Currently Reading

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The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Z. Danielewski - I'd previously read House of Leaves and was borderline obsessed with it, so I wanted to read more of Danielewski's work.  This book is odd too, but in a completely different way.  According to the inside cover, The Fifty-Year Sword is a play of sorts, put on every Halloween.  The story is a curious one.  A woman attends a Halloween party in Texas, runs into the woman her ex-husband had an affair with, and ends up in a room with five orphans and a story-teller.  It's short, it's odd, and it's terrifying.  I loved it.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith - The second in the Cormoran Strike series, The Silkworm follows Cormoran after solving the Lula Landry case that made up The Cuckoo's Calling, dealing with the subsequent fame and growth in business.  He ends up working for a woman whose author husband has gone missing.  The husband disappeared shortly after a manuscript of his most recent novel had been released to his publisher and a few other people in the industry.  The manuscript did not go over well, as it is a vicious takedown of industry people, friends, even his wife.  The book is smart, grisly, and well-written.  While the case itself was a page-turner, it's the relationship between Cormoran and his assistant, Robin, that will keep me coming back to this series.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - Could not put this down.  It was so nerdy, and so uncool, and I was obsessed with it.  Upon his death, an eccentric billionaire set up a challenge.  He has placed an egg inside the online world that he had built and whoever found it would win his entire fortune.  After five years of no one even finding this first key, excitement has died down.  That is, until a nobody kid from a trailer park starts to make serious progress.  This novel is full of video games, trivia, pop culture, music, and references, most of it to the 1980's.  Although video games aren't really my thing, I was enamored of the book.

The Adults by Alison Espach - If you want depressing, this is it.  In a world where the adults all ignore, disappoint, or take advantage of her, Emily struggles.  It's a brutal look at a teenage girl's life, as privileged as she is.  Her parents are in the midst of a divorce brought on by an affair.  She finds herself alone, lost.  And things don't get better as she gets older.  This book is dark and doesn't offer much hope.  There's abuse, death, and people repeatedly letting others down.  But I liked it!