I like the oddball style of the author – she engages the reader both inside and outside the pages – and so I was drawn to read this short book of memoirs. She wrote another book of stories/memoirs and also quite a few children’s books.

I’m guessing that most readers who know the background story behind this book (the author died shortly after publishing this book from ovarian cancer) get a sort of sad, melancholy feeling from it like I did. Without that information, there is a lot of joy found here and touching, playful moments where the author focuses on things that most people don’t think about or notice.

There was also an interactive component to this, which I sort of skipped over as I’m not sure it still works or if I can access it outside the USA. For a bit of a read off the beaten path, this was refreshing. Still, it was profoundly sad to see how much life and happiness was packed in here so soon before it would be snuffed out.

Next I’m reading Thinking In Bets by Annie Duke.

This book was hard to classify for me – historical fiction, murder mystery, with a bit of bodice-ripping romance thrown in for good measure. I came for the historical fiction part, but for me it was underrepresented.

Set in 1920’s Ecuador on a cacao plantation, there are a lot of interesting things to learn about. How the beans are harvested and processed, how the plantation was integrated into the growing town, and the parts it played in the economy and the lives of the producers – all of this is covered in a few short paragraphs.

The mystery side of the book is a little heavy-handed but entertaining enough. Some of the plot was a little too far-fetched for me, but if you don’t mind sitting back and watching the story play out without overthinking it then it sort of works.

The romance and women vs. men issues are a big part of this book, and it was the least interesting for me. If the balance of this book was a little different, I think I would have enjoyed it a great deal more.

Next I’m reading Textbook Amy Krause Rosenthal, by Amy Krause Rosenthal.

After my previous book was unexpectedly bad, I was happy to have a well-written book come up next. True Grit is a western tale told from the point of view of a girl who is exceptionally bright and determined, and unlike most female characters in westerns.

Having seen the movie adaptation first (the most recent adaptation, not the John Wayne one) I can’t help but picture the characters from that movie as I read the characters in the book. I was struck by how closely the movie had followed the events of the book, with just a couple of extra scenes thrown in.

The characters are introduced and unlike the previous book that I read (The Cartographers) we are given short episodes to see their personality in action – their personality is not explained directly but it is discovered by the reader, which is an altogether more pleasant process.

The book is rather short but paints a complex picture of each character – how they are motivated and what they believe in. You can’t help but root for young girl as she takes charge of her own life instead of leaving it to others to decide.

I blazed right through this book – it was a pleasure to read.

Next I’m reading The Spanish Daughter by Lorena Hughes.

This book marked the first dud I’ve read in quite a while. I had heard good things about it, but unfortunately I found a lot to dislike.

I’d like to write some of the good points to start, as a way to balance all the bad ones, but there’s really nothing to highlight for me. In the beginning my hopes and the anticipation of a mystery were enough to get me through the first few chapters, but from there my frustration and disappointment just started to build.

The book kind of reminded me of the DaVinci Code – the prose was stilted and seemed to be more about telling you things rather than showing them. I thought there should have been more elegant ways to introduce back story – but the author couldn’t be bothered to search for them. The plot moves forward and the characters are one dimensional and the surprises are telegraphed from the beginning and I could go on and on.

The best part of reading this book is that it showed me examples of writers shouldn’t do, and it made me notice what other writers do well: create dialogue and pacing that carry the reader along without them necessarily noticing.

So I’ll put down the hammer and walk away from this book – I’m sure whatever I read next will be better.

I haven’t chosen my next book, but I am reading The Wok by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt in the background while waiting for the next big book to drop in my lap.

This is the first book that I’ve read that addresses the COVID pandemic directly. In fact, it does a nice job of using a story to sort of document the early and middle stages of the pandemic in New York City. To me it almost felt too early to go back and look at it, but then again it also felt like so long ago.

I was attracted to this book because it is also about travel, and tells about a trip to the Galápagos Islands. There is also some romance in here, some family drama, LGBT issues, and a hard look at the what we may have previously taken for granted. In short there is a lot going on here, but the author pulls it off well.

Without giving anything away, there is a dramatic shift midway through the book that caught me by surprise, and thanks to this the book became a lot more interesting to me.

I think the best part of the book is the way it documented the pandemic, and showed it from various points of view. There are also some subtle barbs from the writer about the leadership of the country at the time, which was a nice touch. The very end of the epilogue was a little cheesy for me – but I could forgive – the story is really just a vehicle to tell a bigger story about the effects of the pandemic.

With a million Americans dead from COVID (by far the most of any country) there will be more time in the future to look at what happened and consider all the pain and recovery necessary to move on – this is an early attempt at looking at things and I think a successful one at that.

Next I’m reading The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd.

Recently Kuniko and I watched The Man in the Iron Mask one evening, and afterwards I thought that if I had a chance I should go back and read this book – the start of the series of books about the three musketeers. The book details the origin of the main character d’Artagnan, and how he met Porthos, Aramis and Athos.

Apparently this story was written in serialized form originally, so each chapter is often close to self-contained, and so the book (which is quite long) reads quickly. I found the most interesting point was that the author had a great sense of pacing – the boring stuff lasts just a few lines, and the exciting moments tend to go on for pages at a time.

I did feel that the story, maybe because it is a classic, did seem predictable. Because there are three musketeers, events tend to happen in threes, and we see how each handles their challenges (or opponents). The book serves as an interesting snapshot of the times.

I found myself laughing out loud at some of the jokes, while others were clearly so far out of context that I couldn’t understand them. While the intrigues here were timeless and fun to follow, they sometimes felt a little transparent.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue to the next book in the series – maybe it is good to take a break from the story a bit – but I’m glad I read the first book at least.

Next I’m reading Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult.

A mystery book written in a unique style to fit into modern times and technologies – this was a refreshing read.

I like reading mysteries, and they traditionally start with a dead body, and then a detective tries to figure out whodunnit. Without giving anything away, this book changes the formula in an intriguing way, making the book hard to put down.

It is written as a collection of correspondence – emails, messages, messenger apps, brochures and press clippings, and reading these give you a sort of voyeuristic thrill. It could have been cheesy but the way it is done brings a feeling of realism. I’ve seen other writers try something like this occasionally, but not write a whole book like that. While the tech is pretty up to date for 2022, I wonder what it will be like to read this in 10 years – I fear that it will seem dated and quaint.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and at first it is a little confusing. The whole story is tied together through the correspondence of one particular character, Issy, that was incredibly well-written. I feared that things would devolve on the page with Issy and it was like waiting for a train wreck to happen. Top-notch writing.

While I really enjoyed the book, the format which worked through most of it is abandoned towards the end, and I thought it suffered a little because of it. Still, without the change of format I’m not sure the author could wrap up the story in a satisfactory way.

Next I’m reading The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.

I got really deep into sci-fi with these two novels. After reading the first one I found the next one in the series available at the library so I just went ahead and read through it too.

There are a lot of good points about these books: an interesting sci-fi galaxy, with some engaging characters and space battles that felt visceral and exciting. The scope is huge, but it keeps the focus on two main characters which helps keep things moving. I liked all these good points enough to read the second book.

But during my reading I often came up on things that bothered me a little: the overly snarky dialogue between main characters, the overly detailed description of the science and physics (reminding me of the goofy science solutions they’d come up with in Star Trek), and an overall sort of juvenile feeling about the story. The author is sometimes constrained by keeping to just two main characters, resorting to dream sequences or straight info dumps to tell the backstory.

The good points apparently outnumbered the bad, but I’m not sure I’d recommend the series unless it was to a younger reader. I doubt that I’ll read the next book in the series when it comes out.

Next I’m reading The Appeal by Janice Hallett.

An area that I haven’t thought about much recently is university education – and this book examines the education received by students of the elite universities in the United States, and how this education has changed over time.

The author looks at where we are now, what the original purpose of a college education was, how that purpose has morphed over time, and gives some advice for students who might not want to accept the system as it is now.

I especially enjoyed reading about what the author considers is the point of a higher level education (especially one in the liberal arts). There are a lot of quotes I highlighted while reading, and that is always a sign of a book that rang true to me.

He writes that what makes someone interesting is not a laundry list of accomplishments, but rather “reading, thinking, slowing down, having long conversations, and creating a rich inner life for yourself.” Another quote I liked was, “life is finally a long process of learning how you ought to have lived in the first place. Or it is if you do it right.”

Lots of food for thought in this book, and I think I’ll enjoy reflecting on the contents for a long time. Hopefully this book is on the list of reading for students just entering the higher education system (and maybe even better to read as parents thinking about their child’s education).

What it boiled down to for me was that we need to develop the ability to reflect on things and consider problems and systems from multiple viewpoints. We must ask questions about why we are doing things a certain way, and be able to consider other ways that we might do it – or if we really need to be doing these things in the first place.

Living in Japan it is rare to meet people who question why things are set up the way they are. The educational system here prizes rote memorization and the submission to authority, so it is natural that the people educated like that bring those same values to their careers and ways of thinking. But I don’t think those are the best skills to bring to a rapidly changing and evolving world.

Next I’m going back to fiction with The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes.

I read this years and years ago and remembered enjoying it, so I thought I’d give it a quick re-read and see if I still liked it. Turns out, it was a cleverly written book and I really enjoyed reading it again.

The author states in this book that he has always had an interest in verisimilitude, and this becomes part of his signature style later on with his other books. This book turns out to be sort of a birthplace of that style, and later on he polishes this style to write Timeline and Jurassic Park, among others.

The story here is rather short, spends a surprising amount of time commenting on sexual issues, but filled with adventure that doesn’t have many breaks or slow points.

Now I’m reading Excellent Sheep by William Deresiewicz.

Recently Mark Lanegan passed away at the age of 57, from some sort of health complications. He had lived through a long history of drug use before he had gotten clean, and then lived through a bout with COVID and wrote about that experience in another memoir. I was looking forward to catching up with his past by reading this book, and it goes back from his childhood through the formation and dissolution of the Screaming Trees, and finally ends with him starting to get back on his feet after a critical intervention from an old friend.

I’ve been a Screaming Trees fan for a long time, and some of the songs on their Uncle Anesthesia album got me through middle school. I’ve seen them live a few times. Once at a mainly empty show in San Francisco we exchanged a nod in the middle of a song – mostly he sang the whole night with his eyes closed and leaning heavily on the microphone stand. I didn’t really know much about the members of the band, but I knew I liked his voice and the guitar heavy sound they played.

This book drops right into the story, and the story is mainly about his struggles with alcohol, drugs, and a seriously fucked-up view of the world as his to do with as he wishes. They say “don’t meet your heroes” and I think this is a prime example – I could tell right away that I wouldn’t have liked this guy at all. And it was not just me – Lanegan is an asshole to just about everyone, and as his alcohol and drug addictions get worse, so does he.

This would be a sort of standard “drugs are bad/fall of the rock star” story if it weren’t for his tone of total honesty here. He tells his story without hiding the disturbing stuff (or maybe there is more disturbing stuff than this – not sure) and he also tells about the highlights. His highlights were often just having sex with a lot of cute girls or meeting musicians that he admires, but we have to remember that he was just in his early 20’s when these events happened.

Throughout the book he explains how he and his band mates wrote songs, came up with lyrics, and were otherwise inspired to make their music. Suitably as he slides deeper into addiction the book starts to focus on just getting his next fix – the shows he was playing or the albums they were recording were just ways to get more money to get more drugs.

There isn’t a lot of pity, and only towards the end there is a little bit of self-reflection about his behavior. He often uses self-deprecation in these stories from the road, and I think that shows that he understood afterwards how awful his behavior was, and for me that was enough to kind of forgive all the heartbreaking things he did.

With the combination of Mark Lanegan’s passing and my reading of this book I think I’ll be diving into his music again to give it more listening time. Luckily he left around 10 solo albums, many of which I haven’t heard, so there are other ways to remember him.

Next I’m re-reading Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton.

I’ve read The Martian by Andy Weir, and I was expecting much of the same in this book. There are a lot of similarities, with a nerdy protagonist full of science facts and math skills. He uses these skills to survive, and to try to save the human race. All of this I expected, but there was a fundamental twist that made this book a little different. Thanks to this, I enjoyed the experience rather than feeling like it was just a recycled plot.

I don’t want to spoil anything here, so I think it is enough to say that the book was enjoyable, extremely nerdy (how much is too much?), and unfortunately suffered sometimes from the weight of all this science. It must have been tough to strike the right balance between hardcore science for the scientists, and simple easy-to-understand science for the layman readers. He did a good job overall, but sometimes it was tough to keep the story moving at a comfortable pace (for me).

Next is Sing Backwards and Weep by Mark Lanegan.

There are a lot of books out there on the differences between intelligence and wisdom – this one illustrates those differences very well while telling the tale of a group of young students attending university at a small private school.

Dark events are happening outside of the main character’s view – many of the major turning points and events are heard about through other people, and to me that was a little unsatisfying. I thought since we were hearing about them (instead of experiencing them) that there would be a twist or surprise, but, uh, not really.

The writing was quite good, however, and I really liked that it was written in a way that made it difficult to understand exactly when this story takes place. The 70’s? 90’s? The timeframe isn’t important, so we focus more on the creepy characters.

There is a lot of drugs and alcohol, bad decisions, insecurity, riches and class markers, and certain grim events that when combined made for an interesting but ultimately gloomy story. Maybe I would have gotten more out of it if I had read it in my high school or university days. Reading about people partying all night and sleeping through classes and entire days recovering just made me feel like an old man – you kids should be more responsible!

Generally I liked the book, and the writing, but not so much the story and how it was revealed to the reader.

Next I’m reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Time for some nerdy science (fiction)!

I’ve read a few columns by Frank Bruni in the New York Times but I haven’t read any of his other books – so this was a pleasant surprise. This book is about the author’s experience with a rare disease affecting his optic nerve in one eye, that may or may not lead to blindness in the future.

This serves as a sort of awakening, and most of the book is an exploration on not only the loss of sight but also on loss in general. There are many interviews and profiles of other people who have dealt with loss and growing older, the effects of old age and losing loved ones. Bruni’s writing is beautiful and occasionally poetic – and he weaves together stories of his life and the lives of others to show that life is what you make it.

There were parts of this book that I liked more than others – some felt like they were tacked on as an afterthought – but overall the message gets through, and I think this book would be good for anyone who has suffered loss or is getting older (which is just about everyone, isn’t it?)

There is some great writing here – I’m definitely going to go back and read more of his work – especially about his stint as The NY Times food critic.

Next I’m reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

It has been a while since I’ve read a straight-forward thriller with a serial killer running around. This book features a competent and intelligent main character, interesting locations and well-paced dialogue that moves the story along quickly. There are a lot of places where the author could have slowed up the story or gone into more detail, but he resisted the temptation.

My only criticism is the depiction of technology and hacking – I know that tech is inescapable in today’s society but it felt too simplified here. The writer has to balance the story with non-techie readers, but for me the hacking and virus stuff stood out as just tools to move the plot forward.

Otherwise I really enjoyed this one. It was a refreshing read after the long books I recently have been reading.

Next I’m reading The Beauty of Dusk by Frank Bruni.