Play Book Tag discussion

My Challenges for 2020

1. PBT Monthly tags
2. Poll Ballot Challenge
3. PBT Decades Bingo
4. Read 50
5. Booker Longlist
6. Read 20 non-fiction titles

PBT Monthly tags

January: Thriller - Bunny by Mona Awad
February: Survival
March:
April:
May:
June:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:

Poll Ballot Challenge

Alabama - civil rights
Alaska - Inuit
Arizona - Grand Canyon
Arkansas - education (Bunny by Mona Awad)
California - Hollywood
Colorado - Rocky Mountains
Connecticut - Constitution
Delaware - business
District of Columbia - presidents
Florida - Disney
Georgia - antebellum
Hawaii - volcanoes
Idaho - nature
Illinois - comedy
Indiana - auto racing
Iowa - politics
Kansas - weather
Kentucky - horses
Louisiana - southern gothic
Maine - Stephen King
Maryland - Navy
Massachusetts - witches
Michigan - Great Lakes
Minnesota - vikings
Mississippi - blues
Missouri - pioneers
Montana - wildlife (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead)
Nebraska - farming
Nevada - gambling
New Hampshire - hiking
New Jersey - mafia
New Mexico - extraterrestrials
New York - Broadway
North Carolina - Appalachia
North Dakota - paleontology
Ohio - industry
Oklahoma - Great Depression
Oregon - ecology
Pennsylvania - Amish
Rhode Island - sailing
South Carolina - pirates
South Dakota - frontier
Tennessee - country music
Texas - space
Utah - Mormon
Vermont - libraries
Virginia - FBI
Washington - coffee
West Virginia - mining
Wisconsin - cheese
Wyoming - western

PBT Decades Bingo

B: 1977, 1971, 1978, 1975, 1972
I: 1986, 1984, 1989, 1983, 1985
N: 1998, 1994, Free Space, 1999, 1996
G: 2003, 2005, 2002, 2004, 2007
O: 2018, 2015, 2011, 2013, 2019

Read 50 Books Goal

1. Bunny by Mona Awad
2. Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery
3. Emily's Climb by L. M. Montgomery
4. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

2020 Booker Longlist

Read 20 Non-fiction Titles

Bunny by Mona Awad, 4 Stars

What in the actual f***!?

I apologize for how I started this review, but that is seriously all that comes to mind when I try to review Bunny. This is the second super weird horror novel I've read in as many months. While the other one ultimately did not work for me, this one did.

Set on a New England campus, Bunny follows the trials and tribulations of MFA student Samantha Heather Mackey. Perpetual outsider of her own making, she spends most of her time in the company of best friend Ava, art school dropout, engaging in darkly snarky commentary about the other four women in her cohort. These women are almost infantile, a mean girl clique who refer to each other as Bunny. Yet, despite her hatred of them, Samantha finds herself drawn into their group, and that's where everything gets seriously messed up. I won't go into more detail because I strongly feel the less you know about this book the less.

If you've ever wanted to read a book that mashes up Heathers with Frankenstein, born of the minds of Stephen King and John Hughes (author of the 1980s Brat Pack movies), then you owe it yourself to read this book.

I listened to the audio edition, narrated by Sophie Amoss, and I highly recommend it. Each voice was clear, and she captured the essence of the book perfectly.

Emily of New Moon - L. M. Montgomery, 4 Stars

Despite my love for Anne Shirley Cuthbert and Green Gables, I've never read any other book by Montgomery. To be honest, I'm not even sure I was aware until well into adulthood that she had written anything else. I do so wish I had read this book long ago.

Like Anne, Emily is an orphan, though unlike Anne she never has to live through the ugliness of the orphan house or being sent out as a servant or child-minder. When her father dies, Emily goes to live with her mother's people at New Moon, despite the fact that clearly none of them want her. Like Anne, Emily finds herself being raised by a stern and unyielding spinster and her kindly brother. New Moon is every bit as lovely as Green Gables, and the book is filled with purple prose and descriptions of nature that border on overwrought. In fact Emily reminds me quite a bit of Anne, though perhaps a bit more withdrawn and proud. She finds herself in many a scrape, often involving her hilarious and untamed best friend Ilse, or because she was just too stubborn and proud for her own good.

I'll admit, I decided to read this book because upon the conclusion of the final episode of the television series Anne With an E, I needed more Anne in my life. This book filled me with exactly the same delight and joy as the Anne series did, and I'm so glad that I decided to finally read more books by this author. Despite her overblown turn of the century style of writing, Montgomery never fails to enchant me.

Emily's Climb - L. M. Montgomery, 5 Stars

In book two of the Emily series, Emily leaves New Moon behind to attend high school in Shrewsbury with her closest friends This furtherance of her education was a joy that Emily did not think her conservative Aunt Elizabeth would ever agree to, but with the promise to stop writing fiction and that she board with the detested Aunt Ruth, the arrangement is made.

Even more episodic than the first book of the series, fully half the book is written as journal entries from Emily's own diary. I really enjoyed experiencing Emily's life in this fashion. It allows the reader to get to know who Emily is and what she feels in a deeper fashion than had the story merely been narrated. Unfortunately, for this same reason, the other characters suffer. We only see them through her eyes, and so they come across as one-dimensional. Excepting maybe Dean Priest, who is an interesting man, even if I can't help but feel uncomfortable with the notion of a man in his mid-thirties who is so obsessed with a teenage girl.

Over the three years during which this book takes place, Emily really grows as a person, from a child to a young woman. I admire how skillfully that Montgomery handled this transition. Not every author can pull it off, especially given the short length and episodic nature of the book. This book is deeper and and more mature than the first, much like Emily.

I thoroughly enjoy Emily's personality as she comes into her own. While the first book reminded me in many ways of the Anne series, this one shows that Emily is not merely a facsimile of Anne. She is proud, a bit sarcastic, determined, and won't let anyone tell her what she can achieve. Her personality really shines in this book, and in many ways I find her more relatable than Anne. While I loved Anne, I feel a deep kinship with Emily.

My understanding is that Montgomery said that of the two, this series was more autobiographical than her first and most famous. Perhaps that is why Emily feels more real. In any case, this book was delightful and not at all a letdown following Emily of New Moon. It may even be the better of the two.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk, 3 Stars

An eccentric old lady obsessed with astrology, and animals, who spends time with a former student translating Blake into Polish. This sounds like a book written for me. Unfortunately, it just didn't live up to my expectations.

Pros: I loved the fact that the entire mystery was narrated in her stream of consciousness, leaving the ending an unexpected surprise. The translation from the original Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones was quite well done.

Cons: The main character got on my nerves after a short amount if time. I get why the villagers thought of her as a crazy old buddy. The big reveal felt rushed, taking place over only a few pages. Finally, it took me a month and a half to finish a book less than 300 pages in length.

It was good, not great. I don't know that there are a whole lot of people I'd recommend this book to, but I'm sure there is an audience for it.