Pick-a-Shelf discussion

What did you read this month?
What are your thoughts?

In addition, don't forget to post:
*link to the book you've read
*a star rating -see below for template you can copy & paste ;)
*shelf nomination (see Shelf Lists for what has been and cannot be nominated)
*link to any PAS challenge/s you've fit this book into

Remember:
#Your nominated Shelf must have at least 1,000 books to qualify
#Entries for your nominated shelf will be calculated as follows;
+1 - posting the book you've read for this Monthly Shelf & star rating
+1 - word review (at least 3 sentences of your thoughts/feelings on the book)
+1 - link to another PAS challenge* where you've included this book

Star template:
★
★½
★★
★★½
★★★
★★★½
★★★★
★★★★½
★★★★★

I read This Is How You Lose the Time War which is a Romeo and Juliet tale about two time travellers from warring factions who go back to adjust the past in order to bring about the mutually exclusive futures they come from. Most of the book alternates between the two characters with a description of where they are and what they are doing, followed by a letter from the other character. Although I gave the book four stars, mostly for the imaginative ways the letters were written (for example - in a bee's flight), I would not recommend it to someone who is not a lover of science fiction.

I used this book for pick'n'mix https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....
I nominate the shelf speculative fiction

I read Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard.

All Pen wants is to be the kind of girl she’s always been. So why does everyone have a problem with it? They think the way she looks and acts means she’s trying to be a boy—that she should quit trying to be something she’s not. If she dresses like a girl, and does what her folks want, it will show respect. If she takes orders and does what her friend Colby wants, it will show her loyalty. But respect and loyalty, Pen discovers, are empty words. Old-world parents, disintegrating friendships, and strong feelings for other girls drive Pen to see the truth--that in order to be who she truly wants to be, she’ll have to man up.

The writing is typical YA but it definitely improves as it goes on and as the nuances of the story are built. I think this is an important viewpoint that needs to be shared. The struggles Penn has with her identity and her family are realistic and not cliche. I also very much appreciated the side story of her defining friendship and how that differs from romantic feelings for a female friend.

★★★★


I nominate alternate history.

I read Ladyfish by Andrea Bramhall on 11/4/19 and rated it *3 STARS*.

So this book had some potential but I think it took on too much. I thought the premise was great. I'm a scuba diver so I was interested in how scuba would be incorporated in the story. That was good. I liked the characters as well, but then things really went sideways. The whole plot with Finn's dad and his shadow history with Oz's family being the good guys. Then you got a plot for world terrorism, MI-6 and an abduction from a Naval Base and I felt like the story didn't know what it wanted to be. Was it romance, action-adventure, espionage, thriller, or combination.

While I thought that some of the plot pieces were done well, I thought there were others that deserved more time to develop. Then there was the ending where a monkey wrench was thrown into Finn's whole world view.

I got this for free on audible escape and I don't feel compelled to read the sequel at this point. But you never know, this a new author for me and I just might give her another chance.

I used this book for Seriously Serial '19 and Pix n Mix 2019: Authors.

I'll nominate: Audiobook

I finished Rubyfruit Jungle. This book has been shelved on my TBR since 2015. Somehow I had the idea it was non-fiction, so image my surprise to find it wasn't.

It is a coming of age type of book with a main character who discovers early her desire for women. Although it is an important story-line, I did not particularly like Molly. I gave it 3*.

I second the nomination for Audiobook.

I read two books by authors I've enjoyed before. I won't say I was disappointed with them, exactly, but I wasn't blown away, either.

So Lucky by Nicola Griffith is autobiographical fiction, and while I enjoyed learning a bit about Griffith's history, I thought there was something awkward about the novel/autobiography meld. For a lot of the book, it seemed like it might be straight autobiography. It wasn't until near the end that I could tell it was really fiction, and then Griffith's inventiveness was able to take over. That was the part I thought was really well-done. But the beginning - the picture of someone sliding into a devastating disability, and having to figure out how to manage her life -- was definitely worth reading; it just didn't grab me.

Landing by Emma Donoghue was a warm and gentle story of a (lesbian) couple discovering each other. I found it a bit boring, and realized I didn't really care what happened to the characters. Perhaps I should have read it curled up in a blanket in front of a roaring fire, with a nice cognac or brandy, when there was a blizzard outside. But I didn't, so I liked it, but only barely.

Three stars for each.

I used both for Pick 'n Mix. authors (stage 10).

I second the nomination for Asian Literature

I read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet which I liked, but didn't find mind-blowing. The book's stronger point are the characters and their interactions, with one surprising exception: the main character. This left me perplexed, because, in spite of the many pages dedicated to info-dumpings about cultures and politics and how you should refer to people from other races, and gender and sexual orientation, the author doesn't tell us much about her, other than that she knows how to fill forms, has learnt different languages at school (view spoiler)[skills that solve almost every problem she encounters (hide spoiler)] and that she has a secret. So we keep reading trying to find out more about her secret but most of the book is about the crew trying to get on well (view spoiler)[which is made possible because, in spite of their different appearances and cultures, they share most of their values and tastes (hide spoiler)]. There are conflicts in this novel, but when they occur they're not given many pages. In the last part of the book the plot doesn't follow the protagonist as much.

Rating: 4 stars ★★★★ for the characters! But I wouldn't know how to rate it as a sci-fi novel.

PS: I should probably say something about the lesbian aspect (hopefully, spoiler-free). Well, we're not given enough information about the woman being lesbian (she could be bisexual..?). Her partner is presented as bisexual (or pansexual, perhaps?). I didn't feel the relationship had as much importance to the plot as the other two relationships described, but others may think differently.

Shelf nomination: Mystery