Sunday, August 31, 2025

August 2025

A Vigorous Pull. From Canoeing in Kanuckia
 
A strange month with a lot of good reading but also with several rejects. Some of the rejects had to do with poor blurbs and others with timing. For example, when I requested the Ruth Ware book I was in the mood for it but by the time I got it my mood had changed.  
 
The "word 'last' in the title" prompt continues with a couple of good ones, a "meh," and a dud.
 
Read in August (listed in a hodge-podge order):
  
Fiction:
City of Night Birds by Kim, Juhea 
Excellent! Ballet dancer in St Petersburg, Russia
Universality by Brown, Natasha
Sharp look at class, race, media, etc. in the UK
The Listeners by Stiefvater, Maggie 
Loved this story of enemy diplomats and the W.Va  luxury resort that housed them in early 1942. 
My Other Heart by Strenner, Emma Nanami
Two Asian/American girls spend the summer between high school and college searching for their identities. Good story, well written. 
Sister Europe by Zink, Nell
Two middle-aged men, a woman of a certain age and her standard poodle, two teen girls (one of them trans), and a handsome young Arab prince who identifies Swiss are wandering together through nighttime Berlin. Why are these people even together? And why is an off-duty plainclothes vice cop following them? Apparently they have nothing better to do. I enjoyed this road trip on foot from a boring award event to a glass house by way of an underground club and a Burger King.
A Lesser Light by Geye, Peter 
A light house on Lake Superior in 1910. A really, really good novel. 
 
Love Forms by Adam, Claire  Almost DNF because the simplistic writing seemed somewhere between Middle Grade and YA.  However the final couple of chapters were quite powerful so I finished it and gave it three stars. But I also checked another book of hers that I decided not to read.
The Big Finish by Fossey, Brooke 
An OK feel good story set in a small Texas assisted living facility. Somewhat stereotypical characters and a cover that is really misleading. There is no road trip on a motorcycle except for a very short one. Other short trips (in a van) to Walmart, a mall, and a cremains scattering.

Dead of Summer by Maxwell, Jessa 
Darker and not as good as Maxwell's The golden Spoon. The villains were a bit overdrawn, but I liked that the "good" characters were all flawed in some way. The whole NDA thing was a poor device.
Off the Books by Frazier, Soma Mei Sheng 
Supposedly a road trip but the narrative got lost in too many digressions about what happened in the past. Chinese Americans trying to rescue a Chinese child.
Cheesecake by Kurlansky, Mark
Too many characters, not much plot. He's better at nonfiction.
The Greatest Possible Good by Brooks, Ben
I was bored. I Skimmed. I wasn't at all invested. Blah. 
 
Show Don't Tell by Sittenfeld, Curtis   
There is something really wrong with a short story when you find yourself skimming. This is a collection of a dozen such stories. Yawn.
Contents: Show don't tell - The marriage clock - White women LOL - The richest babysitter in the world - Creative differences -    Follow-up - The tomorrow box - A for alone - The patron saints of middle age - Giraffe and flamingo - The hug - Lost but not forgotten.
 
Room on the Sea: Three Novellas by Aciman, André 
Of the three novellas, I enjoyed The Gentleman from Peru the most. Room on the Sea was ok but seemed old-fashioned and stilted. I did not care for the first person direct address narrative used in Mariana. I guess it's supposed to be an imaginary letter to a former lover but it is so tedious. There is also an interesting Postface which explains the source material for Mariana (and, perhaps, the reason for the narrative voice).
 
The Last Illusion of Paige White by McCausland, Vanessa 
Really good. An Instagram influencer mysteriously dies. Her childhood friend searches for the truth. Set in Australia. 
Last Night Was Fun by James, Holly 
Rom-comenemies>friends>lovers with You've Got Mail overtones. A pleasant read.
Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride by Leitch, Will  
A guy who views himself as a decent cop is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He tries, for insurance purposes, to die in the line of duty. He fails. Not quite a three star read. Also not a road trip.
 
From Project Gutenberg:
The Black-Eyed Puppy by Pyle, Katharine (1923)
I do enjoy dog stories. This one from 1923 is cute but has its period problems. One of the black dogs has a name would not be acceptable in a childrens book today.. The performing dogs are treated humanely which may have been a whitewash of what really happened behind the scenes in animal training at the time.
Graceful would jump right over me.
From my shelves:
Amanat: Women’s Writing from Kazakhstan selected and translated by Zaure Batayeva and Shelley Fairweather-Vega ; with contributions by Sam Breazeale and Gabriel Moguire 
Contents: Juliet / Zhumagul Solty - An awkward conversation / Zhumagul Solty - Aslan's bride / Nadezhda Chernova - Orphan / Ayagul Mantay - Hunger excerpt from The Nanny) / Aigul Kemelbayeva - Propiska / Raushan Baiguzhayeva - The beskempir / Zira Naurzbayeva - The rival / Zira Naurzbayeva - Amanat / Oral Arukenova - Procedures within / Oral Arukenova - A woman over fifty / Lilya Kalaus - How men think / Lilya Kalaus - The stairwell / Lilya Kalaus - Operato drama / Lilya Kalaus - Black snow of December / Asel Omar = The French beret / Asel Omar - 18+ / Aya Omirtai - Poet / Madina Omarova - Once upon an autumn evening / Madina Omarova - Excerpt from School / Zaure Batayeva - Excerpt from The anthropologists / Zaure Batayeva - The lighter / Olga Mark - My eleusinian mysteries / Zira Naurzbayeva.
I have been reading and enjoying this a bit at a time for nearly a year. 
 
Nonfiction: 
from public libraries; 
King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution—A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Anderson, Scott 
Shudder.... 
The Sprawl: Reconsidering the Weird American Suburbs by Jason Diamond
Too many personal and pop culture digressions in what could have been an interesting book. No index.
 
from my shelves: 
Unvarnished: Autobiographical Sketches by Emily Carr by Carr, Emily; edited by Bridge, Kathryn
 
From Gutenberg: 
Canoeing in Kanuckia; or, Haps and mishaps afloat and ashore of the statesman, the editor, the artist, and the scribbler. Recorded by the commodore and the cook (C[harles]. L[edyard]. Norton and J[ohn]. Habberton) New York, G.P. Putnam's sons, 1878.

A little too Vigorous.

Online: 
Content Warning: There are a few clips and quotes referencing D----d T----p
The Strunk and White Takedown: Why America’s Favorite Style Guide Doesn’t Teach Good Style by Sara Levine
I'm amazed the S&W is still used.
After looking at the Art Deco spread, I spent a good bit of time exploring its source publication The World of Interiors . Some good stuff there.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DNF (didn't get to far with these - less than 10%):
Pan by Clune, Michael 
It is well written but I don't want to read coming of age with panic attacks.
O Beautiful by Yun, Jung
Lame. She's going to write a free-lance article on the North Dakota oil boom? She can't even handle an obnoxious male seatmate. How's she going to be around oil men? I don't want to know.
She Doesn't Have a Clue by Moke, Jenny Elder 
Mystery set on an island at a wedding with former lovers forced to share a room. yeah, sure... 
Last Seen Alive by Douglas, Claire
One of the "last prompt books" that didn't make the cut. A boring thriller? 
  
Checked out; decided not to read: 
Flesh by Szalay, David 
The Woman in Suite 11 (Lo Blacklock, #2) by Ware, Ruth
A Burning by Majumdar, Megha
Golden Child by Adam, Claire     
Hazel Says No by Berger Gross, Jessica 
 

Friday, August 22, 2025

Booker Longlist 2025

This list is more interesting to me than some recent longlists. I was actually looking at several of these before the list was announced. 
Status as of 8/22 (will update as I read): 
 
read and liked - 3
read and was lukewarm - 2 
holds placed - 5
currently unavailable - 1 
decided not to read - 2

As of now (8/22) I can get all but one at my local libraries (and they will probably order it soon). Will one of the two that I have already decided not to read win it all? Or perhaps it will be one of the ones I'm lukewarm about? 

Love Forms by Claire Adam -- read (8/2) but don't think it's prize caliber

The South by Tash Aw - read (7/21) liked it

Universality by Natasha Brown - read it (8/16), liked it

One Boat by Jonathan Buckley - hold placed
  
Flashlight by Susan Choi - ("in transit" for me) 
 
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai - hold placed
 
Audition by Katie Kitamura - read (4/20) Yawn. I think I've read too much Kitamura. 
 
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits - sounds interesting but my libraries don't have it. Looks like the USA ed won't be published until January 2026
 
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller - hold placed
 
Endling by Maria Reva - read (7/5)  liked this one

Flesh by David Szalay - checked it out from library,  but have decided not to read it.

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood - not at all interested in this.

Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga - hold placed

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

July 2025

The Music Lesson
Henri Matisse. The Music Lesson, summer 1917, Oil on canvas. The Barnes Foundation.
The painting featured in The Art of Vanishing 

Finding (stumbling on?) the true story Lost and Found (and Found!) Books by Suzanne Karr Schmidt  was a great way to start off a reader's month! How did I find it? I did my usual daily check at Shelf Awareness (the Book Trade issue for July 1, 2025) where I found an item (and link) about the winner of the Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award. Of course I followed the link which led me to the Newberry Library and I started exploring. And I said to myself "What a wonderful blog!"
 
It seems there's no end to the "last" titles.  (See February 28, 2025 post.) I Found a few good ones (and a  couple of real duds) this month. I also made a mini-prompt (for this month) to salute the season with some books with "summer" in the title. Not surprisingly, the two prompts overlapped.
 
And what is summer without road trips? Richard Ratay gives a mixture of memoir and history of such trips in Don't Make Me Pull Over! His family trips in the 1970s mid-USA were not like our family trips in California in the 1940s and 50s. Then again, no two road trips are alike. Isn't that why we take them?
 
I read bunch of really good books this month. Even the lesser ones were mostly pretty good. And considering how much I read there weren't a lot of DNFs. I didn't read as much online as usual. Also I haven't been reading as much lit in translation as usual.
 
August may be a challenge. There seems to be some sort of problem with our library system deliveries. I have two books on the holds shelf and ten "in transit." Several have been "in transit" for over a week.  So today twelve books are being returned and only two are being picked up. No browsing because someone else is doing  the transporting for me. I have a list but it's going to be another scorcher today so she will just want to get the errand done as quickly as possible. I won't push my luck and ask for more.
 
I may be working on my "owned but unread" TBR shelf for a few days. I'll spend tomorrow  (the 31st) choosing some and doing some online stuff.
 
Update: She offered to take my list! (Four books.) 
 
But I'll still work on that TBR list. Really, I will! Sure.
 
Here's what she checked out for me: 
   Love Forms by Adam, Claire 
  The Woman in Suite 11 (Lo Blacklock, #2) by Ware, Ruth
  A Burning by Majumdar, Megha
  City of Night Birds by Kim, Juhea
  Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs by Mann, Sally
  Pan by Clune, Michael 
I'm not sure I will finish a couple of these. There are still ten in transit. 
 
Really, I will read from my TBR shelf. Maybe, if more holds don't come in. 
 
Here are the July reads. The fiction list is in jumbled order with the 'last" and "summer" prompt books singled out.

Fiction:
Blame by Huneven, Michelle 
Flawed characters galore trapped in a great story of recovery.
Off Course by Huneven, Michelle
Another good one by a favorite author. 
Far and Away by Poeppel, Amy 
House swapping between Berlin and Dallas. A fun read.
The Correspondent by Evans, Virginia 
Wow! It's been a while since I read a novel straight through in basically one sitting (taking time out to eat). Really, really good.  
Endling by Riva, Maria 
Wasn't sure I liked the meta bit but finally decided it was ok and ended up giving it four stars.
The South by Aw, Tash 
Another good one. Coming of age in rural Malaysia. 
The Accidental Favorite by Littlewood, Fran 
Three generations of a family spend a week in a glass house.  Nobody, except the reader, has a good time. 
The Art of Vanishing by Pager, Morgan 
What would happen if a viewer could climb into a painting? In this story it's Matisse’s The Music Lesson. 
The Hymn to Dionysus by Pulley, Natasha 
Excellent.  
The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes by Hogan, Ruth
Wavering between two and three stars. Almost everyone in the story is dealing with grief,  but in very different ways. I wish she'd spent more time developing characters and less on detailed descriptions of rooms and furnishings. 
Welcome to Murder Week by Dukess, Karen 
Fun. A bunch of Americans participate in a mock murder investigation in an English village.
I'll Be Right Here by Bloom, Amy 
Interesting characters.
The Misfortunates by Verhulst, Dimitri; translated from the Dutch by Colmer, David
Beer boozing Belgians. 
The Impressionist by Kunzru, Hari
I liked most of this... 
The Homemade God by Joyce, Rachel
There were problems with this. The beginning was good and I liked the ending but I got bogged down and skimmed  a bit in the middle.  
The Horse by Vlautin, Willy
A washed up musician reminisces about booze, women, songwriting etc. while he tries to figure out what to do about a stray lame horse. Only 194 pages but 50 would have been enough.  Meh.
 
Chronicle of a Last Summer by El Rashidi, Yasmine 
A very nice reward for my personal prompt to read books with the word "last" in the title. 
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Friedland, Elyssa 
Three generations of two families face the decline of their Catskill resort. 
Our Last Resort by Michallon, Clémence  
This resort is not on its last legs in the Catskills. It's an upscale one in the Southwest. It has a dual timeline and both drag. It has its good points but it could be much better, My least favorite "last" book for this month. Or, rather, it my least favorite of those that I read. See DNF below for a couple that were worse! 
 
Summer at Gaglow by Freud, Esther
Also really good.  
Kakigori Summer by Itami, Emily 
What a lovely surprise.  When I first saw the title I thought "Kakigori" was  a place name. But it's not a place - it's a Japanese summertime treat. And so is this book. 
    
One Day When You Leave the Black Mountains by Lena Ruth Stefanović; translated from Montenegrin by Will Firth

Nonfiction:
The Last Sweet Bite: Stories and Recipes of Culinary Heritage Lost and Found by Shaikh, Michael 
A decent but difficult read.  
Last Call at Coogan's: The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar by Michaud, Jon
A bit of northern Manhattan (Washington Heights & Inwood) history (1985-2020). 
Don't Make Me Pull Over!: An Informal History of the Family Road Trip by Ratay, Richard
Was getting there half the fun?  
 
You’ve Been Fictionalized! an essay by Michelle Huneven
 
Constantinople painted by Warwick Goble and described by Alexander Van Millingen (1906)
Rome painted by Alberto Pisa; text By M. A. R. Tuker and Hope Malleson (1905)
Two Gutenberg finds that I skimmed most of the text and enjoyed the pictures. 
OPEN-AIR CAFÉ, STAMBOUL
OPEN-AIR CAFÉ, STAMBOUL
The Spanish Steps

AT THE FOOT OF THE SPANISH STEPS, PIAZZA DI SPAGNA, ON A WET DAY

  
Chinese recipes by Nellie Choy Wong. Original publication date: 1927
Basic recipes but the cover is neat.
 
DNF:
The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese by Paterniti, Michael 
Or, How to turn what could have been an interesting article on a foodie site into 344 pages of bullshit and blather. Abandoned at page 82. 
My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Allende, Isabel; translated from the Spanish by Riddle, Frances
Every so often I decide to give Allende another chance. Got to page 54 (of 336) this time. 
Food Person by Roberts, Adam D.
Lame. Quit at about 20% 
Last Light over Carolina by Monroe, Mary Alice 
Didn't keep my interest. 
Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Weisberger, Lauren 
Just awful! 

Monday, June 30, 2025

June 2025

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/76338/images/illus15.jpg
The sun’s farewell glance spread a woven gold mantilla on the naked shoulders of a grim, forbidding world and the motor car sank, helpless, into the mud as if, also, its day was done.” From El Toro  

June didn't start off very promising. Presidential noir Just didn't sit well, Christopher Moore disappointed, and what could have been a good debut by Sarah Hamden had too many bad jokes.

I find it hard to believe that it's June and I just read my first book this year with a South American setting. I wasn't impressed. It was just so,so.

Things started looking better with Aftertaste and I Leave It Up to You but one was good the other was not. The stories were a mix bag. Swift and Trollope being the best.

I also read some from some of my favorite authors (the first five listed plus Doig, Swift, and Trollope).  

I continued with the "last" in titles. (See February 28, 2025 post.) The one about the library was not my favorite but I liked the Doig.

So it turned out to be a pretty good month of reading. and July looks promising. I just started Kakigori Summer and it looks pretty good. Today I'm picking up  Endling by Reva, Maria; Hombrecito by Sanchez, Santiago Jose; and I'll Be Right Here by Bloom, Amy.

Fiction:
Bug Hollow by Huneven, Michelle 
Super good family story. 
Albion by Hope, Anna 
Another  good one.
Enlightenment by Perry, Sarah  
Sort of off beat but I liked it.
So Far Gone by Walter, Jess 
A good book but a bad time for me to be reading it.
Written on the Dark by Kay, Guy Gavriel 
Good but not GGK's best.
 
The Undercurrent by Sawyer, Sarah 
A very good debut novel. 
I Leave It Up to You by Chong, Jinwoo
A solid three stars. Korean/American
The Wangs vs. the World by Chang, Jade 
Another good Asian/American story. This one is Chinese/Taiwanese/American.
10 Marchfield Square by Whyte, Nicola 
A slow paced cozy. Good, bit it could use a jolt of caffeine or something.  
The Tokyo Suite by Madalosso, Giovana; translated from the Portuguese by Dantas Lobato, Bruna
Meh. Nanny tries to kidnap her charge. Fails. Set in Brazil.
People We Meet on Vacation by Henry, Emily
Very light "friends to lovers." Next month I'll probably have totally forgotten it. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted. 
What Will People Think? by Hamdan, Sara
Debut novel. Mixed on this one. I liked the basic story--but.... The humor in it was everything I hate about stand up comedy. Crass ethnic jokes.  Unfunny. and the cover blurb says "hilarious." No, it isn't.
See: Loss. See Also: Love. by Tominaga, Yukiko 
Just not very good. Disorganized, put together from previously published material.
 
Last Bus to Wisdom by Doig, Ivan
I enjoyed this 1950s road trip (by Greyhound bus). A twelve year old boy and his great uncle run away from home....well, not exactly but sort of.
The Last Chance Library by Sampson, Freya 
Stereotypes galore: people, plot devices, relationships, places, events, etc.
 
Short Stories: 
The Faking of the President: Nineteen Stories of White House Noir by Carlaftes, Peter  
The trouble with this is the subject. Nothing writers of noir fiction could write about the presidents could possible be more noir than what actually goes on.
Contents: Foreword: by Peter Carlaftes -- Burning Love / by Alison Gaylin -- Is This Tomorrow / by Angel Luis Colón -- Y2 Effin' K / by Gary Phillips -- Article 77 / by Eric Beetner -- All Big Men Are Dreamers / by Mary Anna Evans -- Reckless Disregard / by Abby L. Vandiver -- 999 Points of Light / by S.A. Cosby -- The Dreadful Scott Decision / by Greg Herren -- The Great Compromise Of 1901 / by Erica Wright -- The Madison Conspiracy: Dolley Madison's Zinger / by Christopher Chambers -- Long Live Long / by Kate Flora -- Mother of Exiles / by S.J. Rozan -- Services Rendered / by Nikki Dolson -- In Mother We Trust / by Sarah M. Chen -- Andrew Jackson Beats Death / by Adam Lance Garcia -- Old Pharaoh / by Danny Gardner -- The Camelot Complex / by Alex Segura -- The Event That Didn't Happen / by Travis Richardson -- But One Life to Give / by Peter Carlaftes.
 
Atavists: Stories by Millet, Lydia  
Loosely linked stories with recurring characters. Some of the stories lack coherence and are more like episodes than stories. A couple end abruptly with the end seeming to have little to do with the story. There was some good stuff but not enough.
Contents: Tourist -- Dramatist -- Fetishist -- Artist -- Terrorist -- Mixologist -- Gerontologist -- Pastoralist -- Cultist -- Futurist -- Insurrectionist -- Therapist -- Cosmetologist -- Optimist.
 
Twelve Post-War Tales by Swift, Graham 
Best of the short story collections. 
Contents: The next best thing -- Blushes -- Chocolate -- Beauty -- Zoo -- Hinges -- Fireworks -- Kids -- Black -- Palace -- Bruises -- Passport.
 
The Mistletoe Bough a story by Anthony Trollope
 
Poetry: 
Cathay by Ezra Pound and Bai Li , 1915. The title page calls these "Trenslations by Ezra Pound" but they aren't really translations. See Wikipedia entries:   Cathay (poetry collection) and Li Bai for more information on how these translations came about and why Li Bai is referred to as "Rihaku."
 
The Wikipedia entry for Li Bai led me to lots of Net wandering.... 
 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/50155/images/cover.jpg
Nonfiction: 
El Toro : A motor car story of interior Cuba by Estep, E. Ralph;  Packard Motor Car Company, 1909
A great road trip! 
Book Cover 
So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs—and May Still Lose the War Against Infectious Disease by Levenson, Thomas
Okchundang Candy by Go, Jung-soon; translated from the Korean by Park, Aerin
Memoir of her life with her grandparents. Middle Grade. 
His motto is  “Beer Against Whisky."  He argues against prohibition and Sunday closings. There are lots of statistics of beer production, ingredients, alcoholic content, etc., especially for the years 1878-79. 
Book Cover
One Day at the Saigon Zoo by Connla Stokes 
 
DNF:
Days of Light by Hunter, Megan 
At about halfway through I got really tired of the empty characters. 
Sleep by Jones, Honor  
Ugh! 
Aftertaste by Lavelle, Daria
Started out really good and descended into chaos. The format was confusing and I just didn't care to figure it out.
Anima Rising by Moore, Christopher
Sometimes I really like Christopher Moore but not this time. Too much gross sex, violence, etc. 
Parasol Against the Axe by Oyeyemi, Helen 
Another author whose work I sometimes like but I just couldn't get into this one. 

Saturday, May 31, 2025

May 2025 -- Second Half

Back to print books and there are some good ones here.  Two road trips with mixed up families. Both were a mixture of light and dark; serious subjects given a light touch. In fact most of what I read during the last half of May dealt with dark themes. Interesting how they were all given different treatments.

And I managed to continue collecting the word "last" in titles. (See February 28, 2025 post.) One was pretty good the other was a DNF dud. 

Fiction: 
The Names by Knapp, Florence 
Three tellings of the same lives.  All rather dark.
The Red House by Morris, Mary
Jews in WW2 Italy. More darkness.
Old School Indian by Curtis, Aaron John 
An ailing Akwesasne (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe) man returns to the Rez after living in Virginia and Florida.
Awake in the Floating City by Kwan, Susanna
Dystopian novel. San Francisco flooded. Artist/caregiver. debut novel
Run for the Hills by Wilson, Kevin
Newly found half siblings go on a road trip.
The Road to Tender Hearts by Hartnett, Annie 
A 60 something man, his single daughter, his newly found orphaned grand niece and nephew, and a cat go on a road trip. 
 
Famous Last Words by McAllister, Gillian 
Some suspense, some twists, some police procedures, family relationships, maybe too many notes. But I'll probably give this author anther try.
 
Target Island a story by Mariah Rigg
 
Nonfiction:
43. OUDEWATER, Stadswaag
Mijn Land, Zuid-Holland, Vol. 3 (of 11) by G. J. Nijland; Jan Godefroy, illustrator. (1929)
Just for the pictures, I don't read Dutch. 
 
Eat the City: A Tale of the Fishers, Foragers, Butchers, Farmers, Poultry Minders, Sugar Refiners, Cane Cutters, Beekeepers, Winemakers, and Brewers Who Built New York by Shulman, Robin
Interesting subject but the structure within each was choppy. It would have been nice to have some pictures,
 
Notes on Jacaranda Season an essay by Evelyn Fok
 
DNF:
The Book Eaters by Dean, Sunyi
It's rare for me to give up on a book when I'm half-way through but at page 157 I quit. 
Play the Fool by Chern, Lina 
Too many dumb choices in too few pages. Only read three (short) chapters.
Upon a Starlit Tide by Woods, Kell 
Read 122 of 432 pages and not much happened. The pace was way too slow.
The Last Ferry Out by Bartz, Andrea
Read the first fifty pages, got bored, skipped and read the end. I have no interest in what's in between.