Inside? For fresh- okay, so we're in the darkest timeline.

Well that phrase is going to stay with me...

“What began, centuries ago, as a healthy safeguard against projection had become an insidious contributor to human exceptionalism...“ 🤨🙎🏼‍♂️

What happens when you try to do TOO MANY THINGS! I lost count of the amount of stories that either started in the middle, or were cut off before the ending, with a little tag saying: see this issue of this other comic!
I can deal with a run that involves an arc continuing over multiple issues but this was like the trunk of a tree with too many branches. It involves a dizzying array of different superheroes 1/?

Thanks go to Panda Redd for making me aware of this one's existence. Sure it's dark, sad and gorey, but it's also a rollicking bop though classic literature, (the Little Women kick Deadpool's ass: I appreciate this) and the recognition that a) The comic book characters we know best have some powerful antecedents b) stories matter 1/2

Sass in front of the scary.
Full marks, Montoya. 😏

Delicious long candy for Hoppy, the naughty talking rabbit! ,🔌🍭🍬😋😆

Solid plan! 😆🫣

Nope. When I go into a book knowing there's a semi-absurd premise, something where you're going to work extra hard to suspend disbelief and not think too hard about the details, I'm looking for the result to be charming or meaningful. I feel like this book didn't manage either.
Started out thinking it could have been a novella, now convinced that amount of plot and original rumination minus the redundancies would have fit in a short story. 1/?

There's weird, and then there's stuff you thought you'd only read on A03.
Starts with a catchy premise, written well, continues into some unexpected but interesting fare, tackling some difficult subjects, while unfortunately, if perhaps predictably, given the topics, being kind of unrelentingly grim. Without going into spoilers, I can say with confidence , if you don't want to read about cults, don't pick this up. 1/?

Marvelous! I'd say it leans a little closer to noir than Marple, just a bit more snappy and sexy (not to mention joyfully queer) in tone than the Christie classics, but there are definitely a plethora of cozy mystery moments. I'm gleeful that it's becoming a series.1/?

🚪😔

🙌🏻

My favourite Sy Montgomery so far. A couple of enjoyable hours on audiobook, even as the book delves not just into the personal delight of keeping chickens, or the wonders investigated in the science of their cognition and behaviour, but also into those aspects of chicken behaviour which may dismay humans, and the reality that predators/carnivores and factory farming exists.
1/2

Next up in mixed bag (largely positive) non-fiction! I think it's best to go into this book knowing that the do nothing person is by and large not a person you rent, aside from travel expenses, that this position is more of a thought experiment than a vocation.
I can certainly see why the weight of societal expectations and the toxicity of the job market (the things his former boss said to him?!) would remove any enthusiasm for striving 1/?

I don't know where to start! I'm glad that Fedarko was retroactively humble enough to call out the full extent of their disastrous first attempt. I'm very happy that he consistently points out all the many dangers of traversing/transecting the canyon, and the many people who helped him and his friend survive the process. If you're squeamish, prepare to hear about multiple trail injuries and ailments. 1/?

A truly lovely recounting by a lovely individual. Lugo/Mr. Fabulous's attitude made all the difference, in his hike and in his narration. This has to be the only hiking memoir I've read that really didn't stress the hardships of the trail, (not that it missed reporting on them, or regarding hijinks and humourous misfortunes), and also completely skipped the 'gearing up' phase. It is purely moments on the trail, and rest stops as appropriate. 1/?

Just wonderful. I love that it was thoughtful and emotional and clever as well as hilarious. I love that it was an ensemble piece, almost more of a connected series of short stories, and yet tied in so well, repeating characters every once in a while and well-framed by the lunar cycle format. Certainly 'cheese moon' is sci fi (or in other hands pure farce) territory, but as Scalzi does so well, this was mostly humans 1/?

Get it, Grandma! 😄
The author has such a lovely outlook. ☺️

That was a lot, but not necessarily in the ways I originally thought it would be.
I think the strongest thread is the unhealthy vs healthy progression through grief.
You certainly have some subtle-becoming-less-subtle introductions of Buddhist philosophy, around acceptance, sangha (community/family), and the primacy of working to end suffering.
The majority of the work is a sci-fi action mystery with what I might term a smidgen of queer 1/?

THE. SASS. Robot sass! 💅🏼🤖

Um, what? Okay, okay, I'm obviously outside the target age demographic, but that caveat aside...1/?

I had way more fun with the visual storytelling and turn-the-book text gimmick than with the fairly schmaltzy message and somewhat cliche/confused narrative. I think I would look for other Santat picture books for that pictures alone.

Oh, this feels weird. I've certainly read other books by people who have already passed, and even one or two by people who knew they were dying, but I'm not sure I've encountered one where the act of dying was so much the focus. Critiquing a dying man's words feels...wrong.
For the most part, I'm not certain what might be viewed as a critique is anything more than a difference in option on two points. 1/?

🥹✨⭐🌟🌌🌠

🩵

Today I learned: 😲🌈
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/rainbow/

Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence. ☀️💛🧡🤎

🥰🦖

Best inclusion of a back of book barcode in the cover art I've seen in a while. 😁

Context provides a lot of the punch, but this is definitely the phrase that caught my attention today.

Just an all around good time, full of amazing facts. Ackerman speaks well, with both empathy and an even-keeled understanding of how harsh nature can be. It's refreshing to hear not just the acknowledgement that the flaw in many studies may be the way humans choose to perceive and judge things based on our limited perspective, 1/?

Excuse-MOI! 🦜 😄

Drone design improvement. 👀😁

A remarkable novel that does not need any connection to the Discworld series to make it so. It seems clear that Pratchett set out to have a clear-eyed discussion about religion, with a minor detour into classical philosophy, and on those points alone it's an incredible book. 1/?

I mean, fascinating discovery, but you gotta figure the first thing that firefighter thought was “you little bastard....“ 😆🔥👨🏼‍🚒

😏

I wish I had a clearer memory of my experience with the novella I read by this author a few years ago. I can remember that it had a promising premise, that there was emotion, and sci fi tech, and yet what I most clearly remember feeling at the end was a bit frustrated, a bit empty, like for all that was there, at the conclusion, once it was all compiled, it felt a bit cold. 1/?

LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT! Recognizing and accepting queer identity in the face of contentious cultural norms, fleshing out immigrant experience so that while the unique and possibly painful experience of immigration is not ignored, it doesn't try to be a monolith or fall into tropes, doesn't need to form the backbone of the story, interweaving fairy tales, 1/?

Informative, fair and measured in reporting, but overall sad in tone. Hammer does a decent job of presenting Lendrum's crimes within the broader context of the demand and attraction of theft and smuggling of rare/endangered/illegal bird's eggs, within Lendrum's own life which encompasses both some unfortunate circumstances, but mostly unfortunate choices,1/?

Pfft. Savage. 🫢😆

🤦🏼‍♂️

Okay, but I love that. 🐣🥚🧺🐇💚💜🩷

New word acquired!
Actigraphy. 🚶🏼‍♂️📊

😲

Relatable. 🤖♥️📚

Good timing, baby bird! 😊

A lovely time. It's a treat to encounter a mix of humble and enthusiastic maker who is also a writer, meaning the description of their discovered passion is that much more a joy to read. I loved the journey from haphazard, curious, to more knowledgeable, but still eager. There are shenanigans, but there's also beautiful descriptions of nature, of appreciating the time spent. 1/?

As often happens with books where the writing really impressed me, I know I'm going to have trouble expressing how much I enjoyed this. To say it was a wild time feels like the easy way out, and bound to be misconstrued considering the subject matter. As much as there was personal drama, and a smidgen of sexiness, it's the off-the-wall social media strategizing, the inspiring amount to which the character recognized her apparent levels of 1/?

Okay, how do I put this delicately? I would much rather have had a) the story of this man's life written by someone else and b) a pamphlet consolidating Charlie's direct wisdom and any reasonable distillation of his life experience as teachings, because I'm pretty sure that's all the space that's actually required. 1/?