C.A. Gray's Blog, page 2

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan

What an intriguing title! I always love the meta-aspect of a book about books, or bookstores. This book straddles the line between a very modern YA narrative voice, heavy on technology in the plot, and the mystique of hidden, ancient knowledge.

The protagonist, Clay, is a kid between jobs who gets hired to work the night shifts at a bookstore in a big city–but it’s hidden in a spot that customers rarely stumble upon. They carry some famous titles, but also a back catalog of ancient, one-of-a-kind volumes rented out to a strange clientele. Mr. Penumbra, the little old man who owns the place, has just a couple of rules: Clay should keep careful records of all the people who rent from the “way back list,” down to details about their appearance, and he is never to investigate books on said list, himself, or he will be immediately fired. Already this sets up expectations of magic or secret powers…

Then one day, a cute girl who works at Google comes in. There’s a bit of romance there, but the point of the story is more that Clay, Kat, and Clay’s friends eventually investigate the books anyway, find that there’s a code involved in some of them that they can’t read, and they’re determined to use supercomputers to both scan the Wayback list into the cloud, and also to crack the code. Mr. Penumbra, it turns out, isn’t against this at all–in fact, it seems he was using reverse psychology on Clay, in order to get him to do just that.

I do feel like the book was an elaborate setup that turned out to be much ado about nothing, though. There were constant, loud hints of the supernatural throughout the book that never materialized. It felt a little bit like a bait-and-switch.

My rating: ***1/2

Language: there was some but not horrible

Sexual content: nothing too overt

Violence: none

Political content: some but not horrible

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The Power of Limits, Gyorgy Doczi

It’s hard for me to rate this book – it probably deserves 5 stars according to its intended purpose, but it wasn’t what I was looking for, so I’d probably give it closer to 3, as I did a lot of skimming. I already knew that the Golden Ratio appears over and over again in nature as well as in architecture and art, which is really most of what this book argues, in quite explicit detail. I wanted to know *why*… but maybe that’s asking a theological question rather than a scientific one. Because I wasn’t getting what I was after, I did a lot of skimming. But if you want to be convinced that there is a strange recurrence of patterns all over the known universe that seem to be there for a reason, but left to guess what that reason might be… this book is for you. Get the paperback though, as this book is almost more illustration than text.

My rating: ****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: none

Political content: none

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Yours, Jack, C.S. Lewis

My answer to the question, “If you could have coffee (or tea) with any author, living or dead, who would it be?” always used to be, C.S. Lewis. His brain just fascinated me. I always wondered, as I read his non-fiction, was he that articulate just off the top of his head, or did he have to ponder the perfect metaphor for a long time, honing it to just the pith that exactly conveyed his meaning?

This collection of letters is the closest I’ll ever get to having tea with him, though I hope to do so in heaven someday, too. I could hear his voice in the letters, though they were a lot less polished (of course) than his published prose, and dealt with such a wide range of events in his life. He just seemed like such a genuinely good man, too–so humble and unassuming and kind. This collection is arranged in chronological order, and it was devastating to come to the section where his wife Joy entered his correspondence. Then for a couple of years she had a reprieve of her illness (I recently read “Becoming Mrs Lewis” when this was dramatized), before she eventually succumbed. I hadn’t quite realized that this really wasn’t all that long before Lewis himself passed away.

A rare glimpse into the mind of one of my favorite authors.

My rating: ****1/2

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: none

Political content: none

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The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door

This was one of the most unique fantasies I’ve read in a long time. While there were recognizable elements (the secret magical world that exists between worlds, the secret magical college), there was a lot that was different, too–for one, it was also historical fiction, set in WWI-era Britain, which automatically made it feel somehow more “significant.” Second, it was very slow-paced and character-forward, with beautiful prose, and the narrator of the audible version seemed like she probably had been classically trained for the theater, as her voice was lilting and melodic. It was so slow that I almost stopped listening at one point during the first half, which was really just a setup for the second half… but I’m really glad I didn’t.

The story follows Clover Hill, a girl from a non-magical family whose brother comes back from the war with a faerie curse. The faeries showed up at the battlefield and wiped out most of the soldiers they encountered, except for four. Those four played host to a faerie who little by little began to take them over, but exerted the most power at the solstices, at which time they had to be tied up. Clover is very close to her brother Matthew, and she finds out about Camden school of magic and decides to go (at least ostensibly) to learn how to break the curse.

But when she arrives, she encounters Alden Lennox Fontaine (what a great name for “old magic!”), who is like the pinnacle of the “in” crowd. This ends up playing a pivotal role in what comes next–Clover is dazzled by him, and by their two other best friends, Hero and Eddie. The four of them become inseparable. Then Alden convinces Clover to help him learn more about opening faerie doors in secret (it’s now illegal) and she does it, mostly because of the stars in her eyes. They do so, and in the process, Clover learns how to break Matthew’s curse–but the fallout destroys their relationships with one another.

Fast forward eight years to the second half of the story. None of them have spoken to one another. Hero marries and leaves Camden without graduating. Alden becomes the head of magical enforcement. Clover becomes a scholar. Eddie virtually disappears. But eventually Clover realizes that the faerie they thought they had shoved back into her own world actually did get through… and has been inhabiting Hero’s body for the previous eight years. It’s up to her and Eddie (and eventually Alden too) to right the wrong from so many years ago.

There were a lot of surprises along the way. Very well done.

My rating: ****1/2

Language: I think a bit but not much

Sexual content: present but in a fade-to-black kind of way (so subtle that I actually missed that it happened until later)

Violence: fantasy only

Political content: mild but present

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The Violence of Sound, Jeff Wheeler

A solid follow up!

The story takes place in a unique fantasy world, in which magic consists in harnessing the “intelligences” of various creatures to do the wizard’s bidding (sounds a lot like AI, really–and interestingly, the afterword mentions that Rob’s character is actually based on Alexander Graham Bell, while McKenna is based on his wife. So in fact, magic does = technology here). At the same time, humanity is threatened by the race of the Aesir, a more powerful magical race that thrives in the cold (the colder, the better) and hibernates for up to a hundred years at a time. They can also inhabit living human bodies though–which turns out to be the primary conflict in this story, though the concept was introduced in the last one.

McKenna might be a semblance, ever since her near-drowning experience in the previous book. But she isn’t just any semblance–she seems to be inhabited by Aesir royalty. Unfortunately the way the humans deal with semblances, since they can take over the human to do their bidding at any time, is just to kill them. When Rob (and McKenna’s family) realize this, they all close ranks to try to protect her, but will they be able to do so? And is she actually a threat? The military is in a bit of a quandary, since Rob’s magical inventions are critical to them, and yet his wife is a threat.

The book ends on a cliffhanger, but apparently the next installment is coming in just a few months!

My rating: ****

Language: none

Sexual content: none

Violence: fantasy only

Political content: none

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Same Time Next Summer, Annabel Monaghan

This one hooked me! It fits the chick-lit, beach read genre very well, and the ending is obvious from the beginning, but that’s the genre–I’d have been mad if Sam and Wyatt hadn’t ended up together in the end. It’s the how it happens that makes it interesting.

The characters and the scenarios were surprisingly complex and nuanced, which is necessary I think when the entire story is about their romance–what drove them apart, and what brings them back together again in the end. Sam and Wyatt practically grew up together, as neighbors on the beach of Long Island every summer. The story bounces between now and flashbacks to the past, so we learn their back story little by little, even as Sam grapples with the fact that she’s in Long Island with her fiancee Jack, considering getting married on the Island. But Wyatt is there, for the first time in seventeen years. She hasn’t seen him since he broke her heart as a teenager. Considering how crazy they were about each other, I was wondering how the author was going to motivate their breakup without it seeming contrived, but she chooses a terrific angle.

If my husband read this book, I know he’d dislike Sam, and think her fickle (I suspect most men would think so, but this isn’t their genre). I think her actions are very well motivated, and paced to match her self-revelations. Wyatt, meanwhile, isn’t your stereotypical romantic hero, but also believably written. I was really rooting for them, and I love how it ended.

My ratiing: ****1/2

Language: a smattering. Not overwhelming.

Violence: none

Sexual content: it’s there, but in a fade-to-black kind of a way

Political content: present, and annoying. I hate how books from big publishers always feel the need to “check the boxes” 

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Emergency Contact, Lauren Layne

This was a cute idea, though the execution requires a LOT of suspension of disbelief. If you can get on board with that, though, it’s a fun read.

The story bounces between former spouses Katherine’s and Tom’s point of view, at Christmastime–so it’s a little Hallmark-y in that way. Katherine is a self-described “Grinch,” who has no friends, no family, and hates Christmas. Pretty early on, we discover this is because her father, whom she adored, died on Christmas Day. Tom divorced her years earlier, because she was too career-focused. He wanted a woman less addicted to her phone, who wanted a family someday. But years later, because Katherine has no one else, she never removed Tom as her emergency contact at work–so when she’s in a car accident days before Christmas, the hospital calls Tom.

Tom, meanwhile, is about to propose to his girlfriend at Christmas (Lolo–why in the world would you pick that name?). But he still responds to the call. He still cares for Katherine, even though she’s openly antagonistic to him at every turn for almost 3/4 of the book. The caricatures of a rom-com are about half of what requires the suspension of disbelief: she’s the stereotypical horribly flawed main character that every female reader identifies with, but of course the male protagonist will put up with ANYTHING from her at all, no matter how little encouragement she gives him or how little she deserves it, because that’s every woman’s fantasy. A real guy would never have gone to the hospital in the first place, and certainly would have left at the first opportunity, let alone put up with all Katherine’s antics that conspire to keep him from his own family at Christmas and his soon-to-be fiancee.

The other main part that requires suspension of disbelief are all the contrived scenarios: they miss the first plane. They miss the second plane. They miss the train. They can’t take the bus. They end up in a horrible little dive motel (where they have to share a room, of course). It’s all so absurd. And yet, I kept reading… because I guess I’m a sucker, as much as the next girl. I still enjoyed the story, predictable and eye-rolling though it was.

My rating: ***

Language: some. Not so much I actually recall it

Violence: none

Sexual content: actually none that I recall

Political content: I think a bit? but nothing major

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You Only Die Twice, Brynn Kelly

I honestly expected not to finish this — anytime there’s a hot pink cartoon cover, I figure I’m in for a cotton candy fluff piece, probably with lots of hot and heavy sex scenes or at least some serious innuendos right up front. I picked this up anyway only because it was free on Audible, I was out of credits for the month, and the title was clever enough to give it a shot.

I was very pleasantly surprised–so much so that I think the author should seriously rethink her cover artist, as it probably attracts the wrong crowd and those who might actually like this book will never give it a try.

Alice is a middle school teacher who recently self-published a novel with her late co-author, a Russian woman whom she knew for only a few months before she passed away from cancer. The co-author had the plot idea involving international espionage, but toward the end of her illness, she became so incoherent that Alice had to finish the book for her, not knowing how Nika actually intended for it to end. She publishes in obscurity, until one day a man who matches the description of their superspy main character point-for-point shows up in her school, and more or less kidnaps her. Turns out, the story wasn’t fiction–and Alice changed the ending, to make him (Carter) a murderer. The right (wrong?) people found a copy of the book, and now are hunting him, based on the evidence in the book.

There is of course a romance that develops between Alice and Carter, and there are a few sex scenes, but they are the fade-to-black type, and not gratuitous. That’s also not the main plot of the story; rather, Carter and Alice are trying to figure out what really happened, and what Nika knew. Meanwhile, Alice’s sister is dying of cancer, too–in fact, everyone in Alice’s immediate family has already died of a particularly aggressive genetic form of colon cancer. Ordinarily this alone would have been grim enough to make me stop reading, yet somehow it was handled with such humor (yes, humor, oddly enough) and lightheartedness, without being insensitive, that I somehow didn’t mind it in this particular book.

All in all, a fun read!

My rating: ****

Language: yep. It was there. Could have been worse, but definitely there.

Violence: this part wasn’t too gratuitous. Present but only as much as the subject matter required

Sexual content: present and steamier than I would have liked, but it fades to black pretty quickly

Political content: I think there was a bit of that here and there too but I can’t recall specific instances so it must not have been too cringe-worthy

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Stolen Focus, Johann Hari

Compellingly written, and made me think, though I certainly didn’t agree with all of the author’s arguments (and as the book went on, the scope of the book just seemed to get broader and broader).

I thought, going in, that this was a book about how social media, technology, and our fast-paced society has robbed us of our ability to be in the moment and to think deeply–something I already believe. This was true for about the first half of the book. The author told his own story of how this had happened to him, how he’d taken a technology sabbatical, and what the “detox” experience was like.

What I didn’t care for was the fact that the author seemed to contend that it was both short-sighted and even cruel to argue that each of us can make the same choices he did to counter these effects. He argued that many of the underprivileged (or maybe he said disenfranchised, or pick your favorite politically correct term) don’t have the time or money or life situation that might enable them to do such things. (There might have been something about white privilege in there, I can’t quite recall, but if that phrase wasn’t in there then the concept sure was.) So basically, we’re all victims — of our life situations, of the food we’re given, of the society and culture to which we belong. His solution to this was for those of us who have the bandwidth to do so, to push for political change, grassroots style, in all of these myriad areas of society and culture.

To me, this seems both more overwhelming for those who “can,” and also disempowering for those who “can’t.” Anytime a person categorizes themselves as a victim, they’ve shut down all possibility of agency or change.

So while I didn’t care for his action items at all, I thought the actual information presented was compelling and well-written.

My rating: ***

Language: none that I recall

Sexual content: none (nonfiction)

Violence: none 

Political content: quite heavy and eye-rolling in places 

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Review of The Wishing Game

A very unique, feel-good story! In many ways predictable, but in ways that I could live with, for the most part.

The story follows Lucy, a poor schoolteacher estranged from her family of origin, who wants more than anything to adopt Christopher, one of her orphaned students. He loves her too, but she can’t qualify as a foster parent because she doesn’t have any money. We also learn that she and Christopher have bonded over a series of Clock Island children’s books — some of Lucy’s favorites growing up, to the point where she briefly became obsessed with the author, and snuck onto his literal Clock Island, where he lived.

But Jack Masterson, said author, hasn’t written in years. Chapters alternate between Lucy’s POV and Hugo’s, Jack’s illustrator, who also loves him like a father, and lives on the island with him. Hugo is worried about Jack, until he offers a worldwide contest, a bit a la Willie Wonka, except that Jack hand-selects the participants. All of them are now adults, but who reached out to him in various ways during their own crises as children. The winner of the contest will get exclusive rights to his last book in the Clock Island series which no one has yet read–which, of course, is worth millions.

Of course Lucy gets chosen. The game consists of a series of riddles similar to those found in the books, but designed to help them face their deepest fears and desires. You have to suspend your disbelief a bit here–in the Clock Island books, the Mastermind is the shadowy character who leads the children along, and in the “real” version, it’s Jack himself. He seems to have supernatural insight and abilities or orchestrate circumstances defy ordinary human capabilities, but in this context, I could go with that a bit.

Lucy is forced to confront all the reasons why she was estranged from her family growing up, and why she keeps herself aloof from relationships–and along the way, she and Hugo find love in each other too, though that isn’t really a central aspect of the story. Jack too has to face his own demons, and there’s a lovely, if unrealistic “happily ever after.”

My rating: ****

Language: a decent amount though it wasn’t horrific

Violence: none

Sexual content: none

Political content: pretty heavy. Most of the left-wing agendas were heavily featured. 

 

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