Family Lore

By Elizabeth Acevedo 

368 pages

Hardback

Book Club spring pick

Lore like oral history. It's mostly a modern fiction novel, but there are some elements of magical realism too? 

yes.

She does not deserve a name.

This was a fun paragraph because a student just shared the band Aventura with me. I liked the song she sent me.

This line, breaking across pages, just struck me as so sad and beautiful. 

I had to look up sainthood here. I don't know who the patron saint of anything is.

The book was beautiful and inevitable. It wasn't a page turner because I wasn't in suspense if what would come next, mostly.

A novel that reads - in the best way - like a research project. 

They Both Die at the End

By Adam Silvera 

Paperback

373 pages

YA

Is it scifi? It's like a normal modern teen romance, but also there is a service which calls you to let you know it's your last day of living. 

A student gave me this book right at the end of the school year. 

It was a good book, and full of little connections. 

I thought it was a really good read. I do think he wrote others in this world? But I don't think I'll seek them out. 

Greymist Fair

By Francesca Zappia

314 pages

Hardback first edition

YA Fantasy 

When the author announced this book I had to pre-order it. I have read her other books and loved them all. They all have made me cry in different ways. This one so gave me sniffles. 

The book is kind of different because the whole story us told through 7 mini novels, with two shorter pieces at the start and end. 

Table of contents: all the stories

Each story has its own chapter sequence and is centered on a different character . 

This book was so good that I'm going to forgive Blogger for randomly insisting that the rest of the post should be centered. Also, I've tried to fix it 3 times and I'm fed up with it, so that’s just how it's going to be. Not like anyone else reads these anyway. 😅

I really liked the shifting perspectives. All of the main characters were interesting and round - although some of the side characters weren't. Also, I longed to know more about some of the side characters: What happened to the friend of the prince? The boy's mother? Etc.

Also, becuase I pre-ordered the book, I got some special things:

Author info:

Back of the book:

Summer read #20 The Unbound

Summer read #19 The Archived