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speculativebecky
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YES! I liked The Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang (they/them) so much. It was what I was looking for when I picked up the first novella in this series, The Black Tides of Heaven, which I found a little slow and setup heavy (which I totally think can be forgiven in a short novella that begins a series and introduces an entire world and magic system!) Fair warning though, these two novellas are billed as stand alone but I would 100% recommend reading them in order (Black Tides then Red Threads) because Red Threads takes place completely after Black Tides chronologically, and would majorly spoil the experience of reading if read first.
Yang expounds upon and expands the Magic system of the world, Slackcraft, and does a beautiful job of character development besides. I fell as hard for this novella’s protagonist, Mokoya, as I did for her brother Akeha in the first novella. I love the polyamory in this book, the way Yang’s characters are compassionate about each others’ struggles, and seek each others’ best interests even when it means they stay apart. I’m in deep for these characters, and excited to read the next (sadly likely last! ☹) two novellas in this series.
Yang expounds upon and expands the Magic system of the world, Slackcraft, and does a beautiful job of character development besides. I fell as hard for this novella’s protagonist, Mokoya, as I did for her brother Akeha in the first novella. I love the polyamory in this book, the way Yang’s characters are compassionate about each others’ struggles, and seek each others’ best interests even when it means they stay apart. I’m in deep for these characters, and excited to read the next (sadly likely last! ☹) two novellas in this series.
I had high expectations for these books and they delivered. My Brother’s Husband follows single father Yaichi and his daughter Kana as they get to know Mike, the Canadian husband of Yaichi’s estranged twin brother who has just passed away. This story is tender and educational without feeling heavy handed. Tagame made teaching me a ton about the perception of homosexuality in Japan (and how it’s evolving!) look so easy.
One of the things that most impressed me about this story, and which I only started to notice after reading Taylor’s review is how Tagame expertly portrays characters’ thoughts, I was astounded at how inside his characters’ heads I felt, even when very little text was present to describe a character’s inner monologue.
I love these characters so much, and their various dynamics were a delight. Kana and Mike’s instant love for each other, and Yaichi’s conflicted self analysis of his prejudices, and how they shaped his relationship with his late brother, were so well crafted. Smart and full of so much heart, I highly recommend this story.
One of the things that most impressed me about this story, and which I only started to notice after reading Taylor’s review is how Tagame expertly portrays characters’ thoughts, I was astounded at how inside his characters’ heads I felt, even when very little text was present to describe a character’s inner monologue.
I love these characters so much, and their various dynamics were a delight. Kana and Mike’s instant love for each other, and Yaichi’s conflicted self analysis of his prejudices, and how they shaped his relationship with his late brother, were so well crafted. Smart and full of so much heart, I highly recommend this story.
This was such fun to read! This cakebook starts off with Yolanda’s recipes for cake, buttercream, simple syrup and more. Then she delves into the core techniques needed for crafting novelty cakes, like leveling and layering, crumb coating and chilling, and coloring buttercream or fondant. Finally, the bulk of the book is dedicated to step by step instructions for crafting specific novelty cake recipes, which are helpfully sorted by difficulty.
The whole thing sings with Yo’s personality, and is packed with tips and tricks to make you feel ready to take on cake-ing! Watching the show has never really had me interested in making a cake myself, but somehow the book has me itching a little to try one of her recipes.
The whole thing sings with Yo’s personality, and is packed with tips and tricks to make you feel ready to take on cake-ing! Watching the show has never really had me interested in making a cake myself, but somehow the book has me itching a little to try one of her recipes.
As the subtitle indicates, this is an anthology of essays and poetry written by (mostly) trans and nonbinary authors. (A few of the pieces are by cis people writing about trans people they love.) Benson’s concept was an empowering collection, featuring writing on the topic of love and the specific way trans and nonbinary people experience it, and with this book I think she delivers on that promise.
As with any anthology, this collection was varied in the strength of the authors’ writing, but to me that fell secondary to how exciting it is to see a collection of writing that lifts up and celebrates voices so frequently silenced in the world we live in today. Even as trans representation in media becomes more commonplace, it’s still mostly through the cis gaze, depicting simplistic views of trans lives for shock value or trauma porn. Collections like this one combat that, giving precedence to actual trans people to talk on a range of topics from their lived experiences. I also appreciated the diversity of ages of the authors, and especially the inclusion of pieces by older trans writers unfolded a longer story of their trans life.
As with any anthology, this collection was varied in the strength of the authors’ writing, but to me that fell secondary to how exciting it is to see a collection of writing that lifts up and celebrates voices so frequently silenced in the world we live in today. Even as trans representation in media becomes more commonplace, it’s still mostly through the cis gaze, depicting simplistic views of trans lives for shock value or trauma porn. Collections like this one combat that, giving precedence to actual trans people to talk on a range of topics from their lived experiences. I also appreciated the diversity of ages of the authors, and especially the inclusion of pieces by older trans writers unfolded a longer story of their trans life.
Tuskegee Heirs is a sci fi adventure story set in the 2090’s, about a team of five pilots who are being trained in secret for ?? some impending threat, in a world complicated by the fact that human piloted jets are illegal. The name of the team pays homage to the historic Tuskegee Airmen, a group of all Black pilots fighting in the US Military in WWII, who were the first Black men allowed to serve as pilots during a time of Jim Crow laws and a racially segregated military. The comic nods to this and other pieces of history, and intentionally centers a diverse group of Black teens positioned to save the world. It’s exciting to see this representation and intentionality, since the world of comics, especially of the world saving variety, is heavily white dominated, and also typically centers male stories.
I was a little disappointed that the plot and worldbuilding were not very fleshed out by the end of this volume, the world ending threat is still a mystery, and the sides fighting against each other are not clearly delimited. However it’s very obvious the story is only just beginning and there’s a lot more to come, so I’m definitely willing to forgive less than a hundred pages for not explaining everything. The characters in this comic are terrific, and their personalities shine right through on the page. The art is also fantastic, and really made me excited about reading. Looking forward to more from this team!
I was a little disappointed that the plot and worldbuilding were not very fleshed out by the end of this volume, the world ending threat is still a mystery, and the sides fighting against each other are not clearly delimited. However it’s very obvious the story is only just beginning and there’s a lot more to come, so I’m definitely willing to forgive less than a hundred pages for not explaining everything. The characters in this comic are terrific, and their personalities shine right through on the page. The art is also fantastic, and really made me excited about reading. Looking forward to more from this team!
I don’t feel like exactly the proper audience for this book, as I’m not a new parent or planning for kids in a soon time frame, so I’m not sure how helpful a review is from me. I wouldn’t have read this book at all if it weren’t this month’s pick for a book club, but what was interesting to me about this book, vs just any early life parenting book, is the author’s background in economics and her focus on sharing data surrounding all the questions of early childhood, from breastfeeding to sleep training to development milestones. Her hope is that armed with data, the reader will be able to make the best informed decisions for their family and ease the anxiety surrounding some of the biggest, most polarizing questions of early parenting.
Oster does a great job of packing in a ton of info into a brief section on two dozen topics. She distills down a comprehensive boatload of inquiry into the available research, and explains to the reader what studies she thinks are trustworthy or not, and what measures she’s looking at to make that decision. The only thing I would have wanted at times was even more information, but also then the book would have been huge. I also didn’t read the footnotes, because I assumed they were just citations, and then belatedly realized she includes additional commentary in there at times, so it’s possible that would have solved my more-info-please issues.
This book is quite informative and well done! But also I wasn’t totally engaged, which was of course due to my own fault of reading a book on a topic I’m much less invested in.
Oster does a great job of packing in a ton of info into a brief section on two dozen topics. She distills down a comprehensive boatload of inquiry into the available research, and explains to the reader what studies she thinks are trustworthy or not, and what measures she’s looking at to make that decision. The only thing I would have wanted at times was even more information, but also then the book would have been huge. I also didn’t read the footnotes, because I assumed they were just citations, and then belatedly realized she includes additional commentary in there at times, so it’s possible that would have solved my more-info-please issues.
This book is quite informative and well done! But also I wasn’t totally engaged, which was of course due to my own fault of reading a book on a topic I’m much less invested in.
Yay! I was a huge fan of Brosh’s blog, also title Hyperbole and a Half, in college. My friends and I loved reading her hilarious illustrated stories, and adopted the word “parp” as our catch-all greeting thanks to her story of trying to convince her mom to allow her to go to a party after dental surgery if she was able to run around the park, which she pronounced “parp” after waking from anesthesia. I purchased this book, which collects stories from her blog as well as some amount of new material I think, immediately after its publication in 2013, but as is my habit with anything where I’m already familiar with much of the content, I then struggled to muster enthusiasm to actually read it.
Fast forward to last night, I finally picked up this book and read it cover to cover in one delighted sitting. Much of the book is devoted to lighthearted and hilarious stories of Brosh’s childhood antics, and her two dogs, but she also gets more serious with her self reflective discussions, for example of her uncomfortable suspicions that she’s not as good of a person as she’d like to believe, and her experiences with depression. The depression stories made me feel so seen, and I think would give folks without depression some ideas about how not to give advice. She creates this perfect metaphor where she’s upset that her fish are dead, and instead of anyone saying ‘wow that’s awful how dead your fish are’, they’re all giving her advice like ‘oh let me help you find your lost fish,’ ‘fish are always deadest before the dawn’, and ‘have you tried having them not be dead?’
Nailing funny and insightful all at once, I definitely recommend this book, or her stuff is all still available on her blog if you want to give it a read! (Warning, do not attempt anywhere it would be inappropriate to laugh out loud!)
Fast forward to last night, I finally picked up this book and read it cover to cover in one delighted sitting. Much of the book is devoted to lighthearted and hilarious stories of Brosh’s childhood antics, and her two dogs, but she also gets more serious with her self reflective discussions, for example of her uncomfortable suspicions that she’s not as good of a person as she’d like to believe, and her experiences with depression. The depression stories made me feel so seen, and I think would give folks without depression some ideas about how not to give advice. She creates this perfect metaphor where she’s upset that her fish are dead, and instead of anyone saying ‘wow that’s awful how dead your fish are’, they’re all giving her advice like ‘oh let me help you find your lost fish,’ ‘fish are always deadest before the dawn’, and ‘have you tried having them not be dead?’
Nailing funny and insightful all at once, I definitely recommend this book, or her stuff is all still available on her blog if you want to give it a read! (Warning, do not attempt anywhere it would be inappropriate to laugh out loud!)
Parable of the Sower is a prescient dystopian novel. Published in 1993 but set in the mid-2020’s, it’s a chilling read that’s borne much fruitful discussion with the group. Lauren Olamina is a protagonist that wedged herself quickly into my consciousness, and I’ll gladly follow her story to the ends of the earth (or the stars), despite my usual preference against “traveling” narratives. Wise beyond her years, Lauren takes a practical, measured approach to survival and its costs. She is devoted to the religion of Earthseed, which she’s seemingly inventing, but she would argue exists independent of her discovering it. Butler has created fascinating details here, new drugs with terrifying consequences such as Lauren’s “sharing” (feeling others’ pain, a dangerous vulnerability in societal collapse), and the pyro drug that gives users pleasure in setting fires. Butler's intriguing worldbuilding and distinctive characters come together in a brilliant novel that subverted my expectations, and had me all in from page one. Excited to pick up Parable of the Talents asap and continue this story.
This collection blends insightful and well researched social and pop culture analysis with stories from Tolentino’s fascinating life. Her essay topics are broadly varied: the evolution of the internet, reality television, scams, rape culture, the marriage industry. Even though I’ve read a ton of reviews of this book on bookstagram of all places, I didn’t realize in advance that her essay Pure Heroines was going to be a deep dive literary analysis, including spoilers for numerous novels! (Mostly classics but a few more contemporary.) While I don’t think it was wrong for what this essay is, I wished I’d been more successfully able to skim past some of the spoilery bits, or that I would have possibly skipped this essay tbh.
Most of my favorite essays were the ones going deep into Tolentino’s personal life, such as her recounting of her teenage experience on a Reality TV show called Girls vs Boys Puerto Rico, which she tends to successfully forget is a part of her past, and her discussion of her conflicted interest in Barre. I was intrigued by her essay exploring her evolving understanding of religion and drug use, and how she argues that both served similar roles in her life in their creation of a specific mental state. Definitely not a way I’ve heard anyone discuss religion before, and I thought it was uncommonly honest.
Overall a really interesting collection, recommended especially if you’re interested in thoughtful analysis of our current world, and the ways we experience it.
Most of my favorite essays were the ones going deep into Tolentino’s personal life, such as her recounting of her teenage experience on a Reality TV show called Girls vs Boys Puerto Rico, which she tends to successfully forget is a part of her past, and her discussion of her conflicted interest in Barre. I was intrigued by her essay exploring her evolving understanding of religion and drug use, and how she argues that both served similar roles in her life in their creation of a specific mental state. Definitely not a way I’ve heard anyone discuss religion before, and I thought it was uncommonly honest.
Overall a really interesting collection, recommended especially if you’re interested in thoughtful analysis of our current world, and the ways we experience it.