Here's to Us

I just finished Here's to Us.  Elin Hilderband is my go-to summer beach read. I think it's because all of her books are set in Nantucket. This latest is about a chef who has died in his summer home in Nantucket.  There was also a call back to another story where one of the wives of the chef tries to buy a house from what I think is a character from one of her previous books.

Inoffensively enjoyable.  Predictable. I am going to go back to my seasonal/periodic re-read of the All Souls Trilogy which I love.

The Summer Before the War

Helen Simonson's latest book, The Summer Before the War, was surprising. I enjoyed her previous novel (Major Pettigrew) but this wasn't high on my must-read. The book is set in a Sussex town in the year before World War I.  It's almost a cross between Downton Abbey and well.... Downton Abbey..

Hugh, the nephew of a gentry family,  and Beatrice, a latin teacher, experience an array of "adventures" worthy of Julian Fellowes.  The book deals lightly with social change, including two sets of LGBT characters.  In the end there are deaths as a result of the war.

The book was slow, but the end was satisfying.

Eleanor

A good cover can make all the difference.

Eleanor had a great cover.  I know you shouldn't pick a book by it's cover, but I am certainly guilty of that. I loved this simplicity of this -- the eyes, the tears, what might be a face as the land.  Too bad the story itself didn't deliver in the way I wanted it too.  In this story, Eleanor, named after her grandmother committed suicide continues to dip into and out of time and a dream realm to right a wrong. Her twin sister died when they were six, and Eleanor has lived with the  repercussions of that ever since. I don't know. I didn't care about the dream state. Time travel, when handled in an interesting manner is interesting. But here, it was a plot device.  I also wanted a definitive answer about what happens to Eleanor or Esmeralda AFTER the reset. Alas, such a wish was unfulfilled.

Friction

Friction is an entirely mindless romance novel. After reading All the Birds in the Sky, I wanted something that I could read without really thinking about.  That was definitely this.  

I will admit, I like romance as a genre because it's so plot intensive. You are pulled into the story and, when done well, the conventions of the genre are played with. That was not the case with this book. Female judge, Texas ranger, bad guy trying to get revenge.  Five days of trying to protect someone. Steamy sex. The end.  I read it in a couple of hours.  Was it "worth it"?  I don't know. It was definitely mindless entertainment. If reading is good for you, then this was like eating a bag of cheetos.

All the Birds in the Sky

I definitely wanted to like All the Birds in Sky more than I actually did. This allegorical novel that takes on Magic vs. Science just felt overwrought. Patricia and Laurence are looking for ways to solve the problems humans have started, just using different mechanisms to figure it out. It took forever for me to finish this book, yet I couldn't NOT finish it. Which, I guess means it was fine. Or fine enough.   A little silly and pretentious with a doomsday machines and magic unravellings. Enh.

Best quote:  "Boredom is the mind's scar tissue."

Best quote runner up: "Children are adults who haven't yet learned to make fear their hand puppet"  (but like most of this book, it sounds good but on further inspection actually makes no sense) 

Stiletto

Stiletto is the long awaited sequel to Daniel O'Malley's excellent and fun book The Rook.  When I say long awaited, I am in no way exaggerating -- this book has taken many years to come out.  This book picks up with Myfanwy Thomas plowing ahead uniting two organizations (The Checquy and The Grafters) that deal in a shadow world of improbable creatures.

The book introduces two new badass females Felicity and Odette as well as a terrorist organization that is working to destabilize The Grafters and strike out at the Checquy. While I appreciated a lot of the backstory, there was so much exposition that some times the plot felt bogged down.

I still laughed aloud a few times and I was consistently pulled back into the plot. This is a fun sci-fi book and very worth a read, but be sure to read the first book first!

Haggis and Tank Unleashed #1: All Paws on Desk

This book is about two dogs Haggis  and Tank who have a wild imagination they pretend to be pirates a wagon as a ship.They find a map in an bottle and sail to find the treasure but they don't a sea serpent sails toward them."Abandon ship" said Captain Scurvy said.

I like this book because Captain Scurvy said"Abandon ship".

The Book of Speculation

I am so torn about Erika Swyler's Book of Speculation.  It hits a lot of the right notes for me: magical realism, circus, mermaids.  It has beautiful lush language.  But.... the dual stories were boring. And I didn't ultimately care.  And I could see the ending coming from 250 pages away.

Simon receives a book that chronicles some of his ancestor's life. He is convinced that the curse he discovers will put his younger sister, Enola, at risk.  He believes she may try to commit suicide within days if the familial cycle holds true.

But nope. I didn't care. I didn't care about Amos and Evangeline (but I did love their names).  I didn't care about Enola and Doyle. I just didn't care. I think there are some truly beautiful language and perhaps I need to celebrate that instead?

"There's a danger with books. Text often breeds a notion of infallibility. It's easy for someone like you or me to get lost in an object, to accept certain ideas as fact without proper exploration." (180)

"We carry our families like anchors, rooting us in storms, making sure we never rift from where and who we are. We carry our families within us the way we carry our breath underwater, keeping us afloat, keeping us alive." (330)  

"There are things you do for people you've known your whole life.  You let them save you, you put them in your books and you let each other begin again, clean." (339) 

Kung Pow Chicken #1: Let's Get Cracking

Kung Pow Chicken is about two superhero chickens who solve problems and fight bad guys. Gordon
and Benny get superpowers by solving a problem. Gordon can hear the sound.  Granny's  plan is to
steal the feathers from the chickens so they will buy the sweaters she knits.

--Grace

Skullduggery Pleasant #1

In this book Stephanie and Skullduggery Pleasant [Who was a skeleton] stop a evil sorcerer who tries to awake the faceless ones. First Stephanie's uncle dies and then she meet's Skullduggery Pleasant who is a skeleton and detective. Next, they rush off to stop the evil sorcerer who has a army. Then, they stop the evil sorcerer from destroying.

I liked this book because Skullduggery  was also a detective.

--Noah

The Immortals

In my theme of reading books that Deborah Harkness has blurbed, I picked up The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky up.

This is a fantasy book that is painstaking researched to match classical literature. It's like Percy Jackson for grown ups, with more death and sex and a little bit more boring.

Artemis is a vigilante, protecting women who are abused.  While walking her dog, she finds a body and realizes that someone is ritualistically killing women as a sacrifice akin to the "old days."  Her journey puts her in contact with an academic classicist (yes, it's a thing).  She has to get in touch with her family, the other immortals, in order to solve the case.

The plot twist was genuinely interesting and surprising. Some parts dragged a bit, but I still finished the book in  a day or so.

Dragon Masters 4: Power of the Fire Dragon

What happens in this book?
Drake and Rori do not go to Arkwood to show off their dragons.  Maldred comes to the castle on a four-headed dragon.  Maldred tries to take the dragons.  Drake and Worm and Vulcan and Rori defend the castle.  Griffith captures Maldred and send him to magical prison.

Why do you think Maldred wanted Worm so badly?
He wanted to capture Worm because he wanted to use the red dragon stone to control Worm. If he controlled Worm, then he could use Worm's mind power.

What was the most exciting part of the story?
The  most exciting part of the story is when they battled Maldred.


--Grace

Fates and Furies

I have a paragraph left, but I'm absolutely okay reviewing Fates and Furies without finishing it completely.  This story of the marriage of Lotto and Mathilde was mostly....wildly over the top, yet also realistic in that it captured the sheer amount of compromise relationships require.

The story is told in two parts. Lotto gets the first crack.  He is a mess of a person: entitled, privileged, for the most part buffeted from consequences. His long suffering wife manages everything for him and in fact infantilizes him to a certain extent (and is accused of same). There is the occasional foreshadowing of the tale she will tell.

The second half is Mathilde's story which shows her to be vengeful, and difficult and malignant. You get the sense that she lived a lie of omission for so long.

People will compare this to Gone Girl, which I hated, but I think it's more unsettling and interesting. The writing itself is clever. The relationship is almost Shakespearean (think Macbeth) or mythic.

I enjoyed it.

Beatrice and Benedick

I gave up on this one. It was supposed to be a prequel to my favorite couple from Much Ado About Nothing.   There were pieces of Othello and Romeo and Juliet embedded in, along with entertaining of a crackpot theory of Shakespeare authorship. 

I just didn't care enough to finish it.  When I got to the Spanish Armada, Calvinism, the expulsion of the Moors and possible Cervantes, I realized what a sprawling mess this was.

Not worth finishing.

Spirit Animals: Blood Ties

What happens in this book? 
In book this Mielin runs back to her father to fight the Conquers but first she has to go through a bamboo maze.Meanwhile Conor, Abeke and Rollon were practicing climbing with the granite ram. Abeke went first up the cliff.

Why did you choose to read it?
Because I was reading the whole series and that was the third book.  I chose this series because I read the first book a little while ago.

What did you like about it?
I like that the four children eventually meet up again.

What was the best part?
When Rollon recovered from the poison darts is the best part because he is healthy again.

-- Noah

The Madwoman Upstairs

I have just finished my favorite novel of the year.  For all of you former APES, especially those of you who liked Jane Eyre, I really cannot recommend The Madwoman Upstairs highly enough.

This debut novel is a combination of academic adventure, literary treasure hunt, and family novel. I know. It sounds weird and it is. Samantha Whipple is the last descendent of the Bronte family. She enrolls in Oxford as a literature student.  While there, she is forced to face the death of her father who left behind clues that help her unravel an academic mystery.  And there is a romance. And it has a lot of funny pokes at literary criticism.

I know. I KNOW. I'm not really convincing you. But Catherine Lowell does an excellent job capturing the incisive observations of her narrator. Moreover, the language she uses and the analogies she draws are startling and often bitingly funny.   For example, she describes Samantha's father hate-frying bacon by writing:  "Dad was a vegetarian, but he enjoyed the way bacon self-destructed in the pan by stewing in its own grease -- like all liars, cowards, and idiots, he used to say."

I love how she skewers some aspects of academia. When Samantha's tutor accuses her of being desperately alone and that is why this madcap mystery is compelling her to act she responds,  "I don't think you're allowed to blame me for attaching significance to imaginary things. Not when you teach literature."

I'm not sure who the audience genuinely is for this book, outside of lit teacher and those who couldn't get enough  Jane Eyre.  I really enjoyed it (and dog-eared the heck out of it).  Highly recommend.

Tracked

It seems I'm in the midst of lots of YA this summer. I finished Tracked today which was fun to read.  A sci-fi, dystopian (because, OF COURSE) with a scrappy heroine who makes some mistakes but is poised to save the world. Sound familiar?  Sure in that Divergent/Hunger Games Way.

Except this one also has street racing.

Buh?

Some of the language stopped me in my tracks to think. But nope. If this is your genre, then I highly recommend because it is compelling, right down to the played out love triangle.  I just need to read something else for a bit.  In fact, I think I need some good old fashioned romance.

The Japanese Lover

I have long read Isabel Allende's writing. I remember reading House of Spirits and being so deeply moved by it when I was just out of high school. I loved her generosity and her ways of helping voice stories that were unusual.

The Japanese Lover was sitting in my book box (where I keep my library books) and it was not jumping out as things to read. I had to force myself to pick it up. I'm mostly glad I did. This books follows Irina, who is working at a senior living facility and Alma, a woman she works for.  Alma escaped the Nazis, moved to San Francisco and fell in love with the son of the Japanese gardener. While Alma's memories unfold, we also learn about Irina leaving Moldova, living with her mother and abusive stepfather and her own travails overcoming some seriously damaging experiences.

The characters were nice enough, but it felt like the conflicts of this book (acceptance, thwarted true love, aging) were more set dressing than actual conflict. It was slow in places, though Allende's language was still wonderful. I'm  not sure I was mistaken to let this book languish in the box for so long.

Conspiracy of Us

I just finished Conspiracy of Us.  If I had to give it an elevator pitch, I'd say this book is like 39 Clues for young adults and sexier.

I don't believe in conspiracies in the least. I generally think people are to venal or to self obsessed to be willing to work together to pull one over on the world.  So that's the first issue I have.

But the second is how much of this book is an exposition mess. Since Avery, the main character, has to be our stand in to figure out what the hell is going on in this world, there is just too much of people talking at her.  Enough.

I would like to, though, examine why YA books that have a chosen one be a girl holds such appeal. Is it because teen girls are so otherwise disenfranchised that they feel powerless and this feeds into needing to read about under-estimated young women with bottomless power?

Dragon Masters 3: Secret of the Water Dragon

Why does someone want to steal the Dragon Stone?
Bo tried to steal the dragon stone because he wanted to give the dragon stone to the Emperor Song because Emperor Song was holding Bo's parents in prison and he wanted to free them.

Describe the Raven Guards.  What are they like? 
The raven guards wear black masks. They also wear black clothes.  They have swords and are spies.  They look like ninjas.

--Grace

Dragon Masters 5: Songs of the Poison Dragon

What happened in this story?
Petra the new dragon master and her hydra meet in the dragon cave and Petra does not name the hydra at once.Then, the next day the king and queen visit the dragon masters the hydra spews poison all over the king .The dragon masters look for a cure in a book it says that the poison can be cured by the same dragon who poisoned the thing/person.

Who is Petra?
Petra is the new dragon master has the hydra.

How do the other Dragon Masters feel about Petra?
At first they feel frustrated that Petra is such a know it all but then they get used to it.

After the hydra poisons the king, would you have taken sides with the villagers?  Why or why not?
No.Because Petra just began to have a hydra.

My Name is Lucy Barton

I remember reading Elizabeth Stout's book, Olive Kitteridge when it first came out. I liked it, but that's all I remember of it.  Stout's new book, My Name Is Lucy Barton has been receiving good press so when it popped up on my holds list, I was pretty excited.

The book is a quick read.  The frame of the story is that Lucy is hospitalized due to a post-operative infection and her mother comes to see her. What is most interesting in this narrative is what is left unsaid.

I often jokingly say that I have a hard time figuring out what is satire at times, given the times in which we read.  That also holds true with this book. This book examines a bunch of Things That Are Written About including AIDS, abuse, poverty, death. 

But the part that moved me was the examination of what story means. Stout in fact writes, "You will only have one story. You'll write your story in many ways."  I guess it moves me because it reminds me how Hamilton acknowledges the power of your narrative.

Dragon Masters #2: Saving the Sun Dragon

Kepri, the Sun Dragon, is sick because Maldred, the bad wizard, sent a red orb that attacked the dragons. In order to heal Kepri, she needed to see her twin Moon Dragon, Wati.  Drake's dragon, Worm, saved Kepri because he used mind magic to have them travel to the pyramid, where Wati was.  Wati heals Kepri and Worm helps them escape from the robbers.

Drake tells a lie to the king at the end in order to protect the dragon masters, the dragons, Griffith the wizard. They all agree to work together in order to fight Maldred.

I liked that it had fighting.

--Grace

Serpent's Shadow

An Interview with Noah about Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan.

What happened?

In this book Carter and Sadie work together to defeat the huge snake.They go to a dance to get their morales up.Also, they defeat the snake with part of the snakes soul.


What did you like about the book?

I liked that Carter and Sadie had to work together to defeat the snake

Who was your favorite character and why?

Zia because she was ate bye a snake and survived.

What are you reading next?

I don't know.

Gathering of Shadows

For the past three days I have been reading Victoria Schwab's The Gathering of Shadows.  This book, which takes place in Red London (as opposed to what we might think of Grey London) deals with two characters that are separated and then reunited at a magic tournament.   I know. It sounds nuts, but it reminded me of some of Night Circus, crossed with Goblet of Fire with the moral ambiguity of Game of Thrones.

When I started the book, it felt like I was stepping into a world that I wasn't sure how to navigate. Characters and places were mentioned without fanfare or enough grounding. I stayed for the characters though. I was intrigued by Lilah, a truly morally ambiguous thief.  I loved that Kell, a magician, was riddled with uncertainty over how to handle his obligations.

The more I read, I eventually realized this wasn't a standalone book. In fact, it's book of a series or trilogy. I'm now in an interesting place of realizing that I don't necessarily need to go back to read book 1 because I have already mostly figured out what happened. The bigger question is if I'll read book 3 when it is released.  I have a while, because this one is new.

My next book is My Name is Lucy Barton which I stated at the gym this morning.

Saving the Sun Dragon

In saving the sun dragon the four dragon masters try to help  the sun dragon because the sun dragon was sick and Worm Drake's dragon takes them  to some pyramids. They meet a boy with a moon dragon. Some robbers notice the dragon masters in the pyramid.

I liked that the Sun Dragon met the Moon Dragon and they both have rainbow powers. 

--Noah

Warriors: Midnight

In this book cats from different clans face danger. Cat get a dream about danger in their clans from Star Clan. They set out without telling their leaders of the clan to find out what the danger is. They met a badger named Midnight.

I liked that the cats try and find out what the danger is before warning their clan about the danger.

--Noah

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

In this chapter, the letters that I think are from Dumbledore keep arriving every time Vernon Dursley tries to stop Harry from getting them. Vernon acts mad about the letters to Harry, including taking them away from Harry, ripping the letters up, nailing up the doorslot, leaving the house, and going to an island.

Harry feels annoyed because he wants the letters because they are his letters.

I predict that he is going to go to Hogwarts school.

--Grace

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

This book is about Harry Potter. On Dudley's birthday, Harry is asleep. His Aunt wakes up Dudley and gives him a breakfast with bacon. She gives Dudley a trip to the zoo, and Harry has to go too. They see a snake at the zoo and Dudley is mean to Harry and pushes him on the hip. Something happens and the snake escapes. Harry gets in trouble for the snake escaping. I feel sorry for Harry because he was in trouble. --Grace

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix

This book is about wizards and witches in their 5th year. Harry and Ron go to Hogwarts and Professor Snape is already there. Harry and they go to the Great Hall and Dumbledore announces that they have a new teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Her name was Professor Umbridge she was bad. When you got detention she would make you write lines with your blood. --Noah

Traitor Angels

I have just finished Traitor Angels. This historical fiction is set in 1666 in England which was a time of political intrigue. England had just undergone a civil war, a removal of the monarchy, then a restoration of the monarchy and all its attendant problems.

This book is told through the eyes of a fictitious daughter of the political writer and poet John Milton. As I said in my previous post, Milton was blind and dictated his work to his daughters who then transcribed it for him. In this book, Milton is taken by King Charles for writing about something in his great work Paradise Lost. This epic poem talks about the rebellion of Satan against God and the fall of man.

Anyhow, this book was sort of nerdy fun because it uses Paradise Lost as a source of clues, sort of like the Da Vinci code with less Bible and more Paradise Lost. Elizabeth, the fictitious daughter, teams up with the apprentice of an apprentice of Galileo and Robert, an illegitimate son of King Charles, in order to solve the mystery of what her father hid is in his poem. Since the poem provides the clues, this is sort of a love letter to close reading. It's exciting but not exactly a fun romp.

My next book is A Gathering of Shadows which should provide more fun romp as it's the story with pirates and magic! Sounds a bit like Princess Bride to me.

Dragon Masters #1: Rise of the Earth Dragon

This book is about when a soldier picks up Drake and takes him on a horse to King Roland's castle. Drake learns that he got a dragon named Worm and he is a earth dragon.  At first, Drake feels like he's not a Dragon Master, but then he meets Griffith, a wizard.  Griffith gives him a shiny dragon stone which lights up some times when Drake and Worm share thoughts.

One event in this story is when they get trapped in the tunnel. So, Rori's dragon was trying to push the rocks over, but he couldn't do it. So Drake's dragon Worm blew up the rocks and saved the four dragon masters.

I like this book because it was talking about dragons. I want to read the rest of the books the series.

--Grace

Big Nate Makes the Grade

Nate and his friends Francis and Teddy start from the start of school to summer vacation.Nate looks for lucky socks in a store.He finds them he puts them on his feet.But they aren't as lucky as he thinks.

--Noah

Into the Gauntlet

Amy and Dan search for a clue in the theater. The play is about Shakespeare. Some other teams are in the audience already. Amy and Dan watch the play.  At the end of the play there was a paper that the other teams fought over.

I like this book so far because Amy and Dan are searching for clues to get a new lead in the hunt.

--Noah

Rain Forest Explored

This book is about where the rain forest is.  First the speaker lands in Brazil and then she reads a magazine about people cutting trees down. Then she learns about  Kuhikugu, which is a village that has disappeared in the rain forest. She learns about food like maniooc, which is a soft potato.

We also learn that Amazon is hot and it is a rain forest because it rains a lot. She travels on the Rio Branco, which means white river. Piranhas are fish that are dangerous that live in the river.

--Grace

The Girl at Midnight, Part II

Last night, I abandoned the book because I realized I just didn't care about what happened to the characters at all. Giving up on books makes me feel like someone who is sort of a giving-up loser...

I'm starting Traitor Angels, which is a historical fiction about John Milton's daughter. Milton wrote a really long poem called Paradise Lost but he was going blind the entire time he was writing. He would dictate what he wanted written to his daughter who would copy it all down.

I actually can't wait to get into this book. Will keep you posted.

The Girl at Midnight

The Girl at Midnight is another YA book that I put a hold on for reasons that are hard to remember. The cover is cool. Is that the reason I chose this?

I'm not very far into it as I started it last night and I didn't go to the gym (treadmill = prime reading). It's a fantasy, where there are bird people and dragon people (not like Mother of Dragons/Game of Thrones stuff). There is a mystery trying to find a firedrake (because of the All Souls Trilogy that starts with Discovery of Witches, I kinda dig firedrakes) and a quasi romance between an orphan and a halfblood. It's all pretty boiler plate. But the world is somewhat interesting.

Fantasy is a hard genre for me. I often pretend that I don't like fantasy, yet I love Harry Potter. And I can't think of a series I'd rather reread than the aforementioned All Souls or Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone. So I CLEARLY read fantasy a lot. But I'm particular about it. Flying people or bird people? Enh, NSM. It's enjoyable so far but I'll have to report back tomorrow when I finish it.

The Way Back to You

Before I begin, you should know I'm trying to read as much as I can. I've been solidly reading almost a book a day for the past week. I'm not really choosing things that are challenging, but I'm reading anything that is remotely interesting. I read mostly at the gym and after my kids go to bed so it's sort of ruining my ability to be productive. That means less baking and cleaning and more slounging around.

The way I have been selecting reading is that I keep looking at blogs, like Voya and adding what's on their list to my To Be Read pile (known as my TBR). Then I add them into my holds queue at the public library. When they come in I have been reading them as fast as possible because my list is so huge. Sometimes, though, I forget why I added them to the list. When I start reading, I keep wondering, "Good lord, why did I want to read this?"

That was certainly the case with The Way Back to You. The blurb for this book is that Kyle and Cloudy go on a field trip when Ashlyn (Kyle's GF and Cloudy's BF) dies. They realize they actually need closure so they go on a zany roadtrip and they realize they need to date each other. Blah blah blah.

Things I liked: I LOVE the nickname Cloudy for a girl named Claudia.

Things I disliked: Not much. I mean, I know I gave it a lame blurb, but it was pretty good.

Pretty fluffy.

Welcome!

This summer I'm planning on doing nothing but relaxing and reading. I know that there are plenty of times when my students get stuck on what to read, so I thought I'd share what I'm reading here.

My kids will also share their books. Most likely if you see the label Kids Book, then the post was written by Noah or Grace. They will also be in the tags.

Feel free to poke around and also to comment with suggestions for what to read. I'd also love to know what you are reading.