Su Bristow, The Fair Folk. Entirely readable British modern fairy tradition novel, not as transformatively creative as some others out there. I can’t really complain about “this person has clearly read a lot of AS Byatt and also a lot of folklore,” that’s my own demographic and the demographic of other people I like, but also it was a fine rather than outstanding read within that group.
C.J. Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher, Alliance Unbound. Second in its series and don’t start here, absolutely chock full of galactic economic politics. If you ever think that Cherryh (now with Fancher) is not doing enough plot in the atevi books, this may be where it’s all going. SO MUCH PLOT. Eager for the next bit.
Agatha Christie, The Plymouth Express Affair. Kindle. A short Poirot piece, the kind of mystery short story that’s just a little puzzle that gets solved rather than anything more, but basically okay if you have a few spare minutes and want to entertain yourself.
Mariana Costa, Shoestring Theory. Romantic queer time travel shenanigans, meditation on the nature of making the world better in cat-endowed fantasy novel form.
Stacey D’Erasmo, The Long Run: A Creative Inquiry. This author interviewed a bunch of artists with long careers, trying to think about doing art over a long period of time. I didn’t end up feeling like she had a particularly deep set of conclusions and there were some points about which she seemed fairly obtuse to me, but it was a comfortable enough read with bits and pieces of interesting artists along the way.
Margaret Frazer, Winter Heart. Kindle. A shorter Dame Frevisse story that comes at the end of the series, so there are plot developments from the novels that will be spoilers if you haven’t finished the novels. Not as rich as a novel-length thing with the same characters but reasonably fun to read all the same.
David Graeber, The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World…. Thought-provoking essays about this, that, and the other.
Jennifer Haigh, Rabbit Moon. Discussed elsewhere.
Laurie R. King, Beginnings. Kindle. Sort of what it says on the tin: a novella that delves into detective Kate Martinelli’s past to have her solve a cold case that influenced her early life. Not the strongest Martinelli mystery but still fun if you’ve enjoyed the series, don’t start here–it’s not a flashback, it’s “and here’s how the character you like got here, from the perspective of the present,” and if you don’t already like the character in question, it’ll be less effective.
Jane Pek, The Rivals. Second in its series of dating/social app tech thriller mystery things, good fun and dealing with the consequences of the first book. Start with the first one, but I’m glad this exists too.
Veronica Roth, When Among Crows. Fantasy novella that draws heavily on Polish mythology for its framework while still acknowledging the larger world at the edges of its legends’ lives.
Melissa Scott, Burning Bright. Reread. This was written in the same era as John M. Ford’s Growing Up Weightless: specifically, the time when some smart authors had had the chance to play a bunch of D&D and think about social dynamics in and around games. The setting is very space opera, not at all similar to GUW, but you can see that they were written in the same social moment, by people who did not have the same thoughts but were having something of a productive conversation in fiction about the same general topic.
Catherine Shaw, Flowers Stained By Moonlight. Kindle. Second in its Victorian murder mystery series, and the mathematics was far less well-integrated this time, unfortunately. Still thematically present, just not as strongly. Ah well, a cromulent enough mystery novel.
Christine Shearer, Kivalina. Kindle. This book is mostly background information, so if you had no idea how anti-environmentalism has been marketed to the public, how tort law works, etc., this is a good book for you. If you were more interested in the specifics of an Alaska town’s reaction to the threat climate change poses to its existence, it really doesn’t go very much into that, to my disappointment.
Stephen Spotswood, Murder Crossed Her Mind and Secrets Typed in Blood. Pentecost and Parker mystery series, volumes three and four, and I remembered I had not stayed caught up just in time to read these before the fifth one comes out soon. Mid-century women who do not meet basically any of the stereotypes of what women were supposed to be, to their benefit, and the mystery part works for me as well.
Amy Stewart, The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession. Thumbnail bios of tree collectors, lavishly illustrated, highly diverse group of people on a number of axes (race, nationality, gender, ability, age, sexuality…people just like trees, all kinds of people just like trees).
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (and Everything Else). Kindle. An exploration of who gains power in marginalized groups and why, interesting stuff. Also refers to the group below, which was nice synchronicity.
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective. Kindle. Interviews with older Black ladies who were part of the core of this influential group, talking about what they did with the collective and also what they think about the world since. Really heartening stuff if you need a boost to your sense that activism matters even (especially!) when it’s hard.
Emily Tesh, The Incandescent. Discussed elsewhere.
Greg van Eekhout, Happy Town. This is a very broad satire of modern corporate culture and advertising. I hope it succeeds in inoculating some of the grade school kids of today against the cult of the tech genius who actually does none of the work himself. Friendships and artificially created zombies.
P. G. Wodehouse, The Prince and Betty. Kindle. One of the more charming Wodehouses–this is from early in his career but not so early he hadn’t gotten into the swing of things. The plot will not surprise you. The characters will not surprise you. But the whole thing is entertaining, and he could turn a phrase with the best of them.
Francis Young, Edmund: In Search of England’s Lost King. Thoughts about nationality and saint cults, including a bit of the life of Saint Edmund but mostly his death. Not so transcendent enough that you should seek it out if you’re not particularly interested in the era/subject matter but reasonable enough if you are.