graphic novel – Krista Beucler

April 1, 2026April 14, 2026

March 2026 Books

New Books Read

The cover of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark shows a fire made of pages of text on a black background

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
CW: murder, sexual abuse of children
A thriller/mystery about a woman hired to ghostwrite her estranged father’s memoir about the unsolved murders of both of his siblings in their teens. I enjoyed this. It was a propulsive and easy read. The prose was nothing special, but it kept us moving.
3.5/5 film reels

The cover of The Vegetarian by Han Kang shows a woman's silhouette gazing into the sky on a red background

The Vegetarian by Han Kang***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: institutionalization, eating disorder, domestic violence
I don’t know how to blurb this book. It was really good. Weird, but good. Here’s the blurb from Wikipedia: “The Vegetarian is a three-part novel set in modern-day Seoul and tells the story of Yeong-hye, a part-time graphic artist and home-maker, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody nightmare about human cruelty leads to devastating consequences in her personal and familial life.” I don’t really feel like that does it justice, but I guess it’s not wrong? I don’t know, it fails to capture the weird atmosphere and mood throughout. I also thought the POV choice was interesting as in each part of the novel we switch POVs but none of the main POVs are Yeong-hye herself. You could talk about a lot of different themes in this book, but I think the patriarchy and expectations of womanhood and wifehood, as well as disability in Korea are the ones that stood out most to me.
4.5/5 bloody dreams

The book Pests by Bethany Brookshire held up in front of a disgruntled gray tabby — Pip offended at the implication that she might be a pest

Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire***
Nonfiction. It’s what it sounds like. Brookshire examines the vertebrates that humans across the globe consider pests (including but not limited to rats, mice, pigeons, pythons, cats, horses, elephants, wolves, bears, and deer) and how and why these animals receive that designation. I thought this book was fascinating in the way Brookshire interrogated the way humans conceptualize animals and nature and where they belong and don’t belong (deer in the forest far from my house = good, deer in my hard eating my garden = bad). She brings up a lot of interesting things to think about when it comes to how we can manage invasive species, what we consider nature (where animals should be) and human spaces (where animals should not be), and how we can share this planet we all live on.
4/5 rats

The cover of Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood shows a ship sailing on a sea of barbed wire waves

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood*
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: death of a child
A retelling of the Tempest in which a retired theater director uses a production of the Tempest put on in a prison as a way to get revenge on those that forced him into retirement. Atwood is just so clever. I loved the layering of the play within the novel which is itself the play and the themes of prisons, literal, societal, and mental. It was also funny! ( I mean so is the Tempest)
4.5/5 swimming caps

The cover of The Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson shows a child sitting facing away from the viewer in the window of a ruin, looking at a burning building in the background — 37 Ink

Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson***
CW: racism, racial slurs, assault, child abuse
Look, I’ve read a lot of WWII historical fiction, okay? There’s a lot out there. But this book was unique in its subject and perspective, so we’ll allow it. In 1950s Germany, Ethel, the wife of an American officer, discovers an orphanage of half-Black children fathered by African American service members during the war with German women. Many German women felt they couldn’t keep the children, whether because of prejudice or economic concerns, so Ethel works to get the children adopted by American families. Woven into Ethel’s narrative is that of Ozzie, an African American service member stationed in Germany in the late 1940s and Sophia, an African American teenager in the 1960s who is one of the first to integrate her boarding school but who longs to learn the truth of her history. You can see how all of these threads will intertwine. I enjoyed this. I thought Johnson’s writing was well researched and evocative. It seemed to me that there were maybe more non-racist white characters than was believable (but I’m not the one who did the research and I wasn’t alive then). And one more thought is a spoiler:
Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

I loved the happy ending, but it did feel a little unbelievable that Sophia just ‘always felt she didn’t fit in’ and then conveniently just happens to meet another kid who was one of these adopted babies from Germany and then manages to actually find her family and it turns out they really did want her after all. It’s the fantasy of all children who grow up in unhappy homes that they’re actually adopted and parents who want them are somewhere out there and they were just separated by an accident of faith. But how likely is that story really? I did also think it was a little weird that they never once mention Katia’s unique hair color in his storyline. I know she was trying to keep it a mystery that Sophia is that child, but it was pretty obvious…

4/5 nuns

The cover of Voices by David Elliot shows a young girl in armor before a gold halo made up of words

Voices by David Elliott*
CW: death
A novel-in-verse about the last hours of Joan of Arc’s life. Elliott weaves in real quotes from the Trial of Condemnation and the later Trial of Nullification. We also get poems from Joan as she waits on pyre and poems in a variety of voices from the people and objects around Joan including her parents, the saints and angels guiding her, her sword, her armor, her clothing, the candle that lights the pyre, the fire itself, and more. I really enjoyed this. I thought the structure was fascinating. Elliott uses specific poetic forms for different voices and I was a big fan of the concrete poems in the collection. My only quibble was that I hated the font chosen for Joan’s poems.
4/5 voices

On the cover of Semi-Well-Adjusted-Despite-Literally-Everything, the author Alyson Stoner smashes their face against glass as though peering at the viewer as an animal in a zoo — St. Martin’s Press

Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything by Alyson Stoner***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: body dysphoria, religious trauma, domestic violence, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts, drug and alcohol abuse , sexual assault
If you think you don’t know who Alyson Stoner is, yes you do. Child actor known for Isabella on Phineas and Ferb, ‘the little white girl’ in the Missy Elliott video, Caitlyn in Camp Rock, and many more, Stoner opens up about the addictiveness of fame and the damaging way the industry works, especially in relation to minors. This memoir was not as painful to read as Elliot Page’s but I still think there are a lot of people who owe Stoner apologies. I thought the memoir was well written and the chapters were well structured. I was happy that in the end
Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

Stoner is on their way to healing and a much more healthy relationship with work and their body and using their platform to advocate for minors in the industry.

4.5/5 call backs

The cover of Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath shows a bird's eye view of a bear walking through a forest holding a shovel and dragging a bag that is trailing blood — IDW Publishing

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath
CW: murder, gore
Adorable serial killer? This book is pitched as Dexter meets Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town and that is correct. Adorable bear Samantha is an upstanding citizen in her small town, but when she visits the city, anyone might find themself her victim. But when someone starts terrorizing Sam’s town, she must stop the serial killer before they ruin the town or unmask her. The art in this book is really incredible. It’s dark but it was fun.
3.5/5 newspaper articles

Books I did not finish

The cover of The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart shows too snakes snarling at each other

The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart
This pains me so much because I LOVED Stewart’s Drowned Empire series, but I’m still trying to achieve my goal of not finishing anything I’m not enjoying. Life is too short. I’m not super good at it but I’m trying. I read 200 page of this book and was STILL not into it, so I finally gave up. I think the problem was that with so many POVs, by page 200, it still felt like we were on page 50 in the development of the narrative. I think Stewart should have focused on just Hakara and Rasha (and this from someone obsessed with writing huge casts and multi-pov stories *sobs*). It just wasn’t working for me. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters and I didn’t feel like I totally understood the world and I wasn’t interested enough to want to. Very sad about it.
1/5 altered

*This book only includes straight white cis people.

**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 The Vegetarian for great Korean literature. Read Pests to learn more about humans’ relationship to nature and how we can all thrive. Read The Keeper of Lost Children for an untold story of African Americans during WWII. Read Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything to learn about how capitalism destroys everything.

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.

November 6, 2025November 17, 2025

October 2025 Books

Books Reread

The cover of Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams shows the famous ruins in a drawing as they may have appeared with Incas living there

Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams*
I’m planning another trip to the Inca Trail so I reread this book. Adams does a good job balancing his personal travelogue of his trek in the Sacred Valley, history of Hiram Bingham’s expeditions, and history of the Incas and the conflict with Pizarro. He also covers current controversies over the Incan artifacts in Yale’s care. Very readable.
3.5/5 llamas

The cover of Bloody Jack by LA Meyer shows the front of a ship with a figure of indeterminate gender on the bowsprit — I know this cover isn’t the same style as the rest of the series. It hurts me too, but this one is signed.

Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer *
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 1 of 12
CW: attempted rape, war, death, plague
This is one of my all time favorite books from one of my all time favorite series. Orphaned in London in 1799, little Mary Faber joins a street gang but when the leader of their gang is killed, Mary rechristens herself Jack and joins the crew of HMS Dolphin as a ship’s boy. The series follows Jacky’s historical hijinks and escapades including but not limited to naval engagements, piracy, finishing school, horse racing, spying in the Napoleonic wars, and so, so much more. Even though we’ve all heard it before, my family and I listened to it on a road trip. I cannot recommend the audiobook highly enough. Katherine Kellgren does a superb job with these books including all the voices, dialects, and songs therein.
5/5 kites

The cover of The Curse of the Blue Tattoo shows a girl dancing on a dock surrounded by sailors

Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L.A. Meyer*
**Book Hangover Alert
Bloody Jack book 2 of 12
CW: attempted rape
Book 2 follows Jacky at finishing school in Boston after she’s discovered to be a girl. And if it doesn’t sound like she could get in much trouble at school (compared to in disguise as a boy in the Royal Navy) well, you’d be wrong. This is maybe one of my least favorite books in the series but there aren’t any bad books in the series.
4/5 sheepdogs

New Books Read

The cover of Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi shows a light skinned Indian woman in a green sari

Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi***
This was one of my Book of the Month books. I enjoyed it. When an influential Indian artist dies mysteriously in a hospital in Bombay in 1937 where nurse Sona works, Sona must undertake a quest to clear her name from suspicion and return several paintings to the artist’s friends. It was interesting to read a historical fiction set in India shortly before partition with an Anglo-American protagonist.
3.5/5 paintings

The cover of Teo's Durumi by Elaine U Cho shows two figures holding hands before a Japanese style pogoda with a space ship flying overhead

Teo’s Durumi by Elaine U. Cho***
**Book Hangover Alert
The Alliance book 2 of 2
CW: gore, serial murder
I’m obsessed with this duology! I’m dying for someone to make it into an action series. It would be so good. Framed for the murder of his family, Teo must clear his name and bring the perpetrators to justice with the help of his ragtag crew of misfits. It has a very cinematic, space opera feel and I just adored it.
5/5 skin suits

The cover of Falmer by Mike Curato shows a drawing of a boy giving the Boy Scout salute surrounded by flames — Henry Holt and Company

Flamer by Mike Curato***
CW: homophobia, religious trauma, suicide attempt
I like to celebrate Banned Books Week all month long. This graphic novel follows Aiden, a closeted teen, at Boy Scout camp as he comes to terms with his sexuality and his own internalized homophobia. I really liked the art in this graphic novel. Several really gorgeous panels, and I really loved the color palette choices.
3.5/5 canoes

The cover of the Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson shows a closeup of colorful bird feathers — Viking Press

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson***
**Book Hangover Alert
A nonfiction book about the craziest museum heist I’ve ever heard of. Johnson traces the crime: the theft of hundred’s of rare, historical, and endangered bird skins from an outpost of the Natural History Museum in London. Why would you steal bird skins from a museum, you ask? For the bizarre and niche hobby of salmon fly tying. Johnson excavates the community’s problematic obsession with using endangered bird feathers in the art form. This book was so wild. I can’t recommend it enough.
4.5/5 birds of paradise

The cover of Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo shows a neon-lit Chinatown street at light with a couple under a streetlight

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: homophobia, racism
The second book I read for Banned Books Month, and it was excellent. Set in the 1950s in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Last Night at the Telegraph Club follows Lily, a teenager trying to navigate her sexuality and culture as well as racism and the Red Scare. It’s such a loving book with interesting and nuanced characters. I really loved getting to read a historical fiction book in this time and place, as it’s not one I’ve read about before.
4.5/5 male impersonators

The cover of We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson shows an etching of two girls surrounded by ominous looking villagers — Viking Press

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson*
**Book Hangover Alert
Just a lil something spooky for Halloween. The Blackwood sisters live with their ailing uncle in their estate on the outskirts of town, shunned by the villagers for a tragedy that killed the rest of their family six years ago. But are the girls as innocent as they seem. Jackson is such a master of atmosphere; I really have no idea how she does it. I’m also a big fan of Mary Katherine, the unreliable narrator of the story.
3.5/5 black cats

A Thousand Times Before by Asha Thanki***
CW: domestic violence, religious conflict, colonialism
I said above I’d never read a historical fiction set in the partition of India, but I read two this month. This book is a family saga that follows three generations of women in India during and after partition. A magical tapestry allows the women to pass down their stories and histories and gives the woman from the current generation the power to create change through art. I loved the concept of this book, but I felt the pacing was off. I wanted to be into it, but it dragged.
3/5 tapestries

The cover of Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy shows a waning sliver of moon

Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy*
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: suicide attempt
This one is an early release. I heard Levy speak at the Aspen Literary Festival and her humor convinced me to buy the book. I enjoyed this. It was weird, but good. I’m struggling to write a blurb for it that makes sense. I felt like this book captured what it feels like to be alive right now. To have lived through Covid, to be surviving under capitalism, to be watching America’s descent into fascism and still be trying to live your life. Set in New York City in the near future, “Flat Earth is a story of coming of age in America, a novel about commodification, conspiracy theories, mimetic desire, and the difficulties of female friendship that’s as sharp and sardonic as it is heartbreaking” (I took that from the Penguin Random House blurb). I’m not sure I would say I liked it, but I can’t stop thinking about it?
3.5/5 documentary films

The cover of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison shows a young black girl hunched at a window

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: rape, misogyny, racism, death of animals, incest, child sexual abuse, n-word
The last book I read for Banned Books Month. You know, I had resisted reading this one a bit because I always feel like Morrison’s books are kind of a bummer. (Very important, obviously! But not happy books.) But I actually really liked this one–although, that’s not to say it wasn’t a bummer. The book orbits Pecola, an ‘ugly’ black child who longs to have blue eyes. I thought the choice of POV was super interesting as well as the engagement with the themes of whiteness and internalized racism and beauty standards and the way these systems self perpetuate. Morrison also writes some beautiful prose.
4/5 blue eyes

*This book only includes straight white cis people. Perhaps unfair to give this designation to Turn Right at Machu Picchu and The Feather Thief. The later Bloody Jack books are more diverse, but these first couple are pretty white and straight.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Six Days in Bombay to learn about India before partition and the experience of being Anglo-Indian at that time. Read Teo’s Durumi for an Asian-inspired sci-fi with queer characters. Read Flamer for a queer coming of age. Read The Feather Thief to consider the impact humans have on the earth. Read Last Night at the Telegraph Club for untold queer, Asian history. Read A Thousand Times Before for more about Indian partition and queer history. Read The Bluest Eye to learn about internalized racism and the insidious value placed on whiteness.

March 31, 2024March 31, 2024

March 2024 Books

Books Reread

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan
**Book Hangover Alert
Still really enjoying rereading these. Not going to blurb this one because spoilers. Still in awe of Uncle Rick. I really admire the way he had POV chapters from all 7 main characters and it worked. I like the way each section from a certain character had it’s own mini character arc within the whole. Also love my baby Nico, who must be protected at all costs.
4.5/5 dead legionnaires

New Books Read

Ebony Gate by Ken Bebelle and Julia Vee
The Phoenix Hoard book 1 of 2
This one was fun. I read it for my world building class. Emiko is just trying to leave her bloody history in the past, but when a magical debt is called in by a death god, she must take up her sword again to save her new home, San Francisco’s Chinatown. I enjoyed the world and the family politics Vee and Bebelle set up.
3/5 swords

The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: domestic violence, alcoholism
Full disclosure, J.R. Dawson is one of the professors for my program who taught the world building class I keep mentioning. In 1926 the Ringmaster, Rin, keeps her circus of Sparks (individuals with powers) one step ahead of the shadow chasing her from her past, while trying to prevent the next Great War that she and Mauve, a Spark who can see the future, can see coming. Rin must find a way to protect her circus and all those who love her and learn to believe herself worthy of that love. I loved the world of the circus and the nonlinear storytelling and the found family, queer vibes.
4/5 illusions

This Appearing House by Ally Malinenko*
CW: cancer
Once again just have to say that middle grade authors get so much respect from me. They are so important, and everyone should read middle grade books. (I read this one for world building as well.) A house appears at the end of Jac’s street out of nowhere and that combined with Jac’s shaking hands and headaches makes her afraid that her cancer could be returning, 5 years after diagnosis and successful treatment. Jac and her best friend enter the house on a dare, but this isn’t your average haunted house. Jac is sure it’s trying to tell her something. But can she figure it out before it kills her? This book is so important for any kids (or even adults really) living with or recovered from cancer. I cried. I think the percentage of middle grade books that make me cry is higher than the percentage of adult books that make me cry.
4/5 mourners

Apsara Engine by Bishakh Som***
Delightfully strange and queer. This is a collection of graphic short stories. They are very weird but also very good. The art is also lovely.
3/5 odd little creatures

Gone Wolf by Amber McBride***
**Book Hangover
CW: slavery, racism, trauma, grief, death, animal death
This one is middle grade too. Same sentiment as above. I read this in one evening and it was excellent. Inmate Eleven lives in the Bible Boot, a dystopian future American South after a second Civil War. Inmate Eleven is a Blue, brainwashed to believe she is inferior to the Clones. She’s also a genetic match for the president’s son, kept to ensure he lives a long life. In 2022 Virginia, Imogen is struggling to come to terms with the pandemic and the history and present reality of racial trauma in America. The two stories weave together beautifully to paint a portrait of a young Black woman learning to find healing and empowerment. McBride’s poetry background lent a gorgeous lyricism, rhythm, and repetition to the prose. I cried.
4/5 wolves

Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
The Vampire Chronicles book 1 of 13
CW: slavery, pedophilia vibes?
I can’t say whether or not I liked this book. It was kind of a slog to get through and I was wishing it was over for most of it. But now that it is over…I sort of want to read the next book? I sort of want to see the movie or the new show? I can’t stop thinking about it? The vampire Louis narrates his life story from his conversion to a vampire in the late 1700s until present day to a human journalist. It’s kinda gay (but could be gayer, tbh). It’s kinda unhinged.
3/5 fangs

Books I did not finish

Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn by Amira El-Zein
I feel bad saying I didn’t finish this because I didn’t stop because it wasn’t good. I was reading it for research on a potential project. For now the project is shelved, but I may continue it some time in the future, in which case I’ll probably return to this book. I did learn a lot about the Muslim concept of the jinn in comparison to humans and it was very interesting.

*This book only includes straight, white, cis people.

**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 The First Bright Thing for historical fiction that doesn’t erase queer people. Read Apsara Engine for trans voices in graphic storytelling. Read Gone Wolf for a better understanding of racial trauma.

March 2, 2024March 2, 2024

February 2024 Books

February was kind of a reading slump for me.

Books Reread

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
**Book Hangover Alert
Heroes of Olympus book 3 of 5
This book is just so excellent. I really enjoy the first two books, but this one, when the team is all assembled? *Chef’s kiss* Now that the seven Greek and Roman heroes are all assembled, the quest to defeat Gaia can begin in earnest. This book focuses on the team’s first task, following the Mark of Athena to recover the Athena Parthenos. I’m really impressed by Riordan’s ability to navigate POV with so many important characters. I’ve been thinking a lot about craft lately and his books are just so well structured from a craft standpoint.
10/5 pairs of Chinese handcuffs

New Books Read

The Arrival by Shaun Tan***
This is a lovely little graphic novel told in only pictures. It follows our protagonist as he moves to an unfamiliar, fantastical land and has to adapt to new cultures and customs, make new friends, and not lose himself along the way. It’s so lovely and heartwarming and the way the art tells the story is really impressive. I also love the world Tan creates and all the little creatures that populate it.
3.5/5 lil creatures

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
**Book Hangover Alert
It was so hard to fulfill my obligations while I was reading this book because I just wanted to keep reading it. I love McGuire’s Wayward Children books, but honestly, this book is on another level. It is so good. Alchemist James Reed is attempting to build the Doctrine of Ethos, believed by alchemists to be the fundamental force of the universe. But when he creates two children to embody the Doctrine, he fails to take into account their humanity. Roger and Dodger were created for a purpose, but must find their own way. I feel like that was a very inadequate blurb, so just ignore it and go read the book. This book also has ace rep, which we love. I see you Dodger. Also, not really important, but I learned so much about Hands of Glory? And they are way cooler and have way more lore than JK Rowling made it seem like in Harry Potter.
5/5 timelines

Tethered to Other Stars by Elisa Stone Leahy***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: bullying, microaggressions, racism
Another absolute banger. I read this for my world building class this quarter and it was fantastic. Middle grade novels do not get enough praise. Wendy is a middle schooler trying to fit in to a new school, keeping her head down and avoiding the notice of ICE, when Luz, an undocumented immigrant, takes sanctuary at the church near Wendy’s house and refuses to be deported. Wendy faces bullying, injustice, and the struggles of making new friends. This book tackles a lot of really big issues in such an empathetic, human, and approachable way.
5/5 telescopes

Blind Man’s Bluff by James Tate Hill***
*
This is a fascinating memoir about a man who lost his sight as a teenager but continued to pretend that he could see much better than he could. The story follows his journey through internalized ableism to self-acceptance. I enjoyed this. I thought it was really interesting, though I do feel like Hill could have grappled a little more explicitly with internalized ableism and societal ableism. By the end of the book, it’s understood that he’s come to terms with his own blindness, but I guess I would have appreciated more of a critique of ableism. Hill made some interesting POV choices, telling a couple of the chapters in second person. While I think that was a cool choice and it let me as a reader feel I was experiencing what he did, it did get a little tiresome to read after a while. I think it may have been better to restrict that POV choice to the prologue and tell the rest in first person. But that’s probably just personal preference.
3.5/5 screen readers

Before the Borderless: Dialogues with the Art of Cy Twombly by Dean Rader
**Book Hangover Alert
This book is a collection of ekphrastic poetry on the art of Cy Twombly. When I was the Editor-in-Chief of the Rappahannock Review, we published a poem by Rader that appears in this book, though the version in this book is revised a little. I’ve been thinking a lot about ekphrasis lately as I’m getting ready to teach a course on the interplay between image and text. This whole book was so good. I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of Twombly’s art, but Rader’s poems bring them a lot more meaning and dimension for me. And conversely, when I look at the art, the poems gain new meaning as well. I’m really impressed by Rader’s use of white space and enjambment, and I highly recommend this book to poetry and art lovers.
4/5 paintings

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson*
My dad has been bugging me to read this book for forever, and now I finally have. It gives a good background for understanding Western science up to 2003. I prefer Bryson’s travel writing, just because I’m generally more interested in that, but this book did have some good general knowledge things that I’m glad I know now. It was published in 2003, though, so some things are now outdated. I would personally have been more interested in learning about women’s contributions to science and scientific inquiry form non-Western countries, but I guess that wasn’t the goal of this book.
3/5 male scientists

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett*
City watch book 1 of 8
Discworld book 8 of 41
It’s always a good day to read a Terry Pratchett book. The Night Watch, led by Captain Vimes, is a bit of a joke in Anhk-Morpork, capital of the Discworld, but when a mysterious Brotherhood begins summoning dragons as part of a plot to put a puppet king on the throne, Vimes has got to shape up and get to the bottom of it. This book has all of the trademarks of a wonderful Terry Pratchett novel, plus some cute swamp dragons.
3.5/5 dragons

*This book only includes straight, white, cis people.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Arrival for a visual telling of an immigration story. Read Tethered to Other Stars to learn more about undocumented immigration and racism and microaggressions as they affect children and families. Though I feel like it could have done more, Read Blind Man’s Bluff to learn more about internalized ableism and to learn more about an experience of blindness.

December 1, 2023December 1, 2023

November 2023 Books

Books Reread

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 5 of 5
**Book Hangover Alert
The thrilling conclusion! These books were so good. I am so excited for the new TV show.
5/5 pegasi

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare*
Yes, I read it again even though I read it last month. I listened to the BBC radio play version this time. Still stellar.
4/5 love flowers

New Books Read

Ways of Seeing by John Berger
It’s Nonfiction November apparently. I read this book in preparation for a class I’m going to teach in the spring about the connection between image and text, or art and writing. It was fabulous. It’s quite old, but still relevant.
4/5 visual essays

Artie and the Wolf Moon by Olivia Stephens
This was the big library book club book, so they had unlimited e-copies for people to borrow. So obviously I got it and read it too. Artie is a teen struggling with all the regular teen things with her single mom when she discovers she’s a werewolf just like her mom. Suddenly, she has to deal with school and friendships and also learning to use her powers and staying safe from vampires. It’s a graphic novel so it’s a pretty light easy read. It was enjoyable. I don’t have a ton to say about it. I’m not in the target audience of young queer black girls, who I think will really love this book. For me I thought the author could have gone farther in developing the theme of community and its importance in African American society.
3/5 werewolves

That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey
This was fun. At a weeklong summer camp for adults, Garland must heal from the hurt of her divorce in order to discover the truth about herself and open herself to new queer love. It’s pretty simple and predictable, but I guess that’s what people want with romance books. I don’t read a ton of romance books unless they’re queer.
3/5 camp t-shirts

Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel by Lisa Cron
I read this for a fiction class I’m taking for my MFA program. I usually hate books like this. I don’t really believe that anyone can teach you how to write. They can teach you how they write, but you have to figure out what strategies work for you. I thought Cron had some useful things to say about story and your main character’s driving misbelief and how the inner story (the change the main character goes through) drives the plot. When she gets to the parts about outlining all the scenes, I experience my regular frustration at these books, though. I hate writing really in depth outlines because it makes me not excited to actually write the book because I already know everything about the story. I like writing to discover the story, not figuring everything out before I start. Maybe this isn’t as efficient as Cron’s system and I don’t have a book deal to prove my way works, so I could be wrong. But I don’t think I’ll be adopting all of Cron’s strategies.
2.5/5 scene cards

Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day by Peter Ackroyd***
I read this hoping to learn more about queer London in the nineteenth century. Ackroyd’s history spans London’s queer history from the Romans until the 2010s. It was actually almost overwhelming how much information was in this book. I had planned to just read the section on the nineteenth century, but it was so fun, I read the whole thing. The main takeaway I think from Ackroyd’s book is that there have always been queer people, in London and elsewhere, and even if they would not define themselves with the words and categories we use today, these feelings and preferences aren’t new. It does make me quite sad though how much queer history is suppressed.
3.5/5 dancing boys

Palestine by Joe Sacco***
If you’re one of the many people right now trying to educate yourself on the Israel/Palestine conflict, this is a great primer. Sacco, a Maltese American, is a graphic journalist who visited Palestine in late 1991 and early 1992, trying to himself understand the conflict. What I like about Sacco is his honesty. He has no illusions about what he’s there to do. He’s looking for a story, for anything good for the comic. He’s suspicious and questions everything. He tries to unravel the complicated history and current situation by sharing the stories of many Palestinians, and even a few Israelis.
3.5/5 olive trees

How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: eating disorders
This book was stunning and gorgeous. The ten lyrical personal essays each explore a different sea creature and through that creature, one facet of Imbler’s life. The metaphors aren’t gimmicky or trite, but are truly insightful and thought provoking. I read this because someone had recommended one of the essays as something I could use in my class that I’m designing, but it was so good that I had to read the whole book. I aspire to write essays like these.
4.5/5 salps

The Curse of the Specter Queen byJenny Elder Moke*
Book 1 of 2 Samantha Knox Series
This book was so fun. Definitely one of my lighter reads this month. Samantha Knox works in an antique bookstore repairing old books in the 1920s. When a mysterious package arrives followed by some sinister men that burn down her shop looking for the package, Sam is catapulted into an adventure trying to solve an archeological mystery and stop those who want to bring about the Curse of the Specter Queen. Full of Gaelic and Celtic folklore and a sparkling cast of characters, this book gave me the escape I needed. My only quibble is that Bennet was kind of a stuffed shirt.
4/5 antique books

A History of my Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt***
Another book of essays, Belcourt examines the unique experience of being First Nations and queer in Canada. His essays are not only personal essays, but bring in theory and his deep reflections. Belcourt is also a poet and his style is interesting, both lyrical and academic as he tries to puzzle out how to live in this world.
3.5/5 queer bodies

Palestinian Walks: Forays Into a Vanishing Landscape by Raja Shehadeh***
Another good one for those trying to learn more about Palestine. Shehadeh, a lawyer and human rights activist, takes readers on six walks through the hills of Palestine from 1978 to 2006. He reflects on the changing landscape, noticing new Israeli settlements and roads and new laws that prevent him from walking where he once did. Though his walks have become increasingly dangerous, it is so clear that Shehadeh is deeply connected to the land, and I feel his love for it as a reader. Reading about the destroyed ecosystems and now inaccessible walking routes, I feel great sadness for Shehadeh’s land. The policies the Israeli government used to take Palestinian land are eerily similar to the way American settlers took Native American land, claiming that no one was using or cultivating the land, when that was not true, and then mismanaging the land and causing its degradation. Shehadeh is from Ramullah in the West Bank, whereas Sacco focused on Gaza, so it was nice to read both to understand the two different areas and the way people live in each. The West Bank is a patchwork of ever increasing Israeli settlements, interspersed with Palestinian villages. Gaza is a concentration camp.
4/5 walks

*This book only includes straight, white, cis people.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! First a caveat: I have decided that simply having queer people and/or people of color in a book is not enough to qualify it for the Books for a Social Conscience distinction. That sets the bar too low. So while in the past I would have included Artie and the Wolf Moon and That Summer Feeling, I will not be including them in the new system. We love representation! Don’t get me wrong, but honestly at this point if you don’t have queer people and/or people of color in your book, like what are you doing? I will now be including a new designation: *This book only includes straight, white, cis people.

Anyway, read Queer City to learn about how queerness has always existed and been part of history. Read Palestine to learn more about the Israel/Palestine conflict. Read How Far the Light Reaches to discover more queer, non-white perspectives. Read A History of My Brief Body to understand how Canada’s colonialism still affects Native populations, especially queer Natives. Read Palestinian Walks to learn more about the Israel/Palestine conflict, specifically in how it relates to the land.

October 1, 2021November 12, 2021

September 2021 Books

Books Reread

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros***
CW: rape, sexual harassment
I read parts of this book in high school and read the whole thing in college. Now I’m volunteering with a 9th grade English class and they’re reading this book so I read it again. Cisneros is just such a beautiful writer. Her prose is simple and clean, but so poetic and evocative. It’s easy to read but there’s so much going on under the surface. It’s still magical even after reading it several times.
4/5 houses

The Doll’s House by Neil Gaiman
Sandman Vol 2
CW: violence, gore, serial murder
I don’t know whether to put this in new books read or in books reread. I listened to the Audible radio play of Sandman which goes through the first 3 volumes I believe. I had read the first volume of the comics when I listened to it but no more. So when I read this volume, the story was familiar, but the illustrations were new to me–and since Sandman is a comic, the illustrations are pretty important.
3.5/5 “cereal” killers

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
If you read my post on my favorite stand alone novels, this book was in there. I first read this book when I was younger and really enjoyed it. Reading it again I didn’t remember very well what had happened but I still really enjoyed it. I loved that Charlotte develops so much over the course of the book and that she’s such a strong female character. One thing that bothered me that I don’t remember noticing when I was younger was how cowardly the crew was. They never spoke up against the captain or for their peers. It also strikes me as an allegory for how the upper classes keep control of the working classes. There are a lot more of the working classes than there are of those in power, but by keeping the working classes divided and suspicious of each other, those in power keep them from organizing against the power structures. Anyway, if they had worked together from the beginning, they could have solved their problems faster.
4/5 round robins

New Books Read

Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian
This was my book of the month for June (I’ve gotten a bit behind reading my BOTM picks), and I enjoyed it. I maybe shouldn’t have read it almost back to back with The Mists of Avalon as that led to a lot of comparison between the two. I don’t really know what (if anything) is “canon” as far as the story of King Arthur goes but it interests me that the kinship ties in each version I’ve encountered are different. Like in The Mists of Avalon, I liked the feminist spin on the King Arthur tale, centering the story on Elaine this time instead of Arthur or Morgana/Morgaine. I also appreciated how Sebastian characterized Guinevere, who we so rarely get to see as anything but a pious and subservient queen turned seductress. Even in The Mists of Avalon, though she’s a rounded character, she isn’t much of a feminist. I also really enjoyed the way Sebastian wove the story forward and backward in time using Elaine’s visions of various futures. She created a really delicious tension between Elaine and the fate she was trying to control. And finally, I love the way all three women, Elaine, Guinevere, and Morgana, were able to forge their own path despite the seemingly inevitable futures laid out for them.
3.5/5 fateful visions

The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley***
**Book Hangover Alert
CW: gun violence, rape, drug trafficking, drug and alcohol abuse, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, racism
This book was so good; it was really hard to put down. I loved it, but it was pretty intense, so don’t go for it if you’re looking for something light. I loved the way Boulley represented her Native culture and practices. I also loved the sense of community with the Elders; there are a couple of scenes of the protagonist and the Elders that I just keep thinking about and they make me feel all warm inside every time I do. I learned a lot about being enrolled as a tribal member, prejudices within tribes, casinos, and the meth epidemic. One more thing I want to mention: I always hate when books have titles like “The [insert profession of a man]’s Wife/Daughter/Sister” because the woman is totally defined by her relationship to this man, however this book makes a point of discussing this and linking it to a Native story that the protagonist rejects because the woman doesn’t get her own name. So I love that self-awareness.
4.5/5 suspicious hockey pucks

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
All Souls Trilogy book 1 of 3
I was disappointed by this book. I was really interested in the history and the alchemy and the magic and the mystery of the manuscript, but then Harkness had to go and ruin it with this overblown romance with a vampire. Personally I think vampires are a bit overrated. Sure he’s super handsome and strong, but he’s also super problematic. Why can’t anyone write a progressive vampire for once? Matthew’s misogyny, his controlling tendencies, his annoying overprotectiveness, and his anger issues are excused because he’s been alive for 1500 years (things were different back then, men treated women differently in those days) and because he’s a vampire (he can’t resist his predatory instincts–*big eye roll*). C’mon, the dude’s been alive for 1500 years, he couldn’t have gone to therapy in all that time to work through this stuff? Anyway, the romance really did not do it for me (also, who thinks being touched and kissed by cold hands and lips is a turn on?). I did read the whole thing because I was hoping to find out more about the mysterious manuscript and the secret of Diana’s parents’ murder. Then I realized it’s the first book in a trilogy so while we found out some answers, we didn’t find out all of them. I won’t be reading the rest of the books.
3/5 objects from the past

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo***
Joy Harjo is the current Poet Laureate of the United States, serving in her second term. Some of her books including this one are available to Audible members for free so I definitely recommend listening to them. She also reads her own poetry in this one which is always nice to hear a poet reading their own work. I do wish I could both read and listen to the poems because that’s how I best understand poetry but I did really enjoy listening to Harjo’s work. I liked the way she sort of sang some of the poems, reminiscent of some tribal music.
3.5/5 holy beings

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The House on Mango Street to learn more about Chicana experience. Read The Firekeeper’s Daughter to learn more about Native communities and values, and the affects drug trafficking and MMIW have had on those communities. Read Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings to celebrate the poetry of the US’s first Native Poet Laureate.
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.