Review: The Midnight Circus

The Midnight Circus by Jane Yolen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Full disclosure:  I received an advance copy of The Midnight Circus by Jane Yolen from Tachyon Publications via NetGalley in exchange for possibly writing a review.

The original fairy tales were seriously dark and morbid to reflect the time during which they were written.  They were meant to teach children the harsh realities of the world.  Obviously, they are no longer like that...unless you read Jane Yolen.  The fairy tales in this book are not going to be made into Disney movies.  These short stories and poems take place all over the world and involve mythical creatures like selkies and vampires.   You may recognize the bones of some of the stories as retellings of classics, but many are originals.  One of my favorites is about the race to the South Pole.  If you didn't think climate change was scary before, you will be terrified after this.   

If you like your fantasy dark and twisty, you'll want to check out this book.

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Review: The Future of Us

The Future of Us by Jay Asher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I devoured The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler.  Even though I was just finishing college in 1996, I could still relate to Josh and Emma and their high school drama.  I remember getting that AOL CD in the mail, and my parents not letting me install it because it was "just a fad."  Maybe it was a good thing they did because it is the very thing that triggers a whole mess of trouble for Emma and Josh.  

What would you do if suddenly you knew what your life would be like in 15 years?  Emma and Josh take radically different approaches.  I feel like I would side with Josh's more conservative approach and try not to make too many ripple effects.  Then again, if my life were the pits, would I feel the same way?  Add into that all the angst and pressure of high school and high school romance...ACK!  I could feel the hormones of my past.  Like Emma wanting to hit refresh every second, I couldn't wait to see what happened next.  

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Review: Randomize

Randomize by Andy Weir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Randomize by Andy Weir is a short story in the Amazon Forward collection.  I was surprised at how much detail he could pack into so few pages.  It is hard to write much about this without giving it away.  I didn't read a description of it before I started, so I was surprised about where it went.  I found the information about random number generators and quantum entanglements really interesting.  He does raise a really intriguing question for the future of casinos.  Can they survive the advancements in computing?    

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Review: The Girls

The Girls by Emma Cline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It took me a minute to get into The Girls by Emma Cline, but once I did, I could hardly put it down.  It is beautifully written.  The descriptions are rich to the point I felt I could smell them.  The main character, Evie, was not someone I really liked in the beginning although, as her story evolved, I began to have more sympathy and empathy for her.  I had to remind myself she's really just a kid and that's why she does the things she does.  She wants to be loved and accepted.  She wants to belong.  She's rebelling against her parents.  You can see why she gets drawn into this group that is essentially a commune.  It isn't until much later that she realizes her error.  If you've ever read Helter Skelter, anything about Charles Manson or pretty much any cult, you will see the eerie similarities.  This could easily be the story of any of the young people that get caught up in the whirlwind of a crazy, charismatic personality.  

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Review: Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own

Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own by Kate Bolick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As a middle-aged, single woman moving to New York (with cats to boot!), I may have found more to relate with in Kate Bolick's Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own than most people.  The book is part Kate's memoir, part biography of women she calls her "awakeners."  These are women who at one point or all points of theirs lives could have been described by "spinster."  I enjoyed that Kate takes this term and reclaims it from its negative connotations.

I already knew some of her awakeners, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edith Wharton, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.  Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper and Herland have stuck with me since college.  It was great to meet more women who went against the grain in some way to forge a future in which women like me could do their own thing and not be defined/confined by their marital status.  Not to say things are perfect yet but certainly better.  I would definitely recommend this book to any single woman and also to anyone who really just wants to learn about some great writers.

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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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