Review: Temporada de Huracanes by Fernanda Melchor

Temporada de Huracanes was the pick for this month for the book club with my friends from Mexico. Melchor writes a book that immerses the reader in a small, poor town in Veracruz where a body is found by a group of kids in a canal. The body belongs to the Bruja, or witch, of the town and who has a lot of rumors surrounding her life, her powers, everything about her really. What follows the first chapter where she is found is 7 more chapters, each narrated by a different person related to how the Bruja ended up in that canal.

Each chapter unfolds a new layer to the complexity of each character, telling us more details about their lives and also about their perspective on why the Bruja ended up dead. There is a lot of violence within these pages: emotional, physical, and sexual, but it is not done in a nonsensical way. Melchor takes extra care on when she uses graphic language vs not and she also chooses how each character speaks with intention.

The language used in the book is very specific to the region of Veracruz where the book is set. While it is a fictional town, my friends from Veracruz confirmed that this is how people talk there and I also can confirm that that is how I’ve heard older relatives talk as well. There is a lot to say about this book, the themes about socioeconomic status, religion, academic education, sexual education, culture, addiction, children forced to become adults early in their lives, just a lot!

One thing I will say that I loved about this book is how Melchor managed to write characters that I feel like I now know personally. She is able to make us see the worst of people but also the best of them, they do some really horrible things but we also see how they ended up in those situations. Impossible decisions to make in that context!

In the book club we talked about how our perspective is one of privilege and this book is only a window into that world so we can’t begin to imagine what it would actually be like to live in that world. If we’ve ever touched a corner of that world in our lives, our instinct is to turn and go the other direction. This now leaves us with knowledge of this world and also empathy for that world as well as understanding.

I’d love to recommend this book to everyone but this book is not for everyone. As I mentioned, there is a lot of emotional, physical, and sexual violence, as well as heartbreaking situations with everyone, from minors to adults. However, if you do choose to read it and you can get it in Spanish I’d recommend that, I’ve seen that the translation is pretty good as well.

Review: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Cemetery Boys delightfully surprised me! I was wary about how this book would treat Día de los Muertos since it is my favorite holiday, but I have to say that I am quite happy about how we got to see multiple latinx cultures represented in this celebration.

This book is set in East LA in a world where a group of people from Latinx cultures have acquired magical powers from Lady Death, La Santa Muerte. As time has gone on, they have slowly lost the intensity of their power, before it was said that they could bring people back to life, while now they do more basic healing and just help spirits pass to the afterlife. Their power is defined by their gender so women are healers while men help the spirits.

Our main character is Yadriel, a boy who is struggling to be recognized as a brujo because his family is having a hard time accepting his gender identity. He decides to go on a path to get that recognition with the help of his cousin and best friend, Maritza. Maritza is a bruja but she’s vegan and since to use magic they need to use animal blood, she refuses to actually use her powers. In the process of trying to prove himself a brujo, Yadriel summons the spirit of Julian Diaz and now he has to find a way to fix everything before things become dangerous for everyone (including Julian!)

I loved the use of Spanish throughout the book as well as all the references to food (omg I’m hungry thinking about pan de muerto and Gansitos ::drool::). Yadriel’s abuela reminded me a lot of my aunts who basically don’t let you out of their sight until they are satisfied that you’ve eaten properly. I thought that the traditional thoughts of gender were pretty spot on but I loved that Thomas was able to give it more empathy and compassion. While Yadriel is scared and disappointed about how his family is not getting it right 100% of the time, his dad and abuela obviously love him very much and are able to recognize their shortcomings when it counts.

I highly recommend this if you’re looking for something to read that includes the Día de los Muertos celebration as well as a book with trans representation. I now need to go plan out my ofrenda for this year!

Review: In The Wild Light by Jeff Zentner

In The Wild Light was my most anticipated book of the year. So far Zentner has written 4 books, including this one, and I have loved all of them! However, this is my absolute favorite of his books so far.

Zentner writes books featuring teenagers and their journeys through some very difficult transitions in their lives.

In this book we follow Cash Pruitt and Delaney Doyle, two kids from Sawyer, Tennessee, who are now faced with the very real possibility of going to a private boarding school via a full ride scholarship and completely changing the course of their lives. Cash absolutely loves his hometown, his grandparents, and the simplicity of his life as it is. His grandparents have raised him since the death of his mom and his grandfather is ill so Cash does not feel confident enough to leave and go to the boarding school even though it would be a great opportunity. Delaney, on the other hand, can’t afford to stay. Her mom is an addict and so she tends to basically provide for herself without her mom’s support. Delaney also does not want to go to the school without Cash, who has become her only friend and lifeline.

All of the characters in this book are so well written, they are very smart and complex, they have very real problems like having to budget and the culture clash of going from a poor background to being surrounded by heirs to big fortunes, etc. There are also other wonderful characters in this book, like Alex Pak. Alex is Korean-American, from Texas, and is also at the boarding school on scholarship so Cash is able to connect with him and their friendship is heartwarming and beautiful. We see two boys being vulnerable with each other, supporting each other, and lifting each other up, I just love them!

Another beautiful relationship is that of Cash and his grandfather, Pep. Pep is such a wonderful man, he’s been a great role model for Cash and now that he’s ill all he wants is to make sure that Cash goes to the boarding school so that he achieves things that he has never even imagined. I just love Pep so much! T_T

I could go on and on about all the reasons why this book is just so wonderful but let me just put here one of the many beautiful passages you can find throughout the novel:

We think of language as this tame thing that lives in neat garden beds, bound by rules and fences. Then someone shows it to you growing wild and beautiful, flowering vines consuming cities, erasing pavement and lines. Breaking through any fence that would try to contain it. Reclaiming. Reshaping. Reforming.

In The Wild Light by Jeff Zentner (pg.263)

The love of writing and poetry is found throughout the novel. There’s even one of the most wonderful teachers ever: Dr. Britney Rae Adkins! I love that our main characters are not alone, they have a good support system and they have people who believe in them and want them to succeed. It’s just a positive book that made me feel good and happy in the end.

This book is perfect for autumn, Zentner is known for his beautiful writing as he describes the change of nature during autumn so if you want something to get you into that cozy fall mood, this is it! I highly recommend this book if you like beautiful writing, complex characters, beautiful relationships, and realistic fiction. Read this book! I promise you’ll love it! So far it is my favorite book of the year so…. read this book! XD

Review: Wordslut by Amanda Montell

The September book pick for the Feminist Book Club was Wordslut: a feminist guide to taking back the english language by Amanda Montell. I’ve always been curious about language, both in English and Spanish so I was very excited to read this book. Specifically, this book deconstructs various aspects of language that relates to women and other marginalized genders.

Also, Montell gives very good tips for dealing with people who tend to correct grammar (viciously) or those who refuse to learn pronouns, or even how to see beyond how some politicians are portrayed in the media.

At one point in my life I was very involved in editing Wikipedia and bridging the gender gap that exists in biographies about women. At one of the annual conferences there was an editor and researcher who had looked at all the times that the words “she” and “her” were used in the site and it turned out that the majority were referring to ships (boats, cruises, warships, etc) so it wasn’t a surprise to learn that language is not exactly feminist as it stands right now (specifically the English language).

I really enjoyed Montell’s writing style, she talks about linguistics and society while also adding footnotes that made me chuckle while reading. It is clear that she loved researching and writing the book so it was not hard work to read and understand.

Overall, this book made me think about my own use of language. English is not my first language, it is Spanish, and as an immigrant it was very important that my accent, my grammar, everything really was as perfect as it could be. I’m often told that I don’t have an accent, people have remarked how good my English is, and well, yep, that’s the point! Of course, there is something lost there too, a part of my own identity is wrapped into how I speak and use both English and Spanish. A different personality comes out when I’m speaking Spanish with my family or friends, and same with English! If anything, Montell validated a lot of my feelings about how the English language is quite unfair towards women of color like me, and other marginalized groups. That in itself felt really good, to see the reasons why I don’t use curse words generally and why I triple check spellings and grammar even while texting with a random friend.

I think this book also gave me the confidence to use language (all of it) and explore it fully without fear of being “wrong”. The biggest lesson for me was that people like me have the power to change language for the better. We don’t have to keep trying to stay within the “rules” because at the end of the day those rules are always changing. And, if these changes to language will empower women and other marginalized genders, why wouldn’t we make those changes?

If you’re at all interested in language, feminism, and just a book that is interesting and so so fun to read, definitely check this out!

PS. This was the second book for the Magical – Orilium Readathon!

Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

My first book of the month was Six of Crows! This also fulfilled the prompt of Book with a Map for the Novice Path in the Magical – Orilium Readathon.

This book was everything that I needed right now. Some of my favorite types of entertainment tend to have heists at the center of the plot (Money Heist, Ocean’s 8, The Italian Job, Breaking Bad, Baby Driver, etc etc etc) and somehow I’d never read a book about a heist!

While Six of Crows followed The Shadow and Bone Trilogy and it takes place in the same universe, I was able to read it and fully enjoy it without having read the previous trilogy. If there were references to the trilogy I didn’t know but that’s totally okay by me since this book had a lot to offer on its own.

This universe has two types of people: Grisha, people who have magical powers to be able to manipulate life, death, water, materials, etc., and then people who don’t have any powers. There are people in this world who believe that the Grisha are witches and demons who are less than human. Now there is something that is threatening the existence of the Grisha and the current order of the world (dramatic I know!). And so, we are following six very interesting characters:

• Kaz is the leader of the group, he’s super smart and able to see the strengths and weaknesses of those around him to use them to his advantage. He uses a cane and is in constant pain due to a leg injury he sustained a while back (this does not hinder him in the slightest!) His past is very mysterious and his motives slowly become clear to the reader.
• Inej is skilled in stealth and climbing, she grew up learning to be an acrobat and somehow ended up in the city of Ketterdam as part of Kaz’ group of thieves. While she is very skilled she does not seem to have a purpose of her own, she simply does the jobs that Kaz assigns her and survives on a day-to-day basis.
• Jesper is a sharpshooter, he loves the life as part of Kaz’ team. He is also very much addicted to gambling and the only way to keep that urge away is to be in the rush of fighting for his life. He’s loyal to Kaz and is constantly seeking his approval, which is problematic since Kaz doesn’t tend to give approval… to anyone XD
• Nina is a woman who has the ability to control the human body (from slowing breathing to stopping hearts) and at the beginning of this book she is working at a pleasure house. Nina had some training as a soldier from her home country but somehow also ended up in Ketterdam even though she very much could use her skills to leave.
• Matthias is a soldier who ended up in jail because he was accused to be a slaver. He has a lot of knowledge of where Kaz pretends to take his team to commit the heist but convincing him to cooperate will prove to be a real challenge. Matthias
• Wylan is new to the crime world but he’s very good at figuring out complex mechanisms and explosives. He also has a mysterious past and no one really knows why he ended up with Kaz and company. He changes a lot throughout the book too!

There are some really complex relationships between all the characters, all rooted on what their motivations are for going through with this heist. They all have to learn to trust each other to some extent, even if it is because they fear the repercussions of not going through it.

As much as I’d like to pick one favorite character it’s pretty difficult. I loved Nina and her confidence and I loved Inej and the trust she has in herself the most. They have such inner strength that I was inspired to be a little bit more like them. I did enjoy the bit of tension, flirtation, and ache that existed between the potential romances. I liked that they were not the main focus but that they did influence some of the motivations of some of the characters (but also some characters were so emotionally mature!)

Overall, this book is a lot of fun and I can’t wait to read Crooked Kingdom! I’m not super convinced that I’ll go read the Shadow and Bone trilogy, I kind of feel like it will not be on par with Six of Crows so that might be disappointing. If you’ve read the trilogy and disagree, do let me know!

Review: The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1 by Neil Gaiman

The Sandman comic series was created by Neil Gaiman in the 80s and 90s. I have so far loved just about everything that Neil Gaiman has written, from his novels, short stories, children’s books, and his collaborations with other authors and artists. I find his humor and craft of storytelling so captivating and just exactly my cup of tea. This comic series follows Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams. Morpheus is the guardian of the land of dreams, that place where we all go when we go to sleep.

Many years ago I started reading the Sandman comics on an iPad I owned at the time. It was a bit difficult to read it in that format because it was each individual comic that you opened up and scrolled through. Then, when I closed it and had to remember which file was next I’d always get mixed up and would be reading in a strange order that ended up being confusing. That’s when I decided that needed to own the comics in some physical form in order to fully enjoy them. And so, when I found the existence of the Sandman Omnibus I jumped at the chance to buy it…. until I saw the price T_T. I did not have a full time job back then so $150 for a book was quite steep for me. But when I got a full time job and there was a sale, I finally acquired the first volume!

I think I had the collection on my shelves for about 2 or 3 years before I actually started reading it this year. And that’s okay! I’m glad I waited because I think there are some parts of this series that I might not have been prepared to read two or three years ago.

Morpheus is such an interesting character. He is an Endless being who has the responsibility of taking care of people’s dreams. It might seem like an aspect of life that does not matter much; however, throughout the comics we learn that dreams really can have a big influence in our lives. If we have peaceful and inspiring dreams we can wake up and tackle the day much differently than if we had nightmares or if we never had dreams at all.

Take a look at Morpheus, isn’t he majestic? There’s a definite sense of drama and flare and power all around him. Love it!

Another character who is super interesting is Death, Morpheus’ older sister. She is a super sensible character who gives advice to Morpheus about decisions that he makes that might not have been the most fair or logical. She also is a caretaker of sorts to all the siblings (Dream, Destiny, Desire, Destruction, Despair, and Desire) since she seems to be the one who tends to try to keep the peace between all of them. We don’t see too much of the other siblings until the very end of this volume but I’m very interested to learn more about them and how they all interact with each other.

I also love her style, she’s very fashionable and the way she interacts with humans is also very compassionate and wonderful.

This might seem obvious but I also really enjoyed the art in these comics. There were so many creative ways that the panels are laid out. For example, here you can see how someone is falling asleep and the panels start turning until you are reading about what’s happening in the land of dreams.

As you can see above there are also some beautiful spreads showing the different lands featured in these comics. The artists are so good and I did find myself actually having dreams in these lands! Some of my dreams were definitely unsettling while others were fantastic and just full of great feelings.

Overall, this collection of comics is excellent. I loved all the stories that featured Morpheus. There were a couple of stories that were very difficult to read, some dealing with suicide, murder, abuse (of all kinds), and the endings for these were sometimes utterly heartbreaking. My favorite bits were the comics that dealt with historical figures and major historical events. I loved how Morpheus or Death would appear and interact with humans in these stories, which worked as a bit of background for why the main characters have made certain decisions.

I’d highly recommend this comic series if you are at all interested in mythology, history, dreams, and just awesome art and storytelling.

Review: Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto

I received “Dial A for Aunties” by Jesse Q Sutanto in my monthly Feminist Book Club Box, which was all about beach reads! This month the FBC donated 5% of the proceeds to Students Against Voter Suppression, an organization of high school and college students dedicated to protecting voting rights.

This book was a lot of fun! While this book does involve romance, that’s not all in terms of a defining genre. There is the theme of immigrant family dynamics, accidental murder, all set at a brand new hotel, venue for a Chinese-Indonesian wedding between two very wealthy families.

We are following Meddy, a young photographer who works along with her Ma and aunties in order to provide wedding services, from the photography to the cake, flowers, makeup, and even the entertainment. The night before the wedding she is set up by her Ma on a blind date with the owner of the hotel where the wedding will take place. She can’t just not go of course, even though she’s not happy that her mother set her up, she will go and make sure that her family does not get fired from the wedding. Unfortunately, things go really badly and now Meddy and her family have to figure out a way to discard a body while working a wedding!

I think the main thing I loved about this book was the relationship between Meddy and her family. I mean they are all literally trying to get away with murder for each other. There are also these very interesting dynamics between Ma and her sisters, there’s jealousy, resentments, and condescension, all while still truly loving and protecting each other over anything else. These dynamics make for a very interesting project in trying to hide the body since all of them want to be the one to lead them to victory. All of this leads to some very hysterical moments throughout the book that truly had me laughing out loud.

The other aspect of the book is the romance. I tend to be frustrated by romances in some books because the characters tend to have silly reasons or misunderstandings about why they break up or why there is some kind of drama. In this case, Meddy’s relationship with her ex was not ended due to a silly misunderstanding. Meddy is Chinese-Indonesian, daughter of immigrants with big expectations on her shoulders. It isn’t about just becoming a big doctor/lawyer for her, it is about not leaving her family (like other young members of the family have done) and disappointing them by seeking her own life. This was something that really hit home for me. There is a sense of duty to family that exists in many cultures and what I read in this book was very close to what I’ve experienced in my family. The guilt of thinking of yourself first causes one to make certain life decisions that might not be the same if we were just thinking of ourselves. However, there is always the fortune that our families stand by us no matter what, and all of it tends to be a mind game that we trap ourselves in.

Something I really liked as well was the use of English, Indonesian, and Mandarin throughout the book. Ma and her sisters speak mostly in Indonesian and Mandarin but Maddy is not fluent in those languages so she has a hard time keeping up with them. Meanwhile Ma is not 100% fluent in English so some ideas are lost in translation (especially in regards to that date she set for her daughter! OMG). It’s amazing because in my family we speak both English and Spanish so there are definitely some times when I have to ask my dad to elaborate a bit on what some words mean or when my mom will ask about what some term means as well. Conversations simply last longer and we learn to be a bit more patient with each other when we chat.

Overall, I loved the journey that this book too me in, from the blind date, the twists and turns, the reveals, and all the family antics, this is a really fun book to read. I also loved that I identified with a lot of the relationship dynamics. If you’re searching for a book that takes you on a wild ride, this is one to check out!

Review: An Offer From A Gentleman by Julia Quinn

I finished “An Offer From A Gentleman” a couple of days ago and well, Benedict wasn’t much of a “gentleman” now was he?

I was surprised that this book was a bit of a Cinderella retelling. Sophie is a young woman who is forced to stay as a servant (without pay) for her stepmother and stepsisters after her father passes away.

She’s an illegitimate child and so she doesn’t have much power to claim anything for herself or the credibility to seek a job on her own. It is a hard time for women to be individuals, standing on their own accomplishments means very little to the rest of the world. Therefore, when the opportunity arises to attend a masquerade ball at the Bridgerton house she takes it, knowing that it might be the only thing in her life that will ever be meaningful, fulfilling one of her wildest dreams. In that fateful night she meets Benedict Bridgerton who has almost given up on finding a suitable wife at all the balls he is forced to attend. However, since she is wearing a mask and never tells him her name, she is able to disappear, leaving him wondering who she is and where he could find her.

That’s kind of where the similarities with Cinderella end. Sophie is back to being a servant and Benedict doesn’t actually find her right away. He also doesn’t realize it’s her when he does! He thinks that it is simply another servant who he is very physically attracted to and he doesn’t even think for a minute that marriage is something that is an option between them. I’m willing to accept that in the context of this world, servants are seen as people of a lower social standing and so forth and so it is understandable that he does not consider marriage. However, he has very little respect for her as a person, he’s very condescending even when he knows that she’s a very smart woman and that was very disappointing.

Nevertheless, the one reason I thoroughly enjoyed this book is because we got to see more of the other members of the Bridgerton family. We get to see more of Violet and Eloise and the way they interact with people from other families. I absolutely love the unconditional support that Violet gives her children, as well as the love between all the siblings.

While Benedict was disappointing in the way he treated Sophie, this book was pretty fun and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the lives of the Bridgerton family.

Review: Fierce FairyTales by Nikita Gill

Fierce FairyTales by Nikita Gill

One of the highlights of the month (for the past three months) has been getting the Feminist Book Club Subscription Box! For the month of July there was a theme of poetry and Fierce FairyTales was the book chosen for the box. This book is by Nikita Gill, a writer and poet who has become pretty popular online with her thought-inducing posts about fairy tales, mythology, and how it all relates to what it means to be human.

I thoroughly enjoyed her work in Fierce FairyTales! I don’t normally read poetry so it was a breath of fresh air to slow down a bit and experience these poems that encapsulated an idea about a particular fairy tale. Each one took one character or idea from a fairy tale and flipped it in order to show how messed up each story truly is.

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Take Rapunzel, she’s trapped by her mother in a tower in a completely toxic relationship and she has to wait for a prince to come and save her. To top it all, the only way he can get to her is to climb on her hair. Gill tells a story where perhaps, Rapunzel cuts her own hair and uses it to get down!

Growing up I saw these fairy tales as ideals, the princess waits in her castle/tower/cell for a prince to come and save her and then they marry and they are happily ever after. The princess doesn’t really need to think or accomplish anything except wait and go with the prince who comes save her. Of course that’s not true, but it definitely left me with some subconscious feelings about feeling shame about being an independent and strong woman.

Another cool thing about this book is that Gill illustrates it too. She has beautiful drawings with some of the poems that really helped me add that other dimension to the poem. Some of the poems were very uplifting and inspiring while others are heartbreaking and just touched those tender bits in my heart. One such poem was The Giant’s Daughter, which I will share here so you can have a sample of what to expect if you choose to read this wonderful book:

The Giant’s Daughter

Teaching yourself to take up space
is like trying to love someone
who is violently resisting your love.

It is walking into a room
and trying not to make yourself scarce.
It is to be mindful of your own shrinking.

It is to become comfortable with
being uncomfortably aware that you,
like Houdini, have mastered the art
of escaping whilst being watched.

It is learning how not to do it
even when every bone in your body
has been taught to go into hiding.

Fierce FairyTales by Nikita Gill, pg. 119

Do you enjoy poetry? Even if you don’t read it much, like me, if you like fairy tales and re-tellings, definitely check this out!

Review: The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn

Okay these books are like candy! The second installment in the Bridgerton series dives into Anthony’s journey as he decides that he will marry in the season of 1814. As with the first installment, this man has particular conditions when he finally decides he will get married. In the first one Simon did not want to have children and in this one Anthony does not want to fall in love. I am becoming more convinced that these books are not, at their core, about the women or the romance, they are about the men, their fears, how they attempt to overcome their illogical “rules” for marriage, and in the end grow up (do they? kinda!)

Anthony has a fear of death and has this idea that if he is going to die AND he is in love with his wife, he will suffer every day until he dies. And so, he looks for a wife who is pretty and with whom he can have conversations, and that’s it. He comes to the conclusion that he will marry Edwina Sheffield, a beautiful woman on her first season, who doesn’t have a lot of money and has the pressure of marrying well in order to provide for her mother and older sister. Her older sister is Katharine Sheffield, she’s not as pretty but she is very independent and always puts a strong front even though she is very self-conscious of her position and looks. Edwina loves her older sister so much that she tells the ton that she will only marry someone who Katharine approves of, which means that now Katharine is showered with attention from all of Edwina’s suitors.

Enter Anthony who is certain that Edwina will be his wife and, well, because of his position and his looks he sees zero chances of this not happening. However, he will have to win Katharine’s approval if he wishes to marry Edwina. Their interactions are funny, but also made me cringe at times. (Gosh Anthony, can you be more entitled?) It seemed like this plot was more driven by fate than the character’s decisions. I suppose that because it is set in regency times that is just the social contract that they are bound to. However, I did enjoy that Edwina wanted to marry a scholar, someone who loves books and learning and that that was something that was appreciated by her family.

All in all, a book to escape and forget about ALL.THE.THINGS. I did want more about the rest of the Bridgerton family, especially Eloise so I hope there’s more about them in the following books.

Have you read these books? What do you think these books are truly about?