Table for Two

 Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles  451 pp.

I'll start off saying I am not a big fan of short stories. However, I am a fan of Amor Towles writing. So, in spite of this being a series of short stories and one novella, I enjoyed it, a lot. The short stories all take place in New York City and encompass various takes on relationships in people young and old. All the short stories are written in a way that make you want to know what happens to the characters after the story ends. The novella, however, does exactly that. The main character is Evelyn (Eve) Ross who first appeared in Towles novel The Rules of Civility. That book ends with the unfortunate Evelyn leaving New York by train to be met by her parents in Chicago. As the train pulls into Chicago she buys passage to Los Angeles without getting off the train. Each chapter of the novella is titled with the names of the different characters Eve encounters. Eventually Eve becomes friends with the actress Oliva de Haviland and ends up helping her with a problem that could impact her career. This is an engaging collection, masterfully written. I wonder what Mr. Towles will come up with next. I listened to the audiobook version well read by Edoardo Ballerini and J. Smith-Cameron. Here is a link to Amor Towles discussing the Los Angeles novella on NPR.

All We Were Promised

All We Were Promised by Ashton Lattimore, 368 pages

It's 1837 in Philadelphia, and after four years in the city, Charlotte's father James is finally establishing himself as a renowned businessman. The only catch is that Charlotte and James are runaway slaves from Maryland, and while James is passing as white, Charlotte has been stuck in the role of his black housemaid, unable to pursue the activism and education she longs for for fear of exposing her father's secrets. But when their former mistress arrives in town with one of their close friends still enslaved, Charlotte realizes that she must act to help free her friend and walk a tightrope to avoid getting herself or her father captured.

This book does a good job of highlighting the frustratingly slow abolitionist movement and the slaver-friendly laws in "free" states (for example, you could bring your slaves with you and keep them enslaved, as long as you didn't stay more than 6 months) in the years leading up to the Civil War. However, there were elements of the story that just felt a bit too unbelievable (particularly near the end), which took me out of the story. A better book on a similar topic is James by Percival Everett (check out my blog post for that here).

The Vanishing Half

 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (2020, 352 pages)

Identical twins Stella and Desiree grow up in a small, deep south town obsessed with light skin. When they run away as teenagers, they start to drift apart. One continues to live her life as white, with a white family, kids, neighborhood, life. The other continues living as Black, marrying "the darkest man she could find." As a result, the twins' respective daughter (cousins to each other) look nothing alike.

In a story that spans decades and many cultures in America through space and time, we follow the four main characters through their lives and identities.

Amazing prose, had me crying by the end!

★★★★★

Boyfriend Material

 Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall (2020, 432 pages)

The estranged son of a washed up rock star is setup with a successful attorney in a fake-dating scenario to benefit both of their professional lives. They both have important work functions coming up, and figure they would look better with an attractive man on their arm.

Of course, they end up actually falling for each other. But also of course, they don't communicate it very well. Lots of back and forth and (in my opinion, excessive) drama.

The whole thing was pretty silly, mostly in a funny way. The one liners were cute, friends were quirky, etc. Bonus points for queer representation, but I am not personally a fan of miscommunication plot lines.

★★★☆☆

The Vinyl Underground

The Vinyl Underground by Rob Rufus (2020) 328 pages

I listened to the audiobook on Hoopla narrated by Nick Mondelli. It is 1968 and Ronnie is still grieving the death of his brother over in Vietnam the year before. He's now a senior and questioning his future plans. Does he still want to pursue his brother's dream of being a radio DJ in California, or go to college to pursue his own path? Will either of those even be an option if he is drafted? Ronnie's brother had sent him a series of letters each with a recommended song on a 45rpm. He privately cherished these letters and his brother's stash of great albums. With his best friend Milo, their new neighbor Hana, who is half-Japanese, and a fellow star wrestler Louis, who has already failed his first senior-year to defer being called in the draft, Ronnie forms the Vinyl Underground. They form the record club to share righteous songs and chat about school and the war while drinking and smoking weed. They also plan how to dodge the draft. Ronnie finds it is better to work through his grief when he shares his brother's letters and recommended songs. Hana's family is new to town and faces a lot of racism. A bully at school constantly accuses her of being a spy for the Vietnamese. There is a scene of a sickening attack on Hana that is racially motivated. Milo wants to be a filmmaker and has recorded the attack, but the police doubt the identity of the assailant. This sets in motion the boys planning a super secret prank at the school prom. I loved the name-dropping of musicians from this decade. I could hear most of them in my head. I loved the exploration of courage in the face of pro-war forces and those who protest the war machine.
 

The Brides of High Hill

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo, 128 pages

On their never-ending quest for stories, cleric Chih has found themself in the company of a bride-to-be and her parents on the way meet the groom at his estate. When they arrive, however, something seems off, with fortified walls surrounding the compound, odd sculptures spread throughout, and, perhaps most unnerving, the groom-to-be's insane son locked in a labyrinth. Soon Chih learns that stories are even more powerful than they thought, and that monsters are not always hidden in the shadows.

This is the fifth entry in Vo's Singing Hills Cycle of novellas, and just like all the others, it's excellent. Not really much more to say than that, and also, read these books (in any order, though I wouldn't necessarily start with this one).

Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies

Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack, 352 pages

Ten years ago, Eleanor Dash went on vacation in Rome, fell in love with charming PI/"consultant" Connor, and helped solve a string of bank robberies that ended up with the head of the local mafia behind bars. When she came home, she wrote about it, changed a few names, and unbelievably had a bestselling mystery novel.

Today, Eleanor is getting ready to write her tenth book, and is back in Italy with now-ex-boyfriend Connor (who ended up being as self-centered as he is charming), her assistant/sister Harper (who put aside her own dreams of becoming a writer to help Eleanor), a few other novelists (including Eleanor's other ex, Oliver), and 20 of Eleanor's superfans (who won the trip by winning an online contest). While this is already a recipe for discomfort and wacky hijinks, there's also someone on the trip who seems to be trying to kill Connor...and possibly Eleanor.

This was a light and somewhat silly read, full of fourth-wall-breaking footnotes (more than 200 of them, yeesh), and situations that still make no sense to me. I was able to figure out the killer WAY too early (before there was a corpse, actually), which definitely took away from my enjoyment of the book and makes it really hard to recommend. Instead, read Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone for a more interesting meta-mystery.

First Lie Wins

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston, 340 pages

When this book opens, Evie Porter is on the verge of moving in with her dreamy boyfriend Ryan Sumner and while she's having a bit of trouble fitting in with his friends (they all grew up in the same small southern town they still live in), everything seems to be coming up roses. But as the story unfolds we learn that Evie is not at all who she claims to be — instead she's a grifter on a long-con assignment from her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, and unsuspecting Ryan is her target. When a woman comes to town bearing Evie's real name and biographical details, she realizes that this job is not like anything she's dealt with in the past, and she must figure out what's going on before she gets caught in her web of lies.

I generally like stories about grifters on the verge of being caught, and this buzzy book is definitely a fine addition to that library. However, there were points where I felt the book was twisty just for the heck of it, and I felt like one of the characters in particular was a bit derivative (but probably because he reminded me so much of a character in Leverage, a heist show I've been binging recently). Not the best thriller I've read, but definitely not the worst either.

Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff

Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff: Declutter, Downsize, and Move Forward with Your Life by Matt Paxton (2022) 310 pages

I have too much stuff; this kind of book always draws me in. Author Matt Paxton, who has a business emptying houses, also has a presence on television, with an A&E series called Hoarders and a show on PBS called Legacy List with Matt Paxton. He tells stories of real people he has helped, starting with his own when he was a young man tasked with cleaning out his father's and grandparents' homes. He thinks it's critical for us to tell the stories of why we have trouble letting a particular item go, and he believes that if we can tell the story of what it means to us, then it will be easier to give the item away.

In addition to the psychological aspects to decluttering or preparing to move, he also has many practical guidebook-type suggestions on how to start and what to do with the things that we're relinquishing. He also tells us what supplies and precautions we should take when physically cleaning a house. The book has a resource section at the end, along with a thorough index.

The section I need most is his section on dealing with documents and photographs. He thinks we should be able to pare away 80-90% of our photos. He also suggests using digital photo managers and making sure to back up anything that we digitize.

I liked the way the author's own story, and those of several of his clients, were woven into this helpful guide.

The Unsinkable Greta James

 

The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith (2022) 306 pages

Greta James has worked her way up in the music industry. She's now a well-known indie rock guitarist. But her career is at risk because just a week after her mother's sudden death a few months ago, she had an onstage meltdown that has gone viral. She hasn't gone back to perform anywhere since then, although her sophomore album is ready to be released and needs to be hyped.

Meanwhile, her father, whom she has butted heads with since she was in her teens, is set to go on a one-week Alaskan cruise that was supposed to be a 40th anniversary trip with his now-deceased wife. Greta's brother talks her into going on the cruise with their father. There are a lot of emotions that need to be addressed, and their conversations are frustrating for both of them.

When Greta meets a professor on the ship, there's a mutual attraction between them, in spite of him being quite different from anyone else she has dated. Oh, and he's not quite divorced yet, and has two young daughters. 

There's a lot that needs to be unpacked between her personal life and her professional life, but I feel that it is handled realistically.