The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six Others, by Roald Dahl. Yeah, that Roald Dahl. This book comprises some short stories of his. Probably the best in this collection is "The Mildenhall Treasure," based on a true story; the story of how he became a writer (and author or at least source of the term "gremlins"!); and the story which got him first published, with help from C.S. Forester! Family book club choice from Evelyn. Fun read.
The Mere Wife, by Maria Dahvana Headley. A Beowulf retelling, in modern times, complete with PTSD soldier (Afghanistan? Iraq? not specific). A couple times I thought Oh, here we go with the taunts about people hating kids because they look Muslim, or are brown, but I kept reading and glad I did. Wasn't some anti-white people screed like I initially thought. What I particularly liked was her use of Listen, So, What, Attend, and the like, at the beginning of chapters, harkening back to the original's hwæt. Her use of the language was also very poetical, at least from this non-poetry-savvy reader's POV. A lover of Beowulf, I don't know why I waited this long to read this one. Quite good. And great cover!
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