Lexicon (Max Barry)

This story reminds me a little of Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus, in its premise that words can have profound, devastating effects on people's minds. I enjoyed this one more, though, because it wasn't as relentlessly dark and hopeless. It tells of two people, a street-wise runaway girl and a stoic Australian EMT, caught up in an international conspiracy of people who learn to use the power of words to control society. Some of the characters' transformations seem a little weakly justified, and some of their antagonists seem a little mustache-twirlingly evil, but overall I found the story more than just entertaining. It explores some of the challenges of being a good person in trying circumstances, and the difficulty of knowing just what a good choice might be. I quite liked it.

Jennifer Government (Max Barry)

This is an over-the-top cautionary tale of capitalizm (yes, that's how it's spelled here) gone mad. With few exceptions, most of the world has chosen to do away with practically every function of government, privatizing education, police, and so on. People are so identified with their corporate lives they take it as their last name: John Nike, for instance. Nothing is more important than corporate profits, and if a few teenagers need to be killed in order to increase sneaker sales, well, teenagers die every day for much worse reasons, so it's not a big deal. but Jennifer Government, one of the small number of people representing law and order, takes exception to that, and tries to fight against the worst corporate offenses. The characters are fairly two-dimensional, the plot at times unconvincing, but the story is entertaining enough to support its message, and I enjoyed finding out what would happen next.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman)

The main events in this very small novel involve a seven-year-old boy, but this is not a children's book. As a child, the narrator became involved in increasingly bizarre and dangerous supernatural events, centering on the inhabitants of a neighboring farm. It is framed in a flashback from the man's middle age, but even the framing story has a surprise. The tale is magical, literally and literarily, and captured my spirit and my imagination. This is not a weighty book; it floats. I loved it.

Love Minus Eighty (Will McIntosh)

This story asks the question: What will we do when it is possible, but expensive, for people to be frozen and restored after they die? Who will get to be resurrected? Obviously, the very wealthy can purchase all the resurrections they need. There is another group of people, though, who might be brought  back: young and beautiful women, who are willing to sign away all their rights into actual slavery for the chance to live again. These women are called bridesicles, and they can be brought back to consciousness without complete resurrection so wealthy men can interview them and decide if they are lovely enough and desperate enough to be compliant wives. In this book there are layers of love stories, all connecting in some way to the fate of the bridesicles. I was intrigued but not convinced by the future that was described here, and ultimately left it confused about the various love stories at the center. Aside from the one that was resolved definitively at the end, I couldn't tell who really loved who, so I couldn't root for lovers to get together, which left me somewhat distanced from the whole thing. The human story of the people and their lives seemed to be taking back seat to the cautionary tale of greed and oppression. I didn't dislike it, but I was disappointed.

A Reliable Wife ((Robert Goolrick)

Ralph Truitt, the stern, upright titan of business in a small town in Wisconsin in 1907, long widowed, placed a newspaper ad seeking a "reliable wife." Catherine Land, who answered the ad, is not who she seems to be. We follow the two of them, their lives, past and present, and their deepening relationship, built on lies and lust. There is a whole lot of lust in this book; most of the characters seem driven by unslakable desires. The author explores in some detail life in the darkest, most depraved corners of society, as well as the life available to Truitt, who seems to be limitlessly wealthy.There are secrets within secrets here, but aside from one surprise in the middle of the book, few of the secrets are so very secret after all. I found the setting and the characters interesting and well-drawn and I cared what happened to them, even as they seemed larger than life, nearly mythic. There was more lush, slow description and is my preference, and I found myself skipping paragraphs and whole pages, especially toward the end of the book. This first novel is not without its problems, but its strengths outweigh them.

A Tale for the Time Being (Ruth Ozeki)

On hold for now - I'll get back to it later.

Life After Life (Kate Atkinson)

I enjoyed this rather odd story, but left it unsatisfied. Ursula Todd is born on a snowy morning in 1910, but dies in childbirth. She is born, and is saved by her doctor, but falls from the roof when she tries to rescue a doll that was tossed out the window. She drowns at the seashore; she is rescued by a stranger. Over and over again, she lives, and dies. It is fascinating to see the events in the world, and in her life, from so many different perspectives, and all the settings and people are beautifully drawn.. Eventually she begins to remember her past lives, and starts trying to manipulate what happens. I really enjoyed it all, but at the end it didn't seem to have gone anywhere. She set herself a specific goal, and I can't even tell whether she accomplished it or not. Aside from this letdown at the end, it is a good story.