It's Monday 5/15! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

(Please note: For those that know me IRL, we got word today of a horrible tragedy in our family. Since I had already written this post, I decided to go ahead and post it because I may not be online much the next couple of weeks.) 

Last week was a whirlwind of recovery/catch-up in between Booktopia weekend and Mother's Day weekend, but I managed to go to my book group meeting (and made it to the end!). It was great to see everyone, and we had a wonderful discussion.

Then, it was back in the car to drive back to Connecticut, for both Mother's Day and my mom's birthday. I couldn't participate in a lot of the fun stuff, but it was wonderful to celebrate my mom, be with my niece and nephew, and to see the four cousins together, having fun.

 

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On the Blog

Fiction Review: Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett - my favorite Booktopia selection, this warm, thoughtful novel about addiction and death is also very funny.

 Fiction Review: A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates - creepy psychological suspense with plenty of emotional depth

Remember that Big Book Summer, my annual summer reading challenge kicks off in less than two weeks, at the start of Memorial Day weekend! Check out last year's challenge page for details, pick out a Big Book (400 or more pages) or two, and join the fun! A new challenge page and Goodreads group for sign-ups will go up either May 25 or 26.

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On Video

Booktopia 2023 Vlog - video clips and photos of Booktopia, held in Vermont every May, plus a quick overview of the books and authors featured there this year. 

 Friday Reads 5-12-23 - weekly update on what I am currently reading

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What We're Reading

 

I finished both reading and listening to The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate for book group. My book group previously read--and loved--Wingate's novel Before We Were Yours. This is another historical fiction book that spans both past and present. In Louisiana in 1875, a former slave named Hannie is now 18 years old and wants to find her family. Her mother, aunt, and eight siblings were each sold off separately in Louisiana and Texas during the war, when Hannie was just six years old. She's the only one that ended up back on their home plantation. In 1987, Bennie Silva is a first-year high school English teacher in that same town, struggling to engage the kids in her classes, who are distracted by extreme poverty, family members in prison, and other daily struggles. The "lost friends" of the title were real-life letters published in a southern church newspaper from enslaved people searching for their families, and Wingate has included these real (and very moving) letters throughout the narrative. I was completely engrossed in both narrative threads of this outstanding novel and loved the way they wove together in the end. The rest of my book group enjoyed it, too.

 

I mentioned to my family that I like Anne Tyler, so I received three of her novels for Christmas! I am reading one of those, Ladder of Years. Delia is the wife of Dr. Grimstead, who took over her father's medical practice, and the mother of three grown and almost-grown children. She still lives in the house she grew up in, and her life is quiet and predictable. So, it's a shock to everyone--including Delia herself--when Delia takes a walk down the beach on a family vacation ... and never returns. On a whim, she settles in a small, rural town and starts a new life; she rents a room in a boardinghouse and gets a job as a secretary--her first paid job ever (she's been working as her father's and then her husband's secretary her entire life). As Delia starts from scratch, with nothing, she begins to discover her own identity, separate from her family, for the first time. I'm enjoying this novel so far, with Anne Tyler's renowned warmth and subtle humor (the newspaper article about Delia's disappearance in the first pages says it all).

 

I'm almost finished with a YA audio book I've been meaning to listen to for years, The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater. This nonfiction book tells the story of two teens in Oakland whose paths cross on a city bus one day, changing both of their lives forever. One is seen as a criminal and the other as a victim, but both of their stories are far more nuanced than that. Richard is a black boy whose silly, thoughtless prank changes both of their lives. Sasha is a white agender youth who becomes a symbol of tolerance and kindness internationally. It's a stunning story about race, class, gender, and our criminal justice system. A high school friend of mine who now teaches high school English recommended it, and it's been riveting so far.

 

My husband, Ken, just finished reading Armada by Ernest Cline (author of the fabulous Ready Player One and its sequel, Ready Player Two). This is an earlier novel, where a teen obsessed with video games witnesses a real alien invasion--sounds like a lot of fun, with Cline's trademark humor woven in. He said it was enjoyable but not as good as Ready Player One and had the feel of a YA novel.

 

Our son, 28, is still reading book 4, The Tunnels Beneath, of The Aldoran Chronicles by Michael Wiseheart. He said his new job is keeping him very busy! 

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What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

What are you and your family reading this week?

Fiction Review: A Flaw in the Design

Another book I recently read for Booktopia 2023 is A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates. This literary suspense  debut novel kept me turning the pages late into the night but is also a thoughtful story about family, parenthood, and economic inequality.

Gil, a college literature professor, and his wife, Molly, live a quiet life in Vermont with their two daughters, ages 11 and 15. As the novel opens, that life is disrupted by the arrival of seventeen-year-old Matthew, their nephew. Gil's sister and her husband were just recently killed in a horrible car crash in New York, and Gil and Molly were surprised to learn that they were named as Matthew's guardians. Gil and his sister had been estranged for the past six years, ever since a disastrous family beach vacation at his sister's luxury home in Montauk. Matthew, just eleven at the time, displayed erratic, violent behavior, culminating in a heinous act that put their youngest daughter in danger. Now, Gil and Molly are welcoming Matthew into the midst of their family, wondering if he's a psychopath or if maybe he grew out of that behavior. In addition, Matthew has grown up surrounded by great wealth and privilege, and this new life in rural Vermont in the midst of a dark, snowy winter is a far cry from his luxury Upper East Side apartment and private school. Sometimes, Matthew seems like a normal teenager who is charming and very smart. He's even kind to Molly and the kids, and their oldest daughter is especially enamored of her older cousin. At other times, he seems menacing, and Gil wonders if he is taunting them. Is Matthew really a dangerous psychopath in their midst or is Gil's growing anxiety and mental health history leading him toward paranoia?

That is the primary tension in this slow-burning, creepy story, and that tension begins from the opening chapter (listen to the audio sample below) and grows, page by page. In addition to its exquisite suspense, the novel also has incredible emotional depth, as you get to know each character and learn their history. It delves into issues of trust, family relationships, economic disparities, and mental health. I would never spoil a novel in a review, but I can tell you that the climactic ending here is somewhat ambiguous, leaving the reader thinking and making it an excellent choice for discussion. This thought-provoking, taut suspense story will keep you reading late into the night ... with all the lights on.

283 pages, Random House

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, from the start of the novel, and/or download it from Audible. You can hear that tension already in these first pages.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 
  

Fiction Review: Unlikely Animals

My favorite book (read so far) of Booktopia 2023 was Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett, a new-to-me author. I absolutely loved this delightful, funny novel about addiction, death, and animals, both real and hallucinated.

Twenty-two-year-old Emma Starling has returned to her small, rural hometown of Everton, New Hampshire. Her father, Clive, is dying of a mysterious brain disease, and it's finally time (Thanksgiving now) to admit to her parents that she did not start med school in the fall, like she told them (Emma was supposedly born with healing powers). Emma's come home to spend time with her father but also to figure out what's next in her life. Her brother, Auggie, is also at home living with their parents after his second stint in rehab. Clive's brain disease causes hallucinations, especially of animals, though he also hallucinates a real-life man. Ernest Harold Baynes lived in the town around the turn of the 20th century and was a renowned naturalist who was known for taming animals and bringing them into his home, including a pet fox, The Sprite, and a bear named Jimmy. Clive was asked to leave his job as an English professor at the local college when he scared a class by yelling about all the cats in the room. Emma finds a job as the long-term substitute teacher for the 5th grade class at the local school. The kids have been doubly traumatized as a classmate died recently and their usual beloved teacher is accompanying her husband, a prominent local businessman accused of dealing drugs, in court. Finally, Emma's best friend from high school, Crystal, is missing, but police aren't even looking for her, as she was known to take drugs and they assume she either ran away or is dead somewhere. Clive hasn't given up, though, and is driving everyone in town crazy by posting thousands of "missing" posters all over. Oh, and the entire novel is narrated by the (dead) residents of the town cemetery.

I know that last part sounds gimicky (and the whole thing sounds very quirky), but this is a wonderful novel filled with heart and humor. It deals with some very serious topics--opioid addiction, childhood trauma, terminal illness--with honesty and emotional depth, but it also had me laughing out loud from beginning to end. The narration by dead townspeople from many different time periods adds a unique (and amusing) omniscient point of view. Ernest Harold Baynes (Clive just calls him Harold and has many in-depth conversations with him) was a real historical figure in that part of New Hampshire, with real photos and edited excerpts of his writings sprinkled throughout the novel. The author explained at Booktopia that she wanted to include him in a book but wanted to write a modern story, not historical fiction, so she made him a ghost. The precocious 5th graders in Emma's class were one of my favorite parts of the story; they are intense and sincere and very funny. The novel also incorporates suspense, in the plotline about the missing Crystal. Is this another of Clive's flights of fancy or could she possibly still be alive somewhere? All of these disparate plotlines come together in a fabulous climax. This wonderful, unique novel was poignant, engrossing, hilariously funny, and filled with memorable characters. I definitely want to read Hartnett's earlier novel, Rabbit Cake.

346 pages, Ballantine Books

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Diversity Reading Challenge

Literary Escapes - NH

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, from the start of the novel with the cemetery residents narrating, and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

  

It's Monday 5/8! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

Happy Monday! I am catching up on real life (and resting) after another fabulous Booktopia weekend in beautiful Manchester, Vermont, at the Northshire Bookstore.

 

Booktopia is a very unique book event held every year on the first weekend in May. This year, it included 83 attendees (readers), 9 authors, and a bunch of Northshire booksellers. The weekend began Friday morning with recommendations from the booksellers that expanded everyone's TBR lists! Author sessions ran Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. Lots of the attendees try to read some of the books ahead of time, so these author talks are more like book group discussions with the author than your typical author reading. We heard all about what was behind each book, how the author created it, and we asked lots of questions! The authors are always amazed--and thrilled--by the depth of the questions Booktopians ask.

 

Me with author Annie Hartnett

Author Richard Mirabella

Friday evening included a big dinner for the whole crowd (authors and readers) with a Yankee Book Swap and some fun rounds of book trivia. My team (The Lit Ladies) started out hot, but the questions got a lot more difficult!

Our team's book trivia answers

My mom and I & two good friends with our swap books!

 

And Saturday evening, each author gives a quick 10-minute talk to the entire group--that session is open to the public.

Author Brianna Holt

Plus, there was delicious food and amazing conversations with so many great people! This was the sixth year that my mom and I attended Booktopia. Some people have been going every year since the first one, in 2011, and there are always new people there who soon become fans. It was so wonderful to reconnect with old friends and to meet new ones. Book people are the best!

Mom and I at our 6th Booktopia!

 

The 10-hour travel days there and back were a lot for me (traffic was horrible around NYC last night), but it's worth it. Every author who attends says, "This is such a unique and wonderful event!" I will be putting together my Booktopia Wrap-Up Vlog tomorrow, so look for that on my YouTube channel, with more photos, lots of video clips, and an overview of the books & authors featured.

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On the Blog

I managed to get two posts up before I left last week:

TV Tuesday: Somebody Somewhere - this fabulous show that its cast calls "quietly subversive" is hilariously funny and full of heart.

Teen/YA Review: This Is Our Place by Vitor Martins - I loved this unique YA novel on audio set in Brazil about 3 different teens in 3 decades, each living in the same house.  

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On Video

Just one video posted before my trip, but I also learned how to make video shorts (under 1 min) and posted a couple of pre-Booktopia shorts:

Video: April Reading Wrap-Up

Short: Preparing for Booktopia (traveling with chronic illness)

Short: Booktopia 2023: Vermont or Bust!

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What We're Reading

I finished my last Booktopia selection, The Love Scribe by Amy Meyerson. Alice and Gabby have been best friends since they were young and love to write letters to each other. When Gabby is struggling after a bad break-up, Alice sits down to write to her and has a sudden vision of a red hummingbird. A beautiful short story pours out of her that she gives to her friend. While Gabby is reading the story in a bar, she meets a wonderful man. Gabby passes the story onto her sister and some friends, and the same thing happens to them: they each fall in love. It seems that Alice may have a special gift, as she stumbles onto a new calling as a love scribe. I'm not usually into magical realism, but I ended up enjoying this. I liked it better as things began to go wrong, and the story became more complex. I both listened on audio and read it in print, so I could finish it in time for Booktopia!

 

With a book group meeting quickly approaching on Wednesday, I'm doing the same thing (audio and print) with another novel, The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate. My book group previously read--and loved--Wingate's novel Before We Were Yours. This is another historical fiction book that spans both past and present. In Louisiana in 1875, a former slave named Hannie is now 18 years old and wants to find her family. Her mother, aunt, and eight siblings were each sold off separately in Louisiana and Texas during the war, when Hannie was just six years old. She's the only one that ended up back on their home plantation. In 1987, Bennie Silva is a first-year high school English teacher in that same town, struggling to engage the kids in her classes, who are distracted by extreme poverty, family members in prison, and other daily struggles. These stories in two different time periods are gradually coming together. The "lost friends" of the title were real-life letters published in a southern church newspaper from enslaved people searching for their families, and Wingate has included these real (and very moving) letters throughout the narrative. I'm completely engrossed in this excellent book.

 

My husband, Ken, is still reading the book I gave him for Easter, Armada by Ernest Cline (author of the fabulous Ready Player One and its sequel, Ready Player Two). This is an earlier novel, where a teen obsessed with video games witnesses a real alien invasion--sounds like a lot of fun, with Cline's trademark humor woven in. 

Our son, 28, might still be reading book 4, The Tunnels Beneath, of The Aldoran Chronicles by Michael Wiseheart. I didn't get a chance to talk to him this weekend, but I know his new job is keeping him very busy. We'll be seeing him next weekend!

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What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

What are you and your family reading this week?

Teen/YA Review: This Is Our Place

In April, I was looking for a YA audio book and something set in another country (I'm trying to read more globally for my Travel the World in Books Challenge this year). I found just the book in This Is Our Place by Vitor Martins, a unique novel set in Brazil about three different gay teens who each lived in the same house, in three different decades.

One of the unique aspects of this original novel is that the house narrates the story. In 2000, a teen girl named Ana celebrates the new millennium (and the absence of any real Y2K problems) with her father. On New Year's Day, though, Ana's dad breaks the news to her that they have to move to Rio de Janeiro for his job. Ana is devastated. Not only is this the only house she's ever lived in, but she will also have to leave behind her girlfriend (that her father doesn't know about).

In 2010, Greg moves into that same house to live with his aunt temporarily. He knows his parents are probably getting divorced, but they never talk to him about it and have sent him to his aunt's house while they figure things out. Greg's aunt is a film buff who runs a video rental store out of the garage, so Greg helps her out with the shop and with her dog, Keanu Reeves. Clearly, video is on the way out, so Greg also helps her brainstorm how she can continue to share her love of movies. The boy who delivers his lunch every day is really cute and they talk more and more each day, so Greg wonders if he might get his first kiss here. His parents don't know he's gay, but maybe he can tell his aunt.

March 2020 marks the beginning of the pandemic, and Brazil is in lockdown. Beto and his mother are stuck in the house together, and soon, his older sister joins them, as the isolation of her single apartment in the city becomes too much for her. As they each struggle to deal with the pandemic, individually and together, Beto misses being able to go outside with his camera to take photos, so he starts taking photos from his window. He's been texting and interacting with a boy online that he likes, but they can't meet in person, so he's not sure it's mutual.

The narrative moves back and forth between these three main characters in three different time periods, cleverly telling their individual stories while also telling the story of the house itself. Though a bit quirky, the house actually makes a great narrator, seeing and hearing everything that happens within its walls. The details and differences in the three decades adds another layer to this intriguing novel. Each of the three teens is gay and struggling with different issues personally and with their families. The three warm and thoughtful stories come together in a wonderful way toward the end. I was completely engrossed in this delightful novel about life, love, and family.

320 pages, PUSH

Scholastic Audio

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Challenge

Travel the World in Books - Brazil

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or order this audiobook from Libro.fm to support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!