See? I told you I read a lot about death all at once. While my previous post, When Things are Alive They Hum, had an overall tone of seriousness and drama, this particular title wielded humor quite expertly to pack a truly insightful punch. The novel follows Bud Stanley, an obituary writer who is attempting (quite unsuccessfully) to recover from a divorce. He’s become pretty terrible at a job he used to excel at, mostly due to the fact that he enjoys embellishing the obituaries he’s given to write. I mean, doesn’t it sound better that Gladys broke the world record for the women’s slolam during the 1972 Winter Olympics than it does to say she worked at the DMV for 50 years? Yes, it certainly does. By the way, I don’t recall that being one of Bud’s reassignments in death, but they were all fairly similar.
When Bud drunkenly publishes his own outlandish obituary to every outlet in the galaxy, he finds himself not only dead (allegedly)… but probably and imminently unemployed. What follows is a sometimes hilarious and sometimes deeply profound journey of self discovery. In the company of his paralyzed from the waist-down but devilishly handsome best friend and landlord, Tim, and the strange but compelling woman he met at a funeral who just goes to the funerals of strangers for funzies, Bud begins to also attend random funerals. He finds there’s a lot to learn about life from the dead as he experiences the lives of these strangers through the eyes of the people who loved them. He might just glean enough insight to shock his own stalled existence back to the world of the living.
It’s rare to find a book that can pack so much meaning into something so funny. I was laughing one moment and then crying the next, but it never felt jarring. Just as life can be unpredictable and surprising, so too is this story. I believe many readers will identify with Bud’s awkward charisma, and many will perhaps see themselves in his quest for meaning in what has become a boring life. It’s a portrait of a man who has reached that moment in life when everything seems to be crashing down around him and he has to decide whether to lay under the rubble and die or dig himself out and start anew. Kenney appears to be very gifted at packing a gut-punch that’s wrapped in light-hearted humor to help soften the blow. This book is a worthwhile journey to take. It’s not long or overly complex, but it’s full of heart.
Published April 1, 2025 by Zibby Publishing. ISBN 9798989923045. Runtime 7 hrs 46 mins. Narrated by Sean Patrick Hopkins.
I feel like I’ve read a lot of books about death lately. Believe it or not, not all of them were super heavy reads, but this particular title certainly is. It’s made more difficult because you truly learn to love the characters, two sisters who share an unbreakable bond that stretches beyond the distance between them. The older sister, Marlowe, is a bit serious and standoffish. She hides pain behind her fierce work ethic and academic pursuits. Harper, however, is a free spirit who feels and exudes love and light with every breath despite the devastating circumstances of her life. She makes sure to correct those who improperly refer to her condition as Down syndrome, because she has Up Syndrome. She is special and rare, and she has a good heart despite the doctors telling her she needs a new one.
I chose this one on the off-chance it might actually be a ghost story. While it sort of is, I’m not actually going to count it as my ghost story, as I feel the final emphasis is on something much more psychological and emotional. Let me explain. The premise of this novel is fairly simple. Lainey Taylor’s husband is an alcoholic and someone who has become a danger to her and her daughter. Her threats to leave have merely sparked threats from him and his rich and powerful mother to deprive her access to her daughter. As any other rational woman would think, the obvious answer is to set up an elaborate fake haunting in order to torture an already mentally disturbed man into tucking his tail between his legs and heading for the hills. I mean, that doesn’t over-complicate things at all, right? It’s completely and normal and rational for a suburban mom to go to such lengths to get away from a terrible man. 
Arthur Pepper, aged 69, is at a pivotal time in life. Recently widowed, he wakes every morning wanting little more than to slog through his daily routine with little contact with the outside world. He wakes at the same time, wears the same clothes, and cares for his only companion, Frederica the fern. Oh, and he attempts to avoid the well-meaning also-widowed neighbor who has adopted him as her current “lost cause” in need of fresh baked goods. On the one-year anniversary of his beloved wife’s death, however, he finds a beautiful piece of Miriam’s jewelry he’d never seen hidden inside an old shoe. Attached to a lovely gold bracelet are a series of charms, each of which holds a story that will lead Arthur on a journey to discover Miriam’s secret past.
I originally chose this novel as a Haunted House book for my reading challenge, but I have changed my mind. While there is that element of the creepy family home of hidden terrors that plague the nightmares of the now-grown children, that’s not really what this book is about. People looking for tense moments of aching dread, jump scares, and ghoulish imagery will need to look elsewhere. This novel is so much more introspective.
If you’ve followed my blog a while, you may have noticed I don’t read a lot of science fiction. I’m far from an aficionado, but I do have some favorites in the genre. Andy Weir comes to mind as someone who’s blown me away with his tightly-crafted and scientifically-convincing works. I love when someone can lay out for me a scientific future that really makes sense. It feels possible and concrete. It doesn’t really take much, as I would be rubbish at explaining the mechanics of anything involving space or space travel. I find it fascinating but know nothing. That’s sort of why I added galactic science fiction to my reading challenge this year, hoping to maybe find my next Project Hail Mary-esque obsession.
Alka Joshi has this knack for creating memorable narratives. This novel, loosely based on the story of the artist, Amrita Sher-Gil, a celebrated female painter of the early 20th century, follows Sona, a nurse in a hospital in Bombay. When Sona meets the famous painter, Mira Novak, the fictionalized character drawn from the inspiration of Sher-Gil, Sona finds herself sent out on her own journey of self discovery that leads her out of India on a trek across some of the most famous and culturally rich cities in Europe. 
Boy, do I have mixed feelings about this one. Voyage of the Damned is the debut 2024 novel by Frances White, and her second novel is slated for a 2026 release. On her goodreads profile, this novel is described as a “magical gay murder cruise.” That is an incredibly apt surface description, but there is a lot more going on here.
A Librarian and Her Books 