brendan halpin

I went on vacation last week. Spent 7 days in a lakeside cabin with my spouse, my dog, and our three adult children. It was idyllic as fuck.

There was no TV, no wifi and precious little cell service, so I got a lot of reading done! (Thanks to the Egleston Square branch of the Boston Public Library for the books!)

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn—Four female assassins go on a cruise to celebrate their retirement and find that their employer has made them the next targets. I have so much respect for any book that succeeds completely at what it’s trying to do. This is a tremendously fun read, and, unlike so many authors who write plot-driven thrill rides, Raybourn can actually write decent prose as well as dialogue that sounds like people would actually say it. If you read that description and think this sounds like a book you’d like, you’re right!

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse. This is where I really benefited from being in an environment free of electronic distractions. Because this is a fantastic epic fantasy, but, like many epic fantasies, it’s a little slow to get started because you have to meet all the different characters. But I persisted because I had no distractions, and wow. I love fantasy novels that are set in non-Tolkeinesque environments, so the pre-colonization Americas setting here really appealed to me. And Roanhorse does a fantastic job of constructing this book—we meet a bunch of characters, many of whom have competing interests, and there’s a ticking clock element where we know everyone and everything is going to collide at the end. And so they do, but this book pulls off the rare feat of having a satisfying ending while still leaving me hungry for the next book. If you like epic fantasy, you need to read this.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid— I stopped halfway through because I didn’t give a shit. The format— aged Hollywood star tells their story to a young journalist— meant that there was essentially no suspense and no stakes. Some good stuff about how Hollywood treats women, but there was nothing pulling me to finish it.

I read two and a half books in a week! It’s been decades since I did that! I recommend the experience. Having hours at a time to immerse myself in books really made for a deeper experience than just reading for a half hour at a time over the course of a couple weeks.