It’s been 17 years, and the cicadas are back! We have Brood XIII cicadas. Friday, only a couple. Saturday morning, we were looking for them at a forest preserve a few towns away, but not seeing much. Saturday afternoon, hundreds in our yard. Today, maybe thousands! I don’t think I’ll be walking on the grass for a while. The pale cicada has just emerged from the nymph exoskeleton, and will soon look like the other one. They are all over the grass, on daylily foliage, and on a burning bush. Mostly, they are covering the trunk of honey locust trees in my neighborhood. This neighborhood didn’t have many cicadas 17 years ago, though a park with large oak trees a few blocks away did.
The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh
This contemporary novel covers one year in the life of Chicago University researcher Isadora. The setting sounds like the University of Chicago. On her 30th birthday, Isadora stocks up on junk food, soda, and a magazine with an article titled “31 Ways to Be Happy Today!”. So far, her life hasn’t been happy. She loves her job, but that’s pretty much her life. Her apartment is very bland, and she mostly eats frozen dinners. Her mother may be a narcissist, and has never stood up for Isadora. Isadora sets out to prove that the article is wrong, and that the 31 steps will not lead to happiness.
First, after practicing in a mirror, she smiles at Marty, an older man sitting on a nearby bench. They end up meeting regularly for lunch on the bench. Isadora, very reluctantly, agrees to her assignment to help psychologist Cal organize his research project. Cal is, of course, handsome. Then Isadora meets her neighbor Darby, whose husband Dante cooks amazing Italian food, and goes to Saturday morning yoga with her. Yoga is decidedly not fun, but she encounters some nice people, including the instructor. Darby and Dante have four kids; 3 little boys and 10-year-old Delilah. Delilah likes quiet and shows up at Isadora’s apartment with a lunch box and a book, and turns out to be a kindred spirit, although one who can also pick locks.
The plot is somewhat predictable but the story is as appealing as cherry pie, and includes a gentle romance. A very funny scene has Isadora burning her grudges in her fireplace. She learns to forgive herself, tell off her ex-boyfriend, and go on adventures with Cal. Isadora is realistically scared to open herself up to connection with her new friends, worried about being hurt again. The final scene is her birthday, one year later. An engaging read.
Hot Sheet: Sweet and Savory Sheet Pan Recipes for Every Day and Celebrations by Olga Massov & Sanaë Lemoine
Lots of fresh new ideas for sheet pan cooking and baking in this beautifully photographed cookbook. Olga is a food editor at the Washington Post while Sanaë is a cookbook editor at Phaidon Press who took over Olga’s desk and files. They became friends and love to discuss recipes.
I tried three of the savory recipes, and would happily make all of them again. First, I made Roasted Greek-ish Salad with Halloumi, which includes a cucumber yogurt dip made with grated Persian cucumbers and chopped parsley. We’re roasted halloumi cheese fans here, but the cucumber yogurt dip stole the show. Next, I made Roasted Cherry Tomatoes with Whipped Ricotta, which features a honey drizzle and optional endive leaves, and was excellent on crusty bread. Finally, I cooked Sausages with Fennel, Peaches, and Spinach. I substituted Field Roast veggie sausages, which worked well, and skipped the fresh basil. The roasted peaches, made with sliced frozen fruit, were an awesome touch.
Directions were clear and the flavors were delicious. Besides the savory sheet pan recipes there are also desserts, breakfast dishes, and simple pantry recipes. Many other recipes look enticing. If you enjoy sheet pan recipes, Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen also has plenty. Enjoy!
Rose / House by Arkady Martine, narrated by Raquel Beattie
I listened to this science fiction/horror/locked room mystery novella set more than 100 years in the future, in a California desert. Architect Basit Deniau left Rose House for his last creation. His remains are now in a large diamond displayed in the house, which has an AI caretaker designated Rose House. Narrator Raquel Beattie does an excellent job with the voices of several humans and the AI. A basement vault in the house has files of architectural and AI designs that are highly desired by other architects and corporations. Unfortunately for them, only Dr. Selene Gisil has access to Rose House. She is a former protégé of Deniau’s who later disagreed with him, but was named archivist after Deniau’s death. Dr. Gisil can stay in Rose House for one week each year. This year, she lasted three days before she called Detective Torres of China Lake Precinct to pick her up. Water theft is the precinct’s most common crime. Torres’ partner, Officer Maritza Smith, gets a call from Rose House stating that a body has been in the house for the past 24 hours. How can she get in? Only Dr. Gisil has access, and she’s out of the country.
Rose House AI is unsettling, even creepy, especially its laugh, and the house is built in a confusing spiral pattern. There are nanites, which can form images, but may also trigger asthma. There are Andorrans (Europeans, not aliens) and, of course, roses. Many roses. This novella, while different from Martine’s longer Teixcalaan science fiction novels, beginning with A Memory Called Empire, is a compelling and memorable read.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Book Girl & Little Bear 