“Always be quiet when a heart is breaking.” (The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer)
I was of two minds when I first started this book: I felt insatiably curious about the premise (famous author of children’s books invites readers to compete for a prize) and also felt a few, soft, warning bells toll during the intro. I’m a sucker for anything that smacks of a darker rewrite of childhood favorites (ATYD, Every Heart a Doorway), but the hastily revealed tragic backstories of the main characters pulled on my heartstrings in that bestseller way I dislike so much. I almost put the book down, but the female lead was so likeable and I was so curious about the children’s book premise that I just kept reading.
It turns out that my concept of ‘dark’ is vastly different from V. E. Schwab’s, who blurbed The Wishing Game. Let’s make a darkness scale. If ‘dark’ is GOT and maybe books 8 and 9 of WOT, and sickly sweet is a gooey picture book like ‘I’ll love you forever’ – The Wishing Game doesn’t even make it half way to dark. It doesn’t even pass Roald Dahl level dark. Besides the glossed over backstories including drug addiction, neglect, and cancer, and some quickly resolved tension about who won the game, this book was about as dark as my six year old can handle. I was disappointed, to say the least, and felt mildly disgusted by all the sweetness. This was just not the book for me and I wish I had listened to the small voice in my head telling me so. I hereby vow to stop being sucked into fun sounding premises!
The Wishing Game ends up not being so much a children’s book matured and darkened for adult reader, but rather a children’s book featuring adults.
After having this blog for fourteen years, I’ve wanted to change its name many times. For a while, I thought that bookshark would be more appropriate, pointing towards the idea of reading nonstop like how a shark swims even while sleeping. Recently, I’ve been thinking of Thank You, Books, or something along those lines, because mostly what I feel about reading is grateful. Grateful to be a reader, to be inundated with so many wonderful thoughts and perspectives. Grateful for finding the romance genre, and independently published books, and women writing fantasy and romantasy. Grateful to bookriot for their delightful booklists and everyone else who has recommended me a brilliant read. So, given that I’m way too fond of consistency to change the booklion’s name, I’ll just say it here: thank you, books. Thank you all for coming into my life this year.
So, without further ado, here are the mostly meaningless, yet still fun, Booklion Birthday Awards:
“Fred!” the nurse said, though they had never met. “How are we today?” Reading the nurse’s name tag, Mr. Bennet replied with fake enthusiasm, “Bernard! We’re mourning the death of manners and the rise of overly familiar discourse. How are you?”
“There’s a belief that to take care of someone else, or to let someone else take care of you-that both are inherently unfeminist. I don’t agree. There’s no shame in devoting yourself to another person, as long as he devotes himself to you in return.” (Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld)
Most modern retellings of P&P I’ve read have been so loosely based on the original that the resemblance is almost non-existent. It usually seems more of a marketing scheme than a true homage. Eligible, on the other hand, is Pride and Prejudice, just written in modern-day Cincinnati. The character names are the same and their personalities have been thoughtfully transposed to a new time and country without missing a note. Mrs. Bennnet, in modern day America, is a compulsive shopper and budding hoarder, Mr. Bennet is a man who does little except squander his inheritance and make wry remarks, Kitty and Lydia are obsessive cross-fitters, and Bingly is a Harvard-grad ER doctor who starred on a reality TV Show. Of course, of course, of course. Each character description is like a puzzle piece settling into place – of course he/she would be like that, that just fits. It is so incredibly satisfying to see P&P revived and in the hands of a truly capable writer.
There is a thrill that comes from realizing that you have something intimately in common with a main character of a book. In this case, Liz is my exact same age – 38. It makes me wonder if my recent antipathy towards YA lit and almost all YA fantasy is more a feeling of being left behind, left out. Yes, reading can help you explore all perspectives and genders and sexualities and ages and etc, etc, etc, but I’m getting to the age where fewer and fewer books are written about my experiences and it’s a mildly lonesome feeling. Lizzy Bennet is just as captivating a character at 38 as she was at “not one and twenty”.
Though I loved this book from top to bottom, and, in fact, have found it hard to get into any other book since reading it, like Catherine de Bourgh, “I must have my say”. It’s impossible not to nitpick a P&P translation like this, even though the whole was nothing but lovely. In my opinion, Sittenfeld didn’t quite do Mr. Bennet justice. In the original, he was aloof with the family but his private conversations with Elizabeth showed his vulnerability and curious mind. The way Sittenfeld had it, however, he bordered on incompetent and treated everyone with equal contempt. Additionally, I like the timeline and symmetry of P&P so much more – a full year for feelings and romance and tension to develop. Here, on a shorter timescale, Liz’s reversal of feelings wasn’t quite as believable. (Spoiler) Also, the scandal being about a trans person dates the book a bit – it wouldn’t be nearly as scandalous now as it may have been in 2016. However, I loved that Mary (a completely neglected character in P&P) got the last say in the epilogue -delightful.
Between this and Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld has completely converted me. What else has she written? How soon can I get my hands on it? (Also, when you read this, do not neglect the acknowledgements and essay in the back – they are essential reading on friendships).
“The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you.” (Stiff by Mary Roach)
One of my favorite things to do is to go to one of those over-the-top kid focused places (which all parents are forced to do at least occasionally by the horror of birthday parties and holidays) and be listening to something really out of sync, like radical feminist literature, steamy m/m romance, etc. Stiff fits the bill admirably with its gruesome talk of cadavers getting shot, exploded, dissected, and just generally decomposing. It’s just wonderful to know that, even though I might be forced to be at a chuck-e-cheese or trampoline place or an over-crowded Easter egg hunt by the fact of having children in modern society – that my mind can still be free to listen to whatever the hell I want to listen to.
Like On Being Mortal, Stiff helps the reader think about what happens after death. Instead of dealing with the psychology of mortality, however, Mary Roach tackles the physical aspect. What happens when you ‘donate your body to science’? What actually happens to decomposing bodies, embalmed bodies, or composted ones? Let me just say this: though I did not come away from the book with a distinct love of wondering about cadavers, I did come away with a distinct love of Mary Roach. Anyone who can maintain that kind of humor with this kind of topic is my kind of person. I loved the contrast of tone and subject.
This book was published so long ago that I wonder what has happened since, in the world of cadavers? Is human composting a widespread thing now? Do medical schools still use human cadavers for anatomy class? Will I ever care enough to google it, if I can’t read the words in Mary Roach’s characteristic voice?
“New achievement! You’ve killed an armed mob with your bare fucking hands! Holy crap, dude. That’s kinda fucked up. Reward: You’ve received a Bronze Weapon Box!” (Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman).
Forget, for a moment, that Dungeon Crawler Carl is LitRPG, a sub-genre most non-gamers haven’t heard of and wouldn’t condescend to read. Forget that you can’t find it at a library, libby, or your favorite bookstore because it doesn’t exist in print. Pretend that it’s just a really good, hilarious, long, piece fantasy with a magical system that just happens to mirror video games. That’s how you trick yourself into reading it; and reading it, immediately, should be your ultimate goal in life.
After almost everyone on earth is killed when aliens come to make TV out of the apocalypse, Carl and Donut (his ex-girlfriend’s cat) find themselves trapped in a video-game type dungeon. The books transcend your every-day fantasy because of the constant humor (e.g.: Carl never gets pants, but goes around fighting monsters in heart boxers), the fight the system, anarchist undertones, and Carl’s character – which manages to be both earnest and wild with out-of-the-box, video-game Mcgyver solutions to problems. The suspense and pacing are fantastic and the dungeon AI’s foot fetish and increasing insanity make this AI rival even Murderbot in my, personal, all-time-favorite AI contest.
This is Hunger Gamesfor adults. The premise is similar (fighting for survival while watched by overlords for entertainment), but this is way more hilarious, gruesome, and it isn’t bogged down by any half-assed love triangles. I made a rule that I could only listen to Dungeon Crawler Carl while exercising, and I have never worked out more consistently in my life (also, the audiobook version is highly recommended).
“In this quiet room, surrounded by tales of mystery and deception, she felt most like herself.” (Holmes, Marple, and Poe by James Patterson)
Anyone who has made the shift from print to kindle (not a switch I would wholeheartedly recommend, but rather one of the many compromises that often comes with age and toddlers), knows the love/hate relationship with the kindle ads that appear when your kindle is asleep. Occasionally, the ads can introduce you to some really worthwhile reads (like Date Night on Union Station); yet, they can also fail you bigtime. For a while, one of my pet peeves was that Kindle kept recommending me books I had already read. Really? I thought every time. I have already read all the good books? Now, it’s worse. I guess I read such a weird mish-mash of genres (not helped by the fact that my kids are now listening to audible on my amazon account) that I’ve broken the algorithm. The only books kindle recommends me anymore are these super weird ‘bedtime stories for kids and adults’. That’s it – for months and months. So when it finally, finally, recommended me an interesting looking title – Holmes, Marple & Poe – how could I resist? I had to reward the algorithm, after all.
Of the book, what can be said, besides, ‘it’s a bestseller’? A perfectly calibrated blend of thriller, mystery, and chic NYC living, this book has something for everyone and yet is perfect for no one. Instead of having one main mystery, it has about six little ones, which helps keep the pace of the book very fast. Also, a lot of detective stories have some sort of underlying cold case close to the detective’s heart (like death of loved one, etc), but, in this one, the underlying mystery is who the main characters – with their improbable names – actually are.. which is fun, I suppose.
“There’s only so much fight in a person. If it never lets up, if they can never rest—it gets squeezed out of them, forever.” (A Power Unbound by Freye Marske)
After reading A Marvellous Light, I was hooked on this fantasy world where the magical system is based on cat’s cradle. I picked up the second book with great anticipation, but only made it to about 30%. It’s lighthearted tone was just such a drastic shift from the first book that it seemed hardly in the same series at all. Yet, when I was in the library a couple of weeks ago, I spotted the last book in the trilogy on the shelf. A quick glance confirmed that it was about Hawthorne, the most interesting character in the first two books. I started salivating. I had to find out his story, even if it meant reading a middle-trilogy-muddle of a book. There was only one reasonable course of action: speed read the second book in order to get to the third.
A Restless Truth
This book ended up being fine: a bit aimless, a bit absurd, but still enjoyable. In the acknowledgements, the author said she wrote it in 2020 and just wanted it to be fun, which really comes through. I wouldn’t go so far as to say she achieved a ‘wodehousian romp’, as she said was her aim (not enough hilarity and too much killing people for that), but she still keeps it pretty light.
A Power Unbound
While this did solve the mystery of Hawthorn, the jackass ex-magician from the first two books, the book ended up doing a disservice to both the romance plot and the ‘save England’s magician’s plot’ by rushing through both. The romance was tense and believable, especially since we already knew both Hawthorn and his love interest from book two, but I felt resentful every time the plot pulled away from them in order to ‘save the world’. The threat to England’s magicians plot was suspenseful, but also a bit jumpy and wrapped up far, far too quickly at the end.
And yet, for all its imperfections, this is a great queer romance/fantasy trilogy. I loved how each character got their HEA and they all became this gang of conspirators by the end, almost ala Crows Duology.
All The Young Dudeswas one of the most satisfying reading experiences I’ve had in ages (other stand-outs include WOT and Wandering Inn.. So maybe I just need to read really long fiction all of the time). Although I told myself I might not bother with reading more HP fanfic, having already read (I was sure) the best on offer, I was sucked back in. Apparently, most HP fanfic either centers around the wolf-star romance (Sirius and Remus) or Drarry (Draco and Harry). After finding this out, I was insatiably curious to read the Drarry side of things.
Reading HP fanfic is just the comfort food of reading for those of us who grew up along with Harry. It’s new and unexpected, all while being embedded in this same world that we know and love so well (though different authors do a better/worse job at capturing the characters). Yet, potential readers should know that they are all pretty steamy m/m romances. They remind me strongly of Fangirl, which, in retrospect, was obviously a story about HP fanfic.
These are the ones I’ve liked, in order of preference:
Turn by Saras_girl:
Much longer than the others, Turn really gives the reader a chance to delve into the Drarry world. This one begins directly after the epilogue, with Harry and Ginny in a dysfunctional relationship and Malfoy recently divorced. Harry is transferred to an alternate world where he is in a committed relationship with Draco and has to fumble his way around this other version of himself. It’s pretty cozy, with not much happening and long, meandering descriptions of just wandering around the magical world. A very sweet read with little drama.
That Old Black Magic by bixgirl1:
Every Drarry offering has a different magical construction for bringing Draco and Harry together. In this one, there’s a historical contract between the Potters and Malfoys that requires marriage when activated. Harry and Draco unwittingly activate the contract and are forced to spend six months together at Grimauld place. My favorite things about this one are that A) Draco is still an asshole, B) the magic of Grimauld place, and C) Harry’s chosen profession. Lots to love, but wish it had been longer.
Grounds for Divorce by Tepre:
Though gentle and lulling, and an enjoyable read, I have to say that this one didn’t seem to stay as true to the world or characters as the others. Draco isn’t an asshole at all, but rather quiet, shy, genius, and Harry is pretty oblivious, a bit thick, and says ‘Jesus’ a lot (if he ever says that in cannon, I can’t remember). Also, the author had to craft this super elaborate legal system of apparition and port-keys in order to introduce some conflict to the work, which felt clunky and not very magical.
I’m not able to cook right now in my life, so it should be no surprise that I’m devouring cookbooks instead. I picked up Perfectly Good Food based on the cheerful yellow cover and illustrations at the library, and found that it had a recommended list of cookbooks at the back of the book! How lovely! And how could I not try to check them all out at the same time?
Perfectly Good Food:
My favorite thing about this book is that it contains so many more formulas than recipes. Instead of ‘use this specific type of veg in this specific amount’, it’s more like – use any veg! Any amount! The authors promote dishes that take extras and subtractions really well; they’ll accept anything in your kitchen or nothing at all and still be good. I’ve had a few of these formulas under my belt for a while, but Margarete and Irene Li introduced me to several new ones (incl. rice papers, galette, etc). The book is organized by type of food you might need to use up (veg, fruit, etc), with a few recipes, some ideas, and tips for storing and preserving. Also, the illustrations are wonderful – it was a great book to read while stuck inside with my kids all weekend because they loved looking at the pictures and pretending to eat the food (which allowed me more reading time even if it doesn’t serve as a tool to actually get them to eat the real food).
Cooking at Home:
I love how Chang draws a thick line here between restaurant cooking and home cooking. So many recipes that we find online and in magazines, he claims, are actually made for restaurant cooking. They’re perfectly plated and presented so that people will pay money for them. Home cooking, on the other hand, doesn’t have to be a quest for perfection. It has to taste great… and that is all. Practically, this means that you can: not peel most veggies, microwave almost everything, boil soups vigorously (who cares about a cloudy broth?!), and just use whatever spices are already in your pantry. The book was also pretty funny (sometimes crossing over to wacky) -with two narrators talking over each other and teasing one another. The only part I didn’t love was that most of the book was meat-oriented, even while giving lip service to the fact that many of us these days are trying to get to a less-meat diet.
Indian-ish:
This is written by the co-author of Home Cooking and is a beautiful ode to the author’s food-loving family. Her recipe descriptions are casual and funny in a way that make you want to try every single dish. Although I usually hate cookbooks that ask me to buy extra, exotic spices, Krishna actually convinced me to invest in a few hard to get ones because they aren’t just used once or twice in the book, but in every single recipe. I also loved the vivid descriptions of Indian-American culture, and how Priya’s mom came up with many of these recipes before the authentic ingredients were available in the states.
“Next time you run across an unusually good designer, landscaper, mechanic, electrician, carpenter, plumber, radiologist, surgeon, orthodontist, small business owner, computer software or graphics designer, computer networker, photographer, artist, boat captain, airplane pilot, or skilled member of any of the dozens of “dyslexia-rich” fields we’ll discuss in this book, ask if that person or anyone in his or her immediate family is dyslexic or had trouble learning to read, write, or spell. We’ll bet you dollars for dimes that person will say yes—the connection is just that strong. In fact, many of the most important and perceptive experts in the field of dyslexia have remarked on the link they’ve seen between dyslexia and talent.” (The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock and Fernette Eide)
After my son was diagnosed with dyslexia, almost the first thing I did was get a book on the topic. The actual first thing, of course, was to consult my memory of novels to see if I’d ever read a book about a dyslexic character before – Six of Crows, It Takes Two to Tumble, and a recently published K J Charles came to mind. It’s interesting to note that they’re all queer romances (which isn’t surprising, now that I think about it – queer romances focus more on internal, rather than external, obstacles- which is why I love them so much). But historical romance novels don’t really prepare one for the modern medical diagnosis.
There are a lot of misconceptions about dyslexia in books and media. It is usually depicted, especially in TV, as words sort of jumping around the page. In reality, dyslexia has nothing to do with how the eyes see letters, and everything to do with how the brain processes information. Dyslexic brains are great at making huge, intuitive leaps, and not great at rote memorization and making processes automatic. Reading, which requires the brain to make phonemes into automatically recognized chunks of information, is simply a symptom of this difference in brain processing. Dyslexia can affect anything that requires us to make information automatic, including spelling, math (esp. math facts, like multiplication), and even physical acts, like tying shoes.
This book completely changed our culture’s understanding of what dyslexia means. Instead of being just a disability, Brock and Fernette Eide prove that the dyslexic brain also comes with a number of huge advantages. The advantages rarely show themselves in grade school, which mostly focuses on memorization, but usually appear in college and adulthood. They include fantastic 3D spatial awareness, ability to see relationships between ideas, pattern recognition, predicting future trends, etc. These strengths make dyslexic people great engineers, inventors, entrepreneurs, and artists.
I actually think that any big reader should read this book – even if you don’t think you know someone with dyslexia. One in five people has dyslexia, which is a pretty huge ratio, and many are undiagnosed. Since reading it (and talking about it nonstop), I’ve helped five people take dyslexia screeners and realize that they probably have dyslexia. While this is the most helpful for young children, it can also be incredibly healing to adults who have always struggled with reading/spelling and never known why. It’s a fascinating book that opens up your understanding of an often misunderstood issue – recommended for anyone.
Book Lion 