3.5 stars And my cantankerous/ambivalent streak continues. Shadowshaper had so many the elements of a book I should have really liked: an inventive, unique fantasy and magic practice, a foundation in folklore that hasn’t been done to death, a dynamic protagonist, and a diverse, reliable, realistic support system for that protagonist. Additionally, the audiobook was masterfully performed by Anika Noni Rose, making Shadowshaper a joy to listen to. But something about the book, that I can’t quite put a finger on other than having this […]
He’d spent time rehearsing this serene pose
This was a kind of a placeholder for me. I’m not allowing myself to reread American Gods again, because I reread it less than a year ago, and I love it too much, and the TV series is coming, and it’s my favorite kind of book, so I had to find a proxy, and this looked super interesting. And it was good, but not amazing (nothing is American Gods, goddamnit!). I think the hardest for me was that Ike is no hero, antihero, complicated scamp, […]
A little coming of age tale that’s left me surprisingly cranky.
So does anyone else have favorite narrators for audiobooks? I’m sure folks do, and I have found for the ladies my favorite is Ms. Kirsten Potter. I first heard her do the Station Eleven audiobook, and since then I’ll listen to anything she reads. When she’s narrating a book that’s already on my TBR list? Dunzo. Brooklyn is the story of Ellis Lacey. Ellis is a young woman in small town Ireland with almost no prospects. When a kindly priest from Brooklyn offers to help her […]
Happy St Patrick’s Day
I worked late tonight but felt obligated to write my review of the charming Brooklyn on St. Patrick’s Day in honor of Eilis Lacey’s Irish heritage. Eilis is from a small Irish town where jobs are scarce following WW2. She moves to America where she works in a store and begins taking bookkeeping classes at Brooklyn College. At a local dance hall she meets an Italian boy, Tony, who she begins a relationship with despite their difference in heritage (which is a huge deal). After […]