Welcome to Kay's Recommendations! Bookselling is Kay’s fourth career but it might have been her first and only career if she roughly followed grade-school aptitude testing that said she should become a librarian. An avid reader, Kay’s go-to is science fiction, but she often dips into off-beat (i.e. dark) fiction, and both fiction and non-fiction about nature, the environment, art, gardening, adventure and unusual minds. Her favorite book changes about every five years; most recently it would have to be The Overstory by Richard Powers.
Check out what Kay has been reading below!
Warning: this review is written by someone who is decidedly unhandy with needle and thread. Three girls become friends partly because of a shared interest in embroidery. They remain friends for a couple decades for many other reasons. When Mila can finally leave her husband and child for an extended time, they plan a trip to Paris. Not long after the trip, Mila and Dalia learn that Citali drowned in Senegal. Mila starts writing about their lives together. The stories are interspersed with excerpts from other authors about needlework, including: if women wrote history, the modern age would begin with the discovery of needle and thread; and, if men did embroidery, it would be considered an art, not a craft. I closed the book with a new respect for needle and thread, and I might even take another stab at using them!
This book is perfect for anyone who likes to observe wildlife in their own backyard. Renkl writes 52 brief muses, one for each week of the year, inspired by the activity in her yard. Her short essays are accompanied by charming collages composed by her brother; the siblings clearly share the same love of nature. And Renkl knows how to compose a spectacular backyard ecosystem for attracting a wide range of migrant and resident animals, and she shares many clever tricks.
You will likely recognize a neighbor, a family member, a friend, even a spouse or yourself in many of these stories. The stories succinctly capture a variety of familiar emotions and behaviors: angst, desire, revulsion, anger, jealousy, guilt, fear, loneliness, instability, unhealthy family dynamics, cruelty, relief, fantasy and lust, deafness, manipulation, deceit, self-doubt, selfishness, cheating, lying - and perhaps the most dangerous: self-delusion and denial. Alward’s stories are written with precision and land with a punch.
The California coastline will experience more frequent and more powerful storms and rising sea levels as climate change accelerates. Some cities and towns have started preparing by moving buildings further inland, installing public storm-warning systems, and limiting property owners’ manipulation of beaches, such as building stone or concrete walls to retain or rebuild beach property. Beach construction is a temporary fix and merely moves erosion to other properties. Public beach erosion may threaten long-term viability of some vacation-dependent economies. California clearly has a great deal of work left to do. While climate change is already harming ocean coastlines, lake coastlines will eventually face similar issues. Any volunteers?
This is an insightful, sympathetic story about a highly intelligent autistic boy who can’t interact successfully with anyone other than Eoin (his dad) and Marie (grandma). The first day of high school is nearly a disaster, but Jaime is saved by a single attentive teacher. What begins as lunchtime entertainment for her soon becomes a mission to help Jaime learn the basic social skills needed to survive the rest of high school. She is joined by the new woodworking teacher. There are many ups and downs throughout the year, but by the last day of school, Jaime, while still awkward, has won over much of the student body. Cheers!
When not fearing eviction or avoiding relatives’ demands to send money, three illegal immigrants from Côte d’Ivoire work as impeccable security guards in upscale women’s stores on Paris’s Champs-Élysées. The diversity of shoppers supplies nearly endless entertainment for the large, black, acutely visible guards. They share hilarious, absurd, and stupid stories that keep them awake, amused, and standing tall for very long shifts.
You will likely recognize a neighbor, a family member, a friend, even a spouse or yourself in many of these stories. The stories succinctly capture a variety of familiar emotions and behaviors: angst, desire, revulsion, anger, jealousy, guilt, fear, loneliness, instability, unhealthy family dynamics, cruelty, relief, fantasy and lust, deafness, manipulation, deceit, self-doubt, selfishness, cheating, lying - and perhaps the most dangerous: self-delusion and denial. Alward’s stories are written with precision and land with a punch.
As a life-long rock-hound, this book would have been pure magic to me as a child: I would have learned just enough to make up a story about different experiences my rock may have gone through to become the exact rock that was in my hand. This book may have also spurred me to learn more about the science of rocks, which would have helped me tell more detailed, and perhaps more real-life, stories. Rock loving kids will love this book!
The Future is set in an alternative ‘French’ Détroit, a city with few jobs and businesses, almost no government or social services, and destroyed or damaged infrastructure. Remaining residents skew old, young, or criminal. After learning of her daughter’s death, Gloria comes to Parc Détroit to find her two granddaughters. Via her daughter’s neighbor and other acquaintances, Gloria obtains useful information; of particular hope is the large group of abandoned and troubled kids who live together in Parc Rouge. The Parc kids function as a weakly cohesive group. Some individuals behave with reckless abandon, but most are solid, intelligent kids. Gloria’s search, of course, doesn’t end at the Parc. This dystopian setting is fascinating, and as dark as Parc Détroit sounds, the novel closes with signs of environmental revival and with genuine hope for the city’s inhabitants - both young and old, and sometimes together!
Nicholls makes learning about insects a joy. With insects representing one quarter of all animals, he justifiably calls them the most successful group of animals on planet earth. Here are some juicy nuggets from this delicious book: Over one million species have been identified, but Nicholls thinks 5 million is a more reasonable count. Very early evolution of bodily diversity coupled with extreme adaptability is what allowed insects to conquer nearly all ends of the planet. As many of us have guessed, insects do, indeed, have greater resistance to extinction than other animals. They obliterate the laws of aviation. Of their two options for successful offspring, laying massive numbers of eggs is the method used by 99% of insects; only about 1% invest time and energy helping offspring survive. Research supports the label of “superorganism” for selected ants and termites. Wow. Nicholls closes with a profound statement: “recent research points to the fact that insect brains possess enough complexity to generate a basic level of consciousness.” Consider that next time you grab a can of Raid.
I am so excited to discover a new (at least for me) subject in ecology/environmental studies: road ecology. Road ecology is the study of how life changes for plants and animals near roads and traffic. One of the biggest road ecology issues is all too familiar: roadkill. US drivers kill one million animals every day! Wow. Remedial action is uncommon. Of projects completed, many were initiated by individuals or small groups to fix massive, ongoing roadkill in a specific location. The design of overpasses and underpasses that successfully draw targeted animals across is surprisingly challenging, but there is progress. Other issues under this umbrella include noise and light pollution; excess heat generation; and runoff of salt, oil, exhaust, and other poisons. Road ecology is a young field, so it is rarely considered when new roads are planned. Since every major new road comes with thousands of other new roads built to and from it, road ecology must be incorporated into the planning process. Get involved when possible! A final note: one of the most environmentally impactful road ecology actions is to remove roads from national and state lands, especially forests. Every little unpaved road negatively affects the environment. Let’s get to work!
This intimate portrayal of octopuses’ daily life is based on 25 years of diving in coastal Alaskan waters. Octopuses spend much of their time privately observing the neighborhood from a safe, hidden home, often under a rock. Hunting and eating habits, mating, predator avoidance, and interactions with other octopuses are described. While most books about octopuses focus on their intelligence, this is the first book I’ve found that paints a full picture of how octopuses live - and die - in the wild.
A dramatically beautiful object - clearly not of this world - is given to the owner of a small company. Employee Lily sees signs of her long-dead father in the innards of the object, setting her on a mission to find where it came from. The story that unfolds is beautiful, magical, hopeful, occasionally frightening, and often inspiring. This story will grip you tightly until it releases you, finger by finger, in the end.
Tears rolled down my face as I read dozens of heartfelt, heartwarming, and heartbreaking quotes and short stories by people reckoning with the last stages of life with - and the first stage of life without - a precious animal friend. Bader has composed a perfect book for anyone facing the loss of a dear pet. Keep a copy handy for a friend in need.
The arrival of a new boy in school coincides with Clear Canyon City’s first recorded dust storm. Adam stumbles as he walks to his desk and brushes against Avalyn. Instantly, it feels as if all the air has been sucked out of her body. This isn’t the first time Avalyn has felt as if she absorbed someone else’s emotions, much like X-Men’s Empath does. Dust storms continue to coincide with Avalyn and Adam touching briefly. What is happening? You’ll race through the book to find a dark answer. Dust bravely depicts a type of child abuse that, tragically, is not uncommon. Tenderly and effectively, Bowling describes reasonably easy steps a child can take, whether they are abused, or suspect someone else is abused.
Happy the Asian elephant made news in 2022 when an appeals court denied her habeas corpus (personhood). This book presents scientific and philosophical reasons why elephants, great apes, and many whales qualify for personhood. Not a diatribe, this book calmly explains why humanity must finally dismantle its false sense of superiority over animals.
It’s 2070. Earth is vastly different, but tech innovation has kept the planet mostly livable. YA fiction is wildly popular, especially a book called “The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles.” Amongst its most fervent fans are some whale-hunting wolves and two humans. Told in delightful rhyming couplets, the wolves’ and humans’ stories alternate and influence each other. There is much to enjoy: the rhyming couplets, self-deprecating, quirky, and often funny characters, plenty of curious tech innovations, and humorous links to the past, such as zubered, ZukTube, ZikZok, zlog, Tesla Trouts, Kia Prawns, Ben Gauzy (an ancient curse), Ganwulf, Wulvia Plath and plenty more.
There’s not an extraneous word in this one-of-a-kind, remarkable story narrated by a lonely lion living beneath LA’s HOLLYWOOD sign. I LOVE THIS BOOK!!
Immerse yourself in Yellowstone’s dramatic landscape. where lovers and protectors of wildlife (especially wolves reintroduced in 2006) are newly pitted against locals who skirt laws to hunt prized park denizens. Action, adventure, and mystery keep the plot in high gear. A tender, soulful ranger - unmoored by loss and now rocked by turf battles - is the story’s beating heart.
This is a fabulously curated group of stories, all building on current societal, scientific, and technological trends and taking them to believably disturbing outcomes. There is not a single weak story in this collection. Ascension glides so effortlessly you won’t realize you haven’t shifted in your chair for hours. It has tentacles in many genres - adventure, thriller, sci-fi, horror, psychology, philosophy, many sciences - plus fabulously eclectic characters. Stunning.
I am not a writer, and after reading Marche’s astonishingly quotable book, I am very grateful I’m not a writer. If you are or want to become a writer, beware: Marche will give you dozens of pithy reasons why you shouldn’t. But if you insist, Marche helpfully describes exactly what it takes to be a writer. This is a tiny gem!
Anyone interested in climate change fiction covering the near future (~now to 2040) won’t find a more informative, deep-dive novel than Deluge. Thrilling, terrifying, maddening, and occasionally hopeful, you won’t be quite the same when you finish the book.
Bromwich has crafted a lovely, quiet, and haunting tale of a woman who escapes a luxurious but miserable life to live alone in a tiny cottage outside a small village. Laura becomes a creature of the forest but still depends on the village for small jobs to buy necessities. The villagers’ trust is necessary to get and retain work and be safe in her isolation. Can Laura throw off her once-lofty status to become a member of a tiny, rough-edged community? Gritty and very satisfying.
Critical Mass is a worthy sequel to Delta-V. No spoilers; I’ll just say that, like the first book, this is packed with new leaps in technology, and you will be cheering on the central characters and their mission.
This complex, masterfully paced thriller is set in New Zealand, where a group of young adults secretly grow food on other people’s land. An American billionaire's arrival wreaks wide-ranging havoc on land and lives alike. Tension builds from the first chapter thanks to rich inner monologues of key characters.
Wohlleben has taken off his gloves and has named the enemy: foresters, and associated players like government agencies, lumber companies, lobbyists, and the heavy machinery that kills soil for centuries (think of still-visible Roman roads). New, non-green careers for all (OK, that's my personal contribution). Next steps: 1) In unforested areas, plant pioneer species such as birch and aspen, which in time will shade and nurse the beech, oak, maple, etc. that will grow into ancient forests. 2) Leave existing forests to rehabilitate themselves as needed or to manage themselves if intact. 3) Pay forest owners for carbon they sequester; collect carbon tax for tree removal; find replacements for wood-based products. This is the third book “save the forests” book I’ve recently read, but Wohlleben has nailed the solution in just a few strokes. FABULOUS!!!
Tightly bound Scottish island inhabitants are very unhappy when Maggie McKay returns. She arrived with her mother as a six-year-old decades earlier, convinced she was Andrew MacNeil (reincarnated), and someone named Robert had been murdered. Run off the island then, she's back to find the truth. Twists come as quickly and unexpectedly as the fierce storms that engulf the island.
Vita is a middle-aged woman whose life is falling apart at every seam. Vita’s clipped journaling is sprinkled with droll, often self-deprecating observations. I wanted to shake her, scrub away heaps of denial and make her DEAL WITH IT. Then Vita would make me laugh again, and I’d forgive her. Holdstock has an uncanny gift for matching writing style and content, as she also did with in her prior book Here I Am. I can’t wait for Holdstock’s next twist of magic.
Mancuso is a plant neurobiologist. He’s incensed that vast quantities of biological breakthroughs are discovered by plant scientists - then animal researchers take over and get all the recognition (e.g., Nobel Prizes). Mancuso finds this especially annoying because animal life is a mere 0.3% of living matter, with plants clocking in at 85% (fungi, micro-organisms fill in the rest). Mancuso cleverly organizes his muses around unusual planting themes (planting music, planting law and order) many of which will have you ROTFL while you learn fascinating, if obscure, chapters in the history of plant science. More Mancuso please!
Lark grows up as climate-driven wars pit gun-toting fanatics intent on complete control against loosely formed bands of resisters. While most of Lark's early life is spent idyllically at a distance, he is finally forced to travel a long distance through war zones. Lark recounts times of bliss and harrowing moments of horror with equally affecting and lovely prose.
This is McIntyre’s fourth book documenting the return of wolves to Yellowstone. Female 06 is unusual from the start: she leaves her natal pack when very young, lives alone for several years, and snubs many suitors. Eventually she chooses brothers 754 and 755 to settle down with, another unusual, yet auspicious, decision. Fierce, fast, fair, and famous, 06 is the epitome of a female alpha wolf. You will fall in love. McIntyre’s series is unparalleled. Why? McIntyre went out every single day for 15 consecutive years to document the wolves. WOW. Just WOW.
If you had any doubts about social media’s predominant role in driving divisiveness and rage in societies worldwide, The Chaos Machine will erase them. Fisher’s many impeccable sources have documented (time after time) how algorithms, especially YouTube’s and Facebook’s, have radicalized hundreds of millions people worldwide. Companies know how to undo some of this, but they won’t because user time - and then revenue - would quickly drop. Frightening.
Gundy’s daring, bold, and brilliant debut will shake you, shock you, make you laugh, maybe make you cry, and keep you riveted to the very last page. It takes place in a once-thriving, now decaying industrial Midwestern town. Most residents are decaying with the town, but Blandine’s internal volcano is about to erupt and shake the town. Stunning.
The setting is dark: an isolated Scottish island whose residents are deeply haunted by WWII losses. Residents enact a ritual every October 1st to pacify a massive population of crows who terrorize the island for exactly one month. The ritual goes awry this year. Perfectly drawn moments of horror are eventually redeemed by genuine healing of the residents. Your heart will race, it will break, and it will finally rejoice.
This debut short story collection by Penobscot Indian Nation author Morgan Talty is soulful and hypnotic. Storylines of two boys/men alternate and flow elegantly over time. The stories are sticky; after closing the book, scenes continue to snap into focus unexpectedly.
Monsters of the 21st century include technologies containing inherent absurdity, faulty human decision-making, new modes of thrill seeking, new horrors, and more. This collection will tickle, taunt, and haunt you. And perhaps you’ll unknowingly read a sneak preview of YOUR future amongst Fu's clever stories!
I cannot recall reading a book as raw as New Animal. I feel like I stepped out of a shower of BBs only to be wrapped in a towel of coarse sandpaper. Obviously, the writing must be stunning to have such effects. I cannot wait for her next book, Woo Woo.
A couple generations into the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone, could there be anything new to learn after thousands of hours of study? Yes, indeed! Most surprisingly, significant behavioral and personality changes occur over the life of Wolf 302. Happy tears.
This fantastic, genre-bending story includes aliens pretending to be humans running a donut shop, humans making deals with the devil, several LBGQT characters at different stages of self-acceptance, serious foodies, and a crash course in all things violin. Un-put-down-able, loveable, slyly funny, and absolutely unforgettable.
The young men in these related short stories leave their small village with plans to build exciting new lives in the big city of Beijing. Without college degrees, the jobs they find are meaningless, dead-end, and poorly paid. Zechen’s vibrant writing made me feel their boredom, stress, listless fun, and their shock when an occasional event or situation sends someone back home while the others double-down to stay. A couple stories feel unique to China, but most have universal themes that could take place nearly anywhere.
I love Kitamura’s writing. She writes quietly about powerful people and intense situations. Intimacies portrays an employee at The Hague who is translating for an African dictator accused of atrocities. The dictator seems to have taken a liking to his translator. Meanwhile, the translator’s relationships with both her best friend and her boyfriend run afoul. Even drastic situations come off almost gently through Kitamura’s unique voice. You’ll barely know you’ve been punched!
Andy Weir hits his third consecutive homerun, this time out of the ballpark! Hail Mary brilliantly explores two themes: ‘save planet Earth’ and ‘first alien contact.’ Saving the planet entails solving an environmental problem that is entirely new to humans and aliens alike and is a terrific story in itself. But the alien/human encounter (starring Rocky and Grace, respectively) is even more impressive. Neither an aggressive brute nor a spectacularly advanced, intellectual creature, Rocky is much more advanced than humans in some ways, and much less advanced in other ways. Having evolved under very un-Earth-like planetary conditions, Rocky’s physicality and understanding of the universe differs significantly from Grace’s. At the same time, there are enough similarities to enable Rocky and Grace to develop communication, then cooperation, and eventually personal attachment. Relationship building and joint creative problem solving among alien and human are portrayed with great humor and tenderness, and there’s still plenty of ‘sci’ for even the geekiest reader. Hail Mary is a radiant gem.
Cat has been summoned to Edinburgh by her mirror twin’s husband Ross, who tells her El is missing and assumed dead. The twins haven’t spoken since Cat left for California ten years ago; still, Cat doesn’t believe El is dead because she doesn’t feel it. El and Ross live in the house the twins grew up in, shockingly restored and refurnished to replicate the house as it was when they were children. Long-buried memories flood Cat when she arrives. The next day, Cat receives the first of many texts from ‘johnsmith,’ which give clues to a treasure hunt, a game right out of the twin’s childhood. The clues lead Cat to pages from El’s diary, which further awaken Cat’s memories of the fantasy world she and El had lived in, with pirates, cruel tooth fairies, nasty clowns, and more. The treasure hunts and memories alternate with uneasy interactions with Ross, detectives, and local folks. This thriller is a marvelous combination of complex and fascinating stories from the past and present, brilliantly drawn characters, terrific twists and turns, and an end that knocked off my shoes.
Bewilderment belongs in the hands, head, and heart of every reader. The story is as timely, as wise, and as profound as Power’s Overstory, but Bewilderment is far more tightly packed and decidedly darker. You’ll be pulled into stunningly beautiful as well as haunting applications of cutting edge technologies. You’ll feel the joys and the terrors of parenthood’s rollercoaster. You may or may not anticipate the collapse of the wall of denial, but you’ll surely suffer its soul-crushing aftermath. Richard Powers, you broke my heart. And you will again and again as this book becomes worn from rereading.
Millet gathers a large group of old friends and their children for an extended summer vacation in a ginormous rented house. The children, largely teens, are more or less forgotten by their drunken, self-absorbed parents. The kids, embarrassed - even horrified - by their parents’ behaviors, actively disown them and take charge of their own vacation. A gigantic, climate-change-driven storm takes them all by surprise, causes significant destruction, and widens the wedge between adults and kids. Without giving away more of the story, Millet suggests the younger generation has the drive, but perhaps not all the tools, to save themselves, and even their disdained parents. Millet has penned a thoughtful, appropriately angsty, and definitely possible tale set in the not-very-distant future.
This utterly heart-warming story allows you to vicariously join four of the primary wolf packs formed during the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone starting in 1994. The stories of original alpha males and females and their offspring are stunning in their detail. Without anthropomorphizing, McIntyre observes markedly unique personalities, a genuinely amazing variety of games that teach life-long skills and build bonds among individuals both young and old, fascinating family dynamics, and fierce loyalty and bravery on the hunt and against threats from outside such as grizzlies and other wolf packs. This is the loveliest and most vibrant wild animal story I’ve ever read.
I was skeptical that McIntyre could write a second book as beguiling and insightful as his first about the wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone. Wow, was I wrong. This book is equally captivating as The Rise of Wolf 8 (which you must read before 21).
Overstory will challenge if not entirely change the way you view trees—and perhaps all plant life. Powers does this seamlessly while telling wonderful stories of eight very different individuals/couples whose lives eventually merge around the subject of trees. Brilliant and uplifting. My favorite book of 2018.
The funniest, certainly most self-deprecating physicist of the 20th century is also one of it’s most brilliant. I’m a physics flunky (well, the truth is I never even tried), but I had a blast reading about one it’s most renowned characters. Impress your friends at parties by regaling them with Feynman tales.
The Bear is a stunningly quiet, simple, and perfect book, reading as if it were effortlessly written on one singularly beautiful day. As I closed the book, I was enveloped in a deep, serene silence, something I rarely experience in this hectic, cacophonous world. The Bear will join a handful of books on my night table, each of which uniquely evoke a certain mindset I occasionally crave. Such is the power of this little book.
Heads up psychological thriller fans, there’s a new name in town: Alex Michaelides, who clearly commands an intimate understanding of tortured souls. Artist Alicia kills her famous photographer husband Gabriel then refuses to speak. Six years later, Alicia still hasn’t spoken a word at The Grove, a psychiatric care facility. A new psychoanalyst joins the team, specifically to treat Alicia. His use of disallowed psychoanalytic practices sends him down a dark road that slowly peels back Alicia’s story, ultimately much to someone’s surprise. The reader is deliciously spun around and around in this perfectly paced thriller.
