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The Axeman‘s Carnival, by Catherine Chidgey (2022)
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Premise: A magpie raised by the wife of a competitive log cutter rises to viral fame that masks darkness in the household.

Review: This is wild but still a soft recommendation. It tackles possibly too many issues in one story. ⬇️

A compulsive read. Chidgey takes a dystopian premise (I wont describe because spoilers) & carries it off in a completely fresh way. I think her strength is her ability to build multiple authentic, compelling characters - every interaction btwn them is interesting, you‘re awake to every clue as to who knows what about the mystery in the background. The blend of cheerful, domestic detail with an increasing creepy tension had me glued to the page.

Fantastic. But man, i was so tense reading this, almost unbearable.

Still playing catch-up with #FoodandLit finishing October‘s Samoan read. This book was the first to be published in the United States by a Samoan woman. It‘s a coming of age story that catches the Samoan life and culture beautifully. I wish I knew there was a glossary of Samoan words in the back while I was reading as there are a lot of phrases and words not translated. Dinner, Samoan Chicken Moa Fa‘Asaina aver coconut rice.

Indeed it is!!!

This is a great look at Ardern's life to this point. Such a compassionate and thoughtful woman. It was interesting to hear how she overcame feelings of inadequacy and how she worked through so many life altering crises. I love QE2's advice to her when she asked about raising kids in the public eye and doing public work "You just get on with it."
I thought this was well written and paced, easy to read and relatable - she is quite funny

Calamity says "Men, ?"

Ardern says: Fl"For years, my love life, if you could call it that, had been beset by both minor humiliation and consistent failure [......] Or the lovely journalist who decided to move to Africa - or at least I think he moved to Africa."

Ardern is just as cheeky and relatable in this memoir as I had hoped

I‘m not usually a fan of child narrators, but @squirrelbrain ‘s review convinced me to give this a go. Helen, you were right. The pacing and structure of this book are so good, pulling you in, letting you figure out what‘s happening before the characters do, then wondering how they‘re going to respond when they learn the truth. Just superb.

Best line I‘ve read in a while