All Books Considered

My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson Blurb from Goodreads : A young woman descended from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings driven from her neighborhood by a white militia. A university professor studying racism by conducting a secret social experiment on his own son. A single mother desperate to buy her first home even as the world hurtles toward catastrophe. Each fighting to survive in America. Tough-minded, vulnerable, and brave, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging. Set in the near future, the eponymous novella, “My Monticello,” tells of a diverse group of Charlottesville neighbors fleeing violent white supremacists. Led by Da’Naisha, a young Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, they seek refuge in Jefferson’s historic plantation home in a desperate attempt to outlive the long-foretold racial and environmen...

McGlue: A Novella by Ottessa Moshfegh Blurb from Goodreads : Salem, Massachusetts, 1851: McGlue is in the hold, still too drunk to be sure of name or situation or orientation--he may have killed a man. That man may have been his best friend. Intolerable memory accompanies sobriety. A-sail on the high seas of literary tradition, Ottessa Moshfegh gives us a nasty heartless blackguard on a knife-sharp voyage through the fogs of recollection. They said I've done something wrong? . . . And they've just left me down here to starve. They'll see this inanition and be so damned they'll fall to my feet and pass up hot cross buns slathered in fresh butter and beg I forgive them. All of them . . . : the entire world one by one. Like a good priest I'll pat their heads and nod. I'll dunk my skull into a barrel of gin. My Review:   The writing, cha...

Hot Toy by Jennifer Crusie Blurb from Goodreads : Mayhem ensues under the mistletoe as a determined shopper grabs the very last hot toy action figure off the shelf, only to find herself plunged into the middle of a real-life spy game and in the arms of a sexy secret agent... My Review:   I love Jennifer Crusie but this story felt so dated (and it is from 2006).  Maybe if I had first read it back then, I would have liked it more but reading it today just seemed kind of sad.  While I do typically enjoy Crusie's references to pop culture in her book and her female friendships (in this story, it's sisters), the surprise spy game just seemed odd.  This was a cute idea about the lengths we go to make our children's Christmas over the top but  the spy aspect seemed poorly planned a bit confusing in its reveal. She threaded her way through the crowd, heading for the back of the store.  Above her, Mado...