Book: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
Caitlin Doughty
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Armed with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre, Caitlin Doughty took a job at a crematory and turned morbid curiosity into her life’s work. She cared for bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, and became an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. In this best-selling memoir, brimming with gallows humor and vivid characters, she marvels at the gruesome history of undertaking and relates her unique coming-of-age story with bold curiosity and mordant wit. By turns hilarious, dark, and uplifting, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes reveals how the fear of dying warps our society and "will make you reconsider how our culture treats the dead" (San Francisco Chronicle).

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I rather enjoyed the book. Mostly, it was very well edited. A couple of quotes here and there and references to research, I thought it a well prepared, well researched book.

I wasn’t really looking for the macabre details. It really was more for the insight of death and the rituals. So, for me, this was a good read!

I don’t recall how I came by this book, I think it was from some youtube shorts video and as I’ve always been curious about funeral homes, mortuaries, death, and such, I thought I’d get it. It’s been sitting on my shelf in April this year and decided to read my last book for 2022. Though now I still have a day to try and slip another book in :-)

Book: Mystwick School of Musicraft

The Mystwick School of Musicraft
Jessica Khoury
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Humor and heart shine in this middle grade fantasy about a girl who attends a boarding school to learn how to use music to create magic, perfect for fans of Nevermoor and The School for Good and Evil series.

Amelia Jones always dreamed of attending the Mystwick School of Musicraft, where the world’s most promising musicians learn to create magic.

So when Amelia botches her audition, she thinks her dream has met an abrupt and humiliating end—until the school agrees to give her a trial period. Amelia is determined to prove herself, vowing to do whatever it takes to become the perfect musician. Even if it means pretending to be someone she isn’t.

Meanwhile, a mysterious storm is brewing that no one, not even the maestros at Mystwick, is prepared to contain. Can Amelia find the courage to be true to herself in time to save her beloved school from certain destruction?

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This was a nice quick in-one-sitting read.

It’s YA, so everything was a little predictable. But it also had a lot of premises that seemed in reference to many things…

So there’s only magic in musicraft? There are no other forms of magic? No real it’s-a-spell-magic? You can’t enjoy music just for the music itself? Music has to be useful? There’s the HP reference with regards to magic. Then there’s also the FMA reference (and I believe a couple others) with regards to the necromancing and how “it just comes back wrong”.

I read some review somewhere that this was a wonderful audiobook because of all the music involved, and I believe it would. Would be cool to have a listen to. I think there’s a book 2 in the series.

Bit of a spoiler:::::
Very well written, easy on the eyes, easy with the flow. How they thought the ghost was the other Amelia was a little baffling. Nowhere was it mentioned whether the other Amelia looked like the heroin Amelia’s mother. So, that sort of had me scratching my head.