friendship

Audiobook: Remarkably Bright Creatures

1 Comment

by Shelby Van Pelt
Read by Marin Ireland & Michael Urie
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are some swear words, including a few f-bombs, and talk of suicide. It’s in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

Soon after her husband’s death, Tova Sullivan takes a night job cleaning at an aquarium on Puget Sound. The same body of water where her son, Erik, mysteriously disappeared 30 years ago. She’s a kind, quiet woman, who talks to the animals, and soon makes a connection with Marcellus, a rescued Giant Pacific Octopus.

Cameron is a bit of a dead-beat 30-year-old, one who is not able to keep a steady job and who still has dreams of “making it” as the lead guitarist in a band. When his girlfriend finally gets fed up and kicks him out and his aunt finds a bag of his mother’s stuff (a mother who abandoned him at age 9), Cameron heads up to the same small Puget Sound town, looking for the person he believes to be his father.

What he finds, and what Tova comes to realize, is a community that supports one another, and that sometimes, there are remarkably bright creatures in your midst.

This one was remarkable, particularly on audio. Urie, who voices the Marcellus chapters – yes, there are chapters written from an octopus’s point of view and they are incredible – is an absolute delight as a narrator. I adored the world-weariness that he infused in Marcellus’ narration; it often made me laugh aloud. And Ireland, who voiced the rest of the book, was also incredible. It was a book that I didn’t want to stop listening to, one of the those that you sit listening to in the car, even after you arrive at your destination. But even more than the narration, I liked how Van Pelt wove the stories together. I cared about the characters (even the ocotpus!) and the way their lives wove together. I wanted them all to be happy, to find resolution. And I was supremely satisfied, in the end.

A truly excellent little novel, defintely worth the hype it got.

Dear Mothman

Leave a comment

by Robin Gow
First sentence: “Dear Mothman, I pretended to believe in you for Lewis.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: The font, which looks like handwriting, is sometimes hard to read (but I’m old), and it talks about the death of a friend. It’s in the Middle-Grade section of the bookstore.

Noah’s best friend, Lewis, has died in a car accident, and Noah is not taking it well. They were inseparable, and it seems like the adults in Noah’s life don’t quite know how to handle his grief. So, Noah decides to take on Lewis’s idea for the sixth-grade science fair: proving Mothman exists. So, he starts writing letters in a journal and leaving them for Mothman to find. While proving this, Noah not only makes new friends (and finds a girlfriend), he gets brave enough to tell his parents and teacher that his pronouns and name are not what he was born with. It’s a journey in every sense of the word.

I’ve heard excellent things about this one since it came out and I thought I’d give it a try. It’s a lovely novel in verse, and I think it deals with grief really well. This means, though, that’s is quite a sad book. Noah’s dealing with a lot, and while the adults are trying, they’re not always succeeding. I’m not sure how I felt about it falling over into the magical realm, but as a book about a kid dealing with his own identity as well as the loss of his anchor, it was an excellent story.

My Not-So-Great French Escape

1 Comment

by Cliff Burke
First sentence: “‘Smile!’ my mom urged.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are some moments of bullying and a neglectful father. It’s in the Middle-Grade section of the bookstore.

Ryan has been drifting apart from his best friend, Wilder, for a while. At first, it was because they went to different schools, but when Wilder’s mom got Ryan a scholarship to the elite private school Wilder went to, Ryan thought they would be friends again. But, it wasn’t to be: Ryan found himself, and the fact that he and his mom don’t have a lot of money, the butt of jokes. This summer, Wilder is off to a month-long farming camp in France, and his mom has made it so Ryan can come along. Ryan hopes that this will rekindle their friendship.

Spoiler: Ryan is wrong. When he gets to the farm, Wilder ditches him for some French kids and Ryan is stuck with some other international kids. He’s upset and sad and misses home at first, but with the encouragement of the director, he throws himself into gardening and milking goats, and making new friends. It turns out to be a good summer after all.

This was super fun, because who wouldn’t want to spend a month in France in the summer? Burke does a good job of giving us a feel for a French farm, and Ryan is sympathetic as he learns to make new friends. Wilder never is redeemed – he’s a twat right up to the end – but the book has a good message about letting go of old friends and finding new ones. Plus goats and bees.

I really liked it, in the end.

Harriet Spies

Leave a comment

by Elana K. Arnold
First sentence: “If you’re not a people person, you probably wouldn’t like living at a bed-and-breakfast.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s a main character who struggles with lying a lot. It’s in the Middle-Grade section (grades 3-5) of the bookstore, but it could also end up in the Beginning Chapter Book section (grades 1-2) of the bookstore as well.

Harriet has gone to live with her grandmother at the bed-and-breakfast she owns for the summer. She’s there not because she wants to be, but because her mother is pregnant and on bed rest, and her father travels too much for work. Harriet’s not entirely happy to be at the Bric-a-Brac B&B, but she’s determined to make the best of it. That is, until the Captain’s binoculars go missing, and no one believes Harriet that she didn’t take them. (Harriet has a bad habit of lying about things. You can see why the adults don’t quite believe her.) So she determines that she needs to find the binoculars to prove to everyone that she didn’t take them! She ropes in her new friend. Clarence, and they set about trying to figure everything out. 

On the one hand, this one is cute and sweet and really hits that 6- to 8-year-old sweet spot. It’s a simple story, but the reader is kept interested in it going through. There are a lot of fun places to see on Marble Island, and Harriet even gets to set up a clubhouse for herself in an old shed and discovers her father’s old dollhouse in that he built furniture. On the other hand, was there a reason for Clarence to be Black? He kind of falls into the magical friend trope – Harriet is a terrible friend to him and just uses him to help figure out the binocular mystery. He, in turn, helps her be a better friend. While I get that he’s Black for diversity’s sake, there’s really nothing indicative of his Blackness. 

Otherwise, though, it’s a fun little book.

The Many Fortunes of Maya

Leave a comment

by Nicole C. Collier
First sentence: “Even though I’ve never seen one in person, wood thrushes are my favorite bird of all time.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s talk of separation and possibly divorce. It’s in the Middle-Grade section (grades 3-5) of the bookstore.

Maya’s planning on having a fantastic summer. She’s going to hang out with her best friend, Ginger, play soccer, get the MVP of their team, and make it onto the Chargers, the same team her Daddy played on when he was a kid. Except things don’t go as planned: the MVP goes to Ginger, who is also spending more time with Angelica, soccer camp isn’t everything Maya wanted it to be, and – even worse – her dad moves out, as he and Maya’s mom go through a trial separation. This throws Maya for the biggest loop: she thought her family was perfect the way it was…and no one asked her! How is her summer going to be great with all these bad things happening?

This one was super sweet and charming. I liked how the problems were quite serious for an 11-year-old – what is more important than friendships and your parents staying together? I liked that Collier wrote a book with a realistic portrait of parents whose marriage is struggling, but who put their child first, and are kind and loving. Even in their problems, it’s depicting a positive relationship. I liked that Maya was able to see that her friends being friends with others isn’t bad and that she was able to branch her passions out beyond just playing soccer.

A solid middle-grade book.

The Guncle

Leave a comment

by Steven Rowley
First sentence: “All right, here goes nothing.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: Some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, talk of death and addiction, and off-screen sex. It also deals really frankly with death and grief. It’s in the Adult Fiction section of the bookstore.

Patrick O’Hara is a retired TV star. He had his moment, he was famous, and he made his money. And now he’s living in Palm Springs, happily away from the world. Except it’s not happy – he’s still mourning the death of his partner, Joe (a drunk driver hit them, and Patrick is still wary about getting behind the wheel of his car), and so when his best friend (and sister-in-law) dies, he’s completely wrecked. Except that his brother, Sara’s husband, tells Patrick that he’s addicted to painkillers and needs rehab and that he wants Patrick to take care of his two kids. Which, of course, Patrick refuses… until he doesn’t. At first, being the guardian of 9-year-old Maisie and 6-year-old Grant is almost too much for Patrick, but over the weeks, he learns how to handle everything.

That’s really all there is to this book. But, it’s also not all there is. Both Patrick and the kids are grieving, and it’s their path to figuring out how to live without the people they love in their lives. It’s Patrick growing and learning, and opening up to connection again. It’s being fun and silly in the summer heat and making memories that will last. So, it’s not just the plot; it’s the characters and their individual paths that make this book really enjoyable. It was charming and funny, while also being serious and open about grief and grieving.

I really enjoyed it quite a lot.

School Trip

Leave a comment

by Jerry Craft
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: New Kid, Class Act
Content: There are some shenanigans and awkward moments. It’s in the Middle-Grade Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

Jordan and his friends have a long-awaited school trip to Pairs. They’re all excited for different reasons; Jordan especially since he wants to see all the art with his art teacher. However, to the actions of several tech-savvy kids, the teachers assigned to the various trips get all mixed up, and the teachers going to the Paris trip know nothing. That’s a chance for Maury to shine: his mother went to school in Paris, and they visit often. He is able to show the other kids all the cool spots. As they go through the city of lights, the kids learn to navigate friendships and talk about their feelings and how they are treated. Sometimes everyone being in a new place can make it easier to talk about things you aren’t able to back home.

I really like this series. I like Craft’s art style and the way he has many different characters that all have some depth to them. I like that he’s not afraid to talk about racism or just the way kids can mistreat each other without realizing it. I do like that the kids are mostly complex characters. It’s a fun book, but also a thoughtful one. My only complaint is that Jordan’s parents decided what high school he would attend (he got into an art-specific high school) without letting him have his say. But that’s a minor thing in such a well-done graphic novel.

Highly recommended.

Audio book: The Night in Question

Leave a comment

by Liz Lawson and Kathleen Glasgow
Read by Sophie Amoss, Holly Linneman & Mehr Dudeja
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Release date: May 30, 2023
Others in the series: The Agathas
Content: There is some mild swearing, talk of out-of-wedlock babies, violence (both domestic and other), and talk of murder. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the first one, kind of.

Iris and Alice have developed a pretty solid friendship since solving Brooke’s murder four months ago. Their parents and Alice’s old friends don’t really understand it, but it’s harmless, as long as they refrain from solving any other crimes. But at the winter dance, which takes place at the Levy Castle, Alice stumbles upon another crime: Rebecca Kennedy lying in a pool of her own blood, with Helen Park standing over her. While Rebecca’s not dead, she’s severely injured enough to not say what happened, but the evidence is clear: Park stabbed her. Right? 

Well, Alice and Iris think the police are wrong (again) and take it upon themselves to figure out what happened. It takes them on a twisty path involving family (there’s a genealogy project that lurks in the background), old movie stars, the things people will do for money and fame, and will test the bounds of both Iris’ and Alice’s parents. 

I liked The Agathas, but I think this one is better. I liked the twisty mystery, and how all these disparate parts come together in the end. And while there were twists and turns, I never felt like anything was out of left field. Lawson and Glasgow are good plotters, dropping enough hints and foreshadowing that nothing felt out of place. 

And the narrators were fantastic. They all kept me engaged, helped me figure out who was who and kept the mystery from getting sluggish. This is a smart, fun series – who doesn’t love a couple of kids outsmarting the cops and figuring out mysteries? I’m here these as long as Lawson and Glasgow want to write them. 

Audiobook: The Lonely Hearts Book Club

Leave a comment

by Lucy Gilmore
Read by Angie Kane
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there! Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some mild swearing, and talk of death. It’s in the Adult Fiction section of the bookstore.

Sometimes, you need a book that just reaffirms your faith in humanity. That there are good people out there, and that connecting is the best thing. The Authenticity Project is one of those books. As is this one.

Sloane Parker is an unassuming 20-something, who is engaged to a chiropractor, mostly because he’s safe. She works at the Cour d’Alene library, and one of their patrons – Arther MacLachlan – is an old crank, but he and Sloane take to sparring. So, when he doesn’t show up at the library for a few days, Sloane is worried. She risks her job to get Arthur’s address, where she finds him throwing out home nurse aids, having just been released from the hospital. From there both Sloane’s and Arthur’s world expands as they meet, make, and grow some pretty wonderful friendships along the way. And of course: there’s a book club to propel all this along.

Yes, it is a bit mundane, and everyone’s problems are quite ordinary. But, it’s also delightful, especially on audiobook, so you can hear Kane’s brilliant voices embody the characters and make them come alive. It’s sweet and charming and delightful. And sometimes, you just need that.

Vicious

Leave a comment

by V. E. Schwab
First sentence: “Victor readjusted the shovels on his shoulder and stepped gingerly over an old, half-sunken grave.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is a lot of violence, and some swearing, including quite a few f-bombs. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Victor has just gotten out of prison, after spending ten years there for a murder he accidentally committed, and he is out for revenge. The target is his ex-best friend Eli, who has decided to become the judge, jury, and executioner of the city’s EO – extraordinary people, those with special powers. The thing is that Victor and Eli are both EOs: ten years ago, when they were best friends at college, they became interested in how EOs came to be, and they recreated the conditions to give themselves powers. But things went awry (hence accidental murder) and Victor is hell-bent on stopping Eli.

This is a straightforward revenge story, building up to a climax at midnight when the two foes face each other. But, because it’s Schwab, it’s also more than that. You get their history together (and a feeling that Victor was in love with Eli), and the ups and downs of their early experimentation. And the way their relationship so spectacularly imploded. There are minor characters you both come to care about as well as loathe, and you have to wonder who is “good” in this book. (Answer: no one, really.) The last bit made me incredibly anxious: Schwab is ruthless and has no mercy for her characters, so you didn’t know, going in, who was going to come out of this alive.

In short: it was fantastic.