Falcon's Bookshelf

Do you have a guilty pleasure book?
I don’t feel guilty about it, but I really like going back as an adult and rereading some of my favorite books from when I was a kid. I think that the stories we read and hear when we’re young create the foundation of the people we become when we’re adults. So if you ever see me reading a kid’s book, that’s why. 

What is your favorite genre?
When I was in grad school, a few of my areas of study were fairytales & folklore and adaptation theory. With that in mind, it makes sense that my favorite genre today is fairytale adaptations. Especially with fairytales like Cinderella that have been around since 800 BC, it’s interesting to see how they evolve based on the core values of the cultural and geographical areas they come from. Today, we have a lot of former “helpless princess” characters who gain agency and end up saving themselves. Yay feminism! 

What is a book you dislike/hate that everyone loves?
I don’t really know if everyone loves it, or if it just seems that way because it’s part of the literary canon, but I hate The Catcher in the Rye with every fiber of my being! I’ve read it three times (once for each college degree), and it seems like it gets worse with every read. The last time I read it, the only way I could keep from throwing it in the trash was to count how many times Holden Caulfield called someone a “phoney.” In case you were wondering, it’s 44. 

Do you remember the last time you put down a book without finishing?
I feel bad about this one, but I didn’t have the stamina to finish Priory of the Orange Tree. I’ll go back to it eventually, but right now I’ve got other books on my mind. 

What is the last book you recommended to everyone you know?
The duology One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig is absolutely fantastic. It’s about a girl who has a shadow monster living inside her head that only speaks in cryptic riddles. She and the monster, whom she has to hide, are roped into a plan to rid the kingdom from the cruel, power-hungry king. There are so many layers to the books that they’re hard to explain. You should just read them! Trust me!

Describe your ideal reading experience (when, what, where, how).
I really love sitting on my couch with my dog in my lap on Sunday mornings. I’ll grab the book I’m working on, turn on whatever football game is playing locally, and read through the commercials and halftime. Bonus points if it’s cool enough outside that I can have my windows open. 

Do you have a favorite book no one else has heard of?
One of my all time favorite books is a Cinderella retelling called Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Living hundreds of years in the future, the Cinderella character is a double amputee with cybernetically advanced prosthetics. So when she goes to the ball, she loses her foot instead of her glass slipper. I loved the book so much that I wrote my entire master’s project about it! 

What’s the last book you read that made you laugh?
I’m rereading the Lady Janies series right now and the authors crack me up every time! They constantly break the fourth wall in the middle of an action scene to let you (the reader) know that they (the authors) think that what their characters are doing is stupid! And to be fair, splitting up in the middle of a haunted house is a pretty stupid thing to do!

What book might people be surprised to find on your bookshelf?
I took neuroscience when I was getting my bachelor’s degree, so I still have some of my neuro books, including a giant coloring book that helps you learn the different parts of the human brain! 

What do you plan to read next?
This is a shameless plug, but my friend Emma Ohland is an author. Her second novel, Here Goes Nothing, is coming out next month. It’s a queer, middle grade/YA retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. We’re going to her book release party, and I’m going to start reading it as soon as I get home that night! 

What’s the last book you read that made you cry?
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei made me cry happy and sad tears. Happy tears because it seems like he’s living his happiest life as Star Trek’s original Mr. Sulu. Sad tears because of how much he had to go through during his childhood. It’s an understatement to say that being forced to leave your home and go live in an internment camp hundreds of miles away is terrifying. How much more terrifying would it be if you were only five years old? And then when you finally are allowed to leave, your home, money, and all of your possessions are just gone. It’s a beautifully illustrated graphic novel biography that tells the story of a great actor!

What’s the last book you read that made you furious?
Not long ago I read I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day. Edie, an Indigenous girl, finds out that her adoption into a white family wasn’t as straightforward as her parents made her believe. A lot of the action in the book is influenced by ramifications of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. It’s easy to forget that certain historical events weren’t that long ago, like the ICWA. I knew that the US government had grossly mistreated Indigenous people, but I didn’t realize how much of the mistreatment wasn’t during colonial times, but during my parents’ lifetimes. It shows the importance of reading books from diverse authors about diverse characters.

Where do you find your books? Where do you look when you’re searching for your next great read?
A lot of my friends use this alternative to Goodreads called Storygraph. If I’m in a reading slump, I’ll look through their recent reads and see what they’ve rated 4-5 stars. Or, if I’m in a silly, goofy mood, I’ll look for what they’ve rated 1 star.