Spring has arrived! We have warmer weather, crocuses and daffodils popping up all over, and lots of walkies for the dog. Plus, both the husband and I got the first dose of the Covid vaccine, so not a bad month all around. However, I did not get a lot of reading done this month (at least by my standard). I usually read before bed, but my writing has been going so well that I haven't been putting it away until ten or eleven at night, which doesn't leave me much reading time. But the books I did read were enjoyable.
1. The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
This book absolutely charmed me. It's bizarre and sweet and funny. You don't need to be a fantasy reader to enjoy this fantasy book. I'm sad the story is over; I didn't want to leave the characters. And the love story is just oh-so-perfect.
Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world.
Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.
The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place―and realizing that family is yours.
2. Outlawed by Anna Brooks
This book has been all over the bookgram community. To be honest, the cover really turned me off, and westerns aren't my thing. However, so many people were in love with it that I had to give it a chance. I'm glad I did; this book is incredible! I don't even know how to begin to describe it because I'm certain I would do it a disservice. The closest I can come is to say that if you like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, you'll probably like this book too.
In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw.
The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada’s life looks good; she loves her husband, and she loves working as an apprentice to her mother, a respected midwife. But after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are routinely hanged as witches, her survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows.
She joins up with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang, a band of outlaws led by a preacher-turned-robber known to all as the Kid. Charismatic, grandiose, and mercurial, the Kid is determined to create a safe haven for outcast women. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan that may get them all killed. And Ada must decide whether she’s willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all.
Featuring an irresistibly no-nonsense, courageous, and determined heroine, Outlawed dusts off the myth of the old West and reignites the glimmering promise of the frontier with an entirely new set of feminist stakes. Anna North has crafted a pulse-racing, page-turning saga about the search for hope in the wake of death, and for truth in a climate of small-mindedness and fear.
3. Wonderstruck by Brain Selznick
I loved Selznick's The Marvels and was really looking forward to this one. It didn't disappoint. My only complaint--about both books--is the e-formatting. Four to eight sentences to a page is annoying. It's a middle grade book, not a picture book. Okay, Selznick is known for his artwork (which is beautiful), so it is a bit of a picture book, but not one for small children. I just might have to check out hard copies of his books from the library in the future.
Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories--Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures--weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry. How they unfold and ultimately intertwine will surprise you, challenge you, and leave you breathless with wonder. Rich, complex, affecting, and beautiful--with over 460 pages of original artwork--Wonderstruck is a stunning achievement from a gifted artist and visionary.
4. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
This is the second book in Chambers's Wayfarers series. Same universe as the first book, but different set of characters. While I loved the first book, I second book totally stole my heart. I've never seen the exploration of A.I. done better. If you're a sci-fi reader, you've got to check out this series.
Embark on an exciting, adventurous, and dangerous journey through the galaxy with the motley crew of the spaceship Wayfarer in this fun and heart-warming space opera—the sequel to the acclaimed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.
Lovelace was once merely a ship’s artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in a new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what came before. As Lovelace learns to negotiate the universe and discover who she is, she makes friends with Pepper, an excitable engineer, who’s determined to help her learn and grow.
Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that no matter how vast space is, two people can fill it together.
5. Circe by Madeline Miller
I read this book is one sitting. Greek mythology typically doesn't interest me (Percy Jackson being the exception), but I've heard about this book for years so I finally picked it up. It totally made me want to be a witch on my own deserted island. This book instantly went on my need-to-own-list.
n the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.
With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.
Bonus Books
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
PBS's Masterpiece Theatre did a show based on this series called Durrells in Corfu. It was actually filmed in Greece and the scenery was to die for. I enjoyed the show, though sometimes the repetitive jokes/gags annoyed me. When I picked up the book, I was surprised by how close the show followed it (with some changes, of course). Durrell captures his family's quirks and humor beautifully, and his descriptions truly bring the time (1930s) and place to life. However, there is a lot of description--of the island, of insects (Durrell was a born naturalist), and of animals. I happen to love description, especially of nature. But if lean, Hemmingway-inspired prose is more your style, this book isn't for you.
When the unconventional Durrell family can no longer endure the damp, gray English climate, they do what any sensible family would do: sell their house and relocate to the sunny Greek isle of Corfu. My Family and Other Animals was intended to embrace the natural history of the island but ended up as a delightful account of Durrell’s family’s experiences, from the many eccentric hangers-on to the ceaseless procession of puppies, toads, scorpions, geckoes, ladybugs, glowworms, octopuses, bats, and butterflies into their home.
Arrival (Stories of Your Life and Others) by Ted Chiang
I liked most of the stories in this collection--The Tower of Babylon being my favorite. The Amy Adams movie Arrival was based on Story of Your Life; I liked the story much better than the movie. I'm not going to lie, some of the science went over my head and made it hard to get into the stories, but overall, I enjoyed and recommend the collection.
Stories of Your Life and Others delivers dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar, often presenting characters who must confront sudden change—the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens—with some sense of normalcy. With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty, but also by beauty and wonder. An award-winning collection from one of today's most lauded writers, Stories of Your Life and Others is a contemporary classic.
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