It's Monday 8/9! What Are You Reading?

Another busy week here! In between appointments for my father-in-law, I needed a day of rest to recuperate mid-week. We had a nice surprise this weekend, though: our older son came down for a quick 20-hour visit! He wanted to pick up the car he usually uses (which needed repairs & re-registration). It is always wonderful to see him, and he, my husband, and I enjoyed a quiet Saturday evening together, eating dinner in the family room while we caught up on some of our favorite TV shows we usually watch together. We all needed the downtime! And we had an early celebration of his birthday, which is next week, with gluten-free brownie sundaes with sugar-free ice cream and sugar-free hot fudge sauce I made. This is a favorite treat for me and him, with all of our food restrictions. Meanwhile, his younger brother took off on a 22-hour trip to Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island (that's about 5 hours of driving, plus a ferry ride, each way!). Yup, crazy for sure, but as I told him, this is the time to be crazy, when you're young! The brothers did overlap here at home for a couple of hours.

We are enjoying the bounties of summer produce here! We get our veggies from a local CSA (community supported agriculture), and this summer, we also signed up for a fruit share. This was our haul from last week! The local peaches have been outstanding this summer, and I made my husband a Lemon-Blackberry Pudding Cake last week, too.

Piles of local organic summer produce!

Plus local tomatoes & delicious fruit

I posted a new video on my YouTube channel last week, Birthday Book Haul. This is a quick review of the lovely stack of books my family gave me for my birthday last month, so check it out if you are interested in what's coming up for me!

In the meantime, here's what we've all been reading this week:

I finished The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin. Yes, that Justin Cronin of The Passage fame, but this novel is a far, far cry from that sci-fi/horror/thriller trilogy! It's a quiet story set in the northern woods of Maine about several lives that intersect. It begins in 1947, as a disfigured WWII vet moves his young wife and baby son up to a remote area of Maine to start their lives over. Then, the narrative shifts to present-day, where that baby has grown up to own and work in that same camp/lodge with his own wife and adult daughter. An elderly millionaire who comes to the camp every summer has returned for one last fishing trip before he dies of cancer.  It's an intricate novel about relationships, secrets, and of course, that gorgeous, remote setting and is every bit as compelling as Cronin's more famous sci fi thrillers! I actually bought this book in Maine (and our last visit there was in 2014 so that's how long it's been on my shelf!), and I am glad I finally read it - it was wonderful. I'll be discussing it with my book group this week.

Now, it's back to the Big Books. I have started (drumroll, please ...) the biggest book of my summer, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. My copy is "only" about 600 pages, but they are very big, densely-printed pages. Most versions show almost 900 pages. Believe it or not, this is my first-ever classic Russian novel! Really! We didn't read any in school. I'm about 90 pages in, but really still at the beginning. It's set in 19th-century Russia (I had to look that up - there's really no mention of the timing of the novel), about Anna, a charismatic woman of the aristocratic class who is married and has a son. While visiting her brother in Moscow, she meets Count Vronsky, and the two are instantly attracted to each other. So far, I'm finding it easy to read (no archaic language), with short chapters and a lot going on. I'm working hard to keep the Russian names straight (everyone seems to have three names). I'm enjoying it and hope to finish by the end of the #BigBookSummer Challenge.

I finished listening to After the Flood by Kassandra Montag, a Big Book on audio. This post-apocalyptic novel takes place more than a hundred years from now, when rising sea levels have not only covered the coasts but also the interior heartland of North America. All that's left are individual colonies on the tops of mountains, surrounded by vast oceans. Myra and her seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, live on the water on a boat. Myra's grandfather taught her to fish (and built the boat), so they trade their catches for other necessities but are barely scraping by. Seven years ago, Myra's husband kidnapped their older daughter, Row, and Myra has been unable to find them. But now, she finally gets a lead as to Row's whereabouts, in an area near the Arctic Circle, and is determined to go find her long-lost daughter. They meet a group of people in a larger boat, but can they trust them? This is a dangerous world they live in (apocalypses never seem to bring out the good in people, do they?). The novel was gripping and compelling from the very first chapter, and I enjoyed it. It is dark at times, but hope is woven throughout and is a major theme.

I am now listening to another Big Book (from my large audio backlog), The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson. I've been thinking about how to describe this very unusual novel! First, it's a sequel, and I have not read the first book, but that seems to be OK so far. Alan is 100 years old and is relaxing in Bali with his friend, Julius (a petty thief). They are both Swedish, and seem to have come into some money at the end of the first book. The two of them do have a lot of adventures, and the book is light and funny: from Indonesia, they ended up in North Korea! But the novel is also filled with facts about world history and global events, since Alan has lived through much of history and seems to know a lot about the world. He is also a first-class BSer, who seems able to talk himself out of anything! (We'll see how things go in North Korea.) I'm really enjoying the audio book so far.

My husband, Ken, is reading another Big Book (his 3rd or 4th?), Genesis, a medical thriller by Robin Cook, the king of that genre. Neither of us has read a Cook novel in many years (decades?), but my neighbor dropped a couple of them off for us - thanks, Mari! This one has a fascinating plot. It's about a medical examiner in NYC who's performed an autopsy on a woman who seems to have died of an overdose, but her family and friends swear she's never touched drugs. The victim was also pregnant, and no one knows who the father was. The Assistant ME turns to a controversial new technique on her own: collaborating with an ancestry DNA website to try to find the identity of the mystery father. This one sounds ripped from the headlines and very current. He's enjoying it so far.

Our 26-year-old son has been reading like crazy! His summer internship includes some down periods each day when it's OK for him to pull out a book, so he's taking full advantage of that.  He just finished reading Falling Kingdoms, book one of the fantasy series of the same name, by Morgan Rhodes. He explained to me that he's read book one before and enjoyed it, and he wanted to re-read it before reading book two - that's my book lover! He grabbed book 2, Rebel Spring, from his bookshelf here at home this weekend, and he just texted me that he started it today! For those who asked about his thoughts on The Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, he said he enjoyed it and wants to read book 2; he felt like book 1 was mostly setting up the world, so he wants to see what happens next.

Last week's blog posts:

Movie Monday: Find Me - warm, poignant movie set against the gorgeous backdrop of national parks - we loved it!

Fiction Review: Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton - an Australian boy works hard to save his family in this warm-hearted, suspenseful novel.

Middle-Grade Graphic Novel: Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter - a fun story on a serious topic, with plenty of emotional depth.

My Summary of Books Read in July - A Big Book month, low on quantity but high on quality!

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?

 

 

Books Read in July

July was a full-on #BigBookSummer month for me, with just a few books but mostly LONG ones for the challenge ... and all great! Here's what I finished reading last month:

The Air You Breathe by Frances de Ponte Peebles (Brazil) - adult historical fiction

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton (Australia) - adult fiction on audio

Blackout by Connie Willis (UK) - adult fiction

Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd & Michelle Mee Nutter (CA) - middle-grade graphic novel

Yes, that's it! Just four books read in July, but all of them except Allergic were Big Books, over 400 pages, including the audio. I read mostly adult fiction last month (three of four), with one middle-grade graphic novel and just one book on audio. These were all excellent, but my favorite has to be Blackout, since I absolutely love Connie Willis' Oxford Time Travel series. Even with demerits for ending abruptly, with no hint on the cover that it was part 1 of 2, it was still outstanding, and I can't wait to read part 2.

Progress in 2021 Reading Challenges:
You can see all of the reading challenges I am participating in and full lists of the books read for each at the challenges link above. I have some fun ones going this year!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2021 - Three of my books came off my own shelves (and the audio had been in my backlog for a while, too, but I only count the ones that take up physical space!).

2021 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - July was Short But Fabulous, and Allergic fit perfectly.

Back to the Classics 2021 - No classics in July (again!).

2021 AtoZ Reading Challenge - Oddly, all of my book titles started with A or B, and I already had those spots filled.

PopSugar Reading Challenge 2021 - this is a unique one, with 50 quirky categories. My list is getting pretty full now, but I added another 2 categories to my list this month. That brings me up to 27:

1. Book published in 2021: Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd & Michelle Mee Nutter
2. Book with a black and white cover: Blackout by Connie Willis

2021 Nonfiction Reader Challenge - No nonfiction in July.

Diversity Reading Challenge 2021 - Two of my books (half) were diverse last month (The Air You Breathe and Allergic, and I counted The Air You Breathe for the mini challenge theme for July, LGBT+ because there were lesbian and bisexual characters in it.

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge - I traveled back to the UK and Australia and also to Brazil, perhaps for the first time ever in my reading!

2021 Literary Escapes Challenge - I added no new states.

2021 Big Book Summer Challenge - I forgot to report on my own challenge last month! Three of my four books in July were Big Books, plus four in June brings my current total up to 7 Big Books so far this summer! Listening to Big Book audios helps.

And finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month! Stop by to print out this month's Bingo card and play along. In July, I filled 17 spaces on my bingo card - not bad for only 4 books!

Spaces Filled:

The Air You Breathe - physical book, travel/journey, song lyrics in the title, snazzy dresser, shelf love

Boy Swallows Universe - not in a series, audio book, eye roll, red/white/blue on the cover

Blackout - vehicle on the cover, weapon on cover, LOL, LGTBQ, in a series

Allergic - animal/pet, free book

Free Space

What was YOUR favorite book read in July?

Middle-Grade Graphic Novel Review: Allergic

In July, I squeezed in a quick middle-grade graphic novel, among the Big Books for #BigBookSumer. I read Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter, and I'm glad I did! It was a fun book that surprised me with its emotional depth.

All Maggie wants for her tenth birthday is a dog, and she wakes up that morning so excited for her family's trip to the animal shelter. She finds the perfect puppy, who seems to like her as much as she likes him, until ... she breaks out in hives and her face swells up! A visit to an allergist reveals that Maggie is severely allergic to anything with feathers or fur. She is devastated, and this new development causes problems at school, too. She tries out other (non-furred or -feathered) pets, and even a secret pet, but nothing seems to work. She also just started a new school, where she feels left out, but her life improves when she finds a new best friend named Claire who just moved in next door. She also makes another friend at school who has allergy problems of his own. In addition to Maggie's pet woes, her mom is about to have a new baby, and Maggie's not sure where she'll fit into the new family dynamic.

Sample pages from Allergic

I expected just a light story here, but this novel had more depth to it. It really dug into Maggie's pet problems (and other issues), showing how shattered she is to discover her allergies and all the different ways that they affect her life. The novel doesn't make light of living with allergies but takes the topic seriously. The story also delves into issues of siblings, family changes, and the highs and lows of friendship. The illustrations feature appealing, full-color, realistic drawings that beautifully convey Maggie's struggles, as well as the joys of friendship and family. I enjoyed every page of this story, leading to a very satisfying conclusion.

237 pages, Graphix (an imprint of Scholastic)

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

 

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!

 
  

 

Or you can order Allergic from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: Boy Swallows Universe

Last month, I listened to another #BigBookSummer audio book, Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton. I’d never read anything by Dalton before, and I enjoyed this story of a boy who works hard to save his family.

 

Twelve-year-old Eli Bell lives in Australia, in a neglected suburb of Brisbane called Darra, and has an unusual life. His mother and step-father are heroin dealers, his older brother, Gus, is mute, and his best friend (and babysitter) is an elderly, notorious felon named Slim who is known for his multiple prison escapes. That’s a LOT for Eli and Gus to deal with, and their childhood is far from normal. His parents are under the control of a dangerous drug dealer named Tytus, who is tied in with the local Vietnamese drug trade in Eli’s neighborhood. Eli’s dream is to someday become a news reporter, but at the moment, that seems very far off, as he worries about his parents, his brother, and keeping his family out of even bigger trouble. As you might guess from that set-up, Eli doesn't have an easy life, and things get a whole lot worse for him and Gus as the novel progresses. But Eli is clever and determined and has learned a lot from his buddy, Slim.

 

This novel has a unique writing style, and the story is told from Eli’s first-person perspective. I listened to it on audio and enjoyed it that way, though it took me a chapter or two to adjust to the Australian accent and unique stream-of-consciousness of Eli’s narrative. The unusual syntax of the three-word chapter titles (and the book title itself) becomes clear later in the novel. There are lots of moving parts to this intricate story, but they all come together in the end. It’s a suspenseful but warm-hearted novel with a very satisfying conclusion.

464 pages, Harper Perennial

HarperAudio

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, as Eli describes a recurring dream he has, and a scene with his brother, and/or download it from Audible.

 

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!

   
  

Or you can order Boy Swallows Universe from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Movie Monday: Find Me

After a difficult, stressful week, my husband and I returned to our pandemic routine and enjoyed a quiet Saturday night at home with take-out and a movie. Since we were both feeling pretty run-down and overwhelmed, I looked for a movie with a positive message and inspiring setting, and I found just the thing. Find Me won several indie film awards but seems to have flown under the radar. Since it has an astounding Rotten Tomatoes' critic review of 100% and included scenes in National Parks (our favorite places), I thought it would be just right for us. We both thoroughly enjoyed this warm, poignant movie with gorgeous settings.

Joe, played by Tom Huang, works as an accountant in a firm in Los Angeles. Since his divorce, he's been pretty much just going through the motions in his life: going to work, checking on his parents, going home to his tiny apartment, and eating the same takeout dinner every night before falling asleep in front of the TV while watching nature shows. The only bright spot in his life is his co-worker, Amelia (played by Sara Amini), who travels all over and comes back to regale Joe with her adventures. Joe comes to life in Amelia's company, and the two of them laugh a lot together and talk constantly throughout their long days at work. Then, one day, Amelia just disappears. She doesn't show up at work, Joe doesn't hear a word from her, and eventually their boss says that she requested a week off, but now it's been more than two weeks. Joe gets a note in the mail from her, postmarked Springdale, UT (if you know your national parks, you know the significance of that address!), with an-almost blank page inside with just two words: "Find Me." Though it is highly out of character for Joe to do anything impulsive, he's worried about Amelia, so he sets up help for his parents, gets in his car, and drives to Utah. From there, Amelia takes Joe on a very cool kind of National Park scavenger hunt, traveling from one amazing natural wonder to another, following her breadcrumbs (in the form of videos on SD drives, hidden like geocaches). He's worried about her, but as he takes this one-of-a-kind journey, he also begins to discover that life still contains plenty of joy and wonder.

Tom Huang is not only the lead actor here, he also wrote and directed the movie, which is quite impressive! We love road trips and National Parks, so this movie was made for us. But it is a unique kind of road trip story, with an underlying story with suspense, joy, and sadness all woven into it. There are some surprises for Joe along the way, and not all of them are pleasant, but the trip and the places he visits open him up to the world around him, just as Amelia has been urging him to do. The settings and the videography are stunning--we wish we could have seen this on a big screen in a theater--and we enjoyed revisiting some of our own favorite places, as well as some we've never been to before. It's not just about the trip and the parks, though; this is also a story about tragedy, connecting with the world, and opening yourself to joy and wonder. There is some sadness here, but the ultimate message of the film is uplifting. The closing scenes provided the perfect ending, in my opinion. We thoroughly enjoyed going on this virtual trip, both physical and emotional, alongside Joe.

We watched it free on Amazon Prime (at the link). It also seems to be available on Tubi and Pluto TV for free, as well as for a fee on many other streaming services.

If you enjoy poignant and moving movies in a beautiful natural setting, I also recommend these (links to my reviews, with trailers - no spoilers):

Leave No Trace, about a complicated father-daughter relationship, set in the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Nomadland - Oscar-winning fictional story of real-life modern nomads, living in vans and campers and traveling to seasonal jobs, with some stunning scenes, especially in Badlands National Park (one of our personal favorites).

Hunt for the Wilderpeople - a warm, hilarious movie about an abandoned teen and a grumpy old man, on the run together in the New Zealand outback. A favorite!

Call of the Wild - a Disney-fied version of the classic novel but still a moving story of a man and a dog saving each other, set against the stunning backdrop of Alaska and the Yukon.

Redwood Highway - a warm, thoughtful film about a grandma who decides to walk the 80 miles to her granddaughter's wedding! Set in the forests and along the coast of Oregon, with stunning natural footage, as she hikes and camps along the way.

It's Monday 8/2! What Are You Reading?

My guilty confession? While everyone else is lamenting August and the upcoming end of summer, I am thrilled to turn the calendar page and get one month closer to fall! I used to enjoy summer, just like everyone else, but now I just find the heat and humidity intolerable. And summer used to mean family vacations, including our annual 3-week road trip out west to explore new places with our camper. These days, we can't travel further than 30 min from home because my father-in-law (96) needs daily care. My husband is over there once or twice every day, and we spend time with him every weekend. But we have almost come to a decision on an Assisted Living facility for him, which will help, and we are also considering a close-by quick getaway for the two of us sometime soon, someplace within an hour from him and with some back-up help from our son.

I'm missing our road trips, like this one to RMNP in Colorado

We had a beautiful campsite there.

We actually did get some nice weather this weekend and continuing today; the temperature dropped by more than 10 degrees and the humidity dropped, too. I am thrilled to have the windows open right now! And the cooler weather has allowed me to take a couple of walks this week - I've been missing my walks very much.

My favorite walking trail is lushly green in the summer!

My neighbor's gorgeous flowers!

Overall, though, I had a very rough week. I just pushed myself too hard with work (my chronic illness limits my stamina) and did too much. That, combined with a lot of stress over worrying about family members, left me totally depleted by Friday. So, with our younger son away for the weekend, my husband and I spent a very quiet weekend mostly at home (other than visiting my father-in-law and taking him out). We focused on relaxing and recuperating and reverted to our pandemic-style Saturday night with take-out and a great movie (review to come!), which was just what we needed.

A pizza picnic in the park Saturday with my FIL

So, I am feeling a bit better today, mentally refreshed, and am enjoying a quiet, productive day at home.

Books always provide comfort and escape for us! Here's what we've all been reading this past week:

I am taking a short break from #BigBookSummer to read a novel for one of my book groups that is coming back from summer break in August. We are reading The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin. Yes, that Justin Cronin of The Passage fame, but this novel is a far, far cry from that sci-fi/horror/thriller trilogy! It's a quiet story set in the northern woods of Maine about several lives that intersect. It begins in 1947, as a wounded WWII vet moves his young wife and baby son up to a remote area of Maine to start their lives over. Then, the narrative shifts to present-day, where that baby has grown up to own and work in that same camp/lodge with his own wife and adult daughter. An elderly millionaire who comes to the camp every summer has returned for one last fishing trip before he dies of cancer.  It's an intricate novel about relationships, secrets, and of course, that gorgeous, remote setting and is every bit as compelling as Cronin's more famous sci fi thrillers! I actually bought this book in Maine (and our last visit there was in 2014 so that's how long it's been on my shelf!), and I am glad to finally be reading it.

I forgot to mention in my Monday posts that I squeezed in a quick middle-grade graphic novel last month, in among the Big Books. I read Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter, and I'm glad I did! All Maggie wants for her tenth birthday is a dog, and she wakes up that morning so excited for her family's trip to the animal shelter. She finds the perfect puppy, who seems to like her as much as she likes him, until ... she breaks out in hives and her face swells up! A visit to an allergist reveals that Maggie is allergic to anything with feathers or fur. She tries out other pets, and even a secret pet, but nothing seems to work. She's also starting at a new school, where she feels left out, but her life improves when she makes a new friend named Claire. I expected just a light story here, but this novel had surprising depth to it and really dug into Maggie's struggles (and other issues), leading to a very satisfying conclusion.

I am listening to a Big Book on audio, After the Flood by Kassandra Montag. This post-apocalyptic novel takes place more than a hundred years from now, when rising sea levels have not only covered the coasts but also the interior heartland of North America. All that's left are individual colonies on the tops of mountains, surrounded by vast oceans. Myra and her seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, live on the water on a boat. Myra's grandfather taught her to fish (and built the boat), so they trade their catches for other necessities but are barely scraping by. Seven years ago, Myra's husband kidnapped their older daughter, Row, and Myra has been unable to find them. But now, she finally gets a lead as to Row's whereabouts, in an area near the Arctic Circle, and is determined to go find her long-lost daughter. They meet a group of people in a larger boat, but can they trust them? This is a dangerous world they live in (apocalypses never seem to bring out the good in people, do they?). The novel has been gripping and compelling from the very first chapter, and I'm enjoying it.

My husband, Ken, is reading another Big Book (his 3rd or 4th?), Genesis, a medical thriller by Robin Cook, the king of that genre. Neither of us has read a Cook novel in many years (decades?), but my neighbor dropped a couple of them off for us - thanks, Mari! This one has a fascinating plot. It's about a medical examiner in NYC who's performed an autopsy on a woman who seems to have died of an overdose, but her family and friends swear she's never touched drugs. The victim was also pregnant, and no one knows who the father was. The Assistant ME turns to a controversial new technique on her own: collaborating with an ancestry DNA website to try to find the identity of the mystery father. This one sounds ripped from the headlines and very current. He's enjoying it so far.

Our 26-year-old son has been reading like crazy! His summer internship includes some down periods each day when it's OK for him to pull out a book, so he's taking full advantage of that. He finished reading book one of a new-to-him fantasy series, The Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, which is ranked as one of Time magazine's Top 100 Fantasy Novels of All Time - impressive! It's set in a world inspired by ancient Rome, so I can see why my son was interested in it. Then he finished two more books! He says he's currently reading Falling Kingdoms, book one of the fantasy series of the same name, by Morgan Rhodes. He explained to me last night that he's read book one before and enjoyed it, and he wanted to re-read it before reading book two - that's my book lover!

Last week's blog post (like I said, it was a rough week!):

Fiction Review: Blackout by Connie Willis - outstanding time travel historical novel set in WWII

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: Blackout

This weekend, I finished my 7th #BigBookSummer book, Blackout by Connie Willis, a favorite author for both me and my husband. Willis has a loose series of time travel books, Oxford Time Travel, and if you've read my blog, you know I love any kind of time-twisting plots! In this series, we both enjoyed To Say Nothing of the Dog, a sort of time travel farce, and last summer for Big Book Summer 2020, we both read Doomsday Book and were blown away by it--it was a favorite for both of us. Blackout won both a Hugo award and a Nebula award, so it was just as good as her other novels.

 

Blackout takes place about four years after the events of Doomsday Book. All of this series are about a group of historians (mostly grad students) in near-future Oxford who use technology to travel to different time periods and places. Their role is to observe and learn more about history, not to change anything. In this novel, many historians are traveling back and forth to various places and times during World War II. Merope (who goes by Elaine in 1940) is in a rural area of England, helping with the evacuation of children from London to the country. Michael has a busy schedule ahead of him, studying unsung heroes of the war, and his first stop is to Dover in spring 1940 to witness the massive evacuation of soldiers from Dunkirk across the channel by ordinary citizens with boats. Polly has already been to VE Day to see the victory celebrations, and now she is also heading back to 1940, right into the heart of London to witness how regular people coped with the constant terror of the Blitz. In each of these assignments, though—and more—things begin to go wrong. Their time travel technology seems to be glitching, with historians sent to slightly different times and places (“slippage”) than intended, and mistakes starting to occur. As some historians’ stays in the past extend longer than expected and they become enmeshed in 1940’s communities, how can they continue to avoid having an impact and changing the future?

 

As with all of Willis' books, Blackout was completely engrossing and compelling. Here, there is dual suspense created from the individual, very dangerous situations the historians are in while visiting the heart of WWII England and from the issues developing with the time travel system that may prevent them from returning home as planned. Willis is an amazing writer, creating in-depth characters I came to care about and using fascinating historical detail to bring the various settings to life. In fact, if you don’t normally read science fiction but enjoy historical fiction, you will probably love this novel as much as I did. She also weaves humor throughout her novels, even in the midst of the dangers of WWII. But I have one complaint: I was sorely disappointed that it ends in the middle of the action and says "To find out what happens next, read Part 2 in All Clear"! What? There's no indication on the book itself that it's only part 1, though a blog reader alerted me to this last week. Since it is part of a larger series, I would have appreciated knowing ahead of time that this is a two-part story, and Blackout is just part one. As frustrating as that was, it still didn’t dull my enthusiasm for this wholly unique, thrilling suspense/science fiction/historical novel. And, yes, of course, I will be reading book two, All Clear!

 

491 pages, Spectra (imprint of Random House)

Audible Studios

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. The excerpt is from an action-packed part of the story where Michael unexpectedly gets pulled into the action in the English channel and worries he may have inadvertently changed history.

 

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!

  

Or you can order Blackout from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.