March and April 2019 Books

Lost and Wanted, Nell Freudenberger (2019)

Helen is known for the theory she and her Harvard classmate developed explaining fifth dimensional physics in black holes, and has explained physics in best-selling books. She now works as a physics prof at MIT, raising her son Jack as a single mom. Helen’s bonds with Jack are a delight to read, and though Helen thinks doing math is easier than relationships, both are rich in the novel that is now in my top ten. The story begins when her college roommate and best friend dies after a long-term illness. The two women lived on opposite coasts. Charlie, a creative and impulsive African American, studied literature and theater, succeeding as a screenwriter and producer in L.A. Charlie’s husband and daughter move to Boston temporarily, and Helen gets unexplainable texts from her dead friend’s phone. This books is well-written, intelligent, and emotional in a way that resonates deeply.

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, Patrisse Khan-Cullors (2018)

This memoir doesn’t develop anger as much as understanding. Khan-Cullors documents her life to explain her interest in social activism. She went to a magnet school in L.A., drawing motivation from the contrast between accepted white privilege and the injustices she saw her family members suffer. Hidden codes, segregation, and a prison system which penalizes drug use and mental illness contribute to the racism she experiences. Her studies led her into community organizing, and her anger over and love for the victims of racism is well told in this story that weaves the names of men and women killed by police into her personal story of becoming a mother. I began the book hoping for a history of Black Lives Matter, and ended satisfied with what Khan-Cullors provided instead: a personal story of how an intelligent woman transformed her awareness of oppression into a rallying cry against injustice.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Hank Green (2019)

Late one night in NYC, April stops to admire a new piece of street art, a giant robot dressed in metallic samurai armor. She calls her old friend from art school to shoot a video of it, and the video goes viral, earning them significant money. Their lives change as they get a lawyer and then an agent, media coverage, a book contract, and even a meeting with POTUS (a female!). Social media, the lure of fame, and the storm of polarizing us/them comments change April.  She begins accepting others’ admiration, substituting it for love or rich relationships. Green is a smart guy able to communicate some great ideas in simple prose, and this deserves the awards it has garnered.

Home Ice:Reflections of a Reluctant Hockey Mom, Angie Abdou (2018)

Abdou is not a gentle quiet narrator, but a conflicted mother battling out what it means to encourage her 9 year old son to play hockey. Abdou looks at the sport’s dangers and violence, its economic costs, its racism, the toll it takes on marriage and family, and the nasty loud negative parents. Against the cold ice rinks, with their bitter coffee and male preferences, she asks whether her son’s development and her pride in him can stand up against the negatives. She weaves in research, citing many published sources that reinforce her own clear specific descriptions. She also reconsiders her assessment of youth hockey, not in an annoying way, but showing how her heart and her own strengths and weaknesses add to the dilemma. The accidental hero of the story is Ollie, whose outbursts, joys, and insights make her laugh, cry, and persevere.

Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean’s Greatest Predator, Jason Colby (2018)

This history of our perceptions on orca killer whales centers on the 1960s. Before then, whales were either the catch of fishermen, pests to be shot, or the biggest predator of the seas, inspiring annoyance, apathy, or fear. After Ted Griffin caught and swam with an orca, the world’s thinking changed, sometimes with startling immediacy. Griffin has been valorized and vilified, and Colby shows reasons for these judgements, siding with a reasoned and forgiving stance. Orca rights have, ironically, been given because of hunters, fishers, and catchers. Not only that, these rights have been given by the game department and former killers, who often refuse to admit their prior culpability. Colby explores many stories of many people involved in the transition. Although he includes some scientists and science, this book is more personal.

Children:

The book in the book in the book, Julien Baer (2019)

Thomas goes on vacation with his parents, and their day is pictured in sunwashed colors and typical beach imagery. Exploring on his own, he finds a book with a similar story but in a new place, and so on, in a meta-mirroring technique that is light and fun. Everything is wrapped up cleverly at the end of this creative book for kids. This may be a spoiler, but I like that it introduces science fiction.

Arno and the Mini-Machine, Seymour Chwast (2019)

“Get back on the path!” and “You will study hard and be good children”  chirp omnipresent speakers and machines. Arno is a middle grade boy living in the technological future 200 years from now. The drawings of this colorful book show bright flat colors that match the ‘happy’ message chirped by machines. I especially enjoyed Arno’s dog Lem, Polyfoam Poodle model 473. But Arno sees his first bird, and tries to dismantle the machine strapped to his own chest which controls his days. A hard look at a future dystopia with bright visuals as contrast.

Young Adult

Corpse & Crown, Alisa Kwitney (2019)

Agatha is training to be a nurse in an alternate history of Victorian London, where Oliver Twist, the Artful Dodger, and Frankenstein (a Bio-Mechanical) all coexist within a corrupt system. Agatha sees how the poor lack health care, and fights to help them, while her employer requires her to keep the English Queen alive by devious means. What larks ensue in this literary mash up include monsters with humanity and humans without it. This is a fun and clever book to recommend for young readers looking for fantasy.

The Pioneer, Bridget Tyler (2019)

Jo and her family are astronauts chosen to settle a new planet for humanity. The contract for colonizing requires that a planet have no sentient life, and the pioneers were told the planet called Tau Ceti e fit their needs. The Pioneer resonates with unspoken references to the movie Avatar and the history of colonialism on Earth. Many things have been kept secret from the crew that lands to set up their home base. Beautiful descriptions, complicated ethical questions, and a diverse cast of characters make this adventure interesting.

Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus Story, Wyomia Tyus and Elizabeth Terzakis (2018)

I didn’t know who Wyomia Tyus was when I began. She was raised in small town Georgia and went to Tennessee State to run for track coach Edward Temple, who brought her to the Olympics twice. She won the 100 meters in both 1964 and 1968. Tyus talks with gentle understatement about what it took to win, and the inequalities of race and gender, endorsing Colin Kaepernick and #BlackLivesMatter, tracing these movements back in history to her friends Tommie Smith and John Carlos, whose raised fists she saw. Tyus clearly loved and respected Coach Temple, keeping their relationship strong until the end of his life. This easy to read book sheds light on a quiet athlete often forgotten.

The Kingdom, Jess Rothenberg (2019)

A murder has been committed, and this book begins during the trial, with flashbacks that trace the timeline of Ana, the accused. The murder happened in The Kingdom, a futuristic Disneyland, staffed with android/humans and featuring newly created members of extinct species. Ana is a princess, happy in her role under the dome creating happiness for kids. Happy moments in StoryLand between children and their princess heroes are contrasted with rats, both literal and figurative, who prey behind the facade. For example, the android princesses are programmed to say yes, and there are indications of sexual predators. Nobody (especially not Ana) is prepared for what seems to be happening to her, evolving with thoughts, feelings, and questions that seem human. The courtroom  sections include video, interviews, and the trial transcript. The Kingdom provides young people with an interesting look at beauty and perfection and what it means to be human.

King of Scars, Leigh Bardugo (2019)

Ravka’s king is charming by day, but can transform into a  monster at night. His fierce general takes him out into the country in search of a cure. The fantasy begins with high tension, and maintains this level of drama with conflicts between good and evil, spy and military, politics and personal needs. Many characters were introduced in Bardugo’s series before, but this book can be read on its own. I’d only read one of her books before, but found this fun and engrossing. This book is for those who like fantasies that emphasize friendship, morals, and girl power.

Friendroid, M.M. Vaughan (2019)

I loved this middle-grade book, told in two voices. Danny is a middle school boy living in poverty, with no friends at school, instead mastering the game Land X, and being supported by a loving (and hence annoying) mother. Slick, his nickname for the new boy at school (Eric to his parents, when they take the rare moment to actually acknowledge him), loves playing the same game, and they exchange tips. Popularity is Eric’s easily won goal, but making friends with Danny will ruin more than that, since Danny discovers that Slick is an android. This well told story is grounded in the reality of middle school, and carefully plotted with a diversity of core characters.

Honor Bound, Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre (2019)

I jumped into the second book of a series like protagonist Zara Cole jumped into her Honor program, neither of us knowing what we’re getting into. Luckily, this book made it easy to slip into space, on a ship that was a living and thinking being, bonded to its pilot. Hunted by bug swarm predators called the Phage, Zara and her team go to the Sliver, home to criminal alien expatriots, to recover from their battles. She’s clever, at home with criminals, always up for a fight, and learns new things intuitively and quickly. She needs all of this in order to survive. Though her morals aren’t always admirable, she tries to understand alien life rather than follow her human instincts to find slimy reptilian life disgusting. Her adventures have lots of action and creativity.

The Perfect Assassin, K.A. Doore (2019)

This  fantasy features the newest class of trained assassins, sworn to do the bidding of the drum chiefs of Gahlid, a city built high above the swirling desert sands. At the end of his training Amastan wonders if he really can bring himself to kill. His inner conflicts are insignificant, though, when compared to the murderous evil ghosts of the dead , known as jaan, who soon attack his town. The drum chiefs may be behind a spate of deaths, motivated by political reasons. Amastan is sent to spy with his colleagues, and finds himself attracted to one of his informers. The convoluted tale is hard to put down, filled with adventure and rooftop travels, and the ethnic diversity and the social acceptance of homosexuality add to my appreciation.

An Affair of Poisons, Addie Thorley (2019)

In an amazing first chapter, Mirabelle, a teenage potions master in seventeenth century France, creates a poison so her mother can kill a corrupt leader of the Sun King’s court. When it is instead used to kill the King himself, and then incite rebellion, she is both awed and frightened. This fast pace and high conflict is impossible to maintain, and the conflict doesn’t really get more complicated than that start suggests. Chapters alternate between Mira’s point of view, critical of absolutism and aware of the mass suffering, and that of the teenage bastard son of King Louis XIV, also an outsider in the chain of command, but unaware of life outside the court. Magical creatures, alchemy, and French settings like Versailles and the Paris sewers are the elements that Thorley astutely weaves together in a historical fantasy. Sequels may show Mira and Josse dealing with their romance and growing political awareness.

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