Welcome to another round of Quick Lit where I join other readers in sharing what we’ve been reading lately. If it hadn’t been for a couple of middle grade books, it would not have been a very interesting start to the new year. I was so enthralled by an audiobook and on a mission to complete the 20 hours of listening before my loan expired that I focused solely on that. Instead of listening to one book and reading another, which is my usual reading tendency, I alternated between the audio version and the ebook so I could finish in time. The audiobook was such a fabulous listening experience that I wanted to listen to as much as possible before it expired, and I managed just in the knick of time. Then I squeezed in the two middle grade books before the end of the month.

Looking Ahead to 2023

I’m eager to kick off my goals for 2023 with my 2023 Nordic Literature Reading Challenge, and snuck in a read for it, but I also still have to finish the last book for my 2022 Scandinavian Reading Challenge, a book spanning decades. Almost there! In the meantime, I’ve been planning my Nordic TBR for 2023 and am excited for the year ahead.

My middle grade reads were inspired by a reading challenge that my elementary school hosts every winter in which students are encouraged to read certain books and vote for their favorite. Parents, faculty, and staff are invited to join, and I’m participating with the 6th grade booklist. All are genres I don’t normally read. Besides being middle grade books, they are a novel-in-verse (partly), a fantasy, and a graphic novel. This past month, I read the graphic novel and novel-in-verse. I’m currently reading the fantasy one.

What have you been reading lately?

Girls Who Lie (Forbidden Iceland, #2) by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir 📖
(Translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb)

Iceland’s location and geography make for such a fascinating setting and are often a significant aspect of stories set there. That is certainly the case in this series which takes place outside of Reykjavik along the western coast. The author deftly incorporates changing weather and unique geographical features into the stories. I really enjoyed the first in the Forbidden Iceland series, The Creak on the Stairs. However, this second one didn’t quite do it for me. It began slowly and there were what I considered mundane and unnecessary details. Unfortunately, I was not attentive enough while reading, and the twist did not unfold for me in a satisfying way — more confusion than a-ha moment — and this frustrated me. Though I can certainly see how attentive reading could yield a satisfying, or even thrilling, reading experience so I haven’t written off the next in the series.

Book Voyage: Read Around the World: Book Set on an Island OR Western Europe (Iceland)
2023 Nordic Literature Reading Challenge: Iceland – Nordic Noir

Dawnlands (The Fairmile Series, #3) by Philippa Gregory 🎧
(Narrated by Louise Brealey)

Once again, Philippa Gregory knocks it out of the ballpark. This installment takes place 15 years later in 1685 when England is on the brink of another civil war. We return to the lives of Alinor, her adult children and their families, her brother Ned who has returned from New England with a Native American, and Livia who continues to be as manipulative as ever. It’s a captivating read/listen with real history, including actual historical figures, and extremely engaging fictional characters. The colonial sugar plantations in Barbados play a significant role in this story, which I knew next to nothing about. There is more emphasis on royalty in this book which I was less interested in, but overall it was a fascinating continuation of Alinor’s family’s lives and a new generation is introduced as well. I look forward to the next installment when that arrives!

Book Voyage: Read Around the World: Western Europe (England)

Invisible by Christina Diaz Gonzalez & Gabriela Espstein 📖

This middle grade graphic novel is a modern day Breakfast Club story. A group of students seen by most as all the same, just five Spanish speaking kids, find themselves stuck together with nothing in common other than having to complete community service hours. I had mixed feelings about this one. I enjoyed getting to know the individual students and their personal stories and I liked how they came together to help someone. However, I was not a fan of how it was framed with the beginning and end as they were. I also didn’t like how the adults at the school were portrayed. I did, however, really appreciate the dual language aspect and liked reading the Spanish passages when they were offered. And the illustrations were fabulous.

Elementary School Winter Reading Challenge ✔️

The Canyon’s Edge by Dusti Bowling 📖

I’m so impressed with how the structure of the novel contributed to the plot. The story begins in regular prose as a daughter and father head out on a road trip to hike a canyon. They are getting over the death of the mother and find peace and safety in nature. Suddenly, a flash flood comes barreling through the canyon. At this point, the story switches to verse from the perspective of the daughter as her father is swept away with the gushing water after lifting her to safety. The story continues in verse as she perseveres fighting to survive and looking for her father. The verse isn’t all uniform but changes according to what’s going on in the story. A very impressive and engaging middle grade read.

Elementary School Winter Reading Challenge ✔️

What have you been reading lately?

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2022 Scandinavian Reading Challenge Update

For September’s 1990s prompt, I initially chose Gunnhild Øyehaug’s Present Tense Machine: A Novel translated by Kari Dickson. After reading Gunnar Staalesen’s Fallen Angels for the 1980s, which took place in Bergen, I thought it would be interesting to stay in Bergen for the 1990s. Unfortunately, I had to lay Present Tense Machine aside for the time being. The premise was intriguing and I was open to reading a non-traditional novel, but the writing style (long sentences, stream of consciousness) with the narrator occasionally speaking directly to the reader was not for me. I really enjoyed the author’s eclectic short story collection Knots: Stories a few years ago (Reading Lately, June 2018) so I have not given up on her, but I need to be in a different headspace for this one. Instead I am reading the crime fiction novel Blind Goddess (Hanne Wilhelmsen #1) by Anne Holt translated by Tom Geddes for the 1990s. My pick for October’s 2000s prompt is undetermined at the moment.

For details on the reading challenge and insight into the past, current, and next decades, along with a few reading ideas, visit 2022 Scandinavian Reading Challenge.

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez
(Narrated by Caroline Criado Pérez)

I listened to this book read by the author herself which was a wonderful listening experience. The book was an eye-opening, thought-provoking, sometimes shocking, and oftentimes infuriating exploration of how women, their bodies, and their experiences have not been considered in planning, design, and decision-making around the world due to the fact that data fails to take gender into account. This book should be recommended reading for all and required reading in data science and statistics classes. I am seeing the world in a whole new way.

Fearless Females: The Fight for Freedom, Equality, and Sisterhood by Marta Breen, Illustrated by Jenny Jordahl

This graphic novel, written and illustrated by a Norwegian duo, presents an international history of women who have fought for the rights of women. There were many familiar names and events, but also some less well known ones. The contemporary, ongoing battles of female bodily integrity, with topics of contraception and abortion, as well as same sex relationships and gay marriage are also included. The text is accompanied by bold, monochromatic illustrations. It was a quick, entertaining, and educational read. In particular, I appreciated the occasional use of direct quotes from women’s papers and speeches, and I loved the sudden use of rainbow colors in the “Love Is Love” panels. It’s a great little intro to the history of American and European feminism, though I do not recommend it for young readers due to some of the mature content related to women’s bodies and violence towards women.

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Way back in 2017 I vowed to read this book as part of my resolution to “make a conscious effort to read books outside my normal tendency and comfort zone – more books by diverse authors and about issues or experiences new or unfamiliar to me” (My First Presidential Election as a U.S. Citizen & How I’m Moving Forward). I have certainly done that in general, but I never got around to reading that book in particular. It’s actually a short and relatable essay. I like Adichie’s voice and tone. I used to feel feminism was a somewhat extreme belief, not for me, but instead only for extreme, activist women. But over time, I’ve come to realize that it’s actually something we should all believe in. As Adichie writes herself, “a feminist is a man or woman who says, yes, there’s a problem with gender as it is today and we must fix it, we must do better. All of us, women and men, must do better.”

Fallen Angels (Varg Veum Series) by Gunnar Staalesen
(Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett)

This was a great pick for the 1980s decade in the Scandinavian Reading Challenge. The protagonist, private investigator Varg Veum, is all over Bergen, Norway, while working the case, and the author’s descriptions of the city and its surroundings (fjords and mountains) are very vivid. It all starts with the funeral of an old classmate of Varg’s at which he is reunited with other friends and this takes him down memory lane, especially when he’s asked to track down a friend’s wife who happened to be an old crush of Varg’s. There is a murder mystery involved, actually a series of murders, but be warned that the resolution of this mystery is quite unsettling.

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Tag Archives: graphic novel

What I’ve Been Reading Lately (January 2023)