The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner – Book Review

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Amy @ A Librarian and Her Books

At first glance, I could tell this book was right up my alley. Badass women, trips down deep back corridors of the darkened streets of historic London, and a bit of a mystery to sweeten the pot. As for the cover, I adore the blend of colors, the font, the aura of mystery. I’m intrigued by stories with dual timelines, though this can become tricky if one is more well executed than the other, so I’m generally wary. It didn’t hurt that this book is a very short read, as I’m woefully behind on my reading goal.

Synopsis

The Lost Apothecary follows three women. In present-day London, we find American tourist Caroline Parcewell, a distraught escapee who fled to London prompted by the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. What was supposed to be a romantic anniversary getaway became a journey to figure out where it all went wrong. However, freed from the shackles of marital obligation, Caroline finds herself making her own choices and taking daring risks for the first time in years, driven only by her own curiosity and thirst for knowledge. An impromptu bout of mudlarking, a concept I found fascinating, led her to an old vial stamped with the mark of a bear. Caroline finds herself drawn to the relic and sets off on a historical scavenger hunt to uncover the truth about her find, a truth that could lead to this unsuspecting tourist unmasking a serial killer from a century ago. Juxtaposed with Caroline’s story, we are presented with Nella, an apothecary in London in 1791, as she reaches a pinnacle moment in her life as an aid to womankind as they battle the evils put upon them by men. When a young girl named Eliza Fanning steps into her shop, Nella finds herself at a precipice that will decide not just the fate of her business, but the life or death fate that awaits her on the other side of a harrowing chain of events.

Review

If you’re looking for a good mystery, this isn’t really the book for you. I won’t say there aren’t any twists and turns, because there’s at least one WTF moment. From the very beginning, we know the identity of the apothecary killer. It’s our job to follow Caroline on her quest. Honestly, it’s not so much a quest to find cool history and unmask a killer, though that part is quite interesting. The real backbone of this story is the journey of self discovery. When we first meet Caroline she’s not just despondent about her marriage. Upon self reflection through the lens of grief, she’s finally reached a point in which she doesn’t recognize the woman she’s become. She used to have a passion for history and literature. After many years of settling, she’s slowly chipped away at the aspects of her personality that used to define her. Upon uncovering the worst of betrayals, she’s come to consider what it was all for and whether she can reclaim a small part of that beautiful spirit that’s eroded over the passing years. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I don’t identify with Caroline. I, too, have had those moments where I wonder just exactly how I got pushed so off course of my planned trajectory. Unfortunately for me, my rescue won’t be as simple as stumbling upon a mysterious vial that washes from the bottom of the Thames.

While I did identify with part of Caroline’s story, I didn’t find hers near as compelling as that of Nella and Eliza. Part of that is more rooted in the fact that I just find historical fiction more compelling in general, especially this time period in Great Britain from the late 1700’s to mid-1800’s. That’s why I have such a love for literature from that time. It’s a nostalgia for a moment I didn’t actually live through, so I do it vicariously through literature and film. This was a period of great progress but also one in which many people dealt with great pain, especially women. Also, nothing about Caroline’s story was really that surprising, except for one detail later on which wound up being a bit anti-climactic. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that part. I don’t do spoilers, so I’m just going to allow you to be confused. If you’ve already read it, I hope you know what I’m talking about. It felt like a very contrived way to make a connection between the two timelines, and I’m not sure that was necessary. The true connection of the story was lecherous bastards and the women who have to put up with their abuse.

On a more serious note, this is a story about women who don’t know the bounds of their own strength and perseverance until they are tested. That’s the part of the story I enjoyed the most. The theme of the enduring power of women throughout history. The specifics may change, but women, in general, still deal with obstacles that test the bounds of our endurance. Thankfully for the men of the world, it’s no longer really necessary to kill them. That part is totally optional. 😉

Overall, I thought this was a pretty enjoyable but fairly standard read in the genre. There was a bit of squandered potential, but overall I did enjoy it. Though I was initially pleased to find this to be a quick read for productivity sake, I do often think a book could have been longer. This is, perhaps, one of those. Strengthen the character development and paint that beautiful portrait of the city so I can immerse myself in it. As a whole, I thought the pacing of the narrative was effective. I never got bogged down with any details. In truth, if a reader gets bored with such a short read, it was pretty shoddily executed. Not the case with this one. It’s definitely an attention grabber, though there’s nothing really that will stick with me long term. As for format, I listened to this one and was very excited to find a brand new book on Hoopla. Hooray! At a little over 10 hours, I moved through it in a couple of days. It’s narrated well by Lorna Bennett, Lauren Anthony and Lauren Irwin. However, Bennett has a much more relaxed pacing to her narration. So, depending on your reading speed (mine is usually at 1.25x), there’s a pretty drastic difference between Bennett (I preferred hers) and the other two. I kept the speed the same without toggling it back and forth, as that would have become irksome quite quickly.

Considering all factors, I give this one a 3.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pub. date: Mar 2 2021 by Harlequin Audio; ISBN: 1488210764; Runtime 10 hrs, 18 min.

Posted in General fiction, Historical Fiction, mystery, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut – A Book Review

Posted on March 20, 2021 by Amy @ A Librarian and Her Books

I’ve always loved classics, but I gravitate more toward 19th century British lit, and authors like Vonnegut often have been relegated to the “I know I should read it and I’ll get to it eventually” pile. We all have one of those piles, correct? That’s why it’s helpful in book club when every now and then a member chooses one of these classics. Such was the situation with Slaughterhouse-Five. And I’m really glad to have finally picked this up. This is a very personal novel for Vonnegut. In 1943, Vonnegut enlisted in the army. He was sent to fight in the European campaign during WWII where he was captured during the Battle of the Bulge. He was sent to Dresden and was, in fact, in a meat locker during the fire bombing of Dresden by Allied forces in February 1945.

Dresden, Germany – August 4, 2017: Zwinger – late German Baroque, founded in the early 18th century. a complex of four magnificent palace buildings

Synopsis

While Vonnegut was there during the fire bombing of Dresden, this story is considered fictitious. It’s loosely based on his experiences. There is a narrator who tells the story who is, in fact, supposed to be Vonnegut himself. When we first meet him he’s writing a book about the war that no one really thinks he should write. This book is called The Children’s Crusade. That’s a very profound title. It is a truth that many soldiers in all wars throughout the centuries are little more than children. However, I wasn’t really 100% sure that I could trust this narrator. My gut tells me yes, I can. I know Billy Pilgrim is a fictional persona, but he’s the embodiment of many different people that Vonnegut came into contact with during the war. We are introduced to him as an awkward and reluctant soldier. He relays his experiences both during the war and during certain time traveling experiences throughout his life. In some timelines he’s back in the future after the war doing his job as an optometrist. He’s married, has children, and leads a fairly standard life. Other times he’s been abducted by aliens from Tralfalmadore who keep him captive and study him to learn more about humankind. It’s clear to us that Billy believes all of these things to be true. Our task throughout the course of this novel is to discover what all of this means.

Skyline view of Dresden on the Elbe in Germany.

Review

I’ll start by saying this book was a fabulous book club pick. There’s so much to analyze and to discuss, and I actually found myself growing to admire Vonnegut even more after discussing the book with the other members of Read Between the Wines. Also, I knew this book was on the banned books list, which basically gives me extra incentive to read it. In the Mentalfloss article, “15 Things You May Not Know About Slaughterhouse-Five,” they cite to the court case from Oakland county, Michigan, in 1972 when it was banned from public schools. The circuit court judge stated in his decision that the book was “depraved, immoral, psychotic, vulgar, and anti-Christian.” Well, sign me up, because that’s my jam!! I also distinctly remember the 2011 (I repeat: 2011!!!!!!) fiasco in which a local professor successfully petitioned to get Slaughterhouse-Five removed from the Republic, Missouri, school system. In response, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library gave away 150 copies of the novel to any student who wanted to read it. These ideas are harmful and ridiculous. And anyone who doesn’t really give this book a chance to open their eyes to something is really missing out. Then again, you only get that shitty by not being very well-read in the first place.

The tone is quite appropriate and authentic. Vonnegut isn’t one to use a lot of superfluous words, but the words he uses carry so much weight. For instance, “so it goes.” According to Mentalfloss (thank you so much for actually counting these so I didn’t have to), this simple three word phrase is used 106 times over the course of the novel. On the surface, this phrase is flippant and seemingly meaningless. It’s used in the same way someone would say, “I stubbed my toe. Shit happens.” But this phrase is anything but flippant. It pops up at the mention of death. At this time, soldiers like Vonnegut saw death on a nearly daily basis, sometimes by the hundreds or thousands. It became just another aspect of daily existence. It’s difficult for those of us living in idyllic little neighborhoods sitting in coffee shops writing book reviews to understand the sheer magnitude of that reality. It’s often through literature and art that we are shown a glimpse. When viewed in context, Vonnegut’s short “so it goes,” becomes infused with a desperate melancholy. It’s worth mentioning that this phrase in the novel has another meaning as it’s tied to the Tralfamadorians. These alien beings exist in a four-dimensional reality. They can experience and perceive any point in time, past, present and future, simply by willing it to be. They believe that death is irrelevant, as a being that dies in one point in time is still present and alive in another. So it goes. Billy adopts this phrase, as well as the Tralfamadorian philosophy of life, after his encounters with them.

If we were to break this down, it becomes fairly obvious that the creation of the Tralfamadorians within Pilgrim’s mind are a coping mechanism. They are a way to explain and process that which is unthinkable. His jumping through time is his way of placing himself within a happier existence, convincing himself that as long as he has been contented and will be again, the present agony doesn’t matter. And the deaths of his fellow soldiers as well as the strangers in Dresden who were all blinked from existence in a raging fireball don’t matter because a being can’t actually die in a four-dimensional reality in which all points in time exist concurrently with one another. It’s both comforting and simultaneously tragic. In a prior life of my own I may have gone down the research rabbit-hole and devoured page upon page of literary analysis from people much smarter than myself. As it is, I’m merely content to regurgitate my gut reactions. I’ve seen people classify this book as science fiction. I would completely disagree with that. Despite the presence of the Tralfamadorians, I don’t believe we are meant to believe they actually exist.

In my opinion, this novel is an excellent portrait of the living casualties of war. Those who return home haunted by the ghosts of the past. Really, this is a flawless portrait of PTSD. According to the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs, post traumatic stress disorder officially became a diagnosis in 1980, 11 years after Vonnegut published Slaughterhouse-Five. While it may have never officially had a name prior to 1980, it has always plagued not just soldiers coming back from war but anyone who has experienced any form of trauma that leaves a lasting impact. In every case, humans seek out coping mechanisms, something to get lost in as a distraction from the traumas of the past, something comforting. Unfortunately, these coping mechanisms often result in destructive behaviors that do nothing to better the lives of the afflicted. But this is a completely different subject for discussion.

I could say a lot more about this book, but I think I’ll leave it here. Suffice to say, it’s a worthwhile read. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly enjoyable, but it is one of those essential classics that everyone should read at least once. Though published in 1969, it remains relevant and will remain relevant for many years to come. Overall, I give it 4 stars.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Posted in Classic, Historical Fiction, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Reading Challenge Update – #52Books52Weeks

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Amy @ A Librarian and Her Books

I’ve been doing a much better job this month at actually getting some books checked off my list, so I thought I’d take a bit of a break in my review writing to do a little checkup on my 52 book challenge. Unfortunately, I’m still a couple of books behind, but I’ve made a lot of progress very quickly, so I’m still hopeful considering I have lots of this year left to go. The 52 Books challenge is hosted by Rachael over at The Booklist Queen. So, without further ado, here are the categories with my edits, designating completion and/or progress with a book in that category.

1. A Productivity Book
2. Book Becoming Movie in 2021
3. Goodreads Winner in 2020
4. Biography
5. About a Pressing Social Issue
6. A Book About Books – The Bookshop of Yesterdays – completed
7. Set in the 1920s
8. An Author Who Uses Initials
9. Poetry
10. A 2020 Bestseller – Anxious People – completed
11. Recommended by a Colleague
12. With a Number in the Title – Slaughterhouse-Five – completed – Review in progress
13. Bottom of Your To-Read List
14. Reread a Favorite Book
15. Own Voices Story
16. Published in the 1800s
17. Local Author – Code of the Hills: An Ozarks Mystery – completed
18. Longer Than 400 Pages – The Once and Future Witches – completed
19. A Book Turned Into a TV Series 
20. A Book That Makes You Think
21. A WWII Story
22. A Highly Anticipated Book
23. Eye-Catching Cover
24. A Summer Read
25. Coming of Age Story
26. Bestselling Memoir – In the Dream House – completed
27. Book Club Favorite
28. A Book About Friendship – Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires – completed
29. An Audiobook – The Garden of Burning Sand – completed
30. Set in Australia
31. By a Nobel Prize winner
32. About an Immigrant
33. Time Travel Novel
34. An Author You Love
35. Childhood Favorite
36. Classic Read in High School
37. Borrowed from the Library
38. Nonfiction New York Times Bestseller
39. From an Indie Publisher
40. Fantasy
41. A Sequel
42. Recommended by a Librarian
43. Psychological Thriller
44. Oprah Winfrey Book Club Pick
45. A Book About Technology
46. Title with Three Words – Home Before Dark – completed
47. Debut Novel of Famous Author
48. Genre You Don’t Usually Read
49. A Book Everyone Is Talking About
50. You Own But Haven’t Read
51. Borrowed from a Friend – The Hypnotist’s Love Story – in progress, just started
52. A 2021 New Release – The Lost Apothecary – in progress on audio, 30%

Progress: Week 11, Books Completed: 9, in progress: 2.

And there you have it! I’m going to try to update this every couple of weeks to help keep me motivated and on track.

Happy Reading!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman – A Book Review

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Amy @ A Librarian and Her Books

If you could sum this book up in one line, it would probably be: Idiots are people too. As usual, Backman presents us with startling truths in a way that also brings a smile to our faces. His writing is always superb, his characters refreshingly quirky, and his stories the kind of heartfelt fare to which you can’t help but return. It’s amazing to me that Backman’s first novel came out in 2012 and he’s since consistently been able to release incredible books on a regular basis.

Synopsis

Anxious People begins with a very bad decision. An idiot, because everyone in this book is an idiot, decides to rob a bank. It isn’t planned, because that would make too much sense. The bank robbery is so poorly executed that it doesn’t wind up being a bank robbery at all. It then devolves into what is probably the weirdest hostage situation of all time. The bank robber storms into an apartment viewing involving a real estate agent, an elderly woman, a headcase of a banker, two married couples, and a giant rabbit in his underwear. Oh, and they are all idiots. But the thing about bad decisions is that they always have unintended consequences, but sometimes those bad decisions can lead to a wide variety of other effects, some not all so bad.

Review

I don’t think there’s anything about this book that isn’t charming. Once again Backman has exhibited that he has a very intimate grasp of what it means to be human. He sees people, inside and out, with all their flaws and idiosyncrasies. And he makes that complete package beautiful and understandable. So much of this book is relatable simply because we’re all people. And, honestly, we’re all idiots. To someone, anyway, you are an idiot. And to you, they are an idiot. But what would happen if you were forced to really connect with that person on a level that we never grant to strangers? That’s the question that this book poses. And if you really take time to think about it, you start to see people differently. Deep down we’re all battling so many of the same things. Whether it be crippling anxieties, feelings of inadequacy, unrealistic expectations, abject loneliness, we all have our inner demons that stop us from feeling quite right about where we are in life. These feelings have no regard for how much money or status one has. We’ve all looked in a mirror or listened to our own voices played back to us, cringed, and thought, “why do I have to be this way?” Frankly, if you haven’t had these experiences, you’re probably dreadful to be around.

Backman presents us with a situation in which a handful of strangers who don’t know they need each other come together in the most awkward, reluctant way possible. Even people who aren’t in the apartment during the hostage situation wind up finding their lives irrevocably altered by the events of the day, and even events from the past that have lingered over the town like an ominous shadow. In all of that is peace if you know how to process it. The way the novel unfolds is superb and masterful. It’s told in different ways. In some sections it reads as flashbacks to events of the past, including those during the not-quite-robbery and not-quite-hostage drama. In other sections, it’s told during police interviews with the hostages. The dialogue and narration are a delightful mix of hilarious and insightful. I do urge all readers who enjoy audio to listen to this one. It is read by Marin Ireland, which is a name I wasn’t previously familiar with, but she does an amazing job capturing the separate voices and personalities.

There’s also an aura of mystery to this book. With each subsequent page the reader is chipping away at a shell encasing the truth. Backman makes sure to insert a few well-veiled surprises along the way, and he masterfully weaves together the characters’ storylines in a way that’s believable and represents the connections we all have as humans, even if we don’t really know we share them. Essentially, Backman’s books are life itself. They contain the whole depth of human emotion: sadness, happiness, grief, loneliness, amusement, confusion, exasperation, and so much more. They put our own thoughts and feelings into words and present them to us in a way that’s so accurate it’s almost uncomfortable, and I don’t mean that as a criticism. The only criticism I could give this book seems to be a common one, and it isn’t really a criticism at all. It took me a while to really hit my stride. At first I was thinking I wouldn’t like it. I was annoyed. The police interviews of the real estate agent and the bank teller, London, were the most grating conversations ever. Idiots!!

Backman did this on purpose, of course. He doesn’t do anything accidentally. Unlike the bank robber, his plans are always perfectly executed, and I have no choice but to give him a pass for first leading me astray.

In sum, this book is amazing, as expected. Backman does not disappoint, and you should read it. 5 stars.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Pub. date: Sep 8, 2020 by Simon & Schuster Audio; ISBN: 9781797105826; Runtime 9 hrs, 53 min.

Posted in General fiction, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

The Code of the Hills: An Ozarks Mystery by Nancy Allen- Book Review

Posted on March 18, 2021 by Amy @ A Librarian and Her Books

*Trigger Warning: This book review contains talk of very difficult subject matters that might be upsetting for some readers. I’m also going to say some potentially controversial things about religion, so reader beware.*

If ever there were a person qualified to write a legal thriller, it’s Nancy Allen. Ms. Allen is a former Assistant Missouri Attorney General and assistant prosecutor out of Greene County, Missouri, which is the exact location in which I sit while writing this review. She currently teaches law at Missouri State University, my alma mater, and uses her expertise and knowledge of the legal profession to write incredibly compelling legal thrillers. You can find her on the web at http://www.nancyallenbooks.com/. The Code of the Hills is the first novel in the Ozarks Mysteries series. The series follows assistant prosecutor Elsie Arnold as she navigates the frustrating and sometimes stifling environment of the legal field in a small deeply conservative and religious community. She sometimes finds herself taking on cases that not many would want to tackle.

“As a prosecutor who had handled many of these cases, she knew that a strict code of silence generally accompanied a family history of abuse. And something must have happened to crack it. She knew all too well the ways in which terrible wrongs could be hidden from the world.”

– Nancy Allen, Code of the Hills

Synopsis

In Code of the Hills, Elsie is tasked with prosecuting a particularly difficult child rape and incest case involving a father and his three daughters. In rural McCown County, a fictional county in Missouri that Allen has created for her series, people don’t discuss matters such as abuse or neglect, and they especially don’t discuss incest. Members of the police department and the prosecutor’s office, however, know that such evils roil and seethe beneath the surface of the idyllic facade of this small community. Beautiful rural countryside hides an awful truth. Poverty and drug use are rampant, and mothers often can’t or won’t protect their children from the men in the home preying on them, as interfering could get them hurt or killed. Because you really can’t protect you’re children if you’re dead. Elsie is tasked with proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that one such father should be put behind bars for the sake of his family’s safety. But as she’s seen in past cases, this is often easier said than done. Elsie will uncover an even uglier side of her town as her very own life is threatened by the supporters of the assailant, people who will stop at nothing to silence women like Elsie. After all, the Bible says a woman shall remain silent in the presence of a man, and there’s nothing more threatening to these people than a woman in a pantsuit with an opinion and a degree to back it up.

Review

I’ll begin by saying that it’s really obvious that Nancy Allen knows her stuff. Working for the Court system for over 15 years, I’ve seen my fair share of court records from abuse and neglect and child molestation cases, and this book is not wrong. But the saddest reality is that the people tasked with interfering in these cases, from social workers to attorneys, can only do so much and can only do so within the confines of the law. We see Elsie struggle to hold her composure in the rodent and cockroach infested home of a mute little girl, trying desperately to reach her, realizing that even after the father is removed from the home there is still so much standing in the way of this little girl ever having a normal life. Elsie relies on the testimony of two older girls, girls whose years of abuse have already caused irreparable damage. Even when child welfare agencies get involved, it’s often a long and agonizing process that only does further damage to the children.

The real foe, however, for Elsie, is not the defendant. It’s the raging patriarchal prejudice that dictates the decisions made by many members of the community, event those at the top. This book presents us with religious folk, members of what I would call a cult, who sit self righteously in their pews on Sundays and then commit evil and threatening deeds on behalf of a child molester simply because, in their estimation, fathers have inalienable rights as heads of household. These people use threats and coercion to protect the evil and vile criminals in society under the guise of “family values.” There’s a part of me that wants desperately to believe people like this don’t really exist, but I’ve also heard enough crazy ramblings over the past several years to know that OF COURSE THEY DO.

This book also highlights the inherent institutional sexism that even to this day slithers its way through the legal community, ensuring that women have to be twice as good at their jobs as their male counterparts to even be considered for the kind of upper level positions men have enjoyed for years. And many times these positions of power weren’t gained with merit but with political posturing. That good ole’ boys club card is good for a lot more than just entry to the country club for a round of golf. That being said, it’s not just men that enjoy the spoils of political posturing, as evidenced by Elsie’s horrible boss, the wife of some powerhouse businessman and political donor who’d racked up a few favors with higher-ups, ensuring his wife’s appointment despite the fact she doesn’t have a clue what she’s doing. That’s all just a very small taste of what’s in this book. And it’s a big, infuriating mess of WTF. And it will piss you off because there’s so much fact interspersed amongst the fiction.

Let’s talk about Elsie for a moment. On the one hand, I really like the fact that Elsie is actually believable, relatable, and quite flawed. When I say quite flawed, I mean she’s the kind of woman I want to take by the shoulders and shake while yelling, “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU????” But, the thing is, I KNOW what’s wrong with Elsie. Because I feel like a lot of us women who were raised in communities like Elsie’s in Southwest Missouri and similar locales can completely understand what it’s like. Here we are looking at other women in other situations saying, “I could never be like that.” We see the woman being abused by her husband and say, “how can she put up with that?” Or maybe, “why doesn’t she just leave?” But then how many of us have ever been in a room with one of those cock-sure masters of the universe who were born on a pedestal and found ourselves flustered and cowering? Or even merely just disrespected and ignored at a car dealership or a bank or wherever else you encounter the “men are the heads of the household” mentality. How many of us have disappointed ourselves by giving in and just letting things go in these situations, not standing up to the old man who tells us all our problems will be fixed if we’d just find a husband? In Elsie we see a woman who originally believes herself to be strong, confident, and very unlike the women she often encounters in her profession. But everything that happens to her challenges that notion. It opens her mind to the notion of sisterhood and understanding that as women, we’re all fighting somewhat the same battle. And, often, that battle is with those elements of ourselves that echo the sentiments we’ve always been fed that maybe, just maybe, we can’t really measure up. The challenge is how to arm ourselves against the vicious attacks that aren’t necessarily physical but are still just as damaging. Unfortunately, we carry damage from the toxic things we’ve been fed in childhood and find ourselves tasked with retraining our brains. My favorite thing about Elsie, ultimately, was that I saw a lot of growth in her. I won’t lie, though, the journey was a bit tough to bear and I didn’t always like her. Then again, I don’t always like myself either.

This whole story was tough to bear. Perhaps it hit a bit close to home. I mean, it literally is home. It’s a birds-eye view into all the things I hate about the community in which I live. The religious zealotry that dictates decisions and has permanently altered political ideals, cherry picking the most atrocious things from the Bible to excuse their prejudices. I’m not trying to make this a critique of religion, of course. I don’t find these opinions I’m discussing to actually be biblically based, but a pure bastardization of the original principals. It’s mostly driven by fear instead of by faith, and that’s where communities go astray, and that’s why rational people find themselves leaving organized religion in droves. Can you blame them?

Needless to say, this book is a challenge. It’s emotionally challenging, it’s heavy, and it drains you of just a little bit of hope for humanity with each page. Ultimately I think the journey was worth it, and these are definitely topics that need to be discussed. I’m not one to put down something just because the message is a little irksome. If it’s important, it needs to be said, and I need to absorb it and carry it with me into the future. I realize I wound up making this review a bit long without really talking much about the substance or the writing. Overall, I can tell that Ms. Allen has a lot of experience in the legal field. Very much of the narration deals with procedural legalese, though it was easily digestible and I didn’t feel like the story got lost in all that, so well done. It was good but not necessarily masterful writing. Sometimes I felt like I needed a break, because it’s full of such awful negative stuff. Then again, that’s what an authentic story is: depressing and soul-sucking descent into humanity’s abyss. Overall rating, 3 1/2 stars.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Posted in Legal Thriller, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

WWW Wednesday – March 17, 2021 #bookishmemes #wwwwednesday

Posted on March 17, 2021 by Amy @ A Librarian and Her Books

Welcome to a new week of WWW Wednesday. This is a meme now hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. In it, we answer three questions and leave a link in the comments sharing our own posts for other bloggers to view.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is www-1.jpg

The Three W’s are:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What have you just finished reading?
  • What will you pick up next?

What am I currently reading?

On audio, I’m tackling another book by an author who is on my list to read their entire body of work, Fredrik Backman. I absolutely adored A Man Called Ove and read a couple of others after that. So this time I’ve picked up Anxious People. This is a book that’s been getting a lot of buzz, and the reviews have been pretty great. I’m almost finished with it, so I should have my review come out pretty soon. Backman seems to have this knack for deeply understanding the human condition, and his books are almost instantly relatable.

In hardback, I am reading a classic. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. This is one of those books I’ve been telling myself for years are a must read, but for some reason I never actually picked up a Vonnegut book. Thankfully, one of the members of my book club chose this for our selection a couple of months back. Yes, this means I didn’t get it read in time and it’s been languishing, but I’m determined to set aside my other pursuits in order to finish it by the end of this week. While this isn’t a long book by any stretch of the imagination, it is one to be carefully considered and not rushed through. Just because an author uses fairly simple language doesn’t mean there aren’t deeply complex ideas at play. I should have a lot to say about this one in the coming days.

What did I just finish reading?

I just finished reading a book by a local author and veteran of the legal profession, Nancy Allen. It’s called The Code of the Hills and is a part of her Ozarks Mystery Series. The series follows a young prosecutor in a rural Missouri County as she tackles difficult cases and the stifling, sexist ideas that permeate her community. I’m currently working on my review for this book and expect to have it posted in the next couple of days.

What Will I Read Next?

For the first time since I started this series, I’m going to do a total cowardly move on this part. I thoroughly intend to pick up one of my previous entries in this section, but I’m not exactly sure which one. So, like Miss Allen, I’m creating a little mystery for you to ponder until we meet again. Happy Reading, and feel free to share what you have been, are, and will be reading over the coming days.

Posted in Classic, General fiction, mystery, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson – Book Review

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Amy @ A Librarian and Her Books

I have yet to do an update for my reading challenge, which is on my To-Do list, but my To-Do list is about a mile long so some things have gotten pushed aside. That being said, I have managed to tick a few books off of my 52 book list, including a couple of fairly specialized ones. This one came about when I put a call out on Facebook to my librarian friends for some recommendations. I received some fabulous recommendations, and The Bookshop of Yesterdays caught my attention because it could fit into another category which allowed me to pick one of the others for the recommendation category. So I decided to make this one my Book About Books. And boy, was it a book about books. Among the classic titles dropped in this book are The Tempest, Frankenstein, Bridge to Terabithia, Pride and Prejudice, The Feminine Mystique, Jane Eyre, The Grapes of Wrath, Fear of Flying, and more.

Synopsis

Miranda Brooks hasn’t seen or heard from her uncle Billy in sixteen years. Her memories of Uncle Billy are mostly happy ones. He was the cool uncle with the cool job and the amazing book store that felt like home. He sent her on rambling scavenger hunts with literary clues that always led to something wonderful. Miranda didn’t care that Billy was completely unreliable, always missing special occasions, a fact that irritated Miranda’s parents much more than it irritated her. Then on a fateful night after Billy missed yet another birthday, Miranda witnessed a terrible argument between her mother and Billy. After that fight, she never saw or spoke to Billy again. After sixteen years, Billy is merely the distant memory of a 12 year old Miranda, but news of his death still strikes a hard blow to her. She’s shocked to find out that Billy left her the bookstore, Prospero Books. Additionally, Miranda starts receiving clues to a new mystery. Billy has sent her on one final quest. One final scavenger hunt that will lead her back home on a journey in search of the ultimate treasure: the truth.

Review

This is a very fascinating concept. I think deep down all of us avid readers can appreciate how awesome it would be to have a mysterious relative we haven’t seen for years die and leave us an amazing book store. Not the dying part. That’s sad. But the bookstore would be cool. There are certain aspects of this I love. I loved the literary clues for the scavenger hunt, for example. It’s a treasure trove of literary name drops. And if you’re a really savvy well-read individual, you can figure out a lot of the clues before Miranda does. Most of the clues, additionally, are symbolic in some way of Billy’s feelings and choices throughout his life. It’s still a bit sad, however. It’s a romanticized way of dealing with the fact that Billy is a human completely devoid of the ability to communicate with the people he loves.

As far as plot goes, there’s nothing I found particularly surprising. In the beginning, we open to Miranda far from home, a history teacher at a boring little school. Her boyfriend is an obnoxious idiot. Sadly, I was rooting for her to dump him for the other guy before there even WAS another guy, so he doesn’t even seem like much of a conflict. He’s simply another convenient not-quite-hurdle in her journey toward embracing a new path in life. Even the big reveal in the end feels like something I knew was coming for quite some time. I still rather enjoyed the journey, but it was far from Earth shattering. I kind of hate reviewing books like this, because I always want to talk about specifics but I don’t do spoilers…

My main quibble with this book is Miranda. I found her personality to be a bit grating. Perhaps I should give her the benefit of the doubt, because I do want characters who are flawed. And she’s definitely realistically flawed. I often didn’t understand her motivations. And while she definitely had a reason to be upset about a lot of things, she could be quite callous and stubborn, especially when it came to her mother, who was actually the character in the book I felt to be the most solidly drawn. Even with the idiot boyfriend I just wished Miranda would opt for a little honesty instead of delaying things unnecessarily. I guess I just never really grew very endeared to her. I like to feel close to a character, even if I don’t like them. I want to develop some sense of understanding of who they are, where they came from, and how they got to be the way they are. In this case I feel like I was told what happened but it still didn’t convey the feelings I was meant to be given. I also had sympathy for Uncle Billy, but I still found his character arc to be completely infuriating. I merely didn’t understand how one could make the types of choices he made and never attempt to make things right in life. Other characters on the periphery had their charms, but I don’t believe there’s anyone that will stick with me after I have a few more books under my belt.

One thing I believe to be a positive about this book could also be looked at as a negative if you’re not as strange as I am. I thought this book would wind up being a cozy, fluffy read. In certain respects, it is. But there’s also a profound sadness that permeates the book, which gives it a much greater feeling of authenticity. Life is not perfect. Things go wrong. Sometimes we screw up, and sometimes it’s too late to go back and undo a lifetime of mistakes. So while some people may hate finding a book to be depressing and soul crushing in some ways, I feel like it was a bit of a saving grace for this book. It stopped it from becoming too commonplace, just another cozy fireplace read that you devour in two sittings and then subsequently forget. Overall, I thought this was a solid debut novel.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Posted in General fiction, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow – Book Review

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Amy @ A Librarian and Her Books

I’ve seen a lot of buzz about this book, which is what led me to it as a choice. I’m certainly glad I picked it up, because there’s a lot to appreciate, especially for my reading tastes. As a reader, I feel I’m a fair mix of simple and complicated. I don’t necessarily care about genre. I’ll read anything, but it can’t be formulaic and it must have compelling characters. I don’t necessarily have to like the characters, but I have to be able to appreciate them. For this reason, I consume general fiction, literary fiction, classics, horror, science fiction, fantasy, YA, and more and I enjoy them as long as they are well done. I have a fascination and appreciation for history, but I greatly enjoy the additional depth that good historical fiction can lend to a historical time period. Knowing factual information is one thing, but seeing and experiencing fear, loss and triumph through the eyes of a well-drawn character etched in time is far superior than a non fiction book to truly understanding the significance of a historical time period and what it means for the growth of humanity. Good fiction allows the reader to live a moment in time. I’m well aware that this is my opinion, so if you disagree I hope you can forgive me for that and move on. 😉

You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you all this and are wanting me to get to the point. Then here it is. I love all these various genres, and when a writer can pull multiple genres together and do it well, I find it endlessly fascinating and utterly entertaining. Once and Future Witches is one of those books. It’s an alternate history fantasy that does truly do service to a real period in human history.

Synopsis

In the year 1893, James Juniper Eastwood fled her home town and trekked alone to New Salem, a town that carries the weight and burden of its predecessor, Salem, following the trials and complete annihilation of countless women at the hands of God-fearing townsfolk many years before. To the residents of New Salem, the evils of witching are a thing of the past. Less simple minded folk see the truth. Witching never died. It weaves its guiding thread across the land intertwined with the stories, songs, and tales that have been passed from mother to daughter for hundreds of years. It’s just been waiting for someone, or several someones, to need it badly enough to call back a power strong enough to bring about a new age for women. James Juniper and her previously estranged sisters, Agnes and Beatrice, will find themselves facing the darkest and most depraved aspects of humanity as they attempt to forge an alliance between the women of the present, women who are fighting for suffrage against their male oppressors, and women of the past, those who still whisper the spells of their grandmothers behind closed doors. With the appropriate amount of courage and a willingness to embrace a common goal, they might have a chance of succeeding.

Review

From page 1, this novel is quite riveting. The prose is beautiful and captivating, but it also doesn’t drone on in a pretentious babble that showcases the author’s way with words. We don’t get bogged down in endless details. There’s just enough but not too much. I think it takes a high degree of skill to reach that kind of writing that effortlessly conveys just exactly what is necessary. Every now and then I stumbled upon a passage I needed to circle back around to appreciate again, like this gem:

“Home is dogwoods blooming like pink-tipped pearls in the deep woods and the sharp smell of spring onions underfoot, the overgrown patch where the old barn burned in the mountainside so green and wet and alive it makes her eyes ache. Home is the place that beats like a second heart behind Juniper’s ribs.”

— Alix E. Harrow

Photo by Aron Visuals on Pexels.com

Without giving away too much, upon completion of the novel I realized that passages like this are meant for more than just scene-setting. Everything was important, and everything was necessary. Circles are important in witching, and they are also important in a good narrative. Certain themes would never be left to fade away, and home was one of these themes.

Let’s talk characters for a moment. The three main characters, sisters Juniper, Agnes and Beatrice (Bella), were strong and vibrant characters that were each unique in their own way. None of them were perfect, and each had her moments I found grating or infuriating. However, I believe that’s important to the overall theme of sisterhood. This novel doesn’t just deal with the sisterhood of blood relation, but the sisterhood that permeates our society and connects us all. Wars are not won on the backs of any one person. Any one person will have flaws that will bring the whole operation to its knees. That’s why an army is necessary. The strengths of one override the weaknesses of the other. Where Juniper was fool-hearty and reckless, Beatrice was intelligent and reserved. Where Beatrice was timid and lacking in courage, Agnes was bold and hard-edged. And where Agnes was fickle and lacking in conviction, Juniper was seething with a simmering passion. Slowly as the three began to play off one another’s strengths, the circle grew more tightly fit. The lines between the three women blurred and readers began to understand that the source of their power came not from their individual strengths but in the strength of their bond.

What I like most about this is in viewing it in the context of the historical setting. The women’s suffrage movement is a perfect parallel to the witch trials. Society deemed women they could not understand as temptresses and witches. They were reviled and cast out. Similarly, women leading the suffrage movement were blasted by the media and fear mongering politicians as evil women bent upon the destruction of men. Both were mischaracterized as enemies of moral order. In reality, they were women who wished to live their lives as they chose. They wanted freedom and power. Not power over all mankind, but merely power over their own decisions, bodies, and property. So while this novel is fantasy, it’s still highly relevant considering its place in history and its place in today’s current political climate. We’d be lying to ourselves if we said women aren’t still reviled in positions of power and influence by those who refuse to understand they might just have a fucking point. It’s despicable to imagine the hordes of angry men beating a young woman simply for protesting antiquated laws that have stolen her vote. But is it really that difficult to believe? Have we not watched similar actions by angry mobs merely in the past few months? Ignorance breeds hate, and it doesn’t need a valid reason because hate is always unreasonable and is rarely justified.

“Or perhaps for all of them: for the little girls thrown in cellars and the grown women sent to workhouses, the mothers who shouldn’t have died and the witches who shouldn’t have burned. For all the women punished merely for wanting what they shouldn’t.”

Alix E. Harrow, “The Once and Future Witches”

There are multiple relevant societal themes in this book in addition to the issue of women’s rights. Themes of racial injustice and LGBTQ rights also play an important role in this book. And the author is quick to point out that prejudice can exist anywhere. Readers are quite shocked to hear of Juniper’s disapproval of Beatrice’s relationship with a woman. But we’re also subsequently presented with the idea that people can and do adapt and progress when they are presented with more information. This is an important distinction. The lines between good and evil aren’t always as well defined as in fantasy worlds in classic literature. In real life people are multi-layered and complicated, but most of us can be talked down from bad ideas if possessing an open enough mind.

I realize I’ve droned on an awful lot without actually going into much of the plot of this book, but with a book like this that’s rather difficult, because it’s a journey that I’d rather not spoil for another reader. Suffice to say it’s a satisfying story that is difficult to read, at times, but will culminate in something that the reader doesn’t look back on with regret. There’s a well-defined villain, if that’s your jam, but if you’re willing to peel away the surface to analyze the various demons that humans always inflict upon our fellow citizens, feel free to dive right in, because there’s plenty here. This novel is at once sad, brutal, and savage in its honesty. But it’s ultimately moving and inspiring. I loved every second of it and count it among the best books I’ve read in recent memory. 5 Stars for Alix Harrow and her delightful Eastwood sisters.

Rating: 5 out of 5.
Posted in Alternate History, Fantasy, General fiction, Historical Fiction, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires – Book Review

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Amy @ A Librarian and Her Books

Well, that was different. Refreshingly different in a lot of ways. One of our book club members chose SBCGSV (because this title is a mouthful, so I’ve made it sound like a 90’s boy band) for our January reading selection. I finished it just in time to know what I was talking about at our meeting last night. And what a fabulous book club book, because it’s literally about a book club! I doubt we ever get a chance to do any vampire slaying, and considering what these ladies went through, I certainly hope things stay as boring as usual. I’m good with the wine and snacks, y’all. This begins with an introduction in which Hendrix gives the reason he wrote this book. It’s in homage to his and all the other badass Southern mamas out there who manage to take care of literally everything while making it look a bit effortless. Why not add a little vampire slaying to the mix? They have already mastered everything else.

Synopsis

The book club that’s not a book club forms on a night when all the ladies realize they are sick and tired of reading boring stuff they are told they should be reading by the pretentious ladies of the official book club. In it, they mostly consume gritty true crime books and trashy novels. The focus of the novel is Patricia, housewife and mother of two whose psychologist husband occasionally comes home to assert his masculine authority as a way to feel falsely important but otherwise is usually out “working.” When a series of odd occurrences begin taking place in the safe little town of Mt. Pleasant, all signs lead back to one man, a handsome and charming newcomer named James Harris who has convinced nearly everyone he can do no wrong. Is he really as perfect as he seems? Or is he something much darker and more menacing, something with the power to bring an entire town to its knees?

Review

From the very start, this novel is wildly engaging. At first it’s simply funny. Laugh out loud, “My God, this is relatable,” kind of funny. The audiobook is narrated by a fabulously talented Bahni Turpin, and she effortlessly bounces back and forth between the separate voices, giving a unique quality to each and every character. I can’t say I liked each and every character throughout, but every one of them was touched by an incredible authenticity. Patricia’s initial naivety upon immediately trusting James Harris was quite believable considering her situation in life. I simultaneously liked her and wanted to shake her into snapping out of it. Just when I thought I was reading a rather light-hearted book about a super awesome book club, Hendrix did a complete 180 and put Patricia in an intensely terrifying situation. As the novel progressed, the plot was infused with thrilling an suspenseful moments that both exhilarated and terrified.

There’s nothing particularly surprising about the plot of this book. As a matter of fact, readers quickly learn the identity of the villain. It’s not a story about figuring out the who. It’s a story about women and about friendship. It’s a story about finding the courage to do what’s necessary when no one else will. It’s about badass Southern mamas.

As far as horror goes, this is superb and unique. It is the perfect amount of frightening in all the right places, and manages to keep you on the edge of your seat for a large portion of the narrative. Part of the horror is merely in the grotesque and the uncomfortable. Some of it’s just plain gross. If cockroaches, killer rats, and old ladies pulling raccoon guts out with their teeth is not in your wheelhouse of horrific things you can tolerate, you may want to skip this one. Since I was listening to this mostly on my commute, I have a feeling quite a few people saw me driving around like this:

The genius behind this book, however, wasn’t those direct elements of horror that stimulate our gag reflex or frighten us. Upon consideration, the most terrifying elements of this book were the real life horror stories of a much more subtle but much more realistic and harmful nature. The way Patricia is alienated and rejected upon first opening up about her theories regarding James Harris and his terrifying secret points to the inherent misogyny in our society, especially in the South during this time period. It didn’t matter how much evidence she had or that she’d seen things with her own eyes, she was just a silly housewife to most people. What did she know? As things continue to spiral and Patricia grows increasingly isolated, we watch as her resolve gives way along with her sanity. There’s not just one monster in this book. Some of the monsters are of the human variety. They are the monsters that employ the weapons of gaslighting and manipulation, slowly wearing away the soul of a person until there’s nothing left with which to fight. Honestly, our risk of being hurt by outside threats is nothing compared to our risk of being hurt by those who are supposed to love us. I actually grew very weary of this section of the book. It felt like it went on for two hours of the audio. I actually wondered if James Harris didn’t have some kind of super-human hypnotic ability, because I couldn’t believe the amount of evidence people were disregarding. Upon hindsight, this was an accentuation of the horror and the discomfort, so I’m not entirely sure it’s a bad quality. It wasn’t very enjoyable, however.

Another stark pressing theme in this book was that of racial inequity. James Harris initially preys on the children of the people of Six Mile, a predominantly black community in close proximity to Mt. Pleasant. If white children were to begin dying of suspicious circumstances, the whole world would watch. When it’s black children in a poor community, the world chocks it up to bad parenting and drugs. It’s infuriating and certainly accentuates the real life horror to be standing on the sidelines watching these events unfold, as powerless as Patricia to stop the spiral.

I’ve read a few vampire novels, including the pinnacle piece of literature, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This one really stands out as an incredibly unique take on the lore. There’s always been an overtly sexual component to vampire stories. This book pulled a Tim Taylor on that component and super-charged the hell out of the sexual nature of vampire lore. Most of the time, the eroticism was just uncomfortable, because it was also not so subtly tinged with pedophilia. So, I do want to warn that there are some very serious themes in this book. Trigger warnings for rape and sexual assault. As pleasant as this novel is in the beginning, it reaches desperately low places before the conclusion.

I think the most obvious takeaway from this book is that as women we’re so much stronger together. We’ll often rarely find allies in this world, and we need each other. It wasn’t lost on me that there wasn’t one man in this novel who wasn’t a useless piece of human trash. Is that realistic? No, of course there are some decent men in this world. Evidently none of them live in the town of Mt. Pleasant.

The final thing I’ll say about this is that the conclusion is rather shocking. It poses some questions and possibly leaves room for a sequel. That’s certainly an interesting debate for book club night. Overall, this is a wildly captivating read. Some readers on the squeamish side might approach it with a bit of trepidation, but I think few would regret picking it up. I give it 4 1/2 stars simply for middle section that gave me such frustration.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Posted in Horror, thriller | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

WWW Wednesday – January 20, 2021 #bookishmemes #wwwwednesday

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Amy @ A Librarian and Her Books

Welcome to a new week of WWW Wednesday. This is a meme now hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. In it, we answer three questions and leave a link in the comments sharing our own posts for other bloggers to view.

The three Ws are:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What have you just finished reading?
  • What will you pick up next?

What am I currently reading?

I’m currently reading two books. On audio, I’m reading The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. This is my book club’s current selection, and our meeting is on Friday. I’m about 75% of the way through this book. I started out enjoying it immensely, as the beginning was funny and engaging. I got bogged down about halfway through with a bit of frustration. I felt like some of it was repetitive and the middle section could have been shortened a bit, but it’s now picked back up and is driving quickly toward an exciting conclusion.

In hardback, I’m reading The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow. This book has gathered much acclaim since its release in October of 2020. It’s a very inventive mix of alternate history, historical fiction, and fantasy. I’m still very much in the early stages of this novel, as I’ve admittedly done more blogging and listening in between work and family duties this week, but I really need to pick up the pace before I owe the library my life savings in late fees (at least it goes to a good cause, right?) So far, it has an eclectic and rich cast of characters and a good, solid premise. It’s a captivating novel and I’m looking forward to finishing this one and giving my final thoughts.

What did I just finish reading?

I just finished Home Before Dark by Riley Sager, review posted here. I enjoyed this one a lot, and it was actually a pretty different read for me, as I don’t pick up a lot of horror novels or suspense thrillers. I think it was a much needed change of pace from my usual heavier fare. I do love Gothic novels, especially those with unique old houses with a story to tell, and this definitely fits the mold. I’m not sure I quite did it justice in my review, as I’ve been consider some new thoughts in hindsight, especially that the house really feels like a character in itself in the book. I enjoy that when a writer is really able to pull it off, as there’s a new element to the horror to enjoy.

What will I Read Next?

Oh, here we are again. This is the part that always makes me feel like a bit of a failure. Why, you ask? Because these books are usually the same picks every single week due to my sheer fickleness as a reader. I never get around to actually picking them up thanks to a sudden influx of library holds. This time, however, it will be different. I’ve taken a break from library holds until I clear a few off my shelf at home. I’m going back to Mary Doria Russell again. I’ve read every single one of her books, and this is the last one I need to complete the collection. So, The Women of the Copper Country, we’re going to get it done this time. I mean it!

Thanks for checking in with me, and look for my reviews to come in the next few days. Happy reading, everyone!

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