Books I read in June! Girl Walks into a Bar, Aurabel, Our Dark Duet, Spellbook of the Lost and Found, The Huntress: Sea

Well hello there, it's July how on earth did that happen?? I guess I better sort out my June reads then! I started the month with the audiobook of Rachel Dratch's Girl walks into a Bar, which was pretty funny and stuff. I went off to the seaside for a week with the sequel to mermaid novel Lorali- Aurabel by Laura Dockrill and Our Dark Duet V.E. Schwab, the sequel to This Savage Song. I've already reviewed Our Dark Duet over here. My sunny seaside break turned into a rainy sit by the fire kind of hoilday with Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moira Fowley-Doyle, which was so magical and reminiscent of The Graces, which I read in the seaside cottage last year! I finished off the month of reading with The Huntress: Sea by Sarah Driver, and wow what a magical, lyrical, thrilling adventure! I'll get reviews of Spellbook and Aurable up soon and maybe The Huntress: Sea too!

Girl Walks into a Bar by Rachel Dratch

Aurabel by Laura Dockrill

Our Dark Duet by V.E. Schwab

(review here)

The Huntress: Sea by Sarah Driver

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moira Fowley-Doyle

Top 5 Feminist Young Adult Fiction

There have been some really really great feminist offerings in the YA scene recently. Exposing young people to feminist ideas through fiction is an awesome way to spread further understanding of the topic, as so much of the media we consume filters into our everyday conversations and reactions. These are some of my favourite recent feminist young adult fiction offerings, and I know there are plenty I have still yet to read. After writing this post I realised Holly Bourne, author of Am I Normal Yet?, featured below, has written a guest post of Queen of Contemporary with her Top 5 Feminist YA, thankfully the whole list isn't the same! It's a great list, check it out too! Also, all these book are by female authors!

Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill

A feminist commentary set in a dystopian future, which is an unsettling reflection on out current reality. Body image issues, living for the pleasure of men, female friendship and rivalry, queerness and breeding boys, this book covers a lot of bases. Louise O'Neill's second book Asking For It, is out soon, and tackles the issue of consent. Review here!

Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

The focus of this story is on Evie's OCD recovery process at a new college, but the backdrop of figuring out feminism with her new best friends is great. The Spinster Club is an inspired idea, and while not all their ideas are spot on (here's a little bit of a trans-exclusive chat) the point is that they create themselves a space to talk it all through and figure it all out.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E Lockhart

Frankie attempts to take down the patriarchal old-boys-network of her prestigious boarding school from within, by anonymously taking over an elite secret society. Her chats with her older sister on the phone, who has gone to university and discovered women's studies and feminism, are brilliant and provide a chance for Frankie to sound out her own thoughts on the topic. There is no doubt in the readers' mind by the end of the book, that Frankie is going to continue trying to question everything, and tear down to patriarchy. Review here!

Lorali by Laura Dockrill

Not an overt feminist young adult offering, Lorali is a story of a mermaid who comes to land, of  the pirates on her trail, and her new friends on land. The feminist undertones lie in the matriarchy of the mermaid community, deep in the sea, the male pirates who are meticulous in their beauty regimes and tailoring (stereotypically feminine concerns), and large part of the narrative narrator by the female voice of the sea. Little twists like Lorali feeling confident to make the first move, because that's how it's done down in The Deep, are perfect. Review here!

The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew

Set in 2012 in contemporary Nazi England, lead character Jessika Keller leads a life a total submission, just as she and all her peers have been taught. Through her outspoken and rebellious friends Jessika begins be more aware of the constraints on her freedom as a women in the setting of The Greater German Reich. Power, sexuality, patriarchy, and censorship are al explored in this great feminist YA offering.

Signed Books

Zzzzz I'm sleeepy today! I was at the Edinburgh Book Festival yesterday helping run a unicorn horn making workshop for children! My pal illustrated a book called The Unicorn of Holy Island, which I'll do a blog post on once I get sent a copy. So here is an light blog post, which is all I can get my brain to manage today:

Signed books seem like such precious objects. I don't have too many of them (I think I have a couple on my shelves back at home, definitely a Jacqueline Wilson one) but they each have a memory attached of the day they were signed, unless of course they were picked up already signed in the book shop. One day they might even end up being worth more, but in the mean time they are just extra special books to treasure. 

The Amber Spyglass- Philip Pullman

I thiiiink this was an Edinburgh Book Festival signing. I also have a little booklet which is one chapter of the Amber Spyglass, which we maybe got at the book festival the year before.

Augustus and his Smile- Catherine Rayner

I used to work for Cat, looking after her son Fin, this book was signed a few years before that though because she's pals with my mum! 

Baby's in Black- Arne Bellstorf

I went to the launch of this Beatles graphic novel in Glasgow. As well as signing, Arne drew an Astrid too!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire- J.K. Rowling

I won some sort of golden ticket to get this book signed. Loads of people had also won them and there was a huge queue on George Street in Edinburgh. Then the signing was very streamlined and over quickly with your book opened to the right page by one person, passed to J.K. to sign, then closed and passed back to you by another person, then you were shown out. I can't remember a chat even. But this was the fourth book where the biggest ever first edition was printed or something, so I guess were would have been no way to chat with everybody.

Lorali- Laura Dockrill

This signed proof was sent to me by Hot Key Books, I was super thrilled! And it's signed in purpley pink! 

Review!: Lorali- Laura Dockrill

I have heard so much buzz about this book, so I was super excited to get a signed proof copy from Hot Key Books. It's an unusual premise for a YA novel, mermaids, but worked so well. I don't think I've read many mermaid books before. The story follows Lorali, a mermaid who has surfaced in an english seaside town, where she washes up (naked) in a storm and meets a bewildered teenage boy, Rory. There are multiple points of view, with chapters narrated by Lorali, Rory, and The Sea. It's a great story, tying in all these points of view, showing the relationship between the sea and the land and the inhabitants of each. It's a modern setting, with mobile phones and blogs, but there are pirates at sea, who either hunt or respect the mer-people, and fight amongst each other. The mermaids have their home in the Whirl, a deep, hidden part of the sea, and mostly fear the people on land, for there is a history of hunting and capturing mermaids for their tapestries (tails). Laura Dockrill manages to very quickly show us this world she has built, and explain its history and people, in what could easily become a series of novels from this world (although not necessarily continuing to follow Lorali's story). A tip top story, balancing the fantastical with the mundane.

Five things I loved about Lorali:

1-The Sea chapters are great, providing an almost omniscient voice, which fills the reader in on the histories of characters, and the present goings on in and on the sea. These chapters aren't just for details and info though, The Sea is a character in her own right.

2-The lore of how mermaids become mermaids was brilliant, and I don't know much mer-lore, but I was pretty convinced of this theory. I also like the idea what this could be happening all across the world, maybe a sequel could show us mer-life in another ocean. 

3-The reaction of the British public to news of mermaids was perfect too, with newspaper articles and blog posts working really well in between chapters. It again added another perspective, and gave the character narrators events to react to without them having to explain everything to the reader in an unnatural way. 

4- Lorali herself was a wonderful, joyful character. Her story was a perfect fairy tale beginning, with the protected princess escaping the confines of her castle and finding adventure. Her curiosity and confusion as she slowly figured out her own story was great. I also loved the idea of female mermaids being the dominant sex, that was a nice touch.

5- The ending was perfect for the story, and I won't spoil it but it captured the theme of two separate worlds perfectly.

Bonus- The beautifully preened pirates was such good idea. The strong, menacing, pirates also being perfectly tailored and coiffed, with their fine dining and crisp white sheets made for great characters and gave them the air of an elite club.