Book of the Month- June - We Are Still Tornadoes

We Are Still Tornadoes

We Are Still Tornadoes by Michael Kun and Susan Mullen follows the friendship of Catherine and Scott as they move on from high school. 

We learn about the ups and downs of Cath and Scott's lives this first year out of high school through their letters to each other. Cath has gone off to college and Scott has stayed behind in their home town to work in his father's store and to try to get his band up and running.

This tale of growing up takes place in the 1980's so there is no texting or email, just good old fashioned letters on school (Cath) and store (Scott) letterhead.  The letters back and forth make for a fast read, and the occasional urgent page turner (did Scott get that letter?!?!) to make sure the friends are up to date on the latest news from home and college. 

Through their letters to each other we meet their families, old school friends, old boy and girl friends, new friends and roommates. We experience the trials and tribulations of their first year out of the safe high school community with humour, sadness and joy as they support and offer honest guidance to each other. 

Having been best friends forever, it is logical that they are able to share their innermost thoughts about their lives and can fight, and laugh, and cry together and have such an honest relationship. Even though you know how it is going to end, it is a great fast read that I highly recommend.

Strange the Dreamer

 by Laini Taylor 

As a young orphan, Lazlo Strange loved nothing more than listening to a good story.  At the monastery where Lazlo was raised, an old monk would tell him countless stories of a wondrous place far from their war torn land. Two hundred years ago this mysterious land of riches was cut off from the outside world by an unknown force. Memories of the land slowly faded to myth, ultimately becoming but a fairy tale to most people. The monk recounted these fairy tales to young Lazlo, until, one day the name of the land was stricken from their minds and Lazlo and the monk could only call it Weep.  For years, Lazlo obsessed over the name of this place but only the name Weep would come to mind. 

Through a fortunate turn of events, Lazlo became a junior librarian in his capital city, a place that stored all manner of records on anything and everything, including fairy tales of the lost city of Weep.  Seven years pass and Lazlo, now a young man, has amassed a great wealth of knowledge on the city of Weep.

Enter the Godslayer. After 200 years of zero contact, an embassy from Weep has come to Lazlo’s city to offer the greatest minds of the land an opportunity to solve a mysterious problem.  An opportunity of a lifetime has presented itself, now it’s up to Lazlo to make it happen!  His knowledge of the lost city just might be his ticket to getting into the city itself!
  
Beautiful narrative and intriguing characters keep you guessing the whole way through.  Weep was a tantalizing enigma that had me tearing through chapters desperate to find out what happens next.

Book of the Month: May - Dragon Spring Road

by Janie Chang

Dragon Springs Road by B.C. author Janie Chang combines historical fiction and fantasy to present a coming of age story for a Eurasian girl named Jialing. Jialing is abandoned by her mother and taken on as a bond slave by the Yang family. She develops a friendship of sorts with the family’s daughter Anjuin. The story follows Jialing as she grows up and also chronicles the history of China, and in particular Shanghai from 1908-1919. As an ancient imperial dynasty collapses, a new government struggles to life and Jialing and Anjuin are bound together in friendship that will be tested by duty, honour, and love.

Dragon Springs Road is beautifully written and Jialing’s narration always feels honest. Jialing’s struggles and experiences as a Eurasian child are powerful; it’s painful growing up in a world where everyone looks down on a mixed race child. I really enjoyed the magical realism woven throughout  the book in the form of Fox spirit, and the gates. Fox keeps Jialing safe and shows her what is possible in the world. This enthralling story includes gangsters, racism, corruption and more.

The story telling flows in a lovely way, keeping you turning the pages. Dragon Springs Road is a testament to the strength of women shunned by society, who have their destiny tangled up with those who control them. It invites us to re-examine our relationship to place, identity and ancestry. It was both a pleasure and an education to read this sensitive, intelligent novel of our times. 

Note: There is some sexual content in the novel.

For read-alikes try Snow Flower and Secret Fan.