This Was Our Pact, by Ryan Andrews
Graphic novel reread. It is so lovely and magical, like watching a Ghibli film. Always recommend.
General Lucian K. Truscott Jr., by Glyn Harper
This is a book published by the company I work for. While writing copy for emails, I was flipping through it looking for a hook and wound up getting hooked myself. (I never read military history!) General Truscott was a key American general during WWII and was responsible for taking Italy back. Really well-written that is easy to approach, even for a non-military person like me.
Exposure, by Ramona Emerson
Navajo photographer Rita Todacheene returns for another mystery, this time involving a serial killer. This book wasn’t as well put together as the first book, but was still worth reading.
Another Mother Does Not Come When Yours Dies, by Mubanga Kalimamukwento
A book of poetry by a Zambian American author. The title comes from a poem in the collection which is based on an old saying in Zambia. The poet’s mother died when she was 10 and was sent to live with an aunt who was abusive. Many of the poems are about her memories of her mom which then contrast with the poems about her own motherhood. Some poems went over my head, but all-in-all it was a solid collection.
The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories, by various
A graphic novel in the Cautionary Fables & Fairytales series. Many of the stories are based on Grimm’s Fairy Tales so are quite dark. Overall, I like it a lot. Great art for each entry.
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, by Kylie Lee Baker
This was a read for book club and is much darker than we usually read. It was fantastic, but one of those books that I would only recommend with heavy caveats. Set during the early month’s of COVID, Cora is a crime scene cleaner. She notices that dead bats are being left at the scenes of violent murders of Asian women at the same time that the hungry ghost of her recently dead sister begins to follow her. This is a grotesque book, gotta get that out there. However, horror may be the best genre to focus on the erasure and violence that women of Asian ancestry experience both in the US and their home countries.
Mrs Spy, by M.J. Robotham
It’s 1965 and widow Maggie Flynn is a watcher for MI5, the British domestic spy office. Her husband had been part of MI5 before he died. Maggie has never believed the story she got about his death and while babysitting a defector, she accidently finds out secret information about her husband. After that she will break all the rules to find out what really happened. This description sounds really dire, but the book is fun, funny, and well-paced with lovely, friendly characters. I think there will be more Maggie Flynn books and I look forward to it.
The Change, Kirsten Miller
This was recommended to me by a friend who described it as menopausal women getting superpowers. I was in. Also, I loved the author’s Kiki Strike MG series. I loved this book, but damn, it was another dark read as it was wish fulfillment for what should happen to all the disgusting people in the Epstein files. Great characters (I want to be Harriet) and a very satisfying ending.
If I Stopped Haunting You, by Colby Wilkens
So-so spooky romance. Well, not so spooky really. Four American horror writers go to a writing retreat at a castle in rural Scotland. The two main characters are supposed to be of native descent, but it doesn’t add to the story (and I find out after that the author says she’s native but no one can find out how). The horror writers know very little about actual horror books. The ghost mystery/historical romance was kind of lame. I guess I really didn’t like it so much.
All the Lovely Bad Ones, by Mary Downing Hahn
Graphic novel version of this well-known MG writer’s books. Really liked it. Very spooky with a well-developed mystery. Travis and Corey love mean pranks. But they take it too far when they spend their summer at their grandmother’s inn in Vermont and wind up waking ghosts attached to the house from 150 years before. Recommend!
Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature, by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian
My quick description of this is a cross between Braiding Sweetgrass and Why Fish Don’t Exist—two books I love. The essays that make up this work are about the comfort nature has always brought the author, even while trying to figure out where she fit in on the sexuality spectrum. Kaishian, a mycologist studying fungi in all its forms, uses the natural world to explore the gender binary and queerness. Her approach is definitely influenced by Robin Kimmerer, and the personal nature of it made me think of Lulu Miller. I enjoyed this book a lot.
Graphic novel reread. It is so lovely and magical, like watching a Ghibli film. Always recommend.
General Lucian K. Truscott Jr., by Glyn Harper
This is a book published by the company I work for. While writing copy for emails, I was flipping through it looking for a hook and wound up getting hooked myself. (I never read military history!) General Truscott was a key American general during WWII and was responsible for taking Italy back. Really well-written that is easy to approach, even for a non-military person like me.
Exposure, by Ramona Emerson
Navajo photographer Rita Todacheene returns for another mystery, this time involving a serial killer. This book wasn’t as well put together as the first book, but was still worth reading.
Another Mother Does Not Come When Yours Dies, by Mubanga Kalimamukwento
A book of poetry by a Zambian American author. The title comes from a poem in the collection which is based on an old saying in Zambia. The poet’s mother died when she was 10 and was sent to live with an aunt who was abusive. Many of the poems are about her memories of her mom which then contrast with the poems about her own motherhood. Some poems went over my head, but all-in-all it was a solid collection.
The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories, by various
A graphic novel in the Cautionary Fables & Fairytales series. Many of the stories are based on Grimm’s Fairy Tales so are quite dark. Overall, I like it a lot. Great art for each entry.
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, by Kylie Lee Baker
This was a read for book club and is much darker than we usually read. It was fantastic, but one of those books that I would only recommend with heavy caveats. Set during the early month’s of COVID, Cora is a crime scene cleaner. She notices that dead bats are being left at the scenes of violent murders of Asian women at the same time that the hungry ghost of her recently dead sister begins to follow her. This is a grotesque book, gotta get that out there. However, horror may be the best genre to focus on the erasure and violence that women of Asian ancestry experience both in the US and their home countries.
Mrs Spy, by M.J. Robotham
It’s 1965 and widow Maggie Flynn is a watcher for MI5, the British domestic spy office. Her husband had been part of MI5 before he died. Maggie has never believed the story she got about his death and while babysitting a defector, she accidently finds out secret information about her husband. After that she will break all the rules to find out what really happened. This description sounds really dire, but the book is fun, funny, and well-paced with lovely, friendly characters. I think there will be more Maggie Flynn books and I look forward to it.
The Change, Kirsten Miller
This was recommended to me by a friend who described it as menopausal women getting superpowers. I was in. Also, I loved the author’s Kiki Strike MG series. I loved this book, but damn, it was another dark read as it was wish fulfillment for what should happen to all the disgusting people in the Epstein files. Great characters (I want to be Harriet) and a very satisfying ending.
If I Stopped Haunting You, by Colby Wilkens
So-so spooky romance. Well, not so spooky really. Four American horror writers go to a writing retreat at a castle in rural Scotland. The two main characters are supposed to be of native descent, but it doesn’t add to the story (and I find out after that the author says she’s native but no one can find out how). The horror writers know very little about actual horror books. The ghost mystery/historical romance was kind of lame. I guess I really didn’t like it so much.
All the Lovely Bad Ones, by Mary Downing Hahn
Graphic novel version of this well-known MG writer’s books. Really liked it. Very spooky with a well-developed mystery. Travis and Corey love mean pranks. But they take it too far when they spend their summer at their grandmother’s inn in Vermont and wind up waking ghosts attached to the house from 150 years before. Recommend!
Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature, by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian
My quick description of this is a cross between Braiding Sweetgrass and Why Fish Don’t Exist—two books I love. The essays that make up this work are about the comfort nature has always brought the author, even while trying to figure out where she fit in on the sexuality spectrum. Kaishian, a mycologist studying fungi in all its forms, uses the natural world to explore the gender binary and queerness. Her approach is definitely influenced by Robin Kimmerer, and the personal nature of it made me think of Lulu Miller. I enjoyed this book a lot.
