Another impulse from the new books section of the library, and I zoomed through it during the readathon. The narrator recycles a yearbook left to her Another impulse from the new books section of the library, and I zoomed through it during the readathon. The narrator recycles a yearbook left to her by her mother and hijinks ensue. I actually felt like the most interesting character lived down the hallway.......more
When Shane's father dies and his uncle throws him out, he travels to Minnesota to try to find his mother, with no information except a postcard from sWhen Shane's father dies and his uncle throws him out, he travels to Minnesota to try to find his mother, with no information except a postcard from several years ago. In the small town of Holm he finds drugs, and violence - often against him because how his gender and sexuality are perceived (he hasn't really made decisions about his identity for himself.) It is a somewhat sad novel about what forms your identity when you don't have a home....more
This was an impulse checkout from the public library - a woman moves to Warsaw in winter and is inspired by a sister who died before she was born to mThis was an impulse checkout from the public library - a woman moves to Warsaw in winter and is inspired by a sister who died before she was born to meditate on the color white. What follows feels like essay, like Knausgaard with his lists of topics in his seasonal books, but with a definite female perspective.
Most of this volume seems to be the roommates looking for a new place to live, which seems strange to do in the middle of their first year at college.Most of this volume seems to be the roommates looking for a new place to live, which seems strange to do in the middle of their first year at college... maybe things are different in the UK! Also dealing with relationships. Light and fun, mostly. Not gonna lie, this is the kind of thing I "read" on my iPad while watching something on tv....more
In 2016, I did a big romance reading project, knowing I had very little exposure to the genre. Alisha Rai is one author that came highly recommended, In 2016, I did a big romance reading project, knowing I had very little exposure to the genre. Alisha Rai is one author that came highly recommended, yet I couldn't find her in any used bookstores (this is usually a good sign, books nobody wants to give back.) Over a year later, I found her new book in Edelweiss and requested it from the publisher. (Thanks!)
I knew right away that this would be steamy. I mean, the cover helps. But it doesn't take long before the characters get to it! Ha. The two central characters have a long history of childhood romance, warring families, secret birthday hookups, but sex has been easier than love. And now they're back in the same town and there is a lot of family drama to work through.
Overall it's very 21st century with characters of various races, consent asked for constantly, and text messaging. Plus tattoo art! A fun, quick read....more
A very fun listen about a telekinetic family. I enjoyed the subtle changes in inflection when the narrator voiced the different character's chapters, A very fun listen about a telekinetic family. I enjoyed the subtle changes in inflection when the narrator voiced the different character's chapters, and loved the jobs of these telekinetic people, from spy to card shark.
(Received an early copy of the audio from the publisher.)...more
I added this to a Book Outlet order to get to $35 for free shipping; they were smartly selling them at less than $1 a piece. This is a book where nothI added this to a Book Outlet order to get to $35 for free shipping; they were smartly selling them at less than $1 a piece. This is a book where nothing happens and it happens twice. Inexplicably some of the telling starts over halfway and it's already short. The female lets an older academic man treat her badly for no benefit and it's not even scintillating, it's somehow boring. Should have bailed....more
Another one from my Dorothy Publishing Project pile (which I purchased, so not a product placement). I had put this one aside but decided to finish itAnother one from my Dorothy Publishing Project pile (which I purchased, so not a product placement). I had put this one aside but decided to finish it during the 24in48 readathon.
Suffice to say, this was not really the book for me. Uncomfortable sexuality combined with the surreal. I can see how that would appeal to some readers. The four stories in the collection are made up of much shorter snippets and blurbs that make for a disjointed reading experience, which seems to be the point. ...more
I read some of this book during the 24in48 marathon, but quickly decided I wanted to read it more slowly and spread it out over about a week.
I first eI read some of this book during the 24in48 marathon, but quickly decided I wanted to read it more slowly and spread it out over about a week.
I first encountered Terry Tempest Williams in her (1991) essay, The Clan of One-Breasted Women, about all the women in her family struggling through cancer that is connected to testing in the desert. I know she also writes a lot about the national parks and the desert. But I kept hearing about this book, and finally ordered it with a giftcard from the holidays.
The impetus for the book is that Williams' mother died, and left her a lifetime of journals... but they were blank. She ruminates on her mother's life (as a Mormon, as a mother, as a wife, as a person with secrets) and also on her own life, her marriage, her art, and most interesting to me - silence.
"I am afraid of silence. Silence creates a pathway to peace through pain, the pain of a distracted and frantic mind before it becomes still."
I found the form of the book overly fragmented, and pretty repetitive particularly when it came to her mother's journals. Obviously this was a strange situation she wanted to sort out, but I'm not sure there are 54 clear "variations" here. Still, a lot of interesting thoughts, and insights into Williams' internal life. The fact that her family and community are largely Mormon is also an important element, and the reflections on what a woman's voice is are simultaneously from that worldview and struggling against it at times. And it was interesting to read this during and after the international women's marches and rallies that took place on January 21, 2017.
"In a voiced community, we all flourish."
And finally, one more:
"My voice is born repeatedly in the fields of uncertainty."
I kept seeing this everywhere so I decided to try it out on Hoopla. Three college students, making their way in the world. I had a home-schooled girl I kept seeing this everywhere so I decided to try it out on Hoopla. Three college students, making their way in the world. I had a home-schooled girl in my freshman friend trio too, so I think I found a few shared experiences. I can see sitting and reading all of these the same way I might binge on tv show on Netflix, light but enjoyable....more
I picked this up from a cart of new books in the library, headed for our leisure reading collection.
I like the premise of this book a lot, that most pI picked this up from a cart of new books in the library, headed for our leisure reading collection.
I like the premise of this book a lot, that most people focus on the story of how two people get together and fall in love, but not on how they stay together. Alain writes more of a case study using a marriage going through pretty major phases. Throughout the book, a kind of philosophy of relationships is sprinkled in paragraphs of italics. I think I'd prefer to read just the philosophy or just the novel/case study but together I found it pretty disruptive.
Still, I like the idea. I'd like to see more authors take on this challenge, maybe without the philosophy....more
In January 2017, the Book of the Month people put a hardbound special edition of this story in with the books we had chosen. It was originally publishIn January 2017, the Book of the Month people put a hardbound special edition of this story in with the books we had chosen. It was originally published in Rogues edited by George R. R. Martin. It started out pretty well, with a girl who is trying to capitalize on her fraudulent fortune telling by helping a woman with an evil presence in her home. But then a character explains the truth to the fortune teller, and in the car he explains another truth. It was like the author got tired of actually writing a story and just decided to dump the best parts into a monologue. It seemed like the parts the fortune teller should have been discovering and piecing together.
Still it was a decent and quick palate cleanser during a readathon....more
This was a decent read, but it felt like two different novels. In the beginning and near the end, you have the story of Shelby, who was in a car accidThis was a decent read, but it felt like two different novels. In the beginning and near the end, you have the story of Shelby, who was in a car accident with her friend, and her friend is in a vegetative state. People in the town thinks she can heal, so there's a bizarre line of visitors. Shelby doesn't find much worth in her own life. After a chapter of this, I almost abandoned the book.
The other novel in this novel is the story of a young antisocial girl, moving to the big city with her boyfriend. She finds unlikely friendships by working in a pet store. This story felt like it had little to do with the other story, almost as if the author set out to write the first but her characters insisted on the second. I liked the middle story, it was comforting and would make a decent rom-com kind of movie.
I also think the cover should have been a different kind of art - more of a tattoo!
I finished this up during the 24in48 marathon....more
I saved finishing this one until January 21, the day of all the women's marches and rallies worldwide. Reading about progress and current status of woI saved finishing this one until January 21, the day of all the women's marches and rallies worldwide. Reading about progress and current status of women's rights is simultaneously terrifying and encouraging.
The book of essays doesn't get five stars from me because there is a fair amount of repetition of ideas between essays. I'm not sure all of them needed to be included because of that, but I definitely think Solnit is an important writer on this subject.
I started marking passages in the introduction, where she talks about interviewers being dismissive, completely in disbelief that she has a fulfilling life without children.
"A Short History of Silence" should be required reading for everyone. It examines the idea of voice, how a voice is silenced, and why it is so important for women to have their own.
"If our voices are essential aspects of our humanity, to be rendered voiceless is to be dehumanized or excluded from one's humanity."
The idea of who isn't at the table, of whose voice isn't represented, is just as important.
"If libraries hold all the stories that have been told, there are ghost libraries of all the stories that have not."
And she examines what happens when power consumes others voices, controlling the news, controlling the narrative.
"It's as though the voices of these prominent public men devoured the voices of others into nothingness, a narrative cannibalism."
And this essay was written before our very young presidency, which has done nothing but sign presidential orders to silence more voices. It cuts deep in these days. Solnit also takes a look at male silence, and the expectation particularly for straight men to stay true to the narrative of power. Then she spins it around and examines how this perpetuates violence against women.
"Love is a constant negotiation... to love someone is to lay yourself open to rejection and abandonment; love is something you can earn but not extort... so much sexual violence is a refusal of that vulnerability."
"Men Explain Lolita to Me" is a bit of a continuation of the well-known essay, "Men Explain Things to Me," (read online at LitHub about the white male reaction to her various statements on literature. She wrote a reaction to the GQ Magazine's article called "80 Books All Men Should Read" with, shall we say, a rather different response. The entire essay is worth a read, but a quote near the end stuck with me: "You read enough books in which people like you are disposable, or are dirt, or are silent, absent, or worthless, and it makes an impact on you. Because art makes the world, because it matters, because it makes us. Or breaks us."
Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest opinion....more
This novel won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction this year (2016,) the only title from the list I hadn't been able to get my hands on (it figures!This novel won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction this year (2016,) the only title from the list I hadn't been able to get my hands on (it figures!) This is the story of a very modern Ireland, with drug dealers and prostitutes. But in the context of post-Catholic, or maybe just over-Catholic Ireland, there is interesting commentary throughout on the effect of grouping some people into a "sinner" group, where they have to give up their children or go to jail or leave their community. And how those kinds of instances can veer someone off of a path and into a life where they are surviving in any way they can. It was gritty but most of the characters seemed pretty nuanced, and memorable. The story jumps around in time a bit, which was a little bit of a struggle to follow in the audio, but it does give them a chance to show where their early decisions put them in the end.
Shelley Atkinson does a good job in the reading, although since half the characters are male, I was left wishing for a bit more depth in their voices. Not really possible with a female reader! The Irish accent was present but not in the way.
So would I have given this the Baileys Women's Prize? I definitely think it belongs in the top three for me, alongside A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and Ruby by Cynthia Bond. Interestingly all three deal with trauma, and two are very heaped in realism. If this is the trend for "women's" fiction, bring it on.
I received an early copy of this from Random House Audio in exchange for an honest review....more
(I'm still catching up on my reviews from the books I read during the 24 in 48 marathon!)
This is the third Paul Christopher book, a spy series from th(I'm still catching up on my reviews from the books I read during the 24 in 48 marathon!)
This is the third Paul Christopher book, a spy series from the 1970s I learned about from a Goodreads friend. I've been enjoying them; each one is told differently and has different characters, but always Paul Christopher.
This one follows his relationship story more, but the espionage writing gets really lazy. In the last fifty pages, most of what we know about the people involved comes from Christopher's girlfriend's godfather, as related during one dinner conversation. It's like the author didn't want to have to work out how to reveal the details throughout the story, so press pause - info dump!
I did enjoy the double meanings of "secret lovers" and to see his girlfriend go on her own journey to reconcile what loving a secret agent means. I'll probably seek out the other books in this series but I'm not in as much hurry as I was before....more
This is a quick read, and would probably make a fun movie. As far as the quantum mechanics go, I have questions. This is the second book I've read in This is a quick read, and would probably make a fun movie. As far as the quantum mechanics go, I have questions. This is the second book I've read in the past week to use the concept of the superposition, so I know that is something outside the novel. Is the concept of entanglement real? It felt pretty far-fetched to me, as did the idea that it could wear off. It's not like atoms exist external to the system they are a part of.
The issue where everyone forgets Nat after sixty seconds is another. Why sixty seconds? Is this arbitrary? Why not after they have slept? (Because that would make the excitement different?) As Yelena pointed out, Nat isn't actually a good agent, he's just always assuming his ability will get him out of situations he gets into. I wonder if this concept of being observed collapsing the possibilities extends to surveillance. Originally I thought maybe that is why Yelena could remember him, because she lives in a surveillance state! But if observation keeps you from being forgotten, couldn't they have just set up some kind of monitoring system rather than a paper-based authentication system in a handler's desk drawer? I'm probably thinking too much about it.
Unforgettable was discussed on Episode 052 of the Reading Envy Podcast and I received a copy signed by the author after that. I read it during the 24in48 readathon of July 2016. ...more
When I finished the first Cass Neary novel, Available Dark, I immediately requested the next one from the library. I love how this one continues the pWhen I finished the first Cass Neary novel, Available Dark, I immediately requested the next one from the library. I love how this one continues the photography element and perhaps that is always the impetus for Cass to travel to a new place. This time around a photography collector wants her to travel to Finland to see if the prints from a photographer are worth purchasing. She discovers that she has unwittingly become a part of a community of photographers who take pictures of the dead or dying, and the trip to cold bleak Finland is no exception. Danger follows. Also traditional Viking religion, Satanic death metal, evil twins, and hypothermia. And lots and lots of drugs. (And I couldn't put it down.)...more
As always it is hard to rate an anthology. Some of the stories were five-star stories while others were less successful to me. I like the idea of cli-As always it is hard to rate an anthology. Some of the stories were five-star stories while others were less successful to me. I like the idea of cli-fi aka climate fiction, because it is something that gives writers a lot of science to work with. On the other hand it is always teetering on the precipice of didacticism. I think science fiction can be useful to this end, but I don't want to feel it, if that makes sense. The most successful stories in this anthology to me took the concepts of climate change and said, okay, this is where I start. The less successful stories were mourning the loss, and learning from the elders about the way things used to be. There is a place for that but the creativity sweet spot was climate change as jumping off point.
Some favorites:
"Venice Drowned" by Kim Stanley Robinson Liking this story completely negates what I said above because despite the fact that this is set in an underwater Venice, the diving tourist industry dismantling the cultural history of the city was very compelling.
"'I'm the last of them,' the woman said. 'The waters rise, the heavens howl, love's pledges crack and lead to misery. I - I live to show what a person can bear and not die. I'll live till the deluge drowns the world as Venice is drowned. I'll live till all else living is dead.'"
"Who Do You Love?" by Kathleen Ann Goodman I completely zany story about people genetically modifying themselves into sea creatures. It reminds me of another short story I read a few years back, about a woman voluntarily having her consciousness transferred into an alien of some kind, wish I could recall it.
"Because Change was the Ocean and we Lived by Her Mercy" by Charlie Jane Anders To me, this story is a lovepoem to San Francisco. If the California coast is covered by the sea, what would remain? What is San Francisco if not the place? I think Anders attempts to answer that question in this story, set in a time where humanity has pulled itself back from the brink of destruction, and the newer generations are puzzled by the worries of their parents and grandparents. Science has prevailed, but to some, that is not what life should be about.
"But that city down there, under the waves, had been the place everybody came to, from all over the world, to find freedom. That legacy was ours now."
"The New Venusians" by Sean Williams After committing a faux pas in the waters above what used to be Tuvalu, Tash is sent to her Grandpa, a scientist living on Venus. I loved this contrast between Venus's climate and Earth's and all the factors at work (even if I didn't understand how anyone could float above the planet exactly.)
"The Future is Blue" by Catherynne M. Valente If any author could bring vibrant imagination to a floating world of trash, Cat Valente has done it....more
Jenny (Reading Envy)
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