Tag: adult fiction

A Re-Read Review: Malagash

August 16, 2018 Uncategorized 10 ★★★★★

A Re-Read Review: MalagashTitle: Malagash
Author: Joey Comeau
Source: Bought
|Goodreads
Rating:five-stars

Summary: The perfect blend of heartwarming and poignant, beautifully crafted.

I don’t typically re-read books, but it’s something I’ve been considering doing in an attempt to engage more deeply with the books I read. Malagash, which is one of my favorite books ever, was a great choice to start with. It’s short, so it was easy to commit the time to a re-read. It was also easy to go back over sections multiple times during my re-read. It packs a real emotional punch too. It’s the story of a young girl, Sunday, whose father is dying. It’s about grief and family and how her family in particular is coping with grief. Sunday is currently recording as much of her dying father as she can, with plans to encode his words into a computer virus so he can live forever. So, despite being short, there’s a lot here! There were universal themes to think about and delightful particulars that made me laugh and cry. If anything, I loved this book even more a second time around. Read more »

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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki

August 16, 2014 Fiction, Literary, Review, Translated Fiction 20 ★★★★

Colorless Tsukuru TazakiTitle: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Author: Haruki Murakami
Links: Bookshop (affiliate link) |Goodreads
Rating:four-stars

Summary: This book was written in the same beautiful, dreamy style I loved in 1Q84, but the ending felt a bit less climactic and a bit less resolved.

In high school, Tsukuru Tazaki was part of an inseparable group of friends. Coincidentally, the other four students all had colors in their name and Tsukuru didn’t, a fact that he found significant because he also believed himself to be the most average of the group. About a year after Tsukuru moved away, his four friends cut off all contact with him and refused to explain why. When, many years later, Tsukuru meets a woman he cares for deeply, he realizes that he needs to understand what happened with his friends before he can move on and believe he might be loved by someone else.
Read more »

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Henna House

August 12, 2014 Fiction, Historical Fiction, Review, Women's Fiction 13 ★★★★

Henna HouseTitle: Henna House
Author: Nomi Eve
Source: from publisher for review
Links: Bookshop (affiliate link) |Goodreads
Rating:four-stars

Summary: This was a beautiful, poetic, inspiring story. I loved both the rich historical setting and the exciting foreshadowing.

Adela’s father’s health is failing and he’s desperate to find her a husband. As a Jewish child, if she is  isn’t betrothed when her father dies, she will be take from her family to be raised by a Muslim family instead. Just when Adela is giving up hope, her uncle arrives with a handsome son and an aunt who teacher her about henna and the woman’s world her harsh mother has never let her be a part of. However, when Adela’s family is forced to flee to Aden, she will begin to discover herself only to be betrayed by those she loves.
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This Is the Water

August 5, 2014 Fiction, Literary, Thriller, Women's Fiction 19

18781340Title: This Is the Water
Author: Yannick Murphy
Source: from publisher for TLC book tour
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: Although I found the second person narration a bit distancing, I thought the author used this perspective very creatively for a writing style that was both beautiful and unlike anything else I’ve ever read.

Swim team mom Annie worries about her marriage and enjoys that one of the fathers on the team flirts with her, even though she feels old and even though he’s married to her friend. She worries about her brother’s suicide and whether or not such things run in her family. She worries that her girls aren’t confident enough and whether or not she’s done enough for them. But when one of the girls on the swim team is murdered and Annie discovers a secret which could help catch the man who did it, all her other worries seem trivial by comparison.
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Return to the Beach House

July 12, 2014 Fiction, Women's Fiction 2

16248158Title: Return to the Beach House
Author: Georgia Bockoven
Source: from publisher through Goodreads giveaway
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: The short length of each story meant that parts of the endings were too pat or not resolved enough, but each story was emotionally moving and I was impressed that some dealt with difficult topics.

Return to the Beach House is more a collection of short stories than a traditional novel, with each section connected to the others by their shared location. Although this is a sequel, it stands alone quite well. During their stay at the beach house, characters are forced to confront the things straining their relationships. They learn to move on from loss, seek independence, trust in their friends, and maintain relationships in the face of devastating tragedies. More specific details are available in the goodreads summary. Read more »

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One Plus One

July 1, 2014 Contemporary, Fiction, Women's Fiction 18

18693716Title: One Plus One
Author: Jojo Moyes
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★★★
Review Summary: Yet another awesome read from Jojo Moyes, with unique but believable characters, lots of emotional ups and downs, and a fun plot.

“Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages . . . maybe ever.” (Source) Read more »

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Elizabeth Is Missing

June 12, 2014 Fiction, Literary, Thriller, Women's Fiction 28

Elizabeth is MissingTitle: Elizabeth Is Missing
Author: Emma Healey
Source: from publisher via TLC Book Tours
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: As promised by the book jacket, parts of this book were darkly humorous, but mostly it was a poignant, emotional story about family and growing old.

“Despite Maud’s growing anxiety about Elizabeth’s welfare, no one takes her concerns seriously—not her frustrated daughter, not her caretakers, not the police, and especially not Elizabeth’s mercurial son—because Maud suffers from dementia. But even as her memory disintegrates and she becomes increasingly dependent on the trail of handwritten notes she leaves for herself in her pockets and around her house, Maud cannot forget her best friend. Armed with only an overwhelming feeling that Elizabeth needs her help, Maud resolves to discover the truth—no matter what it takes.” (Source) Read more »

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The Shadow Year

May 20, 2014 Uncategorized 13

18453242Title: The Shadow Year
Author: Hannah Richell
Source: from publisher for SheReads book club
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: Although the big reveals in this book didn’t surprise me much, they kept the suspense high as I read about characters and a location which the author vividly brought to life

In 1980, five friends about to graduate from college decide to get away together one last time. However, when it comes time to return from the idyllic college they visit, none of them are ready to go. They eventually come up with a plan to try roughing it off the grid at the cottage for the next year. Initially, the cottage feels like paradise, but as the weather gets worse, their situation deteriorates and personal tensions build.  Thirty years later, when Lila mysteriously inherits the same cottage, she finds peace at the cottage during a difficult time in her marriage. However, she slowly begins to realize that something terrible happened to the previous inhabitants. Read more »

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Neil Gaiman Mini-Reviews

May 14, 2014 Fantasy, Fiction, Magical Realism, Thriller, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult 11

Neil Gaiman2Title: Neil Gaiman at Syracuse OnCenter
Rating: ★★★★★

I’ve been hearing fantastic things about Neil Gaiman’s books since I started blogging, so I’m excited to have finally gotten to reading some of his books and to have gotten to hear him speak. I thought it would be nice to open with a brief review of his talk since it made me want to read and listen to more of his books, even more so than the books of his which I’ve read. Looking at a list of Gaiman’s published works and hearing him speak solidified my impression that he is an author who writes at least as eclectically as I read. His talk was very thought-provoking and often hilarious and I felt as though every word was chosen with care. His dynamic readings convinced me that I should read some his books as audiobooks and his mastery of language convinced me that I should read more of his books in general. If you get a chance to see him talk, I’d highly recommend it Read more »

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The Serpent of Venice

May 12, 2014 Re-telling 9

The Serpent of VeniceTitle: The Serpent of Venice
Author: Christopher Moore
Source: from publisher for TLC Book Tour
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Summary: Plots from several classics mingled in a delightfully clever way and parts of the story made me laugh out loud, but other parts were vulgar without being funny.

The Serpent of Venice draws on a number of classics, including The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and The Cask of Amontillado, and then adds a large helping of irreverent humor. The fool Pocket has made enemies of the merchant Antonio, senator Brabantio, and soldier Iago by opposing a war which would make them rich. In order to get Pocket out of the way, these three men invite him to a party with an assassination attempt in mind. However, Pocket is not as easy to kill as they might think and he’ll be back with revenge in mind. Read more »

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