Bayou Bytes Blog

 I have a complicated love/hate relationship with The Cat Who went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth. On one hand, this 1931 Newberry Award Winner is still my favorite children's story. The story still reads as intended-- there are no dated writing anachronisms, the mixture of poetry and prose still melodically breaks up the chapters, and the illustrations are still breath-takingly beautiful.  And believe it or it's not-- the book called The Cat who went to Heaven isn't actually about experiencing and mourning the loss of a dear pet cat.  Oh, I know-- I can practically hear you thinking: I'm not reading a book about the death of a pet cat .  And I don't blame you. The "Death of a Pet" trope is frequently employed by tear-jerking coming-of-age or a loss-of-innocence stories that want to manipulate your precious tears right out of your cynical eyeballs. This isn't an emotionally manipulative story, but there's my "on the other hand" part o...

 I first picked up this book because Eric Ngyuen is a local author. He attended our very own McNeese State University. Though it's a genre I wouldn't normally pick, I am happy to have read this.   Things We Lost to the Water follows a single mother and her two sons as they escape from Vietnam in the 70's and settle in New Orleans. Chapters drift through the years, providing snapshots as they grow older and grow apart. Huong and her sons, Tuan and Binh, drift apart as they struggle to understand each other's life choices. The story follows them through the decades, ending in 2005 when a disaster strikes the city, forcing them to reach back out to each other.   It's clear from the beginning that Ngyuen's novel is tackling some heavy and upsetting topics. Not only is he delving into the difficulty of immigrating to a new country, building a whole new life, and the loss of family, but he's also tackling the terror and devastation of Hurricane Katrina. And he doe...

 Dellaria Wells is a gutter witch, a street rat with a decent amount of fire magic. She's not thrilled with her lot, but she's content enough scamming the rich during the day and drinking her worries away at night. But money is tight. When the opportunity to play bodyguard for an Important Young Lady on retreat appears, she can't afford to pass it up. Why a proper young lady should need to be protected, Dellaria has no idea, but it pays well.  On the job, she's introduced to her charge as well as the rest of the bodyguards who have been chosen. It's a particularly threatening group of women, each chosen for her skill in a field of magic. And it includes Winn, an adventurous woman with respectable roots, who immediately takes a liking to Dellaria. The gutter witch realizes that cultivating a relationship with Winn won't just make this job more fun, it could get her out of the gutter for good.  Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry  is a fantasy set in an alternat...

Take a walk through a period of history by checking out one of these books. The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane is set in the Republic Era of Rome 265-230 B.C. The Fall of the Templars by Robyn Young takes place during the last days of the Templar Knights, during the rule of Richard I, 1239-1307 A.D. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe alternates between the Salem Witch Trials of Colonial Massachusetts and a grad student in the 1990's studying them. Roanoke by Margaret Lawrence is a reimaging of what could have happened to the lost colony of Roanoke during the 16th century. The Disagreement by Nick Taylor is about a Med Student during the American Civil War.