Life in the Cheese Drawer

it’s that time of year when i share the best books i’ve read this year. i’m currently ensconced in harry potter after a 6-year break, so that’s got me completely entranced and i almost forgot about getting my top books of the year up. i have a few books published this year on my to-be-read list that may have made it this year if i hadn’t taken it upon myself to read all the HP books (though they are a quick read).

bear and nightingale trilogy – katherine arden

my mom gave this trilogy by katherine arden a couple years ago, and i let it sit on my shelf for too long. when i was younger, i was a vociferous fantasy reader, but lately i have been letting that slide for more post-apocalyptic and contemporary fiction, so i wasn’t entirely excited about picking this up. then i was sorting through my stack of books and decided to finally pick it up.

arden’s writing is lyrical and light as she weaves the dark stories of russian fairy tales from the 1500s, combining the fantastical with historical moments. we follow vasilisa, who has magic in her blood, from her time as a girl to saving her country and people, befriending (or not) the russian stuff of myths along the way.

fairy tale – stephen king

well what would a best books list be without a stephen king book on it? how apropos that it was one of his fairy tales, entitled fairy tale. our hero is charlie, starting in contemporary times where charlie is a helpful high school student. he helps then befriends a reclusive neighbor who leaves him all his property when he dies. of course the neighbor has a secret, and charlie travels to another land where evil has spread and peace needs to be restored so the evil doesn’t spread into our world.

this is a thick book, but king’s stories are always a quick, interesting read for me. it’s another foray into the fantastical with a bit more of an edge and more concrete writing than the bear and nightingale books.

upgrade – blake crouch

everything i’ve read by blake crouch has been a four or five stars. his books keep you on the edge of your seat and involve plots that seem more than plausible in our world alongside some extreme science or math that i don’t want nor care to check if correct. it fits seamlessly into the story and adds to the plausibility of “oh boy, could this happen?” you think about when reading his stories.

upgrade is about enhancing the human genome for an upgrade – everything’s just a bit better. better concentration, intelligence, thinking ahead, physical strength, multitasking, reaction time, etc. logan is one of the first to receive the upgrade and we watch as he learns what’s happening and then figure out why it happened. then he learns about a bigger, more sinister plan, and then we see what he does to stop it

the emerald mile – kevin fedarko

usually when i read non-fiction, i stick to memoirs. i generally shy away from books that are heavy on geology or history that’s more generalized than personalized. but when i got this recommendation from my aunt rae, i thought i’d give it a try.

first, this book is DENSE. it’s 432 pages, but the type is a bit small and squished in there for ya. so i was a bit intimidated. no fear – fedarko manages to weave a great story of the fasted boat ride ever down the grand canyon in 1983. you’d think that this would be an easy tale to tell, but his setup is key. he tells us history and geology, telling us how the grand canyon used to be, how glen canyon used to be even better, the dams that were built to power and hydrate the southwest, and WHY the southwest. we hear about john wesley powell who documented his journey into the grand canyon pre-dam. we learn about different types of boats you can take on excursions in the canyon, why each works the way it does, and then the weather patterns and choices of the dam operators that led to and illegal boat run down the grand canyon. it was pretty fascinating seeing the confluence of events.

falling – tj newman

do you want to read a short fiction book? one that has short chapters that leave you hanging on every word? leading up to shocking sets of events so much that you gasp out loud? this is the beach read for you!

falling is a thriller by a flight attendant who had always wondered about the premise of what would happen if pilots’ families were held hostage – then needed to make a choice between their families and their flight. well, we get the fictional tale of that plight, and boy is it a doozy and entertaining!

in the weeds – tom vitale

this book about anthony bourdain’s life while giving snark and hope while eating with people around the world was written by one of the show’s producer/directors, tom vitale

i’ve read a few books about tony since his death, and none has come close to how enjoyable and emotional this book was. we get a behind the scenes look at tony’s life, and tom’s, as the show changed networks and traveled around the world. there are happy times, not happy times, dangerous times, easy times, hard times, and the hardest times. anyone who has watched any of tony bourdain’s shows should know what to expect in this book – just multiply it times 10 and you’ll have a good idea. this made me miss him even more.

i just finished a book of essays called “world of wonders” by aimee nezhukumatathil, where she connects memories of her life with natural elements like obscure creatures or trees or no-so-obscure creatures. her childhood was a quiet one in the 80s, so her experiences she shared were relatable, but from a different lens of a first-generation non-white child. but what this book really shines in is the lyricism of the writing. she’s firstly a poet, is my understanding, and you can tell that by the way she weaves her prose. her writing reminds me of michael perry’s, in its leaving you wanting for a time that’s gone by.

the book is short and a quick read, and several essays are illustrated by the natural world she makes connections with. i have a hard cover copy that i will gladly lend to anyone.

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speaking of the 80s, i read the book “we ride upon sticks”, which was a recommendation from another blogger, and it was the opposite of the collection of essays, but equally reminiscent of the 80s. the pages were dense, with text crowding the page in a small size and one paragraph taking up a page a times. but after i got into it, i definitely got engrossed with this book. it features a field hockey team in the late 80s in a town outside of salem, and they make a weird pact through emilio estevez and witchcraft, though, actual witchcraft, or just the knowledge that they were in this together? either way, i was constantly reminded of things that happened in the 80s that i had decided didn’t need to take up space in my brain anymore. specifically, gitano jeans, which produced such a rush of nostalgia, i couldn’t help but gasp when i read it in the book.

this book is not necessarily short, and not a quick read. there are no illustrations, but i think if you want a rush of 80s nostalgia and a plotline that is nothing like anything i’ve ever seen before, then pick up this book. i think the last page and a half are worth the entire read, and i was smiling hard as i finished it up.

the author jess lourey is an instructor at my school, so the library has all the books she’s written. she just came out with a new book inspired by the jacob wetterling kidnapping; she grew up in paynesville, and if you’ve listened to the “in the dark” podcast, you know that was a hotbed of unsavory behavior in the 80s and 90s.

so i was at the school library the other day and swiped it off the shelf; it’s #54 in amazon’s most-purchased books today, which she is super excited about (and for good reason!). i picked it up friday night and finished it this morning.

the book is told from the viewpoint of a 12/13-year-old girl who lives in rural, small-town stearns county; it’s always so weird to be reading a book and see references to places i know – i’m sure people run into this all the time, which means i need to up my minnesota author game. the parallels between her fiction narrative and the actual crimes that happened here were unsettling at times – the music teacher who lives with his parents; mother of the abducted/murdered child with the name mrs. wellstone; the syllables in jacob wetterling’s name equals the syllables in the fictionalized child’s name.

and add in all the other creepy things that were going on in the narrator’s life, which were very adult, very ick-inducing for that age – swingers parties, drug dealing, pedophilia themes, an abusive father – and it painted a very disgusting portrait of central minnesota residents. but what is very apparent in her writing is the shimmer of truth surrounding some of the themes. paynesville boys were abused in the 80s and 90s, and someone was doing it – someone who was a resident of this area.

despite the ick-factor themes of the books, i loved the narration by our 13-year-old heroine, cassie. the book is written such that it’s the looking-back narration by the present-day woman narrator. i loved the description of the band room at her school, sucking on a clarinet reed while assembling it, calling out “i seen it” or “can you borrow me that” as minnesota-isms, the clique-y-ness of lunchtime and trying to fit in.

i know this book is not for everyone. but i even liked that it made me uncomfortable at times, which i’m sure was the author’s intent. people don’t get through childhood unscathed, and some more scathed than others. multiple times it was highlighted how adults just don’t believe the kids, how it’s just boys messing around for attention. it’s even called out that what finally forced big action was that the kid who was abducted was middle class. the other victims had been from “the wrong side of the tracks” (so to speak). by making readers uncomfortable, maybe it will nudge some to start believing kids and encouraging them to speak out about assaults and prevent future assaults.

i just finished up “the library book” which was excellent. it’s about the LA library fire in the 80s and just info on the library in general. i learned a lot about how it came to be, the building, the head librarians (a couple early ones were women!), and the investigation into the guy who was accused of arson.

her description of the fire itself was fantastic: how it started, its movement, the way it was a perfect fire and burned so hot that it had no color. she started the book with the fire, so this was real hook into reading the rest of the book.

it was also really encouraging to read about how the LA library system is evolving as it grows. because it had to basically start over in the early 90s, it was one of the first libraries to go electronic. and now they’re trying to figure out how to help the homeless population and the patrons who want to utilize the library for more than just books. i love how libraries have always been about more than just books, too. the first head librarian wanted to add tennis racquets to the loan list.

interesting fact: the fire happened on the same day as chernobyl, so the media coverage of it was almost nil. i had never heard that the LA library had a major fire (neither had the author; it’s why she wrote the book).

so, highly recommend reading the book to learn more about the LA library fire, the investigation, and libraries in general.