Meh

So, Kiana Davenport's Shark Dialogues is one of my favorite books; when I saw another by her on the New Books shelf at the BPL a while ago, I was really excited. But...eh.  The Spy Lover has a fascinating premise, potentially really interesting characters, and a hell of a tear-jerker end. But the writing is kind of terrible. I don't know what happened. I would never, in a million years, have pegged this as one of Davenport's if I couldn't see the cover.
More later, gotta run and return it.

Happy Books (For V)

Was talking with V last night, and the subject of happy, or at least not-depressing, books came up, and I started trying to think of some.  So, the list I came up with as I walked home, for her & for me when I need a good but not-depressing read is:

The Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff (which I literally stocked up on copies of)
The War of the Saints, Jorge Amado (one of my favorites of all time)
Sea of Poppies, Amitav Ghosh (wrapped me up and swept me away; only hesitation in recommending it is that we're still waiting for the next installment of the Trilogy to come out)
The Good Thief, Hannah Tinti (I seriously almost cried, on the f***ing T, because it was so darn heartwarming)
Shark Dialogues, Kiana Davenport (it's not great lit, but I really enjoy it, and it's not crap)
In the Woods, Tana French (darker than the others - it's a murder mystery, after all - but so engaging)
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde (Fforde just makes me laugh, and giggle, and snort, and laugh some more...)