Bookish Chatter | A Much Anticipated Novel; Two Readalouds; and The Women’s Prize Shortlist!

Thank you all for the encouragement lately! It’s a rainy school vacation week and we’re all going just a little bit stir-crazy. To top it off, Matthew’s work schedule changed on Monday and Tuesday so I was parenting solo from noon through bedtime. Not ideal but we all survived and things are going back to normal today. I am planning an afternoon library trip for myself to catch my breath and take a break.

And today I get to write about books! We’ve read some really great books this week that I can’t wait to chat about and The Women’s Prize for fiction released their shortlist this morning. There’s so much to talk about!

Finished This Week:

I have been eagerly awaiting Kate Morton’s next novel for five years and was thrilled to bring this home from the library last week. She is such a kindred spirit and I love how she wraps up all of my little obsessions into complex mysteries. Her novels always include the most wonderful details while unraveling family secrets. Homecoming is no exception.

Jess is called back to Sydney when her beloved grandmother falls and is hospitalized. At her bedside, Nora says the strangest things that sends Jess on a mission to discover how she can help ease her grandmother’s spirit. Along the way, Jess uncovers way more of her family’s past than she expected and is challenged by what she thought was true.

Morton, clearly, is a fan of the bookish life. This novel is packed with mentions of notebooks, journals, books, and writing. And any book that expounds upon the virtues of toast and tea in the opening pages is speaking straight into my soul. I am, once again, eagerly anticipating Kate Morton’s next novel!

We read Willodeen for our morning readaloud and it got a giant thumbs up from Bryce (9 years old) and me (39 years old.) Thumbs down from Bronwyn (4 years old) but I think that she will love it in a couple of years. This is a great book for any of us who cares about the environment and feels as though our singular voices aren’t enough.

Willodeen is a young girl with a tragic past who cares deeply about screechers. To envision a screecher, think about combining a warthog and a badger with the aroma of a skunk. They are reviled and hunted and Willodeen tracks their dwindling numbers in the tiny village of Perchance.

But when the village’s precious hummingbears stop nesting in the willow trees and their livelihoods are threatened, Willodeen reckons it has something to do with the disappearance of the screechers. She bravely uses her voice to advocate for the survival of this species in order to save her village.

This was another book full of the coziest details: nature journals, stews bubbling over a fire, and gorgeous gardens surrounding thatched cottages. This is our third readaloud by Katherine Applegate and she’s quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!

Bronwyn has decided to read the Samantha books out of order, so we finished Changes for Samantha recently. I have to admit that shaking things up like that set off some internal twitching but I tried my best to ignore it and go with the flow. And Changes for Samantha was very good! Samantha is now living with her aunt and uncle in New York City. She gets a letter from Nellie saying that her parents died from the flu and she and her sisters have moved in with their uncle in the city. Samantha desperately looks for her friend when she loses contact and discovers that Nellie has moved into a terribly strict orphanage. When Nellie learns that she’s going to be sent west on an orphan train, Samantha knows she has to do something drastic to keep Nellie and her sisters together.

I was skeptical about Samantha after being so enthralled by Addy’s story, but I have to say that Samantha is not totally disappointing. She’s a young girl who speaks up for those around her and that’s an important value that can be hard to instill. We have two more books in the Samantha series and I’m looking forward to reading them!

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The Women’s Prize for Fiction has released this year’s shortlist! The finalists are:

✔️ Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
✔️ The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
✔️ Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
❒ Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks
❒ Pod by Laline Paull
✔️ Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris

I have two left to read. Neither are currently available to me through my library or Libby but I will be discussing these books with my librarian today! The good thing is that the winner won’t be announced until June 14th, so I have plenty of time to come up with a plan for procuring those two titles.

I wish Wandering Souls and Cursed Bread were on the shortlist! But I am looking forward to Fire Rush– it looks fascinating (set in London and Jamaica in the 80s)! This list is heavy on historical fiction, which I love. I learned so much history from several of these titles and think that historical fiction is underrated. I am most skeptical about Pod (this story is told through the eyes of a dolphin), but will definitely give it a chance.

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I wish I could sit at my desk and chat about books with you all day but I am being summoned by waking children! I hope to be back on Friday with a bit more of an update. Take good care!