Some summer time surprises to my towering TBR stack

No matter how many times you think that your to be read piles are high enough, an unexpected opportunity to gather up more good things to read can change your calculations in that regard mightily fast.

For example, the other weekend I went to a Pride event in my area and it was definitely a good time had by all; nice weather, great people and booths ranging from jewelry to crafts to music. What was the extra topping to that celebration sundae was the local library promoting their summer schedule and giving away free discarded books!

Offering free books to a reader is simply as irresistible as lasagna is to Garfield so I wound up bringing home eight books that day(been awhile since I had an in person haul like that). In the interest of brevity, I’m highlighting just four of them here, starting with Sag Habor  by Colson Whitehead.

This story is set in the summer of 1985 as fifteen year old Benji Cooper is getting ready to spend the season with his family at the title location and his various coming of age adventures along the way.

 This novel came out earlier in his literary career and may seem more lighthearted than some of his later works (The Underground Railroad, The Nickel Boys). However, I have no doubt that there’s plenty of food for thought in this tale of summertime joy:

Another gem that I picked up was Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, which would be called dark academia if released nowadays.

The novel follows Quentin and his friends Alice and Eliot who attend the Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy and along the way discover that the world of their favorite series of fantasy books is very real.

That world is also more dangerous than they expected despite learning the secrets of magic and could affect the reality from which Quentin and company still live. Is it worth the risk to go between worlds or are they destined to cause their own doom?

I remember years ago when this book (and its sequel series) were all the rage, even getting a SyFy Channel show that ran for five seasons. This does seem like the perfect time to see what all the fuss was about and maybe check out the show at some as well:

I paired that one with a Robin Hobbs book from her Rain Wilds Chronicles, Dragon Haven.

This second entry in the series follows a group of dragons seeking a legendary refuge in the form of the city of Kelsingra. Traveling with human keepers such as Alise and Thymata, dragons like Sintara must use what limited powers they have to find their way forward through dangers from without and within.

I’m sure some of you are saying “Uh, this is book two, do you have the first one?”. Well, thanks to Better World Books, I do now and it’s a library copy that matches this edition and if all goes accordingly, I might get the other two books in this series too. 

I still haven’t gotten far with Robin Hobbs(it’s not the books, it’s me) but maybe adding a couple more if her works might be the boost I need here. Plus, dragon stories are very popcorn friendly , page turning entertainment:

Last but not at all least, I found one of the latest Maisie Dobbs books by Jacqueline Winspear, The Consequences of Fear.

Set during WWII, Maisie is helping to recruit potential spies for the French Resistance while trying to aid a young London messenger boy named Freddy who witnessed a murder.

As it turns out, the killer may be a recently encountered French officer, who Maisie’s contacts are unwilling to accuse due to internal politics. Can justice be served without endangering Freddy or the war effort?

I have just gotten into these books(already have two and three on hand) and while this story comes later down the line, it’s worth holding on to, particularly since the series is coming to an end. Sad to see it go just when I got started but then again, I do know that there is plenty in store to explore as time goes by:

As for the other four books I bought home, one was a book that I’ve already read but didn’t own(The Wangs Vs.the World by Jade Chang), another was from a cozy mystery series cowritten by Laura Childs, one is a wedding themed romcom and the last is a book that I tried to read once before but didn’t get too far(The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry).

A nice bookish surprise like this was wonderful and made that particular day even more special. Too bad the next bookish surprise I encountered was the backlash to this season of Bridgerton.

The uproar over (spoiler alert) of a couple of characters being bisexual both in current and future storylines has really unraveled some people and I for one don’t get why a show that made it perfectly clear from the jump that it was going to be very different from the source material (with the approval of the author no less!) is just NOW getting outraged over changes.

The level of bigotry and ignorance on this subject being justified by arguments such as “I just want it to be the way it was in the book!” and “This character should be the gay one, not this person!” is head shakingly awful to say the least.

I did watch the entire new season and was happy to see my favorite character, Penelope Featherington, get her time in the spotlight. Sure, there are some plot points that I wouldn’t mind debating such as should we feel sorry for Cressida(I kind of do and don’t) and is Eloise a good friend to anyone?

Sadly, instead we got a lot of prejudice being spewed out during Pride Month and after pushing back on several fronts, I wound up leaving a FB Bridgetton group over this toxicity. It’s horrible enough that the LGBTQIA community is facing extra pressure these days without being harassed in a space that’s meant to be a welcoming escape from such harshness.

Hopefully by the time we get season four , some reasonableness will return to the fan base and maybe this show can be enjoyed for what it is rather than what certain people demand it be. In the meanwhile, I will try to think about the positive moments such as Penelope making her glow up appearances in that green gown, a bookish surprise for all to embrace indeed: