fiction

“The Magic Fish” by Trung Le Nguyen

December 5, 2021 by Sonia Connolly Leave a Comment

Recommended to me by: Soph

What a lovely, powerful graphic novel. Tien is growing up in the US with Vietnamese immigrant parents. He speaks mostly English, and they speak mostly Vietnamese. It’s a close, loving family and they read fairy tales together when they have time. The graphic novel interweaves slant-wise takes on three familiar fairy tales with Tien’s adventures in high school and as he struggles to communicate important truths about himself to his parents.

The art is gorgeous. Fairy tale dresses are especially elaborate, and the end of the book contains notes on the time periods the dresses are drawn from. The one thing I found confusing is that something about the proportions of the characters made them look younger to me. Tien looked like a much younger child, and his mom looked like his teen older sister, even though the story communicates that Tien is in high school and his mom is in her 30s.

The love in the book makes me cry, along with the difficult times around immigration and grief, conveyed with kindness. Highly recommended!

Content notes: brief homophobia, not endorsed by the author, and fairy tale violence.

Available at bookshop.org.

“The Wood Wife” by Terri Windling

October 26, 2021 by Sonia Connolly Leave a Comment

Recommended to me by: Tor.com

I read this book many years ago, and remember being disappointed, because it wasn’t the kind of lyrical fantasy I was used to. Reading it again now that I’m older than the protagonist, I can see how skillfully relationships between the characters are portrayed. It’s beautifully written and lovingly portrays the Sonoran desert.

And it’s still not my type of book. It uses death and domestic violence as intensifiers, and the mystery is tied up neatly at the end, along with the characters’ lives. While I agree with the author’s message about the need to protect the natural world from endless cookie cutter suburban development, the lectures fall heavily from the characters’ mouths.

This book is part of a four-book series inspired by Brian Froud faery paintings. “Something Rich and Strange” by Patricia McKillip also had an author’s message that weighed heavily on the book. I’ve read the third book, “The Wild Wood” by Charles de Lint, but hadn’t heard of the fourth book from the series, “Hannah’s Garden” by Midori Snyder.

Available at bookshop.org.

“Pahua and the Soul Stealer” by Lori M. Lee

September 19, 2021 by Sonia Connolly Leave a Comment

Recommended to me by: Marissa Lingen

A delightful adventure story based on Hmong legends and spirituality with two eleven-year-old Hmong girls as the heroes, Pahua and Zhong. Pahua can see all spirits, which is unusual even for shamans (does the Hmong culture use the word shaman?) and has a companion spirit in the shape of a black kitten, named Miv, which means cat. Zhong is on assignment from her shaman school. There are battles, but no lives tossed away casually. Compassion and successful negotiation get them further than fighting.

The glossary at the end includes pronunciation of Hmong terms used in the story, and the afterword shares Lori Lee’s history as a Hmong refugee who resettled in the US and struggled to fit in, as Pahua does.

Highly recommended.

Available at bookshop.org.

“Knit One Girl Two and other stories” by Shira Glassman

August 21, 2021 by Sonia Connolly Leave a Comment

Subtitle: Women Reconnecting with Love, Art, Music, and Inspiration

Recommended to me by: Shira Glassman’s tumblr post

A collection of three delightful stories. The first one is summarized as “lighthearted Jewish f/f romance about an indie dyer who falls for the wildlife painter whose art inspired her latest round of sock club.” It’s great to read about women being happily inspired by their surroundings and each other. The story settings are richly detailed, and the emotional connections are kind and warm.

Recommended as a great antidote to reading the news.

Available at bookshop.org and Shira Glassman’s Gumroad.

“Noopiming” by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

July 21, 2021 by Sonia Connolly 1 Comment

Subtitle: The Cure for White Ladies

Recommended to me by: RadiantFracture’s series about Native authors

This book is woven together with brief recurring scenes and thoughts and symbols from eight main characters, plus some geese and raccoons at the end. The characters are Native Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg in Canada, like the author.

Official synopsis:

Mashkawaji (they/them) lies frozen in the ice, remembering the sharpness of unmuted feeling from long ago, finding freedom and solace in isolated suspension. They introduce the seven characters: Akiwenzii, the old man who represents the narrator’s will; Ninaatig, the maple tree who represents their lungs; Mindimooyenh, the old woman, their conscience; Sabe, a gentle giant, their marrow; Adik, the caribou, their nervous system; and Asin and Lucy, the humans who represent their eyes, ears, and brain.

The characters are formally introduced at the beginning, and then we see them up close as they go about their lives and interact with each other. Their lives weave in and around and through the invasive white people who have changed their world. The story is confusing on the surface, like a turning kaleidoscope, and makes a deeper kind of sense underneath.

Stories tell us how to live, how to see each other, how to care for each other. They point out when we are falling short. This book has layers of knowledge and wisdom that would reward rereading and study.

Recommended to take a step away from colonialism and toward Nishnaabeg ways of connecting with the world. The “cure for white ladies” in the subtitle is never directly addressed.

Available at bookshop.org.

“Across the Green Grass Fields” by Seanan McGuire

January 30, 2021 by Sonia Connolly Leave a Comment

Recommended to me by: Reading Every Heart a Doorway

This is book 6 in the Wayward Children series. Young Regan ends up in the Hooflands world, and has adventures. The book starts out full of drama, and also has quiet parts full of good fellowship. It seemed all too predictable for a while, but the ending was unexpected. I liked how Regan handled it.

Highly recommended.

Available at bookshop.org.