Recent Books -- The Tainted Cup, Nuts and Bolts, Vera or Faith, Some Desparate Glory, Rose/House, Somebody's Fool, Phantom Orbit, The Indifferent Stars Above, Shroud, 11/22/63
01 October 2025
- The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. Fantastic mystery set in a fantasy world. Great characters for the lead investigator and assistant. I will absolutely read more in the series.
- Nuts and Bolts by Roma Agrawal. Wanted to love this but it was just a bit boring. Maybe I was too familiar with the material.
- Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart. A little “Harriet the Spy”-ish, in a near future slightly dystopic America. Kind of predictable but still touching.
- Some Desparate Glory by Emily Tesh. Couldn’t finish, pretty routine “gifted teens in a special academy have to grow up fast” story.
- Rose/House by Arkady Martine. A cautionary tale about AI, kind of weird.
- Somebody’s Fool by Richard Russo. Imagine a maypole dance, with a lot of people who are slightly tipsy and have never done a maypole dance before. That is this story. By the end, everyone’s life is smashed together and intertwined. Very enjoyable.
- Phantom Orbit by David Ignatius. Supposedly a thriller, but pretty light on the thrills.
- The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown. Oof. Humans are reliably nuts. They had so many chances to stop, to turn around, to live. But were so committed to the idea of getting to California.
- Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Kind of like The Martian but with a way more hostile environment.
- 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Time travel story centered around the JFK assassination. About 30% more pages than I would have liked, but I knew that going in.
