Astronaut! by Oana Aristide

It is hard to evaluate the amount of trauma one may get while growing up in a dictatorship. Of how getting used to live with fear as the only way of life perverts your self-awareness and trust in the others. How vicious are the lies for a normal mental and moral development. I want to stop now the amount of thoughts overwhelming me when thinking about this topic. With more books based in communist Romania, I may have the chance to talk about it on other occasions.

I better talk more about Astronaut!, the second novel by Oana Aristide instead. Lia is a 8-year old curious girl who loves colours. She notices how colours, including colouring pencils, are disappearing from her world. She is careless with what she talks with people, creating a lot of troubles for her parents. 

It is late 1980s, when the scarcity and repression of the Romanian dictatorship was doubled by a paranoid panic of the repression apparatchiks. Who are not tasked with a special mission: finding the criminal(s) killing various Securitate - communist ´intelligence´ apparatus - informers. Or maybe was rather a bear, or many of them at a killing spree?

Constantin, a policeman who loves stories - to write and read to his son - seems to be apparently untainted by the last jump of patriotic wave, observing the corruption of his co-workers and the kafkaesque bear-hunting. Lia and Constantin may be an unlikely anti-hero characters match, but in a world where people are running from one cue to another unable to figure out what is delivered that time, normality shall be re-defined.

Aristide´s take on the storyline and characters is full of empathic humour, successfully defying the need to lecture or complain. For a long time I felt that the Romanian dictatorship is rarely the pretexte of stories written in English while the Romanian writers are rather focused on the post-communist trauma. Astronaut! showed me that this shift is changing and cannot wait to read and review more such novels.

Rating: 4.5 stars

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

I am training my fantasy muscle lately, as cultivating a creative mind needs a lot of inspiration. The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd included a bit of fantasy, a bit of time travel and a lot of discussions about maps and their (sometimes deadly) power.

The theoretical premise of the book is the existence of phantom settlements, which are fictional places introduced on purposed by maps creators as a way to mark their copyright. This will allow to someone illegally copying a map to be caught, because only the original authors do know where the error was placed. Like Agloe, for instance, a classical phantom settlement placed by map makers, that inspired at least another book. 

The cartographers, a group of maps lovers academics experienced the out of time experience of the place, but its discovery and frequentation will destroy their friendship, and the search for getting back all the possible maps marking the place, as a way to return, will lead to terrible crimes. 

Nell Young, the daugher of the legendary Dr. Daniel Young, and of Tamara Young - who apparently died in a fire involving those maps - will recreate the chain of events leading to a return to the place. When someone unexpected is waiting for them, but especially for her. 

I loved the writing and the moderately paced plot, which seems to not spare any details of the ambiance and historical cartographic information. The fanastic part is tempered, allowing other universally human topics, such as friendship, the risks some may take for the sake of scientific curiosity. However though, I´ve found that the action advanced a bit too cautiously for my taste, with the plot not daring more than expected. More than half into the story, I guessed - right - what will happen next, but stayed for the sake of the story. 

The Cartographers has a catchy yet predictable plot, but it is well written keeping even the fantasy opaque readers like me. It just opened up the readig appetite for more fantasy in the next weeks. Just keep an eye on my blog for my upcoming reviews.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Random Things Tours: A History of Medicine in 12 Objects by Dr. Carol Cooper

We are usually thinking and talking about medicine when we are facing health scares or illness, but what about thinking medicine as part of our general society evolution? There are so many aspects directly connected with its progress, including the fact that thanks to the medical evolutions we are able to live longer nowadays compared to centuries ago.

I grew up surrounded by the fantastic doctors of my family and medicine belonged and still belongs to my daily life. Stories of unusual interventions and unique patients and some of their fantastic survivals kept me company during my own medical episodes. 

I love reading about medicine and doctors, hence my curiosity to discover A History of Medicine in Twelve Objects by Dr. Carol Cooper. Well-written, in an accessible language, while keeping the highest scientific standards, this book is an important contribution to revealing human discoveries. From the beginning of humanity until our times, this book is outlining changes and turns of mentality, through history of objects - like XRay machines, the microscope, the mask or the stethoscope - reflecting our own human history.

A recommended book for the science nerds, with an interest in medical knowledge and very specific episodes of the history of mentalities.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

 When I´ve started reading Katie Kitamura´s books, I knew I will return to this writer. 

Intimacies is set in the Hague and the unnamed women character is, like in A Separation, a translator, this time a translator at the Criminal Court in Hague. As an interpreter/translator myself, I recognized the intimacies and distances we are experiencing through and about words. The protagonist is observing and connecting, projecting intimate information she had access to, without judging, just allowing herself the benefit of the moment.

There are the intimacies of people we don´t know, but also other people intimating our thoughts. The private turns public, common knowledge. 

There is no plot in Intimacies, as not all books should follow a plot. It feels claustrophobic sometimes, as we are living in the mind of the main character, we are obsessivelly following her, we intimate her thoughts and life, her lows and insecurities. There is also something deeply impressionistic about this novel, as in the art movement. 

The chiselled prose and thoughtful reflections are extraordinary and would clearly read Audition as soon as possible.

Kitamura, whose book Audition was shortlisted for 2025 Booker is the chair of the jury of the 2027 Booker Prize - rebranded as The Bukhman International Booker Prize.

Rating: 4.5 stars 

The Cupid Index by Sheeva Moshiri

Soraya is young, rich - or at least her family is -, glamorous and with a lot of luxurious activities to do daily. But as a young lady in her last year of her 20s, she is having a big problem - or this is what her mother, Anahita, things she does: she is not yet married. An embarassing situation for her family of well-situated Iranians in LA. 

But as her mother is trying to put her under enormous pressure to get married, Soraya may just decide to take a break from the family drama, starting anew on her own for four months, until when she expects to find ´the one´. Would she succeed/survive?

The Cupid Index by Sheeva Moshiri is a story of dating and breaking in an Iranian-American family, with ridiculous high stakes and expectations. Who would resist a dowry of 1 million dollars offered to the potential husband material?

I will never stop reading dating and romance stories because the ways in which people match and see themselves in a couple - or outside of it - shows so much about the mentalities and the ways in which individuals are expected to fit - or not - the social web. 

I´ve read this book with interest, passion even, but somehow, found the characters relatively plain, tired before being born, although the plot may have some twists that wakes you up. The dialogues do not help too much either. 

I was very excited to read another book about dating and its challenges, but me and this book were not meant to be.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Rachel´s Random Resources: The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin

I may confess that I am not a big fan of Porto. First impression was not impressive, and since then, I haven´t tried to come back to correct my opinion, although the travel trends from the last ten years or so are openly contradicting my first sight non-love. However, any city and place looks better if there are books involved. 

The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin - a bestselling author I´ve featured before, also with a book with a travel and book-related romance novel - adds bookish mystery and even more love to the city, through the life and adventures of the characters, all in love with books and bookish characters. 

Viviane, a gentle person feeling more at ease in a library than in the company of people that may inspire books, is encouraged by her mother to get a taste of real life which she is doing in a way close to her heart: being surrounded by people at home within the pages of a book. And what happens next may touch to a mystery search, but the story will end up being touched by love as well.

The book is very atmospheric and wraps you in a kind and positive embrace. No wonder that some people may rather live in a book that in the real life. The whodunnit detail adds more complexity to the story, and so does the romance story. It is slow paced, but the local details keeps you focused until the next action happens.

A lovely weekend and summer read for the lovers of books and romantic travel. And indeed, I may give a chance to Porto again, one of those months.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: The Uskok by George Sand translated by Lynne Forest

This is my second review in less than a day of a book of historical fiction influence set in Venice so maybe the bookish universe is trying to send me a subtle message that I may not be able to grasp it yet correctly. 

The Uskok by George Sand, translated into English by Lynne Forest,  is a novella of love and passion, in a world of uncertainty. A world where some women are becoming more aware of their strengths, taking bold decisions contradicting the expectations the society - the men´s world, that is - assigned to them. Sand, a strong supporter of female independence and a harsh critique of institutional love - as in marriage -  wrote in the 19th century, and Uskok - the name for the Dalmatian pirates - is set in the 17th century. 

The romantic novel - romantic being usually labelled for stories with exceptional characters reacting under exceptional circumstances is offering to the 21st century reader not only a very active plot, but also invites to think about bravery, honor and courage. The voices from times past still have a lot to teach us today.

I rarely read French books in English translations, but my thirst for reading was bigger than my vanity therefore I accepted the challenge. I´ve read George Sand before and I remember how complex is the original French. Therefore, my biggest admiration for the elegant translation by Lynne Forest, who brought to life a linguistic realm that is so far from hours, without altering the original symbolism and historical and fictional register.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own