Trashy Books for Smart People: Spooky, Creepy and Magical

It's the great newsletter Charlie Brown YWR #96

Oct 30, 2022

Who’s ready for another booooook newsletter this Halloween Eve?

Look. Obviously I apologize. I sincerely tried to keep that pun out of this newsletter because both you and I are better than that. But, as it turns out, it made me giggle so I am apparently not better than that. I can only blame the parenting, or perhaps all the aspartame I consumed as a teen/young adult/medium adult.

Setting my questionable copywriting efforts aside, I, like Ice, am back with a brand new edition of perhaps my favorite newsletter theme, Trashy Books for Smart People. It’s Volume FIVE, as in HIGH FIVE for reading fun things without having to justify anything other than the joy and escape it gives you in an otherwise hardened world. (Here lie volumes »> uno dos trois and IV.)

Editor’s interruption: If you’re instead looking for Smarter Books for Smart People, check out the archive! Whilst you won’t find the ongoing exploration of the Stoics which seem to be taking my professional world by storm, there are many other weeks of genres and suggestions.

I actually think the fantasy, magic, and all-around thriller genres are perfect selections for the TBfSP canon because on the one hand, they’re unlikely to be on the Booker Prize shortlist or Barack Obama’s year end list of smartypants literature (tm). But, like writing the perfect pop song, it must be pretty challenging crafting an entire world or subplot, or even just carefully dropping the breadcrumbs of a taut thriller, while also trying to say something about the all-too-human condition. Most of this week’s selections capably walk that tightrope, and so with that, sit back, relax your shoulders that you didn’t even realize were tense, and enjoy.

If you’re looking for something creepy and skin-crawly to read on Halloween, The House Across the Lake perfectly fits the bill.

Power summary: Recently widowed actress Casey retreats to her family lake house in Vermont to drink away her sorrows and humiliations. When, through her trusty binoculars, she sees a happy, glamorous couple move in across the lake and a handsome man move in next door, she thinks she may be turning a corner in her life. But of course, not all is what it appears to be!

People like to use the phrase “plot twist” a wee bit too liberally, I find, but this book really has it. Successfully? Unsuccessfully? You decide. But I read this in one night and kept checking to make sure the door was locked, and what higher praise can you bestow upon a thriller?

Find out why these lambs are important to your mental health HERE.

A Deadly Education might technically be YA fiction, but if you want something dark but funny, intricate, and readable for adults as well, here you go.

Power summary: Galadriel is a junior at the Scholomance, a magical, murderous school, where no adults supervise and education is about learning to stay alive amongst the constant attacks from dangerous otherworldly monsters. Between her flinty exterior and her powerful secret, she’s had to protect herself without friends or alliances, until popular Orion Lake inexplicably starts to intervene.

This is kind of … The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter? No, not as iconic as either of those but still dark and magical; like a simpler, darkly funnier version of The Atlas Six. It’s a romance, a coming of age, a fantasy and, apparently per the final pages, a mystery all at once. I liked it and am impatiently drumming my fingers until my faithful local library sees fit to bestow me with book two.

A brief back-story: when we were at the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference, which is intellectual and enlightening and about which I cannot say enough good things, we went to a local bookstore where there was an extremely stern sign in the YA section admonishing that “Sarah J Maas is not YA; she is downstairs in the adult section.” Now, I wasn’t looking for her books but I laughed about it with the charming saleswoman, because this author is known for her explicit, lengthy, and blushingly descriptive, ah, adult content. However, she sang the praises of this series, so I read it. (Please do not hold SVWC responsible for this trashy suggestion, they would never.)

I’m not even going to power summary the more than 5000 pages of this Throne of Glass seven-book series about assassin turned warrior turned heroine Celaena Sardothien, because it would be both hard as well as sound absurd. Suffice it to say, there are prophecies, there are romances, there are healers and kings and scoundrels and witches and magic and evil wraiths, weapons and alliances and double crosses and quests. I’m not even sure how I feel about the final towering conclusion, but it’s certainly engrossing with moments of thrill and emotion, and damn it, I love a sassy, swaggering heroine. So maybe you will too. (Yes - I prefer this to ACOTAR if you already read Sarah J Maas.)

I Read It So You Don’t Have To

Taylor Jenkins Reid, are you okay? Have you been abducted and someone else is writing under your name? Wear yellow in your next Instagram if you need help. Because otherwise there truly is no explanation for the ricochet of quality between Daisy Jones and the Six or Evelyn Hugo and … whatever this is.

The premise of a retired tennis star coming back for one last shot of glory is an intriguing one, and that’s literally the only good thing I can say about it. Too much tennis in a way that doesn’t actually move the plot. Not enough character growth. Remarkably pedestrian writing. Usually I’d say, “hey, not for me but maybe you’ll like it” but … I genuinely don’t see how.

Important Remarks for Thoughtful People

All links go to Bookshop.org, which supports indie bookstores and earns an angel a pair of wings every time you order. If you order through my links, I get like 15 cents, which I donate. I reveal this to you for two reasons: one, I’m compelled to confess all potential wrongdoings, and two, with the holidays coming up, if possible, consider buying your book gifts somewhere other than Amazon, which only supports a billionaire!
If you’re in the US, please remember that November 8th is your last day to vote (and in many places, you can vote right now). Politicians count on many people not bothering to vote and hold them accountable. Remind them that they work for you and please vote - even if it’s just one race on your ballot, and especially if you were probably not going to vote. Voting is not just about what matters to you, but also what matters to your family, your neighbors, and your communities. Use Vote.org to find out where and how to vote. Thanks - you’re a hero.