Rest of October books

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

September books

 I actually read more than 2 or 3 books in September! Love that journey for me.

Immediately after Remember Me?, I read She's Come Undone, which was a mistake. It's just so horribly sad and depressing in a way that is in no way hinted at in the rather quirky summary. Wally Lamb is a good writer, and I cared about Dolores and wanted her to be happy, but yikes. Dolores is aptly named; the author points this out quite obviously in a patting-himself-on-the-back-for-being-so-clever way, and puts her through all sorts of sad situations. There is sort of a happy ending, at least, and Dolores finds the love she so craves. I did find the 1950s-70s upbringing interesting. Massive, massive trigger warnings for rape of a child, grooming by a predator, domestic violence, mental illness and institutionalization, fatphobia, nonconsensual sexual situations, semi-manipulated abortion, death, sex, homophobia, predatory lesbian trope, AIDS, stalking, religious abuse, alcohol and drug mentions/usage, binge eating and eating disorders, stillbirth, racism from an elderly character, infidelity. There's probably more but that's all I can think of. I left it behind in Mexico with a note telling my family not to read it (there's no way my Christian parents can handle that kind of story). Cover notes: I actually picked this up due to the interesting cover and title. It's actually the title of a 1970s song. 3 stars (4 stars for writing + 2 stars for story). 

Immediately after flying back from Mexico, I flew to New York to visit my sister and her family (I have a nephew now and he's the cutest baby in the world). We mostly hung out and went to restaurants and

bookstores. I bought Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman from Westsiders Rare & Used Books (such a fun bookstore). This feminist utopia is a reread for me, and I love it. Read my previous review here, and my mini essay comparing it to The Left Hand of Darkness here. It's so interesting how she points out that a lot of what we consider gender or how women naturally are is a result of the patriarchy and its gender roles (this was written in 1915!). However, I noticed this time how eugenics-y the book is: the Herland women are all white, despite being in a hidden part of South America or something, and they've deliberately bred themselves to be strong and tall and good at stuff and resist disease and smart, etc. I didn't really realize it until I read a quote from CPG that said that white men and women need to come together to improve the lower races, or something. All the great 19th and 20th century white feminists were all racist as hell, unfortunately. Anyway, I do like this book, but be aware of the racism and eugenics-y ways of thinking. It's critical of capitalism, the patriarchy, and Christianity (but rightfully so, imo). Loved the misandry though. 4 stars, keeping. 

Another reread this month was James Finn Garner's Politically Correct Bedtime Stories. These are fun PC satires of classic fairy tales, and it's funny to read how the tales were transformed. For instance, Red Robin Hood and the wolf chop up the woodcutter for being so sexist and speciest as to think RRH needed his help with the wolf. Per usual, one isn't sure whether Garner is poking fun at capitalism etc. or PC culture itself. I reread this one because I'm giving the series away. Trigger warnings for fairytale-typical violence, I guess? 3.5 stars, giving away. 

My last read for September was The Chickens Are Restless, a The Far Side comics compilation. I love Gary Larson's The Far Side so much. I got this from the thrift store, and I'm pretty sure I'd already seen all of these (although there were some comics I didn't remember seeing before). These are classics for a reason. I wonder, if I were to walk past all the faculty office doors at my school, how many would have a TFS comic taped to it. Probably a lot, in the sciences. 4 stars, keeping.

February-March 2017 books

So I usually do a trimester's worth of flash book reviews at a time, but I read so much in January that I did those books in a separate blog post.

My two February books were started in January, but I've decided to count books as pertaining to the month in which they were finished.

The first Feb. book was The Elements of Eloquence, which was about rhetorical devices. An example (I no longer remember the specific name for this) is when you hear something like "he stole my heart and then my car" in a song. Get it? It juxtaposes literal theft (car) with metaphorical theft (a figure of speech). I'd heard dozens of lyrics like that but I never knew it was rhetoric. I liked this book, but unless you're a language nerd like me, you're probably going to find it too boring. The author has a very dry British sense of humor, and he provided lots of examples that I found interesting and often funny. He brought up William Shakespeare a lot, but the book didn't touch on him as much as I thought it would, although of course Billy S. was mentioned a good deal. This was a library book. (late Jan.-early Feb., 3.9/5 stars)

The second Feb. book was Step Aside, Pops by one of my favorite cartoonists, Kate Baeton Beaton. Just like the first Hark! A Vagrant collection, I'd already read probably 99% of all the comics included, but this is not at all a detractor for me. I like having physical copies of things I love from the Internet. I got this one from Barnes & Noble with a coupon, I believe. (late Jan.-early Feb., 5/5)


I started off March by rereading two books for children in order to decide whether or not I wanted to keep them (I shelved all my books in the beginning of March, but unsurprisingly, there are a few stacks that need to be taken care of!).

The first March book was Whittington, a Newbery Honor book that I was assigned to read in one of my Children's Lit classes. It is a solemn, rather charming story within a story. The outside story has to do with barnyard animals getting along and trying to encourage a young boy in his struggle with dyslexia. The inner story is his reward for the struggling: hearing the story of Dick Whittington and his cat from Whittington, a descendant of that cat. One thing I didn't like was that the DW story was supposedly passed down from cat to cat, but it felt like a story humans would tell, as it was all from Dick's perspective. The cat's perspective would have focused much more on the cat's experiences and feelings rather than Dick's feelings towards the merchant and his daughter. Overall this was like a less frolicsome Charlotte's Web written by someone who usually writes for adults. I do like this but will give it away to my cousin's kids. (mid-March, 3.9/5)

The second March book was on paintings, especially portraits of young girls, from American Girl. Imagine the Girl in the Painting is a lovely book to inspire creative thinking and an appreciation of art, as well as learning about history. This will also go to my cousin's kids. (mid-March, 4/5)

Probably my most harrowing book of the month was The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone, wherein the author examines loneliness in the context of a breakup, being alone in New York City, technology, and several NYC male artists whose work or lives in some way embodied loneliness. Many of the artists were abused in their youth, which was horrible to read about, and some of the things the author wrote about loneliness were 2real. I do recommend this though, and will try to look for more from the author. Trigger warnings for abuse, rape, self harm, mental illness, depression, suicide, and violence. This was a library book. (mid to late March, 4/5)

After such an emotionally wringing read I needed to take a break, so I read the next three Artemis Fowl books in basically one sitting: The Artemis Fowl Files (a filler book that is supposed to be book 4.5 or something), The Lost Colony, and The Time Paradox. After (spoiler!) Commander Root was killed off in the beginning of the 4th book The Opal Deception, it was nice to see him again in one of the Files' short stories. The Lost Colony is my favorite post-Opal book because of No.1, while I've never been that enamored of The Time Paradox (even my credulity can be strained, plus I hated it that REDACTED). I think I've mentioned before that while they are still enjoyable books, some of the magic is lost a bit when reread as an adult. I still like them a lot, though. (late March, 3.9/5, 3.99/5, 3/5)

Books Read in 2016

• Total books read during this year: 33
• Total books that I started to read but didn't finish: 5
• physical books read: 22
• ebooks read: 11
• physical books started but unfinished: 2
• ebooks started but unfinished: 3
• Nook ebooks read: 5
• Kindle ebooks read: 5
• Other ebooks format (browser/pdf/app/etc.) read: 1
• Library books read: 10
• Library books started but unread: 1
• Books I liked: 23
• Books I loved: 4
• Books I hated: 1
• Books I disliked or found meh: 6
• Books I felt strongly about but can't classify under love or hate: 2 (I mean I guess they did what they were supposed to do, but I hate unhappy endings/no comeuppance for the villain!)

I read fewer books than last year, due to tiredness after work and the instant gratification of the Internet and apps. What helped me is that I was part of a bookclub, and I read some books with them. I also traveled at least twice this year, which is really when I use my Nook. This year I began a new job where I spend more time at the reference desk and am able to read the new library books, plus my parents bought me a Kindle (!) for Christmas, so hopefully I'll do more reading next year!

Book reviews for I think most of the books I read should be under the book reviews tag.  >>>

July-September 2016 books

I reread Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. Classic.

My bookclub read Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling for July. It was a reread for me (I bought it from Barnes & Noble when it came out). Love her.

I read an online ebook called The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer. It's available for free online and is a retelling of the Hades & Persephone myth. Kind of creepy, scary, violent, and really good. Trigger warning for rape. 4/5

I read all of the Wonder Woman comics series by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang: Blood, Guts, Iron, War, Flesh, and Bones. The premise is, what if Wonder Woman's father was Zeus? Zeus disappears and the other gods and goddesses fight for his throne, and WW must band together with all of Zeus' other illegitimate offspring to save the last of Zeus' line. I love WW and I love Greek mythology, so I loved this series. The art is amazing and the storytelling is fascinating.  4/5

Guardians, Inc.: The Cypher by Julian Rosado Machain is a Kindle book I got for free from Amazon. It's about a teenage orphan boy who is drafted into a mysterious and shadowy organization then gets pulled into a fantastical conspiracy, finds out he is Special and has to save the world. You get it. Anyway this sounded like it had promise, but the writing quality was just not there, and the main character was very Gary Stu-ish. The characters were pretty flat (Grandpa and the principal were the most interesting and well-developed), and I just didn't feel invested in them or the story. It raced along at a too-fast pace and spent too much time on the boring and fake romance when I wanted to learn more about Guardians, Inc. and its Library. My least favorite thing was that this teenage boy who hasn't even finished high school is hired by this company to be an Assistant Librarian, which entails getting and checking out books to the Library's mysterious patrons. You have to have an MLIS/MLS degree to be a full-fledged librarian, and in order to be an assistant librarian, you'd have to have at least some college coursework in library science and a good amount of library experience under your belt, none of which the protagonist has. There are monsters and fauns (hoo boy, the dumbest, least accurate fauns I've ever heard of) and living gargoyles, but I could not believe or forgive this falsehood. There are sequels (OF COURSE, God forbid anyone ever write a standalone fantasy book for kids anymore) but I won't read them unless they end up being free on Amazon as well. Could have used a better editor, too. 3/5

My hands-down favorite books that I've read these last few months are Seraphina and Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman, which are set in your typical fantasy medieval world and have dragons and a love interest prince, but are otherwise refreshingly and fascinatingly unique. Seraphina is a musician with a secret, one that she does everything to protect. I don't want to describe the books more because spoilers, but they are SO GOOD and you should definitely read them. Seraphina was on sale for like $1.99 on Nook (and I bought it in paperback from Barnes & Noble because I loved it so much), and I borrowed Shadow Scale from the library. 4.9/5

I started this free ebook called Courtlight Series 1-3: Sword to Raise, Sword to Transfer, Sworn to Conflict by Terah Edun (I was on vacation in August, which is why I had so much time to read). I say started because I could not bring myself to finish it. The story had some promise (an orphan girl with mysterious origins is inducted into an academy for training to be a magical courtesan/bodyguard type thing), but it was just ridiculous. Extremely Mary Sue-ish, flatter than pancakes characters, weird "off" writing, etc.

I started another free Kindle book (romance novel meets ecosystem/small town drama?) and just could not finish it either. The heroine almost gets raped by her ex-husband, and her new love interest who saves her like demands she "repay" him, UGH. Why do women write and read this nonsense????

Milk and Honey is a book of poetry by Rupi Kaur that covers topics like abuse, love, relationships, sex, breaking up, pain, self-love, and feminism. I borrowed it from my sister. I'd seen quotes and poems from it on Tumblr but had not read the whole thing. I really liked this. There were many poems that resonated with me. Recommended if you can handle the aforementioned topics. 4/5

Continuing my terrible free ebooks trend, I read this historical romance called Hart's Desire by Chloe Flowers (*chanting* pen name, pen name, pen name). This was pretty formulaic (protagonists hate each other but are soooo attracted to each other, lust to love etc.), and I could not really tell what era it was in. There was a mention of a possible future war against the British, but America was used to describe the country? The War of 1812, maybe? It felt more 1700s but it's difficult to tell. Also, there was that cringy Nice White People thing where the plantation the girl lives on has slaves, but she and her love interest are nice to them while other white people are mean to them. I won't be reading the others unless they also become free and I'm really bored or something. 3/5

In case you're wondering why I'm reading so many romance novels lately, it's because I am always tired and don't want too much of a commitment when reading (the Seraphina books excepted). I never really care about romance novels or their characters or how they end. Junk food for the brain.

EDIT:
I completely forgot that I finished this Kindle book I started way back in April, The Dead Key by D.M. Pulley, in July. This was a decent mystery that alternatingly focused on Beatrice, a 17 year old secretary at a big bank in the 1970s, and Iris, a 22 year old architect (?) who is assigned to draft the layout of the abandoned bank building  in the 1990s. The mystery was pretty interesting and kept you in suspense. I felt that while Beatrice was written pretty well and sympathetically, Iris was an immature, naive girl who seemed more like a teenager than a college graduate. All that stuff about her crush/love interest was unnecessary and went nowhere. What I disliked most about this book was that there was no clean ending. We found out why the bank was closed, but the bad guys did not get their comeuppance and we found out that poor Beatrice is still in hiding, twentysome years later. 3.5 stars

ALSO, for some reason in April I completely forgot to review Dodger by Terry Pratchett (RIP). This was a fantastic book about The Artful Dodger, told pretty much from his point of view and redeeming Fagin as a wise and clever philosopher and grifter. He runs into some interesting people from literature (Sweeney Todd, anyone?) and history. 4.9/5 stars, highly recommended.

April-June 2016 books

I have been so lazy with reading lately. My brain is tired when I get home from work, so I procrastinate on my towering to-read list.

Miss Match by Catherine Avril Morris. Free Kindle ebook, early April
Another lame trope-y chicklit romance. I was pretty irritated that the leading lady's friends hired a "romance expert" to basically seduce her without her knowledge and consent, and the friends are never made to see how awful and inappropriate that was; instead, the protagonist apologizes to her friends for being mad at first! (She and the romance expert fall in love for real, of course.) I should stop reading taming of the shrew type stories. 3/5

The Lamp of Darkness by Dave Mason & Mike Feuer. Free Nook ebook, mid-April
This is Biblical historical fiction about Elijah, Ahab and Jezebel from the perspective of a young shepherd boy/musician that is told like fantasy, so I LOVED IT. The authors are rabbis so they definitely know their story and its historical context. This was so good I want to buy a physical copy as well as read the next book(s). 4.5/5

Kahlo by ?. Physical purchased book, lateish April

This is a biography of Frida Kahlo (forgot to get the author's name) with full-color illustrations of many of her paintings and sketches. It's in Spanish, so it took me a little longer to read. I bought this when I was in Mexico with my family at this fancy hotel/restaurant/store called Sanborns, and I read it throughout our vacation there. I wanted more of an analysis of her art and its themes instead of just a straight telling of her life story, but whatever. I got a good deal of that from a scholarly article I got off JSTOR ages ago about the Aztec imagery in Frida Kahlo's paintings, which I read on the plane on the way to Mexico. I was especially troubled at the lack of references, endnotes, or even a bibliography. Where did you get your sources from, person? What if we want to read more? 3.9/5

Safe People: How to Find Relationships That Are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren't

 by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. "Gift" physical book, lateish April-early May

My mom bought this book "for me" (really so she could justify buying it to read), and I also read it during my Mexico trip after I finished the Kahlo biography. Cloud & Townsend are Christian psychologists who have written tons of relationship and self-help books separately and together, and I've read several of them thanks to my mom's buying habit. This one was good but a bit 2real at times (I had to fight back tears at the airport, which was kind of embarrassing. Luckily I was sick so I could blame that for the snuffling). 4/5

The Lake House by Kate Morton. Library book, early-mid May

My bookclub chose this book for May, and I thought at first that it was a book the Sandra Bullock rom-com was based on and was prepared for a chick lit book with some time-traveling. It's actually a sweeping mystery set in England that bounces between various characters' views and flashbacks in the "present day" (1990s), 1890s, 1930s and 1940s. I actually already read a book by this author, and I found both books super similar: they have a precocious bookish heroine with authorial aspirations who falls in love with an older guy who encourages her writing so she thinks he likes her back and kisses him and it's super awkward and she and we think it's one of the big mysteries but it isn't, a classic children's book (which doesn't exist in our world) based on a real girl and/or real themes in the book that somehow ties in to the mystery, spouses cheating on each other, mysteries centering around a particular well-loved house that is almost a character in its own right and is later abandoned due to said mystery, guilt, WWII, sisters and their relationships, flashbacks between characters and between the past and the present day, the present day is the 1990s otherwise I guess research would be too easy and the book would be over too soon, there is a historical protagonist and a modern protagonist who are intertwined somehow... Really a lot of similarities. She's a good writer so it puzzled me a bit that the books have so many similar elements. I liked this book way more than The Distant Hours since this one actually had a happy ending. 4/5

Wonder Woman Vol.3: Iron by Brian Azzarello, illustrated by Cliff Chiang. Library comic book, late June
I wanted to read a Wonder Woman comic since I don't think I ever had and I don't want to be a fake geek girl. I usually hate reading series out of order but this one was the first one the library had. Basically this series is, what if Wonder Woman's dad was Zeus? Fantastic. I ordered the rest from the library so I can read the whole series. 4.5/5

Book Reviews

Yes Please by Amy Poehler (early March)
Loved this. Loved that she put old pictures in this. Love her. 4/5

Texts From Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg (late March)
Mallory is a genius and her website is one of my favorites on all the Internet. These are hilarious. 5/5

Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton (early April)
I'd seen most of the comics since I follow her blog religiously. Love them and her. 5/5

Lunatics by Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel (mid April)
I grew up reading Dave Barry and he shaped my sense of humor. This book (definitely for adults) was pretty funny but not the most memorable or recommended. If you like either of those authors and stories where every mistake and happenstance builds and intersects and the stakes keep getting higher and higher, then you will enjoy this. I found this at the dollar store and don't regret buying it, but I'm going to give it away since I just have so many books and limited shelf space. 3/5