Ry Herman's Blog, page 5

Favorite Books — September 2024

Before anything else, I wanted to give a shout-out to a middle-grade book written by a friend of mine, which I think in genuinely amazing:

MAISIE VS ANTARCTICA by Jack Jackman

Maisie thinks her dad is the most boring person in the world. For fun he likes to do jigsaw puzzles of a cloudless sky (yep, every piece is blue). He writes cool-sounding books like How To Wrestle A Crocodile and How To Defuse A Bomb, but he’s never actually done any of the awesome things he writes about. But Maisie has to admit weird things happen around Dad. Unexplainable things…

I love this book! Funny and exciting, with truly great twists. And Maisie herself is a fantastic character. I bought a copy for my niece, and she loved it, too. We’re both looking forward to the sequel.

And now on to my favorite book which wasn’t written by a friend of mine:

RULES FOR VANISHING by Kate Alice Marshall

It’s been exactly one year since Sara’s sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to “play the game” and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca—before she’s lost forever.

Now *this* is everything queer epistolary YA horror with an unreliable narrator is supposed to be! Just a great, great read.

Other books I enjoyed reading this month included:

THE DEEP DARK by Molly Knox Ostertag, THE QUIET INVASION and PLAYING GOD by Sarah Zettel, ANNE FRANK REMEMBERED by Miep Gies, FULL SHIFT by Jennifer Dugan and Kit Seaton, MAGIC ENUFF by Tara M. Stringfellow, and INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SPACE by Emily Austin.

Favorite Books — August 2024

A busy month means I didn’t get as much reading done as I usually do. There aren’t any books I want to specifically highlight this time around, but there are a number I liked a great deal, such as:

ALL THE DEAD LIE DOWN by Kyrie McCauley, INSTRUCTIONS FOR TRAVELING WEST by Joy Sullivan, LIBERTY’S DAUGHTER by Naomi Kritzer, THE HUSBANDS by Holly Gramazio, APOSTLES OF MERCY by Lindsay Eliis, IN THE LIVES OF PUPPETS by T. J. Klune, and KINDLING by Traci Chee.

The Ry Fringe Awards!

It’s been a busy week, so I’m a little late posting the annual Ry Fringe Awards for the best shows seen by Ry at the Edinburgh Fringe, but better late than never.

So first, the minor awards:

BEST SHOW WHOSE NAME I HAD TO LOOK UP
Apricity

BEST DECONSTRUCTION
Cyrano

BEST NUDITY (FULL OR PARTIAL)
N. Ormes

BEST WTF WAS THAT
The Passion of Andrea 2

BEST JUGGLING
Rollercoaster

LONGEST ARMS
Elf Lyons: Horses

BEST DEAD CHARACTERS
Ghost Light: Between Fall and Flight

BEST HULA HOOPING OF A CYR WHEEL
IIIII – About the Art of Letting Go

BEST PLAY PERFORMED ENTIRELY IN ITALIAN BY GUMMY BEARS ON A SMALL TABLE
The Gummy Bears’ Great War

MOST CONFLICTED PERFORMER
Hannah Gadsby: Woof

BEST TOILET PAPER SET
Luke Rollason, Luke Rollason, Let Down Your Hair

BEST POLE DANCING
Jay Lafferty: Bahookie

BEST SHIRT DANCING
Lost Connection

BEST INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF GENDER ROLES
N. Ormes

BEST DANCE RESEMBLING THE LIFECYCLE OF AN ALIEN CREATURE
Palingenesis

BEST DYSTOPIA
Recirquel: Paradisum

And finally, the major awards:

BEST MUSIC
Riki Lindholme: Dead Inside

BEST PLAY
Cyrano

BEST COMEDY
Elf Lyons: Horses

BEST DANCE
Palingenesis

BEST MUSICAL
Kafka’s Metamorphosis: The Musical! With Puppets!

BEST CIRCUS PERFORMANCE
N. Ormes

Favorite Books — July 2024

Two fabulous books topped my list this month:

I KEEP MY EXOSKELETONS TO MYSELF by Marisa Crane

The Department of Balance has adopted a radical new form of law enforcement: rather than incarceration, wrongdoers are given a second (and sometimes, third, fourth, and fifth) shadow as a reminder of their crime. Kris is a Shadester and a new mother to a baby born with a second shadow of her own.

Wow. Disturbing, thought-provoking, and often charming. A book that uses its strange premise to explore othering, shame, oppression, parenting, grief, and joy. There’s a lot to unpack here, and it’s worth unpacking.

THE SPEAR CUTS THROUGH WATER by Simon Jimenez

The royal family holds the countryside in a choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace. But that god cannot be contained forever. With the aid of Jun, a guard broken by his guilt-stricken past, and Keema, an outcast fighting for his future, the god escapes from her royal captivity and flees from her own children, who would drag her back to her unholy prison.

Innovative in its narrative, epic in its scope. This is a book that takes a while to get where it’s going, but I have to say that the trip was worth it.

Other fantastic books this month included MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS by Kelly Link, DOPPELGANGER by Naomi Klein, THE MANY FACES OF ISTA FLIT by Clare Harlow, THE PRACTICE, THE HORIZON, AND THE CHAIN by Sofia Samatar, HOUSE OF ODYSSEUS by Claire North, and THE HEARING TRUMPET by Leonora Carrington.

Bad Bilingual Pun

Why was Sieben not afraid of Acht?

Because the only thing to Vier is Vier itself.

Favorite Books — June 2024

My favorite book this time around was:

KNIFE RIVER, by Justine Champine

When Jess was thirteen her mother went for a walk and never returned. Jess and her older sister Liz never found out what happened. As soon as she was old enough, Jess fled their small town of Knife River, wandering from girlfriend to girlfriend like a ghost in her own life, aimless in her attempts to outrun grief and confusion. But one morning fifteen years later she gets the call she’s been bracing herself for: Her mother’s remains have been found.

While this book has some of the trappings of a mystery novel, it really isn’t one — it’s a meditation on loss, family, and coming to terms with the past. The mystery very much takes a backseat, and that’s fine. It’s a beautifully written, stunning debut, and I’m looking forward to more by this author.

Other great books I read this month included THE YEARS by Annie Ernaux, A SWORD OF BRONZE AND ASHES by Anna Spark Smith, THE POWER AND THE GLORY by Graham Greene, THE MIMICKING OF KNOWN SUCCESSES and THE IMPOSITION OF UNNECESSARY OBSTACLES by Malka Older, DRIVE YOUR PLOUGH OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD by Olga Tokarczuk, and GORGEOUS GRUESOME FACES by Linda Cheng.

Favorite Books — May 2024

Just a ton of great books this past month, but one in particular I want to call attention to:

ITHACA by Claire North

Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them have returned. Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. Now speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door. No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus’ empty throne—not yet. But everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, and Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war.

A feminist retelling of the myth of Penelope and the suitors in the context of the other events that followed the Trojan War? Yes, please. And this one was exceptionally well-done, from the choice of Hera as the narrator to the re-examination of the roles of the prominent players among the surviving Greek royalty.

Other books I thought were good reads this month included HIS MASTER’S VOICE by Stanislaw Lem, NATURAL BEAUTY by Ling Ling Huang, REDEMPTION’S BLADE by Adrian Tchaikovsky, TERRIBLE WORLDS: REVOLUTIONS by Adrian Tchaikovsky, THE PAINTED VEIL by W. Somerset Maugham, TITANIUM NOIR by Nick Harkaway, VERA by Elizabeth von Armin, THE LIES AMONG US by Sarah Beth Durst, ONE DAY by David Nicholls, THE QUIET AND THE LOUD by Helena Fox, JACK THE GIANT KILLER by Charles de Lint, TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin, and RED SIDE STORY by Jasper Fforde.

Favorite Books — April 2024

A lot of wonderful books this past month. Two standout novels in two completely different genres were my absolute favorites:

THIRTEEN WAYS TO KILL LULABELLE ROCK by Maud Woolf

Set in a world of the near future, the celebrity elite have access to a technology that allows them to make perfect copies of themselves, who exist to fulfil all the various duties that come as the price of fame. Our protagonist is the thirteenth copy made of the actress known as Lulabelle Rock. Her purpose is to track down and eliminate her predecessors.

Wild, weird, inventive, and disturbing in all the right ways, this immediately shot onto my list of favorite books of 2024. If you want a book that will make you root wholeheartedly for a clone assigned to murder all of her fellow clones, this is the one.

A TOUCH OF MISTLETOE by Barbara Comyns

Following the death of their grandfather, Blanche and Vicky’s mother relinquishes drink (to which she had taken in a big way) for the joys of frantic housework. Naturally the girls long to escape. Blanche trains as a mannequin at a dubious institution in London, and Vicky flees to Holland and a purgatorial life as an au pair to a lot of dogs. But this is only the beginning and other adventures await them, including the poverty and cabbage smells of one-room living, the charcoaled fingers of art school, drunkenness and cheap restaurants of Soho bohemia, and varying degrees of excitement with several husbands and lovers.

The brilliance of this book isn’t evident right away. It builds slowly, as the main character, Victoria, describes all of her life’s vicissitudes with startling equanimity. Tragedies and unexpected luck are are both made more vivd and real because they are never sentimentalized. Barbara Comyns is, frankly, one of the greatest authors I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

Other delightful books I read this month included THE WARM HANDS OF GHOSTS by Katherine Arden, WOUND by Oksana Vasyakina, GOGMAGOG by Jeff Noon and Steve Beard, MONA OF THE MANOR by Armistead Maupin, THE BOOK OF LOVE by Kelly Link, THE CHILDEN’S BACH by Helen Garner, SUNBRINGER by Hannah Kaner, DON’T WANT YOU LIKE A BEST FRIEND by Emma R. Alban, THE TAINTED CUP by Robert Jackson Bennett, and EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM WILL SOMEDAY BY DEAD by Emily Austen.

Favorite Books — March 2024

I didn’t get through as many books this month as last, but there’s one I absolutely want to rave about:

HALF-WITCH, by John Schoffstall

In Lizbet Lenz’s world, the sun still goes around the earth, God speaks directly to his worshippers, goblins haunt every cellar and witches lurk in the forests. Disaster strikes when Lizbet’s father Gerhard, a charming scoundrel, is thrown into a dungeon by the tyrant Hengest Wolftrow. To free him, Lizbet must cross the Montagnes du Monde, globe-girdling mountains that reach to the sky, a journey no one has ever survived, and retrieve a mysterious book. Lizbet is desperate, and the only one who can help her is the unpleasant and sarcastic witch girl Strix.

Wow, this book was fantastic. And despite some rave reviews in prominent places, it seems to have flown under everyone’s radar for the most part. Whimsical, inventive, irreverent (and sometimes surprisingly reverent), this novel is a true hidden gem that deserves a much wider audience.

Other books I enjoyed this month included THE LAST DAYS OF NEW PARIS by China Miéville, NEON ROSES by Rachel Dawson, TO SHAPE A DRAGON’S BREATH by Moniquill Blackgoose, ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE by Robin Hobb, SCABBY QUEEN by Kirsten Innes, and THE PRISONER’S THRONE by Holly Black.

Favorite Books — February 2024

February was a good month for reading. The one I want to highlight this week definitely deserves its status as a well known classic:

REBECCA, by Daphne du Maurier

Ancient, beautiful Manderley, between the rose garden and the sea, is the county’s showpiece. Rebecca made it so — even a year after her death, Rebecca’s influence still rules there. How can Maxim de Winter’s shy new bride ever fill her place or escape her vital shadow?

I’d been worried that I wouldn’t get as much as I could out of this novel because I’d been spoiled for the Big Twist many years ago. I needn’t have been concerned — there’s a lot more to this book than the twist. It’s a subtler and more interesting book than it pretends to be. While it takes the form of a gothic melodrama in many ways, the purported hero is no falsely maligned innocent, and the purported heroine is so much less memorable than her deceased nemesis that she doesn’t even get a name to remember her by. Great book.

Other books I liked this month included THESE BURNING STARS by Bethany Jacobs, WITTGENSTEIN’S MISTRESS by David Markson, THE TWICE-DROWNED SAINT by C. S. E. Cooney, HEARTSTOPPER VOLUMES 2-5 by Alice Oseman, VESPERTINE by Margaret Rogerson, THE HOUSEKEEPER AND THE PROFESSOR by Yōko Ogawa, GIRLS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD by Laura Brooke Robson, SILVER NITRATE by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, BLACK SAILS TO SUNWARD by Shelia Jenné, SPACEMAN BLUES by Brian Francis Slattery, and DRAGONFALL by L. R. Lam.