Yuma Book Post

TITLE: BLUE LIGHT HOURS

AUTHOR: BRUNA DANTAS LOBATO

PUBLISH DATE: OCT. 2024

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for the advanced copy of this book.

This was a quiet book. Lobato takes the everyday things we do with our loved ones and scatters it across time and space. In this story, it’s scattered across two continents between a mother and daughter who miss each other terribly, but who are growing into themselves against the blue light of their computer screens. 

Lobato’s descriptions of dorm rooms, ramen, and other international students does a fine job of showing the thin line that we straddle between who we are and who we are becoming. She does this through nightly conversations with her mother over Skype. Conversations that welcome the reader to see the myriad of imperceptible ways that young immigrant students become Americanized through college-campus culture, where there’s all kinds of people, foods, clubs, and classes to choose from. 

The themes in Blue Light Hours will be instantly relatable to any immigrant student who has left home to study abroad in America or any first-generation American who has ever gone off to college. 

It’s a reflection on the excitement and embarrassment of learning something new and becoming that new thing, while balancing it against the familiarity of the life you've left behind. 

TITLE: HERE ONE MOMENT

AUTHOR: LIANE MORIARTY

PUBLISH DATE: SEP. 2024

Thank you to Crown Publishing for the advanced copy of this book.

Wow. This was a story. I could have finished it quickly, but decided not to. I didn’t want it to end. I’m still thinking about all of the characters. 

Moriarty did a good job vividly capturing the details of each of their lives. 

On the surface, the premise seems silly: A woman aboard a flight walks down the center aisle predicting the age and cause of death for each passenger on board. But once I started reading, I realized that the “psychic on a plane,” isn’t a bit. Instead, it’s a cleverly disguised device that compels us to take stock of the people around us, the ways in which our lives intersect with one another, and the roles that those intersections play in our present and future selves. 

Moriarty leaves you knowing that all of us, whether we are on a plane, or standing in the line at the grocery store, or honking our horn at the car in front of us because they didn’t floor it at a newly-turned green light. All of us are trying to cope with the idea that one day, maybe tomorrow, or tonight, or in the next three minutes, we will die. And knowing this is only made worse by the fact, that we never know when it’s coming. 

TITLE: THE BOOK OF ELSEWHERE

AUTHOR: KEANU REEVES & CHINA MIÉVILLE

PUBLISH DATE:  JULY 2024

Thank you to Del Ray and Penguin Random House for this advanced copy. 

I don’t read a lot of fantasy. But, the book cover is cool and so are Keanu’s movies, so I gave it a go. 

I didn’t understand a word of it. And that’s not a bad thing. I don’t necessarily need to understand everything I’m reading in order to enjoy it. And this is one of those books that even if I didn’t know what was going on, I still wanted to know what was going on. From what I understand (with help from the plot summary) on the publisher’s website, it’s about an immortal warrior who just wants to die. 

This gets my vote for originality. I’ll be picking up a copy when it launches and I’ll save it for fifty years from now when someone will be able to understand what it means. 

TITLE: HILL OF SECRETS

AUTHOR: GALINA VROMEN

PUBLISH DATE: OCT. 2024

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for this advanced copy.

I pre-ordered it. Vromen puts you right in the mind, place, and time of the historically-relevant characters who built the atomic bomb. She writes about the everyday lives of the residents of Los Alamos with nuance and care while exploring themes of infidelity, queerness, moral injury, and secrets. 

It’s clear Vromen spent time understanding the science. She writes about physics and chemistry in a way that helped me truly understand the significance of building such a powerful weapon. Her depictions of sex and love are skillfully crafted to engross you in the attraction of the people involved without reducing it to gimmicky filler. 

The dialogue is authentic, her descriptions of the desert landscape are vivid, and she captures the mystifying energy of the American Southwest as it was back then and continues to be now.

TITLE: THE WITCHES OF EL PASO

AUTHOR: LUIS JARAMILLO

EXPECTED PUBLISH DATE: OCT 2024

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for this advanced copy of The Witches of El Paso. 

It’s a good read. I don’t usually pick books about the occult, but my personal connection to the American Southwest and El Paso in particular made me curious about this one. 

The relationship between Nena and Marta tackles universal themes of obligation, desire, love, and loss, all through the lens of brujería. Jaramillo does a good job of taking me back and forth through time without causing confusion. And his descriptions of some El Paso landmarks took me right back to when I used to live there. Overall, I enjoyed it. I plan on picking up a physical copy once it goes on sale because I like the cover.