Hey friends! I did a lot of reading in this past month, and I have great recommendations!
Beware the Wild, Natalie C. Parker
I read this for book club the day before book club. I’m not the only one who does this, right? Well, no matter when I started this book, I would’ve read it like I did, in one sitting. Holy smokes.
This Southern gothic young adult novel in a strong first-person voice is beautifully written and fast-paced, with supernatural elements that go from eerie to over-the-top bananas — just the way I like it — and plenty of twists and turns. It’s so good I’m kind of mad at her, except that I think she’s local, so I’m going to try to get her to do an interview for this blog instead.
Dawn (Xenogenesis, Book I), Octavia Butler.
I had this one on my list of 50 books that might make me smarter because I haven’t read much hard scifi. What I loved about this one was how alien the aliens truly were. Their whole culture was so detailed, and the story really captured my imagination. The humans were mostly awful, in a way that reminded me of the Nobel Prize-winning novel Blindness by José Saramago. Even Lilith, who is mostly admirable, makes one terrible ethical decision. Dawn is truly unsettling, but it stayed with me.
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Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World, Mark Miodownik.
This was another one from my list of books that might make me smarter. The author discusses eleven different materials, including steel, paper, glass, plastic, and foam. He’s an endearing and frequently poetic writer, if someone obsessive. I hadn’t thought much about how humans created some of these materials, and it’s a history as well as a science book. It’s a quick and mind-expanding read.
Ecstasy Untamed, Pamela Palmer.
Last month I read book #8 from Palmer’s Feral Warriors paranormal romance series, and this one is book #6. I’m always reading series out of order. The heroine in this one, Faith, is particularly easy to root for, and the bad guy is very, very bad (one scene in particular with him is horrifying.) Hawk is an honorable and sensitive hero. The emotion and passion in Palmer’s series is what hooks me. I’ve ordered books 1 through 3 now.
Have you come across any good books lately? I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Thanks for reading!
Ooh, Beware the Wild sounds fantastic–as does Stuff Matters. Adding both to my list!
I think you would really like them! 🙂
Hm, I’ll have to put Beware the Wild on my list for my kids. They’re both reading YA now.
Read Xenogenesis in college, probably time for a re-read. Definitely broke a lot of new ground.
Several months ago I received God Stalk in the mail. I have no idea who ordered it or why. It came directly from the publisher. I took one look at the cover and blurb and thought, generic high fantasy, yuck. Somebody wasted their money sending me this crap. Left it on a table for several months. Last week a friend who likes good literature mentioned on fb an author she likes, PC Hodgel. I recognized the name and read the book. Very worth reading. Beautiful, poetic prose. Lovely, intriguing characters. A central theme is the spiritual crisis that arises when a backwoods monotheist (with a lot of baggage, and amnesia) encounters a pantheistic, urban (middle-ages style) society. ÷ (cat jumps on keyboard to say that there is lots of divisiveness in this book)
Hi Rachel! Oh my gosh, that’s so funny about the mysterious fantasy book 😀 It sounds really good! Beware the Wild is definitely creepy, but I don’t think it’s too creepy for kids.
Oooo thanks for the recommendations. I see a few I’m going to need to add to my ever expanding Good reads list. Ha! I haven’t been able to read much lately. I did just finish 4000 Years of Uppity Women but I don’t recommend it. It’s essentially a quote book, with one quote per woman and a tiny descriptive portion that is excessively cutesy, using words like ‘feisty’ and ‘sassy’ to describe warriors, queens, and rebels (some admirable, some reprehensible). Pretty reductive and insulting. But there were many women I’d never heard of so I might go back and reference it to decide who’s biography I’d want to order. So in that way I guess it was useful!
Okay, I think you in particular would LOVE Beware the Wild. 😀 Ahh, that’s pretty funny about the Uppity Women book. I can see how it would be pretty useful even if it had a pretty cloying tone.
Just finished “Shoe Dog” Phil Knight’s memoir. Very Good
I didn’t know who he was so the title sounded funny to me until I Googled it 😀 Thanks for the rec, Ardele!
I just finished A Mortal Song by Megan Crewe. A YA fantasy novel set in modern day Japan. It was great.
Oh interesting! I think I would especially like that setting. Thanks for commenting, JA!
I recently read a book by a KC author, Bethany Hagen (who I met at Comic Con last month–she’s really awesome!), Landry Park. It’s set a few hundred years in the future, in KC of all places! Let’s just say, things have…changed, LOL! I was impressed by it because she’s a Janeite (like me) and you can see the influence. She was able to combine those elements with a YA dystopian future / sci-fi setting. Really enjoyed what she did with the story.
Hi Jennifer! I had to look up Janeite because I thought maybe it was a religion… hahaha! Dang, this sounds very interesting, especially given the Kansas City connection. I’m going to keep that in mind for book club!
Glad you looked up Janeite, LOL! Wouldn’t want people to think the wrong thing! 😉