The Knight and the Moth

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig, 400 pages

As one of six diviners in the kingdom, Sybil drowns almost every day, reading visions sent to her by six godlike Omens while she is fully immersed in holy water. But when her divining "sisters" begin to disappear, she teams up with the new king and his mysterious (and handsome, naturally) knight, Rodrick, to hunt down the symbols of the Omens while seeking the fates of the other diviners. While she's at it, Sybil learns enough to make her question everything she ever thought she knew about the kingdom's history and belief system.

This is one of those rare books that's marketed as a romantasy, but is really heavy on the fantasy side (I'd call it more of a fantasy with a strong romance plotline). Really, the story is about Sybil's awakening to the ways that history and belief can be twisted to the uses of those in power. This is the first book of the series, and I'm intrigued to see where it goes next.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Go Tell It on the Mountain: a Novel / James Baldwin, 291 p.

James Baldwin's first novel, and considered largely autobiographical.  It tells the story of John, age 14, as he approaches the time to be baptized and born again.  Baldwin says he wrote the story to understand what happened in his own family, among his preacher-stepfather, eventually institutionalized, his mother, and his aunt.  He manages to tell John's story, while unpacking the complex, tragic stories of his antecedents as well.  Large-minded, compassionate, and graceful, this will be a hard novel to forget.