Every great race, like the Boston or New York Marathons, deserves a story. And by that I mean each great race needs a work of fiction to help us feel Every great race, like the Boston or New York Marathons, deserves a story. And by that I mean each great race needs a work of fiction to help us feel the drama. Most of the time we get a long history of the contest, which is fine, but not so exciting. Sometimes you get an account of just one of those races, like Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America's Greatest Marathon. Oh, boy – that might be better than fiction. But still not fantasy, not a bedtime story. So, a bestseller all about a classic race, finally translated and exported to the US, is certainly welcome.
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The story opens with Kiyose, something of a house captain at a small university in Tokyo, who spots a shoplifter cutting through the night with breakneck speed and flawless form. He hops on his bike and manages to chase down the blazing Kakeru, and asks the question I love to hear: “Do you like to run?” He entices Kakeru to live in Chikusei-so house with a rent he can’t refuse, but it’s packed with a group of straight-up eccentrics.
It isn’t long before Kiyose springs it on the group: they’re there to train for the Hakone Ekiden, a 2-day relay in which each participant runs just about a half-marathon, most of it in the hills. He makes it a condition of the low, low rent, so no one backs out. But only Kakeru and Kiyose are real runners, so their odds of even qualifying are pretty grim.
I’m a little ashamed, as a marathoner and track coach, to have been ignorant of the Ekiden. But the more I learned, the more I liked. Try not to decipher all the complicated details and seeming calculus it takes to understand how to qualify. As Kiyose explained it, my head hurt and I daydreamed a bit. But if you just look at it as a cool but grueling competition that’s cherished by Japan, that’s good enough.
When you have a book with ten characters, there’s a tendency to want to develop them all. Not gonna happen, at least not with much depth. But Miura does very well, providing each with funny quirks and interesting backstories to keep everything moving. The foci, of course, are the past demons faced by Kakeru, and what might just be Kiyose’s last chance at glory. So, while the side quests of the other characters are neat, the drama really lies with those two.
The writing seems a little…literal? We say, “show, don’t tell,” and there’s a lot of “tell” here. “He had a lot of determination toward his goal,” is the style. I wonder if it’s due to the translation, however. The ideas and feelings were there, but often the descriptions didn’t have the pizzazz.
What does match the excitement is the action. Yeah, the strange wording is there, but the plot is key. Miura raises the stakes gradually, giving each Chikusei-so runner a reason to go for it. She also introduces something of a villain from another university.
And the race. That probably could’ve been a novel in and of itself. The sights and sounds are clear and thrilling. Miura takes us through just about every step of every runner, and includes their thoughts, anxieties, and triumphs.
And if you’ve ever achieved a lifelong running goal, whatever it might be, you’ll relate to the Chikusei-so runners. There’s ten of them, so you’re sure to identify with at least one: be it the back of the pack guy, the record-setter, the would-be coach. It’s the crux of the novel for a reason: we’re meant to join the guys in the race, to experience it in some small way for ourselves. It’s what you’d want from a running novel, and you get it. It’s also got an ending that makes sense, doesn’t go all Hollywood, and leaves you with a smile.
Did it make me want to run an Ekiden? Eh, only if someone needs an old, slow leg. But it’s books like this that keep me running.
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. Run with the Wind comes out October 15....more
Whoops! Some alien queen went and blew up the Earth. For what it’s worth, she’s written an apology. That should soften the blow, right?
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When outWhoops! Some alien queen went and blew up the Earth. For what it’s worth, she’s written an apology. That should soften the blow, right?
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When outer space visitors invade our planet and try to live among us, you don’t expect them to have a sense of humor. Nor do you think they’ll fall into a swoony romance. But that’s the unique, lively, and even heartwarming premise here. And if you’re in the mood for some smiles and laughs mixed with your sci-fi adventure, you’ll enjoy this little indie story.
Aria, ruler of the Brooshaloos, secretly leaves the US government compound in Alaska with her aide de camp (Penny) to explore the human world (and, as we later learn, support her people). Disguised as a beautiful woman, she meets Greg Jones, assistant to a US Senator. There’s an attraction there, but there’s also some information he might have about her mission. Despite Penny’s protests, Aria travels to Washington to discover more, where she can’t seem to shake Greg, either from her trail or her heart. Then, a mysterious explosion occurs, and Aria might have a clue as to whodunit. And that means trouble, both for her and for her adopted planet. Ours.
Tone and premise are where this book shines. It boldly goes where no one has gone before (see what I did there??!). Aria is the narrator, and she’s dictating a letter of apology to the Earth, with an eye toward her new love. She does a great job of foreshadowing without giving away spoilers. Her appreciation for all the wild, crazy, and fun things our world has to offer is heartening and sweet. Her affection for Greg will make you smile.
Sci-fi stories have a lot of rules, or a very specific order of events, both of which make this a rare genre for me. For the most part, this novel does perfectly fine, keeping the theme light and the plot not overly complex. The rising action and the race to the finish, however, do require close reading. And thus, the pace, which had been traveling at warp speed, hits a plateau. That said, the simplicity of the writing and the approachability of Aria, Greg, and the other characters push things in a satisfying direction.
Pozo also tries something different here: footnotes. No, really: there are 256 of them, sprinkled throughout Aria’s narration. They’re often funny, sometimes informative, and show us the interesting contrasts of our worlds. If you’ve been scarred by your college textbooks as I was, you might do what I did: read some, ignore at will. I found that to be a good strategy: if I were in the mood for a Rodney Dangerfield-esque one-liner, I read it. Otherwise, I passed it by. I don’t think I lost anything in the process. (Note: I read an ebook, which made these endnotes and not footnotes. Not sure how the printed version will treat these.)
(Another note: see what I did there? Writing about endnotes…with a side note? Yes! I got a million of ‘em! Try the veal!)
The character development was solid, and I got to know enough about them to like / revile / understand them. The romance doesn’t pervade the story, and the spice is set to Mild, but it keeps things moving and hits all the right points. The ending, which gets more than a little technical, was still fun and exciting. Likeable and clever are good words to describe this work.
And, if sci-fi / speculative fiction is your thing, you might check what else this little indie operation, Splinter Press, has to offer. I peeked at the website, and it seems non-traditional and off the beaten path.
Or in this case, tractor beam.
Thank you to NetGalley and Splinter Press for an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. Sorry, Humans Especially Greg comes out August 30.
Perhaps the best way to summarize this novel is to just say, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Of course, this doesn’t span a century and the narrating gPerhaps the best way to summarize this novel is to just say, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Of course, this doesn’t span a century and the narrating ghosts make sure neither the MCs or you are ever alone. But I think you get the point: sweeping magical realism set in the jungles and towns of Latin America - in this case, El Salvador.
It takes about fifty pages to figure out the main characters: Consuelo and Graciela. We learn their story from their friends who are, um…dead. And that’s not a spoiler, since in the very first chapter, they tell us they’re dead, of some horrible political massacre. It’s set in a series of small towns, a coffee economy, on the side of a volcano. Eventually, it moves to California and Paris.
Tremendous description here. Wow, what a setting! The author conveys both the danger and beauty of the jungle. Also, the voices are quite poetic. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional f-bomb here, since the interactions between characters are emotional, meaningful, and full of love. Ghosts are meant to be haunting, and these girls are experts.
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Now, if you love magic (and not the romantasy kind), you’ll be in heaven (or wherever the ghosts are). There are named spirits that actually show up and swirl around the main characters. The General does something bad, and gets chased by a spectral legend. The dead girls visit the living, right when they needed it. Very cool.
However…
This is meant to be read slowly. And that’s not what I do. I prefer to be entertained, told a story I can easily follow. The first fifty pages here did the opposite. It was hard to understand who the narrators were. The timeline flies all over. The claims to be dead threw me off. There’s basically no direction. Again, beautifully described, but if you want to follow what’s happening, you need to read paragraphs over and over. The narrator will be telling us about Socorrito, but then digress into a story about a spirit, and not come back to the original story. This made it the writing less like Gabriel García Márquez and more like Thomas Pynchon or David Foster Wallace And certainly not Isabel Allende. Things just didn’t connect. For me, at least.
It gets better when Consuelo and Graciela meet in the General's home. Better still when they escape. But even there, the lack of a linear plot wrought havoc on my attention span. I admit, I skimmed the ending.
Also, have your Spanish-English dictionary handy. I have a rusty grip on the language, and even I had to Google translate a few words. In fact, the author goes full phrases in the language without offering a translation. I can see those who don’t speak or understand the language getting rather annoyed.
But that’s how magical realism goes. Usually. 100 Years remains one of my favorites, but the plot there is more traditional. It’s meant to flit in and out of consciousness, back and forth through time, circling what’s real and what’s not. The author does a good job of taking us to her worlds, both real and imagined. Telling where, when, and why we’re there, however, was a shortcoming.
I recommend this: recognize that I’m the wrong person to review this kind of book. My opinions probably ignore the features that make this book great. I could pick out things I like, but saying it’s bad based on my aversion of the genre just isn’t fair.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. The Volcano Daughters comes out Tuesday, August 20.
Stephanie Kiser moves to New York after college, hoping to make a career in writing and a life in the city of her dreams. But writing doesn’t pay the Stephanie Kiser moves to New York after college, hoping to make a career in writing and a life in the city of her dreams. But writing doesn’t pay the bills, so on her friend’s advice, she takes up nannying for the city’s elite. There she sees how the 1% lives, first with a reasonable family, but later with those with insane demands and incredibly lavish lifestyles.
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As the subtitle indicates, the author shares her observation of how wealthy parents live in the context of her own upbringing. Once again, I didn’t read the summary thoroughly, because I was expecting something of an “exposé.” That’s there, but the chapters are sprinkled with memories from Kiser’s past. It took some getting used to, but after a while I understood what she was trying to do. It’s rough indeed: verbal abuse, poor education, near-poverty, mental illness. Doesn’t sound like fun.
The skill here comes in not devolving into self-pity. Instead, she shares her history to demonstrate how alien her situation was. The shock is evident, watching babies wear Prada and other name brands, only to spill grape juice on it all. The waste and the extravagance make her families a little crazy, and they pass on those actions and thoughts onto her. The kids are mostly fine, but unsurprisingly a little spoiled. That said, she develops fondness for her charges and learns about parenting.
Kiser also does a good job sharing her current personal challenges. She has an abortion, which changes her perspective and attitude. She finds it hard to relate to others and loses friends. And the demands of her job, one she never really chose, prevent her from moving onto better things. Sure, she makes a good salary, but she can’t pursue writing or find another job. She barely has time for herself, and she starts to question why she came to this city in the first place. She considers the meaning of money, of have/have not, and I liked her reflections on that topic.
As for equality, the most salient point is the heavy burden women bear in rearing children. Her views are based on solid evidence, watching the women in the families take on cleaning and changing diapers while the men do very little, even when both have jobs. In other matters of equality, it was enough for her to share the surprising lifestyles and expectations of the wealthy. Kiser’s style seems to rely too often on “tell, not show,” with a few blanket statements, but the book shines in the detail.
Good treatment of an interesting topic, mixed in with meaningful personal reflections. Absolutely recommended.
Many thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. Wanted: Toddler's Personal Assistant was released August 6 and is available now.
Wow, was there a lot of talk about this one. GR assaulted me on a regular. Lots of you posted reviews. And I voted for her husband twice.
That in mindWow, was there a lot of talk about this one. GR assaulted me on a regular. Lots of you posted reviews. And I voted for her husband twice.
That in mind, I guess I set my expectations pretty high. So that when I started, I got a little bogged down. She’s describing piano lessons at age four. But then she relates it to the theme of “striving.” Always trying to do her best, especially as a young Black woman. Ah, OK. But she also didn’t ram home the point, bragging about how great she was, how amazing it was for her to get into Princeton. She takes a humble tone, just like I’d have assumed of her.
In fact, Michelle strikes me as a very chill person. Hard to imagine, given her education and her stint in corporate law. She never seems to lose her cool, never takes herself too seriously. Sure, the prose sometimes sounds like a legal brief, formal and academic when emotional would be better. But she delivers her experiences well.
I liked her observations of Barack. She humanizes him but also recognizes his talents and his drive. There’s a difference: she needs order, he can act within the order. Hey, all you rom-com lovers: here’s a good opposites attract trope (sort of). She also seems like a fun mom: not a hover parent, but encouraging her girls to do the best they can in everything. Sounds good to me.
She approaches the White House with that same humility. She wasn’t sure what to do, but knew she didn’t want to overreach. Inclusivity and approachability were tantamount. Her initiatives seemed great to me, and I hadn’t known about them before.
Overall, I liked what I read. Good to know she’s enjoying life after the White House. She might be the FLOTUS, but she’s one of us.
Two women find themselves neighbors on a remote lake in the Pacific Northwest. Frankie (Mary Frances) is an ornithologist whose dissertation is going Two women find themselves neighbors on a remote lake in the Pacific Northwest. Frankie (Mary Frances) is an ornithologist whose dissertation is going down the tubes. Anne is an Irish expat, a singer/songwriter taking a break to care for her five-year-old boy who suddenly stopped talking a few months ago. Both experienced a recent death of someone close, and both have associated family issues. They come together when Frankie takes care of an injured baby crow with the help of Anne’s son, Aiden.
Come for the descriptions of nature, of bird calls, of the subtly placed lessons wildlife has to give. Stay for the complex, beautiful, and realistic family interactions.
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It has a ton of long paragraphs and ornate detail of the outdoors, which might otherwise put me off. Not this time. There was a delicacy, a poetry to Garvin’s writing that’s simply compelling. I smelled the musty, forest air; I felt the gentle breezes; I saw the ripples on the lake; I cringed at the force of the storms.
I also realized I never pay attention to bird calls. I really should. We have a family of mourning doves nesting in our awning, and starlings and sparrows race along our Brooklyn street. Either Garvin is an ornithologist herself, or she did some serious homework. She seemed to know the call of every bird from here to Oregon, and she placed them so expertly and carefully into the speech and thoughts of her characters.
Finally, all this science and nature is backdropped so artfully into a dramatic, emotional, and heart-warming dual family drama. I love books that detail the struggle of parenting, and wow! She totally nails it. Anne’s fears and anxieties about her son, and how she feels about in-laws telling her what to do are described almost flawlessly. The characters and their situations feel so true, including what Aiden experiences. (I also loved his chapters!) The rivalries and jealousies and secrets in each family are entirely believable and interesting. Thus, it’s hard to classify this as just a nature book. No, it’s a prize-worthy drama within a nature story.
The leader in the clubhouse for best 2024 book of the year!
I spent time with my good friend Julio this summer. Not only did he welcome my family into his beautiful home, he sent me home with a book! He’s a forI spent time with my good friend Julio this summer. Not only did he welcome my family into his beautiful home, he sent me home with a book! He’s a former player and coach, and I rely on him for insight into the state of baseball. Although I check him back for his scouting expertise. (Trent Grisham? Seriously?)
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I love biographies, and I love baseball. But this about as nontraditional as it gets, perhaps leaning even harder into the vernacular than Britney Spears. He does warn you in the preface, and he mentions his issues with an attention disorder. So, don’t be surprised if this is reminiscent of a guy sitting on a bar stool talking smack. But they’re awesome stories about really cool stuff told by a baseball legend!
Pete is an old school guy, and it shows. Get ready for a few off-color remarks. Political correctness? Not his thing. I got turned off once or twice, but it didn’t make me put down the book. (See my review of Gone with the Wind: just because I read it doesn’t mean I agree with all of it.)
I liked reading about his hardscrabble, gray-collar life in Cincinnati. He was an undersized kid with outsized dreams, fueled and supported by his tough-love parents. He was “Charlie Hustle” for that reason: he fought and scraped for every base since it was the only way to get ahead. (And I didn’t know the nickname was a derogatory one, bestowed by Yankee great Whitey Ford!) And every now and then, in the middle of some thought or reflection or memory, he pops out with some random story about Johnny Bench or Joe DiMaggio. All of this makes the chronology wild and woolly.
I also thought a few big events got glossed over. Marriage, kids, relationships don’t get much detail. I was looking forward to learning about playing in his first World Series, but nothing was there. There was, however, quite a bit of detail about his time in prison, and there he spares very little.
But I think the purpose of the book was not a detailed account of his life from start to finish (or the state of it in 2004). Rather, it pointed toward the title: why he felt like he was unfairly banned.
That’s one area where this book stands out: reasons for reinstatement. Listing it all would be a spoiler, so instead I’ll just say that in the later third, Rose gives a common-man explanation with common sense. Barack Obama he’s not, but he speaks with facts and with heart. And there’s the other good attribute: honesty and forthrightness. Sure, as other readers have said, sometimes he sounds like he’s making excuses. But mostly it’s Pete sharing as much as he can about his life, and he owns up to quite a bit.
However, one big drawback: too many errors. Oh, boy: more than a few typos. Too many misplaced dates and names (it was Chad Curtis, not Shane Spencer, who told off Jim Gray in the 1999 World Series). I’d give the editors and fact-checkers a D-minus: they knew Pete’s not a writer, so they should’ve helped him out.
But let’s respond to the title: Pete Rose should be reinstated.
For one thing, Giamatti did promise him a review, but he died before that could happen. For another, while he admits to betting on baseball, there’s no proof he fixed any games. Such a thing would be near-impossible to prove.
I got more:
• Ty Cobb was WAY worse of a person, and he’s a pillar in the HOF. • The Commissioner’s office has asked him to improve his life. Sure, he’s involved with casinos, but so what? He’s making money and doing it all legally. What’s the problem? • The damage he did through gambling was almost all self-inflicted. You could argue it affected his marriage and parenthood. But what business is that of baseball? See above (Ty Cobb). • I can’t watch ten minutes of a baseball game without some ad for legalized sports gambling. It seems to be encouraged, even celebrated. To knock Pete for the same thing seems hypocritical.
So, despite my opinion about the messy writing style, the book does its job. It’s not his personality that made him a legend. It was his skill, determination, and love of the game. He was one of the best hitters the world has ever seen.
Put him in the Hall. BEFORE he goes to the big dugout in the sky.
Yep, you guessed it: I got this book for free from someone’s table at the end of the school year. As my brother would say, “Free is for me!”
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LegYep, you guessed it: I got this book for free from someone’s table at the end of the school year. As my brother would say, “Free is for me!”
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Legal dramas were the hot thing in the 90s, and this one set that trend in motion. Budding Harvard Law graduate Mitch McDeere hits the jackpot with a wealthy firm in Memphis. Everything looks great from the outside, but soon he learns things aren’t what they seem. Some past partners or associates met untimely ends over the past twenty years or so, and he suspects foul play. He starts doing a little snooping of his own, which makes trouble for his superiors, and raises FBI suspicion. Soon he and his wife are running for their lives trying to escape contracted killers and prove the firm’s dastardly deeds.
Let’s call this more legal intrigue than crime thriller. It’s third-person omniscient, but done very well: each character gets a lot of development and their own unique perspective. For a legal novel, it also doesn’t get bogged down in too much procedure or jargon: you’ll be able to understand what’s happening. You get a sense that Mitch is a really sharp guy and there’s a reason he’s so valued.
The ins and outs of the firm, the webs they created and the crimes they commit, make for some interesting reading, but maybe not that “edge of your seat” feeling. Maybe I’m biased, but the end of any Stephanie Plum novel has a lot more zing than this. And for that reason, I thought things got resolved for Mitch a little too easily. In other words, I wasn’t scared like I might’ve been for Steph.
Also, I just couldn’t get Tom Cruise’s image out of my head. No, I haven’t seen the movie, and now…eh, probably not.
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That said, the pace is great, the plot is twisty, and the dialogue is snappy. It stands the test of time, having been released 30 years ago, and I can name several books published later that feel a lot more dated. By now it’s a classic, and for good reason: it’s good fun, a cool and interesting tale and a super-quick read. ...more
![Sorry, Humans [Especially Greg]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1721257027l/216599575._SY75_.jpg)
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