🐺🐈‍⬛🐈🐕 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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