🌹⛴️🦵Dystopia, 🧙🦊🐓Fantasy, and 🎩🏰👒Jane Austen

 

    The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa is a dystopian novel that blends elements of magical realism, set in Japan. Things disappear from the island like perfume or boats. When the islanders wake up, they can tell that something has vanished and feel a compulsion to rid the island of every vestige of it. Once the object is gone, they can't remember it, even what it was called. A few of the population can remember everything. They are hunted and arrested by the memory police. The Memory Police gradually shrinks the world. With each disappearance and adjustment, the people of the island continue on with life. This book reminds me of Animal Farm by George Orwell. There is the top story: items disappear and the islanders adjust, but there is more going on. To describe the book in one word, haunting. 

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This is the second Sangu Mandanna book I've read. https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=Sangu

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping is in the same magical universe as The Very Secret Society of Very Irregular Witches. I would classify them as well-done Romantasy. Using the vehicle of cozy romantic fantasy, Mandanna explores the desire of those in power to stay in power at the cost of others, specifically those not from the "proper" families or who are not "typical." I found it an encouraging read.

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    I listened to The Book of Fatal Errors by Dashka Slater on my Libby app because it was read by Kevin R. Free. He is one of my favorite narrators. I would put the book at an upper elementary reading level. I found the pace of the plot slow at first--there was a lot of world-building going on--but it demonstrated, in a nonmoralistic way, what it's like to be the weird kid and find a path through the shame of finding delight in things your peers don't. 

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    I decided to reread The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins because I found her prequel about Haymitch so good, and I wanted to re-examine him. It is a dystopian novel about the United States, now called Panem, after a terrible war. The winners, the Capitol, force the twelve surrounding districts to send two tributes between twelve and eighteen, one male and one female, each year to the Hunger Games, where they fight to the death until only one remains. It reminds me of Roman Gladiators using children. Katniss is from the poorest part, District Twelve. Only one person, in fifty years, has won from her district. But Katniss is a survivor. This year may be different.

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    It is book club season again. Yeah! The theme is short books. We started with Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. It is the first one accepted for publication, but wasn't published during her lifetime. I had read it many years earlier and found it difficult to follow. As I researched it for book club, I gained a better understanding of the structure and flow. I appreciated the sly wit and sarcasm more than in the past. I doubt if it will ever be my favorite Jane Austin book, but I like it better than I have before.

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🐅🏰🐁🧙‍♂️👸Two Rereads, One History, and Awesome Adult Fantasy

    The Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens by Nicola Clark was recommended to me by my daughter. She said it was action-packed and fascinating. Henry VIII and his wives' lives have filled many books, but this book focuses on the women surrounding the queens--the ladies in waiting--some of whom became queens themselves. Using source material from accounts, records, and letters from the time, Clark creates a vivid picture of the intrigue and the danger of being a woman in Henry's court. 

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    Louis Sachar is best known for his Young Adult book Holes, a wonderful coming-of-age book filled with magical realism. His novel for adults, The Magician of Tiger Castle, shares many of the same good qualities, including quirky characters, magic, a reluctant hero, and a cadre of good-hearted people trying not to be defeated by those ruled by selfish ambitions. Even though aimed at adults, the book retains some of the lovely charm of YA with a satisfying ending, tigers, strong-willed princesses, and magic.

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    This has been a week of rereading, starting with Matt Dinniman's series, Dungeon Crawler Carl Book VII, This Inevitable Ruin. Dinniman balances slapstick hilarity with pathos and struggle. This book was exceptionally long. I read it quickly because it was fast-paced and I wanted to know what happened. In my reread, I wanted to revisit Carl and Princess Donut, knowing they survived. It was an examination of the nuts and bolts of how it happened. Dinniman relies on a combination of skill, social capital, and luck. 

I recently discovered that the next book in the series is scheduled for release in May 2026. Whoot!

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    With the release of the Apple+ Series Murderbot, based on the series, I have been hungry for more of Murderbot's adventures. Even though Murderbot is genderless, it is still quite human--an anxious, overclocked human with built-in arm guns. So lovable. I listen to the audiobooks read by Kevin R. Free. He is excellent at creating personalities with subtle voice changes. I have no problem keeping several characters straight. He is an award-winning narrator. He has won the Golden Voice by Audiofile Magazine. Here is a link to an interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRdusDvttdE&t=15s

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🦊🔐💻 The Latest Richard Osman!

 

    Richard Osman reminds me of Fredrik Backman because he writes with heart, but not sentimentality. Osman's latest book, The Impossible Fortune, the fifth installment in the Thursday Murder Club series, is an excellent addition to the series. I'm glad all the members of the Thursday Murder Club are going strong. Osman's characters continue to evolve and grow while facing the struggles of aging. This series is quite fun in a screwball comedy sort of way.

On another note, I watched the movie made from the first book on Netflix, and was somewhat disappointed. They nailed Elizabeth and Ibrahim, but I thought the material was too rich and complex for a 90 minute movie. It needed to be a series.

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    I was visiting my six-year-old granddaughter last week, and she was listening to the audiobook of Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes, the Newbery Award winner for 2004. I was  ntrigued. The protagonist, 12-year-old Martha Boyle, is struggling with weighty material: the sudden death of a school friend, worry for an aging grandparent, finding herself attracted to a boy she'd previously disliked, wanting to be a writer  but unsure how. Changes wi hin and without. I think this would be a good book for a parent child book club. So many complex topics are thoughtfully addressed.

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    I was familiar with Kevin Henke ' picture books. I love the bright illustrations and hilarious plots. Here are some of my favorites.

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💘🐕❤️‍🔥🐈❤️‍🩹 Fantasy and Romance--Typical Week!

    I greatly enjoyed Shannon Chakraborty's series The Daevabad Trilogy and was excited to read her latest book, The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi. There is a lot of setup and introduction of characters. I found it dragged despite a lot of effort to keep the plot snappy. There are many intriguing and bold characters that form a dynamic team, facing significant, seemingly insurmountable problems to solve. I will go on to read the rest of the trilogy.

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    Hurray! Another Abby Jimenez book! This one is Say You'll Remember Me. It is her most recent one. Maybe I was having a grumpy week, but I didn't find this one as stellar as her previous works. There are dogs and a cat; quite appropriate, considering the love interest is a veterinarian. It tackles the heartache and struggle of caring for a family member with dementia with warmth and understanding. Here is a link to other Abby Jimenez books I've reviewed:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1743281317i/216437557.jpg

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🧼🧽♾️√🧩🌸 Math and More Australian Romance 🦘

 

    The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa surprised me. I thought it would be a slow-burning romance novel. What a difficult book to describe. The book is set in Japan in 1992. A young housekeeper is sent by her agency to the home of a brilliant mathematics professor. Nine previous housekeepers have come and gone. This intuitive and curious current housekeeper faces the challenge of caring for a gifted lover of numbers who, because of a traumatic brain injury, can only remember new things for eighty minutes. Every day, she must reintroduce herself and gain his trust and cooperation. How do you connect with someone who won't remember you the next day? Ogawa takes elements like mathematics, baseball, found family, and care and creates a lyrical, lovely story. 

    I read Jodi McAlister's third book in her series last week. Oops. Here for the Right Reasons is book one. The books are both intertwined and can be read independently of each other. It is fun knowing things about side characters in the book that aren't revealed in this one. McAlister, I've since learned, is an academic who specializes in the study of popular culture. To quote her website: Jodi’s work life means that reading romance novels and watching (and let’s be real, writing huge amounts about) The Bachelor/ette is technically work for her. https://jodimcalister.com.au/  Can I get that job?

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👒✍️🪭📚🎩 Get Ready for Jane Austen, Plus the Latest by Suzanne Collins

 

    I picked up Jane Austen, the Secret Radical by Helena Kelly, because the first book of this year's book club season is Northanger Abby. I've started rereading my way through Jane Austen's works. Libby suggested this book to me. It is a nonfiction work that explores how Austen's works would have been perceived by her original audience. Kelly builds her case with evidence from the day, and I learned a great deal from it. For much of Austen's life, her country was at war with France, resulting in a jingoistic culture that suppressed any criticism of the Empire under the threat of imprisonment. What appear to be frothy love stories on the surface are actually skewering criticisms of women's rights, slavery, the church, and more. For someone who enjoys Jane Austen but senses there is more going on, it is illuminating. Although it's nonfiction, the book is accessible and quite readable. Dear Reader, I recommend it.

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    When I find an author I like, I go hard on their backlist. Yours Truly is the sixth Abby Jimenez book I read in 2025, so for all the analysts out there, it means I like her. Because I've read many of her previous works, I can spot references to characters from other books, such as musical artists and a best friend who had her own book, among others. It's so fun. I found Yours Truly to be another excellent book. It employs the fake girlfriend trope, which has been deployed numerous times, but every plot needs a device. I think Jimenez worked it well. I like how Jimenez gives her characters large problems that don't evaporate at the end of the book, but they do gain better coping skills through facing their issues and maturity. This book has a main character with social anxiety. 

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    I have read most of Suzanne Collins' published works, and I found  Sunrise on the Reaping to be her most complex and mature work. It made me want to reread The Hunger Games series to rethink what I understood about Haymitch. I don't remember Collins being so lyrical in previous books. She uses Edgar Allen Poe's poem, "The Raven," to great effect to show the grief and despair of living in a deadly dystopian society. I'm glad to know how the big story ends, or it would be pretty bleak. 

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    After some heavy reads, I wanted something fun and came across Not Here to Make Friends by Jodi McAlister from Simon & Schuster Australia, so I grabbed the audio. Lovely Aussie accents reading me a friends-to-villains romance: yes, please! I managed to complete a significant amount of yard work while I listened. McAlister has relatable leads that I could root for, plus believable obstacles to their romance. The story takes place in a remote location during a reality romance show, set against the backdrop of the pandemic. Everyone has to stay in the bubble, and it makes for interesting issues, because the voted-off can't leave. Did I mention Austrian accents? So fun!

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👑👸⚔️🤴👑 Perhaps Too Much Fantasy?

 

        I am getting wrapped up in Romantasy, and I regret reading Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry because it is the first of a trilogy. The second one won't be released until spring 2026. 

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I found the book captivating with a dynamic plot and an evolving, strong female protagonist. A neglected, disregarded princess is chosen over her promised sister to be a Sparrow Bride. The kingdoms on the continent force peace among prone-to-war kingdoms by exchanging a king's daughter to be the next queen and produce an heir. This sets up an enemies-to-lovers situation, but Perry slyly keeps her readers guessing. It is told in the first person by Princess Odessa and gives an urgency and tension. I liked the book and look forward to reading the sequels; however, this book won't challenge any conceptions about life or the patriarchy. It is formulaic, but it uses the formula well. 

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    Robert Jackson Bennett writes science fiction that is both entertaining and thinky-thinky. He has won the Edgar Award, and I hope he also receives a Hugo, because he deserves it. He reminds me of Adrian Tchaikovsky, the author of the Children of Time series. A Drop of Corruption continues the adventures of Ana and Din, a detective duo akin to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The series is a high fantasy, well-crafted, believable world facing enormous challenges from invading leviathans and internal corruption. The world is a layered empire that is gritty, messy, and brilliant as it wrestles with petty bureaucrats, the vengeful oppressed, arrogant rulers, and those trying to make sense of it.

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   Contains spoilers! Not my first time reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, but each time I get pulled into the story. I can't wait to find out if, once again, Marianne will recover from the dreadful blow dealt her by Willoughby, if Elinor can bear the weight of losing her true love, and if the Dashwood women will survive in their reduced circumstances. I don't ever remember reading the scene where Willoughby comes, drunk, because he hears Marianne is dying, and gives Elinor his excuses for his behavior. What a selfish cad! 

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🦑🌆🌊Two Five Star Books in One Week! 🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟

 

    I was intimidated by City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett because it was a big book. Every word is needed to build Bennett's fantastic world. The book stands alone quite well, even though it is the first of a trilogy. It reminds me of The Expanse series, but as a fantasy. There is political intrigue wrapped up with spies, revolutionaries, former conquerors, and the now triumphant, but once enslaved. Many characters have big feelings about this reversal of fortunes and wrongs committed in the past. At the heart of the story is Shara Thivani, a covert operative who has come to investigate the murder of her mentor, but she discovers much more. I'm giving the book five stars on Goodreads — rare for me — but it is excellent in its plot, characters, setting, and ideas. 

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    I read Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson in a day. The story and characters were captivation and lovely. 32-year-old Mad runs an organic farm in Tennessee with her single mother. Her dad left when she was twelve, and it has frozen her in place, unable to leave her mother alone to carry on the farm, and unwilling to allow anyone close enough to hurt her like her father did. One Saturday, a man in his 40s comes to her farm stand and tells her his her half-brother. He invites her to go with him to find their father. It gets weirder, but in the best way. 

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🩶🍎🐍🍎🩶 T. Kingfisher's Latest 🎉🥳

I was fortunate enough to read  Hemlock & Silver the week it was released. T. Kingfisher is a favorite of mine. Her heroines tend to be middle-aged, intelligent women who are brave enough to step into a difficult situation and savvy enough to know there might not be a happy ending. Her latest book is a retelling of Snow White. There are lots of mirrors, poison, apples, an evil queen, a young girl in danger, and much more. Kingfisher's plot tend to be edgy with elements of horror. I don't consider myself a horror fan, but it does perk up the suspense and keeps things spicy in Hemlock & Silver. I'm not the best at predictions, but I think this will be considered for Goodreads' fantasy book of the year. I'll vote for it!

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    What Time the Sexton's Spade doth Rust by Alan Bradley is the 11th in the Flavia de Luce Mystery series. I was surprised to see it because #10, published five years ago, was the series finale. I'm not sure why Alan Bradley picked the series back up, but I have thoughts.

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The plot is a hot mess. Agatha Christie wrote some Hercule Poirot mysteries about a secret society, known as the Big Four, perhaps? There were not her best work. And this book was not Alan Bradley's best either, for much the same reasons. If you like the series, and I do, it is agreeable to revisit a child who reminds me a lot of Wednesday Addams. She is now twelve and is starting to wonder what her life will become as an adult. I like Flavia, who is creepy, intelligent, and somewhat naive. I think the plot would be more effective if it focused on murders in her village; however, I did enjoy catching up with the residents of Buckshaw.

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🐌🐚🌪️😵‍💫🌀 I Read Horror Manga on the Advice of a 15-year-old. Big Mistake or Bad Idea?

    My 15-year-old grandson recommended the Manga Uzumaki by Junji Ito. It is a creepy story of how the image of a spiral slowly drives an entire town into horrible, horrible behavior. So sinister. That said, the images were arresting. Junji Ito is a talented storyteller and artist. He explores various types of spirals, including staircases, snail shells, whirlwinds, and more. If you like Manga and horror, have I got a book for you!

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    I have been reading Abby Jimenez this summer and enjoying it. Life's Too Short (The Friend Zone #3) became available this week. This book is both a standalone and also contains characters from other books. That made it a fun scavenger hunt of looking for past characters. Jimenez gives her character steep growth curves of troubles in the form of family, health, and toxic coping methods. The meet-cute is a famous YouTuber, Vanessa Price, and her baby niece is keeping her hot attorney neighbor up. Adrian Copeland comes to complain and ends up holding the baby so she can take a shower. Vanessa opens the eyes of this workaholic to the idea that there's more to life, and he challenges her live-in-the-moment philosophy. As always, there is a dog. 

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I fell down an Emily Wilde's rabbit hole and read both book 2, Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands, and book 3, Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales. I like the first book, but I really like the second book better. The third and final book of the series provided a satisfactory ending. I was surprised that both books were available on Libby, as I thought I would be on a waiting list. Heather Fawcett has created a delightfully academic (nerdy) heroine. There is a romance that compels the book, but what stands out is Emily. She is usually the one doing the rescuing due to her extensive studies, a strong moral compass, and her compassion for the underdog, as well as her bravery. The book doesn't describe her as wearing glasses, but in my mind, she does. This is a solid, likable fantasy series.

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    I have been reading Martha Grimes for over thirty years, so we are both mature. The Red Queen is the most recent in the Richard Jury Mystery series. Because I have known the two main characters, Richard Jury, a Scotland Yard Detective, and his good friend, Melrose Plant, the talented amateur who can get into places Jury can't. Grimes has a knack for quirky, memorable characters that recur. In many ways, she reminds me of Louis Penny. The Red Queen's plot wasn't as tight as that of previous books, but it featured interesting backstories for two essential side characters. I wonder if this will be the last mystery in the series.

https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=Martha+Grimes

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🥹😭 👽🧚‍♂️Frederik Backman Wrecks ME! Sci-fy and Fairies to the Rescue

    I'm having a Frerik Backman week. My Friends is his latest novel. Backman's stories break hearts, offering a front-row seat to the sadness and abuse in the world. Then he brings together damaged opposites who help each other heal. He writes what it feels like to be an anxious person so well that it makes me anxious.

"People say that anxiety is fear for no reason, but Ted's brain is very helpful when it comes to providing suggestions. Once he read a book that said that people with neuropsychiatric disorders need to "make friends with their brain," but Ted and Ted's brain are not friends, they're classmates, forced to do a group assignment called "life" together. And it's not going great."
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends

He has a gift for descriptive metaphors that provoke giggles. 

"The birds are like tourists. They screech and make a mess, but you're not allowed to shoot them…"

Backman's stories pierce and penetrate, giving incentive to care more about those you love and those who are unloved.

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    The Answer is No, by Fredrik Backman, translated by Elizabeth Denoma, is short and sweet. Backman takes the absurd and makes it plausible, such as a woman pretending to be in a coma and hiding from her family at her doctor's apartment. Or a trash pile being declared a hill to keep it from becoming the city's problem. Or a Facebook group that believes in angels showing up to worship a neighbor. For only 60 pages, Backman creates beautiful chaos.

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    Infinite Archive is the third book in The Midsolar Murders series by Mur Lafferty. They are a great mash-up of mystery and science fiction. I would like to tour Lafferty's brain because her plots are clever and inventive, bordering on wacky, and the characters she invents, like aliens made of rock and space ships that are the internet, are captivating. Her large cast of characters behaves questionably — a key element to a mystery series, with numerous potential victims and suspects. Infinet Archive has space babies and cats! Win!

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        After reading the emotional rollercoaster that is Frederick Backman, I was ready for something enjoyable and escapist. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries was perfect. Emily Wilde is a professor at Cambridge in the field of faeries — she is a dyriadologist. She travels to a faraway island in Norway to study the elusive frost faeries, where she is followed by her Cambridge rival,  handsome Wendell Brambleby, who leads a charmed life as the head of the department. His students are always eager to do whatever he asks, making research and field work more of a vacation than a chore. Emily is a grumpy, thorough scholar who struggles with the niceties of social interaction. She inadvertently offends the insular inhabitants of Hrafnsvik, Ljosland, forcing her to accept help from Bramblely. There is much to discover and learn, but she can be her biggest impediment. 

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