Top 6: Boaty Books

This rainy summer, why not sail away on a sea of words/flood water with one of these wonderful boaty books!

The Gracekeepers- Kirsty Logan 

This book is set in a version of the world, which is now mostly underwater so some people live on islands, Landlockers, but most people, Damplings, live on boats. North lives and works on a circus boat, which travels around islands, where she performs with her bear as one of the acts. Callanish lives in a house in the middle of the ocean, where she conducts funerals for Damplings. Their paths cross and they are drawn back to each other because they share something special in common. I especially loved the book for its selkies/seal-people element, which may or may not be the special thing in common. I think it'd make for a good film, but only if it had a weird director to bring out the surreal-ness of the story. Perfect boaty reading!

The Girl From Everywhere- Heidi Heilig

Nix Song lives on a pirate ship with her father and their crew, spending their days using historical maps to time travel to those places and times collecting fantastical creatures and mythical objects from all around the world. Nix is sixteen, and is particularly good at finding the perfect maps for time travelling, as each map can only be used once. The story begins in India in 1774, travel to present day New York, and then to Honolulu 1883. Most of the story plays out in Hawaii, where Nix's late mother once lived, her father desperate to find a map to take him back to the time before her death. Definitely recommended reading for anyone who loves Pippi Longstocking, Lyra of Northern Lights fame, and pirates. Boaty AND summery! 

A Gathering of Shadows- V.E. Schwab

A Gathering of Shadows is the much anticipated sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic, so definitely read that one first, also SPOILERS ahead! This sequel takes place four months after the events of book one, and spans several months too, so we get a real feel for the wider world. Lila is the more central protagonist this time and she has essentially become a pirate and it's great. She has also been practicing magic under the tuition of her ship's captain, Alucard Emery, and learning as much as she can about Red London. Back in the city itself, Kell and Rhy are under much closer protection after both almost dying to defeat the Dane twins in White London, with Prince Rhy busy planning the massive international event, The Element Games, to be hosted in the city, and Kell essentially just pining after Lila. Perfectly piratey!

Riverkeep- Martin Stewart

The story follows fifteen-year-old Wulliam, who is about to inherit his father's role as Riverkeep, which involves tending to the river's ice in winter and a lot of fishing out corpses too. A dark spirit possesses his father one night, which sets Wulliam on a journey away from his one know corner of the river, to row down the river's mouth and hopefully find a cure in the belly of a giant sea creature called the mormorach. Wull picks up fellow travellers along the way, each on their own journeys, with their own problems to solve and wisdom to share. This book is so boaty that the main boat, Wull's bata, is essentially a character in itself. 

We Are Pirates- Daniel Handler

This is the first Daniel Handler book I've read, having of course read a lot of his work as Lemony Snicket. On the cover there is a quote from Neil Gaimen saying it is "the strangest, most brilliant offering yet" from Handler, and strange it truly is! It is dark, witty, weird, disturbing, charming all at once, which is fairly disconcerting, but it's an entertaining read throughout. Handler's quirks are ever present in his writing as they are when he's Lemony Snicket. It takes place in such a 'normal', mundane, modern setting that the story really takes you by surprise. It is certainly not piratey in the way you might expect, but definitely boaty!

The Summer Book- Tove Jansson

I read this in one sunny day, sitting in a particularly good spot in the park. I love Tove Jansson for both moomins and her novels, so I've been ticking off and rereading her adult fiction. It is beautiful, simple, witty (I was caught giggling a few times, the Study of Angleworms particularly tickled me), set on tiny holiday island in the gulf of Finland with the relationship between six-year-old Sophia and her grandmother the focus. It doesn't grip you with action and adventure, but instead enchants you with its humour and charm. The quote on the back from Esther Freud sums it up rather well: "Eccentric, funny, wise, full of joys and small adventures. This is a book for life." Plenty of lovely boaty island adventures to sail away on. 

Review!: Books I read in June- The Gracekeepers, The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Exodus, The Summer Book, Clariel

I read lots of nice books this month including a few that have been on my tbr pile for ages. The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan, The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss, Exodus by Julie Bertagna, The Summer Book by Tove Jansson and Clariel by Garth Nix. 

The Gracekeepers

This book caught my eye a little while a go in Waterstones with its beautiful cover. (I read it on kindle so no beautiful cover for me, but I loved it very much so I might just have to get a hardcover copy.) The book is set in a version of the world, which is now mostly underwater so some people live on islands, Landlockers, but most people, Damplings, live on boats. North lives and works on a circus boat, which travels around islands, where she performs with her bear as one of the acts. Callanish lives in a house in the middle of the ocean, where she conducts funerals for Damplings. Their paths cross and they are drawn back to each other because they share something special in common. I especially loved the book for its selkies/seal-people element, which may or may not be the special thing in common. I found the world to be well built and explored, although I felt like I could have stayed in it for much longer. There are some amazing characters, particularly in the circus. All round thumbs up from me. I think it'd make for a good film, but only if it had a weird director to bring out the surreal-ness of the story.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Patrick Rothfuss introduces the book apologising, and also ends the book apologising for its strangeness and non-plot-like plot. He writes, if you haven't enjoyed this book, then it was probably just not for you, but he found that early readers who enjoyed it, really enjoyed it. This is really apparent on its Goodreads page where half of the reviews are "I will never get that time back!??" and the other half are "Wow, I connected on a deep level with Auri." I happily fall into the latter category. I really enjoyed this book. Learning more about the vastness of the Underthing through Auri's eyes was fascinating. I actually felt like I understood her connection and relationship with the objects and spaces she communicated with and inhabited. That a lengthy soap making scene could have me unable to put the book down, I guess tells you something about Rothfuss's writing and character building. The hints and clues to the previous use of spaces, now disconnected from the university above, were so intriguing. And was that Auri's own old lab she went to work in? Everything in its place. A beautiful tale from the Underthing.

Exodus

I started reading this a couple of years ago, still had my place saved, and finally got around to finishing it. I'm not sure why I stopped in the first place but I couldn't stop this time. Living in Glasgow whilst reading this definitely adds to the magic of it. The university's steeple does indeed look like a wizard's hat. Also set in a world now mostly underwater, cities have been built up on stilts to avoid the rising sea levels. Mara and her family live in a community on an island called Wing, which is very quickly disappearing into those rising seas. They make the decision to leave, and travel boat to a place called New Mungo, the existence of which Mara has discovered in the virtual internet cyberspace world called the Weave. New Mungo is a city high in the sky, built above the old city of Glasgow. There is plenty of adventure, peril, future technology, sinister dystopian plans, tree people, overnight romances, and a good old rescue mission. I didn't realise it is the first in a trilogy, so I may well get around to reading the following two at some point. 

The Summer Book

I read this in one sunny day, sitting in a particularly good spot in the park. I love Tove Jansson for both moomins and her novels, so I've been ticking off and rereading her adult fiction. I think I've read this one before, but possibly a while ago so I couldn't really remember it. It is beautiful, simple, witty (I was caught giggling a few times, the Study of Angleworms particularly tickled me), set on tiny holiday island in the gulf of Finland with the relationship between six-year-old Sophia and her grandmother the focus. It doesn't grip you with action and adventure, but instead enchants you with its humour and charm. The quote on the back from Esther Freud sums it up rather well: " Eccentric, funny, wise, full of joys and small adventures. This is a book for life." The paperback english translations of Jansson novels published by Sort Of Books are really beautiful too, with flaps and quality paper and photographs of Jansson and her island. I recommend reading this on a perfect summer day!

Clariel

Last but certainly not least, is Clariel sent to me by Hot Key Books! This is a long awaited prequel to Garth Nix's Old Kingdom trilogy, which I actually haven't read (although I'm planning to now) so I went into Clariel completely fresh faced and new to its world. Set 600 years before Sabriel, the first in the series, the book follows Clariel, a seventeen year old girl, who has recently moved with her parents to the walled city of Belisaere far away from her beloved Great Forest in her former home of Estwael. Her mother, a talented goldsmith, has been invited to Belisaere to join the High Guild of Goldsmiths, which means Clariel has to come too and attend a finishing school in the city. I really warmed to Clariel as a character, she had strong, clear motivations (to get back to the Great Forest), a lack of skills for Charter magic (which is out of fashion at this time in Belisaere anyway), no romantic interest whatsoever though some are interested in her (an aromatic teen character provides a perfect opposition to the usual love-at-first-sight narrative), and the capability to rescue herself (even if she's saved sometimes too). I was highly aware that I was probably missing references to the other books (is the cat character still about in Sabriel?) but I do intend on reading the trilogy and I'll probably have some dawning Ohhhhh! moments then.

That's it for June! This month so far I've gone YA contemporary with How To Be Bad, Vivian Versus America, and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and also plan to read Lorali, so Sabriel might have to wait another month.

Follow me on Twitter @ruffassa; on Instagram @ruthlily; on Goodreads; and on Tumblr!