Every month we let you know what we’ve been reading and our monthly recommendations. You’ll get to see new titles with fabulous reviews from the Bay Books team. We’re sure you’ll love these fantastic books just as much as we do. We recommend a wide range of genres and themes. So get ready to explore more books!
Tina’s Picks
I love a book where the protaganist is a female obsesssed with what she does as a profession, so much so that her passion drives her life, yet she makes incredibly intelligent decisions when it comes to personal decisions. In this novel, the tension keeps you on edge as Tessa finds out her mentoring professor in her PhD program has sabotaged her efforts for a tenure track position because he wants to keep her for himself. And, of course, her knowledge and brilliance. What Tessa does when she finds out is a strong lesson in using your head while being completely confounded by her mentor’s actions. She has to keep one step ahead of him and this story comes right down to the final minutes. If you’re a fan of Latin, archaeology, the classics, poetry, ancient mysteries and female empowerment, this book will tick off all the boxes. This is a fully developed plot that is entertaining and provoking even if you do not recognize (and I’m not ashamed to admit I didn’t) all the references to classical authors and poets. The insidious manipulations of her mentor at Oxford feel so familiar and the arguments he gives for his actions so plausible, you’ll want to slap him.
I feel my words are inadequately expressing how well written this book is—you’ll have to read it and decide for yourself.
A self-made billionaire named John Sill hires Professor Kitu to aid in his ambition to turn himself into a Bond villain. “You know, evil for evil’s sake,” says Sills. Interestingly enough, Professor Kitu’s area of expertise is the study of ‘nothingness’. Seriously. He studies ‘nothing’.
In other words, Sill intends to instrumentalize “nothing” for mass destruction. But to instrumentalize is to objectify — as soon as “nothing” is used, it will become “something” — and so Sill’s attempts may be doomed from the start. It seems that the main character in this novel is the futility of achieving the plot goal—does that make sense? It sure makes for good reading!
