Books Are Jazzy

As a little over a month of the new year has passed and all of us have gotten started with our reading goals for 2020, I wanted to take a moment to look back and highlight some of my favorite books  that I read in 2019, while everyone is still setting up their TBRs  for the new year. As always, these books are presented in no particular order. I hope you all enjoy!

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Crier's War by Nina Varela 

The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh

Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Oryx and Crake was one of the books I read for my courses this fall, and was my first book by Margaret Atwood. This novel was extremely disgusting in its unflinching portrayal of the dystopian future, but at the same it was incredibly thought-provoking. Oryx and Crake shows a look at a possible future awaiting us if we continue becoming more and more and dependent on the corporations that are already omni-present in our lives. Despite being conflicted about this novel, I want an adaptation of Oryx and Crake as soon as possible.

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

Educated by Tara Westover

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Back in late March, I found out about the Magical Readathon hosted by Book Roast on Youtube! As a lifelong Harry Potter fan, I jumped at the opportunity to pretend to be a Hogwarts student for a month. This is the second year of the readathon and my first year taking part in it!

The Magical Readathon is based around the exams students take at Hogwarts and is hosted in two parts: the first part, which are the O.W.LS, takes place in April and the second part, the N.E.W.Ts, takes place in August. And just like Hogwarts students taking their exams, you're meant to do the O.W.Ls readathon before you take the N.E.W.Ts.

There is a list of careers to choose from and your readathon experience and challenges come from your chosen career. My chosen career for 2019 is Seer - maybe next year I'll have enough time to attempt the daunting Alchemist career, which would have been my first choice. In order to become a Seer, I needed to take three O.W.L. exams (read three books), which were for the subjects Ancient Runes, Astronomy, and Divination and each subject corresponded to a different prompt. For Ancient Runes the prompt was to read a retelling, for Astronomy it was to read a book with "star" in the title, and for Divination it was a book set in the future. The books I read for these prompts were Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer, Ctaching Stars by Cayla Keenan, and The Towering Sky by Katharine McGee, respectively.

Isn't this description of the career stunning?

While for the O.W.Ls, I only needed to read one book per subject, for the N.E.W.Ts the number of books you need to read per subject is determined by the grade you need to achieve in that subject for your career. So, for the career of Seer, I need to achieve an Outstanding so I'll need to read all three books for that subject.

If all of this sounds confusing, you can find all the information for the O.W.Ls readathon here and the info for N.E.W.Ts readathon here!

After all of that, here are the prompts for my subject followed by the book I have planned to read for that prompt for the N.E.W.Ts readathon:

• Acceptable in Divination: Read a white book
• Runousopin perusteet by Mervi Kantokorpi, Pirjo Lyytikäinen, and Auli Viikari
• Exceeds Expectations in Divination: Read a short story or a collection of short stories
• Toil and Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft edited by Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe
• Outstanding in Divination: Read the last book you bought / took from the library
• At the time of making my TBR this was The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen, and I'll try to keep to that unless I grab something I absolutely have to read as soon as I get it. 

So, here we go in no particular order:

• The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
• Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
• The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
• A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
• Kingdom of Ash by S.J. Maas
• Muumipappa ja meri by Tove Jansson

Anna’s top pics/most worthy of a mention from 2018:
In total I managed to read 21 books, which I am very glad about since I had a hard time finding joy in books at times this year. I was in a sort of rut and couldn’t find a book that would keep me so hooked that, I would constantly be craving just a small moment of free time when I would brew some tea and get lost in the words of a great read. That’s why the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas  as a whole has been my most notable, favorite, life changing read this past year. It brought back not only my love for reading but my love for fantasy. I was, and still am, obsessed through and through.
And just as Laura said, I’m picking my favorite out of the four parts by reflecting on the generic feeling I get. The first was great but the second blew my mind so therefore A Court of Mist and Fury is my first.

Second I would like to mention a Finnish novel that actually won the Finlandia prize in 2016. Akvarelleja Engelin kaupungista by Jukka Viikilä taught my about the time of C.L. Engel and the building of our capitol Helsinki. I loved the journal entry style and depictions of Turku, where I now live, hit home with me.

The third book I’m going to raise to the podium here is the Swimmer Among the Stars by Kanish Tharoor, a book of short stories that I picked it in Paris from Shakespeare & Co. (I admit, the setting for reading this book did enhance my experience. But none the less I was inspired by these colorful stories.

Fourth and fifth were similar and I can’t really set them apart in my mind but both inspired me greatly and I remember them with a spark of happiness. You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero and #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso have helped shape my attitude and the way I perceive things (as did Homo Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari too by the way) and they were a big part of my nonfiction phase of 2018.

We hope you find amazing reads in 2019!
Laura and Anna

Wow. It feels like such a long long time since I've last written one of these - a blog post for Books Are Jazzy. I checked that my last entry was in June but honestly it feels much longer than that.

I've missed this.

We took a break of undetermined length together with Laura because we were feeling a little uninspired and the whole blog had turned into more of a burden then an outlet of creativity. Slowly, over the past few weeks, maybe a couple of months even, I started to notice my love for reading and writing to grow again and I felt a really big want to share that passion once again.

So, that is how I find myself back here now, writing this.

I think I want to take it slow to reassure that this feels good and is a source creating joy, not draining me of it. It will be in your best interests too, don't worry, since I honestly believe it shows wether one does something out of honest will or a feeling of must.

For now I'm just going to leave you with a few points from the last months that I have been absent.

-I finished quite many books. And really good ones at that! I haven't in a long time felt this excited about books and have made time during the day, not just at night, to read.
Here's some top picks that I've absolutely devoured:

• You Are a Badass -How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life -Jen Sincero
• Akvarelleja Engelin kaupungista -Jukka Viikilä
• I Want to Sleep -How to Get a Good Night's Sleep -Harriet Griffey (for all my fellow insomniacs)
• A Court of Thorns and Roses -Sarah J. Maas

-My absolute disinterest in fantasy and newer curiosity towards nonfiction and self help has taken a new turn. I found myself effortlessly sucked back into fantasy come fall (aka the ultimate season of all things magical, mystical and murky). I have the A Court of Thorns and Roses -trilogy to blame or mostly thank for this dip back into my former favorite genre. I guess my preferences change around the year to fit the seasons. I also believe that I was just in need of a good, new, more adult story to suck me back in.

-As for nonfiction and self help -well I'm still going strong on that track as well and am looking for books to add to my repertoire. (All suggestions are very welcome!) Actually, all 6 books that I breezed through over my summer vacation where from this category. Let's allow that to speak for itself.

It must be this gloomy weather that has invited me to grab a book and a mug of tea by the candlelight -bliss

As for what's to come, we hope to start posting monthly from now on instead of the previous pace of once a week. I have some reviews and thoughts already in mind so stay tuned! Thanks for being so patient and more over for being loyal and sticking around! :)

-Anna

Maggie Stiefvater's "Raven Cycle" series is one of my all-time favorite book series, and when she released a new standalone novel last fall, I was quick to pick up a copy of my own from the local bookstore. I was not as quick to pick it up to read however. I finally got around to reading Stiefvater's All the Crooked Saints when my summer break started.

All the Crooked Saints follows the Soria family in 1960's Colorado. The Soria's are known for being able to give out miracles. "Pilgrims" travel to the Soria family in hopes of receiving a miracle and if the current Saint deems the pilgrim worthy, a miracle is delivered. Thus, similarly to the Raven Cycle series, this novel features an element of magical realism, meaning that the presence of fantasy is normalized in the society of the novel.

I really enjoyed reading this novel and would recommend it to fans of magical realism or fantasy. Moreover, there are some light elements of romance, so this novel also works as a "lighter" read.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

-Laura

Both me and Anna have previously talked about Tahereh Mafi's novel Furthermore, you can find the posts here and here. Not too long ago, I picked up my copy of the second book in the series Whichwood.

Another beautiful cover in this series!

I was excited to read Whichwood for a couple of reasons. Firstly I had obviously been a fan of the first book in the series, Furthermore, and wanted to read the next instalment. Secondly, Tahereh Mafi revealed the basic concept for Whichwood already at the Furthermore launch event, and the idea of a book heavily inspired by Persian mythology interested me. Finally, Whichwood promised to show more of the world of Furthermore, and to focus on a new main character.

Once I finished reading it though, I felt conflicted. Whichwood was a good addition to the series but I have a couple of issues with the novel. The new main character, Laylee, was absolutely amazing and her personal history was heartbreaking. However, I felt like the two main characters from Furthermore, Alice and Oliver, had a larger part in Whichwood than I had expected and felt to me like they were taking away the attention from Laylee. Moreover, including Alice and Oliver in such a large part made it seem as if Mafi was setting up a possible book 3 in a very heavy handed manner.

All of this is not to say that I didn't like Whichwood, it's just that after Furthermore I had very high hopes for the book. I'm still recommending these books to anyone who likes fantasy, just with the warning that the second book can be a bit of a let-down.

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐

Have you read either of these books? Let me know what you thought in the comments down below!

-Laura

Since I now live in the U.S. I can purchase Owlcrate boxes at a reasonable price. Ever since the "Wanderlust" box was released back in July of 2017, I have had my eyes on it. Thus over winter break, I finally grabbed myself by the neck and ordered the box. When I arrived back on campus, I had a fun package waiting for me.

The full contents of the Wanderlust Owlcrate box

Because this was a "past box", I already knew what was going to be in the box. The box contained so many amazing items, all of which I have put to use in some for . Of course, I was most excited to finally get my hands on The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. Along with the book, the box also contained a signed bookplate, a letter from the author, and a map of the world of the book.

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for a review of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue!

-Laura

The start of a new month means another book review of a Finnish "classic". During March my goal was to read Jäniksen vuosi by Arto Paasilinna, and I finished it with plenty of time left in the month. I was especially excited to read this book because Jäniksen vuosi is my mother's all-time-favorite-book. I even timed my reading of the novel so that she was visiting me at the same time as I was reading it, so that we could discuss it as I read along.

The concept of the novel is absolutely amazing. The novel follows a middle-aged journalist who encounters a hare on the road and decides to drop everything in his life to spend time with this hare. He quits his job, leaves his wife, even sells his boat! The novel follows the extraordinary pair for a year, but the ending is left open to suggest that their adventures continue beyond this.

I highly, highly recommend this novel to everyone! Not only is it hilarious, it also offers some valuable life lessons. Moreover, it has been translated into English and can be found under the title The Year of the Hare. Let me know in the comments down below if you've read this novel.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Readings!
-Laura

Nimona is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel by Noelle Stevenson. Nimona was originally published as a webcomic running for multiple years until Stevenson finally published it as a physical book in 2015.

Nimona follows the eponymous main character Nimona, a shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. At the beginning of the story Nimona hoists herself on the notorious villain Lord Ballister Blackheart as his new sidekick. Due to Nimona's shapeshifting abilities Balckheart eventually accepts her and incorporates her into his plans. Nimona begins as a very typical story about the dichotomy between good and evil but in the span of 200+ pages becomes about moral ambiguities.

I found it really to interesting to read a story about an anti-hero, especially one as compelling as Nimona. She flips between exuberant to murderous in a split-second and kept up a sarcastic repartee the entire time. And of course, I'm going to take any queer representation I can get despite how ambigious. In Nimona the relationship between Blackheart and the knight Sir Goldenloin, was only referenced but never confirmed. However, Stevenson has confirmed that the two used to date. So in short, it's the Dumbledore problem but to a lesser extent. At least Stevenson wrote in clear hints, unlike some authors...

Overall, Nimona was a fun adventure story that left me thinking about it even after I put the book down. It stands alone as its own individual story, but i can't help but hope for more books about these characters.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

-Laura

The City of Woven Streets, also known as The Weaver, by Emmi Itäranta is a dystopian fantasy novel. I was originally drawn to the novel by its beautiful cover, but I was officially hooked when I heard the premise.

The City of Woven Streets is set in a fantasy world where dreams are outlawed. Human life means very little: everyone must find a Craft, otherwise they are worthless. The story centers around Eliana, a young weaver from the House of Webs, who harbors a dangerous secret: Eliana dreams. When another young woman appears on the doorsteps of the House of Webs, Eliana's life hits a tailspin. The new arrival, Valeria, has her tongue cut out and Eliana's name tattooed on her skin. As the two grow closer and closer together they begin to work against their society's leadership.

I enjoyed The City of Woven Streets immensely. Itäranta told a fresh story in a genre that often seems overdone by focusing on lyrical prose and detailed characterizations. Moreover, I was pleasantly surprised by the blossoming lesbian relationship between Eliana and Valeria. Finally, I enjoyed the role tattoos had in the society presented in The City of Woven Streets.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

-Laura

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver is a story told on multiple levels. On one hand the book is about girls who go missing, or who vanish, in a calm seaside town, and on the other it is about intense sibling rivalry. But beyond these plots, the story is about so much more, which I can't state without spoiling the book.

Hello everyone! Another month has gone by, which means it's time for another update to my 2018 Reading Challenge! In February I read the novel Rautatie by Juhani Aho. Rautatie follows a married couple as they first hear about a train coming to a village near them, to them riding on the train for the first time, to finally deciding never to speak of the experience again. Previous to the novel's events, the couple had never heard of a train before and thus when hearing various details about trains and their workings, they quickly attached fantastical elements to the transportation system.


Compared to January's read, Rautatie was a lot more similar to other classic Finnish literature that I have read and therefore reading it felt more comfortable. Having said that, I'm not sure if I would go out of my way to recommend this book, since plot-wise not a lot happens.

Rating:⭐⭐⭐

-Laura

The Rabbit Back Literature Society is a novel written by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen. When I originally bought the novel, I did not realize it was written by a Finnish author, if I had, I would have bought the book in Finnish. Instead, I purchased the English translation. If you are interested in reading it in Finnish, it can be found with the title Lumikko ja yhdeksän muuta.

Isn't this book just gorgeous?

The Rabbit Back Literature Society is set in the small town of Rabbit Back. The main character Ella Milana has recently moved back to her childhood home to take care of her elderly father and to work at the local high school as a Finnish language and literature teacher. Life in Rabbit Back seemingly revolves around their mysterious writer-in-residence Laura White, who runs a literature society in which she trains aspiring authors. Ella submits a short story to the local newspaper, and it gets published. Laura spots Ella's talent and offers her a spot as the tenth and final member of the Rabbit Back Literature Society. On the night Ella is supposed to officially join the society and meet Laura White, Laura disappears seemingly into thin air. As Ella begins to dig deeper into Laura's disappearance, she finds out disturbing details about the society, including their unsettling Game and the fact that there had been a previous tenth member before Ella.

The novel focused quite a lot on the Game, which is probably why I found it to be so disturbing. Members of the society where allowed to ambush each other after 10pm in order to ask each other exceedingly personal questions. The rules of the game allow members to use a drug they call "yellow" to get each other to relax, thus being more likely to answer honestly. They are even allowed to use physical violence to get honest answers to the questions they have asked. This Game is disturbing for the adult characters, but becomes even more so when you realize that White has been encouraging them to play some version of this Game since childhood. The characters in the novel attempt to excuse the Game by stating that they use the material gained during a round in their stories.

The novel is not meant to stay within the realms of realism, however. Personally, I would file it under the catch-all genre of magical realism. Various phantoms haunt the citizens of Rabbit Back and a disease is spread through the books in town, changing the plots of the books. Both of these examples would be classified as fantasy, but when the rest of the novel is fairly well set in reality, the genre of magical realism seems most astute. I have recently become a big fan of magical realism, so it was a pleasant surprise when The Rabbit Back Literature Society seemed to fit into the genre as well.

I know that Jääskeläinen has written more books, but The Rabbit Back Literature Society is his only work which has been translated into English. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy (or magical realism!) Now, I need to get my hands on his other books in Finnish.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

-Laura