Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Nevermore: Sh*t My Dad Says, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Count Down, The Bear

 



Reported by Garry

 

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern is the funny collection of tidbits of strange and straight-up hilarious advice that Justin recorded after moving back in with his father, Sam, after being dumped by his longtime girlfriend. Irreverent and full of heart, seventy-three-year-old Sam has advice for every occasion and topic no matter how taboo, and is not afraid to share it. Brutally honest yet also sweet and oddly endearing, our reader found this book to be very, very funny and quite thoroughly enjoyed it.  MC


 

Daughter of the Moon Goddess is the debut novel by Sue Lynn Tan, based on the Chinese myth of Chang’e. Xingyin is a young woman who lives on the moon, unaware that her mother, the Goddess of the Moon, has been banished by the Celestial Emperor for stealing his elixir of immortality. Xingyin’s own magic becomes known and she must flee the Moon in order to save her life and that of her mother, and a cosmic adventure and quest ensues. This is the first in a duology that weaves ancient Chinese mythology with a high-fantasy action adventure (with a side of romance thrown in for good measure.) Our reader, who is a voracious consumer of fantasy novels, says that this is a really good book that kept her attention and sparked her imagination.  MH

 

Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race by Shanna Swan. Today’s review shorter is than the title: “We’re doomed – just not in our lifetimes.”  CD

 


The Bear by Claire Cameron is a modern-day novel set in the Canadian Algonquin National Park, taking its inspiration from a real-life bear attack that left two adults dead in 1991. In this novel, five-year-old Anna awakes in the night to the sound of her mother screaming as she is attacked by a bear. Anna escapes with her three year old brother, and then must not only survive the wilderness, but guide their way back to safety. Told in the voice of Anna, our reader thought that this slim adventure thriller was exceptionally well written and engaging.  AH

 

Also mentioned:

 

LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia by Jeff Mann and Julia Watts

Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America’s Founders by Dennis C. Rasmussen

The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow

Brazen: My Unorthodox Journey from Long Sleeves to Lingerie by Julia Haart

How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks about Being Sick in America by Dr. Otis Webb Brawley

Querencia by Steven Bodio

Bill Bryson’s African Diary by Bill Bryson

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan

Shopgirl by Steve Martin

Remarkable Changes: Turning Life’s Challenges into Opportunities by Jane Seymour

Prayer by Philip Kerr

Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman by Nuala O'Faolain

Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris

Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp

Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories by Naomi Kritzer

The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened by Bill McKibben

 

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