June 2020 books

The War Outside by Monica Hesse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Really interesting and unusual setting for a YA book: a WW2 internment camp in the US that housed both Japanese- and German-Americans. I loved how the author set the stage of being an outsider, being held in a confined area, and the games and drama you make up for yourself so it's bearable.

View all my reviews

One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really like this book (and its predecessor) - smart and zippy and breezy and fun!

View all my reviews

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

DNF halfway through. This is the Twelve Dancing Princesses story re-imagined as horror and there were definitely some really delicious creepy moments. But the characters were annoying and one-dimensional and there was a LOT of insta-love being thrown around. I liked the world/mythology and the spookiness, though, so if you want to give this one a try, go for it!

View all my reviews

The Home That Was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria by Alia Malek
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my heart. Assad or We Burn the Country was terrifying but essential reading; this book is its equally essential antidote. It was like a big, warm hug that put me back together again, just enough, while also telling me hard things (while hugging). Its pages are filled with tremendous sadness and tragedy but also so much goodness and warmth and flat-out fascinating family stories. It is a treasure and I hereby recommend it to absolutely everyone.

View all my reviews

The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Second reading June 2020:
I listened to the Podcast of Doom episode about the Donner Party on a bike ride recently and just had to re-read this book. It is so good. I just love how Brown brings in not only the wider cultural context for the story, but also the individual view of things. It zooms in and out as necessary and I think that focusing on Sarah Graves Fosdick instead of one of the Donners or Reeds makes this book different, and special, and GOOD.

View all my reviews

In the Shadow of Vesuvius by Tasha Alexander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved the parallel story in this one - the author really brought ancient Pompeii to life!

View all my reviews

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A caller-in on Reply All a few months ago recommended this as a good book for reading during lockdown, and s/he was right! It sucked me right in. This is a book for people who love to read - it reminded me of The Forgotten Garden or The Night Circus...but even more delicious!

View all my reviews

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So much fun - a version of Pride & Prejudice in a Canadian/Southeast Asian context. This isn't a retelling so much as a reimagining. You can't quite map exact characters onto others; it's like the story folded in on itself a few times and then unwrapped. But it was so much fun. And FULL of delicious food descriptions, apparently this is the way to my heart.

View all my reviews

Pilgrim's Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier by Tom Kizzia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars. I've had this on my to-read list for a long time, so long that when I finally picked it up I couldn't remember what it was going to be about, at all. And it turns out that going in clueless made this an even better book! So if you want to go in fresh, stop here and just go read the book.

Otherwise, an actual review: WHAT a book, and WHAT a story. It starts with a terrifying, bizarre flash-forward and then settles back into a more or less chronologically ordered, kinda mundane (at first) story about a man who is a bit of a religious kook and who has increasingly heated but incredibly petty squabbles with the National Park Service in McCarthy, Alaska. Jeremy asked me what the book was "about" and for a good portion of the book, I had to just say "...I'm not exactly sure."

Ah but when it gets there, it GETS there. It's almost like we see this family through the eyes of the McCarthy townspeople at first - they're all charm and whimsy and folksiness. Then the story circles back slightly to reveal layers of darkness and conflict that were not immediately apparent to anyone. And by the time you get to the main conflict/drama - after, it must be said, a bunch of other stuff that you THOUGHT might have been the main conflict - it is just gripping. Wow.

View all my reviews