September read harder

Well, as noted, already read Crier's War. It was interesting, sci-fi meets fantasy, full of suspense. I need to read the second book in the duology so I know what happens! I also finished Where the Library Hides, which I thought was not quite as good as the first book but still enjoyable. The will-they-won't-they between Whit and Inez was the best part.

Color me shocked, I finished The Priory of the Orange Tree, and it didn't even take me the full month! I thought it would take me so much longer to whittle away at, but it was so very good, full of intrigue and world-building, and I couldn't put it down. The biggest challenge with it being so long was how physically big the book is - pro tip? Get yourself a little d20 stuffy, it's the perfect size to sit in your lap and rest a book on top of.

Now I'm just wrapping up The Crimson Moth, my second pick for challenge 4, just to be thorough. I'm reading it at night before bed, so it'll take me a little longer than it normally would, but I'm really enjoying it so far. It immediately dove back into the intrigue of the first book, so much stress but in such a good way.

📚📚📚

For my October books, I rolled challenge #9, read a book based solely on its setting, and challenge #15, read a banned book and complete a task on Book Riot's How to Fight Book Bans guides. For #9, I'm planning to read Study Break: 11 College Tales from Orientation to Graduation by Aashna Avachat et. al. College counts as a setting, right? For #15, I'll be reading Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson, and for my action I'll be watching my school board's biweekly meetings and sending them emails and attempting to do the same with my city council. It's a lot of content, but I want to keep on top of it as best I can.

Murder of Crows - K. Ancrum

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐

From the cover:

"When Tig Torres first moved back to her hometown of Hollow Falls, she solved the infamous Lit Killer case - and cleared her late Aunt Beth's name in the process.

Tig's work on the case brought her to the attention of Hollow Falls's local armchair detective group, the Murder of Crows. The eccentric group is obsessed with their town's dark past - but their interests extend far beyond the Lit Killer.

Members of the group are fixated on a decades-long search for the missing body of Hollow Falls's founder. There are rumors about what's buried with the body that could be life-changing for whoever finds it. With a mission like that underway, it's not long before a member of the Murder of Crows turns up dead.

Soon, Tig and her friends Max and Wyn are tangled up in the search, too. But the stakes are getting higher and the hunt more dangerous. Someone's willing to kill to keep the town's secrets buried, and if Tig's not careful, she'll be the next victim."

📚📚📚 

Look, if you already read my mystery read post about this book, you know I wasn't impressed by it at the start. I decided to really give it a fair shake, I had to read the whole thing and see how everything played out. It wasn't worth it.

I would say "bypassing the decision to write a book as a 'sequel' to a podcast" but truthfully, I don't think you can. Do I think technically you can read this book without the podcast context and have it stand alone? Yes. In practice, however, there's not a lot of world or character development in the book, and the narrative throughout leaned pretty heavily on the reader having the information from the podcast. It's almost a fan fiction vibe, like this was written exclusively for fans of the Lethal Lit podcast to enjoy.

Let's pass beyond the weird choice to write a book billed as the first in a series that actually requires knowledge from another form of media to really follow, though. Tig and her friends - good characters? Eh. They weren't BAD, I guess, but they all just felt very flat and inconsistent. As noted, it seems like a lot of their development happened in the podcast, but if you're going to write a book set in an existing world, sorry, I think it's still your responsibility to develop that shit yourself. 

Also, for all that Tig was touted as this great detective and the solver of this notorious serial killer case (which, also, so weird they were all super flippant about that), she didn't really seem to solve anything in this book. It was more like she and her friends were like "oh my god, what's happening, we have to figure this out" and then someone else would be like "psst, come over here, I have so much lore to share with you" and they would just straight up spoon feed them answers. The entire book was just Tig tripping from one dumb scenario to another and making arguably the worst decisions possible along the way.

Full spoilers here - even the end was a complete letdown. First of all, continuing the tripping from one scenario to another theme, Tig et al didn't even DO anything to solve what was happening or stop the bad guy from carrying out his evil plot. They thought it was someone else and yelled at that character on the phone, and then that character TOLD them who it really was and they ran headlong into danger with no plan and basically just submitted themselves to that person. Then that person got THEMSELVES killed while Tig and the gang just fucking sat there. But hey, in a not at all earned dramatic scene, Tig almost died in a fire, so there's that.

And after that, when Tig & co. miraculously solved the impossible riddles of this decades-old hidden "scavenger hunt" for the Founder's treasure (that were not impossible and also just straight up made no fucking sense and the whole thing was never explained in a satisfactory way to justify the hullaballoo behind it all), the treasure was a. in a place that would have been incredibly easy to find and b. basically nothing. And then it was just like "cool, well, the end. But PS don't forget, this town is crazy dangerous and everyone is violent and scary, dun dun duuuuuun."

Like I said, impossible to say "aside from the questionable premise of writing a book based on a podcast world," but even if I was willing to, I don't think this is a well-told story. And being very honest, I have my doubts that the podcast is any better. I'm just glad the book is relatively short, so it didn't take me long to read.

500 piece puzzles are where it's at

Another day, another puzzle...or three? 500 piece puzzles are truly the perfect activity for a peaceful afternoon. Have a friend coming over for coffee? Chip away at a picture of Yellowstone while you chat!

Boardwalk Puzzles has a series of national park puzzles, and this is the second one I've done (shout out to Darcy for providing them! Lake Tahoe was equally enjoyable.) This one was created by Bruce Martin and is very vibrant. These puzzles are fun to put together, the pieces have really unique shapes, and overall I'm a huge fan! Truthfully, as I scroll through their website looking at all the other national park puzzles available, my biggest gripe with Boardwalk is how clunky their website is. Puzzle quality? 5/5. Website quality? 3/5. Maybe 3.5 because I think it's cool that they include some history about each national park in the puzzle description (added this after I chose the rating because the page took SO LONG to load.) I might have to add .5 to my puzzle rating too, because I'm resisting blowing all my money on the other park puzzles, they're all so good. 5.5/5? Seems fair.

Other useful moments for a quick little puzzle? Downtime during a beach vacation! Side note, does it break the immersion if I acknowledge that I'm writing this post two days after we came back from a trip to Washington in mid-June even though it's not going to be posted for a few months? Sorry if it does. Now you know what I was getting up to three months ago, that's kind of interesting. Or maybe it isn't.

There were SO many puzzles available at the condo we stayed in, and I really wanted to do them all, but I feel like I picked the two best ones, since we were short of time. (I mean, I love puzzles, but I equally love exploring ruins and hiking to a lighthouse and walking the beach and such.)

These are both Ravensburger puzzles, and oh my god, have I reviewed any other Ravensburger puzzles? I forget if I have, but they're SO GOOD. I know I have some at school, and I'm always really impressed with how well they hold together even with little kids messing with them. 

I couldn't find who created the first puzzle because inexplicably I'm being blocked from accessing their website, so someone else please try to go to the Ravensburger website and tell me if it works for you. But the second puzzle was created by Nancy Wernersbach, and both are gorgeous. The pieces are pretty standard shapes, but they're very high quality and everything holds together super well. 5/5 puzzles, for sure, and such a delight to work on whilst looking out at the ocean waves. Also, in trying to find the creators of both puzzles without access to their actual website, I've discovered that they have a puzzle featuring the Duomo in Florence, Italy, and uhhhh...I'm gonna be getting my hands on that one, for sure. These puzzles rule.

September (almost forgotten!) mystery read

September snuck up on me AND both my sisters I'm doing mystery reads with so hard, it took days before one of us was finally like "oh shit, it's September" and reminded all of us to unwrap our new books.

My new book...let's just say if it reads as good as it looks, it'll be a fun journey.

Truly such a beautiful book, and the wintry vibes have me so ready for colder weather. Looking forward to getting into it!

August Read Harder

Ah, August. Back to school, back to real life, back to responsibilities. We already covered that I accidentally pre-read one of my August books, My Lady's Choosing, so one down, bingo bango. I also started It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful in July, as stated in my previous update, because I figured it's non-fiction, it's a heavy topic, and it would take me a while to finish it. Look at me, thinking ahead! 

Turns out that pays off, because I finished it, and it was very emotional and educational and inspiring and fascinating. The more I read and learn about history, the more I'm like wow, fuck, growing up and "learning" about history, we really were just straight up deceived about so many things. It's truly fucked. And no wonder so many people now have their heads so far up their asses. 

And speaking of not learning about real history, last book of August, Like a Hammer, another heavy read. I'm not a huge poetry reader, so I tried to read just a few at a time to give myself the chance to really experience them, and SHEESH, powerful words, heartbreaking. It's an incredible collection of poetry, and it's so overwhelming reading about the experience of incarceration and our bullshit justice system from people living within that system. If you can get a copy of it (if you know me, you can borrow it from me!), I recommend it.

📚📚📚

And here we go, into the last third of the year! For challenge #4, read a book about obsession, I'll be reading the second book in the What the River Knows duology by Isabel Ibanez, Where the Library Hides. I also picked Rebel Witch, the second book in The Crimson Moth series (maybe duology?) by Kristen Ciccarelli. Maybe I'll finish one this month, maybe I'll have time for both, we'll see. Looking forward to both, though.

For challenge #19, read a queernorm book, I chose The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. And now we're going to get into a little bit of a shananigan, because this book is over EIGHT HUNDRED PAGES, y'all. Soooo, since I'm reading one book that's basically two or three or four books, I'm giving myself a freebie and using Crier's War, which I read earlier this year, for challenge #20, read the first book in a completed YA or middle grade duology. Typically I only a count a book if I specifically chose it for a challenge, but...I think I deserve a little bit of a pass with such a behemoth to get through.

Lasagna Means I Love You - Kate O'Shaughnessy

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Nan was all the family Mo ever needed. But suddenly she's gone, and Mo finds herself in foster care after her uncle decides she's not worth sticking around for. Nan left her a notebook and advised her to get a hobby, like ferret racing or palm reading. But how could a hobby fix anything in her newly topsy-turvy life?

Then Mo discovers a handmade cookbook filled with someone else's family recipes. Even though Nan never cooked, Mo can't tear her eyes away. Not so much from the recipes, but the stories attached to them. Though, when she makes herself a pot of soup, it is every bit as comforting as the recipe notes said.

Soon Mo is asking everyone she meets for their family recipes. Teaching herself to make them. Collecting the stories behind them. Building a website to share them. And, okay, secretly hoping that a long-lost relative will find her and give her a family recipe all her own.

But when everything starts to unravel again, Mo realizes that if she wants a family recipe - or a real family - she's going to have to make it up herself."

📚📚📚 

This is one of the books on a nominee list for one of the book award committees I joined. I feel like I'm super behind reading through the list, so I checked out a whole stack of books, grabbed this one with zero idea of what to expect, and I was blown away. It's a gorgeous story, nothing at all like I expected. The cover is so playful, I expected something very lighthearted and silly, which it was at times, but it was emotional, sometimes heartbreaking, and it was so full of heart.

Immediately, something I appreciated about this story was that it centers around grief and foster care. There are so few books that touch on these topics (more now than there used to be, but still), and I have SO many students navigating losing a parent or other loved one, living in foster care, group homes, etc...I want them to be able to see that experience reflected in the books they're reading, to have that little boost of "I'm not alone in this." 

I will say, my students in foster care likely have a different experience than Mo, and this is something that the story touches on. It warmed my heart that this was something that stuck with Mo and that, when presented with an opportunity to try and do something about the inequity in this system, she takes it. Mo has a big heart, and you can see throughout her journey that she's trying to do the best she can to leave the world around her a brighter place.

One of my favorite things about this book was the sense of community it created. Mo's best friend, Crystal, Crystal's family, and many others rally around her to embrace and support her. I swear, I'm a little dehydrated after reading this from crying at so many beautiful moments. I don't want to spoil anything, but appropriately, the scene where the book gets its title from was one of my favorites of the whole book. I felt like I was there, experiencing things with Mo, and it filled my heart in the same way it did hers.

I feel like I've barely said anything of substance about this book, but my brain and heart are still overflowing from the experience of reading it. I loved it so much that as soon as I finished reading it, I ordered a copy for my school library. I hope my students enjoy it as much as I did.

Gay the Pray Away - Natalie Naudus

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn't know it yet. But when she stumbles upon a queer romance novel at the library, everything about her life - centered around a fundamentalist Christian homeschooling group - is thrown into question.

And to make things even more complicated, there's a new girl in town. Riley is rebellious, kindhearted, and impossibly cool. As the two bond over being multiracial teens in their very white and very religious community, Valerie finds herself falling in love.

Soon Valerie and Riley are exchanging notes in secret and stealing kisses behind the church. But even as their romance blooms, Valerie knows that they're trapped. If Valerie wants a chance at writing her own story, she must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her and running away with the girl she loves."

📚📚📚 

While I thought this was a bit heavy-handed and would have benefited from some subtlety and better development, character and story-wise, overall, I really enjoyed it. To the uninitiated (aka people who were lucky enough to NOT grow up in a cult), some of the interactions with Valerie's parents and other "Institute" members may seem overexaggerated or almost like a caricature, but rest assured, all of that is very real and not what I found heavy-handed. (Example: while my parents didn't forbid me from going to college the way Valerie's would have, it was with the expectation that I quit when I got married. There were some Big Feelings when I made it clear that wouldn't be happening.) 

I also very much identified with "close" friends cutting you off the second you weren't acting the way that they wanted you to. So real. Oh, and dudes getting to do cool shit during church activities while the girls had to sit and quietly learn how to best take care of the menfolk? My godddddddddddddddddd, let me tell you about all the cool hiking and rappelling and whatnot that my male church friends got to do while I did shit like learning how to iron button-down shirts and tie a tie so I could be of service to my future husband. The culty stuff was very real and infuriating. And don't even get me STARTED on her fucking brother, that absolute douche of a human.

Anyway, all that ranting about the shittiness of cults out of the way, my favorite character was far and away Riley. I adored her. She was very clearly going through her own shit, yet she was so supportive and optimistic and really lifted Valerie up. She was also unapologetically herself, even under immense pressure to conform, and she refused to make herself small to appease the fragility of others. While a very minor character, I also loved Mrs. Batra, Valerie's neighbor. She was so sweet and thoughtful, and I wish she played a bigger role in the story. Honestly, some of the most minor characters ended up being my favorites, I wish they all featured a little more! This book was relatively short, and I think it could have benefited from a little more development at the beginning and more wind-down at the end. And then we could have seen more from several of those minor characters who rocked so hard.

One of the most bittersweet parts of this book for me is a huge spoiler, so don't read ahead if you're planning on reading this.

Spoilers ahead, don't keep scrolling.

Seriously, stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled.

Have you read the book?

Are you not planning to?

Do you look ahead to the endings of things anyway and don't care one whit if you get spoiled?

Okay, then here we go.

At the end, on the day Valerie leaves home, I was so shocked that her mom supported her, but the more I thought back on it, the more sense it made. (Incidentally, I was SCREAMING at her to not tell her parents, if it hadn't been so close to the end of the book and the book as a whole hadn't been so positive, I would have been genuinely afraid of what her dad would do to her.) Like, her mom was so suffocating and bought-in to everything in her interactions with Valerie, but at the same time, you could see that she felt similarly suffocated herself. I saw a lot in her that I see in my own mom. 

On the one hand, she's a person who desperately wants some kind of scaffolding to dictate to her the "rules" of existing in our random, often fucked-up world and give some kind of meaning and sense of community without having to go through what it takes to develop a real, healthy, supportive community. On the other, she's a person who is intelligent and strong-willed and knows that she is in a situation where she has to make herself smaller so other people *coughmencough* can feel bigger. It's an inner conflict that I can't even begin to understand, because I couldn't do it and I left, but it has to be hard. It gave me a little bit of home that Valerie's mom recognized that she didn't want her daughter to live like that and helped her get out - and hey, maybe at some point she'll realize that she doesn't deserve to live like that either and get out herself. We can only hope.