Reading Goals for June 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
OK, I am gay and this is pride month, so I’m probably going to regret only including one gay book but I didn’t honestly want to go through my closet (ha) or my bookshelves to find additional gay books because that feels performative. So here are the books that I have on my list for this month.
The League of Lady Poisoners: illustrated True Stories of Dangerous Women written & illustrated by Lisa Perrin. 206 pages.
Platform Decay by Martha Wells. 244 pages.
Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology by Various. 350 pages.
The Tomb (Large Print Edition) by Clive Cussler and Thomas Perry. 546 pages.
A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett. 568 pages.
The Foundation Pit by Andrey Platonov. 223 pages.
The Oceans of Cruelty: 25 Tales of a Corpse Spirit: A Retelling by Douglas J. Penick. 172 pages.
Lies and Sorcery by Elsa Morante. 774 pages.
Prisoner of Love by Jean Genet. 427 pages.
The Story of a Life by Konstantin Paustovsky. 774 pages.
Max Havelaar by Multatuli. 330 pages
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 4,614 pages. 154 pages a day. Impossible? Yes.
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Above are all of the TV Shows and movies that I am going to try to get through in June as well:
Duel (1971).
The green inferno (2013).
Peacemaker.
Call Girl of Cthulhu (2014).
Jackass forever (2022).
Kneecap (2024).
Titan, AE (2000).
Mulholland Drive (2001).
George and Tammy (2022).
Do the right thing (1989).
Mystery men (1999)
Ramy season three.
She hulk attorney-at-law (season one).
Three women (1977).
Bodies (2023; season one).
Kevin can fuck himself.
Rutherford Falls (Seasons 1 & 2)
Mythic quest – ravens banquet.
Charley Boorman (various.).
Living single (1993-1998).
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> reviews of all of this stuff as I finish them or abandon them will go below the cut here, but don’t expect anything down here for a while. Rating system: A is excellent. B is good. C is okay. D is not very good or bad but did what it tried to do. F is something that failed at what it tried to do. This is for things that I abandoned with no plans to ever resume.
Titan A.E. (2000; Film): I really liked this movie. I mean it starts off with the Earth being blown up and humanity being scattered across the galaxy, and because it was a Don Bluth movie, I had very high hopes, and it did not disappoint. There were a couple of odd character changes of heart that happened, conveniently, at points when they were needed for the plot—but overall, I think it was a good movie, and it only suffered ever so slightly from the clunky looking computer graphics that are used in certain parts of the movie. I would rate the movie a B+. The only reason it doesn’t get an A is because it’s got a little too much blood and nudity for it to be a children’s movie and it’s too much like a children’s movie for adults.
Platform Decay by Martha Wells: I still don’t know how I feel about this book. My impressions of it are inexorably colored by the fact that it is the penultimate book in the series because I feel like there’s so little time left with this character, I want all the moments to count. I wanted this to mean more. I didn’t like the pacing of this book. I didn’t like the fact that the first three chapters were really long and slow at least compared to the first four books. I didn’t like the fact that the ending felt really rushed and that you didn’t really understand what was going on until the last two pages of the book. I mean, I always knew that Murderbot was doing the right thing, that was never in doubt, but even now, when I’ve read it twice, I still don’t quite understand the actions of the person who ended up becoming the villain in this book. I know they’re bad, and I have a vague idea of what they did but… It just seems more confusing than meaningful. It’s like trying to apply reality to a commercial or a sitcom episode that you should know better than to apply logic to. I feel more hurt that the book isn’t better than it is. B-.
Rutherford Falls (Seasons 1 & 2) I would say this is a C+ show. I’m a real sucker for the sitcom, but some people really don’t like them because they think they’re stupid. This isn’t the best one though, so if you’re not a huge fan of sitcoms, you would probably say it was a C- but I thought it was OK. It got canceled after two seasons because it was on a streaming service and after two seasons, I think, a streaming service needs to start paying residuals. Either it wasn’t as good of a moneymaker or Peacock just didn’t want to have to worry about paying people for another season. Either way, the show just kind of ends teasing everybody for a third season that never ends up happening. I liked the Native American representation but it kind of reminded me of a different short series, called The Chair, starring Sandra Oh, where the main character, in this case Nathan Rutherford, didn’t really change or grow at all over the course of the series, and so you end up really becoming interested in the series by the other people in it that end up kind of stealing every scene, such as all of the native actors that are in this, as well as Bobbie Yang. Just like in the show The Chair, the people that end up taking something from the script, and working with it, are not the ones that have their names above the title. Ed Helms is ultimately a character actor who can do one thing and that’s not really the type of character that is going to be anything other than an ensemble player, but the other people in this show actually have the range to do something interesting with their careers. It’s a show that had a lot of potential, but didn’t have the intelligence to prioritize the characters that actually had the acting range to do something.
Mystery Men (1999): This is one of the more memorable bad movies I have seen recently. Mediocre writing, Ben Stiller doing his most annoying Zach Braff impression. It’s a lot like Rutherford Falls in as much as the leading Man is the least interesting person in the movie. I mean it’s always great seeing Janeane Garofalo in her prime and Paul Reubens in anything. The one thing that I really liked about it is all of the practical effects. Casanova Frankenstein and his mansion were dazzling. This and the Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit movies are really the best example of before and after CGI. Like there’s no way they would actually use effects that looked this real if the movie was being made today. Everything was handmade and it all looked awesome. Like I wanted to be in that mansion. It was also a surprise and a delight to be able to see Suzy Eddie Izzard in something. C
The League of Lady Poisoners: illustrated True Stories of Dangerous Women written & illustrated by Lisa Perrin. 206 pages. I really loved this book. Hearing about all the different myriad ways that women have poisoned people throughout history: profession, love, resentment, insanity. It was wonderful. A-. The book is beautifully illustrated with an amazing cover. It was fun and enjoyable. Readable. It was also one of the most beautiful books that I have actually held in my hand. It’s a book that’s so beautiful, it makes you mad at the shitty looking paper covered hardbacks that major publishers are trying to charge $30 for. This book is a work of art and an amazing history. That is a feminist view of the barter if that’s possible. Wonderful. I did end up taking a few points off, just to be honest that there really isn’t much of a Throughline sense. It’s basically devoting most of its time to chapters where you get 4 to 6 mini biographies of female poisoners that are grouped around shared motive. Therefore, cumulatively the book ends up, just being like “and another poisoner, and another poisoner, and another poisoner.” I really liked it, but I could see some people that weren’t interested in the idea as much as I am finding the book potentially a little repetitive… and I have heard other people talk about how it’s “romanticizing the murderers”, which doesn’t necessarily bother me because that’s what seemingly every true crime podcast does so this isn’t that out of the ordinary for 2026. Also, not to be malevolent, but someone who whines about a book like this romanticizing the murderers just seems like a person who can’t handle their arsenic. Overall, I think it just ends up making all of these women just… Fascinating. Like Jane Toppan is not remotely likable, but she is a fascinating person. I would just never want to be in the same city with her.
Duel (1971): So a friend of mine just nuked the friendship. I hadn't had a lot of friends that aren't high maintenance mental health – wise for a long time so I didn't have a lot of good representation for what normal behavior is. Like I'm used to having my actions policed. If I said a boundary that I'm not really feeling good it needs to be examined and I need to explain why I'm not feeling good. I can't take a day off I need to go and talk to my friend and find out when they might be free. Like if we were supposed to talk tonight, I can't just say I'm not really feeling it and we'll talk another time to be scheduled, I need to schedule it now. Immediately. I finally started setting some boundaries and the person started getting defensive and having a meltdown and shouting at me because I didn't wanna be on the hook to be compelled to talk to this person for an hour or two every month (down from an hour or two every week) when I'm not enjoying it and I'm dealing with a lot of emotional abuse from this person. *Realizes that this is a movie review.* Um, just like the main character deals with in this movie, Duel. It was the first movie released by Steven Spielberg but not his first feature film, since this was a made for TV movie that got turned into a feature film only after his career took off. I love this movie. It used to be the story that my mom would tell because she read this story by Richard Matheson called "Duel" where not much happens, but this guy is chased throughout the desert by this crazy truck driver just because the guy passed the truck driver's rig. It ended up being a story that got into her head when she ended up traveling all across the country in 1979, about 10 years after the story was published in her "farewell to her freedom" trip right before she had me and she knew she would need to settle down. She said it was one of those stories that was so intense and compelling that it just stayed with you... and she's not wrong. The movie is just excellent. It shows you just enough that you find it compelling and fascinating. I like the fact that the ending leaves just enough that you wonder whether the truck driver might've been able to get away from the accident which is phenomenal. I know it's never going to happen but I really wish Spielberg would do a sequel to this. A+
The Oceans of Cruelty: 25 Tales of a Corpse Spirit: A Retelling by Douglas J. Penick. 172 pages I did not like this book. I rated it a C-. So the basic story is that like so many of the characters of the story within this story, the king, one of two main characters, wants to pursue the spiritual path so he abdicates his throne, and so moved, his brother is also inspired to abdicate the throne, leaving the throne empty, and the kingdom in turmoil. A demon takes the throne and is going to use this power to destroy everything that a wise and munificent king would hold dear. It is said by Yogi that the only way to solve this is to retrieve the head of a cursed man from a funeral ground and bring it to the Yogi, if the King is moved by pain to respond to one of the head’s tales, the journey starts over again. Unbeknownst to the King, this is a trick, and the Yogi is actually the demon ruling his kingdom in disguise, and by bringing the head and listening to 25 tales and responding to every one but the last one, the king sets something in motion that might destroy everybody. That’s the premise. Does this sound interesting? Yes? Me too. In the words of Ryder Carroll, that’s why I read it. The problem is that the 25 stories are these concerning, moralistic Sunday school tales about devoting yourself to caste and Hinduism, and knowing the vedas as well and all of this stuff. It’s the kind of pap that I got fed the Christian equivalent back in Sunday school. Every single kid grows up to be the best and most handsome person in the whole world, and they have all of the knowledge and they’re just the bestest Mary Sue that ever existed. Every single story ends with these after school special style lessons about what a good king/Hindu should or should not do. Like I imagine that if there is a Hindu equivalent to Sunday school, these are the kinds of stories that would be told there. There were so many stories about men and women wanting to kill themselves because they couldn’t control themselves around lust and love for someone who they barely knew. Really? As an asexual I find this very dubious. A lot of the stories seem kind of pointless, like it’s just some nonsense to pass the time, and they more or less are. If you don’t read the last section “Diaspora”, I would say the book would be an F, because it sets up this framing narrative as an excuse to just tell a bunch of random tales that don’t go anywhere. Like to contrast it with an excellent series for my childhood, are you afraid of the dark?, the difference between that show and this is that with that show, at the very least the stories themselves are interesting. The stories in this book aren’t actually that interesting. A prince find a pretty woman will do anything to have her or a pretty woman finds a handsome man and will do anything to have him. Who cares? There are so many stories like that. In conclusion, I think that it reminded me of something that John Green said about Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. He said that there’s a reason why the book is mainly taught in history classes, because it is important in American history, but it’s not very good as literature. I think this too is very important in terms of history, but not very good as literature.
The Tomb (Large Print Edition) by Clive Cussler and Thomas Perry. 546 pages. OK, so this is a completely ridiculous book. Like it’s ridiculous in the Jurassic Park sense that it’s ridiculous but it’s a damn good time. So the basic plot is that Attila the Hun who looted most of Europe, but we never technically (according to the book) found all of the loot, has buried all of the loot in various tombs that, discovering them, pieces together his life as a person. Husband and wife archaeological team Sam and Remi Fargo are like an ethical version of Indiana Jones split between two people. For anyone concerned about a female adventurer, don’t be. Remi Fargo is very much in the Laura Croft style, where she is generally speaking more competent than her husband. It’s not like Sam Fargo is some kind of bumbling idiot mind you, it’s just that the person most likely to have supernatural hearing and find the assassin before anybody else is definitely going to be Remi. This is the fourth book in the series but I’ve read a lot of others by Clive Cussler and so I kind of know what to expect here. So every book begins with a time skip between the last book and the current one, so that the main characters have a chance to process and work through anything that came up in the last book. Anyway, my overall opinion on this is that it was a darn fine read and I really enjoyed something that was just fun, but I also felt like I learned some thing about Attila the Hun, which was also pretty cool. Some of the stuff I learned might have even been true! A-
Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology by Various. 350 pages. I want to like this book, but I think that it just had such rigorous editorial control that even though it is from a variety of writers, all the stories kind of sounded the same. I read 40% of the anthology—the first six stories—and it seemed to me, to be slightly flippant, that every single story was about doomed lesbians. Like, not all of the characters were female, some identify as non-binary or trans, and sometimes the connection between the two characters where one of them is doomed doesn’t even identify in terms of sexuality or gender at all, but all of them seemed like sapphics. I guess I was just kind of expecting that an anthology would have a variety of writing styles or a variety of perspectives, but this one had such tight editorial control that it felt like it was just a book written by one person. I guess that’s the issue. I kept reading it because I was hoping for a little bit of variety, but it seemed like every story was this winsome light fantasy or light science fiction involving a doomed sapphic of some sort. I didn’t really want to give up on it but one of the benefits of having a rigid block of books that forced me to choose from one of that group and no others, is the fact that near the end of the month I have to make a decision on whether I want to continue reading this next month and today was the day that that was a resounding hell no. “Data Ghost by Martha Wells was great, but her story seemed in no small part to be an anomaly in the collection. Finally, it’s not lost on me that this feeling of not feeling like any of the characters are like me is the standard experience for most people of color and women in a male dominated society. I can empathize with them better upon reading this, because it doesn’t really feel good to not be able to see yourself in these stories, despite them being good. It’s not really the fact that they are doomed sapphics that bothered me of course. It’s the fact that it doesn’t really matter how any of the stories begin because it’s going to be a female-coded character being doomed, and then the story will be over. It just took all the fun out of it. DNF.
