Currently Reading

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Authority (Southern Reach #2) by Jeff Vandermeer - This is the second novel in Vandermeer's trilogy about Area X, a section of coastal land all but destroyed by an unknown factor.  Instead of the biologist, this section of the story mostly follows "Control", the new head of the Southern Reach as he figures out his new role, tries to determine what happened to the biologist in Area X (she has returned, but doesn't seem to be herself), and reports to his unknown boss farther up the chain.  While this didn't grab me quite the way the first book did, I think due to the office building setting of most of it, I learned enough that I could barely wait to read the final book.

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee - First, let me say that I did not want to read this, but it was my book club's selection, so I went along with it.  I have some problems with how the book came to be published and am of the belief that Lee was taken advantage of after her sister's death.  All of that said, I did not like the book.  It read like a first draft, which it presumably is, taking me out of the story.  We start with Scout, a 26-year-old woman living in New York, returning to her hometown for her annual visit.  She quickly becomes disillusioned about her father and her potential husband when she sees them at a town meeting where they have racists speaking.  She then runs around like a chicken with her head cut off, approaching everyone in town and asking them how they can let something like this happen.  Ultimately, she has a sit down with her father and all is resolved.  There were great moments in the book, but all of them took places in flashbacks Scout had to when she was a child.  Clearly, this is why Go Set a Watchman was abandoned for To Kill a Mockingbird.

Slade House by David Mitchell - Really similar to The Bone Clocks, and even featuring some of the same characters, Slade House was such a fun read.  Slade House itself sits tucked into an alley and only accessible by a tiny garden door.  Every nine years, someone stumbles upon the house and then, well, disappears.  But what truly goes on behind that garden door?  Over the course of decades, the victims of Slade House, as well as their family members, unlock the dark secret of the house and search for revenge against an ancient brother & sister duo.  My only complaint was that the book was too short - I wanted more!