The Sin-Eater's Confession by Ilsa Bick

Friday, Mar. 31, 2023--San Antonio

The Sin-Eater's Confession by Ilsa Bick was an interesting story, but it was hard to believe that a high school senior in line to be valedictorian and applying to Yale University would think so illogically and make such poor decisions as Ben did throughout it.  It was written for a young adult audience, so maybe many of the readers could identify with Ben and how he thought and reacted, but as an adult who could whose school success and experiences were similar to Ben's and knowing how mature I and others were who ranked highly academically in my class, I just couldn't believe all the times he made poor, illogical judgments.  But the basis for the story was legitimate:  Being friendly with a younger student (only one year behind in school but seeming more years behind socially) whose family hired Ben to work on their farm after their older son has died.  Being upset that a photo was taken of you without your knowledge and then published in a national art magazine.  Not being sure if you were straight or gay because your unrelenting mother made you study and volunteer all your extra hours outside of school to increase the likelihood of your being admitted to Yale.  Never having time to consider your sexuality under those circumstances.  Anyway, the book explores all of that plus the desire to make your own way in life (even if it is based on a horrible decision), observing something gruesome happen to a friend and running from it because the same thing would happen to you if you tried to confront the situation, keeping the secret of what has been observed so that you will not become implicated, etc.  Reviews are generally good, and the average rating on Amazon is 4 stars, but I gave the book 3 stars out of 5 just because I didn't think Ben's thoughts and actions matched his intelligence and his maturity level.

Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Garbielle Zevin

Tuesday, Mar. 28, 2023--San Antonio

Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Garbielle Zevin is a very popular book; I had it on hold at Libby for my Kindle for 12 weeks before it became available.  I can see why, because I thoroughly enjoyed it.   But I enjoyed it so much that I finished it in three days; I don't know how the previous readers could be so slow at reading it unless they also finished it fast but didn't return the book until its return was forced at the end of the 3-week loan period from the library.  Anyway, the unique way that the two nerdy main characters expressed themselves when young had me laughing aloud longer and louder than usual for me when I read something funny.  The book follows their lives from pre-teenage years though their 40s with periods of times when their relationship became very distant due to misunderstandings, misjudgments, lost opportunities, etc.  They both eventually become very successful game developers for games played on computers, on specialized machines such as X-Box, and on the Internet.  It is obvious that they should be close friends or even more with each other, but life gets in the way of things like that at times and then sometimes forces people back together.  That's what happens in this book.  Normally, a book about gaming would not interest me, but this book is really about the characters rather than the games they develop.  I enjoyed it so much that I gave it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.  

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

Friday, Mar. 24, 2023--San Antonio

The Book of Goose by Yiyun was listed as a top book of 2022 by TIME and others.  It is the story of two adolescent girls in a rural French village--one from a poor family and still in school and another who has dropped out of school to be a goatherd to support her one parent and her ill brother.  What made the book especially interesting for me was the perspective the girls had on life--a unique way for thinking about and analyzing things.  The goatherd has a somewhat confrontative personality and a great imagination.  The one in school has good penmanship and feels a very close attachment to the other.  Together, they have adventures that are thrilling and unusual.  But adolescence is different from adulthood.  As they both age into their late teens, there are societal expectations that cannot be avoided.  But before that time comes, the main part of the book deals with the fact that together the girls write a book that is published and becomes a sensation.  However, the result of that adventure is the beginning of the lessening of their ties to each other.  I enjoyed the book and gave it 4 stars out of 5.

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

Monday, Mar. 20, 2023--San Antonio

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub, named as a top read of the year it was released by EW, is different.  With a theme of time travel involved, one would think it would be for young adults, but it is about a 40-year old woman questioning the decisions she has made in her life rather than about teenagers.  The daughter of a man who has written a classic adolescent literature novel about two boys who time travel to solve crimes, she has had a privileged life--attended an exclusive private school and lived in an exclusive neighborhood in New York, yet she is working as an admissions officer at the same school she attended, has not gotten married and has no children.  She is mostly happy and contented with her life, but she can't help but wonder if she has missed out by not having been more successful in her career nor married a classmate who she loved and has become successful.  Plus, she has now passed the time when it would have been best to have tried to have a child and, although she loves her father, does not have a very close relationship with him anymore.  As the book proceeds, she accidentally discovers something that her father has known for years.  It leads them to become closer and causes her to question her life even more.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

 Saturday, May 11, 2023--San Antonio

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski takes place in Poland during the last years of its communist rule with the Solidarity protest marches occurring and shortages of basic goods increasing causing lines to be necessary for every need for ordinary citizens.  It's the story of a group of young college students who are graduating and trying to figure out how their lives should go from that point.  Two of the young men are gay and meet during the mandatory 2-weeks of farm work (picking beets for this group) that all students must complete before their degrees will be awarded.  One is frustrated with the system and wants to find a way to leave Poland especially when he realizes that he has submitted the best proposal entering a doctoral program but will not be the one chosen because the others have more powerful connections supporting them.  The other is working to develop connections with influential friends who can assure that his life in Poland will be better than that of ordinary people.  The writing is extraordinary, and it is easy for the reader to become invested in the interests and desires of both young men.  I gave the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

Rough Music by Patrick Gale

Thursday, Mar. 9, 2023--San Antonio

I don't remember why, but I had read 8% of Rough Music by Patrick Gale sometime in the past and had returned the book without noting why I had quit reading it.  My memory seems to be that maybe I had a book or two that had been on hold for several weeks become available just as I had started this book.  I'm so glad I went back to it (reading it from the start to refresh my memory).  It takes place at a resort in Cornwall where members of a family have gone twice, about 32 years apart, for a summer two-week holiday.  The book deals with family relationships and variations in showing emotions.  The father of the family is the superintendent (or warden) of a prison who is somewhat emotionally stunted and spends little time with his family on a daily basis.  He is also a man who has grown up not learning much in a practical sense about personal relationships.  Sex with his wife occurred only after marriage, was the first time he had ever had sex, and involving a technique based on reading some pamphlets about what to do.  It was painful for the wife, who was also a virgin and didn't know what to expect, and remained that way.  So the relationship is a strained one.  Somehow they managed to have one child, a boy, while wanting more children but not knowing anything about reproduction cycles, womens' orgasms, etc.  But other characters enter the story--in particular the American brother-in-law and his daughter who come to England in the earlier trip after the father's sister has died in a strange way, and in the latter story, the male artist who is the landlord of the cottage.  A major theme of the book involves hidden, close-to-incestuous relationships--the husband's wife with the American man who married the sister and their adult son with the adult husband of the American-born girl.  It's a complex book, but one that is interesting and exciting to read.  I gave the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

Deacon King Kong by James McBride

Monday, Mar.  6, 2023--San Antonio

I thought I had already read Deacon King Kong by James McBride.  It was on all the lists of the best books of 2020.  But when I checked my record here of what books I had read, it was missing.  I was probably remembering another book by the same author that I had read previously.  I'm glad I figured that out, because I really enjoyed this book.  It is hilarious at times!  Everyone seems to have a nickname--Sportcoat, Bum Bum, The Elephant, Pudgy Fingers, etc.  It takes place in the late 1960s in a part of Brooklyn that had become a mixture over time of Italians, Irish, Jews, and Blacks but all but the Blacks were mostly gone.  Drug usage was increasing.  The old timers--an Italian who was still moving stolen goods and the members of the Five Directions Baptist Church are the central characters.  Deacon King Kong is the same person as Sportcoat; the former nickname is from his being a deacon of the church and an alcoholic who drinks homemade everclear which everyone calls King Kong.  Years ago, Sportcoat, because of his love of baseball, was a volunteer coach and referee of a kids baseball team at the projects.  Young people lost interest in the team as the neighborhood changed.  One excellent pitcher could have played college ball and turned professional, but he ruined his chances because of becoming involved in selling drugs.  Times are still changing, and harder drugs are coming to the community.  Everyone involved is manipulating to either get out of the business or to improve their status in the business.  The old timers are just trying to continue to get by as they observe the continued deterioration of life there.  It was such a pleasure to read this book laughing all the way through.  I gave it 5 stars out of 5.