Grief is the Thing With Feathers

Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter is a novella, a poem, a fable, an essay on grief; it is impossible to categorize, it is simply a brilliant piece of writing. After an accidental death leaves two young boys and their father alone without their mother, Crow comes to visit, and stay.

Crow, trickster, therapist, shaman, baby-sitter, mythological figure, call him what you will, he is here to stay until he is no longer needed, kind of like Nanny McPhee.

What follows is one of the most beautiful and original books I have ever read. It blew me away. A highly recommended read.

Hot Milk

Hot Milk by Deborah Levy is a novel about Sofia, a daughter who has traveled to the coast of Spain with her mother Rose seeking a specialist to find a cure for Rose's limb paralysis. It is a mysterious illness that has plagued her for most of her life, with no apparent cause.

Sofia's life is on hold while she tries to attend to her mother. This is her somewhat late coming of age story, a deep look into her interior life and her relationship with her mother. Levy is a talented writer and this book is interesting and original, yet disjointed. I was never drawn in enough to care about any of the characters deeply, even Sofia; and the title remains a mystery.

Sight Reading

Sight Reading by Daphne Kalotay is a novel set in the world of classical music, from Boston  to Vienna and across Europe. Three lives intertwine as Hazel and then Remy fall in love with composer Nicholas Elko.

What makes this book special is Kalotay's writing and her ability to create characters full of flaws and emotions covering the full spectrum of what it means to be alive and human. Her love of music saturates the book. A good read.

A Sudden Light

A Sudden Light by Garth Stein is set in the Pacific Northwest. Fourteen year old Trevor and his father travel to his father's childhood home to try to persuade his aging grandfather to sell the house and move into a retirement home, which would solve their financial problems, but of course things are a bit more complicated than that.

What ensues is a journey into generations of the families past, some appearing as ghosts to tell their stories to Trevor about the land and people they loved. Nothing is as it seems, including Trevor's Aunt.

A well written, multi-generational coming of age tale full of just the right amount of magic. I didn't like the ending, but overall it was a good read.

The Muse

The Muse by Jessie Burton is her follow up novel to The Miniaturist. The novel focuses on two women, one a painter living in Spain in 1936, the other a Caribbean immigrant living in London in 1967 working at an art gallery. One mysterious painting links their lives together and it is an ongoing mystery throughout the novel to try to figure out exactly how.

Beautifully written, full of gorgeous details and woven together in a way only Burton seems able to do; I couldn't put it down. A great read.

The Shadow

Wake of Vultures/Conspiracy of Ravens-The Shadow Books 1 & 2 by Lila Bowen are fantasy horror books and not something I would normally read. I loved Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, but these books cannot compare.

Set in the 1870's Old West, we follow Nettie, a half black-half Indian slave girl who doesn't know anything about her origins or what she really is. She escapes, dresses like a boy, changes her name to Rhett, gets a job with the Durango Rangers and sets off to hunt and kill monsters of all sorts, from werewolves, to shape-shifters, harpies, chupacabras, vampires and many more; all the while talking with a Texas drawl and doing a lot of fighting and spitting. Mildly interesting for their exploration of gender identity, but just not my cup of tea.

Absalom's Daughters

Absalom's Daughters by Suzanne Feldman is a novel about two girls, one black one white, with the same daddy who left them to grow up poor in rural Mississippi in the 50's. When they find out there might be money left to them, they take off in a broke down car with little food and money and head to Virginia hoping to find their inheritance.

This is a beautifully written novel, shining light on all different kinds of racism and prejudice and exploring what it means to be family. With a little bit of magic thrown in, their adventure takes them to wholly unexpected places that I was happy to follow. A great read.

Vinegar Girl

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler is a modern day retelling of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. It is brilliantly written, funny, clever, witty, wise and a bit outrageous.

Kate, the older daughter is stuck in a boring job, taking care of her father and her pretty younger sister and she has become bitter. When her Father comes up with a ridiculous plan to help further his work that involves Kate, she wants no part of it. What follows is hilarious and heartfelt.

A great read by an amazing writer.

Piece of Mind

Piece of Mind by Michelle Adelman is a novel about Lucy, a 27 year old woman who suffered a brain injury when she was 3 that left her missing certain brain functions. She loves to draw animals, read comic books and knows everything about coffee. After she is forced to move in with her college age younger brother and start fending for herself for the first time in her life, everything changes, and she finds that she is much more capable than she believed herself to be.

This is a beautifully written debut novel; it's impossible not to root for Lucy every step of the way. Smart, funny, full of compassion, a great read that you won't soon forget.