I’m not sure why but I’ve struggled to put together blurbs for my most recent books. I’ll bash away for a paragraph or two then realize I’m not really sharing anything interesting other than a basic summation of the plot and give up. After three false starts I’m officially throwing in the towel and offering the briefest of notes about these books and hope that by my next post I’ve shaken this mini-writer’s block.
Fates and Furies – Lauren Groff
The story of a marriage told in two halves, from two perspectives. The first half is about the husband’s upbringing, how he came to marry his wife, what their life was together, and his death. The second covers his wife’s pre-marriage life, the ways she filled in the holes during their marriage, and how she moved on after his passing. Critics and book nerds love Groff. This is the second of her books that I’ve read. While both were far from wastes of time, I can’t say I truly loved either one.
Judas 62 – Charles Cumming
I read the first book in Cumming’s Box 88 series earlier this year, focused on a British agent in a super-secret, US-UK intelligence agency. This second edition flips between an effort to sneak a biological weapons scientist out of early 1990s Russia before other countries can snatch him up and the modern effort to root out the Russian agent that is killing Russians like that scientist who have been hiding in the west for decades. A good espionage thriller.
Pappyland – Wright Thompson
A multi-layered history, about bourbon in general, Pappy Van Winkle in particular, the men behind Pappy, Kentucky and the South, and Thompson’s relationship with his dad and his own approaching fatherhood. Since it is Thompson, it is gloriously written, even in the moments he lays it on a little thick. Also got me drinking bourbon after a break. Not Pappy, though. I’m just fine with the cheaper stuff that comes from the same buildings.