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Post by sprite on Jan 30, 2021 15:36:00 GMT -5
"Uprooted" by Naomi Novik.
I think this was in the FB 'How many of these have you read' meme. i read it on Libby.
I loved it. It's probably why i didnt sleep properly all week, I couldn't switch off the story after reading.
It's a reworking of several fairy tales, set in 16th century Eastern Europe.
Every year, the Dragon takes a 17 year old girl to his tower for ten years, and then she is released with girts and education, he takes another.
He's a wizard, and this is the Tribute the local people must, by law, pay him.
This year, Agnieska is chosen. The villagers are surprised, but of course, readers, we are not surprised to learn that she is... a witch! and didn't know it!
They live next to a Wood that devours humans and animals, which no one knows the origin of and cannot be eliminated.
There are hints of many fairty tales, for example, the river that runs through their valley is called The Spindle. It was quite exciting, with lots of developments in the story, a bit of romance but not too much. There were moments where the reader could see what was happening before the characters did, but in a pleasantly tense sort of way.
She has a second book called 'Spinning Silver' but with different characters, and I'll definitely read that one as well.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jan 30, 2021 21:44:58 GMT -5
I noticed that on the cover. Thank you for sharing it. I’ve already lent it to our school librarian, who, understandably is book mad.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Jan 31, 2021 3:54:51 GMT -5
Sprite, I have uprooted here and haven't finished it. Will certainly get back to it.
I managed to read 7 books in January, a bit of a mixed bag.
1. After the Party - Cassie Harmer.
Australian chick lit with thriller overtones. After a birthday party for a young child one other child is left behind. It turns out she is a stranger - doesn't go to school with the group of kids and was just left there. The story develops from the point of view of the mother who left her behind and the family who are now caring for her. OK, but I won't rush out to read anything by the author.
2. The Valley of the Lost Stories - Vanessa McCausland.
I loved this for the sense of place it created. A group of women and their kids go on holidays to a remote valley the other side of the Blue Mountains. While there, one disappears, which has echos of the disappearance of a woman in the 40s. Some very creepy gothic overtones, intense friendships that flare up and burn out, different ways modern motherhood is portrayed. It felt like something Liane Moriarity had tried to do before but this book was so much better,
And it has made me want to go and stay in the Capertee Valley.
3. Burn _ Patrick Ness.
Alternative History set in late 50s US with dragons. Good fun. Have passed it on to LC to read.
4. A Beginning at The End - Mike Chen.
A novel about a pandemic, read during a pandemic. Which made it interesting -seeing what things he got right and things that didn't seem to play out the same way. Of course, the book was speculative fiction that he started writing in 2011, and the virus he imagined wiped out 70% of the population. Still, the post virus world was rather fascinating. I love Mike Chen's take on sci-fi because it Is all about the relationships.
5. The Pull of the Stars - Emma Donoghue
Historical pandemic reading.
6. The Miseducation of Evie Epsworth - Matson Taylor
Glorious coming of age novel set in Yorkshire in the 60s.
7. Bones of the Earth - Eliot Pattison.
The last of the Inspector Shan books that are set in Tibet. I went through a phase of reading them years ago and really loved the way Tibet was depicted. Even though I've missed a few books when I saw this one on the library shelf I picked it up and it was like being reunited with an old friend.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jan 31, 2021 4:42:08 GMT -5
Hal, if you visit the Capertee Valley, head a little further north through Kandos and Rylstone to the Bylong Valley. It is one of my lovely finds looking for Criss-cross routes through the state.
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Post by riverhorse on Jan 31, 2021 5:47:23 GMT -5
I've been to some wineries near Rylstone! EGX's grandmother was in a home in Mudgee and his cousin lives in Appletree Flat, so that neck of the woods was very familiar to me once upon a lifetime.
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Post by Oweena on Jan 31, 2021 15:40:09 GMT -5
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell
I've been on a bit of an O'Farrell reading frenzy since Hament.
Like her other books the characters are interesting, even when they're frustrating (the mother in this book). Her narratives move quickly or at least her plots make me want to keep reading because I want to know how it all comes together. The plot on this one surrounds one family and how they come together after the father unexpectedly disappears. Set in London, NYC, and the west coast of Ireland.
A couple of my library books just became available to download so I'm ready for February reading.
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Post by scrubb on Jan 31, 2021 23:16:15 GMT -5
The Limits of the World, by Jennifer Acker. Another Bookbub special, and a worthwhile one although it didn't quite work the way it could have. About an Indian family originally from Kenya, who live in Ohio. It jumped from perspective to perspective, fitting in some history of Indians in Kenya, but mostly was about family interaction, misunderstandings, etc. One of the main characters is a PhD student at Harvard in Philosophy and though the sections related to his research/thesis were supposed to relate to how he sees his life, it wasn't integrated very smoothly. It also left the mother-son relationships unresolved, which can be fine, except it felt more like it fizzled out than that it was a deliberate choice.
Also, the author tried to draw the characters fully, but none of them actually felt well rounded in the end.
Still, overall a good first novel by the author.
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Post by scrubb on Feb 3, 2021 22:12:11 GMT -5
February's thread is here |
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Post by tinier_dragon on Feb 21, 2021 11:37:32 GMT -5
"Uprooted" by Naomi Novik. I think this was in the FB 'How many of these have you read' meme. i read it on Libby. I loved it. It's probably why i didnt sleep properly all week, I couldn't switch off the story after reading. It's a reworking of several fairy tales, set in 16th century Eastern Europe. Every year, the Dragon takes a 17 year old girl to his tower for ten years, and then she is released with girts and education, he takes another. He's a wizard, and this is the Tribute the local people must, by law, pay him. This year, Agnieska is chosen. The villagers are surprised, but of course, readers, we are not surprised to learn that she is... a witch! and didn't know it! They live next to a Wood that devours humans and animals, which no one knows the origin of and cannot be eliminated. There are hints of many fairty tales, for example, the river that runs through their valley is called The Spindle. It was quite exciting, with lots of developments in the story, a bit of romance but not too much. There were moments where the reader could see what was happening before the characters did, but in a pleasantly tense sort of way. She has a second book called 'Spinning Silver' but with different characters, and I'll definitely read that one as well. I loved both of these books! |
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