🫆🕵️‍♀️🦞Mystery!🦝🕯️👻Magical YA

    I saw The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill on a list of Books Within Books. Intrigued, I picked one on Libby, and this was available. It starts with four strangers at a table in the Boston Public Library scoping each other out. A woman's scream rings out, startling everyone. These strangers begin to talk, trying to unravel the mystery, and become friends. One of them is a murderer. This was a fun, twisty book. The protagonist is a mystery writer, Freddie — short for Frederica — who uses the unexplained scream as the impetus for her new mystery novel. The other three at her table, Freud Girl, Handsome Man, and Heroic Chin, become characters. There are several mysteries unfolding. An avid fan of Freddie's is allowed to read and comment on each chapter, but this fan seems too avid and decidedly odd. What's happening there? Where is the screaming woman? Is she tied to the three strangers around the table? I found this novel an intriguing peek at the writing process, while debating modern novel plots, and keeping things hopping. I think I will read more by Sulari Gentill.

🫆🕵️‍♀️🦞

 

     I don't know why Ferris by Kate DiCamillo isn't more well-known. It is a YA book, but it brought tears to my eyes. The main character, Ferris, has a notable family. Her little sister's goal in life is to be on a wanted poster. She works hard to make that happen. Her uncle lives in the basement, painting a history of the world, missing his hairstylist wife, who kicked him out. Her father is convinced that there are raccoons in the attic. Her grandmother, Cherise, and the dog are both seeing a ghost. Then things get weird. The book is entertainingly zany, yet it explores death, grief, and uniqueness in touching, sensitive ways. I found it magical.

🦝🕯️👻

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟Three Excellent and Very Different Books

 

     Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson is a five-star book. It has great, complex characters, mystery, drama, a twisty plot that bounces around in time, amazing settings, a surprise ending, all wrapped up in beautiful writing. It really is the whole package. At the heart of the book is Covey. A young black woman growing up on a British island in the Caribbean in the 1950s and 1960s, but the book starts with estranged siblings Byron and Benny forced together by the death of their mother, Eleanor. She leaves them 8 hours of herself telling about Covey. Wilkerson creates tension by making us wonder about all the mysteries and the battered relationships. She presented a tightly coiled story knot and then tantalizingly unpicked it. I found the ending quite satisfying. This might be my best book of the year.

🏄🏾🏊‍♀️🥘

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown has all the things I love about fantasy. It has special books that do magical things, time travel, monstrous people, and people who find their bravery. I was impressed that every question I had, and everything I hoped could be repaired, happened. Some writers plan meticulously, then write. Their plots can feel mechanical. Others fly by the seat of their pants, and what happens, happens. Their plots can feel unresolved or ill-conceived. Gareth Brown manages to create an obviously carefully planned plot that felt spontaneous in how the novel's storyline nested together. I enjoyed it from start to finish. 

📚🚪🌫️

    I have read Elie Wiesel's book, Night before, and am reading it again for June's book club. I had forgotten how bleak it is. It is a memoir of a young Romanian Jewish boy's experience in several Nazi concentration camps. He faced death repeatedly. In the book, he recounts how the brutal suffering stripped him of his love for his father, his humanity, and his faith. He grew into a fierce defender of human rights: Jewish, but also Palestinian. He spoke out against apartheid, the Soviet Union's oppression of Poland, and others. There is a lot of anguish in Night because it is difficult to read the casual cruelty inflicted on fellow humans. It is a worthwhile book to read to know what we are capable of and to be goaded to speak and act against it.

🐅🌲🐅📚🐾🛩️✨🌟💫 YA and Candid Thoughts About Ann Patchett

Too much pulling a rabbit out of the hat, not earned 

    I read the final book in the Todhunter Moon trilogy, StarChaser, by Angie Sage, and it was my least favorite book of hers that I've read. Here's why. I felt that the plot twists weren't earned. They came out of the blue with no foreshadowing or referring back to previous characters or plot points. This is called "deus ex machina" and means, according to Merriam-Webster.com:

a person or thing (as in fiction or drama) that appears or is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deus%20ex%20machina

    I am so invested in Sage's characters that I want to know what will happen and am glad to see them safely to the end of the book. I think she could have done it a little better.

✨🌟💫

    Ann Patchett is almost larger than life. She has written many best-sellers, like Bel Canto and The Dutch House. She co-owns a bookstore in Nashville. She loves, is a philanthropist, and is often called upon to interview writers. I like her, and I dislike her. When I hear her speak, she grates on my nerves. Someone pointed out to me that perhaps it is her self-assurance that is rare in women; in fact, I've heard it termed "masculine energy." I think it's more. I admire how she is blunt about being a nerdy kid who would rather read a book than go to the beach. Candid about her decision to not have children. Fierce in how she loves friends. Open about her painful childhood and loss. As I read through her essays in These Precious Days, I feel challenged to examine my life and desires because her candidness slips behind facades to thoughts and emotions kept in check. That's intimidating and scary, but also a gift. 

📚🐾🛩️

    I love Kate DiCamillo and have read several of her books. The Tiger Rising is an amazing YA book. It is short, but a lot of life is packed into its brief span. Rob Horton, recently transplanted to Florida after his mother's death, is walking through the woods when he encounters a tiger in a cage. There are many powerful metaphors for grief, transformation, and connection. I found the plot, characters, and style to be a master class in fiction. It is simple enough for an upper elementary reader and complex enough for any adult reader. So good!

🐅🌲🐅

🕊️🚲📚🚘🏁🏎️⛪️✝️♀Three Very Different, But Excellent Books

 

   My sister recommended Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. It was the right book at the right time. It reminded me of Jan Karon's Mitford series. Kind people doing kind things. With books that model choosing a brighter path, it's hard not to be too sentimental or unrealistically cheery. Levi skirts those dangers and delivers a lovely tale of how one person can make a difference, while at the same time building mystery and suspense of who Theo is and why he chose to live in Golden. Also, the novel is populated with realistic characters with complex problems. Theo comes to the southern town of Golden and starts to change people's lives with his generosity and insight. I was surprised by the ending. It gave the plot gravitas.

🕊️🚲📚

   The latest in the series, Dungeon Crawler Carl, dropped, and I started listening to my preordered audiobook right away. The series is read by Jeff Hayes, and he does an amazing job not only with his voice choices but also with his range of characters. A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman has become a juggernaut. This book has already climbed high on several bestseller lists. Dinniman continues to deliver twisty, suspenseful, somewhat gross action. Carl and his ex-girlfriend's now sentient cat, Princess Donut, are fighting their way through each floor of the Dungeon Crawler: Earth for the entertainment of the greater universe, narrowly defeating bosses, mobs, and enemies within and without. A crew of fellow survivors and staunch friends pulls together to keep themselves and each other alive, but being modern gladiators takes a toll on our heroes, mentally and emotionally. Impossible situations mean impossible choices. Dinniman portrays the struggles well, and that is why I like the characters so much. The goofy setup feels real. 

   On the downside, the previous book had an epic battle for dominance of the floor, and this one had more of a Mario Kart vibe. It didn't feel as weighty. It did move the action along and continued to develop the characters.

🚘🏁🏎️

   I'm not sure how I came across Jesus Through the Eyes of Women: How the First Female Disciples Help Us Know and Love the Lord by Rebecca McLaughlin, but I appreciate her scholarship (She has a PhD from Cambridge University) and writing. I found her insight and analysis accessible and solid. Occasionally, someone — usually on the internet — will talk about how important men are in God's Kingdom. I recently attended a Theological Conference where all the speakers were men, and almost all the books being sold were by men. I needed this book to remind me how much Jesus loves and values women.  McLaughlin demonstrated to me how crucial the testimony of women is to the writing of the Gospels. Jesus spoke to Martha plainly, saying, "I am the Resurrection and the Life." I recommend this book to everyone who wonders about or dismisses women in the Bible. It is encouraging and educational. 

⛪️✝️♀

🤖❤️🦾 Murderbot Returns!

 

    I am a big fan of The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells and was super excited to read the latest in the series, Platform Decay. Wells does a great job of continuing Murderbot's growth arc. He continues to mature emotionally and in how to be in relationships. This book brings back some previous characters in creative ways. I like this type of sci-fi because it is emotionally intelligent and also anticipates not-far-fetched ideas like augmented humans, dangerously greedy corporations, and AI. I attended a conference on Artificial Intelligence, and sessions on different fields--education, counseling, and church life--were among the sessions. One of the speakers commented that people want AI to be more humanlike with sentience and feelings, and people to be more robot-like. It gave me pause that one of the things I like best about Murderbot is how he becomes more tolerant and aware of himself and others. 

🤖❤️🦾

    Because of events beyond my control, I didn't do much reading this week. I am anticipating the latest Dungeon Crawler Carl book that will be available soon. 

😺💌🍵✍️📔🦁⏳🐉⌛️Two Weeks Worth!

    This is the week for series. Mostly. I read book two in the Todd Hunter Moon series, Sandrider, by Angie Sage. I admire how Sage creates interesting worlds for characters to explore and exist. She also brings in elements from her Septimus Heap series in unforced, believable ways. Todd Hunter Moon is feeling the pull to move beyond her childhood friends' orbits and into new directions. It divides her loyalties. It is a good tension to explore in the middle-grade book that Sage is writing, and it drives the emotional plot of the book. There is just one book to go. I have no idea how it will all end, but I'm eager to know. 

⏳🐉⌛️

 

    The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 7 and 8, by Beth Brower, are wonderful books. I love Emma. She gets herself into and out of ridiculous scraps with the help of her cadre of friends, an eclectic group to be sure. Secrets continue to be revealed. Friendships deepen. Nosey, interfering aunts thwarted. Brower is planning to cover four years of Emma's life in 20-25 books! I look forward to reading about Emma for years to come, and I'm sad that I have caught up on what's been published so far, but glad to have my reading plans for the next several years. I love a plan.

✍️📔🦁

    

I appreciate a fun Japanese cat book. Messenger Cat Cafe by Nagi Shimeno, translated by M. Jean, is in that vein. Cats are messengers between the afterlife and the living world. There are several rules that govern these interactions--not a surprise--which adds good tension and suspense. The recently deceased cat, Fuuta, needs to fulfill a set number of message deliveries so he can visit his own family. I liked the book, but it wouldn't be my favorite of the genre.

😺💌🍵

📚☕️📔 🛏️🍛😡 Lots of Books! Lots of Thoughts!

 

What a great week of reading about Emma M. Lion. I zipped through Volumes 4, 5, and 6. I am deeply enjoying Beth Brower's wit and the slightly ridiculous situations she creates for Emma. She is plagued by nutty relatives and good friends, as she tries to navigate her distressed financial situation. I wonder if Beth Brower will have her marry one of the many men in her orbit or let her remain single and free. What will be Emma M. Lion's best life? I am curious to find out. 

📚☕️📔

Angie Sage's seven-book series, Septimus Heap, was incredible. I found myself wanting more. Luckily, she has another series taking place in the same fantasy world, called TodHunter Moon. This week I read Pathfinder, the first book. I liked it a great deal. It has monsters, mystery, and magic. Sage's plots move swiftly without sacrificing tension or character building. The main character, Tod, is a twelve-year-old girl facing difficult times, but with extraordinary friends (wink) and talents she is just now discovering, there is hope that good will prevail. First, though it will get dark and scary, in the best way.

🌊🌎🪄

    Unless you think I only choose the easy and fun, I read Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren. Warren is many things: an Anglican Priest, wife, mother, and friend. Her book is an encouragement to look for God at work in the mundane parts of our lives: making the bed, arguing with your spouse, eating leftovers, and more. A verse I've been considering as I grow older is Matthew 28:20: "I am with you always, to the end of the age." This book helped me understand ways that God is with me as I fulfill the parts of my life that are less glamorous. Tuesday is blog day and also clean the bathrooms day. I can't remember who recommended this book to me. Thank you to that unnamed person. I also recommended it.

🛏️🍛😡

    One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn is a historical novel about an inmate, a former Russian soldier, in a Siberian labor camp, or Gulag. Solzhenitsyn tells of just one day, a pretty good day, of Ivan Denisovich's 10-year sentence. It's a brutal life. The book could have been a terrible recounting of suffering, but instead it reveals a desire to survive without being crushed by the oppression and misery surrounding a lowly prisoner. Small things, a hot bowl of soup, not getting frostbite, working to help one another, become a path to, strangely, enjoying the life before you. This book is the May book for my book club. 

❄️🥶🌨️

💔😢❤️‍🩹🐺🐍🌊Romance, Fiction, Fantasy, and Memoir--a Good Week!

 

    I found Awake, by Jen Hatmaker, in a Little Free Library. I had heard the name and was intrigued to read something by her. Her memoir was emotional and vulnerable as she describes the ending of her 26-year marriage. I don't know what Jen Hatmaker would say, but I understood it to also be a deconstruction of her faith, or more of a church betrayal. She makes a good case. 

I found it sad and incomplete. Jesus loves the widows and orphans, those who have been betrayed, and those who have been broken. I'm glad I read her memoir. She is finding healing and strength from her family, therapy, and friendships. 

💔😢❤️‍🩹

    Oath and Weeping by Elizabeth Wheatley is the second in her Wrath and Weeping series. Wheatley is a seasoned writer, and she knows how to spin a gripping story in the continuing adventures of Brynn, a sorceress who is a descendant of kings, and Cenric, a Viking-like warrior with a foot in two different clashing cultures. Wheatley uses this to create lots of tension and conflict. In this book, the pair must navigate treacherous ties with old friends. Plus, face an ancient evil that has come awake. 

    The hardest thing about this series is that it is still being written! It was going to be three books, but I'm hearing internet rumbles that it has increased to ten. Yikes.

🐺🐍🌊

    Hurray! I am liking The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 2 and Vol. 3, by Beth Brower. I have only read the first, and now the second and third, but the main character has been dealt some severe blows — an orphan whose fortune has been squandered by her despicable uncle — she has some good friends and her spunky sassiness. The books are short, full of action, and feature quirky characters like her brooding tenant, her pastor known as Young Hawks, her too-beautiful cousins, and her formidable aunt. There is a wait for each book to become available, which builds my anticipation. 

📔🖋️🐈

    I like Katherine Center's Romance books and had been waiting for Get Lucky to become available. After 10 years in New York working at an ad agency, creating an amazing bra campaign that makes her rethink her life, Sarah returns home to regroup. She decides to help her sister, Mackie, who is unable to carry a baby to term, by being her surrogate. It's only nine months, right? What could happen? Many things: inappropriate crushes, your widowed dad remarrying, your hot ex saying you look old. I enjoy that slightly far-fetched fun that Center brings.

💔🤰🏼❤️‍🔥

🕍🇮🇹👠🧙‍♀️🐉📚🦌🏔️🫎A Week for Recommendations

A good friend (shout-out to Laurie!) recommended Georgia Hunter's One Good Thing, loaned me a copy, and told me it was about a Jewish woman during World War II. I cringed internally because I've read a lot of WW II books and women in danger. I read it for my friend. It was amazing. All of the books I've read have focused on Germany, the US, Poland, England, China, or Japan. This is the first book I've read about the war in Italy. I gained an understanding of the complex situation that Italy and its people found themselves in. The Jewish population, under Mussolini, faced persecution, imprisonment, and death on the same scale as Jews in Germany. Hitler and Mussolini were allies for a reason. The novel centers around Lili, a Jewish Italian woman. She finds it difficult to believe her beloved country would treat its citizens with such cruelty. Her story arc demonstrates how war changes people, exposing them. Some are brave and sacrificial or greedy and destructive, and some are both. Hunter realizes that there is a spectrum of responses. She has done terrific research, and her descriptions of food, terrain, and culture feel authentic. I recommend it as well!

🕍🇮🇹👠

 

    Fyre by Angie Sage is the final book in the Septimus Heap series. Sage lands the series well. Each of the major characters has a credible story arc that shows how they've grown and gives glimpses of who they will become. The threads of plot she has scattered throughout the book are woven together to a satisfying finish. Mysteries are solved, wrongs are righted, dangers are bravely met, and friendships endure. Her target audience is middle grade, but I, for whom middle grade was still called junior high, enjoyed them. Sage writes compelling plots, engaging characters, and sly humor.

🧙‍♀️🐉📚

    This has been a week for reading friend recommendations. I had heard of C. J. Box, but hadn't read anything by him until now. Open Season is a mystery novel, with Joe Pickett, the new game warden in Twelve Sleeps, Wyoming, as the mystery solver. Just about everyone hunts in this area, but all game wardens are as incorruptible as Joe. Being honest and upright doesn't make him any friends and earns him some antagonists. One of those antagonists comes to Joe's backyard to die by his woodpile. Joe wants to know why, but everyone is in a hurry to close the case. Unsurprisingly, Joe can't let it go, unknowingly putting himself and his family in danger. Every place has its own complications and problems. Box skillful makes the Mountain West a character in this well-paced, tense mystery. I suspect I will be reading more of C. J. Box.

🦌🏔️🫎

🐺💦⚔️🪄📚🖋️Two Fantasy and 👨‍💼💭📝📖🐣✍️Two Real-Life

 

    Tears of the Wolf: Wrath and Weeping 1 is a new series by Elizabeth Wheatley. I have reviewed several of her books before; see the link here: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/searchq=Elisabeth+Wheatley. She writes deeply researched fantasy involving magic, political intrigue, and romance. Brynn is a sorceress who obediently does what her mother tells her. That has led her to a loveless marriage, the loss of her small son, and becoming a warrior using her magic in battle to defend a weak king. To escape her mother, she agrees to marry a lowly thane from the far north. She wants to be left alone, but someone that powerful can't ever escape.

🐺💦⚔️

    I heard about this series on the podcast, Life and Books and Everything with Kevin DeYoung. He bought this series for his wife for Christmas, and she loved them. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 1, by Beth Brower, is a pleasure to read. The bookish protagonist is a spunky young woman in an imaginary neighborhood in London. She has many burdens to bear. She is an orphan, her father was Irish, she is poor, her relatives are rich, and her greedy uncle is in charge of what little finances she has. Many things are stacked against her, but she has determination and wit. I want to race through all eight novellas, but the waiting list is long, so expect more reviews to come.

🪄📚🖋️

    I had reservations about reading Notes on Being a Man by Scott Galloway. I have an unapologetically Christian worldview, and from listening to the Pivot podcast with Scott Galloway and Kira Swisher, I knew he didn't, but I liked what he espoused about what makes a man. This could also be applied to women. He challenged men to be Providers, Protectors, and Procreators. He makes a case that young men are struggling. Social media, video games, gambling, limited economic opportunities, and other factors make it difficult for young men to flourish. He gives good guidelines and encouragement to take a risk. Scott Galloway uses solid statistics and information, plus sharing his own life story. It has the feel of an examined life, thoughtfully trying to bring value to those he loves. I appreciated his candor about his successes and failures, his unabashed love for his wife and family, and his desire to leave the world a better place.

👨‍💼💭📝

    It was delightful to read in Chicken Soup For the Soul: Being Grandma, edited by Amy Newmark, what other grandmothers and grandchildren had to say about the experience of being a grandmother. I have an essay published in the book — my first! — and I'm in really good company. This is a feel-good book with touching, funny, and encouraging stories. 

📖🐣✍️

🤭❤️😡❤️‍🔥☹️ Academic Life, Theology, and T. Kingfisher

 

    Inadvertently, I read two books with similar occupations and the problems inherent in them. Both An Academic Affair, by Jodi McAlister, and The Wedding People, by Alison Espach, rely on literature academics where the spouse is a partner hire. Something I learned from both books is that the world of academia is brutal: low pay, misogynistic, and exploitive. McAlister's book is a romance, and Espach's is closer to literary fiction: read "serious" fiction, but it contains Romance and has a dark, comedic side. People who dismiss romance books as unserious aren't reading too closely. For a book to be interesting, big problems must arise and be addressed. I've read more about abuse by domestic partners, by narcissistic parents, bosses, or siblings, loss of fortune, and infertility in Romance than anywhere else. In Romance, I know the main character will usually overcome, often with the support of someone who truly loves them. The ending is a happy one. With literary fiction, there is always a maybe-yes, maybe-no tension. 

    Both books were great. Wedding People advocated for saying the hard, impossible thing, much like a therapist would. It has a therapeutic quality. Those who face their genuine fears come out better than those who hold them in. The plot is funny, and like watching a rolling dumpster fire, entertaining. 

🤭❤️😡❤️‍🔥☹️

    My Bible Study leader did a study on Philemon and drew from A Companion to Philemon by Lewis Brogdon. It was so interesting and engendered such good discussions that I wanted to read the book for myself. A criticism of Paul, and the New Testament in general, is that it never outright condemns slavery. I find a close reading of the Bible reveals God freeing slaves over and over. The book of Exodus was removed from the approved "Slave Bible" for that reason. God wants the enslaved to be free. He also wants to free the enslaver. Philemon has been used to perpetuate and defend slavery, and Brogdon's book helped me understand how subversively Paul worked to dismantle the gulf between slave and master. Paul didn't address the book only to Philemon, but also to every church in the region, to Philemon's household, and to the church that met there. Paul's request was that Philemon receive Onesimus, his runaway slave, as he would Paul himself, as an equal, beloved fellow believer. Slavery needs me-before-you hardness to endure. The book of Philemon endorses radical change for everyone through the love of Christ. 

⛓️⛓️‍💥⛓️

    I like T. Kingfisher. Raven and the Reindeer is a queer love story with supernatural elements. The plot is strong, and the action is fascinating. I like the characters' growth arcs. Vernon can be counted on to take a turn that is surprising and unexpected, to create an unlikely group of companions to tackle an impossible challenge, and to unexpectedly find love. It's a good formula, and Vernon works it well.

𐂂❄️🐦‍⬛

Other T. Kingfisher books I've reviewed: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=T.+Kingfisher