Mostly Fictional
Ep. 69: Reading Books All the Way Through Their Author’s Notes and Acknowledgements
In this episode, Hallie picks Pam's next book to read, and Hallie shares a DNF. Also, we discuss Author's Notes!
Books mentioned, in order:
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee
Icarus by K. Ancrum
The Lost Time Accidents by John Wray
Pearce Oysters by Joselyn Takacs
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Piglet by Lottie Hazell
Glassworks by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith
Earthflown by Frances Wren
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
Find Pam and Hallie online!
Follow Hallie’s Substack at wordsmithreads.substack.com
Pam can be found on Youtube and Bookstagram at @pams_inkheart
- Duration:
- 39m
- Broadcast on:
- 03 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
(upbeat music) - Welcome to Mostly Fictional, a podcast about the books of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. My name is Pam, and I'm Hayley. Oh, I'm feeling so good. I took a few days off work last week to coincide with a long weekend. I had a little like, staycation of R&R, reading and relaxation, of course. Not the rest of relaxation. Reading and relaxation. That was the goal. And it was successful. I somehow finished four books in all of my time off, and I am so happy about it. - That's so nice. I'm so jealous. - It's okay. - Four books is off. I'm jealous if they were good. If they were all stinkers, then I am not jealous because I had only one, but I enjoyed mine. - I think we have an overall average of good. And good to great, I'd say. I don't know if that's the order we'll go in. Okay, so since you said you have one, how about I do two? You do one, I'll do my other two. - Great. - Okay, take us away. - Now two. - Yes. So would you like to hear about a random sequel I picked up or one of the other two that I mentioned last week or another wild card? - There's so many toys, okay. - Okay, sorry. Let's just do the first, whatever the first option was. We'll just go in order. It will go in order that I finished them. That is the order I have in my notes, but I just wanted to throw you a ball and it dropped, I'm so sorry. So-- - Don't have great hand-eye coordination. - Okay, take us away. The first book I finished was The Lady's Guide to Pity Coats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee. I want to show you the cover. It's purple, it's got a young girl. It has little drawings of a book, a sword, a threatened needle, coins, a little ship. Oh, this is the sequel to The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue. And I've had this sequel on my shelf probably since it came out. And like I said, I had those first, those few days off work. I had my husband look through the list of audio books, the library that I also have physical copy of. And I said, pick one. And I probably wouldn't have picked this one for myself. So I'm really happy that he did. 'Cause I had a great time. Oh my gosh. So a little backstory, book one, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, which is a mouthful of a title. So you hone your say book one and book two. Book one follows Henry Montague. He goes by Monty as he takes a gap year to travel 18th century Europe before being forced to take on his father's estate or something is something along those lines. He then gets into trouble and ends up on the run with Percy, his crush of a long time and his sister Felicity. I remember book one being such a fun time too. Hence why I must have gotten the sequel six years ago. And so now we have book two that came out in 2018, which follows Felicity Montague. So Monty's sister and her utter determination to becoming a doctor. Despite the fact that she's a woman and 18th century doctors can't look past that. - Yeah. - She's in this book. She's super focused on meeting her idol convinced that he will see clearly that she's worth becoming a doctor in spite of her gender. And well, you know what they say about meeting your heroes. Turns out he's in Stuttgart and about to marry her childhood ex best friend. So that's complicated. - Wait, also her idol is gonna marry her childhood. - Okay, that's complicated. All right, I guess. Also, Felicity is in London when she hears about this. So how on earth is she gonna get to Stuttgart from London in the 18th century? So my one complaint, I'm one of maybe two complaints. My first one though is that it's so teeny tiny. I could not figure out how old Felicity was supposed to be. This is a YA book. But my guess that she was between 16 and 20, I really don't know. Maybe it was mentioned quickly at the beginning of the book and I missed it as I was mostly listening to the audiobook. It did read the last few pages while listening to it. But it just kept nagging in the back of my mind that I didn't really know how old Felicity was. Again, between 16 and 18 or 20 maybe. So otherwise I was enthralled with the adventure, the woman power despite men constantly putting them down as, oh, they're small and weak. And the friendship in this book was so much fun. And I think one reason I really enjoyed it so much was that I just dove into the audiobook, knowing nothing more than it followed Felicity and it vaguely remembering that her aspirations were becoming a doctor. There's a little more to the synopsis on the dust jacket than what I described above. Above in my notes, I should say, earlier in the pot. But I want to leave all of that extra juice to surprise for our listeners because I really added to my enjoyment. Because after I got to chapter nine, which was like 40% of this book, I skim read the synopsis a bit and it covered everything I saw in those first eight chapters. I was like, that gives way too much away for the adventure. Yeah, so anyway, I will say, I adored Felicity and following her and her determination and her journey throughout the story. She really does evolve as a person a lot by the end. We had a very low point about like maybe three quarters the way through and it led to some characters being reunited and I utterly screamed with joy from the couch when that happened. I was like, this means our heroines are gonna be on the up and up to succeeding their goals. And it was just a really good cathartic moment of like, yes, we're gonna succeed. I also loved the author's note at the end of this book where Mackenzie Lee describes some of the historical women that inspired the three main women characters in this book. She ends the note with, there are many things that make this book fiction, but the roles women play within it are not. The women of the 18th century were met with opposition. They had to fight endlessly. Their work was silenced, their contributions ignored and many of their stories are forgotten today. Nevertheless, they persisted and I was just, yes, I just felt so good. So, as I said, this is a series and there is a third book which came out in 2021 and I do wanna pick it up, but you know, library depending on my book purchasing this habits for the rest of the year, book three apparently follows a third, but younger Montague sibling who grows up not knowing of Monty or Felicity existing. And so when he find, yeah, 'cause basically their father like cut them off 'cause he was like, you literally ran away. You're no longer my heirs, bye. So when this younger sibling finds something of theirs, I can't remember what he is, this younger sibling has thrust into, onto a quest to finding out the family secrets with his new found siblings. I'm just so excited, but like not excited enough, I'm gonna need to go get it right now, but I'm like really happy. - So what's that one called? - We already had-- - Oh, it's called a man and lady, what's this one? Like the two men. - No women. Oh, the no women. - No women. - Yeah, no women's guide to scandal and shipwrecks. - And they're really into like pirates. - Yes. - Pirates. - Yes, there has been a lot of pirates. There's been a lot of pirates in all, in these first two books, and I'm sure there will be in the second one, third one, sorry. So yes, I finished The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee as the first of my many books on my staycation at home. And it was just such a good time. I got so much crocheting done while listening to this. Oh, so much fun. Oh, what a relief. - I'm trying to guess, having not read the book at all. - Okay. - I'm trying to guess how old I would have thought she was. If her childhood best friend is getting married, let's just say that that friend is the same age. So she, and it's the seventh, you said it's the 18th century, so it's the 1700s, probably late 1700s. And then she said she's marrying the doctor. Well, if he's a doctor, he's like, he's gotta be at least 20, 22. - Hopefully a little older than that, but we'll see, let's just say that he's like 25. My guess then would be like, maybe the best friend is like 18, 17, 18, and also if Felicity is like, I wanna become a doctor, she's probably like old enough to be going, like be trying to go to medical school. That's my guess for her to be 17 or 18. - I think I like that. I think Monty in the first book was 17 or 18. And so it would make sense that following his sister a little bit after the first book would also make her about the same age. So yeah, I think that's a fair assessment. I think the doctor though ended up being, I think he's in his 30s. Again, I don't remember if a number was mentioned, but you know, 'cause it might not have been a marriage of romance, it might have been a marriage of convenience. So it was still such a fun time and it just kicked ass. I love it, I love books that just take you on an adventure. Oh, so much fun. Okay, so the second thing I finished is one of the wild cards I was trying to do. Okay, I can't think of my words today. Either way, the wild card that I picked up and read fairly quickly was Icarus by Kay Enchrom. - Oh, very wild card. - Yes, 'cause this is one of my 12 purchases of the year. And I got this way back in March and I've been feeling guilty that I just, I've read pretty much everything else I've bought this year and not this. I was like, you know what, I pre-ordered this, I really should give it a shot soon. Boy, this book made me feel such a rollercoaster of emotions so quickly, like, it was up, down, up, down, up, down. It has really short chapters, so I read it over the course of like two days. It was great, great time. Okay, the plot is Icarus Gallagher, who is an art thief for his father and his father makes art besturations for a living during the day, but at night he makes forgeries to be replaced by Icarus. Only thing, they do not, they only do this like switcheroo of switching an art piece for his forgery for one man and that man is someone Icarus' father has had a grudge against for like nearly 20 years and he's been enacting revenge slowly by replacing Mr. Black's priceless art with near perfect forgeries. Oh my God, this man, he has an incredibly wealthy house and livelihood and Icarus will only break him when Mr. Black is away. So, oh no, what happens when a new person appears to be in the house? Oh, turns out it's Mr. Black's son named Helios, which is Latin for the sun. I think that would be-- - Oh boy. - Icarus and the sun, uh-huh. Helios is being held under house arrest with no phone, no computer for a whole year. What could go wrong when Icarus starts entering the Black household to see Helios instead of only going to steal/replace art? This book does have moments where you have to suspend your disbelief because Icarus is doing some very not teenager things, but when he finally opens up to his friends that he's been struggling with things, I really appreciated how some of them realized they can only do so much as teenagers as well, and they involve the right adults so that everyone can stay safe. Overall, I really enjoyed it as I really enjoy Kay and comes writing. I think this would be perfect for people who like slow but intense burn, like a slow intense burn type of romance. It definitely does follow the myth of Icarus with some falling involved, that's all I'm gonna say. Oh, this one was a roller coaster, but it was a fun, fun time, that was Icarus by Kay and Chrome. - Okay, so I have to ask, since their names are literally Icarus and Helios, does that Greek mythology exist in this universe? Like, when he's like, oh, hi, my name's Icarus. Like, if I met someone named Icarus, I'd go, oh, like the myth? Like, does that exist? Is that too spoilery of your question? - Okay, he does comment on the myth, so the Greek mythology does exist in this book. It is the real world, sorry, I maybe should've said that. This is a contemporary setting. And he's named the Helios name, oh my God. They do comment on it at some point, and I think it's a little spoilery to confirm. It is a short, short, short sentence, but I think it would be a spoiler to confirm if Icarus is named after the myth or something else. So, 'cause there's other things with the word Icarus in it, apparently. Maybe I gave that away, but either way, they do comment on the fact that their names are Icarus and Helios, like that's-- - Okay, okay. - Yeah. (laughs) - Okay, so that's my rambling for my first two. I would love to hear what you finished last week. - So, last week on the pod was reading the Lost Time Accidents, which was the book that I was like, "Oh, this really feels like written by a dude." And I was like, "Okay, I wanna, I have been reading a lot of women, I'm gonna try some more." And I decided to DNF it at like 50 pages. I do think that I would pick it up in the future because it wasn't that I was super disliking it, I just was, you know, I have so many things that I'm trying to read on my list. - Yeah. - And I mean, you know, I just, you don't think I'm, this isn't the right time for this. So, I'll, you know, put it back on my list for maybe in the future. So, I decided to DNF that. And I picked up instead this other book called "Pierce Oysters" by Jocelyn Takis. - Yeah, I admit that I admit only like, originally picked this up or was intrigued by this because my mother's maiden name was Takis. So I was like, "Oh, whoa, I never see, I never see that name." - Yeah. - So I was like, "Okay, what is this, what is this name?" We're not, what is the name? What is this book about? And it's set in 2010, just after the BP oil spill. Now, I know you're up in Canada. Do you, you were like, no one remember much about the BP oil spill? - It brings a tiny, a tiny, tiny bill, but not a very loud bill. - That's totally fair because it's another country. So in 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico, so off the coast of like Louisiana down, kind of in the space between Texas and Florida, that like curved down there. There was this oil rig called Deepwater Horizon that there was like an explosion. A bunch of people died, it was very sad, but also then there were like thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of barrels of oil spilling into the Gulf. And this is like, if you Google it, the pictures that come up tend to be like, the pelicans that are drenched in oil, they like tainted a lot of the seafood there. It like, anyway, it was like, it was a catastrophe. It was a catastrophe. BP is still like synonymous with this oil spill. Anyway, that's the setting of this book. The, in this book, the oil spill has just happened. It's like the week of. And we are following this family, the Pierce family, Jordan, the eldest brother, Jordan, the younger brother, Benny, and their mom, May, and they own an oyster farming company that is in Louisiana that they've had for decades and decades. Their late father was like one of renowned oyster farmers in Louisiana. And they're, you know, trying to weather this situation that's developing. But this covers so much beyond just this oil spill, it covers like activism. It covers classism. It talks about politics and has a little bit of drug use and grief because their father has passed a handful of years ago. Obviously environmentalism. I read the author's note at the back that Tacus lived in Louisiana during the oil spill, which I was like, whoa. So she really knew what it was like then, as well as did a ton of research talking to all these different people who like actually do oyster farming. So it felt really real. I really enjoyed it. It also has, it's a great family drama. It feels kind of like you're watching a TV show with a pacing and some of the choices that your just make. You're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe you did that. I laughed at a couple of things. I gaffed at a couple of things. I think it's just like a good family drama. And I feel like I should call it historical fiction since it is technically a historical event. But I'm like, it's only from 14 years ago. So is that considered, like when do we decide that something is historical fiction? Like it's something about 2001 historical fiction. Anyway, I'm not sure what to do with that, but it's specifically set around this period of time where this big news event happened. So I really, really liked it if people like family dramas, like things that are, it feels really real. There's no supernatural or anything like that. It's a really good family drama. So that's "Pierce Oysters" by Jocelyn Tacchus. - Oh, wow. Would you like to hear a definition of historical fiction that doesn't come to say this person? This person, this website called Caledon Books. I'm not sure if this is maybe a bookstore, but it says historical fiction is set in a real place during a culturally recognizable time. - I feel like that fits it. - Yeah, it is a bookshop, Caledon or Celedon maybe. - Yeah, I know them. - So they have a definition of historical fiction that does include any time period. I think it wasn't their joke early on in the pandemic where all authors now writing contemporary books are now writing historical fiction. - Yeah, I've read one or two COVID books and it's very weird. - Yeah, it's weird to read something that you lived through. - I mean, obviously it lived through the oil spill too, but I didn't really remember it other than that it happened. - Oh my goodness. Okay, well, I'm glad that that was such a good time. Family, saga, family drama seemed to be up your alley. When you were talking about how that book felt like it touched so many more things. That's how I feel about the next thing I finished. And I'm just realizing as I'm looking at my stack, I finished all heart covers. I'm gonna be careful about the one I'm holding. I'm gonna be talking about. I'm gonna probably put it down after showing you because it is a library book that is in dire condition. I can't wait to give it back so that I don't have to worry about it anymore. I did indeed finish Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll. Oh, so this poor library copy is like, has the cover almost falling off the binding and it just pains me. Like you're gonna make a little hissy sound when you see this. - Yeah, you need to take that inside and tell them, like you need to rebind this. - You think I will. - I think I will like putting it in the slot. - Yeah, I'm gonna go like mention it to them and be like, "Hey, I feel so bad. "I didn't do this damage, but I'm so scared for this book." And it was really good. So there's my first thing. It was really good, but I feel like I deserve a prize for having finished it. But anyway, I'll get into that. So I'm gonna put this down. So I stopped crinkling the library binding and you've seen the cover. So yes, this book definitely got less weird to see my name for the character named Pamela. I know it was a very shallow reason to maybe DNF it. And I am happy I pushed through 'cause it was a very powerful book. I faced a new problem last week 'cause I was reading it of I wanted to read it fast, but the book needs it demands to be read slowly. Once I accepted that, my enjoyment did go up. So if anybody is thinking of picking up right young women, go into it knowing that the pace is slow and you need to read it slowly and absorb it slowly. This book still gave lots of vibes of notes of it on an execution by Daniel Kukovka, which has been my main comp to it. And that includes the slow pace of both of those titles. I did really love the moments in bright young women where they refer to the defendant as the sniveling coward. He was critiquing how the media and everyone revered him as a genius. It really brought him back down to earth or even dragging him down to hell where he belongs. Like, oh, I struggled here and there with jumping around the timelines, especially given the slow pace. Like I would get through this chapter and be like, okay, cool, oh, now we're going over there. And it, yeah, so I took some getting used to. But once I got ahold of the goal of each chapter, 'cause each chapter did really have like a goal or like a message to say, then I was gripped. I was, that was good. It's definitely not a book for the faint of heart. It has, it touches on so much more than missing and murdered women. Community is such a big part of the story. We lean on each other in times of tragedy. We all need someone to lean on. And in this book, Pamela meets Tina. Tina did not have someone to lean on when Ruth went missing. She's fully believes that the same man who killed Ruth also terrorized Pamela Sorority House, but Ruth's body has never been found. And so Tina becomes someone that Pamela can lean on despite so many other outlets not trusting Tina for being a lesbian and being biased towards this story because she and Ruth were in love. And this was the 70s where it was, and mostly in Florida. We touched a few other places as well, but Florida and Washington state, it was a difficult time to be a lesbian in the 70s. So the final line of the description from the dust jacket, this book puts it really well for those who are unsure about this book. This book really is a portrait of the extraordinary women who saw past the media's glorification of the Kennedy of killers for who he really was. That really does it. And then my last little point I have about this book is that the dedication from the author's dedication says for C, the letter C. I couldn't have written the last line without you. And I've been anxious to see how that last line is. And indeed, it filled me up with sadness and hope at the same time, like you know when books end really, like have a sad ending, but they have some upturn towards hope. And I just, I even found like a little metaphor as I was thinking so much about this. Like in a more metaphorical sense, imagine a long rainstorm finally ends and you can finally feel the sun on your face for the first time. And you just like tilt your head up, you close your eyes, you just take a really deep breath, that feeling. That was the end of this book. Not me finishing the book, but like getting to that point in the book and into that point in the story, that was that feeling. So, oh, I finally finished Bright Young Women and it was worth it. - I'm so glad that I pushed you through to continue to read this, even though you were like, "No, I don't wanna read my name on the page." (laughs) - I feel so bad. - So good, hooray. I'm so glad for you that it was like an actually good read. - I'm really glad to, oh my goodness. - Yeah, it was, I needed a push. I needed another person to be like, "Pam, you're being ridiculous." - And indeed, I was. (laughs) - Oh, yeah. So I'm glad I got to-- - Number three, right? So you have a fourth one still. Okay, wow, what a reading week you had. - I'm not even done. I'm already like, "Wow, and you liked all of them?" Okay, so what else you got? - The last one I did indeed finish, bookshops and bone dust by Travis Baldry. This was such a fun, prequel. Viv, basically, who is the main character of Legends and Laches as well. Viv, in this book, she was injured in battle and she's left behind by her crew to recover in a sleepy beach town. She is grumpy about it though. She wants to keep tasting the necromancer they were hunting when she got injured. I felt so much escapism around reading it. I didn't feel like I was sitting on a couch in my basement reading. I felt like I was in that beachy town too. It was great. So I felt this book was really well-structured with like a major plot and some minor subplots that tied together masterfully. We have really intriguing characters with their own distinct motivations and goals. But it is still similar to Legends and Laches in which Viv, our main character, is out of her element. But for the first book, it was by choice. And in this prequel, she's injured and she's forced to stay still and rest. What else do you do when you're being forced to rest then pick up a book, hence the bookshop part of the title? I struggled a little bit with the layout of the town. There were like these city walls mentioned, but then some stuff was inside the walls, some stuff was outside the walls. And I just could have used a map that was-- - Where I'm small critique. - You actually would have wanted a map. Where were we talking before about like, oh, do we ever look at the map? No, we look at it for like a second. Then we get past it and you're like, no, please, I would like some cartography. - In this case, I got confused. So a map would have been nice. Maybe somebody's drawn one, I don't know. My last point, my before last point is that it was a great staycation book. So this was so fun to be reading while on my time off and just enjoying relaxing and doing nothing, but staying up late reading a book is great. My husband was wondering if he could read it before Legends of Lattes, given it comes before in like chronological timing order. - Good question. It is a good question. - I feel like, yes, you could read bookshops and bone dust first, but the only thing is the epilogue of bookshops and bone dust is all the sweeter, having read Legends of Lattes beforehand. I'll see what my husband thinks about that. Maybe he'll be fine either like skipping the epilogue of bookshops and bone dust and reading that epilogue after Legends of Lattes or just plowing through the whole thing and then going through Legends of Lattes. I think both experiences are good and valid. What I did find really fun though, was in the author's note, Travis Baldry mentions how this book of course, Legends of Lattes of course was first independently published and then picked up by Tor I think. And Travis Baldry mentions the author's note of this prequel that when Tor UK picked up, Legends of Lattes to print it traditionally, part of the deal was a second book. So that's why we have second book. But then apparently the second book he was planning to write wasn't at all this. He had an idea, he was so excited and then he just kept having the struggle bus of writing your second book after such a popular first book. And so eventually he tweaked with the story. He scrapped it. He started something new a few times over and eventually landed on this and some of the elements on that original story I did did come into here. And he's really proud of it. I'm like, oh, good for new man. Writing a book is really hard, I get it. All right, so yeah, those are my four things ending with bookshops and bone dust by Travis Baldry. - And you mentioned the author's note a couple times this pod and I- - Okay. - 'Cause I read, I've been trying, I wasn't, I was never an author's note person, but I in the last handful of months, I more frequently am reading the author's or the author's note or acknowledgments or whatever is at the end. And I feel like that's really changed my understanding of like way earlier this year when I read Piglet by Lottie Hazel. And then I read the author's note or her bio or whatever and I saw that she has, like I think it's a PhD or masters in like food writing. I was like, oh, this book makes much more sense now that I know this. So I, and like how I just read or peer oysters and reading about how that she actually lived in Louisiana during the last bill and how the people, I was like, wow, this like really makes me appreciate the book in a different way. I will say that I tend to, this is probably bad. I tend to really only read the author's note in its entirety slash at all if I really enjoy the book. - Yeah. - Because I'm like, ah, that book was fine. I'm just like, okay, I'm finished done. But maybe I would appreciate the books that I didn't love as much more if I was consistent about reading what, how often do you read the author's note? - I think I pretty much always read them because I am a sucker for like meta things. So like the author's note is a note about the book I just read and I'm just a sucker for understanding the behind the scenes of book creation, whether it be writing, whether it be publishing and stuff. And like, I can think of so many author's notes that stay in my mind but I don't want to make our book lists extremely long. But to me an author's note is kind of like the author saying, hi, thanks for reading my book. Also like not even just the acknowledgement, but he is like, hey, I recognize you've read my book. Here's a little bit more about its creation. And I just, I'm a sucker for information like that. Like behind the scenes features on like movies. Oh, that is my favorite thing. Like I remember renting a DVD for some store like a blockbuster type thing and then putting it in watching it all and then be like, the special features, like I love special features. So to me an author's note is the book equivalent. - That's a great, that's a great comparison. I really like that. - Oh, thank you. So yeah, that's all I finished. That's a lot off my plate. - That's all you finished, you finished before. - No, I mean, that is all I finished. Like I'm feeling like, oh, that is- - Okay, different inflection I see. - Yes, my bad. I was exhaling and wanting water. Well, I am reading one right now. I'm in the in-between space before I have a trip later this week and I have my, I've been like trying to plan the books that I'm gonna bring on that trip. I'm like, okay, I need to read something in the interim. So I am reading the other book that was from the library that I was not supposed to check out, but I'm like, okay, this will be my in-between book because I didn't even really have it on my list to begin with. And this is called Glass Works by Olivia Wolfgang Smith. It is a era spanning novel. It's set in 1910 and then 1986, 2015. I feel like there's probably gotta be a space in between those. There's a lot of, it's a lot of years in between those. Anyway, I am about 50 pages in and I'm really enjoying it so far, woo, I picked a good one. Just like completely out of the blue. So this one is about this woman named Agnes. She has like inherited, she's like a, she has a lot of money from this fortune that she's inherited through her line. And she is in, she's involved, not involved, not involved romantically. She's like really, she's friendly. She's involved with this guy who is a glassblower and he's like an astounding glassblower. He makes these, he's been commissioned by where she lives to make basically like diagrams of different plant life. And they're so real that people like, they do this exhibit and Agnes's mom is there and her mom like breaks, breaks off. She's like, oh my God, I didn't think, she's like, I knew it was glass, but I didn't think it could be glass 'cause they look so real and the colors. And at one point he shows the glassblower is named, it's I-G-N-A-C-E, but he says that it rhymes with her name. So I'm like, is it Agnes? So Agnes and Agnes, which is confusing. If that's true, confusing, if true. So the glassblower, he, when he's like first showing some of his things, he has this like jellyfish that he's also made, I'm like, I wish I could see these. He has this jellyfish that he's made and it makes one of the students, 'cause it's gonna be students when he's studying these biology students who are gonna be studying these, makes one of these students vomit because they're like, oh my God, like, does it have to look like that? And he's like, well, that's what it looks like. So I, and then like, there's some drama happening that I don't even need to tell you the drama because just that alone, I'm like, this is such a fun book and I really like the two of them and their friendship and their relationship. But I'm like, are they in plot? They're kind of implying that something more is gonna happen. And I'm not even sure if I want more to happen. I don't know, I would be okay with that, but I almost like them better as friends. So we'll see, we'll see what happens, but I'm really enjoying it so far. Oh, that's so wonderful. Okay, well, on my docket, I currently have nothing. I needed, I need not a reading break, but I finished my last book like late last night and so I took today as just a crochet and chill day. It was also Canada Day. And I spent some time with my parents in law and so it was just a chill day. So I'm currently reading nothing. And I asked Haley if she wanted to pick my next book. - Of course. - So yes, I mentioned to my husband, hey, should I let Haley pick my next book or do you wanna pick it? And he goes, Pam, I've been picking your books for the last little while, but Haley would do it. - Yes, give me the responsibility. So I have two books that I'm toying between. Do you want to hear the why I'm toying between them first? Like why this book first is that one? Or do you wanna hear their titles in a bit of synopsis first? Like, do you wanna go in blind or do you wanna see and hear about them first? - Let's give me everything. I will make a fully informed decision. - So the first one is called Earth Flown, or that's all one word. So Earth Flown by Francis Ren with illustrations by an artist called Litarness. So this is apparently a queer genre bending book that is just really calling to me. And it was actually also a gift from my friend who had an extra copy. They just received a like super fancy hardcover special edition in the mail. And so they were happy to give me their extra paperback. I don't wanna let this gift sit on my shelf for too long. And it also just sounds in throwlings. Like on the back, we have like this cast of characters who described, we have this world where people have like superpowers of some kind, someone and a pharmaceutical empire that controls Britain's water supply. So apparently this also has to do with like water levels rising in Britain. And apparently then they're gonna end up something sinks into a didly collusion over the most lucrative reconstruction tender since London clawed its way out of the rising sea, Project Earth Flown. Oh my gosh. And every few pages are like at the end of every chapter, there's these gorgeous full page illustrations. And then there's little doodles throughout. So like we have an empty glass with some water flying out of it as if it's being water bench like in Avatar. But then at the end of every chapter, or at the start of every chapter, there's like a little doodle above the chapter number and then on the opposite page. So like the last chapter, the previous, last page of the previous chapter, the full page illustration. And so that's just stunning. And there's like so many little book design details that just makes me want to pick this up right away. Like for one, you know how at the start, the start. At the very tippy top of the page of the book, there'll be like, here's the title, here's the author. And it'll just swatch between that. This book has the title on one page and that has the characters POV and the chapter on the other one. Oh, so that is fun. And then there was some content warnings at the beginning and a terminology and organization list at the beginning of the book, instead of at the back. Also cool design choice. So all kinds of things are pulling to me that pulling me, pulling me to this. Yes, that was the sentence I wanted to say. And so apparently, yeah. So Aidan Thomas Blurb, this is saying it's a mesmerizing blend of sci-fi, fantasy, and crime lore that transcends the genres, absolutely captivating. So I think it could be fun. - Ooh, yeah, I mean, that's gonna be a hard one to be. All the things you listed off there. So okay, let's hear what's our second contender, obviously an underdog. - Oh, gosh. So the second book is the first of four books I've selected for July that fit the Buzzwordathon prompt. The prompt is measurement. And this book is Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kavai Strong Washburn. So time is a thing you can measure. So it has to do with that fits the prompt. And this book is one of the books I bought in the last two years. So BAM, Two Goals in One. This is set in Hawaii, where it starts off with a seven-year-old who falls off a cruise ship into the Pacific Ocean. But apparently, it says, in a story akin to a legend, he is delivered back to his mother in the jaws of a shark. And you're just like, what? And so the family struggling to make ends meet amidst the collapse of the sugarcane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favor from ancient Hawaiian gods. But as time passes, this hope gives way to economic realities forcing this kid and his siblings to seek salvation across the continental United States. So I'm going to skip to the end of the blurb or the synopsis. And it says, with a profound command of language, Kavai Strong Washburn's powerful debut novel examines what it means to be both of a place and a stranger in it. Oh, so it just sounds like one of those stories where the place is super important, but also going to be very character driven, maybe? Anyway, so this fits a couple of my goals. And I have this funny little ambition to myself of reading for July buzzwordathon prompts. In July, we'll see if that actually happens, but this could be a nice one to start with. - I have heard really good things about that. - Right. - I feel like that's the book I've heard really good things about. I definitely recognize the cover. And I think that may even be on my own to read list. I don't know, my to read list has gotten out of control. So I don't remember what's on there anymore. - I know, right? - I really want you to enjoy your first read of July. And I feel like if I choose sharks in the time of saviors, that you will be like thinking of earth-blown the whole time. So I feel like you should start with earth-blown, enjoy it, but more or less kind of like scratch that itch and get it out of the way. And then say to yourself, I'm going to start sharks in the time of saviors immediately finishing that. - I think that is a very good content, no, good response because otherwise it'd be very easy to finish earth-blown and jump into something else when I do want to get my Buzzwordathon prompts. Buzzwordathon book prompts usually quickly out of the way in the month so that I don't leave it to the last second. So I am in full agreement of this decision. I will start earth-blown tonight in bed. - Wow, and now you have the next two books to that you're having on your list. - I know. - Yes. I don't have to make any decisions. Whoo. (laughs) Fantastic. I, yeah, I'm enjoying my, I feel like I've been reading lots of books at the same time for the last couple months and so now to only do like one at a time, I'm like, that's nice. I did realize though that for the month of June, I did not read a single non-fiction book. I read only fiction. And I feel like I need to maybe read something now that's more, that's like that is non-fiction because I'm like, I mean, I love fiction. I'm having, I'm having a great reading time. All the literary fiction and science fiction, but it's like, I feel like I need to read something that's gonna teach me facts. - I need some facts. I need to just need to read a fact book. So we'll see, I'll see what I can scrounge up off my list. - Exactly. And like you said, you have to plan carefully with your trip coming up that you don't wanna, not pack the wrong things, but you don't wanna pack something and then regret leaving something behind. - Okay. Well, those were all of my book updates. I'm so happy you got to help me pick my next three because I've been, now that like we've gotten into the evening for my time zone, I'm just like, oh, I wanna curl up with a book. And now I know which book. - I know, and I love, I will choose anytime because I love authority to know. - Good, 'cause I hate making decisions. I love it. - Okay, well, that is all for this week. So we will place the bookmark and pick it up next time. Thanks for listening, everyone. Bye. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)