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It's so over (got stranded on Mars) we're so back (I can grow food here) it's so over (we left a guy on Mars) we're so back (we've established communication) it's so over (the airlock exploded and the crops froze) we're so back (we've cut down the launch window for a resupply) it's so over (the probe exploded) we're so back (the space program in China has been working on their own probe that can launch in the correct window to get him supplies) it's so over (we didn't tell the hermes crew about a separate possible mission) we're so back (the hermes crew committed mutiny and are now on the way to save Watney) it's so over (we have to remove the front of his spacecraft to get him into space) we're so back (we can cover the hole with a tarp) it's so over (the tarp ripped off during launch and the distance between the hermes and the mav is too wide) we're so back (we can use remaining thruster fuel to course correct) it's so over (if we do this we'll be going too fast) we're so back (we can build a bomb and blow up part of the station to slow us down) it's so over (there's still too much distance between the Hermes and Watney) we're so back (he poked a hole in his suit and flew to us like iron man)

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Two books done and another begun this week!

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: 5/5

The North American Folk Music Revival by Gillian Mitchell: 5/5

Both very well written, utilize accessible language, and are informative. Braiding Sweetgrass is a well known must-read for anyone working to decolonize themselves. NAFMR is significantly less well known but is a fantastic reference book for music and cultural theory students such as myself. I enjoyed both of these books thoroughly.

Ongoing: The House in The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Currently working on the end of Chapter 4 and I'm enjoying it so far! The vibe is kind of A Series of Unfortunate Events meets Welcome to Night Vale. Very fluffy and cozy, I'm already recommending it to people.

Up next: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn; Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson; The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Demaline.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions to add to the docket? Send me an ask!

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Everyone here needs to read Bad Cree by Jessica Johns. absolute 10/10 phenomenal loved it so so much.

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Another recent read: This Is How You Lose The Time War. a solid 8/10. very quick read. takes a bit to wrap your head around the plot but is easy to understand once you do. love queer sci-fi, didn't predict the ending at all.

characters lacked some depth i felt? but were still moderately fleshed out. not bad. I read it in three stittings of about an hour. not sure I'd reread it over and over, but I'm glad to have added it to the list.

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Just finished Hana Khan Carries On... final rating, 6.8/10. cute and a pretty quick and easy read while still fleshing out the characters and adding some depth to the story. some points deducted because there were countless opportunities to add a queer character and it fell short every time. more points deducted because it felt almost too easy of a read. the dialogue and descriptions were largely uninspiring.

a perfectly middle-of-the-road read for modern romcom novel fans. solid representation of Muslim folks living in Canada. saw the end coming from the very beginning.

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Not taking any of Crayola’s shit today.

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november. the month of poets, thinkers, lovers, and writers.

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“It’s like the people who believe they’ll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn’t work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you. If you see what I mean.”

— Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

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Miriama Schniererová — Waiting for Godot (acrylic & wax on canvas, 2016)

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shoutout to John Berger's Ways of Seeing, slays so hard

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my top books of 2023, in no particular order:

Annihilation - Jeff Vandermeer

Thirteen Storeys - Jonathan Sims

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

I read these through the year and adored them all so much. go read them if you like weird existential horror (which seems to be a major theme in my reading adventures as of late.)

I haven't read nearly as much this year as I would've liked to, but I can forgive myself. I've been busy.

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No one of intelligence resents the inevitable

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You know the problem with reading a book? You get hooked and then it ends and you feel sad

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Page 336

Ah yes, Clara making it about her again.

I mmean, it's justified; she could lose her potential scholarship, but LiQui has a point. Unlib isn't just her. She needs to look at the big picture and stop assuming that everything, good or bad, revolves around her.

Case in point being Jack - The book may have been the tipping point, but he'd been unstable for a long time before that.

Clara is making a lot of 'discoveries' when really it's just people calling her out and then her being surprised. It's kinda annoying that it's happening so frequently.

Page 340

Wait- are both of Lukas Gebhardt's novels about people and books? That's kinda boring.

No wonder he's Clara's favourite author - all he writes aboout is her one interest.

I know these books were invented to accompany this story, but almost all the 'quotes' from them are about banned/inappropriate books.

Page 347

Currently, there is discussion of Unlib and the TLLs (Tiny Little Libraries) and it,s got me thinking once again about Clara's poor decision with her library placement.

She could have easily put up another TLL to store the banned books (as opposed to keeping them in the school as she did or spreading them through all the TLLs as had been suggested to her at the beginning of the novel)

The story probably wouldn't have developped the same way, and it's possible (even likely) that her library would have had a different impact, but jeepers chrisit she really went for the option with the worst possible outcome.

Page 355

I'm glad she finally caught on.

Also - Jack's mother is an awful person and I am blaming everythign Jack went thorugh on her. I'm pleased that Clara is on the same page as me here.

Page 361 - an excerpt:

We were afraid of ideas, discussions, changes, because we were afraid of what those things could take from us. We were afraid. And I had it on good authority that being afraid was the opposite of being free.

Page 369

YayYy change of heart!

I knew she wasn't going to get expelled, but I wasn't completely expecting that.

Glad it worked out though - it proves that people (even fictional ones) can change.

I guess the whole white cover/quote thing did its job.

Page 390

Mans literally put Jesus in his acknowledgements. Wow.

Anyways:

The book's done.

It's not the best book I've read by far, but hey, it was a book.

I'm going to read Catcher In The Rye next, probably. Not because this book inspired me to however; we can thank Frank Iero for that.

This book is a decent enough light read, but I found myself focusing a lot more on seeing Clara through a critical eye rather than just enjoying the book for what it was.

As books go, this one was pretty formulaic. I'd suggest it to people who are just getting into reading or people who are just looking for an easy read. It's a simple plot but still has character development and a decent ending + narrative style.

For people who want a more complex story with lots of depth, however, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

Overall rating: 6.5/10

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Page 309

oh.

OH.

False climax. I should've known - it was too early.

This is the attempted suicide mentioned to me days ago.

This is where Clara's perspective changes.

She's afraid of books (she was foolish to not be before, because who are we if not afraid? Always fear knowledge; always fear books. they are what make people wise, and what make people irrational. Books can kill, and give life, and inspire, and create, and destroy.) for the first time in her life because Jack overdosed.

I'm anticipating what comes next.

Page 317

She's realised her naivety. Good.

She always saw herself in the books she read, ignoring that she couldn't be those characters. She hadn't experienced suffering and brokenness in that way.

But now that she's witnessed suffering, she understands how she was wrong. Jack has more depth than she did/does.

This book is from her perspective and therefore she's the main character, but I don't think she's the protagonist. That would probably be Jack - man vs himself is one of the three themes seen in every story (the other two being man vs nature and man vs society) and Jack is obviously struggling there.

His fight with himself, with his identity, makes his story more relevant than Clara's. She's just a girl who likes books.

Page 326

OH MY GOD THE WORST TROPE

I can't stand the "everyone rallies together and takes the blame" trope, it's so cheesey

Pages 330

Well, we all saw that one coming.

All the books are being handed in.

Clara really could've planned her operation better.