🪜🎭👺🦴⌛️Katabasis! 🤯

    I have someone in my life who, when they recommend a book, it will be  1) really good, 2) super weird, and 3) possible in the horror category. Katabasis by R.F. Kuang was recommended to me by this person, and it was all three, plus an intellectual plunge about power and purpose in the form of a novel. The word I would use to sum up the novel is "layered." The book is entertaining as dark fantasy. There are many references and nods to other literature on descent: Alice in Wonderland, the Divine Comedy, The Odyssey, and patheons of Greek, Roman, Indian, and Chinese Myth. She references Freud, Foucault, Toni Morrison, and many others. There is a lot going on, more than I could absorb in one reading. Kuang has accomplished something extraordinary; a reader could read it once and enjoy it, or read it several times and find new insights each time. 

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    Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman is not Dungeon Crawler Carl, but there are many similarities between them. They are both litRPG. The protagonist is reluctant, brave, and clever, aided by a sassy pet-like sidekick. The humor is irreverent. Corporations are evil, money-grubbers, and the people/players that pay to indulge in their games are psychopaths. The plot is surprising and twisty. My biggest complaint is that it isn't Carl and Donut. I like how Dinniman makes a wild, crazy novel feel relevant to our current political situation. I think he may be subversively subversive.

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    I like a well-done romance, and Cover Story by Mhairi McFarlane is well done. It operates on the enemies-to-lovers trope, where they also have to pretend to be dating. The main characters, Bel and Connor, are both journalists in a tiny office in Manchester. The opportunity to break an important story requires undercover work—not those covers! Will the two coworkers eventually come to appreciate each other's strengths and learn to work together? Worth the journey to see it happen.

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    I am currently rereading some of my favorite books. I have finished all of Jane Austin,  The Murderbot Diaries, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Let me say: I love them all.

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🐟🦀🦦🦞🎣🚜👨‍🌾🐄 Light-Hearted Aussie and Serious Thoughts About Life

 

    Sometimes I have reserved books on Libby, but don't remember requesting them. They show up in my feed to be borrowed, and I worry about what I'm going to encounter. Heretical Fishing by Haylock Jobson is one of those books. Maybe I heard it was like the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, because it is a litRPG (Literary Role-Playing Game). A billionaire dies and finds himself in a different world that reminds him of world-building games he's played. All he wants to do is fish, live by the sea, and create meaningful relationships--things he failed to do in his previous life. The pace is gentle, the plot is more about fun times than leveling up. The hero, Fischer, moves through his new life mostly oblivious to conflict and antagonism from others. His kindness earns him loyal friends and awakened, ascending pets. The book is overlong and lacks conflict, but it is readable and humorous.

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    Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry, is the February pick for my book club. It is another gentle book, but it contains depth and conflict as it balances grief and gratefulness for life. Hannah recounts her small-town life as a farmer's wife from her youth to her old age. Hannah is deeply wise in the ways of community. A sadness of the novel is how small farms collapsed after World War II, as the next generation found jobs elsewhere. My Dear Husband is from a farm family. He proudly states that his grandfather never had a W-2. He has justified pride in what his family has accomplished. Hannah Coulter is a vehicle for showing the dignity and resilience of farm families. 

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🎉📖👩‍💻 I Got Published In a Book!

 

    I started this blog to put some short stories I wrote out into the world, but then let it slide. I resurrected it as a place to talk about the books I read each week, but kept the name because I can be lazy like that. However, I kept writing and submitting work. I got published online and in The Sun Magazine's Readers Write column. My goal for the past few years has been to write something and get paid for it. 

It has happened!

 https://www.facebook.com/ChickenSoupfortheSoul/

 #CSSBeingGrandma

 https://www.chickensoup.com/book/being-grandma

    Chicken Soup for the Soul: Being Grandma is available on March 10th at bookstores and online.  I am grateful to be published, especially for my supportive husband and first-draft editor. Hurrah!

🎉📖👩‍💻

🏠🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒🌀🧠😶‍🌫️🦠 Great Weird Books

 

    The Names by Florence Knapp has a wonderfully quirky premise. How much does a name influence one's path in life? Three different storylines spool out from three different name possibilities: Bear, Julian, or Gordon. The other aspects of life remain the same. He has an abusive father, a downtrodden mother, and a fierce older sister. What will they all become under the influence of the son's name? This novel explores identity, the lingering scars of abuse, and how to find hope. The Names is Florenc Knapp's debut novel, and it is extraordinary. Wonderful characters, a whimsical proposition, and lovely descriptions underline a belief that people generally want to do good, but also want to feel powerful.

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    I didn't like Social Crimes main character, wealthy socialite Jo Slater. It was difficult to root for her, especially as she made poor choice after poor choice. Jo, from Oklahoma, is fascinated with Marie Antoinette's life and decor, and catches the eye of a wealthy, much older millionaire from New York. He pursues her and sets her up in a New York apartment while he tells his wife he wants a divorce. They marry, and she becomes a leading light in society because of her wealth, fabulous parties, and impeccable taste. That all changes, and it changes how Jo approaches life.

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       I like weird books, and There is No Antimemetics Division by antm (not a typo). This book explores themes of identity, the spread of ideas, and whether we really know what we think we know. It opens on a world where dangerous-to-life ideas — ones that cause division and disconnection from others — invade but contain self-erasing properties. So its victims don't know that they've been infected and have no defense or cure. Now, imagine a secret organization that fights those entities called the Antimemetics Division. To keep itself secret, it must regularly wipe its employees' minds to prevent them from being compromised. qntm makes it work. I enjoyed this clever, mind-bending book. Once I accepted the premise, I, too, began to anticipate the problems they faced and to admire their solutions. 

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