August and September were very busy! Both lower reading months for me.
Books Reread
The Wake of the Lorelei Lee by L.A. Meyer
Bloody Jack book 8 of 12
CW: murder of an unborn child
Continuing my reread of this series. In this installment, Jacky is shipped to Botany Bay as a criminal. Full of the usual hijinks and familiar faces. I didn’t remember this one super clearly but it has the charm of the others.
4.75/5 figureheads
New Books Read
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher***
Sworn Soldier book 1 of 3
A retelling of Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” I really enjoyed this one. I really like T. Kingfisher. I liked the voice a lot and loved the inclusion of a nonbinary narrator. It was spooky and fantastical and highly enjoyable. Good spooky read.
4.5/5 fungi
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik***
Temeraire book 3 of 9
CW: war, discrimination
**Book Hangover Alert
I’m obsessed with these. In book three we are traveling back from China, hopefully in time to aid England in the cause against Napoleon. As usual, perfect pacing, great voice. I’m obsessed with Laurence and Temeraire. I liked seeing the feral dragons and how dragons live in various societies. Big fan of Tharkady and hoping we see him again. Again my only qualm is that there aren’t very many female characters in these books. The ones there are are good, but there just aren’t very many.
4/5 dragon eggs
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid book 1 of 3
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: torture, domestic violence, manipulation, emotional abuse
Another “I support women’s wrongs” books. A good one to read if you are very angry right now at men for no reason at all. When Millie lands a job as a housemaid for a wealthy family after getting out of prison, the position feels too good to be true. And she’ll find out it is. A twisty feminist thriller that keeps the pages turning.
4/5 attic rooms
Canon by Paige Lewis
**Book Hangover Alert
This one was weird but I did like it. Reluctant hero Yara is tasked by God with ending the holy war between Good and Evil by killing Dominic, leader of the Bad Guys. But a disillusioned prophet and the leader of the Good Guys are searching for glory too. It has sort of an epic poem vibe. It’s funny and meta and thoughtful. I’m still not sure how I felt about the ending. I understood it and why it ended the way it did, but I hoped for a different ending.
3.75/5 whales
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead***
CW: racism, torture, death, n-word
**Book Hangover Alert
This was the Big Library Read for Denver so I went ahead and checked it out. In the present, archeologists uncover the horrors of what happened at a residential school for juvenile delinquents and there are calls for reparations for those who suffered there. Woven through the narrative, is the story in the past of two Black boys who served time at the facility and what they experienced there. This is not an easy read, even though it is short. But it is very good. When I finished it, I stared at the ceiling for like 30 minutes. Whitehead tells a brutal story with care and compassion. Though the story of the two boys is fiction, the school is based on a real one.
4.5/5 graves
The Favorites by Layne Fargo
CW: unhealthy relationships
**Book Hangover Alert
I loved this. The synopses of this book all bill it as a sports romance which is??? I mean I guess there is sports and there is romance, but to me it reads more like a thriller. Told in a documentary format, the novel explores a scandal in pro ice dancing, following the tempestuous careers of Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha. I highly recommend the audiobook because it’s read by a full cast who are all fabulous, including but not limited to Johnny Weir, who I’m obsessed with. I loved it. I also loved the critique of ice skating at the highest level. If you enjoyed seeing the camaraderie of Amber Glenn and Alyssa Liu with their international competition at the last Olympics, you should definitely pick up this book.
5/5 free dances
Project V by Park Seolyeon
This was enjoyable but not amazing. Kim Wooram is a robotics student passionate about Gigantic Mechanics, or Voltron-esque giant robots piloted by humans. When Korea unveils their first Mech and a competition to become the pilot, Wooram jumps at the chance. There’s just one problem—only boys are allowed to apply. Pretending to be her twin brother, Wooram joins the competition. I think this might have worked better as a graphic novel. I wasn’t crazy about the prose style. It was a translation, but a faithful translation will preserve the style of the original. I thought the pacing was a little off as well. I also felt like it was trying to do too much as far as themes. It was grappling with misogyny and patriarchy fan culture and the dangers of AI. It just felt like it didn’t do that good of a job addressing any of the themes.
3/5 robots
The Children by Melissa Albert
CW: child neglect
Melissa Albert’s first book for adults! Guin has spent her adult life trading on the fact that her mother was a beloved children’s book author with an unfinished series. But when Guin’s shiny memoir about her family’s life at the Farmhouse where her mother wrote the books and ultimately died prompts a new art show from her estranged brother Ennis, the darker truth of their childhood threatens to come out of the shadows. I really enjoyed this. I love Albert’s prose style and her books are always propulsively readable. I do still have a little confusion around the reveal and I think that could have been a little clearer, but overall I really liked it.
4/5 hands
Tunnel of Bones by V.E. Schwab
Cassidy Blake book 2 of 3
As a birthday gift to myself, I binged this in one day. In the second book of the Cassidy Blake series, Cassidy and her parents are in Paris, filming the next episode of their ghost hunting show. Cassidy, as the only one who really can see ghosts, must unravel the mystery of a boy who disappeared in the Paris catacombs. I really enjoy these. They’re spooky and fun and full of heart. I’m excited to read the next one.
4/5 cats
When We Spoke to the Dead by Ilise S. Carter
A nonfiction history of the Spiritualism movement in the United States and how it gave women a voice in the public sphere. Very interesting. I read this as research for a potential future book. I was very interested in the history of Spiritualism, but a little less so (I’m sorry to say) in the personal story of grief the author shared.
3.5/5 Ouija boards
Taipei Story by R.F. Kuang***
**Book Hangover Alert
I’m interested to see what other people think of this book. American born Chinese student Lily spends a summer in Taipei in a rigorous Chinese language immersion program, grappling with what it means to be Chinese and how language acquisition will connect her (or not) with her roots. I thought it was a fascinating meditation on language, and I related to a lot of it, even though I am learning Spanish, and do not have Latino or Hispanic heritage. It is certainly slower paced than Kuang’s other works, and does not have a fantasy element, so I’m curious how it will be received by her fans. Personally I love that she’s experimenting in many genres. I loved the discussion of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and the idea of language shaping the way we perceive and understand the world. I also feel like I’m a different person in Spanish than in English, perhaps partly because my imperfect mastery of the language limits me. I’m much funnier in English and have the ability to communicate much more nuanced thoughts. In Spanish I have to be much more simple and direct. I also appreciated Kuang’s exploration of heritage and how children of diasporas connect back to their relatives and histories when there is a language barrier there and a traumatic history their family doesn’t want to talk about. It was a quiet book, but a good one.
4/5 bubble teas
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke***
CW: child abuse, animal abuse, drug use, misogyny, assault
**Book Hangover Alert
Tradwife influencer Natalie has created a social media empire sharing the idealistic life she lives on her farm with her husband and children. But when the darker truth not shared on social media threatens to come out, Natalie unexpectedly wakes up in what appears to be a real 1850s homestead and experiences what it’s really like to be a tradwife. I’m not sure that ‘enjoyed’ is the right word for how I felt about this. I’m glad I read this, and I thought it was really interesting. It explored a lot of themes and I hope will start a lot of good conversations. I loved the theme of performance, which if I were going to write a critical essay, I would apply Judith Butler’s ideas of gender performance. I also really liked how Burke showed the ways in which patriarchy hurts men as well as women. And I loved the critique of using children as content on social media. Like Project V, you could say that none of these themes were explored super deeply (there was also the theme of Christianity and control), because they were so many to explore, but I think they were still handled a little better than Project V, and I think they’re a really good place to start to have conversations about these topics. I hope the people that most need to read this book read it. I heard some people didn’t love twist/explanation. I think it made sense to me and other explanations might have been kind of unbelievable.
4/5 chickens
**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 need some time to process. 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 What Moves the Dead for queer representation in horror. Read Black Powder War for critique of the British Empire and meditation on subjugated groups. Read Nickel Boys to learn about how systemic racism echoes through to the present. Read Taipei Story for a meditation on language and diaspora. Read Yesteryear for a discussion of patriarchy, gender performance, misogyny, cults, religion, and the rights of children.
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.
