Jessamyn.info: What I've Been Reading The ongoing book list of Jessamyn West, Librarian http://jessamyn.info/booklist M Is For Monster by Talia Dutton M Is For Monster   
by Talia Dutton (2022)

read: 17 February 2023
rating: [+]

A short YA-oriented graphic novel that looks like it’s going to be a Frankenstein story, but really isn’t. One of two sisters brings back her sister from a horrible science experiment accident. But she’s both the same person and also not the same person, and everyone tried to adjust to that. A short read, wonderfully illustrated.

]]>http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1810fiction graphic novel To Each This World by Julie Czerneda To Each This World   
by Julie Czerneda (2022)

read: 16 February 2023
rating: [+]

This was a very long scifi novel about an extended first contact situation where there is one human “arbiter” who is the contact person with the new xenomorphs as they try to puzzle out their arrangement while at the same time searching for old generation ships previously thought to be lost. It’s a lively and interesting story with a few odd writing-style tics (odd conjugations that work different from what is normative in English) that were hard (for me) to ignore. This book went in to great detail in some respects and then other seemingly important plot points were glossed over. The ending came suddenly. This was a good nighttime book to read and parts of it were really well done but I’m not sure I would seek out more by this author.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1809fiction
Factory Summers by Guy Delisle Factory Summers   
by Guy Delisle (2021)

read: 11 February 2023
rating: [+]

A graphic novel about the three summers Delisle spent working in a paper mill in Quebec while he figured out what to do with his life. I’ve liked his other graphic novels and this one may be my favorite just because there are a lot of weird backdrops and a lot going on in each panel. The book oddly goes briefly into his relationship with his father and doesn’t mention his mother (who he lives with) at all. In fact I’m not sure if there is a single line spoken by a woman in this book. Not a major deal, just something I noticed after the fact.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1808graphic novel non-fiction
Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam Leave The World Behind   
by Rumaan Alam (2020)

read: 6 February 2023
rating: [+]

An affluent White family is staying at a fancy AirBnB out on Long Island (I think, somewhere outside of NYC) and something happens to the NYC power grid (or worse, it’s unclear and there are a few red herrings) and the Black family who owns the house comes knocking on the door late at night seeking shelter. A very New Yorker-type story of the various kinds of unease you can have in uncertain times. Which was fine for what it was, but I felt like the book was teasing me with what was going on and then you never really figured it out. Not a big deal, it was still a good read but I thought it was one kind of book and it was really another. I was iffy on the story but it was beautifully written.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1807
The Pallbearers Club by Paul TremblayThe Pallbearers Club   
by Paul Tremblay (2022)

read: 2 February 2023
rating: [-]

I remain not great at learning when to say when about books I am not enjoying. It is rare for me to say this, but I did not like this book. My best guess, since the author seems well-liked for his other works, is that it may have been an experiment that didn’t resonate with me. It’s told as a memoir in the sort of Lovecraftian “There is some kind of unbearable horror just outside of my perceptions” style (and in fact takes place in Rhode Island) but I disliked the main character and there was only one other real character who was... a bit of a cipher. I couldn’t tell if it was written with ironic cleverness or just cleverness that wasn’t working. Maybe good for others, bad for me.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1806fiction
Everything Is an Emergency by Jason Adam Katzenstein Everything Is an Emergency   
by Jason Adam Katzenstein (2020)

read: 2 February 2023
rating: [+]

A real-life story told by a working cartoonist about what it’s like to grow up with and be continually trying to manage obsessive compulsive disorder. I enjoyed how he talked a lot about the various ways in which his obsessions manifested themselves while also being clear that understanding what was happening didn’t make it stop happening. I also liked that there was no “one weird trick” to managing things, just a combination of things over time that helped. Exceptionally well done, well-illustrated, and interesting.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1805graphic novel non-fiction
A Quick and Easy Guide to Asexuality. by Molly MuldoonA Quick and Easy Guide to Asexuality.   
by Molly Muldoon (2022)

read: 31 January 2023
rating: [+]

A short YA graphic novel illustrated by Will Hernandez to help teens (or whoever) learn the basics about asexuality including that there are some things that vary from person to person (do ace folks feel part of the queer community? Some yes and some no). A short book that packs a lot into it and represents a lot of opinions. Worth reading.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1804graphic novel non-fiction
Flight Risk by Cherie Priest Flight Risk   
by Cherie Priest (2022)

read: 29 January 2023
rating: [+]

Another in the “psychic booking agent” series from Priest who is usually more of a horror novelist. I like the Seattle scenes and locations in this book and the plot was just fine but I didn’t really warm up to the main character. Not a necessary part of enjoying the book, which I did, just an ongoing thing with this series.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1803fiction
Numb to This by Kindra Neely Numb to This   
by Kindra Neely (2022)

read: 28 January 2023
rating: [+]

It’s not this book, it’s me, I have some sort of built-in “This didn’t work for me” vibe about graphic novel memoirs by young women and I’m not sure why. This was a gorgeously illustrated (and not at all graphic) look at the human aftermath of a school shooting from the perspective of someone nearby but not right in it. She has a lot of normal reactions which she is worried are not normal. Part of the issue is that her normal reactions are... a lot of apathy and ennui (among other emotions) and it’s just hard to make those into a captivating story.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1802graphic novel non-fiction
Frozen in Time by Mitchell Zuckoff Frozen in Time   
by Mitchell Zuckoff (2013)

read: 28 January 2023
rating: [+]

A story about a plane that crashed in Greenland during WWII, all the planes that went to search for the survivors (many of which also crashed) and a modern day search for those downed planes, now under dozens of feet of ice. The book goes back and forth between the crashes and detailing who the men were--many of whom were sort of generic-seeming soldiers of the time period--and then the quest to raise money for the search in modern days. I was a little stressed out getting to know some of the soldiers and unsure if they would live or not. The author becomes overly involved in the modern-day search and invests a bunch of money in an expedition that seems kind of doomed. Did not go where I wanted it to--ultimately they had a lead but nothing concrete and the book ended oddly with them saying “We’ll probably find it next year” but a pretty interesting story.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1801non-fiction
Funeral Train by Laurie Loewenstein Funeral Train   
by Laurie Loewenstein (2022)

read: 24 January 2023
rating: [+]

I grabbed this off of the new book shelf, didn’t realize it was the second in a series of detective mysteries. I thought it might be about funeral train generally. Instead, it was about a small town train wreck during Dust Bowl times in Oklahoma. A great period piece if a little pat for my tastes. Nice descriptions and interesting characters including a lot of female characters. Very slow motion in a way that appealed.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1800fiction
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds Pushing Ice   
by Alastair Reynolds (2005)

read: 20 January 2023
rating: [+]

Reynolds writes really well about cold places. I loved Permafrost but it was too short and I wanted a lot more. I didn’t love Revelation Space because it was a bit too much of an epic spacer and a bit too dull (for me, maybe it’s good for others). This book is what I wanted! Long and complex, but there’s enough momentum to keep it going. It’s about ice miners in space who see something odd, follow up on it, and it changes the course of humanity. Lots of good female characters.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1799fiction
Across the Sand by Hugh Howey Across the Sand   
by Hugh Howey (2022)

read: 9 January 2023
rating: [+]

More sand! This was a years-later sequel to the earlier Sand stories and I liked this bunch a little bit better. It’s got more people from different parts of the world within the story, with different backgrounds who have some perspectives that were missing from the first book. Some nice resolutions, feels a bit more hopeful, an odd change of a few characters and less time at the Honey Hole (a sex worker establishment that Howey just didn’t do justice to) make for a better reading experience, but one that probably requires someone has read the earlier book.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1798fiction
Sand by Hugh Howey Sand   
by Hugh Howey (2014)

read: 4 January 2023
rating: [+]

From the guy who brought us Wool. A story of survival and sand diving in a dystopian future Colorado where much of the history of the place has been lost. There’s a discovery and a lot of people trying to make the most of it. Meanwhile revolution foments and life is unstable and dry. Gritty and gripping.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1797fiction
Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti Across a Field of Starlight   
by Blue Delliquanti (2022)

read: 3 January 2023
rating: [+]

A fun queer space romp, excellently drawn with an exploration of what it means to be “useful” in a time of struggle but also abundance. I was occasionally confused about what specifically was happening--there are a lot of various engagements since some of the aspects of this story are military--but absolutely worth it for a story with a female-presenting character who also has a beard.

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http://jessamyn.info/booklist/book/1796graphic novel ya
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