Real Americans by Rachel Khong
Well it’s mid-May so I guess I better start writing reviews. I read this back in January and liked it ok, and now that I’m recalling it to write this review, I also think I like it ok! It’s not one that I think about frequently, but I enjoyed reading it and discussing it with friends. The book is split into three sections. The first is about Lily Chen, a somewhat aimless Chinese-American young lady who has a pretty ok internship in NYC in 1999. […]
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
This is a very Japanese book, and I enjoyed it all the more since I spent a good part of June feeding my children onigiri from Japanese convenience stores. Ever since she was a child, our protagonist Keiko Furakura has had trouble with social cues. Her part-time job at a convenience store gives her days a structure, and has for the past 18 years. She lives and breathes the convenience store, although she recognizes on some level that she is but a cog, she likes […]
How To Wash The Dishes by Peter Miller
This book is exactly what the title says. A little, well-written essay about how, exactly, to wash the dishes. It’s practical but also philosophical. What DO you do when you are serving dinner and you have an odd assortment of pots, pans, crystal glassware, silverware…? How do you manage the chaos? What do you do first? And, most relevantly for me, how on earth do you “clean as you go?” Miller answers all these questions while exploring the philosophical underpinnings of a dish washing routine, […]
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeira
This is a remarkable book. You should read it. Elena is a 60 something woman who suffers from Parkinson’s. The book, divided into three sections according to the times she must take her pill, tells the story of her and her daughter in flashbacks. At first, we know only that Elena is going on a difficult journey across Buenos Aires to find someone to help solve the must of her daughter’s death. Elena is convinced that she was actually murdered. As the story progresses, we […]
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
After reading several sobering, spooky, or downright heart-wrenching post-apocalypse stories, these two short novellas were a breath of fresh air. Do you want a story about a planet where humans avoided the apocalypse, barely, and have figured out how to give everyone what they need? Do you want a charming robot (who also has everything he needs) and is meeting humans for the first time in over 200 years? Do you want friendship and adventure with no anxiety? I ready these back to back and […]
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
I’m not sure I can say much about these books that hasn’t already been said, but both were worthwhile reads. Both of these short classics are basically: don’t be a rich jerk. Scrooge, of course, learns in the end how not to be a rich jerk; the couple in The Pearl learns, or rather knows already, and uncovers the truth in a more holistic way, that wealth opens opportunities for evil, and it turns out that it’s if people are jerks who want to be […]
