2016

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

What is there to say? I didn’t post much last week. Couldn’t. It was hard to read, hard to concentrate, hard to move beyond shock and dismay. Still haven’t, for that matter. But I do need the reassuring normalcy of spending time with books and keeping up my blog, so onward I go.

What did I read last week?

Faithful by Alice Hoffman: Done! I enjoyed Faithful while I was reading it, but really didn’t find it much more than just an okay read. The storyline doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny, and I never felt emotionally engaged. Granted, given the events of last week, I probably just wasn’t in the right mindset for character-driven storytelling.

A Love Like Blood by Marcus Sedgwick: Done! My review is here.

Flight by Sherman Alexie: Done! This was my audiobook listen for the week, and it was stunning. See my review, here.

I finished my Goodreads challenge!

I managed to reach one milestone this week — I completed my Goodreads challenge for 2016! As of mid-week, I hit my target of reading 150 books in 2016. Woo hoo!

I guess I can stop reading now until January. Ha. As if.

Fresh Catch:

A thoughtful friend sent me an Amazon giftcard a couple of months ago, and I finally used it to treat myself to this lovely book:

Plus, I picked up two other books I’ve had my eye on:

If you haven’t come across The Starlit Wood yet, I encourage you to check it out! It’s a collection of new fairy tales, with stories by an amazing list of writers including Seanan McGuire, Catherynne Valente, Naomi Novik, and many more.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton: Just getting started, but so far, so good!

Now playing via audiobook:

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi (read by Wil Wheaton): Given the state of the world, I couldn’t handle anything serious or upsetting, so a Scalzi/Wheaton audiobook sounded just about perfect to me. I’ve only listened to a little bit so far, but the expected silliness got me out of my own head for a little while.

Ongoing reads:

With my book group (2 chapters per week of each):

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon
A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway

So many books, so little time…

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13Nov2016

Take A Peek Book Review: A Love Like Blood by Marcus Sedgwick

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

‘I’ve chased him for over twenty years, and across countless miles, and though often I was running, there have been many times when I could do nothing but sit and wait. Now I am only desperate for it to be finished.’

In 1944, just days after the liberation of Paris, Charles Jackson sees something horrific: a man, apparently drinking the blood of a murdered woman. Terrified, he does nothing, telling himself afterwards that worse things happen in wars.

Seven years later he returns to the city – and sees the same man dining in the company of a fascinating young woman. When they leave the restaurant, Charles decides to follow…

A Love Like Blood is a dark, compelling thriller about how a man’s life can change in a moment; about where the desire for truth – and for revenge – can lead; about love and fear and hatred. And it is also about the question of blood.

My Thoughts:

Marcus Sedgwick is a prolific writer of unusual, often dark and disturbing YA fiction. A Love Like Blood is his first adult novel, and it’s not for the squeamish.

A Love Like Blood has the propulsive energy and desperate drive of a classic vampire story, although that’s not precisely what this is. The book’s heartbeat is the obsessive hunter’s drive to track down his prey, a figure representing ultimate evil, at whatever cost and over however many years it takes.

The pacing and sense of lurking doom and desperation remind me of books such as The Historian, or even Dracula itself. As I said, I wouldn’t exactly call this a vampire novel (nothing shiny or sparkly or supernaturally sexy here, to be sure), although the topic of vampires is broached as the main character tries to apply a scientific lens to a fascination with blood and what that means.

A Love Like Blood is about a man haunted by one fateful wartime moment, whose life eventually becomes singularly focused on what he saw and what it means, and his quest to punish the man whose actions hang over every moment he experiences from that point forward.

The horror here is mostly psychological, although there are some more graphic moments too. Definitely not a fun or pleasant read, but well worth checking out if you enjoy tales of obsession and dread. A Love Like Blood is creepy and chilling, and impossible to put down.

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The details:

Title: A Love Like Blood
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Publication date: August 28, 2014
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Horror
Source: Purchased

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12Nov2016

Audiobook Review: Flight by Sherman Alexie

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Sherman Alexie is one of our most gifted and accomplished storytellers and a treasured writer of huge national stature. His first novel in ten years is the hilarious and tragic portrait of an orphaned Indian boy who travels back and forth through time in a charged search for his true identity. With powerful and swift, prose, Flight follows this troubled foster teenager–a boy who is not a “legal” Indian because he was never claimed by his father–as he learns that violence is not the answer.

The journey for Flight‘s young hero begins as he’s about to commit a massive act of violence. At the moment of decision, he finds himself shot back through time to resurface in the body of an FBI agent during the civil rights era, where he sees why “Hell is Red River, Idaho, in the 1970s.” Red River is only the first stop in an eye-opening trip through moments in American history. He will continue traveling back to inhabit the body of an Indian child during the battle at Little Bighorn and then ride with an Indian tracker in the nineteenth century before materializing as an airline pilot jetting through the skies today. During these furious travels through time, his refrain grows: “Who’s to judge?” and “I don’t understand humans.” When finally, blessedly, our young warrior comes to rest again in his own life, he is mightily transformed by all he has seen.

This is Sherman Alexie at his most brilliant–making us laugh while he’s breaking our hearts. Time Out has said that “Alexie, like his characters, is on a modern-day vision quest,” and in Flight he seeks nothing less than an understanding of why human beings hate. Flight is irrepressible, fearless, and groundbreaking Alexie.

Flight is a stunning, powerful look at seemingly unending cycles of violence, betrayal, and revenge.

Told through the voice of Zits, a 15-year-old half-Indian foster child who’s on the fast track toward a bloody end, Flight lets us inside the mind of a character who’s been neglected, abused, and repeatedly failed by the meager systems that are meant to protect him. When we first meet him, Zits is living in yet another foster home with people who don’t care a whit about him. He’s plagued by terrible skin, which is one of countless things that never get fixed for him because he’s just a kid in the system and no one wants to invest the time or money to improve his life. His favorite word is “whatever”, and it sums up his attitude completely. He’s done caring.

When Zits end up in juvie yet again, he meets a strange and magnetic white boy who calls himself Justice, who seems to understand Zits and his struggles in a way no one else ever has. Justice introduces Zits to guns and the means to take revenge for the years of his own miserable life, as well as all the many years of wrongs done to his people.

As Zits pulls the trigger in a heinous act of mass murder, he starts his journey through time and space, landing in the bodies of other people at critical times of violence. In some cases, he’s the one committing atrocities; at other times, he’s a victim. Through each episode, Zits is both witness and participant in acts of great violence, experiencing first-hand the destructive power of people’s quest for vengeance.

Listening to Flight is a particularly chilling experience. Narrator Adam Beach gives Zits an appropriately adolescent voice, yet is also able to shift — as Zits shifts — into an adult FBI agent, an Indian tracker, a downtrodden drunk, and a modern-day cop, each with a distinct personality and style of expression. The narrator’s portrayal of Zits’s increasingly despairing and horrified mindset is powerful. He captures the pain and suffering that Zits sees, as well as the pain of the recovered memories of Zits’s earlier life and the lives of others.

It’s a blessing, I suppose, that Flight is a relatively short book. It’s an intense experience, and doesn’t need to be distilled at all by lengthening the story. Even though the narrative is full of terrible events, Zits’s voice and unique perspective lends the audiobook rare moments of lightness as well. It’s not an easy book or listening experience, but Flight is well worth the emotional investment you’ll have made by the end.

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The details:

Title: Flight
Author: Sherman Alexie
Narrator: Adam Beach
Publisher: Grove Atlantic Black Cat
Publication date: 2007
Audiobook length: 4 hours, 40 minutes
Printed book length: 208 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased

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9Nov2016

The morning after

Posted in Family & Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Shock. Dismay. Disconnection from reality. Inability to focus.

I can’t even.

So, I’ll just leave this here for now. The opening moments pretty much say it all.

8Nov2016

Happy Election Day!

Posted in Family & Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Due to my inability to think about much today except the election, my regular weekly features — Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables — will not be happening this week. If you’re participating in either meme this week, please leave your post link in the comments!

Meanwhile…

It’s a day of pride, excitement, anticipation, and anxiety. I don’t remember ever feeling this way on election day before. It’s scary, and exhilarating, and it’s history in the making.

Of course, here in California, there are other issues on the ballot besides our next President, such as school bonds, plastic bags, soda taxes, and…

Still, we all know what’s at stake. I don’t use my blog to get political, but today’s a big day, and I can’t wait to cast my vote for our next President.

and therefore:

Happy Election Day, all!

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7Nov2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten books added to my (never-ending) TBR list – fall 2016 edition

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Ten Books I’ve Added To My To-Be-Read List Lately. My TBR list seems to grow and grow, almost by magic! In no particular order, here are ten books I’ve added in the last month or so:

1)Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady’s Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners by Therese Oneill: A non-fiction book actually makes my TBR! A look at the nitty gritty details of Victorian women’s lives sounds too good to miss.

2) The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan: A friend just recommended this one, and I have to admit, it sounds perfect for me.

3) The Taxidermist’s Daughter by Kate Mosse: I just happened to pick this book up when there was a Kindle price drop. The description says it’s “a chilling and spooky Gothic historical thriller “. Works for me.

4) Extreme Makeover by Dan Wells: Creepy, satirical sci fi. I love the description – can’t wait to see if the book lives up to its billing.

5) The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian: Okay, I’ll read anything by this author at this point.

6) Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman: Yes, please.

7) Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire: A follow up to Every Heart a Doorway, which was one of my very favorite things this year.

8) Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart: Book 2 about the Kopp Sisters, after the terrific Girl Waits With Gun. I won this in a giveaway, and have been waiting for the right moment to dive in.

9) What Light by Jay Asher: A new book by the author of Thirteen Reasons Why. Tissue box is ready, so let me at it.

10) Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton: I’m not sure that I know what this book is about, but I’ve read enough of the synopsis to be intrigued.

Have you read any of my TBR books already? What books made your list this week?

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out my regular weekly feature, Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

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7Nov2016

The Monday Check-In ~ 11/7/2016

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

What did I read last week?

Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst: Done! My review is here.

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison: Done! My review is here.

Paris For One & Other Stories by Jojo Moyes: A sweet, light selection of short stories, with a focus on romance and relationships. The title story is the lengthiest and most enjoyable, focusing on a cautious young woman who takes a big risk on a weekend in Paris and learns to reinvent herself and her life. The other stories are a mixed bag — some kind of sweet, some with more of a tart commentary on mid-life marriages, disappointments, and adjustments of expectations. A nice little light diversion for fans of the author.

In audiobooks:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: I just finished my audiobook re-read of HP5, and loved it. I’m writing up some thoughts, and will post a bit later this week.

Pop culture goodness:

I went to see John Cleese and Eric Idle, and had a brilliant time. They’re both in their 70s at this point, but neither has lost a bit of the charm and silliness that we all know and love.

Fresh Catch:

One new book this week:

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Faithful by Alice Hoffman: This feels like “classic” Hoffman, and one chapter in, I’m really enjoying it.

Now playing via audiobook:

Flight by Sherman Alexie: Just getting started!

Ongoing reads:

With my book group (2 chapters per week of each):

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon
A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway

So many books, so little time…

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5Nov2016

Take A Peek Book Review: The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

The apocalypse will be asymmetrical.

In the aftermath of a plague that has decimated the world population, the unnamed midwife confronts a new reality in which there may be no place for her. Indeed, there may be no place for any woman except at the end of a chain. A radical rearrangement is underway. With one woman left for every ten men, the landscape that the midwife travels is fraught with danger. She must reach safety— but is it safer to go it alone or take a chance on humanity? The friends she makes along the way will force her to choose what’s more important. Civilization stirs from the ruins, taking new and experimental forms. The midwife must help a new world come into being, but birth is always dangerous… and what comes of it is beyond anyone’s control.

My Thoughts:

The whole sub-genre of post-apocalyptic fiction may be well and truly played out. Certainly, there’s very little in The Book of the Unnamed Midwife that we haven’t seen before. That doesn’t mean that this isn’t a worthwhile read, but it’s hard to say that it covers much new ground.

On the plus side, the storyline has at its center an interesting, strong female lead character. She refuses to become a victim, and makes it her priority to help the few surviving women maintain what little control they can over their lives. The depiction of the horror inflicted upon the small number of females left after the plague is chilling and very disturbing.

On the negative end, the writing style is a little uneven. The text is made up of both diary entries and third person narration of the midwife’s journeys. The diary entries for the main character are jerky and full of symbols, and the transition between these and the actual action of the narrative isn’t always smooth.

I was interested enough in the overall story to stick with it despite some clunky moments and the pieces that simply try too hard to deliver the book’s agenda. The supporting characters add a nice variety to the story, showing the different types of lives left after the disaster, and I thought it was a chilling touch to include an omniscient narrator’s recounting of what ended up happening to all of these secondary characters after their paths diverge from that of the main character.

I do recommend this book for readers who find dystopian/post-apocalyptic worlds meaningful. For me, while this bleak and often disturbing book held my attention, I can’t help but compare it to other (okay, I’ll say it — better) books with similar themes.

Interested in other post-apocalyptic novels? Here are a few of my favorites:
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (review)
Parable of the Sower by Olivia Butler
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan (review)
Into the Forest by Jean Hegland
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (review)

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The details:

Title: The Book of the Unnamed Midwife
Author: Meg Elison
Publisher: Sybaritic Press
Publication date: June 5, 2014
Length: 190 pages
Genre: Dystopian/post-apocalyptic
Source: Library

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2Nov2016

Thursday Quotables: Harmony

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

NEW! Thursday Quotables is now using a Linky tool! Be sure to add your link if you have a Thursday Quotables post to share.

Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst
(published 2016)

I loved this short but powerful novel about family, trust, hope, and love. My review is here… and here are two small samples that show some of the book’s terrific writing:

Happiness, as it exists in the wild — as opposed to those artificially constructed moments like weddings and birthday parties, where it’s gathered into careful piles — is not smooth. Happiness in the real world is mostly just resilience and a willingness to arch oneself toward optimism. To believe that people are more good than bad. To believe that the waves carrying you are neither friendly nor malicious, and to know that you’re less likely to drown if you stop struggling against them.

I liked this reflection on our digital lives:

Look at your Google history, and there it is, your mind, all its secret curves rolled out flat, like a map. Preoccupations and idle curiosities, mottled hopes and scribbled-out fantasies beating wildly on the screen. Everything you were, are, could be.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click on the linky button (look for the cute froggie face) below to add your link.
After you link up, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week.
Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!

1Nov2016

Shelf Control #58: The Pigeon Pie Mystery

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome to the newest weekly feature here at Bookshelf Fantasies… Shelf Control!

Shelf Control is all about the books we want to read — and already own! Consider this a variation of a Wishing & Waiting post… but looking at books already available, and in most cases, sitting right there on our shelves and e-readers.

Want to join in? See the guidelines and linky at the bottom of the post, and jump on board! Let’s take control of our shelves!

My Shelf Control pick this week is:

Title: The Pigeon Pie Mystery
Author: Julia Stuart
Published: 2012
Length: 336 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

When Indian Princess Alexandrina is left penniless by the sudden death of her father, the Maharaja of Brindor, Queen Victoria grants her a grace-and-favor home in Hampton Court Palace. Though rumored to be haunted, Alexandrina and her lady’s maid, Pooki, have no choice but to take the Queen up on her offer.

Aside from the ghost sightings, Hampton Court doesn’t seem so bad. The princess is soon befriended by three eccentric widows who invite her to a picnic with all the palace’s inhabitants, for which Pooki bakes a pigeon pie. But when General-Major Bagshot dies after eating said pie, and the coroner finds traces of arsenic in his body, Pooki becomes the #1 suspect in a murder investigation.

Princess Alexandrina isn’t about to let her faithful servant hang. She begins an investigation of her own, and discovers that Hampton Court isn’t such a safe place to live after all.

With her trademark wit and charm, Julia Stuart introduces us to an outstanding cast of lovable oddballs, from the palace maze-keeper to the unconventional Lady Beatrice (who likes to dress up as a toucan—don’t ask), as she guides us through the many delightful twists and turns in this fun and quirky murder mystery. Everyone is hiding a secret of the heart, and even Alexandrina may not realize when she’s caught in a maze of love.

How I got it:

I found a copy on the $1 table at my library’s last big book sale.

When I got it:

Last year.

Why I want to read it:

I remember hearing about this book a few years ago, and thought it sounded like a light, adorable read. So, when I saw it on the mystery table at the book sale for just a dollar, I had to grab it! I’m really looking forward to reading this one, and will keep it in mind for when I need something cute and breezy.

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Want to participate in Shelf Control? Here’s how: