Hi there, dear reader.
Have you been looking for something excellent to read? Maybe you’re the type of reader who mostly reads books outside during the warmer months of the year. Or, maybe you’ve been in a book drought lately. Whatever the case may be, here are two book recommendations for you.
2034: A Novel of the Next World War by Elliot Ackerman and USN Admiral James Stavridis
Fiction, 2021
This brilliant novel is like reading the future before it happens. Set in (you guessed it) the year 2034, the plot follows the world’s quick descent into a third world war instigated by China and the U.S. in the South China Seas.
The writing is crisp and the pace feels like an action movie. The cast of characters give a wide range of perspectives, and include a fighter pilot, an aircraft carrier Admiral, a Chinese-American expat on the Chinese side, amongst others. The world is familiar in most ways, since it’s not that far into the future. But a few aspects of the story feel new, for example, the U.S. president is a woman, as are the admirals of their navy fleet, as is the role that technology plays in communications.
The third part of the novel has a surprising and thought-provoking plot twist, which made me reconsider the role of many countries on today’s world stage. And, the ways in which cyber warfare are leveraged in this novel are insidious yet totally plausible.
The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
Fiction, 2021
This is a beautiful book about a Dakota woman's journey to rediscover her family's history. Told through the first person POV of a small group of narrators, we follow Rosie's journey from a childhood in the woods with her father before she is taken from her family and placed in foster care, forcibly removed during the 60s scoop without being given the chance to live with her relatives.
Rosie survives a difficult childhood rife with abuse, marries a white farmer, has a son, and lives a good life. Yet she feels disconnected from her personal history. Later in life, she finds the way back to her Dakota family, to the cabin where she lived as a child, and meets her last living relatives. She acquires her family's Dakota corn seeds, and learns to grow them.
I loved this poetic book for its unforgettable storytelling and vivid imagery. This is one that has stayed with me, and that I simply couldn’t put down while I was reading it.
What have you read lately that you loved? Anything funny, like haha funny?
There are other great books around lately. Here’s one I didn’t love, though: The Push. That book should have had "girl" in the title, following the long tradition of books about the pervasive overcoming of the monstrous feminine that have had a runaway bestseller-like success in the past decade or so (Think, Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, that whole scene…).
That’s it for this time. See you on the flip side!
- Vero