Book Review - Caraval

 

I have been loving the easy Young Adult reads lately - especially ones like these where they're absolute dream worlds and absolutely non-realistic. 

In this, one sister is desperate to flee and the other sister is betrothed but both want to get away from their father's cruelty and leave the isle where they live, so finally one year one sister is invited to the Caraval - a world where everything is pretend...or maybe nothing is? It's a game to be played and the sisters are just thrown right in. One disappears..or is she kidnapped? But whatever happened, Tella is to be found by all the players of the game and the winner receives one wish. 

From the beginning I could tell that everything about Caraval is not what it seems. Some of the players in the game, well, performance, are actual performers and others are not. However, because Scarlett is obsessed with finding her sister and not being at Caraval purely for herself, the story takes a different turn - this teen is definitely not as narcissistic as normal and she actually cares and has feelings. Scarlet meets someone, falls in love - but then, is he a character in the game or is he a real person? Little details start to come out - such as that Julien had already played the game. 

Obviously this is YA - so as you're reading this, teen decision-making is terrible through the eyes of adults. The magic in this book is just MAGIC. And the whole thing that Legend has is just...a game...

The characters have a little depth to them but the real feature with this book is the whole world of Caraval that Stephanie Garber creates. You can feel the water, feel the mist, feel the black and white world in a scene, feel the boats, feel the rocks and cobblestone streets, and imagine the dresses and clothing. The one piece that Garber describes is a color-changing dress that changes depending on Scarlet's mood. A part of me wants her to sell the rights to the book for someone to create it as a movie or tv show and part of me just wants to be able to see what I've imagined in my head. I feel as though fantasy books are hard to create in real-life and I really don't want someone else's imagination to ruin what I have imagined - because I'm not sure if it will live up to what I picture in my mind. 

Overall: recommend

This was a seriously fast read for me, maybe 2 days total. I felt as though I was dropped into the world and came back out with a book hangover. Caraval is number one in a series of three. I have the number two on hold at the library but with COVID-19, I'm not sure how long it will take to get. It looks as though there's several copies that are checked out so I have to wait. BOO. 

Book Review - American Spy

Ooooh. I have mixed reviews, leaning towards the "yes, I recommend!"

First, the mystery storyline in this book wasn't as emphasized so I really didn't give it another thought other than "oh, her sister disappeared" which means that I didn't actually think this was a mystery novel. So when the "mystery" was solved at the end, it didn't actually surprise me. I thought what happened in the mystery had just been implied from the beginning. Maybe I read too many mystery novels?? Instead her job and job descriptions and job titles and job duties came first - then it seemed the mystery came second. I guess not as an afterthought but more as...how do we fit the two stories together to make this plot plausible? I don't see it as a big issue but it's just good to know that the mystery part of this book is bigger to the plot than what I realized.

Second, I wanted more spy material. There was lots of dialogue, travel to different countries, and descriptions of spy stories but the main character didn't do as much spying as the title implies. Again, maybe I've read too many "spy novels" and have high expectations? The main character's duty is to become the friend/lover of a ruler of a country, which seems a little unbelievable - and the relationship between the two does seem a little forced at times, but also, that's the spy's job - to make it happen!

Third, definitely wanted more spy material. More thrills, please! But the job that she had wasn't exactly about jumping out of planes, trains, or shooting at people all the time so the thrills were more calculating. 

Overall, the writing, descriptions, and characters were well-developed and well-thought and made me picture the places in the book in lovely detail. I wanted to visit each place and see everything that was described, especially ride a scooter over a bridge made of plywood. I wanted to be in the garden drinking coffee with breakfast and have a spy radio too. I wanted to show up at a business and be there for the underground business and not the cover business. All of the writing made me want to be in the story too. I really hope that someone makes a movie out of this - I want to know what someone else's interpretations are and who they choose for characters. 

Definitely add this to your to-read list!

Melt My Heart - Wordless Wednesday

 

Stack of Books

My to-read list is pretty long - but I'm going through books fairly quickly. The only one I don't have is How To Be Anti-Racist which is the book club choice for August - however, my Kindle isn't working quite right and I can't download the book. I may have to reset my Kindle.

Since the library closed in March, I've been buying books at an alarming rate and just looked at my stack. I stopped buying books so I can get through these before I buy anymore. The library just re-opened too so I've been getting books that I've requested.

About two weeks ago I flew through a book I borrowed from my sister - Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich with her Stephanie Plum series. I forgot how terrible and funny those books are. I really don't have to think much while reading them so I can get through them in just a couple days. So I requested numbers 15 and 16 (because I couldn't remember where I stopped in the series, I had to look at my Goodreads account). Finished both of those in the same week and now I just requested number 19. I don't feel as though they really go in order?? Maybe I can't remember what happened in previous books but I do know that it seems that the main character is always stuck in the same place in a relationship, the cars blow up, something is on fire, and her hamster, Rex, is alive at the end. So honestly, if you need a book where you don't have to think and you just want to read - start with One For The Money and see what you think. This series is serious brain cookies, where it's not hard to follow along and you do laugh. Just keep in mind that none of it is realistic, it's all made up, and so with that - the books make for great reads for me when I'm finished with heavy books.

I'm in the middle of Still Midnight by Denise Mina. It was slow to start and also a bit hard to follow at the beginning, which for me can be tricky because I hate to have to go back and re-read previous chapters. The book follows all of the characters, not just the main detective so you get to see the crime happen and the whole mystery unfold. The little details are currently making the investigation more interesting and definitely making this book better to read! As soon as I hit the actual investigation part, I started liking this more and more. So if you're into European mysteries written by women, this is definitely a book for you - and this is also the first book in a series about the main detective. 

Next up after this - I have to finish The Tattooist of Auschwitz to be able to give that to a friend, which I think I only have about 70 pages left. The people that survived these camps are fucking amazing. There's no other words to describe them, I don't think. I can get through that fairly quickly. Last month I was on a WWII kick and read many fictional books that had nonfiction threads wound through the stories, so I needed a bit of a break with the heavy material. In this day, you'd think that Americans would have learned from the past but since the war didn't actually take place here in America, I think it's hard for some Americans to be able to empathize and realize how terrible, and horrific the Holocaust was because there are people that are currently comparing mask-wearing to the Holocaust (right, there's absolutely NO COMPARISON. We're trying to save lives, not KILL PEOPLE). 

Happy Monday! Go find some time to read today!

 

Monkey Bars

 

Fawn Doe Rose

We did something a little Covid-y last Friday. We went to Wisconsin and visited Fawn Doe Rosa with a family that we've been seeing since April. Wisconsin doesn't have a mask order nor do they think Covid-19 is real so we decided to go anyway??? Actually, it's outdoors and I saw other moms posting in Facebook groups about how it was pretty ok and not too bad when they went.

Honestly...it made me a little nervous because the only people that were wearing masks were from Minnesota, and we also ran into people that we knew from Minnesota and they were also wearing masks. 

This is a serious petting zoo. And the deer just walk up to you. The goats try to steal the bags of food right out of your hands. 

And you have to dodge Wisconsonites so you don't get sick. So beware!

 

Mom Outfit

Top: Madewell

Shorts: Old Navy