Shayla Love digs into the business of Blue Zones. A community becoming a certified Blue Zone has less to do with science and more to do with trendy ways to spend money.
The famous Evelyn Hugo chooses to tell her story to Monique and only Monique. Evelyn's narrative weaves through old Hollywood's studio system to the star-driven system and weaves through class, race, and sexuality. Everything intersects in a revelation that challenges Monique's understanding of herself.
In a classic case of "careful what you wish for", Addie gets a life free from societal expectations by being forgotten the moment a door closes or someone falls asleep. Centuries pass with joys and hardships until she meets someone mysteriously unaffected by her wish. Addie's story is certainly memorable.
Edward Zitron begins with an update of Reddit's impending IPO and how the company's plan is a symptom of the overall Enshittification of the Internet. The author then describes a sort of AI ouroboros -- the algorithms feeding themselves their own creation, effectively killing the Internet as we know it. I'm glad to have found this author on the smallweb.
By his third book, Haruki Murakami was of course going to develop a notable style. He started with a slice-of-life vibe, but eventually introduced a bit of an absurd mystery. He doesn't seem to care that the mystery has nothing to do with his protagonist or the Rat until the very end.