Anne Lamott offers some practical advice for aspiring writers.

In all honesty, this book is more of a pep talk and an assurance that your process of writing some absolutely awful and clunky work is normal. There are a few suggestions of writing practices, such as what the author calls "short assignments" that can help a writer break out of a block or get them started on a scene or character.

Even though this book isn't the step-by-step manual some may want (check out [a:Maggie Stiefvater|1330292|Maggie Stiefvater|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1587234813p2/1330292.jpg]'s writing workshop on vimeo if that's what you feel you need), it is full of beautiful moments that you can mine for your own writing. I wanted to make Anne a character in my story. Her witty banter is enchanting. The way her mind can squirrel from one image to the next, spiraling into the best form of madness is something I can both relate to and want to capture in my own writing.

There are almost as many quotable portions in this book as there are pages, so this book is definitely worth the read if you've ever found yourself wanting or needing to write for any purpose under the sun.

Fable is the 17 year old daughter of the most notorious captain and trader in the Narrows. But she hasn't seen him in 4 years, not since the fateful day the Lark sank and her mother died. Abandoned on a desolate island of thieves, Fable has had to make a life for herself and find enough copper to earn passage back to her father and hopefully a place by his side - with a family again.

The first 70% of this book was... well, mostly nothing. Fable goes on a few sea dives and gets on a boat and sails a couple of places. None of the characters are terribly interesting, and that includes Fable. We just don't know enough about any of the characters to care much about them. This book had a great atmosphere of danger and the idea of rag-tag crew bound together by necessity and secrets. I was constantly reminded of [b:Six of Crows|23437156|Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1618531219l/23437156._SY75_.jpg|42077459]. The problem was that Six of Crows performed with both of those elements far better than Fable...

The last 30% of the book was a bit better. We learn more about most of the characters aboard the Marigold. I became interested in Fable's father and how her life had been manipulated by him. I'll read the sequel since there's now enough information about the characters that they're no longer too thin to convince.

Reincarnation Blues isn't a story (or rather a collection of 10,000 stories) for everyone.

This story explores the many lives of a character named Milo who has been a man, a woman, a cricket, a tree, a cat, and pretty much anything else you might imagine. He is the oldest living soul and still on his journey toward "perfection" after which he will join with the great Everything. Christians would call this theosis. Buddhists would call this Nirvana. Regardless of name, he'll break the cycle and... well, he'll move on to something else, everything else.

But that's just the problem. Milo doesn't want to reach "perfection", whatever that might even mean, because he doesn't want to move on. Not only is he the consummate slacker and a bit of a rebel by nature, Milo is also in love with Death, well a Death anyway, who happens to go by the name Susie. And if Milo becomes part of the great everything, Susie likely won't be able to achieve that goal with him. He's only able to be with her between lives, which is enough of a problem on its own without the added prospect of eternal separation while experiencing some sort of ultimate communion with all other once living things.

Now, before I go further, there are some problematic parts to this book. Some REALLY PROBLEMATIC parts... Most of them are all in one particular chapter.

Spoiler

In one of his last lives Milo experiences a false rape accusation after consensual sex. This only serves as a plot device to get Milo into a space prison colony and to get him to possibly achieve perfection by forgiving his accuser. That idea left me very upset. Milo is then gang raped multiple times (as a minor) on this prison colony. There's no exploration of what that means to his soul and is treated as lightly as if Milo had stubbed a toe or worn his blue jeans inside out or any number of other goofy things.
Rape should NEVER be treated so lightly. Even if Milo has lived nearly 10,000 lives to view the experience as something transitory, readers have not and I am disappointed that the experience was treated so flippantly as to not evoke commentary or distress.

I was only able to forgive that particular section of the book after sitting with how sick it made me and why it made me so angry and why it might not make Milo so angry, especially when, due to his situation, he couldn't afford to stew in any kind of pain or anger. I didn't like it, but I didn't have to.

After a day I picked the book back up and finished it all in one setting. Poore doesn't give away the secret of how to attain perfection or what perfection is. He leaves that mostly up to the reader, which is risky, bold, and brilliant. I was also both confused and delighted by the final couple of chapters. It wasn't necessarily the plot content of those chapters that I found so comforting, but the idea explored there.

I'll be thinking of this one for a long time to come and would absolutely love to have a discussion with someone else (or several someones) about this book.

I absolutely loved seeing these characters again. Jax is probably my favorite side character from the Air Awakens quintet, and Baldair is a very close second.

The Crown's Dog follows Jax, Baldair, and Erion on an arguably foolish quest to find a lost pirate queen's treasure in a Southern coastal town where Baldair's family happens to have an imperial summer home. Finding any clues about the treasure proves difficult because Baldair is an awkward 16 year old who doesn't have the same commanding presence of his father and older brother and because the whole town seems to think the pirate queen's name is a curse and terrible things will happen if her name is even spoken in the city itself.

So, Baldair decides to do what Baldair does best - party.

And that's all well and good for Jax and Erion, even if they are a bit older and wiser than their prince and friend. They know their way around drinks and hangovers.

Despite a disappointing lack of trail about the treasure, it's shaping up to be a decent summer vacation for our three heroes - until a woman is found murdered in Jax's bed.

Now, if you've read Air Awakens, you'll know exactly how this is more troublesome for Jax than the prince and soldier who have become his friends. Seeing more of Jax's past and personality are what makes this book so fun to read.

But the book does have some problems. There are some plot holes and missing scenes. Baldair's royal parents are conspicuously absent and unconcerned about their son's whereabouts and this allows him to get into some easily avoidable teenage shenanigans. After the murder investigation the plot bounces around a bit and a character comes into play from seemingly nowhere and she's just a bit too convenient for my tastes.

But it does wrap up nicely in a way that ties back to Air Awakens and foreshadows what's to come in a few short years.

Overall, it's a fun quick read, but don't expect this one to hold up to the best of Air Awakens.

Oh these characters! They're just *chef's kiss*.

This book is especially touching if you've read the Air Awakens quintet. Since this is part of a prequel trilogy, I won't spoil how, but the book will definitely be a different experience (and probably a deeper one) for those who have read Air Awakens. The trilogy is actually better at introducing the conflicts of this world than Air Awakens, though, so if anyone wants to read this trilogy before the main set of books, it's not a terrible idea.

In this second installment Prince Baldair, Jax, and Erion are preparing to go to war against the northern kingdom of Shaldan. It's been a year since they formed their Golden Guard. While in the Crossroads Baldair can't help but notice an incredible woman who can wield a sword better than anyone he has ever seen in his life. Instantly he wants her to serve on his Golden Guard. He doesn't want to go to war without her. She could mean the difference between the lives and deaths of many that he is now responsible for. But this strange woman, Lady R, doesn't jump at Baldair's offer. Instead, she tells him to prove himself and if she joins his guard, it'll be on her terms.

It was wonderful to see Baldair, so cocky in the first book of the trilogy, grow into himself and become the character I knew him to be in Air Awakens. His character arc is beautifully crafted and he shines brilliantly in this book. So does Raylynn Westwind. She was present but never explained in Air Awakens, so it was a treat to get to know more about her. Now I feel I might have more questions than answers about her story. She might be one of my favorite characters in this novel universe now.

All in all, the best writing I've read yet from author Elise Kova, the best characterization, and simply a fun read.

The final installment of the Golden Guard trilogy was just... not enough. There wasn't enough page length to get into anything real before the beginning of the main series. There wasn't enough plot, there wasn't enough interaction with characters from the other two books to tie this solidly into a trilogy. It felt like something separate, even though I knew it was in the same world and these characters do play a role in Air Awakens. There wasn't enough depth between Craig and Daniel to create the depth of friendship I was supposed to buy into in the next to last chapter. I saw these two as should-be brothers in Air Awakens. This just wasn't enough for me to buy that the two got from where they started at the beginning of this book to that point at the final chapter.

Not enough YA books focus on friendship and I love that this book went in that direction. I just wish there had been more time and plot on the page for Daniel and Craig to actually become friends. They deserved the same depth that Raylynn and Baldrick got in the previous book. And I think that's why this final book is a let down for me, because it follows on the heels of something absolutely amazing.

The trilogy is definitely worth reading and in a couple of weeks I think I'll be ready to start the Vortex Visions series, which takes place about two decades after the Golden Guard Trilogy and the Air Awakens quintet.

Black Indians provides a potentially paradigm shifting look at history only hinted at in most American public schools. The truth of the history of mixed race "Black Indians" is often either unknown by teachers and therefore not taught in classrooms or it is uncomfortable for stakeholders (teachers, administrators, students, parents, community members) as it shows the efforts to which white colonizers went to subjugate and separate indigenous and black populations. Taken as individual stories and narratives, this book focuses on influential people and actions often left out of history textbooks. Taken collectively this book reveals the complexities of race relationships between three races of people and how those in power have historically manipulated the other two groups to ensure the survival of their existing power systems.

Sadly this book is still viewed as "controversial" by many although it largely leaves it up to the reader to connect the dots over a 400 year time span to see the systemic and overarching racism. I mean, its absolutely obvious to anyone who has minimal reading comprehension, but I digress. News of recent educational laws in Texas have me very aware of the lengths to which people will go to hide the obvious historical narrative and those who criticize the content of this book are in the same camp as the Texas legislature.

As far as delivery is concerned there's a lot of content crammed into these pages and that sometimes feels like events and people are covered to quickly for them to have sticking power in my mind. Too many accounts have already blurred together in my memory. But, as an introduction, this one is absolutely serviceable and largely interesting. I'll be looking through it again to spark further research to inform my own teaching.

Always tell the truth. Right?

As one of the newest books in a newer genre of "school shooting" books, That's Not What Happened examines the lives of six survivors of a school shooting three years after the event. To start off, I HATE that this genre exists, or rather that it has to exist. So many of our students face anxiety about their safety at school, especially when major shootings occur and hit our news networks like a hurricane. I don't know a teacher or student who hasn't thought about this nightmare scenario and what they'd do in a number of different scenarios to try to survive.

Such is the world of this book. The shooting was three years ago and the story of that event is told in flashbacks as the survivors deal with their experiences. The name of the shooter is "erased" throughout the entire book, a move I applaud.

The book begins from Leeann's point of view. She's now a senior and has friends that she never would have had three years ago when she was a freshman. Her best friend then died in the shooting. Lee held Sarah's hand in the bathroom stall that day when Sarah was shot and killed. So Lee knows the truth. That story about Sarah speaking with the shooter about her cross necklace before she was killed for standing up for her faith? That didn't happen. Lee knows it absolutely isn't true.

But what should she do with that truth? Sarah's parents take immense comfort from the myth that their daughter was some kind of holy innocent. They're writing a book about how their daughter died for her faith and how Christians around the world should strive to be like the fifteen year old martyr from Virgil County. But others, like Kelly are in immense pain due to that mistruth.

There are a lot of characters to follow in this book, with six survivors playing the main roles. The victims also play large roles through flashbacks and letters. It can be a great deal to keep up with, but all in all the author does an excellent job of making each survivor and victim into a complex and unique human being. I felt like I could have gone to school with any of these students. I could have had any of these students in my classroom. I could have worked with the two teachers who were killed and in a lot of ways I hope I am like those teachers.

This book grapples with several unanswerable questions. Are our memories objective truth? Is the truth always what's best? What do we do when the obvious right choice for us is not what is right for someone else? Which stories are ours to tell?

It's strange to say that I enjoyed this book or liked this book - because those aren't accurate words. I related to this book. I was impressed by the nuance of this book and the prose was excellent. This is probably the best book I've read in the genre. There are so many ways books on the subject of school shootings can really get things wrong and actually cause harm, the worst of which would be providing an unintentional how-to for student shooters to follow. This book avoids all of the serious pitfalls and manages to explore the truth and the self in a way most readers might not have ever encountered in a book before.

I have some complicated thoughts on this one. I wanted to love it. I love the idea. I love the representation. But I found the teenspeak to be inaccurate and distracting, especially in the most serious moments where Lili would suddenly think of something as "fab" or say "freakin'" to a friend. It's not the "freakin'" 90s or early 00s anymore. Perhaps it's different in the Boston locality, but my students don't talk like this. It should only be a minor issue, but it took me out of the story multiple times and that's exactly the opposite of what a book like this should be doing. I also didn't buy the chemistry between Lili and the white boyfriend she hides from everyone else back in her life in Boston. Say no to instalove, friends.

The major sins for me was that Lili was learning about topics should probably already know, at least in general sense. I get that the reader has to discover these topics and Lili is a way to do that for the reader, but exploring in this way made the issues of the Guatemalan civil war and immigration lack depth. One line about how the US provided guns to the governments slaughtering indigenous citizens wasn't enough to make the topic feel real or get the reader invested. It felt like a throw away line to say, "look how woke this character is" and nothing more. Also, the MAJOR confrontation scene near the end of the book, the one involving the whole school, was outside of the realm of belief. I don't want to spoil it, but I was rolling my eyes. Nearly all the racist incidents Liliana witnessed or faced were so overt and made the problem feel laughable instead of real and painful and damaging to both the victim and the one believing themselves to be supreme. There was no discussion of how racism isn't always overt, and in fact, it rarely is so reduced to nooses and n and w words. Kids are far more sneaky and subtle than that. I also took serious issue when a character was physically abused by a family member and within two pages that character and family member were hugging it up for photos and everything was fantastic again as if the abuse never happened. Just, NO.

I did enjoy the discussion of how the METCO (think about it as urban POC students who win a place at an elite, mostly white, school through a lottery program) students and white students self segregated at Westburg and how no privileged white kids were ever bussed to inner city schools.

This book tries hard and is at times very close to the mark. This is a debut novel, so I look forward to seeing where the author goes from here. I have faith her next novel will avoid some of the pitfalls here.

To Catch a Killer is a quick, fun read.

Erin's mother was killed fourteen years ago and the killer was never brought to justice. He's still out there somewhere. Her small town simply didn't have the resources to work such a complex case and large amounts of evidence still sit in a box in the police precinct. Well, that is until Erin snuck the box out of the precinct and up to her secret attic space at Rachel's house. Rachel was her mother's best friend and has been Erin's guardian for nearly all her life now.

Curious to work the case and to possibly find out who her mystery father might be, Erin partners with her biology teacher to process DNA. Unfortunately, the biology teacher is killed before she can do any of this work and it's Erin who discovers the body.

Now she's a "person of interest" in this recent murder case. But Erin knows she didn't commit the murder. She thinks the person who killed her teacher might also be the one who killed her mother and now, Erin's caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse as she tries to nab the killer before she and her friends are next.

I enjoyed this book, for the most part. Sure, the teenagers were smarter than everyone else around them and instalove is definitely at play, but for the most part, this was an enjoyable read. I greatly enjoyed Uncle Victor and how his novels drive and inform Erin's work.