Review 726: On the Calculation of Volume II

On the Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The book is the second in the series and picks up right where the first book ended. Tara Selter is counting the days that have repeated November 18. In this book she tries to recreate a year of seasons. She visits her family for Christmas, then travels north for a winter. Then later south for spring and summer, staying in Europe. She is trying to trick herself that a year is passing instead of repeating the same day with the same weather.

In this book Tara becomes very interested in Roman history. With this she tries to navigate how to retain the items. A computer will erase all of her searches and saved documents. Things can disappear overnight, going back to where they were on November 17. Tara needs to train items to stay put by having them under her pillow or on the bed. In the case of a chair, she slept in it for several days. But things are not consistent either, just an oddity of this repeating of the same day.

This book ends with another surprise, and so I just keep reading. I love the details and the writing. The books are so short they go quickly, somewhat wish for a longer book instead of being broken into so many parts.

Other Read books in series:

• Book 1: On the Calculation of Volume I
•  (5 stars) July.28-Aug.03.2026
• Book 3: On the Calculation of Volume III
• (5 stars) Aug.10-16.2026
• Book 4: On the Calculation of Volume IV
• (4 stars) Sept.01-06.2026 

Review 725: In Ascension

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
My rating: 3.25 of 5 stars

I'm a bit on the fence about this book. Some parts I enjoyed, while other parts I was bored and couldn't care less. The book starts with Leigh as a swimmer and diver who gets a spot on a research vessel to explore this extremely deep trench just discovered. It’s the deepest trench ever found. While exploring it odd things happen, mostly to the people who went diving.

Later, Leigh now is working on a research project to develop food from what was recovered in that deep trench exploration. So many details about work and her boss. But the past keeps getting brought up, her sister and her grew up with an abusive father. Now her mother is sick, and her sister thinks she should visit, but now Leigh is working in America, another country and it’s hard to get away. Then she gets high security clearance, and it becomes nearly impossible to leave without jeopardizing her job.

Leigh’s work with the recovered algae becomes integral to a project for space exploration that has to do with an ancient object that passed by Earth. She becomes part of a team training to go out into space, grueling training, in that no one expects will come into use. Until it does, the last chance team is the one sent into space.

The book is told in several parts. Somehow throughout everything nearly none of the characters are developed. There's so much oddness in the book, as well as some intriguing bits too.

Review 724: Contrapposto

Contrapposto by Dave Eggers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed all the Dave Eggers books I've read before (only three) until this one. It is well written, but I just couldn't get fully into the book.

The book revolves around Cricket’s art and Olympia. Much of the book is taken with the early years of their lives, as kids, teenagers and young adults. But soon enough the years start skipping and we visit Cricket and Olympia at various points in their lives. Art is always there in some form or other.

The writing was decent enough, and Cricket was sympathetic character, while Olympia, not so much. Yet I didn’t get the experience of solid character and life that I was expecting from an Eggers book. Perhaps my expectation was too high. Or the commentary on art as a focus of the book interfered with the book being great.

Thanks to Knopf Publishers and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. However, I listened to a published audiobook copy of the book.

Review 723: On the Calculation of Volume I

On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Seeing this book cover around made me intrigued. I hadn’t read anything about the book, other than it is a translation and knew there are several in this series. I was pleasantly surprised by the book.

Tara Selter was on a book buying trip for her business with her husband Thomas. During this time away somehow, she got stuck in November 18. The day keeps repeating itself. Tara doesn’t end up doing the same thing over and over, at least that is not the description in the novel.

One aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the descriptions, the level of detail. It reminded me somewhat of Karl Ove Knausgård and his autofiction series My Struggle. However, this is entirely fiction.

The book is short, too short really. It ends with a little cliffhanger of sorts where I had to know what happened next. Happily, I had the next book, volume II, with me as I was travelling. I’ve already finished that and well into volume III. I find this series of short books intriguing and a bit addicting. Unfortunately, not all are translated into English just yet so after the fourth I am going to have to wait.

Later Read books in series:

• Book 2: On the Calculation of Volume II
• (5 stars) Aug.04-10.2026
• Book 3: On the Calculation of Volume III
• (5 stars) Aug.10-16.2026
• Book 4: On the Calculation of Volume IV
• (4 stars) Sept.01-06.2026 

Review 722: We the People

We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution by Jill Lepore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a massive book, detailed and covers two and a half centuries. It took me quite a while to read it, months. But I didn’t read this solely, as I could only manage parts at a time. Further in, I was able to read a full chapter in one session, due to the book progressing in time, until almost to today. These later chapters were closer to when I had more information and become more readable at length.

The book begins with a very close look at how the United States Constitution was created. It took many people throughout the colonies, and many discussions. Each state had to ratify the new constitution, and each had their own desires and amendments. Would amendments be able to be added or not was a discussion. Who presented what to the constitutional congress, what their state desired, and all these minute details were discussed in length. It was very much in the weeds.
After the constitution was adopted, then came the discussion about amendments. As the chapters progressed the amendments would arise around social issues, such as in the later era civil rights or women’s rights, etc.

The book perhaps is a bit like a history book for school. All the minute details about the U.S. Constitution and amendments were more than I really wanted to know. Yet, reading section by section the book seemed good enough to keep going, and ended up being quite a reading project for me. And since this year I wanted to spend time reading about the history of the United States, this book did help to fill in a gap of my knowledge.