I went poking through Hoopla and rediscovered this book of poetry from/about the Isle of Iona. I spent three days there in 1999 but it really is a speI went poking through Hoopla and rediscovered this book of poetry from/about the Isle of Iona. I spent three days there in 1999 but it really is a special place and the poems grapple with that, from a changing focus in theme of its history, to the legendary people who have passed through, to the spirituality of the place, to the unique landscape, to the memories of the poet's childhood, etc. They brought up memories for me too.
This diversion prompted by the last month of the Readtheworld21 challenge! ...more
This is the second witchy book I've read recently based on a mention on another book podcast (this was on the October most anticipated books episode fThis is the second witchy book I've read recently based on a mention on another book podcast (this was on the October most anticipated books episode from Professional Book Nerds even though they had a witchy books episode two prior; I read Cackle after the mention on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.)
The Lighthouse Witches takes place on an island off the west coast of Scotland (for some reason it's never called the Hebrides in this book.) A mother moves there to paint a mural inside a lighthouse and uproots her daughters to do so, but then they disappear. The island has a long sordid history including witchhunts and missing children, and the author has used a lot from Scottish folklore and history.
Most people know I'm a sucker for a novel set on a cold weather island and what is better for spooktober than a witchy dreary read? This comes out Tuesday, October 5, 2021....more
Anders is a local journalist sent to Frick Island to cover a cake contest and gets pulled into two big stories - the future demise of the island thankAnders is a local journalist sent to Frick Island to cover a cake contest and gets pulled into two big stories - the future demise of the island thanks to climate change, and the woman who believes her husband is still alive.
He decides to pull these stories into his podcast and keeps returning to the island to try to get to the truth.
The island is completely based on Smith Island in Chesapeake Bay, down to the B&B owner who teaches people how to make the legendary Smith Island cake. And now I'm obsessed with going there.
This is very much contemporary lit/ beach read fare. It does have some romance in it but that isn't really the central plot, at least not to me.
I had a copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley and Edelweiss (requested it twice, whoops, at least it's only digital) - it came out May 25th....more
I would not have typically read this novel, as I don't read many World War II novels (and I've already read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie I would not have typically read this novel, as I don't read many World War II novels (and I've already read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which is a similar story during the same German occupation of British islands) but there are a few reasons this surfaced:
-I'm trying to finish reading a book from every country in Europe this year. I realize Jersey is not exactly a country but it's also not exactly a part of the UK. (The internet says it is part of the "British Islands." -The author was actually born on Jersey and her parents lived on Jersey during the occupation, so she has more direct experience to speak of. I think this comes across in the novel, both from the research and the placeness of it. -The four central characters are all based on real people, and so this issue of an Austrian (Jewish) woman escaping to an island that ends up occupied by Germans is a frightening and true story. -While the very famous book club book I mentioned above is about resistance, this novel looks more at the people who collaborated/were forced to collaborate/were seen as collaborators. One woman works for the Germans because she is fluent in German and English. One woman marries a man living on the island who fled the mainland but ends up conscripted into the German army, and suddenly she's a collaborator and her family won't speak to her. And this is only the beginning of the complicated and difficult situations the islanders find themselves in, not to mention Churchill's resistance to sending them much needed food and supplies.
Jersey is a place I'll probably never get to visit, so I spent an hour last night poking around on Google maps and looking around. Apparently most tourists that go there these days are interested in the war history so they've really emphasized those locations on the island. When you see the British Islands on a map, Jersey is practically enfolded in a French bay, so it makes visual sense that the Germans would have seen it as an easy defenseless place to conquer.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. It came out February 2nd but I came across it after that somehow....more
In a near future where entire species have gone extinct and the numbers of birds and fish are catastrophically low, Franny convinces a fishing boat caIn a near future where entire species have gone extinct and the numbers of birds and fish are catastrophically low, Franny convinces a fishing boat captain to bring her aboard to follow the Arctic Tern (which she thinks will also follow the fish.) As the story goes on, more of her past is revealed. It sometimes feels like a story churning in its own destruction because obviously Fanny knows everything that has happened and the reader doesn't, but I liked the premise and the landscape. The crew is interesting as is the people they encounter, usually in cold and remote places, my favorite.
I had a copy of this from Flatiron Books through Netgalley although it came out August 4th so I'm obviously in catch-up mode with eARCs....more
A standalone from Australian crime writer Jane Harper, set in a coastal small town in Tasmania with a history of loss, and then a young woman dies mysA standalone from Australian crime writer Jane Harper, set in a coastal small town in Tasmania with a history of loss, and then a young woman dies mysteriously and old grudges come to the surface.
One thing I continue to appreciate and enjoy in Harper's writing is the importance of the landscape. Previously that has been the sparse, dry climates; this is a cold weather island, specifically on the coast where there are caves that are underwater only during high tide. What a perfect place to be full of danger and foreboding! I wish I could go there.
Thanks to the publisher for providing access through NetGalley; it came out February 2nd in the USA....more
Can there be a more perfect book to read as the year winds down? Katherine May looks at wintering from a number of perspectives including viewing the Can there be a more perfect book to read as the year winds down? Katherine May looks at wintering from a number of perspectives including viewing the aurora borealis, the time she lost her voice, seasonal affective disorder, and more, including how most of nature rests for transformation in the winter. And we should too!
This is a new title so might be good for gifts for your older, reflective relative. Maybe alongside a book of poetry by Mary Oliver or Barbara Kingsolver.
I had a review copy of the print but ended up listening to the audio, which I found very soothing. ...more
A flawed mother-daughter relationship and a daughter making her own way. I listened to and read this.
(This story is part of Inheritance, a collection A flawed mother-daughter relationship and a daughter making her own way. I listened to and read this.
(This story is part of Inheritance, a collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, and dangerous revelations between loved ones from Amazon Original Stories. Not a paid advertisement.)...more
Hekla is a writer living in Iceland in the 1960s but because she is a woman, everyone around her keeps trying to tuck her back into more traditional rHekla is a writer living in Iceland in the 1960s but because she is a woman, everyone around her keeps trying to tuck her back into more traditional roles of wife and mother. She is beautiful and pursued relentlessly by men who want her to compete to be Miss Iceland with somewhat questionable promises. The other key characters are her father, who is obsessed with volcanoes so much so that she is named after one and their conversations and gifts tend to revolve around whichever volcano is currently active; her close friend who is not straight and gets seasick, leaving him without a lot of options for work or relationships; her other close friend who has her own writing muse but is trapped in a basement apartment (no sun, no room) as a housewife and seems destined to be the mother of many children, close together.
Hekla has kept her writing life a secret and manages to do so even after moving in with her boyfriend who fancies himself a writer, a poet, and joins the other self-declared poets to have coffee and be seen writing in the cafes. In this way the author manages to capture the creative spirit of people living in Iceland but with a somewhat mocking way of revealing how people see themselves vs. where the true talent lies.
After reading Icelandic literature for a year, I'm still drawn back to it - it's a place I still haven't visited and want to, but I learn more about it in every book set there. This one has a lot about the culture of Reykjavik in the 1960s, where whale carving would take place down the block from a bookstore. The post-war years play a role, for instance did you know that an entire island was created by a volcano around the same time JFK was assassinated? There are a lot of place names and it's clearly translated by a British-English speaker because of some of the word choices, but all these things just work together to make it feel more Icelandic, of a certain time and place.
This video is a nice little summary of Icelandic literature featuring several authors I've read and liked, and they do a good job explaining why literature is so important there, and what it is that fuels their creativity. They are all speaking English; I would like to learn Icelandic!
I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher through NetGalley. It comes out June 16, 2020. The author teaches art at the University of Iceland, writes song lyrics for a band, and has won several awards for her fiction and plays....more
This is a very atmospheric, moody, dare I say gothic (?) book about a strange inheritance and an even stranger island. I would save it for a dark and This is a very atmospheric, moody, dare I say gothic (?) book about a strange inheritance and an even stranger island. I would save it for a dark and stormy night. Despite it's shorter page count, it's a fairly dense and slow burn read, but that really suits the tone of the story.
I had a copy of this from the publisher through Edelweiss; it came out in this edition on April 7, 2020....more
This novel moves from an obscure hotel on the north coast of Vancouver Island to New York to a container ship off the coast of Mauritius, and is aboutThis novel moves from an obscure hotel on the north coast of Vancouver Island to New York to a container ship off the coast of Mauritius, and is about siblings, the Country of Money, ponzi schemes, ghosts and counterlives for all the regrets in a life. Most readers know this author from Station Eleven and I would say the only similarity is the way the story shifts its focus on a slowly evolving group of characters as the story moves through time. This is only an apocalypse novel if your money crashed in 2008. Love the PNW setting of some of it too.
This came out March 24, 2020 and I had a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss....more
I'm so torn about this book. I love the isolated landscape of northeastern Newfoundland, the historical details of the fishing industry of the 19th ceI'm so torn about this book. I love the isolated landscape of northeastern Newfoundland, the historical details of the fishing industry of the 19th century and the use of now obscure language - not so keen on the brother-sister relationship which I could see where it was headed from near the beginning.
I listened to an interview with the author where he shared that the core sibling story comes from a historical account he came across in an archive while doing research for another project - a traveling minister encountered an isolated sibling set and the girl was pregnant; the minister condemned them but it stuck with Crummey until he finally had to write their story.
The thing is, I felt that so much of the novel is in service to their eventual union that other questions go unanswered. What was the situation that landed their parents there in the first place? Why aren't there more people in the same situation? Why do they never journey to the town they know of down the river? Did the pelts pay off the debt? Where did the debt come from? Why don't they encounter any indigenous people when there is evidence of them? Why was the mother anti religion? I would feel a little more generous toward the central storyline if these other pieces were tied up or explained.
This novel was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize but I'd recommend one of his other novels first. I had a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss and it came out back in November....more
This is a graphic novel about difference and isolation. The man who lives alone in a lighthouse has lived there since birth, and the last 15 years of This is a graphic novel about difference and isolation. The man who lives alone in a lighthouse has lived there since birth, and the last 15 years of it completely alone. The images show the life around him and pieces of his daily life. I thought it was beautiful and I loved his dictionary ritual. ...more
Memoir 11 for Nonfiction November and this is a captivating read! I had to keep reminding myself it was a true story, about the author's mother who emMemoir 11 for Nonfiction November and this is a captivating read! I had to keep reminding myself it was a true story, about the author's mother who embarks on an affair with her husband's best friend but drags her daughter into it. It's also about mothers and daughters, waspy Cape Cod culture, and finding your own path. If you go to the beach anytime soon, this is the book to take with you!
I received a copy from the publisher and the book came out October 15, 2019....more
Here's your Labor Day weekend last days of summer beach read. It is told in rotating POVs from three people on Block Island, RI. I didn't feel like thHere's your Labor Day weekend last days of summer beach read. It is told in rotating POVs from three people on Block Island, RI. I didn't feel like the author needed to keep us readers in suspense about one character's secret as it really isn't a thriller or anything, but I liked the peek into life on this isolated island, even more interesting since I've only been there in the off season. I do love my cold weather islands!
I had a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss. It came out June 11, 2019, and I'm behind....more
Jenny (Reading Envy)
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