Kate's Book'd Lists

Short and Thoughful, Weird and Wonderful

Created by Kate - Updated on May 25^th 2023

Time seems shorter than ever, but fortunately there's a wealth of books that are perfect to fit into a single evening or weekend. I loved that these books were on the shorter side but still packed with thoughtful explorations of humanity, reality, and relationships.

Piranesi

Clarke, Susanna, author.

From the Publisher

"From the ... author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality. Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he...

A psalm for the wild-built

Chambers, Becky, author.

From the Publisher

"In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Hugo Award-winner Becky Chambers's delightful new Monk & Robot series gives us hope for the future. It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend. One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot...

Stories of your life and others

Chiang, Ted.

From the Publisher

"Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty, but also by beauty and wonder"-- Provided by publisher.

The hummingbirds' gift : wonder, beauty, and renewal on wings

Montgomery, Sy, author.

From the Publisher

As one of the most beautiful and intriguing birds found in nature, hummingbirds fascinate people around the world. The lightest birds in the sky, hummingbirds are capable of incredible feats, such as flying backwards, diving at speeds of sixty-one MPH, and beating their wings more than sixty times a second. Miraculous creatures, they are also incredibly vulnerable when they first emerge from their eggs. That's where Brenda Sherburn comes in.

My Thoughts

The details of a hummingbird rescue operation highlight the beauty and fragility of some of our favorite species.

Galatea : a short story

Miller, Madeline, author.

From the Publisher

In this reimagining of the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion, "a skilled marble sculptor has been blessed by a goddess who has given his masterpiece--the most beautiful woman the town has ever seen--the gift of life. After marrying her, he expects Galatea to please him, to be obedience and humility personified. But she has desires of her own and yearns for independence"--Publisher marketing.

How to focus

Nhất Hạnh, Thích, author.

From the Publisher

Presents meditations to cultivate the power of concentration to achieve insight and understanding.

Elder race

Tchaikovsky, Adrian, 1972- author.

From the Publisher

"Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way. But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she's an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it). But Elder Nyr...

The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Vo, Nghi, author.

From the Publisher

With the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama, Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a tightly and lushly written narrative about empire, storytelling, and the anger of women. A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies...

My Thoughts

A graceful and fierce protagonist journeys across and fantasy empire with her unlikely companion, facing political intrigue and the dangers of the road.

Finna

Cipri, Nino, author.

From the Publisher

"When an elderly customer at a Swedish big box furniture store -- but not that one -- slips through a portal to another dimension, it's up to two minimum-wage employees to track her across the multiverse and protect their company's bottom line. Multi-dimensional swashbuckling would be hard enough, but those two unfortunate souls broke up a week ago. To find the missing granny, Ava and Jules will brave carnivorous furniture, swarms of identical furniture spokespeople, and the deep resentment...

The black god's drums

Clark, P. Djèlí, author.

From the Publisher

In an alternate New Orleans caught in the tangle of the American Civil War, the wall-scaling girl named Creeper yearns to escape the streets for the air--in particular, by earning a spot on-board the airship Midnight Robber. Creeper plans to earn Captain Ann-Marie's trust with information she discovers about a Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls The Black God's Drums.

My Thoughts

A god-blessed orphan girl schemes to join the sky-pirates in an alternate New Orleans. The setting was enough to pull me in but the character's voice is phenomenal.

I met a traveller in an antique land

Willis, Connie, author.

From the Publisher

Jim, a blogger, has just left a radio interview where he argued that nostalgia for obsolete items-- like books-- impedes progress, when a rainstorm strands him in Ozymandias Books. He discovers that Ozymandias seems to be an old-fashioned bookstore, but is a pristine, seemingly endless wonderland of books. While Jim searches for his childhood favorite, he comes to understand how tragic it is that some things may be gone forever... like the magic of books.

Nettle & Bone

Kingfisher, T., author.

From the Publisher

"This isn't a fairytale where the princess marries a prince. It's one where she kills him. From Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes an original and subversive new fantasy adventure. After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra-the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter-has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself. Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools...