2018 book 85

Louise Erdrich's The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Rereading this for book club and finished it just in time! I had a request this month for a fantasy book AND a non-fantasy book, so I thought Erdrich's combination of literary writing, fascinating characters, discussions of pagan religions and Catholicism, and a touch of magical realism might satisfy all comers. Not to mention a priest who is secretly a woman! Man, Erdrich is so good.

2018 book 84

Nisha Sharma's My So-Called Bollywood Life
Look, this is a fairly typical contemporary YA romance--cute characters, somewhat contrived issues, inevitability, occasionally awkward writing--with Indian main characters and a lot of Bollywood references (the protagonist loves Bollywood films and has a movie review blog, and wants to go to film school), plus a whole fortune-telling prophecy aspect. The love interest was perhaps a bit too perfect (but very likable), and I loved the protagonist's family (particularly her grandmother), but I kept wishing the story would just hurry up and get on with it. B.

2018 book 83

Laurie J. Marks' Water Logic
The third book in Marks' Elemental Logic series continues the trend of being great and engrossing, if also occasionally weird and confusing (although the ending here made all the previous stuff work really well). Now we just have to wait for the conclusion. A/A-.

2018 book 82

Laurie J. Marks' Earth Logic
It is such a joy to just be completely wrapped up in a story and its world, even if you're not sure how things are going to turn out and things are sad along the way. The second book in this series is just as engaging and interesting as the first, if slightly weirder and occasionally more confusing. But I love this world and these characters and the sense of kindness and generosity and optimism in it all. Great stuff. A/A-.

2018 book 81

Laurie J. Marks' Fire Logic
This has been on my to-read list for a long time, but based on the description, I assumed it was the usual formulaic YA magic sort of story--when it is nothing of the sort. For one thing, most of the characters are super gay, which is unremarkable in this world, and for another, it's all just really smart and slyly funny. It's got the usual magic users and war and politics stuff in the mix, but the plot never goes where you think it will. I loved how found families were portrayed, and how they all work on healing themselves and each other. This book was a little bit weird and a lot awesome, and I can't wait to read the next in the series. A.

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Content warning for brief references to rape.

2018 book 80

AJ Pearce's Dear Mrs Bird
This story--about a young woman living in London during WWII, who wants to be a Lady War Correspondent but accidentally takes a job at a women's magazine working for the brusque advice columnist, and starts secretly answering readers' letters—was delightful and heartbreaking in equal measure. I liked that there was plenty of war torn London, and a little bit of wartime romance, but that the main deal was the relationship between the protagonist and her best friend. Lady friends forever! Anyway, I liked this a lot. A-.

2018 book 79

Rumaan Alam's That Kind of Mother
This is the kind of book where, the whole time you're reading, a voice in the back of your head is going "wooooow" for the writing, but also is terrified for the characters because everything feels so precarious. The story centers on Rebecca, a new mother in the 1980s, a white woman, who lures a kind and experienced La Leche consultant, Priscilla, away from the hospital to be her new nanny. And later on, Priscilla becomes pregnant--and dies in childbirth--and Rebecca adopts the baby--who is black. Alam touches on privilege (Rebecca is both white and wealthy, a poet), race and class issues, motherhood, and so many other important things, but never in a didactic way. The story is sometimes slow moving but not in a frustrating way--it feels lived in. It's also a trenchant look at our current political climate and maybe a blistering indictment of well-meaning white liberalism? There are a lot of layers to tease out here but this work is a tour de force. A slow burning scorcher of a novel. A.

2018 book 78

E.K. Johnston's Star Wars: Ahsoka
I’ve been binging Star Wars: Rebels this weekend, and I was vaguely familiar with Ashoka from the Internet, but was curious enough about her backstory that I wanted to read this novel about her adventures between the Clone Wars and her joining the rebellion (plus. Johnston is an excellent author). I imagine if you have actually watched the Clone Wars cartoon, there is not a ton of new info here, but I found it to be an enjoyable Star Wars story with a badass heroine (plus yay for girls crushing on girls and sisters sticking up for each other). A-.

2018 book 77

Martha Wells' Artificial Condition 
Yayyyyyyy more Murderbot stories! This second volume picks up pretty much where the first left off, with the rogue Murderbot on a mission to find out about its past—with the help of a talented (and nebbishy) spaceship (I am so into spaceship AI characters, please recommend some more to me). As with the first one, the writing and pacing here are on point—I often wish novellas felt more robust but this is a perfectly entertaining and discrete story. Can’t wait for the next one. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.

2018 book 76

R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War
This is the first of a new trilogy that is getting a ton of buzz--it's a really well-written fantasy story set in a world much like early 20th Century China. It centers on Rin, a war orphan, who works herself to the bone to make her way to an elite school, where she will learn to be a military leader--and learn from a mysterious, eccentric shaman that some folklore is real. And then she must decide whether to heed her teacher, or do anything to get power for her country. Parts of this were a bit slow, and the war scenes were just awful and brutal to read (trigger warnings for descriptions of rape and torture). It also ends in a fairly grim place. I am curious to see where the story goes, though, so will probably read the next volume when it’s released. B+.

2018 book 75

Michelle Markowitz and Caroline Moss' Hey Ladies!
When I first read the Hey Ladies columns in The Toast, I thought they were hilariously over the top—but subsequent life experience has shown me that it’s actually a spot on parody (ok, maybe it actually is sliiiightly over the top). This book is I think all new content, chronicling a year in the lives of our eight Hey Ladies via their group email chains and texts. I basically cackled the entire time I was reading this. I will say that the way it is formatted means it’s probably better to grab this in print or read it on something like an iPad, just as an FYI. Super hilarious all around. A/A-.

2018 book 74

Britta Lundin's Ship It
First of all, I am super here for more cute YA books about girls in fandom, and this was mostly a very cute one. It centers on a teen girl who is involved with the fandom of a particular tv show, where she writes fic shipping the two male leads—and then they come to a local con and she asks about the characters' relationships, and one of the actors shoots her down. So the struggling show's PR team rigs a contest to have her accompany them on their convention circuit and hopefully get some good press. Meanwhile, she is super intrigued by a cute girl she met at the con and is trying to figure out what is up there. I liked that the POV is divided between her and the actor—who is frankly more sympathetic some of the time (she is needlessly cruel on occasion, but in an angry teen way). I liked this a lot—very fun story and I wouldn’t object to a follow up. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.

2018 book 73

Anne Tyler's Clock Dance
Tyler's books are generally satisfying to me—and I liked this one even more than her last couple—but describing their plots never makes them sound as good as they are. Is this why more domestic stories are looked down on, because why they’re so magical is just something that has to be experienced? This one centers on a woman at various points in her life, in 1967, 1977, 1997, and primarily in 2017, when a confused phone call finds her caring for a family across the country. Anyway, I thought this was a very well done story, and the description doesn’t get at how large it really is. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in July.

2018 book 72

Becky Albertalli's Leah on the Offbeat
HOW does Becky Albertalli write the CUTEST and best books. Leah was one of my favorite characters from Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, so I was so excited that the sequel book—which finds the kids on the verge of high school graduation, and Leah struggling to come out to her friends as bi—focused on her. This is more delightful nerdery (Leah has a fan art tumblr and is obsessed with Harry Potter and Sailor Moon, and so now you know why she is my fave, she's also a music snob and I love it) with a super charming narrative voice. Anyway, this was great and you should read it. A/A-.

2018 book 71

Kevin Kwan's Rich People Problems
The third book in Kwan's trilogy is more of the super fun, over-the-top same, and I love it. Satisfying resolutions to most of the many story arcs, and I would not complain if Kwan wanted to revisit these characters/this world.

2018 book 70

Kevin Kwan's China Rich Girlfriend
I swear, these books are just ADDICTIVE. Several books I have been eagerly anticipating came out this week, but as soon as I finished rereading Crazy Rich Asians I immediately dove into this one instead. This one is slightly more overwrought/cheesy (more noticeable on a second read) but still VERY entertaining, as Rachel and Nick have more hilarious. high-rolling, high stakes adventures. Team Astrid for life, though.

2018 book 69

Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians
The trailer for the movie was released yesterday, which of course made me want to reread the whole trilogy! I had to fight not to stay up super late last night to read it all in one sitting, because it is that fun and engrossing EVEN THOUGH I HAVE READ IT BEFORE. Kwan has a great sense of plot and timing, he's wickedly funny, and he makes you care about the characters. I can't wait to see them all on the big screen.

2018 book 68

Jessica Day George's The Rose Legacy
A new book by Jessica Day George is always a treat, and this was an especially charming fantasy story, centered on a girl who's been shuffled from relative to relative all her life, and now she's being sent to live with an uncle who lives outside her kingdom, where she learns that much of what she knows is a lie. Also there are some amazing HORSES. Like there is a horse POV character who made me cry more than once. If you want to read an awesome fantasy horse girl book, get this immediately. I have no idea if this is the first in a series or not, but I fervently hope it is. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on May 1st.  

2018 book 67

Margery Sharp's The Nutmeg Tree
My usual review will be prefaced with a bit of a story; bear with me. I recently read this NYT essay about Sharp, and remembered that this book had been on my to-read list at some point, and then a bunch of Sharp's books went on e-book sale and I bought this (and several others). As soon as I started reading, I recognized the humorous scene opening scene and was puzzled—when had I read this and why hadn’t I finished it? And then, this:

So then I remembered why I stopped last time. But that essay was fresh in my mind and I really did want to read something light and a bit silly—which this, a story about a flighty sort of woman whose daughter summons her to help convince her grandmother to let her get married, and hijinks ensue—was. I mean, aside from some weird comments about Armenians, and a rather abrupt ending. How do I grade a book that is charming except for some casual bigotry? B?

2018 book 66

Jacqueline Winspear's To Die But Once
The Maisie Dobbs books are well into WWII now; the mystery plot here involves the murder of a young boy who's part of a team working to fireproof Air Force bases. As usual with these books, the mystery is almost a sidebar to everything going on with the characters—and since they’re at war, there’s a lot going on. I do sometimes wish Winspear would try a bit more subtlety—all her characters are sort of psychic, or laying on dire pronouncements about war—but I still enjoy these books a lot. B+.

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

2018 book 65

Sharon Shinn's Unquiet Land
I did wonder who the protagonist of this fourth book in the series would be--there are several more princesses, but none have been featured in the previous books--and it turned out to be the spy from the third book! So I was totally on board. In this one, she returns to her homeland to confront her past--and also start a shop where she can hopefully pick up some intel from foreign visitors and continue her spy work. Parts of this are fairly grim but I liked all the characters and found the romance mostly satisfying. B+.

2018 book 64

Sharon Shinn's Jeweled Fire
The third book in Shinn's Elemental Blessings series finds yet another princess running away to a nearby kingdom, where she's one of several women who may be chosen to marry one of the empress' heirs. There's also a new POV character--a (woman) spy working for the princess' father--AND it turns out to be a mystery story, instead of a more straightforward fantasy/romance (though I DID like the slow-burning romance here very much). It’s also the story of a young woman figuring out what she wants, and making it happen. More stories like that, please. A-.

2018 book 63

Sharon Shinn's Royal Airs
I liked the second book in Shinn's Elemental Blessings series less than the first—it’s a good follow up to that story, and the protagonists (the eldest princess, now running a homeless shelter, and her love interest, a mysterious gambler who rescues one of her sisters) are likable and compelling. BUT I found this book to be a little bit racist. As far as I can tell, all the characters are default white, so it is noticeable when a visiting villainous prince's olive skin and slanted eyes are mentioned MORE THAN ONCE. The romance is also more central in this volume and a lot of the story was more predictable than in the first. But mainly I disliked the racism. B/B+.

2018 book 62

Sharon Shinn's Troubled Waters
I enjoyed that other book I read recently by Shinn, so thought I'd check out one of her more recent series, and I liked this a lot. The worldbuilding here is really cool--every person has an affinity for one of the elements, and there's also a whole thing with blessings that  I thought was really interesting. Our protagonist is a young woman who's been living in exile with her father for a decade, but how he's died, and one of the king's advisers has tracked her down to bring her back to the big city. Political machinations and adventures and whatnot ensue, but it didn't feel formulaic to me. There is also a little bit of romance that I was cheering on. I did sometimes wish the protagonist was more savvy but her actions make sense for her character. Anyway, I am looking forward to the next one in this series. A-.

2018 book 61

Joan Bauer's Hope Was Here
This was a very sweet story, a Newbery Honor book, about a teenage girl, a waitress, who moves with her chef aunt to take over a diner run by a man with leukemia—a man who's decided to run for mayor against the very corrupt incumbent (too real). There is not a lot of meat to the story, but I liked the depiction of unconventional families and appreciated the multi-racial cast. Just a satisfying and heartwarming read. B/B+.

2018 book 60

Rebecca Kauffman's The Gunners
It's funny to see a novel compared to movies like The Big Chill and St Elmo's Fire, but those comparisons are fairly apt here--the story centers on a disparate group of friends, who are reunited for a funeral when one of them commits suicide, with flashbacks to their childhood interspersed throughout. I found this to be immensely readable and really well-written, even if some of the characters were better-developed than others. (The main POV character, gradually losing his sight, was especially effective.) The story touches on family and friendship and love and recovery, and I found it to be really big-hearted and even a little bit surprising. A/A-.

2018 book 59

Judith Flanders' A Howl of Wolves
I like the Sam Clair mysteries—about an editor who keeps getting drawn into these murder investigations—a lot, though this one wasn’t the strongest one for me. The story here centers on a play featuring one of Sam's friends—and her friend's little boy—where someone is MURDERED. I love the characters and the descriptions here, and Flanders is very funny, but the mystery itself left me feeling a little flat (I correctly guessed the killer, perhaps due to an editing error in my ARC [is that ironic?], but found the motive troubling). If this is going to be one of those series that is more interested in the characters and their relationships than in the plotting of a mystery, I’d be fine with that, because that is really where the books shine, for me. B/B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in May.

2018 book 58

Martha Wells' All Systems Red
I’d been meaning to read this for a while, but then it got nominated for a Hugo, which bumped it up the to-read list. This was actually a great time to read it, because three sequels are coming over the next six months. Anyway, it's a great sci fi tale narrated by a self-proclaimed Murderbot, who's hacked its systems so it has more autonomy (and can watch tv shows), and whose current job is as the security unit for a scientific expedition. And then things on said expedition start going wrong. The pacing and characterization here are both great, and I found the plot more satisfying than in a lot of novellas. I liked this a lot and look forward to seeing where the story goes next. A-.

2018 book 57

Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver
My birthday weekend treat to myself was to read my ARC of this book, which isn’t out until July, and honestly I could not have picked a BETTER birthday weekend treat for myself, because this book had just about everything I loved in it! It’s set in the same universe as Novik's Uprooted, I believe, but doesn’t seem to be related to that book otherwise, except that it is also an interesting mishmash of Western and Eastern European folklore (and Jewish!!). The main character is a young Jewish girl, the daughter of a moneylender, but eventually several other POV characters comes into play, particularly the daughter of a local Duke and a young girl who comes to work for the moneylender's daughter. There are so many great women in here, learning accounting, knitting, fighting demons—you know, the usual stuff. Anyway, I don’t want to give much away, but this book was moving and funny and action-packed, and had so much good family and friendship stuff. I just really loved it. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in July.

2018 book 56

Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love
I had intended to wait to reread this until book club was slightly closer on the horizon, but Mitford so perfectly suited my current mood that I just went for it. I love her by turns hilarious and moving semi-autobiographical story even though all the characters are kind of terrible rich eccentrics (and in a couple of cases, blatantly racist). She paints them so vividly though--I particularly relish the wartime scenes with Davey and The Bolter. And the end is a real stunner. I really feel like Mitford is underrated as a novelist.

2018 book 55

Andrea Buchanan's The Beginning of Everything: The Year I Lost My Mind and Found Myself
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am friends with the author and love her dearly. That said, this is still an amazing and engaging memoir about the author's struggle to deal with—and be treated for—a brain leak. It is also about divorce, motherhood, family, medicine, biology, history, chronic illness, memory, and the stories we tell—not to mention, a super incredible woman. I rarely read nonfiction but this had me totally gripped, and not just because it was about someone I know. It's well written, moving, and deeply honest. And some parts are very funny, too. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. A.

2018 book 54

Rebecca Stead and Wendy Maas' Bob
I am pretty much here for anything Rebecca Stead writes, and I also like Wendy Maas, so I was excited to see what a collaboration between them would be like. Maybe this book is aimed even younger than I thought, but there is just not enough to the story here (and I think there is room for a lot more). It centers on a young American girl, visiting her grandmother in Australia for the first time in five years, when she discovers a strange creature in her closet. A creature she apparently befriended, and offered to help, but now has no memory of. It’s all very sweet and pretty cute, I just expect more character development and more plot from both of these authors. I do think this may be for young kids though. B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in May.

2018 book 53

Marge Piercy's Gone to Soldiers
I have seen this 1988 novel recommended a few times recently, and I am honestly surprised I have never read it before now, because it is basically Alicia catnip: an epic 700+ page novel about several women  (and a few men) during WWII, most of whom are Jewish (and some of whom are from Pittsburgh!), across the globe. Plus, I love Marge Piercy! I should really read/reread all her books. Some of these voices are more compelling than others--I particularly loved petulant and pretentious teen Jacqueline's transformation, and was cheering hard for writer Louise and pilot Bernice--but on the whole this was a completely engrossing work. Anyway, I'll throw in a vague content warning here bc some of the characters have racist/Orientalist/anti-Semitic attitudes common in their era, and there are also various sexual assaults, plus, you know, concentration camps, so steel yourselves. But this was great, just breath-taking. A.

2018 book 52

Madeline Miller's Circe
I really liked Miller's Song of Achilles, so I was eager to see her take on one of the women of Greek mythology. And this was a (mostly) well-written and powerful story of a woman caught between worlds who just wants to belong. Circe is a smart character to choose here, because she—and her family—feature in so many stories, but she has never really been a central figure. Miller does a good job weaving in all those stories (the Minotaur's birth scene is a real stunner) and making even the more well-trod ones come to life. Really well done. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on April 3rd.

2018 book 51

Sharon Shinn's Summers at Castle Auburn
Well, this was a perfectly charming, if more of the usual white European/heternormative sort of fantasy story, about a young girl--the illegitimate sister of the local prince's (legitimate) betrothed, who spends summers at the castle with her beloved sister. And all the local court intrigues. Shinn does a good job of showing her growing up from summer to summer, from an educated yet naive young girl to a more socially aware and astute young woman (primarily regarding a group of enslaved fairy-ish people). And I honestly wasn't sure how the romances were going to play out half the time. Solid writing and pacing and great characters--I will definitely be reading more by Shinn. A/A-.

2018 book 50

Jaclyn Moriarty's The Ghosts of Ashbury High
Sometimes I like this conclusion to the Ashbury/Brookfield series more than others--the story is told primarily through essay tests which I find to be an unusual storytelling device. Of course, it is also told through fairly hilarious blog posts and comments. And the story itself is moving, bringing Australian history and Irish folklore into the complicated teenage lives at its center. An interesting way to wrap up these characters' lives, for sure.

2018 book 49

Roshani Chokshi's Aru Shah and the End of Time
So basically Rick Riordan was like, we could really have Percy Jackson-esque books for all different world mythologies, but perhaps I as a white man am not the best person to write them, and instead I will use my platform to promote #ownvoices writers. So now a few new series that fit the Percy Jackson mold are in the works, written by other people. This is the first, which is basically Percy Jackson but with Hindu mythology and with a girl—so I am here for it! I actually liked this better than the other Choski book I’ve read—it has the good pacing and humor of a Riordan book, with lots of entertaining characters (the protagonist has a neurotic but smart compatriot and a pigeon sidekick), plenty of action, and a lot of heart. Anyway, I can’t wait for all of the sequels—this was really fun! A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on March 27th.

2018 book 48

Leslye Walton's The Price Guide to the Occult
Walton's second novel, after the word-of-mouth hit The Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, starts off strong—it’s the story of a girl from a long line of cursed witches, with the ability to know the thoughts of plants and animals, shy, a cutter, with the requisite eccentric and underveloped best friend. So her life, and the town, is all relatively interesting. But when she discovers her straight up evil mother is basically forming a cult, the story goes completely off the rails. There are love interests and murders and family secrets and magical drama and it is all somewhat silly and the writing is . . . not subtle. It ends in a way that suggests a sequel, or maybe it just ends, who knows. I really wanted to like this but I just didn’t. B-.

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

2018 book 47

Jaclyn Moriarty's The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie
The third Ashbury/Brookfield book brings in a few of the characters from the first two, but is primarily told through the diaries/other assorted notes of the titular Bindy Mackenzie, who at first you think is just an especially insufferable nerd (and I say that as someone who is also a fairly insufferable nerd), but then you realize not only do you like her, you're worried about her. And then a mystery comes into play! Just really excellent character work here.

2018 book 46

Jaclyn Moriarty's The Year of Secret Assignments
I have read this book many times now and I never stop thinking it's sweet, silly, and surprisingly hilarious at times. I love reading about girls who care about each other fiercely (and the boys they flirt with via a pen pal program). And JUSTICE.

2018 book 45

Mallory Ortberg's The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror

I know it is tempting to plow through a new book by Ortberg, but these stories demand to be savored, and I think benefit from it too. Ortberg is playing with fairy tale tropes and bible stories to create stories that are weird, hilarious, creepy, and sad, and sometimes all four at the same time. If you already love Ortberg's writing, this is another winner; if you’re not familiar, the first story in the book--Ortberg's take on The Little Mermaid—will be a good litmus test. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released tomorrow.

2018 book 44

Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone
This book has been getting a lot of hype, but I was sure it was going to be some generic YA fantasy/action/romance novel, just set in Africa, which, hey, the world needs more of those, too. From the very first scene this had me hooked, though. It's great! Now I see why my mom was texting me when the author was on Good Morning America last week. :) ANYway, this story centers on Zelie, a young woman from a mythical African country, who is part of a group that SHOULD have magical powers—but the magic was mysteriously lost. And now she, and others like her, are persecuted and oppressed. But maybe she can restore magic with the help of a mysterious scroll—and the local princess? (The princess and her brother, obsessed with his duty, are also both POV characters.) This did start to drag a little at a certain point, and there was the occasional clumsiness in the writing—I wished the editing was a bit tighter, as usual with YA books, occasionally found the romance to be overwrought. But still, a really solid story and I look forward to seeing where it goes next. A-/B+.

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Content warning for rape threats and lots and lots of brutal violence.

2018 book 43

Shannon Hale and Dean Hale's The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: 2 Fuzzy, 2 Furious
The best part of pre-ordering a book and then immediately forgetting its release day is the joyous surprise of getting an email that you can read it RIGHT NOW! So I was already really happy to start this book, and it lived up to its predecessor in sheer delight and hilarity. The plot here involves Doreen and her merry band of friends and friendly squirrels taking on an EVIL SHOPPING MALL. And also Thor hanging out and chatting about socks, and hilarious superhero group texts, and FRIENDSHIP. It's GREAT. The world needs more joyful, adventurous, kind stories of this sort. I sincerely loved this and laughed throughout. A.

Also, peep this cameo in a list of squirrel names.

2018 book 42

Sarah Rees Brennan's In Other Lands
I sometimes find this author's writing style to be . . . overly mannered? But I had read enough positive reviews of this book--wherein a snarky 13 year old bisexual nerd named Elliot is recruited to a magical land and has fairly hilarious adventures--to want to check it out. And I loved it. I especially liked that the elves in this land are matriarchal warriors, and thus super matronizing (which my sexist computer insists is not a real word) to men, and Elliot totally goes with it constantly. And that Elliot is a pacifist trying to keep the militaristic society--and his friends--from war. And it’s very funny and occasionally  dark and deep.  I did wish Elliot was less dumb about the clearly telegraphed romance, but I loved how it all wrapped up. A/A-.

2018 book 41

Jaclyn Moriarty's Feeling Sorry for Celia
I wanted to reread this and the second book in the Ashbury/Brookfield series so badly that I assigned the other one to my book club this month. These are purely satisfying comfort reads to me, with realistic teenage voices (and problems), girls who care deeply about one another and their friendships, plus an engaging narrative where all the threads eventually collide in a very funny way. I have read this book several times and never stop finding it charming and engaging.

2018 book 40

Jonna Gjevre's Arcanos Unraveled
If I am here for anything in this world, I am here for the story of an adjunct professor at a magical college (hidden within the University of Wisconsin) who teaches ENCHANTED TEXTILES and does magical knitting! I love the mix of academic politics and magical education, and the protagonist is really likable and practical (my favorite kind of witch). Magical adventures and magical politics ensue, as they are wont to do, and it is all very cute and fun. I hope to see more in this universe. A-/B+.

2018 book 39

T. Kingfisher's The Wonder Engine
The second and final book in Kingfisher's (the pen name for Ursula Vernon's more adult works) Clocktaur War series (after Clockwork Boys) is creepy, dark, romantic, hilarious, and awesome. I love the characters here (particularly the badger-like gnoles and the young academic) and the plotting and action are tight. If you haven't read any books by Vernon, you are really missing out--she has a distinct (and distinctly entertaining) voice. I just really enjoy everything she writes and this was no exception. A/A-.

2018 book 38

Melina Marchetta's The Piper's Son
The followup to Saving Francesca centers on one of the boys from the previous book, and his family--shattered by grief and alcoholism and stubbornness. But how they put themselves back together is why this story is so compelling. Amazing characters struggling with real issues, but not in an after-school special sort of way. Marchetta is just great.

2018 book 37

Melina Marchetta's Saving Francesca 
Maybe it is weird to find comfort in a novel about depression when you yourself are feeling depressed, or maybe that makes perfect sense. Either way, this is an excellent novel with excellent character work and excellent depictions of friendships and family and little rowdy feminists.

2018 book 36

Erin Entrada Kelly's Hello, Universe
This book just won the Newbery, the first time in a long time I hadn't even heard of the winning book before! So I was eager to read it. It's about four middle school kids--a shy Filipino-American boy with a pet guinea pig and a crush on a classmate; said classmate, a deaf girl with a recurring nightmare; a Japanese-American girl who runs a business as a psychic; and the local jerk bully--and the events leading up to a memorable day in the woods. Sometimes I am a little bit meh on the Newbery winners, but this one was pretty great. A/A-.

2018 book 35

Tilly Wallace's Secrets to Reveal
A friend who knows that Recency-era fantasy novels are my jam recommended this to me, and it was pretty fun! It starts off on a low note for me, as the heroine laments that she can't make any female friends, yet she dismisses her boarding-house-mate's conversations as "inane chatter" because she is clearly Not Like Other Girls. The world-building and the love interest coming from a troop of Scottish werewolves are more than a little reminiscent of Gail Carriger--Wallace is definitely playing in that sandbox. I did wish for a more attentive editor; we shouldn't have to be told six times in the first couple chapters that most people think the protagonist is a maid (when really she is a secretary/codebreaker) and the “inane chatter” of women shouldn’t have come up even once, let alone multiple times. There were a few other things that seemed to be errors, too. In general, the writing is a bit overwrought and I wished things had been polished up a bit. The romance and the spy stuff are both pretty cute, though. B.

2018 book 34

Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse
I had never heard of this book before, but it's apparently something of a classic in England, and it was charming and delightful and magical and just what I was in the mood to read today. It's set in the late 1800s, and centers on an orphaned thirteen year old girl who, with her governess and her (adorable, ridiculous) dog, is sent to live with a heretofore unknown cousin in a mysterious old castle. Can she solve all the old family mysteries and give everyone a happy ending? And will be be a funny and moving journey along the way? I mean, you can probably guess the answer, but it is still worth a read. A-.

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A couple of caveats. This book was written in the 1940s and one of the characters is a little person who is described with some cringeworthy language. Also, the book is full of that sort of benign but pervasive Christianity often found in books from this era. I didn’t find it bothersome as a non-Christian reader, but thought it worth noting.

2018 book 33

Becky Chambers' A Closed and Common Orbit
The second book in the Wayfarers series is not a direct sequel, but more of a spin-off, focusing on a few characters from the previous book and their adventures elsewhere. It’s just as good, though, and maybe even more moving (I just for some reason am really gripped by the portion of the novel where an AI in a space shuttle is raising a little girl, but all of it is really interesting and profound). Ughhhhh, when will book three be out!

2018 book 32

Becky Chambers' The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
I was excited to reread this for book club and am glad it holds up to a second reading. Interesting world building, great characters, spaceship adventures etc etc. I will also say that based on reports from fellow book clubbers, it is just as appealing to people who don’t usually read sci fi as it is to diehard fans. I of course am about to immediately start rereading the second book, and wish the third one was out already too.

2018 book 31

Karen Healey and Robyn Fleming's The Empress of Timbra
This is a strong entry in the fantasy with court politics/other politics genre, anchored by the sibling relationship at its core. It starts with the son of a fisherman whose beloved father dies at sea, and then he finds out the man wasn’t his biological father when his mother brings him to court, where his father is a Baron—and where he meets his younger half sister, also a bastard, the daughter of the Empress' Witch. I guessed a fair amount of the political plot, but finding out if I was right was still an interesting and intense journey, and it didn’t go entirely as I expected. I also liked the world building here a lot (there is some interesting gender stuff) and found parts of this very funny and parts very moving. It looks like this is the start of a series and I am eager to read more. A/A-.

2018 book 30

Mary H.K. Choi's Emergency Contact
I read this because it was blurbed by Rainbow Rowell, which makes sense, because it has a very Fangirl vibe. And not just because the protagonist is just starting college and wants to be a writer! But because it is about insecurity and vulnerability and learning to make friends and learning to make peace with your family and learning your craft and learning to open up to a cute boy (who is also a compelling POV character in his own right). GREAT stuff. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.

2018 book 29

Melina Marchetta's Jellicoe Road
Don’t mind me, I’m just over here weeping after rereading one of my favorite books/comfort reads (why do I love books that make me cry?). This one has two generations of teens with complicated relationships and backstories, lots of secrets, territorial wars, and a little bit of romance. It also is all about learning to be vulnerable and to let people in. It’s just a lovely and moving and gripping story.

2018 book 28

Robin Stevens' A Spoonful of Murder
In the sixth Wells and Wong mystery, the girls find themselves in Hong Kong to mourn Hazel's grandfather—but soon they’re caught up in a murder and kidnapping case! I love these books and I love the girls' friendship, and I especially loved getting to see Hazel on her home turf and taking the lead for once. Stevens apparently did a lot of research and her depiction of 1930s Hong Kong is vibrant. Another great entry in the series. A/A-.

2018 book 27

Tayari Jones' An American Marriage
Jones' Silver Sparrow was one of my favorite books of 2011, so I was eagerly anticipating this novel, especially once the hype kicked in AND it was made an Oprah book. I am please to say it lives up to the hype and then some. It's the story of an upwardly mobile black couple, married just a year and a half, when the husband is put in prison for a crime he didn't commit. It's a beautiful novel, told from both of their POVs and occasionally some others, and also told through their letters. I think I would have thought this novel was GREAT any time I read it, but it feels particularly resonant in early 2018. Just gripping and masterful and GREAT. A.

2018 book 26

Tamora Pierce's Tempests and Slaughter
I feel like I usually like Pierce's books, though I perhaps have found some of the more recent ones overly simplistic. She's going in the other direction here, though--there's a young boy with powerful magic (and a powerful case of puberty, geez louise) and his two friends, one of whom is one of the heirs to the throne, the other of whom is The Girl (who the protagonist has a crush on, of course), and there are lots of politics and magical school things and interfering god and societal issues (it's a brutal society) going on. This did not feel like a Tamora Pierce book to me, in some ways, and I can't pinpoint why--she's had boy protagonists before, so that's not it, though I guess there is usually not as much focus on said boy's penis. The narration also feels really choppy. On the other hand, there is a pretty awesome magical bird as well as a crocodile god, and I liked both of them a lot. I just thought this would be a fun read, but it’s actually a huge bummer. B.

2018 book 25

Kate Greathead's Laura and Emma
I found this book very READABLE, but am still not sure whether I liked it. It centers on a white woman in New York City, from 1980-1995, each year a little vignette of a chapter, starting from a one night stand with a mysterious man that leaves her pregnant. She is from your prototypical very wealthy, cold, white New York family, and is an exemplar of the same, so I found her fairly unlikable (but interesting), and the book really needed more from her daughter towards the end. I thought the writing here was stellar but the story itself was lacking for me. B/B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.

2018 book 24

Whitney Gardner's Chaotic Good
I admit I was first drawn to this book by its adorable cover, but the description was immediately appealing too! It’s about a teen girl, a talented seamstress/designer who is super into cosplay, whose family has just moved to Eugene from Portland. When she’s targeted by misogynistic trolls on tumblr, and then a comic book store guy is horrible to her, her gay twin brother helps her dress as a boy so she can feel safe. And then her boy persona gets invited to play D&D, and she falls for the DM, and she’s trying to complete a portfolio for fashion school—well, and stuff goes down! But this was super cute and I loved it, the narrative voice was super likable. And it nails a lot of how current culture hates women and doesn’t even realize it. Great stuff. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.

2018 book 23

Justina Ireland's Dread Nation
Ireland's latest novel is a doozy—it’s set in the 1880s, in a world where the Civil War came to a screeching halt when the dead of Gettysburg began to rise, slavery was made illegal but black and native children were conscripted into “schools” to be educated to fight zombies—and protect white civilization. Our protagonist is a black teenage girl with a healthy amount of smarts and sass, not to mention a good hand with a pair of sickles, at one of said schools. The plot is definitely captivating and I liked the characters—especially the friendships between various women—a lot. It looks like this is the start of a series and I am HERE FOR IT. Badass teenage girls fighting zombies and lamenting about corsets is my jam. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in April. Content warning for a lot of vicious racist and sexist characters (but the story of course acknowledges they are awful.)

2018 book 22

Rainbow Rowell's Carry On
Rowell's books are comfort reading for me--satisfying, sweet, and a little bit sad (JUSTICE FOR LUCY!!!!!!!). She's having a lot of fun with this one, and I love how the magic uses language and pop culture (Rowell recently had an interesting twitter conversation about how this worked in translation, so I was paying extra attention to it this read). I love this story and these characters so much.

2018 book 21

Nancy Atherton’s Aunt Dimity Beats the Devil 
The sixth Aunt Dimity book finds Lori in the north of England to evaluate an old library in a possibly haunted manor. But of course Lori isn’t afraid of ghosts! Or of looking for archival evidence to solve old mysteries! I did cringe every time the word “gypsy” was used but otherwise this was an entertaining outing in this series. B/B+.

2018 book 20

Alice McDermott's The Ninth Hour
I put this on hold at the library so long ago that I no longer remember why I wanted to read it. It was perfectly fine—the story of a three generations of a family in 20th century Brooklyn, and the nearby convent of nuns and and their nursing work. I kept thinking of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but it’s neither as gritty nor as resonant as that classic book. I liked the nuns and found them much more interesting than the mother and daughter they’re helping, but I don’t feel like this story will stick with me. B/B+.

2018 book 19

Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity's Christmas
This was not my favorite book in this series, and not just because I am predisposed to dislike books involving Christmas. This one centers on a mysterious homeless man, and Lori and a bunch of new characters (including a North Carolinian bookseller with a very preposterous dialect) are trying to figure out who he is and whether or not he's insane. Lori acts really weirdly in this one though (she is obsessed with two different dudes who are not her husband), and I found her kind of off-putting. There is also more Christian Values/churchifying than in the previous books, something I hope will taper back off in later volumes. B.

2018 book 18

Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity Digs In
The fourth Aunt Dimity book finds our small British village in an uproar after an archaeologist and his team come to town—and the pamphlet proving the Roman finds are a hoax has been stolen from the vicar's desk! Haha, I love a cozy mystery with totally low stakes. I also love this series because it has prominent stuffed animals (I am partial to stuffed bunnies, myself) that may or may not be magical. It’s nice to read something so gentle. A-/B+.

2018 book 17

Chelsey Johnson's Stray City
This book has been getting SO MUCH buzz, and I was like, well, it can’t live up to the hype, but it seems interesting, let’s give it a look-see, and then I just sat and read it all in one sitting because it really is that GOOD. I feel like describing the plot doesn’t do it justice, so the quick version is: a young lesbian woman in Portland in the late 90s, coming off a bad breakup, gets involved with a DUDE and ends up pregnant. But that is almost all besides the point to me; it is so much more about community and found families and love and hope and growing up and art. It’s just wonderful. Seriously, I was just engrossed and enchanted the entire time. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.

2018 book 16

Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity's Good Deed
The third Aunt Dimity book picks up two years after the first, and finds our heroine back in England, struggling with distance in her marriage, when her father in law vanishes, leaving behind a mysterious note. Soon she and the hilarious and precocious girl next door are on a road trip to try and track him down—and uncover the secrets of his British cousins. The mystery here is even more vague than in the previous two, but I just find these books really entertaining and delightful. A-/B+.

2018 book 15

Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity and the Duke
No ghosts in the second Aunt Dimity book, which flashes back to show how the friendly and helpful neighbor couple from the first one met—with the help of Aunt Dimity, of course! This one involves a duke, a possibly murdered rock star, a missing lantern with magical powers, a pair of cool little kids, and a lot of gardening. I liked it a lot, even if it did lean a bit hard on the benevolent lord o' the land sort of stuff. B+.

2018 book 14

Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity's Death
I've been vaguely aware that this series existed for a while, but didn't know much about it except that the protagonist solves mysteries with the help of a friendly ghost. I was in the mood for some light but entertaining reading, though, and thought I'd try this out--and it fit the bill perfectly. I found the narrative voice to be engaging right away, and Atherton takes her time setting up the world in this first one. It centers on a thirty year old woman, Lori, recently divorced and temping, when her beloved mother dies, leaving her adrift. And then things take another turn when she discovers the silly stories her mother told her about "Aunt Dimity" were based on a real person, who has also recently died, and who wants Lori to go to her cottage in England and read through her decades of correspondence with Lori's mother. The ghost does come into it eventually, and there is a little bit of mystery solving as Lori tries to uncover the secrets of Dimity's past, but this seems to be the start of a series that is just as focused on the characters as on the plot. My favorite kind. Super cute. A/A-.

2018 book 13

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I am still dipping back into rereading these, even though my trip is done. I am a completist and I gotta read 'em all! It’s hard to judge this one on this own merits, but it does have some interesting ups and downs for Harry and some really funny bits as well. I think this is the only one that doesn’t end in some sort of big showdown, but instead a quiet reflection on loss.

2018 book 12

Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious
Look, I am one hundred percent here for YA boarding school mysteries but Johnson is doing that thing here where she thinks writing for a younger audience means using super simple language, which makes for a choppy read. The plot is fun--a new student at a mysterious, elite boarding school is trying to solve a famous kidnapping/murder case that took place at said school in the 1930s. I did especially love that the protagonist was from Pittsburgh (with several appropriate references to the Monroeville Mall, haha! Stevie, I too have failed to impress people with my knowledge that Dawn of the Dead was filmed there). I did get very caught up in all the mysteries, but it seems this is the first book in a series so the end is rather frustrating. I will definitely read the next one though. B/B+.

2018 book 11

Heather Lloyd's My Name is Venus Black
I just read this book all in one sitting, but I still can’t quite pinpoint exactly how I felt about it. It is compelling, but maybe a bit too on the women's fiction end of the spectrum to really satisfy me? It centers on a thirteen year old girl, under arrest for a terrible crime, who years later is trying to rebuild her life and hide from her past. And also her developmentally disabled brother has been kidnapped. I liked many parts of this but the ending was perhaps a bit too pat. B/B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.

2018 book 10

Kamilla Benko's The Unicorn Quest
Benko's debut is, for the most part, a well written and engaging MG fantasy portal novel, where a younger sister follows her older sister (who is in remission from an unnamed disease) into a fantasy world, where different factions have different magical abilities and where unicorns once loved but now are gone. With the help of two new friends and her lucky pencil, she must track down her older sister and maybe find out more about these unicorns along the way. The author occasionally leans too heavily on the art metaphors (the protagonist is a young artist), and I found the epilogue a bit frustrating but inevitable for all that—still, I liked these characters enough that when the sequel comes out, I will most likely read it. B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 30th.

2018 book 9

Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere
Ah, the sheer relief of rereading a book for book club and finding it just as excellent as the first time you read it. It was funny to read another book set in the 90s just after reading Sunburn, but Ng's centering of her story in that specific time and place feels a lot more effortless for some reason. Everything about this is rock solid: the characterizations; the compelling, intertwined plot; the writing itself. And what a perfect portrayal of microagressions and clueless white privilege! And complicated families! Just an excellent book.

2018 book 8

Laura Lippman's Sunburn
I tend to like Lippman's stand-alones better than her long-running Tess Monaghan series, but this wasn't one of my favorites. Set in the summer of 1995 (and there are many references to tell you so), it centers on a mysterious woman who has left her family behind for mysterious reasons, and the mysterious man very interested in her affairs, and their inevitable relationship. I found both characters somewhat sympathetic and interesting, but found the end to be something of a letdown. It’s still an enjoyable read, just not one of Lippman's best. B.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on February 20th.

2018 book 7

Sujata Massey's The Widows of Malabar Hill
I think this book is the start of a new series—or anyway, I hope it is, because I enjoyed it a lot. It’s set in 1920s Bombay, and centers on a young woman who is Bombay's first female lawyer (working for her awesome supportive lawyer father). Her gender comes in handy when some discrepancies pop up concerning a Muslim estate whose three widows live in purda (seclusion)—and then there’s a murder. This is all interspersed with flashbacks to a dark time in her past. She also has an English best friend from Oxford who is a not-so-secret lesbian. It’s one of those mysteries that is just as much about the characters and settings as it is the actual mystery plot, and I hope to see more of it soon. A-.

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

2018 book 6

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Sometimes I have less patience for Teen Angst Harry Potter, but this time around I was like YEAH! YELL about injustice! LEAD revolutionary groups (with the inspiration and help of Hermione, of course)! Of course one does wish that Harry was occasionally more sensible, but then there would be much less to the story. I mean, it is slightly unwieldy, but Rowling does pull most of the threads together in the end. I do sometimes wish we saw more of Hermione's parents ans their home life—the fleeting glimpses here and there are so interesting.

2018 book 5

Kathleen Barber's Are You Sleeping
I heard of this book recently when it was optioned for a tv show (an Apple digital one) set to star Octavia Spencer. It centers on a true-crime podcast, looking into the murder of a popular college professor and the teenager convicted of the crime--and on the murder victim's now-adult daughter, who has been keeping her past secret from her long-term boyfriend. There is also an estranged identical twin sister! So basically, it was right up my alley. The novel is peppered with tweets, Slate articles, and Reddit comments, which totally adds to the verisimilitude. I will say the writing is overly dramatic a lot of the time, and the climax was something of a letdown, but this was still a very entertaining read. B.

2018 book 4

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Finishing rereading this is the perfect way to wrap up my Harry Potter vacation! I had been alternating the HP books with other ones, but from here on out, I just want to plow through the rest of the story. This book is so well plotted and the characterization is just excellent—really a high point in the series.

2018 book 3

Elizabeth Wein's Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Cobalt Squadron
Are you FREAKING KIDDING ME?!? How did I not know that Elizabeth Wein, author of my beloved Code Name Verity, wrote one of the STAR WARS TIE IN NOVELS?? Just imagine  a chorus of angels singing right now to fully understand my feelings on this matter. Anyway, this focuses on awesome sisters Paige and Rose Tico, flying spaceships and jerry-rigging equipment and doing reconnaissance missions for the Resistance. (And yes it does talk about their necklaces and yes Disney really need to get some officially licensed jewelry to market.) I also loved that all of the leadership figures we see are middle aged women! If there is one thing Wein is an expert in, it is telling stories about ladies who love each other and also fly airplanes, so this is a gimme. Love it. A-.

2018 book 2

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Besides being generally one of the strongest books in the HP series, this one in particular is the PERFECT book to reread before visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, since it lovingly describes so many details of both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. The more I reread these, though, the more it becomes obvious that Snape's character cannot be redeemed. Does the wizarding world not have therapists? That guy needs to work on his anger issues.

2018 book 1

Jaclyn Moriarty's The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone
Starting the year off with a super charming middle grade fantasy adventure by one of my favorite authors seemed like the way to go! In this very funny and sweet story, the titular ten year old finds out her parents—who left her with an aunt as a baby to go off and have adventures—have been killed by pirates, and their magical will has very specific instructions sending her off on adventures to see her ten aunts and deliver them gifts. There are also lots of delightful cousins, a helpful loud librarian, good and bad magical types, and a very awesome and clever heroine. I liked this very much and am psyched it looks like Moriarty is writing another book set in this world. A.

2017 book 217

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
I maintain that this is the weakest of the HP books, but the creation of Gilderoy Lockhart is an all-time winner. A champion example of a hilarible mansplainer. I will also submit a hot take at this time: I do NOT understand y’all who are into Draco Malfoy. In the first book he is a snobbish asshole; in this one, he is straight up racist and relishes the thought of Muggle-borns dying. So like, what is the appeal there? Anyway, Hermione manages to save the day while basically in a coma, so yay for that.

It looks like this is the last book of the year for me—here’s to more good reading in 2018!

2017 book 216

Kim Fu's The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore 
This book has been getting a TON of buzz and let me tell you, it lives up to the hype. It’s centered on a group of young girls at a summer camp in Vancouver, and a kayaking trip that goes awry, flashing back and forth between that event and the girls' young adulthoods. It’s compelling and evocative stuff. Just really outstanding. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.

2017 book 215

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
I will very soon be going to THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER, fulfilling what feels like a lifelong dream—even though I know that is not logically possible—so of course I had to immerse myself in some HP to prepare. This is such a good intro to the world and sets up so much of the later stuff, though I do think Dumbledore is way more problematic than intended. This is balanced out by NEVILLE. I LOVE YOU, NEVILLE.

2017 book 214

Thisbe Nissen's Our Lady of the Prairie 
Literary novels about middle aged academics having affairs have never been something I was particularly interested in, but this one grabbed me—at first—with its strong narrative voice. The fact that the narrator is a middle aged Jewish woman theater professor also made this feel a bit fresher, plus the first half of the novel turns on her mentally ill daughter's marriage to an Amish man—so a lot of balls are being juggled, but I found it compelling enough. Things start to drag as the narrator becomes mired in indecision and self pity, and I could have done without a lengthy dream sequence about WWII French collaborators as well as the lengthy retreads of the Bush-Kerry election (the novel is set in 2004 for some reason). I just found this all to be more insufferable the longer it went on. B-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 23.

2017 book 213

Melissa Albert's The Hazel Wood
Protagonist Alice is a teenage girl whose single mother has moved her from place to place, trying to outrun their bad luck. She is also the granddaughter of a reclusive author of creepy fairy tales who has a cult following. When they hear said grandmother has died, they think they are finally free, but that is when things really start to go wrong. This story was weird, and creepy, and unexpected, and awesome. I read this all in one sitting and loved almost every second of it. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 30th.

2017 book 212

Ann Patchett's Bel Canto
I have had three separate conversations about Patchett recently, which of course made me want to reread some Patchett! I am personally not into opera, but this story is so operatic (and I guess they did actually make an opera of it recently, to boot) that it makes me want to try and get into it! If you have somehow not read this book, it is the story of a group of South American guerillas who take a party of fancy people hostage. It is beautiful and tragic. State of Wonder is probably an even stronger novel, but this one really speaks to me.

2017 book 211

Jodi Lynn Anderson's My Diary from the Edge of the World
This is a perfectly fine middle grade book set in a world that is very similar to ours, except that it's also got a lot of paranormal creatures wreaking havoc--oh, and it's flat. The book is meant to be the diary of a middle-schooler but the narrative voice was not particularly authentic to me. Still, it's an interesting story of a family on the run, trying to escape a terrible fate, and maybe make it to the Extraordinary World--our world. I liked the family relationships here but wished for a little bit more, I guess? B/B+.

2017 book 210

Sage Blackwood's Miss Ellicott's School for the Magically Minded
This was a very cute MG fantasy centered on a girl at the titular school, who has to band together with her friends to save the city with magic and heart and the occasional crossbow. The book doesn’t make light of the cost of war but there are some funny moments, and I especially liked all the little magical schoolgirls (and Anna!). I also liked that it talked about things like the inaccuracies of history lessons. Good stuff. A-/B+.

2017 book 209

Erika Johansen’s The Fate of the Tearling
The conclusion to Johansen’s Tearling trilogy improves on a second reading, when you can see her laying the groundwork for how things are going down. There is still a lot going on, but not in a bad way, and I appreciate how she humanizes (some of) her villains in this volume. Still a lot of sexual violence and rape threats, which I personally prefer less of in my epic fantasy. I’ve read that the author is planning more books set in this universe, and I’ll read them, or anything else she writes, because she has a deft hand with plot and characterization.

2017 book 208

Erika Johansen's The Invasion of the Tearling
Another gripping one, even though I have read it before! In the second Tearling book, the narrative is divided between the young queen, and a woman from our near future (a future that feels nearer every day, frankly), which answers a lot of questions about the world and how it came to be. Unfortunately this volume ramps up the sexual violence, which does make a lot of it hard to read. Still a solid story though.

2017 favorites!

All right, we've reached the point in the year where I admit to myself that I am not going to read any more of the big 2017 books and have succumbed to the peer pressure to tally up my favorite books and albums!

2017 was mostly a terrible year but I did get to see Hamilton on Broadway with two of my closest friends and also I knitted several giant shawls, so I call that a win. It was also a great year for STUFF!

Alicia's Top 10 Albums of 2017 (in alphabetical order)*:

Aimee Mann's Mental Illness
All Our Exes Live in Texas' When We Fall
Alvvays' Antisocialites
Belle and Sebastian's How to Solve Our Human Problems (Part 1)
Charly Bliss' Guppy
Coco Hames' Self-titled
Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton's American Dream
A Giant Dog's Toy
Slowdive's Self-titled
Sweet Spirit's St. Mojo

*I acknowledge that this list is not very diverse.

Alicia's Top 11 Books of 2017 (in alphabetical order):

Naomi Alderman's The Power
Kristin Cashore's Jane Unlimited
Louise Erdrich's Future Home of the Living God
T. Kingfisher's Summer in Orcus
Meg Howrey's The Wanderers
N.K. Jemisin's The Stone Sky
Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere
Elizabeth Strout's Anything is Possible
Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give
Scarlett Thomas' Dragon's Green
Gabrielle Zevin's Young Jane Young

Here's hoping to a better 2018 with lots more great books and music!

2017 book 207

Erika Johansen's Queen of the Tearling
Rereading this for book club, I was struck anew by what a compulsively readable book this is. I mean, I've read it several times and remembered it pretty well, and I still had a hard time putting it down. I will say that, having now read the third book, it seems clear that Johansen had something different in mind when she wrote this one, but that is not a major complaint. I really enjoy this story of a young queen coming into her own in the far future with the help of magic and her trusty Guards. Content warning for many mentions of rape, though there are no graphic depictions.

2017 book 206

Elizabeth Hand's Waking the Moon
This was a weird moment to read this particular book, because a large part of my brain was yelling "BURN IT ALL DOWN!" and almost cheering on the character trying to resurrect the moon goddess and her matriarchal, sacrificial murder cults, despite the, y'know, murders. But to back up for a second: I like Elizabeth Hand a lot, though I do find some of her books to be a bit unsettling, and this was definitely one of those times. The action starts at a mysterious college in DC in the 1970s, where warring religious secret societies enter the lives of some first-years. The protagonist is your usual girl who feels out of place and doesn't really know what's going on and is consumed by feelings for various beautiful people, and then things go very awry and her story picks up almost twenty years later. I did like this book but thinking about it too much makes my head hurt, and I am not gonna get into the inappropriate yet mystical romances. It is VERY atmospheric though. A-.

2017 book 205

Mitali Perkins' You Bring the Distant Near
This seems to be marketed as a YA title, I assume b/c Perkins' previous works were YA, but this is definitely a crossover title. It centers on three generations of Indian-American woman as they struggle to reconcile their cultures and their issues with each other (there is also a fair amount of focus on their romances). Very readable and great characters, if a teensy bit on the cheesy side. Nothing wrong with the occasional multicultural heartwarming read! A/A-.

2017 book 204

Frances Hardinge's A Skinful of Shadows
Hardinge is an author I have heard good things about, ans her latest novel seemed really interesting—set at the beginning of the English Civil War, it centers on a young girl from a family with mysterious powers that she wants nothing to do with, so she ends up on the run to escape them—and to maybe find a way to save her brother from their clutches. I really liked this and loved how it wrapped up. A-.