2014 book 243

Ashley Weaver's Murder at Brightwell
Oh my, was this right up my alley--there are few things I love more than 1930s-set mysteries about moneyed British people, starring a sassy and/or vivacious protagonist! In this one, our vivacious protagonist is Amory, five years into a marriage that isn't working, when her former fiance turns up, asking her to join him at a seaside resort, to try and convince his sister not to marry her shady fiance. And then . . . murder! I have to say, this is a first novel, and the writing here is outstanding. Weaver does a great job building the characters and the mystery, but just every word feels well-chosen. I mean, occasionally Amory acts like an numbskull, but that's par for the course when an amateur is investigating a mystery in a novel like this. I was definitely invested in her shenanigans (not to mention her romantic situation). I really hope to see more from Weaver, and soon. A/A-.

2014 book 242

Miriam Toews' All My Puny Sorrows
In general, I have liked all of Toews' novels, and this one was no exception. It hits on a lot of her common themes--depression/suicide, sisters, Mennonites, Canada, etc--but feels like a more grown-up sort of story than some of her others (maybe because the main characters are in their 40s) (or maaaaaybe because this is more than little bit autobiographical). In this one, a woman is dealing with her famous concert pianist sister, who has just tried to commit suicide (not for the first time), and basically has to decide whether to try and save her, or to let her go. I mean, she has some other stuff going on in her life too, but her sister's hospitalization, and her (and their mother) trying to deal with it, and the many inherent frustrations, are the main things here. Along with a lot, lot, lot of sadness. The characters are great, though (I especially loved their mother), and things end in a good place. A/A-.

2014 book 241

Marie Lu's The Young Elites
I enjoyed Lu's Legend, though never got around to reading the rest in that series. This is the first in a new series, and I figured I'd give it a try--it's about a land where a horrible fever killed many adults and disfigured many children--though gave a few of those children strange powers. And a few of /those/ have banded together to form the titular Young Elites. Our protagonist is one of the disfigured (she's lost an eye and has a scarred face), treated pretty horribly by her father and society in general, when the Elites rescue her and decide to train her (she has powers of illusion). At first, she's interesting--she's motivated by fear and anger, and longs for power--but Lu puts her in a stupid position that I found very frustrating. I can see that I'm supposed to be sympathetic and feel that the protagonist is torn, but instead I thought she was an idiot. Of course, I'm predisposed to hate plotlines that could be cleared up with one honest conversation. Still, the worldbuilding/political stuff is pretty interesting, and it ends strongly. Not sure whether I'll check out the sequels. B.

2014 book 240

Jessica Day George's Thursdays With The Crown
The third book in George's latest series (After Tuesdays in the Castle and Wednesdays in the Tower), picks up right where the second left off--with Celie and her siblings/assorted other friends in a strange new land, trying to solve the problems with their magical castle--and encountering more griffins! I am way into griffins now thanks to this series. Anyway, this was just as charming as the first two, and I certainly hope the next book--with its promises of UNICORNS--comes to be. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.

2014 book 239

Rick Riordan's Blood Of Olympus
The final book in the Heroes of Olympus series is here, and it's . . . more of the same. The writing is still kind of awkward/silly (and Riordan is also STILL comparing the skin color of minority characters to food), there are two series' worth of characters to keep track of (I definitely Googled more than a few), but there's a ton of action. And there are some nice girl-power moments that had me cheering, as well as some great stuff for Nico. Things go pretty much how you expect they'll go, but it's entertaining enough. I dunno, B+?

2014 book 238

Marilynne Robinson's Lila
I always read Robinson's novels at a bit of a remove--being Jewish, there's a layer I just don't quite get. That doesn't really lessen my enjoyment, however, and I enjoy the theological discussions. The center of this novel is Reverend Ames' much younger wife Lila, who featured heavily in Gilead (which was narrated by Ames). Lila's childhood is rough, and even as an adult she longs for Doll, who straight-up kidnapped her from her neglectful family, and showed her love and kindness--though she does spend years pondering her identity, too. I don't know what to say about this, really--I like knowing more of Lila's story, and I liked her relationship with the Reverend and the more meditative parts dealing with her pregnancy. If you like Robinson's thoughtful work and beautiful prose (and I do), this is more of the same. I actually might reread Gilead in the near future, since this is almost a prequel. A-.

2014 book 237

A.S. King's Glory O'Brien's History of the Future
I am historically a big fan of King's books, even the more . . . unusual ones, and this one definitely falls into the latter camp. It's about teenage Glory, about to graduate high school, and seemingly planning her suicide (her mother killed herself a la Sylvia Plath when Glory was four), when she and her erstwhile best friend drink a petrified bat (just go with it) and suddenly see visions when they look at people. Her friend's are fairly innocuous, but Glory sees a person's ancestors AND descendents . . . and sees that a war is coming. A bad one. I like that King manages to draw in all these current social issues that are super depressing when you think about them--and yet the book has a real hopeful note. For the first half of this book, I was basically like "my god, this is weird," and by the end I was like fist-pumping about how into it I was. Let's call it an A-.


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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on October 14th.

2014 book 236

Sydney Taylor's All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown
I've been sporadically dipping into the Lizzie Skurnick Books reissues of this classic series--this one is interesting in that it was written as the second book in the series, but publication was delayed because of it's too-realistic content! (An Italian boy living in poverty was apparently controversial.) But I mean, it's the All-of-a-Kind Family! You know everything is going to work out just fine, with lots of Jewishness along the way. I love it.

2014 book 235

Erin Claiborne's A Hero at the End of the World
This was a SUPER cute book, kind of Harry Potter-ish, except if Ron kills Voldemort instead, and Harry gets all pissy about it and flunks out of school and ends up working in a coffee shop. And then accidentally gets recruited into an evil cult. And there's a cute boy! And his old friend the hero is investigating the cult! And has a super cute partner who is basically Hermione with straight hair. I mean, not to say it's derivative, because it's not really, these are just cultural markers we can all recognize. Anyway: super cute. Bonus points for diversity too! Both main characters are minorities. B+/A-.

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ETA: I have been informed this book is based on Harry Potter fanfic, so, I guess it IS actually derivative, haha! I'm not changing my grade or anything--Claiborne is a solid writer, I hope she tries something more original next time.

2014 book 234

Milena Michiko Flasar's I Called Him Necktie
Well, here's a lovely little book that I highly recommend. It's the story of a young man in Japan--a hikikomori, a type of recluse--and what happens when he finally leaves his bedroom after two years and sits on a park bench, where he eventually encounters the titular necktie-wearing man, and they share life stories. Both stories are suffused with sadness, but Flasar's prose elevates the material. Really strong writing on loss and grief and regret. A-.

2014 book 233

Sandra Waugh's Lark Rising
I almost didn't read this book because the description begins "Lark has foreseen two things—she will fall for a young man with sage green eyes, and he will kill her" which is a) way too melodramatic, and b) so obviously cribbing from the Raven Cycle. BUT it's also completely inaccurate! Well, I mean, it's accurate, but Lark sees a lot of things, and those particular things are not super relevant in the grand scheme of things (the romance is a THING here, but not really the main thing). Also, Lark seems to misinterpret her visions at least occasionally (and when she does, it's just a stupid roadblock to the romance that she takes way too long to reveal, my pet peeve! Less annoying miscommunication/unnecessary angst that can be cleared up with one conversation please, authors).

Ugh, here I am talking ONLY about the (mildly annoying) romance, when the world-building here is so interesting! Lark is a seer, and finds out she's one of four mystical guardians of the realm (she's the guardian of Life, and has super awesome communicating-with-animal powers, among other things) and has to get back some stolen amulets from the bad guys or whatever. Who cares, there is a really great horse and a hilarious gnome livening things up! There are weird monsters and her village is in danger! Etc. This is apparently the first of a series, and I will probably check out the others in the hope that the other guardians are less distracted by their love interests. B/B+.

2014 book 232

Anne Helen Petersen's Scandals of Classic Hollywood
I'm a huge fan of Petersen's essays on The Hairpin, also called Scandals of Classic Hollywood, and the way she contextualizes celebrity and media, so was super excited for this book--which did not disappoint. Although a few of the celebrities she focuses on were also featured in her column, the content here is almost entirely new (disappointingly, the pictures are all at the end of the book, and not interspersed as in her online essays--very annoying if you're reading on a Kindle). I kind of miss her slightly-less-formal writing tone, but the writing here falls nicely between academic and popular history. And all the stories are great! I thought the section comparing Judy Garland and Dorothy Dandridge and the look at masculinity as embodied by Montgomery Clift/Marlon Brando/James Dean were particularly strong.  I will say that it doesn't entirely flow when reading it in one sitting (some sections seem to follow more logically than others), but each chapter is just a gem. A/A-.


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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now!

2014 book 231

Karen Rivers' Finding Ruby Starling
I was a little worried at the premise of this book--it's about an American 12-year-old who's messing with a Google-Image-like search thing and finds a British girl who looks exactly like her, and determines that they're twins. Twins separated at birth is a tired trope, and also, that's totally illegal now! BUT the book addresses all that, and even if the reveal didn't really work for me, the two girls were so great and the story was so readable that I didn't even care. The whole thing is told in their emails (and emails to friends and relatives), along with some bad 12-year-old Tumblr poems.  Anyway, it was just super cute and I enjoyed it immensely. B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.

2014 book 230

John Darnielle's Wolf in White Van
Full disclosure: John Darnielle is a friend of a good friend of mine, and I have chatted with him at parties; also, I am friends with many people who work at his record label, though I am not particularly a fan of his band (I recognize that this is a personal failing).

So, based on the above, I was a little leery of reading his book--and honestly, I read the first few pages at least five times and kept putting it down. But all the music dudes I know were SO enthusiastic about this, and it was nominated for an NBA and on the NYT bestseller list, so I figured I'd really make an effort to plow through and be part of the zeitgeist. Plus, I mean, John Darnielle is really nice! He once kindly participated in a conversation with me about sweet tea vodka when I was (very) drunk on said beverage. (That was a long time ago, please don't judge me.)

OK, so, the book. As noted above, the early pages made my eyes glaze over (they are very LITERARY), but the writing style quickly settles down to tell the story of a disfigured guy (basically he's Arse-Face from Preacher, but more intellectual) who runs a mail-order game out of his home, and then two of his players experience a tragedy. I guess it's useless to complain about the scarcity/flimsiness of women characters, since this is basically a book about a mostly-reclusive guy--though the male secondary characters feel much more fleshed out/thoughtful. But look, in general, this is a dude book. This is particularly a book for nerdy dudes who like metal and role-playing games. It's very well written, and I did enjoy it, but I didn't feel connected to it. B/B+.

2014 book 229

Hannah Pittard's Reunion
Pittard's second novel (after the excellent The Fates Will Find Their Way) is just as strong as her debut. Thematically, it's similar to Jonathan Tropper's This is Where I Leave You, in that it centers on three (dysfunctional-ish) adult siblings who reunite for their father's funeral, though I feel like Pittard is telling a slightly different sort of story. Her protagonist is also dealing with a crumbling marriage, but her issues are more realistic--no shock jocks are involved, for one thing. Anyway, this was a really interesting meditation on a very complicated family (the protagonist and her siblings are their father's first children--he had several more by his four later wives). I liked this a lot and don't meant to keep comparing it to some dude's book, it's just that I keep seeing trailers for the movie. I kind of hope this book becomes a movie, because the protagonist is actually a semi-failed screenwriter, so it would be entertainingly meta. Plus I'd like to see these characters come to life. A/A-.
 

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on October 7th.

2014 book 228

Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford
I rewatched the Cranford miniseries last weekend, which prompted me to finally read the book (despite warnings that the miniseries was actually better). And . . . the miniseries is actually better! Of course, it's very different, featuring a lot of characters that aren't even in the book. The book still has a great sense of humor, but parts of it do drag on. And the edition I had stopped somewhat abruptly--I'm not sure if it was incomplete, but I don't really feel like reading any more of it so I'm not going to try and find a different version.

2014 book 227

Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You The Sun
Nelson's second YA novel (after The Sky Is Everywhere) is receiving a lot of buzz, and deservedly so, as it's a lot stronger than her first. It centers on a pair of twins--Noah and Jude--and the secrets that tore their relationship to shreds. Noah's POV sections take place when they're 13/14--while they're just starting to fall apart--and Jude's when they're 16, after a family tragedy (there's kind of a lot going on here, but in a good way). I loved everything about Noah's lovelife; Jude's romantic stuff was a little bit of a weak point for me. Anyway, I really liked this, and especially liked how it concluded. A-.

2014 book 226

Gail Carriger's Waistcoats and Weaponry
The third book in Carriger's prequel-to-Soulless series--about a girl's finishing school that trains them to be spies, and also it's on a dirigible--is even better than the first two. There are tons of twists and turns, lots of fun new character development (and plot developments!), and the story ties directly into the Soulless books (all the werewolf politics stuff starts here!). I just really enjoy these characters, and particularly the friendships between the very different girls--I like that Carriger gives them all a chance to shine, and that they appreciate each others' skill sets. Sophronia is the best, of course. What a fun heroine. I can't wait to see what she'll get up to next--it looks like the next book will wrap things up. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on November 4th.

2014 book 225

Amy Zhang's Falling into Place
So I guess this has a Before I Fall/If I Stay/Thirteen Reasons Why sort of vibe, centering as it does on a teenager who has decided to kill herself via a car accident, but isn't entirely successful, as the story flashes back to why she's done it. It's a good story, though some moments are overwrought/trite/unbelievable (how could one teenager, even one so supremely bitchy, have ruined so many classmates' lives? come on now). And the whole thing with the narrator was not really my thing. To be fair, the author is still in high school, so this is actually a pretty solid accomplishment--the writing really feels polished. I mean, it didn't grab me the way Before I Fall or Thirteen Reasons Why did, but I'd definitely recommend it to fans of those books. I did like it more than I liked If I Stay, for sure. Congratulations, teenage author Amy Zhang, a random blogger has said you are better than a bestselling author whose movie is currently in theaters. B/B+.

2014 book 224

Sarah Waters' The Paying Guests
I really enjoy Waters' books about historical lesbians (and other things), and this one was no exception. Our protagonist is 26-year-old Frances, whose father has recently died, revealing the family's precarious financial situation--and so she and her mother have had to take in a married couple as lodgers. It's quickly obvious that things aren't going to go well, and when they go wrong, they go pretty disastrously wrong. I did think parts of this moved a little bit slowly (though that just may be the unbearable tension talking--things are SO unbearably tense!), but it's another really strong story from Waters. B+.