The Perfect Summer Read

If you are looking for a fun, escapist novel, you can't go wrong with John Scalzi's latest: the Kaiju Preservation Society. It is exactly what it sounds like, with great alternate world building, pleasing protagonists, antagonists that deserve their boos, and kaiju(!). It is the perfect summer read.

If you've ever wondered if that whole nuclear bomb explanation for Godzilla's appearance was kind of sketchy, or if Pacific Rim was a little lacking in kaiju motivation, the KPS has got you covered. You'll laugh; you might cry; you'll certainly want to know, "Where can I sign up?!"

 Is Marriage Outdated?

@HachetteBooks

Just finished this, due out in June in hardcover. A fascinating (and lively) trip through divorce in the U.S. via four at-the-time well-known women.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, South Dakota had the most lenient laws governing divorce. Because of this, women - and men - travelled from the East Coast to legally separate themselves from spouses whose marital transgressions were not recognized as sufficiently heinous (usually, *just* adultery) for such a decision. New York, in particular, had strict and limited divorce laws, and women who fled west included representatives of the Astors, the Blaines, and the Molineuxes. These women's fight to free themselves from abusive and murderous husbands filled the headlines; put Sioux Falls, South Dakota on the map; and made crucial the long discussion regarding marriage equality.