The Other Black Girl

 I thought from the blurbs I read about The Other Black Girl (#1,024) by Zakiya Dalila Harris that it would be an interesting read.  I was wrong.  After struggling through two chapters, I wondered why I was wasting my time.  This is the rare book I did not care to finish.

The Apollo Murders

Before I talk about astronaut Chris Hadfield's thriller The Apollo Murders (#1,023), I have a confession to make.  My husband and I are space nerds.  We keep track of when the launches from the Kennedy Space Center are scheduled, and watch for lift off on our computer before rushing outside to watch the spacecraft pop up on our horizon.  The night launches are the most spectacular!  We've even gone up a few times to watch in person.  The wall of sound coming at you after liftoff is astonishing.

So who better to write a mystery/thriller centered around Apollo 18, a moon launch mission, than an experienced astronaut?  If the answer is Chris Hadfield, nobody.  There are only three astronauts in an Apollo capsule, so how could there be any surprises?  You'll find out if you read this taut thriller.  Hadfield has taken his experiences in space and put them in a relatable setting here.  With surprising plot twists, he ratchets up the tension in the race to survive the journey with its secret mission alive.

It's a bit long, and packed with space jargon, but if you have any interest in space, this is the book for you.  I couldn't put it down.

Dial A For Aunties

Dial A For Aunties (#1,022) by Jesse Q. Sutanto is coming soon to your Netflix streaming service, and I hope they do this screwball romcom justice!

Meddy has been raised by her single mom with the help(?) of her four Chinese-Indonesian aunties.  She's even joined their successful wedding services business after college as their photographer.  But that's not what she really wants out of life; she still yearns for Nathan, the one who got away when they graduated.  Meddy's Ma can't understand why Meddy won't date, so on the eve of a huge event at the opening of a swank island resort off the California coast, she's cornered her daughter into going on a blind date.

Things do not go well, and Meddy accidentally kills her date.  What to do with the body?  Ma and aunties to the rescue, or are things somehow going even worse?  As the complications pile on, you won't believe where this romp will take her next!

If you loved Crazy Rich Asians, Dial A For Aunties should be on your reading list.  Can't wait for the sequel!  Yes! These is one!!!  Just wish I had a Netflix subscription!

Artificial Condition

Artificial Condition (#1,021) is the second book in Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries. (See my post of  9/16/2021.)  It's really more of a novella than a full-length book, but the enjoyment of reading about this snarky, independent robot is just as potent.

Here, Murderbot is trying to get to the bottom of its role in a supposed massacre on a mining planet.  Its human owner has given it permission to try to settle the mystery surrounding its origins and subsequent disgrace under its previous corporate owner.  Getting to that mining planet proves to be a bit of a problem, but Murderbot pairs up with ART, the bot running a university's research ship and cadges a ride.  To get an employee pass to get onto the restricted surface, ART suggests answering a ad for a group visiting the planet looking for a security consultant.  Job secured, but complications ensue and even more questions are raised.  Don't things always go south?

Love this series!  They're best read in order, and I can't wait to read the next installment.

The Personal Librarian

Everyone seems to be raving about The Personal Librarian (#1,020), a novel based on the life of Belle da Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan's real life personal librarian.  Her life was, in fact, remarkable, as she carved out a niche in the rarified world of rare book, document and art collectors on behalf of her employer.  She was considered to be the premier career woman of her day on both sides of the Atlantic.  That she managed to do this with no academic or formal training for her position with the Pierpont Morgan Library, teaching herself what she needed to know along the way makes her story even more remarkable.  Plus she had an layer of stress: she was black, passing as white in an increasingly segregated America.

Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray co-authored this book to cover all aspects of Belle's life and times.  This is a very "woke" rendition of Belle's story.  Interestingly enough, the authors never mention in their lengthy notes at the end of the novel that Belle's secret was not uncovered until more than fifty years after her death, when the author of an extensive biography on J.P. Morgan uncovered it in her research in 1999.  Belle had destroyed her own papers to conceal her secret, but she was outed in the end.  Would Belle herself have wanted that to be the focus of this novel?  I'm not sure she would have.  Her legacy lives on in the now public collections and exhibitions of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City.

A Rogue's Company - A Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery

Allison Montclair is out with the third installment, A Rogue's Company (#1,019),  of her witty post-war mystery series set in bomb-ravaged London.  (See my posts of 9/30/19 & 5/13/21.)  How do the proprietors of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau manage to find themselves in such dangerous situations?  Ladylike Gwen Bainbridge has decided she needs to acquire some of the same self-defense skills her partner Sparks learned during the War.  Luckily, Sparks knows just the right person, and the pair pick up a new client in the bargain.  But it's the other client who comes through their doors who adds an unexpected element to their business and sets off a perilous chain of events.  

Lord Bainbridge is back from Africa, determined to send young Ronnie off to St. Frideswide's School, the place Gwen's husband hated so.  She still has not been able to wrest back custody of Ronnie from her in-laws after her breakdown following Ronald's death.  Since the Right Sort's new client is from Africa, and has been spotted watching the Bainbridge's house and following Lord Bainbridge's car, Gwen and Sparks' suspicions are aroused that Lord Bainbridge may have been up to something shady in Africa, especially after a body is found near his club.

Gwen will soon need those self-defense skills she's been practicing as she finds herself and her father-in-law the victims of a kidnapping.  Can even Sparks rescue her this time?

The characters in this series are a wonderful blend; an aristocrat, secret agents, a crime boss and his gang, and a larger-than-life man of the world among others.  This series is best read from the beginning to understand all the subtext and appreciate where the characters have been, although it's impossible to predict where they will find themselves next, all done with a droll sense of humor.  Can't wait for the next one!

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America

I had a read a review somewhere of Elizabeth Letts' latest book, The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America. (#1,018), and decided it sounded interesting.  That isn't the half of this amazing true story of Annie Wilkins.

Her journey began in 1954 as she decided to ride from her home in Minot, Maine to California.  She was in her early sixties, recovering from a severe illness in her isolated farmhouse with no electricity, running water or heat other than her wood-burning stove.  Her uncle had died from the same illness and she was just about to lose her farm for the back taxes.  Her only companion was her beloved dog, Depeche Toi, little "Hurry Up".  She had no reason to stay in Maine, but there was a bit of wanderlust in her family.  Why not set out to see the shores of California?  She just needed to find the right horse at the right price.

How she managed to achieve in goal makes for utterly fascinating reading, especially if you are familiar with any of the roads she traveled on with Tarzan, her sturdy Morgan horse, Rex, her Tennessee Walking Horse gifted to her along the way, and of course, the intrepid Depeche Toi.  She was a news phenomenon in her day, so why is it that her story today is mostly unknown?  It won't be after Elizabeth Letts inspiring book makes its way onto bookshelves across the country.  Highly recommended portrait of an everyday woman beating the odds with her courage, determination and faith in the basic goodness of Americans.