My sapphic book club usually picks fiction, but after hearing about Simard’s memoir, we decided to have a special nonfiction treat.

Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest twines Suzanne Simard’s life with her forestry and ecological studies. The first half was very, very rough for me, unexpectedly so. She starts her career in the lumber industry as someone who replants forested areas after an approved cutting. The mass tree death, the uncaring officials, and the worship of profit were hard to read about. Things improve sightly when she switches to government work, but we’re hit with the grueling realization that governmental policy is not much better than a lumber company’s. The policies were so poor, I jokingly wondered aloud if these events were during the 1980s–turns out I was right! Simard did her best with what she knew at the time, and the writing itself is quite good. The content itself was difficult to get through.

The second half of the book was brighter. Simard moves onto academia, and the science of mother trees comes to fruition. I knew less about the mother tree concept than fungal networks, so I enjoyed the learning. “Mother” trees connect to younger trees via mycelium networks and favor resource sharing with their genetic relatives. When a mother tree is under duress, it dumps carbon and other yummies into the network, to ensure survival of the species. Surrounding native plants create more stable networks and lay the foundation for forest growth and stability in the long term. One of the last studies mentioned researching how forests surrounding salmon spawn sites benefit from the postcoital corpses. Fascinating stuff!

Simard’s biography wasn’t so linear (whose life is, haha), and sometimes the biographical sides had to stretch to connect to the scientific findings. Not much was made of Simard’s queerness, and I’m happy for her. I’m glad she’s still out there somewhere, working and living. My biggest disappointment with the book is the lacking connective tissue to indigenous environmentalists and activism. A lot of what Simard spent years studying, learning, and realizing for herself is already known to indigenous groups. Towards the end of the book, it seemed like Simard would make the reasoning leap and incorporate more of First Nations’ ongoing conservation projects. They get a few sentences of acknowledgement, and I wanted more.

Overall, Finding the Mother Tree accomplished what it set out to do. It’s an educational memoir about one scientist and her ongoing love affair with trees. Interesting and well worth the reading, but ultimately, I wanted more bark to chew on. 

Vesuvius by Pliny the Younger may seem a rather random reading choice for me, but that's because it is. The translator, Kenneth Martin, was my wife's secondary school Latin teacher, of whom she'd told many stories I treasure in my heart.

The front matter is rather scatter brained and squirrely, but Martin eventually explains that these letters retell a young Pliny's experience of the famous Pompeii eruption. I liked the sections detailing why Latin is difficult to translate, and how past translators' choices reflect literary modes popular in their time. Somber watercolor illustrations accompany the text. The delicate blurring of color and line give an elegiac feel, as appropriate for a mass tragedy. 

The letters and their translation are nothing unexpected. Even a millennia later, I said a prayer for those lost in this disaster. 

The Two Lions was an impulse purchase from the bookstore. When so many manga are volumes upon volumes of high school drama, Furuya-san's one volume university romance stands out!

Besides the lack of uniforms, Junpei doesn't know what to expect from university. When he chose an institution farther from home, he hoped for something different, but so far it seems more of the same. That is, until he bumps into Leo, whose fearsome reputation precedes him. 

It’s super fluff, super fluff; it’s super fluffy. The university setting was a breath of fresh air. Furuya-san digs deep into how university is an opportunity for re-invention. On a new campus, far from the familiar, you can decide to be a boy who kisses boys. I'm happy to own the manga so I can revisit this sweet story over and over again. 

As my ever growing bookshelf can attest, I'm a danmei fan. Many series are total angst fests, provoking tears and anguish. When I asked my wife for a breather, she directed me to the English translation of Golden Terrace from Peach Blossom House. This review covers both volumes, because I read them back-to-back.

Raised in the vaulted noble classes of Great Zhou Empire, Fu Shen has dedicated his life to securing the northern border as the Marquis of Jingning and commander of the Beiyan Cavalry. When a simple mission goes horribly awry, rocks crush Fu Shen's legs, and his active military service is at an end. He returns to the capital, licks his wounds, and receives worse news: the Emperor demands he marry his long time nemesis, Yan Xiaohan!

It’s SO FLUFFY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Golden Terrace is indeed a balm for the heart after the likes of MXTX, Meatbun, and Priest ground it to dust. The story really focuses in on the characters, their relationships, and their interior worlds. The summary may position Fu Shen as the sole main character, but Yan Xiaohan receives equal depth, backstory, and POV sections. These two grow together wonderfully, like watching a plant learn to twine its vines. The prose itself is superb. The translator did fantastic work. Scenes are incredibly vivid in my mind a year later, especially the wedding scene.

What impressed me most is the treatment of disability. The exact medical nature of Fu Shen's disability isn't made explicit. He can't walk without aides, experiences chronic pain, and feels fatigue easily. The novel refuses to gloss over the new challenges in Fu Shen's life. He needs a wheelchair, and the lack of ramps in fictional ancient China is a Problem. He rails against his "useless" legs and becomes depressed. Concurrently, the narrative frames his disability as an opportunity for others to express care. Fu Shen's disability gifts Yan Xiaohan many, many opportunities to dote on Fu Shen and express his hidden love. Yan Xiaohan's initial introduction is as a fearsome, ruthless head of the Feilong Guard. That image is instantly complicated when Yan Xiaohan hires carpenters to make his house fully accessible to wheelchair users. There must be hidden depths to a guy who re-designs his whole bathtub so Fu Shen can wheel in and out!  Before you go off thinking Fu Shen is totally infantilized, he's very much a force to be reckoned with. His power may look different than a non-disabled person's, but it's very much there. The Emperor fears Fu Shen with good reason.

Speaking of the Emperor, he is dumb, and it's on purpose. For a good chunk of the story, I thought I was going bananas because why would a smart person do what the Emperor is doing. He's just. Written like that. Very nerfed. Golden Terrace convinced me to add "play politics-heavy tabletop games" to my arsenal of writing advice, because WOW, if this Emperor played one Vampire: the Masquerade chronicle, he'd be so much better at his job. My two other quibbles are more minor. The cast is a total sausage fest. The few women are either stupid or evil. Unfortunately, that's pretty standard for danmei. The battle scenes focus too much on Fu Shen and Yan Xiaohan being cute, and not enough on the action. No author can be good at everything.

Overall, Golden Terrace sent my heart pitter-pattering with squee. A total comfort read! Do recommend! I hope Peach Blossom House publishes and E. Danglers translates Cang Wu Bin Bai's wuxia novel Chun Feng Du Jian. 

As my ever growing bookshelf can attest, I'm a danmei fan. Many series are total angst fests, provoking tears and anguish. When I asked my wife for a breather, she directed me to the English translation of Golden Terrace from Peach Blossom House. This review covers both volumes, because I read them back-to-back.

Raised in the vaulted noble classes of Great Zhou Empire, Fu Shen has dedicated his life to securing the northern border as the Marquis of Jingning and commander of the Beiyan Cavalry. When a simple mission goes horribly awry, rocks crush Fu Shen's legs, and his active military service is at an end. He returns to the capital, licks his wounds, and receives worse news: the Emperor demands he marry his long time nemesis, Yan Xiaohan!

It’s SO FLUFFY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Golden Terrace is indeed a balm for the heart after the likes of MXTX, Meatbun, and Priest ground it to dust. The story really focuses in on the characters, their relationships, and their interior worlds. The summary may position Fu Shen as the sole main character, but Yan Xiaohan receives equal depth, backstory, and POV sections. These two grow together wonderfully, like watching a plant learn to twine its vines. The prose itself is superb. The translator did fantastic work. Scenes are incredibly vivid in my mind a year later, especially the wedding scene.

What impressed me most is the treatment of disability. The exact medical nature of Fu Shen's disability isn't made explicit. He can't walk without aides, experiences chronic pain, and feels fatigue easily. The novel refuses to gloss over the new challenges in Fu Shen's life. He needs a wheelchair, and the lack of ramps in fictional ancient China is a Problem. He rails against his "useless" legs and becomes depressed. Concurrently, the narrative frames his disability as an opportunity for others to express care. Fu Shen's disability gifts Yan Xiaohan many, many opportunities to dote on Fu Shen and express his hidden love. Yan Xiaohan's initial introduction is as a fearsome, ruthless head of the Feilong Guard. That image is instantly complicated when Yan Xiaohan hires carpenters to make his house fully accessible to wheelchair users. There must be hidden depths to a guy who re-designs his whole bathtub so Fu Shen can wheel in and out!  Before you go off thinking Fu Shen is totally infantilized, he's very much a force to be reckoned with. His power may look different than a non-disabled person's, but it's very much there. The Emperor fears Fu Shen with good reason.

Speaking of the Emperor, he is dumb, and it's on purpose. For a good chunk of the story, I thought I was going bananas because why would a smart person do what the Emperor is doing. He's just. Written like that. Very nerfed. Golden Terrace convinced me to add "play politics-heavy tabletop games" to my arsenal of writing advice, because WOW, if this Emperor played one Vampire: the Masquerade chronicle, he'd be so much better at his job. My two other quibbles are more minor. The cast is a total sausage fest. The few women are either stupid or evil. Unfortunately, that's pretty standard for danmei. The battle scenes focus too much on Fu Shen and Yan Xiaohan being cute, and not enough on the action. No author can be good at everything.

Overall, Golden Terrace sent my heart pitter-pattering with squee. A total comfort read! Do recommend! I hope Peach Blossom House publishes and E. Danglers translates Cang Wu Bin Bai's wuxia novel Chun Feng Du Jian. 

A fantastic, bloody streak of desire. Gray brings their signature intoxicating lushness to this winter-themed erotica, where horror and romance are one and the same (as they should be!). 

As a huge medieval and Arthurian nerd, this series scratches an itch that long needed attending. Every sentence lit up my brain. I adored the twist, and the dichotomy of woodsy & fire imagery had me swooning. Gray can write whatever they want forever. 

Gray does it again! By "it" I mean they pen another phantasmagorical Arthurian romance. This time Martis is the star, after we saw a tantalizing peek of her in Valerin the Fair. I ate up the rich prose. The beauty at once assuages and gives voice to deep grief. The romance takes a back seat to Martis and her parents' relationship, but Martis' future is much brighter for the discovery she doesn't have to bear her emotions alone. This novella is as delicate, intricate, and beautiful as stained glass. 

Seure the Tempered took me longer to read than Martis or Valerin because after every reading session I felt like I had a hangover. The prose's vivid lushness is cranked up to a level I think only fully perceivable by shrimp. I was left intoxicated and dizzy. On the plot end of things, Gray flickers tantalizing flashes of future intrigue that I hope will be explored more in the series. Seure is just the kind of knight a younger me wanted to be when I grew up, and their journey with Ganeida is brilliant. Long live Out of True!