Author Archives: Goddess in the Stacks

Library Loot Wednesday

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I picked up three books this week – P.S. I Still Love You, the sequel to To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Silence Fallen, a new Mercy Briggs book that I somehow missed when it came out at the beginning of the year, and The Good Demon, about a woman in search of the demon that was exorcised from her because she wants it back. (Intriguing!)

Book Review: The Bees

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the beesThe Bees
by Laline Paull
Fiction
340 pages
Published 2014

I was cautiously optimistic about this book, because I’d heard good things about it, but really? Bees? An entire book from the viewpoint of a worker bee? Even fictionalized, how much material is there really to work with?

SO MUCH.

My fears were completely ungrounded because this book is AMAZING. Flora 717 is a sanitation bee, tasked with taking dead bodies out of the hive, cleaning up wax cells after new bees have hatched, and other duties to keep the hive clean. Somewhat extraordinarily, it is discovered that she can produce the liquid needed to feed bee larva, and is taken to serve in the nursery for a bit, where she starts to develop a mind of her own.

As Flora develops new abilities and works her way through the ranks of the hive, we start to learn that something in the governing of the hive is not quite what it should be. Something is wrong. But the strictly enforced castes and other outside factors, like weather and predators, delay Flora’s quest to ferret it out.

Between lying wasps, conniving spiders, and a conspiracy within the ranks of her own hive, Flora bounces from danger to danger trying to protect what she loves in an engrossing story of bravery and sacrifice.

I absolutely loved this book. I especially liked that anywhere possible, actual bee behavior was described and used to further the plot. This is definitely one of my favorite reads this year!

From the cover of The Bees:

Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive, where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening the hive’s survival, her curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw, but her courage and strength are assets. She is allowed to feed the newborns in the royal nursery and then to become a forager, flying alone and free to collect nectar and pollen. A feat of bravery grants her access to the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers mysteries about the hive that are both profound and ominous. 

But when Flora breaks the most sacred law of all – daring to challenge the Queen’s preeminence – enemies abound, from the fearsome fertility police who enforce the hive’s strict social hierarchy to the high priestesses jealously wedded to power. Her deepest instincts to serve and sacrifice are now overshadowed by a greater power: a fierce maternal love that will bring her into conflict with her conscience, her heart, and her society – and lead her to perform unthinkable deeds.

Thrilling, suspenseful, and spectacularly imaginative, The Bees and its dazzling young heroine will forever change the way you look at the world outside your window.

Sunday Stuff

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Oh man, I am so tired of being sick. I am over the worst of it, and I’m getting better, but it’s in small increments. I’m still pretty stuffed up. I just want to be better by Thanksgiving, because we’re leaving for Philadelphia the next morning! We’ll be spending the weekend in Philly – there’s a VNV Nation concert Friday night, then we’ll be doing tourist things the rest of the weekend, because I’ve never been to Philadelphia! My husband has been once or twice, but it’ll be all new to me. There’s a couple of museums we’ll be going to, as well as the Poe House. (We’ve been to the Poe House in Baltimore, and Poe’s grave here, but not to the Philadelphia one! Have I ever posted those pictures here? I should do that, even if they’re from many years ago.) We’ll also be stopping by Baldwin’s Book Barn, a giant old barn converted to a bookstore just outside Philly. I’m pretty excited. I just want my head to clear up before all of that, especially because an industrial concert while my ears are wonky from a head cold sounds like migraine territory to me.

I’m a little sad to discover that Katherine Locke, who wrote The Girl with the Red Balloon, is doing an event in Philly the Wednesday AFTER we’re there. I was really hoping she’d be at something that weekend and I could meet her! Oh well. I’ll have to keep an eye on her author events. She’s based out of Philadelphia, she’ll have to do something I can make it to eventually, right?

I am so glad I normally have posts scheduled out two weeks in advance, because that means I didn’t actually miss any days here while being sick! I’ve run out of leeway just in time to be leaving for a weekend, so I’ll have to hurry and review this stack of books now that I have some focus back, but that cushion really helped. Definitely going to have to build that back up again.

And the past couple of days have sucked, because we rent an old house with terrible plumbing, and right now any water that goes down drains winds up coming up in our laundry room! The plumber is coming sometime today, so hopefully that will get figured out soon. And I really hope he gets here early in the day, because we were planning to go see a friend perform in The Toxic Avenger this afternoon!

Blargh. Being sick and not being able to take a shower or flush the toilet has also not been real pleasant, either. I can’t wait to buy a house this spring and get away from this shoddy plumbing!

 

Book Review: And The Ocean Was Our Sky

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and the ocean was our skyAnd The Ocean Was Our Sky
by Patrick Ness
Illustrated by Rovina Cai
Fantasy
160 pages
Published September 2018

I’ve seen the movie based on Patrick Ness’s previous book, A Monster Calls, but I haven’t actually read the book. I definitely see similarities in style between the two stories, though. The blurb calls it “lyrical” and “haunting” but I’d call them both trippy.

In And The Ocean Was Our Sky, the story is told from the viewpoint of Bathsheba, a whale. In her world, whales and humans have been at war as long as she can remember. Whales have learned the human language, and how to build ships and use harpoons. (Though how they actually DO these things with flippers is never explained. Just suspend disbelief and go with it.)

I think the hardest thing to wrap my mind around was the whales have an inverted view of gravity. To them, the human world of air is called the Abyss, and it lives below them. The ocean is, well, their sky, as the title says. Bathsheba mentions the dizzying moment when she breaches and the world turns on its axis as gravity changes around her. When the whales talk of swimming up, they mean deeper into the ocean, or down, to us.

It’s a crazy, inverted, fantastical world, and you just have to go with it. The illustrations both help and confuse further, but I think the fever-dream feel of it is intentional.

Bathsheba and her pod are hunters of men, and they come across a sign from Toby Wick. (You know, instead of Moby Dick.) Toby Wick is a devil in the eyes of both men and whales, and Bathsheba’s captain, Captain Alexandra, resolves to hunt him down once and for all and rid the oceans of his menace. On the way, Bathsheba talks to their human captive and learns not all men are hunters, and they have dreams and fears just like whales do. Disturbed, she begins to question her own morality, and what makes someone a devil.

The book is a quick read at 160 pages, probably half of which are full-page illustrations. But it is magical and surreal and well worth reading.

From the cover of And The Ocean Was Our Sky:

CALL ME BATHSHEBA.

With harpoons strapped to their backs, the proud whales of Bathsheba’s pod live for the hunt. Led by the formidable, dangerous Captain Alexandra, they fight in the ongoing war against the world of men. So it has been, so it always shall be. 

When they attack a ship bobbing on the surface of the Abyss, they expect to find easy prey. Instead, they find the trail of a myth, a monster, perhaps the devil himself . . . .

Now, with their relentless Captain leading the chase, they embark on a final, vengeful hunt, one that will forever change the worlds of both whales and men.

From the inimitable author of A Monster Calls comes a dark, lyrical, harrowing tale, hauntingly illustrated, that flips a classic story of violent obsession on its head with heart-stopping questions of power, loyalty, and the monsters we make.

Friday 56 – The Bees

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the beesThe 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 The Bees, by Laline Paull. It’s a book told from a worker bee’s point of view.

Lily 500 held her ground. She flicked an antenna and a young Clover receiver ran out from the hive, knelt before her, and opened her mouth. Lily 500 arched her body, triggering a stream of golden nectar from her own crop into the Clover’s mouth. When there was no more, the Clover bobbed a curtsy and ran back inside.

“Crone vomit?” Sir Quercus was appalled. “Is that what we’re drinking?”

“Nectar, Sir. How did you think we carried it?” Lily 500 turned to Flora. “Hold your burden tight, and follow.”

Book Review: A River of Stars

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river of starsA River of Stars
by Vanessa Hua
Contemporary Fiction
292 pages
Published August 2018

I’ve said many times I don’t tend to like contemporary fiction, but for all that, I’ve been reading a decent amount of it. And liking some of it. In trying to read inclusively, I’ve come across books like this one and Number One Chinese Restaurant. Both books were on my summer TBR/beach read list, but having read them, I’m not sure I’d classify them as such. They are both quite good, though!

Scarlett falls in love and gets pregnant by her boss, the owner of the factory she works in, and he sends her to the US to give birth so their son will have citizenship. Which is a little shady, but I can totally believe it’s done among wealthier families. She’s one of only two unwed mothers at the secret maternity home in LA – the rest are wealthy wives there to get the same benefits for their children. When one woman goes into labor unexpectedly, Scarlett turns out to be one of the few people in the home that know how to drive, and is charged with driving the laboring mother to the hospital. After dropping her and the head of the house off, she simply drives away in the van.

Her first stop is McDonald’s, which is quite believable, from what I understand. (I’ve never been pregnant myself, but I’ve seen the cravings of my friends!) On her way back to the van from the restaurant, she finds Daisy, the other unwed mom-to-be, getting out of the van. The two women make peace with each other and wind up heading for San Francisco, where they get an apartment in Chinatown.

In Chinatown, they dodge private investigators, scratch together rent money for the tiny room they share, and take care of each other through delivery and raising their newborns. Daisy was born in the US, but Scarlett lives in fear of being deported.

The book is a fascinating look at the perils immigrants face, and especially immigrant women, who don’t always move of their own free will but then have to make the most of their situations while taking care of children and loved ones.

The ending seemed a little too…neat. I actually liked the way things were going before the last couple of chapters, even if the way it ends is a happier ending for the two women. I still enjoyed it, but I think it would have been more interesting to end the book in a slightly different way. That’s about all I can say without spoiling things!

From the cover of A River of Stars:

Holed up with other mothers-to-be in a secret maternity home in Los Angeles, Scarlett Chen is far from her native China, where she worked in a factory and fell in love with the owner, Boss Yeung. Now she’s carrying his baby. Already married with three daughters, Boss Yeung is overjoyed because the doctors have confirmed that he will finally have the son he always wanted. To ensure that his child has every advantage, Boss Yeung has shipped Scarlett off to give birth on American soil. U.S. citizenship will open doors for their little prince.

As Scarlett awaits the baby’s arrival, she chokes down bitter medicinal stews and spars with her imperious housemates. The only one who fits in even less is Daisy, a spirited teenager and fellow unwed mother who is being kept apart from her American boyfriend.

Then a new sonogram of Scarlett’s baby reveals the unexpected. Panicked, she escapes by hijacking a van – only to discover that she has a stowaway: Daisy, who intends to track down the father of her child. The two flee to San Francisco’s bustling Chinatown, where Scarlett will join countless immigrants desperately trying to seize their piece of the American dream. What Scarlett doesn’t know is that her baby’s father is not far behind her.

A River of Stars is an entertaining, wildly unpredictable adventure, told with empathy and wit by an author the San Francisco Chronicle says “has a deep understanding of the pressure of submerged emotions and polite, face-saving deceptions.” It’s a vivid examination of home and belonging, and a moving portrayal of a woman determined to build her own future.