Off the Charts – when the emperor was divine (Julie Otsuka)

Ahoy there me mateys!  For those of ye who are new to me log, a word: though this log’s focus is on sci-fi, fantasy, and young adult, this Captain does have broader reading tastes.  Occasionally I will share some novels that I enjoyed that are off the charts (a non sci-fi, fantasy, or young adult novel), as it were.  So today I bring ye:

when the emperor was divine (Julie Otsuka)

I have no idea where I first heard about this novel but it it was kismet to have picked it up to read.  Ye see when I was perusing the news, I read a fascinating (and depressing) piece on the Japanese internment camps of WWII.  Later that same day, I picked up this novel thinking it would be a young adult novel but found instead a fantastic historical fiction book about a Japanese family in America and how WWII affected them.

Ye see this story was “based on Otsuka’s own family history: her grandfather was arrested by the FBI as a suspected spy for Japan the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, and her mother, uncle and grandmother spent three years in an internment camp in Topaz, Utah.” source.  Yet the novel is told from multi-person perspective of a single family who remain nameless in the novel.

I don’t know how to do this book justice – it was that good.  I found this novel to be evocative, lyrical, haunting, engaging, and heart wrenching.  I read it in one sitting and found meself avoiding picking up another book and pondering the ramifications in what I had read for a couple days before I could even begin to process the effects of this book on my being.  And yet I continue to fail at capturing its resonance despite this effort of putting me thoughts down.

This dark period in United States history was captured beautifully and soul-crushingly in this author’s work.  Especially in the details.  Small details helped me feel the horror of the family’s pain.  Images of slippers, the smell of horses in the racetrack stalls where the family was forced to live, a single rosebush.  The last chapter in particular was extremely powerful.

Words truly fail me.  But I recommend this one without a doubt.

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

Julie Otsuka’s commanding debut novel paints a portrait of the Japanese internment camps unlike any we have ever seen. With crystalline intensity and precision, Otsuka uses a single family to evoke the deracination—both physical and emotional—of a generation of Japanese Americans. In five chapters, each flawlessly executed from a different point of view—the mother receiving the order to evacuate; the daughter on the long train ride to the camp; the son in the desert encampment; the family’s return to their home; and the bitter release of the father after more than four years in captivity—she has created a small tour de force, a novel of unrelenting economy and suppressed emotion. Spare, intimate, arrestingly understated, When the Emperor Was Divine is a haunting evocation of a family in wartime and an unmistakably resonant lesson for our times. It heralds the arrival of a singularly gifted new novelist . . .

To visit the author’s website go to:

Julie Otsuka – Author

To buy the novel visit:

when the emperor was divine – Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

Off the Charts – castle of water (Dane Huckelbridge)

Ahoy there me mateys!  For those of ye who are new to me log, a word: though this log’s focus is on sci-fi, fantasy, and young adult, this Captain does have broader reading tastes.  Occasionally, I will share some novels that I enjoyed that are off the charts (a non sci-fi, fantasy, or young adult novel), as it were.  So today I bring ye:

castle of water (Dane Huckelbridge)

Title: castle of water

Author: Dane Huckelbridge

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Thomas Dunne Books

Publication Date: April 4, 2017 (hardcover/e-book)

ISBN: 978-1250098221

Source: NetGalley

This novel captured me fancy when I read a post from yvonne @ it’s all about books stating that it is a modern Robinson Crusoe type tale wherein two people end up on a deserted island and struggle to survive. Now bein’ a pirate Captain and all, I find books about shipwrecks and deserted islands to be extremely fascinatin’.  I was thrilled to give this one a look-see.

In this tale, a French architect named Sophie and an American ex-banker named Barry find themselves stranded on a small island after a plane crash.  The only problem is that the uninhabited island is “some 2,359 miles from Hawaii, 4,622 miles from Chile, and 533 miles from the nearest living soul.”

This was an engaging tale from the beginning, and I read this in one sitting.  Sophie and Barry are seemingly opposites at first glance but their need for each other to survive slowly allows their commonalities to shine through.  The growth and dreams they exhibit are lovely.  I particularly loved how these two communicated in both their highs and lows.  And of course how and what they did to survive was fascinating in its own right.

The writing style of this novel was lovely.  Interspersed with the story of survival are brief but beautiful glimpses into other places and times.  Ye get the history of the island and the Polynesians who visited it.  Ye get an idea of other castaways from the past.  There is backstory of the doomed pilot and his mistakes that led to the present.  These forays enriched the understanding and depth of the central story of Sophie and Barry.  The eventual explanation and unfolding of the meaning of the novel’s title was mesmerizing and heart-wrenching.

I am so very glad to have this novel imprinted on me heart.  Truly me words are inadequate.

So lastly . . .

Thank you St. Martin’s Press / Thomas Dunne Books!

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

Two very different people, one very small island.

For Sophie Ducel, her honeymoon in French Polynesia was intended as a celebration of life. The proud owner of a thriving Parisian architecture firm, co-founded with her brilliant new husband, Sophie had much to look forward to—including a visit to the island home of her favorite singer, Jacques Brel.

For Barry Bleecker, the same trip was meant to mark a new beginning. Turning away from his dreary existence in Manhattan finance, Barry had set his sights on fine art, seeking creative inspiration on the other side of the world—just like his idol, Paul Gauguin.

But when their small plane is downed in the middle of the South Pacific, the sole survivors of the wreck are left with one common goal: to survive. Stranded hundreds of miles from civilization, on an island the size of a large city block, the two castaways must reconcile their differences and learn to draw on one another’s strengths if they are to have any hope of making it home.

Told in mesmerizing prose, with charm and rhythm entirely its own, Castle of Water is more than just a reimagining of the classic castaway story. It is a stirring reflection on love’s restorative potential, as well as a poignant reminder that home—be it a flat in Paris, a New York apartment, or a desolate atoll a world away—is where the heart is.

To visit the author’s website go to:

Dane Huckelbridge – Author

To buy the novel please visit:

castle of water – Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

Off the Charts – furiously happy (Jenny Lawson)

Ahoy there me mateys!  For those of ye who are new to me log, a word: though this log’s focus is on sci-fi, fantasy, and young adult, this Captain does have broader reading tastes.  Occasionally I will share some novels that I enjoyed that are off the charts (a non sci-fi, fantasy, or young adult novel), as it were.  So today I bring ye:

furiously happy (Jenny Lawson)

Mental illness is not a laughing matter.  Well, unless ye read this book that is.  Ye see mateys, this book has a psychotic raccoon on the cover.  I picked it up because I a) heard it was funny and b) thought it was a young adult book that had something to do with silly raccoons.  No joke.

Well turns out it is a memoir by a woman named Jenny who has a lot of mental illnesses, an actual taxidermied raccoon named Rory who is the featured on the cover of this novel, and many crazy stories to share.

As the author states in her disclaimers at the beginning of the book:

This is a funny book about living with mental illness.  It sounds like a terrible combination, but personally, I’m mentally ill and some of the most hysterical people I know are as well.  So if you don’t like the book then maybe you’re just not crazy enough to enjoy it.  Either way, you win

I must be crazy because I found a lot of the stories to be laugh out loud funny.  I had to read whole sections out loud to the first mate because they were just too good not to share.  And while the situations the author finds herself in are sometimes absurd and seemingly unreal, I still found them extremely human at the same time and relatable.

Feeling unproductive as a grownup?  Check.  Being unable to sleep for long stretches at a time? Check.  Not wanting to be around people – ever?  Check.  Embracing the quirkiness of being who ye are?  Check.

Add in things that wouldn’t occur to me or haven’t happened to me like:

• dressing up as a koala in Australia while attempting to hold koalas
• participating in a sleep study that sounds more like a horror movie
• leaving voicemail messages for yerself at 2:00 in the morning
• dealing with killer cannibal swans
• pondering how to survive the zombie apocalypse, the airport, and the zombie apocalypse at the airport (okay I may have done this one)

Seriously I am not funny enough to do the humor in this book justice.  But the humor is not the whole point.  At the root of the book, there is a woman embracing life in spite of all of the difficulties life has thrown at her.  Whether it is her anxiety or depression  or just the day to day struggle to exist, underneath is a love for life and a determination to win through in the end.  To be furiously happy and savor the moments she can.  That is the true joy in the book.  As she says:

Be bizarre. Be weird. Be proud of the uniquely beautiful way that you are broken.

Be furiously happy.

To see another review of this book by a member of me crew, Emma-Louise “Elou” Carroll, visit:

Review: Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

In her new book, FURIOUSLY HAPPY, Jenny explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. And terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.

According to Jenny: “Some people might think that being ‘furiously happy’ is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he’s never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. Two is the limit. I speak from personal experience. My husband says that none is the new limit. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos.”

“Most of my favorite people are dangerously fucked-up but you’d never guess because we’ve learned to bare it so honestly that it becomes the new normal. Like John Hughes wrote in The Breakfast Club, ‘We’re all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it.’ Except go back and cross out the word ‘hiding.'”

. . . FURIOUSLY HAPPY is a book about mental illness, but under the surface it’s about embracing joy in fantastic and outrageous ways-and who doesn’t need a bit more of that?

To visit the author’s website go to:

Jenny Lawson – Author

To buy the novel please visit:

furiously happy – Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

Off the Charts – the sound of a wild snail eating (Elisabeth Tova Bailey)

Ahoy there me mateys!  For those of ye who are new to me log, a word: though this log’s focus is on sci-fi, fantasy, and young adult, this Captain does have broader reading tastes.  Occasionally I will share some novels that I enjoyed that are off the charts (a non sci-fi, fantasy, or young adult novel), as it were.  So today I bring ye:

the sound of a wild snail eating (Elisabeth Tova Bailey)

This was a beautiful and fascinating non-fiction read.  Ms. Bailing was 34 years old and vacationing in Europe when she caught a virus that would change her life’s trajectory.  What seemed like a simple flu led to her being bedridden and unable to move.  The impulse of a visiting friend to bring her some violets and a woodland snail to her bedroom’s windowsill, leads the author on a journey of contemplation and companionship of an unlikely creature.  Part memoir and part natural history lesson, I highly recommend this novel.

Snails are fascinating.  For example did ye know that snails have teeth?  Or that the scientific name for a snail, gastropod, means “stomach-foot?”  Or that snails “tormented & haunted” Charles Darwin? Or that if it is quiet enough ye CAN hear a wild snail eat?

From poems and quotes from scientific literature, to exquisite reflections from the author, this novel was poetic look into the life of snails in general and one snail in particular.  It is a fast and stunning read.  I will never again look at snails in the same way.  Pick this one up.  It’s worth the read.

To listen to a wild snail eating click below (from the author’s website):

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her uncommon encounter with a Neohelix albolabris —a common woodland snail.

While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mysterious creature brings and comes to a greater under standing of her own confined place in the world.

Intrigued by the snail’s molluscan anatomy, cryptic defenses, clear decision making, hydraulic locomotion, and mysterious courtship activities, Bailey becomes an astute and amused observer, providing a candid and engaging look into the curious life of this underappreciated small animal.

Told with wit and grace, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a remarkable journey of survival and resilience, showing us how a small part of the natural world illuminates our own human existence and provides an appreciation of what it means to be fully alive.

To visit the author’s website go to:

Elisabeth Tova Bailey – Author

To buy the novel please visit:

the sound of a wild snail eating – Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

Off the Charts – run (Blake Crouch)

Ahoy there me mateys!  Me introduction to this author was the novel dark matter, which I highly enjoyed.  So when a local library had a copy of this standalone thriller, I snagged it.

While this novel was fast and fun it also felt rather average.  The plot of the novel is that normal American citizens are going crazy and homicidal.  One family, the Colcloughs, are determined to stay together and survive.  So they run.  I mean, I know that is the title, but basically they run the entire book.

The novel started off with an interesting prologue and then a lovely set-up.  Then of course the author messed with me expectations in a good way with some loverly plot twists.  And kept it up for about half the book.  Then the pace slowed down and became less interesting.  How many improbable situations can this family survive?  Apparently all of them.

The main characters Jack and Dee were both kinda stupid in the beginning in terms of their takes on life and each other.  Both did improve in the book which was nice.  The kids, Cole and Naomi, were portrayed rather well except that they were mostly used as narrative device to kept the parents focused.  I mean the kids slept through so much action it seemed absurd.  I wanted the whole family to contribute to the quest for survival.  I know Cole was seven but there have to be useful seven year olds.  I like to think that I was helpful at that end and not only a hindrance.

And the description for why the Americans went crazy was kinda lame.  However there was a twist at the end that I rather liked.  Overall it was a good reading experience and I am willing to read another Crouch book.  I just think this one was okay.

The author’s website has this to say about the novel:

Picture this: A landscape of American genocide…

5 days ago
A rash of bizarre murders swept the country…
Senseless. Brutal. Seemingly unconnected.
A cop walked into a nursing home and unloaded his weapons on elderly and staff alike.
A mass of school shootings.
Prison riots of unprecedented brutality.
Mind-boggling acts of violence in every state.

4 days ago
The murders increased ten-fold…

3 days ago
The President addressed the nation and begged for calm and peace…

2 days ago
The killers began to mobilize…

Yesterday
All the power went out…

Tonight
They’re reading the names of those to be killed on the Emergency Broadcast System. You are listening over the battery-powered radio on your kitchen table, and they’ve just read yours.

Your name is Jack Colclough. You have a wife, a daughter, and a young son. You live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. People are coming to your house to kill you and your family. You don’t know why, but you don’t have time to think about that any more.

You only have time to….

R U N

To visit the author’s website go to:

Blake Crouch – Author

To buy the book go to:

run – Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

Off the Charts and On the Horizon – a darkness absolute (Kelley Armstrong)

Ahoy there me mateys!  If ye haven’t read the first book in this series, city of the lost, then ye might want to skip this post and go read the first book.  Worth the read.  If ye keep reading this log then ye have been forewarned and continue at yer own peril . . .

a darkness absolute (Kelley Armstrong)

Title: a darkness absolute

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Macmillian/Minotaur Books – Established in 1999, Minotaur is a premier publisher in the bestselling category of crime fiction.

Publication Date: TODAY!!! (Hardcover/E-book)

ISBN:     978-1250092175

Source:  I received this thriller/crime ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  So here are me honest musings . . .

I love Kelley Armstrong!  I discovered her through her young adult book, sea of shadows, and she became me most read author of 2016.  I couldn’t help but gobble up her work which led to me seeking out her adult crime thriller, city of the lost.  So when the publisher contacted me directly and asked if I wanted to read the sequel to that thriller I said yes please and did a happy dance of joy.

It certainly was another highly engaging and intense book.  In this novel, Casey has lived in Rockton for over four months after successfully figuring out the who-dunnit in the first book.  This book starts out with a bang as Casey and Will, the deputy, are looking for a runaway resident of Rockton in a howling Yukon snowstorm.  They find something way crazier than who they initially were looking for.

The suspense set up in that storm continued throughout most of the book.  Unlike the first novel, I did figure out the bad guy at about the middle of the book, which was a bummer because Casey was always a couple of steps behind at that point.  But overall it did not decrease me enjoyment.

I continued to find Casey to be a highly likeable and awesome protagonist.  Her spunk and grit makes me happy.  This book also had some surprising revelations about other Rockton residents.  That I was not expecting and it was cool to have some of me own conclusions flipped upside down.

Whether it was me noodles being hard to eat because I was trying to read and kept missing me mouth or not wanting to bunk down for some shut-eye because I had to know how the story resolved, this book was hard to put down.  I did have some minor quibbles with the ending that I would love to discuss with me crew at some point and the mysteries of this novel seemed less organic in this book versus the first, but overall a very enjoyable reading process.

I need to know where there be another Casey story?  Only time will tell . . . but I will definitely be wanting more from Kelley Armstrong.

So lastly . . .

Thank you Macmillian/Minotaur Books!

The author’s website has this to say about the novel:

When experienced homicide detective Casey Duncan first moved to the secret town of Rockton, she expected a safe haven for people like her, people running from their past misdeeds and past lives. She knew living in Rockton meant living off-the-grid completely: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. What she didn’t expect is that Rockton comes with its own set of secrets and dangers.

Now, in A Darkness Absolute, Casey and her fellow Rockton sheriff’s deputy Will chase a cabin-fevered resident into the woods, where they are stranded in a blizzard. Taking shelter in a cave, they discover a former resident who’s been held captive for over a year. When the bodies of two other women turn up, Casey and her colleagues must find out if it’s an outsider behind the killings or if the answer is more complicated than that…before another victim goes missing.

To visit the author’s website and blog go to:

Kelley Armstrong – Author

To buy the novel visit:

a darkness absolute – Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

Previous Log Entries for this Author

sea of shadows- book one (Captain’s Log – Young Adult Fantasy)

empires of the night -book two (Captain’s Log – Young Adult Fantasy)

forest of ruin – book three (Captain’s Log – Young Adult Fantasy)

the masked truth (Captain’s Log – Young Adult Thriller)

city of the lost (Off the Charts – Thriller/Crime Novel)

Off the Charts – keeping the castle (Patrice Kindl)

Ahoy there me mateys!  For those of ye who are new to me log, a word: though this log’s focus is on sci-fi, fantasy, and young adult, this Captain does have broader reading tastes.  Occasionally I will share some novels that I enjoyed that are off the charts (a non sci-fi, fantasy, or young adult novel), as it were.  So today I bring ye:

keeping the castle: a tale of romance, riches, and real estate (Patrice Kindl)

As usual the beautiful cover drew me in:

The blurb on the cover is “Will she marry for love, money – or both?”  Well that piqued me interest. When I read the blurb, I realized it sounded like a take on Jane Austen’s novels with some silly twists.  Turns out it is a pride and prejudice retelling!  I was in the mood for something light and as Jane Austen just turned 241 years old, it seemed appropriate.

I had such a good time with this one.  It takes place in a small English town called Lesser Hoo.  The main character is a 17 year old named Althea.  She lives in a castle-by-the-sea that is literally falling apart.  With no dowry and only her wits (and thankfully looks) to go on, she must marry rich for the sake of her brother and mother’s future prospects.

This is not a deep book but a fun somewhat ironic one at parts.  If ye are looking for a novel that mimics Austen’s style of writing and societal commentary then this might not float yer boat.  But if ye want a quick tale with an Austen flavor then give it a try.

Apparently there is a second book in the series called a school for brides: a story of maidens, mystery, and matrimony.  Sign me up!

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

Seventeen-year-old Althea is the sole support of her entire family, and she must marry well. But there are few wealthy suitors–or suitors of any kind–in their small Yorkshire town of Lesser Hoo. Then, the young and attractive (and very rich) Lord Boring arrives, and Althea sets her plans in motion. There’s only one problem; his friend and business manager Mr. Fredericks keeps getting in the way. And, as it turns out, Fredericks has his own set of plans . . .

To visit the author’s website go to:

Patrice Kindl – Author

To buy the novel please visit:

keeping the castle – Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List