The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm listening to The Running Grave, the newest in the mystery series by Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling's pen name for the Cormoran Strike books); I'm reading John Scalzi's story about a young man without direction who inherits a supervillain business, Starter Villain; and I'm reading nonfiction focused on life (and quality of life) and death by surgeon Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.
What are you reading these days, bookworms?
01 The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike #7) by Robert Galbraith
I'm listening to The Running Grave, the newest in the mystery series by Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling's pen name for the Cormoran Strike books).
In the newest doorstop of a book in the series, Cormoran Strike is cursorily on a health kick, he and Robin remain drawn to each other but with emotional barriers to a deeper connection, and the agency is focused on trying to take down the fictional religious cult Universal Humanitarian Church (UHC) from the inside.
Robin is getting the majority of page time so far as she infiltrates the UHC and works to uncover the truth of rumored brainwashing, cruel punishments, sexual abuse, and suspicious deaths.
You can check out my reviews of books 1 through 4, book 5, and book 6.
02 Starter Villain by John Scalzi
The cover of Starter Villain shows a grumpy-seeming cat's head on a human torso clad in a suit with "Meet the new boss" across the top, so I clearly needed to add this to my to-read list.
Charlie's a substitute teacher, divorced, and living in a house his siblings want to sell. Then he inherits his long-lost uncle's supervillain business--complete with an evil lair in an island volcano. Could this be an unexpected new start that will point Charlie in a productive new direction?
But the recently deceased Uncle Jake, an old-fashioned villain, made a lot of enemies--and they're ruthless, well-funded, and out for revenge.
The premise of this novel calls to my mind another book, which I loved, Natalie Zina Walschots's Hench.
03 Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters In the End by Atul Gawande
The past century of medical advancements have transformed some conditions from death sentences to manageable or curable illnesses.
But the focus on living longer and attempting to move past former limitations of medical solutions sometimes create a difficult dynamic: pursuing additional years of life at any cost sometimes means paying the cost of dramatically diminished quality of life.
In Being Mortal, surgeon Gawande explores the successes and failures of the medical field in prolonging a life worth living.
If you're interested in books about mortality, you might like the books on my Greedy Reading Lists Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality and Six More Powerful Books about Facing Mortality.