New Release: The Philosopher's Flight

You know that thing where you start reading a book and, almost from word one, it grabs you in that way that lets you know it is absolutely going to be one of your favorite books ever but then you get nervous and you back off of that assessment because you don't want to be disappointed since you aren't certain where the plot is going and what if the author ruins what is essentially a perfect-for-you novel with something ridiculously out of character but then, as you are speeding to the end, you find that everything unfolds in an acceptable way and now you have turned the last page and can certify that you are indeed satisfied and that this was an amazing read? Yeah. That.

The Philosopher's Flight starts with Tom Miller's dedication:

For Abby--
Who once asked why there were so few women in my stories
And For My Mom--
Who read to me every night when I was young

This sets up an amazing alternate history where (mostly) women have discovered a way to harness the powers of the natural world in order to do things like grow crops faster, teleport, fly, and control smoke. These things are not done with magic but simply with elemental powders, hand movements, and natural ability. This is, of course, resented by some and declared to be devilry by others. And yet the women have established themselves as soldiers, problem solvers, and so much more. Now it is the early 1900s and Robert Weekes, son of an empirical philosopher, finds that he has enough talent that is worth exploring that he decides to apply for college -- unorthodoxly to Radcliffe, a women's college in Boston, incredibly far from his Montana home. He is accepted and begins his year of proving his talents in order to land the job he has always felt destined to do--one that a man has never done before.

There was so much to love in this story. My absolute favorite thing was that this was not an alternate history where women just have power and so they rule the world. The men in this story begrudgingly accept the worth of what the women do but, at the same time, resent that they are sometimes dependent and therefore try their hardest to trivialize women by, for example, taking away their right to vote. None of this was actually in the story itself but rather in the quotes at the beginning of each chapter, as historical records from both the past and future. This complexity is felt in the story though in the way that Robert is treated when he begins to enter the very feminine realm of empirical philosophy. He is polite and humble and careful but it doesn't matter because he is an outsider. And yet he still finds connections with staff and students and takes just about everything as a learning experience. He makes mistakes and has successes and learns more than just the techniques of his art. This book was just so thoughtful and complex and yet a bit innocent in that endearing way that a first novel sometimes is. Sigh. Yes, I loved it.

Blissfully,
K

Classics Challenge 3: Our Mutual Friend

My third Back to the Classics Challenge read was Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. This was for the A 19th Century Classic category, any book published between 1800 and 1899. OMF was published serially between 1864 and 1865. It is a chunkster of a book at over 800 pages and it is also a crazy read!

The book has many different storylines and all of them weave together to show the contrast between the haves and have-nots and that there are good and bad people in both groups -- and that moving from one group to the other may change how good or bad you remain. I honestly couldn't get enough of this story. After a couple hundred pages, I downloaded the audiobook so that I could keep going even when the heavy book wasn't convenient to lug around. (Simon Vance's narration was fantastic! I think it might have been my first audiobook of his.) Some might find the beginning slow as all of the different groups and people are introduced but the wait was worth it. Dickens was much more progressive in this story on some of the things readers complain about in his earlier novels. I can only hope that this was because his views matured and not just that the times changed and he was writing to the audience.

Pinching my pennies,
K

New Release: Jane, Unlimited

Jane, Unlimited is the latest by Kristin Cashore, of Graceling fame. Although she spells her name wrong, she sure knows how to tell a compelling story.

The beginning: Jane is an uber-orphan, first losing her parents when she was two and then losing her aunt/guardian recently during her first year of college. She is grieving and adrift so, when invited to a unique island home by a former tutor, Jane leaves her life behind and heads to Tu Reviens. Almost from the first moment they arrive, she begins to sense (and investigate) the mysteries unfurling around her.

The twist: What follows are five different stories stemming from a single choice, a full set of alternate realities.

I don't think I can even begin to tell you anything else about this book because my brain hurts when I try to put it into a nice little pigeonhole in my mental library. This is a story with many genres and I found them all equally strong. The only thing I hoped for as I read was more romance because I liked Jane best when she was considering love and/or attraction. I wrote a little bit after I finished Bitterblue, the final book in the Graceling trilogy, and one sentence just stood out to me as I looked back: "It was harder to side with Bitterblue when she was being irrational or petulant but then a learning experience would happen and she would win me over again." This is almost EXACTLY how I felt about Jane too! She had a tendency to blurt without thinking first, to ask impertinent questions, or to be downright rude and I would get annoyed by her only to have a personal revelation or a discovery bring me right back to her side as an ally. Also, her hobby was making umbrellas which I couldn't get enough of for some reason. Anyway, if you aren't sure about genre fiction and need a unique story that lets you dip your toes in it, pick this one up!

Ready to reread already,
K

Classics Challenge 1: The Ladies' Paradise

I can't believe I've already read my first book for the Back to the Classics Challenge and that it is one that has been languishing on my TBR for a few years at least. What a satisfying feeling!

For "A Classic in Translation", I chose The Ladies' Paradise by Émile Zola, published in France in 1883 as Au Bonheur des Dames. It is the eleventh book of Zola's Rougon-Macquart series but is able to be read as a stand-alone. The book before it features one of the main characters but at a different phase in his life. As this was a purchase based on watching the television show The Paradise, I wasn't aware of the full series until later.

Basically, the main character in the story *is* the Ladies' Paradise, one of the first department stores -- based on the real Le Bon Marche but created as a rival store. Many of the pages of the story are dedicated to describing both the building and the eye-catching displays of household products and clothing. Its owner, Octave Mouret, is a widower and is the mastermind behind the undertaking. Denise Baudu is a newly-orphaned 20 year old who has two younger brothers to support. When the older one, Jean, gets an apprentice job in Paris, Denise moves the family and finds herself at her uncle's shop, across the street from the amazing Paradise. She quickly gets herself a job there and we follow Denise, Mouret, and many other characters through their interactions with each other and with the store.

This particular translation was clear and easy to read. There was just one sentence that stood out to me and made me question if Brian Nelson added anything else to the text. It was "[t]his was the embryo of the vast trade unions of the twentieth century." As the book was published 17 years before the twentieth century and Zola died only two years into the century, he would have had to have been Nostradamus to have written this sentence.

As for the story, I didn't fall in love with any of the characters, especially since quite a few of them were rather flawed, sometimes even loathsome. They, however, had no problems falling in love with each other, creating quite a messy (in a mostly good way) story. Regardless, I enjoyed the journey beside them and the explorations into Parisian culture and commerce. I truly felt disappointed that the heyday of the department store was before my time. Even just as a historical artifact, this novel preserved something special.

Returning from 19th century Paris,
K

A Fish Out of Water or Two

I'm still a bit behind on reviews so I'll be doubling up today on two stories that feature a strong female protagonist who must find her way in a foreign culture -- one of them in her own city!

Mur Lafferty's The Shambling Guide to New York City is one I kept seeing mentioned in recommendations and "best of" lists so, even though I don't read much modern urban fantasy, I grabbed a copy. It's about Zoe Norris, newly returned to New York City after a very bad breakup (she was sleeping with her married boss). She's looking for work and sees a help wanted ad in a very strange bookstore that seems to be perfect for her -- travel guide writer, the same job she just left behind in North Carolina. The owner of that company happens to be standing right by her when she sees the ad and he bluntly tells her that she is the wrong person for the job. Zoe doesn't give up though and, when she happens across another employee of Underground Publishing in a local coffee shop, she manages to get a foot in the door. Whether the job is actually going to be a good fit for her will be determined once she finally sees who (and what) she will be working with and whether or not she can survive her first days on the job.

This story was funny and sexy and terrifying and I had an absolute blast reading it. There were all sorts of creatures and people, lots of adventure and peril, and New York City herself was actually a character -- and not in that way that one usually says "it's like the city was a character". No, in this book it was literal. And there was one sexy-type scene that embarrassed me so much that it made me think that I should probably read more romance because my reading choices are apparently a bit prim. But I loved Zoe's confidence and her acceptance of a ridiculous amount of diversity. She was sensitive while finding out new information and tried her best to be an ally, even when it put her life in danger. I just bought the second book in the series, The Ghost Train to New Orleans, and I'll also be grabbing Lafferty's recent Six Wakes based on Jenny's great review.

For the longest time I kept seeing everyone talking about Tremontaine, a serial novel set in the Swordspoint world created by Ellen Kushner, and wasn't sure it would be my thing. But a few weeks ago I saw that an omnibus of the first season was coming out and so I got it from the library just to try it out. It didn't take me long to totally get into the story and not much longer to finish all 673 pages!

In this alternate universe, southern hemisphere cultures are the most advanced, able to navigate the oceans and travel to the dreary north to deliver exotic commodities like vanilla beans, saffron, and, most importantly, chocolate. A young woman named Kaab, a member of the main trading family from her land who is trained in espionage and combat, has been banished to the north because of a mission gone wrong. What she finds in her new home is swordplay, political machinations, and, unexpectedly, friendship and romance. The story also follows a young scholar, a turnip-farming girl with a head for math, the Duke and Duchess of Tremontaine, and others who are looking to get the most out of the City they love/loathe.

This was written as weekly episodes, each by a different author than the week before -- 13 episodes, seven authors. There were a few inconsistencies but the overall story was ridiculously compelling. There were even some unexpected plot directions that left plenty of room for, hopefully, surprises and redemptions in the second season. I believe all of the episodes are already out for that season so I'm not sure if I'll cave and buy each one now or wait for the second omnibus. If I do wait, though, I'll be filling the time with Kushner's original three novels! Her writing was my favorite in this book and I look forward to seeing how she created the world.

Considering a quick jaunt out of my comfort zone,
K

A College of Magics

One of the benefits of book shopping online is the little "based on this title, you might like" strip that comes up across the bottom of a page. I had one of these pop up during a recent Powell's visit and was recommended A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer. She is one of the co-authors of Sorcery and Cecilia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot and also of a lovely short story that I read in the Queen Victoria's Book of Spells collection (with Ellen Kusher, whose group effort Tremontaine I'm reading right now!). I had never read one of her solo books though but figured I couldn't go wrong, especially by grabbing a used copy of this out-of-print book. Well, you can probably guess how this went ... LOVE.

I was just trying to write up a regular plot summary but it sounded so stupid and flat compared to the actual story. The back of the book makes it sound like a boarding school tale, which it admittedly is at the start. But there are three parts to the story and the second two are full of real life and high stakes adventures. Faris, the main character, is a couple years from coming of age at the beginning of the story and has an "evil" uncle who is ruling her country of Galazon until she is 21. And the school? It seems like a normal finishing school but the girls who excel there are those that are able to use magic. But do they teach magic at the school? Not really. It's just theoretical instruction and then innate ability just kind of takes over by the time the young women are ready to leave. Faris hates it at first but then finds friends and loves it and then, of course, is pulled out early by her evil uncle, but not before things go totally wonky with her nemesis, Menary.

And then once she leaves and heads toward Galazon by way of Paris, the adventures/perils begin, with real consequences for Faris, her companions, and her enemies. Some of the things that happen are actually quite intense. The back of the book says "ages 10 and up" but there are some violent things that happen that seem more appropriate for a slightly older kid. I say this because the intensity did something to me, the adult reader. During the days I was reading this book I was tense and stressed and had to keep getting back to it. The world felt so real and Faris's eventual mission so important that I ended up speeding through the almost 500 pages of story. Then the ending was so unexpected, so outside of normal children's fiction norms, that I ended up in awe of Stevermer and her feminist ideals.

As this book was first published in 1994, did any of you read it as a kid/teen? I'm really curious how a young reader would actually handle some of the things that happen in the story. Also, I would LOVE to see this book made into a film. In the meantime, I'll just search out more of Stevermer's books and collaborations and enjoy her fabulous worlds!

Always looking for more magic,
K

Lies, Spies, Duels, Deception ... and Love

As I might have mentioned already, my review pile is a little backed up. By working so hard last year to read my own damn books, I let review copies and ARCs pile up. I'm making an effort this spring to get through some of these and luckily had these two gems by Cindy Anstey on hand (which are not in a series).

Love, Lies and Spies came out last April and was Anstey's first novel. It's a Regency romance in the vein of Georgette Heyer but with a strong, independent female protagonist. Juliana Telford is a naturalist who has been studying ladybugs with her widowed father and running his estate. Now that she is old enough for a season in London, she sees a perfect chance to approach publishers and get their manuscript published. She doesn't anticipate a few select distractions though, including the extremely handsome and somewhat mysterious Spencer Northam.

And out tomorrow is Anstey's second book, Duels & Deception. This is the story of Lydia Whitfield, who has inherited her family estate and will run it on her own in a few short years when she comes of age. For now, she is subject to the whims of her frequently-drunk uncle and his subpar land agent. However, when the two start showing their incompetence, a representative from the family law firm arrives, young Robert Newton. Though Newton is immediately smitten, Lydia's mind is filled only with the plans her father left for her life. If she is to break free and find love and safety, she is going to have to learn to trust and allow Robert to help her.

Both of these books were incredibly fun to read. Though there were some over-the-top events, I loved every minute I spent with these characters. The romances are sweet and rather chaste, due to the period setting. There are outstanding friendships--both male and female--and lovely, smart, capable female protagonists. Nobody is unrealistically perfect and the horrid family members and neighbors would have made Heyer proud. I hope that Anstey keeps writing these sorts of books because they are perfect comfort reads.

Grabbing my reticule,

K

New Release: The Book Jumper

I know I'm posting a lot at the moment but I just checked the release date on this gem and it's TODAY in the US and I wanted to make sure that I helped spread the word about this fantastic new YA novel.

When I needed a book to get me happily reading again in early December, I spotted Mechthild Gläser's The Book Jumper on my review stack and couldn't resist the beautiful cover and intriguing title. Well, the premise is exactly what you might think it would be. Amy Lennox and her mother have had some tough times in Germany and so they retreat to the family estate on the island of Stormsay, a fictional Shetland Island off the coast of Scotland. What Amy doesn't know before going is that both the Lennox family and the other ancient family on the island, the Macalisters, while teens, can enter the book world and they have charged themselves with maintaining order and the integrity of the stories. Amy's grandmother sends her right off to book jumping lessons which she takes to immediately. At these lessons, she meets Betsy and Will Macalister and they all get involved in a mystery that is emerging both on the island and in the world of fiction. Who is stealing ideas and items from stories and why did the thief kill Sherlock Holmes?

Though you might be familiar with the idea of book jumping from Jasper Fforde's stellar Thursday Next series, its use in this story still feels fresh and unique. Amy is a girl damaged by bullying and she is more than ready to escape into fiction. The book world is fun for her but quickly becomes dangerous, just as the happenings in the real world become more mysterious and unexpected. It's a fantasy YA that still explores some very real issues.  I enjoyed just about everything about this book even though parts were bittersweet. I hope that more readers fall in love with it the way I have!

Trying to jump for the millionth time,

K

#RIPXI : 7, The Raven King

Though the book that I read this month (listened to really) for RIP was The Raven King, the final book in Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle, I'm going to talk about the series as a whole. There will be vague spoilers so if this series has been sitting on your TBR forever, just go pick it up already!!

Back in April, The Raven King came out and everyone was so excited and singing the praises of Blue Sargent and her friends and I started to wonder if maybe this series that I had determined wasn't for me might be something that I would enjoy after all. In May, I needed an audiobook and The Raven Boys was available and I quickly found myself walking all around my neighborhood, sitting outside in the sun, taking naps where I didn't sleep ... anything to make more listening time. I fell instantly for Blue and the boys from Aglionby Academy. Then there was a ridiculously long wait until July for books two and three and an even more ridiculous wait until the end of September for the final book. Still, because I never really stopped thinking about the characters through all of that time, I feel like I've been living with this story in my head for over four months straight!

Though it had a bit of a Diana Wynne Jones ending (too much, too fast, need to reread), I couldn't have been more wrong about this series and I should have picked it up years ago. Not only did it have many things that I already enjoy (magic, dreams, ghosts), it also had things that I didn't know I needed in my reading life -- prep school, teen boys, and queer romance. I especially loved the unconsummated relationships for some reason. I also found myself drawn to the Gray Man, which I never expected. I wish he had been in the final story just a little bit more. I was glad that some characters redeemed themselves and others were able to prove that they belonged. The revelation about Blue was entirely unexpected and I would really like to read the whole series again to see how/if that fact was foreshadowed. I'm trying to think of anything that I didn't like about the series but nothing comes to mind. Oh wait ... Noah's end was a bit unsatisfying to me. It could have been part of that rushed ending though. I might have missed just what exactly happened. Otherwise, it was pretty much awesome from beginning to end.

So, essential question ... which version of the books should I buy? US? UK?

Reveling after my wrongness,
K

#RIPXI : 6, Curioddity

I have no idea exactly what I need to tell you about Curioddity by Paul Jenkins to give you the best overview of this story because there is A LOT going on in this quirky sci-fi mystery. I should obviously tell you about Wil, the subpar, broke private investigator, who lives in an apartment with weird sounds in the pipes, the revolting scent of cooked mushrooms, and a cat-lady landlord. Also, since it's the main point of the plot, I'll need to tell you that he gets a strange elderly visitor to his office who hires him to find a missing item from the Curioddity Museum. I could tell you about how Wil's head frequently comes in contact with sharp or heavy objects because, well, it's something he is certainly aware of and it's also the way he meets the lovely and free-spirited Lucy. I might tell you about Wil's parents, the chess-playing twins, or the man who sells crap items on the tv, but out of context you aren't really going to understand what they're doing there. There's also the Perpetual Penny, the unordered golf club, and the ninja-bots, all things that you obviously don't need to know about before going into the story but, by mentioning them, I am hoping to pique your interest. However, if I only tell you about these things, you still wouldn't have any idea about how fun this story is and that's what I really want to tell you. It is funny and mind-expanding and sweet and perilous as all get out.

The writing is a little shaky at times but this is Jenkins' first novel after a career of writing comics and video games. I'm giving him a pass because he has a great imagination and some obviously stellar influences. I'm going to file this on my shelves along with The Order of Odd-Fish, The Somnambulist, and all of my other favorite quirky, science-fictiony stories.

Un-looking forward to what comes next,

K

Do Not Miss: The Great Library Series

I've spent a lot of this summer searching for fun, escapist reads and I stumbled across Rachel Caine's Great Library series. It's an alternate history YA dystopia full of forbidden knowledge and peril and a wee bit of romance.

The first book in the series is Ink and Bone, the story of Jess Brightwell, a book smuggler from London who earns a place in the newest group of Great Library trainees. The Great Library (in Alexandria -- it never burned) is the ruling force of the world, keeping books and knowledge under lock and key, doling out only what they deem safe and in the best interests of the Library. Shortly, Jess and some of his fellow postulants will discover that their best interests might not be those that the Library has always dictated to them.

Picking up right where the first book left off, Paper and Fire follows Jess and friends as they become scholars, soldiers, and captives. However, the more information that they are exposed to, the more they are determined to help the Library become what it should be--a beacon of light and knowledge--rather than a scary, totalitarian regime.

I sped through these books. Seriously. I couldn't read them fast enough. They're chock-full of excitement, but excitement that has secret depth and some important themes about why we should value free-flowing information and ideas. The relationships are complex and no character seems off-bounds for disaster. I've already been shocked a few times, both by current actions and about revelations from the past.

I don't know how long this series is going to be but I'm a bit bummed that this second book JUST came out because I'm dying to know what is going to happen next!

Feeling the burn,
K

The Apothecary Series

After hours of walking around my neighborhood (not all at once!), I've finally just finished listening to the third book in the Apothecary trilogy by Maile Meloy. Since I walked through all of these books in just a couple of months, I can talk about them together today!

First of all, I highly recommend the audiobooks, narrated by Cristin Milioti. She is so good at doing the various voices that sometimes I would forget that it wasn't an ensemble performance. The Apothecary follows Janie Scott, a young American in 1952 whose family has fled to London after her Hollywood writer parents become targets of the McCarthy-era Communist witch hunt. She meets a boy at school, Benjamin, who happens to be the son of the kind apothecary near her new home. What Janie doesn't know is that Benjamin's father isn't a regular shopkeeper and that she and Benjamin are about to become tangled up in a race against time and the threat of nuclear war. Luckily, they have the weapons of science and nature to fight the poison the Russians are preparing to unleash on the world.

The first two books in the series fit together perfectly, with The Apprentices continuing the fight against those who are attempting to escalate the Cold War toward a nuclear end. In this book, however, Janie and Benjamin have been separated and are trying to find each other again. Janie is fighting against her need to prove herself and Benjamin is simply focused on reuniting with her.

And finally, in The After-Room, the teens have to deal with the consequences of their actions in this dark tale of loss. But, whereas the first two stories are based on the idea that there is a secret association of apothecaries/scientists/herbalists who understand the power of science and nature in such a way that it seems that they can do magic, the third part all of a sudden brings in real magic with no explanation. It was a very strange direction for the story to take and I didn't enjoy it as much as the original premise. However, I still highly recommend this trilogy, although for a slightly older reader than the middle grade audience it's marketed toward. Some parts are very dark and violent and there's a lot of relationship stuff that I'm not sure 10 year olds need to be reading about.

Believing in the magic of nature,
K

New Release: The Madwoman Upstairs

New this past week, The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell is an exploration of the Brontë family from the viewpoint of their last remaining descendant, Samantha, who has no love for the tragic siblings regardless of the fact that she is supposedly the heir to a secret trove of Brontë treasures. Even though she has just arrived at (the fictional) Old College, Oxford, to study English literature, she refuses to read the Brontës or any classic authors. Her tutor, however, wants her to expand her knowledge and analytical skills and so they begin a course of study that may eventually reveal Sam's inheritance from her famous ancestors.

First let me tell you what this is not. It is not a modern retelling of any of the Brontë stories. It is not a sequel. It does not use any of the historical characters in a fictional way, other than Samantha's suppositions about some of what could have happened between them that was not recorded. I know I actively avoid some of these kinds of books and so do some of you so I wanted to put this out there. What you do get in this novel is a presentation of the Brontës' lives, their works, and the possible ways to analyze both. You also get a lot of history, a trip to Haworth Parsonage, and a lovely experience with the decrepit tower room that Sam is supposed to live in.

Sam is probably one of the most perplexing and sometimes maddening narrators that I have ever encountered. She blurts out responses to reasonable questions that are strange, rude, and almost entirely out of place. She makes terrible decisions even for a first year college student and she is a horrible judge of character. Whether these things are a consequence of being homeschooled by her author father or are just in her nature is left to the reader to decide. However, despite Sam's attempts at making me dislike this book, I stayed up until 5am finishing it and am recommending it to all of you!

Planning some Brontë rereads,
K

#MarchMagics - Dodger

The first book I'm going to mention for March Magics, Dodger by Terry Pratchett, isn't one I read this year. I actually listened to it as I wrapped Christmas presents in December. But the reason that I think it's a great one to share with all of you is that it isn't what you might expect from Pratchett if you're only familiar with his Discworld books.

The titular Dodger is a young man who is a tosher, someone who searches the sewers under Victorian London for valuables. His most priceless find, though, ends up being a young woman that he rescues from some very seedy men. Dodger then begins a journey through social strata, running into the likes of Dickens, Disraeli, and, eventually, making it all the way to the top.

There was so much to like about this story! There were amazing historical details, amusing uses of historical personages, harrowing moments, and also extremely touching ones. It was also just incredibly fun! Dodger is an amazing character and I plan to reread this book many times to spend more time with him.

If you're looking for a book to read this month but aren't really into fantasy/sci-fi, this would be a perfect choice. Pratchett is an amazing author no matter what the genre.

Toshing for the best reads,
K

RIP X: 2, The Uninvited

My second RIP read of the year was the new release The Uninvited by Cat Winters. I got a review copy before it came out in August but I just couldn't resist saving it until time for the challenge.

Set during WWI and the influenza epidemic of 1918, Winters takes us to Buchanan, Illinois, former welcoming home of European immigrants but now a place of illness and suspicion. Ivy Rowan, a twenty-five year old "spinster" has just recovered from the flu and word has recently arrived that her brother Billy was killed in the war. The reaction of her father and other brother? Murder. This prompts Ivy to leave the home that she had been stuck in for years but what she finds in town might just be as horrible.

There are so many surprises and twists in this story that I don't want to say much more. I was annoyed by Ivy for a good chunk of the book but then, as I got to know her, I forgave more of her foibles. What was more interesting to me though (but also horrifying, especially when reading it in the context of current events) was the treatment of the German, Polish, and even Swedish citizens of this small town. Street and business names were changed, music and language were treated suspiciously, and, eventually, almost everyone who was different was either killed, arrested, or driven out of town. This was brutal to read about and almost as terrifying as the spooks. This was a fantastic historical fiction and a fairly good ghost story.

Trying to learn from the past,
K

Cleaning the Slate: A Bunch of Quick Reviews

This is the stack of books that has been sitting next to my computer and growing, waiting for reviews to be written. I'm tired of looking at it and stressing about writing back reviews so you are going to get a quick rundown of these books. If there are any you would like more thoughts about, just let me know!

Starting from the bottom with the ones I read in ... gulp ... February --

Fiercombe Manor by Kate Riordan
My notes on this book say "not special but solid". If you want to read a wonderful book of this type (dual narrative in time), read Kate Morton. Her mysteries are much more spectacular and shocking. If you've already read all of Morton's books and can't wait until the new one in October, then pick this one up this summer!

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
I hated every character in this book. I hated their personalities and I hated the things they did. But it was such a well-written book that I couldn't take my eyes off the train wreck! This one ranks toward the bottom of Sarah Waters' books for me but it was still quite readable and I could imagine rereading it at some point.

The Suicide Shop by Jean Teulé
Wow. This novella about a shop run by a French family that sells methods for committing suicide blew my mind and broke my heart. Black humor followed by utter blackness. I loved it but the ending turned that love to hate in less than a handful of words. This is one book where you just can't read the end first. It would taint your entire reading experience. And now everyone wants to pick it up and read those words, right? But I promise you, you will ruin everything. Just go find this one and read it (or don't if you don't want your heart broken into a million pieces).

My Real Children by Jo Walton
My first Jo Walton fiction! Finally! It blew my mind. The premise is that an aging woman in a memory care facility has clear memories of two entirely different lives, hinging on the moment she decided to marry a man or not. She has different children, different partners, and a really different life experience based on that one decision. I loved this thought experiment and I loved Walton's writing. I will probably read more by her this year.

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman
Bottom line, if you loved Seraphina, you will love Shadow Scale. It's a really different story from the first but the amazing characters are still there and there are super crazy things that happen (both good and bad). This is only a two-book set so it's not a lot of time-investment from start to finish. Just know that both books are a bit slow at the start but their overall thoughtfulness is ultimately a strength.

The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing
I hadn't read any noir lately so I grabbed this one. It was not great. A lot of the prose was ham-fisted, the ending was too ambiguous, and the characters were completely one-dimensional. This wasn't the worst book I've ever read but I wouldn't ever read it again.

The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy by Sam Maggs
I'm just going to mention this here because I really want to do a full post on it soon. Bottom line: it's a much deeper book than it looks like from the outside!

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead
This was an unexpectedly great book. I have only read Until You Reach Me and I loved that but this one was so different, I wasn't sure. It was so much packed into a very small book. I don't want to spoil anything about it but the basic premise is that a family moves from their house into an apartment building and the son meets a very strange friend there. Gah. That is such a sterile description but this story was anything but. Just trust me and read it. It's another quickie!

Un Lun Dun by China Miéville
This was one of my planned rereads for this year and I'm glad I took the time for it. I had forgotten so much about it but just knew that I really liked it the first time. Well, I did again! If you're wondering what type of book it is, his acknowledgements at the end say it all --

"As always, I'm indebted to too many writers to list, but particularly important to this book are Joan Aiken, Clive Barker, Lewis Carroll, Norton Juster, Michael de Larrabeiti, Tanith Lee, Walter Moers and Beatrix Potter. Particular thanks are due to Neil Gaiman for generous encouragement and for his indispensable contributions to London phantasmagoria, especially Neverwhere."

If those names are on your list of favorite authors, you will probably love this book too. I wish that Miéville would write another children's book. If it was set in Un-London, I wouldn't mind either.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
I picked this one up for a lot of reasons. One was magic. Another was alternate Londons. Finally, there was a bit of fangirlishness about it out there that I couldn't resist. What I wasn't expecting was just how action-packed and truly dark this book is. I was frequently shocked at violent events and the fact that no character was safe from peril. I look forward to reading the second book in the series later this year!

My next post will be kicking off the readathon on Saturday morning. If you haven't signed up yet and want to join over 1200 people that are reading together for 24 hours, go get the deets on the Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon site!

Breathing a bit easier,
K

Heyer Month Wrap-Up: The Black Moth and Duplicate Death

I read The Black Moth this month along with Anastasia as part of her Georgette Heyer Month event. It was another of Heyer's fantastic romances, one part adventure, one part comedy of manners. There were plenty of likable characters, a dastardly duke, and a pair of shamefully bad characters that actually redeemed themselves by the end. This was a really fun read!

I also like to read a Heyer mystery or two a year, even though most of them have been somewhat awful (in a still readable way). She writes such horrid characters in her mysteries that you hope there's more than one murder to weed the patch a bit, so to speak, and there's usually a surprise romance at the end that nobody, not even the characters who fall in love, would have seen coming. But this one was a bit different in that the romance is there from page one, even if it's a bit tentative. There are still some extremely despicable characters but the return of a good Chief Inspector and a charming main character from a previous story (I said in my review of that book that I wished for a follow-up story with young Mr. Harte -- well, he's not as young anymore but Heyer must have loved him as well to bring him back!), makes for enough balance to make this one of her better mysteries.

Thank you to Anastasia for hosting this fun event and for getting two more Heyers off of my TBR shelf. Now there's room to buy a couple more!

Through love and death,
K

Wilkie in Winter: The Woman in White

I've had such a fun time rereading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins for Wilkie in Winter. It was one of the first Victorian sensational novels that I read and since then it's become one of my favorite genres. I've been looking forward to a reread for many years but just never found the time (darn blogging!). But, with strong (and sometimes quite loathsome) characters, some crazy plot twists and even a compelling social message, this read has reminded me of why I need to make more time for classics.

Avoiding the man with the mice,
K

Long-Awaited Reads Month: The Ghost in Love

I believe that this book, The Ghost in Love by Jonathan Carroll, made it on to my TBR years ago after a rave review from Lena (who I don't believe is blogging anywhere at the moment). I guess I never picked it up in the interim because I had forgotten exactly what it was about. It turns out that it's about many things and it's hard to describe but believe me when I say that its uniqueness makes it fresh and thought-provoking and beautiful, all in an unusual way -- because this is definitely a strange book and it's not ashamed to be that at all.

This story has a ghost and the man whose ghost she is, and a dog (of sorts), and an ex-girlfriend and a complete stranger, and angels and many other characters that come together in an ensemble that causes one to reflect on the tenuous border between life and death, the essence of each of our beings and the things that allow us to love each other past all our faults and flaws.

I'm very excited to explore more of Jonathan Carroll's work and, as Chris has highly recommended The Land of Laughs, it will be my next read of his -- and I promise that it won't take me years to get to it.

With love and ghosts,
K

Wilkie in Winter: The Frozen Deep

from Dickens and Showbiz site

First off, a very happy 190th birthday to Wilkie Collins, born on January 8, 1824! I'm actually quite excited for his bicentennial in ten years.

As one of two reads for Wilkie in Winter, I was looking forward to this one because I hadn't read it but I had learned some of the background about it through various sources. The Frozen Deep was first written as a play in 1856 and then released as a novella in 1874. Charles Dickens had a hand in it as well, both by coming up with the original idea and also by editing it later. I was tempted to read the play version but decided on the novella instead. It still read somewhat like a play, quite simple with mostly dialogue and only a few bits of scene-setting.

I thought it worked fairly well as a novella but I have to admit that I now have a greater desire to see it performed as a play. It is a very emotional and intense story and I think that would come through much more if it was well-acted. I enjoyed the themes of love, clairvoyance and self-sacrifice and thought there was just enough of a twist to keep it interesting. I would also love to see the period polar exploration costumes. Perhaps there will be a revival of the play for the bicentennial?

Enduring the chill,
K