Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

 genre: contemporary fiction

In backcountry of Kentucky, there are the lucky few who live on land that borders a wild forest.  The woman who watches over this forest and the farmers who live and work nearby are about as imbedded in nature as one can be.  But the balance of live and death is precarious here, just like it is everywhere else, and to tug on one string or to eliminate one species is to upend a delicate system that everyone relies on.  This novel has three general storylines which do, in all of my favorite kinds of stories, eventually intersect in ways you can't expect.  And the underlying theme here is the natural world and our place in it.

Kingsolver doesn't mince words about ecology.  She can be pedantic sometimes about pesticides and species eradication but for myself, I LOVE IT.  I want to learn about these things and see the interplay of humans and animals in a real world environment.  I like to learn about moths and coyotes, chestnut trees and goats - all within the context of a story about people living and grieving and futzing about their lives just like all of us.  If you don't want those kinds of ideas (maybe some people would call them agendas?) in your face, then this isn't the book for you. But if your heart is a wild and nature-loving thing that likes stories where humans aren't the only players, I'd be surprised if this one didn't at least make you think. It took a bit too long for me to get into for me to give it 5 stars but 4.5 for sure.

Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer (audiobook)

genre: historical fiction (eeek!  In the 90s!!)

When our narrator arrives in Tuscany, he knows no Italian and is aware that he's taking a huge leap.  He's taken on a temporary position for an elderly baroness named Coco who needs her goods cataloged.  And since our narrator is an archivist, he feels prepared enough for the job. Except the job is...so much more than archiving.  With our sometimes sparkling and sometimes crotchety baroness, you never know WHAT exactly you're going to be asked to do or who you'll need to do it with. 

I didn't know I needed a charming story about an eccentric Italian woman but I DID!  I don't know how the paper book would be because the audio made Coco such a delight, sometimes making me actually laugh out loud.  I loved being soaked in not just Italy itself but also its foods and customs, its traditions and quirks.  Our narrator has a steep learning curve but soon all the people who are in and out of Coco's life because our narrator's people too in ways both surprising and beautiful.  The arc of this story worked so well for me and while I was surprised by the capery nature sometimes and the sentiments aren't life-changing, those sentiments ARE beautiful and worth taking to heart.  May I live such a life as Coco.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (audio)

genre: gothic horror/contemporary fantasy

Opal's life in Eden, Kentucky has never been an easy one.  Her escape has always been books - and one book in particular.  A book whose author is actually FROM Eden, creepy legends and all.  But the house that's purported to have belonged to this author just feels off.  And while Opal doesn't love the idea of haunted houses, a chance opportunity allows her to explore the Starling house more closely - and what she sees only makes the idea of a haunted house seem more likely.  Something REAL is afoot in Eden and Opal's going to get to the bottom of it.

This was just a little long for me and a little too windy and convoluted.  By the end I almost felt like I'd missed something crucial but it was still enjoyable.  I did like the Kentucky small-town setting.  Opal is a PILL, there's not a lot to like with how she shoes up in the world but somehow I still found myself rooting for her. I'm reading this for a book trivia and I'll read it one more time in paper form, hopefully that will be a little bit smoother of an experience.

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica , Sarah Moses (Translator) (audiobook)

genre: dystopia/horror

I literally don't know what to say about this book.  I'd never heard of it and all of a sudden in one two, two friends posted that they'd read it and that it was a LOT.  It made me curious, I'm not gonna lie.  I don't know how to explain this without spoilers so you'll just have to stop reading this if you don't want to know what's so upsetting about it.

Within one chapter I understood why my friends had the reaction they did: this is a book about what happens to a human society when all sources of meat are no longer a choice.  Humanity has found a way to survive through state-run "special meat" processing plants that slaughter human beings like cows for consumption.  Bleak, right?  Our main character is not sympathetic but his life IS genuinely full of hard things and it reminds you that even when society is literally eating itself, you still have to take care of aging parents and go to work everyday.  

I can see why people would absolutely hate it.  It's told in a rather dry style, which could be the translation, I guess, but it's not particularly literary.  What it is is shockingly descriptive and disgusting sometimes.  Like, just next-level gore and taboo type bloody.  And YET.  Somehow, I was just interested.  I wanted to try and imagine this really base world.  And the end made me cover my mouth with my hand and curse about seven times, so that's something?  I didn't see the end coming at all but WOW it made me think. 

This book IS NOT FOR EVERYONE.  But it was an interesting thought exercise, for sure.

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (audiobook)

genre: historical fiction

Ellie's life in Tehran has pivoted in a deeply upsetting way.  When her father dies, her family is forced to leave their expensive home and move to a rougher part of the city and even at seven years old, she knows she wants a real friend.   She is surprised when a girl walks right into her life and becomes that friend - Homa.  Homa who is adventurous and passionate and driven.  The two become inseparable but as the 1950s turn into the 1960, politics and religion begin to play a role in both of their lives, neither of them imagining how their beloved Iran will change.   

On the one hand, I feel like this book gave me an intimate look at what Iran was like before the Islamic Republic.  I really appreciated that about it and I did get a wonderful sense of the culture, both for better and worse.  The plot is believable, I think, I have no complaints about that and I do love stories about female friendship.  I just honestly couldn't see what Homa saw in Ellie.  She's not a very likable character as a girl and young adult, at least not through the conversations and interactions that we are party to as a reader.  Homa feels bigger than life and I just kept wondering why she stayed friends with Ellie.  The dialogue, especially the mom's, was very caricatured, but overall, as a historical fiction story, it kept my attention and I feel a deep compassion for what the people of Iran had and what they lost.

The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden

 genre: historical fantasy

Anne of Brittany has one wish: to keep her Duchy of Brittany free from the clutches of France.  The ONLY thing she is not willing to sacrifice for it is her younger sister.  And thus her choices are very limited - with marriage as her only weapon, Anne tries to scheme her way into a reasonable alliance.  What she hadn't planned on, however, is the Breton faerie stories having truth to them - as unicorns, korrigans and Lost Lands start feeling like they may not just exist but have machinations of their own.

I do love me some historical fantasy, so I'll say that first.  I found myself googling a lot while reading because I'd never heard of Anne of Brittany, although I do already have some context for the history of Brittany itself.  I liked learning about the myths of this part of Europe and Anne is a very intriguing and sympathetic character.  The weaving of legend into history and the magical world building itself was strongly done.  I grew up an ardent lover of unicorns (thanks to The Last Unicorn, I'm sure!) and so having medieval unicorn lore be a part of this story tickled that part of my inner young reader.  It does have a lovely romantic thread, as well and while it's maybe not as steeped in the patriarchal nonsense that we know existed, I liked the strength of the women in this book a lot.  My only gripe is that it felt a little too long but it still gets a solid for stars from me!

content advisory: one short but spicy open door scene that can easily be skipped for those who'd want to.  

Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa , Polly Barton (Translator)

 genre: fiction

Hunchback is a provocative novella living in a disabled body and finding ways to create the kind of life that feels meaningful.  Did the ways that Shaka, our protagoist, found to make life meaningful make sense to me?  Not particularly. It's a very sexually explicit book while at the same time, it did make me look inward and ask myself why shouldn't folks born with a congenital muscle disorder be able to live a sexual life if they choose?  Something this book did definitely do is make me think about was the limits that everyone else wants to put on people dealing with significant physical/medical issues as well as how much time and effort one must spend keeping ones body alive when this is your reality.  Ventilators and suctioning and positioning - Shaka shares the minutiae of what is required to keep her twisted body alive and functioning.  The translation is very antiseptic, in some ways, within the language there is little to no emotionality that might make me more sympathetic to Shaka.  But I am not sorry I stepped into her shoes for a couple of hours and imagined what it might be like to be her.

Country People by Daniel Mason (audiobook)

 genre: contemporary fiction

Miles and his family are taking a giant leap.  Leaving behind their Western home, they are moving to small-town Vermont so his wife, Kate, can spend a year teaching Byron at the local university.  Miles' intention is to spend this year completing his dissertation and making the most out of this unique experience.  But Vermont surprises him, in more ways than one.  The (sometimes absurdly) quirky people he meets, the allure of the outdoors and, most surprisingly, a local legend that involves a cave of hidden wonders.

This wasn't quite what I'd expected - I'd loved Northern Wood SO much that I admit, my expectations were high.  This book did not scratch the itch the same way that one did.  It's not quite as serendipitous but still as lyrical. The writing IS so interesting to listen to, but Miles himself is not a particularly lovable character.  He actually drove me sorta nuts - but the story was TOLD well enough that I'm not sorry I stuck with it.  The setting itself IS beautifully rendered and the whole offbeat nature of the town and its inhabitants, while not laugh out loud funny, was definitely entertaining.  3.5 stars.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

genre: historical fiction

Katey Kontent's life in New York City isn't particularly thrilling but she has her best friend Evey and a job she is good at.  But at a jazz club on New Year's Eve in 1937, Katey and Eve meet Tinker Grey.  Tinker of the fine coats and nice cars.  Tinker who becomes a gateway for both girls into a life of champagne and parties and the finer things in life.  

Katey is whip smart and very aware, she's an intriguing character.  She's complex in a way that kept me interested because she didn't always read situations the way I would have, but I believed her.  The time period is so atmospheric, the clothes and the attitudes felt real without being overdone.  There isn't really a plot - in the sense that none of our lives have PLOT, there is just the choices we make and the people we know.  It's hard for me to articulate why I enjoyed it so much - but I know that part of it is just how beautifully written, so many sentences stopped me in my tracks and made me THINK for a moment, not in a way that pulled me out of the story but the actual opposite.  I dug deeper.  And I loved that.   

I can't say it's as good as A Gentleman in Moscow (Katey is no Count Alexander), but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan (audiobook)

genre: contemporary romance

Dolly lives in Boston but she grew up in the little coastal town of Whitfield, Rhode Island.  When she and her teenage son Gus decide to spend the summer in Whitfield, Dolly is ready to work hard with her Dad at their family fish shop and keeping up the old house.  But a serendipitous meeting with local pretty boy Stewart Whitfield leads to a "fake boyfriend" arrangement that just might take the weight of the world off her shoulders.

Friends, it's a bit tropey but I LOVED it.  There is a rags to riches thing going on, in addition to the fake boy friend situation and I was just all in.  Stewart is a dreamboat.  Dolly being a single mom feels so deeply genuine.  Dolly's own issues, both with her family and her own past, landed with just the right authenticity.  The truth is that I listened to this nonstop from the time I started until the next day when I was done because it was just exactly the kind of light but satisfyingly complicated story that I needed.   There are the usual elements of a contemporary romance, it just landed perfect for me at the perfect time. Narration was excellent.