Fiction
I only recently read American Gods (I know, I know!) and of course loved it. (I was late to the party but at least I read the "author's preferred text.") My brother's favorite book by Gaiman is Neverwhere, and I'll get there, but I grabbed this nice collection of stories and poems at Bookmans and am about halfway through.
This is the third in the Locked Tomb Series. The trilogy was recommended by my oldest kid and by my favorite author, Alix Harrow. I've just started and am confused, which is completely normal and exactly what the author intends. As a colleague at PLOS wrote on our scifi/fantasy Slack channel, "the books are emotionally and cognitively demanding." I finished the second book, Harrow The Ninth, a couple weeks ago but one reason I started reading Fragile Things was to give myself a break before diving into Nona. Harrow was intense.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Recommended by colleagues on the aforementioned Slack channel and in a great review at NPR. Plus, as a bardolator I am doctrinally obligated to read a book with a title like that. I'll start this after Nona (and after a suitable recovery period), probably late in April.
Non-fiction
From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution by Simon Conway Morris
I bought this book as soon as I learned about it. Conway Morris is an interesting (if a bit eccentric) thinker and the title suggests forays into some of my favorite topics (animal minds more than extraterrestrials). Years ago I read Life's Solution — an important book on convergence with lots of tremendously interesting biology but also lots of linguistic indulgence. (His insistence that we must be alone in the universe is something I find ridiculous.)
I'm on the third chapter and have yet to encounter anything that could be reasonably called a "myth." The first chapter erects a strawman that reflects poorly on Conway Morris and that sadly obscures some interesting biology that he describes with typical enthusiasm. I will write separately about each chapter but I think I should wait until I've finished the book, because I know Conway Morris is trying to make an overall argument in these six chapters. I suspect I'll find that argument annoying and worthless, but I faintly hope it will help make a little sense out of the disastrous beginning.
I just wrote about this book and my experiment (before and after reading).
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