Wants to read Ayiti
book
Rated Cosmic Dyke Patrol 7/10
<div>A little gooey for my tastes (ymmv!), but I still enjoyed reading this, and the premise would make a great Monster of The Week series.</div>
Rated The Psychology of Time Travel 6/10
<div>The concepts and premise behind this book are definitely interesting, but a few of the plot points felt unearned. I understand that time travelers are not going to have the same sort of sense of pacing that the rest of us would have, but it's the rest of us who are reading the book, and some of it — like the romances — involves at least one non-time traveling person. A sometimes impulsive one, sure, but the whole thing felt shoehorned in. The writing itself borders on excessively twee on occasion. I'm indulgent of a little of that, especially in a fantasy or sci-fi plot, but everyone's got a special twee name, and their inner monologues feel as though they are run through a thesaurus filter first.<br><br>I mean, I'm not sorry I read it, and I think the ideas behind how time travel can affect all sorts of different personalities are good ones, but I didn't love the execution.</div>
Finished reading The Art of Fielding
Edited 41d ago
Rated Doctor Who: Mission to Magnus 2/10
This might be the first Doctor Who audio adventure that I really did not like at all. Tiny moments of humor and the actors giving it their best are not enough for me to say it's even just okay. And the ending is like some terrible version of Taming of the Shrew. Perhaps this was a Lost Adventure that was best gone for good. But I made it all the way through, and I heard it for free, so at least there's that.
Rated West of Sunset 10/10
I know a little bit about Fitzgerald’s biography, but it is more about his early career. Because of that, I wasn’t reading West of Sunset like a fact-checker looking to “catch” Stewart O’Nan making an error. Yes, it’s interesting that this story is based on a true one, with classic movie stars popping up and writers like Hemingway giving him shit about his output, but it’s a good book apart from all that. This is still a story about restlessness and the yearning for success, and it’s about trying to find camaraderie wherever one can.<br><br>(Full review can be found at <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2015/02/book-review-west-of-sunset-by-stewart-onan/">at Persephone Magazine.</a>)
Rated We Need to Do Something 9/10
<div>Was it absolutely perfect? Eh, maybe not. Lots of dialogue back-and-forth that makes it clear the story began as a screenplay. BUT! I was all-in on this story, so I don't care! This is a GREAT horror novella that really, really makes you feel the tension as this family is confined to their bathroom during a storm.<br><br>I picked this up because I ended up following the author on Bluesky, and sometimes when I follow an author, it feels polite to have read at least ONE of their books, so I'm glad my library had this. I'll look for more by them.</div>
Rated Free Love 7/10
<div>Honestly, this is more of a 3 star, story-wise, but Tessa Hadley's writing is always so good and richly detailed that I mind the light plot less. Essentially, this is a "upper-crusty people contemplate upending their lives, with varying degrees of follow-through and success." Scandalous affairs! 1960s London! Artsy youths who think they know shit! But at its heart is the desperation of one woman to no longer be a conventional wife, hoping that her exuberance sees her through. Definitely not a bad book, but it wasn't love for me. </div>
<div>If you are a woman with a chronic illness and want to feel seen, then you will get something out of this book. Perhaps less so if you are looking for practical tips on how to navigate your feelings and level of activity, as this is mostly filled with accounts of women who have been failed by their doctors, friends, and significant others. Because of that, I HEARTILY recommend that anyone who interacts with chronically ill women should give this book a read. It may be illuminating for you, and it might make you treat the disabled/ill women in your life better. One would hope. Then again, we're unfortunately quite used to being let down.<br><br>I do wish this tackled the added complication of fatphobia in the medical profession, as that was a big gap in the otherwise quite diverse interviewed women, but the subject barely comes up. Besides that, while I was knowingly infuriated at times while reading because of my own experiences, I am glad I finally read this.</div>
Rated Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor #3 10/10
<div>Loved this installment of the story, which is shaping up to be a really good storyline for Doctor Who comics in general.</div>
Rated I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women at Factory Records 9/10
<div>Though the book starts out with a somewhat Feminism 101-style justification for its own existence, I'm willing to forgive that because I know it has to be there. Music bros will always want to wheedle away at a woman who dares to assert authority. After that, the book becomes a compelling oral history of a unique time in Manchester music and art history.<br><br>You've perhaps heard the legends about the bands involved (Joy Division/New Order, Happy Mondays), the go-big-or-go-home spending habits (1200 person club capacity in a weird building! expensive office furniture!), and seen or read other histories documenting the post-punk and Madchester years. That prior knowledge is helpful here, but this book isn't meant to be a definitive biography. Instead, this group of voices — musicians, managers, club staff, designers, artists, etc. — aim to fill in the gaps. Bands, music journalism, and music-as-business in that era, as we know, were (and still are!) male-dominated affairs, and even though Factory was better than most of its time, it still had its shortcomings. Not to mention, how Factory has been spoken about since did not always provide a full picture of how the women kept the show running while the men would often prioritize being "personalities."<br><br>Still, this isn't an act of revenge. For the most part, the women speak warmly about the others they worked with, and they all seem to give a pretty fair accounting of what it was like to live through Factory's various stages of existence. They speak honestly about the challenges, but not all of those challenges were gender-related. There are, of course, several funny stories. Factory Records, The Haçienda, and everything else that these women helped create was something really special. It gave us a lot of great art, and I'm glad that some of the story was recorded here.</div>
Rated Dept. of Speculation 10/10
If I had read this earlier, it would have probably snuck into my Top 5 for the year post that I wrote. This book is as great as everyone said it is.<br><br>With its short chapters, <i>Dept. of Speculation</i> lends itself well to dipping in and out of its pages to remind oneself of its little bursts of feelings, but it’s also a good book for a full reread. Watching the reality of another couple’s ups and downs inevitably inspires reflection on one’s own relationships. How can we improve? Are we past the point of no return?<br><br>(Full review appears at <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2015/03/3-book-recommendations-illuminating-womens-lives/">Persephone Magazine</a>.)
Rated When the World Didn't End 8/10
<div>Guinevere Turner's memoir about her childhood split between growing up in the Lyman Family cult and later an abusive household with her mother, step-father, and siblings was a harrowing read, but an interesting one. Using her diaries as scaffolding, she writes from the perspective of her child-self and how she felt about what was happening to her at the time. Though I maybe would have liked a little more adult-self perspective near the end, I also understand that writing it this way makes it all the more clear what it's like to be in these situations, how your perspective gets warped by what the adults in your life are telling you. It's also wild how she was actually somewhat safer within a cult than she was living with her mother/step-father, though of course, living with the Family had its own share of problems. I'd be interested to read another memoir from Turner about how she navigated life after getting free from these terrible situations.</div>
Rated Ottolenghi Simple: A Cookbook 8/10
Rated The Middlesteins 10/10
I’ve followed Jami Attenberg’s work online for several years now, but I must admit that this is the first novel of hers that I’ve read (a gap I plan to remedy soon). The Middlesteins is, so far, also her most successful book, and for good reason. She has written a family saga that feels very grounded in reality, centered around matriarch Edie. Edie cannot stop eating or obsessing over food, and it is severely affecting her health. Her husband, Richard, after decades of marriage, leaves her, and now her adult children are wondering how they can care for her and process their parents’ split, all while managing their own complicated lives.<br><br>One of the things I loved about the book is that Attenberg does not write caricatures. In the hands of lesser writers, a character like Edie could have dissolved into a one-dimensional stereotype, but she is a whole person full of humor and love. The other family members, with all their quirks and problems, receive the same honest treatment. Though the plot deals with serious subject matter, it’s also a very funny book.<br><br>(This review also appeared on <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2013/08/22/5-book-recommendations-for-your-reading-pleasure/">Persephone Magazine</a>.)
Rated Iris Wildthyme: The Sound of Fear 6/10
This was my first Iris Wildthyme story, and I liked it well enough to continue on to other stories of hers, but it wasn't all-out love.