mythology – Page 3 – Krista Beucler

February 28, 2023February 28, 2023

February 2023 Books

New Books Read

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin***
The Book of Tea book 1 of 2
I won’t lie, I definitely bought this book for the gorgeous cover. And then I discovered the gorgeous end papers and the adorable teapot under the dust jacket. But I really enjoyed it! What’s not to love about magical tea brewers in a competition to be the court tea magician? I loved the female friendships that developed throughout this book. I thought Lin’s world building was excellent; I got the sense of a great and varied empire with different traditions and regions and customs, without being bogged down by too much information. Looking forward to reading the next one.
3.5/5 magical teas

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
CW: imprisonment of disabled person
I really enjoyed this. Even though I pretty much knew what was going to happen, because this book has been out since 1847, so spoilers, I still felt compelled to keep reading. I liked the character of Jane a lot and I liked that even though she ends up married in the end, a position that ostensibly transferred a woman’s ownership from her father to her husband, Jane manages to do it in a way that subverts male power structures of the time. When she is first affianced to Mr. Rochester, she chafes against him buying her things and exercising the power he has over her because of his social and financial standing. Later, when Mr. Rivers proposes to her, part of the reason she does not want to marry him is the way he tries to force her to play the part of a dutiful missionary’s wife. She retains her own agency and when she eventually does mare Mr. Rochester, it is only after she receives a large inheritance and he loses half his property, putting them on equal footing financially, and he also loses his sight and the use of one of his hands, putting him physically in need of her help and support. In this way Jane keeps her agency and power even in her marriage. Now we have to talk about how Mr. Rochester is literally the worst and in no way should be excused from the fact that he locked up his mentally ill wife in the attic and pretended she didn’t exist, even if he never loved her and she wasn’t a nice person. Brontë signals to the reader that Mr. Rochester is suffering the divine punishment of being disabled (losing his sight and the use of one hand) for these sins. But of course, this is ableist also. Having a disability is not a divine punishment for a moral failing.
3/5 moody walks on the moor

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
The Dresden Files book 8 of 17
I don’t have much to say about this one. All of the books in this series are pretty good. This one had kind of a lot of soul searching and Harry having serious conversations with other people that are necessary, but aren’t as fun as fighting monsters. I’d also like to point out that Harry does not get any nice guy points for not being a pedophile. Like that’s the bare minimum. You don’t get an award for not being a pedophile. It just seems weird that every time Harry saw a young hot girl, he’d be like “and she had a very womanly figure but she was obviously still a child and I’m not a pedophile even though I am horny” (paraphrased, obviously). Like stop making it weird, dude.
3/5 horror movie monsters

Wally Roux: Quantum Mechanic by Nick Carr
This was another of those free audible original audio plays. It was fine. Definitely better than Life Ever After. I liked the concept of the multiverse and fixing rips in spacetime, but otherwise it was a pretty standard coming of age story.
2.5/5 anti-gravity basketball courts

The Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross
**Book Hangover Alert
The Elements of Cadence book 2 of 2
Stunning. Gorgeous. Amazing. I adored it. I really liked the first book in this series, but I think I liked this one even more. I loved all the characters and the magical world of the faeries. I think the only thing I would have added is one or two more characters from the West who weren’t related to Jack and Adaira and weren’t assholes. I needed some more people from the West to sympathize with and show me that the West was worth saving.
5/5 wind spirits

The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang
This was my Book of the Month for November. It was pretty good. It held my interest, and it was easy to read. It reminded me a lot of Other Birds. I liked meeting all the different characters who had special abilities like Finn and Zadie. But I didn’t feel like I was really satisfied by the answer of why the girls’ mother disappeared. And I guess after they found her Finn was fine???
3/5 birds

This Wicked Fate by Kalynn Bayron***
**Book Hangover Alert
This Poison Heart book 2 of 2
I love a good duology. I loved the first book in this series and the second book did not disappoint. I loved that there was not a single white character in the book. It was very refreshing. And I loved that there were so many lesbians. I also always love a mythological retelling, and this one had a really fresh feminist, Black-centric spin on it.
4.5/5 sirens

Books I did not finish

Gideon the Ninth by Tasmyn Muir***
The Locked Tomb series book 1 of at least 4
Judging by the reviews for this book (the majority are 4+ stars out of 5), I am in the minority because I thought it was awful. I mean lesbian space necromancers really does sound like a win. I made it about 80 pages in. I felt like I didn’t understand what was going on and I didn’t understand the world Muir was trying to create. Every time I thought I was starting to get into the world, the language Muir used pulled me right out again. Her word choice and humor didn’t work at all for me and jarred against the world. There was a lot of gratuitous swearing and sexual jokes that weren’t funny and also weird slang that felt really out of place in the world. This phrase is really in this book: “…which she could not have noped at harder.” I mean seriously. Maybe if this book was set in a high school in 2018. And there were also references to things like pizza and comics and I didn’t understand how those things fit into the world of necromancers in space on a planet that isn’t earth. Also I didn’t find Gideon or Harrow likable or sympathetic at all.
1/5 skeletons

**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 A Magic Steeped in Poison for an Asian inspired fantasy. Read This Wicked Fate for LGBTQ+ and Black representation in mythological fantasy. A lot of people really liked Gideon the Ninth, so read that if you want more LGBTQ+ representation in space fantasy.

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.

February 4, 2023February 4, 2023

January 2023 Books

Books Reread

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 1 of 5
First, a moment of silence for the lost art of chapter titles. I reread this as a Buddy Read on StoryGraph, which I highly recommend. It’s super fun if you want to read with a group of people, but don’t want to do the traditional bookclub thing. You’re able to make comments about certain points in the book and then when your buddies have reached that point, they can unlock your comments, which is super fun and motivating. Now back to the book. I love this book. It’s so good. I forgot how good this series is. I loved revisiting where it all started and being reminded how far Percy, Grover, and Annabeth have come since this first book.
5/5 magic flying shoes

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan***
Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 2 of 5
Another great installment in the series. This book introduces Tyson, Percy’s cyclopes half brother. This isn’t something I picked up on the first time I read this book, but I think it actually does a really good job handling disability. Tyson has a cognitive disability, or at least in the novel he stands in for a disabled character (he is othered by his peers in the same way a child with Down’s syndrome might be). And Uncle Rick doesn’t put him in for tokenism and he doesn’t rely on any disabled tropes or stereotypes (i.e. Tiny Tim is in the story to make Scrooge a better person, and disabled/deformed villains are disabled/deformed to signal to the audience that their disability represents a moral failing as well). Tyson is a rounded character with thoughts and motivations and interests and talents that are separate from his disability. The whole disabled-person-as-monster metaphor is a little on the nose, but at least he’s using it to prove that disabled people AREN’T monsters (a la Frankenstein). I also love how Percy is written in relation to Tyson. Percy’s and Tyson’s relationship is complicated with all of Percy’s worries about what his peers will think, and I think that’s a really real reaction that kids with disabled siblings have. At first Percy feels pity for Tyson when they’re at school together, then shame when he finds out they’re brothers, then love, appreciation, and acceptance. He underestimated Tyson and then revises his opinion and I love it so much.
3.5/5 hippocampi

New Books Read

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson***
Vespertine book 1
We love that ace representation. This book was cool. I liked the magic system. I liked Artemisia a lot, who read to me as both ace and autistic. I also liked the revenant who also read as ace to me, though he’s a non-corporeal spirit so I’m not sure it counts. I loved seeing Artemisia’s friendships develop. I’m excited to see what the rest of the series looks like.
4/5 spirits

Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater***
**Book Hangover Alert
Dreamer Trilogy book 3 of 3
Stunning. Gorgeous. I adored it. Hennessey was a bit annoying in this one, but it’s part of her journey and she works through it. I love that for her. The ending was such a lovely note to leave this world and these characters on.
10/5 homemade sweetmetals

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner***
CW: death of a parent, illness
I don’t always read memoirs, but when I do, for some reason they’re about women whose mothers have died. Okay that’s an exaggeration, but one of the most memorable memoirs I’ve ever read was also about this subject. I enjoyed Zauner’s memoir. Maybe enjoyed isn’t the right word. It was of course very sad. I loved how she used food to explore her relationship with her mother and also her relationship with Korean-ness. Hers is a journey that many mixed-race and immigrant children will relate to. I liked that Zauner didn’t shy from examining her complicated relationships with both her parents and her culture.
3/5 delicious Korean foods

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
CW: child abuse, mental illness
This was my September Book of the Month. I enjoyed it. It was very readable, and I liked how all the threads tied up at the end. I did think it was a bit unrealistic that literally every character had terrible parents. And I didn’t love that Charlotte, a white girl, made a living doing henna for other white people. There’s a brief mention about how all the symbols in henna mean something, but it isn’t explored or really acknowledged that this is a very important cultural and traditional practice in India with a long history. It was used more as a way to make Charlotte seem arty and like a hippie. But I liked that everyone was happy and became friends at the end.
3.5/5 invisible birds

Loveless by Alice Oseman
This month was all about ace rep! I enjoyed this book a lot. I did wish that Georgia wasn’t so obsessed with wanting a relationship, but I guess it’s just because I don’t really want a romantic relationship, and I want this book to reflect my exact experience. I loved the Shakespeare references and all the characters. I loved that we get to celebrate friendship as much as romantic relationships.
4/5 thirsty plants

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
Discworld book 13 of 41
We love a good Terry Pratchett Discworld novel. This one satirized religion and it’s very funny and insightful. I loved how Brutha was characterized as kind of slow at the beginning of the book, but developed into a thoughtful and powerful character. I would have liked to see a single female character somewhere in the book, but some of the older fantasy novels are pretty lacking in female representation. Pratchett does have good rep in some of the other Discworld novels, just not this one.
3/5 turtles

Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater
This book is a novel companion to the movie Brave. It takes place a few years after the movie, and explores Merida’s quest to save her family and her kingdom. It was very enjoyable. I didn’t like it as much Maggie’s other books (some of my favorite books of all time), but I still liked it. I liked that we got to see Merida’s brothers get a little older and develop unique personalities. Read on for a spoiler.

Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

One thing I didn’t love was that Merida has to fall in love and break her heart to change. The movie establishes that Merida has no interest in love, and in my opinion she is an ace queen and I don’t want her fall in love or have a relationship. Other than that I really liked it.

3.5/5 bears (although there could have been more bears in this book)

The Mystery of Alice by Lee Bacon
This was another of those free Audible books. It was enjoyable. I liked the sort of dark academia vibe. It was kind of a child safe version of The Secret History. I don’t know that it was super believable, but I still enjoyed it. I wish Emily would have made a real, actually good friend. I would like to argue that Nathan was still not a good friend, even though it’s proven (spoiler alert) that he isn’t the bad guy. He’s still a stalker with anger issues who was never a good friend to Emily.
3/5 spy necklaces

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
CW: anti-black racism
Not to be a snob, but both this book and Crying in H Mart were on Obama’s favorite books of the year in 2021, and though both were good, I don’t think either will make it on my favorite books of this year. In fact none of the books I’ve read on his 2021 list made my list the year I read it. I guess we just have different tastes. I liked this book. It was interesting and very readable. The characters were interesting and distinct. I did think Billy didn’t read much like an 8 year old; he acted and spoke like a much older child, apart from his naïveté. I thought Duchess was a really interesting, well-done morally gray character. I didn’t love the ending. It felt kind of callous. I also felt like Towles wrote this book and then his editor was like “there is not a single female character in this book.” And so Towles went back and added Sally’s chapters (Sarah doesn’t count because she’s basically a non-character). But Sally seemed really unnecessary to the plot.
3.5/5 studebakers

The World We Make by N. K. Jemisin***
**Book Hangover Alert
Great cities book 2 of 2
CW: racism, ICE
I love these books so much. I adored The City We Became and I loved this one too. I do wish there could be more books, but I also respect Jemisin’s reasons for not writing more. As a writer, I don’t even know how she managed these two books. I still love all the characters, especially Padmini. I liked seeing Aislyn’s development. I would have loved to see a little more Neek and Manny, but I am still satisfied with the ending.
5/5 boroughs of New York

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Sea of Monsters for disability in fantasy rep. Read Vespertine for LGBTQIA+ rep in fantasy. Read Greywaren for LGBTQIA+ rep in fantasy. Read Loveless for LGBTQIA+ rep in romance. Read The World We Make for diversity and LGBTQIA+ rep in sci-fi.

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.)

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.

July 31, 2021November 12, 2021

July 2021 Books

Books Reread

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Book Hangover Alert** (Gaiman’s books always give me a book hangover)
CW: suicidal ideation, violence, stalking, child death
As I’ve mentioned before Neil Gaiman is one of my favorites. I love this book. It makes me miss London a lot. But it’s also nice to read it whenever I move somewhere new because it’s about knowing and loving a place, learning its secrets, and finding belonging. This time I read the version illustrated by Chris Riddell who has to be one of my favorite illustrators. I loved see his interpretations of characters I know so well.
5/5 gap monsters

How the Marquis Got his Coat Back by Neil Gaiman
Companion novella to Neverwhere
I’d read this when it first came out and I hadn’t read Neverwhere recently when that happened. This time I read them back to back, and while I still enjoyed it, I did notice that Dunnikin, the Sewer Folk man, speaks in this story. In Neverwhere he uses a kind of sign language when he talks to Old Bailey and it’s implied that the Sewer Folk don’t speak. Aside from that I like the story. I love the Marquis de Carabas so it’s nice to get to spend more time with him, and I enjoy his brother very much.
3.5/5 fabulous coats

New Books Read

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children book 5 of 5
CW: body dysmorphia , child abuse (mentioned), grooming
The last Wayward Children book! I enjoyed all of these, though I still think book 4 was my favorite. It was nice to visit Jack and Jill again who featured in books 1 and 2. There’s just something so magical about a door into another world. I didn’t list the books in this series as Books for a Social Consciousness books, but I would like to applaud the inclusion of trans, gay, and neurodivergent characters.
3.5/5 skeleton horses

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon***
CW: Alcoholism, death (including parental and loved ones), depression, grief, infertility, miscarriage, plague, suicide (mentioned), suicidal ideation, war (some based on religion)
Dragons, witches, magic, pirates, it seems like it’s a combination that can’t fail. This book was hyped a lot and I felt bad that I wasn’t crazy about it. The world building was really intricate and we love to see diversity in fantasy. But I thought the characters were kinda boring and I felt like every time Shannon killed one of them off she was trying to make me feel something, which didn’t work because I did not care about them. Tané was my favorite character but it seemed like she had less page time than other characters like Niclays Roos, who I literally could not have cared less about. Also this book was supposedly about dragons and there weren’t nearly enough dragons. And it was too long.
3/5 magical oranges

Do All Indians Live in Tipis? by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian***
CW: racism, alcoholism, gambling, genocide
The short answer is “No.” I worked as an intern at NMAI in college and this book was a gift given to me at the end of my internship. It’s a really great primer for those looking to learn more about Native Americans and their culture. It has answers to many of the questions you’ve probably had about Native Americans, but didn’t want to ask a Native person to spend emotional labor educating you. The one downfall of the book is probably the same one the museum has, which is that it tries to cover the native peoples of the entire American continent and Hawaii, which is a tall order. Many of the questions have some variation of “different tribes do different things.”
3.5/5 tipis

The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan***
Book Hangover Alert**
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard book 3 of 3
The thrilling conclusion! I really enjoyed this series. Specifically in this book I was glad we got to learn more about Magnus’s floor 19 hall-mates because although they’ve been in all 3 books, we haven’t had much backstory for them. I say this every time, but I love the representation in this series. Loved the ending, but I won’t say more about that.
4/5 pottery to the death classes

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston***
Book Hangover Alert**
CW from the author’s website: On-page: Drinking, light drug use (weed), semi-public sex, exploration of depression and anxiety, memory loss and cognitive issues, familial estrangement, familial death, grief, missing persons, implied PTSD. Off-page, past, and alluded to: Homophobic violence and hate speech, police violence, the AIDS crisis, racism, childhood neglect, arson, historic hate crime resulting in loss of life
This might be the best book I’ve read this year. I read McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue in January, and it was fabulous. This one might be better. It has all the swoony LGBTQ+ romance of Red, White & Royal Blue but with mystery, magic, LGBTQ+ history, and a unique New Yorkness. I love McQuiston’s writing style. Their characters are so interesting and well developed. I also loved that every relationship in the book was queer. We love to see it.
7/5 subway trains

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Do All Indians Live in Tipis? To answer many of your questions about Native Americans. Read The Ship of the Dead to see positive disability and gender fluid representation in fantasy. Read The Priory of the Orange Tree to see more BIPOC and LGBTQ+ representation in fantasy. Read One Last stop for LGBTQ+ representation and history.
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.

June 30, 2021November 12, 2021

June 2021 Books

New Books Read

The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan***
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard book 2 of 3
CW: child abuse, ableism
I don’t know why Uncle Rick can’t give anyone in the Magnus Chase series a non-traumatic backstory or a happy family life. But anyway I’m glad the characters all found each other. We also love to see that representation: a Deaf character, a gender-fluid character, Muslim characters. I’m not going to do much of a review because I don’t want to give away any spoilers. I’m definitely really enjoying this series and I’m excited to read the last one!
4/5 trickster giants

Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater
This is Maggie Stiefvater’s first graphic novel. It’s fun and I love the art. It is a bit short; I would have happily read a much longer version. I will say though, that one of my favorite things about Stiefvater’s writing is her descriptions. Of course we get the art in the graphic novel, but it is a shame to lose her exceptionally well crafted descriptions in favor of just dialogue.
3/5 definitely dangerous experiments

Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater
Book Hangover Alert!**
The Dreamer Trilogy Book 2
CW: suicidal ideation
The Raven Cycle is one of my favorite series and I also adore the first 2 installments of The Dreamer Trilogy (who doesn’t want more Ronan Lynch???). I loved getting to read about art and art history with a magical twist. I also enjoyed the focus on environmental issues and how there were no simple solutions. I still love Stiefvater’s writing style. And her characters. And the magic. And just the whole plot. I don’t want to say too much about it because I don’t want to spoil it, but there is one thing I want to acknowledge for those who have read it.

Read More: SPOILERS AHEAD

I just want to say I am both impressed and a little annoyed that Stiefvater has used this same plot twist in like 3 of her books and I’M STILL SURPRISED BY IT. Book 1 of the Raven Cycle: Ronan: “Oh, yeah I took Chainsaw out of my dreams.” One of the other Raven Cycle books: Ronan: “Oh, yeah I took Matthew out of my dreams.” This book: Ronan: “Oh, yep. Bryde is one of mine too.”

5/5 dreams

Aladdin and the Arabian Nights
CW: anti-semitism, racist/stereotypical drawings, domestic violence
I really enjoyed getting more familiar with these fairytales. Some of them I had heard before, but many I had not. I liked how many of them were sort of like nesting dolls, feeding into each other, and all were nested in the tale of Sheherazade. I have a really lovely illustrated copy of the tales, but I was frustrated that the illustrations were really stereotypical, depicting most of the middle easterners as ugly, dark-skinned barbarians, with the exception of virtuous women, who were fair-skinned, and virtuous youths (heroes like Aladdin), who were also fair-skinned.
3/5 magic carpets

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie***
CW: attempted suicide, physical, mental, and sexual abuse, anti-black racism
This was recommended to me by a friend and it left me with a lot to think about. The book is set in Japan in the 1950s and 60s and tells the story of a biracial girl born to a Black American and a Japanese woman from an influential, Imperial Japanese family. It was really interesting to read about racism in Japan, because I feel like most of the books I read that deal with racism are set in the US. I loved seeing Nori develop throughout the story into a self-actualized woman with her own voice. I was also impressed by the complex depiction of Nori and Akira’s sibling relationship. I still don’t know how I felt about the ending. I feel like I wasn’t totally satisfied with Nori’s choice, but I also feel like that is at least in part because I come from America and a very individualistic culture. I think those from collectivist cultures, like many Asian cultures, would empathize more with the ending. But I’d love to hear other people’s perspectives.
3.5/5 music lessons

Death Masks by Jim Butcher
The Dresden Files book 5 of 17
Another solid installment. I am quite impressed that Butcher can write them so consistently; there’s none of the wavering in quality that you sometimes see in other series (or not yet, anyway). I will say, these books are definitely written by A Man (TM). I don’t know what straight men’s obsession with nipples is. Personally, I don’t find them particularly sexy, but male writers will never miss an opportunity to point them out. I would also just like to say that no matter how cold it is, there are some fabrics that you will never be able to see nipples through, even if she’s not wearing a bra. Heavy kimono silk is one of them.
3.5/5 religiously magical objects

Lore by Alexandra Bracken
Book Hangover Alert**
CW: discussion of child marriage, violence, gore, ableism
This book is like the Purge + Greek gods in New York City. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very hard to put down. The banter was top notch. I liked the characters and I really liked the brutal depictions of the Greek gods. Myths tell us that the gods weren’t good people, but I think people still tend to romanticize them a lot.
4/5 bronze masks

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
CW: suicide, murder of children
This one is also about Greek mythology because apparently I’m obsessed. Ariadne was my Book of the Month for May. It was good, but also very sad. Though, to be fair, if I had known more about the myth of Ariadne, I might’ve known that going in. Something I really liked about this book was the contrast between the sisters Ariadne and Phaedra. Often in books the female characters aren’t very fleshed out and are very similar to one another. I also feel like when we see feminist characters, we sort of get this idea that there’s only one way to be a feminist, and I really loved the way Ariadne and Phaedra embodied different ways of being a feminist. Though, I also don’t think either of them was able to fully actualize herself, not necessarily through any fault of her own, but more as a result of the repressive and misogynistic society they live in.
3.5/5 cups of wine

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
CW: manipulation, abuse, suicidal ideation
This was an odd, charming little book. It’s a little fairytale, a little thriller, a little romance, a little mystery. I really liked the characters and the writing style. It was super easy and quick to read, but the images were really strong and evocative. Its ending was just the right mix of bitter and sweet and satisfying.
3.5/5 Orphans

The House of the Four Winds by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
One Dozen Daughters Book 1
I enjoyed this one. It was another that I got in a mystery grab bag sale from the library. But I always love a good pirate/sailor tale, especially if the the female lead is pretending to be a man. I appreciated that the story wasn’t easily predictable, but I did wish Clarice got to do a bit more sword fighting. The world building was a little weak, just in that it’s set in our world basically, just with all the countries renamed and with some magic. I guess they just didn’t want to make it a historical fiction. I just noticed that it’s listed as One Dozen Daughters book 1. Can we safely assume that there are or will be 11 more books covering Clarice’s sisters?
3.5/5 pieces of enchanted treasure

Books Read for the Community Cats Podcast Blog

The Feline CEO by Lynn Maria Thompson
Thompson’s slim book is all about how to make yourself the best CEO you can be, using the wisdom of the cat to change up the way you’re thinking. Not a CEO? Much of the advice, including confidence, presenting yourself well, getting plenty of sleep, eating well, viewing the big picture from up high, are useful for everyone’s daily life. The book also comes with online exercises and bonus material to help readers change the way they’re thinking and apply feline wisdom to their lives. I did think the metaphors were a tad strained at times, but overall the advice seemed sound, though I am not a CEO, so I can’t speak to that specifically.
2.5/5 cats

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Hammer of Thor to get some great representation of different kinds of people in fantasy. Read Fifty Words for Rain to learn about racism in Japan.
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.

May 1, 2021November 12, 2021

April 2021 Books

Books Reread

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is my favorite author. And it’s been ages since he released a novel. I decided to reread some of his books. I’d only read this one once so it moved to the top of the list. I love mythology of all kinds, but I’m not as familiar with Norse mythology as I am with other pantheons, so it was nice to read again, especially since I’ve recently been watching all the Marvel movies. I do love that the original myths are significantly more weird than the versions in the MCU.
4/5 monstrous children of Loki

The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan***
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard book 1 of 3
CW: ableism, child abuse, anti-Muslim sentiment
I wanted to read the rest of this series but I realized I didn’t remember this first book well enough so I read it again. I enjoyed it perhaps even more than I did the first time. It was especially nice because I had just reread Norse Mythology so I was all brushed up on my myths. I love Rick Riordan. I love how inclusive his books are. I think this is the first book I’ve read with a Deaf character who uses ASL. I’d love to talk to someone from that community to see if they thought he did a good job, but to me it seemed like he did his research.
3.5/5 angry World Tree squirrels

New Books Read

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison***
CW: anti-Black racism, alcoholism, colorism, violence, sexism, incest, ableism
I was so pleased when I got this book in a mystery book grab bag sale from my local library. I’ve been meaning to read more Toni Morrison. Morrison is definitely a national and literary treasure. I’m just awed by her literary craft. But that’s not to say I didn’t have to check Sparknotes to learn about all the biblical references I missed. I did enjoy reading this book, but I also wish I had a book club or an English class to discuss it with. It’s one of those books that I don’t feel like I can get as much out of it reading it alone. Morrison does use ableism as a literary device, which is pretty common, especially in older works, but I wish it wasn’t. One of Milkman’s legs is shorter than the other, indicating he’s morally stunted. By the end of the book, when he’s grown up and matured and overall become a better person, the disability goes away. These tropes are harmful to the disabled community.
3.5/5 pairs of gossamer wings

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Book Hangover Alert**
This was my March Book of the Month book. Fabulous. Loved it. Couldn’t put it down. I loved that it was full of interesting and unique female characters. I loved the way it built tension so seamlessly throughout. I loved the way it weaved forward and back through time to tie the fates of several women together. The only thing I didn’t love was the way Nella’s disability was characterized. Nella has some sort of degenerative disease and she believes it’s because she sells poisons and many people have died as a result. This plays into the classic stereotypes in literature of people who are morally corrupt having a physical disability as a mark from God that they are not good people (see what we discussed above with Song of Solomon). Which is obviously harmful to the disabled community. Now, Nella does mention that her mother died of a similar disease, which implies that maybe it’s more of a genetic disease, as Nella’s mother only sold cures, no poisons. And maybe it would make sense for Nella to believe that her disease is a punishment for her sins, since she lives in 18th century London, where those views would be prevalent. But since the disabled community is still discriminated against today, it’s tricky to play into that stereotype without it seeming harmful.
4.5/5 bottles of poison

The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault
I got this book as a mystery book subscription from the local bookstore in Frederickburg, which I did for a while during the beginning of the pandemic when I could afford it. Reading this book was kind of like getting thrown into 4th century Greece and being told to swim. Renault’s world building and all the research she must have done were stunning. I liked reading about Niko and the Greek tragedies, and I appreciated that even though she wrote the book in the 1960s, she didn’t shy away from portraying the acceptance of queerness in ancient Greek culture. (Though there was a lot of unresolved sexual tension between Niko and Dion.) But I did feel I was in over my head when reading about the politics of the time.
3/5 mysterious masks

A Promised Land by Barack Obama***
CW: anti-Black racism
Former President Obama is such a remarkably intelligent and thoughtful person. It was really nice to read more about his start in politics through his first term in office. It was interesting to learn more about many of the events that took place just as I was beginning to become politically aware. Obama does a great job addressing the complexities of every difficult situation and decision that a president has to make. I liked hearing about his climate policy and how difficult it was to pass the ACA. The whole book did frustrate me a little though, because it is full of so much hope and it’s impossible not to think about where we might be today if we hadn’t had 4 years of Trump after the Obama years. I do think maybe he could’ve trimmed it down a little though. I did enjoy listening to Obama read the audiobook.
3.5/5 presidential dogs (Rest in Peace Bo)

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
King of Scars Duology book 1 of 2, Grishaverse
CW: suicide, child abuse, child marriage
I’m sure everyone is watching Shadow and Bone right now, and isn’t it fabulous? I really enjoyed the Shadow and Bone series and the Six of Crows duology, so I was excited to read King of Scars. I love Bardugo’s world building and her characters, and I love that we get to keep visiting the Grishaverse from different perspectives. Bardugo is so clever with her plots and storylines and you’re always on your toes, desperate to know what happens. I also appreciate that she includes disabled characters and it’s not a big deal.
MILD SPOILER AHEAD: I guess the only thing I don’t love is villains who just keep coming back and are super hard to kill. I think it gets a little tiresome.
4/5 saints

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read The Sword of Summer to see people of different abilities and backgrounds represented in fantasy. Read Song of Solomon to experience a classic of Black literature and American literature. Read A Promised Land to get a better idea what it was like to be the first Black president and to understand all Obama did for America.
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.

April 1, 2021December 29, 2021

March 2021 Books

New Books Read

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas***
CW: unintended pregnancy, gang violence, drugs, and gun violence
I love that Angie Thomas’s books all take place in the same neighborhood. This book focused on Maverick Carter, Starr’s father from The Hate U Give. (If you haven’t already read that book, seriously, what are you waiting for?) Thomas is a master at creating characters and distinctive voices. This book was hard to put down, the tension building masterfully. I loved the way this book examined toxic masculinity, particularly in the Black community, and teenaged fatherhood. I feel like there are a lot of books about teenaged mothers, but not as many that address what it’s like to be a teenaged father. This book also breaks the stereotype of the absent Black father and invites us to examine the systemic barriers and racism that can lead to a father being absent. I liked it a lot, though probably not quite as much as Thomas’s first two books; I am really fond of Starr and Bri.
4/5 new babies

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
CW: abusive relationship, alcohol abuse, assault (physical and sexual), death, depression, drugs, prostitution, sexism, suicide (attempted), war
I read another book last year about an immortal and I was so disappointed that a character who had been alive for 400 years could be so boring. I did not have that problem with this book. I really liked Addie as a character, in fact I liked all the characters. It’s also always nice to see casual LGBTQ+ characters that are secure, even when that’s not the main focus of the story. I liked Schwab’s writing style and the way the story wove forward and back through time. The only thing I wasn’t really sold on was the ending. I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Have you read it? What did you think? Also, one more thing. Schwab has a character who is getting her PhD in art history and she misidentifies Girl with a Pearl Earring as a Rembrandt. It’s a Vermeer. Editors??? You just missed that one???
3.5/5 forgotten faces

Feiwel and Friends. I had a whole photoshoot at the cemetery planned and then I remembered I read the e-book on Libby and I didn’t have a physical book to photograph.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas***
CW: transphobia, character abuse (off-page), deadnaming of a trans character, death (parental), gender dysphoria, homophobia, misgendering of a trans character
This book was hyped a lot on Book Tok and Bookstagram and I was so ready to love it…and then I didn’t. I really wanted to love it. I thought the concept and cultural context was super cool, but I was not into the writing style. The language was repetitive and cliched. I found the character of Julian kind of obnoxious, which the protagonist, Yadriel, finds endearing, but I didn’t find it that endearing. I thought the pacing was off; there’s a big mystery to solve and Yadriel is still going to school and coming home on time for curfew? I know Yadriel was pretty straitlaced, but he was willing to skip school to make out with Julian, so it seems like he should be willing to skip school to find the murderer. I feel like I figured out the mystery long before Yadriel did, like he didn’t even try that hard. NOW, that being said, somewhere there’s a Latinx trans kid (or many) who is reading this book and feeling seen and validated for the first time in their life and I am so happy for them.
3/5 human sacrifices

Infinite Country by Patrica Engel ***
CW: assault (sexual and physical), sexual harassment, racism, alcohol abuse
This was my February Book of the Month and I read it straight through during the big snowstorm in Colorado. This book was gorgeous. The writing was absolutely beautiful and achingly sad. It is a story of a family separated across borders between the US and Colombia and examines themes of family, illegal immigration, justice, and loss. The characters were so human and the story of illegal immigration so universal and yet still personal. This is a great book to read to grow your empathy for immigrants and understand why so many are trying to come to the United States, even when our country is arguably not much better than theirs in terms of safety and opportunity. While it can seem like many immigrants come to the US and “why don’t they just come here legally?” it’s so important to remember how difficult it is to come here legally and it’s important to remember the role the US government has played in destabilizing Latin American governments and backing military dictators. Infinite Country is a searing portrait of a Colombian family trying to achieve their American Dream.
4.5/5 correctional girls schools

The Desolations of Devil’s Acre by Ransom Riggs
Peculiar Children book 6 of 6
The final book in the series! This whole series was pretty solid. I enjoyed reading every book. I like Riggs’s style and character development. It’s hard to have a lot of characters and make each of them distinct, but I think he does a good job. He also writes good dialogue, and I liked how the dialogue reflected well if the characters were older or from England or the US. Often it can seem that a writer is really forcing old fashioned or dialect dialogue from a place that isn’t where the author lives. Not to give away any spoilers, I was happy with the ending, though I do think it’s a bit tiresome that Miss Peregrine is always telling the children (some of whom are like a hundred years old) to stay home because saving the world is too dangerous. Like hasn’t she figured out yet that, 1) they won’t listen to her, and 2) she can’t save the world without them? I also think it’s a little annoying that Jacob is always sneaking off to save the world himself so as not to endanger his friends. They are all as willing to die to save the world as he is, and they’re more likely to save the world if they work together.
3.5/5 peculiar abilities

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger***
CW: racism, classism, death of a family member, grief
Surprisingly and entirely coincidentally, this book was a little like Cemetery Boys in that it’s about young people who can raise ghosts and and a mysterious murder. I did like the writing style more than Cemetery Boys though. I also loved reading about Lipan Apache characters and the way storytelling was woven into the narrative. I was intrigued by the world in Elatsoe, but I also feel like I could’ve done with a little more information/explanation about it. I also appreciated that Ellie, the protagonist, and Jay were working hard to solve the mystery (as I didn’t feel Yadriel in Cemetery Boys was), and I only solved a few pieces of the mystery before Ellie. My only critique is that Ellie was a 17-year-old character that read to me more like a 12-year-old. I’ve been thinking a lot about it and I haven’t figured out why she came across that way to me. I also think it’s important to point out that a lot of YA has 17-year-old protagonists who act like adults, which is not how real 17-year-olds act, so maybe media has created a bias?
3.5/5 ghost dogs

Books read for the Community Cats Podcast

My book reviews CCP blog post can be found here.

Catland: The Soft Power of Cat Culture in Japan by Sarah Archer
I first heard about this book on Episode 377 of the Community Cats Podcast. If you’ve listened to the episode (which I highly recommend), you’ll know all about Archer’s book Catland: The Soft Power of Cat Culture in Japan, which, since I first heard about, I’ve been super excited to read. Archer is a writer, curator, and design and material culture historian, and in Catland, she examines Japan’s fascination with cats through the ages. The book is filled with gorgeous color images of life with cats in Japan and it is truly a joy to look through. Archer explores Japan’s rich history of cats, including in woodblock prints from the Edo period and the proliferation of the maneki neko, or beckoning cat as a symbol of welcome and luck, the concept of Nekonomics, or the net economic benefit that cats or cat imagery bring to a community in Japan, and the arts and crafts industries that cater to cats and cat lovers. The book is full of charming locations like shrines full of resident cats, cat cafes, bathhouses and train stations with cat mascots, cat pop culture icons like Hello Kitty and Doraemon, and kawaii (cute) products and characters. Archer definitely convinced me that Japan should be the next location on my travel wishlist (as soon as we can travel again!).
Rating: 5/5 Hello Kitty keychains

$5 for a Cat Head by Linda Chitwood
Linda Chitwood, founder of the Homeless Animals Relief Project, shares stories from her 25 years of animal rescue. The Homeless Animals Relief Project provides spay/neuter surgery for low-income pet owners living in rural Mississippi and 100% of the proceeds from this book go back to supporting their mission. I enjoyed reading the stories of animal rescues, both successful and heartbreaking that Chitwood shares. She also includes hands-on tips and lessons learned for others involved in animal rescue. Though at times a bit preachy and heavy handed, the stories are engaging and there is a lot to be learned from Chitwood’s experiences.
Rating: 2.5/5 rescued road-side animals

The Lives and Deaths of Shelter Animals by Katja M. Guenther***
CW: descriptions of neglected, abused, and euthanized animals
Probably everyone who works in the animal welfare industry should read this book. Dr. Guenther is an Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of California, Riverside, and she brings an anthropologist’s eye to the inner workings of one of the large animal shelters in Los Angeles. She explores how race, gender, class, and species intersect in the complex hierarchy of the shelter system. I learned so much from Dr. Guenther’s book and her keen observations made me rethink my assumptions and biases. Though I am a cat person and Dr. Guenther tended to focus on dogs, I was fascinated by her analysis of pit bulls and the ways in which racial perceptions impact them and affect their chances of being euthanized rather than adopted. Dr. Guenther also takes on what she calls “the myth of the irresponsible owner,” where pet owners from lower income, non-white areas tend to be blamed for the various systemic barriers that result in their needing to surrender animals to the shelter. Overall, I felt Dr. Guenther’s book is an extremely important work that encourages us to be more compassionate and reminds us that the oppressive systems at work in society at large are also at work in the microcosm of the shelter. The book invites us to rethink the entire sheltering system to make it more equitable and humane.
5/5 misunderstood pitbulls

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read Concrete Rose to understand more about Blackness in America, including Black fatherhood and Black masculinity. Read Cemetery Boys to learn more about the trans experience, particularly in the Latinx community. Read Infinite Country to learn more about undocumented immigrants and the problems in Colombia (and much of Latin America) that were caused by American interventionism. Read Elatsoe to learn more about the Lipan Apache and more about Indigenous experience in general. Read The Lives and Deaths of Shelter Animals to learn more about systemic racism and how race, gender, class, and species interact to create inequality and cruelty.
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 31, 2020November 12, 2021

October 2020 Books

Books Reread

The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
His Dark Materials book 1 of 3
I love this book so much. The whole series is brilliant, of course, but the first book is definitely my favorite. I even named one of my former cats Pantalaimon. I recently watched the first season of the HBO His Dark Materials and it was fabulous and I’m ready for more. While I wait for season 2, I thought I’d reread at least the first book. It was just as good as I remembered. I listened to the audiobook, which is read by a full cast–one of my favorite things, as I’ve mentioned before. I love the world which is like looking at our world through a broken mirror, and I adore the character of Lyra; she was always one of the plucky heroines I aspired to be like.
5/5 armored bears

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles book 1 of 4
Speaking of plucky heroines I aspired to be like, here’s another: Princess Cimorene. Bored of being a ‘proper’ princess, Cimorene runs away from her kingdom and volunteers to be a dragon’s captive princess. The story is hilarious, full of bright characters, from Kazul the dragon to Morwen the witch, and surprising circumstances. The whole series is great, but this one is definitely my favorite. This audiobook is also read a full and brilliant cast (apparently a theme this month), and I highly recommend it.
5/5 melted wizards

Books Read

Dune by Frank Herbert
Dune book 1 of 6
Everybody and their mother appears to be reading Dune these days in preparation for the movie that’s coming out next year. The library had like 300 holds on their copies and the local used bookstore was begging people to sell them their copies of Dune. Luckily I already had a copy. I’ve heard that people are pretty split about Dune, either loving or really hating it. I can see how people might not like it, or be frustrated by it; especially at the beginning, you get sort of thrown into it and there’s all this jargon and made-up words and you’re like “WHAT is going on?” But if you persevere, I think the story is definitely worth reading. My dad doesn’t want to read it because he thinks it’s just a fantasy set in space, not a real science fiction, but this is something I couldn’t care less about. I definitely liked the world created in Dune, but I think my favorite part was the number of strong female characters. In a lot of older science fiction there are zero to few women and none in any positions of power (we’ll come back to this later), but in Dune all the women from the Lady Jessica and Chani, to the Reverend Mother and Paul’s sister Alia are interesting, powerful, and skilled. Jessica is not only skilled at delicate diplomacy and manipulation, but she’s also a badass fighter. It also seemed like there was more diversity than other sci fi stories and there are a variety of characters described as not white, so I hope they don’t whitewash the movie (or make only the indigenous people on Dune people of color). I didn’t love that Baron Harkonnen (the bad guy) was portrayed as super fat and into young boys. I feel like it reinforced negative stereotypes that fat people are disgusting and gay people are pedophiles. I guess it was written in 1965 but that doesn’t mean I have to be okay with it. I did think the ending was a little abrupt. It sort of just cuts off like Herbert gave his publisher one long document that was the whole story and the publisher was like “We have to chop this up and publish it as a series.”
3.5/5 sand worms

The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis ***
Book Hangover Alert**
The future of science fiction is diverse! I impulse bought this for a friend’s birthday without reading it first. I got it out of the library a little while later and I really enjoyed it, so I hope they did too. This is the first book I’ve read that included a nonbinary character using they/them pronouns. It was refreshing, especially because this character wasn’t on a journey of self-discovery and none of the other characters had any difficulties using their correct pronouns. Not that there’s any problem with stories about self-discovery, but it is nice to read about characters who already know who they are and are secure in that. I also loved the world and the societies created by Lewis. I was really invested in all the characters and basically binged the whole book. Lewis kept me on the edge of my seat with twists and turns and gave me a satisfying ending. Will there be more books? I don’t know that. I feel like it could go either way. I feel satisfied with where it ended and where we left all the characters, but would I hungrily devour more of their adventures? Absolutely.
4.5/5 antique recording devises

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao***
The Rise of the Empress book 1 of 2
I always love a good fairytale retelling and this one was refreshing, unique, and delightfully dark. I also don’t think we see nearly enough fairytale retellings that star people of color. Forest of a Thousand Lanterns tells the origin story of the Evil Queen from Snow White with influences from Asian folklore and mythology. Xifeng was such an interesting anti-heroine, and I was somehow cheering for her even as I watched her slide into her own destruction.
4/5 human hearts

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark
I mentioned above (and in other posts) that my biggest critique for older science fiction is the complete lack of diversity. So here again is a book about white men in space. Not to say I didn’t like it, I did, but really, the only women were stewardesses on the moon shuttle flights? Now that that’s out of the way, I liked how we were conducted through the book with each of the sections (first Moonwatcher on earth, then Floyd on the moon, then the astronauts on their mission) not at first seeming that they went together, but actually building upon one another. I also love the deliciously sinister HAL character. I know this movie is a classic in cinema and sci fi history, but I think I preferred the book, which Clark wrote sort of simultaneously with the screenplay, though the novel was released after the movie.
3/5 large, improbably placed monoliths

Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving
CW: outdated language referring to disabilities and trans people
About once a year I think, “It’s time to read another John Irving book.” So this year it was Avenue of Mysteries. This one had all the hallmarks of an Irving novel: a protagonist who is a writer; a small, odd child who dies tragically; a woman or women who are wild and perhaps crazy, but sexually attractive; a dog that dies; and of course, all manner of improbable, irreverent, and hilarious circumstances. I wouldn’t say it was as good as A Prayer for Owen Meany or The World According to Garp, but it definitely satisfied my Irving fix.
3.5/5 Virgin Mary noses

The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan
Book Hangover Alert**
The Trials of Apollo book 5 of 5
CW: psychological abuse and manipulation
The last book in the Percy Jackson universe? I think that remains to be seen. Uncle Rick wraps up his Trials of Apollo series neatly and satisfyingly. I loved how this whole series let us spend time with our favorite characters from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heroes of Olympus series, and introduced us to plenty of new favorites. It also managed to strike that sweet balance between hilarity, action, and emotion.
4/5 hat-wearing troglodytes

Self Care by Leigh Stein
CW: eating disorders, discussion of sexual assault
I heard about this book from a New York Times newsletter I get and I was super intrigued. The novel is about two women who started a social media platform for “self care,” where women can post about the rituals they use for self care and vitamin and face wash brands can sell their products. The really interesting thing is how the novel points out the “self care” industry is really just a rebranding of the beauty industry. The message used to be “You’re a woman and there’s something wrong with your body. If you don’t use our product, no man will ever want you.” Now the message is “You’re a woman and you’ll never be able to love yourself unless you use our product, and no one will love you if you don’t love yourself.” There’s also the interesting aspect of social media; is meditating really self care if you post a video of yourself doing it to try to get a lot of likes and comments? The two main characters, Devin and Maren, sort of fall on opposite ends of the self care spectrum with Devin as the perfect yoga influencer always drinking a green energy smoothie, while Maren is the body-positive feminist. The professed goal of their company is to create a safe place for women to put themselves first on social media but toxicity of social media and the push and pull between Devin and Maren creates a really delicious tension. The book is addicting and as hard to put down as it is to stop scrolling on social media. There’s a sense of impending doom throughout the novel that makes you feel it will all end in tears, but, like watching a train wreck, you can’t look away.
3.5/5 protein shakes

I Wish I Were a Superhero by Sarah E. Paul
Awhile back, I supported my friend’s Indigogo campaign to get her children’s book published. My copy of the book arrived this month and I was so excited to read it! It’s a delightful little book with lovely illustrations. I’m excited to share it with my little nephew.
You can support my friend Sarah by purchasing a copy of the book here.

***This book is part of my Books for a Social Conscience series! Read First Sister to experience nonbinary perspectives and learn more about the implications of technological advancement on disability and class. Read Forest of a Thousand Lanterns to see new perspectives in fairytale fantasy.