The school year is ending, and the library is busy. Books are checked in, shelved, and then it’s time for inventory. Every kid has a computer nowadays, which means they all need chargers. That equipment needs to be verified and cleaned, and alas, fines placed for the lost equipment.
When that’s done, I go back and look at every book in the library and make sure it’s in the right place. That’s not as bad as it sounds, as the kids will be gone, and I can listen to an audiobook.
Compounding my misery, is the fact I’ve been sick. The Dr. placed me on 1750 Mg of Augmentin, each and every day. I did better than I thought I would. An apple a day, and a cup of Greek yogurt work wonders for the digestive system.
The librarian I work with is retiring back to the classroom, and I’ve applied for her job. I don’t have my library media certification, but I have a teaching license and my district will consider me if I return to school.
That means applications galore, and lots of hoops needing to be jumped. I know my school’s principal likes me, so I’m crossing my fingers and knocking on wood.
All in all, I’ve little time to write.
But like all good readers everywhere, I read whenever I have a free moment. That’s a constant in my life.
I’ve come across a couple of books that have motivated me to take a deep breath and share some thoughts.
What Are The Books?
Book # 1: People We Meet on Vacation — By Emily Henry
It’s an age-old question. Is it possible to be friends with the opposite sex? Is it possible to remain just friends if both people have even the tiniest bit of romantic interest in each other? Can you be friends, like spending time with someone else, and not have a little spark of romance?
It’s an intriguing premise. Two old college pals, one male, and one female, go on vacation each summer. One’s a teacher and the other is a travel writer. One year, they even take significant others along.
Then something happens, and they take a break from each other.
Since this is a beach read, and a rom-com, they of course go on one last vacation, both hoping to save their relationship.
But nothing is that simple.
This is almost the perfect beach read, well worth your time and money. It has lots of social media buzz, and 4 out of 5 stars, after 500 K reviews on Goodreads.
Book #2: A Crown for Cold Silver — (Book 1 of The Crimson Empire) by Alex Marshal
I love fantasy. There is a part of me that will always long for the moral certainty of The Lord of the Rings — a book where the good guys are good, and the bad guys are just plain evil.
But little in life is that simple.
This isn’t a super popular series, it doesn’t have the highest ratings, but it does a couple of things really well.
Yes, the heroes do heroic things, but they also do some really shitty things and can be, at best, self-centered, and at worst, more than a tad incompetent.
It’s Grimdark fantasy, but better, because the heroes are still worthy of our support.
The genuinely unique thing about the book is its LBGTQ representation. Gender doesn’t matter, and people really just love people. It’s more than kind of cool.
We have a love triangle between two men and one woman. The automatic assumption is that the two men love the woman, and etc, etc…
I was delighted by how the author played with that trope, and in fact, kept playing with our expectations thought-out the entire series.
At one point the author has a riff about trans people. He talks about how trans people are simply people born with the wrong soul or two souls. How cool is that?!?
It’s neat because it gets a little confusing. One of the main characters is referred, to as the mother of another character, but also as a husband. Gender doesn’t seem to matter so much.
I flew through all three books and highly recommend the series. It’s unfortunate the author doesn’t seem to have written any more books, as the series lends itself to sequels.
Oh, before I forget; it has a kick-ass, well actually several kick-ass female heroines (4!), and a semi-incompetent male barbarian who really isn’t that great at fighting or doing much other than singing and telling stories.
I only took 6 books home from the school library for the summer. All historical fiction. I’ve never read The Book Thief — by Markus Zusak, and it’s time to remedy that injustice.
Wish me luck on the job.
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Coffee Time Reviews 