Renata Sancken
I only recently learned this book existed (shout out to the Worst Bestsellers/Material Girls crossover episode) and decided to re-read the whole series before checking this out. Worthwhile endeavor! Start to finish! This felt like it could have been L.M. Montgomery's Tumblr if she hadn't died in 1942. I kind of skimmed some of the poems but always loved the little family chatter after each poem. It's giving early fanfiction where your characters comment on the work. Love it.
Some of the short stories felt a little same-y especially the way they all quote Susan Baker but also I enjoyed the cozy vibes. A fun artifact!
ohh I just recently learned that although in my childhood box set this is #4, it was actually written much later than the next book, [b:Anne's House of Dreams 77394 Anne's House of Dreams (Anne of Green Gables, #5) L.M. Montgomery https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442471048l/77394.SY75.jpg 1133797], so this is in some ways kind of a filler because it has to lead up to the events of the next book. Still I love the widows and Rebecca Dew and That Cat <3
Re-reading this now was soo interesting. Like when I was a KID I don't think I even made it to this book out of my box set bc I was like “why isn't this about ANNE” and then when I revisited it around high school age I was like “wow the drama, the romance” and now I'm like “this is such an interesting perspective on World War I”. Like this was first published in 1921 so it was post-war but still very immediate, and so ultimately patriotic and optimistic (despite the TRAGEDY WALTERRRRRR and also DOG MONDAYYYYYYY sob sob sob). But ultimately like a pretty satisfying wrap-up for the Blythes and associates. Like are the pairings-off a little too TIDY sure but also look it was 1921 and we've already had so many charming widows and spinsters demonstrating that lifestyle. Gotta get these girlies married ok!
This was an interesting read! I'd love to have had it in conjunction with a course or opportunity to watch the plays Karim-Cooper focuses on. I mean I guess I could do that myself with movies. But I'm not going to. I think the audience here is really like an educated layperson or college undergrad but the secret audience is the people who keep writing angry letters to Karim-Cooper in her role at the Globe theater to be like “woke liberals are ruining Shakespeare” but those people probably not going to read this.
OK so, I picked this up off display and was like “oh yeah I've been meaning to read this” and then gradually I realized that actually, I'd been thinking of [b:No One Is Talking About This 53733106 No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1601474686l/53733106.SY75.jpg 84057345] which is completely different. I have some questions about why no one is talking about this. Anyway by that point I was pretty sucked in so I kept reading although this is a little far afield of my usual preference (ie it's a murder mystery). I liked the podcaster angle a lot as well as the “cancel culture” part. I sort of enjoyed splashing around in the pool of “true crime is problematic but also helpful” waters although I'm not sure it's doing anything really groundbreaking in that area.
I really liked a lot of the plot dressing here–the Canadian Metis community, the Munchausen's by proxy–but aging Mary up into a teenager really...doesn't hit the same. And there was just like.........way less time spent in the Secret Garden and more time in the woods. IDK I love the Remixed Classics series but most of them have been more about aging characters down from adult into teen and I think trying to YA-ify a children's book...well at least in this instance I didn't love it as much as I wanted to.
This was such a fun treat! Kind of reminded me of Loki (the show) except if instead of it being about Loki it was about a delightful teen girl and her delightful talking dog. (Who is soo cute, Erica Henderson's artistic priorities are on point.) I love how Ryan North's work always makes me feel hopeful and optimistic about the world. A real accomplishment in THESE TRYING TIMES!
This was soo sweet and satisfying and funny! I loved these characters figuring each other out and also helping each other figure themselves out–especially Maggie telling Aiden she learned about demisexuality from reading romance novels. Meta representational win!
And I LOVED that it's a romance novel set in a small town where these 2 misfits who don't belong in the small town...fuck off and move to Seattle at the end! Hell yeah
I am just slightly too old to have read this as a Youth but it was perfectly enjoyable as an adult! Georgia is such a strong voice and so funny. I will say that in 2023 not all of the humor holds up (a lot of gay panic!) but overall: a fun read! I def get why it was so popular. Also I did not know that the titular Angus is a cat...powerful.
https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-224-angus-thongs-and-full-frontal-snogging/
I picked this up bc of the mention of cults in the synopsis but I didn't realize it was like, ripped from the headlines of the Sarah Lawrence Dad Cult and when I realized what was going on I was like
That said uhhh let's say this cult's reach ultimately strained credulity for me but it was a fast-paced read (esp because I skimmed some of the gorier parts, eek).
Oh also I wanted to like the true crime podcast aspect of it more but I was a little confused by what we learned about the podcast:
1) It's called Transgressions
2) it's a true crime podcast with 1 host
3) the podcast's tagline is “My transgression is...” and the host says what his transgression is but like.....what...he's not the criminal. how does this work functionally. also like calling murder a “transgression” seems like minimizing it. is that the joke??
4) the podcast's budget seems to be basically infinite (altho there was some light pushback on that toward the end)
anyway...this is a little outside my usual genre but the personal appeal factors of cult + podcast encouraged me to try it, and it was a fine experience.
ugh I was excited to read this but it wasn't quite for me. I am interested in MLMs/scams/cults and ofc have been on the receiving end of some “hey hun” messages myself, so I was interested in this. UNFORTCH I think I like...already knew too much. I also kind of felt like the author maybe just learned about white supremacy and white privilege in 2020, which I mean of course better late than never, but the way she talked about race in this book felt really awkward and tacked on and I was like....maybe you are not the best person to address this. I think I might have preferred if it was just a straight-up memoir about her own experiences in an MLM rather than also trying to be an all-encompassing history of MLMs and also of like, race in America? ANd I know...if she hadn't addressed race at all it probably also would have been uncomfortable but ... there must be another way here.
I think this might be of most interest to people who have themselves been in (or are currently in) MLMs, and/or family members trying to understand a loved one's intense MLM situation. And also honestly to Nice White Ladies who are new to the concept of white privilege I guess. (Not to say that I have a perfect understanding or whatever but this is a little 101 for me.)
My main recommendation is just to listen to The Dream podcast.
This was a little slow for me to get into at first–there are a lot of POVs and at first it's not clear how they're all connected–but once I was on board I was really here for it. I loved seeing everyone gradually come together and just learning about the different future cultures. It made me feel so optimistic which is HARD THESE DAYS.
oh man I'd heard great things about this book but the title + cover pairing made me think it was going to be more Srs Sci-Fi than it actually is. It's a little goofy–I saw a review comparing it to Good Omens and I think that's pretty apt–and so sweet and such an original take on some fairly common themes (power of food/music/culture, deal with a devil, uncaring space empires, etc) but so well-executed and with such great characters!!