meitachi | books read: 2024 december

Just spent 7 hours today with our local AAPI civic/cultural org, doing a work retreat and getting dinner. Establishing human connections, sharing our reasons for being involved in the group, and brainstorming goals for the future of the org. Happy 2025! Here's to building.

Anyway, let me quickly wrap up my December reading:

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman - He's taking a break from this Thursday Murder Club series for a new one! More jetsetting, a younger protagonist, more international crime and action, but still a fun cast of characters. I don't love them yet as much as the Thursday Murder Club crew, which also has its very local setting as part of its cozy charm, but I enjoyed this as a change of pace.

The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again, Today Vol 7 by Hitsuji Yamada - The latest volume out so far and I love it and I love this entire series and want more. Still an absolute charming main character and cat, plus the cat's love of this random sea-themed idol group. Just go with it: it's strange but charming and delightful.

The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes - Sequel to The Inheritance Games series, except now Avery and the brothers are running the game. Why? For wealth distribution, apparently. It entertained me enough to finish this but I'm not sure I enjoyed it -- might not bother with the rest of the series. I don't particularly care who wins or what all these new folks' different secret relationships are to each other!

Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson - Came across this in a bookstore, it sounded interesting, but I wasn't sure I wanted to commit -- library to the rescue! It was very litfic, and the art gallery stuff always entertains me a little bit (collectors and gallerists really are just...rich awful people a lot of times, and artists can play into that or be exploited or also become insufferable). That was beside the point though. The framework as interesting, the question at the heart of the story made me think, and the ending was, hm, I will say well built up to.

Swordcrossed by Freya Marske - Fantasy Venice/European city with magic, guilds, and also dueling for honor! Fun world but didn't feel super fleshed out. Liked the main characters and their spark, though it happened too quickly (classic lust-at-first-sight). Reminded me a lot of Melissa Scott's Master of Samar (except that was an established m/m relationship). I suppose it's the magical fantasy European city and family guild/merchant stuff, plus vague villainry and competition.

I Ship My Rival x Me (the Comic / Manhua) Vol 1 by PEPA - Read this online, and a delight to hold the volume to read. Absolutely charming illustrations that capture both the idol beauty and the cuteness. The fandom stuff was well-depicted and translated. It's funny too! Warm fuzzy feelings.

Mistletoe and Murder by Carola Dunn - (Daisy Dalrymple #10) Read for the season and it was very appropriate; I liked it better than a couple of the more recent books in the series. An obvious killer in my opinion, and an unsympathetic one. I liked the rest of the cast though!

Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop by Otto Penzler - Didn't realize this was a compilation of submitted stories based around a real bookstore, and that the editor is a real person/shopowner who made a cameo in a lot of those stories. Very New York, often grim, full of unpleasant men -- not a huge hit for me. A few stories were creative/thought-provoking or moved me emotionally, but by and large not the type of modern mystery I prefer.

Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson - (Ernest Cunningham #3) Tropey -- which is kind of the selling point -- and short, a quick fun seasonal read. Not as strong as his previous two mysteries, probably because in part because it's a shorter story with less time to develop character and plot points.

Against Technoableism by Ashley Shew - A short book about disability and the way technology developed for the disabled has too often been designed by the nondisabled without taking into account the wishes or real-world experiences of actually disabled people. Discusses medical model of disability versus social model, tropes of inspiring disabled characters, and different types of disability and touches on autism/neurodiversity. Short but to the point and useful!

Who Killed the Curate? by Joan Coggins - (Lady Lupin #1) A charming, well-meaning, and very silly lady falls in love with a vicar and deals with all the social goings-on required of a vicar's wife. Then someone dies and there is a mystery to be solved! (She doesn't really solve it, but she by accident helps in the solving.) Much more a picture of this village life and the characters and their dynamics within it. The ebook had some weird formatting/typos. Overall a sweet story but a little too much hapless commentary and lack of competence for my tastes, so probably bowing out of the remainder of the series.

One Piece Vols 105-107 by Oda Eiichiro - Started back up from the transition of Wano arc to Egghead, and we're well into whatever's going down on Egghead now. World government shenanigans. Stuff about the lost century coming out! Throwbacks to Robin's past. VIVI APPEARANCE, my beloved. We're really finally coming toward the final arcs now, I hope.

Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett - (Discworld) A reread, and it always takes a moment to readjust to the way Pratchett writes Discworld: no chapter breaks but lots of scene breaks and hopping from one character to the other. Once I was back into the rhythm, remembered how much I enjoy Discworld. Funny, wry, sometimes romantic, sometimes poignant.