Monthly Archives: October 2018

Oh hey it’s Sunday

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And I still don’t know what I’m doing with this space. Saturday was long and humid working at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, and I am absolutely pooped. I know about the SCOTUS vote, but right now (Saturday night, as I’m writing this), I do not have the spoons to even start to address it. There may or may not be an evening post tonight talking about it. We’ll see how I feel once I have slept.

Oh lord having a chronic illness SUCKS BALLS. I am so glad we’re never working both days of a Fair weekend this year. I don’t think I’m capable because one day makes EVERY. THING. HURT. And it’s not like I’m running all over the grounds. I am alternately standing, sitting, and occasionally walking around a, what, 10 foot square booth? Might be 12. I’m not really sure. It’s not large, anyway.

So yeah. I’m gonna go collapse in my bed and sleep until sometime Sunday. Probably far past when this post goes up. Then we’re going to lounge around the house until we find enough spoons to go see Venom, and then maybe I’ll write some long ranty opinion piece about the piece of shit that just got onto the Supreme Court.

I’ll leave you with some Wonder Women. 20181006_2207247668070089285426173.jpg

Book Review: A Whole New World

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a whole new worldA Whole New World
by Liz Braswell
(#1 in the Twisted Tales series)
Fairy-Tale Retellings
376 pages
Published 2015

I’ve been wanting to read the Twisted Tales series for quite some time, and finally requested the first book. To be honest, I’m not thrilled. Aladdin was never my favorite Disney movie, though, so it might just be unfortunate that it’s the first book in the series. I’ll probably still try the rest.

The book actually sticks pretty closely to the Disney movie in descriptions, characters, and setting. Everyone looks like their Disney movie counterparts. I had to check the inside cover to find that the book is indeed an official Disney product. There’s no way they’d get away with it, otherwise; it’d be blatant copyright infringement, and Disney is rather strict about that.

Basically, the book takes the script of Aladdin and asks one question – what if Aladdin really did give Jafar the lamp instead of keeping it when he got stuck in the cave? We know what Jafar does with the lamp eventually, but what if he had it first, before Aladdin? A lot of the plot is familiar – Jasmine and her tiger, the hourglass with people stuck inside of it, the Sultan playing with his toys. It’s really interesting to see the plot elements deconstructed and put back together in new ways.

I’m not sure whether I like this plot or the movie plot more; I never had strong feelings about Aladdin so I’m probably not the best judge.

It’s alright. If you’re a fan of Aladdin you might like it more than I did. I’m withholding judgment of the entire series until I read a few more, though.

From the cover of A Whole New World:

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp?

Aladdin is a street rat. There’s really no getting around that. Like most, he’s just trying to survive another day in impoverished Agrabah.

Jasmine is a princess, one who is about to enter into an arranged marriage. All she wants is to escape her fate, to see what lies beyond the palace walls.

But everything changes when the sultan’s trusted adviser, Jafar, suddenly rises to power. With the help of an ancient lamp, Jafar becomes determined to break the laws of magic and gain control over love and death. Soon Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion to stop the power-mad ruler. But their fight for freedom grows costly when it threatens to tear the kingdom apart.

This isn’t the story you already know. This is a story about power. About revolutionaries. About love. And about one moment changing everything. 

Friday 56 – Educated

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educated memoirThe Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice. The rules are simple – turn to page 56 in your current read (or 56% in your e-reader) and post a few non-spoilery sentences.

Today’s quote is from Educated, by Tara Westover, a book that is hitting me quite hard.

She’s digging through her dad’s junkyard, trying to find things to salvage with him. She’s ten years old.

I remembered all the times I’d seen one of my brothers burst through the back door, howling, pinching some part of his body that was gashed or squashed or broken or burned. I remembered two years before, when a man named Robert, who worked for Dad, had lost a finger. I remembered the otherworldly pitch of his scream as he ran to the house. I remembered staring at the bloody stump, and then at the severed finger, which Luke brought in and placed on the counter. It looked like a prop from a magic trick. Mother put it on ice and rushed Robert to town so the doctors could sew it back on. Robert’s was not the only finger the junkyard had claimed. A year before Robert, Shawn’s girlfriend, Emma, had come through the back door shrieking. She’d been helping Shawn and lost half her index. Mother had rushed Emma to town, too, but the flesh had been crushed, and there was nothing they could do.

This book is – hard to read, because so much of it resonates with me. I was homeschooled as well, though we weren’t isolationist or survivalist like Tara’s family. My full review will be up when I have the mental clarity to write it.

Book Review: How to Find Love in a Bookshop

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how to find love in a bookshopHow to Find Love in a Bookshop
by Veronica Henry
Contemporary Fiction
340 pages
Published 2016

From the title, you’d think this is a love story – and it kind of is – but not a traditional one. We don’t have a center couple with side characters, and the plot doesn’t revolve around their misunderstandings. No, the main character here is Emilia Nightingale, entrusted with her late father’s book shop, and the romance is with the town. There are several side characters, and while Emilia does get a romance, it’s the side characters’ love lives that we spend the most time with. We have the heiress to the local estate and her devoted gardener, the property developer’s minion and his estranged wife, the housewife longing to be a career woman again and her career husband who wants to stay home, the shy but sweet chef and the cheesemonger. (That one’s my favorite! Bonding over books and food? Girl after my own heart!)

The main conflict in the book comes from the financial straits of the bookshop and Emilia’s efforts to stay afloat – everything else revolves around that. We dip back in time to Emilia’s father’s life to learn about the founding of the shop and his own romances, which helps us see how some characters are emotionally invested in Emilia and the current status of the bookshop.

This is a sweet, gentle book that’s perfect for a rainy day and a cup of tea. Combining characters who love books, the enchanting magic of a good bookshop, and the (mostly) serene atmosphere of a quiet English village, the book is just cozy and comforting and I absolutely loved it.

From the cover of How to Find Love in a Bookshop:

The enchanting story of a bookshop, its devoted new owner, its loyal customers, and the extraordinary power of books to heal the heart.

Nightingale Books, nestled on the main street in an idyllic little village, is a dream come true for book lovers – a cozy haven and welcoming getaway for the literary-minded locals. But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop open after her beloved father’s death, and the temptation to sell is getting stronger. The property developers are circling, yet Emilia’s regulars have become like family, and she can’t imagine breaking the promise she made to her father to keep the store alive.

There’s Sarah, owner of stately Peasebrook Manor, who has used the bookshop as an escape in the past few years; now it seems there’s a very specific reason for all those frequent visits. Next is roguish Jackson, who, after making a complete mess of his marriage, looks to Emilia for advice on books for the son he misses so much. And the forever shy Thomasina, who runs a pop-up restaurant for two in her tiny cottage, has a crush on a man she met in the cookbook section, but can hardly dream of working up the courage to admit her true feelings.

Enter the world of Nightingale Books for a serving of romance, long-held secrets, and unexpected hopes for the future – and not just within the pages on the shelves. How to Find Love in a Bookshop is the delightful story of Emilia, the unforgettable community whose lives she has touched, and the books they all cherish.

Library Loot and Book Haul

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a light in the atticSo I only checked out one book from the Library this week – Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic, because it turns out it was a bestseller the first week of 1982, so it hits the prompt of “Bestseller the year you were born” from PopSugar. And I’d much rather re-read that than any of the rest of the boring shit that was apparently good that year!

all the birds in the skyI did wind up with six books from the Baltimore Book Festival this weekend, though! Five of them from Friday, and one from Sunday. I talked about the first five in my post on Sunday, but the last one is All The Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders. We got to listen to her at a couple of panels on Sunday, and she signed the book for me too!

That was all I picked up this week. Need to cut down on my physical To-Be-Read stack when I can!

TTT – Authors I’d Love To Meet

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I actually got to meet a ton of authors this last weekend at the Baltimore Book Festival – several of which I didn’t know I wanted to meet until I met them! (Na’amen Gobert Tilihun, Sam Miller, Zoraida Córdova, and Charlie Jane Anders all come to mind, as well as Kenneth Rogers Jr. and Nibedita Sen!) But authors I’d love to meet that I haven’t met yet?

john and hank green

John (left) and Hank Green

Well, John Green and Hank Green, first. I’ve been watching them on Youtube forever – I’ve read most (maybe all) of John’s work, and I have Hank’s debut novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, on my side table to read this month.

seanan mcguire

Seanan McGuire

Because I’ve been following her on Twitter, Seanan McGuire, oh my god. She is an absolute riot and a fabulous human being. Even if I come away from the meeting covered in glitter, it would be worth it! (She wrote Into The Drowning Deep as Mira Grant.)

S. A. Chakraborty
Rin Chupeco
Julie C. Dao

I’d love to chat with S. A. Chakraborty and Rin Chupeco and Julie Dao. Strong women who write strong women! (Pictured in order, left to right.)

obamasDoes Barack Obama count? He’s written books. So has Michelle, I suppose, and I would LOVE to meet them both.

I’d also love to meet Ellen Oh, Meghan Maclean Weir, and Heidi Heilig. (Pictured left to right.) I keep hoping some of these authors will have events near me, but the closest most of them come is Boston! There’s been a few events scheduled in DC, but it’s really hard for me to get down into DC. I wish Baltimore attracted more author events! That’s part of why I enjoyed the Baltimore Book Festival so much, but it’s only once per year.