Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

 You know how sometimes you think about something you once really loved, but now you're just kind of embarrassed that you were into it?  Like that guy in college? 

(His name was Larry. I thought he was cool. It broke my heart when he starting dating one of my friends. They got married and he is chronically depressed, underemployed, and my former friend is sort of chronically unhappy.)

 Or the music you listened to in high school?

(I listened to Nelson's After the Rain album on repeat. I listened to it recently on Spotify and it 1) messed up my algorithm and 2) wasn't nearly as good as I remember it being.)

Or maybe it's the hobby you once did for hours and hours?

(Ever try to make one of those woven potholder things as an adult? It's not fun.  But we must have had a hundred of them when I was a child. My parents put up with a lot, didn't they?)

I feel like maybe that's where I'm at with YA literature. I just can't deal with these teenagers anymore and I think it's me, not them.

Twenty Boy Summer by Ockler tells the tale of Anna whose dear friend and very new boyfriend Matt recently died. Frankie is Anna's best friend and just so happened to be Matt's sister, but Matt and Anna hadn't yet told Frankie that they were dating before he died.  Anna misses Matt, feels like she's hiding things from Frankie, and Frankie is acting out because she's in mourning.  Meanwhile, Anna and Frankie go to California with Frankie's parents and decide it will be the Absolutely Best Summer Ever by flirting with twenty boys over the course of the vacation.

The Good:  Man, that cover is great. I love sea glass, I love the sea glass metaphor running through the book, I love the whole thing.  Maybe it's a bit literal with the story, but I don't even care.  

The Bad:  Look, I get that Frankie's parents are dealing with real trauma, but the parenting in this book is beyond irresponsible. You're sending teenage girls in your care out to who knows where all day long and not even watching over them at night when they also sneak out?  I know that my parents were helicopter parents before that was a thing, but my parents knew where I was every second of every day and the freedom these girls had was not a thing in the 90s and it's definitely not a thing in the 2000s.  Dumb.

The Meh: Basically everything else. I mean, the characters seems like hormonal, impulsive teenagers.  Getting over the death of a loved one is hard during those years and I'm absolutely positive that this book will resonate with teenagers going through something similar. But...I'm too old to sympathize with these girls. Put your fucking big girl pants on and deal with it.  Behave responsibly, communicate effectively, and try to live a life your friend would want you to live.  Sheesh.  I think I'm just over the age limit at which YA reaches me.  

I would maybe recommend this to a teenager girl going through a traumatic time, but that's about the extent of my recommendation.  

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

 The Kiss Quotient

The Bride Test is the much anticipated follow-up to The Kiss Quotient.  The hero of this story, Khai, is briefly mentioned in The Kiss Quotient, but The Bride Test could be read as a standalone.  

The good: The heroine of The Kiss Quotient has autism and so does Khai in this book. However, that's where the similarities end. They have different personalities and the accommodations required for them are different. It's actually great to see autism represented as the spectrum (pun intended) that it is.

Hoang's writing is easy to read. I read this in a few hours over a couple of days and it was quite a delight.  I enjoy how well she draws characters within just a few paragraphs and that characterization is always maintained and built upon.  Even the side characters feel real to me and not just like people thrown into the storyline so that a sequel can be written.

The bad:  The underlying story is that Khai's mom recruited Esme/My from Vietnam to marry Khai.  A green card/immigration storyline is already stressful enough, but Khai is keeping secrets from My (his autism and the amount of money he has) and My is keeping secrets from Khai (that she has a DAUGHTER in Vietnam).  Frankly, when these secrets are revealed, there's not even a real discussion about them and the ending is just *bam* (at page 282/296 the daughter still had not been revealed - I almost started biting my nails).  

I kind of wish Khai's mom had just met My in a grocery store or something in the United States and the whole immigration thing wasn't present because I feel like these green card stories just reinforce negative stereotypes of people getting married for citizenship.  I just...was so stressed out the whole time that ICE was about to break down doors.  Ugh.

Regardless, I think Hoang is an author to watch out for. She's not exactly writing for me as her main audience, but I think the racial and ethnic diversity of her characters, as well as the autism component, are a much needed addition to the world of romance novels.  I'll be keeping an eye out for whenever The Heart Principle, her next book, is available at my library in mid-2021. 

Indigo by Beverly Jenkins

 

Indigo by Beverly Jenkins is a breathtaking work of historical romance. I don't remember being this surprised and delighted by a novel since the early 2018 reads of The Pillars of the Earth and Lonesome Dove. Jenkins is my new hero and I can't help but start gushing about how wonderful this was an introduction to her novels for me.

Okay, so where do we start?  Hester is a former slave living in Michigan. She runs a station on the Underground Railroad when the infamous Conductor The Black Daniel stays in her home after he is injured helping people escape slavery.  They fall in love, of course, but there's so much more than just romance.  

Interesting characters:  Oh, yes. Hester is a spinster who really thinks that love leads to bad things because her father gave up his freedom to be with his mother as a slave and her reluctance to fall in love with Galen makes total sense in this context.  When they officially become a couple, her reservations are still there, but she's so strong and brave about expressing her feelings. Hester feels real.  

And Galen?  Wouldn't we all love a man who spoils us and thinks we're the most gorgeous thing in the world?  He's dreamy.

Believable conflict: So much yes. Jenkins wrote in an author's note at the end of the book that she didn't want to write about actual slaves, but that the abolitionist period fascinated her.  I've recently read An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole and one of my main critiques was that the main character was infiltrating as a slave and it just felt...voyeuristic in a way I was uncomfortable with. All of the conflict in Hester and Galen's relationship seemed completely legitimate, but I didn't feel terrible about reading it.  They had Hester's reluctance to admit to love, class differences, and, oh yeah, those dangerous jobs that they do for the Underground Railroad, not to mention slave catchers and Galen's shitty family.  I was riveted.

Emotional tension: It's so good. Everything about this book was so good. You really feel like that first sex scene was earned after Galen had been seducing Hester "Love Is Dangerous" for hundreds of pages. 

Happily ever after: It's not an unqualified HEA because, you know, slavery, but there are some exciting developments for our couple in the last chapter. I was kind of hoping that this was the start of a series because I'd definitely like to know what happens to them during and after the Civil War, but it looks like it's a standalone, so I guess I'll just have to use my imagination.

Other notes:  I'm from Michigan originally and I loved all the Michigan references. When they talk about Monroe, crossing from Detroit over to Windsor, or Niles, I KNOW THOSE PLACES. I was pumped. Your mileage may vary on this. 

Free Produce Movement: I loved this aspect of the book. This was a movement that boycotted trade produced by slave labor. In this novel, Hester was a follower of the free produce movement and it came up when she would use honey or maple syrup in her coffee as a sweetener instead of sugar harvested by American slaves. I'd never heard of it, but it was a way for people to take a political stance with their dollars. I kept thinking about this as I try so hard to avoid fast fashion items - in a capitalistic society, your dollars are just as powerful as your vote.

Sea Island Indigo Plantations: I had no idea that there were indigo plantations in South Carolina, although I guess I shouldn't be surprised that slave labor was the basis for it.  Interesting stuff.

An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

The Bridgertons Series

#1 The Duke and I

#2 The Viscount who Loved Me

An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn is the third book in The Bridgertons saga.  I like Quinn's writing a lot, but there's always just something that keeps her books from being amazing.  This novel is no different.  

I'm going to start reviewing romance novels based on elements of the romance genre, so I guess here's where I'll start.

Interesting characters:

Sophie Beckett is the illegitimate daughter of an Earl. When her father dies, she's left at the abusive hands of her stepmother.  She runs into the second oldest Bridgerton brother, Benedict, in the world's most adorable meet cute at a masquerade ball, but then they are separated for years. Sophie is absolutely wonderful; her story reminded me of Sara Crewe's in A Little Princess and just as I cried when Sara was cold, hungry, and alone, I cried when Sophie was cold, hungry, and nearly raped.  

But Benedict. He's just as boring as the rest of this family has made him out to be. I don't really care that he occasionally sketches since a hobby isn't really a personality. I just feel like Benedict was vanilla and sort of a snob.  So.  

Believable conflict: 

The characters come from different social classes and since we're talking about London in the 1810s, this is quite a big deal.  I guess the conflict is believable, but it's also the *thing* that kept this book from being a solid five-start book for me. Sophie is illegitimate - her father was nobility, but her mother was a maid who died after giving birth to Sophie. Sophie doesn't want to repeat the past, so even though she's very attracted to Benedict, she repeatedly turns him down.  And this "gentleman" repeatedly tries to coerce her (even blackmailing her at one point) into doing things she doesn't want to do.  For part of the book, Benedict doesn't know that Sophie is illegitimate, but even so, I think that if Quinn wants to declare him a gentleman, he should damn well behave as such.

Then, when he realizes her past, he's so caught up in the social differences that he runs off to ask his mommy if he has her permission to marry beneath their class. I just...no.  He's awful. So, yes, this conflict is absolutely believable, but it also made me actively root against Benedict. Egads.

Emotional tension:

Quinn does this right.  The masquerade ball meet-up was amazing and I loved watching both of our characters live out the consequences of that short time for years. I loved how Sophie knew right away when they met again that they had met before, but that Benedict didn't know. Quinn does this right. She's brilliant at dialogue and she's brilliant at writing interactions between characters. The tea scenes with all the Bridgerton ladies were so delightful and were used to create more tension in a clever manner.

Happily ever after:

Yeah, I guess. I mean, three kids sounds kind of like a nightmare to me, but Sophie wanted children, so it's her happiness, I hope.

Yes, I'm absolutely going to read the next book in the series. These books are like candy for me and they remind me of the historical romances I used to devour as a teenager.  But I'm waiting for a book that I can give an enthusiastic five stars to instead of thinking how close to perfection it is.  

Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb

 The Farseer Trilogy

Assassin's Apprentice

Royal Assassin

Assassin's Quest

The Liveship Traders Trilogy

The Tawny Many Trilogy

Fool's Errand

Golden Fool

Have you ever finished a book and just felt so melancholy about the ending? There's a happy ending, I guess, but it's sort of a bittersweet happiness that just rubs you the wrong way?  You're looking around your house and wondering how anything can possibly be normal again now that you know how this book ends?  That's how I felt here.

Fool's Fate is the conclusion of the Tawny Man trilogy and we're sort of in the middle of the Realm of the Elderlings (RotE) saga. There's a whole trilogy left of Fitz and the Fool and so I think some of the bittersweetness I'm feeling might go away, but for now, this ending feels final, but final in a sad way.  

This isn't a perfect book.  It takes Fitz and Dutiful (who is SUCH a jerk of a 15-year-old in this book, which is spot on perfect character development, but the reason that The Order of the Phoenix is so hard to get through) forever to get to the ice world where Dutiful must kill a dragon to earn the love of his lady. It's endless pages of getting on a boat, dealing with seasickness, getting to some place for some dumb reason, and then repeating that cycle. I like a book on a boat, but it was not interesting and not original enough for me to deal with hundreds of pages of it.  Once we got to the ice world, things did get interesting.  

And I have major criticisms of the relationship between Fitz and Molly, a character I despise so much I have mentioned her only ONCE in all these books, despite her centrality to the gloominess of Fitz's life.  It's just...it's not realistic to me that Molly would take on any of the actions that she does in this book or any of the previous ones.  Molly is awful and Fitz's inability to recognize that she's awful makes me think less of him, even though Fitz's cluelessness and inability to do anything correctly is part of the reason why I love him.

Sure, the surface of this book was about a quest to kill a dragon, but the real theme of this book is found family.  Fitz's relationship with the Fool is the most obvious example, but also the Witted coterie, the love between Fitz and Burrich, Fitz and Patience, and Fitz and Burrich's children.  It's stunning to see the development of these relationships and to see how important they are to Fitz's happiness.  From a boy abandoned by his mother and taken care of by a stablemaster to a man with a big family full of hope and joy, Fitz is an example of how found family frequently matters more than blood family.

The Rain Wilds Chronicles are next in the RotE world, so we'll take a break from Fitz.  I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I'm hoping that there will be enough references to the previous books to keep me interested.  

Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey

 Babylon's Ashes is the sixth book in The Expanse series.

When we last left the world of The Expanse, a rogue faction of Belters had basically destroyed Earth, Mars was left in utter chaos, the Belt was full of factions within factions, but all was okay because our group had managed to make it back to the Rocinante and were alive.

But, honestly, now humanity has to deal with the fallout.  How can we keep the people remaining on Earth alive?  How can we keep the rogue faction from taking over all the ports and stations in space?  How can we keep diplomatic relations going when Mars is in a constitutional crisis and the UN's leaders have all been killed?  

I actually didn't love this book as much as I have loved other books in The Expanse world. There's a combination of relatively new boring characters, especially this female pastor on Earth who is a real snoozefest, and not a lot of action.  Nothing could be as action packed as Nemesis Games, I guess, but this book felt like it was a lot of filler and not a ton of plot or character development. I'm obviously going to read more of the series, but this was a mediocre addition to it.

Notable lines:

1) "Because he's Amos. He's like a pit bull. You know he could tear your throat out, but he's loyal to a fault and you just want to hug him."  - Naomi describing the ship's mechanic (page 34)

2) "It was a bad move, and I expect we'll pay for it. But since we've done it, we should do the hell out of it. Better to be decisive and wrong than to let them see us wobble."  - Holden describing a strategic choice to Naomi (page 255)

3) "What's your doctorate in?" she asked.

"Um. Structural biochemistry."

"Do you know what mine's in?"

He shook his head for a change.

"Not structural biochemistry," she said gently. "I don't know anything about whether this magic yeast recipe is bullshit or not. So fi you can't tell, I'm less than fucking useless."  - Avasarala talking down to a scientist (page 288)

Words I looked up:

Duniyaret (page 306): This doesn't seem to be a real word, so I assume it's part of the Belter creole used in the novels. Seems as if it means "world sand" or "small world," depending on what language you're actually translating from.

Nakilye (page 307): From context clues, it means fake or false, but it's not an English word, so it must also be part of the Belter creole.

Demimonde (page 341): A group of people considered on the fringes of acceptable society

Two Books, One Plot

 The Duke and I 

The Viscount Who Loved Me is the second novel in the Bridgertons series.  This novel follows Anthony, the oldest brother of the heroine from The Duke and I. In this novel, Anthony sets his sights on Edwina Sheffield, the current it girl of society life. Unfortunately for Edwina, he falls for her older sister Kate along the way.

This book is total wish fulfillment. Kate is plain with average looks and the handsome, rich viscount falls in love with her!  How delightful! They have fun banter. The sexual tension is off the charts. They start out hating one another, but that turns quickly.

But.  

In The Duke and I, Quinn introduced marital rape as a way to a man's heart. In this book, the hero only realizes he loves the heroine after she freaks out in a thunderstorm and he gets to save the damsel in distress.  I just...found this upsetting.  The heroine is otherwise a strong woman, and this thunderstorm freak out seems quite out of character, despite the lame back story behind it.

My theory is that Quinn is quite good at writing historical fiction that is clearly written by a contemporary author, but that she doesn't know how to create conflict without resorting to unnecessary and disturbing tropes.  The fourth book of this series is quite beloved, so I'm going to try to get through at least the first four books in this series, but I'm hoping Quinn figures her shit out because I'm seriously disappointing that books that make me laugh and that are fun to read always have these "but" paragraphs.  Just write a good book from start to finish.  

I left the world of the Bridgertons and read Sarah MacLean's Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake next.  I was utterly befuddled when the plots were nearly identical.

Heroine: Wallflower, average looking, older than the normal debutante

Heroine's family: Super protective older relative, a sister who is the latest It Girl making her debut in society

Hero: A titled man, oh, so handsome, not looking to get married, but what can you do when that completely average looking woman with a tart tongue comes around?

Hero: Deep rooted traumas from the past

Best writing component: Snappy dialogue

Worst writing component:  Historical fiction that reads like it was written by a contemporary author with no idea of what the historical time period was actually like.

In both of these books, the hero absolutely "compromises" the heroine and that's the catalyst for marriage, which I guess is historically accurate, although it drive me insane that neither of the women seem to realize exactly how terrible their circumstances would have been if the rich noblemen had not done the "right thing."

I liked both of these books - I really did! I also found them formulaic and off-putting.  Maybe I'm just not cut out for historical romance novels?

Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland

On a Zoom call in mid-June, my eleven-year-old nephew, who until this point in all our family Zoom calls had not said a word unless a question was pointedly asked of him, all of a sudden started waving around a book and suggesting that everyone read it.  I was, frankly, astounded. He's a quiet kid who likes cars and football trading cars, but is kind of nervous about drawing attention to himself.  The book was Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy.  Immediately, another one of my nephews started talking about how good it was and HOW HAD I NEVER HEARD OF THIS BOOK?  Anyway, I immediately put in on my hold list at the library because my nephew recommended a book to me. I enjoy my little nerds.

Note: These are middle readers. The lexile score places these as appropriate for third to eighth graders.  So this isn't great literature, but it's not NOT great literature. 

The Dragonet Prophecy (Volume One): So there are seven dragon tribes and they each have an alliance in an ongoing war over control of the dragonverse.  The book starts with a run-down on each of these types of dragons.

MudWings: Brown dragons who can breathe fire if it's warm enough,  hold their breath for a long period of time, and are usually very strong.

SkyWings: Dragons with red-gold or orange scales who can breathe fire and are very powerful fliers with their enormous wings.

SandWings: Dragons the color of desert sand who have forked tongues and a poisonous barbed tail.  They can survive a long time in the desert without water, poison other dragons with their tails, and breathe fire.

SeaWings: Blue, green, or aquamarine colored scales, gills, and glow-in-the-dark stripes on their tails/snouts/underbellies.  They can breathe underwater, see in the dark, and are powerful swimmers who can do some serious wave-making with their tails.

IceWings: Silvery or pale blue scales, ridged claws to grip the ice, and forked blue tongues. They can withstand freezing temperatures and very bright light and exhale a deadly freezing breath. 

RainWings: Scales constantly shift colors that they use to blend into their surroundings which is good because, other than a prehensile tail that's good for climbing, RainWings don't have a lot of natural weapons in their arsenal.

NightWings: Purplish-black scales and scattered silver sales under their wings, so that they blend into the night sky when flying. NightWings can breathe fire, disappear into the dark, read minds, and foretell the future.  They are quite mysterious. 

After this introduction, we're told all about a prophecy about five dragonets who will end the ongoing war among the dragons.

Cut to those dragons.

Clay is a MudWing. He is loyal to the other dragonets, strong, and can stay underwater for long periods of time. The book is told mostly through his point of view.

Glory is a RainWing.  RainWings weren't mentioned in the prophecy, but her egg was chosen as a replacement for a SkyWing egg that was broken.  The adult dragons who "take care" of the dragonets refer to Glory as lazy, but we learn there's more to her than the caretakers know about.  Glory is smart and studies history and whatever little bits of knowledge the caretakers tell them about how the dragon tribes fight, live, and feed.

Sunny is a SandWing. She's smaller than most of her kind, her eyes are grey-green instead of black, her scales are gold instead of a pale sand color, and her tail doesn't end in a poisonous barb, meaning she doesn't have much in the way of self-defense.  Her name is her personality, though, and Sunny is cheerful and trusting.

Tsunami is a SeaWing. She's quick-tempered and a dive in a body of water generally makes her feel better when things are going wrong.

Starflight is a NightWing. He's not really much of a personality in this book, but I'm hoping that comes through soon enough.

Anyway, all of this is the first thirty pages of the book. So much exposition! The adult dragons who "take care" of the dragonets are actually kind of mean and abusive.  The dragonets devise a plan to escape and when they manage to do so, they're almost immediately caught and imprisoned by Queen Scarlet, the leader of the SkyWings.  Much of the book is about how they will escape from Scarlet's evil clutches and gladiator-style arena fights to the death.  We end the book learning about Clay's family and a secret about Tsunami's family.  

The Lost Heir (Volume Two): In this book, we switch from Clay the MudWing's perspective to Tsunami, the SeaWing's perspective. Tsunami's egg was stolen from the royal hatchery by the dragon Webs before she was born and she's eager to return to her mother, Queen Coral.  While the queen welcomes Tsunami, some mysterious element has been murdering Coral's dragonets for years and it looks like Tsunami might be in danger.

This book spends a great deal of time with Tsunami, her sister Anemone, Tsunami's ally Riptide, and introduces a gazillion SeaWings who are Coral's advisors. We don't spend much time with the other dragonets and that made me a little sad as I was reading this book.  

Tsunami is not my favorite dragon, but she does come around in the end. I thought this book was much less fun to read than the first one, but I'm hoping the series comes around when the POV switches to a dragon who is more fun to read about.

The Hidden Kingdom (Volume Three): We switch to Glory the RainWing's perspective here. The actual prophecy called for a SkyWing, not a RainWing, so the caretakers for the dragonets often called Glory lazy and let her know that she was, at best, a far second choice.  She feels separate from the other dragonets and like the group doesn't think she belongs.  But they head to the rainforest and find out that RainWings DO sleep a lot and that sleeping in the sun is crucial to RainWings, in terms of keeping their spirits and energy levels up.  Their village is amazing, camouflaged in the trees, peaceful and full of fresh fruit to eat.

But Glory's disappointed. No one even noticed that her egg had disappeared years ago. No one is noticing that there are a dozen missing RainWings from the village right now.  The RainWings are peaceful, sure, but they also do appear to be lazy and not willing to protect themselves.  But Glory and her friends are here to fix it.

I thought this book was quite fun to read. Glory is appropriately full of teenage angst.  There is a lot of action and the plot really chugs along. I'm not sure I would have made it past the second book when I was a child, but this book would have pulled me right in.  

 The Dark Secret (Volume Four): Starflight the NightWing is kidnapped and taken to the Night Kingdom where we learn that the NightWings live on a volcano and they are pretty hungry because there's not a lot to eat and many of them are sick.  Starflight has been the most boring of the dragonets so far and he continues to be. He's insecure (which is a theme in all of the books) with his place in the gang, in love with Sunny, likes to read scrolls, speaks in very long, boring sentences, and is pretty sure he doesn't fit it with the NightWings. We meet another NightWing dragonet named Fatespeaker who is wonderful and adorable. We meet Starflight's father, another nerdy dragon.

But all is not well, obviously.  The queen hasn't been seen in years, the NightWings are torturing RainWings, and the volcano is about to erupt.  The dark secret is quite dark and I was not even mildly surprised by it when it came at the end of the book, but I imagine that many young readers will find it quite exciting.   It will be quite interesting to see what happens in the next book to finish out this series.  I'm looking forward to hearing Sunny's POV.

I found this the least compelling book in the series, though. We are with Starflight, who is incredibly boring, for the vast majority of the book and I wanted to see the rest of the gang, too!  Hopefully we rebound to end the series on a winning note.

The Brightest Night: (Volume Five): A satisfying conclusion to the original series. This one was told from the POV of Sunny as she goes around all the dragon kingdoms tying up loose ends and creating world peace.  Thumbs up for a happy ending, although I wasn't super keen on the set up for the next series, which I guess I knew Sutherland had to do. We did spend a lot of time with Sunny here and we didn't get to be with most of the gang, which is sad, but the last third definitely redeemed it.  

So, I don't know that I think this series is amazing, but I can't wait to talk to my nephew about it and slowly give him all the dragon books I love as he gets older!

Nemesis Games by James S. A. Corey

Nemesis Games is the fifth book in The Expanse series.  I have no idea why it took me so long to get on The Expanse train, but if you're not reading these books, you are missing out!

I have said this for every book in the series as I've read them, but this might be my favorite book in the series. They just get better and better.  The world is built, the politics are explained, and now Corey can play in the sandbox that has been created.

We start with Holden and the crew docked because the ship needs repairs after their last disastrous mission trying to do some peacekeeping on a newly settled planet. But before you know it, all four of our crew members are across the solar system split up from one another and the Rocinante. As soon as this started happening, I was squealing "don't split up the party" like I was engaging in some serious D&D roleplaying.  Anyway, as you can imagine, outer space hijinks take place and at the climax of the book, our players have to work cooperatively to accomplish the mission.

Sure, the universe is in a very bad way at the end of the book. Earth has been virtually destroyed. Mars is never going to finish terraforming. There's a sect of the Belters that has declared war.  It's a mess.  But our crew is together and safe and that's all that matters to me.

The dialogue in this book is absolutely sparkling. The number of passages I read out loud to Dr. BB was rather long.  I don't know if it's because I'm so immersed in these characters now of if it's because the writing is so sharp, but whatever the reason, I found reading conversations in these books to be one of the best things about the month of August.

Notable quotes:

1) "We need to talk," she said.

He tensed a little, but kept his voice light and airy. "Like man-and-woman talk?"

"Worse," she said. "XO and captain." (pages 34-35)

2) Holden couldn't tell if she was melancholy or solving a complex engineering problem in her head. Those looks were confusingly similar. (page 56)

3) "Murtry swung first, so technically, that was self-defense. And if I'd wanted him dead, don't you think he'd be dead?  It's no like I quit hitting him because I was tired." (page 78)

4) "Forget Holden.  You called me his hired killer. Is that how you guys think of me?  The killer on Holden's payroll?

Avasarala frowned. "You're not?"

"Well, mostly I'm a mechanic. But the idea that the UN has a file on me somewhere that lists me as the Rocinante's killer?  That's kind of awesome." (page 79)

5) "The reckless tough-guy version of you is almost as tiring as the relentless Boy Scout was. I'm hoping your pendulum swings hit middle sometime soon." (page 376)

If you're not reading The Expanse series, why aren't you?  It's amazing.

 

Podcast Roundup August 2020

Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman were guests on the Longform podcast. They are co-hosts of the popular podcast, Call Your Girlfriend.  I listened to CYG for a brief period many years ago, but the sound quality was pretty terrible and I didn't enjoy their takes on people who didn't agree with them 100% of the time. But I always admired their openness about their friendship and how difficult forming and maintaining adult friendship is, especially cross-cultural friendships.  Sow and Friedman have recently released a book about this very topic and that is what the focus of the Longform interview was.  I thought that the interview was absolutely fascinating - how does a writing partnership work? what are the nuts and bolts of their process?  how much money did they get paid for the book? what were the costs associated with writing it?  

So even if you're not a fangirl of the CYG women, you might find this interview to be useful, particularly if you're interested in what it's like to do projects with people when you can't always be with them in person, which is a lot of people right now, you might find this interview useful.

The podcast Verified came out in early 2020, but I'm just now getting to listening to it.  This is an utterly befuddling case in which women use an app called "Couchsurfing" to find places to stay for free while traveling.  We listen as woman after woman uses the app to find someplace to stay near Venice and they get put into touch with a man who claims to be an Italian police officer with room to spare.  These women later report being drugged and sexually assaulted.  Who's to blame?  How do these women manage to find one another and begin an international investigation?  It's all in here.

It does have explicit discussions of sexual assault and rape exams, so it might not be for everyone.  On the other hand, maybe it should be for everyone so we can discuss the ins and outs of technology and how much faith we put in it and how people are the biggest weakness in technological security.  Or maybe we should all listen because we need to know that men like Dino Maglio exist and have a discussion on how best to punish someone like that.  Or maybe we should all listen to this because the victims have a real voice in this podcast and it's important to listen to their stories so that we'll all know what impact sexual violence has on women.  

LBJ became president after Kennedy's assassination. He immediately passed the Civil Rights Act and started his War on Poverty. Despite these massive federal projects, the summer of 1967 was a violent summer filled with race riots in over 150 American cities.  The folks at Planet Money walk us through the federal response - "The Kerner Commission" was convened and its report became a bestseller.  That report suggested, among other things, a complete overhaul of policing in the United States. More than fifty years later, that report still speaks some important truths.

The Slate Culture Gabfest has been one of my go-to podcasts for years. I've only mentioned it here a couple of times, but I listen to every episode and generally find it to be a comfort listen. Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and Stephen Metcalf are not my friends, but I feel like I know them and would absolutely be starstruck if I ever saw them.  Every year since 2011, they put together a "Summer Strut" edition of the show, in which they ask listeners to send them songs that put a little zip in their steps while they are walking the dog, walking to the train, or just walking anywhere.  

This year their Strut episode was a bit different because the world is so different. The songs sent in were less strut-y and more contemplative.  But I still liked it because, as someone who rarely listens to music, I am always amazed at what people will voluntarily listen to.  I believe Dana, Stephen, and Julia when they say that the songs they pick are songs they listen to repeatedly, but I find myself constantly amazed that any of the songs are actually songs that stick.  I always tell myself that I'll listen to the Spotify playlist of the songs sent in, but it rarely never happens.  BUT! What a great way to try to understand what's going in the world.  

I also like that in the last few years, they've had Chris Molanthy on to talk about the song of the summer. Molanty hosts Hit Parade, which is a great podcast on the history of the music charts. I have a great deal of affection for Hit Parade and Molanthy, despite the fact that he doesn't enjoy the music of Bon Jovi. I was a bit bummed out earlier this year when Hit Parade became an exclusive Slate Plus podcast, so I can no longer listen.  The Culture Gabfest also went from weekly to bi-weekly, so I'm a bit concerned for the long-term health of my beloved Slate shows.  Regardless, my favorite part of the song of the summer bit is how the four of them talk about how certain songs are UBIQUITOUS and EVERYWHERE and it is exceedingly rare that I have heard any of them.  It's just really indicative of how easy it is to become so enmeshed in your own cultural bubble and never leave it.

Kathy Kenzora used to call her podcast The History of 1995, but within the last year renamed it History of the 90's (or History of the '90s - the apostrophe is in different locations).  She's a Canadian reporter and many of her episodes deal with issues that were quite big in Canada, but that didn't trickle down to me as a teenager in the 90s.  She had a recent episode called "L.A. Riots" that covered the buildup to the riots (protests?) after the acquittal of police officers who were accused of beating Rodney King. It was the best synthesis of the conditions that led to the event. If I were still teaching, I would replace all of my Rodney King material with this (although I'm super partial to the fourth segment of the Reveal episode called "Law and Disorder 2: Citizens, Cameras, and Cops" that tells the story from the perspective of George Holliday, who was the man who caught the King beating using his fancy new video camera).  Anyway, Kathy Kenzora should be applauded for this episode that just was so concise and yet engrossing.  Huge thumbs up.