January 2019 Wrap Up

In January I read, 5 books. Some I liked, some I didn't. It gave me new authors to look out for and at least one to definitely avoid in the future.

#1: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

This book was definitely not what I was originally expecting. I prefer to go into books blind, and that was probably a bad idea with this one. I had thought this book was going to be about discovering a sect of witches or powers of some sort. Turns out it really should have been 'A Discovery by Witches.' They (the witches) make the discovery. Though we only get a glimpse of what the discovery is while Diana is trying way too hard to be involved romantically with a 1500+ year old vampire who is rather disinterested in her. I smell what I call WBS, or Wicker Basket Syndrome. She thinks she is ugly or plain, but has massive magical power. It didn't seem plausible for even a fantasy novel. It was somewhat strange. Seeing someone who was raised adamantly anti-vampire to just hop into bed, so quickly, with a vampire.  As to the story itself, I rather enjoyed it. I liked how Diana couldn't outrun her own past so easily. We cannot deny who we are, not for lack of trying. I wanted more of the book talking about why the plot is what it was. Not all books need to be heavy on romance! I would have equally good without it. I will have to read the next book in the series to see what happens. Deborah Harkness is a good writer.


#2: The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare. What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

What the hell did I just read?! Anna Fox (we don't even learn her name til like 1/3 of the way in) is a recluse. She suffers severe agoraphobia. However, she helps other people get over their own agoraphobia. A new family moves in, which sparks her interest because she watches them. Personally, I would have found this unusual, but not really all that alarming. She hears a scream, meets people, and then she sees something she shouldn't have. What do you expect from someone who thrives on watching others live their lives. I'm surprised she never saw worse. No family is perfect. Anna is determined she saw what she saw. Everyone else had irrefutable proof she didn't see what she thinks she did. She even started to believe them when they came over. Everything just devolved from there. I would have reached a point (crazed woman wearing a wet, wine-stained robe over just undies yelling at me) where I would have just hauled her off to the funny farm. I loved/hated the way we got the story in fragments. It frustrated me that I couldn't figure it out, because I'm really good at that, but I also loved it because it was her real thought process. Self-medicating drunks are always fun...to read about. I thought she really just needed help. It makes me really think about the people in my own lie and who I can and should trust. 5/5 stars. I will always trust my librarians from now on and will be on the lookout for more from A.J. Finn.

3. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse 

In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth. Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alaïs is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. Now, as crusading armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.

It took me far too long to read this. I picked it up on a whim from my library because I was attracted to the bronze and teal cover. It was pretty. The story on the other hand was completely silly. We follow two young women, separated by ~800 years. We don't learn the full extent of the story for a while. Instead we are taken on a journey in the life of Alaïs Pelletier-duMas on one side and Alice Tanner on the other. I didn't mind switching back and forth in the timeline, if only they had been marked better. I would be reading and suddenly we were in 1209-1244 instead of 2004, or 2004 instead of 1209-1244. This book was interesting, I'll give it that, but not interesting enough. I did like the idea behind the tale, and I want to read more in a similar vein, but I don't think Kate Mosse's writing style is for me. I had no idea how to pronounce half of it, wasn't particularly invested in Alice, and the grail story itself was very strange. Not revisiting this author.

4. My Hero Academia (v1) by Kohei Horikoshi

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks” at age four? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless? Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny…

I was quite fond of this. I have already seen the associated anime and was interested in beginning the manga series so I could see (1) what is different from the anime and (2) the continuation of the plot after the where the anime ends because the anime is behind the comics. I already owned volumes 2 & 3, but couldn't find 1. Finally got a copy at Books-A-Million recently. I enjoyed this a lot, even though I already knew the plot. We follow protagonist Izuku "Deku" Midoriya as he struggles with being a quirkless teen in a world where 80% of the population has quirks. I'm wont to believe that as well that Izuku is the only member of his middle school class to not have a quirk. At least we are told that he doesn't have one. We are then introduced to Katsuki Bakugo, our deuteragonist (yes, this is a word, it means second main hero), who has been Izuku's friend/enemy for years. Bakugo has a powerful quirk. He and Izuku both apply for the hero program. I wondered how Izuku managed to not succumb to the ever mounting pressure the bullies put on him. Even the nickname means "useless" in Japanese. No one I know would have been anywhere near as emotionally strong enough to face that every day. Enter: All Might, or as I call him, America Man! He sees himself maybe in Izuku and passes on his own quirk to the teen. Even though Izuku has no idea how to wield it nor is he even properly strong enough. I'm entirely unconvinced that this plan was thought out by either of them. Who in their right mind would give a woefully under-prepared teenager access to that level of power? No one! Why All Might? Because Izuku reminds you of.....spoilers! Anyway, I loved how they gave Izuku a quirk to call his own, even if it was the quirk of the #1 pro hero in Japan. As we now follow Izuku into his first few days as a high school student, we watch him learn that being a pro hero is harder than he thought. He gains a few new friends along the way who can (hopefully) help him become a better hero. Looking forward to reading the next volume in the My Hero Academia series. 

5. Night by Elie Wiesel

Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man. This new translation by his wife and most frequent translator, Marion Wiesel, corrects important details and presents the most accurate rendering in English of Elie Wiesel's testimony to what happened in the camps and of his unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.

I'm not sure how I've managed to miss reading this with my random obsession with WWII. Yet I did. Picked it up because it was a stunning edition of the book and read it in a single day. It was beautiful. One cannot help feeling sorrow as they read. Elie's story is one that strikes home for many. I have both German and Jewish ancestry (so I have been told), so I sympathize with both sides. Many German soldiers were only doing it because they didn't want to got to the camps themselves. I don't know if anybody in my family was ever in a camp, and now I want to go on an ancestry site and find out. This is a book everyone ought to read and hopefully take to heart.