Year 4, week 15: Lovecraft Country

This week's book:
Lovecraft Country
By Matt Ruff 

This week's book the hubby and I read together while I nursed the baby. We had seen a commercial for it on HBO and the plot looked intriguing. I didn’t know anything about the novels of H.P. Lovecraft, but my husband is more into science fiction than I am so I thought he might get a kick out of the novel as well. 

The novel is a mix of sci-fi and horror as it dives into Jim Crow era racism throughout America. The book is broken into different sections about different characters' stories, kind ok like little vignettes if you will. If I had been thinking I should have stopped us after each “story” and had us write about it, but I just didn't think of it. Due to our two older children NEVER wanting to go to sleep it took us quite a bit longer to read the book, but we finally finished it. 

I am going to be honest here, I sometimes struggle with trying to understand/see what is going on sometimes in sci-fi or fantasy novels. I don't know if my brain just doesn't understand what the author is explaining or those types of ideas aren’t at the ready when I am trying to imagine the plot in my head. I have been dying to watch the show and I'm sure I will enjoy it, and finally see what I was missing when the Hubs was reading the book to the babe and I. 

P.S. The hubs and I "watched" the show. I say "watched" because I kept falling asleep. When I wasn't falling asleep I was confused as all get out. The show was just different enough from the book that I didn't know what was going on. I have to say it was a hard pass for the book and show.

Notes from the Hubby: I thoroughly enjoyed the book myself. The novel takes place in the early 1950s and follows Atticus Turner, a young Korean War veteran and avid science-fiction reader, as well as his family and close friends. Each of the novel's short stories centers around a different character, with the final chapter bringing everyone together for the big finale.

Each story focuses on a character and their interactions with a group of mysterious sorcerers called The Order of the Ancient Dawn. Every story explores a different sci-fi or horror theme (mysterious deadly creatures, a haunted house, a heist for an artifact locked in a museum, a strange portal to other worlds, a Jekyll & Hyde style body transformation, contact with ghosts, a magical curse, and a ritual to grant immortality). Each of these sci-fi/horror themes are intertwined with the Jim Crow racism common during the era.

After finishing the novel, we binged through the HBO series based on it. The show definitely had its moments, but overall I liked the book better. I really liked the first few episodes, and a couple others here and there, but there were several changes from the book that I just didn't like: character deaths, some real WTF moments that were introduced, and a few scenes I was looking forward to seeing on TV that were completely changed.

Year 4, week 14: 11/22/63

This week's book:
11/22/63
By Stephen King

Apologies that this post is late, but this week has gotten away from me. The anniversary of the assassination of JFK is in a few days from now, so I thought I would do my review of this long novel by Stephen King. This novel is the second longest book I think I have ever read and shocker, IT was the first, both by King. I bought this novel years ago and never could convince myself to read it, because it's over a thousand pages. I finally broke down and read/listened to it earlier this month. 

If you didn't already know, I am a fan of Stephen King. I haven't read all of his work, but I have definitely read more then a few of his books. Right after this novel came out, I bought it for my dad. He had been kind of a downer about his birthday. Saying he was getting old and he really was too old to read anything over three hundred pages. Well, being the smart ass that I am, I thought to myself, "I'm going to be a little shit and give him a big book that he's going to enjoy just to spite him". I also knew for a fact my dad was also going to like the book. He normally gives my sister and I book ideas for birthdays/holidays, but I went out on a limb with this one. 

The story is of an English teacher who goes back in time to stop JFK from getting killed. My dad loves time travel, is a professor and loves JFK, so perfect match Right? There was a Hulu miniseries I think or movie, but I haven't seen it, so I can't say if it's good or a great telling of the book. 

I would recommend the novel for sure, but wow is it long. 

Year 4, week 13: Nina Tanlevin mystery series

During the month of October, the husband and I decided to read the following book series to the kids to enjoy some ghost themed books for Halloween. 

The Ghost in the Third Row
By Bruce Coville

I loved this book when I was in middle school. I remember checking this book out more than once from the library. The story is of a girl named Nina (Nine) Tanlevin, who is performing in a community theater play one summer. She makes best friends with a girl named Chris and they meet a ghost of an actress that has been in the theater for fifty years after her death. Fun tidbit: the book is based in Syracuse, and my cousin in law is a major set designer at Syracuse University and their community theater, such a small world. As I have said before, I loved this book as a girl, so I would recommend this book. 

The Ghost Wore Gray
By Bruce Coville

I had started this book at some point as a girl, but had never finished the book. This book isn't quite as good as the first book plot-wise, but still not bad. This instalment is about Nine going with her father and Chris for the summer to an inn while Nine's father is remodeling it. Chris and Nine meet the ghost of a Confederate soldier, and the book discusses The Underground Railroad, which I think is good for children to learn about and gave my husband and I a chance to talk to the kids about. Other than the stupid name of the inn (The Quackadoodle) it's not a half bad story. 

The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed
By Bruce Coville

This is the third book in the series. Nine and Chris meet a few ghosts in this book. The story in this book is about World War I and the influenza pandemic shortly thereafter that killed so many people, which iss very timely with what's going on right now. There is an artist and a sickly little girl and Nine and Chris try to help them. This book is definitely the weakest of the trilogy and deals with some really heavy topics for a kids book, but I'm still glad we all read it together. 

Year 4, week 12: Bringing Down the Duke

This week's book:
Bringing Down the Duke
By Evie Dunmore

I read this week's book a few weeks ago, but I wanted to do all spooky/Halloween books for the month of October, and I also wanted to write this review closer to the election. 

A lot of people had shared that they loved this historical romance, even if they didn't love romance novels. This book is the story of a suffragette and her friends working to get the women's vote in England. She tries to work with a Duke so he will back women voting; he is opposed to the idea. Then, of course, they fall in love and the rest is history. 

I had a hard time connecting to the plot, perhaps because I had a constant loop of Mrs. Banks from the original Mary Poppins singing "Sister Suffragette" in my head the whole time I was reading the book. As romance novels go it was... meh? It was okay I guess, just not my favorite. 

Why I wanted to post this around the election was that it is one hundred years ago that women got the right to vote in America. This year (really ever time really) it is so important to vote. Women fought and died for the right to vote, so go out and vote.