(Apologies for the lack of photos in this post. I posted this from my iPad and it was much harder than expected.)
Books Reread
Under the Jolly Roger by L.A. Meyer
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 3 of 12
CW: attempted sexual assault
Continuing on with my reread of these excellent books, in this one, Jacky finds herself press-ganged onto a British warship and subsequently does a little piracy. For fun. This is my favorite book in the series. I love pirates and Joseph Jared.
5/5 pirates
In the Belly of the Bloodhound by L.A. Meyer***
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 4 of 12
CW: slavery, n-word, racism, attempted sexual assault, attempted suicide
In book 4, Jacky and all of her schoolmates from the Boston finishing school are kidnapped by slavers bound for the ports on North Africa. These books are just so good. I remembered this one as not being one of my favorites in the series (though there isn’t a bad one in the series), but on this reading I had a new appreciation of the themes of slavery and ownership and freedom and who has value and what kind of value. I think the themes are really well layered throughout the book. There are tons of characters in these books and they’re all so great but because there are so many, it’s easy to forget about them. I loved being reminded of Katie Deere and Hugh the Grand. I also love to see some Clarissa Worthington Howe (of the Virginia Howes) character development.
4.5/5 millers
New Books Read
Mountaineering in the Tetons: The Pioneer Period, 1898-1940 by Phil D. Smith and Fritiof Fryxell*
This is a collection of nonfiction accounts of climbing various peaks in the Tetons by various routes in the period noted. It’s less exciting than it sounds. A lot of ‘then we traversed the western saddle to the chimney and submitted after a not-too-difficult climb, then returned to Jenny Lake by the usual descent.’ I read it as research for a character, but I’m not sure how much it really helped. Crazy that people were out there climbing mountains before there was a good route and trail though. I mean I know someone has to go first, but it’s a lot.
2.5/5 couloirs
Red City by Marie Lu***
**Book Hangover
The New Alchemist book 1 of?
CW: drug use, addiction, murder, gangs, gang violence
This was really cool. In a world where different syndicates of alchemists battle for control over cities, two young best friends are each tapped to learn this magical art. But they’ll find themselves wrapped up in a tangled web of alliances and debts, on opposite sides of the growing conflict. Love to see a unique magic system and I saw that little nod to Mozart’s sister, Ms. Lu, (one of Marie Lu’s other books is about Mozart’s sister, and it’s excellent). Lu does love to put our love interests on separate sides of a major conflict though. Which is a bit torturous. But I really liked this one. Looking forward to the next one.
4.5/5 elements
The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel by Maggie Stiefvater, Sas Milledge, and Stephanie Williams
**Book Hangover Alert
The Raven Boys book 1 of 4
CW: child abuse, domestic violence
Not sure whether to list this one in new books or reread books because it’s not a new story for me. Just a new format. This is one of my favorite series and I’m so excited to see it in graphic form. The art is just really stunning. Perfectly captures the tone and characters of the story. Very excited for more.
5/5 ravens
The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko***
I really enjoyed this one. Small Sade needs a job and to keep her powers as a curse-eater a secret. But when she accidentally gets bound to a crocodile god she wonders if her powers can free him and maybe even help her secure her place in the city. But the wealthy elite have guilt and secrets even bigger than Sade imagined. It’s set in the same world as Ifueko’s other series Raybearer, but I didn’t find myself confused having not read them. Though I suspect I would have recognized a few of the characters. I really liked the concept and also the disability representation. I also loved that at the end (I don’t feel like this is a spoiler) all of Sade’s friends helped make their home more accessible for her. And I loved the themes of eating the rich.
4/5 crocodiles
Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber*
**Book Hangover Alert
Alchemy of Secrets book 1 of ?
CW: death of parents
Such a fun, quick read. Even though most people say the stories from her Local Legends and Urban Myths class aren’t true, Holland has always believed there was more to them. When she finds the Watch Man, a man who supposedly can tell you the time you’ll die, she’s proven right. But he also tells her she’ll die at midnight the next night, unless she can find an object called the Alchemical Heart. Pulled into a world of myths and legends, Holland must unravel the secrets of her own family in time to save her life. I always enjoy Garber’s fast-paced adventures. I really liked this one, my only critique was that I didn’t feel either of the two men trying to get Holland to trust them had a very compelling argument so I don’t know why she trusted either of them. I really liked the urban legend class parts, and the whole mystery was very fun. I didn’t feel like quite all my questions were answered at the end, but it turns out it’s the first in a series so.
4/5 legends
The Court of the Dead by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro***
A Nico di Angelo Adventure book 2 of?
CW: trauma, PTSD
Yay! More Nico di Angelo! Nico and Will are off to Camp Jupiter to help Hazel with a little problem. Monsters have moved in. Well, monsters who want to be different, who want to change the way Bob the Titan did, tired of the relentless cycle of Tartarus. But not all the Roman demigods are responding well to their new roommates. Very enjoyable. It didn’t feel quite so serious as the first one which was nice. Nice to see some old friends again and make some new ones.
4/5 monsters
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix***
CW: racism, misogyny
When a new man moves to their neighborhood, Patricia welcomes him with Southern charm. But when she discovers he’s a vampire, she turns to the only people who will believe her: her ladies’ book club. I was worried this book was going to be a white savior narrative but it definitely wasn’t. In fact, not trying to spoil it or anything, it was really about all the ways white people fail to use their privilege to stop harm. I really enjoyed this one, even if I was screaming at the characters the whole time.
4.5/5 vamps
The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal***
CW: PTSD
Murder mystery on space cruise ship? Sign me up. Tesla Crane is just trying to enjoy her honeymoon on a cruise to Mars. Unfortunately people keep dying and the prime suspect is her new husband. I had a great time reading this. The setting and sci-if aspects were so fun. I also liked the disability representation and of course the service dog. I also enjoyed the little cocktail recipes before each chapter, though I hoped they’d be a little more integral to the plot.
4/5 cocktails
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer*
CW: parent death, neglect
A cozy, sweet, lovely novel. All Lucy wants is enough income that she can adopt the sweet boy in foster care. But it’s going to take a miracle. A miracle which comes in the form of a competition to win the newest book in a series of acclaimed children’s novels by the Mastermind himself, reclusive and retired author. This book was just very lovely; kind of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory vibes. Very heartwarming. No notes. Okay one: How is it possible that it took that long to get the Green Glass Door game??
4.5/5 challenges
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss
This one was nice and cozy. As the subtitle suggests, this is a nonfiction book that traces the history of bookshops in America from the time of Benjamin Franklin up to the present day. I liked hearing about the history of my favorite kind of store. And there were even some cameos of bookshops I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. I loved the theme of bookshops not being about money, but focused instead on community, each specializing to meet the needs of their particular community. It strikes such a stark contrast to the faceless capitalism of Amazon. So this is your reminder to shop at local bookstores. Even Barnes and Noble is better than Amazon.
3.5/5 bookshops
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Díaz***
CW: gun violence, racism, colonialism
I literally read this book of poetry because I ran across the quote “It is December and we must be brave” on Tumblr and it’s December so I checked the book out. A chapbook of poetry by queer Native poet Natalie Díaz. Really lovely writing. Gorgeous lyrical poetry. My favorite poems included the titular “Postcolonial Love Poem,” “Catching Copper,” “That which Cannot be Stilled,” “The First Water Is the Body,” “Exhibits from the American Water Museum,” “Isn’t the Air Also a Body, Moving?,” and “Snake-Light.” I know that this is a book of love poetry, and so this is my own fault, but I thought there were too many love poems. I preferred the ones that engaged with other subjects. I highlighted a ton of lines and generally felt inadequate as a writer while reading it.
3.5/5 bodies of water
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs*
CW: racism, classism, cannibalism, animal death, human death
Okay so Edgar Rice Burroughs was a eugenicist and you can tell. And propagating those ideas is probably why he wrote this book. You probably know the blurb but anyway: after an English lord and his wife are marooned on a stretch of the East African coast by mutineers, they build a cabin and try to make the best of it. Unfortunately they both die and their infant is adopted by a mother gorilla whose infant has also died. Tarzan is raised by apes with no knowledge of his ancestry until a party of white people is also marooned in the same place, 20 years later. I did enjoy aspects of this book. I enjoyed the adventure. I wanted to know what happened (it’s not a whole lot like the Disney movie lol). And I thought it hilarious that every three pages Rice Burroughs was like “Also! In case you forgot! Tarzan is HOT! Like super hot! The hottest man you ever saw! Peak of manliness! So strong and agile and smart and totally ripped! And did I also mention he is white and a LORD?!” And I’m not even really exaggerating. Anyway, I was interested in the way he built the dynamic between noble or upper class whites, lower class whites, blacks, black native Africans, and apes. There’s obviously a clear hierarchy the author wants to reinforce. And his main point is that the only reason Tarzan became as successful as he was (the King of the Apes), was because of his blood, the blood of an English lord. Despite being raised by gorillas, he’s able to transcend that beastiality and savagery of the apes because his good breeding guarantees his higher intellect and that in turn guarantees his supremacy. It seems to be implied that were a different kind of white man (one of the lower white sailors on one of the ships) or a black person put in Tarzan’s place, raised by apes, they would just have become as savage as the animals. But that’s another thing. Edgar Rice Burroughs didn’t know anything about animal behavior (can’t blame him I suppose, no one had yet done a study of any ape behavior in the wild when this book was written). We should also talk about cannibalism because that’s a big theme about what separates a man from a savage. The apes are cannibals, the African natives are cannibals, and even the ordinary white seamen who are becalmed resort to cannibalism (not the ship officers, of course, they would have been too well bred for that, but they were already dead at the hands of the crass seamen). But Tarzan, when first presented with the opportunity to eat a human, chooses not to. He acknowledges that it’s the law of the jungle to eat your kills (though I must note that gorillas are vegetarians), but some intrinsic part of him knows he’s different than the apes and from the African natives (not like other girls TM), so he remains a gentleman. Anyway there’s a lot to say here about humanity and savagery and classism and racism, but I don’t need to write an academic paper about.
3/5 gorillas
How to Bang a Billionaire by Alexis Hall
Arden St. Ives book 1 of 3
CW: domestic violence (off page), attempted sexual assault
This was a fun little junk food read. After meeting a billionaire during a fundraising drive for his college at Oxford, Arden St. Ives begins a relationship with said billionaire. But can either of them get what they need from the other when following the ridiculous rules made up by a billionaire? I read it basically in a day and overall really enjoyed it. Thought the prologue was awful; almost stopped right there. But the rest of the book was pretty good. I enjoyed the voice although like I noted in the other Alexis Hall book I’ve read, both main characters had inferiority complexes/self-loathing that gets a little tiresome to read about. Not quite as bad as Boyfriend Material in that regard I think. I know this was absolutely not the point of this book but I did want to see just a little critique of the superrich.
3.5/5 nipple piercings
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: toxic relationships, murder
This is a book to be savored, like Sabine’s kills. Lesbian vampires. Need I say more? Yes? Well, we follow three vampires through the ages from the 1500s to today and the way their lives intertwine and love turns to hate turns to revenge, ensnaring collateral damage along the way. Truly, Sabine goes through a bad break up and makes it everyone’s problem. Anyway, I really liked this. Love Schwab’s voice and gorgeous prose. I liked how distinct each character was. I loved the dance through the ages (Addie La Rue vibes) and the vampire lore. I think my one critique was that there wasn’t much momentum drawing the story forward except in Alice’s sections. She was the only character with a real goal. So while it was interesting and fun to read about Sabine and Charlotte and there was tension in individual scenes, there was nothing pulling us forward and making me need to know what happened next (I was curious certainly, but I was able to put the book down). But on the other hand, these are characters alive for hundreds of years, so the pacing is bound to be a bit different and I think Schwab intended readers to take their time and go a little slower.
4.5/5 roses
*This book only includes straight white cis people. There are nonwhite people in Tarzan, but it’s racist, so it still gets this designation. I guess I don’t know if the mountaineering book had any nonwhite, queer people in it, but I doubt it. Garber’s books always feel very white and straight even when I think she does include a few more diverse characters. I think she could do better.
**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 lying 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 In the Belly of the Bloodhound for a discussion of slavery and privilege and the value placed on human lives. Read Red City for diverse fantasy. Read The Maid and the Crocodile and The Spare Man for disability rep. Read The Court of the Dead because it will make you a more compassionate person. Read The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires for a critique of white privilege. Read Postcolonial Love Poem for a queer indigenous perspective.
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.
