March Wrap Up
Welcome back, dear reader.
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| From left to right: The Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis, How Long 'til Black Future Month by NK Jemisin, Manga Classics Les Miserables, Hyde by Daniel Levine, Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde, Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Outlawed by Anna North, Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor, Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, The Motion of Light in Water by Samuel R Delany, Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier, The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow, Scratch edited by Manjula Martin, Chasing a Legacy by DA Ravenscroft |
Let's begin.
First on the list is The Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis which has so far been my least favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia. It wasn't badly written, I would say the writing itself is on par with the rest of the Narnia books. No, reader, the problem was more subject matter than prose. CS Lewis, bless his old British heart, put a lot of Orientalism in this poor book. I use that term to mean stereotypes about the Middle East specifically in this context. It was a rough read. I enjoy stories about people escaping places on talking horses. That's covers almost every Valdemar book Mercedes Lackey's written to date. However, it's very hard to read about a fun adventure when Lewis keeps reminding you that the Middle East-pardon me- that Calormen is a barbaric place that keeps slaves, has harems, and treats women like objects. There are no sympathetic Calormen characters. Even the princess Shasta escapes with needs to be punished by Aslan for allowing her lady's maid to get in trouble over her escape. I didn't much care for this one, reader.
2/5 pumpkins.
Next up is a collection of science fiction short stories called How Long 'til Black Future Month by NK Jemisin. This was a gift from my partner and an excellent one at that. You simply can't go wrong with a book, and this book in particular was highly enjoyable. These short stories are the first I've read of Jemisin's writing. I've been meaning to pick up her other books and haven't gotten around to it. I have a soft spot for sci fi short stories and this book was an excellent addition to the small collection I've amassed. Some of the stories had an almost sci fi horror air, like "The You Train" or "Too Many Yesterdays, Not Enough Tomorrows." It's also an interesting collection in that Jemisin reworked a few of these shorts into novels. Much as I would love to talk about each story in the collection, I will spare you the details and leave you with this: go and peruse the collection yourself, reader. You won't regret it. Jemisin is a skilled writer and her stories are highly enjoyable.
5/5 pumpkins.
The next book is another gift from my partner: Manga Classics Les Miserables edited by Stacy King. This was meant as a joke gift, reader. What I and my partner didn't know was that this is actually a very good abridgment and adaptation of Les Mis. I have read The Brick, over the course of a very long year, and have had a long love affair with the story. You might have been able to tell since one of the books I read was a self-published continuation of Les Mis. It's sequel shall be reviewed here too. At any rate, reader, I was very surprised to find this manga both well illustrated and well scripted. They cut all of the unnecessary waffle and kept in the parts that were important to the story. We follow first Jean Val Jean and then Marius. This does mean that the extras involving Les Amis were cut for space, but the story didn't really need a several pages long digression about how beautiful Enjolras was. I would honestly recommend this to fans of Les Mis who want to read the original story but are understandably put off by both the massive size of the book and Hugo's long-winded accounts of Waterloo, the Paris sewers, an author insert who is completely different from Marius, and Parisian slang from the 1830s. It doesn't hurt that the art is quite nice as well.
5/5 pumpkins
Hyde by Daniel Levine is next on our journey and has the dubious honor of being one of the older books in my TBR pile. I purchased this when it was freshly published in 2014 and have been meaning to get to it for far too long, reader. I was deep in the throes of a hyperfixation with The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, an obsession that actually drove me to make an account on tumblr so I could follow an artist I liked who was similarly obsessed. And in all this time I never picked up this book and reader, I almost wish I'd left it a mystery. The writing is serviceable if a little overwrought at times. This is excusable given the Victorian pulp roots of the story. It is a retelling of the original from Hyde's point of view, framed as him recollecting the past during the four days he was hiding in Jekyll's cabinet. Where to begin, reader.... First of all, if you are unfamiliar with the original story, it is about the Victorian obsession with moral dualism, the black and white split between good and evil.
I also want to stress that Hyde was not physically ugly, he looked fairly normal if a little on the short side. This doesn't have any bearing on what I'm talking about, I just need to let you know this fact, reader. Making Hyde ugly is a mistake and completely misses the point of the original story. It also plays into harmful tropes that people with physical disabilities are evil or bad in some way. Pardon me for the digression.
Back on topic, this story is trying to bring a more modern notion of mental illness into the Jekyll and Hyde story. Levine tries to use Dissociative Identity Disorder to explain the effects of the solution Jekyll creates. The solution gives physical form to the alters, in essence. And here I must pause, reader, because if you know anything about the horror genre you might feel the hairs on the back of your neck raising because this is another example of an author using the DSMV as a monster manual. We shall never be free.
So Levine's premise hinges on bad but common tropes about mental illness. Unfortunately that's not the end of it because Levine also decided that Hyde's love interest would be a sixteen year old and Jekyll manifested Hyde as an alter in the first place because his father abused and assaulted him in his boyhood. And there's a subplot about child trafficking. Levine spares us the gory detail with the exception of Hyde's sexual exploits. Hyde is not suppose to be a good person, but since this is his story and he's framing himself as an innocent in all of this it just leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
I did not think I'm Thinking of Ending Things would be dethroned so quickly, but alas reader. Alas. At least Iain Reid didn't feel the need to write about CSA. Spare your eyes reader, don't pick this one up.
1/5 pumpkins.
Let's move on the more pleasant pastures, reader. Next is Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert. Sadly, this is the final installment of the Brown sisters' exploits. At least we ended just a strongly as we began. I love Eve Brown very much. I love her story, I love her love interest Jacob Wayne, I love the playlist Hibbert included in the beginning of the book, I love the fact that Hibbert includes content warnings to let me know what's up. I've commented on this trend before and I still love it. Eve Brown is running away from another failed business venture when the story begins which leads her parents to cut her off until she can hold down a job for a year and behave responsibly. As a person with chronic cut-and-run disease, I can relate. Eve manages to land a job cooking at a bed and breakfast two hours or so outside London. For the British, I can only imagine this is an unimaginably far distance. Eve might as well have gone to work on the moon. (I kid, dear readers of the British persuasion). Romance, as you might expect, ensues betwixt her and Jacob Wayne, owner of the aforementioned bed and breakfast. It's honestly so refreshing to read Hibbert's romance because she includes so much diversity. In this story both our romantic leads are autistic and it's so well written. It warms my heart, reader. I have no idea where I shall look next in the Romance genre now that I've run out of these books.
5/5 pumpkins
Our next read is, in the words of the author, less a memoir and more a biomythography. It is Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde. In this book, Lorde tells the reader about her life growing up in New York City as a Black lesbian. Since I don't often read poetry, I hadn't read any of Lorde's work before this, but I would honestly recommend reading this book and then her collected works because it adds so much to the experience. "Genevieve" is so much different when you know who she was to Lorde. It's also a great look at the queer scene in NYC during the 50s and 60s. I'm glad I read this book and Samuel R Delany's in the same month. I think reading this as a strict memoir would be a mistake since there are some parts of it that are more metaphorical rather than literal. It's funny that both Delany and Lorde emphasize this. Lorde purposefully adds things to her history that resonate with her and Delany tells the reader that his memory is imperfect and that other people might have different interpretations of the events he's describing. I can't help but compare the two books since they are both written by queer Black authors living in New York during the same time period. There's a good deal of comfort in reading older queer narratives, reader. I'm queer myself, and I think because this history isn't mainstream we are in danger of forgetting it is a part of us. There are parts of Lorde's work that I will never be able to relate to because they aren't for me as a white person. But reading it is important, listening is important, and this book was a good to read. I enjoyed it and I learned something while doing so.
4/5 pumpkins
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is next on our list. It's an English translation of Japanese contemporary fiction, although it is some light magical realist elements. This is a story of a little coffee shop tucked away on a backstreet in Tokyo that has the power to send people through time, but only for the amount of time it takes for their coffee to grow cold. The story follows three customers who want to travel back in time for various reasons. The first wants to let her boyfriend know that she'll wait for him to come back from America, the second to see her sister again, and the third to deliver a letter to his wife. The last story follows one of the owners as she travels into the future to see her daughter. It's a whimsical story that can be a little sad at times but it was an enjoyable read. I had a good time, reader, although it did make me nostalgic for sitting in coffee shops.
4/5 pumpkins.
The next book I read is Outlawed by Anna North. It's an historical fiction set in an alternate American frontier where a fever killed most of the population, leaving small townships behind who are even more obsessed with female fidelity and birth than before. It has a western flavor, though it is a western that is trying very hard to escape the legacy of anti-Indigenous racism that comes part and parcel with the genre. It tried its best, reader, but I don't think it quite got there. More on that later. The story follows Ada, a midwife in training who is expelled from her town for being barren. She sets off on a quest to join the Whole in the Wall Gang, run by The Kid. The book does try to include nonbinary and queer characters, which is lovely, but I think it falls victim to the issues that tend to follow westerns. There are very few Indigenous characters and only a brief mention of the legacy of slavery. The book tries to focus on women's issues which is North's prerogative as a writer, it's a subject I think she's comfortable with. But there is a significant section of the book that talks about interracial marriages and how many of the people Ada interacts with think those relationships are wrong. If North can include that I think she should have included more BIPOC characters. The book could have been better, reader, but it was alright.
3/5 pumpkins.
Next up is Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor. This is the second installment of Karou's adventures and we begin several months after the end of the first book. Things are looking down for Karou. She's taken the Chimera to earth and is acting as their resurrectionist under the watchful eye of Thiago. Akiva, her love interest is contemplating revolt, and the Seraph's ruler has implemented a scorched earth policy. And by the end of the book, angels are invading Earth. The writing is the same semi-lyrical style as the last, though the tone is darker. The book ends with some hope, but that is overshadowed by the angels on Earth. It certainly makes me want to hear the rest of the story, reader.
5/5 pumpkins.
Our next book is actually the three volumes of Heartstopper by Alice Oseman. This is a graphic novel that began life as a webcomic. It's about Nick and Charlie's relationship, how they met and how it develops while they're in high school. Or the British equivalent, since this takes place in England. It's a very cute graphic novel, though it does deal with heavy topics like disordered eating, attempted assault, and depression. It's a sweet story with a lovely art style and it's a nice coming of age romance. The next volume will be out soon, but if I can't wait for it I can always go read the comic online.
4/5 pumpkins
I mentioned The Motion of Light in Water by Samuel R Delany earlier when talking about Audre Lorde's memoir. This is a memoir about Delany's life in New York while he was married to his wife, the poet Marilyn Hacker. He writes about his science fiction writing and getting published, about his relationship with men, about the people he and Marilyn knew, and the time he hitchhiked down to the gulf to work for a summer of fishing boats. The book is split up into many small sections, which I always like. He also emphasizes that these are his recollections of his past and might not be accurate. Delany opens the book by telling the reader that his memory might not be reliable. It's an interesting read and another angle on the gay scene in New York during the 50s and 60s. I quite enjoyed it, reader.
4/5 pumpkins.
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier was a recommendation by Ariel Bisset on her podcast Books Unbound. (A delightful listen, reader. I encourage you to check it out). It is indeed ten reasons why the reader should unplug from social media. I shall be honest reader, I found this to be a mediocre read. It has less to do with the goal of the book than the way Lanier made his arguments. Lanier works in Silicon Valley and has done so since the beginning of the Internet and I'm glad I read his perspective on it. He remembers a time before social media and the culture it's created. He also is intimately aware of just how bad social media can be, not just because of how people act on those websites but also because of the companies who are running it. Even though some of the arguments are clumsy, I still think this is a valuable read. Just try to look past his misunderstandings of wolf behavior and his bias towards individualist societies.
3/5 pumpkins.
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow is another alternate history historical fiction book, this time focusing on the 1890s. Witches and magic are real in this universe, and the witch hunts still take up a very large part of the cultural backdrop of this book. It follows three sisters who grew up in Mississippi and have come to New Salem in their adulthood one by one. They are reunited just as a powerful magic begins stirring. I found the first twelve chapters a little slow, but the book does pick up and speeds right along to the end. I preferred Harrow's take on an alternate America better than North's mostly because Harrow didn't shy away from depicting the legacies of slavery in her story. It is integral to the plot and is folded in well with the themes of women's rights and magic. Harrow makes a point to tell the reader that the western idea of witchcraft and magic is not the only valid system. Magic can be used by everyone and is used by everyone differently, depending on their culture. The book also includes queer characters which I enjoyed greatly. Aside from a slow start, I enjoyed this book. Harrow handles the multiple perspectives well, and there was only one point at the end where it felt a little unwieldy. All in all a solid historical fantasy.
4/5 pumpkins.
Next is a collection of essays called Scratch edited by Manjula Martin. Each essay is written by a different author and all of them look at different aspects of the financial side of writing. While all the essays were interesting in one way or another, some of them were more enjoyable than others. This, I think, is just a feature of essay collections with varying authors. There is a wonderful diversity of voices featured in the collection and it's a very frank look at what making money as a writer is like. There are almost as many different ways to make a living as a writer as there were writers in this collection, but I think this is a valuable read if you're thinking of selling the words you write, dear reader.
4/5 pumpkins.
Last, though not least, is Chasing a Legacy by DA Ravenscroft. This is the second book after Chasing a Ghost, and follows Enjolras and Grantaire's children Marianne and Camille. Both of them are struggling with the complicated legacy Enjolras left behind him. Marianne is determined to be as unlike her father as she can while Camille is trying his hardest to live up to the image of Enjolras he's created in his mind. The book opens with a lost duel and a blackmail letter, which I'm sure was not Camille's ideal start to a day. While Camille tries to figure out who is blackmailing him, Marianne starts being courted by a baron whose motives seem genuine right up until the day they are wed. The book does include content warnings in the back, which I appreciated greatly. The middle of the book sees Camille trying to unravel the mystery he's been presented and Marianne trying to hold her own against her new and terrible husband. Part three sees them both on trial for murder. This part was my favorite, the court drama was exquisite. It's a queer story written by a queer author about the children of a character for Les Mis. I liked it very much.
4/5 pumpkins.
That ends the wrap up for this month, reader. I can only hope I don't read fifteen books next month because talking about this many in one go has been a trial.
Until next time, dear reader 🎃
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