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July 2023


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish

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Canadian Book Challenge: 2024-2025

Beat the Backlist 2024

Ozathon: 12/2023-01/2025

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The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again, Today Volume 1: 07/31/23

The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again, Today Volume 1

The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again, Today by Hitsuji Yamada (2019) is about a man sized former stray cat who now serves the woman who rescued him during a snow storm. He works like the cat barista but the why and method of his transformation is different.

In I am a Cat Barista, the cat is essentially the reincarnated blending of a cat and the man who rescued him. Here, though, Yukichi, has transformed himself in a will to survive and as a secondary desire to make sure his rescuer also lives. Without him, she would be living in an apartment full of trash and she'd be forgetting to eat.

That's the set up. From there it's alternating slice of life scenes. Some are from the cat taking care of daily housekeeping and food preparation. Some are from Saku's point of view at work or out and about with coworkers.

It's cute and silly while commenting on the overworking of the salaryman. It also highlights the essentials of life with cats in a way similar to My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World by Gilles Bachelet (2006).

Five stars

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Well Traveled: 07/30/23

Well Traveled

Well Traveled by Jen DeLuca (2022) is the fourth book in the Well Traveled romance series. This one follows Lulu, Mitch's lawyer sister and Dex, the would-be boyfriend of Stacey in Well Played (2020).

Lulu has come to see Stacey and Daniel and watch the Dueling Kilts perform. She's supposed to be on vacation, a short weekend trip, but her boss won't stop calling her and texting her about a deposition they want. Problem is, she won't get the typed up transcript until Monday. One last call after she has her fortune read telling her to throw her phone in the lake, she snaps.

Before her day at the Renfaire is even half over, she's out of work and without a phone. Stacy and Daniel recruit her to work with them for the remainder of the summer. She's off the grid and expected to stay that way until they get to Willow Creek.

Most of this book is spent on Lulu finding purpose at the faire. It's how she adjusts to an offline life and the various jobs she tries at the faire. It's also primarily about her growing friendship with the three fortune tellers.

Her romance with Dex is secondary to all the other parts of Lulu's new life. The previous books' romances were better integrated into the faire experience. Here the romance doesn't even begin until the halfway point and then rushes through the expected plot points as Lulu rapidly approaches Willow Creek and the book runs out of pages.

Four stars

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Hiss Me Deadly: 07/28/23

Hiss Me Deadly

Hiss Me Deadly by Miranda James (2023) is the fifteenth book in the Cat in the Stacks mystery series. Charlie Harris witnesses the electrocution of a man who was once part of Wil Treadgill's rock band before he left for Hollywood.

Charlie has his own things to worry about. His son and daughter-in-law are still struggling. He worries that their marriage might be in jeopardy. But instead of concentrating on them, Melba keeps pulling him into Wil's affairs.

The who done it and why was obvious enough from the immediately after the electrocution. There are a enough huge bread crumbs dropped that anyone paying half attention can drop the list of suspects to two.

I don't actually mind an easy to solve mystery. Two things bothered me. First is the trope of abuse being the catalyst for revenge. The second is how much Charlie now depends on the women in his life to take care of all his domestic needs.

Granted, Charlie has had a housekeeper since the very first book. But he used to do some of the stuff himself. We know he can cook. But now that he has a fiancee, whenever the two go together, she does all the cooking for both of them. There's a potluck they go to and he doesn't even volunteer to bring something. He leaves all the women to take care of food prep.

Four stars

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Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie, Volume 3: 07/27/23

Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie, Volume 2

Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie, Volume 3 by Keigo Maki (2019) covers summer break. It includes a river trip, fireworks, video games, and a picnic.

As Izumi's curse has been well established by now, this one focuses more on the dynamics of the larger friend group. We get to see how Izumi despite his bad luck brings out the best in people. We also see how willing he is to put himself in the middle of danger if it means helping someone.

There's also more time spent on the relationship between Izumi and Shikimori. She likes to push boundaries with him but will always cave to his softer side.

Four stars

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The Hollow of Fear: 07/25/23

The Hollow of Fear

The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas and Kate Reading (Narrator) (2018) is the third Lady Sherlock mystery. Charlotte's brother is missing and Lady Ingram, the long estranged wife of Lord Ingram, has turned up dead in his ice house. Charlotte and Mrs. Watson are convinced these are signs of Moriarty's work.

The mystery of the body in the ice house is by itself an interesting puzzle that may or may not be tied to Moriarty. Had this been the primary focus of the novel, it would have made for a shorter, tighter, and satisfying read.

Unfortunately there's all this added nonsense about Charlotte's relationship with Lord Ingram. They become lovers so there's time spent on them in bed. Then there is further exploration of Charlotte's rather detached personality. She's really quite devoid of emotion, more so than the original Sherlock Holmes.

Finally there are Charlotte's other sisters and further discussion of expectations of women in Victorian times. Sometimes these long tangents result in a bit of insight for Charlotte which nudges the mystery forward. But truthfully much of these family scenes feel like padding more than anything else. Had I been reading this book in print, I most likely would have skipped over the vast majority of these scenes.

The fourth book is The Art of Theft (2019).

Three stars

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Hard Dough Homicide: 07/24/23

Hard Dough Homicide

Hard Dough Homicide by Olivia Matthews and Janina Edwards (Narrator) (2023) is the second book in the Spice Isle Bakery mystery series. The ex-boss of Lyndsay's mother is retiring as the principal of a local high school. Even after quoting an exorbitant price, the principal agrees to host her retirement dinner at Spice Isle. Before the meal is even half finished, the principal is dead and the bakery is under suspicion of poisoning her.

When the principal died I knew instantly how the murder was accomplished. Who did it, though, completely escaped me. Although this mystery is essentially an update on the classic manor house and locked room tropes, I lost track of one of the characters, the one who happens to be the murderer.

But I'm not the only one who seems to lose track of one particular suspect, even though there are only five party goers and Lyndsay's immediate family present at the murder. Lyndsay herself never seems to consider this particular person.

Yet, the murderer insists later on that Lyndsay was getting too close at some key points in her investigations. Throughout the book, Lyndsay receives warning notes from the murderer. If they had avoided sending the notes and similarly avoided confronting her, they would have gotten away with murdering the principal.

Four stars

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Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate: 07/23/23

Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate

Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate is the third of the Sophie Katz mysteries. Sophie has been asked by her mentor to seduce her husband. After she fails to do so, he's murdered and Sophie vows to find his murderer as an act of revenge.

First and foremost, revenge plots never go well. In the previous two, Sophie has turned to her faith and traditions to cope and to strategize. Here save for numerous scenes of eating sweet foods to counter the bitterness of the situation, she otherwise ignores things that worked for her in the past.

The second problem is mystery's heavy reliance on kink shaming to move the plot forward. Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate reads like a Bay Area based homage to The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham (1987), despite being 20 years younger.

The third problem with this volume is the author's complete disregard for East Bay geography. An extreme version of the San Francisco resident is one who can't imagine life outside of the city's bounds. Here, though, Sophie is supposedly investigating things outside of San Francisco but the author forgets that Alameda County exists and puts Livermore into Contra Costa County. She also has the myopic view that the Bay Area doesn't extend beyond the Caldecott tunnel. I would argue that cities serviced by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) would be by definition, in the Bay Area.

The final problem is her on again off again relationship with Anatoly. There's so much padding directly associated with her love/hate of him. Then two thirds of the way through when they resolve that, the padding turns to long drawn out ridiculously written sex scenes.

The fourth book is Lust, Loathing, and a Little Lip Gloss (2009).

Two stars

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A History of Glitter and Blood: 07/22/23

A History of Glitter and Blood

A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz (2015) is a metafiction account of a city under siege. Beckan and her friends are the only fairies who stay behind after their city is invaded by the tightropers.

While the war is going on and the fairies are trying to keep it together, the book is mostly about the act of storytelling and recording history. The narrator who can't quite remember which tense they're using is a mixture of unreliable and in your face.

Although the story is vastly different in content and presentation, it's tone reminds me of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (2000). Maybe House of Leaves if a young Terry Pratchett wrote it, back before he started using chapters in lieu of lengthy footnotes.

This odd and short novel (only about 280 pages) also happens to sit on the Road Narrative Spectrum. As Beckan and her friends are young and trying to survive in the middle of a war, they are marginalized travelers (66). Their destination is the city in which they live and which they refuse to leave (00). Their route is the maze (CC) for how war changes the landscape and for the danger life in the city presents.

Two stars

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Black Candle Women: 07/21/23

Black Candle Women

Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown (2023) is about a curse that has been affecting generations of Montrose women since Augusta stole a spell book from her mentor. The curse is this: the men who fall in love with them die. Now, Nick, the youngest, has fallen in love and decides to do what it takes to break the curse.

If this novel were YA, the curse would be more literal than metaphorical. Nick would be facing actual magical threats and would probably need to travel to the Other Side to rescue her boyfriend and maybe the other doomed lost loves of her relatives. It would be similar to Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova (2016).

Black Candle Women, though, isn't YA and it isn't fantasy nor horror. Instead it's multi-generational, multi-point of view literature. Though there is a curse, it's one that's more "headology" than literal. It's about generational trauma and it's about how storytelling can take on a life of its own in the minds of those who hear the stories.

Put another way, Black Candle Women is a literary blend of Encanto (2021) and Big Fish (2003) (the film more so than the book). But it's not until Nick choses to face the curse head on that she and her family come to realize it's not the all powerful thing they had believed in all these years.

Four stars

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Laid-Back Camp, Volume 1: 07/19/23

Laid-Back Camp, Volume 1

Laid-Back Camp, Volume 1 by Afro (2015) is the start of the friendship between Rin and Nadeshiko as well as the rise of the Outdoor Exploration Club.

Rin is a bit of a loner and loves her solo camping trips. She has her scooter and her camping gear. She keeps it light and simple and prefers to camp in the winter when there are both fewer people and bugs.

Nadeshiko is newly moved to the area and has her trusty bicycle. Taken in by the surroundings she bikes to the same campground where Rin is. They share a meal together and that's the start of what's initially a very one sided friendship.

The experience, though, gets Nadeshiko into camping and she joins the very small and poorly equipped Outdoor Exploration Club. Through her sheer enthusiasm she slowly draws Rin into the club too.

The manga features lots of tips about camping in Japan from places to go, fees that one will pay, to the equipment one will need. All of this is presented against lovingly rendered landscapes, many of which feature Mt. Fuji.

Five stars

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A Streetcar Named Murder: 07/18/23

A Streetcar Named Murder

A Streetcar Named Murder by T.G. Herren and Cindy Kay (Narrator) (2022) is the start of the New Orleans mystery series. Valerie Cooper is an empty nester and widow. Her fire fighter husband died on the job a few years back and now her twin sons are away at college. She doesn't need to work and her life has fallen into a routine of reading, cleaning, and hanging with her next door neighbor. All that changes, though, when she receives a letter regarding an inheritance from her husband's estranged uncle.

Valerie now finds herself owning 75% of an antiques business and a second house. Although she doesn't have to work there, as she doesn't need to and she is technically the boss, she does take the offer. Now her routine is changed and while it's exhausting, it's also more rewarding. It might even count as fun.

But there's a thorn in her side, a realtor who had children at the same school her boys attended. She has suddenly reappeared and wants to help Valerie sell her house. She made the faux pas, though, of calling Valerie "the Widow Cooper." Before Valerie can confront her on that rude comment, the realtor is dead — murdered at krewe ball.

The New Orleans of Valerie Cooper is different than Ricki James's. Valerie is a New Orleans native and although she doesn't partake in a lot of pageantry, especially around Mardi Gras, she loves her city and speaks of it with the solid understanding of it that only a life long resident can have. For the reader, it means that the Big Easy isn't presented as magical, sparkling, or exotic as it is in the Vintage Cookbook mystery series. I like seeing this side of New Orleans.

As this is the first book in a new series, the mystery itself is populated with very few characters, all of whom are intricately entwined, even if Valerie has been pretty much oblivious to a lot of these connections until they are pointed out to her. As someone often lost in my own thoughts to ignore bigger things or to not be privy to whatever the current gossip is, I found Valerie's cluelessness and overall disinterest in a lot of the gossip to be completely relatable.

Five stars

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This Isn't Going to End Well: 07/16/23

This Isn't Going to End Well

This Isn't Going to End Well by Daniel Wallace (2023) is subtitled The True Story of a Man I Thought I Knew. It's mostly about William Nealy, his brother in law who died by suicide in 2001.

But it's also about his sister, Holly, who spent most of her life stiff from rheumatoid arthritis. There's also the brief and tragic life of Edgar who was brutally murdered. And finally it's his own memoir as he is the one who is still alive to remember these three.

Had I not read Big Fish in 1999 and again in 2004, both during huge, stressful moves, this memoir would have completely missed me. I'm not much of a memoir reader anyway. This one was a quick but baffling read.

Wallace is twelve years older than I am. He's the age of the teens at the end of the cul du sac I lived in until I was five. They were like him too, boys who felt invulnerable to everything, who wanted to do everything without second thoughts. I didn't understand them or see the appeal of what they did either.

Three stars

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Topped Chef: 07/15/23

Topped Chef

Topped Chef by Lucy Burdette (2013) is the third in the Key West Food Critic mystery series. After writing a negative review of a new high end restaurant, Hayley Snow is added last minute to a reality cooking show being filmed in Key West. On the panel with her is the owner of the restaurant she just panned. To make things even worse, he's soon murdered!

Mysteries set in and around reality television taping isn't one of my favorites to read. I don't watch them except when traveling and there's nothing else on. There's a lot of cynicism built into how they are portrayed in fiction and I always have to wonder how much of that is based on first hand knowledge vs. the perception of how they are made.

This one follows a pretty standard path. There's the initial taping and the MC realizes things are off. Then one of the others involved is murdered. Doggedly the show continues taping episodes and the MC hears rumors of shady business. Eventually the MC finds actual evidence to back up the corruption but still continues participating. The MC ends up threatened. The show is somehow finished and the murderer somehow revealed.

To mix things up a little, this version includes some characters who are also drag performers along with being chefs. Although Hayley does her best to learn about drag and how to treat the performers with respect, these scenes still awkward and a bit fetishistic.

The fourth book is Murder with Ganache (2014).

Four stars

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The Vanishing Statue: 07/14/23

The Vanishing Statue

The Vanishing Statue by Carolyn Keene (2020) is the twenty-first book in the Nancy Drew Diaries series. This one is set at home in River Heights. A local 1%er is opening up her home to host an arts themed ball after years of being a recluse. Nancy and her friends are among the invitees.

Before the ball, the local art gallery has a statue stolen. There's confusion around who owns the statue, the recluse "Duchess" or her daughter. While it's disappearance is the inciting incident, the larger mystery is who is the Duchess and what's the story behind her most famous paintings by an even more elusive D. Shammus.

Coming at this book as an artist and an officer on the board of a small art gallery, the Shammus mystery wasn't really much of a mystery. Instead it was more of an interesting homage to How to Steal a Million (1966).

My only quibble with the book is on how overly eccentric the art world is portrayed. Of course there are a few who make their fortunes by putting on a show and making their life, their art. But most artists I know are more focused on the next project and most of them wouldn't be cosplaying at an art reception / open house.

The next book in the series is Danger at the Iron Dragon (2021).

Four stars

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Why Are You Like This?: 07/13/23

Why Are You Like This?

Why Are You Like This? by Meg Adams collects a bunch of the comics that have been on the ArtbyMoga social media streams.

The comics are primarily about Meg, her husband, and their two dogs. Meg loves Halloween, Christmas, and oversized clothing: sweaters and sunglasses feature heavily. Meg typically draws herself as a bit of a gremlin, while her husband, Carson, often ends up with sparkles.

Both are Pacific Northwesters. But Meg is American and Carson is Canadian. There are a few humorous comics that play up the cultural differences. One of my favorite panels is just him with a silly grin against an over drawn Canadian flag with the captain: "Laughs in Canadian."

Along with the silliness, there are sections that deal with deeper topics like self care and depression.

Five stars

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The Tatami Galaxy: 07/12/23

The Tatami Galaxy

The Tatami Galaxy by Tomihiko Morimi and Emily Balistrieri (Translator) (2004 / 2022) at it's most basic is a four chapter story of a university student's foray into different clubs. But it's also..."a survival story about a man trapped in a never-ending maze of four-and-a-half-mat tatami rooms and his journey to escape..." (p. 35)

The unnamed narrator lives in room 101, a four and a half tatami mat apartment in a rundown but historic building nearish his university in Kyoto. His best friend and worst influence is Ozu, a fellow student who is as questionably human as Nobby Nobs is in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Upstairs there's Ozu's Master, who may or may not be a minor god. There's also a fortune teller and her consistent fortune involving a single world, "colosseo."

Morimi uses reputation with subtle variation to build up a sense of either multiple universes or a time loop. The ways in which things change, while still influencing things past and present, gives this novel a similar feel to The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin (1971).

The Tatami Galaxy, like The Lathe of Heaven, sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. As it's only the narrator who experiences these alternative versions of events and ultimately ends up trapped in a maze made up of his apartment and then versions of that apartment, he is an orphan traveler (FF). As he is experiencing the events of a year based on which club he decided to join, his destination is uhoria (CC). His route there, is the maze, as most succinctly represented by his 80 days trapped within his tatami apartment.

There's a follow-up volume, The Tatami Time Machine Blues (2020) which will be released in English translation on November 7, 2023.

Four stars

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Olivia the Spy: 07/11/23

Olivia the Spy

Olivia the Spy by Ian Falconer (2017) is the eighth book in the picture book series. In this one, we get the perspective of her mother who has reached her wits end with Olivia's self assurance and total disregard for care when flinging herself into whatever project has her attention at the moment.

As the mom talks on the telephone, describing the messes she's had to clean up over the course of the day we see Olivia in the act of making each mess. To which Olivia responds with "Mother, I KNOW how to..." and then promptly does something wrong or to excess.

In the middle of all of that Olivia happens to overhear her mother and decides it's in her best interest to spy further. Olivia then does what she does best, becoming one with her environment.

Ultimately, though, the book is about Olivia doing her best to be the careful child her mother wishes she'd be and her mother relaxing enough to take her to see the ballet. Olivia still manages to get into the middle of things, but not to the degree she has up to now.

Maybe she's just to young. Maybe it's something more, but Olivia doesn't handle complex instructions well. It's really up to her parents to realize this and approach situations accordingly. The stories derive not so much from a willfulness on Olivia's part, but on the lack of practical supervision and instruction from her parents.

Four stars

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Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy: 07/09/23

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas (2023) opens on Nic-Nac's birthday. She's been given a hell hound puppy and she believes she's finally going to learn how to use her Gift. She also has plans to go to the book launch of the next book in a series she and her BFF JP had planned to attend. Out of the blue, though, her father forbids her from going.

And that's where things go pear-shaped for Nic and her friend. She learns that the books she loves are based on fact — on actual recent events. She also goes from being the Hermione in the story to being one of the Weasley twins.

Except, Angie Thomas is a far more nuanced and thoughtful writer, so this book much more than just an American Harry Potter with an all Black cast. Like other recent American fantasy's I've read, this one takes the history of enslavement in the United States and the folk tales that rose out of it and says that each one happened and in many cases there was the real or "Remarkable" version along with the more mundane "Unremarkable" version.

For instance, the Underground Railroad is a real underground system. It runs on magic and it can take you to specific, real places. To travel this way, you need to know how to find it, and you have to be very careful for how you instruct it.

Digging further into Nic's life and her adventure is an exploration of the human spirit — a call to action. The big takeaway here is that no matter how bad a person is told they are, even if they are fated to be the villain, they should strive to rise above where society, the universe, whatever, tells them they belong.

Nic's first adventure also happens to sit on the Road Narrative Spectrum. As it turns out, Nic is actually a sibling traveler (CC). The destination is utopia (in the form of a hidden to Unremarkables city) (FF). The route there is the maze (CC) because it's a transformative experience but also a dangerous one.

Five stars

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You Can't Hide: 07/08/23

You Can't Hide

You Can't Hide by Dan Poblocki (2016) is the second book in the middle grade horror series, Shadow House. Having been lured to Larkspur, four tweens are now doing everything they can to escape. The fifth tween needs to decide whose side he's on: the house's or the children's.

The book starts in media res and is chock full of spoilers if you haven't read The Gathering yet.

Beyond escaping the evil, sentient house plot, there are three subplots to contextualize the high stakes action. There is the tale the end of Dylan and Dash's acting career; Azumi's sister's disappearance in Japan, and; the history of the house itself.

As it's firmly established the house lies, how much the backstories can be believed is up to interpretation. Even what we know about the five main characters might be up for grabs.

Chart showing the next to neighbor progression on the Road Narrative Spectrum between the two books

Regardless, this book like it's predecessor sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. Interestingly, this sequence has a similar, near neighbor progression to Unspoken Magic by Emily Lloyd-Jones (2023). In both cases, the only change is the destination from home to the wildlands. The wildlands here is the forest surrounding Larkspur, their first stop in escaping.

The third book is No Way Out (2017).

Four stars

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This Pen for Hire: 07/07/23

This Pen for Hire

This Pen for Hire by Laura Levine and Brittany Pressley (Narrator) (2002) is the start of the Jaine Austen mystery series. Set in the down market end of Beverly Hills, this series features a writer for hire who makes a living writing pamphlets, love letters, and ad copy for businesses too small to hire a major advertising agency.

Her last client, an immature thirty-something still living at home, ends up accused of murder. The love letter had worked well enough to garner a date. But then he found her bludgeoned to death in her apartment. Heck, even Jaine thinks at first there's a possibility that he could have done it.

Jaine has a biting sarcasm similar to Sophie Katz. However, the sarcasm doesn't work as well here as she's not facing the racism and antisemitism that Sophie and her sister do.

The mystery itself was pretty obvious. It plays into the old trope of "there's never a good man." Jaine, though, misses the obviousness of it because she's too caught up in categorizing men against her ridiculously bad and stereotype driven gaydar.

Like many mysteries from the early 2000s, This Pen for Hire isn't quite the hard edge, self reliant woman as sleuth thriller of the mid 1980s-1990s. Nor is it the modern cozy, with an entrepreneurial woman who has a pet and uses her unique business or artistic skills to solve mysteries. Instead, it's a hybrid and I'm curious to see if it will progress into the cozy territory in later books as for instance the Lucy Stone mysteries do.

The second book is Last Writes (2003).

Three stars

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A House with Good Bones: 07/06/23

A House with Good Bones

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (2023) is about the evil that can lurk in your average suburban subdivision. Sam Montgomery, an entomologist is furloughed when a Native American burial is found at the dig site. As she has sublet her apartment, she's forced to go home and immediately she can see that something is off about Mom.

Although T. Kingfisher is describing subdivisions as they are built and evolve (or devolve) in North Carolina, there are a lot of points in common with subdivision life here in Unincorporated Hayward, California. First and foremost there's that one farm house that has been there for 150 to 200 years. There's usually a vulture roosting tree at the end of the street, although ours are turkey vultures. And the subdivision probably has a ridiculous theme to its street names (ours is horse tack themed).

The next big thing about subdivision homes is the lingering influence of the first owner. In Sam's case, it was her June Cleaver wannabe grandmother. Although after she died, Sam and her Mom painted the rooms bright colors and hung their funky collection of artwork, Sam to her horror finds the house back to being painted ecru and her grandmother's racist decorations back up.

From this set up, there's a slow, creepy burn, drawn out by Sam's firm belief in science above all else. It doesn't matter that there's a self proclaimed witch at the end of the street (owner of the vulture roosting tree). What she experiences she finds scientific explanations for, until she no longer can.

Despite the modern setting — a subdivision dating to the 1990s — and it's adult horror themes, A House with Good Bones shares some thematic points with Ozma of Oz (1907). There's an evil woman who wants everything perfect. There's a greater threat underground. The day is somewhat saved by a young woman who is sojourning. But ultimately the big damn hero is a bird of disputed gender.

As with every T. Kingfisher / Ursula Vernon novel I've read, this one also sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. Sam and her grandmother are set up in the scarecrow/minotaur (99) or protector/monster dichotomy of travelers. Sam's destination is home (66) and her way getting there is the cornfield (or rosebushes) (FF).

Five stars

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Kowloon Generic Romance, Volume 3: 07/04/23

Kowloon Generic Romance, Volume 3

Kowloon Generic Romance, Volume 3 by Jun Mayuzuki and Amanda Haley (Translator) (2020) continues to explore the notion of nostalgia and doppelgängers. The curtain is pulled back a little further to reveal the inner workings of the city and a possible big bad.

The relationship between Reiko and Kudou continues. By paying attention to clothing, it's possible to see that events are told out of order and that potentially huge gaps exist between scenes despite them seeming to flow naturally together. I'm reminded of the way time is played with in the first season of Westworld.

The back half of this volume includes scenes with man associated with Generic Terra. Here I'm reminded of a mix of Blade Runner (1982) and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). Imagine, though, if Tyrell were himself a Replicant.

Volume 4 in English translation releases July 18, 2023.

Five stars

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A Long Way from Chicago: 07/03/23

A Long Way from Chicago

A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck (1998) is the start of a three book series about life in rural Illinois in the 1930s and 1950s. The central character is Grandma Dowdel a shotgun toting widow who lives just outside her city's limits and lives by her own internally consistent code of conduct even when it breaks the law.

This first book involves various summer adventures that a pair of siblings had while visiting their grandmother. The first year is 1929, the summer before the stock market failed. These summers go sequentially to 1935 with an epilog chapter in 1942.

The big brother, Joey, is the narrator and he pretty much ignores his sister's experiences except to include some comedic beats. Honestly, though, Mary Alice is the more sensible of two the siblings.

A Long Way from Chicago sets up the format that the rest of the books will follow. Each chapter is one adventure, one slice of time. Later books don't take as many years to unfold, sticking instead to roughly a year each.

Enjoyment of this series hinges on how well one likes or relates to the grandmother. Although I can appreciate that times were hard and her heart was in the right place as demonstrated by her occasional, albeit it still bizarre, acts of charity, I don't find her lovable. Nor do I find the adventures particularly humorous nor heartwarming.

Although I read the first book twelve years ago, I only recently decided to re-read and complete the series. Somehow at the time I first read the book I think I got it conflated with The Cookcamp by Gary Paulsen (1991).

In bothering to re-read/finish the series, I've also realized that the three books sit on the Road Narrative Spectrum. The first book has sibling travelers (CC) who travel to a rural location (33) via the Blue Bird line railroad (00).

The second book is A Year Down Yonder (2000).

Three stars

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Menacing Manor: 07/02/23

Menacing Manor

Menacing Manor by Kiersten White (2023) is the fourth book in the Sinister Summer series. The Sinister-Winterbottom siblings and their friends, met over the course of their summer investigations, arrive at the Stein Manor Science Camp. They hope to find the Siren family but end up finding Essa and the grumpy Mr. Frank.

Each book in the series takes inspiration from classic horror novels. This one is clearly Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Knowing the source material helps to sort out some details but White brings her own twists to the story too.

One big change with this novel is that Edgaren't doesn't appear. While on of the adults does appear to be absent, him missing doesn't cause Essa the expected distress.

As this is the penultimate book in the series, it's time for the larger arc plot to begin setting up for the final confrontation. If the series were a single volume, Menacing Manor would be the B' part where the initial inciting incident is re-contextualized.

Chart showing the progression through the spectrum of the four books

As with the previous books in this series, Menacing Manor sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. With the gearing up for the climax, final confrontation and hopeful resolution, this book dips down into where a lot of horror sits. The children are now working as a found family (33), and evidence has shown there might be some distant family ties. The destination isn't the manor, but rather, Aunt Sephronia's home. Given what we know about her now, her "home" is utopia (FF), a no-place sanctuary. Their route there is an offroad magical one (66).

The final book is Haunted Holiday which releases January 23, 2024.

Five stars

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June 2023 Sources: 07/02/23

Previous month's book sources

June was dry and mostly cool. Summer school at Chabot started for my daughter, so I'm learning a new schedule. h

ROOB Score for the last three years

In June I read 14 TBR books, down three from the previous month. One book was published in June. Five books were for research and there were two review copies. None were from the library. My ROOB score for June is -3.86, down from -3.67. It is my third best June in 14 years of tracking this metric.

The current year's data is represented by a triangle on the graph below.

ROOB score mapped year after year to compare trends

I predicted a -3.5 for June. My actual score was a lower because I was slower than expected in reading my new books. For July, I'm predicting -3.75 as I have a lot of older books I'm interested in getting through.

ROOB monthly averages

My average for June improved slightly, going from -3.03 to -3.09.

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The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter, Volume 2: 03/16/23

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter, Volume 2

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter, Volume 2 by Kazuki Irodori (Artist) and Yatsuki Wakatsu (2021) is mostly about the fall out from events of the first volume. The consequences also reveal more of how this world works as well as a mystery.

Kondou remains phyiscally weak and completely devoted to his new job, even if doing it will mean self destruction. Meanwhile, Aresh, captain of the knights, continues fret over Kondou's wellbeing and uses his status to make sure he gets the care he needs.

Of course there's also sexual tension galore. People can't help but notice that something has changed between the two men. Some of them have probably figured it out, too, but are too polite to mention it.

I would keep reading it just for the chemistry but the disparity between how the girl, now the kingdom's new saint, and Kondou react to what causes magic here is fascinating. She seems unaffected by it, her body adapting quickly to things. She has even begun being able to use magic. Why does it work for her and is so physically rough on Kondou?

Five stars

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June 2023 Summary: 07/01/23

Reading report

June was the end of the school year and the start of summer school for Kay. A new schedule for her means a new schedule for me.

I read two fewer books in June, 22, down from 24 in the previous month. Of my read books, 15 were diverse and three were queer. I reviewed 25 books, down two from the previous month. On the reviews front, 13 were diverse and only one was queer.

I have 25 books left to review of of the 154 I've read.

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