In Gabriella Saab’s debut novel, Maria Florkowska, a young woman working for the Polish resistance effort alongside her parents during World War II, has her world turned upside down when she’s sent to Auschwitz.
(more…)Category: Books
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Sunrise on the Reaping
The book got a little beat up while on vacation. Sorry Suzanne! Sunrise on the Reaping takes place 40 years after the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It’s now the fiftieth anniversary of The Hunger Games, the first Quarter Quell, and a young Haymitch Abernathy is reaped on what happens to be his birthday. Such a nice birthday present, right? And because a Quarter Quell is when things get interesting, twice as many tributes get reaped as usual, which means Haymitch has 47 opponents. Loyal readers might remember how the story ends, but that’s just the beginning.
This was a really fun who’s who of The Hunger Games universe. The main character, of course is Haymitch, who just so happens to be friends with Katniss’s dad, Burdock Everdeen. Katniss definitely got her bow-and-arrow skills from him. There’s also Effie Trinket, Plutarch Havensbee, Mags, Wiress, and Beetee.
Beetee isn’t in a wheelchair at this point – was that just a thing in the Catching Fire movie? However, he does have a plan up his sleeve, a plan that involves Haymitch and his own son, Ampert. Not only is Ampert adorable, he has a really fitting name for someone from District 3.
There’s also more to Plutarch Havensbee than is seen as first glance, but knowing that he eventually becomes Head Gamemaker, it’s not clear if he’s a good guy or not.
Effie actually comes to District 12’s wardrobe rescue, because their assigned stylist, Magno Stift, is too busy getting high on whatever he can get his hands on to actually take the time to dress his tributes in anything other than what they’ve been wearing for the last half century – black overalls and miners’ hats. Sure, District 12 ends up getting hand-me-downs from the Trinket family, but that’s better than nothing.
The end of this book was absolutely brutal. Haymitch may have survived, but that doesn’t mean he catches any kind of breaks. Does Suzanne Collins get off on ripping out her readers’ hearts and feeding them into a wood chipper? Because sometimes it seems like she does.
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Back of Beyond
Cody Hoyt is a detective with the Lewis & Clark County Sheriff’s Office in Montana. He might be rough around the edges, but he’s smart and he gets the job done. However, when his friend and Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Hank Winters is found dead, everything changes.
This is an excellent book. Author C.J. Box knows how to write an evenly paced page turner full of twists and turns the audience won’t see coming. Going back and forth between what Cody is up to and the bigger picture means the through line is tension. Pure tension.
When the two plot lines of the book meet – at times, they seem separate – that’s when the book explodes. But Box takes a long time to get there. He’s really good at building suspense and developing characters. Someone who seems harmless at first slowly transforms into someone who’s not so innocent as meets the eye.
Well, maybe it’s not a slow transformation at all. Box is also really good at writing from his villains’ point of view. Getting into their heads and revealing to the reader just how messed up they can be underneath all the charm they use to try and make people feel safe around them. Charm only goes so far, though. The mask always falls at some point, no matter how hard people try to keep it on.
This book is definitely an adventure worth going on. Be prepared to get sucked into it.
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The Personal Librarian
Belle da Costa Greene (1879-1950) was initially the private librarian of J. Pierpont Morgan and later his son, Jack. She was the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library, known today as the Morgan Library and Museum. She curated one of the most important rare book and manuscript collections in the United States, eventually transforming it into a major public resource.
J.P. Morgan (1837-1913) financed railroads and helped to organize companies such as U.S. Steel and General Electric. In 1871, he formed a partnership with Philadelphia Banker Anthony Drexel, which in 1895, was recognized as J.P. Morgan & Company, the predecessor to today’s J.P. Morgan Chase. He spent most of his wealth amassing a vast art collection curated by Belle, of course.
Bernard Berenson (1865-1959) was an Italian Renaissance art critic and historian. He wrote Belle’s favorite book as a child “The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance”, which was a gift from her father. Later, Belle and Bernard have a … complicated relationship.
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The Dead Romantics
Florence Day is a romance novel ghostwriter with a major case of writer’s block at the worst time – when she’s on deadline and she’s already asked for multiple extensions. After her last relationship ended badly, she feels like she doesn’t know how to write romance anymore, so she can just kiss her career and life in New York City goodbye. But everything changes when she returns to her hometown of Mairmont, North Carolina for her father’s funeral.
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The Reviewing Fangirl 