jovianjournal

[jovianjournal]

2, 3, 13 & 17 😘📚

thanks!

2: Did you reread anything? What?

im not sure actually! hmmm i've read the french translation of kingdom of copper by s.a. Chakrarborty for the first time, but i read the original version some years ago. Also i'm in the process of rereading RAVE by Hiro Mashima, because it's getting a reprint

3: What were your top five books of the year?

In no particular order! (actually, in reverse chronological order in which i've read them) novel edition:

The library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins, a very weird book involving very weird characters. i read a french translation which i actually wasn't a fan of, so i think i'll read the original version one day!

The square of sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, this might acutally be my favourite read of the year. Historical mystery about a fortune teller looking for her birth family.

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston, ex lovers on a European road trip, will make you crave brunch like you life depends on it

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley, she's my fav author i can't not put it in the list. identity politics on mars, linguistics, and mammoths.

The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges, a classic short stories collection about... immortality and infinity and language and knowledge? i read a French translation which was really good. Loved the themes loved the words.

maybe i'll do a comics version later

13: What were your least favorite books of the year?

this is where i'm grateful for my journal because i completely forget the things i don't like. Again, just novels:

The folk of the air trilogy by Holly Black (no more YA in 2025), All our hidden gifts by Caroline O'DOnoghue (no! more! YA! in 2025!!), Ariah by BR Sanders (very boring), Total creative control by Joanna Chambers and Sally Malcolm (so forgettable i don't even remember what it's about) aaand that's it.

17: Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Maybe the Square of Sevens! i picked it kinda at random at the library, had a really tough time getting through it because i read it when i was very sick, and also it's long and a lot of things happen, but the last 70 pages are so good. sooo so good. plot twist after plot twist. delicious.

Also A study in drowning by Ava Reid, the only YA book i've read this year i've actually enjoyed.

send more! or maybe i'll respond to all of them anyway just for fun

[jovianjournal]

end-of-year book ask

How many books did you read this year?

Did you reread anything? What?

What were your top five books of the year?

Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

What genre did you read the most of?

Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

What was your average Goodreads rating? Does it seem accurate?

Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?

Did you get into any new genres?

What was your favorite new release of the year?

What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

Any books that disappointed you?

What were your least favorite books of the year?

What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them?

What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

How many books did you buy?

Did you use your library?

What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?

What’s the longest book you read?

What’s the fastest time it took you to read a book?

Did you DNF anything? Why?

What reading goals do you have for next year?

[jovianjournal]

March 2024

Today we're talking about comics i read in March. I mostly read manga, from series i've already talked about before or don't have anything to say about, so i'm going to skip some books.

The Quiet End of the Mundane Age -- Theo Stultz

Probably my favourite comic from last year's ShortBox Comic Fair (the 2024 edition is coming very soon!! can't wait to spend wayyyy too much money on comics). A short story about academics studying an ancient civilisation and looking to bring back magic into the world (if i remember correctly... i really want to reread this one actually). the vibes are: delicious. my only complain is that it was too short, and i wish it was a whole series.

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Minsucule Folle Sauvage -- Pauline de Tarragon

Tiny Crazy Feral Woman. a journal comic about depression and ennui, with cute pastel art. made me want to draw little introspective zines and reread sylvia plath.

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Genderless Danshi ni Aisareteimasu / Mon petit ami genderless -- TAMEKOU, Narihira Kojiro, French translation by Blanche Delaborde

A finished series about a manga editor and her fem boyfriend. This is a cute slice of life story with some funny gags, but it is way less queer than advertised (the genderless boyfriend is Very Gendered, Actually). I liked the tidbits about Japanese queer culture, the art is suuuper pretty, but there are a lot of talks about appearance and popularity and social media which im not a fan of. Overall it's a light hearted read about conventionally attractive people, a good time.

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Kûtei Dragons / Drifting Dragons -- Kuwabara Taku

Another favourite of mine. The adventures of a team of dragon hunters in a fantasy world! This story manages to have a big cast where everyone feels like an actual person. Not vegan friendly.

[jovianjournal]

March 2024

Should i just do one big post for novels and comics at the same time? Anyway, here's the novels i read in march, mostly SFF plus one romcom

Uprooted -- Naomi Novik, French translation by Benjamin Kuntzer

A young woman is sent to the local wizard's tower as a yearly tribute (or something like that) where she learns magic and try to discover why the forest is being weird. Very long and frankly a little boring, i had pretty high expectations and i was a bit disappointed. At first it seemed right up my alley, there were some blue beard, dark fantasy vibes... that kind of went nowhere tbh. most of the characters are extremely annoying (although i did like Agniezka as a protagonist! and her friend Kasia. it could have been gay... it should have been gay!!) and the plot felt stretched out for no reason. But i did enjoy the old folk tale aesthetic, the magic system based around rhymes was beautiful.

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A Study in Drowning -- Ava Reid

A college student is sent to a crumbling mansion by the sea for an architecture project, alongside her academic rival, mystery ensues. The vibes were perfect, the rising sea, the damp air, the raging storm, water everywhere. I have one complain tho: I spent the Whole Goddamn Book SCREAMING at the characters "why aren't you checking this One Thing???" and as soon as they did check this one thing the mystery was resolved. so that was a little annoying.

Overall I really liked this book, i'd recommend it if you're into Dark Academia, A House as A Character, and metaphors about sexist and sexual violence. Also the writing is really pretty! i want to read other books by this author.

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The Mars House -- Natasha Pulley

disclaimer: i love Natasha Pulley So. Much. she is probably my fav author currently, and i am very aware that she tends to always write the same book, but listen : i am autistic and i like knowing what im getting into and knowing that im going to like a story before investing the time in it.

That Being Said, i have two and a half pages of notes in my journal that boil down to "i didn't like this book as much as i hoped :/". This is a sci-fi story about immigration and xenophobia where one of the main character is a martian right-wing politician and also there's some Gender Stuff in martian society that felt a little terfy? (which is weird bc basically in this book Martian society has Abolished Gender). I still adored this book! i'd wholeheartedly recommend it! the writing is spectacular, i loved the characters, the worldbuilding is super interesting, there's fun tragic irony where you know what's going on while the characters don't, there's fricking Mammoths. Read it, and then read The Watchmaker of FIligree Street, and then read the Kingdoms, and then read all of her other books.

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Ariah -- B. R. Sanders

I don't know how to describe this book. A 400-page character study about a Pretty Annoying Guy? I think i picked it up bc i was looking for books with polyam relationships and that's why i powered all the way through it. I actually don't remember much about the plot. It's a high fantasy story, the main character has mind powers he has trouble controlling, he's kind of a dick to his lovers, every time something important happens the narration completely glosses over it. Reading over my notes, i did like the last part of the story, and the happy end felt deserved. don't have much more to say.

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Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake -- Alexis Hall

Alexis Hall is another one of my comfort authors, im slowly getting through their bibliography. this one was okay! it's a great british bake off fan fiction, it was fun (but not as good as the Stucky fanfic). good banter, tropey plot. averages to and okay book.

[jovianjournal]

Results from today’s linoprinting session. Far from perfect but I’m having a lot of fun!

[jovianjournal]

February 2024 (comics time)

took me a while to finish this post because i actually had to work, for once.

Kimi ni Nidome no Sayonara wo / Un second au revoir -- Takogawa Takomaru, Tanaka Tomo, French translation by Essia Mokdad

I saw this manga in my local bookshop and i picked it up because the art looked really cool, but it's not the kind of story i usually read: it's a... psychological horror mystery with some supernatural elements? The story begins when a young man goes to the funeral of a childhood friend who had been missing for several years and whose body has just been discovered, hidden for all this time in their old high school. At the funeral, he gets attacked and wakes up in the body of his younger self, a few months before his friend's disappearance.

For me the main appeal is the art and the vaguely homoerotic ultra-toxic friendship, the plot is sometimes a little lacking, a little tropey. At the time of writing, there's still one volume to be published in France at the end of the year and i'm looking forward to the end of the mystery, because i've guessed some parts of it, but there's some time travel shenanigans that still need clarifying. overall i'd recommend it! (although: tw for child abuse & violence)

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Country Diary - Haru kara natsu e -- Ishino Aya, French translation by Gaëlle Ruel

Sometimes you read a book and you think the whole time "gosh i wish i was living in this story". A 2 volume series about a university professor who quits his city life to buy an old abandoned house in the countryside, where he befriends a local carpenter and learns to tend his field with the help of his farmer neighbours. Very Story of Seasons, very cottagecore fantasy. A sweet lil story about community and frienship and craft and nature and... idk it's just really cosy and charming.

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Blue Period (volume 14) -- Tsubasa Yamaguchi, French translation by Nathalie Lejeune

One of my favourite currently running series, about a fine art student and his art school adventures. Lot of really interesting stuff about art and being an artist. This volume focuses on some of the side characters, who are truly the strength of the story, a big cast of colorful weirdos.

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Dungeon Meshi -- Ryoko Kui, French translation by Sébastien Ludmann

Okay unless you've been living under a rock you've probably heard of delicious in dungeon, who was adapted into an anime earlier this year. I'd been meaning to read it for a very long time and after watching the first couple episodes i finally bit the bullet... and binged the whole thing in a couple months. Exactly the Kind of Story I Love : fun fantasy with complex worldbuilding, great characters with complex relationships, expert comedic timing, beautiful art, complex themes in a silly wrapping... can't recommend it enough.

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Rivages Lointains -- Anaïs Flogny

A story about gay mafiosi in mid century america. Great art, great ambiance, i just wish there was at least one character i could root for. don't get me wrong i'm all for morally ambiguous anti heroes, but they either need to have some likeable traits or to be fun to hate. These guys are mostly just unsympathetic. I still really liked it tho!

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Squire -- Nadia Shammas, Sara Alfageeh, French translation by Florent Degletagne

ooooh this one was really good. it took me a long time to read, because i'd heard great things about it, but it's a thick one, and i was waiting for the right time to read it. Second world fantasy with middle eastern vibes. the authors are palestinian and cisjordanian (if i remember correctly) which add an extra layer on the themes of colonization throughout the story. I loved the secondary characters and i wish they got more time to be developed, but other than that it's a great story that felt extremely relevant.

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that's all folks, see y'all next time

[jovianjournal]

February 2024

Let's talk about the books i read in February

today we have some popular (and less popular) YA fantasy, some Classic Queer Literature, and a delightful regency romance.

The Wicked King -- Holly Black, French translation by Leslie Damant-Jeandel

The sequel to the Cruel Prince and the second book in the trilogy, by far my least favourite. Not quite an unreliable narrator, but an unbelievably moronic one (yes i know! she's a kid! she can't always be making the right and sensible choice! but gdi is there ONE instance in this book where Jude doesn't make a stupid decision?). Also Wicked was translated as Maléfique in French, which is closer to Evil in meaning, which I don't like.

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The Left Hand of Darkness -- Ursula Le Guin

This book has been on my shelves for years and i've been meaning to read it for a long time, and i finally picked it up because i needed something a little... higher brow if you see what i mean (i sound like a snob, sorry). A queer sci-fi classic. It was fascinating, but it does read as being "of its time" (i think i read somewhere that Le Guin wrote an essay about some elements of the book she would have written differently later in her life, i kinda want to find it). Gender and politics and gender politics. It takes place on a planet where it's always winter, very moody and atmospheric, really happy i finally read it. (also isn't this edition pretty?)

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The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting + Thief in the Night -- K.J. Charles

K.J. Charles is one of my safe authors, where i might not love every single one of their books, but i know i will have a good time, and that it will be gay. This book was a good time! and it was gay! A regency romance, sort of lovers to friends, with fun side characters and a very satisfying ending. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that the main characters, named Robin and Marianne, were referencing Robin Hood. Thief in the Night is a novella sequel that's not as engaging but was also : a good time.

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All Our Hidden Gifts -- Caroline O'Donoghue, French translation by Christophe Rosson

This book was such a disappointment, because at first i thought i was going to love it. An outcast teen girl gets really into tarot and finds popularity at school because of her gift, but then her ex best friend disappears and it might be her fault. Cool concept, bad execution. or cool premise, bad development? I described it in my journal as "Sorcellerie Nature & Découverte" and i'm not sure how i could translate that. "Bed Bath and Beyond magic"? very YA (derogatory).

[jovianjournal]

January 2024 (comics edition)

Here's the second part of my January reading wrap up! some manga/comics/graphic novels

Kobito no Shiita to Karigurashi no Mori / Shiita et la forêt des minuscules -- Yuki Kamba, French translation by Raphaële Gippon

A cute adventure manga about little guys (gender neutral) traveling in the forest. The art and the worldbuilding is more interesting (to me) than the plot, but to be fair it's for a younger audience. Although sometimes it gets a little eerie. Actually it reminds me of the horror comic Beautiful Darkness by Kerascoët. The characters are very little and the world is very big and scary.

Also i have no idea how i'm going to talk about series i've read across several months.

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Tiger Tiger Vol. 1 -- Petra Norlund

the physical version of the first chapters of one my all time fav webcomic. Delicious art and fun adventures. please go and read all of it right now.

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2 dome no koi ha usotsuki / 2nd love Once upon a lie -- Akimi Hata

I borrowed the volumes from the library one by one and read it really slowly over the course of several months. Incredibly mediocre. A generic josei manga about... what was it about? a 30 year old woman trying to get over her first love by dating a younger guy (who's the first love's little brother). Frankly forgettable.

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Ava's Demon Vol. 2 -- Michelle Fus

It was the month of reading the physical version of beloved webcomics i guess. Please also go read all of it right now.

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Alexander, the servant and the water of life Vol. 1 -- Reimena Yee

Another webcomic, not as beloved. i love historical myths retelling, this one was okay. but please go read it right now. (i really want to love Reimena Yee's work but everytime i read one of her books im a little disappointed)

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Le fils de Pan -- Fabrizio Dori

the sequel to one of my all time favorite comics. Greek gods and goddesses in modern time, just fucking around. I have a special place in my heart for this series because the main character, Eustis the faun, really reminds me of my dead drunk artist uncle (the one that died 15 years ago, not the one that died earlier this year)(yes it IS weird that it happened twice)

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Short Box Comic Fair 2023 //

Last year during SBCF i bought a truly unreasonable amount of comics. I'm pretty sure that, as i write this in July 2024, i've read all of them, but it took : a while.

Grief Log -- Snowlattes

Exactly what it says on the tin (for some reason i can't find any trace of this comic on the internet)

The Body from the River -- Riotbones

Dnd vibes, people in the town guessing who was the person found dead in the river

The Hawk and the Rabbit -- Lalage

Fun fairy tale with a gay wizard and pretty art, can't ask for more

[jovianjournal]

January 2024

The year had a bit of a slow start tbh. looking at my statistics page in my journal, this is the month i read the lowest amount of books. I think i'd rather have a slow start, than start strong and lose all my motivation after a couple months? plus i read some nice books in January.

Im going to start with the novels in this post, i'll do a second one with the comics/GNs/mangas later!

Hunger Pangs : True Love Bites -- Joy Demorra

A historical fantasy with vampires and werewolves, a polyam romance, a witty narrator, and some cool worldbuilding. a good time overall! i was happy to start the year with a good read. It's not perfect: the plot feels a little uneven (the book starts with a hint of world ending, but this is immediately put on the back-burner til the last third of the book), the resolution feels easy, the characters are a bit too archetypal (the broody vampire main character is named Vlad, i mean...). It did not rewire my brain but i'm looking forward to reading the sequel one day!

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The Cruel Prince -- Holly Black, French translation by Leslie Damant-Jeandel

I'm rereading my notes in my journal and i need to be fair : i didn't like this book, but the reasons i didn't like it can be summarized with : this is a YA novel. a really popular YA novel, so i guess i had some expectations? they weren't met (i have read the rest of the series since then, as a whole i still think it's not as good as i was told, but it's alright). Also i read it in French, which i think made the writing sounds more childish that it actually is. A 17 years old protagonist will act like a 17 years old.

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The Midnight Bargain -- C.L. Polk

This is the story of a girl who wants to study magic but has to get married (because of misogyny) in a world where married women can't practice magic (because of misogyny). i actually really liked it! The magic system was fun, the author compared it to pokemon, in the sense that people "capture" spirits and use their powers to practice magic, in exchange for a taste of humanity, like the feeling of walking barefoot in the sand of a slice of cake. it's quite cute, i like stories where mundane things are made precious. i mean, it's a really fucked up system with a lot of abuse, but that part is cute. this is a very pretty book overall, with a bit of friendship and romance and sorority in the mix (it feels a little easy, a little feminism 101, a little caricatural, but it feels fair). It has a lot of tropes i like in this kind of story. i recommend it if you enjoyed Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater, it has a similar Fantasy of Manners vibe.

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We could be so good -- Cat Sebastian

Love me some Cat Sebastian historical romance. I feel like this one is more interesting as a mid-century New York historical novel with some insights into the life of queer people of the time, than as a romance. It's cozy and not much happens. things i have written in my journal about this book : "i do not want to make hasty conclusions, but i'd say there is a non zero chance that this story started as a Stucky fanfic" and "i want to share a home tenderly with my homosexual lover" and "the kind of historical novel where life seems a lot easier (and cheaper) than nowadays". There's a sequel i'm looking forward to reading!

That's all for today see u next time ♫

[jovianjournal]

This is a reading blog

After talking about it for /literally/ years, i am making a blog to write about the books i read and enjoyed (or not).

I have this big archive, 7 years worth of reading (and various media) journal to go through. I'll have things to say for a while. I'm even going to try and have a real tagging system.

I'll edit this post someday with commonly used tags so i can use it as an index :o)

I'm Joa! I'm a 27 years old tattoo artist from France, i read mostly in English but it is my second language. I like fantasy, sci-fi, romance, i read a lot of comics and graphic novels, i have a very bad memory (which is why i started journaling in the first place)