Category: General

fantasy · General · reading

Reading: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Sonia LalLeave a comment

I have got Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse.

I have barely gotten started but this is a book that grabs hold and doesn’t let go.

The publisher page for this book has this poem:

A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun

This quote – prophecy? – explains the title. I am getting used to it. The excerpt is on the publisher site, too.

The first line is fantastic. It is one of the best of the first lines I have read in a long, long time. Well, no, it is a few lines down because there is another quote to begin Chapter 1.

Today he would become a god. His mother had told him so.

The first chapter is kind of gruesome. Actually, very gruesome. But it sets a stage and makes you want to read and read and read until you are done. Which I have not been able to do until now!

I am already about a quarter done and am enjoying myself immensely. I believe all major characters/settings have been introduced!

It does seem to be inspired by various pre-Columbian American cultures, which is interesting. I love the world so far, the magic, the different kind of magics and people that are here.

There is singing magic and the boy whose mother told he would become a god – yeah, he has some interesting magic too. There are priests and deadly politics.

There are also odd pronouns – I don’t quite have the hang of them yet. Still getting used to that part and it jars me every time I read it because I don’t really understand what the different pronouns mean. I need more explanation for this part. But it will come in time, I am sure.

General · reading

Out of my Reading Rut

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Reading Rut: when you feel like most of the books you are reading are very similar. Not the same, no, just similar.

That is where I was with my reading. I feel like this happened because I started taking more suggestions from Amazon. Amazon will pretty much only suggest similar items to what you’ve already bought/searched; that is both the strength and weakness of its algorithms. Sometimes similar is what you want, but sometimes it gets boring.

My visiting other blogs fell down a hole. I started visiting twitter again, which helped, but book suggestions didn’t happen like it used to. I have considered getting into Bookstagram or booktok, but haven’t done it. I may at some point.

Anyway – on twitter – I discovered a YouTube video KJ Charles had posted of what was on her TBR pile. It was a long video, about 40 minutes. (It seems like a long video to me.) She (I had never before heard her talk or seen her face. Quite nice) made this video with Ashland Public Library MA – thank you libraries!

I have also discovered my own library has an YouTube account, but they, sadly, do not do TBR videos with authors. Ashland Public Library has a whole playlist of TBR videos with authors: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF7TVD3UhPxovOUopStAn4XAcNOMF2HyJ

I had only watched a few minutes before I discovered two new interesting books. Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse and a whole new series of historical mystery fiction set in India by Abir Mukherjee. They both sounded good. Not that I have either yet – have only found excerpts and previews so far.

But I probably wouldn’t have discovered them if it weren’t for this video. Well, possibly I might have discovered Black Sun. I think I have heard it, but Black Sun is a common title. There is Black Sun’s Daughter and some others, so I think it is possible I heard of it and confused it with some other book. But I dunno if I would have heard of Abir Mukherjee otherwise.

So I am out of my reading slump!

I am anticipating watching the other TBR videos and getting more recommendations. It seems they have done this Gail Carriger, Meg Cabot, Jayne Ann Krentz – all authors I like! There are authors as well that I have never read, but perhaps I should take that as a suggestion, hmm?

But, yes, this TBR video has gotten me out of this reading rut!

General · reading

Banned Book Week, 2020

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It is banned book week once more, a week to celebrate literacy and reading.

I haven’t been keeping track of banned book weeks for the past couple of years and this year I decided to take a look.

This year’s top ten list of banned books from the ALA include:

  1. George by Alex Gino
    Reasons: Challenged, banned, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with a religious viewpoint, and not reflecting “the values of our community”
  2. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
    Reasons: Banned and challenged because of author’s public statements, and because of claims that the book contains “selective storytelling incidents” and does not encompass racism against all people
  3. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
    Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, drug use, and alcoholism, and because it was thought to promote anti-police views, contain divisive topics, and be “too much of a sensitive matter right now”
  4. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
    Reasons: Banned, challenged, and restricted because it was thought to contain a political viewpoint and it was claimed to be biased against male students, and for the novel’s inclusion of rape and profanity
  5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
    Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, sexual references, and allegations of sexual misconduct by the author
  6. Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin
    Reasons: Challenged for “divisive language” and because it was thought to promote anti-police views
  7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
    Reasons: Banned and challenged for racial slurs and their negative effect on students, featuring a “white savior” character, and its perception of the Black experience
  8. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
    Reasons: Banned and challenged for racial slurs and racist stereotypes, and their negative effect on students
  9. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
    Reasons: Banned and challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and depicts child sexual abuse
  10. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
    Reasons: Challenged for profanity, and it was thought to promote an anti-police message

The list has changed a lot since the last time I looked at it, and I don’t remember when that was. A few years back anyway.

I have heard of only four books: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Of Mice and Men by John Steinback, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

I have read only two: Of Mice and Men by John Steinback and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Of Mice and Men was required reading in school and I remember nothing of it.

It seems George has been on the list for the past few years and I hadn’t even heard of it.

All American Boys has “too much of a sensitive matter right now” as a reason to ban it and I really don’t know what that means. I wonder if that means there will come a time when it is not banned because the matter is no longer sensitive.

General

First Day of Fall, 2021

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Today is the first day of fall of this year. Days have been getting cooler, but are still pleasantly warm.

I have seen a few leaves change color. I look at them and know this lingering warmth will soon be a memory.

Fall is also my favorite season. 😀 I enjoy crisp, cool days when all you need is a hoodie to keep warm.

I was reading Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost, which is one my favoriate poems ever. It cycles through all the seasons but I feel like fall is the season it is most concerned with.

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day,

Nothing gold can stay.

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
General

A is for April

Sonia Lal2 Comments

So today is the first day of April. The sky is a cloudless blue, flowers are blooming, trees are growing leaves. Looks like a lovely spring day outside; I just cannot go outside to enjoy it. Because of the coronavirus.

I fear I will miss spring entirely. I feel spring itself has become an April Fool’s Joke.

But! I can enjoy pictures of spring. I can even enjoy videos of cherry trees in DC:

washington-dc-cherry-blossoms-march-20-2020-32-cherryblossomwatch-com-678x452402x
FROM: https://cherryblossomwatch.com/peak-bloom-forecast/

 

It looks pretty! One day maybe I will go visit.

And, also, I feel that this is a  good time to revisit the Daffodils poem. Is it more summer than spring? Anyway,  I was thinking of it today.

Daffodils by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed’and gazed’but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

General

Life is Not Normal Any More

Sonia Lal5 Comments

not-normalMy last post was just under a year ago, and back then, life was normal. Today, life is not normal.

Even a month ago, life was normal.

Hopefully, the changes the coronavirus has wrought in my life are not permanent and I won’t have to get used to them.  Changes such as being terrified to go outside and quite possibly brush up against someone. Anyone, really.

Most people who get it are supposed to recover, but I am not reassured. What if I am not most people?

This will pass. It might take weeks, but it will pass. I am hopeful summer won’t be ruined. But, even if it is, there is always next summer to look forward to.

Until then, everyone needs to avoid everyone else. The goal has become to avoid other people.

 

fantasy · General · reading

Rereading The Cloud Roads

Sonia LalLeave a comment

I was rereading the Raksura book two days ago: The Cloud Roads.cloudrods

It is even more amazing then I remembered.

I missed things the first time I read it and didn’t remember other things. But it held up very well to a rereading, especially after such a long time.

The things I loved the first time – the world-building, the characters, the description, the action – were just as amazing as the first time. Really.

This time I lingered over a quiet scene when it was the two of them, Moon and his queen. Moon has just killed a Fell and learned something that hit him very hard. More, his queen overhead and he really didn’t want her to. Their interaction afterward really is quite touching.

I think I didn’t spend so much time on it before, because I was entranced by the world.

I still am. But I read this first book a long time, and that leaves space to focus on other aspects of the story. And there is plenty to focus on. It is a lot more then the world building – and the world-building is amazing.

General · reading · Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday: Spymaster

Sonia Lal5 Comments

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

My teasers:9781466877955

Merchant ships from all over the world passed through one of the Aligoes’ two major  channels. Although the channels provided the fastest means of travel, they were unfortunately subject to an odd natural phenomenon known as “tides,” because the magic of the Breath ebbed and flowed much like tides in an inland ocean. During ebb tide, the magic decreased to the point where a ship could be in danger of sinking. During high tide, the magic increased, touching off wizard storms that – ironically – could also sink a ship.

–Spymaster: Book One of the Dragon Corsairs by Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes

fantasy · General · reading

Last Raksura book

Sonia LalLeave a comment

In a post on John Scalzi’s blog, Martha Wells announced that The Harbors of the Sun will be the last book the Raksura series.

I can’t begin to express how much that disappoints me. I love the Raksura books. They are original, so creative and so mind-blowingly fantastic. I love the descriptions, the story.

I want to be there half the time, be the main character. One of the characters, anyway.

And now there won’t be anymore.

the-cloud-roads-martha-wells-cover-sketches