joannneuroth's reviews
93 reviews

I Take Thee, Serenity by Daisy Newman

Go to review page

hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I'm not sure what the official criteria are for Young Adult fiction, but this felt like what has to be a very niche market:  Quaker Young Adult fiction -- concerned with coming of age dilemmas, told through the awareness of a 19-year old.  The framing narrative (pressure on a young couple to marry in order to stay respectable if they're going to be sexually active) felt a bit forced.  But the couple, groping around for how they might avoid a spectacle wedding and wishing to be able to wed in blue jeans without a minister, start poking around long-lost Quaker relatives since they've heard they marry each other without a minister.  They're quickly disabused of the notion that you can just sort of rent a Quaker meetinghouse and do it yourself.  But (I'm a Quaker) the community and practice they stumble into is authentic and substantive and counter-cultural enough that it sparks some real self-examination and awareness and growing themselves up to make their own choices.  Spiritual-but-not-religious persons might find this an opening into a disciplined but invitational approach to faith and practice.  
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

The wild ride continues at the War College, where the plot thickens and good guys become shocking traitors and deceivers ... and long-lost ones reappear ... and Rhett and Scarlett continue their love-you-can't-give-in-to-you dance.  I find these rollicking good summer reads.  It's the mother of all cliff-hangers, so can't help trying to imagine where Yarrow is going to take Book 3.  But I'll definitely be tuning in to find out when it's published.  
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I read several reviews here from people disappointed in this addition to the Vorkosigan saga -- it was too slow for them and hadn't enough of the frenetic, forward-momentum, crisis-hopping action they expect from a Vorkosigan novel.  I wholeheartedly disagree.  For me, one of the enchanting things about this whole series, starting with #1 Shards of Honor, has been Bujold's capacity to blend that madcap, surprise-filled plot energy with exactly this kind of internal, reflective, character-based wrestling with issues of honor and intention and integrity.  So for her to give Cordelia a whole novel to contemplate seismic life-changes in what I sort of assume is the series' finale (though Bujold has surprised me before) seems a perfect bookend to that opening introduction where she met and fell for Aral in Shards of Honor.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this re-read.
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

These are just such rollicking tales -- the whole series (of which this is evidently #16).  I'm not sure but believe it's self-contained enough that you could enjoy it without any previous background on the characters and culture and planetary systems involved.  But why do that?  Treat yourself and begin at the beginning:  Cordelia's Honor.  
Bewilderment by Richard Powers

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I came to this a fan of Powers from THE OVERSTORY, so I knew Powers didn't flinch from serving up searing truths that leave you gasping.  He's done it again here -- managed to draw me out of my numbness about the ghastly, violent omnipresent slaughter of every precious form of Life that is inexorably going on around us.  And -- although it was painful -- it wasn't as grim to read as my last sentence sounds.  Because he's telling it though the innocent, awed eyes of a sensitive, creative, passionate 9-year old and the equally brilliant father who is desperate to protect his son as he faces the full horror of ecological disaster, while still honoring his demand to be told the truth.   It's a book I want to let sink in a bit and then talk about.  
The Diviners: Penguin Modern Classics Edition by Margaret Laurence

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a tangibly lovely novel. Morag Gunn, successful, published author, prompted by events and transitions in her Ottowa-based log home on a living river, remembers scenes from her childhood, hard-fought independence, chosen single-parenthood, moves to Vancouver and London, and her return “home” to the countryside she has come to love. The characters in her life are colorful, unpredictable, sassy and deep. She loves them and longs to not be alone. With them, though it’s not how she’d choose it, she’s very much not alone.

The "divining" of the title involves having the instinct to see treasure below the surface of things.  Not only Morag's neighbor (who actually dowses for water) but also her feisty adoptive father Christie has this skill -- she explicitly equates divining with Christie's vocation as town scavenger who feeds and scours the "Nuisance Grounds" town dump.  She's divining herself here. 
A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The preview sent me to look up "selkie" folktales to decide whether to put the book in my pile.  I'm glad I did -- the magical truth underneath the plot didn't get in the way of a good plot, complex characters or a compelling read.  It just explained a lot when revealed eventually.  The queer aspects introducing in this retelling were well done -- homophobia is real; choices get made; many characters (both queer and allies) are drawn to it from their own experience, not some political commitment. 

I have quibbles.  For instance, the midwife, Jean, who is the primary narrator seems prone to jumping to a single understanding of a situation and acting (rashly, someone tells her accurately) on it.  But it's a credible flaw.  I recommend it as a pleasant, fast read.
Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity by Michele Norris

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Fascinating exploration of the complex under-the-surface experiences of race, in the voices of thousands of Americans who responded to Norris' invitation to send her cards with a haiku-like sentence and back-up writing if they liked.  Her chapter on why we all describe ourselves as "weary" of a conversation about race that we've never really had is challenging, inspiring and compassionate.  
How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks

Go to review page

hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Maisie Dobbs’ final accounting. Winspear takes the occasion to reflect on events through the whole series but still manages to pursue a “case” here too. Loved the whole series. Best wishes to Winspear as she moves on!