April 2020 books

Päntsdrunk (Kalsarikänni): The Finnish Path to Relaxation by Miska Rantanen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Very light, very cheeky, very silly!

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Death in St. Petersburg by Tasha Alexander
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars, it was fine! I enjoyed spending some time in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg.

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Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 by Albert Marrin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars. I am trying to think of a good word to describe this book: Spare? Efficient? Brisk? It does move along, in any case. Other books would take entire chapters to get through what this one does in a paragraph, and for me, right now, that was perfect. I just wanted to know some stuff and this book definitely had information in it that was clear and easy to digest! Also, lots of photographs!

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Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Second reading April 2020:
A more solid four stars this time around. I still think The Winner's Curse tells this story better, and I still could do without the love triangle, but this is a really enjoyable read! I love the complicated relationship between Thora and Cress.

First reading May 2018:
Probably 3.5-4 stars. Other reviews have compared this book to Red Queen (which I didn't like) and An Ember in the Ashes (which I loved). But I think it is most like The Winner's Curse, only not as good. In fact, as I read, I kept thinking how The Winner's Curse hit these beats and went through these motions and painted these scenes better...to the extent that I think I will re-read that book soon!

I have a half-remembered list of "YA books that would be better without any romance" floating around in the back of my mind, and this needs to be added to it. There is a - wait for it - love triangle in this book and both sides of it just fall flat. The intrigue and plotting and the female friendships are done so well, though! If you wish you could read The Winner's Curse again, for the first time, give this one a try.

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Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An excellent book 2 in the series. I thought it dragged at first, but once I realized that the stuff going on in Sta'Craveria WAS the story, then it was good!

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Ember Queen by Laura Sebastian
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This wasn't quite as good as books 1 and 2, in my opinion. I was more interested in the interpersonal intrigue and plotting of the first two books, and less interested in large-scale battles and throwing fireballs of book 3. Still a really thrilling series and I look forward to other books by this author!

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All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book is what I thought One of Us Is Lying was going to be, but wasn't. Just entirely unbelievable and not fun enough to want to look the other way.

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Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 or 4 stars. This is an important book but - especially in the first half - kind of a confusing one! There are so many people and so many names and if you're an industry insider or extremely familiar with the original reporting, it might be easier to keep track of. But sometimes he uses first names and sometimes last names and it was just a whole lot. There is also a person named Jonathan who shows up with witty asides and pithy one-liners and it took me forever to realize that it was his boyfriend. The first few chapters in particular bounce from surveillance to Trump to the National Enquirer and it is not at all clear what is going on until the book settles into its main story, which is Harvey Weinstein.

All that said, the book's main story is absolutely riveting! I am glad this story is out there and I'm glad I read it. It reminds me of Bad Blood but with more of a focus on the author as a character in the events taking place.

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Tisha: The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness by Robert Specht
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't know how I have missed reading this book all these years! It is a spiritual book-cousin to such gems as Papa Married a Mormon, The House by the Dvina: A Russian Childhood, and Christy. It should be out-dated and quaint (a story from the 1920s, written/published in the 1970s), but it isn't! I don't have many chances to read about this setting and time period and I really enjoyed learning more about frontier Alaska in the 1920s. There are some surprisingly clear-eyed views on the treatment of Inuit people here, too.

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The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Marie Rutkoski's writing. I just love it. And that bumped this book up from 3.5 stars to 4. I liked the characters, the dialogue, the rich setting...the only weakness was the story itself! There were some twists and turns that didn't connect for me and I didn't always buy how Nirrim reacted to them. But I enjoyed reading it!

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