Jolissa
With some authors, you just know what to expect. Right? A Fredrick Backman novel is going to be, well, like a Backman novel. Having read two of Steven Rowley's previous books (Lily and the Octopus and The Guncle), I thought I knew what to expect. But really, I found The Celebrants to be a departure from those two!
For the first quarter of this book, I was getting into it, thinking okay, this is going to be really good. However, at that point it seemed to just keep going without much really happening. This is really a character-driven story...there's not a ton of storyline. At first, that really threw me off and I was pretty unsure about the whole thing. Where was this thing going??
In reality, it's just a succession of the friends' “funerals” that are had during personal crises. If you're looking for a really riveting story, you're not going to find it here.
HOWEVER. starting at about 55%, the whole thing started to affect me more deeply, and I started really loving a couple of the characters. It just took a while for me to get there! I almost felt like giving up on it, but man, the payoff in the second half is so worth getting a little bored in the first half.
My full review is here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2023/06/review-the-celebrants-by-steven-rowley/
My full review is published here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2023/03/review-the-covenant-of-water-by-abraham-verghese/
As I sit here watching my blinking curser, I'm wondering where to start with this book. Man, it was a lot. Good a lot, mostly!
The first thing I noticed was the time investment I'd need to put into it. I didn't look at how long it was before requesting it on NetGalley, but when I finished the first chapter and my Kindle was telling me it would take 18 more hours to read the whole thing, I just about had a fit
This review is published in full here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2023/01/book-review-the-london-seance-society-by-sarah-penner/
The London Séance Society started out in such an interesting way: with a séance! It really pulls you in and gets you excited for everything that's about to follow.
There are some real positives about this book. When you read through reviews, you'll see a lot of comments about the dark, gothic vibes, which I'll agree was really the star of the book. It really pulls you right into the whole séance scene and makes you feel like you could be sitting around the table with them. Very cool stuff.
Things got pretty intense at the end with a very dark, very high-stakes séance. The whole book really is leading up to this one big thing (it's talked about through a lot of the story), and the big thing didn't disappoint for me. It actually gave the book back half a star!
Now, the parts I didn't love so much...the pacing. Somehow I was bored at times, and just wanted to get to the juicy stuff. It seems like that's what the author was trying for, as there's some sort of “dun dun dunnnn” reveal/revelation at the end of just about every chapter for a good stretch. That kind of pacing made it a little cliché for me.
There's also one point near the end of the story where you find yourself yelling at a main character, “What the heck are you doing?? Don't you think maybe you should get the heck out of there?!?”
My full review is published here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2023/01/review-only-the-beautiful-by-susan-meissner/
Do you have any authors who've been on your to-read list for YEARS? You know their books are a great fit for you, but somehow you've just never gotten to them? One of those authors for me is Susan Meissner. I've even owned one of her books about since it came out FIVE YEARS ago. The life of a book blogger/busy mom/owner of too many books, I guess
This review is published in full here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/12/audiobook-review-locust-lane-by-stephen-amidon/
Audiobooks are still a relatively new thing for me, but I'm loving slotting some in between my other reads. I think mystery/thrillers are especially good picks to listen to, and so far I haven't been let down.
Locust Lane is being compared to Little Fires Everywhere, and I can definitely see that. I also thought it had a Beartown vibe to it, because nothing sinister can ever happen in a quiet town, right? It has this overall feeling like something big is looming – some town-shaking discovery that you're waiting for. Of course, the murder happens right away in Locust Lane, but it does feel like there's something coming.
This book effectively had me going back and forth between who I thought was the killer, and I was wrong up until the reveal. I'm not exactly a thriller reader aficionado, but it was fun for me. I enjoyed the rich suburb problems storyline as well, about how far some rich folks will go to keep their reputations in tact.
What I liked most about the audiobook version was the way the narrator was able to make her voice sound so “hoity toity” for the rich mom. That really helped me feel immersed in the story and added something to the narration. She's also really good at sounding like a shifty teenage boy with something to hide
I loved this book so much! I won it in a Goodreads giveaway and my only regret is letting it sit on my shelf for months before I got to it. What a treasure!
I laughed out loud at some bits, and my heart broke a little at other bits. The character development is fantastic - I wanted so badly to jump into this book and hug and Cara many times. She just jumps off the page and is so....human.
Cara's story is incredible, the way she manages to pull so much out of life when it seems like she doesn't have anything left. I highly recommend this book - so much so that I included it as an honorable mention in my favorite books of 2022 list here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2023/01/best-books-of-2022-looking-back-at-our-favorite-reads/
This review is published in full here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/12/review-hello-beautiful-by-ann-napolitano/
Favorite author alert! Ann Napolitano's Dear Edward is a gorgeous book that I love, so I was really excited to read Hello Beautiful. With these two books, Napolitano has cemented herself among my favorite authors!
I couldn't believe my luck when I was approved on NetGalley to read Hello Beautiful before it comes out in March. I loved Dear Edward so much (read my review), so I was very much looking forward to reading it!
First of all, the relationships in this book are so complicated and messy, but so real and beautiful. The four sisters at the heart of the story all have different relationships with each other, and Napolitano somehow captures each of those unique relationships and how they all fit together.
There's one moment in this book that was just magical to me, when William and Sylvie are sitting together on a bench. In this ordinary moment, they see each other...like really see each other. It's honestly one of the most subtly beautiful moments I've ever read in a book, and I think it'll stand out to me forever. It was just so perfect!
Hello Beautiful is named for the girls' father and how he'd greet them when they entered a room, who ends up not being in the story much, yet is this huge part of his daughters' lives. I really felt that – how a parent can be not present, yet SO present.
The book takes place over decades. Sometimes, books that make such big time jumps are hard for me, because I feel like I need to know what happened in all those years in between that were skipped, but I didn't really feel that way with this one. It was just sort of “normal life” continues, and you pick up where you need to.
Overall, I found this book to be pretty amazing. It was like a cozy family novel that I could pick up and fall into for a while (much like Little Women, which is referenced many times in Hello Beautiful), It's largely character driven, but definitely has some events that happen to move things along. It's about legacy, family, true love, grief, mental health, and more. I highly recommend Hello Beautiful and I think it would make a fantastic book club read. 5 full stars!
My full review is published at https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/11/review-lost-souls-of-leningrad-by-suzanne-parry/
Alright, so first of all, this book is beautiful, and very, very bleak much of the time. However, try not to let that scare you off, because the beautifulness and moments of emotional clarity were so good!
There's no sugarcoating the fact that this book is hard to read at times. It's set in Russia in a time when Russia was at war and Leningrad became completely cut off by the Germans, and was unable to receive supplies. There was no electricity, so no heat and no food for an entire winter in frigid Russia, and thousands upon thousands starved in Leningrad. If you can go into reading this one knowing that that's what you're going to encounter, I think you might be better prepared than I was.
I do also have to give a content warning for this one about children and death/trauma. There was a part that snuck up on me that made me have to take a pause.
HOWEVER, through all of that bleakness and the worst possible circumstances, there are these lasting relationships and bits of love and redeeming moments that just turn this book into something you want to read, and they're why this book is getting great ratings.
This review was first published at https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/12/what-we-read-in-november-2022/
After reading and loving Tector's The Honeybee Emeralds, I was excited to read her next book, The Foulest Things. I'm glad I did – it was really a fun read!
It all starts when the main character, Jess, finds a body in the archives' art vault. She's an aspiring junior archivist, and suddenly everything in her life goes...a bit nuts. There's a really fun mystery, and Jess is right in the middle of it with a discovery she makes inside some old ledgers.
I really had no idea about the life of an archivist, so this was a really fun read. It lends itself so well to mystery!
This review originally appeared here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/11/what-we-read-in-october-2022/
When I heard that my book club selected a book about Dorothea Lange for book club in October, I was a little worried. A while ago I read Learning to See by Elise Hooper and really liked it, and that's also a fictional account of Dorothea Lange's life. I wasn't sure if I have room in my heart for two Lange fiction books!
However, I was very pleasantly surprised about The Bohemians. It really held its own when compared with the other Lange novel I liked! It was really unexpected in some aspects, too, with a lot of issues (like racism, rape, classism, and women's rights) portrayed with grace
Lange is portrayed as being pretty young and naïve at first, but really grows up throughout this book, and I loved seeing that progression. It's more about the first portion of her life, whereas Learning to See is about the latter, so it really worked out. I recommend both novels!
This review was originally published here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/11/what-we-read-in-october-2022/
This was just not my favorite. I wouldn't normally have picked it up based on the description, but it was a book club pick, so I went for it.
Overall I just found it so difficult to believe. It was just not plausible, and there were way too many things that happened because it was just convenient for the story arc. I did like that it was about a novelist and a woman who deserves some good things happening to her, but it didn't have much else going for it.
My full review is posted at https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/10/review-in-the-shadow-of-a-queen/
Have you ever picked up a book and thought ‘Hm, this will probably be okay” and then it ends up surprising the heck out of you and being a really great read?
As you may have guessed, that's exactly what happened to me with In the Shadow of a Queen by Heather B. Moore. I went into this read thinking I'd like it well enough, and then the dang thing just quietly came in and made me love it.
Before I get into my review, thank you to Laurel at Austenprose PR for setting up this book tour, and giving me the opportunity to read a book I wouldn't have picked up on my own. And of course, thanks to the author and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the copy of the book.
Now, on to the review.
First of all, royal life has never really been that exciting for me to read about. Maybe I just hadn't found the right book before, or maybe I just didn't read enough of it to give it a chance. Whatever the reason, I went into this book thinking it would be an okay read. It did start a bit slow, but it does start when Louise is a child, and coming-of-age stories are my jam.
Like I said before, I was just quietly taken over by this story as the book went on. I wasn't expecting it at all, but suddenly I found myself so invested in Louise and her search for a husband once she's “out” in society. There honestly isn't a whole lot that really happens in this book, as far as plot. Sure, there are some things that happen, but overall it's pretty quiet and very character driven.
And you know what? I loved it. I was smiling like a total dork while I read many parts of this, and chuckling at some of the little snarky quips that just made it special.
This review was originally published here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/10/what-we-read-in-september-2022/
I'm starting to get into audiobooks! I listened to two audiobooks in September, and the second one was Run Rose Run. Normally, this book is not what I'd pick. However, I saw a review of the audiobook in BookPage magazine that was glowing because of the full cast that recorded it, including Dolly Parton herself.
So, I decided to give it a try, and unfortunately it was just “meh”. The full cast part was cool, but the actual story...I thought there would be more to the suspense/thriller aspect, but it wasn't quite as thrilling as I hoped. The story and characters were a little bit flat, too. It was just okay.
My full review is posted at https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/10/review-we-are-the-light-by-matthew-quick/
This book made me remember being in college in my English classes, talking about unreliable narrators. Lucas Goodgame really came off as an unreliable narrator, and he has a really good excuse: trauma.
The community of Majestic has experienced a tragedy, and the whole town is affected – especially the people with loved ones who perished in the tragedy.
In short, there's been a shooting in a movie theater, and Lucas's wife was shot and killed. The whole book is told in letters after the tragedy that Lucas writes to his therapist, who doesn't answer any of the letters. So, it's a narrative from a man in a deep depression who's seeing his wife appearing to him as an angel.
The best part of this book is Lucas's relationship with Eli. They're two people who clearly need camaraderie and somewhere to put their weird grief energy (which really is a real grief thing).
The grief and mental health stuff in this book was really well done, which I definitely expected from the author of The Silver Linings Playbook. Quick has a way of getting so deeply into the minds of his characters, and somehow conveying the complexity of their emotion to the reader.
My full review is on Literary Quicksand: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/08/book-review-solito-by-javier-zamora/
This book is incredible. Before I even get into any of my review: this is an important memoir, it's impeccably well written, and I so highly suggest putting it on your radar if reading about a child migrant's perilous journey all the way from El Salvador to La USA intrigues you.
In the beginning of Solito, we get to know Javier as he is in the time between when both his parents have migrated to the USA, and he's still in El Salvador. He lived a normal kid life in El Salvador, besides his parents being gone. He went to school, he helped his grandmother and grandfather, and he spent a lot of time with his aunt, Mali. I loved his relationship with her and I'm so glad it was included in the book, so the reader can really get to know him before his “trip”. They snuggle to sleep and are just so loving.
When it's finally time for Javier to make the journey to his parents, he has to just leave school without even saying goodbye to his friends. Nobody can know what he plans to do. How hard would that have to be for a 9-year-old? I'm sure it was just so difficult.
The first bit of Javier's journey, he gets to take a bus up through Guatemala with his grandpa. His relationship with his grandpa was not very deep before the trip, but they end up growing so close as they spend hours taking multiple busses through Guatemala. Their goodbye was rather heartbreaking, and the way Javier describes the love that grew between them was just beautiful. His grandfather can only go to the Mexican border, then has to leave Javier in the care of others (and a coyote who will lead them all the way through Mexico) and return to El Salvador.
Just imagine that. You're on a journey that's perilous, but you don't really know what might happen, or even what could happen. At 9 years old, you're just going along and hoping for the best, and that's really what Javier ends up doing. He relies a lot on the group he ends up travelling with, and they end up growing very close, like a family, as they try to make it across the border.
When Javier has to cross the desert on foot...these scenes are difficult to read, and I'm sure were incredibly difficult for Javier to write and recount. He does mention in his author note having help from his therapist to access and revisit all those feelings, and I can see why. He walked for HOURS and so many miles across the desert, only to be captured by border patrol. And then? He does it all over again.
You can tell Javier is a poet, as he writes so much about the scenes, smells, and textures associated with his time in the desert. The way he names the different types of cacti to give himself something to do, something concrete to take note of, is amazing. He was NINE. And through the whole ordeal, the love that grows between him and his fake family is just...oh my heart. So good.
Find my full review here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/08/review-last-summer-on-state-street-by-toya-wolfe/
First of all, thank you to William Morrow and Goodreads for giving away copies of this book. I was totally delighted to win this one. After reading it, I feel even more delighted to have Last Summer on State Street on my shelves!
This story captivated me from page one. I can remember being a 12-year-old girl, and to be that age in that situation...how incredibly difficult.
Fe Fe was really easy to fall in love with and care for. She's just a little girl longing for some stability and friendship, yet she has to constantly navigate her perilous living situation. Seeing the world through her eyes was so heartbreaking at times, but her child-like outlook on everything was beautiful.
There's so much in this book, from the failure of the police to protect and serve in the way they're supposed to, to child abuse, to education and the importance of having teachers and adults in the lives of kids who actually care. There's a lot going on, but it doesn't overwhelm this relatively short book. To watch Fe Fe navigate everything with strength and positivity was pretty incredible.
My full review is published at https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/08/review-war-and-me-by-faleeha-hassan/
This story had me just rapt the whole time. I wasn't prepared for just how harrowing Faleeha's tale would be!
We start in Faleeha's childhood, and experience the onset of war with her. It's just devastating, the toll it took very suddenly on life in her family, her school, and her community. And then? The war goes on, and on, and on, until she's sure it just won't ever end. So much happens to her family and her city in that time, and while they find a way to live in a way that's fulfilling, it's hard.
Then, when the war is over, the embargo Iraq was put under by the US really made life hard. They didn't have enough food, there was no money, and life was just hard...again.
I won't go through the author's whole life here in this review – you'll have to pick it up to find out what happens to her! I do have to take a moment to reflect on how beautiful her writing is. Even through translation, she writes with such passion and courage, and it's so beautiful. It did take a little bit of time to get used to the translation, but then it just started to flow for me. She's also a poet, which makes sense – you get some of that in the way she writes prose, too.
I think I (and most of my fellow Americans probably) have no idea how the war impacted the people of Iraq. This was such an eye-opening book, and I was just astounded by the author's bravery both in the way she lives her life and for writing this book with such an intimate look at that life. War and Me will go on my shelf of favorite books I've read so far this year.
Find my full review on Literary Quicksand: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/07/review-the-boys-by-katie-hafner/
This book surprised me and stole my heart.
The Boys is one of those books that's going to stick in my head for a long time. It's also a book that I'm going to be recommending to my friends and family! In fact, my mother-in-law already read it, couldn't put it down, and loved it.
First of all, I loved Ethan and Barb's budding relationship in the beginning. The story of how they meet and date is so sweet, and I fell in love with them while they fell in love with each other.
The story moves on to a struggle with infertility, and eventually the introduction of “the boys” – the book's namesake. Everything changes in the couple's lives when the boys join the family, and it's a bit heartbreaking to watch them fall apart. Barb drifts apart while Ethan gets a bit obsessive. And then, everything changes.
I can't tell you anything about what changes, because that would spoil the story and you absolutely can't know what that surprise is until you read it for yourself. That makes the rest of the book a little hard to review, but I'll do my best
3.5 stars. This review originally appeared at https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/07/review-a-dress-of-violet-taffeta/
Do you ever decide to go into a book mostly blind? I think I read the blurbs about A Dress of Violet Taffeta, but never the full synopsis. So, I went into it not really knowing what might happen. So that was an adventure!
Much of this book is more character than plot based, which at times was a little slow, but I enjoyed those bits for the most part. I think if you're into fashion, all of the rich detail about the dresses and fabrics and designs would really be fun for you.
My favorite part of A Dress of Violet Taffeta was Lucy's love life. Cosmo seems so sweet and I was really rooting for them, so their love made me so happy. I did love that Lucy was so independent in a society where women just weren't, but I was still happy when she found love and happiness with Cosmo.
This story didn't really follow a traditional story arc. It was mostly just Lucy floating along, building her fashion brand and multiple clothing stores with some love on the side. That is, until she and Cosmo get on the dang Titanic. Remember how I said I didn't read the synopsis? Yep, so I was totally surprised by the Titanic. Obviously you can predict much of what's going to happen when the story gets to the Titanic, but it definitely injected some action into the story arc.
Overall, this book was slow-moving at times and jumped over a lot of years, but if you're into character-driven historical fiction and you like fashion, I can see you just loving this book. For me, it was pretty good! I did love the author's notes at the end with the pictures of Lucy and her gowns – they really brought the story alive for me. I'm giving it a solid 3.5 stars, but like I said, if you love character-driven historical fiction and fashion, this is straight up your alley! The writing was great and learning about Lucy was fascinating at times.
For my full review, visit https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/07/review-now-is-not-the-time-to-panic-by-kevin-wilson/
First of all, what a unique story. There are stories out there about teens who feel like they don't quite fit in, but how many stories are there about what happens when those teens create something that goes so viral and out of control, that life goes nuts?
Yeah, probably not too many.
It was amazing the detail that Wilson is able to go to to show what's going through these kids' minds as they create and obsess about their creation. I felt so much love for Frankie and wanted to hug her, but also had a hard time identifying with her intense obsession with the art that she creates with Zeke. Even though I had a hard time identifying with her, I was still just so captivated by her thoughts.
Also, I grew up in a small town where I could totally see something like this happening...that quick spread and takeover of the town. Small town teenager books just speak to me, since I was one of those.
Meeting Frankie as a “normal” adult with a family was so interesting and added an element to the story that I really liked. She's able to look back on everything she did as a teenager with kind of that hazy clarity that we all have about what happened during our teenage years.
At any rate, this was a book that I couldn't put down.
This review originally appeared on Literary Quicksand: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/07/what-we-read-in-june-2022/
Wow this book. Four Treasures of the Sky is absolutely beautiful, poetic at times, and also absolutely, devastatingly heartbreaking. This book broke me. I couldn't believe some of the beauty of the passages and themes in here - it was incredible. But it was SO. HARD. TO. READ. Oh my gosh, it was achingly sad. Just one of the most beautiful, saddest books I've ever read. This book will haunt me for a while. I had to rate it 5 stars...there's just no way this level of writing could be anything else.
My full review is here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/06/review-the-candid-life-of-meena-dave-by-namrata-patel/
I don't typically pick up cute, romance-y books like this, but the summary of this one pulled me in and I decided to give it a try. I do like lighter reads sometimes, and this one looked like it had some real substance to it.
There were several aspects of this story that I really enjoyed, like the little notes Meera finds all over the apartment after she moves in, the boy next door who's kinda cute, and the aunties that start giving Meera a glimpse into her heritage. That was the best part of this book for me – Meera feeling like she might really belong somewhere, after she hasn't really felt at home since her home was violently destroyed in an explosion. She feels like she needs to keep going and moving after that, to stay busy and never have a real home base. With her history and trauma, I'm not surprised she feels like she can't really settle somewhere. I can't imagine feeling like you have no real home to go to!
The other part that I enjoyed the most was the aunties. I loved the food they make, the way they sort of take Meera under their wing, and how supportive they are of the “boy next door”, Sam. They bring so much culture into the story and it was fun to read.
My full review: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/05/review-upgrade-by-blake-crouch/
Have you read Dark Matter and/or Recursion? Both of those just had me frantically turning pages to find out what happened. Even though I never read sci fi (and probably still won't unless pushed by book club), I just loved the craziness of both of those books. The worlds were so inventive, the science so cool.
So, I started Upgrade expecting to go for a ride. I did, but...
This book didn't do for me what the previous two did, I'm sad to report! I just couldn't get lost in this one like I did the other two.
My main issue with Upgrade was the way Logan continuously describes his new abilities. I know we need the details to fully understand what's happening with his body and mind, but it got to be too much for me, like he was just hitting the reader over the head with “look what I can do now!” kind of stuff.
Now, I'm definitely not saying that this book was awful because of that. It was still a fun and entertaining read! I enjoyed the rivalry in the book, which I won't go into because it's a spoiler. It was pretty epic, though.
My full review is posted here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/05/review-speak-okinawa-by-elizabeth-miki-brina/
First of all, this was unlike any other memoir that I've read. The way it was laid out was different, and it got really artistic at times. Also, it was incredibly interesting because I had no idea about the history of Okinawa. I've heard a few things I think about it being occupied, but I really had no idea. So, this book was as much a history lesson as it was a beautiful memoir of identity.
Brina's mother is from Okinawa, and her father is from the United States. He was a soldier when he met his wife and took her home to the states, even though she didn't know any English. The two had their daughter, Elizabeth. Primarily, the book is about Elizabeth figuring out who she is in relation to her mom and dad, and how she can straddle the line between English and Okinawan.
When Brina was a child, she identified much more with her father, and didn't understand her mother. Now, as she writes her memoir, she's figuring out why that was and what it all means.
This book was truly beautiful, especially at the end, when Brina writes about identity.
Little Pieces of Me was so easy for me to get lost in. I love when a book just sucks me in and I don't think about other stuff while reading it, and this one accomplished that for me. Really, how much more can you ask of a good story?
I thought the dual timelines worked really well in this book. I've definitely read some dual timelines that were just difficult to follow and not done very well, but this one was. The concept of jumping back and forth between mother and daughter stories was also something I don't think I've read before (and if I have, it wasn't memorable). I loved seeing Betsy as a young college student, and getting to know her as both a young woman and an older mom.
Paige was easy to like. Her world is rocked, and she has some very believable reactions to that, as well as some fun, banter-y moments with her friends that I enjoyed. The fact that she's getting married at 40+ is also a unique aspect of the story, and that made it stand out for me, too. It's not another 20-something on the cusp of adulthood going through hard stuff.
For my full review, visit https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/05/review-little-pieces-of-me-by-alison-hammer/