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Dragonbreath: The Case of the Toxic Mutants by Ursula Vernon, 201pp [Dragonbreath 9]
The 9th book of the series. Danny, Wendell and Christiana visit Danny's paternal grandfather at his retirement community and investigate missing dentures, retainers and a lawn goose with all his little clothes missing. With the trip to the library, they figure out the culprits and follow them to an abandoned hospital full of toxic sludge. It was an entertaining book. Vernon puts in a lot of jokes and references that flow over kid's heads but certainly makes adults chuckle. Still enjoying the series - reading them on my own now once Tanya is done (she just finished book 11 last night, so I should finish the series soon).
In Love: a memoir of love and loss by Amy Bloom, 222pp
Bloom chronicles her husband's journey to go to Switzerland to end his life after his diagnosis of early-onset of Alzheimer's in his early 60s. And she recounts their life together as well. He was her second marriage and he started getting symptoms three years or so before his diagnosis. When he finally got the diagnosis, he knew early that he wanted to die while he still could make that decision and asked her to help him and she found Dignitas, a company in Switzerland after researching a lot of options locally. This is the chronicle of their trip there and also what led to it and some of her life and emotions as well. It is a very moving book. This year I watched two movies about people with early-onset Alzheimer's - the one with Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci, and "Still Alice" with Julianne Moore - in both, the characters planned their death, not always successfully. It is a very bleak disease, and it is heartbreaking. It is a very good book, very matter of fact in a lot of ways, but also is about love and death and those left behind.
The City and the city by China Mieville, 316pp [Hugo book]
This book won a Hugo and a lot of other prizes. The main character is a detective investigating a murder but he happens to live in a city that overlaps with another city, and all the people work very hard not to see the streets, buildings or people in the other city even if that building or street happens to be on the other side of your street. If the people accidentally or on purpose stop unseeing, for example crash their car into the building that is in the other place, a mysterious power called Breach would come for them. The two cities are located in Eastern Europe - one is more communism prone and the other is trying to open up. There are culture crashes too and big rules. It is a very clever bit of worldbuilding. The murder mystery itself grows better as the story progresses. I didn't love this book but I did grow to like it and got a bit invested as the book went on and I can see why this very original worldbuilding shared a Hugo with the "Windup Girl."
Dragonbreath: Knight-Napped! by Ursula Vernon, 203pp [Dragonbreath 10].
The 10th and penultimate Dragonbreath book. After Danny get a message from his cousin Spencer, via a pigeon who likes to sit on his head, he, Wendell and Christiana go to a castle to rescue him from knights who want to slay dragons. Loved the Danny's Mom "Have fun storming the castle" reference and Christiana knightly family tree. I really enjoyed this one since I love castles and I also found the whole dragon fighting knights or at least pretending to fight, really funny.
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson, 280pp
I read this book after seeing it on Jo Walton's book recs and it was a really fun look at the everyday objects we take for granted and the history of our utensils and the stove and the fridge and just our kitchen in general. We don't think about it, but I can't look at the fork or a frying pan in the same way again. The fuel available dictated the kinds of knives we need and how the difference between say French and Chinese cuisine developed. And even our overbite mouths. And it made me really appreciate everything in my kitchen. An excellent and entertaining book.
The 9th book of the series. Danny, Wendell and Christiana visit Danny's paternal grandfather at his retirement community and investigate missing dentures, retainers and a lawn goose with all his little clothes missing. With the trip to the library, they figure out the culprits and follow them to an abandoned hospital full of toxic sludge. It was an entertaining book. Vernon puts in a lot of jokes and references that flow over kid's heads but certainly makes adults chuckle. Still enjoying the series - reading them on my own now once Tanya is done (she just finished book 11 last night, so I should finish the series soon).
In Love: a memoir of love and loss by Amy Bloom, 222pp
Bloom chronicles her husband's journey to go to Switzerland to end his life after his diagnosis of early-onset of Alzheimer's in his early 60s. And she recounts their life together as well. He was her second marriage and he started getting symptoms three years or so before his diagnosis. When he finally got the diagnosis, he knew early that he wanted to die while he still could make that decision and asked her to help him and she found Dignitas, a company in Switzerland after researching a lot of options locally. This is the chronicle of their trip there and also what led to it and some of her life and emotions as well. It is a very moving book. This year I watched two movies about people with early-onset Alzheimer's - the one with Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci, and "Still Alice" with Julianne Moore - in both, the characters planned their death, not always successfully. It is a very bleak disease, and it is heartbreaking. It is a very good book, very matter of fact in a lot of ways, but also is about love and death and those left behind.
The City and the city by China Mieville, 316pp [Hugo book]
This book won a Hugo and a lot of other prizes. The main character is a detective investigating a murder but he happens to live in a city that overlaps with another city, and all the people work very hard not to see the streets, buildings or people in the other city even if that building or street happens to be on the other side of your street. If the people accidentally or on purpose stop unseeing, for example crash their car into the building that is in the other place, a mysterious power called Breach would come for them. The two cities are located in Eastern Europe - one is more communism prone and the other is trying to open up. There are culture crashes too and big rules. It is a very clever bit of worldbuilding. The murder mystery itself grows better as the story progresses. I didn't love this book but I did grow to like it and got a bit invested as the book went on and I can see why this very original worldbuilding shared a Hugo with the "Windup Girl."
Dragonbreath: Knight-Napped! by Ursula Vernon, 203pp [Dragonbreath 10].
The 10th and penultimate Dragonbreath book. After Danny get a message from his cousin Spencer, via a pigeon who likes to sit on his head, he, Wendell and Christiana go to a castle to rescue him from knights who want to slay dragons. Loved the Danny's Mom "Have fun storming the castle" reference and Christiana knightly family tree. I really enjoyed this one since I love castles and I also found the whole dragon fighting knights or at least pretending to fight, really funny.
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson, 280pp
I read this book after seeing it on Jo Walton's book recs and it was a really fun look at the everyday objects we take for granted and the history of our utensils and the stove and the fridge and just our kitchen in general. We don't think about it, but I can't look at the fork or a frying pan in the same way again. The fuel available dictated the kinds of knives we need and how the difference between say French and Chinese cuisine developed. And even our overbite mouths. And it made me really appreciate everything in my kitchen. An excellent and entertaining book.