Notices by Jessamyn (jessamyn@glammr.us), page 2

Book 104: The Lost Bookshop. I'll read nearly any book with a library /bookshop in it even if it's in a genre (romance) not normally my jam. This was one of those "two stories converge" novels where one story takes place in the past and one is taking place pretty much nowadays. I liked the bones of this story a lot, some of the implementation a little less so. There is a lot of trauma (domestic abuse, involuntary commitment) as a backdrop as well as people wearing white gloves to read old books.

Book 105: The Left-Handed Bookseller of London. Again, I read most books I see that are about books. This one is mostly not about books, it sort of fits into the Rivers of London type of "What if London were more magical?" genre only with fewer cops. I liked the bones of this story quite a lot, but ultimately I am not much of a fantasy reader and it felt too "dragons vs wizards" for me at the end (i.e. magical conflicts where it all feels kind of random) but a good book overall.

Book 106: Pathogenesis, A History of the World in Eight Plagues. Definitely a book up my street. This dense discussion of science and history talks about how some major world shifts happened because of situations involving illness and widespread disease. Like who was able to take over whom because disease had ravaged the part of the population who might fight back. Why some colonized areas get settled and some just get resource-extracted. What helps and what doesn't. A great read.

#Vermont Civics Alert!

While waiting to see a health care provider, I noticed a few copies of a Voter’s Guide for Vermonters with Disabilities on the table. I was delighted to find a clearly designed, easy to read and understand guide to the voting process (registering, voting, what all the jobs are, your rights as a voter). Good for PWD or anyone who wants this info.

I got a bunch of hard copies delivered to my library. PDF download link here. Pls share widely. #a11y

https://disabilityrightsvt.org/publications/

Book 52: Floating Hotel. You hit a certain age, you've read many books and you can say "Another book in the luxury space hotel mystery genre." Turns out I like that genre a lot and this was a good example of it. People wind up on the floating hotel b/c they're escaping life circumstances in a dystopia where there's been one Emperor for 500 years and you're not allowed to even mention aliens. But... someone's speaking truth to power. And are they in the floating hotel? And how do you find them?

DNF: The Book That Wouldn’t Burn. I try to read most books that I notice which take place in a library. I got about 1/5 of the way into this book and just could not handle the relentless struggle and fear and pain that the main characters (who were also all young people, late teens or even younger in flashbacks) had to endure. I'm sure there is a great plot in there, and I'm not against ups and downs, but this was too much for me.

Book 53: Mauve. Probably an interesting story, told in a weird way. There are many popular history books out there where you can tell by reading them what references the author used to assemble their narrative. Long recitations of menu items is a tip-off. In this case there was a fancy well-documented 50th anniversary party feting the guy who created the color mauve. The book explains why it was a big deal but a lot of it is about the history of colors and dyes and him being forgotten by history

Book 54: Marie Blythe. I've liked Mosher's other books and this one I had mixed feelings about. I loved the natural world descriptions of a place not far from where I live, I even liked some of the "just so stories" about how things (maybe) used to work in Vermont. I only sort of believed in the female character he created and I definitely didn't appreciate some of the casual racism in the book (anti-Roma in particular) which was just totally unnecessary and weird that it was included.

Book 55: What It's Like To Be a Bird. Sibley is a huge name in birding and this attractive book is a compendium of interesting bird facts as well as some details about various species. One of my favorite things about it besides the gorgeous illustrations is how much Sibley lets you know what the science says about birds and their behavior including some of the things we don't know (why some birds do dust bathing) or can only guess at. A great book for people who like bird facts.

Book 56: The Lost Future of Pepperharrow. This is the second (and last) book in a series where I adored the first book. But where the first book had a decent amount of whimsy & things that are cool to look at and learn about, this book felt like one large slow-motion trolley problem with a pretty high degree of suffering and trauma throughout. I'm the first to admit that this is a me thing, but as much as I love Pulley and her writing, I felt like this book was almost something to be endured

Book 91: Icehenge. I like most of KSRs books and this was no exception. It's kind of about Mars and kind of about a mysterious "icehenge" that shows up on Pluto. It's told from the perspective of three different people (sequential, not interspersed) and an "Is this an unreliable narration and if so why?" mystery slowly creeps in as the book goes on. It's one of KSRs older books, so quirky in what "tech" they have and what they don't. I skimmed a few parts but overall liked it.

Book 57: Welcome to Forever. This is a pretty ambitious book that mostly worked (for me). It's a story about memory in a near future where memory editing and storage is possible. At the center of it is a gay love story and some pretty deep thoughts about what it means to share a life with someone, and how much of that is your memories. Since the book is a lot about the life of the mind, there's a lot of thinky "in your head" stuff about longing and loss. Got murky occasionally, mostly great.

Book 58: The Mighty Bite. I somehow picked this up thinking I might learn a bit about trilobites but this was actually a more standard kid graphic novel adventure story about a trilobite and his friend the walking whale as they try to... win a video contest? There is some good trilobite content at the end. It was a fun and well-illustrated read. I may be one of the few people who was not super familiar with Hale before this. Fun book.

Book 93: Dignity in a Digital Age. Khanna is the Congressional rep for Silicon Valley (the only majority Asian district in the continental US). This is a policy-heavy book about how we can use technology not just to make wealthy people wealthier but to allow for more security & opportunity for people all over the US (and world) w/o the usual facile "Rural people can all work in help desk call centers!" shallow visions we often see. These policy approaches are not cheap, but they are necessary

Book 59: Artificial. I did not like this author's first memoir so it's on me that I thought "Oh I wonder if this is about the synthesizer guy?" (yes, and also no) and still read it. It's a memoir about the nature of memory and what we know about someone who is no longer with us, and some looking into family history. Kurzweil's dad is a transhumanist, wrote a chatbot to talk to his own late dad. Many pages are just verbatim from interviews. Despite the cover: not really a love story. Not my jam.

Book 94: The Unraveller. This was the first book from my "birthday book suggestions" list over on Bluesky. I liked it. A YA novel of a magical world in which cursing is real and cursers are punished but sometimes things get out of hand. A pair of teenagers tries to help the cursed but then realizes the plight of the cursers is not quite what they expected. A lot of "who can you trust" and "how do you handle complicated morality" in this one. If you like magical tales, you'll like it.

Book 60: Ocean's Godori. I enjoy a good sci-fi space romp that doesn't get bogged down in too many "But how does the spaceship take off/land?" physics details and this is a good one of those. The Alliance is a big Korean spacefaring concern. A ship takes off with a quirky assortment of misfits. There is some drama, a lot of interesting personalities interact, main character is female and charismatic in an odd way. The story seems to end somewhat in the middle, so hoping there's a sequel.

Book 95: Foxglove Summer. This installment of the Rivers of London series takes place (mostly) away from the usual Folly locale and has a lot more rural policing stuff in it, working on relationships, dealing with small towns. Not as many of hte main characters you've grown to know and like. There are some bonus magical animals, but definitely feels more like "one in a series" than a stand-alone even though it can work that way as well. I liked it.

Book 61: The Ministry of Time. Not so much a time travel novel as a novel of what it means to be out of place, not where you're meant to be, among your people. This is a stirringly poignant novel that hovered just on the edge of "too much" for me. It's got a lot of funny bits, can be a bit uneven but overall just a well-done story about a near-future earth where we can kidnap people from the past to try to solve current problems. Kind of.

ETA: interesting Franklin Expedition connection too.

Book 96: The Poacher's Son. A complicated story about a Maine game warden just doing his job when a brutal crime gets committed and his estranged dad (who was a drunk and a jerk) is implicated. The warden tries to clear his name. A lot of sad and bad families and messy rural bad choices. At the same time, there was some beautiful wilderness of a kind I recognized. I know "thriller" was right there on the cover, but I went into this thinking it was a mystery. Liked it, might not read the next one