Reading Wednesday finishes up 2019 and starts on 2020

[redbird]

This is the last of my 2019 reading, and the first two books I finished in 2020:

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter, by Alexis Hall. This is light fantasy, largely a pastiche of Sherlock Holmes and the Cthulhu mythos, but he throws in everything but the kitchen sink: at one point the narrator has to light a torch to avoid being eaten by a grue. I enjoyed it.

Words and Worlds: from autobiography to zippers, by Alison Lurie. A collection of short nonfiction on a variety of topics, including being a Radcliffe student in a Cambridge (Mass.) very different from today's, or even a couple of decades ago. I grabbed this from the library because someone recommended the author; I liked it, and may read more of her work some time.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsberg. Classic children's book, which adrian_turtle lent me after it came up in conversation and I told her I was fairly sure I'd never read it. ("Fairly sure" because "the book about the kids who hide in the museum" is something I had heard mentioned. I enjoyed it in a low-key sort of way, but the world has changed enough in the decades since this was written that it's almost historical fiction.

Love Wins, by Debbie Cenziper and Jim Obergefell. The story of Obergefell v. Hodges, one of the cases in the Supreme Court decision that gave the US same-sex marriage in all fifty states. I grabbed this randomly as an ebook because it was in the BookBub daily email for $1.99. It's not bad but I wouldn't recommend it; I think they're trying for inspirational, with an odd mix of Obergefell's story and the Cincinnati and Ohio legal context for it. Maybe I read this too soon: I remember a lot of the same-sex marriage fight, including some of the news about this case specifically.

Comments

[otter]

I have Mrs Basil on my bookshelf - a favorite from my own childhood. I re-read it sometime in the past decade and still enjoyed it.

[minoanmiss]

I should buy a copy, I think. Oh, I loved that book.

[oursin]

OMG, Alison Lurie! (was not even sure she was still alive, which is what happens when one has been reading an author since the 70s).

[cjsmith]

“Then Comes Marriage” may be a better treatment of the DOMA fight, with its focus and detail about the law. On the other hand it’s not a quick read and if you remember it you may not “need” any written explication of the history.

[redbird]

I'm not sure what I expected from *Love Wins*; more personality, maybe? Overall, I think you're right that I didn't need even one book on this topic.