Books Read While Melting

Another set of books finished on a trip - this time a work trip to Austin during a week when the temperatures were in the 100-110 range. Thus, the melting.  Although I read many of these on airplanes and in cool hotel rooms, as always.

Sorry, Bro (by Taleen Voskuni) 

This book is a debut by an Armenian-American author. I loved the Armenian proverbs that began each chapter and were woven throughout the text.  The writing was subtly funny and there was great chemistry between the leads. Great cast of characters and amazing main character. I kept letting this one expire because the title put me off, but I'm glad I kept putting it back on my library list so I could finally get to it!

The Appeal (by Janice Hallett) 

A really fun epistolary mystery, and such a page-turner. Clever, funny, super satisfying and entertaining. If you're a fan of Agatha Christie-style mysteries, you have to read this one.

The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era (by Gareth Russell) 

One of the RHC categories this year is once again "Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat!" and I've been working on the 2015 challenges, since I started the RHC in 2016 so I missed that year completely. If I don't do any double counting, I've completed 14 categories from that challenge, but this is the one that is the most unique so this is the one I think I'll count for 2023.  A microhistory zooms in on a small event in history and connects it to a broader context, which this fits perfectly. It was also really fascinating, although very focused on the aristocracy.  (It all made sense when the author gave a shoutout to his friend Emerald Fennell at the end - he's clearly from that class himself.) Still, fascinating!

Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (by Chen Chen)

As with most poetry collections, uneven with moments of transcendence. Read for the category "book of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author" (Chen is both).  He includes a memorial poem to Justin Chin, a poet who I met at his reading with Beth Lisick decades ago that was part of the reason I moved to the San Francisco area to study poetry.  I had no idea Chin had died in the interim; I still have his signed book somewhere. But at any rate, I liked this fine.

If Tomorrow Doesn't Come (by Jen St. Jude)

The Sapphic spiritual successor to The Fault in Our Stars. A tearjerker that reads like a YA but allows the characters to just be in college already.  Reminded me also a bit of Last Night (the Canadian film starring Sandrah Oh) with its apocalyptic setting.  Also recommended! Hey, I enjoyed most of these books! Love when I get a good run like this.

What I Read On My Summer Vacation

Spoiler alert: it was 17 books, so buckle up. I'll include the tags in the little blurbs below so you don't have to wade through the one zillion tags I'm about to slap on this bad boy.

The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom (by Allison L. Bitz) young adult, romcom

Loved the character growth and focus more on being a better person than the romance elements. Felt organic, theater kids are the worst and the best. I loved how everyone was casually bisexual, with sexuality not even mentioned. Very Big Reveal-esque in its boarding school setting. One of my favorite of these 17 reads.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute (by Talia Hibbert) young adult, romcom

Super great chemistry, rich characters and ADORABLE. My only two critiques: Katharine Breakspeare is a dumb/fake name, and this random dude Nick showed up as a winner at the end when it could have been any of a handful of other characters we actually knew.) But loved this read and hope Hibbert writes more YA!

Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears (by Michael Schulman) nonfiction

Juicy and detailed, got more interesting (for me) as it moved into Oscars I remember watching. I'm a faithful Oscar viewer still ,although I don't make the effort to watch all the nominees that I used to. Ends kind of abruptly but look forward to an expanded edition in five or 10 years!

The Helpline by Katherine Collette women's contemporary, litficL

Like a lighter Eleanor Olifant which is always an absolute delight. I love reading about rigid, literal characters who find happiness with a ragtag group of people who don't give up on them. Germaine is so loveable! Definitely worth reading if you enjoyed Eleanor.

Darkhearts (by James L. Sutter) young adult

I'm a sucker for "turns out I'm gay for YOU" stories but this had a couple of issues.  The best friend was clearly a girl written by a dude (she was unrealistically crude, and in general the book was fairly crude with a lot of poop humor when I would prefer zero poop humor). The character development for our MC (who needed a LOT of it) was too abrupt and the ending really didn't work. But did I keep reading until the end? You bet I did.

The Smitten Kitchen (by Deb Perlman) nonfiction, rhc 2023, cookbook if I had a cookbook tag which I don't because why would I ever do this to myself again

The only reason I read this was for the Read Harder category "read a cookbook from cover to cover" and I kind of hated this challenge. I don't really cook, reading lists of ingredients is boring, and even though her writing is very good, she uses the word "dollop" 38 times, which is probably fine if you're dipping in and out of the cookbook like a normal person but got annoying for me. Just felt very pointless. I always love her recipes though!

Evelina (by Fanny Burney) classics, rhc 2023

The category was "read one of your favorite author's favorite books" and since part of my vacation was a Jane Austen pilgrimage, I decided to read one of Austen's favorites. It was actually a page turner, with some very horrible characters that are overly mean to our poor heroine, but I was glad in the third volume when that subsided and the plot got exciting. Reading about the London season and imagining all the ways Burney influenced Austen made this really fun to read. As opposed to the cookbook thing, I was really glad this challenge was on the list.

Check, Please! (by Ngozi Ukazu) comic, graphic novel, rhc 2023

For the category "read a completed webcomic." This is a webcomic about a college hockey player, with a very sweet grumpy-sunshine romance. Kind of missing conflict and comics will never be my favorite, but quite adorable and joyful. 

Cupid Calling (by Viano Oniomoh) romance, rhc 2023, world literature

Category is: "read an independently published book by a BIPOC author." This is a self-published M/M romance about two contestants on a Bachelorette-like show who meet and fall for each other in a slow-burn romance.  It's very high-quality considering it's self-published, would not have guessed that. Loved the characters, who are both British-Nigerian and have different, complex relationships with their cultures. Definitely includes some fanfic-like sex scenes at the end that are very explicit. But they were well done and fit the characters, so it was fine. My only quibble is that it's supposed to be a reality show made by an Ava Duverney type director but it's got the same format as basically every dating reality show, so talking about how this would be "different" kind of fell flat.

The Aosawa Murders (by Riku Onda) mystery, world literature, translated

This one is all about the atmosphere! Really enjoyed the structure of multiple points of view, and the mood overall.  And the ambiguity - except that it was a shade too ambiguous! I would have liked a little more (though not perfect) resolution at the end. Still, it's eerie and gothic in a specifically Japanese way and I enjoyed it a lot.

Northanger Abbey (by Jane Austen) classic, reread, on paper

I hadn't read Northanger Abbey since I was a teenager, so when I found an adorable pocket copy at the Jane Austen House, I had to get it! really loved having my solo meals in England while accompanied by some chapters from this delightful Austen novel. Oh, and I had apparently forgotten like 80% of the plot because I haven't seen any adaptations either! I'm clearly falling down on the job.

It Goes Like This (by Miel Moreland) young adult

About a fictional "girl band" called Moonlight Overthrow that has broken up and gets back together for a reunion show. Very well written, liked the complexity of the ending, but I did think that everyone treated Eva extremely poorly and did not do enough penance at the end of the book to make their rapprochement satisfying. Gina in particular was underdeveloped, which is especially unfortunate since she is the one Black character. Enjoyable, not amazing. And I strongly suspect this is a gender-swapped rewrite of some former One Direction fanfic.

Plus One (by Kelsey Rodkey) young adult, romcom

Has a main character that somehow gets less and less sympathetic as the book goes along, culminating in so much awfulness that I almost couldn't really get back on her side anymore by the end.  All very well written and I love a confidently plus-size main character. The supporting cast was absolutely fabulous. But oof, once again not enough penance at the end, and that makes it especially hard when it's the character you're supposed to be rooting for. 

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl (by Brianna R. Shrum and Sara Waxelbaum) young adult, romcom

Love the concept and the characters (which gave me Amelia Westlake vibes, one of my favorite sapphic ya romcoms ever) but the viewpoints of the two point of view characters were both not differentiated enough in the writing style (surprisingly, since there were two authors) and not cohesive enough in the characterization (Margo's character in particular.) Disappointing execution, ultimately.

A Line to Kill (by Anthony Horowitz) mystery, series

This is the third book in the Hawthorne series, which starts with The Sentence Is Death. I saw an ad for the fourth installment in the Tube and realized I had missed #3 so checked them both out! This was really good as always, I love Horowitz's metafictional and self deprecating take on Sherlock and Watson and it was a really good mystery. 

Going Bicoastal (by Dahlia Adler) young adult, romcom

One that I saved for the plane because I knew it would be good! Sliding Doors-esque, bisexual, and absolutely charming. Loved the cleverness of the structure and shoutouts to other YAs... including It Goes Like This! Dahlia Adler is as always, really great.

A Twist of the Knife (by Anthony Horowitz) mystery, series

The aforementioned fourth book in the Hawthorne series. I finished this on the train home, half-asleep due to jetlag, so my notes just say "breezy! not as tight as #3 but enjoyable mise en scène." Not even convinced I used mise en scène correctly but there you have it. 

Phew! There you have it, the 17 books I read on my six-week vacation.