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books read: 2020 mar-apr
Halfway into the year, my first book review/summary post. The Jan-Feb books will be done later because I left the list of those books read in the office and probably won't get back to them until July. For now, let's just review March through April, since there's plenty to tackle there. And then there were 14 books in May... so I'll do that together with June once this month is up. Quarantine/stay-at-home helping me average 2-3 books a week!
Yes, I'm putting the picture books in here. The manga volumes are lumped together though.
Yes, I'm putting the picture books in here. The manga volumes are lumped together though.
- Goodnight Veggies by Diana Murphy - A very cute picture book that taught a bunch of vegetable names and still managed a sweet rhyming lullaby of a book. Urban rooftop garden!
- Do Not Rake Your Garden in a Party Dress by Aimee Bissonette and Kelly Pousette - Silly, fantastical, and cute. Plus, practical advice, really.
- Lawrence, the Bunny Who Wanted to Be Naked by Vern Kousky - A very colorfully illustrated silly and cute book, where the kid bunny teaches his mom bunny to listen to what he wants. A good lesson.
- Given, volumes 1-6 by Natsuki Kizu - An ongoing BL manga with high school and university students in a band. I picked up the first volume at Kinokuniya and liked the art and feelings. While the main couple is cute though angsty, I am probably predictably moreinto the side couple of Haruki and Akihiko; they're so fucked up and Haruki is pining and Akihiko is hung up on his ex, but I think they finally started making progress where the scanlations finally stopped. Rooting for them.
- Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews - A side story from the Innkeeper Chronicles from Maud's POV and her romance with Arland and his fucked up family/society. It was pretty fun to see Maud hold her own, even as a Mary Sue who could magically speak their high language and be a badass fighter. How much she loves her kid is great, and how much Arland - so powerful in his own right - is willing to sacrifice for her/stand up for her is very romance tropey.
- Yotsuba! volume 1 by Kiyohiko Azuma - Also picked up the first volume from Kinokuniya because, honestly, best slice-of-life series. So warm-hearted and light and lovely, and a constant reminder to try to enjoy all the small things in life -- and the relationships with people. It's comforting.
- A Man and His Cat by Umi Sakurai - Another manga from Kinokuniya! I remember seeing panels on Tumblr but compiled together in a volume is very sweet, about a widower and the fat cat he adopted. They love each other so much! They're learning to navigate life as roommates! Very sweet.
- Dreyer's English by Benjamin Dreyer - Picking up my national parks book at Brazos and I ended up seeing this on display and I can't resist a good book on language and style. It was great! Read lightly and quickly, a little snarky to keep it funny because you gotta have some opinions and judgment on this stuff or what's the point of having any rules or guidance at all. So while I didn't agree with everything,overall I really enjoyed the book.
- Sweep With Me by Ilona Andrews - Book 5 in the Innkeeper Series, with the focus back on Dina and Sean. Another quick and entertaining read, and I love this series for the worldbuilding of all these intergalactic guests and their cultural traditions and potential for mishaps.
- Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik - I enjoyed this book a lot more than Uprooted! Very culturally Jewish and facing some stereotypes and judgments intermixed with a Rumpelstiltskin retelling about elves. I enjoyed the different female perspectives and stories, and because the story was populated by so many different characters there was a mix of tradiontally strong and weak characters with different motivations. The romance is always weak for me though; there is just no believable chemistry or strength of feeling.
- Invitation to Dance by Tamara Allen - Historical journalists who start out very enemies (or fraught newsroom rivals) to lovers, but a lot of the "undercover" work gave me a lot of secondhand anxiety about them getting embarassed or caught. Always enjoyable, as Tamara Allen's works tend to be, but they also hooked up pretty quickly and destroyed all tension for the relationship. Most of the tension came from wondering if/when the deception would be caught or unveiled. I did not love that scene.
- Know My Name by Chanel Miller - A devastating, gutting read, frustrating and painful, but also beautiful because she is a lovely writer and so much more than The Victim. I cried at the introduction and just kept crying intermittently through the reading of this, but it's such a good book. My ebook was from the library but I've purchased a hard copy now from my local bookstore so I can lend it to others and also reread more easily.
- Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies by Moss Roberts - A beautiful hardcover from Folio Society with illustrations by my fave artist, Victo Ngai -- a thoughtful surprise gift from Sonia. An interesting mix of Chinese fantasy, fairy tale, and folklore, divided into loose categories. Lots of magistrates and filial duty, but also animals, ghosts, and bad parents and emperors. Taoist rejection of Confucian ideals also prominent in some stories and, let's be real, I enjoyed those more.
- Thornbound by Stephanie Burgis - In an alternate magical regency-ish England (Angland) where women rule government and men are too emotional to handle anything but magic, yet the story is still about women (with magic) being denied entry and rights, sigh. The plot is relatively straightforward and it was mostly about the characters and their relationships, but while I largely enjoyed the world, I did not very ;much like the main character, so that made it tough.
- Slow Horses by Mitch Herron - Failed MI5 agents relegated to the slow house, but of course they get caught up in a new plot. Interesting mix of characters and backgrounds but I'm not sure I liked any of them. Or the plot, which is white nationalist racist plot exploiting existing racism. The story also felt lowkey sexist toward its female characters? I don't know, maybe spy thrillers -- even the slow paced ones like this -- aren't my thing. Unlikely to continue the series.
- Moontangled by Stephanie Burgis - A side story/novella set in the same world as Thornbound focused on one of the background f/f relationships. They're really cute but the plot is entirely based on willful miscommunication and assumptions, lol. The trope works everywhere. A happy ending, naturally.
- If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again & Head of A Snake, Tail of a Dragon by Zen Cho - The first is a novelette (wtf is that? It won a Hugo Award anyway) that grew past its initial premise and surprised me with feelings for the end. Also learned about imgui, Korean half-dragons seeking full dragon status. Essentially about the connection between people, even if one of those people is an imugi who doesn't understand humans. The sequel was short but also very cute.
- The Only Gold by Tamara Allen - Probably my favorite of her books! I didn't think I'd care about late 1800s banking reforms and yet! The character dynamics here -- also antagonism to more -- really make it for me here, with one side gritting his teeth and not-so-secretly resentful while met with eternal good humor, peace offerings, but no quarter given. And then the hooking up is great, because I believe in the chemistry working, and then there's still plot.
- Pop Star by Eden Finley - Jet's ex and his story about falling in love with his bodyguard. I like the premise but honestly I've read better 1D or original fic! I just don't care about these characters, and I am okay with caring about the angst of poor little rich boys! Or maybe the chemistry didn't work for me? Whatever. I'll stick with the Fake Dating series and 1D fic, honestly. (I really got into a period of Harry/Niall. It's great.)
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Burgis seems to like miscommunication as a trope!
Not quite a short story, not quite a novella ^^ (I imagine something to do w/ word count but le shrug) Cho's story was utterly charming though - have you heard about her novella The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water?
I rather like my historical m/m romances to be light on the actual homophobia of the day. Romance tends to be my fluffy escape!
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I have heard about Zen Cho's new novella and I'm debating if I want a e-version or a hard copy of it! The cover looks great and I'm really interested.
Agreed, I am all about the fluffy escape in romances. I need a Happily Ever After, please.
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HEA forever~~