There were some disappointments, but overall an extremely good reading month!
@Read4Life
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There were some disappointments, but overall an extremely good reading month!
@Read4Life
Following “Dionysus in Wisconsin,“ Ulysses & Sam are disturbed to learn Sam might not have been the only victim of his grandfather's magical schemes, when Ulysses' ex Livia turns up in peril.
I love this relationship and the author's voice--imagine a cozier, Midwest K.J Charles--so this has to be a pick, but oh was I irritated! Ulysses is so willfully oblivious to what's right under his nose. And the ending is... insufficient. But I'll read on!
“You seem very unconcerned about this.“
“Man, I was not raised in the woods by Bolsheviks.“
“Are you a capitalist?“
“You should have asked me if I'm a fellow traveler before you kissed me, don't you think?“ Sam said, smirking.
“But?“
“I'm a librarian.“
“Is that a political affiliation?“
Sam considered this. “Near enough.“
When former star Devin finds himself acting just like his famous werewolf character--complete with glowing eyes and fangs--he turns to the creator of his fan site for help, not realizing he once brutally stomped on her feelings.
Devin's a sweet Himbo, Alex is a cynical loner--but they're both wounded and lonely. I'm not sure the paranormal plotline mixed well with the realism overall, but it's an appealing story. I even liked the sex scenes! 🤯
“I know I asked you this before, but how much do you trust Livia?“
Ulysses glanced up from the show he was calculating. “I don't think she's going to murder me,“ he said. He looked down and sunk the two into a corner pocket.
“That is close to the bare minimum that one expects from others, yes,“ Sam managed.
I hadn't read Wilson before and this was quieter than I was expecting. Quietly amusing, quietly revealing, quietly affecting. Perhaps a bit thinner than it could be, but I quietly enjoyed it.
#HauntedShelf #ScreamTeam
#Chocolatiers #OneSnackToRuleThemAll @Bookwormjillk
#SPNBookBingo2025 @OutsmartYourShelf square: baby
Friends, please welcome @AuntieJulie to Litsy! She's a friend of mine from another website and I persuaded her to give this a try.
I've seen so many adaptation of Christie that completely fail to capture the *tone*, so it was nice how generally authentic feeling these homages are. (Ruth Ware & Kate Mosse's stories are standouts.) Attempts to make Miss Marple far more racially sensitive than her creator ever was are less successful, albeit understandable. (Alyssa Cole had some fun with it and her story made me laugh.) Scratches the Christie itch a bit, though doubt I'd reread.
So obviously perfect for each other!
A short, imaginative graphica memoir about getting and staying married. Rob and John married fairly quietly when it became legal, amidst some ambivalence about accepting heteronormative privilege. But after 10 years married and 20 together, they know, “marriage doesn't define a relationship... unless you want it to.“ My heart, it is mush.
Covers 2013-2022, so be prepared for painful topics.
Just me or is this the BEST COVER EVER?! 😂
I had a bit of trouble getting into this. I think the set-up wasn't strong enough for the odd story it's telling; I just wasn't buying it. But after a bit the mystery and romance got engaging and the danger mounted satisfactorily. A fun read, even if not Stewart's best.
#HauntedShelf #ScreamTeam
#Chocolatiers #OneSnackToRuleThemAll @Bookwormjillk
Carefully researched historical fiction about a little known aspect of WWII. There's a unique supernatural folklore element that I wish I'd appreciated more. Overall, it's slow and it's weird, but paid off in the end. I liked that it didn't focus on Nazi atrocities -- we all know, unless we're deliberately choosing not to know -- but on how we choose to respond to fellow human beings in need.
Relatable.
I laughed to find this at the end of the book, because I thought about When No One Is Watching several times while reading this, although it's far less terrifying.
A single mom with way too much on her plate--including the stress of being one of very few Black parents in her daughter's school--finds herself getting caught up in some very suspicious PTA drama. I liked the slice-of-life parts of the story, but Mavis go on my nerves a bit. (cont.)
Excellent narrator, excellent queer, creepy fun. I agree with @shanaqui that the way his family treats neurodivergent Zeb is very distressing but the romance and bizarre twists of the story are terrific. (I guessed a bit, recognizing one authorial influence -- but there was so much more!) I feel like reading the whole thing over in print now.
#threelistthursday #tlt @dabbe
Not really my area, obviously, though pretty much all of my reads I liked.
Favorites not on the list: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier, Defekt by Nino Cipri, The Hollow by Agatha Christie, Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey.
Super cute, modern, gender-bending retelling of “Emma.“ Our Emma, of course, is a gay high school instagram influencer named Evan, who thinks rather too much of himself and not enough about his friends.
It's unfortunately much too faithful to the original plot, which is a lot to pack into a short graphic novel and I suspect would be confusing for readers who don't already know it. But the drawings and overall vibe are appealing.
After the events of We Were Liars, one of the adults shares a secret story from her past.
I kept going back & forth while reading this, trying to decide whether it added meaningfully to WWL or perhaps took away from it. (In making explicit something that could be read as ambiguous.) In the end, though I think it was too much of a retread of the first book, it had enough to say to make it a pick. It didn't touch my heart in the same way.
Set in the office of a “Weekly World News“ sort of paper, this series is so fun, especially in audio. The narrator uses dozens of distinct British accents for the huge cast, and also does full justice to the humor. It's a bit like a paranormal, British Donald Westlake. Also, although creepy/sometimes horrific things are happening, it's overall a cozy sort of story -- the oddball main cast always manage to protect each other, if not everyone else
Kind of an odd book. Boylen isn't that much older than me, but grew up in such a different world, it's hard to make sense of all the pieces of her memoir put together. I found myself questioning, “is this real?“ a lot. But she has a dry, Vonnegut-esque sense of humor, and there's an underlying poignancy that touched me very much. It's interesting as sort of a period piece and heartbreaking as a story about family.
In those days, my friends and I listened to everything--classical, traditional Irish, Javanese gamelan, cool jazz, Indian raga, Frank Zappa, Gregorian chants, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The only thing completely off our radar was disco, which we assumed appealed exclusively to the stupid. Inevitably, it's disco that people now associate with the era of my adolescence.
It seems almost cruel to tag this very hard-to-find book, but it has such a poignant little ghost in it.
Scavenger hunt: “monster.“
Book reccomendation: “Unhinged.“ But also a rather lovely story!
#HauntedShelf #ScreamTeam
I wonder what it means that all of my favorites this month have been by YA authors. And all of the latest books by my favorite adult authors are not hitting the mark.
@Read4Life
Wow, what a cover. I wish I could turn it into a Dixit card.
An intriguing but somewhat disappointing Cinderella retelling. (I'll put why in a spoiler comment.) Our Ella is sadly a ghost, and how this affects her life is told in a very visceral manner, consumed with how much Ella wants to feel and experience things and the strange, limited ways in which she can. Some of it really gave me the ick, to be honest, but the prose is beautiful.
A really interesting take on the magic boarding school story, because it's from the perspective of an adult and moreover, the adult primarily in charge of the safety of the kids. (How many times have I read one of these books going, “WTH is wrong with all the grown ups in this school?!)
I felt there were important issues raised around the nature of demons that weren't sufficiently explored, so I didn't love it as much as I might have.
Images aren't working for me 😞, so here's my #10BeforeTheEnd list:
Emily Wilde‘s Map of the Otherworlds
Conspiracy in Belgravia
I Ordered a Table for Six
Table for Two
Touch Not the Cat
Whispering Wood
Imogen Obviously
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
The Flame
Come, Tell Me How You Live
Some have been on my #bookspin all year, some are #SeriesLove, some I own and will thus never read. 😂
'When you spend your days with teenagers, you age fast. Spiritually, if not physically, I really am an ancient crone. Sometimes they explain the internet to me.'
'We had internet in 2003.'
Walden snorted. 'Try telling them that.'
Why, it's The Book of Night--with Moon! (A little joke for Diane Duane fans.)
Am I glad I waited til the duology was finished before reading this, because woof, that ending! You can't beat YA fantasy writers for making love just incredibly complicated. (This was published for adults but is not that different from her YA.)
#HauntedShelf #ScreamTeam #Chocolatiers #OneSnackToRuleThemAll
#SPNBookBingo2025 square: men of letters (replacement)
I just learned about #TrekTuesday right after I found this. Any Mozart-loving Trekkers out there?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXGb-MNwwTg
It's cool that this has a Jewish superhero, apparently a first for DC, but the story was just a big mess. 😞
#JustOneMoreChapter @TheAromaOfBooks
#HauntedShelf #ScreamTeam
#Chocolatiers #OneSnackToRuleThemAll @Bookwormjillk
First in a mystery series, this is a light, entertaining re-imagining of Jane Austen's characters all together in a modern setting: Greek Row in a conservative Southern University. I liked that Gilliland is creating new plots rather than simply retelling Austen's, but be aware that includes characters being murder victims--and murderers. I don't think she's likely to disrupt any sacred pairings though.
I'd listened to a few of these stories before but they work much better as a collection, with the continuing themes of Jem's search for the lost Herondale, and his eternal love for Tessa and Will. Also there are two extra stories only in the print version! It's very much NOT an entrance into the series, but some enjoyable fan service as well as background info for future series.
#AllTheStoriesAreTrue @Crinoline_Laphroaig
Exploring the Open library carousel for the #URC, I was happy to find this charmer from James Stevenson that I'd never seen before. (Though I was also tempted by “Enjoy Amazing Halal Sex!“)
Grandpa's grandchildren had a miserable first day at school, so he tells them about how awful his was! I love how young Grandpa's drawn in his little suit and mustache.
#JustOneMoreChapter #HauntedShelf #ScreamTeam
#Chocolatiers #OneSnackToRuleThemAll
I'm enjoying how this futuristic series sheds light on our current lives. The dream of some, that we don't have to worry about Earth because we can just go live in space, has come true here--but with a strong dose of reality.
In the 2nd book, Investigator Mossa once again seeks the help of her girlfriend, Scholar Pleiti, in a mystery connected to the university. Meanwhile, Pleiti persists in believing that Mossa just isn't that into her. cont.
Meh. Parrish refers to the wrong character at least twice in this novella, which kind of shows the level of thought put into it. I do love Henry, an out of time sort of person who loves old movies and restores art deco theaters... my kind of guy!
There's a critical review on GoodReads from someone reading Parrish for the first time and it kills me that the reviewer restricted comments, because they should definitely try again with a better book!
Arrgh! Canva has changed stuff around again and I can't figure out how to do anything. 🤦🏻♀️
“I found myself humming under my breath--the second aria of Murderbot.“
There's a Murderbot opera? This future is looking up!
Sixteen stories of queer women involved with crime. I probably wasn't the right audience for this. Really liked a few of the stories, and now want to try Emily Austin again, but overall I found it kind of a bummer and couldn't really relate to the stresses and motivations of the characters. Unlike Marie Kondo, I do not love mess. 😬
#HauntedShelf #ScreamTeam
#Chocolatiers #OneSnackToRuleThemAll
#SPNBookBingo2025 square: pie
A low pick for me, because it's just so depressing. It's the 1980s, Abby's been through a painful ordeal with a girl she liked, and now she's sticking out like a sore thumb in a Catholic boarding school full of bullies. The solution to the mystery is depressing too, though not at all implausible. (I also went to high school in the 80s.) Props for Abby being a strong, sure-of-herself character who comes out on top.
