The Women Could Fly, by Megan Giddings: A fun premise (though I was confused initially when I started reading it with no background and no physical copy with a back-jacket description to orient me), but somehow felt very juvenile to me and somewhat didactic.
Alone, by Daniel Schreiber: As I read this collection of essays on living alone and un-partnered/childfree, I couldn’t stop thinking about the author’s siblings – as an only child it’s very easy for me to romanticize having siblings, and I kept thinking, “but he’s one of seven!” I know sibling relationships aren’t always close, but the writer does have at least one sibling he’s close to.
They’re Going to Love You, by Meg Howrey: This was pretty much perfect in its execution. Set in the 80s during the HIV/AIDS crisis and in the present (roughly), the novel focuses on a woman, her mother, her father, and his partner, all who have deep connections to the ballet world. I loved it.
The Marigold, by Andrew F. Sullivan: I admired this more than I enjoyed it. For me there were too many different characters and plot threads, and although it was effectively creepy, it veered slightly silly at times. That said, I thought the overall message was compelling and well-executed.
Fire Weather, by John Vaillant: Terrifying, but captivating. It’s so gratifying to read the nonfiction of someone whose choices – about what to include and what to exclude, about how many people to focus on, about what seemingly unrelated concerns we should be thinking about – are so on point. The way Vaillant writes about fire itself is fascinating; the balance of history, chemistry, physics, meteorology, and the human stories of the Fort McMurray Fire in Alberta, Canada is deft; and the comparisons he draws among the rapaciousness of fire, corporations, and colonizers is amazing. The only thing I wanted more about was the indigenous community north of Fort McMurray (where many people from Fort McMurray fled), which seemed oddly absent from a book so cognizant of colonization. Overall, one of the best books I read this year.
