Review: Mercury (by Amy Jo Burns)

My Rating: 4.5 stars

I'm somewhat behind with my reading goals this month, as I took on a bit more than I should have with school and work, plus an unexpected family incident upended some of my plans for this week — but the good news is that, going into next month, I was able to sort things out so that I should be able to get my reading back on track very soon.

With that said, I was able to squeeze in and finish another January ARC a couple days ago, Mercury by Amy Jo Burns — a book that I've been wanting to read ever since I found out about it several months back.  I had read Burns's fiction debut Shiner (she had written a memoir prior to it) a few years back for book club and it became one of my favorite reads that year (one that I had rated 5 stars).  There was so much I loved about that book:  the lyrical, immersive writing that flowed so beautifully that I found myself highlighting one quotable sentence after another; the atmospheric portrayal of time and place that made me feel as though I was right there alongside the characters; and of course, the strong female characters (the heart and soul of the story) who loved fiercely and devotedly, yet rarely got anything in return, instead having to forge their own paths in a world dominated by men whose power often when unchallenged and unchecked. (For more of my thoughts on Shiner, please check out my review of it). While Burns's second novel, Mercury was a fantastic read that I loved quite a lot, if I had to choose between the two, Shiner would still be my favorite.

Mercury is about a family of roofers who live in a "great house" in the small river valley town of Mercury, Pennsylvania — the family patriarch Mick Joseph, his wife Elise, and their three boys Baylor, Waylon, and Shay.  One day in 1990, teenager Marley West arrives in Mercury with her mother Ruth and while stopped at a light they spot 3 men standing atop a roof at the far side of the road. The next day, Marley encounters two of the men (the Joseph brothers) at a baseball game, where she also meets the youngest Joseph brother (10-year-old Shay) as well as their mother Elise — a woman who was beautiful, impeccably dressed, unapologetically cool and collected in a way Marley had never seen before, and also had the ability to "command attention [from everyone around her but especially from her boys] with a single word."  Marley is captivated by this family and as a perpetual loner who is tired of having to move from town to town, she yearns for a seat at the Joseph family table. Soon, that's exactly what happens, as Marley's world becomes inextricably melded with the family's.  As she comes to understand the Joseph family dynamics though, and encounters one difficulty after another, Marley soon realizes that she got more than she had bargained for.  Years later, a discovery in the church attic unearths past hurts and the family finds themselves on the brink of falling apart. As the Josephs scramble to save their family, they must also rethink their priorities and decide what matters most to them.

Just like with Shiner, there were many things I loved about this book:  the writing, of course, which was engaging and immersive and made me feel transported to the small town of Mercury; the characters were also well-developed and wonderfully drawn, especially the 3 Joseph brothers, who each had their own distinctive personalities as well as strengths and weaknesses (though admittedly, I couldn't stand the patriarch of the family, Mick, who, to me, seemed to be a reincarnation of Briar from Shiner); most of all though, I loved the women in this story — Marley and Jade especially, and even Elise to some extent — who were all strong in their own distinctive ways and fought to forge a path for themselves despite society's convictions and judgments.  My one complaint is that there was a tad more romance than I expected, which made some scenes come across a little "soapy" to me, but luckily it wasn't overwhelming so didn't detract from the story too much.

Overall, this is definitely a story worth reading.  One of the things I love about Amy Jo Burns is that she writes with lot of heart and empathy for her characters — even the "bad" characters are written in a way that you end up feeling sorry for them rather than hating them.  I will admit that, despite the dysfunction of the Joseph family, I couldn't help rooting for all of them (this is saying something, since dysfunctional family stories can be a hit or miss for me).  I felt invested in the ups and downs that this family goes through — both the heartbreaking moments and the joyous ones — but most of all, I appreciated the message of resilience and hope that Marley's experiences especially demonstrated.  

This was a wonderful read and I can't wait to see what Burns comes up with next!

Received ARC from Celadon Books via NetGalley.

Review: The Book of Fire (by Christy Lefteri)

My Rating: 5 stars

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that, like me, you were able to spend some time immersed in a good book! :-)

Kicking off the new year, I've been busy with my studies, but I did get the chance to squeeze in one of the January 2024 ARCs on my list, so I'm happy about that.

I chose to start my reading year with a new release from an author whose works I've loved since reading her debut novel, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, a few years back. In my opinion, Christy Lefteri is an underrated and under appreciated author whose works everyone should be reading.  She writes in a way that is atmospheric and poetic, with beautifully-rendered descriptions of time and place that make us, the readers, feel completely immersed.  

Lefteri sets her third novel in a Greek village where a devastating wildfire has ravaged the once-idyllic forest, destroying nearly everything — living and non-living — in its path. A close and loving family used to live in that forest:  Irini, a talented musician who could play the most beautiful songs with the instruments handed down over generations from her father and grandfather; her husband Tasso, an artist who could paint the forest so realistically that the sights and sounds of nature seemed to come alive just looking at the paintings; and their 10-year-old daughter Chara, a happy and playful girl whose name means "joy." Along with their devoted greyhound Rosalie, the family lived in a picturesque environment surrounded by the beauty of nature.  However, on a fateful day that starts off just like any other day, their paths cross with the fire and within hours, their lives are changed forever.  Their bungalow in the forest is destroyed (along with all of Irini's instruments), Tasso's hands are burned to the point that he can no longer paint, Chara endures second-degree burns that leave horrific scars, and Irini's father-in-law Lazaros goes missing (he's presumed dead).  Many of their friends and neighbors are either dead or missing, while those who survived are physically and emotionally scarred for life.  As if that were not enough, everywhere they turn, they are forced to witness the charred remains of the destruction around them  — the trees burned down to stumps, the barren ground where abundant plants and flowers once grew, and the pervasive, choking smell of burnt things.  Months later, the family (and the village) haven't completely come to terms with all they lost, but are actively trying to rebuild and move on with their lives.  It is during this time that Irini inadvertently encounters the man responsible for destroying their lives — a land speculator she refers to as Mr. Monk, who had started the fire on a small piece of land he didn't own in the hopes of acquiring it (illegally), not expecting it to rage out of control like it ended up doing.  Mr. Monk is mysteriously injured and appears to be on the brink of death — when Irini finds out who he is, she makes a last minute decision out of anger, which follows her for the rest of the story.  The investigation that follows will bring to light some painful truths about the community and its interactions with its surrounding environment.

As she did with her previous two novels, Lefteri once again delivers a hauntingly beautiful, emotional story that is at once heartbreaking and poignant, but also hopeful in its portrayal of humanity in the wake of tragedy.  Lefteri has a gift for writing about real-life (often controversial and difficult) issues relevant to society in a way that is thought-provoking and meaningful, yet not heavy-handed or preachy — in The Beekeeper of Aleppo, it was immigration and refugees fleeing from the situation in Syria; in Songbirds, it was the exploitation of foreign domestic workers in Cyprus; now in The Book of Fire, she explores the relationship of humans with nature and the wide-ranging effects that our actions can have on our environment.  I live in Southern California and remember the deadly 2018 wildfires that Lefteri mentions in her Author's Note (which, by the way, is a must-read in and of itself) as well as the many other fires that have occurred in the region the past few years, so this story definitely resonated with me.  The dilemma that Irini faces in the story is a difficult one and I will admit that if I were in her shoes, I would have probably struggled as well.  I finished this book a few days ago, yet I'm still thinking about this story and its endearingly-drawn characters. Needless to say, I will definitely be on the lookout for what Lefteri comes out with next!

Received ARC from Ballantine Books via NetGalley.

2023 Year In Review

Wow, it's hard to believe that we are already at the end of another year!  Time certainly seems to fly by faster than anticipated!😊

The last couple weeks of the year have been particularly busy for me.  In addition to the usual exercise of reflecting on the past year, tying up loose ends, and preparing this year end reading recap, I’ve also been busy trying to stay ahead on my assignments for school, which started back in September (I’m working on an MA in English Literature so there is quite a bit of academic reading and writing involved).  While I love the back-to-school experience so far (especially the part where I get to read and learn about so many different things), the downside is that, now having to juggle the demands of work, school, and family, I’m left with much less time for “leisure” reading.  Indeed, when I look back at my reading year for 2023, one of the first things I notice is how few books I read in the last few months of the year that weren’t related to my studies in some way.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing of course, since I’m still reading a ton, plus I’m finally getting to some backlist titles that have been on my TBR (and my bookshelves) for years.  Another thing that I did more of this year is re-reading – this was mostly out of necessity, as a few of the novels for my classes were classics that I last read 20+ years ago, so I had to re-read in order to refresh my memory.  Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against re-reading and would actually love nothing more than to engage in re-reading more often, except for the fact that there are just way too many books out there that I haven’t yet read (and want to read) and there just isn’t enough time in the day for me to get to everything.  This last point is something I’m particularly aware of this year given all the 2023 new releases that, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find time to squeeze in (more on this later).

I actually decided to do this recap differently this year, since my reading has been a bit all over the place, especially in the latter part of the year.  Instead of recapping a list of “favorites” based on star ratings, I am going to list out books I read based on categories.  This year specifically, I found myself struggling more than past years to rate books according to the traditional star rating system.  To be honest, I have never really been fond of ratings systems because I feel they are too arbitrary and limited in scope, which renders them ineffective in painting an accurate picture of a particular experience.  As such, assigning ratings becomes even more of a challenge for people like me who prioritize “the reading experience” (basically, how a book made me feel) over the technical elements (such as writing style, pacing, plot, etc.).  For instance, I may have a book that is brilliantly written, nails all the technical elements to near perfection, is widely read and beloved, and from a literary/scholarship perspective, absolutely blows me away, however I find all the characters in the story to be exceedingly unlikable to the point that I can’t bring myself to root for anyone -- so overall, the reading experience for me was unpleasant / frustrating / miserable.   What would be the “fairest” way to rate such a book?  On the one hand, giving it a low rating would appear to signal that I dislike the book or that I’m discounting its literary merit (neither of which is my intention), while on the other hand, giving it a high rating would appear to delegitimize my own feelings and experience with the book (which also is not my intention).  After much agonizing, I eventually chose the “happy medium” rating (though with the caveat to read the actual review rather than go off the rating alone).  All this is to say that a reader’s experience of a book can be shaped in a myriad of ways that can’t be simply explained on a 1-5 rating scale. 

So for the purposes of this post, I am going to ditch the ratings!  Instead, I’m going to focus on whether I fulfilled my reading goals this year as well as what my reading experience was like overall.  In terms of the reading log stats that I usually include in these year-end posts, I will still include some stats in my write up below, but I won’t be doing screencaps of each section as I’ve done in the past.

Ok, so let’s get to it…

At the start of the year, my reading goals for 2023 were as follows:

-       Read as many books as possible from my own shelves:  Based on my reading log, out of the 57 books I read this year, 25 of them were books I own.  While it’s true that some of these books were newly bought this year, quite a few were ones I already had sitting on my shelves but never got to them – book club and school gave me a chance to finally pick these up.  So yes, I would count this goal as met.

-        Work through my list of backlist “must-read” books:  I read 16 backlist books this year, which is the most backlist I’ve read in a single year since I started tracking my reading 6 years ago.  A large part of this was due to school, since most of the books I’ve had to read for my classes were written years ago.  No doubt this will continue to be the case in 2024 with the rest of my classes focusing on the classics.

-        Read widely and diversely:  To be honest, I’m cheating a little in making this a goal, since, as a person of color myself, I’ve always made it a priority to support POC and other authors from marginalized groups.  In past years, a little over a third of the books I read would by POC/marginalized authors, but this year, I exceeded that:  out of the 57 books I read this year, 30 were by POC / marginalized authors.  Of course I intend to continue this reading habit in the coming year.

-        Re-start my “completist” project:  This is a carry-over project from 2022 wherein I wanted to read all the books written by my favorite authors.  The goal was to finish at least 1 author on my favorites list each year.  Unfortunately, I have not made any progress on this goal, so it will continue to be a carry-over for next year (though if I’m being honest, based on all the reading I’ve got lined up for 2024 so far, most likely this is going to continue to carry over into subsequent years).

-        Incorporate books about Writing into my reading schedule:  This one is also an ongoing goal for me.  In terms of stats, I was able to read 2 books that were specifically about the craft of writing this year.  However, this doesn’t count all the writing / craft stuff I’m involved with for my classes, which in a way, offsets not being able to read actual books about writing.  With that said, I still intend to continue this goal, but like my completist project, it will likely be carried over to subsequent years.

 

Now for the actual book lists.  I tried to separate the books I read into categories that give an overall idea of what my reading life was like this past year.  Some of these books were indeed “favorites” that I adored, while others were ones I appreciated but didn’t necessarily love.  If you’re interested in my specific thoughts on each of these books, feel free to check out the reviews for more details. [Note that the below are not listed in any particular order].

 

1)     Classics that I read/re-read for School:

-        Emma by Jane Austen

-        Persuasion by Jane Austen

-        Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

-        The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

-        The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan

-        Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

-        Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

 

2)     New 2023 Releases by Favorite Authors:

-        Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

-        The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

-        Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

-        Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

-        Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos

-        No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister

-        The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton

-        Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

 

3)     2023 Releases I Read and LOVED (Fiction and Nonfiction):

-        The Porcelain Moon by Janie Chang

-        Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

-        The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

-        Banyan Moon by Thao Thai

-        Good Fortune by C.K. Chau

-        The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry

-        The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

-        A Man of Two Faces by Viet Thanh Nguyen

-         

4)     Other Notable 2023 Fiction Releases I Read and Enjoyed:

-        A Spell of Good Things by Ayobami Adebayo

-        The Miniscule Mansion of Myra Malone by Audrey Burges

-        Paper Names by Susie Luo

-        Community Board by Tara Conklin

-        A Quitter’s Paradise by Elysha Chang

-        The Sorrows of Others by Ada Zhang

-        The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

-        The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok

-        The Golden Gate by Amy Chua

-        Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

-        Tomb Sweeping by Alexandra Chang

 

5)     Backlist Books I Read in 2023 (and ADORED):

-        A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

-        Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

 

6)     Notable Nonfiction Reads (New & Backlist):

-        The Upstairs Delicatessen by Dwight Garner

-        The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker

-        The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

 

7)     Book Club Picks I Enjoyed (New & Backlist)

-        The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

-        Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

-        Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett

-        Fault Lines by Emily Itami

-        Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

-        Did You Hear About Kitty Karr by Crystal Smith Paul

-        Talking at Night by Claire Daverley

-        Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

-        The Postcard by Anne Berest

-        Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

 

8)     2024 Releases I Read and LOVED:

-        Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung

-        The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

Review: Good Bad Girl (by Alice Feeney)



My Rating:  3.5 stars

 

Having read all of Alice Feeney's previous books, I of course couldn't pass up her latest, Good Bad Girl, even if it already came out several months ago.  Ever since I read Feeney's debut Sometimes I Lie (which blew me away) back in 2017, she has been a "good-to" author of sorts for me when it comes to the thriller/suspense genre.  With that said though, her books since that debut have been somewhat of a hit or miss for me – only one has gotten close to the level of her debut in terms of story and ending "twist" (that would be 2021's Rock Paper Scissors); the rest were al largely enjoyable (and all were very well-written), but didn't grab my attention like the aforementioned two did.  For me, Feeney's latest book falls into the latter category – definitely not her best work, but not her worst either.

 

As this is a thriller where you want to go in knowing as little as possible, all I'm going to say about the plot is that the premise revolves around a "mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim."  While I'm not necessarily sure that I agree with this premise now having finished the book (the "explanation" of this in the story was a little bit of a stretch in my opinion), I guess it does work to describe the plot overall.  Speaking of the plot – this is one of those "slow-burn" stories told from the alternating perspectives of multiple characters, which adds some complexity, but the plot also meanders in places, which made it harder to maintain my attention at points. 

 

To be honest, this one didn't really feel like a thriller/suspense novel to me, at least not in the same vein as Feeney's earlier works that were chockful of twists and turns and usually had me at the edge of my seat anticipating what would come next.  Instead, this one seemed to focus more on the complexities of mother/daughter relationships as well as the notion that each person has both good and bad qualities that motivate our actions – while I appreciated these insights (and in any other book, probably would've liked to see these ideas explored more), I felt like it waxed a little too philosophical and ended up bogging the story down a little.   Perhaps this is also why the ending felt somewhat anticlimactic to me (though it could also be that I had already figured out how the different threads would come together by that point).

 

I would say that overall, this was enjoyable and I'm glad I read it, even though it didn't have all the twists and turns that I usually expect from Feeney's thriller/suspense novels.  The writing, as usual, is good though -- Feeney writes in a way that is smooth, flows well, and not choppy – which is why I like reading her books even if I'm not necessarily keen on the story.  I continue to look forward to her next book and will definitely read it whenever it comes out.