1lycomayflower
Welcome to my 2021 reading thread! Click here to go to my introduction post.
This first post contains an on-going list of the books I've read this year, with the most recent reads at the top. Click on the book title to go to the book's post within the thread, where you will find a review. Numbers in parentheses are page counts for each book. I've always kept track of pages read, but this year I'm trying to shift my thinking away from how many books read to pages read. I'm shooting for 16,000. I hope this shift will help me read some longer books I have been putting off. Click here to visit my most recent 2020 thread.
Total Pages: 13,395
60.) How to Blow It with a Billionaire (356)
59.) Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir (242)
58.) Murder at Mallowan Hall (260)
57.) Mistletoe: A Christmas Story
56.) Santa in the City
55.) The Life and Works of Jane Austen (audio)
54.) The Lights on Knockbridge Lane (282)
53.) A Rule Against Murder (322)
52.) The Princess Bride (317)
51.) Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve
50.) Bear Stays Up for Christmas
49.) Zachary and the Great Potato Catastrophe
48.) Each Peach Pear Plum
47.) The Island (286)
46.) Something Wicked This Way Comes (265)
45.) The Hero and the Blues (107)
44.) Skunk and Badger (122)
43.) Red, White & Royal Blue (421)
42.) The Haunting of Timber Manor (268)
41.) Some Things I Still Can't Tell You (129)
40.) Black Moon (288)
39.) Bryony and Roses (214)
38.) The Hate U Give (444)
37.) The Ghost Clause (245)
36.) Dauntless (111)
35.) The Back Passage (199)
34.) The West Wing
33.) The Gunslinger (251)
32.) Book Girl (256)
31.) Piranesi (245)
30.) Tender with a Twist (276)
29.) We Are the Baby-sitters Club (198)
28.) Lights Out in Lincolnwood (529)
27.) Mary Jane (314)
26.) Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask (164)
25.) Hardly Haunted
24.) Books Promiscuously Read (140)
23.) Guilty Pleasures (153)
22.) Laurent and the Beast (322)
21.) Amelia Unabridged (293)
20.) Ham Helsing: Vampire Hunter" (236)
19.) Say You Love Me (413)
18.) The Cruelest Month (311)
17.) Sweetwater (209)
16.) Steeple (~100)
15.) Prince & Knight: Tale of the Shadow King
14.) Broken Horses (309)
13.) Wicked Epic Adventures (170)
12.) Good Talk (349)
11.) Best Laid Plans (284)
10.) The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks (258)
9.) Kink (263)
8.) Friends with Boys (212)
7.) Wolf Found (206)
6.) How to Bang a Billionaire (349)
5.) Patience and Esther (327)
4.) Touch Me Gently (207)
3.) Once Upon a River (464)
2.) When All the World Sleeps (390)
1.) The Book of Essie (319)
2lycomayflower
Hello! My name is Laura, and this is the fourteenth year I've kept an LT thread tracking and reviewing my reading. I read pretty widely, but I'm most likely to read romance, memoir, mysteries, YA, sci-fi, fantasy, and literary fiction. I'm in my early-forties, work as an editor, am married to a fellow reader, and carry on living in the south (it's been the majority of my adult life now) despite constantly missing winter and wanting to move back north (I grew up in north-east Pennsylvania). When I'm not reading, I like to do photography, write, crochet, swim, and watch TV. I also keep a bookish blog at https://wonderatsix.blogspot.com/. Please feel free to talk to me there or here on LT. I love a good bookish conversation!
My Favs and Least Favs for 2020:
Top 5 Reads of 2020:
Wintering
Crush
How to Be an Antiracist
Rattlesnake
The Book of Delights
Worst Reads of 2020
Boys of Alabama
Pet
Not a Day Goes By
My Favs and Least Favs for 2020:
Top 5 Reads of 2020:
Wintering
Crush
How to Be an Antiracist
Rattlesnake
The Book of Delights
Worst Reads of 2020
Boys of Alabama
Pet
Not a Day Goes By
3lycomayflower
A snuggle buddy:
6scaifea
>5 lycomayflower: *SNORK!!*
9PaulCranswick
Welcome back, Laura.
10FAMeulstee
Happy reading in 2021, Laura!
12PaulCranswick
And keep up with my friends here, Laura. Have a great 2021.
14laytonwoman3rd
>4 scaifea:, >5 lycomayflower:, >6 scaifea:, >7 scaifea:, >8 lycomayflower: I see we can expect the usual shenanigans carrying forward... It's a good thing you two didn't grow up together, 'cause you'd be a caution. Even more than you are.
15scaifea
>14 laytonwoman3rd: It's cute that you think we haven't had that conversation ourselves...
16thornton37814
Hope you have a great year of reading!
17laytonwoman3rd
>15 scaifea: Oh, I didn't think that. I imagine by now you have common memories of childhood, actually!
18scaifea
>17 laytonwoman3rd: *big grin*
19norabelle414
Happy New Year Laura!
20lycomayflower
>9 PaulCranswick:, >10 FAMeulstee:, >11 MickyFine:, >12 PaulCranswick:, >13 DianaNL:, >16 thornton37814:, >19 norabelle414: Thanks, all! Happy new year to you and best wishes for wonderful reading. Hope to see you around these parts throughout the year.
>14 laytonwoman3rd: A caution, indeed. Unstoppable, we'd be.
>15 scaifea:
>17 laytonwoman3rd:, >18 scaifea: Muuuwhaaaahahahahaha
>14 laytonwoman3rd: A caution, indeed. Unstoppable, we'd be.
>15 scaifea:
>17 laytonwoman3rd:, >18 scaifea: Muuuwhaaaahahahahaha
23lycomayflower
In honor of JRR Tolkien's birthday, a toast: *raises glass* The professor!
25lycomayflower
1.) The Book of Essie, Meghan Maclean Weir ***1/2
Seventeen-year-old Esther Anne Hicks and her family--led by her evangelical preacher father--have been part of a television show following their lives since before Esther was born. And she wants out. And she has a plan.
This was quite a page-turner for me--I wanted to know what would happen to Esther, what decisions she would ultimately make about exposing her family's secrets, and whether I was right about what that secret was. (I was. I'm not sure you're not *supposed* to know pretty much right away. But once you get just a handful of details about the Hicks family and about Esther, you'll have a suspicion, and you'll be right.) Ultimately this was an intriguing and in some ways compelling read (I especially enjoyed the portrayal of Roarke and his male friendships), but I wish there had been more about the specific ways that growing up on television affected Essie and her siblings. The fact thatit is one of her older brothers who has been sexually abusing her for five years and is the father of her child seems a good "in" to an exploration of this, but he's just sort of pushed off as a "predator"--it's implied he's just a bad dude and likely a psychopath. And I certainly understand the choice to make this Esther's book and not focus on him, but it also feels a little like a glaring omission. There's this implication that this family is messed up and that the lack of privacy and constant fakery for cameras is part of that, but one of the biggest pieces of that puzzle is pretty much shrugged off. It's as if the story is only interested in the monstrousness of Essie's parents not protecting her and not interested at all in how the family got to a place where one of its children was praying on the others. And that seemed odd given that the set up to explore it was right there. But I don't mean to over emphasize this failing to bring that thematic element to the fore. I wish it had been there, but what *was* there was a fascinating read that gave me a lot to think about. And I loved the end. Worked out as it should, I thought.
Seventeen-year-old Esther Anne Hicks and her family--led by her evangelical preacher father--have been part of a television show following their lives since before Esther was born. And she wants out. And she has a plan.
This was quite a page-turner for me--I wanted to know what would happen to Esther, what decisions she would ultimately make about exposing her family's secrets, and whether I was right about what that secret was. (I was. I'm not sure you're not *supposed* to know pretty much right away. But once you get just a handful of details about the Hicks family and about Esther, you'll have a suspicion, and you'll be right.) Ultimately this was an intriguing and in some ways compelling read (I especially enjoyed the portrayal of Roarke and his male friendships), but I wish there had been more about the specific ways that growing up on television affected Essie and her siblings. The fact that
27scaifea
28lycomayflower
>27 scaifea: *snork* Intentional. Yep. Definitely. Mm-hm.
30lycomayflower
>29 foggidawn: Thanks!
31laytonwoman3rd
Sooooo....read any good books lately? *ducks and yells about the rule against hitting old ladies who are your mother*
33lycomayflower
2.) When All the World Sleeps, Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock ****1/2
CW: self-harm, violent homophobia, sexual assault, suicidal ideation
Daniel sleepwalks and does horrible things to himself--and once to someone else--while he's asleep. He's desperate to find a way to control himself when he's not awake and looks for someone into bondage to help with with that. Cop Joe Belman doesn't have much of an opinion of Daniel. Just like the rest of their small town, he can't get past the murder Daniel committed and got off light for because it occurred while Daniel was asleep. Until he encounters Daniel during one of his self-destructive rages while sleepwalking--and then he's intrigued and eventually finds himself trying to give Daniel what he needs and beginning to fall for him. This romance novel is dark, but (for me at least) knowing that it would have a happy ending (because it is a romance novel) means that I was able to get through it and never descended into the kind of dread this subject matter would likely spawn in another genre. And the character development and eventual love between Daniel and Bel made some aspects of the reading experience almost cozy and certainly wonderful--which is exactly what I want from a romance. So, recommended, but do note the content warnings.
CW: self-harm, violent homophobia, sexual assault, suicidal ideation
Daniel sleepwalks and does horrible things to himself--and once to someone else--while he's asleep. He's desperate to find a way to control himself when he's not awake and looks for someone into bondage to help with with that. Cop Joe Belman doesn't have much of an opinion of Daniel. Just like the rest of their small town, he can't get past the murder Daniel committed and got off light for because it occurred while Daniel was asleep. Until he encounters Daniel during one of his self-destructive rages while sleepwalking--and then he's intrigued and eventually finds himself trying to give Daniel what he needs and beginning to fall for him. This romance novel is dark, but (for me at least) knowing that it would have a happy ending (because it is a romance novel) means that I was able to get through it and never descended into the kind of dread this subject matter would likely spawn in another genre. And the character development and eventual love between Daniel and Bel made some aspects of the reading experience almost cozy and certainly wonderful--which is exactly what I want from a romance. So, recommended, but do note the content warnings.
34lycomayflower
So somehow I reposted one of my topper posts down here? So now there's a random message I don't need.
35laytonwoman3rd
>34 lycomayflower: Internet stuff is tricky...you'll get the hang of it.
36scaifea
>34 lycomayflower: I will never not need a random Dean gif. Never.
>35 laytonwoman3rd: Ooof. Best wear gloves to handle such undiluted SASS.
>35 laytonwoman3rd: Ooof. Best wear gloves to handle such undiluted SASS.
38scaifea
>37 laytonwoman3rd: *snork!*
43scaifea
>42 lycomayflower: OMG, I love Bernie so much. Adorable.
44lycomayflower
>43 scaifea: Bernie, pshaw. That's me in my anti-sass mittens. *snork*
45scaifea
>44 lycomayflower: Ah, see, I thought Bernie was just being a gentleman and offering you *his* sass mittens.
46laytonwoman3rd
Have you guys heard the story behind those mittens? They were made for him by a supporter, from scraps of wool and sewn together on a machine she'd had since she was 12 years old. If I hadn't seen her on TV, I'd have suspected someone who posted just up there ^
47scaifea
>46 laytonwoman3rd: Oooh, I love that!
48MickyFine
Just popping by to say I watched the Season 5 Supernatural episode where the boys go to con and I was delighted. Every single time they panned back from Becky talking to Sam to show Chuck was standing right next her I cracked up . Happy Friday!
49lycomayflower
>48 MickyFine: Heeee! The meta ones are so, so fun. Glad you are enjoying!
50MickyFine
>49 lycomayflower: Although that was immediately followed by Jo and Ellen dying *glare* .
51lycomayflower
>50 MickyFine: Ug, yeah. An absolute wrench that one.
52lycomayflower
Who's falling down on her resolution not to let reviews pile up this year? This kid! *sigh*
53lycomayflower
3.) Once Upon a River, Diane Setterfield ****
A long, slow revelation of the various secrets being kept by the inhabitants of one stretch of the Thames in the 19th century and an exploration of how all those secrets and their keepers' lives intersect and branch out from the events of one evening on the river. This novel is masterfully and beautifully told (and there are a few just brilliant, hilarious bits too) and is almost as much about storytelling as it is about telling *this* story. Not quite an all-time favorite for me because the nature of it holds the reader just a touch too far away from the characters for my taste, but boy does it sure reward sticking with it.
A long, slow revelation of the various secrets being kept by the inhabitants of one stretch of the Thames in the 19th century and an exploration of how all those secrets and their keepers' lives intersect and branch out from the events of one evening on the river. This novel is masterfully and beautifully told (and there are a few just brilliant, hilarious bits too) and is almost as much about storytelling as it is about telling *this* story. Not quite an all-time favorite for me because the nature of it holds the reader just a touch too far away from the characters for my taste, but boy does it sure reward sticking with it.
54lycomayflower
4.) Touch Me Gently, J.R. Loveless **
Pretty good sentence-level writing kept me going after the point where I might otherwise have DNFed this one. Ultimately I wish I'd just quit. A decent premise, but the character development was lacking--I never felt like I was really getting to know these men, and I really didn't understand why they were falling for each other. And eventually things got dramatic in a way I thought the story neither built up to nor earned.
Pretty good sentence-level writing kept me going after the point where I might otherwise have DNFed this one. Ultimately I wish I'd just quit. A decent premise, but the character development was lacking--I never felt like I was really getting to know these men, and I really didn't understand why they were falling for each other. And eventually things got dramatic in a way I thought the story neither built up to nor earned.
55laytonwoman3rd
>53 lycomayflower:. So how soon does it get here? (Don't give me stuff about snow storms and pandemics, now.)
56lycomayflower
5.) Patience and Esther, S.W. Searle ****
CA: illustrations of nudity and sex
This graphic novel is subtitled "An Edwardian Romance," and it does what it says on the tin. We follow Patience and Esther, two women in service, as they fall in love and navigate how to build a life together. There's a lot of realism on the page here about life in Edwardian England (suffragists and suffragettes, racism, colonialism), but while there are some references to the fact that Patience and Esther's relationship would not be accepted and the cannot get married legally, mostly the realism keeps its hands off their love. We don't have to see them deal with homophobia, for instance, and I am here for that. I always love a romance that is hopeful and aspirational when it gets the tone right, and this one absolutely does. Patience and Esther and both wonderful characters, and I loved following their story. It was also a delight to see a fat woman portrayed not only as lovable *as* she is but *for* exactly what she is. Recommended. Do mind my content advisory and be aware that this graphic novel is meant for adults only.
CA: illustrations of nudity and sex
This graphic novel is subtitled "An Edwardian Romance," and it does what it says on the tin. We follow Patience and Esther, two women in service, as they fall in love and navigate how to build a life together. There's a lot of realism on the page here about life in Edwardian England (suffragists and suffragettes, racism, colonialism), but while there are some references to the fact that Patience and Esther's relationship would not be accepted and the cannot get married legally, mostly the realism keeps its hands off their love. We don't have to see them deal with homophobia, for instance, and I am here for that. I always love a romance that is hopeful and aspirational when it gets the tone right, and this one absolutely does. Patience and Esther and both wonderful characters, and I loved following their story. It was also a delight to see a fat woman portrayed not only as lovable *as* she is but *for* exactly what she is. Recommended. Do mind my content advisory and be aware that this graphic novel is meant for adults only.
57lycomayflower
>55 laytonwoman3rd: Will try to get a box in the mail to you this week.
58laytonwoman3rd
>57 lycomayflower: Awww....
59lycomayflower
6.) How to Bang a Billionaire, Alexis Hall ****1/2
This was a reread for me in preparation for reading the rest of the series (I think I read book 2? I know I didn't read book 3), and I seem to remember not super loving this the first time. And I was clearly a foolish banana because this was awesome. It showcases Hall's ability to create characters who leap from the page and whom one loves, and so much of that development here is done masterfully through voice. Arden is fun and fun to root for, Caspian is mysterious and stern and hot and clearly vulnerable in secret ways we don't yet understand, and the secondary characters are interesting and add dimension to the story. If you like bildom romances (and *especially* if you like them but sometimes think they could stand to be smarter about power relations and consent and navigating inequality in relationships), I recommend this.
This was a reread for me in preparation for reading the rest of the series (I think I read book 2? I know I didn't read book 3), and I seem to remember not super loving this the first time. And I was clearly a foolish banana because this was awesome. It showcases Hall's ability to create characters who leap from the page and whom one loves, and so much of that development here is done masterfully through voice. Arden is fun and fun to root for, Caspian is mysterious and stern and hot and clearly vulnerable in secret ways we don't yet understand, and the secondary characters are interesting and add dimension to the story. If you like bildom romances (and *especially* if you like them but sometimes think they could stand to be smarter about power relations and consent and navigating inequality in relationships), I recommend this.
61lycomayflower
>60 scaifea: No, no, surely not.
62scaifea
>61 lycomayflower: Shocking, I know. Completely out of character.
63jnwelch
Hi, Laura.
Can I say Happy New Year in February?
I liked Once Upon A River for the reasons you describe. Not a groundbreaker, but beautifully written, and entrancing storytelling.
Can I say Happy New Year in February?
I liked Once Upon A River for the reasons you describe. Not a groundbreaker, but beautifully written, and entrancing storytelling.
64souloftherose
>56 lycomayflower: Patience and Esther sounds very good so added to my list - thank you!
I have a copy of Once Upon a River and I'm sure I'll like it but my brain doesn't seem to be able to deal with anything that's not fluffy at the moment.
I have a copy of Once Upon a River and I'm sure I'll like it but my brain doesn't seem to be able to deal with anything that's not fluffy at the moment.
65lycomayflower
>63 jnwelch: Of course! Happy New Year! Agreed.
>64 souloftherose: You're welcome! It was fun. I hear you on that. My brain mostly seems to want fluff as well.
>64 souloftherose: You're welcome! It was fun. I hear you on that. My brain mostly seems to want fluff as well.
66lycomayflower
7.) Wolf Found, Sam Burns ***1/2
The second in Burns's series about the alpha wolves of the Kismet pack. Their packs grows again when two omega wolves on the run take shelter with them. More mild exploration of the kinds of alpha/beta/omega dynamics often found in fan fic, some good friendship/found family stuff, and a romance between one of the alphas and one of the omegas. Entertaining and pleasant reading.
The second in Burns's series about the alpha wolves of the Kismet pack. Their packs grows again when two omega wolves on the run take shelter with them. More mild exploration of the kinds of alpha/beta/omega dynamics often found in fan fic, some good friendship/found family stuff, and a romance between one of the alphas and one of the omegas. Entertaining and pleasant reading.
67lycomayflower
8.) Friends with Boys, Faith Erin Hicks ****
This graphic novel follows Maggie as she starts high school after having been home schooled all her life, as she makes new friends, as she navigates her changing family, and as she tries to understand why a ghost has been following her around. This was just a delight to sink into. The characters are well drawn (heh), and the black-and-white art is wonderful and nuanced.
This graphic novel follows Maggie as she starts high school after having been home schooled all her life, as she makes new friends, as she navigates her changing family, and as she tries to understand why a ghost has been following her around. This was just a delight to sink into. The characters are well drawn (heh), and the black-and-white art is wonderful and nuanced.
68bell7
I'm late in joining your thread for the year, and shame on me 'cause here it is all full of delightful gifs and good books to read.
Y'all are making me want to rewatch Supernatural. :::sigh:::
Your reaction to Once Upon a River was really similar to mine. Have you read The Thirteenth Tale? I loved that one and don't remember feeling the same distance.
Y'all are making me want to rewatch Supernatural. :::sigh:::
Your reaction to Once Upon a River was really similar to mine. Have you read The Thirteenth Tale? I loved that one and don't remember feeling the same distance.
69lycomayflower
9.) Kink: Stories, edited by R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell **1/2
CW: non-con, under-negotiated kink, ignoring a safeword, shame, attempted/near-rape, ignoring SSC/risk-aware kink practices with abandon and ignorance. Probably more? I dunno. It was a lot. Of stories. And kink. Just. Be careful and take care of you while reading this.
*drums fingers* So. In general, I am not the biggest fan of short stories. They just tend not to be my bag. I've also been reading, very deliberately, about human sexuality, including kink, in both fiction and nonfiction, in both traditionally published and nontraditionally published forms, for my entire adult life. So I'd say I both was and was not the audience for this anthology of short stories all having something to do with kink. Do with that information what you will when I say that I really, really didn't care for it.
A handful of the stories here, while I might not have loved them, I thought were doing something really interesting and were successful as examples of the form. (I'll list at the end of my review which ones those were.) And I think the whole anthology suffered from the framing it was given, from being packaged in this book with this black cover with the forbidding red "Kink" as a title and from coming under a two-page introduction from the editors that makes claims of providing something needed and new in this collection ("a book like this hasn't been published in a long time") but fails to make any real argument as to why we do or to prove that we don't already have it. The introduction ignores (or worse (?), is unaware of) the vast array of kink writing in fiction that has been happening in fandom spaces, in romance, and, yes, in long-form literary fiction for... well, forever, really. The introduction, which points to the editors' desire to produce "the kind of book that could sit on artists' residencies' library shelves" and wants to push back against a perceived "flattening" and "simplification" of kink in popular culture, including popular books*, reads like the worst kind of elitist nonsense. There is so much good writing out there already about this subject. Is there room for more? Of course! Is there room for an anthology of literary short stories on this subject? Of course! Is it good to have writing on this subject in all manner of genres, including literary fiction? Of course! But this suggestion that this anthology has finally given us something that was just tragically missing before, that it has rolled in and filled some kind hole that desperately needed filling, seriously chapped my ass. (Heh.) So. Are there some stories in here that I might have been happier about if I had come across them in a magazine or a collection of an author's work or some other anthology? Yeah, maybe. 'Cause after that intro, I went in mad.
Now, as to the stories themselves. Always, always, in an anthology, some things will float your boat while others don't. For sure that was the case for me here. But I genuinely didn't *really* like any of them. And some of that is the literary-short-story-ness of them. No judgement. (Okay, mild judgement. But only mild!). This genre (it *is* a genre, with conventions and expectations and weaknesses, just like any other) just isn't the genre that really rolls down my socks. But on the whole, there's an awful lot of miscommunication and shame and obfuscation in these stories. And very little of that miscommunication and obfuscation and shame gets resolved or cleared up or transformed into self-acceptance. And, fair? I guess? I mean, it's not romance. No one promised me any happy endings. And it's not terribly fair to judge any one of these stories about miscommunication or obfuscation or shame just because it happens to be in company with fifteen others also about those things. But I was kind of chanting to myself by the end: "please, please, *please* don't let this be the first (or floggers and crosses, please not the last) thing someone first trying to figure out their kinky tendencies reads." Because I really feel that the chances of coming away from reading this anthology with negative feelings and associations about kink is really high. One might argue (even *I* might argue), that it is neither the job nor the responsibility of a short story anthology to be a steward of its readers in that way. But the introduction seems to argue that it is? Or at least that it wants to give readers an image of kink that is broad and more positive and more nuanced than the popular perception. And I'm just not sure it succeeds.
Have I just made an argument that this anthology's biggest flaw is a shitty introduction? Maybe. If you love literary short stories, you will almost certainly enjoy Kink more than I did. And if you've never read fiction about kink, I encourage you to start elsewhere.
*This is where I point out that romance, as a genre, is the most popular of all popular books, right? This is where I point out that romance consistently makes up just shy of half of all popular paperbacks sold yearly? And over a third of *all* popular fiction?
The Stories in Kink I Would Recommend
"The Cure," Melissa Febos
"Oh, Youth," Brandon Taylor
"The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror," Carmen Maria Machado
"The Voyeurs," Zeyn Joukhadar
CW: non-con, under-negotiated kink, ignoring a safeword, shame, attempted/near-rape, ignoring SSC/risk-aware kink practices with abandon and ignorance. Probably more? I dunno. It was a lot. Of stories. And kink. Just. Be careful and take care of you while reading this.
*drums fingers* So. In general, I am not the biggest fan of short stories. They just tend not to be my bag. I've also been reading, very deliberately, about human sexuality, including kink, in both fiction and nonfiction, in both traditionally published and nontraditionally published forms, for my entire adult life. So I'd say I both was and was not the audience for this anthology of short stories all having something to do with kink. Do with that information what you will when I say that I really, really didn't care for it.
A handful of the stories here, while I might not have loved them, I thought were doing something really interesting and were successful as examples of the form. (I'll list at the end of my review which ones those were.) And I think the whole anthology suffered from the framing it was given, from being packaged in this book with this black cover with the forbidding red "Kink" as a title and from coming under a two-page introduction from the editors that makes claims of providing something needed and new in this collection ("a book like this hasn't been published in a long time") but fails to make any real argument as to why we do or to prove that we don't already have it. The introduction ignores (or worse (?), is unaware of) the vast array of kink writing in fiction that has been happening in fandom spaces, in romance, and, yes, in long-form literary fiction for... well, forever, really. The introduction, which points to the editors' desire to produce "the kind of book that could sit on artists' residencies' library shelves" and wants to push back against a perceived "flattening" and "simplification" of kink in popular culture, including popular books*, reads like the worst kind of elitist nonsense. There is so much good writing out there already about this subject. Is there room for more? Of course! Is there room for an anthology of literary short stories on this subject? Of course! Is it good to have writing on this subject in all manner of genres, including literary fiction? Of course! But this suggestion that this anthology has finally given us something that was just tragically missing before, that it has rolled in and filled some kind hole that desperately needed filling, seriously chapped my ass. (Heh.) So. Are there some stories in here that I might have been happier about if I had come across them in a magazine or a collection of an author's work or some other anthology? Yeah, maybe. 'Cause after that intro, I went in mad.
Now, as to the stories themselves. Always, always, in an anthology, some things will float your boat while others don't. For sure that was the case for me here. But I genuinely didn't *really* like any of them. And some of that is the literary-short-story-ness of them. No judgement. (Okay, mild judgement. But only mild!). This genre (it *is* a genre, with conventions and expectations and weaknesses, just like any other) just isn't the genre that really rolls down my socks. But on the whole, there's an awful lot of miscommunication and shame and obfuscation in these stories. And very little of that miscommunication and obfuscation and shame gets resolved or cleared up or transformed into self-acceptance. And, fair? I guess? I mean, it's not romance. No one promised me any happy endings. And it's not terribly fair to judge any one of these stories about miscommunication or obfuscation or shame just because it happens to be in company with fifteen others also about those things. But I was kind of chanting to myself by the end: "please, please, *please* don't let this be the first (or floggers and crosses, please not the last) thing someone first trying to figure out their kinky tendencies reads." Because I really feel that the chances of coming away from reading this anthology with negative feelings and associations about kink is really high. One might argue (even *I* might argue), that it is neither the job nor the responsibility of a short story anthology to be a steward of its readers in that way. But the introduction seems to argue that it is? Or at least that it wants to give readers an image of kink that is broad and more positive and more nuanced than the popular perception. And I'm just not sure it succeeds.
Have I just made an argument that this anthology's biggest flaw is a shitty introduction? Maybe. If you love literary short stories, you will almost certainly enjoy Kink more than I did. And if you've never read fiction about kink, I encourage you to start elsewhere.
*This is where I point out that romance, as a genre, is the most popular of all popular books, right? This is where I point out that romance consistently makes up just shy of half of all popular paperbacks sold yearly? And over a third of *all* popular fiction?
The Stories in Kink I Would Recommend
"The Cure," Melissa Febos
"Oh, Youth," Brandon Taylor
"The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror," Carmen Maria Machado
"The Voyeurs," Zeyn Joukhadar
70lycomayflower
>68 bell7: Aw, thanks!
YES. Rewatch it. Definitely. *GRINS*
I loved The Thirteenth Tale! And yeah, I don't remember that distance at all.
YES. Rewatch it. Definitely. *GRINS*
I loved The Thirteenth Tale! And yeah, I don't remember that distance at all.
71scaifea
>68 bell7: >70 lycomayflower: 
>69 lycomayflower: Such a good review. I really don't like short story collections and I really don't want to not like kink stories, so I'm going to keep away from that one, I think.
>69 lycomayflower: Such a good review. I really don't like short story collections and I really don't want to not like kink stories, so I'm going to keep away from that one, I think.
74laytonwoman3rd
>69 lycomayflower: (Really? Did you PLAN that?) So, I probably wasn't going to be drawn to this anyway, but I'm pretty sure reading that intro would have caused me to walk away right away.
75lycomayflower
>74 laytonwoman3rd: *SNORK* Nope, that was just a nice happy accident.
76lycomayflower
10.) The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks, Josh Lanyon ***1/2
When Perry comes home early from an out-of-town trip, he finds a dead body in his bathtub in his rooms in his boarding house. But by the time he can get someone else to go up and see, the body is gone. And thus begins a slightly old-fashioned-feeling mystery story with a strong thread of romance between Perry and Nick, another renter at the house. This was mildly entertaining (and it kind of made me want to go read some older mystery stories that it sort of reminded me off--Whose Body and maybe The Norths Meet Murder), but ultimately both the mystery and the romance felt a little thin, with the result being that the itch for neither of those genres was really scratched.
When Perry comes home early from an out-of-town trip, he finds a dead body in his bathtub in his rooms in his boarding house. But by the time he can get someone else to go up and see, the body is gone. And thus begins a slightly old-fashioned-feeling mystery story with a strong thread of romance between Perry and Nick, another renter at the house. This was mildly entertaining (and it kind of made me want to go read some older mystery stories that it sort of reminded me off--Whose Body and maybe The Norths Meet Murder), but ultimately both the mystery and the romance felt a little thin, with the result being that the itch for neither of those genres was really scratched.
77lycomayflower
11.) Best Laid Plans, Roan Parrish ****
This m/m romance is the second in Parrish's Garnet Run Series (one of the heroes here is brother to one of the heroes in the first book), and it was pretty much just as lovely as the first entry. Charlie knows how to take care of everyone but himself. Rye can't stay put but has inherited a house from his grandfather. The two men end up renovating Rye's new (falling down) house together, and things, as they do, ensue. Lovely character study stuff, tender moments, and humor made this a great read.
This m/m romance is the second in Parrish's Garnet Run Series (one of the heroes here is brother to one of the heroes in the first book), and it was pretty much just as lovely as the first entry. Charlie knows how to take care of everyone but himself. Rye can't stay put but has inherited a house from his grandfather. The two men end up renovating Rye's new (falling down) house together, and things, as they do, ensue. Lovely character study stuff, tender moments, and humor made this a great read.
78lycomayflower
12.) Good Talk, Mira Jacob ****1/2
Jacob's graphic memoir, focusing on race and the conversations she's had with her biracial son. Insightful, moving, thought-provoking--and the art is fascinating. It's comprised mostly of drawings of all the figures in the memoir (Jacob, her husband, her son, et cetera) set against family photographs or photographs of settings where conversations took place. Recommended.
Jacob's graphic memoir, focusing on race and the conversations she's had with her biracial son. Insightful, moving, thought-provoking--and the art is fascinating. It's comprised mostly of drawings of all the figures in the memoir (Jacob, her husband, her son, et cetera) set against family photographs or photographs of settings where conversations took place. Recommended.
79lycomayflower
13.) Wicked Epic Adventures, Will Henry ****
The third collection of Wallace the Brave comic strips. Enjoyed this one just as much as the first two, though I wish the collections where a little longer. I feel like I get through one in no time at all and am left really wishing for more.
The third collection of Wallace the Brave comic strips. Enjoyed this one just as much as the first two, though I wish the collections where a little longer. I feel like I get through one in no time at all and am left really wishing for more.
80laytonwoman3rd
Ship ahoy!!! Look who's sailing through.
81scaifea
>77 lycomayflower: That one sounds good - what's the first one in the series, then? (I mean, I could look it up myself, I suppose...)
83MickyFine
Just popping by to entertain Amber and myself you with SPN gifs.
We're starting season 7 on Thursday in this house.
We're starting season 7 on Thursday in this house.
86lycomayflower
*chin hands. basks in the pretty*
87lycomayflower
>77 lycomayflower: The first one is Better Than People.
88scaifea
>85 MickyFine: YAS!! Oh, Charley is THE BEST. (That was my Halloween costume last year!)
>86 lycomayflower: Oh, hi, Laura...
>86 lycomayflower: Oh, hi, Laura...
94lycomayflower
So fun in here tonight, and I haven't even had to do anything.
96lycomayflower
>95 bell7: Lol. Hi, Mary.
98laytonwoman3rd
Just dropping in with some pie...99lycomayflower
Pie! Woot! (That woman is 100% possessed by a demon, by the way.)
100laytonwoman3rd
>99 lycomayflower: Oh, yes....I'm quite sure of that. However, she is from Iowa, and has a very nifty website, and does genealogy. So it might be a benevolent demon.
102lycomayflower
14.) Broken Horses, Brandi Carlile ****
Singer and songwriter Brandi Carlile's memoir of her childhood and her life in music and on stage (which began in childhood). Sometimes maybe a little uneven but always compelling, the memoir is best when Carlile discusses her childhood anxiety (she provides some of the best descriptions of being an anxious child I've ever come across), her experiences as a lesbian, and her attempts to understand and practice forgiveness. The parts that are specifically about being a musician, making albums, and meeting and working with other (some mega famous) musicians are also fascinating and well done--though the strictly personal stuff is what shone the most for me. Recommended.
Singer and songwriter Brandi Carlile's memoir of her childhood and her life in music and on stage (which began in childhood). Sometimes maybe a little uneven but always compelling, the memoir is best when Carlile discusses her childhood anxiety (she provides some of the best descriptions of being an anxious child I've ever come across), her experiences as a lesbian, and her attempts to understand and practice forgiveness. The parts that are specifically about being a musician, making albums, and meeting and working with other (some mega famous) musicians are also fascinating and well done--though the strictly personal stuff is what shone the most for me. Recommended.
103lycomayflower
15.) Prince & Knight: Tale of the Shadow King, Daniel Haack and Stevie Lewis ****1/2
This follow-up to the picture book Prince & Knight is just as delightful as the first. The prince and the knight, who saved each other and married in the first book, in this volume go on a quest to save the kingdom from the darkness brought on by the Shadow King. When they get to the Shadow King's lair, the knight falls into the water and is saved by the prince. The Shadow King witnesses this, rejoices in their love, and reveals that he never meant to bring the darkness--it's just that when he fell in love with his squire, he was told his love was wrong. The prince and the knight tell him he should be who he is and love as he likes and takes him home to the kingdom where he is accepted. And the darkness is gone. Is it a little on the nose? I guess. Do I care? I do not. It's such a lovely story with a great message, and when I tell you that I gasped and then grinned when I realized what the Shadow King's deal was, know that I am not exaggerating. And the art is a delight, especially at the end when the darkness lifts and there's just so much color. Recommended.
This follow-up to the picture book Prince & Knight is just as delightful as the first. The prince and the knight, who saved each other and married in the first book, in this volume go on a quest to save the kingdom from the darkness brought on by the Shadow King. When they get to the Shadow King's lair, the knight falls into the water and is saved by the prince. The Shadow King witnesses this, rejoices in their love, and reveals that he never meant to bring the darkness--it's just that when he fell in love with his squire, he was told his love was wrong. The prince and the knight tell him he should be who he is and love as he likes and takes him home to the kingdom where he is accepted. And the darkness is gone. Is it a little on the nose? I guess. Do I care? I do not. It's such a lovely story with a great message, and when I tell you that I gasped and then grinned when I realized what the Shadow King's deal was, know that I am not exaggerating. And the art is a delight, especially at the end when the darkness lifts and there's just so much color. Recommended.
104lycomayflower
16.) Steeple, John Allison, Sarah Stern, and Jim Campbell ****
A graphic novel about a priest who fights the demons of the sea, a new Anglican curate who has moved to his Welsh town, and a young woman in the town who belongs to the Church of Satan. It's *exactly* as bizarre as it sounds and fripping wonderful. John Allison is behind Giant Days, and I say if you liked that series, you'd like this graphic novel. The characters are equally quirky and instantly relatable and delightful, and things go slightly sideways in the same sort of ways as things can in that series. Throughout the whole thing I never could decide if I thought the Church of Satan folks were genuinely scary or... just odd. And then I realized I felt the same way about the priest and the curate and their housekeeper. This is really a collection of the first five issues of a comic, and the end of the last issue says "The End?" I hope there will be more, but this volume stops at a stopping place of sorts. Recommended.
A graphic novel about a priest who fights the demons of the sea, a new Anglican curate who has moved to his Welsh town, and a young woman in the town who belongs to the Church of Satan. It's *exactly* as bizarre as it sounds and fripping wonderful. John Allison is behind Giant Days, and I say if you liked that series, you'd like this graphic novel. The characters are equally quirky and instantly relatable and delightful, and things go slightly sideways in the same sort of ways as things can in that series. Throughout the whole thing I never could decide if I thought the Church of Satan folks were genuinely scary or... just odd. And then I realized I felt the same way about the priest and the curate and their housekeeper. This is really a collection of the first five issues of a comic, and the end of the last issue says "The End?" I hope there will be more, but this volume stops at a stopping place of sorts. Recommended.
105scaifea
>104 lycomayflower: Welp, I need that one. I hope my library has it...
ETA: ...yep, they do! Have requested.
ETA: ...yep, they do! Have requested.
107lycomayflower
17.) Sweetwater, Lisa Henry ****
An m/m romance novel set in the American West in the 19th century, Sweetwater follows a young man who is Hard of Hearing as he figures out his sexuality and finds someone to love. I enjoyed this one, though I sometimes wondered about the veracity of some of the details in the story.
An m/m romance novel set in the American West in the 19th century, Sweetwater follows a young man who is Hard of Hearing as he figures out his sexuality and finds someone to love. I enjoyed this one, though I sometimes wondered about the veracity of some of the details in the story.
108lycomayflower
18.) The Cruelest Month, Louise Penny ****
This third installment in the Inspector Gamache series contains a compelling mystery, but the real draw for me was the way some of the simmering issues from Gamache's past come to a boil and had to be dealt with. I also continue to enjoy the setting of Three Pines and the characters who live there, as well as Penny's ability to reveal harsh truths while also so frequently treating her characters with tenderness.
This third installment in the Inspector Gamache series contains a compelling mystery, but the real draw for me was the way some of the simmering issues from Gamache's past come to a boil and had to be dealt with. I also continue to enjoy the setting of Three Pines and the characters who live there, as well as Penny's ability to reveal harsh truths while also so frequently treating her characters with tenderness.
109lycomayflower
19.) Say You Love Me, Johanna Lindsey ****
CA: "old school" romance misogyny and treatment of woman's sexuality (though it was on the mild end--not like Woodiwiss-level or anything)
CW: attempted rape; non-con sadism
A somewhat "old school" romance, Say You Love Me is a historical and part of Lindsey's long series about the Malory family. I enjoyed this very much, save for a ~50-page episode wherethe villain of the story kidnaps the heroine and we're subjected to some (obviously) very non-con sexual sadism (I had to skim). This scenario felt a little shoehorned into the story and wildly unpleasant in a way that I didn't think really added much to the story, either during it or afterwards. (I'm also really tired of the coupling of kink with villainy and/or mental instability, the latter of which this story leaned on hard, but that's a bit of a separate issue, I guess, especially as the book in question is twenty-five years old.) But aside from that (the book is over 400 pages long, so I don't really mean that facetiously--it was a pretty small portion of the story), this was a bit of an unexpected delight. There are some attitudes that wouldn't really fly in romance today but honestly most of it didn't really bother me, as it fit into the story and the time period reasonably well. It was a story I could just sink into (YMMV here, of course, depending on how the old school romance elements strike you), and I keep thinking about the atmosphere and tone of the book. I'll likely read more of Lindsey.
CA: "old school" romance misogyny and treatment of woman's sexuality (though it was on the mild end--not like Woodiwiss-level or anything)
CW: attempted rape; non-con sadism
A somewhat "old school" romance, Say You Love Me is a historical and part of Lindsey's long series about the Malory family. I enjoyed this very much, save for a ~50-page episode where
110lycomayflower
20.) Ham Helsing: Vampire Hunter ***
In this middle grade graphic novel, Ham Helsing is the latest in a long line of ill-fated vampire hunters. As he goes about trying to hunt down a vampire, he makes some friends, including some quite unexpected ones. On paper this sounded *exactly* my kind of thing (a comic about an anthropomorphic pig who hunts vampires and there's a pun in the title? Gimme.), but it didn't quite work for me. The humor didn't quite land maybe? Or I just never really got enough attached to Ham? And the art was, you know, fine? *shrug* YMMV.
In this middle grade graphic novel, Ham Helsing is the latest in a long line of ill-fated vampire hunters. As he goes about trying to hunt down a vampire, he makes some friends, including some quite unexpected ones. On paper this sounded *exactly* my kind of thing (a comic about an anthropomorphic pig who hunts vampires and there's a pun in the title? Gimme.), but it didn't quite work for me. The humor didn't quite land maybe? Or I just never really got enough attached to Ham? And the art was, you know, fine? *shrug* YMMV.
111lycomayflower
21.) Amelia Unabridged, Ashley Schumacher ***1/2
What a weird combination of "just a bit boring, really" and "absolutely delightfully perfect" this YA romance and exploration of grief was for me. Amelia and Jenna are such good friends, they're practically sisters--and Jenna's parents have just about raised Amelia throughout her high school years. The girls' graduation present from Jenna's parents is a trip to a book festival where they'll get to meet the teenaged author of their favorite book series, a series that has special meaning to them, especially to Amelia. Things go awry and the author cancels, but through a weird twist of fate, Jenna meets him briefly and Amelia doesn't, which causes a bit of a rift between them. And then Jenna unexpectedly dies. And through some more strange twists of fate (or of Jenna's machinations?), Amelia meets and befriends Nolan, the author she so admires, and they form a connection over shared experiences of similar grief.
Some of Schumacher's turns of phrase throughout the book, and her ways of talking about reading and what it can mean to people, and her understanding of the joy of sharing books with others, just made me grin while I was reading. But I never really felt like I got "in" the story, and I kept stopping to say, "wait? is this believable? would this person really do x?" or "hang on, does this motif work? How is it connecting up to the rest of the imagery in the story?" Ultimately the book was a bit unsatisfying and flat for me, though it definitely had its moments that simply delighted me.
What a weird combination of "just a bit boring, really" and "absolutely delightfully perfect" this YA romance and exploration of grief was for me. Amelia and Jenna are such good friends, they're practically sisters--and Jenna's parents have just about raised Amelia throughout her high school years. The girls' graduation present from Jenna's parents is a trip to a book festival where they'll get to meet the teenaged author of their favorite book series, a series that has special meaning to them, especially to Amelia. Things go awry and the author cancels, but through a weird twist of fate, Jenna meets him briefly and Amelia doesn't, which causes a bit of a rift between them. And then Jenna unexpectedly dies. And through some more strange twists of fate (or of Jenna's machinations?), Amelia meets and befriends Nolan, the author she so admires, and they form a connection over shared experiences of similar grief.
Some of Schumacher's turns of phrase throughout the book, and her ways of talking about reading and what it can mean to people, and her understanding of the joy of sharing books with others, just made me grin while I was reading. But I never really felt like I got "in" the story, and I kept stopping to say, "wait? is this believable? would this person really do x?" or "hang on, does this motif work? How is it connecting up to the rest of the imagery in the story?" Ultimately the book was a bit unsatisfying and flat for me, though it definitely had its moments that simply delighted me.
112scaifea
>107 lycomayflower: This one sounds good, but I don't like westerns (despite the fact that of the, like, 5 westerns I've read I've loved 4 of them? There's something wrong with me).
>108 lycomayflower: I need to get back to that series. I've only read the first one but loved it.
>109 lycomayflower: Ah, yeah, NOPE for me I think. I'd probably get too mad at the stuff you warn about to enjoy the rest.
>110 lycomayflower: Wow.
>111 lycomayflower: Hm, interesting. Maybe?
>108 lycomayflower: I need to get back to that series. I've only read the first one but loved it.
>109 lycomayflower: Ah, yeah, NOPE for me I think. I'd probably get too mad at the stuff you warn about to enjoy the rest.
>110 lycomayflower: Wow.
>111 lycomayflower: Hm, interesting. Maybe?
113laytonwoman3rd
"Ham Helsing"?? *shakes head* Too bad that didn't work.
114lycomayflower
22.) Laurent and the Beast, K.A. Merikan ***1/2
CW: attempted rape and violence
This fantasy romance follows eighteenth-century indentured servant Laurent, who makes a deal with a demon to escape a horrible death and finds himself transported over two hundred years into the future. There he meets Beast, a member of a motorcycle club, because he has landed in the middle of their clubhouse. Angst, demon-y deal shenanigans, and love ensue. On paper this ought to have been a perfect read for me, but it never *quite* gelled somehow. Things I expected to happen did, and that was fine, but the anticipation of them never really got zingy. *shrug* YMMV, and anyway I was decently and happily entertained.
CW: attempted rape and violence
This fantasy romance follows eighteenth-century indentured servant Laurent, who makes a deal with a demon to escape a horrible death and finds himself transported over two hundred years into the future. There he meets Beast, a member of a motorcycle club, because he has landed in the middle of their clubhouse. Angst, demon-y deal shenanigans, and love ensue. On paper this ought to have been a perfect read for me, but it never *quite* gelled somehow. Things I expected to happen did, and that was fine, but the anticipation of them never really got zingy. *shrug* YMMV, and anyway I was decently and happily entertained.
115lycomayflower
23.) Guilty Pleasures, Arielle Zibrak ****
Guilty Pleasures, an entry in the Avidly Reads series from the New York University Press, examines femme media that women often feel guilty about consuming. She focuses on romance novels, television about rich white people, and media that surrounds weddings and wedding dresses. This is a smart, readable, and fairly rigorous look at guilty pleasures, why guilty pleasures are so often femme, why they spark guilt, whether they should, and what the consumers of these pleasures get out of the guilt associated with them. I was most interested in the section on romance novels, since that is the media type discussed that I most often engage with, but the whole book was fascinating. Recommended.
Guilty Pleasures, an entry in the Avidly Reads series from the New York University Press, examines femme media that women often feel guilty about consuming. She focuses on romance novels, television about rich white people, and media that surrounds weddings and wedding dresses. This is a smart, readable, and fairly rigorous look at guilty pleasures, why guilty pleasures are so often femme, why they spark guilt, whether they should, and what the consumers of these pleasures get out of the guilt associated with them. I was most interested in the section on romance novels, since that is the media type discussed that I most often engage with, but the whole book was fascinating. Recommended.
116lycomayflower
24.) Books Promiscuously Read, Heather Cass White ***
A collection of essays about reading and the way it does/can inform life. An enjoyable enough read, but I didn't mesh with White's conclusions as much as I might have and thus not a whole lot of this has really stuck with me.
A collection of essays about reading and the way it does/can inform life. An enjoyable enough read, but I didn't mesh with White's conclusions as much as I might have and thus not a whole lot of this has really stuck with me.
117lycomayflower
25.) Hardly Haunted, Jessie Sima ****
A delightful picture book about a haunted house who wonders if she'll ever find a family that she fits in with. There's also a cat who turns up in every page spread, and it's a delight to see where the cat is each time you flip the page. Sima is also the author of Not Quite Narwhal, which I love to bits and pieces. This book, like that one, is thematically queer, though perhaps a little less overtly so.
A delightful picture book about a haunted house who wonders if she'll ever find a family that she fits in with. There's also a cat who turns up in every page spread, and it's a delight to see where the cat is each time you flip the page. Sima is also the author of Not Quite Narwhal, which I love to bits and pieces. This book, like that one, is thematically queer, though perhaps a little less overtly so.
118lycomayflower
26.) Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask, Anton Treuer ****
Does what it says on the tin, really, with the book set up with frequently asked questions (asked of Treuer at his speaking engagements, I gather) and his considered answers, grouped into chapters by theme. Very occasionally a little dry, but mostly fascinating, well-written, and wonderfully educational. My only quibble would be that sometimes I knew so little that I didn't even understand the questions, and I think in almost every instance Treuer could have eliminated resulting confusions with one or two sentences of simple explanation before going into his lengthier, detailed answers. Recommended.
Does what it says on the tin, really, with the book set up with frequently asked questions (asked of Treuer at his speaking engagements, I gather) and his considered answers, grouped into chapters by theme. Very occasionally a little dry, but mostly fascinating, well-written, and wonderfully educational. My only quibble would be that sometimes I knew so little that I didn't even understand the questions, and I think in almost every instance Treuer could have eliminated resulting confusions with one or two sentences of simple explanation before going into his lengthier, detailed answers. Recommended.
119lycomayflower
27.) Mary Jane, Jessica Anya Blau ****
The story of a teenaged girl in the seventies whose home-life is buttoned-up and whose mother seems interested only in doing all her house-wifery exactly right. When Mary Jane gets a job babysitting for new neighbors for the summer, she gets introduced to a whole different way of living that includes rock and roll, lazy housekeeping, communication--and celebrity and addiction. I loved this easy but substantive read. I thought Blau captured beautifully the appeal and the danger of the world Mary Jane was being introduced to. Mary Jane's mother hasn't got it all wrong, and the neighbors haven't got it all right, and that dichotomy is never lost even as the reader (probably) finds the neighbors' lifestyle much more fun and, in some ways, more healthy. Recommended.
The story of a teenaged girl in the seventies whose home-life is buttoned-up and whose mother seems interested only in doing all her house-wifery exactly right. When Mary Jane gets a job babysitting for new neighbors for the summer, she gets introduced to a whole different way of living that includes rock and roll, lazy housekeeping, communication--and celebrity and addiction. I loved this easy but substantive read. I thought Blau captured beautifully the appeal and the danger of the world Mary Jane was being introduced to. Mary Jane's mother hasn't got it all wrong, and the neighbors haven't got it all right, and that dichotomy is never lost even as the reader (probably) finds the neighbors' lifestyle much more fun and, in some ways, more healthy. Recommended.
120lycomayflower
28.) Lights Out in Lincolnwood **1/2
One day in a New York suburb, the power goes out and everything that uses electricity dies. No one knows what, exactly, happened, but the going theory is an EMP. We watch one family and their neighbors as they try to survive and decide what to do. Thanks, I hate it. I don't even know why I read this as it is *clearly* wildly outside my comfort zone (that might have been why, actually--pushing the horizons or whatever), but this just made me anxious and grumpy. I think it was supposed to be social commentary, and as that, for me, it also just fell really flat. You have to recognize the people for a social commentary to work and I just... didn't here. I just... don't think people are actually this awful? *shrug* Andwe never find out what really happened which I guess is kind of in keeping with what I think the book was doing, but it further grumped me. Obviously, YMMV as this was just not *for* me.
One day in a New York suburb, the power goes out and everything that uses electricity dies. No one knows what, exactly, happened, but the going theory is an EMP. We watch one family and their neighbors as they try to survive and decide what to do. Thanks, I hate it. I don't even know why I read this as it is *clearly* wildly outside my comfort zone (that might have been why, actually--pushing the horizons or whatever), but this just made me anxious and grumpy. I think it was supposed to be social commentary, and as that, for me, it also just fell really flat. You have to recognize the people for a social commentary to work and I just... didn't here. I just... don't think people are actually this awful? *shrug* And
121lycomayflower
29.) We Are the Baby-sitters Club: Essays and Artwork from Grown-Up Readers, edited by Marissa Crawford and Megan Milks ****
Hit and miss but way more hits. This was a really enjoyable collection with many takes on the BSC. A nice combination of nostalgia, criticism, and love. Recommended, even if you weren't a mega-BSC fan.
Hit and miss but way more hits. This was a really enjoyable collection with many takes on the BSC. A nice combination of nostalgia, criticism, and love. Recommended, even if you weren't a mega-BSC fan.
122lycomayflower
30.) Tender with a Twist, Annabeth Albert ***1/2
Age-gap BDSM romance between a sunshine and a grumpy where the grumpy is the sub. An enjoyable read with realistic minor conflict and good character development.
Age-gap BDSM romance between a sunshine and a grumpy where the grumpy is the sub. An enjoyable read with realistic minor conflict and good character development.
123laytonwoman3rd
>28 lycomayflower: Yeah, why did you read that?
124MickyFine
>121 lycomayflower: If you are a big BSC fan, Laura, I can point you at some other recent and/or upcoming titles on it that may interest you.
125lycomayflower
>124 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky. That might be all the BSC I needed for now, but I have to admit to being curious what those titles are...
126MickyFine
>125 lycomayflower: I could have sworn there was more than one title that I ordered for work but for the life of me I can't find it in the catalogue now. *facepalm*
127lycomayflower
31.) Piranesi, Susanna Clark ****
This short novel takes the form of the journal of a person living alone, save for one occasional visitor, in the House, which seems to be a labyrinthine structure on the sea. And I don't know that I can say much more about the plot or premise without spoiling things. Part of the appeal of the novel for me was in sitting with its weirdness and trying to decide if I thought Something Was, In Fact, Going On, or... not. I was deeply protective of (and a bit bemused by) the narrator almost at once, and I was engaged and entertained throughout. Recommended if fiction that's a bit strange sounds good to you.
This short novel takes the form of the journal of a person living alone, save for one occasional visitor, in the House, which seems to be a labyrinthine structure on the sea. And I don't know that I can say much more about the plot or premise without spoiling things. Part of the appeal of the novel for me was in sitting with its weirdness and trying to decide if I thought Something Was, In Fact, Going On, or... not. I was deeply protective of (and a bit bemused by) the narrator almost at once, and I was engaged and entertained throughout. Recommended if fiction that's a bit strange sounds good to you.
128lycomayflower
>126 MickyFine: Lol. If it surfaces, I'd be happy to know, otherwise no worries.
129laytonwoman3rd
>127 lycomayflower: Hmmmm...this one has had quite a lot of buzz 'round these parts.
130lycomayflower
32.) Book Girl, Sarah Clarkson **1/2
I picked this up thinking it was going to be a memoir-ish book on books and reading, and it's not not that, but it wasn't what I was expecting either. Clarkson is an evangelical Christian, and Book Girl is very specifically written with that lens and takes on the project of recommending books for Christian women to read at different life stages or for particular purposes. I almost DNFed when I clocked this (evangelical Christianity is the brand of organized religion I have the biggest problem with, always), but I do like to read about people with different perspectives and world views, so I carried on. Her book recommendations are largely good and agreeable, but also not *terribly* surprising or enlightening (Tolkien, check. C.S. Lewis, check. Jane Austen, check. Elizabeth Goudge, check. Also, the books discussed were largely (not entirely, but largely), written by authors who are white and straight.), and she communicates very well why she liked each book, what she got out of it, and why she thinks others will get something out of it as well. I did get very tired of the gendered language (and the gendered project--why are these books for girls? what does it mean for a book to be for a girl? are they then not for boys? (this seems not to be the case, since she mentions her husband having read many of them.) if they are for both boys and girls, what are girls supposed to be getting from them that is specific to their gender? why are we gendering reading, Sarah?) and the way creationism was baked into her very sentences. (We are made for xy and z, for instance.) By the end, despite finding the book engaging and Clarkson's lists sometimes compelling, I have to confess I had a bad taste in my mouth. Like whatever pleasantness there was in this book was maybe covering up some attitudes I would find very unpleasant and painful.
I picked this up thinking it was going to be a memoir-ish book on books and reading, and it's not not that, but it wasn't what I was expecting either. Clarkson is an evangelical Christian, and Book Girl is very specifically written with that lens and takes on the project of recommending books for Christian women to read at different life stages or for particular purposes. I almost DNFed when I clocked this (evangelical Christianity is the brand of organized religion I have the biggest problem with, always), but I do like to read about people with different perspectives and world views, so I carried on. Her book recommendations are largely good and agreeable, but also not *terribly* surprising or enlightening (Tolkien, check. C.S. Lewis, check. Jane Austen, check. Elizabeth Goudge, check. Also, the books discussed were largely (not entirely, but largely), written by authors who are white and straight.), and she communicates very well why she liked each book, what she got out of it, and why she thinks others will get something out of it as well. I did get very tired of the gendered language (and the gendered project--why are these books for girls? what does it mean for a book to be for a girl? are they then not for boys? (this seems not to be the case, since she mentions her husband having read many of them.) if they are for both boys and girls, what are girls supposed to be getting from them that is specific to their gender? why are we gendering reading, Sarah?) and the way creationism was baked into her very sentences. (We are made for xy and z, for instance.) By the end, despite finding the book engaging and Clarkson's lists sometimes compelling, I have to confess I had a bad taste in my mouth. Like whatever pleasantness there was in this book was maybe covering up some attitudes I would find very unpleasant and painful.
131lycomayflower
>129 laytonwoman3rd: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. You gonna try it?
132laytonwoman3rd
>131 lycomayflower: Not sure. I still have Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell staring at me from the chunkster shelf...
133lycomayflower
>132 laytonwoman3rd: Yeeeah, this one is less than 300 pages, so I wouldn't necessarily *wait* till you've read JS&MN if this one sounds appealing to you.
134scaifea
>132 laytonwoman3rd: (Ooooh, that one is so good!)
I really, really need to get round to Piranesi. Soon.
I really, really need to get round to Piranesi. Soon.
135MickyFine
>127 lycomayflower: I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it, Laura. I had the same difficulty summarizing it but also fell in love with its oddness.
136lycomayflower
>134 scaifea: I will be very interested in what you think of Piranesi when you get there.
137lycomayflower
33.) The Gunslinger, Stephen King ***1/2
My dad loves Stephen King and especially The Dark Tower series, but horror is not my bag so I've read very little King myself. I finally decided to give this first volume from Dark Tower a go, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was a little too light on character development and interaction to really be a favorite, but the imagery! And the contemplation of evil and darkness! I'll probably pick up the next one sometime and see what's what there too.
My dad loves Stephen King and especially The Dark Tower series, but horror is not my bag so I've read very little King myself. I finally decided to give this first volume from Dark Tower a go, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was a little too light on character development and interaction to really be a favorite, but the imagery! And the contemplation of evil and darkness! I'll probably pick up the next one sometime and see what's what there too.
138lycomayflower
34.) The West Wing, Edward Gorey ***
A series of Gorey illustrations that tell a story? I think? I dunno. I can't say I got much from this beyond just the neat, slight off-ness that one always gets looking at Gorey stuff. Worth looking at, but maybe not worth buying unless one is a big Gorey fan and/or a completionist.
A series of Gorey illustrations that tell a story? I think? I dunno. I can't say I got much from this beyond just the neat, slight off-ness that one always gets looking at Gorey stuff. Worth looking at, but maybe not worth buying unless one is a big Gorey fan and/or a completionist.
139FlamingRabbit
>137 lycomayflower: Welcome aboard! Hope you like number 2 and keep going. I though the first one was the least of the whole set.
140laytonwoman3rd
>137 lycomayflower: Holy crap....you want him to come here and comment, or something? Oh....wait. Lookee.
141lycomayflower
>139 FlamingRabbit: Book two is right here on one of these "read these sometime soon-ish" piles, even!
143lycomayflower
35.) The Back Passage, James Lear ****
This murder mystery set in 1920s England is compared in the novel's back copy to Agatha Christie (a little tongue-in-cheeky maybe), but it felt to me like a better ancestral comparison would be P.G. Wodehouse. Or maybe it's Christie plus Wodehouse plus a whole heap of queer sex on the page--perhaps that's the best description. However we're gonna call it, it was a delight of a romp, with a rash of shenanigans and just enough detecting in between the sexing to keep the plot rolling. This isn't a romance (the mystery gets solved but there's no love-story HEA), but it might appeal to readers of mystery-romance. I loved it, but do note that if sex on the page is not your bag, this is probably not for you. Oh, and yes, the title is a pun and it's exactly the pun you think it is. If that doesn't amuse you, also maybe this isn't the read for you.
This murder mystery set in 1920s England is compared in the novel's back copy to Agatha Christie (a little tongue-in-cheeky maybe), but it felt to me like a better ancestral comparison would be P.G. Wodehouse. Or maybe it's Christie plus Wodehouse plus a whole heap of queer sex on the page--perhaps that's the best description. However we're gonna call it, it was a delight of a romp, with a rash of shenanigans and just enough detecting in between the sexing to keep the plot rolling. This isn't a romance (the mystery gets solved but there's no love-story HEA), but it might appeal to readers of mystery-romance. I loved it, but do note that if sex on the page is not your bag, this is probably not for you. Oh, and yes, the title is a pun and it's exactly the pun you think it is. If that doesn't amuse you, also maybe this isn't the read for you.
144lycomayflower
36.) Dauntless, Lisa Henry ***1/2
A romance-mystery novella wherein the descendants of two rivals fall in love and have to solve a murder motivated by history. This was fun, and the setting of an island where everyone knows not only everyone's business but everyone's history going back generations was the touch that made it sing. Recommended for a quick, pleasant romance with a mystery plot.
A romance-mystery novella wherein the descendants of two rivals fall in love and have to solve a murder motivated by history. This was fun, and the setting of an island where everyone knows not only everyone's business but everyone's history going back generations was the touch that made it sing. Recommended for a quick, pleasant romance with a mystery plot.
145lycomayflower
37.) The Ghost Clause, Howard Norman ***
This is the story of two marriages, united in space by the fact that each couple lived in the same house, and narrated by the ghost of the husband in one of the couples. Iiii just don't know what to do with this. I never quite felt like I had a handle on what Norman was trying to do here. I guess it was a set of characters studies--and marriage studies, I suppose. But I didn't feel like I learned or discovered or affirmed anything about marriage by reading it. I didn't much care for the characters (and the dialogue hit my ear with a clang that became fairly irritating by the end). Somehow I still feel like I want to read more of Norman, but this one just didn't work for me.
This is the story of two marriages, united in space by the fact that each couple lived in the same house, and narrated by the ghost of the husband in one of the couples. Iiii just don't know what to do with this. I never quite felt like I had a handle on what Norman was trying to do here. I guess it was a set of characters studies--and marriage studies, I suppose. But I didn't feel like I learned or discovered or affirmed anything about marriage by reading it. I didn't much care for the characters (and the dialogue hit my ear with a clang that became fairly irritating by the end). Somehow I still feel like I want to read more of Norman, but this one just didn't work for me.
146lycomayflower
38.) The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas *****
Wow. With everything I'd heard about this, I expected it to be good, but I hadn't necessarily clocked it as a five-star read. And I just loved this. I fell in love with so many of the characters--especially the main character's father--and despite this being in many ways a tough read, I enjoyed my time with this family so very much. This is an important book and an issue book, but you knew that already. I don't mean to diminish how affecting is the central event--the murder of an unarmed black teen by a police officer during a traffic stop--and it is, I think, largely the excellent coupling of the tragedy and pain and appallingness of that event with the family story that makes The Hate U Give so good. But I knew going in that it was going to be a good book on the personal aftermath of an instance of police brutality and misconduct. I *didn't* know it was also going to be such a wonderful, strong story of family and community. So if you didn't know that either and you haven't read this one yet, let me add that to the list of reasons this is pretty much a must read.
Wow. With everything I'd heard about this, I expected it to be good, but I hadn't necessarily clocked it as a five-star read. And I just loved this. I fell in love with so many of the characters--especially the main character's father--and despite this being in many ways a tough read, I enjoyed my time with this family so very much. This is an important book and an issue book, but you knew that already. I don't mean to diminish how affecting is the central event--the murder of an unarmed black teen by a police officer during a traffic stop--and it is, I think, largely the excellent coupling of the tragedy and pain and appallingness of that event with the family story that makes The Hate U Give so good. But I knew going in that it was going to be a good book on the personal aftermath of an instance of police brutality and misconduct. I *didn't* know it was also going to be such a wonderful, strong story of family and community. So if you didn't know that either and you haven't read this one yet, let me add that to the list of reasons this is pretty much a must read.
147scaifea
>146 lycomayflower: Oh, yay! I love that you loved this one!
148lycomayflower
39.) Bryony and Roses, T Kingfisher ***1/2
A "Beauty and the Beast" retelling. I enjoyed this, though I did have a bit of a feeling of "when is it gonna start doing something?" for the first half or so. Eventually I was mostly content with the "doing something" bit, but my overall impression was still that it was a bit slow. I did, however, really enjoy Bryony as a character, and on the strength of that and the really enjoyable sentence-level writing, I'll be checking out more by Kingfisher.
A "Beauty and the Beast" retelling. I enjoyed this, though I did have a bit of a feeling of "when is it gonna start doing something?" for the first half or so. Eventually I was mostly content with the "doing something" bit, but my overall impression was still that it was a bit slow. I did, however, really enjoy Bryony as a character, and on the strength of that and the really enjoyable sentence-level writing, I'll be checking out more by Kingfisher.
149lycomayflower
40.) Black Moon, Sam Burns and W.M. Fawkes ****
More alpha/beta/omega romance. I really enjoyed the world building in this one and the attention to how the communities/packs work. The romance was also enjoyable, and I was invested in seeing how Linden and Colt would figure out how to make their disparate lives mesh. If you like this kind of thing, this is the kind of thing you'll like and all that.
More alpha/beta/omega romance. I really enjoyed the world building in this one and the attention to how the communities/packs work. The romance was also enjoyable, and I was invested in seeing how Linden and Colt would figure out how to make their disparate lives mesh. If you like this kind of thing, this is the kind of thing you'll like and all that.
150lycomayflower
41.) Some Things I Still Can't Tell You, Misha Collins ****
Look. We all know poetry is not in my wheelhouse. I can't tell you why a poem does or does not work in any kind of objective way. I cannot, beyond maybe spotting some botched meter or pointing out some nice alliteration and assonance or clocking some of the most obvious forms, tell you how poetry is doing what it's doing--not like I can with fiction. I haven't studied it (much) or written it (much) or taught it (ever). I can only tell you whether a poem works for me. And these poems? Almost to a one, they worked for me.
When a poem works for me, it is because it has captured a moment, or sketched an image, or invoked a feeling--if I'm lucky, and the poem and I are getting on *real* well, it has done all three at once. The poems Collins has collected here, each of them has done at least one of those things. Some of them planted a sharp image in my mind, some of them punched me right in the gut, some of them gave me that "oh! someone else feels that too" feeling. Will they work for others? Will they work for people who aren't already fans of Collins, who don't already feel some kind of affinity--even if tenuous and only, really, imagined--with him? I can't say. But I think it's probably worth finding out.
The Poems I Liked Best Were:
"A Five Point Eight"
"Brown Hens"
"These Hours"
"The Bell Curve"
"Black Cat"
"Smog Cutters"
"These Days"
"Men in Woods"
"The Fly"
"Present. Tense."
Look. We all know poetry is not in my wheelhouse. I can't tell you why a poem does or does not work in any kind of objective way. I cannot, beyond maybe spotting some botched meter or pointing out some nice alliteration and assonance or clocking some of the most obvious forms, tell you how poetry is doing what it's doing--not like I can with fiction. I haven't studied it (much) or written it (much) or taught it (ever). I can only tell you whether a poem works for me. And these poems? Almost to a one, they worked for me.
When a poem works for me, it is because it has captured a moment, or sketched an image, or invoked a feeling--if I'm lucky, and the poem and I are getting on *real* well, it has done all three at once. The poems Collins has collected here, each of them has done at least one of those things. Some of them planted a sharp image in my mind, some of them punched me right in the gut, some of them gave me that "oh! someone else feels that too" feeling. Will they work for others? Will they work for people who aren't already fans of Collins, who don't already feel some kind of affinity--even if tenuous and only, really, imagined--with him? I can't say. But I think it's probably worth finding out.
The Poems I Liked Best Were:
"A Five Point Eight"
"Brown Hens"
"These Hours"
"The Bell Curve"
"Black Cat"
"Smog Cutters"
"These Days"
"Men in Woods"
"The Fly"
"Present. Tense."
151lycomayflower
42.) The Haunting of Timber Manor, F. E. Feeley Jr ***1/2
CA: brief homophobic language and attitudes from the villain; illness, specificallycancer
When his parents die unexpectedly, Daniel is contacted by an aunt he barely knows and told the family money and estate will now be his. His aunt is lovely, and Hale, the town sheriff, becomes a fast friend and more. But the house is... probably haunted? By something pretty evil. I enjoyed this read well enough (I read it in two sittings on Halloween weekend, and that was fun), but I kept wanting more from it. More scariness, more development of Daniel and Hale's relationship, more atmosphere. And I never got it. As soon as you think you know what might be going on, you're right. The love story is nice enough. It pretty much embodies a three-and-a-half-star read: I was entertained; I'll remember some bits of it; it's not a favorite; I'll probably give Feeley a go again.
CA: brief homophobic language and attitudes from the villain; illness, specifically
When his parents die unexpectedly, Daniel is contacted by an aunt he barely knows and told the family money and estate will now be his. His aunt is lovely, and Hale, the town sheriff, becomes a fast friend and more. But the house is... probably haunted? By something pretty evil. I enjoyed this read well enough (I read it in two sittings on Halloween weekend, and that was fun), but I kept wanting more from it. More scariness, more development of Daniel and Hale's relationship, more atmosphere. And I never got it. As soon as you think you know what might be going on, you're right. The love story is nice enough. It pretty much embodies a three-and-a-half-star read: I was entertained; I'll remember some bits of it; it's not a favorite; I'll probably give Feeley a go again.
152lycomayflower
43.) Red, White & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston *****
The first son of the United States and the "spare" heir to the British crown hate each other--or maybe they love each other? When the fallout from a public misunderstanding forces them to spend time together, they discover pretty quickly it's the latter. But how is that gonna work? Trust me when I say that if you have any inclination toward reading romance or rom-coms that you will enjoy finding out very much. The prose is light and funny, the situation has substance, the characters (including the side characters, of which there is a treasure trove) are well-drawn and distinct, the ending is happy but plausible, and the situation (the US president here is a divorced woman with biracial children) provides just enough catharsis for the 2016 election that the book feels something like a balm. If I were in quibbly mood, I might say 400+ pages is too long for a rom-com, but I loved every stinking second of this, so maybe I'm just wrong there. If you've been avoiding this one because of the hype, tuck that aside if you can. RW&RB is just about universally loved because it is that. good.
The first son of the United States and the "spare" heir to the British crown hate each other--or maybe they love each other? When the fallout from a public misunderstanding forces them to spend time together, they discover pretty quickly it's the latter. But how is that gonna work? Trust me when I say that if you have any inclination toward reading romance or rom-coms that you will enjoy finding out very much. The prose is light and funny, the situation has substance, the characters (including the side characters, of which there is a treasure trove) are well-drawn and distinct, the ending is happy but plausible, and the situation (the US president here is a divorced woman with biracial children) provides just enough catharsis for the 2016 election that the book feels something like a balm. If I were in quibbly mood, I might say 400+ pages is too long for a rom-com, but I loved every stinking second of this, so maybe I'm just wrong there. If you've been avoiding this one because of the hype, tuck that aside if you can. RW&RB is just about universally loved because it is that. good.
153lycomayflower
44.) Skunk and Badger, Amy Timberlake and Jon Klassen ***1/2
An illustrated children's chapter book about a Badger, who lives in his aunt's brownstone and does Important Rock Work. One day Skunk shows up saying Aunt Lula said he could stay there too. Oh no, people! And then there's chickens. It's silly and also often adorable and sweet and is about changes and how those aren't always bad and about making friends. I was just a liiiittle done with it before it was over, but I am also not the target audience. The illustrations are perfection.
This is my 1000th review on LT. WHAT.
An illustrated children's chapter book about a Badger, who lives in his aunt's brownstone and does Important Rock Work. One day Skunk shows up saying Aunt Lula said he could stay there too. Oh no, people! And then there's chickens. It's silly and also often adorable and sweet and is about changes and how those aren't always bad and about making friends. I was just a liiiittle done with it before it was over, but I am also not the target audience. The illustrations are perfection.
This is my 1000th review on LT. WHAT.
154laytonwoman3rd
"This is my 1000th review on LT." Congratulations! (Does something pop up and and tell you that?)
155lycomayflower
It's... right there on your profile page
156laytonwoman3rd
>155 lycomayflower: I know that...I just wondered how you happened to take note of the 1000th one specifically. Thought maybe it was a milestone that LT notified you about.
157lycomayflower
>156 laytonwoman3rd: Naaah. I just... know these things
158PaulCranswick
A Thanksgiving to Friends (Lighting the Way)
In difficult times
a friend is there to light the way
to lighten the load,
to show the path,
to smooth the road
At the darkest hour
a friend, with a word of truth
points to light
and the encroaching dawn
is in the plainest sight.
Laura, to a friend in books and more this Thanksgiving
In difficult times
a friend is there to light the way
to lighten the load,
to show the path,
to smooth the road
At the darkest hour
a friend, with a word of truth
points to light
and the encroaching dawn
is in the plainest sight.
Laura, to a friend in books and more this Thanksgiving
159lycomayflower
>158 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul!
160lycomayflower
45.) The Hero and the Blues, Albert Murray ***1/2
I picked this up because Murray is the author for November for the American Authors Challenge, and I think I would have been better served with one of his novels. Not because I think this isn't a worthwhile read, but rather because I didn't realize quite how much brain power it was going to need and I didn't really have it to give just now. So some of my slight "heh?" here is almost certainly my fault. That said, Murray (I think) is exploring Western literary conceptions of the hero and discussing how they relate to the "blues idiom" and the African American blues hero. I'll confess that I was frequently at a loss as to how he was connecting the two. Not that I doubt there is a connection (there could hardly not be a connection?), but if he was making strong, explicit connections on the page, I missed them. He often seemed to jump from a discussion of Thomas Mann or Ernest Hemingway into the blues without showing how he got from one to the other. I dunno. I probably should read it again, giving especial attention to about the first thirty pages, which I got through before fully realizing how much I needed to slow down and make notes if I had any hope of getting what he was saying. I will say that the last fifteen pages or so really grabbed me--he was talking about different kinds of heroes and how they relate to the world. This section made me take notice because it set off all kinds of "Ooo, Tolkien" and "oh, Dean Winchester" klaxons in my brain. I still wasn't following the connections Murray was making, but I was making some of my own. Yay? Better than a stick in the eye, but I still feel like I largely missed his point here.
I picked this up because Murray is the author for November for the American Authors Challenge, and I think I would have been better served with one of his novels. Not because I think this isn't a worthwhile read, but rather because I didn't realize quite how much brain power it was going to need and I didn't really have it to give just now. So some of my slight "heh?" here is almost certainly my fault. That said, Murray (I think) is exploring Western literary conceptions of the hero and discussing how they relate to the "blues idiom" and the African American blues hero. I'll confess that I was frequently at a loss as to how he was connecting the two. Not that I doubt there is a connection (there could hardly not be a connection?), but if he was making strong, explicit connections on the page, I missed them. He often seemed to jump from a discussion of Thomas Mann or Ernest Hemingway into the blues without showing how he got from one to the other. I dunno. I probably should read it again, giving especial attention to about the first thirty pages, which I got through before fully realizing how much I needed to slow down and make notes if I had any hope of getting what he was saying. I will say that the last fifteen pages or so really grabbed me--he was talking about different kinds of heroes and how they relate to the world. This section made me take notice because it set off all kinds of "Ooo, Tolkien" and "oh, Dean Winchester" klaxons in my brain. I still wasn't following the connections Murray was making, but I was making some of my own. Yay? Better than a stick in the eye, but I still feel like I largely missed his point here.
162lycomayflower
46.) Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury ****
I've read very little Bradbury (Farhenheit 451, definitely, a long time ago; maybe some short stories?), so I was unprepared for his use of language here. The descriptions! The way he puts things! I was mad at him for being so good at it by the bottom of the first page! And the way he captures adolescence. And friendship. And the relationship between father and son and old and young. AND THE SCARY BITS. I had a nightmare, an actual nightmare, after reading this before bed. And then there's the end, the way it all gets resolved, that by rights should be kind of twee and ISN'T. I was just surprised, pleasantly, all around. Recommended.
I've read very little Bradbury (Farhenheit 451, definitely, a long time ago; maybe some short stories?), so I was unprepared for his use of language here. The descriptions! The way he puts things! I was mad at him for being so good at it by the bottom of the first page! And the way he captures adolescence. And friendship. And the relationship between father and son and old and young. AND THE SCARY BITS. I had a nightmare, an actual nightmare, after reading this before bed. And then there's the end, the way it all gets resolved, that by rights should be kind of twee and ISN'T. I was just surprised, pleasantly, all around. Recommended.
163lycomayflower
47.) The Island, Lisa Henry **1/2
CW: rape, violence, sex slavery, dubcon
This romantic suspense novel starts on page 170-something. Or, well, maybe that's not quite it. Maybe it's that the first thirty pages of the novel are 170-something pages long. In any case, I thought the pacing was all wrong, and more importantly maybe, the story focus was in the wrong place. The story starts with a man named Shaw arriving at a private island owned by a nasty piece of work to whom Shaw hopes to sell a stolen painting. Shortly after arriving, Shaw realizes that Bad News has a kidnapped an American soldier of some sort that he's keeping as a sex slave--and whom he intends to "lend" to Shaw. And then Shaw, who thinks he's not such a great dude but who absolutely draws the line at raping someone, has to figure out how to keep Bad News from getting suspicious while not actually hurting Lee. Okay. Some potential there. But it doesn't take long for the reader (or this reader anyway) to get very impatient with Shaw, who keeps contemplating how he probably could escape with Lee but how that would ruin the deal. Like, screw your black market nonsense, Shaw, SAVE THE DUDE. And then there's a big action scene wherein Shaw (and a surprise ally) kills Bad News and all his henchmen and escapes with Lee and calls in an Australian frigate because--surprise!--Shaw is ASIO and has been undercover for six years and that is what he was wary of blowing by saving Lee . Boy would I have rather known that earlier. That is SO much more compelling than what we got. In the back third, Shaw and Lee figure out how to be together et cetera. But that's where the story is! I would have liked them to get off the island within thirty or fifty pages, possibly with some flashbacks later as well, and had the bulk of the book be about how these two men could get past the trauma and messedupedness of their early relationship to be together, which they clearly both wanted. Oh well. I usually like Lisa Henry, put everyone oughta be allowed one bad pitch, I guess.
Reading this did help me realize that while I like my romances to be kind of dark and edgy, I like the darkness to come from within the characters and get worked through. I don't like darkness on the outside trying to get in.
CW: rape, violence, sex slavery, dubcon
This romantic suspense novel starts on page 170-something. Or, well, maybe that's not quite it. Maybe it's that the first thirty pages of the novel are 170-something pages long. In any case, I thought the pacing was all wrong, and more importantly maybe, the story focus was in the wrong place. The story starts with a man named Shaw arriving at a private island owned by a nasty piece of work to whom Shaw hopes to sell a stolen painting. Shortly after arriving, Shaw realizes that Bad News has a kidnapped an American soldier of some sort that he's keeping as a sex slave--and whom he intends to "lend" to Shaw. And then Shaw, who thinks he's not such a great dude but who absolutely draws the line at raping someone, has to figure out how to keep Bad News from getting suspicious while not actually hurting Lee. Okay. Some potential there. But it doesn't take long for the reader (or this reader anyway) to get very impatient with Shaw, who keeps contemplating how he probably could escape with Lee but how that would ruin the deal. Like, screw your black market nonsense, Shaw, SAVE THE DUDE. And then
Reading this did help me realize that while I like my romances to be kind of dark and edgy, I like the darkness to come from within the characters and get worked through. I don't like darkness on the outside trying to get in.
164laytonwoman3rd
>162 lycomayflower: Pretty sure I read that one years ago...all I remember is the movie, though. Maybe I should revisit.
>163 lycomayflower: "the first thirty pages of the novel are 170-something pages long" That. It's probably that.
>163 lycomayflower: "the first thirty pages of the novel are 170-something pages long" That. It's probably that.
165MickyFine
>162 lycomayflower: Amber already hit me with that BB. :P
166lycomayflower
>165 MickyFine: Oo, a double whammy, then.
167lycomayflower
48.) Each Peach Pear Plum, Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg ****
A book for wee kiddos where each page is about a different nursery rhyme character and the character in question is hidden in the accompanying illustration. Clever and sweet.
49.) Zachary and the Great Potato Catastrophe, Junia Wonders and Giulia Lombardo ***1/2
A rat lives in a bakery and won't share the pastries he sneaks with his chums. One day he finds a whole sack of potatoes and squirrels them away. But whoops, that many potatoes will go bad before a rat can eat them all. Maybe it *is* good to share with chums? A bit more fun and not as didactic as my description makes it sound, but it didn't quiiiite rise to the level of delight I like in a children's picture book.
50.) Bear Stays Up for Christmas, Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman ****
Bear's woodland friends don't want him to miss Christmas, so they wake him up from his long sleep for the day and help him have a happy Christmas. Then they make him comfy so he can go back to sleep for the winter when the day is done. Lovely.
51.) Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve, Jan Brett ****
A retelling of a Norwegian folktale with Brett's amazing illustrations. The illustrations are better than the story, I think, but as I also think the point of a Brett book *is* the illustrations, that isn't really a disappointment.
All of these are heading off to my various nieces for Christmas.
A book for wee kiddos where each page is about a different nursery rhyme character and the character in question is hidden in the accompanying illustration. Clever and sweet.
49.) Zachary and the Great Potato Catastrophe, Junia Wonders and Giulia Lombardo ***1/2
A rat lives in a bakery and won't share the pastries he sneaks with his chums. One day he finds a whole sack of potatoes and squirrels them away. But whoops, that many potatoes will go bad before a rat can eat them all. Maybe it *is* good to share with chums? A bit more fun and not as didactic as my description makes it sound, but it didn't quiiiite rise to the level of delight I like in a children's picture book.
50.) Bear Stays Up for Christmas, Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman ****
Bear's woodland friends don't want him to miss Christmas, so they wake him up from his long sleep for the day and help him have a happy Christmas. Then they make him comfy so he can go back to sleep for the winter when the day is done. Lovely.
51.) Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve, Jan Brett ****
A retelling of a Norwegian folktale with Brett's amazing illustrations. The illustrations are better than the story, I think, but as I also think the point of a Brett book *is* the illustrations, that isn't really a disappointment.
All of these are heading off to my various nieces for Christmas.
168lycomayflower
52.) The Princess Bride, William Goldman ***1/2
This was a many times reread for me, this time for book club. The best bits are the frame story parts (and the interruptions). While I love the movie to *bits* (and will always think the book is a very nice piece of kind of friendly postmodernism), the actual story (as opposed to the framing of it) is just shy of compelling enough for me to be fully interested on a third (fourth?) read.
This was a many times reread for me, this time for book club. The best bits are the frame story parts (and the interruptions). While I love the movie to *bits* (and will always think the book is a very nice piece of kind of friendly postmodernism), the actual story (as opposed to the framing of it) is just shy of compelling enough for me to be fully interested on a third (fourth?) read.
169lycomayflower
53.) A Rule Against Murder, Louise Penny ***
I think this is the least of the Three Pines mysteries so far. I continue to love Gamache and Jean Guy, but I missed the Three Pines setting in this one, and Penny's habit of "hiding the ball" by simply not telling us information the point of view sort of demands be on the page continues to not be my favorite. But my real problem with it is that I thought the resolution wasn't thoroughly enough explained. I'm still not sure I really understand what happened. And there's a properly horrid family at the center of this one whose horridness I feel I was meant to understand by the end, but I didn't. *shrug* It doesn't put me off reading more of these, but this one was a bit of a dud for me.
I think this is the least of the Three Pines mysteries so far. I continue to love Gamache and Jean Guy, but I missed the Three Pines setting in this one, and Penny's habit of "hiding the ball" by simply not telling us information the point of view sort of demands be on the page continues to not be my favorite. But my real problem with it is that I thought the resolution wasn't thoroughly enough explained. I'm still not sure I really understand what happened. And there's a properly horrid family at the center of this one whose horridness I feel I was meant to understand by the end, but I didn't. *shrug* It doesn't put me off reading more of these, but this one was a bit of a dud for me.
170lycomayflower
54.) The Lights on Knockbridge Lane, Roan Parrish ****1/2
CA: snakes and spiders and lizards. pretty gentle, never scary, but described on the page (especially the spider)
Adam moves back to his hometown with his eight-year-old daughter after breaking up with his long-term boyfriend. He's determined to give daughter Gus a happy Christmas to help her settle into their new life. This involves trying to put more Christmas lights on their house than anyone has put on a house before--and increasingly, it also involves their reclusive neighbor, Wes. I just loved this Christmas romance novel to bits. Gus is both real and delightful, watching Adam parent is affirming and lovely, Wes's love for his pets and the descriptions of his science experiments are fascinating, and the way that Adam and Wes learn about each other and fall for one another is like being wrapped in a warm and joyful hug. As always, Parrish's secondary characters are also great fun to read about, and I was thrilled to see Charlie, Rye, and River from a previous novel set in Garnet Run. (I feel like there are hints here that River may get a book next. I hope so. I'd love to see their story.) This was exactly the right combination of cozy, slightly steamy, and Christmasy. Recommended.
CA: snakes and spiders and lizards. pretty gentle, never scary, but described on the page (especially the spider)
Adam moves back to his hometown with his eight-year-old daughter after breaking up with his long-term boyfriend. He's determined to give daughter Gus a happy Christmas to help her settle into their new life. This involves trying to put more Christmas lights on their house than anyone has put on a house before--and increasingly, it also involves their reclusive neighbor, Wes. I just loved this Christmas romance novel to bits. Gus is both real and delightful, watching Adam parent is affirming and lovely, Wes's love for his pets and the descriptions of his science experiments are fascinating, and the way that Adam and Wes learn about each other and fall for one another is like being wrapped in a warm and joyful hug. As always, Parrish's secondary characters are also great fun to read about, and I was thrilled to see Charlie, Rye, and River from a previous novel set in Garnet Run. (I feel like there are hints here that River may get a book next. I hope so. I'd love to see their story.) This was exactly the right combination of cozy, slightly steamy, and Christmasy. Recommended.
171laytonwoman3rd
Wait, a reclusive neighbor who does science experiments (and I'm guessing keeps spiders and snakes?) and it turns out NOT to be a horror novel?
172lycomayflower
>171 laytonwoman3rd: Lol. No. It's kind of actively subverting that expectation, actually.
173PaulCranswick
Have a lovely holiday, Laura.
174lycomayflower
>173 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul.
175lycomayflower
55.) The Life and Works of Jane Austen, Devoney Looser ****
This was a Great Courses... course I accessed through audible about... the life and works of Jane Austen. Did what it said on the tin and all that--and did it quite well. I'm pretty familiar with Austen and her works, but I still learned some things here and had a lovely time listening to the course. Looser does an excellent job both explaining things and presenting things in an interesting way through this format. Recommended if you are interested in Austen or English lit.
This was a Great Courses... course I accessed through audible about... the life and works of Jane Austen. Did what it said on the tin and all that--and did it quite well. I'm pretty familiar with Austen and her works, but I still learned some things here and had a lovely time listening to the course. Looser does an excellent job both explaining things and presenting things in an interesting way through this format. Recommended if you are interested in Austen or English lit.
176lycomayflower
56.) Santa in the City, Tiffany D. Jackson and Reggie Brown ****
The kids at school have all kind of reasons why Santa can't be real--and why, even if he *were* real, he wouldn't be delivering presents to kids in the city. Deja believes, but she has so many questions. Her mommy and her other relatives always have an answer, and the story meets this answers with the refrain "makes sense." Finally, on Christmas morning, she wakes up to a message from Santa telling her magic always finds a way, and Deja knows that Santa does come to the city too. A nice message and really nice illustrations.
57.) Mistletoe: A Christmas Story, Tad Hills ****
Mistletoe the Mouse loves the snow, but her friend Norwell the Elephant prefers to be toasty warm. So Mistletoe has to enjoy the snow without him. Then she decides to make him a gift for Christmas that will let him be toasty warm and enjoy the snow with her. I love the bright, colorful illustrations in this story; the way Mistletoe and and Norwell both make gifts for the other that demonstrate that they know what makes the other happy; and all the little knitting moments (Mistletoe's attic is full of boxes of yarn; Mistletoe thinks you can never have too much yarn--ah, correct, Mistletoe). Fun.
The kids at school have all kind of reasons why Santa can't be real--and why, even if he *were* real, he wouldn't be delivering presents to kids in the city. Deja believes, but she has so many questions. Her mommy and her other relatives always have an answer, and the story meets this answers with the refrain "makes sense." Finally, on Christmas morning, she wakes up to a message from Santa telling her magic always finds a way, and Deja knows that Santa does come to the city too. A nice message and really nice illustrations.
57.) Mistletoe: A Christmas Story, Tad Hills ****
Mistletoe the Mouse loves the snow, but her friend Norwell the Elephant prefers to be toasty warm. So Mistletoe has to enjoy the snow without him. Then she decides to make him a gift for Christmas that will let him be toasty warm and enjoy the snow with her. I love the bright, colorful illustrations in this story; the way Mistletoe and and Norwell both make gifts for the other that demonstrate that they know what makes the other happy; and all the little knitting moments (Mistletoe's attic is full of boxes of yarn; Mistletoe thinks you can never have too much yarn--ah, correct, Mistletoe). Fun.
177lycomayflower
58.) Murder at Mallowan Hall, Colleen Cambridge ****
This is a murder mystery set at Agatha Christie's house, and while I thought Christie would be more of a character in the story, the fact she wasn't really didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. The heroine, Phyllida, is the housekeeper of Mallowan Hall and friends with "Mrs. Agatha." When an unexpected guest turns up murdered in the library, the house teeters on uproar, but Phyllida not only keeps things under control but also begins to try to solve the mystery. Phyllida is no-nonsense but also caring, and I warmed to her almost immediately. I enjoyed following her as she gathered clues (especially ones the detectives on the case thought were immaterial), ran the household, and tried to keep the various servants under her out of trouble. There is also the hint of a romance bubbling for her, and I loved watching that just start to warm up. I caught a number of references to Christie works (that was fun), and I expect there were many that passed me by as well. Recommended.
This is a murder mystery set at Agatha Christie's house, and while I thought Christie would be more of a character in the story, the fact she wasn't really didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. The heroine, Phyllida, is the housekeeper of Mallowan Hall and friends with "Mrs. Agatha." When an unexpected guest turns up murdered in the library, the house teeters on uproar, but Phyllida not only keeps things under control but also begins to try to solve the mystery. Phyllida is no-nonsense but also caring, and I warmed to her almost immediately. I enjoyed following her as she gathered clues (especially ones the detectives on the case thought were immaterial), ran the household, and tried to keep the various servants under her out of trouble. There is also the hint of a romance bubbling for her, and I loved watching that just start to warm up. I caught a number of references to Christie works (that was fun), and I expect there were many that passed me by as well. Recommended.
178laytonwoman3rd
>177 lycomayflower: Hmmmm....
179lycomayflower
59.) Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events, Brent Spiner ***
As best I can make out, this is a novel loosely inspired by some things that happened to Spiner during his time on TNG. Spiner and the other members of the cast are all characters here (making this a work of RPF or real person fiction, if an unusual one given that the author is one of the RPs in question). While the format here rings all my bells (meta? fanfic? author-insert fic? all fascinating to me), I think in this particular case I might have preferred a straight memoir. Or a complete fiction. I could not stop worrying at what was true and what was not, and of course there's no way to know for sure. And if that was part of the point, I guess I wasn't interested enough in the *story* to be enthused about it. Still, a fascinating novelty. I went poking around for reviews about halfway through my read in a fit of "what IS this?" and I think this review from Jason Sheehan at NPR does a good job of summing it up.
As best I can make out, this is a novel loosely inspired by some things that happened to Spiner during his time on TNG. Spiner and the other members of the cast are all characters here (making this a work of RPF or real person fiction, if an unusual one given that the author is one of the RPs in question). While the format here rings all my bells (meta? fanfic? author-insert fic? all fascinating to me), I think in this particular case I might have preferred a straight memoir. Or a complete fiction. I could not stop worrying at what was true and what was not, and of course there's no way to know for sure. And if that was part of the point, I guess I wasn't interested enough in the *story* to be enthused about it. Still, a fascinating novelty. I went poking around for reviews about halfway through my read in a fit of "what IS this?" and I think this review from Jason Sheehan at NPR does a good job of summing it up.
180lycomayflower
60.) How to Blow It with a Billionaire, Alexis Hall ****
A reread in preparation for reading the final book in this trilogy for the first time. I enjoyed this more than I did the first time, I think. I was pretty much enthralled and sped right through it, sucked in by Arden's voice and curious about what is up with Caspian. I was also less annoyed at not getting Caspian's pov this time around. *shrug* Just proves that the right books can be read at not quite the right time, I guess. I'm jumping right into the third volume.
A reread in preparation for reading the final book in this trilogy for the first time. I enjoyed this more than I did the first time, I think. I was pretty much enthralled and sped right through it, sucked in by Arden's voice and curious about what is up with Caspian. I was also less annoyed at not getting Caspian's pov this time around. *shrug* Just proves that the right books can be read at not quite the right time, I guess. I'm jumping right into the third volume.
181lycomayflower
Right, 'sit for 2021!
The Year in Review:
60 books read
59 in print
1 on audio
6 graphic novels
1 comics collection
9 illustrated (i.e. picture books)
50 fiction
10 non-fiction
1 poetry
^something's wrong with the math there, but I'm afraid I can't be arsed to count again, soz
23 by male humans
43 by female humans
1 by a nonbinary human
^nothing's wrong with that math. some books had more than one author
6 by BIPOC authors
14 by queer authors
1 in translation
Fav Reads in 2021
When All the World Sleeps
Mary Jane
The Hate U Give
Red, White & Royal Blue
The Lights on Knockbridge Lane
Murder at Mallowan Hall
Reads That Were Not My Cuppa in 2021
Touch Me Gently
Kink
Lights Out in Lincolnwood
Book Girl
The Ghost Clause
The Island
It was a bit of a meh year for me for reading. I constantly felt like I was abandoning books without cause or just frustrated with how much I was (not) reading. The books I really loved this year I *really* loved, but I feel like I read an awful lot of books that were just... fine. Sometimes that happens, I guess. I'm a little bummed that I didn't hit 75 and feel like I should have, but I have to say that there is no doubt in my mind that I read *at least* 15 novel-length fanfics this year. And that reading is reading I enjoy immensely, so. *smacks self upside* Enough with the shoulding. Anyway. Onward.
I'm here for 2022.
The Year in Review:
60 books read
59 in print
1 on audio
6 graphic novels
1 comics collection
9 illustrated (i.e. picture books)
50 fiction
10 non-fiction
1 poetry
^something's wrong with the math there, but I'm afraid I can't be arsed to count again, soz
23 by male humans
43 by female humans
1 by a nonbinary human
^nothing's wrong with that math. some books had more than one author
6 by BIPOC authors
14 by queer authors
1 in translation
Fav Reads in 2021
When All the World Sleeps
Mary Jane
The Hate U Give
Red, White & Royal Blue
The Lights on Knockbridge Lane
Murder at Mallowan Hall
Reads That Were Not My Cuppa in 2021
Touch Me Gently
Kink
Lights Out in Lincolnwood
Book Girl
The Ghost Clause
The Island
It was a bit of a meh year for me for reading. I constantly felt like I was abandoning books without cause or just frustrated with how much I was (not) reading. The books I really loved this year I *really* loved, but I feel like I read an awful lot of books that were just... fine. Sometimes that happens, I guess. I'm a little bummed that I didn't hit 75 and feel like I should have, but I have to say that there is no doubt in my mind that I read *at least* 15 novel-length fanfics this year. And that reading is reading I enjoy immensely, so. *smacks self upside* Enough with the shoulding. Anyway. Onward.
I'm here for 2022.
182lycomayflower
Here's my thread for 2022: https://www.librarything.com/topic/338132#7700270
183PaulCranswick
Forget your stresses and strains
As the old year wanes;
All that now remains
Is to bring you good cheer
With wine, liquor or beer
And wish you a special new year.
Happy New Year, Laura.
