In Constance Coopers Guile, Yonie Watereye makes a living as a “pearly,” a person who can sense magic, or “Guile,” in objects and people. The catch is that the real pearly is her slybeast cat, LaRue, who, after nearly being drowned as a kitten, developed the ability to not only sense guile, but talk.
In Jeff Zentner’s debut novel, The Serpent King, Dillard (Dill) Early, Lydia Blankenship, and Travis Bohannon narrate their experiences as they survive their last year in high school. Yes, I said survive, because who doesn’t remember what that last year was like? For the three of them (Travis and Dill especially) the drama of their senior year in high school is mere background music for the highs and lows they face in their lives outside of school. In many ways, The Serpent King is about surviving more than just that last year; it’s about the trio surviving their situations and expectations of everyone around then, and surviving everything their lives throw at them.
I love historical fiction. There’s a part of me that will always be in love with British history (and the scandals that go along with it!) and historical fiction from across the pond. Lawhon’s Flight of Dreams has made me broaden my taste in historical fiction. I loved Flight of Dreams: the writing, the characters, and the curiosity it encouraged in me. That curiosity, by the way, is one of the reasons I love historical fiction the most. Because I always want to ask, “Did it REALLY happen that way? How did it really end?”
If you know me at all, you know that I love books.
So, my goal for this year was to read fifty books. I didn’t quite make it. BUT I still read more books than I did last year, which makes me happy.
I’m a fan of Oliver’s other works (and had previously reviewed Vanishing Girls here on this blog), and so I was excited to receive an ARC of her new book, Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head.
Set in early 20th-century London, The Lodger tells the story of Dorothy Richardson, a contemporary of Virginia Woolf’s. Louisa Treger’s novel follows the story of Dorothy during her time at a lodging house in London.
When the idea for this series germinated in my head, I had several ideas floating around in my head. One of the ideas was that I would take a picture of my to-be-read pile, and write a short explanation of how I came to own the books, and in some cases why I want to—or don’t want to—read them. In the process of taking the picture(s), I realized I have a TON of books I need to read, and that I should take more than a month-long break from buying books.
I came across a tweet ages ago that referenced the idea of “Sexiest Book Alive,” and in honor of World Book Day, I thought I should return to the topic.
What makes a book sexy? Can a book even be sexy?
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