The Overbooked Bibliophile

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐ Dragon Palace  by  Hiromi Kawakami  (translated by  Ted Goossen ) is a fascinating collection of short stories that revolve around themes of transformation, human behavior and emotion and surrealism. In the first story  Hokusai  (3/5), we follow a strange encounter between a depressed young man and a person who claims to have once been an octopus. In  Dragon Palace  (4/5), a young woman is visited by her great-grandmother, who was once a god who used a creative method of manipulating her followers.  Fox’s Den (3/5) follows the relationship between a fifty-three-year-old caregiver and her elderly patient. In  Mole  (5/5), we meet an anthropomorphized who holds an office job in the human world and shelters unhappy and lonely human beings in his home in an underground hole. We follow a married young woman, unhappy with her life and interactions with her boyfriend, neighbors and the deity that inhabits her kitchen in  T...

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ In 1940s San Francisco, former presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson is found murdered in his room at the Claremont Hotel. Eyewitness accounts are indicative of a woman’s presence in his room before the murder. Three young women from an affluent and well-connected family - Nicole and Cassie Bainbridge and their cousin Isabella Stafford - are among the suspects. In 1930 Isabella’s sister Iris, seven years old at the time, was found dead under suspicious circumstances in the same hotel. Coincidence, or is the recent murder somehow connected to the family tragedy? Detective Al Sullivan of Berkeley P.D., who is half Mexican but passes for white – a fact that helped him secure his position, is tasked with the investigation. A deep dive into Wilkinson’s life reveals his personal connections to key political figures, affluent families, including the Bainbridge family, as well as some shady dealings. Who killed Walter Wilkinson and why? Political rivalry or personal grudges? Com...

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ As is the case with most anthologies,  The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023  was also a mixed bag. The anthology features twenty-one short mysteries written by contemporary authors and a bonus story by Edith Wharton. I liked that each of the stories began with a brief introduction about the author and enjoyed getting to sample the work of so many authors, many of whom I had never read in the past. Some of the stories also end with a note by the author about the inspiration behind the story. I must mention that the Introduction by Amor Towles, in which he discusses how the “Mystery” genre has evolved, was a fascinating read. My ratings for the stories are as follows: The first story, “Blind Baseball” by Doug Allyn (3.5/5), revolves around a tontine insurance scheme. This was a gripping read but ended abruptly. “The Adventure of the Misquoted Macbeth” by Derrick Belanger (4/5) is a mystery featuring Sherlock Holmes and is one of ...

Rating:  3.75⭐ As the story begins, we meet thirty-four-year-old Melody, a resident of the community of Shelly in Exmouth on the southern English coast. Melody has spent her whole life in her family home, a bungalow named “Spindrift”. After the demise of her mother Flora and younger brother Milo who was born with a developmental disability, she now lives alone, surrounded by the familiarity of the sea and the coastal community and memories of her family. She still spends her time collecting her “treasures”- flotsam and jetsam from the seashore - and making up stories about her finds as she had been doing since she was a child to entertain Milo. But her days in her childhood home are about to come to an end once her lease is up and the community is razed to the ground to allow for a new development. Melody must figure out how to move on and decide on what she wants to do with the rest of her life. Complicating matters further is a secret she discovered among her late mother’s belong...

Rating: 4.5⭐ Normal Rules Don't Apply  by  Kate Atkinson  is a remarkable collection of loosely connected short stories featuring a cast of interesting characters (enchanted and otherwise) combining elements of speculative fiction, surrealism, mystery, fantasy and folklore, humor, drama and much more. These stories revolve around themes ranging from dystopian, evolution and conservation of our planet and its resources, the human condition and life choices , accountability and consequences, family and motherhood, among others. The collection begins with a story of an apocalyptic event that selectively affects humans and other living species (Void) . A vicar’s daughter’s questions about and fairy tale about lost fairy queens and princesses might lead to some surprising revelations (Spellbound) . A deceased woman reflects over her life , marriage and her previous assumptions of the afterlife much more while trying to recall how she met her end in  Blithe Spirit . A midd...