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[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

“No one is perfect. No one makes it through life whole and unscathed. So do not blame yourself for what is out of your control. We are here, and we have each other. That is what is important.”

-Christopher Paolini, Murtagh

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

Books of 2023

The ABC Murders, Agatha Christie--This is probably one of my favorite Poirot novels. It keeps you on your toes and as always with Agatha Christie, there’s a surprise twist (or two!)

1984, George Orwell--I feel like this is another book that has been lost to the times. When it first came out, I’m sure it was a phenomenal read--it predicts a dystopian future in a surveillance state, which, at this point, maybe hits a little too close to home for some. The ‘big bad’ and scary suggestions for the future in this book are, at this point in our lives, fairly normal feeling, or things that we’ve since in more recent sci-fi novels and tv shows, done bigger and scarier. So, while I’m sure it set up the foundation for which many of these new things were based on, I was fairly bored reading this book, and did not finish it.

Finn Fancy Necromancy, Randy Henderson--This was a fun, light read. It follows the story of a boy who was framed for a crime he didn’t commit, and his journey of discovery after completing his sentence. 

The Diviners, Libba Bray--A supernatural-esque mystery story set in New York in the 1920s? What else can you ask for? This book was actually really good, it had a well rounded set of diverse and interesting characters, and was a good mix of a scary read and a fun read. 

The City We Became, NK Jemisin--This was a really interesting book--it’s hard to explain without giving too much away, but it was a very unique writing style overall, with subtle shifts in narration for when a different character was telling their part of the story. It explored a new concept, I think, in writing and storytelling, which I really enjoyed.

Shadow and Bone, Leigh Bardugo--I’m a bit biased because I saw the show first, but that and a friend convinced me enough to read the book, and I loved it! The TV show stays pretty accurate to this book, at least (I’ve heard it strays from some of the later ones). Although it has some of the typical fantasy YA romance tropes, I still really enjoyed this book, and it had enough new and interesting ideas to keep me hooked and interested in the book. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!

Moby Dick, Herman Melville--It’s taken me literal years to finish this one because I was reading it on my phone so would read it while riding to work and then forget about it for months on end and then pick it up again. BUT regardless, I really enjoyed it! I can see why a lot of high schoolers hate it, she’s DENSE. There’s a lot of explanation and things that aren’t necessarily plot-related going on in the book, which I enjoy, but I can see why others wouldn’t. Another one that I’d maybe recommend reading the abridged version of, but I really liked it!

Dune, Frank Herbert--Having watched the newest movie beforehand really helped me with this one. It’s a FANTASTIC book, but there are a lot of moving parts, politics, and characters with similar names, that I definitely would have gotten confused and frustrated if I hadn’t have had the movie to base things off of. That being said, would highly recommend reading. A lot times with old sci-fi books like this, they don’t live up to the hype because like, they may have been groundbreaking at the time they came out, but our expectations have risen so much since then. However, for a book that came out in 1965, this one still holds up. It definitely kept me interested throughout the book, which is saying something, because she’s THICK.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Eveyln Hardcastle, Stuart Turton--This was a really good book with a fresh new take on murder mystery/whodunits. Essentially, the narrator wakes up each day as a new person, reliving the events of the same day over and over again until he can solve the murder. It was a really interesting concept and I thought very well executed.

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

this is going to have me on my hands and knees dry heaving

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

Every man is in a cage of his own making.

Stuart Turton, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

"For there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men."

You tell 'em, Ishmael.

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

he moby on my dick til i Squeeze! Squeeze! Squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me, and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-labourers' hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and looking up into their eyes sentimentally, as much as to say,—Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill humour or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness.

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

from the introduction to emily wilsons translation of the iliad

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

“There are so many ways of telling a war: the entire conflict can be encapsulated in just one incident. One man’s anger at the behaviour of another, say. A whole war – all ten years of it – might be distilled into that. But this is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s, and the poet will look upon their pain – the pain of the women who have always been relegated to the edges of the story, victims of men, survivors of men, slaves of men – and he will tell it, or he will tell nothing at all. They have waited long enough for their turn”

beautiful.

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

When a war was ended, the men lost their lives. But the women lost everything else.

Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships (via words-and-coffee)

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

A Thousands Ships--Natalie Haynes

This book was seriously AMAZING. Yes, I am a classics nerd and love all books relating to the Trojan war and that era, but this one goes beyond that. Instead of retelling the story of the Trojan war like everyone else, it tells the story of the women surrounding it, whose narratives are rarely, if ever, told. Seriously, this book made me feel every emotion on the spectrum. It’s a must read. 

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

People walked right past him. They wouldn't look. It was as if they were afraid that if they looked, they'd catch his bad luck. His pain was more terrifying to them than death.

The Diviners, Libba Bray

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

The line between faith and fanaticism is a constantly shifting one. When does belief become justification? When does right become rationale and crusade become crime?

The Diviners, Libba Bray

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

The wind has existed forever. It has seen much of this country of dreams and soap ads, old horrors and bloodshed. It has played mute witness to its burning witches, and has walked along a Trail of Tears; it has seen slave ships release their human cargo, blinking and afraid, into the ports, their only possession a grief they can never lose. The wind was there when President Lincoln fell to an assassin's bullet. It smelled of gunpowder at Antietam. It ran with the buffalo and touched tentative fingers to the tall black hats of Puritans. It has carried shouts of love, and it has dried tears to salt tracks on more faces than it can remember.

The Diviners, Libba Bray

[butterbeerandlemoncakes]

“Real gods aren’t what most of you Christians think of as gods. Gods are people. Sometimes dead people, sometimes still alive. Sometimes never lived.” She shrugs. “They do jobs—bring fortune, look after people, make sure the world works as it should. They fall in love. Have babies. Fight. Die.” She shrugs. “It’s duty. It’s normal. Get over it.”

N.K. Jemisin, The City We Became     (via stpauligirl)