#so does librarything

[ninja-muse]

2023 Reading Wrap-up

I feel like this year was pretty average in terms of my reading. Some great books, some awful books, a lot of books in the middle. And while I feel as if I kept hitting slumps, I don’t think my stats really reflect that. I kept reading and even though I didn’t hit my goal of 140 books, that’s more because I read more thick and dense books, spent more time writing, and am one year further from the direness of 2020 and 2021.

This also seems to have been the year of T. Kingfisher for me (and also Ursula Vernon). I read several of her horror novels, as well as Digger and a bunch of the ebooks she makes free for patrons, which are really easy go-tos when you want something light and right now. I was kind of surprised when I realized she was my top author because usually that’s Seanan McGuire.

And I read more ebooks in general, because why should I wait for two months for the library to get a physical book in circulation when I can wait two weeks for it to come in on Libby? I’m still trying to reserve Libby use for lighter, faster, less involved books, because I tend to end up skimming a little more and there’s something about physical paper that helps me retain info better when the text is dense.

Now, stats! Yearly total: 128, excluding rereads and picture books Queer books: 44 (34%) Authors of colour: 15 (11.7%) Books by women: 74.5 (58%) Authors outside the binary: 7.5 (5.8%) Canadian authors: 14 (10.9%) Off the TBR shelves: 39 (30.4%) Books hauled: 41 ARCs acquired: 57 ARCs unhauled: 60 DNFs: 9 Rereads: 3 Picture Books: 6

If you look at last year’s stats and the year before’s, I’m pretty much holding steady in terms of my diverse reading—a little more than a third queer, about 60% female and 10% Canadian, around 6% gender-diverse authors. I’m way down on authors of colour though, and I didn’t hit my stretch goal of 20 Canadians, so those are things I’ll have to pay attention to in the year to come. It would be nice if I could manage more queer books too, but that’s not something I’m going to try for quite as much.

Two of my reading goals for the year were to read more books from my TBR than I acquired, and to keep my ARC levels about even. Seems like I pretty much hit them! I expect that 2024 will see fewer book acquisitions because a lot of my 2023 haul was bookstore visits with my dad and we’ve now hit pretty much every store in the city. I was honestly kind of surprised that my ARC problem stands where it does. I was so sure that I was going to have at least 10 more incoming books than outgoing. Go me! My spring ARC purge really, really helped.

I did all right on the rest of my reading goals. All but one book read (The Great Cat Massacre), which was the real point of the list! I only managed to finish one StoryGraph challenge, if you don’t count my pages goal, and as always I failed to read as many classics as I wanted. I’m starting to suspect I’m not a classics person, despite my interest in history and historical fiction. If anyone has classics recs for me, let me know?

To be completely honest, though, I'm not sure I'm going to continue posting to Tumblr. I pretty much stopped updating my feed in the summer and I've felt more relaxed, both in terms of Things To Do Each Day but also in terms of my reading. When I was more active on here, I felt pressured to read diversely at all times and though I try to have a healthy spread of perspectives, I know that I generally don't and am therefore a bad person by Tumblr standards. I am curious what my mutuals have been getting up to this year so please, sound off! And let me know if you do want to see reviews and wrap-ups continue here.

(Friendly reminder that I'm ninjamuse on Storygraph and LibraryThing, if you'd like to follow me there.)

And if anyone’s interested, here are the rest of my year’s highlights:

Top Five Fiction (not ranked)

The Hollow Places - T. Kingfisher

Menewood - Nicola Griffith

Bookshops and Bonedust - Travis Baldree

A Half-Built Garden - Ruthanna Emrys

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi - Shannon Chakraborty

Top Five Non-Fiction (not ranked)

Magisteria - Nicholas Spencer

Diary of a Misfit - Casey Parks

Evidence of Things Seen - Sarah Weinman, editor

Lay Them to Rest - Laurah Norton

Like Every Form of Love - Padma Viswanathan

Most Impressed By:

Shubeik Lubeik - Deena Mohamed

Diary of a Misfit - Casey Parks

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

A Half-Built Garden - Ruthanna Emrys

Most Disappointing:

Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck

British Columbiana - Josie Teed

A Killing in Costumes - Zac Bissonette

Tauhou - Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall

Longest Book: The Hands of the Emperor - Victoria Goddard

Best queer book: Diary of a Misfit - Casey Parks

Did I beat 2022? No. Did I beat my Best Year Ever? No. That would be 2021. Did I read more classics? Not even close. Did I read more Canadians? No. I held about steady. Did I whittle my TBR shelves down any? No. Was it a good reading year? Probably about average?

Breakdowns by month:

January February March April May June July August September October November December

[ombwarrior47]

Sabotage by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Shadows of Fire #1)

Title: Sabotage Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon Series: Shadows of Fire #1 Number of Pages: 228 Pages Genre:  Young Adult Sci Fi & Action Publisher:  Oliver-Heber Books Date of Original Publication: August 22, 2023 ISBN: 978-1648394805

Sabotage is the first book of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Shadows of Fire series. Kenyon has a long series called the Dark Hunter series which is an adult series. This series is based off of a character from that series and his adventures when he was young.

This series is a young adult read and I would say early early teenage. It’s an extremely easy read yet it’s worth it as it helps provide extra detail for her Dark Hunter series. This book does not have too much resolve in it but it has plenty of action and sets up perfectly for another book. So far she has released four for the series.

I would recommend reading the Dark Hunter series and then this one to supplement it.

★★★★★

~

Up Next:  

- A Murder to Remember by Brynn Kelly

Yearly Goal Markers:

Book Goal: 59/75  = 78.6%

Page Goal:  21/15k = 142% (2024 goal achieved 7/5/24!)

Follow me on LibraryThing, Goodreads, and Amazon. Same handle: OMBWarrior47

[darlenefblog]

The Blooming of Delphinium - Moonberry Lake #2

Holly Varni

A 4 star review

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Revell (September 24, 2024)

Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 24, 2024

Print length ‏ : ‎ 316 pages

Thank you to LibraryThing, NetGalley, Holly Varni, and Revell publishing for providing this advance reader copy (ARC) of the book. I'm providing my honest review.

I found the story of Delphinium and her special gift enchanting, people's personalities being tied to a floral scent is unique. Her devotion to her business and the people around her is a pleasure to read, she truly cares deeply and sincerely. Allowing an ever-growing group of feisty senior citizens access to her shop cooler is funny. At first she's thrown for a loop and tries to figure out how to get rid of them but as the story moves along she becomes the loving caretaker these rascals need. Everything from providing snacks to making sure they take their meds, she's all in by the end of the book.

The two men who come into her life are polar opposites, Mason and Elliot. Mason, a real estate lawyer, gets dragged into the seniors proposed lawsuit against the senior living facility for silly stuff like taco Tuesday and spa day. His involvement with the gang begins to change him for the better little by little. His journey to happiness may be a secondary plot line but it's fleshed out as much as possible. Elliot is the facility director trying to figure why his residents are sneaking around to hang out in a flower shop. Elliot is so strait-laced you'd think he'd be unlikeable, the seniors think so, but his sincerity in wanting to understand and work with the residents makes him the good guy after all.

The story is clean and while not necessarily religious it does have God and faith as part of peoples make up. The happy ever after is sweet and I was completely satisfied. An enjoyable read.

[getbookhelp]

Happy release day, everybody! The Christmas Proof ebook is officially out into the world and available for sale. Patreon subscribers: You have free access to the book in the Patreon shop.

If you like romance, or know someone who does, send them to Astanna.com, Patreon, Kobo, or Amazon so they can grab a copy if they are the kind of person who enjoys supporting indie authors.

If you can't afford the 99 cents for the ebook, no sweat! You can still show some love by adding the book to your wish list or "want to read" list on Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, BookBub, or similar sites without spending a dime.

Thank you so much for all your previous, current, and (hopefully) future support! ♥

[8054yamato]

01/28/2024

I am the most consistent blogger. I will miss it because, like I said on my previous blog, that I will not type one blog until March. Why? For no real reason.

Anyways, I made so much social media accounts. I have been planning to for a long time and I want to just dump so much shit and random stuff on each one. I have been thinking about this for months and now is the time to do it. Let me tell you the specifics for each one.

For YouTube, I already said everything that I wanted to do there on my previous blog post.

For SoundCloud is self-explanatory. Dumping music I make there.

For Facebook, I will upload IRL pictures since I plan to go outside more. As comfortable as I am right now being holed up in my room 24/7, I acknowledge how unhealthy it is.

For Instagram, I will upload IRL pictures of my hobbies, cool weird objects, and maybe my skillz :3

For DeviantArt, I will upload random drawings. I suck horribly, but I do like doodling when I get to it. I also want to get better at drawing anime shit, but that is not my priority. So if you do not see any improvements, you know why lol

For LibraryThing, I will upload the books I have read as of making that account. Maybe if there are people interested, we can make a group there. Just to let you know, I am not an avid reader. I do not read 52 books every year. The most I have read in a year was 6. I am in a love and hate relationships with books, so if I do end up loving books, I will start logging them down there. If not, then I might ditch this website.

For Discord, nothing specific on there. I am not on any servers anyway so I am not active whatsoever here. It is just an another way of contacting me.

I recently started getting into games more. I am not a huge gamer anymore, and even now, I do not consistently play, but I do play anyway.

ROBLOX is pretty fun. I played it for like 25 minutes over two games a couple days ago. Natural Disaster Survival is pretty cool.

I played Valorant and it is okay. The game is kind of fun but my high ping makes me stay away from it sometimes.

I play Clash of Clans and my town hall level is 9. I am not that far into the game since I started like November of last year. I like to max everything out before moving on to the next town hall level so I am progressing slow.

Touhou bullet hell games obviously, but I am currently not an avid player of it. I also suck at it.

Brotato is pretty fun. I got one of the characters to the highest difficulty. I have not defeated it because I have not attempted it yet, but it is sick.

I do not know what to talk about now. It is so hot in my room, but when it turns night time, it gets unbearably chilly. I like bagels.

Oh I forgot to mention. One of my recent blog posts I mentioned my virtual wife and her name. I am a biological male and still a male even though I took Yamato out of Yamato Nadeshiko despite its meaning. Yamato is a guy's name and it does not mean I am a female. I just wanted to clear that up.

Now I have nothing to talk about.

Okee bye dumby dumb.

[mosylu]

You know what this is amazing for? If you have multiple library cards in Libby, and a long TBR in something like Goodreads or Librarything. I prefer digital books so when I look at my TBR list to see what’s next, I can also see that while my library may not have it, or only in hard copy, another library does and I can check it out from them. Easy peasy.

An extension for library and book lovers

Library Extension allows you to see if your library has a book you're interested in and put a hold on it without having to go to the library site to do it.

They have extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

The extension works for several dozen countries, so it's worth checking if your country is included.

You then select which country subdivision you live in and which library systems you want to add the extension to.

Once the library is added in, when you go to shopping sites like Amazon, you should see on the side whether the library has any copies of the book!

[newsmutproject]

Cunning Linguists Author Interview: Alex Freeman

“What does…” Sophie squints and leans in closer. “What does fica mean?”

“In what context?” Olivia asks, glancing up from the desk opposite.

“I miss your … And then there’s some reference to eating. I think. Having meals together? Maybe it should be cena, hold on … ”

“Then it’s probably sexual,” Olivia says casually. “Vernacular. Fig, literally, but I’m sure you can see where that came from.”

“Er … ”

Olivia waves her hand around. “Cunt would be the best translation, probably, although it hasn’t really the same connotations. And I’m sure you can fill in the bits about eating.”

“I, er … ”

Olivia looks up again, then raises her eyebrow. “Are you all right?” she asks, a smile tugging at the corner of her full mouth.

“I, er … ” She shakes her head. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting historical pornography, that’s all.”

-from "Noi Leggiavamo Per Diletto" in Cunning Linguists

Alex Freeman has been imagining stories for as long as they can remember, and has spent the last ten years happily putting those imaginings into written words. Mainly a fanfiction author (with nearly a million words up and published on fanfiction archive AO3), they deeply enjoy writing about people and relationships that do not fit the mould. As a bisexual nonbinary person in a queer relationship, the importance of representation in fiction is something they are willing to devote considerable time and energy to.

They live with their wife and cat in a small European country.

What inspired you to write this story?

As soon as the theme for this anthology was decided on, I had two ideas that immediately popped up. The first was to do something with the story of Paolo and Francesca from Dante's Inferno; the image of two people falling in love /succumbing to lust while reading a love story together seemed perfect for this antho, and fun to work with as the base of a story. To be honest, this one seemed so obvious a choice that I postponed writing because I assumed someone else would have a go at it - but as submissions came and the deadline neared, turned out I would have my own chance at it after all.

The second idea was a bit more difficult. I loved the concept of someone reading (historical) love letters addressed to someone else and getting drawn in that way, getting to know a person and appreciating them, even falling in love in absentia. But as fun as that idea was, there's also an inherent issue with consent: those letters were never meant to be read by a third person, and especially if the letters are historical and the one writing them is long dead, how to bring consent into that? It wasn't until brainstorming this idea with my wife  that I found a solution for it - not, as she suggested, to usher in time travelling  and make the letters gradually address the reader, but a little twist halfway through that I hope is enough to pleasantly surprise my readers. 

Cunning Linguists comes out May 18th, 2022! This anthology of language, literature, and lechery is available at

Gumroad (use coupon code NEWSMUTPROJECTFAN for $1 off)

Amazon.com  Amazon.co.uk  Amazon.ca  Amazon.de  Amazon.fr  Amazon.es  Amazon.com.mx   Amazon.co.jp   Amazon.it   Amazon.nl   Amazon.com.br  Amazon.com.au   Amazon.in

Smashwords

Support indie bookstores when you buy a paperback copy through Bookshop.org

Barnes and Noble

Indiebound (where you can arrange to get a copy through your local bookstore)

Book Depository

Alibris

Other retailers – Books2Read

And add it to your shelf on Goodreads and LibraryThing 

[elucubrare]

do you have thoughts about the practice of putting a number (out of ten, out of five stars, etc) on something in critical reviews? (I feel as though it's something I'm of two minds about)

I don't love it. Sometimes the aggregate on goodreads can be helpful - but 1) it's so easy to throw that off, either maliciously or because negative reviews bring an average down more quickly than positive ones raise it & 2) I disagree with the bulk of goodreads users about 95% of the time.

In my personal reading life, I use star ratings on LibraryThing (plug for LibraryThing - they've got half-stars and more organizational options than Goodreads), but maybe I shouldn't - I also write something about everything I read in a private google doc, and I talk about star ratings there, but often in the context of the rating being kind of disjoint from my actual experience of reading the book.

For one thing, there's no single definition of what a star rating means - I usually define it as whether I think the book was executed well, or had something interesting to say, rather than how much I enjoyed the reading experience, which is why a bunch of things I loved reading have 2 or 3 star reviews. The more important metric in my reading journal is "was I glad I read it?" and also "would I recommend it to someone?"

Which brings me to more official reviews. If you're giving a critical review of something, and really evaluating it generously, and saying "this is what it does well and this is what it does badly," then I think putting a three-star rating on it is counterproductive, especially since so many people read "three stars" as "subpar." "This book has much to offer, despite its failings" feels much more holistic to me - there's no reason to flatten your entire impression of a book into a star rating.

If you write a nuanced, sensitive review and then slap a star rating on it, you've undone a lot of your work - people are just going to look at the rating.

It's probably not the worst critical crime, but it quantifies the experience of reading a book in a way that I think is ultimately detrimental to the literary community.

[ladyherenya]

This was more-books-than-sometimes month, because rather than take the time to write about the books I'd finished, I just read more books! Also, I read a lot over the Easter break, including some shorter books and a very binge-able series.

Also read: Two-Step and Someone Like Me by Stephanie Fournet, Hooked by Cathy Yardley, “Cloudy with a Chance of Dropbears” and “All the Different Shades of Blue” by W.R. Gingell, and “Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory” by Martha Wells.

Reread: A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer.

Total: nineteen novels (including two audiobooks and one reread), one novella collection, two novellas, two novelettes and one short story.

Cover thoughts: Bellewether’s blue cover is (unsurprisingly) my favourite. I also really like The Ghosts of Sherwood. 

Still reading: A Portrait of Loyalty by Roseanna M. White and Playing Hearts by W.R. Gingell.

Next up: Torch by R.J. Anderson.

My full reviews are on Dreamwidth and LibraryThing.

*

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (narrated by Saskia Maarleveld): Historical mystery about three young women who worked at Bletchley Park during WWII.

My favourite out of the books I’ve read so far this year. Most of the narrative is set during the war, but interspersed with sections set in 1947 -- when Beth, in a sanitarium after a breakdown, has sent her two estranged friends a coded message begging for help. I loved this, but at times found it stressful and heartbreaking! The writing is so lively and effective and emotional. 4½ ★

 *

Castle Charming by Tansy Raynor Roberts: Fairytale retellings, collection of novellas.

A very entertaining and a somewhat different take on fairytales, focusing on the reporters, Royal Hounds and royalty at Castle Charming. Some of the character dynamics felt similar to those in Roberts’ Unreal Alchemy although I didn’t feel quite as attached to these characters. I’ll read the sequel. 3 ★ 

*

Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley: Historical and contemporary fiction, set in Long Island during the so-called Seven Years War in 1759 and the present day.

Alternates between a curator overseeing turning a house in a museum and some of the house’s previous occupants, including a French-Canadian Lieutenant awaiting hostage exchange. Despite the various tensions the characters face, there’s something slow and ultimately gentle about this story. Which is lovely --  I enjoyed the picturesque sense of place and astute observations of people -- but it is less dramatic than I was expecting. 3½ ★

*

Happy Trail by Daisy Prescott: Contemporary romance, set on the Appalachian Trail.

A park ranger and a hiker shelter together during a storm. I was fascinated by the insight into hiking the Appalachian Trail and enjoyed some of the characters’ interactions, although I thought the way the romance unfolded was somewhat anticlimactic. Not always what I wanted, but I don't regret reading it.

*

Legacy by Stephanie Fournet: Contemporary enemies-to-roommates-to-lovers.

Wes offers to move in with his late-best friend’s girlfriend to help her out financially. This sort of hurt/comfort appeals to me. I liked how seriously this story takes Corinne’s messy, consuming grief. I don’t really want to spend any more time with the characters, but I was very invested in seeing them reach a better place in their lives.

Two-Step by Stephanie Fournet: Contemporary romance between an actress and a dance instructor. I enjoyed reading this. I particularly enjoyed how Beau helps Iris with her anxiety about dancing and with her controlling mother/manager. He’s very supportive and understanding! But I finished this with a niggling feeling of dissatisfaction -- Iris needed more opportunity to support Beau in turn.

Someone Like Me by Stephanie Fournet: Contemporary romance between a yoga instructor and her new neighbour, who has just got out of prison.

This one didn’t particularly appeal to me. Although interesting to see the experiences of someone recently released from prison, the romance developed too quickly.

(No, I didn’t read all three of these back-to-back!)

*

Hooked by Cathy Yardley: Contemporary fandom-y romance novella, set near Seattle. Takes place during Level Up and is about two of Tessa’s colleagues.

I enjoyed the characters' interactions and would have liked this more if it hadn't felt rushed. 

*

The Ghosts of Sherwood by Carrie Vaughn: Historical Robin Hood retelling, novella.

Exactly what I wanted! It alternates between Robin and Marian’s eldest daughter, Mary, and Marian herself. I liked seeing Robin and Marian as a long-married couple, who still love each other and still have disagreements. And the dynamic between their children gave me a zing of recognition, reminding me of my siblings. 3½ ★

*

The City Between by W.R. Gingell: Australian YA urban fantasy (murder) mysteries. Set in Hobart.

I ended up enjoying this series so much more than I’d expected to!

Between Jobs: After a neighbour is murdered, our seventeen-year-old orphaned narrator acquires some unexpected housemates -- two fae, one vampire. Once I got past the opening, with its tales of murder, the worldbuilding intrigued me. I still wasn’t sure what I thought about her housemates or the fact that they call her “Pet”, but was willing to reserve judgement until I’d read more. 3 ★

Between Shifts: About supermarket shifts and shapeshifters. Pet and JinYeong go undercover at the local grocery store. This is a reasonable murder mystery. I was initially disappointed with how something played out (but in retrospect can see how that was actually a positive development for Pet). It ended on a cliffhanger, so I was extra motivated to start the next book. 2½ ★

Between Floors: This is where the series took off, because things suddenly get personal! One of her fae housemates has been captured and the closest any of them get to finding Athelas is Pet contacting him in her dreams.This raises a lot of interesting questions, not just about Pet’s abilities, but about her relationship with her housemates. How much does she trust them and how much do they value Pet’s personhood? 3½ ★

Between Frames: Pet’s housemates are hired to investigate a series of fae deaths around Hobart, which involves scrutinising some baffling security footage.  Another solid murder mystery.  The final pages felt like one step forward, two steps back, but yet again, in retrospect, this was a positive development. I’m glad I could dive immediately into the next book. 3 ★

Between Homes: Pet has moved in with some friends. Hurray for Pet having friends! I think this was the point where I started to feel comfortable with Pet calling herself Pet -- when it's the name used by people she likes and trusts and who don’t view her as a pet at all. 3½ ★

“Cloudy with a Chance of Dropbears” (novelette): An awesome title and an entertaining opportunity to see Pet from someone else’s perspective -- moreover, someone who doesn’t know her or what she’s capable of. 3 ★

Between Walls: Pet’s friend Morgana is worried about an online friends and asks Pet and co to investigate his disappearance. Along the way, they discover that there are human groups who actually know a lot about Behindkind. I am also becoming increasingly entertained by the Korean vampire. 3 ★

“All the Different Shades of Blue” (novelette): A great cover and it explains who that guy at the cafe is, but otherwise didn’t really do anything Cloudy with a Chance of Dropbears hadn’t already done -- ie., show us Pet from someone else’s perspective. Most of the time, I have enjoyed this series all the more for binging it, but I suspect this particular story would have worked better if I had read it after a period of absence. 2½ ★

Between Cases:  My favourite of these have been the ones where things get personal, and this involves a lot of revelations about who Pet is -- from a fae perspective -- and why her parents were murdered. I enjoyed this one a lot. 3½ ★

*

The Duke of Olympia Meets His Match by Juliana Gray: Historical espionage romance novella, set in 1893 onboard an ocean liner travelling to England. Apparently not the Duke’s first appearance in Gray’s fiction.

I liked the idea here much better than the execution. I liked Penelope, a fifty-year-old widow dependent upon her position as a governess, and I enjoyed her interactions with the older Duke of Olympia. But parts of the spy plot were rushed or confusing, and the resolution was almost-but-not-entirely satisfying. 2½ ★

*

A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer: Fantasy. Follows on from the fairytale-retelling A Curse So Dark and Lonely and its sequel, A Heart So Fierce and Broken.

If this is meant as a conclusion to a trilogy, then the ending was a bit too anticlimactic, with a few too many loose ends, to be really satisfying. But I reached the end feeling positive about the story, because I really enjoyed the characters’ interactions. All of the protagonists have to deal with conflict in relationships. I loved the times when they each navigate these conflicts by acting fairly and communicating honestly, when doing so is often difficult and complicated. That’s realistic and satisfying. 3½ ★

*

“Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory” by Martha Wells:  Science-fiction short story. Part of The Murderbot Diaries series, set after Exit Strategy.

Very, very short but I really liked seeing things from Dr Ayda Mensah’s (third person) perspective. 3½ ★

*

Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace: Historical coming-of-age fiction, set in Minnesota in 1912-3.

I am very glad to finally have read this! It’s delightful, a fascinating insight into community life in a Minnesotan town, and it effectively captures the emotional experience of navigating a period of transition. After high school, Emily’s friends  leave for college, but Emily has to find her own path to purposefully fill her time, build connections and further her education. 4 ★

*

On Wings of Devotion by Roseanna M. White (narrated by Susan Lyons): Romantic historical mystery, set in London during 1918. Christian fiction. Features characters from The Number of Love.

Arabelle Denler is a nurse working in a London hospital; Phillip Camden is an airman now working for British Intelligence. I enjoyed their interactions, especially once they start to get to know each other. I didn’t like the antagonist’s contribution to this narrative -- between the dangers of wartime and the protagonists’ respective issues, there’s enough tension without her. But what I enjoyed about this story outweighed what I didn’t. 3½ ★

*

Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson: Historical fiction set during the Nazi occupation of Italy in WWII.

Nina, a young Jewish woman from Venice, goes into hiding by pretending she’s married to Nico, a Catholic farmer. Robson’s strength lies in pairing details of daily life with likeable characters, realistic dialogue and a sweet romance. I read this quickly and eagerly. But if the characters had been more nuanced, more complex, or if their emotions had been conveyed more vividly, I likely would have found reading this a more emotional experience. 3½ ★

[aquila1nz]

Incidentally, LibraryThing does the same thing with books, you can tag your books with anything, and then volunteers combine essentially identical tags in the background, so if you've ever wanted to tag your book collection like fanfic, go for it.

“The Archive of Our Own has none of these problems. It uses a third tagging system, one that blends the best elements of both styles. On AO3, users can put in whatever tags they want (autocomplete is there to help, but they don’t have to use it). Then, behind the scenes, human volunteers look up any new tags that no one else has used before and match them with any applicable existing tags, a process known as tag wrangling. Wrangling means that you don’t need to know whether the most popular tag for your new fanfic featuring Sherlock Holmes and John Watson is Johnlock or Sherwatson or John/Sherlock or Sherlock/John or Holmes/Watson or anything else. And you definitely don’t need to tag your fic with all of them just in case. Instead, you pick whichever one you like, the tag wranglers do their work behind the scenes, and readers looking for any of these synonyms will still be able to find you. AO3’s trick is that it involves humans by design—around 350 volunteer tag wranglers in 2019, up from 160 people in 2012—who each spend a few hours a week deciding whether new tags should be treated as synonyms or subsets of existing tags, or simply left alone. AO3’s Tag Wrangling Chairs estimate that the group is on track to wrangle over 2 million never-before-used tags in 2019, up from around 1.5 million in 2018. Laissez-faire and rigid tagging systems both fail because they assume too much—that users can create order from a completely open system, or that a predefined taxonomy can encompass every kind of tag a person might ever want. When these assumptions don’t pan out, it always seems to be the user’s fault. AO3’s beliefs about human nature are more pragmatic, like an architect designing pathways where pedestrians have begun wearing down the grass, recognizing how variation and standardization can fit together. The wrangler system is one where ordinary user behavior can be successful, a system which accepts that users periodically need help from someone with a bird’s-eye view of the larger picture. Users appreciate this help. According to Tag Wrangling Chair briar_pipe, “We sometimes get users who come from Instagram or Tumblr or another unmoderated site. We can tell that they’re new to AO3 because they tag with every variation of a concept—abbreviations, different word order, all of it. I love how excited people get when they realize they don’t have to do that here.””

—

Gretchen McCulloch, Fans Are Better Than Tech at Organizing Information Online 

(My latest Wired column is up and it’s about AO3 and taxonomies!) 

[ombwarrior47]

Life & Death by Stephanie Meyer (Twilight 1.5)

Title: Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined Author: Stephanie Meyer Series: Twilight 1.5 Number of Pages: 465 Genre:  Youth & Teen Vampire Fiction Publisher:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Date of Original Publication: February 1, 2022 ISBN: 978-0316300865

Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined was written by Stephanie Meyer as she decided she was interesting in gender swapping every single character except for the parents Charlie & Renee.

I honestly had no idea what this book was about. I just knew it was part of the Twilight series so I wanted to read it. It sat on my shelf for a few years and I finally got around to it.

I don’t really have anything good to say about this book. I liked Beau (Bella as a male).

I found the names of the characters a bit outlandish. Almost like she was trying to make this book a joke.

It was also very difficult to keep all the characters straight and who they were switched with gender wise.

I think the concept was a little over done. Gender swapping Edward and Bella would be okay but doing the entire Cullen family and all the classmates was a little over the top.

Also you can tell this was written by a female character. She does not write male main characters well. The POV still felt girly. Which was disappointing to me because I really enjoyed Midnight Sun which was Twilight just from Edwards view.

★★ I would recommend this series but not this book. This book you can skip.

~

Up Next:  

 -The Accidental Dating Experiment by Lauren Blakely (How to Date #4)

- The Fury by Alex Michealides

Yearly Goal Markers:

Book Goal: 56/75  = 75%

Page Goal:  20/15k = 133% (2024 goal achieved 7/5/24!)

Follow me on LibraryThing, Goodreads, and Amazon. Same handle: OMBWarrior47

[theancientgeekoroman]

hi! i'm a high-schooler who wants to pursue a career in classics and ancient history and you're a massive inspiration to me, I was wondering if you have any advice for an aspiring classicist

Hey! I’m glad to be an inspiration :3

So, the first thing I would suggest is to read, read, read. I know it’s expensive to get a lot of books, but remember that public libraries (and check your high school library, too!) might have many of the books you might want to read before you head into a Classics program.

If you would prefer to have these things online so you can access a lot of different things, here are my favorite websites to refer to:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/

https://www.gutenberg.org/

http://www.sacred-texts.com/search.htm

The next thing to remember is that if you’re an undergraduate student, you’re not going to know everything in every class. Be open to exploring - take courses that have a focus on the ancient world, but don’t be afraid to stray into other courses (I took enough Medieval courses (history, literature, art history) that I was one course away from a minor). One of the things that I would recommend is searching for schools that have a program you think you’ll enjoy and e-mail the professors! I e-mailed the director of the Classical Studies department at Villanova University back and forth for a long time before I applied to the graduate program and she was quite supportive and explained things well to me. This was a big reason I decided that I decided that Villanova was right for me. The professors and how they interact with potential students will tell you a lot about the faculty as well as the program. Look through the potential courses at the universities you’re interested in, and whether they have all the courses, you would be interested in, including courses for other aspects of the field.

Classics courses can be under Anthropology or Archaeology, Art History, English/Literature, Greek/Latin, Library Sciences, Law, Museum Studies, Theatre, etc. If you’re interested in exploring any of these areas of Classics, I would suggest exploring these courses if the university offers them as well. This would also help you hone in on what area of the field you might be most interested in pursuing - a lot of people who go into Classics either end up teaching or working in a museum, from my experience. However, those aren’t your only choices, and we’ll get back to that more towards the end :3

If you’re not sure if you’d like archaeology, if you can afford an archaeological field school, I would say try to participate in one when you’re an undergraduate student, or if you can’t, see if your local state parks have any need for archaeological volunteers. That’s something that I’ve been investigating in Las Vegas (where I live); this isn’t Classics specifically, but much of the work will be similar so you can gauge whether you like digging enough to do it for a living. This past summer I did my first archaeological field school (three years after I completed my B.A. in History/Classics), so if you wait a little longer, that’s okay, too. But, I loved it, and I definitely want to dig again, so I think that it’s important to find a way to pursue those opportunities when you can (I was lucky to get a full-time job a year before I went and was able to save up - I didn’t take any vacation time in the year and a half from when I was hired until after the field school). There are field school scholarships that you can apply to, like the Jane C. Waldbaum Archaeological Field School Scholarship (https://www.archaeological.org/grants/708), that are for students pursuing their first field school, amongst other funding, so make sure you look everywhere and ask your university if they have a database for field school funding. A lot of your anthropology and archaeology professors will be helpful in asking about this. Your university might also have archaeology opportunities on campus as well; my alma mater, the University of Delaware, had an Archaeology Laboratory that I volunteered in for extra credit and continued to do so once my course was over because I enjoyed it so much. See what’s around and how you can help out!

In the same vein, if you’re interested in museum work, look to see if you can volunteer over the summer, or once you’re a university student, see if you can enroll in an internship for credit. Sometimes your university galleries and museums might have a program, so look into that, too! I did a Curatorial Apprenticeship Program at the University of Delaware and was able to conduct an Independent Study for credit through the museum program (now the University of Delaware has a Museum Studies minor). I’ve always known that my end goal was to be a curator, but there’s plenty of other aspects of museums you can explore: education, administration, museum libraries, and a lot of other departments, depending on the size of the institution. If you’re in the U.S., you can check my museum post to see if your state has ancient art (https://theancientgeekoroman.tumblr.com/post/179105816745/master-list-of-museums-with-greek-roman), and if you’re in another country, don’t worry, I’m working on master lists for other countries, too.    

Many courses may be taught in translation (especially if you’re taking it as an English Literature or Foreign Language in Translation course), so see if you can find the best or most highly recommended translations by professors. See what the book lists are for the courses at the universities you’re looking at and try to find your favorite translation. I just bought the Emily Wilson translation of The Odyssey, which I have a feeling will be my favorite translation. This is The Iliad translation I have (http://www.librarything.com/work/3426497/book/161094444), The Aeneid (http://www.librarything.com/work/11862/book/161072440), Metamorphoses (http://www.librarything.com/work/3439/book/161072432), and The Love Songs of Sappho (http://www.librarything.com/work/237534/book/161093187). All of these were assigned textbooks for my Biblical and Classical Literature and Mythology courses at the University of Delaware between 2007-2015 (those links take you to my LibraryThing, which will tell you most of the books that I own or I have on my wishlist, if you want to check them out; I haven’t finished organizing their categories yet, though, so it’s a WIP).   

If you haven’t been exposed to Ancient Greek or Latin at the high school level and university will be the first time you encounter these languages (as was true for me), you don’t necessarily have to know anything by the first day of class. However, if you would like a head start, here are some lessons on Ancient Greek in YouTube format (http://www.openculture.com/2016/08/learn-ancient-greek-in-64-free-lessons-from-brandeis-harvard.html) and in text format (https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/grkol). Latin, unsurprisingly, has a lot more resources for free online learning (I even bought a Udemy course to review my Latin): The University of Texas at Austin: https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/latol, http://learn101.org/latin.php, and this list is good to consult: https://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/latinapps.htm. I haven’t used all of these myself, so explore and see which ones would be best for you and works best for how you learn.

If you decide to continue with Classics into the graduate level, keep in mind that you’ll need German AND French or Italian. I took both French and Italian as an undergraduate and I can read French pretty well because I took it for four years in high school and studied abroad in Caen for five weeks as an undergraduate. Italian I can kind of read alright, but I know no German, which I need to work on. So, if you have a language requirement and your Latin or Greek does not count, keep those languages in mind. (Sometimes you have to take a certain amount of Latin or Ancient Greek for it to count, and your program may not require as many ancient language courses for your major as the language requirement for the university, etc. I only needed to take Ancient Greek or Latin, but I decided I wanted to do both.)

Classics is an extremely interdisciplinary field, so you have a lot of options, both as an undergraduate and a graduate student. You don’t necessarily need to go straight into graduate school, either. You can teach at the high school level, you can go into archaeology fieldwork or museum work, or do a variety of other things. It’s up to you. I took a year off, got a different Master of Arts degree before I applied to my M.A. in Classical Studies. It’s different for everyone. I’ll be 30 when I get my M.A. in Classical Studies, so take your time and explore things that call to you. Don’t rush things and have fun!

Of course, I’m sure you want to know “What can I do with a Classics degree?” Luckily, many places have already made lists like this! Here they are:

https://www.angelo.edu/services/career/majors/classics.php

https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/careers/subjects/classics/

https://classicalstudies.org/education/careers-for-classicists/an-undergraduate-degree-in-the-classics

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/careersandemployability/subjectfactsheets/subjectfacsheets/2016ese030_Classics_st1.pdf

http://loveofhistory.com/what-jobs-can-you-get-with-an-ancient-history-and-classics-degree/

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/classics

And I made a post with different places that post Classics positions as well, for when you’re ready to look for those (I check them regularly to see the requirements people want for these positions to either match up or if I need further training or credentials): https://theancientgeekoroman.tumblr.com/post/178955792555/since-im-still-in-my-ma-program-for-classical   

TLDR & recap:

Read, read, read

Research your potential schools

Volunteer

Explore aspects of the field

Have fun!

Additionally, I found this list of people that have Classics degrees :3

https://rogueclassicism.com/folks-you-didnt-know-maybe-had-classics-degrees/

I hope you found this helpful and I apologize for the length, but feel free to drop me a line whenever you like if you need more advice or would like me to expand on any of my experiences!

All the best,

The Ancient Geeko-Roman

P.S. Folklore Fiancé wanted to make sure I didn’t overwhelm you and wanted to encourage you to make sure you take your time and take breaks when studying. Don’t overwhelm yourself with your research; take your time to explore different areas and don’t tackle too many things at once. *takes off parent hat*

[wakingfromthewater]

Why is Kirkus Reviews’ website redesign so PERVASIVELY SHITTY

What would I not like in a book review website?  Perhaps automatically displaying reviews within a genre by popularity rather than release date.  Showing a big picture of the cover with the title and author but actual information on the book, such as a brief excerpt from the review as they used to.  And definitely enlarging that tile when I mouse over it, stressing my machine out and delaying my ability to browse for a visual effect that does literally nothing for me as a user.  And regular encouragement to create an account on the site so I can manage a booklist on it, as if your core user demographic is not already doing that on Goodreads, Bibliocommons, Librarything, Shelfari, etc!  Yeah that all sounds good.

[runetouchedreads]

Dark Touch: Book One of the Glass Star Trilogy by Elle Lewis *First Glimpse Review*

I started reading this book in preparation for the second one, which I won in a Early Reader giveaway on LibraryThing.

Initially, I was curious about what could be in store; the cover is interesting and I’m a HUGE fan of fantasy novels. Once I got started...

Well, to be honest I couldn’t tell if it was an “Oh, he’s evil and obsessed and this is a horror thing” situation or a “He’s too obsessed with her but it’s gonna be fine cause he’s a dark evil bad boy” situation. That throws up a few red flags to me. I should be able to tell if it’s a love interest or a crazy murder-fiend.

Committed to trying to finish it, I took to the reviews. Still avoiding spoilers, I looked for other readers’ reactions to try and gauge what I was getting into and get excited about it. Well, so far that hasn’t quite happened.

So far, the writing feels like a new author (fitting for a debut novel I suppose) and the dialogue is a bit clunky. I like getting to know the MC, but I want to feel engaged with the book and motivated to finish more than anything. There were definitely hooks to get me started but they just didn’t catch.

Here’s to hoping it looks up.

UPDATE: Angels? Are they Angels? Girl why have you felt dead fur against your skin? I’m worried about you.

UPDATE: I’m far more interested in this Donovan boy with the tattoos than anyone else. Yes, please. He is a bespectacled, intelligent boy with a Halloween birthday, wearing a rolled up button down. I’ll take ten.

UPDATE: I can relate to Sloan and her running from her problems (wrecked home? Check) and her fighting a tide of sadness (plethora of mental health issues? Check) and her struggling to trust (History of abuse and broken trust? Check) but holy butts lady. 

UPDATE: Is she supposed to love golden boy? Is there no love? That’s fine I’m just five chapters in and want to know where we might be going with this.

UPDATE: Alright, James is the lover boy. Got it. Also how the fuck does this girl have Louboutins? And afford a house outside of Seattle? I stg if shes a rich girl who “just couldn’t handle it” I’m gonna scream and knock a star off. There are also so many descriptions of what she’s wearing that it gets a bit redundant. It also feels very Wattpad and stilted.

UPDATE: Ok, so James is a cutie. I knew once the actual romance started I would be into it (cause I’m a bitch for that stuff). I take back what I said about her being a rich girl - she had legit reasons to live. I could still do with fewer (frankly boring) descriptions of her attire and what music she’s listening to. If you don’t already know the bands or songs it can distance you. I’d prefer descriptions rather than titles or artists. That’s just the nit picky author/editor in me coming out. The whole “they’re something the world doesn’t understand” feels like a copout. I hope there’s more detail coming and more worldbuilding in that way.

UPDATE: So we got the explanation but holy butts is it long-winded. This should’ve definitely been done differently.

CONCLUSION: Ultimately, I didn’t love the book. It was decently written and by the end (about 14 chapters in) I started to get invested. The last massive info dump FINALLY explained what was going on, but I really didn’t like that it took so long. I wasn’t involved in the mystery of it all, more annoyed by it. I did however think it leaves a good place for the second book to start though. Overall 3/5 stars.

[marshamello13]

Book Review: “In The Court’s Hands”

“In the Court’s Hands ( A Beatrice Barrington Thriller Book 1)” by Fiona Gartland

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from LibraryThing in return for an honest review.

Beatrice Barrington is a stenographer working in the Irish criminal court system, trying to escape a tragic incident in her past. During a particularly newsworthy case, she is outside eating lunch when she sees the defendant in that case meeting with one of the jurors. Knowing how important this case is Beatrice contemplates if she should say something or not. Before she can make a final decision the juror turns up dead in what appears to be suicide. But Beatrice is so not so sure so she enlists the help of retired Detective Graham Ingram to help her find out the truth. Graham and Beatrice have a complex past together but he is the only person she can trust. The closer they get to the truth the more danger Beatrice is. Can they find out the truth before it is too late? And what does Beatrice's past have to do with this case?

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It is full of twists and turns that kept me invested in the story. The narrative alternates between modern events and events of Beatrice's past. I did find the character of Beatrice to be slightly dislikeable. She could be both the smartest person in the room and the most oblivious person. That being said, I would recommend this book for readers that like a good mystery.

3 out of 5 stars.

[ladyherenya]

Books read in April

I probably spent more time reading but I also read a handful of novellas and a couple of children’s novels, which means I read more books than usual.

Many of these were, if not outright retellings, than heading close to that sort of territory: faeries and fairytales, Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austen, and Norse gods...

Favourite cover: Masque, maybe.

Reread: Nothing, too busy reading new things...

Still reading: Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

Next up: There’s a new Murderbot novel out in early May!!!

(Longer reviews and ratings are on LibraryThing and Dreamwidth.)

*

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams (narrated by the author): Adams’ descriptions are clever and unexpected, and he strings together a series of events even more bizarre and unexpected than his descriptions. Sometimes I felt exhausted on behalf of his poor protagonists, bounced from one mishap to another, but I was impressed by Adams’ ability to turn this madness into such a coherent story.

Flamebringer by Elle Katharine White: A solid, tense conclusion to Heartstone and Dragonshadow. However, I suspect it would have made more of an impact had I read the first two books recently. It assumes that the reader remembers more worldbuilding details -- about history and family connections and magical folk -- than I did. And because I found such details confusing, I didn’t pay close attention to some of the history and politics revealed in this book, and those things turned out to be unexpectedly important. A trilogy in much need of a glossary.

Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible by Ursula Vernon (aka T. Kingfisher): A very amusing take on ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Upon learning of her curse, Harriet accurately concludes that she must be invincible until it strikes -- and when the time arrives, she’s determined to avoid falling into an enchanted sleep. This is heavily-illustrated. The pictures are great, but were often awkwardly displayed in the Libby e-book. 

The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas: More of a heist story than a murder mystery, which may explain why I found it less compelling than The Hollow of Fear, although admittedly, it has its suspenseful sequences. Thomas does some interesting things in expanding her portrayal of the era as well as Mrs Watson’s story, taking Charlotte Holmes and her trusted associates to France on a mission along with someone from Mrs Watson’s past. I liked that Livia gets to play a more active role in those adventures. But I expected to like this more.

Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn: Meg is desperate for inspiration and company. She comes up with a project, looking for hand-lettered signs around New York, and invites along a former client -- who has turned up to question Meg about the hidden message in the wedding program she designed for him and his ex. A story about signs, secrets and the importance of having difficult conversations. I liked how those themes are explored in different areas of Meg’s life: making an effort to get to know Reid, setting boundaries with a new client, and trying to stop her best friend from drifting away.

Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris (narrated by Carrington MacDuffie): Christian was brought up in a cave by Edric the troll, who discovered Chris hiding in the forest. Now Chris is in love with the princess Marigold, with whom he has exchanged letters carried by pigeon but has never met.  If I had discovered this in 2002 when it was first published, I suspect I’d have been delighted by its gentle, whimsical, almost-fairytale-ness. These days I tend to want more complexity and more emotion and, often, more critical engagement with the genre’s tropes. But this was still pleasant company while I did a few hours of housework.

The Shards of a Broken Sword novella trilogy by W.R. Gingell: 

Twelve Days of Faery: King Markon’s son appears to be afflicted by a strange curse, because accidents and misadventure befalls any girl the prince flirts with. When an enchantress offers to deal with the curse in exchange for the expected reward of the prince’s hand in marriage, Markon gets swept up in her investigation. This is so much fun. I liked the way it focuses on a middle-aged father, rather than any of the more usual candidates for this sort of story, like his son or any of the young women affected by the curse. And I enjoyed Althea’s confidence and practical competence.

Fire in the Blood: Another story interested in twisting fairytale tropes. A prince sets out to rescue a princess from a tower, but neither of them are the protagonist -- that’s Rafiq, the prince’s enslaved dragon, forced into human-form. Rafiq has been dragged along on this quest and quietly hopes that his vicious master will fail to unravel the tower keep’s protections. I enjoyed this. The tower keep, with its magical puzzles, was an intriguing setting, and it was rather satisfying to see Rafiq and the princess’s serving girl subtly undermine the prince’s efforts without drawing his ire.

The First Chill of Autumn: The first two standalone and take place over a few days. This does not. It begins with Princess Dion’s childhood. At seventeen, Dion is sent on a tour of her country and discovers the truth about the Fae’s influence. She ends up joining forces with characters from the previous books. I liked each of these sections. However, this could easily have been expanded into something novel-length and been stronger for it. If more time had been given to Dion’s relationships -- with her sister, Barric and Padraig, and maybe her parents -- the ending would have made more of an emotional impact.

“A Tale of Carmine and Fancy”: This short story takes place during The First Chill of Autumn. I didn’t care about Carmine one way or another when he turned up in the trilogy, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith (narrated by Emma Galvin): Sixteen year old Rhis is one of many princesses invited to attend festivities held in honour of a crown prince. My first impression -- a nice-but-unremarkable story with an irritating audiobook narrator -- quickly changed. I got used to the narrator’s voice. I really appreciate Smith’s portrayal of social interactions and of group dynamics from the perspective of someone who is trying to understand why others are competing for attention. And once the plot took off, I was hooked. I have mixed feelings about the very end but that didn’t change how much I liked the rest of the story.

The Two Monarchies sequence by W.R. Gingell:

Clockwork Magician: Several years after Blackfoot, Peter starts at university. Because Peter ends up messing around with time-travel, there are scenes from his future in the previous books. It’s interesting getting those moments from Peter’s perspective and fitting the puzzle pieces of his story together. I also felt invested in Peter’s journey even though he spends a lot of time being arrogant and oblivious, because I knew that there must be a significant change up ahead. The way his dawning realisation is handled was unexpectedly satisfying. I also enjoyed seeing more of Poly and Luck, and getting to know Glenna.

Masque: A murder mystery which turns into a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Lady Isabella Farrah is determined to investigate after a friend is killed at the Ambassador’s Grand Ball, even if doing so annoys the official investigator, the masked Lord Pecus. Isabella is excellent company. She’s quick-witted, resourceful and uncowed. I really enjoyed watching her banter and meddle. The Beauty and the Beast elements are cleverly woven into the story, and even without the murder investigation, there’s enough to make it a unique take on an old tale. A delightful standalone companion to this series.

Frankly in Love by David Yoon: Frank Li has watched his parents react to his older sister’s choices and he knows they will never accept him dating anyone who isn’t Korean. So he and a family friend, Joy Song, pretend to date. Fake-dating is one of my most favourite romance tropes but I’m not a fan when it’s a cover for actually dating someone else -- I don’t like others getting hurt by the deception. Despite that, I found this YA novel engaging and unexpectedly moving. And an absolutely fascinating look at being the child of immigrants.

The Night Country by Melissa Albert: The Hazel Wood was excellent, sharp and compelling, but I didn’t enjoy the sequel much at all. In the first book there’s a much stronger thread of hope running through the darkness.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone: The letters exchanged between Red and Blue, two agents on opposing sides of a time war, are vibrant and memorable, playful and poignant. I particularly enjoyed their different names for each other. (“Dearest Blue-da-ba-dee”, “My Dear Mood Indigo”, “Dearest 0000FF” -- that one made me laugh, “Dear Red Sky at Morning”...) The scenes in between leave many questions unanswered about the war being fought. I couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling that if I actually understood what was going on, I wouldn’t like the characters. Nevertheless the letters are brilliant, and I can deal with uncertainty for the space of a novella.

A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark (narrated by Suehyla El-Attar): This novelette is too brief to involve what I enjoy most about murder mysteries, like carefully prying into people’s motives or characters forming supportive relationships in the face of an atmosphere of suspicion and unease. It is possible I’d like this worldbuilding in a different story, and that I would care more about Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha'arawi if I spent more time with her.

The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn: Rachel and Liam, a doctor and an actor-turned-academic, are sent back to 1815 to befriend Jane Austen and uncover an unpublished novel. Time travel allows for portraying Austen’s world with historical accuracy from the perspective of a woman with contemporary attitudes, and creates interesting challenges and anxieties. There’s a high degree of wish fulfilment in meeting Austen, but also realistic complications and consequences. This book impressed me even though -- or perhaps because -- it wasn’t always comfortable or to my taste. I’d have adored it, had things been slightly different, yet it’s nevertheless gripping and thought-provoking storytelling. I respect that.