Sepinwall

A version of this review previously ran in Shelf Awareness and is reprinted here with permission.

A television drama with a ludicrous premise (a dying chemistry teacher cooks and sells methamphetamine to build a nest egg for his family), Breaking Bad was rejected by major networks and shuffled off to cable. From humble beginnings, it became not only a critical darling but a top-rated, multi-Emmy-winning water cooler sensation. In Breaking Bad 101, longtime television critic Alan Sepinwall (The Revolution Was Televised) dissects a show so successful at captivating an audience that Sepinwall watched "the greatest hour of dramatic television ever made" (Ozymandias, S5, E14) from a hospital bed after nearly dying from a burst appendix:

By that point in the series, though, the only thing that would have prevented me from covering 'Ozymandias' (and the two concluding episodes that followed) live would have been something worse than appendicitis. It wasn't just professional dedication making me do it, but a kind of fever equal to the one that, because the appendix burst before doctors removed it, kept me hospitalized for almost two weeks.

From its focus on the "in-between moments" to its use of cinematography to show rather than tell, Breaking Bad is a model of successful storytelling. Many plots would crumble from the fragile framework upon which creator Vince Gilligan and his crew built their masterpiece, but this one grew to epic proportions on the strength of its foundation--the writing (and some admittedly happy accidents). Sepinwall reveals how the writing held millions of viewers in suspense while a year of real-time story was spread over several often glacially-paced seasons of television in a masterful display of craftsmanship. This is even more staggering when you learn how often the writers were "winging it." Says Gilligan:

We actively try to paint ourselves into corners at the end of episodes--at the end of seasons, at the end of scenes, sometimes--and then we try to extricate ourselves from those corners.

The book includes updated show recaps supplemented with insightful details about all 62 episodes, interspersed with sidebars of insider facts and backstories, commentary from the actors and creators, and brilliant black-and-white comic-style artwork that exemplifies the show's dark humor. Breaking Bad 101 is incredibly fun, but truly shines when Sepinwall explores the elements that elevated an impractical story to awe-inspiring success.

STREET SENSE: An episode-by-episode companion to arguably the greatest television drama of all time, with content to satisfy artists, casual fans and series aficionados. If you haven't watched yet, doing so along with reading this book would be a great way to dive in. If you have watched, five'll get you ten this will make you want to start all over again.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE: This is a toughie, both because so much of the writing is spoilerish if you haven't watched the series and because great writing about great writing is so infinitely quotable. There's the bit about how Sepinwall's fixation and fever over Breaking Bad is all the more amazing because at first he wasn't even sure he would like the show, which is exactly how I felt on both ends. There's a great piece on growth, decay and transformation. I almost took from the fantastic Foreword by Damon Lindelof, who praises Sepinwall's craft and soul despite Sepinwall's oft-times less than positive reviews of Lindelof's own show, Lost. In the end, this heavily redacted bit won out, mostly because it perfectly describes the breath-holding experience of watching Breaking Bad, which feels both slower and faster than real time, turning the process into something otherworldly:

Nearly twenty minutes of screen time pass from the moment [redacted] to the closing credits.  More than fifteen minutes pass from the moment Walt arrives at [redacted] to the closing credits, and more than ten minutes pass from the moment we return from the final act break and Walt is prepared to [redacted]. I know this only because I went back, multiple viewings later, to clock it all. In the moment, the action seemed to be simultaneously taking place in an instant and over an eternity. A parade could have gone by my window and I wouldn't have noticed. I'm sure I inhaled and exhaled, if only because I'm alive right now writing these words that you're reading, but I'll be damned if I was aware of any contracting or expanding of my lungs as [redacted] all converged on the spot where [redacted]--the same spot where the arrival of [redacted] made it clear to both Walt and us that nothing on Breaking Bad would ever go as expected. 

LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE :: Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng is pretty good evidence in support of reincarnation. How else is it possible she writes so many varied characters with such remarkable insight without having lived their lives and walked in their shoes? Having grown up in the locale of which she writes provided Ng a base of realism, but the character profiles in Little Fires Everywhere are up there with the best I've read, and that's all hard work and talent.

The Richardson family of Shaker Heights, Ohio, is outwardly living a life that exemplifies the Utopian principles established by the town's founders. As part of that sought-after perception, Elena Richardson has historically rented the family's second home in a less perfect part of town to someone she feels is in need. It makes Elena feel good to think she's giving people a helping hand. Most recently, the Winslow Road residence is occupied by Mia Warren, an itinerant artist, and her fifteen-year-old daughter, Pearl.

Little Fires Everywhere grabbed me from the get-go with the Richardson home ablaze, thanks, according to Elena, to youngest daughter and Richardson black sheep, Izzy:

It struck her that she had not looked for Izzy, as if she'd known already that Izzy was to blame. Every bedroom was empty except for the smell of gasoline and a small crackling fire set directly in the middle of each bed, as if a demented Girl Scout had been camping there.

Book titles vary in their actual relation to the text and I appreciated how Ng made hers absolutely relevant on two levels. Following the immediate literal interpretation, Ng goes back in time to explore the many metaphorical fires that burned the Richardson and Warren families and singed those around them. As the characters' lives became increasingly intertwined, new and old secrets mixed with judgment and assumptions, straining their relationships. When prominent family friends of the Richardsons set out to adopt a Chinese-American baby, the ensuing custody battle breaks those already fragile bonds and has far-reaching consequences.

STREET SENSE: Little Fires Everywhere is a brilliant look at broadly important issues (race, culture, privilege) through the lens of two very different families in a small town founded on the premise of perfection. If you're a fan of deep character profiles, this is your jam. All of the characters were well-drawn, but Elena Richardson really grabbed me as one of the most fascinating. That may be because I've known people like her, but the psychology of the self-proclaimed do-gooder is one I find particularly intriguing.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE: Mornings, Mrs. Richardson sailed into the kitchen in high-heeled pumps, car keys and stainless-steel travel mug in hand, saying, "Pearl, so nice to see you again." Then she click-clacked down the back hall, and in a moment the garage door rumbled open and her Lexus glided down the driveway, a golden pocket of coolness in the hot summer air. Mr. Richardson, in his jacket and tie, had left long before, but he loomed in the background, solid and impressive and important, like a mountain range on the horizon. When Pearl asked what his parents did all day, Moody had shrugged. "You know, they go to work." Work! When her mother said it, it reeked of drudgery: waiting tables, washing dishes, cleaning floors. But for the Richardsons, it seemed noble: they did important things.

COVER NERD SAYS: This one was so good I already raved about it in the body of the review. A+.

THE SAVAGE :: Frank Bill

When Frank Bill writes something new I pay little attention to what it is, I just sign up and strap in. When I cracked open The Savage, I was immediately taken aback and gleefully entranced. Frank Bill, master of the nitty-gritty here and now of working class America is taking on the nitty-gritty of a future gone horribly awry. It's a very timely look at an America that might have seemed untenable a mere year ago, but now feels like an all-too-near fork in the road.

A follow-up to the bare-knuckled badassery of Donnybrook (currently being made into a motion picture, praise 9 pound, 8 ounce sweet baby Jesus), The Savage is set only several years on but light years away. The U.S. dollar is worthless, the power grid useless and power-and-land-hungry hordes are savaging what and who remains.

Against a kill-or-be-killed backdrop, Bill explores the competing interests of (mostly) men living in the madness and how they survive in light of their histories and what type of men their respective fathers taught them to be. One of the things I love about Frank Bill is the reverence he pays to those who work with their hands and ply a trade. The theme of how sad and dangerous it is to continue to destroy and leave that part of us behind runs deep in his writing.

The Savage is soaked in vengeance and unapologetic violence, and Bill easily holds the World Record for the number of different ways to describe a bullet separating mind from matter. His form and cadence vary like jabs and hooks and stray gloriously from the "norm," always with a sure foot beneath them. As cliche as it is to say Bill has a unique voice, I have a hard time describing his style. The best I can do is to liken it to watching Ali fight or listening to him speak. It is a savage ballet that twists your brain with its creativity and leaves you in wonderment. 

STREET SENSE: If you're a fan of the grit lit, do not hesitate, Frank Bill is a master.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  I really want to list a few of my favorite bullet-meets-bone descriptions, but those should not be spoiled. I used almost a full tin of book darts marking passages in this book, and to avoid having to make a difficult choice I'm going to quote from the opening, which provides a look at what goes down for the next (almost) 400 glorious pages.

They wanted change, so they'd taken out the grids, the world's power switch, eliminating lights, sounds, and anything that warranted electricity and what followed was the images of men being kneeled in front of women and children, homes besieged by flame, a pistol or rifle indenting a face enraged by fear, hurt, and anger. Trigger pulled. Brain, skull, and hair fertilizing the soil with departure. One man's life taken by another without mercy.

COVER NERD SAYS:  I was pulled to this cover at first sight. It's simple yet piques the curiosity. I'm always a fan of clean, stark imagery, and this cover does that superbly while also pairing well with the paperback cover of Donnybrook. I might have been able to nail this as a Frank Bill book just by looking, and that's a good thing.

  

I CAN'T BREATHE :: To Review or Not Review?

I Can't Breathe is an expose that details the before and after of Eric Garner's murder at the hands of the NYPD. The author delves into myriad issues impacting police culture in New York in general and Staten Island in particular. Politics, culture, race and money all worked together to create a perfect storm of injustice that cost Eric Garner his life.

It's an even-handed account--Garner is not portrayed as a saint. He was as flawed as any man, but one who was almost universally liked and non-violent. Garner worked hard to provide for his family (often to his own detriment) and was a neighborhood fixture on Bay Street where he sold smuggled cigarettes. It's an important story, impressively researched and very well written considering the scope it undertakes.

So what's the problem? The problem is that as I sat down to write a review I saw this article about the author, who worked as a journalist in Russia many years ago. He was apparently also a ginormous asshole, misogynist and perpetrator of sexual assault (and maybe more) against women and perhaps underage girls. His antics are all proudly documented in a memoir he wrote with another journalist about their time in Russia.

He may now claim the memoir was satire, but I'm not sure I care and I'm not buying it regardless. Even as satire it was a supposedly non-fiction work that glorified the assault and denigration of women and children. A quick look-see on Twitter evidences a history of harassment and misogynistic behavior on the author's part since the memoir's publication, which pretty much brings the lie to the satire claim, methinks. So. Here I sat, stuck between the rock of promoting the work of an asshole and the hard place of not promoting an important piece of non-fiction.

I had decided to do nothing, but as I sat with that decision, the inaction bothered me. If this was a work of fiction, the answer would be easy. But it's not. It's an in-depth investigative report on a state of affairs in this country that is costing lives. What I decided to do is this: I am strongly encouraging you to read the book. I'm also encouraging you, even more strongly, not to buy it. Support your local library and borrow a copy instead.

It's no mistake I don't mention the author's name in this "review." That was intentional. Probably silly, particularly since it's right there on the cover image, but it's my own minor protest. In the end, we're all adults and you can make your own determination as to whether you want to put your money into the furtherance of this author's work. On my scorecard, he is a special kind of heinous that shouldn't be rewarded. Once again Eric Garner deserved better.

NOMADLAND :: Jessica Bruder

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is reprinted here with permission.

In preparation for writing Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, journalist Jessica Bruder immersed herself in a new American subculture: the houseless. These "vandwellers" are individuals and families who for myriad reasons have ended up on wheels. Far from carefree RVers, these are folks for whom the American dream has been proven a con, and they make ends meet by doing itinerant work across the country.

The practice of giving up real estate for "wheel estate" has increased exponentially in recent years, following stock market crashes, the housing crisis and increasing economic risks faced by American families. Having to choose between food or electricity, health care or warm clothes, these nomads live in converted vans, campers, even Priuses. Many thrive while surviving day-to-day, but being a "workamper" is no easy ride.

Skewing older (many are in their 60s or 70s and have lost their retirement funds) and subject to "harsh migrant labor treatment," they are nevertheless sought-after workers due to their experience and reliability. Amazon has unsurprisingly taken advantage of this shadow economy, setting up company towns and recruiting its own "Camperforce," for whom long, difficult hours and low pay are the reward.

Joining them in Halen--a converted van (the subculture is strong with vehicle puns)--Bruder became intimately knowledgeable about this often heartwarming mobile community that blurs class lines. She writes with a steady and thoughtful hand about the frightening consequences when long-held social contracts are breached and upheaval becomes the new American normal, and exposes their underbelly with grace and heart.

STREET SENSE:  A well-written and researched look at a microcosm of Americans who have taken up a life on wheels in order to survive national economic crises. High recommended.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  [F]or them--as for anyone--survival isn't enough. So what began as a last-ditch effort has become a battle cry for something greater. Being human means yearning for more than subsistence. As much as food or shelter, we require hope. And there is hope on the road. It's a by-product of forward momentum. A sense of opportunity, as wide as the country itself. A bone-deep conviction that something better will come. It's just ahead, in the next town, the next gig, the next chance encounter with a stranger.

COVER NERD SAYS: This cover is perfection in my book. The art work, the color palette, type face and spacing are all pleasing to the eye and give the viewer an at-at-glance idea of what they might get inside. Although the whole does not address the community many nomads experience on the road, the constant shift and upheaval does provide an overwhelming sense of solitariness that is exemplified in this image. This is one of my favorite covers of the year.

BAD KANSAS :: Becky Mandelbaum

A version of this review previously ran in Shelf Awareness and is reprinted here with permission. Bad Kansas published on September 15, 2017 and is available in paperback now.

The first stories in Becky Mandelbaum's Flannery O'Connor Award-winning collection Bad Kansas ingeniously lay the foundation for the yearning and disconnect that weave through the compilation. In the openers, California is seen as nirvana, superior to Kansas in every way. Being in Kansas is akin to missing a better life; better food, politics, weather and people.

In her insightful and sometimes darkly comic pieces on loving and being loved, trying desperately to attain love or deal with its elusiveness, Mandelbaum uses disparate geography as a metaphor for the interpersonal divides love can't always conquer. A Kansas couple's incompatibility is only highlighted by a move to the supposed Golden State; a teen new to Wichita learns cliques are universal and flyover states not immune to class structure; and a man who relocates to be with a woman discovers his Kansas self isn't who either of them wants.

With an assured style, mixing in lyricism, wit and black humor, Mandelbaum dissects the mindset that "nicer" places bring nicer things and unhappiness is tied to where rather than who you are. The author also slyly works in moments that turn the initial premise on its head: a Kansas woman disenchanted with California's "perfect" weather likens mountain snow to a museum relic: "I want it to actually snow…I want the sky to do something." Another Kansan, familiar with a multitude of insects, is undone by a "Kafkaesque" California cockroach.  Engaging from start to finish, Bad Kansas is a smart, insightful debut.

STREET SENSE: A smart and pointed debut story collection about love and happiness viewed through the geographic lens of Kansas, its inhabitants and transplants.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  Take it from a born and bred California girl who had to spend a few years in Kansas. I had no choice but to share this oh-so-true gem:

The old man laughed. "You can't take a girl from California and stick her in Kansas. It'd be like putting a fish in a tree."

COVER NERD SAYS:  I asked to review this book based on the title and cover alone and it turned another of those occasions where my gut paid off. Then this weird thing happened. I was sitting outside reading it and, having not seen a grasshopper in over a year (at least), this guy kept following me around. You'll have to take my word for the fact that there's a grasshopper in that little circle there. Creepy.

INHERIT THE BONES :: Emily Littlejohn

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is reprinted here with permission. The paperback edition comes out on October 24, 2017.

"This town loses more good boys than it keeps."

Fair warning: this book includes a clown. The clown is good and dead, if that helps, and it's Deputy Gemma Monroe's job to figure out who killed him in Emily Littlejohn's fantastic debut mystery, Inherit the Bones. When the identity of the traveling circus performer is discovered, the small town of Cedar Valley, Colorado is rocked by secrets that have been buried for decades.

In the summer of 1985, young cousins Tommy and Andrew McKenzie disappeared. That same summer, a woman's body was found dumped on a riverbank. Neither mystery was ever solved. More recently, the mayor's son slipped off a cliff and vanished into the raging water below, there one minute and gone the next. The dead clown is simply the newest addition to Cedar Valley's tragic history:

When tragedy strikes a small town, it leaves a scar that never heals. Months and years may pass and the scar may fade, but it never goes away. It becomes part of the town, marking it as different, a permanent reminder of what may have been, what could have been.

Along with a partner she doesn't fully trust and a freshly minted recruit, a very pregnant Gemma must mine the town's past crimes in order to solve its most recent. There's always danger to be had when digging up old secrets in a small town, and the investigation will heap more misfortune on everyone attached to them before it's over.

Inherit the Bones is a super debut that will leave readers wanting more from Littlejohn's impressively diverse cast of characters (including a Native American deputy, a female medical examiner of Iranian descent and a Latino Chief), each presented with intriguing depth without distracting from the action. Littlejohn's prose deftly moves the investigation forward, yet is often laced with moments of insightful beauty:

Most of what remained of the posters were small corners and narrow strips of paper, the glue and tape pressed so hard to the telephone poles and storefront windows you could feel the panic and urgency with which they had been plastered up.

The story arcs grow perilously in number, and I was a bit concerned the whole was going to lose its boundaries and get muddled. Although a few plot lines still felt a bit extraneous, as if setting the stage for further installments in the series, Littlejohn did pull the mysteries together in fine fashion. This a group of characters I am anxious to revisit.

STREET SENSE: Debut mysteries are like mysteries inside mysteries. Is the author's writing style going to speak to me? Will the plot hold up substantively while keeping me interested? Will I want to invest in the characters? The answer to all of these questions in this instance are a resounding "Yes." Emily Littlejohn is an author that stays on my list.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  The poster quote above is actually my favorite, but this one is also a good'un (maybe simply because I hope it's true):

"The world is full of monsters. It always has been. For every monster, there are a hundred heroes. Mankind simply could not survive if the bad guys outnumbered the good guys; you know that, you live that truth every day in your chosen field."

COVER NERD SAYS: This was a rare instance where I didn't pick the book by its cover. I hadn't seen the cover when I received it, but I think it's one that would have caught my eye. There's not much unique about a person/woman standing in the woods (the woman running from behind is actually getting a little tiresome in cover land), but I like the lack of focus in the image that evokes movement--not just movement, but urgent or frantic movement. It's the kind of touch that can turn a simple picture of a person in the woods into something interesting, making me want to crack the cover and see what's inside.

TWO-CENT TUESDAY

Below are a few (somewhat) brief, $.02 opinions about several books I've read or listened to recently but won't have time to review in full. Their appearance here has nothing to do with merit, I often enjoyed them as much or even more than those that got the full court press. I hope you'll consider one or two for your own TBR stack.

The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo :: Ian Stansel

Powerless to resist this gorgeous cover and intriguing title, I was not disappointed in the writing - I loved this book and all its moody darkness. Silas and Frank Van Loy are raised at their parents Western stables in the horse country of Marin County, California. When they take over the business they decide to switch to English style lessons and boarding to tap into the moneyed locals.

Both horsemen, one with a better head for business and the other with cowboy and horses in his bones, the brothers have always been at odds. Their fractures become wider and greater across the years and death is the ultimate result of their decades of warring. The story begins with one brother on the run on horseback, pursued by the police and a widowed sister-in-law set on revenge.

I listened to this book on audio and it was, interestingly enough, narrated by a woman, Jordan Killam, who did a wonderful job. I am not the best audio listener as I tend to lose the narration to my own thoughts, but here I was held rapt from start to gutting finish by Killam and Stansel. I'm a bit loathe to compare authors, but fans of Larry Watson and Kent Haruf in particular might enjoy this gem. I liked it enough I'm going to buy a copy for my shelf.

We Are Okay :: Nina LaCour

We Are Okay is simply lovely. Sad and heart-rending, yes, but it also includes countless beautiful moments of people being good to each other (lord knows we could all use a bit more of that right now). There are so many warm moments and grand gestures, and yet each is so well done that it didn't surprise me when the smallest of the bunch (a college roommate-to-roommate kindness) was the one that moved me most.

I believe this is technically billed as YA, but it's one of many that can and should be enjoyed by readers of all ages. The focus is on Marin, who ran off to her first year of college early and abruptly following a family tragedy. She then arranges to stay in the dorms over winter break rather than returning to home to San Francisco. Even on the other coast her grief is overwhelming and she doesn't think she can face the reality of her former life. Her best friend Mabel, however, is a true blue, through-thick-and-thin friend who isn't going to let her get away with hiding from those who love her.

LaCour is a terrific writer and this book is full of grief and grace. It takes place over the weekend of Mabel's visit to Marin in the dorms and slowly doles out Marin's story, including what made her run, stay gone and cut off all ties to home. On top of the fabulous innards and beautiful cover, I fell a bit in love with the chapter title pages. We Are Okay is a win from all angles.

Deer Life :: Ron Sexsmith

I wanted to like this book so very much. I really enjoy Ron Sexsmith's music and was intrigued that he had written a book. The cover is a work of art. Unfortunately that's where the good ends, and ends hard. Deer Life is billed as a fairy tale, but it was difficult to get a sense of what it wanted to be. The writing feels as if it's written for children, with a maddening overuse of exclamation points. I suppose this was an effort to show or elicit excitement, but the exclamations were used where the matching emotion didn't exist. It's one thing to overuse punctuation, but to use it nonsensically is even more irksome.

I started to think this was written for children, but the mentions of booze helped me conclude that wasn't the reason for the childish prose. There are moments of humor, but everything felt so frustratingly inconsistent they didn't save the story. Small example: After Deer 1 introduces itself to Deer 2, Deer 2 argues that names are silly. But then Deer 2 proceeds to talk about other forest denizens by the names Deer 2 has assigned to them. What the hell, then? Are names silly or necessary? This example is rather trivial, but in the grand scheme of things those examples added up. Sadly, I recommend you enjoy the cover and move on.

TWO-CENT TUESDAY

Below are a couple of (somewhat) brief, $.02 opinions about books I've read (or listened to) recently but don't and won't have time to review in full. Their appearance here has nothing to do with merit, I enjoyed them as much or even more than those that got the full court press and I hope you'll consider them for your own TBR stack.

Girl in Snow :: Danya Kukafka

The credit for putting this gem on my reading list all goes to the pitch. I had never heard of Danya Kukafka when I received an email about her debut, so her name didn't swing me one way or the other. I admit to being a cover nerd and am highly persuaded by them (in both directions). This one is half creepy (eyeball), half awesome (font and non-eyeball design). What easily won me over was this phrase in the description: "misfit characters are richly drawn." Thankfully, that turned out to be absolutely true.

The murder of 15-year-old Colorado high-schooler Lucinda Hayes is at the core of Kukafka's story, but it's not the center of attention. Rather, it's the jumping off point for three varied and exceptionally well-drawn perspectives. Fellow student Cameron is the prime suspect, as it's well known he had a "thing" for Lucinda, some even going so far as to call him a stalker. I won't give much about Cameron away here, but Kukafka's portrayal of a young outcast who spends most of his time in his head, with his sketchbook, or watching Lucinda through her window is one of the best "misfit" character studies I've read in some time.

Cameron has a historical connection to the police department and one of the officers investigating Lucinda's death. Russ, whose perspective is also highlighted, is wrangling with a faltering marriage, his dedication to his former partner, and the potential implication of his brother-in-law in the murder. Rounding out the trifecta of POVs is Jade, another student who knew Lucinda and had a history with her boyfriend. Jade's voice is strong, jaded (no pun intended), and sprinkled with excerpts from her play, "WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY BUT CAN'T WITHOUT BEING A DICK, A Screenplay by Jade Dixon-Burns."

Girl in Snow is a murder mystery wrapped in three splendid character studies that combine to create a compelling and well-paced plot. Although we don't learn much about Lucinda, this really isn't her story, but that of a few of her small town neighbors and how her death impacts their lives. I liked Kukafka's take and was impressed with how she carried it out.

The Perfect Stranger :: Megan Miranda

After becoming too personally involved in a story and making a decision that costs her a job, journalist Leah Stevens feels the need to get out of Boston. One night she runs into old friend Emmy Grey at a bar and they decide to set out together for rural Pennsylvania for dual fresh starts.

Leah gets a job as a teacher and the two settle into an old house outside town. Leah isn't always sure what Emmy is up to as their paths don't cross too often at home. Emmy appears busy with several odd jobs and a new man. One morning a woman is attacked near the house and a co-worker of Leah's, with whom she has a less-than-friendly history, is investigated as the potential attacker. Leah also becomes worried about Emmy, who she realizes she hasn't seen in several days. As Leah gets drawn into (and involves herself in) both resulting investigations, it becomes clear her assessment of those closest to her has missed the mark.

There is a lot to like here. Miranda does a super job with character, no small feat when the reader has to spend most of a book inside one character's head. Leah doesn't become over-wrought and secondary characters are given multiple layers through her POV. Leah's past is used as the perfect tool to give her insertion into the multi-fronted investigation more credibility. Despite a multitude of plot arcs and visits to past timelines for history and relationship details, the story keeps its keel and doesn't get confusing or bogged down. I'm rarely a fan of law enforcement/witness relationships and that held true here, but I do give Miranda credit for the way she carried the arc out. Overall, a solid and engaging read, and I'll definitely go back and read Miranda's debut, All The Missing Girls, about which I've heard great things.

HUNGER :: Roxane Gay

If Roxane Gay's Hunger doesn't sear empathy into the core of your being, you likely didn't have the capacity for it to begin with. Gay boldly and baldly describes "the before" and "the after" of her relationship with her body following the horrific trauma that bridged the two and created "the girl in the woods." 

Don't let the title (or gorgeous cover) mislead you. The secret here is in the subtitle, "A Memoir of (My) Body." Although Gay's size evidences her difficult relationship with food, a literal appetite for fuel is not the focus of this work. 

Hunger is about longings that stem from Gay's very soul; those that, to a degree, are a cause of the symptom of "hunger" for fuel. It is about the very human hunger to be seen, to be able to show our true selves to the world, to somehow conquer the defensive use of our bodies as tools to keep the world at bay. Because let's be real, the easiest way to keep the world away is to be fat. Invisible, yet too visible at the same time. Unseen unless simply by existing someone else feels inconvenienced.

Reading the words of someone in pain is, as it should be, difficult. To call this work heartbreaking is a vast understatement. To shout about its courage and importance is only the beginning. There is (appropriately) no yardstick to measure the atrocities suffered by women or where any one woman falls on the trauma spectrum. Gay turned her unspeakable trauma inward and spent the decades that followed mastering the never-ending construction of a suit of armor using her own body as material. 

I would venture that the vast majority of women, wherever they may fall on the trauma or body-type spectra, will find themselves somewhere in Hunger. I did. The event that flipped my switch wasn't even in the same galaxy as Gay's, yet the ideas and emotions she expresses so eloquently hit like the knowing gut punch too many women give themselves every day. Gay knows she's not alone and yet there is an obvious solitary nature to the struggle, a self-imposed exile fed by feelings of shame, inadequacy, disappointment, and society's judgment.

It is that societal judgment that needs to change, not Gay's (or anyone's) body. If I disagree with anything in Hunger it is Gay's assessment that she is neither brave nor heroic. Fuck those notions. Hunger discusses issues usually suffered in silence, issues that deserve to be heard and seen. Let's face it, the world at large can always stand to be schooled on issues of empathy and whether or not you find a kindred wounded spirit in Hunger, you should be knocked to your knees by the lack of basic human dignity often heaped upon the overweight and perhaps make a change in your own perceptions or judgments.

STREET SENSE: A must-read. A book of mostly short, interrelated essays, Hunger can be read in small snippets quite easily, but I would bet a pretty big sum you will have a hard time putting it down.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  So many; settled on this one:

I am hyperconscious of how I take up space. As a woman, as a fat woman, I am not supposed to take up space. And yet, as a feminist, I am encouraged to believe I can take up space. I live in a contradictory space where I should try to take up space but not too much of it, and not in the wrong way, where the wrong way is any way where my body is concerned. Whenever I am near other people, I try to fold into myself so that my body doesn't disrupt the space of others. I take this to extremes. I will spend five-hour flights tucked against the window, my arm tucked into the seat belt, as if trying to create absence where there is excessive presence. I walk at the edge of sidewalks. In buildings I hug the walls. I try to walk as quickly as I can when I feel someone behind me so I don't get in their way, as if I have less of a right to be in the world than anyone else.

COVER NERD SAYS: Absolute gorgeous perfection. I would have bought this book for the cover alone. In fact, before I bought it, I didn't have any idea about the emotional depths Gay would traverse inside. I'm grateful that the perfect cover led me to the even better prose and person inside.

GRACE :: Paul Lynch

If the purpose of reading is to get from the first page of a book to the last in something of a steady fashion (let's say for the sake of this post "steady" means "in excess of the rate of continental drift"), then reading Paul Lynch is a god damn exercise in futility. Every sentence begs to be read again. Y'all know I'm sweary, but I literally sit and swear to myself at the impossibility of his writing. It's as if he has his very own language the rest of us can enjoy but are not conversant enough to use. I had five book darts on the first two pages, and that was an attempt to show restraint.

Me reading Paul Lynch:

Read a line.
Sit in disbelief at the turn of phrase.
Reread the line.
Read the line again.
"Oh, hell no."
Book dart the line.
Look around for people to read the line to.
Swear again because I don't have my phone to share the line on social media.
Lather.
Rinse.
Repeat.
Grow a really long beard.
Get sunburned.
Start to become malnourished.
Die (but happy, with a great book in my hand).


Grace is both the name of Lynch's fourteen-year-old protagonist and what she struggles to find on a treacherous journey across Ireland at the start of the Great Famine. The opening is vintage Lynch, dark and shocking, yet so wonderfully phrased it softens the blows to velvet hammers. At early morning's light, Grace's mother rips her from sleep, "arm-hauls" her outside, "force-sits" her on the killing stump and draws a blunt knife.

With too many young mouths to feed in a time of dire straits, Sarah feels no choice but to send her young daughter on the road, both to earn money and to keep her from the roaming eye of a violent gentleman caller. Disguised as a boy and followed by younger brother Colly, Grace sets out across the ravaged land to find a job. Grace is the story of the characters, circumstances and challenges Grace meets on the road and what becomes of her as she blossoms from a girl into a young woman who can no longer hide behind her clothes.

Grace's story is compelling, though often as dreary and haunted as the ruined land, but Lynch's writing is the star:

Not yet the true cold of winter though the trees huddle like old men stripped for punishment and the land is haggard just waiting.

The rocks set into the mountain are great teeth clamped shut to listen.

Into the first leg she steps and then the other and she looks down at herself--such a sight, wishbone legs snapped loose into two gunnysacks.

In the lowlands the pass lazy beds that lie in ridges along the pale hillsides, like the rotting ribs of some dropped-dead beast, she thinks.

An old hawthorn like twisted rope leans out over the river in a statement of bitterness.

They are returning to an ancient wilderness, she thinks, as if nature were weeding the workingmen from her fields. 

Because Lynch writes about the dark and broken places, it's all the more stark, and welcome, when he injects humor into the mix. He does so sparingly, but with great effect. In Grace, he has given multiple characters persistent verbal tics, which I found distracted somewhat from his normal fluidity. This is a minor nit to pick, and overall the work is a master class in wielding words in a way that feels different than any other writer. When you are reading Paul Lynch, you know things will at least feel more beautiful.

STREET SENSE: Another beautiful piece of work from a master wordsmith. Grace is haunting and epic, full of characters, including spirits and the landscape, that set the stage for a daunting coming-of-age story.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  Walking the however-long of another morning. The trees that drape their icy beggar-hands. A screaming oak on the slump of a hill and beneath it in a field she sees five digging men. They have turned a mound of snow and earth. The slow and heavy sway of a dead-cart moving towards them. The men spade at the ground and they gale their breaths into the frozen air, the ground like pitted teeth to their effort. And no wonder, she thinks. For why would the earth want to become a dead-house? You'd be stuck having to listen to the chatter of the dead complaining all the time about being lumped in together.

COVER NERD SAYS: This cover struck me as odd, since Lynch's prior covers have felt similar and appeared to set the stage for future imagery recognizable as his. Grace's cover is different from the others, but the story also feels a bit different. Taken on its own, the image is a beautiful watercolor of the Irish landscape, and there's nothing bad about that. I would grade it well as a standalone cover, but found it a bit disappointing since I loved his prior covers so much.

ONCE, IN LOURDES :: Sharon Solwitz

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is reprinted here with permission.

In 1968, Lourdes, Michigan is home to high school seniors Kay, Saint, CJ and Vera. The insular foursome hangs out in a park where they play bridge, listen to music and rail against issues both timeless and of the Sixties: Vietnam, God, sexuality, drugs, race relations and the eternal black hole of teenage angst. One day magnetic Vera, who wields a physical deformity like a weapon, challenges the friends to reveal their ugliest secrets. The dare leads to a pact so defining the group agrees to wait fourteen days to carry it out in order to ensure each member's dedication to the others.

Once, in Lourdes is Sharon Solwitz's deeply disconcerting portrait of four bonded, troubled teens on the verge of adulthood, struggling to keep afloat amidst the stressors that threaten to consume them. Through the perspective of overweight, sensitive Kay, Solwitz explores the pressures endured, risks taken and prices paid by each teen over the two week period of their pact, culminating in the night of its deadline.

Solwitz (Blood and Milk), English professor at Purdue University and National Jewish Book Award finalist, flays each character wide and exposes every soft corner of their cores. The story never loses its power or focus under her steady hand, despite the wide swath of emotions and multitude of dysfunctions working on her characters. A powerful tale of friendship, pain, anger, self-control and identity, Once, in Lourdes is every coming of age story ever told, yet one unlike any other.

STREET SENSE:  Fans of intense friendship and dysfunction stories will love to dig into this one.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE: More than a singular passage, I enjoyed Solwitz's ability to turn a nifty phrase. A few that stuck out:

His steady gaze, the bass notes of his warm voice, made you think of good kings, wise rulers of nations--of people with power they didn't abuse.

My stepmother's dagger voice pinned me to the cross on my dinner plate.

...a feeling so bad and good she wanted to have it always and at the same time wipe off the plate of her mind right into the garbage.

COVER NERD SAYS:  I was going to say I didn't pick this one for the cover, but it did pull me to read the synopsis, which then won me over. It's not one I would buy for the cover, but the cover did a fantastic job of making me immediately think of the Sixties. Something about the colors and that image just says "Peace, love and Bobby Sherman." It's not fancy, but still a job well done.

UNSUB :: Meg Gardiner

Today is publication day for one of the summer's most anticipated thrillers, Meg Gardiner's Unsub. Raves have been flying in from all fronts, most noticeably from other thrill masters such as Don Winslow and Stephen King. If you love serial killer stories (which sounds horrible, but y'all know what I mean) or are an aficionado of the Zodiac killer case, this one's for you.

Detective Mack Hendrix hunted prolific serial killer The Prophet for five years. The Prophet didn't literally take Mack's life, but did cost him his job, his marriage, his sense of self and the childhood of his daughter, Caitlin. Then The Prophet disappeared.

Twenty years later, Caitlin Hendrix has followed in her father's footsteps, working narcotics with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department. Following an intense raid, Caitlin is called back out to a murder scene. Why? Because it appears either The Prophet is back or a copy cat is taking over where he left off. 

Despite Caitlin's lack of time on the job, her experience with The Prophet is only topped by that of her father, and it will take both of them to get to the bottom of the new spate of horrific crimes.

Full of intense action sequences and a motivational puzzle that has eluded authorities for decades, Unsub is an intense ride down a twisted road full of pathology. Not for the faint of heart, but at least you've still got a heart. Plus, kickass cover: 

A NEGRO AND AN OFAY :: Danny Gardner

This review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

Screenwriter Danny Gardner is a professional comedian, but his debut novel, A Negro and an Ofay: The Tales of Elliot Caprice, is no joke. Gardner's powerful themes are infused with just the right humorous undertones, rendering A Negro and an Ofay historical crime fiction at its hardboiled best. 

The tale of Elliot Caprice has been a mixed-bag from the jump. Son of an interracial couple who can pass for white, Elliot was abandoned to his black uncle and taken under the wing of a Jewish loan shark in his hometown of Southville, Illinois. Elliot's shady background and self-doubt combine with his military and Chicago PD service to leave him with a foot on both sides of the line and no safe space to reside.

Returning home in semi-disgrace in 1952, Elliot finds his uncle lying ill in a flophouse and the family farm in foreclosure. Determined to keep the property, Elliot takes a job as a process-server. Given the opportunity for a large payday on the side, Elliot ends up embroiled in the multi-faceted fight over a powerful businessman's estate.

Elliot's story is told from his perspective and is mostly about men--blends of friend, foe, hero and villain--yet women are really at the heart of the matter, beginning with Elliot's mother and what her departure meant for her son. Raw and intimate, violent and intense, Gardner's dialogue buzzes with authenticity, highlighted by Elliot's chameleon-like code-switching. A fast-moving crime novel with a soul, Gardner's coming out party is a dead-bang winner.

STREET SENSE:  A great new addition to the crime fiction family. I'm looking forward to more of Elliot's tales, but especially more of Gardner's kickass women characters.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  Frank had performed the heavy lifting all by himself, moving all the furniture back to its proper place. The last thing he moved was the sofa, which he collapsed upon from exhaustion. His long legs hung off the edges. He wanted to continue working out of gratitude, figured he would only catch a breather, but in seconds, he snored softly. It was a quiet murmur of comfort, his dangling feet not cousin to hands draped across prison bars, but brother to young legs swaying off a porch swing. 

COVER NERD SAYS: The first reason I wanted to read this book was Danny. I wanted to find out what that mind would put on paper. The second reason was the cover of the book. What a beauty. Maybe I'm a sucker for things that look aged and/or from a simpler time (and yet, things are never really simpler and buying used things creeps me out--go figure), but I would have been drawn to this cover in any bookstore in any universe. This is a piece of art I would hang on my wall. A-plus. 

CELINE :: Peter Heller

Rarely do I finish a book and grieve it. As much as I may love a book, I'm ready and able to move on to the next potentially wondrous reading experience. This time, it was different. When the number of pages in my right hand started to get smaller, I got bummed out. I did not want to leave this book. I wanted to crawl in it and hang out for...who knows, maybe not the remainder of my days, but an appreciable period of time. I don't keep Top Ten lists, but if I did, Celine would have to be on that list.

What follows is a version of my review of Celine that previously ran in Shelf Awareness. It is re-posted here with permission.

Flawless art is arguably unattainable and most certainly in the subjective eye of the beholder. Through that lens, Peter Heller's Celine is utter perfection. Debatable hyperbole aside, when a knockout mystery is the least fabulous element of a novel, something exceptional is afoot.

Celine Watkins is simply sublime. Born into American aristocracy, she's lived life outside that box. As comfortable in Jackie O sunglasses as a Glock shoulder holster, Celine is a 69-year-old recovering alcoholic with emphysema and a mysterious history in government work. The epitome of an old-school movie dame, she's wickedly sharp and does not suffer fools.

A private investigator with a soft spot for lost causes, Celine's specialty is reuniting families. One day a stranger named Gabriela shares the story of her beloved father, long believed dead. Celine and Pete, her perfect counterweight of a husband, are sufficiently intrigued to set out in a borrowed camper to investigate.

The investigation is backdrop to larger themes about art, despair, loyalty, obligation and privilege, illuminating Celine's colorful history and deeper motivations along the way. Heller's writing is smart and clever, rich and intimate, the depth and vitality of his characters second to none.

No reader expects perfection, so when something like Heller's Celine unfurls page after page, when the characters are so rich one doesn't want to break the bond by turning the last one, it's a privilege to have inhabited their world. Pete summarizes it best: when one moves through the world with Celine, it's simply more fun.

STREET SENSE: Run, don't walk.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE: I admit it, I usually have little patience for landscape descriptions. But Peter Heller is one of those authors who does it in a way that makes me want to go back and re-read it (he and another Peter, Peter May, both have that gift). So this is one of those, It was to do with the ocean, which also endeared it to me, even if it was the scary side of the ocean:

It was the next wave and it was the second in a set and he watched it as if in slow motion: the wall lightening to green as it rose, rising impossibly tall, the guarding boulders out in the cove dwarfed beneath it, the quivering top frayed by wind and then a piece of it curled and collapsed and the wall fell: a surge of whitewater chest-high roared in over the black slack water of the inner cove and he was slugged and knocked over, his shoulder and neck hit rock, he came up lunging out of ice foam to see the tumult sucking back.

COVER NERD SAYS: The advanced reading copy I read has a very different cover. While I may have initially liked that one more, I think this one is a better representation of the book. Green isn't up there on my list of favorite colors, but being a fan of brevity (which I realize rarely shows in my writing--maybe that's why I'm a fan) I like this cover. It feels right, which is really what cover art is all about. The font variance also lends itself well to the many different faces of Celine. This book could have been written in a number of different fonts and I couldn't have complained. I'm not sure a cover could ever live up to the innards here, and while this one is not going to make my year's favorite cover list, it does its job well.

LOYAL :: Rebecca Ascher-Walsh

Those of us lucky enough to have a dog (or two, or more), particularly a therapy or service dog, are so used to being surrounded by the cocoon of support the relationship provides that we begin to become inured to just how special those bonds can be. It's not that we take them for granted, it's that we semi-forgot what it's like to be without them.

We can all stand to be reminded just how far and wide the bonds between canine and human can be stretched. Dogs are infinity, and in Loyal: 38 Inspiring Tales of Bravery, Heroism, and the Devotion of Dogs, Rebecca Ascher-Walsh provides 38 fabulous reminders of just how lucky we humans are to have such willing and capable companions.

Journalist Ascher-Walsh is also the founder of the Deja Foundation, an organization that works with rescue groups to assist with the adoption of dogs from high-kill shelters. In writing the prequel to Loyal, a book entitled Devoted: 38 Extraordinary Tales of Love, Loyalty, and Life With Dogs, Ascher-Walsh learned that dogs do more than provide comfort to individuals at the end of a long day. Dogs connect us and bring us together as a larger community. Loyal was borne of that ideation.

Using stories about more than fifteen different breeds (or mixes) of dogs scattered across 21 of the United States (with stops in Puerto Rico and Australia for good measure), Ascher-Walsh shows how dogs better our lives by helping us create better and more diverse communities in myriad ways. Dogs provide assistance that allows a wide variety of individuals to gain (or regain) ground previously unavailable, including kids and adults limited by medical conditions, emotional needs, or physical restrictions. And they guard penguins to boot.

Dogs also help prove we all have a place in the world. The dogs highlighted in Loyal are not all perfect breed standards or dogs raised and trained to provide service. They are also dogs thrown away and found in high-kill shelters, dogs with deformities and physical limitations of their own, dogs trained by prison inmates and dogs who simply proved a knack for a service that could not be denied (i.e., honing in on people who have cancer).

The most fervent dog fan will still learn something from Loyal. If you knew about Conservation Canines, raise your hand. This program at the University of Washington turns rescue dogs into detectives helping to locate endangered species for identification and study. If you knew that one, I know I'll stump you with PHARM Dog USA, a Missouri non-profit that trains dogs to work with disabled farmers. The boundaries of the dog/human connection seem boundless, but Loyal is a great cross-section of the realm of possibilities.

The book itself is really well done, what we have come to expect from a National Geographic publication. It's what I would consider a coffee table book despite it's somewhat diminutive size, perfect for a corner display where it can be flipped through at leisure. The glossy pages are full of color photographs and numerous side columns containing breed facts or general dog-related information. Loyal would be a perfect gift for a special dog person in your life, or anyone who is interested in the world of human-animal connections.

I was lucky enough to be asked to be part of a the blog tour for Loyal set up by Trish at TLC Book Tours. A list of all the bloggers who are chiming in on this lovely book can be found here.

STREET SENSE: A fun, feel-good, and informative look into the world of canine assistance and how dogs allow us to create better communities.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  I loved this passage about pit bull service dog Jericho, since it is a myth-buster when it comes to the way many people unfortunately view the breed:

When Smith's Maryland home was invaded in the middle of the night, Jericho alerted Smith to the fact that something was wrong. Since Jericho was naturally a quiet dog, Smith had had to train him to bark. So when Jericho barked that night, Smith knew something was wrong. Smith went to the door, and a man started pushing his way into the house. "We were fighting--I was beating him with my crutch, and it was getting louder," Smith describes. "Jericho ran behind my wife and peed on the floor."

COVER NERD SAYS:  Spare and to the point, the cover image of a gorgeous black lab is tough to fault. The theme does feel a bit patriotic to the United States (blue background; red, white and blue collar and red, white and blue ribbon with stars on it), which may provide a bit too much of a military feel to it, particularly since most of the stories don't deal with the military or law enforcement and some of the dogs highlighted are located outside the U.S. But I'm picking nits, the cover is of a beautiful dog and who can find fault in that?

SIBLINGS AND OTHER DISAPPOINTMENTS :: Kait Heacock

Disappointment, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Kait Heacock, publicist at Feminist Press, explores its vast chasm in her debut story collection, Siblings and Other Disappointments. Sad in myriad ways, these stories dissect disenchantment from a variety of viewpoints--between husbands and wives, parents and offspring, siblings, neighbors, crewmates and, often most excruciatingly, within oneself.

Heacock writes about difficult subjects with a smooth grace that acts like a salve, taking some of the sting out of recognizing and relating to them. Living, often simply existing, is painful:

"Peter was an agoraphobic. He couldn't explain what that was a year ago, but he could describe now what it was like to stand by the front door and feel the heat radiate off the knob, so sure it could burn you if you touched it.... He never would have guessed when he rented this one-bedroom basement apartment that it could become his waking coffin, that he would let her death bury him alive."

Heacock sometimes balances the hurt with slivers of salvation. Peter finds solace in the peregrinations of his insomniac upstairs neighbor. An artistic young man finds a small mercy on the fishing boat where he's sent to toughen up. As in life, however, not every story includes an emotional Band-Aid, and Heacock doesn't hesitate to wield her words like a knife. To be human is to wound and be wounded, and the 12 gritty stories in Siblings and Other Disappointments cut to the core.

This review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is reposted here with permission.

STREET SENSE:  A debut collection worthy of getting a little guts spilled on your rug.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  She didn't ask her dad how things were going at the store or what he had been up to lately. His absence was more active than her mother's, richer and more full of anger. It was hard to hate someone who's dead; the living took the blow.

COVER NERD SAYS:  This is a frustrating cover because I'm not sure I can even put into words why I like it as much as I do. But the color scheme, the font, the repetition, the art work, all of it fits squarely into my wheelhouse. Covers for short stories must be difficult, with so many different emotions and characters and slices of life requiring a piece of the pie. But really, what's more disappointing than a sink full of dirty dishes (or the messy life it symbolizes)? Great cover work, maybe even more so because I can't be more clear about why.

THE ANNIE YEAR :: Stephanie Wilbur Ash

The following review first appeared in Shelf Awareness and is posted here with permission. I had never heard of this title or the author when I spied the description on the Shelf list for the month. It sounded so bugnuts insane I knew I had to request it and am so thankful I had the opportunity to read and review it. A wonderful, fun read, this book also contains one of the best "jokes" I've read in some time (particularly since I have the mind of an 8-year-old). Full review below.

Stephanie Wilbur Ash is a hoot, and The Annie Year is the raucous debut novel from the former editor at Mpls.St.Paul magazine. Reading The Annie Year feels akin to pulling into a remote diner and having a lifelong local recount town history nonstop for hours, in intimate detail and regardless of subject matter sensitivity or personal embarrassment. The story is told so engagingly--caustic, awkwardly hilarious and full of the joy and anguish of everyday life--it's impossible to do anything but settle in, a willing hostage to the saga.

Tandy Caide is the CPA of a small Midwestern town. Married to a man she's rarely intimate with, charter member of the Order of the Pessimists and patron of the arts, Tandy feels stuck. Raised to take over her father's business, she never had an opportunity to spread her wings. After sharing a moment with the new vocational-agriculture  Are teacher at the high school production of Annie, Tandy's life takes a careening, two-wheels-off-the-pavement left turn.

With his ponytail, man-clogs, freshly-mown-ditch scent and multi-colored beaded belt, the Vo-Ag teacher lights a fire in Tandy that creates fallout across town. The havoc affects both a former lover and the daughter of her estranged best friend, forcing Tandy on a voyage to find her true self.

Through Tandy's first-person narrative, Ash has created a voice often cringe-worthy, full of introspection and admittedly fallible under the pressures of perfectionism. Readers will find Tandy's serpentine journey by turns familiar and foreign, but always entertaining.

STREET SENSE:  A smart novel with plenty of humor and life's insults, this is one to just pick up, hang on and enjoy the ride.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  [This quote comes from Tandy's first-person narrative while bowling with the Vo-Ag hunk. It's short, and really not one of the more meaningful passages, but I wanted to give you a flavor of Ash's sense of humor, which hit just the right smart/childish notes with me.]

I have never been more attracted to anyone in my entire life. It was like he bowled directly into my ovaries.

COVER NERD SAYS:  I didn't find this cover particularly engaging or symbolic of what is going on inside. I did find the font matched well, and it's not a font that would normally attract me. This isn't a bad cover, I'm just not sure it does justice to the insides, which are so alive that a cover more colorful and engaging (or outlandish) would have better served.