Book, So Confusing (Remix)

Let’s work it out on the remix.

War for the Oaks, by Emma Bull

Reread. I pitched it to my book club twice. They picked it the second time. Everybody loved it.

The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi

Jamie Gray bailed on their master’s degree for a marketing job at füdmüd, only to get laid off and forced to work as one of their food deliverators during the pandemic. Through desperation and a wild coincidence, this leads them into taking a job, sight unseen, at a mysterious animal rights NGO known as KPS. It turns out that kaiju are real, and someone has to keep them from accidentally wandering into our universe.

Scalzi’s niche is writing fun books with snarky protagonists in intriguing worlds. This one in particular is a bit of delightful fluff. The first half of this book unpacks the premise, and then you ride the rollercoaster when the plot kicks in until the end of the book. It’s a fun ride. Plus—and this is weird—it’s a good bit of COVID nostalgia:

I was suddenly aware of my emphatic body language, perhaps made more emphatic by the fact that I, like the dude, was wearing a face mask, because New York City was a plague town in a plague country and any potential vaccine was still undergoing double-blind studies somewhere we were not.

The further we get from 2020, the easier it is to forget what it was like. It was a traumatic time, even for folk like me who had the pandemic on easy mode. This book doesn’t get heavy, but the first few chapters bring those memories back.

All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells

I’ve heard about Murderbot for years. I assumed it was about some rogue combat droid who could kill everyone, but would rather sit on the couch and watch TV. I wasn’t totally wrong, but I didn’t know anything about the story, and it sucked me in right away. I finished this novella in a day.

The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

I got the urge to reread this book after it came up during a video call. It’s a classic, but it didn’t grab me this time. Maybe I’m too familiar with the story, or perhaps its episodic nature gave me too many exit points. I’m glad I read it again, but I feel bad that I had to force myself into reading it.

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, by Michael Finkel

Another book club pick. This book tells the story of Stéphane Breitwieser, a notorious art thief who stole from museums around Western Europe. According to the book, he “averaged a theft every twelve days for seven years.” I found the first half a little too sympathetic, portraying him falling in love with stealing, his girlfriend Anne-Catherine, and stealing art with Anne-Catherine. It picks up when things start going downhill. I read everything from his second arrest to the end in one sitting.

The Tainted Cup, by Robert Jackson Bennett

Again, book club. This time it’s a fantasy novel, but instead of the usual fare, we have

• a fantasy riff on the Roman Empire;
• beset by giant sea monsters, whose corpses befoul the land, bringing corruption and contagion;
• which the empire has harnessed into magical bioengineering feats;
• it’s also a detective novel.

Dinios Kol, protagonist, is the newly-assigned assistant to Ana Dolabra, detective and lunatic. They’re investigating the death of an officer with the misfortune of a tree erupting out of him. Will they get to the bottom of it, or will a leviathan burst through the sea walls and kill everyone first?

It’s a banger.

Brigands & Breadknives, by Travis Baldree

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I think it’s a more interesting story than L&L, but I’m left a little unsatisfied. Fern is a good protagonist. The Oathmaiden never totally makes sense as a character. Zyll is an entertaining contrivance.

I think it would’ve been better if Fern lied to herself about her struggle. She knows what she has to do from the very start of the story, but can’t bring herself to do it. It’d be dramatically stronger if Astryx’s offer (ultimatum?) at the end made her realize the source of her struggles.

I’m being a little too critical. It was a fun book. I’m tempted to see if it’s more satisfying on a reread.