Chain-Gang All-Stars (by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah)

Wow, I loved this. A near-future and extremely plausible dystopia, where prisoners are forced to fight to the death for corporate sponsorship and entertainment.  Woven throughout are statistics about real prison conditions, inequities, etc. And Adjei-Brenyah absolutely nails the ending, I won't say any more than that, except that it's unflinching and exactly right.

Going into it, knowing nothing except the descriptions of the books, this one was my vote for ToB winner. I think it might be the one I go for in my bracket.  It's bold, of-the-moment, and masterfully written. Loved it.

Dayswork (by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel)

Another Tournament of Books entry. (I have about a week and five books left, can I do it?!?) (Probably not; I'm saving the three play-ins for last and if I run out of time, I will just read the winner.) 

This is a unique novel that revolves around a married woman researching Herman Melville during the early months of the pandemic.  It has almost no plot, and I would have enjoyed a smidge more, but it's a delightful read with a lot of great tidbits about Melville.   (My favorite is this quote from Philip Hoare: "Melville would never have finished his book today - he'd be constantly Googling 'whale.'") 

Tournament-wise, it should win the first round (it's up against Cold People, which has no ending) but should lose the second round to either Blackouts or Boys Weekend.  Then again, my predictions are almost always wrong, so we shall see...

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (by James McBride)

I'm still working my way through the Tournament of Books shortlist, including this one by James McBride. There's something about McBride's writing that I find kind of... I don't know... twee? Artificial?Oprah's book club?

<a pause while I go to Goodreads and try to find someone who articulated this vague feeling on my behalf>

Okay here's one: "we are introduced to character after character after character who all have adorable folksy names and charming, convoluted, 'hilarious' backstories that involve star crossed romance, traumatic family histories, or hair brained schemes that resulted in the weird nickname they now have or the strange limp they're walking with and it just goes on and on and on until I thought I was gonna scream."

Yes, thank you Sara the librarian! It's too cutesy, and I felt the same way about Deacon King Kong, which I DNF after a couple hundred pages of folksy meandering.  I enjoyed McBride's memoir and I understand the appeal of the novel, but it's definitely not my favorite. 

Legends & Lattes (by Travis Baldree)

This book kicked off an entire genre - cozy fantasy - that is now a category in the Read Harder Challenge. My friend Gale also told me I must read this, even though fantasy is not my thing.  But between friendship and reading challenges, I made it happen.

It is of course delightfully cozy.  Our lead character, an orc named Val, dreams of retiring from battles and opening a coffee shop. Mild complications ensue, but mostly this is about the assembling of a charming cast of characters, a dash of romance, and general coziness.  There is a prequel which I will probably read, but mostly I want a sequel! I want more time in the world of these characters and their little coffee shop.

My Fair Brady (by Brian D. Kennedy)

I have been starting and abandoning a lot of young adult novels; I think my standards have gotten higher. Which is why My Fair Brady was such a delight - good characters, excellent plot, well written, diverse without being try-hard, and featuring queer theater nerds and social anxiety. 

Wade is a theater star and Elijah joins the tech crew hoping to make friends. Elijah asks Wade to Henry Higgins him into a popular kid; Wade wants to impress his ex-boyfriend by taking on Elijah as a project. The way it evolves is naturalistic, has some surprising moments, and feels authentic. As a bonus, it's genuinely funny without, again, trying too hard.

If you're a queer YA fan, and especially if you're also a theater fan, this one is well worth your time. 

The Lost Journals of Sacajewea (by Debra Magpie Earling)

This was a twofer, both a Tournament of Books contender and a historical fiction book by an Indigenous author for the RHC.

I'm going to call this one a me problem. It's a wonderful story and written in such a creative fashion, with Sacajawea's unique vocabulary and interesting conventions like sacred words being written in a lighter typeface and so forth. So I'm not saying it's in any way cliche or derivative. Bu unfortunately I just do not vibe with classic indigenous literature.  Like, the mighty Spirit, the great buffalo, the wolf god, the river spirit, blah blah blah.  It's like descriptions of scenery to me, and it bores me to death. Plus, like yes, white people are colonizers and are evil, and everyone suffered, and by the end the cumulative effect was moving, but I was boredddddddd.

It's also not an easy read, because you have to translate Sacajawea's experiences, and it helps to know a little bit of the history being covered because it's easy to miss certain characters and plot points. And again, I just kept bouncing off the language. The book is a real achievement and the atmosphere and the feeling of it stayed with me in a positive way and I'm sure I could have gotten more out of it if I'd tried harder.  What I'm trying to say in the end is that I think I failed this book, it did not fail me.