Grief of Stones

The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison, 2022. Sequel to Witness for the Dead, which Addison clearly thinks you remember, because there are a lot of characters named and referred to without explanation of who they are. I was able to either figure out most of it or not worry about it, but would definitely have used a dramatis personae and a glossary if such things had been included. I enjoyed it well enough - very readable, kept moving along, zero feeling of having to make myself keep reading - but I also just didn't feel like I cared that much? I mean, I don't know, it was a fine read, an interesting new character and an interesting character development for the protagonist, and a bit at the end seems to indicate that there's going to be a third one, which I will probably also read, but if I never did, that would also be okay. Maybe the best way to describe it is that it felt like the kind of mystery or procedural that is formulaic in a pleasant way, like, "here are several iterations of different specific details that fit into this general format", about a system that more or less works? This book could hang out with Becky Chambers' new tea monk novella, is maybe what I am saying.

Ducks

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, Kate Beaton, 2022. Graphic memoir about working in the oil industry in Alberta and various aspects of life in the camps (rape culture, environmental harm, economic pressure). Interesting and powerful but also heavy stuff. Heads up for rape and sexual harassment. ( Read more... )

I hope a bunch of teenagers end up reading it in high school. Maus, Persepolis, Ducks.