TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books with Oceans On the Cover

Top Ten Books with --- on the Cover is the topic this week and I have chosen Oceans on the cover. Spring is in the air (although there is definitely still a risk of frost, and a skiff of snow wouldn't be unheard of). One of the signs of spring for me is that it is time to buy my National Park pass for the summer, allowing me to go to the North Shore beaches of Prince Edward Island from July to September. And July to September are the best months on PEI. Now, most Islanders know how to get into the National Park without having a pass, or can easily find a non-National Park Beach like Lakeside or Panmure Island, or like at my cottage, Locke Shore which are all free, but Brackley and Cavendish and Stanhope are where all the action is, and are great beaches that are easy to get to, about 25 minutes from my home.

Beaches = ocean, tides, and beautiful sand. I also just ordered myself a new beach chair to take to the beach. I am getting a peaceful feeling just imagining sitting at the beach with a book, looking out on the ocean horizon forever. Sigh. 

For future topics and links to everyone else's posts, visit That Artsy Reader Girl.

my view from Stanhope beach last summer 

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Authors I Haven’t Read, But Want To

 

The topic (yesterday) for Top Ten Tuesday is Authors I Haven't Read But Want To. Easy topic to find ten authors for! For more of yesterday's posts and future topics, visit That Artsy Reader Girl.

VE Schwab 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Gallant

Simone St James

The Book of Cold Cases, The Sun Down Motel

Elif Shafak

Island of the Missing Trees, The Bastard of Istanbul,

Kate Quinn

The Huntress, The Alice Network

Sarah Moss

Ghost Wall, Summerland, 

Dorothy Sayers

Gaudy Night, Whose Body? Strong Poison

Mary Kubica

Don't You Cry, The Good Girl

Colleen Hoover

Envy, Ugly Love,

Sonali Dev

Recipe for Persuasion, Incense and Sensibility, 

Val McDermid

mystery series

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Freebie

It's a Freebie Week for Top Ten Tuesday hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl, and I found this draft post from a few years ago that highlighted a few of the YA Sync audiobooks that were offered in summer of 2019. Pretty good deal for free books, and the fact that some of them were so good is really just a bonus. 

I started walking a lot that summer, and audiobooks were a big part of my fitness routine. I could always tell when I really liked a book, because I would just keep walking, or I couldn't wait to bet back out and listen to more of the book.

As this program is still going on, and is starting up the end of April 2022, keep an eye out or sign up for email or text reminders to get your 2 free audiobooks each week. 

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Modern day story of a teen girl who chooses to go to a boarding school in London, and then a copy-cat Jack the Ripper starts up, and the school is in the neighbourhood of these murders. There was a paranormal level to the story, that gradually appeared, which made it acceptable to me as I'm not really a paranormal activity reader.
I've read previous books by Johnson, like Let it Snow, and 13 Little Blue Envelopes, so I knew she was a quality writer. There are more books in this series, called Shades of London, and while I really enjoyed The Name of the Star, I'm not sure I'll go out of my way to find the next three books.
I will however, look for that nonfiction book about the victims of Jack the Ripper.

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

Nonfiction science book by amazing author (Packing for Mars, and Stiff) made this a book I knew I would enjoy, and humorous and nosy author Roach did not disappoint. Here's short synopsis from Librarything:

This novel focuses on the alimentary canal, which is basically, what happens from your mouth to your colon. You will learn all sorts of things about saliva, taste, the stomach and how food is digested and what science has done to experiment with people to learn these things, why the colon doesn't explode when one is unable to expel excrement, and why pooping is so important.

So, if science of somewhat gross things appeals to you, you need to check out Mary Roach's books

Olivia Twist by Lorie Langdon

Great retelling of Oliver Twist that made me wish I had read Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens before. Alas, I won't, and I often enjoy retellings more than the original. Even without the parallels, this was a great story - orphans, poor kids, Victorian London streets, a touch of romance, and a murder mystery. Great setting, good plot, and well-written characters. It was just a rollicking good time, and the Oliver Twist connection just added to it.

The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky

Well, this was a creepy little story. Set in Ausralia in the 1960s at a girls' school, there is a lot of vague things happening that builds up the creepiness. One day, a teacher and eleven students go on an unplanned outing, and the teacher ends up disappeared. I'm not even completely sure what happened, but it certainly had my attention while I read it.

Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones

This was another fast-paced adventure with two run away teens. I really liked the Toronto setting, as I felt like I could picture everything happening. The social issue of homelessness, coupled with the adventure - Blink observes a kidnapping and then meets up with Caution, both running from abusive situations.

Vincent & Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heligman

The boys were crazy but talented. They spent their whole life fighting with each other in how they would life their lives. Vincent worked hard at his art, and then dealt with mental illness. 

Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanan

I didn't remember what this book was about, but when I looked it up, I did remember. A young girl is taken to a Outward Bound type situation to deal with her drug abuse. She is very angry at the start, but it ends up being heart-warming and a good read.

Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabaar

How could you not be a fan of Kareem Abdul-Jabaar after reading this book? He is the intellectual, thoughtful, progressive thinker that he appears to be, and also a fantastic athlete. He always knew that there were more important things than sports thought. 

You by Charles Benoit

This was a short book, and again, my memory is vague. I see 'second person' perspective in reviews, and my memory is that he was a disturbed teenager, making poor choices. 

CHALLENGE: Historical Fiction Reading, March

 

Still Life by Sarah Winman 

1940s - 1970s, Italy and England but mostly Florence

Enjoyable read about an Englishman who was in Italy during WW2 and 

meets an art historian. After the war he goes back to England and hangs 

out with an odd assortment of characters at a bar. Circumstances take 

him, and a few characters, back to Florence wherethey make a life. The 

art historian hovers around and it takes years for them to reconnect.

The author narrated, which was okay, but I thought a professional 

narrator might have madea difference, for the better, for me.

I liked it; other readers at LT have loved it a lot. 

Matrix by Lauren Groff

review can be found here

1200s England, convent

When We Lost Our Heads - Heather O'Neill

late 19th century Montreal

This one needed its own review post as I really loved it.

Circle by Maggie Shipstead

early 1900s to 1950s America, plus present day 

looking back

review has been posted here

The Raven's Tale by Cat Winters

late 1820s, Virginia and Richmond

Are you a fan of Edgar Allan Poe? This historical fiction is for you. 

Picture tormentedEdgar at seventeen, heading off to university with 

his muse, Lenore, tagging along. 

The writing is lovely and many parts try to match 'The Raven' as that is

obviously going to be a big part of the story. I've read a few of Poe's short

stories, and the Simpsons' Halloween episode 'The Raven' is one of my 

favourites. I've been inspired to buy a kindle book of Poe's work to enjoy. 

It's very fantastical (a raven-type women is following him and can be seen 

by others, and then another muse shows up who wants Edgar to focus on 

hissatirical writing) he's a tormented artist, (his guardian thinks he's a whiny

 teenager, lol) but he could write!

 

TOP TEN TUESDAY: 21st Century Books I Think Will Become Classics

 

We will know how well we chose our future classics by how many books appear on everyone's lists. How many of my picks are also on your list?  This week's topic of Top Ten Tuesday is 21st Century books I Think Will Become Classics. For more lists and to see future topics, visit That Artsy Reader Girl. 

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Never Let Me Go by Kazou Ishiguro

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

REVIEW: Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

 

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, narrated by Cassandra Campbell and 

Alex McKenna

This is a parallel time line story, so part is in the present, but the majority

 of the book (25 houraudiobook!) is in the past. There's a bit of Les 

Miserables going on here, in that perhaps some character's backstory goes

back too far. Like when you read about the bishop and think he'll be the 

main character and he really has no big part in the story? That's what this 

felt like. I didn't actually mind the long story because when Cassandra 

Campbell narrates, the story moves along so easily. But I'm sure if I was 

reading a paper book I would have wanted a more judicious editor as I 

didn't need to know so much about Marion's mother's background. 

The main story is about Marion Graves, a pilot who flew around the Earth 

in a longitudinal circle and then disappeared. In the present, a young 

troubled actress is set to play Marion in a bio-pic movie.The story goes back

and forth between them. We start with Marion, (after her mother's 

backstory) and her twin Jamie are rescued from a sinking ship in the early 

1900s.  Then the rest is Marion as she grows up, gets obsessed with flying, 

marries an older man who becomes obsessed and controlling with her. 

I liked it, but I'm not sure I got the big picture or theme of the story. Not 

that there needs to be a bigger picture, but for the length of the story I 

wanted a little more. Or for an interesting biography type historical fiction

it could have been a bit shorter, with less of the present day actress. 

However, I think it would make a great movie. The role of a strong 

determined woman, the war times,the mystery of her disappearance - it 

would translate well.

This has been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022.

REVIEW: Matrix by Lauren Groff

 

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Historical fiction from the 1200s, Marie de France is sent from Eleanor of Aquataine's court to a destitute abbey at seventeen where she spends the rest of her life. Marie is smart and takes over the abbey due to her leadership abilities. She maintains contact with Eleanor who is a powerful ally. Monastary life which is often portrayed as being sent away and locked up actually provided women throughout history with a viable option for a life of learning and leadership away from the patriarchy.

I had a grand-aunt who joined the convent at sixteen, basically as soon as she could get away from her home when her widowed father remarried and began having a second family. She went to university, and taught, and then eventually earned a PhD in Education and taught at Boston College. She wrote books, travelling the world to do research. She had opportunities, despite a vow of poverty, that her sister (my grandmother) who married at eighteen and had seven children, did not. The book also portrays the wonderful community of women that a monestary is, and that was also what I saw visiting my aunt.

Maybe knowing a nun added to my enjoyment of the book. They are just people with jealousies (my aunt was pissed another nun horned in on my baptism, as she wasn't related but showed up) and bad habits (my aunt developed a slight Casino gambling habit in the last years of her life - everyone gave her tokens for Christmas). But they have a mutual goal in their life and they work together towards it, with women-power.

Marie brings her abbey to prominence and wealth by using her nuns to their best abilities, and keeping contact with the Queen. There are plenty of 'close' friendships as one should expect in a house full of women. I quite enjoyed this book and the look at a different time and life.

March 22: Books With an Adjective In the Title

Here's some mysteries on my list of books I want to read (plus a couple of Women's Prize for Fiction longlist books.) What do they have in common? An adjective in the title. I'm 90% sure these are all adjectives. What can I say, I'm a math/science teacher.

For more lists, and future topics, visit That Artsy Reader Girl.

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Miss Koppel's Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart

Entry Island by Peter May

The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

The Blood Pit by Kate Ellis

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

REVIEW: When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O'Neill

 

When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O'Neill

On many levels, I really liked this book. I'm pretty sure it'll be on my best of reads for 2022. 

I went into When We Lost Our Heads with much anticipation of a new Heather O'Neill book. I first read Lullabies for Little Criminals, and I didn't quite get it. I liked it, but it was so outside my experience and comfort zone. Next was The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, and by now, I get her storytelling, and I like being along for the ride. By the time I read The Lonely Hearts Hotel, I moved Heather O'Neill onto my favourite author list.

Two young girls in late 1800s Montreal meet and have a immediate connection. Marie Antoine is the daughter of a sugar baron, and Sadie Arnett is the daugher of social/political climbers and they both live on the Golden Mile. It's a dangerous, passionate friendship between the girls. Dark things happen and the girls are separated, but still obsessed with each other. (The dark thing will come back later in the book - the plotting and twists were exquisite!) In my head I'm thinking that Marie Antoine sounds a lot like Marie Antoinette. 

The main part of the story comes after Sadie returns to Montreal and the girls are reunited. Marie is super rich and powerful and Sadie is a little darker and twisted. I loved that the book was nearly all female characters. You know the Bechdel test?  It's "a measure of the representation of women in fiction. It asks whether a work features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. The requirement that the two women must be named is sometimes added."  Well this book passes with flying colours. The males are few and far between - Marie's father Louis and Sadie's brother Phillip are mentioned but not much else. 

I looked up for some information about the book while I was reading it, and found a review which pointed out some connections between the French Revolution and the book. I didn't figure this all out myself, but I had noticed the Marie Antoine part.

Louis Antoine (Louis XVI); Marie Antoine (Marie Antoinette); Sadie Arnett (Marquis de Sade); Mary Robespierre (Maximilien Robespierre); Jeanne-Pauline Marat (Jean-Paul Marat); and George Danton (Georges Danton). 

About this point I really think about the title and notice the cover picture. D'oh! The second half of the book sets up the revolution, with the female factory workers and the agitators. Everything is about the women - gender roles, women workers, contraception and childbirth, and expectations about women are defined continuously, while Marie and Sadie are not living according to expectations. 

So I loved the French Revolution parallels (even though I know so little about French Revolution), I loved the feminism, I loved the writing, and I loved twists and turns that I did not see coming. Let them eat cake indeed.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books on My Spring TBR

 

I love a good TBR list. I'm not always good at finishing them, but the planning is most of the fun. For future lists and other entries, visit That Artsy Reader Girl.

Series Books

An Irish Country Cottage by Patrick Taylor

Lucifer's Harvest by Mel Starr

My Own Books

Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins

Chasing Painted Horses by Drew Hayden Taylor

Cop Killer by Maj Sjowell

The Raven's Tale by Cat Winters

Women's Prize for Fiction

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

New and Shiny

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Taste by Stanley Tucci