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Finished reading
Accidentally Kelly Street by Briony Stewart. An illustrated picture book of the lyrics to said song by Frente. Illustrated (and therefore essentially, composed as a new story) by someone I went to uni with. I have weirdly strong memories of the video clip and the song, and the illustrator has turned the lyrics into this gorgeously lit, utterly coherent, completely different narrative of a story. Do rec.
The spear cuts through water by Simon Jimenez. A library ebook, the first in a long while. Picked up based on Abigail Nussembaum's review here This is doing fascinating things with point of view (first, second, and third), and is also at points, grippingly terrifying. Several characters are introduced as bracing themselves to challenge the evil throne, essentially, and I was nauseated for all of them (it's pretty damn violent in places). It's 550ish dense pages, which took a good six weeks to finish, and I was very grateful to whoever it was who reserved the ebook after me and then immediately decided 'nah' and returned it, so I an essentially unbroken string of renew, and renew, and--. I feel like the final third could have perhaps been foregrounded a little better, but it's still a really, really strong novel. De rec.
Small game by Blair Braverman VERY interested based on this review. Turns out I fucking inhaled this one -- 300ish phone ebook pages in three days, done and dusted. Harrowing and realistic, this is a very sparse, clipped writing style which teetered on that knife-edge of 'not good', and *yet*... I could not stop reading, and also started thinking in that voice, and kinda want it read it again in a 'I'm not ready to leave yet' sort of way. I think on balance that makes it very, very good.
Currently reading:
The gifts of imperfection by Brene Brown. I bought this paperback years ago after watching her vulnerability TedTalk, and bounced off it at the time. In retrospect, I can see why: this is both challenging as fuck, and also a speed run of a bunch of in-depth concepts. It reads like a workbook of a much larger course. Which isn't a bad thing, honestly -- it's a quick read (having said that, I'm yet to finish it, having put it aside after I went back to work), but I'm very glad I went into it with both her TedTalk several times over, and several years of therapy under my belt so I already had the shape of what she was talking about.
It was also challenging enough that in the few weeks since putting it down and writing this up, I had entirely forgotten the chapter titles. It feels like one of those therapy sessions where we were going somewhere deep and frankly threatening or core enough that I lightly...forgot. Hard. I do know I've left some page markers in a 'come back and engage again later' and I think I remember what those were?
The sisters of the vast black by Lina Rather. An ebook novella I bought ages back for the promise of queer nuns in space. I don't actually know *what* I was expecting from those tags, exactly.This is well written and slightly less gripping than I'd hoped (but that's also hampered by my sporadic reading style). Many feelings-points for the description of the woman reading her love's letter, and savouring the warmth of the tablet she's reading it on like an embrace. I'm restarting because I didn't get that far into it the first time, and it's been long enough since I picked it up that I can't remember the first 20 pages, actually.
The dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. About 25 pages in, physical paperback. This has been on my 'should read' list for years. I remember bouncing off 'The left hand of darkness' in my mid 20s becuase I in no way understood what I was reading or what was going on. This one, I've either grown up a bit, or it's less dense-of-concept. Either way, I'm relieved, and it's making me chuckle, even.
Up next:
The ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories by Susanna Clarke. Absolutely captivated by File770's spruiking of the opening pages.
Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk - Nebula novella that I saw a very good review of that I now can't find.
“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, John Chu -- Ditto novelette, including on the review front.
Accidentally Kelly Street by Briony Stewart. An illustrated picture book of the lyrics to said song by Frente. Illustrated (and therefore essentially, composed as a new story) by someone I went to uni with. I have weirdly strong memories of the video clip and the song, and the illustrator has turned the lyrics into this gorgeously lit, utterly coherent, completely different narrative of a story. Do rec.
The spear cuts through water by Simon Jimenez. A library ebook, the first in a long while. Picked up based on Abigail Nussembaum's review here This is doing fascinating things with point of view (first, second, and third), and is also at points, grippingly terrifying. Several characters are introduced as bracing themselves to challenge the evil throne, essentially, and I was nauseated for all of them (it's pretty damn violent in places). It's 550ish dense pages, which took a good six weeks to finish, and I was very grateful to whoever it was who reserved the ebook after me and then immediately decided 'nah' and returned it, so I an essentially unbroken string of renew, and renew, and--. I feel like the final third could have perhaps been foregrounded a little better, but it's still a really, really strong novel. De rec.
Small game by Blair Braverman VERY interested based on this review. Turns out I fucking inhaled this one -- 300ish phone ebook pages in three days, done and dusted. Harrowing and realistic, this is a very sparse, clipped writing style which teetered on that knife-edge of 'not good', and *yet*... I could not stop reading, and also started thinking in that voice, and kinda want it read it again in a 'I'm not ready to leave yet' sort of way. I think on balance that makes it very, very good.
Currently reading:
The gifts of imperfection by Brene Brown. I bought this paperback years ago after watching her vulnerability TedTalk, and bounced off it at the time. In retrospect, I can see why: this is both challenging as fuck, and also a speed run of a bunch of in-depth concepts. It reads like a workbook of a much larger course. Which isn't a bad thing, honestly -- it's a quick read (having said that, I'm yet to finish it, having put it aside after I went back to work), but I'm very glad I went into it with both her TedTalk several times over, and several years of therapy under my belt so I already had the shape of what she was talking about.
It was also challenging enough that in the few weeks since putting it down and writing this up, I had entirely forgotten the chapter titles. It feels like one of those therapy sessions where we were going somewhere deep and frankly threatening or core enough that I lightly...forgot. Hard. I do know I've left some page markers in a 'come back and engage again later' and I think I remember what those were?
The sisters of the vast black by Lina Rather. An ebook novella I bought ages back for the promise of queer nuns in space. I don't actually know *what* I was expecting from those tags, exactly.
The dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. About 25 pages in, physical paperback. This has been on my 'should read' list for years. I remember bouncing off 'The left hand of darkness' in my mid 20s becuase I in no way understood what I was reading or what was going on. This one, I've either grown up a bit, or it's less dense-of-concept. Either way, I'm relieved, and it's making me chuckle, even.
Up next:
The ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories by Susanna Clarke. Absolutely captivated by File770's spruiking of the opening pages.
Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk - Nebula novella that I saw a very good review of that I now can't find.
“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, John Chu -- Ditto novelette, including on the review front.
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I have bounced off this post about three times now, because I read the first line and am immediately earwormed and distracted. I am now going to attempt to Read! The! Post! and ignore the song in the front of my head.
From:
no subject
Actually, thank you for that, you've reminded me that I never actually went and checked author(illustrator? creator?) spelling. *edits*
From:
no subject
:)