18. The Year of the Nurse (A Memoir)

By Cassie Alexander (416 pp ebook)

I almost forgot this one -- I finished it on the plane while traveling. This a memoir by a nurse during the Covid pandemic. I think it starts in February 2020 and things were already terrible by the end of March which is harrowing to read now when you know how long this thing has dragged out. What I loved was all the deep knowledge about what sort of complications the medical industry and nurses were dealing with. To someone who knows nothing, it seems like they just need to add more beds but then you see how complicated it is to find experienced RNs. She also writes about her struggle with self-care and mental health issues.

17. Euphoria

By Lily King (257 pp)

I got a booster on Friday so I wasn't moving too quickly yesterday. I had already read a couple chapters of this book but had the opportunity to finish it in one long reading session. It is phenomenal. It's fiction but inspired by Margaret Mead about anthropologists in the field in New Guinea in the 1930s. Such great writing, great characters, the setting so immersive. Highly recommend.

16. Superfan

By Sarina Bowen (314 pp)(ebook)

I'm in a little bit of a reading slump and having a hard time concentrating on things so I picked this one up. Another hockey one with a pop star. Fun easy read.

DNF

I quit on a book when I was over 100 pages in. I haven't done that in a long time. When I started the book I loved it. It's speculative and not conventionally sci-fi but not conventionally fantasy either - with rich world-building and interesting characters. Except as I read along it seemed like more and more it was characters talking about even deeper and deeper aspects of this rich world building: society groups, politics, customs, and history. The cognitive load became too much at the moment when most of my reading is in short bits on the bus or right before I go to sleep. Perhaps I will revisit someday.