Overdue: recent reading

 I shipped a lot of books back from the ALA Annual Conference.  Many are ARCs--advance reader copies, though quite a number have been published.  I'm pleased to report that I've finished five ARCs and one published book.  I've also read two others (one checked out of the library and the other a book-sale purchase).  

The Swan’s Nest 
Laura MacNeal

          (I started the book when the flight left Chicago and finished just as we touched down in San Diego.) 
           The courtship of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, told from the points of view of the poets as well as other significant people in their lives.  Well-told.  (Now I’m going to look up The Barretts of Wimpole Street.)
  
The Treasure Hunter’s Club
Tom Ryan
ARC – October, 2024
           I heard the author at the last event of the conference.  The book was perfect to read on the long flight home. 
           A Christie-like plot set in modern-day Nova Scotia. A Victorian mansion, a generations-old conspiracy, revenge, and genuine who-done-it.   Great fun!
 
Bad Liar
Tami Hoag
ARC – September, 2024
          I admit it: I've never read a novel by Tami Hoag. She spoke at the Penguin Random House authors' luncheon at the ALA conference in San Diego. (You know who the Famous Author is because that person is the last one of the panel to speak.) 
             Detectives Annie Broussard and Nick Fourcade investigate a missing person and an unidentified dead body -- what's the connection? They work their way through atangled web of years-long deception and revenge.   The south Louisiana setting is reminiscent of James Lee Burke.   This thriller is #3 in a series and I'll definitely check out the first two (or maybe download the audio?).   
             P.S. I know it's an uncorrected proof...in the Cajun vocabulary at the end she defines the greeting "ca va?" as "it comes." No -- "ca va?" means "how's it going?" Those French irregular verbs....
 
How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund?
Anna Montague
ARC – October, 2024
Seventy-year-old Manhattan psychiatrist Magda Eklund sets off on a journey with her longtime friend Sara to see all the places they have talked about visiting over the years. The twist is that Sara is in an urn. Her husband cannot cope with her death and it's up to Magda to take care of the ashes. On the trip Magda gains new a new perspective on her life and identity.
 
We Were Once a Family A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America
Roxanna Asgarian
Winner of the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.
 
The author spoke at the Carnegie Medal reception at the American Library Association annual conference in June.
In 2018 Jennifer and Sarah Hart drove their SUV over a cliff into the Pacific Ocean. Their six adopted children were also in the vehicle. All eight perished. Because the children came from the Texas foster care system, Houston-based reporter Roxanna Asgarian was assigned to investigate.
The Harts, who were white, adopted two sets of three Black children. Their carefully-maintained facade of a loving home with fun adventures hid controlling, abusive behavior. Asgarian documents the pervasive racial bias in the foster care system and how child protection personnel fail too many of their clients.
Asgarian writes clearly and forcefully. It's an important story.

The In-Between Bookstore
Edward Underhill
ARC – March, 2025
           Just before his 30th birthday Darby's job at a New York tech startup ends abruptly.  He wonders if the hip world of Manhattan is worth the expense, both financial and emotional. He's changed a lot since he left Oak Falls, Illinois -- not the least of which is changing his gender. But his mother is moving from the house he grew up in and she welcomes his help. High school friends still live in Oak Falls, including his best friend Michael who has changed, too.
            The bookstore on Main Street was Darby's refuge from the confusion of adolescence. When the current Darby steps in he finds himself back in time and meets his teen-age self, working as the store clerk. Can Darby change fate and help that teenager come to terms with gender identity? When he leave the shop it is into the present day, but each time he goes back in it's to the past.
A little suspense, a few risks, and some humor all add up to a confident decision. Hooray for Darby!
 
 
The Bookshop Sisterhood
Michelle Lindo-Rice
July, 2024
        In a nutshell: four women, “besties” in their own four-person book club, have decided to open a bookstore that will stock the kinds of books they like to read. In January of their big year a slew of unfortunate events happens to each one of them. Life-threatening medical conditions, a blackmailer, PTSD from a carjacking, a lottery win sucked dry by a scammer. Throughout it all the four women are there for one another, providing emotional and financial support.
        I do not much care for rom-com/chick-lit and this book confirmed that. The timeline was implausible—all the action happens within four months. Brand-name dropping and book-title dropping were very obvious. The word “alright” was used frequently. (I looked it up: modern usage is either all right or alright, as the writer prefers. I, the reader, prefer “all right,” so the variant was very annoying.
  
Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World
Edward Humes
         Humes is deft at describing the perilous pickle we are in but not making us (at least me) feel helplessly guilty.    Plastics, fossil fuels (to generate electricity, for transportation, to heat and cook), paper and packaging, clothing, food:   our individual actions to reduce consumption and waste does make a difference.