Tag Archives: humor

System Collapse, by Martha Wells*****

Posted on by

System Collapse is the seventh book in Martha Wells’s acclaimed Murderbot Diaries series, and it’s a humdinger. Fans have been waiting for this one, and they will not be disappointed. My thanks go to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

If you are one such fan, I’ve already told you what you need to know; for the uninitiated, I’ll continue. I am a reluctant science fiction reader. I generally avoid anything that involves complex world building or a new vocabulary extensive enough to require a glossary. I absolutely don’t read science fiction series anymore, because I am not that dedicated. As we age, our brains become less flexible, and so whereas I loved reading a handful of excellent but rather intricate series when I was thirty, I’m just not up for it in my retirement years. I include this information because I know that a good number of my readers are also at or near retirement age, and may be similarly reluctant. So, first: you can do this, and it will be painless.

I was finally persuaded to try this series—not for review, merely as an audiobook from the library, which is about as low risk as it gets—when readers from a number of unrelated places in my life all recommended it. I saw good things from a couple of my Goodreads friends online. How nice, I thought, but I’ll pass. Next came my children, my eldest and my youngest, both grown, of course. Their rabid enthusiasm cracked my resolve a tiny bit, but I thought, maybe later. The final straw came when a couple of lifelong friends came to visit from out of state last spring. They were embarking on a road trip around the Pacific Northwestern USA, concluding their stay here in Seattle, and they, too, were wildly enthusiastic—and one of them doesn’t read for pleasure much at all! They listened to the audiobooks of the entire series up through the sixth, which is what was available at the time, and heartily recommended it.

Well, I thought. I could check the library. I could probably listen to the first one while watering the plants, and if I don’t like it, I’ll just send it on back. But of course, I didn’t send it back; I checked out the rest of the series, and friend, if you have to stand around for thirty or forty minutes daily with a hose in your hand, this is the way to do it.

The Murderbot is a being that is part machine, part human, and the term for this within the fictional world it inhabits is “sec unit,” because it has been invented for the security of the human beings inside the various spacecraft that are flying around out there, and also partly for the security of the ship also; but as we learn, the ship can sometimes take care of itself.

“Murderbot” is the specific name that our protagonist has chosen. And the main character is indeed about ninety percent of what’s important here. We don’t need a host of invented words. There are a bazillion other characters, and no effort is made to introduce them to us gradually, but it doesn’t matter. Just let it flow over you and at some point, the most important characters will click in.

This seventh installment in the series is the first time that I have read it with my eyes. I wasn’t sure how this would go, since voice actor Kevin R. Free is so adept at reading the series that I had begun to equate his voice with the character; I needn’t have worried. In fact, I find that I prefer reading it this way, because the internal monologue is immense, and it’s much easier to tell when the character’s ruminations have ended and the action resumes when I can see the (many, many) parentheses. Also, the humor here is often sly, and when listening to the story, I don’t get a pause that provides me with time to consider what’s been said; we’re off and running, and if I don’t want to miss anything, I have to forget all about that little witticism and move forward. Reading by sight allows some reflection.

The series is drop dead funny, and it is also timely, as AI makes more inroads toward humanity of its own, raising all sorts of ethical questions for the future.

For any fans of the series that are still reading, despite having been dismissed at the start of this review: my favorite character, apart from the protagonist, is Art, the ship that is also Murderbot’s beloved friend. Murderbot’s sarcasm is matchless, except when Art is around. matching snark for snark with Murderbot as it does here, and foreshadowing suggests that when #8 is written and available, the same will be true.

And I cannot wait for the next in the series. Highly recommended!

Kinfolk, by Sean Dietrich*****

Posted on by

“Thanksgiving is not about being happy. The holiday is not about mirth and beauty and the warmth of gaiety. Thanksgiving is about fulfilling family obligations and being miserable the way the good Lord intended.”

When we meet our protagonist, Nub Taylor, it is Thanksgiving night, and he and his cousin and best friend Benny are three sheets to the wind, idling in a rusty old truck across the street from the dignified, stately home of Nub’s daughter, Emily. Nub has been invited to dine there, but knows better than to attend. Emily is a widow; she married up, and every mover and shaker in town has shown up. No, Nub won’t be joining them. Nothing good would come of it.

My thanks go to Net Galley and Harper Muse for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Our story is set in the 1970s in a tiny town in Alabama. Nub is long divorced from Emily’s mother, who keeps her distance these days. He takes his meals at the Waffle House, and that includes today:

“Waffle House did not close on Thanksgiving because Waffle House never closed. Waffle House was like the Vatican, only with better hash browns. Nobody on staff at the Waffle House had a key to the store, not even the manager. Because there were no keys. The doors were never locked. Waffle House just went on and on. Sort of like a disco.”

It is here that he meets Minnie. Minnie is fifteen years old and well over six feet tall. Why is this girl spending her holiday here, instead of with her kin? The answer is that she has none. Her father is in prison, and her mother has just recently killed herself.  

Of course, Nub doesn’t know these things at first, but something about her calls to him. Perhaps all children of suicide victims wear something similar in their expressions; Nub had lost a parent the very same way, and he has never gotten over it. How does anyone? He knows “the cardinal rule about suicide. You don’t talk about it.”

Now, Minnie is orphaned and she is pregnant, courtesy of a thoughtless, spoiled local boy that told her he loved her, then laughed behind her back. And so it is that Nub realizes, as he learns more about Minnie Bass, that perhaps he may have a chance to redeem himself.

This is a wonderful story, full of warmth and a lot of heart. Dietrich is a master story teller, able to create viscerally real characters that leap from the page and a narrative that billows with home truths. There is no question that Kinfolk is among the finest books to be published this year.

Highly recommended.

Mothman’s Merry Cryptid Christmas, by Andrew Shaffer***

Posted on by

My thanks go to Net Galley and 8th Circle Press for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

When I saw the cover of this children’s book, I thought it had strong possibilities. It’s original, and I thought it was conceptually strong, so I read it. Having done so, I have come away underwhelmed.

For a book like this, a takeoff on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, two things are important. We need resonant, bold, eye-catching artwork to engage the little person that is reading it, or to whom it is being read, and we need a regular cadence. We’re supposed to be singing this book to the same tune as the song, and while the text certainly rhymes, it’s nowhere near in pocket. It’s awkward as hell, actually. Get out your metronome and try it, I dare you.

And as for the artwork, it can best be described as minimalist. When I saw Mothman on the cover, I was thrilled. Kids would love it, I thought. But that’s basically what’s on every single page. Mothman, plus a small amount of unengaging other stuff. There’s no bold artwork at all, and very little art of any kind. The illustration of our protagonist is the entire show, over and over.

I’ve since learned that this is a series. I haven’t seen any of the other books, but I’m going to guess they are more of the same. In fact, if I continue writing much longer, I will talk myself into dropping the rating to 2.5 stars instead of 3.

It feels lazy to me; it didn’t come close to meeting my expectations. When I took the galley, I thought that if this book was as good as I hoped it might be, I would purchase a copy of it for my grandsons. I’m not going to do that now, and if I won’t, I cannot recommend you buy it either.

Posted on by

In the Pacific Northwest, October evenings are a great time to stay home. Of course, some people put on their hunting jackets, grab their gear, and head out into the woods; some are party animals seeking a good Halloween bash; and some are charitable souls that organize haunted houses and other seasonal attractions, with the proceeds going to good causes. But a fun fact is that a majority of us do exactly what I plan to do: curl up at home with my beagle, my book, a cup of hot apple cider and a bunch of Halloween candy that trick or treaters never show up to claim. Can’t let all that chocolate go to waste, now can we. If my plan looks good to you, check out these scary reads that I’ve collected over the years. A note of apology: ten years with Word Press isn’t enough, apparently, for me to adequately intuit all of the layout options. I have tried mightily to post each of these choices in a reasonable arrangement with links, but there are gremlins involved. Once again, then, I must ask that if you wish to read my review of one or more of these goosebump-worthy selections, please enter the title in the search bar. All of them are waiting for you!

https://seattlebookmamablog.org/2015/12/23/the-childrens-home-by-charles-lambert/

The Golem of Brooklyn, by Adam Mansbach*****

Posted on by

Len Bronstein is an art teacher. He has a whole lot of clay he’s filched from his employer’s supply closet, and now he’s stoned. He should make something. He should make a Golem. And friend, that’s just what he does.

Traditionally, The Golem is made by a rabbi to help the Jewish people during difficult times. Len isn’t a rabbi, and he doesn’t expect much from his creation:

Five minutes passed, and nothing happened. Len reminded himself that he didn’t actually expect anything to…he didn’t believe in any of this shit. He stood, dusted himself off, and went inside to grab a beer…Len deposited his beer in the sink just as The Golem ripped his back door off the hinges and flung it aside.

My thanks go to Net Galley and Random House Ballantine for the invitation to read and review. This book is for sale now.

Now that The Golem has awakened, he needs to know what his target is. His answer comes to him as he views the news on Len’s television. White Supremacists are railing about a Jewish conspiracy; the Holocaust, they say, was a hoax. The Golem was asleep during the Holocaust, but once it’s explained to him, he’s ready to get busy. But first, he must talk to the rabbi.

Our second main character is a woman named Miriam, Miri to you and me. She works at the bodega down the street, and Len recruits her to be a translator; The Golem, you see, only speaks Yiddish, and Len doesn’t. Miri has been drummed out of the temple because she is a lesbian, but The Golem likes her just fine. Before you know it, Len, Miriam and The Golem are on a road trip beyond all others, first to find a way in to see the Sassov Grand Rebbe, a wealthy and powerful man with a great many gatekeepers, and then to a scheduled White Pride rally down south.

This is, as may be obvious by now, very edgy humor. There’s a great deal of profanity, and whereas most of it is hilarious, at the beginning, the author could have varied his choices more. There are lots of cuss words out there, and not all of them begin with F. But this is a small matter. This novel’s action is interspersed with brief passages of Jewish history that I find very interesting, and they are so brief, and so skillfully woven into the narrative, that you may not notice that you’re learning some things.

My favorite passages involve a bombastic politician, and multiple encounters with cops. (The Golem doesn’t care for them.) As for me, I have read several very funny novels this year, but none made me laugh out loud as often as this one. And in the end–well, you don’t expect me to tell you how this ends, now do you?

Highly recommended to readers that lean left and can tolerate profanity.

No Mistaking Death, by Shelley Costa*****

Posted on by

I love a wry mystery series, especially when it features a wry female sleuth. Kinsey Millhone is done and there’s nothing I can do about it, but Marian Warner is here, and this series is just getting off the ground. My thanks go to Net Galley, Level Best Books, and Shelley Costa for the review copy.  This book is for sale now.

Marian is a private eye, mostly; when there isn’t enough custom to pay the landlord, she does other things on the side. But now, her sister Joan is sending her to investigate whether a former Jesuit Mission house in Carthage, Ohio qualifies for National Landmark status. Carthage is a tiny little hamlet in the middle of nowhere, but it contains Marian’s old flame, Charlie. She goes.

The first book of a mystery series poses extra challenges to its author, who must simultaneously spin out the mystery itself while also introducing and developing its protagonist and any repeating secondary characters, all without slowing the pace. Costa does both splendidly.

By the time Marian hits town, things have grown more complicated; you see, the possibly-historical mission house now sports its own murdered corpse. From here, the story builds in a way that is undeniable, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. In particular, there is quirky figurative language sprinkled throughout, and it jumps at the reader unexpectedly.

By the story’s conclusion, I feel as if I’ve just stuffed myself with something delicious. Nothing here is predictable, and I can’t wait to see more of Marian Warner. Highly recommended to those that like a cozy mystery with a bit of an edge.  

Liberation Day, by George Saunders*****

Posted on by

Liberation Day is a collection of the best short stories you will ever encounter. I had never read George Saunders before, but when I received an invitation from Random House and Net Galley to read and review this book, I remembered him by reputation and jumped at the chance. This book is for sale now.

Sometimes I feel conflicted when I see words like “Booker prize winner” and “exquisite” I feel torn. The book may be brilliant, but it also may be a whole lot of work to read. I am happy to report that is not the case here. Every one of these nine stories could serve as the cornerstone of a collection; the title selection is first, but I suspect that is more about length than anything, as it approaches novella length. It’s science fiction but also vaguely political; a group of people have had their brains scrubbed to near emptiness, and they are mounted on a “speaking wall.” Their sole purpose is to provide entertainment as a sort of scripted Greek chorus. They may only speak upon command; they assume this is a good arrangement, because they have no memories of their prior lives. But then the home (and Speaking Wall) owners are visited by their adult son, who concocts a scheme to liberate the speakers.

Many of these stories have stylized prose and invented words that might be difficult for a reader whose first language isn’t English.  “Mother’s Day,” which is one of my favorites, begins:

“This distinguished-looking gentleman would appear at your door somewhat sloshed and ask, Were your trees slaggard? Were they gublagging behind the other trees? Did they need to be prodderated? And hold up the little device. In this way they had nearly lost the house.”

Happily, for underconfident readers, there is an audio version available. I used it part of the time because I was running behind. There’s a different narrator for each story; actor Tina Fey does one of them! My notes are full of praise for these performers, who make a brilliant book even more so.

I especially enjoyed “The Mom of Bold Action,” which features the ultimate unreliable narrator, and my absolute favorite, “Ghoul”. Imagine, if you will, landing in Hell, or its amusement park equivalent, but there are still rules of etiquette to be observed; in particular, you are expected to be positive, and constantly encourage the other ghouls as they commit the ultimate misdeeds assigned to them. I laughed so hard at this one that it made my family a little cranky, and I had to go off by myself to hear the rest. Worth it.

The stories are a mixed bag in terms of genre, and all are outstanding.

Highly recommended in whatever format makes your heart happy.

Murder Off the Books, by Tamara Berry*****

Posted on by

“There came a time in every crime solver’s life when they wanted to stop getting stuffed in the backs of vans and facing down danger at every turn.”

My thanks go to Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Tess Harrow lives with her daughter, Gertrude, in a tiny hamlet in Washington State. She’s taken the hardware store she inherited and had it redone, and so now it’s her bookstore. But the locals are a bit leery of Tess; everywhere she turns, somebody drops dead. To reassure them that she is normal and trustworthy, she’s throwing a gala bookstore opening; wine, cheese, books, and…a corpse.

Well, heck.

But the good news is, Tess is a pretty decent sleuth. She’d be a lot better if she knew when to shut up, though:

“His words became a snarled growl. ‘Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?’ Everyone, all the time—and she wasn’t about to stop now.”

This book, and this series, contains exactly what I like to see in a cozy mystery: colorful characters, an easily followed plot, and a good deal of whimsy.

Because I was running late, I checked out the audio version of this story from Seattle Bibliocommons. I like the reader, and the narrative is easy to follow, even for a text-oriented reviewer like me. I highly recommend this book in whatever format is your favorite.

Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang****

Posted on by

Rebecca F. Kuang lights a match, and the literary world explodes! Her new novel, Yellowface, takes on issues of racism, cultural appropriation, cancel culture, and identity politics. My thanks go to Net Galley and William Morrow for the review copy; this book is for sale now.

Our protagonist is Juniper Hayward, a struggling writer. June’s longtime friend, Athena Liu, is spectacularly successful, and though June tries not to be bitter, Athena is a bit oblivious to June’s distress, and so although June likes her, she also kind of hates her. Then one day, as the two of them are discussing Athena’s newly completed masterpiece, which took a decade to create and has been seen by no one yet, Athena chokes to death on a bit of food. June employs the Heimlich maneuver, but it doesn’t work. Now Athena is dead, and June has in her possession the unpublished manuscript.

What comes next makes my jaw drop! June leaves with the manuscript, which still needs cleaning up before it can be published, and using every lame attempt at justification one can imagine, she edits it and publishes it under her own name. She rationalizes:

“The truth is fluid. There is always another way to spin the story, another wrench to throw into the narrative. I have learned this now, if nothing else…My only sin is loving literature too much.”

To make matters worse, her publisher suggests she use her middle name, Song, as a pen name. (Oh, snap! There’s already a mystery series that stars Juniper Song, though this doesn’t make it into the novel.) The book is a brilliant success, but during her book tour, audiences cannot help noticing that June is, well, Caucasian.

Man your battle stations!

Initially, June seems like a decent enough person that has made one self-serving mistake, but as the narrative unfolds, her judgment, behavior, and moral character deteriorate. The suspense is thick and absorbing as I wait to see just what will happen next.

In places, this story is drop dead funny.

I recommend this book to those that love to see good fiction based on current events.

If It Sounds Like a Quack, by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling*****

Posted on by

Pulitzer Prize finalist Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling takes on the weird world of alternative medicine and the medical freedom movement in his new book, If It Sounds Like a Quack. My thanks go to Net Galley and PublicAffairs for the review copy. This book is available to the public right now.

The fact is, I have—or I had—no particular interest in alternative medicine, but I had read Hongoltz-Hetling’s last book, A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear, which was well researched, well written, and most importantly, completely hilarious. I have reviewed over 800 books, but the number of those that I later purchased is smaller than 10; yet I bought that book to give as a Christmas gift. So when I saw that he had another book available, I didn’t hesitate. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The book describes the bizarre programs and treatments espoused by six individuals: Larry Lytle, Toby McAdam, Robert O. Young, Alicja Kolyszko, Dale and Leilani Neumann, and The Alien. The seventh player in each section is America, and that’s where we see what U.S. laws say, and what enforcement, if any, comes down on these snake oil salesmen.

The opening section, the first of four, introduces each of these players and explains what led to them going into the businesses they have chosen. Among the various One True Cures are a laser salesman, a leech peddler, faith healers, a supplement seller, and a Mormon missionary that resurrects a long-dead theory about germs. There’s also a pair that develops a health drink; one of them is human, and one is not.

The author suggests that the success of these characters—and some of them have become wealthy beyond belief—has a good deal to do with the state of standard medical care in America. Nobody trusts Big Pharma. The disparity of what treatments we can expect is so great that in one New York hospital, there’s a wait time in the ER of nearly 6 hours for most people, whereas the wealthy can get a private room with high thread count sheets and a butler. One can see why many people conclude that anything must be better than this; yet, they are mistaken.

Apart from his sterling research and documentation, and his clear, conversational tone that at times caused me to forget, momentarily, that I was reading nonfiction, the thing that sets Hongoltz-Hetling apart from others is his ability to shift seamlessly from prose that is falling-down-funny, to that which is not only serious, but tragic, without ever breaking the boundaries of good taste. Because he did it so brilliantly in his last book, I watched for it this time—and I still couldn’t catch the segue way from one to the other.

Because I had fallen behind in my nonfiction reviews, I checked out the audio version from Seattle Bibliocommons and listened to it while I watered my plants. It is very well done, and I had no problem following the thread. The only downside is that the printed version has some humorous puns by way of spelling that the listener misses.

One way or the other, get this book and read it, even if the topic isn’t inside your usual field of interest. Highly recommended to everyone.