Hi, all! Happy October on the first day of November! Obviously, time has gotten a little bit away from me this month, but we’re not going to worry too much about that. October has been a month in which I’ve realized with much more certainty that I just can’t do all the things I want to do at the level I’d like to do them. Most days I’m okay with that, and some days I’m really no and just try to give myself the kind of pep talk I give my friends when they feel the same way. It’s been a process of rotating priorities, trying to stay grounded and present, and remembering what the most important things are. And some days I feel better about the process than others. Stories and books have been a constant and welcome companion, and October has been a fairly eclectic one reading-wise, something I’m definitely not mad about.
The Rock That is Higher, Madeline L’Engle. I have a long and lovely history with Madeline L’Engle’s fiction, but this is the first of her non-fiction books I’ve read. She wrote the book shortly after a nearly fatal accident, and in some ways it’s about how her faith sustained her through that experience. It’s also a book about how we connect with truth through story, about the differences between facts and truth and why that matters. It’s an invitation to a childlike–but by no means childish–faith and a celebration of the miraculous. There were so many nuggets of wisdom and food for thought, as both a person who believes in God, but also as a storyteller myself.
The Invisible Library/The Masked City, Genevieve Cogman. I really need to start making note of where I hear about books that I put on my TBR, because I can’t at all remember where I discovered The Invisible Library. Anyway, I’m really enjoying the start to this fantasy series. Irene is a Librarian (capital letter very much on purpose), an agent of an enigmatic, interdimensional library. She and her fellow Librarians collect books from across worlds and realities. Sometimes it’s a simple task, and sometimes she gets mixed up with Fae, dragons, magic, and rivalries with other Librarians. It’s part adventure and part mystery, with a healthy dose of dry, snarky humor. The story dumps you right into the middle of the world, and the author spins out the world building very slowly (which may bother some readers, especially in the first book when the author leaves some things pretty vague and unexplained). I think it’s creative and fun, with characters that I’m invested in. (It’s worth saying, I’ve only read these first two books of the series, so who knows where it goes from here, but I do like the start of things).
The Hike, Lucy Clarke. Lucy Clarke is pretty much an automatic read for me at this point. The Hike is another atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful thriller. One thing I love about Clarke’s novels is that the story is as much about the relationships of the characters– both with each other and with themselves–as it is about the events surrounding those characters. Be prepared while reading this one to cozy up under a blanket and block out a weekend.
The Wistful and the Good, by G.M. Baker is a coming of age novel set in eighth century Northumbria (Think Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, and a young Catholic church). It’s about duty, love, longing, vengeance, and consequences. The characters leap off the page, and the story is grounded in the vivid and detailed historical setting, the perfect backdrop to explore the way women wield a kind of power in a society and culture in which they are virtually second class citizens with no visible power or agency. As a reader, I ached for Elswyth as she crossed the bridge from child to adult in a very emotional and painful fashion. Baker’s writing style gives the story the feel of classic literature, in a way that felt refreshing and helped me get lost in the story.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with another author interview. Thanks for reading!