Books read in 2020

 This was the second year I've done the "Across the Year" challenge that is offered up at Goodreads.com. And this time around, I completed it! Woo hoo!

I still jumped around for some of the weeks, especially later in the year, but doesn't matter. I did it. 

As always, after my thoughts on the book, I put the book's final sentence in parenthesis. I spoiler tag the sentence, except for the final word. And if the last sentence of the book *is* just a single word, then that will be completely spoiler-tagged. 

All right, let's get to it...

Books read in 2020 (including the 52 theme weeks from the Around the Year in 52 challenge)

 

1. 1. A book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y

Big Woods by May Cobb - Well.. the first book of the new year was a bit of a dud. It wasn’t bad enough that I stopped reading, but it wasn’t really good, either. This was all about a small town in Texas in the late 80s, where a 10 year old named Lucy goes missing. About ten years previously, several young children also went missing, and were later discovered murdered, and those deaths were blamed on Satanists. (The culprits were never apprehended, but the kidnappings stopped, and people just assumed it was over. With Lucy’s disappearance, it appears that they’ve started up again.) The chapters were short, and alternated between points of view between Leah, Lucy’s older sister, and Sylvia, a 75 year old woman who knows more than she’d like to about who may be committing the crimes. The writing was fine - although it had an air of trying too hard, and I often wanted MORE details, or for people to think things through a bit more. But overall this was just forgettable and not great.  (I kneel down and place a small bouquet of white irises next to her name, and hot tears pour out and puddle on the marble as I quietly give thanks to the woman who saved us.)

 

2. Angel Vol. 1 - Being Human by Bryan Hill - I enjoyed the first volume of the rebooted Buffy comic, so thought I would check out the reboot of the spinoff. And… eh. It wasn’t super. It had all the remix elements that the Buffy comic has, and the art is fine, but ...there was no spark. Granted, this was a lot of setting things up, and so presumably, future installments will be more...engaging. But so far, I’m not overly invested in this series. (You need a Gunn.)

 

3. 2. A book by an author whose last name is one syllable

The Institute by Stephen King - Donald Trump has ruined EVERYTHING. He’s just spread like the cancer that he is, to where his influence and ...aura, are just tinged into every sort of media that exists now. That includes Stephen King’s works. Everything King has written since ‘16 has had, at a minimum, a mention of the Cheeto. And I get it. He’s frustrating, and any digs one can take at him are fair game, as far as I’m concerned. But sometimes I’d like to be able to escape into a work without a reminder that he exists.

Ahem. So, yeah. New Stephen King book, which you know I’m going to read, and odds are, enjoy, at least somewhat. And while it took me a while to get to this - it came out last year, but I just kept putting it off until this first part of 2020 - I did, mildly, like this. The problems were minor dings, but… they’re more noticeable than they used to be, I guess. This particular book felt ...very Dean Koontz-ish. I mean, there were no Golden Retrievers, so that’s a plus, but the Big Bad Organization was certainly Koontzy, as well as the precocious genius kid, and the cop who was Mr. Perfect. The fact that he and his love interest were the ones who ended up saving the kids certainly leaned into those Koontz-like qualities, too. 

But, yeah. Bits of this - maybe even the majority - were fine. Good classic King stuff. It just wasn’t one of his absolute best. Perhaps if I had read this when I was in my teens, and could relate to Luke more, I would have been totally wowed, but as it is, I read it as a cynical jaded adult, and just found it a low-tier King novel. Which is still good, mind you, but ...nothing to write home about. (Better to save some for later.)

 

4. 3. A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019

One of Us is Next by Karen McManus - I read “One of Us is Lying” last year, and enjoyed it. I was surprised that a sequel was announced, as it felt like a pretty self-contained story. This story was essentially One of Us is Lying: The Next Generation. It was a good read - although I predicted the “whodunnit” aspect VERY early on (something I had similar feelings during the first book, although during that one I had other suspects in mind. This time around it’s pretty clearly spelled out who is behind everything, with only one red herring thrown in the mix. And that is more a pink herring, if anything.) Anyway. A year after the events of the first book, a new gossip app has appeared and spread through the social-media-verse of Bayview High. This one has a twist - it’s a game of Truth or Dare, where if you refuse to play, or follow through, one of your secrets will be revealed. I liked this well enough - it was a pretty light and breezy way to spend a couple of days, and I liked the message that gossip and secrets are destructive forces. But then, the book...sort of undermined itself by having two characters learn a secret about someone and… not tell anyone. (Unless that’s setting up for a sequel, in which case I say BOO! Self-contain your books, people!! Not everything needs to be a damn series.) But whether it does or not, it still kind of negates the lessons learned a bit, ya know? (And nobody can prove differently, can they?)

 

5. 4. A book set in a place or time that you wouldn't want to live

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan - whoo boy. Non-fiction book that recalled the hardships that Americans who lived in the midwest during the “dirty thirties” had to go through. The descriptions of some of the dusters were frightening. Like true horror movie level stuff. All of it was proof that you fuck with Mother Nature, she’s gonna fuck with you right back. (He loves it still.)

 

6. 5. The first book in a series that you have not started

All Systems Red by Martha Wells - This was book 1 of The Murderbot Diaries. A quick little novella about an AI security bot that has hacked itself so that it doesn’t have to follow protocols. Turns out doing this was a good thing, as the company that it is employed by is corrupt as hell. Murderbot doesn’t really like any of the humans that it works/lives with, it just wants to be left alone to watch the soap operas that it likes to download. I liked this book quite a bit, but didn’t *love* it like I was expecting to, from the hype that was surrounding it. Apparently there are at least 3 other sequels - and some of those are even better (which I don’t find difficult to believe - this was good, but it was largely introduction - not a LOT of plot happened. I can see having more time to explore the universe and the characters would lead to more enriching stories.) I’m ambivalent about continuing the series, but we’ll see what happens, I guess. (Murderbot end message.)

 

7. Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics - eh. This started off decently, and there was a lot of potential in the book, but it was buried in a lot of blah and muddled plot. In the undisclosed time period (presumably 1800s?), in an undisclosed location (a mountain cabin, followed by a trek to “prairies”) Amanda Verner is 16 and newly pregnant. Her family has had a rough go of it recently - the winter that her mom gave birth to the newest addition, Hannah, was a harsh winter where the family had to remain isolated in their mountain cabin. And Ma spent the last three months of the pregnancy fighting an unknown illness, which may or may not have contributed to Hannah being born blind and deaf. Additionally, Hannah is collicky. All of this causes Amanda to go a bit stir-crazy, and she finds herself praying to God for Hannah’s death. (To her credit, she feels guilty about feeling that way.) Anyway, the family ends up moving to the ‘prairies’ and locate an abandoned cabin that they opt to just… move in. Despite the interior being covered in blood (from presumably the slaughtering of livestock) and having torn up floors. Amy starts having nightmares about devils trying to enter the cabin, and baby monsters. Is she going crazy, or are the prairies truly haunted?? This had potential, but was far too unclear and mostly uneffective. It was the author’s debut, so perhaps she gets better with future books. (The fiddle is playing ‘Come, Holy Ghost’.)

 

8. 6. A book with a mode of transportation on the cover

Surface Tension by Mike Mullin - I enjoyed Mullin’s Ashfall trilogy greatly, so I was excited to pick up this new YA book about a young teen who gets involved in a domestic terrorist plot. However… this was a bit of a disappointment. In the notes/acknowledgments section, the author mentions that this went through 7 rewrites, and upon reading that, a lot more of the book made sense. It's like… there are cracks throughout the book, and if you look too closely, you can absolutely see them. I mean… this was FINE, really. It was a page-turner, blockbuster type book that isn’t meant to be analyzed super critically, I’m sure. I think I just sort of set my expectations a bit higher after the other work of his. So, essentially: Jake, a teen who is a bit of a pro-bike rider, ends up accidentally getting briefly captured by a group of domestic terrorists who have just pulled off the perfect crime. They attempt to murder him for witnessing them (he didn’t actually see anything incriminating, just bizarre, but he’s a loose end), but he manages to escape. Not completely unscathed, as he suffers a head injury, which leaves him with amnesia, and the warning from doctors that he may have occasional hallucinations. Which makes his unbelievable story of murderous terrorists ...somewhat unbelievable. Throw in the fact that the terrorist group has members on the local police force, and ...possibly in the FBI, as well?, and things look pretty dire for Jake. Fortunately, his super rich girlfriend is on his side. And the terrorist leader’s teenage daughter is starting to question her lifestyle. Like I said, this isn’t a horrible YA book, and I was intrigued enough to read the whole thing in a matter of days. But my disbelief was suspended mightily several times, and I don’t recall that being the case in the Ashfall books. Oh. And. The ending unnecessarily set it up for a sequel, which irked me to no end. NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE A SERIES. (If you fail, you will both be killed.)

 

9. Kick-Ass, The New Girl: Book 3 by Steve Niles - This was better than book 2, but only marginally. It seems like it may have been the end of it, but also left the door open for future installments. If it does...I don’t know if I’ll keep going with it or not. (Well, well, well...looks like I’m heading back to the States.)

 

10. Huck, Book 1: All American by Mark Millar - A graphic novel that was essentially a retelling of the Superman origin story. I liked it, even if it was treading very worn ground. (Yes, sir.)

 

11. 7. A book set in the southern hemisphere

The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood - In Australia, a young woman wakes up after being drugged and discovers that she is imprisoned in a remote detention center, along with 8 other young women. They are watched over by two guards who are horrible men, and barely competent at their jobs. The women all share one common trait: all of them were involved in sex scandals with famous men. Things go from bad to worse as it becomes apparent that the food they have is running out, and the guards have also been abandoned. 

I… did not like this book. I knew it was going to be dark, and I don’t really have a problem with that, I just ...didn’t like it. It took a while to get into, and I found myself skimming bits and needing to re-read them. I think books like this one rely very strongly on the characters, and for the most part, I just didn’t care enough. That sounds horrible. I of course was sympathetic to the women for being detained unjustly.. And when the eventual turning against the guards happened, I was happy for them. But...I just didn’t get a sense to *really* care about Verla or Yolanda. It could very well just be that this book didn’t work for me. Or maybe I just wasn’t in the right state of mind for it. (Only the clear water moves in its wake.)

 

12. 8. A book with a two-word title where the first word is "The"

The Humans by Matt Haig - When middle aged math professor Andrew Martin solves the previously unsolvable Reimann proof, it garners the attention of an advanced alien race who decide that humanity is not ready for such a step forward. The narrator is given the task of taking Martin’s form, and destroying all evidence of the mathematical equation that was solved. (Including eliminating any people in his life he may have told). As the alien interloper lives inside Martin’s life, he slowly starts to warm toward Martin’s wife and teenage son, who notice that Andrew has changed. This was a light book, written in what is meant to be a humorous tone. I admit I did chuckle occasionally, but it wasn’t hilarious. Just light, breezy fluff, with our protagonist slowly learning what it means to be (and enjoy being) human.  (It was only a short walk away.)

 

13. The Chain by Adrian McKinty - I zipped through this in almost one day (a day and about an hour the next morning), but I didn’t *like* it. Premise was intriguing, and I wanted to see how things shook out, so congrats to the author for getting that done. And it really does fly fast, but I think that was the problem - it was TOO quick - it was ALL action and not enough detail? I don’t know. It was a lot of short sentences, with things happening very quickly, but it was largely unbelievable and the characters were, for the most part, super thin cardboard cutouts I didn’t care about. The premise: A teenage girl, Kylie, is kidnapped by a mother and father who are only doing it because THEIR son had been kidnapped. They call Kylie’s mother - Rachel - and instruct her that if she wants Kylie to be released, she needs to give them 25,000 in ransom AND kidnap another child. 

The idea of a kidnapping chain was unique (although I guess it’s based somewhat on exchange kidnappings in Mexico), but how it all played out was just...no. I mean, if it had been more fleshed out, perhaps given some actual depth to the characters or some thought to how things would play out in real life, I would have been happier with this. (I mean, a police officer is murdered on like, page 10, and aside from a mention or two later, is completely ignored. There is NO WAY this would have played out that way.) The only good thing that this book had going for it was how quickly I was able to finish it.   (And to live at all is miracle enough.)

 

14. 9. A book that can be read in a day

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds - A book written in verse that was simply amazing. 16 year old Will has grown up knowing The Rules: 1. No Crying. Ever. 2. No Snitching. Ever. and 3. If someone you love is killed, you get revenge.

So when his older brother Shawn is murdered, Will knows what must be done. He has to go take out the guy who did it. The guy he’s pretty sure did it. The guy who HAD to be the one who did it. Riggs. Riggs MUST be the one who killed Shawn. So Will gets Shawn’s gun, and heads toward Riggs’s home, and takes the elevator down to his floor. It’s only gonna take a minute to get down there… This was a brutal and powerful look at gun violence, the cycle of revenge, and the enormous amounts of pain caused by both. I’m spoiler tagging the final words here because being spoiled for them would do a huge disservice to the book, in my opinion. When I got to the end, I had goosebumps for five minutes. (YOU COMING?)

 

15. 10. A book that is between 400-600 pages

Anyone by Charles Soule - Nice. A speculative fiction sci-fi thriller that was pretty great. (Also, it hit the requirement of this week’s challenge by coming in at 407 pages) This alternated chapters between the present and 25 years in the future. In the present, Gabrielle White, a research scientist working on finding a cure for Alzhiemers accidentally invents ‘the flash’, which allows a person to transfer their consciousness into another person’s body. 25 years in the future, the flash has completely changed society, with the corporation in control of it, Anyone. But Annami is an employee of Anyone that knows a few secrets, and is looking to take the people in charge down a few pegs.

The world building was fantastic with this novel, and I loved how thought out things were. And there were action scenes that made my heart pump quicker, and scenes of pure tension as well. I figured out some of the ‘twists’ pretty early (not the details, mind you, just the elements of what was going on) but I also don’t think they were meant to REALLY be that twisty, so, you know whatever. The ending was a little bit muddled or rushed or… i don’t know, exactly. But overall, this was pure comfort food for me. 

If (when??) this gets turned into a movie or a Netflix series, I’m totally there. (You are you.)

 

16. Spider-Man: Life Story by Chip Zdarsky - What sort of adventures would Peter Parker have had if he had aged along the way? Starting in 1962 when he was a 15 year old, and checking in each decade for the highlights along the way until 2019, this graphic novel was a neat little peek at your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man’s life over the past 60 years. Sadly, it wasn’t a superb stand out, just sort of ...average. It wasn’t bad (although it made many references to storylines I only had a vague knowledge of, so maybe I wasn’t the intended audience), just ...nothing outstanding either. (It’s a good dream.)

 

17. 11. A book originally published in a year that is a prime number

The One-Eyed Man by Ron Currie Jr. - The protagonist of this story, K, is an average guy, whose marriage is starting to dissolve, when his wife, Sarah, gets cancer. After she passes, K ...well, one could say he snaps from reality. Or one could say that he re-evaluates everything around him, and finds it ...lacking, in the sense-making department. K begins to take everything literally, and ponders about the absurdity of ...everything. As he points out how inane most aspects of modern life is, he irritates those around him. After he interrupts an attempted robbery (getting shot as a result, but saving a young woman’s life in the process), the media views him as a hero. Eventually, he gets noticed by a producer who wants to make a reality tv show around him. 

The parts where K flashes back to his life with Sarah were heartbreaking. The bits with his reality show and his interactions in the modern world were (often) hilarious. The ending got a little bit out there, but was still largely believable, what with this being America and all. Overall, this was quite good. (Remember, my colleagues tell me as I lean forward in my chair: you have to blow them all out, or else your wish will never come true.)

 

18. 12. A book that is a collaboration between 2 or more people

Black House by Stephen King & Peter Straub - a sequel to the other collaboration between those two, The Talisman, which I read (and mostly enjoyed) AGES ago. This was written in 2001, and I remember trying to get into it back then, but not being able to. This time I forced myself, but oof. It was ...to call it ‘uneven’ would be generous. 

I don’t recall The Talisman being so obvious when it was King and when it was Straub at the wheel, but this time around the distinction could have been highlighted. The bits that were obviously King were compelling and flew. And then WHAM, right into another wordy, difficult to parse blockade. (There were bits that may have been King, too, that were annoying - Mr. Munshun’s ‘accent’ for example.) There were also things that seemed like the writers weren’t ...on the same page, if you’ll forgive a horrible pun. Like there were a couple times when Henry gave hints that he was going to turn out to be a villain (or perhaps possessed by one) but that was dropped. And… there were other things throughout like that. Foreshadowing that didn’t pay off, because one or the other of the writers seemed to not pick it up, or didn’t like where it would lead. 

There were a lot of good ideas, and I liked the tying in to the Dark Tower universe (was not expecting that, honestly) but the execution of this was, for a good portion of it, a misfire. Not completely, though.  I mean, a sequel was strongly hinted at near the end, and, hey, it’s been 20 years since this was written, so, you know, if they decided that it was time to check in on our boy, Jack, one more time… I’d be game. (“My heart, my life, and my love: welcome back.”)

 

19. 13. A prompt from a previous Around the Year in 52 Books challenge (Link)

If It Bleeds by Stephen King - (I opted to go with ‘reader’s choice’, essentially a ‘gimme’ category. What can I say? I’m way behind at this point, and need any help I can get.) A collection of four novellas. It’s amazing how prolific King is, even as he enters his 70s. And the stories were really good, too. Mostly. One of them didn’t work for me, but, hey, they can’t all be gems. And 3 out of 4 is pretty remarkable.  Anyway, stories:

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone  - our narrator, Craig, reflects on how he developed an unlikely friendship with a rather eccentric mulitmillionaire - the eponymous Mr. Harrigan -  when he was in his teens. At one point, Craig bought Harrigan an iPhone. When Harrigan passes away, Craig manages to slip the phone into the coffin along with his body. And he ...may still be able to communicate thru it. This was a bit of a ghost story, but gave me strong Revival-esque vibes as well. While it’s somewhat thin on plot, the characters were enough to carry this, in my opinion. (I don’t want to be cremated when I go, and I want to be buried with empty pockets.) 

The Life of Chuck - I do have to give King credit for doing experimental things. This one didn’t pay off, for me, at least. This was almost three separate short stories tied together. Each section touches on a part of Charles “Chuck” Krantz’s life: Near the end, about a year before the end, and when he was a young child. The writing was top notch in this, but I think I didn’t care for the format, and it left me feeling unfulfilled. YMMV, of course. (He closed the door and snapped the lock shut.) 

If It Bleeds - King has become enamored with Holly Gibney, a character he introduced us to in the Bill Hodges trilogy, and checked in with in The Outsider. I didn’t care for her much to begin with, but she’s grown on me. If It Bleeds is, essentially, a sequel to The Outsider - Holly is the main protagonist, but characters from the Hodges books and The Outsider are in it as well. When a horrible tragedy happens, Holly - and the country - is shaken. But something seems off when Holly is watching the unfolding reports on air, and she begins to investigate one of the television reporters involved. I don’t want to give too much away, but this was great stuff. (“Hello, Holly,” he says.) 

Rat - A writer who has only been able to publish short stories for his career (novels start strong, then go badly. Very badly. His last attempt resulted in a nervous breakdown where he nearly burned down the house) gets an idea for a novel one day. He makes a deal with his wife to allow him to go up to his cabin in the woods for a few weeks to work on it. Once up there, he catches a flu from a local, and when a powerful storm traps him in the cabin, his grip on reality begins to loosen a bit. (Really, when you thought about it, everything was all rat.)

 

20. 14. A book by an author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers (link)

Akin by Emma Donoghue - 79 year old Noah has decided to take a trip back to his hometown of Nice, France. Before he can make the trip, however, he gets roped into bringing along his 11 year old nephew, Michael. Michael’s mother is in prison, and his father has died from an apparent drug overdose. Noah is Michael’s only available blood relative, and it’s either he takes him in, or he gets put into the foster system. The two butt heads repeatedly on the trip, and Michael is supremely annoying/ungrateful/abrasive. But he’s not entirely unsympathetic, as you can see that his life has been a rough one. I thought that Emma did a great job of displaying the generations clashing, and the amount of culture shock the duo faced while in France. (He shut his eyes and said, Merci, merci, mille mercis.) 

 

21. 15. A book set in a global city

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs -  This only barely fits this category, because while the author lives in New York City, and the majority of the novel was written there, he does travel to other parts of the world, and the book itself is largely NOT about New York. But whatever. Basic premise - A.J., a writer for Esquire magazine, decides he is going to attempt to follow the rules of the Bible as literally as possible, for one year, and document the results. You know those clickbaity articles from Buzzfeed - “I lived without my cell phone for a week! Here’s what happened!”? Imagine that stretched out to a novel. Yeah. This was semi-entertaining to begin with, and I mostly enjoyed his explanations (or attempts at explanations) for the weirder rules that the Bible has in it (and there are a LOT of weird rules in there), but by about the fifth month in, I was getting a bit bored. Anyway. Bottom line is this was okay, leaning toward dull. Largely forgettable. (Jasper and I leave the post office, turn left, and head toward home for a quiet Friday night.)

 

22. 16. A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area

The Woods, vol.1: The Arrow by James Tynion IV - This one barely fits the category, too. But, you know what, nobody really cares… Anyway. This graphic novel’s premise is that a high school in Wisconsin (see, sparsely populated!) gets teleported to an alien moon (even MORE sparsely populated!), where the 500 students and faculty need to come together to figure out how to survive. Seeing as how I had this exact premise (except that I wanted the building to be a supermarket, rather than a high school), I was drawn in by that. Sadly… there’s not a whole lot else going for this. Of course, this was just the first volume, so not a lot of answers yet, but the characters were pretty bland so far, and the dialogue and artwork were mostly meh as well. I might check out further installments to see if it improves, but it’s not a high priority right now. (These woods belong to us.)

 

23. 17. A book with a neurodiverse character 

Absent by Katie Williams -  I almost feel like using this for this category is another ‘cheat’, since I’m pretty sure the category is meant to mean people with Asperger's or schizophrenia or something along those lines, and while there is a character in the book who was institutionalized at one point, I don’t know that that is exactly what they were going for. But oh well. This was about Paige, a seventeen year old high school student who is deceased. Having become a ghost, she finds that she is bound to the high school where she died - if she tries to leave, she finds herself transported back to her death spot. Fortunately, there are two other ghosts there to keep her company - Brooke, a student Paige knows, who died of a cocaine overdose a few months before Paige died; and Evan, a student who has been there for a long time, but keeps his past to himself. Things get interesting when Paige discovers that as a ghost you can ‘possess’ someone if they are thinking of you. She uses this newfound ability to try to squash rumors about herself (that she committed suicide, rather than falling from the roof). This was a breezy, pretty light YA novel that can easily be read in a day. The writing was pretty and poetic in parts, even if the plot and some of the characterization was lacking. (We step forward.)

 

24. 18. A book by an author you've only read once before 

The Hiding Place by C.J. Tudor - I read “The Chalk Man” back in 2018, and enjoyed that a great deal. Tudor’s second novel, sadly, was a step down. It started off strong - a single mother in a small mining town in England snaps one night and murders her teenage son, and then commits suicide. She left a note on the wall - Not My Son. Joe Thorne, a down-on-his luck gambler and teacher, grew up in that town, and returns after the crime happens when someone there sends him an email saying “It’s happening again.” When Joe goes back to the town, the ghosts of the past are more than eager to welcome him back. I don’t know, the characters and the writing just weren’t as sharp as her other novel. There were two very late minute twists I didn’t see coming, so I know she’s got it in her, but this novel just didn’t feel completely cooked, if that makes sense. (We promise.)

 

25. The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: The Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way - I’m midway through season 1 of the Netflix show based on this graphic novel. Gotta say, the live action version seems much more nuanced and complex. The book was ...okay. Heavy on the weird and crazy ideas (aliens, time traveling children, talking apes, superhero dysfunctional families) but light on the characterization and insights that the show seems to be showcasing so far. It was a super quick read, though, and there is (obviously) a lot of material that *can* be mined from what I’ve read so far…. So I’ll probably check out the other volumes, too. (He decided to start by making a sandwich.)

 

26. 19. A fantasy book

Wizard for Hire by Obert Skye - geared more toward middle-graders than middle-agers, so, with that in mind, this wasn’t bad. I don’t know exactly how “fantasy” it was, either - there was a mechanical talking bird, and *maybe* magic, but otherwise, this was essentially set in our universe. The Toffys - Mia, Emmitt, and seven-year-old Ozzy have just moved to a remote cabin in the Oregon forest. The Toffys are brilliant doctors, who have made a dangerous discovery, and are attempting to move off the grid to avoid it falling into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, they are kidnapped. Ozzy manages to avoid being captured. He spends the next seven years fending for himself in the cabin. Once Ozzy discovers a mechanical solar powered raven named Clark that his father invented, he begins to explore the outside world a bit. When he finds an ad that a “wizard” named Labyrinth (Rin for short) has placed, he opts to see if he can get some help from him. Hijinks ensue. Like I said, this wasn’t bad, just not entirely written with me in mind. And it’s the first in a series (because of course it is.) It was a quick read, despite being 400 pages (dude, some of this could easily have been cut), and I have to say that I’m mildly curious how it’s going to play out. Goodreads tells me at least two other sequels have been written, so...maybe. (Clark chirped happily and all things pointed clearly to the fact that life, with its heartaches and complications, could never hide the fact that magic was very much alive.)

  

27. 20. The 20th book [on your TBR, in a series, by an author, on a list, etc.]  

Murder By Magic: Twenty Tales of Crime and the Supernatural - okay, so I totally misread the prompt for this, and thought this was instead a book that relates to “20” in some way. So, I chose this collection of twenty short stories. And… it was a bit of a mixed bag, really. I’m not a huge fan of fantasy stories, and mysteries aren’t normally something I seek out either, so combining the two genres probably isn’t going to result in a wonderful time for me. There were a few that I dug, though. And, they all were within the 10-25 page realm, so, you know, even if they were BAD, they were brief. Anyway, stories! 

Piece of Mind by Jennifer Roberson - The collection started out strong. I liked this one a lot! It was set in the modern age, and was about a retired police officer who starts talking to his neighbor, and eventually discovers that they both have the ability to psychically connect with animals. The ex-cop uses this ability to solve a murder. (As she closed her door, still grinning, I stuffed hands in my pockets and went whistling next door to mine, feeling good about myself for the first time in months.)

Special Surprise Guest Appearance by… by Carole Nelson Douglas - This wasn’t bad, either, although the ending was a bit muddled. It’s about a stage magician, Marlon, trying to figure out the secret to an illusion being done by Majika, a rival magician who was his assistant at one time. He finds out the secret, but it’s not a happy ending for him. (While his ears and tail drooped with self-recognition, he spied his former form, now bent and shuffling, hastening out of the theater before the crowd began its rush for the exits.)

Doppelgangster by Laura Resnick - Lighthearted romp about a mafia war being put on hold when the two gangs realize that some of the recent murders on both sides have some puzzling aspects to them. (“So, Joey… would you still want to marry the Widow Butera if you knew she’d been trying to whack you and everyone you know?”)

Mixed Marriages Can Be Murder by Will Graham - A vampire and werewolf husband and wife get hired by a computer company to guard their secrets from corporate sabotage.( “Picky, picky, picky…”)

The Case of the Headless Corpse by Josepha Sherman - Two agents from the MBI (Magical Bureau of Investigation) look into the murder of a rich, prejudiced against magic businessman. (It’s your turn to buy.)

A Death in the Working by Debra Doyle - Oof. This one was a chore to get through. Only 9 pages, but it was HEAVY on the fantasy aspect, and I just couldn’t get into it. Something about two warring kingdoms, both who rely on magic… I don’t even know. It had footnotes and lots of fantasy names and was just NOT my cup of tea at all. (The money was a gift from the Lokheran Circle, for the health and welfare of the town of Lokheran.)

Cold Case by Diane Duane - Rob DiFalco is a cop who has the ability to help ghosts move on. (Typically by solving their murders) He’s working on a case with an elderly woman who was murdered four years prior, but she has some information that he wasn’t expecting. (Then, together, She and Rob DiFalco went off into the day, into the realms of uncertainty again, where Justice and those who serve Her are needed the most.)

Snake in the Grass by Susan R. Matthews - I wanted to like this, but, again, it just didn’t connect with me. All about a woman who is killed while performing a ritual with what was presumed to have been a non-poisonous snake. The investigator, Galen, is able to communicate with the snake gods. (Galen picked Folliet’s dish of milk up off the ground and went into the house.)

Double Jeopardy by M. J. Hamilton - eehhhh. Something about the gods of war and lust being kidnapped by mafia types? I don’t know. (The note that echoed the dark, the haunting sound of the heathen horn.)

Witch Sight by Roberta Gellis - A young woman at a private school where a murder has taken place is accused of the murder because she is a witch. (You are coming home, to your own people now.)

Overrush by Laura Anne Gilman -  This one felt like it could easily have been expanded into a longer work. (And according to the notes, it apparently IS.) The world-building in this was remarkable - Wren and Sergei work together to figure out how a rash of unsolved wizard murders are occurring in the city. (For him, that was enough.)

Captured in Silver by Teresa Edgerton - A young woman pays an unethical wizard to assassinate a high-ranking politician who deserves to die. (As usual, there would be no real justice in Tourvallon.)

A Night at the Opera by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - Someone has devised a way to store spells, thus allowing them to commit the perfect murder. I feel like this one shouldn’t have been as dull as it was, sadly. (She held up the letter he had dropped and wordlessly opened her arms.)

A Tremble in the Air by James D. Macdonald - Not too bad. A paranormal debunker is called to a mansion after the lady of the manor reports seeing a ghost. (As to what force caused the Oujia board to begin to spell “GARDEN” (backwards, I admit), information neither Mary nor her friend had or could possibly have learned - that I am not prepared to say.)

Murder Entailed by Susan Krinard - murder during a dinner party, the victim a well loved member of society, who, it turns out, is a bit of a jerkass to pretty much everyone. (And he smiled in a way that made the world right again.)

Dropping Hints by Lawrence Watt-Evans - A wizard has created 5 servants who are humanoid, but nearly identical to one another. One of them murders the wizard while the new king is visiting, and it is up to him to determine which one of them is actually guilty. I liked this, but the ending felt abrupt, even for a short story. (The soldiers drew their swords and stepped forward to obey their lord’s command.)

Au Purr by Esther Friesner - After her sister is murdered, a witch transforms herself into a cat in order to keep an eye on her niece and nephew, and to find the murderer. (He can cook.)

Getting the Chair by Keith R. A. DeCandido - A wizard's body is found in his room, the talking furniture that he gave life to have to be interrogated. This was slightly amusing. (I really hate magic.)

The Necromancer’s Apprentice by Lillian Stewart Carl- In England, the Queen orders a necromancer to converse with the spirit of a murdered young woman. (You rude-growing toad!” he exclaimed, and guided the lad down the street toward the warmth and peace of home.)

Grey Eminence by Mercedes Lackey - In a private school in Victorian England, two young students (Nan and Sarah) are best friends. Sarah can see and talk with ghosts. Nan has a connection with ravens. A Lovecraftian horror attacks them, and they have to use their wits, and the help of their birds to survive. (“Very smart Nan.”)

 

28. 21. A book related to Maximilian Hell, the noted astronomer and Jesuit Priest who was born in 1720 

Alien 3 - The Unproduced Screenplay by William Gibson - Again, a bit of a stretch to fit the theme (‘astronomer’, ‘space’), but, then, this theme is sorta crappy. So, anyway. Apparently William Gibson was asked to pen the screenplay to Alien3. He did, and ultimately the studio opted not to go with it, and we ended up with the underappreciated third flick we got instead. Flashforward some twenty years later, and his screenplay is getting turned into a graphic novel. Neat. Except that the story is ...kind of dull. The gist: Ripley, Newt, Hicks, and Bishop are picked up by a group of “space communists” - a group that is ideologically opposed to Weyland-Yutani. These space commies start doing experiments on the alien dna that Bishop had in him (apparently some of the alien DNA got into BIshop’s body after he was torn apart, and began to grow. Yes, Bishop is an android. Yes, this makes no sense.) ...and, you know that once experiments start with xenomorphs that it just doesn’t ever end well. Anyway, the Corporation come a looking, and the two sides clash. It *could* have been cool, but ...it really really wasn’t. The new characters are mostly boring folks that I couldn’t connect with.  Freaking Ripley spends most of the time still in hypersleep and/or a coma. Bishop was great, as usual. The Aliens are powered up to have a bunch of new mutations or something, and it made following what was going on really difficult.  I do like the idea of other unproduced screenplays being turned into graphic novels, but this one was a bit of a mess, so overall I’m glad that this wasn’t produced. (Neither are you.)

 

29. 23. A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author 

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli - YA novel about Simon Spier, a teenager who is wrestling with the decision to come out to his family and friends. He’s been exchanging emails with another student at his school, Blue, who is also gay. When one of Simon’s classmates finds out his secret, it completely disrupts Simon’s world. 

This was a very solid, very enjoyable read. Nothing groundbreaking, but a good book to get absorbed in nonetheless. (Maybe I want it to be.)

 

30. 22. A book with the major theme of survival 

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay - So good. You would think that reading about a horrifying disease throwing civilization into disarray wouldn’t be something that you’d want to read about right now, since...well. But, this was somehow a bit of a nice break from the real world. As bad as Covid-19 is, at least it isn’t freaking super-rabies that essentially turns normal people into zombies within a matter of hours. 

This opens with Natalie, fifteen days away from giving birth to her first child, waiting for her husband Paul to return from a grocery store trip. The Massachusetts town that they live in is currently under quarantine because of the new strain of rabies that is spreading. Unfortunately, Paul and Natalie are attacked by an infected man. He kills Paul, and ends up biting Natalie on her arm. All this happens in the first 20 pages, setting in motion the next few very tense hours where Natalie contacts one of her close friends, Ramola, who is a pediatrician, and one of the greatest people in the world. I loved Rams so much. Natalie too. Their friendship was ...ugh. I’m crying. So, yeah. Nats & Rams are fantastic, and their trek to a nearby hospital in order to get Natalie a vaccine/c-section are harrowing and just so engrossing. I have really become a huge fan of Paul Tremblay’s work, and eagerly look forward to each of his new books. (She opens the first file and presses the Play button symbolized by a triangle fallen on its side.)

 

31. 24. A book with an emotion in the title 

#SAD! Doonesbury in the Time of Trump by G.B. Trudeau - A collection of the Doonesbury comic strips, mostly all related to Trump’s campaign, win, and first two years as president. Some of this was mildly amusing, in the way that Doonesbury can be. The artwork was fine. It was about what I was expecting, really, which wasn’t a whole lot. I pretty much read this to fulfill the theme of the week. (It’s undignified.)

 

32. 25. A book related to the arts 

The Adventures of Barry & Joe: Obama & Biden’s Bromantic Battle for the Soul of America by Adam Reid - Isn’t *any* book related to the arts, if you think about it? Anyway, this was a graphic novel (of sorts), and… it wasn’t very good, to be honest. It was supposed to be humorous - the concept being that after Trump won, a group of scientists, including Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and IBM’s Watson among others, created a temporal displacement chamber. Obama & Biden can enter it (naked) and find themselves transported back in time, hopefully able to “put right what once went wrong”, with Samuel L. Jackson as their holographic guide. (The author admits they are huge fans of Quantum Leap.) Anyway. This just wasn’t funny, or enlightening or inspiring or uplifting. It was just sort of ...dumb. Maybe I’m just not enough of a fanboy of Obama or Biden enough to have “gotten” the humor. Or perhaps it just wasn’t all that great to begin with. Either way, I can’t say that this is something that I recommend. (Enjoy!)

 

33. 26. A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards 

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death by Caitlin Doughty -  Caitlin is a mortician who also has a youtube channel (ask a mortician). She’s got a wicked sense of humor, and a lot of knowledge about death, and the various rituals we have surrounding it. In this book she has compiled a collection of questions that have been submitted to her by the younger crowd. From the titular question (answer - most likely not, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility) to can I keep my parents’ skulls after they die (answer - no) to can we give grandma a Viking funeral (answer - no, not really, and the “Viking funeral” is largely a myth anyway) and all sorts of others. This was a light breezy read that was also informative and whimsical. (That’s for the family to decide.)

 

34. 27. A history or historical fiction 

Umbrella Academy Vol 2: Dallas by Gerard Way - This collection was a bit of a reset button, but I felt like it was an improvement over volume 1. The characters felt more ‘themselves’ and the story seemed slightly more coherent and even the humor was better. I think it may have been that the series is just growing into itself. Either way, I’m looking forward to volume 3.(Since when do we own a television?)

 

35. 33. A book about a non-traditional family 

Afterland by Lauren Beukes - A plague that causes men to contract an aggressive form of prostate cancer wipes out nearly all of the males on the planet. (There are about 1 million left alive worldwide) Cole has lost her husband, but her young son, Miles, is one of the lucky immune. The two of them are planning on leaving the US to return to South Africa, where Cole was born, but are stopped by the military, who essentially hold them prisoner on a base in order to conduct tests. Cole’s sister, Billie, has a plan to help the two escape, and make a large amount of money in the process. The plan goes sideways, and Cole ends up on the run with Miles (who has to camouflage as Mila). Mother and son spend the novel making their way cross-country, while trying to avoid re-capture by the military, and also being tracked by Billie. My description is probably not doing it justice, but this was quite enjoyable. The chapters rotate POV, and Billie’s was a bit hard to get into at first (she’s suffered a major head-wound so her thinking is disoriented to begin with), but eventually I really got to know and appreciate all of the characters and what they were going through. (“When they’re ready,” she agrees, watching the tall fins slice through the water a hundred feet below them, and disappear again into the ocean.)

 

36. 28. A book by an Australian, Canadian or New Zealand author

The Antagonist by Lynn Coady - Interesting novel told in episotalroy fashion. Gordon “Rank” Rankin is a big ol’ jock, who appears to be a brainless hulk of a man, but really has quite a bit of depth and brains behind him. After a string of bad luck cause him to abandon his college friends, he gets back in touch with his best friend from those days, Adam, after discovering that Adam has written a novel that is based on Rank, but that he hasn’t gotten the facts right. This outrages Rank to the point where he decides to email Adam to find out why he made up lies about him, and also to set the record straight. I found Rank’s voice delightful, and it wasn’t until about two-thirds of the way in that the lightbulb went on over my head that Rank was doing the same thing he accused Adam of doing with regard to his father, whom Rank blames for most of the problems in his life. This was a neat little read that gave a lot of insight into how no matter how well you know someone, you really don’t know the whole story. (Your friend, Gordon Rankin)

 

37. 51. A book with an "-ing" word in the title

 The Living Dead by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus - For the last fifteen years or so of George Romero’s life, he had dropped hints that he was working on a novel. That novel was going to be a retelling of his epic Night of the Living Dead work, but also go beyond that a great deal. While George was unable to finish the novel before passing, Daniel Kraus was contacted by George’s wife and asked to complete the task. The result? A massive 600 page sprawling zombie epic. This began by focusing on five different main characters - Etta Hoffman, a government employee who sticks around her job to catalog the world falling apart; Luis and Charlie, a pair of morgue employees who encounter one of - if not the very first - corpse to reanimate; Karl Nishimura, an Asian-American US Navy officer onboard an aircraft carrier; Greer Morgan, a Black teenage girl living in a trailer park; and the employees of WWN, a news station that is reporting on the carnage while also having to deal with in-fighting. The first section of the novel focuses on 10/23, and the first few weeks following. The second section, easily the shortest, breezes through the next decade. And the third and final section focuses on those characters who have survived to Year Fifteen. 

The first section did a fantastic job of showing just how quickly the zombie uprising could throw things to the crapper, and was genuinely scary for a bit - something that is somewhat surprising to this cynical old dude. 

The middle section felt far too short, but I appreciated how it covered a lot of ground without making the book even longer than it already was.

And the third section was simultaneously optimistic and heartbreaking. 

There were two errors that bugged me (mildly, as I know that the novel was one that George was working on for a while, and it seems likely that they just slipped through the cracks, but, still, they stood out to me): First, an interview that supposedly took place in 2015 -”fifteen years after Hurricane Katrina” - nope. Hurricane Katrina was 2005. And secondly, one of the WWN employees in the last section is stated as being “now 50”... but, if the last section takes place in 2035, and this character was reportedly working *during* 9/11… they would have been  about 16 at that time. Not bloody likely. But, for the MOST part, this was pretty engrossing, and even though it was a doorstopper of a novel, and a lot of it was ground that has been covered ad nauseum in the zombie genre, it still flew by and I’d say that it’s definitely one that any real zombie fan should check out.  (For now, the dead win.)

 

38. 29. An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book 

Finna by Nino Cipri -  Ava is your typical 20-something; she works at an Ikea-type store at a job she hates, with supervisors she despises, and to make matters worse, she gets called in on her day off, where she’ll have to work alongside her ex, Jules, whom she’s been re-scheduling to avoid.
But her bad day at work gets worse when an elderly customer goes missing through one of the pesky wormholes that happen to exist in this particular big box store. After a bit of training, Jules and Ava’s supervisor sends them both through the multiverse in order to find the grandmother and bring her back safely. The couple work through their issues while having to fight carnivorous couches and blood sucking cults.
This was fun, but nothing super special. I picked it out because it sounded neat (I’m a sucker for parallel universes) and because it only had a couple hundred ratings on Goodreads, so it was “underrated”.(Ava ran through it and kept running.)

 

39. 30. A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year

A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman - A stand up comic in Israel named Dovaleh has invited someone he knew from his childhood to come see his performance. His routine is rather unusual, with it seemingly more like Dov’s memoir than any actual jokes. As Dov reveals more and more of his tragic past, the narrator reflects on his own life and how he interacted with Dov while they were growing up. This was well written, but ultimately didn’t feel like it connected with me. (Good night, everyone.)

 

40. 31. A book inspired by a leading news story 

Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News by A. Brad Schwartz - this nonfiction look at the 1938 radio broadcast that “caused a nationwide panic'' was super interesting. Using tons of letters that listeners had written to the FCC, and to Orson Welles, along with a lot of other research, this was a fascinating look at the time period and how the general belief that there were millions of people frightened by the radio play put on October 30th, 1938 is not at all accurate. The truth is actually much more nuanced, and much more interesting. It was also a bit depressing realizing that history really does repeat itself, with a section of the populace always ready to blame ‘media’ on whatever the outrage of the day is. (The broadcast may have been fake news, but its story carries a great deal of truth.)

 

41. 34. A book from a genre or sub genre that starts with a letter in your name

Ignited Volume One: Triggered by Mark Waid - Graphic novel about a group of teens (I’m using, oh, let’s go with “action” for the genre) who develop super powers which were spurred on after experiencing a school shooting. Three months later, and they are all returning to school and dealing with the stresses that that brings. (Media attention, pro-gun morons protesting, plus the usual stresses of high school life like cliques and hormones). This seems like it might have been an edgy and interesting and timely thing 50 years ago, back in 2019. I suppose when we get back to “normal” and school shootings become a thing again, maybe it will be again. 

The powered teens seemed… overpowered in my opinion. Viral’s power, for example, is the ability to make anyone near him ill with any sort of sickness. He uses it to cause a mass bout of diarrhea amongst the teachers, and later when they’re being shot at by protestors, he causes them to break out in hives of some sort. Having that ability alone would make any one person ultimately unstoppable, and he’s just one member of the six. I guess if I were to continue with the series, I just don’t see how they could face any threat that they wouldn’t be able to easily overcome. But. I’m more than likely NOT going to keep reading this, because truth be told, it was a bit dull. Semi-interesting concept, but less than sufficient execution of it. (Let’s change the effing world.) 

 

42. 35. A book with a geometric pattern or element on the cover 

More Than This by Patrick Ness - Seventeen year old Seth Wearing drowned in the ocean. The freezing cold waves threw him against some rocks, breaking his shoulder, smacking his head, and he drowned. 

But then he awakens, barely dressed, on a beach near a neighborhood that is completely abandoned. He’s confused, but very much alive. As he begins to investigate his surroundings, he discovers that he is in a neighborhood from his childhood - but that it is devoid of any other people. Dust covers everything; cars are sitting on flat tires, all the food has expired and grown moldy. Just what the hell is going on?

As the story progresses, “just what the hell is going on?” is asked a LOT. This YA novel sometimes felt a little TOO twisty and ambiguous with its answers to its multitude of questions, but the characters were pretty great, and the underlying story - one of hope and perseverance, even in a world that may be shitty at times - was strong enough to overlook those flaws. I really had no idea what direction this was going to go, and at a certain point I decided that I was just going to be there for the ride instead. I think it might have been able to have been tightened up a bit (it was 400 pages) which would have improved it somewhat, but overall I enjoyed it. (And he says, “I’m ready.”)

 

43. 32. A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan

The Rat Catchers’ Olympics by Colin Cotterill - Oof. This was a chore to get through. I just could NOT get into it. Well, that’s not entirely true. At first it was interesting - it’s apparently a mystery series wherein the only coroner in the country of Laos solves murders along with his ragtag bunch of friends/coworkers. And at some point early on in the series, Dr. Siri developed the ability (maybe?) to communicate with the dead. So, this book, which is set during the 1980 Olympics, started off with an interesting premise, but at some point, I lost my focus, and just could NOT get back into this. I “read” it, but nothing really sunk in. You know how sometimes you can just stare at words for a bit, and not really grasp what you’ve read? This novel was like that for me. It took me almost 2 months to finish this, and it’s only a smidge over 200 pages.  (But that, as they say, is another story.)

 

44. 37. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #1 

The Last Day by Andrew Hunter Murray - Earth’s rotation began slowing down a few seconds every day, and 30 years ago it stopped completely, with one half frozen in perpetual darkness, and the other  half baking in constant sunlight. Britain happened to luck out and fall in the ‘golidlocks’ zone where life was still maintainable, although the political and societal ramifications have made it a rather crapsack world. 

Ellen Hopper is a scientist who is studying the currents of the ocean when she receives a notice from an old professor of hers who is dying and wants to see her one last time. The government brings her to see him, and she gets pulled into a mystery surrounding something that her professor has hidden from the leaders of the government. This was an interesting, but somewhat mundane, sci-fi novel. The ending felt rather rushed, considering the pacing in the first 90% of the book, and it seemed to leave it open for sequels, but if so, I doubt i’ll look into reading them. The story was fine, just not something that grabbed me as strongly as I thought it would. (The car turned west at the next junction, and began to make its way, driving once again careful and slow, toward the American Zone.)

 

45. 38. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #2 

The First Day by Phil Harrison - this novel focused on Samuel Orr, a married pastor who has an affair with a young woman named Anna. When Anna becomes pregnant, Orr decides to leave his wife and leave the church as well. But before those plans can be completed, Orr’s wife is killed when a train hits her car. The novel follows Orr and his children over the next thirty-ish years. This was a pretty well written novel that looked at the choices we make based on passion or anger end up having long term consequences for ourselves and the people around us.(I wait just a little longer, for his inevitable awakening.)

 

46. 39. A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce

Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal - a collection of webcomics put into book form; about a world where all the men have gone extinct and the remaining women have a society all on their own. There were a few comics that were truly laugh out loud hilarious, and a lot that were cute or charming. No real over-arching plot for the thing, just a collection of different comics from the new society formed after the downfall of man. It’s like if Y: The Last Man focused on the aftermath, and was FAR less serious. :) This was a very quick read - an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. (Babies were born, segways were found, and arachnid overlords were defeated (that was a weird year).)

 

47. 40. A book with a place name in the title

Umbrella Academy vol 3: Hotel Oblivion  by Gerard Way - Blah. Incoherent and just not easy to get back into. A little bit after halfway through, it started to come together, but it was too little, too late, really. The series on Netflix is far and away much more superior. (I am number one.)

 

48. 41. A mystery

Undiscovered Country volume 1: Destiny by Scott Snyder - Okay, this is not *really* a mystery, in the traditional sense. This was a graphic novel set in a world where America completely sealed itself off from the rest of the world (using some crazy future tech that allowed them to put up a sort of invisible shield around the borders) for 30 years. A virus is affecting the rest of the world, and suddenly someone in the US contacts the leaders out there and asks for a team to be sent inside. A ragtag group of folks - each with their own past, which gets explored - is assembled and makes their way into a VERY changed landscape. Maybe I’m just not as easily impressed as I used to be, but this didn’t really click with me. Some of the concepts were neat (the idea that reality and/or time is warping in bits of America was kinda cool), but overall the presentation just didn’t work.  (I’m begging you.)

 

49. 49. A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win (link)

Upgrade Soul  by Ezra Claytan Daniels - (The category I used this for was A book in which one of the main characters is involved in an experiment.) This was a graphic novel about Hank and Molly Nonnar, a wealthy elderly couple. Hank made his money by continuing his father’s legacy of sci-fi books. Molly is a retired chemist. They get approached by a company doing some interesting, if not entirely ethical, work with clones, and decide at first to donate money to the company, and then opt into undergoing the procedure that will result in them having their bodies restored to their full potential. It doesn’t work, because if it did, there wouldn’t be a story. But, instead, their clones end up with their thoughts and memories, but are highly deformed beings that hardly look human. 

Things get more complicated when it’s discovered that the clones and the original donors have a connection and being separated causes physical pain to them both. 

Some of the storytelling in this was a bit muddy at first (not sure if the flashbacks were the right way to have the story presented) and it was sometimes hard to care for some of the characters, but I liked this quite a bit. It offered up a lot of thoughts about identity and love, and was just an interesting read. (Brilliant suggestion, doctor.)

 

50. 44. A book related to witches

Buffy the Vampire Slayer volume 2: Once Bitten by Jordie Bellaire - Not nearly as good as the first volume was, but it was decent. I appreciate that this reboot is a bit like having taken the original Buffy series and put it in a blender for twenty seconds. It feels like it could have been an episode from Buffy that aired in an alternate universe. Just not a ‘top tier’ episode, ya know? Anyway, I’m still on board with this series, but hoping that it can go back to the level of goodness that was in volume 1.(I don’t know...but I think it’s something bad…)

 

51. 48. A book published in 2020

It Came From the Sky by Chelsea Sedoti - A doorstopper of a YA novel (502 pages!) about two teenage brothers in a small town in Pennsylvania who commit a hoax about aliens visiting their farm, and the chaos that results from it spinning out of control. Gideon and Ishmael Hofstadt are conducting a science experiment in their backyard, which results in a very large explosion. When their parents ask what happened, they tell a white lie to cover their butts - blaming it on a meteorite. Things start to snowball from there. 

This was enjoyable enough for what it was, but I felt like it was a *bit* too long. It does go by quickly - the chapters are short, and there are multiple pages where things are relayed via text messages, or police interviews, or blog posts. Still, I felt like some of the fat could have been trimmed a bit. 

But I did like it overall. I thought that it was interesting to see Gideon struggle with the desire to be in control of the hoax, and the guilt of manipulating so many other people. (Go out and find your glory.)

 

52. Breathless volume 1: Pay to Live by Pat Shand - I really liked this graphic novel. The worldbuilding was great, I liked most of the characters, and the artwork was fabulous. The ending seemed a little disjointed, and I know it says that it’s just volume 1, but I don’t know if it’s actually going to continue or not. I hope it does. 

This was about a world wherein actual monsters exist, but are mostly a secret from the public. Scout works in a lab that dissects these creatures in order to provide pharmaceutical advancements. Her assistant, Grace-Eisley is a little bit scatterbrained, but is a good person. When an accident in the lab occurs that results in Scout being cured of her asthma, Grace-Eisley tweets about it, and the wrong people see the tweet before she can delete it. It’s been a while since I’ve had a graphic novel series that I was able to get into, so I hope this one continues for a while, it was very good. (The world is full of monsters.)

 

53. 50. A book with a silhouette on the cover

Wonderland by Zoje Stage - Sigh. This started out very strong. A yuppie-ish family - Orla, Shaw, Eleanor Queen (age 9) and Tycho (age 5) - move from the city into a secluded cabin in the woods in upstate New York. Orla is a retired ballet dancer, and Shaw is going to focus on painting. Unfortunately for them, the land is a bit haunted. As the weather turns supernaturally ominous and ends up trapping them in their new home, the family must struggle to not only understand the land that they’re living on, but not destroy one another. 

I read Zoje’s first novel, Baby Teeth, last year, and thought that was fantastic. The writing in this is also good, and the setting is top notch. But. Somewhere slightly after the middle of the book, the pacing just fell flat. 

It started to pick up a bit more near the very end, but this was sadly a bit of a step down from her first work. Not enough to throw me off of reading her stuff in the future - she’s a very talented writer - but I just hope that what she writes next is more akin to Baby Teeth (or the start of Wonderland) than the last half of this. (The problem lived inside her house.)

 

54. 45. A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018

Basketful of Heads by Joe Hill - this graphic novel was just okay. Not one of Joe’s better works, but it wasn’t a bad way to spend an afternoon, either. June Branch is a young woman who has spent the summer of ‘83 with her boyfriend, Liam, on Brody Island. Liam has been working as a police officer under the careful watch of Chief Clausen. When four escaped convicts make their way to the island during a storm that destroys the only bridge off, June and Liam are essentially trapped. Liam has something that the criminals want, and they’re willing to kill to get it. June fights back, using an axe with magical properties. It’s (slightly) better than I’m making it out to sound, but, again, it was nothing super-ground breaking or memorable, either. (Sooner or later, it always does.)

 

55. 36. A book from your TBR/wishlist that you don't recognize, recall putting there, or put there on a whim 

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Huthinson - Wow.  Henry Denton has a craptacular life. His father has left, leaving his mother to raise him and his older, jerkass brother. His grandmother is suffering from dementia, and it’s progressively getting worse. His boyfriend, Jesse, killed himself last year, which has caused a rift between him and his other best friend, Audrey. His current rebound boyfriend, Marcus, is the school’s most popular jock (and is closeted), and is an abusive entitled rich asshole. He’s failing his classes. Oh, and he periodically gets abducted by aliens who resemble giant slugs, who have informed him that - unless Henry chooses to push a button to prevent it - the world is going to end in exactly 144 days.

Henry doesn’t want to push the button. He doesn’t want to continue living in a world that is constantly beating him down. A lot of the time, it’s hard to blame him.

This book was very good, but it was so, so, SO depressing. Henry’s life is just one thing after another, with very little hope or optimism mixed in. It’s there. It’s just difficult to see it sometimes.

(Because we are the ants, and we’ll keep marching on.)

 

56. Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh - Allie’s drawings never fail to crack me up. Those staring eyes. The overwhelming emotion. For the first fifty pages or so, I was laughing pretty consistently, even if things weren’t *that* funny. Steph (who read this just days before I did) said to me, “I feel I should warn you that there is some pretty heavy shit in there.” Considering I had just read a story about a dog eating poop, I made a crack about that. But, yeah. It...um. Gets dark. But, even so, that just made the book even better, in my opinion. It’s such a personal book. I did feel like I was nearing the limits of her style of humor/drawing/writing near the end (it’s 500 pages!) but this was just a really great book, and I’m so glad I got to read it. (Especially when they are.)

 

57. 43. A book related to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse

On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony - Utter garbage. Zane is a loser down on his luck - he gets scammed by a shopkeeper at the beginning when he is looking to buy some magic gems (yes, magic exists in this world. As do God (whom we don’t meet) and Satan (whom we do) and Incarnations of Time, Fate, Nature, War, blah blah blah. This was like “deep” philosophical junk that 14 year old me would have probably found way more interesting than it actually was. When Zane ends up shooting and killing Death, he has to take over that role. We spend a lot of the first part of the novel learning what that job entails. It’s thought out, I’ll give him that. But the writing is overly wordy and oh my god the sexism just oozes off the pages. It’s remarkably awful. And Zane is just not a great character. I didn’t care whether he and Luna ended up together, or Zane “died” or he defeated Satan’s master plan, or really anything in this novel at all. The ideas were its strong point, and honestly, even those were not overly amazing. There’s apparently an entire series, which makes me wonder how he can prattle on about this for multiple novels, but I won’t be checking them out, regardless, so whatever. [Edit - found out a little later that apparently the other books in the series focus on the other Incarnations. Still not gonna read them, but that makes a little more sense.] (He liked the thought.)

 

58. 42. A book that was nominated for one of the ‘10 Most Coveted Literary Prizes in the World’ (link) 

MAUS by Art Spigelman - For whatever reason, this just didn’t work for me. The memoirs of Art’s father, a survivor of the holocaust, feel like they should have been more impactful than they came across. I don’t know why it didn’t connect for me, but this sadly just fell flat. And then the fact that it just sort of *ends*, with no real conclusion (apparently there’s a part 2) left me saying, “That’s it?”. (...Murderer.)

 

59. 46. A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire"

Psycho by Robert Bloch - The book is pretty much the movie, but in book form. Still, I can see why Hitchcock went with this. It’s a taut little thriller of a book, and if you don’t know all the details of the story, I can see how it would be even more shocking. (Why, she wouldn’t even harm a fly….)

 

60. Nailbiter, vol 7: Nailbiter Returns by Joshua Williamson - The original series ended a few years back, and the final installment was a bit of a let down. It felt rushed and like they’d run out of steam. This reboot (of sorts) seems to have gotten things back on track. Yay! I still think this could make a very entertaining series, and wouldn’t be surprised for it to end up on Amazon or Netflix someday. We’ll see. Anyway, this brought everyone back (even folks who we presumed were dead) to the crazy-ass town of Buckaroo, Oregon, home of seventeen of the wackiest serial killers in history. Seems someone is gathering killers again and having them compete in a contest to collect eyeballs. This gory, weird series is delightfully bizarre. Love it. (...We have to go home.)

 

61. 47. A classic book you've always meant to read

Rabbit, Run by John Updike - Spoilers ahead…

Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom is a shitheel. He’s a 26 year old who peaked in highschool playing basketball. Apparently he was really good back then, and he often still dreams of his glory days. But in the present, he’s married to Janice, who is 7 months pregnant, and who is a stay-at-home mom to their toddler son.

When the story starts, after trying to join a game of basketball with some teenage boys (who are mostly like, “Okay, boomer…”), Rabbit comes home, sees his house in disarray with Janice watching tv, and decides, “I’ve had enough of this life.” He decides to bolt. 

He just up and leaves his family. Gets in the car, and starts driving. No real decision as to where he’s going (just like his life in general, get it?), he just drives. He ends up at the home of his ex-coach, who, if anything, is even more of a disaster than Rabbit is.

His coach lets him crash with him, and then decides to take Rabbit out on a double date with his latest girlfriend, and Ruth, an escort, for Rabbit.
Rabbit spends a lot of the date thinking (and possibly saying out loud) horrible things about Ruth’s weight and appearance, and profession. They sleep together, and then Rabbit pretty much just moves in with her.

Various people in Rabbit’s life try to persuade him to go back to Janice, but to no avail, as he’s happier with Ruth (although he flirts with the occasional waitress during dates, and sexually assaults the wife of a pastor). 

Then Janice goes into labor, and he has a moment of “oh, shit. Reality.” and goes to the hospital to be with his wife and newborn daughter.

They reunite and things seem okay for a while - although he’s STILL a dickweed to her, and I don’t understand how she’s want him back at all - until one night when he’s horny (after going to church and flirting with the pastor’s wife), gets turned down, and he leaves her AGAIN.

There’s more, but that’s enough. Bottom line? I hated Rabbit. Everything he does is selfish and/or rude. And he ultimately doesn’t learn or change or grow. What’s even more frustrating is that I have a strong desire to read the other 3 novels about him. I *probably* won’t - I’ve learned that time is precious, and hate-reading is not a great way to spend the time you’ve got - but the desire *is* there. Sigh. (Runs.)

 

62. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 3: From Beneath You by Jordie Bellaire - ehhhh. Disjointed and confusing and I’m losing interest… There are some good concepts here (Xander, Anya, *some* of Willow’s stories), they just don’t seem to be coming together properly. Since I already have volume 4 checked out from the library, I’ll give that a shot, and hope for the best. (I will finish what they started.)

 

63. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 4: Frenemies by Jordie Bellaire - an improvement over the previous volume. It’s still not completely great, but it’s drawn me back in with some of the twists to the original way things played out on the series. I think Xander’s storyline is absolutely one that the series should have done, and ComicKendra is about a gabillion times more interesting than ShowKendra was. (Not the fault of the actress; lay that blame at the feet of the writers.) I’m ambivalent toward some of the other storylines, but overall, I think this reboot has potential to still be interesting enough to keep up with. (Like me and Rose.)

 

64. 52. A book related to time

Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children’s Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut and Ryan North - a comic adaptation of Kurt’s classic novel about Billy Pilgrim coming unstuck in time and experiencing the horrors of the bombing of Dresden, alien abduction, a plane crash, and even his own death (so it goes). I’ve read the book and greatly enjoyed it, and everything I’ve read of Ryan North’s has also been something I’ve loved, so it was pretty much a no-brainer that combining the two would be a treat. And it was. The artwork is glorious, and the humor and depth of the novel come through no problem. This was a fantastic way to end this year, highly recommend this to anybody that is a Vonnegut fan. (Poo-tee-weet?)