Romances, Spicy Stickers and New Releases!

Y’all. This book has so much going on — in the best way! It follows Robin Swift, a Chinese boy who was orphaned by cholera and raised in London by a professor. There, he was made to learn Chinese, Ancient Greek, and Latin so that he’d enroll in Oxford’s highly competitive Royal Institute of Translation, or Babel. Babel is not only the world’s center for translation, but also of silver-working, which is a way of conjuring the meaning that gets lost as a result of translation. This magical ability to silver-work has made the British empire strong, and when Britain starts an unjust war with China for silver and opium, Robin questions where his loyalties lie.

The magical, 19th century world Kuang has built here is so interesting (think of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, vibe-wise), and I love how she juxtaposes academia and colonialism, which are very related. I am super excited to finish this one.

Bear it or perish.

These are the fateful words Helen Jean hears one night in an outhouse in Texas that go on to influence not only her life, but her descendants’. This debut novel has decades of the Turner family — which Helen Jean is the matriarch of — wrapped up in it. It’s chapters alternate between four of the family members: Alex, whose dark past haunts his life as a police officer; Jan, a mom who desperately wants to leave; Julie, who recognizes how much time she’s wasted; and Lydia, whose marriage is crumbling. All of them descend upon Jerusalem, TX to bid farewell to Helen Jean, who ultimately set the stage for the entire family’s dysfunction and trauma. Heads up that this is super sad, like along the lines of A Little Life kinda sad.