Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

This is the second book in the All Soul’s Trilogy.

Published: 2012

Genre: fantasy historical fiction/time travel

Length: 577 pages

Setting: London and Vienna, 1590-1591, soon after the events of A Discovery of Witches

Font: Adobe Garamond Pro

Summary: Short version: Diana and Matthew travel to Elizabethan England to find her a teacher

Partials by Dan Wells

I was looking for an audiobook to listen to while Mr. Curiosity and I went on a couple of college visits. It needed to be about 12 hours long and have some action to it. This one fit the bill (although it was just a bit long to finish on our trips).

Published: 2012

Genre: post-apocalyptic

Narrator: Julia Whelan

Length: 468 pages

Setting: Long Island, New York, present day

Summary: Short version: Kira is trying to find a cure for RM so babies stop dying

The Great Silence by Ted Chiang

This is the last story I have to read from Ted Chiang’s collection, Exhalation: Stories. It’s not the last story in the collection, but the last two were nominated for Hugos this year so I already read them.

Published: 2016 at Electric Lit (where you can read it online for free)

Genre: science fiction short story

Length: 6 pages

Setting: Earth, present day

Summary: A parrot discusses humanity’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence and blindness to intelligence in other earthly species

What I Will Be Reading #52 – All the Books

It’s time to add some more books to my TBR. I’ve been doing a good job or reading down my list, so time for some growth.

As per usual, I’ve got several suggestions from The Modern Mrs. Darcy. First off is The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arim from a post on what to read after you’ve exhausted all of Jane Austen’s novels. I’m not sure I’ve read all of Jane Austen, but I have read about half on this list. This one sounded the most fun of the books I hadn’t read. It’s about a trip a group of women take to an old, tumbledown Italian castle. I want to read it just so I can imagine I’m traveling again.

Then The Modern Mrs. Darcy did a post on food fiction. From that post, I picked out Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan, and The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Divakaruni. Colgan’s book is about starting over, and starting a bakery. I could use some lighter fare in these dark, pandemic days. Divakaruni’s book blends magic and spices, a bit like Garden Spells, which was also on the list.

Next up is The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St. Clair. This is by the same author as The Secret Lives of Color, which I heartily enjoyed. A friend of mine brought this book to my attention, and I think it might be a good history book for Miss Adventure as well.

Next is a read aloud for my kids:  Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh from a Strong Sense of Place post (my newest source of books).  We’re doing modern literature this year for school, and I’ve been trying to pick some classics for our read aloud. At the same time, I don’t want all the books to be written by men, which are the books I immediately think of when I think “classic”. I had thought to read the kids an Agatha Christie murder mystery, but this is even better. Ngaio was Christie’s contemporary and the book is set in New Zealand, a country I don’t have a book from yet.

And finally, a book for me: The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes. I mean, who wouldn’t want to read that book, just from the title alone! As an added bonus, it will get me a U title, which is a difficult letter to fulfill in my reading challenge, and it’s available on Hoopla. This book came to my attention in a Tor post about what books you could read to scratch your In the Shadows itch. I haven’t watched the show, but I still want to read the book.

What do you think? Anything look good? Any other U-titled books you can recommend?

If you’re interested in purchasing a book, you can click on the cover image or title to follow an Amazon affiliate link to the book and thanks for supporting my blog!

Pantone by Leatrice Eiseman and Keith Recker

I saw this book mentioned in a book wrap-up by Gretchen Rubin. It sounded like such an interesting concept, and I really enjoyed The Secret Lives of Color. Luckily, I found a copy in my library.

Subtitle:The Twentieth Century in Color

Published: 2011

Genre: nonfiction history

Length: 191 pages of text, 207 pages total

Summary: Short version: Read the subtitle

The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood

The quints’ story was covered on one of my podcasts and piqued my interest in this book. I chose it now because it gives me the coveted “Q” title.

Published: 2019

Genre: historical fiction

Setting: Callandar, Ontario, 1934-1939, 1954

Summary: Short version: The early years of the Dionne quintuplets

The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by Ted Chiang

This is the sixth story in Ted Chiang’s collection, Exhalation: Stories.

Published: Originally in 2013 as a stand-alone piece

Genre: science fiction novelette

Length: 46 pages

Setting: near future

Summary: Short version: The narrator muses on whether it would be beneficial to recall all your memories using technology

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

This is second book in the Old Man’s War series.

Published: 2006

Genre: science fiction

Length: 343 pages

Setting: planets in the near-Earth universe, soon after events of Old Man’s War

Summary: Short version: The CDF investigates Boutin using a clone

The Girl With the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts

This was one of the books recommended in the Read-Aloud Handbook. I started our school year out reading this book to the kids. Even though Mr. Curiosity is a senior this year and Miss Adventure is a freshman, I like to do the morning read aloud to start the school day.

Published: 1980

Genre: MG fantasy

Length: 181 pages

Setting: a small town in California, present day to the date of publication

Summary: Short version: Katie doesn’t fit in well with others with her silver eyes and telekinesis

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Genre: urban fantasy

Length: 579 pages

Setting: Oxford, England, France, and upstate New York, present day

Summary: Short version: Diana needs to learn how to use her powers to be safe