Books: 783

“No One Taught Me How to Be a Man”
Shannon T.L. Kearns
Broadleaf Books
$25.99

No one was ever taught to be a man; more accurately, boy children receive the negative caveat that anything “girly” or “womanly” is “weak” and therefore “not manly.” This, Kearns insists, produces much negative, little positive, not a happy outcome for anyone. As a trans man, Kearns has seen both sides and presents here a more nuanced look at the problem of masculinity. For it is, no matter who one blames, an ongoing problem. It’s no surprise that repressed emotions let anger build, and that anger unleashed wreaks sorrow, not solution. The book is a plea to re-examine male friendships, revealing emotions, sharing with a spouse and ways of living masculinity. It’s not, after all, a one-size-fits-all life, a Procrustean bed into which all men must fit.

“He’s to Die For”
Erin Dunn
Minotaur
$18

What’s a guy (an upscale, bespoke-tailored, Brit-accented, N.Y. Detective kind of guy) to do when he’s hopelessly smitten with a possible murder perp? Detective Rav Trivedi is the rising star in the NYPD homicide squad, though his posh, Ivy League aristocratic background make him the butt of jokes from the old guard. Now assigned lead on a high-profile murder case, he’s met — and fallen for — hot rock star Jack Vale, lead singer for the New Knickerbockers, who has every reason to have murdered an SOB top record executive. Well-plotted, fast-action detective work (interspersed with fast-action, oft-interrupted romantic moves), Rav tries valiantly to keep his eyes on the prize, his meteorically rising career, and off the amazingness of his main suspect. Summer reading with a bang!

“Automatic Noodle”
Annalee Newitz
MacMillan
$24.99

It’s 2064 (not so far in the future, post yet another human-inflicted war). Robot Staybehind is panicked, alone in a kitchen with mop and bucket, trying to keep the furious rain at bay. We are in San Francisco, post-war with the East, in an abandoned noodle shop usually “manned” by robots creating pick-up noodle orders for human masters. Now, without masters, (in short) a motley crew of deactivated robots revives and opens a noodle shop in this abandoned ghost kitchen. This synopsis may intrigue, but doesn’t encompass the poignancy of this crew, imbued at least with cyber-souls, working together against high odds and hate-publicity to create the very best in noodle cuisine for their community. Never heavy-handed, Newitz (“Autonomous,” “Terraformers”) blends high sci-fi and lessons for today’s chaos.

“No Body No Crime”
Tess Sharpe
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
$29

A hit-and-run of a mystery, opening with a highway death before a Sweet Sixteen party, a cover-up killing — a myriad other incidents and plot twists till you’re “reeling and writhing and fainting in coils,” as another master scrivener once scribed. To name names, Sweet Sixteener Chloe Harper (the town’s named for her family) has a hidden girlfriend from the other side of the tracks (Mel Tillman, not invited to the party). When Chloe vanishes (becoming a deadly bowman in the wilderness) Mel spends years tracking her down, unaware a murderous local political clan, each named Richard (the Bag of Dicks) is also on the trail. Hidden diamonds and a recurring bevy of feral peacocks also feature in the mix. If you want exciting summer mayhem, grab this!