Books of 2017- Installment #3

11. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
I read this book because it was mentioned in The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. I thought, that's a good book and they say this is a good one too. Well, they were right!! Amazing book!! I love it! It's set in Russia and at the intersection of the old gods and Christianity. That makes it sound heavy, but it's not. It's sweet and magical and a joy to read.

12. Eleventh Grave in Moonlight by Darynda Jones
I loooooooooooooooove this series!!! And I am so happy to get the next installment!! Charlie!!! This book made me so happy!!

13. Dusk Or Dark Or Dawn Or Day by Seanan McGuire
I really enjoy reading Seanan's books and this one has a ghost theme. Right up my alley!!! She does some things with the genre, I didn't see coming and really enjoyed. I won't say more, but it's good!

14.The Original Dream by Nukila Amal
Set in Indonesia, this interesting book switches back and forth between a dream world and reality. It's also mostly in the second person! It really got me thinking about my dreams. When I was younger, I used to remember my dreams pretty well. But over the last decade or so, I remember them less and less well. They're still vivid and engaging, and when I'm in them or first waking from them, I'm convinced I'll remember them. Alas, they are ephemeral and disappear with the opening of my eyes. With that said, I don't know that this book gave me any insight into dreams, but it definitely did give me insight into Indonesia and into Islam. Though, that would not be a reason to read this book. It is mostly the dream world and not overtly about Indonesia or Islam.

15. You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day
I don't really read memoirs. I've only ever read a handful. While I find Felicia Day funny, I didn't really get into the memoir until it was about the part of her life I knew about- eg The Guild. Then it was super fast and engaging.

Books of 2017- Installment #2

6. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
I looooooooooved her first book In a Dark, Dark Wood, and she was an EFL teacher!!! So of course I totally wanted to read this book, and apparently so did the people of my library!! I had to wait more than 3 months for this book to become available!! It was great! A real thriller!! And a needed respite from all the horrors Donald Trump is setting loose on us.

7. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
This is a delightful book for a reader looking for a cheerful, feel-good book. A love of books and people fill the pages of this book!! :) There were so many times when I was like, "Yes!! Exactly!"

8. Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
I was so excited to read this sequel!!!

9. Time Travel by James Gleick
This is a really interesting look at the concept of time and of time travel. It looks at the science, philosophy, and stories around time and time travel. It definitely made my head spin in a couple of places. Such a great read!!!

10. Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey
I wasn't sure what I was going to get with this book. Was it going to be hard-core belief in the paranormal or more of a dry recitation of facts about various places. Either way I was willing to give it a shot. I found it to be neither. He's not obviously a believer in paranormal phenomenon. Instead he categorizes type of haunted places and looks at them not only for veracity (and more often a lack thereof) but for a place in history. How does this place fit into our history? I quite enjoyed this and learned a few things as well!

I am an American

I don’t have to be Jewish, black, indigenous, Muslim, Japanese, immigrant, descended from the Pilgrims, gay, transgendered, or Latina to be afraid. I am an American. And I am afraid. Donald Trump is ripping through and destroying hard-won rights. Not privileges, like corporations have, but basic rights. Mere days into his term as President, he is signing executive order after executive order. Orders that hurt American after American. We suffer when he signs orders to damage the environment. We suffer when he signs orders that damage the indigenous people of our country. We suffer when he gags scientists and government officials. We suffer when he bans people from coming here. We suffer when he guts regulations. We suffer when he appoints incompetent people to high level and far reaching posts. We suffer when he appoints people who are diametrically opposed to the very purpose of the department they’ve been appointed to. We suffer every time Donald Trump tears at the fabric of our society to create a society for him and his rich cronies alone. Poor huddled masses yearning to be free have made us the country we are. Refugees, immigrants, slaves, indigenous people are the ones that created this nation. We need all of us to build our future. I am an American and I am afraid of what Donald Trump is doing. Stand up to him. Do not let him rip apart our rights. Our basic rights. Rights to a good education, rights to science, rights to the environment, rights to know people from other parts of the world, other religions, the right to be people from other parts of the world and of a religion or an atheist. I am an American and that means I get to be Jewish, black, indigenous, Muslim, Japanese, immigrant, descended from the Pilgrims, gay, transgendered, or Latina. But I don’t want to be afraid. I want a nation that stands for truth and justice. I want to be in a nation that affords everyone basic rights regardless of race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. I want a nation that respects others even as it disagrees with others. I am an American and I want a good and just nation for all.

Books of 2017- Installment #1

1. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
I had heard of this amazing collection of short stories by Ted Chiang and immediately tried to get it from the library. Apparently everybody else had too because I was wait-listed. Okay, fine, I've got plenty of other books. Off I read and waited and read and waited. Then I heard there was going to be a film adaptation of one of the stories in the book. Ohh!! Okay, library!!! I want to read it before I see the film! Oh, the film's out and I keep hearing good things. Okay, I'll watch the film because 1) the book is almost always better than the film/TV show (notable exception the Sookie Stackhouse books are nowhere near as good as the True Blood series....) and 2) it's a collection of short stories and the film is only about one of the stories.... Okay, so great film, but when am I going to get the book??? Ah, 2017! So this is my first book of the year! And it's hard sci-fi! Love it!! Bring it on!!! :)

2. The Dark Forest by CiXin Liu 
This is the second in the Remembrances of Earth's Past trilogy. This book spans more than 200 years and grapples with interesting issues of how humanity would react to an extraterrestrial threat. I'm not sure I agree with all of the various ideas put forth (and really don't like the scene where they point the Hubble II space telescope at the Earth and take a clear picture of people standing on a building), but it is a very interesting epic. Plus it's always fascinating reading another culture's view on big topics!

3. The Reader by Traci Chee
This young adult book is an adventure story set in a world where reading is magic... literally magic! It was a wonderful story and I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series!

4. By Gaslight by Steven Price
This Canadian-written tome is about a couple of Americans in England during the 1880s (with some bits in other places and times, like South Africa in the 1870s). I found that a very weird choice but okay... It is deeply, deeply, shockingly long. I don't think I have a short attention span, but it's a long book that doesn't feel like it needs to be that long. It took me a good 100 pages to feel actually engaged in the story.

5. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
This book was something I was really intrigued by despite the fact it is nonfiction- or rather because it is nonfiction! Women in science and NASA in the 40s!! Yay!! So exciting!! I'm so happy that Margot Lee Shetterly got this story out into the world and that the movie (#1 at the box office) propels it even further!! Now, I had to wait for more than two months to get this book from the library, but I'm so glad I got to read it!!

Books of 2016- Installment #22

106. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Wow! Great book! The reviews that I read said that lots of books are set in bookstores but most of the time it doesn't matter. Not so with this book. And they were right! This is a wonderful story where the characters' love of books is a delight! I loooooove this book!!

107. The Order of the Trees by Katy Farber
This was a lovely complement to The Hidden Life of Trees that I read earlier this month. It is a fictional story about the saving of some woods.

108. The Dream-Quest of Vellit Boe by Kij Johnson
This novella was a revisit of HP Lovecraft's The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, which I haven't read. I think that the story is interesting without knowing the source material, but I imagine it would be a deeper experience with familiarity with the Lovecraft story. It is a journey, a quest, between two worlds. Personally, my favorite parts were of the cat, that reminds me of my own little Phryne Bear. They are both lithe black kitties with green eyes.

109. Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood
Speaking of Phryne, the next book I read was book 14 in the Phryne Fisher mystery series. Such a wonderful world to spend time in. Quite a treat and a lovely end to my 2016 reading.

Trixie and the Moai 2016 Awards

I am so excited to present the first ever Trixie and the Moai Awards!!!

I read over 100 books in 2016, so there were a lot of books to choose from. But that gave me time and perspective. These books are of different genres (historical, science fiction, literary fiction) and different settings (Massachusetts in the 1600s, Taiwan and the Pacific, England, India and Africa in the future, and present-day Massachusetts). In the end I chose the 5 books that stay with me.

Without further ado, here are the award-winning books of 2016, listed in the order I read them!! 

2016 Finalists for the Trixie and the Moai Book Award

 I was looking at this book that I had just read. It was a wonderful book and had numerous awards. That got me thinking about awards. Basically book awards are given to amazing books but only those books that catch the attention of people giving awards. There are thousands upon thousands of books published each year. And just because a book doesn't get an award, doesn't mean it doesn't deserve an award!

So I've decided that I'm going to give 5 awards to the books I read this year that seem the most amazing. Books that I can't let go of or rather books that can't let me go...

It's totally arbitrary and nothing comes with the award but a little "sticker" I made to go on them. But I still want to recognize the amazing books I read this year.

So without further ado these are the finalists for the first annual Trixie and the Moai Book Award!

Stiff competition!!!

I will soon pick the top five books of the year!!