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Bookwormish, 1st quarter of 2018
Apr. 1st, 2018 08:26 pmI'm posting this from a train, on increasingly rattling, wobbly tracks as we make our way further up into the sparsely populated far north of Scotland, so let's see how this goes...
Here are some books I recommend, from my reading in the first quarter of this year!
VERY TOP BOOKS:
The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley – This slim little book bowled me over with its creativity and intricately crafted plot built around its own folklore. One I’d like to own and reread, because every tiny thing turns out to have a importance later. It’s a great coming of age story, too, all about sense of self and mental resilience and what to do when the survival skills that have kept you alive are now holding you back and it’s time to outgrow them. Wow, yeah, actually I want to reread this already.
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby – Ooh, this was great. A rich story about love of all kinds (romantic, familial, friendship) that blends real-world small-town concerns with a bit of magic/fantasy, around compellingly flawed and lovely characters.
A Hundred Thousand Worlds by Bob Proehl – I was not expecting to get this caught up in a book about an ex-sci-fi-TV-star (think the X-Files) touring the fan convention circuit with her 9-year-old son in tow. But this is one of those books I wanted not to end, so I could keep living in these characters’ world. This book was so full of heart.
In the Woods by Tana French – Wow, yeah, I’d heard Tana French was good. She’s indeed very good. It had been a while since a book kept me up all night reading. It’s a murder mystery, but like the best murder mysteries, it’s at least as much about the characters solving the murder. It’s an old-sounding premise – detective takes a case that turns out to have uncanny resonances with his own traumatic past – but I found she did something surprising and new with it.
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor – I’d been hearing this recommended for ages, and I don’t know why I waited so long! The magical, gorgeous story of a daydream-y librarian who gets to visit the mysterious city he’s always longed to see. The ending was a bit off-kilter, especially compared to how carefully crafted the rest of it was, but I still liked the book a lot.
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi – Helen Oyeyemi continues to be strange and brilliant. One review I read described her ideas as “protean”; another called hers a “restless imagination harnessed to a smooth and propulsive prose style.” Strange threads of magic weave through narratives both folkloric and contemporary; I am always up for finding out what fascinating thing Oyeyemi crafts next.
( EVEN MORE TOP BOOKS )
.
Here are some books I recommend, from my reading in the first quarter of this year!
VERY TOP BOOKS:
The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley – This slim little book bowled me over with its creativity and intricately crafted plot built around its own folklore. One I’d like to own and reread, because every tiny thing turns out to have a importance later. It’s a great coming of age story, too, all about sense of self and mental resilience and what to do when the survival skills that have kept you alive are now holding you back and it’s time to outgrow them. Wow, yeah, actually I want to reread this already.
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby – Ooh, this was great. A rich story about love of all kinds (romantic, familial, friendship) that blends real-world small-town concerns with a bit of magic/fantasy, around compellingly flawed and lovely characters.
A Hundred Thousand Worlds by Bob Proehl – I was not expecting to get this caught up in a book about an ex-sci-fi-TV-star (think the X-Files) touring the fan convention circuit with her 9-year-old son in tow. But this is one of those books I wanted not to end, so I could keep living in these characters’ world. This book was so full of heart.
In the Woods by Tana French – Wow, yeah, I’d heard Tana French was good. She’s indeed very good. It had been a while since a book kept me up all night reading. It’s a murder mystery, but like the best murder mysteries, it’s at least as much about the characters solving the murder. It’s an old-sounding premise – detective takes a case that turns out to have uncanny resonances with his own traumatic past – but I found she did something surprising and new with it.
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor – I’d been hearing this recommended for ages, and I don’t know why I waited so long! The magical, gorgeous story of a daydream-y librarian who gets to visit the mysterious city he’s always longed to see. The ending was a bit off-kilter, especially compared to how carefully crafted the rest of it was, but I still liked the book a lot.
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi – Helen Oyeyemi continues to be strange and brilliant. One review I read described her ideas as “protean”; another called hers a “restless imagination harnessed to a smooth and propulsive prose style.” Strange threads of magic weave through narratives both folkloric and contemporary; I am always up for finding out what fascinating thing Oyeyemi crafts next.
( EVEN MORE TOP BOOKS )
.
