I am late to the game with this Readathon. I first saw it on Twitter on Deja (I hope I spelled her name right.) – Diary of a Reader‘s page. This is the third round of Mermaid-A-Thon. It is hosted by Fernando of Fernando’s Mermaid Books.
Dark World Challenges
Read a Book That Features War
Read a Book with a Badass Female Main Character
A Thousand Ships is a retelling of the Trojan War from a female perspective. Short listed for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, “A Thousand Ships gives voices to the women, girls and goddesses who, for so long, have been silent.”
Read a Book By a Black Author
Read a Predicted 5 star Read
In Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, “the Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.”
Read a Horror Middle Grade Book
Dead Voices is the spine tingling sequel to Katherine Arden’s Small Spaces. When I read this book a few years ago I got so swept up in the story that I forgot it was supposed to be a family read. LOL Looking forward to see where Arden takes Ollie and friends in this next chapter.
Read a Book with Revenge
In this first installment of Robert Pobi’s Lucas Page series, former FBI agent Lucas Page must find a sniper bent on revenge before his family find themselves in the sniper’s lens.
Lil and Frank married young, launched into courtship when they bonded over how they both—suddenly, tragically—lost a parent when they were children. Over time, their marriage grew and strengthened, with each still wishing for so much more understanding of the parents they’d lost prematurely.
Now, after many years in Boston, they have retired in North Carolina. There, Lil, determined to leave a history for their children, sifts through letters and notes and diary entries—perhaps revealing more secrets than Frank wants their children to know. Meanwhile, Frank has become obsessed with what might have been left behind at the house he lived in as a boy on the outskirts of town, where a young single mother, Shelley, is just trying to raise her son with some sense of normalcy. Frank’s repeated visits to Shelley’s house begin to trigger memories of her own family, memories that she’d rather forget. Because, after all, not all parents are ones you wish to remember.
Hieroglyphics reveals the difficulty of ever really knowing the intentions and dreams and secrets of the people who raised you. In her deeply layered and masterful novel, Jill McCorkle deconstructs and reconstructs what it means to be a father or a mother, and what it means to be a child piecing together the world all around us, a child learning to make sense of the hieroglyphics of history and memory.
Review
Hieroglyphics opens as a character study of three generations of people not necessarily connected by family, but related by home. Lil and Frank are an older couple returning to their hometown in the winter of their lives. Shelley is a single mother of two boys Jason and Harvey. She and Harvey live alone in Frank’s childhood home.
We get a very good sense of Lil through her collection of letters and odd bits of history that she leaves about the house. Of all the characters her voice was the one resonated with me the most. I felt nostalgic at times even though she is not of my generation nor is her story my story. I was just pulled in by the love that she showed her family, her inner strength and her loyalty.
Frank is an archaeologist who investigates “graves and caves” in search of clues of long gone civilizations. But the past that he is really trying to decipher is his own.
Shelley works as a stenographer who is beset by the current case that she is transcribing. It is a high profile murder case where she over identifies with the victim. As she listens to testimony it triggers flashbacks of her past traumas. This intense anxiety is causing her to reflect on different aspects of her life. Not only forcing her to revisit her mistakes of the past, but to also reevaluate her decisions as a parent.
Poor Harvey thinks their home is haunted. There is a ghost that lingers at night and causes him to wet the bed. He has a vivid imagination. When he puts on one of his fake mustaches he could be either a sentient adult or a superhero known as Super Monkey. His superpower is that he can talk serial killers out of doing wrong and turn them onto the path of all that is moral and good. All of these are symptoms of his overriding fears – his sensitivity over his cleft lip, his abandonment by his father and his awareness of his mother’s grief and distress.
When I was a student I found that picking a title that encapsulated the heart of my story was perhaps one of the hardest tasks of writing. So now as an adult whenever I read a book I try to figure out why the author chose the title and its significance. After reading Hieroglyphics I came up with two justifications for the name.
Hieroglyphics are an ancient code of pictures that tell a story. Each of the characters encode their experiences. Shelley uses shorthand while transcribing her cases. Harvey and his brother trade secrets in Klingon. Lil reminisces over her mother’s unique sort of jargon. She and Frank share secret words so if one dies first they can “send messages” through the living.
Hieroglyphics are a language that informs the past. Here the past can be bittersweet with characters at times examining their lives through experiences of death and catastrophe. As Lil helps her daughter prepare for her wedding she is reminded of her own. Although her own mother was taken before she wed Frank she feels blessed to share this moment with her daughter and remembers how tragedy brought her and Frank together.
Take your time reading this book. It is subtle. It is sublime. If I had to sum Hieroglyphics up in one sentence I would say that it was a heartfelt, bittersweet examination of the legacy we leave behind for those we love. Highly recommend.
Meet the Author
Jill McCorkle’s first two novels were released simultaneously when she was just out of college, and the New York Times called her “a born novelist.” Since then, she has published six novels and four collections of short stories, and her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories several times, as well as The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Five of her books have been New York Times Notable books, and her most recent novel, Life After Life, was a New York Times bestseller. She has received the New England Booksellers Award, the John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature, and the North Carolina Award for Literature. She has written for the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Garden and Gun, the Atlantic, and other publications. She was a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in Fiction at Harvard, where she also chaired the department of creative writing. She is currently a faculty member of the Bennington College Writing Seminars and is affiliated with the MFA program at North Carolina State University.
1. :a gentle sheen or soft glow, especially that of a partly reflective surface.
2. a: a glow of light from within : LUMINOSITY the luster of the stars; b: an inner beauty : RADIANCE
3 : a superficial attractiveness or appearance of excellence
I have a hard time putting into words what I think about this book. I didn’t really like the characters and I found the story sad. There is quite a bit of social commentary though. Now please understand that a book does not need likeable characters to be a good book. There are some books where the only reason why I read them is because of the bad@$$ antagonist. Sometimes you need a character you love to hate to drive the novel. But Luster is not that type of novel. All the characters are suffering and throughout the book we see them archiving their loneliness and sorrow in different ways. It doesn’t matter what skin they are in – young, old, black, white, rich or poor — there is pain and desolation here. And you wait a long time for Edie to find her inner beauty and shine. In the end she discovers more about who she is, but she has not come full circle yet.
As I was reading there were sentences that stopped me in my tracks. All I could say is “Wow! That’s deep!” There was poetry in the language and a depth of understanding the human condition. Then there were other times where I felt that the text was too cerebral. I felt that the writing got in the way of emoting the feelings.
From this debut it is obvious that Raven Leilani is very talented and creative. I am interested in seeing what she does next.
Raven Leilani
Raven‘s debut novel, Luster, is forthcoming from FSG August 2020. Her work has been published in Granta, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Yale Review, Conjunctions, The Cut, and New England Review, among other publications. She completed her MFA at NYU. Represented by Ellen Levine @ Trident. You can reach her at @RavenLeilani
This is my third book by Alice Feeney. I absolutely loved Sometimes I lie and couldn’t help but rave about it. Her second novel, I Know Who You Are was a completely different matter. I ended up giving it two stars. EEK! So when this book popped up I was hesitant to buy it. I did not know if it was safe to be excited. Then I saw it on NetGalley’s “Listen Now” shelf and figured I would give it a whirl. For those of you who haven’t already heard – – NetGalley now offers audiobooks!
I have to say that this was the perfect match-up. Alice Feeney has redeemed herself in my eyes and delivered a knock out punch. Richard Armitage and Stephanie Racine gave wonderful narrations of their characters.
The title His & Hers stems from the old adage “There are always three sides to a story – yours, mine and the truth”. So when I first saw that we were being given the story from the perspectives of Detective Jack Harper and his ex wife Anna Andrews who is a reporter, I wasn’t sure if the story was going to delve into a “he said – she said” rendition of what happened to their marriage. But it is a murder mystery and both Jack and Anna have connections to the victims. Both are trying to work the case, but from different angles, and sometimes with opposing motivations. Their past relationship sometimes gets in the way of solving the case as do their many secrets.
Who is telling us the truth? Are either of them guilty?
His & Hers kept me guessing and the third mysterious voice lent to the intrigue. Although it took me a bit to get into the novel, once I was in I was hooked. And let’s just say that twist was delicious. (*Chef’s kiss*)
You’re not alone. Someone’s waiting. Someone’s watching…Someone’s listening.
In SOMEONE’S LISTENING(Graydon House Books; July 28; $16.99) Dr. Faith Finley has everything she’s ever wanted: she’s a renowned psychologist, a radio personality—host of the wildly popular “Someone’s Listening with Dr. Faith Finley”—and a soon-to-be bestselling author. She’s young, beautiful, and married to the perfect man, Liam.
Of course Liam was at Faith’s book launch with her. But after her car crashes on the way home and she’s pulled from the wreckage, nobody can confirm that Liam was with her at the party. The police claim she was alone in car, and they don’t believe her when she says otherwise. Perhaps that’s understandable, given the horrible thing Faith was accused of doing a few weeks ago.
And then the notes start arriving—the ones literally ripped from the pages of Faith’s own self-help book on leaving an abusive relationship. Ones like “Secure your new home. Consider new window and door locks, an alarm system, and steel doors…”
Where is Liam? Is his disappearance connected to the scandal that ruined Faith’s life? Who is sending the notes? Faith’s very life will depend on finding the answers.
Review
Faith Finley is a successful psychologist with her own radio show named “Someone’s Listening”. She has built a reputation for helping the abused escape from their dangerous relationships. Her whole world comes tumbling down when a former patient accuses her of sexual misconduct. Although this type of delusional behavior fits his pathology, doctor-patient privilege prevents Faith from using his diagnosis to defend herself. As the news outlets increase their coverage she sees bits of her life being wrestled away from her. So when her husband Liam disappears the night of her book signing it is no surprise that detectives assume he has flown the coop.
Her credibility shot, Faith knows that she is on her own. If she wants answers into Liam’s disappearance she needs to get them herself. Throughout her dogged pursuit Faith proves herself to be relentless and reckless. I struggled with her character at times. Even though I applauded her persistence, I felt that as an educated smart woman she made some really stupid decisions. When she started calling Carter after his accusations went live, I could have reached into the kindle and smacked her. I just felt like someone should have been there to knock some sense into her. But ultimately she chased down the leads that no one else would.
For a debut mystery novel, Seraphina Nova Glass does a fine job of introducing doubt into the cast of characters’s motives. She offers up many suspects to keep readers guessing. And I have to say, if a book gets you so invested in the character that you fell the need to intervene as you would on behalf of a friend that says a lot about the novel’s character development and relatability. I look forward to reading Seraphina Nova Glass’s next novel The Seduction which is scheduled to be released Summer 2021.
Meet the Author
Seraphina Nova Glass is a professor and Playwright-in-Residence at the University of Texas-Arlington, where she teaches Film Studies and Playwriting. She holds an MFA in playwriting from Smith College, and has optioned multiple screenplays to Hallmark and Lifetime. Someone’s Listening is her first novel.
“On the Road” is a short story from Nnedi Okorafor’s Kabu Kabu collection. Chioma is a visiting her family in Nigeria. Shortly after arriving the town is hit with torrential rains in which should have been their dry season. As soon as the rain stops you have this young man come to her door. His head is bashed in. Chioma can see the blood matter. For all intents and purposes this young man should not be alive. He should not be able to walk or talk. But there he is, the monster at her door. And she lets him in.
Over the next few days Chioma senses she is being followed. There is a strange odor wafting through her house and she seems to possess a strange magnetism for the town’s lizards. She has no idea what she has awoken or what fate awaits her. But the elders of the town seem to know something. As Chioma gets thinner and weaker the women of the village prepare for what’s to come.
Okorafor does a great job with the build up. She certainly had me anxious and it definitely did not help that I was reading this story at 3 am on a rainy day when the house and neighborhood were fast asleep. Like Binti, I found that I fell right into the story and the pages of this fantasy came to life. As with the majority of Okorafor’s work After the Rain is centered on African mythology.
Agbogo-Mmuo, 1972 by Ben Enwonwu (1917-1994)
For the most part the graphic novel is true to “On the Road” with a few departures for clarity’s sake. I loved the artwork by David Brame and found that his illustrations really do make the story leap off the page.
David Brame; After the Rain
I am hoping that this is a superhero origin story and that there will be a spin off or sequel to After the Rain. My only complaint with the galley was that the font was very fine and pixelated. Had I not had a copy of Kabu Kabu to read, I would have been very upset as there was no way that I would have been able get the story with the little bit that I could read. As I’m sure this will be rectified by the final printing I am not deducting any stars from my rating.
With 571 pages read Day 3 was my most productive day so far!
I decided to switch out His & Hers for the “Read a book entirely outside your house.” The weather has been very uncooperative switching between heat wave and thunderstorm.
Instead, I read the short story “On the Road” and completed Nnedi Okorafor’s graphic novel “After the Rain”.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
I read 49 pages of Paris Never Leaves you during Twitter Sprint.
But as Louise Erdrich’s The Night Watchman was calling my name, I abandoned everything else to finish it.
What was the hardest challenge you’ve ever done for a read-a-thon?
My hardest challenge was to read a book about a podcast. At that time I had not heard of any books with podcasts in them although I did enjoy listening to Serial at work. In the end I read Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski which is comprised of six episodes in the manner of Serial. Each episode tells another character’s side of the story, removing layer by layer the mystery surrounding the death of Tom Jeffries.
I have since read several books with podcasts that I enjoy.
Two sisters – one dead, one missing – and a radio personality obsessed with finding her before it is too late. Sadie was one of the best reads for me in 2018. Since reading this book I started picking up Courtney Summers other titles and I have yet to be disappointed. If you would like to listen to the podcast “The Girls” featured in the novel just click the link.
Rachel Krall is the host of “Guilty or Not Guilty” a true crime podcast that asks the listener to be the judge. Her first season ended up in a conviction reversal for a man accused of rape. Now Rachel’s attention is focused on the high profile rape case of a rising star athlete bound for the Olympics. The small town of Neapolis is divided. Half believe the teenage girl. The other half feel as if she saw is trying to bring their golden son down. Either way no one really seems to want Rachel in town. That is besides the woman who has been surreptitiously leaving her notes about a death that occurred 25 years ago.
The Night Swim was a fast paced read that delved into society’s view on rape, consent and how we judge our victims and perpetrators.
This was my first completed book for Reading Rush 2020.
I am so very grateful for Lia Ferrone and her continued support of this blog. Thank you so much for sending me such wonderful reads!
Synopsis
Detective team A.L. McKittridge and Rena Morgan are back on their beat after solving the brutal Baywood serial killings, but crime doesn’t rest for long in their small Wisconsin town. In book two of Beverly Long’s electrifying A.L. McKittridge series, NO ONE SAW (MIRA Mass Market Paperback; June 30, 2020; $7.99), a child seemingly vanishes from a day care into thin air and A.L. and Rena must race to bring her home before time runs out.
Baywood police department detective A.L. McKittridge is no stranger to tough cases, but when five-year-old Emma Whitman disappears from her day care, there isn’t a single shred of evidence to go on. There are no witnesses, no trace of where she might have gone. There’s only one thing A.L. and his partner, Rena Morgan, are sure of—somebody is lying.
With the clock ticking, A.L. and Rena discover their instincts are correct: all is not as it seems. The Whitmans are a family with many secrets, and A.L. and Rena must untangle a growing web of lies if they’re going to find the thread that leads them to Emma… before it’s too late.
Review
No One Saw opens with the disappearance of a young girl from her daycare center. Her grandmother swears she handed her off to the teacher. Her teacher is adamant that young Emma Whitman never arrived at school. No one seems to have seen her. As far as Rena and A.L. can guess everyone is lying about something. Emma’s parents. Her grandmother. Her teacher. The principal. Everyone has something to hide. Are any of these secrets motive enough to kidnap a 5 year old in broad daylight? Will Morgan and McKittridge find Emma in time? The clock is ticking and the odds of finding her safe and alive diminish with each passing second.
My introduction to Beverly Long came with Ten Days Gone, the first book in this series. I was really taken by both Morgan and McKittridge as characters and loved their dynamic. So I was really excited when Lia Ferrone at Mira Books invited me onto this blog tour. Although the camaraderie and rapport between the two detectives is what brings me back to this series, I do not feel that it is necessary to read the books in order. Long gives enough background to convey the detectives’s relationship and personal lives. With her deft hand this information does not come across as redundant for those of us continuing with the series. All in all, both books are great police procedurals and will leave even the discerning reader satisfied.
Meet the Author
Beverly Long’s writing career has spanned more than two decades and twenty novels, including TEN DAYS GONE, the first book of her A.L. McKittridge series. She writes romantic suspense with sexy heroes and smart heroines. She can often be found with her laptop in a coffee shop with a cafe au lait and anything made with dark chocolate by her side.
First of all I would like to thank Lia Ferrone at Harlequin Trade Publishing for inviting me on to this blog tour. This is How I Lied was a thrilling page turner that kept me up all night.
Synopsis
With the eccentricity of Fargo and the intensity of Sadie, THIS IS HOW I LIED by Heather Gudenkauf (Park Row Books; May 12, 2020; $17.99) is a timely and gripping thriller about careless violence we can inflict on those we love, and the lengths we will go to make it right, even 25 years later.
Tough as nails and seven months pregnant, Detective Maggie Kennedy-O’Keefe of Grotto PD, is dreading going on desk duty before having the baby her and her husband so badly want. But when new evidence is found in the 25-year-old cold case of her best friend’s murder that requires the work of a desk jockey, Maggie jumps at the opportunity to be the one who finally puts Eve Knox’s case to rest.
Maggie has her work cut out for her. Everyone close to Eve is a suspect. There’s Nola, Eve’s little sister who’s always been a little… off; Nick, Eve’s ex-boyfriend with a vicious temper; a Schwinn riding drifter who blew in and out of Grotto; even Maggie’s husband Sean, who may have known more about Eve’s last day than he’s letting on. As Maggie continues to investigate, the case comes closer and closer to home, forcing her to confront her own demons before she can find justice for Eve.
Review
I’ve been having trouble concentrating lately. How to entertain my children while stay at home orders are in place. The uncertainty of our household finances as our jobs take on different dimensions. The fear of what will be waiting for us on the other side of this pandemic – what world we will be stepping out into. I say this to say that as a bibliophile reading is usually my therapy, my escape from the travails of life. Recently I find that most books haven’t been able to clear the clouds that are in my head. But Heather Gudenkauf’s This is How I Lied was able to transport me to another place. For a moment (or a fast-paced thrilling day), I had a reprieve. My mind was in small town Grotto with pregnant deputy Maggie Kennedy- O’Keefe.
New evidence has popped up in the murder case of her best friend Eve Knox. Maggie’s emotions surrounding the case are further compounded by the fact that it was she who discovered the body 25 years ago. This was a bit of a sticking point for me. I had some trouble suspending disbelief here because we all know in real life this wouldn’t happen. Maggie was too involved with the victim and too involved with the case to be considered for the assignment. But let’s face it the real world sucks right now so I’m down for making exceptions. If you think that Maggie is intriguing, wait until you meet Eve’s baby sister Nora. She is a nut I’m sure you would like to crack. Her character adds many suspenseful moments and plenty of twists and turns. I wonder if she will pop up in any of Gudenkauf’s future work. I certainly would read anything with her in it.
Meet the Author
Heather Gudenkauf is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of many books, including The Weight of Silence and These Things Hidden. Heather graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in elementary education, has spent her career working with students of all ages. She lives in Iowa with her husband, three children, and a very spoiled German Shorthaired Pointer named Lolo. In her free time, Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading, hiking, and running.
Carry a Big Book 