Recent Reads

120. Fables, Vol. 5: The Mean Seasons
This is book #5 in the Fables graphic novel series, and this one moves the story along. Political changes are afoot, we have a wolf flashback, and babies are due. Fun. Rating: 3 stars.

121. When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice
Here is what I knew going into this memoir - the author's mother dies and leaves her journals to her daughter. And the journals are all blank. Every single one of them. As a life-long journal keeper, this fascinated me. 

The writing is wonderful, and lyrical, and incisive. I found myself copying entire paragraphs into my own journal. But here is what I wish I had known going in. This book is setup as fifty four chapters, but these are not so much chapters as journal entries. Snapshots. Condensed nuggets. Some are only a paragraph long. The author meditates on voice: what it is, how we find it, how we use it, how we lose it. And she reflects on her mother. What do all those blank journals represent? 

Instead of reading this memoir in about three sittings, I wish I had read a couple of the very short chapters and then reflected for a while before diving back in again. So loved her writing, and will read other books she has written. Rating: 4 stars.

122. Fables, Vol. 6: Homelands
This is book #6 in the Fables graphic novel series, and moves the story forward using two plot lines. In the first one Jack heads to Hollywood and into the movie business. In the second one Boy Blue is on a quest to rescue Red Riding Hood and take down the Adversary. I had figured out who the Adversary was a couple books back, and was interested to see how that person came to power. I liked the second story line better, and best of all Mowgli makes an appearance. Rating: 3 stars.

123. Beautiful Ruins
This book weaves multiple stories into a lovely mosaic. Nothing much happens, and yet I was sucked into the lives of these people. How does Jess Walter do it? A story of the lives of ordinary people doing the best they can. Throw in the Italian coast, Hollywood star power, and skilled writing, and you get one heck of a fun read. I've added his backlist to my TBR pile. Rating: 4 stars.