April 2020 Reading Tracker

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Books I Read:

  1. Presenting Buffalo Bill: The Man Who Invented the Wild West by Candace Fleming (audio)
  2. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (audio)
  3. Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey (audio)
  4. Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey (audio)
  5. My Calamity Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows
  6. Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton (audio)
  7. Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth
  8. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (audio)
  9. When We Vanished by Alanna Peterson
  10. The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett (audio)
  11. The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski
  12. Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski (audio)
  13. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (audio)

Books I Had Planned to Read:

Books Bought:

  1. Pride and Prejudice Seasons Edition
  2. A Tale of Two Cities Seasons Edition
  3. Persuasion Word Cloud Classics Edition
  4. Emma Word Cloud Classics Edition
  5. Pride and Prejudice Word Cloud Classics Edition

ARCs Received:

  1. The Invention of Sophie Carter by Samantha Hastings (FierceReads package)

You can also see what I read in March.

The Bone Houses: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

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The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-JonesRyn has spent most of her life surrounded by the dead in the village of Colbren. She watched her father at his work as a gravedigger and now, after his disappearance, it is Ryn who puts the village’s dead to rest. It is Ryn who makes sure the dead stay at rest–especially those buried too close to the woods.

The restless dead are always called “bone houses” in the stories. Legend talks often of the curse that makes some dead walk. So often, in fact, that most people believe it really is only a fable. Ryn has always known better but especially now when more and more bone houses are making their way to Colbren.

Ellis has spent most of his life hiding first on the outskirts of court and more recently behind the maps he makes. Coming to Colbren could make Ellis’ name and earn him a fortune provided he can find a guide to lead him through the woods to make the first map of the area–especially the mountain ranges beyond the forest.

When the bone houses surface with new prevalence and more violent attacks, Ryn has her own reasons for agreeing to act as Ellis’ guide. Secrets lie in the mountains and, deeper still, answers both Ryn and Ellis never thought they’d find provided they can survive that long in The Bone Houses (2019) by Emily Lloyd-Jones.

Find it on Bookshop.

Lloyd-Jone’s standalone novel is an eerie blend of fantasy and light horror set against an historic Welsh setting. Chapters alternate between Ryn and Ellis’ close third person perspectives.

While Ryn is comfortable with her physicality and fears losing her work as gravedigger more than most bone houses, Ellis is more cerebral and struggles to mange chronic pain from childhood injuries that never properly healed.

Lyrical prose and lush descriptions immediately bring Colbren and the surrounding woods to life. Suspense is carefully managed as Ryn and Ellis are drawn further into the mystery surrounding the bone houses’ origins in their search for a way to stop them. A gently presented romance adds much needed sweetness to what could otherwise be a grim and tense story.

The Bone Houses is a thoughtful exploration of the intersection of fable and reality and a comforting interpretation of both death and grief. Highly recommended.

Possible Pairings: Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist, The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow, The Luminaries by Susan Dennard, The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin, Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton, Into the Heartless Wood by Joanna Ruth Meyer, The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix, Hunted by Meagan Spooner, Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke

All the Birds in the Sky: A Review

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All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane AndersPatricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead were friends once, a long time ago.

That was before Patricia found out from the Parliament of Birds that she was a witch. Before her education on spells, magic, and how to avoid Aggrandizement began at Eltisley Maze.

It was before Laurence found the blueprints for his first two second time machine and started building an artificial intelligence. Before he found his people and his place with other mad scientists so desperate to save the world that they don’t think too hard about how they’re changing it.

They were friends when they were children. Before Patricia saved Laurence’s life and vanished.

Now they’re grown up, living in San Francisco although they travel in different orbits. After years of circling each other something has brought Patricia and Laurence back together. But neither of them can tell if their reunion is meant to fix all of the things that have started going wrong in the world or break them beyond repair in All the Birds in the Sky (2016) by Charlie Jane Anders.

Find it on BookShop.

Anders’ ambitious blend of sci-fi and fantasy starts when Patricia and Laurence are children, following them through middle school into adulthood. The breakneck pacing contrasts sharply with the way Patricia and Laurence’s carefully drawn characters develop and grow over the years.

All the Birds in the Sky is an exercise in contrasts as Laurence and Patricia find themselves on opposite sides of a struggle to save a rapidly declining plane. This shift is particularly evident in the protagonists’ dramatically different worldviews and all of the ways it becomes clear that there may not be any good choices left for either of them.

Snappy prose, witty dialog, and intricate world building will immediately draw readers into this action-filled plot story. Recommended for readers who like their speculative fiction as timely as it is snarky.

Possible Pairings: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams, Book of Night by Holly Black, Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor, Where Futures End by Parker Peeveyhouse, Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth, The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick

Week in Review: April 25: Quarantine Week 6: In Which I Hit a Wall

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Blog Posts of The Week:

Tweet of the Week:

Instagram Post of the Week:

How My Week Went:

This is the first week since this quarantine started where I really feel like I’ve hit a wall. I’m not sleeping well, I miss traveling freely. I’m scared that this will never end and I’m scared that it will. I can’t get onto the IRS site to check the status of the stimulus check I should be eligible for because my information is supposedly wrong (it’s not). I know this is sort of the price of admission for living through a global pandemic, but it doesn’t make it feel any better as I try to ride this out. If you’re in the same boat, I hope we both have a sunnier outlook soon. If not, I hope you keep it up. Hang in there everyone.

Past Perfect: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

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Past Perfect by Leila SalesThere are only three types of kids who get summer jobs at Colonial Essex Village as historical reenactors living their best 1700s lives instead of working at the mall like everyone else:

There are the history nerds. You may recognize them by how hotly they debate the virtues of bayonets over pistols, their pale skin, and their generally unappealing personalities.

There are the drama kids. While they couldn’t care less about historical accuracy, drama kids are all about dressing up and staging cool scenes where they get fake shot and fall down fake dead while the history nerds gripe about how that isn’t how it really happened blah blah blah.

The third type of teenager working at Colonial Essex Village is, arguably, the rarest type: The kids whose parents already work there.

Chelsea’s father is the Essex Village silversmith and her mother is the silversmith’s wife, which means that Chelsea has been spending every summer as the silversmith’s daughter for basically forever.

Now that she’s sixteen Chelsea is looking forward to working at the mall with her best friend, Fiona, where they can hone their skills as ice cream connoisseurs and Chelsea can finally get over Ezra, the boy who broke her heart.

Except Fiona is very much a drama kid and very much looking forward to working at Colonial Essex. So obviously Chelsea has to work there too. Even if Ezra is also working there. Even if it means Chelsea gets sucked into being second-in-command in the annual war all of the teen staffers at West Essex stage every year against the Civil Warriors from the Civil War reenactment site across the street and, worst of all, even if Chelsea’s new crush is one of those very same Civil Warriors in Past Perfect (2011) by Leila Sales.

Find it on Bookshop.

Chelsea is a very specific type of protagonist who will not work for everyone. She is often self-centered to the point of being low key unreliable and she’s incredibly snarky. I, for one, think she is a riot and appreciate the conversational tone Sales manages to evoke in Chelsea’s first person narration.

While Chelsea is a reluctant historical reenactor, she is nothing if not loyal to Essex and its legacy as the superior historical site in town compared to the subpar Civil Warriors. (Don’t even get her started on the Ren Fairies from the renaissance faire.) This loyalty leads to some difficult choices when Chelsea has to decide how far she’s willing to go to help her side win–not to mention if there’s such a thing as too far when it comes to war.

There is definitely some romance and some flirting, but the real love story here is between Chelsea and her best friend Fiona. As they are pulled in different directions by their jobs at Colonial Essex (and the war), their friendship experiences growing pains for the first time as both girls are forced to evaluate their priorities.

This book explores themes of friendship and ethics while asking interesting questions about history and the past–especially if anything can ever truly be in the past. Past Perfect is a funny, clever story about friendship, ethics, history and the unexpected moments where they intersect. Recommended for readers who like their stories of summer employment with a lot of history and snark.

Possible Pairings: All’s Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson, Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, Lucky Caller by Emma Mills, Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke, The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe, Pilgrim’s Don’t Wear Pink by Stephanie Kate Strohm, My Faire Lady by Laura Wettersten

The Light at the Bottom of the World: A Review

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The Light at the Bottom of the World by London ShahThousands of feet underwater, humanity tries to find a way forward on a planet that changed forever sixty-five years ago when the water levels started to rise and never stopped. Strange as it may be, it’s the only world Leyla McQueen has ever known.

When her father is accused of the worst possible crime and arrested with no chance to defend himself, Leyla knows she has to get him out. Even if her best chance to do that is trying to win the ultra competitive, ultra dangerous London Submersible Marathon.

When the race doesn’t go to plan, Leyla realizes her father’s arrest is tied to much bigger secrets in London. With no other options and no help in sight, Leyla has to leave the only home she has ever known and confront dangerous truths to save her father before it’s too late in The Light at the Bottom of the World (2019) by London Shah.

Find it on Bookshop.

The Light at the Bottom of the World is Shah’s debut novel and the start of her Light the Abyss duology.

Leyla is a great narrator who has obvious affection for her small corner of this underwater world while acknowledging the devastation that led humanity to it. Despite a strong premise and evocative setting, the stakes of Leyla’s mission never translates to an actual sense of urgency even as she is caught in a race against time to save her father before she is detained by the authorities herself.

The story and its slang remains very grounded in modern cultural references and terminology even though the story is set decades in the future. The varied cast of secondary characters are unfortunately under-utilized for a lot of this plot-driven novel.

The Light at the Bottom of the World is a classic dystopian featuring a kickass Muslim girl, lots of submarines, lots of water, and lots of action. Recommended for readers seeking any or all of the above in their science fiction.

Possible Pairings: The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron, The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau, A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen, Matched by Ally Condie, Crown of Oblivion by Julie Eshbaugh, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Warcross by Marie Lu, Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte, The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud, The Program by Suzanne Young

Week in Review: April 18: Quarantine Week 5: In which many things break

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Blog Posts of The Week:

Tweet of the Week:

Instagram Post of the Week:

How My Week Went:

This week was defined by a dining room lamp breaking by snapping off in my hands as I changed a light bulb and a can of soda freezing and then exploding in the refrigerator. And that’s all I will say about that.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

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The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. HarrowJanuary Scaller is used to certain doors being closed to her. Living as the ward of Mr. Locke, a wealthy man who travels in his own bubble of authority and privilege, does much to ease January’s movement through a world that doesn’t always understand her.

But even Mr. Locke’s influence can never change her origins as the daughter of a poor explorer or the color of her copper skin. She is used to never quite fitting in and never quite knowing her place among the empty halls of Locke’s vast mansion. She is used to wondering when her father will return from his numerous expeditions searching out new rarities for Locke’s vast collection. Most of all, January is used to waiting.

Everything changes the moment January finds a door, although it takes her nearly a decade to truly understand its importance. In a world where doors can lead a person much farther than an adjacent room, January will have to rely on a book filled with secrets and regrets and her own wits to determine which doors are meant to be open wide and which should remain under lock and key.

Doors can be many things to many people but more than anything, they are change. For January it may be impossible to walk through a door without changing everything in The Ten Thousand Doors of January (2019) by Alix E. Harrow.

Find it on Bookshop.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is Harrow’s debut novel. The story alternates between January’s lyrical first person narration and chapters from the mysterious book she finds among Mr. Locke’s myriad artifacts.

Part portal fantasy, part coming-of-age story, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a story about a young woman discovering her own power and agency in both a literal and figurative sense as she grows up in a world that has sought to systematically strip her of both.

Harrow builds tension well as the novel moves toward a dramatic climax both in January’s story and in the story-within-a-story of the book she finds. Moments of genuine magic and sweetness are tempered with thoughtful examinations of what it means to be a person of color in a world that too often defaults to white and favors it above all else.

January is clever, plucky heroine learning to find her voice after years of trying to keep quiet and maintain a low profile. Her personal growth is complimented well with the ragtag community she builds as she learns more about Doors and her own connection to them.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is an ambitious examination of privilege, choice, and connection wrapped up in a distinct magic system and truly singular world building. Highly recommended.

Possible Pairings: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert; Life After Life by Kate Atkinson; Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt; Passenger by Alexandra Bracken; The Meq by Steve Cash; Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore; Ink, Iron, and Glass by Gwendolyn Clare; The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove; The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig; Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones; A Criminal Magic by Lee Kelly; Only a Monster by Vanessa Len; Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire; The Starless Sea by Erin Morgensten; Uprooted by Naomi Novik; Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel; Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson; The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab;The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth; Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel

Soon I Will Be Invincible: A Review

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Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin GrossmanDoctor Impossible wasn’t always an evil genius, diabolical scientist, and supervillain extraordinaire. He just doesn’t talk about it because it’s really only the heroes who spend time worrying about their origin stories. Doctor Impossible would rather focus on taking over the world. As soon as he breaks out of prison. Again.

Over his long and villainous career Doctor Impossible has tried to take over the world in all of the usual ways with nuclear, thermonuclear, and nanotechnological doomsday devices. He’s tried mind control. He’s traveled backwards and forward in time. He’s used a robot army, insect army, dinosaur army. Even a fungus army, fish and rodents too.

All failures. Even the alien invasion was a failure.

But that’s okay. Because this time Doctor Impossible has a new plan. One that will work.

Fatale doesn’t remember much about her life before she become a cyborg. She’s been told she was on vacation in Brazil. Then she wasn’t. And now she’s Fatale: part skin, part chrome–a technological marvel meant to be the next generation of warfare until the NSA left her out in the cold.

It’s not easy making it as a superhero cyborg on your own, so Fatale is thrilled when she’s invited to join the Champions even if it is to replace their slain robot. The Champions used to be a rock solid team but now cracks are starting to show between the heroes–cracks that might be just the break Doctor Impossible needs in Soon I Will Be Invincible (2007) by Austin Grossman.

Find it on Bookshop.

Soon I Will Be Invincible is a charming pastiche of classic superhero plots with chapters alternating between Doctor Impossible and Fatale. (If you read audiobooks, try the audio which as two actors and is a lot of fun.)

Doctor Impossible is a classic supervillain so don’t go into this one expecting a lot of depth and morally grey areas. He is definitely a villain and he definitely doesn’t feel bad about it at all. Sure, he’s learned some things from his rivalry with CoreFire over the years and his failed attempts at world domination. But mostly that was about what didn’t work.

Fatale, in contrast, feels like she’s been thrown into the deep end here and is worried her previous experience working solo has done little to prepare her to join the Champions–especially alongside Doctor Impossible’s old ally Lily. If Fatale feels a little superficial compared to Doctor Impossible’s big personality, blame it on the strict moral code.

Hints of clever world building and a surprise reveal about Lily’s origin story at the end save this one from being too predictable. Soon I Will Be Invincible is entertaining if sometimes expected superhero fare. Recommended for comics fans looking to branch out into prose and, of course, anyone who can’t help but root for the villain.

Possible Pairings: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch, The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahaney, Proxy by Alex London, Watchmen by Alan Moore, The Superhero Handbook by Michael Powell, Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth, Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, Hold Me Like a Breath by Tiffany Schmidt, Vicious by Victoria Schwab, The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente

Week in Review: April 11: Quarantine Week 4: In which I may have found some balance

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Blog Posts of The Week:

Tweet of the Week:

Instagram Post of the Week:

Two posts this week because I’m so damn proud of this book rainbow:

How My Week Went:

This week was actually okay. I am doing a lot of compartmentalizing to not worry about what happens if anything (else) goes wrong, but that’s a coping mechanism I can deal with. My desk/laptop setup is a lot better and I got a lot of stuff done and feel like I can survive this. It’s not much, but I’ll take it.