I have yet to read a Lauren Willig book I didn’t like. While I think I know where the plots are heading, the author finds ways to surprise. And while in some author’s hands these surprises might seem far fetched, I find them to feel natural to the plot and setting. Willig has a great way of keeping things moving and creating natural dialogue. Her style is what I would like to most emulate in my own writing.
I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.
The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston was a delight to read. The premise takes the classic Princess and the Frog fairy tale and places it in a fan convention for the fictional sci fi show Starfield. This is the second book in a series but it stands on its own.
The writing style is light and fun, full of pop culture references that made this geek girl’s heart smile. The two heroines each get their own story line and love interest which are satisfactorily concluded. There are themes throughout of the power of entertainment to inspire and change lives as well as the real issues surrounding sexism and bullying in fan culture.
The culture around the Starfield show feels entirely familiar for the geeky audience and there are plenty of references to the real standbys. The use of the convention makes for an interesting setting for the plot with the established panels and events to move the story forward and give conflict deadlines. It is a believable world and creates enough fantasy for the fairy tale setting. If this series continues, it should prove quite successful. I would recommend this title for anyone who enjoys popular fan culture.
Those of you who have read these books can perhaps sympathize with the particular obsession with one James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser. Of course, the new adaptation from the STARZ channel does not hurt either. Great stuff! I’m talking heart pounding, gasping and yes, even a little teary-eyed. Oh the feels! Here are a few titles which Himself might read.
Jamie Fraser is a gallant, highland warrior with a sense of justice and a wry sense of humor. For many fans, he is the paragon of manhood; “the king of men”.
Through the series, Jamie grows from a young outlaw to the leader of a large community which he builds with his time-travelling wife.
The strength of the series lies in the passionate relationship between Claire and Jamie as well as Gabaldon’s attention to historical detail and plots.
I have been bad about posting our book club books for the past few months. First, I struggled to write my post for our October meeting, then the following meetings had no attendance. With the new year, I wanted to get back in the habit.
In October, we discussed the science fiction classic, Dune by Frank Herbert. I loved the detailed world-building and the use of historical text as a way to legitimize the story. Paul is leveraged by his mother to the role of leader of the Fremen. Whether the prophecy is real, or only a convenient tool for Jessica to ensure the safety of her family, by the end, Paul believes in the role he has taken. Later books in the series show how Paul becomes a demagogue, corrupted by his own power, but the seeds are placed in Dune. The world is utterly compelling and believable.
November’s book was Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings by Stephen O’Connor. The book is a very avant garde and literary treatment of the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings. This is a strange book with no narrative structure, but telling the story through remembered vignettes and dream sequences. The author takes something that is repugnant and shows that we can’t take history as all good or evil.
In December, we discussed Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Despite the book’s quaint aspects, there is still much to admire here. The book was a revolution at the time, depicting real girls with their own flaws and morality as part of the Transcendental Movement. The girls each have their intelligence and their passions which they are encouraged to pursue. Some criticize the way Jo seemingly abandons her writing when she marries Professor Baher, but there is no reason why the one should preclude the other. And we shipped Beth and Laurie.
January’s book was The Forgotten Room by White, Williams and Willig. The book features one building over three different time periods and the connection between three generations of a family. The mystery surrounding the room and the secrets of the women resolves satisfactorily. I also really liked the easy but compelling writing style of the three authors.
Willig.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for my honest review.
The Woman in the Lake by Nicola Comick. Featuring parallel historical and modern plot lines with a cursed item tying them both together, this book appeared to have been made for me but unfortunately I did not enjoy it. The plot was interesting, but I would have been more engaged in the story if the characters had been more sympathetic.
Fen is first presented as a sullen teenage kleptomaniac; but it would have been far better to introduce her as an adult when she is able to express vulnerability and regret for her past behavior. From there we get the cruel nobleman, the miserable wife, the scheming maid, all cliched and not compelling. Later on, you come to understand that the yellow gown is heightening people’s bad behavior, but by then it was too late for me to care much about what was happening to them.
Another issue I have is that while the cursed gown is set up to be this major theme in the book, there is no satisfactory conclusion for the purpose and explanation for its presence. I was much more interested in the subplot of the powerful smuggling ring, but the supernatural elements overpowered this.
On the positive side, the adult Fen shows real vulnerability and her love story carried my interest through the novel.
‘Tis the season for ‘best of’ lists so here is my geeky book life take. It has been a good year for reading between the book club and the blog, and I am glad that I started this journey. I have had the opportunity to try some different things and some of them have been absolutely worth it.
Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley
I wrote my review earlier this year. Kearsley knows how to weave what we glean from the historical records with the reality of those human lives. We can know much about history, but it takes a special alchemy to be able to take facts and dates and breath life into them. I found the history, setting and characters very compelling. It is not ground-breaking, but it is a great read.
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
Eliza has a successful web comic she writes in secret. She has put so much energy into writing and protecting her creative life from her personal life, that she doesn’t know how to live in both worlds. The romance between Eliza and her love interest is charming enough, but it is how her relationship with her family deepens that really wowed me. When her parents inadvertently reveal her secret, her life unravels. The way her brothers stand up for her with their parents is such a triumphal moment, coming so unexpectedly. I actually gasped and teared up. Eliza deals with some very adult issues, including mental health, intelligently as she discovers that we are stronger with the support of our family and friends.
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
We will be discussing this next year in our book club, so I don’t want to say too much about it here. This is a post-pandemic world and it is fascinating to see how society adjusts to that as well as the signs of hope we see at the end. Despite the literary and popular buzz surrounding this book, I was compelled by the setting, characters and themes here. I will talk more about why I am not normally drawn to literary fiction later, but for now, when a book can make me think about concepts or a visual image without hitting me over the head with it, I take notice.
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
I wrote about this book earlier this year so I don’t want to repeat myself too much here. I loved the atmosphere and claustrophobic feeling of this book. My background in art history found the depiction of the setting very familiar and beautiful. While it would have been nice to have a more satisfactory conclusion for the supernatural mystery of the Miniaturist and her purpose, the concept of this story is great.
Two weeks ago, our book club met to discuss The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. We were fortunate to have had two ladies of Indian descent present and they offered their unique perspectives on this book. Names and identity are central themes and our ice-breaker question was whether we ever wished we had a different name. I often felt that “Debbie” sounded like a blonde cheerleader name and did not fit who I was, or who I wanted to be, but I never really felt compelled to change it. The use of pet names or nicknames is similar to other cultures, but the identity of our main character stems from cultural confusion over the “good name” versus the “pet name”. It was interesting to learn about how much of the cultural background resonated for our discussion and the focus of this book.
This segued into our discussion of Gogol, the main character and how he seemed to be doomed to unhappiness from the beginning. His parents try to keep exclusively to Bengali traditions while Gogol tries to be an American. I expected him to only find fulfillment by following the only ways, but that path leads to more misery in the form of his cheating wife. There has been a dichotomy between generations in the immigrant experience between those who push for Americanization and those who want their children to hold the old ways.
Gogol’s sister, Sonia, is the only one coming away at the end with being happy because she finds a way to combine the two sides of her background. There is no virtue in pursuing the extreme of either lifestyle, but a balance of the two. In the end, we all agreed that America is strongest as a mix of cultures, the old ‘melting pot’ concept.
Four weeks ago, our book club met to discuss Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. I remembered the hype surrounding the book when the tv miniseries premiered in the 1980’s, but I never had any desire to read it. Fast forward to this year and selecting titles for book club and I was looking for books in different genres to nudge myself out of my comfort zone. When I saw that this had been described as the western for people who don’t like westerns, I thought I would give it a chance. Larry McMurtry won the Pulitzer Prize for Lonesome Dove and it is currently up for PBS’s America’s Great Read program. Unfortunately, I only had one person come to the meeting, but we managed to have a lot to discuss.
The two main characters, Augustus and Call are retired Texas Rangers, convinced by one of their old colleagues to go to Montana with their horses and cattle. They are lured by the promise of unspoiled land and the descriptions of green grass and snow. The characters are all well-drawn and there are touches of humor and evocative imagery which stays with you.
One of the questions is what Lonesome Dove means for the characters as it is a place no one wants to stay in but can’t completely separate from. It is a place they all start in or have a connection to. I thought that it was a symbol of the importance of community and our connections to one another. I had refrained from reading the introduction so as not to spoil anything, but the other member did and the author wrote that the Lonesome Dove is the character of young Newt, an innocent alone. I was disappointed to learn that Newt dies in later books as he was an interesting character and I wanted him to succeed.
We decided that the female characters were the strongest in the book and appeared to be the most capable of surviving in the wild west. The men all long for the freedom of living on their own terms in the wilderness, but they are inexorably drawn to women and community. The world depicted in this novel is rough and dangerous. It made me think about the pioneer spirit and the particular mythology and romance surrounding the wild west and cowboys. In a land as vast as America, there is something appealing about the idea of everyone being able to spread out on their own parcel. This book both honored that myth and tried to offer a realistic depiction.
I received an advanced free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.
Susanna Kearsley does it again! Like other books she has written, there is a historical mystery, family secrets and romance. The historical portion of the story is set during the Seven Year’s War between England and France over the territories in the New World. It is not a time period I knew much about so it was interesting to see how it was for the colonial citizens to be caught in a war between two world powers and to see how these seeds lead to the American Revolution.
One of the strengths of Kearsley’s work is her ability to show how the lives of real, complicated people get muddled through historical records and family legends. She is also very skilled in drawing real characters and settings and weaving an evocative mystery. Even though there are no real surprises as the plot evolves, the conclusion is every bit as satisfying.
I would recommend this book for fans of historical fiction and family mysteries as well as for fans of Diana Gabaldon.
My Geeky Book Life 