We survived another February! I was hitting the Doldrums pretty hard there for a minute and had to fall back on comfort reads to drag myself out of it, but we did it! And I read some real bangers this month, despite the book slump I was in at the beginning!
The 10th Kingdom
A perennial favourite. Generally it’s the show that I rewatch, since the book is a bit of a brick, but I needed this. I needed it. This is a story that is so joyfully and unapologetically campy that it’s impossible to be sad while reading it and it did some real heavy lifting when it came to boosting my mood.
The story follows Virginia, a girl "who lives on the edge of the forest". No, not Little Red Riding Hood, but a waitress who works at a restaurant on the other side of Central Park. She shares a rundown apartment with her dad, who works as a janitor and repairman in the building. Her life is painfully mundane, as she scrapes a living and tries not to let her father drive her insane, or at least it is until she crashes her bike into a dog that darts across her path. Which, in and of itself, might be one more mundane annoyance… until the dog starts scratching warnings for her. Soon it becomes clear that there's something strange about this dog and that he's being hunted — trolls raid her apartment, a half-wolf is stalking her, and soon she, her father, and the dog are fleeing through a magic mirror and into a world where all the great fairytales are baked into their history.
This book features and spoiled-prince-turned-dog, a grumpy middle-aged man who is the only one who can communicate with said dog, a Big Bad Wolf who has gone through therapy and is on a romantic mission of self-improvement, a wicked stepmother and her evil magic mirrors, bumbling trolls who liked to dance to the Bee Gees, a prison escape, a sheep jury, and so much more!
Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die
I have really been anticipating this book and it did not let me down at all — if anything it exceeded my expectations!
The premise is that Sir Cameron, a cowardly knight, discovers that he features in a prophecy which foretells that his death will be tied to the defeat of the Mad Sorcerer. Ergo: to defeat the Mad Sorcerer, all they need to do is sacrifice Sir Cameron! Who is frankly really fucking annoying anyway! Win-win! Rather than accepting this fate though, Cameron immediately does his best to escape… and in doing so, throws himself at the dubious mercies of that very same Mad Sorcerer. After all, if the Mad Sorcerer doesn’t want to be defeated, he needs to keep Cameron alive, right? From there you get to see Cameron do his best to ingratiate himself with the sorcerer in any way he can think of — much to the sorcerer’s chagrin.
The tone of this book is really what makes it special. The premise and plot are fun and quirky, the characters are unique and enjoyable to follow, but the writing really knocks it out of the park for me. It honestly just feels like a great example of what Canadian humour can be, it made the whole experience feel quite refreshing. This book often doesn’t rely on the big, in your face punchline but on the deadpan absurdity and the tonal dissonance between the grisly and Cameron’s agonizingly awkward and mannerly nature towards it all. It looks you in the eye and plays it straight while trusting the audience to understand why, exactly, the whole thing is hilarious. It's winking and nudging you to join in the joke, it's satirical and self-effacing. It's great, I love it. Honestly I had to go out and buy a copy after finishing my library read.
Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites
A fairly conventional monster-of-the-week type supernatural story, but with the fun twist of featuring pets as the monster hunters. A pack of dogs (+ one stray cat) find themselves constantly confronted by strange, otherworldly monsters that threaten both their lives and the sanctity of their neighbourhood. It’s fun, the characters are all distinct in a way I did not expect, and the art is completely gorgeous. This is an artist who really understands how to let character design and background art add depth to his story. It draws you right in; I'm looking forward to reading the next couple books.
Bluey: The Sign
A graphic novel that covers “The Sign” from Bluey. Shockingly well done for a screenshot-based graphic novel. Normally I would expect this to be a phone-in, but the panel layout is good, the story telling is clear, and the text is all added in well. I actually really enjoyed reading this, it made me smile the whole way through. Very cute and cosy, exactly what I expect from the show and honestly a bit of a balm considering the month I was having.
Dory Fantasmagory / And The Real True Friend / Dory Dory Black Sheep
A little chapter book series. I heard a part of the first book being read aloud by a librarian and it actually made me laugh, so I had to check them out and see what they were all about. The first one is definitely the standout here, but the entire series is a charming idea that’s well-written. The author has a very authentic understanding of how kids act, play, and think.
The story follows Dory, who is the youngest sibling in her family and “such a baaaaby” (at least according to her older brother and sister). To try to discourage her behaviour, her older siblings create a witch-like creature named Mrs Gobble Gracker who captures babies and if Dory doesn’t want to get snatched then she better grow up! This backfires immediately as Dory gets deeply invested in this game and starts creating elaborate stories about Mrs Gobble Gracker and how she’s going to thwart her evil scheme. Dory is imaginative and energetic and very funny to watch and she drives her siblings up the wall.
The Foxhole Court
Oh, I’m going to be obsessed with this, yes I am. I don’t even know how to categorize this book… It is so much. It is capital-G Genre, in the purest, most unapologetic form. What genre? Fuck, I don’t even know. Too many. And I love it. Think sports-manga-meets-mafia-novel and you seriously need to go in expecting to be exactly as overblown and melodramatic as either of those genres is inclined to be.
It follows Neil, a college student who is desperately on the run from his mobster father, constantly taking on new names and new identities. He never stays anywhere too long. Until recently. His one love — the fictional sport exy that feels like a cross between lacrosse and hockey — is all he has left after the death of his mother, so when he is offered a scholarship to play on a college team, he finds himself agreeing despite knowing what a huge mistake it is. From there he finds himself playing for the “Foxes” — one of the worst exy teams in the league. Every person on the team is more intense and fucked up than the last though, and completely incapable of working together or fullying burning their sordid pasts. This is an absolutely unrivaled blend of high octane sports drama, and over the top crime family drama. It’s got teamwork! Found family! Murder! Do not go into this expecting anything even a little bit realistic, it’s completely nuts, but if you suspend all disbelief and accept the genre conventions that are going to be thrown at you, then it’s nothing but pure fun. It’s a trainwreck I can’t look away from.
The Great Halifax Explosion
Pisssed me off to no end. This is a major tragedy that happened during the First World War, when a ship full of high explosives caught fire and exploded in Halifax Harbour, killing over a thousand people and flattening part of the city. At the time it was the largest man-made explosion, and was actually studied during WWII to try to predict what a nuclear bomb might do. To this day I believe it’s the largest non-nuclear explosion. Anyway, point is that it’s a really interesting historical event and I was looking forward to a well-written book that examines it.
That is not this book. This author, somehow, managed to take one of the biggest tragedies in Canadian history and make it American-centric. It had my hackles raised only a few pages in, and I ultimately DNF’d it. I was mad enough to look up more about the book and the author and found out that apparently he cribbed almost all his information from The Shattered City written by an actual Canadian author and historian, Janet Kitz. Naturally I can’t get that book through Libby, so I’m left to stew in annoyance.
Mrs Victoria Buys a Brothel
A bit of a disappointment, honestly. It’s a fun concept! The wife of a wealthy man finally escapes from his abuse with nothing but her old wedding dress and a small fortune that she’s been secretly sewing into its lining. With the help of a sympathetic servant who once worked for her, she’s able to escape town and winds up in a small village where she’s taken in by the local prostitutes who see that she’s desperate for safety. Unfortunately the story is dragged down by the fact that the writer is clearly still learning her craft. Character motivation just isn’t really there. Everyone loves Mrs Victoria too easily, and everything is accepted so placidly and simply. The things people choose to do feel more like plot contrivances, and it’s impossible to image that any of these people have a rich inner life beyond the page. A story is happening, and these are the puppets on the stage. Might be worth trying if you want to turn your brain off and enjoy some cosy historical lesbians. Really just made me crave doing a Strange Empire rewatch though, at least that was less sanitized.
No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson
A very interesting nonfiction book that explores the criminal medical neglect that Johnson & Johnson allowed for the sake of profit. None of it is surprising but much of it is horrifying — it really makes you appreciate why people are so ardently against “Big Pharma”, some of the things here are so egregiously evil that it leaves you speechless.
The President’s Brain is Missing
I read The Kaiju Preservation Society a few years back and loved it, and I’ve been meaning to read more by this author ever since. I needed something short to fill the time while I waited for Libby holds to trickle in, so I decided to finally return to Scalzi and give this short story a try. It was fun — nothing world rocking, but amusing enough for its length. The story is exactly what it says on the tin: The president’s brain is discovered to be missing. He’s still walking around and talking the same as ever so there’s no real difference (ho ho) but still. Why is it missing? How is it missing? And by god who is going to be responsible for this mess? Fills the general desire to make fun of politicians everywhere, though frankly I wouldn’t have minded it being a bit more cutting than it was.
Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF) v1
I was in a reading slump and feeling those depressive February days like it’s nobody’s business, so I reread the first book of TGCF. If nothing else, no matter how badly things might be going for me, they’re going worse for Xie Lian and I choose to take comfort in this.
Honestly I’m enjoying this book way more on the reread. The first time around there’s so many secrets that Xie Lian either lies about or omits, that I found myself floundering a little bit when I read the first book of this series. The second time around though, when you know who everyone’s actual identities are and what their histories with each other are it becomes fascinating. Both more hilarious and more heartbreaking and way more informative. I’m definitely going to continue my reread when my Libby queue is a little less terrifying.
Why I Adopted My Husband
An interesting autobiography manga about how two men get around Japan’s lack of same-sex marriage by going through the “adult adoption” process instead. It's an intriguing insight into the Japanese societal opinion on same-sex relationships, both that of gay men within a relationship and the outside pressures put on them. Overall the manga was clearly meant to be somewhat instructional for people with limited exposure to same-sex couples or queer individuals, so in some ways I felt I wasn’t the target audience here, but it was interesting in its own right.
