New Books: Super Smart Main Characters

 

Two novels with "freakishly smart" young female protagonists

Wordhunter: A Novel by Stella Sands

Publication: August 6, 2024; Harper Paperbacks, NetGalley

Genre: contemporary fiction, police procedural


I was intrigued to find out how word forensics or forensic linguistics is used in crime solving, done by analyzing written evidence, papers, letters, email, etc. to find the authors suspected of being criminals. A genius with words, Maggie Moore has always been fascinated by words, and as a college student she was recommended by her prof to help the police track down a cyber stalker, by analyzing his emails and letters.

Looking at word choice, dialect, syntax, spelling, use or misuse of punctuation, writing style, and more, Maggie pored over his emails to find traits leading to the stalker and, with Detective Jackson, goes on to tackle another case - finding the kidnapper of the mayor's missing daughter, through his correspondence.

I liked how the relationship between the detective and insecure Maggie develops into one of trust and reliance during the events, some of them life threatening.

An interesting read with an unusual, quirky character Maggie, who finally learns to stand up for herself with both a predatory boss and with her personal life.

Life, Loss, and Puffins by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Publication: May 14, 2024; Lake Union Publishing, NetGalley

Genre: fiction, travel, YA

 

I loved the adventures that 13-year-old Ru, a "freakishly smart" college student, and her 17 year old friend Gabriel, undertake in order to see the aurora borealis in Northern Canada near the Arctic Circle. They also consider going to Newfoundland to see Atlantic puffins. 

Ru is on her journey to deal with the recent death of her mother and having to move to Kentucky to live with a controlling, unsympathetic aunt. Underage runaways, Ru and Gabriel are wanted by the police, but how they manage to find help along the way is surprising but gratifying.

A lovely read that made me side with the young teens in their October-November planned adventure by car to the Arctic Circle.  It may be a bit unrealistic they were able to pull this off, but they did, with so many different people helping them. Theirs is a heartwarming journey and an informative one too about the Northwest Territories in Canada. 

Ru and Gabriel spent four amazing nights on the frozen tundra in a wooden cabin/geodesic dome watching  the northern lights/aurora borealis for hours, from indoors and from the outdoor walkway at the top of the dome, close to the Arctic Circle.

They didn't go to Iceland or Newfoundland to see the puffins, but Gabriel did lead Ru to some Atlantic puffins in a local zoo when they returned to the U.S.

Sure they had to face the music back at home in California, but for them the journey of a lifetime seemed worth it.

What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Sunday Salon: Read and Reading in Freezing Weather

 Winter Bomb

There are a couple of inches of snow on the ground and on the trees, and there is a high wind advisory for a couple days, so I plan to stay in comfortable lounge pants and watch TV from my new jumbo lounger/beanbag. I could hear the wind all night, and looked outside glad to see the ground free of tree limbs. The giant old oaks around here drop their heavy limbs every now and again in someone's backyard, but none so far, so good. And also, the wind chill is going to be way below zero for the weekend at least. 

Hope you have better weather where you are.

What I read recently

A bizarre honeymoon for a couple on a Greek island. It doesn't have the usual touristy scenes but a more realistic and less comfortable Greece. I gave it three stars.

I gave four stars to this novel about a Caucasian man with a fetish for Asian girls and women, and about the young woman who means to kill him for the suicide of her mother, his one time lover. 

A three star for this thriller set in Iceland, about two people considered murdered, one a twelve year old girl and the other a young woman. A police procedural with a deliberate question mark at the end.

Currently reading 

I like that the plot develops different angles to keep the reader interested in this rom com that at first seems totally predictable but is not, except for the ending, of course. Did these two former high school sweethearts later get married in Vegas, or not? Entertaining read.

All the books are from NetGalley.

What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

How to Live Japanese by Yutaka Yazawa: Review

 

How to Live Japanese

by Yutaka Yazawa

Pub Date 11 Oct 2018

Quarto Publishing Group - Aurum Press, White Lion Publishing, NetGalley

Detailed and very readable book with sections covering the history, geography and topography of Japan, as well as the religions, cuisine, cultural traditions, famous landmarks and more.

This book would be good background reading for anyone traveling to Japan, to help   make the land, the people, and the customs easily understandable.  Religious celebrations, festivals, holidays, are all included in easy to understand and fluid prose.

Outstanding to me were descriptions of Mt. Fuji and its importance, mountain walking and trekking that are popular for so many, onsens and hot spring resorts, the unique preparation of food as in sushi and more, the geisha tradition and history, pottery making in the Kyoto region and elsewhere, other arts and crafts, farming and fishing occupations, religious festivals and celebrations.

Those already familiar with Japan will recognize many of the sections' information, and see these from the Japanese-born author's point of view.  I enjoyed reading about what was new to me and what I was already familiar with.

Yutaka Yazawa

Having spent university and early career years in London, Yutaka Yazawa decided to return to his childhood home of Tokyo. After a long career travelling in law, he decided to make the switch to writer. He has also written The Little Book of Japanese Living. 

Sunday Salon: Books for the Beginning of 2024

 My books to start off the new year 

My rom com, cozy mystery request was finally approved, just in time for Chinese/Lunar New Year 2024, which begins February 10 

The Good, the Bad and the Aunties  by Jesse Q. Sutanto

March 26, 2024; Berkley, NetGalley

Setting: Jakarta, Indonesia

Book description: What should have been a family celebration of Chinese New Year descends into chaos when longtime foes crash the party in this hilariously entertaining novel by the author of Dial A for Aunties.

After an ultra-romantic honeymoon across Europe, Meddy Chan and her husband Nathan have landed in Jakarta to spend Chinese New Year with her entire extended family.  Meddy and her Aunties however become helpless pawns in a decades-long war between Jakarta’s most powerful business factions. Determined to rescue her loved ones, Meddy embarks on an impossible mission—but with the Aunties by her side, nothing is truly impossible…

Click on title to see my review

This next book title grabbed my attention

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

Book description: A bracing, wildly entertaining satire about a small Southern town set in Georgia, a pitched battle over banned books, and a little lending library that changes everything

Publication: June 18, 2024; William Morrow, NetGalley
Click to see my review

A collection of short stories also caught my eye

Book description: The Un-Inquired is the confession of refugees, families, and lovers. It chronicles the stories of those who are struggling to find their voice in society and discover themselves, recollecting their trauma and memories, from the loss of a foster brother in a shooting incident to the hallucinations of a Japanese American immigrant with schizophrenia. 

An antiheroic tale of finding a way to survive in a world, the collection is at times emotional and tender, at times melancholy, lonely, and wryly introspective.

Publication: January 12, 2024; Querencia Press, NetGalley

Can't omit a thriller

The title The Plus One and book cover made me request this ARC

Book description: The wedding of Radhika Singh and Raj Josh at a luxury resort in Cabos will mark the union of two influential and wealthy Indian-American families. No expense will be spared for what Radhika and Raj have coined “R&R,” a week of rest, relaxation, and celebrating their love. 

Shaylee “Shay” Kapoor is an outsider, dating Raj’s best friend, Caleb Prescott III, and is sucked into this world of wealth and excess. But on the morning of the wedding festivities, the wedding coordinator Daniela makes a frightening discovery: Raj and Radhika are dead, gunshots to the head.

Shay may be an outsider but she may be the only person with enough perspective to untangle everyone’s lies, and discover the motive for the murder.  See my review

And for later, a book on the Booker Prize 2024 list

Book Description: Memorably introduced by Ishiguro himself, The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain collects the lyrics of sixteen songs he wrote for world-renowned American singer Stacey Kent, which were set to music by her partner, Jim Tomlinson. An exquisite coming together of the literary and musical worlds, the lyrics are infused with a sense of yearning, melancholy, love, and the romance of travel and liminal spaces.

Illustrated by the acclaimed Italian artist Bianca Bagnarelli

Publication: March 5, 2024; Knopf 

What are your first reads for 2024?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Book Tour: The Spice Maker's Secret by Renita D'Silva

 

The Spice Maker's Secret by Renita D'Silva, historical fiction

Publication: January 3, 2024; Bookouture, NetGalley

I enjoyed the sweet romance that developed in an Indian village between Bindu, the poor teenage tenant of a rich landowner, and Guru, the landowner's young son. That Guru did not let Bindu's low status prevent him from wooing her was an interesting part of the plot. 

However, when society's strict rules and the landowner's own restrictions put Bindu, his son's new young wife, in a golden cage, so to speak,  Bindu rebels in the only way she can, convincing her wealthy husband to allow her to continue making her spice pastes and to cook, but also secretly submitting her poetry and stories to a publication run by a handsome British journalist. Bindu is not allowed to read magazines or discuss politics with any of the Indian or British guests at the many parties the landowner throws. 

The tragedy of Bindu and Guru's ill fated marriage takes up most of the rest of the novel. The story switches from unhappy Bindu in 1930s India to Eve, a young woman living in1980s London. The novel later reveals the connection between the two women living in different historical periods in a dramatic fashion.

Heartrending, the novel first shows the restricted lives of women, poor and wealthy alike, in pre-Independence India, and focuses on Bindu, one woman who chafes at these rules and the price she pays for her independent spirit. 

The author has given a startlingly clear depiction of both the rich and green land of India and the tropical surroundings, the relationship between those in poverty and those of wealth, and the role of women in 1930s India. 

I heartily recommend this historical novel for those wanting to know more about the social and working life and the culture and traditions of people in this era in India.

Author Bio:

Renita grew up in a picturesque coastal village in the South of India, the oldest of three children. Her father got her first story books when she was six and she fell in love with the world of stories. Even now she prefers that world, by far, to this.

https://www.facebook.com/RenitaDSilvaBooks/

https://www.instagram.com/renita_dsilva/

https://twitter.com/renitadsilva

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Renita D'Silva here: https://www.bookouture.com/renita-dsilva

Buy Link:

Amazon:  https://geni.us/B0CLL11Z8Qsocial

Thanks to Bookouture for providing access to this novel for their book tour.

New Year's Eve and Favorite Books This Year: Sunday Salon

 Happy New Year's Eve to you and a Happy New Year of prosperity, good health, and fabulous friends. If you don't have any of those, then what you're looking for is in the library.

 

What You Are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

Published August 10, 2023; Doubleday

Genre: literary fiction, Japan

I loved the story of how an eccentric, all knowing community center librarian directs five different people to books that will answer their life questions and even change their lives. I also learned about a handcraft new to me - making manga characters through felting. The five characters in question receive a felt mascot along with book recommendations from the librarian, who credits her acumen about people and what they need to "inspiration".

The different ways in which the characters are affected by their mascots and by the library and the recommended books are the major themes of the novel. This is a book I'd gladly read over again and again.

Here are just a few of the books I found noteworthy in 2023. They may not have been all time favorites but they sure packed a punch. 

 Memoirs/Non-fiction

Fiction

I could add more and more books that were impressive and that I enjoyed, but I have to stop listing sometime.

Here's wishing you again a new year of good reading and super enjoyable books.

 Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Contemporary Fiction Without Tropes: Sunday Salon

Trope free:  

I found two upcoming novels that are contemporary fiction/women's adult fiction that have none of the tropes that fuel so many modern plots. In other words, the situations created in both books can't be explained by the standard plot formulas. I'm not sure I liked the books very much, though I did give them three and four stars.

Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

Publication: June 11, 2024; William Morrow, NetGalley

Genre: contemporary fiction, adult fiction

Margo Millet, impressionable student, becomes pregnant by her junior college professor Mark, who wants nothing to do with her decision to keep the baby. The novel follows her struggles to make enough money to survive - by using social media, getting followers, and making them pay for her various online services. I was amazed at the ways Margo makes money online. In a slightly pornographic way, she gets paid to describe pictures of male private parts, and also writes brief essays, on demand, for people who give her their writing prompts. Because she is creative in her writing, she gets attention and soon is making enough money with her web activities.

This means of making income must happen a lot in real life, I came to the conclusion, and it's interesting to be reading a book about it. There is romance at the end but this book is in no way a rom com. That Margo is able to retain sole custody of her child when the father later surfaces and demands custody, is cleverly plotted.

This is a book for people who are social media fans and who interact with others online in a significant way. The book was an eye opener for me about the direction our society is going in relation to the web and social media.

Though what Margo does in the beginning was morally iffy and barely legal, she finds ways to monetize her online activity and later heads into advertising and a more acceptable way of supporting herself.

I Hope This Finds You Well: A Novel by Natalie Sue

Publication in May 21, 2024; William Morrow, NetGalley

Genre: women's fiction, contemporary fiction, adult fiction

My take on this book: I admit it was difficult to spend my reading time about a group of uninteresting, uninspiring, petty and unfriendly, unfunny group of people, people that main character, Jolene, works with in her drab office for 40 hours a week. Until the new Human Resources manager, Cliff, arrives, her life was not only boring, but very pathetic. How and why she stayed in that particular job for so long was not immediately clear.

Told in the first person, the novel has Jolene eventually opening up and finding a few worthwhile things about some of her office mates that made them a little less unlikeable. Nevertheless, it was not easy to keep reading about this uninspiring group. I kept wanting things to move in another direction. Realistic people and realistic workplace, you might say.

That Jolene found her "true" self in the end helped, especially after working through guilt about a past incident in her life that could explain why she remained so long in that job. I was glad Cliff came to her rescue.

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of the month?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Wishing you all happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year's Eve!