Audiobook: Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales

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by Heather Fawcett
Read by Ell Potter & Michael Dodds
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands
Content: There are some intense moments and a bit of faerie violence. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the first two, obviously.

Emily and Wendell have returned to Wendell’s kingdom, the Silver Loopie, for him to take his place as ruler. It’s not all fun and games, because the former queen, Wendell’s stepmother, isn’t quite dead yet and has put a curse on the land poisoning it. It’s up to Emily, and her immense knowledge of fairy stories, to figure out which story this is playing out as, and how to set the Silver Loopie to rights. And, maybe somewhere along the way, she will figure out how to be the queen of a faerie realm.

I probably guessed somewhere along the way, that this was going to be the end of Emily and Wendell’s adventures, and while I’m sad to see them go, I love the way Fawcett wrapped them up. It had everything I have come to adore about these books: faerie magic, a bit of tension between Emily and Wendell, her dog Shadow (love the dog!), and adventures that she approaches scholarly. It was as charming and as wonderful as the other two.

I do have to admit that I got an advance copy of this book, and tried to read it but couldn’t connect with it. It wasn’t until I picked it up in audio and started listening that I realized that these books, while charming and delightful on their own, are made for audio. Potter does such as wonderful job capturing Emily’s voice and mannerisms, that she makes Emily just jump off the page. They are truly delightful as audiobooks

And, to be honest, I’m okay with the series ending. What I would like, though, is a spin-off series featuring Emily’s niece Ariadnae (not sure of the spelling of that one!). That would be delightful.

A thoroughly charming ending to a thoroughly charming series.

Not Nothing

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by Gayle Forman
First sentence: “Actually, it’s two stories, one you will recognize and one you won’t.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is anger management issues, abandonment by a parent, and an act of violence. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Alex, by a combination of chance and choice has landed a community service assignment at Shady Glenn Retirement center. He doesn’t want to be there (obviously) and is determined to have a terrible time and just grudgingly do his work until a longtime resident, Josef – nonverbal, 107 years old, and basically waiting to die – breaks his longtime silence to tell Alex his story. The book goes back and forth – Josef is our narrator the whole way, though – between telling Alex’s story and Josef’s, but the theme is the same: how can a person, through their choices, make a difference for good or ill, in the lives of others.

On the one hand, I really loved this book. I loved the way it was written, I loved the connection Josef and Alex had, I loved that Forman was exploring the idea of being better than the sum of their actions. It’s heartwarming and even though it deals with the Holocaust, it’s not a Holocaust book. It’s about connection and redemption and making our lives matter, in spite of our past choices.

On the other hand, I’m thinking, as much as I loved it, that it’s a kids book for adults. It’s the sort of book written in the sort of way that I think more adults who read kids books will like than actual kids. (Maybe some kids; I might have been able to convince a couple of mine to read it.) That’s not a knock; it’s just an observation.

It’s still an excellent book, though.

Tig

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by Heather Smith
First sentence: “We’re different now, me and Peter.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is abandonment by a parent, and destructive behavior by a child. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Tig and her older brother Peter have been living in their abandoned house – their mother up and left with her boyfriend – for four months before their Uncle Scott and his partner Monty find out and take them in. The thing is, though, Tig feels like they would be better off on their own. She hates the new house, the new town, and the new rules. She fights back at every opportunity. But, when things get a little out of hand, Tig is forced to realize that maybe the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually liked it. It’s a tough pill to swallow, from the mom’s abandonment (four months! FOUR months!) to Tig acting up and being cruel to the people who took her in. Maybe it’s a bit of PTSD from when we ended up taking in a friend of our daughters, and the stress and trauma that brought into our house (and 7 years later, we’re still trying to unpack). But, I just couldn’t with this book. I finished it, but I didn’t like it.

The Door is Open

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Edited by Hena Khan
First sentence: “I pick up the queen and twirl her between my forefinger and thumb.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some talk of domestic abuse and racism. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

In this series of interconnected short stories, we get a portrait of the Maple Grove community center and some of the people who use it. There are chess tournaments and spelling bees, basketball games and cooking classes, and celebrations, including festivals and banquets. It is very much the heart of the city, especially the Desi community, and when it is proposed to be knocked down instead of renovated, the community – especially the kids who find value in having it be a community meeting spot.

I liked this collection a lot. I liked getting the perspectives of a number of children; it helped emphasize just how diverse the Desi community is. I liked the role the center played in the lives of all the kids; in Wichita, the budget for the Parks & Rec department and the community centers have been slashed, so we don’t have anything like that here. But, I respect it, and am glad that the authors of these stories portrayed the community center as a vibrant and vital part of the community. I liked how all the stories connected; characters and situations in one would appear in another.

It’s a solid short story collection.

Blood Over Bright Haven

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by M. L. Wang
First sentence: “Thomil had taken the long way back from scouting.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is violence and swearing, including several instances of the f-bomb. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

I suppose it’s best to start with the world: Tiran is a city in surrounded by a protective barrier to keep the wasteland and the Blight out. It operates by magic – though there are guns and cars and factories that run on magic – and the practitioners of such are mages. It’s a very patriarchal society: men can learn and practice magic; women are deemed unsuitable, useful only for keeping house and bearing children. There are people outside the protective barrier: the Kwan, some of whom braved the blight and made it through the barrier to become lower-class citizens in Tiran, doing all the hard, manual labor. Sciona is a woman in this world who is determined, at all costs, to become a highmage. And when she succeeds, she is faced with sexism by her all-male colleagues, who give her a Kwan janitor, Thomil, to be her lab assistant. That singular act, done in malice, changes Everything, forever.

I was told months ago by co-workers that I needed to read this one. I put it off and put it off, especially since someone told me that it was going to wreck me. But, honestly, I shouldn’t have waited. If I had read this one last year, it would have easily been in my top 3. It’s just that good. The magic and world-building is some that I haven’t seen done like this in a long time, if ever. Wang knows how to give us characters that we care about without being saccharine about it. And at its heart there is a complex and challenging moral question: what is Good and what is Evil. It’s a criticism of patriarchy and white supremacy and capitalism, wrapped up in a fantasy novel. It’s brilliant, it’s ruthless, it’s devastating, and I couldn’t put it down.

It’s one that will stay with me for a long, long time.

Audiobook: Onyx Storm

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by Rebecca Yarros
Read by Rebecca Soler, Teddy Hamilton, Justis Bolding & Jasmin Walker
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: Fourth Wing, Iron Flame
Content: It’s super sweary, super violent, and lots of on-screen sexytimes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the first two books, obviously.

It’s picking up again, where Iron Flame left off – there’s venin (I think that’s how you spell it), Xaden’s turning into one (though he’s trying hard to stop it), the king won’t let refugees in, and they need to find Andara’s (is that spelled right?) dragon family.

And we’re going to spend 500+ (23 hours!) pages doing this.

I started out liking this one – Solner is still delightfully unhinged, I thought the travels around the islands were interesting, and it was nice to have Violet back being a smart badass again. But, as the book went on I lost patience with it. It dragged in the middle. I wanted to punch Xaden in the face on a number of occasions. I hated the “I wanted you but I don’t trust myself” parts and the miscommunication. The last one was a lot, but this was even MORE. And by the end, I was just not interested. (Speaking of the end: I hated it. So much.)

And, after three 500 page books in a five-book series that could have been a solid trilogy, I think I’m done. I have zero interest in where the story is going, in Violet and Xaden’s future, or in all the many plot strings Yarros left undone.

(If I consider reading the fourth when it comes out, remind me that I’m probably going to be annoyed and frustrated with it and that it’s probably not going to be worth my time.)

A Song for You and I

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by K. O’Neill
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: March 4, 2025
Content: There’s a storm that is pretty scary. Otherwise, it’s tame. It will be in the Middle Grade Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

Rose is a Novice ranger, and it’s their last post before the Name Carving. Rose gets an easy one: mostly just tend to the field where the shepherd Leone plays and the sheep wander. When a storm comes, and Leone is stranded in the field without much protection, Rose rushes to the rescue, at the expense of their pegasus. As a result, they’re grounded while their pegasus heals, and they accompany Leone as protection while delivering wool.

Not much happens in this slight graphic novel – except Rose realizes that they don’t want to be called Rose anymore, and they develop a respect not only for being a ranger, but for the slow, meditative times. Things don’t always have to be action-fast-dangerous to be important and worthwhile. And that’s the most important thing in this slim book: you can find out who you are not through daring deeds and accomplishing something great, but by being quiet and listening to yourself.

Which is, perhaps, the most important thing of all.

Monthly Round-Up: January 2025

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In which January was so long that I forgot today was the last day of it, and that I have a blog, and that I usually put up a Monthly Round-Up. *sigh* at least January is over.

I read more than this, but most of it was for Cybils, and the reviews for the ones I haven’t read will show up here next month.

I think this was my favorite this month, though it feels like a year since I listened to it:

The Honey Witch (audiobook)

Here are the ones I did write about:

Adult fiction

Back After This
The Broposal (audiobook)
Black Woods, Blue Sky

Non-Fiction

A Cook’s Tour

What was your favorite this month?

Black Woods Blue Sky

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by Eowyn Ivey
First sentence: “Birdie knew her mistake as soon as she cracked open her eyes.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: February 4, 2025
Content: There is animal-based violence, swearing (including multiple f-bombs) and death. It will be in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

Birdie is a 26-year-old single mother in a remote Alaskan town, and is trying to get her life together. She’s got a job at the local lodge, and while it kinda-sorta pays the bills, it does mean she has to leave 6-year-old Emaleen on her own or with Birdie’s grandmother much too often. But then Arthur wanders down from his cabin on the other side of the North Fork River, and Birdie takes a liking to him. Sure, he’s odd: he doesn’t eat much or talk much, but he lives a wild and free life in nature, something that Birdie craves. So, she arranges for her and Emmaleen to go with Arthur (against the advice of other townsfolk, including Arthur’s dad) out to his cabin. Where everything is perfect, until it isn’t.

Ivey’s writing is so spare and so beautiful that you don’t really notice the impending doom, though the clues are there. And while this wasn’t a book to tug at my heartstrings, I did find it hard to put down. I kept wanting to know what would happen next. And Emaleen becomes more central to the story as it goes on, which I thought was a fascinating way to tie everything together. It’s a love letter to the Alaskan wilderness, to the harsh unforgiving beauty and wildness of nature and the epic scale you can find both beauty and horror there. The people who live and thrive in Alaska are a unique sort, and Ivey pays testament to that spirit.

It’s a remarkable book, and one where the characters and the haunting beauty of it all will stay with me for a while.

A Cook’s Tour

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by Anthony Bourdain
First sentence: “Dear Nancy, I’m about as far away from you as I’ve ever been – a hotel (the hotel, actually) in Pailin, a miserable one-horse dunghole in northwest Cambodia, home to those not-so-adorable scamps, the Khmer Rouge.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s a lot of swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Cooking Reference section of the bookstore (which is where we put all foody books like this.)

C went on an Anthony Bourdain kick last year, reading a number of his books (and we eventually watched the documentary about him as well), and this is the one she ended up talking about the most. It’s his eating tour – a narrative of the year he spent filming for a Food Network show he did – going to places like France, Portugal, Russia, Japan, Vietnam, and Cambodia in search of the “perfect” meal.

My thoughts? Well, this man would eat literally anything. You put it in front of him, told him it was edible, he would eat it. Which is simultaneously terrifying and impressive. (Seriously: some of the stuff he ate is not for the weak to read about!) He does, however, know how to write about food. It comes off the page, and much of it sounds like it’d be amazing to try. His description of the 20-course meal at The French Laundry in Napa Valley, California, had me looking up to see if I could afford the place. (Spoiler: I can’t.) I really liked his descriptions of the food markets in Vietnam, the weirdness of Tokyo, and the whole experience he had in Portugal where they slaughtered the fatted pig for him.

However, Bourdain was an ass, and maybe he mellowed in his later years, but in this one, he’s still very much an ass. He’s a snob, he knows he’s a snob, he doesn’t care that he’s a snob, because you know what? He’s right. If something is bad, he will let you know. If he doesn’t like someone, he will let you know. He has this sense that he’s working class (sure, he was a chef, but working class? No one in working class summers in France!) and he doesn’t like it if you don’t respect that, or if you think you’re like him and you’re not. He still has a lot of anger (not as much as Kitchen Confidential, but still) about the world in this one, and it comes across loud and clear on the page. I think that’s part of what took me so long to read this book (it took 2 weeks for a 274-page book): I just didn’t want to spend the time with him. Or at least not long amounts of time. He’s abrasive and unapologetic about it.

Still, the man knew how to write about food. And that’s worth something.