A British Romance🇬🇧, A Pulitzer Finalist🏅, and Only One Giant Fantasy Book🐉

 

Sometimes, after reading two massive fantasy books, you need a world that is not built from scratch but more grounded in reality- like a romance novel! I read Flatshare by Beth O'Leary. There are many, many romance books and movies in the world, and it is challenging to create a novel "meet-cute." This one was quite creative. Our main characters, Tiffy, a worker bee at a craft book publishing house, and Leon, a nighttime hospice nurse, share a flat with only one bed. Tiffy sleeps in it at night, and Leon sleeps in it during the day. On weekends, Leon stays with his girlfriends. Perfect! What could go wrong?

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O'Leary created well-crafted backstories for both main characters, with room for change and discovery. With deftly juggled storylines and characters, I found the book quite diverting.

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    Iron Flame, by Rebecca Yarros, is the second book in the series The Empyrean series. The many problems introduced in the first book continue into the second but in a good way. There are still mysteries to be resolved. Violet Sorrengail is still a feisty, intelligent dragon rider in training. Her understanding of her extraordinary power, her connection to her dragons Tairn and Andrrna, and to complex bad-boy Xanden. The second book of a series is difficult. The characters have traits and trajectories that must remain "true" to the first book but still surprise and delight the readers. Iron Flame mostly succeeds. The ending sets up the third book of the series, which is due out early next year. According to my research, Yarros plans to have five books in the series. 

    People have strong feelings about the series. There are many five-star and some one-star reviews. I'm a three-star. I like the series, but it feels like a contrived YA book with adult scenes created to sell. At its center, it lacks passion. Violet and Xanden know they love each other because of their intense attraction. Yarros tries to balance it with "and you're smart," but I'm not buying it; however, it's entertaining.

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    James by Percival Everett is a brilliant book. Everett retells the story of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain from the perspective of Jim, the enslaved man who travels the Mississippi River with Huck. Several blurbs mention that it is humorous. It epitomizes irony, but harsh realities give the book gravitas. Even though it is based on Huckleberry Finn, it stands on its own and could be read without knowing the plot of Huckleberry Finn, but it would be helpful to read over a summary. It is fast-paced without sacrificing thought-provoking. 

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🐲🐉⚔️🪄Two Huge Fantasy Books!🐈‍⬛👰🩸🎴🎮

 

    I learned a new word this week: romantasy. It is a fantasy romance book. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is one of the leading books in that category. As I read it, my mind sorted it into the YA (Young Adult) story in the vein of The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter. It takes place at a lethal military college where cadets train to be soldiers who fight using dragons. There are several intriguing barriers to overcome before you can ride a dragon. For one, the dragon has to find you worthy. Two, if you bond with a dragon and it dies, you will die. The book strikes a good balance between using magic "realistically"--it's tied to the dragon--and spilling oceans of ink describing exactly how it all works. The college is a brutal one. Each morning at formation, the names of those who died the previous day are read. Less than a third of the class survives to graduate. The country is at war, which lends an edgy view to their education. The rivalries and love triangles feel more like high schoolers than adults. However, the book took a decidedly sexy turn when the protagonist, Violet, and her smoldering hot, bad-boy wing leader gave in to their overwhelming chemistry. Wowza! It's adult romantasy. For sure.

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    The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman is book VI in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I say this frequently, but I admire Dinniman's capabilities as a writer to juggle a large cast of characters, action scenes, and multiple plot lines so well. The story continues for Carl and Donut as they battle for survival, this time using players' cards, much like Magic: The Gathering. I bought the cards as presents for my grandkids but lack experiential knowledge. Dinniaman's descriptions make me curious to see how it works. I anticipate being schooled by some ten and fourteen-year-olds. The series deals with mature themes like lots of gory death, foot fetishes, and other adult happenings, but at the same time, it seems aimed at gamers.

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🤨 One Book Week and It's Theology!

 

    I'm in the middle of two large fantasy books--because sometimes you need to read a book when it's available--so I only finished one book this week. 

    It was a really good one. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien. This book has been bobbing up from several places, asking to be read. I was reluctant because I am weary of books explaining how I needed to try harder and do better. That was nothing like this book. Richards and O'Brien are excellent Biblical scholars with many years of teaching seminary in non-western places. Their insights are well-reasoned and considered. Insights were communicated warmly with personal anecdotes, historical examples, and our present culture. For what is primarily a book about theology, it was enjoyable and informative. The authors cover complex topics like food, time use, dating versus arranged marriage, racism, finance, rules versus relationships, and more. 

    It made me uncomfortable when it challenged things I tend to rely on, such as rules over relationships. Rules are so predictable, whereas relationships are chaos! Give me the rules.

    Here are some quotes that resonate with me:

 "We can easily forget that Scripture is a foreign land and that reading the Bible is a crosscultural experience."

― E. Randolph Richards, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible

"Thinking critically about why you assume what you assume can make you sensitive, over time, to the cultural mores you bring to the biblical text."
― E. Randolph Richards, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible

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🧛🏻‍♂️👻🐺🔪 Book Club for October, 🙀 Dungeon Crawler Carl, and ⏳ Time Travel

 

    In October, my book club reconvenes. Hurray! This season, we are reading Newberry Award winners. So fun! Our first book is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I read an informative article by Eva Langston about what she gleaned from Gaiman's writing. He doesn't write down to children in ideas or language. https://evalangston.com/2018/05/13/the-graveyard-book/  I found many words that I paused to recall the meaning of, like "susurrus." (Whispering, murmuring, rustling) The book is unusual in many aspects. The story is told in short narratives occurring every two years about Nobody Owens, Bod to his friends. It starts with the death of everyone in his family when he was a baby. He unwittingly escaped to a nearby graveyard where he was adopted. A hook from the very start. How is that going to work? This book has won many awards and would be a terrific gift for any middle-grade through adult.

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    I'm hooked on Matt Dinniman! The Butcher's Masquerade is the fifth in his Dungeon Crawler Carl Series. His plots move at lightning speed and are action-packed. The humor is crass at times, but his characters are maturing. The toll of continually fighting for their lives and seeing their friends killed is well portrayed. The narrative is growing beyond the dungeon and into the universe at large. What forces are causing this, and can they be stopped? The tension is high because you wonder if your favorite sub-character will die. 

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    A Contemporary Asshat at the Court of Henry VIII by Mary Janice Davidson was recommended by my husband. We both love a time travel story, and this one was excellent. Time travel books have different "causes." There are magical portals like a wardrobe or scientifically constructed ones like flying Delorian. This book mashes both of them together; there is a magical portal with a scientific reason. From the title, I knew I would be in the Tudor era in England, meeting Henry VIII. Davidson has done excellent research with many atmospheric details. The food descriptions were sensuous in the best way. Joan Howe is an American living a low-key life in England until she has a migraine and materializes in Tudor, England. Her mother was a Tudor fanatic so Joan has a good sense of the timeline and the key players of the court. She works hard not to change history--always the time traveler's dilemma--am I right? She gets herself back to 2023 and is commissioned to return to find those that have slipped back in time, Losties, to return them. However, everything is not as it seems.

    This was a vivacious, well-paced, intriguing book. There may be a setup for a sequel. I hope so!

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🐺🐈‍⬛🐈🐕 Every Book This Week Had Animals, At Least Metaphorically

fantasy, middle grade, dog/coyote, free dog

    There is so much I didn't know when I started The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers. I didn't realize the protagonist was a dog. I was surprised to find it was middle-grade fiction. The story is intricate and nuanced. I didn't realize it was the Newberry Award Winner for 2024, but I could see why.

    Joke--How do you know if a book about an animal is good? The animal dies in the end! For example, Sounder, Charlotte's Web, Where the Red Fern Grows, and I could go on. Here is a list from Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/675.The_dog_dies_a_cautionary_list_

    I wonder if Eggers set out to write a book where the dog lives. I liked the ongoing jokes in this book about ducks being morons and the inability to measure time and distance like a human. I listened to the audio version narrated by Ethan Hawke, for which he was nominated for an Audie. It was amazing. I found this to be a lovely, gentle book.

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    I am up to Dungeon Crawler Carl Book IV, The Gate of the Feral Gods, by Matt Dinniman, and I continue to be impressed. The way the previous books interlock with the current story leads me to suspect that Dinniman has the entire series plotted. The characters continue to mature, and the story has expanded beyond the dungeon. I am rooting for Carl and Donut to save the entire galaxy.

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    I have always been a fan of bookstores. In my early teens, I would walk to the Stars and Stripes Bookstore near where I lived in Wiesbaden, Germany, to buy books. The Bookshop by Evan Friss explores the history of bookstores in America from Benjamin Franklin to Amazon especially its impact on minorities and culture. He talks about several Indie bookshops I have visited: The Curious Iguana in Frederick, MD, Busboys and Poets in Washington DC, and Browseaboutbooks in Rehoboth Beach, DE. He has an entire chapter on the number one bookstore I want to go to, Parnassus Books, in Nashville, TN. Evans's research is deep and thoughtful, creating an absorbing book that reads like fiction! 

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    A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur is a terrific book that fits in many categories historical romance mystery thriller. It takes place in 1506 in Korea and is based on historical records. Spoiled Iseul set out to find her kidnapped sister and set her free. Her sister has been captured by the king to join his 1,000 concubines. Hur's story has many threads that create an intricate plot with many with excillerating hairpin turns.

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