Where Is Your Bookmark? (Reading Then & Now / Spine Poetry)

It has been a hectic past couple of weeks, and I have not been able to visit blogs or do much of my own blogging the past couple weeks as I would have liked. I have been reading though. Right now I am just over a third of the way through Black Water Sister by Zen Cho. 

A weekly meme where readers share the first sentence of the book they are reading and say what they think. Hosted by the amazing Gillion Dumas of Rose City Reader.

 

The first thing the ghost said to Jess was: 

Does your mother know you're a pengkid?

The ghost said it to shock. Unfortunately it had failed to consider the possibility that Jess might not understand it. Jess understood most Hokkien spoken to her, but because it was only ever her parents doing the speaking, there were certain gaps in her vocabulary.  [opening of Black Water Sister]

My initial thoughts: I like the opening--the immediate introduction into the story of a ghost and a little bit about Jess, the protagonist. I was hooked. 

A weekly meme in which readers share a random sentence or two from page 56 or 56% of the book they are reading. Hosted by the wonderful Freda of Freda's Voice.

Had she really thought of confiding in Mom and Dad about what was going on? Jess wondered at her own forgetfulness. 

The past couple of years had stripped her of many illusions about her parents that none of them would have wished away. It made it all the more vital to preserve their illusions about her. [excerpt from 34% of Black Water Sister]

My initial thoughts: At this point, Jess is carrying a lot on her shoulders and wishes she could share what is going on with her with her parents. I love the second paragraph in this excerpt. It's clear she loves her parents, not wanting to add to their burdens. It may or may not be the best decision but I can appreciate where Jess is coming from.

A reluctant medium discovers the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power in this compelling Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy.

Jessamyn Teoh is closeted, broke and moving back to Malaysia, a country she left when she was a toddler. So when Jess starts hearing voices, she chalks it up to stress. But there's only one voice in her head, and it claims to be the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma. In life Ah Ma was a spirit medium, the avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she's determined to settle a score against a gang boss who has offended the god--and she's decided Jess is going to help her do it.

Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, she'll also need to regain control of her body and destiny. If she fails, the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good. [Goodreads Summary]

Does Black Water Sister sound like something you would enjoy reading? Have you read anything else by this author? What are you reading right now? 

Originally a feature called Last Year I Was Reading created by Maria from ReadingMaria. 

I liked it enough to continue on my own, but have tweaked it

 to feature Five Years Ago I Was Reading. 

(I would have gone back ten, but I read so little in 2011)

Last week I mentioned I was reading Seraphina by Rachel Hartman five years ago around this time, and it turns out I immediately jumped into the second book, Shadow Scale, which I finished five years ago this week. The peace between dragons and humans is in a very precarious position. Civil war between the the dragons threatens to boil over into the human lands. The humans are divided as well. Seraphina is a great character who has to overcome quite a few obstacles, as often heroines do in fantasy novels like this. I enjoyed Shadow Scale, although perhaps not as much as I did the first book in the duology, Seraphina. 

What were you reading five years ago this week? 

Connect Five Friday is a weekly meme where readers share a list of five books, 

read or unread, or bookish things, that share a common theme. 

Hosted by the  Kathryn of of Book Date.

In honor of the final day of National Poetry Month this year, I thought I would share a spine poem of books made from my personal shelves. Admittedly, I have only read the last two. The others are patiently waiting their turn to be read.

All He Ever Wanted (Anita Shreve)

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (Dinaw Mengestu)

The Other Side of Midnight (Simone St. James)

In a Lonely Place (Dorothy B. Hughes)

She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)

 I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be sure and tell me what you are reading and are up to!

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© 2021 Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Waiting to Read Wednesday: The Beach House / The Invisible Husband of Frick Island / Sea Creatures

The New

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by the marvelous Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss upcoming release we are excited about that we have yet to read.

The Beach House (The Book Club #2) by Rochelle Alers

Release Date: May 25, 2021 by Dafina Books

Over the course of one summer spent on an idyllic island off the coast of North Carolina, a weekly book club offers three very different women the chance to rewrite their own stories. In bestselling author Rochelle Alers' second Book Club novel, a new chapter begins as one woman's seemingly perfect life unravels . . .

It's been almost a year since Leah Berkley Kent left her lavish Richmond home to spend two months on Coates Island, North Carolina. There she found friendship with two extraordinary women, Kayana and Cherie. Together they formed a summer book club, meeting weekly at the Seaside Cafe. Leah also found the courage to finally stand up to Alan, her domineering husband of twenty-eight years.

With her twin sons now grown, Leah decides to return to Coates Island again this summer. Alan's explosive reaction only convinces her that her marriage, and her old life, may be ending. But what comes next? Helping out at the Seaside Cafe, Leah grows closer to Kayana's widowed brother, Derrick. He knows what it's like to start over--he traded a Wall Street career for a beachfront house and a slower pace. Derrick is drawn to Leah, but wonders if she's truly ready to move on.

It'll take a summer filled with lazy beach walks, bold new horizons, and book club meetings rich with shared laughter and support, for Leah to find the answers she's been looking for . . . [Goodreads Summary]

Why I want to read this: I have the first book in this series on my TBR stack, but even having yet read that one, I have set my eyes on this one too. The fact that this series features book club members is a definite draw, but I also really want to get to know these women and see them get their happy ending.

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley

Release Date: May 25, 2021 by Berkley

Sometimes all you need is one person to really see you.

Piper Parrish's life on Frick Island—a tiny, remote town smack in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay—is nearly perfect. Well, aside from one pesky detail: Her darling husband, Tom, is dead. When Tom's crab boat capsized and his body wasn't recovered, Piper, rocked to the core, did a most peculiar thing: carried on as if her husband was not only still alive, but right there beside her, cooking him breakfast, walking him to the docks each morning, meeting him for their standard Friday night dinner date at the One-Eyed Crab. And what were the townspeople to do but go along with their beloved widowed Piper?

Anders Caldwell’s career is not going well. A young ambitious journalist, he’d rather hoped he’d be a national award-winning podcaster by now, rather than writing fluff pieces for a small town newspaper. But when he gets an assignment to travel to the remote Frick Island and cover their boring annual Cake Walk fundraiser, he stumbles upon a much more fascinating tale: an entire town pretending to see and interact with a man who does not actually exist. Determined it’s the career-making story he’s been needing for his podcast, Anders returns to the island to begin covert research and spend more time with the enigmatic Piper—but he has no idea out of all the lives he’s about to upend, it’s his that will change the most.[Goodreads Summary]

Why I want to read this: An entire town goes along with it . . . I am fascinated and I want to get to know the people of Frick Island, including Piper. I imagine this will be an inspiring story. 

Does either of these books interest you? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to reading?

The Old(er) 

I have an embarrassing number of unread books sitting on the shelves in my personal library. Carole of Carole's Random Life in Books has given me the perfect excuse to spotlight and discuss those neglected books in her Books from the Backlog feature. After all, even those older books need a bit of love! Not to mention it is reminding me what great books I have waiting for me under my own roof still to read!

Sea Creatures by Susanna Daniel (Harper, 2013)

When Georgia returns to her hometown of Miami, her toddler son and husband in tow, she is hoping for a fresh start. They have left Illinois trailing scandal and disappointment in their wake: Graham's sleep disorder has cost him his tenure at Northwestern; Georgia's college advising business has gone belly up; and three-year old Frankie is no longer speaking. Miami feels emptier without Georgia's mother, who died five years earlier, but her father and stepmother offer a warm welcome-as well as a slip for the dilapidated houseboat Georgia and Graham have chosen to call home. And a position studying extreme weather patterns at a prestigious marine research facility offers Graham a professional second chance.

When Georgia takes a job as an errand runner for an artist who lives alone in the middle of Biscayne Bay, she's surprised to find her life changes dramatically. Time spent with the intense hermit at his isolated home might help Frankie gain the courage to speak, it seems. And it might help Georgia reconcile the woman she was with the woman she has become.

But when Graham leaves to work on a ship in Hurricane Alley and the truth behind Frankie's mutism is uncovered, the family's challenges return, more complicated than before. Late that summer, as a hurricane bears down on South Florida, Georgia must face the fact that her choices have put her only child in grave danger.

Sea Creatures is a mesmerizing exploration of the high stakes of marriage and parenthood, the story of a woman coming into her own as a mother, forced to choose between her marriage, her child, and the possibility of new love. [Goodreads Summary]

Why I want to read this: I imagine the family drama and self-exploration is what drew me to this novel initially. Many of the reviews about it talked about how realistic it is. So, I imagine this will be an emotional read when I get to it.  

Have you read Sea Creatures? Does this book sound like something you would like to read? 

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© 2021, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Where Is Your Bookmark? (What I Was Reading Then & Now / My Poetry TBR / BBHOP)

A weekly meme where readers share the first sentence of the book they are reading and say what they think. Hosted by the amazing Gillion Dumas of Rose City Reader.

Editor's Note: 

The majority of urban legends form around a small grain of truth, however misinterpreted or misunderstood. [Opening of Angel of the Overpass by Seanan McGuire]

A weekly meme in which readers share a random sentence or two from page 56 or 56% of the book they are reading. Hosted by the wonderful Freda of Freda's Voice.

"When you're a teenage girl who's just died, continuing to exist as yourself feels a lot like living. I ran from Bobby Cross after he ran me off the road because I wanted to live. I was already dead. That didn't make a lick of difference to me then, and it doesn't make a difference to me now. Assuming a heartbeat matters is . . . It's small and it's prejudicial against the dead, and it's wrong." [Opening of Angel of the Overpass by Seanan McGuire]

I recently started reading the third book in Seanan McGuire's Ghost Roads series called Angel of the Overpass. It is one of my favorite urban fantasy novel series. I love how the novel opens with a fictional editor's note, the first sentence of which I shared above. I have not yet reached the Friday 56 excerpt, and so I am not sure who Rose is talking to. 

Lady of shadows, keeper of changes, plant the seeds of faith within me, that I might grow and flourish, that I might find my way through danger and uncertainty to the safety of your garden. Let my roots grow strong and my skin grow thick, that I might stand fast against all who would destroy me. Grant to me your favor, grant to me your grace, and when my time is done, grant to me the wisdom to lay my burdens down and rest beside you, one more flower in a sea of blooms, where nothing shall ever trouble me again.

Rose Marshall died when she was sixteen years old and on her way to her high school prom. She hasn’t been resting easy since then—Bobby Cross, the man who killed her, got away clean after running her off the road, and she’s not the kind of girl who can let something like that slide. She’s been looking for a way to stop him since before they put her body in the ground.

But things have changed in the twilight world where the spirits of the restless dead continue their “lives.” The crossroads have been destroyed, and Bobby’s protections are gone. For the first time, it might be possible for Rose to defeat him.

Not alone, though. She’ll need every friend she’s managed to make and every favor she’s managed to add to her account if she wants to stand a chance…and this may be her last chance to be avenged, since what is Bobby Cross without the crossroads?

Everything Rose knows is about to change. [Goodreads Summary]

Does Angel of the Overpass sound like something you would enjoy reading? What are you reading at the moment? 

Originally a feature called Last Year I Was Reading created by Maria from ReadingMaria. 

I liked it enough to continue on my own, but have tweaked it

 to feature Five Years Ago I Was Reading. 

(I would have gone back ten, but I read so little in 2011)

Five years ago this week I had just finished reading Rachel Hartman's Seraphina. I remember how excited I was to read Seraphina, a fantasy novel about a young woman who is trying to hide her true self now that she is the newest member of the royal court. That becomes harder to do when a member of the royal family is murdered and she is drawn into the investigation alongside Prince Lucien. Romance, mystery, court intrigue, and dragons fill the pages of this entertaining novel. I enjoyed both Seraphina and the second book in the duology, Shadow Scale. The author has another book out set in the same world, Tess of the Road, but is technically not part of the series. I have yet to read it but do have it on my TBR pile. 

Have you read Seraphina? What were you reading five years ago?

Connect Five Friday is a weekly meme where readers share a list of five books, 

read or unread, or bookish things, that share a common theme. 

Hosted by the  Kathryn of of Book Date.

In honor of National Poetry Month, this week I thought I would feature a handful of poetry books I have sitting in my TBR pile that I would like to get to in the next few months. 

The Crooked Inheritance: Poems by Marge Piercy

In these powerful, often funny, sometimes lyrical, and down-to-earth poems, Marge Piercy writes of her “crooked inheritance”—physical and personality traits from wildly mismatched parents, and in a larger sense the marvelous half-broken world we inherit. Even her hometown Detroit provides a double legacy—a slum girlhood that breeds in her both wild ambition and, where you would least expect it, a love of nature, which she discovers in the city’s elms, “the thing of beauty on grimy smoke-bleared streets.”

Some of Piercy’s strongest poems have always been political, and here are important new verses raging against the war in Iraq, the abandonment of Katrina’s victims (“People penned to die in our instant / concentration camps, just add water”), and the ongoing attempts to suppress women—their rights, their bodies, their minds, their very being: “The CIA should hire as spies / only women over fifty, because we are the truly invisible.”

Other poems are about her life on Cape Cod, where she finds sanctuary in the long natural rhythms of the year’s cycle—gardening, making pesto, hearing coyotes in the winter “yelping in chorus after a kill,” a place where after weeks of rain and snow, the “sun gives birth to rosebushes,” and “everything revealed is magical, splendid in its ordinary shining.” Here, too, are wonderful love songs, about friends, lovers, a beautiful day, animals, making bread.

Deep connections to Jewish life and ritual reveal themselves in poems about her Lithuanian grandmother, about holidays, about the peace in a time of war that ceremony can bring, “an evening of honey on the tongue . . . a puddle of amber light . . . faces of friends . . . darkness walling off the room from what lies outside.”

These marvelous poems remind us anew of the breadth and strength of Marge Piercy’s poetic vision. A superb collection to read and treasure. [Goodreads Summary]

Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne

A novel-in-verse about a young girl coming-of-age and stepping out of the shadow of her former best friend.

She looks me hard in my eyes

& my knees lock into tree trunks 

My eyes don't dance like my heartbeat racing 

They stare straight back hot daggers. 

I remember things will never be the same. 

I remember things.

Mahogany L. Browne delivers a novel-in-verse about broken promises, fast rumors, and when growing up means growing apart from your best friend.  [Goodreads Summary]

In the Lateness of the World: Poems by Carolyn Forché

A new poetry collection of uncanny grace and moral force from one of our country's most celebrated poets

Over four decades, Carolyn Forché's visionary work has reinvigorated poetry's power to awaken the reader. Her groundbreaking poems have been testimonies, inquiries, and wonderments. They daringly map a territory where poetry asserts our inexhaustible responsibility to each other.

Her first new collection in seventeen years, In the Lateness of the World is a tenebrous book of crossings, of migrations across oceans and borders but also between the present and the past, life and death. The poems call to the reader from the end of the world where they are sifting through the aftermath of history. Forché envisions a place where "you could see everything at once ... every moment you have lived or place you have been." The world here seems to be steadily vanishing, but in the moments before the uncertain end, an illumination arrives and "there is nothing that cannot be seen." In the Lateness of the World is a revelation from one of the finest poets writing today. [Goodreads Summary]

Tertulia by Vincent Toro

A fluid, expansive new collection from a poet whose work dazzles with [an] energetic exploration of the Puerto Rican experience in the new millennium (NBC News)

Puerto Rican poet Vincent Toro's new collection takes the Latin American idea of an artistic social gathering (the tertulia) and revises it for the Latinx context in the United States. In verses dense with juxtaposition, the collection examines immigration, economics, colonialism and race via the sublime imagery of music, visual art, and history. Toro draws from his own social justice work in various U.S. cities to create a kaleidoscopic vision of the connections between the personal and the political, the local and the global, in a book that both celebrates and questions the complexities of the human condition.  [Goodreads Summary]

Lean Against This Late Hour by Garous Abdolmalekian, translated by Idra Novey & Ahmad Nadalizadeh

A vivid, affecting portrait of life in the shadow of violence and loss, for readers of both English and Persian

The first selection of poems by renowned Iranian poet Garous Abdolmalekian to appear in English, this collection is a mesmerizing, disorienting descent into the trauma of loss and its aftermath. In spare lines, Abdolmalekian conjures surreal, cinematic images that pan wide as deftly as they narrow into intimate focus. Time is a thread come unspooled: pain arrives before the wound, and the dead wait for sunrise.

Abdolmalekian resists definitive separations between cause and effect, life and death, or heaven and hell, and challenges our sense of what is fixed and what is unsettled and permeable. Though the speakers in these poems are witnesses to the deforming effects of grief and memory, they remain alive to curiosity, to the pleasure of companionship, and to other ways of being and seeing. Lean Against This Late Hour illuminates the images we conjure in the face of abandonment and ruin, and finds them by turns frightening, bewildering, ethereal, and defiant. "This time," a disembodied voice commands, "send us a prophet who only listens." [Goodreads Summary]

Did you read any poetry for National Poetry Month? 

Every Friday Coffee Addicted Writer from Coffee Addicted Writer poses a question which participants respond on their own blogs within the week (Friday through Thursday). They then share their links at the main site and visit other participants blogs.

Do you do most of your blog work on a computer, iPad, or phone? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Complex Chaos)

I do all of my blog work on my personal computer, although sometimes I respond to comments or blog hop on my phone. 

What about you?

 I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be sure and tell me what you are reading and are up to!

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© 2021 Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Waiting to Read Wednesday: A Peculiar Combination / Happy Endings / Drowned City

The New

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by the marvelous Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss upcoming release we are excited about that we have yet to read.

A Peculiar Combination (Electra McDonnell #1) by Ashley Weaver

Release Date: May 11, 2021 by Minotaur Books

The first in the Electra McDonnell series from Edgar-nominated author Ashley Weaver, set in England during World War II, A Peculiar Combination is a delightful mystery filled with spies, murder, romance, and the author's signature wit.

Electra McDonnell has always known that the way she and her family earn their living is slightly outside of the law. Breaking into the homes of the rich and picking the locks on their safes may not be condoned by British law enforcement, but World War II is in full swing, Ellie's cousins Colm and Toby are off fighting against Hitler, and Uncle Mick's more honorable business as a locksmith can't pay the bills any more.

So when Uncle Mick receives a tip about a safe full of jewels in the empty house of a wealthy family, he and Ellie can't resist. All goes as planned--until the pair are caught redhanded. Ellie expects them to be taken straight to prison, but instead they are delivered to a large townhouse, where government official Major Ramsey is waiting with an offer: either Ellie agrees to help him break into a safe and retrieve blueprints that will be critical to the British war effort, before they can be delivered to a German spy, or he turns her over to the police.

Ellie doesn't care for the Major's imperious manner, but she has no choice, and besides, she's eager to do her bit for king and country. She may be a thief, but she's no coward. When she and the Major break into the house in question, they find instead the purported German spy dead on the floor, the safe already open and empty. Soon, Ellie and Major Ramsey are forced to put aside their differences to unmask the double-agent, as they try to stop allied plans falling into German hands. [Goodreads Summary]

Why I want to read this: A thief recruited by the government to help in the war effort? And a woman thief at that? I'm doubly interested in giving this new series a try. I love a good historical mystery and this one sounds like it will a winner.

Happy Endings by Thien-Kim Lam

Release Date: May 18, 2021 by Avon

With her debut novel, Thien-Kim Lam serves up a sexy second-chance romance about exes with unfinished business. When working together reignites their passion, will these former flames sizzle or get burned all over again?

Trixie Nguyen is determined to make her sex toy business a success, proving to her traditional Vietnamese parents that she can succeed in a nontraditional career. She's made a fresh start in Washington DC, and her first pop-up event is going well—until she runs into the ex who dumped her. With a Post-it note.

The last person Andre Walker expected to see in his soul food restaurant was the woman he left behind in New Orleans. Their chemistry is still scorching, but he's desperately trying to save his family restaurant from gentrifying developers. The solution? Partnering with his ex to turn Mama Hazel’s into a vibrator pop-up shop for hungry and horny clients.

Thanks to their steamy truce, both businesses start to sizzle and their red-hot desire soon reignites deeper feelings. But when Trixie receives an incredible career opportunity, will pride ruin their second chance at happiness?  [Goodreads Summary]

Why I want to read this: I hate the idea of Andre losing his family restaurant to gentrifying developers. I enjoy a good second-chance romance and hope this one will be a good one. 

Does either of these books interest you? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to reading?

The Old(er) 

I have an embarrassing number of unread books sitting on the shelves in my personal library. Carole of Carole's Random Life in Books has given me the perfect excuse to spotlight and discuss those neglected books in her Books from the Backlog feature. After all, even those older books need a bit of love! Not to mention it is reminding me what great books I have waiting for me under my own roof still to read!

Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans by Don Brown (HMH Books for Young Readers, 2015)

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina's monstrous winds and surging water overwhelmed the protective levees around low-lying New Orleans, Louisiana. Eighty percent of the city flooded, in some places under twenty feet of water. Property damages across the Gulf Coast topped $100 billion. One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three people lost their lives. The riveting tale of this historic storm and the drowning of an American city is one of selflessness, heroism, and courage—and also of incompetence, racism, and criminality.

Don Brown’s kinetic art and as-it-happens narrative capture both the tragedy and triumph of one of the worst natural disasters in American history. A portion of the proceeds from this book has been donated to Habitat for Humanity New Orleans. [Goodreads Summary]

Why I want to read this: Hurricane Katrina was devastating to so many, not to mention brought to light systematic and societal problems that had long been ignored. This particular graphic novel came highly recommended about a time in America's history that I would like to know more about and so I added it to my TBR pile. Another neglected book I still really want to read.

Have you read Drowned City? Does this book sound like something you would like to read? 

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© 2021, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Bookish Mewsings: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Today is the Ritual of Purity. ~ Opening of Gilded Ones

The Gilded Ones (Deathless #1) by Namina Forna
Delacorte, 2021
Fantasy/YA; 432 pgs

Source: NetGalley

Namina Forna's The Gilded Ones was just as good as I hoped it would be. It is the story of Deka, a sixteen year old, who must take part in a blood ceremony to determine if she is pure enough to become a full-fledged member of the village she grew up in or if she will be found as impure and suffer a fate worse than death itself. Deka has always known she is a bit different and not just because of her darker skin color, never feeling like she quite belonged. But if she is found pure, she knows that will ensure her a place in the village--marriage and children and respect.

On the day of the ceremony, however, her blood runs gold marking her as impure. Subjugated to unimaginable torture and abuse, Deka is saved when a mysterious woman comes to the village and offers her a choice. To stay and suffer her current fate or join the emperor's army of impure girls like herself, the alaki, near immortals. The idea of being able to find a place where she will be accepted and actually belong and to stop the cycle of death she's suffered at the hands of the village priests, Deka agrees. As Deka learns more about her special abilities and about her roots, she's also learning how to be an unbeatable soldier. The more she learns, the more her eyes are opened--and she begins to question all she's been  taught to believe. 

The world in which Deka lives is extremely patriarchal. Women are treated poorly and those who are deemed impure, whose gold blood and has special healing abilities, are enslaved, tortured and killed over and over. The world building in this novel is intricate and well thought out, from the various regions, native and magical creatures, and history of the land and its people. It is all so richly drawn. 

Deka is just one of many characters in this novel who have been oppressed and treated terribly. I enjoyed reading about how their relationships evolved over time. There is some romance but even more so the strong bonds of friendship. Deka grows significantly over the course of the novel. Seeing her and the other young alaki come into their power and be empowered was thrilling to read, especially given where many of them came from and how they were treated.

I loved every minute of this West-African inspired fantasy novel. I can see this novel making a great book club pick. There are plenty of themes that would make for an interesting discussion. While the first half was a bit slower than the second, it was no less interesting. I heard a rumor The Gilded Ones will be made into a movie. I sure hope they do it justice.  I cannot wait to see what Namina Forna brings us next.

Challenge Met: Spring COYER Challenge

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 © 2021, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Weekly Mews Poetry Corner Edition: From the Inside

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer and The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz  where participants recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. I am also linking It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date where readers talk about what they have been, are and will be reading.

April is National Poetry Month. It seems the perfect time for it. I often think of poetry as a flower, starting out as a seed, growing roots under the earth and sprouting up, words put together, coming together to form a bud and then blooming more fully into a beautiful flower--a poem fully formed. 

I may have mentioned it before on my blog, but every Wednesday this school year, my daughter's teacher has the students write poetry. They have been learning different types of poetry, experimenting a bit on their own, and been given free rein on what they write about. When I am working from home, I sometimes get to hear the an occasional student's poem read in class--some are silly and others more serious. I love their creativity.

I recently read a collection of poetry offered for review via NetGalley. I was drawn to the description of From the Inside: The Inner Soul of a Young Poet and decided to take a chance on it. I hadn't realized when I accepted the book for review that the author, Thanvi Voruganti, is ten years old, the same age as my daughter. It would not have made a difference in my saying yes or no to the collection, but it did influence my reading, I imagine. 

It is clear Thanvi has a passion for writing poetry--and she is very talented. She has a way with words and a gift for putting to paper her thoughts and feelings. Her words are those of a child but speak to all ages. It is easy to forget she is so young. 

I found her poems very relatable. They are mostly centered around the pandemic. They are uplifting and heartfelt. She touches on such emotions as grief and loss as well as hope. She writes about taking pleasure in nature and finding joy in the little things, as well as about the isolation and sadness. 

I have several favorites but one that stands out the most is "Journey Home" which tells the story of a sister searching for her brother. It's whimsical and fun:

I asked the royal blue ocean

With the cool winter breeze

He said, "Ask the mighty mountains,

They'll find him with ease." [excerpt from "Journey Home" by Thanvi Voruganti]

I would like to share some other passages I came across in From the Inside. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have. 

Words slowly rebuilding me

Flooding my heart

Slipping onto my tongue, to the tip of my pen

To tell the story of emotions [excerpt from "From the Inside" by Thanvi Voruganti]

It's okay to be fearful, life has a way

No matter the circumstance [excerpt from "One Tear Left" by Thanvi Voruganti]

Voice shrieking anguished cries, but unheard

And shoved back into a world of isolation [excerpt from "Left Out" by Thanvi Voruganti] 

Is this a sign?

Could I make it without you?

Screaming until my voice fades in the wind

If only you could tell me [excerpt from "Lanterns" by Thanvi Voruganti]

Everybody is trying to help

But I know I'm on my own

It's slightly disheartening

But greatest battles are fought alone [excerpt from "Be a Fighter" by Thanvi Voruganti]

The singsong voices of the whispering aspen trees

The gleeful response of the bluebird warbling

The rushing peals of laughter from the streams

Making harmony of your wildest dreams

Swaying to the chorus of the idyllic forest [excerpt from "Does Nature Count?" by Thanvi Voruganti]

Have you come across any poems or poetry collections recently you would recommend? 

What I Am Reading: I had every intention of picking up The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo as soon as I finished Kiley Dunbar's The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday one day this past week, but after a rough morning at work, I needed something more familiar and intense to clear my mind during my lunch break. As a result, I picked up Chloe Neill's Shadowed Steel (Heirs of Chicagoland #3) instead. It proved the perfect choice because I was soon back in Elisa and Connor's world of vampires, werewolves and other supernatural beings. I have since finished it and officially have begun reading The Poet X, this month's TBR List Poll winner. It's so good! 

On the Mouse front, she and I finished reading Tales of the Not-So-Perfect Pet Sitter (Dork Diaries #10) and have moved onto Tales of the Not-So-Friendly Frenemy (Dork Diaries (#11) by Rachel Renée Russell. I love that Mouse wants to share these books with me--they continue to be funny and entertaining reads. Mouse is reading other books as well, which I hope to talk about in my next Mouse's Corner.

I haven't put much thought about what to read next. Angels of the Overpass (Ghost Roads #3) by Seanan McGuire is a tempting choice though. 

What I Am Watching: I am nearly finished with the first season of Netflix's The Irregulars. I have one episode to go. It is about a group of teens in Victorian London who reluctantly are talked into solving mysterious crimes with an obvious supernatural bent by a sinister Dr. Watson and an elusive Sherlock Holmes. The show focuses mostly on the teens and their exploits. I am enjoying this horror mystery drama with its interesting cast of characters.

We watched the fifth episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and have one more to go. It was an amazing episode, a bit quieter than the last, but still packing quite a punch. We learn more about Isaiah Bradley and his background. I have enjoyed seeing Sam and Bucky's relationship grow. They are both such great characters. I am already looking forward to watching the show again when the season ends. 

Off the Blog: I am loving the spring weather and am craving more outdoor time. It was a hectic and challenging work week which I was glad to see come to an end. I think my husband felt the same way about his week. Mouse has kept busy with virtual school and dance. Rehearsals for the summer musical seem to be going well. The cats are as playful as ever. Gracie and I have had to have a few talks about her continually trying to lay on my computer or my chest while I am trying to work. It seems to be happening more and more this past week. Nina usually just periodically walks under my desk and around my feet for a quick pet. Although lately she likes to jump up onto the desk, walk around a bit, just enough for an above the tail scratch, and then will leave. Luckily she keeps her paws off the keyboard, unlike Gracie who has been known to type messages to my coworkers. 

Nina stretching out to nap.

This Past Week In Reading Mews:

• Bookish Mewsings: Passiflora by Kathy Davis
• Waiting to Read Wednesday: Swimming Back to Trout River /Black Water Sister / Lost in a Good Book
• Where Is Your Bookmark? (Road Trip Anyone? / Reading Now & Then / Meme Addict)

Tell me what you have been up to! What are you reading, listening to and watching? How was your week? Do you have anything planned for this week?

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy Reading!

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© 2021, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Where Is Your Bookmark? (Road Trip Anyone? / Reading Now & Then / Meme Addict)

A weekly meme where readers share the first sentence of the book they are reading and say what they think. Hosted by the amazing Gillion Dumas of Rose City Reader.

"An ill wind moves through Chicago," Lulu said, sniffing the air.

"It's not an ill wind," I said. But I stared down at the malformed lump of sickly gray dough currently spreading across the sheet pan and admitted to myself I didn't have much room to argue. [opening of Shadowed Steel]

While the opening lines are not very revealing, I thought it a good jumping off place--something domestic and normal--before all hell breaks lose. Which it will. It always does in books like this. 

A weekly meme in which readers share a random sentence or two from page 56 or 56% of the book they are reading. Hosted by the wonderful Freda of Freda's Voice.

I stopped when we got to the vehicle, rested my head against the closed door.

Connor stopped, looked back at the dull thump. "That's not how you get in."

I  grunted.

"Are you practicing a new vampire power, or taking a moment?"

I swiveled my head to look at him. "I got fired." [excerpt from 30% of Shadowed Steel]

This time around I did not jump ahead to 56% in the novel like I usually do even when I have not yet reached that point. I decided to go with where I am in the book at the moment. Like the opening, there's a bit of humor mixed in with the serious. It hints at the building crisis, although I don't feel it fully captures the intensity of it.

Chloe Neill's Shadowed Steel is the third book in the Heirs of Chicagoland series. Because the synopsis gives away an important element of the second book, let me try to sum this one up without spoilers. The Assembly of American Masters (AAM), the ruling body of vampires, accuses our heroine, Elisa Sullivan, of committing a crime. She disagrees. When one of the AAM vampires is murdered, the obvious suspect is Elisa, and she won't stand down until she finds out who is behind not only the murder but who is also targeting her. Fortunately, she is not on her own. Her werewolf boyfriend, non-practicing witch best friend and other loyal friends have her back. I enjoyed the first two books of this action-packed series, Wild Hunger and Wicked Hour, and have high hopes for Shadowed Steel. 

Have you read any of the Heirs to the Chicagoland books? What are you reading right now? 

Originally a feature called Last Year I Was Reading created by Maria from ReadingMaria. 

I liked it enough to continue on my own, but have tweaked it

 to feature Five Years Ago I Was Reading. 

(I would have gone back ten, but I read so little in 2011)

Five years ago this week, I read Nadia Hashimi's When the Moon is Low, about a mother and her children escaping Afghanistan and making their way to England as refugees. This was actually one of my favorite reads that year. The writing, the characters, the heartbreak and the hope--I loved everything about it. Nadia Hashimi paints a very realistic picture of the hardships and conditions refugees face--from the backlash, the lack of resources and support, including lack of medical care, the cruelty of the system and certain individuals, as well as the helpfulness and kindness of others. 

Have you read When the Moon is Low? If so, what did you think? What were you reading five years ago? 

Connect Five Friday is a weekly meme where readers share a list of five books,

read or unread, or bookish things, that share a common theme. 

Hosted by the  Kathryn of of Book Date.

Who doesn't love a good road trip novel?  Instantly, I thought of books I have read and enjoyed that fall into the road trip category. Books like Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire, L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Or perhaps novels a bit less dramatic (or not) like these five which are on my to read list: 

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow promises to be a "wild and dangerous road trip" with a pop music loving alien and a book loving girl who are supposed to be enemies as they set out to save humanity. What kind of world makes music, art and books illegal?! I hope they succeed in their mission! 

The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary will be published toward the end of spring. What better way to spend this time than with two sisters on a road trip to a friend's wedding in Scotland? Then add in an ex boyfriend and his friend who are going to the wedding too. I mean, it's only fair since their car was totaled when it hit the back of the sisters' car. Sounds like it will be a tense road trip with these four! Perhaps a little romance will find its way into the car too . . .

The Summer Seekers by Sarah Morgan, due out in mid-May, is another road trip novel I will not be able to resist. Facing a move into a residential home, an eighty year old woman wants one last adventure. What better way than to go on a road trip! Her overworked and stressed out daughter places an ad seeking a driver and riding companion for her mother. Down on life and without many prospects, a young woman takes them up on the offer. It is a road trip none of them will forget. 

I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman finds a mother and a daughter on a bus touring colleges together, looking ahead and back and every which way as they re-discover who they are, and having some fun (and maybe some mishaps) along the way. 

He Started It by Samantha Downing had me at a killer among them and a body in the trunk. This thriller is about a family having to go on a cross-country road trip together to fulfill the final wish of their newly deceased wealthy grandfather. They all want their inheritance, after all. Revenge, a missing person, a mysterious person following them . . . This sounds like it ill be one intense road trip! 

Have you read any of these or plan to? What are some of your favorite road trip novels? 

Every Friday Billy from Coffee Addicted Writer poses a question which participants respond on their own blogs within the week (Friday through Thursday). They then share their links at the main site and visit other participants blogs.

How many different weekly memes do you participate in besides the Book Blogger Hop? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

 

Too many when you add them all up! Seriously though, memes are my saving grace these days, helping me stay connected and blogging given how busy my life offline can be. There are some memes I only take part in periodically and others I more faithfully post. A few can be easily combined with others or  flow into one another. I like to change things up now and then and have participated in different memes throughout my blog's life. These days, I participate in the following: 

I have taken part in The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz since the early days of my blog. It's morphed into various forms over the years, but I love that I can make it into anything I want it to be. When the original blog hosting TSS switched the meme to FB, I switched to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Now that Deb has taken over and expanded TSS, I link to it again as well. It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date is a new addition to my line-up, but it fits in easily since I was already sharing what I had been, was and would be reading on my weekend posts. I post all three under the umbrella of Weekly Mews. This year I am trying out various themes depending on the weekend (a Poetry Corner every 3rd weekend and if I am up for it, Mouse's Corner, where I discuss what my daughter is reading, every 4th weekend). It's a work in progress. 

The first Saturday of every month, I include My TBR List, hosted by Michelle at Because Reading, which is a poll asking all my blog visitors to vote for the next book I will read that month. It's one of my favorite memes. I love seeing which books my blog visitors will select for me! Sometimes I even try to guess which will win. I announce the winner the following weekend. 

The first weekend of every month, I also post about any new book purchases or gifts, linking to  Stacking the Shelves hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews and Marlene of Reading Reality. I also use the first weekend of the month to do my Monthly Wrap-Up Post, an event hosted by Nicole of Feed Your Addiction.

Wednesdays are my "easy" meme days. I participate in Can't-Wait Wednesday hosted by Tressa of Wishful Endings and Books from the Backlog hosted by Carole of Carole's Random Life in Books (actually a Thursday meme I post a day early). I think of them as "easy" because I can prep and have them ready to publish weeks and often a month or two in advance. It's a great opportunity for me to drool over upcoming releases I cannot wait to read and also give a little attention to books I already have on my TBR shelves that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. 

Over the years the format and memes have changed, but Fridays have long been my main meme day--just for the fun of it. When I started participating in Book Beginnings hosted by Gillion Dumas of Rose City Reader and Friday 56 hosted by Freda of Freda's Voice, I thought they fit well under my Where Is Your Bookmark? umbrella, a label I have used for years--only the day has changed. On Fridays, I also take part in Book Blogger Hop hosted by Billy from Coffee Addicted Writer and more recently Connect Five Friday hosted by the Kathryn of of Book Date. I love making lists and as much as I would love to jump back into Ten on Tuesdays, it is not a good fit for my schedule at this time. Connect Five Friday has been a great alternative. 

Although not an active meme any longer, I tweaked Last Year I Was Reading which had been hosted by Maria from ReadingMaria to Five Years Ago I Was Reading. I include that in my Friday posts as well. 

I told my husband as I was preparing my list of memes in response to this week's question that I am probably the queen of memes. I do way too many, but I enjoy taking part in them and I have met so many wonderful people through them. 

What about you?

 I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be sure and tell me what you are reading and are up to!

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© 2021 Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.