It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
Recently Finished
I just finished Two Thousand Years, a fantasy novel by local author M. Dalto, that launches the Empire Saga series, so now I need to get the sequel, Mark of the Empress (Parliament House, 2019).
Two Thousand Years is a first novel with a fun premise — a young Boston barista, a bit adrift and purposeless, finds herself suddenly transported to a palace in a world with two suns and told her arrival there is the fulfillment of a prophecy. The publication of this first book by Parliament House Press was the fulfillment of a dream for the author, M. Dalto, herself, as she writes in the afterword of Two Thousand Years.
Unfortunately, Mark of the Empress – Book 2 in the Empire Saga – came out just before the pandemic canceled all scheduled spring publicity events, other than virtual ones. M. Dalto has been writing up a storm since winning a 2016 Watty Award, so if you like sexy romances with a new-adult feel, check out her author website and follow her on Twitter to see what she’s up to!
Currently Reading
Recently Finished
The Body Lies by Jo Baker, narrated by Imogen Church, Deborah McBride, Sam Woolf, and Simon Ludders, is an intensely addictive blend of a portrait of a marriage; a commentary on dysfunctional university faculty/student dynamics, particularly in regard to women on the faculty; creepy psychological suspense; a loving ode to the joys and difficulties of young motherhood; a musing meditation on the art and craft of fiction writing; and, finally, a literary deep-dive into the crime of sexual assault and the way victims and perpetrators are viewed by society and portrayed in the media.
Including in literature itself, as, throughout the novel, the work written for the unnamed narrator of the story’s university creative writing class is read and discussed by the characters of the novel within the novel.
I highly recommend the audiobook, but I’m sure the book is equally good in print!
Listen to an audio sample of The Body Lies by Jo Baker.
Currently Listening
I’m about a third of the way into Conjure Women (PRH Audio, 2020) by Afia Atakora, read by Adenrele Ojo. This is a first novel, and well deserving of its critical accolades! It’s unusual for me not to be behind, but this work of magical realism set in the South in the pre- and post-Civil War period only came out a little over a month ago. I’ll write more about this one soon.
Find out more and sample Conjure Women by Afia Atakora.
I put aside the YA audiobook Into White by Randi Pink, also read by Adenrele Ojo, to finish my library download first, because audio downloads from AudioFile’s SYNC 2020 don’t have to be returned and don’t expire.
I don’t usually like to listen to two audiobooks narrated by the same person at the same time, because I might start to mix up the voices in my head, but narrator Adenrele Ojo easily conveys the teenaged voice of LaToya here and the various ages of main character Rue in the different times of her life in Conjure Women.
Read more about actor and audiobook narrator Adenrele Ojo.
Please comment to let me know what you’re reading this week. Thank you for visiting!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (#IMWAYR) is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It’s a place to meet up and share what you have been, are, and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever-growing TBR pile! This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at Book Date.