Weekly Mews: Six Degrees of Separation (From Kairos to Charlotte's Webb) & My July TBR List Poll (Please Vote!)

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.

I am linking up Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality a meme in which participants share what new books came their way recently.  

I am grateful for a working air conditioner right about now. When I left the office yesterday afternoon for my drive home, it was 107F outside. Summer weather is here, which also means it's fire season and they are popping up everywhere, unfortunately. My family and I had a quiet Independence Day. We ran errands and enjoyed spending the day together. I missed the fireworks because I had to get to bed to be up early for work the next morning. 

Summer band and color guard day camp for Mouse wrapped up this past week, ending with a concert on Wednesday that was open to family and friends. The kids were wonderful and had fun. The air conditioning was out in the woodwinds practice room for most of the camp, unfortunately, but Mouse still enjoyed herself. Luckily they weren't in that room the entire time!

I surprised Mouse this week with a flower delivery

What have you been up to?

This week I was able to finish three books. I listened to J.D. Robb's Vengeance in Death (#6), narrated by Susan Eriksen. Spending time with Roarke and Eve is always entertaining, and I got to learn a little more about Roarke's past in this installment. I finished reading the final book in the Shades of Magic Trilogy, A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab. It was quite an intense read. I continue to be enamored by the world Schwab has created in this series and look forward to reading The Fragile Threads of Power. In the mood for something a bit less tense this week, I also read Pulp by Robin Talley, a dual time line novel, which pulled at my heartstrings in more ways than one. It held a tension of a different sort than Schwab's book, but definitely had it's tense moments. 

I only made a little more progress in Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver this week and am about half way through at the moment. I really like the book, but I have a hardcover copy (and it's heavy) and so it tends to stay by my bedside for nighttime reading, which I didn't do much of the last few nights. I just started Katherine Reay's The Berlin Letters, which I have heard good things about. I am in the mood for a little Cold War espionage!

What are you reading right now?

My TBR List is hosted by Michelle at Because Reading. The 1st Saturday of every month, I will list 3 books from my TBR pile I am considering reading and let you vote for my next read during that month. My review will follow (unfortunately, not likely in the same month, but eventually--that's all I can promise).  

Please help me select my next read! I caught my husband looking askance at my overflowing bookshelves, which I am taking as a sign I need to go through my shelves again soon to make space for the newer books (although, he did tell me Thursday that I couldn't leave the bookstore without picking out a book, so he is partly to blame here). In the meantime, I selected three books from my TBR collection for this week's poll to help whittle it down some. Which one do you think I should read next? 

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay

The night of London's grandest ball, a bold group of women downstairs launch a daring revenge heist against Mayfair society in this dazzling historical novel about power, gender, and class.

Mrs. King is no ordinary housekeeper. Born into a world of con artists and thieves, she’s made herself respectable, running the grandest home in Mayfair. The place is packed with treasures, a glittering symbol of wealth and power, but dark secrets lurk in the shadows.

When Mrs. King is suddenly dismissed from her position, she recruits an eclectic group of women to join her in revenge: A black market queen out to settle her scores. An actress desperate for a magnificent part. A seamstress dreaming of a better life. And Mrs. King’s predecessor, with her own desire for vengeance.

Their plan? On the night of the house’s highly anticipated costume ball—set to be the most illustrious of the year—they will rob it of its every possession, right under the noses of the distinguished guests and their elusive heiress host. But there’s one thing Mrs. King wants even more than money: the truth. And she’ll run any risk to get it…

After all, one should never underestimate the women downstairs. [Goodreads Summary]

Assistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain #1) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Once Upon a Time meets The Office in Hannah Maehrer’s laugh-out-loud viral TikTok series turned novel, about the sunshine assistant to an Evil Villain…and their unexpected romance.

ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem, terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.

With ailing family to support, Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important, it's vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.

But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain—and his entire nefarious empire—out.

Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work…and ensure he makes them pay.

After all, a good job is hard to find. [Goodreads Summary]

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

A sharp-witted, high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival - all at once. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, K. J. Parker and Travis Baldree.

It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something.

It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is… you.

Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed.

But as he realizes that nothing – from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess – is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all – who does he want to be?

A high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, an evil wizard convocation, and a garlic festival. All at once. Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks. [Goodreads Summary]

Thank you for voting!

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate of Books Are My Favourite and Best: "The meme was inspired by Hungarian writer and poet Frigyes Karinthy. In his 1929 short story, Chains, Karinthy coined the phrase 'six degrees of separation'. The phrase was popularised by a 1990 play written by John Guare, which was later made into a film starring Stockard Channing." Each month, participants start with a designated book, creating a chain of books, each connected to the one before. Seeing where we end up is half the fun! 

This month's Six Degrees of Separation starting point is the International Booker Prize winner Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, which is not one I have read. It is described as "a dramatic love story that unfolds as the GDR implodes." The reunification of East and West Berlin lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall, a notable time in the world's history. This immediately brought to mind one of my current reads, Katherine Reay's The Berlin Letters, a dual time line novel set in Germany as the Berlin Wall went up overnight in 1961 and then just before its fall in 1989.

I could not help but think of one of my favorite books set during the Cold War then: Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, featuring a young Chinese American girl who falls in love with a female classmate at a time when same sex love was viewed as immoral. There is one scene in Lo's book, where the main character, Lily, finds a lesbian pulp novel in a drugstore. Across the country, a year later, Janet finds a lesbian pulp novel while shopping too; this time in Robin Talley's young adult novel, Pulp. Pulp is a dual time line novel with lesbian pulp fiction at its center, set in 1955, as a young high school graduate discovers who she is and wants to be, and in 2017 as a high school senior becomes immersed in those old novels and their history, desperately wanting to know more about the author behind her favorite one as she navigates through her own life and struggles. 

Well, I mean, it isn't as though I'd never enjoyed a book before--I loved Jane Eyre--but your book, well . . . it felt as though you'd written it just for me. [excerpt from Pulp by Robin Talley] 

Unfortunately, attempts to ban books have increased again in recent years, and most of the targeted books feature LGBTQIA+ characters or people of color, groups of people who are already sorely underrepresented. Representation in literature matters and it is explained so eloquently and from the heart by several authors in essays published in Well-Read Black Girl, edited by Glory Edim. I was familiar with several of the contributors, including Jesmyn Ward, Jacqueline Woodson, N.K. Jemisin, Tayari Jones, Nicole Dennis-Benn, and Rebecca Walker among others. 

Reading for me was a vehicle for self-exploration when real life wasn't safe. But without seeing that path in the power of story, I didn't know that it was one that existed for me. [excerpt from "The Need for Kisses" in Well-Read Black Girl by Dhonielle Clayton]

The above quote is from one of the essays included in Well-Read Black Girl by author Dhonielle Clayton. My daughter has a copy of Dhonielle Clayton's The Marvellers (Conjureverse #1), which I have been wanting to read for some time now. There's something about magical schools, that I cannot resist. Hopefully I can talk my daughter into letting me borrow her copy soon! 

In thinking about the direction to go after The Marvellers, I thought of my own favorite middle grade novels, and then I thought of the West African protector-spider from The Marvellers, which lead me to Charlotte's Webb by E.B. White, which is where my chain comes to an end. 

By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that. [excerpt from Charlotte's Webb]

I always spend a lot of time thinking about what direction to take my chains, and often come up with various options, settling on one. For the fun of it, I thought I would share a couple of the others I came up with starting with Kairos.

Have you read any of these books? What books would you put in your chain? 

New to my shelves (recent book purchases):

Heartstopper, Vol. 1 & 2 by Alice Oseman

City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy #1) by S.A. Chakraborty

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Talismans, Teacups & Trysts by K. Starling (signed copy)

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? 

I hope you have a great week! Let me know what you have been reading!

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