A gread mix of stories! Intersectional on so many axes, and a wide variety of genre. A great choice to hand your kids who are still thirsty for Wonder readalikes.

DNF

I kept trying to get through an arc of this and it just really wasn't clicking for me and then I remembered that I had struggled with her previous book [b:Maud's Line|22859407|Maud's Line|Margaret Verble|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1412062759s/22859407.jpg|42427334] and really only finished it because of book club, and I had no social pressure to finish this one, so I'm not. DOBBY IS A FREE ELF.

Fans of gritty historical epics or whatever will probably like this, and it's always great to have more #OwnVoices books about Native Americans, especially when a lot of other American historical fiction has uhh problematic portrayals of Native Americans.

But it's just not for me!

This is an alternatingly funny and sad read, but I appreciate the messy honesty of Areceneaux's path. He also states multiple times how he is not interested in framing his work for a white audience--I still got a lot out of this but suspect it's a book that a queer black reader is going to appreciate even more.

ok so first of all, upsetting spoiler:

Spoiler

the cat diessssssssss

but nonetheless I loved this book. It's so funny and strange in places, but also a really moving emotional journey. I'm also not sure what to call this? It's less of a straightforward memoir than [b:Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir|24727094|Honor Girl A Graphic Memoir|Maggie Thrash|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426621450s/24727094.jpg|44353574] was, and I think I like it all the more for that?

also honestly bonus star for this panel alone:

uhhh ok so I have never played any of these games (and I never will because I'm a real scaredycat) and I only read this book for our bad books podcast because, like, obviously a book that's a tie in for a video game franchise about cursed animatronic animals (or whatever) is going to be terrible??

but uhhhhhhhh it was like.......pretty good? Kind of confusing, which is to be expected since as stated I've never played these games, but I still basically got it and I really enjoyed the characters? And their arcs??

???????

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-109-five-nights-at-freddys-the-silver-eyes/

This is a really moving read that gives you a character to root for and smashes a lot of myths about eating disorders and diet culture in general. I also loved the way Riley's journey is rooted in pop culture, taking inspiration from superheroes and Disney characters--I think that's so relatable and going to make this so resonant for a lot of tweens (and beyond!).

oh I read this awhile ago and forgot to review it on GoodReads! Anyway it's super fun and I'd recommend if you're looking for some sexy sci-fi adventures. I especially like that it engages with climate change (and how we're p fucked...figuratively but also literally, bc this is sexy!) but is ultimately hopeful and inclusive.

HELL YEAH I love Barbara Kingsolver and I loved this book! I loved both stories--the present-day one as well as its historical counterpart. I loved these characters. I love how timely it is.

(I saw some negative reviews calling this "preachy" and you know what, it is, and I say PREACH BARBARA, TAKE ME TO CHURCHHH)

This was very interesting and also validating! From the first chapter, I was afraid this book would end up being too...obvious? for me to enjoy as a librarian--there's a lot of impressed exclamation over all the weird/cool librarians do, and I was like yeah I KNOW SUSAN. Which of course I know that the vast majority of people reading this aren't librarians and it's great for them to learn more about libraries! But I just feared it would get a little tiresome. But luckily the book veers off in a ton of interesting directions and I learned a lot about arson and library history and Los Angeles history! (And had my librarian ego stroked a little bit!)

Susan Orlean is also a great interviewer who usually gets weird stories out of her subjects, but also humanizes them.

Anyway this was an interesting read for all lovers of books. And/or fires.

DNF after a few chapters. I was willing to give this a chance after her weird library Twitter kerfuffle--I do generally like Ask Polly--but the first few essays were soo very "remember what it was like before we all used our PHONES so much?" that I felt free to just nope on out of this and return it to the library from whence it came.

the last essay I read before I quit was about how she used to be very grumpy about the concept of Disneyland because it's so fake, but then she took their kids there and had a good time, but then she was grumpy again afterward because it was so fake. okay Heather! cool story I guess!