125. "In the Woods" by Tana French

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French, Tana. In the Woods. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2007. Print. 

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

429 pages.

Told from detective Rob Ryan's point of view, In the Woods follows two homicide cases. The first case is that of young Katy Devlin and the second case is one in which Ryan was actually a victim--the case of two missing children in Knocknaree, Ireland back in 1984. With Devlin's murder also taking place in the same Knocknaree woods as the the 1984 cold case, Ryan is thrown back into a past that he can't clearly remember because he suffers from acute retrograde amnesia. 

I am usually pretty good about predicting the ending of mysteries and thrillers. While reading In the Woods, I made predictions on page 60, page 160, and page 246. All of my predictions were wrong. I'm not trying to sound arrogant here, but I am almost always right about the outcome of a mystery. This mostly because I've read so many mysteries that I can easily deduce patterns in mystery novels that indicate who dunnit. That Tana French was able to stump me speaks to the genius of her writing.

In the Woods is a mystery but Tana French's prose is so masterful that it reads more like a piece of literary fiction. I would compare her to Gillian Flynn in the way she explores morality and big life questions, though they have quite different writing voices.  

SPOILER ALERT. One thing was not very clearly wrapped up, but there is also a good chance that I just missed it in my first read of the novel: on page 298, Ryan notes that he had lost touch with reality to a degree that he wasn't sure if the following events were real or part of a dream. This isn't mentioned again as the book comes to a conclusion, so readers have to assume the events were real but I can't help but question it. I wonder if this is something that French will refer back to in later books as this was the first book in a series of the Dublin Murder Squad mysteries. END SPOILER. 

Without giving away any further spoilers, this book left some cases unsolved. It really created this raw, unhealed feeling of festering longing and grief that I imagine is only a small slice of what families who have actually experienced this kind of crime must feel.

Tana French is truly talented and I'm excited to continue reading this series. 

Would I read it again?
Yes. This is a book I'd like to read again and slowly so I can really absorb some of the ideas and character portraits. 

Recommend for
I think readers who like Gillian Flynn would also appreciate Tana French despite there being differences in tone and style. 

Not Recommend for
Readers who are triggered by violence and graphic descriptions. 

Word Bank (new-to-me vocabulary)

• bolshie (p. 11)
• apoplectic (p. 274)
• banjaxed (p. 248)
• bedsit (p. 12)
• bowsie (p. 110)
• Brylcreemed (p. 386)
• crenellations (p. 251)
• crosshatching (p. 3)
• curlews (p. 156)
• eejit (p. 128)
• gurriers (p. 217)
• kibbutzniks (p.35)
• inchoate (p. 178)
• jettons (p. 35)
• langered (p. 250)
• mattock (p. 39)
• mica (p. 23)
• midges (p. 21)
• Portacabins (p. 21)
• redolent (p. 285)
• restive (p. 248)
• satsuma (p. 105)
• slagged (p. 185)
• soupcons (p. 10)
• spate (p. 246)
• stoat (p. 187)
• tensile (p. 18)
• unprepossessing (p. 106)
• vestal (p. 81)
• votary (p. 82)

3 stars out of 5

Tana French's website: http://tanafrench.com/

Tana French on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/138825.Tana_French

Connect with me!

Instagram: @jdartagnanlove

Twitter: @jdartagnanlove

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8035862-j-d-artagnan

124. "The Burning Bridge" by John Flanagan

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Flanagan, John. The Burning Bridge. New York, NY: Puffin Books,  2005. Print.

262 pages.

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

The Burning Bridge picks up right where the Ruins of Gorlan left off. Morgarath is planning for a war with the kingdom and Will and Halt are following the trail. Spoiler alert, as the title suggests, Morgarath built a bridge and Will burns it down. The end. 

I want so badly to like this series. People in my life cherish it, but I just did not enjoy this book. The descriptions of battle practice were long and monotonous and there was an obvious subtle misogyny underscoring the entire story. 

The portrayal of women and girls in this series just infuriates me. If there was a woman ranger, I'd be all about it, but the women in this series all have soft roles--negotiator and cook (barf). Women in leadership roles in the kingdom are spoken to rudely and treated as if incompetent. Don't forget a nice dose of mansplaining as the cherry on top. Here's an example:

"I'll speak of her, all right! I'll tell you this. She's a woman meddling in a man's world, where she has no place. She should have found a husband years ago and raised a brood of squalling babies. Surely there's a deaf and half-blind man somewhere who would have ten her" (93). 

The worst part of this dialogue? Nowhere does anyone defend Pauline, the woman being spoken of and nowhere is this attitude refuted as despicable or even questionable. 

This book's target audience is boys age 10-12. If I had a son who wanted to read this series, I would let him because I'm anti-book banning BUT we would have a SERIOUS conversation about the toxic masculinity represented in these stories. 

Would I read it again?

NOPE

Recommended for: 

Maybe someone in gender studies looking for a series that overtly teaches young boys toxic masculinity.

Not Recommended for: 

Pretty much most decent human beings.

Word Bank (new-to-me vocabulary)

• cowl (p. 59)
• fenlands (p. 11)
• nocked (p. 82)
• recurve (p. 82)
• saxe (p. 41)
• sintered (p. 51)
• spurious (p. 93)
• tarpaulin (p. 68)
• triumvirate (p. 16)

1 star out of 5. 

John Flanagan's website: http://www.worldofjohnflanagan.com/

Previous Ranger's Apprentice books reviewed

The Ruins of Gorlan: http://thewritereader.blogspot.com/2017/08/108-rangers-apprentice-ruins-if-golan.html

Connect with me!

Instagram: @jdartagnanlove

Twitter: @jdartagnanlove

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8035862-j-d-artagnan

123. "Who in this Room" by Kathrine Malmo

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Malmo, Katherine. Who in This Room: The Realities of Cancer, Fish, and Demolition. Corvallis, OR: Calyx Books, 2011. Print.

134 pages

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

Who in the Room contains stories originally published in literary journals. These stories are seamlessly weaved together into a memoir of cancer and coping with its realities, as suggested by the subtitle. At age 32, Kate is diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer  and undergoes treatment. She develops a set of coping skills that takes her through her treatment. 

This book is a short, quick read but don't let that fool you. What it lacks in length, it makes up for in depth. Each chapter is a story within a story. The first story is the literal story of Kate's treatment process. The second story is usually a description of a coping method that also acts as a beautiful symbol or allegory for a different part of the many facets of being diagnosed with breast cancer. 

To me, reading Who in This Room felt like looking at a well cut diamond. There are lots of different surfaces and angles, all reflecting the light in unique and beautiful ways. I laughed, I cried, I was pissed off. I felt like a lived a lifetime in just 134 pages. 

Malmo experiments with point of view in this memoir, and while I don't think she quite pulled it off, I really admire writers who make a strong effort to try something new and add to their craft. 

Would I read it again?

Yes, yes and yes! This is going on my re-read shelf because it is one of the books where you get something different out of it each time you read it. 

Recommend for: Readers who have survived breast cancer or have a loved one going through the process. Readers who appreciate a memoir that will grab you by the feelings and hold on through the end.

Not recommended for: Reader who may be triggered by medical descriptions or readers who want something with a linear narrative. 

Word bank (new-to-me vocabulary)

• algal (p. 103)
• anadranous (p. 77)
• caddisfly (p. 88)
• icthyologist (p. 77)
• fluorocarbon (p. 79)
• gunite (p. 80)
• tippet (p. 84)

Kathrine Malmo's website: http://www.katherinemalmo.com/

Calyx Books: https://www.calyxpress.org/product-category/books/

My Youtube Review

Connect with me!

Instagram: @jdartagnanlove

Twitter: @jdartagnanlove

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8035862-j-d-artagnan

122. "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

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Forman, Gayle. If I Stay. New York: Speak, 2014. Print.
(Originally published in 2009)

Mia, a teenage cellist, is in a deadly car accident with her parents. She ends up in a coma and finds herself outside of her body, watching everything that goes on around her. She learns that it is up to her whether she stays alive or chooses to let go. 

I can't say much more than that without giving away some serious spoilers. Gayle Forman does an amazing job with pacing in this novel. The story is told in two timelines. The first timeline is Mia's current experience of being in the coma and existing outside her body watching everything doctor's do to keep her alive, and seeing all the loved ones who visit her. This is interwoven with well-timed flashbacks that allow the reader to learn about Mia's life, family, and dreams for her future. The timing between present reality and the flashbacks is perfect. There is just enough time spent in both to maintain tension but also create character depth and move the story forward. Well done, Gayle!

I do think that this book, especially the first third of the book, will be very triggering for anyone who has been in a severe car accident and/or lost loved ones in a severe car accident. There is a scene where Mia is walking around the crash site and describes some of the gore in such detail it made me queasy. I myself have lost loved ones in vehicle accidents and it was quite triggering and upsetting. I had to put the book down and take a break. Once I got past that first third of the book, I didn't feel triggered.

At the end of the novel, I felt like there was an opportunity missed. Forman had an opportunity to make a profound statement of some kind about life, death, love, or loss and she didn't take the leap. She mentioned embracing possibilities briefly, but it was a let down not to have some kind of final message or "moral of the story" to sit with and chew on. 

Would I read it again?
Maybe...probably not. Overall, I enjoyed this book and I will probably try to watch the film. I don't know that I enjoyed it enough to read any of Gayle Forman's other novels, though. 

Recommended for: Readers who enjoy an emotional drama that is well-paced with simple language.

Not recommended for: Readers who have been in severe vehicle accidents or who have lost loved ones in vehicle accidents.

Word Bank (New-to-me vocabulary)

• churlish (p. 94)
• foundling (p. 26)
• gauche (p. 26)
• hock (p. 47)
• trawl (p. 95)
• verve (p. 25)

Gayle Forman's Website: http://gayleforman.com/

The Film: If I Stay.
My Youtube Review

121. "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" by Laini Taylor

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Taylor, Laini. Daughter of Smoke and Bone. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2011. Print.

418 pages.

Reviewed by Jess d'Artagnan Love

Karou lives in Prague and where she leads a double life: in one life she is a young art student, and in the other, she works with her chimera family collecting teeth from around the world. The teeth are used by the mysterious Brimstone, essentially her father figure, and Karou is tasked with trying to figure out what really happens in Brimstone's shop. A monkey wrench is thrown in her plans when she meets Akiva, a Seraphim, and her portals to Brimstone's world are destroyed, leaving her stranded in the human realm. 

As I read the book, I found it a bit challenging to keep up with what the chimera look like. Chimera are half human and half animal and each chimera character is a different combination of the two. What I found most helpful, was leaving a post-it flag bookmark on pages of chimera descriptions that I could flip back to for reference. 

That being said, Laini Taylor is a true wordsmith and masterfully describes characters and settings. The way she painted Prague and the Poison Kitchen made me want to hop on a plane and head there to purchase some property--it is the exact kind of place I would love to be to sit and write. 

While Prague was expertly crafted, I definitely related to Karou's sense of spiritual "homelessness." She lives with a sense of not really having a "true" home where things just feel right and whole. I experienced this quite a bit throughout my life and have come to accept that "home" for me is in multiple places across the globe in the same way it is multiple realms for Karou. 

My biggest problem with Daughter of Smoke and Bone was the exceptionally long flashback toward the end of the book. The plot is a typical nonlinear plot that moves from past to present fairly seamlessly until the last third of the novel. In the last third of the novel there is a 75 page flashback. This was exhausting because through that entire 75 pages, I was still trying to maintain the tension created by the present-tense story line. While I understand why Taylor may have chosen to organize the flashback this way (which I will refrain from discussing due to spoilers), I also know there are better ways to handle this. This was my biggest issue with the novel and what kept me from giving 4 stars instead of 3. 

Aside from that, I really loved Taylor's prose. She used some wonderfully cozy animal metaphors and I particularly liked the metaphors she used with butterflies and cats. It created a little bit of hygge in the story that was warming and sweet. 

Would I read this book again? Yes. I am also planning on reading the next book in the series. 

Recommended for: Fans of YA urban fantasy. 

Not recommend for: Readers who don't enjoy fantasy.

3 darts/stars out of 5

Word Bank (new-to-me vocabulary)

• accretes (p. 410)
• atavism (p. 316)
• caracal (p. 362)
• chivvied (p. 81)
• concrescence (p. 391)
• demurral (p. 80)
• djellaba (p. 86)
• effulgent (p. 362)
• eidolon (p. 274)
• enfeeble (p. 199)
• fricative (p. 53)
• gnawa (p. 82)
• hummock (p. 267)
• ineffable (p. 196)
• ineluctable (p. 382)
• limned (p. 77)
• lintel (p. 196)
• medina (p. 78)
• menhirs (p. 112)
• moiling (p. 93)
• nacre (p. 410)
• rickrack (p. 109)
• rill (p. 381)
• sallies (p. 235)
• shrive (p. 172)
• spinnaker (p. 367)
• souks (p. 81)
• susurrous (p. 90)
• tadelakt (p. 299)
• tarboosh (p. 81)
• temerity (p. 193)
• thurible (p. 113)
• touts (p. 80)
• welter (p. 208)
• zelij (p. 299)

Laini Taylor's website: http://www.lainitaylor.com/

My Youtube review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2Dns_Gxfd8

120. "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

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Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Penguin Books, 2002 (originally 1813).

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

480 pages.

I am not a self-proclaimed fan of the romance genre, but I admit to really enjoying this classic romance. Jane Austen set the bar high for future romance writers. She builds tension so wonderfully that it even turned me, a nearly verifiable aromantic, into a big gurgling ball of mush. I guess she managed to get me to drop my prejudice regarding romance novels (womp, womp).

I feel like most people know the synopsis of a love story: love interests meet, a romance is kindled, something interferes with the romance to make it seem like "omigosh they will never be together now!" and then said obstacle is resolved and they can prance into the sunset smooching in the back of a carriage or something similar (ok, maybe she hasn't persuaded me to drop all of my prejudice about the genre). There are several love interests in this story which makes it extra tense: Bingley and Jane parallel Darcy and Elizabeth.There is much ado about money, and family status that cause trouble in this courtships and allows the story to follow that standard romance genre plot formula.

What I enjoyed the most reading this book was Austen's prose. She is witty and eloquent. For example, Jane Austen invented the humble brag. Well, maybe she didn't invent it but she was able to describe a humble brag with astute finesse: "'Nothing is more deceitful,' said Darcy, 'than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast'" (Austen, Loc 949). Only Austen could so eloquently and wittily describe what we commoners describe as the humble brag.

Since I read the book on my Kindle, I could easily look up language that was new to me and my vocabulary builder on the Kindle filled with new words I've never heard like: arrear, equipage, postilions, curricle, whist, and panegyric. 

While not life changing in any way, I fully understand why this book is so beloved and classified as a "classic." The story is timeless, entertaining, and thought provoking. I *may* give the romance genre another go having read this--no promises though. 

Recommended for: Pretty much anyone with a good reading proficiency. It's a classic that should be read at least once.

Not Recommend for: Readers who struggle with comprehension. If I had tried to read this in high school, I wouldn't have understood most of it as I wasn't as skilled a reader. Try it and see how it goes. If you're not there yet, just keep reading other things and challenging yourself. You'll get there eventually!

4.5 darts out of 5

119. "The Necklace" by Cheryl Jarvis

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Jarvis, Cheryl. The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experience that Transformed their Lives. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009.

222 pages.

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

I've joined a book club and this was the May 2018 pick. 

The Necklace tells the story of thirteen (mostly) white, upper middle class, middle aged women who buy a $30,000 necklace together. They each get the wear the necklace during their birthday month and have different experiences with it from sky diving, the lending it to a co-worker, to using it for a fundraiser. The group met once a month to hand off the necklace to the next wearer and discuss group business. Often these meetings turned hostile and produced in-fighting. 

That about sums it up. Each chapter of the book is dedicated to one of the thirteen women, none of whom, with *maybe* the exception of Mrs. VanGundy, would I really want to spend time with. I didn't really like these women, and I didn't really like this book. 

I suspect many of my issues with the women stem from the way they were characterized by Jarvis. She glosses over so many problematic issues. Why did certain members leave the group? Why are the women all described as just super fantastic, pretty, slim, gorgeous, and simply THE BEST when there was so much in-fighting in the group and clear political differences? Jarvis could have done SO MUCH MORE to humanize the women to be complex, interesting people instead of making them all sound like middle aged prom queens. 

The book did get me thinking more about the concepts of consumerism and ownership. Again though, Jarvis could have gone into so much more depth with these ideas but these too are merely mentioned and not explored in any thoughtful way.

Ultimately, I thought it was an interesting idea but the writing and composition was shoddily executed. It would have worked just as well as a magazine article than a full book. 

1.5 darts out of 5.

Recommend for: mehhhhhhhh......

Not Recommend for: Readers with a good sense of plot, expository, and characterization. Really, I just don't recommend this in general.