I‘m a sucker for mystery reading, and I’ve just posted a new review at Escape Into Life of a Cuban mystery called Grab a Snake by the Tail. It’s set in Havana’s Chinatown district, which I didn’t even know existed, and it’s full of enough seedy atmosphere and surprising Cuban-Chinese culture to make me wish for a real-life peak at the neighborhood. It’s a strange book, and I had some love-hate issues with the detective protagonist (I’d call it Cuban noir, and our hero is definitely flawed), but it was fun. If you like mysteries, give it a try.

Want to stick closer to home? Pick up Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke. This one is set in Texas, and the writing is rich and textured and an absolute joy. Our hero is an African-American Texas ranger sent to investigate a pair of murders in a tiny rural community, and the plot is shot through with social and racial issues. It’s gritty and real and swimming in blues music and rural Texas. I just learned that a sequel is coming out in September. I don’t want to wait.

Bluebird, Bluebird is so well written that it transcends the mystery genre; you don’t need to be a mystery lover to enjoy it. But if you really, really, really don’t want to read any kind of mystery (and I pity you), then I can offer you Montana 1948 by Larry Watson. This was on one of my son’s high school class syllabuses, and I ran into it while cleaning out his room a while back. It’s another beautifully written book, full of atmosphere and race relations. Think To Kill a Mockingbird set out West. Like Grab a Snake by the Tail, it’s very short; you might read it in a single sitting. I recommended it for my book club, and everyone in the crowd enjoyed it.

Next up for me is The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish by Katya Apekina. Also, of course, poetry, often in brief snatches—at bedtime, between innings, while surfing Twitter. Need a fix? These four poems from a book due out this fall below me away today.

What are you reading?