that's pretty neat

I've been blazing through some shorter books to reach my (reduced) reading goal for 2023. Here are rapid-fire book notes and reviews.

#36 “Incredible Doom”

By Matthew Bogart and Jesse Holden 288 pages Published in 2021 Fiction/YA graphic novel 3.75/5 (pretty neat for what it is)

Chip heard about this book somewhere online and bought it a couple months ago. This is the first graphic novel I've fully read and it was a quick one (I got through it in about an hour one evening). The book alternates between two stories related to misunderstood teenagers who find their people or community through online chatrooms or bulletin boards in the early days of the Internet. Themes include abusive families and queer identity/acceptance. The artwork was really good and I liked how the pages varied in structure to enhance the story (guess that's probably how most graphic novels are).

#37 “The Last Thing He Told Me”

By Laura Dave 320 pages Published in 2021 Mystery Thriller 3/5 (first half neat-ish, ending not so neat)

This book got a lot of buzz when it was published, is constantly being given away in Goodreads sweepstakes and has its own TV show now. But like others in these genre, the plot wasn't as thrilling as expected and had plot holes that left me confused. I was pretty invested in the first half as we learned about the characters and the general background, but the “twists” and ending didn't make a lot of sense.

General plot so I don't forget (spoilers ahead!)

• Hannah married Owen about a year prior and lives in Sausalito with his 16 year old daughter, Bailey, in a house boat. Hannah is a woodworker who makes fancy furniture and Own works for a software startup. Bailey and Hannah don't get along well (typical teenage girl issues).
• When Owen's tech company is busted for fraud, he fully disappears and has a young girl give Hannah a note that just says “Protect Her”. After this, Hannah and Bailey have to work together to figure out why Own disappeared and unravel his past.
• Eventually, they head to Austin, TX and discover that Owen lied about his past and Bailey's mother (who Owen said died in a car accident when Bailey was very young).
• They learned that Katherine's (Bailey's real mother) father was a prolific lawyer in Texas who represented a lot of shady people in the latter part of his law career. Katherine did die when Bailey was young, but it's believed that she was murdered by people who wanted to get back at her father. Owen was so distraught by this that he used his intel (he did some work for her father) to help land the father and others in jail. He changed his and Bailey's identities and moved them away from Texas for protection.
• The reason Owen disappeared again is because he was worried that with his new name and appearance being in the news related to the company's fraud that the “bad guys” would track him and Bailey down. Turns out he actually didn't have anything to do with the company's fraud...eyeroll of him being too good of a guy to get involved in that shit.
• This is where it gets a little confusing...Hannah is able to track down the father (recently released from jail) and convinces him that if Bailey visits more and builds more of a relationship with him that he will keep her and Bailey safe. So we're to believe that after all this, everything is resolved with Bailey simply seeing her grandfather/corrupt lawyer more?
• Owen is never able to return because of the choices Hannah made (refusing to join witness protection). But we see a flash-forward in time showing that Hannah and Bailey end up having a strong relationship and that Hannah sees Owen for a passing second at a convention. Happy ending I guess?

#38: “Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster”

By John Krakauer 368 pages Listened to the audiobook Published in 1999 Non-fiction 4.5/5 (neat but scary)

John Kraukauer's account of climbing Mt. Everest while disaster struck and 8 people died near the summit of the mountain, including some very experienced climbers/guides. The book alternates between his personal story, the history of climbing Everest, and the background of these famous guides. I was especially shocked when those guides (Rob Hall and Scott Fischer), whom he was building up throughout the book, also perished in the disaster. It takes a special kind of crazy to want to climb it (especially multiple times!) and no way is that me.

#39: “Virgil Wander”

By Leif Enger 300 pages Published in 2018 Literary fiction 4/5 (pretty neat)

Virgil Wander lives in Greenstone, Minnesota, a small mining town in the north, where he owns and lives in a rundown movie theater, The Empress. Virgil almost dies when he drives off the road into Lake Superior and becomes a bolder man after. He goes after the woman he loves, becomes a mentor to some of the young men in town, helps put on the “Hard Luck Days” festival, and turns around the movie theater.

There were a lot of plot lines so a few times they seemed disjointed and not fully realized, but overall I enjoyed the small-town setting and going along for the ride with these characters. It gave shades of Fredrik Backman – the subject matter is dark and depressing at times, but you can't help but feel the optimism of the town and characters at the same time.

“Hand to hand went the kite string. 'Did you know my son?' Rune asked all who flew, and quite a few did. A small town like Greenstone is thoughtful and nosy. It got around fast that Alec's father was here. Rune wrote with a pencil in a pocket-size notebook while the dog [kite] clattered high in the gusts.” I understand the feeling of craving stories of those lost.

“I didn't want to let her go, of course – what I wanted was to hold her tight, to keep hearing her soft, near, barely-awake voice. There is no better sound than whom you adore when they are sleepy and pleased. I wanted to hear about many small things, the smaller the better. I wanted to tell her small things in return.”