Almost forgot to review this! Tracked it down and read it entirely because of the Read Harder Challenge, so thanks as always, Read Harder, for forcingAlmost forgot to review this! Tracked it down and read it entirely because of the Read Harder Challenge, so thanks as always, Read Harder, for forcing me to find books I never would have heard of or read otherwise. This book was fun, informative, colorful as hell, and I would love to have a copy of it just to look at the art.
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Read a book about drag or queer artistry....more
Here's something that might be a controversial opinion, but I think you have to be a more talented or practiced writer to write horror for younger reaHere's something that might be a controversial opinion, but I think you have to be a more talented or practiced writer to write horror for younger readers than you do for adults, at least in terms of the scares/vibes. It's easy to scare adults; just make it gory or gross or unthinkable, or make it threaten us existentially. Horror authors for adults have a plethora of tools available. Middle grade horror writers have to scare without gore, without much (if any) violence, without an unhappy ending. You have to be creative about it. That is exactly why I'm so impressed with this little book, which was genuinely creepy in a really creative way. Not to mention, it's a very solid middle grade book exploring grief and friendship.
Our main character is Ollie (Olivia), who has recently lost her mother in a plane crash. One day she comes across a crying woman at the edge of a creek, about to throw a book in the water. Ollie is horrified and snatches the book away from her. Once home, she begins reading the book, also titled Small Spaces. It's the story of a pair of brothers on a farm who love the same woman, and when one brother dies, the other makes a deal with the Smiling Man to bring his brother back. Ollie is riveted by it. And when a trip with her class to a local farm—the very one from the book—goes very, very wrong, she and two of her classmates are sucked into a horrifying adventure.
“When the mist rises, and the smiling man comes walking, you must avoid large places at night. Keep to small.”
I'm definitely reading on in the series.
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Read a middle grade horror novel....more
As you did it to the strangest of my sisters you did it to me
MATTHEW 25:40
Next time I read this, I need to have the Bible and other resources with me
As you did it to the strangest of my sisters you did it to me
MATTHEW 25:40
Next time I read this, I need to have the Bible and other resources with me because I'm sure I missed a lot. The prayers and liturgy and scripture I recognized that she had referenced did hit harder than the ones I didn't. But the reason this isn't getting five stars is because some of the actual verse in the poems flopped pretty hard. The ones that were bangers made up for those, but still can't give this a five. Seemed very much like a debut poetry collection (says the person who knows nothing about poetry and doesn't like it that much). But dang do I love Emily Austin's style. (Former and lapsed Catholics, this one is for you. Hope you don't mind a bit of well-intentioned blasphemy.)
[4.5 stars]
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Read an indie published collection of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author....more
This book was so stinking heartwarming. And that's my first book of the 2024 Read Harder Challenge down! (Thanks for the cute rec, Lindsay! (she has cThis book was so stinking heartwarming. And that's my first book of the 2024 Read Harder Challenge down! (Thanks for the cute rec, Lindsay! (she has children and i do not))
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Read a picture book published in the last five years....more
This was fantastic fun, and I learned a bunch while reading it. Very similar to my experience reading Bitch last year, except geared towards a young aThis was fantastic fun, and I learned a bunch while reading it. Very similar to my experience reading Bitch last year, except geared towards a young adult audience. Absolutely recommended for everyone, though, because it completely overturns some very basic assumptions that patriarchal society takes for granted. The natural world is absolutely chock full of queerness. We're fuckin natural as shit*. Plus, it's funny!
*About 10% of white-tailed deer are born intersex and asexual and live their lives just chilling in sexless groups, occasionally adopting orphaned fawns. As an asexual person, I find this amazing and heartwarming. Lots of fun tidbits like this in this book!
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Read a YA nonfiction book....more
This is a ridiculous book that I loved very much. Also, because I have low spoons at the moment and also because I couldn’t do better, here are some kThis is a ridiculous book that I loved very much. Also, because I have low spoons at the moment and also because I couldn’t do better, here are some key moments from the blurb:
"Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she’s fallen in love."
"Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor."
"Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out."
"Eating her girlfriend isn’t an option."
"And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with, rather than in, the love of her life."
I think you’ll agree whoever wrote that blurb deserves an award of some sort. And in my opinion, it perfectly represents what you will get in the book: a tongue in cheek, weird little story about a monster who learns to be a person, while gross and funny things are constantly happening to and around her.
Also, I WILL NOTE LOUDLY, both of the love interests in this book, Shesheshen and Homily, are not only homoromantic but ASEXUAL. There is also a tertiary character in here that is called the offspring for most of the book that made me CACKLE every time it was on page. The last time I laughed this hard at a book and tabbed so many memorable, funny, and utterly weird lines was Gideon the Ninth.
I don’t know what to tell you about all the mediocre reviews of this one. They just don’t get it. I thought this book was perfect and exactly what I wanted, and I can’t wait to see what John Wiswell and his weird little mind do next.
Read Harder 2024: Read a book based solely on the title.
r/Fantasy BINGO 2024: Book Club or Readalong Book (Hard Mode)
I was at a bit of an emotional remove from this one, and I don't know why, but it was still a fun time. Julie was v. relatable and Elle made my heart I was at a bit of an emotional remove from this one, and I don't know why, but it was still a fun time. Julie was v. relatable and Elle made my heart hurt. I skipped all the sex scenes.
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Read a book by an author with an upcoming event (virtual or in person) and then attend the event. (Saw them at the 2024 Tucson Festival of Books and got this book signed!)...more
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This book does exactly what cozy fantasy is designedThanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This book does exactly what cozy fantasy is designed to do (I know this was published by Bramble, Tor's fantasy romance imprint, but the romance is not the central aspect of the book; it is a cozy fantasy first and foremost). About an hour in, I wanted to drop my entire life and move into the book so I could have a flying cat and a sentient cactus who can only say MEEP and a spider plant best friend, and do magic with my friends while we drink tea and make friends with tree spirits while eating jam-filled pastry.
Halfway through, I just went ahead and preordered the book.
If you like fantasy and want something wholesome and heartwarming to wish your way into for an afternoon, this might be the book for you. Very glad I read it.
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Read a cozy fantasy book. (Just had to do a last-minute swap bc The Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping has been pushed to 2025 sadface.)...more
Tananarive Due can do no wrong. Excellent audiobook. Some day I might write a real review.
Read Harder Challenge 230 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 13/30
Tananarive Due can do no wrong. Excellent audiobook. Some day I might write a real review.
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat! --> 2022/Read a social horror, mystery, or thriller novel....more
This was really good! I loved the vibes and the writing and the setting. Definitely reading book two. I'm honestl30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 27/30
This was really good! I loved the vibes and the writing and the setting. Definitely reading book two. I'm honestly surprised how much I liked this. It's really hard to find great, vibesy sci-fi these days. A lot of sff authors go for the colder, more depressing, gritty machine-like futures, I think forgetting that humans like to be COMFY. Even though this book is set after humans have colonized Jupiter (of all places); the humans here like their tea and their big warm blankets, and they go apeshit over animals (who are rare bc humans destroyed Earth). The two MCs plan their entire day around going to this special restaurant called Slow Burn that sounded AMAZING.
In hindsight, this makes sense because this book is all about ecosystems, both organic and human-made. Of course the author is concerned with how humans and systems live together on a harsh (groundless!) planet, the same way the characters in this book are attempting to painstakingly recreate the best possible potential ecosystem for repopulating Earth. (The title is actually a gut punch once you realize what it's referring to.)
Anyway, this is actually a murder mystery! And it is definitely in the Holmseian tradition, with a sapphic/sci-fi twist. Our Holmes is Mossa, a definitely neurodivergent investigator who we meet when she is looking into the disappearance of a scholar who appears to have unalived himself by stepping off the platforms that make life possible on Jupiter, directly into the planet, whereupon he will freeze to death and then be crushed into atoms. Her investigation leads her to Pleiti, her old housemate from university, who is also a scholar and who Mossa feels can provide valuable insight. Pleiti, of course, is our Watson, and in grand Watsonian fashion, the story is told from her first person POV. Also, in true Watsonian fashion, she is super gay for her Holmes.
I've already placed a hold for book two at my library and very much hope there is a book three!
[4.5 stars]
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Read a sci-fi novella....more
A German professor who has been passing as Indian for her entire adult life is found to have been born white, and30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 24/30
A German professor who has been passing as Indian for her entire adult life is found to have been born white, and because she has placed herself in the public eye and has become a pop culture figure/icon, controversy explodes. (The author was inspired by the cases of people like Rachel Dolezal—who gets a couple mentions in the book—to write a story engaging with a fictional and heightened version of that story.) We see through the lends of Nivedita, a biracial Indian/German woman who has been longing to find her place in the world, and found it studying with Saraswati (the infamous professor). Nivedita herself is a public figure through her blog, where she writes under the alias Identitti (for obvious pun related reasons, but also because she likes breasts). Both of them are caught up in the scandal, and the book follows the aftereffects.
This is a very strange book, and it's hard to talk about why. You're not going to find a plot here, mostly just a lot of conversations about people talking at/to/over/under each other, about mostly race, but also gender and identity politics in general, among other things. And they are talked about in a way that is very academic (since the controversial figure in question is a professor of postcolonialism and the main character is her star student) but also highly, highly personal. This is most definitely not a book for the average reader; you have to be into the topics they are discussing. But also, this is a messy book about messy, real-world issues, and the author refuses to pass judgment on any of it. And she writes it in such a way that I was compelled to keep going, despite being by turns disturbed, rankled, confused, and annoyed. Admittedly, this is a satire so some of this is expected, but it definitely didn't feel like any satire I've read before, and I was unsettled the entire time I was reading, which I think was the point.
There's also the fact that it slides more and more into fabulism the longer the book goes on, as Nivedita has regular conversations with the Hindu goddess Kali (see the fabulous cover of the book), who acts as her conscience throughout. The things that are making me round this down to three stars despite that the style and subject matter had me (a person who has a hard time with lit-fic) riveted to the page, are twofold. Heh, twofold. Underused, underappreciated words are fun. Anyway, the first thing is that the book is a bit too long. I became frustrated with about fifty pages of it in the middle where the characters just seemed to be having the same conversations over and over, and nothing was being resolved or moved along. It was just dragged out a bit too long (though the climax/resolution of the book somewhat makes up for it).
The second thing is that there were these totally random, actually disturbing sex things littered throughout the book that really, really turned me off, and I have no idea what the author was going for by including them. Am I supposed to be shocked? Why? If not, am I supposed to pass judgment on the MC? (I did.) Am I supposed to believe this is normal behavior? Is her weirdness with sex related to her shifting identity? I have no clue, but if I never have to read another sentence where a woman (very, very briefly) thinks about having sex with a dog, has a threesome with her cousin, and/or uses someone else's vibrator while listening to that person have sex with her girlfriend, I will be very, very happy. Maybe I'm just very American, or very asexual, but I really do not see the point of any of that.
Anyway, all that said, this is an extremely interesting and relevant book and I think that more people should be reading and talking about it. If you were interested in Yellowface last year (and whether you liked it or not), this also might be a book for you.
Oh, and something else cool! A lot of the book is made up of tweets of people reacting to #Saraswatigate or whatever, and the author solicited genuine reactions from intellectuals and pop culture figures (none of whom I knew, but presumably they are well known in Germany), so that lent it a definite air of authenticity. She also reappropriates actual tweets and quotes from real life figures such as Jordan Peterson (who Saraswati debates at one point in the novel), J.K. Rowling, and Ibram X. Kendi. (There are extensive notes in the back.)
All in all, thorniness and messiness aside, I'm really glad I read this, and if it sounds at all interesting to you, I hope you read it too, and then come back here so I can talk about it with somebody.
[3.5 stars, rounded down]
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Read a book in translation from a country you’ve never visited (Germany)....more
Well I have been sleeping on this little gem for five years. Why didn't any of you tell me I was going to give this five stars. Maybe full review lateWell I have been sleeping on this little gem for five years. Why didn't any of you tell me I was going to give this five stars. Maybe full review later.
Read Harder Challenge 2024: Read a book recommended by a librarian....more
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