Natural History: Stories
by Andrea Barrett
Not my favorite (7/26/2022)
This is an uneven collection of linked short stories. I'm not particularly interested in early airplanes, botany, bugs, or biochem, all of which are described with lots of detail. Taking that away, I was interested in some of the characters. But the last story skipped generations ahead, introducing new people and I found it to be both boring and a curious way to end the book.
No One Is Coming to Save Us
by Stephanie Powell Watts
Didn't save us (4/3/2017)
I had such a mixed experience with this book. After finishing the first three chapters, I put it down and read something else. When I went back to it, and the character of Sylvia was no longer the focus, the book became much better. There are brilliant individual sentences that stand out, but this books comparison to Gatsby is a real disservice. The characters seemed fuzzy and pretty much unlikeable in various ways. I think her writing has potential, maybe her next book will be great.