#startlement

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: September Wrap-Up.

Hello world, I read twelve (12) books in this, my NaNo Prep Reading Month!! And there was much rejoicing :) I also hosted a housewarming party, which means I also did a lot of last minute tiny house projects and SO MUCH CLEANING.

Most of these books I dissected for romance/horror genre reasons, or they were at least Adjacent Enough To Romance And Horror to count as Vibe Gathering Material. Exceptions were the poetry collection and DCC (derogatory).

Photos with reviews linked:

BURY OUR BONES IN THE MIDNIGHT SOIL ★★★★ Did I save this for the fall because Spooky Season and also toxic power dynamics in romantic relationships? MAYBE SO. More like ADDIE LARUE than SHADES; same POV/timeline mastery going on as with VICIOUS. Not an especially original take on vampires, but they are lesbians, Harold. Good, but slow.

STARTLEMENT ★★★★★ I won a Goodreads giveaway! Very hyped to finally read some Ada Limon. I cut BONES and GRACE and REFUSING with a few poems at a time. Super approachable collection, still punched me directly in the feelings a bunch of times. I flagged so many lines.

PALADIN'S GRACE ★★★★ Delightful! Funny! Just enough fucked up and weird to keep me going! This was where my Romance Genre Quest started, and I had a great time.

REFUSING COMPULSORY SEXUALITY ★★★★ I called this NaNo prep even though it's got an ace focus, not an aro one. An important perspective with a lot of interesting points, highly recommend.

THE TWISTED ONES ★★★ Not as good as HOLLOW PLACES, but Kingfisher's protags always suck me in and keep me reading. This one was for the Horror Beats, which I don't think Kingfisher hit as cleanly as she did the Romance Beats (a neat author analysis to do, though).

WHITE LINE FEVER ★★★½ Haunted road trip through trauma hell! Deeply fucked up, very legible deployment of the horror beats. I'll continue keeping an eye out for more of Jones' work, I like this guy.

SHARK HEART ★★★ Weird little book that I didn't realize was Booktok :( It reads like Booktok :( could've been weirder and had more substance, but it went REALLY quick with the use of massive white space. Newlywed husband has Turns Into A Literal Shark Disease; newlywed wife copes.

WINTER'S ORBIT ★★★★ Cute! Fluffy!! My kind of fucked up power dynamics! Love both leads, love the supporting characters, had a lot of fun with this one.

A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON ★★★ More romance fodder! Helpful for the beats, but didn't need to be quite so long.

ICARUS ★★★★ Icarus retelling but make it contemporary and art theft and queer. Surreal and dreamy. I'm very fond of Ancrum's style but it's not for everyone.

HOW TO DANCE ★★★ Saw the author on a panel last year, and he was a delight! The book was helpful for mapping romance plot beats, but I'm 1.) super aro and 2.) not sure how it holds up compared to the General Contemporary Romance Genre. MMC is a singer and a math teacher who has cerebral palsy; FMC is a dancer and works at a bar.

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL ★½ Read as part of a negotiation with a coworker (I wanted her to read Murderbot)(she won, in this scenario). I wrote a *checks notes* 2k review for this. Mostly garbage, gets an extra half a star for having Great Fucked Up Potential. Goddamnit, Carl.

Under the Cut: A Note About ~*★Stars★*~

Historically, I have been Very Bad™ about assigning things Star Ratings, because it's so Vibes Heavy for me and therefore Contingent Upon my Whims. (Example: I don't like that stars are Odd, because that makes three the midpoint and things are rarely so truly mid for me)(I have hacked my way around this with a ½, which is really only applicable for me at ★★★ and up). Here is, generally, how I conceptualize stars:

★ - This was Bad. I would actively recommend that you do NOT read this one, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not worth the slog. Save Yourself, It's Too Late For Me. Book goes in the garbage (donate bin).

★★ - This was Not Good. I would not recommend it, but it wasn't a total waste or wash--something in here held my interest/kept my attention/sparked some joy. I will not be rereading this ever. Save Yourself (Or Join Me In Suffering, That Seems Like A Cool Bonding Activity).

★★★ - This was Good/Fine/Okay/Meh. I don't care about this enough to recommend it one way or another. Perfectly serviceable book, held my interest, I probably enjoyed myself (or at least didn't actively loathe the reading). I don't have especially strong feelings. You probably don't need to save yourself from this one--if it sounds like your jam, give it a shot! Just didn't resonate with me particularly powerfully. I probably won't reread this unless I'm after something in particular.

★★★½ - I liked this! I'll probably recommend it if I know it matches someone's vibes or specific requests, but I didn't commit to a star rating on Goodreads. More likely to reread, but not guaranteed.

★★★★ - I really enjoyed this!! I would recommend it (sometimes with caveats about content warnings or such--I tend to like weird fucked up funny shit, and I don't have many hard readerly NO's). Not a perfect book for me by any means, but Very Good. This is something I would reread! Join me!!

★★★★★ - I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS, IT REWIRED MY BRAIN, WILL RECOMMEND TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION (content warning caveats still apply--see 4-star disclaimer). Excellent book, I'll reread it regularly, I'll buy copies for all my friends, I'll try to convince all of Booklr to read it, PLEASE join me!!

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

This extraordinary poem by Ada Limon, who stepped down recently as the USA's poet laureate, was written as the opening statement to this country's Fifth National Climate Assessment, which appeared in late 2023. I love it for a lot of reasons. Ada grew up one county north of me, so she too calls bluebellies by their true name, the descriptive one (they're officially western fence lizards, which has always rung false to me: they were here for millions of years before the first fence went up). But more than that it does in a few lines what it took me a whole book, The Beginning Comes After the End, to say:

If you sit by the riverside, you see a culmination of all things upstream. We know now,

we were never at the circle’s center, instead all around us something is living or trying to live.

The world says, What we are becoming, we are becoming together.

The world says, One type of dream has ended and another has just begun.

The world says, Once we were separate, and now we must move in unison.

[It's the title poem in her magnificent new collection of poems across twenty years, including ones from previous books and new ones.]

Rebecca Solnit

[crystalclaire]

from Lucky Wreck (2006) by Ada Limón

[whilereadingandwalking]

Out today: a new hardcover from our beloved 24th poet laureate, Ada Limón. Startlement features highlights from all her previous collections, and it has 30 pages of new poems as well. Limón's meditations on nature, life, and feeling continue to make her one of my favorite poets right now. This collection is a must-have for fans, and poetry readers should pick it up and introduce themselves to her work.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

side note: these poems are gonna hurt my feelings

[scotrick]

#startlement (at Mountain View, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsgJzTwnzr-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=13fyt0jr81t2g

[english-tibetan-dictionary]

startlement

had de ba - with wonder/ astonishment/ shock; (almost) startled; suddenly; ["a particular state of calm which resembles a state of astonishment in that one's habitual reactions to stimuli are temporarily suspended"]; "startlement"; wonderment [RB]

hrig ge ba - riveting; stark; ["the first moment of rig pa"]; vivid, "startlement"; pointless; stare directly at . . . [RB]

[sirnaff]

My Roommate Just Called My Name

I just about jumped outta my fuckin' skin