This Week's Bookbag: Jan 31- Jan 6, 2018

Hallo, fellow readers! Welcome to the first weekly post of 2018. I hope you're ready to share some serious booklove with me this year. Let's get going!   

In the Bookbag:
Erika Johansen might be new to publishing, but she's a wise old storyteller on the inside. I spent the last three days in a bookish fever, reading Johansen's The Queen of the Tearling trilogy. I'm not quite finished with it yet, but it's only a matter of an hour or two. Is THIS why I couldn't sleep last night? Because every time I closed my eyes, I could just feel that book burning to be read on my nightstand? Perhaps, my friends. Purrrrrr-haps.  

Behold! I have reviewed each book!

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Inherit her kingdom yourself

The heroine of The Queen of the Tearling, 19 year old Kelsea, is a protagonist built for readers like me: a little dreamy, not used to hard physical exertion, a devoted lover of books and literacy , a bit too pragmatic to be bewildered for long, bright enough to keep herself upright. Unlike me, though, she inherits a kingdom in a fantasy world that’s somehow posited in the future, after the Americans and British have been forced to flee via boat due to...Well, I’m still working on that part. Anyway, Kelsea’s efforts to gain - and keep - her throne despite long odds is a refreshing, uncluttered, and sophisticated tale. The characters spark and sing; the plot unspools itself as it should, moving faster and faster as the end approaches. And all along, something dark is is gathering...An excellent tale. Thank goodness it’s a trilogy!

View all my reviews

The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Plots Thicken

So much revealed here in Book Two, including much of what I was working to figure out as I finished Book One. The Invasion of the Tearling picks up exactly where The Queen of the Tearling left off - no years going by in a twinkle, nothing solved or shoved aside. Queen Kelsea remains on the throne, but it’s a precarious perch, to be sure: the invasion of the Tearling by the Mortmesne Army is close at hand. As war beckons and breaks, however, the Glynn Queen’s own power grows. Her transformation from child to Queen dominates the book’s narrative arc, of course. But other important stories swell alongside Kelsea’s own, and more than a few characters - some already well established, others new - become essential, lively, complicated. This book offers a much darker vision than the first, but don’t let that scare you away, because there’s still room for wonder, and second chances abound.
Erika Johansen is a marvelous talent. I thought I’d made good time reading through Book One - I couldn’t put it down - but I *blazed* through Book Two. I’m afraid to even open Book Three, because I really need to go to bed...but a little peek, just at the first chapter won’t take long, right? Just a couple of pages...

View all my reviews

Check back tomorrow!

It wasn't all fantasy world books this week. I also read Edwidge Danicat's lyrical slip of a novel, Claire of the Sea Light, and Andy Weir's Artemis, which was lots of fun but had some disappointing limitations. Alas.


Bookish News and Views:
Seriously, how wonderful is this??  Nina Riggs's widower and Paul Kalanithi's widow are falling in lurv!

Did you promise yourself you'd read more books this year? HBR has some excellent advice about how to be the bookie monster that you've always dreamed you'd be. (Spoiler alert: first suggestion is to move your TVs to an undisclosed location...or at least an uncomfortable one. I'm totally down with that.)

Our previous President, Barack Obama, may have left the politics, but he's still in my heart, because he's a book nerd just like me. You've probably already seen this, but just in case you haven't - here's his list of favorite books and songs in 2017. I guess this means I'll have to read Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing. I know, I know. The entire world has read it and she's ahhhh-mazing...but I really have preferred her non-fiction over her fiction until now. I guess it couldn't hurt to try it...

Finally, take a minute to check out the other posts I made last week and admire my new layout! I'm so excited to share my book life with you!

My Personal Book Forecast for the Week Ahead: 
Well, my week ahead will be full of fun vacation reading, because WE ARE GOING TO MAUI!! Aloha! This is our first visit outside the continental US as a family. I'm so excited! 

In other news, two books that I've preordered drop on January 9th: Chloe Benjamin's The Immortalists and Seanan McGuire's Beneath the Sugar Sky. I know what I'll be doing on the plane!  

What are you reading right now? 

All the 2018 Bookeses: Lists Galore

Aren't you finished with your entire reading list of 2017 releases YET? Too bad, time's up! We're moving on to 2018 and you're going to be left in the cold, hard wind of yesterday's book releases if you don't jump to it! Go, go, go!




via GIPHY

Or, just keep this handy dandy list bookmarked and check in whenever you're ready for a new release fix.  I'll be adding to this list of lists as they pop up over the course of the next few weeks - and then throughout the year, too.  You can thank me for saving you the cost of a new window (that's perfectly good book money!) later.

1. The most important list: MINE. A full list of all the new releases I've put on hold at the library, on wish lists, on pre-order, and, yes, on the top of my teetering TBR pile. 
2. Feeling upper crust? Here's a list from The Globe and Mail (be sure to read it in your best British accent).
3. Always good to know what the cool girls over at Bustle are looking forward to devouring.
4. Hello Giggles offers a relatively short list with commentary.
5. BookRiot drives me a little insane but they do make some useful lists, like this one.
6. This list has ALL THE BOOKS. And it's closely curated, too. Spiffy!
7. See what the boys want to get their hands on.

So Many Books. So Little Time.

The reading clock never stops! Want a peek at what I'm planning to read in 2018? This is an ongoing list of books I've put on hold at the library, found on various "must read soon" lists, purchased but not yet dug into, and pre-ordered. Intended to be all 2018 releases, but a few others may sneak in there from time to time.

Revel in my bibliophilia!

1. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin 
2. Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire (Down Among the Sticks and Bones was one of my favorite fantasy reads last year. Both are part of the Wayward Children series, which follows the adventures of kids who wind up in other worlds. These worlds aren't all fun and games - the books are DARK and thrilling and wildly original. The keystone book is Every Heart a Doorway; it's about a boarding house that keeps kids who have returned from other worlds and fail to readjust to the "real world." Every Heart a Doorway isn't super fantastic, but it's useful as an intro to characters who will star in the other books.)
3. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley (Flavia de Luce, the star of this series, is one of the best literary characters ever! She's like Harriet the Spy but wicked smart, always stumbling into murders that she has to solve - AND she's British!)
4. The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss
5. Call Me Zebra by Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi
6. A State of Freedom by Neel Mukherjee
7. Treating People Well: The extraordinary power of civility at work and in life by Lea Burman (I feel like the entire country should all agree to read this book, just based on the title alone)
8. Elmet by Fiona Mosley
9. The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
10. Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea, and The Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith. (I'm in love with octopuses ever since I read The Soul of An Octopus by Sy Montgomery)
11. The Pisces by Melissa Border (scary merman love story? I'm in!)
12. I Was Told to Come Alone: My journey behind the lines of jihad by Souad Mekhennet (She writes on terrorism and national security for WaPo and has been able to secure access to a impressive number of jihadists. I don't know why I didn't know about this book until a few days ago!)
13. Red Clocks by Leni Zumas
14. Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan
15. The Boat People by Sharon Bala
16. The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden (the follow-up to her brilliant The Nightingale and the Bear) 

Wrapping Up the Book Year, Part Two: Non-Fiction

Ah, the new year stretches ahead on a magnificent path of books all the way to the horizon. I'm going to read hundreds of books and offer insightful critiques and be such a successful blogger that a publisher will swoop from the interwebs sky and ask me to become a book reviewer - from home, during my free time, of course. And they'll offer me an unlimited number of galleys so I'll never pay for a book again! (Unlikely, I know, but the beginning of the year just offers so much promise.)

Meanwhile, the 2017 reading year is, uh, in the books. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) A nicely paved little path runs from Jan-Dec, but I didn't read as many non-fiction books as I would have liked to. My brain was so hysterical from trying to keep up with the non-stop news carousel that was last year,  I had little patience for longer works on contemporary, newsy topics. But! The ones that did draw me in - they were powerful. Here are five of my favorites:

Very rarely has a single book forced me to completely reorient my thinking of a topic like Jim St. Germain's powerful memoir, A Stone of Hope. St. Germain shares his experiences growing up in Brooklyn's infamous Crown Heights. Left to parent himself, St. Germain turned to the streets to find support and to make ends meet - and soon took to stealing and dealing, increasingly numbed to the violence and despair he felt and observed all around him.  Traumatized and hopeless, St. Germain asked for help from the system but received little in return...until a few people took note of him and his plight. Arrested for dealing crack cocaine at 15, St. Germain wound up not entering the turnstile of incarceration, addiction, and violence that plagues so many of America's young men of color but rather in a group home.  Eventually, St Germain finds a way out of the life he had been forced to lead and finds a new purpose for living.

The searing experiences that St. Germain shares changed my understanding at a fundamental level of just how difficult it is for those born into deep poverty and injustice to escape it. He tells his story with such clarity, immediacy, and passion - I literally could not stop reading it once I started. I hope you'll find it similarly insightful and that it will renew your own dedication to working towards true social and racial justice in America. I know it did that for me.   

This is not an easy book to read. The stories told are full of trauma and horror.  You should read it anyway, though, because Marzano-Lesnevich's ability to maneuver through piles of evidence to create not just one but two riveting narratives is unparalleled.  Moreover, her manipulation of the narratives is masterful: as the moral clarity grows more distinct in one story, it becomes somewhat less stark in the other.  There's a lot of courage here, and an untold amount of pain. You can't but wonder about the stories left untold as the book draws to its end - and maybe weep a little for what these stories - told and untold - mean for humanity in general. 

Lockwood's story of growing up - and then moving back in with - a dad who just happened to be both a Catholic priest and  a bit of nut will leave any recovering Catholic wiping away tears of laughter...until it suddenly and poignantly leaves you wiping away tears of sorrow.  Lockwood steers us through experiences that are both completely alien and yet somehow familiar at times.  Offers plenty of food for thought and some terrific wordsmithing in addition to personalities that you'll be hard pressed to forget. 

I can't believe I didn't know this book existed until I went to a writing workshop in November.  This book recommendation alone made that workshop worth the price of admission! I'm not a huge King fan - I grew up reading some of his books and short stories, and I really enjoyed 11/22/63 - but after reading this, I'm more likely to read the books I've missed over the years. This is not your typical writing guide. Instead, the first half of the book describes King's youth in working class Maine. From very early in his life, King decided he wanted to be a published writer, and he worked doggedly and consistently towards that goal until it became a reality.  He writes efficiently, clearly, and with no small amount of humor. I fell in love with the narrative voice within a few pages and basically have been carrying it around with me ever since because I like it so much. The specific guidance he offers to emergent writers isn't really the most engaging part of the book (although it did make me cry a little, in a good way) - but if you read to the end of the book, you'll discover why. The afterword, in which King discusses his very close brush with death one afternoon left me on the edge of my seat as much as Carrie ever did! I had known about this episode in his life but to hear him tell it just left me with my jaw on the floor.  Any writer or King fan should treat themselves to this book. 

Nina Riggs died from metastatic cancer before her dazzling, luminous memoir made it to the bookstore, at the age of 39.  She knew that would likely be the case, but it didn't stop her from digging deep in the final months of her life and sharing her experiences as a wife, mom, and human being suddenly thrust into one of the worst nightmares one can imagine.  She reaches back, far back, into personal and literary history to connect with Emerson (he was her great-grandfather several generations back) even as she struggles to share her devastating story and ensure that her husband and two young sons wouldn't be left without her voice and perspective. As someone living through stage IV cancer myself and the mother of two children, I feel especially qualified to say that this book cracks through the shell of the "cancer warrior" stereotype and reveals how life at this speed can be terrifying, humorous, hopeful, and blessedly mundane - often all at once. A beautiful book written by an enormous talent.   

And there you have it - my favorites for 2017! I plan to share with you my reading adventures on the reg in the year to come.

Happy Reading! 

Wrapping Up the Book Year! Part 1: Fiction

The gift-y part of the holiday season may be over...but there are still 2 big gifts under the tree - to you -  from me! It's my year end book round-up, and I have some terrific books to share. I wrote up my fave fictions and non-fictions separately, cause I like to have lots of gifts to give. Something about all the wrapping paper and anticipation. 

I did some pretty solid reading this year - I'm at 105 books.  Next year, I promise I will publish the whole list, but I wasn't technologically astute this year and thus, giving you my favorites will have to do. I am pleased, though, that I managed to read 63 books by women - last year, the vast majority of the books I read were written by men, and although I thought about making women writers a priority for the year, I didn't consciously choose women over men - I just read what looked the most interesting. And voila! Women appeared all over my book list. 

I can't pick just one favorite book, you understand. That's an impossible mission and no mistake. So here are my top 5 fiction books of the year:

I'll be honest: I picked this book as my favorite long before the end of the year. I read it way back in March, and before I'd even finished it, I just couldn't imagine another book coming along to knock it from its new perch. It's amusing, provocative, thoughtful, and adorably quirky. It offers optimism in the face of grief and cheer right alongside dismay and disillusionment. It has a GenX soul - jaded but always hopeful, even so. As far as the plot goes, Mastai's screenwriting background makes itself known: there's an insistent but subtle (well, sometimes totally not at all subtle) flair for the dramatic and the pulse of a movie thrums along under the muscle and bone of the story, which is a wildly original one: a young guy living in a world that has figured out all of the world's energy problems with the invention of a single device winds up in an alternate timeline where the device - and a lot of other things - didn't wind up being what it was in his original experience. Time travel, love affairs, families made and remade, and plenty of shenanigans add up to the best book I read this year.  It figures that Mastai is a Canadian, since I've had Canada envy all year. 

Katherine Arden may not be a household name yet, but if your house is full of interesting and vivid stories told in such a way that your bones hurt when you stand up to get a drink because you've been sitting for several hours without moving anything but your fingertips and your brain, she should be.  Arden does what she really should not: she tells us the story before she tells us the story. That is, she gives us a Russian folktale around the fire...and then brings that story to life in the novel that unfolds and follows. And it works! Her vision of the tale brought to life is eerie, magical, and deeply chilling. It's the perfect read for a winter's night...and the sequel has just arrived, so you can read Arden around the family fire for a number of nights to come. 

Peter Heller's Celine reassured me that he is around for the long haul. I read The Dog Stars several years ago and loved it, but couldn't get into his next book at all, which threw me into a small but very real tide pool of literary despair. Was he a one-hit wonder? Simply put: no. Celine explores the boundaries of familial love, the long arm of the law, and the ways in which even those closest to us remain unknown. The protagonist, for whom the book is named,  smacked down my doubt and won my heart with her brave yet refined behavior, her crystal-clear intellect, and her ability to stay cool no matter what the situation. This book made me giddy and relaxed at once; I hope Celine returns in a future novel, because she deserves it. We all deserve it! 

This one has been trumpeted for months - but it's worth the hype. Egan expertly weaves a sophisticated coming-of-age during World War II tale that isn't only about the war. Her characters could walk right off the page. My only quibble is with the ending, but her commitment to a plausible reality makes her choice necessary.  One of the most absorbing blockbusters of the year, surely. 

I've been a huge fan of contemporary dystopian fiction for years,  but I slowed my pace this year due to the dystopia of reality. I couldn't resist Carrasco, however. His ability to create a parched, alien - and yet familiar - environment impressed me; I also appreciated the role of religion in this vision of an unbearable future. An extremely powerful debut from Spain. 

An Avalanche in Summertime?

Unusual, even here in Colorado, but it's definitely happening. I have so many books piled up to talk about with you, and plenty more waiting at my fingertips, aching to be read. 

Of course, I'm reading a couple of books right now, including Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire. Apparently, her Every Heart A Doorway won a pile of awards last year but I just stumbled across this little gem at the library. So glad I did, because she's the real deal - a fantasy writer who's here to stay. If you need irrefutable proof that McGuire isn't going to waste your time, look no further than this:

There are worlds built on rainbows and words built on rain. There are worlds of pure mathematics, where every number chimes like crystal as it rolls into reality. There are worlds of light and worlds of darkness, worlds of rhyme and worlds of reason, and worlds where the only thing that matters is the goodness in a hero's heart. The Moors are none of those things. The Moors exist in eternal twilight, in the pause between the lightning strike and the resurrection.

I just want to plaster that bit of beauty onto my clavicle, or sleep with it under my pillow - whatever it takes to make it seep into my bones, you know? 

My own aspirations have turned to writing full time as of late. I've wanted to be a writer since I learned to read, and although various events and adventures led me to plaster over that dream well, words keep sneaking through, leaking out and out, wearing thin the little walls that I erected. So, writing. I've circled back around to the dreams and wishes of little girl me. She's the one with wisdom, the one who always knew best. Kids usually are, I guess. Especially when they devour books like Seanan McGuire's! 

On that note, I'll be back in a twinkling to discuss some of the kid lit I've read and loved so far this year. Happy reading! 

A New Approach

I've been thinking it over and I really wish I'd become a librarian. Or had my own bookstore. So I decided to solve my problem by building a Little Free Library. I literally would LOVE the chance to curate my own little library and stick little comments about each book on a bookmark placed inside...I would grease the little hinges and get up in the night when there was a storm, just like a farmer, and trudge out to check on my brave little library outbuilding and all the books nestled there, making sure there weren't any leaks or doors flapping open and that the books were snuggled in, cover to cover and cozy...and then I would bravely hike the six or seven steps back to my house and go inside...after stopping to take a last little look out into the swirling darkness, fogging up the glass of the front door as I struggled to see the outlines of the perfectly pitched little roof. And I would decorate it on holidays with itty bitty wreaths or banners cleverly made from newspaper clippings or old books that had fallen apart and needed upcycling...

The only obstacles to making my dream a reality are two-fold: I don't appreciate the building arts, and I'm not all that good at following directions to put together furniture and whatnot (well, now that I think of it, following any directions is not my strong suit...but I digress). But! I figured I would do an end run around these problems and ask for this priceless and most important gift (a gift not only for me, but for my neighborhood community!) for Mother's Day. So, I shared my dream with my handsome and amazing husband, Nick, who indulges my whims and requests on a regular basis and is my knight in shining armor, my best friend and confidante, who regularly inspires me with his generosity of spirit and ability to manage even the most dire of situations with a heart-stopping smile... And can you believe it?! That rat bastard* said NO!

Why did he cruelly dash my hopes, tear my dearest wish into bits of filthy confetti, and attempt to quash my heart's desire? Well! I'll tell you why: RULES! Yes, that's right. Over the many years we've spent together, I've come to understand that genuinely good and ethical people (such as my husband) have a big problem: they respect rules and regulations. I find this puzzling, because somewhat morally ambiguous people (such as myself) see rules as generally helpful and necessary, but also have no problem ignoring, circumventing, and/or undermining rules that they understand are unfair and/or stupid. 

So, our HOA says we can't add any structures to our front lawn. And sure, I understand the intention behind the rule: no one wants some rogue element building a duck blind or putting out a huge salt lick in hopes that a deer will wander up or erecting an eight foot tall martini glass that doubles as a birdbath. But a Little Free Library? It is none of those things! Actually, homes from now on all should incorporate Little Free Libraries into their landscaping, because they are: 

1. Beautiful and loveable, as explained above
   
2. Necessary in order to keep our shelves, desks, and tables from collapsing under the weight of no longer needed books
3. Enriching for the community, young and old, especially since elementary and middle schoolers walk past our home on the reg
4. Beneficial for the stewards of the libraries (that is, me), because they (I) might make new friends who love books as much as they (I) do!

These are airtight arguments and should not be questioned. But alas, despite my well-crafted commentary and even a bit of eyelash fluttering proved insufficiently persuasive to bring him around to the Dark Side, and thus, when Mother's Day rolled around, I did not receive the library of my dreams. Instead, I received a very nifty dummy-proof herb garden (complete with little pre-seeded pods, an adjustable grow light with timer, and an automatic watering system!), because in addition to not being able to follow directions, I also am not able to keep plants alive unless they're succulents. And yes, yes, fine! The garden has been a continuous source of entertainment and interest for all of us. All six pods have sprouted and the resulting little plantlets appropriately named by whomever discovered the first bit of greenery (Michael Jackson the Thai Basil; Herb the Genovese Basil; Precious Thyme; Dill Pickles; Penny the Mint; and Parsley, Sage). Furthermore, a tiny jumping spider even showed up this morning to protect the plants from insidious bugs (and children's fingers, since they are afraid of spiders)! It's an altogether delightful and educational gift that I didn't even know I wanted. 

But I still want a Little Free Library. 

I've considered the "ask forgiveness, not permission" route and the "maybe Nick won't even notice it if I camouflage it with leaves" approach; I've even entertained the notion of installing it right in the border with our neighbor and then blaming said neighbor...but in my finer moments, I recognize that Nick IS a simply wonderful human and shockingly low maintenance (whereas me? not so much with the low maintenance), so I probably should let this one go and use it in the future as an example of my selflessness and boundless love for him. 

So. In the spirit of letting things go, I've decided to make this space right here my virtual Free Little Library! Yes, my bookish friends, you are the lucky beneficiaries of my dashed dreams. I don't have the time to properly and consistently create the long posts I had been writing, so instead I'll write up a short note on books I've read that would have gone into my library, and design my own little bookmarks and everything, just like I had planned! And really, I'll be able to share an even larger number of books with a broader population, since I tend to read a lot of e-books, especially when reading for fun. AND! If I DO comment on an actual book that I have and no longer need, I will give that book away to anyone local who wants it, complete with bookmark and my recommendation note! I would promise to send the books to whomever claims it first, but honestly, I'm not great at getting to the post office in a timely manner and I don't want to pay postage. But I suppose that if you want to pay postage, we could work it out. I dunno. I'll think on it. Any thoughts about this? Chime in! 

I can't wait to get started and breathe some life back into this little blog! I've been missing sharing books and all things bookish with you. Look for an update with the next few days. 

In the meantime, I hope you have a relaxing long weekend ahead that prepares you for a summer chock full of books - books that make you laugh and cry, books that leave you pleasantly satiated and books that leave you starving for more, books that challenge, confuse, reward, and enlighten you, books that help you make the messy, amazing, treacherous, precious experience of living a little more meaningful. Books and books and books. 

And now you may pretend that you - or I! - are falling into an enormous nest of books and curling up for a little rest. Happy book dreams to us all! 

*Nick is NOT, of course, a rat bastard and I love him with all my heart and soul. I may have gotten a tiny bit carried away.