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What I Read -- August 2020

"Artificial Condition" by Martha Wells. The first Murderbot book was so awesome I immediately requested book 2, but it was a month's wait? The next one says 16 weeks, and I've ordered it already. I read a review of one of these that called Murderbot "He" throughout, and I found this shocking. 

LHC #89: "The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" by Melissa Bank. I had a phase where I requested a bunch of short story collections about young women behaving badly. This is one of those. Somehow I hadn't realized it was linked stories until after the third one, and then the fourth one was only barely connected, which was weird. 

LHC #90: "Half-Witch" by John Schoffstall. I would have requested this one because of its awesome name. It was also only available in paper. Weird? I guess that's because it's a middle-grade novel (somehow I didn't realize this until I was a few chapters in) and middle graders don't have eReaders? 

LHC #91: "The Fissure King: A Novel in Five Stories" by Rachel Pollack. I don't remember why I requested this, I'm sure someone said it was good. The library doesn't have an eBook of this, so I read it in paper. There were a fair number of typos, but the story was great. It's another one that's more a collection of linked stories, but they hung together more coherently I think.

LHC #92: "The Sundial" by Shirley Jackson. I had trouble keeping track of all the characters and would not have minded a family tree or something. About 10% from the end, I got worried that there wouldn't be a satisfying ending, but then it all came together in a brilliant and surprising way. 

LHC #93: "Bad Behavior: Stories" by Mary Gaitskill. Another one of those (short story collections about young women behaving badly). This was not really what I felt like reading right now. 

LHC #94: "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo. The wait on Overdrive was "at least six months". I got the hard copy in about two weeks. It's a heist, set in the same world as something else I've read by her. I loved this. 
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