I dived into this audiobook without a solid notion of what I'd encounter in it and I feel like that was a good decision! Now I will write some spoilers, unfortunately ruining your ability to experience the book the same way. Samantha Irby is very good at making extremely mundane and/or dark subject matter extremely funny. This book ranges over public transit nightmares in Chicago; working in an animal hospital; dating, sex, fatness, disabilities, queerness, racism; the alcoholism and death of her father; the allure of trashy food and trashy TV; and Irby's relationship with the woman who would eventually become her wife. Irby has been blogging for over a decade and she still updates at https://bitchesgottaeat.blogspot.com/. I was pleased, and unsurprised, to learn from Wikipedia that she's friends with Roxane Gay and Lindy West, whose books all belong on the same shelf with this one and Irby's other collections of essays.

This self-published book contains the first two chapters of Shing Yin Khor's webcomic about three women working for the Center For Otherworld Science, but I am going to review all seven chapters currently available online (https://otherworldscience.com). The protagonist's jobs involve the capture and study of otherworld creatures and plants. Dr. Maggie Ng (Mags) is an evolutionary biologist and an emotional mess. She is asked to speak at the funeral of a co-worker, but they had recently had a one-night stand and she feels pretty ambivalent about him. Danika Jones (Dani) is a facilities engineer, stable, competent, and quiet, but not very good at maintaining relationships. She is trying to decide whether or not to ask Mags out on a date. Dr. Jennifer Kim (Jen) is a project manager and also a member of the secret underground network trying to sneak as many creatures as they can out of the Center. This comic is gorgeously painted in watercolors and inks. It's an uncomplicated but very moving story. You can only find the books in print when the author tables at comic conventions, and I definitely recommend getting them if you can! If not, you can also read the story online, and find Shing's work online here: http://www.sawdustbear.com/

I have been following and enjoying Marian Churchland's blog for years. This gorgeous volume collects many drawings and posts from 2009-2017. These are organized into chapters focusing on fantasy adventure food, goblin fashion lines, want lists and precious treasures and finally homes and maps. Marian's drawings have a heft and weight that makes me want to touch and hold the items she has illustrated because they look so real. But in addition to their realness all of these drawings contain a kind of wishful magic: they are brighter, glamoured versions of the things we encounter in daily life.

My favorite thing about this book was the two main characters, best friends Barney and Norma. They are misfits who were drawn together in high school and now both work at the same eccentric, haunted amusement park: Pollyland. My least favorite thing about this book is that it was originally a script for an animated TV show. The structure of each chapter still heavily reflects the format of a 10 minute Cartoon Network style episode, which makes for awkward pacing in a book. Scenes which could have used more space and time are packed in back to back, and the emotional rollercoaster at the end is not earned. Also, spoiler: a dog dies.

Isaac is an Arab-American college student with epilepsy. He feels unable to tell people about his condition and becomes more and more isolated; doctors fail to recognize the severity of his symptoms, and he struggles to keep his prescriptions filled. This is a beautiful, but strange and scattered book- moments I wanted to see more of were cut short, while seizure sequences take up page after page. Perhaps this is the perfect depiction of the condition, but I was left wanting a somewhat heftier plot. Still, I recommend it to readers interested in the subject matter. The art is emotional and deeply personal.

I don't even know what to say about this book. It's a difficult read but an absolute triumph. Five stars.

Audre Lorde had the kind of mind and talent that only appears once or twice in a generation. I started this collection of essays directly after finishing Zami: A New Spelling of My Name and every page blew me away. I started with a library book but half way through had to go out and buy a copy because I wanted to be able to underline, circle passages, write notes and dozens of exclamation points. I can tell this is a text I will be returning to many times, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Audre Lorde's poetic genius shines out even in her prose. This tale of her early life and loves is rich and immediate. I won't try to sum up the events of her life in a few short lines- that won't do this book any justice. Suffice to say that it made the New York of the 1940s and 50s more vividly real to me than any other piece of writing I've encountered, and was aching in its description of what it was like to be young, Black and lesbian at that time. I can't wait to get started on some of her essays, and hear more about the dreams and thoughts that are hinted at and woven into these remembrances.