August 2023 in Books

Trans - Helen Joyce

I had purchased Trans by Helen Joyce thinking it was a book that would teach me more about transsexuality, I hadn't read the synopsis. After reading the first chapter of this drivel, it became clear that this is a "gender critical" book (the author doesn't like the term we call people like her: TERF). I wanted to chuck it out of the window - but I'd have to throw my Kindle away with it. I managed to get through the book, which for some unknown reason is a bestseller. For the life of me, I cannot and will not understand people who think like this. Permanently deleted from my Kindle!

Read for the 52 Book Club Challenge.
Prompt 19: Typographic cover.

Rating: ⭐ (and that was generous)

I’m Travelling Alone - Samuel Bjork

When the body of a young girl is found hanging from a tree, the only clue the police have is an airline tag around her neck. It reads 'I'm travelling alone'.

In response, police investigator Holger Munch is immediately charged with assembling a special homicide unit. But to complete the team, he must track down his former partner, Mia Krüger - a brilliant but troubled detective - who has retreated to a solitary island with plans to kill herself.

Reviewing the file, Mia finds something new - a thin line carved into the dead girl's fingernail: the number 1. She knows that this is only the beginning. To save other children from the same fate, she must find a way to cast aside her own demons and stop this murderer from becoming a serial killer.

Nordic Noir is a bit hit and miss for me. Some books are hyped up and I just think they're extremely boring. Fortunately Samuel Bjork's I', Travelling Alone was a hit. It had me on the edge of my seat and I read it in a few hours. Looking forward to the second book in the series.

Read for the 52 Book Club Challenge.
Prompt 24: Nordic Noir.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Flora & Ulysses - Kate DiCamillo

It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw it coming – the vacuum cleaner, that is. As for self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, she has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You! so she is just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight and misspelled poetry. And Flora will be changed too as she discovers the possibility of hope and the promise of a capacious heart.

Very cute story.

Read for the 52 Book Club Challenge.
Prompt 27: Newbery Medal Winner.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

One of Us in Back - Karen M McManus

Ever since that day in detention, life hasn't been easy for the Bayview Crew. Now Nate is trying to maintain a long-distance relationship with Bronwyn, who is struggling to balance her new life at Yale with her memories of Bayview.

Addy's about to leave Bayview behind and take a leap into the unknown and Phoebe's tired of keeping secrets. Everybody's ready to move on. Until a mysterious billboard arrives.

Time for a new game, Bayview.

And when a member of the crew disappears, it's clear this 'game' just got serious - and no-one understands the rules. Everyone's a target. And now that someone unexpected has returned to Bayview, things are starting to get deadly. Simon was right about secrets - they all come out in the end.

A fun read.

Read for the PopSugar 2023 Reading Challenge.
Prompt 32: A book that comes out in the second half of 2023.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

To Kill a Kingdom - Alexandra Christo

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most - a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian's heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. His calling? Ridding the world of the menace of the sirens. But when he rescues a drowning woman, it becomes clear that there's more to her than there first appeared.

She promises to help him find the key to destroying the sirens for good. But can he trust her?

Incredible story! Re-read this for the PopSugar Challenge and still love it as much as the first time.

Read for the PopSugar 2023 Reading Challenge.
Prompt 39: A book you wish you could read for the first time again.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Faithful Place -Tana French

The course of Frank Mackey's life was set by one defining moment when he was nineteen. The moment his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, failed to turn up for their rendezvous in Faithful Place, failed to run away with him to London as they had planned. Frank never heard from her again. Twenty years on, Frank is still in Dublin, working as an undercover cop. He's cut all ties with his dysfunctional family. Until his sister calls to say that Rosie's suitcase has been found. Frank embarks on a journey into his past that demands he reevaluate everything he believes to be true.

I really like Tana French's books, but it takes me a while to get through them. Whereas I easily read a book a day (up to 500 pages), French's books always take 2 or 3 days. Maybe I need to savour them.

Read for the 52 Book Club Challenge.
Prompt 47: Set in the city of Dublin.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wicked - Gregory Maguire

An astonishingly rich re-creation of the land of Oz, this book retells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who wasn't so wicked after all. Taking readers past the yellow brick road and into a phantasmagoric world rich with imagination and allegory, Gregory Maguire just might change the reputation of one of the most sinister characters in literature.

Absolutely loved this book. Elphaba is a brilliant character!

Read for the PopSugar 2023 Reading Challenge.
Prompt 45: A book that started out as fan fiction.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Iron Daughter - Julie Kagawa

Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey – ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her. Worse, Meghan’s own fey powers have been cut off.

She’s stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting the prince who betrayed her, deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can’t help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart…

I love Julie Kagawa's books! Am looking forward to the next books in the series!

Read for the 52 Book Club Challenge.
Prompt 36: Chapters have cliffhangers.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Matilda - Ronald Dahl

Matilda is a brilliant child with a magical mind.

But her parents have decided she's just a nuisance who wastes too much time on reading and stories.

And her headmistress Miss Trunchbull is a terrible bully, who thinks children are rotten and awful and should be locked up.

Now it's time for Matilda to find the power to change her story, and show them just how extraordinary children can be . . .

I would have loved this book as a child! I was in my 30s the first time I read it, and I was sad I didn't read it as a child. So when I saw this promt, I knew this was the book I had to read for it. And I still enjoyed it tremendously.

Read for the PopSugar 2023 Reading Challenge.
Prompt 37: A book you should have read in school.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

We Hunt the Flame - Hafsah Faisal

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya - but neither wants to be.

War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds - and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

I enjoyed this, and if I could give it 3.5 stars I would.

Read for the 52 Book Club Challenge.
Prompt 32: Published by Macmillan.
Rating:⭐⭐⭐