This book, with a teen girl protagonist who writes fan fiction (she is a BNF in the Lycanthrope High fandom, a clear parody of Teen Wolf), is going to get a lot of comparisons with Rainbow Rowell's novel Fangirl. The two books really don't have that much in common though. Cath, the main character of Fangirl , is a freshman in college and her story is an ode to the love of writing. Scarlett is still trapped in the daily slog through high school and it's attendant stereotypes: a nerdy best friend, a crush on a boy, and a mean popular girl trying to steal said boy away. Breslaw's easy writing style, wit and pop culture references lift these tropes up and breath some new life into them. Scarlett is unafraid to take a stand, to be loud, to be messy, to change her opinions. This book focuses as much on Scarlett's relationship with her separated parents and the cranky old lady next door as it does on her fellow teens. There is a strong theme of dealing with betrayal and grief, a seriousness I appreciated in an otherwise fairly light YA story.

I spent about two years deep in 1D fandom, and every note of this novel rings perfectly true to that wild, roller-coaster experience. Grace is caught in the limbo between high school graduation and college when a chance encounter with the lead singer of Fever Dream spins her life sideways. He's not even her favorite member of her favorite band- she's spent more time thinking about half of her OTP (who's ship name happens to be only a few letters away from Larry....) But one thing leads to another, in a surprisingly natural way, until Grace finds herself invited to an exclusive party with the band where she witnesses PROOF that the ship is real- or does she? I devoured this novel in about 24 hours and then texted all of my fandom friends about it. I can't offer it a higher praise.

This third book by Becky Chambers is set in the same universe as her others, a universe containing multiple sentient alien civilizations united in the Galactic Commons. Like the previous two, this book also introduces an entirely new set of characters, most of them humans living in the Exodus Fleet. The Fleet left Earth when it became clear that the planet could no longer support its population- after several generations of travel the Fleet entered GC territory and was eventually welcomed in. Many humans have now abandoned the Fleet, spreading to other wealthier regions of inhabited space, and the life of those left behind is strained by the availability of new technology and culture-clashes. The people in the Fleet are like people anywhere: all trying to do the best that they can. Chambers is not a writer of cliff-hangers or sharp plot twists. Her tales unfold at a deceptively gentle pace, and a reader has to be comfortable relaxing into the story to experience its full depth. Don't rush through this one. It's worth lingering over.

Like Get In Trouble, the audiobook version of this collection of short stories by Kelly Link is also read by a different narrator for each story. It's a very good format which gives each tale its own flavor. This collection is very strong. I am amazed at how many completely different settings and characters Link has created, nearly all of which contain a magical or surreal element. Where do these all come from? What is it like to live in her brain? I can't even imagine. The only story in the book that I didn't especially care for was, ironically, the title story. I will tell you instead about the ones that I loved. "The Wizards of Perfil" is the closest to a traditional fantasy story, set in a country torn by war. A family is fleeing through Perfil as refugees. In an effort to save her youngest children, the mother offers to sell the older two to the mysterious Wizards who live deep in a magic-infused swamp. The Wizards take one child but not the other, even though both have latent magical abilities and can telepathically communicate with each other. The girl taken by the wizards is safe, but she watches from afar as her family journeys towards disaster. The twist at the end was like a sharp in-taken breath of surprise, sorrow and wonder. "The Constable of Abal" is about a woman and her daughter who can see and talk to ghosts, and who use these abilities to swindle the wealthy- until the mother decides to give up all her sins. "The Specialist's Hat", "Monster" and "The Wrong Grave" were all as close to horror as I am comfortable with reading. "The Faery Handbag" is about a family legacy, a teenage crush, and an entire European village living inside a magical bag outside the stream of time. And there's so much more. I'd recommend Kelly Link to everyone.

This is a somewhat odd book about a very unusual man- Moe Berg, a Princeton and Columbia Law School graduate who played major league baseball for 15 years and served as a spy during WWII. Berg was very smart, deeply secretive, and motivated by vastly different things than most men of his time. He accomplished more than many people could in three life times, but also in some senses wasted the last third of his own life doing very little. I'm glad to know more about him (and interested to see the Sundance film of the same title based on this book-) but not sure, in the end, how I feel about Moe Berg himself.

A beautiful, Ignatz-award-winning short story from the author of The Witch Boy. The hunter of the title was left outside a small village as a baby. She was raised by a villager and takes pride in her ability to provide for her adopted community. But an encounter with a beast from the woods shakes her life to it's very core- her identity as a villager, a hunter, a wife and even as a human being are all called into question.