The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm listening to Cher, the first in Cher's planned two-part memoir; I'm reading an upcoming science-fiction novel about interspecies relations and conflicts, The Fourth Consort; and I'm reading Curtis Sittenfeld's soon-to-be-published short-story collection (her second), Show Don't Tell.
What are you reading, bookworms?
01 Cher: The Memoir, Part One by Cher
In the first of Cher's two-part memoir, she traces some of her select ancestors' intriguing stories, moving into heavy emphasis on her mother's unusual, difficult childhood and youth before sharing the personal impact of her mother's many marriages and moves, poverty and extreme wealth, and inability to consider others' difficulties because of her own.
I'm curious to find out if Cher will provide more illumination around events as she grows older and more emotionally mature. So far the memoir feels focused on more of an account of what occurred, with emotional confusion and vulnerability (I'm up to the late Sonny Bono years), than it seems intended to offer extensive self-reflection.
I'm listening to Cher as an audiobook. Note that Cher reads the beginning of each chapter herself, before, due to the strains of reading with dyslexia, bowing out. Then Stephanie J. Block (who won a Tony for portraying Cher in the musical The Cher Show, and who has a somewhat similar voice), reads the rest. Block's occasional emphasis on certain words and infrequent, but present, perplexing pauses is at times throwing me off.
02 The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton
Dalton Greaves is a celebrated envoy to Unity, a pan-species confederation aimed at bringing all sentient creatures together into a cooperative coalition. He's one of the first humans to be sent to Unity.
At least, that's what he was told. But Dalton and the only two other envoys he's met (a giant snail and his human sidekick) soon realize that Unity isn't the group aiming to create a peaceful brotherhood--that one's called Assembly, and Assembly detests Unity members. Especially humans.
After an encounter between Assembly and Unity members ends in a dangerous standoff, Dalton must navigate obtuse political maneuvering, a bizarre love triangle, and life-and-death proposals in order to survive.
I received a prepublication edition of this science fiction title courtesy of St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.
Edward Ashton is also the author of Mickey7, the inspiration for the motion picture Mickey 17.
You can find Bossy reviews of other science fiction novels here.
03 Show Don't Tell: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld
In her second short-story collection, Curtis Sittenfeld explores middle age, fame, friendship, artistry, and a story featuring Lee Fiora, a character from Sittenfeld's novel Prep, in which Lee attends an alumni event at her boarding school.
I received a prepublication version of this book courtesy of Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley.
You can click here for my review of Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy, here for my Bossy take on American Wife, and here for You Think It, I'll Say It: Stories.
If you enjoy short story collections, you might like to check out Six Short Story Collections to Wow You and Six More Short Story Collections I Loved.
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