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485. Uprooted

Rating:  ☆☆1/2

Recommended by:   Joni Renee Zalk

Author:   Naomi Novik

Genre:   Fiction, Fantasy

435 pages, published May 19, 2014

Reading Format:   Book

Summary

The protagonist of Uprooted is Agnieszka, a village girl who is selected by “The Dragon,” a magical wizard who every ten years chooses a girl to take to his tower.  The Dragon, who protects the villagers against the malevolent and encroaching Wood, trains Agnieszka in his magical ways and enlists her help in fighting the Wood.

Quotes 

“You intolerable lunatic,” he snarled at me, and then he caught my face between his hands and kissed me.”

 

“truth didn’t mean anything without someone to share it with; you could shout truth into the air forever, and spend your life doing it, if someone didn’t come and listen.”

 

“I’m glad,” I said, with an effort, refusing to let my mouth close up with jealousy. It wasn’t that I wanted a husband and a baby; I didn’t, or rather, I only wanted them the way I wanted to live to a hundred someday, far off, never thinking about the particulars. But they meant life: she was living, and I wasn’t.”

 

“I was a glaring blot on the perfection. But I didn’t care: I didn’t feel I owed him beauty.”

 

“I don’t want more sense!” I said loudly, beating against the silence of the room. “Not if sense means I’ll stop loving anyone. What is there besides people that’s worth holding on to?”

 

“I don’t want more sense!” I said loudly, beating against the silence of the room. “Not if sense means I’ll stop loving anyone. What is there besides people that’s worth holding on to?”

 

“I leaned against his side, his irritation oddly comforting. After a moment he grudgingly put his arm around me. The deep quiet was already settling back upon the grove, as if all the fire and rage we’d brought could make only a brief interruption in its peace.”

 

“You’ve been inexpressibly lucky,” he said finally. “And inexpressibly mad, although in your case the two seem to be the same thing”

 

“His name tasted of fire and wings, of curling smoke, of subtlety and strength and the rasping whisper of scales.”

 

“Those the walkers carried into the Wood were less lucky. We didn’t know what happened to them, but they came back out sometimes, corrupted in the worst way: smiling and cheerful, unharmed. They seemed almost themselves to anyone who didn’t know them well, and you might spend half a day talking with one of them and never realize anything was wrong, until you found yourself taking up a knife and cutting off your own hand, putting out your own eyes, your own tongue, while they kept talking all the while, smiling, horrible. And then they would take the knife and go inside your house, to your children, while you lay outside blind and choking and helpless even to scream. If someone we loved was taken by the walkers, the only thing we knew to hope for them was death, and it could only be a hope.”

 

My Take

While a lot of people love Uprooted, I am not a fan.  It had way too many action sequences, was often disjointed (incomprehensively jumping from one thing to another) and failed to develop the main characters or their relationship.  A bit of a slog to get through it.

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480. The Dispatcher

Rating:  ☆☆☆

Recommended by:  Joni Renee Zalk

Author:   John Scalzi

Genre:   Fiction, Science Fiction, Mystery, Novella

130 pages, published October 4, 2016

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

In the not too distant future, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone.  99.9% of people intentionally killed come back to life.  We don’t know how it happens, but it impacts the human race in unexpected and interesting ways.  Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher, a licensed professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those whose circumstances put them in death’s crosshairs, so they can have a second chance to avoid death, who races the clock to save a fellow who has been kidnapped.

Quotes 

“I don’t look smug.” “You always look smug. You have resting smug face.”

 

“It’s because I remind them they’re not God,” I said. “And that if there is one, I’m closer to Him than they are.”

 

My Take

“I don’t look smug.” “You always look smug. You have resting smug face.”

 

“It’s because I remind them they’re not God,” I said. “And that if there is one, I’m closer to Him than they are.”

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456. The Book of Life

Rating:  ☆☆☆☆

Recommended by:  Joni Renee Zalk

Author:    Deborah Harkness

Genre:   Fiction, Fantasy, Romance

561 pages, published July 15, 2014

Reading Format:  Audio Book on Overdrive

Summary

The Book of Life is the third book in Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy.  We follow star crossed lovers witch Diana, who is pregnant with twins, and vampire Matthew as they return from their time-travelling escapade in Elizabethan London to the present day.  They reconvene with family and friends at Matthew’s ancestral home, Sept-Tours, where they plan a defense against Benjamin, Matthew’s vampire son who is out to create a vampire witch child and is leaving a path of destruction in his wake.

Quotes 

“I see you, even when you hide from the rest of the world. I hear you, even when you’re silent.”

 

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

 

“the wolf who wins is the wolf you feed. The evil wolf feeds on anger, guilt, sorrow, lies, and regret. The good wolf needs a diet of love and honesty, spiced up with big spoonfuls of compassion and faith. So if you want the good wolf to win, you’re going to have to starve the other one.”

 

“I watched in silence as the parts of Matthew I knew and loved—the poet and the scientist, the warrior and the spy, the Renaissance prince and the father—fell away until only the darkest, most forbidding part of him remained. He was only the assassin now. But he was still the man I loved.”

 

“No, I’m a vampire.” Matthew stepped forward, joining Chris under the projector’s light. “And before you ask, I can go outside during the day and my hair won’t catch fire in the sunlight. I’m Catholic and have a crucifix. When I sleep, which is not often, I prefer a bed to a coffin. If you try to stake me, the wood will likely splinter before it enters my skin.” He bared his teeth. “No fangs either. And one last thing: I do not, nor have I ever, sparkled.” Matthew’s face darkened to emphasize the point.”

 

My Take

While I enjoyed book one A Discovery of Witches and book two Shadow of Night in the All Souls Trilogy, The Book of Life (book three) was my favorite.  It moves along at a faster clip than the first two and it doesn’t hurt that the author has upped the stakes.  I was satisfied with the resolution of the triology (although I hear there is another book in the series) and enjoyed the time I spent in the fantasy world created by historian and writer Harkness.

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452. Shadow of Night

Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:  Joni Renee Zalk

Author:    Deborah Harkness

Genre:   Fiction, Fantasy, Romance

584 pages, published July 10, 2020

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

Shadow of Night is book two of the All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness, an historian of science and medicine.  In this book, we follow witch Diana Bishop and vampire Matthew de Clairmont as they travel back in time to Elizabethan England.  While searching for the Book of Life, they encounter Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh and Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia.

Quotes 

“Memories were short and history unkind. It was the way of the world.”

 

“Children needed love, a reliable source of comfort, and an adult willing to take responsibility for them.”

 

“With knot of one, the spell’s begun.

With knot of two, the spell be true.

With knot of three, the spell is free.

With knot of four, the power is stored.

With knot of five, the spell with thrive.

With knot of six, this spell I fix.”

 

“fine initium novum,’” Matthew said, gazing upon the land of his father as though he had, at last, come home. “‘In every ending there is a new beginning.”

 

“In every moment, for the rest of my life, I will be choosing you.”

 

“For storms will rage and oceans roar,

When Gabriel stands on sea and shore,

And as he blows his wondrous horn,

Old worlds die and new be born.”

 

“We don’t lock up books in this house,” Philippe said, “only food, ale, and wine. Reading Herodotus or Aquinas seldom leads to bad behavior.”

 

“Change is the only reliable thing in the world.”

 

“Sex and dominance. It’s what modern humans think vampire relationships are all about,” I said. “Their stories are full of crazed alpha-male vampires throwing women over their shoulders before dragging them off for dinner and a date.” “Dinner and a date?” Matthew was aghast. “Do you mean . . . ?” “Uh-huh. You should see what Sarah’s friends in the Madison coven read. Vampire meets girl, vampire bites girl, girl is shocked to find out there really are vampires. The sex, blood, and overprotective behavior all come quickly thereafter. Some of it is pretty explicit.” I paused. “There’s no time for bundling, that’s for sure. I don’t remember much poetry or dancing either.” Matthew swore. “No wonder your aunt wanted to know if I was hungry.” “You really should read this stuff, if only to see what humans think. It’s a public-relations nightmare. Far worse than what witches have to overcome.”

 

“Nightmares are like Master Harriot’s star glass. They are a trick of the light, one that makes something distant seem closer and larger than it really is.” “Oh.” Jack considered Matthew’s response. “So even if I see a monster in my dreams, it cannot reach me?” Matthew nodded. “But I will tell you a secret. A dream is a nightmare in reverse. If you dream of someone you love, that person will seem closer, even if far away.”

 

My Take

While Shadow of Night is the weakest entry in the All Souls Trilogy, it is still a fun romp through Elizabethan England with two very engaging characters.  My biggest complaint about this book (and all the books in the series) is its length and verbosity.  A little editing would go a long way.

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447. A Discovery of Witches

Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:  Joni Renee Zalk

Author:  Deborah Harkness

Genre:   Fiction, Fantasy, Romance

579 pages, published February 2011

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

The protagonist of A Discovery of Witches is, no surprise, a witch named Diana Bishop.  Diana is a professor at Yale who specializes in the study of alchemy.  Descended from a prominent family of witches, Diana rejects her gift until she discovers a bewitched alchemical manuscript while conducting research at Oxford’s Bodleian Library.  There, she meets Matthew de Clermont, a brilliant geneticist who also happens to be a vampire.  When Matthew and Diana fall in love, they defy the rules set down by the council of witches, vampires and daemons which forbid interspecies fraternization.

Quotes 

“It begins with absence and desire. It begins with blood and fear. It begins with a discovery of witches.”

“Just because something seems impossible doesn’t make it untrue,”

 

“As fast as I can tell there are only two emotions that keep the world spinning year after year…One is fear.  The other is desire.”

 

“Yes, I see that you are behaving like a prince but that doesn’t mean you won’t behave like a devil at the first opportunity.”

 

“It is a blessing as well as a burden to love so much that you can hurt so badly when love is gone.”

 

“All that children need is love, a grown-up to take responsibility for them, and a soft place to land.”

 

“Somewhere in the center of my soul, a rusty chain began to unwind. It freed itself, link by link, from where it had rested, unobserved, waiting for him. My hands, which had been balled up and pressed against his chest, unfurled with it. The chain continued to drop, to an unfathomable depth where there was nothing but darkness and Matthew. At last it snapped to its full length, anchoring me to a vampire. Despite the manuscript, despite the fact that my hands contained enough voltage to run a microwave, and despite the photograph, as long as I was connected to him, I was safe.”

 

“If the butterfly wings its way to the sweet light that attracts it, it’s only because it doesn’t know that the fire can consume it.”

 

“there’s nothing more powerful than human fear—not magic, not vampire strength. Nothing.”

 

“Scholars do one of two things when they discover information that doesn’t fit what they already know. Either they sweep it aside so it doesn’t bring their cherished theories into question or they focus on it with laserlike intensity and try to get to the bottom of the mystery.”

 

My Take

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437. A Thousand Days in Venice

Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:  Joni Renee Zalk

Author:   Marlena de Blasi

Genre:   Non Fiction, Travel, Foreign, Memoir

290 pages, published June 3, 2003

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

A Thousand Days in Venice tells the story of Marlena de Blasi, a divorced, middle aged American chef and restaurateur, who meets the Italian banker Fernando on the last day of her trip to Venice.  That meeting turns into a romance which turns into a marriage after Marlena uproots her life to become a Venetian and give love another chance.

Quotes 

“Living as a couple never means that each gets half. You must take turns at giving more than getting. It’s not the same as a bow to the other whether to dine out rather than in, or which one gets massaged that evening with oil of calendula; there are seasons in the life of a couple that function, I think, a little like a night watch. One stands guard, often for a long time, providing the serenity in which the other can work at something. Usually that something is sinewy and full of spines. One goes inside the dark place while the other one stays outside, holding up the moon.”

 

“Much of my crying is for joy and wonder rather than for pain. A trumpet’s wailing, a wind’s warm breath, the chink of a bell on an errant lamb, the smoke from a candle just spent, first light, twilight, firelight. Everyday beauty. I cry for how life intoxicates. And maybe just a little for how swiftly it runs.”

 

“How strange it is, sometimes, which conversations or events stays with us while so much else melts as fast as April snow.”

 

“Some people ripen, some rot.”

 

“Life is this conto, account,” said the banker in him. “It’s an unknown quantity of days from which one is permitted to withdraw only one precious one of them at a time. No deposits accepted.”

 

My Take

A Thousand Days in Venice reminded me a lot of A Year in Provence as it is the type of book that transports and immerses you completely in a different place and culture.  While reading it, I felt like I was in Venice.   De Blasi is a talented and passionate writer and I enjoyed taking this trip with her.

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