Review: The Music Shop

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to The Music Shop written by Rachel Joyce and read by Steven Hartley.  It was a little hard for me to get into at first.  I think that was a downside to not reading it for me.  I absorb material better visually.  Once I did start to get into the story though, I could hardly turn it off.  I enjoyed all the music trivia, and the idea of finding the perfect song or album for a person at the moment they need it.  As someone with an extensive vinyl collection (and really resistant to move on to other mediums), I can appreciate Frank's stubborn loyalty to vinyl.  The story brings up a lot of emotions.  Be ready for that.  You may also want to pair this with some music, perhaps the music mentioned in the book, for full effect.

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Review: The Vatican Games

The Vatican Games by Alejandra Guibert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Vatican Games by Alejandra Guibert is another in the line of dystopian fiction novels I seem to be reading during the worst possible year to read dystopian fiction.  But hey, this one doesn't involve a pandemic!  Instead everyone in the world who drinks soda is poisoned. Not the slow poisoning that happens just from drinking sugar water either.  No, this is much more immediate.  Think about that the next time you reach for one.  

One child, Vera, survives against the odds and grows up to work on video games.  That's a character after my own heart.  It's a slow build-up to the real action just a little more than halfway through.  I don't want to give too much away, but people start dying and Vera is determined to find out why at any cost.  

Trigger warning for devout Catholics.

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Review: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told by Megan Mullally
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't often say that I think an audiobook is better than the actual book, but I think The Greatest Love Story Ever Told written and read by Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman is a worthy exception.  I loved it!  I loved it so much!  I'm also not supposed to tell you this, but there is a special surprise if you listen to the audiobook.  That's all I'm going to say.  

Nick Offerman grew up less than 30 mins away from me.  Or maybe I should say I grew up less than 30 mins away from him?  Hearing him talk about his family is like going back to my youth.  Mostly, it reminds me of high school sports away games in Channahon and Minooka.  Shout out to the Wilmington Wildcats!  But this is not Nick's story alone.  Megan's story is really fascinating.  Her life couldn't be more far removed from my own, and yet, I find her so relatable and accessible.  You can't help but be glad these two found each other and many years later wrote a book about it.

Bonus points for all the puzzle and animal love, two things so near and dear to my heart.  Buddy's story is just about the best thing ever.   

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Review: All the Birds in the Sky

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you read all the way through to the Acknowledgements of All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, you will find that she offers to personally come and explain the book to you through interpretive dance if you had trouble understanding it.  Now, I did not have such trouble, but I would like to invite her to come do that anyway.  I think it would be fun, and we could have a good chat about this book.  

Some might call this book science fiction/fantasy, but ultimately it is a love story.  Are science and nature natural enemies, or can they peacefully co-exist?  Better yet, can they join together?  The two main characters, Patricia and Laurence, represent nature and science respectively.  I like to see myself as a Patricia, all witchy and talking to animals.  They've never talked back, but I remain hopeful!  However, at the same time, I see shades of Laurence in me as I type this on my silly expensive gaming laptop that I just had to have.  Ultimately, we don't have to sacrifice the planet for the sake of "progress."  It's an important lesson beautifully written.

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Review: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to We Have Always Lived in the Castle written by Shirley Jackson and narrated by Bernadette Dunne.  While this is traditionally categorized as horror, I didn't really find it very scary.  It is very gothic, and the psychological issues are compelling.  I should probably be worried that I find myself relating to Mary Catherine quite a bit.  I get her cat connection, her interest in magic, and even how you sometimes want bad things to happen to your enemies.  And I can't really blame Constance for wanting to hole up in her house and not deal with people.  They are pretty terrible to her and her sister.  I am probably not taking away the right message, but I thought this was the happiest ending I have read in awhile.  

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Review: The Test

The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to The Test written by Sylvain Neuvel and narrated by Neil Shah.  I listened to it in one sitting because it is technically a novella that comes in at about 110 pages or 2 hours and 12 minutes.  If you are like me, you won't be able to stop yourself once you start.  

Maybe I am too much of a nerd.  I actually enjoyed taking the citizenship test along with the main character, Idir, and guessing the answers before they were revealed. Would I pass?  Could I be a UK citizen?  I even was intrigued by the scoring methodology. Peak geek.

Idir is an endearing character.  He embodies all the good in people.  You are rooting so hard for him to pass this test.  Then things take a very dark turn.  How did Mr. Neuvel manage to pack so much social commentary into 110 pages?  How could he crush my soul in 2 hours and 12 minutes?   Why do I feel like this might not be fiction?

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Review: Lincoln in the Bardo

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to Lincoln in the Bardo written by George Saunders and narrated by a long list of famous people including Nick Offerman (which is why I was willing to listen to it in the first place).  Having a full cast read the book made it more like the radio plays of yore.  All of the performances were amazing.  Megan Mullally made me laugh out loud as she always does.  

I was surprised at how much sexual content was in a book about Lincoln, his son, and a bunch of ghosts.  If you are sensitive to that sort of thing, I do not recommend this book to you.  I do recommend this book to fans of Lincoln, those who want to read a complex story of grief and loss,  and/or those interested in the afterlife.  

Because of the way the book is written, interspersed with quotations and journal entries, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it first.  The citations interrupted the flow of the audio narrative for me.  Something I don't mind reading but made listening a bit harder to follow.  In fact, I love reading books written in a unique style, and George Saunders didn't let me down.

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Review: The Last Conversation

The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay is a short story in the Amazon Original Stories Forward collection.  It falls somewhere on the sci-fi, dystopian fiction, and horror spectrum.  It is Paul Tremblay after all.  With such a short story it is hard to give too many details without possibly spoiling it.  So, I will say if you aren't up for reading about pandemics right now, you may want to wait to read this.  It doesn't play a big part, but it is the backdrop.  

I liked the way this was written.  Skipping chapters to show the passage of time.  The main character is never defined because it is "you" which adds another dimension to the story.   It is really well-written and developed.  As the pages go by, you feel the tension building up.  You know the story is going to end soon, and then it does, and maybe you let out a little scream.  

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Review: The Once and Future Witches

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Full disclosure:  I received an advance copy of The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow from Redhook Books via Netgalley in exchange for possibly writing a review.  

I've heard a lot of very good things about Alix E. Harrow and was really excited to get a chance to read this book.  Witches often get a bad rap, but I think it is because they are often powerful women and that scares people.  Not to say there aren't bad witches, but we'll get into that later.

This book takes place in an alternate past where the sisters Grimm write the fairy tales and witches are thought to be extinct.   That is, until the sisters Eastwood decide to revive witchcraft to fight against a society oppressing women and an evil that is taking over their city.  I enjoyed that each chapter starts with a spell or a fairy tale.  You'll recognize many of these because in this world, fairy tales and nursery rhymes are used to surreptitiously pass on magic to the next generation.  Maybe they are in our world too, but we've just forgotten?

This book isn't just about witches though.  It is about the struggles of women, people of color, and the LGBT community, and the power we can yield when we join together to fight the systems that try to keep us marginalized.  It's not without sacrifice.  Some of the strongest magic requires blood. 

Now about that bad witch....That the bad witch hates other witches so much that they want to completely eradicate them from the Earth is very telling.  I'm sure someone could do a psychological profile on that.  But here's what got me.  Even though there are breadcrumbs throughout the book leading you to the identity of the bad witch, I was surprised that I didn't make the connection until the reveal.  It's not often I am caught off guard like that.  Well done, Alix E. Harrow.

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