My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.
What did I read during the last week?
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes: Entertaining contemporary fiction. Here’s my review.
The Deep by Rivers Solomon: Haunting and powerful. My review is here.
A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows by Diana Gabaldon: We finished our book group read of this excellent novella. This was my 3rd or 4th time reading this story, and I still love it. A must-read for Outlander fans.
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher: Creepy in all the best ways. My review is here.
The Cactus by Sarah Haywood: Just finished the audiobook during a long walk on Sunday. Review to follow.
Pop culture:
Anyone else watching V Wars over on Netflix? I have to admit that back in the day, I was VERY into The Vampire Diaries for a while, and it makes me happy to have Ian Somerhalder back on my TV screen! I’ve only watched the first two episodes so far, but it’s good!
Fresh Catch:
Between Black Friday deals and a just-released book I had on preorder, my shelves are getting fuller and fuller. Here’s what arrived this week:
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather: The first of four novellas I have lined up to read this week! Just getting started…
Now playing via audiobook:
Scythe by Neal Shusterman: Before reading The Toll, which wraps up the trilogy, I thought I should do an audio re-read of the first two books. I loved reading Scythe last year — here’s hoping it holds up the 2nd time around.
Ongoing reads:
Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck: My book group’s classic read! We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week, and I’m loving it so far.
Title: The Twisted Ones Author: T. Kingfisher Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press Publication date: October 1, 2019 Length: 400 pages Genre: Horror Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods.
When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother’s house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?
Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.
Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.
The set-up of The Twisted Ones hooked me from the start. Freelance editor Mouse heads off to her dead grandmother’s isolated home to prepare it for sale, but upon arrival, discovers it’s stuffed to the rafters with newspapers, coat hangers, clothing, and all sorts of useless junk. If it were me, I probably would have made a run for it at soon as I pushed open the front door and saw the mess waiting inside, but Mouse decides to stick it out. After all, she can work anywhere, and her father has offered to split the sale proceeds with her when it’s all done.
Accompanied by her beloved but not entirely bright coonhound Bongo, Mouse gets to work. When she discovers an old journal kept by her long deceased stepgrandfather, things get weird. Mouse was well aware that her grandmother was a hateful, mean woman who was universally despised, but through the diary, she learns even more about her cruelty. What’s more, she also sees hints of madness or dementia through her grandfather’s writings, particularly through his repetition of lines that seem to have become a sort of mantra for him:
I made faces like the faces on the rocks, and I twisted myself about like the twisted ones, and I lay down flat on the ground like the dead ones…
When Mouse and Bongo accidentally find an impossible hilltop through the woods in the backyard — when there aren’t actually any such hills in the area — things get weirder. Strangely carved stones and menacing trees are clear indications that things are not normal. As Mouse encounters more and more oddities, the woods near her grandmother’s house and the things they contain become even more menacing.
This was a terrifically creepy read. One ray of sunshine to note up front: As my friend who recommended this book pointed out, Mouse opens the first chapter with Bongo by her side as she looks back on the events she’s about to describe. So, for those who might enter in fear of something awful happening to a very good dog, rest assured, Bongo will be fine! Somehow, this seems important to know from the get-go.
I really enjoyed Mouse’s narrative voice. She’s plainspoken, but not without a sense of humor. As she recounts the events that occurred, she recognizes that most people would assume she’s lost touch with reality, but she feel compelled to tell the story anyway.
I am going to try to start at the beginning, even though I know you won’t believe me.
It’s okay. I wouldn’t believe me either. Everything I have to say sounds completely barking mad. I’ve run it through my mind over and over, trying to find a way to turn it around so that it all sounds quite normal and sensible, and of course there isn’t one.
As the story progresses, I found myself telling Mouse to get in her truck and drive away as quickly as possible, which really would have been the smart thing to do. When she finally decides to do just that, there’s a very good reason why she doesn’t, and the big showdown at the end practically begs to be made into a horror movie (that is sure to keep viewers from ever getting a good night’s sleep again, especially if they’re attempting to sleep in a cabin in the woods).
Something about the answers to the book’s mysteries didn’t quite feel as monumental to me as I expected, which is why I only went with 3.5 stars. Still, it’s a terrific, engrossing read that provides plenty of creepy, scary atmosphere and plenty of reason to be afraid of the woods, the dark, the woods in the dark, and anything that comes tapping at your door.
Title: The Deep Author: Rivers Solomon (with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes) Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press Publication date: November 5, 2019 Length: 176 pages Genre: Fantasy Source: Library Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.
Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities—and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.
Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past—and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity—and own who they really are.
Reading The Deep is little reminiscent of an Octavia Butler novel, where the reader is immersed in a strange new world with creatures never seen before and a culture that is both alien and familiar.
The wajinru are sea people, breathing through the water, able to live in the deepest depths, fierce predators yet also sentient beings with intricately built communities and families. And yet, the peace of the wajinru is a facade, as they’re only able to enjoy their lives by being ignorant of their people’s horrifying past.
Only the Historian remembers, and because she remembers, she suffers. Yetu is this generation’s Historian, and the memories are literally killing her. She has no space for herself, being so completely filled with her people’s memories of pain and suffering. Her entire body is like one exposed nerve, and each sound and ripple of sea current cuts at her. Once a year, she is able to unburden herself through the ritual of Remembrance, when she shares the history with the people so that they remember for a brief time and know once again who they are. But after the ritual, it’s Yetu’s responsibility to take back the memories and bear them in solitude once more.
The story of The Deep has a unique origin, having started as a musical creation by James Stinson and Gerald Donald which was then reimagined and reinvented by the group clipping. (Daveed Diggs et al), which further developed the mythology of the wajinru and turned it into something else. Here, author River Solomons takes the story further, from music into a novella.
The Deep‘s musical origin shows in the richness and cadences of the language. It’s odd and different and new, and the wajinru themselves, while similar to what we think of as mermaids, are really something new too.
Here’s the clipping. version of The Deep:
This slim book is hypnotic and lovely and sad, and really should be experienced.
Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.
Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.
Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!
Title: The Best Man Author: Kristan Higgins Published: 2013 Length: 426 pages
What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):
Sometimes The Best Man Is The One You Least Expect…
Faith Holland left her hometown after being jilted at the altar. Now a little older and wiser, she’s ready to return to the Blue Heron Winery, her family’s vineyard, to confront the ghosts of her past, and maybe enjoy a glass of red. After all, there’s some great scenery there….
Like Levi Cooper, the local police chief – and best friend of her former fiancé. There’s a lot about Levi that Faith never noticed, and it’s not just those deep green eyes. The only catch is she’s having a hard time forgetting that he helped ruin her wedding all those years ago. If she can find a minute amidst all her family drama to stop and smell the rosé, she just might find a reason to stay at Blue Heron, and finish that walk down the aisle.
How and when I got it:
I bought a used copy online about a year ago.
Why I want to read it:
This is SO not my usual kind of read… but when a favorite author shared a super positive review of this book (and the rest of the series), I figured — why not? After all, it’s good to mix things up a bit, genre-wise… and a feel-good romance seems like a good choice for this time of year.
What do you think? Would you read this book?
Please share your thoughts!
__________________________________
Want to participate in Shelf Control? Here’s how:
Write a blog post about a book that you own that you haven’t read yet.
Add your link in the comments!
If you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Holiday Reads — books we love to read during the holiday season. I don’t particularly read holiday-themed books, but I do love a good wintry feel. Since I’ve already done a TTT about winter settings, I thought I’d go with books with winter elements in the title — anything to do with snow or being cold. Brrrrrrr.
1. A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon – Yes, any excuse to include an Outlander book!
2. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater – I didn’t love everything about this trilogy, but the first book in particular was so haunting and powerful.
3. Snowblind by Christopher Golden (review) – Yikes, horror in the snow! Pretty terrifying.
4. The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire (review) – I love me some Toby Daye. The entire series is excellent, and this was a particularly good one.
5. Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs (review) – I love the Mercy Thompson books too. Mercy is such an awesome hero.
6. A Fine and Bitter Snow by Dana Stabenow – The Kate Shugak series is one of my favorites… and a new book is coming in January!
7. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham – The Fables series is amazing. I think I need a reread.
8. Snow Glass Apples by Neil Gaiman (review) – This story has always been a favorite, and the new illustrated version is gorgeous.
9. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (because it’s about SIMON SNOW!!) (review) – All sorts of yes for Simon and Baz.
10. In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl (review) – A lovely historical novel that I read with my book group.
What are your favorite winter books?
Please share your thoughts, and if you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!
Title: Evvie Drake Starts Over Author: Linda Holmes Publisher: Ballantine Books Publication date: June 25, 2019 Length: 289 pages Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Library Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
In a small town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her house. Everyone in town, including her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and she doesn’t correct them. In New York, Dean Tenney, former major-league pitcher and Andy’s childhood friend, is struggling with a case of the “yips”: he can’t throw straight anymore, and he can’t figure out why. An invitation from Andy to stay in Maine for a few months seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button.
When Dean moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken–and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. But before they can find out what might lie ahead, they’ll have to wrestle a few demons: the bonds they’ve broken, the plans they’ve changed, and the secrets they’ve kept. They’ll need a lot of help, but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance–right up until the last out.
Evvie Drake is not your typical widow. She’s hidden herself away not out of grief, but from fear that everyone will discover that she’s NOT actually grieving. Evvie’s late husband Tim was her high school sweetheart, a respected town doctor, and behind closed doors, a nasty man with a tendency toward gaslighting and emotional abuse. Evvie’s little secret is that the night Tim died, Evvie was packing her car and getting ready to leave — but now, the whole town treats her with kid gloves and tells her how much they loved her husband, and she just can’t seem to shake the feeling that she’s at fault somehow.
Meanwhile, Dean is the current ultimate failure in sports, going overnight from star pitcher to a guy who can barely throw a ball. He’s been mocked and publicly humiliated, so finding a haven in a little town in Maine seems like a good idea. When Evvie rents him her spare rooms, it’s a good solution to both of their most immediate problems, and pretty soon they fall into an easy friendship, each understanding that the other has been hurt badly and just needs a little room to breathe and recover.
Of course, their connection develops into more, but it’s complicated. As the story progresses, they both have to face certain truths, and discover that moving forward can only truly happen when they let others in and start dealing with and sharing their secrets.
This book has been popping up on my recommendation lists ever since its release in June, and as with most hyped books, I was resistant. I’m so glad I finally gave in and grabbed a copy when I saw it at the library!
The writing is light and breezy and engaging, even when dealing with the more serious and troubling issues concerning Evvie’s marriage. The author presents a realistic look at Evvie’s process of shock, guilt, anger, and loss, and follows her through her coming to terms with what’s holding her back and seeking help. Likewise with Dean, there are no easy answers or fixes. As much as Evvie wants to find the solution to Dean’s pitching problem, it’s not something within her power, no matter how badly she wants to help him. Dean too has to go through a process of loss and anger in order to find acceptance and a way to move on.
Evvie Drake Starts Over is filled with likeable characters and small-town charm. I loved the New England town with its quirky characters and deep connections. where everyone knows everyone… and probably knew their grandparents too. Evvie’s relationship with her best friend Andy feels authentic, and I struggled along with Evvie as their paths seemed to diverge and their friendship suffered under the weight of Evvie’s secrets. Evvie and Dean’s relationship was pretty much pitch-perfect (*groan* — sorry for the baseball pun!) — rather than subjecting us to the dreaded insta-love scenario, the author allows their friendship to grow and blossom into romance with all the caution and hesitation that people in such precarious points in their lives might experience.
I really enjoyed this book, and heartily recommend it! There’s real emotion and some sad and painful moments, but there’s love and joy and friendship and family too, and overall the vibe is hopeful and a celebration of being open to life and connection. Don’t miss Evvie Drake!
Warning: This book may make you want to move to a small coastal town, get a dog, live by the water, and attend local sporting events. Proceed at your own risk.
My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.
Life.
Feeling recharged after a restful and happy long weekend, spent relaxing and enjoying family and friends.
A blogging question:
I wrote a post about this over the weekend — does anyone have any favorite WordPress themes to recommend? I’m looking for something clean and simple. I’m not 100% sure that I want to make a switch, but I’m thinking about options.
What did I read during the last week?
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss: Such fun! My review is here.
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes: Sweet! Finished late Sunday – review to follow.
Pop culture:
My family had a blast seeing this movie on Thanksgiving morning:
And on Saturday, my daughter and I had a wonderful time seeing…
Fresh Catch:
Amazon had a Black Friday buy-two-get-one-free offer on books, so naturally I took advantage! Here’s what I got:
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
The Deep by Rivers Solomon: I’m just getting started, but definitely excited that my library hold came in this week.
Now playing via audiobook:
The Cactus by Sarah Haywood: I’ve listened to about 40% — really entertaining so far!
Ongoing reads:
Two ongoing book group reads right now:
A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows by Diana Gabaldon: The current group read for my book group. Such a great story! A must for Outlander fans.
Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck: Our new classic read, starting today. We’ll be reading and discussing two chapters per week. I’m really looking forward to it!
I’ve been using the same WordPress theme (Adelle) on my blog for several years now, and while I like it, I think my eyes are just getting a little tired of looking at it!
I’m thinking that it’s time to select a new theme, but it’s not as easy as I thought it would be. There are so many to choose from!
Here’s what I’m looking for:
A simple, clean layout
Being able to keep my header image without any words superimposed over them
Keeping the widgets in a right-hand column
A simple menu bar
No borders — I think it’s the black background on my current theme that bugging me right now, but when I experiment with making it white or a different color, I don’t like it. I’d like a format that’s the width of the page (if that makes sense — I’m not up on layout terminology!)
Here’s what I don’t want:
Excerpts with a “read more” link. I like to see full posts displayed on the home page.
Magazine style layout — an image grid on the home page that you have to click through to read the content.
Lots of fuss. No built-in images or graphics that can’t be changed.
WordPress used to display the theme name at the bottom of a blog’s home page, but I notice that’s not displayed any more, which is frustrating. When I visit other folks’ blogs, I’m always on the lookout for great layouts and themes!
So, for all you WordPress bloggers — any suggestions? Any particular themes you especially like? Do you know of any that might suit what I’m looking for?
I’ve spent a bunch of hours so far this week playing around with demos of different themes, but I’m just not finding anything (yet) that makes me happy.
Title: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter Series: The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club Author: Theodora Goss Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Publication date: June 20, 2017 Length: 402 pages Genre: Young adult fantasy Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.
But her hunt leads her to Hyde’s daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.
When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.
When we meet Mary Jekyll, she’s in a sorry state. Her mother has just died after many years of madness, and Mary is left in her family home, already stripped of valuables over the years as she sold whatever she could in order to make ends meet. Now, Mary has no choice but to dismiss the household staff, count her few remaining coins, and try to find a way to eke out a few more. When Mary learns that her mother was sending regular payments to “Hyde”, care of a religious society, she’s both suspicious of blackmail and motivated to find out more.
Seeking the help of the famous Sherlock Holmes, Mary sets out to discover the truth about these payments, and ends up stumbling into the mystery of the Whitechapel murders as well. Could there be a connection?
As the story progresses, Mary learns that her deceased father was a member of a secret society dedicated to scientific pursuit outside the bounds of the established scientific community. Specifically, these mad scientists seem to be dedicated to transmutation — pursuing a faster path to evolution by creating new forms of life. Mary’s investigations lead her to the daughters/creations of these men. Soon, this group of women are bound together by circumstance as well as affection, as they pursue the truth about their fathers’ Society of Alchemists and end up fighting for their lives.
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is utterly charming and engaging. It’s a clever concept, bringing together a group of young women who are at best side notes in the original classic fiction from which they and their fathers originate and placing them at center stage. As the author makes clear, these women cannot and and will not be thought of as scientific oddities; they are unique individuals, new and different and outside the norms of society, yet with rich inner lives and a strong will to set the course of their own lives.
The writing here is smart and quirky. The book is presented as the narrative of the women’s adventure as written by Catherine — but throughout the book, the others interject their comments and critiques, pointing out places where Catherine is being too flowery or dramatic, or where she’s getting the details wrong. Meanwhile, as Mary meets each new character, they get the chance to tell their own stories, and each one is powerful and fascinating.
There’s plenty of action, and quite a bit of humor. The Victorian setting works perfectly as a backdrop for the adventure. I always love stories of found families, and this one is a terrific example. All these women have been maltreated and discarded, but together, they form a new family in order to face the world together. As with any family, there are squabbles and disagreements and bickering, but at bedrock, there’s also love and support and protection — the whole is definitely greater than its parts.
There are two more books in the series, and I do intend to continue… although I may hold off for a little while, after realizing that book #2, European Travels for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, is over 700 pages. Still, I definitely want to see what happens next with this eccentric group of daring women!
Highly recommended! Fans of the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger and the Veronica Speedwell books by Deanna Raybourn will appreciate the setting, the bantering, and the role of the scientifically adventurous women. It’s all great fun — don’t miss it!
Back when I was doing a weekly Thursday Quotables post, this is what I came up with for Thanksgiving. And then revisiting Buffy’s Thanksgiving made me so happy that I just kept reposting it each year. Apparently I skipped it last year — but now it’s back! Here’s my very Buffy celebration of Thanksgiving quippiness.
Reblogging my Thanksgiving Thursday Quotables from last year (and the year before), since I really don’t think I can do better than celebrating with Buffy!
In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d depart book-world for this week’s Thursday Quotables post and turn instead to one of my very favorite Thanksgiving moments, the “Pangs” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Willow: Buffy, earlier you agreed with me about Thanksgiving. It’s a sham. It’s all about death
Buffy: It *is* a sham. But it’s a sham with yams. It’s a yam sham.
Willow: You’re not gonna jokey-rhyme your way out of this one.
Giles – “…It’s very common for Indian spirits to change to animal form.”
Buffy – “Yeah, well it’s plenty uncommon for me to freeze up during a fight. I mean, I had the guy, I was ready for the takedown and I stopped. And ‘Native American’.”
Giles – “Sorry?”
Buffy – “We don’t say ‘Indian’.”
Giles – “Oh, right. Yes, yes. Um, always behind on the terms. Still trying not to refer to you lot as ‘Bloody Colonials’.”
Wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving, filled with friends, family, laughter… and pie.
My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.
seria
Bookshelf Fantasies 