My Mid-Year Book Reviews

A few favorites from the last two months

July is upon us and it is finally getting hot here in the boatyard. There is nothing but sunshine and blue skies in the forecast and the boat has two coats of epoxy primer on its bottom, pretty photos to come. There are plenty of other tasks for us to complete after that—not the least of which will be a serious cleaning and re-organizing of the boat and our little storage space—but the “to do” list is definitely getting shorter.

Time for some book reviews. All of these books came out more than a year ago, but they were all new to me. One of the things I am loving about BookTok (the book people on TikTok) is how people talk about books from last month or from forty years ago. I even see reviews of some books I loved as a young reader, which is so cool.

First off, in the category of books I have been hearing about for ages, I finally read Kindred by Octavia Butler—an absolutely gripping novel. I’d heard of Butler’s books, but understood them to be science fiction, and I’m bored by a lot of sci-fi (not all, but I am picky). Another reader and I recently discussed how books get shelved as sci-fi that are not at all science fiction. Kindred has a magical element, though it is a big one—time travel—and the rest of it is historical fiction. Not science fiction. Fiction with magic. If you haven’t read it, don’t be frightened off by categories it might show up in.

I can’t remember when a book made me as uncomfortable as Ninety Days Without You by Jennifer Woodward. I ended up really liking it, but for anyone with addiction issues, or who’s been in an abusive relationship (not necessarily physically abusive) or has experienced love addiction, this is going to be a tough read. On the other hand, a novel that deals with these subjects in all their uncomfortable-ness should be required reading—I was going to say “for young women,” but I should say for everyone.

Another book I ended up liking but that was a little bit hard to take was The Ninth Hour, a novel by Alice McDermott. Life in a poor Brooklyn neighborhood early in the twentieth century is hard enough, but the Irish Catholic nuns and priests have an excuse or a promise for everything they disagree with, and none of it seems to help anyone very much in the end. It was a beautifully written tale—a bit like Angela’s Ashes, but with very little of the wit and none of the laughs.

Keeping Lucy by T. Greenwood was incredibly compelling to me, not in the way of a typical page-turner—with obvious mysteries driven by a convoluted plot—but out of love for these characters, and curiosity about what they would do next. The author also kept surprising me, by showing her characters foibles, and having them actually evolve as human beings (imagine that!). I have friends who have children with Down Syndrome and maybe that is why I fell for little Lucy right away. Highly recommend.

The Man Who Came Back is the second book I’ve read by Amy Vansant (it is the most recent book in the Shee McQueen series but I read it out of order) and now I want to read all of her books. It's extremely difficult to strike the perfect balance between thriller, mystery, and humor, but the author of this series knows just how to do it. Enjoy this exciting vacation, it is perfect for summer reading by the pool!

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill was brilliant and I can’t say much more about it because it isn’t quite like anything else I’ve ever read (though it reminded me a bit of Human Smoke, one of my favorite war-history books). The novel is made up of short bursts of thoughts, about a paragraph long, but I immediately got swept up in the story and would add not a thing. It was referred to me by

Elizabeth Marro

of

Spark

in her great June post: When is a book too heavy for you? Is life too short to read (or write) long books? Check it out below, it gave me a chuckle plus two great book recs.

When is a book too heavy for you?

I just started reading Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice which is a Pulitzer Prize winner by Cristina Rivera Garza, and the creative memoir style of it has already hooked me, and I just got an Advance Reading Copy of Floreana, the newest novel by Midge Raymond (set in the Galapagos, so I am excited). I will keep you posted on both of those.

In Honeymoon at Sea news, the Kindle book is staying in the top 100 or so in my three categories but I have only gotten two new reviews in the two months or so. I’ll post them below because why not?

5.0 out of 5 stars

Loved it & still thinking about it!

A delicious escape into Baja aboard the Watchfire, it’s the type of love story that can only be real and not fictional—complex, moving, tricky, inspiring. I loved this memoir and I think I’d read Redmond’s whole marriage story after reading just a bit about the beginning. A San Diego love story. A brave and sexy heroine navigating life, marriage, career and what’s next. Tiny home living before it was cool. A bit of grappling with the past, a bit of youthful naïveté. I finished it two weeks ago and am still thinking of it. No sailing experience required to really enjoy this one! It’ll haunt you afterwards in the best way.

5.0 out of 5 stars

A love of adventure and the adventure of love

Honeymoon at Sea is the tale of Jennifer and Russel Redmond's early married life aboard a sailboat as they set out from San Diego on a journey with New York as the goal, but the trip along the way became the real story. Interspersed among the vivid descriptions of the coastlines and beach towns on both sides of the Baja peninsula, Jennifer provides glimpses of the nontraditional family she grew up in, including several moves around the West Coast and a summer trip to Europe with everything they needed, including sleeping bags and a tent, in their backpacks. She had already experienced living on both coasts of the US, so the background of the story for me was figuring out which coast held the title of home. I think Jennifer's story indicates home, for her, is both/and, not either/or. Even the getting there seemed like home as Jennifer tells her story.

Please post a review, if you have read and enjoyed HatS

hasta pronto!