Monterey Bay Aquarium
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Jar Jar Binks Fan Club
sheepfilms
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EXPECTATIONS
roma★
Xuebing Du
🩵 avery cochrane 🩵
Interview Vampire Daily
titsay
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cherry valley forever
macklin celebrini has autism
Kiana Khansmith
Show & Tell
Andulka
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Game Changer & Make Some Noise
Claire Keane
seen from Uruguay
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@knight-says-go
Hey! I’m Jo, any pronouns, and this is my bookish sideblog :] my main is knight-says-ni
My storygraph username is @knightsaysgo
Asks: Open! Media recommendations are welcome
This blog is mostly for books but I may post a little about audio dramas or movies as well,, who knows
A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine
Newly arrived in the town of Two Castles, Elodie unexpectedly becomes the assistant to a brilliant dragon named Meenore--and together, they begin to solve mysteries.
Rating: ★★★★★ (5)
I vaguely remembered reading this book as a kid when I was too little to understand half the prose or vocabulary, but I knew I was enamored with it for a reason. Today I finally found the time to reread it- 8 year old me couldn’t have possibly comprehended how iconic this story is. Theres a nonbinary dragon detective? Are you kidding me??
Ehlode is a fantastically written MC, especially considering her age and passions. A twelve year old WOULD be excited by horrible things occurring to her on the basis of “I’m going to be so good at acting out tragedies after this!”
The language throughout the whole book is surprisingly technical, which I appreciated. Gail keeps her sentence structure to that of a medieval setting, with enough world building and historical detail that the fantastical elements don’t feel as overwhelming. Like, yes, ogres can shapeshift so people keep cats to try and will the ogre to become a mouse, but they also serve water bowls with dinner so everyone may rinse their hands before eating.
That being said, I was deeply charmed by the entire cast. The humor was great and despite being meant for younger audiences the mystery is handled well enough that I was enthralled the whole time. I picked this book up and couldn’t put it back down until I’d finished it.
The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry Mitchell
A beloved queer utopian text written by Larry Mitchell with lush illustrations by Ned Asta, published by Calamus Press in 1977. Part-fable, part-manifesto, the book takes place in Ramrod, an empire in decline, and introduces us to the communities of the faggots, the women, the queens, the queer men, and the women who love women who are surviving the ways and world of men.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4)
While not the most sophisticated take on queer liberation I think it might be one of the most honest of its time. I really appreciate the preamble covering the story’s history for this reason. It contextualizes the writing in a way I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate had I just been reading the original edition.
I will say- you can tell it’s by a white man, and I’m not the biggest fan of anything that glorifies “the divine feminine” while trying to advocate against bioessentialism, but the core of it stands despite these flaws.
I loved the passion behind the revolution and how the dynamics of ramrod were described. The entire thing from top to bottom was drenched in hyperbole but that made it all the better. My favorite part of it may have been the way it approaches community supporting itself, especially with the broad spectrum of skills and resources the community can hold.
Though, the “queer men” compared to the “faggots” was a fantastic dissection on how some people cling to the patriarchy even as they suffer under it, and how as those people still suffer they are still significant to those fighting.
“Even weak links in the chain are links in the chain”
I also appreciate the shockingly succinct? coverage of how erasure works under “survival: strategy.” That was refreshing to see after this year’s latest discourse, especially as an ace & genderqueer individual myself.
Everyday Herbal Teamaking: A Pocket Guide for Health, Fun, and Self-Care by Glenna A. McLean
This unfussy, spirited guide to 35 readily accessible herbs offers botanical names, medical reputations from various modern and historical sources, good-humoredly honest tasting notes, and illustrations
Rating: ★★★✮☆ (3.75)
A helpful reference for beginner teamaking! And a retrospective enlightenment on how I accidentally sent me and a friend into hot flashes via raspberry leaf tea a few years ago…. “Cures fever by inducing sweating,” who would’ve thunk
I really liked how the flavor profiles were described, it helped to get a sense of how things might pair in a blend (but I’m still going to try each individually, of course).
The historical tidbits were also cute, I enjoyed seeing how the ancient perspective would compare to what the modern medical literature says about each herb.
It’s fairly comprehensive but I wish the author had cited sources on the research done here
How does bookblr feel about storygraph challenges? I haven’t seen many, if any, posts asking those lines but I’ve been thinking about blogging my reviews as I work through my current challenge
But if they’re something anyone were interested in then I’d post the reading list here for others to try out themselves
The Edge of Sleep by Jake Emanuel and Willie Block
When a night watchman finishes his shift at work, he is terrified to discover that everyone in the world who went to sleep the previous night has died. Now he and a band of survivors must stay awake and uncover the secret of this global epidemic, before they fall asleep.
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3)
This was recommended to me by someone at my college library, they didn't tell me much about it beyond the basic premise, so imagine my surprise when I press play and Markiplier is suddenly There! For some reason! He does a fairly good job with voice acting? A little over exaggerated at times but not bad?
Anyway, much like Markiplier's performance, The Edge of Sleep is solid. Not great, not bad, but good. This works out fine considering it's only 4 hours long, comprised of eight 30-minute episodes. You aren't really making a commitment when you decide to listen in like you would be with other audio dramas out there cough welcometonightvale.
I didn't like how it constantly re-explains what's just happened. The Edge of Sleep doesn't seem to have much faith in its audience. Something that's really unfortunate when you consider the premise is cool as fuck. A mystery sleep apocalypse that leaves the cast with a limited window for solving, with increasing stakes as they get more sleep deprived? That's insane! And so cool! If only the authors didn't approach script writing like it was meant to be an audiobook!
It's still worth the listen if you're interested by the premise. The characters are solid, I loved Mateo especially, and it's enjoyable for what it is.
hey everyone "I" have something to show "you"
DO YOU KNOW SHANE KOYCZAN
I DO NOT! I actually don’t know many big names but also in my defense I couldn’t even tell you who made my favorite poem..
HE IS UNFORTUNATELY NOT A BIG NAME I JUST LOVE HIM I AM GOING TO AMBUSH YOU WITH HIS WORK LATER
Parkdale Haunt by Alex Nursall, Emily Kellogg, and Ian Boddy
When Judith Antoni’s best friend, Claire Sterback, takes off without warning, it’s up to her and her friend Owen to work backwards and figure out what happened to her. Claire had come into possession of a house in the Parkdale neighbourhood, left to her by a long lost relative, but not long after she started going to the house, things began to get weird. She became irritable and erratic, not to mention her sudden sleepwalking and mumbling in dead languages. Is it the stress of the house? The anxiety caused by her flailing relationship? Or does it have anything to do with the creepy writing on the walls in the basement? Either way, something is wrong, and no one is safe in that house…
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4)
With 3 seasons, each only 10 episodes long at 45 minutes per episode, Parkdale Haunt is about 22.5 hours long. Sizeable but not insane. I found it fitting for longer commutes and crochet sessions.
Each season does a good job of working as it's own arc, so the pacing never drags in the way longer audio dramas tend to. Even as the plot evolves past the s1 premise, the core stays the same until the end. One friend desperately trying to save another. Because of this, I'd say it's strengths lie in the emotional beats (and sound design, WOW Ian did a good job there).
I'm still so impressed by how well Parkdale Haunt pulls off establishing strong characters so quickly. I'd known A. Bird for all of 20 seconds before falling in love. I'm running into new complexities of Jude every time I dare think about this show in depth. I have never been able to picture the face of an audio drama character as quickly as I have Claire. Or Owen for that matter. I feel like I'm going insane.
While this is a very character driven story, the plot was making a valiant attempt to take command. The plot's name is Lydia. My only criticism, and the reason this isn't a 5 star review, is that I really don't feel like we saw enough of Lydia. She was so important to season 3 yet,, she just wasn't around enough to make the connection feel as strong as it should have. We understand her story in abstracts. Through words from others and context clues. We understand why and how she is who she is, and in the footsteps of Agnes Montague (TMA) it's almost fitting. I can see why it happened this way, from a thematic sense. Still, as a listener, who's been so deeply entrenched in the emotional notes of this story with Jude and Claire and Owen- hell even Adam in a way -the lack of sentiment spent on Lydia feels jarring.
I really wish that post-season timeskip hadn't been so big. It could've solved everything.
The post season specials though? THOSE I'll take 50 more of. What do MEAN season one ended like that and now we're A Christmas Carolling the uptight comedic relief real estate agent with 5 minutes of dialogue. What do you mean "debilitating goose accident." What do you mean we get one of these EVERY SEASON? Flawless, no notes.
Hades & Persephone by June Leeloo
A poetic and sensual retelling of the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone.
Rating: ★★★✮☆ (3.75)
Very slow and repetitive pacing but to be honest it feeds into the narrative of feeling trapped in time, so I can’t even be mad.
My favorite part has to be how Kore’s feelings of being trapped were articulated in the first chunk of the book. She has all her needs met, in the most perfect summery place, but the lack of freedom sucks the life out of it. It’s a good portrayal of how oppressive a life with strict parents can feel, which is why I also appreciated the snippet from Demeter’s pov that humanized her desire to keep her daughter close. The way Leeloo plays the contrast between Hades and Persephone in a way that ultimately showcases their parallels was nice.
Not to mention the art!!! Truly a gorgeous book from a design perspective alone.
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn't always what we seek. [...] Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it.
Rating: ★★★★★ (5)
This book was amazing. I honestly like it even more than Legends & Lattes, it’s a beautiful prequel. I highly recommend reading this first. The balance of high stakes with cozy home improvement made for an immersive yet relaxing read. Reading B&B first really gets you in the mindset to handle L&L’s heavier focus on the cafe renovations.
The characters were just so immediately lovable, not because they’re perfect but because of their strong personalities. Fern was an absolute gift in every scene that featured her and I can’t wait to see more of her in the 3rd book.
And yes to address the elephant in the room: You see that a sapphic romance is written by a man and you automatically have doubts but after reading I can confirm that Travis did an amazing job. It honestly felt less like a matter of a man choosing to write lesbians, and more a matter of there only being 2 men with (minor) speaking roles in the entire book. If he wanted to have a romance within the cast it had to be sapphic.
More thoughts involving spoilers below the cut!
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
High Fantasy with a double-shot of self-reinvention. Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
Rating: ★★★★✮ (4.5)
I still can’t believe this was written before the prequel (Bookshops & Bonedust), just because of how well they flow into each other. That said, I highly recommend reading the prequel first. The reappearance of old friends and the emotional weight behind Viv’s retirement is just much more rewarding in that order. This book was everything. Female orc protagonist trying to get by past stereotypes, the sheer comedy of opening a cafe in a city that’s never heard of coffee, the loving way it tackles friendship and community as something people need to build themselves - displayed as they physically build up Viv’s business. Not to mention the well paced romance on the side.
The logistics of the home renovations are just convoluted and detailed enough to be relaxing without boring me. It was really enjoyable seeing how all the world building there looped back together in the story line.
I hate having an empty blog so much </3 apologizes in advance for the spam but I’m gonna be posting a lot from reviews I’ve written in the past so I don’t see a gaping void every time I open this blog
Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
A cozy fantasy steeped in sapphic romance about one of the Queen’s private guards and a powerful mage who want to open a bookshop and live happily ever after…if only the world would let them. All Reyna and Kianthe want is to open a bookshop that serves tea. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters… all complemented by love and good company. Thing is, Reyna works as one of the Queen’s private guards, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence. Leaving their lives isn’t so easy.
Rating: ★✮☆☆☆ (1.5)
This was hard to get through. Like really hard to get through. The pacing was painful, with the plot only really beginning 40% of the way through. Not to mention the amount of loose threads. I acknowledge that this is the first in a series and had to set up some points for the later books to expand on but it just wasn’t done well. Though, this is authors first book point blank, and I’ve heard the later sequels are leagues better. That being said the worst part through reading this, and the reason I almost DNFd it at multiple points: the characterizations are remarkably weak and the romance is therapized into oblivion. Reyna and Kianthe are constantly described as having all these conflicting traits, they continuously narrate each other as near opposites- however when they actually speak? I had to repeatedly check who exactly was talking because their voices are identical. Blame it on me growing up with Percy Jackson but the use of perspective shifts every chapter felt wasted. Tonally their povs felt the exact same. Zero unique voice between them. There was never any independent narrative. Everyone always does the most sensible thing for the given situation rather than dare risk any unique or imperfect reaction. And again, their relationship was just… so suffocatingly therapized. It felt like I was reading a fix-it fanfic that isn’t sure how to demonstrate communication outside of the overly stiff script they found in a referenced self-help book. Especially with Reyna. Somehow the side characters were more interesting then the actual main cast. I truly hope the sequel is better. I’ve heard it recommended more times than I can possibly count, and yet I didn’t even know it was part of a series because no one ever talks about this book. I now understand why.
Project Hail Mary Review
@bucketofdeltav
I started this book this morning. I finished it now. It's surprisingly short, and at least compared to the last books I read, aggressively readable.
It's fun. It's a really fun book. Sometimes when a book is a little too stimulating I have to slow down and burn energy off, take walks, etc, but this never did that too me. It was gripping without being overwhelming, fun, carefree, enjoyable. Great way to spend a boring day at work. Work genuinely recommend to science fiction lovers.
The prose itself is a little odd. There's a sort of spectrum of readability with different authors - some view untangling the language as half the fun and thus write in a sort of intentionally opaque style (I'd accuse Cormac McCarthy of this, maybe Sam Kriss to a lesser extent), and others who view writing that's hard to untangle or understand as a failure of communication. Andy Weir definitely seems to fall into the latter. He has such a respect for engineering that seems to engineer his books to be reader-proof, unfuckupable.
It makes reading it a breeze. It's also kind of a boring approach. It gives his book a sort of fairy-tale quality. It's not quite that light, but it's uh... 2.5D? Right? The characters and the writing are not so streamlined as to be entirely allegorical, but they're also a little too twee for life. Andy Weir narrators are always this sort of emotionally constipated, relentlessly cheerful Ultimate Scientist. The side characters are fairly one note. Rocky is The Ultimate Engineer. Stratt is The Ultimate Project Manager. DuBois and Shapiro are frankly just autistic stereotypes. There's not much depth to them. I don't know that Weir actually knows how to make deep characters.
In this way, it reminded me a little of Aasimov at his worst. I don't know why STEM nerds turned authors have this odd fail state of over-fitting characters to their archetypes, but it's interesting. There is something clasically nerdy about seeing Man As For The Categories instead of The Categories There For Man.
As far as themes go, it has overt messages of techno-optimism. There is a horrible problem in this book, and we do overcome it, mostly through the power of science and creative thinking. There's a surprising amount of human-pessimism in the book too, but its implicit and maybe not intentionally put there by the author. There is this sort of yes, people can get along now, but once the going gets rough, of course we're all going to turn on each other. Of course we can't be trusted. Hell, half the success of the Project Hail Mary team seems to come from their ability to flaunt normal rules. There's this underlying, frustrated feeling that all of this could be accomplished today if the public would just get out of the fucking way and let the adults take care of business.
It kind of rubs me the wrong way, honestly. It's not an explicit message so it's ignorable, but I really like stories where humanity as a whole makes sacrifices, works hard, and finds itself worthy. The hyper individualist approach always has this sort of weird bitterness to it, as if the human species doesn't really deserve to continue, except that it produces such exceptional individuals that they redeem the whole group.
If it sounds like I didn't like the story, I can assure you that I did. I'd also be very curious about a sequel to this, maybe going over what happens on Earth while Grace is flying through space? I'd be pleasantly surprised if Andy could imagine a world where, in the face of great suffering, we stood by each other. Andy Weir writes beautiful individuals. I just don't know if he's aware that he lives in a world with 7 billion of them.
The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn
Emilie Autumn, a young musician on the verge of a bright career, attempts suicide by overdosing on the antipsychotics prescribed to treat her bipolar disorder. Upon being discovered, Emilie is revived and immediately incarcerated in a maximum-security psych ward, [...] Treated as a criminal, heavily medicated, and stripped of all freedoms, Emilie is denied communication with the outside world, and falls prey to the unwelcome attentions of Dr. Sharp, head of the hospital's psychiatry department. As Dr. Sharp grows more predatory by the day, Emilie begins a secret diary to document her terrifying experience, and to maintain her sanity in this environment that could surely drive anyone mad. But when Emilie opens her notebook to find a desperate letter from a young woman imprisoned within an insane asylum in Victorian England, bearing her own name and description, a portal to another world is blasted wide open.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.25)
Very refreshing. So much of media, especially horror, involving insane asylums and mental health tends to demonize the people struggling in them. The patients are always the source of the horror. It’s uncomfortable and disappointing every time. This book changes that. The horror is in how the already struggling people are treated, it’s in how women specially face therapized dismissal of their feelings, it’s about suffering without agency. The way this book tackled the topic of suicide was fascinating. It’s truly a good look at how the idea sounds to suicidal individuals. Because it was convincing! Emily’s question of why it’s a crime was honest! I've personally always feared death too much to fantasize about anything more permanent than a coma, yet I was still swayed by her argument. This is why I strongly recommend anyone reading this book be in a good headspace before doing so. It was a very sympathetic story and I hope anyone struggling realizes the answer as to "why intervention is needed" is because no one is inherently suicidal to begin with - harm is done to them to cause it, and thus it’s the responsibility of those around them to assist in healing said harm.
Regardless, it was a very good story. I really enjoyed the period typical medical nonsense. Well researched in terms of the Victorian flashbacks, and haunting in the modern flashes, all balanced well with the bits of fantasy (magically appearing paper, talking mice, etc) that's just present enough to makes you question what’s being hallucinated and what’s not. I can’t wait for the musical.
It Came From The Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror by Joe Vallese
Through the lens of horror—from Halloween to Hereditary—queer and trans writers consider the films that deepened, amplified, and illuminated their own experiences. [...] It Came from the Closet features twenty-five original essays by writers speaking to this relationship, through connections both empowering and oppressive.
Rating: ★★★★✮ (4.5)
I loved this. All the criticism I see comes from the essays being personal pieces rather than solely film analysis, but I believe that’s exactly where the strength of this anthology lies. Each essay is personal. Each narrative is a slice into the author’s life. Queerness is not a monolith, we all have different experiences and outlooks and to try generalizing things would undercut the complexity of it all. This book embraces the diversity of our lives.
Some chosen films are no brainers - Jennifer’s Body, Birds, The Exorcist - you’d almost be shocked NOT to see them. But others were fascinating. The Blob, Jaws, The Leech Woman. My personal favorite was “A Working Definition of the Monstrous,” an essay about Godzilla. It’s the last film you’d look to for a theme like this, and yet the imagery of being the one queer family member at the reunion and shattering everything is just so well put. "Bad Hombre", "The Wolf Man's Daughter", and "On Beauty and Necrosis" were also particularly strong for me.
The diversity was also excellent, I loved seeing aroace and genderqueer identities being included in a project like this.
Of course, there were weak points, I have a palpable dislike towards the author of “Good Guys, Dolls” regarding Child’s Play. I truly don't understand why he has a kid at all, let alone why he was allowed to publish that much personal info on the boy's life. But again, it’s one of many, and the others pulled their weight.
