Books Are Jazzy

A reader lives a thousand lives before they die. The person who never reads lives only one.

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
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Last weekend me and Anna headed to the Helsinki book fair again! During the previous years, we had chosen the day we go based on the events going on. This year however, we were only able to coordinate going on one day, so naturally we went on that day...

There weren't too many events we wanted to stop by at but as per tradition we went to an interview with Salla Simukka where she discussed her new book, Sisarla.


Mainly we walked around, checking out the stalls different bookstores had set up, seeing if anything interesting caught our eye. I purchased two books from the fair this year: Noitaympyrä by Pentti Haanpää and The City of Woven Streets by Emmi Itäranta and I'm very excited to start reading them!

All in all, we had a fun time spending a day at the fair. If you have any bookish events in your area, I'd highly recommend going to them!

-Laura
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The world is running out of water.

That is fact in the Teemestarin kirja (Memory of Water in English) novel by Emmi Itäranta. Thanks to global warming people no longer have unlimited access to water. Instead, they have rationed allowances that are only barely enough to satisfy all the human needs.

In this world lives a girl, Noria, as the daughter, and thus successor, of a tea master. It is ancient tradition that all tea masters are also keepers of water. Considering the shortage of water it has hardly been the case for decades. In Noria's family, however, this tradition is still in practice. As water usage is strictly monitored it is a risk and a great threat to hold such a secret. Her family and she herself have to hide their spring and use its water responsibly yet so that the privilege doesn't show. So that their flourishing garden and little need of black marker sold water won't raise suspicion.

The simple baseline for the novel was really intriguing to me. The fact that with our current rate of splurging of water and resources could -and if not stopped will- lead to alike circumstances makes it all the more interesting if not even worrying. Also having studied biology I felt a teeny connection to that knowledge and started pondering how such an ecological problem could be solved.



I think that Itäranta has depicted a really fascinating possibility for the future. Not fascinating as in something to strive towards, but a believable and well thought out outcome. The way she visions the future of the blue planet really is thought provoking.

When it comes to the plot, I was surprised to find something so different to what I am used to in most books; The pace is unique and the narration very emotive. For example, the ending took me by surprise both by the way things ended up going and by how quickly it came. The book just ran out of pages. As a whole the story telling struck me as a bit queer, but I don't think it was a bad thing.

All in all, I recommend adding this book to your to read list simply because the theme is so actual.
Also, books like this coming from Finland are always really great news and I love to find new ones to share!

-Anna
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About Us

Hi! We're Laura and Anna, two twenty-something women who love reading! We originally met each other in Atlanta, GA, over 10 years ago. Since then, we moved back to our home country of Finland, and now that we are in university, Anna lives in Turku, Finland, studying medicine and Laura lives in Asheville, NC, studying literature.

We read in a wide variety of genres, including all forms of young adult fiction and some adult books as well. Laura tries to focus on fantasy, but sometimes her coursebooks get in the way, whereas Anna is happy to read anything other than her textbooks!

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