Music Monday (67): Two Steps From Hell, Stevie Wonder, & Andra Day

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: My pick this week is Christmas Medley by Two Steps From Hell. I’ve been a fan of them for a number of years and their music is best described as epic. And while their Christmas Medley is perfectly festive, it's clearly influenced by their style.  It's epic, which is one of the reasons I enjoy listening to this song around this time of year...

Andrea:  My playlist this week is filled with Christmas Music by several of my favorite artists. One of the songs I’m listening to is Some Day At Christmas by Stevie Wonder & Andra Day.

What's some of your favorite holiday music?

Review: The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman

Title: The Masked City
Series: The Invisible Library #2
Author: Genevieve Cogman
Source/Format: Borrowed from the Library; Paperback
More Details: Historical; Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Ace Books; September 6, 2016

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Working in an alternate version of Victorian London, Librarian-spy Irene has settled into a routine, collecting important fiction for the mysterious Library and blending in nicely with the local culture. But when her apprentice, Kai—a dragon of royal descent—is kidnapped by the Fae, her carefully crafted undercover operation begins to crumble.
Kai’s abduction could incite a conflict between the forces of chaos and order that would devastate all worlds and all dimensions. To keep humanity from getting caught in the crossfire, Irene will have to team up with a local Fae leader to travel deep into a version of Venice filled with dark magic, strange coincidences, and a perpetual celebration of Carnival—and save her friend before he becomes the first casualty of a catastrophic war.
But navigating the tumultuous landscape of Fae politics will take more than Irene’s book-smarts and fast-talking—to ward off Armageddon, she might have to sacrifice everything she holds dear....

Since I recently read and loved The Mortal Word, book #5 of the Invisible Library series, I’d decided to make it a goal to read the other three books I’d missed. So the obvious place to start was The Masked City.

I loved this book. It combined elements of historical fiction with those of fantasy with an added touch of futuristic technology in certain aspects of the setting. The Masked City was also fast paced and packed with enough danger, action, and mystery to make the story an exciting follow-up to The Invisible Library (book #1). All of my favorite characters—Irene, Vale, Kai, and Silver—were present as new and familiar worlds were further explored. Although, this time around, Irene’s usual duties as a Librarian were mostly put on hold in favor of rescuing her apprentice.

There were some parts of the mystery that got solved relatively early on, but it wasn’t bad considering the answers brought more questions rather than a firm resolution. The Masked City also delved into more of the politics between dragons and the Fae with the focus on the latter since the story mainly took place in a world heavily influenced by chaos. These details are somewhat beneficial to know when trying to understad the Fae of Cogman’s series. It not only provided context for their nature it showed it as well through Irene’s interactions with Silver and others—something that was especially highlighted given the setting being in an extremely high chaos zone, which was a stark contrast to the other worlds Irene had been to. To say the least, it was interesting how stories/personal narratives came into play. There were also some new enemies, as well others who were very familiar, working behind the scenes toward their own goals.

So, overall, the story was good, and I plan to read The Burning Page sometime soon. I’ve already read the synopsis for it, and I’m interested in seeing how the Alberich situation gets resolved....

Music Monday (66): Pentatonix, Snow Miser/Heat Miser

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: My pick this week is Where Are You, Christmas? by Pentatonix. 

Also, has anyone watched The Year Without a Santa Claus? It came out in 1974, and there’s two songs from it that I’ve always loved: the Snow Miser and Heat Miser songs. If you haven’t listened to them, search for it on youtube or just watch the movie. I don’t know why but they're catchy....

What are you listening to this week?

The Friday 56 (144) & Book Beginnings: The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE 

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Working in an alternate version of Victorian London, Librarian-spy Irene has settled into a routine, collecting important fiction for the mysterious Library and blending in nicely with the local culture. But when her apprentice, Kai—a dragon of royal descent—is kidnapped by the Fae, her carefully crafted undercover operation begins to crumble.
Kai’s abduction could incite a conflict between the forces of chaos and order that would devastate all worlds and all dimensions. To keep humanity from getting caught in the crossfire, Irene will have to team up with a local Fae leader to travel deep into a version of Venice filled with dark magic, strange coincidences, and a perpetual celebration of Carnival—and save her friend before he becomes the first casualty of a catastrophic war.
But navigating the tumultuous landscape of Fae politics will take more than Irene’s book-smarts and fast-talking—to ward off Armageddon, she might have to sacrifice everything she holds dear....

Beginning: "Introduction.... By now you will have passed basic training, and will either be working in the field with a more experienced Librarian or be preparing to do so." 

56: "Vale nodded. "Given subsequent events...In any case, I returned here to find Strongrock had come by. He was met at the door by a street urchin, who directed him to an address in the East End. Fortunately, one of the newspaper vendors was close enough to hear the details. I followed." He looked down at his hands. "I was too late."

Comments: I recently read and enjoyed The Mortal Word. So, I made it a goal to go back and read the books I'd yet to get to from the Invisible Library series. I started with The Masked City. I loved this book.  What are you reading this week?

Memorable....

It’s been a while since I wrote a discussion post, but a couple of recent things got me thinking about what forms of media—i.e. books and music, etc.—I find memorable and the reasons behind what makes them stand out. This is completely subjective of course, because I can only speak about my personal preferences. As such, there will be a number of references to music and books I’ve enjoyed, particularly the former since one album in particular inspired this post.

Do you know those books, the ones that are so deeply atmospheric that you can’t help but get caught up in the journey from start to finish? That’s how I feel about Back to the Woods by Angel Haze. Originally, I wasn’t going to write anything about Back to the Woods, because the album has been out since 2015. However, it’s so underrated, and that’s a shame. It’s one album that I would compare to a complex book. And just like Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, Back to the Woods  was wonderfully atmospheric with a fairy tale like vibe. Rather than having a setting, history, and tale rife with detailed scenery, in this case, the compositions of the album was gorgeously layered and undeniably thematic from the opening tracks, D-Day and Impossible, to the brooding and dreamy closing, titular song, The Woods.

So, in thinking about all the ways Back to the Woods reminded me of Spinning Silver, my thoughts began to shift toward what made them so memorable to me in the first place: the emotion or feeling they elicited while being read or listened to. Specifically speaking, there’s nothing inherently similar about Spinning Silver and Back to the Woods. There are no lyrics that specifically speak to anything from the book. And there’s no text from the book that implies a connection to the album. They’re their own separate entities. However, I find it’s all based in the language I use to talk about them that led me to compare them in the first place. Often with words and phrases like layered, complex, thematic, and deeply atmospheric. What I’m saying is, when I listen to Back to the Woods it makes me think of a fairy tale. And when I read Spinning Silver, the story elicits much of the same reaction. In that way, they’re similar. And besides the fact that they’re both great in their own right, as I stated before, my reaction to them is part of what makes them memorable.

Of course, being memorable can come about in different ways (also entirely dependent on what a person likes/dislikes) and fairy-tale-like isn’t the only criterion that applies—poignant and difficult reads that’ll make you think; fantasy, science fiction, or contemporary; or even books that are light and enjoyable escapism can also leave long-lasting impressions. It could even be specific things like settings, characters, overall story, or subject (for nonfiction). So, books like Mem, The Tea Master and the Detective, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Why We Sleep, and the Heroine Complex series were all memorable to me for different or sometimes similar reasons respectively.

What do you think? What makes different forms of media—whether books, music, movies, TV shows, etc.—memorable for you?