gregzimmerman's reviews
1205 reviews

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

 A few weeks ago, I got to hear Marie-Helene Bertino read from the short story that became the basis for her novel, Beautyland. The passages she read were quirky, silly, and really really funny**. I immediately picked up the novel, excited to read more and expecting something along the lines of (but much, much better than) the 1999 movie The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (if you know this movie, we should be friends).

It is like that movie in a cursory sense -- the idea here is that Adina, who we follow through her whole life, is reporting back to her alien race on the foibles and factualities of humans. Adina makes friends, experiences loneliness, strives, struggles, and reports it all back to her own folks via an enchanted fax machine. 

What I did not expect from this novel is how profound, insightful, often very sad, and skillfully rendered it is.*** As the story unfolds, there is a constant juxtaposition of the "oh, humans are so silly and absurd and funny" with "oh, humans are so cruel and awful and how do they even get through this life?"

The gimmick of Adina being non-human and observing human foibles begins as a way for her to report objectively -- though often very humorously (I was getting Nate Bargatze Washington's Dream sketch vibes for a while) -- about we silly humans. But of course, this can't last. Adina becomes more human than human (with apologies to Rob Zombie) and experiences heartbreak and loneliness and deep emotional pain so much so that, Adina begins to wonder not what makes humans human, but what allows humans to KEEP BEING human. 

Whenever I'm faced with a book that affects me deeply, as this one did, my instinct is just to gush and gush and gush. And I'm exercising every ounce of self-control not to do that here. But I'll tell you this: I really did love this quite a bit and it left a massive mark on me. It's an example of a book that I read at exactly the right time and place -- a piece of reading serendipity you can't ever create on purpose or reproduce again once it's happened. This book is an example of why I love reading. It's like a runner's high -- it's rare, but when it hits, it's absolutely the best feeling in the world. 

**Human beings, Adina faxes, did not think their lives were challenging enough so they invented roller coasters. A roller coaster is a series of problems on a steel track. Upon encountering real problems, human beings compare their lives to riding a roller coaster, even though they invented roller coasters to be fun things to do on their day off.

***Anyone questioning whether god exists need only consider the brevity of a dog's life span. If there was a god, let alone a benevolent one, dogs would have life spans similar to parrots. We'd have to provide arrangements for them in our wills. We wouldn't have to see their muzzles fill with gray at age four. We'd never have to find them in the morning turned to stone. 

I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett

funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 

I’ve read two of Everett’s top-tier novels — The Trees and James — so for my third time reading him, I wanted to try something a little “lesser known"

This comic bildungsroman (god I love that word) I think is actually a perfect introduction to Everett’s oeuvre (god I love that word too). 

It takes on race and identity, but also is funny as f*&k. It’s about a guy whose name is literally Not Sidney, which creates all sorts of goofy “who’s on first”-type dialogue. 

Not Sidney has many adventures — including an absolutely cringe (but hilarious) Thanksgiving at the home of his girlfriend’s parents and less-than-ideal college experience. He runs afoul several times of racist but really dumb rural cops. And he learns about life from his “uncle” Ted Turner and his unwilling mentor, a zany philosophy professor named Percival Everett. 

Given the state of the world, I need funny books right now. And this very much fits that bill. 

Stop Me If You've Heard This One by Kristen Arnett

emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

My bookseller friend Sheridan affixed a post-it note to the ARC version of this book on our bookstore's ARC shelf after she read it, which just said "Lesbian clowns! What could go wrong?"

Well, a few things, honestly -- but on the whole, this story about, yes, a late-20s lesbian clown trying to find herself, do her art, and make ends meet in steamy Central Florida is a riotous, sometimes romantic, raucous, rollicking, (crap, I ran out of R words) good read. 

Don't read this book expecting a satisfying, cause-and-effect plot. Read this book instead for Arnett's voice, the quirky characters, and a bunch of one-liners that often catch you so off guard a spit-take is inevitable. 

The Coast of Chicago by Stuart Dybek

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A couple weeks ago, I was talking with my friend Mike about all-time most-impactful Chicago books. He said one of his was this short story collection. I had to sheepishly admit, that despite living in Chicago for 17 years now, I’ve never read Dybek. He jumped off his chair, screamed at me, started sobbing, walked out of the bar, and hasn’t spoken to me since. (Okay, I’m exaggerating a little — but he was pretty exasperated.)

So now I’ve read Dybek’s collection. And I freakin’ loved it. It’s 173 pages of nostalgia for an old Chicago that’s long gone. It’s ethereal and atmospheric, and the man can render an image like no writer I’ve ever read.

The highlight for me is the story “Nighthawks,” a collection of smaller interconnected pieces that really set the mood and theme for the collection as a whole. The painting Nighthawks, by Edward Hopper, which is housed at the Chicago Art Institute, and which is one of my favorite pieces of art, is the sort of theme / angle / throughline of the story.

Of the shorter pieces, I really loved “Death of the Right Fielder,” about exactly what the title describes. I laughed maybe more than I should have reading this story.

Anyway. I’m so glad Mike pushed me to read this. It’s writing I’ll return to over and over again. 

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Harry Potter meets The Secret History in this twisty, inventive, complicated fantasy/thriller/murder mystery. Nothing is at it seems in this crazy story about secret societies at Yale, magic, murder, and ghosts. 

It takes a little while to get your bearings in this novel, but once you do, it hurtles quickly forward. Bardugo is really adept at pacing here and she drops in just the right amount of occasional recaps so that you're never too lost. One of the strengths of this novel from a craft standpoint is its use of backstory at just the right time -- especially for the principles, Alex and Darlington. That's something that's so hard to get right, and she nails it.

This novel is a bit outside my reading comfort zone, by a friend REALLY loves this book, so I gave it a shot. Friend reading recommendations are nearly undefeated.

Fan Base by Jane Hartsock

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Part Emily Henry rom-com, part Ruth Ware crime thriller, this sexy novel about obsession and fame is just the thing for your long summer afternoons at the beach, in your hammock, or on the plane to your vacation.

Hartsock, a friend of a friend, is an immensely talented writer. She told me after I read her first novel Load Bearing that she self publishes her novels essentially because she's lost patience with the traditional publishing model (among other reasons).  I have no doubt though that if she were willing to do the dance and play the game, she could find publishers for her books. She's as good a writer and her books are as good as many of the traditionally published novels out there, especially in this "beach read" genre space. 

One of the strengths of this novel, to me, is its Chicagoness. There are scenes at Wrigley Field, the Lakefront Path, and many other favorite Chicago landmarks. That's always fun in a novel. 

Give this a shot!

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Adichie is, of course, a luminous, magnetic, profound, and brilliant writer. Americanah remains one of all-time favorite novels. I would read her if she wrote the phone book. 

Which, unfortunately, is appropriate, because at times, this novel felt like reading the phone book. There are moments in this novel that just blew me away. But on the whole, this novel -- essentially four connected character-study novellas -- didn't add up to the coherent, satisfying reading experience we're all so accustomed to reading Adichie.  

I'm not sure "disappointed" is quite the right word for this reading experience. I think a lot of readers may actually really like this. But it just didn't land for me. The throughline here is the characters' relationships with (mostly terrible) men. And each mini-story-within-the-stories is interesting on its own, but they don't add up. (Cliche review trope warning): Each of these four character studies felt more like what the writer needed to know about the characters than what the reader needed to know. With the exception of one, there was no plot to any of these. So now that she has these characters, make them do something interesting. 

It's so difficult to follow up a novel as successful as Americanah was, even for a writer as brilliant as Adichie is. I'm so glad this novel exists, and I'm so glad I read it, but I'm also glad I'm finished reading it. 

Reading the Waves by Lidia Yuknavitch

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

 

There can’t be too many writers who have led a more fascinating, but fraught life than Lidia Yuknavitch. There also aren’t too many writers who see the world in such original and vivacious ways. 

So maybe it’s a little ironic then that this book is about death. And memory. And coming to terms with her memories of those in her life whose deaths have had outsized impacts — specifically, her daughter, her mother, and her ex-husband Devin, who drunkenly climbed to the top of a construction crane and either jumped or fell off. 

A thing I firmly believe: The world would be a better place if more people read Lidia Yuknavitch. Whenever I read her, I come away with a whole new perspective on so many things. Plus, she’s just a joy to read. I love stopping to puzzle out her sentences that don’t make sense on a first run-through, but do in such a profound way on a fifth. This slim volume — a sort of companion to The Chronology of Water — is a must-read for Yuknavitch fans. 

More Than Words: How to Think about Writing in the Age of AI by John Warner

informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

 Like Amazon, avocados, and Colleen Hoover novels, my reflexive reaction to any conversation about generative AI is to wince and turn away. I don't teach writing myself, but I work for a nonprofit literary arts organization whose whole mission is to teach writing (StoryStudio, shout out!), and for that reason I'm terrified of generative AI. I'm also angry at tech bros like Sam Altman who used copyrighted material to train his large language model, ChatGPT. And I'm worried AI is a shortcut for so many youths these days who don't seem to need too much convincing to take shortcuts (old man yells at cloud!).

Because it's so distasteful, I've largely avoided going much deeper than surface-level knowledge about generative AI. The extent of my experience with ChatGPT is the one time I asked it to give me a list of 1990s grunge band names. What it gave me was so hilariously bad (Mudstain! Soggy Flannel! Gravel Gaze!), I've never been back. AI may be stupid, but it's still ubiquitous, and so still very concerning.

So John Warner's new book More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI is a soothing balm; a book that will help demystify AI and gently talk you off the ledge. If you're a Chicago book person, you're probably familiar with Warner. He writes as the Biblioracle in the Sunday Chicago Tribune (as books coverage has dwindled, his column remains a stalwart). He also writes about books and writing in a terrific companion Substack titled The Biblioracle Recommends.

More Than Words truly meets the moment in terms of explaining what AI is, what it is not, and most importantly, how writing can and will still thrive in the age of AI. 

Warner writes: "Writing is thinking. Writing involves both the expression and exploration of an idea, meaning that even as we're trying to capture the idea on the page, the idea may change based on our attempts to capture it. Removing thinking from writing renders an act not writing."

There is a lot to love in this book, but that quote to me is the central takeaway. Though what ChatGPT does *resembles* writing, of course, what ChatGPT does IS NOT writing. What ChatGPT does is placing tokens in syntactically correct order. Writing requires thought. And more thought. And pain. And then some more thought. Despite its name, artificial intelligence does not think. So artificial intelligence does not write. 

Further, what ChatGPT does is DEFINITELY not creating art. Art requires feeling. And obviously, AI has none. "What I want to say about writing is that it is a fully embodied experience," Warner writes. "When we do it, we are thinking and feeling. We are bringing our unique intelligence to the table and attempting to demonstrate them to the world, even when our intelligences don't seem too intelligent." 

How to teach writing in the age of AI, how to pushback (resist?!) against the most nefarious uses of AI, and maybe even some positive use cases for AI (if we're careful) related to writing are all discussed in this book, as well. 

I needed this book badly and I can't recommend it more highly to you if you care about books and writing, as well. 

The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So so so so good! This is a career resurrection for Mr. Currie. Gritty noir, but with the heart and soul of literary fiction. I'm reviewing this for CHIRB, so much more later.