Author: Book Girl

Christa Comes Out of Her Shell

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Christa Comes Out of Her Shell by Abbi Waxman

I have read Abbi’s five other novels, beginning with The Garden of Small Beginnings, and loved most of them. They tend to have an ensemble cast with quirky, big-hearted main characters. This novel has an outrageous plot, complete with twists and turns, and is occasionally laugh-out-loud funny.

Christa Barnet is the youngest daughter of Denise and the late Jasper Liddle. As a child, she sometimes appeared on television with one of her parents, usually holding a cute animal. Now she is a marine biologist on a remote island in the Indian Ocean, studying sea snails. Summoned back to Los Angeles along with her older sisters, Christa learns that her father has reappeared in Alaska, where his plane crashed when she was 2. Before rejoining his family, Jasper first appears on a popular talk show.

Christa hasn’t spent much time recently with her mom and sisters and doesn’t remember her dad. She does remember the trials of being a slightly famous teen, and is haunted by memories of a Hollywood party at which she was handed a drugged drink. Family friend Nate Donovan comes to the rescue, then and now. He is very handsome and doesn’t mind that Christa is prickly, short, and has many tattoos of marine life.

An over-the-top storyline with appealing main characters and cool settings in scenes set on the fictional island of Violetta, and on a merry-go-round, add to the book’s appeal. Also, there’s Marcel, the cute family dog, a bear cub named Dorothy, plus a gorgeous book cover. You don’t need an interest in snails or tide pools to enjoy this engaging novel, which is sure to be popular. I also enjoyed the illustrations by Julia Waxman. Readalikes include books by Emily Henry.

Brenda

The Floating Hotel

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The Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

This is not a cozy science fiction novel, but feels like it in parts. The Grand Abeona Hotel has been a luxury resort hotel traveling between solar systems for many decades. Nina was the manager, now Carl is. Many staff started out as runaways, like Carl. As it’s become difficult to get good staff, they are welcomed. The hotel is starting to show some wear and has been traveling the same sub-orbital route for the past few years.

While I usually focus on characters first, then plot, in The Floating Hotel I wanted more description of the hotel, the views, the food and clothes. I understand the need for intrigue to move the plot along, but to use a TV analogy, I wanted more Love Boat and less Fantasy Island.

We meet the head housekeeper, accountant, the front desk manager, an engineer, and the organizer of an movie club. A linguist and a mathematician come aboard for an academic conference at the Hotel, and are paired to solve an impossible logic puzzle. There are always new guests. Everyone has a secret and a story. Perhaps the Lamplighter is on board with their revolutionary online dispatches; the unidentified spies are searching for them. Also on board are a blind pianist with a visor, a new server, a thief, and a terrible rich boss. The worlds visited are not entirely democratic, and there is some danger to the ship and crew. Lovely and melancholy, with some mystery and suspense.

Brenda

Our Moon, The Lost Moon, plus the Solar Eclipse

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Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are by Rebecca Boyle

This thought-provoking book is about the Moon and our connections to over millennia. The theories about how the Moon probably came to be are described, and there is lots of focus on how it helped us keep track of the seasons, tell calendar time, with descriptions of a number of monuments highlighting the Moon. Lighting the night sky was important, then learning the effect of the Moon on tides, mythology, Moon worship, early Moon viewing, lunar and solar eclipses are all covered. Moon exploration and possible near future exploitation are also topics. This book was a leisurely and engaging read for me. Part of it was read while looking forward to the total solar eclipse on April 8, in which the Moon gave us an opportunity to view the Sun’s corona. Here are a couple of photos from the eclipse, taken in Putnam County, Indiana, where you could also see Jupiter and Venus.

April 8, 2024 Solar Eclipse

Lost Moon

Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger

Published in 1994, this is the true story of the Apollo 13 Moon mission that almost resulted in tragedy; a compelling read by Astronaut Jim Lovell. It was interesting to see how different challenges and solutions were presented differently in the popular 1995 film Apollo 13. Readalikes include Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz and Rocket Men by Robert Kurson about Apollo 8, Lovell’s first mission to the Moon.

Brenda

The Mystery Guest

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The Mystery Guest: A Maid Novel by Nita Prose

This is the sequel to the very popular mystery, The Maid. I thought the Maid was well written, but didn’t like it nearly as much as some other reviewers. I think this sequel is a step up for Nita Prose.

Molly Gray is now Head Maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, and is training another maid, Lily. Molly has a sweetheart, who is out of town visiting his family. Mr. Preston is still the doorman, Mr. Snow is the manager, the unpleasant Cheryl is still a maid, and Angela works at the bar. Detective Stark is still very suspicious, but is willing to work with the very observant Molly when there is a suspicious death at the hotel. Famous mystery author J.D. Grimethorpe is headlining an event at the Regency Grand, and is about to make a big announcement, when he dies of poison. Angela helps Molly investigate, and members of Grimethorpe’s fan club also provide tips.

There are flashbacks to Molly’s childhood when her beloved Gram was the housemaid at the Grimethorpe mansion, and Molly spent time there, reading and cleaning the silver. Grimethorpe was a rather scary figure to a young girl, as was his wife, but she still wants to solve the crime and preserve the reputation of the Regency Grand Hotel.

Brenda

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles

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The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older

In this sequel novella to The Mimicking of Known Successes, Mossa, a detective on Jupiter, asks her girlfriend Pleiti to assist on an investigation of missing persons. Pleiti is a classics scholar at Valdegeld University and the search for two missing university students takes them to the moon Io. They later discover that several other people connected to the university are also missing, and their investigation leads them on a long train journey, with plenty of snacks, to the far side of Jupiter.

Meanwhile, Pleiti is still unsure of how much Mossa cares for her, and the effects of their previous case are about to reach Earth, which is currently uninhabitable. This is a heartwarming and cozy combination of science fiction, romance, and mystery, with a very intriguing setting. I’m looking forward to future Mossa and Pleiti adventures.

Brenda

The Plant Hunter

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The Plant Hunter: A Scientist’s Quest for Nature’s Next Medicines by Cassandra Leah Quave

This is a compelling memoir about a remarkable scientist. Cassandra Leah Quave, PhD, is an ethnobotanist who is a tenured professor of Dermatology and Human Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and the curator of their herbarium. Every summer she and her family travel the world with her students to search for rare plant specimens that may have antimicrobial or other medicinal uses, and then process the plants for the herbarium. Over her career, she has traveled to the Amazon in Peru, Florida, a Mediterranean island, and to Ginestra in southern Italy, where she met her Spanish Italian husband, Marco.

An early staph infection sparked Quave’s interest in medicine, and a prosthetic leg has made her field research even more challenging. She and her husband are raising three children and a nephew, and cared for her grandmother. Quave makes a passionate plea for funding research of plants with possible medicinal value and for herbariums, and describes the daunting request process for grant money, and for tenure. I enjoy memoirs, especially of women scientists, and this is an outstanding true story. Her podcast is Foodie Pharmacology, and her websites are etnobotanica.us and cassandraquave.com.

Readalikes include Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, The Arbornaut by Margaret Lowman, and From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke.

Brenda

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

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Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Book 2 of the Emily Wilde Series

Cambridge dryadology scholar Emily Wilde is off to the Alps with Wendell Bambleby, her colleague who is heir to a fairy kingdom, now ruled by his stepmother. Accompanying them are Ariadne, Emily’s talkative niece and a student at Cambridge, Shadow who’s sort of a dog, and senior scholar Farris Rose. Fox-like little faerie creatures appear, both vicious and helpful, along with faithful brownie Poe and his magical bread. Wendell has a magical scarf for Ariadne and a cape for Emily, but is weakened when he does magic, probably due to poison.

The group are in the Alps looking for a door to Wendell’s kingdom, and to search for two long-lost wanderers who haunt the nearby village. There are many adventures, in and out of faerie lands, and a cat named Orga is introduced. Prickly Emily very gradually becomes close to Ariadne and Rose, and considers a request from Wendell.

I enjoyed this portal fantasy even more than Book 1, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, mostly because of the ensemble cast, and partly because Emily is becoming a more appealing character. This novel is definitely not a cozy fantasy, but is vividly written, and a compelling story. More adventures are planned.

Brenda

Shell Drawing

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I have some book reviews not quite ready to post, so here’s my larger than life-size drawing of a shell, in graphite pencil. I took a Learning to Draw Nature class recently, and have acquired a collection of graphite and colored pencils. It’s fun to plan what to draw next, while it’s hard to decide when a drawing is finished.

Brenda

The Kamogawa Food Detectives

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The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood

I enjoyed this short, engaging novel of six connected stories, a bestseller in Japan. The stories are set in Kyoto, which is fondly described, with mentions of notable tourist sites such as the Higashi Hongangi Buddhist Temple. Weather and seasons are highlighted, including cold winter breezes from the surrounding mountains, many rainy days, and the stunning beauty of the spring Cherry Blossom Festival. But the focus of the novel is the Kamogawa Diner, and the small detective agency, both run by retired police officer Nagare Kamogawa and his daughter Koishi, in her 30s. The diner, with four tables and 5 seats at the counter, is hard to find, but always smells enticing.

Other than some regular customers, most diners are clients seeking a nostalgic dish from long ago. Koishi interviews them, then Nagare travels throughout Japan to source ingredients, search for chefs or customers of closed restaurants, and finds long-lost relatives and friends in search of the desired recipe and ambience. Two weeks later, the clients return for their requested meal, and a story, along with greetings from friendly cat Drowsy. The food is lovingly detailed, and isn’t all traditionally Japanese. Among the requests are Napolitan Spaghetti with frankfurters, eaten by a 5-year-old girl on a trip with her grandfather, a widower looking for his wife’s secret recipe, and a favorite meal for a loved one who is ill. This charming novel is a very good rainy-day comfort read. In Japan, the book has seven sequels. The first sequel, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes, will be published here in October. Enjoy!

Brenda