September was a good reading month overall! Let's start with the worst first.
The Brilliant Death, by Amy Rose Capetta
★★
I know many, if not most, literary agents for the young adult genre are asking for LGBTQIA+ manuscripts to cross their desks. However, I as a reader cannot condone or recommend books with such a pernicious message.
In case you don't know, The Brilliant Death is about a girl (Teodora, or Teo) trying to save her father and uphold her family through a political backstabbing fest set in a fantasy world inspired by Italy in the time of the Medicis. The setting was intriguing, but ultimately fell a little flat for me. There are writers who effortlessly describe their worlds and then there are writers who think they are effortlessly describing their worlds. The writing was overwrought and very, very purple. It felt like almost every sentence was a writing assignment where Capetta was told to use two similes, a metaphor, and alliteration.
Anywho, back to the plot. A critical fact about Teodora is that she possesses magic that allows her to change the physical reality of the world about her (for example, in the first few pages of the book, she turns a man who is cheating her father into a music box). She meets a shapeshifter who can become a boy or a girl at will, and ultimately figures out how to change herself into a boy as well. This book is filled with harmful messages about gender that celebrate the ideology of the transgender moment.
Aside from what I view as the sociological issues with the book, Teodora as a character wasn't that compelling for me. She often seemed to forget what her main mission was, and then she would remember it suddenly. It really shook me out of the story every time she was like, "I must not kiss Cielo. I must find the cure for my father!"
Okay, let me stop picking apart TBD (that acronym cracks me up; if I ever publish a book, I'll have to think about the acronym before I pick the title) and move on to my next read, which was ...
Yes, Chef, by Marcus Samuelsson
★★★★
I love the blurb on Marcus Samuelsson's website about this book: "It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother’s house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations."
Marcus's story was amazing, and although I didn't always agree with his actions or point of view, I loved how honest he was about his mistakes and shortcomings, and I really enjoyed this food memoir! I'm already planning to read his book The Soul of a New Cuisine.
Empire of Ivory, by Naomi Novik
★★★★
This was the fifth novel in the Temeraire series, which I talked about a couple weeks ago. Naomi Novik never disappoints! I really enjoyed this, especially because the book I got out of the library actually had normal-sized print.
The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, by Genevieve Valentine
★★★★
After Princess of the Midnight Ball, I doubt any retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" could live up to my expectations, but this 20's-inspired retelling had been on my TBR list for a long time, so I decided to give it a try. The writing style was very choppy and had far too many parentheses for my taste, which was off-putting at first, but I really got into the story as I got to know the main characters. Ultimately, this book tells a powerful story about family, especially sisters (surprise, surprise!).
Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism's Looming Catastrophe, by Voddie Baucham
★★★★★
This was an excellent, excellent book! I read it for my church's book club (which I mentioned in last month's reading recap), but I wasn't able to go because I got sick. Truly tragic.
Fault Lines challenges a lot of mainstream ideas and beliefs such as Critical Race Theory, Black Lives Matter, and the social justice movement, and it really helped me understand their deeply ingrained problems. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I agree 100% with Baucham's book. The fact that he is black makes it even more powerful. Even if you disagree with his views, I would highly recommend reading his book.
Well, that's all, folks! I'll be back next Wednesday with more random book ramblings.
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