hearth/myth: Rursday Reads

A place for me to talk about the books - mostly indie books - that I've read and enjoyed. Looking for a weekend read? Here you go.

The Oddfits (Oddfits #1) - Tiffany Tsao

The Oddfits (The Oddfits Series Book 1) - Tiffany Tsao

The Oddfits is an oddly charming story of a young man who finds his place in the world almost by accident.

Murgatroyd Floyd is eight years old, a blond-haired, blue-eyed Singaporean boy. He loves his English expat parents, never noticing how cruel they are to him. He's bullied at school, and his only escape is an ice cream shop whose owner takes a shine to him. For the ice-cream shop owner, Yusuf bin Hassim, senses that he and Murgatroyd share a special ability: they are Oddfits, who can travel from everyday reality, or the Known World, to a place called the More Known World.

Due to a twist of fate, Murgatroyd loses his chance to meet his destiny and continues living in Singapore. At 25, he's still living with his parents, who still treat him poorly; he works for a restaurant, but the owner almost treats him worse than his parents do; his best friend is not as good a friend as he could be; and Murgatroyd continues to be oblivious to it all. Then, at last, he meets another Oddfit, and is finally given the chance to travel to the More Known World. But leaving turns out to be harder for Murgatroyd than it should be -- because none of the people he's closest to want to lose their doormat.

Tsao gives her speculative-fiction piece a literary turn. Nearly every character has a backstory, and the action often skids to a halt while the author spends a page or two describing someone we've just met. Not that the book is particularly action-packed; the pivotal scene is almost a tableau, as Murgatroyd's parents sit motionless while their son finally figures out what's been going on all his life.

Still, it's a charming book. Murgatroyd is a nice guy, and I was pulling for him hard at the end.

If you're the sort of reader who likes roundabout tales with quirky characters, you might enjoy The Oddfits. And if you end up liking it a lot, you'll be glad to know that more volumes in the series are on the way.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/03/the-oddfits-oddfitts-1-tiffany-tsao.html

Angelo's Journey - Leland Dirks and Angelo Dirks

Angelo's Journey: A Border Collie's Quest for Home - Angelo Dirks, Leland Dirks

As it happens, it was six years ago this month that Angelo, Leland Dirks' Border Collie, went walkabout for 40 days. Angelo had come to Dirks four years before, on the day after his beloved Suki was killed by a car, and brought him through his grief. Dirks and Angelo became inseparable. And then, one day, Angelo disappeared.

Grief-stricken all over again, Dirks spent days searching far and wide for his dog. And then he did what writers do in this day and age: he began a blog about his missing dog. Little did he know that Angelo was keeping his own sort of journal, and when man and dog were reunited (with the help of a UPS delivery man), Angelo helped Dirks fill in the blanks.

Okay, not really. I'm pretty sure Dirks made up a lot of Angelo's adventures. Then again, this dog had already rescued one human; who's to say he wouldn't have been saving others while trying to find his way back home?

Leland Dirks is one of my favorite writers. If you like good storytelling, or dogs, or uplifting stories, or...oh, heck. Just read this book. You'll love it.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/03/angelos-journey-leland-dirks-and-angelo.html

Goody One Shoe - Julie Frayn

Goody One Shoe - Julie Frayn

It's the first Rursday of the month, which means it's my monthly date with the Indies Unlimited 2016 Reading Challenge. This month, I'm supposed to read a book by an author who lives in another country. Canada's not all that foreign to me, but it's not the United States -- which means Julie Frayn's Goody One Shoe qualifies.

Goody One Shoe is superhero fiction. Billie Fullalove lost her leg as a child. She and her parents were at the wrong place at the wrong time -- they stumbled across a team of street punks in the commission of a crime. Billie's father pulled out his police badge and tried to stop them, and one of the punks opened fire, killing both of Billie's parents and shooting off her leg.

Despite her last name, Billie grows up full of anger, fear, and self-doubt. She copes by taking her red pen to crime stories in the paper, adding endings in which the criminals get what's coming to them. Then she begins to have odd blackouts -- and at the same time, some of the crooks she's written about get what she gave them in her rewrites. Billie has to figure out who's been looking over her shoulder, and what to do about it.

If Billie were only a cranky victim out for justice, I would have tired of the book in a hurry. But Frayn has imbued her with heart -- and a wicked sense of humor, too. I found myself pulling for Billie every step of the way.  I hope Frayn is planning on writing more of Billie's adventures. This could be the first of a great series.

 

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/03/goody-one-shoe-julie-frayn.html

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, 50th Anniversary Edition - Harper Lee

A few weeks ago, I admitted on Facebook that I'd never read To Kill a Mockingbird. Several people I respect told me that I ought to, because it's a wonderful novel. So I ordered a copy.

Little did I know how timely our discussion was. Harper Lee died a week ago, on February 19th, 2016.

I won't do a big rehash of the plot, as I suspect it's pretty well ingrained in the American zeitgeist by now, but here's the elevator pitch: Eight-year-old Scout learns a lot about life in her small Alabama hometown when her father, Atticus Finch, is appointed to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman.

I have to tell you that I nearly set the book aside -- the first few chapters were pleasant, but didn't really hold my interest. (Although I suspect I would have been more interested had I known that Truman Capote was Lee's model for Dill.) It wasn't until Chapter 9 or so, when Atticus's defense of Tom Robinson began to seep into the kids' awareness, that the story began to get interesting for me. I found the trial to be fascinating but its outcome unsurprising -- although the final outcome of Tom's story did catch me by surprise.

As a writer, I admire the way Lee began the book with Jem's broken arm, and then made me forget all about them until the big reveal toward the end. And I thought she did a great job with making each character identifiable, despite the size of the cast.

I suspect I've come to the book too late in life to consider it a touchstone or moral guidebook, as some readers do; I came to Scout's conclusions about race on my own, decades ago. But I found To Kill a Mockingbird captured its place and time quite well, and I can see now why it got the attention it did as the civil rights movement of the '60s was getting underway. Highly recommended for those who want to know what mid-century America was like, back before we tried to kid ourselves about how we're a post-racial society.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/02/to-kill-mockingbird-harper-lee.html

Incontinence Man - KS Brooks and Nicholas Forristal

Incontinence Man - Nicholas Forristal, K.S. Brooks, K.S. Brooks

I'm not much of a connoisseur of graphic novels, but I thought Incontinence Man was a gas.

Oh, all right. I'll try to avoid bathroom humor in the rest of my review, even though the book is full of it.

Our hero, Luke Payne of Payne Manor, is a rich playboy whose days as a crimefighter in disguise are numbered, due to some rather severe gastro-intestinal issues. His trusted servant Alfreda makes him a deal he can't refuse: see a doctor, and she'll make him a new costume in poop brown (to hide the inevitable mishap). And just in time, too, because there's a new supervillain in town -- and the crafty creature might have ties to Luke's doctor. (Gasp!)

It's clear Brooks and Forristal had a ball creating this Batman send-up. The artwork started out as real photos that were cartoonified. And if you've never read a graphic novel on a Kindle, you may be pleased to know that Amazon has built in a pop-up feature that isolates each dialogue balloon and presents them to you in order. That's a boon to those of us who find ourselves somewhat challenged when reading comics. Not that I ever have that problem.

Incontinence Man Number One was such a fun read that I'm hoping Number Two is already in the works. (Sorry, I couldn't resist one more.)

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/02/incontinence-man-ks-brooks-and-nicholas.html

Sonnets for Heidi - Melissa Bowersock

Sonnets for Heidi - Melissa Bowersock

Sonnets for Heidi is a heartfelt tale in which what-might-have-been becomes a way forward.

Trish has a lot on her plate. She lives in the San Fernando Valley with her boyfriend Eric; they have a great relationship, but Trish had an abusive first marriage and is leery of getting married again. She is also coping with the recent death of her mother -- and the responsiblity for her aunt Heidi that her mother's death has thrust upon her. Trish feels guilty about putting Heidi into a care home, even though Heidi has Alzheimer's and the care home is a great situation for her. Still, she does her best for Heidi, which is more than the woman's son has ever done for her.

Then suddenly, Heidi too dies. And in going through her aunt's things, Trish stumbles onto a family secret -- one that will take her back to her hometown in Pennsylvania, and will introduce her to a woman Heidi never forgot.

Bowersock is a wonderful writer, and here she has brought her characters to life in a kind and loving way. My mother suffered from dementia before she died, and I recognized many of Heidi's behaviors as the coping skills they were -- and I felt for Trish, who always seemed to cope with them with grace. And the way she honored her aunt's memory at the end was marvelous.

I highly recommend Sonnets for Heidi for any reader who enjoys character studies of strong women, and for those who need to be reminded of how oppressed women were in the first half of the 20th century.

***
I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book, and am providing an honest review in exchange.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/02/sonnets-for-heidi-melissa-bowersock.html

By Darkness Revealed (Blackwell Magic #1) - Kevin O. McLaughlin

By Darkness Revealed - Kevin O. McLaughlin

This week, I'm reviewing my second book in the Indies Unlimited 2016 Reading Challenge. This month's goal is to read a book by someone who is not an IU minion, but who often comments at IU. I've chosen Kevin O. McLaughlin's By Darkness Revealed because I've never read any of his work previously and had been meaning to.

This urban fantasy novella begins with Ryan Blackwell, a freshman at a military school, running a drill with his unit. Something odd happens to a fellow recruit, and Blackwell can see it's a magical attack by some sort of teeny critters -- otherworldly gnats, maybe -- so he goes back to rescue the young man. Blackwell hasn't been keen on others knowing about his special powers, but his platoon leader figures it out -- and soon our hero has more trouble on his hands than he ever bargained for: dead students, interviews with the local police, and a malevolent spirit that wants to kill him.

I enjoyed this book, but I wanted more. The author left a number of things unexplained: the mysterious gardener, the nature of the dispute between Ryan and his father, and how Ryan came to have special powers in the first place. McLaughlin also has an unfortunate tendency to mix up to lay and to lie -- although I'm willing to blame that on the first-person narrator. Otherwise, the book is well-written and the magic is coherently structured. And I suppose some of the things I was left wondering about might be explained in later books.

I'd recommend By Darkness Revealed as a quick read for urban fantasy fans who don't mind a little military-school terminology mixed in with their critters that go bump in the night.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/02/by-darkness-revealed-blackwell-magic.html

Creepier by the Dozen: Twelve Twisted Tales - Stephen Hise, Cole Hise, Anneliese Hise

Creepier by the Dozen: Twelve Twisted Tales - Stephen Hise,  Coleman Hise,  Anneliese Hise

This book is truly a family affair. Stephen Hise and two of his children, Cole and Annaliese, pulled together twelve of their best short horror stories and put them together in this anthology.

I'm not a fan of the blood-and-guts variety of horror stories, and I was relieved to discover that very little of that appears in this book. Instead, these stories are meant to give you a little shiver, as if perhaps someone walked across your grave.

Among my favorites was the fifth tale, "Guardian," about two kids and a dog that could have been better socialized. The ending of that one rattled me. Then there was "GPS," the seventh tale, a ghost-in-the-machine story with a satisfying ending.

I would recommend Creepier by the Dozen to anyone who likes a shiver on a dark winter night.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/01/creepier-by-dozen-twelve-twisted-tales.html

Grendel - John Gardner

Grendel - John Gardner

I'm embarrassed to admit that I had never read this fantasy classic until after I heard it recommended twice in one day at last year's World Fantasy Convention.

Most English-speaking readers are familiar with Beowulf. Even if it wasn't foisted upon you in a high school or college English class, most people have at least heard of it: the eleventh-century epic poem that was among the first, if not the first, instance of English literature. The story, set in Scandinavia, tells of a monster that terrorizes a local lord's hall until Beowulf, our hero, comes from across the sea to slay it. Once he does, the monster's mother comes after Beowulf, seeking revenge.

The monster's name is Grendel -- and in Gardner's book, he tells the story from Grendel's point of view. But Grendel is the narrator here, not just the main character, and he is caught in an existential morass -- forced by fate to attack these people over and over again:

I understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I pus against, blindly -- as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. I create the whole universe, blink by blink.

Well, he's young. As he grows older, he visits a dragon (a very funny scene), and takes the dragon's philosophy to heart. Eventually, destiny catches up with him in the form of Beowulf, as we all knew it would, and the ending scene echoes the story's beginning, as the wheel of time turns and the world moves on.

While it's always interesting to read a famous story from the villain's point of view (see Gregory Maguire's Wicked), Grendel is far more than that. Gardner is a superb writer, and he's managed to make Grendel almost a sympathetic character -- almost (dare I say it?) human.

Highly recommended, and required reading for anybody who aspires to write epic fantasy.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/01/grendel-john-gardner.html

Hereafter (Afterlife #1) - Terri Bruce

Hereafter - Terri Bruce

Irene Dunphy is 36 years old. She lives in Boston, and she has an okay middle-management job that allows her to go out clubbing most nights with a couple of friends. Then one day, she wakes up on the side of the road, having only a vague recollection of what happened the night before. She gets in her car and drives home, to discover that she's apparently been gone for some time. Her mail has piled up and her answering machine is full of messages, mostly of the "Irene, where are you?" variety.

Slowly, it dawns on her that she's dead, and she begins to grapple with the question of why she hasn't gone through the tunnel to The Light. She meets a still-living neighbor -- a 14-year-old boy named Jonah -- who knows a lot more about death customs than any well-adjusted teen should. Together, they begin to figure out how to get Irene to move on.

I'll be honest: I didn't much like Irene. Besides her obvious drinking problem, she struck me as vapid and shallow, and way too snippy to Jonah. Although I didn't much like him, either. By the thirty-percent mark, I was sick of their bickering and ready to bail. But I got interested again when Irene began learning her way around ghostly Boston, and eventually she becomes at least a little self-aware.

So in the end, I was glad to have stuck with the book. But I'm on the fence about sticking with the series. I gather from reviews on Goodreads that Bruce plans at least five more volumes, one of which is already available. It's possible that the author made Irene such a piece of work in book one in order to give her plenty of room to grow in the following books. The danger with that game plan is that you end up with a main character who is so unlikable that your readers won't bother seeing it through.

Maybe I'm just not the audience for this type of urban fantasy. The book has plenty of four- and five-star reviews on Goodreads. If you don't mind shallow, cranky protagonists,Hereafter might be right up your alley.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/01/hereafter-afterlife-1-terri-bruce.html

Labyrinth Quest - Yvonne Hertzberger

Labyrinth Quest - Yvonne Hertzberger

We've started a brand-new thing at Indies Unlimited this week -- the IU Reading Challenge. Anybody can join -- just click the link to get the skinny. The only hard-and-fast rule is that all the books you choose must be by indie authors.

I'm going to participate by posting a review of one challenge book per month here at Rursday Reads. I plan to go in order (we'll see how long that lasts...), and the first challenge is to read a book by an IU minion or admin. Herewith, then, is my review of Labyrinth Quest by Yvonne Hertzberger.


A young woman named M'rain ventures far from her desert village and must shelter in a cave overnight. There, she is captured by a group of people she didn't know existed -- they live in the caves and are enslaved to a man from their village, on the other side of the mountains.

M'rain gets help from an unlikely source -- a magical lizard named Glick, who claims to work for a deity. He helps M'rain get free of the evil man -- but in return, he demands that she free the other slaves and take them home. There, she meets a young man named P'puck, who fits about as well in his home village as M'rain does in hers. And Glick has more work for them both.

Labyrinth Quest skirts the boundary between magic realism and fantasy. In Hertzberger's earlier series, Earth's Pendulum, the planet itself was sentient, or nearly so. Here, the planet's sentience is wrapped up in Glick. The lizard knows all about the world these people inhabit, but Glick only gives the information out in dribs and drabs. The villagers on both sides of the mountains have found a way to survive, even when the land is harsh; that's more of a testament to their resilience, I think, than to the planet giving them what they need.

My only complaint is that M'rain doesn't have to struggle very hard to meet her challenges. She finds her way almost unerringly through the cave maze, thanks to the magic sight Glick bestows upon her -- and when she does go astray, it turns out Glick wanted her to. She never has to hunt for food and water because Glick leads her to both, and the lizard even reminds her to stock up when it's time to move on. I wanted to see M'rain fail spectacularly at least once, and become stronger by thinking her way out of her problems.

That aside, I enjoyed the book. M'rain and P'puck are appealing characters, the bad guy is suitably evil, and Glick -- well, Glick is an annoying know-it-all. But then, most demigods are. Recommended for readers who enjoy both magic realism and fantasy.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2016/01/labyrinth-quest-yvonne-hertzberger.html

The Dead List (A John Drake Mystery) - Martin Crosbie

The Dead List (A John Drake Mystery) - Martin Crosbie

The Dead List is an intriguing mystery novel. It's easy to see why the Kindle Scout folks picked it to publish and promote. And it's a fine option for this New Year's Eve, whether it's the year that's passing or the one to come that you want to keep your mind off of.

John Drake is something of a cipher. He's from somewhere back in eastern Canada, or so he claims. But he's landed here in the tiny town of Hope, British Columbia, with some police training under his belt, and is working for the local police department. Then a man is found dead. The local cops want to call it an accidental death, but Drake thinks it's murder -- and saying that aloud is enough to bring in the RCMP.

Crosbie's style is engaging enough that even when there's not much movement in the plot -- and there's not, for perhaps the first third to half of the novel -- you're caught up in the story anyway, watching the interplay among all the characters. When things get moving, though, the book becomes very tough to put down.

I'm looking forward to reading more books about Drake, if only to find out what he's running from.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2015/12/the-dead-list-john-drake-mystery-martin.html

A Sudden Gust of Gravity - Laurie Boris

A Sudden Gust of Gravity - Laurie Boris

The best thing about e-books is that you don't have to go anywhere to shop for them. So while your pals are out at the mall, elbowing other shoppers out of the way to get to the least ugly sweater in the picked-over bin, you, my friend, can simply go online and buy copies of A Sudden Gust of Gravity for everyone you know. And while you're at it, get yourself a copy, too.

The lady on the cover is Christina Davenport, a waitress who has given up on her dreams of becoming a magician. Then she meets Reynaldo the Magnificent, who offers her a job -- not as a magician's apprentice, but as a magician's assistant. You know, the girl in the flirty skirt who keeps the crowd's eyes occupied while the magician does his tricks. Still, she figures she can pick up some pointers from the guy.

Across town, Devon Park is a surgical resident with his own set of personal problems. Yet he's intrigued by Christina, when he sees Reynaldo's show in a public park -- and concerned about the bruises Christina's trying to hide with makeup. He's interested, she's trying not to be interested, and Reynaldo's jealous -- so you can bet things are going to get very interesting indeed before the story ends.

Boris continues to amaze me with her ability to write about characters from disparate cultures. Devon is Korean-American -- very unlike the Jewish family in her Trager Family Secrets books and, again, unlike any of the characters in Drawing Breath. Laurie Boris is the real deal, guys. Why she's not a bigger literary name is a mystery to me. Highly recommended.

Happy holidays, everyone!

(Note: I read an Advance Reader Copy of this novel.)

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2015/12/a-sudden-gust-of-gravity-laurie-boris.html

Mr. Pish 2016 Calendar - K.S. Brooks

Mr. Pish 2016 Calendar - K. S. Brooks, K. S. Brooks, Mr. Pish

All right, fine. This one isn't a book. But Mr. Pish does have a literary connection: he is the star of a series of children's books that promote reading and outdoor literacy. His photographer/typist/publicist/chauffeur, K.S. Brooks, has put together a selection of shots of the adorable Jack Russell Terrier and added them to this 2016 calendar.

The calendar has big squares, so you can keep track of your important stuff. And it also includes dates for astronomical events like meteor showers and supermoons, to remind us all to look up once in a while, when we're outside in the dark.

You need a calendar anyway, right? You could do worse than this one. Recommended for Jack Russell Terrier lovers, people who think kids should read more, and anybody who needs a calendar.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2015/12/mr-pish-2016-calendar-ks-brooks.html

Sunflowers - Leland Dirks

Sunflowers: Photos, Facts, and Fictions - Leland Dirks

This is a beautiful little book, and very much deserves a place on my holiday gift guide.

Author Leland Dirks spent part of his summer taking photos of the sunflowers that grow wild in his little corner of the world, from first bloom to faded seed pods. Those photos feature prominently in Sunflowers -- but in addition, Dirks weaves in quotes, facts, flash fiction, and poetry about the plants. There's even a recipe for sunflower bread.

I was surprised at the amount of sunflower lore I learned from this book. For example, did you know that the big outer petals are not the actual flower? The real flowers are the tiny yellow florets that pop out in the middle; the seeds grow under these florets. The big yellow petals around the rim aren't there for any reason other than to attract birds and insects.

Sunflowers would make a lovely gift for a gardener or a fan of wildflowers. Highly recommended.

Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2015/12/sunflowers-photos-facts-and-fictions.html

The King's Justice: Two Novellas - Stephen R.Donaldson

The King's Justice: Two Novellas - Stephen R. Donaldson
Happy Thanksgiving! I'm always thankful for a new book by Stephen R. Donaldson, and I liked this one well enough that I'm giving it a place on my annual holiday book list.
 
The King's Justice is the first of two novellas in this book. The fellow on the cover is Black, the protagonist. As the story opens, it's clear he's on a mission for his king. It's also clear, as he approaches the village of Settle's Crossways, that he has the power to encourage people to help him and give him information they might otherwise have kept to themselves. And information is what Black is after, for an evil has wormed its way into the fabric of Settle's Crossways, and it's Black's job to set things right for the king -- no matter what it takes.
 
This story is written in present tense -- a departure from Donaldson's other work, but it's necessary, I think, for the theme of the story. Black lives his life in the present. He doesn't think about his life before he was employed by the king -- or what was done to him so he could do this job -- and he certainly doesn't think about the future. 
 
Some Goodreads reviewers have complained about the gore in this story. There's one tough scene, and it's mild compared to the GAP books (and very mild compared to some battle scenes I've read by other fantasy authors).
 
The second novella is The Augur's Gambit, and I've been waiting to hear the ending of this story ever since I heard Donaldson read the beginning few pages at the World Fantasy Convention last year. Our hero here is Mayhew Gordian, hieronomer to the queen of Indemnie, Inimica Phlegathon deVry the Fourth. And his plight is a gordian knot indeed, for he learns that his queen has proposed marriage to each of her barons, including the married ones, in an effort to discover which of them is plotting against her. But that's not all. Besides Indemnie's internal intrigue, another power threatens the island nation from across the sea. Gordian has read the entrails countless times, but he does not know the outcome of either dilemma. And he's beset by a personal problem, as well -- his attraction to the queen's daughter, Excrucia Phlegathon deVry. (Yes, that's right -- the love interest is named Excrucia.)
 
The story seems much in the model of Donaldson's Mordant's Need series -- high fantasy, with an inscrutable ruler, grasping barons, and at least one unexpected plot twist. I enjoyed those, and I enjoyed this story, as well.
 
I'd recommend any of Donaldson's books, of course. But if you're new to his writing, this volume is a good way to sample his style before committing to a series.
Source: http://www.rursdayreads.com/2015/11/the-kings-justice-two-novellas-stephen.html