A birthday of bookish delights

Well, my birthday was celebrated earlier this week (as to my age, it’s like Faith the Vampire Slayer, five by five) and as these yearly occasions go, it was pretty nice there.

Naturally, I asked for books as presents and received a trilogy that I’ve been hearing great things about on BookTube-in particular from Books Like Whoa and Ellias Reads but no doubt, the fans of Robin Hobb’s fantasy novels are legion.

The Farseer trilogy, which is composed of Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin and Assassin’s Quest , introduces us to Fitz, who is the illegitimate son of a prince yet possesses the telepathic power known as Skill that runs through the royal bloodline.

He is allowed to train as an assassin but thwarted in his efforts by those seeking to weaken any potential threats to their political schemes. Fitz also has an ability called Wit that grants him psychic connections to animals, a power that is very much frowned upon by society.

That forbidden power may come in handy, however as a real threat to the throne arises that he may be the only one to stop in time. Yet at what ultimate cost?

This trilogy is the first of five sets of stories known as The Realm of the Elderlings and while I don’t know if I will get to them all, it feels like the right time to give Robin Hobb a try. From the fan love that I’ve seen so far, these books sound like an epic journey worth taking indeed:

For my big day, I went to my local library and the book gods were definitely smiling down on me as I found some recent releases readily available on the shelves.

One of those was Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s latest novel, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau. The leading lady of the title is Carlotta, who has lived her entire life on her father’s remote estate in the Yucatán and has grown used to the hybrid beings that his experiments have brought to life.

When her father’s financial backer grows weary of waiting for viable results, his son Eduardo is sent to the Moreau household to investigate and he winds up falling in love with Carlota instead. 

She returns his feelings but the future of their relationship depends on the not so good doctor’s true intentions with his complicated creations.

Moreno-Garcia’s take on the H.G. Wells classic should be as creatively engaging and at times as heartrending as many of her wonderful works tend to be. Such a treat to borrow this on my birthday of all days!:

I was able to pair this up with the follow up to Stephen Graham Jones’ brilliant horror movie homage, My Heart is a Chainsaw.

Don’t Fear the Reaper brings Jade-now called Jennifer-Daniels back to her home town four years after the gruesome Independence Day massacre that she was accused of committing.

Cleared legally of those charges, Jennifer plans on starting her life over yet the escape of a justly convicted killer who is making his deadly way towards her promises to put those potential new possibilities on permanent hold. Using her extensive film knowledge to save the day might be even more difficult as it becomes apparent that the killer has done his gory cinematic homework as well.

I really enjoyed My Heart Is A Chainsaw and glad to see the second installment in this terror trilogy out and about. Finding it at the library was such a pleasant surprise, as odd as that may sound, yet a weirdly welcome invitation to meta horror that would a crime to  turn down:

The birthday vibes are going strong still as this upcoming weekend, my sister and I are going to a special screening of the 2007 animated adaptation of Persepolis.

I’ve seen this film before (and read both volumes of the graphic novel memoir by Marjane Satrapi) but not in a theater which makes all the difference.

 Plus, I can’t help but notice how eerily relevant this tale of trying to survive in more ways than one living under a repressive regime is these days. Yes, I do mean the incessant “culture wars “ that are causing real damage to many marginalized communities in our country right now.

It’s sad that we still can’t learn from the mistakes of the past and head for a better future together without some pathetic fools and manipulators insisting on dragging us back to their twisted version of “the good old days”.

What gives me hope, however, is seeing the determination of the younger generation not to let them

get away with this as well as the support of those of us growing older in these mutually beneficial efforts. 

Books like Persepolis have been targeted by censors for showing readers the universality of such struggles and this movie should bolster up many a worn out spirit to take on these challenges with renewed energy. Perhaps by this time next year, my birthday book bliss will have less of these dark clouds on the horizon-never hurts to hope: