Annual Book Sale 2025: My Son's Books

As usual, we attended the Planned Parenthood Book Sale that runs for 10 days in September; the first few days and the last few days are the busiest; we went five times this year. 

My son's tastes usually are in the fantasy or science fiction genres. Below are a few of the books that my son purchased this year.

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

Originally published in 2022; this trade paperback edition was published in 2024.

This is a cozy fantasy about a lesbian couple who want to leave their current lives behind and open a bookstore in a remote location where no one can find them. The problem is that one of them is a private guard to a powerful and cruel queen, and the other is an important and powerful mage. 

Note: I just finished reading this book and I enjoyed it a lot. It seemed to me to go just a bit beyond the bounds of cozy, but that was fine with me.

Dinotopia Lost by Alan Dean Foster

Dinotopia is a fictional utopia created originally by James Gurney in 1992. In the first book, Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time, which had illustrations, Arthur Denison and his son, Will, are shipwrecked on island where humans and dinosaurs live together in harmony. James Gurney wrote three more books about Dinotopia, but other authors have also written spin-off books in the series. In Alan Dean Foster's Dinotopia Lost, published in 1996, a ship with a crew of pirates lands on the island.

Monday Starts on Saturday by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Andrew Bromfield (Translation)

This book was first published in 1965 and seems to be a combination of science fiction and fantasy. Humorous and satirical.

This description is from a summary at Goodreads: 

Sasha, a young computer programmer from Leningrad, is driving north to meet some friends for a nature vacation. He picks up a couple of hitchhikers, who persuade him to take a job at the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy. The adventures Sasha has in the largely dysfunctional Institute involve all sorts of magical beings—a wish-granting fish, a tree mermaid, a cat who can remember only the beginnings of stories, a dream-interpreting sofa, a motorcycle that can zoom into the imagined future, a lazy dog-size mosquito—along with a variety of wizards (including Merlin), vampires, and officers. 

The Protectorate Series by Megan E. O'Keefe

This series is a space opera trilogy, that begins with Velocity Weapon (published in 2019, 544 pages) and continues the story with Chaos Vector (published in 2020, 546 pages) and Catalyst Gate (published in 2021, 608 pages). The 1st book sounds very good, and I have read good reviews of the 2nd and 3rd books. 

This excerpt from the review at Kirkus is the best description of the first book in the series that I could find.

The last thing Sanda Greeve remembers is her ship being attacked by rebel forces. She's resuscitated from her evacuation pod missing half a leg—and two centuries—as explained to her by the AI of the rebel ship that rescued her. As The Light of Berossus—aka Bero—tells her, she may be the only living human for light-years around, as the war wiped both sides out long ago. Sanda struggles to process her injuries and her grief but finds friendship with the lonely spaceship itself. Sanda's story is interspersed with flashbacks to the war's effects on her brother, Biran, as well as scenes from a heist gone terribly wrong for small-time criminal Jules. The three narratives, separated by a vast gulf of time, are more intertwined than is immediately apparent. When Sanda rescues Tomas, another unlikely survivor, from his own evacuation pod, she learns that even time doesn't end all wars. Should she trust Tomas, a fellow human but a rebel soldier who has his own secrets—or Bero, the ship that saved her?

                            Velocity Weapon

                  

                              Chaos Vector

                                Catalyst Gate

Pesticide: Kim Hays

This summary is from Kim Hays' website:

In Pesticide, a street party in Bern morphs into a brutal riot. Hours later, with the medieval downtown a shambles, a young man is found beaten to death with a policeman’s club. That same day, twenty miles away, an organic farmer turns up on his land, dead and drenched in pesticide. Swiss homicide detective Giuliana Linder and her younger colleague Renzo Donatelli start out on two separate cases, but it doesn’t take long before they find links between their victims. Working together on what has become a single, puzzling case, the two can no longer ignore their attraction to each other.

 

Pesticide is the first book in the Linder and Donatelli series. When reading mysteries, I have a preference for police procedurals because they are more believable. Detective Giuliana Linder is an experienced homicide detective; she has worked with Investigator Renzo Donatelli before but this time they start out on different cases in very different locations. It is assumed that the death of the young man in Bern is drug-related, but soon officials realize that the elderly man who owns and works on an organic farm outside of Bern had business dealings with the younger victim and decide to combine the cases.

My thoughts

I like to read police procedurals set in countries other than the US, because I like to learn about how the various legal and law enforcement departments work in each country. The author of this book does a great job of showing all the different types of people working on the case, and in this novel, we get to see two groups of investigators coming together to solve two related cases. Although a lot of the focus was on the procedure of solving a crime, the pacing was good and the story never dragged.

Getting a peak at organic farming in this story is fascinating. I learned a lot about the mechanics of farming and the rules of organic farming. The story divides its time between the police in Bern and the community in the outlying rural area, where one of the crimes occurred.

I liked the characters in this story, both the main characters and secondary characters. The ending was very good; the  mystery was tied up well and realistically. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.

For more details on the plot, please see Kevin Tipple's excellent review at Kevin's Corner.

Kim Hays has dual Swiss/American citizenship, and has lived in Bern with her husband for 37 years. She has a very nice website with information about Bern and Switzerland, in addition to descriptions of her books.

Short Story Wednesday: Get in Trouble by Kelly Link

 

This post was written for Short Story Wednesday hosted at Patti Abbott's blog, and Short Story September, hosted by Lisa at ANZ LitLovers LitBlog.

I knew very little about Kelly Link or her writing before I read this book, but this is what I gleaned from my recent reading about this book and her short stories.

This short story collection, Get in Trouble, was published in 2015 and was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Per Wikipedia, this collection "contains nine short stories, five of which were previously published. The stories contain elements of fantasy, magical realism, and light horror." Usually I avoid horror, but light horror seemed doable. So I read the first story in the book, "The Summer People," and reviewed it in August of this year.

I liked that story a lot, so I decided to finish reading the stories in this book in September. In general, the stories are pretty long. I think the shortest one was 20 pages, the longest close to 50 pages. 

Here are my thoughts on the remaining stories.

"I Can See Right Through You"

This is the story of two celebrities who have had an off and on relationship for years, ever since they made their only movie together when they were very young, and they both became stars overnight. The story hints at some supernatural elements but mostly it is a straightforward story about Meggie and the "demon lover." He is referred to only by that name throughout the story. The story starts in the 1990s and brings the couple up to around 2012, when Meggie is hosting a ghost-hunting show. A very strange story and I enjoyed it. I would have liked a more concrete ending, but still it was very effective.

"Secret Identity"

A 15-year old girl goes to New York to meet an older man (34 years old) at a hotel. She met him online and represented herself as about his age. At the same time as she arrives at the hotel there are two conventions there, one for superheroes and sidekicks and one for dentists. I liked this story a lot. It is told from the young girl's point of view, in a letter she is writing to Paul Zell, the older man. She is way more mature than I was at 15, and a very interesting character.

"Valley of the Girls"

The characters in this story are teenagers who are very rich and can do just about anything they like. It is set in a universe where pyramids are built for teenagers and they can have alternate identities so that they experiment and play around without ruining their futures. A very creepy story, and fortunately one of the shorter stories.

I thought this was a very clever story but it was hard for me to follow. So I read it a second time. On that read I saw clues that pointed to the end of the story from the very beginning. So other readers may find this a more satisfying read than I did. I am not sure I like it when I need to read a story twice to get it.

"Origin Story"

This story is set in a world where superheroes and sidekicks are taken for granted. More than one reviewer noticed that it could be set in the same world as "Secret Identity," but with different characters and locations. The story is kind of sad but still a decent story.

"The Lesson"

This was my favorite story. It was the only one with no element of the supernatural or weird. It did surprise me and I kept waiting for the supernatural element to show up. 

A gay couple are expecting a baby, who will be delivered by a surrogate mother. The couple plan to go off to a wedding at a remote spot and worry about the baby being born early.  

"The New Boyfriend"

This is another story about a set of rich teenagers. The most popular girl in the group, Ainslie, has three "boyfriends" but they are toys, sort of like robots. They can be set to different modes and programmed in some ways. Ainslie's best friend Immy is jealous, and finds a way to spend some time with one of the boyfriends. This was not my favorite story; reading about rich, selfish teens is not especially interesting to me. However, there was a great conversation between Immy and her father about the nature of love, so I rate it highly anyway.

"Two Houses"

This is a blending of a ghost story and science fiction. The characters are astronauts on a long spaceflight to a faraway star. They sometimes sleep for years but now and then they are awakened for celebrations and this  time it is a birthday party, where they tell each other ghost stories. Another weird story where I would have appreciated a more concrete ending.

"Light"

This longer story is set in the Florida Keys after some strange events have caused significant "changes" in the world and opened up pocket universes where possibilities are endless. People can be born with no shadow or with two shadows. Those with two shadows may have a twin. Lindsey is one of the people with two shadows and she and her twin have a troubled relationship. She has a job where she oversees a warehouse of sleeping bodies which have appeared since the "changes" took place. 

There were several things I liked about this story. When my son was in preschool, we used to bring hibiscus flowers to the school to feed the iguana. In this story, iguanas were all over the place and were eating up all the hibiscus bushes. In addition to that small piece of nostalgia, I like that the story centered more on adults. The character development in this story was very good, especially that of the main character.  

I don't usually write so much all about the stories in a short story book, and I think that I did for this one is a reflection on how much I was impressed with Kelly Link's writing. Even when the stories had elements that I did not like, I still felt like they were good reads, well worth my time.

Short Story Wednesday: Collections from the Book Sale

 

Last Friday, September 12, was the first day of the Planned Parenthood Book Sale; it will continue through Sunday, September 21. We went to the book sale on both Friday and Saturday. (And we will go back again tomorrow, and Saturday and Sunday.) 

Every year I plan to limit my short story book purchases at the sale, since I have so many already, both in print editions and on the Kindle. Yet I was unable to resist the four books I am featuring here.

The Complete Stories, Volume 1

Isaac Asimov

This book consists of the stories previously collected in Earth Is Room Enough (1957), Nine Tomorrows (1959), and Nightfall and Other Stories (1969). There are a total of 48 stories by Asimov in this volume. Asimov wrote short stories in other genres, but my impression is that this volume is primarily science fiction and fantasy tales. 

I, Robot

Isaac Asimov

This is a book I have planned to read for years. It consists of nine short stories, which originally appeared in science-fiction magazines in the 1940's. Recently, Kelly at Kelly's Thoughts & Ramblings read and reviewed I, Robot. She enjoyed the book and that motivated me to read it sooner rather than later.

The Truth and Other Stories

Stanisław Lem; Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Translator); Kim Stanley Robinson (Foreword)

Stanisław Lem (1921-2006) was a Polish writer. I don't know much about his writing, except that he was best know for his science fiction novels and short stories. His most well-known novel was Solaris (1961). This book of 12 science fiction short stories was published in 2021 and includes 9 stories that previously had not been published in English.

Lake of Souls: the Collected Short Fiction

Ann Leckie

I took a chance on this book because I am interested in Ancillary Justice, the first book in her Imperial Radch series. This collection has seven stories from the Universe of The Raven Tower, a standalone novel, three stories from the Imperial Radch Universe, and eight unrelated stories. 

Spell the Month in Books — September 2025

 

Spell the Month in Books is a monthly meme hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. The link up post is posted on the first Saturday of each month. Each month one or two themes are suggested for the books that are chosen. The theme for September is "longer books."

I had a bit of difficulty with September, because of having to find three books with titles beginning with E that fit the theme.

S is for The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher   (580 pages)

I have only read one book by Pilcher, Winter Solstice. I liked that one and plan to read more. This one has been on my physical shelves for two years. I don't know much about the story except that it is set in Cornwall and London. If you have read The Shell Seekers, tell me what you think of it.

E is for The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter (657 pages)

I have read this book but it was way back in 2004. I remember liking it but that is about it. Fortunately I can link to a very good review at Bill Selnes's blog Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan.

P is for The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker   (603 pp)

Description at Goodreads:

This collection ranges over the verse, stories, essays, and journalism of one of the twentieth century's most quotable authors.

I have been wanting a copy of this book for years. My husband found this lovely edition at the book sale a few years ago. I have not read any of it yet and I will first check out the short stories.

T is for Time's Witness by Michael Malone (576 pp)

Michael Malone is the author of three mystery novels that feature two policemen working in a small town in North Carolina. The two policemen are very different. Justin Savile V is the scion of an old and important family in the state. Cuddy Mangum's origins are much lower, but he and Justin are very good friends. Time's Witness, the second in the series, is narrated by Cuddy. Cuddy is educated, but he is not refined, and to the powerful and rich inner circle of Hillston residents, he is a redneck. And at the point in time of this story, he is the Chief of Police. He has cleaned up the police in his town and he has hired women and blacks as police officers. The book was published in 1989 and set around the same time period. (My review)

E is for East of Eden by John Steinbeck  (602 pages)

Description at the Penguin Random House site:

Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

I do not think I ever read this book, although I have read other books by Steinbeck. It is not currently on my TBR, although I may consider reading it someday. 

M is for Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz  (580 pages)

Moonflower Murders is the sequel to an earlier book by Anthony Horowitz, Magpie Murders. In both books the main character is Susan Ryeland, and both feature the "book within a book" format. However, Horowitz labels them as standalone books on his website. I agree that this book can stand alone, but it does reveal some parts of Magpie Murders, if the reader wants to go back to read that one. (My review)

B is for Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George  (610 pp)

I read this book in 2012; it was the 17th book in the series and the last novel in this series that I read. I had read and enjoyed all the books preceding it. The main characters are Detective Inspector Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers; they work for Scotland Yard. Lynley is an aristocrat. Havers is from a working-class background. There are numerous secondary characters that are well-portrayed and also evolve throughout the series. I found a lot of praise in this novel, but I was not happy that the books were getting longer and longer.  My review of the book included a general overview of the series up to that time.

E is for Exodus by Leon Uris   (608 pages)

I read several books by Leon Uris when I was younger, and Exodus was one of them. 

Description on Wikipedia:

Exodus is a historical novel by American novelist Leon Uris about the founding of the State of Israel beginning with a compressed retelling of the voyages of the 1947 immigration ship Exodus and describing the histories of the various main characters and the ties of their personal lives to the birth of the new Jewish state.

R is for Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb   (648 pp)

This is the second book in the Farseer Trilogy, following Assassin's Apprentice. The main character in this trilogy is FitzChivalry, a royal bastard who becomes the king's assassin in the first book, a fact that he and only a few others know. The story is very dark, with little relief. Fitz is shunned by most people in the court and leads a difficult life. I cared about many of the characters, and loathed all the bad ones. And I look forward to reading the third book in the trilogy, which is an even longer book.

Short Story Wednesday: Jewel Box by E. Lily Yu

Today I read the first four stories in Jewel Box, a short story collection by E. Lily Yu. I bought the book on a whim at the Planned Parenthood book sale last year, and I was probably influenced by the lovely and unusual cover. 

Although I have only read four of the stories, the ones that I read have an unreal, fairy tale quality. 

The first story is "The Pilgrim and the Angel," which tells the story Mr. Fareed Halawani, the operator of a coffee shop in Cairo, who misses his son, who is living in Miami, and worries that he does not call home and talk to him and his mother. He is visited by an angel who plans to take him on hajj, but he persuades the angel to take him to Miami to see his son instead. It has a lovely ending, but also a sad one. 

The second story, "The Lamp at the Turning," is my favorite so far. A simple story of a street lamp who turns on only when a certain young man walks by twice a day (on the way to work?). The street lamp loves the young man and is resentful of the young woman who begins to accompany him on his walks.

"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" is the most well-known of Yu's stories; in 2012 it was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. I read that story in an anthology a few years ago, and I read it again twice in this collection. It is a wonderfully inventive story, but I confess to having problems understanding the story during all three reads. The ideas and symbolism were too much for me. 

“The Lion God and the Two Gates,” is an interesting story of a judge who prides himself on his neutrality and fairness; the Lion God of the title presents him with a decision to make about his fate after his death.

My highest praise is for Yu's wonderful writing style. I enjoyed reading the stories even when I was a bit confused. The collection has 22 stories and I will eventually read them all.