Favourite Books of April

    This is the first fiction book I've ever read that was written by a non-speaking autistic person, which immediately caught my attention. It revolves around Upward Bound, a daycare for adults with disabilities. Each chapter focuses on a different person who is a client there, works there, or is connected to it in some way. The central character is Walter, who seems to be closely based on the author himself, as he is also non-speaking but has a university degree and aspires to be an author. Through the different characters, we get a lot of looks at the people who make up a place like Upward Bound, as well as how it's run.

    There's so much about this book that I found revelatory and thought-provoking. Through Walter we get to learn about the inner life of someone who isn't able to communicate in traditional ways, having to rely on a spelling board and someone trained in that form of communication, but because Upward Bound doesn't have the resources to supply this help, he becomes silenced once again. Other clients are also non-speaking, but are able to communicate through body language or blinking, but only if the workers make the effort to listen. The employees at Upward Bound all have different reactions and relationships to their jobs and the people who attend - some are frustrating, but all of them feel real. 

    I loved this book, and would love to shove it into everybody's hands. The author did a great job of humanizing the people like himself, and showing that their needs are the same as anybody's. It was funny and sad and poetic, and I really hope that he and other non-speaking people will put more books out in the world where they are represented fully.

    This book is set on the island of Scatarie, which is off the coast of Nova Scotia. It is narrated by Cara, who is the spirit of a girl who died in a boat crash while her family was immigrating from Ireland to Canada. She sticks around Scatarie because she grows fond of the people there, especially three babies who were all born the same day - Mary Alice, Hardy, and Sam. They grow up on Scatarie, where life is hard without the amenities the rest of Canada has, and the only real job is fishing, but it's a tight-knit group. The three of them are best friends as kids, and then it gets complicated as they grow up. Throughout their lives, Cara watches over them and gives them nudges when they need them.

    This book doesn't really have a central plot, and is very character focused. We follow these three characters for the first 30 or so years of their lives, and all the ups and downs they experience. Usually this isn't my favourite kind of book, but I was so invested in their lives. There was constantly some personal drama or big event on the island, so there was always something keeping me reading. The author did a wonderful job making these characters lovable and interesting, and made me care about them deeply. She includes the big moments, like the war, marriages, deaths, etc., but also the small moments that make up a life. It was at times sad, funny, boring, and joyful, just like life is. The setting was fantastic and distinct, and having Cara be the narrator added an extra interesting element to the story. 

    I'm just so glad that there are books being written and published about these important issues for teens, especially boys. Dayton is a freshman who gets dared to shout a homophobic slur during a presentation for 20 bucks, and he takes it, because it's not like saying one word is a big deal. But it changes his whole school year, as some of his friends abandon him and other classmates spurn him, treating him like he's toxic just for saying one word. One of those people is Farshid, who doesn't want to admit to himself or anyone else that he's gay, but now that people are saying that word, he thinks it might be about him. To make himself stop feeling so small, he starts working out and getting obsessed with changing his body. As the year goes on, both boys feel the repercussions of that one event.

    This book addresses so much with care, in so few pages. Homophobia, body image, toxic masculinity, friendships... Neither boy reacts to the event in the way I initially expected. Since it's their first year of high school, each boy is trying to adjust to a new school and environment, and nothing feels the same as it used to. While Dayton starts pretty oblivious about why it's such a big deal to everyone, he is sorry and doesn't stand by what he said, and yet nobody is willing to change their opinion of him. He befriends the people who thought his prank was funny, but has to wrestle with the fact that he doesn't always like what they say and do either.

    It was also really good to see a boy struggling with an eating disorder and body dysmorphia, which is something we usually only get in books for girls. In response to being scared to be seen as gay, Farshid wants to get super buff, but then doesn't know what to do with the attention he gets as a result. He also has a strained relationship with his mom, since he's so worried about what people are calling him, he's overworking himself and not eating enough, plus he's a growing boy embarrassed about his changing body! And that often all turns into eruptions toward his mom in a very realistic way. I thought this book was wonderful and should be read by everyone, but especially the young boys who are entering a confusing world of conflicting messages.

    This book is like taking the depressed monk MC of The Witness for the Dead and putting him into the world of a Murderbot book, with all of the action and mystery and group dynamics, and I honestly couldn't have asked for anything more tailor-made for me.

    Vessel Iris is a death monk who gets summoned to an abandoned generation ship to see if there are any dead bodies so he can do his little rituals over them in peace. But to his chagrin, there are scientists and academics there, and he's not great with people. There are weird murals on the ship, and weird plant life, and the AI implanted in his brain keeps getting pinged by something weird. And then people start dying, and they can't get off the ship! It's awesome. This book is mysterious and full of action when it's not getting philosophical about meaning and the ethics of AI. And at the heart of it is Iris, a self-loathing monk who is dedicated to his calling but also not totally sure if he still believes in it. He's very special to me. It's pretty much everything I could ever want in a book. 

    I am so particular when it comes to romance, and rarely even try anymore, but this one sounded up my alley, and I'm glad I decided to give it a go! It's a no-spice Regency romance with the exact kind of romance hero I like.

    Anna has been living with her mother in relative poverty since her father died, and an older man has been manipulating them so that Anna will agree to marry him. Finally she decides to escape and bring her mother to a cottage where they spent a happy summer years ago, but they'll only be able to stay there for a few weeks. She needs to find a solution until she turns 27, when she gets her inheritance. At the cottage she gets caught trying to climb back down a tree by David, a boy she knew back then and proposed to her when he was 14 (adorable). But now instead of being shy and skittish, he's confident and healthy, and offers a fake engagement until she finds another solution. And of course there's some secret behind why he won't marry her for real.

    I love that David is short and younger than her, and obviously idealized her when he was young. He's just so happy to see her, and he felt like such a refreshing change of pace in a Regency romance. They have an interesting dynamic, where she's older, he's richer, she kind of needs him, but he's thankful to her for her past kindness, and it all makes for a relationship that's full of emotion and uncertainty despite their mutual affection.

    The final third of the book gets a little ridiculous and the big reveal felt obvious to me from the start, but these are small complaints when this book delivered the exact romance-reading experience I was wanting!