The first book I read in October was
The Far Side Gallery 3, which features a cow posing as Mona Lisa (Moona Lisa) on the cover. I got it from the thrift store. I enjoyed this one, and even though I'm pretty sure I've seen all the comics therein, did not remember all of them. The reason I keep saying that for every The Far Side book is because my high school library had the Complete Far Side, which was in two? enormous, heavy volumes. I think I've read all the The Far Side comics, Gary Larson's new stuff notwithstanding (he's recently gotten into digital drawing and started making art again. I have his 2021 calendar.). 4 stars, keeping.
Trigger warnings: body horror, characters are eaten, bugs, torture? weird sci fi stuff. all pretty mild
After my Agatha Christie mysteries, I read
A Miracle in Seville by James A. Michener. I bought it (all together now!) at the thrift store. This book is set somewhere in the 1950s to '60s range, although the writing style and the lovely old-fashioned illustrations made it feel older. It takes place in Spain during Holy Week (Easter), and the American sports journalist narrator follows around an older Spanish man who is the head of one of the old bull breeding families that supply bulls for bullfights. He has lost his family and status among bull-raising families, and he attempts to raise his family's name by supplicating the Virgin Mary. The three best bullfighters and their bullfighting techniques during the many bullfights during the week are described. I don't know much of anything about bullfighting, but it sounds as though Michener did his research and writes about bullfighting knowledgeably and beautifully. Part of the reason the story time feels older is due to how the Spanish festivals and bullfights and characters are written about. There is a haughty beautiful g*psy fortune teller in swinging skirts who could have stepped out of the pages of a 19th century novel. All the Romani characters in this book are stereotypes and villains. (
Read more on why g*psy is a slur here). The writing is very good, though, and the etching/woodcut-like illustrations are gorgeous. The book, while pertaining to be a journalist's notes, reads like a fairy tale from the 19th century, kind of like a Hugo or Dostoevsky novel without the excess verbiage. If it weren't for the stereotypical Romani characters, and the odd/sad ending, I would have liked this book a lot more than I did. 3.5 stars, gave away this book to my dad who is proud of his Spanish heritage despite them being colonizers.
Trigger warnings: anti-Romani racism and stereotyping, animal murder and cruelty, human death, maiming mentions, religious self harm
I read
Little Black Bird by Anna Kirchner for Ace Week, which was the last week of October. I followed the author on Instagram well before I learned she wrote a book, and immediately put her book on my to read list because it has asexual representation and I like to support my "friends". I was delighted to buy this book from another bookstagrammer. Read the
synopsis here. This book takes place in Poland (Anna is Polish) and is written in English (Anna is fluent). I liked that there's a pronunciation guide and short description of
words non-Polish readers may not know in the front of the book. However, the writing feels a bit clunky? Disjointed? This may be due to the translating from mental Polish to written English. The characters don't quite feel lived in; it feels like we're told stuff about them. The exception is Wiktoria, whose POV we view the story from. Her anguish about her telekinesis and not being able to fit in is heartbreaking. Her own family treated her like a problem, and it turns out her origins are a mystery. I cared about her and rooted for her. The love interest is a slightly older boy who is bonded to her and there's insta-love and possible attraction. He has color-changing eyes, natch. The romance or whatever (both Wiktoria and the dude are ace questioning) felt very typical, YA fantasy/paranormal novel soulmates, only with less possessiveness and boundary-breaking, thankfully. I think I'm too old for YA novels, you guys; the romances make me roll my eyes instead of swoon. The magic and its usage/rules were very interesting, and the demons and mythological spirits/creatures were scary. I am not very familiar with Slavic mythology (I only know like 3 Slavic fairytales) and it was interesting to read a fantasy book using mythology I'm not familiar with. I was angry on Wiktoria's behalf about how the sorcerers treated her; the obvious thing to do would be to Harry Potter it and tell her she's important and special and to invite her to join the secret sorcerer society, etc. and gain her trust and have her be an ally. Instead they treated her like a criminal. The ace rep is pretty good, with tumblr and
AVEN mentioned in the story as sources on ace info. Anyway, fascinating story, things are getting interesting, then BOOM! Cliffhanger. Seriously, there's no real resolution and the book literally ends with "to be continued...". I guess the next book will finish the story, but I don't wanna wait! Ugh. 3.5 stars, keeping. I'm going to have to reread it before I read the sequel.
Trigger warnings: torture (both magical and not), stalking, magical mind & body control, demon possession, grudgingly attempted sex due to character feeling owed (consent issues), imprisonment, supernatural scaryness, a character is recovering from an eating disorder
