Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief (by Benjamin Stevenson)

The book I finished on my Tahoe vacation was the latest in the Ernest Cunningham "fair play mystery" series, Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief.  Cunningham is sort of an accidental detective who keeps getting roped into complicated mystery scenarios.  (He's writing this one before he's actually solved it, while locked in a safe.) 

One twist halfway through based on lack of communication drove me a bit bananas, but luckily it was resolved before the denouement of the book.  On the whole I thought the solution to the mystery was clever and fair and I didn't predict it, which is always a fun outcome.

I'm trying to catch up on my reading goal for the year so this is one of the lighter books I'm sprinkling in. Fun!  

A Midsummer Equation (by Keigo Higashino)

I do love Higashino, but this was my least favorite Higashino so far, mostly because of the solution to the murder, so I can't really say much without spoilers.  But it didn't quite work for me, even though I enjoyed the setting and the characters a lot.  If the murderer had been an adjacent person instead of the actual person, it would have worked much better.  And (spoiler) if the ending didn't hinge on me sympathizing with a murderer who didn't seem to have a good reason for murdering (end spoiler)

Any rate, this was for the RHC category of genre book in translation and you know I was going to use Japanese mystery for that! This brings me to 7 books read for the Read Harder Challenge, which puts me on better track than I was last year.  Woo! Something is going not horribly this year! 

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels (by Janice Hallett)

I enjoy Hallett's epistolary style, but this one wasn't quite as fun as the last one, about a pub trivia group. This one is about a cult and is very complicated, with lots of players to keep straight and some twists that would land better if I remembered who half these people were.

There's also one development at the end that I didn't care for but no spoilers.  This was a fast-paced vacation read, but the only book I finished on a very short jaunt to Vegas.  I probably will continue to be a Hallett completionist though, and check out Twyford Code next. 

The Seven Dials Mystery (by Agatha Christie)

For the category "a book recently adapted for film, TV, or musical," I had quite a few choices - especially since I just watched both Heated Rivalry and the first part of Bridgerton season four.  But as far as book qua book, I figured I couldn't go wrong with Christie.

Our detective is an amateur detective named Bundle, aka Lady Eileen, who lives with her father in an Emma Woodhouse type of situation, except with a sports car. (After being very confused by the trailer, I am told she has a mother in the miniseries, played by Helena Bonham-Carter.)  

A group of friends at a country house plays a prank on a friend, who ends up dead.  Is it murder? The characters are delightful although I admit I wasn't sure how on earth Christie would surprise me... until I literally gasped at the end. That Agatha Christie, man. She knew what she was doing.  

Anyway, a very fun book and I look forward to the series!  

Final Books of the Year?

I finished a handful of books during Christmas week and unless I surprise-finish something in the next couple of days, should round out my reading for the year. Stay tuned for my annual wrapup post! I know the three of you who actually read this are all staying so tuned!  

Dating and Dragons (by Kristy Boyce) 

A quick YA read to try and get me to my goal for the year. Cute, very feel-good with a love interest a bit too good (and mature) to be true. But cute and fun - and of course I enjoyed the gaming theme. 

Blob: A Love Story (by Maggie Su) 

This one had already been on my list but made it to the Tournament of Books shortlist so I'm now I think at two books read off the shortlist.  I enjoy a hot mess narrator and this one was the messiest of hot messes.  Thought the ending was terrific and enjoyed! Not as good as Skydaddy, which did not make the shortlist.  (To wit: I copied this review from what I have written in my notebook, but I already can't quite remember the ending of Blob. I remember the ending of Skydaddy perfectly, though.) 

The Golden Spoon (by Jessa Maxwell) 

Another fast read to get me to my goal, this time a cozy mystery inspired by the Great British Baking Show. The ending doesn't really hang together (not the mystery itself, but the aftermath) but fun vibes, good characters,  and worth a read if you like cozy mysteries and baking shows.

The Wild Duck Chase: Inside the Strange and Wonderful World of the Federal Duck Stamp Contest (by Martin J. Smith) 

Last but not least, a book about the Duck Stamp contest, which I followed for the first time this year.  Absolutely fascinating, with lots of interesting details about a niche subculture that would make a perfect Christopher Guest movie.  And as a birder, I will definitely be buying my annual duck stamp from now on!

Texas Books and ToB 2026

Time to catch up on some recent reading! I think I either started or finished all of these during my recent work trip to Texas.  

For the first time I can remember, I'm slightly nervous about my reading goal for the year - I need to finish 10 more books before the end of the year.  I still think I'll do it but normally I'm done well before December. Anyway, adding eight more books to the list today, and introducing the tag for the 2026 Tournament of Books, since the longlist is out. 

The Complex Art of Being Maisie Clark (by Sabrina Kleckner)

The only YA book on the list, actually! I liked this messy main character, and thought her coming of age story felt realistic and cute. There is some excellent trans rep that was handled subtly but realistically.  I loved that finding her artistic voice was part of her story. Her brother was kind of an asshole to her throughout, though. Overall cute and fine.

The Killer Question (by Janice Hallett) and The Last Devil to Die (by Richard Osman) 

I read these two cozy mysteries back to back and they made an interesting counterpoint to each other.  Killer Question is an epistolary novel set in the world of competitive trivia contests, which I absolutely loved. The twists here are great and genuinely surprising.   The Last Devil to Die is part of the Thursday Murder Club series and has more real emotion and deeper characters, but the mystery wasn't particularly surprising or satisfying. Really, the relationships and emotion carry this one. I enjoyed them both for different reasons. 

In a Glass Grimmly (by Adam Gidwitz) 

Part of a middle grade series that Mina enjoys so this was a read-aloud for us.  Very clever and great dark humor. Kind of what I expected and did not get from Gordon Korman, e.g. a truly funny middle grade book.  I have the third book on our shelf to start on next (and I bought her a new signed Scalzi book for Christmas, since she also enjoyed Agent to the Stars this year.) 

The Shattering Peace (by John Scalzi) 

Did someone say Scalzi?  It's been a minute since I read the Old Man's War series so I was glad of his usual formula, where there's enough context-setting to let the reader catch up.  A solid installment, cleverly written and a fun romp. As usual, my only criticism is that all of his snarky-voiced characters and their banter are interchangeable, but this is easy to look past when all the characters are so fun anyway. 

What We Knew: Terror, Mass Murder, and Everyday Life in Nazi Germany (by Eric Johnson and Karl-Heinz Reuband) and The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter (by John Douglas)

And now for something completely different: nonfiction about dark topics with long subtitles. I'll dispense with the second one first - Douglas is smart but also full of himself, and clearly thrilled to bits there's a TV show about him as he brings it up a lot and even put it in the title. (I still would love a third season though.) Still, he presents some fascinating case studies about interviews with killers and if that's your thing, you'll enjoy it.

What We Knew on the other hand is a scholarly book, an oral history of Germany from 1933-1945, and explores what German Jews and non-Jews knew about the mass murder that started in earnest in 1942.  First there are 40 oral histories and then the authors take a look at large-scale survey data. Absolutely worth a read if this chapter of history is interesting to you. 

Sky Daddy (by Kate Folk) 

My first ToB read, about a woman who is sexually attracted to airplanes and believes her destiny is to marry one by dying in a plane crash.  Audacious and un-put-downable, I hope it makes the shortlist because I'd love to talk about it. (Is the ending a cop out or is it genius? I truly can't decide.)  I haven't read any of the other books on the longlist (although I had a couple on hold already) so I'd better pick the next one fast.  

Silent Parade (by Keigo Higashino)

I should have a tag just for Japanese mysteries at this point, but here we are again. Part of the "Detective Galileo" series that includes The Devotion of Suspect X. 

As usual, kept me turning the pages - and I wondered how Higashino was going to twist the ending, considering that a lot of things are known at the outset.  Is this a whodunit or a howcatchem? I thought to myself more than once. 

I wouldn't go to this as my first Higashino - I think Malice is my favorite so far - but it's another compelling, complex, satisfying mystery.

Iceland Books

I got a bit caught up on my reading goal and finished six books while I was on vacation. As per usual, here they are in vacation roundup format. 

We Solve Murders (by Richard Osman) 

My friend sent me a picture of this book on the recommendation shelf of a local independent bookstore, because it's written by Richard Osman, who has been on Taskmaster UK, a show he introduced me to. This is the moment I realized the Taskmaster Richard Osman is the same Richard Osman who wrote the Thursday Murder Club series! We Solve Murders is the beginning of a new series from him, and thanks to my friend, also meets the criteria of "a staff pick from an indie bookstore" for the Read Harder Challenge. Apart from that, it's a great kickoff to a new series - funny, unpredictable, cozy, with charming characters. If you liked Thursday Murder Club, you'll enoy this one too.

Shampoo Unicorn (by Sawyer Lovett)

The novel is about a queer podcast in rural America, shown from three points of view. I think the exploration of small town homophobia and transphobia will resonate with its audience, but it was not quite successful for me. Of the three point of view characters, one is kind of shoehorned in unsuccessfully, and another is in second person for seemingly no reason. More a book I'm glad exists for today's kids than one which landed with me.

Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic Over Role-Playing Games Says About Play, Religion, and Imagined Worlds (by Joseph Laycock)

As the title suggests, this one is pretty academic and definitely reads like someone's published thesis (not that there's anything wrong with that). Read this for the RHC category "a book about a moral panic."  I did find it very interesting, as Laycock talks about how fantasy serves similar functions to religion in society and how that overlap can lead to moral panic. It also talks about how the secret to averting a theocracy is allowing people to explore imaginary worlds and alternative frameworks like art, fantasy, science, and religion (apart from the hegemonic one). A slow read but enjoyable.

Leo Martino Steals Back His Heart (by Eric Geron)

A queer YA, of course. On the plus side: had a real story of self-discovery that felt authentic, and wasn't formulaic.  On the negative side: the tone is confusing, a lot of plot is unresolved (like okay, his dad is a cartoon-like cheater and abuser, but his mom's family takes the dad's side? And that's not ever explained or resolved?), some of the side characters seem more like plot devices than actual people with motivation, and the central romance didn't work for me. So, an author with a ton of potential but a book that didn't quite work. 

A Psalm for the Wild Built (by Becky Chambers)

Sci-fi novella for the category "a queernorm book."  To me, reads like the prologue of an actual book. This is about a discontent "tea monk" named Dex who meets a sentient robot and they become friends and set off on an adventure. It's a classic Becky Chambers cozy sci-fi in a casually queer world but really feels like the story has barely begun. 

The Examiner (by Janice Hallet)

I loved the premise of this one - like The Appeal, a novel told through text messages and emails being reviewed by a third-party - in this case, an examiner (a grade-reviewer) for a master's degree art course populated by some deliciously unlikeable characters.  Also one of them might be dead.  First half of this was terrific, up to the first twist (which I loved) and then the denoument ended up being super long and convoluted, and I didn't quite follow everything that was even going on, what people's motivations were, or what the Maguffin even was. Maybe it was just because I was jetlagged by this point but I saw similar feedback on Goodreads so I didn't feel too alone. 

Two Weeks, Six Books

I went on back-to-back work trips to New York and Austin, and in the process, finished six books that were across the board pretty good! And two of them covered Read Harder Challenge categories: queer mystery and standalone fantasy.  Here are the books:

Murder in the Dressing Room (by Holly Stars) 

A fun cozy mystery about drag culture. I was convinced I knew the murderer the whole way through the book, to the 99% point, but turns out I didn't! The murderer wasn't really the point though, more an endearing story about a cute, nonbinary main character and an exploration of the world of drag. This is the only book on the list that didn't get a + next to it on my list, but it was cute!

Magic for Liars (by Sarah Gailey)

I was dreading the fantasy category until I found this, detective fiction set in a magic school! (I could call this "genre blending" too I suppose, but it's going to be harder to get standalone fantasy out of the way so I'm sticking with that one.) This is so well done. A woman whose twin sister is a mage - but who isn't magical herself - investigates a murder at a magic school. I loved the main character (in spite of her unlikeability) and really enjoyed all the characters, the treatment of magic, and the way it all played out.  

Lorne (by Susan Morrison)

It was fun to be reading this while I was in New York, and especially since I finally got to see Studio 8H on this visit! I knew many of the stories from being an SNL fan over the years but certainly didn't know all of them - and overall was a fascinating insight to the show and Lorne Michaels as a person.  Highly recommended for fans of Saturday Night Live. 

Newcomer (by Keigo Higashino)

Inventive! It's not only a murder mystery but functions as a set of linked short stories - Detective Kaga is a newcomer to this part of town, as is the murder victim, and as you explore different characters you see their connections to each other and to the victim. Often, the vignettes explore a storyline of a person in the neghborhood, as their secrets are revealed and characters loop in and out of the story. Another great offering from Higashino!

Lover Birds (by Leon Egan)

A queer retelling of Pride & Prejudice, wherein a posh London girl moves to Liverpool and meets Lou Byrne and her four best friends.  There are echoes of P&P everywhere (guess who the four best friends are intended to be) but the conflict between the characters ends up feeling organic, and the main character's struggles to manage her ADHD are really well done. Great chemistry between our main couple also! Just overall loved it. 

When the Moon Hits Your Eye (by John Scalzi) 

Last but not least, my pal John Scalzi's latest! I wasn't hugely into Kaiju Preservation Society but this one I really enjoyed. The high concept premise - the moon turns to cheese - becomes an exploration of shared humanity and how we find meaning in our lives.  It's often clever and funny (classic Scalzi) but also surprisingly meditative and profound at points too. Honestly exceeded my expectations! 

One by One (by Ruth Ware)

I wanted to find a thriller to read on Halloween and this one was recommended on a list of books with good twists, I've enjoyed Ruth Ware before, and it was available from the library.

Do not bother! It's a take on And Then There Were None, where a group of tech workers and a couple of workers get snowed in by an avalanche, and people begin to die. But the mystery is structured so poorly. They reveal the murderer two thirds of the way through the book (and it's obvious) so I kept reading thinking surely now will come the twist!

There's no twist. It's just boring all the way to the end. Most of the characters aren't even trapped, they leave the chalet! So we're left with two people, and of course you can guess what that means if you've read any murder mysteries at all.  

As the kids say, or probably stopped saying already, it's very mid.

Alaska Books

I spent a week in a cabin in Alaska; due to weather and flight delays, I also spent a whole lot of time holed up in the cabin and in airports and on planes. As a result, I finished a whopping nine books, so this might be a long post! This covers many of my favorite genres: litfic, young adult, speculative fiction, and Japanese mystery.

Asking for a Friend (by Kara H. L. Chen)

Cute YA about Taiwanese-American kids with complicated families who enter a business competition. In fact, the first of two books on this list about second-generation Asian kids! I enjoyed the depiction of Taiwanese culture and as a second-generation kid of immigrants (though not Asian immigrants) a lot of relatability in this one. Cute but not amazing.

Inspector Imanishi Investigates (by Seicho Matsumoto) 

I believe this was a new author for me that I got from a recommendation on Reddit.  Slow-paced, lots of minutia which I normally love, but but not enough balance in the other direction, and not enough excitement in the mystery. It's like "here is every detail about a very slow paced investigation, and the killer is the exact person you most medium suspect, and you'll discover that very slowly." Not a must.

True Love and Other Impossible Odds (by Christina Li) 

This was the one that made me cry.  It has lot in common with the first book on this list, as it also deals with the pressure of being the child of Asian immigrants. Bu it's a little more mature (the characters are college freshman), the romance is a Sapphic one (always a plus), and in general it was more affecting (I cried). Of all the YA books (or early adult in this case) on this list, this was by far my favorite.

James (by Percival Everett) 

I've been meaning to read this one since the summer, as it was selected for Camp ToB and is by one of my favorite authors. It's a high concept novel (a loose retelling of Huck Finn from Jim's perspective) and it's by Percival Everett, so of course it's a masterpiece. This will definitely make my end of year best books list and probably be in the 2025 tournament.  It's wonderful.

In the Orbit of You (by Ashley Schumacher) 

Another YA, with good chemistry and a nicely complex love story but an unsatisfying ending that didn't quite ring true. As an aside, I knew the Goodreads crowd would dislike this one because they get very mad when anyone is emotionally (or god forbid physically) cheating in a YA novel, but I cannot be the only teenager with the messiest love life. (A sample of my high school days: I cheated on my first boyfriend by kissing a hot guitar player at a party, he responded by bringing me flowers and forgiving me, which didn't make sense until I catfished him for fun only to discover he'd been having sex with his male best friend for years. We stayed together until I successfully convinced him he was gay. We've been best friends for over 30 years. That's high school for you!)  

Margo Has Money Troubles (by Rufi Thorpe)

I decided based on reading her ToB judgment last year that I had to read something by Rufi Thorpe and indeed, this novel is exactly as smart, fresh, quirky and funny as I expected. 

The Half-Life of Love (by Brianna Bourne) 

This was both speculative fiction and YA; the concept is that you get a twinge when your life is halfway over.  A lot of suspension of disbelief was required because they are scientifically investigating it as if it's some chemical thing but also apparently you're immortal before this happens? Like, what happens if you blow your brains out with a pistol? But it's a love story between a researcher who lost her baby sister and a teenage boy who's about to die.  I didn't love how the ending played out (not in terms of what happens, but in terms of how Finch doesn't get agency over his planned death) but it was an interesting high concept, and I liked September as a character and just generally pondering how we live our lives and what's important. Also I was on a bucket list trip (to see the Northern Lights) so led to some interesting contemplation about the purposes of a bucket list and why this trip was important to me.

True Letters from a Fictional Life (by Kenneth Logan)

I wasn't sure if the characters fell flat for me because I was tired from travel at this point, but my thoughts were echoed on Goodreads and the more I thought about it, the more flat it fell. It's about a sporty kid who's figuring out he's gay but I had a lot of problems with it: there's a lot of homophobic and transphobic stuff that is never challenged or addressed. It doesn't feel like in 21st century Vermont of all places there would be this many people using the f-slur, punching gay kids, assuming gay people are pedophiles, or panicking about gay people getting AIDS. Like the widespread regressive attitudes don't ring true. The romance is absolutely tepid. And I couldn't really visualize any of the characters so they all fell flat. A big miss for me.

Salvation of a Saint (by by Keigo Higashino) 

Last but not least, from the author of The Devotion of Suspect X, another Howdunit.  There was one part of the Howdunit that I figured out very early on; the other part was ingenious and I didn't. I loved the character of the female junior detective.  I loved the entire plotline and the unraveling of the mystery. Goes into my top tier of Japanese mysteries for sure, and a great note to end my vacation reading marathon on!

Close to Death (by Anthony Horowitz)

The fifth book in Horowitz's metafictional Hawthorne mystery series; in this one, he writes about a Hawthorne cold case, Agatha Christie style, and also about the experience of trying to write about the cold case when Hawthorne won't tell him the ending. (Although it's just a google search away...)

I love a Christie-style mystery (Horowitz always fools me), and a postmodernist twist. I love that Horowitz has no problem making his fictional self so annoying. And the central mystery is very satisfying, in that it makes perfect sense but also I never saw it coming. 

The Devil's Flute Murders (by Seishi Yokomizo)

Another Japanese murder mystery! This time I had a really hard time keeping all the characters straight in my mind. I went to Goodreads and I wasn't alone - the cast of characters is large and not always rendered distinctively, and there are a lot of names starting with the same letter.  This is par for the course with murder mysteries but didn't gel for me here.

I also found the pace slow, the translation of the "accents" to be very odd. I enjoyed the reveal at the end even if I didn't fully follow everything (due in part, again, to a huge cast of characters and more being introduced as we go...) For the first time in reading a Japanese murder mystery, I found myself wishing for a western adaptation! The plot is good, but the execution wasn't great.

Belize Books

I'm almost done with a sixth book, but here are the five books I finished while on my vacation to Belize:

Birding Under the Influence (by Dorian Anderson)

I avidly followed Dorian's blog about the Big Year he did on a bicycle. In this memoir, he tells the story of his journey while interspersed with the love story between him and his now-wife Sonia, and his problems with drinking and drugs and general addict behavior. I thought this memoir was terrific - well written, candid, structured well, and generally one of the better blog-to-book books I've ever read. Highly recommended if you're interested in reading about a Big Year!

Journey Under the Midnight Sun (by by Keigo Higashino) 

Another Japanese Mystery, and I think the third one I've read by Higashino. This one is pretty long (I would say overly long) and you figure out whodunit pretty early, but the whydunit and will-someone-ever-catch-them elements propel you to the end. Definitely a motive I should have, but did not, see coming, which made the ending hit hard. Not my favorite by him purely because of the overlength, but good nonetheless.

The Long Run (by James Acker)

Queer YA, you knew it was making it on this list somehow. I wasn't sure an athlete love story would be my jam as they've been hit or miss for me in the past, but this one has so much depth, the characters and their relationship are actually wonderful and lovely and I cried of course. Recommended!

Noah Frye Gets Crushed (by Maggie Horne)

This was, vis a vis the RHC, "a middle grade book with an LGBTQIA main character." Absolutely adorable, funny and charming. full of terrific characters, although I would have liked to see Jessa developed better. I'm actually not a middle grade fan (Baby-Sitters Club notwithstanding ) but this nails it. Horne has got a sapphic YA debut coming out next month, can't wait for that!

Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet (by Molly Morris) 

Love the premise - every 10 years, someone in this small town gets to come back from the dead - wrapped in a queer YA.  I enjoyed it enough to finish it to the end but was my least favorite of these - I found it to be overly quirkified and aggressively 90s (authors need to stop with this).  I was thrown off at the very beginning by the quirky names. The main characters, Wilson and Ryan, are both girls. Ryan's twin brother is Mark, which makes no sense whatsoever as a sibling set. Wilson calls her mother by her first name, Jody, and Jody's ex, a man, is named Cass.  Wilson is named after Wilson Phillips. I was so confused and also, like, why do all the names have to be quirky.  My biggest issue is that the romance didn't fully work and relationships felt inorganic.  I finished it, I guess, is the best I can say!

A Pair of Mysteries

A friend and I got to talking about mysteries we like; we're both fans of Agatha Christie-style fair play mysteries and not so much modern thrillers.  I recommended some Japanese mysteries to him and he talked about some Golden Age writers I might enjoy, like Ellery Queen. So we exchanged recs.

The Greek Coffin Mystery (by Ellery Queen)

Like Agatha Christie, this has not aged well. Sexism, racism, some really awful ableism.  I also didn't much like the writing style. I kept reading because I wanted to give it a fair shake and hear the solution to the mystery, which is clever, and fooled me, which as you know I always enjoy.  But it's really hard to get past the writing, which is depressingly Of Its Time and like I said, not even that good. I think I'll move on from Queen (the nom de plume, by the way, of two cousins, who wrote these books) and try a different Golden Age writer next.

Malice (by Keigo Higashino)

Coincidentally, this popped up on my library holds list, by the author of The Devotion of Suspect X, which I enjoyed. Well Malice was even better! A Whydunit that manages to be so suspenseful, I finished it all in one day.  Now this one, I really recommend. Japanese mysteries are really a goldmine. I'm hoping my friend enjoys my rec, The Decagon House Murders, and if so, I'll tell him to read Malice next.

Eclipse Books

We traveled to and from Dallas for the solar eclipse, and we know what that means: airplane reads! We also ended up with massive delays coming home, which meant I finished two books I already had in progress and read a bunch more, and knocked off three Read Harder Challenge categories.  Here's the wrapup:

This Day Changes Everything (by Edward Underhill) 

Young adult romance between two queer kids in marching bands, both in New York to march in the Macy's parade. Cute, although the characters saying "I love you" after one day just did not work for me. The author lampshaded it, but it was still extremely silly.  But otherwise very Dash & Lily vibes,  charming. RHC category: YA book by a trans author.

Just Another Epic Love Poem (by Parisa Akhbari) 

A bildungsroman about a girl in love with her best friend, with whom she has been writing an epic poem for years. The pacing is a bit off at the beginning but then plays out beautifully. There's a lot of poetry that's supposed to be good, and thank god it is good (and the book features a lot of wonderful world poetry as well, especially from the narrator's Persian culture). It goes beyond the YA romance into a beautiful ode to sisterhood and family and I wept on the plane for the entire conclusion. If your YA standards are high, this will meet them. 

Also introduced me to this piece by Kahlil Gibran:

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful. How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic (by Jack Lowery) 

RHC category: a book about drag or queer artistry. After considering various books by and about drag queens, I went another direction and decided to read about Gran Fury, the artistic collective associated with ACT UP.  Lowery brings lessons from the height of the AIDS pandemic into today by focusing on the importance of art, collective action, and propaganda. I enjoyed the epilogue, where he traced a line  from Silence = Death to Black Lives Matter, showing that activism through art continues to be urgent and important.

The Core of the Sun (by Johanna Sinisalo) 

I'm guessing Goodreads somehow recommended this for the RHC category of "a work in translation from a country you haven't visited." This is translated from the Finnish and is referred to as "Finnish weird," which explains why it's about a dystopia where there's a black market for chili peppers, and our main character tests the spice level of one by sticking it in her vagina in the first paragraph of the book.  But the main thee of the book is the Finnish society presented here, which has undergone scarily plausible "domestication" of women.  A fascinating page-turner; the only issue was a rather abrupt ending that I wish had been a bit more fleshed out. But Finnish weird, who knew? I'm into it.

Daniel, Deconstructed (by James Ramos) 

Another young adult read (they're good for airplanes). This one is a celebration of all the spectrums: gender, sexual, romantic, neurodiverse, and I enjoyed the autistic MC and his hyper-empathetic lens on the world. The plot is a  bit meandering, but ultimately an enjoyable book, just sweet and hopeful. 

All the Lovers in the Night (by Mieko Kawakami) 

A Japanese novel in translation, by the author of Breasts and Eggs. Although I didn't enjoy it quite as much (a shame, since the narrator is a proofreader) I enjoyed the moody, meditative, slice of life exploration of memory and connection. (The "work in translation" category would have been so easy if I hadn't been to Japan; I love Japanese novels.) 

Phew! I also got halfway through a mystery (a conspicuously absent genre from this list) but that's definitely enough for now. Oh, and I saw totality!

ETA: Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (by Benjamin Stevenson)

Already finished it and not worth a separate post. I like the concept of this one, the breaking of the fourth wall, and the ultimate resolution to the plotline was really good. The way it played out was just a bit too convoluted for me, and Ernest isn't really likeable nor does he seem smart enough to pull off all the deductions at the end. Plus everyone is really mean to him for no reason! Idk, as the kids say these days, it was mid. 

The Devotion of Suspect X (by Keigo Higashino)

One of the Read Harder challenges this year is to read a "whydunit" or "howdunit" and this Japanese mystery was recommended in the "howdunit" category. And it definitely fits: you find out who is murdered, and by whom, at the very beginning. Then you follow the trail of the detectives investigating the case and the murderer as they try to cover their tracks.  The question isn't how did the murder occur, but how did the murderer cover their tracks and will the detective uncover the solution.

I thought it would be impossible for this novel to have some kind of twist, but it did anyway, and I loved it. The ending was abrupt (there is a sample of another book at the back, so partly it was that we were not at 100% yet in the Kindle progress meter when it ended) but really works. Another hit in my series of Japanese mystery novels!

Two Light Reads

A Most Agreeable Murder (by Julia Seales)

I chose this for the Read Harder category "read a book based solely on the title." It turned out to be pretty delightful - a quite silly pastiche of Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes, and Agatha Christie as told by Daniel Pinkwater.  One of the characters is named "Croaksworth" and the novel takes place at "Stabmort Park," if that gives you a sense of the style. The mystery and romance at the core are actually both very enjoyable, and what's not to love about the main character, a fine lady who longs to be a detective? Lots of Jane Austen easter eggs as well. If this sounds fun - it is! I very much hope there's a sequel.

The No-Girlfriend Rule (by Christin Randall) 

This was a young adult novel I picked up and then couldn't put down. It's told via a Dungeons & Dragons - excuse me, Secrets & Sorcery - campaign.  Hollis's boyfriend won't let her join his game, so she goes out and finds her own, among a bunch of awesome queer people.  Via the game, her character starts to have feelings for another character, and maybe Hollis doesn't realize how much of her own desires are in there too.  The boyfriend is truly awful from page one, and yeah it could have been a bit more subtle, but it makes the part where she finally figures out he is awful quite satisfying. I think if you are a D&D fan you will love it.  Oh! And amazing portrayal of a fat and neurodivergent heroine, both on the cover and on the page. It's done so, so well. Will definitely pick up Randall's future books!

A Fatal Crossing (by Tom Hindle)

The downside of the library system (and it is a very tiny downside compared to all the many upsides) is that I can check out some books over and over again, not have time to read them, and by the time they pop up, I forgot who told me about them or why I was interested in the first place.  I've been trying to clear out my queue by reading (or at least starting and DNFing) books that I've accidentally checked out or delayed repeatedly. I'm running out of holds and virtual shelf space!

Anyway, this is another Agatha Christie homage, with a murder set on a gilded age, Titanic-like passenger ship. I thought the plot was well constructed, but the characters are not as vividly rendered as those in a Christie novel, so some of them blended together and I sometimes got confused about who was who. The narrator is the ship's officer sidekick to the main detective, who quite frankly was unpleasant to read about as he was kind of a dick. The book is also fairly long and a bit repetitive at times.

There is a Christie-like twist at the end that's well-executed but I'm still not fully sure how I feel about it.  I need to talk about it in full spoilery fashion, so if you read this, let me know!

The Shamshine Blind (by Paz Pardo)

Speculative fiction that's weirdly a cross between Shades of Gray by Jasper Fforde and Thursday Next by Jasper Fforde. It's an alternative future where Argentina has achieved world domination by weaponizing color and most major American cities are in ruins. It is left to our hero, Kay Curdita, to unravel a conspiracy in Daly City, resolve her romantic problems, and save the day.

This is a Tournament of Books offering that feels, for the Tournament, relatively lightweight. It's definitely fun but more of a romp than a Serious Novel, and thus will probably not make it too far in the competition. But still, you never know. It's super enjoyable nonetheless, especially for Fforde Ffans.