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Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

August 14, 2023 by

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 272 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, is my 11th book for the 12 books recommended by 12 friends reading challenge, is a novel written with Greek mythology at its base, particularly the labyrinth and its connection to madness or mental health. In Clarke’s novel, Piranesi is given his name by the Other, the only other living person in the House, which is packed with giant statues and a maze of halls — some of which are flooded or partially flooded. From time to time, the main character is visited by birds and he fishes in certain halls for food when the tides are high. He’s a recordkeeper, tracking what’s in each hall and the tides. The Other, however, seems to have access to real-world supplies and knowledge, but relies on Piranesi to map the House for him as he continues his search for the secret knowledge.

This is a mysterious tale with slow reveals, and while clues are dropped along the way, readers may find they, too, are duped by the labyrinth. Who are these mysterious people and how do they have knowledge of the real world if they have only ever lived in the House. What is the point of all this record keeping and traipsing back and forth if there are only two people alive here? Why can they not simply live in one place together and be a society unto themselves? It is clear the relationship is not reciprocal and is lopsided in the power dynamic from the beginning.

The start of this book left a lot to be desired. It was a slow narrative that left me bored initially. I wasn’t interested in the characters for about 40 pages. However, once I got past that point, I started noticing some kernels of how this world was not necessarily real but an amalgamation of things from the real world and that it was not a post-apocalyptic world like I initially thought. Piranesi is the main protagonist and because he doesn’t initially have all of the information needed to unravel this House and its mysteries, neither does the reader. This can be tiresome, but ultimately, the novel revealed itself through a series of events and the dynamic with the Other was more intriguing and less sterile.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is a book that can try your patience and it was not a beach read, which is what I was looking for last week. However, it was interesting to unravel the secrets of the labyrinth. It was more satisfying than I thought at the beginning. I’d recommend this for readers who like to think outside the box and who like mysteries where you are unraveling them with the protagonist.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Susanna Clarke was born in Nottingham in 1959. A nomadic childhood was spent in towns in Northern England and Scotland. She was educated at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and has worked in various areas of non-fiction publishing, including Gordon Fraser and Quarto. In 1990, she left London and went to Turin to teach English to stressed-out executives of the Fiat motor company. The following year she taught English in Bilbao.

She returned to England in 1992 and spent the rest of that year in County Durham, in a house that looked out over the North Sea. There she began working on her first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. She lives in Cambridge with her partner, the novelist and reviewer Colin Greenland.

Filed Under: Bloomsbury, borrowed copy, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2023, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Guest Post: Heal Your Spirit with Poetry (and a Cup of Coffee) in 30 Seconds by Xueyan

August 1, 2023 by

Welcome to today’s guest post from Xueyan, author of the poetry collection Time Peels All to Original White.

Book Synopsis:

Xueyan, the young poet who explores the infinite will in her own free soul, forcefully expresses her original and powerful vision in ways that reinvent traditional concepts of spirituality and common culture.

With modern settings and contemporary language, topics include the sacred and eternal, the nature of God, the existence of evil, the brutality of capitalism, the loneliness of existence, the ecstasy of intimacy, and the ubiquitous reach of love.

The collection’s 139 concise and deeply spiritual poems lay bare humanity’s most jarring mysteries and contradictions, exposing their raw essence with startling simplicity in ways that transcend borders, cultures, races, and beliefs.

Please welcome Xueyan today as she shares with us the healing power of poetry:

A good poem is like a nice cup of coffee: the liquid may stay on your taste buds for a short time, but it can refresh your spirit for a long time. As a poet who enjoys writing sharp lines, I think reading poetry and drinking coffee together is a perfect combination of spiritual and physical pleasures.

There is a classic question that is asked throughout the ages and still there is no single answer to which everyone agrees: Is life beautiful?

Is life beautiful? Looking around the world, there is chaos, there is cruelty, there is crying. However, I still believe life is beautiful because I believe in the cleansing power of the heart. Even if you inhale hate and gloom, if you have a clean heart, you will exhale love and light.

In my own way, I’d love to offer 3 hacks for experiencing life’s healing beauty.

Let your imagination release hidden possibilities and care for overlooked things

As a poet, I enjoy depicting the elements of the universe in my own way, instead of searching for scientific explanations through those complex formulas filling science books as thick as bricks.

How to depict fog? Scientists probably would cite a list of data about water and temperature and the chemistry between them, but I would depict fog in a mysterious way.

Fog

Woods longing for water

Dewy dreams twine slumberland

How to depict the night sky? I am not fully aware of the theories of Galileo and Bruno and their illustrious successors. When I was a kid, for my breakfast, my mother would drop a yummy poached egg over hot tomato noodles. I enjoyed that dish so much, I decided to compare the night sky to a yummy egg.

Night Sky Is a Dark Egg

Yolk is shining

Whites are floating

Moon and cloud

The navel is probably the most overlooked part of our bodies; we care about our hair and our nails, we dye them with different colors. Nobody cares about the poor navel, regardless of the global truth that the umbilical cord nourished us when we were in our mother’s womb. As a poet, I want to sing an ode to the navel.

Soul and Star

Stars shoot into our bodies and become souls

Navels are meteorite craters

Embrace dark memories and transcend them into poetry

How can we know light without experiencing darkness? Do I have dark memories? If the phrase “dark memories” refers to suffering from war or famine, then I should feel lucky and say I don’t have dark memories. But if the phrase “dark memories” refers to sorrows which evoke tears, then I can share a little story of mine.

When I was a kid, I walked to primary school every day and, on the way, there was a small garbage station. One day after school, as I was walking past the garbage station as usual, I heard plaintive-like yelping emanating from a paper box lying just outside the station. I was attracted by the cream-in-milk doggie sounds and I wanted to take a look. I approached the box and discovered a little yellow puppy huddling inside. Feeling pity for this poor thing, I decided to carry it home and take care of it. With my mother’s permission, I put a blanket on the balcony to settle the puppy and fed it some bread and milk. I still vividly recall how its furry little head brushed against my palm and how happy it was when it rolled on the blanket.

I named this puppy 金子 (JinZi), meaning Little Gold; even though I picked it from a trash station, to me it was as precious as gold. The next morning, I fed it more food, then went to school as usual. While in class, I thought about JinZi and I planned to take her to the park on the weekend to stroll. After school, I went to supermarket to buy some bacon for the puppy; the money I spent on bacon was the money I had saved to buy books.

I hurried home only to discover that JinZi, my little puppy, was gone. My mother told me that my father sent JinZi away because he was worried that the puppy would bite and bark. I cried, begging my father to tell me where he had sent JinZi, but my father refused to answer me. From then on, every time I passed by the garbage station, I would stop for a while, hoping the little yellow puppy, my JinZi, would be there waiting for me…

Even though, since then, so much time has flashed by, whenever I think about this poor little lovely creature… my heart still sinks, I grow a little sad. Here is a poem of mine which I think expresses the “bitter beauty” of dark memories… I embrace my dark memories and transcend them into poetry…

My Eyes Are Big Yet Small

Though my eyes can hold infinity

They cannot hold your tears

Awaken your inner poet by breathing with a clean heart

Is it easy to write poetry? If the only poems that can qualify as poetry are those as long as Shakespeare’s or Goethe’s, then I think such a judgment would limit the vitality of poetry.

I once wrote that “Poetry is the breath of the heart”; if your heart is as clear as crystal, then the words that your heart exhales are poetry…

For example, when I wrote my poem Angel, I imagined the dim reflection of the profile of an angel shining on a moonlight crystal…Rose blossoms with tearful yearning for pure love as starlight feathers fall from heaven…

Angel

Your sigh

Makes the moon rises

My poem is short, but if the hearts of readers are touched by it, then I think it is good poetry. In my opinion, good poetry should be like a lightning sword of the highest purity diamond.

To experience life’s healing beauty and to express it in the form of poetry is like breathing with a crystal-clear heart and letting words of love and light exhale from your heart as simply as watching wine overflowing from the holy cup when it is full…

Thank you, Xueyan, for sharing your poems and your insight.

About the Poet:

Xueyan lives in China. Her poems have been published in Ginosko Literary Journal and the Bangalore Review.

Filed Under: guest post Tagged With: ,

Guest Post, Giveaway & Excerpt: Spells & Shadows by Victoria Kincaid

July 28, 2023 by

Welcome to today’s guest post and excerpt from Victoria Kincaid, author of the new Pride & Prejudice fantasy Spells & Shadows. I love when our romantic pair are thrust into completely new situations.

Let’s check out this novel.

About the Book:

As a secret agent for the Mages’ Council, Mr. Darcy investigates a necromancer who is leading his followers down a dark path. When they discover him, a fight and a chase drive Darcy—injured and close to death—into the river. He is rescued and healed by Elizabeth, a talented mage at the Longbourn estate. Darcy cannot help developing feelings for her, but he dares not reveal his true identity while the necromancer’s creatures search for him.

Elizabeth Bennet is intrigued by the family’s new guest as he recovers at Longbourn. But mystery surrounds the man, and strange happenings plague the neighborhood while he visits. Elizabeth herself harbors a secret that she cannot share with the handsome stranger.

When Darcy’s enemies come calling, the Bennet family is caught in the crossfire. Worse, Elizabeth’s magic draws the necromancer’s particular interest. Darcy is falling in love with her and believes she returns his feelings, but the secret of his true identity could destroy their budding relationship—if they survive the upcoming danger.

Can Elizabeth and Darcy protect themselves and their families from the necromancer’s plots? What will happen when learn each other’s secrets? Can Elizabeth and Darcy’s love survive when it is entangled in a web of secrets, spells, and shadows?

Let’s check out the excerpt:

Hello Serena! Thank you for having me as a guest at your blog. It’s a pleasure to be back. In Spells and Shadows, a fantasy Pride and Prejudice variation, an injured Darcy has been rescued from the river and Elizabeth has been using her magic to heal him. Because he is a secret agent, Darcy conceals his identity from her. After her first conversation with Longbourn’s new guest, Elizabeth tells her family what she learned from him.

Elizabeth shut the door to Mr. Dee’s room and descended the stairs to the blue sitting room which was full of Bennet family members. Everyone glanced up when she entered.

“I heard your voice. Is our mysterious guest awake?” her father inquired.

“He was awake enough to answer some questions,” Elizabeth responded. “And he drank some water, but he is sleeping again.”

“Is he civil?” Jane asked.

“Is he married?” Lydia asked.

“Is he wealthy?” her mother asked.

Elizabeth laughed. “Yes he is civil. He did not mention a wife. And I did not think to inquire about the exact amount of his family’s fortune, but they are wool merchants with a house in town.”

“In trade?” Elizabeth’s sister Mary wrinkled her nose.

“Pssh! Who cares where the money comes from?” her mother said. “Wool….” She sighed. “Everyone needs wool. A wool merchant would do very well for one of you.”

“Mama, men who have been rescued from the river are not necessarily in want of a wife,” Elizabeth noted.

Her mother only jabbed her embroidery more energetically. “We must not waste such an
opportunity! He might take a liking to one of you girls.”

“He has requested that we tell no-one of his whereabouts,” Elizabeth told her father.

“Ooo! Perhaps he is an escaped prisoner!” Kitty said, sounding quite excited at the prospect. She read a lot of novels.

“I do not believe prisoners customarily wear such fine clothing,” Elizabeth said.

“A French soldier in hiding?” Kitty guessed.

“He has no accent,” Elizabeth said.

“A viscount who is secretly also a highwayman!”

“They are not as plentiful as you have been led to believe,” Elizabeth said with a smile.

“Perhaps he is—” Kitty started.

“Perhaps he is a wool merchant, and we should not let our imaginations run wild,” Elizabeth said firmly.

“His desire for secrecy is quite interesting,” her father remarked. “I was in Clark’s book shop today when a stranger inquired if anyone had reported a body washing up along the river. He said his brother had fallen in the river near Luton.”

“Surely it cannot be the same man,” Jane exclaimed. “Mr. Dee could not have floated all the way from Luton.” Elizabeth said nothing.

Her father shrugged. “I agree it is improbable. But it is almost equally improbable to fish a stranger from the river at the same moment someone is seeking another fellow.”

“You did not say anything about Mr. Dee?” Elizabeth asked anxiously.

Her father snorted. “I would not share any news with Clark that I would not care to have spread about the entire county. A strange man staying in my house with my five unmarried daughters is not such a thing.”

“Perhaps Mr. Dee’s family is searching for him,” Jane said, her forehead creased with
worry.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Mr. Dee knows how to contact his family. We should not reveal anything without consulting him.”

“I agree. Mr. Dee should decide who knows his whereabouts. He may have reason to be careful. Perhaps they are waging a vicious war with the cotton merchants.” Her father laughed at his own joke.

“Perhaps he is a viscount disguised as a wool merchant!” Kitty suggested.

“Whatever else he is, we know he is an injured man who needs to recover his strength,” Elizabeth said. “We must leave him in peace to do so.”

“Can’t I at least tell Maria Lucas?” Lydia inquired. “’Tis the most interesting thing that has happened in months! I will swear her to secrecy.”

Her father fixed her with a stern gaze. “No, you may not.”

Lydia huffed and rolled her eyes. “Very well. I will add it to the list of subjects I may not speak about.”

“I don’t know why you bother befriending anyone in Meryton,” Mary said with a sniff.

“They are quite unpleasant.”

“I don’t know why I bother either,” Lydia whined. “Nobody likes us.” She stood and flounced out of the room.

Of the five sisters, Lydia suffered the most from Longbourn’s relative isolation from the rest of Hertfordshire. Mary spent her time with religious books, and Kitty was absorbed in novels. Jane and Elizabeth spent much time honing their magical skills. But Lydia longed to be just like all the other girls in the neighborhood, and their mother indulged those desires. The Lucases at least would allow their daughters to socialize with the Bennet girls; Lydia took full advantage of those privileges.

Kitty shrugged. “They are pleased with us when they have need of our assistance.” She
returned to her novel.

Sadly, this was true. How many times had Jane helped farmers with flooded fields or prevented someone’s house from being swept away? The people of Meryton never hesitated to call upon Kitty when a wildfire threatened houses or crops. And Elizabeth had healed many people in the neighborhood.

Yet their talents set them apart. Mancy was rare outside London, but it was rampant in the Bennet family. When they walked into Meryton, people stared and spoke behind their hands. They even made signs to avert the evil eye.

Papa compounded the problem. He never particularly cared about the neighbors’ opinions and at times relished his reputation for eccentricity. At public occasions, he would tell odd jokes without any concern about how it might affect the family name. Her mother frequently lamented that no man in the neighborhood would ever consider courting a Bennet girl.

Mary often said the townspeople did not deserve their help if they ostracized the family. Elizabeth understood her sister’s frustration, but she would never refuse someone in need. Mary closed her book of sermons and turned to their father. “If we always help them in their time of need, we should at least collect money for our services.”

Her father sighed. “We have no need to rehearse that argument. We are not in trade.” He stood and ambled toward the door. “Lizzy, I will be in my study should our guest wish to speak with me.”

Now, doesn’t that sound like a great premise for a story. I think so. I hope you’ll check out the novel.

About the Author:

The author of more than sixteen best-selling Regency and modern Pride and Prejudice variations, Victoria Kincaid has a Ph.D. in English literature and runs a small business, er, household with two children, a hyperactive dog, an overly affectionate cat, and a husband who is not threatened by Mr. Darcy. They live near Washington, D.C., where the inhabitants occasionally stop talking about politics long enough to complain about the traffic.

On weekdays Victoria is a writer who specializes in IT marketing (it’s more interesting than it sounds). She is a member of the Magical Austen authors group and is the host of the annual Jane Austen Fan Fiction Reader/Writer Get Together.

ENTER to WIN 1 E-book, Spells & Shadows, below with your email and comment. Open until Aug. 4, 2023.

Filed Under: giveaway, guest post Tagged With: ,

Mailbox Monday #744

July 24, 2023 by

Mailbox Monday has become a tradition in the blogging world, and many of us thank Marcia of The Printed Page for creating it.

It now has its own blog where book bloggers can link up their own mailbox posts and share which books they bought or which they received for review from publishers, authors, and more.

Emma, Martha, and I also will share our picks from everyone’s links in the new feature Books that Caught Our Eye. We hope you’ll join us.

Here’s what I received:

Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne from NetGalley.

Liza B.—the only DJ who gives a jam—wants to take her neighborhood back from the soulless property developer dropping unaffordable condos on every street corner in DC. But her planned protest at a corporate event takes a turn after she mistakes the smoldering-hot CEO for the waitstaff. When they go toe-to-toe, the sparks fly—but her impossible-to-ignore family thwarts her every move. Liza wants Dorsey Fitzgerald out of her hood, but she’ll settle for getting him out of her head.

At first, Dorsey writes off Liza Bennett as more interested in performing outrage than acting on it. As the adopted Filipino son of a wealthy white family, he’s always felt a bit out of place and knows a fraud when he sees one. But when Liza’s protest results in a viral meme, their lives are turned upside down, and Dorsey comes to realize this irresistible revolutionary is the most real woman he’s ever met.

What did you receive?

Filed Under: mailbox monday, meme Tagged With: ,

Exits by Stephen C. Pollock

July 20, 2023 by

Source: Poet
Paperback, 54 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Exits by Stephen C. Pollock, which is on tour with Poetic Book Tours, focuses on the ultimate exit we all must make and speaks to the fear and acceptance of our mortality. The collection includes not only poems, but also photographs and artwork that inspired some of the poems. They complement one another well.

The opening poem, “Arachindaea: Line Drawings,” and accompanying photograph of a spider in its web begin a symphony to life’s unexpected beauty: “your finest threads are strung with pearls/and you, a brooch with a clasp./” But then darkness comes when we “magnify the shiny spheres/to divine that each conceals/a miniature, an image/of struggling wings, of life undone.” (pg. 1) The poem is multi-layered in its exploration of the predator-prey dynamic, demonstrating the beauty alongside the ultimate demise of the prey. The strings of the web begin a tune, one that cannot be escaped.

Throughout this collection, Pollock looks to nature for not only music, but also beauty in mortality. The flowers in “Seeds” give up everything to insects and birds, breeding new life from their own deaths, ending a lifecycle but also beginning it anew. “So many seeds were borne by each alone,/so many lost with loss of those I’ve known.//” the narrator says. It’s the mortality and the remembrance of those gone before us that enables them to live on, like the seeds from the dying flowers in our garden.

Through a variety of forms and styles, Pollock takes us on a breathtaking journey that reminds us that through the sadness and finality of death and mortality, there’s also things that live on. There are pieces of us in other lives and other places that we’ve touched. In many ways Exits by Stephen C. Pollock is a hopeful collection — a collection looking to provide peace.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Poet:

Stephen C. Pollock is a recipient of the Rolfe Humphries Poetry Prize and a former associate professor at Duke University. His poems have appeared in a wide variety of literary journals, including “Blue Unicorn,” “The Road Not Taken,” “Live Canon Anthology,” “Pinesong,” “Coffin Bell,” and “Buddhist Poetry Review.” “Exits” is his first book.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Read in 2023, reviews Tagged With: ,

Excerpt & Giveaway: Doubt Not, Cousin by Barry S. Richman

July 18, 2023 by

I love Jane Austen stories that involve the cousins — Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. They have such different backgrounds, and it always seems as though the Colonel is lively and happy. I am eager to see what Richman tackles in this novel.

Before we get to the excerpt, let’s check out the synopsis and an excerpt. Stay for the giveaway.

Book Synopsis:

Darkness, in many forms, must be conquered to emerge into the light and embrace one’s happily ever after.

Fitzwilliam Darcy. Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam. Two cousins, closer than brothers. One finds love despite his inner demons; the other resists love because of them.

Elizabeth Bennet. Kitty Bennet. Two sisters, strengthened by adversity. One willingly yields to love; the other pridefully misinterprets it.

An epic saga steeped in intrigue and gift-wrapped in romance, Doubt Not, Cousin chronicles the trials and tribulations of three extraordinary families during England’s Regency era.

… But who is the girl with the violet eyes?

Today’s excerpt:

Thank you, Serena, for hosting me today. The overwhelming interest in Doubt Not,
Cousin is incredible. I knew as I was writing that the characters and themes would be different and hopefully interesting. The following is an example of such. DNC has influences from several authors I have read throughout the years. The characterization of Col Fitzwilliam’s health issues stems from Stieg Larsson’s Millenium series. He presented a character, Randall Neiderman, who could feel no pain.

Congenital analgesia or congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP) is an extraordinarily rare condition in which a person cannot feel or has never felt physical pain. Because feeling physical pain is vital for survival, CIP is extremely dangerous. Without going into the physiological reasons, the pertinent subject is the two types of non-responses to pain: insensitivity and indifference. Master Richard Fitzwilliam is of the latter, as our readers shall see …

**************************************************************************

“Mr. Burton.”

A wiry man walked with purpose across the parlor, his posture ramrod straight. His arms hung at his sides—his right hand empty, his left carrying a black leather medical satchel. His light hair was short, and gold-framed spectacles were perched upon his patrician nose. He had been raised a gentleman and was comfortable in the current setting. He paused and waited for the aristocratic couple to take notice of him. Once the niceties had been completed, a young redheaded nurse entered the room and delivered her charge to the surgeon. He appeared quite comfortable as he briefly communicated with the child. She seemed reluctant to leave. The medico regarded her with kindness.

“He will be well, I assure you.”

Nurse curtsied and departed. The earl and the countess stood.

“If possible, I would like for you to remain. It reduces speculation.”

The earl and the countess returned to their chairs, unsure of what to say. The surgeon began his examination. He sat Richard upon a coffee table and opened his bag.

At first, the evaluation mirrored those made by the other London physicians. Seeing that, the earl and countess prepared themselves to accept another wasted afternoon. Yet, after measuring, weighing, and handling the child, this surgeon deviated from evaluations conducted in the past. He spent a considerable amount of time looking at and touching the boy’s tongue. He compared it to his upper and lower teeth repeatedly.

He used a set of calipers to measure the length and depth of each furrow. He opened a journal and made precise, miniature drawings of the scars. He showed them to his patient as he completed each one and asked for his opinion. The two exchanged whispers. At one point, the surgeon inclined his head; the boy nodded several times. They recommenced whispering, their heads nearly touching. The earl and the countess looked on in wonder, exchanging glances between themselves.

The surgeon next sat the child on a settee. From his bag, he removed a small jar containing clear fluid and thin needles. He set this on the side table next to the boy who watched the surgeon dispassionately.

“The best Damascene steel sewing needles in neutral spirits,” offered the surgeon to the couple. The earl’s eyebrows neared the top of his forehead.

Mr. Burton knelt until he was at eye level with his patient. The boy’s parents watched him whisper to their son and receive the same in return. The surgeon removed
a large black cloth, reassured the child all would be well, and blindfolded him. Opening the jar, the surgeon removed a needle and scratched it down each bare leg without breaking the skin. A pink trail remained. The patient displayed no reaction.

The surgeon next removed the child’s shoe and stocking. He grasped a bare foot in his hand. He leaned over and whispered again into his patient’s ear. Richard nodded back in return. He removed another needle, then looked at the countess briefly. She blinked. He pushed the needle deep into the child’s heel. The boy moved his head down as if looking at his foot through the mask but made no sound. The surgeon carefully eased the needle out and checked the heel for blood. He found none. He removed the blindfold, replaced the boy’s stocking and shoe, and congratulated young Richard on his bravery. The child looked up at Burton and smiled.

The earl was doubly stunned, both by the ordeal he had assumed his son had undergone and equally so by Richard’s reaction. He looked at the countess, who had her right hand over her mouth; her left gripped the sofa’s arm. Her expression showed her agony, and her eyes were filled with tears. She reached out to her husband for comfort. The earl encompassed her trembling hand.

Mr. Burton bowed to the earl. His examination was complete, but he remained silent.

Matlock called the butler into the room. “See that Richard is served his favorite treat.

He has done very well—very well, indeed.”

“Yes, my lord.” Smythe closed the door. A few moments later, Richard’s young nurse entered and swept up her charge, humming a melodic Irish ballad. Richard’s little arms wound around her neck. The door closed, and silence again settled in the room.

The earl put the question to Burton, not arrogantly but in a quiet, hopeful manner. “Well?”

“I shall require time to conduct some rather specific research. For now, I can extend a hypothesis.”

“Please do.”

“Your son does not feel physical sensations like others. This is clear in his minute reaction to painful stimuli.”

The surgeon nodded to the couple to ensure their understanding. They both replied in kind.

“There is more evidence as seen by the scarring on his tongue. The teeth marks match his inner mouth shape. I conjecture he chewed his tongue while teething. I speculate his weight loss, coupled with his failure to demand to feed, also stems from this high, or in my opinion, indifferent pain threshold. His diminished response to pain concerns me.” Burton gestured with his forefinger in the air. “He must be taught that blunt trauma is a danger to him. Pain is our body’s warning mechanism. Your son, as he grows, will not acknowledge the everyday bumps and bruises children encounter while playing.”

“Pray continue,” directed the countess, her focus on the surgeon.

“I should like to spend more time with the young master in his familiar environment. Together, we shall develop a protocol for him to self-assess throughout the day. We desire to prevent smaller incidents from growing into larger injuries. The French have a name for this protocol.”

The earl curled his lip curl in disgust. “Odious lot. You have my permission to speak the words, sir, as this is your area of expertise. What is this practice you are describing?”

“The French use the word ‘triage.’ We shall instruct the young lord to continuously self-triage throughout the day. It will become second nature to him.”

The earl nodded.

The surgeon continued. “I would also recommend that family and staff begin the courtesy of requesting physical contact rather than initiating it.”

“Even his mother?” the countess blurted, then covered her mouth with her hand.

“I believe individual family members will find a happy balance.” The surgeon returned the countess’s smile.

She continued. “Is this indifference to pain related to his slow development to speak?”

“I believe not, your ladyship.”

“What prompts this opinion?” she inquired.

“Your son Richard, if I may, is not reticent to express an opinion or an observation in the short time we have spent together. He chooses when to speak and how much. As time passes, he will become more comfortable and, therefore, will speak more. He is aware that the scarring on his tongue delays, but does not prohibit, speaking normally.

What that manner is, only time will tell. He is alert, bright, and strong—quite strong. He will adapt.”

The countess relaxed, a slight smile playing around her mouth.

The earl stood. “Burton, see my man of business today. We welcome you as a Matlock retainer.”

“Yes, Mr. Burton. You have lightened my heart. Please join the earldom,” invited the
countess.

Burton nodded his assent. “Thank you, your lordship, your ladyship. I shall.”

“Smythe.” Again, the Matlock butler entered the study. “See to Mr. Burton’s comfort and requests.” Burton bowed and exited the study. Lord Matlock resumed his place.

The earl looked at his wife and opened his arms. She nestled in, laid her head on his shoulder, and succumbed to his embrace. Together, like their youngest son, they sat in silence.


About the Author:

Barry S. Richman is a military veteran and corporate logistics professional. While he was recuperating at home after having his wisdom teeth extracted in 2003, he picked up a copy of Pride and Prejudice and has yet to put it down.

In the past twenty years, he has read thousands of Pride and Prejudice variations. Watching him complete a book every other day, his wife of thirty years suggested he write one. Doubt Not, Cousin is his first book.

Barry and his “Jane Bennet” live in Los Angeles and Alaçatı, a small seaside town in southwestern Turkey. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, GoodReads, Amazon, and YouTube.

Giveaway:

Meryton Press will give away one eBook of Doubt Not, Cousin per blog stop.

The giveaway is international.

To enter, leave a comment with viable email to be entered by July 28 at 11:59 p.m.

Follow the rest of the blog tour:

Filed Under: giveaway, guest post Tagged With: , ,

Mailbox Monday #743

July 17, 2023 by

Mailbox Monday has become a tradition in the blogging world, and many of us thank Marcia of The Printed Page for creating it.

It now has its own blog where book bloggers can link up their own mailbox posts and share which books they bought or which they received for review from publishers, authors, and more.

Emma, Martha, and I also will share our picks from everyone’s links in the new feature Books that Caught Our Eye. We hope you’ll join us.

Here’s what I received:

A woman is no man by Etaf Rum for my work’s book club pick and I picked up from the library.

Palestine, 1990. Seventeen-year-old Isra prefers reading books to entertaining the suitors her father has chosen for her. Over the course of a week, the naïve and dreamy girl finds herself quickly betrothed and married, and is soon living in Brooklyn. There Isra struggles to adapt to the expectations of her oppressive mother-in-law Fareeda and strange new husband Adam, a pressure that intensifies as she begins to have children—four daughters instead of the sons Fareeda tells Isra she must bear.

Brooklyn, 2008. Eighteen-year-old Deya, Isra’s oldest daughter, must meet with potential husbands at her grandmother Fareeda’s insistence, though her only desire is to go to college. Deya can’t help but wonder if her options would have been different had her parents survived the car crash that killed them when Deya was only eight. But her grandmother is firm on the matter: the only way to secure a worthy future for Deya is through marriage to the right man.

But fate has a will of its own, and soon Deya will find herself on an unexpected path that leads her to shocking truths about her family—knowledge that will force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, the past, and her own future.

What did you receive?

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My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

July 14, 2023 by

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 240 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite was the July selection for my book club at work, and it was a wild ride. Korede is the older sister and she’s a nurse. Ayoola is the youngest sister who says she earns money on YouTube and has a hard time keeping her boyfriends alive. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, this dark thriller plunges readers headlong into criminal activity.

#FemiDurandIsMissing has gone viral. One post in particular is drawing a lot of attention — Ayoola’s. She has posted a picture of them together, announcing herself as the last person to have seen him alive, with a message begging anyone, anyone, to come forward if they know anything that can be of help.

She was in my bedroom when she posted this,…

Since their father’s death, Korede has become Ayoola’s protector. This is her weakness and it ultimately entangles her in her sister’s murderous actions. What unravels here is not the loyalty and bond between the sisters, but the moral constraints that should hold them to societal expectations. Braithwaite’s plot-focused novel reveals each layer of these sister’s personalities and their relationship chapter-by-chapter until you feel as though you don’t know what is true and what is fiction, much like the lives posted on social media.

Korede and Ayoola’s relationship is tested not during the cleanup of murders, but when the doctor Korede has been crushing on meets her beautiful, angelic sister and he asks for her sister’s phone number. Yes, this sounds a bit like a young adult novel, but it is more about how one sister’s protection of her sister becomes the thing that crushes her imagined romance. How can she tell him to stay away from her sister without divulging the truth? It is this absurdity that leaves readers perplexed at this surreal world.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is deceiving in its matter-of-fact tone and simple plot-focused cadence because so many nuances of character are revealed throughout the novel. Definitely a good novel to take to the beach or on vacation.

***It’s very strange that I’ve read 2 books this summer involving serial killer themes.***

RATING: Cinquain

About the Author:

Oyinkan Braithwaite is a graduate of Kingston University in Creative Writing and Law. Following her degree, she worked as an assistant editor at Kachifo Limited, a Nigerian publishing house, and as a production manager at Ajapaworld, a children’s educational and entertainment company. She now works as a freelance writer and editor. In 2014, she was shortlisted as a top-ten spoken-word artist in the Eko Poetry Slam, and in 2016 she was a finalist for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2023, reviews Tagged With: ,

Words We Might One Day Say by Holly Karapetkova

July 12, 2023 by

Source: Purchased
Paperback, 84 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Words We Might One Day Say by Holly Karapetkova pushes the boundaries of reality, incorporating what I would classify as some magical realism in her poems. A prime example of this is the opening poem, “The Woman Who Wanted a Child,” in which a woman wants a child so much that she can no longer sleep at night, visiting the marsh and watching the terns until she too becomes pregnant with a tern and must learn to feed her. “The Lost Mommy” is another delightful fairy tale she creates, woven from tales we all know.

Karapetkova’s poems are magical and imaginative, transporting readers to new places, while at the same time, those places seem familiar. It’s the emotional touch stone of wanting and of something missing that reaches us.

Parts of Speech (pg. 11)

Tomorrow, I will build a universe
of ink and write you subject to my pen,
controlling all you do and think in verse
and changing every loss of mine to win;
for instance, I could start with adjectives,
crossing out the old that I've become,
replacing dull with lovely, or I'd give
your careless words a turn to grateful ones.
And then for nouns -- inscribe your apathy
as care with but a movement of my wrist,
to trade distaste for passion, transform me
into she, and thus by you as her be kissed.
Or better than this wordy love-retrieving
I'll simply stop all verbs, keep you from leaving.

In a variety of poetic forms, including sonnets, Karapetkova is saying those words we might one day say or words we wish we had said to departing partners, almost children, and even our loved ones who are still with us. The collection is alive with wanting and loss, but also hope and love. Words We Might One Day Say by Holly Karapetkova is a storyteller who can transport you to magical places, only to ground you in reality like in “Cadaver Room,” where a cadaver is “an empty house” or in “Love and the National Defense” where a nation is incapable of protecting itself against the infection of love.

RATING: Cinquain

About the Poet:

Holly Karapetkova is the Poet Laureate of Arlington County and the recipient of a 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. She is the author of two books of poetry, Words We Might One Day Say, winner of the 2010 Washington Writers’ Publishing House Poetry Award, and Towline, winner of the 2016 Vern Rutsala Poetry Contest from Cloudbank Books. Her current manuscript projects, Still Life With White and Planter’s Wife grapple with the deep wounds left by our history of racism, slavery, and environmental destruction. She is also the author of over 20 books for children. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in English and Comparative Literature and teaches in the Department of Literature and Languages at Marymount University.

Filed Under: challenges, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, purchased, Read in 2023, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Mailbox Monday #742

July 10, 2023 by

Mailbox Monday has become a tradition in the blogging world, and many of us thank Marcia of The Printed Page for creating it.

It now has its own blog where book bloggers can link up their own mailbox posts and share which books they bought or which they received for review from publishers, authors, and more.

Emma, Martha, and I also will share our picks from everyone’s links in the new feature Books that Caught Our Eye. We hope you’ll join us.

Here’s what I received:

The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish by Katya Apekina, which I borrowed from the library’s audio app. (my review)

It’s 16-year-old Edie who finds their mother, Marianne, dangling in the living room from an old jump rope, puddle of urine on the floor, barely alive. Upstairs, 14-year-old Mae had fallen into one of her trances, often a result of feeling too closely attuned to her mother’s dark moods.

After Marianne is unwillingly admitted to a mental hospital, Edie and Mae are forced to move from their childhood home in Louisiana to New York to live with their estranged father, Dennis, a former civil rights activist and literary figure on the other side of success. The girls, grieving and homesick, are at first wary of their father’s affection, but soon Mae and Edie’s close relationship begins to fall apart – Edie remains fiercely loyal to Marianne, convinced that Dennis is responsible for her mother’s downfall, while Mae, suffocated by her striking resemblances to her mother, feels pulled toward their father. The girls move in increasingly opposing and destructive directions as they struggle to cope with outsized pain, and as the history of Dennis and Marianne’s romantic past clicks into focus, the family fractures further.

Moving through a selection of first-person accounts and with a sinister sense of humor, The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish powerfully captures the quiet torment of two sisters craving the attention of a parent they can’t, and shouldn’t, have to themselves.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, borrowed from the library for my work’s book club.

Korede’s sister Ayoola is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola’s third boyfriend in a row is dead, stabbed through the heart with Ayoola’s knife.

Korede’s practicality is the sisters’ saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood (bleach, bleach, and more bleach), the best way to move a body (wrap it in sheets like a mummy), and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures to Instagram when she should be mourning her “missing” boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.

Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she’s exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola’s phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she’s willing to go to protect her.

Exits by Stephen C. Pollock for review.

“Pollock’s poetry is brilliant”

— Kristiana Reed, editor in chief, Free Verse Revolution

Stephen C. Pollock’s poetry collection Exits nods to the literary traditions of years past while simultaneously speaking to the present moment. Multilayered and musical, the poems in Exits have drawn comparisons to the work of Eavan Boland and Seamus Heaney. With bold imagery, attention to form, and a consistent through line rooted in the theme of mortality, Pollock’s collection responds to contemporary anxieties surrounding death and the universal search for meaning in life’s transience.

“Exits…is a magnificent work”

— Rich Follett, Readers’ Favorite Reviews, 5.0 stars

“Exits exemplifies the musicality of language”

— Foreword-Clarion Reviews

“Full of wit, insight and provocative imagery, Exits is a masterful collection”

— IndieReader, 5.0 stars

The Unempty Spaces Between by Louis Efron for review.

A beautiful creation of song and scar, of emotional complexity and simple witness, Louis Efron’s debut collection The Unempty Spaces Between mingles the natural and human worlds in a series of accessible, personal, universal poems. From lush to bare, the landscapes he presents us with are so intertwined with and impacted by our actions that we realize the two have always been one. Brimming with meditations deep as winter snow and boundless compassion and curiosity, these vibrant poems remain grounded in a universal familiarity that opens us up to something greater. -John Sibley Williamsauthor of As One Fire Consumes Another

Louis Efron’s collection The Unempty Spaces Between reveals a reverence for nature and personal connection that reminds us of Mary Oliver’s gorgeous nature poems. He uses language beautifully to tell us that tides “scar the sand,” “petals color the earth/a sweet jazz composition,” and “death can be a beautiful thing . . . unleashing the pent-up coil spring.” These poems are a deep meditation on emptiness and the searching soul. -Karol Nielsenauthor of Small Life

The Unempty Spaces Between by Louis Efron is a refreshing work of poetry. Refreshing is the respect given to the craft of poetry. In the poetic world, where prose poetry dominates the landscape, it’s refreshing to read poems marked by form and end-rhymes; notwithstanding, the journey the reader will take processing the metaphoric. Evidence of form, rhyme, and the metaphoric are signified in the poems Lost, A Candle with Two Wicks, and Spaces Between, to name a few. This work of poetry is worthy of a good read and the time of those who enjoy serious writing. -Emmett Wheatfallauthor of Our Scarlet Blue Wounds

Haunting, harrowing and frighteningly incisive, Louis Efron’s dark narrative poems incite terror, provoke gut wrenching memories and invite personal reflection. A nightmarish adventure-what could be better? The Unempty Spaces Between is one of my favorite afternoon reads in a decade. In his own words, “a poetic inferno,” but to my mind it’s “a welcome assault on the senses.” -Jim Volz, Ph.D.Editor, Shakespeare Theatre Association’s Quarto

What did you receive?

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The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish by Katya Apekina (audio)

July 6, 2023 by

Source: Borrowed
Audiobook, 10+ hrs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish by Katya Apekina, narrated by Amy Melissa Bentley and Roger Wayne, is my 10th book for the 12 books recommended by 12 friends reading challenge. This is a deeply disturbing book in which a fractured family’s second chance is less than ideal as an absentee father fails at every turn to step in and do right by his daughters. Dark and disturbing, so many layers in this twisty novel.

*** Trigger Warning: underage and inappropriate sexual encounters and suicidal ideation, etc.***

Dennis is the least complex of the characters. His main motivation is his writing and his ego, which clouds his view of how to be a father to daughters who unwittingly witness their mother’s attempted suicide. It’s clear that he has a penchant for young ladies and the fragility of Mae’s mind leaves her vulnerable to his influence. Edie, on the other hand, is more independent, yet she falls into a similar pattern with Charlie, the neighbor she cons into taking her from New York to Louisiana to see her mother, who is in a psyche ward.

Apekina is exploring the depths of pain and how it can adversely impact yourself and those closest to you. In these present-tense accounts that shift from the past to the present and into the future, readers are taken on a nearly surreal journey into the lives of these sisters, their relationship with each other and their parents, and the after-affects of mental illness. So much occurs in this novel, but it is best experienced without any preamble from others. It’s deeply disturbing and sad.

The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish by Katya Apekina was an uncomfortable read and at times confusing, as mental illness can be. I did not really like any of these characters, but I could empathize with these girls and was heartbroken with how each travels on their own dangerous journey. Mae was acutely affected, and how she copes is devastating.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Katya Apekina is a novelist, screenwriter and translator. Her novel, The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish, was named a Best Book of 2018 by Kirkus, Buzzfeed, LitHub and others, was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and has been translated into Spanish, Catalan, French, German and Italian. She has published stories in various literary magazines and translated poetry and prose for Night Wraps the Sky: Writings by and about Mayakovsky (FSG, 2008), short-listed for the Best Translated Book Award. She co-wrote the screenplay for the feature film New Orleans, Mon Amour, which premiered at SXSW in 2008. She is the recipient of an Elizabeth George grant, an Olin Fellowship, the Alena Wilson prize and a 3rd Year Fiction Fellowship from Washington University in St. Louis where she did her MFA. She has done residencies at VCCA, Playa, Ucross, Art Omi: Writing and Fondation Jan Michalski in Switzerland. Born in Moscow, she currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter and dog.

Filed Under: audiobooks, borrowed copy, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2023, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

The Last Girl by Rose Solari

July 5, 2023 by

Source: Purchased
Paperback, 68 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Last Girl by Rose Solari has a dream-like, otherworldly quality as the poems move from past to present, reality to dreams, memory to heartache. Setting the stage is “Tree House of the Dream Child,” in which we are gathered up to see a tree house that was build long ago by unknown persons but if we’re stealthy enough and believe in the unseen, we can receive a visit from the “dream child.” In this poem, elements are conspiring, the world is wild, and as readers, we are entering Solari’s world where Persephone comes back to earth as a father leaves it.

In “Math and the Garden,” Solari captures grief in a way that few can articulate – through those moments when parents try to impart advice to children who are half-listening, half-dreaming. A tough task depending on the age of the child, but even as adults, we tend to half-listen to our parents.

In “Another Shore,” we experience imagination first hand when apples become part of a schoolroom and a pan of mud becomes quicksand for another adventure. There are prayers and dreams, and day-dreaming throughout the poems as Solari explores the what-ifs of alternative life paths and relationships — the “other” lives we could have led. “You could always//come back. Those are the breaks, your mother would say/if she heard you now, and she’d be right.” (From “Somewhere Between Four and Five A.M.”, pg. 40-1)

There is a deep mourning in The Last Girl by Rose Solari, but there’s also the breath of imagination and memory, a reveling in the past and the what could have been. Delve into this dream-like exploration of loss and imagination, visit island paradises, abandoned tree houses, and so much more.

RATING: Cinquain

About the Poet:

Rose Solari is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, The Last Girl, Orpheus in the Park, and Difficult Weather; the one-act play, Looking for Guenevere, in which she also performed; and a novel, A Secret Woman. She has lectured and taught writing workshops at many institutions, including Arizona State University’s Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing; the University of Maryland, College Park; St. John’s College, Annapolis; the Jung Society of Washington; and The Centre for Creative Writing at Oxford University’s Kellogg College.

Filed Under: challenges, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, purchased, Read in 2023, reviews Tagged With: , ,