Fiction Review: Rabbit Cake

Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett was my last full-length novel of the year, read in the last days of December, and I absolutely loved it. I didn't review every book I read last year (a new approach for me), but I wanted to review my favorites and this qualifies! I met Annie Hartnett in May at Booktopia 2023, an annual event I attend every spring in Vermont at the Northshire Bookstore. I loved her novel Unlikely Animals (my review at the link) and really enjoyed talking to her, asking questions, and listening to her talk about the writing of the book. So, I wanted to read from her backlist, and my husband gave me Rabbit Cake for my birthday. This warm, funny, deeply moving novel lived up to my expectations!

Elvis, named after Elvis Presley because she shares his birthday, is ten years old when her mother sleepwalks to the nearby river and drowns. For the next eighteen months, Elvis, her fifteen-year-old sister, Lizzie, and their father each deal with their shock and grief in different ways. Like their mother, Lizzie is also a chronic sleepwalker, and that increases and worsens in her grief, leading to ever more bizarre sights greeting Elvis and her dad in the morning, including terrifying spates of sleep-eating and egg stealing. Lizzie also decides to set a world record for baking rabbit cakes, following in her mom's footsteps, since she always made a three-dimensional rabbit cake for special occasions. Their dad discovers a local parrot in the pet store who mimics his wife's voice and comments and brings it home. He also starts wearing his wife's lipstick and bathrobe at home. Elvis is pretty lost, mostly worried about her dad and her sister, and determined to uncover the details of her mother's death. She loves animals (her mom was an animal biologist), so she continues working on the book about animals and sleep that her mom was writing and starts volunteering at the local zoo. But this family has a long way to go through their grief and coping to heal and reconnect with each other.

As in Unlikely Animals, Hartnett here has created wonderfully real characters struggling with some very serious issues, but she writes about it all with a hefty dose of humor (listen to the audio sample to get a feel for the tone). You can probably tell from my description above, which is just the tip of the iceberg, that these are some very quirky characters--and that's where some of the humor comes from--but aren't we all a little weird in our own ways? In spite of their flaws, the characters are very likable, and smart, precocious Elvis is a wonderful narrator. We see her family's issues through her eyes, as she strives to understand grief. The family goes through some big challenges along the way, from a runaway to a stint in a mental hospital to some stolen rats, but in the end, they find each other again and start to heal. I enjoyed every minute of this tender, compassionate, hilarious look at grief and family ties. It was the perfect way to end my reading year!

327 pages, Tin House

Blackstone Audio

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Alabama 

 

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. Listening to it makes me want to reread the book!

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too - a different one).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!

    
  

Movie Monday: Flora and Son

On New Year's Eve, my husband and I watched a wonderful, uplifting movie, Flora and Son. A great way to end the year!

In Dublin, a young woman named Flora, played by Eve Hewson, is raising her son, Max (played by Oren Kinlan), with some occasional help from her ex-husband, Ian (played by Jack Reynor) who is a bass player, though not currently in a band. Flora had Max when she was only 17 years old, and he's now 14, so she's still quite young and was caring for a baby while her friends were out partying. She blows off steam by going to clubs and dancing with her best friend. Max is at an age now where he and Flora are always fighting, he gets in trouble a lot, and he doesn't want to spend much time with her. Flora sees a beat-up old guitar in the trash one day, pulls it out, and gets it fixed by a local music shop. She tries to give it to Max, but when he's uninterested, she searches online until she finds someone offering guitar lessons whom she feels a connection with. She hires Jeff, played by Joseph Gordon Levitt, for a cheap price to give her online lessons. Jeff lives in Los Angeles and seems to be at loose ends in his own life, too. Over the course of many lessons, they get to know each other better, and Flora gradually transitions from bitter and derisive to engaged and committed to learning the guitar. Meanwhile, she realizes that Max is also interested in music, though he's focused more on synthesizer music and rap. Music just might be the thing to mend their relationship and bring them closer together, while changing both their lives for the better.

This is just a delightful movie. Flora, Max, and even Jeff are all in bad shape when we first meet them, each struggling with their own demons and challenges. Flora is especially rough at the start, smoking, drinking too much, and yelling and swearing at Max and anyone else who gets in her way. Seeing the way that music--and human connection--changes each of them is wonderfully inspiring. As you might expect, there is plenty of music integrated into the movie, from the electronic dance music in the clubs where Flora goes to the rap and hip hop Max loves to the beautiful harmonies and ballads Jeff is teaching Flora. All of the actors are excellent here, and it is a joy to see their characters' transformations. This heartwarming, funny movie is elevating and delightful, with an ending that will leave you with a smile on your face. 

Flora and Son is playing exclusively on Apple TV+.

And if you like this kind of uplifting, musical movie, I also highly recommend Sing Street (my review at the link), from the same writer/director, and Begin Again, currently available on Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu.

It's Monday, 1/1! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

Happy New Year!!

I love the start of a new year, with all its potential. My focus for the next few months will be on my health, since the past three years have been rough for me, with one relapse of my immune disorder after another. I spent most of the past few months lying on the couch, but with some extreme changes to my diet recently, I started to feel better on Christmas Eve and was able to enjoy the holidays with my family. It was just my husband, me, and our younger son for Christmas Eve, and we enjoyed a seafood feast with filet mignon on the side! Then we watched The Polar Express.

 

On Christmas morning, the three of us opened presents. Of course, I got a fabulous stack of books, plus some polka dot sneakers that make me smile.

Our older son and his girlfriend arrived in time for lunch and our traditional watching of The Snowman, and my mom and her husband arrived a couple of hours later. We had a nice dinner together and opened more presents.

Two nights later, we enjoyed a wonderful tradition with our oldest friends, our Cookie/Grinch Party. The "kids" are all grown up now and with partners, but we still enjoy gathering together to decorate cookies and watch The Grinch (the original, of course). Unfortunately, our older son got sick--just a cold but always a worry since he has the same immune disorder that I have--so they had to leave early and missed the cookie party.

And my husband and I enjoyed our usual New Year's Eve traditions last night: a delicious steak dinner, two movies at home (reviews to come), and joining in the countdown from NY at midnight. I was thrilled to be able to make it till midnight! And now I am ready to start the new year.

 

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On the Blog

Fiction Review: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin - I loved this warm, moving story of a lifelong friendship. 

Fiction Review: How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu - an excellent, unique novel told in interrelated stories over generations, about the creativity and resiliency of humans in the face of disaster.

Books for Christmas! - photos and video of the books we gave and received in our family this holiday season.

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On Video

A to Z Hot or Not Book Tag - my quick review of an alphabetical list of bookish topics and whether I am "hot" or "not" on each one. This was fun!

Friday Reads 12-22-23 - my pre-Christmas update of what I was currently reading.

Christmas 2023 Book Haul - a quick overview of books given & received in our family.

Friday Reads 12-29-23 - my last reading update of the year (though I squeezed in one more book after this).

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 What We're Reading

 

 After I finished Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, I read my last full-length adult novel of the year, Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett. I read her newer novel, Unlikely Animals, in April for Booktopia and got to meet the author and talk to her at the annual book event in May in Vermont. I loved that novel so much that I wanted to read her backlist. Rabbit Cake is another outstanding novel! It's about 10-year-old Elvis, named after that Elvis, who loses her mom in a freak drowning accident (she was sleep-swimming, as was her habit). Elvis, her fifteen-year-old sister, Lizzie, and their father are each grieving in their own way. Lizzie is trying to set a world record for baking rabbit cakes (something their mother did on special occasions), but Elvis worries because Lizzie has inherited their mother's extreme sleepwalking and is doing some really strange, dangerous things in her sleep (though not swimming, thank goodness). This is a story about grief, loss, and family but told with a hefty dose of humor and warmth. Elvis is a fabulous narrator, and I absolutely loved this novel.

 

I finished that on December 30 and managed to squeeze in one more book for 2023! I looked for my shortest middle-grade graphic novel and read Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi. Zara and Zeeshan are twins (about 12 years old) who constantly fight with each other. Zara loves animals and the animal protection club at school, while Zeesh is into anything to do with space and NASA. Their parents immigrated from Pakistan years ago as students. Zara recently chose to begin wearing the hijab. The one thing the twins agree on is that they are sick of people being cruel and judgmental because of their names, their skin color, or how they dress. On a trip to the Florida Keys with their parents, the twins are forced to spend time together, and their parents hope they can regain the closeness they once had. This was a wonderful middle-grade graphic novel.

 

 

 

My last audio book for the year was one more classic slipped in under the wire, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. My only knowledge of Tarzan came from Hollywood TV shows and movies, so I really enjoyed hearing the original source material. Written in 1912, there are, of course, some cringey bits, especially about the Black natives of Africa. Overall, though, it's a fast-paced adventure story that kept me riveted. The book's history (told in the foreward and afterword) was fascinating; it had a major impact on pop culture, at the time and still continuing today. This was the first of 24 books that Burroughs wrote in this series, and it left me wanting more!

 

My husband, Ken, is still reading The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, a book I read for the Big Book Summer Challenge that is on my Top 10 list this year! He's enjoying it so far, and it's nice to be able to talk to him about it. 

 

Our son, 29, is feeling much better now and finished reading Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson (one of his older standalone novels). Now, he is rereading The Written by Ben Galley in preparation for reading book 2, Pale Kings (a birthday gift).

I will be finishing my 2023 reviews and beginning my year-end wrap-up posts this week!

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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? 

Books for Christmas!

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I've been on a bit of a break while juggling all the Christmas preparations and festivities, but I wanted to share with you the books that we gave and received this Christmas. We are a reading family! I have photos and a short video below.   

Here are the books (and one DVD set for camping) I gave to my husband:

 

And the hefty books we gave to our fantasy-loving oldest son (youngest son doesn't enjoy reading; I'd question his genetics, but he looks just like me!):

 

And I also picked out books for my mother, based on my own favorite books and authors:

• Kindred by Octavia Butler (my review at the link)
  
• The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger (I haven't read this one yet, but I wasn't sure if my mom had already read This Tender Land and Ordinary Grace - she hadn't, so those could be future gifts! This one takes place in the 1950's, so she was excited about that.)

 My mother's husband's birthday is on Christmas Day (his sister's, too!), so for him, I picked out:

• River of the Gods by Candice Millard (I gave him River of Doubt by Millard years ago, and he enjoyed that very much.)

And, finally, my own stack from my family! This year, rather than list specific books (they like a list from me since they don't always know what I've already read), I gave them a list of authors I have never tried before and said "anything from any of these authors." Look at all the great books I received from my family:

 

I can't wait to dive into all of these! Here is a short video, where I briefly talk about each of the books I received:

 

So, that's us!

Did YOU get any books as gifts this holiday season?

What are you looking forward to reading? 

Fiction Review: How High We Go in the Dark

I've been hearing great things about How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu ever since its release in January 2022 and saw it recommended by lots of top magazines and other review outlets. I listened to it on audio this month, and even with all that advance hype, this very unique novel told in widely varying stories over generations surprised me with its warmth, humor, and creativity. 

In the first of these linked stories, in 2030, Dr. Cliff Miyashiro has come to a remote site in Siberia where his daughter recently died so that he can finish her important work. Global warming has created a huge rift in the ice that grows larger every day, uncovering woolly rhinos and other extinct animals. His daughter, Clara, a scientist like himself, was working when she felt into the giant crevasse and discovered the perfectly preserved body of a young prehistoric girl before she died. Unfortunately, her colleagues also discovered the girl had died of an ancient virus that has now been unleashed. The next story, City of Laughter, takes place a few years later in California. A young man and struggling comic takes a job in a euthanasia park for the "arctic plague's" youngest victims. Since there are not yet any cures, and the end stages of the disease are painful and horrific, parents and their dying children can stay in the park, so their kids can have one last day filled with laughter and fun before their hearts are stopped painlessly during one last exciting rollercoaster ride. While working there, he has an affair with one young mother and becomes very attached to her dying little boy. 

The stories mostly move forward in time, taking place mainly in California and Japan, each one focused on a different character, though you can often see connections to previous stories (for instance, there is a later story about Cliff's wife and their granddaughter, Clara's daughter). The stories paint a picture of the apocalyptic world, as the virus ravages populations and people come up with creative ways to deal with the virus, the dying, and the dead. Topics range from "elegy hotels," where bereaved families can spend a few more days with their disinfected, preserved loved one to a talking pig named Snortious P.I.G. who was created after splicing human DNA into pig DNA to grow and harvest more organs for transplant to changing Japanese customs after cemeteries become full. There is even a story set 100 years in the future, on a spaceship, where the crew has just woken up from stasis, as hundreds more people sleep on, to search for a habitable planet.

I hope you're still reading and didn't turn away at that second paragraph thinking, "Nope, too depressing for me!" Because that's the stunning thing about this book. In spite of its dark subject matter, this is a novel about the resilience of humanity, about the creativity and adaptability of our race. It is ultimately uplifting and even funny at times (I loved Snortious P.I.G.) ... and they do eventually discover a vaccine and cure for the virus. The stories range from amusing to poignant to surprising, but they are always deeply moving, delving into the essence of what makes us human. It is science fiction wrapped in a very character-driven, thought-provoking, philosophical approach. The writing is beautiful, and each individual story is completely immersive, especially in the excellent audio book with 15 different narrators. Characters of Asian descent are featured in every story, creating another connecting thread. You come to care for each character, so when you see him or her mentioned in a later story (that perhaps references that person tangentially or features a family member or friend), you smile at the connection because connections are a big part of this novel as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this original, compassionate novel about the essence of humanity that filled me with wonder and hope. Just writing about it here makes me want to start back at the beginning and listen to it again.

320 pages, William Morrow Paperbacks

HarperAudio

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Reading Challenge

Travel the World in Books - Japan

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

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

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

I absolutely loved The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, when I first read it back in 2015 and again in 2019 (my review at the link). So, when I heard about Zevin's latest novel, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, I immediately knew I had to read it and wasn't surprised by all the rave reviews that followed. I enjoyed every minute of this unique novel. This moving story of a special friendship spanning thirty years is beautifully written and immersive.

When Sam was twelve years old, he was in a horrible car accident. His mother died, and he was left with a mangled foot that would require on-going surgeries and give him constant pain throughout his life. Six weeks after the accident, his grandparents and doctors were worried because he hadn't spoken a word. One day, Sadie walked into the game room on the pediatric ward of the hospital. She was visiting her sister, who was being treated for cancer. Sadie sat down next to Sam, watched him play his game, and started talking to him about it. Sam talked back, and a friendship was born. They both loved video games and spent more than 600 hours together playing games while Sam was in the hospital. Then, they had a falling out. Years later, while attending Harvard, Sam spotted Sadie on a subway platform in Boston. He'd heard she was going to MIT. They resumed their friendship and took their love of gaming to the next level, designing a unique video game together. Sam's roommate, Marx, becomes the game's producer, and before they'd even graduated from college, they were a huge success. Their game was a hit, and they were launched into a world of wealth and fandom. Sadie and Sam kept collaborating on designing games, with Marx by their side, but all sorts of challenges arose over the years, from failed games to personal tragedies to ambition, love, and jealousy. Can Sam and Sadie withstand all of this and remain friends?

This is an epic story of friendship, following Sam and Sadie across decades of their lives, from California to Boston and beyond. As in A.J. Fikry, Zevin creates such full characters that you feel completely absorbed into their story. She's an excellent writer, with a talent for finding just the right words for each sentence, realistic dialogue, and descriptions that make you feel like you're there. You don't have to be a gamer to enjoy this book; the last video games I played were Space Invaders and Pac Man as a teen, but I still found their game designs and world-building fascinating. Besides friendship, Zevin also tackles love, living with a disability, loss, and the ups and downs that define every life. I marked many thought-provoking passages that I could relate to. But at its core, this warm, emotionally complex novel is mostly a great story, peopled by in-depth, likable but flawed characters and beautifully written. It's an engrossing story to get lost in. I'm going to miss Sam and Sadie.

397 pages, Alfred A. Knopf

Random House Audio

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.

 

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif - White-out (white cover or wintry theme) - winter was a prominent feature during their years in Cambridge!

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Massachusetts

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

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

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!