Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

A reading friend recommended this to me. I'd passed it over in the book giveaway lists because I've been steering clear of coming of age novels of late. But with the recommendation, I got an e-copy of it on loan from my library, and began reading it a day before heading off to New York City for a long overdue reunion.

I was a slightly awkward adolescent, lost in my own imaginings, yet able to make an occasional successful foray into the world around me thanks to some dear friends who never mocked my oddities, and encouraged interactions on a level I was comfortable. By the time I reached high school, I was able to successfully separate my mind travels from everyday life; thinker disguised as teenager. Entering into June's world brought those memories to the surface, though June's world is of the late 1980's when I was already a couple of decades out of adolescence.

What truly captured me was the inclusion of The Cloisters as a sanctuary, memory, and haven for June and her uncle Toby. I'd never been to The Cloisters, though have read about the place so many times, that if I had a bucket list, going there would be one item. This trip, my family and I fulfilled that wish, and spent an afternoon wandering simultaneously through Upper Manhattan and Medieval Europe. Because of June's love of the place, and the book's descriptions, there were art and artifacts that I "recognized" especially "Enthroned Virgin and Child",  the birch statue of Mary and Jesus with the baby's head missing (Better picture and catalog info here.) Thanks to June, it was not my first visit to Fort Tryon Park, nor the first time I smelled the air, still reminiscent of Catholicism. To be fair, June and Toby's love of Mozart’s Requiem, tea, Amadeus, and A Room With A View, also hit chimes with me, as all are loves of mine. And whether it's a beloved uncle, or the boy down the street, first loves can be both beautiful and heart-breaking, truly deserving of the word "bittersweet" and the stuff of memories.

Enthroned Virgin and Child, France, ca 11-30-1140 

As to the cause of Toby's death, I was still practicing as a nurse when AIDS first appeared. My awareness and understanding of it came from the medical aspect, though all too soon, people I knew in my personal life, not just as patients, began to contract the disease. AIDS is indirectly responsible for my own health woes, as exposure to improperly treated latex/natural rubber rushed into production for gloves into the medical system are what caused my own latex allergy and resulting pulmonary ills.

This book also had some other elements that played favorably for me, particularly the examination of sibling relationships, both for June and her sister, and for her mother and uncle. I thought the author did a nice job, as well, revealing the growing friendship between June and Toby, the lover of her dead uncle. The tiny dips into the art world, and  New York City also matched my days of reading the book on the train, in a park, curled up at night while the sounds of 6th Ave bustled outside my hotel window.

There are those who will be impatient, want a faster pace, less adolescent angst. Fine. This may not be the book for you. But for me, this was the best time and place to tell the wolves I'm home.

Tags: 2016-read, e-book, read-on-recommendation, places-i-have-been, taught-me-something, made-me-look-something-up, made-me-think, thank-you-charleston-county-library, first-novel-or-book 

Midnight Sun (Blood on Snow, #2) by Jo Nesbø

Nesbo goes short, sparse, somewhat philosophic, and a touch romantic in this second "Blood on Snow" book, set in a remote part of Norway, where Jon is now on the run from the crimelord known as The Fisherman, who will be satisfied with nothing less than Jon's corpse.

Different from the Harry Hole novels, but again with a true sense of place and character.

Tags:  a-favorite-author, translated, nordic-noir, rounded-up-in-star-rating, 2016-read

Steeplejack (Alternative Detective #1) by A.J. Hartley

Here's a book that has a great central character: quick-thinking, curious, smart, determined, loyal; she pulls her weight as the only female steeplejack scaling the towers, chimneys, and spires of Bar-Selehm, a semi-steampunk, somewhat Victorian version of an alternate South Africa. That's a first in world building, for me, as is AJ Hartley's appropriation of our South Africa's history: colonialism, apartheid, and a strictly tiered society, woven into a tight culture. Into this, he plunked Anglet Sutonga, our chimney climbing heroine, smack in the center of a mystery. (I'm going to skip a lot of things I might have written yesterday, such as my fascination that a white male chose to write about a young woman of color, in an area vastly different from where he lives, and what he has studied. That's because today, there's a blogpost by Hartley on Tor that makes much of my thoughts redundant. Check it out.)

The story starts with Ang's discovery that her new apprentice has been found dead, apparently of a fall. She, however, suspects foul play. The police aren't interested. The city becomes obsessed instead, with the theft of The Beacon, the icon that has lit the city's night-sky for years. Ang continues to ask questions, to poke the anthill. She enters into an uneasy alliance with a a young politician, who alone in the city obsessed with the missing light, seems concerned about the death of her apprentice. There's one of the most amazing chase scenes I've read-- it played out like parkour over the rooftops of the city. And there's humanity-- rich depictions of the customs and practices of a tiered society, the interweaving of cultures, and the conflicts of expectations for individuals who slide between the layers.

I used to kid myself. I'd say I primarily picked up YA books to see what my kids, and then later, my grandkids, were reading. But I've found that, baring the occasional vampire/werewolf sequence, or silly princesses, there are thoughtful, well-written, attention grabbing books out there, which are aimed at a YA market, or have a YA appropriately-aged central character, but really do make a cross-over.  AJ Hartley's <i> Steeplejack</i>  jumped that steeple-high space to grab me, despite the 40 + year age difference between the central character and the reader. Good writing can do that.

Full disclosure: I was visiting the offices at Tor last week, and was given this book by Diana Pho. To be honest, the fact that she is the editor only makes me like it more.

Publication date for this book is June 14, 2016.

tags: 2016-read, alternate-history, didn-t-want-to-put-it-down, fantasy, grandgirl-nonsparkly-fodder, great-cover, literary-mystery, made-me-look-something-up, made-me-think, part-start-of-a-series, read, read-on-recommendation, steampunk, thought-provoking, tor, will-look-for-more-by-this-author, ya-lit

Inspirations in Art: Thank you Jacques Hnizdovsky

I recently had the opportunity to see a show of the art of Jacques Hnizdovsky, a prolific and amazing artist born in Ukraine, who spent many years at a displaced persons camp in Germany, and eventually was able to emigrate to the United Stated, Minneapolis, Minnesota, to be exact. His art thrilled me, both in the content and execution, and in the enormous range of styles he used, each work something startling, unique, and captivating. I was drawn, especially, to the woodcuts and linocuts, their lines touching a cord with the wax lines used in pysanky. I found myself "reading" some of the symbols used, wondering if he had incorporated the language of pysanky into a print of a sheep, or a tree or a loaf of bread. I came away breathless (well, part of that was my inability to breath like a normal human being in some circumstances, not just the sheer thrill of what I'd seen) and inspired. There was also a film of Hnizdovsky, done in the latter years of his life, showing the creation of one of the woodcuts in the exhibition. I must have watched it three times, entranced by the technique he used to recreate his vision.

A year or so ago, I'd purchased some simple tools to try linocut. Finding latex-safe equipment can be a challenge, particularly for the roller, but my trusty pals at our Charleston Artist & Craftsman were up to the task, and kitted me out with a simple set. I put it in a boxI labeled "lino" and then, I  promptly got absorbed in other arts, until Hnizdovsky came into my life.

I spent a few days mulling over what to use as my subject, finally settling on adapting a pen and ink (Dragonmount) I'd already done for Patterns of the Wheel, and that, as a print, had been well-received at JordanCon. The size is smaller, and though I made a few mistakes, and have ideas what to do differently, I quite chuffed with the results.

I can hardly wait for my next project. My brain is brimming with ideas.

Word Puppets by Mary Robinette Kowal

Back on her birthday, I posted on Facebook, "Dear MRK- In honor of your birthday, I got your most recent book. I figured that was a good present for an author/friend."

Now, in May (not because I'm a slow reader, but because I don't often read on my e-reader), I've just finished wrapping the gift she gave me in the stories of Word Puppets. I started it at JordanCon, (which, back in 2012 is where I met the author), and have picked it up here and there, between other books to finish it off. Some of the stories were good, some great, some left me with that vague sense of wanting more (which is why I prefer not to read short stories). At least one made me scratch my head and wonder. But none made me want to skip the story, or to stop reading. I also loved how imagery of things which are important or favorites of the author were woven into the stories. However, were one to talk about "my favorite bit" of the book, I must fess up-- it wasn't by our esteemed author, but was the wonderful introduction by Patrick Rothfuss. Icing/cake anyone?
All in all, a good collection.

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman

This has been my year for Fredrik Backman. I read his My Grandmother Told Me to Tell You She's Sorry after picking it up because of the title. It had charming moments, enough so that early into my reading, I immediately put A Man Called Ove on reserve at the library. Grandmother was interesting, but Ove claimed my heart. This book falls somewhere between the two. It seems that Britt-Marie might be the same Britt-Marie that appears in Grandmother, except in this book, the reader's sympathy is with her instead of the reader's wrath.

A lovely treatment of the peculiarities of peculiar people and how friendships, communities, and families of sorts are forged between the irascible and obstinate (not to mention the OCD, and even rats. And soccer. Lots about soccer.

Also, this book has one of the loveliest dedications I can remember-- but that may be because I'm a mother who believes in filling the hearts, minds, and bellies of those I love.

The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan

I feel almost guilty having mixed feelings about this book, which was highly recommended by a reading friend. (In fact, they gave me my copy.) Certainly the story of Marina Keegan's brief life is amazing and heartbreaking. I mourn for the loss of artistry and talent that came about because of her death. And, she certainly could write. Yet many of the pieces had me not so much engaging in them as wishing that her potential could have matured and fulfilled. Her stories and essays are evocative and beautifully written, but I was not as fully transported by some them as I had anticipated. Perhaps part of it is the generation gap-- she was born the same year as one of my children, which maybe explains why some things in that child's life mystify me. Another bit working against me is my limited appreciation for short stories. It's just not a genre that I particularly like. Ultimately, my dissatisfaction with the book is not in the writer, but in the reader.

Tags: don-t-want-to-rate, i-heard-about-it-on-npr, made-me-sad, made-me-think, mixed-feelings, not-to-my-taste-but-worthwhile, read, read-on-recommendation, short-story, thought-provoking

For those unfamiliar with the story behind this book, and the life behind that story, I am reprinting the publisher's blurb here:

An affecting and hope-filled posthumous collection of essays and stories from the talented young Yale graduate whose title essay captured the world’s attention in 2012 and turned her into an icon for her generation.

Marina Keegan’s star was on the rise when she graduated magna cum laude from Yale in May 2012. She had a play that was to be produced at the New York International Fringe Festival and a job waiting for her at the New Yorker. Tragically, five days after graduation, Marina died in a car crash.

As her family, friends, and classmates, deep in grief, joined to create a memorial service for Marina, her unforgettable last essay for the Yale Daily News, “The Opposite of Loneliness,” went viral, receiving more than 1.4 million hits. She had struck a chord.

Even though she was just twenty-two when she died, Marina left behind a rich, expansive trove of prose that, like her title essay, captures the hope, uncertainty, and possibility of her generation. The Opposite of Loneliness is an assem­blage of Marina’s essays and stories that, like The Last Lecture, articulates the universal struggle that all of us face as we figure out what we aspire to be and how we can harness our talents to make an impact on the world.