What I've been reading: Books No. 47-48

[sarahmichigan]

Book No. 47 was "White Is for Witching" by Helen Oyeyemi. My first exposure to Oyeyemi was "Boy, Snow, Bird," and while I liked the writing, I wasn't knocked out. I decided to give her another try and really enjoyed "White is for Witching". I see some reviewers find it confusing or disjointed, but I was able to follow it without problems. The writing is beautiful, especially the bits about desire and falling in love and kissing, kissing, kissing. The idea of a house that is possessive of its own people and wary of strangers and that is a viewpoint character felt fresh to me. This was genuinely spooky in many spots. Loved it.

Book No. 48 was "Kingdom of the Blind" (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #14) by Louise Penny. I always enjoy these Inspector Gamache novels, even though some are better than others. The events on the previous book, "Glass Houses," are still rippling into #14 in the series as Gamache and his second-in-command are under investigation for how they handled the previous case. And there's a new drug on the street that Gamache desperately wants to track down before it is released and starts killing people. At the same time, he, Myrna, and a stranger named Benjamin are all called in by a notary to be the liquidators of a will of a woman none of them has ever met. What is going on?

I gave this one a 4/5 for a couple reasons. One is that there weren't a ton of surprises. I saw several plot points coming a mile away. And I really was irritated by Penny's repeated refrain of "tr---ies", junkies, and "wh--es". It seemed clear that Gamache treated everyone, including drug addicts and trans prostitutes with respect, but the fact that Penny feels the need to use that string of slurs over and over again got on my nerves. On the plus side, I like the way the characters are still evolving in this book, and I loved that Myrna got some serious page time devoted to her. Even after feeling a little "meh" about this one, I'm looking forward to the next in the series!


1. The Empire of Gold (Daevabad Trilogy #3) [fiction]- S.A. Chakraborty
2. Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls [nonfiction/memoir]- T Kira Madden
3. Miracle Creek [nonfiction]- Angie Kim
4. The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust #2) [fiction]- Philip Pullman
5. How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #9) [fiction]- Louise Penny (unabridged audiobook)
6. They Called Us Enemy [graphic nonfiction]- George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven Scott, ill. Harmony Becker
7. Carmilla [fiction]- J. Sheridan Le Fanu (unabridged audiobook)
8. Pieces of Soap: Essays [nonfiction/essays]- Stanley Elkin
9. The Space Between Worlds [fiction]- Micaiah Johnson
10. The Autobiography of Malcolm X [nonfiction/autobiography]- Malcolm X and Alex Haley
11. No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America [nonfiction/memoir]- Darnell L. Moore
12. Mostly Dead Things [fiction]- Kristen Arnett
13. Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) [fiction]- Rebecca Roanhorse
14. Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower [nonfiction]- Brittney Cooper
15. Delirium [fiction]- Laura Restrepo (transl. Natasha Wimmer)
16. The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3) [fiction]- Rick Riordan (unabridged audiobook)
17. Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America [nonfiction/memoir]- John Waters (unabridged audiobook)
18. Storm of Locusts (The Sixth World #2) [fiction]- Rebecca Roanhorse
19. The Mistress Of Nothing [fiction]- Kate Pullinger
20. The Graveyard Book [fiction]-Neil Gaiman (unabridged audiobook)
21. The Vanishing Half [fiction]- Brit Bennett
22. Certain Dark Things [fiction]- Silvia Moreno-Garcia
23. The Long Way Home (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #10) - Louise Penny (unabridged audiobook)
24. Creepy, Stabby, and Mentally Odd [fiction/short stories]- Wednesday Lee Friday
25. Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History [nonfiction/biography]-Yunte Huang
26. This House Is Haunted [fiction- John Boyne
27. An Unkindness of Ghosts [fiction- Rivers Solomon (unabridged audiobook)
28. The Incredulity of Father Brown [fiction/short stories]- G.K. Chesterton
29. Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good [nonfiction/essays]- Adrienne Maree Brown (author and editor)
30. The Nature of the Beast (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #11) [fiction- Louise Penny (unabridged audiobook)
31. The Sellout [fiction]- Paul Beatty
32. The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband [nonfiction/memoir]- David Finch (unabridged audiobook)
33. Paradise Tales: and Other Stories [fiction/short stories]- Geoff Ryman
34. A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #12) [fiction]- Louise Penny (unabridged audiobook)
35. Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism [nonfiction/memoir]- Dawn Prince-Hughes
36. Such a Fun Age [fiction]- Kiley Reid
37. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body [nonfiction/memoir]- Roxane Gay (unabridged audiobook)
38. I Am Legend and Other Stories [fiction/short stories]- Richard Matheson (unabridged audiobook)
39. The Ultimate Guide to Raising a Puppy: How to Train and Care for Your New Dog [nonfiction]- Victoria Stilwell
40. The Prophets [fiction]- Robert Jones Jr.
41. Good Dog 101: Easy Lessons to Train Your Dog the Happy, Healthy Way [nonfiction]- Cristine Dahl
42. How to Be Both [fiction]- Ali Smith
43. Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #13) [fiction]- Louise Penny (unabridged audiobook)
44. The Little Stranger [fiction]- Sarah Waters
45. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer [nonfiction]- Michelle McNamara & other contributors(unabridged audiobook)
46. Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance (The Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries #1) [fiction]- Gyles Brandreth