Books 2017: Four-Star Short Stories

Short Stories

Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and some other things that aren't as scary, maybe, depending on how you feel about lost lands, stray cellphones, creatures from the sky, parents who disappear in Peru, a man named Lars Farf and one other story Edited by Eli Horowitz. Synopsis from Goodreads: Interspersed with charts, graphs, and various crossword puzzles, A Book of Noisy Outlaws, Evil Marauders, and Some Other Things . . . features some of today's best authors spinning new tales ranging from the spooky to the strange. George Saunders tells the story of a father who takes caution to dangerous extremes in "Lars Farf, Excessively Fearful Father and Husband." In "ACES by Phone," a small boy finds a cell phone that lets him listen in on the thoughts of dogs, and in "Small Country," Nick Hornby introduces a country too small for a postal system but, unfortunately for one bookish boy, just big enough for a football team. Each story features full-color illustrations by artists including Barry Blitt, Lane Smith, David Heatley, and Marcel Dzama.

Four and a half stars. I guess this is a middle-grade or young adult book, but I would recommend it to anyone. This is a lovely, whimsical, quirky and engaging set of stories. Rereads for me were Monster by Kelly Link (love her, she's so incredibly twisted) and the magnificent Sunbird by Neil Gaiman, which I always love visiting again. The new stories were weird and sweet and wonderful.

Seize the Night: New Tales of Vampiric Terror edited by Christopher Golden. Synopsis from Goodreads: A blockbuster anthology of original, blood-curdling vampire fiction from New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors, including Charlaine Harris, whose novels were adapted into HBO’s hit show True Blood, and Scott Smith, publishing his first work since The Ruins.
Before being transformed into romantic heroes and soft, emotional antiheroes, vampires were figures of overwhelming terror. Now, from some of the biggest names in horror and dark fiction, comes this stellar collection of short stories that make vampires frightening once again. Edited by New York Timesbestselling author Christopher Golden and featuring all-new stories from such contributors as Charlaine Harris, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Scott Smith, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Michael Koryta, Kelley Armstrong, Brian Keene, David Wellington, Seanan McGuire, and Tim Lebbon, Seize the Night is old-school vampire fiction at its finest.

Not gonna lie, can't remember a blessed thing about this. I do love me some vampires, and I remember that I liked it. Oh wait, I do remember the Seanan McGuire story, it was fantastic, but really sad. 

Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women edited by Paula Guran. Synopsis from Goodreads: A tantalizing selection of stories from some of the best female authors who’ve helped define the modern vampire.
Bram Stoker was hardly the first author—male or female—to fictionalize the folkloric vampire, but he defined the modern iconic vampire when Dracula appeared in 1897. Since then, many have reinterpreted the ever-versatile vampire over and over again—and female writers have played vital roles in proving that the vampire, as well as our perpetual fascination with it, is truly immortal. These authors have devised some of the most fascinating, popular, and entertaining of our many vampiric variations: suavely sensual . . . fascinating but fatal . . . sexy and smart . . . undead but prone to detection . . . tormented or terrifying . . . amusing or amoral . . . doomed or deadly . . . badass and beautiful . . . cutting-edge or classic . . .
Blood Sisters collects a wide range of fantastical stories from New York Times bestsellers Holly Black, Nancy Holder, Catherynne M. Valente, and Carrie Vaughn, and critically acclaimed writers Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Tanith Lee, all of whom have left their indelible and unique stamps on the vampire genre. Whether they are undeniably heroes and heroines or bloodthirsty monsters (or something in between), the undead are a lively lot. This anthology offers some of the best short fiction ever written by the “blood sisters” who know them best: stories you can really sink your teeth into.

The best of these were very, very good. The one about Oscar Wilde was sort of interesting, I just prefer the more modern takes, although I realize the debt they owe to the classic form. I found The Unicorn Tapestry obscurely annoying and I can't really figure out why. Stand-outs were The Power and The Passion by Pat Cadigan, Greedy Choke Puppy by Nalo Hopkinson, and the last three stories in the book (I read The Coldest Girl in Coldtown again happily at every opportunity). Father Pena's last dance had some images so striking that they're still vivid in my mind. Solid collection.

Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy edited by Ameriie. Synopsis from Goodreads: Leave it to the heroes to save the world--villains just want to rule the world.
In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.
These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

This was YA but I'm sticking it in with the other short stories. The collection was a bit uneven but the best stories bore out an interesting concept very, very well. I don't know who the hell the self-styled single-named Ameriie is (okay, I had a quick look and apparently she is an American singer, songwriter, author, actress and record producer, so maybe I should just keep my snark to myself), but her story was superb, and devastating. Death Knell by Victoria Schwab and Julian Breaks Every Rule by Andrew Smith are also standouts. Now that I'm looking over the list, I think there were only a couple that didn't grab me. The notes where authors challenged other authors on what villain to write about and in what style were cool to read, too. 

Dead North: Canadian Zombie Fiction edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Synopsis from Goodreads: An enjoyable and rollicking ride, this collection contains 20 short stories that explore a broad spectrum of the undead, from Romero-style corpses to zombies inspired by Canadian Aboriginal mythology, all shambling against the background of the Great White North. The anthology's specific focus on Canadian settings distinguishes it from the pack, and its exploration of many types of zombies weaves a vast compendium of fiction. Strong writing and imagination are showcased in clever stories that take readers through thrills, chills, kills, carnage, horror, and havoc wreaked across the country. Tales deal with a lone human chasing zombies across an icy landscape after the apocalypse, whales returning from the depths to haunt the southern coast of Labrador, a marijuana grow-op operation in British Columbia experiencing problems when the dead begin to attack, and a corpse turned into a flesh puppet for part of a depraved sex show, among other topics. Providing a unique location and mythology that has not been tackled before, Dead North will appeal to speculative fiction, horror, and zombie fans. 

This was superb. It turns out that the Canadian landscape works well in zombie literature - who knew? I always say that in skilled hands, zombies are an incredibly rich metaphor, and these authors have some chops, so the results are impressive. There were some excellent Aboriginal and Inuit-flavoured entries (including Richard Van Camp's superb On the Wings of a Prayer, which I had read once before), and zombified themes of environmentalism, colonialism and feminism. And one weird one about a poutine truck, but that's cool because poutine. 

Cemetery Dance Select by Lisa Tuttle by Lisa Tuttle. Synopsis from Goodreads: The Cemetery Dance Select series invites some of our favorite authors to spotlight a sampling of their own short fiction: award-winners, stories they consider their best or that had the most impact on their career—or neglected favorites they feel deserve a second look. 
Long-time fans will enjoy revisiting some classic tales. New readers will find this series a handy introduction to each author’s best work. 
Each CD Select mini-collection includes an exclusive Afterword where the author explains the reasoning behind each selection, and provides insights into the writing of each story. 
The stories Lisa Tuttle has chosen for this collection are: 
My Pathology 
Closet Dreams 
Born Dead 

I love Lisa Tuttle. I remember that My Pathology was Frankenstein-ish, but not much else. I just know I liked them. 

Cemetery Dance Selected by Kaaron Warren by Kaaron Warren. Synopsis from Goodreads: The Cemetery Dance Select series invites some of our favorite authors to spotlight a sampling of their own short fiction: award-winners, stories they consider their best or that had the most impact on their career—or neglected favorites they feel deserve a second look. 
Long-time fans will enjoy revisiting some classic tales. New readers will find this series a handy introduction to each author’s best work. 
Each CD Select mini-collection includes an exclusive Afterword where the author explains the reasoning behind each selection, and provides insights into the writing of each story. 
The stories Kaaron Warren has chosen for this collection are: 
The Blue Stream 
A Positive 
State of Oblivion 
All You Can Do is Breathe 
Air, Water and the Grove 

I could try to fudge the fact that I made no notes for these and remember nothing (I think The Blue Stream is about putting children into stasis to sort of sleep through the difficult adolescent years. Hang on. Let me check. I was right! BUT, omg this is embarrassing, I just realized that when I downloaded this collection I thought Kaaron Warren was Karin Tidbeck (who knew there were so many authors almost named Karen who write brilliant short stories? I'm sorry, I have no good excuse). So I read these under false pretenses and yet they were awesome, lucky me. 

Some of the Best from Tor.com 2016 edited by Ellen Datlow. Synopsis from Goodreads: An anthology of 25 of Tor.com's favorite short stories and novelettes selected from the 57 stories they have published in 2016. These stories were acquired and edited for Tor.com by Ellen Datlow, Ann VanderMeer, Carl Engle-Laird, Liz Gorinsky, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Justin Landon, Diana Pho, and Miriam Weinberg. Each story is accompanied by an original illustration.

Now surely, SURELY I made some notes for this one. *checks* I did not. This is how it goes with me with short story anthologies - I'm too lazy to make notes on every story, and I almost always like one story at least four stars' worth, so I four-star the whole anthology, then end up with a long list of four-starred anthologies about which I remember VERY LITTLE. I own this one, and any diligent reviewer worth her salt would at the very LEAST  go and scan the damned thing before commenting. I will not. I worked a whole three and a half hours in an actual library this week, people, I am too important to strain myself for free. I am not, but my iPad is upstairs and I am lazy. And thirsty. Can someone get me a drink? Perhaps I need a break from book review posting. Oh! I remember! Clover by Charlie Jane Anders (who I generally adore) is an awesome story with cats. Autobiography of a Traitor and a Half-Savage by Alix E. Harrow - I don't know how to explain it, but it involved a kind of telepathy between a girl and the earth, and was really different, and sad, and cool. Basically, I am very rarely disappointed by anything from Tor.com. Or Lightspeed, but that's not the point right now. 

New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird edited by Paula Guran. Synopsis from Goodreads: For more than 80 years H.P. Lovecraft has inspired writers of supernatural fiction, artists, musicians, filmmakers, and gaming. His themes of cosmic indifference, the utter insignificance of humankind, minds invaded by the alien, and the horrors of history - written with a pervasive atmosphere of unexplainable dread - remain not only viable motifs, but are more relevant than ever as we explore the mysteries of a universe in which our planet is infinitesimal and climatic change is overwhelming it. In the first decade of the twenty-first century the best supernatural writers no longer imitate Lovecraft, but they are profoundly influenced by the genre and the mythos he created. New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird presents some of the best of this new Lovecraftian fiction - bizarre, subtle, atmospheric, metaphysical, psychological, filled with strange creatures and stranger characters - eldritch, unsettling, evocative, and darkly appealing.

Shameful confession: this is one of those magical ebooks from the library that somehow slipped the surly bonds of the due date and never returned itself from my iPad. And I haven't returned it. I keep meaning to, but then I read one of the stories again, and worry that I might miss them, so I don't. I really should. I will. I promise. Soon. 
I think I've mentioned that I enjoy more modern spins on Cthulhu/Lovecraft fiction more than I do actual Lovecraft fiction. So this was perfect for me. Fair Exchange by Michael Marshall Smith was my favourite (obviously), followed closely by Laird Barron's Old Virginia and Lesser Demons by Norman Partridge. Deliciously dark with a hint of sea air and the occasional brush of a tentacle. 

Books 2017: Four-Star YA Fantasy

YA Fantasy

Verdigris Deep (Well-Witched) by Frances Hardinge. Synopsis from Goodreads: "Verdigris n. a blue-green rust that tarnishes ageing and forgotten copper coins, altering them entirely . . ."When Ryan and his friends are caught stranded and penniless late one night, they steal some coins from a well for their bus fare home. Soon after, strange things begin to happen. Peculiar marks tingle on Ryan's knuckles, light bulbs mysteriously explode and a terrified Chelle starts speaking words that aren't her own.
Then the well witch appears, with her fountains for eyes and gargled demands. From now on, the friends must serve her . . . and the wishes that lie rotting at the bottom of her well.
In the tradition of truly fantastic storytelling, VERDIGRIS DEEP is darkly witty, utterly unexpected and shiver-down-the-spine sinister.

I maintained my tradition of beginning my reading year with a Frances Hardinge book last January. GodDAMN this chick can write, you guys. When I stumbled on my first of her books, I could hardly believe I had never heard of her before, or that she was still alive and writing - the stories have that ageless feel that mean they could have been written two hundred years ago or yesterday. This book, like most of her others, uses familiar tropes and archetypes, and yet manages to render them new and different, and underneath the suspense and dread beats a heart full of compassion and a fierce tenderness. She's a freaking national treasure (which nation? England, I think), and I don't understand why she isn't more well-known. 

Ready Player One (Ready Player One #1) by Ernest Cline. Synopsis from Goodreads: In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. 

This is my review from when I first read this back in 2011:
Maybe you did have to be a video gamer to fully appreciate this. But I'm a sucker for a little-guy against big-evil-corporate-entity story, AND a shy-guy-learns-how-to-talk-to-girls-through-mediating-force-such-as-avatar-chat story AND near-future dystopic fiction, so I liked it. It dragged a tiny bit through the middle, but mostly I was right on board. Wade and his friends are great characters, the adolescent friendship thread rings true and the world-making is convincing. The eighties pop culture references are fun too.

More recent review:

It's weird and slightly frightening how little of this I remembered - other than the first chapter or so it was like reading a whole new book. I'm not sure why I only gave it three stars the first time (well, I guess the review says it, but it's like a review by a person I barely know), but this time it was pure enjoyment and refuge from a tough week. Looking forward to the movie.

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater. Synopsis from Goodreads:
Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…

As soon as I read the first book in this series, I bought the next three. For some reason, I didn't devour them all at once, not because I didn't love the second just as much, but I think because I like the feeling of having something dependable to read when I really, really need it. There's all the usual great Stiefvater stuff here - great characters, a feeling of fate and inevitability, witty banter, plus a sleeping Welsh king, ghosts, dreams that become real, a dead-sexy Bad Boy and a host of psychic relatives. It's fun and rewarding. 

Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies by Lindsay Ribar. Synopsis from Goodreads: Twin Peaks meets Stars Hollow in this paranormal suspense novel about a boy who can reach inside people and steal their innermost things—fears, memories, scars, even love—and his family’s secret ritual that for centuries has kept the cliff above their small town from collapsing.
Aspen Quick has never really worried about how he’s affecting people when he steals from them. But this summer he’ll discover just how strong the Quick family magic is—and how far they’ll go to keep their secrets safe.
With a smart, arrogant protagonist, a sinister family tradition, and an ending you won’t see coming, this is a fast-paced, twisty story about power, addiction, and deciding what kind of person you want to be, in a family that has the ability to control everything you are.

A solid three and half - maybe three and three-quarters. I love the title so much, and the concept is exceedingly clever. I was torn between thinking I wanted the story to be just a tad meatier, more layered, and thinking it was actually done just right without unnecessary weight, which is why I often love Y.A. so much. Five months or so later I remember most of it, which is often not the case, so I think upon further reflection that it is fine as is. It's a really good illustration of the old 'be careful what you wish for' aphorism.

Say Her Name by James Dawson. Synopsis from Goodreads: Roberta 'Bobbie' Rowe is not the kind of person who believes in ghosts. A Halloween dare at her ridiculously spooky boarding school is no big deal, especially when her best friend Naya and cute local boy Caine agree to join in too. They are ordered to summon the legendary ghost of 'Bloody Mary': say her name five times in front of a candlelit mirror, and she shall appear... But, surprise surprise, nothing happens. Or does it?
Next morning, Bobbie finds a message on her bathroom mirror... five days... but what does it mean? And who left it there? Things get increasingly weird and more terrifying for Bobbie and Naya, until it becomes all too clear that Bloody Mary was indeed called from the afterlife that night, and she is definitely not a friendly ghost. Bobbie, Naya and Caine are now in a race against time before their five days are up and Mary comes for them, as she has come for countless others before... A truly spine-chilling yet witty horror from shortlisted 'Queen of Teen' author James Dawson.

Very, very good, in its own right but particularly for teen-targeted horror. Great characters, some nice coming-of-age stuff, realistic dialogue, and the story is fleshed out really convincingly. I'm sort of a sucker for urban legend retellings, and this is definitely one of the better ones.

A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Laura DeStefano. Synopsis from Goodreads: Pram Bellamy is special--she can talk to ghosts. She doesn't have too many friends amongst the living, but that's all right. She has her books, she has her aunts, and she has her best friend, the ghostly Felix.
Then Pram meets Clarence, a boy from school who has also lost a parent and is looking for answers. Together they arrive at the door of the mysterious Lady Savant, who promises to help. But this spiritualist knows the true nature of Pram's power, and what she has planned is more terrifying than any ghost.

This is probably more accurately a children's book, but it is so, so lovely. Reminded me of Liesl and Po. Loved it. 

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black. Synopsis from Goodreads: Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.
Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.
At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.
Until one day, he does…
As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

I seem to remember that the first time I read a Holly Black book, I didn't like it that much. This seems inconceivable to me now. This one was just wonderful. Magical realism in perfect balance, wonderful characters, great story. The brother-sister relationship is a nice change from the typical isolated heroine thing, and the parallel romances are extremely smile-inducing. Extremely satisfying. Read first time in February 2016. Started reread on 2017 camping trip after my daughter read it, finished at home next day.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne-Jones. Synopsis from Goodreads: Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl's castle. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there's far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye.

Diana Wynne Jones is a phenomenal story-teller (I realize this is not a secret). I love how the three sisters are all beautiful and not in competition with each other. I love how there's a stepmother but she's lovely and treats the stepchildren the same as her own child. I love how Sophie just gets on with it despite being cursed. I love how a man cold is nothing compared to a wizard cold.

Hunted by Meaghan Spooner. Synopsis from Goodreads: Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them. 
So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance. 
Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?

Absolutely fantastic Beauty and the Beast re-telling in a very distinctive voice. Yeva is a wonderful character, and the story is much more about her yearning for independence and freedom than about any kind of conventional romance. There is snow, and cold, and hunting, a lot of hunting, and family, and the beast is very much a beast. Really, really good. 

Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1) by Laini Taylor. Synopsis from Goodreads: The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.
What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?
The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

Welcome to Weep.

I had mixed feelings when I saw this coming out - excitement at a new Laini Taylor book and trepidation because the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy was a near-perfect reading experience for me, with that perfect storm of world-building, characters and flat-out splendid storytelling coming together just right. I loved this almost as much, though. Taylor has a gift for setting up conflicts in a way that makes it understandable how people who consider themselves good can end up doing horrible things. She weaves the most beautiful love stories and kills off characters like a psychopath. And her world-building is beyond reproach.

Books 2017: Four-Star YA Fiction and Mystery

YA Fiction

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. Synopsis from Goodreads: Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

I've seen this author's books around for years and thought the covers were gorgeous (I mean come on, look at it), so I finally picked one up. This was really quite good, especially given that the set-up seems to strain all credulity. There is something called 'insta-love' in YA literature - pretty much exactly what it sounds like - and insta-love is always pretty much an instant turn-off. This, however, isn't really insta-love; it's more of a serendipitous meeting that turns into an acknowledgement of instant interest and attraction - not love, but the possibility of love, which I'm all for. Anyone who is completely dismissive of any kind of coincidence or intimation of fatefulness probably wouldn't like this. I found it charmingly optimistic with just enough realism to keep it grounded. 

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler. Synopsis from Goodreads: Fifteen-year-old Virginia Shreves has a larger-than-average body and a plus-size inferiority complex, especially when she compares herself to her slim, brilliant, picture-perfect family. But that’s before a shocking phone call — and a horrifying allegation — about her rugby-star brother changes everything. With irreverent humor and surprising gravity, Carolyn Mackler creates an endearingly blunt heroine who speaks to every teen who struggles with family expectations, and proves that the most impressive achievement is to be true to yourself.

I joined a Facebook Book Bingo Challenge this year for the first time. It was started by a lovely woman that I only ever got to talk with online a little. She died of cancer yesterday, and I am very far from a primary mourner, but I'm sad for her family and for my friends who knew her well and are devastated by her loss. I'm also grateful for the books that I wouldn't have read without her prompts, of which this is one. This is a wonderful book - I gave it to my daughter to read and she thought it was great too. Virginia is a wonderful, fully realized character and some really important topical issues (sexual assault, bodily autonomy, body image issues) are addressed in a way that doesn't feel forced or artificial at all. A really great coming-of-age story - maybe even an Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret for a new generation. 

Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick. Synopsis from Goodreads:
Nanette O'Hare has played the quintessential privileged star athlete and straight-A student for as long as she can remember. But when a beloved teacher gives her his worn copy of The Bubblegum Reaper--a mysterious, out-of-print cult classic--the rebel within Nanette awakens. 
As the new and outspoken Nanette attempts to insert her true self into the world with wild abandon, she learns that rebellion can sometimes come at a high price...and with devastating consequences.

Also very good, again offering a realistic coming-of-age scenario and addressing youth mental illness without melodrama or romanticization. And the out-of-print cult classic author? Yeah, it's gimmicky, but it's a gimmick I'm a sucker for, and it's done really well here. It's rare for someone who's not John Green to hold my attention with YA that doesn't offer zombies or vampires - this did it. 

YA Mystery

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas. Synopsis from Goodreads: The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.
There are ghosts around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there that last summer. Memories of things so dark will burn themselves into your mind if you let them.
Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn’t have to walk those same halls, but then Callie always was the stronger one. She can handle staring into the faces of her demons—and if she parties hard enough, maybe one day they’ll disappear for good.
Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial, Callie drifted and Tessa moved, and childhood friends just have a way of losing touch.
But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.
Only the closer Tessa gets to the truth, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.

Quite good - a little more gritty and realistic than a lot of YA mystery. You really get a sense of how poverty and isolation can shape how a person reacts to trauma and interacts with other people. Tessa wears the same clothes for days on end because she doesn't have any others, and she is literally unable to accept comfort even when she desperately needs it. I felt like this dragged slightly in the middle and could have used a bit of tightening - it was an endless round of searching and not really finding anything, Tessa worrying that Maggie was going to send her away based on Callie's behaviour, and nothing actually happening - but then things start happening again and the ending is very satisfying.

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas. Synopsis from Goodreads: Kacey is the new girl in Broken Falls. When she moved in with her father, she stepped into a brand-new life. A life with a stepbrother, a stepmother, and strangest of all, an adoring younger half sister.
Kacey’s new life is eerily charming compared with the wild highs and lows of the old one she lived with her volatile mother. And everyone is so nice in Broken Falls—she’s even been welcomed into a tight new circle of friends. Bailey and Jade invite her to do everything with them.
Which is why it’s so odd when they start acting distant. And when they don’t invite her to the biggest party of the year, it doesn’t exactly feel like an accident.
But Kacey will never be able to ask, because Bailey never makes it home from that party. Suddenly, Broken Falls doesn’t seem so welcoming after all—especially once everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers.
Kacey is about to learn some very important lessons: Sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes when you’re the new girl, you shouldn’t trust anyone.

I read this based on my favourable impression of The Darkest Corners book - also very good. Similar in theme and tone, but different enough to not feel derivative. 

Work in Progress

Nine years ago, Eve went to grade one and I started my Library and Information Technology Diploma.

Two years ago, I finished all my coursework.

Eight months ago, I finished my second placement.

Four months ago, I applied to the school board to get on the supply list.

I got an interview. I went to the wrong school. I went to the right school.

Three months ago I got an offer that was contingent upon sending a bunch of documents and an electronic confirmation that I had done a health and safety course.

Two months and three weeks ago, I was still trying to get the frigging electronic confirmation to go through.

Two months ago, I finally got officially added to the list as a casual library technician for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

Today was the first time (apart from some website testing for a friend) that I did paid work since before I had kids.

In this cute little school library. For some library tech who was kind enough to get sick or have an appointment today. 

I was terrified my log-in credentials wouldn't work, but they did! Look! That's my name, all official-like.

Eve sent me this text. 

She said she was proud of me. And in the grand scheme of things, this thing is small. But I think I'm proud of me too.

(Back to Books 2017 tomorrow)

Books 2017: Four Stars - Michael Marshall Smith

Michael Marshall Smith

These are all re-reads. I read them all pretty much as they were published, which made it difficult to follow the continuity between the first two books and the trilogy, and this fall I was in kind of a reading funk so decided to go back to something I knew I liked. The author published some really great science fiction under the name Michael Marshall Smith, and then started writing mysteries with a hint of the supernatural under the name Michael Marshall. I find his voice and imagination extremely fresh and original - I'm never quite sure what I'm going to get, but it's always something wonderfully surprising, with a fairly cynical worldview that nevertheless allows for some real and deep human connections.

Bad Things by Michael Marshall. Synopsis from Goodreads: Three years ago, lawyer John Henderson watched his four-year-old son tumble from a jetty into the lake outside their Washington home. In a terrible instant, a life all too brief and innocent ended. But it wasn't drowning, the fall, or even some previously undetected internal defect that killed the little boy. Scott Henderson had simply, inexplicably...died.
Today, John is a different man—divorced, living a solitary existence in a beach house in Oregon, working as a waiter in a restaurant that caters to the summer crowd. Withdrawn from a life and past too painful to revisit, he touches no one and no one touches him. Then one night he receives a short and profoundly disturbing e-mail message from a stranger. It reads: I know what happened.
It's enough to pull John back to Black Ridge—the one place on earth he'd hoped never to return to—in search of answers to the mystery that shattered his world. In this small, isolated Pacific Northwest community, populated in large part by descendants of the original settlers, the shadows now seem even darker and more sinister than when tragedy first drove him away—and the wind whipping down out of the primal forest can chill a man to his soul. It seems that bad things have always happened in this town of generations-old secrets—and are happening still.
The deeper John digs into his own past, and into local history, the more danger he draws toward himself...and toward his estranged and helpless family. And though he doesn't know it, he's not the only one who's been called back to Black Ridge.
And that's a very bad thing.

What really makes this is the character of John Henderson - extremely flawed and clear-eyed enough to know it, but with a bitter kind of integrity. The sense of place is well-rendered and a big part of the atmosphere, and the plot is complex and satisfying. 

We Are Here by Michael Marshall. Synopsis from Goodreads: An intelligent, page-turning thriller from the international bestselling author of THE STRAW MEN.
It should have been the greatest day of David's life. A trip to New York, wife by his side, to visit his new publisher. Finally, after years of lonely struggle it looks as though the gods of fate are on his side. But on the way back to Penn station, a chance encounter changes all of that. David bumps into a man who covertly follows him and, just before he boards the train, passes by him close enough to whisper: 'Remember me.'
When the stranger turns up in his home town, David begins to understand that this man wants something from him...something very personal that he may have no choice but to surrender.
Meanwhile, back in New York, ex-lawyer John Henderson does his girlfriend Kristina a favour and agrees to talk to Catherine Warren, an acquaintance of hers who believes she's being stalked by an ex-lover. But soon John realises that Catherine's problem is far more complex and terrifying than he could ever have imagined...
There are people out there in the shadows, watching, waiting. They are the forgotten. And they're about to turn. 

I didn't even realize the first time I read it that this was a sequel of sorts to Bad Things, with the same main character and his now love interest. It was a perfectly good read even without that knowledge, but it gave it a little extra depth once I went back and figured it out. This was really, really good - the passages detailing the lives of the community of strangers are really lovely. Of course, then it all devolves into horror and violence, but in a really cool, insightful way. 

The Straw Men (The Straw Men #1) by Michael Marshall. Synopsis from Goodreads: Who are they? What do they want? Why do they kill? Can they be stopped?You know who they are . . . if you've ever known fear.In Palmerston, Pennsylvania, two men in long coats walk calmly into a crowded fast-food restaurant--then, slowly and methodically, gun down sixty-eight people. They take time to reload.On the Promenade of Santa Monica, California, a teenage girl gives sightseeing tips to a distinguished English tourist. She won't be going home tonight.In Dyersburg, Montana, a grief-stricken son tries to make sense of the accident that killed his parents--then finds a note stuffed in his father's favorite chair. It reads, "We're not dead."Three seemingly unrelated events, these are the first signs of an unimaginable network of fear that will lead one unlikely hero to a chilling confrontation with The Straw Men. No one knows who they are--or why they kill. But they must be stopped. Michael Marshall's electrifying debut novel is an instant masterpiece of modern suspense. An epic thriller for anyone who has feared that someone is watching us.

I first read this when two-year-old Angus had a broken leg and I was pregnant with Eve. My mom was watching Angus and I was wandering around the bookstore, and I picked it up and immediately felt like it was going to be really good. That feeling is by far not always accurate, but in this case I was a frigging genius. This is nearly noir but not quite, I loved the characters, and it was just a really well-written, masterfully plotted thriller. 

The Upright Man (The Straw Men #2) by Michael Marshall. Synopsis from Goodreads: Ward Hopkins is afraid. He's seen something dreadful in the high plains of the Columbia River. It's sent him fleeing cross country, forever running. And in his wake, one by one, people are dying. Something's following Ward Hopkins.

More of the same, except adds in some small vignettes about really really nice people who have terrible things happen to them, one of which leads to a new setting and a new, really cool element in the story. Also, there was one scene that I was dead certain I remembered from this book, and I kept waiting for it and it never happened, so now I'm really curious which book it was actually from.

Blood of Angels (The Straw Men #3) by Michael Marshall. Synopsis from Goodreads: Notorious serial killer the Upright Man has escaped from prison, and the FBI have no idea where to look for him. His brother, Ward Hopkins, suspects he may have been aided by the Straw Men, the shadowy organization founded on murder as a way of life that killed Ward's parents.But apart from his girlfriend Nina, a discredited FBI agent, the only other person who believes the Straw Men exist is John Zandt, a former homicide cop turned lone vigilante.Ward's brother was broken out for a reason. The Straw Men are planning something new and terrible. And only Ward, Nina and John stand against the Upright Man and his terrifying allies.

I remembered very little of the whole first half of this, and it veers pretty far away from the original story and characters, but it was still interesting. It all comes to a very satisfying conclusion.

Books 2017 - Three Star Non-Fiction and Fiction

Non-fiction/Memoir

Are You My Mother by Alison Bechdel. Synopsis from Goodreads: From the best-selling author of Fun Home, Time magazine’s No. 1 Book of the Year, a brilliantly told graphic memoir of Alison Bechdel becoming the artist her mother wanted to be.

Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was a pop culture and literary phenomenon. Now, a second thrilling tale of filial sleuthery, this time about her mother: voracious reader, music lover, passionate amateur actor. Also a woman, unhappily married to a closeted gay man, whose artistic aspirations simmered under the surface of Bechdel's childhood . . . and who stopped touching or kissing her daughter good night, forever, when she was seven. Poignantly, hilariously, Bechdel embarks on a quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf. It's a richly layered search that leads readers from the fascinating life and work of the iconic twentieth-century psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, to one explosively illuminating Dr. Seuss illustration, to Bechdel’s own (serially monogamous) adult love life. And, finally, back to Mother—to a truce, fragile and real-time, that will move and astonish all adult children of gifted mothers.

I didn't adore this as much as Fun Home (for which, stay tuned for many rapturous superlatives), although I still liked it. I found the emphasis on therapy and the dwelling on Freudian terms kind of tedious - although I am really glad that it looks like she found a way to deal with her dysfunctional childhood and how it was affecting her. I did like her interactions with her mother, and I still love her artwork and how it informs her story.

Hunger by Roxane Gay. Synopsis from Goodreads: “I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. . . . I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe.”

In her phenomenally popular essays and long-running Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and body, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as “wildly undisciplined,” Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In Hunger, she explores her own past—including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life—and brings readers along on her journey to understand and ultimately save herself. 
With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and power that have made her one of the most admired writers of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to learn to take care of yourself: how to feed your hungers for delicious and satisfying food, a smaller and safer body, and a body that can love and be loved—in a time when the bigger you are, the smaller your world becomes.

It breaks my heart to say I didn't love this, because I absolutely both sympathize and empathize with her. I haven't read any of her other writing, and I intend to, but from what I'd heard I expected more from the writing. It's understandable, of course, that writing about something so terribly personal would take a toll on her style. It's also noted that this memoir was published in pieces, and it very much reads that way - like pieces instead of a sustained narrative. I don't fault her at all for this not being a perfect piece of writing, and I still think it's a really important subject. 

This is Not My Life: A Memoir of Love, Prison and Other Complications by Diane Schoemperlen. Synopsis from Goodreads: From the Governor General’s Award winning author of Forms of Devotion, Our Lady of the Lost and Found and By the Book
“Never once in my life had I dreamed of being in bed with a convicted killer.”
For almost six turbulent years, award-winning writer Diane Schoemperlen was involved with a prison inmate serving a life sentence for second-degree murder. The relationship surprised no one more than her. How do you fall in love with a man with a violent past? How do you date someone who is in prison? This Is Not My Life is the story of the romance between Diane and Shane—how they met and fell in love, how they navigated passes and parole and the obstacles facing a long-term prisoner attempting to return to society, and how, eventually, things fell apart. While no relationship takes place in a vacuum, this is never more true than when that relationship is with a federal inmate. In this candid, often wry, sometimes disturbing memoir, Schoemperlen takes us inside this complex and difficult relationship as she journeys through the prison system with Shane. Not only did this relationship enlarge her capacity for both empathy and compassion, but it also forced her to more deeply examine herself.

I've always been fascinated by the phenomenon of women falling in love with prisoners. This isn't one of the really baffling cases - where women claim to be in love with serial killers who they've only ever exchanged letters with. She knew the man from a work-release program and the relationship grows organically. Furthermore, when Schoemperlen describes her childhood and role models it's not all that surprising that she ends up in this kind of relationship. I found her mostly sympathetic, although at times I wanted to shake her (I feel the same way about myself periodically). I'm kind of impressed that she was willing to admit to and analyze the whole slightly sordid sort of self-imposed ordeal. Her assessment of the whole thing is fairly clear-eyed, although presumably it wasn't at the time, and the details about the Canadian criminal justice system and the Harper government were also illuminating. Engaging read.

Fiction

Ill Will by Dan Chaon. Synopsis from Goodreads: Two sensational unsolved crimes—one in the past, another in the present—are linked by one man’s memory and self-deception in this chilling novel of literary suspense from National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon.
“We are always telling a story to ourselves, about ourselves,” Dustin Tillman likes to say. It’s one of the little mantras he shares with his patients, and it’s meant to be reassuring. But what if that story is a lie?
A psychologist in suburban Cleveland, Dustin is drifting through his forties when he hears the news: His adopted brother, Rusty, is being released from prison. Thirty years ago, Rusty received a life sentence for the massacre of Dustin’s parents, aunt, and uncle. The trial came to symbolize the 1980s hysteria over Satanic cults; despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury believed the outlandish accusations Dustin and his cousin made against Rusty. Now, after DNA analysis has overturned the conviction, Dustin braces for a reckoning.
Meanwhile, one of Dustin’s patients gets him deeply engaged in a string of drowning deaths involving drunk college boys. At first Dustin dismisses talk of a serial killer as paranoid thinking, but as he gets wrapped up in their amateur investigation, Dustin starts to believe that there’s more to the deaths than coincidence. Soon he becomes obsessed, crossing all professional boundaries—and putting his own family in harm’s way.
From one of today’s most renowned practitioners of literary suspense, Ill Will is an intimate thriller about the failures of memory and the perils of self-deception. In Dan Chaon’s nimble, chilling prose, the past looms over the present, turning each into a haunted place. 

I don't know, man. I picked this up because I'd been reading a lot of YA and sci-fi and fantasy and I felt like I should put something realistic in the mix. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. There's a lot of - admirable? - stuff in here, about poverty and addiction and living with a dying person and parental/child relationships. Reading it kind of felt like being immersed in something heavy and greasy, something that kept pulling you lower and lower. I did really like the theme of apophenia - the human tendency to ascribe patterns or meaning to actually unrelated events or circumstances. But it felt somewhat like a sprawling, uncontained mess with elements of greatness rather than a great story. Quite possibly this is intentional, since many parts consist of three columns that run for pages, necessitating either flipping back and forth reading one at a time or sort of scanning across all three at once in a dizzying, non-linear reading experience. So that's fine, I guess, pushing the boundaries is good, innovation is good, but I felt like it kept this book to good rather than great for me.

13 Ways of Looking At a Fat Girl by Mona Awad. Synopsis from Goodreads: Growing up in the suburban hell of Misery Saga (a.k.a. Mississauga), Lizzie has never liked the way she looks—even though her best friend Mel says she’s the pretty one. She starts dating guys online, but she’s afraid to send pictures, even when her skinny friend China does her makeup: she knows no one would want her if they could really see her. So she starts to lose. With punishing drive, she counts almonds consumed, miles logged, pounds dropped. She fights her way into coveted dresses. She grows up and gets thin, navigating double-edged validation from her mother, her friends, her husband, her reflection in the mirror. But no matter how much she loses, will she ever see herself as anything other than a fat girl? 
In her brilliant, hilarious, and at times shocking debut, Mona Awad simultaneously skewers the body image-obsessed culture that tells women they have no value outside their physical appearance, and delivers a tender and moving depiction of a lovably difficult young woman whose life is hijacked by her struggle to conform. As caustically funny as it is heartbreaking, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl introduces a vital new voice in fiction.

I haven't been reading much straight fiction lately and I enjoyed this at the beginning. Then... I don't know. I'm a fat girl, I should pretty much be the target audience, but it did not sweep me away. The writing is perfectly good, and there were some affecting images. The theme of the character thinking she would act one way with a date or a friend and then just letting them do whatever they wanted might have been meaningful, but it started to feel too repetitive and dull to me - just because something happens in real life doesn't make it a good narrative. The chapters with the husband felt a little shallow - clearly she resented what she had to do to stay thin, and still had major baggage from being fat, which I completely understand, but all we saw was the same behaviour over and over without any insight or movement. Somewhat ironically, I just felt like the whole thing lacked a bit of heft. 

Books 2017: Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King

Is it just me, or are the three-stars taking forever this year? I try not to make any one post too long because I feel like it gets overwhelming. It felt like this one needed its own post because I had so many thoughts while reading it - not necessarily brilliant or worthwhile thoughts, but thoughts.

So. Sleeping Beauties. I was all kinds of excited when I saw that Stephen King had written a book with his won, which doesn't make a huge amount of sense because for me it's kind of the wrong son. I've actually never read any Owen King. I bought this with Strange Weather by Joe Hill, who I have read and really, really like - at his best I think he might surpass his father, and I would give a fair bit to know how Papa King really feels about that. I mean, he's probably just proud and happy, but what are the odds that one of his kids would not just write, but write horror, and write horror at this level?

Anyway. When I finally cracked this open and read the jacket copy I was surprised to realized that I had bought it without even reading what it was supposed to be about. In fact, I thought I had read the synopsis, and it was something about a serial killer who left "sleeping beauty" type corpses. No idea where the hell that came from. Should I put the Goodreads synopsis here? Perhaps I should. Here it is:

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place. The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied, or is she a demon who must be slain?"

So. There was baggage here for me. First of all, from what I've seen of Owen King, he fancies himself as somewhat more of an auteur than his father and brother, producing straight, serious fiction without a hint of the otherworldly. There's no earthly reason for this to be off-putting to me, and yet somehow, because of this and because I hadn't read any of his books, I found myself doing two things. First, I would blame him for anything I didn't like in the book; the fox, who sort of bugged me at the beginning? Must be Owen. The exhaustive listing of the cast of characters, which seemed sort of superfluous, since the important ones were made known through the story and the important ones, well, who cares? Clearly Owen's idea. Second, I would blame him for things I didn't like that are vintage Stephen King - repeating certain phrases ad nauseum, that one death that's just gross for no reason, anything along those lines - dammit, Owen, you couldn't have reined him in? All indications are that I was giving poor Owen King very short shrift.

Then there were the strong feminist underpinnings of the story. No one can claim that King is trying to jump on a bandwagon here - Carrie, Dolores Claiborne, Gerald's Game and Rose Madder are all pretty overtly feminist, and that's just off the top of my head. And as far as I'm concerned, if a popular male author wants to add his voice to that conversation, I'm all for it. 

So. Was the story done well? I think it was. It certainly kept me reading. It featured a lot of things that King has done before, but they were done well. The set-up where we meet all the characters involved and, in short order, come to care quite strongly about many of them (that is one of the things King does best, in my opinion. I've read so many horror novels that seem to have all the requisite elements, and yet I never really care enough about the characters to feel the horror). There are characters who are more good than bad, and some who are more bad than good, but most are a realistic mixture. There's usually at least one character who seems like a hopeless waste of skin but redeems himself to admirably that it's really upsetting when he dies (yes, I think it is usually a man). Then the crisis. Then the characters reacting to the crisis. Then a big free-for-all fight at the end. 

So, was it new and exciting? Not exactly. There were some very positive reviews on Goodreads that made me wonder if the reviewers had read most or all of the rest of the oeuvre. In fact, I felt like a lot of this was Rose Madder with some new window-dressing. Some violent men, some women who suffered as a result of that violence, and an otherworldly nature-y realm where... something... was being decided about men, or women, or something. In this story, that realm is personified by Eve Black, who is interesting and sometimes amusing, but King never really pins down exactly what she is, and it feels to me like it's because he doesn't really know. 

Most of the feminist stuff hit the right notes for me. A few times I found myself thinking that he had gone too far with misogynist characters and then realizing, sadly, that he was probably dead on. Judging by some of the stuff I've seen on Twitter and Facebook lately, it seems eminently possible that if women started going to sleep and ending up wrapped in cocoons, a large segment of the male population would, in fact, delight in calling the cocoons 'bitch bags'. He doesn't fall into the trap of making all men bad and all women good - in the one healthy marriage in the book, my sympathies were slightly more with the husband. I felt like the decision made by the women at the end was a little too easy, but by that point I think we all kind of wanted it to be over. 

Bottom line: this was a perfectly readable Stephen King book that didn't break any new ground (which is why in the end I left it at three stars instead of four), and I couldn't find evidence of a different, additional author in it anywhere. Really interested to hear what Steph (HI STEPH) thinks when she's finished it, and anyone else I know.