Cue the Sun! by Emily Nussbaum: Such a fun and well-researched read on reality TV, its predecessors, its detractors, and its shifting eras. My only complaint is of the “what’s your biggest weakness? oh, I work too hard” variety – I wished it was longer.
The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley: This was a rollercoaster not in the sense that it had ups and downs or wild turns but in that after I read the last line, I felt both energized and excited and also like I might throw up (that is not a critique). I’ve since read wildly mixed reviews, some of which (from the negative set) seem to stem from having genre expectations (romance, sci-fi) that weren’t satisfied; I went in expecting “fiction” and nothing more delineated, so I had none of those complaints. I thought the dialogue and characterization was fantastic and charming, and the themes/questioning of power, racism, history, empire, and moral relativism perceptive without being didactic (for the most part – there were some brief sections that veered into over-explanation). I wished I “understood” the setup of time-travel better (the initial premise was no problem; later plot points left me lost). Overall, I thought both the writing and the content were excellent.
The Most, by Jessica Anthony: I love a good entry to the “I’m getting in and I’m not coming out” genre (see King Bidgood + bathtub, the Baron + the trees, etc). In this short novel (which also serves as a new addition to the “books that take place in a single day” category), a 1950s housewife gets into the swimming pool at her apartment complex and stays there.
The Other Olympians, by Michael Waters: Very informative examination about non gender-conforming athletes in the 1934 Olympic games (and the surrounding years) – universally, athletes who were AFAB and transitioned after competing in women’s sports – and the connections between the International Olympic Committee (who began the process of gender “confirmation”) and the Nazi party. It was interesting but dry, and I wished it had taken a longer scope and spent more time on modern sports and gender.
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell: Mixed feelings on this; it was very intriguing, especially since I didn’t realize “Jesuits in space” was a micro-genre and this was my first exposure to it, but it was bogged down by implausible decisions (not even related to the science fiction elements), pacing, and characterization. The plot is unveiled from the beginning and the end, and I thought the book would have dragged less if the results of the mission (in which we learn that a team went to a far-off planet and only one member, Jesuit priest Emilio Sandoz, returned – maimed and traumatized) formed the prologue and the rest of the book moved chronologically instead of returning again and again to Emilio’s interrogation by Jesuit leadership. As for the characters…they felt a bit too perfect, especially Ann, the sorts of people whose “biggest flaws” in a job interview setting would be “I work too hard” and “I care too much.” There was enough that was compelling for me to want to read the sequel, but not enough to put me in a rush to do so.
