Book Five: Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

 

Kitty and the Midnight Hour is the first book in the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn. I Needed a brain bleach after my last read and Vaughn's filled the bill.

"Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station - and a werewolf in the closet. Her new late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged is a raging success, but it's Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf-hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew!"

I remember I first read the series back in 2013 and enjoyed the heck out of it.  It's totally unintentional but it seems I've been going back to books I read in 2013 for some reason.  Like 1Q84, I hardly remembered a thing so it is like reading again for the first time.  Stands the test of time. I was glad to see Kitty grow out of being a submissive wolf throughout the story and stand up for herself.

I'm sure I'll be revisiting the rest of the series over the next few weeks, in between my other newish reads. 

Book four: Black Orchid Blues by Persia Walker

 

I finished Black Orchid Blues by a new to me author, Persia Walker last night.  I think I picked it up years ago at one of the book mystery conventions so it's been on my shelves for quite a while.  

I almost quit on this book twice, but each time it sucked me in a little bit more. As my son says, it was “cringe worthy”, moments of ick that I found offensive, but when you think about it, were minor compared to what the characters were going through. There were quite a few twists and turns, dumb decisions, and unexpected moments. Nor was there exactly a happy ending. More like a ‘maybe I’ll try a little bit more.’ Another book tuber made a comment the other day – Did I feel things? Yes, I felt things and found myself distancing myself emotionally from the characters and the action. It was unsettling and I really didn’t want to invest in the story, but I did. Am I glad I read the story? I don’t know.  I think I’m still processing. But when all is said and done, it was dark and disturbing.  

Has a lot of trigger issues: mental illness, child abuse, hermaphroditism, sadistic murders, kidnapping.  

Category: new to me author, dusty, mystery, 

BW2: Dipping my toes in to multiple books

I'm letting my mood dictate what I read this year and have been dipping my toes into multiple books, this week working through Mount TBR.   Yesterday I had an epiphany while making breakfast.   I'd just finished Ivan Turgenov's The Singers in A Swim in the Pond in the Rain: in which four Russians give a Master Class in Reading, Writing and life by George Saunders.  In The Singers, the author goes into long digressions about the town, the people, etc.  right in the middle of the story.  Saunders points out that if you try to cut out any of the story, it fails as a whole. The digressions, the descriptions are important in bringing the characters to life. In making the reader care about the character and the events.  

So... I'm in the midst of reading 1Q84 (my Eastern book) by Haruki Murakami and he too goes into long digressions, flashbacks in which he goes into detail about the characters past, before coming back to the present.  Marakami's writing is so very similar to Turgenov which made me appreciate Saunders take on The Singers and found it valuable.  Synchronicity. Which I had been complaining the other day was distinctly lacking in my life.  Ha!

Since it's been 10 years since I last read 1Q84, I hardly remembered any of the story, except for the climb off the expressway.  And I'd forgotten the story took place in 1984 which is why Aomame decided to call her new world 1Q84.

"Q is for 'question mark." A world that bears a question... The 1984 that I knew no longer exists. It's 1Q84 now.  The air has changed, the scene has changed...."

I'm currently on page 220 out of  925 pages and at the moment I don't care for the decisions either Tengo or Aomame have made. And their mannerisms are such that I can't decide whether it is cultural differences or shades of autism I am seeing, which may explain some things.  

 
Books finished this week were: 

Three A books:   After Dark (physical) by Haruki Murakami, Kevin Anderson and Neil Peart's Clockwork Angels (dusty/ebook), and Akwaeke Emezi's (ebook) You made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty. 

Sipping from multiple non fiction books including One Year Chronological Bible, Thomas Merton's Run to the Mountain besides dipping back into A Swim in the Pond in the Rain.  

On the nightstand are my B books for this week to read in between 1Q84:  Dusty ebook  - Rebecca Roanhorse's Black Sun as well as a extremely dusty physical book - Black Orchid Blues by Persia Walker which I think I'm finally in the mood to read. We'll see. 

Plus James and I are listening to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline during our car trips. He's another author who over describes things. 

How do I manage to read so much?  I decided to cut back on aimless scrolling through the interweb which has made a huge difference. Nor do we watch much television except for on the weekends so have always read in the evenings.

We've been culling through all our books as we clean out the garage and in anticipation of getting more bookshelves and I finding so many books I want to reread.  It's been an interesting diversion. 

Book Three: Clockwork Angels by Kevin Anderson and Neil Peart

 

"So young man, what do you lack?"  is the question that started Owen on his hero's quest.  Little did he know the Anarchist and the Watchmaker had both set their sites on him and would try to influence every decision he made from there on out. But little did they realize Owen had a mind of his own and dreams that would take him on a odyssey of exploration until he found his place. 

"What do I lack? What an annoying, ridiculous question! He bit back his answer, keeping the words to himself. He muttered in a low voice for his ears alone, since no one would understand anyway. “I lack freedom. All these people lack freedom. If a man has a perfect life but cannot make his own choices, then what good is that life?” Oh, they had their clothes and their comforts, their families, their pocketwatches and cheap gold, their smiles and their diamonds. But above all that, he would choose free will. They didn’t even know what it was."

Clockwork Angels is an intriguing steampunk story created by the collaboration between Kevin Anderson and Neil Peart. The story was influenced by the album and lyrics of the Rush's Clockwork Angels as well as Voltaire's Candide and other stories. 

"The Watchmaker and the Anarchist had demanded that he choose between them, but Owen Hardy from Barrel Arbor—a mere assistant manager of an apple orchard, who had traveled so much, endured so much, seen so much since his modest beginnings—chose not to decide. That was the choice he made. That was his free will."

Dusty, ebook, steampunk, 

Book Two: You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

You made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi is more than just a romance.  The story was recommended by Shana at SBTB.

There were so many layers to this story. It's about loss and grief, sexual attraction, choices, and love, sorrow and learning to live again. After the loss of her husband, Feyi is trying to figure out if she can ever love again. She plunges into the dating waters full steam ahead, trying to figure out who and what she wants. She's a woman exploring the sexual waters and falling in love with someone she didn't expect. The beginning of the story fooled me when it went full boil with a sexual escapade, but I gave it a chance. It simmered down and the more I learned more about Feyi, the deeper I became invested in her story. It was crude, it was raw. It was full of angst, full of sorrow. Full of choices, and full of love. 

“It was like a fork in the road has closed, shut off by an avalanche of grief, choked with rocks and a broken heart. It wasn't supposed to open, and honestly, it still hadn't, but somehow, an entirely new path had formed, green and creeping.”

The story sticks with you long after you finish it, making you think. One of the themes was about choice. The choice Alim makes, wants to make for himself, when in the past, all his choices were for his children. He's choosing himself this time. Which got me to thinking about some decisions we make aren't about the other person but about us. Food for thought.

“I feel like the world wanted to remind me that it loves me, and so it gave me him. It gave me a chance, that possibility he’s always talking about, and I seized it with both hands because I know, and Alim knows, how f'ing rare it is for that door to open, even by a crack, and what it’s like when it closes.”

I'm looking forward to reading more by this author. 

Contains LQBTQ supporting cast characters. and crude language.

 

Categories:  Different culture, romance, new to me author, 

Book One: After Dark by Haruki Murakami

 

After Dark by Haruki Murakami is an intriguing story that takes place in one night between the hours of midnight and dawn. 

First sentence: Eyes mark the shape of the city. 

All the staples of Murakami's stories are including: the cat, the crow, the cafe, the tea, the characters awake all night, existential conversations, characters running away, the unknown, the fear of discovery. The nameless narrator - the 'we' takes the reader on a journey, through the dark hours of the night, using a wide angled camera shot which narrows down to each character and their viewpoint. A diverse cast of good and bad. One night. Unresolved stories. Or are they? Conversations through the night, afraid to sleep while another sleeps and is taken through to mystical portal. How much is a dream? How much is real? 

"Nineteen-year-old Mari is waiting out the night in an anonymous Denny’s when she meets a young man who insists he knows her older sister, thus setting her on an odyssey through the sleeping city. In the space of a single night, the lives of a diverse cast of Tokyo residents—models, prostitutes, mobsters, and musicians—collide in a world suspended between fantasy and reality. Utterly enchanting and infused with surrealism, After Dark is a thrilling account of the magical hours separating midnight from dawn."

Near the end of the story I was contemplating - do any of the characters learning something, change, and grow? It's open ended, subtle. The story tickles your imagination and take you through the gamut of emotions.

Favorite author, bookish bookology, A to Z, Magical Realism

BW1: Happy New Year: More Reading and Writing goals

 

Happy New Year!  It's my 15th year hosting Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks and I'm looking forward to a whole new year of exploring different genres. I'll have a little bit more freedom because I won't be doing 52 books on Well Trained Mind any more. Decided it was time to hang up my hosting shoes and let someone else take the reins.  

I want to read more nonfiction this year and also read more faith based books. Read Thomas Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain years ago and since then have dipped into his various books.  Decided to work my way through his Journals and have had the first one Run to the Mountain in my virtual stacks forever.  And I had also added the 2nd journal Entering the Silence to my physical stacks last year.  So started Run to the Mountain this morning.  Lots of yellow and orange highlights in kindle. LOL!   So it looks like I’ll be immersing myself in Thomas Merton this year.

I went hog wild with Henry Nouwen and added a few of his to my stacks. Started You are My Beloved daily devotional this morning.  Plus I’ll be working through his Draw Ever Closer (30 Days with a Great Spiritual Teacher) next month most likely.

I'm trying to wean myself off of using my cell phone so much so instead my bathroom book will be  Mike Rowe’s The Way I Heard It. 

Lot of sip reads, so I'm off to a good start with the non fiction. 

Haruki Murakami is our author of the month on 52 Books so I'll be reading several of his books including Novelist as a Vocation, Men Without Women, After Dark, and a reread of 1Q84.

I'm reading through the alphabet again from A to Z and back again so my A books are Murakami’s After Dark and Kevin Anderson’s Clockwork Angels.

Writing wise, I didn't finish Red Thief.  I discovered making multiple passes through scenes filling in character, setting, senses, etc. works but it takes more time. Also I didn't listen to the characters and  sometime during the year I wrote myself into a hole and had to dig my way out. With the start of the new year, I really need to redo my timeline, go through the story, and write down what needs to be done. I like the story. So does my husband. At least the few snippets he's seen so I need to finish the damn book. 

Think I'll also go back to journaling again as I stopped mid year. I need to go through all the writing books I have, decide on 52 writing prompts for the year because they really do stimulate my imagination.  Also freewriting helps me come up with poems, short stories, and story ideas so it is beneficial.