The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading Foster, Claire Keegan's slim Irish novel about a young girl sent to live with relatives for a hot summer; I'm reading the first of Alex White's Starmetal Symphony series, the space opera August Kitko and the Mechas from Space, about deadly AI robots coming to destroy space--until our main protagonist, a jazz pianist, is tasked with saving humanity; and I'm listening to This Other Eden, historical fiction set in Maine by Paul Harding, the author of Tinkers.
What are you reading these days, bookworms?
01 Foster by Claire Keegan
In Claire Keegan's slim novel Foster, a young girl in Ireland is taken by her father to spend the hot summer with relatives on a rural farm.
The loving, affectionate household allow her to feel more open and secure than she has before, but she can't help wondering if she's here to stay of if she'll be thrust back into her home. Summer is ending, and there's a mysterious, unspoken, disturbing undercurrent at the Kinsellas'.
I loved Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These, about Irish-small-town coal salesman Bill Furlong. Each of his small choices build to a crescendo of spilled secrets and an upended decades-old system of cruelties and greed. You can check out my Bossy review of Small Things Like These here.
02 August Kitko and the Mechas from Space (The Starmetal Symphony #1) by Alex White
In the first book in Alex White's space opera series The Starmetal Symphony, Gus is a jazz pianist whose biggest hope for the end of the world was to play at the most epic goodbye party of all time. After all, the Vanguards, giant, deadly AI robots, are headed from deep space to destroy Earth at any moment.
But when the Vanguards arrive, the sudden, brutal ending Gus has envisioned for himself doesn't happen. Instead, Gus and a small group of Earthlings are pulled in by a small group of traitorous Vanguards--and tasked with saving all of humanity.
I really enjoyed Alex White's Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe, the first in the Salvagers series--which I look forward to finishing. That first book in the space opera series offers diverse characters, strong women, a heist setup, and, ultimately, a ragtag group of underdogs saving the day.
03 This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Back in 1792, a formerly enslaved man Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife found a safe haven on an island off the coast of Maine.
A century later, the Honeys' descendants and their diverse neighbors make up a hardscrabble community that must scratch and claw to subsist--yet they remain on their island, safe from the judgment and danger of the mainland.
When a schoolteacher-turned-missionary arrives to educate the island's children, he draws the attention of eugenics-focused authorities, who set out to forcibly evacuate the island.
I received an audiobook version of this book courtesy of Libro.fm (Libro.fm supports local bookstores!) and Recorded Books, Inc. The book is narrated by Edoardo Ballerini.
Paul Harding is also the author of Tinkers.