The Unworthy, Agustina Bazterrica (Translator: Sarah Moses)
LOVED the way this was written. A painfully poetic horror of a cult in a world trying to rebirth itself. Loss and love and the pain of choosing to live and not just survive. I love how the story was told through journal entries, more so that the author was aware that this post-apocalyptic account may not have a reader. Defo a top pick for the year.
"Burning a book made me angry because I knew I was setting fire to a world."
The Wolf and His King, Finn Longman
I usually don't jive with second person POV writing, but I really liked the way the author used it to split the points of view between chapters and keep the King nameless.
It's super serendipitous that I read Between Two Fires just earlier this year. I was unaware of the myth this book is based on until Between Two Fires, and once I realized it was that story I was kinda giddy seeing it play out.
"I refuse to be defined by my dismantling/ by these moments of unmaking I refuse-/ we are all made of our collapse."
The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum & Other Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Edgar Allen Poe
Checked this out after experiencing two different retellings of The Fall of the House of Usher without ever actually had read the story. The last time I ever read Poe was in my Preteen years when I was a Baby Goth, it was nice to have some stories refreshed while also reading new ones.
This collection included: The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, Ligeia, The Raven, The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Black Cat, The Premature Burial, and The Facts in the Case of M Valdemar.
I never realized how similar some of Poe's works were. It's really clear his fixated on certain things (premature burial, guilt being someone's unmaking, masonry). I'm on hold for a complete book of his works now and I wanna see if I can find a biography I like for him. I'm really curious about some finer details of his life after reading this.
Gory Details: Adventures From the Dark Side of Science, Erika Engelhaupt
Tongue-in-cheek writing to discuss the science behind the less glamourous bits of life and the natural world. It gives little snapshots on everything from the macabre (rates of cannibalism among mammals) to the straight up nartsy (how flies snacking on dried cum can theoretically fuck up a crime scene investigation). The easygoing writing style makes this a super fun read if you're not easily squicked out!
The Starving Saints, Caitlin Starling
Was on the wait list for this for a year and it was WELL worth the wait. I'm beginning to realize that all the folkloric fae stories I long for are hidden in horror. They never use the word but there's enough similarities in the mythos that they are good neighbors in all but name. There were two books I read last year too where I was like 'this feels fae' and both were some sort of horror or marketed as such.
Anyways, this book touches on so many things I adore: not-catholocism, loyal lapdog knights learning a leash can be pulled from both ends, relationships closer to worship, cannibalism, gay, BEES AND HONEY. My new favourite genre of 'this book reads like how playing elden ring feels'. Defo one of my top picks for the year.
Side note, I guess my fucking theme for the first six months of the year is cannibalism because I'm pretty sure this is the fifth or sixth book I read where cannibalism has been a plot point.
This one isn't for me! This is another blind read, I threw it into my holds list because it was on some 'folk horror' recommendations list. There are a lot of cool ideas and concepts, but the execution didn't satisfy.
The pacing meandered without any of the slow creep I usually enjoy from a drawn out horror. None of the characters really resonated, they all kinda felt one note/flat at best and frustrating at worse. A lot of dynamics rely on tropes I don't jive with and my sentiments toward the MC (Cassie) felt like that meme "when someone is 1% more autistic than you: >:C".
The twist was unsatisfying and gave me more questions than revelations. IMO, the best twists are 'solvable'- even if only through hindsight. Twists should be a mystery to solve for a perceptive or genre savvy reader. Hollow did not have enough breadcrumbs that allowed the reader to anticipate the ~big twist~ other than a name being an anagram which doesn't help an audiobook listener. I'm so interested in the lore and the questions the twist brings up but the story explains none of them and instead hastily concludes with a confrontation that lacks tension or a satisfying payoff.
(Also, to be clear, there were pretty standard horror revelations that were solvable. Like, ones I guessed pretty early. It's the BIG twist that didn't do it for me.)
I feel like a pushier editor could have helped this story along but as it stands Hollow just wasn't for me.
Play With Your Cat! The Essential Guide to Interactive Play for a Happier, Healthier Feline, Mikel Maria Delgado PhD
I checked out this book between library holds because it was on my TBR; was only a 6 hour read; and I live in constant fear that I am not doing right by beautiful baby boy who I love so much. Turns out, I'm not doing too shabby! I do need to be swapping out his solo toys more often though.
Very chipper writing style going over the reasons and science behind why you should be playing with your cat and different techniques and guidelines for doing so. It talks about special needs cats, fat cats, indoor/outdoor, different developmental stages, etc. Should be required reading for anyone who has or wants to get a little friend of their own, IMO.
Tender Is the Flesh, Agustina Bazterrica (Translator: Sarah Moses)
Both of Agustina's works that I have read have focused on two different types of 'apocalypse'. And girl, I truly feel you because I, too, have fixated on what sort of future it feels like we're headed for.
There are no heroes here, no one worth rooting for. The horror of a populace swayed to commit atrocities & codifying those atrocities; but also it's a really loud condemnation of exploitative animal industries (factory farming, aggressive lab testings, game hunting, etc.). Between that and the heavy emphasis on corporate greed influencing policy and propaganda it's clear Bazterrica has something to say and she's being very loud about it (I mean this affectionately).
I liked The Unworthy more, but this was a compelling read! Check the triggers if you intend to pick it up.
The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski
Played the games, watched the (first 2 seasons of the) Netflix series, and now I'm finally starting the Witcher books! Geralt is such a fun protagonist! I'm really enjoying it. I'm on the waitlist for the second book.
Horror that left me more sad than horrified, and I mean this as a compliment. Not my favourite cannibalism book of the year (which is wild to think I have read enough to have a favourite), but I liked it more than my first impression made me think I would.
The meandering pace almost turned me off, but by halfway through I was beginning to enjoy the read and maybe the last quarter is when my heart started hurting. I have a soft spot for when cannibalism is used as an allegory for a ruinous sort of love, and this book has a lot to say about the different sorts of love and expectations of it, and womanhood and girlhood and queerness, and grief and death. I think maybe this is why it resonated with me on the back half.
I defo need something lighter after this tho, this one left me feeling really heavy.
“I wondered if this was what being a real human was: accepting you were pieces of other people too. The people you loved and the people you hurt.”
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, John Green
EVERYDAY I FIND A NEW REASON TO DESPISE J&J
Anyways, I like books that are very informative about a problem humanity is facing but also very 'optimistic'. It is difficult to think of a book that outlines the solvable atrocity of deaths by a curable disease as 'optimistic', but it is because humanity is winning over greed.
“[W]hen we know about suffering, when we are proximal to it, we are capable of extraordinary generosity.”
Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter, Heather Fawcett
I wanted something happier after The Lamb and got it! I like Heather Fawcett's writing; I find her characters fun! I thought the system of magic/lore of the world was neat/interesting.
It's a fluffy 'romantasy' that feels like a relative of Howl's Moving Castle- the Ghibli version, not the book. It was a fun read and I got what I wanted out of it.
Another 'green' cosmic horror.
Being able to write the disorienting 'liminal' moment that is a large family trip with relatives you barely recognize and can't recall the names of is talent.
The ending was kind of a miss for me, but I think it's because I was enjoying everything else so much up until that point.
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