Renata Sancken
My interest in reading mysteries is narrow and specific–I like reading about cults but not murder, so this was sort of borderline for grabbing my interest. But the mixed media/found media format was overall cool and made it read really quickly. I think when I got to the end and stopped to think about a few things they didn't necessarily add up, but also while I was reading I couldn't be bothered to question anything bc I was reading too quickly.
This has been a really popular choice off the local schools' summer reading list for the last couple years, so I wanted to check it out to be familiar with it but I was also nervous about it being like Wonder-style disability inspiration porn, and I was pleasantly surprised! Aven's voice is so funny and sharp (aided by the good audiobook narrator) but I loved that we could see her complexity–someone who has been raised to advocate for herself and her friends but also someone capable of pushing someone too hard and getting in someone's business in a way that's not helpful. I do think that yes, it's a good one for a school reading because of the way it models inclusivity. But also, it's funny and the mystery aspect will keep kids reading.
I struggle with Anna-Marie McLemore's books bc like, they are such a beautiful writer and their prose is always so lovely, but the magical realism just doesn't like, hit for me ? Like I just can't wrap my head around like what...exactly....is happening????
I felt like with this book I came closer than usual to understanding it. The gems are a great metaphor.
Anyway 5 stars for having a cool character named Renata who is beloved by all
you can tell this was written by a woman because the male love interest is a barbarian (who's even more barbaric than the OTHER Ice Planet Barbarians) who has essentially no knowledge of spoken language whatsoever (like not English but also barely any of the alien language all the OTHER aliens on the ice planet speak)...but he understands and obeys the word NO. chef's kiss
if you have questions about how this language-less alien is able to narrate his half of the book and if his language processing center of his brain may have decayed over time.......no you don't
this was so silly but fun and I am obsessed with the reveal that all the human women are going to give their kids "Brangelina" style names AKA RENESMEE STYLE NAMES!!!
hehee anyway I do think that for now, at least, my curiosity has been sated regarding the Ice Planet Barbarians and I don't feel the need to read more of these. At least not unless anyone tells me some real bonkers detail that I might want to investigate. until then...it's been real
It took me a little while to get into this because I'm not much of a sci-fi reader, but once I got into it I was hooked! I loved these characters (especially, of course, the cat) and their journeys (literal and emotional). I would recommend it for fans of Becky Chambers and Martha Wells (aka fans of cozy-ish queer sci-fi)!
I'm a big fan of Paul's podcast How Did This Get Made? and have seen a lot of Paul's other TV/film work. I felt like this book really validated my parasocial relationship with him-it includes/expands on some stories about his life that he's told on the podcast with some added, well, trauma. Like some MAJ YIKES childhood moments. (I loved the cameos from June in this, like he mentions telling her one of these stories and she said something like “I'm so upset I have to leave the room”. Juuuuune!) ANyway it's just a very funny and endearing book and has some really relatable moments for people who are fans of stuff-I loved reading about his childhood fandom energies. You can tell he's a person who loves comedy and is aware that he's living his dream.
I wouldn't necessarily say you should go out of your way to read this if you aren't already a fan of Paul's, but if you're even a little interested in checking out his book I'd definitely recommend it.
I'm drawn to stories about movies/Hollywood (both old and modern day) so I was excited to pick this up, and there was definitely a lot to like here. But mmmmmm I feel like...this would have functioned better as a more straightforward historical fiction without the intergenerational present day aspect? Like most readers are going to pretty quickly gather that Kitty was their secret grandma... so why make it a ~big reveal~ toward the end?
Also I just found Kitty's Old Hollywood storyline much more compelling than the present day St James sisters. Like I understand the parallels being drawn between Kitty needing to pass as White to succeed and Elise needing to delete her Black Lives Matter social media post but also like, IDK, did we need all 3 sisters and and also the publicists and also the boyfriends? A lot going on that didn't necessarily all contribute!
The thing I was maybe most interested in was the concept of the Blair House secret society for Black women passing as white to secretly help each other and help darker skinned women too, and I did some googles to see if that was a real thing and it seems like no? Or if there was...it's still secret? Anyway I would have loved a book that focused more on that and dropped the present day stuff?
Anyway...I'll keep an eye out and see what Crystal Smith Paul writes next because I think there's some good stuff in here but it's maybe a little too much packed into one debut novel?
DEEPLY offended by the back cover text on the 2005 reprint which calls Artie “Donald Trump in a kid's body”, Artie has MUCH better business sense and ethics than that man. This book was a TRIP (across country in a white van) and I really enjoyed it. If you can find a print copy a modern tween would probably more or less enjoy it too. (And if they don't: sic an attack jelly on them.)
https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-243-no-coins-please/
I scooped this up on NetGalley from the description just bc I love summer camp, even though I don't normally love mysteries. It was definitely a page turner for me and I liked the different POVs. For me I sort of......might have preferred a book that just focused on Barbara's disappearance rather than Bear's? Or I don't know, I see how it all comes together, I think I mostly just didn't like the reveal that the real killer was the mentally ill mom??? and/or I suppose her husband and doctor who overmedicated her? :|
But overall I liked the voices here and the depiction of the camp was so realized to me.
My latest re-read of [b:Dealing with Dragons 150739 Dealing with Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles, #1) Patricia C. Wrede https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385526967l/150739.SY75.jpg 1178402] inspired me to read more in the series, which I never did as a kid. (I think maybe I didn't realize there were sequels?? IDK)Anyway I really liked the extended bits of fairy tale-adjacent lore and humor!
oh hm it's wild that this was written FIRST. I'm trying to imagine the experience of reading this without already knowing the stuff from the first 3 books. I guess you'd be more in Daystar's shoes and not appreciating some of the little hints of past characters.
I also think as an adult reading this–and one who LOVES Cimorene–it's hard not to just be like “hold on, Cimorene was just single momming it up for SIXTEEN YEARS while her husband was stuck in a time stasis that sounds like it was pretty traumatizing for him?!?” And like as a child reader of course you're meant to be in Daystar's POV and that's pretty standard fairy tale stuff so it's like oh sure whatever mom but IDK I was just so struck by that!!
also kind of disappointed that Morwen married Telemain tbh...when that didn't happen at the 3rd book like I expected I thought maybe Wrede was going to zag on us and let Morwen have her happy spinster rights.
I think if Wrede wrote this now a lot of the gender stuff would play out differently butttt it is still a somewhat dissatisfying product of its time I suppose.
It's hard not to be disappointed in a book for simply not being the book you wished it were? But when I saw HRMC #3 I was like yessss but then when I realized it was a prequel I was like HANG ON there is a lot of unfinished business in the present day of that story!!! I am too concerned about Theo, Elle, Leonie, etc! Now you want me to go back to the 16th century?! I don't have time for this!!!! That said I think I could have gotten hella into Anne Boleyn, Witch Queen but I didn't love the structure of this–it went back and forth in time between the time right after (historical spoilers) Boleyn's death and 10 years prior, and I think it made it hard for the story to build momentum and for me to build attachments to the characters or to get invested in the romantic confessions/triangulations–some of them felt like they came out of nowhere. I think less time jumping would have served the story better. (Having both read [b:The Other Boleyn Girl 37470 The Other Boleyn Girl (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #9) Philippa Gregory https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1355932638l/37470.SY75.jpg 3248536] and had it corrected for me by the Vulgar History podcast I felt familiar with the rumors of Anne's witchcraft etc in a way that I hadn't been previously, on account of my American education, so I do think having that background info was helpful to me.)Overall I still like the witchy worldbuilding and this was a fun, quick read I just...a) wanted a different book but also b) think that the book that this was, could have been a stronger book. I remain ANXIOUSLY awaiting the NEXT book in this series!!
oh hmmm I love a cult memoir of course and I did find her story to be compelling and well-written. I didn't realize it was also a military memoir–which maybe I should have because the opening is a teaser of her in basic training and wondering if she just joined another cult–and I struggled a bit with that element of it. LIKE...it's terrible that the military put her (and other women, and other people) through such terrible training and treatment, and you can see her struggle between being proud of how much abuse she can stand but also like, realizing it's all fucked up. But then there does remain a certain amount of fundamental acceptance of the war in the Middle East that was like... :/
I'd be interested to read another book from her in like 5-10 years to see how her thinking may or may not evolve on that. IDK.
I think I need to consciously seek out more essay collections written by poets because that seems like a real sweet spot for my literary tastes. Like I don't usually prefer to read just collections of poetry but I love it when someone has a poet's skill for language but they use it for prose.
This was sooo striking. At times challenging to read as she grapples with the intergenerational trauma inflicted by slavery in America but so worth the time invested. I will definitely be seeking out more of her writing.
OK so we read [b:Fourth Wing 61431922 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1) Rebecca Yarros https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1701980900l/61431922.SY75.jpg 96945623] for Worst Bestsellers and I bravely spoke my truth that although it was kind of clunky and had bonkers worldbuilding, it was also kinda fun! I might even read the second one, I said!! And then I heard rumors that the 2nd one was so bad fans thought it was written by AI and I was like, well now my curiosity simply COMPELS me to check this one out!! And honestly I really don't get the negative hype–like to me this was approximately as weird and clunky as the first one. A bit longer I guess, DEFO could have used an editor to cut it down–but so could the first one! Nothing about it jumped out to me as obviously AI–no literary equivalent of a 6th finger on a hand or anything.Also I thought some of the reveals were pretty surprising and interesting! The mom's motivations were more complex than I imagined! Dain's change of allegiance! Etc!IDK! I thought this was fine!
ok ok after DNFing book #2 I decided to try this one bc I still think the goofy-ass worldbuilding is fun but I just couldn't deal with the enemies to lovers of it all and ummm we're BACK hehe
and honestly I can't really explain why bc this whole premise is full of stuff I don't normally enjoy (“fated mates”, pregnancy, etc) but idk when you're on an ice planet the rules don't apply. (I think it probably does go back to the podcast discussion we had about the first book, about it being like kind of an anticapitalist fantasy where you don't have to work or make decisions you just like, vibe in a cave? which obviously is not a life I would CHOOSE but umm it's fun to read about I guess?)
Also the whole time Kira was like "oh no I'm infertile" I was like babe obviously your space parasite will heal you and I was a little surprised literally no one mentioned that but also it was nice that her alien bf accepted her even when he thought she was infertile. Also I appreciated but also LOL'd at Ruby Dixon's author's note about how she was wary about magically curing infertility so she carefully researched to find a condition to give Kira that could reasonably be cured. By the alien parasite!!! lol incredibleeeeee
anyway I took this to a beach house and read the whole thing in one day sooooo....yeah
mmm DNF. I had a lot of fun with the first [b:Ice Planet Barbarians 25128811 Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians, #1) Ruby Dixon https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551411246l/25128811.SX50.jpg 44825213] but I'm not a big fan of enemies to lovers and I just felt like...this wasn't hitting for me, and I didn't have to read it for the podcast, so, I stopped. Please clap for my personal growth!! I still might circle back and check out the one after this at some point tho
