Book Review: Dragonwings by Laurence Yep

Moon Shadow only knows two things about his father, Windrider: he lives in San Francisco and used to craft beautiful kites. One day shortly after his eighth birthday, Cousin Hand Clap arrives with a letter from Windrider asking Moon Shadow to join him in San Francisco. When Moon Rider arrives in America he learns that his father makes a living doing laundry and dreams of building a flying machine just like the Wright Brothers. But making this fantastical dream a reality proves to be no easy task, as intolerance, poverty, and even an earthquake stand in their way.

Inspired by the story of a Chinese immigrant who created a flying machine in 1909, Dragonwings touches on the struggles and dreams of Chinese immigrants navigating opportunity and prejudice in San Francisco.

I think I was in the fourth grade when I first read Dragonwings, as that's when California public elementary schools teach California history, and I loved the book. I was captivated by the fantasy aspect of it, even though Windrider's dream is such a small part of the book, and I remember drawing the King of Dragons with lots of tiny detailed scales (complimented by my classmate as "cool"). The writing is simultaneously gorgeous and detailed as well as believable as a child's voice. I bought this library binding school edition of Dragonwings with complementary readings from a thrift store. 

As I read the book, I re-remembered parts of it that I hadn't thought of in years. The parts I remembered best were the dragon dream, the white lady and her granddaughter, their house's stained glass window of St. George fighting the dragon, and the plane's flight. It was like reconnecting with an elementary school friend you remembered well, but find they're different than you thought since it's been 25 years since you've seen them.

I hadn't remembered the extent of the hardship Moon Shadow and his family face; the first night he's in the Lee laundry house, Chinatown is hit by a window-smashing white mob. There's frank mentions of hate crimes against Chinese immigrants; Moon Shadow's own grandfather, who had moved to America to help build the railroads, was lynched. There's threats within the Chinese community as well: the rival gangs and Black Dog, a "cousin" who's addicted to opium and prone to theft and violence against his own people and family. Trouble with Black Dog's gang prompts Windrider and Moon Shadow to move out of Chinatown into a boarding house's garage, which brings them into contact with the kindly old landlady and her headstrong granddaughter. They all become friends and teach each other about their respective cultures.

Windrider becomes obsessed with creating a flying machine like the Wrights brothers' in order to live up to his previous life as a dragon. The characters all experience the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the subsequent fires, which were harrowing to read about. This book taught me more about the circumstances of Chinese immigrants in the early 20th century and what it was like to live through the devastating days during and after the earthquake than anything my textbook had. This is why historical fiction is so important; it helps children and adults experience the time and circumstances through the eyes of the characters, and cultivates empathy. It's radically important, and I'm glad Yep wrote this book.

To be honest, I mostly skimmed the related readings. One was a Ray Bradbury play of an Orientalist caricature emperor who executes a man who flies in a giant kite-inspired flying machine because the people must not be tempted to dream, or something. Typical Bradbury stuff. The depiction of the emperor is silly and stereotypical (he strikes a gong after every sentence he says), but I think Bradbury is making fun of the stereotypical & Orientalist way Chinese people are depicted in the early to mid-twentieth century. The poems were fine, and I skipped the "'The Chinese Must Go'" essay. There was an eyewitness essay about the San Fran earthquake that I also skimmed; I found it interesting that Jack London focused on the positives and made it sound like everyone only helped each other and no one did anything bad. I know Dragonwings is not an eyewitness account, but it's frank in depicting looters, including among the police and US military dispatched for public "safety". Unsurprisingly, the Chinese immigrants are forced out of the park where homeless survivors have been sent and dragged around San Francisco (not literally) due to racism and xenophobia. 

Overall, a sad yet very good book. An excellent read for Asian American Heritage Month. Do they still teach this book in elementary school? Let me know.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: May 23
From: the thrift store
Status: selling

See my aesthetics moodboard for Dragonwings.

Representation: Chinese, immigrant, poor/lower class/low socioeconomic level characters who experience poverty/economic hardship, minor disabled character with 1 hand, minor/secondary elderly characters, opium addict is the violent antagonist, natural disasters survivors

Cover notes: The copy I read all those years ago had the exact same illustration of Moon Shadow and his father with the kite. This school copy is fine, although I don't like the yellow circle. I think mine had an image of the Newbery Honor Award the book won.

Trigger warnings: murder, lynching, hate crimes, death, racism, xenophobia, a child is beat unconscious by an adult, misogyny/violence against sex workers (off-page), buildings collapse during earthquake killing the people inside, secondary character cuts his own hand off with a cleaver, drug addiction, poverty, physical violence, racist bullying by older child, blood, child labor, people in shock due to earthquakes, hunger, sudden disaster-based homelessness, gambling addiction, theft

Book Review: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

“The murderer is with us—on the train now . . .”

Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer.

Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man’s enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again.

This was another sneaky "read this library sale book at the reference desk so I don't have to buy it" read. I love Agatha Christie mysteries and find them very intriguing and twisty to read. I usually have a few suspects in mind when I read mysteries, but this one had me stumped. I couldn't really picture any of the passengers on the Orient Express as the murderer, and the ending was shocking yet satisfying. Is it weird that this made me want to ride one of those luxe retro trains? Retro fancy train travel sounds so luxurious and fun compared to "making money above passenger comfort" air travel. Charitable contests website Omaze used to have giveaways for tickets to the Orient Express train every so often.

SPOILERS paragraph since I want to talk about the ending/twist (highlight to read): I did NOT see that ending coming! ALL of them are the murderer?? The celebrity toddler's murder that the victim was responsible for was very obviously based on the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and murder, with the names slightly changed. I get why Christie would use that story, as it's so shocking and heartrending, but hadn't it just happened a short while before she wrote the book? Kind of insensitive to the family, no? So sad, and I wholeheartedly support the killers' actions. Each person was part of or connected to the toddler's family in some way, and they all planned the guy's murder together. It was so smart they way they did it too, and if it weren't for Hercule Poirot being on the train by accident, no one would have figured it out. I think Poirot's decision to say the "unknown" killer escaped was the correct one. That baby-killer deserved to be murdered.

Overall, I really recommend this book to anyone who likes murder mysteries. It's a classic for a reason. I haven't seen the movie so I'll have to check it out.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: May 4
From: the library
Status: returned to the library

Representation: Hardly any, which is standard for Christie's books. Everyone is white, and there are working-class servants and train staff but they're clearly viewed in an upper-class sort of way. Everyone is European or American and viewed in very stereotypical ways (especially the Italian).

Cover notes: To be honest, I don't remember what 'my' copy's cover looked like. This one is close enough, as I do remember it having her big signature at the top.

Trigger warnings: murder, death, dead bodies, blood, past off-page kidnapping and murder of a toddler based on a true story, premeditated murder, prejudice and stereotyping, especially toward Italian character; classism

Book Reviews: The Library of Ever books by Zeno Alexander

I bought The Library of Ever and Rebel in the Library of Ever from Book Outlet before I learned of their antisemitism (Book Outlet, not the books). They are fantasy middle grade books about a magical Library and Lenora's learning to be a librarian in it and completing the tasks ahead of her. 

 

With her parents off traveling the globe, Lenora is bored, bored, bored—until she discovers a secret doorway into the ultimate library. Mazelike and reality-bending, the library contains all the universe’s wisdom. Every book ever written, and every fact ever known, can be found within its walls. And Lenora becomes its newly appointed Fourth Assistant Apprentice Librarian.

She rockets to the stars, travels to a future filled with robots, and faces down a dark nothingness that wants to destroy all knowledge. To save the library, Lenora will have to test her limits and uncover secrets hidden among its shelves. 

Obviously I loved this. Magic library outside of space and time? Sign me up! (Literally. Can I work there?) Some quibbles: having Lenora be a "poor little rich girl" at the mercy of her neglectful nanny does not inspire you to like her or make her relatable. Obviously neglectful/absent parents are a staple of children's literature, as only then can the adventures begin, but why make her rich? It adds nothing to the story, and it doesn't make sense with her helpfulness and responsibility, as rich kids don't learn those traits, nor is it really expected of them until they're older. I also didn't like the library staff ranking and how it was applied. There's no such thing as assistant apprentice librarians, and children cannot be librarians. This feeds into the "everyone who works in a library is a librarian" myth, which is not true. You have to have an MLIS/MLS to be a librarian. Lenora gets her status upgraded magically every time she successfully helps a patron, which, I get it, magic library, but it also rankled my librarian nerves. Also, she keeps getting yanked around to different library desks as soon as she answers a patron question, which makes no sense. Why don't they have more library staff? What rankled my librarian nerves even more was how little training Lenora got. She was placed at a desk and told how to greet patrons and then told to help them, but not how. That is not how it works!! Why does she only interact with one other librarian (the awesome Malachi) and can't work with or ask any other librarian for help or information? Our part-time and new librarians (all college-educated adults) had to shadow current librarians at the reference desk for a few sessions and undergo training in order to staff the reference desk by themselves, and they just stick a 10 year old at a desk and tell her to say "how may I help you?"?? Irresponsible. To be fair, a lot of children's adventure stories don't really have any training; the kids just promise to do something (as Lenora does) and boom, they are the wizard or king or questers or whatever. Despite my librarian rants, I did love this story, and I want to spend more time in the Library of Ever.  4.5 out of 5 stars, keeping.  Trigger warnings (that I remember): adults and robots attempt/threaten to harm a child, fantasy violence, ants, unscientific space and time travel, incorrect library staff procedures and hiring

 

Lenora returns to the magical Library—which holds every book ever known on its shelves. But she discovers the Library is under new management, its incredible rooms and corridors turned dark and sinister.

She quickly connects with a secret resistance that’s trying to free knowledge from the shadows threatening it. Her new friends introduce her to an ancient lost city, hang-gliding, and mathematical beings larger than the universe itself. And they help her face the mysterious Board of new leaders—who are leading the Library into darkness.

Now it’s up to Lenora to prove that knowledge is always more powerful than ignorance and fear.

This book is set not long after the first one, although of course the Library of Ever is outside of time and space. It picks up the thread of the Forces of Darkness (i.e. censorship) trying to misinform patrons and fight the Library and centers it as the main plot point and issue of this book. This time, the Forces of Darkness have infiltrated the Board (which is in charge of the Library), removing books and firing librarians. The tone of the book is therefore darker and more suspenseful than the first, and Lenora's fight to help patrons and defeat the Forces of Darkness feels scary and real. We are in the midst of a rise in book-banning and censorship, and it often feels like the Forces of Darkness will win. We need to fight for libraries and the right to read and remember that "knowledge is a light." Like the first book, we meet more fascinating beings and concepts and learn lots of new things. I found the sub-library of forgotten works to be fascinating and sad. May all works and knowledge come to light. 4.5 out of 5 stars, keeping.  Trigger warnings (that I remember): adults and monsters attempt/threaten to harm children, fear and (child-level) horror, censorship, book-banning, misinformation, theft, despair

 

There are two books in this series, and I need more. Zeno Alexander appears to be a fictional person and pen name a la Lemony Snicket. I highly recommend these books to anyone who loves libraries and magic.

See my aesthetics moodboard for the duology!

Book Review: Fundraising for the Dead by Sheila Connolly

At The Society for the Preservation of Pennsylvania Antiques, fundraiser Eleanor "Nell" Pratt solicits donations--and sometimes solves crimes. When a collection of George Washington's letters is lost on the same day that an archivist is found dead, it seems strange that the Society president isn't pushing for an investigation. Nell goes digging herself, and soon uncovers a long, rich history of crime.

This was one of the "pocket books" paperbacks in my work's library book sale, and I read it at the reference desk and then put it back rather than buying it. lol  It was obviously the library/archives/museum element that drew me in, as I work in a library with archives. This was a very interesting, well-written mystery that really made the time fly at the reference desk.

Fundraising does not interest me as a profession, but Nell is also a former English major and therefore hangs out in the stacks and archives as much as she can. She knows a lot about the Society and how it works so she can write and speak knowledgeably about it, and this knowledge and her professional relationships with Society staff and donors puts her in the perfect position to investigate the mystery of the disappearing items. A middle-aged Society board member whose ancestors' archival collection is in the archives starts making noise about not being able to find some letters between George Washington and her ancestor. In order to soothe her, Nell visits the cataloger in charge of logging the archival collections into the computer system. He's a nerdy, shy, antisocial dude who wouldn't say boo to a goose, but he likes Nell. He tells her a lot of items have gone missing, and it's all valuable stuff. Connolly really nailed the whole "put it down somewhere it's not supposed to be and it's gone" aspect of archives and libraries; that is a real problem, and it makes the situation tricky since someone could have just misshelved the items and they don't want to raise a false alarm. Nell decides to deal with it after a big fundraising dinner the Society is throwing that evening. She goes to work the next morning and finds the cataloger dead. Nell goes to the Society's President, who she has been dating on the down-low, about the missing items and he gives her excuses and platitudes but does nothing. She and the legacy board member start to suspect the President, and launch an investigation of their own, alongside the board member's cousin who works in the FBI. All in all, a very absorbing story! 

This is the first book in the "Museum Mystery" series, of which there are several. Sheila Connolly has written lots of different mystery series, and judging by this book, she's good at them. I'd be down to read the rest, but who knows when, as I have tons of my own books to read. I'm not sure whether this counts as a cozy mystery, as there isn't much coziness, but it's not gritty or anything either. The setting is cozy mystery-friendly/adjacent. Anyway, I definitely recommend this book and series. 

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: April 27
From: the library
Status: returned to the library

See my aesthetics moodboard for this series

Representation: middle-aged characters (40s-60s), which seems more common in mysteries series than other genres, but idk if that counts. Also female character-heavy. 1 Black very minor female character

Cover notes: I like the look and vibe. It's very library-y. It is not, however, accurate to the murder in the book.

Trigger warnings: murder, death, dead bodies, blood, attempted murder, a person in locked in a basement wine cellar and left to die by suffocation (they are found in time), a character seduces others to get information out of them without their knowledge and then dumps them, characters bug someone and listen in illegally and without their knowledge or consent, gun mentions, police and FBI, theft of historical archival items, selling aforementioned on the black market

Book Review: Sounds Fake But Okay by Sarah Costello & Kayla Kaszyca

'Somehow, over time, we forgot that the rituals behind dating and sex were constructs made up by human beings and eventually, they became hard and fast rules that society imposed on us all.'

True Love. Third Wheels. Dick pics. 'Dying alone'. Who decided this was normal?

Sarah and Kayla invite you to put on your purple aspec glasses - and rethink everything you thought you knew about society, friendship, sex, romance and more.

Drawing on their personal stories, and those of aspec friends all over the world, prepare to explore your microlabels, investigate different models of partnership, delve into the intersection of gender norms and compulsory sexuality and reconsider the meaning of sex - when allosexual attraction is out of the equation.

Spanning the whole range of relationships we have in our lives - to family, friends, lovers, society, our gender, and ourselves, this book asks you to let your imagination roam, and think again what human connection really is. 

I bought this book during Barnes & Noble's 25% off preorders sale, and read it for International Asexuality Day. This book is based on an asexual- and aromantic-themed podcast from two best friends, which has the same title as the book. The title is a reference to people often thinking asexual and aromantic people are making stuff up. I am not a podcast person and had never heard of SFBO, but I might just seek it out. Each chapter tackles a different topic through the lens of the asexual and aromantic spectrums: society, yourself, friendship, romance and partners, sex, family, and gender. There is a glossary of terms in the beginning of the book, which is very helpful. Some stuff was known to me and some stuff wasn't; it's not so much that I learned from this book but that a lot was affirmed for me. It's nice to spend time in a book with such a solidly a-spec point of view. I wouldn't consider this a beginner, intro to asexuality/aromanticism type of book, but would be fine to read in conjunction with such books. It's not particularly advanced either. I liked how the book included podcast listeners' experiences and perspectives, instead of just the two authors'. Sarah identifies as asexual and aromantic, and Kayla as demisexual and biromantic; both women are white and cisgender. This is a worthy addition to the pantheon of asexual and aromantic books, and I would read it in addition to other books such as Refusing Compulsory Sexuality, which is from a Black asexual lens. This was a quick read and I recommend it.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: April 7
From: Barnes & Noble
Status: keeping

Representation: asexual and aromantic, other terms and micro-terms under those umbrellas (demisexual, demiromantic, etc.), biromantic author, other LGBTQ+ identities from submitters

Cover notes: Love it, obvs. Not sure why the sunglasses are there but they're cute. Maybe as a reference to the Deal With It meme? Oh wait the "put on your purple aspec glasses" reference in the summary.

Trigger warnings: aphobia, acephobia, homophobia, references to sexual assault and harassment, amatonormativity, allocentrism, heteronormativity, sex and hookups mentions, vomit/ing mention, JK Rowling/Harry Potter mentions, that's all I remember

Book Review: Huntress by Malinda Lo

I loved Ash and consequently put Malinda Lo on my must-read authors list. Huntress is a sort of prequel to Ash, set hundreds of years before. 

Nature is out of balance in the human kingdom. The sun hasn't shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. And the people's survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls' destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.

I really liked this book, which felt spiritually similar to Ash as it is set in the same world. At first I thought that Huntress told the real version of the fairytale Kaisa tells Ash, but upon rereading my Ash review I saw it was actually a story about a huntress falling in love with the fairy queen (if my memory was correct), which is not what happens in this book. Kaede does end up having a sort of connection to the fairy queen as a result of what happens in the book, but it's not romantic or long-lived.  Maybe the fairytale mixed stuff up? Inaccuracies can happen in old stories. Or maybe it was a different fairytale altogether.

The magic system and culture are more closely inspired by Chinese culture; the book summary says Huntress is "overflowing with lush Chinese influences and details inspired by the I Ching". I've never read a fairytale-inspired book with the traditional fae and changelings etc. with a Chinese influence, and it felt fresh and interesting. The fae stuff in the forest was really creepy to the point of being horror, and also fascinating to read. Some of the magical creatures preying on humans were Chinese-inspired, such as the fox-lady best known to me as a kitsune. The humanoid Fae were the same kind of creepy and attractive as the fairy prince in Ash. 

I like reading about Kaede learning to fight with different weapons and Taisin learning to use her magic. I liked the other members of their party as well, and was saddened when bad stuff happened to them. There was this weird thing throughout the book where we'd switch from the perspective of the main 2 girls to another character, and it was jarring and felt like telling rather than showing. I wish Lo had kept the omniscient third person narrator to just the 2 girls. The economic inequality and desperate poverty the common people live with made me angry. The love aspect of the story was made interesting by Taisin having a future vision that she would lose Kaede while being in love with her. Naturally she fights her attraction to Kaede in order to keep Kaede and herself from being hurt. Spoilers, highlight to read: IDK if it's that much of a spoiler since the book summary literally says they fall in love, but it bummed me out that they parted ways despite loving each other so much. Taisin wants to be a sage, and sages cannot marry or have romantic entanglements. It is a common story ending though. There is no homophobia in this world, which is nice. Kaede becomes the first Huntress. I found the ending rather abrupt and sad. My copy, which I bought at The Strand in NY, includes a short story set not long after Huntress where Kaede grapples with her grief and a kitsune. It was interesting but didn't really add anything. Are all of Lo's books and stories this soaked with grief?

I read this book in the JFK airport as my flight kept being pushed back and my gate kept being changed, and reading Huntress really helped keep me sane. Thanks Malinda!

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: March 22
From: The Strand at Columbus
Status: keeping

See my aesthetics moodboard for Huntress!

Representation: lesbian mc, sapphic mc (no other love interests so can't confirm if she's a lesbian), butch minor character?, all the characters are Chinese/Eurasian but idk if that counts

Cover notes: Love it. I thought Kaede was holding a sword but it's actually a bow. A king's guard teaches her how to shoot with a bow and arrows.

Trigger warnings: murder, death, dead bodies, not-really-a-baby death (a changeling is killed in monster form but reverts to baby form after it dies), horror, gore, blood, imprisonment of sentient magical creatures, enchantments/spells to control/endanger/kill humans, economic inequality with rich people hoarding the food/resources, sad ending where they don't end up together. "The Fox" short story: magical dubious/non-consensual s3x (a monster magically disguises herself as Taisin and initiates s3x with Kaede to feed from her)