theliteraryteapot's Reviews (314)

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries was one of my most anticipated reads as of lately and I loved it! This exactly suits my literary taste especially in terms of fiction and fantasy. And as I've said previously, it has several ingredients I love: cosy fantasy, academic research, set in Scandinavia/Nordic countries (!!) and set in early 20th century.

I understand why some people dnf'ed or thought the book would put them in a reading slump because I thought so too between the 50p. and the 100p. marks. But after the 100p. mark, I flew through it. I was also scared of the romance subplot because romance doesn't interest me much these days but this one was quite light and at times I found myself smiling. Emily and Bamblebly's dynamic was funny.

I had never really read about faeries before (haven't dived into fantasy much these past years I guess) but I enjoyed a lot of the worldbuilding, the footnotes were really nice additions showing the work the author put into it. I loved Emily too, her strength, her character development, and all the characters I think. The writing being adjusted to an early 20th century setting was so well appreciated too!

(Also these beautiful covers!! I have the UK one and love it so much)

Warsan Shire you have such a wonderful way with words.
Very sharp. Some beautiful metaphors (the moon and anything space-related always get me). Tearing the reader's heart apart.

In my mind, Laura Nsafou is one of the most important voices in contemporary children's literature in my country. Ever since I did my ma in children's lit, I've been meaning to read her picture books. I had a feeling she would bring so much good things to the french-speaking book catalogue.

I am not disappointed. Nos jours brûlés is sold as a half science-fiction, half fantasy afrofuturist book. First, the whole concept piqued my interest although I'm not a sci-fi girly. It's the first book in a trilogy so it needs time to settle in and that's fine. In the last 100 pages or so, you can tell the author found her balance, felt more comfortable with her story. At that point I was completely immersed! I'm not much attached to the characters (yet) but I'm loving the plot. And what a joy to read Laura Nsafou's prose as it reminded me that the French language can be quite rich and poetic.

I will be reading the rest of the trilogy!! I really recommend! 

Étant très intéressée par la poésie étrangère, c'était une totale déception. Une anthologie avec très peu de femmes poètes (3/68...). Une anthologie remplie de misogynie : les femmes sont soit des poules pondeuses soit des objets à sexualiser. Des poèmes qui décrivent des viols ou des agressions/harcèlements sexuels sans que ce ne soit dénoncé, c'est au contraire normalisé. Et puis même une insulte lesbophobe.
Donc, absolument pas agréable à lire, "l'âge" des poèmes ne justifie rien.
Quand au reste, les thématiques ne m'ont guère captivée.

Seuls ces vers étaient appréciables :
"on massacre des humains visibles
ignorant
pourquoi ils sont venus au jour d'un monde
où le continent de l'amour
est noyé dans l'océan de l'hostilité et de la haine" (p. 71) - Jan Hanc.

Me finishing series in 2024?? Omg who is she

I think it's been eight years ish since I read The Sword of Summer?? I can't believe it took me so long to continue the trilogy.

I really enjoyed book 2!! I feel like this is Rick Riordan's peak: genuinely funny, human, diverse, more violent, more mature. The found family trope works so well too, it really is the Magnus Chase trilogy's strength! And, although I'm sure it's not perfect, the efforts on R. Riordan's part to bring diverse representations is much appreciated.

Les lettres qui m'ont parlé sont celles de Ryoko Sekiguchi et de Sandra Moussempès. C'est un travail collectif intéressant et qui me motive un petit peu à continuer d'écrire mais je sais pas, je me sens laissée sur ma faim... J'ai l'impression que c'est une génération qui s'exprime qui en fait ne me parle pas vraiment ? Ce sont des écrits qui méritent d'être là et qui parleront sans doute à d'autres personnes mais pour ma part, il me manque quelque chose (peut-être être plus de ma génération, peut-être plus en dehors de la région parsienne, où sont les campagnardes)...

Thank you to Netgalley and Columbia University Press for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Songs of an Eastern Humanist is a short poetry collection written by Edward Said. The Palestinian-American author is mainly known for his work as an academic, most notably his book Orientalism which is very crucial to post-colonial studies. I admit I had never read Said before, although he was mentioned during an Arab literature class I was taking a few years ago.

The introduction was much appreciated for context of course and to get an idea of what Said’s perspective and understanding of poetry was. Unfortunately, I found myself having a hard time to be receptive to his poems. It felt more like an exercise, trying his hand at poetry rather than a poet’s mastercraft, which is understanble too as it was not his main genre. Some lines were pretty and the musical imagery was quite interesting but this also showed a somewhat disparate work. I appreciated the poem “The top of my heart flung its doors apart” (p.49), in particular the first stanza but that’s about it.

I think this is an interesting project to be published as the reader learns something new about Edward Said: that he wrote a little bit of poetry too. Everyone may respond differently to poetry.

There's a seven ish years gap between my readings of book two and of book three... I enjoyed this final installment in the Kane Chronicles series.