The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

#1020
Title: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Verso
Year: 1995/1997
98 pages

I don't have good ways to evaluate the claims here independently, but this has the flavor of 2/3 useful and 1/6 picayune, and 1/6 churlish. I found it helpful in its elaboration of Mother Teresa's stated positions and goals (which I could verify elsewhere), which aren't what most people seem to think they were.

Dream Country (The Sandman #3)

#1019
Title: Dream Country (The Sandman #3)
Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrators: Kelley Jones, Malcolm Jones III, Colleen Doran, Charles Vess
Publisher: Vertigo
Year: 1990/2010 (recolored edition)
160 pages

An enjoyable set of nominally linked stories. This arc seems like Gaiman is really getting the full feeling for his characters and settings.

The Killing of Worlds (Succession #2)

#1019
Title: The Killing of Worlds (Succession #2)
Author:  Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2003/2008
336 pages

The satisfying second half of Succession. Westerfeld uses science and psychology to wrap up the story of The Risen Empire while leaving open options for a sequel. I will need to go back to Anastasia's thoughts as events were unfolding to check them against what she actually knew, but other than that, the plot unfolds and resolves briskly on both a vast and personal scale without too many now-wait-a-minute moments. Pleasurable and engaging science fiction that doesn't sacrifice emotion for physics.

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #8)

#1018
Title: The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #8)
Author: Alexander McCall Smith 
Publisher: Pantheon
Year: 2007
213 pages

Better, with some actual character depth and psychology, but still reasonably superficial and with mysteries that seem almost beside the point. 

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

#1017
Title: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Author: Karen Joy Fowler
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Year: 2013
310 pages

Quite a lovely novel--poignant, funny, upsetting, redemptive. If possible, read this without reading any synopses or the jacket copy until you're about maybe 75 pages in (I listened to it, so I'm not sure) when you'll recognize the big reveal that, for some reason, everyone thinks it's fine to expose for you. I enjoyed the plot, as I think many psychology students would, and its narration by a smart and socially awkward young woman. I here disclose that I got in some trouble as a 4th grader in a way that this narrator would identify with: Asked by the teacher if anyone knew what made an animal a mammal, I shouted out, "Mammals breast-feed their young!" While accurate, this is evidently not how 9-year-olds are supposed to express this idea.

In addition, I would swear that Fowler sat at a cafe table behind me and my best friend one day as we were recapping events from our lives. In this fantasy, Fowler jotted notes like "Stanford" and "herb names for offspring" and "X dies in late 50s" and "cross-dressing Shakespeare??" and then appropriates these details for her novel. At some points it was uncanny. I've only had this experience with Maso's The Art Lover before, but Fowler manages to channel enough details about me and my friend that it's almost creepy.

The Risen Empire (Succession #1)

#1016
Title: The Risen Empire (Succession #1)
Author:  Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2008
352 pages

This would get 4 stars for cleverness, technology fun, and broad sweep, but it's not at all freestanding and ends on a cliffhanger. It's really "part 1" rather than "first in a series" and can't stand alone.

The technology is really fun, though, and the world building extensive and enjoyable.

Blue Shoes and Happiness (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #7)

#1015
Title: Blue Shoes and Happiness (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #7)
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Anchor
Year: 2006/2007
256 pages
 
Though this preceded Fifty Shades of Grey, the talking shoes were too much like the horrible inner goddess of the latter, which is not Smith's fault, but does suggest that he failed to make this little fancy work. I found this somewhat better than the last installment but still rather lackluster. Okay as a read-and-forget novel, but nothing compelling.