bookreadman

  An Abrupt Emotional Trip Via the Night Court It was a gloomy, rainy October evening when I first opened A Court of Wings and Ruin. Under a frayed comforter, I cuddled up and lost myself in the lush, dark world of Sarah J. Maas's Night Court, while the wind howled and tree branches scraped against the windowpanes. Maybe the dismal atmosphere was what drew me in so much to the story's seductive pull. Or perhaps there's a unique sorcery unique to this most recent book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. Regardless of the cause, I was completely captivated by those first few pages. With such lush, evocative prose, Maas captures the faerie realm of Prythian and its enchanting inhabitants, that you can almost smell the earthy tang of moss-covered trees and night-blooming jasmine drifting through the chilly mountain air. From the eerie echoes of elk bugles echoing across the Illyrian heights to the silken whisper of Feyre's robe trailing across ancient marble, the sight...

  The Wisdom in Kristin Hannah's "The Women" I knew from the opening pages that The Women by Kristin Hannah was going to wreck me. How could it not? The novel opens with a group of lifelong friends gathered around a dying woman's bedside, an entire History stubbornly defying its Ending. Maybe that's why the book landed so heavily upon me. I slipped its covers during a season of upheaval, feeling unmoored from my own anchoring friendships. My once-inseparable group of women had slowly spun apart over the years, scattered to opposite coasts and continents by career ambitions, family obligations, and all the dizzying variables of mere existence. We tried valiantly to stay afloat despite the current, scheduling video calls and annual reunions when stars somehow aligned. But there's an undercurrent of melancholy running through every interaction now – a longing for the days when we were bound by neighborhoods and universities rather than WiFi connections and 3-hou...