THE ANTIQUE HUNTER'S GUIDE TO MURDER by C.L. Miller

https://ivereadthis.com/2024/02/20/book-review-the-antique-hunters-guide-to-murder-by-c-l-miller/

CLOISTERED: MY YEARS AS A NUN by Catherine Coldstream

 

★ Cloistered: My Years as a Nun

Catherine Coldstream. St. Martin’s, $30 (352p) ISBN 978-1-250-32351-4

In this penetrating debut memoir, former nun Coldstream describes her 12 years in an English priory and the circumstances that led to her eventual departure. Raised in an emotionally chilly family, Coldstream became bereft at age 24 when her elderly father died. After involving herself with various religious groups in an effort to aid her "long passage… across [the] unfamiliar landscape" of grief, Coldstream found comfort in silent prayer at northern England’s Akenside Priory. Inspired by the discipline and ritual she encountered there, Coldstream joined the mostly silent nuns’ ranks. As time wore on, however, her "hospital for wounded souls" turned icy and toxic, with infighting, big egos, and power struggles troubling the waters in which Coldstream initially found solace. After her conflicts with her fellow nuns reached a fever pitch over the course of a decade, the author fled the cloister in the middle of the night. In lyrical, evocative prose ("Time passes in the monastery like ghosts that move through walls; it seeps through cell doors and stony archways, through bone and marrow, imprinting patience and endurance at every touch"), Coldstream opens a window into a reclusive culture, resolutely exposing its problems without losing sight of its virtues. The results will fascinate believers and non-believers alike. Agent: Patrick Walsh, PEW Literary. (Mar.)

GOODBYE GLOBALIZATION by Elisabeth Braw

Saw this in today's New York Times Book Review in the Newly Published section on page four, which isn't online: "A senior fellow at the Atlantic Council interviews policymakers and business leaders to maintain that globalization's decline will dramatically reshape our world."

CASCADE FAILURE by L.M. Sagas

Not at library (yet), so I put on my B&N wishlist. May not get the novel because it's part of the series, with the second entry dropping later this year.

Cascade Failure

L.M. Sagas. Tor, $17.99 trade paper (416p) ISBN 978-1-250-87125-1

Sagas debuts with a fun romp through a faraway galaxy where three political powers’ jittery coexistence is threatened when a mysterious disaster strikes a terraformed planet. Trust wields corporate power, Union controls the labor necessary to exploit new worlds, and the paramilitary Guild tries to keep both factions honest. Former Guild ranger Jal Red, suspected of desertion, is lured aboard the old spacer Ambit, joining three other entertaining misfits: philosophical AI Captain Eoan; Nash, an augmented doctor-engineer who knits; and Saint, Ambit’s XO and Jal’s grumpy former battle buddy, who has plenty of unresolved issues with Jal. Answering an SOS from a planet stricken by a mysterious weapon, the crew brings aboard Anke, the lone survivor and a whiz-kid programmer who wants to stop what he calls the “Deadworld Code,” a high-tech, planet-destroying weapon developed by forces preferring profit to people. Rapid-fire adventures spiked with army jargon and balanced with touching resolutions of personal conflicts keep the pages turning. Add in a charming found family—and even a space-faring cat—and this spirited space opera is a resounding success. (Mar.)