Top 2015 Books (So Far)

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Thistle

Hm. Difficult topic for me this week, because I’ve only read 34 books* so far in 2015, and ten would be a pretty huge chunk! I don’t want to cheat and pad my numbers by including rereads of favorites (like the Raven Cycle!). Instead, I’m just going to list those new-to-me books that have particularly stood out from the rest. In order of when I read them:

all_joy1. All Joy and No Fun by Jennifer Senior – Very first book of the year, and it remains one of my favorites this year. Nonfiction about the effects of parenting in the modern age on parents.

2. Firstborn by Lorie Ann Grover – Very unusual YA gender-bending fantasy! I absolutely loved every minute of this one.

3. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke – Almost five years after my first attempt to read this book, I enjoyed every minute of this audiobook. I hope to own it – and the print version – someday, and I plan to enjoy the story many times! Also, I’m loving the TV series so far.

bodykeepsscore4. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk – I read this not long after I was diagnosed with complex PTSD, because of the diagnosis, and I learned so much from it, both about the illness and about myself.

5. Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley – Totally blown away by the careful characterization, world-building, friendships, and plotting of this YA contemporary fantasy.

*As of 6/25/15. I’m sure I’ve finished off a couple audiobooks in the days since then, but as I’ll be traveling all those days and won’t likely have access to internet/my blog by today, I’m pre-scheduling this and not counting any audiobooks I finish en route toward this count/post. Though if I’m lucky, I acquired a new favorite-of-the-year during this trip! *thinks wishful thoughts*

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged | 16 Comments

Sunday Coffee – See Y’all on the Other Side!

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Thistle

IMG_0970<– Last coffee in Massachusetts! This was my favorite mug in my counselor’s office. If you can’t read it, one side says “Freudian Sips” and the other says “When you say one thing but you mean your mother.” Ha! So much cheese in one mug. 😀

Soooo…hello! I’m not here right now. I’m currently en route from Massachusetts to Texas, with two preteen boys and a cat in my van. The next time I post for Sunday Coffee, I’ll be at my new home in San Antonio. 🙂

So, leave me messages, comments, funstuff to find when I have access to the internet again. Make me smile, friends! 🙂

Posted in Personal | Tagged | 2 Comments

Magonia, by Maria Dahvana Headley

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Thistle

magoniaAza Ray is one of a kind. Literally. She’s the only person in the world with a disease so rare that it is named after her. She can barely breathe, drowning in air, and no one expects her to live very long. The fact that she nearly makes it to her sixteenth birthday is a miracle. Except that her death is illusory, and when Aza wakes up, no longer on earth, she is the complete opposite of everything she’s ever been. Powerful. Strong. Anticipated as the savior of the sky-world, Magonia. However, she can’t fully let her earth-life go.

Okay. Wow. Let me just get the fangirl stuff out of the way immediately. I was COMPLETELY FLOORED by this book. The end left me in tears. I absolutely cannot wait for the second book – and I don’t even mind that more than one book is planned!

Alright. Now that that’s over, let me actually start talking about Magonia. I admit, I was a little wary going into this book. The premise was interesting, but I was starting to suspect (despite recent hope to the contrary) that this summer was going to be a bit slumpy after all. My last audiobook (Wildalone) didn’t end up being a good fit for me. After that, I started a book-that-shall-not-be-named, which had a really fantastic premise that didn’t quite make up for the awful writing. About a third of the way through, I just couldn’t read more. So yes. Wariness in starting this book. What if it ended up awful?

Well, as I’ve already said above, it didn’t end up awful. It actually ended up amazing. There was a little bit of heavy-handedness in the middle on environmental issues, but not too bad, and it didn’t take over the book as a whole. And as far as flaws go, that was it. Period. This is the best book I’ve read since very early in the year.

Odd coincidence: There is bird-to-person-bonding in this book, just like in Firstborn, one of the awesome books I read back in January. I don’t know that I’ve ever read another book about people and birds physically bonding, and yet I read two this year. Huh.

This review isn’t saying much. Even if I keep typing, I doubt it will say much more. I could squee about the awesomeness of long-friendship-love, and family bonds, and the treatment of anxiety disorders, and the complexities of betrayal and political war, and the tip-of-the-iceberg world-building…but what would I say except “YES IT’S GREAT READ IT!!!”? So, um, yes, it’s great. Read it.

Posted in 2015, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Top Five Top-Ten Posts

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Thistle

Top Ten Tuesday, as a book-meme, started five years ago. Today’s topic is in honor of that fifth anniversary, and asks us what are our favorites Top Ten Tuesday posts of the last five years.

For my part, I have not participated in many Top Ten Tuesdays over the years, mostly because I wasn’t doing a lot of book-blogging during many of those years. Most of my participation has come since last fall when I reopened The Zen Leaf. Looking back, I’ve participated for 38 weeks in all of those five years, with 34 of them on this blog, and 4 on blogs that no longer exist. This makes choosing a “top ten posts” list a bit of a stretch, but honestly, I’ve had a lot of fun with my Top Ten topics, and I do have a list of favorites. Though, um, there’s only five on the list, because really, that’s still a big chunk of my 38 total. And it’s a five-year anniversary, so five is appropriate, right? Sure! *cough* From least to most favorite:

5. Top Ten Book Club Books: My ideal book club would be very hard to attain, but also a lot of fun to attend!

4. Top Ten Books for Readers who Like Friendships: So few books are centered on friendship. This was a hard topic, but one very dear to me.

3. Top Ten Romance Likes and Dislikes: I enjoyed writing this one up, and got a lot of very positive response to it.

112211 dinner party2. Top Ten Tuesday – Thanksgiving Feast: I don’t have a link to this one, because it’s on an old blog, but I created the above picture of the ten authors I’d love to be at my Thanksgiving dinner table. They’d be a fantastic mix all together!

1. Top Ten Book-Related Problems: I think I had more fun writing this post than all of the others put together. 😀

Thank you to the bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish for running Top Ten Tuesday all these years! Here’s to many more!

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged | 7 Comments

Sunday Coffee – Seeking Comfort

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Thistle

IMG_0854Moving across the country without any outside help from family/friends = stressful. Last year, this was slightly easier. We stayed at my dad’s house while we packed the last of our old house into a storage shed. We had beds to sleep in, and time to clean the empty house before passing it to the next occupants. We had dozens of people to help us load the moving truck on the morning we left.

Here, there is none of that. We have to pack all our stuff while still living on that stuff. We have to clean the house while still living in it. It’s a coordination dance, with supplies thinning, and on Friday morning, we will be loading the truck alone. Very different, and very stressful, on top of the stress one would normally expect for this kind of move.

IMG_0850

(packing, packing, packing…)

So yes. I’m in definite need of comfort right now. All my books are packed – actually, I kept a few out to read, and have already gone through them all…sigh. So I’m left with audiobooks, because I don’t want to grab anything new from the library and have to add an extra trip back in the next week. And in audiobooks…well, I want comfort, and that means rereads. I started Blue Lily Lily Blue this week. I have Howl’s Moving Castle queued up, as well as The Host, and Good Omens, and Return of the Native. Comfort-audio to get me through the trip southward, and the days leading up to said trip.

Repeat to self: I will get through this. I will get through this. I will get through this.

Posted in Book Talk, Personal | Tagged | 14 Comments

Wildalone, by Krassi Zourkova (audio)

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Thistle

wildaloneThea leaves her parents and home in Bulgaria to attend Princeton. In a new world that is both foreign and exciting, she uncovers family secrets, crazy-wild-legends, brothers-of-love (*coughlustcough*), and a whole pile of creepy.

Sooooo…I think this is my first official experience with what has now become known as “new adult.” While once the phrase meant an age group between YA and adult, it now means college-aged sexytime books, and this was definitely a college-aged sexytime book with lots-o-paranormal-creep-factor. Other peoples’ descriptions compare it to Jane Eyre (I can’t figure out why), Twilight (paranormal lust-at-first-sight stuff), A Discovery of Witches (same rape-culture vibe), and The Secret History (no comment, as I’ve never read it). Does that sound snarky? It probably does.

Here’s the thing. I picked this audiobook up on a whim. It looked interesting, but I was full-well prepared to abandon it if it didn’t prove to be so. Then I started it, and it started out very interesting as well. Awesome! I liked the Bulgarian folktales. I liked the descriptions of Princeton, especially since the author grew up in Bulgaria and then went to college at Princeton. I didn’t even mind the whole “love at first sight” stuff at the original piano recital. I was interested in the family mystery, and the mysterious Silen, and the balance of study vs practice vs partying. All that jazz.

What didn’t interest me was this, and this is probably a spoiler, to warn you: Rhys. Jake. Rhys as Jake. Jake as Rhys. Brothers. Love triangle via brothers. Actually, it wasn’t so much the love triangle with brothers that bothered me. I actually loved the way that started, with the mix-up of identity. What bothered me was that Thea completely lost her voice around the brothers. She had definite preferences, but let the boys make all the decisions for her. She wished and washed and hemmed and hawed and pretty much just let each of them do whatever to her they wanted. Including some pretty scuzzy things that were very, very rape-fantasy-tastic. Bleagh. That, I didn’t like.

So what could have been a really fantastic-for-me kind of book ended up falling apart, despite me racing through the audiobook all the way through the end. I doubt I’ll read the sequel.

Performance: I also didn’t particularly like the audio version of the book, read by Barrie Kreinik. Accents in audiobooks tend to bother me, unless they are the native accent of the performer. While I could tell that the narrator was well-trained, I still struggled with the accents, especially of minor characters who seemed to change – or, in fact, acquire – accents partway through the book.

Posted in 2015, Adult, Prose | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Top Ten Books On My 2015 Summer TBR

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Thistle

Just like I said with my 2015 Spring TBR Possibilities List, I would rather not be too heavy-handed in my choices for summer. I never really know what I’ll read in advance, as my mood will change as the months pass. The ten I’ve listed below seem like good summer choices now, but in a month? Who knows what I’ll feel like! I mean, looking back at the TBR Possibilities lists I’ve made in the last year, I read four off my fall 2014 list, four off my winter 2014/2015 list, and three off my spring 2015 list. That’s not a very good completion rate…

In any case, here’s my very tentative list of possibles for this summer:

invasion1. Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen – On the fence with this one. I enjoyed the first book mostly, but I’ve heard mixed reviews…

2. The Secrets She Keeps by Deb Caletti – newest release by a favorite modern author

3. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – This one still scares me, but I’d determined to try. Eventually. I have the audio to check out now…

4. Ten Things We Did by Sarah Mlynowski – lighthearted summer read

5. Dawn by Octavia Butler – because it sounds fascinating

PrudenceCover6. Prudence by Gail Carriger – not sure, might wait until fall, but I have in on audio just in case

7. The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida – cultural thriller that I want to investigate

8. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan – one of those “probably should read” books that I now have an actual recommendation for, from a trusted reader-friend

9. Middlemarch by George Eliot – still scares me, but again, determined to try, and the audio narrator is one of my favorites

10. Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther – cultural women’s fiction to investigate

What’s on your list? Are any of these books ones you’d recommend?

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged | 10 Comments

Sunday Coffee – The Whirlwind Begins

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Thistle

IMG_0748Actually probably technically, the whirlwind began some time ago. However, it’s beginning in earnest this week. Tomorrow, we close on our new house. Two weeks after that, we begin our cross-country move. Yesterday, we gave away our couch. The apartment is completely dismantled at the moment. All the carpenter ants have come out to play (sigh). Everything’s a mess. StressStressStressStressStress.

I already said it once, but this time I mean it even more strongly: I doubt I will be around much over the next month. I’m getting further behind on my feed-reader and will likely put it to bed completely soon. Sorry about all the wonderful posts I’m missing! I’ll try to keep up as long as I can. Then there are the books. I’ve barely read a thing. I managed one audiobook in the first half of June and I imagine there will only be one or two more books left this month. I have some Top Ten posts lined up for the next few weeks, but otherwise, I’m running on fumes.

That, and I keep injuring myself. Seriously stupid injuries. This week I managed to 1) scald my lower lip with boiling water while testing if pasta was cooked through, 2) overfill my coffee pour-over to burn myself, and 3) knock my clumsy hand into my coffee mug this morning to spill everywhere on my desk, plus all over my hand and thigh. Jason says the universe is telling me that to stop drinking coffee. I think the universe is telling me to either get more sleep (unlikely these days!) or go out to buy iced coffee! 😀

So I have no mooring in this maelstrom right now, but I’m floating by. Trying not to worry too much about things like studying, writing, eating the right foods, blogging, reading, etc. Trying not to fill up my plate with unrealistic expectations. Planning for fun-stuff in San Antonio, including some housewarming parties for friends and family. Yay!

Do I seem scattered? Hrm. That’s likely to get worse. Just to warn you, friends. I promise I haven’t disappeared. I’m still keeping up with all of you as best I can. But, you know, whirlwind, and all that jazz.

Posted in Personal | Tagged | 4 Comments

Alif the Unseen, by G. Willow Wilson

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Thistle

alifHiding under the handle of Alif, a young man fights back against the government censorship and violence via computer in an unnamed Middle Eastern city. When his lover leaves him to enter into the marriage her family has arranged for her, Alif is thrown into chaos. Suddenly, the government has found him, and he’s on the run with his neighbor and childhood friend, Dina, and an ancient book that leads them both into the world of the unseen jinn.

Islam, Middle Eastern mythology, terrorism, censorship, computer hacking, love, and multiculturalism all collide in this book. On the one hand, it’s something that I’ve read a lot of over the last few years, in terms of it being a contemporary fantasy. On the other hand, it’s like nothing I’ve ever read before, incorporating two very disparate elements (ancient mythology and ultra-modern computer technology) in a mind-boggling way. On top of that, the book worked in all different timbres of religious fervor, class comparisons, racial discrimination, the downward spiral that follows an uprising, and more. Wilson took the story in ways that I didn’t even come close to expecting, and I was riveted throughout the entire book.

At the same time, there were things that I didn’t like. These basically boiled down to two things. First, some of the computer technology seemed stretched. Perhaps this is just because my husband is a software developer and I’ve heard/learned a lot of computer stuff over the years, but it was difficult to suspend my disbelief in some places. Not about the jinn, no, just about the computers. Which is kinda ironic, now that I think about it. The second thing was a little more important: I didn’t really like Alif very much. Now, to be fair, I don’t think he’s supposed to be an entirely sympathetic character. He does a lot of really nasty and/or stupid things, and he does grow as a person throughout the book. I was never able to get fully on board with him, though, and that lessened my enjoyment a bit, since he’s the narrator.

Still, both of those things were relatively minor, and I’d recommend the book in spite of them. There are so few books like this out there, featuring positive Muslim characters and non-Western mythologies and three-dimensional characters from a part of the world that Americans, at least, tend to vilify. I’m happy to have come across it.

Posted in 2015, Adult, Prose | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Top Seven Rest-of-2015 Releases

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Thistle

Well…I’ll be honest. I barely had ten releases I was looking forward to for all of 2015, much less the second half. And my most anticipated 2015 release (The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater) has been pushed back until February (cries!), so that’s one less to include. I don’t have much on this list. Definitely not ten! But here you go, the few remaining books that I’m looking forward to for the rest of 2015.

1. Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (today!)
2. The Secrets She Keeps by Deb Caletti (7/7)
3. Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson (9/22)
4. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (9/29)
5. Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (10/16)
6. Winter by Marissa Meyer (11/1)
7. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (unknown, but supposedly in 2015)

I keep hoping the next Dublin Murder Squad novel by Tana French will be announced…

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged | 10 Comments