A Hard Day for a Hangover

 Book 102 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read from October 11 - 29

A Hard Day for a Hangover

by Darynda Jones

Summary (via the book jacket)

Some people greet the day with open arms. Sheriff Sunshine Vicram would rather give it a hearty shove and get back into bed because there's just too much going on right now. There's a series of women going missing, and Sunny feels powerless to stop it. There's her persistent and rebellious daughter, Auri, who's out to singlehandedly become Del Sol's youngest and fiercest investigator. And then there's drama with Levi Ravinder - the guy she's loved and lusted after for years. The guy who might just be her one and only. The guy who comes from a family of disingenuous vipers looking to oust him - and Sunshine - for good.

Like we said, the new day can take a hike.

My Opinion

2 stars

This is the final installment in the Sunshine Vicram trilogy.  Thank goodness it's a trilogy because I'm ready to be done.  I guess I'll just reread the Charley Davidson books again.

No. Just No.  There is no way people can be so great at solving mysteries with the barest of clues when needed yet also miss completely obvious things right under their noses (or, even worse, when people do solve them YEARS AGO yet don't share for some reason).  

With the mystery specific to this book, the person of interest was so obvious it was painful and then it wrapped up off screen with one throwaway sentence about finally identifying her.  With Sunshine's personal life stuff, I'm glad things were finally resolved and there's some semblance of a happy ending.

Ironically, now that the personal stuff is settling down I actually would've liked reading more.  I like the characters when they're working on police and/or town stuff; it was just way too long and too much on the paternity storyline.

Best of Luck

 Book 101 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read on October 28

Best of Luck

by Jason Mott

My Opinion

3 stars

This short story is part of the Creature Feature collection available through Prime Reading.  My mistake to read a story about a monster that develops from a rash as I'm sitting in bed recovering from shingles.  

I didn't connect to the story very much.  A lot of time spent in buildup, a twist that made me sit up straighter and read faster, and then the finish happened too quickly.

Good Night, Irene

Book 100 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read from October 14 - 24

Good Night, Irene

by Luis Alberto Urrea

Summary (via the book jacket)

In 1943, Irene Woodward abandons an abusive fiance in New York to enlist with the Red Cross and head to Europe. In training, she makes fast friends with Dorothy Dunford, a towering Midwesterner with a ferocious wit. Together they are part of an elite group of women, nicked Donut Dollies, who command military vehicles called Clubmobiles at the front lines, providing camaraderie and a taste of home that may be the only solace before troops head into battle.

These two intrepid friends join the Allied soldiers streaming into France. Their time in Europe will see them embroiled in danger, from the Battle of the Bulge to the liberation of Buchenwald. Through her friendship with Dorothy, and a love affair with a courageous American fighter pilot named Hans, Irene learns to trust again. Her most fervent hope, which becomes more precarious by the day, is for all three of them to survive the war intact.

My Opinion

3 stars

The author notes that he took inspiration from his mother's Red Cross service (and included a photo of her in front of her Clubmobile) but the story itself is fiction.  

The parts that were good were really really good but there was an overall detachment I felt reading it.  Since Irene and Dorothy were compartmentalizing everything that also translated to big things happening and then moving on.  I think when Irene's defenses were down in the hospital was probably the "best" (but also most difficult) section for my investment because it was raw and there were emotions to feel along with the descriptions of the scenes.

In Bloom

 Book 99 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read on October 16

In Bloom

by Paul Tremblay

My Opinion

2 stars

This short story is part of the Creature Feature collection available through Prime Reading.

Not for me.  The bulk of the story was a monologue disguised as an interview (with absolutely no interruptions or follow-up questions) that was more 'tell' than 'show', leaving me with no emotions even at the climax of the story.  Then unnecessary things were left unanswered (why does it matter if he lives alone or not and why mention it at all if it's not answered or relevant?). 

Maybe the meaning went completely over my head but to me it felt like the beginning chapter of a longer story so I got all the backstory intros and description of settings but not the actual point.

As I write this it seems like I felt more negatively than I originally thought but it's not a 1 star review because I'm not angry, I'm just confused.  

It Waits in the Woods

 Book 98 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read on October 14

It Waits in the Woods

by Josh Malerman

My Opinion

4 stars

This short story is part of the Creature Feature collection available through Prime Reading.

It's a slow burn but it kept my interest and I was reading quickly to find out what happened.  I enjoyed it as a story but I'm not sure it belongs in this collection; the creature itself seemed secondary to the main plot of Brenda redeeming herself.

The Best American Short Stories (2022)

 Book 97 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read from September 19 - October 14

The Best American Short Stories (2022)

My Opinion

4 stars

Collectively I liked pretty much all the stories which means my notes are a bit repetitive but as I usually do when reading stories by different authors in the same book, I jotted a few thoughts about each one individually. 

A Ravishing Sun

I could feel the rawness and pain of the story.  When I read the author's note and saw it was a lived pain, it hit me harder that she could write the depression so well.  I hope she's in a good place now.

The Little Widow from the Capital

Well-written, it went in a very unexpected direction.

Man of the House

I felt sad yet hopeful for the future of the characters.

The Wind

Really powerful.

The Hollow

It was fine but I didn't really connect with the story.  The disconnect from reality was intentional and important to the plot but it made it difficult to find anything to latch on to.

Detective Dog

Absolutely engrossing.

Sugar Island

I want to be friends with all 3 of the main characters.  A sweet little snippet of life.

The Souvenir Museum

Really easy to get lost in the story.  The unsettledness of the characters was added by my reading it in the very early hours of the morning after a rough night of sleep.

Post

The story was engaging but also bleak.

Bears Among the Living

It was like hearing a person's inner monologue, random thoughts with enough cohesion to make it clear one person was narrating.

I love the line, "I miss when my future was more interesting to me than my past".

Soon the Light

It was matter-of-fact but also somehow emotional.  One that I was very engrossed in while reading but cannot describe what it was about at all.

Mbiu Dash

I felt sorry and lonely for her.  Abrupt ending.

The Meeting

There was a bleak undertone to the story and it escalated quickly to a surprising ending.

The Beyoglu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra

I didn't understand the parts with the attic and how it had so many contents but the inclination of the character to "rescue" beautiful artistic items from the garbage made perfect sense to me.

The Ghost Birds

A new angle of a dystopian future.  It was interesting to read in the author's note that the roosting of swifts in the chimney of an elementary school is a real thing that happens annually.

Mr. Ashok's Monument

It was fine.  I had to start over a few times because it required concentration to orient myself.

Ten Year Affair

It was unexpected and I'm glad it was never physical.  Her feelings about him at the end made me laugh; it reminded me of being mad at my husband for not apologizing for something he did in my dream.

The Sins of Others

Although this story had a satisfying ending the injustice of the system made me so angry.  It also was a little frightening that it wasn't too much of a stretch of the imagination to picture this happening in real life.

Elephant Seals

Pulling one thread at a time unravels into so many futures.  I like that it kept layering on itself instead of telling the same event in multiple timelines.

Foster

Melancholy but I hope good things happen for the main character.

Ankle Snatcher

 Book 96 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read on October 11

Ankle Snatcher

by Grady Hendrix

My Opinion

4 stars

This short story is part of the Creature Feature collection available through Prime Reading.  I was completely sucked in and when it ended I was surprised because I would've read more but also satisfied with when it ended because it kept things ambiguous.

The Pram

 Book 95 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read from October 9 - 11

The Pram

by Joe Hill

My Opinion

2 stars

This short story is part of the Creature Feature collection available through Prime Reading.  It's not a good sign that it took me 3 days to read a 58 page story; I kept reading a chapter and then moving on to something else.

The last section of the story (from when the shed was cleaned out until the end) bumped it up from a 1 star to a 2 star because it was creepy.  

Your Table is Ready

 Book 94 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read from September 18 - October 10

Your Table is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maitre D'

by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina

Summary (via Goodreads)

From the glamorous to the entitled, from royalty to the financially ruined, everyone who wanted to be seen―or just to gawk―at the hottest restaurants in New York City came to places Michael Cecchi-Azzolina helped run. His phone number was passed around among those who wanted to curry favor, during the decades when restaurants replaced clubs and theater as, well, theater in the most visible, vibrant city in the world.

Besides dropping us back into a vanished time, Your Table Is Ready takes us places we’d never be able to get into on our own: Raoul's in Soho with its louche club vibe; Buzzy O’Keefe’s casually elegant River Café (the only outer-borough establishment desirable enough to be included in this roster), from Keith McNally’s Minetta Tavern to Nolita’s Le Coucou, possibly the most beautiful room in New York City in 2018, with its French Country Auberge-meets-winery look and the most exquisite and enormous stands of flowers, changed every three days.

From his early career serving theater stars like Tennessee Williams and Dustin Hoffman at La Rousse right through to the last pre-pandemic-shutdown full houses at Le Coucou, Cecchi-Azzolina has seen it all. In Your Table Is Ready , he breaks down how restaurants really run (and don’t), and how the economics work for owners and overworked staff alike. The professionals who gravitate to the business are a special, tougher breed, practiced in dealing with the demanding patrons and with each other, in a very distinctive ecosystem that’s somewhere between a George Orwell “down and out in….” dungeon and a sleek showman’s smoke-and-mirrors palace.

My Opinion

2 stars

Maybe it's because the lifestyle is so far removed from mine or maybe it's because it sounds too good to be true but the stories were pretty unbelievable.  Everything always works out for him no matter the choices?  He does acknowledge the changes in the industry and culture and happily seems to think the progress is a good thing.

When I read in the epilogue that he was getting ready to finally start his own restaurant I looked it up and am very happy to see it's still up and running.  I'm sure his experience, people skills, and recognition of talent are big reasons why.

The Library of the Unwritten

 Book 93 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read from September 16 - October 2

The Library of the Unwritten

by A.J. Hackwith

Summary (via the book jacket)

Many years ago, Claire was named head librarian of the Unwritten Wing - a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists mainly of repairing and organizing books, but also of keeping an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters and escaping the Library. When hero escapes from his book and goes in search of its author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity and the nervous and sweet demon Leto.

But what should have been a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the terrifying angel Ramiel attacks them, convinced that they hold the Devil's Bible. The text of the Devil's Bible is a weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell, so it falls to the librarians to find a book with the ability to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell...and Earth.

My Opinion

4 stars

Excellent title and premise that made me snatch it off the library shelf quickly and I was not disappointed.  It was a little convoluted at times but the situations kept changing in unexpected but plausible (at least plausible for the story...there's nothing realistic about this setting at all) ways.  There were many twists and turns and I plan on continuing the series but there was enough of a resolution that someone could read this one alone if they wanted to.

Quote from the Book

"We are the dreams that did not die with the dreamer. We care nothing for the dark."