Three Books I'm Reading Now, 5/31/21 Edition

Two of these books are largely about redemption, two focus on the twisted blessing-and-curse of technology, and all three touch on identifying some version of a new reality. Where's my Venn diagram to map out all of these intersecting themes?

Which books are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms?

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is Hank Green's sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and the final book in his Carl saga. It features the fantastic characters from book one, and the plot picks up with a new version of the fight to save humanity from interfering extraterrestrials.

Green tells his funny, poignant, tech-focused story through characters' alternating viewpoints, and it feels like April May--who died at the end of book one--may be about to reemerge.

The characters' desires for reinvention and redemption are really interesting to me, as is the continued examination of the two-sided blessing and curse of social media and of technology in general.

Miriam lost her husband and teenage twins a year ago and, unsurprisingly, since then she hasn't been able to face any semblance of moving forward with her life.

When she stumbles across her daughter's elaborate road trip plan she created for her then-soon-to-be-empty-nester parents, Miriam feels compelled to take the trip. She brings along her family members' musical instruments, envisioning a sort of musical pilgrimage, and she meets unexpected characters along the way, encounters dangerous weather, and begins to come alive again--despite her reservations and guilty feelings about breaking from her dedicated mourning.

So far Basi is managing what seems like an incredible feat, as this is purely lovely and not maudlin or sappy at all despite the tragedy at the book's heart. I admit I Bossily feared that painfully sentimental tones might creep in, but in cases like this I love realizing that I'm incorrectly aiming my coldhearted prejudgment.

I received a prepublication copy of this book, published May 11, 2021, courtesy of Alcove Press and NetGalley.

No One Is Talking about This is fiction from Patricia Lockwood, the author of the memoir Priestdaddy. This book somewhat defies labeling--so far it's essentially a satire about media and society, and it's told in short snippets.

In No One Is Talking about This, a social media darling undergoes an existential crisis and wonders if her thoughts are being controlled externally. She is compelled to continue trying to engage and often shock those reading her posts, and she frequently wonders what is real and what is constructed reality--and what it's all for, anyway.

This feels like a book that will inspire a lot of spirited discussion and possibly passionate opinions.