Tag: Fiction

Heidi’s 2017 Year-end Review

It’s the last day of 2017! As usual, this year I’ve enjoyed an eclectic mix of fiction and non-fiction.

I had a lot less time to read this year because of my full-time job, but I surprised myself with how many I was able to get through.

I’d like to take a moment to say thank you to all of my friends here on WordPress and Goodreads. Reading and reviewing wouldn’t be nearly as fun without all of you.

And without further ado, here’s my end-of-the-year book recommendations:

Total books read: 165

Overall favorite: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Non-Fiction: Inspired!: True Stories Behind Famous Art, Literature, Music, and Film by Maria Bukhonina or When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner.

Favorite Book Club Pick: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (Good work, Kathy!)

Best Fantasy: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (I did not like the sequel, but this book was excellent.)

Funniest Self Help: How to Be Ultra Spiritual: 12 1/2 Steps to Spiritual Superiority by J.P. Sears or How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness by Karen Salmansohn.

Book I Thought I Wouldn’t Like but Did: Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Book I Thought I Would Like but Didn’t: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Most Overrated: Paper Princess by Erin Watt

Most Disturbing: Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed (fiction) or The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir by Maude Julien (non-fiction).

Most Inspirational: The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz or Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes (memoir).

Most Far-Out: Surviving Death: Evidence of the Afterlife by Leslie Kean or A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming: Mastering the Art of Oneironautics by Dylan Tuccillo.

Nerdiest Read: Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story by Steve Kamb.

Most Depressing but Worth It: Night by Elie Wiesel (non-fiction) or Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (fiction).

Book about books: Bizarre Books by Russell Ash, Brian Lake.

Classic I Should Have Read Before but Hadn’t: Animal Farm by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (read a bunch of classics this year, these were my top two).

Best Graphic Novel: Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson (This whole series is a lot of fun.)

Strong Female Role Model: #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso (non-fiction) or Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin (fiction).

Best Book about Music: Vivaldi’s Virgins by Barbara Quick (fiction) or Instrumental: A Memoir of Madness, Medication and Music by James Rhodes (non-fiction, very dark).

Best Book about Trivia: Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports by Edward Brooke-Hitching.

Best Memoir: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami.

Best Book about a Foodie: Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater by Frank Bruni

Best Historical Fiction: The Confessions of Young Nero by Margaret George or Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

Best political: Gnarr: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World by Jón Gnarr

Work-related: Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin.

Family-related: How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids by Jancee Dunn.

Happy New Year, my friends. And, happy reading, to all of you.

Kind (The Good Neighbors, #3) by Holly Black

Kind (The Good Neighbors, #3) by Holly Black

kindRue’s grandfather put his nefarious plan to merge the faerie world with the normal one in motion at the end of the last book. Now, everyone in Rue’s town is going bonkers. Faeries are roaming the streets, eating and manipulating humans. The more organized groups of people are fighting back. It’s a mess.

“What do you do after the end of the world?”

Meanwhile, Rue has a love triangle going. Her boyfriend Dale has taken up with some bloodthirsty bog faeries and she needs to save him. But, she can’t seem to forget Tam, a young man who has a special talent for speaking the truth and was stolen away from the real world by faeries.

What’s a girl to do?

“When people tell you to forget things, they really just mean that you should pretend to forget. No one actually forgets.” “You are as heartless as any faerie girl, Rue, yet I want you to look at me and to see me. To see me like I see you.” pg 25

And who is going to save the town?

“There is a reason why mystics are mad, Rue. We- people, humans- cannot sustain exposure to the supernatural. That’s why we’re not meant to live like this. Already, people’s minds can’t handle it.” pg 55

The artwork in this series reminded me of The Walking Deadgraphic novel franchise. Sometimes, it’s good, but then in other panels, you can’t tell one character from another.

There are some truly beautiful and grotesque faeries. I think the artist, Ted Naifeh, was at his best with the supernatural creatures.

The ending to this series was a little too predictable for my taste. But, it is good enough for what it sets out to do- entertain young adults with a slightly darker fairy tale.

Thanks for reading!

The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean Telt by Hisself by David Almond

The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean Telt by Hisself by David Almond
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A strange story about a boy who grows up in a room by himself. Through his extreme isolation, he discovers he has powers beyond that of a normal boy. There is a mystery surrounding his parentage and also about the world outside the only room he has ever known. The boy’s name is Billy Dean and this is his tale.

This pseudo-memoir is written mostly phonetically and with intentional misspellings, which was incredibly annoying at first, but you find yourself getting used to it. “This tale is told by 1 that died at birth by 1 that came into the world in the days of endles war & at a moment of disaster. He grew in isolayshon wile the enjins of destruchshon flew & smoke rose over the sitys & wile wilderness & waste crept all acros the world.” pg 1, ebook.

David Almond was attempting to capture Billy Dean’s innocent but uneducated voice through the misshaping of the words. I get what he was going for, but felt it did a disservice to the story.

Which wasn’t that good. It could have been though and that was disappointing.

Take this intense moment when Billy Dean’s father tells him that he should have killed his son the moment he was born: “Wilfred O bliddy Wilfred shud hav killd the monster in the woom. …. He grabbd me by the throte. Shudnt he? he yelld at me. Anser me you cretin! Tel me I shud have ended it befor it had bluddy begun. Tel me yes you shud hav Daddy!” pg 32, ebook.

It just doesn’t have the impact it could have, does it.

Or this moment, when Billy Dean is comforting his mother: “Im so sory” she wispers. “It was all supposed to be so different.” … “Its lovely Mam” he grones at her. “Its byutiful.” And all this nite he wil not slepe for the aykin of his mussels & the stingin of his bones & the thumpin of his hart & the byuty & the wunder of this world. pg 87

Photo by fabio.tsu on Pexels.com

Beyond my issues with how the author chose to present his story, I felt that the magical part of the story was misshandled, especially when it comes to the child Billy Dean.

It made the timing of events feel strange. Nothing would happen, this this huge unexplained thing would roll out and the reader would be expected to accept that as the new normal and go on.

Perhaps Almond was trying to express the inexplicable nature of existence?

This book left me with a lot of unanswered questions, but not in a good way. I can’t recommend it.

Thanks for reading.

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks
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Year of Wonders tells the story of Anna, a servant to a pastor, and how she emotionally and physically survives the plague while the majority of her village falls ill around her.

I was enthralled. I listened to the audiobook on my daily commute and it was fantastic.

You get the very real drama of life in a small village mixed with the the despair that must have accompanied the plague. There’s finger-pointing, people taking advantage of other’s need and, above all, the need to rationalize why all of the deaths were occurring.

My favorite part of this book was when Anna stopped in the middle of her hectic life to reconsider how she viewed God. She uses common sense reasoning to pick apart why a deity would allow such tragedy to occur and then wonders why the young are taken rather than the old.

She comes to the conclusion that what’s happening is a biological thing rather than a divine thing. Then, once she has that straight in her mind, she’s better equipped to handle everybody else’s irrational responses to the plague without being bogged down by her own.

Anna is a great heroine. She has her flaws- a flirtation with opium addiction to dull her grief and a crush on someone else’s husband- but she tries to be a good person. Mainly, she’s just overwhelmed by what’s going on and wants to feel loved and safe.

Photo by Nico Becker on Pexels.com

She cares for the ill, helps an orphaned child hold on to her family’s lead mine and tries to help her village keep body and soul together.

The ending of Year of Wonders was incredibly shocking to me, but in a good way. Geraldine Brooks stayed true to her characters but took the story in such an unexpected direction, that I had to turn it off for awhile to absorb what I had just heard.

Highly recommended for book clubs or people who love historical fiction. Year of Wonders is wonderous indeed.

Vivaldi’s Virgins by Barbara Quick

Vivaldi’s Virgins by Barbara Quick
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Vivaldi’s Virgins is a sparkling historical fiction about Anna Maria dal Violin, one of the orphans trained to perform music for the well-fare of the souls of Venice in the 1700’s.

One of her instructors is Antonio Vivaldi, who is called “The Red Priest” because of his fiery hair: “I heard and then watched Maestro Vivaldi climb the stairs. He has been my teacher- and one of the very few men who has ever seen my face or spoken to me- for nearly half of my lifetime. I was only a girl of eight when, newly ordained as a priest, Antonio Vivaldi, native son of Venezia, was hired by the governors of the Pieta to be our master of the violin.” pg 2

Only girls are allowed to perform music in the Pieta. They are kept separate from the general population and all men, except for the priests who are their instructors, to maintain their purity. “Our lives are arranged so that every piece of every day and night is fit together into an intricate mosaic of music and study and prayer. But it is only a counterfeit of real life. We have no more reality in the world than the trompe l’oeil floor tiles of the church have depth or height.” pg 85

There is drama among the children through their interactions and competition with each other and some of their instructors, who are either nuns or priests. “Whoever says that girls are kind has never lived among them.” pg 13.

Anna longs to know who her family was, but that is a secret kept by the nuns who watch over the children. She spends much of her time trying to figure out how to learn more about who her family may be.

Anna also strains against the restrictions placed on her because of her gender in the 1700’s. The government only allows the female musicians from the Pieta to perform in public if they remain in the cloister. If they choose to marry, they have to sign a contract to promise not to perform or pay an exorbitant amount of money to the orphanage to pay for their childhood musical education. “It is one of the great injustices of this fair city. And it has made me dream sometimes of other cities- of London and Paris and Vienna, where, I’ve heard, female instrumentalists have actually been welcomed, from time to time, on the performance stage.” pgs 145-146.

A probable portrait of Vivaldi

During these struggles, Anna forms true friendships with other foundlings in the Pieta. “When I think of who my companions will be in Hell, I feel rather glad that I will be going there. It will be filled with those I most well and truly loved.” pg 150

I learned a lot about 18th century Venice in this book and Vivaldi. All that I knew about Vivaldi, before reading this book, was that he liked to use a bunch of stringed instruments in his compositions.

It makes so much more sense when I discovered who it was he had been composing for.

Recommended for those who enjoy historical fiction, books about composers or stories about troubled childhoods.

Thanks for reading!

An Ancient Evil (Stories told on Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury, #1) by Paul Doherty

An Ancient Evil (Stories told on Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury, #1) by Paul Doherty
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An Ancient Evil is a charming historical fiction based loosely on the premise of The Canterbury Tales.

In the introduction, a knight tells a story to a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. “My tale begins hundreds of years ago, just after the great Conqueror came here. So, gentles all, your attention as I describe these horrors sprung from the very pit of Hell.” pg 6.

In the story within the story, a menacing prologue introduces the reader to Sir Hugo, who buries alive the leader of a group of evil magic doers and burns the rest of his order. The evil leader who is buried alive doesn’t seem that upset about the whole thing. Which is weird.

Fast forward a couple hundred years into the future.

Sir Godfrey and a clerk, Alexander, are tasked by the king of England to discover the truth behind a series of mysterious and grisly murders in Oxford.

They are assisted in their task by Dame Edith, a blind anchorite who is known for her exorcism talents. ‘Sir Godfrey, whoever the killers are, we are about to enter the Valley of Death, but,’ Alexander couldn’t resist gentle banter, ‘we have your sword, my brains and the prayers of Dame Edith.’ ‘I think we might need more than that.’ pg 64.

I enjoyed this medieval, just a bit too bloody to be called “cozy”, mystery.

Photo by Susanne Jutzeler on Pexels.com

The characters are layered. The author drops enough hints to lead the reader towards the bad guy without giving the game away.

It reads a bit like a Nicholas Cage movie. We’ve got a battle between good and evil with some paranormal stuff and swords thrown in.

“Dame Edith tapped the side of her head. ‘Sir Godfrey, you are a soldier. You, of all people, should realize that a man is what he thinks he is. What causes one man to be a coward and another to be a hero? After all, they may be the same flesh and blood. They may even be brothers from the same womb. It’s what they think.” pg 170.

I also enjoyed the details about medieval life that are sprinkled throughout.

Recommended for readers who enjoyed The Thief Taker by C.S. Quinn or Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin.

Thanks for reading!

The Fate of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling, #3) by Erika Johansen

The Fate of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling, #3) by Erika Johansen

The Fate of the Tearling ties up the series nicely. All questions of the founding of Tearling, the shadow and Mort are answered.

And we also learn all of the secrets of the Fetch. Finally! “For three long centuries… William Tear’s dream sunk further and further into the mire. No one in the Tearling could even see Tear’s better world any longer, let alone muster the courage to dig for it.”pg 6, ebook.

The path isn’t easy. Kelsea questions herself every step of the way. “Maybe we aren’t capable of being satisfied, Kelsea thought, and the idea seemed to open a chasm inside her. Maybe utopia is beyond us.” pg 90, ebook.

But she is determined to see things through to the end: “We can’t simply stay here, hiding, while the kingdom burns. What sort of queen would I be?” pg 273.

Though Erika Johansen writes a thorough ending, I found myself dissatisfied with it. Read it and let me know what you think. I’m still thinking about it, even though I finished this book last week.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

From a lackluster start, I think The Queen of the Tearling series turned out to be fairly enjoyable. I would classify it as adult because of some of the themes, imagery and language.

It uses fantasy to examine the human condition, society and what happens to communes after a charismatic leader dies.

I think Kelsea is one of the strongest female characters I’ve read. Bravery-wise, she fits right in with Katniss Everdeen. She doesn’t quit and isn’t afraid to admit when she’s wrong.

Throughout the series, we see her grow from uncertain child to warrior queen. Bookish and introverted, Kelsea may appeal to those who wish they could be something more than they currently are.

Recommended for readers who are willing to invest some time in a series to enjoy it and for fans of fantasy/dystopian worlds. The Queen of the Tearling grew on me. It has heart.

Thanks for reading!

See my review of the first book here: The Queen of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling, #1) by Erika Johansen

Second book here: The Invasion of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling, #2) by Erika Johansen

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson

The Murders of Molly Southbourne is a short story about a girl who is born with a horrifying condition. Whenever she bleeds, the blood changes into a homicidal version of herself that won’t stop until it, or Molly, is dead.

“The rules are simple. If you see a girl who looks like you, run and fight. Don’t bleed. If you bleed, blot, burn, and bleach. If you find a hole, find your parents. Molly recites the lines to herself many times.” pg 24.

I’m not sure I understood what the author was going for with this short story.

Yes, what happens to Molly is horrific. I guess I didn’t make the connection between what was happening to her and the broader meaning the story was reaching towards.

Photo by Badulescu Badulescu on Pexels.com

Because it was certainly reaching: “She cannot stand children. They remind her of the mollys, with their innocence and their half-formed personalities, and she expects them to burst into violence any minute. They never do, but they might.” pgs 63-64

Or, beyond the death-through-your-children angle, I could use this story to consider the futility of life itself. “How is it that humans bleed so much? Or maybe Molly herself bleeds more than the average human. The rule are useless, an attenuation at best. Lifeblood escapes all the time, minor hemorrhages, a little a day. Maybe that is how we age. Maybe that is how we die.” pg 91

It is creepy and could fit the bill if you’re looking for one more short and spooky pre-Halloween read. I just didn’t connect with it.

Thanks for reading!

The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal

The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal

The Kingdom of Little Wounds is about a seamstress, a nursemaid and a royal family haunted by illness. It is a, sometimes very, adult tale about secrets, sex and power.

Confession: I picked this one out at the library for the cover.

I saw it and thought, “This must be a young adult fantasy of some kind about a princess who works magic with needles.” Sometimes it’s nice to indulge in a pleasant escape from the world.

So, this book is nothing like that.

In the afterword, Susann Cokal describes her work as “a syphilitic fairy tale.” There’s nothing wrong with that. It just really wasn’t what I expected and wanted it to be.

This tale has rape and madness to it. There’s also some torture, severing of body parts and other pretty gross stuff that goes on.

It is definitely geared towards an adult audience. Librarians, please put it in the proper collection. It is not young adult.

The main characters, Ava and Midi, are likeable but powerless. “I truly would like to think I’m in the middle of a fairy tale, facing the period of hardship that precedes a triumph. But I am not a likely heroine.” pg 9, ebook.

The king, Christian, is ridiculous and controlled by his courtiers. “Have you found any… any culprits?” Sir Georg hesitates, and the favorites tense. Who will be blamed? A Lutheran? … Or perhaps some cousin with a tenuous but plausible claim to succession – someone who should be removed for the health of the court anyway?” pg 77, ebook. Notice how they are unconcerned with justice.

Alliances and power shift quickly in this story like the tide. The characters never know who they can trust. “We are all, of course, in service of the Crown and King. Who is known for being liberal with his gratitude, no matter what the rank of the creditor.” I recall something my mother used to say: Be wary of a promise without a clear price.” pg 131, ebook.

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Also, in the afterword, Cokal shared that a piece of this story, the appearance of a star, actually happened in Europe in the late 1500’s, early 1600’s. “The new star has put all of us off balance. We’ve always expected things to change down below, in the canals, the streets, and so on, but the heavens have been constant in our memory. This star shines even in the daylight, as if to drive away the sun. It is so bright that it seems heavier than the rest; we have the impression that if we were to stand on tiptoes, we might touch it.” pg 192, ebook.

Recommended for readers who aren’t bothered by dark themes and are in the mood for a “syphilitic fairy tale.”

Thanks for reading!