World Book Day!

 In honor of World Book Day (Friday, April 23, 2021), I am posting my all-time favorite book.  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

(From Amazon)

Pride and Prejudice is a romance novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story charts the emotional development of the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, who learns the error of making hasty judgements and comes to appreciate the difference between the superficial and the essential. The comedy of the writing lies in the depiction of manners, education, and marriage and money in the British Regency.
Mr Bennet of the Longbourn estate has five daughters, but his property is entailed, meaning that none of the girls can inherit it. Since his wife had no fortune, it is imperative that one of the girls marries well in order to support the others on his death. However, Jane Austen's opening line, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" is a sentence filled with irony and playfulness. The novel revolves around the necessity of marrying for love, not simply for monetary reasons, despite the social pressures to make a good (i.e. wealthy) match.
Pride and Prejudice retains the fascination of modern readers, consistently appearing near the top of lists of "most-loved books" among both literary scholars and the general public. It has become one of the most popular novels in English literature, with over 20 million copies sold, and paved the way for many archetypes that abound in modern literature. Continuing interest in the book has resulted in a number of dramatic adaptations and an abundance of novels and stories imitating Austen's memorable characters or themes.

(My Review)

I love this book.  I love this author.  First of all, it is so obvious that so many modern movies and books have based their plots and made modern versions of Jane Austen's books.  For having lived such a short time, her collection of work is impressive, and all wonderful and unique on their own.  My two favorites are Pride and Prejudice (of course) and Persuasion.  Austen wrote about the manners and relationships of her time.  When you read her books, it really is like getting a glimpse into the world of the Regency period.  I love that she makes her heroines so intelligent, and to world around them.   And of course, who doesn't love a good love story?

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth by Elizabeth Acevedo

 

(From Amazon)

Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.

And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other. 

(My Review)

The lives of two girls, who have never met, are changed forever, when their shared father dies in a plane crash.  The girls, Camino and Ya Ya, who come from two different worlds, two different countries, didn't even know of each other until the death of their father, now have to face a new reality and deal with the grief of losing their father.  Now, both of their lives will be changed forever.  I found this book to be very thought-provoking.  I thought it dealt with grief very well.  I also thought it was interesting showing the contrast in cultures between the United States and the Dominican Republic.  Also, in reading the Author Notes at the end, I thought it was interesting to find that the plane crash in book was inspired by an actual event, and that the author was interested in the fact that a plane crash mostly affecting the Dominican Republic community, did not receive much attention by the media.  And that this book was a way to put a face on some of the people lost in that plane crash.  

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

(From Amazon)

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.

At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin―and his world―forever.

(My Review)

Young beautiful human girl gets kidnapped by magical beast.  Sound familiar?  In this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, you are taken into a magical world with magical creatures, where the main character, Feyre, is not safe, and comes to depend (and fall in love with) her captor.  I thought this book was very good and and definitely look forward to the rest of the series.  I have also recently heard that Netflix is going to make series of this book series (don't wait on Netflix - read the books first!)

Series:

1.  A Court of Thorns and Roses

2.   A Court of Mist and Fury

3.  A Court of Wings and Ruin

4.  A Court of Frost and Starlight

5.  A Court of Silver Flames

They Went Left by Monica Hesse

 

(From Amazon)

Germany, 1945. The soldiers who liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp said the war was over, but nothing feels over to 18-year-old Zofia Lederman. Her body has barely begun to heal; her mind feels broken. And her life is completely shattered: Three years ago, she and her younger brother, Abek, were the only members of their family to be sent to the right, away from the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Everyone else - her parents, her grandmother, radiant Aunt Maja - they went left.

Zofia's last words to her brother were a promise: "Abek to Zofia, A to Z. When I find you again, we will fill our alphabet." Now her journey to fulfill that vow takes her through Poland and Germany and into a displaced persons camp where everyone she meets is trying to piece together a future from a painful past: Miriam, desperately searching for the twin she was separated from after they survived medical experimentation. Breine, a former heiress, who now longs only for a simple wedding with her new fiancé. And Josef, who guards his past behind a wall of secrets and is beautiful and strange and magnetic all at once.

But the deeper Zofia digs, the more impossible her search seems. How can she find one boy in a sea of the missing? In the rubble of a broken continent, Zofia must delve into a mystery whose answers could break her - or help her rebuild her world.

(My Review)

With the plethora of WWII books that seems to be about currently, They Went Left takes a different approach.  This book follows Zofia at the end of the war, as the camp she is in is liberated.  Her main concern is finding her sole surviving family - her brother.  I thought this book was so interesting on so many levels.  While it was historical fiction, it was a story of survival.  These survivors, after having lived through the horror of the concentration camps, found themselves on a  desperate quest to find their families after the war.  The author explored how the trauma of war effected many of the characters in many different ways, leading them to make unimaginable decisions.     

Circe by Madeline Miller

 

(From Amazon)

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.

(My Review)

In this retelling of The Odyssey, as told from the character of Circe, you trace her life from neglected daughter of Helios, to the fierce mother of a son of Odysseus.  She goes from believing she has no powers to becoming a very powerful witch.  I really enjoyed this story about the power of women, about the fierceness of mothers, and about sacrifice.

Some Kind of Animal by Maria Romasco-Moore

(From Amazon)

Jo lives in the same Appalachian town where her mother disappeared fifteen years ago. Everyone knows what happened to Jo's mom. She was wild, and bad things happen to girls like that.

Now people are starting to talk about Jo. She's barely passing her classes and falls asleep at her desk every day. She's following in her mom's footsteps.

Jo does have a secret. It's not what people think, though. Not a boy or a drug habit. Jo has a twin sister.

Jo's sister is not like most people. She lives in the woods--catches rabbits with her bare hands and eats them raw. Night after night, Jo slips out of her bedroom window and meets her sister in the trees. And together they run, fearlessly.

The thing is, no one's ever seen Jo's sister. So when her twin attacks a boy from town, everyone assumes that it was Jo. Which means Jo has to decide--does she tell the world about her sister, or does she run?

(My Review)

Family secrets, complex family relationships, friendships come together into this story of Jo and her twin sister.  It's a complex story that tests the ties of family and friendship, and the power of nature and nurture.  I thought it was a riveting story where a young girl is thrust into a position where she is questioning everything she thought to be true (some of which was already a mystery), and her only thought is to protect her sister.

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as Told to His Brother) by David Levithan

 

(From Amazon)

Aidan disappeared for six days. Six agonizing days of searches and police and questions and constant vigils. Then, just as suddenly as he vanished, Aidan reappears. Where has he been? The story he tells is simply...impossible. But it's the story Aidan is sticking to.

His brother, Lucas, wants to believe him. But Lucas is aware of what other people, including their parents, are saying: that Aidan is making it all up to disguise the fact that he ran away.

When the kids in school hear Aidan's story, they taunt him. But still Aidan clings to his story. And as he becomes more of an outcast, Lucas becomes more and more concerned. Being on Aidan's side would mean believing in the impossible. But how can you believe in the impossible when everything and everybody is telling you not to? 

(My Review)

He had disappeared into a Narnia closet, and reappeared as mysteriously as he disappeared.  His story was met with confusion and disbelief.  I really enjoyed this book.  It was a short read, and I thought Levithan did a good job exploring the relationships in family, friends and community, and how they come together, and how they tear at each other.