Reading Challenge: November 21, 2017

I finished The Shadow Queen by Rebecca Dean from the library to read for week #35 - a book where one of the main characters is royalty.  I was interested to read this book as I didn't know much about Wallis Simpson except as sort of the maligned "other woman" who "ruined" the kingship of Edward VIII.  Obviously readers will know how it turns out in that Wallis does wind up with the Prince who becomes Edward VIII - but this book actually doesn't delve into their relationship that much.  Missing was the information on their German-supporting tendencies and his abdication, and everything about their life together really beyond how they met.  Even that is a little confusing in this book.  I understand it's a historical fiction; however, there are 2 major characters in this book - Pamela and John Jasper - who Wallis grows up with and who appear to be influential in her meeting Edward.  All well and good, except when you read the notes, these 2 characters are completely fictitious.  (huh? if that's a thing then how DID Wallis wind up meeting Edward?) 

The book is mostly focused, then, on Wallis's younger years, her somewhat topsy-turvey childhood, her education and her eventual bad first marriage and pallid second one.  I appreciated the portrait of her in her youth that definitely was mirrored in many of her adult-life choices, but I wish this one had been a little bit more on the straight and narrow in terms of historical facts and that it explored her relationship with Edward beyond the moment when she agrees to become his mistress.  3/5 stars for this one.

I then grabbed So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins for week #48 - a banned book.  This is an autobiographic memoir about the author (as a young girl) having to flee northern Korea at the end of WWII with her mother and older sister.  They are Japanese nationals - her father is a diplomat who is away from the family when the crisis occurs - and they are forced to flee as refugees back to Japan.  I actually am not sure why this book is a banned one.  Maybe it was at one time and isn't really found on school reading lists anymore?  Anyway, I'm sure at one point in time school kids were not supposed to read about refugees starving to death and people being shot and girls being raped, so maybe it's just a sad commentary that I didn't think there was anything really graphic in this book (events are mentioned but not described in detail) that would put off most high-school aged students today.  The story of her journey with her mother and sister is a testament to courage and strength, but the book really is lacking in terms of setting the events within the political context of the time.  The World War and the surrender of Japan are mentioned very peripherally, but the events of the story are hard to place within the larger context of the historical timeline. 

I decided to start week #18 - a really long book, so I've begun reading some of the short stories in The Time Traveler's Almanac.  My plan is to try to read 100 pages or so of these stories each week and finish this up by the end of the year while reading other things.

That leaves me with 3 other books to start.  I'm going to pop off to the library this afternoon and see if I can grab something suitable for the remaining weeks.

Currently standing at 48/52 books read with 4 left to go!


The 2017 List
1. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016: The Moon in the Palace by Weina Dai Randel.
2. A book with at least 2 perspectives (multiple points of view): Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce.
3. A book you meant to read in 2016: A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott.
4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E":  Longbourn by Jo Baker.
5. A historical fiction: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe.
6. A book being released as a movie in 2017:  Olive Kitteredge by Elizabeth Strout.
7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title: The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht.
8. A book written by a person of color: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.
9. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list: Speaks the Night Bird by Robert McCammon
10. A dual-timeline novel: The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor.
11. A category from another challenge: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier.
12. A book based on a myth:  Summerlong by Peter Beagle.
13. A book recommended by one of your favorite authors: The Lodestar of Ys by Amy Durreson.
14. A book with a strong female character: The Ornatrix by Kate Howard.
15. A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland): A Death in Sweden by Kevin Wignall.
16. A mystery: By Book or by Crook by Eva Gates.
17. A book with illustrations:  Prairie Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
18. A really long book (600+ pages): The Time Traveler's Almanac, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer.
19. A New York Times best-seller: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.
20. A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading: Just One Damn Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor.
21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read: A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor.
22. A book by an author you haven't read before:  The Secrets of Wishtide, by Kate Saunders.
23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list (link) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
24. A book written by at least two authors: Jane Austen's England by Roy and Lesley Adams.
25. A book about a famous historical figure: The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg.
26. An adventure book:  The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.
27. A book by one of your favorite authors: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
28. A non-fiction: The Lost World of the Old Ones by David Roberts.
29. A book published outside the 4 major publishing houses (Simon & Schuster; HarperCollins; Penguin Random House; Hachette Livre) - check all the editions:  Wool by Hugh Howey.
30. A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books (link): The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.
31. A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre: Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster.
32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle):  I Shall Be Near to You by Erin McCabe.
33. A magical realism novel: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.
34. A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere: The Bone People by Keri Hulme.
35. A book where one of the main characters is royalty: The Shadow Queen by Rebecca Dean.
36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee (link): The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Kowal.
37. A book you choose randomly: A Book of Bees by Sue Hubbell.
38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature: Lady MacBeth by Susan Fraser King.
39. An epistolary fiction: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
40. A book published in 2017: A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang.
41. A book with an unreliable narrator: His Bloody Project by Graeme McRae Burnet.
42. A best book of the 21st century (so far): The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
43. A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, cold):  Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase.
44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next" (link): Tower of Thorns by Juliet Marillier.
45. A book with a one-word title: Uprooted by Naomi Novik.
46. A time travel novel:  Valley of the Moon by Melanie Gideon.
47. A past suggestion that didn't win (link) - A book you saw a stranger reading: The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff.
48. A banned book: So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins.
49. A book from someone else's bookshelf: The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguru.
50. A Penguin Modern Classic - any edition: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays) : Beyond the Woods; Fairy Tales Retold by Paula Guran.

52. A book set in a fictional location: Stronger than Magic by Melinda VanLone.