We are approaching the end of February and I could not be more excited. There’s something about this month that makes me so unbelievably tired and sluggish. I hope I’m not the only one!
But of course, let’s talk books!
Sneezy: I’m pinging between so many books and webtoons right now that I’m almost confused by this question. I remember reading… What did I read? Did I actually read???
I’m re-reading City Kitty and Country Mouse by Alyssa Lynn Palmer. This book is a safe bubble for me to cozy into.
Also Laziness Does Not Exist by Dr. Devon Price. Because their words go stabbidy stab stab at the infections on my heart. Not a fun pain, but a good one.
Another thank you to Sarah for recommending it.
Shana: I’m listening to the audiobook of Romancing Mister Bridgerton, ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd ) Colin and Penelope’s book. I loved the book on my first read, and Colin holds up well as a charming hero who falls for a smart but unpopular girl. But I’d forgotten that Penelope magically loses a bunch of weight between books so that she can now be attractive to her longtime crush. I don’t like that trope, and it’s dampening my enjoyment of his bewildered love for her.
Sarah: I just finished listening to Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch, ( A | BN | K | AB ) and am now listening to Mira’s Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold. ( A | BN | AB ) I joined a quilt square exchange on Twitter so I have been sewing 8″ squares and listening to books. Supremely satisfying.
Amanda: Sarah is a quilting goddess. She made me my very own for the holidays and I love it.
Elyse: I’ve been in a slump. I can’t seem to finish anything.
I’ve reached this point in quarantine for the past month where I’m struggling with words, both reading and writing. I know it will pass but it’s depressing. I think my brain energy is depleted. I’ve been knitting simple patterns and playing games that don’t involve much puzzle solving. I’m giving myself brain rest as a form of self care.
Sneezy: You GET that rest Elyse!!!!! Elyse on Team Elyse!!!!!!
Carrie: I just finished Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang. ( A | BN | K | AB ) I love his other work but would have passed this by if the librarian had not basically insisted that I read it – so good! It’s about basketball – but in unexpected ways that are absolutely captivating despite my previous lack of interest in the sport. A good example of how anything can be interesting once you dig into it.
EllenM: Honestly a significant portion of my free reading time this past week was absorbed completely by me finally downloading Stardew Valley and playing it every free moment I’m not studying, ha! But I also read the very cute 1-volume graphic novel Help Us, Great Warrior and it was heartwarming and adorable.
Amanda: Does that mean you’re enjoying it?!
EllenM: YES it is so fun!!! I’ve already played through almost an entire year!
Amanda: Loving this journey for you.
Sarah: Stardew WINNNN!
I love that you’re experiencing it for the first time.
Tara: So, I’ve been pretty addicted to my Switch lately. But in great news, one book has definitely captured my attention for my end of day reading time lately. Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo’s new YA f/f romance that takes place in the 1950s. I’m hoping and trusting that there will be a happy ending, even though it takes place in a time when it was illegal to be gay.
Kiki: I recently finished What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon which was really fantastic and I think is critical reading, especially for my fellow straight sized folks. It’s about anti-fat discrimination and what cultural changes are required for fat justice. I listened to the audiobook but am going to get a hard copy so I can keep going back to it. The author also has an INCREDIBLE podcast called Maintenance Phase in which she and her co-host debunk bad health science and weight loss fads.
In terms of romance I was suddenly overcome a few days ago to reread all of the Bedwyn Saga by Mary Balogh? ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) It was very out of left field but I just finished the first and am enjoying the reread!
What are you reading this month? Let us know!
:::rolls in with hands and feet covered in dirt:::
I’m not gross, I promise, I just got done transplanting 4 herbs (lemon balm, garden sage, peppermint, and catnip) and a rosebush (according to the tag, the blossoms will eventually be yellow).
So let’s see, between garden witching, finishing up a big assignment for my class, working, and wondering why people cannot pull the damn masks over their noses, there has been some reading, though not as much as some. Again, homework. Anyhoo, I followed up Undercover Bromance with A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas. It’s the follow-up to her A Court of Thorns and Roses series, and follows Feyre’s sister Nesta. It was a fantastic fantasy, and boy oh boy, while I maintain that the other books should have never been shelved in YA (and would just shake my head in disbelief when I saw them there), this one DEFINITELY does not belong there. The sex scenes in this one were frequent, graphic, and not for the faint of heart (meaning I’m fine, I find them a nice spice to a fantasy realm, oddly enough, but YMMV). One thing I did think was really great about it was the treatment of Nesta, her trauma, and her working through the trauma. She starts off as hard to like, and she’s made herself that way on purpose, and the book shows her moving through trauma and depression, and learning how to accept herself as worthy and worth saving. Oh, and the House? I want to also be BFFs with the House. The House will bring you hot chocolate and romance novels. It even makes recommendations. Then I simultaneously started We Had a Little Real Estate ProblemL The Unheralded Story of Native Americans and Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff and Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins. I rarely read more than one book at a time, but when I do, it’s usually one non-fiction and a fiction. We Had A Little Real Estate Problem has some really interesting stories in it, both current stories of Native Americans out here trying to break into the comedy scene, and past luminaries such as Will Rogers, his son Will Rogers, Jr., and Charlie Hill, among others, as well stories of their work on civil rights for Native Americans. Some of what’s in the book makes me laugh, some of it makes me sad, and some of it is just infuriating. Wild Rain I just finished yesterday, and well, her writing is just such a gift. Competent, take-no-shit heroine, cinnamon roll hero, horsies (loved the horsies), and as always, that layer of history that, chances are, just wasn’t discussed in our classes. Which brings us to now, in which I’m reading, in addition to the NF previously mentioned (I’m taking my time there), Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher. I’ve heard her name batted about around these parts, and am enjoying it so far. We’ve got another character that is clearly trying to manage his trauma, and the tone is dryly funny. In fact, I think I’m about to go lay down with it and get my naptime on. Until next time, folks, plant some peppermint, it smells nice.
Oh, and before I go? Thank you for the condolences regarding my grandfather on the last post. They are appreciated.
Another vote for KJ Charles and THE GENTLE ART OF FORTUNE HUNTING. Just what I needed… now catching up on her SINS OF THE CITIES series. I have almost completely switched to m/m romance over the last months, I can’t even say why, but for some reason I like them so much more right now than m/f, and KJ Charles is one of the best!
Still working my way through FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW: 40 YEARS OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and frankly it’s not as good as the previous collection for A NEW HOPE. They spend fully half the book on Hoth; I got so bored I took a break and reread THE DUKE AND I just to break things up. Things pick up a little when they finally move on to Cloud City but all in all I’m not as fond of it as I was of the first.
I’ve also recently fallen in love with the webtoon Cursed Princess Club, which is full of body positivity and self-love and self care and finding ways to forgive yourself and others. All of the characters struggle with some sort of trauma or emotional issue in addition to the obvious or not-so-obvious curses and have to work to overcome it with the help and support of the others. It’s a very comforting and therapeutic read.
After burning through the Hidden Legacy series, I decided I wanted to try out more urban fantasy books. I have no idea why I decided to try out the first one in Rebecca Zanetti’s Dark Protector series. Ugh. I returned the book two chapters in. And decided to put Andrews’s On the Edge on hold.
That did make me finally get around to reading Nalini Singh’s Alpha Night. I had loved Silver’s and Bo’s book in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series but book 3 with Mercy and I-don’t-remember-the-hero’s-name was ok-ish, and so it took me this long to get around to Alpha Night. I think I will continue reading the Psy-Changeling series for the worldbuilding. I love any and every tidbit that furthers the overall story arc, including how Ethan and Mercy play into the expanding knowledge about the PsyNet. The romance itself was. . . not bad, but not the primary reason I was reading this book. I think that might be true of the Hidden Legacy series as well. In both cases, the worlds the authors build is what keeps me interested in reading. Then again, I did enjoy Silver’s and Bo’s romance so maybe a more accurate way of saying this is that even the books whose romance doesn’t do anything for me are good reading material because I am vested in the underlying world and its mechanics, and politics! (I am really wanting to read Pax’s story now! and his sister’s!)
The Other Bennett Sister by Janice Hadlow: I really enjoyed this. The romance is really the focus only in the last quarter of the book but looking at P & P through Lydia’s eyes is an interesting perspective on the familiar details. Lydia’s transformation into a woman who comes to value herself is wonderful. That it is Mrs. Gardiner who is the touchstone for this transformation is a nice nod of acknowledgment to the original book.
Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett: I am making my way through the earlier Pratchetts and it is so interesting to see how he matures as writer in the Tiffany Aching portion of the series. All of the elements which make the Aching books great is present here as well. Only, it lacks the polish of the latter books. I love Terry Pratchett. Not only does the plot along with the humor keep me well and truly hooked but the philosophy that pervades much of his stories resonates strongly with the way I think of life. There’s a scene in Lords and Ladies where Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Ridicully are making their way through a forest and Ridicully resentfully remarks on how Granny is almost not there, the way the brambles and the thorns seem to bypass her. To which Granny replies that they don’t bother her BECAUSE she is present. Ridicully goes, well so is he. Granny retorts, nope, he might be THERE but he isn’t present. Or well something like that anyway. That remark just stuck with me. I found myself remembering it when doing one thing and thinking of another. Which is one thing which makes me anxious at times (rather than simply focusing on the tasks in kitchen, I will torment myself with all the rest of the house stuff that needs taken care of as well!) Anyway, I do love reading Discworld novels and am so appreciative of and grateful to Pratchett for leaving such a (sort of) vast oeuvre.
The Heiress Gets A Duke by Harper St. George: So. this is a good book. I don’t feel as effusively about this as a lot of other folks though. Probably because, I prefer internal conflicts much more than external ones in stories like these? I found August to be too prickly at times. I admired her, and fully believed in everything she stood for and wanted for herself, but did I LOVE reading her story? Nope. Same with Evan, he was an ass initially, and that changes as he comes to admire August more and more and realize what he really wants with her, yet it wasn’t that much fun to read ABOUT him. But this is a case of me and my preferences, I think. I do like that St. George makes explicit and does it with such focus, the very limited autonomy that was available to women at that time.
ARGH!!! Mary!!! Not Lydia. Mary. in The Other Bennett Sisters.
Just started Make it Sweet by Kristen Callihan and I just noticed that Mia Sheridan has a new book out just today, Once We Were Starlight which sounds Very intriguing that I couldn’t help but pick up.
@Juhi at least you didn’t buy the first four books of Dark Protectors! I agree the first book is absolutely awful. I may try and read the second book for the hope of salvaging the series but I fear I am likely to end up deleting the lot and chalking it down to a ‘what was I thinking when I bought this?’ Moment.
My burning question is why haven’t they made ‘Guards ! Guards!’ Into a tv series? Surely the time is right for Captain Vimes?
@Jennifer Estep OMG yes, he was EXTREMELY annoying in that episode!
I did some checking around after finishing it. It sounds as if they’re likely going to get a second season (eventually), but as with everything else, COVID threw a wrench into those plans.
@Kit I feel your pain!
AND YES YES YES YES! Why haven’t they made it into a series?! would be so much fun!
@DejaDrew but why don’t you like the ending to The Blue Castle? Too much of a deux ex machina? Because I can see that, but I loooove it so much.