"Transcendent Kingdom" by Yaa Gyasi

Yaa Gyasi is a genius. I loved her debut novel Homecoming which tackled the topic of slavery. This newest book from her takes a look at race in America, African immigrants in America and also the subjects of addiction and depression. Gyasi excels at taking on difficult, hard-breaking topics, but also somehow bringing them to a hopeful conclusion. In Transcendent Kingdom the main character Gifty is raised in Alabama by a single mother who is originally from Ghana. Gifty is raised evangelical Christian. As a child, she has a deeply personal relationship with God, her faith is strong and pure, and she genuinely feels called by God and in fact, starts each of her journal entries with "Dear God". 

But then, her life is turned upside down when her older brother, a talented athlete, overdoses on heroine and tragically dies. Her mother descends into the tunnel of depression, and Gifty feels betrayed and abandoned by God. The narrative unfolds along two timelines: the present day, where Gifty is a graduate student at Stanford doing research in reward-seeking behavior and looking for a cure for addiction. The second timeline is Gifty's childhood memories of growing up in Alabama and the tragedy surrounding her brother's death. 

This book that is under 300 pages packs a powerful punch. It absolutely crushed me. At times, I was not sure I could keep reading because Gifty's pain felt so personal and real to me. Her search for God also felt very genuine and relatable. I loved this book. It is not the easiest read, but really important one. When I read Gyasi's books, I remember WHY reading is important. 5 out of 5 stars, phenomenal.

"Dear Edward" by Ann Napolitano

Dear Edward is so far the first 5-star read of 2023. I was a bit apprehensive about this book. It deals with an airplane crash (this is not a spoiler, you read about this right on the book jacket).  For an anxious flyer like myself who travels a lot, there seemed to be no perfect time to read this. So I picked it up right after coming back from a trip and knowing that I wouldn't need to fly for a while. I definitely do not recommend bringing this book with your on the plane! In the book we follow 12-year old Eddie, who along with his mom, dad and older brother is moving from New York to Los Angeles. The narrative alternates between the chapters on board of the plane and chapters focused on Eddie's recovery and life after the crash. It is definitely a heart-wrenching story, but one that is so masterfully written, you can't help but fall in love with it. After I finished the book, I looked up Ann Napolitano's interviews and apparently the book was inspired by a true story. I highly recommend this book, but be aware of the emotional triggers: grief, loss of family, survivor's guilt to name a few. 5 out of 5 stars. 

"A Dowry of Blood" by S.T. Gibson

A Dowry of Blood has been quite popular recently. It is basically a vampire romance, but the vampires are akin to those you find in Dracula or Interview with the Vampire. I have never read the former and I was not a fan of the latter. There is something about vampires that deeply disgusts me. I guess I do not find blood drinking or playing with victims to be attractive or sensual. The book is beautifully written. It is written as a letter from a female vampire to her sire/husband. Because many passages are so reverent, the language is often almost biblical. Overall, I definitely agree with those who consider this to be a beautifully written story. However, I am not fan of the characters, the plot or the subject matter. 3 out of 5 stars.

First Read of the Year: "The Prison Healer" - what a disappointment

I started 2023 with a YA fantasy novel called The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni. I must preface this by saying that this book (or rather trilogy) was not on my radar at all. I had seen the book around but had no intention of reading it. However, going through my bookshelves at home, I discovered that I owned a special edition of book 3 in this trilogy and rather than get rid of it, I decided to first give this series a chance.

This book embodies pretty much everything I do not like about young adult fantasy books. First of all, as far as the setting, you can tell from the title that our heroine is a prison healer. She was imprisoned along with her father when she was just seven years old. Right off the bat, I felt that the author was not giving us all the background information needed. Because the reader feels the need to find out what happened, they are compelled to keep reading.

Secondly, the pacing of the narrative is awful. There are pages filled with the main character's indecisive inner monologue when literally nothing happens. This monologue also repeats itself every few pages - I ended up skim reading towards the end.

Finally, and this is my biggest gripe with this book, crucial information about the main character is withheld from the reader until the very end. Mind you, the book is written from one point of view, we are literally in this character's head the entire 400+ pages and yet critical information about this character that explains her motives is disclosed on the last page. Perhaps, younger, less experienced readers are wowed by such a revelation, but I felt cheated by the author. This was a cheap literary trick that I did not appreciate, in fact, it frustrated me to no end.

As you can tell, at that point, I already firmly decided I would not continue with the series, however, I did look up the reviews of books 2 and 3 and they follow a predictable story arc of a YA fantasy romance - lots of self-doubt, angst and poor communication until the very happy end. What an utter disappointment 1 star (and I almost never give such low ratings to books).

My 2022 in Books

2022 was the worst reading year (in terms of the number of books/pages read) since 2014. My mind understandably was occupied by current events, I also had trouble controlling anxiety and overall focusing on books was difficult.

My most read genre was fantasy - 45 books. 

I read 44 books from my own library, 6 ARCs and 52 books were borrowed from the library, Scribd or Kindle Unlimited. 

In terms of medium: 29 were in paper, 35 e-books and 38 audiobooks. 

I read 72 adult books, 26 YA and 4 middle grade.

A few books did make a lasting impression. I am including a photo of them below.

For next year, I am not sure I will be setting any lofty goals. I just want to mood-read and get through some books on my shelves.

Last Read of 2022 - a Gothic YA Horror Book

This year was not great for blogging. In fact, for most of the year, I had little urge to write any book reviews. It was also not a great reading year. I ended up getting through lots of mediocre books. My last read of the year, unexpectedly, was excellent. These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall takes place in sprawling manor house. Our main character 17 year old Helen Vaughan fled the place with her mother when she was a child, but now with the death of her grandfather, the family patriarch, Helen is forced to come back, face the past and uncover family secrets. 

I loved everything about this book: the setting, the characters, the supernatural aspects, the backstory. It is my kind of Gothic horror - not bone-chilly scary, but rather very atmospheric. It also leaves no loose ends in the end. Everything is explained and we get a clear resolution. I rated it 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it. It is also a fast read so it was great to finish one more book in the last couple of days of the year.

"The Measure" by Nikki Erlick

The Measure is probably the surprise book of the year for me. I only heard about it from a couple of book bloggers and decided to listen to eat on during a long drive from DC to New England. 

In terms of genre, The Measure is speculative fiction and I thought it had a really interesting premise and was exceptionally well written. The audio book was also excellent although the southern accent the narrator used for some of the characters sounded fake. The premise of the novel is that one day the entire population ages 22 and above receives a box in the mail with the inscription: the measure of your life lies within. The box contains a string the length of which represents the length of one's life. 

The author then goes on a thought experiment to imagine how politicians, people in certain professions (military, police, etc.) and just regular people deal with this new knowledge. It is very interesting and provides a great commentary on discrimination, the value of one's life, the impact of our lives etc. Highly recommend. I also like the double entendre of the word "measure". Is one's life judged by its length, or by the impact they had one someone, the sacrifices they made, the breakthroughs they contributed to, etc. This was one of the best books I've read in a long time. 5 out of 5 stars. I hope Nikki Erlick is working on more books.