#rory powers

[toxins-private-collection]

'“But you’re stronger than me, Margot. You are. You bore what I never could.” And the thing is, I know she means it like praise. Like pride. But it isn’t to me. Because yes, I bore this. I fixed it, but there’s a voice in my head, one I’ve never really heard before, and it says, I shouldn’t have had to.”'

- Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Powers

[nomdelune]

Pride and Prejudice Wins!

I shouldn’t have been surprised honestly, considering the popularity of that one XD. But before I jump into P&P, I’m going to finish reading Kelly Barnhill’s When Women Were Dragons. I’m very much enjoying the book so far, and Barnhill is one of my favourite authors out there. This novel is her first adult novel, as she tends to gravitate towards Middle Grade most of the time, but my god how wonderful her novels are! My first read of hers was The Girl Who Drank The Moon, a Newberry Award winner. I’ll say it right now, if it has the Newberry Award golden stamp on it, I’m more likely than not to read it. I’ve never read a Newberry winner that I disliked (so far). It’s sad that YA doesn’t have the same type of award for itself.

… Nevermind, I stand corrected, there is an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults. It looks more like a list of the best books than an award, but it’s there! Not only that but I’m discovering a whole lot of awards for YA lit. The Amelia Elizabeth Walden award, the William C. Morris award, there are so many more. I don’t consider Goodreads awards to fit in there considering it’s more about popularity than about content (not to say that winners of the prize are without good content, The Hate U Give was a winner for three of those), but I like that I don’t recognize a lot of the titles and authors in the “Nominated” and even the “Winner” section of these other awards. Gives me a whole lot to explore next time I go to the library!

I DNFed Rory Powers A Garden Burning Gold earlier this week. I liked the writing a lot, and the premise and world of the story were so promising, but the suspension of disbelief was hard to maintain when the main 80-years-old-looking-20 character kept thinking other people were so young (even people in their 50's) and didn't know enough about the world when she herself kept acting like a 20 year old who knew nothing about the world. Like girl, who do you think you're fooling? Not to mention the weird feminist calls out of nowhere when nothing in that world points to a sexist environment. Women and men are equally in position of power (and powerlessness) in the novel. If the only “feminist” commentary you can think of is “boys are dirty, yuck, amiright?”, leave that out the door. Granted, it wasn’t the only commentary, but out of the three that made me pause in confusion when I stumbled across them, that’s the one that made me stop reading.

My screen-less days are still a work in progress. There have been lots of downs last week that continue to affect me this week as well, and I find myself playing more Stardew Valley to compensate, but I’m pleased with how I’ve been limiting my time regardless. Just the fact that I’ve been reading so many books makes me feel giddy. I’ve decided to keep updating my reading journal but have completely removed the separation of months from it, so that all the books I read are just a continuous, yearly sequence instead. That way, I don’t have to feel bad about myself if I read a single book in a month rather than 5 books like the month before.

The more I come here to write weekly, the more I relish how I enjoy writing about books in this casual way. I don’t care about writing synopsis, giving a star rating (although sometimes it’s fun to give one), or reading books that more people will want to learn about. I really just enjoy reading and sharing my thoughts without a structure. It’s fun.

[random-jot]

“I think some guys look good when they wear beanies; when I wear one I look like I’m trying to break onto the house in Home Alone’

— Rory Powers, This Paranormal Life episode #364

[random-jot]

“I’ll just be a boy-toy to a Sugar Witch”

— Rory Powers, This Paranormal Life podcast episode #311, ‘HELLFIRE FARM - The Welsh House Of Nightmares’

[chaosloon]

Investigating this case was like trying to complete a puzzle, and when you find the piece that you think is the last one… you slot it in there and realize the puzzle is a picture of a hand that slaps you in the face and then bursts into a thousand more pieces.

Rory Powers, #091 The Lead Mask Deaths - Part 2, This Paranormal Life, 34:25

[books-coffee-and-tea]

In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Powers

It was a pretty good read, but had a really unsatisfying ending.

I actually really liked the characters but felt more the a YA book than an adult fantasy which I don't mind, but was a little thrown off by.

I think it suffered more from the lack of points wrapped up. I hope book 2 catches all of them and doesn't fall flat

[mirthofbooks]

I've been interested in Rory Powers' In a Garden Burning Gold 🤔

I read and enjoyed Wilder Girls, so I am intrigued! I might wait until I hear more about this one first. I am trying to be ~judicious~ about my tbr because my owned-but-unread shelves are definitely what will kill me if an earthquake hits my region 🥲

[myso-calledlibrary]