Book Round-Up: Where Does the Time Go?

 Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher: Kingfisher's novella is a decidedly unusual retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with a heroine who is about as far from a Disney princess as you could imagine. Instead of the usual tropes, the story focuses on the folk idea of changelings and how that can devastate a family. It's melancholy and touching, odd and funny. 

Around the World in Eighty Games by Marcus du Sautoy: du Sautoy is a mathematician with a longstanding fascination with games, and here he gives an overview of the history of gaming. As you might guess from the title, he covers games from every part of the globe and as far back as the third millennium BC. His insight into why humans play games was good, although when he strayed into meaning-of-life philosophy he fumbled a bit.

The Art of Vanishing by Morgan Pager: This was an interesting premise -- painted figures come to life when people aren't watching, and some people can even enter the paintings -- but the resulting story was just ok; The pacing was better suited to a thriller (this wasn't) and the love story wasn't very strong.

The Mythmakers by John Hendrix: An interesting graphic novel on the fruitful (and fraught) relationship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, with digressions into the nature of myth, fairy tales, and folk tales. I had known about the Inklings, of course, but reading about the deterioration of their relationship (due to religious and literary differences, changing life circumstances, and human frailties) was sad. One hopes they are now reunited, their friendship restored to its full glory.

Golden Age Bibliomysteries by Otto Penzler, ed.: A collection of mysteries set amongst librarians, booksellers, and collectors. Sometimes the bookish element was a McGuffin, other times integral to the plot. Stories by Lawrence G. Blochman, Anthony Boucher, and Cornell Woolrich were standouts. 

Hellboy v. 5-7: Love 'em. With volume 5, the initial storyline is over -- Hellboy is no longer fated to bring about the apocalypse and he's no longer a member of BPRD. Instead we get his adventures, past and present, along with Mignola's trademark folk horror and humor. 

Book Round-Up

 Cold Clay by Juneau Black: Sad to say, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first. The authors have created fun characters in a delightfully cozy setting, but the actual writing in this novel was not great — both overwritten and messy.

Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch: I’m enjoying the Rivers of London series, an urban fantasy about a police officer learning to become a wizard. This one centered around jazz music and its vampiric fans.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly: This book, about a boy who finds himself in a world of fairy tales, was a lot darker than I expected, but it was a moving exploration of grief and growing up, deeply satisfying by the end. The only flaw was the chapter with Snow White, which was completely out of place tonally.

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-García: This was a bit of a disappointment; it has lots of interesting elements and characters, but it doesn’t quite cohere, feeling more like a draft than a finished novel. Some elements are left dangling — ownership of the land, so critical in 1908, is not mentioned at all in 1998, and Minerva talks about her mother and great-grandmother, but her grandmother is entirely missing. Then there’s Alba’s relationship with her putative lover: Alba, and the narrative itself, treat it as if it were merely inappropriate and not absolutely awful. I don’t regret reading it, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Gods of Jade and Shadow.

The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James: I try to read a Simone St James novel every fall; she excels at mysteries that are spooky and romantic. I didn’t love this one as much as the first two I read, but it was an enjoyable, creepy-but-not-too-creepy story about psychics real and fake.

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher: Kingfisher's novels have certain commonalities -- middle-aged characters with ordinary jobs, humor to counterbalance the horror and weirdness, and a pantheon of saints and gods -- but the settings and stories are varied and inventive. This one takes the elements of Snow White (queen, daughter, mirror, apple) and puts them together in an utterly novel way. I just can't get enough of Kingfisher, and I'm pacing myself through her extensive bibliography.

Book Round-Up

 Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher: The third in T. Kingfisher's Saints of Steel series. I am loving the world she has created: the gods, wonder workers, gnoles, and lawyers.

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells: I think I loved this one even more than the first. ART is a great addition, and it's fun to see Murderbot acquire friends and allies despite its best efforts.

Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jiménez: I enjoyed this well enough, and appreciated that the central conflict came from the characters' circumstances rather than a misunderstanding or three. This novel is apparently heavier than her others (it's my first Jiménez book), but I thought it was handled sensitively.

Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global by Laura Spinney: this book about the development and spread of the Proto-Indo European language and its descendants would make an excellent companion to Who We Are and How We Got Here -- both argue that the evidence increasingly supports the idea that humans have always been migratory, sharing genes, technology, and language for the betterment of humanity, despite what certain politicians would claim.

Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian: I'm a sucker for academic satires, and this novel, purporting to be a master's thesis that dissects the marriage and infidelities of its star professors, fit the bill. At one point one of the professors, teaching a course in writing, mentions the need to strip out the conceits of a story to see what is left. At the core of this novel is the complicated portrait of a particular marriage, and a person on the outside looking in.

Book Round-Up: Supersized Edition

 The Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vásquez Gilliland: A romance novel with a touch of fantasy. It has been advertised as magical realism, but it's not really that because of the efforts to make sense of and explain the magic. I liked the plot and the characters, but once again the melodramatic, YA-influenced style of writing kept me mildly annoyed. Occasionally, though, a different narrative voice shone through that was much more engaging. I may someday read the rest of the trilogy.

Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery: These really are a comfort-read for me. As a girl I was intrigued by the depictions of college from almost a century ago, although there was less of that than I remembered. And it was amusing to see Anne delude herself about Gilbert for almost four years; what an ending, though!

Ragnarok by A.S. Byatt: Another novella in the Canongate Myth series. Byatt relates the myths of the Norse gods through a young English girl who has evacuated to the countryside during WWII, and her version is beautiful, visceral, and bleak.

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher: This is the third of Kinfisher's novels set in the Temple of the White Rat world, after the Clocktaur books. Like all of her novels so far, it has wonderfully rich world-building, endearing characters, serious topics handled with a light touch, and plenty of humor.

60 Songs that Explain the 90s by Rob Harvilla: A fun series of essays on popular songs from the 1990s, linked thematically. The essays are more impressionistic than critical, and had me seeking out a bunch of songs I haven't listened to in years.

Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher: Kingfisher has feet of clay! The fourth in the Temple series and the first in the Saints of Steel subseries. These books qualify as romantasy, meaning the romance is the primary story, but unfortunately this romance did not interest me too much; the beats were just too similar to Swordheart. The fantasy part, on the other hand, was great, and will be continued in the next novel.

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett: A wonderful conclusion to the series. I'm 90% sure Fawcett wrote this in response to certain popular romantasy series out there, because while Wendell might be tall and a fairy king, but he is blond, genial, friend to the fairy equivalent of the working class, and kinda lazy, rather than dark and brooding. And when he has his big, angry show of power, and Emily points out that based on her research he will regret it, he's happy to take her advice. I hope Fawcett writes more fiction for adults.

Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart: An unexpected discovery in the little free library across the street from me, it's a thoroughly enjoyable romantic thriller with gothic elements and a dozen allusions to literature including Jane Eyre.

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher: The second Saints of Steel novel had a much more interesting love story. And it was so much fun -- Nuns! Paladins! Gladiators! Bears! Really creepy golems!

Book Round-Up: Haunted House Edition

 It's no secret that the horrors in ghost stories almost always serve as signifiers for the horrors in society. Beloved's ghost is the legacy of slavery,* and Dracula represents the evil of aristocracy or Victorian sexual repression (depending on who you ask). The following three novels each tackle society's ills by literalizing those ills in creepy ways.

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher: In Kingfisher's contemporary Southern Gothic, the haunting Sam and her mother, Edith, are dealing with represents a legacy of prejudice and sexism disguised by good manners and polite behavior (and how easy it is for victims to become perpetrators). It's a Kingfisher novel, however, so the horror is mitigated with humor and a goofy familiar (a vulture, in this case).  

Lost Among the Living by Simone St. James: Set in England, 1921, the novel's Wych Elm House (and the protagonist) is haunted by the trauma of both mental illness and WWI. That trauma was heavy to read about, but St. James is rapidly becoming a favorite writer for her ability to combine mystery, romance, and spookiness.   

Starling House by Alix Harrow: the most explicitly horror-filled of the three, this haunted house represents not only slavery and misogyny but the ability of otherwise good people to look away rather than confront evil. This was a good story, and I appreciate how nothing played out quite like one would expect, but although the novel is not YA it read like it, especially in the behavior of the main characters and in the overwrought writing style. The latter in particular distracted from my enjoyment of the story.

*Don't get me started on the long-ago English professor who interrupted a really good discussion to ask if we thought ghosts were real.

Book Round-Up

Camino Island by John Grisham: the best part of this novel was the beginning, specifically the description of the theft of priceless manuscripts from Princeton University and the federal investigation that immediately followed. Unfortunately the narrative fizzled out after that.

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin: a fun mystery, wherein the murder victim tasks her putative heirs with solving her murder if they want to inherit.

Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher: I continue working my way through Kingfisher's novels. The subject matter in this one -- patriarchy, misogyny, domestic abuse -- is bleak, but Kingfisher wisely balances it with fairy tale elements like impossible tasks and goblin markets, along with a healthy dose of absurdity (such as a demonic chicken).

PopCo by Scarlett Thomas: I don't know why it took me so long to read this given how much I liked Our Tragic Universe, not to mention the math, puzzles, and cultural commentary in this book. And, for the most part, it was really good! The only flaw was the reveal late in the novel of a plan that seemed to me (but not the characters, apparently) hopelessly idealistic and not at all well thought out. In that sense, it reminded me of The Absolute Book. 

Book Round-Up

 A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab: A month later, I'm still not sure how I feel about this novel, the first in a series (that can stand alone). There was a lot I liked about this book, including the concept of four Londons with differing levels of magic. And there was a little I didn't like at all, such as Lila's not-like-other-girls status and the unrelenting cruelty of White London. But either way, Schwab is a compelling writer. And I'm adding this to my imaginary shelf of alternate Londons.

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien: I read this first in high school, dipped in and out of it over the years, and finally settled down for a reread in January. To my surprise, it wasn't as challenging as I remembered (all that reading over the last 30+ years has paid off!), and the stories were still as melancholy and beautiful as I remember. Anyone who thinks Tolkien only writes simplistic, black-and-white stories with happy endings needs to read about Feanor.

The Clocktaur War by T. Kingfisher: This duology about a small group of ordinary people -- naive scholar, allergy-prone forger, traumatized paladin, and cynical assassin -- sent on an impossible task to put an end to unstoppable war machines was so much fun. Kingfisher has a knack for putting ordinary people in deadly situations without losing sight of her characters' humanity or sense of the ridiculous. She is rapidly becoming one of my favorite writers.

Book Round-Up

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott: as tween I would have absolutely adored this fantasy novel about twins who discover they have magical powers, especially they way Scott throws in historical and mythological characters from all over the world. As an adult, I found the writing too simplistic. I'm not sure I will finish the series.

Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson: a meta-mystery that's a fun, modern take on the classic locked-room mystery, with a genre-savvy narrator who helpfully tells us which clues we can ignore and what pages the deaths happen on. I highly recommend it if you love mysteries and/or post-modern fiction.

Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater: the second of her Regency Faerie Tales. This one was a riff on Cinderella, with a fairy godfather and a housemaid so angry at the injustices she and others experience she inspires the rest of the staff to engage in collective bargaining. Although I loved the idea that Effie's magic has the ability to stitch emotions into her mending and embroidery, I didn't enjoy this novel quite as much as the second one.

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher: this was an absolutely delightful story about a 14-year-old girl who uses her magical powers over bread to save her city, with the help of her two familiars -- a carnivorous sourdough starter named Bob and an adorably tough little gingerbread man.

The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martínez: this is a re-read of a literary mystery set at Oxford and involving math (I love math!). It's very good, but I'd forgotten about the last set of deaths, which hit too close to home and leave a lingering misery in me. The movie version is not great.