Wayward Bookshelf

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen I'm not done with this author yet! But this will be a brief review, because those following my reviews already know that I love Allen's writing voice, and how her characters find transformation through building & maintaining friendships, community, and relationships. And that just seems so very relatable. So the magic aside (which btw I absolutely love!) these are very real stories. In this book we've got 3 characters, Josey, Della & Chloe who are drawn together for reasons that would be spoiler-y to explain here, but in knowing each other begin to make healthier life choices. I know the way I worded that sounds kind of boring, but it's actually very beautiful. Each begins the story in a difficult situation, and in course of our story they learn, take ownership and grow. My personal favorite element of magical realism in this one is Chloe's magic, because books appear to her out of thin air when she might need th

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers "From the ground, we stand. From our ship, we live. By the stars, we hope." This third book of the Wayfarers takes us out to the colonies of the Exodans, which we've heard about in Chambers' other books. The colonies are enormous ships constructed as permanent living spaces for humans who fled earth when it could no longer sustain them. The ships orbit an artificial sun and everything on board is preserved & recycled so as to continue to sustain future generations. I personally found the thoughtfulness, sustainability & efficiency of the onboard ecosystems truly elegant. In this book we have a number characters that shift perspectives in each chapter. Each of these characters either by birth or choice finds themselves onboard an Exodan craft called the Asteria. At times we follow an archivist named Isabelle, and learn about the rich, preserved history of the Exodans. Or Kip, a teenager who is trying to