Fans of crime fiction, raised on a diet of lone wolf PI's, limping the dark and rainy backstreets in pursuit of justice for the downtrodden, or retribution for wrongs that nobody else cares about, might find the tales in PROBLEM SOLVED a bit of a surprise.
Today's queer indie author review! Driving in Circles by Frances Fox:
"An exceptionally good story... I recommend this book - it has all the good feels and hope for two marvelous men - it's my favorite story of the series. I can’t wait to see what Frances Fox writes next."
Any introvert worth their weight in cancelled plans will tell you, it's easier to slip out early when you've learned to sneak in late. The best part of every guilty pleasure, is the pleasure you get from not feeling guilty when you know nobody sees...
Noise. A Flaw in Human Jugment is a book by Kahneman, Siboney, and Sunstein that reveals the hidden influence of "noise" on our decisions. For example, why two doctors can make different diagnoses on the same tests.
I found it important that the book gives specific recommendations on how to reduce "noise" in a huge number of spheres of our life.
And below I will describe a recommendation from the book to reduce noise within the project team.
Pete McAuslan is Vietnam Vet, and retired police officer, now holed up in the family's remote cabin near the small Tasmanian town of Mole Creek, writing his memoir. His grandson Xander is a Sydney based journalist, and they are close. So close that the shock of the death of Pete, and the suicide note found with him, is profound, and worrying.
Just finished reading the last installment of @charliejane Unstoppable series and I feel like a ran a technicolor, frightening, amazing marathon through space while fighting for the fate of 100’s of planets along with the crew of the Undisputed Training Bra Disaster. I need a minute, and some sna sna juice. Check out my #bookreview below!
HEARTSTOPPING MICHIGAN GOTHIC builds on the loneliness of shattered families, the protective anxieties of pregnancy, and the harsh realities of the deep woods. Stunningly fresh and decidedly modern take on a classic genre. A MINUS
"Aa well-done anthology that takes the reader to different areas of California for various holiday celebrations. There’s something for everyone... I highly recommend it. A great way to sample a bunch of new authors."
#BookReview Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro
Tr. Frances Riddle
read as e-book, using a mix of electronic Braille and TTS
Charco Press
Pub. 2021
I heard about this book when it was longlisted for the Barbellion Prize which promotes literature that concerns issues around illness/disability. The author is known as a crime writer but I knew going in not to categorise it.
We follow Elena, who’s in her 60s and has Parkinson’s, as she goes through her day. We learn that her daughter, Rita, has died and she’s determined to prove that it was murder, not suicide as the police believe.
Elena’s day is not straightforward as even though she has a very fixed idea she must get to Isabel for help (a woman she met briefly 20 years ago) her #disability reduces her mobility and everything takes so much longer. Her movements are tied to her medication so she has to carefully pace herself in order to get to the train station, conserving enough to control her body to get through the journey before needing to take another pill. It’s a juggling act she’s learnt over recent years and now thatRita has died she’s all alone in the world.
Piñeiro has structured the book around Elena’s doses of medication which is a brilliant way to weave in the idea of ‘crip time’, something that many disabled people recognise in their lives. This is powerfully explored, showing the frustrations Elena has about not being able to hold her hed up straight and the difficulty she has in walking.
“even though she knows that her time isn’t measured with clocks she looks at her watch; it’s more than an hour until her next pill…her time that isn’t time measured with clocks has begun to run out like sand slipping between her fingers, like water, and, elena knows, she won’t be able to get up off that couch until after she takes her next pill”
Themes of motherhood, identity, religion and who controls a woman’s body are also all woven into this emotional and affecting novel. #bookstodon#WITMonth@bookstodon
All in all August was a good reading month for me, I was able to read four books from the TBR for Women in Translation month and spend some vicarious time at the Met Museum, among bookish people, with a family in the English countryside after the war, in snowy Quebec, in lush Guadeloupe, and among older artists doing their best work.
My latest book review is up: Guardian: Zhen Hun vol 1 by Priest. Urban fantasy m/m romance set in modern China, with some scary bits and great characters.
I reviewed “Lord of a Shattered Land” by Howard Andrew Jones for Grimdark Magazine. An ultra-competent general from a destroyed nation will stop at nothing to free every single one of his enslaved countrymen from a cruel empire. Great new Sword & Sorcery!
LOVELY, UNIQUELY VOICED novel tells the story of Victor, a teenage emigré from China whose diagnosis of Hansen’s Disease (then known as leprosy) sends him to a government sanitarium in Louisiana. Beautiful writing, unforgettable characters. A MINUS