I set myself the goal to read at least six books in June. I read eight in the end. This includes two of the best books I've read in the last few years as well as some utter rubbish. It was mostly fiction, but there's a non-fiction title in there as well.
Here's my list, which includes the format in which I read the book and a rating.
1) Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - Audio - 4 stars
Fairy, dragon porn - who knew?
I've read some of Rebecca Yarros's contemporary fiction in the past and enjoyed it. This is at another level. The story of a girl who was supposed to be a scribe (read historian or academic) but ends up, under her mother's command, to enter flight school where she hopes to bond with a dragon and be a fighter. Fun, eh!
Yarros knows how to spin a story. She has some great, memorable characters. I'm very glad I listened to this one as the physical book would have been hard on my hands. But I'll go and read the next one, just to see what happens. It suckered me in. I was talking to a colleague about it all - there were laughing at some of my reactions.
It's good fun for light fantasy.
2) The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning - Audio - 4
This was written back in the 60s, the story of Guy and Harriet Pringle, newly married, arrive in Bucharest in the autumn of 1939. The city they find is one of contrasts and rumours, on the edge with wavering loyalties and the tension of war, peopled with an international cast of characters, including the inimitable and eccentric Russian émigré Prince Yakimov. The Pringles have to content with am ever changing geo-political landscape, a group of bizarre friends and the feeling of no stability.
The book is fascinating. Although the writing feels a bit dated, it was enjoyable. I'm looking forward to the next installment of the trilogy. (There are six books in all - two trilogies, which span from 1939 to just after the war). It's been on my list of things to read for years.
3) Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy - Paper - 4 stars
This was our book group book for May, and it was amazing. Many of our group gave it a 5 stars - I was a little more reticent, but I really enjoyed it.
The story is complex, told through the eyes of the Salt family. Father Dominic, elder son, Raff, daughter Fen and Orly, the youngest and a polymath. The family live on Shearwater Island, in the middle of the Pacific closer to Antarctica than anywhere else (It's geographically based on Macquarie Island - look it up.) The island has been a research base for years, however climate change and rising seas mean that the see bank needs to be shut down and the family removed to the mainland.
One day, a woman, barely alive, washes up on the beach. Rowan is a woman on a mission. Why is she there? What secrets are the family keeping? Will the family be able to get out on time.
So much happens in this book. I was a little disappointed with the ending, but it is a wonder to behold. it comes highly recommended.
4) Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke - Audio - 5 stars
This is the best thing I've read this year. It may be the best thing I've read in the last two years. It's incredible, but it won't be for everybody.
The Goodreads' blurb says the following:
"Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.
Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible."
There is so much going on here. Natalie is truly awful, but you have to love the way she thinks.
This is a brilliant look at the culture of Trad Wives, influencers, internet rabbit holes and how what we see might not be the whole truth.
Utterly brilliant.
5) The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan - Audio - 4 stars
I enjoyed this queer novel about friendship, fate and how we reinvent ourselves.
The blurb on Amazon reads, "Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she's one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn't really exist. She's never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now. As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda fantasized escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she'll be a whole person again."
File this one under easy reading. Sure, I'm not certain all of the story was believable, but it was a good read after the heavy-duty nature of Yesteryear.
6) Rivals by Jilly Cooper - Kindle - 3.5 Stars
7) Flashlight by Susan Choi - Audio - 5 Stars
I went to see Susan Choi speak at the Melbourne Writer's Festival a few weeks ago and the person interviewing her was extolling her praises. I picked this up and have no regrets. It's amazing.
The blurb on the Readings website describes this as "The astonishing story of one family swept up in the tides of the twentieth century, ranging from Japan to the USA to the North Korean regime.
One evening, ten-year-old Louisa and her father take a walk out on the breakwater. They are spending the summer in a coastal Japanese town while her father Serk, a Korean emigre, completes an academic secondment from his American university. When Louisa wakes hours later, she has washed up on the beach and her father is missing, probably drowned.
The disappearance of Louisa's father shatters their small family unit. As Louisa and her American mother Anne return to the US, this traumatic event reverberates across time and space, and the mystery of what really happened to Serk slowly unravels."
As family dramas go, this is up there with Pashinko, Hello Beautiful and Middlesex. Glorious writing and an amazing, heart-wrenching story. I want to read more.
8) The Course of Love by Alain de Botton - Audio - 4 stars
I've read this before, but picking it up again, and listening to Julian Rhind-Tutt read this was a joy. I've loved the writing of Alain de Botton for years as he makes philosophy accessible and fun.
