They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Speculative Chic contributor Kelly McCarty, who is one of our most avid readers and shared some of her favorites with us a few years ago.
What does Kelly love when she’s not buried in a great book? Spoiler alert: a science fiction novel that will move even the most staunch literary purist to read, a feminist and more human retelling of a Greek myth, the horror of retail, and all the cookies. Curious? Read on to learn more!
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Right from the start, I knew that The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell was going to break my heart. In 2019, humanity learns of alien life when otherworldly music is transmitted from a distant planet, Rakhat. The Society of Jesuits sends a mission of eight people to learn about the beings that created the music. In 2060, the Jesuit priest Emilio Sandoz returns to Earth alone, mentally and physically broken, and bitterly angry at God. Russell poses questions that I haven’t often seen addressed in science fiction, such as, “What would happen to religion if life was discovered on other planets?” and “How would people of faith react if they knew that God had other children?” What happens in Rakhat is a metaphor for past religious missions on Earth to cultures that were as foreign to the missionaries then as aliens would be to us now. Sandoz’s faith is real but the assumptions that the humans make about the alien culture lead to a horrible tragedy.
Even though I knew that a happy ending was not forthcoming, I could not help but to fall in love with Russell’s wonderful characters. Sandoz is a talented linguist who grew up in a Puerto Rican slum. His love for God saves him from a life of crime, but he is a lonely man. My favorite part of the book is seeing Sandoz make a family of his own choosing. Anne and George Edwards, who run a clinic for the poor in Puerto Rico, and D.W. Yarbrough, his priest mentor, are like parents to him. Jimmy, the astronomer who is the first to hear the music, and Sofia, a former child prostitute turned computer expert, become his siblings. Sandoz is torn between his calling to the priesthood and his feelings for Sofia. He describes his conflict as “a time to weigh the extraordinary and spiritual and fathomless beauty that God had shown him against the ordinary and worldly and incalculable sweetness of human love and family” (p.306). Ultimately, Sandoz chooses God, making his loss of faith even harder to bear. Even if you are not into science fiction, you should read this book. It’s beautiful, literary, deep, and philosophical. The Sparrow is everything that you could hope for in a reading experience.
Circe by Madeline Miller
I remember reading The Odyssey my freshmen year of high school, but Greek mythology was always a little too dry and dull for me. Madeline Miller’s re-imagined Circe takes the gods and heroes of Greek mythology and makes them as flawed and compelling as any modern day characters. Circe is the daughter of the sun god, Helios, and a minor nymph, Perse. She and her siblings are the world’s first witches. Both Circe and the world pay a terrible price when she turns her mortal lover into a god and her romantic rival, Scylla, into a sea monster. She is exiled to the island of Aiaia, and Scylla eats generations of men.
Even before her banishment, Circe suffers from excruciating loneliness. The other gods dislike her and she is often repelled by their antics. Her depraved sister, Pasiphaë, fornicates with a sacred bull to conceive the monstrous Minotaur. But Circe cannot belong to the world of mortals, either. Circe has a brief affair with Daedalus. My favorite line in the book is when Circe reminisces about Daedalus after learning of the death of his beloved son. “But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.” (p.152). In Greek mythology, Circe is most well-known for turning Odysseus’ men into pigs. In this version, the reason that she turns men into swine is that they try to rape her. This retelling is more feminist than the original but also more human. Circe’s loneliness, her struggles as a single mother, and her efforts to atone for her sins make her relatable. Circe is one of the best books that I read in 2019.
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
I first picked up Horrorstör out of respect for Grady Hendrix’s sheer audacity in setting a horror novel in a haunted IKEA store. Technically, it’s a knock-off store named Orsk, presumably due to copyright concerns. I was pleasantly surprised that Horrorstör is more than a gimmick — it’s legitimately funny and frightening. I also liked the book’s unique format; it’s shaped like a catalogue. The beginning of each chapter is a drawing and description of a piece of furniture — normal things like sofas and tables at first and torture devices as the story turns darker.
Anyone who has ever worked a retail job will recognize the characters here — the sarcastic one who thinks she’s too smart for the job (Amy), the overeager manager (Basil), the annoying couple (Matt and Trinity), and the sweet older lady who turns out to be the biggest badass of them all (Ruth Anne). Amy describes Trinity as “one of those happy, super-popular, high-energy girls who reminded Amy of the creatures from Gremlins: she was fun for about half an hour, then you wanted to stuff her in a blender” (p. 21).
At first, the strange things happening in the store after hours seem explicable — mirrors are broken, curtains torn down, and someone befouls a sofa. Basil offers Amy and Ruth Anne a deal they can’t refuse — double overtime to stay in the store all night to catch the vandal. A retail store doesn’t sound scary, but I did get spooked as things got weirder. As someone with no sense of direction who once got lost in a mall, I was frightened when the characters could not find their way around in the store. Not only was the book more horrifying and humorous than I anticipated, I genuinely cared about the characters. If you’re looking for unique horror, you’ve found it with Horrorstör.
The Cookie Book: Decadent Bites for Every Occasion by Rebecca Firth
My holiday baking extravaganza is truly an amazing event. No one is going to stop being my friend in December, even if I steal their car. Cookies are one of my favorite things to bake because they’re so easy to share. I always go overboard on the Christmas cookies because it feels weird to hand out cookies on a random Tuesday in May. I knew I had to have The Cookie Book as soon as I read that it has an entire chapter just on chocolate chip cookies. The Cold Brew (coffee, not booze) cookies featuring white chocolate, dark chocolate, and chocolate-covered espresso beans are definitely on this year’s holiday cookie list. Lemon Poppy Seed cookies, Chocolate Crinkles, Spiced Chewy Molasses cookies, and Eggnog Snickerdoodles are serious contenders. I also eventually want to bake Crème Fraîche Cranberry Pecan Pie Bites, Mandarin Orange Cream Sammies, Lemon Raspberry Summer Bars, and Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake Thumbprints. I can’t stand cookbooks without pictures, so I love that The Cookie Book features beautiful photography. Some of the recipes are a little involved and require ingredients that aren’t exactly pantry staples like pink peppercorns, lemongrass, and puffed quinoa. However, The Cookie Book still makes an excellent addition to any cookbook collection.
Kelly McCarty is a graduate of Hollins University who has lived in Roanoke, Virginia her entire life. She is a reading addict who crushes the 50 Book Challenge every year. Her favorite book of all-time is Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Márquez. She loves to bake and describes herself as “the kind of girl that any man would love to have — as a grandmother.” Her work has been published in Paprika Southern magazine.
Find Kelly on Goodreads and Facebook.
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