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Author: Josie

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

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The Lying Life of Adults is not a novel that I would have picked out myself, despite the glowing praise from reviewers covering the back cover and the inside cover. How did I come to read it then? One of the categories for the 2021 Indigo Reading Challenge is “A book recommended by Indigo experts” and this is the book recommended to me by an Indigo expert. The Lying Life of Adults is written by Italian novelist Elena Ferrante and is set in Naples. It is a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl named Giovanna. I cannot say that I enjoyed reading this novel.

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Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

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I picked up Cloud Cuckoo Land rather impulsively from Costco a few weeks ago. I was definitely interested in reading it at some point as it is a novel that involves multiple timelines and multiple characters that are somehow all interconnected, but I did not intend on reading it so soon because my TBR pile is completely out of control. This novel sounded just too interesting to put off, though. Thematically, it was not what I was expecting as it is a novel about the destructiveness of human nature, specifically as it has manifested in climate change. But it is also about finding hope for our future. I cannot say that I one hundred percent enjoyed reading Cloud Cuckoo Land as it triggered my climate anxiety, but it is a fascinating and richly told novel. It is also long; it took me about two weeks of pre-bedtime reading to get through it.

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One By One by Ruth Ware

One By One by Ruth Ware

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Why oh why do I keep reading Ruth Ware? Because I hold on to the apparently futile hope that her novels will get better? The first Ruth Ware novel that I read was her first novel, In a Dark, Dark Wood, and I read it because Reese Witherspoon said to “Prepare to be scared… really scared!” I found it a little creepy, but not scary at all, and it was too predictable. The next Ruth Ware novel that I read was The Death of Mrs. Westaway. Again, it was predictable, but I really could not stand the protagonist, so I vowed to never waste my time on a Ruth Ware novel again. So why did I read One By One? Because my mom gave it to me and she said it was “good”, which is a glowing endorsement from my mother as she is the pickiest reader. One By One is a bit better than the other two novels that I have read, but it was still too easy predict the outcome.

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Matrix by Lauren Groff

Matrix by Lauren Groff

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Evie making her Bibliokitty debut!

Lauren Groff is another one of my favourite writers whose novels I always look forward to reading. The Monsters of Templeton is one of my favourite books that I have reread a few times. Matrix is Groff’s latest novel, released at the beginning of September. It is unlike anything Groff has written before. Her previous novels have more contemporary settings, but Matrix is set in an abbey in the 12th century and is about a young woman who is forced to become a nun. It reads like a beautifully composed dream, or perhaps a prophecy, and I found it completely fascinating and engrossing.

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Fight Night by Miriam Toews

Fight Night by Miriam Toews

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Miriam Toews is one of my favourite writers whose books I always look forward to reading. She is a Canadian author and many of her novels focus on Mennonites, as Toews herself was raised in a Mennonite community in Manitoba. Fundamentalist Mennonites do not come across very well in Toews’ novels. It seems like a very oppressive belief system that focuses too much on sin and damnation, rather than the teaches of Jesus, who said that God’s greatest commandment is to love God and to love each other. Although, I do not believe this is unique to Mennonites. Fight Night is not set within a Mennonite community, like Toews’ A Complicated Kindness (a great book that still lingers in my mind many years after I read it), Irma Voth and Women Talking (which is based on the disgusting real life events of women in a Mennonite community being drugged at night and waking up to find that they have been sexually assaulted, and then gaslighted by the men of their community who said that they must be imagining things). The characters in Fight Night no longer live in a Mennonite community, but their experiences within the community still inform their lives.

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The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett

The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett

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Have I mentioned that I like historical fiction? I really, really like historical fiction. Ken Follett can be relied on to write some pretty good historical fiction novels, whether it is the Kingsbridge series or the Century Trilogy. The Evening and the Morning is part of the Kingsbridge series, which started with The Pillars of the Earth. The Pillars of the Earth is set in twelfth-century England in a town called Kingsbridge. It is about a prior who wants to build the greatest cathedral the world has ever known, so yes, religion plays an important role in the Kingsbridge novels. There are two sequels to The Pillars of the Earth: the first one is called World Without End and it is also set in Kingsbridge but at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Some of the characters in World Without End are descendants of the characters in The Pillars of the Earth. The second sequel is called A Column of Fire and is set in the sixteenth century. The Evening and the Morning is the prequel to The Pillars of the Earth. It is set at the beginning of the eleventh century and is about how the town of Kingsbridge was founded. These novels could each be read on their own or in any order, but I do highly recommend you read all of them if you like historical fiction.

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The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

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I love me some family drama. I am absolutely fascinated by family dynamics, and the more the dysfunctional the dynamics, the better (do not worry, I prefer to read about fictional dysfunctional families and not focus on real dysfunctional families). I should have devoured The Dutch House and enjoyed every minute of it. And I did devour it; I was absolutely engrossed by it. But did I enjoy it? It is supposed to be a heartwarming family saga about making peace with the past and learning forgiveness, but after expanding my reading horizons this year and learning more about the experiences of Black and Indigenous people, I cannot say that I really enjoyed reading The Dutch House because its message gets diluted by the reek of white privilege.

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Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

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This is Harmony’s last appearance on my blog. She was the best furry reading companion I could have ever hoped for and she will forever be missed.

Ace of Spades is Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s debut novel. Her inspiration for the novel came from the TV show Gossip Girl (which I have never watched) and the Jordan Peele movie Get Out (which I have watched). The novel is about two Black teens, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, who are the only Black students at the private school that they attend, and who become the targets of anonymous text messages sent to the entire student body by someone called “Aces” who is exposing secrets about them that threatens to ruin their lives. If you have seen Get Out, you will have some idea of who “Aces” is and why they are targeting Devon and Chiamaka, but that does not make Ace of Spades any less thrilling to read.

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Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

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Jonny Appleseed is the first novel by Two-Spirit/Indigenous Queer writer Joshua Whitehead. Whitehead’s protagonist, Jonny, is also Two-Spirit/Indigenous Queer, and the novel is about Jonny ruminating on his upbringing on “the rez”. Jonny Appleseed is an introspective novel; if you prefer novels that are plot-focused, then you will probably not like it. However, if you enjoy immersing yourself in other people’s lives and experiences, then I think you should definitely give Jonny Appleseed a read.

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The Archive of the Forgotten by A. J. Hackwith

The Archive of the Forgotten by A. J. Hackwith

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The Archive of the Forgotten is book two in the Hell’s Library trilogy. WARNING: if you have not read The Library of the Unwritten (book one) yet, do not read any further. I know I was not very enthusiastic in my review of The Library of the Unwritten, but I think it would be worth reading just so you can get to The Archive of the Forgotten.

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