Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu

 

Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu

Yi Shun Lai

2016

We are Here:  Done! (Just in time for Mother’s Day.)

Spoilers?     Vaguely

Reflections

The debut novel of author Yi Shun Lai chronicles a few months in the life of a floundering young woman named Marty. A late-20-something mess in spiraling free-fall, Marty reluctantly allows her mother’s acerbic net to catch and redeposit her in Taiwan for a summer of familial intrigue, pseudo-redemption, and TEOSL.

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Reality and Me all Capeless

Reality and Me all Capeless

Fennel Steuert

2016

We are Here:  Done!

Spoilers?     A few plot points

Reflections

This novel explores the complex ramifications that even tangential fame can have on our relationships through a teenager named Finbar (Fin), who finds himself the star of a reality show about personal fitness. It’s not often that a novel centers the perspective of a low-income character of color who has a learning disability. We need diverse books, and Steuert delivers.

Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake

Margaret Atwood

2003

We are Here:  Done!

Spoilers?     Yes; grumpy ones.

Reflections

As a deep admirer of Atwood’s work, burgeoning fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, and binge-watcher of medical sci-fi shows like Orphan Black, I thought I would enjoy this book much more than I did.

Rain

Rain: A Natural and Cultural History

Cynthia Barnett

2015

We are Here:  Done!

Spoilers?     No

Reflections

I began reading this book last summer, tackling it first in chapters, then in 2-3 page snippets. (What can I say, fiction is hard to resist.) As I waited out the epic California drought, this book became a type of wistful talisman on which to hang my ill-defined superstitions. Throughout the long months, I would credit it with bringing the lightest smattering of precipitation to the dusty San Gabriel Valley. And last week, just a month after I’d finally finished reading it, the deluge appeared.

Much to my delight, this book was long-listed for the National Book Award.

A Darkling Sea

A Darkling Sea

James L. Cambias

2014

We are Here:  Done!

Spoilers?     A few

Reflections

I’ve been waiting nearly two years to read this book, ever since Annalee Newitz reviewed it for NPR. But I prefer to wait for a book’s paperback release. Unfortunately, even after this was out in paperback, I couldn’t find it at my local bookstores. For all its accolades, it had been relegated to Obscure Title status. I had to enlist my brother to patronize @m@z0n for my birthday.

Worth the wait? Eh…