The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig

Summary from Goodreads: A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don’t have the words to express—until now.

Have you ever wondered about the lives of each person you pass on the street, realizing that everyone is the main character in their own story, each living a life as vivid and complex as your own? That feeling has a name: “sonder.” Or maybe you’ve watched a thunderstorm roll in and felt a primal hunger for disaster, hoping it would shake up your life. That’s called “lachesism.” Or you were looking through old photos and felt a pang of nostalgia for a time you’ve never actually experienced. That’s “anemoia.”

If you’ve never heard of these terms before, that’s because they didn’t exist until John Koenig set out to fill the gaps in our language of emotion. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows “creates beautiful new words that we need but do not yet have,” says John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars. By turns poignant, relatable, and mind-bending, the definitions include whimsical etymologies drawn from languages around the world, interspersed with otherworldly collages and lyrical essays that explore forgotten corners of the human condition—from “astrophe,” the longing to explore beyond the planet Earth, to “zenosyne,” the sense that time keeps getting faster.

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is for anyone who enjoys a shift in perspective, pondering the ineffable feelings that make up our lives. With a gorgeous package and beautiful illustrations throughout, this is the perfect gift for creatives, word nerds, and human beings everywhere.

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows was a lovely small book to read in the bath or before bed, in little fits and starts. Quite melancholy. I really appreciated not only the poetic definition but the derivation of the word parts and collage art between sections as well.

Dear FTC: I bought my copy of this book.

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz, read by Chloe Cannon

Summary from Goodreads: In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz takes listeners on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of urban life. Investigating across the centuries and around the world, Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient cities, each the center of a sophisticated civilization: the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, the Roman vacation town of Pompeii on Italy’s southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia, and the indigenous metropolis Cahokia, which stood beside the Mississippi River where East St. Louis is today. Newitz travels to all four sites and investigates the cutting-edge research in archaeology, revealing the mix of environmental changes and political turmoil that doomed these ancient settlements. Tracing the early development of urban planning, Newitz also introduces us to the often anonymous workers–slaves, women, immigrants, and manual laborers–who built these cities and created monuments that lasted millennia. Four Lost Cities is a journey into the forgotten past, but, foreseeing a future in which the majority of people on Earth will be living in cities, it may also reveal something of our own fate.

I originally started Four Lost Cities with the digital galley, but had trouble trying to figure out pronunciation of cities and place names so switched over to the audiobook. That was much better.

This is a really interesting pop archaeology/history of four “lost” cities, moving roughly forward in time from pre-history Central Turkey, to turn-of-the-millennium Pompei, to 11th-12th century Cambodia, to pre-colonial Southern Illinois. It’s kind of interesting to consider how each of these cities was abandoned, some for the same reasons, some for different reasons, and then think about how our current cities grow and contract. 

Dear FTC: I started with the digital galley but then flipped to an audiobook borrowed from my library via Libby.

Punderworld, Volume 1 by Linda Šejić

Summary from Goodreads: Hades and Persephone’s love-struck misadventures.

The classic tale of Greek mythology, but 100% more awkwardly relatable. Hades is the officious, antisocial ruler of the Underworld; Persephone, daughter of Demeter, is an earth goddess of growth and renewal – they’ve been crushing on each other for the past two centuries. But when a festival (and a little liquid courage) present an opportunity to put an end to their Olympian will-they-won’t-they, a meddlesome pantheon and several titanic misassumptions threaten to give every god in the sky the wrong impression… and leave their romance dead before it can bloom.

I picked up Punderworld because Hades cameos in Fine Print, Volume 1.

One million stars for the art style. I love how she’s drawn Hades as the quiet, nerdy, slightly-emo, bean-counter version of this God of the Underworld (who is having a little problem with the dead showing up in the Underworld not knowing how they died). Hades meets Persephone in passing while picking up supplies from Demeter. Then they have another small run-in where they talk and perhaps start up a mutual crush (they apparently don’t know who the other is). However, when someone tries to play matchmaker, Persephone ends up kidnapped in a runaway chariot that crash-lands in the Underworld, setting off a chain-reaction of problems.

I felt the story in this volume was a little slow, like the set-up with Demeter and Persephone arguing versus Hades and Zeus not-arguing took away from our seeing Hades and Persephone together. Definitely looking forward to volume 2!

Dear FTC: I bought my copy of this book.

Afternoon at McBurger’s by Ana Galvañ, translated by Jamie Richards

Summary from Goodreads: The “Once Party” menu, for ages 11 and up, can only be ordered once (of course). But there’s a catch: not everyone who does gets the special prize. Those who do, go to a room where they can view five minutes of one of three moments in their future. Galvan manages to create a vivid world that is both a recognizable and alien depiction of adolescence. There are mean girls, and fast food, and BFFs with crappy older brothers, as well as familiar hints of 1990s design and fashion. Yet, it’s also rife with futuristic flourishes like little robotic eggs that walk and talk, like anthropomorphic Alexas.

At its heart, however, Afternoon at McBurger‘s is a timeless story about friendship and innocence and the discoveries of adolescence (both good and bad), with layers to be revealed only through multiple readings. And Galvan’s visual style, anchored by a mastery of pastel and primary colors, will make you want to do so immediately.

3.5 stars rolled up to 4. I really liked the art-style used by Galvañ, like a pastel 4-color comic. I’m still not quite sure if I understand what was going on (the digital galley had a formatting issue on occasion) but I really liked the concept of randomly receiving a chance to see five minutes of your future. 

Dear FTC: I read a digital galley from the publisher via Edelweiss.

Man In Furs by Catherine Sauvat, illustrated by Anne Simon, translated by Mercedes Claire Gilliom

Summary from Goodreads: In 1870, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch published Venus in Furs, an erotic novel revealing the author’s desire to be dominated by a woman. (And paid homage in the classic Velvet Underground song of the same name.) After the novel’s success, a woman turns up at his doorstep and offers to take on the role in Sacher-Masoch’s real life. He completely submits to her, and they get married. Years later, Leopold has remarried and lives a quiet life, far removed from the sexual escapades of his first marriage. Then he learns that his surname, to his detriment, has come to describe a new sexual perversion: masochism. Man In Furs is his story.

This compelling graphic biography is a collaboration between the biographer Catherine Sauvat and the celebrated cartoonist Anne Simon. Simon’s gentle cartooning perfectly complements Sauvat’s empathetic script.

Apparently, Man in Furs, is a biography told as graphic novel – which is what drew me to the book. Sacher-Masoch’s life story is an interesting one, given his unwilling conflation with the development of the term “masochism” after his erotic novel Venus in Furs becomes notorious. But this is a pretty dry story and the art, rather than being that beautiful fin-de-siècle style like the cover was more like an early 20th century comic strip. It made for a boring book.

Dear FTC: I read a digital galley from the publisher via Edelweiss.

Dick Fight Island, Vol. 1 by Reibun Ike

Summary from Goodreads: Eight mighty island warriors battle to become king. The deciding factor? The one who comes last, of course!

Eight islands represented by their best warriors must battle it out in a tournament to decide their king. To win this battle of endurance, it’s not the last one standing but the last one coming that matters!

The tournament to choose the next king of the islands is about to begin. The rules are simple—whoever comes first loses! Participating warriors protect their mighty swords with armor that grows larger and more elaborate with each tournament. But one warrior has returned from studying abroad with a technique certain to force a pleasurable eruption! Is there a competitor alive able to withstand it? Or is this deft warrior destined to become king?! 

The title of this manga series tells you exactly what you’re getting – an island where a series of guys fight with their dicks. Dick Fight Island! *shrug* It’s delightfully bonkers, this setting where eight clans routinely battle for the right to have governance over the island grouping – but they have evolved from fighting with actual weapons to fighting with…sex appeal? The storyline beyond that is somewhat thin, with just a few hints at behind-the-scenes character arcs. The strongest character development, in my opinion, comes via Harto – a competitor who has spent time abroad as a student – having a likely-boyfriend from outside the islands who arrives unannounced during the competition. The competition itself is just a hoot, though, with the increasing size of the competitors’ armor, and the swagger, and a lot of funny asides as they fight to be the last man, er, standing. #sorrynotsorry The art is pretty good, although it was sometimes confusing with the amount of “action” words in a panel that felt unnecessary. (Also, the little gray “modesty bar” across the penises did very little to disguise the art, but rather drew attention to it. I realize that it’s a convention, but it did feel like overkill.) I did find it a little weird that there were occasional moments of “is gay sex a thing? you put your dick up there??” [“there” meaning “anus”] that didn’t read as explicitly homophobic but just felt off, even with an aside at the very end about how too much training was perhaps making competitors “innocent” (maybe it felt more like a violation of consent?). Maybe this is also a genre convention that I’m not familiar with.

I picked this up because I saw the galley for Volume 2 on Edelweiss, however, the galley is just the script dialog, which is basically indecipherable without any art to tell you what the characters are doing. So I’ll definitely be looking to buy Volume 2 when it’s out, since it seems to give us more of Harto’s backstory.

Dear FTC: I bought a copy of this manga and read it on my nook.

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

Summary from Goodreads: The highly anticipated portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, by the prize-winning, bestselling author of Say Nothing.

The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions: Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations to the arts and sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing OxyContin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.

Did Bad Blood piss you off? You need to read Empire of Pain then – it will totally piss you off some more! The level of deceit and shady dealing is galling. Plus, you have even more despicable rich people to loathe, like three generations worth of them. This was a riveting audiobook – even at 18+ hours (although, full disclosure, I had the speed kicked up to 2x because while Patrick Radden Keefe was an OK narrator, it was a little slow for me).

Dear FTC: I borrowed the audiobook from my library via Libby.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai

Summary from Goodreads: A celebration of books, cats, and the people who love them, infused with the heartwarming spirit of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles.

Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat named Tiger appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for—or rather, demands—the teenager’s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and Tiger and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners. 

Their mission sends this odd couple on an amazing journey, where they enter different mazes to set books free. Through their travels, Tiger and Rintaro meet a man who leaves his books to perish on a bookshelf, an unwitting book torturer who cuts the pages of books into snippets to help people speed read, and a publishing drone who only wants to create bestsellers. Their adventures culminate in one final, unforgettable challenge—the last maze that awaits leads Rintaro down a realm only the bravest dare enter…

The Cat Who Saved Books is, on the surface, a cute fable(?) about a withdrawn teen who inherits his grandfather’s secondhand bookshop and is tasked by a talking cat to help him save books. Rintaro has been raised by his grandfather, but now that his grandfather has passed away Rintaro’s aunt has determined it would be best if Rintaro closed the shop and moved in with her to finish school. Rintaro is very much grieving his grandfather and the quiet, orderly life they led but can’t really muster the will or energy to do anything about his situation. But then one day a talking cat appears in the bookshop and goads Rintaro into helping him save some books. Over the course of three adventures – one in the company of a classmate, Sayo – Rintaro slowly comes out of his grief to make some decisions about his future.

This was such a quiet, deceptive book about the love of books and reading and about grief and loss. It reminded me a little of Miyazaki’s Spirited Away in the way that the task-based adventures occurred in a liminal/spiritual space yet brought a lot of meaning to the real-life situations of the characters.

The Cat Who Saved Books is out now!

Dear FTC: I read a digital galley of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss.