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I like the idea of books for middle readers that are a) ghost stories b) alternative history. And look! I found a book that’s both! Im not sure I see the point of having the main characters be Alice and Eleanor (yes that Eleanor) Roosevelt, but I can see how having a discussion about what “alternate history” means with a middle grade reader would lead to all kinds of great discussions. Im just not sure what it has to do with ghosts? There is also a lot of fodder for talking about family: the good stuff along with the painful. So I think it’s a pretty decent book. I liked the worldbuilding with the ghosts too. Im just not sure about the Roosevelt thing. The discussion of family probably wouldn’t be as rich without it, but it feels like a gimmick more than an intrinsic part of the story.

3.5 rounded up to 4. I think. Im gonna need a minute to figure out what even happened.

Will I ever be able to articulate what I got out of this book? I don’t even know how to start. I’m reading it more as an allegory that illustrates - and creates a template for - how to consider a complicated, murky, state of politics, which could be applied to almost any moment in the last several decades. Centuries, even. Most of human history, really. Of course, it’s also just a whodunnit, so you don’t even really need to grapple with all of that, or even take note of it, if you don’t want to. It’s there, though. And I very much appreciate it.

What a strange book. I get why it has the horror tag, although it’s a quiet kind of horror. One that haunts all adults I think. It feels like what Murakami would end up writing if he tried ti write horror. I like it, though. It’s very short but it meanders a bit, and I’m not sure everything comes together in the end, but I like the sense of foreboding that permeates an otherwise innocuous story about life in the country. I’m not sure I’ll be recommending it though. It’s hard to imagine anyone I know would be interested in it.

Much like Exit West, I found this obvious but competent. It’s exactly what you would expect based on the synopsis, except maybe a bit more literary. I wasn’t blown away by anything but there were a few moments I appreciated. It’s short so I might recommend it as an example of literary fiction if someone is curious.

I don’t really understand how LaRocca became mainstream. It will be interesting to see how people react to this one if they enjoyed Things Have Gotten Worse. This is much more representative of the niche horror LaRocca fits into, but it’s not one of the best examples of it I’ve read. Unsurprisingly, several female authors have written books I find more interesting. This book was fine but I probably would have DNFed it if it weren’t so short. It’s repetitive. Whatever experimentation there is occurs in one chapter and is then copied until there is enough “story” to call it a book. I think I would have liked it much more if it had been written as a short story. There’s just too much of it as is.

Extra star because it’s middle grade and I still liked it! Just the right mix of creepiness and a real threat and still having functional relationships! The parents aren’t dead! There’s a real friendship! And the ghost world is very cool! I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series, thanks to a great set up for further books at the end of this one.

Magical realism with lots of political commentary and questions about identity. What’s not to like? I struggled a lot with this, but I’m chalking that up to it being marketed as a novel when it’s really a bunch of short stories that have an overarching narrative. Once I figured that out i started enjoying it. And wow. There’s so much in here. It’s all about the myths people tell themselves to survive the world, unknowingly shaping it, and often hurting others. It’s about how all the people who are forced to live in the shadows because of ideas of propriety and hierarchy manage to continue to exist anyway, and exert their own power to shape the world just enough to make a place for themselves in it, and sometimes a lot more than that. Recommending for fans of China Mieville, but I think this is actually better than his work.

This is for children? It’s pretty great but I’m not sure about the lesson here.

I love that this is the end of a trilogy that has some really dark stuff in the first two books. Very cute and a great conclusion to the other two. It calls into question the reactions we saw in those, suggesting there might be a more peaceful option.

Wow that got dark. I still love it though

What a lot of fluff. I’m not very spiritual so this book wasn’t written for me. There’s just enough substance - a few thoughts about art and the need people have to “fix” things - that I’m not dismissing it entirely but it’s a literary exploration of a lot of ideas about spiritually I find shallow and annoying. It’s better than most books that explore these ideas but it’s still not going quite deep enough.

Fun middle grade fantasy

Yuck. Well I’m even less inclined to read anyting by a white male author now. It’s somehow more disturbing to come across a story in which characters agree with me politically but make choices and take actions I think directly oppose the principles I hold to. What was the point of this book? I just kind of hate everything now.