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What I've been reading: Books No. 27-28
Aug. 21st, 2021 11:31 amBook No. 27 was "An Unkindness of Ghosts" by Rivers Solomon. I expected I would like this book, but, instead, I loved it with all my heart. I will note that there were a few plot points that didn't really get wrapped up, but that's my only teeny-tiny criticism. Otherwise, I loved everything about this book, but especially the strong-willed and yet tenderhearted main character, Aster. She lives on a ship called Matilda that is in search of a habitable planet after Earth has suffered some sort of disaster. The ship is divided into upper, mid, and lower decks, with the class of the passengers corresponding.
Aster lives on Q deck and suffers the degradation that all on the lower decks face, but she also makes time to help people as a healer, having learned from Theo, an upper deck man who is related to past rulers of Matilda and who is the Surgeon General of the ship. When the former Sovereign dies, Aster's mortal enemy, Lieutenant, is named the new Sovereign, and he's determined to make Aster's life difficult and hurt those closest to her. Throughout, Aster is studying her dead mother's notes to figure out what astronomical/physics problem her mother had been working on when Aster was just a baby. It's possible Aster's mother found a way off the ship onto a habitable planet but was silenced by the authorities of her time.
I loved how quirky Aster was, and how many devastatingly smart black and brown women there were in this book. I love the gender politics, the author's descriptive power, and the fact that she kept me guessing about where the plot was headed. I listened to this as an audiobook and loved that the reader chose a Caribbean accent for the low-deckers, who have their own dialect. Highly recommended.
Book No. 28 was "The Incredulity of Father Brown," short stories by G.K. Chesterton. I downloaded this as an e-book on my phone, mostly to have something to read in waiting rooms and the like. I think I liked the first collection, "The Innocence of Father Brown," a little better than this one. On the plus side, this one is amusing for being largely set in the U.S., unlike the first collection. I do find that the Father Brown stories get a little formulaic the more you read in a row, but they are, nevertheless, entertaining. Recommended.
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
Aster lives on Q deck and suffers the degradation that all on the lower decks face, but she also makes time to help people as a healer, having learned from Theo, an upper deck man who is related to past rulers of Matilda and who is the Surgeon General of the ship. When the former Sovereign dies, Aster's mortal enemy, Lieutenant, is named the new Sovereign, and he's determined to make Aster's life difficult and hurt those closest to her. Throughout, Aster is studying her dead mother's notes to figure out what astronomical/physics problem her mother had been working on when Aster was just a baby. It's possible Aster's mother found a way off the ship onto a habitable planet but was silenced by the authorities of her time.
I loved how quirky Aster was, and how many devastatingly smart black and brown women there were in this book. I love the gender politics, the author's descriptive power, and the fact that she kept me guessing about where the plot was headed. I listened to this as an audiobook and loved that the reader chose a Caribbean accent for the low-deckers, who have their own dialect. Highly recommended.
Book No. 28 was "The Incredulity of Father Brown," short stories by G.K. Chesterton. I downloaded this as an e-book on my phone, mostly to have something to read in waiting rooms and the like. I think I liked the first collection, "The Innocence of Father Brown," a little better than this one. On the plus side, this one is amusing for being largely set in the U.S., unlike the first collection. I do find that the Father Brown stories get a little formulaic the more you read in a row, but they are, nevertheless, entertaining. Recommended.
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
