Six Very Different Books.📚❓❣️🌱🐉⏳ What A Week!

 

    Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story by Bess Kalb is a quirky memoir of Bess Kalb's grandmother, Bobby Bell. They had an amazing grandmother/granddaughter relationship as depicted by this book. Kalb speaks with her grandmother's voice. It is like she's playing dress-up using her grandmother's thoughts. Kalb has her grandmother's literal voicemails on her phone. I had the feeling Kalb was processing her loss through her writing, much like Joan Didion in The Year of Magical Thinking. I enjoyed seeing the impact that a grandmother can have. 

🩷👶🏻🌟

    I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai is filed in the mystery category because it is a gripping mystery. However, this book is more than a whodunit. Bodie Kane is a successful podcaster and film professor living in Los Angeles. She is invited to do a winter mini-mester at her old New Hampshire boarding school. The story zigzags back and forth in time as Bodie reconsiders the death of her roommate that occurred senior year. This book covers a lot of meaty topics like racial injustice, casual misogynistic abuse, and the curious fascination with the deaths of young, pretty white girls, but at its heart, it is a suspenseful mystery. 

❄️⛷️🏫🎞️💀

    Emily Henry is great at writing witty, pithy romance books. People We Meet On Vacation was the perfect read while traveling by airplane. It made the miles fly by. This book follows a friends-to-lovers path. Poppy and Alex meet in college when he gives her a ride home for summer break. They both live in the same small town. They are opposites. Poppy's sole desire is travel; Alex's is to build a stable life. So, they agreed to be best friends who would take a week-long vacation together once a year. But one year, something happens, and they stop. Poppy makes one last desperate attempt to get her best friend back.

 😉❣️✈️

    The main focus of The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman is the romance of gardening. As someone who gets poison ivy whenever I try to pull weeds and considers houseplants a bouquet that lasts slightly longer than average, I was charmed by this lovely book and the problem-free garden. Lillian Girvan has been a widow for three years. She is drawn in and compacted--much like a seed in hard ground--when she signs up for gardening class, where she transforms, with the help of others, into something unexpected. Interspersed between the chapters are short, witty essays on how to prepare and grow a garden.

👩‍🌾🌻🌼🪻🥕🍅🥦

    I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle doesn't strictly follow the traditional fantasy tropes. The story's hero is a lowly dragon exterminator who hates his job. Gaius Aurelius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax, his friends call him Robert, has inherited the job of ridding hovels to castles of dragons. When the princess of Robert's kingdom falls hard for the neighboring kingdom's handsome prince, Robert is called for a long overdue castle dragon cleansing; however, everything doesn't go as planned. Beagle's writing style is humourous while also telling a rollicking tale.

🐉 🏰👸🐲

    The Ministry of Time by Kaleane Bradley is a debut novel. Her concept is clever. Time travel is possible, but instead of sending someone from this timeline, the government chooses to secretly pull people from the past who would have died if they hadn't been rescued. Then, study the physical and mental effects on these unwilling participants. A small group of Expats from several centuries are gathered in a future where the climate crisis is becoming overwhelming. The book's narrator is the bridge helper/keeper of a British officer who would have died in an Arctic expedition in 1847. She must help him acclimate to the current timeline and regularly report to the ministry about him. She is both his friend and his foe. Time travel makes things weird. I like weird. The genre is humorous sci-fi romance with a conscience.

⏳☀️🥵❤️ 

Psalm 23 🐑 and Contemplative Decision Making 🤔

    Buckle up; it's going to get theological.

 

    I recite the 23rd Psalm in my head at night to help my brain know it's time to go to sleep. I had a severe bout of insomnia fifteen years ago and read that mentally saying a poem would help train your brain for sleep. I still do it, so  I am deeply familiar with the 23rd Psalm. The Lord of Psalm 23: Jesus Our Shepherd, Companion, and Host by David Gibson piqued my interest because I had wondered about the transitions from third-person to first-person during the Psalm and where the setting is: a field, a stream, a path, a valley, a dining room, heaven? The subtitle laid out the Psalm in a new (to me) coherent way. I was curious what else David Gibson had to say. The book is based on the sermon series he preached. He drew surprising parallels between Psalm 23 and the Exodus, which were intriguing. I'm planning on rereading this book, which is a rarity for me.

  Psalm 23

         The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  
                He makes me lie down in green pastures.

 He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

🍇🍞🌄🐏

 

    How to Walk into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away by Emily P. Freeman kept coming available on my holds list, and I would delay it because I wasn't in the headspace for deep thinking and contemplation. Most of my books are consumed by audible books, so I can multitask; however, this book needed me to sit down and read it with my journal and pen. Freeman asks excellent questions evaluating understanding of leaving or staying in a room. Rooms are interpreted broadly to mean any space you occupy, like a school, a relationship, a church, a house, etc. I occasionally listen to Freeman's podcast; she comes across as kind and thoughtful. Her book also reflects those qualities. Reading the book felt like talking with a wise, compassionate friend about a difficult situation. 

Link to podcast: https://emilypfreeman.com/podcast/

🤔💡⛪️

❤️❤️ Heart Warming Books

 

    I heard a podcast recommending The Guncle by Steven Rowley and put it on hold with Libby. It was a long wait. When it popped up, I had forgotten everything about it. You probably know, but Guncle means gay uncle and can refer to an actual uncle or a gay man functioning in the role of an uncle. The Guncle is a predictable story, but it is heartwarmingly well told. Uncle Patrick is the adult in charge of his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. Their mother has just died; their father needs a stint at rehab. It is guaranteed to be a memorable summer for them all. It has humor, dogs, discussions about grief, and what siblings can mean to each other. The book is LGTQ-friendly, not a surprise. There is a standard plot line that caring for others can bring about caring for yourself. There is some truth in that. Some of what motivates me to do the hard work of therapy is to better love my loved ones. I found this book encouraging in that journey. 

🌴🏳️‍🌈👨‍👧‍👦

    I am not alone in my love of Emily Henry; her latest book is Funny Story. It is a modern-day romance with a great hook. Daphne is engaged to Peter. He comes home from his bachelor party and announces that he's actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra, who lives with long-term boyfriend Miles, and he and Petra are going to give Daphne an entire week to move out of the house in Peter's name. Devasted, Daphne and Miles decide to share Miles's tiny apartment until Daphne can find something else. Those aren't spoilers because this all happens in the first few pages. What I like about Emily Henry is that the romance that occurs is secondary to the character's growth and discovery. It is a painfully beautiful thing to read, and she does it well. 

❤️‍🩹📚🍷

🦴 Russian Mystery, 🦄 Fantasy, and ❤️ Accidental Romance

 

        Reading works translated from other languages is stimulating. My understanding of story and character grows as I encounter authors who don't have English as a first language. The Silver Bone, by Andrey Kukov, translated by Boris Dralyuk, is a mystery that takes place in Kyiv in 1919. The protagonist is practically drafted into becoming an investigator when he comes to lodge a complaint about two Red Army soldiers who have moved into his apartment. There is much going on in this book, mystery, murder, romance, and magical realism against the backdrop of a turbulent time of the region changing hands, causing food scarsity and disrupted services. Andrey Kukov lives in Ukraine, and his writing feels timely.

🔎👂🪆💘🦴

    I have heard of the book The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. It both followed a predictable path and also was unpredictable. The main character is an eternal unicorn who suspects she is the last unicorn in the world, and to find out, she leaves the safety of her forest to search for other unicorns. A writing teacher once told me every story starts out either with going on a journey or a stranger coming to town. This journey changes the unicorn and the world around her. It squarely lives in the fantasy category: unicorns, magic, curses, and witches, but it also feels literary as it explores accepting who we are instead of who we want to be. I found it to be a thinky-thinky book, and that was unexpected. I also read two other Peter S. Beagle stories that are novella sequels--Two Hearts and Sooz-- to The Last Unicorn. Several characters continue their adventures in The Way Home. They wrestle with loss and loyalty and love in a not everyone-lived-happily-ever-after.

🦄👑🧙‍♂️🏰

    My book club's travel book for June is Better Than Fiction by Alexander McCall Smith, a compilation of famous authors' true travel tales and what I thought I borrowed from Libby. However, I actually borrowed Better Than Fiction by ALEXA MARTIN. So close. I started listening and wondered why it sounded so much like a romance book set in Denver, Colorado. Turns out, because it was a romance book set in Denver, Colorado. I enjoyed it as a romance book and it did make me interested in going to Colorado. It sounds beautiful, with terrific food, amazing views, and bookstores. I love a good bookstore. 

📚⛰️🏔️💖

🚵‍♀️ Travel,🐮Talking Cows, and 💍 a Magic Attic

 

    The book club travel for May is Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road by Kate Harris. To tell the truth, this wasn't the book I was most looking forward to, but I ended up loving it. It is a prize-winning story. Harris and her friend, Mel Yule, cycle the Silk Road through the baking heat of India to the snow and freezing temperatures of the mountains of Nepal on a bicycle. As she recounts each place she has visited, she shines a kind light on the inhabitants and her encounters with them. Because of her background in scientific and historical studies, the facts she relates are not isolated but often reflect how things fit together- the people, the history, and geography. She focuses on the environmental impact of governments and businesses on the terrain and culture. Spoiler Alert: it's not good. 

    Here is an eleven-minute video capturing her ten countries and ten thousand miles: https://youtu.be/aAf3FTOPSEk?si=NtyyYPePZ3F6Z4Z8

🚵‍♀️🐪☀️🏔️❄️🚵‍♀️

    This was a strange, fun book. Jann Arden is a Renaissance woman who is a singer/songwriter, writer, and actress and probably bakes her own bread. She has two other memoirs, but this is her first novel. The Bittlemores reminds me of a Dicken's novel, where everything is terrible. Terrible people do awful things to powerless people in their grasp only with talking cows. There are kidnappings, mistaken identities, and mixed motives. Despite the talking animals, it is not a silly book. Arden explores how terrible people become terrible people. The villains have some of my sympathies, making this a compelling read. The plot is heartwarming. The characters feel genuine. The ending is satisfying, and everyone gets what they deserve.

🐮🐄🪙🐈🏚️

     I love a mind-bender time book, The Husbands, by Holly Gramazio. The premise is Lauren has a magic attic that supplies her with husbands. This starts suddenly without warning. She only gets one husband at a time. When the current husband enters the attic, the new husband comes down. With each husband, her life somewhat changes. Lauren might have a different job, or her sister might not have kids, or she's richer or poorer, or she takes drugs. The plot reminded me of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Through Lauren's many interactions, Kate Gramazio explores what makes a lasting marriage, whether it is worth it, and what you might do to attain it. It has a twisty plot, a compelling central character, and good book club discussion fodder. 

🪜💍👩‍❤️‍👨😍

A Week of Fun Stuff ❤️🪄

 

    I'm traveling this week and wanted something fun and easy to listen to on the plane. Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory rocked it. Because it was a romance, I was looking for the formula to be followed. I found an excellent description of this on the website DIYMFA: https://diymfa.com/writing/structure-romance-writing/

    Here is an abbreviated version of their list that compares the Hero's Journey to The Structure of Romance:  

    I love a list!!

• Call to Adventure/Meet Cute
• Refusal of the Call/Rejection of the Relationship
• Acceptance of the Quest/Giving the Relationship a Chance
• Trials and Temptations/Three Dates
• Midpoint Crisis/I-need-you-but-I-can't-have-you
• The Road Back/Pulling Back Together
• The Fall
• The Sacrifice
• Declaration
• Denouement/The HEA (Happily Ever After)

    Let me say that Party of Two has it all, plus some steamy bits. Guillory's heroine isn't rescued but does face some unaddressed hurts from her past. Also, she loves cake and fries. It made me hungry. 

    This book is the fifth in a series, but it stands alone.

❤️💐🎂🍰

    Patricia Wrede's best-known books are the Dealing With Dragons series--so good and funny. Several years ago, maybe ten, she wrote two epistolary novels with Caroline Steremere about two friends, Cecelia and Kate, coming of age and discovering their abilities. The story takes place in England in the early 1800s (think Jane Austin) in a world where magic is real, but not everyone has the ability. The Mislaid Magician, or Ten Years After, is a revisit to these now-married-with-families friends as they try to solve the mystery of a missing magician. The manners and expectations are reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice with well-meaning but overbearing relatives. It is appropriate because I'm visiting friends this week as well!

🐕🪄🪨

🫶Marriage Book, Two Murder Books🔪, and Fantasy!🦠

 

    I appreciate a self-help book that balances theory with practicum. In Reconnect: Insights and Tools for Cultivating Meaningful Connection in Your Marriage, Steven D. Call, PhD, explains how attachment theory can apply to the marriage relationship. Here is a quick idea:

Attachment theory is a lifespan model of human development emphasizing the central role of caregivers (attachment figures) who provide a sense of safety and security.(https://www.simplypsychology.org/attachment.html)

    The types of attachment, in descending order, are secure, anxious (or ambivalent), avoidant-dismissive, and disorganized. Our style deeply affects our relationships with others, but especially with our spouse. Stephen Call urges partners to examine their attachment style and its effects on their marriage. Then, he gives way to connecting together to move toward a secure attachment. 

    I found his education and advice helpful. One way I've directly applied this encouragement is to cease multitasking when I'm talking to my husband. This can be summed up as: Put down the phone and engage. The changes he recommends are gradual and, therefore, more long-term and lasting. 

    This book would be useful to everyone who wants to connect with others. I liked that it wasn't shaming or intimidating.

👩‍❤️‍👨🧲🫶😍

    In her fourth installment of this series, Elle Cosimano's latest Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice is beyond fast-paced, entering breakneck territory. Cosimano can make me think this can't get worse, and with a twist, it does. I enjoy these madcap, escapist reads. I rarely guess the murderer, but it's always a plausible perpetrator. 

Other Finlay Donovan book reviews: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=finlay+

🎲🎰🚔🐶

    I was surprised Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes was published in 2024 because it reads like a book from the 1950s where it's set. It has a ridiculous premise: a school where you learn how to murder someone and get away with it. There are parameters. The person you're proposing to murder must fully deserve it. The McMasters Institute prides itself on its well-rounded graduates who are fully equipped to carry out their thesis plan. Rupert Holmes wrote the Pina Colada song! The book is filled with wordplay. We don't say murder; we say delete. The students aren't murderes, they are deletist. The audiobook is read by award-winning Simon Vance and Neil Patrick Harris. 

    I found the book humorous and engaging even as I struggled with the premise that some people deserve to be killed with out due process. Those who are chosen to be deleted are horrible, horrible people it is still  one person making that decision. It bugged me.

🔪☠️🔫

    I know people who loooooove Brandon Sanderson, but he didn't land for me. Until I read Tress of the Emerald Sea. Sanderson himself confesses that Tress was a departure for him. I say, Keep going! It had many of the elements I enjoy in fantasy: considerable imagination, strong characters, sly humor, and a quirky sidekick. 

🌊💚🦠⛵️

Six Books in a Week! 🥳👏

 

    The Golden Yarn is the third book in the MirrorWorld Series by Cornelia Funke. It is not the last book in the series, and the others are still waiting to be translated into English. So, I need to work on learning German. Other than the book ending on somewhat of a cliffhanger, it raced along with unforeseen plot twists and turns. I get the sense the series wasn't planned out from the beginning because each book has new characters needed to solve present problems. It works. 

🧚‍♂️🧝‍♂️🪡🦋

    This short book (129 pages) is powerful. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan feels longer than it is. The main character, Bill Furlong, delivers coal in a small Irish town. It's a busy time, right before Christmas. He discovers something that troubles him and is unsure what to do about it. Small Things Like These could be melodramatic--unwed mothers, Christmas, powerful villains--but in Keegan's deft hands, this story accumulates tension as Bill Furlong's various obligations are in conflict. I know what I want him to do and understand what it will cost him. Keegan does a lot in 129 pages.

🎄👩‍👦⛪️

     In P. Djeli Clark's novella, A Dead Djinn in Cairo, what starts as a mysterious death becomes a race to save the world. Clark creates a world in early 19th-century Egypt, no longer occupied by the British but now inhabited by djinns, ghouls, and angels. The eccentric investigator from the Ministry of Alchemy, Fatma el-Sha'arawi, is investigating the mysterious death of a djinn. The deeper she digs, the more dangerous her situation grows. 

🧞‍♂️👼🧟‍♂️

If you liked Andy Weir's The Martian, you will probably like Kate Hope Day's In the Quick. I was surprised to discover that it is based on Jane Eyre! However, it makes sense. An intelligent, quirky woman is sent away by her aunt to a special school--that just happens to be for astronauts in training. June possesses a mechanical brilliance and the firm will to keep going despite opposition. She is the only person who believes that the missing presumed dead astronauts might be alive and could be rescued. Kate Hope Day writes a tight plot with a fierce central character. I enjoyed the melding of gothic fiction and sci-fi.

🚀🧑‍🚀🪐🌎

    The Dark Lord's Daughter by Patricia C. Wrede is a clever middle-grade fantasy. Kayla, her adopted mother, and her little brother are pulled into a different world, where Kayla is the lost daughter of the former Dark Lord. She is received with mixed emotions and motives. Everyone expects her to exert her power by killing her rivals and torturing her minions. She's not into it. Her desire is to return home. She has allies in her adopted mother and brother. Her tablet has become her familiar in the form of a flying monkey. Wrede has several plot "time bombs" that bring tension and propel the story. 

🏰🪄📱🍕

 

    Benjamin Stevenson is great at writing wry, comical murder mysteries. His debut novel, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (reviewed here: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/2023/08/great-mystery-and-amusing-short-stories.html), was the best mystery novel I read in 2023. His latest book, Everyone on This Train is a Suspect, continues with the same unlucky protagonist, Ern. He is at a writer's conference on a famous train in "Australia," The Ghan. Ern teaches mystery writing and follows closely to "the rules" of writing a fair play mystery novel. He keeps the reader periodically apprised of what he doing. At 20,000 words, the author should have introduced the murderer and used their name several times. Then, he listed the main characters and the number of times their names have been used. I find it transparent but also a red herring because I'm diverted into thinking about whose name has been mentioned the most instead of who's the killer. It's cleverly done.

🕵️‍♂️🖋️🚞🛤️🔎

Theology, Murder, and Fantasy--Typical Week

 

    Someone recommended Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better by Brant Hansen, and I've begrudgingly read it. I am suspicious of subtitles that say one change can make all of life better. I found it to be even-handed and generous. I frequently circle around the question of whether anger is good or bad, helpful or destructive. (I tend to be a black-and-white thinker. Surprise!) Hansen gave good arguments, especially for followers of Christ, to examine their anger and see if it is self-justifying or a check engine light pointing to a problem. This book is short, full of stories, and thought-provoking. It is worth reading and considering.

😡😤🕊️

    Lindsey Davis writes historical mysteries that take place in Ancient Rome, and they are terrific. I have been reading her Roman mysteries for over 30+ years. That's a long time. She doesn't disappoint. This week, I read #10 in the Flavia Albia series, Desperate Undertaking. This series is best read in order but optional. Desperate Undertaking is the tale of a serial killer with a fondness for theater and cruelty. Long-time readers will encounter characters from past adventures. Davis's previous series, Marcus Didius Falco, is about Albia's adopted father, who also solved crimes. If you have lots of time or want to read interesting, informative books about Rome involving murder, Lindsey Davis is for you.     

Here is a link to previous Flavia Albia books I've reviewed:

https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=Flavia+Albia

🎭🔍🐻

    This will be the first week in a long time that I haven't read a T. Kingfisher. I went online and typed, "If you like T. Kingfisher, you will like _______? We used to do this at the bookstore to find recommendations for people who wanted a book close to an author they liked. The all-knowing internet produced the author Cornelia Funke. Hurray! I've read her Ink Heart series and liked it a great deal. The past four days have been spent consuming her Mirrorworld series. The first book, Reckless, starts with William following his older brother, Jacob, into a mirror world where he is immediately infected by a curse that begins to turn his flesh, heart, and mind into a living stone. Jacob must use all his learned skills as a treasure hunter to find a cure for William. A cure that none of the withes, magicians, or fairies have been able to create. The second book, Fearless, continues the story, focusing on Jacob and his shape-shifting companion, Vixen, as they search for a powerful crossbow able to defeat entire armies. They aren't the only ones desperately needing to find this weapon of mass destruction. 

    This book reminds me of Star Wars. It has multiple plots, wars, a hint of romance, and a gritty, dangerous world. 

🏰🦄🧚‍♀️🧌🧙‍♀️

🛣️ Road Trips 📚 Mystery 😱Horror

    April's travel book for book club is On The Road by Jack Kerouac. I had heard of this book but had never read it, and a benefit of book club is exposure to books I might not choose. It is a book about travel both exteriorly by bus, car, and hitchhiking back and forth across the USA, and interiorly, away from conservative values and the confinement of society's expectations like paying your bills, being faithful to your spouse, and supporting your children. It is described as the voice of the Beat Generation and its influence on American culture. It is a book to read to have a window into the upheaval of the late 50s and 60s. I didn't like On The Road because I found it dishonest. There is no free life; someone will have to pay the cost of food, gas, and babies. Kerouac's idea of freedom is self-centered and comes at the cost of someone else taking on the debt.

    In contrast to other books I've read on travel, Wild, Eat, Pray, Love, and Travels with Charley give the writers an understanding of themselves and others; the result of Kerouac's trip feels like a spiral downward. His travel catalyst is his friend, Dean Moriarty, who abandons him and also fascinates him in turn. Dean is the main protagonist and the most exciting character. When he's not around, things are less interesting. Overall, I'm glad to have read On The Road because I won't have to ever read it again.

🗺️🚘👍🛣️

    I read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield many years ago, but I didn't recognize the book until about halfway through. I couldn't remember how it ended! It feels like I'm not long from hiding my own Easter eggs. The plot of this excellent mystery is complex so I will give myself a break for not quite remembering the title. The book fits into a gothic mystery category with a crumbling house, orphan twins, and mysterious old women. It has surprising turns and mysteries within mysteries. A big plus is the protagonist works in a bookshop, and there is much book talk. I recommend reading it twice!

👩‍🦰👩‍🦰🏚️📚

 

    Speaking of gothic and adding horror brings me to T. Kingfisher's book The Twisted Ones. She has several titles--A House with Good Bones and The Hollow Places--that take place in the American South and are spooky weird. Here is a link to my reviews of the others.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1658929891i/70401.jpg

    The Twisted Ones follows Kingfisher's gothic horror formula of the female protagonist with a recent break-up, goes south to help or be helped by a relative, and lives in a creepy house that turns out to be a portal to horrible things. However, the book is populated with weirdly wonderful characters and evil villains that give the plot suspense. I like the heroes and dislike the villains. 

As a side note, if Kingfisher's actual grandmother is as bad as her written grandmothers, she's crafted an excellent revenge. 

    This is the last Kingfisher book for a while. I'm still missing a few, but I will have to find them outside my usual channels. Fortunately, there are many good books in the world that I still want to read.

💀😱🐶🌲

⚔️ More T. Kingfisher (Help, I Running Out!), 🪦Middleschoo Horror-ish, 🎑 and a Novel About Jimbocho, Tokyo 📚

 

    As I've read most of T. Kingfisher's backlog, I've done it out of order, reading what has come available on Libby. Mostly, it hasn't been a problem. There is an occasional reference that I don't get, but most of her books, even in series, can be read out of sequence. The Clocktaur War duology is the set of books establishing her Paladin universe. Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine set up  The Saint Steel series as well as Swordheart. Kingfisher's works have a distinctive style and repeating elements. There is reluctant romance, humourous gnoles, hidden backstories to reveal, a road trip, and the forces of evil to defeat. I knew it would all come right in the end, but I didn't know how it would all come right. A forger--Slate; a disgraced paladin--Caliban; an assassin--Brenner; and a monk scientist--Learned Edmund, must work together to defeat what no one else, including the army, has been able to stop, the Clockwork Boys. If they don't or refuse, they will be eaten by their demon tattoos. Well played, Ms. Kingfisher.

🤖🖊️⚔️🔪🦡

       The Doll Bones by Holly Black is horror-lite for middle schoolers. Three friends since elementary school, but are now in middle school. Change is inevitable, and it's scary. Black describes the turmoil of having a foot in two boats: who you've been and who you are becoming. Things that defined them as elementary kids are now "babyish." Black demonstrates how the skills from playing pretend and making up stories are still valuable and necessary.

                                 ⛵️🏴‍☠️👑🚍🪦

    I love reading books, and the next level up from reading a good book is reading a good book about someone who loves reading good books. Days at Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa, is that sort of book. It is a novel about a young woman who suffers a heartbreak and falls into a depression. Her uncle invites her to come live above his bookstore in Jimbocho, the used book district of Tokoyo.

🙀

This is an actual place, and I want to go there: https://booksandbao.com/jimbocho-tokyos-book-town-video-guide/. 

    The story is about relationships and learning to communicate with those you love. It had a different feel from the fantasy I've been reading lately. I quite enjoyed it.

📚🗾🎑