It’s Been A Few Weeks…

I want to say I’ve been reading. Mostly because I identify myself as a reader. And although it is true that I do read all day, it’s not the same. I often, almost daily, go into the black hole of twitter links. You know how it goes – someone posts a link to an article. You go read it. That article references another article. You read that. And it continues until you realize you’ve spent an hour just reading one link after another. (Academic reading is another story for another day)

And yet.

I want to say I’ve been reading books.

But I can’t. Because I haven’t. It’s not for lack of trying. I checked out a book recently that I was really interested in. The Sixty-Eight Rooms / Marianne Malone.

This book called to me. Set in Chicago (my favorite city) and centered around the Throne Miniature Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago. I love that exhibit! I love the Art Institute! And yet, I couldn’t get into this book. I tried. So much. And I don’t want to give up on it – so I’m back on the hold list to try again. I think, I hope, that I just wasn’t in the right mood because the premise of the book is really cool and I think I could enjoy it. We’ll see. I will report back.

Other than trying to read that book for 4 weeks, I have a stack. Currently on my kitchen table taunting me and teasing me are:

• Code Name Verity / Elizabeth Wein
• Wonder Show / Hannah Barnaby
• The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Curse of the Spellmans / Lisa Lutz
• The Diviners / Libba Bray
• Joy the Baker Cookbook / Joy Wilson
• The Joy of Juicing / Gary and Shelly Null
• Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity / Katherine Boo
• Zeitoun / Dave Eggers

And I’m really excited about all of these books! So TONIGHT I have big plans. I’m going to make a spinach/strawberry/goat cheese salad, pour a glass of red wine and curl up on the couch and read for a while. My hope is I’ll be pulled into the story and not want to stop. First up “The Diviners”, mostly because it’s the one with the earliest due date (and has holds so I cannot renew it).

Wish me luck?

 

 

 

Other Reading News

January

Books:

• Gypped / Carol Higgins Clark
• The Lost Years / Mary Higgins Clark
• The Silent Girl / Tess Gerritsen
• Are You Smart Enough to Work At Google / William Poundstone

Magazines:

• Entertainment Weekly

Academic Books:

• Storytelling for Grant Seekers / Cheryl A. Clarke (currently reading)
• Basic Research Methods for Librarians / Lynn Silipigni Connaway & Ronald R. Powell (currently reading)

Academic Article Titles:

• Social Research Questions
• What is Social Research?
• Influence of Training and Stage of Search on Gaze Behavior in a Library Catalog Faceted Search Interface
• User Evaluation of Searching: A Visual Interface for Bilingual Digital Libraries
• Comfort and Convenience? Why Students Choose Alternatives to the Library?
• Reference Librarians and the Success fo Institutional Repositories
• Administration and Organizational Theory
• Power in Social Work Practice
• Human Service Organizations
• The U.S. Nonprofit Human Services Sector: A Creeping Revolution
• Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy
• Findings from the 2010 National Survey of Nonprofit Government Contracting and Grants

Grave Mercy

Title: Grave Mercy

Author: R.L. LaFevers

Borrowed from: Ann Arbor District Library

GoodReads Rating: 4 Stars

Review: Grave Mercy tells the story of an assassin. A female assassin. A teenage, female assassin. A teenage, female assassin who happens to be in a convent. Ismae has had a tragic life growing up in 15th century France. She is saved when sent to live and become a nun within the convent of St. Mortain – the Saint of Death. These young, beautiful assassins work in mysterious ways through the seer of the convent and the knowledge that those who need to die are marked by death and the Saint himself. Sent to court with her “cousin” to learn about the families at court to determine actions that will best help France during war-time, Ismae finds herself taking matters into her own hands. What follows is an intricate story of death, love, deception, betrayal and ultimately the triumph of peace over vengeance.

Recommended for ages 14 and up. First book in the “His Fair Assassin” trilogy.

Spoilers may be found in the following discussion.

Reaction: Overall this is an enjoyable read and the concept drew me in – nuns that work for the saint of death. The idea was new to me plus it is historical fiction which I love to read. The introductory chapters immediately made me want to learn more about the convent and nuns who worship, and act in his stead, St. Mortain.

We follow Ismae into the convent (which happens quickly) and we follow her outside of the convent but her training and her work inside the convent? That’s covered in few chapters. I wanted more! My hope is that in the future books of this series we learn more, however since the second book is changing focus on characters (we no longer will be reading from Ismae’s point of view), I’m not sure this will happen. I want to know all the assassin nuns. I want to know how they learn their skills and secrets. I want to know why these assassin nuns are necessary – why this convent and not a “traditional” one?

This book also has a lot of political discussions that make up a large portion of the story. After all, that is why Ismae is with Duval at court and not restrained to only leaving the convent to kill. Ismae shows restraint with her death skills and even experiments with whether or not St. Mortain provides mercy for those who repent. This ultimately informs her decisions at the end of the novel. I hope we learn more about how those decisions affect her convent life.

I absolutely loved the moment between Ismae and St. Mortain. I know that it helps Ismae realize how she wants to use her skills and knowledge of death. I loved that she found ways to help souls. I hope we get to learn how the dramatic change between becoming the helpful maidens of death to maidens of murder happened. Have we met the responsible parties? Was it a case of too much power or not enough? Is this a question that will never be answered?

What about you – what are you reading lately? What do I need to add to my list?