August Book Drop

Stella Batts: None of Your Beeswax

By: Courtney Sheinmel

These are honestly great kids books. This particular installment doesn’t break from the mold. The main character, Stella is spunky and fun without feeling annoying for an adult to follow. Book 7 deals with themes of keeping secrets, group projects and friend dynamics. Worthwhile.

Summary Here

The Rise of Endymion

By: Dan Simmons

This is a beautiful book. There is some really powerful discourse about the nature of the universe and love that rivals my favorite passages from God Emperor of Dune. I was very impressed with this series and put it up there in my top 5 Sci-Fi of all time. Dan Simmons’ world-building is damn near unparalleled. The sheer imagination required to contrive of both creatures and “land”scapes of the magnitude covered in this book is staggering. If you love Dune you will definitely enjoy this series. But to all who venture forth into this territory; do not judge this series by the first book. I greatly enjoyed Hyperion but this is a quad of books that most certainly should be taken as a whole.

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Direct Descent

By: Frank Herbert

Well this was interesting. I didn’t enjoy this book very much. I will use this as an opportunity to share with you some encouraging thoughts. I have now read extensively in Frank Herbert’s non-Dune work. I have found it absolutely shocking that he is the author of Dune and the other stuff. Works like Direct Descent feel adolescent. They feel unrealized. Dune, is of course, a magnum opus.

Foreshadowing of Dune is present in many of the books Herbert wrote before Dune. Direct Descent is no exception. The reason I want to share is because I write. If you’re on my blog maybe you do, too. I think its important to know that your first book, your first short story, maybe even your 50th maybe won’t be that great. But that doesn't mean you don’t have a masterpiece inside of your mind. That goes for any artistic endeavor. Keep putting in the work.

I didn’t love this book as far as the story or the writing go. But I’m grateful it exists. Its an inspiration in a completely different way than the most beloved of Herbert’s books and it serves a purpose in the grand scheme of things. Thematically, that sentiment ties perfectly into the story so I’ll leave you right there.

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Stella Batts: Superstar

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Ok, as an older sister. I felt this. I think that’s the genius of Courtney Sheinmel - she really nails the experience of being a kid. Themes in this book are not getting what you think you want, being envious of someone else’s experience and a little insight into acting. This was fun for me to read with Vor because it talks about the BTS aspect of film-making and I felt cool because I could verify first-hand what Sheinmel was writing about.

This is the last of Stella on Audible so I won’t be writing any more Stella reviews for the foreseeable future. I’m ok with that but want to underscore that this is a great children’s book series and I think your younger kids will more than likely enjoy it. Happily recommended for younger readers.

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Geekeralla

By: Ashley Poston

I honestly don’t know wtf I was thinking picking up this book. I think I was like - Sci-Fi theme! But I didn’t pay any attention to the fact that everything is couched in the archetype of Cinderella.

Its a romance novel. Its cute. Its totally palatable. Its nerdy af. I didn’t hate it. I just kinda low-key hated myself for picking a romance novel. BUT! I enjoyed it. And it was honestly great timing for me.

I was re-reading Red Rising at the same time as this book and that series is not good to listen to before bed oftentimes. So this was my pre-bed wind-down novel for a couple weeks. For that, it was good.

Definitely a bit of young adult fiction. It was a fun take on Cinderella. I didn’t love the heroine because she was annoyingly in damsel-in-distress mode for most of the book but that IS Cinderella so there’s only so much I can say to complain. I did, however, like the Prince Charming and The Fairy Godmother and even one of the Evil Step-Sisters.

It didn’t suck. Its LGBTQ-friendly despite the main story being cis-het. There are plenty of nice things to be said about it. Not my typical fare but doesn’t mean you won’t like it.

Summary Here

Morning Star

By: Pierce Brown

I’m going to quickly give you my take on this, solo, and then as promised in last month’s installment, I will circle back and deal with the first three books as a trilogy.

I read this 2x in quick succession along with the first two books of this series. Why? They are that good. As a third book goes, this was a satisfying ending to the first trilogy in this series.

The first time through, I stopped. I actually had no intention of reading any more of the series for a while but Matt is reading it with me so I have the courage to continue because I can vent to someone when needed.

I’ll get into that more just below. But yeah. This book was great just like the first two.

Summary Here

Red Rising Books 1-3

By: Pierce Brown

Conversion experience. Love. Best Friends. My judgement is clouded y’all. I can’t help but write this like a true Stan. But you probably knew that already from the fact that I read these and then immediately read them again.

But if you will, let me please go into some more detail about why I love these so much. Let’s go into list mode:

1. The characters. I know my Aquarius is showing when I say this but…sorry real-life humans, these are my best friends. :-/ I love Darrow and Sevro and Victra and Ragnar etc as if they were flesh and blood humans. Thinking of them gives me comfort and makes me feel less alone in this fucked up pandemic world of 2021. They are right up there with the crew of The Rocinante from The Expanse. They are flawed but their strengths are shining. They are serious and brooding but funny. They are strong but vulnerable. I love them. Sorry not sorry.

2. Balance. There are male and female badasses. There is hetero and homo love. There is action and philosophy. There is humor and tension. There is local scale and solar-system scale. All of the above and more leaves me really satisfied as a discerning reader.

3. Kick-Assness. Goddamn if Darrow isn’t the come -from-nothing badass to end all badasses. His character literally inspired me to pick up and start writing my own characters. Sometimes people call me a badass. I think that’s a very kind sentiment to bestow upon a person but to me, how could I ever be called that when someone like Darrow exists. Ok, yes. Darrow is a fictional character. I don’t care. He’s real to me and he is amazing…see above where I either want to be him, fuck him or be his best friend.

4. Interesting Premise. Yes, book one is not dissimilar to The Hunger Games but the scope expands and the comparisons fall away after Red Rising. What is left is the idea of superior humans, a conquering of regular humans and a caste society. Why is this interesting to me? Because its set in space and if you don’t think Bezos and Musk et. al. are cruising right toward establishing this sort of “society” you are not paying attention. There are some fanciful leaps of sci-fi in the series but they check out well enough for those who like a grounding in “reality.” But its the cultural context of this novel that really catches my attention as a real possibility of a dystopian future.

5. Beautiful writing. Brown is a fucking great writer. Someone compared his prose to Shakespeare. They aren’t wrong to do so. The philosophy in these books is presented as the musings of the narrator both aloud and as internal monologue. Brown covers a surprise amount of ground that way. Furthermore, the way he is able to overlay the philosophy onto the actions of the characters in a way that only serves to underscore their humanity is masterful. These are best-sellers for a reason. Pierce Brown bodied the fuck out of these. I’m as much a fan of the man as a writer as I am of his characters. If you ever read this my Goodman, thank you.

6. Fandom. The Fandom for this series only makes reading the books that much more enjoyable. Its a bloodydamn culture. The initiated know, you can steep yourself as fully into the culture of a Gold, a Howler, an Obsidian as you can with any of the cultures of being a real life human. The genius is of course there is enough borrowed from real-life human culture to take what is given to you in the books and expand upon it as much as you want. Its fun. Its the reason I had to press-gang Matt into reading these books, too. They are even better when you can share them with others.

Ok \list.

Why did I stop at Book 3? Darrow is a hero, a god of war, a very interesting human, not without flaw. His flaws deepen as his decisions get ethically murky. No blame from me, here. I am, however, apprehensive to see him fall from glory. Not saying that is what will happen but the next trilogy in the series is ten years hence from when these books ended. Virginia, Darrow and retinue have built up a Republic in place of The Society and shit is not going smoothly. That seems rife with the potential of Darrow being sullied as one of my all time favorites. Second and no less importantly, this is were Brown undertakes to solve the political issues that have plagued humanity since we first got our silly little consciousnesses bent on the idea of organizing and governing one another. At this point in the series (and irl) autocracy, fascism, socialism, democracy etc have all been given a go and not quite panned out. I just have a feeling that much of the tension and turmoil as yet to come in the series is going to be a mirror of humanity in its current state and I needed a break before tackling that in there literally realm since its ubiquitous on social and in face-to-face convos.

Y’all. I wasn’t expecting this level of falling in love when I picked these books up. It was a whim. It was me being anal retentive about telling someone 5 years ago that I would read them and finally following through. I take my promises to read things very seriously. I’ve been rewarded time and again but never before like this. Shannon, thanks a million for the recommendation. Allow me to pass the rec onward a million times into the future.

July Book Drop

Iran: A Modern History

By: Abbas Amanat

Holy Tomes Batman! This was a fuuuuuuuucking long ass book. So long, in fact, I earned a special badge for finishing it on Audible. I learned a lot. I also missed a lot that went over my head because this is a book that was not well-suited for audio consumption at times. There were long segments that were Old Testament in style - long diatribes of names and lineages that were difficult to invest in as a listener.

The format of the book is interesting and threw me off at first. Later, I found it useful. The author covers timeframes from the POV of one ruling family or significant historical figure and will often times circle back and cover the same territory from the perspective of someone else significant. Once I realized that was happening it was useful because you get more than one exposure to important events and ideas.

Iran has a rich history. That should be a “duh” for anyone who may be interested in picking this book up. I definitely think the time investment is worthwhile. For me, personally, I enjoyed learning about the religious history of the country. I also learned about some of the cultural elements that have been used in some of the fictional works I enjoy.

Summary Here

Arlo Finch: In The Lake of the Moon

By: John August

Fantastic. The danger and suspense increase appropriately between this and the first book. The setting shifts and is almost fully outside at camp which allows for some great themes to be played out. For parents who love magic and supernatural/sci-fi, this is a great intro to some mind and time-bending that ups the ante from book one. To me, there is no way these won’t be made into a screen adaptation. John August IS a screen-writer. These are going to kick ass as video works just as much as books. I’m a huge fan. I’m honestly super glad I have a kid so that I get to discover these books along with him. Oh yeah, my 5-year-old approves of this one, too. The mains in this book are great role models for kids upward of their tweens. Highest recommendation.

Summary Here

Utopia

By: Thomas More

Its good to read the classics. The concepts from this work are ubiquitous in the higher falootin’ works I read. Case in point: the Red Rising series. I have read so many quotes and excerpts from this book over the years that my familiarity with those quotes kinda stole the bluster of the original.

My thoughts are that this is a very creative work; especially considering when it was written. If you don’t mind reading an older and more formal version of the English language, this is an interesting read. I think its a good framework for playing around with the philosophical underpinnings of socialism and government critique/satire.

I’ll put it this way, I don’t discourage you from reading this book.

Summary Here

Golden Son

By: Pierce Brown

OK…

I loved this series so much that I begged Matt to read it. He acquiesced and immediately fell in love with it as hard as me. As a result, immediately upon finishing the first three books, I turned around started reading them again. I will therefor, address these books in my August book review.

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Arlo Finch: In The Kingdom of Shadows

By: John August

A natural ending to the trilogy. There are some really intense moments in this book! Thoroughly enjoyable for mom and son, alike. In addition to the magic and dimension bending themes of the previous two books, you get a heavy dose of real-world suspense as well as Arlo takes on the FBI here and there. Four thumbs up - two from me and two from Vor.

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Stella Batts #1: Needs a New Name

By: Courtney Sheinmel

OMG, this was surprisingly enjoyable. I have grown accustom to serialized children’s works being either - blah, gross, annoying OR HOLY SHIT YES! This, however, resides right in the sweet spot of something that is age appropriate and sweet without being overly heady or adult. YET, its not at all saccharine or annoying. Well, done Courtney Sheimel. RIYL Judy Blume books. Vor was immediately invested and learned a lot about going to public elementary school by listening. More below. We read a lot of this series in July.

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Stella Batts #2: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Valuable lesson territory. The writing between books one and two is consistent. The tone is really conversational. This is a nice way of drawing younger readers in. It feels conspiratorial. Sheinmel is clearly building a readership as the series progresses. Age recommendation would fall from about 5-years-old up to about 8 or 9. I think interest would probably fall off pretty quickly once the age of the reader surpasses the age of the kids in the book - they’re in third grade.

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Stella Batts #3: Pardon Me

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Another cute story. There is a perfect amount of tension for a young reader to manage this book on their own without a parent supervising the read. I don’t really believe in gendering things for my son. He seems perfectly into these books regardless of the female mains. At the end of the day, though Stella is a little girl and sometimes skews toward “girly” things, mostly she’s just an 8-year-old kid with a 5-year-old sister. Her personality doesn’t center her femaleness which makes these fun for my 5-year-old son.

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The Fall of Hyperion: Cantos #2

By: Dan Simmons

Prepare for a major perspective shift! Ok, so Book One you have seven different POV characters. Book Two you have two. BUT, one of the two characters can voyeuristically engage with the perspective of the characters from Book One. Its pretty wild and creative. As someone who writes, this is a very cool work around in terms of the “voice of the narrator.”

The scope of this book jumps pretty drastically. In Book One you are more or less locked into retrospectives from the main characters. You get a glimpse into the universe as a whole, as a result but understanding the culture of the time doesn’t isn’t the point. You get a much better sense of the cultural context of the characters from Book One, here in Book Two.

You do also get a sense of resolution from Book One to Book Two. That being said, its short-lived if you pick up Book Three and not FULLY resolved if you don’t follow to the end of the series. You really have to read all four books to get a clear understanding of what’s at play throughout.

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Endymion: Cantos #3

By: Dan Simmons

I mean, damn. Not since Dune has a series expanded in a way that blew my mind quite like this. In Books One and Two you get that time is going to get a little wonky but damn. Shit gets cray.

In Books One and Two you get some really awesome character building. In Book Three you get that and amazing world-building. This feels more like the middle book of the series. What I mean by that is, it is 100% an alley-oop to Book Four. Additionally, there are call backs and important plot-points you need to have read the first two installments to fully appreciate Endymion.

In Endymion you get a sense of what’s to come. Meaning, when you’re done with this book you know you are about to get the philosophical hammer. From the get-go Simmons has been preparing you for that fact but by Book Three its imminent.

At this point, the only series this compares to is Dune. Yes. That is correct. I did just draw a comparison between this series and my all-time heavy-hitting favorite. Aside from Herbert I can think of no other author that so seamlessly, thoroughly and masterfully interweaves science fiction with philosophy and poetry.

:: un-ironic slow clap::

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Stella Batts #4: A Case of The Meanies

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Ok, there’s three more of this series this month and more next month so let’s condense, yeah?

Themes in this book are: being left out and being a team player even if you’re not in the spotlight. You get all the mains you have come to know and love. You get to hang out with Stella in Batt’s Confections and at school. If you liked the first three, you will like this one.

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Stella Batts #5: Who’s In Charge

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Stella’s mom is not a dog person. She clearly doesn’t get it. I honestly don’t like her very much. This was actually interesting as a jump off point to talk about animal ownership and responsibility with Vor because I thought Stella was actually more appropriately invested in her role than her parents were.

Of the whole series, this provided some interesting food for thought and discussion points. As far as the writing goes, its more of the same. Sheinmel is a remarkably consistent writer.

Summary Here

Stella Batts #6: Something Blue

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Themes of blending a family, traditions and superstitions, getting into a pickle from bad decision-making.

I’m not a wedding person and was anticipating this book being more annoying than it turned out to be. I liked the resolutions to the tension points of this book.

For a Book Six, it was also nice to change both the pacing and the setting for the mains.

Summary Here

June Book Drop

When I started writing book reviews, I didn't have the foresight to realize I might one day need to indicate the year to which each post belongs. As I approach this fifth Book Drop installment, I realize keeping my website up-to-date and regularly sharing on this platform has become a habit. I enjoy it and hope that one day more people interact with me on here vs. social media. Lately, I have spoken to more and more friends who are fatigued, or just plain done, with social. Social media is flashy. By its flashy nature, it is not intended to keep our attention. I’m surprised things like Instagram have had the longevity they have enjoyed. I mean, they have a place and can be fun and even useful at times, but I don’t think the place for social media is at the centerpiece of a full and actualized human life.

I took a little break from writing weekly because the previous two posts required a big effort to research and write. I’m using this post as a palette cleanse. I managed to read another 11 books this month. I was excited about a few in particular (noted below). If you’re keeping tabs, I've read 11 books per month this year with a running total of 66 books. Is that a humble brag? Maybe a little. Moreso, let this encourage you to get off social, turn off your screens, and embrace literature. For me, listening to audiobooks has made it possible to be an artist, athlete, entrepreneur, mom, and foreign-language student while maintaining a high volume of reading.

Jakes Quest For The Five Stones

By: Hanit Benbassat

This was not a great book. The thought behind the book was nice enough. The world-building was meager. The characterization was lacking. The sound design was distracting. There was absolutely NO nuance to the subject matter. I will have a little grace and say, it is a book meant for children so perhaps there is some benefit to being blunt. It felt terribly rushed. And that was all before I listened to the epilogue wherein the author tries to pass Atlantis off as having been a real place where people could manipulate energy and matter with the use of crystals 😩. I would recommend skipping this book entirely.

Summary Here

Temple Grandin

By: Sy Montgomery

I learned some things about Temple Grandin. Her story is definitely interesting. I wanted to dig a little deeper into books exploring neurodiversity. I’m not sure I loved that this book was written by someone else about Temple. Temple has written books of her own so I think, in the future, if I decide to read about her in greater detail I will choose one of those. This book was a good jump off point for getting the basic understanding of who TG is and what she has done in her life to make her stand out. Not a waste of time but I wasn’t super pumped about it by the time I was done.

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The Mystickwick School of Musicraft

By: Jessica Koury

This was a good one! In fact, this is the second time Vor and I read this book. It definitely is giving Harry Potter vibes as far as the magical school is concerned but its it’s own book for sure. The characters deal with loss, failure and social dynamics. There are satisfying obstacles the main characters have to overcome. There’s an implied diversity to the cast of characters. There’s enough drama and resolution to be satisfying but there are some mysteries as yet unsolved so Vor and I both want another installment.

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The Doors of Eden

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

This book started as a mystery/disappearance novel. The scope then started to expand and bloom. The past ramped up significantly from the beginning to the middle. And before I knew it I was careening toward the end. There were no dull moments for me. I was happy to gain some insight into the author’s worldview. He incorporates vibrant and convincing LGBTQ main characters and takes some time to skewer bigotry in a way that is clearly pointed at real-world archetypes. If you enjoy Tchaikovsky’s other works of biological sci-fi or like the lore of cryptid-hunting and want a mind-bending twist, you will enjoy this book for sure.

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Camp Cacophony

By: Jessica Khoury

This book was released this month in the “included” catalog for Audible which is why we re-read The Mysticwick School of Musicraft. In the process of writing these reviews I discovered the sequel Vor and I were hoping for has been released as well. This is a prequel. It is a perfect little snack of a book. It is nice and consistent with the vibe of the original and is a nice way to get some more details on the life of our heroine. If you read and enjoy the first Mystwick book I recommend you check this out as well.

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The World’s Strongest Librarian

By: Josh Hanagarne

I liked this dude immediately. He is your ever-sensible, metal-loving, always-sardonic, frequently-irreverent dude-friend from high school or college. If you didn’t have one of those, I suggest you find the nearest middle-aged dude in a Black Flag shirt and interview them for the position immediately. Your life will be improved with laughs and refreshingly non-toxic masculinity.

I think we sometimes shy away from listening to neurodivergent or disabled people because of how painful it is to imagine ourselves on the receiving end of the social bullshit they often have to wade through. Furthermore, empathizing with the physicality of such things is not the easiest thing for able-bodied people in our culture. It takes a will to self-teach in order to gain the perspective and compassion to not suck at empathy in general and specifically for the aforementioned communities.

Books like this are important because they allow readers from all communities insights that, one hopes, will engender the kind of empathy discussed above. Its easy to follow Josh from a child to an adult. Its easy to envision him as your friend or brother. It is therefor less difficult to imagine the terror of feeling no control of your body. It is easy to envision yourself, as a parent, worried for the well-being your child who may have inherited one of your less-desirable traits.

This is a great, approachable and relatable read. File it under memoirs and definitely check it out at some point.

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Unspoken: A Memoir

By: Luke Daniels

I knew this book was going to rip my heart out. But I also fully trusted the author. Luke Daniels is the narrator of many of Vor and my favorite books. You can tell from the way he handles characterization and the subject matter he gravitates toward that he is a man that knows his way around a story - even a tragic and personal story like the loss of a small child.

I wasn’t wrong to trust him. I also wasn’t wrong about how heart-breaking this story is. Despite the utter tragedy of this story, Luke guides you through steadily and knowingly. He provides levity without making light. He takes pause for breath in the way only a consummate professional knows how to do.

I don’t even know the man personally but I’m proud of him. We need to share our humanity with one another. This book is a triumph to that end.

Summary Here

Red Rising

By: Pierce Brown

My Gawd. I loved this. Not too long ago but before I started writing reviews, I read The Owner Trilogy by Neil Asher. I’m going to draw a couple similarities. Here they are: lots of action, sci-fi, space, very-masculine main character, a grudge against the ruling caste. One can also draw some similarities between this book and The Hunger Games. There are those on the internet that would have me feel basic for liking this book. I dunno, man. First of all, I’m listening to it and Tim Gerard Reynolds is a fucking boss of a narrator. He bodies the fuck out of this. Darrow veritably jumps out of the headphones and into real life the way this guy reads. For that alone, its a masterpiece. But I will take a moment to give some credit to Pierce Brown, too.

Hyper-masculine, though he is, Darrow is a complex character. Furthermore, the way in which his perspective his shared through Brown’s writing is nuanced. This is a first person narration but at times Darrow is unreliable. He is honest with himself in layers and thus, as the reader, you don’t get all of his intention up front. This style of writing keeps things interesting. I’ll also take a moment to acknowledge that I am an Aries moon and rising sign. I identify with Darrow - with his quick temper and aggression. I’ve tempered these traits of mine over the years and learned nuance but I would most certainly be in House Mars if I were in this book. So, there’s that.

Shout out to Shannon who recommended these books to me in 2017. I finally got around to them. This book is not without major losses from start to finish but the end was very satisfying. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

I have more thoughts that veer away from review and more toward speculation and philosophy. I love when a book sends my mind on tangents that get incorporated into my worldview.

RIYL the two series listed above and ASOIF but without the pomposity and 1000 POVs.

SIDENOTE: I almost always read things people recommend to me. Put them in the comments if you want to be my reading bestie.

Summary Here

The Other Animals

By: Rachel Hamburg

The purpose behind this book is very cool. Again, this heads into the territory of mental health and neurodivergence. If you don’t like short-stories you might want to skip this one. That is not my preferred genre but this looked like one of the better offerings in the Audible “included” catalog so I decided to give it a go.

Some of the stories were better than others but they were all enjoyable to me. I will admit that the slightly morbid thread and animal themes tying all the stories together reminded me heavily of one of my friends (also a writer), Seth Meeks. Seth is one of the few people who revels in diction and will discuss word-choice with me ad nauseam. Something that reminds me of Seth is going to get high marks by default.

With Seth as my guiding beacon for this book the two stories that I liked the most are: Death and Company about a trio of vultures and Rectangles the story of a crow attempting to decipher the human ritual of burying rectangles in the ground.

If you enjoy breaking from run-of-the-mill perspectives you will likely find this book worth your time.

Summary Here

Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire

By: John August

YEEEEEEES!!! Vor and I both LOVED this book. What great world building! This guy is a screen-writer and it shows. This book could easily be converted to screen. It is so easy to get wrapped up in this story. Arlo and the scouts are the perfect vehicle to teach life lessons to kids. I think Vor may be a little ahead of the game as far as listening comprehension goes since we have been doing reading and audiobooks in tandem for so long already but I would say the sweet spot is going to be readers/listeners from ages 7-10. And also 36-year-olds.

You get: encouragement to love nature, a push to find wonder in nature, guidelines for being a decent human being that are easy to discuss with young children, action, danger, magic and mystery.

A perfect kids’ adventure novel!

Summary Here

Hyperion: Cantos #1

By: Dan Simmons

Fun fact: I get it from my mama! Yes, my mom has been reading sci-fi since the early 70s. She’s the first person to put a sci-fi book in my hand. She and I still regularly share book recs and reading lists. This be one of them! I can remember being freaked out by the cover of this book my entire childhood! I probably would never have read it for that fact but Matt picked it out and I love sharing reads with him so I went for it.

It was likened by one reviewer to the Canterbury Tales. Its not an obvious comparison but its there. Unsettling at times, the diversity of characterization that you get from one story-line to the next is impressive. The book is a vice, tightening slowly toward the inevitability of The Shrike.

Not my favorite by a long-shot but a worthwhile and well-written read. The story is not at all wrapped-up in the first book so I will refrain from further commentary until reading onward!

Summary Here