The New Wilderness

Here we are. A couple months later, a little behind schedule of my goal of finishing before the shortlist was announced, but nevertheless better late than never: my final Aspen Words 2021 longlist read/review! I won't lie, this is the longlist book I was least interested in reading, so I saved it for last. I almost decided…

The Space Between Worlds

I’d seen a couple (though not as many as I think it deserves) reviews for this one saying that it was spectacular. And if you enjoy SFF, you know how hard it is to find a great standalone in the genre. Though I did recently read another really wonderful one, The Vanished Birds, if you…

Storm of Locusts

I read the first book I Roanhorse’s The Sixth World series (Trail of Lightning) last year and was so into it! I loved the world and the characters and the magic and the Navajo mythology and it was a wild ride from start to finish. So, when I felt a reading slump coming on a…

Vox

There has definitely been a trend in recent literature for speculative stories about dystopian futures (especially in the US and especially for women). This isn’t really a surprise, I don’t think, considering some of the leadership we’re currently experiencing. And it definitely adds a realistically frightening edge to the speculative-ness of the stories. Obviously, Margaret…

The Book of M

I grabbed this one at a used book store last year. I’d seen it around a little bit and knew it was apocalypse-ish themed but that was about it. I know I generally love that genre though, so I figured I’d grab it for when I was in the mood later. I started it about…

Memory of Water

Let me take a quick moment to thank my long-distance book club for this read right quick. As our theme for this month’s book club, we chose something related to endangered species/Ocean Month/general environmental things. It’s a broad, vague category. Haha. But actually one of the prompts for The Reading Women Challenge 2020 is a…

Trail of Lightning

I’ve wanted to read this one for a while now – it’s been on my TBR cart for almost a year. It was my suggestion for my distance book club this month, in honor of Native American Heritage Month, and it won the popular vote. So woohoo! Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse After a…

The Water Cure

When it was published last year, I saw a lot of mixed reviews on this novel. Which does sort of makes sense, since it was long listed for the Man Booker Prize, and many prize winners do tend to be polarizing (in style and/or message). I am always interested in seeing what these mixed review…

Station Eleven

This one has been on my list longer than I care to admit, considering that I just now have gotten around to it. And I mean, it’s not like I’m not reading books as fast as possible over here, but I still have to say, I regret it taking so long to get to this…

Brightly Burning

I think I’ve said this before, but it’s super true, so I feel like it’s worth repeating. I LOVE Jane Eyre. It’s probably my favorite classic. And not only that, but I cannot get enough Jane Eyre retellings. Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye is probably my favorite, but I own and/or have read at least…