A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Started: 2/10/23
Finished: 2/21/23
SO GOOD. Historical fiction, started out by making me laugh, ended up making me cry (TWICE). I have been recommending it to everyone.
historical
A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel
Started: 9/19/21
Finished: 9/22/21
Set near the very end of WWII, with some jumps in time, it’s about a single line of women who are trying to get humanity into space. They don’t remember why, but they have very specific rules they live by. Most of the characters (not the main ones) were real people and most of the events were real (some minor details changed), which makes this totally fictional story completely plausible. Also, someone is hunting these women and trying to stop them. It was really good.
The Women in Black by Madeleine St. John
Started: 8/1/20
Finished: 8/2/20
Talk about a change in tone. I went from a whole bunch of weird SFF short stories (and then Riot Baby) to this charming little story about women who work in a department store in post-WWII Australia. Wish I could remember how I heard about it.
Leviathan Sings to Me in the Deep by Nibedita Sen
Started: 7/22/20
Finished: 7/23/20
I don’t think I can say I liked this story (about a whaling ship and its crew), but I keep remembering parts of it randomly. It won’t leave me alone.
And Now His Lordship Is Laughing by Shiv Ramdas
Started: 7/22/20
Finished: 7/22/20
SO GOOD. It’s fantasy, it’s horror (even though I heard on a horror panel that the author doesn’t think of it as horror, so maybe I should just say it has an element that depending on what you’re afraid of, you could absoLUTEly think it’s scary), it’s historical fiction, and it’s emotional (I cried). SO. GOOD.
The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington by P. Djèlí Clark
Started: 7/28/19
Finished: 7/28/19
The style of this short story was interesting – like encyclopedia entries – and I appreciate how each of the “donors” affected George Washington, but this was both a little too weird for me (I’m shuddering at the whole teeth thing) and a little not enough.