Book Review | A Nearer Moon by Melanie Crowder

A Nearer Moon is a middle grade fantasy from Melanie Crowder.

In a small river village where the water is cursed, a girl’s bravery—and the existence of magic—could mean the difference between life and death in this elegant, luminous tale from the author of Parched and Audacity.

Along a lively river, in a village raised on stilts, lives a girl named Luna. All her life she has heard tales of the time before the dam appeared, when sprites danced in the currents and no one got the mysterious wasting illness from a mouthful of river water. These are just stories, though—no sensible person would believe in such things.

Beneath the waves is someone who might disagree. Perdita is a young water sprite, delighting in the wet splash and sparkle, and sad about the day her people will finally finish building their door to another world, in search of a place that humans have not yet discovered.

But when Luna’s little sister falls ill with the river sickness, everyone knows she has only three weeks to live. Luna is determined to find a cure for her beloved sister, no matter what it takes. Even if that means believing in magic…

I loved this book. My plan was to read A Nearer Moon over the weekend, but once I opened it Friday night, I didn’t move until I had read the entire thing.

Luna and Willow live in the swamp. For good reason, their mother has strict rules regarding where the girls are allowed to go.

Don’t go past the bend in the river.
Don’t go below the dam.
Steer far away from the slick.

The villagers know the swamp is cursed. The villagers know a creature lives beneath the slick. Luna followed all the rules, and Willow still fell sick to the swamp’s waters. Maybe Luna needs to break those rules to save her.

A Nearer Moon is a gorgeous middle grade fantasy about the love between sisters. It’s imaginative and heartbreaking, and it’s brilliant.

Simply put, A Nearer Moon is one of my favorite fairy tales of all time.

10/10: Awesome Read

Have you read A Nearer Moon? Do you enjoy reading fairy tales? I love darker fairy tales, and I just really loved everything about the curse and the creature in A Nearer Moon. What are some of your favorite fairy tales?

Review copy provided by publisher

Happy Labor Day | Currently Reading

Happy Labor Day to those who have a Labor Day holiday today! Try not to spend all of your money at one sale. Unless it's a book sale of course.

I'm spending my day watching US Open tennis, reading, and relaxing for the first time in forever.

These are the books that I read last week, and surprisingly enough - some review links!

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque {Read my review}

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay {Read my review}

A Nearer Moon by Melanie Crowder

Hopefully I will have my review out for A Nearer Moon tomorrow. It was absolutely beautiful. I loved that book.

Right now I'm in the middle of reading The Devil's Bag Man by Adam Mansbach and The Hour of the Oxrun Dead by Charles Grant. I goofed on the Mansbach book. I can't imagine for the life of me how I didn't realize it was book #2 of a series. I would probably be enjoying it more if I had realized my error sooner.

The Hour of the Oxrun Dead was a random pull from my closet. I really need to do that more often!

What about you? What are you reading this week? Let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

Book Review | A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

A Head Full of Ghosts is a horror novel from Paul Tremblay.

The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.

To her parents' despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie's descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts' plight. With John, Marjorie's father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.

Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie's younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface--and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.

I really enjoyed A Head Full of Ghosts. It's part creepy possession horror / part psychological thriller, and it's all very meta. The story is being recounted many years later by Merry, one of the sisters involved in the possession, in a personal interview as well as through a series of the Merry's pseudonymous blog posts that are reviewing the reality show that documented the possession. Did I lose you? Amazingly enough, the book does a great job of making it work. I found myself forgetting about the blog entirely until it popped back up again.

It got even more meta once you realized the blog commentary was basically the book criticizing the tropes in it's own story.

But meta stuff aside, there was some horror going on worth reading. Whatever was actually happening with this family, one thing is for sure - it was creepy.

By the end of A Head Full of Ghosts, there were so many questions as to what was really going on that I got a little bored. And a little annoyed.

But! It was still a fun read and one that I would recommend to others.

7/10: Recommended Read

Book Review | All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

All Quiet on the Western Front is a classic novel from Erich Maria Remarque.

Book Description

This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army of World War I. These young men become enthusiastic soldiers, but their world of duty, culture, and progress breaks into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches.

Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the hatred that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another... if only he can come out of the war alive.

The real reason I read All Quiet on the Western Front was to listen to Frank Muller’s narration, but it turned out to be a beautifully written, thought-provoking novel.

It’s a war novel, but it’s not about the war. It’s about its effects on the men who go to war.

“This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.”

I feel quite devastated by All Quiet on the Western Front, really. A great book leaves an impact, and there are definitely scenes in this one that will remain with me always. It’s a remarkable read.

“We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.”

If you’re into audiobooks, I highly recommend the audio version. Frank Muller was an exceptional narrator.

8/10: Great Read

Back to School | Currently Reading

I hope everyone had an amazing summer. 

I haven't managed to blog one single summer since I started Book Den. Every year I'm avidly reading through the spring and I think there's no way I'm slowing down once summer hits, but as soon as it does... I disappear. Every time. The weather warms up, the days get long, I am nowhere near a computer when I'm not at work.

I didn't read much this summer, either.

These are the books I read while I was away:

Wilder Boys • The Bear Who Wouldn't Leave • The Handmaid's Tale

Peter Pan • The Border • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

I wish I had waited until the fall to read The Border, but I wasn't strong enough to resist. I hate that McCammon's books are always released in May. I think a lot of books are released in preparation of summer reading, but I'm just not a summer reader. I hear the term "beach read" a lot, but the last thing I want to do on the beach is read.

Peter Pan was one of the books I read with my kids over the summer. I'm really, really enjoying reading books to them that I missed out on as a kid (as well as revisiting old favorites!) They read some things on their own a bit through the summer, but they are a lot like me when the sun is shining.

Now that we are back to school and "summer" is over, it's like a switch has been flipped. We are all back to reading again. It's a weird thing.

I've decided from now on Book Den will go on hiatus for the summers. I used to stress about it during the summer knowing I should be posting and keeping up with what's going on with everyone. This summer I was realistic and when my blog entered my mind, I just gave some thought to what I wanted to do once I returned. It was nice to have some time to gain a little clarity.

Now I have some catching up to do!

I'm currently reading All Quiet on the Western Front and Charlotte's Web. The last time I read Charlotte's Web with my kids, they baled on me, but my 8 year old picked it to read this week. I'm steeling myself for all of the crying I'm going to have to try not to do. If you haven't yet read Charlotte's Web, it is definitely something to experience.

And that's where I'm at. I'm looking forward to fall and everything that it brings.

I'd love to hear how your summer went and what you've been reading. Let me know in the comments or leave me a link if it's on your blog!