Abigail, by Magda Szabó
In August, I didn’t do as much “women in translation” reading as I had planned, so this book was the first one I picked up in September. It’s by a famous Hungarian author. Written in 1970 and set in 1943, with WWII as a backdrop, it’s the story of spoiled 15-year-old Gina as she’s uprooted from life of parties in Budapest and sent to a remote Calvinist boarding school where suddenly the weight of the war becomes her burden. This was a lovely book and also bittersweet. The marketing copy for this is way off base (thriller, Jane Austen, Harry Potter) and I think the publisher must have been trying to drum up interest, but was way off base. The title comes from a statue of St. Abigail that the students believe performs miracles. And while that is an interesting part of the story, Gina’s transformation from rich brat to brave friend is where the heart of the story lies.
 
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg
The Newbery winner from 1968 and a beloved classic, I finally got around to reading it—someone left a copy in my Little Free Library. The story really holds up, I think. Although, I don’t know if kids today will identify with Claudia and Jamie’s escapade. Living unseen in the Met in Manhattan and worrying about lunches that cost 75 cents is a far cry from today’s tech-heavy world and 8 dollar lunches. Although, I did love The Great Brain books and 1900 rural Utah was a very different world than 1980 Southern California. The story follows Claudia, the oldest of four, and her middle brother Jamie. Out of boredom and feeling unappreciated, they run away and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There they discover a mystery, surrounding a beautiful statue, that Claudia becomes determined to solve. I’ve recommended this book a whole lot, now I can do so with more honesty.
 
The Silver Arrow, by Lev Grossman
This is a great book for fans of The Phantom Tollbooth (at the bookstore, we’re always looking for similar books). I listened to this one on Libro.fm. When Kate appeals to her rich uncle for an exciting birthday present, she was not prepared to get a steam engine delivered to her door. He even arranges for tracks to be laid. Kate and brother Tom are exploring the engine when it starts to run and it takes them to a magical train depot where they get all sorts of wacky train cars (including a swimming car). They then begin to pick up talking animals who have been given tickets and their adventure begins. The story is fun and silly, yet the subtle, underlying message is about climate change.
 
Storm of Locusts, by Rebecca Roanhorse
The second book in The Sixth World series, we find Maggie a month after the events of the first book. She’s becomes responsible for a 15-year-old with strange clan powers. When she finds out that Kai has been sucked into a cult that intends to destroy the Navajo Nation, she and her friends leave the safety of their home territory to prevent the disaster. If you look at the cover of this one (above) you’ll get a sense of just how bad ass Maggie and her friends are. Action-packed, deals with deities, and creating a family, this book is a blast.
 
The Girl Who Reads on the Métro, by Christine Féret-Fleury
A slim novel with a big impact. Ordinary Juliette is bored with life when she stumbles across an unusual bookstore that instead of allowing shoppers in, it sends out books with passeurs who will match the book with the right person. She hesitantly becomes a passeur and then becomes close to the owner, Soliman, and his daughter, Zaida—both fierce lover of books. The story is about Juliette learning to take risks and to live a life of boldness. I wrote a shelf talker for the book and only used this quote from Zaida, “This book is amazing, it will make you clever, it will make you happy.” All true.
 
Upright Women Wanted, by Sarah Gailey
Another audio book. This is the story of Esther, a young gay woman living in a dystopian “old west” future that has adopted strict biblical morals. She stows away on a cart belonging to the Librarians—two women who travel the southwest of the former U.S. delivering approved (and definitely unapproved) materials. The librarians reluctantly take on Esther as an apprentice and they travel with their assistant heading towards the wilds of Free Utah. They take on passengers—women like Esther who need to escape—and face bandits, evil lawmen, and more. I liked this one all right. It was an interesting world, but I felt like the story had too much agenda. It reminded me of the book Slow River, by Nicola Griffith. The world building in that book was fantastic, but the plot didn’t really know what it wanted to be other than to be a book about gay women. Which is not a bad thing, of course. I’ve read stories about gay characters (Red, White, and Royal Blue comes to mind) where the characters’ sexual orientation makes the plot better. This one didn’t do that for me.
 
Death of a Fool, by Ngaio Marsh
And another audio book. I was interested in reading/listening to a mystery along the lines of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers and found Ngaio Marsh—a New Zealand writer who was their contemporary. It was a really good story and mystery. The person who committed the murder was fairly self-evident, but how they did it was quite interesting. I really enjoyed the background of the story. Probably the first third of the story was build-up to the murder and discussed old England folklore and folkloric celebrations. I’m excited to read some more of her mysteries.
 
Soul Music, by Terry Pratchett
It was a rough month and I needed a little Terry in my life. I hadn’t read this one before. The main characters are Death and his granddaughter Susan (this is her first appearance). A druid named Imp goes to Ankh Morpork to become a famous musician. He comes across a mysterious music shop that has a guitar that almost plays itself. He and his band, The Band With Rocks In, create a whole new type of music that has everyone going fanatical. But the guitar requires a sinister price. Very much a Discworld novel and a whole lot of fun.
 
By the Book, by Amanda Sellet
A fun YA romance that basically describes parts of my life. Mary is a well-read 15-year-old who goes from a freeform private school to public school. Her new friends there rely on her encyclopedic knowledge of literature and the archetypes within to navigate romantic relationships. It turns out that the boy she has labeled a rake, is in fact a really good guy and she begins to fall for his charms. As the literature nerd in high school in college, I was the person people turned to for advice, so I really identified with this book. It’s charming and sweet and a delightful read.
 
Feminist City, by Leslie Kern
A nonfiction entry this month! This is a short read, but absolutely fascinating. Kern describes how cities are designed and built with the white, abled, cis-gendered man as it’s average person. Cities are not created to make it easier for mothers to take care of their children, or for women to walk alone at night, or for queer people to feel at ease. Those spaces have to be carved out from the average design. Kern doesn’t talk so much about what a feminist city would look like, because that could be a lot of different things, but instead points out to how cities can be hostile to those it wasn’t expressly designed for. Super interesting subject. It made me want to study the intersection of geography and feminism even more.
 
Suncatcher, by José Pimienta
Beatriz is a young, aspiring guitarist who must create the perfect song in order to free her grandfather’s soul which is trapped in his guitar. Set in Mexicali, Mexico in the early 2000s, the book contrasts the emerging indie punk scene with Beatriz’s obsession with freeing her grandfather. It’s a graphic novel, and the art is kinetic and different. It reminded me of anime and manga art from the late 1970s. I really enjoyed the background, the story, and the unheard music.

I bought a book of literary cross-stitch patterns. This is my first try. It was a super fun project.

Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White, by Melissa Sweet
This is a children’s biography of the lovely E.B. White. This is a gorgeous book written and illustrated by Sweet who uses collage and mixed media art to bring to life White’s works. So good it made me tear up in places.
 
Cinders and Sparrows, by Stefan Bachmann
Zita is an orphan working as a servant when she gets a message, delivered by scarecrow, that she is the heir to a castle. She travels to cavernous Blackbird Castle to find she comes from a family of powerful witches. She begins to learn magic from the cold Mrs. Cantanker and becomes friends with the servant boy and girl. There is a mystery surrounding the castle and Zita must learn to use her magic well before it’s too late. Cinders and Sparrows is a great read. It has enjoyable characters, great worldbuilding, and just enough spookiness.
 
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, by Garth Nix
Brand new Garth Nix? Of course I must read it! This book is a bit of a departure from his standard fare, which usually takes place in imaginary worlds. This one is set firmly in a real-life London of 1983. It reminded me a bit of Diana Wynne Jones, which is never a bad thing. The story follows Susan as she goes to London to discover the identity of her father. She gets caught up with Merlin, a young person who is part of a family of ‘booksellers’ that are really the magical keepers of the arcane. When evil forces start hunting Susan, she and Merlin must go on the run to find her father and put a stop to a devilish plot. This is a one-off for Nix and a lot of fun. While I love his Abhorsen series, I do like it when he steps aside and writes single books—like he did with A Confusion of Princes.
 
And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
Another audio book. I was in the mood for some Agatha and got this one from the library streaming service. Apparently, it is her bestselling book. I can understand why. Ten strangers are invited to a modern mansion on a tiny remote island off the coast of England. Then they start dying one by one. Who’s the murderer if there is no one on the island but themselves? The audio was narrated by Dan Stevens (of Downton Abbey fame) and he was wonderful. He brought a lot to the story. Not that you can really go wrong with an Agatha Christie book.
 
The Switch, by Beth O’Leary
Career-minded Leena is off her game, not having gotten over her sister’s death the year before. Eileen is ready for a new start after her husband of fifty years left her for another woman. So what does this granddaughter/grandmother pair do? Switch their lives. Leena moves to her Grandma’s place in rural Yorkshire. Eileen moves into Leena’s posh flat with her very modern roommates. This book is absolutely charming. Each character goes through a lot of changes and comes up with a happy ending that you’ll love.
 
Witch Hat Atelier (Vol. 1), by Kamome Shirahama
This manga was recommended to me by a coworker. Coco wants to be a witch and when she discovers that to be a witch only requires special ink and a knowledge of symbols, she causes her life to blow up. The magician, Qifrey, rescues her and takes her to learn magic in his school. He has an ulterior motive—to find the dangerous witch who gave Coco the magic ink. This is a cute story with almost too-cute art. It didn’t really grab me though, so I won’t be reading any more volumes.

Ikenga, by Nnedi Okorafor
I’m a huge fan of Okorafor and this is her first foray into middle grade fiction—although I think her YA novel Akata Witch could be for younger readers. In this one, Nnamdi is mourning the murder of his father, the town’s police chief, and vows to avenge him. When he is given a totem, the Ikenga, it gives him Hulk-like powers which he uses to track down the murderer. Nnamdi soon learns that might doesn’t make right and has to navigate some delicate situations that require a lot more than strength. Great story and interesting setting (Nigeria) that would serve as a good introduction for kids looking to read books beyond the U.S.
 
The Clockwork Crow, by Catherine Fisher
Another middle grade read. I loved several of Fisher’s young adult series, so I had to pick up this one. Fisher’s work often combines fantasy with sci fi in really imaginative ways. The Clockwork Crow combines fantasy with steam punk and is just as much fun. Orphan Seren, on her way to her new home, becomes guardian to a package that turns out to be clockwork parts. When she puts them together, she creates a sentient clockwork crow. Together they work to uncover the mystery surrounding her new home. Lots of fun and set at Christmas time.
 
The Relentless Moon, by Mary Robinette Kowal
I’m a huge fan of Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series, and this third book was fantastic. Maybe even better than the first two and I loved those books. This one takes place on Earth and on the Moon base, following Elma’s good friend and fellow astronaut Nicole Wargin as she navigates the vagaries of politics, misogyny, aging, and a mole trying to sabotage the space program by destroying the Moon base. This book is so damn good!
 
Mañanaland, by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Ryan’s last book, Echo, is one of my very favorites (and should have won the Newbery) and while not as great as that one, Mañanaland is a delight. It has a fairytale quality to it that makes it seem both magical and ordinary. The story is about Max who feels like he’s old enough to be told why his mother left him as a baby, but his father doesn’t want to talk about it. When his father has to go away for a few weeks, Max finds out more of the secrets his father and grandfather keep from him and he has to choose what to do with that knowledge and figure out what kind of person he wants to be.
 
Beach Read, by Emily Henry
A fun romance about two writers—of very different genres—who decide to write in the other’s genre to see who gets published first. Since her father’s death, January, a successful romance writer, has had writer’s block. Enter her college foe and fellow writer, Augustus. He writes serious literary fiction. To show him that romance is not easy to write, January dares him to write a romance. They agree to do “research” for each of their new books together—he takes her to research a cult and she takes him on cliché romance dates. You can guess the rest. It’s a very sweet book.
 
Leonard & Hungry Paul, by Ronan Hession
This is Irish author Hession’s first book and it is lovely. It’s a nice story about nice people going through some life changes and doing it nicely. You’d think a book that I use three “nice”s to describe would be boring. It was not. I was eager to read about introvert Leonard’s hesitant romance and the slightly odd Hungry Paul’s small efforts to make the world a better place. This is a hard book to describe because the biggest villain is Hungry Paul’s sister who is cranky with pre-wedding jitters. I kept thinking something bad would happen, but it didn’t. I feel like I need to recommend this book to everybody who wants to escape into a story where nothing much happens, and that is a very good thing.
 
(Side note: I ‘reread’ Martha Wells’ Network Effect by listening to it. As I’ve already reviewed it twice before, I thought I better not do another. However, I do recommend the audio. The reader does a great job of bringing Murderbot to life.)