The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

This is the thread where you can submit reviews for the Best Review contest. The thread is open for submissions and will close at Midnight EST on August 15, 2023. Voting will start the next day and run until the end of the GR day on August 31. The person whose review gets the most votes will have the opportunity to design a 20 point task for the Fall Challenge.

To be eligible for this task opportunity you must have achieved at least 100 points on the Summer 2023 Challenge Readerboard by midnight Eastern Time on August 14, 2023. Only one task per person per challenge.

Just a reminder that each person can only submit one review - but you can make edits to your review up until the end. The review does not have to be any particular length and doesn't have to be a positive one (i.e. you can choose to review a book you didn't like).
Please include your Readerboard Name.

PLEASE DO NOT comment on people's reviews in this thread - this is for submissions only. You will be able to comment when voting begins.

SPOILER ALERT! These reviews may include spoilers.

Readerboard name: Florence
Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

This is a very divisive book, it's not going be everyone's cup of tea [and I understand why] but it's COMPLETELY my cup of tea.

Spooky southern gothic small rural isolated town vibes with dark and twisty mother daughter relationships, lesbian crushes, a little bit of eco-dystopia, and a whole lot of strange.


A lot of the 1 and 2 star reviews are critiquing characters as flat, and it's true this isn't so much a character driven plot as it is a creation of a strange moodscape, but if you don't mind characters who have their own lives that you as the reader aren't completely privy to then you'll get on just fine with this.


recommended for people who enjoyed: Helen Oyeyemi's White Is for Witching, Jenny Hval's Girls Against God, Rob Reger's Emily Strange novels, Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects

not recommended for: people having sweetcorn or apricots to eat anytime soon.

trigger warnings posted on doesthedogdie.com here: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/1...

Chris MD

Her Heart for a Compass by Sarah Ferguson

Let's face it, a lot of people picked up this book because of the author. (There may also be some who gave it a pass because of the author.) I freely admit to being in the former group, but tickle me pink and hand me a tiara because I thoroughly enjoyed the story regardless of the author or how much a ghostwriter might have helped her. It is a well-told tale with an interesting main character. It should also be noted that while the book is about a real person, the author freely admits that the story is almost pure fiction because we don't know much about the woman's life until her marriage.

Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott was the second daughter of the fifth Duke of Buccleuch. We know that at the age of 20, in 1866, she was a bridesmaid at the wedding on Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Helena, but Margaret herself didn't marry until she was 29, unusual for both the time and a woman of her social status. It's this nine-year gap the book seeks to fill.

Lady Margaret rebels against her extremely strict father's plans to marry her off to an earl she doesn't like. Since a daughter's only worth is to marry well and increase the family's social (and sometimes political and financial) standing, she has let the side down. Her father banishes her not only from the family but also from the country! Fortunately, he does give her an allowance, so Lady Margaret builds a life of her own first in Ireland and then in New York City, where she becomes a friend of the Astors and is feted by New York elite.

Throughout the book, Margaret also becomes involved in charitable works to help impoverished children wherever she goes. It isn't until she finally gets a better understanding of herself as a woman and as a human that she feels ready to find real love.

I found Margaret's growth, as well as her adventures, to be interesting and well presented. As a character she is neither simpering nor anachronistically overly strident. She simply knew what did and didn't want and wasn't willing to do something just because someone said she should. Yes, you can definitely wonder whether "Fergie" is making statements of her own (Lady Margaret is actually a great-great-great aunt) about self-determination, but you can also completely set that aside and read the book for pure enjoyment.

Michelle in Alaska
Reviewing Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang


“What happened?”
Ramy gave him a long look. “The British, Birdie. Keep up.”

——

You’ve seen it happen time after time on the big screen: two people who are just so seemingly right for each other that one will inevitably exclaim, “You were made for me.” It’s an old sentiment, maybe… until it happens to you. Until it happened to me.

Just to be clear, this isn’t a love letter to a person. It’s a love letter to “Babel: An Arcane History”, my book soulmate.

In Babel, R.F. Kuang brings us what she describes as “the most ambitious thing [she’s] ever written.” This book weaves together a dark academia atmosphere, a deep dive into etymology and the magic of language, and a scathing look at colonialism, inequity and racism — all with a light fantasy overlay in the form of magical silver working, which fuels Britain’s colonial endeavors. In short, silver bars can be enchanted through language and used to make everyday tasks simpler, more efficient. It also strengthens armies and fortifies cities. Babel trains elite translators for the purpose of further advancing England’s knowledge and use of silver working.

In this sweeping journey, you’ll meet Robin, a young boy who is taken from his home in Canton under mysterious circumstances and trained in classical languages with the expectation that he will enroll in the prestigious Royal Institute of Translation, also known as Babel. Robin meets friends like him (i.e., people who are not white men), falls in love with Oxford and all Babel has to offer, and excels in his studies. Then again, something doesn’t quite sit right with him about his work for the Crown. Are Babel and his professors, his own guardian, hiding something?

The story follows Robin’s journey through navigating what it means to simultaneously serve his adopted country and to protect his homeland and those who are (I say this sarcastically) born under the unfortunate circumstance of being other than white male.

Perhaps these two aims are mutually exclusive.

I once saw someone ask the frank but important question of, “Who is this book for?” It is certainly not for everybody. In my opinion, Babel is for you if you:

- Believe it is important to look critically at systems of government or would like some evidence in support of this notion
- Love a sweeping alternate history or dark academia piece
- And/or identify as a linguist, philologist, polyglot or “language nerd”

In the end, I swear R.F. Kuang somehow got into my brain and my heart and wrote for me a story so utterly bespoke that I feel strangely exposed. This right here is the book version of my tall, dark and handsome. It is ambitious. It is smart. It is a linguist’s pain and pleasure. It is razor sharp. It is a reckoning.

˗ˏˋ ★★★★★ ˎˊ˗