Hola desde Guatemala!
This week’s recap is brought to you from Ciudad Cayalá and Antigua as I’m on a family vacation with my partner this week. We’re currently eating our way through the city, catching up with family and friends, enjoying the beautiful weather, and did I mention the food?
I always plan a big game on reading for vacations and bring entirely too many books (even setting aside the Kindle). There’s a story that book lovers tell ourselves when we go on vacation about how many books we will be able to read. A lot. We’ll finally catch up on all those books and then some and, you know what, that probably justifies buying a few while we’re here…
I think this rarely happens because vacations are often times for us to be removed from our everyday routines and that also includes books. That can be a very needed period of rest for our brains. But then we come back with all kinds of unfinished books and broken promises to ourselves.
Anyway, long story short, I brought a lot of books with me. I have been finding a lot of time to do some quality reading and I strategically brought books I was already pretty far along in and a few shorter books and novellas—Drinking from Graveyard Wells1 by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow, and Grievers by Adrienne Maree Brown. I hope I find the balance between having a fun and restful time and also reading my fill.
On Repeat
I don’t consider myself a Swiftie at all (in fact, I think that Taylor’s fan base pushes me away from her music). However, I’m a big fan of Jack Antonoff, who produced Midnights and a ton of other stuff2, and somehow I never learned that Jack, as his act Bleachers, did a version of Anti-Hero with Taylor when Midnights was released. I really dig this version of Anti-Hero, much more than the original.
Finished This Week
David Mogo Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
You may be more familiar with Suyi Davies Okungbowa from his novel Son of the Storm (which I have not read). I will 100% cop to having picked this one up from my local library because of a cover-based judgment:
Fortunately, the back cover and scanning through the first few pages assured me that David Mogo, Godhunter (which Okungbowa describes as “god-punk”) fits squarely in my urban fantasy exploration.
I will have a full review up in the next few days, but if you’re reading this before that let me assure you that David Mogo doesn’t just fit into the urban fantasy genre, it is a great addition to it. Set in Lagos after the gods have fallen to earth, we follow David as he starts off as a lower level player on the scene and chart his ascendance. We get a close up view of Lagos, a number of very strong women who keep David on the right track, and a classically snarky and reluctant urban fantasy protagonist who is a Black man (which is exceedingly rare for the genre).
The book is split into three parts which read, to me, like three novellas and are very easy to tackle in a sitting. I recommend it.
The Big Con by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington
I finished The Big Con this week. I got most of my thoughts out in last week’s recap if you’re interested in seeing the full details. The shorter version is: Mazzucato is a genius and an important public intellectual and this work is definitely one of her more accessible ones (not so rigidly structured and argued as The Value of Everything, for example).
However, the subject matter—the influence of the consulting industry—may not set the world, or your imagination, on fire. But maybe it should, because Mazzucato and Collington make a very persuasive argument that consulting is part of a decades long process that has hollowed out government and business expertise in many areas that have real impacts on the economy and our lives. If you’re looking for a shortish (just 230 page) nonfiction book to read in March that likely will shed light on areas of the world you’ve never considered, I’d highly recommend checking out The Big Con.
The Big Con will be released on March 7th.
Still Reading
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
I’ll give A Master of Djinn a little (or a lot) more love when I finish it next week. I’m doing a reread this year to get me hyped up for P. Djèlí Clark’s upcoming YA release Abeni’s Song and I love it even more than I did when I read it a few years ago. P. Djèlí Clark is one of the finest fantasy authors working today and one of my all time favorites.
Instead of any commentary, let me leave you with one of my favorite small moments from the first few chapters. This is early on in the investigation, right after ostentatious Agent Fatma has been attacked by the Al-Jahiz crew and wants to flesh out her profile with some library research with her new partner, Agent Hadia.
Fatma realized she hadn’t asked Hadia to come in—just sort of demanded it. That was rude. But it spoke to how rattled she was. She’d made up her mind to come in this morning. She’d even opted for a sensible suit—blue with a maroon tie and sturdy brown shoes. Playing the dandy would have to wait. Well, except for the gold tie pin and matching cuff links. Not to mention the bowler and cane. Did the violet pin-striped shirt count as dandy?
Anyway, she was going to be serious.
P. Djèlí Clark can write.
Dead Man’s Hand by James J. Butcher
I’m a little over 100 pages into James J. Butcher’s Dead Man’s Hand. Butcher is the son of eminent UF author Jim Butcher. One of the reasons you can tell this is because James’s first novel ever is blurbed by three more of the most eminent UF authors: Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, and Faith Hunter. There is no way to talk about this book without dealing with the relationship with Jim and the access it gave James.
Something I kept thinking over and over was “how many indie authors, especially authors of color, have I read who have written just as good or better stuff and they’ll never get the opportunity that James did?” At the moment, I can’t tell how much I like this book, either. I’ve got a lot of issues, but there’s also a lot that I do like.
Expect a full review here and probably some hot takes on TikTok in the coming week or so.
Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
As with last week’s recap, I’m still reading Siren Queen, although now I’m through Act II. I still feel like I want to keep my powder dry on my overall feelings about this book and some of my thoughts about why it’s polarizing and often hated. I will say that I continue to like it, probably even more now that I’m through Act II. I like that it’s weird, I like that it’s dreamy, I like that it doesn’t make sense all the time.
While I was reading this week, I came across a line that I think defines the sensibility of the book and the reason why I like it so much (and why I think many people don’t): “It wasn’t real, but it was true.”
Thanks so much for reading. Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested and if you’d like to get in touch with me about anything, my email is in my Linktree.
Catch you again next week,
Ck
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Including a lot of collaborations with my favorite pop artist, Carly Rae Jepsen, like a duet on her album Dedicated Side B, “Comeback”, and a duet on his album Terrible Thrills Vol. 2, “ Shadow”. I got to see them perform together in Toronto last September and my god it was gay heaven.