Top 5 Wednesday: Books I am Grateful for

With the end of the year is almost upon us, I have started taking stock of what I read throughout 2017. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I read a lot of mediocre stuff this year. However, there were several that made a lasting impression, and those are the books and authors I am particularly grateful for.

Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group, all topics and information can be found here.

1. The Tsar of Love and Techno: Stories by Anthony Marra - I am grateful to this book for reminding me of where I come from and of who I am, and teaching me not to be ashamed of my heritage and personal history, but own it. This book is so complex and multifaceted, it reminded me of unpacking the Russian classics in a literature class. I could talk about and analyze these stories for hours, and I did just that in two separate book club meetings.

2. Narine Abgaryan - this year was the year I discovered the magic of Narine Abgaryan's books. So far I read three, but I purchased three more and cannot wait to read them. She is the author I will undoubtedly be reading and rereading for years to come. I am grateful for the love and warmth that her books bring into my heart. Reading her books feels like coming home: entering a warm house on a cold winter night where someone is always waiting for you with a hot cup of tea and a good story.

3. The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis - I am grateful that this book exists. It exposes the rape culture, the "boys will be boys" attitude in our society, and the stark reality of how prevalent sexual harassment and assault are in our world. It reminded me of my middle school and high school: all the lewd jokes, gestures, unwelcome groping and the terror to walk down the block past a group of guys. I have a detailed review of this book and cannot recommend it enough.

4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - I am grateful that I can always re-read this book or re-watch the BBC mini-series and immediately feel happy. A must read for everyone. Unforgettable characters, beautiful settings and lots of humor. I absolutely love this book and read it almost every year..

5. The Queen of the Tearling trilogy by Erika Johansen - this is a great fantasy/sci-fi/dystopian trilogy. I was not overly impressed with the first book. However, having read all three, one has to read the entire trilogy to really appreciate it. It was unexpected, unpredictable, a breath of fresh air. I already cannot wait to re-read it.

"What We Lose" by Zinzi Clemmons

I read What We Lose in one afternoon. For a slow reader like myself who gets distracted a lot and has to take multiple breaks while reading, this is a testament to how good this book truly is. What We Lose is deeply autobiographical with the central theme of grief. Thandi lost her mother to cancer and this is the story of how she coped, stayed sane and learned to press on.

Along the way, Clemmons tackles other issues in her novel. A big one is her inability to fit in with any racial/ethnic group. Born to a light-skinned South African mother and a light-skinned African-American father, she has trouble fitting in both in the US and in South Africa. Clemmons also candidly - sometimes too candidly it seems - writes about her sex life. Her book includes her thoughts on crime in South Africa, on fear of flying, on the controversy surrounding Winnie Mandela and on wives and girlfriends of serial killers. She quotes poetry and books by Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela. The novel includes photos, drawings and graphs. It reads like a diary without a linear timeline. The narrative jumps around from the present, to her childhood, to college years, to high school and back to present. But it is not difficult to keep up and I never got lost in the narrative. She also has heartbreakingly lyrical passages about the loss of her mother that are more poetry than prose.

My mother is dead. But I still see her. But I still feel her. I can still hear her voice, even right now as I am speaking to you.
But she is dead.
When I look at this picture of her on the beach, I can feel sun on my skin. I can hear the way she spoke to me.
But she is gone (p. 121).

A nice surprise for me was the fact that part of the book is set in the college town where I live and work. Even though she never names the place, it is easy to recognize the location and the school.

When I finish a novel, I either immediately get rid of it or keep it for re-reading. This one is definitely staying. I will have to revisit it and mine it for more nuggets of wisdom. Despite the fact that this is a sad story about learning to live with loss, the overall message is one of hope. She copes, she makes mistakes, she does whatever is necessary to stay sane and survive. But she presses on, she lives with the hole left by her mother's absence and writes this beautiful book.

I've amazed myself with how well I've learned to live around her absence. This void is my constant companion no matter what I do. Nothing will fill it, and it will never go away (p. 206).

5 out of 5 stars. Trigger warnings: grief/loss and candid portrayal of sex.

"Dawn" by Octavia Butler

Dawn is the first installment in Octavia Butler’s trilogy called Lilith's Brood or Xenogenesis.  I loved Butler’s Kindred which I read earlier this year so I was excited to read another book by this author.  Dawn takes place on an alien ship that is orbiting the earth. Humans had almost completely wiped themselves out in a nuclear war and made the planet unlivable. Human survivors were picked up by an alien species called Oankali whose own continued existence depends on genetic renewal accomplished through mixing with other species. Oankali have kept humans in a state of suspended animation for hundreds of years while they learned about them and let the earth restore itself after the nuclear disaster. Lilith is chosen to be the one to lead human resettlement of the earth and is awakened to bond with the Oankali and to learn from them.

Octavia Butler is an amazingly talented writer. She is the master of character building. Even though the novel is fairly short at 250 pages, I really felt like I got to know Lilith.  I felt her fear, insecurities and hopes. However, the story itself turned out to be not quite my cup of tea. Even though it was clear from the very beginning that the Oankali wanted to somehow mix with the humans, the whole angle with the way the Ooloi sensual arms were used on human couples just made me want to gag. I really had no sympathy for the aliens and felt like they took advantage of the few remaining humans and methodically worked towards their own end. Needless to say, I will not be continuing with the trilogy simply because I find descriptions of the interbreeding process too unsettling and the story not compelling enough at this point. I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. What started out with a bang ended with a grimace of disgust.

"Origin" by Dan Brown

Dan Brown’s Origin is the newest installment in the adventures of Harvard Professor of Symbology and Religion Iconography Robert Langdon. Dan Brown’s books are not my favorite. His writing style is a bit cheesy and he tends to make his art descriptions overly dramatic.  What I do like about Dan Brown is his ability to get me interested in certain historical facts, sights, scientific discoveries or pieces of art. Origin was no exception. I do now desperately want to visit Barcelona and already started a non-fiction book about quantum physics.

In terms of the overall story line, Origin was a pleasant surprise. I liked the plot and found the resolution to be more than satisfying. It is not possible to give a description of this book without spoiling the entire plot. Just be prepared to read about a sensational scientific breakthrough, a religious fanatic, a series of assassinations and there is a royal family thrown in the mix.  Sounds like Brown’s standard fare, doesn’t it? Some portions of the novel were predictable, some descriptions were too drawn out, and I lost count of how many times references were made to Langdon’s “eidetic” memory. Nonetheless, it is an entertaining and fast-paced novel, which did spark my curiosity about some famous sights in Spain and got me thinking about reading more non-fiction focused on latest scientific discoveries.  4 out of 5 stars.

"Stories of Your Life and Others" by Ted Chiang

I have been interested in Ted Chiang’s science fiction stories ever since I watched the movie “Arrival” that is based on his “Story of Your Life”. The movie and the original story examine the human concept of time. Chiang uses Fermat’s principle from physics to posit that time can be perceived in non-linear manner. Read the story – it’ll definitely mess with your mind.

Overall, I am very glad I finally picked up this collection. There are eight stories total, and at around 270 pages, it is a pretty short book. However, all stories are meticulously researched and have intricately developed worlds and characters. It is hard for me to pick a favorite. They were all really good. I did enjoy the three that had biblical/mythological undertones slightly more. There is a story about the tower of Babel, a story inspired by the Book of Job and a story based on the Jewish folklore about golems. If you like sci-fi and want to read something intellectually stimulating, this is a great book to pick up. I also appreciated the author’s notes in the back where he explained how he got ideas for each of the stories or what prompted him to structure them a certain way.

A very enjoyable and thought-provoking book. 5 out of 5 stars.

"The Rules of Magic" by Alice Hoffman

The Rules of Magic is a prequel to Practical Magic, which I reviewed in my previous post a short time ago. The Rules of Magic just came out yesterday, and it being an Alice Hoffman novel, it did take me a bit longer to get through it. As I mentioned before, her writing is quite descriptive and tends to have few dialogues. She is, however, a master of creating very vivid and atmospheric settings.

In The Rules of Magic we learn the backstory of the Owens aunts, Jet and Franny, whom the girls in Practical Magic come to live with in Massachusetts. We get to see Jet, Franny and their bother Vincent since the time they were little kids growing up in Manhattan and up to the point when the story of Practical Magic begins.

One thing I noted immediately especially since I read Practical Magic right before the prequel is that The Rules of Magic does not have the same dreamlike and mystical atmosphere. In addition, unlike the heroines of Practical Magic, the three Owens siblings in this book recognize their magic abilities early on and start experimenting with them. We also get a more detailed backstory on their ancestor Maria Owens who built the house on Magnolia Street and in many ways began the family legacy. Moreover, Hoffman finally places Maria in Salem. She still does not mention the town, but she does name the judge – Hathorne and there are numerous references to his famous literary descendant Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The overall theme of being true to oneself is strongly present in this novel. In addition, the Ownes children struggle with the curse which was supposedly put on all family members by Maria Ownes, and according to which something terrible will happen to the person they fall in love with.  Franny, Jet and Vincent are all scared of being in love for this reason. But slowly they do find the cure. The novel ends with: “Know that the only remedy for love is to love more” – I just love this idea. Loving more could mean taking chances, being brave and not being afraid to look like a fool. It can also mean loving someone enough to let them go and be happy with someone else, i.e. loving selflessly. It is a powerful idea.

Another quote that I underlined in my e-version of the book warns against knowing one’s fate. It reads: “Life is a mystery, and it should be so, for the sorrow that accompanies being human and the choices one will have to make are a burden, too heavy for most to know before their time comes.”

5 out of 5 stars. I received an e-ARC of this novel from Netgalley.

"Practical Magic" by Alice Hoffman

I read Practical Magic in preparation for Alice Hoffman’s newest release called The Rules of Magic, which is said to be a prequel to the original story. Practical Magic was published in 1995, and having now read two of Hoffman’s newest novels I can definitely see the difference in her writing. Practical Magic is very atmospheric, slow-paced, more character- rather than plot-driven. The story begins in a small town in Massachusetts where two orphan sisters have come to live with their strange aunts. The girls can tell that their family is not like everyone else in town. For one, the aunts wear black all the time. They also grow herbs that they use for healing and warding off all sorts of evil. Finally, the townsfolk visit the aunts late at night and seek remedies for issues of the heart. The aunts can bring wayward husbands home and turn an unrequited love interest into a passionate lover.

The girls Gillian and Sally do not show any particular interest in following in the aunts’ footsteps. They certainly understand that their aunts deal with the supernatural, but both in their own way try to distance themselves from that way of life and do everything possible to be “normal”. Hoffman almost never uses the word “witch” in this novel, she also does not mention Salem or spend a lot of time focusing on the witch trials. She skillfully hints at things or mentions things in passing. The readers are left to make their own conclusions and guesses. The novel is fairly short – 244 pages, but it is quite dense. There is almost no dialogue and plenty of long descriptive paragraphs. Still, I was surprised that it took me almost 5 days or read such a short book.

Overall, I liked the story and its message of being true to who you are. Even though Gillian and Sally run away from Massachusetts and distance themselves from their “witchy” relatives, in the end they realize that magic is in their blood. Only by accepting their heritage and coming to terms with it, they start finding peace and lasting happiness. 4 out of 5 stars. A great read for October.