esme – Cannonball Read 13

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Sundown, you better take care If I find you been creeping ’round my back stairs

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

August 30, 2021 by esme 1 Comment

While I’ve been lurking and getting book ideas, I have had a terrible time focusing enough to write up any of the (few) books I’ve actually managed to finish – I blame the pandemic. The Sun Down Motel, by Simone St. James, sat on my shelf for at least a week before I peeked at it, but once I peeked, I was hooked! The plot follows two women, one a night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in 1982 and the other the current night […]

“Thanks, Shah Rukh”

My So-called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma

February 9, 2021 by esme 4 Comments

Nisha Sharma’s My So-called Bollywood Life is a light, breezy YA romance with Bollywood movies as the not terribly well woven thread through the book. The protagonist is Winnie Mehta, an ambitious high schooler who is co-chair of the school film club. She is recovering from a broken heart because her ‘soulmate,’ who she believes was destined for her because of her horoscope (which identified her soulmate down to the first letter of his name), betrayed her. Despite the horoscope and the periodic dance sequences […]

“Honor is a light that brings trouble. Shadows are safer by far.”

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

February 2, 2021 by esme 4 Comments

This continues my read of novellas; however, The Empress of Salt and Fortune was so richly imagined and described that it is hard to believe it is such a short piece of work. It is also remarkable that the entire story takes place at a moldering palace of exile and unfolds as interactions between a disgraced palace attendant and a cleric who is tasked with recording the history and cataloging the belongings of the place. Within this tight frame, a stunningly detailed world is built, […]

Lord I never drew first But I drew first blood

Jade City by Fonda Lee

January 25, 2021 by esme Leave a Comment

The Kaul family is one of several organized crime families on the island of Kekon. These Green Bone families use jade, which, with the right training, produces superhuman traits, including great strength, speed, clairvoyance, hardened skin, and so forth. Green Bones were instrumental in the guerilla warfare that occurred one generation ago to free Kekon from colonial rule, and this history realistically colors much of the underlying structure to the novel. The Kaul family, on the one hand, spends a lot of time and effort […]

I forgot to remember to forget…

The Binding by Bridget Collins

January 25, 2021 by esme 1 Comment

Do you have a memory or many memories that never fail to bring pain or shame or grief? What if you could have that memory just disappear? You would never be reminded of the memory, because, even if someone started talking about the event that created the memory, you wouldn’t be able to hear them. You wouldn’t even know that you made the memory disappear. In some ways, that sounds incredibly liberating – imagine not being weighed down by something you did or said or, […]

A world-building amuse-bouche

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

January 12, 2021 by esme Leave a Comment

This is a delightful amuse-bouche of a book! I haven’t really read novellas before, but I really enjoyed how Nnedi Okorafor sketched a fascinating ‘working’ world (well, universe) in just a few pages. The brushstrokes created a lovely, multisensorial universe and a few interesting characters that I assume are more fleshed out in other works. Texture and smell and color and sensation were all integral to the story. Binti, the heroine, comes from an isolated desert community, and, at 16, she runs away from home […]

postcardsandbooks on So excited for Book 3!I did see that :) I'm getting them with my new audible credits when they come in!
narfna on Baby’s first tie-in Star Trek novel.I probably would have loved this if I'd read it when I was younger, like I did with all the original Star Wars EU books....
narfna on “Is your brother really such a surly bastard, they ask. Of course not; inside, he’s a teddy bear, say I . . . and then he opens his mouth.”I already love Matthias and we only spent like two pages with him.
llamareadsbooks on “Is your brother really such a surly bastard, they ask. Of course not; inside, he’s a teddy bear, say I . . . and then he opens his mouth.”Lucy Parker's books *are* such warm hugs, aren't they? I also can't wait for Pet's book!
llamareadsbooks on Baby’s first tie-in Star Trek novel.I read this when it came out, so I was quite the wee baby, and I remember loving the crap out of everything Peter David...

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