4.25. It took me an age to read this, but it's very strong stuff. I like Peters' explanation in the afterword that she was using four different genres4.25. It took me an age to read this, but it's very strong stuff. I like Peters' explanation in the afterword that she was using four different genres to explore difficult aspects of trans life and selfhood and trans community. As such, moving from story to story is jarring; I needed to sit with each for a while before hurrying on to the next. Let's also say that Peters will never fall into the trap of making trans characters saints or eliding the difficulties, messiness, or potential violence in trans relationships to make them more palatable to straight and/or cis audiences. I admire her immensely even if it makes for an uncomfortable read sometimes. To balance that, it's also gorgeously written across all the genre-bending and laced with dark, jagged-edged humor. Recommended....more
The first 1/4 or so of this one is all about Jack and his family estate and the complex politics of land enclosure, which, if that's a draw for you, RThe first 1/4 or so of this one is all about Jack and his family estate and the complex politics of land enclosure, which, if that's a draw for you, RUN DON'T WALK! For me it suffered from a lack of Stephen in all his ridiculous Stephen-ness, but I guess after 18 books there is only so much charming haplessness and oh-Stephen-what-a-fellow-you-are-ing one can cram in before it begins to feel rote. Still, there is Jack nearly incapacitated with anxiety when Stephen goes off on a long mission, there is Sophie finding out about one of Jack's more serious pecadilloes and the solution Diana and Clarissa propose as a result, there is all the extended family together on a ship all getting along for once as a happy ending. I think I'm going to stop with this one. I'd like to imagine them sailing off into the sunset after this and nothing much bad happening to anyone, including aging or death, THE END....more
More lightweight than I was expecting, but it鈥檚 a fun fast read if you don鈥檛 mind emotional fantasy fare and a lot of heterosexual white women introspMore lightweight than I was expecting, but it鈥檚 a fun fast read if you don鈥檛 mind emotional fantasy fare and a lot of heterosexual white women introspecting and talking about their feelings for 300-odd pages. Emotional comedy? Is that a genre?
(The first half deals with suicidal feelings, infertility, and miscarriages, so tread with caution if those are difficult topics for you.)...more
Diana and Stephen! Get it together, you crazy kids!
This is not great Bob on the topic of autism, if that's supposed to be what's going on with BridgetDiana and Stephen! Get it together, you crazy kids!
This is not great Bob on the topic of autism, if that's supposed to be what's going on with Bridget in the beginning, but I will reluctantly concede that it's emotionally satisfying to see Stephen finally get to bond with his daughter a bit.
Also, Jack is secretly incredibly talented on the violin and HOLDS BACK so that he won't shame Stephen when they play together?!??!!! !!!! My heart!!!!
Am I actually going to finish this series this time? Am I really? ...more
It's startling to read this book in 2025 and think about how much has changed in our political landscape and how depressingly little we've advanced anIt's startling to read this book in 2025 and think about how much has changed in our political landscape and how depressingly little we've advanced and in many cases regressed since this novel was written well over twenty years ago. Anyway, this is still an incredibly relevant and engrossing read. I've seen American Fiction and the novel is similar but a lot more intellectual and a lot more explicitly about code-switching and Black literary and public identities. Looking forward to discussing it with my book group - there's so much to dig into....more
Book club read. I didn't enjoy this book at all as a novel - it's got undeniable literary quality, but honestly, I found it much too disjointed and plBook club read. I didn't enjoy this book at all as a novel - it's got undeniable literary quality, but honestly, I found it much too disjointed and plotless, deeply annoying to read. I do appreciate it on an intellectual level, I guess, and was particularly grateful to learn about Jan Gay, but I was mostly grateful to finally come to the end of it. ...more
A bit slight, but not half bad - a haunted house story that's mainly about two old friends who've grown apart, reflecting on the sadness of their diveA bit slight, but not half bad - a haunted house story that's mainly about two old friends who've grown apart, reflecting on the sadness of their divergent lives. It's well written and I like the way the creepiness drips slowly into the narrative like a horrible dawning realization. Horror fans picking it up on the strength of the cover and description may feel a little let down - on the spookiness scale it's a few degrees milder than Hill House, which is pretty mild as haunted house stories go - but I enjoyed its depiction of an intense girlhood friendship in a small town and observations on the marks we leave behind on each other.
Thanks to Netgalley for the advance reading copy....more
4.5. Poignant in a funny-sad way, these interconnected stories about mostly white upper-middle-class LA families deal with intergenerational attempts 4.5. Poignant in a funny-sad way, these interconnected stories about mostly white upper-middle-class LA families deal with intergenerational attempts at connecting through and around technologies, coping with climate change and the dread of The End, stumbling on each other's porn histories, nail-biting over white guilt, breaking up and getting together. Connecting somehow. It doesn't add up to anything earth-shattering, but I loved it for its everyday truth-telling, a series of refreshing little paintings about our ridiculous modern world.
Thanks to Netgalley for the advance reading copy....more
I don't know how to rate this. A disturbed 3.5? Once again, Murata explores the strangeness of sexuality and motherhood in an evolving society throughI don't know how to rate this. A disturbed 3.5? Once again, Murata explores the strangeness of sexuality and motherhood in an evolving society through the viewpoint of one who doesn't fit easily into its norms. The reader uneasily watches a dystopia forming: people no longer form romantic marriage or have sex with their spouses (or generally at all), but instead use their fixations with fictional anime characters as a substitute. It's horribly somewhat plausible, for a while, and then, being a Murata novel, it gets Weird. Tamer than Earthlings, but not by a lot. I guess it makes you think, but I'm glad to be done with it.
A hard look at the lives of the working poor. My friend recommended it as a comedy, but I found it too sad and stressful to discern much humor in it -A hard look at the lives of the working poor. My friend recommended it as a comedy, but I found it too sad and stressful to discern much humor in it - still, it's very compelling and you'll need to find out how it works out for the line workers and their scheme to get ahead. Fucking capitalism, man, you just want to cry and give up. The writing style is definitely on the blocky side, but it feels okay for the content - the ordinary drama of mundane life struggles. ...more
It's well-written enough, I just didn't enjoy it particularly. All these terrible marriages and unhappy trapped women! I guess it's a good warning aboIt's well-written enough, I just didn't enjoy it particularly. All these terrible marriages and unhappy trapped women! I guess it's a good warning about what we're in for in America if no-fault divorce gets taken from us along with autonomy over our own bodies. Anyway, this novel feels like watching a really sad and humorless soap opera about a lot of people you either don't like or feel terrible for and usually both. But it terms of literary quality it's fine....more
4.25. I often wished for a family tree I could flip back to, but it was good fun once I sort of figured out who was who and how they were related and 4.25. I often wished for a family tree I could flip back to, but it was good fun once I sort of figured out who was who and how they were related and got invested in the main characters' love lives. This is a bit like Franny & Zooey if the Glass family had been a zany half-Russian half-Maori clan of neurodivergent New Zealanders with complicated relationship histories. I'm only marking it down a little because it was rough getting dropped into their lives in media res and only learning key details halfway through; I'm not convinced that it served a purpose for the reader to have to be so mystified....more
3.25 I guess. It's a bit more of a chatty pep talk than I was really looking for and didn't contain much new-to-me information, apart from the chapter3.25 I guess. It's a bit more of a chatty pep talk than I was really looking for and didn't contain much new-to-me information, apart from the chapter on the chemistry of hormones which got way too technical and left me in the dark. It's fine, though, and it's maybe a good perimenopause primer for people who need validation of their symptoms and encouragement to think of them as normal and okay. There's also a lot of inclusive language and extra information for trans and queer folks, and it's fat-positive and sex-positive, so that's obviously great. Less great is the formatting on the print version. It's written in double columns on each page with a lot of frequent sidebars interrupting the main text, which made it incredibly difficult for me to process. It also made the whole thing feel like an extended magazine article. I eventually ended up switching to the ebook version which didn't have the same format issues....more
Book club read. A bleak fictionalization of Waco and the Branch Davidian debacle with added star-crossed teen romance. It's a real mood, but not one IBook club read. A bleak fictionalization of Waco and the Branch Davidian debacle with added star-crossed teen romance. It's a real mood, but not one I enjoyed at any point along the way, and everyone talks like they've been reading way too much poetry....more
Good scary fun! Casual queer representation AND the dog doesn鈥檛 die! I was suspicious of its ability to really tie up all the strands of creepypasta iGood scary fun! Casual queer representation AND the dog doesn鈥檛 die! I was suspicious of its ability to really tie up all the strands of creepypasta in a satisfying way but I鈥檇 say it stuck the landing at least 80%. At one point in my life I wouldn鈥檛 have been able to read it because the 鈥渕ain character is gaslit into madness鈥� plot would have been too disturbing, but I guess I鈥檝e developed more fortitude; still, it gave me the shivers. Psychological more than gross torturey horror, yes please, more of this sort of thing....more
Brilliantly conceived and executed and surprisingly un-putdownable. I haven鈥檛 read Huck Finn since high school, but I remembered enough, as it turned Brilliantly conceived and executed and surprisingly un-putdownable. I haven鈥檛 read Huck Finn since high school, but I remembered enough, as it turned out. Doesn鈥檛 shy away from depicting the full violence of slavery, though it鈥檚 far from the most graphic thing I鈥檝e read on the topic. Definitely one of the best reads of the year - witty, thought-provoking, and uplifting....more
4.5, a great autobiography, audiobook competently read by the author. Jumps back and forth in time between the more or less chronological story of Bra4.5, a great autobiography, audiobook competently read by the author. Jumps back and forth in time between the more or less chronological story of Braverman鈥檚 early life and learning to dogsled and navigate upsetting abusive relationships, and the story of her long sojourns in a isolated community in northern Norway. The two sections are very differently paced and I half wonder if they wouldn鈥檛 have easily made two separate books, but I enjoyed them both a lot and they made sense together in the end. Love, love the characters Braverman meets in Mortenhals and the way she carefully makes a place for herself there and finds a family to heal some of the damage she鈥檚 taken.
Content warning for rape, sexual harassment galore, animal harm and gory lamb deaths (the dogs are all okay, though), but if you have the emotional fortitude for it it鈥檚 a fascinating and inspiring read....more
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