Wayward Reads
Summer is officially here and it is hot, hot, hot! in Florida. Crank that AC down to as cold as you can get it and curl up with a good book--it's good for your sanity right about now.
Fiction Wise
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
"Utopia Avenue is the strangest British band you’ve never heard of. Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967...Utopia Avenue embarked on a meteoric journey from the seedy clubs of Soho, a TV debut on Top of the Pops, the cusp of chart success, glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American sojourn in the Chelsea Hotel, Laurel Canyon, and San Francisco during the autumn of ’68." From the author of Cloud Atlas! This one sounds cool.
Antkind by Charlie Kaufman
"B. Rosenberger Rosenberg, neurotic and underappreciated film critic...stumbles upon a hitherto unseen film made by an enigmatic outsider—a film he’s convinced will change his career trajectory and rock the world of cinema to its core. The only problem: The film is destroyed, leaving him the sole witness to its inadvertently ephemeral genius. Thus begins a mind-boggling journey through the hilarious nightmarescape of a psyche as lushly Kafkaesque as it is atrophied by the relentless spew of Twitter." From the screenwriter of Being John Malkovich. Sounds incredibly...strange.
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green
"The Carls disappeared the same way they appeared, in an instant. While the robots were on Earth, they caused confusion and destruction with only their presence. Part of their maelstrom was the sudden viral fame and untimely death of April May: a young woman who stumbled into the Carls' path, giving them their name, becoming their advocate, and putting herself in the middle of an avalanche of conspiracy theories. Months later, April’s friends are trying to find their footing in a post-Carl world. In the midst of the search for the truth and the search for April is a growing force, something that wants to capture our consciousness and even control our reality." This is a followup to the author's first novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. Creepy cool stuff, if you ask me.
Want by Lynn Steger Strong
"Elizabeth is tired. Years after coming to New York to try to build a life, she has found herself with two kids, a husband, two jobs, a PhD―and now they’re filing for bankruptcy. When she reaches out to Sasha, her long-lost childhood friend, it feels almost harmless―one of those innocuous ruptures that exist online, in texts. But her timing is uncanny. Sasha is facing a crisis, too, and perhaps after years apart, their shared moments of crux can bring them back into each other’s lives." Some heavy drama here.
History, and a Herstory!
Demagogue: The life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy by Larry Tye
"The definitive biography of the most dangerous demagogue in American history, based on first-ever review of his personal and professional papers, medical and military records, and recently unsealed transcripts of his closed-door Congressional hearings." This will be a fabulous read.
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
"From the real-life Lord of the Flies to the solidarity in the aftermath of the Blitz, the hidden flaws in the Stanford prison experiment to the true story of twin brothers on opposite sides who helped Mandela end apartheid, Bregman shows us that believing in human generosity and collaboration isn't merely optimistic---it's realistic." I'm pretty pessimistic right now, so this may be just what I need.
How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr
"In How to Hide an Empire, Daniel Immerwahr tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. In crackling, fast-paced prose, he reveals forgotten episodes that cast American history in a new light. Rich with absorbing vignettes, full of surprises, and driven by an original conception of what empire and globalization mean today, How to Hide an Empire is a major and compulsively readable work of history." Very interesting...
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
"In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: 'She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.' The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill's 'Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.' She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and--despite her prosthetic leg--helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it." Espionage, war, a prosthetic leg. This one has everything!
All descriptions, except where noted, are taken from Amazon.
Mini Reviews
Things That Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett
Honestly...I was expecting to be made uncomfortable, and I wasn't.
My Goodreads Rating: 3 stars
The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton
A lovely book. Don't watch the BBC series until you've read it.
My Goodreads Rating: 4 stars
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
History, nature, wild stories, quirky characters...and Bill. A great read.
My Goodreads Rating: 4 stars
Wayward Recommends
Shadow on the Crown (Emma of Normandy Trilogy, Book One) by Patricia Bracewell
Fabulous historical fiction. I'll definitely read the next book.
My Goodreads Rating: 4 stars
Okay, time for the shameless plug. Scroll on by for more on words...
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