Let’s celebrate Spring in the most bookish way, with a series of fun prompts designed to pair your favorite reads with the essence of the season.
April Showers: A cozy book for rainy days
Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree
Legends & Lattes is cozy fantasy with loveable characters and a gentle plot that for me could easily become a comfort re-read when I need it.
After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time. The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.
Daylight Savings Time – Spring Forward: A Short book (or novella) you like.
All Systems Red *The MurderBot Diaries Vol. 1), Martha Wells
I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend Murderbot! So much fun with this snarky main character – who knew a robot who claims to be so self-sufficient, needs nothing and no-one and has an affinity for television shows, would also have so much attitude, and be so damn … loveable?! All Systems Red is definitely worth the hype!
On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid–a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.
Earth Day: Name a book where the environment or an element of nature (including animals) or a natural phenomenon, is important in the book or features in the title
The triffids are grotesque and dangerous plants, over seven feet tall, originally cultivated for their yield of high-grade oil. So long as conditions give the mastery to their human directors, they are a valuable asset to mankind. But when a sudden universal disaster turns those conditions upside down, then the triffids, seizing their opportunity, become an active and dreadful menace.
In John Wyndham’s classic, The Day of the Triffids, killer plants didn’t exactly cause the apocalypse – a worldwide epidemic of blindness caused by a meteor shower did. But huge 7 foot+ tall plants known as Triffids took advantage of the turmoil to try and wipe out humans. And did I mention … these plants can pull their roots out of the ground and walk?! This 1950s classic is really about survival in the midst of disintegrating society when the hubrous of humanity, bioengineering semi-sentient mobile carnivorous plants back when our supremacy was a given, helped cause our downfall, and of course, continues to present obstacles to survival. The writing style is very matter-of-fact, neutral and unembellished. The story is told through the eyes (pun intended) of the main character Bill, who’s trying to navigate this new World that’s fraught with danger at every turn.
Atrocious Allergies: Name a book you find that others like way more than you do.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig
Robert M. Pirsig’s well known Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is an examination of how we live, a meditation on how to live better set around the narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America’s Northwest, undertaken by a father & his young son.
Maybe I’m just not enlightened enough to get this book – but it was such a waste of time. I ONLY finished it because I skimmed a lot of the pages. I don’t get why Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is so highly recommended as a “a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life’s fundamental questions.”
Spring Fling: A book you read (or could be read) in a day or that takes place in one day.
Binti, Nnedi Okorafor
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti’s stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.
The World(s) in the novella, Binti, are so beautifully and imaginatively written. DO listen to the audiobook narrated by Robin Miles. You’ll get a feel for the pronunciations and more of a feel for the nuances of each character.
Spring Cleaning: An audiobook that you could listen to for hours while cleaning.
Daisy Jones and the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid
Narrated by: A Full Cast including Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer, Pablo Schreiber
Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. She’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.
The book is written in “interview transcript style” which turned out to be perfectly translated to an audio book format with multiple narrators representing each of the persons interviewed about this famous (but fictitious) band. Daisy Jones and the Six felt like a real memoir of a real group. The narrator Jennifer Beals portrayal of Daisy Jones was simply fantastic! She had that raspy, rock-n-roll, bad-girl voice down pat! The rest of the cast were similarly great at portraying the members of the band, The Six, and various other people who interacted with them. This is truly a memorable story, made even better by listening to it read by a fabulous cast.
Spring Break: A book with a character or setting you wish were real and you could go on vacation with.
Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams
Queenie, the book, is everything! Love, love, love! Queenie, the main character, is a HOT MESS! She is going through a breakup – which has triggered a lot of pain because of past rejections. And she is not handling it well. Self-sabotage is real, and Queenie is doing it in so many ways. Yet, she has her circle of friends and a full life, even if she doesn’t feel so. The British-Caribbean vibes in this book is a flex – so you know this Jamaican girl was eating it up!
Give Me Flowers: A book with flowers on the cover, or that’s light and easy to read
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Sangu Mandanna
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is a very cute cozy fantasy novel with adorable characters, witty banter, interesting plot, a little twist or 2 and just written very well with spot on pacing. Mika as a character was a delight to read about, even as she is always doubting herself. Her found family is also quirky and the romance elements just flowed with the story.
Your turn! How would you respond to the prompts above? Feel free to share your Spring Reading Essentials and if you’ve read any of the books above.
