🥹😭 👽🧚‍♂️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.

😭🎨🖌️👨‍🎤🥹

    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.

🗑️🍳😇

    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!

🐈😺👽🛸🚀

        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. 

🌨️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♂️🧚‍♂️❄️

 

🐯🪄🦹‍♀️ Much Magical Realism

 

    Recommended by my daughter Noelle (linktr.ee/NMcManusArt), I started reading another book by Yangsze Choo, The Night Tiger. Last week, I read The Fox Wife, and it was a fantastic book:  several-excellent-books.html. The Night Tiger is equally excellent. It contains so much and could be categorized as historical fiction — it takes place in the 1930s, incorporates magical realism, and features a suspenseful romance. At the heart of the book are Jin-Li, the dance hall girl, and Ren, the Chinese house boy. Together, they must set the world right, placating the mysterious night tiger.

🐯🐅👗🥢🧧

    Last week, I read The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young. This week, I read her previous book, Spells for Forgetting, as it is considered her breakthrough book. There is an island off the Northwest Coast called Saoirse. Its insular natives know it is more than it seems. As a teenager, Emery was eager to leave with her true love, August. Then her best friend died under mysterious circumstances, and August leaves without her. Years later, August returns to bury his mother, and the past, the island, and its inhabitants want revenge.

 https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=Adrienne+Young

🪄🧙‍♀️🍎

    Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots was a surprising book. In the blurb, it stated that the main character was angry, which made me less inclined to read it. I understand there is no story without conflict, but I have a big conflict-avoidant streak, and it made me resistant to reading the book. I did, and I'm glad I did. Anna is the lowest level of henchperson. She works for a temp agency and is hired to be an extra in a villain's ransom plot, where she becomes collateral damage. This lights a fire in her belly to expose the "good" guys. Walschots has thought-provoking things to say about what nudges some towards evil-doing and others to the hero business, while at the same time sustaining a turbo-paced plot with a large cast of weird, wonderful characters with odd superpowers. It wrestles with the morally grey areas of who's a good guy and who's a bad guy.  

💪🦸🏼‍♂️🦹‍♀️⚛️🧬

📚📚📚Several Excellent books🦊🍄🛍️⏳

 

    One of my daughters recommended The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo, and then I started seeing it everywhere. It is considered a historical fantasy set in Manchuria in 1908, featuring foxes. The main character, a magical female fox who has taken on human form, is seeking revenge. She is trailing someone, but must use her cunning to avoid detection and capture. The plot is surprising with vivid characters. It was hard to put down.

🦊👘🦊

    Robert Jackson Bennett's The Tainted Cup, Shadow of the Leviathan: Book 1, was on a staff recommendation table at Mitzi's Books in Rapid City, South Dakota —a lovely Indie bookstore. The recommendation was captivating, and I couldn't resist. It was worth the hype. Bennett's fantasy world is well-constructed, believable, and gritty. The main character, Dinios Kol, has been altered to be an Engraver. Engravers are like human recorders. They remember everything, especially when they focus on doing so. The book opens with him being sent by his master, an investigator for the region. This is a familiar mystery novel coupling: a new hire with an experienced, brilliant, eccentric boss. Through the book, they get to know and respect each other as they solve tricky, twisty murders. The reader also becomes indoctrinated in the world that is the Great and Holy Empire of Khanum. It reminds me of feudal Japan with more gender equality. I'm not sure how many books are planned. The second is out, and the third is in the works, but doesn't have a release date. 

🍶🪴🌊🍄🎍

    This is the summer of Abby Jimenez for me. Just for the Summer(Part of Your World) features Emma and Justin, who feel they are both under a curse. Everyone they date and break up with immediately finds their soul mate. Justin mentions it on Reddit, and Emma jokingly responds that she has the same problem. They hatch a plan to date "just for the summer" in an attempt to break the curse. Emma is a travel nurse who gets a six-week assignment in Minneapolis, MN, to be near Justin. I feel Jimenez's characters struggle with more than romantic problems. She uses the disruptive quality of falling in love as a force for change. The fixes are not quick or easy, but they are earned. I also enjoyed this book because I recently returned from a trip to Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. This book is set in Minneapolis, and so many of the places enjoyed by Emma and Justin I'd experienced. Shout out to Mall of America. Just wow.

🛍️🐶🚽

    I love a time travel story and was surprised to find that The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young is all about the perils of time travel. I went into it thinking it was a romance. The women in June Farrow's family have a history of dementia and mental instability. The book opens with June attending her grandmother's burial, marking the start of her experiences with seeing things that aren't there. As she begins to piece together the pieces of her life and the lives of her mother and grandmother, June faces tough choices for herself, as well as those she loves. That's one of the things about time travel, its ability to impact so many lives. 

⏳⌛️🕰️⏰⌚️

🚀👽🛸🐦‍⬛🐜 Science Fiction, 🐾 Newbery Winner, and ❤️‍🔥Romance

   I was on vacation, and I wanted a book that was interesting, but not so much that I couldn't put it down to look at Mt. Rushmore or hike in the Badlands. 

    The Collected Short Fiction of Ann Leckie was the perfect book. Leckie writes intriguing science fiction, and each story is short and sharp. Leckie writes frequently about power. She explores the concept of gods who require worship and sacrifice to thrive, and the humans who need protection and provision to survivive. How can those who have little power get what they need to flourish? Lots of thought-provoking ways.

Here are links to my reviews of her Imperial Radch series:

https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/2022/08/sci-fi-essays-and-dog-story.html

https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/2022/08/ann-leckies-imperial-radch-series-books.html

🚀👽🛸🐦‍⬛🐜

    Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray is the final Newbery Award winner for my book club. It won in 1943, making it the oldest one we've read. We read books from several decades, and while there are timeless themes such as the importance of choices and character, how they are interpreted and expressed changes over time. Adam is the son of a famous minstrel and wants to be a minstrel himself. He lived in England in the 13th century, and Gray folds in history and culture seamlessly. Adam becomes separated from his father and his beloved dog. As he travels around on foot looking for them, he encounters people from all walks of medieval life--some helpful and kind, some less so. Adam is about twelve years old and is facing hardship in his search for his loved ones. It makes for compelling reading.

🐕🪈🐾🎶👣

 

    The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez is the second in the Friend Zone Series; however, it can be read as a standalone. I like Abby Jimenez as a Romance writer. She works diligently on character development, and her pacing keeps me turning pages. Romance is predictable, and you know the destination, but the path she takes there is a good one. Dogs are a feature of the two books I've read so far, and they're adorable. The men tend to be rugged specimens who enjoy hunting and home repair, while also being mostly flawless both physically and emotionally. While the women are gorgeous and wounded, but are ripe for recovery. It is a fantasy, but an enjoyable one.

🦮

💔❤️‍🩹❤️‍🔥

🏔️🦯 🥾 🏕️🎒Mr. Fabulous on the AT

    This is not something I usually comment on, but the cover of The Unlikely Thru-Hiker: An Appalachian Trail Journey by Derek Lugo is fantastic. It’s eye catching, and does a terrific job representing what the book is about. Derek Lugo hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2018, I think. Before deciding to hike the trail, he worked as a comedian in New York City. At the start of the book, I judged, incorrectly, that he probably wouldn’t finish because he was too inexperienced to handle the rigor of trail life. But, he does. The book is funny in its descriptions of trail life and his education along the way. It demonstrates the benefits of “tramilies,” trail families that form spontaneously as people hike. I was traveling with long drives and Dear Husband and I listened to the audio book read by the author Derek Lugo. It helped the miles speed by because Derek is hilarious and thoughtfully. Even if you’re not into travel books, this one is worth the time.

    Dear Husband and I have hiked sections of the AT, and have an appreciation for what it takes. We dream of one day hiking the entire 2,190 miles when we get 7-9 months free, plus a level of health and crazy it would require. 

🏔️🦯  🥾 🏕️🎒

👑 🏴‍☠️🫖☕️ Romance and more Murderbot

    I love books with whimsy but it can be a tough balancing act between whimsy and silly. The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton is a clever, tongue-in-check romantasy about pirates, both male and female, magic, manners, propriety and Queen Victoria. I’ve seen it listed as Historical Fantasy. If you enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, you will like this. Even though I found it a bit overwrought at times, the heroine possesses a steady head, until she falls for the pirate trying to assassinate her. 

👑 🏴‍☠️🫖☕️

    Part of Your World is my second Abby Jimenez book. I liked this one better than The Friend Zone. This protagonist is also facing toxic situations from parents and an ex. It is a good balance of a wealthy city and a small-town boy who have terrific reasons not to be able to leave their worlds. Standard romance fare, dealing with issues related to women, like abuse, both physical and emotional. It is on the upper edge of spiciness. 

🐐🐕🐖🏙️

    After several novella-length stories of Murderbot, Martha Wells produces a full length work, The Network Effect. She skillfully blends previous characters and plots into the further adventures and evolution of Murderbot. Murderbot is kidnapped by hostile somethings. Now he has to unravel why, who, and what do they want. He has to work with humans, even a human adolescent, and an old friend who needs him. Martha Wells has been surprised to find that Murderbot exhibits many traits of someone who is autistic. She, herself identifies as Neurodivergent. I have several neurodivergent people in my life and reading about Murderbot’s interior life helps me understand that they are not unaffected by life, not emotionless, their process and response is looks different. Wells advocates that the goal shouldn’t be to make them more “normal” but to adjust communication and understanding.

Here is a terrific article about Murderbot and Autism. An Autistic-Coded Robot Done Right:  https://reactormag.com/murderbot-an-autistic-coded-robot-done-right/

📰🗞️💌🤖 Lots of Romance and a MURDERBOT!

 

    Diving Rivals and Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment #1 and #2) by Rebecca Ross are the two books of a YA fantasy romance duology. Ross has created a fantasy world similar in time and technology to World War I, where a light sprinkling of magic is present. The protagonists, Iris Winnow and Roman Kitt, both have magic typewriters that create a communication link between them. They are aspiring journalists competing for the same position as a columnist for the prestigious Oath Gazette. Familiar tropes like the Rick Boy, Poor Girl caught in the maelstrom of war, who grow to love one another, raise the stakes for their survival. However, a twist is that this war is fought in service to the gods Dacre and Enva, who are at odds with each other. This adds another layer of problems that need to be solved for the books to have a satisfactory ending. The concluding book, Ruthless Vows, has the lovers fighting against the God of the Underworld, Dacre. They experience perilous adventures and receive help from others who believe in their cause. 

    Prepare for a mini rant. I don't know why this wasn't one long book. I suspect it was to make more money, and, yes, publishing is difficult, but it is still aggravating. Thank you for your patience. 

📰🗞️💌

   The Friend Zone, by Abby Jimenez, is the first one I've read by this popular author. Her characters are vibrant and sassy. Her plots, like those of every romance, are predictable, but she brings the fun and twists. Jimenez doesn't spare talking about difficult things like fibroid uterine tumors, infertility, and loss. I did find the ending, given the tone of the book, unearned. Also, the main female character felt a bit psycho with her: I love you, but I can't be with you, and if I told you, you wouldn't want to be with me, so go away after you kiss me. So much of the book wouldn't have happened if she had a forthright conversation with her love interest. I looked at some reviews on Goodreads, and there are strong feelings about how the book ended. Overall, I enjoyed it and looked forward to reading other books by Jimenez.

🐾👨‍🚒🚑

    I continue my re-reading journey through The Murderbot Diaries with #4 Exit Strategy. Murderbot is wrestling with feelings. As a SecUnit, he doesn't usually have those feelings, but he finds that he cares about Mensa's well-being and, through analysis, knows she has been kidnapped. Mensa is a mother figure to Murderbot, and it both freaks him out and appeals to him. It's tough to be Murderbot.

🤖🤖🤖    

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

🕊️🦅🦆🦜I Read Books Where Animals are the Heros🐑🐺🐑

 

    In a world where birds are magical creatures that are underappreciated and exploited, two competitive ornithologists seek to win the most fabulous prize of all: tenure! Circumstances, evil foes, unscrupulous competitors, and their own desires conspire against them. The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love by India Holton is a rollicking Romantasy. It is the first in her "Love's Academic" series. 

🕊️🦅🦆🦜❤️🦩🐦‍⬛🐦‍🔥🦤

    Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, translated from German by Anthea Bell, is a wonderfully weird book. George, the Shepherd, has died in the sheep pasture with a spade through his middle. His flock of sheep work together to find who has killed their caring shepherd, who read to them each day, explaining the hard words. Who murdered their shepherd? The story is told entirely from the sheep's point of view, which makes for some fun misinterpretations.

🐑🐏🐑🐺🐑

🍰🐇🍷😭 Contemperary Dark Humor, Not a Single Dragon

    Through a strange quirk of fate, I have read two books about two possible suicides back to back. Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett is narrated by eleven-year-old Elvis Babbit, who shares a birthday with Elvis Presley, so her mother named her after him. Elvis is a science nerd trying to survive the grief of losing her mother. Elvis' mother drowned while sleepwalking. Her 15-year-old older sister, Lizzie, is also a sleepwalker. Grief causes some to fold in on themselves, while others explode out, and others freeze in place. Rabbit Cake portrays these sides of loss. The book is darkly humorous and genuine. A counselor tells Elvis that it takes about 18 months to move through the distress of the death of a parent. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I like the idea of there being a timeline. Despite its somber premise, I found Rabbit Cake a hopeful read because it helped me see that a loved one's death can bring about change, leading to new paths and a deeper understanding.

🎂🍰🐇🐰

    There Are No Rules for This by J.J. Elliott was recommended to me at a St. Patrick's Day party by the person who had been Elliott's nanny after her mother died of suicide. At first, I thought the book was a memoir, but it is actually a work of fiction written in the first person. There is a tight group of four friends, and one of them commits suicide. The surviving three are left to comprehend how their amazing friend could choose to leave her family and friends behind. The plot unfolds from the moment Ali is told by the remaining friends, Max and Liddy, of their friend Finney's suicide. As they suffocate in sadness for their beloved, funny, amazing friend, they seek to understand why. Elliott does a stellar job of showing how complex and unfathomable the path to suicide. The death of Finney moves the friends to celebrate life in darkly humorous ways. The book has an authentic quality in that there aren't rules for how to respond to someone's suicide, but crying and wine help the process.

🍷🧀🍇😭

    Limelight by Amy Poeppel is like an enemies-to-lovers romance story, only between a teenager and a mom-like mentor.  Allison Brinkley is getting her dream of living in New York City. Her husband's job necessitates a move to Manhattan. She has carefully planned to move her job and their three children and has a job, apartment, and schools lined up. Then it all falls apart. Her kids are unhappy, the apartment is so small, and her long-term sub high school English teacher falls through. She finds herself a personal assistant to a wildly famous 18-year-old pop music celebrity. They both learn a lot. The characters find themselves in foolhardy, laughable predicaments. I found myself invested in what was going to happen. Poeppel writes a tight, suspenseful, likeable story.

Here is a link to another Amy Poeppel book I reviewed:

https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/2022/05/reading-about-atom-bomb-cello-music-and.html

🌟👯👨‍🎤

🪐🚀👨🏻‍🚀Aliens, Banned Books and Dragons!

 

Walking to Aldebaran is a standalone novella by Adrian Tchaikovsky about astronauts from Earth who get the privilege of being the first to examine an alien artifact in the Kuyper Belt. It appears to be an artificially created portal (wormhole) to other planets. But what is it really? And what is it capable of? This was a creepy, quick read.

🪐🚀👨🏻‍🚀

    Rogue Protocol, the third novella in The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, finds Murderbot growing into his independence and trying to understand the complicated relationship between humans and robots. He makes friends with another robot similar to him, but not a SecUnit; rather, it is a friend and is befriended by their humans. This makes Murderbot so angry, and he doesn't know why. Wells packs a lot of character growth and exploration into 158 pages. 

Here is a link to the previous Murderbot books: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=Murderbot

🤖🦾☄️💔

One of the best depictions of a middle-aged, menopausal woman who tries to do it all

    The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen is the second book to take place in Tanria, a former prison for the old gods and recently cleared of its infestation of drudges. Bannen's depiction of a middle-aged, menopausal woman who is trying to keep up with being a mom, employer, friend, grandmother, and widow leaves her feeling more like an object and less than a person. The book holds together because Twyla is someone we know, even though her day job is hunting bad guys and helping dragons. She gives lots of mom energy. 

Here is a link to the first book, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=Mercy+and+Hart

🪑🐲❤️‍🔥

    The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman is a Newbery Award Winner, and my club is discussing it this month. I recall reading it when my children were in late elementary school and enjoying its rags-to-riches, prince-and-the-pauper over-the-top storyline. But it has been challenging to find. When I reread it, I think I understand why. Jemmy, the rat catcher's orphan son, becomes the crown prince's, Prince Brat, whipping boy. This is a historical truth. There were children designated to receive the punishment of the royals who misbehaved. There are several scenes of children being whipped. I suspect that has led to its decline. It will make for an interesting discussion!

🐀🤴🐻🧄🧺

   I chose  Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller because it was on a list of books about books. It was a book about the power of books to educate and to change hearts and minds. George R. R. Martin says: A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. Some studies show people who read tend to be more empathetic: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3559433

    I wanted to like this book because I have found that books can be transformative in understanding others who hold convictions that differ from my own. I think this book aimed to do that, but in the end, what I experienced was that only those who read banned books would have the "right" set of beliefs. This made the characters on both sides of the moral divide two-dimensional and stereotypical

    Another theme could be: our secrets make us sick, and I agree there are complex topics like racism,  abuse, and fake news that need to be discussed, but I doubt anyone responds well to "only ignorant idiots would believe that." 

📚📱🍑

📕📗📘📙📚📕Eight Books! New Record!

To be fair, four of the books are under 150 pages and could be read in two hours or so, but still, 8!

 

    John Scalzi is excellent at sci-fi, and I was absorbed by his premise in his Audible series. For some inexplicable reason, people who are murdered don't die, but reanimate somewhere they feel safe, with their body reset to where it was an hour or so before they died. From this strange phenomenon arises a profession called Dispatcher, who work at hospitals and other high-risk places. If something goes wrong in an operation and the patient is about to die, the Dispatcher murders them, enabling them to get a reset. It is a fascinating world where murder is off the table for bad guys. What's a crime boss to do? Our protagonist is a Dispatcher, and Scalzi takes the reader on a tour of the problem set and hidden benefits of this new "reality." If you are fortunate enough to have an Audible membership, they are free to you. They are short, each lasting less than four hours. Zachary Quinto (new Spock) does a bang-up job as narrator.

🔎🏥🏙️

    Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino was another interesting premise book. An alien civilization sends a scout to learn about Earth and report home. She is born as a baby and grows up learning of her mission. The book offers unique insights into people, relationships, and life as Adina Giorno matures, so does her understanding. A part of the book's tension revolves around whether she will be perceived as an alien or as mentally ill, and what her alien progenitor's plan for Earth entails. 

👽📠👾

    I am watching the Apple TV Series, The Murderbot Diaries, so I am rereading the books the series is based on. It is annoying when TV veers away from the "canon" of the book. I try to remember that it is challenging to create an accurate map of the world due to the need to flatten the sphere. Books are the sphere, and TV is the flattened map. With books, it is more difficult to convey the inner thoughts of the characters. It needs to be demonstrated. I like all forms, TV and books, so far. Martha Wells has created a prickly, likeable character who wants to be free. It's hard not to cheer for Murderbot.

🤖📚📺

    Martha Grimes is one of my favorite mystery writers. I have been finding her books in libraries for 30 years, so now her main character, Richard Jury, feels like a long-time friend. All of her books are named for British pubs or bars. The Old Success is consisely written and there are many characters from previous books. It's probably best to start with the first, Man With A Load of Mischief, and work your way through. I have rarely guessed who the murderer was. A notable feature of her books is that they often feature precocious children and beloved pets. She is definitely an animal lover. 

🐎🔎⛴️

    The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, by Megan Bannen, was a light horror Romantasy. I found it clever and creative in its premise--Zombies, called Drudges, are real--and Hart fights them out on the wastelands of Tanria while Mercy fights to keep her family's undertaking business afloat. They are hostile toward each other due to a series of misunderstandings, but these two lonely people find each other writing letters to an unknown friend--A You've Got Mail situation. The setting gives an eighteenth-century Western vibe. It is a fun read.

🧟❤️‍🔥🪦💀🤠

    I always get excited when I get to read a new Emily Henry romance, so when Great Big Beautiful Life landed in my inbox yesterday, I wondered how far I would get before today's post. I just finished it a few minutes ago, and it was delicious. Emily Henry's characters are funny and wounded at the start, then remain funny but become less wounded. She sparkles at dialogue, and I snort-laugh over a quip or retort without fail during every book. A romance book follows a formula, so at times the plot feels predictable, but Henry imbues her characters with life, which I am glad that the formula is followed. In Great Big Beautiful Life, topics discussed include celebrity life, family dynamics, the cost of love, and island life in North Carolina. 

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🩹📸🌴🐍

🚚🎥🤳👩‍🍼Suspenseful Mystery, 💔Ficiton, and🐌🛸 More Sci-FI!🤖🦾👽

 

Twisty, slightly unbelievable, 

    Holly Jackson is brilliant at plotting. She creates snaky, torturous storylines that keep me guessing. In The Reappearance of Rachel Price, the high school senior, Bel, agrees to contribute to a documentary about her missing mother, who has been gone for sixteen years. Her dad was put on trial for her murder, but was acquitted; however, her small town never trusted him. All Bel had was her dad, then her mother returned. Jackson twists and twists the story. It was like watching a corkscrew disappear into a cork, tensely waiting for it all to pop open. 

Here is a review of Holly Jackson's A Good Girl's Guide to Murder: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/2024/11/murder-trouble-drug-trouble-and-more.html

🚚🎥🤳👩‍🍼

    Good Material by Dolly Alderton begins tediously and remains so for most of the book. A thirty-five-year-old comic, Andy, suffers a break-up with his long-term girlfriend, Jen. It devastates him, partly because he didn't see it coming. Most of the book is written from his first-person perspective, detailing his life after Jen, as he tries to piece together what happened and how to move forward without her. There is much humor in his actions, ruminations, and how his friends seek to help him. I thought about not finishing it, but several reviews said the best part of the book was the very end, so I stuck with it. I didn't find that it redeemed the previous slow pace. Overall, not a book I would recommend.

💔😭📦

    The Expert System's Champion by Adrian Tchaikovsky continues a previous novella, The Expert System's Brother. Tchaikovsky takes science fiction, an already imaginative genre, and reaches into both realistic and unforeseen places. He considers not only the flying car, but also the traffic jam. How do you survive on a plant that is poisonous to your biology? How would that impact future generations? Tchaikovsky asks and answers creative, thoughtful questions. 

Here is a link to the growing list of Adrian Tchaikovsky books I've reviewed: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=Adrian

🐌🐝🌳

    I am rereading Martha Wells' series,  The Robot Diaries, starting with All Systems Red. I have been watching Apple TV's adaptation, and it's not bad, but it doesn't square exactly with the book. I understand that books and TV shows are different forms of storytelling, with TV and films being visual. Therefore, a book adaptation will always look different from the story I've built in my head. I sometimes feel like I'm being gaslit when new plot points surface, and I think: I don't remember that. Truthfully, half the time I don't remember! 

Previous reviews of The Murderbot Diaries:

https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=All+Systems+Red

https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=murderbot

🤖🦾👽🛸

🧬🧝‍♀️ Science/Fantasy💐👒Recovery and🎄Christmas Mystery/Rom-Com--A Week of Mash-Ups!

 

    This week, I continue my obsession with Adrian Tchaikovsky, reading his novella Elder Race. It is told from two different points of view: Lynesse and Elder Nyr. Earth sends a group of humans to terraform a planet, making it suitable and familiar for habitation. A group of colonists and a scientific outpost remain behind, tasked with observing the events and reporting back to Earth. Lynesse is the distant descendant of those colonists and Nyr, a second-class anthropologist who occasionally emerges from stasis to check on what is happening. This brief novella explores the idea that science can appear magical to the uninitiated. So, is this book of fantasy or science fiction? This is a fascinating story, with terrific characters.

🔭🧬🧫🧝‍♀️😈

    Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman is a tragedy-to-triumph story. Young CeeCee's mother is mentally ill and not the fun, adorable kind. As her mother falls further into her delusions, CeeCee's traveling salesman father, unable to cope, leaves CeeCee to take care of her mother. Trapped CeeCee does all she can for herself and her mother, but bad things happen. CeeCee goes live with her mother's long-lost aunt in Savannah, Georgia. CeeCee moved from Ohio to life in the south in 1967. Her heart and mind have been battered and bruised, and she needs love and healing. The theme of this book is transformation from despair to hope with the help of her new neighbors and friends. 

    I love a happy ending, but this one was almost too happy, which is barely a complaint. I found the book compassionate about mental illness and the plight of those who live with it.

🌹🪻💐👒🌻👗

    I would put The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter in the mystery/rom-com category. It was an exciting romp, featuring many mystery tropes, including a locked-room mystery, an old English country mansion, and the usual suspects: greedy relatives, Christmas time, and tragic backstories. On the Rom-Com side, we have a feisty friends-to-lovers storyline. I love a good mash-up! The book was fast-paced and stocked with interesting characters. I didn't guess the killer, but worked out other red herrings. 

I have previously read another Ally Carter book called The Blonde Identity. Also, super fun. Here is the link to that review:

https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=Ally+Carter

❤️‍🔥🔎🎄🔍❤️‍🔥

📚🦁 A Good Mix of Thinky-Thinky and Entertaining

 

    I enjoy reading award-winning books for several reasons. One is so I appear bright. Another is to understand what sets this book apart from all the others. Orbital by Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize. It was shortlisted for the Ursula Le Guin Prize and nominated for Best Science Fiction on GoodReads.  I had expectations. I think what made Orbital stand out was that it didn't have a dynamic science fiction plot. It recounts a day on the International Space Station, gazing down at Earth and pondering life. The writing is excellent. Harvey had eloquent descriptions of the land masses slipping by. The deep thoughts revolved around climate change, our place in the universe, and what motivates someone to pursue being an astronaut, but I didn't love it. I guess I'm still a philistine when it comes to reading.

🌏🧑‍🚀🌍🧑‍🚀🌎

    Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe was sold as a fun romp. A nineteen-year-old woman becomes pregnant by her married English teacher and decides to keep the baby against everyone's advice. As the daughter of a single mother herself, she has limited support and few options. She loses her waitress job, and her roommates move out. Desperate to support herself, she starts an OnlyFans profile. Thorpe uses the storyline to hilariously explore conundrums, such as why acting is acceptable in movies but not in professional wrestling, and what distinguishes someone as white trash from someone more palatable. The book stressed me out because it's hard to watch a single mom make poor choices that have harsh consequences. But Margo is plucky and loves her son and family; you must root for her. 

👶🏻🤼💻💉

    How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley was so fun. A "mature" and somewhat reclusive woman decides she needs to make friends. First, she gets a wipe board to make a list.

😍

I was immediately hooked. This book belongs in the same subgenre as The Thursday Murder Club. It has quirky characters who need a shake-up in their lives. Things go wrong, things go right, and sometimes, things go really wrong. People help one another, and lives are changed for the better. There are smart dogs, grumpy senior citizens, teen dads, and menopausal housewives.  It has a formula, much like a romance novel, that's predictable and comforting, with whimsical side trails. This is a book that you know will have a happy ending, but it is delightful to see how they get there.

🐶👶🏻🪈💎 

    I have been reading through a compendium of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis before bed. It was not my first trip through Narnia, and it felt like visiting friends. When I first read the Chronicles, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was the first book in the series because it was the first one written. Now, The Magician's Nephew is first because it is the first chronologically. My favorite scene remains the same, where Eustace, who had become a dragon, once again became Eustace the boy. The final book, The Last Battle, does not hold up well, but it does a grand job of finishing the series. Overall, the books and the writing are worth five stars. 

🦁🏰🌊✨

    I'm enjoying reading books by Phaedra Patrick (what a fun name!). The Mess Lives of Book People seemed like a title designed to capture me. A woman in her 40s, Liv Green, is a cleaner. One of her clients is her favorite author, Essie Starling. When Essie dies, she leaves Liv with a life-changing bequest that will challenge her self-concept and shake up her life. I found the book to be a stretch in the realm of possibility, but entirely entertaining.

📚💻❤️‍🩹🪆