His & Hers, Alice Feeney (3.0)
Still trying to decide if I liked this book. It is very manipulative, with an unreliable narrator. Not as bad as ‘Gone Girl’, but the whodunnit aspect took the last 20% to unravel with several twists. It was quite compelling and read quickly. Most characters were unlikeable in several ways – which makes it difficult to really enjoy the book. The main premise has a journalist returning to her hometown outside of London where a murder has taken place. Every piece of information we get as she is there is a surprise about her history. Throughout the book 1-2 pages from the killer’s point of view are interspersed between chapters. When there are major twists, I often ask myself: did the author give enough clues for the reader to solve the puzzle? In this case I think the clues were so hidden or intended to distract/divert that it was only possible if you guessed every character did it (which I did at one point!).
The Huntress, Kate Quinn (4.0)
I enjoyed this version of her usual trope of strong women during WWII. Though this one has several strong women: good, bad, and good but broken. All her characters are vibrant in different ways. Much of the story happens once the war is complete, with the focus on finding people who had done particularly bad things. A war journalist is trying to find the woman who killed his brother and we know she has taken up a new identity in the US. The chapters dance back and forth in time to give us the back-story of all the main players. The year changes with each chapter, so you need to pay attention.
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, Michael Pollan (4.0)
This book took a lot of concentration to read – mostly due to the thought-provoking concepts. Mr. Pollan writes clearly but it is understandably difficult to investigate consciousness as it is not well defined. He does a good job of reviewing what current experts are doing to define and understand consciousness, though not quite coming to any conclusions, which may be frustrating for some readers. I enjoyed thinking about various living things and how they might think. The section on AI and how some feel that we need to make something that is conscious to understand it was as disturbing as expected. Personally, I’m not sure we need to understand it. The curiosity is apparent, but would it really advance us as a species?
