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Books Recommendations

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell: A Tough Scifi Must-Read

Not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.

Matthew Ten, Verse Twenty-Nine

I read The Sparrow some time back, but I am reviewing it here only now. The book raises some uncomfortable questions about our perception of and our (according to the book, unfounded) expectations from God. Mary Russell does a spectacular job of blending science and religion in this book. For both agnostics and believers alike, this is a story that will send you reeling.

The Sparrow is set in the future, and revolves around Emilio Sandoz. Emilio is a devout Jesuit priest and a good man whose friends love him. Sandoz’s biggest strengths are his self-awareness, and his faith in God which can move mountains. But that faith is about to be tested.

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Art & Illustration Books Music & Poetry Starred Recommendations Watchlist

More Japanese Recs: Folklore, Haiku & Anime

This is the final month for the Japanese Literature Reading Challenge, so I really had to hurry up with this one. I had two main recommendations for this month: Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa, and an anthology of Japanese Haiku poetry compiled by Yamamoto and Addiss. And although not “literature”, also the superbly mind-bending scifi anime, Paprika.

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Books Recommendations

Review: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Thorn

Book: Thorn (Dauntless Path Book 1)
Author: Intisar Khanani
Published: March 2020
Trope: Goose Girl Retelling, Identity Theft with a Twist
Rating: 8 of 10 / Recommended

Thorn has been getting a lot of blogger attention lately, even though released much earlier. When I realized it was a cozy Goose Girl retelling, I knew I had to give it a try. I liked it exceedingly, but Thorn also turned out to be quite unusual.

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Books Starred Recommendations

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs

Wild Sign Gifts from Santa
Wild Sign is Book #5 for Cloak & Dagger 2021

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs was like water after a reading drought! I was half afraid that the series would have lost its charm, but I needn’t have worried. Happy to report that this was an awesome read.

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Art & Illustration Books Index Starred Recommendations

Throwback Thursday: A Few Old SFF Favorites

I was looking at some of my older reads, and rounded-up a few that I’d really liked. So here they are, and may be if you’re looking for new things to try out, you’ll discover a few gems here.

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Books Memes Starred Recommendations

Ten Favorite Funny Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. And this week, we spotlight our ten favorite funny books. In no order of priority, here they are!

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Books Starred Recommendations

Princess Floralinda & the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir

Princess Floralinda & the Forty Flight Tower
Amazon

Tamsyn Muir is better known for her Gideon the Ninth, winner of the 2020 Locus Award for Best First Novel. Princess Floralinda & the Forty-Flight Tower is a novella in a very different universe, and is just absolutely wonderful.

A witch has locked up Princess Floralinda on the 40th floor of a tower. Floralinda now just has to sit there patiently till a prince comes along to rescue her. Except to do that, he has to battle out a monster on each of the 39 intervening floors, starting with the diamond-scaled dragon on Flight One. Floralinda agrees to wait.

And waits. And waits …

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Books Recommendations

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

It’s been a while since I read any contemporary YA, think the last one may have been Thirteen Reasons Why and Some Boys Do. So, I took up Karen M. McManu’s One of Us is Lying with some trepidation. It came highly recommended in last week’s Top 10 Tuesday posts. And it was actually quite good.

Simon’s been running a gossip app in high school, and has made a lot of enemies because most of that gossip is perfectly true. Ouch! Then Simon and 4 other classmates get called to detention over somebody else’s prank, and Simon ends up dead. Who killed Simon, and what secrets had Simon discovered that he needed silencing?

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Books Memes Recommendations

Penny Plain by O. Douglas: Cozy Scottish Historical

“SHOPMAN: “You may have your choice — penny plain or twopence coloured.”
SOLEMN SMALL BOY: “Penny plain, please. It’s better value for the money.”

Penny Plain O. Douglas
Read for Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: Book 4

Penny Plain by O. Douglas was a cozy, charming find (thanks to Elisabeth’s recommendation from last year). It’s set in the small town of Priorsford in Scotland, in the 1920s just after WWI.

Young Jean Jardine, barely twenty four, has been taking care of her three younger brothers since a long time. The Jardines have lived on meager means since their parents passed away, but they are an optimistic, good-hearted lot. There’s young rascal Mhor and his dog Peter, Jock who detests sentimentality because he’s at that teenage of life, David who got a scholarship to Oxford and just wants to improve things for his sister. They make do with what they have, possessing a secret of happiness that certainly the rich don’t. Oh, and they read lot, and quote Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott and lots of wonderful poetry.

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Books Memes Recommendations

Six Degrees: Not your Usual Guest Experiences

Redhead Tyler Guests

It’s time for #6degrees. Start with the monthly read, add six books, and see where you end up. Inspired by the 6 Degrees of Separation Meme hosted every month at Books are my Favorite and Best.

February 2021’s book is Redhead By the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler. Redhead is about a “Tech Hermit”, Micah Mortimer, whose neat, routined life goes topsy-turvy when guests appear uninvited at his door. This made me think of various house guest experiences, especially for some of the more reclusive literary characters.

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