I had almost no expectations going into Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. I haven’t read anything by Olga Tokarczuk, have read very little (if any?) Polish literature, and basically picked it up only after seeing it all over Instagram.
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This was an interesting read - it was a mystery; it was a story about an aging woman dealing with illness and loneliness and friendship; it was a story about astrology and the influence that birth dates and star charts have on a person’s life; it was a story about treating animals kindly and the consequences for not doing so.
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Tokarczuk’s writing style and diction are superb. Like mind-blowingly beautiful. And I think that is what made this book work. That and the twist at the end that I never saw coming.
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I am pretty sure this is a book I will be thinking about for some time to come.

The Women in the Castle is a beautiful novel, focusing on three women and their experiences before, during, and after WWII.
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Marianne von Lingenfels, the German wife of a Nazi resister who was murdered after a foiled assassination attempt goes awry, made a promise to protect the wives and families of her husband’s conspirators. After their brave plan fails, she does everything in her power to find, protect, and ultimately keep this band of women and children alive during and after the war.
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Marianne has a strict sense of right and wrong, which clashes with the other women who live more in the gray. The choices made by these women, as they try to protect their respective children and then rebuild their lives once the war ends, force them to face their complicated and conflicting pasts.
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This novel changes perspectives, is told non-linearly, and is just wonderful. Every time I read a novel set during WWII, I cannot help but be blown away by the resilience of human beings.

I’m not sure why, but it took me forever to read Things in Jars. Maybe it was that there was a lot to wrap my mind around - including a female detective main character who rescued and lives with a seven foot woman, has conversations with a ghost, smokes experimental concoctions, is searching for a child who is said to have magical/mythical powers, has a horrifying back story, and is highly skilled in anatomy and medicine.
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Things in Jars, by Jess Kidd, is, at its core, a mystery. However, this novel is so much more than that. Set in Victorian England, Kidd uses elements of social commentary, fairy tale, and magic, to create a highly unusual story.
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I won’t say that I loved this book. I was, however, completely immersed. The ending was satisfying, everything seemed real (even with the magical elements), and Kidd’s writing style added another level of interest.