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Book No. 57 was "Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States" by Samantha Allen. Nationally-recognized LGBTQ reporter Samantha Allen takes a road trip across America to see why queer folks stay in red states that are often very hostile to the LGBTQ community. She starts in Utah, where she grew up as a Mormon boy before leaving the faith and transitioning to female, and also visits LGBTQ-positive cities in Texas, Indiana, Mississippi and Georgia, checking in at gay clubs and cafes and other queer hot spots.
I've seen other reviewers say they take issue with her assertion that people on the coasts in big LGBTQ-friendly cities are more interested in credentials and notoriety than improving the lives of queer folks, and I do admit that was one of my only negative impressions of the book. I feel like she could have talked about why people stay in smaller "flyover state" cities to improve the lot for their fellow queer people without talking smack about big cities quite so much.But Samantha's personal story and her voice really make the road trip come alive, like how she talks about feeling like a "gross yam" when she first meets Corey, the woman she ends up marrying, but it turns out that, nevertheless, Corey "wanted to eat me up." Loved this! One of my favorite nonfiction reads of 2020!
Book No. 58 was " Theory of Bastards" by Audrey Schulman. Our protagonist, Frankie, has dealt with chronic pain her entire life and so is a little prickly and not great with human interaction, instead throwing herself into her work. It garners her a prestigious award with a monetary grant that she takes to an ape research center where she plans to observe the bonobos, along with her assistant Stotts, who is conducting his own research on early human attempts at flint-knapping. Just as Frankie is making some breakthroughs in her understanding of bonobo mating behavior, a devastating sandstorm washes in, and things at the institute begin to unravel.
I love the blend of literary fiction and speculative fiction in this book. The writing is superb, and the author does a great job of creating a building sense of dread well before things take a left turn about 2/3 of the way through the book. LOVED this. Highly recommended.
Book No. 59 was "Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor" (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2) by Rick Riordan, as an audiobook. In the second installment of the Magus Chase series, Magnus must get back Thor's hammer, which has been stolen by giants, and squash Loki's plan to marry off one of his children to that giant. Just a few of Magnus's challenges include healing a mortally-wounded dwarf, helping his elf friend Hearthstone capture another dwarf's treasure, and surviving a quarreling group of dead warriors in an underground deathtrap. The book also introduces a new gender-fluid character, Alex Fiero, a child of Loki and half-sibling to Samira.
I agree with some other critics that the "voice" for Magnus Chase and Percy Jackson aren't well differentiated - they're both smart Alec teenage boys. However, I'm a sucker for Riordan's books, and I'm especially fond of Norse mythology, so I'm enjoying this series.
Book No. 60 was "Six Wakes" by Mur Lafferty. I needed more sci-fi in my life this year and decided a murder mystery with clones in space sounded like a fun book. I like how the author sets up the mystery and then goes back and digs deep into the history of all six clones and how they ended up on a generational ship sent to colonize another planet. Downsides: I felt like the ending was a little rushed, and there were a few scientific details that left me going "huh?" (like, why does a "mind map" have anything to do with the person's DNA?) This is sort of a 3.5-star book rounded up to 4, but overall, an enjoyable read.
No. 61 was "The Beautiful Mystery" (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #8) by Louise Penny. This was a really interesting entry in the Inspector Gamache series, since most in the series touch on the town of Three Pines for at least part of the book, but this has the feel of a locked-room mystery as it's entirely set in a remote monastery in the wilderness of Canada. The prior turns up dead, and it has to be one of the other monks who has done it, because no outsider has been let inside the remote monastery for hundreds of years. The Gilbertine monks went from obscurity to world-wide fame after issuing a recording of themselves singing Gregorian chants, a move that has split the monks down the middle, with some wanting to record another album and tour the world, while others want to stick to their vow of silence and traditional ways.
Has this argument lead to the death of the prior, or does it have to do with the rumor of a hidden room and a treasure? Or does it have to do with the mysterious piece of church music found on the dead prior's body? And why has Chief Superintendent Francoeur shown up in the middle of the investigation? Is it really to help with the case or just to f**k with Gamache and his second-in-command Jean Guy Beauvoir? My only complaint about this book was that Penny hits you over the head with some of the themes of the book. Overall, I really liked it. It was very intense, and I learned a fair bit about Gregorian chants. I listened to this as an audiobook, and there was even some Gregorian chant playing over the credits for the book. I'm looking forward to the next in the series.
No. 62 was "Kingdom of Copper" The Daevabad Trilogy #2) by S.A. Chakraborty. The second installment in Chakraborty's Daevabad trilogy amps up the stakes for our three characters: Nahri, the last in a line of ancient djinn healers; idealistic prince Ali; and the morally-conflicted warrior djinn Dara. Nahri tries to do good by her people by building a hospital while also trying not to get too caught up in court intrigue and city politics. Ali is pitted against his older brother and emir Muntadhir, who both have different ways of dealing with their tyrant father. And Dara has woken up changed in form and in allegiance. Daevabad is in trouble.
A really enjoyable read to end 2020 on. I had plans to move on to a memoir after this but I'm so sucked into Chakraborty's world that I immediately plunged into the third of the trilogy, "Empire of Gold."
( All 62 books I read this year, plus statistics and analysis: )
I've seen other reviewers say they take issue with her assertion that people on the coasts in big LGBTQ-friendly cities are more interested in credentials and notoriety than improving the lives of queer folks, and I do admit that was one of my only negative impressions of the book. I feel like she could have talked about why people stay in smaller "flyover state" cities to improve the lot for their fellow queer people without talking smack about big cities quite so much.But Samantha's personal story and her voice really make the road trip come alive, like how she talks about feeling like a "gross yam" when she first meets Corey, the woman she ends up marrying, but it turns out that, nevertheless, Corey "wanted to eat me up." Loved this! One of my favorite nonfiction reads of 2020!
Book No. 58 was " Theory of Bastards" by Audrey Schulman. Our protagonist, Frankie, has dealt with chronic pain her entire life and so is a little prickly and not great with human interaction, instead throwing herself into her work. It garners her a prestigious award with a monetary grant that she takes to an ape research center where she plans to observe the bonobos, along with her assistant Stotts, who is conducting his own research on early human attempts at flint-knapping. Just as Frankie is making some breakthroughs in her understanding of bonobo mating behavior, a devastating sandstorm washes in, and things at the institute begin to unravel.
I love the blend of literary fiction and speculative fiction in this book. The writing is superb, and the author does a great job of creating a building sense of dread well before things take a left turn about 2/3 of the way through the book. LOVED this. Highly recommended.
Book No. 59 was "Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor" (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2) by Rick Riordan, as an audiobook. In the second installment of the Magus Chase series, Magnus must get back Thor's hammer, which has been stolen by giants, and squash Loki's plan to marry off one of his children to that giant. Just a few of Magnus's challenges include healing a mortally-wounded dwarf, helping his elf friend Hearthstone capture another dwarf's treasure, and surviving a quarreling group of dead warriors in an underground deathtrap. The book also introduces a new gender-fluid character, Alex Fiero, a child of Loki and half-sibling to Samira.
I agree with some other critics that the "voice" for Magnus Chase and Percy Jackson aren't well differentiated - they're both smart Alec teenage boys. However, I'm a sucker for Riordan's books, and I'm especially fond of Norse mythology, so I'm enjoying this series.
Book No. 60 was "Six Wakes" by Mur Lafferty. I needed more sci-fi in my life this year and decided a murder mystery with clones in space sounded like a fun book. I like how the author sets up the mystery and then goes back and digs deep into the history of all six clones and how they ended up on a generational ship sent to colonize another planet. Downsides: I felt like the ending was a little rushed, and there were a few scientific details that left me going "huh?" (like, why does a "mind map" have anything to do with the person's DNA?) This is sort of a 3.5-star book rounded up to 4, but overall, an enjoyable read.
No. 61 was "The Beautiful Mystery" (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #8) by Louise Penny. This was a really interesting entry in the Inspector Gamache series, since most in the series touch on the town of Three Pines for at least part of the book, but this has the feel of a locked-room mystery as it's entirely set in a remote monastery in the wilderness of Canada. The prior turns up dead, and it has to be one of the other monks who has done it, because no outsider has been let inside the remote monastery for hundreds of years. The Gilbertine monks went from obscurity to world-wide fame after issuing a recording of themselves singing Gregorian chants, a move that has split the monks down the middle, with some wanting to record another album and tour the world, while others want to stick to their vow of silence and traditional ways.
Has this argument lead to the death of the prior, or does it have to do with the rumor of a hidden room and a treasure? Or does it have to do with the mysterious piece of church music found on the dead prior's body? And why has Chief Superintendent Francoeur shown up in the middle of the investigation? Is it really to help with the case or just to f**k with Gamache and his second-in-command Jean Guy Beauvoir? My only complaint about this book was that Penny hits you over the head with some of the themes of the book. Overall, I really liked it. It was very intense, and I learned a fair bit about Gregorian chants. I listened to this as an audiobook, and there was even some Gregorian chant playing over the credits for the book. I'm looking forward to the next in the series.
No. 62 was "Kingdom of Copper" The Daevabad Trilogy #2) by S.A. Chakraborty. The second installment in Chakraborty's Daevabad trilogy amps up the stakes for our three characters: Nahri, the last in a line of ancient djinn healers; idealistic prince Ali; and the morally-conflicted warrior djinn Dara. Nahri tries to do good by her people by building a hospital while also trying not to get too caught up in court intrigue and city politics. Ali is pitted against his older brother and emir Muntadhir, who both have different ways of dealing with their tyrant father. And Dara has woken up changed in form and in allegiance. Daevabad is in trouble.
A really enjoyable read to end 2020 on. I had plans to move on to a memoir after this but I'm so sucked into Chakraborty's world that I immediately plunged into the third of the trilogy, "Empire of Gold."
( All 62 books I read this year, plus statistics and analysis: )
