Michael and Wendy kindly asked me to do a little write up in this newsletter, letting you all know what I’ve been reading since I have started working at Whodunit?, and I am not going to lie, I was pretty excited!
The first book I brought home from the shop was My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura. I’m not ashamed to admit I was originally drawn to it purely from the fact that the cover is gorgeous, as I will be the first person to say that I’m a sucker for a good cover! There were other reasons, though, like the fact that I was familiar with the author from previous novels, Cult X and The Thief (another couple of good covers, just putting it out there!). Having characters question things like their own perception of the world, their place in it, and even who they are, are the kind of things I like to read in the horror genre and Nakamura’s work seems to revolve around examining these thoughts and reasonings in his characters, some of whom do reprehensible things. Unfortunately, My Annihilation was just okay, I felt that the book flatlines a bit in the third act which isn’t helped by the fact that the book really isn’t that long. It has been claimed that this book is extremely “dark and disturbing”, and while it by no means is an optimistic and cheerful read, his previous works that I’ve read have been far more disturbing, to the point where I hesitate recommending them. All that being said, while it wasn’t my favourite book I’ve read since starting at Whodunit, it is probably the one I have thought about afterwards the most, either positively or negatively.
One of the perks that I enjoy the most from working at Whodunit? has to be the used book selection. I love watching what comes and goes, always keeping an eye out for something that might jump out to me. A month or so ago, it was the bold graphic cover of The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt. This is one that has been on my ever expanding to-read list for years, since it came out in 2011, so I am a little late to be jumping on the deWitt train, but I very much enjoyed this read. For those of you who haven’t read it, The Sisters Brothers focuses on Eli and Charlie Sisters (written from the perspective of the former), two “bounty hunter” (read: assassin) brothers in 1851 who are, well, pretty dumb, but clever enough to know this, which often puts them one step ahead of the various cast of characters that they meet between Oregon City and California. Whether it is their cleverness, dumb luck, or both, that keeps them just ahead of a doom of their own making, who’s to say, but their dubious trek south is extremely entertaining and often had me giggling to myself as I read. I love it when a narrative can find a way to not take itself too seriously, while still having an emotional weight that is easy to connect to. I think it’s safe to say that I probably shouldn’t wait another 10 years to pick up another of deWitt’s books.
I am going to cheat ever so slightly by including a series I was wrapping up just as I started at Whodunit, and that is the Remembrance of Earth’s Past by Liu Cixin. The entire series is fantastic, and The Three Body Problem is an excellent intro to it. I would highly recommend anyone interested in sci-fi, specifically more of a hard sci-fi where characters debate and dissect astrophysics, celestial mechanics, and theoretical physics (the titular Three Body Problem refers to determining the motion of three celestial bodies moving under their own gravity). The less I say about it, the better. I went in pretty blind to any of the plot and had a lovely time.
I have taken it upon myself to read all of the manga currently on our shelves, so in the chance that someone needs a recommendation, I can oblige! One that has really stood out so far is Boys Run the Riot by Keito Gaku. It focuses on a transgender high school student who starts a clothing brand with his classmate. I have been wanting to read more fiction by transgender authors/artists, and not only is Keito transgender, but the English licensers of the manga hired an all-transgender team to translate it!
Next up for me is going to be Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza, where a former FBI profiler, very pregnant with her 5th child, and a disgraced local journalist who once won a Pulitzer team up to solve a murder. Sounds fun!