2022 Reading – Krista Beucler

December 31, 2022February 4, 2023

December 2022 Books and End of Year Roundup

End of Year Roundup

Number of new books read this year: 106

Number of books reread this year: 11

Number of books by women, trans, and nonbinary people read this year (only counting new books read): 74

Number of books by BIPOC this year (only including new books read): 34

Number of books by disabled authors this year (only including new books read)*: 3

*This can only include authors I know are disabled. More on the list could be and I might not know. Definite room for improvement in this category!

Breakdown by genre
-Fiction: 86 (classics: 6; contemporary fiction: 7; dystopian: 1; fantasy: 34; historical fiction: 10; literary fiction: 8; mystery: 3; romance: 5; science fiction: 7; thriller: 1: YA*: 4)
-Nonfiction: 12 (travel: 3; essays: 1; history: 1; memoir: 5; science: 1; social science: 1)
-Graphic novel: 1 (fantasy)
-Short story collection: 1 (fantasy)
-Poetry: 3 (poetry collection: 1; novel-in-verse: 2)
-Play: 3 (script: 1; audioplay: 2)

*Many of the fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction books I read were also in the YA age range.

First Book of the year: The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All by Josh Ritter

Last Book of the year: The Chimes by Charles Dickens

Best Books of the year (in no particular order):
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Elektra by Jennifer Saint
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson
True Biz by Sara Nović
Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Lobizona by Romina Garber
The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
Disability Visability: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Time Is A Mother by Ocean Vuong
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Okay actually there were a lot of really good books I read this year, and I cut myself off but I could have kept going.

Worst books of the year:
The worst books of the year have to be the two I didn’t finish reading: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds and A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair. But my lowest rated books of the year were Heaven by Mieko Kawakami, which was just far too bleak, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, which was actually good if you skip all the parts about Levin, and Life Ever After by Carla Grauls, which was just not good.

Most read author: Maggie Stiefvater (6 books)

December Books Reread

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater***
**Book Hangover Alert
The Raven Cycle book 4 of 4
The stunning conclusion! I didn’t remember this one super well either. I only remembered the relationship that finally happens in this book (trying not to spoil it). Anyway I still love it. I love all the characters. I love getting to see Henry Cheng join the gang.
5/5 robo bees

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater***
**Book Hangover Alert
The Dreamer Trilogy book 1 of 3
I still love the Dreamer Trilogy too. I don’t think I love it quite as much as the Raven Cycle but I still love it. I love getting to spend more time with Ronan, and getting to know Jordan and Hennessy, and who could have guessed I would learn to love Declan?? My only qualm rereading this book is that there is a lot of (necessary!) build up to Ronan and Hennessy meeting and beginning to work together.
4/5 forged paintings

Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater***
**Book Hangover Alert
The Dreamer Trilogy book 2 of 3
I actually think I might like this one better than the first one. Not that I don’t love the first one, but this book is where things really start to get exciting. And we get to see the development of Ronan and Hennessy’s relationship and Declan and Jordan’s, and also Matthew’s development, which I adore. I also love Farooq-Lane and Liliana. This is also the first time I’ve reread a book that is already on the blog, so if you’re interested in my original review of Mister Impossible, you can read it here.
4.5/5 sweetmetals

The Chimes by Charles Dickens
I really respect that after Dickens wrote an instant classic about ghosts on Christmas, he was like, “I’m going to write more holiday books, and you know what else, besides ghosts, says Christmas? Goblins. That’s what.” Anyway, this book is about goblins. It’s definitely not as good as A Christmas Carol, but still enjoyable. We love a Dickens book in the winter.
3/5 bells

New Books Read

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger***
This was the Big Library Read, so it was available to check out as an ebook to everyone. I read Elatsoe by Little Badger last year so I was excited to read this one. I didn’t enjoy it as much as Elatsoe. I liked the ace representation, we could always use more of that, and I loved learning about the animal people. But I didn’t love the style of prose and I thought the dialogue felt stilted and awkward.
3.5/5 tornados in nesting dolls

The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling
Sequel to the Ex Hex
The Ex Hex was my Book of the Month last year in October and it was delightful, so I wanted to read the sequel. This one focuses on Gwyn, Vivi’s cousin. In the first book, Gwyn is dating Jane, the mayor of Graves Glen. In this book, Vivi and Rhys are happily married and Gwyn falls in love with Rhys’s brother Wells. Not to invalidate bisexual people who are in heterosexual relationships, but I would have liked it more if it was a wlw book. As it was, it was sort of the same story as the first book, enemies to lovers, Jones woman falls in love with Penhallow brother. That being said, it was still a super fun light read. The banter was fabulous and I loved Gwyn and her Baby Witches and Wells was delightful.
3.5/5 bags of edible glitter

Part of My World by Jodi Benson
If you didn’t know, Jodi Benson is the voice of Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I had a chance to hear her give a talk about the book when she visited the Disney College Program here at Disney World. Her memoir is full of fascinating stories from the making of The Little Mermaid including stories about Howard Ashman, Alan Menken, and many others involved in the movie and the Disney company. I also loved reading about Benson’s experiences on Broadway. My only complaint about the book is that it’s pretty preachy. Benson is deeply religious, and though I can agree with many of her philosophies, I’m not that interested in reading about how God is the author of her life and He had a grand plan for her and her life, and He gave her great performing talent so that she could spread the word of God. It felt like the last three paragraphs of every chapter, were all the same: her explaining how the story she just told is part of God’s plan. I also would have liked to see her grapple more with the knowledge that the Church as an institution has caused great harm. One story that stuck out to me was when Benson visited Howard Ashman at the end of his life when he was dying of AIDS. She told him she would pray for him. To her, that was the greatest comfort someone could offer. And maybe she believes God truly does love everyone, but she fails to acknowledge that the Church and religious people have probably told Ashman all his life that he was an abomination going to Hell, because he was gay.
3.5/5 mermaids

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
CW: domestic violence, assault, attempted rape, anti-Black racism, n-word
I thought this book was okay. It does seem overhyped to me. I really liked the way Owens described the marsh and all of the nature writing and descriptions. She did a really good job creating and bringing to life the place of the swamp. I thought the plot was a little weak and Kya was kind of a passive character. I wasn’t interested in the romance aspects of the book, and the murder mystery aspect of the book wasn’t that satisfying. It’s also important to note that Owens is wanted for questioning about an unsolved murder in Zambia. I believe people are innocent until proven guilty, but she certainly isn’t helping the investigation, so take that into consideration before you decide to support the book or movie.
3/5 crawdads

**Book Hangover Alert indicates the kind of book that will leave you full up on love. Satisfied, but wishing the book never had to end. You’ll be laying on the floor with no idea what to do with yourself (other friends have called this feeling Good Book Depression or say that certain books necessitate Floor Time). This is the kind of book that gets its teeth in you and won’t let go easily. After the last page you’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. You’ll bother all your friends trying to get them to read it so that you won’t be alone in your Hangover.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read both Stiefvater books for more LGBTQIA+ representation in fantasy. Read A Snake Falls to Earth for Native representation and LGBTQIA+ representation.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQIA+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

(I stopped being able to change text color. I don’t know why.)

November 30, 2022November 30, 2022

November 2022 Books

Books Reread

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater **
Book Hangover Alert**
The Raven Cycle book 1 of 4
I’ve decided to reread this entire series and the companion Dreamer series since the last Dreamer book just came out. I’m so glad I decided to reread these. This is one of my favorite books ever. I just adore the way Stiefvater writes and how she creates characters. I am loving falling in love with these characters all over again.
10/5 ravens

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater **
**Book Hangover Alert (maybe it’s a dream hangover?)
The Raven Cycle book 2 of 4
Yep, still good. Still love it. I’m listening to the audiobooks this time and I have to give props to Will Patton, the narrator. He does a really great job, and I loved his voice for Kavinsky, which was not at all what I imagined when I read the book, but it was perfect.
5/5 dreams

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater**
**Book Hangover Alert
The Raven Cycle book 3 of 4
I didn’t remember this book as well as the first two books so it was nice to read it again. I, of course, love spending more time with our protagonists, but I also loved a lot of the side characters Stiefvater brought in in this book. I loved Jessy Dintly and Piper Greenmantle, and I loved Will Patton’s performance of both of those characters.
5/5 Irish elk

New Books Read

The Lord of Stariel by A. J. Lancaster
Stariel book 1 of 5
This was a free Audible original and those are very hit or miss; I’ve read several terrible ones. But! This one was a hit! I really enjoyed this one. It was a little predictable but I enjoyed the cozy mystery-meets-fantasy of it. I really liked Hetta and Winn as characters as well, and I enjoyed the way Hetta developed through the novel.
3.5/5 illusions

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
CW: alcoholism, drug use, suicide, suicidal ideation, murder, incest
Tartt really knows how to write a book where you just have to know what happens so you keep reading. The book is really long and you know from the get-go that the narrator and his friends murdered someone, but somehow Tartt keeps you hooked as she spins out this whole story. Her work is enthralling. Like watching a train crash. Hard to look away. I didn’t like it as much as The Goldfinch but it was definitely a good read. It returned itself to the library when I was 30 pages from the end, and I had to wait several weeks to finish it. I was very upset.
3.5/5 baccanals

Somewhat uninspired book photography this month. Forgive me.

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott***
CW: antisemitism, genocide
This was my October Book of the Month. I enjoyed this one. I really liked the way the house got to tell the story, and I loved how folklore was woven into the narrative. I loved the stone girl and the puppet stories. I didn’t really like Isaac as a character, and I felt that all the characters could have been developed more.
3.5/5 puppets

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Thistlefoot to learn more about antisemitism, Eastern European folklore, and for LGBTQIA+ representation in fantasy.

(I stopped being able to change text color. I don’t know why.)

November 6, 2022

October 2022 Books

New Books Read

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo***
**Book Hangover Alert
Exquisite. I read Vo’s The Chosen and the Beautiful earlier this year and loved that as well. I love the way she crafts a dreamlike fantasy world that isn’t so far removed from our world. I feel like I could easily get lost in the worlds she creates, though they definitely have teeth. I loved that this story was set in the 1930s and 40s Hollywood scene, though a fantastical one. I liked that it still addressed race, gender, and sexuality issues of that time, while still being a fantasy.
4.5/5 movie monsters

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: marital rape
I adored this. The story takes a true event–the suspicious death of 16 year old Lucrezia de’Medici shortly after her marriage–and gives us a fictional account of Lucrezia’s life and death. It so lushly recreates Renaissance Italy, and I adored the character of Lucrezia. O’Farrell’s tension building is perfection. Lucrezia also read to me as neurodivergent, though that isn’t explicit as that isn’t something we know about her historically.
5/5 tigers

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta***
CW: homophobia, bullying
This is a lovely little novel-in-verse. I loved Atta’s style and how spare yet rich his language is. I know sometimes we can get a little tired of a coming out story, since sometimes it feels like that’s the only time LGBTQ+ people are represented in media, but I loved the way this story explored the intersections of race and sexuality and internalized homophobia.
4/5 feather boas

The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien
I tried to read this book back in high school or maybe middle school (?) but I only got about 130 pages in. This time I listened to it which is how I’ve gotten through all of Tolkien’s works that I’ve read. I liked learning more about Middle Earth and its origins and connecting that to what I knew from the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the new Rings of Power TV show. But I will admit that my mind wandered from time to time and I might have to re-listen to a couple of chapters.
3.5/5 ents

Life Ever After by Carla Grauls
This was an Audible original radio play, and I didn’t love it. I was really interested in the sci-fi world Grauls created, but instead of really getting to explore that world, we were stuck with a love story between two characters who were not that interesting. I also thought the dialogue was not very good; it tended toward circular arguments that got boring after a while.
2/5 upgrades

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: misogyny
This book was just sublime. I don’t have enough words to sing its praises. I laughed, I cried, I cheered. Somehow it reminded me of Glennon Doyle’s Untamed, even though it was a fantasy novel. Highly, highly recommend.
1000/5 dragons

Persuasion by Jane Austen
Some books don’t deserve to be classics, but Austen’s books certainly earn their place in literary canon. I really enjoyed Persuasion. It’s not quite as good as Pride and Prejudice, but it’s still very good. I always love Austen’s heroines, and I love the way she creates tension and builds intrigue.
3.5/5 dashing sea captains

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Siren Queen for LGBTQ+ and Asian representation in old school Hollywood. Read The Black Flamingo for LGBTQ+ identity and representation. Read When Women Were Dragons for a look at women’s experience under the patriarchy, and LGBTQ+ representation.

Reads marked as part of the Books for a Social Conscience series will regularly address topics like race and racism, colonialism and post-colonialism, LGBTQ+ experience, feminism, BIPOC experience, social and political issues, history, identity, class, disability experience, immigration, gun violence, poverty, colorism, environmentalism, and more! The goal of these books is to diversify the stories we’re reading, grow our empathy for those who are different from us, and amplify voices who are often silenced.

October 1, 2022

September 2022 Books

New Books Read

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami
CW: bullying, suicide, suicidal ideation
I really liked Breasts and Eggs by Kawakami so I was excited to read this. I was left with the feeling that I didn’t get it. I mean, I understood the fundamental struggle of humans to try to give meaning to our lives, particularly our strife, the idea that suffering has to mean something. But the whole thing just left me sad and dispirited, and I felt that I suffered with the characters through the novel and then was left with no meaning at the end. Which maybe was the point, that the characters suffer meaninglessly and the reader does too, but it didn’t leave me particularly satisfied. So did I miss something? Have you read it? What did you think?
2/5 letters

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: gun violence, suicide
This book was just so good. We love to see ace characters. We love to see deep friendship given as much consideration as romantic relationships. We love 90s and early 2000s nostalgia. This book had all of that, as well as being thought provoking and literary and haunting. I loved it.
5/5 Donkey Kong machines

Upgrade by Blake Crouch
CW: nonconsensual medical procedures
This book was definitely a page turner. I enjoyed the ethical question of the lengths we should go to if it means saving the human race. I was interested in the examination of gene editing, especially since that is something that might be within reach of current science soon. I wish Crouch had spent more time examining the ethical problem of whether we should edit genes, even if we have the ability to, and if it’s ethical to upgrade people without their consent.
3.5/5 upgraded vigilantes

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: war, genocide, rape, anti-semitism, torture
I’ve said this about every Kristin Hannah book I’ve read so far, but I love her female characters. I love how distinct they are from one another and how the both develop throughout the narrative. I learned a lot about World War II. I loved how Hannah managed to portray her characters with such empathy, whether they were choosing to keep their heads down to try to survive or whether they were resisting the Nazis in large or small ways.
4.5/5 ration coupons

Agent 355 by Marie Benedict
This was a fun little novella speculating on the identity of a spy instrumental in bringing down Benedict Arnold during the Revolutionary War. It was enjoyable and I liked Elizabeth’s plucky nature. But I could have done with more spying and less falling in love.
3/5 redcoats

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas
Crescent City book 2
CW: fantasy racism
I do think this was maybe a bit too long and had too much graphic sex in it for my taste. But that being said I did really enjoy it and I will read the next one. I do still kind of think this story is a grown up version of Throne of Glass, but again that doesn’t mean I don’t like it. I won’t explain more, because spoilers.
4/5 comm crystals

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire***
Wayward Children book 6 of 10
CW: bullying, fantasy racism
This is a stand-alone in the Wayward Children series and it might be one of my favorites from the series. We don’t get to see Eleanor West of the other children from the home for wayward children, which is a shame since I do miss them, but I loved Reagan and her story.
3.5/5 centaurs

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: racism, sexual assault
I adored this one too. I love the idea of epigenetic inheritance and the idea of reincarnation (although that’s not quite what’s happening here). It reminded me a lot of David Mitchell’s work, and he’s one of my favorite authors. It also reminded me a bit of The Bonesetter’s Daughter. I loved the way each woman’s story echoed into the next and how each was wrapped up. It was moving and poignant and just so lovely.
5/5 typhoons

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
CW: racism, ableism
Of 20th century dystopian novels, this one is not the best. It’s intriguing and I certainly agree with Huxley’s critique of consumerism and agree with the fundamental right of personal autonomy. But I didn’t love it. I think it was because I didn’t like any of the characters much, and I’m not really sure that you were supposed to. Bernard was shallow and cowardly and Lenina was also shallow, though that may have been a result of the conditioning of the World State. That left me with John, who I felt I was supposed to sympathize more with but I really didn’t much care for him either, even if his view of human nature and the natural order of the world is closer to my own. The caste system was interesting and frightening in its believability.
3/5 soma tabs

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children book 7 of 10
CW: fatphobia, bullying
I was glad this installment of the series included both many of our old friends from the home for wayward children, and let us see Reagan again from the last book. I really enjoyed this one and liked that we got to see the Whitehorn Academy which has been mentioned before in the previous books.
3.5/5 mermaids

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow for LGBTQIA+, mixed race and immigrant, and female perspectives in the world of video games. Read The Nightingale to learn more about WWII and the suffering Jews and other minorities, as well as French resistance fighters faced, and the everyday struggles of the women of occupied France. Read Across the Green Grass Fields for LGBTQIA+ representation in fantasy. Read The Many Daughters of Afong Moy for a Chinese perspective on the past, present, and future.

September 2, 2022

August 2022 Books

New Books Read

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune***
Book Hangover Alert**
So great. This book was like a whimsical and endearing combination of A Man Called Ove and Ms. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which doesn’t sound like it should work, but it really does. I loved the character arc of Linus and I was very much invested in the love story. I adored all the characters and I would love to read a sequel to this book. A book about love and acceptance.
5/5 extraordinary kids

The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart***
Drowning Empire book 2 of 3
Aaaaaand now we wait for the third book. This book was a little bit of a second book in the way some trilogies have of the second book sort of just being a bridge to the final conflict. But it was still good and I liked seeing the development of each of the characters. I’m still obsessed with Mephi. And there were several twists that surprised me in this one.
4/5 bone shards

The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie
CW: imperialism
This book was okay. It’s not one of Christie’s best works. I thought the mystery was a little convoluted and not as satisfying to unravel as some of her other books. I did like the perspectives of Anne and Sir Eustace. I liked how plucky Anne was and I found Sir Eustace very amusing in the way he complained about everything. I didn’t really feel like I need the love story though.
3/5 diamonds

The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan***
Book Hangover Alert**
This is my favorite Amy Tan book. I loved how it explored multiple generations of daughters’ relationships with their mothers. I love Tan’s writing style and I love the way her stories weave forward and backward in time.
5/5 ghosts

The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis
CW: sexual assault, sexism
To be honest, I think the Netflix show was better. Is this blasphemy? The show is a really faithful adaptation and all the best parts of the book are in the show. The biggest difference is probably the character of Jolene, who in the show is a really great female character and a good friend to Beth. (The next part of this review I don’t consider a spoiler because the event is not important to the main plot, but stop reading now if you don’t want to know.) In the book Jolene sexually assaults Beth in the orphanage when they are children and then this is never addressed again. Not only was it entirely unnecessary to the plot, it also is never resolved. Beth never realizes what happened to her and she and Jolene continue to be good friends. I wish Beth had had other female friends in the book. I also felt like Tevis was really hung up on how attractive every character was and seemed like he went out of his way to make Beth a sexual character. While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, it seemed unnecessary.
3.5/5 pawns

The Spies That Bind by Ally Carter
Prequel to the Gallagher Girls series
This was a fun little read. It’s a prequel novella to the Gallagher Girls series, which I loved. It was fun to see how Cammie, Bex, and Liz first met, and it had all the charm and humor of the later novels. I also loved the theme of belonging.
3.5/5 rolls with room temperature butter

Books I didn’t finish

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
I know I just said last month that I almost always finish books, even if I’m not enjoying them, and here I am, saying again that I didn’t finish a book. But I’ve decided that I should really just read stuff I like and no one is forcing me to finish books I don’t like. So I stopped reading this one. I was pretty disappointed. I love mythological retellings and I love the story of Hades and Persephone, but there was nothing fresh or new about this. It was basically a prose version of Lore Olympus, which is much better. The writing was repetitive and Persephone was annoying. I read about a third of it before I gave up.
1/5 dangerous underworld rivers

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The House in the Cerulean Sea for more LGBTQ+ representation in fantasy. Read The Bone Shard Emperor for an Asian mythology inspired fantasy. Read The Bonesetter’s Daughter for an intergenerational look at a Chinese-American family.

July 31, 2022July 31, 2022

July 2022 Books

I was really busy in July so the reading was a little slow this month (also I wasted a lot of time on Revelation Space).

New Books Read

Namesake by Adrienne Young
Book Hangover Alert**
Fable book 2 of 2
I really enjoyed this series. I mean how can you go wrong with pirates? I liked all the twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I did miss Wes and the crew a little bit because they don’t seem to get as big a role in this one as the first one, but I still really liked it. I won’t say too much because I don’t want to give any spoilers for those who haven’t read the first one.
4/5 deals struck

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
This might be Bryson’s best book. I always enjoy Bryson’s humor and the way he weaves in history and science. I liked how Bryson captured the way hiking can be really not fun but still somehow enthralls you and keeps you coming back for more (we’ve always called that Type 2 fun). As an experienced hiker, it was very amusing to hear of Bryson’s and Katz’s experiences on the trail as fairly inexperienced hikers, especially because of the self-deprecating way Bryson tells the story.
4/5 thrown out supplies

The Man on the Mountain Top by Susan Trott, adapted by Libby Spurrier
I don’t know that this really counts as a book but this is my blog so I can do what I want. It’s an audible original that adapts two books by Susan Trott (The Holy Man and The Holy Man’s Journey) into an audio play. I enjoyed it. It was reflective and thoughtful and sweet. I liked the performances of all the actors.
3/5 treks up the mountain

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida***
This is a great read for anyone who wants to understand a little more about the autistic experience. So often people assume that nonverbal autistics are stupid or don’t understand what others say to them, but this book, written by a nonverbal autistic 13 year old gives us a window into what it’s like inside his head. Of course experiences of anything, including autism, aren’t universal, but I think reading this book can definitely help people understand that brains can work in different ways and people can communicate in all sorts of ways and that’s okay.
3/5 happy flaps

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart ***
Book Hangover**
Drowning Empire book 1 of 3
This book was so good. So unlike anything I’ve read before. The world building was exquisite; I loved the Asian-inspired fantasy. I also liked the characterization of each of the main characters. I liked the tension created by each of their different goals and motivations, which set them at odds with each other. At the same time though, they were all compelling and I was rooting for all of them, even though they weren’t always working together. There were lots of twists and turns I didn’t see coming or only saw just before they happened, which was very satisfying. I also adored Mephi. I liked this book so much I immediately started reading the sequel.
5/5 constructs

Elektra by Jennifer Saint
Book Hangover**
CW: murder, rape, gore
I loved this. Saint did such a great job with each of her three main characters, Elektra, Clytemnestra, and Cassandra. Each woman was unique and nuanced and had a voice and perspective entirely her own. I feel like so often we see female characters who are pretty much indistinguishable from each other. I love the Trojan war and I’ve read several retellings before; I loved the fresh perspective this book brought. I liked Saint’s last novel, Ariadne, but I loved this one.
5/5 lion daggers

Books I didn’t finish

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
The last time I didn’t finish reading a book was July of 2020 (Tender Morsels). It’s rare for me to not finish something. I suppose I might return to this one someday. It has that quality that some science fiction books have where the first few pages you have no idea what’s going on and they’re using all this jargon that’s unfamiliar (Dune is one of these). Usually I just keep reading in the good faith that it will start to make sense eventually, and usually it does. But I read almost 100 pages of this book and it was still not making sense. I also thought it was boring and had too many characters, and the way it jumped around in time was confusing. So anyway, let me know if you’ve read this book and what you thought.
0/5 alien fossils

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Reason I Jump to get a better understanding of the experience of nonverbal autistic people. Read The Bone Shard Daughter for an Asian-inspired fantasy.

June 30, 2022August 6, 2023

June 2022 Books

New Books Read

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel***
Book Hangover Alert**
Reading two books back to back with ace protagonists? Is this what representation feels like? Amazing. I adored Kaikeyi. It’s a reimagining of the classic tale of the Ramayana told from the perspective of Kaikeyi, one of Rama’s mothers (not his birth mother, but the third wife of his father). I loved the lushness of this story. I loved the exploration of Kaikeyi’s relationships, particularly with other women, and how each of the female characters was fleshed out (something I hear is missing from previous versions of the Ramayana). I recommend reading the Author’s Note, but saving it for after you’ve read the book if you’re not very familiar with the Ramayana.
4.5/5 strong bonds

Darling Girl by Liz Michalski
CW: sexual assault
People on the internet were excited about this book because it’s a reimagining of Peter Pan where “Peter is the villain!” They said it like it was a very novel idea, but if you paid attention when you read Barrie’s original, you know Peter’s always sort of been a villain. But I digress. I found this version refreshing; I liked the way the world of Neverland bled into present day. I liked the exploration of parenting shown by Holly who is always trying to protect and save both her children but doesn’t always do the right thing. One criticism: some of the flashbacks were in past tense and some were in present tense and the main action of the story was also in present tense. It bothered me that the flashbacks weren’t consistent in one tense or the other. Overall I did enjoy this book and I read it in like 2 days. The rest of this review has spoilers.

Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

I thought it was an interesting choice by Michalski to give the final confrontation with Peter to Holly’s mother, and have Holly not even present. It struck me as a little anticlimactic. I guess I was also expecting to get a little more explanation of the Christopher Cooke/Hook and Nan characters. I don’t feel like we ever really figured out if they were from Neverland or what.

3.5/5 tinkling lights

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
CW: substance abuse
I listened to this audiobook, which I definitely recommend as the format works really well for audio and I loved the full cast interpretation. I found this book really intriguing because I had never read a book formatted like this, like a series of oral interviews. I thought it worked really well because each member of the band got to give their own perspective and memories which were often very different or disagreed entirely with other characters’.
3.5/5 album covers

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
CW: ableism
I’ve been meaning to read this since I went to Jamaica Inn in Cornwall in 2016. I finally did read it and it was okay. I like the way DuMaurier writes, and I enjoyed the mystery of what’s going on in the Inn, but I was disappointed by the ending. If you want to know why, you can continue reading, though there will be spoilers.

Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

It’s common in Classics and even in more contemporary work that someone with a visible difference or disability is the villain. And here DuMaurier buys into that stereotype, making the main mastermind villain an albino vicar. Disability or physical difference and disfigurement in literature are often shorthand for moral corruption and evil. And I’m very tired of reading about that. The other thing I didn’t love about the ending was Mary ending up with Jem Merlyn. The whole book she’s like “I know Jem is bad news and I can see how he could become like his brother (the other main villain in the story), and besides I’ve decided to be single forever and own my own farm.” And then she just doesn’t? She just chooses to go with Jem?

2.5/5 smugglers

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera***
Book Hangover Alert**
CW: attempted genocide
This is the last book from my haul from the Bay Area Book Fest and it did not disappoint. It just won a Newberry medal and it deserved it. I actually read this book twice this month because I read it on my own and then I listened to it with my family driving from California to Colorado. I loved the incorporation of Mexican culture and folklore in a sci-fi story, especially since that genre has been so white for so long. I love when middle-grade authors grapple with important questions.
4/5 bioloaf cubes

Anxious People by Frederik Backman
CW: suicide, suicidal ideation
This book has the same charm, humor, and humanity of all of Backman’s works. It explores heavy and difficult topics with levity and sensitivity. It’s full of twists and turns and the way the story unfolds keeps you guessing. I love the way everything comes together at the end.
4/5 boxes of Christmas lights that aren’t bombs

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
Dresden Files book 7 of 17
I liked this one better than the last one, but really these books are pretty consistent. They’re enjoyable and don’t take a lot of extra brainpower, which is exactly what you need sometimes. I enjoyed the character of Butters and I hope we get to see him again.
3.5/5 zombies

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton***
Book Hangover Alert**
CW: lynching, anti-Black racism, n-word, sexism, sexual assault, trauma
I said above that I’d never read a book formatted like Daisy Jones and the Six. Well, this book is also formatted like that, which did at first make it seem a little less exciting and fresh. But I really liked that this book engaged more with the current events that were happening in the 1970s. It shows the collision of rock and roll and the Civil Rights Movement. I also loved how it explores the difficulties Black women still face and how white silence can be just as insidious as loud, aggressive, in your face white racism.
4/5 platform shoes

The Girl Wakes by Carmen Lau
I got this book because sometimes when you submit stories to certain presses, they ask you to pay money or get a copy of one of the books they’ve published. So this was the one I picked. It’s a collection of short stories that echo or retell dark fairytales. It does remind me of the work of Angela Carter in its darkness and subversiveness. It was enjoyable, fresh, imaginative, and the prose was clean.
3/5 gingerbread houses

Execute the Office by Colin Rafferty
A disclaimer: Colin Rafferty was one of my professors at the University of Mary Washington, so obviously I think he’s great. This is a book of creative nonfiction essays, each one addressing a different president. I loved that I learned something new about each president, but the essays weren’t purely informative; they balanced information, personal connection, and the effort to reconcile how inarguably great men also did terrible things. I love Rafferty’s lyrical style and thoughtful explorations of each of the presidents (even the somewhat unremarkable ones).
3.5/5 presidential first dances

I reviewed this book for Under the Sun. The review can be read here.

Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman
Sandman Vol 4
CW: gore
I have listened to the latest Audible Sandman collection, which does cover Season of Mists, but this was my first time reading it. This volume is mostly concerned with who will inherit Hell after Lucifer decides to leave, which was interesting but I do think I liked some of the other episodes better from previous volumes. One thing I really like about the comics that I haven’t mentioned yet is that I really like the way the artist changes the way Dream looks depending on who he’s speaking to.
3/5 keys to Hell

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
CW: racism
I always love a story about doors to other worlds. I really liked The Once and Future Witches by Harrow, but I’m not sure I liked this one quite as much. It had a little slower build up and it took me longer to get hooked. But I did still enjoy it. I really like Harrow’s writing style. I do feel like I need a spin-off series about Jane and the Leopard Women.
3.5/5 loyal dogs

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine***
CW: racism, police brutality, misogyny
As a Coloradan, I really liked seeing Denver from a historical and not whitewashed perspective. I also really liked the generational aspect of this book. I liked the focus on the female characters, however I also felt I could have had more Diego and his snakes in the book. I didn’t understand what Luz saw in David; I thought he was awful. I’m also not sure all my questions were answered by the end.
3.5/5 snakes

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience. Read Kaikeyi for a feminist perspective in a classic and for ace representation. Read The Last Cuentista for Latinx representation in sci-fi. Read The Final Revival of Opal and Nev to learn about the Civil Rights Movement and racism in rock and roll. Read Woman of Light for a non-whitewashed look at the history of the west.

June 1, 2022

May 2022 Books

New Books Read

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
**Book Hangover Alert
I loved this book. It was my March BOTM pick and I loved the mystery of it and the magic of maps. Shepherd really managed to instill a sense of wonder in the art of looking at and learning from maps. I feel like I appreciate maps in a whole new way now. I also liked the development of Nell’s character and the growth of her found family throughout the story.
4.5/5 gas station maps

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
There are spoilers in this review. I feel like they aren’t really spoilers because this book has been out for over 150 years, but just in case you want to read it (which I actually don’t recommend) don’t read the spoilers. I’m not sure why I finished reading this book. It’s definitely way too long. And only the parts about Anna Karenina are interesting. I did not care about Levin and how much he liked farming and that he found God in the end (spoiler alert, I guess?). Also, if I had a nickel for every time the death of a horse early in a Victorian novel foreshadowed the death of the leading lady, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it happened twice (another spoiler, I guess). All in all, you should just watch the Kiera Knightly movie instead, even though Vronsky has terrible hair and a bad mustache.
2.5/5 unfaithful partners

Diary of a Hounslow Girl by Ambreen Razia***
This was an adaptation of a play arranged for Audible. It addressed some important themes for young women, especially young women of color from underprivileged backgrounds. It’s a story of a young woman trying to balance the expectations of her family and cultural roots with finding her own freedom growing up in the UK.
3/5 pretty hijab pins

I Live a Life Like Yours by Jan Grue***
Grue spoke at a panel on disability and creativity at the Bay Area Book Festival which I went to a few weekends ago. I really liked the panel and thought Grue had a lot of interesting things to say, so I went and read his memoir. I like his writing style and how scholarly it was. It wasn’t simply a catalogue of his own experiences, but a story very much in conversation with disability theorists.
3.5/5 wheelchairs

Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
CW: racism, unnecessary killing of fish and sharks
This was an old book I think my dad was trying to get rid of but I stole it. It’s a fun adventure story. It is a very “boys will be boys” thing to decide to float across the Pacific in a wooden raft just because no one would publish your theory about how the South Pacific islands were populated. It’s also a very white man thing to say “no, of course there’s no way primitive people from Peru could have sailed all the way to the South Pacific in wooden rafts” even though both Peruvians and Polynesians had stories about people who left before the Inca rose to power and sailed west (Peru’s story), and ancestors who arrived from the east and peopled the islands (Polynesia’s story). But I digress. I enjoyed reading it, even though I had a hard time getting over the author’s torment of sharks for no apparent reason (boredom?) and the fact that they just chucked all their trash into the ocean as they went. I know they’re certainly not the first or the only people to litter in the ocean, but it still annoyed me. It also annoyed me that Heyerdahl felt like he had to mention the skin color of every person they encountered who wasn’t white. It is certainly a product of the 1950s. I also can’t get over that they actually developed film on the raft from their film cameras.
3/5 balsa rafts

Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson
CW: domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking
This was a solidly average book. It was enjoyable but not special. I liked learning about the music business and I liked how it highlighted the misogyny in the industry, especially in country music. I liked the full cast audio recording, especially as Dolly Parton reads one of the characters. I did feel like there were some story threads that were dropped and never got resolved, and I would have appreciated being able to solve at least parts of the mystery on my own as a reader before we were just told at the end. I liked that Annie Lee was trying to be a strong independent woman, but it got annoying that she would never ask for help and needed rescuing in the end.
3/5 guitars

I felt like I should have gone to Muir Woods to take a picture of this book but this tree by my apartment had to do.

The Overstory by Richard Powers***
**Book Hangover Alert
I’m still not really sure I’ve processed this book. It was really good. But I wouldn’t necessarily say it was enjoyable to read. It’s about trees. About forests and about ecosystems and about sentience that humans have no right to destroy. It will probably change the way you think about trees and it will probably make you very sad about deforestation, like it made me. But there is a grain of hope at the end? That I might not ever live to see?
4/5 redwoods

Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders***
CW: genocide, fantasy racism, transphobia (mentioned)
This was exactly what I hoped it would be: a queer escapist space fantasy. I loved the focus on strong friendships and bodily autonomy and consent. I loved that every character shared their pronoun in their introduction and I loved that all the characters asked for permission before they touched each other. It was a fun read and I’m excited to read the rest of the series. My only real criticism is that I wish fewer of the aliens had died and that more aliens had gotten to be major characters, apart from the Earthlings.
3.5/5 universal translators

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston***
CW: homophobia, religious trauma
This one was fun. I picked it up at the Bay Area Book Festival after I heard McQuiston speak on a panel, and I also got it signed! I don’t think I liked it quite as much as McQuiston’s first two books, but it was still a fun read. I liked the exploration of queerness in the context of a small southern town and a religious school.
4/5 pink notes

The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande***
CW: alcoholism, PTSD, domestic violence, child abuse, neglect
A memoir of a young immigrant from Mexico trying to make her way in the United States. This isn’t an easy story to read. Grande has faced a lot of really difficult struggles. But in her story we can learn more about immigrant experiences and the realities of the ever elusive American dream.
3.5/5 first generation college graduates

Scout’s Honor by Lily Anderson
CW: PTSD, death
This book was fun! It was exactly the monster-killing, sisterhood vibes I was hoping for. I really appreciated that the main character was struggling with trying to decide whether to be a part of a toxic organization and try to change it from within, or to quit and get out of that space. I relate to that struggle. There were just a couple things I didn’t like as much. I do resent a little bit all the insinuations that Girl Scouts just sell cookies. I also thought it was gross that the author kept pointing out whenever Kelsey slurped spit off her braces. While this is a believable character trait, it’s gross and I don’t want to read about it. There were a couple of sections of the book inexplicably in verse and I feel like it was necessary or really added anything, but overall I enjoyed it.
3.5/5 mulligrubs

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong***
**Book Hangover Alert
Who gave Ocean Vuong permission to write like that? This is his third book, second poetry collection, and I think it’s his strongest. He’s always been amazing but he’s just getting better. Favorites include “Beautiful Short Loser,” “Dear Sara,” “The Last Prom Queen in Antarctica,” and “Woodworking at the End of the World.”
4/5 ants on the page

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: see Author’s Note at the beginning of the book
I adored this book. I bought it after hearing Ferguson speak at the Bay Area Book Festival and the only regret I have is that I didn’t get it signed by her. We love that Native and asexual representation so much. This book was just so well done, I don’t even know what to say. I loved the characters; I loved the struggle of balancing your identity with what other people want you to be; I loved the sense of community and the focus on the land. Also I just really want to eat all the ice cream described in the book.
5/5 reds

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Diary of a Hounslow Girl to learn about balancing cultural and familial expectations with finding freedom and identity. Read I Live a Life Like Yours to learn more about disability experience through a non-American lens. Read The Overstory to grow your empathy for trees, the earth, and the environment. Read Victories Greater than Death for a diverse sci-fi story. Read I Kissed Shara Wheeler for an exploration of queerness in the context of a small, southern, religious town. Read The Distance Between Us to learn about the immigrant experience. Read Time Is a Mother to learn more about AAPI and LGBTQ+ experience. Read The Summer of Bitter and Sweet to learn about Native and asexual experience.

April 30, 2022April 30, 2022

April 2022 Books

I didn’t read much this month because I was trying to finish writing my novel.

Books Reread

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
You know I love a full cast audiobook. And I love both Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It was really nice to revisit this book which I haven’t read since before the TV adaptation came out. It’s still funny. I still love Crowley and Aziraphale. There are a few jokes that haven’t aged like fine wine, (looking at you Madam Tracey’s spirit guide) but overall it’s still a really good book.
4/5 nice and accurate prophesies

New Books

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow***
Book Hangover Alert**
CW: misogyny, racism
I heard about this one on BookTok and it did not disappoint. I loved Harrow’s prose and the connection of witches to the women’s suffrage and workers’ rights movements–that’s something I haven’t seen done before. I also loved the LGBTQ+ representation; it’s not every day we get another asexual character. I thought the magic system was really cool. I liked the bittersweet ending.
4.5/5 words and ways

Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende
CW: rape, genocide, gore, colonialism
I love way Allende writes. This novel had such a strong voice, and I liked the focus on a strong historical woman often forgotten. I was left a little uneasy that the protagonists are Spanish conquistadors. I do think Allende does a good job of not glorifying them or the colonization of South America, and she doesn’t flinch from describing the atrocities committed by the Spanish. But I guess I wanted the protagonists to come to a point where they condemned imperialism, even though I know that’s probably not historically accurate.
3/5 water divining rods

True Biz by Sara Nović***
Book Hangover Alert**
CW: ableism, oralism, mention of forced sterilization, institutionalization
Amazing. I loved this. It was my sister’s Book of the Month pick for April, and immediately after she finished it, I read it. I’ve never read a book where the characters used primarily sign language, so that was super cool. I loved the emphasis on Deaf culture, history, and issues facing the d/Deaf community. I also appreciated getting to see a coming of age story where Deaf teenagers get to do teenager things; often there’s a misconception that disabled people are asexual and don’t get out much and don’t enjoy the same things we all do. I learned so much from this book and highly recommend it to everyone.
5/5 hand signs

Join the BOTM cult.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Once and Future Witches for a feminist fairytale with LGBTQ+ themes. Read True Biz to learn more about Deaf culture, ASL, and ableism.

April 1, 2022April 6, 2022

March 2022 Books

Books Reread

Wildwood Dancing by Juliette Marillier
Book Hangover Alert**
Wildwood book 1 of 2
I just got the companion book to this one, and I wanted to reread it before I read the companion. I forgot how much I like this book. It should probably be on my list of favorite books. It is a retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.” It’s set in Transylvania, and it’s just superb. Jena, the main character, is one of my favorite strong heroines. I love the feminism and the sisterhood in this book as well. Highly recommend.
5/5 enchanted frogs

New Books Read

The Maid by Nita Prose
CW: ableism, manipulation, drug use
We’re going to be talking about disability studies a lot in this blog. The Maid is told from the perspective of Molly, a maid in an upscale hotel. To me, she reads as autistic and maybe having OCD as well. Neither of these diagnoses are named by the author, who just calls Molly “socially awkward,” which I felt was weird? Did she feel that if she named them, people would criticize her for the representation? But by not naming them, I felt it made these identities seem taboo. I read a few reviews trying to get an idea of whether people though Molly’s characterization was an accurate representation of neurodivergence. The reviews were very mixed. As far as I could tell, Prose does not identify herself as neurodivergent. I do not identify that way either, so you may take my review with a grain of salt. I felt that even though the characterization relied on many stereotypes of autism and OCD, they weren’t negative stereotypes, and Molly was still a round, relatable, sympathetic character. Though she is at times manipulated by those around her, the reader doesn’t doubt her intelligence or her empathy, and her disability actually helps her do her job and makes her who she is. Overall it was a fun locked-door mystery.
3.5/5 cleaning carts

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank***
Book Hangover Alert**
CW: the holocaust, anti-semitism
I don’t know if this was a Book Hangover, or I just felt sad after finishing it. Last month I read The Betrayal of Anne Frank, and I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t actually ever read Anne Frank’s diary, despite having visited her museum in Amsterdam and reading the aforementioned book. So I finally did it. What struck me most about Anne Frank’s diary is how normal she seemed. She was just a normal 15-year-old girl, with normal 15-year-old thoughts and feelings living her life during a momentous moment in history. But when I think about, we’re living though a momentous moment in history right now and, like Anne, somehow we’ve all figured out how to carry on as if this were normal. The other thing that struck me about the book was just the terribly sad dramatic irony. Because the reader knows what happened to Anne. In her final entries, Anne could see the end of the war was coming. She had so much hope for her future, was planning her return to school, and she was betrayed and died so close to the end of the war.
3.5/5 food ration coupons

Cazadora by Romina Garber***
Book Hangover Alert**
Wolves of the World book 2
CW: misogyny, homophobia
I told you all last month how much I loved Lobizona, and I’m still really enjoying this series. I loved getting to see more of the Septimus world in this book and I loved getting to meet some new characters. I like that it kept me on my toes and I didn’t know what was going to happen. The ending was a surprise for me and I’m super excited to for the next one to come out! I hope Manu and her friends can continue to speak their truth.
4/5 septibol matches

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
This is only the second Austen novel I’ve read. It’s not as good as Pride and Prejudice but I did enjoy it. I particularly enjoyed the performance of the narrator of the audiobook. I liked that I could tell which characters I was supposed to like, not only by what they said, but by the various annoying voices the narrator gave them, while the likable characters had likable voices. I haven’t read many Gothic novels, but I did enjoy the way Austen pokes fun at Gothic tropes and subverts Gothic conventions.
3.5/5 mysterious trunks

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
CW: ableism, scientific animal testing, medical testing without consent
I almost didn’t put this one on here, because it’s just a short story and not a novel (there is a novel but I only read the short story version), but The Metamorphosis is pretty short too. And this is my blog, so I can do whatever I want. My dad recommended this short story to me. It is a really interesting piece of science fiction. I’ve been thinking about it a lot from a disability standpoint and it leaves me…uneasy? It is certainly an interesting concept and I think it brings up a lot of good questions about humanity. I felt maybe the author’s intention was to highlight a theme of human dignity and universal worthiness, but I really just felt Charlie was an object of pity. His disability is separated from him and made into the villain, which goes against the identity model of disability studies which posits that the disability cannot be separated from the identity of the person. But I was also interested in the fact that Charlie at the height of his intelligence in the middle of the story was just as isolated as Charlie with his disability, perhaps proving that a cure for mental disability isn’t a good idea. I also get stuck on consent; Charlie can’t consent to this operation and he doesn’t have anyone advocating for his wellbeing separate from his utility as a scientific test subject. Even though Charlie is at first grateful for the operation, if he had been able to give informed consent, I would feel less weird about it. I’m not going to rate this one because I feel too conflicted.

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez***
Book Hangover Alert**
CW: abandonment, rape, abortion, racism, alcohol and drug addiction, AIDS
I got this as a gift for recruiting my sister into the cult of Book of the Month. It was stellar. Last month I read The Bad Muslim Discount, and I enjoyed that this book and that book took place at about the same time in American history. It was interesting to compare the Muslim experience to the Puerto Rican experience over the same time period. I loved Olga and all her family dynamics. I love the exploration of how doing something for a cause greater than yourself can also come with personal sacrifices. At what point is it worth it? I also highly recommend reading the poem that inspires the name of the book.
5/5 very fine linen napkins

(If you, too, would like to be recruited into the cult of Book of the Month, use this link.)

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron***
Book Hangover Alert**
I really enjoyed Cinderella is Dead which I read last year, so I was excited to read This Poison Heart. Honestly, I think it was even better than Cinderella is Dead. I loved the mystery of the creepy house left to you in a will. I loved the secret magical community. I loved all the plants. I loved Black and LGBTQ+ characters in a fantasy, and it wasn’t a big deal. I’m already ready for the next book. Also, isn’t the cover just gorgeous?
4.5/5 carnivorous plants

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

The Last Pow-Wow by That Native Thomas and Steven Paul Judd***
CW: anti-Native racism, blood quantum, genocide, alcohol and drug addiction
This was a free audiobook on Audible and I’ve had some mixed results with the free Audible books (see the November 2020 book blog) but this one was really good. It was told in almost short stories that all intertwined and met together at the end at The Pow-Wow of All Pow-Wows. That Native Thomas reads the book, which I really enjoyed. His style reminded me a lot of other Native storytellers I’ve heard. I liked how the book mixed in history along with issues relevant to Natives today and also fantastical elements. I did feel the style was a little heavy on telling rather than showing (something we talk a lot about in creative writing), but I also felt that style was very much in keeping with more traditional Native storytelling, and it didn’t make me not like the book.
3.5/5 fancy dancers

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
There is something so oddly relatable about Gregor Samsa waking up one morning as a gigantic beetle and still feeling like he should go to work. I don’t know if Kafka intended this to be a disability narrative, but I do think that author intention doesn’t matter as much as reader interpretation. Maybe I’ve just been thinking a lot about disability this month, but Gregor’s transformation strikes me a little like a narrative of someone who becomes disabled. He is isolated from his family. At first they try to help him and support him, but then they begin to feel he is a burden. They stop being able to communicate with him, thinking that he can’t understand them anymore. Eventually they decide they can’t take care of him anymore and Gregor isn’t really inside the beetle anyway. I hope this isn’t most people’s experience of becoming disabled, but I do think it shows how family and friends can drift away from you when something happens to change the way you have to live your life.
3/5 beetles

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall***
Book Hangover Alert**
CW: homophobia, microagressions
I really enjoyed this. I was chasing the high of Red, White & Royal Blue and, while I don’t think I liked this one quite as much, it was still very fun. A+ banter and I loved the friendships portrayed as well. Both main characters had some inferiority complex problems that were a bit annoying but it was so funny I forgave them. It was also very charmingly British.
4/5 dung-beetles

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
A Hercule Poirot mystery
CW: colonialism, ethnocentrism, racism (directed at the natives of Egypt)
So good. I haven’t read many of Christie’s novels but I have enjoyed them every time. I do think I should read more of them. I won’t say too much about Death on the Nile since I don’t want to spoil it, but I love how she creates her mysteries. There’s always some details I can guess or figure out on my own, but I can never predict the full picture, which is so exciting.
4/5 Egyptian ruins

Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marillier
Book Hangover Alert**
Wildwood book 2 of 2
This is the sequel to Wildwood Dancing above. I loved it. It followed Paula, one of Jena’s younger sisters. It’s set in Istanbul and it was full of magic and mystery. Also there were pirates. Fabulous. It’s probably not quite as good as Wildwood Dancing but I loved that it allowed me to live in that world a little longer. The only thing I’m mad about (and I am IRATE) is that Marillier left the ending just a little open for a third book about Stela, the youngest sister, and didn’t wrap up all of Tati’s loose ends, also leaving those for a third book. AND THEN her stupid American publisher asked her to write a different series and not finish this one. The audacity. This book came out in 2008, so I guess I’m not that hopeful that she’ll write a third book, but I want that more than anything.
4/5 dashing pirates

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlin Doughty
CW: death, dead bodies
Everybody has questions about death. Let a mortician answer them for you. This book is a collection of common death questions from children. It’s interesting, funny, and informative. Even though they weren’t necessarily the questions I would have asked, I still learned a lot.
(The answer, by the way, is probably yes, if your cat or dog is starving several days after you die.)
3.5/5 dead bodies in the plane seat next to you

Pumpkin by Julie Murphy***
Book Hangover Alert**
Dumplin’ book 3 of 3
CW: homophobia, fatphobia
If you loved the Dumplin‘ movie (and if you didn’t you’re probably a monster), then you should absolutely read the book and then read the next two books in the series. I loved this story of a baby drag queen in a small town. I loved Waylon’s relationships with his parents, grandmother, and sister. I loved that we got to visit characters we fell in love with in Dumplin‘ and Puddin‘. It was feel good. It was queer. I read it in like 3 sittings.
4/5 rainbow cummerbunds

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
Book Hangover Alert**
Elements of Cadence book 1
I loved this. Definitely the best fantasy book I’ve gotten from BOTM (though I did really like Piranesi). I loved the world Ross created on the island of Cadence. I loved the Scottish folklore. I loved the magic and the delicate relationships between characters. I loved the mystery, and I was surprised by the plot twist. The ending was bittersweet and left me very ready for the next book.
4.5/5 enchanted plaids

Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose
CW: bigotry
I have some students reading this play for class, so I read it too to be able to help them with their essays. It really is a play about 12 angry white men in a room. But it’s pretty good. It shows how biases can prevent people from being objective, which is an important lesson. I also love how the characters revise and change their opinions as they discuss the case (I mean it would be a boring play if they didn’t), but I love that it shows people changing their minds when presented with new information–something it seems many people resist doing.
3/5 switchblades

Wide Awake by David Levithan***
CW: anti-semitism, racism, homophobia
I read a lot of gay books this month too. Loving that energy. This book was written in 2006, so before Trump and accusations of stealing the election, but it’s so oddly prescient. It’s set “in the near future” and it tells the story of the election of the first gay Jewish president. After he is elected and Duncan, the protagonist, and his friends are hopeful that love has won and the country is finally moving forward, the new president’s opponent tries to say that the election was fraudulent, despite losing both the popular vote and the electoral college. It reminded me so forcefully of both the election in 2016 and in 2020. I loved that it was a story about hope and about standing up for what you believe in. I also loved the portrayal of Duncan’s Christian friends; it was a nice reminder that some Christians think the most important idea in the Bible is love.
3.5/5 bad Christian pop songs

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds***
CW: gun violence, death, drugs, gang violence
This is a beautiful novel-in-verse. I read it really quickly but it was really good. It takes place in the 60 seconds a boy is in an elevator, on his way to kill the man who killed his brother. It explores grief, cyclical trauma, Black masculinity, and how society has failed poorer communities. It’s a really powerful novel, beautifully written, and very relevant. My students are going to read it in their class and I expect a lot of them will relate to it.
4/5 elevator ghosts

Princess in Waiting
Princess Diaries book 4 of 11
I must admit these are starting to wear on me a bit. I sort of wish the books in the series took place farther apart from each other, so we could see a bit more character development. I still think Micheal is too old for Mia and Lilly could be a better friend. They’re still funny and charming, but they do all sort of seem the same.
2.5/5 moon rocks

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Diary of a Young Girl to learn more about the Holocaust. Read Cazadora for an Argentine-inspired, feminist fantasy. Read Olga Dies Dreaming to learn more about Puerto Rican history and the Puerto Rican experience. Read This Poison Heart for a fantasy that includes many characters of color and LGBTQ+ characters. Read The Last Pow-Wow to learn more about Native history, culture, and current issues. Read Boyfriend Material for a lovely gay romance. Read Pumpkin for a queer coming of age in a small town. Read Wide Awake for a hopeful political story of love and acceptance. Read Long Way Down to learn about Black masculinity and cycle of poverty that leads to gangs and violence.