What I've Been Reading - July 2024
Also: I saw a Grizzly Bear
Hello friends!
It’s been a minute and I’m sorry not sorry about that because it is good to do things out in the world!
It’s been a pretty full month. I spent some time in Montana with my family and saw a grizzly bear tossing around a log that was taller than me like he was my cat playing with a toy. (In controlled, safe conditions, and yes I would still pick the bear even after seeing how unbelievably fucking huge they are.)
I ate dinner on the porch of the lodge we rented with the mountains in the distance while my brother announced that he and his girlfriend are getting married. I taught my niblings to play pool and got to know my sister-in-law-to-be, and saw actual cowboys herding cattle.
I have never been anywhere more beautiful or peaceful, and I’m seriously low-key considering moving to a cabin in the mountains. (Not really, but a girl can dream)
When I got back, I (virtually) attended Alumni Weekend for my MFA program at Hamline University. The alumni group was one of the many draws of the Hamline MFAC program, knowing that after I graduated I’d still have a support system to walk with me through what came next.
I was beyond bummed not to be there in person, but still, listening to lectures and faculty readings and Nina LaCour’s phenomenal workshop helped propel me into the headspace that I need when writing a first draft. Especially in the early stages, I need to feel like my story is all consuming and everything else just fades away.
It’s been good to feel that way again. And good to know, several books in, that this is how the whole writing thing works for me. This is what my brain does when I’m ready — really ready — to dive in. It shuts everything else out.
So, I’ll have more musings and writing thoughts soon, but for today here are some books I’ve been reading and loving lately.
Kindling by Traci Chee
Once, the war was fought with kindlings—elite, magic-wielding warriors whose devastating power comes at the cost of their own young lives. Now, the war is over, and kindlings have been cast adrift. But violence still plagues the countryside, and when a village comes under threat of siege, it offers an opportunity for seven kindlings to fight one last time.
I have never seen Seven Samurai, the Japanese movie that this book is loosely based on, but after reading this book, I really want to watch it. This book blew me away, for many reasons, not the least of which is that it’s got seven point of view characters, all told in second person1.
Second person is incredibly tricky to pull off, and some people just don’t like it.2 It’s the closest of all the POV’s and can often feel claustrophobic but Chee avoids that claustrophobia (I think) by framing the narrating voice as the collective of dead Kindlings who have perished over years of war. They take the place, in a way, of an omnipotent narrator, but also a personal one, since they intimately understand what the Kindlings have all been through. They also act as the character’s conscience in many instances, as the Kindlings all battle with their own demons from the war.
So, that was impressive enough, but then to combine it with so many POV’s – another incredible craft challenge to make sure the reader always feels settled in each person’s head – had me honestly skeptical when I first picked up the book. But within a few chapters Chee had won me over, and this ended up being one of my favorite reads of the year so far.
I was completely drawn in by the emotional journeys these seven characters – all women or non-binary people – go on over the course of the book. They’ve all reacted differently to the trauma they’ve faced, and they all move forward – or don’t – in different ways. It is slower paced and extremely character driven, so know that going in. It’s also EXTREMELY gay. Like… very extremely lesbianingly gay. So if that’s your jam I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Sunrise Nights by Jeff Zentner and Brittany Cavallaro
Jude loves photography. Between his parents’ divorce and his anxiety, being behind a camera is the only time his mind is quiet. Florence is confronting the premature end of her dance career as a degenerative eye disease begins to steal her balance.
The two meet at Sunrise Night, their sleepaway art camp’s dusk-to-dawn closing celebration, and decide to take a chance on each other. Their one rule: No contact for a year after the sun has risen. Over the course of three Sunrise Nights, will Florence and Jude find a deeper connection and learn who they are—and who they could be together?
I am not typically a romance reader (especially not a straight romance reader), but this book won me over completely. It’s told in chapters of verse from both Jude and Florence’s POV, intermixed with chapters of almost complete dialogue.
Generally ‘talking heads,’ as it’s known, is a Creative Writing 101 To Don’t, but every rule has its exceptions and this book is definitely one of them. The voices are so clear I could see and hear the conversation playing out in my head without any help from prose or even dialogue tags.
It’s also hilarious. I mean, it had me laughing out loud at the reference desk when I was reading it, covering my mouth with my hand and apologizing to patrons. Even the chapter titles are hilarious (Ex: Wherin our feelings found a great parking space right near the front and caught up with us in the big pen aisle 9:46pm)
Jude and Florence are also delightfully emotionally supportive of each other. They’re mature, but they still feel 100% like teenagers, which is rarer in YA than you might think. Even though they’ve both gotten into a competitive arts camp, the setting for most of the book is ordinary places any teen can relate to: wandering through Target, bowling for the first time, teaching someone to play chess at a late night cafe.
The ending felt truly earned, and I was happy to roll with all the coincidences as they came along. This is perfect for those who like their YA romance on the meatier side, but still want to get swept away in the magic of first love.
The Worst Perfect Moment by Shivaun Plozza
Tegan Masters is dead and standing in the parking lot of the single most depressing motel in all of New Jersey and the place where Tegan spent what she remembers as the worst weekend of her life.
However, according to Zelda – a cute and sarcastic girl Tegan’s age who is, in fact, an angel (wings and all) – Tegan is officially in heaven, where every person inhabits an exact replica of their happiest memory. For Tegan, Zelda insists, this is it—creepy minigolf course, revolting breakfast buffet, broken TV, and all.
But when Tegan officially complains, Zelda must convince Tegan that she did in fact pick the right moment, or both girls face eternal consequences too dire to consider.
This book had major The Good Place vibes and I was HERE. FOR. IT. Tegan’s voice is delightful and hilarious and the afterlife world is wonderfully well drawn. And all the while, this book deeply explores questions about what happiness really is. As Zelda leads Tegan back through her memories, we see how Tegan spent most of her life desperate to be someone… anyone’s favorite person and always seeming to come up short. I felt that so deeply, it made my heart ache.
It’s the kind of book that I want to reread and pick apart and figure out how exactly Plozza wove all the threads of this story together. And I love how it all ended up coming down to a very small, very simple moment in Tegan’s life. It’s so easy to think of happiness as only coming in big sparkly packages, when often it doesn’t. Those quiet moments matter too, sometimes more than anything else.
That’s all for this roundup! What have you been reading and loving? I always love recommendations.
Take care friends.
first person uses ‘I’ (I went to the store); third person uses ‘he/she/they’ (she went to the store); second person uses ‘you’ (you go to the store)
Which is fine, but I get VERY frustrated when people equate ‘I prefer a different POV’ to ‘this book sucks’ because they are NOT the same thing.