Monthly Archives: October 2018

Book Review: Catwoman – Soulstealer

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catwoman soulstealerCatwoman: Soulstealer (DC Icons #3)
by Sarah J. Maas
Young Adult – Superheroes
358 pages
Published August 2018

So I needed a “book about a heist” for the PopSugar 2018 Reading Challenge, and naturally, Catwoman fits the bill. It wouldn’t be a Catwoman novel/cartoon/graphic novel without a heist! Several, in fact, in this instance. And she teams up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn to pull them off, even though she doesn’t seem to actually need the girls in this book. I love that Maas chose to include them, because Ivy/Harley/Catwoman is one of my all-time favorite team-ups. The book also delves into the relationship between Ivy and Harley, and Harley’s dysfunctional dependence on the Joker (who’s in Arkham for this book). I loved seeing that.

Interestingly, Batman doesn’t show, other than a few phone calls with Luke Fox, Lucius Fox’s son. Luke takes the traditional role of Batman-as-Catwoman’s-love-interest, but as Batwing, a sort-of Robin. (Maybe I read too many comics? Nah.) The switch was surprising; it’s always Catwoman and Batman, Selina and Bruce. Except when it’s Talia and Bruce, I suppose.

I do wonder if they’re going to do an ensemble cast novel after these first four books. (Wonder Woman: Warbringer, Batman: Nightwalker, and Superman: Dawnbreaker being the other three.) Superman doesn’t come out until January, but the first three have been very disconnected from one another. Wonder Woman wasn’t even mentioned in Batman or Catwoman. It seems odd to have them as a series, but never mention one another in each book? That, or the Superman book is going to tie the other three together, which seems like a disservice to Superman.

Anyway. I really liked Luke Fox as Batwing – the book touched, just a little bit, on racial issues, and how even as an obscenely rich black man he’s not entirely exempt from those. In one scene he worries about the color of his skin being seen through damage to his batsuit, and cops realizing he’s black. It’s a sober reminder that even in a city beset by evil clowns, it’s still set in the United States and we still have those racist systems in place.

The banter between Luke and Selina, and Selina and Harley and Ivy, is fantastic. I haven’t actually read any of Sarah J. Maas’ books – I know, I know – but if they’re like Catwoman, I should probably give in and do so. So far, Wonder Woman is still my favorite of the DC Icons series (which is no surprise, as I love Leigh Bardugo) but Catwoman is really good.

From the cover of Catwoman: Soulstealer:

SELINA KYLE IS A THIEF.
Two years after escaping Gotham city’s slums, Selina Kyle returns as the mysterious and wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She quickly discovers that with Batman away on a vital mission, Gotham City looks ripe for the taking.

LUKE FOX IS A HERO.
Luke wants to prove that as Batwing he has what it takes to help people. He targets a new thief on the prowl who has teamed up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Together, they are wreaking havoc. This Catwoman is clever – she may be Batwing’s undoing.

IN GOTHAM CITY, NOT EVERYONE IS WHAT THEY SEEM.
Selina is playing a desperate game of cat and mouse, forming unexpected friendships and entangling herself with Batwing by night and her devilishly handsome neighbor Luke Fox by day. But with a dangerous threat from the past on her tail, will she be able to pull off the heist that’s closest to her heart?

Library Loot Wednesday

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So I’m not doing too good at whittling down the number of library books I have checked out… I turned in two this week and picked up six! America for Beginners finally showed up, and I checked that out on my first trip in, along with Feminasty: The Complicated Woman’s Guide to Surviving the Patriarchy Without Drinking Herself to Death.

On my second trip, I picked up Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger, Wintersong, The Star-Touched Queen, and Mirage.

I got bogged down this week with some nonfiction, so I might spend this coming week speeding through some fantasy novels to knock out as many of these books as I can!

TTT – Bookstores or Libraries I’ve Always Wanted to Visit

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, and this week’s topic is Bookstores or Libraries I’ve Always Wanted to Visit. She has a link-up on her page where you can visit everyone participating this week! I’m going to try to focus on bookstores and libraries that I could realistically visit.

So first on my list is probably The Library of Congress. Despite living in Maryland for six years now, I still have not made it there. I’ve been to several other tourist attractions in DC, but just haven’t managed this one. I should probably plan an excursion to go do so! Maybe sometime this winter, when it’s not tourist season.

baldwin book barnMy husband and I are spending Thanksgiving Weekend in Philadelphia this year, as there’s a concert Friday night we have tickets to, and I’ve never been to Philly. I think I’ll try to convince him we should stop off at the Baldwin Book Barn on the way home, because it looks amazing.

Another local bookstore I haven’t made it to yet is Red Emma’s Bookstore and Coffeehouse. They’re a local co-op specializing in radical literature, so they have a lot of books on civil rights, socialism, feminism, racism, class structure and the like. The cafe serves vegetarian and vegan responsibly sourced food. They’re one of the sponsors of the Baltimore Book Festival every year, and their stage is always full of important topics around racism and civil rights.

Speaking of sponsors of the Book Festival, The Ivy Bookshop is another store in Baltimore. They’re the main sponsor of the Book Festival, and had satellite tables at every stage selling the books of the authors presenting at each stage. They have an event calendar with lots of author events, so I’ll be keeping an eye on that to see if anything relevant to my interests pops up. I’ve never been to their actual shop. They actually have an event Halloween evening with two authors I met at the Book Festival, and one of them is Sam Miller. I wanted to buy Blackfish City and get it autographed at the Festival, but they were sold out by the time I went to get it. Sam said he’d sign a copy for me someday, so this might be my chance!

braddock libraryThe Braddock Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh was the first Carnegie library in the United States, and the building looks amazing. I actually visit Pittsburgh once a year, but Sunday would be the only day available to visit the library, and it’s closed on Sundays. Finding time during the rest of the weekend would be exceedingly difficult, sadly. It doesn’t surprise me that the building is beautiful, though, since the entire town of Pittsburgh is awesome.

My husband and I have talked a lot about visiting Toronto, and I’ve just discovered Bakka Phoenix Books, in Toronto, which specializes in science fiction and fantasy. That would definitely be one of our destinations!

Middle East Books and More is a bookstore in DC specializing in, obviously, Middle Eastern books. They also have pottery, food, oils, toys, DVDs, and other things related to the Middle East. They look fascinating!

I’m going to cheat on these last three and list places I’ve already BEEN but want to go to again.

First, a place I definitely WILL go to again, probably multiple times. The Book Thing of Baltimore is three large rooms full of free books. Donated books are put out on the shelves as fast as they can process them and make room on the shelves, which are always pretty full! There’s a pile of boxes in a corner for people to put their finds in, presumably from the stacks of boxes of donated books in their backroom. The place is only open on weekends, because it’s run by all volunteer labor. It’s amazing, and I always leave with a full box of books. The Book Thing was actually destroyed by a fire a few years ago, but it’s back up and running now, and one of my favorite places in Baltimore.

The last two are both back home in Oregon, one in Portland and one in my hometown of Eugene.

In Portland, of course, is Powell’s. Powell’s is the largest independent bookstore, taking up an entire city block, and has at least three floors of books. It really is an experience.

smith family booksLess well-known is Smith Family Books in Eugene. The location I usually went to was on the second floor of a building down by campus, across a hall from my friendly local game store, Emerald City Comics. Smith Family Books was two floors of mostly used books, with a few new ones mixed in. Shelves double-stacked with novels, stacks on the floor, corners over-running with books – Smith Family Books was one of my favorite places to idle away an afternoon. They have a second location that I’ve also been to, but the one down by campus was my favorite.

I can’t wait to see where everyone else wants to go! Have you been to any of these locations?

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Heart of Thorns

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heart of thornsHeart of Thorns
by Bree Barton
Fantasy
438 pages
Published July 2018

I almost bailed on this book. It’s not bad, exactly, it’s just – mediocre. Mia discovers that she is the thing she’s been taught to hate, discovers that maybe they’re not all bad, that what she’s been taught is probably wrong, but, y’know, maybe not entirely wrong – it’s just one trope after another. It was rather predictable.

And there’s this problem with the world. If every woman is suspected of being a witch, (sorry, Gwyrach) and they work their magic through touch – how is anyone having kids? Sure, women are required to wear gloves in public, but – the touch-magic doesn’t keep men from abusing women. Not like in The Power, where men start getting actually scared to touch women for fear of what could happen.

The only character in this book that I actually LIKED was Prince Quin. And maybe Dom, the flirtatious gay boy. Mia was rather thoroughly unlikable. First she blindly accepts that she should hate and kill Gwyrach, then is appalled to find out she (and her mother) are/were Gwyrach, and refuses to accept that because of course she can’t possibly be one of those reviled women. She refuses to take Quin into her confidence, despite him showing blind trust in her for most of the book. What does he have to do to prove himself to you, woman?

I’ve read much better feminist dystopias. This is oppressed-women-finding-their-hidden-powers-and-fighting-back clothed in a fantasy instead of a dystopia, and it’s not nearly as good as it could be. Despite ending on a cliffhanger, I don’t care enough about these characters to read the next book.

From the cover of Heart of Thorns:

Mia Rose wants only one thing: revenge against the Gwyrach who killed her mother.

In a world where only women can possess magic – and every woman is suspected of having it – the half-girl, half-god Gwyrach are feared, reviled, and hunted. After training under her father and his infamous Hunters, Mia is determined to scour the four kingdoms and enact the Hunters’ Creed: Heart for a heart, life for a life.

But then her father announces a quite different future: She will marry Prince Quin, heir to the throne. Just like that, smart, headstrong Mia is thrust into the last role she ever wanted: pretty, wifely bauble to the future king.

So on the eve of her wedding, Mia plots a daring escape, only to discover the unimaginable: She has magic. She may be a Huntress, but she’s also a Gwyrach.

As the truth comes to light, Mia must untangle the secrets of her own past. Friends darken into foes and logic begins to fray – as do the rules she has always played by. If Mia wants to survive, she must learn to trust her heart . . . even if it kills her.

Book Review: Dear Fahrenheit 451

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dear fahrenheit 451Dear Fahrenheit 451 – Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life
by Annie Spence
Book about Books
244 pages
Published 2017

Dear Fahrenheit 451 was recommended to me by Doing Dewey in the comments to my last book about books, My Life With Bob. I’m very glad they recommended it, because I enjoyed this book immensely!

In Dear Fahrenheit 451, each chapter is a letter to a different book. (Except the last few chapters, those are letters to the reader.) The letters range from disappointment (Wicked) to adoration (The Fledgling) to creeped out (Principles of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis) – but they’re all entertaining, and usually pretty funny. Some letters are explaining why she’s culling them from the library’s collection (too many copies, or bad condition, or haven’t been checked out in years.)

The author has a wonderful writing style that makes me want to grab coffees and gab about books with her. It’s also a great book to read when you don’t have long periods of time to read – the chapters are short and self-contained, so there’s no rush to find out what happens next. It will most likely add things to your TBR, though, as most books about books tend to do!

I really enjoyed this one – it’s way better than My Life With Bob. Probably because it’s actually about the books, where My Life With Bob was more of a memoir.

From the cover of Dear Fahrenheit 451:

If you love to read, and presumably you do since you’ve picked up this book (!), you know that some books affect you so profoundly, they forever change the way you think about the world. Some books, on the other hand, disappoint you so much you want to throw them against the wall. Either way, it’s clear that a book can be your new soul mate or the bad relationship you need to end.

In Dear Fahrenheit 451, librarian Annie Spence has crafted love letters and breakup notes to both the iconic and the eclectic books she has encountered over the years. From her breakup letter to The Giving Tree (a dysfunctional relationship book if ever there was one) to her love letter to The Time Traveler’s Wife (a novel less about time travel and more about the life of a marriage, with all of its ups and downs), Spence will make you think of old favorites in a new way. Filled with suggested reading lists, Spence’s take on classic and contemporary books is very much like the best of literature – sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes surprisingly poignant, and filled with universal truths.

A celebration of reading, Dear Fahrenheit 451 is for anyone who loves nothing more than curling up with a good book . . . and another, and another, and another!

Book Review: The Girl with the Red Balloon

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girl with the red balloonThe Girl with the Red Balloon
by Katherine Locke
Young Adult/Magical Realism/Alternate History
277 pages
Published 2017

I’ve actually had this out from the library for a while, but when discussing Summer Bird Blue with the YA_Pride Twitter Book Club, I learned the person behind the book club is none other than Katherine Locke, the author of this book! I was amused that I actually had her book beside me without knowing that, and pushed it up my TBR list. I’m glad I did, because the sequel, The Spy with the Red Balloon, just came out. And oh man, do I want to read that now! The Girl with the Red Balloon is also “The Big Library Read” for October 1-15th, which I didn’t realize. Happy little coincidences!

So the premise for this book is that Ellie Baum, Jewish schoolgirl on a trip to Germany, grabs a magic balloon and is transported back to East Berlin after WW II. I’m always a little cautious when time travel is involved. This is quite well done, however! Even the magicians are like “this shouldn’t be possible!” As a Jewish girl in possession of a magic balloon used to take escapees over the Berlin Wall, she’s immediately in great danger in East Berlin. Luckily she is spotted by one of the people responsible for the balloons. Somewhat unluckily, she’s soon drawn into a deadly plot to rewrite history and has to figure out who to trust.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the depictions of the wall. The East Berliners’ surprise when she tells them the other side is covered in graffiti and street art is not something I’d thought of. I’ve seen a section of the wall; there’s three at the Marine Corps base in California that my husband was stationed at early in his time in the Corps. There are pictures online, but after sifting through old photos, I don’t seem to have any of my own. (You could google “Berlin Wall Presidio Monterey” and find a ton.) I think I remember a no-photo policy on the base at the time. Regardless, I know what she means because I’ve seen it. Ever since actually seeing parts of the Berlin Wall, reading anything about it has felt just a little more real. That’s always the problem with things like the Wall that you have no personal connection to – obviously they’re real, but when the circumstances are so alien to our own way of life, it’s hard to really comprehend. Finding ways to personally connect – seeing parts of the Wall, talking to people who have personally experienced things you haven’t (if you have the opportunity, and if they’re willing to discuss it) is so important.

I have digressed. I’m curious to know more about the magic in the Balloonmakers’ world – in the book we only see a small slice of it being used under dire circumstances. I hope Locke explores it more in the sequel. I’ll find out as soon as the library sends the book my way! Plots like this can be interesting or very disappointing – if the main character finds a way home, she leaves behind the love interest. But if she stays with the love interest, she never gets to go home. Luckily, Locke is a wonderful writer, and I was mostly happy with the ending but it was definitely left with questions for the sequel to answer!

I know I haven’t revealed a whole lot about the plot, but this is a twisty book, and I can’t really say much without spoiling surprises. I’ll just say it’s a great book, I’m very glad I finally read it, and my library needs to hurry up with that sequel!

From the cover of The Girl with the Red Balloon:

This can’t be real, I thought. But I had the same feeling I had whenever Saba told me his stories: that somewhere, somehow, the impossible had happened. 

Ever since she arrived in Germany on a school trip, Ellie Baum has felt the weight of history on her. After all, she’s the first one in her family to return since her grandfather’s miraculous escape from a death camp, and in Berlin, pieces of the past – World War II, the Cold War – are still visible decades later.

One day, visiting the Berlin Wall Memorial, she sees a stray balloon floating across the park, and she wanders away from the crowd to follow it. One moment she’s reaching out to grab it – the next, she’s yanked back through time to when the wall is still standing. It is 1988, and Ellie is in East Berlin. 

Nobody knows how she got there, not even the members of the underground guild – the Runners and the Schöpfers – who use balloons and magic to help people escape over the wall. Now as a stranger in an oppressive regime, Ellie must hide from the police with the help of Kai, a Runner struggling with his own uneasy relationship with the powerful Balloonmakers and his growing feelings for Ellie. Together they search for the truth behind Ellie’s mysterious time travel, and when they uncover a plot to alter history with dark magic, she must risk everything – including her only way home – to stop the deadly plans.