Part admirable commitment to science, part welcome distraction? 🫤

Yeah, that pretty much sums up my experiences with poetry.

Mixed feelings on this one. I continue to enjoy Patrick Dewitt's writing talent; this book has a particular style, different from The Librarianist, but seamless in matching the tone of the book: at once snappy and brutal, occasionally meandering and contemplative. It feels like DeWitt set out to write something that echoes the first generation of westerns/adventure books, 1/?

Darn it! It seems this is the latest volume of an ongoing series. Just when I thought things were wrapping up they got twisty, but hope remains, and I'm loving the plot choices and the character arcs, even if there are decidedly more grim endings than one would find in a standard DC comics run. If you've got favourites in DC cannon and are willing to run with the 'what if vampires, but some not' premise, it's a fun ride.

DUDE. Aw, Swamp Thing, I'm so sorry, man.
Desperate times, desperate measures. 🫣🤦🏼‍♂️💦

“Her laughter and this cold, fresh air...“
A good combination.

“We take turns.“ 😬🤦🏼‍♂️

I hesitate to mention A Man Called Ove, because there's less concrete plot pieces in common, more a vibe. Gil is a man who is slowly recovering from a bad break up, not the death of his wife, and he's less a crabby old guy than an independently wealthy middle-aged man trying to feel he's doing something worthwhile. 1/?

Hummingbird type: jewel 💎

I can appreciate everything Klune wanted to and did say. I love that we got good times and times of growth with this family. I recognize that narrative tension rises as a result of finding the characters confronting circumstances the reader wants them to get out of, resulting in a stronger sense of triumph and release when difficulties are overcome. I think maybe my personal anxiety levels just wanted the badness to be over a little faster. 1/?

Excuse me while I go ugly cry. 😭
There's something about encountering such quietly defiant hope in times like these.
It's so cathartically rejuvenating to enter a TJ Klune world.

Now that's a cliffhanger I can get behind. I was somewhat forewarned about certain twists here because I saw panels on Tumblr that made me want to pick up the graphic novel. I guess, spoiler free, I can say, this is not the good always triumphs against evil kind of story. Many are lost to the vampires. If beloved characters turning into vampires is likely to make you sad, be warned! 1/2

It's just that you're such a blood-thirsty little gremlin most of the time, Damian, believing you're a vampire doesn't seem like much of a stretch. 😆

Change the system, not the climate.
An accessible introduction to the idea of ecosocialism. Makes clear that capitalism cannot be made environmentally friendly, nor can leftist/neoliberal governments who are backing corporations/capitalism, no matter how many green washing initiatives are advertised, an obvious conclusion given decades of international environmental conferences without seeing meaningful reduction in carbon emissions, etc. 1/?

Beautiful. A Palestinian author and artist pairing telling a simple story that, per the author's note, “can help families find the words to begin this important conversation“. Surprised by how hard it hit me in just a few pages, but I don't think it would in any way be too upsetting or grown-up for young children to read with their parents. So happy my library has a copy to share. Includes a back page that could function as a leaflet of terms.

Delicious. Novella length with a short story's worth of plot, there is a glorious blend of literary sci-fi and a tingle of horror and detective noir. It's more languid and atmospheric than solidly creepy or spooky, but it had me invested quickly. I think I wanted more resolution, more answers, but I can see how that wasn't the author's intent. 1/?

A favourite of 2024, for sure. So many things about this just worked so well for me. A richer, more patient examination of the Odyssey than I've previously encountered in the flurry of four years of a Greek and Roman Studies BA; a focus on its language and its themes, occasionally dipping into the original Greek in a way I never had the chance to encounter; the significance of the original word choice. 1/?

What makes my description of this book as 'more like pieces of three books cobbled together' personally amusing is that thanks to a unique tandem reading experience, I got to find out that while the title, author and cover are the same, the print book and audiobook differ in the text presented. 1/?

A marvelous time. If you love the Thursday Murder Club books and enjoyed Killers of a Certain Age, I think you'll love this. Rosie is a treasure, I want to hug Steve, I am not chill enough to hang out with Amy, though I hope she gets more time with her husband soon. I definitely want to see more of the quiz club crowd. Now eagerly anticipating the next entry in this series, as well. 😊 1/?

A particularly satisfying entry, more for the substance of the book than the mystery once solved. Excellent balance struck between footling about with village life, lunching and learning the gossip, bantering and debating avenues of investigation and learning more of the cider wardens. 1/?

Having a cheeky meta-moment, Kinsey? 😏

Key element of good cozy mysteries: time away from the investigation to enjoy quiet pleasures.

Sign me up! 🥂🎑🍂

Serious nostalgia for a childhood in cooler climes.

Pfft, classic bat fam exchange.

Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence.

There is an author's note at the end of the book that I feel might benefit readers more if they read it before beginning the book. 1/?

A unique approach to a story of migration, refugees. Not so much a portal fantasy as a quiet meditation on how the world might or might not change, how people might or might not change, if doors opened into other parts of our world, rather than onto other worlds.
For all that an event like that could be considered large scale, the story itself feels small-scale in its focus primarily on two individuals. 1/?

Elderly = Ents. I love this. 👴🏼🌳

Loving the writing. 💙

Cli Sci Fi? So much more than I thought it was going to be. So glad I didn't read the synopsis until after the book. The synopsis mentions 'a dangerous species of hyperintelligent octopus' and that feels like such a poor 'jurassic park' framing of the plot. Similarly the synopsis mentions 'the world's first android' (Evrim) and a 'battle scared security agent' (Altantsetseg) as well as Dr. Nguyen, but leaves out Rustem, Eiko and 1/?

Novel addition to longstanding, widespread paranoia. Very plausible.

🥰

For real? How gothic.
I should add that these chapter headings quotes are from books written by fictional characters, so some follow up research is probably warranted ...

Call that the fart-attribution theorem. 😂

Tiny angry bees theory! 😁🐝

Perhaps there are some scientifically discoveries that were not made earlier in history because the scientists involved did not survive to deliver the findings! 🤦🏼‍♂️

The good old days .. 🫣🧪

🤨 🐓🦊😏

1/? Sincere and simultaneously off-the-wall.
Many essays start with an interesting discussion, raise a new perspective I follow eagerly and then say something I couldn't agree with - and then I'm arguing with the author in my head. Stimulates discussion! Felt like the controversial air waned the further into the collection I got.

The beauty and importance of agender/non-binary pronoun options.
I love the way the Turkish 'O' is described.

What if you had more time and energy to build a better world?

Hell yes. Exactly what I didn't quite realize I always wanted, the tale of the Trojan War told in events that precipitated it, and events that happened as result/consequences after it ended, all through the perspectives of various female characters, goddesses, nymphs, princesses, priestesses, mothers and daughters, many now enslaved.
Having recently reread the Iliad and Odyssey, it's that much more gratifying to see a modern, 1/?

Penelope's so done. 😆

Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence.

Witness Paris tap dancing around answering in one of the most famed no-win situations. 🍎🫣

😔

Oh, Penelope, get in line! Don't worry, it'll happen. 🔪

Insofar as this reminds me of my time with Swann's Way, I'm tempted to summarize it as 'What if Proust had to deal with motherhood, too?'
I can appreciate the writing craft in the construction, the reproduction of a believable inner monologue: jumping from thought to thought, thinking about the past and future, anxieties of all kinds, dreams, old movies, bumping into conservative views of where they're now living; 1/?

Lovely illustrations in Wenzel's unique style of endangered animals demonstrating simple opposite concepts for young readers, with a few educational pages in the back about the different animals and their current level of endangerment and where to go for more info. Educational and beautiful. 🥰