The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading a romantic book about aspiring musicians with intertwined pasts; the rich fictional history of an esteemed figure in early twentieth century New York and his mysterious death; and a science fiction-slanted story about young women shaped by their unusual creation stories who seek to form their own futures.
Which books are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms?
01 Moonlight Drive by A.R. Hadley
The title of this book (which is explained as coming from a Doors song) evokes romantic ideas, and so far the story reads to me like a soap opera-esque romance.
Moonlight Drive relies upon a seemingly implausible premise--one in which a famous singer doesn’t recognize the person who provided the pivotal years-long emotional connection in their early teens. The “groupie” (really the childhood friend) lives on the bus, is invited to share rooms with the band, and tantalizes the star--all without being recognized by the soulmate of her youth.
Currently there are many instances of interrupted speech--so much so that sometimes I wasn’t sure what the characters were getting at--and frequent instances of what feels like unrealistically intuitive mind-reading.
I received a prepublication digital edition of this book through NetGalley and Chameleon Media Productions.
If you like stories about music, you might like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Rockin' Stories about Bands and Music or the books A Song for the Road or The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes.
02 The Great Mistake by Jonathan Lee
Andrew Green has been shot dead in front of his stately New York City home at the age of 83. He was an elderly man, but still a spitfire who wasn't finished making incredibly significant contributions to society.
The real-life, forgotten figure of Green was involved in a gloriously absurd array of real-life, essential projects—the creation of Central Park, the founding of the Met Museum and the Natural History Museum, putting Boss Tweed behind bars, securing a more equitable New York public school system, establishing the New York Public Library, and combining Manhattan with Brooklyn and Queens into a greater New York.
Inspectors take into custody the man who shot Green; they work to understand the shooter's odd story and to retrace Green's last steps in hopes of understanding the reason for his death.
So far this is a love letter to turn-of-the-century New York and a captivating story that reminds me somewhat of Amor Towles's A Gentleman in Moscow.
I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley.
03 Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy
Young adult Josie is Girl One, the first of nine baby girls who were famously conceived without male sperm years ago on the now-dismantled commune The Homestead.
She's spent her life plagued by criticism, misogyny, obsessed fans, and the weight of the circumstances of her birth. Yet she embraces her past and aims to further the scientific work of her father figure, Dr. Joseph Bellanger, who tragically died in a fire on the commune years earlier. Josie's studies and desire to learn more about her "virgin birth" drive a wedge between Josie and her mother, and Josie isn't sure exactly why.
Her mother's disappearance leads Josie to track down the other Girls, and together they discover strange, unique powers as they rely on each other and attempt to unravel their shared history. They're learning to trust that the circumstances of their creation do not determine their identities or what they're capable of. I'm taken with this story so far.
I received a prepublication digital edition of this book through Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley.