This week’s links include: Babel and the Hugo Awards controversy; book banning news; an author’s creepy TikTok request; ABA closing headquarters; Gen Z rediscovers public libraries; grappling with Robert Burns’s legacy; rise of romantasy; plus a wonderful free short story and several book lists
A quick look at what I read, what I reviewed, and the current state of my challenges and resolutions.
I wish I had been better about reviewing last year, because I read some wonderful new-to-me authors! I hope to get around to reviewing some of them this year… which might require a reread.
In real life: work and lots of meetings. I finished up some requested changes to a work project and turned it in this week. I planned to go to a book club online on Tuesday evening, but I wasn’t feeling well. On Wednesday, I had several meetings on Zoom, and another on Thursday.
I was very excited to read The Lantern’s Dance, the first new Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes mystery since 2021’s Castle Shade. Once started, I could hardly put it down, staying up until 2:30 in the morning to reach the denouement. Like The Murder of Mary Russell, the novel alternates between past and present narratives, slowly revealing hidden connections that surprised and enchanted me.
I hope to read most of these in 2024. Some are ARCs, but others are books I just really wanted to read, but didn’t have access to in 2023. In some cases, I’m on the hold list at the library, so it’s just a question of when my holds come in.
Gabriel’s Angel is an excellent example of just how good category romance can be when it’s done well, within the strict confines of length and style imposed by the publisher. Gabriel, a reclusive artist on the run from grief, and Laura, a woman trying desperately to protect her unborn child, are both in pain from events in their recent pasts. Each needs something the other can give: inspiration, protection, understanding, healing.
It was a relatively quiet week, uneventful except for a dentist appointment, a much-needed hair cut, and a couple of Zoom meetings. We did get a little snow on Monday, which made the woods look beautiful. It was followed by (barely) freezing rain on Tuesday. By barely, I mean it turned to slush rather than creating sheets of ice all over everything. Then the skies cleared and the temperatures plummeted…
Why Fish Don’t Exist is a short but fascinating and well-written book which combines biography, memoir, science (particularly taxonomy), and philosophy. Written by Lulu Miller, who cohosts both RadioLab and NPR’s Invisibilia podcast, the book recounts Miller’s fascination and subsequent disillusionment with David Starr Jordan, a prominent scientist and scholar during the late 19th and early 20th century.
My Bookish Resolutions for 2024: I looked at last year’s resolutions, and I was dismayed at how little I accomplished. One suggestion I have seen in several places is that it works better to set specific, concrete, achievable goals, rather than broad, sweeping resolutions. So I’m incorporating that concept into my resolutions this year. And in another bid to keep myself from feeling overwhelmed, I am limiting myself to five bookish resolutions.
