Reviews - Fiction

Book Finds - August 2023 /  by Todd Henson

Book finds in August, 2023

This past weekend my father and I went on a day trip to visit some old family friends we’d not seen in a while. On the way there we stopped by the Greene Farmers Market at Greene Commons in Standardsville, Virginia, which usually has a bench set up with free books, and on the way back we stopped by the Green Valley Book Fair in Mount Crawford, something we used to enjoy doing with my mother. And as most often happens, I did find some new books to add to my collection.

Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood

I’ve read and enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale and I keep thinking I’d like to try more by Atwood. So when I saw this one, with a cover that reminds me of some Michael Whelan paintings, I grabbed it.

Sweet Tooth: Book One by Jeff Lemire

I remembered reading reviews of Sweet Tooth and other comics by Jeff Lemire over at Roars and Echoes, and the cover of the kid with antlers stood out. Granted, it’s an image of the live action series, but I remembered the kid and the antlers from Lashaan’s reviews. Needless to say, I decided to pick it up and give it a try.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

I’ve only read one book by Ruth Ware but I’ve been wanting to dive back into her work ever since, and though I’ve already collected several others I’ve yet to try, I couldn’t help adding this one to the list when I saw it sitting there on the shelves.

Seventh Son and Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card

I’ve read and enjoyed the beginning volumes of Card’s Ender’s Game series, and I remembered my mother reading and enjoying the Seventh Son series, so when I saw the first two books of that series collected together, you guessed it, I had to pick up a copy.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I enjoyed the movie some time ago, but what caused me to pick up a copy of the book was another book that I’m currently reading called The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams, about a group of people and how their lives are changed when each finds a copy of the same reading list created and left behind anonymously at a local public library. One of the books on that list is Life of Pi.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2023

I subscribed to this magazine for many decades and loved it, so when I saw a copy of a recent issue sitting on the bench of the farmer’s market I decided to take it home, especially given the cover story is by Matthew Hughes, who was always one of my favorite authors from the magazine.

The focus and highlight of the trip was the visit with family friends, but it was also nice to include a little bit of book finding, especially by visiting some of the places we used to visit with Mom.

Have you read any of these books, and if so what did you think?

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A Day at the Green Valley Book Fair - February 2023 /  by Todd Henson

And now for something a little different. My father and I didn’t go hiking this past weekend so I didn’t create any new nature photographs. But what we did do was take a day trip to the Green Valley Book Fair in Mount Crawford, Virginia. My family and I have visited the book fair several times a year almost every year for a decade or more. Even if I don’t have any need for new books I still enjoy the trip there and back and the time walking amongst all the books.

This isn’t the sort of book fair where you find rare or hard to find antiquarian gems. Instead, it’s an outlet store where overstock or extra books are gathered together and sold at a discount. It’s not the sort of place to go with a shopping list as you just never know what you’ll find (though you can check their website for recent additions). And that’s part of what I enjoy, stumbling across books I didn’t know I needed. 😀

So what did I stumble upon this time around?

My book haul from the Green Valley Book Fair in February, 2023

I visited the classics section first and found a copy of Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey in a single volume. I’ve wanted to read these for a long while so I picked up a copy.

Then I found a single-volume collection of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s work, one of those well known classic authors I’ve never read. The collection included Crime and Punishment, The Gambler, and Notes from Underground.

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse jumped out at me. Not that long ago I read Wodehouse for the first time and I loved his sense of humor, so I’m hoping I laugh my way through this one.

The last book I found in the classics section was a collection of The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China including The Art of War, Wuzi, Wei Liaozi, Taigong’s Six Secret Teachings, Methods of the Sima, Three Strategies of Huang Shigong, and Questions and Replies between Emperor Taizong of Tang and General Li Jing. The only one of these I’d heard of before was The Art of War so I’m curious to learn more about the rest.

On one of the displays I found Fredrik Backman’s Things My Son Needs to Know about the World. I just finished My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry and it was the best book I’ve read in a very long time. Little did I know when I bought this one that it’s non-fiction. But if his writing style and humor are at all similar to what I read then I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.

In the general fiction section I found Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith. I watched the movie when it came out long ago and recall thoroughly enjoying it. Recently I checked and couldn’t find the movie to rent so when I found the book I picked it up. I almost always enjoy books more than movies so I’m hopeful I’ll enjoy this.

I also found a copy of Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. I remember Tammy over at Books, Bones & Buffy highly recommending this one so I look forward to giving it a try.

There was an entire section of Stephen King books over in the horror, fantasy and science fiction section and a few of them caught my eye. I picked up Firestarter, a classic I never got around to reading though I have seen the movie. The Eyes of the Dragon sounded interesting, more of a fantasy tale if I understood correctly. And Later, which seems to combine speculative with detective fiction, a combo I’m very open to.

Last year I read the first two books of Rebecca Roanhorse’s series, Between Earth and Sky, which included Black Sun and Fevered Star. I absolutely loved them both, so when I saw Trail of Lightning I picked up a copy. I think it’s an earlier young adult novel of her’s.

All the above books were in one of the two upstairs areas. Downstairs is where we usually find any photography-related books, as well as history, science, travel and lots of other topics. It’s been a while since I found anything new and interesting down there, but I was in luck this day.

First off I saw the large box that contained The Last Place on Earth: Photographs by Michael Nichols. It’s a large format book and includes as an extra Mike Fay’s Megatransect Journals. The photography appears to be stunning and I look forward to spending more time with this one. This book, alone, made the trip well worth while from a monetary perspective. I think the book retails for about $150 and online stores appear to have it priced around $112 right now. At the book fair I paid $29.99 for this monster of a photography book.

The last book I found was a large copy of Reza War + Peace: A Photographer’s Journey. I first learned about Reza some time ago when I watched a documentary or two featuring him and his work, both his photography and humanitarian work. I was very pleased to find this book shelved with the other photography books.

It was difficult to stop here, but my basket was full and very, very heavy, so we trudged back to the checkout where I ran into someone from work. I’m always surprised when I run into folks I know.

After we checked out we headed over to the Shenandoah Heritage Market, another location we usually visit when in the area. It’s a great mix of stores, from fabric and quilting to kitchen supplies, toys, memorabilia and antiques, furniture, canned goods, and bulk food and candy of all sorts. There’s also a great kettle corn vendor out front.

Our last stop of the day was for a bite to eat. There’ve been a group of restaurants in the area we’ve enjoyed visiting but over the years many have closed. Thankfully, Vietopia, a small Vietnamese restaurant in Harrisonburg was still around and just as good as always. I had a pork vermicelli noodle dish (Bún Thịt Nướng Chả Giò) and my father had a bowl of pho. This was a great way to end the day.

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These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant /  by Todd Henson

An advance readers’ edition of These Silent Woods, by Kimi Cunningham Grant

This post contains affiliate links and I’ll be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links, though this won’t cost you anything extra. Thanks much!

Every so often I like to share something mostly unrelated to photography, though when it comes to creativity I think all pursuits are related. We can learn much from folks pursing arts and crafts that differ from our own. And of course, there’s the simple pursuit of enjoyment, itself, and isn’t that worth something, too?

Today I want to share a book I read which should be available as of today (November 16, 2021). I was fortunate to win an advance readers’ edition of These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant through a goodreads giveaway.

What first struck me about the book, what prompted me to enter the giveaway, was the cover. I loved the design of it, how it was a simple photograph, mostly with dark shades of blue, and a small snow-covered clearing in the lower right with the red house. I liked the placement of the words in the title, how they led you down to the house, and how they changed color from black to red, with the author’s name then in a lighter color. I even liked how the ‘W’ in ‘Woods’ is slightly hidden behind a ridge, helping to convey depth. I think the cover does a great job setting up the story, leaving us feeling curious about this little house all alone in the mountains. It’s cold. It’s quiet. But the house is nestled in and protected by the forest. I could see myself enjoying living in a location like this.

The story was not what I expected, and yet I wasn’t at all disappointed. I just reread the book’s description on goodreads and it does seem accurate. I think I was expecting more of a thriller full of suspense and tension, and there’s certainly some of that here, but I think it’s more a book about people and most especially about a father and a daughter and what one will do to protect and hold on to the other. And it’s a book about subtle mysteries, where the father, Cooper, has already done things to protect his daughter, Finch, but we don’t know right off what those things are or why they drove the two to live in this secluded cabin in the woods. And that’s what the entire book is then about, slowly revealing how they came to be where they are, what kind of people they ultimately are, and how it will all turn out, with plenty of foreshadowing throughout.

I really enjoyed the characters, they felt real. We have Cooper, who’s been through a lot but manages to have a beautiful daughter and does all he can to provide for her. There’s Finch, his young daughter, who loves growing up in the woods and absolutely thrives there, but who also begins to wonder more about the world at large the older she gets. How long can this seclusion go on? There were many touching moments between the two. And we have Scotland, a neighbor of sorts who also lives out in the woods and keeps watch on Cooper and Finch. But why is he so interested in them? Can he be trusted? Over time we meet others, though not many. It’s a fairly small cast.

Being a photographer I loved the inclusion of photography, though it was a very minor part of the story. After all these years of peaceful seclusion they one day begin noticing evidence of a photographer prowling through their part of the woods. What is the photographer doing here? And what do they know about Cooper and Finch?

I also loved the attention to nature and the animals they encounter. In fact, Cooper and Finch aren’t their real names, but aliases to help hide their identify. Cooper is named after a Cooper’s hawk, and of course Finch is named after the species of bird. The setting worked really well and it’s one I’ve always enjoyed, a secluded cabin up in the mountains surrounded by forest with plenty of space for hiking and exploring. When the snow sets in it seems a beautiful location, though you do appreciate the seclusion and the realization they’d have to make do until the snow cleared enough to travel, not that they travel much.

I will admit to occasionally having doubts about whether they’d have ended up as they did, wondering if life would have happened differently outside the story, but these didn’t really detract much. And in at least one case my doubts were later addressed, which I was very happy to see.

Overall I very much enjoyed These Silent Woods and would be up for reading more by the author. The pace picks up significantly towards the end, giving us a bit of that thriller feel, the uncertainty of how it will all turn out, while also weaving in some incredibly emotional scenes. This was a heartfelt story exploring relationships, what we’d do for those we care about, who we are and how the past shapes us, how we look at and judge others, and what sacrifices we’re willing to make for others. A beautifully told story.

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