Monday Reading Update
April 29, 2024
A Magic Steeped in Poison
by Judy I. Lin
A look inside A Magic Steeped in Poison takes the reader on a journey with Ning, as she leaves her family home behind, and tries her luck at the capital city with her magic. With her abilities tied to the art of tea making with the many steps from the growing to the brewing, she arrives with the purpose of finding the mystery behind the poison that led to her mother’s death and threatens her sister Shu. Ning is set to compete for a title at the palace with other tea masters. The book is the first in a duology. Judy I. Lin has also recently released at new standalone novel, Song of the Six Realms.
A Phỏ Love Story
by Loan Le
Remembering the aroma from the last time at a Vietnamese restaurant, I can get behind this romance. Bảo Nguyễn thinks of himself as steady and strong, but not too interesting. His grades are average and his social status is nothing to talk about. Linh Mai considers herself to be a firecracker – stable when unlit but full of potential to spark joy with fire and spark. Linh Mai dreams of being an artist. They each work in their family phỏ restaurants, but there is a chance that their rivalry will lead to romance. This is the first novel by the author.
Monday Reading Update
April 22, 2024
Lost and Wanted
by Nell Freudenberger
Helen Clapp is a physicist and professor. She is in her 30s and is raising her son on her own. The story is about her being accomplished in her field, campus life and politics, as well as being single with a child.
The book also explores ideas and areas of research in physics. There is a nonlinear timeline where the transitions are subtle.
Her roommate in college died mysteriously and it is her maintaining her friendships and professional relationships from her first-year undergraduate program.
There does not seem to be a plot as with literary fiction, more of a slice-of-life narrative in an academic setting that looks at the struggles that women have with career and personal lives.
The author has released a new book in April 2024 called The Limits set in Tahiti.
Women of Good Fortune
by Sophie Wan
Lulu is getting married. She has found a match that will satisfy her parents demands that she marry into a wealthy family.
As preparations take place for the wedding, she finds that she will finally give up the single life she has had and the friendships she has. For a last hurrah, Lulu and her friends plan a heist of the lucky money she will receive from guests at the wedding.
Set in Shanghai and the U.S., there is a look at the different social and cultural expectations placed on women and their families.
It is about modern life where a Chinese woman can maintain family and ties to more than one place.
Monday Reading Update
April 15, 2024
The Heartless Hunter
by Kristen Ciccarelli
Rune is a witch who is battling the new order where witches were once in power now are outlawed. She tries to outwit the witch hunter who is the brother of her best friend. She is in the disguise of a wealthy socialite. With her plan to continue her grandmother’s legacy and to save her fellow witches, she might get caught off guard by her attraction to the witch hunter. The book has a steampunk backdrop where the telegraph is used to send messages, and the witch hunters use guns. The book is the first in a duology.
Empire of Wild
by Cherie Dimaline
Joan is searching for her husband. He has left and she doesn’t know why. At a religious tent revival, she meets the Reverand and is convinced he is her husband. He does not recognize her. Joan and her nephew Zeus are out to figure out why. Author of the YA dystopian novel, The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline published Empire of Wild as her second novel. It is a title shelved in the general fiction section that has horror elements. The story draws from Indigenous legends and is a criticism of the role that churches have had on the colonization of Indigenous communities.
A Darker Shade of Magic
by V.E. Schwab
Kell is a traveller between different Londons. In this world, there is a Black London, a Grey London, a Red London, and a White London. Each of these Londons have different degrees of magic. With his abilities, Kell can be an agent for the powerful, an ambassador of sorts. Secretly, he is a smuggler of goods that can be hard to find. In this first volume in the adult historical urban fantasy series, V.E. Schwab unveils her hand in an unusual game of cards. Released in 2015, the book has proved to be popular with the booktube crowd.
Monday Reading Update
April 8, 2024
I saw the Queen and the Royal Family on TV, but I really didn’t look further as more avid royal watchers do. I didn’t seek out magazines and gossip, and I didn’t collect memorabilia. I have a souvenir CD of the version of Candle in the Wind that Elton John released as tribute to Lady Diana in 1997, and when Queen Elizabeth II passed away, I purchased a biography. It is titled The Queen by Matthew Dennison. I listed it as part of my April TBR and started reading it last week.
I have read almost 100 pages. I learned about the early years of Queen Elizabeth, and that part of education was the reading of the works of Jane Austen.
That led me to find my copy of Pride and Prejudice. It is the classic novel by Jane Austen following Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I started it on Friday and am now on page 89. I would like to read to page 200 in the next day or so. Reading the book, it led me to put a book on hold at the library. I went downtown to the main branch to get it. Now I have it and read to page 40 while getting coffee. It is called Longbourn by Jo Baker. It was published 2013 and follows the servants from Pride and Prejudice. I have stopped at the point when a male servant is hired for the house.
It seems that when thinking of these books and the year 2024, the turn of the century has meant the passing of one era to the next with a legacy that still has impact on the present day.
The emergence of women writers in the 1800s has influenced the role of women in the public sphere, women’s education, and the making of modern society with technological change. Does the work towards equality mean a class system is irrelevant or it is just not talked about anymore because of the discomfort in a democratic system where each citizen at age 18 has a vote?
Democratic rights is one thing, another thing is quality of life, the friends, family and social support one has, the house or neighbourhood one lives, the earnings one has from work.