What to Read...

I seem to have had a hard time finding something good to read lately.  Partly it's because I've been slogging through the pile of free stuff on my Kindle from Amazon.  I've come to the determination that Amazon's editors don't care about quality writing.  I wouldn't recommend a single title they've published.  I'm hoping with time there will be some improvement, but based on the number of their works on the Amazon best seller list, I figure there's no incentive for them to change.  (Just my opinion - maybe you feel differently!  Plenty of people like James Patterson, but I hate him.)

Loved the book, enjoyed the movie

One book I read soon after I arrive in Japan is The Martian by Andy Weir.  This was before I saw the movie, but at the time I already knew Matt Damon was playing the lead and I could easily see him in the role.  I think part of the reason I appreciate the subject is because I could relate to his feelings of isolation, though on a slightly different scale. 

Don't waste your time!

We have an English library at the Tokyo American Club, so that makes it convenient to check out the latest releases.  I figure any time I can check out a bestseller versus buying it for my Kindle, it's a discount on our monthly dues!  I'm excited to see The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney.  It received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus Reviews, along with many other publications.  And I greatly dislike it.  This family drama feels like something people read so they can feel superior and intelligent.  To describe it in one word, I would pick pretentious.  I'm reminded of another paperback, The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud.  It's because of these two that I now remember to check the "regular person" reviews, too.

My opinion - yuck!

How to describe??

So when I see The Nix by Nathan Hill I approach it with some trepidation.  It's beloved by The New York Times, Booklist, Washington Post, USA Today, etc, etc - and for once it lives up to the hype!  I'd classify this as literary fiction.  It's difficult to come up with a single sentence to describe the plot, because the narrative is told from several viewpoints, and a limited number of chapters are a completely different tone and style. (My favorite is the Choose Your Own Adventure theme.)  Most of it takes place in modern times, with some flashbacks to the 1960's.  I'll borrow from Robyn JC's Amazon review: "Samuel is an underachieving assistant professor of literature at a nothing college outside Chicago who dislikes his students, spends way too much time playing an online fantasy game, got a huge advance for a novel he never wrote, and is pining for the girl he loved when he was eleven. His life is stalled out big time, but he is dragged out of stasis when his estranged mother, who abandoned him when he was eleven and has never been heard from since, makes national headlines for throwing rocks at a Presidential candidate - she is the Packer Attacker! Through a ridiculous series of events, Samuel is tasked with writing his mother's life story, and is forced to investigate her life since leaving him. The Nix is the tale of how mother and son came to where they are -- and where they might go from here."  The summary doesn't make it sound exceptional, but it is!  This is a great pick if your book club enjoys 640 page tomes because you'll want to discuss it with someone when you finish it.

Oprah likes it, too!

When the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner and National Book Award for Fiction shows up on the New Releases shelf at the library, I check it out.  The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is an "alternative" historical fiction saga.  His premise is that an actual physical railroad exists to assists slaves escaping from the southern states (along with a few other changes to the past).  The story takes place during the pre-Civil War days and focuses on Cora, a slave in the south.  It's satisfying, but not always pleasant, as he details the evils of slavery.

Why do I like this cover so much?

For awhile I refused to read anything with the word "wife" or "daughter" in the title - by 2010 it had become an avalanche of stories using that motif to tell their narratives, and I became tired of it.  After the success of Gone Girl, "girl" took over (I liked Luckiest Girl Alive, but not so much Girl on a Train).  Now "woman" is starting to be overdone, but for some reason the cover of The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware kept catching my attention.  Since I can get it for free, I decide it's worth trying.  This modern day, (mostly) closed room mystery is great for a plane ride - it's engrossing, but light enough that you don't have a hard time figuring out where you are in the action if you take a short nap (though there are a lot of characters to keep track of).

Not scary, despite what the descriptions say.

The library has Ruth Ware's earlier work, In a Dark, Dark Wood, so I pick it up.  It's also a present day, (mostly) closed room mystery, but you have to suspend belief a bit for this one - there are some plot holes and questionable character motives.  It's a fast read, so if you don't like it, at least it's over quickly.










The similarity in titles makes me think of In the Woods by Tana French (one of my favorite detective mysteries).  Her latest release appears at the library, and I'm excited to see it.  Her collection isn't exactly a series, though they all deal with a (fictional) Dublin Murder Squad, the elite force of the police, though its members are not always the best of the best.  She follows a concept in which a minor character from the previous book becomes the main in her current one.  I think of the set as more circular than linear, though time passes normally in the fictional world and previous main characters rarely reappear (except in her current novel).  The fifth, The Secret Place, is well written but a little too mystical for me, but in the sixth detective mystery, The Trespasser, she's back to excellent form.

I hope I haven't given too much away with any of the descriptions.  Once I decide on a book I try not to find out too much detail, otherwise I can usually figure out the plot (I've read a lot).  But if I've brought something new to your attention, have fun investigating it further!