It’s that time again! Whatcha Reading time!
This is where we discuss are the wonderful books, weird things, and perhaps big letdowns we’ve read in the last couple weeks.
Let’s get into it!
Shana: I’m reading Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron. Kiki reviewed it, and I’m absolutely loving it.
Sneezy: I’m so excited for you!
Catherine: I’ve just started reading The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennett by Katherine Crowley ( A | BN | K ) and it’s really good! It’s set a few years after Pride and Prejudice, and just after the death of Mr Bennett, and it’s all from Mary’s viewpoint, which I am loving. She is someone who finds social interactions difficult and confusing and so she kind of plans them out, with speeches, based on her extensive studies and reading about correct behaviour, and it’s brilliant because it’s absolutely compatible with her frequently unhelpful commentary in P&P, but it feels absolutely different when you are in her head.
Sneezy: The audiobook for The Dark Fantastic by Dr. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas renewed my platinum membership in the Bad Decisions Book Club, and I’m now relistening again!!!! Dr. Thomas is so gentle and direct and generous.
I also just finished The Devil Comes Courting and COURTNEY MILAN!!!!!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME????? I can’t remember the last time a book had me sobbing outright. I had to take sniffle breaks because my nose was running and I was crying too hard to read!!!!! (edited)
It was great, I loved it, and holy smokes did it stab my feels!!!!
Catherine: Isn’t it AMAZING???
Sarah: I am slow reading a nonfiction called The Happiness Trap, ( A | BN | K ) which is about ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and techniques to address anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts, memories or images. I’m slow reading it because there are a number of different techniques to try, and I am experimenting with different options and adding them to my repertoire before I move on to the next chapter. Not only is it extremely helpful but the different options are clearly and carefully explained, and it’s written in a style that my brain really likes. (edited)
I also have an ARC of the new Lucy Parker and it’s my current “In Case of Emergency Break Glass” TBR book.
Claudia: Ah, I have a few of those…
I finished The Devil and the Heiress by Harper St. George, ( A | BN | K ) coming up in June, I believe, and it was a solid read.
Tara: I’m still diving into the history of punk music, so I’m reading Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. ( A | BN | K ) It’s all quotes from people in the scene, rather than the authors writing anything. The brilliance comes in how those quotes are ordered, because that’s how a coherence narrative comes across. It’s a tough read in spots, because women are very poorly treated, but it’s still fascinating.
Elyse: I just picked up The Frozen Crown. Binging Shadow and Bone left me craving some fantasy with romance elements.
Susan: In a complete tonal whiplash from the other media I’ve been consuming (New Pokémon Snap and far too many trashy romance manga), I’ve picked up The Radium Girls! ( A | BN | K ) Because apparently what I need right now is more rage at the mistreatment of workers
Carrie: My daughter was in a Zoom production of the play so it was all rotting face makeup around here for a while.
Susan: I didn’t know there was a play, that’s really cool!
EllenM: I’m reading Revolting Prostitutes, which is a nonfiction book about sex worker labor rights by sex workers, and it is awesome!!
Susan: This is immediately going on my buy list, thank you, Ellen!
What are you reading right now? Let us know!
Oh my God I haven’t posted in one of these since forever.
I’ve been struggling a little with reading but it’s almost summer break and I hope it picks up then!
Currently reading: I love you so mochi, The care and feeding of waspish widows, and Isadora Duncan’s memoir!
5 stars:
– Felix Ever After: trans MC, YA romance. Loved it.
– Sick kids in love: as a chronically ill person with joint issues this hit homered. Very lovely YA romance.
4 stars:
– I’ll be the one! Super cute, queer, fat MC
– Daddy Long Legs: I just really enjoyed it!
– PET: HEAAAVYYY but good
3 stars:
– my brothers husband (just a lil bland/focuses on the straight character, but sweet)
– Grumpy Jake: honestly mostly loved it but the Conflict was silly?
Awful?:
Lifeboat, Taipei. I thought it’d be a fun YA with high schoolers spending the summer in Taipei to learn traditional skills and likely find a partner. (A doc on the real life version is coming out!) But instead it’s bland people being horrible to each other and forgiving things like revenge porn for literally no reason. Awful
I just finished Roshani Chokshi’s The Star-Touched Queen and Crown of Wishes, which are both good books I enjoyed well enough but am definitely not the reader for. Uncharacteristically, I hadn’t realised they were YA until after I’d already bought them, and alhough I’m not sorry I read them anyway, I am kind of sorry I bought them. If that makes sense? They were beautifully written, lovely sort of half-mythological half-fairy tale feel, but YA is just not my thing. I had thought they were adult fantasy with young protagonists. Ah well.
Before that, I read Katee Robert’s O’Malleys series, about Boston-based Irish mob families, which was flawed but great fun, although I’m not entirely certain how plausible anything was. The last book, with the youngest O’Malley and the enemy mob boss, surprisingly turned out to be my favourite. I hadn’t liked the heroine at all in the previous books (I felt sympathy for her, but she acted like the worst kind of spoiled teenage brat every time she appeared), but once she is (forcibly) sobered up, she becomes a lot of fun. Both main characters are completely horrible people, but both they and the author are fully aware of this, and they’re also horrible people who respect each other and care about their own, and for some reason this dynamic is a thing I enjoy, although I don’t really understand why. It’s not common either; usually when I find a book with Horrible People in Love, either the author wants me to think they’re not horrible, or they’re horrible and abusive to each other, or they treat the people in their life like garbage, or all three. Keira and Dmitri do not always treat each other in optimal ways, but they’re trying, and I was able to believe they were well on their way to a very weird but ultimately functional partnership of evil despite everything.
The other thing I read was an old (1991 iirc) Judith Ivory book, Black Silk, originally published as Judy Cuevas. It was…. something else. I have not read too many books from 1991, so I’m not sure how typical it would have been (although it’s surprisingly much less rapey than I was afraid it would be), but by current standards, it’s incredibly daring. The leads are separated and having their own character development for much of the book; the hero is involved with another woman the entire time; the heroine is knowingly profitting at his expense… it was incredibly messy, and yet, somehow, it all worked (at least for me). Cuevas/Ivory knew her craft and knew exactly what she was doing. My favourite romances are the ones that either actively subvert tropes or are not about tropes: they might contain tropes (what would a book even look like if it had no tropes?), but they’re not about them, if that makes sense? This was a book that was not about tropes. I wish Cuevas/Ivory had been able to write more. She was one of those authors who is just in another league.
Webtoons and more webtoons discovered thanks to SBTB:
– Cursed Princess Club – took me a little while to get into it, then it really grew on me. Pulled a bad decisions book club Friday night so now I’m all caught up and waiting for the next episode. Thank you to the person who recommended it repeatedly. I’m loving these characters and watching them grow and learn to love themselves, and there is plenty of humor to lighten the mood when dark moments happen.
– Nothing Special – adorable artwork, good fantasy world building, cute romance, snarky humor. Season 1 arc wrapped up in a satisfying way, season 2 is a bit slower so far but I’m okay with that.
– Suitor Armor – gorgeous artwork, even better fantasy world building, lovable characters. Episodes are longer with a lot of story in each one.
– The Sea in You – there’s a wonderful review for this one on SBTB. Slow updates but there’s a lot of back episodes.
– Remarried Empress- quite dramatic and soapy, beautiful artwork. Updates weekly.
Graphic novels for the tweenager that I ended up reading too: Lumberjanes. A bit like Gravity Falls with more girls, funny and entertaining. It’s on Amazon prime reading.
YouTube for unwinding and/or falling asleep – Would I Lie To You, a British comedy panel show that’s basically the Two Truths and a Lie party game played by professional entertainers. Funny, low stakes, lots of laughing and there are 14 seasons of it.
Would I Lie To You (or WILTY, as you’ll also find it in the search engine) is fantastic. Highly recommend the clips of Bob Mortimer, James Acaster, Claudia Winkleman, and Greg Davies in particular.
Happy Mother’s Day to everyone. My family overslept and I ordered a swimsuit, and my kids got me more aloe socks and my husband got me a new pair of sparkly Reef sandals, so it’s not too bad so far.
Well, let’s see. I jumped off this time with A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher. Really enjoyed what felt like a very original approach to magic usage and cackled at the carnivorous sourdough starter. It was interesting tonally, since the main character’s magical talent ran a bit toward the absurd, but there were still huge stakes at work that she had to figure out how to apply it, too. Then I read Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Sutanto. Speaking of absurd. I loved her aunties and their casual approach to an accidental homicide and the fact that they now had a body to dispose of. Very fun. After that, I went nose-first into an impulse from the library, and read City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda. Loved it. This another one from the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, and the author focused on Mesopotamian mythology, and incorporated stories from the Epic of Gilgamesh (in fact, Gilgamesh shows up as a character, though not in the way you might expect). I really enjoyed the main character, who was a smartass little cinnamon roll that was much braver than he he himself knew, and I really respected the treatment of the grief in the book, as he’s dealing with complicated grief over the loss of his older brother. That said, there are some incidents of Islamophobia in the book, because it’s set in NYC and the immigrant experience in this country tends to be, “Come for the fried foods and gajillion streaming services, stay for the casual but still appalling bigotry”. Which brings us to now, in which I’m reading The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, about female codebreakers in WWII. I tend to greatly enjoy what Quinn does with WWII his-fic, and the methodical unrolling of the mystery is working for me. It’s like the puzzles that are such an integral part of the story; the more pieces you get, the more the picture makes sense. It’s a lot of story, though it reads fast while you’re in it. So until next time, plant those flowers. They look nice for you.
I’m about 3/4 of the way through REDSHIRTS by John Scalzi. While I’m not finding it as laugh-out-loud funny as some, having grown up with ST-TOS I’m appreciating the nudge-nudge sendup of all the wibbly science and handwavy tropes that permeated most SF of the era, and Andy Dahl as the viewpoint character exemplifies all the WTF I find in those tropes today. Nostalgic, funny, and hugely enjoyable.
Happy Mother’s Day to all – if you’re not a mother yourself, you had one at one time and you’re a part of our great human family. Haven’t had much time to read physical books of late, so I’ve zipped through several audiobooks whenever my attention wasn’t required elsewhere. What stands out: I don’t think I liked Sara Desai’s THE MARRIAGE GAME as much as I was supposed to (I got bored and skipped the whole middle section), or Sarah Penner’s THE LOST APOTHECARY (I found so many aspects preposterous), OR Kristan Higgins’ ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW (could she have assembled a bigger cast of whiners??) but I loved Abby Jimenez’s latest LIFE’S TOO SHORT. She keeps getting better and better.
Now thanks to all you wonderful readers, I’ve once again searched out and bought more titles that sound good and I may never have time to read. Sigh. Counting down to the end of the school year in hopes that life will slow down just a bit.
I am reading too many books at once so I have to buckle down and start finishing them.
CHAOS ON CATNET by Naomi Kritzer
RAYBEARER by Jordan Ifueko
HEART OF FIRE by (Senator) Maizie Hirono
NETWORK EFFECT by Martha Wells
@Sarah
I am reading the ACT workbook, which is a combination of theory and exercises. It is blowing my mind! Do need to read it slowly though. I am a pretty concrete person, so some of the theory takes a few re-reads to get into my brain.
@Christy: I am the same way and have to re-read and think and re-read again.
Its spring -so the pollen is keeping me indoors. More time for books! I definitely agree with the Roan Parrish thoughts – I loved Middle of Somewhere, liked Out of Nowhere, was so-so about Where we left off, and liked the last two.
Great
Raconteur, Honor – SHINIGAMI DETECTIVE series (Police Procedure Fantasy). A re-read of the series on the occasion of the new book, GRIMOIRES AND WHERE TO FIND THEM. I just like this series. The main character, Jamie, a transplant from the modern FBI surviving in a magical Victorian era society and solving police cases along the way.
Singh, Nalini – ALPHA NIGHT (M/F Paranormal) Just as good as a re-read as a new. Can’t wait for the next to appear.
Very Good
Henry, Lisa – ADVENTURES IN AGUILLION series (M/M Fantasy). These were very enjoyable fantasies, with all of the right stereotypes. The good guys are good, the bad are bad, but it is fun to watch it happen. My favorite was SOCIALLY ORCWARD, but the best written was probably RED HEIR.
Snyder, Maria – SENTINELS OF THE GALAXY series (YA Science Fiction). Recommended in SBTB, the series combining space, growing up, and the terracotta warriors was a good read, although I still have to finish the third book.
Good
Alepou, Brea – A KING TO BE CLAIMED (M/M/M Fantasy). A good beginning, but the story was too short. It felt like the first couple chapters of a novel.
Burns, Sam – FANTASTIC FLUKE (M/M Urban Fantasy). The side characters were much better than the romance, and the second book, FANTASIC FLUKE AND THE FAITHLESS FATHER continued the trend. However the side characters, especially the Fox familiar, were awesome.
Morrison, Reese – HUMMINGBIRD AND KRAKEN (M/M Paranormal romance). I think I went into this with too high expectations. A good read, but not a great one (and my favorite kraken story is still WRIGGLE & SPARKLE by Megan Derr).
Little, A. – LITTLES OF THE NIGHT series. (M/M Vampire/Little stories). These are silly and are like potat chips. They aren’t good for you, but you can’t stop eating them.
Shea, K.M. – MAGICAL BEINGS REHABILITATION CENTER (YA Urban Fantasy). A high school sophomore discovers that magic is real and gets involved in the magical world.
Todd, Mel – INHERITED LUCK (Urban Fantasy) – the latest installment of the TWISTED LUCK series continues the story in new and different directions. I eagerly await the next one!
OK
Carothers, DG – TAG YOU’RE SEEN (M/M Contemporary). Story of an assassin and his target. While I loved the location of Santa Fe, NM, I found the rest of the story disturbing.