Julie's Journal : What I've Been Reading

I've been reading quite a bit lately, which is nothing new, and I have a few recommendations for you.

First up is Famous Last Words, by Gillian McAllister.  Ms. McAllister is very good at writing a first chapter that really pulls me into a story and gets me invested in how everything turns out.  This one starts with Camilla, a new mother in London who is returning to work after maternity leave.  As she gets ready to drop her daughter off at daycare for the first time, she is experiencing all the anxieties that new mothers go through, along with some frustration that her husband has left early and isn't there to go through it with her.  As she starts her day at work, she is beginning to worry about her husband, who isn't returning her texts, when she gets pulled into a meeting with authorities.  They inform her about a hostage situation happening across town.  Her husband is involved, but he isn't a victim.  He's the perpetrator!  The book then goes back and forth between timelines.  We see the hostage situation unfolding, but also Camilla, seven years in the future, where she is still trying to deal with the aftermath.  This is the third book I've read by this author, and I will be seeking out more by her in the future.  So far, I've enjoyed all the books I've read by her.

Next is We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough.  I discovered Pinborough when I read Behind Her Eyes, which had a crazy premise and one of the wildest twists I remember.  We Live Here Now has a classic creepy house and an unreliable narrator.  Emily is recovering from a horrific accident and with her husband has bought a historic house in the country.  The house feels malevolent, especially the third floor.  Books fall off shelves, windows open by themselves, and cold seeps through the floor.  Emily seems to be the only one who notices these things, and she's still medically unsound, so she's unsure if she can trust her own perceptions.  Frankie, her husband, doesn't seem to notice anything amiss.  They slowly meet neighbors and start to build a life in the new community, but Emily is determined to figure out the truth about their house.  Once again with a Pinborough book, I didn't figure out the house's mystery or see the end coming.  I'm not sure how I would categorize this - maybe horror, although it wasn't particularly gory.  I will read this author again, just to see what wild and crazy ideas she comes up with.

Several years ago, my husband and I were watching North Woods Law, a game warden show set in Maine, and they featured the story of Geraldine Largay.  Geraldine went missing on the Appalachian trail in 2013.  Her body wasn't found until 2015 and it was discovered that she had survived for 26 days before succumbing to the elements.  This year I read Heartwood, by Amity Gaige.  Heartwood is not really based on Geraldine's story, but is more inspired by it.  It follows Valerie - the missing hiker, Bev - the game warden in charge of finding her, and Lena - an elderly woman in a senior living center who is following the case closely for her own reasons.  Maybe it was because I was already a little familiar with the real-life case, but this book sucked me in and I flew through it.

Kate & Frida, by Kim Fay is a follow-up to Love & Saffron from a few years ago.  Both books are epistolary, told through letters written between two young women.  It is 1991.  Frida is in Paris, trying to make a success of being a war correspondent.  She hopes to tell the story of war torn Bosnia.  She writes to a bookstore in Seattle looking for a certain book.  She is answered by Kate.  Kate sends the requested for book as well as a recommendation for more.  They begin a friendship through letters becoming essentially pen pals.  Through their letters, they discuss books, food, current events, their love lives and everything in between.  It is not a flashy, exciting read, but it is a book that gave me a sense of contentment and peace as I was reading it.  I had the same feeling reading Love & Saffron.  I hope that Kim Fay writes more of this type of book.

If you like fantasy, I discovered a new trilogy.  I've read the Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett.  The first is Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Fairies.  Emily is a professor at Cambridge.  She studies fairies.  She travels to the far north in order to study winter fairies first hand.  She's not very good with people and manages to insult the locals on her first day, which makes her existence in the village very difficult.  Soon though she is joined by her colleague, Wendell Bambleby, who has the gift of charm.  Emily is frustrated by Wendell, and tries to keep him at arms length, but he has more to offer her, both personally and professionally, than she realizes.  She is hot on the trail of the "Hidden Ones", elusive royal fairies that most mortals are afraid to deal with for good reason.  She will end up needing more help than she wants to accept, if she's going to survive this research trip.  I read all three books in this series pretty quickly.  I enjoyed Emily's curmudgeonly character very much.

Julie's Journal : A Slightly Morbid Tech Tip

One of the many services that Franklin County Library offers is tech help.  We work with patrons to print documents, learn to use new devices and apps, recover lost passwords, keep devices up to date, and anything else patrons need.  Offering this is something I really enjoy and I feel like it is a small way to really help people.  Being somewhat tech savvy is a necessity now, and if we can make that a little easier for patrons, then we have succeeded.

There are limits to what we can help with though, and I've run up against one of those limits a few times over the past year, which is what led me to make this post.  More and more, when you go to sign in to a website or account, the website requires two-factor authentication.  This means that after you put in your password, the website will send a code to your phone and you will have to enter the code to verify that it's really you trying to log in.  

So, what I've seen happen lately is that when someone dies and their estate is being settled, their phone gets turned off.  Then, weeks or months later, their spouse needs to get into an account that is verified through the phone of the deceased.  Since that phone is no longer active, the code cannot be sent and the account cannot be verified.  Many times we can't figure out another way to verify the account. There is very little I can do to help at that point. 

I have seen a widow lose access to the Facebook account that was set up on her husband's phone.  She lost contacts and memories that will be hard to replace.  Another couple had shared an Apple ID and both phones were set up using the same email and password, but his phone was the main contact.  When she couldn't verify the login she lost the ability to download new apps on her phone.  More important accounts also use two-factor authentication - email, banking, and healthcare accounts come to mind.  

If at all possible, please, please, PLEASE don't disconnect someone's phone for as long as possible after they have passed away.  As long as you can afford to pay for it, even for as much as a couple of years, it will benefit you to not lose access to their number.  Be very sure that you have full access to all the accounts you need and that the main phone number associated with them has been changed to your number before you cancel a phone.  It is one small way to make a very difficult time in your life a little easier.

As always, we are glad to help you with your tech needs.  You can ask quick questions at any time or make an appointment for a longer session.  Call the library at 903-537-4916 for more information.

Julie's Journal : An Author I Love - T. Kingfisher

It's always fun when I find a new author I love and discover a backlist of their books to enjoy.  Over the past year I have devoured several books by T. Kingfisher, and I have more to read.  T. Kingfisher is the pen name of Ursula Vernon.  As Ursula Vernon, she is the author of many popular children's books such as the Dragonbreath series and the Hamster Princess series.  T. Kingfisher is the name she uses when she writes for adults.  

I think I've mentioned on the blog several times that I love A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking.  This wasn't the first Kingfisher book that I read, but it is the one that sent me looking for more and I found a treasure trove.

A Sorceress Comes to Call is very loosely based on the Goose Girl fairytale.  Cordelia's mother is an evil sorceress.  She doesn't allow her daughter to have any friends, except her beautiful white horse Falada.  She also has the ability to make her daughter "obedient".  While she is obedient, Cordelia loses all control over her behaviors and speech, behaving exactly as her mother wishes.  Cordelia knows her mother has done bad things, but is somewhat naive as to the depths of her evil.  When her mother begins to worm her way into a noble household, and tricks the squire into marrying her, Cordelia realizes she must act to protect the innocent.  Kingfisher is hard to pin down as to how to classify her books.  This one is definitely fantasy, but also leans slightly into the horror genre.  It is a satisfying read.     

Swordheart is the most recent one I've read.  Halla has been a housekeeper for her late husband's elderly uncle.  When he dies, he leaves his estate to Halla which really ticks off the rest of his family.  They try to force Halla to marry a cousin in order to keep control of the property.  Halla, of course, is not excited about that idea and while looking for a way out, finds a sword that has been used as decoration for years.  When she draws the sword out of its sheath, a man appears.  Essentially, he is the sword, sworn to protect whoever wields it.  His name is Sarkis, and with his help, Halla sets out to free herself of her in-laws and claim her inheritance.  An eclectic cast of characters join them on their quest and many adventures are had.  I enjoy Kingfisher's dry humor, which is especially on display in the character of the priest who joins their party.    

Another of her works, Thornhedge, is a shorter book, closer to a novella.  It's based on the Sleeping Beauty fairytale, but isn't really about Sleeping Beauty.  Toadling is one of the fairies who give a gift to the young princess, but the gift goes awry.  Years later, when the prince comes to rescue Sleeping Beauty, Toadling is determined that he should fail.  Why?  Because Sleeping Beauty is sleeping for a reason and we DO NOT want her to wake up.

Other books by Kingfisher that I have read recently are Nettle and Bone, What Moves the Dead, A House with Good Bones, and novellas Minor Mage, Illuminations, and Nine Goblins.  There are several more I am excited about reading.  I'm thinking I'll try the Paladin series next.