This is a nice little Christmas book. The ending feels like a cultural spin on "The Little Drummer Boy" and it works. Illustrations are nice. There isThis is a nice little Christmas book. The ending feels like a cultural spin on "The Little Drummer Boy" and it works. Illustrations are nice. There is a glossary at the back, but older readings can figure out the words via context. ...more
4.5 rounded up - slightly slow with the ending section
I don't know how I missed this one when it came out, but a shout out the Strand Bookstore in NYC4.5 rounded up - slightly slow with the ending section
I don't know how I missed this one when it came out, but a shout out the Strand Bookstore in NYC for including it in one of their Book Hookup boxes this year.
Madison's novel harkens back to Kindred in the sense of uncontrolled time travel. One wouldn't be surprised to learn that a what if question about Butler's book lead to the development of this one. It is important to note that Madison also draws on her own family's history, and the only real similarity between Kindred and this book outside of the race and gender of the heroines is time travel.
The novel tells the story of the Bridges family, largely though its women, as various members of the family struggle with the suddenness of falling back into time - here one moment, gone the next in a literal fashion. The family develops rules that may or may not work. The land is important because it can be a measure of safeguarding family members. (This was a brilliant touch, making use of the idea of family land in a multitude of ways). The book mainly, but not exclusively focuses on Ameila (from the past) and Cecily (from the novel's now, the 1960s). Both women are well drawn (pretty much all the characters are well drawn, and those few that are not are minor characters). Madison captures pain and worry. One particular good scene is when Cecily tells her husband about the time travel, and how she tells him. It made my academic heart happy. Quite honesty, considering the conversations that Cecily and her husband have as well as Cecily's thought process, you really do believe they teach at a university (too often this is not the case in books and film/tv).
The book was quite moving at times as well and there are a variety of ways that you can approach the issues of time travel and the use in the book. Are the fallen members of the family, those lost to time, truly lost, their own ancestors, or do they also stand for those members of the Black community/communities who go missing and are never found?
Some readers might get frustrated that not all questions are answered, and the ending is one that is not cut in stone, but it fit the story....more
I like this Doctor and companion, but this story just doesn't work for me.I like this Doctor and companion, but this story just doesn't work for me....more
This is a lovely follow up to the previous volume. There is a good amount of information about the frogs as well as how the species recovery was handlThis is a lovely follow up to the previous volume. There is a good amount of information about the frogs as well as how the species recovery was handled. The book includes a general map of Yosemite. If you have kids who like nature, this is a good series....more
This isn't bad, but a reader's reaction to it is going to depend how much they know. If this is the first book on Dracula, you've read, it's a good inThis isn't bad, but a reader's reaction to it is going to depend how much they know. If this is the first book on Dracula, you've read, it's a good introduction. But if it isn't, it will mostly be information you already known. Well written, though....more
3.5 or slightly more. It's not a four but it is more than a 3.
Barnes and Due present a solidly good YA zombie tale where the dog does not die, and the3.5 or slightly more. It's not a four but it is more than a 3.
Barnes and Due present a solidly good YA zombie tale where the dog does not die, and the majority of the cast is people of color as opposed to the majority being white men. The girls why at times appearing to be weaker in the eyes of the males around them, are not in fact weak. Barnes and Due said they wanted to focus on the theme of love, and they do. Kendra's back story, in particular the section concerning what happens to her mother, is beautifully done.
The plot is somewhat predictable but the writing is good enough that you don't really care. The characters work. It was solid good read.
Fuentes� collection are short stories that focus on the women in one huge and extended family. Some of the stories taDisclaimer: ARC via LibraryThing
Fuentes� collection are short stories that focus on the women in one huge and extended family. Some of the stories take place before the families� immigration out of Cuba and some take place during the revolution in Cuba. There is a sense of magic in all the tales though some hew more closely to magic realism than straight forward fantasy � some of the tales draw from real life figures.
The first story is one of these. It focuses, in part, on the ghost of the artist Ana Medieta haunting the home/studio of fellow artist Donald Judd. The focus on this story isn’t so much just art, but the effect of art on the people around it and what art can be as well as the intersection of race, class, and gender. The story ends on a rather beautiful and heartbreaking image.
It is followed by the tale of two close friends and what happens in the aftermath of the revolution. “The Burial of Fidela Armando Castell� . Some of the same themes from that story are used in “The Night the Almiqui� though a completely different way.
Both “Two Gallon Heat�, “Elephant Foot�, and “The Field of Professional Mourning� all highlight both the fantastic and horror, but also different areas of society - from the relationships in familiar to the relationships between girls to the idea of grief and performance, if it is, in fact performance.
In many ways the idea of creation and gender � in particular creation and women - takes center stage in many of the stories, answering that question that the title of the book asks. And this does make it a stand out short story collection. It’s true that there a few stories that don’t quite gel, at least for me, but even in those, I have to give Fuentes credit for experimentally and taking narrative or structural risks.
Many of the stories, even some of the ones I didn’t like, have powerful images and description. You can understand why BOA Short Fiction prize.
Merged review:
Disclaimer: ARC via LibraryThing
Fuentes� collection are short stories that focus on the women in one huge and extended family. Some of the stories take place before the families� immigration out of Cuba and some take place during the revolution in Cuba. There is a sense of magic in all the tales though some hew more closely to magic realism than straight forward fantasy � some of the tales draw from real life figures.
The first story is one of these. It focuses, in part, on the ghost of the artist Ana Medieta haunting the home/studio of fellow artist Donald Judd. The focus on this story isn’t so much just art, but the effect of art on the people around it and what art can be as well as the intersection of race, class, and gender. The story ends on a rather beautiful and heartbreaking image.
It is followed by the tale of two close friends and what happens in the aftermath of the revolution. “The Burial of Fidela Armando Castell� . Some of the same themes from that story are used in “The Night the Almiqui� though a completely different way.
Both “Two Gallon Heat�, “Elephant Foot�, and “The Field of Professional Mourning� all highlight both the fantastic and horror, but also different areas of society - from the relationships in familiar to the relationships between girls to the idea of grief and performance, if it is, in fact performance.
In many ways the idea of creation and gender � in particular creation and women - takes center stage in many of the stories, answering that question that the title of the book asks. And this does make it a stand out short story collection. It’s true that there a few stories that don’t quite gel, at least for me, but even in those, I have to give Fuentes credit for experimentally and taking narrative or structural risks.
Many of the stories, even some of the ones I didn’t like, have powerful images and description. You can understand why BOA Short Fiction prize....more
This is not a good sequel. It's not bad, but it is very, very predictable. If you read the first book, you can call every single plot "twist" in this This is not a good sequel. It's not bad, but it is very, very predictable. If you read the first book, you can call every single plot "twist" in this one. There really isn't a surprise, and sometimes the characters feel very, very, very modern. Like really modern - even the characters supposedly religious and conservative feel far too modern, like they got in the Tardis or something.
But it was nice reading a book where the woman actually interact.
Merged review:
This is not a good sequel. It's not bad, but it is very, very predictable. If you read the first book, you can call every single plot "twist" in this one. There really isn't a surprise, and sometimes the characters feel very, very, very modern. Like really modern - even the characters supposedly religious and conservative feel far too modern, like they got in the Tardis or something.
But it was nice reading a book where the woman actually interact....more
"Life After Theft" - a Hope/Karl story. They have somehow become parents even though they never seemed to want to I have read several of these before.
"Life After Theft" - a Hope/Karl story. They have somehow become parents even though they never seemed to want to be. Meh. I don't like Hope/Karl.
"Forbidden" - a quasi mystery that leaves some unanswered questions. I like the fact that Morgan is part First Nations/Native American. It was nice to see Clay and Elena without the too old kids. Also nice play on the idea of small town culture/football culture.
"Angelic" - Read this one before. Still a good Eve story.
"Zen and the Art of Vampirism" - this story may gross out some people, but it was a fun ride.
"Ungrateful Dead"- Love Jamie, and I can actually stand Savannah when she works with Jamie.
"Counterfeit Magic" - read this one before and it still stands up....more
The Drowning House is part horror novel but also a novel that address the griefs that tend to add up as you grow and hit middle age. At the center of The Drowning House is part horror novel but also a novel that address the griefs that tend to add up as you grow and hit middle age. At the center of the story is the friendship of three people - two guys and a girl. The friendship was formed during summers on an island when they were kids. One of them, Simon, lives on the island year round and is cared for by his grandmother, who is one of those witchy grandmothers. Years later, when the grandmother dies and Simon goes missing, the other two-Melissa and Leo- go back to the island to get answers.
The book works because the interactions between the three central characters - Simon, Melissa, and Leo feel so totally real. The regret and disturbance that people feel when a stable from their childhood is not longer there, the regret f things not said or done. All that occurs in this book which is also about a very creepy house. It makes for a winning combination....more
To me, after reading this and The Covenant of Water (which I read first), Verghese's style is like a cathedral. All the bits and parts, like all the sTo me, after reading this and The Covenant of Water (which I read first), Verghese's style is like a cathedral. All the bits and parts, like all the stone and glass don't look pretty until the final finished product. Verghese's books seem to mender, yet like a cathedral that can take years to be built, the play off at the end works. At least for some.
I found the women in this novel to be far less complex than the follow up. They tend to the virgin/mother/whore triple casting. Yet Hema, the main character's adopted mother, was wonderfully drawn.
In terms of plot, the book in many ways is predictable and, perhaps, a bit over melodramatic. If you are a dog lover, there is a tough chapter that is used to illustrate character.
But I found the writing entirely engrossing, and if I hadn't been working I would have read the book in one day instead of the two it actually took me....more
Veycosi has a host of problems and clogged pipes are the smallest. There is the arrival of the Ymisen fleet to the shorDisclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.
Veycosi has a host of problems and clogged pipes are the smallest. There is the arrival of the Ymisen fleet to the shores of Chynchin, there is the whole question of his marriage, he lost a book by accidentally dropping it into water, and he hopes he hasn’t killed a cullybee.
Mainly, Veycosi is too smart for his own good, and dumb in all the wrong ways.
Veycosi’s island country of Chynchin is both familiar and unfamiliar. Hopkinson draws on history and folklore to create a realistic and well thought out world that is under threat from outside sources of various types. Cosi wants to be someone, he wants to be recognized for his brilliance and intelligence. In many ways, he is a graduate student wanting his university without having fully finished or even taken in his studies.
Yet, Cosi is likable. There is something about him. He is smart, sometimes thoughtless, but his heart is in the right place, and that can go a long way when done correctly in a book. Cosi finds himself caught in the politics surrounding a potential war as well as a strange happening concerning the pickens (children) of the community.
What Hopkinson does with this set up is examine stories and how stories can spring from yet disremember fact. It is also about how that knowledge of what was is both lost and found within the story. Part of Cosi’s task is to understand and discover the truth or the variants of various tales told on the island. The examination of stories as well as Cosi’s relationship to the folklore of his island is the backbone of the novel, and it is an excellent backbone. It holds the novel even when in the hands of lesser novelist the story might derail.
It never derails.
What you have instead is a novel about storytelling and growth. ...more
This is a wonderfully quiet book. On the surface, it is a simple story of a boy's visit to his aunt and uncle. It is a picture of Calcutta. But it is This is a wonderfully quiet book. On the surface, it is a simple story of a boy's visit to his aunt and uncle. It is a picture of Calcutta. But it is also about family drama told via poetic language. It is a wonderful quiet book....more
This is a pretty cool children's book about Death Valley. I love the fact that the National Park Service person is a Black woman. This book is packed This is a pretty cool children's book about Death Valley. I love the fact that the National Park Service person is a Black woman. This book is packed with science as well. Illustrations are good....more
A good children's book about Imhotep. Terms are explained. It's really well done.A good children's book about Imhotep. Terms are explained. It's really well done....more
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