Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

This book is set in a world influenced by African folklore, where technology is organic and Earth is only a myth. Zahrah, born with dadalocks in her hair, discovers that she has a rare, almost mythical, gift. But when her explorations of her power land her beat friend in the hospital, she has to go on a dangerous journey to save him. I found the world fascinating, and the story entertaining, but relatively simple. I love the way that Ms. Okorafor has made her world fresh--it feels new and exciting.

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen

This book discusses zoonoses, or diseases transmitted across species. It tends to address one disease per chapter, and covers illnesses such as Hendra, Ebola, AIDS, and influenza. I learned a lot from this book, especially about HIV. I wish I knew more about how widely accepted the AIDS theories in the book (including positing 1908 as the spillover date for the worst strain of 12) are. It was also very good on how human choices can affect the relative danger of various diseases. Fascinating: a great science read!

Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger

This book is an odd story. Niffenegger wrote it at the request of the Royal Ballet to provide a modern fairy tale as backstory for the new ballet they recently created. I am very curious about how this story might be staged as a ballet. It's dark and confusing at times, which is appropriate for a fairy tale, and although some questions linger, I think as a fairy tale, it works. The illustrations are beautiful.

The Puzzled Heart by Amanda Cross

This mystery puts Kate Fansler in an uncomfortable position: her husband Reed has been kidnapped, and the kidnappers have threatened to kill him if Kate doesn't publicly renounce her feminist viewpoints. Instead of calling the police, or taking a particularly active role in the investigations herself, Kate starts with a friend from her last case who has since become a private eye. But Kate quickly realizes that she'll be happier and more successful if she takes a stronger hand in the case. I really enjoyed the introduction of a dog into the Fansler-Amhearst household, and I thought Kate's reaction, while frustrating, was also reasonable as this case was so much more personal than her previous cases. I'm conflicted about the full plot though: it may have been a bit overcomplicated. Still, another fine entry in this series.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

This book is the first young adult entry in the Discworld series, and the first with chapters. It starts at the Unseen University when a group of rats (and through the rats, a cat) eat something discarded by the wizards and find they can think and talk. Maurice develops a scam in which he uses the rats and a dopey-looking boy with a pipe to make money on unsuspecting towns. But when they arrive in a mysterious town in the Überwald, they find that the joke may be on them! The book was well-plotted and engaging throughout. I really enjoyed it.

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson

This book posits that we can better understand animal behavior by paying more attention to the differences in the way they understand, perceive, and interact with the world. Grandin also suggests that she better understands animals than most people because her autism allows her to perceive the specific details of the world the way animals do, instead of generalizing details the way most non-autistic human brains do. The book covers a wide variety of fields (autobiography, autism, animal behavior, animal training, and animal cognition, just to name a few) and Grandin handles them deftly and clearly--referring both to research studies in clear ways and specific, illustrative anecdotes. I think the book's most compelling point comes at the end: we should seek to understand animals better in order to give them as good lives (when they're in contact with humans) as possible, because it's likely that domesticating animals (wolves specifically) is a large part of what made us evolve as humans (different from other primates). The book also has some great advice for how humans can most safely approach their relationships with domesticated dogs--eliminating aggression problems so you won't need a trainer.

Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers

I enjoyed listening to this book, which argues that medical doctors and veterinarians should work more closely together because humans and other animals share many of the same diseases and health problems, and so, such an approach, which the authors term "zoobiquitous" would help improve health for all animals and might offer strategies for diseases that are otherwise difficult to treat. The book was full of examples, anecdotal data, and surveys (although most of the formal studies were based on one species). At times, the writing felt a little repetitive (the authors drove home the value of this zoobiquitous approach at every possible opportunity), but I learned a lot about disease and was convinced that increased communication (and respect) between veterinarians and doctors would be a good thing.

Let the Dead Bury Their Dead by Randall Kenan

This collection of short stories, mostly set in the fictional neighborhood of Tims Creek, North Carolina, delights with its beauty, humor, and meta-fictional commentary. The stories feature a wide range of protagonists, and gradually set out a depiction of a community with memorable characters. I particularly loved "Clarence and the Dead (and What do they tell you, Clarene? and The Dead Speak to Clarence)," "Things of This World ; or, Angels Unawares," and "Let the Dead Bury Their Dead; Being the Annotated Oral History of the Former Maroon Society called Snatchit and then Tearshirt and later the Town of Tims Creek, North Carolina [circa 1854-1985]." The stories show the magic inherent in everyday life and satirize academic attempts to interpret or explain the community.

The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

I enjoyed this book. It's set in an unnamed, Slavic country still dealing with a long history of war, and it focuses on the narrator's relationship with her grandfather, who is the linchpin in a number of stories about his life. Although the stories felt scattered at first, they came together in a really moving way. They rely heavily on a magically real aesthetic, and the relationship between humans and animals. They also have a strong folksy feel--both in the setting and in the moral-like tone of several of the stories. Overall, a highly enjoyable book.

A Fistful of Collars by Spencer Quinn

In this book Chet and Bernie's easy, well-paying job of keeping an eye on a wild movie star suddenly gets more pressing and difficult when they start finding bodies in the wake of his handlers and their investigation. At the same time their personal life gets much more difficult as Bernie and Suzie begin to navigate a long-distance relationship and Leda (Bernie's ex-wife) is star struck. The story--which involves delving into the movie star's past and solving a cold case which involves city government corruption--is good, and, as usual, Quinn's characterization of Chet shines. An entertaining addition to the series.

Israel Potter by Herman Melville

This book is Melville's reworking of the historical story of Israel Potter, a private at the battle of Bunker Hill who quickly finds himself taken away from his new country and, after a series of intrigues, spends most of his life in poverty in London. This text is marked by Melville's interest in animal metaphors, the extreme gothic tropes (Potter is buried alive in a hidden room in an English house, for instance), and the story's lack of reward for a life well lived--even as Potter experiences one disappointment after another, things keep getting worse. It was initially published serially, which accounts for its episodic nature.

Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee

This book tells the story of David Lurie, a middle-aged literature professor who is forced to leave his University post after he has an affair with one of his students. He moves to a rural part of the country, where his daughter lives alone on a farm, but his safety and his relationship with his daughter are imperiled when the farm is attacked. None of the characters clearly held the moral high ground, and I think that this ambiguity is one of the book's strengths. I'm not sure that the book had a fantastic answer, but it posed the question of how do you live life past disappointment and things not working out the way you might have hoped very well. Booker award winner, 1999.

Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris

This book presents a nostalgic version of plantation life in the slave South. Uncle Remus, a formerly enslaved man who still lives with the white family that owned him before the Civil War, tells the family's young son a series of stories about animals--Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and Brer Tarrypin and their friends. In many of these stories, although Brer Fox or Brer Bear is stronger and a natural predator, they fail to catch and eat Brer Rabbit, who is clever enough to escape their plans and to live to torment them another day. The stories preserve Georgia folklore, but the frame narrative tends to reinforce the nostalgic and misleading idea that life was better in the Old South. These stories are the basis for the Disney movie Song of the South, the first movie to combine live action film and animation--and a movie which Disney executives now refuse to sell on the basis of its racist nostalgia for the Old South. These same executives don't mind making money off the franchise however: as the popular Splash Mountain ride in both Walt Disney World and Disneyland is based on one of the Brer Rabbit stories.

The Conjure Stories by Charles W. Chesnutt

These stories are told in a frame narrative: a white couple, John and Annie, move from Ohio to North Carolina in an attempt to improve her health and to make money farming. When they arrive in the South, they find their plantation is home to Uncle Julius, an African American who was born into slavery and who tells a series of stories about life before the Civil War. Although Uncle Julius may seem like an Uncle Remus figure, John quickly realizes that Julius's stories have a point: he tells the stories as a way of attempting to manipulate John and Annie. While John sees the smaller point, he lacks the emotional intelligence to see the larger ones: Julius's stories expose that although slavery is over, many of the same inequalities still persist in the South. The stories are folktales in which conjure features heavily: many have enslaved and white characters seeking redress for wrongs through magical means (metamorphoses into animals, trees, and other people are common). This conjure (which echoes the Latin for with the law) metaphorically demonstrates what slavery did legally and what Jim Crow statutes did quasi-legally: they turned people into things and established color lines which it might mean death to cross. Julius's stories invite John and the reader to transgress and cross these lines, to imagine what life is like outside of ourselves. While John has difficulty seeing this offer, much of the hope in the stories is that the reader can do what John cannot.

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

In this book Samuel Vimes, commander of the Watch, is sent as Ankh-Morpork's ambassador to Uberwald where tempers are running high over the latest dwarf election and the ceremonial Scone may be missing. With the help of his sharp wife Sybil, Vimes must negotiate a diplomatic solution in a country full of vampires, werewolves, dwarfs, and Igors but noticeably short on the rule of law. I am enjoying the Watch books more and more.

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

This book is a comprehensive biography of the racehorse Seabiscuit. In telling the story of the horse, Hillenbrand ranges far and wide: she covers a brief biographies of the most important people associated with him (owner, trainer, jockeys), the state of racing at that time, Seabiscuit's pedigree, and detailed accounts of the races themselves. Her writing style at times telegraphs results and mishaps before they actually happen, but it was a thorough and enjoyable account of Seabiscuit's career. I really got to know the horse and his team through this book. The narrator for the audiobook did a great job: dramatic when it was called for and otherwise clear.

Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo by Vanessa Woods

This book is part memoir of Vanessa Woods's time at Lola Ya Bonobo, a bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, part account of bonobos (a species of ape closely related to humans and chimpanzees), and part recent history of the region. Woods passionately makes the case for why we should protect and study bonobos: their inherent, peaceful response to stressful situations and their tolerance for one another can help us understand human altruism and cooperation, and may help us deal with our inherent impulses towards violence (impulses that chimpanzees share). In her story Woods conveys the dangers and the triumphs of life at the sanctuary and makes a strong case for the right kind of academic research.

King Rat by China Miéville

I really enjoyed this book--although it's noticeably an early work, you can see some of Miéville's best traits in this story. Saul Garamond returns home to a camping trip to discover that his father's been killed and that he is half rat--and heir to King Rat himself. Now he must help King Rat, Anansi (ruler of the spiders), and Loblob (leader of the birds) defeat the Piper, who's begun to take an unhealthy interest in his friends. There's a lot of creativity here, and some great politicking. A wonderful coming-of-age story.

Before the Frost by Henning Mankell

This book features Linda Wallander's first case as a policewoman--before she's technically part of the Ystad police department. She works with (and occasionally against) her father as they struggle to put together a series of mysterious disappearances, attacks on animals, and murders. I really liked seeing Linda's personality develop (she's a lot like her father, especially in her disregard for certain departmental policies). The mystery was fairly well presented as well.

Derby Day by D. J. Taylor

This book is written in the style of a Victorian novel: there are many characters whose stories come together around one event: Derby Day. Mr. Happerton (a cad of the worst sort, who has married into a family better than his) buys Tiberius, a fabulous race horse, but decides that he can make more money by losing than by winning. Of course, getting his hands on Tiberius is not the most legal of processes, and the way he gets the money to bet is even worse. There are a number of memorable characters here (although all the best-developed ones are villains), and the story is enthralling, but I wish it were longer. Mrs. Happerton could use much more development, for instance. Still, I'm going to go back to Kept, a Victorian mystery which features the same detective.