THE MISTLETOE MURDER by PD James

4 Stars

Cozy mystery meets satire.

I selected this book for THE MISTLETOE MURDER short story for my Yule season reading.  I may or may not read the other selections at a later date. Shocking to have to admit, but this is my first PD James story. I know, I know. What have I bee doing with my life. Nonetheless, I am happy to have begun the author journey with this little gem.

An English country manor Christmas setting shines with it's ragged World War II charm as the first person narrator takes us through the incident. It all seems so very civil, until it's not. Nothing sordid or graphic per se, but the means of violence definitely made me smile as did the zinger at the end of the tale. Like a friendly slap to the face. Nicely done.

Fabulous start, and nice addition to my Yule list.

Musical Calendar Countdown - Dec. 1

DON'T SHOOT ME SANTA
Artist: The Killers
Album: Don't Waste Your Wishes

Don't Shoot Me, Santa by The Killers video

CHEMISTRY by Weike Wang

3 Stars

Life choices. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

1. How academia screwed you over.
Well, you want to relive your postgraduate years? Or even better, the wasted years before you said, "Screw it!" and bailed. Revel in the masochistic torture.

2. How your family baggage drags you down.
The good, the bad, and the ugly. Family, there's nothing like it.

A year into our dating, Eric says he wants to understand me and not just from a distance or through what he calls my ten-inch thick bulletproof glass.
Behind this glass, he says, he found more glass.

3. How as a female there is a constant battle between self and couplehood, a sacrifice of self.
The choices of a relationship or no relationship. That moment when you realize that you're both not on the same track anymore and veering further off course from each other. Love and caring has nothing to do with the impending failure--you're drifting.

All three together? The triumvirate of relationship silver bullets. You're going down.

I don't know if this is interesting to others or not. Anyone who's been through the grad student process is going to feel empathy, the science focus is how it's framed, but the underlying strains aren't different. You know, the circle jerk of academia.

I guess the unique viewpoint is more the Chinese American lens. The stereotypes and the cultural differences, especially the familial obligations and deference of self for the whole, which is in many ways antithetical to the American ideal that is sold as the gold standard.

Then, there's the issue of being female and trying to determine yourself as a separate entity from your significant other. The struggle to be a Person and not just part of a couple. I like the discussion about it between two friends; their different lives and choices.

Please just stop and let me catch up. How do you expect me to marry you if you never let me catch up? 

This isn't a happy story. Then again, a lot of life isn't. Definitely worth reading if ANY of the three points above interest you.

Parting thought:

The optimist sees the glass half full. The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The chemist sees the glass completely full, half in a liquid state, half in a gaseous state, both of which are probably poisonous. 

DEXTER IN THE DARK by Jeff Lindsay

3 Stars

I really should have liked this more.

I stood up. It was all too much. I could not even meet my own expectations, and to be asked to deal with all theirs was too suffocating. 

Dexter's growth during this book is good, a solid advancement of his character rather than just rinse and repeat that afflicts so many series. The majority of it is driven by external forces, Dexter's interaction with other characters, but in this episode the Dark Passenger takes center stage.

I closed my eyes and listened to the novel emotions gurgling through me. Feeling--what authentic human fun. Next, I could join a bowling league.

Dexter's relationship with Rita is advancing rapidly and her children, Astor and Cody are looking forward to their new father.

And even worse, I could tell that somehow it had become my problem; the children expected me to bail them out, and Rita was clearly prepared to lock and load and open fire on me. 

The thing that did not work for me was the heavy-handed omniscient viewpoint. I found it too fantastical and a clumsy attempt at explaining the Dark Passenger and the story would have been fine without it. It was dissatisfying.

Words to live by:

"No, it's not fair," I said. "Nothing in life is fair. Fair is a dirty word and I'll thank you not to use that language around me."

DEAR IJEAWELE, OR A FEMINIST MANIFESTO IN FIFTEEN SUGGESTIONS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

3.5 Stars

People will selectively use "tradition" to justify anything.

Simply put and well-stated. The epistolary format of feminist tenets worked beautifully, especially for those still trying to grasp the essentialism of it. It's really not hard, most of it is humanism that emphasizes not privileging gender.

Your feminist premise should be: I matter. I matter equally.

WITHOUT qualifiers.

The second tool is a question: Can I reverse X and get the same results?

Or as the adage goes, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. The concept of gender equality is not hard; the execution is the work. And this letter written to the friend and mother of a newborn daughter and that journey that awaits are guideposts.

Personally, there are two that I think are the most difficult to overcome, today. The first is "likability" and frankly, in a social media world, I'm wondering if we're all going backwards. Civility and likability are not the same thing.

Teach her that she is not merely an object to be liked or disliked, she is also a subject who can like or dislike.

The second hurdle entail sexuality and how society frames it different for men and women.

The shame we attach to female sexuality is about control.

We all make mistakes, do things that are less admirable. The key is make amends as necessary and try again. This is it. Life is not a dress rehearsal.

Final thoughts:

Not all women are feminists and not all men are misogynists.

AND...

Saintliness is not a prerequisite for dignity.

EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid

3.5 Stars

Mutability and evanescence.

[F]or when we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind.

I thought that it would be a hardcore focus on emigration, and it did revolve around it, but it wasn't the primary objective. The relationship of Saeed and Nadia, their deconstructing world, transverse, and reconstruction and how all these movements affect them and the way they interact is paramount. And I was a little surprised, probably because I didn't read any reviews prior to diving in.

The discussions invoked here are good. The questions and thoughts fomented are interesting without being a sledgehammer to the head. I'm not sure how much I liked this, but I did. I ended up thinking about what does one hold on to, and what does one let go?

Blah...

When you have good books and don't want to read any of them.